Nature: Plight of Stray Animals due to Thirst

While I was walking, I noticed that there was a drain flowing by the road side. It was completely filled to its brim and all sort of plastic materials like plastic cups etc from nearby road-side fast-food vendors were floating over it. The water of the drain was completely black, indicating that its water did not flow to anywhere but had got decayed while hanging in there. It was a pathetic sight. The only blessing was that it did not produce any bad smell to the pedestrians; I wonder why not. 

Slightly ahead, I saw a stray dog drinking the same black sewer water. It was just standing there and sipping the surface of water through its tongue. I felt so bad for it. What other options would the stray dog have when it felt thirsty? Then I remembered the stray cows and stray bulls who live by the big trash pot on the road side, eating all the garbage. And this is common scene in our country!

Why God, why have you made such an imperfect world! So many living beings die of hunger, so many of thirst, and so many of polluted water! As humans, we have done pretty bad job on earth, it seems. 

- Rahul Tiwary

[#History] How India Changed after 1857 (Part-2)

Today, our government collects lots of data. It uses advance tools to analyze data and then makes policies and legislation. Some very interesting data came out of the Great Indian Rebellion of 1857. And the British took some very far-reaching decisions based on those which changed India forever.  

The rebellion did not happen equally in all parts of India. Some sets of people turned out to be a great threat to the British while some others proved to be friends of the British empire and helped crush the mutiny.  

The Bengal army dominated the British force before 1857. During the rebellion, 54 out of 74 regular Native Infantry Regiments of Bengal Army had revolted. And all 10 of the Bengal Light Cavalry regiments had mutinied. The demographics of Bengal Army was unique. It largely consisted of higher castes like Rajputs and Bhumihar Brahmins, and mostly recruited from the regions of Awadh and Bihar. Based on this data, the British decided to change their army’s composition forever. The Brahmins’ presence in the Bengal Army was reduced because of their large role in the mutiny. On the other hand, Sikhs of Punjab had helped them crush the mutiny and hence were seen as friends who could be recruited more.  

The British had first realized the strength of Sikhs during the Anglo-Sikh wars. There were two major Anglo-Sikh wars: first during 1845-46 and second during 1848-49. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who had expanded the Sikh Empire by winning Peshawar, Multan (now in Pakistan), and Jammu and Kashmir, had maintained a friendly relation with the British. After his death in 1839, his kingdom started falling apart. His two sons who took to the throne after him died under mysterious circumstances. Then there were clashes for the throne. Two major factions emerged in Punjab: Sikh Sindhanwalias and Hindu Dogras. After two Anglo-Sikh wars, Sikh Empire lost and Punjab was annexed under British East India Company rule. During the wars, the British had mainly involved the Bengal Army to fight the Sikhs.  

When the great rebellion of 1857 happened, the Sikhs did not support it. It was due to two major reasons, among others. First because the rebellion of 1857 was seen as a work of the Bengal Army. Due to Bengal Army’s role during Anglo-Sikh wars, the Sikhs did not like it. Second, the mutineers had declared Bahadur Shah Zafar as their symbolic ruler. Sikhs and Mughals had long history of enmity and hence Sikhs did not like it too and ended up helping the British crush the rebellion of 1857.  

The British were thankful to the Sikhs for assisting them against the mutineers of 1857 rebellion. Therefore, post 1857 the British decided to increase recruitment in Punjab. Bengal army was reduced in size and at the same time Rajput and Brahmins were replaced by Sikh recruits from Punjab in Bengal Army. The British liked especially Jat Sikhs; they had well-built bodies due to diet, lifestyle and practicing wrestling and weight-lifting from early days; and martial skills due to Sikhism. Jat Sikhs were seen as “perfect recruits” for the Army.  

The British insisted that only Kesadhari Sikhs could join the army i.e. those who sported the five K's. The 5 Ks are: Kesh (uncut hair), Kara (a steel bracelet), Kanga (a wooden comb), Kaccha (cotton underwear) and Kirpan (steel sword). In Punjab there were Jat Sikhs and other Sikhs. But mainly Jat Sikhs sported the five K's and hence were the biggest beneficiaries. The soldiers were well paid, were given agricultural land and pension. But this policy severely restricted Hindus of other castes who wanted to join the army, particularly Khatris, who had served in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's forces.  

All this can also be seen as part of “divide and rule” policy of the British after 1857. They wanted to make sure than something like 1857 never happened again. And hence in the next decades after 1857, they systematically suppressed those factions which had rebelled and strengthened those which had supported the British in 1857.  

