India's response to the harsh Chinese crackdown on legitimate
Tibetan protests in Lhasa and elsewhere has been dispiriting. In
parliament the seasoned politician and foreign minister Pranab
Mukherjee could only express distress at the plight of the hapless
Tibetans. Worse still, Indian security forces swooped down on
nonviolent Tibetan protestors at Dharamsala, the principal refuge of
the Tibetan diaspora, and incarcerated them for 14 days using
India's preventive detention laws, a colonial relic.
India does itself a disservice by not standing up to China over its
treatment of Tibet. If India wishes to be considered a great power,
it needs to display a greater degree of independence and not kowtow
to Beijing. With rapid economic growth, a substantial military
establishment and robust political institutions, India should stop
behaving in a subservient fashion and forthrightly stand up and
defend certain inalienable rights of the Tibetan minority in its
midst—rights that should obtain in any humane and democratic state.
New Delhi's reluctance to challenge China over Tibet goes back to
Beijing's brutal repression of the Khampa revolt 50 years ago, when
the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal head of the Tibetans,
fled to India. Although China sharply reproved India for providing
refuge to the Dalai Lama, India stood its ground. Shortly
thereafter, following a breakdown of negotiations over a disputed
border, China attacked and defeated India in October 1962. Even
though India's army has since been modernized and prepared for
mountain warfare, the memory of this rout still haunts Indian
military planners and policymakers. That's why, when the Chinese
army periodically crosses the border, India responds with anodyne
criticism. And why India has been willing to publicly and abjectly
reassure China that the Tibetan exiles will not be allowed to engage
in any meaningful political activity.
Appeasement might not be a bad policy if it actually succeeded in
keeping Beijing satisfied, but it doesn't. There is not a shred of
evidence that it has ever moderated Chinese behavior. Whenever
Tibetan exiles have engaged in minor protests, Beijing has sternly
rebuked India for allowing them to engage in political activities.
Faced with Beijing's continued expressions of discontent, New Delhi
has rarely missed an opportunity to genuflect before the Middle
Kingdom. The Tibetan crackdown is only the latest example.
This humiliating deference undermines India's national interests as
a rising Asian power and corrodes its credentials as a liberal
democracy. If China can so easily cow Indian policymakers, then
India's claims to great power status in Asia, let alone beyond,
appear utterly hollow. It shows that Indian policymakers have been,
to use a term from the cold war era, Finlandized—constrained by a
foreign power. Some policy options cannot even be considered for
fear of offending China. India, for example, has had little to say
about China's penetration of much of Burma and its ongoing quest for
military bases in that country. India has also exercised great
caution in pursuing any significant commercial ties with Taiwan for
fear of incurring the wrath of the mainland. What does it say about
India as a democracy if the authorities harass law-abiding Tibetans
who are only engaging in peaceful protests? Such actions are
fundamentally contrary to the principles of a liberal democracy that
enshrines the right of public political dissent.
It is all but certain that the heavy hand of the Chinese state will
successfully crush the demonstrations that have swept across much of
Tibet. China is well aware that the great powers will issue some
predictable communiqués demanding an end to repression and calling
for political dialogue. They are most unlikely to bolster these
pious sentiments with any viable actions that would prove costly to
the regime in Beijing, such as the imposition of sanctions or the
boycott of Chinese goods. India has long, albeit fitfully, sought to
uphold human rights both at home and abroad. Today, when it has
aspirations of regional and global leadership, it needs to
demonstrate the self-confidence to condemn China's repression of its
Tibetan minority and to provide comfort to the Tibetan diaspora. Any
policy that falls short of these steps amounts to an abetment of
China's abject treatment of a disenfranchised minority. If India's
political leadership wishes to be seen as the exemplars of a major
democratic state with global aspirations, at a minimum it should
grant the Tibetans the right to peaceful protest. It should also
consider deferring the mostly desultory border talks, which have, in
any case, moved at a glacial pace.
