By Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy

Title:      Pranab My Father: A  Daughter Remembers

Author:  Sharmistha Mukherjee

Year:       2024

Pages:   368 pages

Price:     Rs. 795

Publisher: Rupa Publications India Pvt. Ltd.

A boy aged 11 years had come to Calcutta to attend the wedding of his eldest brother. The day was 16th August 1946, an infamous day in India’s history. Probably the worst communal riots in Bharat took place on that day, incited by the call for direct action given by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Founder of Pakistan. The family could not return to their village for several days till it was safe to travel.

The boy was restless. Someone handed him a notebook and a pencil to keep him occupied and asked him to write down his daily observations. This practice of chronicling his daily life and impressions every night after his hectic work schedule continued for over 70 years.

This young boy, Pranab Mukherjee, went on to become a six-term MP and a Minister for 23 years holding various high-profile portfolios of External Affairs, Commerce, Finance and Defence. The habit of diary writing continued throughout his busy life schedule.

When he retired after a full term of five years as the President of India in 2017, his diaries were 53 big volumes. These were handed to his daughter Sharmistha for safekeeping, with strict instructions to open and read them only after he had breathed his last.

Sharmistha has published the book ‘Pranab My Father: A Daughter Remembers,’  based on the late President’s diaries. The book is also partly biography and personal memoirs. It is also a chronicle of the political story of his times. The desire to publish the diaries posthumously is understandable as they have many frank and unflattering remarks about his contemporary political figures.

Mamata Banerjee was a long-time family friend of Pranab. She would frequently visit their house and often dine with them. Yet she vehemently opposed when Pranab was nominated for President of India. When Sharmistha asks about the strange behaviour of Mamata, her father’s philosophical comment is that she is always unpredictable. Eventually, the West Bengal CM changed her stance and supported Pranab Mukherjee for the Presidency.

Pranab was a lifelong staunch Congress party man. He was a protege of Indira Gandhi and he always looked up to her as his mentor. He was a stickler for rules, procedures and constitutional propriety. Surprisingly, his diary entries seem to be silent on the Emergency imposed by his leader. Probably, for whatever reasons, he had made his peace with the excesses of Emergency and his inner voice.

Despite his fanatic loyalty to Indira and the party, he had to face the ignominy of being suspended from the party by her son, the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. This suspension he attributes to machinations of the coterie around Rajiv. After about two years, he was reinstated in the party due to the efforts of his friends.

He mentions sycophancy culture and the absence of dissent in the party and general political discourse. Sharmistha sought her father’s advice about leaving the Congress party after her defeat in the Delhi elections, his answer was cryptic. He asked her to remember the sentence from the Bhagavad Gita, ‘Swadharme Nidhanam Shreyah’. (It is better to perish in your dharma), cryptically advising her not to change her swadharma which is the Congress party.

Like any ambitious politician, Pranab had his ups and downs in his political career. In one of his diary notings, he writes a political activist should always be alert, always active and develop objectivity, most importantly the ability to absorb disappointments is necessary.

His comments about Sonia Gandhi and her family are quite frank and acerbic. He tells his daughter that Sonia will never allow him to become the Prime Minister because there is a trust deficit between them. Again he ascribes this to the clique surrounding her. He is critical of Rahul Gandhi for publicly tearing the ordinance promulgated by the Manmohan Singh Government.

His sarcastic comment is that Rahul has the arrogance of the Nehru-Gandhi family, without their political acumen. When Pranab was honoured with the Bharat Ratna, the first family members were conspicuously absent at the ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Pranab Mukherjee spent most of his public life in the Parliament, both in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. He had a deep understanding of the Parliamentary procedures and the Indian Constitution. He had many friends across the aisle in all the Opposition parties. He administered the oath of office to Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi in 2014.

Both had risen from diverse backgrounds. Modi was a committed RSS person having risen from a Pracharak to the high office of Pradhan Mantri. Pranab Mukherjee was a die-hard Congressman having risen from a Cabinet Minister to the high office of Rashtrapati.

Surprisingly the PM and the President had great bonhomie in their relationship. It is said, the PM always touched his (Pranab) feet whenever he came to meet the President. Modi reciprocated this friendship by conferring the nation’s highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna on him. When President Pranab accepted the invitation to be the chief guest at RSS annual meet, Congress party urged him not to attend.

His daughter Sharmistha too dissuaded him and told her father that by attending the event he was giving legitimacy to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). His reply was, “Who am I to give legitimacy when people of this country have given it by electing a humble Pracharak of RSS to the highest political office of the nation.” The book, brimming with filial adoration, has many explosive comments, well-written with candour and appears a teaser for publication of the full transcripts of the diaries. The volume reminds us of the political landscape of those times and is eminently readable and unputdownable.

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By Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy    

“Freemasonry is a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.”— George Washington

Freemasonry has long fascinated the world with its mystique, rituals and secrecy. Rooted in centuries of history, this fraternal organisation has garnered admiration, curiosity and suspicion.

Freemasonry’s origins can be traced back to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. These guilds consisted of master masons and architects. They often would meet with their patrons, higher levels of clergy, wealthy merchants and princes who were the sponsors for construction of great cathedrals, castles and palaces. These building construction techniques were kept secret and the guilds and their patrons would meet very secretly and had an elaborate system of symbols and signs to identify their members and to keep off intruders. 

Overtime, these guilds transformed into a fraternity that welcomed not only stonemasons but also individuals from diverse professions. Transition from operative to speculative Masonry marked the beginning of Freemasonry as we know it today. Speculative Freemasonry emphasises moral and philosophical teachings, using the tools and symbols of medieval stonemasons as metaphors for personal development. The guiding principles of Freemasonry are Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.

In 1717, four London Lodges formed the Grand Lodge of England, which is considered as the birth of modern Freemasonry. The Grand Lodge established a system of governance, rituals and degrees that provided a standardised framework for Lodges to operate. Freemasonry spread rapidly throughout Europe in the 18th century, attracting members from all social classes. Lodges were established in Thirteen British Colonies of North America where Freemasonry played a significant role in the establishment of the new independent nation of the United States of America.

Several prominent figures involved in American Revolution were Freemasons. George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and the first President of the US, was an ardent Mason. Benjamin Franklin, the renowned statesman and diplomat, was another influential Mason who used his connections to advance the cause of American independence.

 While Freemasonry itself did not directly cause the American Revolution, its principles and participation of influential Freemasons helped shape the movement and its ideals. The fraternity’s emphasis on liberty, equality and fraternity influenced the development of democratic values in the new-born nation of United States. Masonic influence can be seen in the founding documents of the US, such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, which reflect the principles advocated by Freemasonry. In all, 14 US Presidents have been Freemasons.

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial has been established at Alexandra near Washington city. It is a museum designed to educate the world about how Freemasonry shaped the ideals, personality, and life of George Washington. In the museum there is a large mural depicting Washington laying the foundation for the new capital city wearing masonic regalia. It is said when he had to be sworn as the President, he designed the oath of office on the lines of masonic oath.

Some famous British Freemasons are Monarchs: King Edward VII, King Edward VIII  and King George VI.  War time Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and the husband of Queen Elizabeth H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh were also Freemasons.

