Vol.21 No.1 BULLETIN October 2, 2016 OF THE CENTRE FOR POLICY STUDIES   Nonviolence is a ‘living force’ “The world is terminally ill with violence”, writes social truth by the scientific method of observation, Arun Gandhi in his foreword to ‘The Search for a Nonviolent intuitional and intellectual hypothesis and experimental Future’ by Michael N. Nagler, adding that “when the test. Unlike western social scientists he tested the disease assumes a virulent form we plead for a remedy; hypothesis on himself. He is not a mere scientist; but a but when we are cured we go back to our old destructive great social scientist because of his choice of problems, ways.” Nagler, initiated early in his life into the study of because of his methods of solution, because of his Mahatma Gandhi’s life and work, began to realise that persistence and thoroughness of his search and because “Gandhi was at once much greater and yet more relevant of the profundity of human heart.’ - even to my own little life - than I had imagined.” Convinced When asked about the experiences that influenced that Satyagraha does not suppress reason but frees it from his life, the Mahatma replied “Such experiences are a inertia, Nagler writes that Satyagraha does not ‘enslave, it multitude. I recalled particularly one experience that compels reason to be free.’ His mission is to make more changed the course of my life that fell to my lot seven days accessible ‘the vast unexplored possibilities of that force after I had arrived in South Africa. At Maritzburg when the which establishes its sovereignty over prejudice, hatred, beds were issued, the guard came and turned me out and and other baser passions’. To a world divided by hatred asked me to go into the van compartment. I would not go and conflicting ideologies and devastated by World Wars and the train steamed away leaving me shivering in cold. and mindless violence, Mahatma Gandhi’s panacea was Now the creative experience comes there. I was afraid for Nonviolence. Satyagraha launched by him generated my very life. I entered the dark waiting-room. There was intellectual excitement and debate among philosophers, a white man in the room. I was afraid of him. What was thinkers, scholars and scientists across the world. my duty, I asked myself. Should I go back to India, should Amazed by Gandhiji’s ‘invincible’ calm and I go forward, with God as my helper, and face whatever imperturbability’, Edward Thompson declared that ‘not was in store for me? I decided to stay and suffer. My active since Socrates has the world seen his equal for absolute Nonviolence began from that date.” From that day in 1893 self-control and composure’. Probing the philosophical till that fateful Friday,30th January 1948, Gandhiji was foundations of Nonviolence C.E.M.Joad raised and confronted with violence in its virulent and subhuman answered the question ‘what consists the most manifestations---abuse, ridicule, insult, physical assault, characteristic quality of our species? Some would say, in and eventually assassination. The Mahatma remained moral virtue; some, in godliness; some, in courage; some, unperturbed throughout these fifty five years. Instead he in the power of self-sacrifice. Aristotle found it in reason’. prayed and pleaded with the authorities concerned not to But Aristotle’s answer gives, according to Joad, part of punish them, whether it was the sentry who kicked him the truth, but not the whole. ‘The essence of reason lies off the footpath or the white racists who thrashed him in objectivity and detachment’, said Joad who found in the mercilessly or his own countrymen who conspired to ‘virtue of detachment from self the source of Gandhi’s eliminate him physically. Nonviolence is ultimately a way authority’. Hailing Gandhi as a ‘moral genius’ Joad wished of life that men and women live by said Martin Luther King, that Gandhi’s method should grow ‘more powerful than because ‘of the sheer morality of its claim.’ If the world is the forces of destruction, if civilization is to survive.’ to have peace, declared Gandhiji, nonviolence is the means In the words of Nagler, it is a science if there ever to that end and there is no other. That living force which was one but it cannot make predictions as nearly as has inspired millions of people including Martin Luther mechanics or electricity, for Satyagraha is what Gandhi King and Nelson Mandela continues to glow as a beacon called “a living force,” not a physical one. He is a social of hope and peace for humanity. scientist, explained Richard Gregg, because ‘he follows - The Editor Non-violence in its dynamic condition means conscious suffering. It does not mean meek submission to the“I will will not of therest evil-doer, content unless but it everymeans man, the puttingwoman, of and one’s child whole in this soul country against has the a willfair ofdeal the and tyrant. attains a minimum standard of living.” Jawaharlal Nehru - Mahatma Gandhi Satyagraha leaders of the world discover their highest human dignity in themselves, not in the offices they hold, in Dr. S. Radhakrishnan the depth of their own souls, in the freedom of their When the strife of these days is forgotten, conscience, there is no hope for the ordered peace of Gandhi will stand out as the great prophet of a moral a world-community- Gandhi had the faith that the and spiritual revolution without which this distracted world is one in its deepest roots and highest world will not find peace. It is said that non-violence aspirations. He knew that the purpose of historical is the dream of the wise while violence is the history humanity was to develop a world-civilization, a world- of man. It is true that wars are obvious and dramatic culture, a world-community. We can get out of the and their results in changing the course of history are misery of this world only by exposing the darkness evident and striking. which is strongly entrenched in men’s hearts and replacing it by understanding and tolerance. Gandhi’s But there is a struggle which goes on in the tender and tormented heart heralds the world which minds of men. Its results are not recorded in the the United Nations wish to create. This lonely symbol statistics of the killed and the injured. It is the struggle of a vanishing past is also the prophet of the new world for human decency, for the avoidance of physical strife which is struggling to be born. He represents the which restricts human life, for a world without wars. conscience of the future man. Among the fighters in this great struggle, Gandhi was in the front rank. His message is not a matter for (From Mahatma Gandhi, Edited by S. Radha academic debate intellectual circles. It is the answer Krishnan) to the cry of exasperated mankind which is at the c c c cross-roads—which all prevail, the law of the Jungle or the law of love? All our world organizations will GANDHI’S STATESMANSHIP prove ineffective if the truth that love is stronger than by Albert Einstein, D.Sc. hate does not inspire them. The world does not become one simply because we can go round it in less (The Institute of Advanced Studies, School of than three days. However far or fast we may travel, Mathematics, Princeton University, U.S.A.) our minds do not get nearer to our neighbours. Gandhi is unique in political history. He has The oneness of the world can only be the invented an entirely new and humane technique for oneness of our purposes and aspirations. A united the liberation struggle of an oppressed people and world can only be the material counterpart of a carried it out with the greatest energy and devotion. spiritual affinity. Mechanical makeshifts and external The moral influence which he has exercised upon structures by themselves cannot achieve the spiritual thinking people through the civilized world may be results. Changes in the social architecture do not alter far more durable than would appear likely in our the minds of people. Wars have their origins in false present age, with its exaggeration of brute force. For values, in ignorance, in intolerance. Wrong leadership the work of statesmen is permanent only in so far as has brought the world to its present misery. they arouse and consolidate the moral forces of their Throughout the world there seems to be a black out peoples through their personal example and educating of civilized values. Great nations bomb one another’s influence. cities in order to obtain the victory. The moral We are fortunate and should be grateful that consequences of the use of the atom bomb may prove fate has bestowed upon us so luminous a to be far more disastrous than the bomb itself. The contemporary—a beacon to the generations to come. fault is not in our stars but in ourselves. Institutions (From Mahatma Gandhi, Edited by are of little avail unless we are trained to obey our S. Radhakrishnan) conscience and develop brotherly love. Unless the c c c

