War helps no one on this planet – specially not the people, plants and all living beings who inhabit it. One Vorld One Universe One Mankind is the guiding principle, which will help resolve all issues. One would like to promote world peace, but with dignity for all and without compromise to extremism. There are hardly any who talk about peace in the present scenario in Europe. However two leaders who stand out and are proactive about peace are undoubtedly Modi and Macron. PM Modi’s role came into limelight during SCO summit, but ever since war began he has been talking about peace privately to Putin and also Zelensky. On the other hand President Macron met President Putin in Moscow, way back in February 2022 aiming for a de-escalation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit at Samarkand in Uzbekistan has created hopes that perhaps it might be a catalyst to the end of Russia-Ukraine war. While his intervention has received approval from the world leaders, it has also grabbed the attention of leading international press and media

Japanese publication, NHK headlined “Indian PM Modi tells Putin to pursue peace”, Even Chinese media approved of it as the Hong Kong-based l South China Morning Post reported: Now is ‘not a time for war’, India’s Modi tells Russia’s Putin who agrees to ‘end this as soon as possible.’

Politico from US reported; “India’s Modi tells Putin: This is ‘not the era for war” and US News headlines was “Indian PM Modi Tells Russia’s Putin Now ‘Is Not an Era of War”.

On Internationally telecast media, while expressing his concerns about the impact of the war on food and energy security, PM Modi told Putin, “Today’s era is not of war and I have spoken to you about it on the call. Today we will get the opportunity to talk about how we can progress on the path of peace. India and Russia have stayed together with each other for several decades,”

“We spoke several times on the phone about India-Russia bilateral relations and various issues. We should find ways to address the problems of food, fuel security and fertilizers. I want to thank Russia and Ukraine for helping us to evacuate our students from Ukraine,” the Prime Minister added.

International media appreciated PM Modi’s diplomatic tact, who in a friendly manner pushed the concerns of the world at large to its long-standing friend Russia.

CNN appreciated PM Modi’s understanding of the situation and reported ” Indian leader Narendra Modi tells Putin: Now is not the time for war”

Washington Post, headlined “Modi rebukes Putin over war in Ukraine”.

“India’s Leader Tells Putin That Now Is Not an Era for War,” The New York Times said in its headline

Following the SCO summit, India’s role as a peace maker was applauded at the 77th UN General Assembly by world leaders. French President Emmanuel Macron proclaimed that Indian PM Modi was right when he said that time is not for war, not for revenge against the west or for opposing the west against east. It is time for our sovereign equal states to cope together with challenges we face: . German envoy quipped “very well put” to PM Modis remark on the Russia Ukraine conflict. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan cited Modi’s remark urging Putin to end the war.  Other world leaders like Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky , Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,also cited Modi’s advice in their speeches. Indian External Affairs Minister summarized; “I am concluding this week with the sense that India really matters more in this polarised world and much of that is also due to the Prime Minister’s leadership, his image, what he has done on the global stage,”

PM Modi also had a telephonic conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wherein as per official sources, he conveyed India’s readiness to contribute to any peace efforts in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. he stated that there can be no military solution to the conflict and reiterated his call for early cessation of hostilities and the need to pursue the path of dialogue and diplomacy..

Unlike India, France did not take a neutral stand at UN and voted against Russia in the security council. Yet even before PM Modi’s advice to President Putin Macron has been advocating a reconciliatory approach. As reported by world media, including EuroNews

As far back as May 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron has warned against humiliating Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, if and when any peace settlement is agreed.

He told reporters in Strasbourg that once the war ends, Moscow and Kyiv will eventually have to sit down and negotiate with each other, so any further tensions will only serve to the detriment of the situation.

“We will have a peace to build tomorrow, let us never forget that,” Macron said on Monday. “I mentioned this earlier. We will have to do this with Ukraine and Russia around the table. The end of the discussion and the negotiation will be set by Ukraine and Russia. But it will not be done in denial, nor in exclusion of each other, nor even in humiliation.”

Macron also laid out his vision of a broader community of European democracies that would allow for deeper cooperation between non-EU countries. (EuroNews 9th May)

Even earlier on February 7, 2022 NY Times headline news was “Macron meets Putin in Moscow, aiming for a de-escalation”. It went on to add “President Emmanuel Macron of France, who has positioned himself at the center of Europe’s furious diplomatic maneuvering over Ukraine, said on Monday that the continent was at a “critical crossroads” as he met in Moscow with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia”..However there were murmurs of disapproval by some other countries watch the vido below to get both sided of the story.

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Our Columnist Sunil Sarpal recalls the recent background to this war.

The war between USSR and Ukrain broke out approx. 6 months ago.  The cause of disenchantment was that USSR did not want Ukrain joining NATO.  USSR feared that if Ukrain, whose border separates the two nations, join NATO, other NATO affiliated nations’ forces could line up Ukrain border and intimidate USSR.   As of now, the situation has unfolded that 20% Ukrain territory is under USSR control and the war goes on unabated.  The devastation took place because of the war is unprecedented. 

Is Zelenskey responsible for the war or Putin ?

Putin’s invasion of Ukrain proved a total miscalculation.  As days progressed, it seems that the war will go on and on.   Because Ukrain forces retaliated in such a manner that USSR  forces ran away from the warring zone, leaving behind tanks, arma and others weapons in order to save their lives. 

On both sides, the loss of lives and infrastructure took place as never before. 

When war broke out an assurance came from none other than USA to Ukrain that they are whole-heartedly behind them, but USA never sent his forces to Ukrain.  Of course, sanctions and war-related weapons etc have been supplied by them as well as by Germany.  The fear factor on the part of USA could be that if their forces join hands with Ukrain, it would turn out to be a world war.  

