The

__V_O_I_IV__
NO__5___1_5_~3_1_M_a_r_Ch__
19_8_9_(_FO_r_tn_ig_h_tl_y_)~. _R_UP~e~e_S_T_W_O__________~___

In This Issue

Religion Is
Our Bane
Governor
Politics In
I(erala
No More
Rhetoric,
Please

3
5
6

C;URRENT
f=-VELOPMENTS 7
CENTRESPREAD
Our Child:
Beggar, Labourer,
Prostitute
8-9
Compensation
For Detenus
Sought
11

RELIGION
. Good Friday

12

~ERARY
Breaking New
13
Grounds

CHILDREN

. English ~
Gramlllar

Readjustment,
Not Reversal

By Amrik Singh

Page

14

he Prime Minister's
announcement of certain
new measures regarding
Punjab is not a reversal of
the policies followed so far. It is
only a re-adjustment to the changing situation.
What were the factors at work?
One was the situation on the
ground. While terrorists had been
discredited, terrorism had not died.
On the contrary, it took a heavier
and heavier t911 of life. As Barnala
put it quite.some months ago, as
soon as it became dark they took
over though, during the day, it was
the police which ruled the roost.
How could this dual system of
governance go on? In any case
tre police were charged with the
duty of putting an end to what the
terror,sts were doing. They did
have some success but, no less
serious than that, in the course of
what they did, they did so much
damage to public morale. Their
opression became unbearable
and, before long, those affected
began to protest openly.
More or less without notice, a
few weeks ago, newspapers
began to publish details of what
the police were doing. These were
so gruesome and harrowing that
it prompted the press to probe
deeper. As they did so, what they
uncovered stank right upto the
high heavens.

PLUS
MANY
MORE
WITH OUR
REGULAR
FEATURES

So much so that even the Governor who would normally not

concern himself with these matters
was obliged to pay personal visits
and hear people at first hand.
Some people, though not everybody, had the courage to protest

openly. What they did not realise

was that while they could talk
openly in the presence of the Governor he would not be there to protect them against the ill-treatment
of the police. The inevitable happened. Those who complained

were hauled on the coals . .

At the centre of this drama was
the SSP at Batala. They would not
take any action against him
because, it was said, it would
dE;lmoralise the police .. What they
Continued on page 12

Package Deal Short Of Expectations

L

t. Gen. J.S. Aurora, President

Sikh Forum, issued the. following press statement on 4 March,
1989:
"We have studied the Prime
Minister's political initiative for
Punjab with great interest. It would
be wrong to cal! ita political package because there is nothing of
much substance in it.
"The release of Jodhpur detenus in instalments has lost its significance. The end result is that the
detenus innocent, who were kept
locked up for more than four years,
and unless something is done to
rehabilitate them, they will continue to nurse resentment against
their illegal incarceration. About

the Delhi killings in November

1984 the Prime Minister after all
has accepted that the punishment
of the guilty is necessary. The
actions so far belie its sincerity and
determination, specially of the
wrong doers in high places.
"We have always maintained
that the People of Punjab have
never supported terrorism or terrorists. On the other hand, tDe
overwhelming authority to the
Police has lead to suppression
which, continues to alienate
people from the administration.
The announcement that the provisions of the National Security Act
would be withdrawn and use of

other restrictive laws would be

modified is a welcol)1e step.
"These few ameliorative measures fall short of the public expectations and will not create the
desired favourable impact. Much
more is required to be done.
Release of all leaders including
Simaranjit Singh Mann now followed by a general amnesty
before the Panchayat and other
elections are held is strongly
urged. Coercion and humiliation of
innocent poople by the police must
stop and necessary disciplinary
action should be taken against
those who are guilty of such
excesses."

Bombay Riots'