Non-violence is the law of our species as violence is the law of the brute. The dignity of man requires obedience to a higher law- to the strength of the spirit. 2 - Mahatma Gandhi MAHATMA brilliant, but he added that while there are limitations THE PILGRIM OF ETERNITY to the development of the mind, there are no limitations to the development of the heart. Shri Nani Palkhivala If one were to denote in a word what the THE SECOND OF October has again come by, and Mahatma had, it is the Sanskrit word, buddhi—the our hearts and minds go back to the pilgrim of eternity. capacity inter alia to perceive the Truth. This is a Smt Kamala, the director of this Gandhi Memorial capacity which few individuals have, and you can Centre, gave us a beautiful thought when she said that develop it only by deep self-study, by profound a part of all the great spirits of the past might have devotion. He was able, as a result of his buddhi, to found a place within the soul of Mahatma Gandhi. propound solutions which went far beyond the Gandhiji’s impact on those who came in contact insights of any academic studies of politics or with him was almost magical. Rabindranath Tagore economics or science. Let me tell you what he said said: about himself: ‘At Gandhiji’s call India blossomed forth to new ‘What I want to achieve—-what I have been greatness, just as once before in earlier times when striving and pining to achieve these thirty years—is Buddha proclaimed the truth of fellow-feeling and self-realization, to see God face to face, to attain compassion among all living creatures.’ Moksha. I live and move and have my being in pursuit of this goal. All that I do by way of speaking and writing, Even so hard-headed a man as George Bernard and all my ventures in the political field, are directed Shaw, to whom praise of others did not come very to this same end. I am but a weak aspirant, ever failing, naturally, when asked for his impression upon meeting ever trying. My failures make me more vigilant than Mahatma Gandhi, said: ‘You might as well ask for before and intensify my faith. I can see with the eye someone’s impression of the Himalayas!’ Romain of faith that the observance of the twin doctrine of Rolland, the great French writer and Nobel prize- Truth and Non-violence has possibilities of which we winner, said that Mahatma Gandhi ‘had introduced have but very inadequate conception.’ into human politics the strongest religious impetus of the last two hundred years’. If instead of two hundred The pregnant phrase ‘the eye of faith’ reminds years, he had said twelve hundred years, he would you of the lines of George Santayana: have been still right. ‘Columbus found a world, and had no chart, The Mahatma met Charlie Chaplin, confessed Save one that faith deciphered in the skies; to him frankly that he had not seen his pictures, and To trust the soul’s invincible surmise expounded to him his theory about the disastrous Was all his science and his only art.’ effects of the machine on human life. It was the only science and the only art of Their conversation led Charlie Chaplin to Mahatma Gandhi—to trust the soul’s invincible produce Modern Times. surmise. In our own times, Anwar Sadat of Egypt has Before I go further into some of the ideas which publicly spoken about the tremendous influence the Mahatma propagated, I would like to mention one Mahatma Gandhi’s writings had on him. interesting point. There seems to be a mystic— karmic—bond between the United States and India, Gandhiji gave a decisive new direction to history. and you see this link in the case of Mahatma Gandhi. What was it about this man which held the human race in thrall? Who was this individual? And how did When he was in South Africa (he went there in he come to wield such influence over the rest of 1893), the two foreigners who befriended him were mankind? He himself said that he was a very strange both Americans. They gave him succour and shelter. individual. He confessed that he was not intellectually After he came back to India, the first foreigner to spot When sathya (truth) and dharma(righteousness) go together, shanty(peace) will reign. Peace leads to love. Where there is peace, there hatred cannot be. - Sri Sathya Sai Baba 3 his incredible spiritual strength was an American. which led Martin Luther King to start a civil On 10 April 1922, Reverend John Haynes Holmes disobedience campaign on non-violent lines. Vice- delivered a speech in an American Church on ‘Who is President Mondale has publicly stated how deeply the Greatest Man in the World?’ Reverend Holmes influenced he was as a young man by Mahatma declared that he had no doubt that the greatest man Gandhi’s teachings. President Carter is another great alive was Mahatma Gandhi. He compared the admirer of the Mahatma. Mahatma to Christ. In 1922 no other foreigner had When Hubert Humphrey died, there was one the conception of the Mahatma as the prophet of the quotation in President Carter’s tribute to the eminent twentieth century. Senator and that was what the President had read at Then came the great years of Mahatma Gandhi the Gandhi Samadhi in New Delhi. The words quoted in India. There he started his civil disobedience enumerate what Gandhiji regarded as the Seven movement, which he implemented with phenomenal Deadly Sins: success. The one person who influenced him the most ‘Commerce without ethics; in his thinking on civil disobedience was again an Pleasure without conscience; American—Henry David Thoreau. He had read Politics without principle; Thoreau in the year 1907 when he was in South Africa. Knowledge without character; He had reproduced extracts from Thoreau’s writings Science without humanity; in Young India which he was editing at the time in Wealth without work; South Africa. Worship without sacrifice.’ The last man to be the disciple of the Mahatma Let me now say a few words about the was an American—Vincent Sheean. He met the Mahatma’s ideas which have changed the course of Mahatma in Delhi on 27 January 1948, three days human history. His main emphasis, as we all know, before the Mahatma was assassinated, and offered was on truth and non-violence. A thinker has said that himself as a disciple. The Mahatma talked to him at truth is a scarce commodity, but its supply has always some length on that day on a variety of subjects, and outstripped the demand. While truth does not seem quoted to him the lines from the Upanishads-. ‘The to be triumphing all round us—somehow, somewhere, whole world is the garment of God; renounce it then in some way, something is working which is bringing and receive it back as the gift of God.’ Sheean was the human race closer to truth. most impressed and met him again on the 28th. They This is what the Mahatma has to say about truth were to meet again in the evening of the 30th, but and non-violence; ‘I may be a despicable person; but that was not to be. when Truth speaks through me, I am invincible.’ The last interview which the Mahatma gave was ‘Truth alone will endure; all the rest will be in the early afternoon on 30 January, and it was to an swept away before the tide of Time.’ American. She was Margaret Bourke-White who came to interview him for Life magazine. She asked him the ‘Non-violence is the law of our species, as question: would he persist in his theory of non- violence is the law of the brute.’ violence in the event of a nuclear attack on a city? ‘Non-violence is the greatest force at the The Mahatma’s reply was that if the defenceless disposal of mankind. citizens died in a spirit of non-violence, their sacrifices would not be in vain; they might well pray for the soul It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of of the pilot who thoughtlessly sprayed death on the destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.’ city. This was his last message of compassion to ‘I do not believe in short cuts which involve mankind. violence. However much I may sympathize with and In our times his influence on America has been admire worthy motives, I am an uncompromising of the most significant character. It was his influence opponent of violent methods even to serve the

The influence which emanated from his personality was ineffable, like music, like beauty. Its claim upon others was great because of its revelation of a spontaneous self-giving. 4 - Rabindranath Tagore on Gandhiji noblest of causes. There is, therefore, really no As regards the need of identifying oneself with meeting ground between the school of violence and the masses, he observed— myself.’ ‘We must first come in living touch with them It was not a personal God that the Mahatma by working for them and in their midst. We must share believed in. He had the very, very deep and profound their sorrows, understand their difficulties and Hindu concept of Brahma—the all-prevading Reality, anticipate their wants. With the pariahs we must be which is God in its various manifestations. It is that pariahs and see how we feel to clean the closets of God that he believed in. To quote his own words: the upper classes and have the remains of their table ‘To me God is Truth and Love; God is Ethics and thrown at us. We must see how we like being in the Morality; God is fearlessness; God is the source of Light boxes, miscalled houses, of the labourers of Bombay. and Life, and yet He is above and beyond all these. He We must identify ourselves with the villagers who toil is even the atheism of the atheist; he transcends under the hot sun beating on their bent backs and speech and reason.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was see how we would like to drink water from the pool in well-versed in Indian culture, has written a poem called which the villagers bathe, wash their clothes and pots, ‘Brahma’, where this very idea is memorably and in which their cattle drink and roll. Then and not expressed: till then shall we truly represent the masses and they will, as surely as I am writing this, respond to every ‘They reckon ill who leave me out; call.’ When me they fly, I am the wings; I am the doubter and the doubt, The Indian masses responded to the Mahatma’s And I the hymn the Brahmin sings.’ call in a spirit of total surrender. God is the doubter and the doubt, and God is The Mahatma dealt with problems which are the atheist and his atheism. In other words, there is timeless and universal, because they spring from just no escape from Him. The same thought was enduring weaknesses of human nature and human expressed by Francis Thompson in The Hound of society. Since the solutions he found for them were Heaven. Ultimately the sceptic realizes that God has based on eternal verities, his influence and his been by his side all the time. relevance are also timeless and universal. Another sentence from Gandhiji: ‘Scriptures On this second day of October, we can have no cannot transcend reason and truth; they are intended better wish for India than that the great spirit of the to purify reason and illuminate the truth.’ He tried to Mahatma may always abide with our people. synthesize the essentials of all religions: ‘Indeed (From NANI PALKHIVALA - Selected Writings religion should pervade every one of our actions. Here edited by L.M.Singhvi, M.R. Pai and S. Ramakrishnan) religion does not mean sectarianism. It means a belief c c c in ordered moral government of the universe. It is not less real because it is unseen. This religion transcends Judicial Activism : Boon or Bane Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, etc. It does not Shri Soli J. Sorabjee supersede them. It harmonizes them and gives them Former Attorney General for India reality.’ (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Platinum Jubilee lecture) He identified himself completely with the common man. He spoke and he worked not for the Justice Lahoti, former Chief Justice of Supreme ruler Court, Shri Ashok Pradhan, Director, Chairperson & Vice Chairpersons of BVB on the dais, ladies & ‘but the ranker, the tramp of the road, gentlemen. The slave with the sack on his shoulders pricked on with the goad, Judicial activism and activist judges have become The man with too weighty a burden, buzz words. In every sphere relating to judiciary this too weary a load.’ topic comes up. There is no definition of judicial Gandhiji effected a vast psychological revolution not only among those who followed his lead but also among his opponents and those many neutrals who could not make up their minds what to think and what to do. - Jawaharlal Nehru 5 activism as such. I think it will be good if we refer to a requirement of fairness and natural justice because a dictionary to know what we mean by activism. Collins person must know on what basis his license of permit dictionary defines Activism as a policy of taking direct has been cancelled. & often militant action to achieve an end, especially a There was a rule in Mumbai Police for hotel political or social one. Webster defines Activism as a licensing, which said a license may not be given to a doctrine or policy of being active, of doing things with person if he is not a suitable person. But not suitable decision. So I think judicial activism within the judicial for what? Is it on account of his not getting marks, system is that which discharges its functions in going to church, having an occasional drink with vigorous and decisive manner to achieve an end. What friends or something else? It is beneficial and effective is that end? Dispensing justice with a view to righting to give reasons. Thanks to this development and the wrongs or providing remedies where none specifically activist judges in this case it has certainly been a boon. exist. Take another technique. Thanks to activist The thinking in the past was that the role of judges certain rights which are not specifically judiciary was merely to decide cases by interpreting a mentioned in the bill of rights has been enforced from statute behind the laws to a given set of facts reported. other rights explicitly mentioned. The Supreme Court This was the traditional role according to which the of United States of America where they deduced right judiciary merely declares a law. It does not make a to privacy, though not specifically mentioned in the law. As one jurist said no one now accepts this childish Bill of Rights. Take our own case of the Supreme Court, fixation. The common law is not made by judges but we all talk of freedom of press. Where is it mentioned is miraculously something made from eternity and in a chapter of fundamental rights? merely declared from time to time by judges. So the role of judiciary has undergone a change. Now let us An activist Supreme Court deduced freedom of see whether judicial activism is boon or bane. That press from the guarantee of free speech and we will come to later. expression. You talk of freedom of press being absolutely important for democracy. It is, but it was Let me give one example. Because of judicial given a constitutional status by the Activist judges by activism a provision has been read in a statute which interpretation of Free Speech guarantee in Article did not require a prior hearing when an adverse 19(1). No one can say that's not a boon as far as the decision was taken against a person. Statutes didn’t right is concerned. “The making of policies is the say the person should be heard. But judicial activism prerogative of executive and not courts.” “Courts read the principles of ‘audi alteram partem’ which cannot make orders that affect the evaluation of policy means prior hearing be given to a person against and that require an executive to pursue a particular whom an adverse decision is taken. Thanks to that, policy.” This is all misconstrued. This is all gone into the fairness in administration and also if I may say the indepth in the judgement in a Supreme Court case (in omission of statute was made a law by good lawyers the BALCO case). Supreme Court held that it is not and judges. You don’t condemn a man unheard. This within the domain of the courts nor the scope of thanks to judicial activism has been read to a statute judicial review to embark upon an enquiry as to and that to my mind is a boon. whether a particular public policy is wise or a better Take another example, where a statute requires public policy can be evolved or whether a different that reasons have to be given in support of a decision. policy is available that is fairer or wiser or more Suppose a statute doesn’t say about giving reasons. scientific. But if a policy is in contravention of What happens? Again Activist judges took the view constitutional provisions, suppose a policy favours only that giving reasons is necessary because it ensures a certain community or class of people or is in breach application of mind by the decision making authority, of some manadatory law or monopoly, judicial minimizes arbitrariness and incorporation of activism should be available. If that constitutes an extraneous factors and above all satisfies basic human intrusion into the domain of the executive then it is Gandhiji has raised up three hundred millions of his fellow men, shaken the British Empire and inaugurated in human politics the most powerful movement that the world has seen 6 for nearly two thousand years. - Romain Rolland an intrusion mandated by the Constitution itself. legislation. Since the 1996 judgment, only a bill has Please remember friends the occasion for judicial been introduced to prevent this problem. This is the intervention in majority of the cases is in violation of Vishaka case and I think it has been highly beneficial. human rights which takes place on account of non- Thanks to PIL and judicial activism the role of implementation of laws by the executive. law has been upheld and constitutional values have Now let us talk of the complaint that is running been preserved. Numerous under trial prisoners the country? I'll come to that in some cases. Normally languishing in jail were released, persons who were what the law says to the executive is - you pass laws treated as bonded labourers or serfs got rehabilitated for protection of children working in factories or laws and have secured their freedom, young children to prevent employing them from working in hazardous working in hazardous occupation have undergone a occupations. Implement the laws. Take a case of humanising change and inmates of care homes and children working in hazardous occupation or work in mental asylums have been restored to humanity. factory, the parents consent to it because of economic Thanks to judicial activism in the area of ecological necessity. The factory implementation is not strict. The issues accountability in use of hazardous technology factory owner will never complain about it. Whether has been made possible and that undoubtedly has these factories are brought to court is a different been a boon. matter. Because of failure of implementation of laws The nagging question is, is it permissible for the there is violation of human rights of the children who judiciary to indulge in area of ad-hoc legislation and are affected. Then the Court has to act. It cannot in this way promote judicial activism. Now frankly procrastinate or prevaricate. The Court must prevent speaking there is no universal prototype of judicial continued violation of human rights. One significant activities. It all depends on a particular situation or achievement that Supreme Court has done is they the laws, absence of laws, positive administration, have expanded the rule of locus standi. The Court whether implementation is there or not. It is a quest realises that in some cases because of disability or for social justice to relieve any human suffering which because of economic reasons people cannot afford is a paramount motivation to a judicial activist. the court. So then any person, mind you acting bona Sometimes, especially in some PIL's judicial activism fide, can approach Court and point out the violation has gone haywire. You see, judicial activism must not of human rights of that section of society. be confused with judicial showmanship or judicial Therefore the field of PIL has been expanded. adventurism. Judicial activism does not warrant a See what has happened on account of this. Under trial volatile trigger-happy approach. prisoners got to go to court. Children working in Judicial activism does not warrant issuing hazardous occupation, all of them were brought to directions that are beyond the judicial sphere and do the notice of court. Thanks to expansion of the more credit to the heart than to the head. It is doctrine of locus standi and there the court gave such arbitrary. Judiciary cannot direct the administration directions as were necessary. Here I quote what a great to construct roads, erect buildings, secure lands in a judge from England, Stephen Sedley said, "Judiciaries particular locality, appoint managers, to give ad hoc have moved to fill lacunae of legitimacy in the direction of huge monetary payments or functioning of democratic politics." compensations. Such orders have serious system and Let me take another example. Vishaka's case. budgetary implications and are more in the realm of Just a little while back there was persistent and the executive and in this case you may say judicial malignant evil of sexual harassment at work place activism is a bane. Judges should not entertain the which was going on for a long time. In Vishaka belief that judiciary can solve all the problems of our judgment the Supreme Court judgment devised a nation. complete mechanism to deal with and prevent sexual Every matter of public interest cannot be the harassment. The court said these directions to basis of a PIL, eg. increase in the price of onions, trains withhold the field till Parliament enacts requisite not running on time, deteriorating conditions of