Freemasonry played a significant role in British colonial society in India. Masonic Lodges served as important social and intellectual hubs, where members from various walks of life could come together on equal footing. These lodges facilitated networking, fostered camaraderie and provided a platform for discussions on a wide range of topics, including politics, philosophy, science and philanthropy. Many prominent Indian figures were members of the Masonic Lodges. Some notable Freemasons in India are Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Dadabhoy Naoroji, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Swami Vivekananda. So were many nationalists like Motilal Nehru (father of Jawaharlal Nehru), C. Rajagopalachari, the first Indian Governor General of India and industrialist J.R.D.Tata.  After India gained independence in 1947, Freemasonry continued to thrive in our country. The Grand Lodge of India was established in 1961 to govern and regulate Masonic activities. Today, Freemasonry in India embraces individuals from diverse backgrounds, religions and professions, promoting brotherhood, egality, self-improvement and community service.

 Each masonic entity is called a LODGE.  Freemasons identify each other as BROTHER. The place in each Lodge where these brethren meet is designated as TEMPLE. The head of a Lodge is called MASTER. Freemasonry in India is controlled by the GRAND LODGE OF INDIA in New Delhi and its four subsidiaries the REGIONAL GRAND LODGES, head quartered in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and New Delhi. The Masons heading these Regional Lodges are named as REGIONAL GRAND MASTERS and the Grand Lodge of India is headed by the GRANDMASTER.

Mysuru has the honour of hosting the mid-term meet of the Regional Grand Lodge of Southern India on Sept.9 and about  1,000 Freemasons from all over South India are participating.

History of Freemasonry in Mysore, India, can be traced back to colonial era when British East India Company had a significant presence in the region. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan in 1799, a big contingent of English army was stationed in Mysore. It is said the officers of this contingent established the first Masonic Lodge in Mysore. During 19th century, alongside the political and administrative changes, British military personnel and civil servants brought Freemasonry to Mysore. The present Lodge Mysore, sponsored by Lodge Bangalore, was established in 1878, and will be completing one-and-a-half century soon. It moved into the present Lodge premises near Mysore Palace in 1891. The most illustrious member who has occupied the Masters chair of Lodge Mysore is Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, the last Maharaja of Mysore State. The King and his brother-in-law, the Maharaja of Bharathpur, were initiated into the mysteries of Freemasonry at a special dispensation meeting of the Lodge held at Mysore Palace on June 19, 1956. JC Wadiyar was the Master for two years during 1959 and 1960. His son- in-law Sardar Ramachandra Raje Urs was the Founder Master of Lodge Jayachamaraja in Mysore. Three famous Dewans of Princely Mysore State, Sir M. Visvesvarayya, Sir Mirza Ismail and N. Madhava Rao were active Masons. Rao was a member of the Constituent Assembly which framed the Indian Constitution. 

The author of this article Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy is the longest serving Brother of Lodge Mysore and has completed 55 years of masonic service. He was honoured with 50-year long-term service jewel by the then Grandmaster of India in 2020.

Freemasonry beliefs provide a solid foundation for personal growth, community service and development of strong ethical values. Through an analytical examination of these beliefs — from their origins in medieval stonemason guilds to their modern-day implementation — we gain insight into the guiding principles that shape members’ lives and forge lasting connections.

As Freemasonry continues to evolve in response to societal changes, its core beliefs of fraternity, egality and altruism remain steadfast, providing timeless wisdom for those seeking self-improvement, brotherhood and commitment to serve others.

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By Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy

Recently I had an opportunity to visit Montreal for a second time after twenty-one years and it has changed a lot in the past two decades. Montreal is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city with a rich history and culture. It is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Quebec was originally part of New France (French: Nouvelle-France) which was the territory colonised by France in North America. Montreal is located on an island in the Saint Lawrence River and it is home to a diverse population of over 17 lakh people.

Canada is a bilingual nation with English and French as the official languages.  Quebec is a large and the only French speaking province in Canada.  French is the most spoken language in Montreal, but English is largely understood.

 Montreal is a very diverse city with people of all ethnicities and races living in the city. When I took a taxi the first time it was a Moroccan driver, next time it was a man from Iran and the Uber from the hotel to the airport was driven by a man of Bangladeshi origin.

The history of Montreal spans over 400 years and is a rich and diverse one. The city was founded in 1642 by French colonists, and quickly became a major fur trading centre. In the 18th century, Montreal was captured by the British and became a major industrial and commercial centre. In the 19th century, Montreal was the largest city in Canada and played a major role in the development of the country. In the 20th century, Montreal became a major centre for culture and education and hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Popular Tourist Destination

Montreal is a very popular tourist destination and it offers something for everyone. Visitors can explore the city’s historic Old Montreal, visit its world-class museums or enjoy its vibrant night-life. Montreal is also home to a number of professional sports teams.

It is a predominantly Catholic city and home to many grand and beautiful Churches. The grandest of these is the Notre-Dame Basilica (French: Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal) in the historic district of Old Montreal. It is a masterpiece of Gothic Revival architectural style and was built in 1824-1829. Its twin towers remind us of the renowned Notre-Dame Basilica of Paris. The Basilica is very large and can seat 3,200 people. The Pipe Organ has 6,500 pipes, weighs 25 tons and is one of the biggest in the world. The altar, the stained glass windows  and the forest of wooden hand-carved brightly painted pillars make a grand spectacle,  particularly during the sound and light show.

Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal (French: Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal) is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine located on Mount Royal’s Westmount Summit in Montreal. It is a National Historic Site of Canada and is Canada’s largest church, with one of the largest church domes in the world. The Oratory is the highest building in Montreal, a popular pilgrimage site and  over twenty lakh people visit the Oratory each year.

VAST Underground City

Montreal, like most of Canada, gets harsh and punishing winters.  To escape these rigours,  the city has constructed a vast Underground City.  Also known as RÉSO, Montreal’s Underground City is a vast network of tunnels and passages that connect over 1,600 buildings, including hotels, office buildings, shopping malls, restaurants and theatres. It is the largest Underground City in the world, and it is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike.

The Underground City was built in the early 1960s as a way to protect people from the harsh punishing Canadian winters. It was also seen as a way to improve the flow of traffic and to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment.

The Underground City is divided into three main sections: The Ville-Marie district, the Vieux-Montréal district and the Quartier des spectacles district. The Ville-Marie district is the largest section and it is home to most of the major shopping malls and office buildings. The Vieux-Montréal district is the oldest section and it is home to many historic buildings and restaurants. The Quartier des spectacles district is home to the city’s theatres, concert halls and museums.

What is in Underground City

The Underground City is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is a great place to escape the cold weather, to do some shopping or to simply get around the city without having to go outside.

Here are some of the things you can do in the Montreal Underground City:

• Shop at one of the many malls, including the Underground City’s largest mall, Place Ville-Marie.

• It is home to over 2,000 businesses and organisations.

• It has a total length of over 30 kilometres (19 miles).

• It is estimated that over 5 million people use the Underground City each day.

• The Underground City is a popular tourist destination, and it is estimated that over 10 million tourists visit it each year.

The Montreal Underground City is a great place to visit if you are looking for a unique and interesting experience. It is a great way to get around the city without having to go outside.

Museum at Olympic Park

The Biodôme de Montréal is a museum located at Olympic Park and it allows visitors to walk through replicas of four ecosystems found in the Americas. The Biodôme is one  of the largest natural science museum complexes in Canada. The four ecosystems represented in the Biodôme are: The Laurentian Maple Forest, The Sub-Antarctic Islands, The Tropical Rainforest and The Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The Montreal Biosphere is a museum dedicated to the environment in Montreal. It is housed in the former United States pavilion constructed for Expo 67 located within the grounds of Parc Jean-Drapeau on Saint Helen’s Island. The museum’s geodesic dome was designed by Buckminster Fuller, the renowned American Architect and Designer.