Police Miscalculates To Provoke

Demonstrators
By Baiju

SPORTS
Hungary Lifts
The Nehru
GQld Cup
15
Selectors Vs
Players .".
16

~~~e~~e

hree bad things happened in the last fortnight.

Against
the
much
advanced civilization of
human beings, the Ayatollah
Khomeini of Iran called for the
'execution' of one of the prominent
writers of the world, the author of
the book The Satanic Verse~;. The
second and totally unwarrented
development was the observation
of a nation-wide bandh by the socalled Muslim fundamentalists. But
the third was the ,worst. A miscalculation by the police. And the
,miscalculation led the police to
arrest almost all the leaders of the

organisations which called for the

bandh in Bombay. The slip up left
about 3000 strong crowd leaderless on the streets of the city. They
turned up at Mastan Talav after
the well-attended Friday afternoon
prayers on 25 February, many of
them without even knowing the
imposition of Section 144 in the
area overnight.
The local Imams called for a
march to protest against the pro-
tection given to Salman Rushdie
by the British government and they
wanted to submit a memorandum
to the British High Commissioner.
No other programmes, it seemed
had been in their agenda. But th~
police misreckoned the whole
Continued on page ..

FORUM
______ ___

OPEN FORUM

_ __Gazette '

J~~n.E.RS . __....::.-_---------I~I_
The Nightmares

Sound And Fury

Movement Against

time, to hasten or expedite the

Life is cheap in India. That, at last, was the foundation of Union
pronouncement of the verdict.
Carbide's legal strategy.
read your cover story 'Batala, Oppression
:Even a cursory glance at the chro~
- Editorial comment in the Washington Post
The Worst' by K.S. Khosla (THE
was deeP,y shocked to read the ;nology of the Indira Gandhi murder'
FORUM GAZETTE, 1-14 March
pathetic condition of the rope- ,Casewould bearthisoutandcon-.
And those who rhetorically
the question: Why $ 470 million
1989). The people of Punjab are makers in Saharan pur. The firm that the accused were granted
should know that the amount was arrived at by adding interest on
in real trouble. During day light the author,_Ms Dipti Priya, deserves _every facility of defending themthe $ 350 million from the date the offer was made.
police are the curse. During the appreciation for the investigative selves in accordance with the
- -Mr George Fernandes.
dark hours terrorists are on the and analytical narration of the dif- opportunities prevailing in any
rampage. What I am concerned is ferent movements taking place in democratic country.
Even if Mr. Rushdie repents and becomes _the most pious man
why the authorities do not take the Saharanpur district.
On the contrary, the very fact
of time, it is incumbent on every Muslim to employ everything he's
Workers are considered worse that the High Court's death seneffective steps to protect the lives
got, his life and wealth, to send him to hel!.
of the citiZens.
than slaves in some parts of our tence on the three accused was,
- Ayatollah Khomeini.
The current situation iscondu- country. Whenever they raise their reversed by the Supreme Court to;
cive for both the police and the ter- voice, they are countered with set free Balbir Singh is clear tes~'
I doubt very much that Khomeini or anybody else in Iran has read
rorists. They both make money. barbaric treatments. But the land- timony of the comprehensive
the book.
They do enjoy. life in all other lords and industrialists should nature of. !he trial.
- Mr. Salman Rushdie.
as~cts, too.
understand the fact that oppresOne is, of cOurse', free to hold in
To the common man both the sion and torture have a boome- a democracy one's view on the.
There is something very primitive and totemic ..bout the reaction
police and the terrorists are night- ranging effect.
.
fairness or otherwise of the verto Salman's book, and we have both been horribly frightened.
mares. They think both come to
Things may change fast. The dict on Kehar Singh, but to imply
- Mrs. Marianne Wiggins, the author's wife.
intimidate them, both humiliate Saharanpur workers' movement that the executive's desire to hang
them, both take away money from must grow into a much popular the murderers of the late Prime
Even if Rushdie has written something against Islam, that's his
them and both are even equal in movement Your timely-publication Minister had motivated the judiciopinion and he is free to say it.
molesting girls' and torturing and of this article ('The Ropemakers' ary to order their execution is most
- Mr. Neguib Mahfouz, the Egyptian Nobel laureate.
even killing the ones who stand on Movement In Saharanpur', THE condemnable because _ (1) the
FORUM GAZETTE, 1-14 March President too has been sought to
their way.
However offensive that book may_be, incitement to murder a-"~
So far people wer of the opinion 1989) will boost the morale of the be assailed in the process, due to
offer
reward for its perpetration are deply offensive to norms of
that the problem in Punjab was the oppressed and it will serve as a ;his rejection of the mercy petiilized conduct .
. creation of religious fundamental- warning to the culprits.
tions; (2) the charge has come
- Mr. George Bush.
ism and terrorism. But now it is
from those who have for long
clear that both fundamentalism
Rita Chouhan years tried to uphold the judiciary
To hell if I lost my credibility or grace. I worry only about protect~
and terrorism have nothing to do , New Delhi
as the repository of all wisdom in
ing Islam, and not myself.
with the crisis in Punjab. The real
a bid to prop it up in their battle
- Ayatollah Khomeini, quoted by his daughter.
prQblem in Punjab is the absence
Thanking You
against the executive.
ood
04J and real police personnel. .
Further, it was intriguing to find
Living in a world _of many faiths, the experience has served to
t-siooerty believe that the situam using this column for thank- that some of the persons who had
remind us tnat we must all be conscious of the sensibilities of others
ation io Punjab can still be noring you all for having .published called for abolition of capital
- Salman Rushdie.
d Wh t e d ' . st
a series .of articles on human
.maIIse.
a we ne IS JU one
punishment in the wake of the
thing, 'the determination en the rig.hts, women.'s movements and demand for_savj:'l~rKehar- Singh-'s- An arrow is travelling towards ttie heart of Salman Rushers, the
art of the authorities to solve the child abuse. It IS a well-ko~n...n fact --w.- -- - - ..
I
. f
~
.
... -- '.- -- -.
life were raising s ogans In avour
'P
blasphemous bastard
problem'. A sincere wish to se~ ._"Iat Grimes against ~ome'1 and ot hanging the persons respons- Iranian President Ali Khamenei.
Punjab calm~, ijut, unfor- children -are on the ns.e. recently. ,ible for the death of Safdar
_tunat~lr.-tn8t is wharwe' lack. One I hoPI3 that the authontle~ wo~l? Hashmi, the y~eatre persoWriters everywhere have been weighed and measured by the edict
t:ling is quite sure. 'Hthe situation- heed to these problems Immedl- ,nality. One shdiilalii.refore try to
from Iran
, ' goes on I~ke this, the mood ~f the at~~pe that you will find time to take a dispa~: view.
- Salman Rushdie's wife Marianne Wiggins.
people wll! also change. Th.'s h~s
odate such factual articles
It is high ti"",,t'l;~ punishment
happened In so many occasions In ~mm
.
to the killers of Indira Gandhi is folAlready the fear is growing. There are writers who are not willing
' the history of our land. Let us not In the future Issues also.
'owed by adequate retribution to
to come out and support Salman Rushdie because they are afr""1
tliis happen again.
Nirmal Kaur those guilty of the anti-Sikh riots
they might be targetted too
_
_)
Leny
and Safdar Hashmi's murder.
- American Writer.,.....
Susan Sontag, president of PEN International.
KE. College
New Delhi
Neirther crime is exonerable since
Kottayam
none can minimise the enormity
Kehar Singh
The largest purveyors of our books do not care about literature
Kerala
otone orthe other. And letthe fire
(they) seem to have more respect for terrorists than for culture
here have been some strong of indignation lit by Hashmi's mar- Norman Mailer, critiCising book stores which removed The Satanic
voices of protest against the tyrdom be harnessed towards the
Verses from their shelves.
execution of Kehar Singh who was evolution of an environment that
v Managing Editor
The death threat is purely matter' between the Ayatollah and Mr.
described as an -innocent man- by would r~adily admit the expression
Amrlk Singh
Rushdie
leading columnists. Their opinions of dissent in every form and preGElntlrai Manager
- Syed Shahabuddin.
cannot, In any even, be brushed clude hooliganism and mafia raj of
Ll CoL Manoliar Singh
aside. Yet if dne scrutinises the any political colour from capturing
(Retd.)
whole judicial procedure stretched the national stage.
Salman may be safe for the next week, he may be safe for the
next three months, but this threat will hand over his head for the rest
over four years there is no escape
Editors
of his life
from concluding that the judiciary
A.S. Narang
B Ramachandran
- Hanif Kureishi
did
not
attempt,
at
any
point
of
'
Bangalore
Glan Singh Sandhu

-I

ask

'J'

'I

Assistant Editor
KH Naze.r (BalJu)

v Business Ibnagef
"t

NEWSHOUND

By

Onkar Singh GuJral

Publishers.
Ekta Trust
2126, Sarva Priya Vihar
New Dalhi-110016.
Ph. '660738
Editorial, BusiMss

and Circulation Offices

3_ Masjid Road, Jangpura
New Delhi-110014.
Ph. 619284

1531 March 1989

.vl.Ew.p.ol.NT_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ FORUM
/#//

Gazette

FORUM

Religion Is Our Bane

Minority Rights
Civil Liberties
Equality For Women
Democratic Values
Environmental Protection

By Ludwina A. Joseph

formal religion and dogma and nve

were divine law.
Or consider Lord Krishna in the accoridng to a set of values. Of all
Mahabharata acknowledging and the great faiths, the two early
movements that
justifyif\g the unfair and cowardly reformist
means used by the Pandavas, at emerged from Hinduismhis instigation, to defeat Duryod~ Buddhism and Jainism-both
hana (Ch.XCIll. The Pandavas preaching "ahimsa" or nonReproached). According to the violence, must be the most peaceKshatriya code of honour and laws loving of all faiths and perhaps the
of war it was wrong or 'adharma' most attractive. They do not advohat has been witnessed in both Houses of Parliament as well
for Arjuna to kill Karna when the cate "jehads" and crusades. Hinas in the West Bengal Assembly shows signs of desperation.
latter was vainly trying to raise his duism is unfortunately saddled
With an election due at the end of the year, the ruling party
chariot out of the mud but Krishna with a reactionary (for modern
. fears that its tenure might come to an end: No wonder this has
urged him 10 act for "who could times) social malaise-the caste
.
given rise to a feeling of desperation.
bear the responsibility for system. But there is nothing reacThere are people who argue that the next general election may not take
tionary or regressive about the
I have not read 'The Satanic breaches of dharma except the
place and the life of the Lok Sabha may be extended. While this cannot be
Gospel or the teachings of Nanak
Lord
himself"
..
(Ch.XCI.
The
Death
ruled out, the chances are somewhat remote. For all practical purposes there- Verses' and have no interest in of Karna). or, in the same chapter, or the lyricism of Mirabai, Kabir
defending Salman Rushdie but the
fore, that possibility need not be taken into account.
Bhimasena's paroxysm of rage on and the Sufi saints. Inevitably one
What happens in the case of the general election then? Even if some of idea of a screaming mob attacking the battlefield when he broke Duh- has to be selective about what one
I
the opinion polls conducted recently are not taken into account, one thing the American Center-over a
sasana's limbs and tore them out should or should not read amongst
book
they
had
never
read
or
were
is clear. Either the ruling party loses the election or it returns to power with
of his body: : he sucked and drank any of the scirptures, skirting carea thin majority. In either case there would be instability as well as uncertainty. ever likely to read-seems so the blood from his enemy's body fully the rabble-rousing induceutterly
and
absolutely
futile
and
so
During the last four general elections, it has been a llmdslide victory either
like a beast of prey and danced on ments to kill, maim ~nd plunder.
for one party or another. One need not go into the causes of that phenomenon. horribly familiar.
I recall an argument with a
the
ensanguined field, mad with
Adherence to dogmatic formalBut this much is clear that in the next general election this pattern is not likely
passion" in an ecstasy of wrath. Muslim who had an aura of proised
religion
is
a
special
cross
we
to be repeated ..Whoever wins, whether the ruling party or the opposition, it
His savagery was obviously con- gressiveness but when questioned
wou~-by a narrow margin. Therefore, instability is built into the situation. all have to bear. It apears to be
something ingrained in our doned as he was on the side of he reverted to type. He said that
~ one can welcome instability, it need not be regarded as an unmixed
Islam complemented Christianity
evil. This is not because instability is a good thing, but because instability, psyche. Which of us on the good fighting evil. (The Mahabharbut in fact Islam demolishes the
subcontinent-whether
Christian,
ata
translated
by
C.
Raj~gopala
is the ultimate aftalysis, will prove to be a prelude to stability. In plain words,
principal tenets of the Christian
we would like political stability and that is how it should be. But in certain Hindu, Sikh or Muslim-has not chari).
faith:
the concept of the Holy TriEven allowing for Bombay filmdrcumstances, this ideal cannot be ensured. If ;hat be so, let us not fear insta- been guilty at some stage in our
nity, Jesus as the Son of God,
lives
of
some
extreme
either
in
dom's
cinematic
licence
Doordarbility as some kind of a plague. Rather it should be looked upon as paving
thought, word or deed, or of a feel- shan's serialised version of the Mary as the Mother of God, the
the way towards eventual stability.
Crucifixion and the Resurrection.
The fact of the matter is 'that the Congress(I) is approaching its stage of ing of superiority or intolerance to Mahabharata, which assails us
those
of
other
faiths.
The
Bible
(the
every weekend with its distasteful He seemed incredulous' that
fmal demise. It has quite a number of accomplishments to its credits. But for
Old
Testament),
the
Qoran
and
and its endless procession anyone would want to believe othkitsch
the last quarter century or so, its role has ceased to be positive. In a way it
has become the political wing of those who exploit the country; a' combi- the Mahabharata are all replete of despotic monarchs, deshabille erwise! The two religions are actuirreconcilable,
notnation of classes appears to have captured power and everything is done in with passages that are at once princesses, le.cherous yogis,ven- ally
their interest. What these classes are and how they are feathering their nest barbaric, bigoted, and bloodthirsty, dettas, sorcery, tyranny and bru- complementary and the only way
all the time are details one need not go into. This much is clear, however, urging the believers on to acts of tality, appears not to be a great to achieve a free inquiry or a
that the development of the country has got obstructed because of the pol- . murder and mayhem that com- deal different in its intolerance of rational discourse on a religious
icies that are being followed. '. he strategy of development followed during pletely contradict the codes of other "dharmas" (creeds) and its subject is to gloss over the contrathe last four decades cannot be sustained any longer. And hence the crisis. conduct by which we try to live in provocation and incitement to vio- dictions and try to isolate points of
agreement or, best of all, not to
lence as the previous scriptures
What has given a somewhat longer lease of life to the ruling party than this modern world.
discuss religion at all.
In Deuteronomy, Ch.7,V.2-5, it quoted.
ought to have been the case is the ineptness and stupidity of the opposition.
says
of
those
who
worship
other
I wonder why it is then that one
Why
then
do
we
condemn
the
. No alternative strategy of development has been seriously mooted by it. It
can, therefore, happen that the ruling party may get rejected and the oppo- gods: "thou shalt utterly destroy fundamentalists today as ignorant gets an emotional "high" from the
them . Thou shalt make no league and mentally degenerate when mere trappings of religion: GregorSlt1O, )Is to take advantage of it.
What happened in West Bengal shows a calculated approach to the polit- with them. Nor show mercy to they are only practising what is ian chant in dim cathedrals' with
ical problem. It is pathetic ~. ecause whatever else may be said about that state, them ...destroy their altars, and held to be the word of god? If one robed altar boys and a sonorous
it has a strong government which knows its mind and has been conducting break their statues, and cut down has to attack anything then it has pipe organ; the lone .arahmin
its affairs both with dignity and responsibility. That such stupid things should theirgroves and burn their graven to be the contents of the scriptures smearing one's forehead with red
have been done in that state only goes to show that there utter bankruptcy things". And if they resist, themselves-how could exhorta- "tilak" in the nearby Hindu temple ;
Ch.20,V.13-17 declares: "thou tions so full of blood and gore and "qawwal" singers intoning outside
of ideas and of political strategy.
No one represents \his mode of thinking more flagrantly than the Prime shalt slay all that are therein of the revenge have been considered the Dargah Sharif in Ajmer; the
Minister himself. Th; t.is why he chose to blame the opposition for aiding male sex, with the edge of the revelatory or divine. How can any mesmeric effect of the chanting in
the terrorists. The tactiri rebounded on him and he had to apologize. That he sword. Excepting women and thinking, feeling , normal, reason- the Ranakpur Jain temples clustdid it without grnce only underlines the point which 101m Kennedy once made. children ...but of those cities that ing person accept them seriously ered together in all their marble
He defmed courage as grace under pressure. Rajiv Gandhi did not give any shall be given thee, thou shall or as a model for civilised behav- whitene~s in the Aravalli Hills; the
suffer none at all to live". (The Holy iour. Is it possible to have a icy dip in the picturesque lake near
evidence of it.
And this condemns him more than.anything else he could have said or done. Bible, Douay-Rheims version).
:rational discourse or to encourage Hemkund Saheb in the Garhwal
And in the Qoran, S. V.36, the a modern scientific temperament Himalayas, sacred to Guru Gobind
If in response to all these pressUres he is .going to lose his dignity, he is going
Singh; the bells ringing at the
to add to his problems. Dignity is important in .all situations and more so in punishment for infidels is "execu- .in a rigid "believer" I think not.
the case ofsomeone who heads 'the gevernment'of the country. When he apol- tion, or crucifixion, or the cutting off There is a point beyond which all Enchey Buddhist Monastery in
'ogizcd, he did not carry conviction but, worse lhan that, is the -fact that he of hands and feet from opposite their so-called rationalism and Gangtok and the tiny boy-monks
sides, or exile from the land". intellect dissipates and they revert looking on solemnly. The incense,
failed to maintain his dignity.
Further, it says in S.XLVII, 4-8: back to bigotry and fanaticism. Is the vestments, the smell of burn"why ye meet th.e unbelievers, it any different from the Shankar- ing oil, the ritual, the prayer-flags,
smite at their necks; at length, acharya of Puri (a supposedly the special atmosphere-they are
when ye have thoroughly subdued erudite man) preaching the glories evocative of childhood, of memorthem, bind a bond .. .for those who of Sati or the ravings of the Imam ies of things past and make for a
reject (Allah), for them is destruc- Bukhari or the recent flurry of exe- special kind of nostalgia. They
tion". (An English interpretation of cutions of innoceQts by Sikh mili- strike an emotional chord. I supWhen we have-not what we like, we must like what we have.
the Holy Qoran by A. Yusuf Ali). tants.
pose there must be som~thing
-Anon.
Granted that these passage~
In fact there is little that is dark and obscute and primeval in
are quoted out of context and "catholic", in the sense of large- everyone's makeup, so who are
actually refer to ancient battle . mindedness, about any of the reli- we really to blame the fundamentpractices, but today's religious gions. To cultivate a liberal and alists.
extremists enact them as .if they tolerant outlook one has to forsake

$ff

Signs Of Desperation

'T h e recent anti-Rushdie

protest in Islamabad in
which six persons died,
tragically and senselessly, could so easily have happened anywhere on the
subcontinent. We read about such
incidents with a sense of deja vu,
so accustomed are we to an
almost daily diet of "communal" (a
euphemism, surely) rioting, spasmodic eruptions of destructiveness, and increasingly frenzied
crimes committed in the name of
religion .

15-31 March 1989

3
of

FORUM

Gazette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1111...............................................................................

No More Rhetoric, Please

By K.S. Khosla
f late a spate of reports

have appeared in the

national Press about
the Central government's intention to solve the
Punjab problem by taking a
number of steps. these moves
include: braodly, the calling of a
meeting of Opposition parties to
discuss the problem, release of
the remaining 168 detenus in
Jodhpur jail, holding panchayat
elections to revive the political process in the State and creating
more jobs for the youth particularly
in the terrorist-infested districts of
Amritsar, Ferozepur and Gurdaspur.
. Opposition leaders in the State
believe that all these moves are
belated attempts to solve the problem and lack credibility. Take first,
the Prime Minister's decision to
appoint a Cabinet SUb-committee
to call an all party meeting to con. sider the problem. Public memory
is short but it is necessary to recall
that the Prime Minister announced
in January 1988 on board the
plane on his return journey from
Stockholm that he would discuss
the proposal to hold an all party
meeting to discuss the problem
with his Cabinet colleagues. This
statement created a lot of speculation in political circles of an
impending political initiative. But
then there was utter si"lence for
nine months. It was only in the
middle of September 1988 when
the Prime Minister vi~ted Punjab
that he revived the proposal for an
all party meeting and announced
that he would appoint a Cabinet
sub-committee for the purpose.
The sub-committee has been
formed and, it i;;' learnt, that it has
held a collple h'r meetings but the
call to the' ~ppOsition parties for a
conference has not yet been
given. It is also learnt that the Cab-

inet sJb-committee on Punjab has

drawn a set of proposals to d-eal
with the situation and will invite .
leaders of various political parties
soon.. How soon? No one knows.
From inspired leaks in the
Press, one can say with certainty
that one of the proposals is to
release the remaining one hundred and sixty-eight detenus
arrested from the Golden Temple
in June 1984 on charges of sedition and conspiracy and presently
lodged in the Jodhpur jail.- What
one fails to understand is the hitch
in releasing these detenus when
over 200 detenus held on the
same charges have been released
already. The first batch of 40 detenus released included Mr. Jasbir
Singh Rode, a nephew of Sant
Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale, who
was arrested from Manila with the
help of Interpol. The charge
against him was that he was a
separatist and that he raised proKhalistan slogans at Nankana
Sahib in Pakistan before a gathering of Sikh pilgrims from India.
Everyone knows how Mr. Rode
was patronised by the state government after his release. At that
time the militants ruled the roast in
the Golden Temple and he was
appointed the Akal Takht chief. A
lot of hope was generated that he
would De able to bring round the
militants for talks within the Constitution and thus make them join