The Mahatma was the sthitaprajna of the Bhagavad Gita who by his self-control and renunciation has conquered himself and conquered the world. - Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya 7 railway stations. It must be remembered that PIL is extraordinary) was building India-Singapore ties — and not a pill for every ill. Judges also have to act within by extension, the Indo-ASEAN relationship that was the parameters of the Constitution- within certain at the core of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao’s “look constituent limits. If you ask me the three Peril's of east policy”. PIL are Private Interest Litigation, Political Interest During the Cold War decades, India’s relations Litigation and Publicity Interest Litigation. with the South East Asian nations were, to put it mildly, In Publicity Interest Litigation, I'm sorry to say frosty. Delhi saw the states in the region as parts of judges are also humans and are affected by the the US-led anti-communist block. “Coca-Cola republic” publicity given to their order. I know a judge who made was one of the more sticky and, in hindsight, avoidable sure that the order passed by him was reported fully phrases of the Nehru years; the view from the other in the press. These are human institutions and these side about India was not too flattering either. things happen. Let us not forget that because of this Indian diplomats who dealt with the region, and on the whole an advantage has been secured. The Singapore in particular, acknowledge that SRN was the great benefit we have got is a result of this. So I end “real but silent mover behind the scenes” as far as by saying judicial activism in some cases has been India-Singapore relationship was concerned. controversial. On a balance it has been a boon, that's Subsequently, Singapore facilitated India’s gradual, my view and remember that Fundamental Rights in and at times grudging, acceptance by the South East your constitution will remain ornamental decorations Asian nations. Former secretary in the ministry of and teasing illusions if we do not have judges who external affairs, Amarnath Ram, who had extensive translate them into living realities and make them dealings with the ASEAN, recalls SRN as “ an meaningful in the hands of activists and sensitive and internationalist, an insightful thinker, respected sensible judges. intellectual, academic of high calibre and a humanist”. Thank you. SRN’s role as one of the “wise men” of the (CPS offers its grateful thanks to Shri Soli Sorabjee for Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific according permission to use the article published in (CSCAP) will long be remembered. He helped give Bhavan Today & After, A Compilation of Platinum direction and content to the CSCAP, particularly in its Jubilee Lectures.) early years. He actively supported India in the CSCAP at a time when the country was considered an outsider c c c in the Asia Pacific region. THE UNASSUMING STATESMAN My association with SRN was brief but S.R. NATHAN WAS ONE OF THE ARCHITECTS OF memorable. We first met in 1996 when he visited Delhi INDIA’S RELATIONS WITH THE ASEAN to study the IDSA where I had just been appointed the deputy director. SRN’s formidable reputation Cmde. (Retd) C. Uday Bhaskar preceded him and I knew of him as Singapore’s former Director, Society for Policy Studies ambassador to the US and the former intelligence (Former Director IDSA & NMF) chief of his country. Here was a man who had faced Indian diplomats who dealt with the region, and severe personal setbacks during his formative years, Singapore in particular, acknowledge that SRN was the saw the brutalities of World War II and participated in “real but silent mover behind the scenes” as far as the birth of Singapore. There were anecdotal India-Singapore relationship was concerned. references to the resolute manner with which he dealt with the communists and insurgents and about his Singapore’s former president S.R. Nathan (SRN), volunteering to be a hostage to resolve a Palestine who passed away on August 22, was among the terrorist-related crisis in 1974. principal architects of the city-state along with the legendary Lee Kuan Yew. Among the less-known of SRN was visiting think tanks across the world, his contributions (some of them bordering on the then, to observe the best practices – as he put it —

Gandhi is the prophet of a liberated life wielding power over millions of human beings by virtue of his exceptional holiness and heroism. 8 - Radhakrishnan for he was entrusted with the founding of Singapore’s to meander along the dusky streets experiencing the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies. SRN, in his gradual occupation of the valley by a gentle sunlight, characteristically affable and unassuming manner, at first manifesting like supernatural hues coming from asked me to give him, what he described as, a the eyes of some invisible gods, then growing into a “tutorial” about how the IDSA was run. He wanted to tenderly warm caress. know the degree to which the research output of the The twin mountains, Nara and Narayana, institute actually contributed to, and shaped, dominated the backdrop of the shrine of Badri Vishnu. government policy. Clearly I was one among his many (According to another account the mountain Nara was interlocutors and a relative greenhorn at that. But the one on the eastern bank of the river on which the earnest manner in which SRN engaged with you made greater part of the bazaar had come up.) The sky one feel very special. between the two mountains, viewed from a certain One of the more tricky moments that he spot, resembled a map of India. managed to defuse occurred in an India/ASEAN-ISIS Mythology says that the two earliest known conference in the mid-1990s in Delhi, where heads of Rishis, Nara and Narayana, performed their askesis on all security think tanks of the ASEAN were invited. It these two mountains, imparting to the place a certain was a major track 1.5 effort and the exchanges were vibration of consciousness which can still be felt. candid. Given the history of the animus between India Anyone who could silence his or her mind for a brief and the South East Asian nations, some discussions moment could feel or at least sense it - a vibrant became very tense and heated. At one point there tranquility. was a near breakdown. SRN stepped in, assuaged the bruised sensitivities and brought the conference back The temple was to close down in a few days for on track. the winter. Snow would take over the entire region. The sun, the moon, the stars and the twilight would Appointed president of Singapore in 1999, SRN brush the infinite white canvas with their personal was ever the gracious and generous host and one will tones and create wonders to amuse only themselves, cherish calling on him in Istana — the presidential not human beings. palace. A role model for his citizens, SRN was a man of many parts and epitomised the diversity and I was already at the Taptakund, the hot-water dynamism of Singapore. It was a privilege to have met spring. Unbearable at the first touch, it grows quite him — albeit very briefly. hospitable to one’s body in a minute and as one emerges from it, one feels a thrilling rejuvenation - (Courtesy : The Indian Express, September 5, 2016) an unforgettable sensation that could continue for a c c c quarter of an hour. What a marvellous coexistence of cold and heat devised by Nature! The Taptakund must The Forbidden Cave: The Nursery have been a cocoon of comfort for the ancient sages Of The Great Epic who lived here in defiance of the freezing winter. Prof. Manoj Das ‘Do you know that there is a cave on the outskirts of Badarikashram bearing the memory of ( A seer among scholars, the venerable Prof. Manoj Vyasa?’ I asked the officer who had received us at Das who lives in Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, has Joshimuth. graciously permitted the publication of this essay from his book My Little India ) ‘Of course I know. Vyas Gumpha.’ It was an October dawn at Badarikashram and ‘Can you kindly arrange for me to pass a night quite cold. But I was already on my stroll - a resumption inside the cave?’ of my nocturnal stroll interrupted for a few hours of The officer laughed and in a voice tinged with sleep when I continued to wander in my dreams. empathy, said, ‘To be frank, it may be difficult for you At least for half an hour I was the solitary soul even to pay a visit there. The region containing the

