LETTERS

Divorce Bill

Had the Union Law Ministry made copies of the Indian Divorce (Amendment) Bill accessible to all those who sought it, there would not have been any controversy ("Matters of marriage and divorce", December 22). The Bill, if it becomes law, will help fulfil the aspirations of Christian women for gender justice. However, the amendment is piecemeal in nature and is a step backward from the Christian Marriage Bill, 2000, which was circulated in May. Had the government succeeded in arriving at a consensus at t he meeting of representatives of Christian organisations in New Delhi on May 28, it could have gone ahead with the comprehensive Christian Marriage Bill itself.

The Christian Marriage Act, 1872, allows marriage "between persons one or both of whom are Christian" but the Christian Marriage Bill states that "every marriage between persons both of whom are Christians shall be solemnised". The argument of some Chris tian organisations that the proposed change negates its secular component does not seem to be reasonable. Such a provision is intended to prevent the possibility of any dispute in inter-religious marriages performed in a church. During legal proceedings for matrimonial relief, a non-Christian spouse may insist on invoking the Christian personal law. Also, marriages under the Hindu and Parsi personal laws can be performed only if both the parties to the marriage are of the same religion.

If Christian leaders are really worried about the secular component of the law, one wonders why their community needs a separate personal law at all when there is no scriptural basis for it. It is a golden opportunity for Christians to express loudly the ir willingness to be governed by a uniform civil code.

Avuthu Srihari
Secunderabad

Women in panchayats

The first State-level convention of women panchayat presidents in Tamil Nadu was a significant event in that it gave them an opportunity to highlight the problems they faced in their new social roles and to seek remedies ("Women as panchayat heads", Dece mber 22).

The 33 per cent reservation for women in panchayats was probably the most important legislation of the decade. Problems like male dominance are commonly faced by women all over the country. In due course, women will be able to overcome them. There is a n eed to educate new women leaders about the rules, regulations and functioning of panchayats on a continuous basis.

In a situation where even Dalit men in the positions of panchayat presidents face problems, it is easy to understand the kind of difficulties faced by Dalit women presidents. The successful experiment of having women in panchayat bodies should spur the g overnment into speeding up the Bill providing for reservation for women in legislatures.

A. Jacob Sahayam
Karigiri, Tamil Nadu

U.S. election

The United States' electoral system, which is considered to be flawless, has proved to be a bizarre one ("The wait for the President", December 8). The U.S. is the fountainhead of technological revolution, so much so that by pressing a few strategic butt ons its President can destroy the whole of humankind! But Americans have miserably failed to create a flawless electoral process. It is surprising that postal ballots took ten days to reach the U.S. in this age of communication revolution.

K.P. Rajan
Mumbai

Jyoti Basu

Your tribute to Jyoti Basu ("The Jyoti Basu difference and legacy", November 24) was quite deserving. The government should think of conferring the Bharat Ratna on him.

It is a pity that Basu missed an opportunity to become the Prime Minister. Only leaders like him can resist the pressure from the United States, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

S. Raghunatha Prabhu
Alappuzha

Harappa

With reference to the article "Horseplay in Harappa" (October 13) and the related communications ("Scholarly Communication", Nov-ember 24), I would like to highlight the following points:

The first question Rajaram fails to address is that of time. He should ask zoologists and geologists whether horse fossils are found in Harappan sites that can be traced to prior to or during the period of the Harappan civilisation. If the answer is no, then there is no question of finding the depiction of horse on any Harappan seal.

Rajaram, full of fraudulent claims on Harappan scripts and seals, now claims that the "horse" is not an important issue. But he knows that the issue is important. That is why he tried to push the picture with a computer interpretation. The absence of hor se in Harappan archaeology and the reference to horse in Vedic literature are facts that unmistakably distinguish the two cultures from each other.

The strongest argument, however, against the theory of continuity from Harappan civilisation to Vedic culture through time is the palpable difference in the levels of development of the two cultures. The arts and technology of people belonging to the gre at urban civilisation of Harappa were superior to those of the seminomadic pastoral village culture of the Vedic tribes as reflected in Vedic literature.

These Vedic tribes (so-called Aryans) who had settled down on the Sindhu-Ganga basin and later moved eastward and southward, could not develop an urban civilisation until the time of the Buddha. It is not believable that a people who could have planned, constructed and maintained (for almost 2,000 years) urban centres like Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, failed to create another such centre for the next 2,000 years.

Let Rajaram and his ilk (such as B.B. Lal and S.P. Gupta) discover and establish beyond doubt that such urban centres were in existence in the interlude between the end of the Harappan civilisation and the beginning of the Magadh empire. Horse or no hors e, this will prove their case with material evidence.

With respect to Rajaram's reference to the "discovery of the Sarasvati River", let me point out: If some (BJP-RSS-minded) intellectuals decide to rename the dry bed of the Ghaggar-Hakra river-channel as the 'Rigvedic Sarasvati', it does not automatically become so in reality. All the hue and cry about the discovery of the palaeochannel of the Rigvedic Sarasvati river with the help of satellite imaging data has been proved by competent experts as a case of one "seeing the desired".

