TAKE A CUE FROM HIM

A detailed profile of Geet Sethi: the dominant player of English Billiards and notable Snookers player of India

PERSONAL DETAILS:
Name: Geet Siriram Sethi
Birth: 17th April 1961 at Delhi
Family Status: Married to wife Kiran, has two children: daughter Jazz and son Raag
Education: Studied at St. Xavier’s School, Ahmedabad

• BA from St. Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad
• MBA from BK School of Management

Works for: Tata Oil Mills as the Manager

INTO THE CUE WORLD:

Start: At the members’ table – Managing Committee of the Gujarat Sports Club, Ahmedabad
Inspiration: Satish Menon, a very successful Billiards player of the time

NATIONAL CIRCUIT:

1979: Won both the Junior National Billiards Championship and Junior National Snooker Championship
1982: Created a double in the National Billiards, when he won the Junior National Doubles Billiards Championship and defeated Michael Ferreira to win the Senior National Billiards title
1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988: Won both the Indian National Billiards Championship and Indian National Snooker Championship
1997 and 2007: Won the Indian National Billiards Championship again
2008: Runner Up in the Indian National Billiards Championship and entered the Top-16 Round in the Indian National Snooker Championship

 

INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT:

1984: Won the International Snooker Professional-cum-Amateur Championship in England & the International Billiards Amateur Championship in Windsor
1985, 1987 and 2001: Won the IBSF World Billiards Championship 
1986: Won the Asian Billiards Championship
1989: World Amateur Snooker semi-finalist‚ Asian Snooker Championship number 3
1992, 1993, 1995, 1998 and 2006: Grabbed the World Professional Billiards Championship
1996, 2003, 2005 and 2008: Runner Up in the World Professional Billiards Championship
1998: Double Gold Medal at the Bangkok Asian Games collaborated with Ashok Shandilya
2002: Busan Asian Games – won a Silver Medal in the Doubles event and a Bronze Medal in the Singles event
2006: Bronze Medal in the Doubles event at the Doha Asian Games in partnership with Ashok Shandilya. Also, won the USA Senior Team Snooker Championship in partnership with Devendra Joshi and BVS Moorthy
2007: Won the Irish Open Billiards Championship and a Silver Medal at Indoor Asian Games English Billiards tournament
2008: Won the English Billiards Open Series held at Prestatyn, Wales and finished as a Runner Up in the World Pro Billiards Championship held at Leeds

ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Winner of eight World titles including five World Professional and three IBSF World Billiards Championships
• Featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the first amateur in the world to compile the maximum 147 break in Snooker in 1989 at National Snooker Championships held at Guntur, Andhra Pradesh
• Made a break of 1276 in the 1992 World Professional Billiards Championship, a World Record. This is the highest world championship break of the last 50 years
• Padma Shri (1986)
• Arjuna Award (1986)
• Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award (1992-93)
• KK Birla Sports Foundation Award 1993

OTHER ACTIVITIES:

• Co-founder of Olympic Gold Quest, a program of Foundation for Promotion of Sports and Games
• Authored a book ‘Success v/s Joy

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A CODE FOR THE BREACH OF CODE

General understanding on the IPC – Indian Penal Code

Every country needs a system to function smoothly. A system is made up of laws. And where there are laws, there is breach of laws. This is when the Indian Penal Code (IPC) comes into picture.

IPC is the backbone of the Indian Criminal Justice System. It is a document that has been formulated to counter crimes of various natures and breach of laws. IPC is a complete code that covers all the aspects of criminal law. It was first drafted in 1860, while it came into force in colonial India during the British Raj in 1862. It has been amended several times since then and is now supplemented by other criminal provisions. IPC covers different crimes separately and lists out the penalties for those found guilty under any of the mentioned offences.

TRACING THE ROOTS

The First Law Commission, chaired by Lord Macaulay, prepared the draft of the Indian Penal Code. The base of the code had derived inspiration from the laws of England, French Penal Code and Livingstone’s Code of Louisiana. The other members of the Legislature then were Chief Justice Sir Barnes Peacock and judges from the Calcutta High Court. After reviews and careful revisions, the law was passed on October 6 1860.