Gandhi is a ruler obeyed by millions, not because they fear him, but because they love him; not as a master of wealth and secret police and machine guns, but as holding the spiritual authority which, when it once dares to assert itself, seems to reduce almost to impotence the values of the material world. - Gilbert Murray 9 cave is forbidden to all, barring the army, since the mythical ones like Vyasa, Bhrigu, Sanaka and Sukra to Chinese intrusion.’ Badarayana, Gaudapada, and Shankara who can be historically identified. It is also likely that the My face probably mirrored my deep Badarikashram of ancient days was green, the woods disappointment, though I did not murmur. I sat looking abounding in highly beneficent medicinal plants. at a chunk of dazzling cloud inching near a silver peak as though to surprise it with a kiss. The officer was We stopped at the gateway into the prohibited talking to someone over the phone. My attention went zone. Despite the sanction already obtained by my over to him only when I heard him utter my name. kind host at Joshimuth, we had to wait there for half The person at the other end was a colleague of his or an hour for further clearance. I had to leave my camera may be someone senior to him. ‘This guest of ours is behind. 'Please don't take it amiss. We often feel guilty not just a curious tourist or a traditional pilgrim. He at applying any rule mechanically on all, but we have loves Vyasa. I’ve read some issues of The Heritage he no option. My only hope is, such an uneasy situation edits. Well, I don’t mind confessing that to some extent will not prevail for long,' explained the suave officer I’m influenced by him; I’ll feel very awkward if we let in charge of the camp. him go back disappointed.’ I was moved. His gesture He provided us with four or five escorts. We was unexpected. As he listened to his colleague’s walked a couple of kilometres and then stood before response, his face grew brighter and I knew that he the cave - the birthplace of ancient India's most had got me my passport to Vyasa, I shook his hand profound creative work. gratefully. Vyasa had lived a life linked with epoch-making He explained to me why passing a night in the events particularly during the great Kurukshetra War. cave was an unrealistic proposition. There were no Even after the war he had acted like a guardian of the human beings around. Well, the presence of a few victorious Pandavas. He made Yudhishthira the hermits in unknown caves could not be ruled out - for emperor and pacified Dhritarashtra, the humiliated once in a while the patrolling army men spoke of and self-exiled king. He then retired to this cave and sighting a lone bearded stranger at ordinarily devoted himself to editing the Vedas with the help of inaccessible spots - but that was no factor in my favour. his illustrious disciples like Vaisampayana and Jaimini. 'Well, Sir, to let you pass the night there would amount to our leaving you at the mercy of the abominable And then began the most intense creative phase snowman, if not surrendering you to the enemy as of the process. hostage. Oh no, agreeing to that part of your proposal Inspired to compose the great epic, the is beyond us!' the officer said laughing. 'You propose Mahabharata, Vyasa required a savant to take down to be there for some time. Right? You propose to his dictation, a divinely gifted scholar who would not meditate. Right? For how long? I will instruct your make a single error while doing so. Probably he also escorts to be patient with you - unless you pass into a wished that no human mind would intervene in the trance and refuse to come out of it!' he said. process of his inspiration’s transformation into poetry. We drove to Vyasa Gumpha in the forenoon. Our He invoked the loving god, Ganesha. jeep drove by the only village in the area, Mana. But ‘O remover of every obstacle! Be kind to me. the doors of all the houses were shut. The entire village Once I am inspired, I will like to go on reciting the had migrated to the plains, as was their practice for verses nonstop. If my attention goes over to writing, generations, at the approach of November. They the flow may be interrupted. Hence may I pray you to would quietly return after the winter to their deserted act as my scribe! My words, thereby, would assume a village and resume their transactions, through the great sanctity. The hearts and minds of those who intricate snow-covered passes, with their associates would read them would be ennobled,’ said Vyasa. in Tibet. Responded the compassionate Ganesha, The people of Mana, in days gone by, were probably in a lighter vein, ‘Well, my dear Rishi, I will probably a great support for the Rishis - from the be happy to do your bidding, but on condition that Gandhiji is rightly recognized throughout the world as the greatest personage of India, as the irrepressible champion of her liberties and as the highest embodiment of her genius and spirit. 10 - Ernest Barker you must not pause once I begin taking down your Into the little room off mortal life. words. If you do, my flow would be checked!’ I saw them cross the twilight of an age, ‘Very good, O kindness incarnate, but may I too The sun-eyed children of a marvellous dawn, put forth a humble condition : You must not take down The great creators with wide brows of calm, a couplet without fully comprehending its The massive barrier-breakers of the world significance,’ said Vyasa. And wrestlers with destiny in her lists of will, The labourers in the quarries of the gods, 'Let it be so, O poet sublime,' said Ganesha - as The messengers of the Incommunicable, generous and vast as the Himalayas. And thus began The architects of immortality.” a unique experiment at the dawn of Indian literature - creation and appreciation proceeding This is the voice of the visionary. The voice of simultaneously. The Mahabharata came into being, one who is in the mortal mould, but who dares to courtesy the world's first stenographer, Lord Ganesha. envision not just the future, but the Next Future. A 'This is the slab of stone believed to have worked visionary is not made; he is born. A visionary is not a as the seat for both Vyasa and Ganesha as they sat mere dreamer. He is also an achiever as well. He is cross-legged facing each other,' informed the army not impractical, his visions leap out of a deep guide who had accompanied us from the last camp. knowledge of all our yesterdays and an undying hope for all our tomorrows. He has faith in the phenomenon I felt like bowing to the stone. But, 'Can I, too, of man and of man’s evolution into the divine person. sit on it?' asked another guest and she sat down on Sri Aurobindo was born a visionary. Whatever he said, the slab without waiting for a reply. did and wrote are marked by this visionary character, The murmuring rivulet flowing by the cave is as indeed his looks betrayed the Agni within even known as Saraswati - not to be confused with the other when he was quite young. Indeed, each sentence in Saraswati sung in the Vedas which had disappeared. his message echoed the voice of a vision of what This is the way which the Pandava brothers as well as comes to us from beyond the Mind and which we term Draupadi had taken for their last journey, as the Vijnanamaya plane or Truth-consciousness. Mahaprasthan. A giant stone bridges the rivulet and Whatever he said, did and wrote are marked by this it is believed that Bhima had thrown it there to visionary character, as indeed his looks betrayed the facilitate Draupadi's crossing the rivulet, while he and Agni within even when he was quite young. his brothers were able to jump across it. When Dr. C. Ramalinga Reddy succeeded Sri But, for Draupadi, crossing the river was also Aurobindo as the Vice-Principal of Baroda College, the crossing into a life beyond. She was the first to fall. then Principal, Arthur Clark remarked to him: The spot, at a higher altitude, is still identified. Too tired to climb, I sat looking at it - a milestone between “So you met Aurobindo Ghosh. Did you notice the earth and the heavens. his eyes? There is mystic light and fire in them. They c c c penetrate into the beyond. .. If Joan of Arc heard heavenly voices, Aurobindo probably saw heavenly SRI AUROBINDO’S VISION OF visions.” HUMANITY Coming from a materialist like Clark, this remark Dr. (Mrs.) Prema Nandakumar is very significant. It shows that this was the reaction of almost everyone who happened to meet Sri “I saw the Omnipotent’s flaming pioneers Aurobindo. For instance, a special correspondent of Over the heavenly verge which turns towards life the Tamil Nationalist magazine, India met Sri Come crowding down the amber stairs of birth; Aurobindo in the house of Krishna Kumar Mitter a Forerunners of a divine multitude, couple of months after Sri Aurobindo had been Out of the paths of the morning star they came released from the Alipore Jail and was at first non-

Too much mechanical efficiency is the enemy of liberty because it leads to regimentation and the loss of spontaneity. Too little efficiency is also the enemy of liberty, because it results in chronic poverty and anarchy. - Aldous Huxley 11 plussed to find the Master look like a very ordinary unified global community, a transformed man divine person, and wondered: “Is this the Yogi born to on earth. redeem us through an upheaval, showing a new way After fourteen years in England where he was a to India?” But his whole attitude changed once he brilliant student in Manchester and Cambridge, Sri looked at Sri Aurobindo’s eyes: Aurobindo returned to India in 1893 to work in the “Oh! How knowing those eyes were! What grace Baroda State. As a young professor in the Maharajah’s in them! What peace! Mahashanti, mahashanti! The College, he delved deep in India’s ancient cultural texts room exuded a great sattwic shanti.” and was surprised that a nation with such a past When the correspondent plied Sri Aurobindo remained so weak and slavish. Was it not mainly due with questions regarding his Narayana Darshan, the to the import of a western education and culture by Master assured him that these experiences did not the British who wanted a race of clerks, that India belong to the dream-state at all. He had his visions has forgotten its heroes? As he wrote later: when he was in the waking state and he was practising “British rule, Britain’s civilizing mission in India Bhakti Yoga then in the prison. He gave an idea of the has been the record success in history in the hypnosis methodology too: of a nation. It persuaded us to live in a death of the “Leave all responsibility to the Divine. Try to will and its activities, taking a series of hallucinations realize that whatever you think, speak, or do is not for real things and creating in ourselves the condition yours, and that it is the Divine who thinks, speaks and of morbid weakness the hypnotist desired, until the acts through you. The realization will come in time. Master of a mightier hypnosis laid His finger on India’s Realization is different from vision. Crush your ego, eyes and cried, `Awake!’ Then only the spell was be without the `I’, practice self-renunciation.” broken, the slumbering mind realised itself and the dead soul lived again.” The extraordinary quality of his eyes cast a spell on his disciples in a big way. Dilip Kumar Roy wrote It was then quite natural for the awakened India that “it was the eyes that fascinated me most – shining to reverberate to the Mantra of patriotism, “Vande like two beacons in life’s grey waste of waters.” As for Mataram”, followed by the Gandhian Movement Sri Aurobindo, he did not merely see; he observed. leading to an independent India. He also worked, suffered, hoped. For him all life was In his 1947 message, Sri Aurobindo listed his own indeed yoga. Naturally, it becomes very difficult for dream-visions for his nation and the world and his us to convey his splendorous vision in a capsule form. gratification that his visions and work were not in vain. Wide as life itself, aged as all our yesterdays, fresh as The coincidence with his 75th birthday itself was a the coming dawn, deep as the Ratri Sukta, brilliant as welcome indication: “I take this coincidence, not as a the mid-day sun, his visions were many, yet the same. fortuitous accident, but as the sanction and the seal The centre everywhere, the circumference beyond our of the Divine Force that guides my steps on the work, net of comprehension. Fortunately for us, towards with which I began life, the beginning of its full the end of his earthly life, on 15th August, 1947, he fruition.” In every way this message is a classic of our kindly agreed to give a message to the nation as India times, a talisman for our future. For this message is became free from British domination. not a mere thanksgiving or hallelujah for something The message was broadcast over the achieved. Actually it is a firm warning to the citizens Tiruchirapalli radio station. Delivered on a day which of independent India as well as a lesson to the global was also the sage’s seventy-fifth birthday, it spoke of community. The choice is in our hands: Truth or the his life-long hopes and dreams, strivings and visions. Abyss. Sri Aurobindo begins: It is indeed a masterly summary of the Mahayogi’s “The first of these dreams was a revolutionary splendorous vision for a free India, a resurgent Asia, a movement which would create a free and united India.

