From Buddha’s 3 Gems to Allah’s Universal Sovereignty: South Asian Preambles

Brown Pundits Archive ¡ June 17, 2014 ¡ Comments Off on From Buddha’s 3 Gems to Allah’s Universal Sovereignty: South Asian Preambles
Most Countries around the world have a single consolidated written
document as their Constitution (UK, New Zealand, Israel and Canada being
notable exceptions here) and among these, a great many also have a
preamble- a brief introductory text, preceding the main body of the
written constitution. Preamble is essentially a polemic/set of guiding
principles/visionary statement on the part of Constitution makers,
before laying the foundation of a State in the main body. While it is of
little consequence in day to day workings of a State, a Preamble does
give us a fascinating insight into the ideals and cultural-historical
myths propagated by a State- the context, the bigger picture, THE
purpose behind that particular State’s existence.
 
Japan’s post-war preamble, for instance, vouches for International Peace and affirms that people of Japan shall never again be visited by horrors of war due to Government actions. French Preamble recalls Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from 1789 and establishes France as a secular and democratic country. Likewise, North Korean Preamble promises a self-reliant socialist state that has realised the ideas and leadership of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
And what do South Asian Preambles say? All 7 South Asian Countries
have a written constitution and all, but Maldives, have a preamble. Here’s the list :
Preamble of Afghanistan Constitution
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficient, the Most Merciful
Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of Worlds; and Praise and Peace be upon Mohammad,
His Last Messenger and his disciples and followers
We the people of Afghanistan:
• Believing firmly in Almighty God, relying on His divine will and adhering to the Holy religion of Islam;
• Realizing the previous injustices, miseries and innumerable disasters which have befallen our country;
• Appreciating the sacrifices, historical struggles, jihad and just
resistance of all the peoples of Afghanistan, admiring the supreme
position of the martyr’s of the country’s freedom;
• Comprehending that a united, indivisible Afghanistan belongs to all its tribes and peoples;
• Observing the United Nations Charter as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
And in order to:
• Strengthen national unity, safeguard independence, national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country;
• Establish an order based on the peoples’ will and democracy;
• Form a civil society void of oppression, atrocity, discrimination as
well as violence, based on rule of law, social justice, protecting
integrity and human rights, and attaining peoples’ freedoms and
fundamental rights;
• Strengthen political, social, economic as well as defense institutions;
• Attain a prosperous life and sound living environment for all inhabitants of this land;
• And, eventually, regain Afghanistan’s appropriate place in the international family;
Have, herein, approved this constitution in accordance with the
historical, cultural and social realities as well as requirements of
time through our elected representatives in the Loya Jirga, dated
January 3, 2004, held in the city of Kabul.
Preamble of Bangladesh Constitution
We, the people of Bangladesh, having proclaimed our Independence on the
26th day of March, 1971 and through [a historic war for national
independence], established the independent, sovereign People’s Republic
of Bangladesh;
[Pledging that the high ideals of absolute trust and faith in the
Almighty Allah, nationalism, democracy and socialism meaning economic
and social justice, which inspired our heroic people to dedicate
themselves to, and our brave martyrs to sacrifice their lives in the war
for national independence, shall be fundamental principles of the
Constitution;]
Further pledging that it shall be a fundamental aim of the State to
realise through the democratic process to socialist society, free from
exploitation-a society in which the rule of law, fundamental human
rights and freedom, equality and justice, political, economic and
social, will be secured for all citizens;
Affirming that it is our sacred duty to safeguard, protect and defend
this Constitution and to maintain its supremacy as the embodiment of the
will of the people of Bangladesh so that we may prosper in freedom and
may make our full contribution towards international peace and
co-operation in keeping with the progressive aspirations of mankind;
In our Constituent Assembly, this eighteenth day of Kartick, 1379 B.S
corresponding to the fourth day of November, 1972 A.D., do hereby adopt,
enact and give to ourselves this Constitution.
Preamble of Bhutan Constitution
• We, the People of the Kingdom of Bhutan,
• Blessed by the Triple Gem, the protection of our guardian deities, the
wisdom of our leaders, the everlasting fortunes of the Pelden Drukpa
and the guidance of His Majesty the Druk Gyalpo, Jigme Khesar Namgyel
Wangchuck;
• Solemnly pledging ourselves to strengthen the sovereignty of Bhutan,
to secure the blessings of liberty, to ensure justice and tranquillity
and to enhance the unity, happiness and well being of the people for all
time;
• Do hereby ordain and adopt this Constitution for the Kingdom of Bhutan
on the Fifteenth Day of the Fifth Month of the Male Earth Rat Year
corresponding to the Eighteenth Day of July, Two Thousand and Eight.
Preamble of Indian Constitution
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA,having solemnly resolved to constitute India
into a [SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC] and to secure
to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the [unity and integrity of the Nation];
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do
HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.
Preamble of Nepal’s Interim Constitution (2007)
WE, THE PEOPLE OF NEPAL, IN EXERCISE OF THE SOVEREIGN POWERS AND STATE AUTHORITY INHERENT IN US;
Recognizing the mandate of the Nepali people expressed, from time to
time, since before 1951 until now, through historical struggles and
people’s movements for democracy, peace and progress; Having determined
upon the progressive restructuring of the state in order to resolve the
existing problems of the country relating to class, caste, region and
gender; Expressing our full commitment to democratic norms and values
including a system of competitive multiparty democratic rule, civil
liberties, fundamental rights, human rights, adult franchise, periodic
elections, full freedom of the press, independence of the judiciary and
concepts of the rule of law; Guaranteeing the basic rights of the Nepali
people to frame a Constitution for themselves and to participate in the
free and impartial election of the Constituent Assembly in a fear-free
environment; And keeping democracy, peace, prosperity, progressive
economic-social changes and sovereignty, integrity, independence and
dignity of the country as a central concern; NOW THEREFORE, in order to