IPC COVERS

IPC covers all states of India and is also applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. However, it is known in this state as the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC). It covers any Indian citizen or a person of Indian origin. The exception here is that any kind of crimes by military or the armed forces have a different dedicated list of laws and the IPC does not have the privilege to replace any part of it. The code also has the power to charge for any crimes committed by a person who is an Indian citizen on any means of transport belonging to India – an Indian aircraft or an Indian ship.

After independence, Indian Penal Code was inherited by Pakistan and Bangladesh, as then they were a part of British India. It was also adopted wholesale by the British colonial authorities in Burma, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. It remains the basis of the criminal codes in those countries.

THE ULTIMATE LAW ENFORCER

None of the 511 sections of the IPC includes any special favors or relaxations on any particular person at some position of power. It is universally acknowledged as a clear, logical and convincing code. It has substantially survived for over 150 years in several jurisdictions without major amendments.
The Indian Penal Code has over the years evolved into a modern, law enforcing and the most fundamental document that stands as a pillar of the Indian judiciary.

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SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRE: GAUTAM ADANI

From being a University dropout, to having his own University, Gautam Adani is the first billionaire from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. We have heard of success stories of people with the highest degrees, hierarchy of business, monetary power or a healthy circle of friends and family. But if we observe keenly, the supreme success stories are tagged ‘rags to riches’. Similar is the story of Gautam Adani, the 6th richest person in India, with a personal wealth of US $10 billion.

THE WHIZ KID

Gautam Adani was born to a Gujarati Jain family of Shantaben and Shantilal Adani on 24 June 1962, in Ahmedabad. The family had migrated to the city from the smaller place called Tharad in northern Gujarat, in search of means to earn a decent living for their eight children. Needless to say, the monetary situation was very tight. Gautam had a few hundred rupees on hand at the age of 18, when he set out to the land of dreams, Mumbai in search of a living.

Gautam was a student of Seth CN Vidyalaya and later dropped out of the Gujarat University, where he was pursuing second year for his Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce. He started his career as a diamond sorter at Mahindra Brothers in Mumbai. After working for two years, Gautam set up his own diamond brokerage unit at Zaveri Bazaar, the biggest jeweler market of the city. It was here that he earned his first lakh.

THE BIZ KID

In 1981, one year later, his elder brother Mansukhbhai, bought a plastics unit in Ahmedabad and asked Gautam to run it. This marked his advent in the field of global trading as he started importing polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a key raw material for manufacturing plastics.

After the economic liberalization in India, the import duty on various goods was slit. This had a positive impact on the profits of Adani Exports, then the flagship company of Gautam Adani. Today, the Adani Group has transformed into a multibillion-dollar business empire. Under the leadership of Gautam Adani, the Group has emerged as a diversified Energy and Logistics conglomerate with interests in Power Generation & Transmission, Coal Trading & Mining, Gas Distribution, Oil & Gas Exploration, along with Ports, Special Economic Zones et al. The Group also runs the Adani Foundation, started in 1996 as a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The foundation is involved in various activities such as rural development, education and health.

Today, the flagship of his Rs 27,000-crore empire, Adani Enterprises Ltd., has been rated among the 50 top performing Asian companies by Forbes magazine. His three listed companies – Adani Enterprises, Adani Power and Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone have a combined market capitalization that places the group among India’s top 10 business houses.
Listed by the Forbes in March 2011, Gautam Adani is also the proud owner of two private jets – a Beech craft jet purchased in 2005 and a Hawker purchased in 2007.

PERSONAL PROXIMITY

Gautam is happily married to Mrs. Priti Adani, a dentist by profession. She heads the Adani Foundation as the managing trustee. The couple has two sons, the elder one, Karan Adani, is 20 years of age and the younger one, Jeet Adani, is 10 years of age. The elder son is presently pursuing his Business Studies in Management at the Purdue University, USA.
Adani Group has been a generous contributor to Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). Also, Gautam has proximity to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. It was speculated that Adani bid for the Ahmedabad franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament at Modi’s urging, though the bid failed.

