“tvamev matach pitach tvamev,
tvamev bandhuch sakhasch tvamev,
tvamev vidya dravidam tvamev,
tvamev sarvam mam devdev”

1: You Truly are my Mother And You Truly are my Father .
2: You Truly are my Relative And You Truly are my Friend.
3: You Truly are my Knowledge and You Truly are my Wealth.
4: You Truly are my All, My God of Gods.

The Indian thought perceives mother as divine (matri devo bhava), father as divine (pitri devo bhava), guests as divine (athiti devo bhava). Such praise and respect can only come when there is an absence of ego, greed, arrogance etc i.e the factors which obstruct the spiritual evolution. Some offer respect by forming idols, some by visualising their loved ones and some by offering their service (seva). Therefore, such worshipping may take naturally with or without idols. It is nothing but a form of visual symbol used not only to refer to a higher consciousness but also for respect for a loved one. People have celebrated Buddha by forming his idols, the statue of liberty connotes to the history of United States, the famous Sun Temple in Konark has the sundial which works according to the movement of sun. Therefore, some people built idols for respect and some to concentrate and raise their will power and consciousness to know the higher trancedental nature of the ultimate reality. Some people built temples for research, while some create paintings and sketches to express love.

But then, there exist some fanatics who because of their religious biases and outlooks promote an extreme antagonism for idol worshipping. One of the staunchest adversaries of idol worship is Zakir Naik often citing verses from Vedas, Gita and Upanishads to show that the “Hindu scriptures” themselves deny idol worshipping. He typically uses verses like ” Na Tasya Pratima asti ” (Vedas), chapter 7 verse 20 of Bhagvada-Gita and upanishads to conclude the rebuttal of idol worship. He typically mocks the concept of consciousness by stating that Muslims are already at a higher level of consciousness because there is no materialism or idol worshipping in Islam.

“He who is neither inward-wise, nor outward-wise, nor both inward and outward wise, nor wisdom self-gathered, nor possessed of wisdom, nor unpossessed of wisdom, He Who is unseen and incommunicable, unseizable, featureless, unthinkable, and unnameable, Whose essentiality is awareness of the Self in its single existence, in Whom all phenomena dissolve, Who is Calm, Who is Good, Who is the One than Whom there is no other, Him they deem the fourth; He is the Self, He is the object of Knowledge.” (Mandukya Upanishad)

Those deprived of discrimination by various desires impelled by their particular natures worship the lesser demigods adapting to the applicable rites and rituals. Whichever demigod a particular devotee desires with faith to worship, I surely sustain firmly that faith in him. Endowed with that firm faith the devotee executes worship of this demigod and sanctioned by me solely; obtains that which he desired from that demigod. The result of those of insufficient understanding is temporary; the votaries of the demigods obtain the demigod; but My devotees obtains Me. (Gita 7.20-23)

“Na Tasya Pratima Asti” (There is no image of him), The Vedic verse refers to the ultimate reality which cannot be comprehended. It is supported by the Upanishads (e.g above verse from mandukya upanishad) and Gita which teach that the ultimate reality is nameless, formless, unmanifest, omnipresent, omnipotent etc. But the texts do not say that there is no presence of that ultimate reality in an animal or a stone.

“All of the universes are pervaded by Me, in an imperceptibly subtle manifestation and all living entities find their support in Me; but I am not supported in them.” (Gita 9.4)

The whole chapter 7 and 10 of Bhagvada Gita outlines the various manifestations of the ultimate reality e.g surya, agni, vayu, rudra, intellect, knowledge etc. Because of the workings of the mind and the various senses it controls, which are again a part of the same reality, we are able to perceive various forms and shapes. Thus, the ultimate reality manifests itself into various ways even though it is unmanifested, projects various forms and shapes even though it is formless and shapeless, called by various names by different people even though it is nameless.

Therefore, if idols are visual symbols to express the ultimate reality, then so are the linguistic words used to express the same. In this regard, there is no moral judgement passed by Hindu scriptures on the use of a word or idol to denote ultimate reality. On the contrary, the scriptures allude to the ultimate reality by expressing the limitations of the human senses (Refer Kena Upanishad). Adversaries like Zakir naik who shun idol worshipping do not realise that even sitting in a particular direction in this directionless and infinite universe while praying for namaz is kind of symbology. Moreover, if he thinks it is inappropriate to practice idol worshipping, then he fails to realise on the same grounds and reasoning that the use of the very word Allah (to address the nameless as per Indian scriptures) is again absurd as Allah is nothing but a symbology borrowed from a book. If one further explores, then he’ll surely realise that the verse, “La Iaha Ill Allah Muhammudur Rasool Aallah”( God according to Islam is Allah and there is no other name except Allah and Mohammed is his prophet), preaches attachment to a name and indoctrinates about a prophet who lived his life in a desert land preaching about the judgement day, jizziya and disrespect for Jews, Christians and infidels.

O you who believe, take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends of each other. And whoever amongst you takes them for friends he is indeed one of them. Surely Allåh guides not the unjust people. (Quran 5.51)

“The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger [i.e., Muhammad], and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter. ( Quran 5.33)”

Fight those who believe not in Allåh, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which Allåh and His Messenger have forbidden, nor follow the Religion of Truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgement of superiority and they are in a state of s subjection (9.29)

When Mr.Zakir Naik speaks about Chapter 7 of Gita, he forgets that the divine song proceeds with chapter 9 verse 23,

“O Arjuna, those who worship devotedly different demigods, although faithfully; they also worship me only; but in an unauthorised manner”.

The demigods are nothing but the physical or mental manifestations of the ultimate reality which are divine. Material manifestations include Sun, Earth, Water etc. Whereas, mental manifestations include knowledge, consciousness, thought etc. If we treat a human body as a whole, then how can a whole body be complete without a hand, leg or a brain? If, for analogy, these individual components of a human body are treated separately and compared to demigods, then it is only natural that the whole body ( analogous to ultimate reality here) should be cleansed. Does it make any sense to clean the individual body parts (analogous to worshipping or revering the demi-gods individually)? If a business man worships Laxmi (wealth) and cuts the trees for generation of wealth, then it means that for the generation of wealth, he is abusing the nature. Thus, according to BG-9.23, this is inappropriate.

In many of the lectures, he presents demi-gods (devas) as “false god”, dharma as “religion”, sanatan dharma as ‘polytheistic’ etc without even understanding the basic riddle like nature of the shrutis to converge or allude to the ultimate reality, why the elements of the nature are called as “devas” or that the ultimate reality or the truth (satchitananda) expounded by sanatan dharma is beyond any kind of theism be it monotheism, polytheism or atheism.  If one understands the flow of the Indian scriptures and the art of detachment, he is sure to understand that Zakir Naik doesn’t have any basic understanding of the Indian shrutis. He simply mugs up verses and presents improper verses (the translations and the context), to prove his points. Moreover he views the Vedic wisdom from his Quranic conditioning where the creator is isolated from the creation and where the Quran preaches about a male centric god. On the contrary, the Indian scriptures teach about the ultimate reality where the various manifestations are a part of the same truth or ultimate reality, where the different manifestations are presented in both masculine (devas) and feminine names like ila, saraswati, maya etc (devis). The whole of Bhagvada-Gita expounds on the ultimate reality through the context of “I and Me”. Unfortunately, Mr. Naik due to his Quranic conditioning thinks that the chapter 7 of Gita is speaking about different isolated gods, unable to understand that the “devas” are a part of the same truth.

Indian shrutis state, “ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanati” (Truth is one, but sages call it by different names). It speaks volumes about detachment and tolerance to incorporate the subjectivity of the others. It is true that the ancient seers never needed temples or idols to understand the ultimate reality. The consciousness, as it evolves, frees the mind from attachment to name and forms. Therefore, contrary to Mr.Naik’s gross assumptions, the first signs of an elevated consciousness in muslims will indeed be freedom and detachment from the Quranic doctrines and the name Allah itself.

References:

http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/kaliyuga.html

http://veda.wikidot.com/dharma-and-religion

http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/

http://www.muslim.org/english-quran/ch005-100.pdf

http://www.muslim.org/english-quran/ch009-66.pdf

Self-acceptance is the concept of loving and being happy with who you are now, in spite of deficiencies.