The Biosphere is a unique and important resource for learning about the environment. Here we can explore the museum’s exhibits on climate change, water conservation and biodiversity and take a walk through the Biosphere’s greenhouse, which features plants from around the world. The Biosphere’s observation deck offers stunning views of Montreal and Saint Lawrence River.

Entertainment shows

Cirque du Soleil’s shows are known for their high-energy performances, their innovative use of props and costumes and their unique blend of circus arts, dance and music. The company’s shows are family-friendly and visually stunning. Alegria is a high-energy show that features acrobatics, juggling and dance.

Montreal, with its extremely diverse population, gives diverse culinary experiences, with restaurants serving everything from traditional Quebecois cuisine to international fare. You can find restaurants serving up cuisine from all over the world in Montreal, including Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Mexican, Thai and Indian.

The city is a foodie’s paradise and has the highest ratio of cafes and dining places in the world. Being a strict vegetarian, I often find it difficult to get pure vegetarian food at eating places while traveling in Europe and North America. But Montreal is an exception with a very large number of vegan cafes and restaurants.

Cycling

The city is to navigate. There is a wide network of underground metro, with a large number of city buses with the same ticket holding good for both. The city encourages cycling. Plenty of cycle renting shops can be seen bringing memories of Mysuru city decades back. There are separate cycling tracks. Often we see long bikes pedalled by two people, reminiscent of old movies. Montreal is one of the most beautiful cities I have visited. The downtown has skyscrapers interspersed with majestic old Churches and stately public buildings. The old city is typically European with its grand Cathedrals, small lanes with innumerable eating houses, with the majestic St. Lawrence River flowing and the old Port. Montreal is truly magical.

The post Magical Montreal appeared first on Star of Mysore.

By Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy

World Diabetes Day (WDD) was instituted in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to focus on the escalating health threat posed by diabetes. World Diabetes Day became an official United Nations Day in 2006 with the passage of the United Nations Resolution. It is observed every year on 14th November, the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922. Every year, the World Diabetes Day campaign focuses on a dedicated theme that runs for one or more years. The theme for World Diabetes Day 2021-23 is ‘Access to Diabetes Care.’

Chronic diabetes conditions include type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Potentially reversible diabetes conditions include prediabetes and gestational diabetes (diabetes of Pregnancy).  Prediabetes happens when blood sugar levels are higher than normal, not high enough to be called diabetes. And prediabetes can lead to diabetes unless steps are taken to prevent it. Gestational diabetes happens during pregnancy. But it may go away after the baby is born.

India is known as the diabetes capital of the world, since it has been witnessing an exponential rise in incidence of diabetes. This is mainly attributed to lifestyle changes. The rapid change in dietary patterns, physical inactivity and increased body weight, especially the accumulation of abdominal fat (belly fat) are some of the primary reasons for increased prevalence.

Public health burden of diabetes

• 54 crore adults in the world were living with diabetes in 2021. This number is expected to rise to 64 crores by 2030 and 78 crores by 2045.
• Almost 1 in 2 adults (44%) with diabetes remain undiagnosed. Most of them have type 2 diabetes.
• 54 crore adults globally are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• More than 1.2 million children and adolescents (0-19 years) live with type 1 diabetes.
• Diabetes was responsible for at least 966 billion dollars (about one lakh crore Indian rupees) in health expenditure in 2021 — 9% of the global total spend on healthcare.
• 1 in 6 live births (21 million) are affected by gestational diabetes (high blood glucose — hyperglycemia) in pregnancy.
• Millions of people with diabetes around the world do not have access to diabetes care.
• People with diabetes require ongoing care and support to manage their condition and avoid complications.
• Medicine, technologies, support and care to be made available to all people with diabetes that require them.
• Governments to increase investment in diabetes care and prevention.

The story of insulin

Before the discovery of insulin, development of diabetes in children was a death sentence. A child diagnosed to be having diabetes used to hardly live for 6 to 12 months.  In 1921, a young surgeon named Frederick Banting and his assistant Charles Best figured out how to remove insulin from a dog’s pancreas. With this crude extract, Banting and Best kept another dog with severe diabetes alive for 70 days — the dog died only when no more extract was injected.

With this success, the researchers, along with the help of colleagues J.B. Collip and John Macleod, went a step further. A more refined and pure form of insulin was developed, this time from the pancreases of cattle. In January 1922, Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old boy dying from diabetes in a Toronto hospital, became the first person to receive an injection of insulin. Within 24 hours, Leonard’s dangerously high blood glucose levels dropped to near-normal levels and he recovered.

On 23rd January 1923, Banting, Collip and Best were awarded US patents on insulin and the process used to make it. They all sold these patents to the University of Toronto for ONE DOLLAR. Banting famously said, “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.” He wanted everyone who needed it to have access to it, and live a near healthy life.

Insulin is one of the greatest and epoch-making discoveries in the history of medicine. In 1923, Banting and Macleod received the Nobel Prize in Medicine, which they shared with Best and Collip. Soon after, drug firms started large-scale production of insulin, and there was enough insulin to supply the entire world. In the last century since the discovery of Insulin, manufacturers have developed a variety of slower-acting insulins.

Insulin from cattle and pigs was used for many years to treat diabetes and saved millions of lives, but it wasn’t perfect, as it caused allergic reactions in many patients. The first genetically engineered, synthetic “human” insulin was produced in 1978 using E. coli bacteria to produce the insulin. Insulin now comes in many forms, from regular human insulin identical to what the body produces on its own, to ultra-rapid and ultra-long-acting insulins.

Thanks to past ten decades of research, people with diabetes can choose from a variety of formulas and ways to take their insulin based on their personal needs and lifestyles.

From Insulin syringes and insulin pens to pumps, insulin has come a long way. It may not be a cure for diabetes, but it’s a life-saver which has helped diabetics overcome acute diabetic emergencies, reduce the severe long-term complications and live longer healthy years.

Long-term complications of diabetes

These develop gradually. The longer the duration of diabetes — and poorly controlled blood sugar — higher the risk of complications. Eventually, diabetes complications may be disabling or even life-threatening.

• Heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) disease and strokes. Diabetes majorly increases the risk of many heart problems. These can include coronary artery disease with chest pain (angina), heart attack, stroke (paralysis). These are the result of narrowing of arteries (atherosclerosis).
• Nerve damage (neuropathy). Too high blood sugar can injure the walls of the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) that nourish the nerves, especially in the legs. This can cause tingling, numbness, burning or pain in the feet. Damage to the nerves related to digestion can cause problems with nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation. For men, nerve damage may lead to erectile dysfunction.
• Kidney damage (nephropathy). The kidneys hold millions of tiny blood vessel clusters (glomeruli) that filter waste from the blood. Diabetes can damage this delicate filtering system and lead to kidney failure. In the United States, diabetes and high blood pressure are the leading causes of kidney failure, accounting for 3 out of 4 new cases.
• Eye damage (retinopathy). Diabetes can damage the blood vessels of the eye (diabetic retinopathy). This could lead to blindness.
• Foot damage. Nerve damage in the feet or poor blood flow to the feet increases the risk of many foot complications, many times leading to amputation of toes; feet or legs.
• Skin conditions. Badly controlled diabetes patients are more prone to skin problems, including bacterial and fungal infections.
• Hearing impairment. Hearing problems are more common in people with diabetes.
• Alzheimer’s disease. Type 2 diabetes when uncontrolled may increase the risk of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Can diabetes be prevented?

Diabetes can’t be prevented in type 1 diabetes.  But healthy lifestyle choices can prevent or delay the onset of prediabetes, type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes (diabetes of pregnancy).