the national mainstream. But that
was not to be. The government
failed to judge the mood of the
Sikhs and events proved that Mr.
Rode had little hold on the militant
outfits. The government embarked
on the much appreciated and welcomed Operation Black Thunder
to flush out the terrorists from ihe
holy shrine of the Sikhs. The operation was a great success and a
vast majority of the Sikhs were

happy that at least the Golden

Temple had been cleared of terror.ists who had desecrated it. But the
government failed to cash on this
feeling of revulsion among the
Sikhs by pressurising the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak
Committee, which had dismissed
Mr. Rode and other priests, to
retain him as the Akal Takht chief.
The government again lost its
credibility as there was no reason
for the government to support a
person detained on a charge of
being a Khalistani.
Then came the release of more
detenus from Jodhpur jail in the
middle of September last on the
eve of the Prime Minister's visit to
Punjab when he announced that
panchayat elections would be held
in Punjab to decentralise power
and revive the political process in
the State. The question is why
release the Jodhpur detenus in
batches and make them pawns in
the political game as part of a
package deal. If they are seditionists, they should be tried and convicted. Why hold them in jail for
more than four years without trial.
Under which law of the country is
their detention in jail for such a
long period justified? Now comes
the news that the government may
release the remaining detenus on
the eve of the Prime Minister's visit
to Punjab in the middle of March.
Informed sources say that such
belated attempts to as usage the
feeling of the Sikhs is not going to
help much because of the gl,Jilty of
the November 1984 riots in Delhi,
when about 3,000 Sikhs were
killed in cold-blood, have not been
brought to book so far.
As for panchayat elections, no
one knows when these will be
held. Twice a notification was
issu~d and cancelled each time in
the face of increased killings by

terrorists. It is now proposed to

hold panchayat elections in districts not affected by terrorists. The
reason for postponing panchayat
election is the fear that terrorists
may capture the panchayats by
participating in the election. The
Congress(I) party in the State is
itself opposed to holding panchayat elections as it is not sur~
of .winning them . For that matter,
all political parties are not enthusiastic about these elections as they
have become irrelevant under the
present situation. Only the leftist
parties, the CPI and the CPM, are
opposing the terrorists politically
and otherwise and they have lost
quite a good number of their active
workers in the process. The Akalis
are the worst offengers in this
respect. They are not opposing the
terrorists in any way. In fact, they
are helping the terrorists indirectly
by their conspiracy of silence.
Thei, passivity has not helped
them at all. On the contrary, many
Akali leaders have fallen to the terrorist's gun. In fact, the Akalis are
deriving vicarious pleasure at the
government's failure to break the
back of the terrorists.
As for creating more jobs for the
unemployed youth, particularly for
those living in the border districts,
the government's new industrial
policy is certainly a step in the right
direction. But one wonders:
whether the government will be
able to induce new enterpreneurs
to set up industries when it is not
able to hold panchayat elections in
those areas.
This brings us to the government's policy of exhausting the terrorists first and then start" the
political process. Observers are of
the view that any initiative on the
political front rnust begin by restoring the confidence of the people in
the law and order machinery. It is

indeed ironical that while on the

one hand the government wants to
hold panchayat elections to revive
the political process, on the other
hand the police in Batala district is
beating up and humiliating sarpanches and panches. About forty
of them resigned in the first week
of January in protest against police
excesses. The Governor, Mr. S.S.
Ray, listened to their grievances
and appointed two senior officials
to inquire into the allegations
against the police. They have yet
to submit their reports. But before
they can submit their reports, the
police chief, Mr. K.P.S. Gill, has
come out with a statement in the
Pre~s that the Batala police is not
guilty. It seems the top administrators in Punjab are working at cross
purposes. Talking to newsmen at
Ludhiana on February 20, Mr. J .F.
Rebeiro, Advisor to the Governer,
defended Mr. Chaman Lal, former
Inspector General of
''ye
(Border Range) who sought h-aOSfer in protest against the police
chiaf's pol icy of repression on the
people . "I was always in favour of
Mr. Chaman Lal 's stand and have
never deviated from it," Mr.
Rebeiro said . He disclosed that
Mr. Govind Ram, S.S.P., Batala
district, was transferred from
Faridkot district as there were
complaints against him . The allegations against him were found to
be true but he was transferred as
he had caught terrorists.
The crux of the problem is: Can
exhausting the terrorists go well in
hand with initiating a political process. It can , provided there is fair
play and the police functions within
the law of the land . No less a
person than Mr. Rebeiro beli- es
that the hearts and minI.. :Jof
people cannot be won with injustice and high-handedness which'
alienate the people further.

Police Miscalculation Provokes The Demonstrators

Continued 'from pagfJ 1

development. Thus started arresting the leaders of the organisations which proposed the protest
march. When the people assembled at- a particular place, there
were no person to give them
proper guidance and a total con.fusio{.prevailed. As it was preplanned, the protesters wanted to
march towards the British High
Commission office. The police
could not allow the crowd to march
ahead as the prohibitory orders
were in force. The police offered
to allow a delegation to present a
m!3morandum to the authorities
but the processionists asked the
police to allow them to walk a short
distance at the end of which they
said they would court arrest. When
the processionists started running,
there was utter confusion and the
pOlice had no alternative but to
chase the demonstrators. Lathicharged, tear-gassed and, in all,

150 rounds were fired. And it left

more than a dozen demonstrators
killed and more than 40 injured.
As many of the observers question, why the police did give too
much importance to this particular
demonstration? As against the
police statement that the arson
and looting were pre-planned,
most of the demonstrators think
that the police action was really
pre-planned.
It is a fact that the protest would
have made some sense if the
book had not already been
banned in India. But since the
book has already been banned in
this country, the protest had
nothing to do with the entire controversy which is on in the international arena. At least in India we
had no reason to - go into the
streets shouting slogans and
destroying public property over
this. The so-called leaders who

But the most

discom posing
aspect is the police
action. After
Rishikesh, Bidar
and Jamm u, it is
now in Bombay,
one of the most
secular metros in
the country

called for the Clemonstration must

h,we realised the fact that the
Ayatollah's actions were clearly

motivated to put political moderates who have been in the ascendant in Iran ever since the war with
Iraq ended in the virtual defeat for
Iran, on the Oefensive. Had our
leaders realised this fact what else
was their intention? Who were the
.protesters trying to impress? The
people of Bombay? The British
government? Or, were they protesting against the Shiv Sena? Or
Rushdie himself? The so-c~:Jed
Muslim leaders never wanted to
kill the Indian-bern author, Salman
Rushdie, until a few days back.
They were over-satisfied by the
banning of the b09k by the government in October last. Thus the
real intention behind the demonstration and the protest are nothing
but creation of chaos and communal discord.
But the most discomposing
aspect is the police action. After
Rishikesh, Bidar and Jammu, after

Ahmedabad, Meerut and Delhi, it

is now in Bombay, one of the most
secular metropolises in the country. Either it was the inertia on the
part of the police or the partiality
shown by them had beon the real
problem on communal riots at
almost all these places .
It is meaningless to say that the
police miscalculated and did not
get the real gravity of the situation.
They must have been prepared to
meet any eventualities as they
were aware of the demonstration
well in advance. Police is to maintain peace and order. They should
have pre-planned their strategy to
meet any provocation on the part
of the demonstrators. But the
police failed miserably. The police
should not confine itself giving
flimsy excuses. The government
should take necessary steps to
precludf'l such tragedies at least in
the future.

15-31 March 1989

FORUM
Gazette

Governor Politics In Kerala

By V.K. Ravi Varma Thampuran
active politician as against the recommendations of the Sarkaria
Commission. Chief Minister, Mr
E.K. Nayanar, pointed out this and
expressed resentment over her
appointment. Even then he arrived
at the airport to receive the new
Governor
.
Within a few days of her assuming office came the Bharat Bandh
called by the national opposition
parties. A few unpleasant incidents occured in the state capital on
the Bandh day. Soon came the
GovernOr's directive to the Chief
Mini!;;ter to maintain law and order
and ensure protection of lives and
property of the people. Though the
Governer's directive' cannot be
blamed the way in which she
expressed it had gone ag~inst
precedence. Unlike the previous
Govern91's she rushed to the
Press with her directive and
caught big headlines. The Chief
Minister criticised her for this
action, but not stood for a fight.
The confrontation was conbetween the Gov- firmed a few months later by Mrs
,ernor and the state government Sinha when she refused to give
started in West Bengal a few years her assent to the Calicut Univerago The scene then shifted to sity Act Amendment Ordinance,
Andhra Pradesh and now to wh ich was mainly aimed at replacKerala, all the victims are non- ing Vice-chancellor Mr. T.K.
Congress(l) ruling states.
Raveendran after the syndicate of
The rift between the Marxist-led the university decided to grant
state government and the Gov- UGC scales to its teachers against
ernor, Mrs Ram Dulari Sinha, the will of the state government.
reached a critical situation as the Then also the ruling Left Democrastate Assembly passed a resolu- tic Front led by the CPI(M) did not
tion on February 2 condemning come out into an o~ , e n attack and
the Governor 's actiOns, rather left it to the fe eder c.!rq anisations.
misdeeds. Though the re.''; ;::Jlution
Within a few riiCII'l ths came the
and the discussion on :l in the nominations of four student mem state Assembly were Ol"ly on her bers of the Serl e':';:; of the Kerala
capacity as Chancellor of the Uni- University. The C,wernordropped
versities in the state, it ultimately ' two from the ii5' ,pcornmended by
reached her capacity as the Gov- the Vice-Ch dn : u' ; (, and t6 disaprapr.
pointment , :1'1 (;' '.:II Jred two were
9 he resolution was for expres- record hold er, P ! inter-university
sing dissati3faction at the action of meets, wherL "" ', i ~l e ::;elected two
the Governer as the Chancellor in were 'nam e I 0' . ~ c rdinaries.
making nominations to the SenThis m a d ~J :h<J ::tudent organiates of two of the universities in sations ol C Pr.l angry and they
the State. The opposition led by marched tel :'1 Raj Bhawan to
Congress(l) argued against the submit CI p .;( to n again st her
discussion ~ ~m the Chancellor action. But ihc: CO'/ernQr used this
describing th'e Governor's action opportunity ;0 cur se the state govshould not be discussed in the ernment fo' lacK of furnitures and
Assembly. But the Speaker of the table m : ( t ~; i(1 the Raj Bhavan.
house, Mr Varkala RadhakrishStill the gOvernment and the
nan, quoting Allahabad High Court LDF co r.i ; o!l ed themselves
judgement, ruled that Chancello'r expecting 'iai( dealing' in future .
and Governor are two different But the Governor again acted
entities since the chancellorship is again st the recommendations of
conferred on the Governor as an the sta te government while
additional power by p::lssing a res- making nominations to the Senolutior) in the state Assembly. Dis- ates of Kerala and Calicut Univeragreeing with the Speaker's ruling sities. Sne accepted only five of
the entire ''6pposition except one the 13 na mes recommended for
independertt member, Mr M.V. the Se nate of the Kerala UniverRaghavan,
boyco"ed
the sity and fou r of the 14 names recAssembly during the discussion. om m,md od for the Senate of
Therefore, the discussion against . Ca iir.)ut University. The other nomthe Governor became one-sided. inees were of her own choice. The
Mrs Ram Dulari Sinha came as ruling front alleges that the Govthe Governor of the state in Feb- ernor's 'nominees' are Congress(l)
ruary 1987 following Mr P. Ram- supporters and they were nomiachandran. When Mr. Sinha was nated to win two syndicate mem made Governor, she was an bers for the Congress(I). Eight

he Governor-governme!.1t
battle has spread to dne
more state in the country
making moke the will of
the constitution once again. The
Governor post is aimed at maintaing a b;idge between the federal
government and the state goverments. But the bridge is about to
collapse, and as a matter of fact
democracy would again be the
victim .

1531 March 1989

Senate members can elect one

syndicate member. Whatever may
be, this is the first incident in the
history of Kerala that Chancellor is
making nominations against the
will of the state goverment.
The Governor is not the chancellor of Universities in all the
states. In Andhara Pradesh Edu -

Mrs Sinha spent

Rs. 50,000 more and
asked for an
additional one lakh
before the first year
ends. She is so
lavish. All these
reckless expenses
are amidst the
financial crisis
created by the
Centre

ses have also attracted criticism .

The budgetary sanction for Governor's travelling allowance is Rs.
39,000 a year. All the previous
Governors spent only what the
budget allowed. But Mrs. Sinha
spent Rs. 50,000 more and asked
.for an additional one lakh before
the first year ends. She is so lavish
in the maintenance of her office,
too. All these reckless expenses
are amidst the financial crisis
created by the Centre.

Once during a heated argument

in the Assembly, opposition
leader, Mr. K.Karunakaran(CongI), said that he is getting secret
police reports before it is even
reaching the Chief Minister who is
also the Home Minister. Members
of the ruling parties are on the say
that Mr Karunakaran is getting the
police reports from the Raj Bhavar) .
itself as a part of the plan drafted
to destabilise the state government.
It is pointed that Governor
Govind Narayan Singh was forced
cation Ministei is functioning as to resign by the Central Governthe Chancellor. The power of ment for acting against Conchancellor of all the universities of gress(l) Chief Minister in Bihar. But
Kerala is conferred on the Gov- here the Congress(l) is protecting
ernor by a decision taken by the a Governor whose actions contrastate Assembly and, therefore, dicts the elected state government
she is indebted to the Assembly and sO' against the people of the
though it is not written in any sta- state. It further explains that the
tutes.
Governor is acting as a Con~
Again, the Governors's expen- gress(l) agent for destabilising the

state governm ent. EL ~ [Q be true,

the actions of the Governor is tarnishing the image of Congress(l)
and the Central Government in the
state. Moreover, it helps the state
government to divert the attention
of the people from many other serious problems.
Noted jurists including former
Supreme Court judges, Rajinder
Sachar, P. Subrahmaniam Potti

and V.A. Krishna Iyer, have

deprecated the undemocratic acts
of the G~vernor. The intelligentsia
of Kerala have begun to question
the nacessity of the governor post
itself. It is expected that the agitation against the Governor will take
momentum in the coming months
and the possibility of even an
anti-Centre agitation also cannot
be written off.

Witn 'Best Comp[c,'ments

:From

Satkar Financial
Corporation r- I
2651 Kucha Chelan
Darya Ganj, New Delhi-ll0002
Tele. Nos. 275595, 267628

~()ltlJ~ ................................H.UM.A.N.R.IG.HT_S

Children Of A Lesser God

By Kavaljit Singh

2. The Employment of Children

Act, 1938.
3. The Minimum Wages Act,
1948.
4. The Factories Act, 1948.
5. The Plantations Labour Act,
1951 .
;
6. The Mines Act, 1952.
7. The Merchant Shipping Act,
1958.
8. 1 he Motors Transport Workels Act, 1961.
9. The Apprentices Act, 1961.
10. The Atomic Energy Act, 1962.
11. The Beedi and Cigar Workers
(Cond itions of Employment)
Act, 1966.
12. The Shops and Establishments Acts.

to regulate the age of employment,

hours of work, wages, etc. Such
legislations are not new but datos
back to 1881 wh.en the Britishers
passed the first Factories Act to
compete with the Indian industries
with its cheap labour supply avail -

While millions of
adults in Ot.r
country are
unemployed, the
labour of the
children is being
utilised because it
is much easier to
control and eXPIOi
child labourers than
adult labourers

I
I

However, these laws provide a

protection only to a limited number
of child workers as the majority of
child workers are employed outside the sectors regulated by such
enactments. Moreover, where
ever these laws are applicable, the
presence of corrupt enforcement
machinery allows the employers
from flouting the provisions laid
down in these Acts. As a result,
these laws have become nothing
but damp squib.

able in the country. At present,

there are a dozen legislations
which deals with the employment
of children:
1. The Children (Pledging of
Labour) Act, 1933.

In 1986, the Parliament also

passed the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Bill. This Act
does not propose any radical step
to eradicate this problem but
approves and legalized the child
labour in many years, banning in
certain occupations which were
considered hazardous. The legitimation of the child labour goes
against the Indian Constitution
which says," No child below the
age of 14 years srall be employed
to work in any factory, mine or
engaged in any other hazardous
employment" (Article, 24). The Act
also acknowledges that the child
labour is an ecer.omic necessity
thereby meaning that the Government fully approves the economic system under which the
practice of child labour is unavoidable. This also reflects that the
government lacks the political will
to remove poverty and exploitation, the two major contributing
factors responsible for the pr~iCe
of child labour.
~r
1'1 sTherefore, the Rs. 64 crore
question (please don't confuse it
with the Bofors issue!) is: Can the
law which has recognised the c!1ild
labour as unavoidable abo II:. h . ';

God makes the downtrodden, too

ight year old Ramesh
leaves his family at 4
o'clock every morning to
reach one of the match
and explosive factories at Sivakasi
in Tamil Nadu. After handling dangerous explosives for 14 hours in
the factory, he gets Rs.4. per day
12 year old Roshan spends 12
hours a day near the furnaces with
a temperature of over 500 degree
centigrade at one of the many
glass factories of Ferozabad, Uttar
Pradesh.
10 year old Chottu can be seen
working everyday (without-weekly
ofts) at one of the restaurants in
the I.N.A. market of South Del,i,
earning a meagre sum of Rs.50
per month.
Another Chottu of almost same
age can be seen every evening at
Safdl,Jljung Crossing. one of the
busieltt interactions in Delhi, seIling newspapers which he himself
cannot read.

Question: Who are these

children-Ramesh, Roshan, and
Chottus?
~nsvver: They are the contributors
:0 their families income.
Question: Are they exceptionally
deprived children?

Answer: No, they are not. There

.are nearly 44 million other children
like them in our country.
Out of the 44 million child
labourers, nearly 60 per cent are
below the age of 10 years. Majority of them are empluyed in
informal and unorganised sectors.
Usually, these children are work'ing in somewhat semi-<>rganised
sectors likeagarbalhi making factories, matcnes and fireworks factories, carpet weaving and
powerloom industries, mines and
quarries, hotels and restaurants
and also employed as domestic
servants.
While millions of adults in our
country are unemployed, the
labour of the children is being utilised because it is much easier to
control and exploit child labourers
than adult labourers. There is also
no liability on the part of the
employer to give any service benefits like provident fund, gratuity,
leave, promotion, etc. furthermore,
the children cannot think of making
unions and fighting for their rights.
It is worthwhile to mention that
various legislative measures have
been enacted by the government

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15-31 March 1989

FORUM

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS

Gazette

AU'rora For Probe

Into Atrocities
In Batala
By Our Correspondent
he Akali MP, Lt Gen J.S.
Aurora, demanded a judicial
inquiry into the case of police
excesses in Batala, instead of
police inquiry as.has been ordered
by the Punjab Governor, Mr S.S.
Ray. Gen. Aurora's demand was supported by several Opposition
MPs.
Making a special mention in
the Rajya Sabha, Gen. Aurora "
gave some details on the police
excesses in the district. . He said
the local people were rounded up,
their noses rubbed on the ground,
thCl wom9n vilely abused and men
~t~n up on f~lse charges of harmng terrorists.
~e said the sarpanches. from
the villages, who complained to
the Governor, were again beaten
up by the police. He said Mr SS

Ray visited Batala on February 14

and after hearing the complaints,
ordered an inquiry to be conducted
by the DIG, Punjab police.
Gen. Aurora maintained that
such an inquiry would be meaningless because the DIG would
naturally protect the lOCal SSP,
who would in turn protect his men.
Given the fact that the police officers would protect their own, it
would be in the interest of justice
to have a judicial inquiry instead,
he said.
He also demanded that the SSP

hen Daleep Singh, 55, went

to Karauti in Gwalior district,
Madhya Pradesh, in 1969, he had
visions of creating land as fertile
as that of his native F .. njab.
Hazara Singh went to Lal\himpur
district in Uttar Pradesh as late as
i5ri~ 982. He, too, had visions of
",.ping gold from land that was so
much cheaper than in his home
state. Now both the families have
returned, like so many others,
exchanging land with Hindu families in the Tarn Taran division of
Amritsar.
They returned to Punjab in
search of security: to escape
"insults and harassment" and the
possibility of violence like the programs witnessed after Indira
Gandhi's death.
But, instead, in Punjab they
found they would have to live in
fear, as Dalbir Singh puts it. Hi!
and the dozen,odd families in this.
village and Chakbamba, some 20
km away, were unanimous that if
they could they would prefer to go
back to the states they had
adopted and left-with undue haste.
"We are Indians, we do not want
a situat.ion where we would need
a passport to move around." says
one of them.
Joginder Singh of Chakbamba
village exchanged roughly 40
acres in Nainital district, Uttar Pradesh, with 20 acres belonging to
Kashmir Chand in July last year.
Daljeet Singh .and his five brothers exchanged their land in Fatehabad near Daulatpur in Uttar

15-31 March 1989

1. With a view to tridying up

the Income Tax Act, eX'emption
limits and concessions should be
placed together under each of th~
heads of income tax, wealth tax,
gift tax and capital gains tax.
2. The quantitative exemption
limn shoutd not be raised above
Rs. 18,000 per head, as .is being
suggested by some. Rather, it
should be lowered with a view to
broadening the tax base. However, .the maximum tax could be
marginally lowered and shibs
below adjusted accordingly.
3. Tax exemption on dividend
across the board is not being suggested as it would strain the
budget position. What could be
considered, however, is that the
tax exemption could be granted to
companies having factories in notified backward areas or producing
notified goods or utilising notified
foreign capital or notified hi-tech