The Upside?

Validation is vital to an individual’s existence as an independent entity. Most humans have three acquired needs based on sensory contact (through the six portals of sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch, and thought) with the external world:

• Identification with a group

Language, culture, rites, rituals, communities, religions, political parties—all exist to nurture people’s sense of belonging, to create a forum for expressing shared views and experiences.

Social integration is great in that it provides opportunities to learn about other races and cultures, promoting harmony and peace. Acceptance of social issues and practices such as adoption, mental illness, oppression, gay rights, and disability rights has the power to erase erroneous thinking, discourage discrimination, encourage tolerance and conformance, and help appreciate differences and diversity.

• Identification with an individual

Mutual love and respect is the key to a relationship’s success. Between husband and wife, parent and child, boss and employee, teacher and student, between siblings or friends—the craving for each other’s approval and acceptance, and the satisfaction derived thereof, usually dictates the stability of the relationship.

• Identification with ego

Satisfying the ego is a principal reason for social conformance. Nobody wants to live in exile. Everybody wants to belong and to feel important. Popularity and influence, in addition to money and power, have shaped and molded legal, cultural, social, and political views since ancient times, enabling individuals—on both personal and societal levels—to embrace change, break free of holdups, honor commitment, defy boundaries, confront adversity, challenge inadequacies, and resolve problems.

The Downside?

Money and power are primeval prime evils. Elitism and social class division, a derivative of economic stratification, have existed since ancient times and afforded special privileges to their members, with blatant disregard for the rest of the community.

Today governments, organizations, and corporations around the world are beleaguered with fraud and endemic corruption stemming from individuals’ insatiable hunger for money and power. Diverting food aid away from its intended recipients, child labor, influence peddling, electoral fraud, embezzlement, nepotism, outright bribery—corruption and fraud can take various forms. A decline in values such as accountability, transparency, commitment, and an escalation in exploitation and other injustices have contributed not only to social, economic, and environmental decline on a massive global scale, but also to the conditions that have lead to global crime and terrorism.

The addiction to fame and to “winning” is pervasive—from athletes to movie stars to politicians—and incites individuals to engage in bizarre, and, at times, sensational behaviors. To attract attention and acquire bragging rights, people shamelessly flaunt their sexuality, dress inappropriately, trash talk, crash parties, judge others, or speak with a fake accent. One look at the news on television or the internet illuminates the insidious nature of these types of behaviors. Far from expressing remorse and committing to change, most simply justify their odd and impersonal behaviors through blame, selfishness, resistance, deflection, denial, and overt defensiveness.

Let’s address consumerism. Gourmet dining, brand-name shopping, and luxury living are emblematic of an affluent lifestyle. The digital dawn has presented a new way for the common man to live that lifestyle: the clutch of materialism and consumerism. From the young to the old, transcending gender, and spanning ethnicities, the single most popular feeling that people crave—admiration—drives them to display an image of perfection and sophistication. What better way to create that image than through the medium of materialism and consumerism?

Sadly, consumerism has spiked snobbery, disdain, hypocrisy, and narcissistic behavior, and, increased debt and disease. The preoccupation with power and prestige makes some believe that owning designer clothes and accessories will enhance their social standing, that participating in wine tasting or attending opera will give them an edge, that taking expensive vacations in exotic locations will make them appear influential. Some use the armor of social acceptance to make themselves feel secure from rejection, ridicule, and judgment. Many drink, smoke, lie, cheat, swear, self-indulge, and throw extravagant parties as a show of social superiority. The mere adoption of designer fashions and elitist tastes doesn’t make a person look sophisticated; it just makes them look pompous and comical.

Speaking of social superiority, think of the smirk on the parent’s face whose child attends a private or prestigious school, or the professional woman who snickers at your choice of being a stay-home mom, or the colleague who scorns you for being vegetarian. Ever meet someone that consistently uses sarcasm and makes belittling comments because they deem it “cool?” How about the person who talks loudly and incessantly to fulfill an innate desire to be accepted? People routinely over-promise and under-deliver, and, my pet peeve—they tell you what they want you to hear. The veneer of peace and contentment many people project is just that—very superficial. Quite frequently, it’s a contrived effort to mask the myriad dysfunctions that exist in their lives.

People fail to realize that constantly impressing others is not only exhausting, but also expensive, time-consuming, and distracting. In the foray to get ahead, people are increasingly sacrificing integrity and compassion for a life of sham and a false sense of respectability. Overall, the riptide of social consciousness is making the populace fearful, self-absorbed, ostentatious, and disengaged from “inner” reality.

Query

You gleefully flaunt your online or social avatars, but do you disguise your feelings and whitewash your mistakes? Social acceptance has widened your network, but has it also widened your sense of unease, anxiety, and incompleteness? Your reputation for exquisite taste has gone viral, but is your perception of you still wedged in the depths of your mind? Social acceptance has put you on equal footing with the community’s who’s who, but has it also helped you move past pretense, avoidance, and denial? Does social acceptance equal self-acceptance?

Questions are for you to ask; the answers will come find you. Vipassana meditation can transform human consciousness the way a dam can revitalize entire geographic regions. A conscious engagement of mind and body, vipassana meditation helps resurrect an individual’s inner manifestation by unearthing their deep well of inner reality, which helps sever the individual’s dependence on external approval and acceptance, assists them to accept and resolve dysfunction, strengthens the individual’s self-discipline and resolve, and promotes the development of their humanity.

Until we meet again….

This blog covers following topics:

1. INDUSAPTI* and Demographic
2. ICT Challenges
3. Activities List
4. Jobs Economic System
5. Indian Economy
6. Imparting skills through OER
7. References and notes

INDUSAPTI* and Demographic  

INDUSAPTI (INDUSA Practical Technologies Institute) is described in my blog “Emerging India”*. An objective of INDUSAPTI virtual school, an Open Educational Resource (OER)* is: “to let all visitors, especially rural youth and slum dwellers to develop the habits and culture of honoring their natural skills, which are the most valuable and only truly renewable resource in the world today.”  

For decades, people took dynamism and economic growth for granted and saw population growth as a problem. Now we’ve gone to the other extreme, and it’s clear that young people are the scarce resource. For past few decadesIndiahas enjoyed healthy demographics.

In the second decade of 21^st centuryIndia has vast reservoir of unskilled youth, mostly with high school or less education, looking for opportunities to get ahead. The sustained economic growth will be determined by how fastIndia can impart skills to 70 million youth mostly in rural and urban slums in the next five years.India aims at increasing the percentage of workforce with formal skills through vocational education and training from 12 per cent to 25 per cent at the end of the Twelfth Plan.

Given resources such as OER, vocational and higher education to bridge the skills gap the healthy demographics ofIndiawill continue to produce plenty of young workers. By 2030, according to the Vienna Institute of Demography,Indiawill have (additional) 100 million relatively educated young men.

Indiafaces regional challenges. Population growth is high in the northern parts of the country, where people tend to be poorer and less educated. Meanwhile, fertility rates in the southern parts of the country, where people are richer and better educated, are already below replacement levels.

ICT Challenges 

ICT (internet connectivity technologies) applications are required for using OER, such as INDUSAPTI. Using OER and ICT it is for youth to develop their natural human resources to pursue a productive life. Ideally, an access to a workshop or equivalent is needed to reduced to practice lessons learned using OER. Vigyan Ashram and numerous vocational training centers committed to nai talim programs all acrossIndiaprovide workshops in public sector. There are many private manufacturing businesses with workshops available to employees to update their skills.

The uses of OER are dependent on ready availability of digital technology based communication devises such as PC, iPad and Tablets such as Aakash. It is for the government, business communities and adults in the family to provide ICT tools to youth to further education and role based skills development in this competitive environment.

We believe offering the OER in local Indian languages – a feature of INDUSAPTI – to students with access to internet connectivity can help motivated DIY (do-it-yourself) students interested in developing job skills and it can help bridge skills gap seen inIndia. Given training in the practical technologies such as that offered by IDUSAPTI, we believe, DIY students can be innovators and entrepreneurs not only to make a decent living but also create jobs that will accelerate rural development.