If Ukrain President Zelenskey is so very stubborn to prolong the war and asking for help from USA and other nations, then Ukrain inviting more trouble.  The complete devastation of Ukrain could be averted if Zelenskey relents to Putin’s stand.  On the face  of USSR might, Ukrain’s defeat is on the cards whatever or how much coming their way. 

In this war, both Putin and Zelenskey are held responsible because of their respective stands.  Attempts have been made to kill both Putin and Zelenskey separately thru bombs but both escaped unscathed.

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But will the momentum for peace, proposed by pacifists like Modi and Macron, gather pace or will temporary victories or setbacks of either side stall the move towards détente, remains to be seen – Manohar Khushalani.

 

According to a Pakistani newspaper, though the most recent flooding is different in nature compared to the one in 2010 — the latter was a flash flood while the current is a riverine flood — in both cases, it can be argued that the damage caused by both disasters is the outcome of lessons not learnt in demography as well as unwillingness to carry out flood protection measures across Pakistan. A research carried out by this author in 2017, about 2010 floods in Pakistan, history has repeated itself because no corrective measures were taken. It was almost déjà vu in 2022 — and yet, no lessons had been learnt. After all, disaster management is more about preparedness than response.

In a case of The pot calling the kettle black, the planning minister Ahsan Iqbal is reported to have said Pakistan was feeling the effects of climate change caused by richer nations and their “irresponsible development”. While all natural disasters can be ascribed to climate change a study of the earlier research will reveal that the Pakistan government did precious little to prevent recurrence of events that could have reduced the impact of the calamity. For example almost all barrages in the country are silted up to the brim, where is the scope to cushion the floods. The government should be questioned and asked to give an account of desilting measures taken since 2010.

THE FACTS AS THEY STOOD IN 2010

The floods in Pakistan now show signs of abating but the havoc caused by them will continue to mount.  It is too early to measure even the immediate losses of lives or property, both private and public, although over 2000 persons are estimated to have died and 21 million become refugees in their own country.  Secondary damages to agricultural land and animal husbandry will take years to recoup.  At one point about one-fifth of Pakistan’s total land area had goneunder water.  Floodwaters have destroyed crops :  an estimated 700,000 acres of cotton, 200,000 acres each of rice and sugar cane and 300,000 acres of wheat.  This will impact the agricultural economy which contributed 20.4% of Pakistan’s GDP last year.  The cascading effect into industry and trade is bound to add to economic woes.

Scientists have described this catastrophe as a once-in-a-century flood. Out of a Population of 168 million nearly 21 milion people have been affected by floods out of a total area of Pakistan of 796 095 square kilometers, the Flood-affected area is 160 000 square kilometers. In a country where already a large percentage of the population is living as refugees, an additional 1.85 million homes have been destroyed or damaged due to floods. Look at the fact sheet of the present disaster:

Pakistan Flood Losses (as on 6 September 2010) Source:  NDMA, PDMA
Province	Deaths	Injured	Houses Damaged	Population Affected
Balochistan	48	102	75,261	*672,171
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	1,154	1,193	200,799	4,365,909
Punjab	110	350	500,000	8,200,000
Sindh	186	909	1,058,862	6,988,491
AJK	71	87	7,108	245,000
Gilgit Baltistan	183	60	2,830	81,605
Total	1,752	2,701	1,844,860	20,553,176
* Additional 600,000 IDPs from Sindh are living in Balochistan

The degree of severity to which people have been affected by the floods varies depending on their particular losses and damages. UN assessments have been launched in at least three provinces to identify severely affected families who require life-saving humanitarian assistance. The UN experts have identified 2.7 million people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 5.3 million in Punjab and 4.4 million in Sindh that are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance.

Approximately 4 out of 5 people in the flood-affected areas depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Across the country, millions of people have lost their entire means to sustain themselves in the immediate and longer term, owing to the destruction/damage of standing crops and means of agricultural production.  One of the greatest challenges on the ground is helping farmers to recover their land in time for wheat planting beginning in September/October and to prevent further livestock losses. According to the FAO figures released on 3^rd September 2010, the scale of losses to the agriculture sector caused by the Pakistan floods is unprecedented and further unfolding:

•  The Agriculture Cluster rapid damage assessments, completed in half of all flood-affected districts, found that 1.3 million hectares of standing crops have been damaged
•  Countrywide damage to millions of hectares of cultivatable land, including standing crops (e.g. rice,maize, cotton, sugar cane, orchards and vegetables) appears likely
•  Loss of 0.5-0.6 million tonnes of wheat stock needed for the wheat planting season
•  Death of 1.2 million large and small animals, and 6 million poultry (Department of Livestock)

While the full extent of the damage still cannot be quantified and assessments are ongoing, the direct and future losses are likely to affect millions of people at household level, as well as impact national productive capacity for staple crops, such as wheat and rice. The FAO feels that response to needs in the agriculture sector cannot be underestimated nor delayed.

The political spillover is equally if not more worrisome.  Relief efforts have highlighted the inefficiencies and corruption endemic in the Pakistani administrative set-up, magnified as it is becoming in the eyes of the already disenchanted masses, especially the internally displaced. The fear is that    fundamentalist organizations will extend their grip over affected populations by filling in wide gaps in disaster relief left by Pakistan Government and international relief agencies.  All this adds fuel to the already political fire in a volatile and unpredictable Pakistan.

Even if Pakistan wades through the floods, what is there to prevent another water disaster in the future?  To answer this question, one must examine these floods in a broader framework.  Pakistani meteorological data points to unusually heavy rains in July – August in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces as the main cause of the floods.  Satellite pictures corroborate this.

Satellite Map shows the swelling Indus River at Sukkur Barrge Source NASA

 

According to a  WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority) ] press release on Water Situation on 03 – 09 – 2010 the 24 hour Inflows / Outflows (in Cusecs) of the major Dams on the rivers in Pakistan were as follows:

Indus at Tarbela 203300 / 203300 Cusecs

Kabul at Nowshera 42000 / 42000 Cusecs

Indus at Chashma 249100 / 244100 Cusecs

Jhelum at Mangla 42800 / 42800 Cusecs

Chenab at Marala 87000 / 67400 Cusecs.