institutionalize the achievements of the revolution and movements till
this date, hereby promulgate this INTERIM CONSTITUTION OF NEPAL, 2063
(2007), prepared through a political consensus and to be in force until a
new Constitution is framed by the Constituent Assembly.
Preamble Of Pakistan Constitution
Whereas sovereignty over the entire Universe belongs to Almighty Allah
alone, and the authority to be exercised by the people of Pakistan
within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust;
And whereas it is the will of the people of Pakistan to establish an order—
Wherein the State shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people;
Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and
social justice, as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed;
Wherein the Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the
individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and
requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunnah;
Wherein adequate provision shall be made for the minorities freely to
profess and practise their religions and develop their cultures;
Wherein the territories now included in or in accession with Pakistan
and such other territories as may hereafter be included in or accede to
Pakistan shall form a Federation wherein the units will be autonomous
with such boundaries and limitations on their powers and authority as
may be prescribed;
Wherein shall be guaranteed fundamental rights, including equality of
status, of opportunity and before law, social, economic and political
justice, and freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship and
association, subject to law and public morality;
Wherein adequate provision shall be made to safeguard the legitimate interests of minorities and backward and depressed classes;
Wherein the independence of the judiciary shall be fully secured;
Wherein the integrity of the territories of the Federation, its
independence and all its rights, including its sovereign rights on land,
sea and air, shall be safeguarded;
So that the people of Pakistan may prosper and attain their rightful and
honoured place amongst the nations of the World and make their full
contribution towards international peace and progress and happiness of
humanity:
Now, therefore, we, the people of Pakistan,
Conscious of our responsibility before Almighty Allah and men;
Cognisant of the sacrifices made by the people in the cause of Pakistan;
Faithful to the declaration made by the Founder of Pakistan,
Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, that Pakistan would be a democratic
State based on Islamic Principles of social justice;
Dedicated to the preservation of democracy achieved by the unremitting struggle of the people against oppression and tyranny;
Inspired by the resolve to protect our national and political unity and
solidarity by creating an egalitarian society through a new order;
Do hereby, through our representatives in the National Assembly, adopt, enact and give to ourselves, this Constitution.
Preamble Of Sri Lankan Constitution
The PEOPLE OF SRI LANKA having, by their Mandate freely expressed and
granted on the sixth day of the waxing moon in the month of Adhi Nikini
in the year two thousand five hundred and twenty-one of the Buddhist Era
(being Thursday the twenty-first day of the month of July in the year
one thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven), entrusted to and empowered
their Representatives elected on that day to draft, adopt and operate a
new Republican Constitution in order to achieve the goals of a
DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, and having solemnly resolved by the grant
of such Mandate and the confidence reposed in their said
Representatives who were elected by an overwhelming majority, to
constitute SRI LANKA into a DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC whilst
ratifying the immutable republican principles of REPRESENTATIVE
DEMOCRACY, and assuring to all peoples FREEDOM, EQUALITY, JUSTICE,
FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS and the INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY as the
intangible heritage that guarantees the dignity and well-being of
succeeding generations of the People of SRI LANKA and of all the people
of the World, who come to share with those generations the effort of
working for the creation and preservation of a JUST AND FREE SOCIETY:
WE, THE FREELY ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE OF SRI LANKA, in
pursuance of such Mandate, humbly acknowledging our obligations to our
People and gratefully remembering their heroic and unremitting struggle
to regain and preserve their rights and privileges so that the Dignity
and Freedom of the Individual may be assured, Just, Social, Economic and
Cultural Order attained, the Unity of the Country restored, and Concord
established with other Nations,do hereby adopt and enact this
CONSTITUTION as the SUPREME LAW of the DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF
SRI LANKA.
Maldivian Constitution does not have a Preamble.
Few (superficial?) Observations:
  1. Indian, Nepali and Sri Lankan Preambles are the only ones that do not invoke any God/deity.
  2. “Secular” is explicitly mentioned only in Indian Preamble. However Nepali
    Interim Constitution also sets up a Secular State in main body of the text.
  3. Preamble
    of  Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bhutan give
    explicit precedence to religion of majority populace. In case of Sri
    Lanka and Bangladesh- the Preamble is silent on Secularism, but the main body of the
    Constitution makes it clear that they are not Secular
    States- Islam is the state religion in Bangladesh and Buddhism given
    “foremost place” in Sri Lankan Constitution. Interesting to note that
    Secularism was one of the four
    founding principles in the original Bangladeshi constitution but was
    struck down by
    General Ziaur Rehman in 1977 and Islam made the State religion. In 2010,
    Bangladeshi SC restored Secularism as one of the founding principle but
    Islam remains the State religion, so her claim to a Secular State
    remain dubious.
  4. Pakistan & Afghanistan have the longest while Bhutan &
    India have the shortest Preambles of the 6 South Asian Countries whose
    constitution begins with a Preamble.
  5. Afghanistan’s Preamble is the only one that claims to abide by UN Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  6. The word “Socialism/Socialist” is part of only Bangladeshi, Indian and Sri Lankan Preambles (inserted in 1970s for all three).
  7. Bhutanese Preamble is the only one that seeks guidance from a Royal
    family. Pakistani Preamble is the only other that explicitly cites an
    Individual’s name (Mr. Jinnah’s)
  8. Some other interesting titbits: naming of the
    drafting year (Male Earth Rat Year in Bhutan, Kartick in Bangladesh);
    mention of Jihad in Afghanistan; sovereignty of entire Universe (not
    just Pakistan) left with Allah alone in Pakistani Preamble; explicit mention of  independence of judiciary in Sri Lankan & Pakistani Preambles and so on, so forth.