~~~~~~I~:~~~~~e;~t~~o::i!~ ~:~~ ... .,. T.aking

interfere with the inquiry. He also

reiterated the view that state terrorism was primarily responsible
for the Punjab problem.

Return To Fear,
Broken Dreams
.

Six Ways To Rationalise Taxes

Pradesh with Niranjan Das of the

same village in June. They got 18
acres for 40.
Gurdeep Singh, now dead,
exchanged his 50 acres in Kulum
Jajharpur in Shahjahnpur district of
Uttar Pradesh with the 23 acres of
the Chambamba Sarpanch,
Kishen Chand. He also paid an
additional sum of Rs. 2 lakhs.
Dalip Singh and his brother, Sakhattar Singh, exchanged 50-odd
acres at Karautivillaga in Gwalior
district with 22.5 acres in Thay
Brahmana.
Hazara Singh and his four
brothers exchanged some 38
acres at Shanharpur village in
Lakhimpllr district of Uttar Pradesh
with 20 acres, also in Thay Brahmana.
Balwant Singhna Dalal, based
in Dhiban Kalan, handled most of
these exchanges and several
more in this area. Many of the
exchanges were done through
common family friends who acted
as go-betweens.
Amarjeet Kaur's husband, Gurdeep Singh, was killed in an
exchange with terrorists who had
attacked the house of Kishen
Chand in which they were then
living in June last year. Gurdeep
Singh, a former soldier, had fired
at the terrorists and had been
killed in the return fire.
Amarjeet says her eldest son,
Virin'der (18), has spent each evening since then expecting "something to happ9n." She has sent her

" .

procedures.
4. The concept and definition
of depreciation should be the
same in the Income Tax Act and
the Companies Act and its method
of calculation could be one-the
more scientific one-the more scientific one-the step down
method. This would then perhaps
make Section 115J of the Income
Tax Act redundant. The revenue
implications of this would of course
need study before the proposal is
accepte.Q.
5. Sirlee advancing through a
chit fund makes the member first
deposit money and then obtain a
loan from the fund, it is perhaps
the least inflationary among all
forms of financing and is a boon
to the middle and lower middle
classes for obtaining articles of
consumption. As a form of financing it is a gift of India to the world,
yet in India it is the least encou-

raged. It is suggested that the next

Budget should commence giving
it the maximum encouragement, 01
course under adequate overseeing arrangements. The incentive
snould be in the form of tax concessions to both the chit fund and
its members, and the commercial
banks, to start with should undertake chit fund business, the only
limiting factor being the availability of trained personnel. later the
regional rural banks and finance
companies could also be gradually brought into the picture.
6. Similar incentive shOUld
also be pro~ided in the next
budget in the form of lower or nil
stamp duty on darshani and muddati hundies to develop a bill
market, particularly in the rural
areas. This will facilitate the
movement of goods, particularly
agricultural commodities.

Sikhism To 21st Century

he Gur~ Gobind Singh Foun- Calcutta. The third regional can"

dation has decided to organise ference would be held in Bombay
an international seminar in Delhi to in April.
focus attention on threats being
In reply to a question, Captain
faced by Sikhs and their religion all Amarinder Singh ruled out inviting
over tlie world, the challenges to terrorist groups or the All India
Sikhism posed by modern civilisa- Sikh Students Federation to the
tion, and to evolve a consensus conference to express their opinapproach to fight these chal- ions. The conference was being
lenges.
. held with a broad perspective to
The objecive of the seminar, to evolve a consensus strategy to
be attended by Sikh and non-Sikh ' modernize Sikhism.
scholars from all over the world, is
In reply to another question he
to enable the Sikh community to said that religion could not be sepre-adjust its responses to the arated from politics by issuing
present-day situation, keeping a statements like those given out by
long-term perspective in mind. It is the Union Home Minis.ter, Mr. Buta
with this background that the Singh, or by passing legislation in
foundation has chosen the subject Parliament. For this purpose, a
of discussion:"Sikhism and the consensus approach was neces21 st century."
. sary and the entire community
Capt. Amarinder Singh, Presi- should be made aware of the prodent of the Foundation, said that cess.
prior to this international conferFor making preparations for the
ence the Fbundation had already seminar, a National Preparatory
organised two regional conferen- Committee has been set up. Mr
ces on the subject in Delhi and Amarinder Singh and Dr Jasbir

Singh Ahluwalia are the Chairman

and Member-Secretary of the
committee.
The first meeting of the National
Preparatory Committee was held
yesterday. The following topics for
the papers to be presented at the
seminar were approved:
(i) Sikhism and Sikh society (a
retrospective view-since 1699
A.D.)
(ii) the future of Sikhism and Sikh
society (ideational and technological challenges of the 21 st
century).
(iii,) Sikhism as a world religion
(implications and imperative).
(iv) Sikh institutions and structures
. (their relevance and role in the
21 st century).
(v) Interface of Sikhism with other
living world religions (interreligious dialogue)
(vi)Sikhism and modern U"ode's of
thought and the effects of the
"Sikh diaspora".

1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -_________________
two younger sons, aged 12 and Brahmana lie in the heart of terrornine, to the Dashmesh Academy ist country, and as far as the ecoat Anandlur and they do not come nomic part of the exchange of land
home even for holidays. "What is is concerned, the Sikh families got
the point of living somewhere . the worse of the deal. Not only is
where'You cannot even' keep your .Iand in Punjab dearer than in Uttar
Pradesh, but they also had to
children with you?" she asks.
Gurmeet Kaur, wife of Daljeet leave most of their agricultural
Singh of Chakbamba; says her equipment behind. Moreover, their
family had never faced .any pro- . income has also decreased.
The women recall the pucca
blems in Uttar Pradesh. It was the
riots in Delhi after ~ Gandhi's two-storey houses they had in
assassination which iT,ade them their adopted states. Here, either
feel insecure. "If it could happen they cannot afford it or they do not
in Delhi with educated people build them out of fear that such
involved, then what can One ostentation would make certain
expect of ignorant villagers?" asks elements think they are moneyed
her husband. It was this that made and prospective ransom victims.
them decide to move and now . Extortion is the major activity of the
.
they regret it. "Given half a terrorists in this area.
chance, we would go back," says
The f~milies of Hazara Singh
Gurmeet Kaur.
and Sakhattar Singh left this area
"But who will buy our land now?" as late as in the early eighties.
asks Pooran Kaur, her sister-in- Sakhattar Singh, who had land at
law. Both Chakbamba and Thay U.sma, and Hazara Singh, who

own plot at Dhiban, sold a part of

their land and bought several
areas in Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh
and Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh,
But less than six years later, they
had to return.
Thay Brahmana, incidentally, is
so named because till the late
.Seventies it was a village of some
18 Hindu brahmin families. Eight
'or nine of them still live here~ An
old Brahmin lady says she is waiting for an opportunity to move out
with her family.. "What is the point
of ' staying 'here if our sons get
killed? But We cannot really afford
to move out," she adds.
"We keep on telling them: It is
your village. Stay on, times will
change. But, you see, we cannot
guarantee their lives. Even we
have little security," says Dalbir
Singh.

eourr.sy: Telegraph

FORUM

CENTRES

Gazette

Our Child: Beggar,

By Bharat Dogra

.he recent high spurt in

kidnappings in Patna and
other parts .of Bihar, the
exposure of the racket of
taking poor handicapped children
for begging alms in Mecca and the
documentation of the continuing
supply of girls for brothels from
some parts infamous for this trade
. have again drawn attention to the
traffic in children and teenagers
that exists on quite a larger scale
in India, even extending beyond its
borders.
In a nine month period from
January 1988 to October 88, 19~
minor girls and 142 minor boys
have been reported missing from
the city of Patna. All the missing
girls are in the age----group of 6-14,
and none of them had been traced
till earl~October. However, 'some
. m~mbers of a kidnappers' gang
have been arrested and they have
repOrtedly confessed that they
were engaged in kidnapping and
then sending these girls to Nepal,
from where the helpless girls were
to be sent to other countries.
Several members of kidnapping
gangs have been apprehended
during this year (1988) Saharsa,
Samastipur, Darbhanga, Sasaram, Khagariya, Nalanda, Bhagalpur, Aurangabad and Gaya
districts of Bihar. From Bairiya bus
station in Muzaffarpur district half
a doz.en gangsters along with several children kidnapped by them
have been recovered. It has been
alleged that these children were to
be supplied to the carpet weaving
units of Mirzapur and Varanasi. A
similar motive was given by three
gangsters caught in Samastipur
who had kidnapped 14 children.
Ten children kidnapped ' from
Neval village in Saharsa district
were recovered from near Sonepur Railway Station in Saran district. Ten children kidnapped from
Madhepura district have also been
rescued recently in seperate incidents
According to recent reports,
gangsters have gone to the extent
of picking up poor and deformed
children from some districts of
West Bengal-Nadia, Krishnanapar, Burdwan and particularly
Murshidabad-and then smuggling them to Mecca where they
were forced to beg. Their earnings
.were then collected by these
gangsters.
A recent study has said that
three lakh minors are engaged in
prostitution in India, ten thousand
in Bombay alone. This study has
identified six centres of sales of
girls in India in Rajasthan, Uttar
Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Orissa.
These are only some of the
more recent reports on the activities of those trading in minors the
evidence of which has been
accumulating over the years .
In a wide-ranging network that
spreads to almost all parts of the
country and has international conrjections, thousands of children
and teenagers are kidnapped, or

lured away from their parents on

ollowing detailed discussions Young Runaways' a study by S.
false promises. A distinction has to
on this problem at meetings of Devdas Pillai and K.M. Kapadia.
be . r1lade _ betwee~_ kidnapping top police officers a special section
Nearly 15 years ago five-year
children and luring them away was added to the Indian penal
old Murgan was kidnapped while
from parents on false promises. In code in 1960. Also detailed
he was on his way to school in
certain cases, for example some instructions for police officers
Somnathapuram near liruchendur
of those relating to supplying regarding how to implement the
(Tamil Nadu). He was made capworkers for carpet weaving in U.P. new provisions were drawn up by
tive by a gang of leprosy afflicted
from Bihar, it has been found that the Intelligence Bureau in consulpersons who used children for
those responsible for supplying tation with the Ministry of Home
begging and smuggling narcotics.
children continues to stay in the Affairs and they were circulated to
Some children were multilated
same village with the parents of all the states. The Intelligence
before being sent out for begging
the victimised children. If this had Bureau requested all the states to
though Murugan was spared.
been a case of kidnapping, this send quarterly reports and statisIn early 1980 a 13-year old boy
would not have been possible. So tics regarding the cases of kidnapwho worked in a tea-stall in old
what happens in such cases is ' pings of children.
Delhi who accidently came in conthat the racketeers take full
At the conference of Deputy tact with the police told the followadvantage of the extreme poverty
Inspector General of Police, CID, ing sto~e was kidnapped from
of parents. They are given some in 1965, it was recommended that
his village when he was a very
money, with promises of more to simultaneous drive should be
small kid. After confinement and
follow, if they agree to send their organised throughout the country
beatings for some time, a corrochild far away from their home,
where it is promised he or ~he will
get a good deal, such is their poverty and want that the parents
allow themselves to be convinced
by this clear talk.
In writing on this issue, however,
two warnings need to be voiced .
Firstly, our deep concern for kidnapped children should not lead
us to hasty violent actions against
A recent study has said
persons arousing some suspicion
that three lakh minors
on such grounds but whose guilt
are engaged in
is not yet proved. This warning
needs to be voiced because some
prostitution in India, ten
cases of suspects whose guilt was
thcusand in Bombay
not yet proved (invariably such
alone.
This study has
suspects are poor people someidentified six centres of
times having some physical
deformity as well) but who were
sales of girls in India
lynched by angry crowd which
suspected them to be kidnappers
have been reported. Secondly,
although this heinous trade has
international ramificat ions, we
should be careful not to implicate
the genuine work of child adoption
which has given a home and happiness to several orphans. Such
parents deserve our praise and
from time to time in order to trap sive aciq was thrown.on his body
appreciation.
1he organised gangs and rescue .to mutilate it and then he was
kidnapped children.
Begging Rackets
taken to crowded places for bagThe Working Group on Social ging. The day's collections were
vidence of the existence of Defence for the Fourth Fiv~Year taken away by a member of the
organised gangs which Plan (1969-74)set up by the Plan- gang ~very evening.There were
kidnap children and use them for ning Commission in April 1968', about a dozen other children
begging has trickled in from time observed, "The problem of child, between the ages of 6 and 13
to time without any comprehensive beggars should be first isolated, as years in the place where he was
children who take to begging are confined, the boy said. After some
picture emerging.
often victims of gangs of exploiters." years the boy could run away from
At one time a spate of such
About 15 years ' back several this gang and started working in a
reports had led the former P.M.
Mrs. Indira Gandhi, to express reports of maiming of children for dhaba.
concern in Parliament at the grow- begging in Bombay, specially at
Presistent questioning of two
ing tragedy of children used as Haji Malang Hill, 10 miles from children, Ramesh and Shailesh,
beggars.
Kalyan had been received. A who were collecting donations for
AcCording to a study titled 'Beg- reference to this has been made an 'orphanage' in Dalmianagar,
ging by Children-how many of in a study of child kidnappings by Bihar, led to admission by these
them are kidnapped' made several the Children's Aid Society, children that they were being used
years back by Central Bureau of Bombay, published in 1973.
by a gang a kidnappers. When the
Correctional Services of the
Around the same time the police arrested the man who had
Department of Social Welfare, "it Indian Express published a report brought these children here, he
is not unsafe to say that a good about a boy who escaped from his confessed to belong to an interproportion of these children might captors in a village in Hawrah dis- state gang of kidnappers. Based
be victims of exploitation at the trict, West Bengal, and later told on this information, the police
hands of unscrupulous adults-who the police that he saw at least raid9d some addresses in Varaexploit them for collection money seven boys and girls kept in iron nasi and Kanpur but other
by playing upon the the sentiments cages. Some of them were bleed- gang-members could not be
of passers-by exposing the ing while the eyes of one had been arrested. Meanwhile Ramesh said
children especially if they are gouged out. A reference to this that after having been kidnapped
deformed and handicapped,"
news has also been made in from Varanasi, he had been

beaten with hot iron rods to make

him agree to begging in various
places, while Sailesh was threatened that his parents would be
lr "led if he refused to beg.
In Dakha (Bangia Desh) some
years back a courageous man,
Akram Hussain, chairman of the
National Comm~tee of Slum Dwellers, not only exposed the racket
of kidnapped children being used
for begging but even gave the
address of the Dakha syndicate
which operated an organised
racket of a begging team of mutilated destitutes in Dakha. It is
another matter that concerted
efforts were not made for busting
that racket.
In the same city a British doctor,
Dr. Jack Preger, who has attracted

Even the beasts do not allow

widespread attention not only by

his devotion to providing medicare
to the poor but also by his courageous exposure of corruption,
also came across striking evidence of the operations of such
gangs. To quote from his find ings:
I have examined a number of
these beggars, who are put out
each morning by the syndicate
and collected, with their takings, in
the evenings, and found in some
cases their injuries are surprisingly
symmetrical. For example, the
amputation operations carried out
on the fingers of one hand and
matched in this case by identical
operations on the fingers of the
other hand, at the corresponding
sites. Of course, some road and
rail accidents to inflict roughly corresponding injuries on the limbs
and the favoured operation sites
would also correspond . But there are simply too many beggars on
the Dakha streets with symmetrical amputations for one's suspicions not to be aroused."