LESSONS OF SURVIVAL AND SUCCESS

Gautam Adani is an icon of unwavering focus and continuous learning. He has set up milestones in his journey towards a strong and energy-sufficient India. Gautam has proved that the best learning comes from the most unconventional real-life situations, where everyone has to learn to first survive before achieving success.

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THERE HAS TO BE A BEGINNING…

GETTING INTO THE ROOTS OF THE INDIAN CULTURE AND HERITAGE THROUGH THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

A well-planned city
Two storied houses
With private baths and drinking wells
State-of-the-art sewage systems
Kids playing with toys
Women beautifying themselves with jewellery and lipsticks
Dances, swimming pools and creative crafts
And all this existed 5000 years ago! 

It is not just another story to lure your kid to sleep. These real facts and situations existed during the Indus Valley Civilization which flourished from about 3000-2,500 BCE to about 1500-1900 BCE. This means that it existed at about the same time as the Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations. The civilization was spread over an area of some 1,260,000 km, making it the largest ancient civilization in the world. Also, it is one of the earliest urban civilizations of the world.

However, much is not know about the marvelous Indus Valley Civilization, as we have not been able to decipher their scripts until today.

DUG OUT

The ruins of Harappa were first described in 1842 by Charles Masson in his ‘Narrative of Various Journeys in Baluchistan, Afghanistan and the Punjab’. In 1856, the British engineers accidentally used bricks from the Harappa ruins for building the East Indian Railway line between Karachi and Lahore. In the year 1912, J Fleet discovered Harappan seals. This incident led to an excavation campaign under Sir John Hubert Marshall in 1921-1922. The result of the excavation was discovery of Harappa by Sir John Marshall, Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni and Madho Sarup Vats and Mohenjo-Daro by Rakhal Das Banerjee, EJH MacKay and Sir John Marshall.

The excavations continued. After the partition of India in 1947, the area of the Indus Valley Civilization was divided between India and Pakistan.

TOPOGRAPHY

The Indus Valley Civilization extended from Baluchistan to Gujarat and from the east of the river Jhelum to Rupar. It covered almost entire Pakistan along with the western states of India. Even though most of the sites have been found on the river embankments, some have been excavated from the ancient seacoast and islands as well. About a 500 sites have been unearthed along the dried up riverbeds of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries according to the archeologists. There are approximately a 100 along the Indus and its tributaries.
Among the settlements were the major urban centers of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, as well as Dholavira, Ganweriwala, Lothal, Kalibanga and Rakhigarhi.

A DEEP INSIGHT

Houses and Infrastructure:

It is believed that the Indus Valley was a very advanced civilization. The houses were made of baked brick, with flat roofs and were just about identical. Each home had its own drinking well and private bathroom. They were proud owners of the best sewage system. Clay pipes led from the bathrooms to sewers located under the streets. These sewers drained into nearly rivers and streams. The advanced architecture is shown by their impressive dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms and protective walls.

Lifestyle:

Excavations show that women possessed jewellery of gold and precious stones. They even wore lipsticks. Among the treasures found, was a statue of a woman wearing a bracelet. Also, a statue of a dancer was found.

Scientists have found the remains of a large central pool in Mohenjo-Daro, with steps leading down at both ends and smaller pools that could have been private baths. This central pool could have been a public swimming pool or perhaps been used for religious ceremonies.

Not much information is available on their agriculture and food habits. But majorly, the cultivated cereal crop was naked six-row barley, a crop derived from two-row barley. It is believed that they worshipped a Mother Goddess, who symbolized fertility.

Arts and crafts:

Toy making, pottery, weaving and metalworking must have been the skills of the then people. Arts and crafts that have been unearthed include sculptures, shell works, ceramics, agate, glazed steatite bead making, special kind of combs, toys, seals, figurines in terracotta, bronze and steatite, etc.