If Amartya Sen was a Pandit, how would he vote?

Brown Pundits Archive ¡ June 17, 2014 ¡ Comments Off on If Amartya Sen was a Pandit, how would he vote?
“by winning 32.4 percent of the votes cast, the BJP has
effectively become the single largest political party in J&K in terms of
popular votes” 

Response: Naveen makes the excellent point that the BJP performance (and perception of performance) is exaggerated by the fact that the Valley Muslims do not vote either out of fear (of terrorists) or out of dislike (of India/Indians). At the end of the day it is the seat count (more so than the votes). The distribution is: 46 (Kashmir) and 41 (Jammu + Ladakh). BJP has announced a Mission 44 plan (with Article 370 as the winning formula). If the saffrons can capture even 40 seats it will re-create the politics of J&K. 

In the long run a partition (similar to Telengana/Andhra) may be the preferred path to unfreeze the frozen conflict, which may be healthy for everyone concerned.

Nilanjana Roy is mostly correct about her perceptions of our present day (Hindutva) over-lords. But then, if we discount the child-hood stories (which caused deep scars apparently) for the moment, she is also misremembering a golden age when the left was in charge of India (includes the Congress, Communists, and Left-Socialists) and the nature of freedoms enjoyed by the mango man. 

Rhetoric-wise Indira Gandhi was very much on the left (nationalization, garibi hatao etc.) but action-wise she was very much the dictator-in-chief. Not only did she ban foreign NGOs, she shut down the entire press and put the whole opposition behind bars. Her logic was that she was protecting the nation by defeating the RSS backed trouble-makers. If cartoon kids have managed to haunt Roy (her words) how come such an earth-shaking event had no impact on her? Is this because she agrees with one form of repression and not others?