The above figures indicate that the Pakistani dams/barrages are virtually unable to retain any water, as can be seen above, almost all of the inflows are equal to the outflows. This is normally the case in monsoons for some dams but the figures are shocking because not a single dam except for Marala on the Chenab has been able to absorb some 20,000 cusecs of water.

Balochistan Times (August 21, 2009) reported that since the Chashma Barrage had been filled with water along with Tarbela Dam and Mangla Dam as a result of filling of these water reservoirs, IRSA had directed the provinces to use the released water as much as they needed without any restrictions. According to IRSA (Indus River System Authority)  officials, besides Mangla and Tarbela Dams the approximate inflow of water in the other rivers was 319500 cusecs and 4000 cusecs from river Kabul, all of which was being released as Tarbela and Mangla had filled completely. The CJ canal had been closed so that the Chashma Barrage could be destilled. The plus side for power starved Pakistan was that with the filling of dams with water, the power production had been increased, from which about 4000MW power was being generated from hydel power, which  reduced load shedding in the country..

The flood affected areas were mostly along the main Indus River and its western tributaries – Swat and Kabul; and less so from the eastern tributaries – Jhelum, Chenab and Sutlej.  This should not however obscure the overall picture.  More than 80% of the total water flows in the Indus river- system is accounted for by snowmelt and rainfall in the mountainous regions which are largely beyond its political control and belong to Afghanistan, India and China.  According to one estimate, the Kabul river accounts for 20 to 30 MAF of total annual flows, the main Indus 100 MAF and the Jhelum and Chenab 60, while the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej add another 40 MAF or so. Floods are a cumulative effect of all these flows.

Initially, storage dams like Mangla and Tarbela   were built to modulate irrigation and control floods. But some 7 MAF of their storage capacity has already been silted up. And Pakistan has been singularly unsuccessful in building additional storage capacity to compensate, let alone provide for enhanced irrigation and flood control needs.  A major project – the Kalabagh dam – has failed to get off the drawing boards for two decades because of internal bickering between its provinces.  The international segmentation of the Indus basin rivers complicates the problem still further, particularly in relation to the two principal upper riparians – India andAfghanistan – with which Pakistan has troubled relationships.

The 3,200 km long Indus, one of the mighty rivers of the Indian subcontinent,   flows down from the Himalayas of Tibet, towards north-west through India before turning sharply southwards through  Pakistan,  draining into the Arabian Sea. Some of its water comes from melting Himalayan glaciers, but the vast majority is contributed by the monsoon. The monsoon floods are triggered almost annually. Historical records indicate that during a warm period ending about 6,000 years ago, the Indus was a monster river, more powerful and more prone to flooding than today.  Then, 4,000 years ago, as the climate cooled, a large part of it simply dried up. Deserts appeared whether mighty torrents once flowed. The matter of public debate is whether, with global warming, will the river again turn monstrous. A matter which further compounds the problem is the fact that siltation reduces the rivers capacity to hold water. Even with the total quantum of precipitation being the same, the intensity of rainfall gets aggravated by global warming resulting in unmanageable discharges.  Pakistan, which spends more of its scarce financial resources in building defences against India, has been unable to enhance its Hydraulic infrastructure comprising  of dams and barrages. In fact, due to siltation its overall storage capacity has further reduced.

Pakistan is, thus at a fork in the road.  It can either continue confrontationist policies which underlie present arrangements (or lack thereof) and face similar or perhaps bigger flood disasters in future, if anticipated climate change effects do materialise. Or it can chose to cooperate with countries in the Indus basin with a view to building an integrated system of storage dams, flood control installations and power generation stations which will help to modulate flows and avert floods, thereby benefitting Pakistan’s agriculture particularly its struggling farmers. The attendant hydropower potential is also huge and can be tapped for the energy-hungry Pakistani economy, as well as cross-border sales to India.  The big question is whether the Pakistan’s rulers can change their confrontationist mindset to make this possible.  If there was no deficit of trust India could have stored water even in the eastern rivers of the Indus basin to be used as a kind of buffer during floods. But, for that an integrated basin management is required, because the mighty rivers, follow their own course, they do not recognize man made political boundaries.

A  preliminary report was published in Hindu Business Line on 19th October 2010. Business Line version was available on the net at the following URL:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/10/19/stories/2010101950330900.htm

Since it is a very old link it is probably no longer available but can be read on the link below

Pakistan floods reveal deep-rooted problems

 

Acronyms

NDMA National Disaster Management Authority

WAPDA Water and Power Development Authority

IRSA Indus River System Authority

OCHA United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation

IDP Internally Displaced Person

MAF Million Acre Feet

Cusec Cubic Feet per Second

  Penned down By his Elder Brother, Capt. Arun Karkare of Merchant Marine

IC21909 -35LT REGT,
Vir Chakra CAPT ASHOK KRISHNARAO KARKARE

This brave heart was born on 30^th June 1942 in Wardha, Maharashtra. Ashok was the third child blessed to the parents Krishnarao & Sumati Karkare. As the luck could have it, exactly a year later father Krishnarao joined the then Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) in search of a better life for himself and the family. Ashok brought new job for his father and a better life for his siblings Sheela and Arun too. Things were on the move for all concerned. The family moved to Delhi as Flight lieutenant Karkare was posted at Air Head Quarters there.

Unfortunately, as child of 2 yrs age Ashok was struck by a rare bone disease then known as “RICKETS”. This bone- softening disease in children is due to failure of the body to maintain adequate level of calcium and phosphorus and this resulted in the hampering of the normal growth of baby Ashok to a point that it was evident that Ashok would not make it to a normal expected height as a youth. There was neither timely quality medical help nor remedy available to Ashok. As the days flew past, Ashok overcame this disadvantage. But the destiny had a different plan in place to use this physical adversity. Ashok excelled in field games such as football, hockey and relay race during his school days in Delhi and London and later in his college in Gurgoan.