Science:

The people of Indus Valley are believed to be amongst the first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures. Their smallest division was approximately 1.704 mm. The brick weights were in a perfect ratio of 4:2:1. The numerous inventions of the Indus River Valley Civilization include an instrument used for measuring whole sections of the horizon and the tidal dock. The people of Harappa evolved new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead and tin. They also had the knowledge of proto-dentistry and the touchstone technique of gold testing.

A FASCINATING RIDDLE

It’s a mystery as to where such a flourishing civilization vanished. The major reasons of the decline are believed to be connected with climate change. Not only did the climate become much cooler and drier than before, but substantial portions of the Ghaggar-Hakra river system also disappeared.

A definite reason is still elusive. It has also been suggested that the Aryans who were the next settlers, may have attacked and destroyed the Indus Valley Civilization, since their epics talk about their conquest of great cities. Such theories of a violent end have been partly proved by the discovery in Mohenjo-Daro of human remains that indicated a violent cause of death.
However, the Indus Valley Civilization did not disappear suddenly. Its many elements can be found in later cultures. There is no exact evidence of where this civilization came from or where it went. Let us study and dig out more about the history to design a better future.

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THE RIGHT TO SAY ‘NO’

• Vishwanath Pratap Singh (1990)
• H. D. Deve Gowda (1997)
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1999)

What is common amongst the three? These all were defeated Prime Ministers of India – defeated by a parliamentary motion of no confidence.

WHAT IS A MOTION OF NO CONFIDENCE?

It is alternatively known as vote of no confidence, censure motion or no-confidence motion. It is a parliamentary vote that represents the parliament’s lack of confidence in the ruling party’s ability to lead the country. The elected members of the parliament vote for this motion. A passed motion of no confidence usually results in the Government’s fall and the calling of a general election.

RESPONSE TO THE MOTION

In an existing Government, when a motion of no confidence is passed, the head of state replies in either of the two ways:
• Ask another individual, who he believes will command the confidence of parliament, to try to form a Government
• Dissolve the elected parliament and call a general election to elect a new parliament
To determine whether an individual can gain the confidence of the parliament or not, the head of state examines whether that individual has the backing of a parliamentary party or a coalition of parties and MPs. He may also be selected based on an agreement of support with enough parliamentary seats to withstand any confidence challenges against them. If this cannot be done, parliament is dissolved and a general election is called.

EXAMPLES

The first record of a motion of no confidence occurred in the United Kingdom in 1782 immediately after the British defeat in the American colonies at Yorktown. The then Prime Minister Lord North presented his resignation to King George III. In the United Kingdom, there have been 11 Prime Ministers defeated through a no-confidence motion. There has been only one (against James Callaghan) since 1925.

Unlike the British system, in Germany the Chancellor is not required to resign if he or she receives a motion of no confidence.

MOTION OF NO CONFIDENCE IS NOT IMPEACHMENT

Many people mistakenly associate a motion of no confidence with the term ‘impeachment’. The two words mean different things. Impeachment implies that a crime has been committed by a Government official. It is a rare political process. However, politicians may receive motion of no confidence. And that doesn’t imply that the person under the vote has committed a crime.
It should be noted that in modern times, votes of no confidence are relatively rare occurrences in democracies. Parties typically handle tiffs among their members without resorting to the motion of no confidence.

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BEHIND THE GLAMOROUS CURTAINS

The glittering glamour world of India is and has always been an aspiration for majority of the youth. People in India idolize film stars and worship them. The world of entertainment attracts thousands of people all over the year viz. models, middle class people, musicians, actors trying to get a break and become famous. People leave their homes and families glared by the attractive side of the industry. Drawn by the intoxicating and flashy allure, all these aspirants see themselves as Amitabh Bacchan, Shahrukh Khan and Aishwariya Rai!

But what we don’t understand is that just as there is a dark side to the moon, there is a dark side to this shining industry as well. It is full of ‘behind the curtain’ stories that are not shown on the screen, that do not make the headlines and that are taken off the records.