• Eat healthy foods. Choose foods lower in fat and calories and higher in fibre. Focus on fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Eat a variety to prevent monotony.
• Get more physical activity. About 30 minutes of moderate aerobic activity on most days of the week, or about 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week.
• Lose excess weight. If overweight, losing even 7% of the body weight can lower the risk of diabetes. To keep the weight in a healthy range, work on long-term changes in eating and exercise habits. The benefits of losing weight are a healthier heart, more energy and higher self-esteem.
• Sometimes drugs are an option. Oral diabetes drugs such as metformin and other newer drugs may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes. But healthy lifestyle choices are important.

To prevent diabetes, ALWAYS EAT LESS AND WALK MORE

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When Nobles became non-entities, Princes became paupers and Begums were reduced to beggars…

By Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy

• Title: Tears of the Begums: Stories of Survivors of the Uprising of 1857  (Originally in Urdu  as ‘Begumat Ke Aansoo’)
• Author: Khwaja Hasan Nizami
• Publisher: Hachette India
• Year of Publication : 1922               
• Translator : Ms. Rana Safvi  (2022)
• Pages: 212+xii
• Price: Rs. 499

The Sepoy Mutiny (or the First War of Independence as we call it) started in 1857, over the issue of the greasing of the cartridges used in the guns of Indian soldiers of the East India Company army. It was known by the Urdu word “Ghadar” meaning rebellion or revolt. 

The rebellion spread rapidly in North India particularly around Lucknow and Delhi. The rebellious soldiers killed a large number of British officers, women and children. They adopted as their leader the surviving Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar without his consent. He was only a namesake Emperor who was on a generous pension given by the East India Company, and did not have any power beyond the precincts of the Red Fort, nor had the money to help the soldiers.  He was reluctant to take on the British army  but  was helpless and had to go with the demands of rebellious soldiers.

Though initially the British had a setback,  they quickly regrouped and took over Delhi. The Red Fort had about 3,000 royal families all of whom were descendants of the present and past emperors. The emperor’s court life was filled with pomp and grandeur, though he had no real authority. 

Bahadur Shah himself was a refined and gentle soul and a poet. Delhi was ruled by the English Resident. The lives of  the royals living in the “Lal Qila” was lavish with big mansions, large number of servants and slaves. Ghadar was a watershed moment in Indian history and the grand and elegant Mughal culture ended suddenly and dramatically.

Kulsum Zamani Begum was the beloved daughter of the last emperor Bahadur Shah. On the night he left the fort, he sent her and her family away entrusting them to the care of Khuda (God). Within a few days of leaving the Red Fort they were looted of all their money, jewels and even their expensive clothes. Finally on the way some villagers give them shelter in a thatched hut. The company soldiers were looking for the emperor’s descendants to arrest and punish. They escaped to Hyderabad, where they were given shelter by Nawab Lashkar Jung,  who had given shelter to many Mughal royals who had escaped from Delhi.

In a few years the British had their way and the Princess was advised to leave Hyderabad. Some of the well-wishers of the Mughals arranged for her to travel to Mecca.  One of the slaves she had freed while she was the Princess in Delhi had migrated to Mecca and had become an extremely wealthy merchant there.  He looked after her very well and made her family stay comfortable.

The Ambassador of Turkey  learnt  that the Emperor’s daughter had taken refuge in Mecca and arranged a pension for her from the Sultan of Turkey. She lived comfortably in Mecca for a number of years.  Ultimately she longed to return to her beloved Delhi.  When she went  back to Delhi, the English Governor  out of compassion, arranged a pension for her family. The British who had taken away her dad’s empire, gave her in return a grand compensation of ten rupees a month.

Sakina Khanum was the daughter-in-law of Nawab Faulad Khan. Nawab died while fighting the company soldiers during the Ghadar. When his body was brought  home by the soldiers, Sakina was writhing in severe labour pains. The Nawabs’ son had died four days earlier in the war, and his wife had passed away two years ago. Sakina delivered a boy with the help of the servants, while the corpse of the Nawab  was lying in the front yard, without even a shroud.  She had to run away from their mansion at midnight, taking a few jewels, some cash which was in the house and her new-born baby. The four maids who were in the house went with her. 

After a few days, the maids stole all the money and jewels and deserted her. They even took away the new-born son of the Princess.  She tried to eke out a living by working as a maid in households. Unfortunately for her, she had no skills needed for domestic help. After all she was the daughter-in-law of a Nawab and had lived in luxury with many servants and slaves at her command. She was frequently thrown out of many homes where she worked,  as she could not work hard enough.

Finally, the Princess became a beggar for her living. After a few years, one afternoon she was begging in front of a wedding house. She was exhausted due to the hot summer sun. She had not eaten for many days and was extremely hungry. As she was begging, one young handsome boy came out of the wedding hall. Hearing her wails, he sat in front of her and gave her the food he was carrying for himself.  The boy spoke to the beggar and consoled her and told that his mother was a maid in the wedding house. 

As he was speaking with her, his mother came out and Sakina immediately recognised her as her maid who had deserted her and realised that the boy  who fed her was her own son. After many years Sakina the beggar Princess had been reunited with her long lost son.

Qismat Baig worked as a chef at the palatial Taj Mahal hotel in Bombay. He was a recluse and an irascible and difficult man.  None knew his antecedents.  Whenever asked  about himself he would answer that he was a Badshah and walk away. The Maharaja of Bhavnagar would frequently stay at the Taj Mahal Hotel whenever he was in Bombay, and he immensely enjoyed the food cooked by Qismat Baig.

One day  the Maharaja expressed his desire to meet the chef.  Qismat  Baig, who never liked to meet anyone, was persuaded to visit him. When the king asked Qismat Baig as to who he was, Baig gave a long philosophical discourse.  Surprised at the erudition of the chef, the king persuaded him to tell his story.  Baig started recounting his long sad story. He was the son of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah born to a slave girl.  He was named Timur Shah after the great ancestor of the Mughals. The emperor had provided well for him and his mother and they lived comfortably in luxury with servants and maids. As a young boy he was well educated and would often visit a Dargah near his home in the evenings and had imbibed Sufi mysticism and Dervish practices.

When Ghadar started, his mother lost everything. He worked as an assistant to a cook and learnt the culinary art.  Misfortune always haunted him.  He lost his mother, wife and children to illnesses and became alone in the world. Living in Delhi made him very sad and migrated to Bombay where Timur Shah changed his name to Qismat Baig, a man of destiny.  The son of the Mughal Emperor had become  a Bawarchi (chef) in a hotel.

These are some of the poignant real-life stories in the book “Tears of the Begums”. Khwaja Hasan Nizami was a young man at the time of Mutiny. In later years he became a writer. He personally interviewed many survivors of nobility and recorded their  tragic stories. It was published as  a book “Begumat Ke Aansoo” in 1922.  Ghadar was a cataclysmic event in the narrative of India. It ended the centuries of pomp of the Mughal Court and the wealthy refined and elegant lives of the aristocracy. Nobles became non-entities, Princes became paupers and Begums were reduced to beggars. The sad stories in the book bring “Aansoo” to the eyes of the readers.

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By Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy

The Economist is a prestigious international weekly covering the global economy and political scene, and is well-known for its critical and balanced views. Often it is skeptical of India, Indian economy and Indian democracy. But one of the issues published in May was highly appreciative of India. Some of the salient features it mentions are as follows:

India is expected to be the fastest growing large economy of the world. India has rolled out a national “tech stack”, which is a set of electronic initiatives which links ordinary Indians to electronic identity, payments, tax systems and bank accounts, which is helping to slowly reduce the cash economy.