The bane of India is the plethora of politicians and the paucity of statesmen. - Nani Palkhivala 12 India today is free but she has not achieved unity. At government has continued to do its utmost to help one moment it almost seemed as if in the very act of the “one-sixth” join the mainstream of India’s social liberation, she would fall back into the chaos of life. separate States which preceded the British conquest. However, there were other fissures with But fortunately it now seems probable that this danger widening gaps. Sri Aurobindo rightly saw that there will be averted and a large and powerful, though not was a greater danger that was closing upon India on a complete union will be established.” 15th August 1947: The hopes have not been belied, and the union “But the old communal division into Hindus and has gained larger parameters with the coming in of Muslims seems now to have hardened into a Goa, Diu, Daman, Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe and permanent political division of the country. It is to be Chandernagore. And Sikkim too. More than fifty years hoped that this settled fact will not be accepted as after India gained independence, we can offer our settled for ever or as anything more than a temporary grateful thanks to Bharata Shakti for keeping this union expedient. For, if it lasts, India may be seriously in good form. Sri Aurobindo’s vision has become a weakened, even crippled: civil strife may remain reality. always possible, possible even a new invasion and While Sri Aurobindo was very proud of the foreign conquest.” ancient heritage of India, he was unhappy about the Here was the great patriot who had worked for way the Indian population treated one-sixth of it as a great and free India, a united India. He had come beyond the pale of civilized togetherness and so the out of his political retirement even to send a message unfortunates remained neglected down the centuries. to Sir Stafford Cripps who was leading a Mission to He wrote in 1919 that he found “untouchability” an India in 1942 to invite Indian leaders to participate in indefensible occurrence in Indian culture, an a responsible Central Government and help the Allies experience that has weakened our national life: in the War: “A solution which condemns by segregation one- “I have heard your broadcast, as one who has sixth of the nation to permanent ignominy, continued been a nationalist leader and worker for India’s filth, uncleanliness of the inner and outer life and a independence, though now my activity is no longer in brutal animal existence instead of lifting them out of the political but in the spiritual field, I wish to express it is no solution but rather an acceptance of weakness my appreciation of all you have done to bring about and a constant wound to the social body and to its this offer. I welcome it as an opportunity given to India collective spiritual, intellectual, moral and material to determine for herself, and organise in all liberty of welfare.” choice, her freedom and unity, and take an effective His illuminations have created a psychological place among the world’s free nations. I hope it will climate where Aurobindonians gather and live in a be accepted, and right use made of it, putting aside way that has made this very idea unthinkable and dead all discords and divisions.” for ever. That is why, of all the problems taken up by This was a statesman speaking, a visionary who the Constituent Assembly, Sri Aurobindo made a saw this as “a step towards a greater world union.” special mention of what was being done for the But unfortunately, those who were making the moves scheduled castes in his message of 1947 and were only politicians who could not see beyond the expressed his gratification that “the wisely drastic light of day into the future of global unity. Sri policy of the Constituent Assembly has made it Aurobindo’s personal message was taken by his probable that the problem of the depressed classes emissary S. Doraiswamy Aiyar to the Congress Working will be solved without schism or fissure.” Since the Committee as also to C. Rajagopalachari and B.S. problem has been gigantic and an evil of several Moonje. Apart from other advantages, this plan would centuries cannot be wished away in a few years, the have been a wonderful opportunity for the Hindus and

Universities, as a colleague of mine recently put it, “have reinvented themselves as corporations”. - Michael N. Nagler 13 the Muslims to work together and tell the world, “here impatience, Sri Aurobindo also perhaps reviewed all we are and remain one and indivisible as a nation”. the possibilities for a renuion and hence he made a History has recorded how the Cripps overture was statement where much is left unsaid but the unsaid rejected by Mahatma Gandhi as a “Post-dated cheque words are a warning, an advice and a blessing as well. on a bank that was crashing”; and how Sri Aurobindo’s Learn to live together! No bombs and swords between advice was wasted on an avoidable mind-set. A golden you! So he envisaged a union and how it might come opportunity to silence the propounders of the “two about: nations” theory was trashed. Within ten years, K.M. “Let us hope that that may come about naturally, Munshi was to go on record how a Rishi’s vision had by an increasing recognition of the necessity not only been denied outright when the Congress rejected the of peace and concord but of common action, by the Cripps Mission and Sri Aurobindo’s advice: “...today practice of common action and the creation of means we realise that if the first proposal had been accepted, for that purpose. In this way unity may finally come there would have been no partition, no refugees, and about under whatever form -- the exact form may no Kashmir problem.” have a pragmatic but not a fundamental importance. Though his advice was rejected in 1942, Sri But by whatever means, in whatever way, the division Aurobindo did not reject his motherland. Bharata must go; unity must and will be achieved, for it is Shakti was one and indivisible and he looked into the necessary for the greatness of India’s future.” future and told his audience in 1947 that still there It is obvious that Sri Aurobindo was more was a chance to redeem lost time. When Sri concerned with what was going on right then to Aurobindo, Bala Gangadhar Tilak and others had destroy innumerable happy homes, breakup life-long entered the strife-ridden political fray of the friendships, dismember a unity built through independence movement, they had suffered, generations in countless villages. We must of course sacrificed all for a united India. They were not tired remember the solemn raising of the Indian flag above of hailing India as a union and when one sang, Bande the Red Fort at midnight; but we must also remember Mataram, the Mother was the entire sub-continent. that this was a fractured freedom which dismembered Subramania Bharati’s Tamil poem “Pappa Pattu” and maimed India’s children, threw thousands of which is sung as an integration song by little children women into life-long despair, made millions of them even today, instills this image of the indivisible India: refugees in their own motherland, call it India or Nearly half a century later, must this dream of a Pakistan. Ah, we have had enough of political united, indivisble India remain shattered for ever? Sri wranglings that are childish and meaningless. We Aurobindo’s voice has a stern, hard ring about it, a need statesmen now to make Sri Aurobindo’s dream command for every patriotic Indian to think seriously of a united India a reality. as the Partition was fraught with incalculable dangers. Sri Aurobindo’s second dream-vision was the “India’s internal development and prosperity resurgence of the people of Asia. India’s ancient may be impeded, her position among the nations message was always directed towards the entire weakened, her destiny impaired or even frustrated. humanity; the geographical unit of India should not This must not be; the partition must go.” imprison the universal man in India! The first step outside India to enlarge our cooperation and No ambiguity, no hemming and hawing advancement would be Asia. India was not the lone regarding the majority and minority, the communal country to be colonised, other countries in Asia also divide and the need of the times. The phrase comes had suffered as much. But Sri Aurobindo felt gratified like a whiplash: “The partition must go.” that “Asia has arisen”. In this new dawn, Sri Aurobindo That this kind of an artificial Partition can never hoped that India would take a lead in helping Asia play be permanent is obvious to the Rishi who sees into “her great role in the progress of human civilsation.” the future. Knowing a good deal about man’s The East had given great religions to the world; also