Ganguly is a professor of political science at Indiana University in
Bloomington and an adjunct fellow of the Pacific Council on
International Policy.
Why India Must Stand up to China
Transmutation : Ancient Indian Concepts and Practices by B. V. Subbarayappa
The early concept of transmutation had perceivably two facets : one
of converting the base metals into gold of ever-lasting glitter, and
the other of transforming the transient human body into one of
permanence with the soul. The Bhagavadgita says: ". . . The soul has
neither birth nor death; it is not slain when the body is slain; it
is eternally the same. . . just as a person puts on new garments,
giving up the old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material body,
giving up the old and decaying ones".
The exalted imperishable status accorded, over the ages, to the soul
in the percipience of body-soul relationship had in it the seeds of
challenge to make the material mortal body itself immortal. The
responses to this challenge, which were varied in different cultures,
were often associated with a shroud of mystery. It took some time for
the human mind to cast off the esoteric envelope and, as a first
step, to conceive of rejuvenation, thus extending the longevity of
the material body, but within the concept that the body has birth and
death in contradiction to the soul.
In India, the beginnings of such endeavours can be seen in the
Rigveda wherein Somarasa was extolled as an exhilarating divine
elixir. Later in the Ayurvedic classic, Susruta Samhita, Soma elixir,
it was claimed, would enable its consumer to live for ten thousand
years with a youthful body and supernatural powers. The Ayurveda, the
Science of Life par excellence, has eight divisions and one of them
is entitled Rasayana, concerned with rejuvenating elixirs and
processes for arresting physical and mental decay. There are
references in both the Caraka and Susruta Samhitas to several other
compositions with the claim that they would confer on the consumer a
long youthful life of thousands of years. These elixirs were mostly
herbal and, what is more, certain amount of processed gold was added
to some of them to make them more effective. The rasayana of the
Ayurveda, it may be noted, was more in the nature of prolonging the
life of the material body than ‘transmuting’ it into an immortal
state. Even so, it seemed to have paved the way for speculating on
the immortality of the body.
The concept of material immortality per se received its sustenance
from a natural phenomenon, namely, the perennial glitter and colour
of gold, the anointed king of metals. Here was a metal, it was
believed, which had reached the highest state from the other inferior
metals and possessed imperishable characteristics. It was supposed
that the other metals would undergo transformation, eventually into
the immutable gold.
There was a sort of theoretical framework too for such a supposition.
The well-known Greek thinker, Empedocles (5th century b.c.) developed
a theory of four ‘elements’: Earth, Fire, Water and Air and the four
primary qualities: hot, cold, dry
The Four 'Elements' of Empedocles
and moist (wet). Aristotle (384-322 b.c.) conceived of these
‘elements’ and their qualities as emphasising the unity of matter
amidst all the changes. The ‘primary matter’, a potential one, would
become Earth with the pair of primary qualities, cold and dry; water
with cold and wet; Fire with hot and dryness; and Air with hot and
moist, thus explaining the phenomena of change. These postulates held
out the possibility of transmuting inferior metals into silver and
ultimately into gold, by changing their qualities. The most
perceptible of the changes effected was the colour and the object was
to bring about a change in the colour of inferior metals to that of
silver or gold. This theory was adopted by the Greco-Roman
(Hellenistic) and later the Islamic alchemists in furtherance of
their twin objective of the so-called transmutation of metals and the
preparation of elixir of life for attaining material immortality.
Strange it may seem, the Indian doctrine of five elements which had
provided a theoretical foundation for the Ayurveda and for the
explanation of the phenomenal world, did not lead to concepts of the
foregoing type. The Indian five ‘elements’ had also a metaphysical
undertone which often subsumed their physical concepts. Moreover, it
was a holistic doctrine and the concept of change was circumscribed
by it.