The direct digital welfare measures has helped the Government to distribute 26 billion dollars (about two lakh crore rupees) in subsidy schemes and India has become a hi-tech welfare society. It is having the world’s third biggest startup enterprises next only to the US and China and more than even Japan.

While there is a shortage of software engineers in the rest of the world, India is producing half a million of them annually. As western industries try to reduce their reliance on China, India is becoming an attractive alternate production centre.

The transformation of the Indian economy has an epic quality. A vast national market is being created and a brash new consumer class is proliferating. Indian tycoons are investing heavily and creating business empires like the 19th century Rockefellers and Carnegies of the USA. The big top four industrial giants — Adani Group, Ambani of Reliance, the Tatas and JSW — alone are planning to invest 250 billion dollars (nearly twenty lakh crore rupees) in the next five to eight years. Bengaluru’s low-key tech culture is creating a new generation of business enterprises. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) predicts that by the mid-2030s, India will be the world’s third largest economy, and  will contribute more to global GDP each year than Britain, Germany and    Japan combined.

India has already achieved the status of world’s fourth biggest stock market. Since 2014, the national highway system has doubled, and the number of air passengers has increased 100 percent. The number of broadband subscribers has increased phenomenally to 78 crores.

The financial system has become more resilient. Banks’ bad debts have been cleaned up. Increasing number of domestic investors helps to stabilise the stock markets even when foreign investors flee.

The bankruptcy code has helped to clean up the financial system. Formalisation of the economy gives the Government more tax raising opportunities.  The business and public perception of the Government is one of consistency and less corruption. Though the present Indian GDP is only one sixth of China’s, Indian tech and business services exports are only just lagging behind China.

The magazine says that India has been a robust democracy with its independent courts and a noisy press. But it red flags that over the years the secular notions enshrined in the Constitution have weakened.

Modi wants to restore Indian greatness. Even if India manages a growth rate of little more than six percent, it will be the world’s third biggest economy by mid-2030s.

A large English speaking population and a democratic political system, if India can keep it,  may allow Indian technology and cultural exports to wield more global influence than did China at similar income levels. Given its size and potential, India could be the world’s next economic motor. To quote                                            The Economist: “Indian growth will be world changing. But you should neither hope for, nor fear, reprise of the Chinese experience.”

Note: The economic destiny of our country seems to have changed for the better after 2014 when BJP came to power, fortunately with Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister. But for his extraordinary leadership, coupled with his skills in oratory, ability to connect with people as well as his vision for India’s future, I do not think The Economist would have found it important to make a cover story like it has done.

In matters that concern the country, Modi does not make any compromise — whether it is security, integrity or economy. —KBG

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By Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy

India gained independence on 15th August 1947, but technically it was not yet a fully free nation. The newly independent country had a dominion status and King George VI of Britain was its nominal head. The process of giving it a Constitution and making India a Republic had started even before the day of independence with the formation of the Constituent Assembly.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected unanimously as the President of Constituent Assembly on 11th December 1946. Earlier, Dr. Prasad was a Cabinet Minister in the first Ministry of Nehru formed before independence. With his pleasant countenance, patience and deft handling of the Constituent Assembly as its President, he had won the admiration of the Congress party and the Indian public. He was called “Ajatha Shatru,” a person with no enemies. The Constituent Assembly adopted the newly framed Constitution of India on 26th November 1949.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad was born in a landed kayastha family on December 3, 1884, at Zeradei, a village in Bihar. He was a brilliant student and obtained his legal degree and later a Doctorate in Law from Calcutta University. He was very successful and had a lucrative legal practice at Calcutta and Patna High Courts.

Dr. Prasad was drawn early into the non-cooperation movement for independence, became a comrade of Mahatma Gandhi and was imprisoned a number of years during the freedom movement. He was President of the Indian National Congress during the years 1934, 1935 and 1939. Dr. Prasad was a devout religious person who had great respect for the ethos and traditions of Hinduism.

Pandit Nehru and Dr. Prasad were poles apart in their outlook and this brought them into conflict many times. Nehru was a secularist, socialist and never practiced the rituals and traditions of Hinduism while Dr. Prasad was a staunch Hindu deeply entrenched in the beliefs and traditions of religion. The major public confrontations between Nehru and Prasad started, even before the birth of Indian Republic, with the Hindu Code Bills.

Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar presented the draft in October 1947 in the Constituent Assembly and Nehru strongly supported the Bill. They wanted this Bill to be part of the Constitution. Under this, a rule code for all Hindus was to be created. As the President of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Rajendra Prasad intervened. He believed religion in the society is equally important as anything else and wanted to have a Uniform Civil Code for all Indians whereas Nehru strongly felt minorities should be given additional safeguards against Hindu majority. Furious with Nehru’s attitude, Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote a letter to him. In the letter, he described Nehru as unjust and undemocratic.

Dr. Prasad shared the letter with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel before sending it to Nehru. Patel read the letter and suggested that he not act angrily, to withhold the letter and to raise his disagreement in the Party’s forum. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was unhappy with this advice of Patel, but followed it and kept back the letter. Patel was a shrewd politician and had his own future plans for Prasad. The debate on the Code Bill spread all over the country and conservative religious leaders opposed it vigorously. Nehru noticed the controversy surrounding the Bill and at the time when the Constitution was to be filled with the Hindu Code Bill, he took a tough stand.

It was already September 1949; the Constitution was about to be completed and the Presidential election was to be held soon after. Patel and the Congress party wanted Rajendra Prasad to be the President. Nehru, at that time, favoured the then Governor General Rajagopalachari to be the first President of the nation. Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari had not participated in the Quit India Movement and hence was not popular with the Congress party cadre. Patel and Prasad had a strong hold on the organisation, even more than Nehru.  Congress party chose Rajendra Prasad as the President of India. The Constituent Assembly elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India unanimously.

At the most solemn ceremony, held in the brilliantly lit and high domed Durbar Hall of the then Vice Regal Palace (present day Rashtrapati Bhavan), India was declared a Sovereign Democratic Republic exactly at eighteen minutes past ten on the morning of Thursday, January 26, 1950. The retiring Governor-General, C. Rajagopalachari, read out the proclamation of the Republic of “India, that is, Bharat.” On January 26, 1950,  at 10.24 am, Rajendra Prasad created history by becoming the first President of the new Republic. Justice Harilal Jekisundas Kania, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, administered the oath of office. The birth of the Indian Republic and the installation of its first President were announced by a salute of 31 guns shortly after 10.30 am. Prasad’s sister, Bhagwati Devi, had died the previous day, 25th January, and he attended her cremation after the founding of the Republic and swearing-in ceremony.

The famous Somnath temple, which was in Junagadh State before independence, was known for its splendour and wealth in ancient times.  It was first plundered and destroyed by Ghazni Muhammad in 1025, and subsequently rebuilt many times and repeatedly looted by foreign invaders. After India’s Independence and the accession of Junagarh State into Indian Union, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Union Home Minister, pledged that Somnath should be reconstructed and restored to its original glory.

When Patel broached this subject with Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhiji endorsed the plan but said that the contribution for the reconstruction of the temple should come from the public and not the Government.  With the demise of Patel, the task of the restoration of the temple was ably led by K.M. Munshi, a famous lawyer, author, founder of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) and a Cabinet Minister in the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s Government.