Multimillion-dollar bungalows and sleek black Porches & Ferraris serve both, as an inspiration and a frustrating reminder of how far away the dream still is. This frustration devastates the lives of the wannabes, in the end. People with ambitions come and in the process, get lost in the fast moving world. There are a lot of unforeseen circumstances which take place and project the bad side of the glamour world. But by the time people realize, it is too late.

It is not just glamour, glory and grandeur. Behind the scenes are the toil, challenges, hardships and rigors. It is a laborer’s job and one has to withstand mental, creative pressure. Respect comes after a lot of slog and those who cannot cope up, succumb badly. It is not as rosy as it looks unless one has a family hierarchy in the industry, a huge amount of cash or the backing of a rich businessperson willing to invest!

THE UGLY FACE OF THE INDUSTRY

Victim: Raj Kiran

Immediately related to ‘Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho…’ and recalled as the one who played Rishi Kapoor’s ‘pre-incarnation’ in Subhash Ghai’s ‘Karz’, actor Raj Kiran had gone missing for almost a decade. Later, he was also assumed dead by his friends. However, some of his friends and co-actors refused to believe his death rumors and decided to launch a search for their missing friend.  The entire search process commenced with the Facebook campaign of Deepti Naval who had acted with the actor in the film ‘Hip Hip Hurray’. She posted on the social networking site, “Looking for a friend from the film world, his name is Raj Kiran – we have no news of him – last heard he was driving a cab in NY city, if anyone has any clue, please tell…” “All we need to know is that Raj Kiran is okay somewhere… would love to reach out to him… he is a good actor – remember ‘Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho – kya gham hai jisko chhupa rahe ho…’ she said.   Meanwhile, actor Rishi Kapoor took it upon himself to find out. During a recent trip to the US, he looked up to Raj’s elder brother, Govind Mehtani to get more information – and that is when the truth was established. Raj Kiran has been fending for himself, without any family support at a mental health home in Atlanta. Says Rishi, “I’ve been wondering where Raj had disappeared. The question was haunting me for a very long time. Then these rumors of Raj being no more began doing the rounds. I was really disturbed. How can a colleague with whom I shared some really good times just vanish from the face of earth? I decided to look up Raj’s elder brother Govind Mehtani to find out about Raj.” But the irony is that his brothers – Govind and Ajit – had deserted him in his time of need. They didn’t even have a contact number to pass on to Rishi Kapoor. The actor was abandoned by his son and wife long back. The incident resulted in erratic mood swings and an acute mental depression. He was institutionalized in India before he was shifted to the US. He looks after his own treatment by working within the institution. It’s a heart-rending situation for an actor who was so successful at one time. Raj Kiran has worked in films like BR Ishaara’s Kaagaz Ki Nao, Ghar Ho To Aisa with Anil Kapoor, Meenakshi Sheshadri and Deepti Naval and Kaaran apart from Subhash Ghai’s hit Karz and Mahesh Bhatt’s critically acclaimed Arth in the 1980s.

Victim: Parveen Babi   

Known for her glamorous long tresses, Parveen Babi was the sizzling glamour doll of the 70s and 80s. In her heydays, she romanced some of the best-looking men in the industry. Parveen never married but had relationships with many married men – director Mahesh Bhatt, actors Kabir Bedi and Danny Denzongpa. She was also strongly rumored to have had an affair with her co-star of many films, Amitabh Bachchan.   Parveen began her career with modeling and later shifted to the film industry. She was considered one of the most successful actors of her era. She starred in Deewar, Amar Akbar Anthony, Shaan, Namak Halal, Suhaag, Kala Patthar and others.   Like many other stars, she was also encircled in many controversies. She had accused many foreign dignitaries and her former co-star, Amitabh Bachchan, of conspiring to kill her, but her petition in court was dismissed for lack of evidence.   Parveen was too outspoken and openly talked about drugs; she even openly advocated her free love. However, she completely vanished from the industry in the mid-80s. She reportedly suffered from schizophrenia and sought mental solace through alternative contemporary spirituality. Parveen had then shifted to New York and when she returned, she was unrecognizable as her former self after having put on a considerable amount of weight.    Parveen had withdrew herself from the public due to her mental instability. She was found dead in her Mumbai apartment on January 22, 2005 after her residential society secretary complained to the police that she had not collected milk and newspapers from her doorstep for the past two days. The whole industry went gaga with her on-screen presence. But she died a lonely, controversial and forgotten death.