Actually, the fanfare over the "discovery" of the horse seal and the Sarasvati river coincides with the explosion of the Hindutvavadi cultural-sentimental ethos. It has nothing to do with archaeology, history, linguistics or science. All they want to do is: Feed the people's mind with eulogies about the country's heritage and propagate untruth sprinkled with some facts; describe any criticism - however factual and rational - as Western scholars' bias or Communist propaganda; and attempt to counter argum ents with emotional outcries.

Once Harappan sites were physically occupied by the nomadic Vedic tribes; today an attempt is made to transfer the credit for the Harappan glory to those tribes. The writing of history can be revised, but not history as such.

Ashoke Mukhopadhyay
Kharagpur, West Bengal

Scholars like I. Mahadevan, Asko Parpola, Michael Witzel and Steve Farmer argue that Jha's decipherment of the Indus script as reading from left to right (and right to left in the case of photo reverse) cannot be accepted because Indus seals are written from right to left. They should say what the direction of the writing on the seals printed on page 125 (Frontline, November 24) and on page 12 (Fig.No.M-66a, October 13) is. The same text is written in different ways.

Please provide some more convincing theories on the 'optical illusion' of Rajaram's second horse, because I am also suffering from this illusion. And Parpola's theory based on Hermann Rorschach does not help me to come out of this illusion.

Harendra Kumar
Varanasi

This has reference to the three photographs of the 'Hindutva horse' published on page 128 (November 24).

I am not concerned with the opinions expressed regarding ''Hindutva horse" though in my opinion such a phrase is insulting to the animal. I just want to refer to the "computer enhancement" theory of Michael Witzel and Steve Farmer, which is misleading. W hat has happened is obvious: The photograph of the Mackay 453 seal in the work titled Further Excavations in Mohenjodaro has been scanned and the printer's notes "more plate key, 453/443" have been added in three lines at the right-hand corner on the scanned image. By zooming in four times, you get the photograph as shown in the third image on page 128. If you just zoom out this image using any image editor software, you can read the original lettering. There is no computer enhancement or any att empt to distort evidence.

Dr. S. Kalyanaraman
Chennai

Muslim personal law

I express the following views on behalf of most of the women participants at the meeting of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board in Bangalore ("A missed opportunity", November 24). With the exception of a few, nearly all the women members felt that th e conditional contract clause of nikahnama is virtually a non-issue.

Citing the failure of various laws that are aimed at protecting the rights of women, they said that laws alone could not help improve the status of women. As long as Muslim society remains distant from the real spirit of the Shariat, the lot of Muslim wo men is not going to improve. The majority of women members at the meeting felt that it was more important for the Board to ensure that the rights granted to women by Islam were enforced. They suggested that positive and practical steps be taken by the Bo ard to inculcate proper Islamic education in the community. There is an urgent need for social reform.

It is childish to think that the mere inclusion of such a contract would alleviate the woes of women. How can those who have no hesitation in breaking the laws of Allah, despite the dire warnings and admonitions explicitly pronounced in the Koran, be per suaded to abide by a simple contract they have signed? Where is the guarantee that the guilty will be brought to book? We have witnessed so many instances of people escaping the long arm of the law by means of legal manoeuvres. Is there a decrease in wom en-related crimes in spite of all the efforts of the law-enforcing authority?

An examination of the draft contract clause revealed that it was inadequate and at many places ran counter to the Shariat. The women members vehemently opposed the passing of this draft, and insisted on a rethink by the Board. In fact more efforts are ne eded to start educational and vocational schemes for Muslim women so that they can become self-dependent.

Dr. Shahnaz Begum
Member, All India Muslim
Personal Law Board
Darbhanga, Bihar

Russia

The article on Russia ("The Eurasian strategy", November 10) explains the efforts made by President Vladimir Putin to restore to the nation its old glories.

The erstwhile Soviet Union definitely had supremacy over the United States in many areas of science, especially in defence and space technology. But its successor state could not add anything new to the achievements made during the Soviet era. This was m ainly attributed to the anarchy and the worst economic conditions that prevailed in Russia throughout the last decade. But Putin's ascendancy as President late last year seems to have changed the situation. The victory in Chechnya, the improvement in rel ations with India and China, and the tough stands taken in international affairs have all convinced the world about the new leader's vision and determination.

However, there is hardly any room for complacency.

Even though Russia has a solid base in defence and space technology, the country lacks expertise in information technology. Russia must overcome this handicap if it wants to become a global power again.

Putin seems to have realised the importance of developing a strong IT base. One of the objectives of his visit to India was to get the required expertise in this field. It also brings cheer to all those who oppose the global hegemony by a single superpow er.

Pradeep Krishnan
Palakkad

Kashmir

More and more violence seems to be destroying the chances of a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir problem. However, more alarming is the polarisation of politics in Jammu and Kashmir on communal lines. The agendas driving the forces of division are long- term and sinister.

Some politicians' short-sighted policies, driven by expediency and opportunism, aggravate the problem. Islamisation of militancy, the demand for Panun Kashmir, Regional Autonomy Commission and now the forced controversy over the 2001 Census - all these h ave pushed Kashmir to disharmony and dissonance.

Kamrul Haque
Lanka, Assam