Then around 1900, the British made ‘Punjab Land Alienation Act of 1900’, classifying people as either "agriculturalist" or "non-agriculturalist". The act limited the transfer of land between these two groups. This act was seen as an "anti-Hindu" and “pro-Jat-Sikh” act. Hindus in Punjab, particularly Khatris, were acknowledged as Kshatriyas but were clubbed together with the “trading castes” in the British Census Reports since large number of them were educated and engaged in trade. Hence these Hindus were seldom accepted into the British military service and now this new land alienation act forbade them to even own lands. Under these circumstances, something very interesting trend emerged.  

Since Khatris and other Hindu castes were marked as “non-agricultural” tribe, many families started getting around this artificially imposed caste barrier by raising one or more son as a Sikh; mainly by having them adopt the name Singh and grow hair/beard to match. The children of such Sikhs became Sikhs and so on. Hence, till a couple of generations ago, the same family had two brothers - one Hindu and another Sikh. 

So as an aftermath of 1857, Jat Sikhs gained prominence in the army and till date have retained a major status. They also gained tremendous economic power since they had become the main owners of land in Punjab while other Hindu castes marked as “non-agriculturalists / traders” were restricted from buying farm land. Today, Jat Sikhs own around 80-90% of agriculture land in Punjab. They also gained new members into their faith, because other Hindu families tried to send one son into the sect in order to gain land ownership and other benefits.  

(to be continued)  

- Rahul

Also Read: How India Changed after 1857 (Part-1)

http://rahultiwaryuniverse.blogspot.in/2017/09/how-india-changed-after-1857-part-1.html

How India Changed after 1857 (Part-1)

Our PM Modi visited Myanmar recently and paid homage to Bahadur Shah Zafar at his tomb in Rangoon. That generated some media coverage on the Last Mughal Emperor. I was reading one such article in Jagran.

Rebellion of 1857 started on 10th May in Meerut and the revolting soldiers reached Delhi next day, meeting 81 year old Bahadur Shah Zafar requesting him to be their symbolic leader. On 12th of May, he became Emperor again and on 16th of May his green Flag could be seen on Lal Qila (Red Fort). The commissioner of Punjab setup a unit called Delhi Field Forces which reached Delhi's northern border by the end of May. The British forces faced massive resistance to their efforts to recapture Delhi. On 14th of September, they tried to capture the Red Fort again. Due to massive resistance on the streets, the British forces took one week to reach Lal Qila from Kashmiri Gate! On 20th of September 1857, the British forces captured Lal Qila again and arrested Bahadur Shah Zafar. Captain Hodson got 3 sons of Bahadur Shah Zafar killed near Delhi Gate (Shahjahanabad). Most sons of Bahadur Shah were killed and after recapture of Delhi, a lot of buildings, markets, schools and monuments were destroyed by the British forces.

It is estimated that 8 Lakh Indians died during 1857 rebellion while the British lost about 40,000 of their kin. This 'First War of Independence' was hell of a war, if one was taking part in it on either side.

One interesting aspect is how sections of Indians participated during the rebellion; particularly the 'martial class'.

The Sikhs of Punjab sided with the British to crush the mutiny. This comes as very shocking now, given the "patriotic" image Sikhs have. I remember reading how Sikhs had remained neutral and did not help the Maratha Empire when Peshwa forces came travelling 1000 miles from Pune to Delhi to counter the barbarian Ahmedshah Abdali during Third Battle of Panipat. The British definitely benefited by competing Indian forces like the Marathas, Sikhs, Rajputs and Muslims who did not help each other even strategically to counter the British; thanks to their own big ambitions and egos. Next, the Gurjars of UP went completely against the British. All the villages between Meerut and Delhi declared freedom and eliminated the British. Nahar Singh, the Jat king of Ballabhgarh revolted against the British. While Rajputs of rest of India rebelled against the British, e.g. Babu Kunwar Singh of Bihar was a popular force, Rajputana, meaning "Land of the Rajputs" did not join the rebellion in general. The British had given special privileges to the Rajputs, perhaps learning their importance from the Mughals; and it helped. And the Gurkha regiments supported the British too and fought against the mutineers playing an important role in Bengal. Bhumihar Brahmins fought against the British and the mutiny was in fact started by Mangal Pandey who was one of them. A lot of Zamindars who had got their status from the British did not join the mutiny, helping the British.

Btw, apart from Rajputana, the large princely states, of Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore, and Kashmir did not join the rebellion too. In Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Ranbir Singh, son of the great Maharaja Gulab Singh (founder of Dogra dynasty), loyally sided with the British during the 1857 Rebellion.