Nehru never liked the idea of restoring this ancient monument and more than once criticised Munshi for its reconstruction. At the end of a Cabinet meeting, Nehru called Munshi and said: I don’t like your trying to restore Somnath. It is Hindu revivalism.  Munshi did not utter a word but later wrote to Nehru a long letter saying, “…. It is my faith in the past which has given me the strength to work in the present and to look forward to our future. I cannot value freedom if it deprives us of the Bhagavad Gita or uproots our millions from the faith with which they look upon our temples and thereby destroys the texture of our lives…. this shrine once restored to a place of importance in our life will give to our people a purer conception of religion and a more vivid consciousness of our strength.”

When the then President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, was invited to inaugurate the temple, Nehru advised the President “against participating in a significant function which unfortunately has a number of implications.” Dr. Rajendra Prasad ignored Nehru’s advice and added, “I would do the same with a mosque or a church if I were invited.”

So, on 11th May 1951, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, while presiding over the opening ceremony of the temple, gave a stirring speech. He said that “the physical symbols of our civilisation maybe destroyed, but no arms, army or king could destroy the bond that the people had with their culture and faith. Till that bond remained, the civilisation would survive.” He added that it was the creative urge for civilisational renewal, nurtured in the hearts of the people through centuries that had once again led to the “praan-pratishta” of the Somnath deity. Somnath was the symbol of economic and spiritual prosperity of ancient India, he said. The re-building of Somnath will not be complete till India attains the prosperity of the yesteryear.” In anger at the President’s defiance of his wishes, Nehru instructed the Information Ministry not to officially publish the speech. But the newspapers all over the country widely reported the speech.

Sardar Patel, the Deputy Prime Minister who unified the 564 States into the Indian nation, was a dear friend of the President. Patel died at Bombay on 15th December 1950.  Nehru advised the President against attending the funeral of Sardar Patel citing protocols. Dr. Prasad rejected this advice of the Prime Minister and went to  participate in the funeral services of his close associate and the great freedom fighter.

The first general elections held in 1952 was the first major milestone for the infant Republic. While the world watched skeptically, Indian elections with the universal franchise and the biggest electorate in the world went on peacefully, and a democratically elected Government was installed in New Delhi. Congress got a spectacular majority under Nehru’s leadership.

With  the death of Patel, Nehru had emerged as the undisputed supreme leader of India. After the general election, the electoral college was to elect a new President. Against the wishes of Nehru, the Congress party nominated Dr. Rajendra Prasad once again for the President. Nehru in full control of the Congress party after the 1952 elections to Parliament, easily got the Hindu Code Bills passed and President Prasad, as a true democrat, signed those Bills into law without any protest.

While he accepted the party’s will in 1952, in the elections of 1957, Nehru had the opportunity to elect the President of his own choice. So, this time, his favourite was the first Vice-President Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Dr. Radhakrishnan was a philosopher, sanskrit scholar, prolific writer, Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford, and a former ambassador to the Soviet Union.  To the utter disappointment of Nehru, the choice of the Congress party once again was Dr. Rajendra Prasad who was easily elected. Dr. Radhakrishnan was very upset and desired to resign. To placate him, Nehru changed the order of precedence. Previously the order was President, Prime Minister and the Vice-President. He made the Vice-President second, demoting himself to the third position. Dr. Prasad is the only President in Indian history to have occupied Rashtrapati Bhavan for twelve long years.

The nation’s greatest honour ‘Bharat Ratna’ is always awarded after recommendation from the Prime Minister and the Union Cabinet.  On July 13, 1955, Nehru had returned from a successful tour of European countries and the Soviet Union, a tour aimed at the promotion of peace as the Cold War was rapidly escalating. Nehru’s efforts to establish India as a major player in world affairs found popular support outside India. On Nehru’s return to Delhi, the then President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, went to the airport to receive him, disregarding protocol. He also hosted a special State banquet on July 15, 1955, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in honour of Nehru. It was at this event that Dr. Prasad announced his intention of conferring the ‘Bharat Ratna’ upon Jawaharlal Nehru. Dr. Prasad described Nehru as the ‘great architect of peace in our time’. The President himself confessed that he had acted unconstitutionally as he had decided to confer the honour “without any recommendation or advice from my Prime Minister or the Cabinet.”

Nehru always viewed the first President as a revivalist who did not represent the new India. Though there were many invitations from foreign nations, the Prime Minister rarely allowed him to go for official visits as head of State. Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Nehru,  in spite of their strong differences, admired and respected each other.  President Dr. Prasad was a true Gandhian and believed in simple living. The official salary of the President was ten thousand rupees per month. But he drew only five thousand. After he demitted office in 1962, he did not stay in Delhi, but went to live in Sadaqat Ashram in Patna. He donated all the jewels of his wife to the National Defence Fund at the time of war with China. India’s highest honour ‘Bharat Ratna’ was conferred on him in 1962.  He died on 28th February 1963. Nehru did not attend the funeral and went away on a tour of Rajasthan. He also dissuaded President Dr. Radhakrishnan from attending, but the President did not heed his advice and travelled to Patna for the last rites of the deceased former President.

The first President’s contribution to the freedom movement and the stabilisation of Indian Democracy were immense. He steered the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly sagaciously and helped the unanimous adoption of the Indian Constitution. Dr. Prasad established good democratic traditions during the twelve long years he occupied the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He was a simple, elegant, unostentatious person and conducted himself with humility and dignity. Dr. Babu Rajendra Prasad was a Great President.

Note: The shadow boxing among political giants of those days Nehru, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Radhakrishnan was understandable. A Uniform Civil Code, as contemplated in the Constitution, may help set right the defects or deficiencies Nehru found in the customs and practices of majority Hindus and also in other minority communities. It is gross discrimination and injustice not to have a statue or a memorial to such great leaders like Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Vallabhbhai Patel, Subash Chandra Bose and P.V. Narasimha Rao in Delhi, who had by their political genius and leadership qualities changed the course of country’s destiny for the better — reclaiming its past religious glory, achieving unity of a fragmented nation and a critical course-correction in its economic policy.—Ed

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Study the past if you would define the future. — Confucius

Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.—Edmund Burke

By Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy 

Indian cotton clothes, silks, spices and Indigo dye were in great demand throughout Europe during the middle ages. This trade was the monopoly of Arab merchants as they alone knew the sea route to India. The discovery of the ocean way to India by Vasco da Gama in1498 made European nations think of trading themselves and making profits. East India Company was incorporated in London on 31.12.1600. 

After some time it received the Royal charter from the English King giving it a monopoly of trade and even powers to wage war. Soon the Company established trading posts in Surat, Bombay, Chennai and Bengal. These were called factories. After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal power started waning and there was a sense of anarchy. The Company started raising armies to protect its factories.

Siraj-ud-Daulah was the Nawab of the vast territory of Bengal. He was an incompetent  and cruel ruler. He could not collect the land revenues through his Government officers efficiently and had outsourced it to the house of Jagat Seth, who was a marwari Jain banker and financier. Seth was very effective in collecting land revenues and hence controlled the finances and treasury of the Nawab. Jagat Seth was the title given to him as he was thought to be the wealthiest person in the world.  He had a network of a large number of associates all over India. Since the Nawabs could not send the annual revenues to the Mughal emperor in Delhi as it would be looted on the way by the robbers, they entrusted Jagat Seth to remit the annual Diwani.  