Ashok attended School in London as his father was now posted as Assistant Air Attaché at the Indian Embassy in Paris –France. This experience was God sent as he blossomed into a smart young boy. On return to India at the age of 15yrs he continued his education but now a strong attraction to serve in any of the three armed services took charge of his mind. Men in uniform simply fascinated his tender mind with desire to join Army. But his father alerted him about his height disadvantage as it was below the Army standards! Ashok was sad and disappointed indeed.

Now destiny unfolded its plan for him. In 1962 Indo-China war took place. Indian Army needed urgent recruitment of officers. It opened up Officer’s Training School (OTS) at Chennai to train emergency commissioned offices. Ashok applied for it. He was in 2^nd year BA-degree course then. He kept it as a well guarded secret. No one got the wind of it at home! He cleared all the prerequisite tests except the final interview followed by medical fitness test. He had to disclose now about his application to join Army to his parents as he prepared to leave for the final rendezvous with his destiny so to say.

At the interview the miracle happened. A Major General heading the interview team said “Mr Ashok Karkare, Are you not aware of the height requirement for joining Army?”

Ashok was ready with his make or break answer and said

“ I am well aware of it but please note that being short I will be perhaps last one to die in bullet fire from enemy thus holding the ground till the end for my beloved nation !” His words stunned the entire interview board. They clapped and said “we need people like you. You are selected “.

Rest is history. Ashok fought like a lion in 1971 war and proved every word he said in the board room. He brought glory to his nation, family and to himself. JAI HIND.

e-mail ; [email protected] contact no. 9820129389.

Also See:
The Citation:
http://twdi.in/node/4019

Online Memorial:
https://www.honourpoint.in/profile/capt-ashok-kumar-karkare-vrc-2/

Foot Note:

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Metro city channel held a special function to honour Capt .Ashok Karkare, VirChakra winner, at Taj Santacruz hotel, Mumbai, with union minister Ramdas Athavle as chief guest. A documentary film has been made on Capt Ashok that was shown on the occassion. Special momentous were given to us too . Ashok and CDS Rawat were in the same frame on the Stage. God is kind indeed. Arun Karkare

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Water-logging in the city a sight during every monsoon

This study of Delhi’s Drainage System was last published in 2017 and earlier in 2010. It gets revised after each major development. Why the need to revise it? Please read below.

A city like Delhi which draws its water from the river, follows a cycle similar to the Hydrological Cycle of Nature.  Water is supplied by the municipalities to the residents.  Some of the water is utilized for drinking purposes, some for watering the gardens and some for cleaning, washing and bathing and some for flushing the toilets.  The latter two ideally enter the sewage system.  The rain that falls over the city enters the storm water drains which empty into huge nullahs, which in turn empty into the river Yamuna.

This system can also enable rain water harvesting because the storm water drains can be utilized for water harvesting in an organized fashion.  But the storm water drainage system of Delhi is complex owing to a combination of natural and man made drainage systems – drainage basins which naturally drain, storm water drains along the roads and a new phenomenon of combined sewer cum storm water drains created as a bypass arrangement for blockage sewer lines.  It is this that has resulted in polluting the storm water drainage system.  As a result, the nullahs which used to run with rain water during monsoons now carry only sewage.

What was also being done, using Commonwealth Games as a shield, was to cover up the nullahs.  Now, this is really like putting dirt under the carpet.  This reminds me of a fable, in which, when a rabbit is confronted by pointing a gun at it, all it does is to cover its eyes with its ears.  The rabbit thus thinks that the threat no longer exists, but, it gets shot in any case! When you hide the threat you don’t necessarily solve the problem you only ignore it … until it becomes bigger.  Even if some sewage was reaching the nullahs, the rain water used to ensure that the viscous or solid waste content was appropriately diluted and thus the effluent reaching the river would not be as heavily polluted as it is today.

When residents cover or even fill up the storm water drains outside their houses to help park their cars or when the sweepers  also dump garbage into the open drains, it prevents rain water from reaching the nullahs and ultimately the river.  Blocking a drain should be treated as an offence, because it is equivalent to sabotaging a public utility on which tax payers money has been spent. Historically it is said that the drainage system of Old Delhi was largely developed by the Mughals whereas of New Delhi by the British. It used to work fine until it was vandalized by us humans.

This experiment was so successful that it was further extended and replicated in her entire constituency to Kailash Colony, East of Kailash etc. That’s saying a lot, considering that no earlier government had succeeded. Every year drains were desilted before monsoons. Gradually it became a losing game because desilting became less regular and also, as explained earlier, not feasible.

Shikha Rai re-dug and re-built the entire drainage system. It was specially tricky because the crossover bridges built by residents to enter their driveways, had to be cut and new crossover ramps were built by SDMC on each driveway of each house. The storm water drains were covered by porous RCC slabs, so that cars can be parked and rain water can flow into the drains and road muck was restrained. The effect was really dramatic. Every monsoon the streets, which were ankle or knee deep with water earlier, got drained away much faster.

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The Simplistic looking RCC Perforated Tiles Interspersed with removable lid for de-siltation

If that is the case, then why did one wait so long to report this. The reason is caution. Firstly I did not want to give a thumbs up without seeing the system work. Secondly one had to wait for the desilting to take place, to ascertain that the Porous tiles are removable and silt can be extracted. This exercise was done partially by SDMC at a few places and silt was removed a few days ago.