Victims: Geetanjali Nagpal, Renu Rathi 

The journey from ramp to road is very frequent when it comes to modeling. The story of Geetanjali Nagpal, a designer turned model, is hard to believe. She was one of the top models appearing in the best of advertisements with brands like Lakme. Geetanjali once walked over ramp with Miss Universe 1994, Sushmita Sen in the 90s and others of same class.    The model is believed to have been a victim of drug abuse and alcohol addiction. She was rescued from the pavements in the national capital by a team from Delhi Commission for Women. They found her living off the streets, spending her nights in parks and temples and working as a maid. She also spent her nights with men for money to quell her craving for drugs.   After she was rescued from begging at a posh market in Delhi, she was admitted to VIMHANS Hospital, where doctors diagnosed her as suffering from fear psychosis. Similar is the story of the model Renu Rathi. She was found on the streets outside her rented flat in Bandra, Mumbai. She was allegedly lying there for two days without food or water after her landlord allegedly ‘threw her out’. Not being able to get success under big banners, Renu had turned to drugs.

IT’S AN UNFORESEEN SAGA 

Everyone, be it you or me, desires instant acquisition of money and fame. But it doesn’t take long before these ambitions get lost in the big, bad world, where there is ruthless competition in every step of ascent to the top. Unpredictability of personal relationships, lack of privacy, high depression levels and ever-increasing ego problems with the competitors also pop up with time. For some, the pressure is too much to bear, which pushes them towards dark paths of drugs, alcohol and crime.   It is worth pursuing as a career only if one is well aware of the pros and cons and is willing to cope with the failures. And remember, not all that glitters is gold!

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A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE

GUJARAT IS HOME TO SOME OF THE MOST EXOTIC EMBROIDERIES. LET US SAVE THEM, KNOW THEM AND ADORE THEM BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.

Gujarat is better called Manchester of the East. It has been involved in textiles since centuries. Almost all parts of the state have a unique style of textiles, weaving and embroideries. All the creations have a versatility that makes the embroideries famous all over the world.

SAURASHTRA AND KUTCH

The most important centers of embroidery work of Gujarat are located in the Saurashtra and Kutch regions and are admired for their creative excellence. Kutch, being a desert, there are less chances to celebrate life. But the way people live is really varied and appreciable. The women add colors to life and create innumerable opportunities to celebrate everyday life through their arts. A striking feature of the Kutch embroidery is that at a very early age, the girls acquire the embroidery skills and they prepare their own wedding garments. These exclusively created embroidered works are then sent to the in-laws for closer examination, which is one of the important criteria for deciding matrimonial alliances!

Saurashtra, on the other hand, is home to the oldest form of embroidery, Kathi, which is known for its romantic motifs.
The designs and the techniques vary with the communities and regions. Apart from this, the embroidering is a source of second income for most of the nomads, wives of the herdsmen and agriculturalists of Gujarat.

DIFFERENT PATTERNS AND ARTIFACTS

The artisans of Gujarat use an array of stitches that are used to decorate the items. The embroidery of Gujarat is highly praised for the distinct quality of raw material and the creations follow an excellent technique. The embroidery work done by the people of Gujarat thus displays the artisanship of the local artisans. These deserve promotion and acceptance.

Whenever we visit Kutch or Saurashtra, let’s make it a point to bring home these colors of life!