The seed ideas of Indian alchemy, which made their appearance in the
fifth-sixth centuries a.d., were at variance with the Hellenistic
ones. For, its inspirational source was not in the West, but in the
Far East, in the Chinese concepts and practices. Indian alchemy had
social compulsions too. The Ayurvedic elixirs and rejuvenating
treatment were reserved only for males of the upper castes, (women
were excluded), as enjoined by both the Caraka and Susruta Samhitas.
But, to live long in perpetual youth and to experience the best in
life have been the goals of all human beings. Such dispositions as
these react vehemently against rigid caste-structures and privileges
of the few. They go out in search of systems which are conducive to
the realisation of their goals. In India, the tantras offered such a
system and, more importantly, admitted into their fold all —
irrespective of caste, creed or sex in an esoteric, but ingenious
manner. The tantric concept of siddhi evolved certain pathways for
disciplined aspirants. And inherent in that concept was the
attainment of bodily immortality with even supernatural powers
(animadi astasiddhi). This was reinforced by the mythical male-female
symbolism, the union sublime of immortality.
The Chinese male-female symbolism of Yin and Yang, mercury-sulphur
union of cinnabar (mercuric sulphide) to which was attributed
extraordinary powers of attaining immortality, found a congenial home
in the Indian Tantric milieu. Buddhist pilgrims and the vajrayana
seemed to have played a seminal role in this alchemical transmission.
Be that as it may, Indian alchemy of both Sanskritic and Tamilian
traditions, developed a wide variety a chemical processes for the
ostensible transmutation of metals and preparation of elixir of life,
in which mercury occupied a prime position. The literature on Indian
alchemy called the Rasasastra is perceptibly voluminous and
methodical in the presentation of a variety of processes whose number
is legion. Of these processes, eighteen samskaras or complex
treatments, which were adopted for the potentiation of mercury,
deserve special mention:
Briefly stated, the eighteen processes concerning mercury as the
central element, are as follows:
1. Svedana: Steaming mercury with a number of plant substances, some
minerals, alkalis and salts;
2. Mardana: Rubbing steamed mercury in a mortar along with some
plant and acidic materials;
3. Murchana: Triturating mercury in a mortar with some more plant
extracts till it loses its own character and form;
4. Uthapana: Steaming mercury again along with alkalis, salts, the
three myrobalans, alum etc., and rubbing mercury again in sunlight so
that the characteristics of mercury, freed from impurities, are
brought into play again;
5. Patana: Three types, viz. urdhva (upwards); adhah (downwards);
and tiryak (sideways); grinding mercury with alkalis, salts and
others, and subjecting the product to distillation;
6. Rodhana: Mixing the distilled mercury with saline water in a
closed pot to restore the ‘vigour or potency’ of mercury;
7. Niyamana: Continuation of the process by steaming mercury for
three days with a number of plant products, alum, borax, iron
sulphate, etc., to restrain the motility of mercury;
8. Sandipana: Steaming this product with alum, black pepper, sour
gruel, alkali and some vegetables substances to ‘kindle’ the desire
of mercury to attain the power of assimilation;
9. Grasa or Gaganagrass: Fixation and assimilation of the ‘essence’
of mica (gagana) to the desired extent;
10. Carana: Boiling this product with sour gruel, leaves of certain
plants, alum and others for a week so that mica is fully assimilated;
11. Garbhadruti: Heating and treating mercury with the desired
metallic substances so that the ‘essence’ of the latter becomes
‘liquified’ and the resultant, after cooling, passes through a piece
of cloth;
12. Bahyadruti: Obtaining ‘essence’ of minerals or metallic
substances also externally;
13. Jarana: Heating the mercurial product with the desired minerals
or metals, alkalis and salts so that they are fully digested or
assimilated;
14. Ranjana: A complex process involving the treatment of mercury
with sulphur, gold, silver and copper as well as salts in such a way
that mercury attains colour;
15. Sarana: Digesting mercury with gold or silver in an oil-base to
increase its ability towards transformation;
16. Kramana: Smearing mercury with several plant extracts, minerals,
milk, etc., and then heating it carefully with a view to enabling it
to possess transmuting powers;
17. Vedhana: Rubbing the resultant mercury with a few select
substances including oil so that it acquires the transmuting power;
18. Bhaksana: Consuming the prescribed quality of the mercurial
product which has undergone the foregoing 17 processes, for the
rejuvenation and longevity.