The main problem with the left (as it is with the right) is that ideologues really cant respect democracy. Since the elections, leftists have gone hoarse in pointing out that BJP won 52% of the seats with 31% of the vote. The problem with this vote-share fetish is that suddenly all elections everywhere (except those in Syria, Egypt, Algeria, and North Korea) are illegitimate, because the majority did not vote for the ruling party (coalition). 

Instead of whining from the sidelines, the left should carefully (and urgently) examine the reason why BJP is suddenly the single largest vote winner in Jammu and Kashmir and may even be in a position to wield power. The left has traditionally benefited from minority polarization and mobilization. In Jammu it is now the Hindu minority community which is mobilized against the Muslim majority. Thus you have a strange situation whereby the BJP may come to power in Jammu and Kashmir by copying from the left rule-book. 

Can we please have some soul searching about what has gone wrong while the Left was in charge these many decades and how we can fix this? How did the Pandit-cleansing problem, which is basically a humanitarian one, end up as a stick on the Right with which to beat up the Left? Of the kilo-liters of ink spent on the Kashmir problem, did the New York Times spend even a few drops on the Pandit problem? If not, why not?

As the Guardian editorial points out, the British have finally left India (and presumably, the Mughals as well). The Indian people (read Hindus) are speaking in a new voice that will not defer to people who are better placed in life. The dictatorship of the left is over (even as the dictatorship of the right is rising). To win votes it will not be enough to invoke the magical Amartya Sen, one has to undertake the painful task of coalition building. How do you prevent Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalitha from joining hands with the BJP? If there is no strategy, no game-plan, then be prepared for a long night of right-wing rule.

Finally (Nilanjana) Roy makes a big point about how the wrong-headed, ancient-minded Indians (all RSS volunteers apparently) are unjustifiably suspicious about the well-intentioned West. Has she bothered speaking to (Arundhati) Roy? Even a small sampling from Roy’s pen will make people completely paranoid about the devil that is the West. Bottom-line: is the West trying to control us or not?? Speak with one voice please.
…….


Of
all the pictorial charts used in Indian schools as teaching aids, it
was the Ideal Boy that haunted my generation. The Ideal Boy woke up and
brushed his teeth with care, saluted his parents, prayed, had his meals
on time, helped others, performed sundry duties and, more puzzling, took
“lost children to police post.”

The
Ideal Boy embodied certain Indian values, and though these seemed
innocuous enough, there was something about his smudgy features,
identifiably mainstream Hindu and North Indian, and his expression of
saintly smugness that scarred my child brain. Now that I am an adult,
and that the right-wing has come back to power in India,
I understand why I was so queasy back then. 
The feeling was a
foreboding that otherwise unobjectionable traditional Indian values —
respect for one’s family, obedience to elders, modesty for women — might
be invoked to reject or repress certain groups.
The
new Bharatiya Janata Party government seems determined to look to Asia
for political and cultural inspiration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi
projects an image of himself as an authority — even an authoritarian —
figure, in keeping with the regional ideal of a strong leader. All the
while he has been careful to reach out to his counterparts. His first
scheduled trips abroad will be to Bhutan and then Japan: and the Chinese
foreign minister has just ended a visit to India.
His
approach isn’t just a personal predilection; it also reflects a wider
shift within India: the search, especially among right-wing politicians
and intellectuals, for a common set of Asian cultural norms that would
help them create and strengthen a new sense of Indian identity.
In
the 1990s, Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore,
triggered a fierce debate by drawing a line between Western freedoms and
human rights, on the one hand, and on the other, an Asian vision of
living in harmony, which might place individual rights in abeyance for
the good of the community. In India, this “Asian values” debate found
its way into discussions on development, among other things, notably in
arguments trying to discredit environmentalists for being too heavily
influenced by the West.
The
problems with that position are the same now as they were then. As the
economist Amartya Sen put it in 1997, “What can we take to be the values
of so vast a region, with such diversity?” As a result, invoking an
Indian, or Asian, identity in such a plural country, or region, often
becomes an excuse for the majority to speak over many minorities.
And
why assume, Mr. Sen also argued, that “Western notions” were “somehow
alien to Asia”? Yet just a couple of weeks ago, a report by the Indian
government’s Intelligence Bureau on the influence of NGOs was leaked to
the media. One of its conclusions was that many local NGOs — some funded
by “donors based in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, the Netherlands and
Scandinavian countries” — had been “using people-centric issues” to
stall development projects. Another was that some of their work served
“as tools for the strategic foreign policy interests” of Western
governments.