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GRASSROOTS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

India is a collection of small and big villages. In addition, Panchayats have been the backbone of Indian villages since the beginning of recorded history. Gandhiji, the father of the nation, in 1946 had aptly remarked that the Indian Independence must begin at the bottom. He wished that every village should be a Republic or Panchayat having powers. He named this as ‘Gram Swaraj’ (Village Self-rule).
On 15th May 1989, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had introduced a constitutional amendment bill in the Lok Sabha. This was initiated to make Panchayati Raj a truly representative and effective system in India. The bill could not become a law, as it was not passed by the Rajya Sabha. It was reintroduced in the new parliament by the Narasimha Rao Government.
And the wish of Gandhiji came true, when through the 73rd Amendment in 1992; on April 23, 1993 the Institution of Panchayati Raj was accorded the constitutional status.

THE FOUNDATION

Panchayati Raj is a system of governance in which Gram (village) Panchayats are the basic units of administration. It is a decentralized system of self-government, where each village is responsible for its own affairs.
The concept comes from the traditional assemblies that settled individual and village disputes. ‘Panchayat’ literally means assembly (yat) of five (panch) wise and respected elders chosen and accepted by the village community.
The main aim of Panchayati Raj is to see that the community at large participates in strengthening of the systems and in the development journey along with the Government. This aim has been translated into reality with the introduction of the three-tier system viz.

• Gram Panchayat
• Taluka Panchayat
• District Panchayat

In Gujarat, there are 26 District Panchayats, 224 Taluka Panchayats and 13,693 Gram Panchayats, while the revenue villages are 18,356.
The Panchayati Raj system exists in all the states of India except Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

THE 73RD AMENDMENT

The Amendment Act of 1992 contains provision for devolution of powers and responsibilities to the Panchayats. These are delegated to Panchayats at the appropriate level:

• Preparation of plan for economic development and social justice
• Implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice in relation to 29 subjects given in 11th schedule of the Constitution
• To levy, collect and appropriate taxes, duties, tolls and fees

The provisions of the Act are as follows:

• Establishment of a three-tier structure
• Establishment of Gram Sabhas at the village level
• Regular elections to Panchayats every five years
• Proportionate seat reservation for SCs/STs
• Reservation of not less than 1/3 seats for women
• Constitution of State Finance Commissions to recommended measures to improve the finances of Panchayats
• Constitution of State Election Commission
• Others

To support this Act and to look after all the matters related to the Panchayati Raj, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj was formed on 27th May 2004. The Ministry advocates the working and implementation of this Act and ensures systematic function of the Panchayati Raj.
Panchayati raj is indeed the grassroots of any self-government. It ensures greater participation of people and more effective implementation of rural development programs. Freedom and development can be sustained only when it begins from the bottom. And thus, every village has to be self-sustained and capable of managing its affairs even to the extent of defending itself against the whole world. What can be a better system than Panchayati Raj for achieving this goal?

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THE SAGA OF PERPETUAL STRUGGLE

THE STORY OF THE SIMPLE YEARNING, SELFLESS CHURNING AND SUBLIME LEARNING OF DR. JIVRAJ MEHTA

First Chief Minister of Gujarat, pioneer of Medical Education in India, pioneer of Hospital Organization in India, personal doctor to Gandhiji – Dr. Jivraj Mehta. He was the architect of not only his own life, but he lent a new direction to the medical science of India.

EARLY LIFE, ACADEMICS

Jivraj Narayan Mehta was born on 29th August 1887 in Amreli, a small town in Saurashtra in Gujarat. His family struggled to make two ends meet. But this could not obstruct the goals and the spirit of Dr. Mehta. This spirit was further shored up, thanks to the strong influence of his grandmother, a woman of drive and determination, and to the encouragement of his schoolteacher Apte Sahib. He often studies under the streetlights. He also gave tuitions to supplement the family income.
Dr. Mehta took up medicine with the inspiration from Dr. Eduljee Rustomji Dadachandjee, a civil surgeon in Amreli. He secured admission into the Grant Medical College and Sir J.J. Hospital, Bombay. His medical education was sponsored by the Seth VM Kapol Boarding Trust. He was also endowed with the Jamkhande scholarship -a scholarship that was reserved for the poorest of the freshly admitted students.
Dr. Mehta topped his class in medicine. In his final year, he won seven of the eight prizes open to his batch and shared the eighth prize with his hostel roommate Kashinath Dikshit. He further, acquired a prestigious fellowship from the Tata Education Foundation and pursued masters from London Hospital Medical College. Mehta lived from 1909 to 1915 in London. He was the president of the Indian Students Association in London where he studied medicine and did his FRCS there. He was a junior doctor in the Out-Patients Department of The London Hospital before working in The London Hospital Pathological Institute as Pathological Assistant. He won University gold medal in his MD examinations in 1914. Later, in 1915 he had been made a member of the prestigious Royal College of Physicians of London.

