Editorial, FESTIVAL OF

FESTIVAL OF CROPS, CATTLE, KITES

and exquisite flour-drawn diagrammatic patterns (muggulu/ ramgavallulu) is the Makar Sankranti of the December Solstice, including the Bhogi on the preceding day and Kanuma on the subsequent day in its van – all of them generally falling on the 13, 14 and 15 days of January, with little variations of a day or so occasionally, following a solar calendar, unlike many other festivals in India which follow the lunar one. It is celebrated with great jubilation and gusto in South India, especially in the now seemandhra region, and known as Pongal in Tamil Nadu. It is in fact an agricultural festival marking the ending of the harvest season and the thanksgiving of the farmers to Nature for bestowing bounties on them. The religious overtones and deity-worships gradually overlapped and have become inseparable from the celebrations of these cultural occasions in entire India, and Nepal also, with various names in various regions – it is called Bhihu in Assam, Maghe Sankranti in Nepal, etc. An international kite festival organized in Gujarat on this occasion is marvelous and does us proud with tourists from various countries converging to vie flying their kites with the locals in the spirit of world human fraternity. Sri Suravaram Pratap Reddy, the great Telangana leader, the first President of Nizam Andhra Mahasabha (1930) and an indefatigable protagonist of united Andhra [Vishalandhra], in his Sahitya Akademi award winning work – Andhrula Saamghika Caritra (Social History of Andhras) – informs us that it is called ‘panula Pongali’ (works-festival with sweetened-cooked-rice) in Rayalaseema region and cited a Telugu poem describing it. While Bhogi coming a day before is launched with big bonfires, Kanuma coming on the next is dedicated to cattle that help humans in carrying out agricultural activities, and all farmers clean cattle and cattle sheds, the cows are decorated with marigold flowers and nicely decorated Gangireddulu (master-bulls) are taken out in processions, and is marked with great joy and pomp in the rural regions. On this joyous occasion of Sankranti festival, we convey to all our readers, and also people at large, our heartfelt best wishes and desire that the Telugu people maintain and promote their unity and prosper overcoming the current dissensions. §§§

Editorial, AT LAST, AAM AADMI, in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 December 2013 , Vol. 9, Part 2, No. 24 issue.

AT LAST, AAM AADMI

- the common man, with flamboyant Arvind Kejriwal as his honest and rightful representative, has entered the portals of power in Delhi – the capital city state – with his broomstick and let us hope he would be able to sweep away at least some cobwebs of corruption, nepotism, favoritism and bureaucratic arrogance, opacity and injustices accumulated in government chambers therein. Not that such feats were not achieved by others in our country earlier. In our own state the cine star N.T. Rama Rao had, within 9 months of formation of his party, with overwhelming public support, trounced the entrenched Congress Party. Prior to that, in Tamil Nadu, MGR and still earlier the DMK led by Annadurai emerged triumphant on the strength of popular movements and admiration. In Assam the AASU that conducted a protracted struggle for Assamese rights formed a front and won the elections spectacularly. And we saw how Janata Party under Jayaprakash Narayan had stubbornly resisted emergency authoritarian rule and gained a great victory. But here perhaps for the first time a party has canvassed solely on an anti-corruption platform, remained secular and at every step has been consulting the people in development and election campaigns. This is really a welcome trend in Indian politics and creates a glowing hope that a new breed of young, dedicated, honest persons will rise from the ranks of people and try to build a corruption-free, prosperous People’s India as dreamt by innumerable revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh and Azad who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the country. It is pertinent to quote Roosevelt here – “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Hope Arvind stands up to the description of such a ‘Man in the Arena’. §§§

Editorial, MILITARY RUSH TO BREAK UP, in Law Animated World, 15 December 2013, Vol. 9, Part 2, No. 23 issue.

MILITARY RUSH TO BREAK UP

our beloved state of Andhra Pradesh – a clear case of misuse of security forces machinery, meant for securing the borders but not for rending the people – was exhibited by sending the ‘Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Bill’ by a special BSF aircraft. Truly, “It indicates that either the Centre is in a tearing hurry or does not trust the State machinery.” This gave rise to incensed comments from the opposition leaders with CBN of TDP shouting: “What is the need to send the bill copies in a special Border Security Force aircraft? Is Delhi waging a war against Andhra Pradesh? What are they thinking about us?” and other TDP leaders openly accusing that moneybags were also brought in the same aircraft clandestinely for secret distribution to buy the support of wavering seemandhra MLAs to the bill and each such MLA was offered 10-15 crores of rupees for the purpose. We are also alarmed at such misuses of the security forces machinery for ulterior purposes and for the luxurious voyages of the so-called VIP politicians, pervert bureaucrats and other undesirable elements. Only some weeks back a terrorist suspect was specially flown in by a BSF aircraft another clear case of misuse of public funds. The recent misuse is more loathsome and also indicative of high corruption in the topmost political circles in the country. We feel this is a fit case for our High Court to initiate suo motu proceedings against the involved personnel, officers and also politicians like Digvijay Singh, who is also accused of misusing official machinery in his recent tour to ‘persuade and convince’ his party leaders and MLAs regarding this abominable partition process, especially because of the extraordinary nature of the steps taken and the serious corruption allegations by some legislators of the opposition party. It may also be pointed out that all this ‘tearing hurry’ is for ‘wreaking vengeance’ on the people of Seemandhra who rose in millions against this hated bifurcation proposal and in that process burnt the effigies of Sonia, Rahul, et al, even destroyed the statues of Rajiv and Indira, and dug a grave for Sonia even, but Telugu people will never condone such vengeful injustices but bury still deeper all such reactionary forces and somehow save their unity and integrity against all these heavy odds. §§§

Editorial, FEDERALISM IS THE DESIDERATUM, in 30 November 2013 October Revolution Special issue of LAW ANIMATED WORLD.

