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| August 07, 2000 | ||
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| Glimmer in the Valley Talk to Hizbul-but keep your powder dry
Future Shock Starry-eyed UGC and the prospect of an MSc (Astrology)
The nod to astrology is even more disconcerting. Soothsayers do roaring business in India. Some are frauds, others genuinely believe in the logic they apply; in either case, they have a huge clientele. Nevertheless, the larger point remains that astrology is an unproven science. Without empirical evidence and clear-cut laws of cause and effect it only inhabits the broad area between pseudo-science and mumbo jumbo. The UGC's argument that there is enough of a market for priests and clairvoyants is disingenuous. In a country such as India, there is a goodly demand for exorcists as well; but the idea of an MSc (Jadu Tona) is on nobody's wish list. |
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While
it would be cretinously optimistic to interpret the
unilateral three-month ceasefire announced by the Hizbul
Mujahideen (HM) as the beginning of peace in Jammu and
Kashmir, a cautious optimism would not be unwarranted.
With the United Jehad Council -- the collective agency of
14 Pakistan-based terrorist groups -- suspending the HM
and accusing it of a "sell out", the cleavage
in the militant family is finally apparent. As
intelligence reports and political assessments in the
Valley have revealed in recent months, the pro-militancy
Kashmiri is getting increasingly disenchanted with
Islamabad and its rabid exploitation of his grievances.
Such a mood does not immediately indicate a complete
change of heart and a strong allegiance to the Indian
nation. However, it has led to the grudging acceptance
that Delhi may be an entity to do business with. Put in
crude terms, the HM -- and the constituency it represents
-- may have decided that a known devil is better than an
unknown one. 
Given the decade of conflict in India's
most-troubled state, the sudden arrival of a white flag
is bound to evoke cynicism. While India has to keep its
powder dry -- the re-declaration of war by the HM's 13
former partners doesn't really leave it with any choice
in the matter -- it would be prudent to invite the HM for
talks with the Union Government. The HM is made up
largely of local Kashmiris, rather than imported
mercenaries wedded to fanaticism or to a loot-and-scoot
doctrine or to both. To engage the HM and treat its
legitimate demands with a certain understanding would be
to establish the Indian Union's bona fides with the
common Kashmiri. The autonomy question has already been
raised by the National Conference and if the HM is called
in for a three-party discussion, Jammu and Kashmir may
just take that first step on the long road to
tranquillity. 
It is difficult to comprehend
precisely what the University Grants Commission (UGC) is
trying to achieve in introducing degree courses in Vedic
rituals and astrology. Notwithstanding the practical
utility of pandits -- at every Hindu occasion from birth
to wedding to death -- and the immense popularity of
astrology, is it really the business of the UGC to codify
what are clearly private traditions if not affectations?
This is not to argue that spiritual affairs have no place
in a college curriculum. Indeed, religious studies is
among the more intellectually enriching courses offered
by universities in the West -- encompassing everything
from theology and sociology to history and philosophy. A
closer look at rituals, as much as a study of animism,
would form part of such an academic programme. If the UGC
considered crafting such a course, it could be
congratulated for an audacious innovation, particularly
in a country of deep religious beliefs but little desire
to subject them to analytical tools. Sadly, such a quest
for enlightenment is the last thing on the UGC's mind.