This
stiff-collared bureaucrat-speak isn’t just a peculiarity of the
Intelligence Bureau: It reveals a suspicion of the West — and of a human
rights culture seen to have been forged in the West — that is
widespread in India, among politicians and businessmen and, indeed, many
ordinary Indians.
Every
major case of rape recently, for example, has prompted a belligerent
reaction against the victim, often couched in terms that pit India
against the West. 
On June 7, a leading ideologue of the extreme
right-wing organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, S. Gurumurthy,
raised a minor storm of protest when he tweeted: “If Indian women
westernize rapes will rise by 50/60 times to reach the levels of West,
But there will be no media report No UN intervention.” Among his next
few tweets was this definition of Westernization: “Unbridled
individualism which destroys relations and families.”
These
days, the purportedly shady influence of the West is invoked not only
to explain why women are victims of sexual violence, but also why Indian
culture is in danger, artists should be censored or anyone who
questions the costs of development is “anti-national.” In other words,
the return of the Asian values debate in India has already become an
excuse to assault civil and political rights.
The
first time around, Mr. Sen had argued that “The so-called Asian values
that are invoked to justify authoritarianism are not especially Asian in
any significant sense.” This was a wise attempt to get beyond hopeless
dichotomies. But it appealed to rationality, and lately rationality is a
value that has seemed not Indian enough.

……

As noted by
Firstpost before, “by winning 32.4 percent of the votes cast, the BJP has
effectively become the single largest political party in J&K in terms of
popular votes, ahead of the Congress (22.9 percent), PDP (20.5 percent) and
National Conference (11.1 percent). In actual numbers, the BJP got 1.15 million
votes, the Congress 8.15 lakh votes, the PDP 7.3 lakh votes and the NC just
under four lakh votes.” 
This unexpected performance has enabled the party to up
the stakes in the assembly polls and even think of a majority on its own.
According to this Mint report, the party is planning Mission 44 – the halfway
mark in an 87-member assembly – and will plan alliances in some regions for the
same. The report even talks of the party announcing its own chief ministerial
candidate. 
The J&K assembly has 37 seats for Jammu, 46 for Kashmir Valley,
and four for Ladakh. Having won Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh, which collectively
account for 41 assembly seats, the BJP is wondering if it can sweep the polls
in Jammu and Ladakh and come within striking distance of the halfway mark. 
The
Mint report says the party plans to use the Article 370 issue – which
politically divides the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley from the
Hindu-dominated Jammu region – to maximise its gains in the latter region. To
push its chances in Jammu, the home ministry is announcing a package of Rs 20
lakh for displaced Kashmiri Pandits to reclaim and rebuild their old homes in
the Valley. While their actual return may be delayed due to continuing fears
about safety and the still unsettled militant situation in the Valley, the BJP
is clearly is mission mode with the Pandits and other prospective voters.

……

Link (1): http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/opinion/debate-over-asian-values-returns-to-india.html

Link (2): http://www.firstpost.com/politics/will-the-next-jk-cm-be-from-bjp-the-partys-big-plan-for-kashmir-1572573.html
……

regards

Pope applies universal salve to Middle East

Brown Pundits Archive ¡ June 17, 2014 ¡ Comments Off on Pope applies universal salve to Middle East

Spengler writes: 
“Urs von Balthasar insisted that the Church must “contrast Christian universality of redemption to Jewish salvation-particularism”. For most of its long history, the Church taught that it was Israel and that Gentiles were saved by adoption into Israel; not until the 1980s did John Paul II declare that the living, breathing descendants of Abraham still were “Israel” in a theological sense. John Paul II’s declaration (restated by his successor, Benedict XVI, as well as Francis I) that the Old Covenant never was revoked was a revolution in the Church’s relationship with the Jews. Nonetheless, the new universalism



also raises the prospect a new form of anti-Judaism. It abhors the notion that God has a particular love for any section of mankind. 

Pope Francis’ impatience with Jewish particularism roils below an amicable surface. When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu mentioned during his public meeting with Francis that Jesus spoke Hebrew, the pope corrected, “Aramaic!” Netanyahu patiently observed that Jesus spoke both languages. Israelis, for example the distinguished Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick, read this (I believe correctly) as an effort to attenuate Jesus’ Jewish identity, that is, his association with the particularity of Israel. It is not that Francis does not want to love the Jews: he wants to love everyone in exactly the same way.”