Activities List 

Bridging India’s skills gap is a major task. A majority of job seeking Indian youth have 3^rd – 12^th grade education. An understanding of available roll or activities based jobs is needed to empower youth with matching job skills.

Some youth with high school or less education are naturally innovators and entrepreneurs. Every innovator and entrepreneur potentially is a job creator. For an objective of turning the growing number of educated and semi educated youth into skilled job creators a need exists for developing an encyclopedia of skills required to fill millions of jobs annually being created in India’s 13 industry sectors. With workforce of millions of unskilled youth from rural and slum communities a challenge is to identify all suitable jobs and the skills needed to fill them with qualified youth. In order to identify jobs for high school or less education a government department has developed an activities list that may be useful to map out skills needed to fill each job created in the 13 industry sectors.*

The activity list requires every student to know and develop an ability to perform select ICT applications relevant to life and work. Basic ICT applications are performed using a computer such as tablet Aakash that is internet active and student is familiar with search engine activities.

Generally the youth with high school or less education are qualified for or have skills to perform household and community (pariwar) activities including work areas related to house keeping, food and kitchen, health and medicine, education and knowledge, livelihood and earning, social and pariwar networking contacts and communications, sales and marketing, transport, travel and tours, etc. The list could be made more exhaustive.

The search engines for ICT applications offer a variety of OER in each of activities including information to enhance cooking skills. For example, students learning to cook can find a variety of recopies for any dish they wish to improve upon. Students interested in health issues can find a wealth of reliable information on medicines, methods of healthcare for any specific ailment, or skills needed to be a nurse, a clinical technician, a nurse’s assistant or patient care provider in doctors office and hospital settings. Curious students interested in working for hospitality industry can find all required information on tourism, travel and being a tour conductor.

There are several levels of activity that depend on the complexity and responsibility a person can handle. Briefly these levels include family and pariwar related work, market and work place related work, community related work (serving, organizing, managing, participating in decision making and doing SUPW or socially useful and productive work), management related work, class and school management, website for school and community, open resources created for the use of all citizens, etc.

The job skills for the level of work and role are determined by the employee’s level of knowledge or learning, skills for handling technology and its complexity and the value and wealth of the items of work the employee can handled or perform.

Jobs and Economic System 

With adoption of a model called “democratic development capitalism”Indiahas a mixed economy or PP (private public partnership) that offers potential for jobs growth in the organized sectors including manufacturing, services sectors, healthcare, and agribusinesses.Indiaannually is creating about 1.5 million jobs.India’s 13 industry sectors in 2011 created an estimated 1.4 million jobs and for 2012 the estimate is 1.6 million.

A survey of 639 companies across 13 industry sectors in eight major Indian cities showed that healthcare, hospitality, IT/ITES, non-machinery manufacturing, media and entertainment are most optimistic about hiring activities. Health care is projected to generate more than 273,000 jobs, followed by hospitality (over 230 thousand) and IT/ITES (more than 227,000).

IT/ITES sectors are vibrant for growth. A Microsoft commissioned study, conducted by IDC, predicts that cloud computing will generate over two million jobs inIndiaand 14 million jobs worldwide by 2015. More than 50 per cent of these jobs will be generated in the small and medium businesses. Further, more than two million jobs each will be generated in the ‘communications and media’ and manufacturing sectors, followed by banking at over 1.4 million.

Indian Economy 

Globally, India’s 2011-12 GDP ranks 4^th based on PPP (purchasing power parity) of $4.5 trillion and 9^th on nominal $1.85 trillion economy.India’s 2011-12 GDP represents contributions by 3 prime sectors: agriculture, industry and services.

India’s large service industry accounts for 57.2% of the country’s GDP. The service sector makes up 34% and industrial sector around 14% of jobs. The industrial and agricultural sectors contribute 28.6% and 14.6% respectively to GDP. Agriculture is the predominant occupation in rural India, accounting for about 52% of employment. The 2009–10 government survey used a smaller sample size than earlier surveys and it suggested that the share of agriculture in employment had dropped to 45.5%.

Major industries include telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery and software. The labor force totals 500 million workers. Major agricultural products include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes, cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry and fish. In 2009–2010, India’s top five trading partners wereUnited Arab Emirates,China,United States,Saudi Arabia andGermany.

Imparting Skills through OER 

This section offers select theoretical background to improve understanding of various relationships associated with SUPW, education, work, technology, activities or rolls, functions or work processes, OER e-curriculums, and related topics. The discussion defines nai talim (new paradigm) education and how it differs from traditional “rote and regurgitate” model of education used for more than a century inIndia. Central to development of the nai talim concepts is how as a quality education model it enriches the society, individual and situations.

OER offers tools to learn for and from working/developing for the outcomes of Socially Useful and Productive Work (SUPW). A worker can play higher level roles if better and higher technologies, materials and knowledge are made available to him/her. The integration of work with knowledge, socio-technological situations and value creation requires the processes of training and education not only in realm of vocational education, but it slowly transforms vocational education into ‘higher’ education’.  The following equation sums of the relation:

Education + Work + Technology à  SUPW

 INDUSAPTI virtual school with ICT applications offers:

• Use of networking; especially economic networking is a vehicle for offering formal as well as face-to-face    education.
• new processes of digitization, virtualization, personalization for individual and group,
• open resource movement,
• Wiki processes of mass participation in collaborative work and various ways of social

The forces for skilled based job training are driven by:

• The work place demands
• Ever changing technologies
• The goal is to create socially useful and productive work for social or market profitability.
• Social usefulness of the work means the quality linked with conformity to standards, relevance (fitness for   the purpose) and customer satisfaction quality.
• Social productivity means the quality, profitability, affordability and sustainability of the products and      services produced.
• Work is wholesome work containing Routine, Rest, Progress and Pleasure in an integrated way.
• Technology is the non-destructive, non-exploitative empowering technology for production by masses.

E-Curriculum based on role and functions include processes and expected results. Activities impart knowledge with tools and other OER. Student advances in role playing as his/her performance is improved. Each process incorporates context, situations and supporting information for learning, teaching and evaluation. Such a curriculum is the basis for implementing role, activities and results driven education.

Following two relationships define roles:

• Role –> Functions - work processes  –> Results
• Higher Level Roles –>  Higher functions – processes –> Higher Results

This e-curriculum leads to a triangle of linking

•  OER + Roles and Activities + Curriculum –>  SUPW

The learning through activities leads to the outcome that enriches the society, individual and situations. Such quality education through OER is delivered to students at his/her doorsteps as students go through a process of playing various roles in their chosen areas in pursuit of better income generation and upwards mobility in society.

Outcomes of INDUSAPTI-VA (IIE) developed OER systems is to offer work centric nai talim (new paradigm) for specific jobs suitable for secondary school (11 – 12 grades) graduates. The nai talim driven OER will enhance, catalyze and accelerate creation of role based courses and encourage establishments of study and training centers for continuous training offering opportunities for up gradation of job skills and competence capabilities. The OER will also serve as a valuable ready-reference source delivered at their doorsteps for continuous and sustainable development of teaching materials. This PP (private-public partnership) for work centric nai talim can serve as a creative mechanism for value and wealth generation for the socio-economic rural communities and urban slums.

To make the OER serve needs of youth in rural areas and urban slum the program encourages government and politicians to make funding available for the ICT applications driven infrastructure and through PP partnership available at affordable prices or for need based students free of charge across entireIndia. With this in mind GoI has already helped develop a tablet, Aakash, for distribution to students. The OER processes should enable development of rural technologies and man power needs of expanding tourism and hospitality industry.

The nai talim OER differs from traditional teaching on the content (subject) basis to a Wikipedia model of role basis, which is work or process result basis.

Traditional model Teacher/trainer and content/tool centric education has proven inadequate to meet growing needs of millions of jobs being created in growing Indiaeconomy in 21^st century. As against 3.3% growth in established developed nationIndia’s GDP growth from 1980 to present has been 6.2%. This growth over last two decades was accelerated as ICT applications matured and Indian PP partnership political model has exploited to create jobs for as many of 57% unskilled potential workers. These job seekers need access to OER offered by NGOs such as INDUSAPTI that is designed to offer a role guided process and result based education – the nai talim based on Wikipedia model.