Muslims played a key role in the mutiny, perhaps inspired by the fact that if the British vanished, Mughal rule would return. Hence they were suppressed severely after the mutiny failed.

What would be our armed forces if not without great sacrifices of Sikhs, Jats, Gurjars, Rajputs, Bhumihars, Gurkhas and Dogras who have a very long martial tradition? But by understanding history of 1857 rebellion, we realize that several of them sided with the British during 1857 which was our first big chance. Who killed those 8 Lakh Indians who died fighting the British?

Before 1857, British forces had around 3 Lakh Indian soldiers and only 50,000 British soldiers. Hence it is most likely that a rebelling Indian during 1857 mutiny was killed by an "Indian" soldier and not by a British.

(to be continued)

- Rahul

Also Read: How India Changed after 1857 (Part-2)

http://rahultiwaryuniverse.blogspot.in/2017/09/how-india-changed-after-1857-part-1.html

That Puppy on the Street

Last evening, I saw a small pup crossing the road inside our housing society.

There is this building below which there is a car parking. There is a lane in front of the building and on the other side of the lane there is this another car parking. I am sure these days more cars live on the ground than humans, who seem to be hanging in air eternally like the legendary 'Trishanku' did. Now, when we look at a car, what we see is a variety of a car - e.g. a good car or a bad car, a green car or an orange car, a battered car or a safe-until-now car, a car with a tilak on its forehead or a car named 'Mast Gurjar'; a dusty car or a rich car. But when dogs look at a car, they see only one thing - a home. A home which has four bathrooms near the four tires, one roof where they can hike and look down at their tribesmen, and one low-ceiling bedroom in which they can crawl into and just vanish. Even if the car just wakes up and tries to run away, the doggie sleeping below it would still remain unhurt and sleeping. And when you see a doggie chasing a car, be sure that it is not chasing a car but trying to get 'possession' of its home from a runaway builder!

So the pup crossed the road, went inside the car-parking below the building and made a noise. As soon as it made a noise, magic happened and four other pups looking identical to it appeared out of thin air!

What would have happened is this:

There is this big happy family of doggies living in that area. Only humans can be brainwashed by their governments into thinking that only 'small family' can be a 'happy family' while nature has designed all living creatures 'similarly'. Big is better! So this big family of at least five pups lived along with their mother, an occasionally visiting allegedly disloyal father and some dustbins full of trash. One fine evening, the puppies were all sleeping below the cars. The mother left them to go search for some food for herself. Four pups noticed their mother - which they see only as their 'source of food and love' - moving - and hence followed her. One of the puppies was left sleeping below the car. When it wakes up, it crosses the road in the direction of its favorite smell, reaches a point where its 'territory' ends, and then cries. Its brothers could hear it and hence they just jump in!

So the little fellow joined its brothers. And life goes on happily ever after.

Ever wondered how these little puppies which are nothing but lovely bundles of joy grow up to be nuisance spreading, barking, scaring and nothing but four-legged terrorists? Just look at us and you would understand. Life does it to all!

(C) - Rahul Tiwary

सहज को सहेजना और निकटता की दूरी - रामानंद 'दोषी'

स्व० रामानंद 'दोषी' (१९२१-१९७२) कवि, साहित्यकार और संपादक रहे हैं। उन्होंने 'कादम्बिनी' पत्रिका का संपादन भी किया और वह अपना संपादकीय 'बिंदु बिंदु विचार' के शीर्षक के साथ लिखते थे। सितम्बर १९६२ के अंक में उन्होंने जो लिखा है, वह बड़ा मार्मिक है:

"महीनों की दूरी मिनटों में लांघकर तुम मेरे पास आ गए हो। आदमी ने धरा का विस्तार सीमित कर दिया है। सागर की तलहटी में तुम्हारे कदम पड़ चुके हैं। प्रचंड वेग से अंतरिक्ष में उड़ान भरते हुए तुम मुझे सन्देश भेज रहे हो। आदमी ने दूरी पर विजय पाई है, व्यवधान की आन तोड़ दी है। गर्व से मेरा वक्ष फूल जाता है, दर्प-दीप्त नेत्र उठाता हूँ कि सहसा शर्म से गर्दन झुका लेता हूँ।

मेरी दृष्टि श्री अमुक पर पड़ गई है। श्री अमुक घर में मेरे पड़ोसी, कार्यालय में सहयोगी और जीवन स्तर में मेरे सहभोगी हैं, परन्तु हमारे बीच की दूरी कम होने में नहीं आती।