Basically if we don’t believe that God loves the Jews above all else, we are anti-Judaism (and by extension anti-Semitic)?

Are currency movements and capital outflows the relevant lever for China problems?

Brown Pundits Archive ¡ June 17, 2014 ¡ Comments Off on Are currency movements and capital outflows the relevant lever for China problems?
I think all emerging markets are going to be hit by the tightening trend that’s especially developed in the Anglo-Saxon economies (Oz, UK & US).
After all cable at 1.70 is at multi-year highs and currency strength is going to favor GBP & USD especially as there is pressure on higher yields (and restructuring of shorter term interest rates) in US treasuries.
The asynchronous nature of the economy where the flow of capital is beginning to redirect away from emerging markets (and even Japan, the EU & Switzerland) back to the days of the infamous carry trade is invariably going to hurt growing (but inefficient) markets like India, China & Africa.
Risk-return metrics are the basis for good investment and why accept moderately higher yields at substantially higher risk levels.

– See more at: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2014/06/are-currency-movements-and-capital-outflows-the-relevant-lever-for-china-problems.html#comment-158239633

Comments I’ve left around the web

Brown Pundits Archive ¡ June 17, 2014 ¡ Comments Off on Comments I’ve left around the web

I feel blogging is re-consolidating into professional writing while the social media is taking back the amateur blogger. In social media one has the benefit of vociferous and instant reactions.

So for now I’ll post my various comments that I leave on the web and linkback.

Heart for Hvovi (in 13 min 22 sec)

Brown Pundits Archive ¡ June 17, 2014 ¡ Comments Off on Heart for Hvovi (in 13 min 22 sec)
“As
soon as the heart was brought, the transplant began. By 10.15pm, the
heart was beating in the patient’s chest,” said Dr Suresh Rao, chief
anesthetist at Fortis Malar.

May many a million “green corridors” bloom. Best wishes (truly a second born) to Hvovi Minocherchomji (an interesting name – Naga? – if anything).

 
It is un-imaginable that people (and society in general) are silly enough to fight between themselves instead of co-operating. The silliest fights are on the basis of ideology, as if a Hindu heart beats differently from a Muslim one. If any policy question needs resolving, just apply the rule: how does it affect women (positively, adversely)? In general, the people in power need to remove bottlenecks that tend to throttle the lives of the aam aurat and lend a helping hand (and a useful heart) whenever required.

……….

Five
people with heart failure were waiting for a second shot at life and one
got lucky on Monday. Early Monday morning changed Mumbaikar Hvovi
Minocherchomji’s life when doctors told her that she would get a new
heart.    The 21-year-old BCom student was suffering from swelling of the
heart (dilated cardiomyopathy) for four years and had decided to go to
the US for a transplant. But doctors advised her against it as the
waiting period for a heart there was two years and she had just three
months before things might turn worse.

 Two
weeks ago Minocherchomji was admitted at Fortis Malar Hospitals in Adyar
and was enrolled in the state organ transplant registry. Good news came
at 7am. “There were five patients waiting for a heart and we chose
Hvovi as her condition was worsening by the moment. The donor’s blood
group and body weight also matched only with hers,” said Dr Suresh Rao,
chief anaesthetist at Fortis Malar.




The
ambulance carrying the heart, harvested from a 27-year-old man who died
in a traffic accident and preserved in a special container at 4 degrees
Celsius, started from Government hospital at 6.44pm and reached Fortis
Malar 13 minutes and 22 seconds later, at 6.57pm. Normally, a vehicle
takes 45 minutes to cover the stretch at peak hour.

At the
private hospital, the parents of Hvovi Minocherchomji’s, a 21-year-old
BCom student from Mumbai, received the heart – the mother in tears, the
father with a prayer on his lips.

Malar surgeons immediately got to the job of transplanting the organ on
the recipient who was kept ready. Through the day, the teams of doctors
at the two hospitals had been keeping each other informed about the
condition of the donor and the recipient. The liver and kidneys went to
other hospitals.

Malar got a call as early as 5.45am on Monday
that a brain-dead patient may be taken off the ventilator in a few hours
and that a heart, a liver and kidneys would be available for donation.
The Mumbai woman turned out to be luckier than five others awaiting a
heart transplant, as the donor’s blood group and body weight matched
only with hers among the other patients.