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De-silting of Drainage System in Greater Kailash 1 done by SDMC in October 2021

However, one would like to caution the authorities, that like all successful arrangements the system needs to be maintained regularly for it to work properly. Desilting must be done as an when required and the Porous tiles replaced whenever they break. Also it was observed that the drain holes in many of the tiles had got blocked with the silt and muck. The whole system will fail if these holes are not cleared periodically. The plus points are:

As a footnote, one would like to explain that this technical analysis should be treated just so – an evaluation based on observation over 4 years. It is important to acknowledge a successful initiative because while we point out flaws in public utilities, we will be failing in our duty if we don’t give the good news.

Another interesting phenomenon, prevalent not only in Delhi but in most cities, is, that garbage is always dumped near the river.  Therefore, when the rains come, that garbage too finds its way into the river.  Now the river in Delhi does not spring out at the city itself but comes down from the Himalayas collecting water and effluent along the way.  For the river to flow smoothly, the unobstructed route through which it flows ensures how much water can pass.  Silting of course reduces the depth and the width of the river. But the problem is compounded by man. The tragedy of Yamuna is that when the city was faced with constraints of space, the authorities that be, allowed construction in the river bed, thus reducing the cross section of the river and creating the situation for future disaster.

Earlier in the river bed, during the non monsoon period, agricultural farming used to take place. This was in no way harmful; because when the rivers ran full during the monsoons; it used to leave a coat of fertile silt on the farm beds and the greenery thus grown also acted as a lung for the city.  Now, the infrastructure developments on the river front, with Akshardham temple and games village coming up, will encourage others to encroach into the river and ultimately destroy the hydrological cycle of the city.

The matter is not closed, Jury is still out regarding the Sewage System and Garbage Handling. One would request the readers to read the earlier article in this journal to understand the issue. Please do so at the link below

Why is Delhi Water Logged It’s Drains and Sewers Clogged

Copyright Manohar Khushalani and OneVorld.org Oct 4, 2021

Bibliography:

• Irrigation Practice and Design, (Volumes I, II,III, IV & V) K.B. Khushalani & Manohar Khushalani Pub; Oxford & IBH (Sponsored by National Book Trust)
• Control of Urban Pollution Series:CUPS/ / 2003-2004, CPCB
• City Development Plan , Department of Urban Development, Govt. of Delhi / IL&FS/October 2006,
• Why is Delhi Water Logged It’s Drains and Sewers Clogged

Shri Suresh Chandra, who headed Central Water Commission, from 31st January to 31st October, 2002, passed away on 25th April 2021.

S. Masood Husain, Ex Chairman, CWC, said, “Deeply saddened to know about the demise of Shri Suresh Chandra, former Chairman, CWC today. A very gentle, ever smiling and loving personality. I had a long and very warm and affectionate association with him. It is indeed a great loss to CWC family. Our heartfelt condolences. May Almighty rest his soul in peace and give courage and strength to the bereaved family to bear the irreparable loss.

CWES officer, Avinash Tyagi adds, “I am deeply saddened to know that Mr Suresh Chandra has left for his heavenly journey. All know about his work in CWC rising up to the coveted post of Chairman
But I am also witness to his technical capabilities that he showed at International level. He represented India and chaired the Special Working Group (if I remember the nomenclature correctly) of ISO on Sedimentation.

He also lead a team of international experts on compiling the Chapter on “Methods of Hydrological Measurements” of Guide to Hydrological Practices WMO no 168. His guidance was highly appreciated by the international group of experts”.

Mr. V. K. Malhotra, informed, that, he was a learned engineer and felt it is a great loss to this country and CWC.

Post Retirement, he was appointed as a Senior Consultant to Government of Goa on Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal. He was also a Consultant in the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal. He graduated as a Civil Engineer from Aligarh Muslim University in 1964

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51. HAPPINESS & SADNESS.

Tukaram found it very challenging to explain to the mortals as to “how to deal best with these two extreme and opposite states of mind.”He also noticed that the state of sadness outnumbered the state of happiness in mortal’s life journey. The great saint realized that there were far more incidences, circumstances, events, moments, times, hours, days, weeks, months, years and in worst case scenario entire life time went in sadness for an unfortunate mortal! In short, Tukaram found that” in a mortal’s life state of happiness was rare and random whereas the sadness occurred frequently and at time with nagging regularity!” The great saint concluded that “mortals need to be guided as to how bravely to face sadness and not to get crushed or destroyed by it. Life has to be lived till it’s time to go from this world.” The great saint structured his bhajans to sooth the broken minds and fragile hearts of the mortals around him. He highlighted one hard truth that “the whole life is utterly temporary, unpredictable and vulnerable and therefore should not be wasted at all in pitfalls of happiness or sadness instead mind and intellect should be diverted to to do good karmas to attain moksha” In simpler words what the great saint says is to weigh happiness and sadness as two faces of the coin call ‘Life’and take it from then on to deal each with same mental strength of tolerance. He experimented this attitude with full success on his own self. He dealt with all his monumental losses and sadness with same ease and dignity as with his short lived happiness. It is authentically recorded that when Tukaram lost his young wife and son he profusely thanked God-Vitthal for taking away his distractions from him thus giving him more time to think of Vitthal and do some more kirtans! No doubt he paid the maximum price of self sacrifice to find true happiness and became greatest poet & saint ever in last several centuries

  Jai Hari Vitthal

I personally pray that if I have to be reborn again as a mortal I would like to be blessed by God to be given a female human form so I would be closer to attaining moksha / Arun Karkare

  Jai Hari Vitthal 51.