15-31 Mard

.................................................
PREAD

FORUM
GazeHe

[Labourer, Prostitute
According to other evidences
'collected by Dr. Preger, the Dakha
'begging syndicate also had a
,squad of beggars with severe mal,formations of the limbs. It appears
the type of malformations that
of these were not congenibut had been aC51uired by bindup the limbs for a period.
He has also revealed that the
which organised this
was quite powerful and it
likely that it even had links
the police. This was indicated
the fact that quite a few of its
bers were left untouched in
course of police operations to
up vagrants and common

In a ~lice raid on dhabas of

Ghulampur, a small town on G.T.
Road near Allahabad, 12 boys
who had been lured away or kidnapped from several places were
rescued. Here they were being
underfed and made to work very
hard. If they protested, they were
beaten up and even whipped.
Ram Bahadur was an inmate of
an orphanage in Kanpur from
where he was picked up by an
unknown person and sold to a
landlord in Ludhiana. Both his
hands were chipped off while
threshing wheat. In an unconscious state he was left outside the
hospital in Ludhiana. Later both his
hands were amputated and he
was forced to beg in the streets for
some time before being rescued

well--off ~unuchs (gurus), Mr.

Bhola has alleged. This is the
factor that explains the large and
rapidly rising population of
eunuchs in India, he has alleged.
These youths are in fact even sold
by one eunuch group to another.
In 1982 a large. number of children were kidnapped from saveral
slum areas in trans-yamuna area
of Delhi-Seelampur, New Seelampur, Jaffrabad, Chauhan
Bangar,
Brahmpuri
and
Maujpur-all areas inhabited
mainly by the poor and located
closer to each other. On May 19,
a mob attacked a building known
as Kashmiri Building in Jaffrabad
which was widely believed among
people here to be the centre of the

The destination of kidnapped

children, specially male kidnapped
children in many such known
cases of large-scale organised
. kidnapping remain unknown. One
9f the reasons which has been
speculated updn is the extremely
cruel one of the sale of body-parts,
but no concrete evidence has
emerged-to the best of this writ
er's knowlege.
The Pakistan daily Dawn
reported on September 18 that
some children aged three to seven
were rescued at Karachi airport
before they could be taken to
Dubai. These children, it was later
revealed, were being taken away
to be tied to -the tails of camels
which would be racing.

Prostitution
large number of female children and teenagers al'e kidnapped for their use in prostitution.
Some of the male children who are
kidnapped are also used in the sex
market.
In the 19508 the Report of the
Advisory Committee of Social and
Moral Hygien$ had noted in the
context of brothels in Bombay,
-Girls from Khandesh, Rajasthan,
Andhra Pradesh, Bijapur, Hubli
and Saurashtra and also from
Nepal could not have been established in the city but for the fact
that procurers had brought them to
the city".
A survey of 350 prostitutes in
Kamathipura brothels, in Bombay,
made by S.D. Punekar and Kamla
Rao, concluded: "We are strongly
inclined to believe that there are
regular vice rackets operating in
rural areas to supply girls to the
city brothels."
It is well-known that many of the
women supplied to tho brothels of
Bombay and other cities of Maharashtra in recent decades were
originally devdasis in the villages
and towns of Maharashtra and
Karnataka. These devdasis were
those unfortunate girls from poor
families who were dedicated to a
Goddess Devi Yelamma by their
parents. After dedication these
girls, called Jogtis or known by
other names, could not marry.
They could only be mistresses of
men but by convention it was not
binding on these men to maintain
them. This further paved the way
for Jogtis ending up in regular
prostitution.

12 boys who had been

hued away or kidnapped
from several places
where rescued during a
police raid at Gulampur.
There they were being
underfed and made to
work very hard. ,If they
protested, they were
beaten up and even
whipped

part from using kidnapped

ildren to run begging racka few reports suggest thatof these children are also
as cheap labour in some
~ This made newspaper
es some years ago when
meeting of Bonded Liberation.
in Daltonganj, Bihar, it was
that children in Pala, Bihar, were being kidnapped
supply child labourers to the
weaving industry of MirzaHowever, a social worker who
one such village in Palm au
to ma.ke detailed in9uiries
that it was more a case of
away children, making full
the extreme poverty of their
than a case of kidnapBut similar allegations of kidhave cropped up in the
of recent cases of such
being taken to carpet
centres of U.P. (as menin the beginning of this artiwhich need to be investigated

and rehabilitated.
On October 27, 1988 the Crime
Branch of Delhi Police arrested
five eunur: IS for allegedlycastrating a youth the previous year. The
victim, a Balmiki Harijan named
Jagdish (now known as Ranjita)
who was a married man, was
thrown in the bushes in Bela road
locality after his genitals had been
cut and bleeding did not stop.
According to Sanjay Abhigyan,
a young journalist who has written
a project report for the school of
Social
Journalism,
Times
Research Foundation on this subject, this is not an isolated incident and there have been several
such cases of eunuchs castrating
youths.
Mr. Khairati Lal Bhola, President
of All India Eunuchs Welfare
Association (Akhil-Bhartiya Hijra
Kalayan Sabha), has alleged that
a very large number of youths are
first led astray by the eunuchs,
given intoxicants and then
castrated. Several of them die in
- the course of this cruel and pain
ful process. Those who survive
work almost like the servants of

activities of a gang engaged in

kidnapping. Several old clothes,
shoes and photographs alleged to
be those of the kidnapped persons
were found here. This writer visited some families of kidnapped
children and teenagers who gave
detailed identification marks con
firming that the discarded clothes
they saw there indeed belonged to
their missing children. It was also
alleged at this time that the Police
was protecting the main criminal.
In Dacca Dr. Jack Preyer
exposed a racket involving an aid
agency in which ' children were
temporarily taken away from flood
and drought ravaged families for
their better care, but then sent
abroad without their knowledge.
In a statement on August 7,
1982, P.K. Chandla and M.R.
Arya, two Delhi-based leaders of
BJP' said that five members of a
gang of child-lifters were stoned to
death by the public on July 8 at
Sampla Railway Station near
Rohtak in Haryana when 8 persons in the garb of Sudhus were
found carrying children while travelling in a train from Delhi.

and at the caste level from scheduled castes or tribes.

A study has revealed that one
third of the prostitutes in Bombay's
cheapest brothels are devadasis
and about three-quarters of these
were under 14 when they took to
the profession.
A 1985 review of this system
published in the Iridian Express
said that it is prevalent in Belgaum,
Hubli, Dharwar. Bijapur and Bellary districts of Karnataka and the
Song Ii, Sholapur, Kolhapur and Osmanabad districts of Maharashtra. Nearly 4000 to 5000 girls are
dedicated annually to the Goddess
Yellamma.
Hardly anything new needs to
be added to the now well-known
facts about girl-running rackets in
Dholpur-Morena belt on Rajasthan
- M.P. - U.P. border. Suffice it to
say that a spate of reports, (following the sensational 'purchase' of a
girl from the 'girls market' of this
area by a journalist some years
back) have further confirmed the
existence of large-scale. prostitution in some communities of this
area into which girls kidnapped or
lured away from other parts of the
country are also inducted from
time to time. Prostitution and girlrunning has existed in this area for
a long-time, and vested interests
of this trade are well-entrenched
having secured the collusion of
police and po litlciafis at various
levels. In 1981 a 'Bedia' social
worker had provided a senior official with a list of 71 persons
belonging to his community who
were engaged in girl-running.

There have been reports of

hundreds of girls from Dakshin
Kannada district of Karnataka, and
from neighbouring areas of Shimoga and Kasargod, having been
taken to brothels of Bombay at
regular intervals, generally at
times of crop-failure. Starting in
their early teens and 'retiring' in
their late twenties or early thirties,
these girls mostly from poor families have to give their best years
to a life which they hate but which
they could not avoid.
From parts of Sabarkantha dis~
trict d Gujarat reports of traffic in
girls from some tribal villages have
been received. Tribal~ when ques.'
tioned about women reported lost
expressed the fear that they had
been carried away for prostitution
but added they were helpless to
stop this traffic.
Jaunsar-Bawar and RavaiJaunpur areas of Uttar Pradesh
hills have also emerged as a leading centre for the procurers of girls.
for brothels of north India.
Survey conducted in Purola
bloCk in 1969 revealed that 4E
women had been lured away to
Recently a detailed study of
prostitution during this year from
devdasis was made by a research.
thisdne block alone. Nearly 500
scholar Harshad Trivedi, whose
families had by then become vicfindings were published in a book
.tims of this trade. It was also found
'Scheduled Caste Womenthat 77 agents were operating in
Studies in Exploitation'. According
the Rawai area for the procure~
to this study, the devadasisystem
ment of girls and approximately 60
was prevalent under different
per cent of all girls supplied from
names in various parts in Solapur,
this region went to Delhi.
Satara, Kolhapur and Bijapur.
Avadesh Kaushal, a well known
There were some common feapersonality of Dehradun district
tures. Almost all the girls sent to
Continued on page 1C
brothels were from poor families, .

FORUM
. G.z~H.

who has achieved the rare distinction of combining government service with social activism, told this
writer about five years back that
over 500 girls from this region are
operating in the brothels of Delhi,
Meerut, Saharanpur and other
cities. This despite the fact that in
.an earlier extensive raid on Kai)adi
Bazar brothels nearly 500 girls
fr0l!' this region had been rescued,
at least temporarily.
In Kashmir recently a racket of
obtaining Bihari Muslim girls from
Murshidabad district of West
Bengal and selling them in Kashmir was IJnearthed.

ome years back the way in

which a school girl was
kidnapped-the crime first ignored
by the police and then girl soon
recovered from Jaipur after the
Supreme Court's interventionindicated thatthis kidnapping was
part of a regular racket in which
the police was also involved in
some way: The victim's fathe, in
fact gave several name of a gang
members which operated in the
Jehangirpuri colol1Y of Delhi.
Police intervened in time to
save five Orissa girls who had
been enticed away from poor families in the villages of Dhenkanal
district by an agent on the promise
of providing them lucrative jobs in
Punjab. ThlilY werg brQught to a
house in a viliage in Bhatinda district, and allegedly locked up in the
house of one Sukhdev Singh.
Negotiations were allegedly
started for their sale to 'rich landowners, but the timely police intervention prlilvented .this.
Other such cases of selling girls
to sex-starved landoyt'nMs in the
green revolution areas have also
been reported.
In 1980 a racket of selling girls
brought from Bangia Deshis
reported .to have been busted in
Amritsar.
Some time back the Hardwar
police busted a gang of 11 women
and 4 men which used to kidnap
girls from Bihar and sell them in
western U.P.
In Bilary, Moradabad district of
. U.P. Chatra Yuva Sangharah
Vahani activists tried to expose a
racket whiph involved bringing
women from poor families of Bihar,
Orissa and West Bengal in collusion with railway police, then seiling some of them in areas around
Bilari and sending others to further
destinations.
Some years back concerned
people from the villages of Shahjahanpur, Khiri and Bahraich (the
tarai areas) had agitated for days in
front 6f U.P. Cl1Ief Minister's res-idence iii Lucknow. One of their
demands wll$ to punish the persons trafficking in girls in their villages. According to residents of
Mohanpur, girls kidnapped from
West Bengal and Bihar were
brought to this village through a
network of traffickers. These girls
were generally purchased by
upper caste men who could 'not
get married due to some stigma or
other.

ecently participants from

Nepal and Bangia Desh

10

existence, at the same place,

of several other ill-fated girls
are brushed aside. At least to
some extent colII'uption and
the resulting tendency to protect criminals is also.involved
here. Whatever the reasons,
these have to be overcome
and the various avenues
opened up by initial investigations in such cases should
be fully explored.

Our Child: Beggar,

Labourer, Prostitute

Continued from page 9

attending the 'Asian Conference

on Exploitation of Women and
Children-Its causes and Effects'
reported that a major a~ea of concern was the constant trickle of
women from these countries into
other Asian countries, specially
India. Ms Ishrat Shamim, a social
worker and educationist from
Bangia Desh informed that the
route normally followed is from
some border into CalcuttaBombay-Karachi and finally to
some West Asian countries. She
said that efforts to free 15 women
detained in Calcutta jails had
failed. In Karachi hundreds of
Bangladesh women were languishing in jails, she said.
The conference was informed
that there are 75000 to 100000
Nepali girls all over India who
make out a living through prostitu- .
tion. Three Nepali delegates
present the conference quoted
estimates which indicated that the
majority of these girls were in metropolitan ~!t!es-about 12000 in
Delhi, 18000 in Bombay and
15000 in Calcutta.
In addition investigations have
revealed that several protectionhomes have themselves been
involved in the abuse of girls kept
there.

International Sex-Market
Which Uses Children.,

isturbing evidence has

become available in recent
years of thg large-scale existence
of sexucil child abuse in many
cou-. Lries for which, children from
T .ird World countries are also
smuggled, using various channels,
including fake adoption rackets.
One such racket was exposed by
a dedicated British doctor, Dr.
Jack Preger, in Dakha some yearS
back in which highly corrupt officials working for foreign aid organisations were involved.
A report prepared by Norway's
Justice Department has recorded
a steep rise in recent years in the
sexual abuse of children in both
Europe and the Third World.
"If the market requires video
films featuring toddlers in physically damaging intercourse situations,then these are produced",
says this report of Norway's Justice Department.
According to Roger Sawyer,
auther of a recently published
book 'Children Enslaved', 264 US
pornographic magazines specialise in children. In a year in which
child pornography netted 500 million dollars, police seized 15000
pornographic slides of young boys
and 4000 films showing children
under 10 years performing sexual
acts.
According to Sawyer" the physical suffering of children used in
pornographic film industry, in prostitution, and in the narcotics trade,

makes most child labourers of the

Third World seem privileged in
comparison.
In Paris there are an estimated
8000 child prostitutes, both boys
and girls, originating mainly from
Algeria or Morocco.
in the U.S., 50-so-called stables
of boy prostitutes aged between
12 and 14 have been found in
major cities.
According to the UK based
Anti-slavery society, the largest
completely open market for the
buying and selling of slaves is just
outside Bangkok in Thailand's
largest railway station. Children as
young as six years old can be

According to
residents of
Mohanpur,' girls
kidnapped from
West Bengal and
Bihar were brought
to this village
through a network
of traffickers. These
girls were generally
purchased by upper
caste men who
could not get
married due to
some stigma or
other

the seedier aspects of forced child

employment. "
According to the recent Cleveland child abuse report from UK,
"The problems of child sexual
abuse have been recognised to an
increasing extent over the past few
years by professionals ... child
abuse is not a myth but is a very
real and serious national problem."
Some years back a nation wide
investigation carried out in Britain
by an M.P. also revealed evidence
of increasing use of children, often
of tender age for pornographic
purposes. This M.P. also said that
mostly Indian and West Indian
children were being used for this
purpose.
Renee Bridel, a Swiss U.N. delegate in Geneva who has
researched international traffic in
children has stated, "This involves
hundreds of thousands of children
from all over the Third World, and
\:ijiiainiy from, Bangia Desh ...they
are sent to wealthy countries
everywhere including the U.S. and
Canada. Begging doesn't really
bring in big money. Pornography
does. The biggest income comes
from the very young children,
down to the ages of 2 anc! 3 years.
They are filmed and photographed
in paedophile and even with animals. You can buy these cassettes
at Kioska all over the world and
project them at home. And there
are snuff films now in the market
in which teenaged girls are actually put to death. From what I
know, these films are made 'by
American gangsters in Hong Kong
and Manila, and screened in the
U.S.A. and South America. It is
very costly to see them and very
clandestine".
Recent arrests of gangmembers engaged in kidnapping
children and their questioning has
revealed that several children kidnapped from Patna are being sent
to Nepal and from there to other
countries.