The nai talim process and results oriented education identifies basic nature of concept in knowledge resources. Any concept, besides being a process, usually contains the following associated information:

1. Facts & information
2. Meaning, contexts & definitions
3. Processes (experiments)
4. Theorems and principles
5. Concept  applications

In nai talim model all these will be specific process/function related to roles to solve the contextual and situational problems using concept and associated information as and when required and as much as is required.

Learning is the process of knowing, doing-working, team work or working together – in a group, small or big – cooperatively or collaboratively and transforming individually or in a group, organization or institution. The OER nai talim model is creativity and work based learning by learner and it is development centric.

References and notes

1.  Google Search, “INDUSAPTI” at http://www.learningwhiledoing.in/     

• To support operating expenses for the INDUSPTI we are in process of incorporating in the US an NGO, ‘INDUSA-Vigyan Ashram (Indian Institute of Education) Foundation’ or INDUS-VA (IIE) Foundation in Texas and registering it as a tax exempt organizations under section 501 (c) (4) of the Internal Revenue code.

2. Kishan Bhatia, “Emerging India” 1107 1120 2011 (Revised 1118) (3,731** words; posted 1211 2011) http://www.indiacause.com/blog/2011/12/11/emerging-india-rural-educatio/
3. Private communication (2011).
4. Khan Academy pioneered the Open Educational Resources.
5. Please take time to review a very informative video by the CBS program 60 minutes; http://www.current-movie-reviews.com/39828/previews/2012/03/11/60-minutes-tonight-31112-nuclear-iran-khan-academy-and-aerosmith-success/

• It is my dream that we at INDUSAPTI can duplicate Mr Khan’s educational methods and success with potentially more than one billion Indians.
• Briefly, Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke with Sal Khan, the innovative creator of Khan Academy, an online      educational website visited daily by more than 4 million students to retrieve free assistance on a variety of subjects from math to biology to art history.
• This success story started in 2004 when Khan was tutoring his cousin in algebra and YouTube videos were posted. The videos were discovered by others who would send and provide inspirational feedback about the help they delivered, so Sal Khan quit his job to be a fulltime educator for world class knowledge at no cost to students.
• Bill Gates discovered the videos while searching for training material for his own children and soon millions of dollars were donated to Khan Academy from Google and the Gates Foundation.
• Khan contributes the high success rate of the tutorials due to the lack of distraction since the videos only     include his voice and diagrams.
• Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, remarks that the newest visionary innovation to the Khan Academy, a “dashboard” which delivers real-time progress reports, may be just the educational breakthrough platform to change the way education is approached in theUnited States. This is a clip of that segment~

6. Schools launch iPad learning By Monica Rohr (monica.rhor@chron.com); Front page story in the      Houston Chronicle, March 14, 2012.
7. B. Aravind Kumar,  “Bridging India’s skills gap,” http://www.thehindu.com/education/issues/article2963328.ece?homepage=true
8. India’s organized sector to create 16 lakh jobs this year, http://www.firstpost.com/fwire/indias-organised-sector-to-create-16-lakh-jobs-this-year-234764.html
9. Clouds can rain jobs in India, http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/article2963623.ece
10. Economic Survey 2010 – 11, http://exim.indiamart.com/economic-survey10-11/
11. Economy of India, Wikipedia, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Economy-of-India/105479572818587?sk=wiki

“The one-eyed mollusc on the ocean floor and I have the same knowledge of the universe.” – Aldous Huxley (This could only be a rough approximation of what the great scientist had said of his knowledge of the universe as it is quoted from memory and may not be an exact reproduction.)

If Huxley had the humility to confess the limitations of his knowledge of the universe, our psephologists and television presenters should be humbled by hubris – at least in hindsight – for getting half of it wrong in their predictions of Election 2012. After all the number crunching, panel discussions and marathon debates, for most of them it was a story of hits and misses. TheCongress (Indian National Congress) did not surge as predicted and the BJP was not relegated to the fourth position although it may have to rue some of its decisions. Whether it was due to the scientific accuracy of its calculations or by a fluke, the CNN-IBN team got it right for theSamajwadi Party. Be that as it may, what lessons do we draw from this election?

DON’T FRAGMENT POLITY FOR TEMPORARY GAINS

Firstly, the major lesson the Congress needs to learn from this election is the Muslim voters are not as gullible as they might appear to the party. Instead of focusing on good governance and development, the party concentrated on to holding out a poisonous carrot to them. A national party, a party which boasts India’s independence is its achievement, should have had better ideas. It was only sixty years ago the nation was divided based on religion and the nation cannot stare at another fragmentation for purely electoral gains of one party. A truly national party would have advised a religious group – any religious or other group – to partake the national pie by empowering it. It would have invested in providing educational and employment opportunities and enhancing the size of the pie so that everyone could have a share of it. If the Muslims felt that reservations were a panacea for their backwardness they would rather vote the Samajwadi Party which offered twice the reservation pie than the Congress, irrespective of whether it is practical or not.

The second lesson that the Congress should learn – although it has not learnt it in sixty years – is its mistake in treating the Muslims as aliens. If the party treated Muslims as a part of the Indian nation it should have educated them that their best interests are in the security and progress of the Indian nation. If the nation has to take an international political stance for augmenting national interest they should understand and cooperate with it. For example if the best interest of the nation is in aligning with Israel in the ‘Israel – Palestine’ conflict they should be persuaded to go along with it. A strong India would serve the interests of Indian Muslims better rather than a rhetorical Palestine. Aren’t jobs, education and infrastructure in Azamgarh more relevant to the lives of Muslims in Azamgarh than a Palestine with or without East Jerusalem as its capital? How does India aiding democracy in Iraq and other Muslim nations harm the interests Indian Muslims? How does providing special status to Muslims in Kashmir advance the cause of Muslims in the rest of India? Would it not be in the interests of all – Muslims included – if Kashmir is integrated into the national mainstream?

The third and most important lesson for the Congress – whether it will learn it at all is a moot point – is the imperative need to decouple Muslims from the international terror matrix. It might seem surprising but the party does exactly the opposite every time it rushes to defend Azamgarh after every terror incident or use the phantom of Hindu terror as a counter-weight. Instead it should let the law enforcement agencies to do their work without political interference. Except a microscopic minority, the majority of Indian Muslims is as interested as the rest in ordinary things as pursuit of a family, education and jobs to eke out a livelihood – the components of a normal social life. They look up to the state to provide an atmosphere that empowers them to pursue these seemingly mundane interests. It is the microscopic minority, with a vested interest in keeping the community backward, that is holding the larger Muslim community and the rest of the Indian polity to ransom. Of course this is a feature it shares with the rest of identity politics but the Congress as a national party should have shunned the microscopic minority instead of pandering to it for temporary political gains.

DON’T HIDE ASSETS

The ‘perceptual reality’ of ‘Rahul Gandhi as a youth icon’ or ‘Narendra Modi as communal politician’ is perhaps a creation of the media; a blatantly partisan English language media at that. The Congress fell for the self-reinforcing myth which spiralled upwards to deliver it a mammothgoldbrick. As the party lays great store by its dynastic assets it is not going to learn any lesson from its shattered fantasies, at least not in the near term. It is however the BJP that should rue its decision to keep Narendra Modi out of its election campaign. He is the party’s most valuable – if controversial – asset. He is a great orator. He could have explained to the electorate in UP (and other states) the kind of developmental activities that he is undertaking in his state. The electorate would have easily seen the inescapable comparison. As he has been repeatedly stressing in all his public addresses, the fruits of development are not just for the benefit of one section of society. They are for everyone. This would sink in sooner or later.

Finally, it is not clear why the BJP did not bring in on board the JD (U), its alliance partner in Bihar to contest the elections together. If the party thought that UP was its prized real estate and hence could not be shared, that was in the 1990s. The JD (U)’s social justice plank and the governance record of the duo in the neighbouring state could have convinced the electorate of what the combine could deliver. In such a scenario the JD (U) being the junior partner would have been less prone to objecting for a campaign by Narendra Modi. It would then be difficult for the JD (U) to disagree to extending this arrangement to Bihar later

However, in India no sooner than the central government announced the setting up of a ‘National Counter-Terrorism Centre’ (NCTC) all hell broke loose. The first protest came from the Bengal chief minister, whose Trinamool Congress is a coalition partner in the Centre and followed by four more chief ministers. Opposition leaders too chipped in. By evening the numbers added up and counting. This is surprising in a nation that has seen terrorist violence with unceasing regularity. By nightfall television channels had a field day. Imaginations run riot. National security was sidelined. The question some television journalists asked was whether there was more to the four chief ministers crying wolf in unison than a shared dread of the new security act. Were they in fact pitching in for a new political formation and the open revolt against NCTC only an excuse?