 52. FEEL & SEE GOD IN DAILY LIFE.

Tukaram fully realized that it was very difficult for a common and ordinary mortal in street to sit down and spend some time in prayers on a daily basis. The usual struggle to earn one’s living took all the energy and time leaving very little to spare to think of God even if one had the desire to do so. The great saint found the easiest way out from the tricky situation. In his kirtans and bhajans he gave a very clear message” we all mortals must feel, think and see God in all our daily work from sunrise to sunset. Dedicate all our actions, reactions, responses and behavior towards other mortals as if we are dealing with God.” It simply means that we would be able to worship, pray and live as per the wishes of God. This approach would reduce all our negatives to near zero. The elements such as anger, hate, animosity, jealousy, lust, selfishness etc would vanish and we will automatically help us to do good karmas. The common man found it very relaxing to hear the soothing kirtans of the great saint. The crimes came down in the villages where ever Tukaram visited. He advised the women to sing silently the bhajans of Vitthal while cooking food, washing clothes at the river banks, or working in the fields. This approach worked just wonderfully. Similarly, people greeted each other with words “Jai Hari Vitthal. The men folk too adopted the similar approach in their minds while at work in the fields and other places.

Today, the irony is that we mortals have the greatest benefit and comforts of every type of gadget and machines to give us high mobility in comfort and yet we do not have time to feel or see God around us. Is it that difficult to adopt the simple teaching of the great saint “Feel & See god in our daily life and its dealings “

  Jai Hari Vitthal 52

53. I begin with my prayers to Lord Shiva as today happens to be the most auspicious day in the Hindu almanac “Mahashivratri.” May his blessings to the world keep it safe and happy for all us mortals during our life journeys.

 ALL EFFORTS END AT GOD’s FEET.

Tukaram came to a miraculous conclusion that all the efforts done in doing good karmas end at God’s feet. So right he was in his assessments indeed. The efforts of all saintly and godly mortals have helped to elevate our lives towards attaining moksha. In fact the great saint has emphasized with crystal clear clarity that all physically and mentally able mortals keep doing efforts to do good karmas till they leave the world. He went on to say that the results of our various efforts end at God’s feet and the outcomes are according to the wishes of God.

 DONATE (DAN), MERCY (DAYA) & CONTROL (DAMUN)

Tukaram has narrated a story in one of his kirtans drawn from the mythology to convince his followers that there are few basic efforts to be done in life that can help lead us mortals to attain moksha. The story is as follows;

The universe created by the super creator was divided in three distinct areas , Heaven (SWARAG LOK), Hell ( PATAL LOK) and EARTH(BHU LOK). Gods ruled Heavens, the Demons ruled Hell and the Mortals (Manushya ) ruled the earth. The super creator told each of the created species one single advise as follows, to Gods the creator said “Do not misuse powers, to Demons he advised “Show mercy on others “ and to earthly mortals he said “Donate as much as you can “ . The great saint then went on to explain the logic of these advises as applicable to mortals. He says “just like Gods and Demons are bound by the advises so as we mortals too .He further adds “we have a choice of adopting additional advises as given to Gods and Demon! We mortals have been blessed with enough intellect to change our mind set that will help us attain moksha.” Tukaram succeeded through his kirtans to convince all the mortals of his times that one should not misuse his/her powers of positions, one should show mercy and empathy and one should donate anything and everything in excess of his/her needs .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 53

54. UNDERSTAND, AGREE BUT NOT PRACTICE

Tukaram could easily see the dilemma faced by ordinary common mortal in following his recommended path to moksha! The great saint was aware that those who heard his kirtans did understand and agree to the substance but had difficulties to follow the advised path. He found that all mortals were extremely possessive of their belongings, relationships and their surroundings. These bonds were emotional as well as physical in nature and hence extremely difficult to break or part with in spite of the naked truth that nothing belongs to us in reality of death. The irony was glaringly visible then and even today. We mortals have to understand Tukaram’s teachings, agree with its contents and implement in our daily lives to get the final result in our favor. To gain some thing we need to lose something. To convince the masses Tukaram told a very hard hitting story in one of his kirtans. The story goes as;

 One day a mortal asked his Guru “Sir Can you show me God? Only then I will adopt the path of attaining moksha.” Guru told him to come to the river bank at the break of the dawn. As agreed both met at the river bank. Guru asked his mortal follower to enter the river stream in waist deep water and take a deep breath and dip himself in the water in order to see God. The mortal did exactly the way it was explained but he came up gasping for breath shouting there is no God there! Guru said “repeat your action you will definitely see God!” The mortal repeated the action again but nothing happened. Now Guru said “I will help you now so that in your third attempt you will be able see God!” The mortal felt happy to receive help from his Guru. As soon as he dipped third time the Guru grabbed him by back of his neck and prevented him a little longer than his tolerance level from emerging back to surface. This made the mortal to panic and he pushed his Guru with all the force and freed himself to come up to surface in near suffocated condition. He shouted at his Guru “ sir you nearly killed me and yet I did not see God.” Guru told him to relax and then asked him “Tell me what happened when you dived first and second time?” The mortal replied “well I was thinking of all the worldly things I love and hoped that I will not be drowned accidently in search of God!” Guru smiled and asked again “what happened when you got nearly choked when I forced you a stay a bit longer that you could tolerate?” The mortal replied “I thought of nothing but God and prayed to him to save my life from your clutches!” Guru then told him that” finally you have understood that nothing you loved and cared could come to save your life except God. So now you know you need to feel God’s existence and then when you become absolutely pure in mind and spirit you will see God.”