Recomendatlons

bought for around 80 pounds. An

estimated 6000 children are
traded on this market every year.
The pretiest of them end up in
Bangkok's thriving sex industry.
A report by David Hayes on the
misuse of children in Thailand
states, "Attractive children are
often sold to brothels which may
offer clients special service~. Tourists staying at some Bangkok
hotels are shown advertising cards
by taxi drivers offering "bous and
girls" and special sexual services.
The proliferation of 'short-time
hotels' that offer an almost exclusive selection of underage children
indicates possible police complicity in ensuring the continuation of

n the basis of the description

given above of the various
ways in which children are kidnapped or lured away from their
parents for various types of cruel
and ruthless misuse, we would like
to recommend the following courses of action1. From time to time limited success has been achievAd I ir
busting such rackets. However, a careful review of su~h
actions would reveal that due
to various reasons such
actions are sometimes left
midway or appropriate
follow-up work
not done.
For instance one or more
girls who are in news due to
some reasons may be
rescued, but evidence of

it

2. Due to a complex of factors

sam. regions and communitie8 have become the centres of girl-running rackets
and other related crimes.
Social reforms efforts combined with avenues of alter~
native employment should be
stressed in such areas, combined with strict action
against hardened criminals
who simply refuse to change
their ways. Here it should be
remembered that vested
interests including corrupt
politicians and officials have
also emerged in these areas
and it would be useless to try
to attempt reforms through
the channels of corrupt&t .

v~~~~ ~n:~~s~s: ~~ t~~ ~~~:i?

Ildl JU ::;orne social WOIMfl'"

-who have iaken courageous stand to check the ills of

their communities can plan a
very useful role if the due protection and encouragement
is extended to them. Unfortu~
nately, such protection is
often lacking. In JaunsarBawar area Puri, a youth
who had shown great COlJrage in confronting a girlrunner was murdered in
broad day light and yet effective action was not taken
against his murderers for a
long time. At present in several such areas the existing
situation is so dismal that tlie
racketeers are turning into
influential and successful"'""
persons while the reformers ;
face threat to their lives.
Despite this some of the
courageous reformers have
continued their efforts.
3. Keeping in view the massive
human sufferings caused by
the existence of these rackets, to the children as well as
to their family members, it is
surprising that voluntary
qrganisations and social
workers, public spirited lawy,ers and civil rights activists
"tve\ . ~Iso not given these
issue~ \. the attention that
tHese clearly deserve. They
should exert themselves so
that this issue ' is not
ne,glected.
4.

'
t

Ke~ing in view the intern atio I aspects of this traffic,

ef s have ~o be made in
at . r countries from where
reports of any misuse of our
children is received. Better
coordination with neighbouring countries specially Nepal
and Bengla Desh has to be
achieved to check several girl
running-rackets.
(N.F.S. India)

15-31 March 1989

FORUM
Gazette

Jodhpur Detenus

Judicial Inquiry
And Compensation Sought
By FG Correspondent
orld-wide condemnations have betln
flowing into the
country on the illegal
and culpable detention of the
innocents in the Jodhpur jail. The
government has been playing with
the lives of these innocents since
3 June 1984. The detenus have
been considered as second-class
hostages to embark upon the socalled peace-making process in
the Punjab. The government has
no intention to trial these people.
It has even no intention to allow
these young people to build their
own future.Thed government's
action reflects a total lack of
understanding and vision.
...ln a memorandum submitted to
9 President, Mr R. Venkatara'--man, recently, Lt Col Manohar
Singh (Retd), convenor of the
South Delhi Singh Sabhas .
entreated the release of the detenus in the Jodhpur jail. Mr Manohar Singh appraised the
President of the inhuman and barbaric treatment meted out to tMe
innocents who had been under
detention since the Operation Blue
Star. He demanded that the detenus should either be put on trial or
set free forthwith . In the memorandum he also demanded a
judicial inquiry into the prison
guards' excesses on the detenus
and a compensatory amount of
Rs400.000 for each detenu.
The text of the memorandum
follows:

Jodhpur Jail
In general the attitude of the jail
staff being very anti-Sikh. as such
the treatment given to them was
humiliating one. The food provided
was unbearbale. It was not even
fit for animal consl'mption. The
water issued was between 2 to 5
litres a day. It was never sufficient
for washing cloths and bathing .
The medical treatment was absolutely unsatisfactory. The beating
of the detenus was a routine. Due
to such inhuman cor.ditions many
people passed away and a large
number lost mental equilibrium
They have been rendered unfit
mentally and physically to earn for
themselves and to maintain their
family members specially the old
parents.

After Release.
Those who have been released
have not been provid ed with any
service or compensation . Some of
them are being haras sed by the
local police.

Prayer

be

When Lt Col Manohar Singh (Retd) submitted tbe memorandum to the President, Mr R. Venkataraman

r('
late this responsibility.
,_ "I take this opportunity to
dppraise you with the true picture
I am enclosing photostat\
about the inhuman treatment copies of a few cuttings of interhaving been meted out to the Sikh views of the Jodhpur jail detenus
detenus in Jodhpur jail at various from 'Ajir a daily Punjabi paper,
stages from the time curfew was which has its all over the world cirimposed around the Darbar Sahib culation and is published from Jal(The Golden Temple Amritsar) landhar. Punjab. These cuttings
during the Operation Blue Star on contain the woeful tales of torture
3 June 1984 and till they were and illtreatment of the innocent'
lodged in Jodhpur jail and during devotees who had assembled at
their illegal detention in Jodhpur Amritsar to pay their obeisance on
jail. This step is very important the martyrdom day of Guru Arjun
from the point of knowing the Devji and to attend to some buswoeful tales and rendering remed- iness also. instead of going back
ial measures to restore confidence to their homes they landed up in
in the Sikh Community in the Gov- various military camps, investigaterment machinery and for bringing ing centres and eventually in
normalcy in torturing/ill treatment Jodhpur jail.
of the detenusto p~ter such category of people oper.ating law and
Instead of enclosing translation
order set uP. thus creating sense in English of each cutting. I am
of basic discipline and discharge penning down important points.
of their duty entrusted to them tact- which I hope will project the corfully and respectfully without bring- rect picutre about the episode of
ing public resentment against the the detenus, and would move you
government. The basic fact is that kind heart to take requisite steps
these detenus were placed under to save those still in Jodhpur jail
the safe custody in the jail, and from the torture and ill-treatment.
also in various military camps, as rather provide them with condisuch no one had any right to vio- tions to spend their days of agony

1531 March 1989

at least with the sense of selfrespect as people of the same soil.

At Darbar Sahib Amritsar

and in military camps
Since Curfew was imposed on
3 June 1984, no one could go outside Darbar Sahib. They were

Since the people

specially the young
boys' carrer has
suffered due to
their being under
detention for a
period of four
years, each detenus
be compensated
with rupees four
lakhs

arrested. They were subjected to

grenade attacks in wnich about
190 men got killed and some
injured. Their hands were tied qno
they were made to stand in the hot
sun. They were put on ice slabs
and hung uP. upside down. They
VJere kept in some armoury rooms ,
which had no ventilation and the
smell of the rifle oil caused suffocation about 45 to 60 persons in
jam pacl;ed room. About 27 of
them died. Detenus were denied
water for days together. When
'cried for it. military men brought
water and threw it on the floor. The
water was socked in pieces of
cloth and then sucked. One day,
military men asked them to come
out to have water. As soon they
came out they were gunned down
in which 28 men got killed. The
common mode of.torture was to
deny food. water\ medical treatment and whenever food was
served. ~ was not fit for the human
consumption. They were hit with
heavy sticks and rifle butts and
broke their ribs and legs. Not
alloweci to go out to use lavatory
and bathrooms. They had to do
everything inside the room .

In view of the above woef ul tales

and having undergone sufferings
over a period of 4 years under illegal detention. the following prayer
is made to provide cond itions for
those unfortunate people to lead
some respectable life.
a) A judici al inquiry be held
under a jUdQe of High Court to
inquire into the torture and ill
treatment of the detenus, and pin
down the persons responsible for
actually involved in the torture/ill treatment and the high ups who
failed to control their staff. and, as
such neglected their duties as
superior officers. On the basis of
the inquiry guilty be given exemplary punishment, which !)hould be
made public too, as a deterent for
others.
b) Since the people specially the
young boys' career has suffered
due to their being under detention '
for a period of 4 years, each detenus be compensated with Rupees
Four Lakhs. to be able to take care
of his future.
Keeping the present state of
affairs in Punjab. it is necessary
that full cooperation of ail category
of people is voluntarily obtained to
bring normalcy in the state. To this
end. the prayer if conceded would
be a great remedial measure to
heal the wounded hearts of the
Sikh masses in the Punjab".

11

FORUM

RELIGION

Gazette

Good

Friday
By Varghese Chacko

oad Pfiday is the day

on which Jesus Christ
was crucified on the
mount oH~aTvary about
2000 years ago. Many might have
confused in the naming of this day,
for the day of one's death is not
considered as a good one, that too
Nhen it is that of a popular leader
of considerable following. Then
why it is called 'Good Friday'?
Because it is followed by an Easter
Sunday, the dar of resurrection.
Had there not been an Easter
Sunday, Good Friday would not
have remained good. Thus Good
Friday is always connected with
Easter. Over a billion Christians of
the world accept both these days
as real and historical though there
are differences of opinion in fixing
the exact date. The death of Christ
on the cross ahd His resurrection
on the third day are historical facts.
Christ's death on the cross still
remains a mystery for many. "If
Christ was the son of God, how
can He be killed by humans?"
"How God can have a son?"
Questions like these emerge from
many an enlightened mind. When
Christ is depicted as the son of
God in the Bible, it is never based
on the formula of a human father
and son. God does not have a son
as many presum'e. Christ is God
Himself, the second person of the
Holy Trinity. Trinity is another
mystery and to give an approximate idea, in terms with human
understanding, about the relationship between the first and second
persons of the Trinity (Le. God the
father and God the Christ) Christ

12

is shown as the son in the Bible.

No human mind ever can comprehend in totality, the greatn$ss of
God or the way He dwells and
acts. The Bible tells us-only about
a part of His unique and matchless
person, lity. It can be seen at many
pl? ',tls in the Bible where God the
I ather addresses the Son as 'God'
and calls Him as 'the God' who
created the heavens and earth.

Readjustment~

Not Reversal

Continued from page 1

have done instead is to evolve a \tv hom th e:':' ., . .03 e.jdence. In

. th p.'f are innonew mechanism of control. When- the case ~ .~ ,: '
she .;..j not be
ever the SSP goes out, he would cenl and
be accompanied by a member of detained ':. .~ ' tJt tti.:<' for so many
the lAS. In fact young lAS officers years". tL'. lIobooy listened.
are to be posted in a number of
If the Prime Mlni<;ter believes
other places as well. It is not nec- :hat he is gcinr, \f) win friends now
essary to go into the sphere of because so many people are
work of the police officers and the being rele ased, he is utterly mislAS officers. What is important is ial('?Jl. On th E; contrary, people are
that this system is not going to going to demand an explanation
work.
as to why ',hey were kElpt behind
Seen from the government point the bars when there was no case
of view, it is a dilemma. An, action against them.
.against the police is taken to !Je a
That is not the on ly tr,i, Ci c ...... "
step towards demoralisation. Even today there are 8000-900 'J p~ ove
in a case where a judicial enquiry be hi f1 d the bars in the State of
was held by Justice Tiwana no PU tp lj They have neither been
action has beon taken. Nor indeed bro ll'j ilt on trial nor are they likely
will it be taken . To do so would to be br ought. Some of them have
demoralise the police, as they say. been there for a year or two :
If the morale of the police is othE!rS for J sh6rter duration. Every
important, does it follow that they . dey people 3re picked up and
are a law unto themselves? This detained. No charges are referis precisely the situation. When a rod against them . T"e fact of the
man like Chaman Lal tried to rec- matter is that there is no law. The
tify the situation, he was pushed police did what it want with the
out or allowed to leave, whichever unavoidable consequence that the
way we choose to put it. His only ~ublic, even when they suffered at
fault was that he tried to draw a th (~ hands of the terrorists, did not
distinction between the terrorists choose to collaborate with the
and the common people. That is pelice.
the nub of the problem.
It has been a vicious circle.
The Congress(l) policy all these E'.. " n now it cannot be said to have
years has been not to draw this br- en broken. All that has hapdistinction . But unless this distinc- paned is that some new adjusttion is drawn, peace will never ments are be ing made so that the
retu rn to this State. This is what new management is more defensthe experience 01 the :ast few 'ible ,han has been the situation so'
years has shown .
far. It is not suggested that these
In modifying some of the polic- conc '.lssions are unwelcome. They
ies followed so far, the Prime are we lcome but for anyone to
Minister has not admitted that imaginJ3 that they are going to
these were wrong . Can he offer solve the problem would be a totalany justification for keeping more misund erstanding.
than 300 innoce nt people in jail for
There eIre so many more things
over four yeais <: f1 d put only the that can b . said on the subject.
rest of them on trial? This is what For instancs h rd ly any Conwas suggested righ t iro,n the gressman COU iC JO to any village
beg inning. "Ycu t ~y those rtoain st without the help of the security

L . ___________________ ---___

Let us come back to Good peri eft man who could live with- gaze away from .his dying man
Friday again. According to the Out dc i ~ G any sin evon in his who was made sin for all. After a
Bible, more got himself separaled thoughts, while going through all the few minutes the relationship is refrom God by the disobedience and tribulations and temptations of an established and Jesus Christ gave
inherited the position of sinness. ordinary human being. Jesus did up the spirit with these words
God's law says that a sinner must all of {hiS. He was hungry, he wept, "Father (and not 'my God') in to thydie (He re I am referring to the spir- he loved, he felt pity, he cared, hands I commend my spirit".
itual death). This ruling comes humbled himse~, was persecuted,
The events do not end here. The
from a just and righteous God. On was beaten, was betrayed, was sinless human spirit of Jesus went
the other hand the love of God abandoned, he prayed, was tor- to hell as that of any other spirit
never wants men to be eternally tured brutally and over and above and endured the miseries of hell
destroyed. There was only one he was tempted with ths unparal- and come out of it victoriously for
way to avert this, that a sinless leled pressure. But inspite of all the powers of hell could not hold
man must die for the sins of the these, He did not even sin once. him captive.
whole world. But where is that sin- Thus as a perfect human being
His vectoreous spirit quickened
less man? Tho descendents of Jesus conqured sin and paid the by the spirit of Christ entered the
Adam can never be sinless. No penality for the whole world with body in the tomb and transformed
human being, however pious and His own blood. Apostle John Himself into a glorified body and
devoted he may be, can be sinless describes Christ in these words "In resurrected. Thereafter He
in God'ssight. There was only one the beginning there was word, the appeared to all of His disciples and
answer to this problem-43od to word was with God, the word was many others a number of times
become man and thus the second God and the word became flash
and remained in the world for forty
person of the Trinitarian God and dwelt among u~".
days and on the 40th day went up
became man and dwelt among
Just before His death Jesus in to the heavens in the presence
man. The virgin birth also was an cried aloud "My God, My God, why of the disciples who later becu lne
inevitable necessity. For, if He was have you foresaken me". When martyrs for Him. Before going, He
born of a human father he would He ' was dying, the sins of the gave them a promise that He
have inherited sin as His birthright. whole world was levied on Him would come again to collect all
On the ot her hand if He was not and during that moment the those who believe in Him and
born of at le'3st ..;ne human parent, second person of the Trinity abide by His te'achings, whether
He carr'oi claim to be a perfect ceased to exist in Him and the first dead or alive, for His heavenly
man. For God's law demands a person, who hates sin, turned His Kingdom .

forces. Therefore, security was

needed not only against the terrorists but also to protect those who
defended the Government policies. Obviously such a system
could not keep on working indefinitely and it had to be changed.
One evidence of this change is
the trial balloon called the Panchayat elections which are to be
held in May.June. The intention is
to see which way the wind is blowing and how can Congress(l)
return to power, if it can. What the
Prime Minister had to say about
th e punishment of the guilty in
regard to Delhi riots is ludicrous
were it also not tragic.
Half a dozen people have been
given life imprisonment. This has
not happened because the Stare
machinery has secured the conviction. This has happened
because one courageous woman
named the murderers of her husband because they were her
neighbours. The convictions h'ave
been secured by her and not by
the State machinery.
Those who planned the killing
are riding high and basking in~
political sunshine. Nobody is goQ
to be deceived by' what has h~..,- '
pened. It has happened in spite of
the Delhi Administration.
It is the time to recognise that
what is being done is half-hearted
and grudging. What needs to be
done is much more than what has
been done so far.