दिशाओं का विस्तार सीमित हो गया पर मन की दूरी पर अंकुश नहीं लगा। हमने असाधारण को सहज कर लिए है, किंतु हमसे सहज नहीं सहेजा गया।

हम एक महल बना रहे हैं, उसमे स्फटिक की दीवारें, मणिमुक्ता का फर्श, चन्दन के किवाड़, स्वच्छ नील सरोवर, सभी कुछ तो होगा। नितांत सहज होकर निर्माण में जुटे हैं हम। महल की तैयारी में हम जो बात भूल रहे हैं, वह यह कि उसमें रहेगा कौन? उसमें प्राण-प्रतिष्ठा जो करेगा, उस आदमी को बिगाड़कर महल को संवारना प्रगति नहीं है, फिसलन है - फिसलन, जो हमें तेज तो ले जाती है पर गर्त की ओर। 

अमुक भाई, दूर दिशाओं की ओर भी देखो, गहराईओं को भी रौंद डालो, अंतरिक्ष में भी राजमार्ग बना दो, पर आओ पहले मेरे गले से लग जाओ!

दूर की दूरी हम अकेले-अकेले भी पार कर लेंगे, किन्तु निकटता की दूरी हम दोनों के दूर किए ही दूर होगी।"

What to Make of 99% Return of Old Demonetized Notes to the RBI

After recent announcement that approx. 99% of demonetized Rs 500/1000 notes have returned to the RBI, media is busy mentioning it as a failure of demonetization. That makes me rethink about how it all happened.

First, Modi addressed nation on the evening of 8th Nov, 2016, announcing demonetization. In his speech, he put equal emphasis on how demonetization would try to address problems of terror-funding, fake currency circulation, hawala trade, along with of course black money and corruption. If you remember the first most visible impact of demonetization, apart from of course the long queues and lots of trouble to the public, it was an abrupt halt on stone pelting in Kashmir. Why did stone pelting stop? Next, we read news and saw pictures and TV footages of how old currency notes were thrown away in rivers, ponds, sewage and some were also burnt, and at some places were also distributed to the poor by making a road-side stall.

Next, a lot of such old currencies were deposited in the Jan Dhan accounts of poor people. We have statistics: 2.26 Crore new Jan Dhan accounts were opened immediately after demonetization was announced and total deposits in them doubled to Rs 87000 Crores. Was govt angry at it and tried to stop it? No, Modi asked people in his humor to let rich people deposit money in the Jan Dhan accounts; but do not to let them withdraw it; thereby keeping the money as their own. If Modi did not want all this money to return to the RBI, would he say that?

So, from where did this theory come – that govt did not want all the demonetized old currencies to return to the RBI?

This theory, like a lot others which are circulating, happened thanks to our media and its “TV Experts”. Just next day after demonetization was announced, I heard a “TV Expert” say that after demonetization only 80% of old currencies would return to the RBI and hence RBI’s balance sheet would become stronger. From where did this guy get this “80%” figure? Along with share-market experts and weather forecasters, these “TV experts” are the new “astrologers”. Masquerading pure fiction as expert commentary and cooked figures as statistics, these TV experts hide their ignorance with good language skills and are making good bucks. So, this theory that 20% old notes won’t return to RBI was started by the media and it spread widely since it was “easy to understand”. And now that it did not happen, media is busy putting govt/RBI on the spot, while hiding its own bad job. But we know.

We know that just after announcing demonetization, govt had launched its new black money declaration scheme called “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana” which meant that the govt wanted old currency notes to return to the banks. It just wanted those currencies to return through the right channel and to serve the right purpose. That is why old notes were allowed to be used to pay loan EMIs, to be used in govt shops, cooperative stores, petrol stations, pay utility bills, etc too. Using the Garib Kalyan Yojna, anyone could declare one’s unaccounted money, pay approx. 50% tax and keep the remaining. If govt. did not want old currencies to return to the RBI, why would it launch this black money declaration scheme? It seems govt. was looking at long term goals like increased tax compliance and strategic maneuvers like changing games for terror and hawala funding rather than short term benefits like not allowing old currencies back to the banks and improving RBI’s balance sheet.

In fact, this whole “idea” that govt. should just scrap old notes, prevent people from depositing back old notes, and thereby make gains for the RBI - is so “sinister”. Did media expect or want our govt. to play such “tricks” with the people?

It seems govt. and RBI had clear plans for demonetization and they went ahead with their execution; while the media kept making theories and conducting TV debates.

As such I do not support demonetization because it created lots of discomfort to the common people and I think it was not worth it because of that reason alone. But when media says that it was not worth it “since old notes returned to RBI” I find it a ridiculous idea.

- Rahul