The moral of the story is that the amount of valuable life time we spend on things we could never carry or bring with could be spent on following the path shown by Tukaram .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 54

 55. BE LIKE A SANDALWOOD( CHANDAN) TREE.

Tukaram found heavenly qualities in sandalwood tree. He noticed that any other plant that grew near or around a sandalwood tree would acquire its smell and overwhelming aroma till its existence in its close proximity! This natural miracle fascinated the great saint’s fertile mind. He thought if a mortal could choose to be in close company of a good and saintly guru then he/she could acquire all the goodness from him which would cause a change for the better and pave the way to attain moksha. To share his notion, the great saint told a very heartwarming story to his disciples through his kirtan. The story goes as follows;

Tukaram said “The sandalwood tree is very much loved by God –Vitthal. The paste(Gandha) prepared by rubbing a sandalwood piece on a stone sprinkled with clean water is sported on God-Vitthal’s forehead. The sandalwood tree felt very grateful and blessed for the quality and status given by God to it. The plants which grew in and around the sandalwood tree were also very thankful to the sandalwood tree as well as to God for blessings that allowed them to grow in the close proximity of the great tree. However, a nearby bamboo tree could not acquire the sandalwood aroma nor the smell like other trees could. The bamboo tree felt un- wanted and isolated. It decided to complain to God-Vitthal about the arrogance and partiality of the sandalwood tree! Bamboo tree pleaded its case “My dear respected God, I adore you for your fairness and I expect justice from you. This sandalwood tree has become very proud, arrogant and partial towards me. I have grown around it just like the other trees but it has not imparted its heavenly smell and aroma like it has done to other trees. Why so?” God heard with great patience, the complaint of the bamboo tree and with a smile he replied” You are as dear to me just like the rest of the plants and trees but the problem lies within you. You have not realized the blessings I have given you instead you are unnecessarily complaining against the sandalwood tree.” Bamboo tree was totally at a loss and further prayed “God please enlightened me for I confess I do not know my strength or weakness at all! I will be ever so grateful.” God said “Bamboo you have been blessed with unlimited strength in your body. You will be straight and upright throughout your life. Your smooth and nodded body will be used by the mortals, for building shelters to live in safely, to demarcate and secured the fields with barricades, for making rafts & crafts to enable mortals cross rivers and oceans and finally last but not the least you will have the honor to carry a dead mortal to his/her last journey. Why you are worried and upset about a small thing like acquired smell?” Hearing God’s words, Bamboo tree was overwhelmed with tears of gratitude. It went happily back to its place near the sandalwood tree and grew happily ever after serving the humanity till today!

The moral of the story is that the great saint tried to convey to ignorant mortals that God has blessed each of us with qualities if used correctly can help us attain moksha . We need to search ourselves first and be sure what we are and what we need to achieve.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 55.

56. BE USEFUL (UPAYOGI).

Tukaram realized that it is a better choice to become useful (Upayogi ) to other mortals than renounced the world( Yogi) for one’s own up lift only. He felt that the precious life given to us by God must be used in doing good karmas that will help the needy mortals. Therefore, great saint felt that he must give this vital message to the humanity around him. He said in his kirtans “that we must be ready to the best of our abilities to help others, be useful to others and do provide food, shelter, money and knowledge so that the needy persons are helped to recover from the bad situation. He was very clear “that one does not have to be rich to be good and useful to others instead one should be ready to develop the right mind set for becoming such a person. It was not as easy as it looked. The great saint had to set an exemplary code of conduct in his own self so that his followers would believe in such a divine doctrine. He was in money lending business. He never charged any interest on the loan given to needy farmers. He never set any time limit on his loans given to poor and needy farmers. Very soon these supreme monetary sacrifices made him bankrupt in his business. He struggled to support his own family but the God’s blessings kept him and his family alive throughout the life time. The people realized his goodwill and pious nature and they showered enough love, affection and respect on him. He sent a true message of ultimate usefulness “share, spare, distribute, giveaway anything and everything that we mortals have in excess”. The kirtans helped people to understand the message and there was far less hoarding of material things in those days. YOGI SE AACHHA UPAYOGI!

Today it is a fact that hoarding of food grains, essential goods and accumulation of ill-gotten money is order of the day! We must pray for another Tukaram to be reborn in this corrupt world to redeem us mortals.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 56.

57. Be like a fresh flower when prey.

Tukaram was very specific when he said “we all mortals should be like fresh flowers when we do Vitthal bhjan or prayers.” He went on to explain that “when ever we pray we offer fresh and full bloomed flowers and not the flowers which have gone dry and faded.” The great saint wanted to convince to his followers that we should be clean in mind and body when we pray. We should be in a happy state of mind and clean our body and sport simple washed clothes (whatever we can afford). The importance of this condition is common in all practiced religions existing today. The English saying “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” is a pointer to what the great saint said seven centuries ago! Of course this applies to healthy mortals and not for sick and injured ones.

 Knots in mind.

Tukaram studied the complex nature of mortal’s mind in order to find ways and means to achieve peace and happiness. He found that an average mortal’s mind was full of knots thus preventing him/her from being peaceful and happy. The problems of a mind being full of knots and blockades resulted in unhappiness, disturbed state and indecision for the mortals. The great saint advised his followers to open the knots in their prayers to God and seek the help to simplify their daily problems help untie such knots such as lies, deceit, cheat, steal, loosing temper, abuse, kill, body harm, suicidal tendencies, jealousy, destroy and many such trends and tendencies mortals capable of. When we do self thinking ( Atmachintan)and analyze our faults in front of God we can get rid of them for better life .

  Jai Hari Vitthal 57.

58. IDOL WORSHIP (MURTI PUJA)

Tukaram observed that all most all the mortals around and near him were very much involved in idol worship ( murti puja ). The great saint also noticed that ordinary stones would be picked up then coated with deep orange color paste locally known as “Shendur” and placed under the shelter and shadow of a big tree to attract innocent villagers and passersby to be worshipped as God hanuman or Ganesha or Shiva! The stories were then spread by the goons about the miracles that occurred there to attract more crowds. It was nothing short of a big mony making racket! Tukaram decided to remove this fraud hurting the true believers of Vitthal. In one of his well known kirtans he brought out the futility of such stones being used as God’s image or face by unscrupulous Brahmin priests to make easy money. He gave a very logical explanation and rezoning to convince the masses that “It is an insult to a stone when we coat it with shendur paste and worship it as God. Instead we should give the stone to a sculptor who will chisel, scrape, and cut it and turn it into a beautiful carved figure of a God or Goddess that is pleasing to the eyes and satisfies our mind when we pray.” He brought out this concept to wipe out the blind faith of worshipping a plain orange color coated stone. Later he again corrected the course of idol worship towards good karma theory to ultimately renouncing of big and expensive pujas and prayers practiced by mortals. He finally succeeded to convince mortals that way to moksha is only through good karmas and self realization to purify once own soul at all times throughout the life.