Almost simultaneously,
Karunasagar, the additional commissioner of police (traffic) was
informed about the need to transport the organ. By afternoon, the
traffic police were ready to create the green corridor, most of it along
the Beach Road and Santhome High Road, two of the busiest stretches in
the evening.

……..

Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/No-lal-batti-Chennai-halts-traffic-to-save-life/articleshow/36676797.cms

……

regards

Fight Taliban Arundhati Roy style

Brown Pundits Archive ¡ June 16, 2014 ¡ Comments Off on Fight Taliban Arundhati Roy style

If
you look at Afghanistan, Waziristan, you know, the northeast states of
India and this whole mineral belt that goes from West Bengal through
Jharkhand through Orissa to Chhattisgarh, what’s called the Red Corridor
in India, you know, it’s interesting that the entire thing is a tribal
uprising. In Afghanistan, obviously, it’s taken the form of a radical
Islamist uprising. And here, it’s a radical left uprising. But the
attack is the same. It’s a corporate attack, you know, on these people.
The resistance has taken different forms. – See more at:
http://www.blackstarnews.com/others/extras/interview-arundhati-roy.html#sthash.x2qXMXnZ.dpuf

If
you look at Afghanistan, Waziristan, you know, the northeast states of
India and this whole mineral belt that goes from West Bengal through
Jharkhand through Orissa to Chhattisgarh, what’s called the Red Corridor
in India, you know, it’s interesting that the entire thing is a tribal
uprising. In Afghanistan, obviously, it’s taken the form of a radical
Islamist uprising. And here, it’s a radical left uprising. But the
attack is the same. It’s a corporate attack, you know, on these people.
The resistance has taken different forms. – See more at:
http://www.blackstarnews.com/others/extras/interview-arundhati-roy.html#sthash.x2qXMXnZ.dp
 Comrade Roy taking a break from people’s revolution, at her home in Delhi’s most posh neighborhood (High Security Diplomatic enclave in Chanakyapuri)
“When you say things like, ‘We have to wipe out the
Taliban,’ what does that mean? The Taliban is not a fixed number of people. The
Taliban is an ideology that has sprung out of a history that, you know, America
created anyway…

If you look at Afghanistan, Waziristan, you know,
the northeast states of India and this whole mineral belt that goes from West
Bengal through Jharkhand through Orissa to Chhattisgarh, what’s called the Red
Corridor in India, you know, it’s interesting that the entire thing is a tribal
uprising. In Afghanistan, obviously, it’s taken the form of a radical Islamist
uprising. And here, it’s a radical left uprising. But the attack is the same.
It’s a corporate attack, you know, on these people. The resistance has taken
different forms…
We know from the history of the war on terror that
a military strategy is only making matters worse all over the world. The war on
terror has made the world a more dangerous place. In India, they have been
fighting insurgencies military since 1947 and it has become a more dangerous
place…“


In
other words, for any Taliban atrocities, pass the buck on US but
if the local State itself tries to forcibly wrest control from the crazies supposedly created by US, it will be doing a grave injustice- as then these US created crazies (somehow) convert into tribal rebels fighting against Corporate attack. In effect, whatever the course of action you pick- just make sure to blame US, Local state and Corporates for screwing up what otherwise would have been a stateless utopia. War on terror has worked nowhere, goes on Roy. To back her claim, Roy says Indian State’s fight against insurgencies has made India more dangerous (offcourse the official data that says otherwise, is State propaganda and any anectodal evidence that backs the same is no more than middle class delusion). 

PS: Having said that, I do enjoy
Ms Roy’s loquacious diatribes on India’s Hindutva crowd (though she seems OK with some of the  Sharia enthusiasts of Kashmir valley and even trieS to justify 26/11 Mumbai attack)- not as a source of serious analysis but because she tests the boundaries of
freedom of expression in India and at times, just for the heck of it (a welcome break from
right wing nutjobs of India).

Operation in North Waziristan: the end of the beginning?

Brown Pundits Archive ¡ June 16, 2014 ¡ Comments Off on Operation in North Waziristan: the end of the beginning?