But to be fair, the opponents of NCTC have a point. It was not mere paranoia. There has been a long record of the central government interfering in the affairs of the states, from the time Jawaharlal Nehru had Kerala’s communist government dismissed in 1957. His daughter Indira dismissed governments at will, destabilised opposition governments with the help of pliant governors and was the infamous author of a draconian emergency that suspended fundamental rights. It is no secret that over the years India’s intelligence organs were used not for strengthening internal security but for spooking on political rivals and state governments ruled by opposition parties. It is perhaps due to such misuse that every time there is a terrorist attack, our home ministers proffered the ready excuse of ‘intelligence failure’ for failing to prevent it! From the ‘ineffective’ Shivraj Patil to the seemingly effectual if ‘intellectually arrogant’ Chidambaram, they all cried ‘intelligence failure’ while wringing their hands and mourning deaths after terrorist strikes! Even the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which was constituted with much fanfare in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist strike on Mumbai in November 2008 scored ‘love’ in four years in terms of crimes solved.

What the opponents of NCTC found most objectionable in its notification was the organization’s power to detain, arrest and interrogate. The local police are informed but that is about it. Vesting shadowy, secretive organizations with sweeping powers to detain, arrest and – especially – interrogate is a scary thought. In Britain, neither the Security Service (MI5) nor the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also known as MI6) has any powers to arrest. If they want to arrest a suspect they have to seek the help of the local police or Scotland Yard (London’s metropolitan police force), which will officially conduct the arrest. The reason for this is, ‘civil’ police do not resort to arbitrary arrests and detentions. When they detain a person, they have to follow the due process of law, such as informing him of his rights, recording the date and time of arrest and most importantly producing the ‘suspect’ in a court of law within twenty four hours. If a more stringent law like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) is applied the period of detention may extend up to ninety days but the arrest and detention is under the gaze of the judicial system. It is the judicial system that decides the merits of the case and, sanction detention and interrogation.

Such open processes help prevent disastrous consequences of what Malcolm Gladwell calls erroneous ‘intuitive judgements’. In his seminal work ‘BLINK’, on the ‘power of thinking without thinking’, he recounts an incident that occurred in New York in 1999. In the early morning twilight of February 4 that year twenty-four year old Amadou Bailo Diallo was returning home when Edward McMellon, Sean Carroll, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy, four plain clothes officers of the NYPD passed by. Diallo was a Guinean immigrant who came to New York to study biochemistry but ended up becoming a sidewalk vendor. In the half light, the policemen thought he resembled a serial rapist they were looking for. They asked him to stop but the sight of the four officers and the patrol car so frightened Diallo that he turned and ran into his apartment. At the entrance he turned and pulled out a black object from his coat. As the officers chased Diallo, McMellon stumbled on the steps and fell. The other officers mistook that Diallo shot McMellon and opened fire. They fired 41 rounds 19 of which entered Diallo’s body. As they approached Diallo’s dead body they could see the black object which they mistook to be a gun was just his wallet. In all probability Diallo pulled out his wallet as he wanted to ‘square up’ with the policemen. It was a case of racial profiling and an error of ‘intuitive judgement’ horribly gone wrong.

Coming back to the NCTC, if the home minister is serious about strengthening intelligence gathering organs and anti-terror operations, the best course would be to apprise state governments of his intentions and take them on board.

Investors expect instant wealth from their financial ventures. Customers expect that they’ll look skinny after spending a week at the health club. Students expect perfect scores on tests for which they study the night before. Short-term rewards, short-term gain, instant messaging, instant feedback, instant food, instant cures, even instant movie-watching—instant gratification has infected the world faster than AIDS.

The Upside?

The proliferation of technology and electronic devices—the epitome of instant gratification—revolutionized the transportation industry and transformed time management worldwide. Our ancestors walked, for the most part, rode domesticated animals, or rowed small boats. As civilizations evolved, specialized boats and vessels made their debut and were used for both war and trade. Then, the invention of animal-drawn, wheeled wagons enabled people to traverse land in a relatively short amount of time. Trains and rail networks, steam ships, and the eventual development of diesel-powered ships and submarines followed, with each mode of transportation working faster, cheaper, and better than the previous ones.

Mechanized road transport and road networks, aviation and airport networks, spaceflight and space stations—the most modern inventions—have been the harbingers of change on a macro scale, facilitating the efficient transport of both humans and cargo. A trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, a distance of 383 miles city center to center, now takes 1.5 hours by airplane, 6 hours by car, 7.5 hours by bus, and 11 hours by train. Compare that to several weeks on horseback in the old days.

Channeling the resulting time savings back into the innovation circle has allowed people to travel the earth, explore the solar system and beyond, and expand human knowledge in a vast variety of subject areas.

On a personal level, technology and electronic devices enable us to balance a day’s work as efficiently as a circus juggler. The simple touch of a finger enables online shopping, online banking, online bill pay—my personal favorite. Telecommuting is a popular work schedule that many practice, resulting in time and cost savings, as well as reduced stress.

The Downside?

Consider the impatience users demonstrate with modern technology: they smack down the mouse because they’ve clicked three times and nothing has happened yet; they pound the desk because the web page is taking longer than three seconds to load; they cuss because they clicked a video link and a commercial appeared.

Patience is often a selective attribute. For instance, individuals are “cool” with camping overnight in the mall parking lot for the release of an Apple product, but their nostrils flare with exasperation at the long line in the grocery store. Invitees believe it is “fashionable” to arrive late to a party, but their foreheads steam with irritation at a flight delay on the tarmac.

Sadly, the post office is suffering because people have switched from snail mail to email, fax, phone, and webcam. Historically speaking, letters, speeches, text books, even the world’s holiest scriptures—were handwritten. Today, the ancient art of handwriting and a host of other ancient traditions are taking a dying form.

From the Middle East to Latin America, impatience has strangulated economies and destabilized peace and security. The current global recession is a symptom of instant gratification.

Impatience can cripple self-restraint, leading to impulsiveness. Think about the parent who screams in their child’s face, “How many times do I have to tell you to make your bed? When I was your age….” Frequent job changes, multiple marriages and divorce, toxic relationships—are all examples of continued impatience.

Impatience encourages reckless living. Instead of using the time savings to enhance their quality of life, many use their time to coddle in debt, negative thinking and substance abuse, filing frivolous lawsuits, and pursuing sense gratification. Road accidents and death from rash and negligent driving—running red lights, cruising past stop signs, speeding, tail gating, drinking and driving, texting and driving—has increased multifold. People’s restlessness has spiked, attention spans have shortened, and the ADD spectrum disorders are on an upward graph.

People’s listening skills have plummeted. Many people space out in the middle of a conversation. Others unabashedly turn on the television. Yet others scroll on their BlackBerry or iPod.

Instant gratification has extinguished the sheer joy of anticipation. Back in the day, youngsters looked forward to festivals such as Diwali, Eid, and Christmas, because it meant the family got together, new clothes for everyone, and a special banquet. Today, family life has collapsed, new clothes and “things” have become redundant, and people have used food to launch themselves to the realm of obesity and heart disease.

People no longer make the time to delight in nature’s wonders: the smell of the first rains, the sight of a hummingbird fluttering around a flower, the sound of waves lapping against the shore, the feel of bare feet on a stretch of green grass.

The culture of immediacy is making us increasingly rude, joyless, superficial, anxious, fearful, divisive, aggressive, and impulsive on, both, personal and societal levels.

Query

Instant gratification has added convenience and free time to your life, but has it also added more meaning and satisfaction to your life? You love the virtual social networks, but do you dread real-life social situations? Instant gratification has the power to step up your heart beat, but does it also have the power to step up your HDL? Instant gratification has enhanced your stature and sense of entitlement, but has it also enriched your sense of worth? Does instant gratification qualify as a virtue?