Jagat Seth could send money to anywhere in the country without actually transporting the cash, through the system of hundis and would deliver large amounts of cash to the emperor’s treasury in Delhi. Siraj-ud-Daulah was a spendthrift and often his treasury would be empty. Once he demanded Jagat Seth to lend a huge sum of money for a military campaign  and was furious when Seth pleaded his inability. He slapped him in the open court and insulted him. This richest man in the world felt humiliated and decided to take his revenge. Seth offered a bribe of twenty million pounds (more than a thousand crore rupees in today’s value) to Robert Clive to defeat the Nawab. Clive accepted the challenge and defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Robert Clive bribed Mir Jafar, Commander-in-Chief of Siraj-ud-Daulah with the promise of making him the next Nawab which resulted in his betrayal and victory for the British. 

A few years later in 1764, at the Battle of Buxar, Company forces defeated the allied forces of the Mughal emperor and the Emperor Shah Alam had to cede the Diwani (revenue collections) of Bengal to the Company.  The Company became the real ruler of Bengal, which was the biggest province of the Mughal Kingdom comprising the present day West Bengal, Bangladesh, Bihar and Orissa. This was the beginning of the  Indian Empire of the East India Company.  

Revenue collections of Bengal were enormous and made the Company hugely rich. Clive was followed by many Governors like Warren Hastings and Cornwallis. All these people made large profits for the Company and  personal fortunes for themselves. In addition they were Empire builders and expanded the empire for the East India Company. The defeat of Tipu Sultan in 1799 by Arthur Wellesley almost completed the formation of the East India Company Empire of India.

The Company built a formidable Army of Indian soldiers who were called sepoys.  The soldiers were paid well and trained by the British officers with latest European techniques, guns and cannons, and were far superior to the forces of Indian Princes. The Company officers had developed an extensive intelligence network and had their spies all over the country. This system was so good it is said that when Haider Ali died during a campaign, the Company Governor of Madras came to know the matter earlier than his son Tipu Sultan.

Wars are always very expensive and need large amounts of money.  The Indian Princes as well as the Company had to borrow funds from the big financiers of Surat, Varanasi, Patna, Murshidabad and Dacca which were the financial centres of Hindoostan. The Indian Princes, when they could not repay the loans, would either imprison or hang the money- lenders.  The Company too was a borrower of enormous amounts of cash from these big Indian bankers, but it always paid the interest and repaid the capital promptly  and treated these rich financiers with respect and  honour.  Calcutta provided safety, efficient law and order and slowly the big financiers migrated there. They were ever willing to lend to the Company and finance its wars.

East India Company is the first great multinational in the business history of the world. At the height of its power, it accounted for nearly 40 percent of world trade. It exported Indian materials like cotton, silk, Indigo and textiles to England, Chinese tea to America and opium to China and in later years imported British manufactured goods.  The rapacious and callous attitude of the Company  and the corruption of its officers caused many scandals and debates were held in British Parliament.  But the Company managed to get out of them because half the members of the Parliament owned shares in the Company,  probably the first example of corporate lobbying and corruption. The Company had a large army of more than two and a half lakh sepoys while the mother country England had an army  half the size.

The Company’s administration was one of exploitation without a social conscience and when the great famine occurred in 1770, nearly five million Bengalis died. The Company did not make any effort to help the people and instead the officers ruthlessly collected land revenue and sent it to their office in London.  The Company ruled most of India for 100 years from the Battle of Plassey in 1757 to the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857.  During this Mutiny, the whole of North India was in conflagration.  The rebellious Sepoys killed a few thousand British officers, their  families and children. When finally the Mutiny was subdued in 1857,  the Company officers in revenge ordered the killing, shooting and hanging of nearly eight lakh people whom they suspected to be collaborators of the rebellious soldiers.  This became a matter of great disrepute in England and the British Parliament finally decided to take over the governance of the Empire from the Company, or in other words nationalised the Indian assets of the Company.  Later, Queen Victoria was proclaimed the Empress of Indian Empire.  

The British King, the British Government and the British Army did not win India.  The Company had risen from a trading venture to a military power and the ruler of a vast empire of two hundred million people. East India Company had won and governed India for a 100 years by bribery, deceit and with help of Indian money, Indian financiers, Indian soldiers and Indian Civil Servants.  At the time of Emperor Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, India was the richest nation on earth and contributed 42 percent of world GDP.  Bengal was its largest and wealthiest province. When the British took over the governance of India from the East India Company in 1858, India had been reduced to one of the poorest countries on the globe and Bengal was its poorest  province. 

Whenever a strong central power crumbles and a large number of smaller breakaway kingdoms emerge and start squabbling,  time will be ripe for an alien power to step in and conquer. It is an irony of fate that a small corporate body with a staff of 35 people in remote London sixteen thousand miles away subjugated and governed this subcontinent which was the home of mighty empires like the Mauryas, the Cholas, the Vijayanagar and the Mughals.  On the day of our Independence,  let us not forget how we lost our precious freedom.

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By Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy

Fourth of July is celebrated with great pomp, gaiety and fanfare with bands, picnics, meetings, concerts and fireworks throughout the United States of America. It was on this day in 1767 the Founding-Fathers at the meeting of the continental Congress in Philadelphia proclaimed the “Declaration of Independence”. But it took nearly eight more years of fighting till General George Washington defeated the British. American Constitution would only be adopted after eleven years in 1788 and a stable Central Government established in the United States. 

At the time of independence there were thirteen colonies of Britain in America. All of these were situated on the eastern part and their total area was probably about a fourth of the present day United States. Each of the thirteen colonies had a charter, or written agreement between the colony and the King of England. Charters of royal colonies provided for direct rule by the King. A colonial Legislature was elected in each State by property holding men. Every one of the States had their own Constitution, Legislature and a Governor appointed by the King in England. Some States maintained even small armies. These were all independent States and ruled directly by the English King. 

People of all the States were of English and Scottish origin and were all proud of their English language, English heritage and English culture. The colonies did not have any major industry of their own and exported raw materials like tobacco and cotton to England and would import all their needs from that country. 

In 1755 the English Parliament levied a number of taxes on these colonies to make up for the increased expenditure on the military to maintain the colonies. These taxes were levied without approval of the colonial Legislatures. The people of the American colonies, particularly the educated and propertied class, felt that the British King and Parliament were treating them as second class citizens of subject colonies. They felt these colonies should be represented in the British Parliament and they should be treated as equal citizens of England. They sent many petitions to the King and the Parliament to give them representation. The King and the Parliament were not prepared for it and instead sent an army to quell the dissent.

The delegates from all the States met in Philadelphia with the object of getting independence from Britain. They also realised that the English King would not give independence to them without a proper fight. They appointed General George Washington as the Commander-in-Chief of the army to fight the British. Britain was a great military power and had the most powerful army in the world. The people of the colonies knew it was not an easy task to defeat the British. General Washington had too many setbacks. His army was ill-equipped and ill-trained. But he received the help of the French military towards the end. Washington finally defeated the British in 1785 and the British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and his army surrendered to General George Washington’s American forces on October 19, 1781. But the war finally ended only in 1783, after nearly six years of declaration of independence.

The Constitution could not be framed for eleven years after the declaration of independence. The thirteen States were squabbling and very reluctant to give up their independence and powers. There had to be trade-offs to produce a consensus among the States. One of the main issues was the practice of slavery. Slavery was implicitly recognised in the original Constitution in provisions commonly known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, which provided that Three-Fifths of each State’s enslaved population (“other persons”) was to be added to its free population for the purposes of census.

The other issue was the proportional representation in the Legislature. This was hotly debated and the final result was another major concession by the bigger States. The smaller States were afraid of proportional representation since they thought they would lose their equality, importance and power in the decisions of the Central Government. The final compromise was that the House of Representatives will have a proportional representation and the Senate will have two Senators from every State irrespective of its size. With continuous debate and compromises, a Constitution was signed on 17th September 1787.