(This sequence was rigorously followed by Indian alchemists; but
there were variations in the choice of plants and their extracts,
salts, alkaline and acidic substances, minerals and other ingredients).
The important, through esoteric, concept which lay behind these
extremely complex processes was that the mercurial product, after
undergoing sequentially the seventeen processes, was believed to have
all the powers of transmutation. At this stage, it was to be tested
for its efficacy in transmuting base metals into gold and, if the
test was positive, it was to be used for the eighteenth process. The
final product, if consumed in prescribed quantity would, it was
claimed, rejuvenate the body in such a way that it would make the
body as resplendent and imperishable as gold. One could see the ideal
of Philosopher’s Stone of the medieval European alchemy, in the
mercurial product emerging out of the seventeen processes.
There are hundreds of verses in the Rasasastra texts which overtly
deal with a wide variety of processes, some simple and many complex.
Three examples may be cited:
(i) Mercury, cinnabar, pyrites, alum of excellent quality borax,
black pepper — each one part — and sauvarcala salt in equal
proportions to them; six parts of rock salt; powdered iron in the
same proportion; and hundred parts of the juice of Emblic myrobalan,
are to be kept in a stone bowl which is to be deposited in a heap of
cow-dung. After one year, a liquid emerges out of it. This (liquid)
is divine as well as flawless, and is to be compounded with mercury
admixed with pure gold as ‘seed’. This compound possesses the
capability of transmuting a thousand times its weight of all metals
into gold. (Rasopanisat, XVI, 241-245)
(ii) One part of the essence of capula (bismuth compound); two parts
of mercury; four parts of gold (as seed); and sulphur of equal
proportion to that of mercury which is to be mascerated, are to be
heated in a closed crucible. Gold and capula of equal quantities are
to be blended with this mercury. If this mercury is infused with a
hundred times its weight of copper, it makes the latter red and this
attains the power of transmuting a hundred times its weight of silver
into gold.
(Rasasara, XV, 19-22)
(iii) One pala of powdered seed (gold); one pala of pyrites; one pala
of sulphur; one pala of mercury extracted from cinnabar; and one pala
of borax — all together mascerated with the juices of plants endowed
with the properties of ‘fixation’ of mercury. Heated over fire urged
by means of a blow-pipe, mercury attains ‘fixation’ and undergoes
colouration with the aid of sulphur. Blended with an equal weight of
gold by the sarana operation, it is ‘killed’ by heating in a puta.
This mercurial preparation transmutes sixty times its weight of
silver-copper into excellent gold. (Rasasara, XIV,1820)
The technique of effecting transmutation was of five kinds:
1. Lepa Vedha (smearing copper or silver foils with a potent
mercurial product);
2. Ksepa Vedha (throwing such a product into the base metals;
3. Kunta Vedha (pouring the transmuting agent into them);
4. Dhuma Vedha (subjecting the base metal to the action of the fumes
of mercurial preparation); and
5. Sabda Vedha (effecting transmutation by the ‘impact’ of the
transmuting agent)
It is well-nigh impossible even to surmise the nature and extent of
chemical or other types of reactions that occur in the process of the
so-called transmutation, until an experimental verification is
attempted from the modern chemical point of view. It would,
nevertheless, seem that the colour of the ‘inferior’ metal like
copper, tin or lead, would change into that of gold or silver. The
emerging colouration, might be too uniform and intimate enough with
the ‘inferior metal’ to expose, under ordinary conditions, its true
colour. The specific gravity and other physical characteristics of
the so-called transmuted metal might manifest themselves, as a result
of skilful manipulation of the ingredients such as mercury or its
compounds, arsenic sulphides, pyrites, sulphur as well as the
deliberate addition of the noble metals themselves.