Questions are for you to ask; the answers will come find you. Vipassana meditation teaches the individual to become aware of the mind, body, and emotions—a conscious engagement that decelerates the thought process, helps anchor in the present, fosters a strong sense of awareness, shatters misconceptions, opens up the heart and mind, and helps individuals get in touch with their core so they can live a life that is authentic and filled with joy, stability, and gratitude.

Until we meet again….

1. Introduction
2. Contractors for and Goals of the US and Pakistan Armies
3. Co-dependencies of Pakistan and the US
4. Women Scorned
5. The US Special Ops and the Obama Plans
6. Concluding Remarks
7. References and notes

Introduction  

The blog focuses on special ops military strategies of two nations in last 50 years.

A primal instinct is to dominate and for ambitious rulers and nations to dominate the world. A goal of warfare is to achieve dominance over enemy at minimum possible costs. The US special ops forces in the Af-Pak war (2008 to present) use highly skilled soldiers to conduct low cost high tech warfare to hunt down and decapitate leadership of the al Qaeda and its co-linked Taliban that had declared jihad against America (2000) in specific and all non-Islamic West and India in general. TheUSspecial ops forces are equipped with high tech machines – computers, night goggles, remote sensing devices, helicopters, drones, and an easy access to laser guided air attack support systems, etc.

Pakistanhas plenty of semi- and illiterate tribal Pashtuns and Punjabis in a nation with an estimated 180 million people. Some think-tank pundits believe thatPakistan’s population is 20% under-reported.

The US helped create low tech manpower intensive proxy warriors from tribal Pashtuns and Punjabis. Taliban was successful in 1990s in establishing and ruling (1996 -2001) the Emirate of Afghanistan. Judging from the atrocities Taliban unleashed over five years of the Afghan rule the proxy warriors behaved like wild animals inAfghanistan.

Unlike the US special operators who are skilled technicians to carry out specific operations aimed at hunting down and decapitate leaderships of enemy, the tribal proxy warriors are disciplined to carry out hit and run operations to sap enemy’s strengths. Unlike the US special ops personnel who are not only professional and always under the US generals command the proxy warriors have an ugly side that was responsible for the brutalities seen in Afghanistan during 1996 – 2001. It is not yet determined if some Pakistani army generals are responsible for the ugly behavior of the proxy warriors.

Contractors for and Goals of the US and Pakistan Armies 

TheUSalso employs highly skilled retired army personnel as contractors to do non combat missions as well as on the ground intelligence gathering to help the US special ops identify targets in order to hunt down the high value targets. The Raymond A. Davis affair is an example of how the US contractors work inPakistan.*

Pakistan retains services of local contacts imbedded in the community for intelligence gathering and selectively filters such information to the US for targeting high value foreigners that it considers are aiding the insurgents fighting in the tribal areas. It is politically convenient for the army to let the US eliminate such troublesome targets and let the tribal communities blame America for killing their guests.

In Islam jihad is mandatory to rectify perceived threats to Islam.Pakistan generals and politicians have perceived and maintained that it was wronged by the 1947 Partition of the British India that allowed certain Muslim majority areas given to India.

Pakistani interpretations of Islamic scriptures teach that celestial powers – Allah – will help righteous but militarily weak jihadis. Pakistan generals and politicians for several decades have motivated their proxy and regular armies by claiming that being Muslims they were celestially endowed with ten times the power of each Indian soldier*. A clarion call of ambitious military dictators, warlords and proselytizers is to invoke jihad by claiming Islam is in danger. In last fifty years jihad has been invoked by Dictator Zia ul Haq to counter Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979 – 89). In same spirit General Musharraf used duplicitous diplomacy to host as well as protect notorious terrorist Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.*

Soured by the outcome of the Vietnam War using the conventional war strategy of American boots on ground the US decided that death of tens of thousands of American soldiers in foreign lands was unacceptable. For America defeating or stalemating Soviet communist global expansionism was war of necessities in 20^th century. So it used rentier Pakistani army services specifically to attain its regional goals. However, the Pakistan army generals under an umbrella of sovereignty have used theUS aid to spread its tentacles in the region in pursuit of its regional foreign policy objectives without the US consent.

Co-dependencies of Pakistan and the US 

In modern times the nature of warfare has changed to asymmetric wars*. Pakistan has relied on renting its army to ambitious US to maintain the regional hegemony. A low tech version of special ops forces is manpower intensive mujahedeen proxy warriors to fight the occupying Soviets inAfghanistan. The proxy warriors intensively used Kalashnikov guns and solder mounted the US stinger missiles to attack Soviet tanks and helicopters.

To meet the challenges of the asymmetric wars such as that posed by spread of Soviet communism in Afghanistan and the terrorist threats to the US security from al Qaeda and co-linked Taliban in the Af-Pak region the US has developed special ops forces. In case of the first Afghan War (1979 – 89) the US helped Pakistan develop jihadi mujahedeen proxy warriors from the ranks of Afghan refugees settled in the tribal Pakistan. In this case, President Reagan (1980 -88) was the midwife, Pakistan the mother and American politicians like Mr Charlie Wilson and the US CIA were other parents that for a decade helped nurtured 30,000 mujahedeen proxy warriors.

Although the American intent for special ops forces was guided by the specific threat perceptions,Pakistanhas used the US military and economic aid for spreading its tentacles in South and Central Asia to conduct its foreign policy, which identifies India as an enemy to resolve its territorial disputes. Its foreign policy for decades has been to dominate Afghanistan as a strategic depth against perceived invasion from the east.

Posing as an American Ally to enforce the US regional hegemony for decades Pakistan has claimed a frontline state status. It has for decades consistently tried to provoke Indiain to regional wars using asymmetric war tactics*. The proxy warriors are its frontline force to intrude into Indian territories. It has exploited the US policy of not to send American boots on the ground in the region to equip its proxy warriors with the Stinger missiles.

After the first Afghan War (1979 – 89) the US expected that the proxy warriors will attack only neighbors, not their sponsors. Recent development (2007 onwards) showed that some proxy warriors have started attacking their benefactors, the Pakistan army in addition to challenging the US and NATO. The unintended consequences of raising jihadi forces in the Af-Pak region were 2001 attacks onAmericaby al Qaeda operatives and destabilization of Pakistan by insurgencies staged by home grown terrorists (2007).

The US has reversed itself starting 2008 to allow the boots on the ground once it concluded that Pakistani army was incapable of controlling the proxy warriors and more importantly, Pakistan was double dealing to challenge the US and NATO presence in Afghanistan.

Women Scorned 

After implosion of the USSR in 1991 the US mission was accomplished. President George Walker Bush in 1992 walked away from the Af-Pak region. Mujahedeen in 1990s were like teenagers experiencing the adolescence phase deserted by the father figure.Pakistan like abandoned single mother felt betrayed as it was left stranded holding the mercenary force to take care of.

With the end of unholy alliance, mujahedeen forces were orphaned and Pakistani was turned into the “woman scorned.” Hell has no fury like women scorned. Following attacks on theUSa decade long war (2001 – present) has destabilized Iraq and the Af-Pak region.

The US Special Ops and the Obama Plans 

Iraq war eventually was concluded after the US special ops forces destroyed the al Qaeda operatives in the region. Iraq became a relatively secure land for the US protected Iraqi government. In latest (2012) state of the union address President Obama declared that withdrawal of the American forces from Iraq was completed in 2011.

The Afghanistan War (2001 to present) turned ugly for the US as for eight years (2001 – 08) the Bush Administration relied on the double dealing President Musharraf to cleanup the Af-Pak region of the terrorist that Musharraf had nurtured from the days of first Afghan War. By the time the Obama administration took charge of the management of the Afghan war Dictator Musharraf had departed and he is living in self-imposed exile in London, UK (2008 to present)*.

To reduce combat fatalities of the US and NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan, the US shifted its war strategy to increasing use of the special ops forces. In addition to hunting down insurgent leaders the special ops forces train local troops. The hunting down of Osama bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbotabad, Pakistanis a vivid example of the kind of successes they have achieved as unsung heroes on the ground. For the killings of more than 22 of 30 identified leaders of Taliban co-linked al Qaeda the drone attacks were conducted by remote controlled special ops from the US and it has proven very effective low cost high tech air war options.