Every nation is destined to go through periods of expansion and decline, and none is destined to rise, or fall, forever. In an impermanent world, the only constant is the turning of the economic and 14 political cycles that govern the future. - Ruchir Sharma science, astronomy, mathematics ... Asia had not ego ... Yet brotherhood is the real key to the triple lagged behind in any of these in the past. gospel of the idea of humanity ... freedom, equality, Unfortunately, there had been a few centuries of wilful unity are the eternal attributes of the Spirit. It is the submission to lethargy but now, according to Sri practical recognition of this truth, it is the awakening Aurobindo, Asia was poised to contribute immensely of the soul in man and the attempt to get him to live to achieve human progress and unity. One can feel from his soul and not from his ego which is the inner the anxiety with which the sage encourages Indians meaning of religion, and it is that to which the religion on what they have achieved and what they can in the of humanity also must arrive before it can fulfil itself future: “Only a little has to be done and that will be in the life of the race.” done today or tomorrow. There India has her part to play and has begun to play it with an energy and ability Sri Aurobindo also envisaged a day when unity which already indicate the measure of her possibilities will be there in form and in spirit: “... there must grow and the place she can take in the council of the up an international spirit and outlook, international nations.” forms and institutions must appear, perhaps such developments as dual or multilateral citizenships, From India to Asia and then to the world. Global willed interchange or voluntary fusion of cultures.” unity was an adhara sruti in Sri Aurobindo’s writings. The 21st century seems to be very close to realising Speaking of unification as a necessity of Nature, he Sri Aurobindo’s dream thanks to the cyber revolution. advised us that such unification was absolutely However, sreyaamsi bahuvignaani! Evil forces do line necessary for the future and a continuous balancing up whenever great works are undertaken, but it was act like the United Nations, however significant, is not Sri Aurobindo’s firm hope that Truth will prevail in enough. Long, long before the destruction of the the end. And let us add the ancient blessing: kavayah World Trade Centre and the present fear-psychosis satya srutah, the poets have heard the Truth.. that has gripped all the nations of the world, Sri Aurobindo made a statement imbedded with hope: Long ago, hunched over his typewriter in “A catastrophe may intervene and interrupt or destroy Pondicherry during the First World War, Sri Aurobindo what is being done, but even then the final result is saw that Indian spirituality could yet offer the right sure. For unification is a necessity of Nature, an signal for the west to come out of its materialist inevitable movement. Its necessity for the nations is paradise. His typewriter turned out great works like also clear, for without it the freedom of the small Essays on the Gita, Foundations of Indian Culture, On nations may be at any moment in peril and the life the Veda, The Life Divine, The Psychology of Social even of the large and powerful nations insecure.” Development and The Synthesis of Yoga which September 11, 2001 has come and gone, but the explained the name and nature of Sanatana Dharma situation is still not hopeless. Small nations are at peril and how this Ancient Way remained still valid for and large and powerful nations are feeling insecure humanity. Since Swami Vivekananda’s epoch-making fifty years after Sri Aurobindo wrote as above; but his address at the Parliament of Religions in 1893, the nectarean words, “the final result is sure” will be our West has begun to realise this dream of Sri Aurobindo. talisman for the future. Obsessed with the airconditioned nightmare produced by the technological advancements in the West, verily Sri Aurobindo said that global unity can be like Bhasmasura who is not able to control his boon, achieved under the aegis of a Religion of Humanity, the West is veering towards self-destruction. Sri for which the basic mantras had already been Aurobindo knew very well that this rakshasan gift of propounded by 18th century Europe: industrialism from the West boded no good for the “Freedom, equality, brotherhood are the three Indian culture. He was not merely peering into the godheads of the soul; they cannot be really achieved future but saw actually what was happening in the through the external machinery of society or by man future, since he also knew that man by nature takes so long as he lives only in the individual and communal the line of least resistance:

This is the first and foremost thing to learn about India that there is not and never was an India. - Sir John Strachey in 1884 15 “If we take over for instance that terrible, in any other field of endeavour, but difficulties were monstrous and compelling thing, that giant Asuric made to be overcome and if the Supreme Will is there, creation, European industrialism, - unfortunately we they will be overcome.” In this step towards the Next are being forced by circumstances to do it, -- whether Future, towards the transformation of man’s imperfect we take it in its form or its principle, we may under Mind into a Mind of Light, Indians have an important more favourable conditions develop by it our wealth part to play as well, and be the guides of humanity. and economic resources, but assuredly we shall get The Rishi places a high responsibility on Indians when too its social discords and moral plagues and cruel he says: “Here too, if this evolution is to take place, problems, and I do not see how we shall avoid since it must proceed through a growth of the spirit becoming the slaves of the economic aim in life and and the inner consciousness, the initiative can come losing the spiritual principle of our culture.” from India and, although the scope must be universal, Perhaps, this is the moment when India’s the central movement may be hers.” Sanatana Dharma can help the West to have the right Perhaps, once again, we have dropped into the view regarding the forces of Nature and Man. Sri somnolence of the spirit in post-Independence Aurobindo is happy that not only is the West turning euphoria. At the dawn of the twentieth century the to the East for wisdom, but also for guidance to nation had been woken up by the young sannyasin’s achieve a perfect physical-mental-psychic-spiritual life peremptory call: uttishtatatha, jagratha, praapya through Indian yoga: “amid the disasters of the time varannibhodhata. Today, at the dawn of the twenty- more and more eyes are turning towards her (India) first century, both in India and all over the world we with hope and there is even an increasing resort not need such a visionary voice to give the wake-up call only to her teachings, but to her psychic and spiritual again, bring out the best in us and chase away what is practice.” evil, and help us endure the present, defeat the forces Sri Aurobindo also speaks of his final dream- of disunity, and achieve the ultimate victory. But what vision which was “a step in evolution which would shall we do? To whom shall we turn for guidance? raise man to a higher and larger consciousness and Who can be our leader? begin the solution of the problems which have In the Padma Purana, there is a significant perplexed and vexed him since he first began to think discourse which refers to “Bhagavata Mahatmya”. and to dream of individual perfection and a perfect When Lord Krishna prepared to return to his Realm, society.” He says, “this is still a personal hope and an Uddhava was deeply sorrowful, though he had just idea”, but already people in India and in the West have then heard from the Lord, words of wisdom which is accepted the idea and are working towards its now known as “Uddhava Gita”. Now that the becoming a reality. Not that it is going to be an easy frightening Kaliyuga was imminent, what would task, programmed in space and time. Evolution takes human beings do in the absence of Krishna to show its own time, though it is willing to be generous if man them the right path? Nor is another person of his is prepared to cooperate. As Sri Aurobindo concludes likes to be seen to guard them. The earth in the form his play, Perseus the Deliverer: of a cow, whom shall she seek for help? “...the ascent is slow and long is Time. Spoken to thus by Uddhava on the holy banks Yet shall Truth grow and harmony increase: of Prabhasa, Sri Krishna gave some thought to the The day shall come when men feel close and one. submission: What shall I do to sustain my devotees? Meanwhile one forward step is something gained, The Padma Purana says: Since little by little earth must open to heaven The Lord directed his power and glory into the Till her dim soul awakes into the Light.” Bhagavata and disappeared in the ocean of Srimad Hence Sri Aurobindo said in his 1947 message: Bhagavata. “The difficulties in the way are more formidable than This image of Krishna still living and teaching Democratic ideals include the need for transparency and accountability which are ultimately the principal methods of restraining and dislodging corrupt practices. 16 - Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen through the Bhagavata, or Rama’s life of Satya and Dharma continuing as a living message through the A bull-throat bellowed with its brazen tongue; Ramayana is very important for us today. These great Its hard and shameless clamour filling Space epics have remained contemporaneous through the And threatening all who dared to listen to truth millennia. Sri Aurobindo’s message ad vision also Claimed the monopoly of the battered ear; continue to be in the present tense thanks to his great A deafened acquiescence gave its vote, epic, Savitri. It is an epic which gives a very clear And braggart dogmas shouted in the night account of the state of humanity today in all its varied Kept for the fallen soul once deemed a god manifestations. If you wish to have an idea of the The pride of its abysmal absolute.” technological nightmare in which we are caught, watching avidly the innumerable destructions going So we can assert that like Sri Krishna, Sri on everywhere, if we close for a moment our eyes Aurobindo may have withdrawn from the physical, but and meditate on the scenario, we would know how he has withdrawn only into Savitri. The voice is very contemporaneous Sri Aurobindo is even when he much here, speaking through Savitri, a unique epic wrote describing Aswapati’s descent into Night: running to more than 24,000 lines of brilliant blank verse. We go through all of life, here and in the “In rejected heaps by a monotonous road beyond, and Sri Aurobindo’s vision assures us that we The old simple delights were left to lie are indeed moving towards the Next Future of On the wasteland of life's descent to Night. spiritual unity. As I noted earlier, the kavi is a dhrishtaa, All glory of life was dimmed, tarnished with doubt; a seer and he sees the Truth and reports it: kavayah All beauty ended in an aging face … satya srutaah. If Sri Aurobindo could accurately record Impure, sadistic, with grimacing mouths, our times which was still in the future for him, why Grey foul inventions gruesome and macabre Came televisioned from the gulfs of Night. should I, or for that matter all of you, doubt his vision Her craft ingenious in monstrosity, for future humanity? Sri Aurobindo's vision has been Impatient of all natural shape and poise, couched in English poetry, elevating this so-called A gape of nude exaggerated lines, foreign language into mantra, truly the gift of Goddess Gave caricature a stark reality”. Saraswati to India, as Chakravarti Rajagopalachari assured us. It is a vision of future humanity we need One should remember here that Sri Aurobindo to remember and hold on to in these trying times of was writing in the ‘forties. Terrestrial television itself universal turmoil. I would do well to conclude this came to India only in September 1959 and it was 1965 offering to the haloed memory of Prof. K.R.Narayanan before regular transmission was started. The with this blessing of the Supreme to Savitri who has television scenario today with hundreds of channels gained back her Satyavan and prepares to return to recklessly careering with violence, concupiscence and earth to build the life divine. mis-reportage was unknown in the last century. And yet he is so very accurate! “O sun-Word, thou shalt raise the earth-soul to Light And bring down God into the lives of men; Political oratory, for instance, whether in the Earth shall be my work-chamber and my house, Houses of elected representatives or during our My garden of life to plant a seed divine. elections: Sri Aurobindo has reported it all already in When all thy work in human time is done Savitri: The mind of earth shall be a home of light, In street and house, in councils and in courts The life of earth a tree growing towards heaven, Beings he met who looked like living men The body of earth a tabernacle of God.” And climbed in speech upon high wings of thought c c c But harboured all that is subhuman, vile And lower than the lowest reptile's crawl… Railways may do for India what dynasties have never done – what the genius of Akbar – could not do; they may make India a nation. - Edwin Arnold ‘In Light of Asia, 1865’ 17 Late Gutala Krishnamurti States. Shifting to London in 1972 Krishnamurti An Andhra C.P.Brown founded the 1890s Society and the Francis Thompson Society. He edited and published works besides In the death of Gutala Krishnamurti at Vizag on contributing articles to professional journals. He last Wednesday an extraordinary link between Telugu worked hard for his creative endeavour of unearthing and English has been snapped. Gutala who had lived rare works of writers between 1890 and 1900. Among in London for decades before returning to Vizag, due his publications was the Women Writers of the 1890s to infirmities of old age, rendered yeoman service to which earned for him wide respect in literary circles. both English and Telugu languages and literature. And At a personal level Krishnamurti was modest and in more ways than one he had repaid the debt of gentle in speech, wearing lightly on his shoulders with gratitude Andhras owed to C.P. Brown and in more an endearing smile, the honours and respect recent years to J.P.L. Gwynn. C.P. Brown, an English showered on him. civil servant who founded two schools each in Cuddapah and in Machilipatnam and later worked in A. Prasanna Kumar Rajahmundry also, revived Telugu works on the verge Courtesy : Deccan Chronicle, July 17, 2016 of extinction. He authored and translated several c c c works from Telugu to English and also worked as Professor of Telugu in London University. J.P.L. Gwynn Resurrecting a lost Decade another famous civil servant who worked as Collector Dr. P.S.N. MURTHY F.R.C.S, of Visakhapatnam emulated Brown in authoring Telugu works including Telugu-English dictionary and Sir John Betjamin, the English Poet-Laureate, Telugu grammar. The London based Gutala once remarked that “a ‘rare-book’ shop is a sign of Krishnamurti, an embodiment of elegance and dignity, civilisation.” So too is a well-equipped library private handsomely contributed to strengthen the richness or public. This suffix to the previous quote is the of both Telugu and English. He hosted every Telugu contribution of Dr Gutaala Krishna Murthy whose celebrity visiting London from Sri Sri to Cinare, contribution to English is too significant to be including poets, writers and artistes, more recently overlooked. He has a unique collection of rare books Mandali Buddha Prasad and Yarlagadda in his own library - essentially of his own area of Lakshmiprasad. It was a moment of pride to Gutala interest and research - the 1890s. Krishnamurti and Telugu literary world when Sri Sri’s The 1890 decade was a great landmark in magnum opus Mahaprasthanam was recorded in Sri England and English literature - a great awakening and Sri’s own voice and the text beautifully brought out genesis of new ideas in life, literature, arts. morality to the delight of connoisseurs of letters, especially and in fact all aspects of life what we may call now those Andhras living abroad. Gutala also published a progressive ideas. book on the famous singer-star of yesteryears Many writers and artists were well received and Tanguturi Suryakumari. That peerless philanthropist their works published or exhibited. But quite a few and patron of arts and letters late P.V.Ramanaiah Raja were lost without any or due recognition. The main who founded Rajalakshmi Foundation in Chennai and aim of the ‘1890s movement’, is to bring to light as gave the first literary award to Sri Sri, also honoured much as possible of those lost writers of that decade. Gutala Krishnamurti at a special function. Much has been said about the richness of the Founder of Literary Societies: After taking the English literary scene in the nineties: how the principal M.A degree in English from Andhra University in 1956, actors reached London, the centre of ail such activity, Krishnamurti worked as lecturer in S.K.B.R.College, at the beginning of the decade. One by one -some Amalapuram and later in C.M.D.College, Bilaspur. He from Oxford and other universities, with or without a took his Ph.D degree from Saugar University and for a degree, and some from the Northern and other few years worked as assistant professor in the United counties started reaching the great metropolis.