Indian alchemists specially of Tamil Nadu, knew the distinction
between the transmuted ‘gold’ and the real one. A Tamil text
(Amudakalaijnanam by Agastya) states clearly that if the artificial
‘gold’ and the natural gold are separately subjected to prolonged
heating or calcination, the former gives out ashes and the real face
of the metal appears, while the natural gold remains uneffected by
this method.
The transmutation of metals and the preparation of elixir of life
which were vigorously pursued by Indian alchemists, were more
esoteric than scientific, despite their attempts at classification
and selection of substances, and the use of a wide variety of
apparatus (mostly earthern), for distillation, sublimation,
incineration, trituration and the like, which the Rasasastra texts
describe meticulously and in great detail. To transmute the base
metals into the noble one, and to make the perishable body an ever
immortal one, were goals ever in sight, but never reached.
It was, nevertheless, a pursuit which was not without a spin-off and
that was in the direction of formulating certain mineral medicines.
Mercury, sulphur, mica, arsenic and iron compounds, alum, gems and
others on the one hand and on the other, metals like gold, silver,
copper and its alloy brass, and lead were processed elaborately by
using a wide variety of apparatus. Generally it was believed by the
rasavadins that the minerals and metals would not acquire the
desirable iatro-chemical properties unless they were treated with one
medicinal plant or the other. The rasasastra texts give details of
the preparation of a large number of medicines, and their therapeutic
effects as well as their dosages. One of the popular preparations
called Makaradhvaja contains specially processed mercuric sulphide
and stimulants like camphor, pepper and cloves. During its
preparation a certain amount of purified gold is also added.
The most important medicinal preparations, as described in the
Rasasastra texts, relate to a class of what are called the bhasma of
metals and minerals. Although the process leading to the formation of
a bhasma is one of incineration of the metal or mineral concerned,
the original substance is subjected to several processes before it
undergoes prolonged heating. Even the heating known as the Putapaka,
is carried out of several days with extreme care. Various types of
Putas are mentioned in the texts, recommending a particular puta for
the desired product, along with its measurement and the quantity of
cow-dung cakes or husk to be used for prolonged heating in order to
obtain the most efficient composition.
This method is believed to impart extraordinary qualities, both
physico-chemical and medicinal, on to the treated substance. A bhasma
is an extremely fine powder, very light and, when thrown on water,
just spreads itself as a thin film on it. Of the bhasmas, that of
mica, gold and silver are most widely used in minute quantities and
are generally mixed with other medicinal compositions.
The Siddha (medical) System which is mostly prevalent in Tamil Nadu,
appears to have been evolved from the earlier alchemical concepts and
practices. Though the System had originally its own ways of preparing
certain substances of medicinal value, like muppu (a specially
prepared mixture of three salts), it assimilated gradually some of
the alchemical preparations and developed a number of mineral
compositions which go under the names, bhaspam (Skt.: bhasma),
cendurams (Skt.: sindura) and cunnams (probably calcium compounds or
earthly substances).
There is no denying that the Indian alchemists had realised the
importance of medicinal preparation more than of the transmutation of
base metals into gold. In the West, such a realisation came about
only in the sixteenth century a.d., as a result of the ceaseless
efforts of several thoughtful iatro-chemists led by Paracelsus. But
in India, a trend in this direction could be perceived even in the
eleventh century a.d. Although the Rasasastra is not regarded as an
integral part of the Ayurveda, some of the medicinal compositions of
the former have found a place for themselves in the traditional
medical care in India.
References
Primary Sources
Rasahrdaya-tantra of Govinda Bhagavatpada: (ed.) Jadavji Trikumji
Acarya, Bombay, (eds.) B.V. Subbarayappa et. al., (under publication
by INSA) 1911.