In the Obama plan the role of theUSconventional forces is to police the large part of theAfghanistanand increase number of the special operations forces to neutralize al Qaeda and Taliban. The special ops have increased training of the Afghan counter terrorism troops in the 350,000 Afghan army being trained by the US and NATO. The focus is on to use the most elite forces to counter any residual terrorist threats in the coming months.

With increasing success of the US special ops forces the US has effectively side-lined reliance on Pakistan to neutralize the terrorist.Pakistan generals, the “women scorned” have started recalibrating its jihad terrorist driven proxy war strategy after the death of OBL by the US special Ops forces and several more set backs.

Concluding Remarks 

The media reported public disconnect between Kabul, Islamabad, Washington and Taliban leadership should be viewed parallel to the economic starvation described in the blog on the asymmetric war. In my opinion it is prerequisite for desirable outcome of peace in the region with each power understanding limits of their reach without risking challenges to their sovereignty. The days of Pakistan violating sovereignty of neighbors to its east and west without being adequately challenged are coming to the end.

Taliban is propped up by the ISI and the DPC (Defence of Pakistan Coalition) brigade of Pakistan described by Mr Irfan Husain*.Pakistan’s defense budget has increased from $2.5 billion to $ 5 billion a year from 2001 to 2011. Once the US flow of military and economic aid toPakistandries up by 2014 and that same aid diverted to the Afghan army being set up by the US and NATO described in my blog, “Asymmetric War and Financial Bets”, Pakistan and Taliban may be unable to continue with its current level of defense costs.

Wars can not be sustained without financial resources. With drying up of foreign financial resources, both the army and Taliban have to exploit new means of financing the perpetual war. As rifts between the army and Taliban widen and Pakistan is starved of resources to finance Taliban, the Taliban has resorted to raising funds through kidnapping*.  A campaign of high-profile kidnappings has provided the Taliban and its allies with new resources for arming insurgents with millions of dollars, threatening foreign aid programs and galvanizing a sophisticated network of jihadi and criminal gangs whose reach spans the country. The abduction of the Shahbaz Taseer is well documented. Shahbaz is the son of the assassinated formerPunjabgovernor Salmaan Taseer, a progressive Muslim, who championed a cause of women’s right and opposed Sharia Law.

Pakistan think-tank pundits need to restate and teach laws of prudent finance to its army generals and intransigent warlords. Reliance on foreign powers to finance a perpetual asymmetric war as well as for Taliban to kidnappings for insurgency is lunacy. Taliban are a proxy army looking for a state to govern. If potential for spread to east and west in the region is blocked then Taliban insurgency within tribal Pakistan and even in Baluchist anmay intensify, setting a stage for repeat of 1971. Pakistanis facing challenges to its perpetual war based foreign policy managed by the army. Army needs to retreat to its garrisons and to pacify the nation by handing over execution of foreign policy to the civilian politicians.

References and notes   

1. For the C.I.A. security contractors ofPakistansee:

• “American Held in Pakistan Worked With C.I.A., http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/world/asia/22pakistan.html?_r=1
• “Pakistan Demands Data on C.I.A. Contractors”, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/world/asia/26pakistan.html

2. Maj (Retd) Agha Humayun Amin, “The Pakistan Army From 1965 to 1971,” http://www.defencejournal.com/2000/nov/pak-army.htm

• Selected Excerpts from “Pakistan Army Since 1965” re-drafted as an article exclusively for the “Defence      Journal”.
• “The Pakistan Army Since 1965” is the second volume of the Two Volume history of Pakistan Army and covers Pakistan Army from 1965 till 2000.

3. Pakistan Defence Journal, “Learn from History: Failures of Pakistan Army,” http://www.defence.pk/forums/military-history-strategy/28276-learn-history-failures-pakistan-army.html

• The source of this post is Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which is considered to be a neutral source.

4. “Ex-ISI chief claims Musharraf hosted Osama in Abbotabad”, http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=12461&Cat=13

5. “Pakistanto ask Interpol to arrest Pervez Musharraf,” http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Pakistan-to-ask-Interpol-to-arrest-Pervez-Musharraf/articleshow/11979492.cms

• “Musharraf to be brought back with Interpol help,” http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/22/malik-jit-head-brief-sindh-assembly-on-benazir-assassination-probe-musharraf-to-be-brought-back-with-interpol-help.html

• Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Tuesday informed members of the Sindh Assembly that soon former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf would be brought back to the country to face trial in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case, following issuance of red warrants by the trial court to Interpol.

6. Kishan Bhatia, “Pennywise Pound Foolish: Afghan Imbroglio and Impact of Terrorism (3,280 words), http://www.indiacause.com/blog/2011/10/09/afghanistan-imbroglio-and-impacts-of-terrorism/”

• The US for last several decades has used innovative high tech gun-boat and air power superiority driven diplomacy and foreign policy in pursuit of a new model of imperialism mentioned in my blog.

7. Kishan Bhatia, “Asymmetric War and Financial Bets” (2,766 word), http://www.indiacause.com/blog/2012/01/28/asymmetric-war-and-financial-bets-2/

• For an entertaining and satirical review based on facts see, Nadeem F. Paracham “Pak-US relations: A very      analytical history,” http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/23/pak-us-relations-a-very-analytical-history.html

8. Irfan Husain, “Save us from our defenders”, http://www.dawn.com/2012/02/18/save-us-from-our-defenders.html

• Mr Husain has provided details of the DPC (Defence of Pakistan Coalition) recent actions to warn readers of potential for harm to come toPakistan.
• In my opinion the DPC brigade should be called the Pain Caucus of Pakistan. It is representing old guard politicians and delusional intransigent warlords with ambitions that are mismatched with economic realities.
• To the estimated total of $40 trillion global economy the US contributes about 35%, the EEC about 40% and the balance is by rest of the world. The Pakistan economy is about $200 billion. Winning any perpetual war against the US and NATO powers is beyond the means of Pakistan. Winning a war againstIndia with its $1.7 trillion economy and growing military power is also unrealistic ambition.
• Although with a few exceptions, the army and political leaders in general and its policy elite in particular are rational actors, the DPC brigade with its vitriolic rhetoric substitutes moralizing for analysis and fantasies for the lessons of history.

9. NYT Report, “Taliban Gaining More Resources From Kidnapping,” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/20/world/asia/pakistani-taliban-turn-to-kidnapping-to-finance-operations.html?_r=1&hp

• Wealthy industrialists, academics, Western aid workers and relatives of military officers have been targets      in a spree that, since it started three years ago, has spread to every major city, reaching the wealthiest neighborhoods, Pakistani security officials say.

The onscreen characters of Shashi Kapoor (SK)—the poor, but happy guy—and his brother, played by Amitabh Bachchan (AB)—the rich, but unhappy guy—are having a heated argument about SK’s “adarsh” (ideals) and “asool” (convictions) in contrast to AB’s flamboyance of wealth.

AB arrogantly barks, “Aaj mere paas buildingay hai, property hai, bank balance hai, bangalay hai, gaadi hai. Kya hai tumhare paas?”

[Translation: I possess buildings, property, a bank balance, mansions, and cars. What do you claim to possess?]

SK utters with great pride, “Mere paas maa hai!”

[Translation: I have my mother.]

***

Who doesn’t want to reside in their dream house in a sought-after neighborhood? Or drive their dream car(s) or have the kids attend private schools? How about taking extravagant vacations or splurging on furnishings, jewelry, art, gourmet delights, designer accessories, and hobby equipment? We want for ourselves what our neighbor has, or a friend or colleague has.

The Upside?

“I want to live the life of my dreams” is how we justify it. And why not? Every generation aspires for the upcoming generation(s) to live a better, more rewarding life. To get where they are, some individuals have overcome physical adversity such as a disability; others have struggled with emotional misfortunes such as abuse or the loss of a loved one; yet others are victims of circumstantial hardship such as poverty and crime. But nearly everyone has dreamed of a good life for themselves and striven to align their priorities toward achieving those goals.

Wealth, popularity, and power are primeval attractions. Earnings and job prestige make life convenient and comfortable; they also promote professional and social visibility. Professional success directly correlates (and vice versa) to an individual’s sense of purpose, belonging, job satisfaction, and financial security. Marking notches on the social fabric has the power to enhance an individual’s sense of social acceptance and emotional safety.