The Constitution was not a perfect document but was the result of various concessions and compromises among the States. Women were not mentioned since they were the property of their husbands as per the prevailing norms of the times. The original tribes who inhabited the land do not find a place, indirectly denying them any rights and making them aliens in their own land. The word Democracy does not appear anywhere in the document. But still the new Constitution was an epoch-making vision for a new country and was an idealistic concept of a nation. There was no King as head of the country and there was no ruling aristocracy. It was a Union of States with a  Federal structure and lots of powers to the States and an elected Chief — the President. There were three independent branches of the Government — the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature — with various checks and balances to control the power of each wing. For the first time in the history of mankind the country’s head — the President — was chosen directly by all the people. The Founding-Fathers with their idealism and vision had created a nation which drew its      power from their people.

The initial years were not easy for the new Republic. Britain attacked it again and burnt the White House in 1814. There was a Civil War after nearly 74 years, from 1861 to 1865 and the country almost broke into two. Abraham Lincoln won the war for the Union and emancipated the slaves. From the time of end of the Civil War in 1865, the United States has grown from strength to strength. The original Constitution has undergone many amendments in the last 233 years and has become an inspiration for democracies all over the world. Indian Constitution draws heavily from the American Constitution and both of them begin with the same three words — “WE THE PEOPLE”.

The visionary Constitution given by the Founding-Fathers has created the richest and the most powerful Democratic Nation in human history. Let us greet and salute this Great Nation, “The United States of America” on the day of its independence. 

A declaration of real Human Freedom

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.  

– From the American Declaration of Independence

At present America has 50 States.

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First priority must be to vaccinate some people in all countries, rather than all people in some countries

By Dr. C.D. Sreenivasa Murthy

Vaccine is defined as a substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases, prepared from the causative agent of a disease, its products, or a synthetic substitute, treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease. 

The first vaccine in history is the smallpox vaccine. Edward Jenner, a rural medical practitioner, observed that children who had cowpox were immune to smallpox. In 1796, he started injecting children with cowpox to protect them against smallpox, and thus the science of vaccination was born. Thanks to universal vaccination, this once deadly disease which caused many pandemics in history and decimated large populations, has been eliminated from the world, and present day children are no longer vaccinated against smallpox. 

Edward Jenner has been rightly called the Father of Vaccines. Now we have vaccines against many dreaded diseases like Tuberculosis, Polio, Cholera, Measles, Mumps, Ebola etc., and thanks to many of these preventive vaccines, the present generation of children lead very healthy lives.

It is nearly a year since the first cases of covid-19 were reported from Wuhan City in China. Since then covid has become a dreaded pandemic affecting millions all over the world and nearly a million people have died in the world from this disease. It looks like this  pandemic may become endemic and go on  for one or two years or even more. 

This highly contagious disease has devastated and shrunk the world economy.

Hence, it is natural that there has been a race to produce a vaccine for the prevention of its spread and save lives.

Vaccine research work began in January with the deciphering of the SARS-CoV-2 genome. The first vaccine safety trials in humans started in March. Many countries are trying to produce a vaccine, and as of now there are nearly one hundred vaccines being developed all over the world. Historically,  it has  taken between two to ten years to do research and develop a vaccine to be made available for universal use. But due to the urgency of the severe spread of the disease and consequent loss of lives, there is a dire need of a vaccine. Modern scientific advances have helped.  Many research institutions and vaccine producing companies have been able to develop these in the short span of the last 10 months, and of these a few vaccines are in late stage clinical trials.

A vaccine mimics a natural infection, induces immune responses and protects from future infections. Generally there are four types of vaccines. Some vaccines use the whole Coronavirus, but in a killed or weakened state. Others use only part of the virus — whether a protein or a fragment. Some transfer the Coronavirus proteins into a different virus that is unlikely to cause disease or even incapable of it. Finally, some vaccines under development rely on deploying pieces of the Coronavirus’ genetic material, so our cells can temporarily make the Coronavirus proteins needed to stimulate our immune systems. 

 Development of a vaccine is a long and very complex process. Before its release for public use,  it has to go through various stages of clinical trials to ensure the efficacy and safety of its use. The phase one trials consist of pre-clinical studies (namely, before being tested on humans), on cell cultures, mice and monkeys. Usually, this phase takes about 6 months to 2 years. 

After the first stage, the developing institution approaches the drug regulator of the country (example: FDA in USA) with all the data for further trials. After permission of the authority the phase two trials are launched. This phase  is a randomised controlled trial with a placebo group. A placebo is a substance that has no therapeutic effect, but is used as a control in testing new drugs. This is done to assess whether the vaccine is safe and whether there is an immune response, and to determine the dose and the immunisation schedule. 

When the phase two trials are satisfactory and there are no major side effects, the vaccine will go for phase three trials. In this phase, the vaccine is used on a large number of volunteers, 20,000 to 40,000 people. Also in this phase, the safety profile, the immune response, the duration and the length of protection of the vaccine are evaluated. 

Generally, the manufacturing companies set up the production units after the approval of the vaccine by the authorities concerned. In view of the urgency of the requirement, drug-making companies are setting up the manufacturing capacities simultaneously even as the trials are going on. 

COVAXIN is India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine which Bharat Biotech is developing in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology (NIV). This indigenous, inactivated vaccine is being developed and manufactured in Bharat Biotech’s BSL-3 (Biosafety Level 3) high containment facility. Recently it has been approved for phase three trials by ICMR. 

 ZYCOV-D  is another Indian vaccine being developed by Zydus Cadila. It is a plasmid DNA vaccine and  Zydus has commenced Phase II trial.

Covishield is the Indian name for a vaccine being developed by Oxford University in association with the pharma giant AstraZeneca. This Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is expected to be one of the first from international pharma giants to secure regulatory approval. The news that older people get an immune response from this vaccine is very encouraging because the immune system weakens with age and older people are those most at risk of dying from the virus. 

Oxford and AstraZeneca have licensed the Serum Institute of India (SII) to manufacture this vaccine in India.  SII and ICMR are jointly conducting a Phase II and III, Observer-Blind, Randomized, Controlled Study to Determine the Safety and Immunogenicity of Covishield vaccine. 

It is a matter of pride for Mysureans that JSS Hospital and Medical College (JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research) in our city is one of the few advanced medical centres in India that has been selected by ICMR for conducting trials of this vaccine.

 Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, Novavox and Moderna are some of the pharma majors whose vaccines are in advanced trials in the USA. Till now five or six vaccines in phase three trials are likely to be available for universal use in 6 to 18 months. But even when the vaccines are available, there are many logistical hurdles. If everyone in the world has to be vaccinated, eight billion doses are required. They require investment for vaccine production and ancillaries like packaging material, glass vials and syringes and the cold chain, and require hundreds of billions of dollars investment worldwide. As the vaccine becomes available, every nation has to have a policy of its equitable distribution, irrespective of financial status. Every country has to define a policy as to who will get the vaccine first. The World Health Organisation has not yet issued guidelines for this purpose.

 In the coming months, we all hope to have good news about a vaccine for COVID-19. But if and when we have an effective vaccine, we must also use it effectively. In time, as production increases, we want all people everywhere to have access to vaccines. But initially, when supply is limited, priority must be given to vaccinating essential workers and those most at risk — including older people and those with underlying conditions. In other words, the first priority must be to vaccinate some people in all countries, rather than all people in some countries.

Let us hope and pray there will be a vaccine soon to deliver us from this killer disease of Covid-19.

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