Rasakaumudi of Jnanacandra Sharman: (ed.) S.S. Pranacarya, Lahore
(1928).
Rasamrtam: (ed.) Jadavji Trikumji Acarya, New Delhi (1951).
Rasapaddhati of Bindu Pandita: (ed.) Madhava Pandita, Bombay (1925).
Rasasanketakalika: (ed.) Jadavji Trikumji Acarya, Bombay (1912).
Rasaprakasasudhakara of Yasodhara: (ed.) Jadavji Trikumji Acarya,
Bombay (1912).
Rasarnava: (ed.) P.C. Rayand Harish Candra Kaviratna, Calcutta (1910).
Rasarnavakalpa: (eds.) Mira Roy and B.V. Subbarayappa, New Delhi (1976).
Rasaratnakara of Nityanatha Siddha: edited (annoon) with Hindi
commentary, Bombay (1897).
Rasaratnasamuccaya of Vagbhata: (ed.) Vinayak Apte, Poona (1890).
Rasasara of Govindacarya: (ed.) Jadavji Trikumji Acarya, Bombay (1912).
Rasendracintamani of Ramachandra: (ed.) Jivananda Vidyasagar,
Calcutta (1878).
Rasendracudamani of Somadeva: (ed.) Yadav Sarman, Lahore (1932).
Rasatarangini: (ed.) Sadananda Sarma, New Delhi (1953).
Rasopanisat: (ed.) K. Sambasiva Sastry, Trivandrum (1928).
The Rgveda: (tr.) H.H. Wilson, 6 vols, London (1860).
(t.) R.T.H. Griffith, Banaras, (1963) (reprint).
SECONDARY SOURCES
Holmyard, E.J., Alchemy, Penguin Books, London (1957).
Ray P., (ed.), History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India,
Calcutta (1956).
Ray P.C., History of Hindu Chemistry (2 vols), Calcutta (1902, 1905).
Read, John, Through Alchemy to Chemistry, London (1957).
Subbarayappa, B.V., ‘Chemical Practices and Alchemy’, In A Concise
History of Science in India, (eds.) D.M. Bose, S.N. Sen, and B.V.
Subbarayappa, New Delhi (1971).
Taylor, Sherwood, The Alchemist, London (1958).
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One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big notice on the door on which was written:
'Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym'.
In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know who was that man who hindered the growth of his colleagues and the company itself. The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room.
The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up. Everyone thought: 'Who is this guy who was hindering my progress? Well, at least he died!'. One by one the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin, and when they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless. They stood nearby the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul. There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see himself.
There was also a sign next to the mirror that said:
'There is only one person who is capable to set limits to your growth: it is YOU.
You are the only person who can revolutionize your life.
You are the only person who can influence your happiness, your realization and your success.
You are the only person who can help yourself.
Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your parents change, when your partner changes, when your company changes,when mkt turns bullish.
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when you realize that you are the only one responsible( not the mkt) for your life.
'The most important relationship you can have is the one you have with yourself'
Indian Cities Eye New Delhi's Quiet 'Citizen
NEW DELHI -- Seven neighborhood activists sat across
from a
bureaucrat last week with a long list of complaints
about damaged
streetlights, uncollected trash and what is known here
as the monkey
menace -- hordes of monkeys straying into homes
through windows and
balconies. The bureaucrat offered tea and biscuits,
took copious
notes and ordered immediate action to resolve the
problems.
"We also have a complaint against your accounts
officer," thundered
Satya Paul Gupta, 78, who heads his neighborhood
association. "He
sleeps on our files and keeps telling us, 'Next week,
next week.' "
Satya Paul Gupta, 78, at the park being renovated by
his neighborhood
residents' association in New Delhi. Such groups have
proliferated in
the capital under a citizen-government partnership
program called
Bhagidari. (By Rama Lakshmi -- The Washington Post)
Enlarge Photo
The bureaucrat called the accounts officer. "There are
complaints
against you. Come to my office fast," he said. "You
are answerable."