The Downside?

Often, in the rush of life, individuals lose sight of their purpose and start moving—reflexively or, at times, by choice—in an orbit different from the one in which they started. Why? Unconscious living encourages individuals to disregard risk, make troublesome choices, and engage in impulsive actions and behaviors.

Consider this: from holy men to the common man, the populace is fast becoming a generation of hoarders. Soap, shampoo, clothes, shoes, electronics, cars, real estate, gold, international currency—the human thirst for “stuff” and money is insatiable. People own multiples of everything and, yet, want more. Most people don’t realize the extent of their hoarding until they stumble over the wall of cereal boxes behind their pantry door or get caught in the clothes traffic jam in their closet. Consumerism (or should I say over-consumerism?) has most definitely resulted in clutter—both physical and mental. How many times have we bought something, only to realize that we already had it? How many times have we made promises, but neglected to keep them? Confusion has some people clamoring to get things done at the nth hour.

More significantly, consumerism has increased debt and disease. The present-day US debt is in the ballpark of $15 trillion. Ouch! Our hearts and waists are waiting to explode from all of the gastronomical delights in which we have unconsciously indulged. When used irresponsibly, the path of upward mobility has the power to entomb people in unconscious living, depressing their sense of purpose and eroding their sense of self, thus feeding into the collective emotional bankruptcy.

Need I mention the environmental degradation factor?

Second, sense gratification, by nature, is addictive and can ensnare individuals in a perpetual trap of “want-and-seek.” Addiction spans the gamut from trivial to overwhelming. It used to be that we’d arise in the morning and reach out to the greater powers with a prayer of gratitude. Today, we simply reach out to our BlackBerry or iPhone. Know anyone addicted to the internet, alcohol, sex, drugs, medication, gambling, cigarettes, or plastic surgery? Those are the obvious ones, some of which serve as sensational fodder for the media. One glance at the evening news on television or the front page of a daily newspaper will reveal the pervasiveness of these afflictions.

How about the obsession with video games and texting? Kids as young as ten have become adroit texters. Many adults text and drive, or drink and drive, despite understanding the repercussions. Exercise has become a form of addiction for some. Celebrity glitz, glamour, and gossip have firmly emblazoned people’s minds. The flames of bitterness, anger, guilt, and depression have consumed many a people. Granted, certain mental conditions have a genetic component, but modern-day addiction is more of an acquired condition that has become deeply ingrained over time. Addiction has elevated greed and anxiety to an all-time high and plunged apathy to new lows, making gratitude and contentment a thing of the past.

The human pursuit of pretense, fraud, glamour, sensationalism, and other stodgy holdups has resulted in the loss of moral bearings, dysfunctional behaviors, the collapse of family life, disease, mental and emotional stress, restlessness, frustration, incoherence, anguish, and dissatisfaction.

Query

Your life is filled with work, possessions, and diversions, but is it also filled with balance and contentment? Your social image is as well-manicured as your front lawn, but does your inner image resemble scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie? You delight in gastronomical indulgences, but do you still feel empty inside? You hold the power to change the world, but do you crumble in the face of emotional hardships and challenges? Does your “net worth” stack up against your “sense of worth?”

Questions are for you to ask; the answers will come find you. Freedom from the trappings of the external world can lead to freedom from mental anguish. Vipassana meditation, the passport to freedom, teaches the individual to become aware of the mind, body, and emotions—a conscious engagement that awakens the conscious mind; arrests compulsive thoughts when they arise; thoroughly cleanses the mind of old beliefs, habits, and programming; helps to release feelings of perfectionism, unworthiness, and inadequacy; helps to make decisions based on fact rather than on fantasy; and overall helps to consciously create the life that we were meant to live.

Until we meet again….

© Raji Lukkoor, 2011-12. All rights reserved.

The word “genocide” has been worn out in popular usage during the last decade. It has been so freely bandied about in public discourse that it lost its original meaning. If ever there was a context for it to be justifiably applied it was in the case of Kashmiri Pandits. ‘Genocide’ means, ‘the systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of an entire national, racial, religious, or ethnic group’. This is what happened to the ethnic identity called the Kashmiri Pandits.

Between 1989 and 1995 about 400,000 Pandits were forced to flee the Kashmir valley. Of these 300,000 have been living in refugee camps outside Jammu and another 100,000 in Delhi. According to the ‘Panun Kashmir Movement’ (PKM) an organisation of the exiled Pandits some 25,000 standalone houses belonging to the Pandits were burnt during the period. If the houses were situated in crowded localities where it was not possible to burn them they were simply occupied by others. PKM says the process of ethnic cleansing began in 1967 but gained momentum after 1989 when Pakistan sponsored militants arrived on the scene. Destruction of Hindu temples was also a part of the deracination process. Thus between 1986 and 1992 (prior to December) 79 Hindu temples were destroyed. In the immediate aftermath of the Rama Janmabhumi- Babri Masjid demolition in December 1992, 81 more temples were destroyed.

The 1989 exodus followed the brutal killing of Tika Lal Taploo a noted lawyer and national executive member of the BJP and Justice N.K.Ganju of the J&K High Court. In another incident Pandit Sarwanand Premi an 80-year old poet and his son were kidnapped, tortured and killed. A Kashmiri Pandit nurse working in the Soura Medical College Hospital was gang-raped and beaten to death. In the days that followed warnings were sounded to the community over public address systems, either to flee or face death. The Farooq Abdullah government abdicated its responsibility and all but handed over the administration to the militants. Government offices ceased functioning, taxes were neither paid nor collected and the militants began running a parallel judicial system.

Life in the refugee camps has been physically and psychologically shattering for the unfortunate Pandits and may be described as sub-human. An entire family of 7-8 people had to share a small room. There are instances when three generations of a family were put up in one room, the room being partitioned by bed sheets. The combined effects of the undercurrent of terror, forced migration and sub-human living conditions made the community prone to a host of new diseases and syndromes. These include heat trauma, heart ailments, amoebic dysentery, tuberculosis, allergies, diabetes and sexual and reproductive disorders. Menopausal age in women dropped from 50-55 to 40-45 to 35-40. There was a steep drop in birth rate while mortality rates climbed. In one of the camps surveyed, which had 350 families, there were only 5 births between 1990 and 1995 as against 200 deaths. This is not all. The community became increasingly prone to a series of mental disorders ranging from depression, insomnia, anorexia, anxiety states, delusions, panic disorders, manias, phobias and schizophrenia. Women were the most affected.

Even more tragic than the suffering is the treatment meted out to the Pandits by the rest of the Indian polity and the central government. They became orphans of history, abandoned by their compatriots and condemned to live a life of deprivation and suffering. Governments have come gone, both at the state and the centre but nothing changed, not even during the six year BJP rule. K.P.S. Gill former police chief of Punjab who cleansed the state of separatist militancy, says one of the reasons for the apathy could be the non-violent nature of the community itself. The have stoically suffered their fate without even a single retaliatory act of violence. Writing in the ‘South Asia Terrorism Portal’ (SATP) he said, “[p]ogroms of a far lesser magnitude in other parts of the world have attracted international attention, censure and action in support of the victim communities, but this is an insidious campaign that has passed virtually unnoticed, and on which the world remains silent.” (2004. The Kashmiri Pandits: An Ethnic Cleansing the World Forgot.)

In 2004, Frank Pallone, a US Democratic Congressman expressed his surprise and shock that the new Indian administration did not mention the Pandits in its Kashmir policy. In his letter of August 23 to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Pallone urged him to “include the Pandits in any negotiations with Kashmiri constituents and in developing the future course of action in Jammu and Kashmir.” Manmohan Singh’s government sent a team of interlocutors to Kashmir last year but the Pandits did not seem to be on the radar of either the team or the government.

The Jews have a custom of greeting each other with ‘Next year in Jerusalem!’ at the end of Yom Kippur and Passover feasts. They kept up the tradition for nearly two thousand years even though many of the exiled Jews never set their eyes on the city nor had a hope in the world of ever doing so. Will the Pandits of Kashmir have to wait for 2000 years for a semblance of justice to be meted out to them?