.A~~.

~~."

~@~.~

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15-31 March 1989

FORUM

LITERARY

Gazette

Breaking Predicament Of Indian

Education System
New
Ground
By Ani! Dutta Mishra

Dr B.S. Rattan

esides sponsoring the

reprint of eight translated books for children, published earlier
by the CBT, in Punjabi, the Punjabi State Text Book Board, Chandigarh, have also broken fresh
ground by preparing and publishing seven new and original titles
for children of various age groups
in the Punjab. These books are
_. nearer the soil of Punjab and
(Oreathe the life and culture that
~ urrounds children there.

B
.

'Narmada 'by Trilochan Singh is

aimed at children in the 8-12 years
age grcup. It tells the story of the
river Narmada in the format of a
journey . The people, and places,
and festivals along the course of
Narmada are recreated in a lively
manner. The illustrations in this
book are functional. The typography could have been more bright,
and the page a little less crowded.
For the same age group is
'Sheran Di Awaz' by Santokh
Singh Dhir, a very senior Punjabi
poet. There are nine stories built
upon the religious lore and
legends of the Punjab. The writer,

owever, has eschewed superstion. He has tried to give rational

orientation to these stories. While
in three cases he is very successful, in the remaining stories he
does sound a bit strained.
Similar in its import, but aimed
at younger age-group (5-8)
'Bharma Da Ghora'by Mrs. SUkhjeet Kaur Mann. Its illustrations are
more copious, and the stories
have a read-aloud quality about
them.
Much better stories in this
respect are in the book 'Suno
Kahani'. This volume has four
folk-stories of Punjab which have
been rendered, without the old fog
tiy Mrs: Sukhjeet Kaur mann, in
modern Punjabi idiom.
The best in the fiction-category
is the booR~ 'Maila Bholu' by
Arvinder and :Jasminder. Lively
bothin pictures and narration this
is a standard-setting book. The
story is simple, and has been told
without any flourishes; and, it yet
,touches the reader deeply. The
humour and the mischief in the
narrative draw children to identify
with the adventures of the little
dog. It is happily resolved but
without any effort to drive home
any morals.

15-31 March 1989'

wami Vivekananda, the structures of the day. I have

great philosopher of the devided my education curriculum
modern India explaining into two parts-(i)elementary and
the universal signifi- (ii) higher.
cance of education, once said,
The elementary or basic educa"The education which does not tion should be further subdivided
help the common mass to equip into three stages. In the first stage
themselves for the struggle of life, of primary education all the chilwhich does not bring out strength
of character, spirit of philanthropy,
and the courage of a lion-is it
worth the name?". No society
attains prosperity unless it is managed by the people of high character. There is an inevitable
relationship between perfect education and character building .
If education ill
Infact both are the two sides of the
India is to serve
same coin.
The French sociologist, Emile
any purpose, the
Durkheim, saw the major function
entire system
of education as the transmission
should be
of society's norms and values. He
maintained that, "Society can suroverhauled and
vive only if there exists among its
restructured. I
members a sufficient degree of
suggest
that the
homogeneity; education perpetueducationalists
and
ates and reniforces this homogeneity by fixing in the child from
intellectuals should
the beginning the essential similarcome forward and
ities which collective life
they should give up
demands." Without these "essenthe power politics
tial similarities", cooperation, and
social solidarity, social life itself
of manipulation
would be impossible. A vital task
and
evolve a sound,
for all societies is the welding of a
ethical
and rational
mass of individuals into a united
system of education
whole, in other words, the creation
of social solidarity.

There are two volumes of nursery rhymes-'Amber Tare' and

'Chan Varkha'-for very small
children. These books are real
gems in the children literature. The
poems are light, bright and highly
singable. Accompanying these
lovely lyrics are equally lovely illustrations. While the first book is a
selection of poems by five different poets (Kamaljeet Neelam,
Shaharyar, Manmohan Daon,
Darshan Ashat and Daljeet Daon),
the second one is by Piara Singh
Sehrai, an octogenerian.
All the seven volumes are excellently produced. The titles and
jackets are colourful, the paper
used is of high quality and the
lay-out is designed with great
taste. A great deal of credit for this
must go to Miss Rama Rattan
whose fifteen years' self-less service to the cause of children literature has borne frlJit. She has not
only generated awareness among
Punjabi writers for good-quality
literature for children but also
given them conceptual direction
for this purpose. By inspiring many
young poets, and by salvaging the
writings of many senior writers in
Punjabi, she has already spearheaded a powerful movement of
literature for children in Punjabi. If
these seven books edited by her
are any indication, it can be said'
that very soon children books in'
Punjabi will begin to rank with the
best both in their content and their
presentation.
Miss Rama is also actively
working for the promotion of these
books. Accompanied by writers of
poems and stories published in
these books, she is now doing
rounds of villages in Punjab. In
gatherings of children ranging from
five to seyen hundred, the poets
and the story-tellers ale brought
face to face with their readers. The
poets sing and the storytellers
read portions from their books;
and the children are given a
chance to ask questions. The
exhibition of these books attracts
them as well as their guardians.
The first edition of 10,000 copies
of each of these books is already
getting sold out (Price Rs.1 01- per
copy).

Education system in India,

shockingly speaking, is inegalitarian in nature and form and conservative in attitude and a product of
British cultural imperialism. This is
why education has lost its utility
and modern youths are getting
lost. There is a class dimension of
Indian education pattern which
cannot be undermined so easily.
So long as class distinction and
elite and sophisticated culture persists the form and context of the
present education system is not
going to contain the forces of
growing resentment. It is generally
.observed painstakingly that the
higher the level of education the
lower is the academic acquisition
in the real sense of the term. On
the basis of many imperial evidences, one is, but, compelled to
say that, with the ascEUIdency of
the level of the education, corrupting forces get themselves strengthened and academic excellence
virtually gets reduced to unproductive magnificence.
I have built up a schematic
mode of education system
required to be imparted and genuine knowledge dessiminated
consisting of the following broad
categories subject to further elaboration and absorption, acCommodation of the current thought

dren are taken for care who are

just born in the family and col+inue
to be under careful supervision till
they attain the age of six years. At
this stage both the boys and girls
should be given education in their
respective languages and dialects.
The children should also be taught
the basic facts of religion. Here

religion should not be taken to

mean any kind of faith one profess
in regard to supernatural order of
things but it implies fulfilment of
one',s sincere responsibility and
promotion of developmetnal and
cultural ethos, thus generating
cohesive forces laying down the
foundation of a civic society by
which strong national equilibrium
is maintained and political culture
cultivated for an ideal socialisation
process. The second stage is
meant for the age group of 6 to 18
years. During this period the child
should be taught music as well as
Yoga. The music is essential for
the development of soul and Yoga
will train both mind and body in
perfect harmony. The third stage
should be 18 to 20. During this
period both men and women
should be given compulsory vocational education which will make
them economically independent.
The higher stage of education
should be started at the age of 20
and from there onwards it will be
a lifelong process. At the end of 20
years there should be a test and
those showing aptitude for science
and philosophy should be given
further education for five or ten
years. So that they lead happy and
prosperous life and help building
a just society. After completing the
education, they should enter into
practical life where their theoretical knowledge will be consolidated
and will help them to overcome
day to day problems with poise .
and equanimity.
If education in India is to serve
any meaningful purpose, the entire
education system should I:>e ~:lVer
hauled and re-structured. I suggest that the educationalists .and
intellectuals should comtl forward
and they should give up the power
polttics of manipulation and evolve
a sound, ethical and rational
system of education which trains
both the body and mind enriching
.the society and lessening unemployment which causes frustration .

13

FORUM

STUDENTS/CHILDREN

Gazette

Prl!.fessor Grammar
Useful rules to help you with English grammar
2. The vase_he broke cost Rs.
100.
, 3. The colour_I saw was awful.
4. The film_I saw was awful.
S. lhe scarf_I bought was made
of silk.
6. The man_told me was an
authority on the subject.
7. The name_I like is John.
a. The car_is over there is my
favourite.
9. The postcard_I sent was of
Buckingham Palace.
10. The record_is playing is
called 'Walk of Life'.

Now try this exercise. Fill in the

spaces with who or whom.
EXERCISE B)

1. The people ..... live there are

very noisy.
2. The broadcaster..... 1 most
admire is Paddy Feeney.
3.. The person ..... you wish to see
is out at the moment.
4. The woman to ..... I was talking
is Lady Primrose.
S. People ..... live in glass houses
shouldn't throw stones.
6. The person of.. ... 1speak is Sir
Hubert Featherstone-Hall.
Non-defining Relative Clauses 7. The man ..... invented the radio
was Guglielmo Marconi.
s'o far in this article I have only '
looked at defining relative clauses. a. The player..... wins this match
will go on to the semi-final.
The information in a defining relative clause is important. We need - 9. The person for ..... this party is
given isout of the country.
this information to define the sub10.
The woman .... .1 married is, of
ject of the sentence.
course, Mrs Grammar.
-or whom?-'
Whom is a relative pronoun for the ' NB: Whom, like the other relative
sophisticated student. In formal prqnouns, is often left out because
English it is used when the pro- it is the object of the relative
noun is the object of the relative clause. However, whom, must not
be left out when it follows a preclause:
1. The man/who spokelwas my position, for example:
The woman to whom /1 was talkbrother.
,2. The manlwhom you spoke ing ......
to/was my brother.
In the first sentence who is the
subject of the relative clause. In Which/who or that?
the second sentence you is the sub- It is possible to use either that or
ject and whom is the object. A very whichlwho in a defining relative
very formal (some would say clause. However, I prefer that.
pompous) version of the second Indeed, sentences with superlatsentence would be: The 'manito ives or indefinite pronouns sound
whom you spoke/was my brother. very awkward if you use the relative pronouns which/Who. Consider these examples:

Who

Hello again!
Do you feel strong enough to
tackle relative clauses? There are
many different types. Here are
some descriptions you may come
across:
'Defining clauses
Non-defining clauses
Prepositional relative clauses
Defining prepositional clauses
Prepositioflal co-ordinato clauses
Relative clauses are so complex; I get tired just thinking about
them. Let's just look at somedefining relative claases and nondefining relative clauses.

about I A non-defining relative

clause contains extra information.
Without this information you would
still understand the meaning of the
sentence.
EXAMPLE: My house, which is
white, is very nice.
.
You don't need the information in
the relative clause to know that we
are talking about my house.
SPECIAL RULES
Non-defining relative clauses:
ALWAYS contain a relative pronoun
ALWAYS contain commas
NEVER contain the relative pronoun that

ANSWERS~

Problems arise when you are

careless with commas. Compare
these two sentences.
1. My house, which Is white, Is
nice.
2. My house which Is white Is
nice.
The first sentence is a nondefining relative clause (note the
commas). If you take out the relative clause you are still talking
about my house. The second sentence has a different meaning. It
centains a defining relative clause
(no commas). This relative clause
defines which hou.se I am talking
about the one which is white. Perhaps I have a pink house as welllli
If you are speaking of course you
can't see the commas. But you
can tell tho difference !n speech
there is a slight pause where you
would write a comma.
Now try this exercise on defining
and non-defining relative clauses.
EXERCISE C)

1. a) John's car, which Is red, Is

relative clauses and some of the different relative pronouns that could
be used. The relative pronouns I looked at in the programme were: that,
which and who. Here are some examples:

Relative clause
thJ!t
1.Jhe man
2.,Jhe car

that I saw
that I bought

was angry.
was beautiful.

3. The man

who spoke

was very tall.

which
4. The book
,

which I wanted

SUPERLATIVES (best,
most beautiful etc.)

nicest,

1. The best student thaVwho

attended my classes loved
exercises.
2. The silliest thing thatlWhich he
did was to sell his car.

who
was by Jane
Austin.
Who is used to refer to people, which to refer to things and that to
refer to either people or ,things.
In all but one of the above sentences, it is possible 'to leave out the
relative pronoun:
'
was angry.
1. The man
I saw
was beautiful.
2. The car
I bought
was very tall.
3. The man
who spoke
was by Jane
4. The book
I wanted
Austin.
In sentence 3 the relative pronoun who cannot be left out because
it is the ~ubject of the relative clause.
In sentence's 1, 2 and 4 the relative pronouns can be left out because
they are not the subjects of the verbs in the relative clauses. I is the
subject of the verb in the relative clauses in sentences 1, 2 and 4; the
relative pronouns are the objects of the verbs in the rela~ive clauses:
Now try the following exercise. Fill in the gaps with that, who, which
or nothing;tt-alliin many sentences there is more than one answer.
Remember, English is flexible I
EXERCISE A)
1. The house_I own is pink.

15-31 March 1989

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

Turn a weapon into a

source of light

Turn maritime marauders

into top mammals

Turn crystallized limestone

into a prickly shrub

Make 'heavenly bodies

agreeable

Turn a ship's canvas into

a gangway

Turn ,a wanderer into

a type of plum

Turn a European ,country

into a heating appariltu:;

Turn a cultivated plot ,of

land into a small bomb

was nonsense.
was cheap.

'-4

EXAMPLE: The manlwhom you

spoke to/was my brother.
If you took out the information in
the relative clause, you wouldn't
know which man I was talking

Exercise C)
~
1b, 2b, 3a Because, unfortunately,
not all students study English! That
sentence with commas: All students, who study English, learn
vocabulary, could be interpreted
as combining two pieces of information: 1 All students study English. 2 All students learn
vocabulary. Neither statement is
true.

Using the clues, make eight pairs of words, the second of whkh is an
anagram of the first plus the extra letter indicated. For exam~le, if
you were asked to turn a lament into a belt with an L, the first answer
would be DIRGE, the second GIRDLE.

3. Everything thatlwhich he 'said

In SenteAces
that is better
style than whichlWho. So why
make life difficultforyoursetf? Use
that with defining rerative clauses
and you can't go wrong!!

Exercise B)
1. who, 2. whom. 3. whom, 4.
whom, S ....who, S. whom, 7. who,
a. who, 9. whom, 10. whom

Anagram Pairs

(Everything, nothing, all, etc.)