While China’s economic prowess impresses much of the world, its repressive political system and mercantilist business practices tarnish its reputation. 18 - David Shambaugh (Foreign Affairs, July-August 2015) Much has also been said about the new unique and independent character and grit. He went awakening in almost every branch of human activity: to Vizianagaram for his schooling and later to Mrs A V new organisations and new movements, and new N College at Visakhapatnam for his Intermediate. journalism too. In the glare and noise made by these Then he joined Andhra University for B.A (Hons.) in dashing young men who conquered and ruled London English literature under Prof Srinivasa lyengar, who for a while, many writers of greater or lesser talent guided this young rebel and gave him the first taste of became casualties, some temporary and some Francis Thompson - the great English poet of the permanent, and the world began to move so fast after 1890s. the 1914 war that it was almost impossible for any He then started his English teaching at one to look back. Dr Gutaala has himself covered all Amalapuram, where he could captivate the hearts of these aspects in his 1973 catalogue. The war gave the all the students as well as the senior staff members world its first major shock for centuries, and people and administrators as a magnetic lecturer in English, were shaken and thrown out of their conventional with a unique style of his own. He then moved to ways of life. The war produced a new kind of poetry Bilaspur and Sagar University - where he got his Ph.D epitomised by Wilfred Owen who wrote about the working on the poems of Thompson. He wanted to sorrow and horror resulting out of his experiences in pursue his study and research on Francis Thompson the trenches. This became a fashion and the non- and reached England in 1962. He thought to meet his spectacular writer of the nineties received yet another expenses and pursued his work with great enthusiasm. blow before he had a chance to recover from the first. He could trace out some of Thompson’s relatives and Moreover, literary fashions and tastes too had friends and this enabled him to collect some of undergone a sudden change, more out of fear of Thompson’s unpublished works as well as some of his becoming social outcasts than for any other reason. personal possessions like pipe and tobacco tin. Writers, both young and old, retreated to the hills and He organised a literary exhibition on Francis valleys and clouds and cuckoos, away from realistic Thompson, under the banner of Francis Thompson literature, only anxious to get away from the’ Yellow’ Society, with himself as the founder secretary. The stain of the mid nineties. response was overwhelming and got excellent reviews “By now, we have already moved a long way in the press. Many local enthusiasts and admirers from the ‘Nineties, a century; nevertheless it is not joined the society. They held periodic lecture meetings too late to look back and to see the whole picture and literary discussions. It then dawned on him that dispassionately and impartially. Many of these writers there were so many other writers and artists of that are buried deep under the debris of bygone days and period, who deserved equal or greater attention. ways of life and under the wreckage of two global wars. That was the beginning and transformation of Many cannot be accounted for, even if one takes the the Francis Thompson Society into the Eighteen trouble to make a roll-call. Whether they were Nineties Society. Ultimately it has now become a important or not, it is not for me to say. All I wish to movement of its own with several universities all over say is that they gave great enjoyment to their the world starting independent units that teach and contemporaries and received respect from them. They offer research facilities in the 1980s. The Society has were writers. Let us look for them. Let us feel their published a series of biographies of the neglected and pulse. If there is no more sign of life in them let us at nearly forgotten writers and authors of that period, least give them a decent burial”. under the general editorship of Dr. Gutaala Krishna These thoughts and ideals motivated Dr Gutaala Murthy. This is an age of specialisation in all walks of Krishna Murthy to devote his life to achieve these life. The grand finale was the exhibition of the women goals. Born at Parlakhemidi, now in Orissa, into an writers of the 1890s organised by Dr. Gutaala. It was orthodox family, he lost his father at a very early age. held at one of the leading rare books’ shop called Right from his childhood he showed traces of his Sotherans of Piccadilly located at the heart of Central

India has maintained the world’s largest democracy, successfully accommodated an amazingly diverse cultural and demographic mosaic, and kept its head and its values even under repeated terrorist attacks. - Kishore Mahbubani and Lawrence H.Summers (Foreign Affairs, May-June 2016) 19 London. The society got royal patronage. Princess seniority and service record. The job of Governor of Michel of Kent, who took keen interest in English RBI was not on his “career calculus”, as he thought his literature, became the patron and Her Royal Highness experience at the State and Central Government levels opened the exhibition. No doubt, it was a grand was mostly on “the fiscal side”, including his Doctoral success, eliciting excellent reviews in the press and Work at Andhra University (‘Fiscal Reforms at the State coverage by the BBC. Level’). But, as destiny would have it, he was chosen Yet another unknown facet of Krishnamurthi is for the job when P.Chidambaram was the Finance his gracious hospitality which attracted stalwarts like Minister, to become the first Governor to be born after Sri Sri. Anidra. Puripanda Appalaswami to his abode Independence. at London, a regular haunt of the best of English His movement from the Finance Ministry (he litteratuers of the day. Videsandhra Prachuranalu was Finance Secretary at that time) raised many which had brought out a unique edition of Sri’Sri’s eyebrows and was received with circumspection and famous anthology Mahaprasthanam is a brain child suspicion by many that he would implement the of the indefatigable GK. The author had the good government’s agenda as RBI Chief. The book, describes fortune to see the exhibition and see the glory of this in detail, how the sceptics were proved wrong. The great work and achievement of this illustrious Indian objective of the book, according to Subbarao is not so from Andhra Pradesh. It reminds one of the great much as to defend his record or establish his legacy contribution made by a great Englishmen, C P Brown but to explain his perspectives on the issues and for Telugu literature. Now our man, Dr Gutaala is doing challenges that he faced during his five year tenure. yeomen service for English literature on a much larger The book is a sincere attempt towards this end. scale than what C P Brown has done for Telugu literature in the last century. Currently he is busy He assumed charge as Governor of RBI on 5th compiling a Dictionary of the Eighteen Nineties. Sept 2008 (Teacher’s Day) and immediately plunged into crisis management. “I was plunged into crisis (The writer, a surgeon by profession, is a member management even before I could sink into the job”. It of the 1890s Society, London. He is the author of was truly “baptism by fire” as, within 10 days of his ‘Untouchable ‘Nirbhayas’ of India and One Billion assuming office, Lehman Brothers in U.S. collapsed Rising’) leading to the global financial crisis. Just as the crisis c c c was ending, the challenge of combating and containing high and persistent inflation in the country Book Review: surfaced. Added to this were record high trade and WHO MOVED MY INTEREST RATE? fiscal deficits and consequent rupee depreciation. Towards the end of his tenure, he had to deal with LEADING THE RESERVE BANK OF the rupee panic of 2013, caused by the tapering off INDIA THROUGH FIVE TURBULENT the USFED’s monetary stimulus. His tenure at RBI, YEARS was therefore, marked by one crisis after another, by Duvvuri Subbarao rather occurring in quick succession and he had to Penguin – Viking, 2016 pp.323 Rs.699 steer the RBI and the economy through these turbulent years. This book of 323 pages by Dr.Duvvuri Subbarao, the 22nd Governor of Reserve Bank of India, gives ‘an The book discusses these turbulent times in insiders’, ‘a ringside’ and ‘ a tell-all’ account of his five detail and focusses on the actions RBI had taken to year tenure at the RBI during 2008-2013. deal with one crisis after another in the context of the “turbulent relationship he shared with the two Subbarao, as a career bureaucrat, wanted to Finance Ministers of the time”. become Cabinet Secretary to Govt. of India, which he thought was well within his reach by virtue of his age, One thing that comes out prominently from the