FEDERALISM IS THE DESIDERATUM

Perhaps India is the only country in the world with scores of diverse communities belonging to various religious, linguistic etc. denominations coexisting in one ‘unity in diversity’ since thousands of years but it was never politically united except for some brief interregnums; the unity was mainly cultural and emotional – of belonging to a civilization that grew up from the Indus river valley. Yet it is perhaps the only such country in the world where the federal structure is quite shoddy and a unitary command structure is sought to be imposed by the post-independence ruling coteries from time to time. A Constitution which was meant to be really federal with residual powers to the provinces per the Aims and Objects Resolution of Jawaharlal Nehru was diluted and almost modified into a unitary covenant with all substantial powers including residual powers to the centre and, what is more despicable, undermining provinical autonomy to the extent of endowing Parliament with powers to cut up the States as it likes. Article 3 of the Constitution, which the Constitutional Adviser had drafted in a manner as to make the previous consent of the province an essential prerequisite for dividing it up, was totally distorted, so as to only call for the views of the State Assembly ascertained by the President in this regard. However, an explanation was given that the process for any such reorganization would have to be initiated by the State Assembly alone and both for initiation of the proposal and for the specific provisions in the bill to create a new state, the affected State Assembly has to act i.e. obviously pass favorable resolutions. Then, a constitutional amendment in 1955 sought to negate the impact of such explanation too. But, fortunately, the actual practice in such circumstances in our country has been more cautious and mindful of states’ autonomy; there has not been a single occasion – save in case of Punjab and Haryana which exception only proves the rule – when any new State was created, actually any bill for the same was drafted, without first the affected State Assembly passing a resolution in that favour. This healthy constitutional convention cannot be given a go-by under any circumstances and so the Telugu people will be fully justified in demanding that any bill for ‘reorganization of Andhra Pradesh’ be immediately sent back by the President of India for lack of a prior resolution of the State Assembly favoring that course, and also that Article 3 has to be suitably amended to accord the States ample powers to protect their autonomy and identity in such circumstances. That means the Telugu people are duty bound to fight to the end for the flowering of federalism, a main desideratum, in our polity. §§§

Editorial, "Why this undue haste to vivisect?", in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 November 2013 issue, Vol. 9, Part 2, No. 21.

WHY THIS UNDUE HASTE TO VIVISECT?

The Group of Ministers set up by the vile, minority UPA government at the centre, surviving on the mercy of two outside parties – BSP and SP, the latter openly opposed to the division of Andhra Pradesh, is running in all speed to somehow achieve its despicable goal of vivisecting a vibrant nationality and à la Radcliffe. I am reminded of this exquisite poem by Auden lampooning the unholy exercise of that British law lord who never visited India but yet vivisected it drawing his line literally even across the middle of remote human habitations: “Shut up in a lonely mansion/ with police night and day / patrolling the gardens to keep / assassins away, He got down to work, to the task / of settling the fate of millions. The maps at his disposal / were out of date / And the Census returns almost certainly incorrect, But there was no time to check / them, no time to inspect / Contested areas. The weather was frightfully hot, And a bout of dysentery kept him constantly on the trot, / BUT IN SEVEN WEEKS IT WAS DONE, the frontiers decided, A CONTINENT FOR BETTER OR WORSE DIVIDED…” Does this sound very familiar in our context? The British imperialists certainly had their stakes in such a hasty ‘divide and rule’ policy to which both Nehru and Patel unashamedly acquiesced thus defying and shaming their leader, Gandhi, who had declared the partition could happen only on his corpse; and he too would compromise later to sail with his disciples. But what need there is for any independent and patriotic rulers of sovereign India to thus divide and rule over a vibrant nationality which has sailed united amidst all troubles and calamities for about six decades? Have they forgotten that India is in essence a multi-national country though its constitution proclaims it a nation-state and any undue impetuous interference with the unity in diversity of the country and the identity and self-respect of its component units, especially of linguistic nationalities, could do utmost damage to the unity and integrity of the entire country itself. Don’t they know that by such post-haste they are only opening up a Pandora’s Box of more complex problems all over the country and striking at the very roots of territorial integrity of the country? No, knowing fully well, they are still moving – for nothing but nefarious electoral benefits – an acute case of open electoral corruption with the next general elections just round the corner. §§§

256 year-old Herbalist, Li Ching-Yuen

256 year-old Herbalist, Li Ching-Yuen

256 year-old Herbalist, Li Ching-Yuen

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