Gupta leaned back in his chair and smiled. Eight years
ago, this
would have been unimaginable; highhanded and
inaccessible city
officials would have shooed residents away. But under
a popular
government initiative called Bhagidari, which is Hindi
for
partnership, citizens' groups across New Delhi have
been empowered to
walk into any office and demand answers.
Since 2000, neighborhood groups participating in the
program have
collaborated with the government to solve everyday
problems with
sewage, trash collection, roads and community parks.
And that is no
small feat in a country infamous for its bureaucracy
and red tape.
"Bhagidari is a silent citizen revolution that fixes
the problem of
corrupt officials and indifferent politicians, " said
Gupta, who
represents about 35,000 people as the head of what is
known here as a
Residents' Welfare Association, or RWA.
Before Bhagidari, there were only about 20 RWAs across
the city. Now,
there are more than 2,000 such groups, and they are
enjoying expanded
political clout. Many are run by retirees like Gupta.
"My RWA business card has the most powerful logo in
the city, the
Bhagidari logo," he said. "It opens doors, makes
officials sit up and
listen."
With its economy booming, India is grappling with how
to manage
growing cities, many of them populated by an
increasingly assertive
middle class. Analysts say Bhagidari might be part of
the answer. At
least six Indian states besides Delhi are studying the
idea for
possible implementation in their capitals.
"These neighborhood groups have now become a very
potent platform of
people's power," said Arvind Kejriwal, head of a group
called
Parivartan, which campaigns for participatory and
transparent
government across India. "They now have a say in how
the money is
spent in their areas and how to hold the officials
accountable. The
middle class in the city has moved from complete
cynicism toward
their rulers to active participation in governance."
Bhagidari is the brainchild of Shiela Dixit, chief
minister of the
Delhi regional government, whose Congress party was
returned to power
in 1998. Back then, Dixit was worried that citizens'
complaints
weren't reaching elected politicians.
"We needed a different model of governance in a
mega-city of more
than 14 million," said Keshav Chandra, an aide to
Dixit who oversees
the Bhagidari program. "Bhagidari gives us a direct
understanding of
the pulse of the people."
Dixit opened her doors to the numerous RWAs, ordered
local officials
to meet with them every month and created a separate
fund for their
needs. Two years ago, she strengthened them by
ordering that
contractors be paid only after the residents' groups
had expressed
satisfaction with the quality of work done. Last
month, the Delhi
government decided that no developmental work would be
undertaken in
the city without RWA input.
In the campaign for state elections in November,
Bhagidari is being
showcased as Dixit's biggest achievement.
Despite the best of intentions, however, Bhagidari's
power-to-the-
people mantra has not been easy to implement in a
system rife with
corruption. The notion of being accountable to
residents met with
bitter resistance in the first few years, and members
of Dixit's own
party opposed the program on the grounds that she was
circumventing
them to listen to the people directly.
As the elections draw closer, residents' associations
worry about
their future. The Bhagidari program lacks statutory
authority and
could be eliminated by the next government.
"The officers do not like the daily nagging and
ordering by the
residents," said Mool Chand Chawla, 66, a local
politician from the
opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. "Bhagidari is not
good for
democracy because it bypasses elected representatives
like me. I am
here to serve the people. We do not need a parallel
power structure."
Gupta, the head of his neighborhood RWA, said
Bhagidari has done a
lot of good. His group, for instance, recently
procured money to
renovate a community park that had been full of trash
and stray
animals. A new gate, a wall and a walking track have
been built, and
the park is being cleaned up and replanted.
Still, Gupta said, he understands why some politicians
don't like the
program.
"Their under-the-table earnings have gone down," he
said. "Their
power has eroded because they are now answerable to
ordinary citizens
like me."