1. If the aggressive PR operation launched in connection with the latest Waziristan operation is to be believed, the army has finally realized that the bad Taliban are simply intolerable and must be eliminated. They have been beheading soldiers and playing football with their heads for ages, so this realization is not exactly a stroke of genius. But as they say, better late than never.
A few hardcore skeptics continue to doubt that this operation signals any significant change in the age-old policy of playing whack-a-mole with (some) bad jihadis while keeping the good jihadi operation going, but most liberals on my time line seem to find it revolutionary. Who is right?
I am hedging my bets: I support the operation because some particularly nasty people may indeed be eliminated (or at least forced underground), but…I remain doubtful about a serious change of heart about the use of terrorists to kill Afghans or Indians. And barring such a change of heart, new layers of terrorism and violence will arise (and will have to be operated against in turn). I also dont think it will be as clean as is being shown on TV. Innocents will die and unfortunately, may die in rather large numbers.

2. There is no attempt to undermine or discredit the various Taliban front organizations and fellow travelers (JUI-S, Jamat e Islami, right wing of the PTI, etc). There is also no sign of any decisive action against the Lashkar e Jhangvi (the anti-Shia killing machine). And of course, the good Taliban and good Jihadists continue to be on our good side, planning attacks on Afghanistan and rallies in Kashmir..

3. ALL of the above will have to be tackled if Pakistan is to reverse course. That change of course therefore remains a very big IF.

4. We know from history that a small numbers of determined terrorists can maintain a terror campaign for years. So even if this operation represents a genuine change of course, it will not lead to peace in the short term. At best, it may be the “end of the beginning”.

PS: Imran Khan and the PTI have decided to support the operation. This either means its so damn serious that even IK has been scared into changing his mind…. OR that there is less here than meets the eye….Take your pick. I am an optimist, but when IK steps forward to support an operation, one must pause and at least briefly reconsider any optimism one may have felt.
On the other hand, the nephew of the chief justice (employee of a “sensitive agency”) has been kidnapped in Multan. That may indicate that the Islamists find this operation serious even if some observers do not.

Of course, there is always the “long term optimists” view: that this operation (warts and all) should be seen as yet another small step in the continuing march of Pakistan back towards the modern world. In this supposedly optimistic view, the deficiencies and doubts could all be true, but its all part of a greater process. GHQ (and PTI) may not intend to see this operation lead to future operations against good jihadists and shia-killers, but just like they (slowly) moved from garlanding Nek Mohammed to trying to kill his successors, they will also move (after many delays and unnecessary casualties) to target those who are currently their friends or are not yet a priority. .
What do you think?

Zarb-e-Azb: More the things change…

Brown Pundits Archive ¡ June 16, 2014 ¡ Comments Off on Zarb-e-Azb: More the things change…
Insanity, Einstein said, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. 

Without a comprehensive deradicalisation strategy, dumping of good/bad Taliban dichotomy and a relook at relations with neighbors; it is difficult to understand what this very limited (to bad Taliban based in North Waziristan), much delayed  and crude (How many countries regularly deploy fighter jets to bomb insurgent hideouts in their own territory?) military operation will achieve apart from further alienation of local civilians from State, more reprisal killings of Shias, and violent attacks in  Pakistan’s cities.

Freedom fighters

Brown Pundits Archive ¡ June 15, 2014 ¡ Comments Off on Freedom fighters
Eleven voters in Herat had their fingers—which were dipped in ink to
register their ballot—cut off by insurgents 

This is what the Pankajists must have in mind when they speak eloquently about the (spiritual) nature of the (spiritual) descendants of Sayyid Jamal-ad-din al-Afghani. As expected, these Gandhians with guns are full of contempt towards silly things that are dear to the bourgeois, such as showing the world your purple voting finger. Cutting off the fingers help prove that noble savages are exactly as advertised. If there is any (little bit of) fault to be dished out it must be laid at the feet of the evil westerners who were irresponsible enough to breed such genetically modified organisms in the first place…

 ….
Officials
said more than 50 people were killed in separate Taliban strikes on
Saturday, when more than 7 million voters cast their ballot in the
contest between former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World
Bank economist Ashraf Ghani.


…

The deaths included five election
workers killed when their bus was hit by a roadside bomb in Samangan
province, and five members of one family who died when a Taliban rocket
hit a house near a polling station.

Eleven voters in the
western province of Herat had their fingers—which were dipped in ink to
register their ballot—cut off by insurgents.

The UN described
the mutilations as “abhorrent”. More than 70 militants were also killed
in fighting during the day, according to the interior ministry.

The White House praised voters’ courage and called the elections “a
significant step forward on Afghanistan’s democratic path”, after the
turnout topped 50 percent.. ……..
Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Taliban-target-voters-in-Afghanistan-kill-50-mutilate-11/articleshow/36614278.cms
……
regards

Brown Pundits