4. Nothing thaVwhich we bought

Exercise A)
1. thaVwhich
2. thaVwhich
3. thaVwhich
4. thatlWhich
S. that/which
6. thaVwho
7. thaVwhich
a. thaVwhich
9. that/which
10. thaVwhich

Words' World

Defining Relative (;Iauses

D~i'ing my programme on the wi' Jless, I concentrated on defining

very fast.
b) John's car which Is red Is
very fast.
In which sentence does John have
more than one car?
'2. a) The work which I enjoy Is
answering letters.
b) The work, which I enjoy, Is
answering letters.
In which sentence does the writer
just answer letters?
3. a) All students, who study
English, learn vocabulary.
b) All students who study
English .learn vocabulary.
Which sentence is incorrect?

D +0 D
I I+M I I
D
D
D +A D
D +E D
1
I+S I I
D +U D
I I +E D
+8

Answers: Anagram Pairs

epEUeJ~ 'UepJE~

-Jn~ 'eOUEJ~

'eOEu

'L 'UOSWEO 'PEWON

'9 'eIS!V 'I!ES 'S 'luEseeld 'sleu

-Eld 'y 'elq wEJ 8 'elqJEV\I 'f: 'selEW
-Pd 'SeIEJ!d 'Z 'elPuEO 'eouEl . ~

14

The

FORUM

SPORTS

Gazette

Hungary Lifts
The Nehru Gold Cup

Results Of League Matches

Date
19-1-89
20-1-89
21-1-89
22-1-89

ungary made history

The Hungarians won As. 50,000 top marks man's cup.
repeat itself at the for their success and the Soviet
A total number of 36 goals were
Nehru Stadium on Feb- .Rs. 25,000 Ro~rt Jovan, who scored in the 16 day long tournaruary 4, As in 1983 scor.ed 6 goals, was awarded the ment.
when they won the Jawahar Lal
Nehru Gold cup when they
avenged in the final defeat they
had suffered in the League' Tournament Highlights
encounter as against China. They'
bettled the score for the defeat at Total Goals Scored: 36 (15 in the first, 21 in the second half) in 1Ii

.
1
the hands of the Soviet Union in matches (Avg 2.25).
the league phase.
Biggest Victory: 5-1 (Hungary beat Poland)
Most Goals in a Match: 6 (Hungary 5, Poland 1)
The Magyars scored once in
Most Goals scored by a team : 14 by Hungary
each half to claim the trophy from
Most Goals conceded by a team : 10 by Poland
the hands of the Union Minister for
Self Goal: Zscott Mariasi (Hungary) vs. Poland
Sports and Youth Affairs, Margaret
Most Goals by a player: 6 by Robert Jovan (Hungary)
Alva.

. 23-1-89
24-1-89
25-1-89
26-1-89
27-1.-89
28-1-89
29-1-89

30-1-89
31-1-89

~lti
,.....,

Results At A Glance

Final Points Table

01-2-89
02-2-89

Teams

S.U

S. Union
Hungary
N. Korea
Iraq
. Poland
India

2-3
0-1
0-1
0-2
. 0-2

Hun

N.t<.

Iraq

3-2

1-0
3-0

1-0
1-0
0-0

0-3
0-1
1-5
0-1

0-0
0-2
1-2

1-1
1-2

Pol

Ind

L GF GA

Pts

2-0
5-1
2-0
1-1

2-0
1-0
2-1
2-1
2-0

5
4
2
1
1
0

0
0
1
2
1
0

0 9
2
1 12 4
2 4 5
2 3 4
3 4 10
5 2
9

10

0-2

5
5
5
5
5

8
5
4
3
0

Teams

Score

H.T. Scorer

Hungary
North Korea
Poland
India
Soviet Union
. Iraq
Hungary

3
0
2
0

(2'()) Peters Tamas, Laszlo, Zoltan

1
0
5

(Q.O) Igor Kolyvanov

Poland
North Korea .
Iraq
Soviet Union
India
Hungary
Iraq
Soviet Union
Poland
North Korea
India
Soviet Union
Hungary
. Iraq

1
. 0
0
2
0
1
0
2
.0
2
1
3
2
2

India
North ~:orea
Poland
Hungary
India
Soviet Union
North Korea
Poland
Iraq

2
0
11
0
1
0
1
1

(O.Q) Jacek Bayer, M. Kublistal

(2'()) Zoltan (2), Robert Jovan (2),

P. Tamas
(Zsott Mariasi-seln
(O.Q)

(O.Q) Igor Shalimov, Ketashvili

(1'()) Peters Tamas
(2'()) Igor Shalmov, Reshivilli
(1'()) Yong Nam, Kim Yun Chol
Bikash Panji
(1.Q) Kobelev (2), Reshivilli
R. Jovan, Jonas Gyula
(2-1) R. Shanshal, Sameer
Kadame,
Sattajit Chatte~ee
(1'()) Chu Yong Sik, U Hyon Chol
(1'()) Jovan Robert

(O.Q) Sergi Pogodin

(O.Q) Kubisztal
Wali Khan

Final
04-2-89

Hungary

Soviet Union

(1-0) Z. Csusansky, Robert

Jovan

Compiled By S. Pervez Qaiser

Selectors Vs Players
Continued ITOIII pagll 16

Even the fine imposed on

Mohinder is not justified. Why has
he been fined?On doing well conr.; sistently and still being dropped,
)6 any player would have uttered
such words out of sheer frustration. I don't think that his remarks
were intended to insult any individual or committee but were the
index of his frustration only. However, why have they dropped Maninder Singh1Has he also spoken
any word against anyone?

How To Fight Against

Injustice?

By Surinder Khanna
Former Indian
wicket-kaeper

am woOdering about the lessons that our youngsters must

be learning from the controversy
concerning Mohinder? Should the
selection committee be such a
high authority that no one can
question about the fairness of its
decisions? And if it is so, then
where should a seasoned cricketer plead his case if one is meted
out injustice for reasons of personal whims and prejudices? Sitting on the seats of judges, the

15-31 March 1989

selectors are expected to be fair

to all and above personal favours
and prejudices.

out any reservations.

The Caribbeans must be wondering at our wisdom Of sidelining
two best cricketers who could help
I don~t oppose the idea of
rejuvenate the sagging Indian'
penalty of a fine for an act of indismorale with their performances.
cipline but at the same time I
Mohinder as the best bet against
should like to know that if Jimmy's
.their hostile place bowling and
outburst against the committee
Mahinder as the best bet of orthoamounts to "indiscipline" then what-
dox spin bowling against their key
is "discipline"? If keeping mum
batsmen are the two like their
against the injustice is "diScipline"
Richards and Marshall.
then what is the reward for that?
The om mission of Maninder Singh
is a case at hand. He has not
Why Three Penalties For
spoken even a single word against
One Fault?
anybody and yet is going through .
a phase of mental torture and
By Prithipal Singh
embarrassment.
We in India don't knowhow to
PreSident, H.P. Cricket
respect our cricketers. Either we
adore them to the point of hero- Association
worship or down grade them out
and out. What is disappointing is
ohinder's remarks
the utter lack of courtesy and fitwere not personal
ness in the axing of the two topattack on someone. I
ranked players who could even
cOnsider
it a matter of
boast of a place in the confemporfreedom of speech. He had (and
ary world eleven.
have) a fundamental right to say
In the larger interests of the whatever he felt or opined on
team, it would be proper if the cricket selection. What a surprise
selectors are asked to explain that every Tom, Dick and Harry
publicly the grounds for dropping has a right to comment on the
two seasoned cricketers from the Selection Committee for their
squad for the tour to West Indi~s. favours and prejudices but the
And the fairness of their "excuse" senior most cricketer of the world
must be discussed at large with- is denied of this privilege?

Secondly, if at all his remarks

were against the code of conduct,
how could he be penalised thrice?
First penalty: He was not picked
up for any match against Kiwis
thereby losing in terms of Tests
played, runs scored, wickets dismissed and catches taken besides
a personal loss of about Rs.
90,0001-. Mental harrass'llent is
also there.
Second penalty: He was asked
to appear before a disciplinary
committee, who imposed a fine of

Rs. 20,000/- without giving him a

fair amount of hearing.
Third penalty: He was not
picked for West Indies touring
squad on the ground that he has
not played any match during last
three months. It is not his fault that
he has not played matches. Who
knows, he might be doing practice
of his own. In my opinion, he could
have figured easily and withput
any controversy in the pPObables
and then if not found good enough
in trials, could be dropped.

Sports Quiz

."

1~ Which cricket reporter was also a renowned music critic?

.I
2..How many umpires are required for a game of cricket?
.
3. How many officials are in charge of an American football game?
4. Who was the first woman cricketer to hit a six in a Test match?
5. Who sponsors Test cricket in England?
6. What fantasy game is often called O&O?
7. What is the name for the pieces of wood laid across cricket stumps?
8. Who was the first person to hit six sixes in an over of first class
cricket?
9. Which famous cricketer became High Commissioner for Trinidad
& Tobago?
10.ln cricket, what is the name for a very short loose delivery which
the batsman has plenty of time to hit?

Answers
'9.04 5uOl '0 ~ '9U!lUelSUOO e! Je91 J!S '6 'sJeqos PI9!!
-Je~ ' 8 'sl!es 'L 'su05eJO >g s)J095una '9 '90uemsul II!4UJo:) 'S '(lS6~ '

'sPJOl le) lU!l~~904A9H le40eH

'v 'X!S

'E 'OMl. 'l 'snpJen ell!A9N . ~

-ACM Naze.r
15

Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers of India Reg. No. 45763 Deihl Postal Registration No. D(SE) 15/86
.

FORUM ________________S.PO.RT.S
By Navin Chand
very player has a di-eam
of representing his country. Same is the case
with North zone or Delhi
players. Th~y are performing well
on the field and have already won
Duleep Trophy and Deodhar
Trophy tournaments. Delhi team is
already in semi-finals of the Ranji
Trophy and is strong favourite of
winning the national championship. Yet it is the Delhi players who
'are axed and sidelined for no fault
'of theirs.
First it happened to Mohinder
when New Zealanders visited the
country for three Tests and five
one-dayers. Then it happened with
Bhaskar Pillai and Manoj Prabhakar as they were not figuring in the
probables' list of 23 players. And
finally, it was the turn of Maninder
Singh, the best left-~rm spinner
'in the current cricket fraternity, to
'get axed from the team that is to
tour West Indies from February
end.
.
The players and officials of the
North Zone have every reason to .
feel that the national selection
committee is not fair to the talents
and potentials of its cricketers:
While the seasoned cricketers are
.being axed on this or that excuse,
the youngsters are noi being
picked up despite consistently
giving good performances in var-'
ious tournaments.

Maninder Singh
In the Ferozeshah Kotla ground,
Delhi, everyone seems to be talking about the future of its players
like Mohinder, Maninder, Raman
Lamba, Bhaskar Pillai, Prabhakar
and Manu Nayyar. During.Bishan
Bedi's reign as the caRtain or as
the selector, as many as six or
seven players used to be from
North Zone and at times, the
national teim was formed around
five Delhi players. Now only
two-Sanjeev Sharma, and Ajay
Sharma are in, the squad of 17
'players picked up for the Carib
,b ean tour.
The FORUM GAZETTE contacted some of the Delhi players,
manager and officials to know their
reactions about the dropping of
Mohinder and Maninder Singh.
What thays~id follows:

WherEfShould Our
Cricketers Show TheIr
Performance To WIn The
Vote Of The National
Selectors?

By Prem Bhatia
(Manager, Delhi team)

Selectors Vs Players
T

here must be certain univer_ sally acceoted criteria for

selection or rejection of a player.
What was the criteria under which
Jimmy Amarnath was originally
dropped against New Zealanders
and now Maninder axed for the
,Caribbean tour? I want to know.
To say that they have been
dropped on cricketing merits is nor
easily digested by any knowledgeable person of the game.
For, both ' of them are known to
best (or among the best) in their
respective fields. In my earnest
opinion, there is no justification in
their being sidelined.
If one remembers, during Reliance cup competition, Clive Lloyd
had said of Maninder Singh-"He
is the best finest left-arm bowler
in the world today." And now
Indian team is going to the land of
the Big Cat without Maninder. As
a manager of the .Delhi team, I
know that Manni has not lost- his
sharpness even slightly. He is as
good as ever and without him the
Indian team will loose the biting
teeth of its attack. I may also add
that although both Ravi Shastri
and Ajay Sharma are left-arm,
bowlers yet both are more of,
batsmen rather than spinners and
neither of them can claim to be
anywhere near the class of Maninder.
And abOut the Jimmy Amarnath,
every one would concede that he
is a cricketer of grit, technique and
.raw cowage. Only a week D~fore ,
his axing from the national team,
he had rescued and engineered
the team from the jaws of defeaf
to the laurels of victory over Paki~tan in tl,& Asia Cup at Dhaka.
I wr .. ld like to cite the examples
of r Jme other players also. First of
all, Bhaskar PillaL He was called
upon to play for India in Jammu
one-dayer against New Zealand.
The match cou ~d not be played
due to rain and Bhaskar was
deprived of an opportunity. Since
then, he has plundered runs in
almost fIIIery match that he played
including Deodhar and Ranji
Trophy matches. Should ! not
know the justification of including
him in the national team then and
dropping now without any fault on
his part?
Likewise, Manoj Prabhakar,
Raman Lamba and Manu Nayyar
have had an exceptionally good
cricketing season inthe domestic
cricket, yet none of them got a
berth among th~' 23 probables for
the West Indies. " their performance in the domestic first-class
cricket can't win the selector's
approval, then would it not be
better if the domestic first class
cricket matches are scrapped off?
Are these matches meaningless?
But then, where else should these
talented cricketers show their performances to win the nod of the
national selection committee?
Mohinder Amarnath and
Maniinder Singh are simply two
examples of those who .have had

Mohlnder's Crlcketlng
Capability Is Beyond Doubt

By Madan Lal
Former Indian pace
bowler who visited
West Indies in 75-76
and then in 1983.

have no two oPinions about

Mohinder's cricketing capability.
He is still one of the fittest cricketers and capable of holding
Indian innings together against the
Caribbean pace attack. I can't
understand how he can be '
Mohinder Amarnath
dropped from the Indian team on
a proven track record and an the flimsy ground that his current
international standing yet they, form is not known.
have been axed. There are many .
I Know Mohinder for the last 24
other players also who deserved years. We have been playing
to get a chance but have been together since school days of
given atep-motherly treatment
1965. (Mohinder is only six months
because they belong to Delhi and
elder to Madan Lal). We have
North Zone. Is it a crime to be a played several times under each '
player of this region?
other's captaincy. I have always

found him an intelligent cricketer

with few words. I don't remember
if I have ever heard him speaking
against anyone-even against
juniors.
I firmly believe that he should
not have been dropped from the
first Test team against New Zealand. If a seasoned cricketer is performing well, there is no sense in
dropping him on the pretext of
giving chance to youngsters. I
have all along been in favour of
encouraging youngsters but there
is a way to groom them. Just putting them in the national side put
them under tremendous pressure
which is generally beyond thier
capacity. It has an adverse effect
on their performance and then
when dropped, they are so discouraged that the very interest in
the game is lost.
Let us take the example of
Rasid Patel. The left-arm pacer
was taken to Sharjah, then to
Dhaka and then moved with the
Indian team from one centre to
another. Ultimately he played one
Test in Bombay and then sidelined;.-Now he was not considered
good enough even among 23 probabies.
COtllinued on page 15

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tekworld wttlt Ita _ r y of sophlstlcated
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16
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c:

The right chOice

1531 March 1989