FROM A DOCTOR TO A NATIONALIST

Following his British education, he returned to India and entered into private practice that was quite rewarding. After leaving London, Dr Mehta returned to India, where he married Hansa, kin to the Diwan of Baroda. Meanwhile, he came in touch with Gandhiji and served as his personal doctor. He served many positions like:

• The first ‘Dewan’ (Prime Minister) of the erstwhile Baroda state in free India, sworn-in on September 4, 1948
• Director General of health services
• Secretary to the Ministry of health
• Minister of public works, finance, industry and prohibition for the then province of Bombay
• First Chief Minister of the newly formed Gujarat state from April 1960 to September 1963
• Indian high commissioner to the United Kingdom (1963–66)

MEDICAL SERVICES

Dr. Jivraj Mehta was the founder-architect of Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College and King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. He devotedly served the cause of these institutions in the unenviable post of their first Dean over an eventful period of 18 years (1925-42). He was thrice elected president of the All India Medical Congress and president of the Indian Medical Association.
Dr Mehta’s suggestions, based on his London Hospital experiences, for the organization of the new hospital were radically different from the traditional design of teaching hospitals in India, where each department tended to be located in isolated blocks. He suggested that the whole medical college be housed in one building, encouraging co-operation between different departments. Also at Dr Mehta’s suggestion, the KEM Hospital was the first in India to have the Out-patients Department housed within the main hospital building. Here the first heart transplant and the birth of the first test-tube baby in India were to take place and the medical school became one of the most successful in India.

When Dr. Jivraj Mehta died in 1977, aged 91, a hospital in Ahmedabad was named after him.

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THE MOST CARED FOR BANK: VOTE BANK

In the times of recession, when most of the organizations suffered, banks were also one of them. But one bank that is always cared for and is on the upward slide in India, is the Vote Bank.

Vote Bank is a loyal group of voters who belong to a single community. The quality of such voters is that they always support one particular candidate or a party in the democratic elections. This practice is more common in India due to the existence of caste-based social structure that constrains the individual choice while voting. Often, the votes are driven by the expectation of real or imagined benefits from the political formations. This is ultimately considered harmful for a democracy.

The practice of creating and maintaining such Vote banks is called Vote Bank Politics. This term has no actual, universal definition and is exclusively Indian. However, an understanding of the phrase can be articulated – Vote Bank Politics is a political strategy in which a politician or a party concentrates on the well-being of just one particular group of people to win the elections and doesn’t really focus on other groups, or the country/society as a whole.

COINED BY:

The term Vote Bank was first coined by the Indian sociologist MN Srinivas, in his 1955 paper entitled ‘The Social System of a Mysore Village’. The term talked about the political influence exerted by a patron over a client. The phrase was re-used by FG Bailey, an anthropology professor at the University of California, in 1959, in a book entitled ‘Politics and Social Change’. It referred to the caste based politics and electoral influences.

Since then, the term has been used popularly throughout Asian countries and soon expanded to describe Vote Bank Politics based on other community characteristics as well, like religion and language.

Apart from the diversity in social structure in India, one more reason exists why Vote Bank Politics here is rampant. Any election in which people cast their votes, the party or candidate with the maximum votes is the winner. In India, there are several parties and candidates, each representing a group. So among them, whoever gets the maximum votes win. These ‘maximum votes’ may even be as less as 10%. So if the electorate is as diverse as it is in India, all one needs to ensure is to keep one’s ‘Vote Bank’ happy. And be assured of an election win!

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