The task lies in the universalization of primary education, vocationalization of secondary education and rationalization of university education, and in binding all three sectors and thus making 20 a coherent and desirable value system. - Dr.Karan Singh book is the uneasy relationship between the RBI, the under both Pranab Mukherjee and later, Chitambaram Finance Ministers of the time and the Finance Ministry and the RBI on what the government saw as RBI’s during his tenure. “unduly hawkish stance over interest rates totally Within 1 ½ months of assuming office of RBI unmindful of growth concerns”. Governor, (Oct 2008), Subbarao had his first skirmish Both Pranab Mukherjee and Chidambaram as with Chidambaram. That was the beginning of the Finance Ministers pressured for cutting interest rates turbulent relationship between the two which to revive investments, even though accelerating continued all through his tenure. The skirmish relates inflation called for the opposite. These pressures to the first of the many attempts made by the Central emerge from the inherent differences in priorities with Government (Finance Minister) to trample the the government focusing on growth and RBI on autonomy of the Central Bank during his tenure and inflation control. “The logic of why the Reserve Bank Subbarao was “unhappy” about such interventions. should compromise its judgement so as to become a In the middle of October 2008, Chidambaram cheerleader for the economy never appealed to me”, wanted to separate debt management from the Subbarao laments. Central Bank which was one of the core functions of Further, Subbarao also points out to a tacit the RBI and which was critical in the liquidity agreement between the Government and the RBI that management of the banking system. Chidambaram they keep their differences behind closed doors. announced the constitution of a Liquidity Whatever may be the differences, it is a standard Management Committee, headed by the then Finance practice for the Finance Minister to issue a statement Secretary, Arun Ramanathan without consulting endorsing the RBI’s monetary policy decision in the Subbarao. He was “annoyed and upset” as he felt that media, shortly after it was announced. “Chidambaram clearly overstepped into the RBI turf Subbarao, recalls how there was a “high profile” as liquidity management is a quintessential Central deviation from this standard practice in October 2012, Bank function”. Subbarao told Chidambaram that his when Chidambaram publicly expressed his displeasure action was totally inappropriate and RBI would not at RBI’s decision not to cut interest rates. Subbarao’s participate in the Committee. refusal to yield made Chidambaram to do something The Interest Rate Regime had been the major very unusual and uncharacteristic – by going public cause of friction between the RBI and the Central with his strong disapproval of RBI’s stance. Government during his tenure. Subbarao had Immediately after the RBI’s decision not to cut rates, established, during his tenure, a record of sorts – Chidambaram addressed the media saying “growth is changing interest rates for a total of 23 times while as much a concern as inflation. If the government his predecessors moved interest rates in only one has to walk alone, to face the challenge of growth, we direction – either up or down – Subbarao moved the will walk alone.” Subbarao considers this as a public interest rates in both directions (13 times upwards and rebuke of RBI and its Governor. 10 times downwards). Besides, there were other attempts by the The book describes the friction between the Finance Ministry to subvert the monetary policy government and the Central Bank over the setting of transmission mechanism. “The most conspicuous way interest rates and about the pressures Subbarao faced in which the government overstepped its ownership in this regard. “I have been asked several times if there privileges (government owns 70% of the banking was pressure on setting interest rates. There certainly system) was the way in which it regularly ‘advised’ was, although the precise psychological mechanics public sector banks on how to set their interest rates would vary depending on the context, setting and in response to the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy personalities”. “There was constant and decidedly stance.” The Finance Minister used to call for a unhelpful friction between the Ministry of Finance meeting with the public sector bank chiefs, following

Reserve Bank is an institution that has served the country with dignity and distinction, and will continue to set exemplary standards for professional integrity and work ethic. - D.Subbarao, former Governor, RBI 21 each monetary policy review of the Reserve Bank and reasoned, at that time, that the plight of the rupee advise them not to raise their lending rates, even if was primarily due to structural imbalances like high the Reserve Bank had tightened the policy rate. “This Current Account Deficit driven by non-productive overt repression of monetary policy transmission imports like gold, but Chidambaram was “dismissive undermined the Reserve Bank’s efforts to contain of the view” and blamed external factors. inflation”, Subbarao bemoans. Lucidly written, Subbarao’s book is a must-read Apart from the interest rate regime, there were for all - particularly students, teachers and researchers other issues also - like estimates of growth and fiscal in Economics and policy makers – as it provides a stance that made the frictions even deeper. candid account of and useful insights into monetary Government felt that the RBI was ‘too cynical’ in its policy making and its implementation at a very difficult growth forecasts and wanted the RBI to project a period in India’s and global economic history. All the higher growth rate and a lower inflation rate in order five years of his tenure were marked by difficult to share the responsibilities with the government for challenges to financial stability, inflation and exchange “Shoring up investment”. Thus, there was pressure rate. The book gives a detailed account of how he from the government to forecast higher rates of faced these exceptional challenges and led the RBI, growth, even as it pushed for lower interest rates and through five turbulent years, while steadfastly pursue an easy monetary policy. The logical safeguarding the autonomy and independence of the inconsistency between these two demands probably RBI – an institution which today is 81 years old and escaped the attention of those in the government. older than the Indian Republic. Tensions were there even before – his predecessor Dr.Y.V.Reddy also faced Subbarao had to ‘pay a price’ for all these actions similar ones – which Dr.Reddy calls them as “creative in not heeding the government and for asserting the tensions” (?). But the tensions that Subbarao faced autonomy of RBI. The government showed its during his tenure appear to be far more intense and displeasure by deciding not to extend the terms of sometimes even fundamental. The issues raised in his Deputy Governors – Usha Thorat in October 2010, book need further debate and discussion in academic when Pranab Mukherjee was the Finance Minister and and policy fora. Dr. Subir Gokarn in October 2012, when Mr. Chidambaram was the Finance Minister, in spite of his A vast amount of research in the past has shown recommendations. Even his extension in 2011 for two that a more independent Central Bank is more more years came only on the intervention of the P.M. effective. There is a strong empirical evidence Dr. Manmohan Singh. establishing that the more independent the Central Bank, the lower the inflation rate in a country. If the global financial crisis had to be managed in the initial stages of his tenure, he had to deal with As Governor, RBI, every decision and action of the currency crisis of 2013 towards the end of his his was taken by one and only consideration – the tenure which he considers as a more formidable larger public interest - and in this effort, he never challenge than the former. He discusses, in detail, “swerved from the Reserve Bank’s Dharma”. These “how the sharp depreciation of the rupee in 2013 was words aptly sum up the man and his commendable by far his toughest challenge”. To use monetary policy work. to defend the exchange rate was by far one of the MAY HIS TRIBE INCREASE! toughest decisions he had to take, Subbarao recalls. - Prof. M. Jagadeswara Rao Even here, perceptions differed between the Reserve Bank and Chidambaram. “My concern was that we (Prof. M. Jagadeswara Rao, former Dean of would go astray in both the diagnosis and remedy if Academic Affairs and Head of the Department of we did not acknowledge that at the root of our Economics, Andhra University, was supervisor of external economy problems were domestic Mr. Subbarao’s doctoral thesis) vulnerabilities”, Subbarao explains. Subbarao c c c You in the West have the spiritually poorest of the poor……I find it easy to give a place of rice to a hungry person, to furnish a bed to a person who has no bed, but to console or to remove the bitterness, anger, and loneliness that 22 comes from being spiritually deprived, that takes a long time. - Mother Teresa ‘Down-to-earth advice to job Anniversary of aspirants’ Centre for Policy Studies (Newspaper report on a lecture delivered by Shri Today, October 2, 2016 Centre for Policy Studies M. Hari Narayanan, I.A.S., Commissioner, Greater completes twenty one years and Its Bulletin reaches Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation at the milestone of twenty years. Both were launched Visakhapatnam Public Library on September 27, 2016 on Gandhi Jayanthi, the former in 1995 and the latter at a meeting jointly organised by Centre for Policy in 1996. On this happy occasion Centre for Policy Studies and Visakhapatnam Public Library.) Studies deems it a privilege to convey its profound Stepping down the dais, reaching out to gratitude to all those who have helped it, directly and audience, speaking simple English laced with Telugu indirectly, in its activities during the last two decades and giving his own example of preparing for the all- and more. It is an occasion for CPS to rededicate itself India services, Municipal Commissioner M. Hari to its objectives and also to expand its domain of Narayanan connected to youth with his down-to-earth activities. Accordingly it is being restructured as an approach. autonomous body with an advisory body, a new Getting down to the basics of preparation, he management board and a new director, besides advised them to be honest with themselves and evolve shifting to a new premises very soon. CPS has stood their own individual method and learn continuously the test of time as a forum to promote a healthy from teachers, elders and experience. debate on public issues and policies on contemporary By quoting his experience of chucking relevance in its own humble way thanks to the architecture practice for civil services examination generous support of well-wishers and the public at against seemingly formidable competitors, he dealt large. with the dilemmas in preparing for any “examination CPS conveys its grateful thanks to Gayatri Vidya for a job” even if it was civil services. Parishad, its President, Shri A.S.N.Prasad, Secretary, The jampacked meeting of Centre for Policy Prof. P.Somaraju and members of the governing body Studies and Visakhapatnam Public Library for the for their support during the last fourteen years. To career-minded on “Challenges and opportunities for late Prof.B.Sarveswara Rao, founder-president of youth,” the second in the series on Tuesday, saw youth Gayatri Vidya Parishad, his successors Prof.B.Swami coming out with questions, including the state of and late Shri D.V.Subba Rao Centre for Policy Studies affairs in the system. is ever grateful for their inspirational guidance and encouragement. “Compare equals considering the young, democratic India that stepped into industrialisation The Bulletin of Centre for Policy Studies has been very late,” he told them. Systematic improvement of receiving the gracious support of distinguished systems has made a sea-change in the way people got authors, administrators, writers, scholars, scientists passports, commodities through PDS or welfare and legal luminaries through their invaluable articles. pensions, Mr. Harinarayanan said. Measure success CPS cannot adequately thank them for enriching the by the way you add to incremental happiness of Bulletin with their writings. To the readers of the people, he said. Bulletin CPS is deeply indebted for their unfailing “Be yourself, be thorough with basics and follow support. decorum. You can’t be an encyclopaedia,” he told young Uma Maheswari on facing interviews. CPS Director A. Prasanna Kumar and library secretary D.S. Varma participated. (Special correspondent, The Hindu, September 28, 2016.)

(Edited and published by Prof. A. Prasanna Kumar, Director, Centre for Policy Studies Email: [email protected] and printed at Sathyam Offset Imprints Ph : 984 999 6538) 23 Hearty Congratulations on the occasion of the Centre for Policy Studies completing 20 long years.

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