 Unfortunately , in 21^st century we mortals do believe in all sorts of pujas and prayers and perform rituals in blind faith! Instead we could do donations of all that money for use of humanity.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 58.

59.  INTOXICATIONS IN MORTALS

Tukaram had a great blessing from God that he could easily notice fundamental human weaknesses. For example, the great saint realized that “there are four fatal prides a mortal could get intoxicated with and harm him/her during their life which in turn would prevent them from attaining moksha.”

Tukaram mentions them in his famous bhajans and kirtans and explains the fall out and harmful effects on a mortal’s life. They are as follows,

 Intoxication and Pride being young.

When we are young and full of vigor we do not care about of our social responsibilities, commitments, respecting elders, charity for a good cause and so many other things. It is a common fallacy that almost every young mortal thinks that youth is eternal! Most of the young mortals do a lot of bad karmas out of intoxication and false pride. Exceptions are always there such as soldiers, sport persons, artists, singers, instrument players etc.

 Intoxication and Pride holding a high & powerful position in society

Histories of many centuries have records to prove this fact. There are many stories of a single individual who has been responsible for acts of wars that changed the course of history and so on. In our daily life we see so many powerful mortals misuse there power of position. There are hardly any exceptions worth mentioning in this category!

 Intoxication and Pride being rich

The rich think that they can buy even God and perhaps moksha too! Less said the better about abuse of money by mortals.

 Intoxication and pride being a person of high and extraordinary intellect.

Tukaram faced this abuse from smart Brahmin community who be little the great saint many a times. He fought against them with a smile and humility. He won in his battle against their domination and managed to salvage the image of underprivileged mortals. He defeated them with his superior intellect and simplicity. We have such people in the society today who do not give fair and just credit where it is due. Instead of sharing knowledge they misguide their juniors to retain their supremacy. Unlike Dyneshwar who gave his knowledge for the upliftment of an ordinary mortal and help attain moksha.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 59.

60. FLOWERS & MORTALS.

Tukaram has made a very heartwarming and realistic comparison between flowers and mortals. The creator has left no stone unturned in the creation of incredible variety of flowers giving them basic rainbow colors and their combinations. The creator did not stop there but gave flowers different sizes, designs, patterns, smell, aroma and essence too. In short flowers are one of the nature’s biggest gifts to the Mother Nature. Similarly no two mortals are same looking out of over 7 billion of the species! The great saint has told an apt story in his kiratan to convince his followers,” In a flower shop, various garlands were prepared and kept ready to be sent to a temple as offerings to God. There were many other baskets full of other flowers to be used for making more garlands. The flowers in the baskets started to talk to flowers in the garlands! They said “how lucky you all are indeed. You will be placed around the neck of the lord and showered at the feet of Vitthal. You are really very blessed.” On hearing this, various types of flowers in the garlands woven with thread and needle replied” Yes we are indeed fortunate in spite of undergoing pains piercing of needle through our hearts and forced to be with many other types of flowers. The end result is we are at the feet of our creator and lucky enough to be around his neck and chest! The flowers in the baskets too started praying to be picked up by the floweriest to be part of the next lot of garlands due to be prepared for next prayers and offerings.

 The moral of the story is that we all mortals are like flowers of different faces , color, shape, size, sex, born and raised in the different parts of the mother earth in different environments. But we all should have one goal “ to be part of group those souls who mange to reach at the feet of our creator and finally attain moksha.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 60.

61-62. CULTURE Vs PROSPEIRITY.

Tukaram observed that all most all the mortals had wrongly linked happiness and satisfaction to being rich, prosperity and material well being and not to the cultural richness, being knowledgeable, well mannered, and doing good karmas. There was widespread belief that only money can bring ultimate happiness and satisfaction. To remove this fatal falsie from mortal’s minds he wrote dedicated abhangs and sang them in his kirtans to convey the right message. These two liners became all time greats with masses and are sung with ultimate reverence by 21^st century Warkari followers in their kirtans. In spite of knowing fully well that we mortals bring nothing to and take nothing from this world and yet we refuse to see the reality of life that only decency, honesty, good karmas, and good behavior towards people around us bring happiness and satisfaction. To get good night rest and peaceful sleep we need to have a happy mind and carefree outlook on life and not a luxurious bed! A tired farmer takes a good nap under a shady tree during hot afternoons by putting his head on the trunk of the tree. If this was not true then only rich people could sleep well.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 62.

63. GOD & CAT

Tukaram has given a very candid and perhaps practically convincing example of how God chooses to visit his favorite followers (bhaktas)in one of his well known abhangs. The great saint’s observations on mortals behavior and belief patterns must be marveled by we ignorant people. He says in his kirtan” Do not worry as to when and how many times Vitthal will visit you during your life. Just give him unconditional love and devotion and trust him fully forever. He will visit you just like a cat who knows exactly which house to go to drink milk and how to enter it without the owner’s attention and alertness.” Tukaram was so practical about his views and understanding about a situation indeed. The great saint’s intellect and purity of heart was in total unison whenever he talked about his Vitthal. He had also used an ant as a example to talk of God when he says “ Dear God give me the smallness of an ant who only eats sugar and rava and gets to it so easily with peace and ease!.

  Jai Hari Vitthal. 63

64. BLESSING & KARMA

Tukaram realized that the blessings from God can be only of use if we do good karma. As said many a times before in these articles, the great saint tried equally to the best of his ability to educate the innocent, the ignorant, the victims of wrong doings, the suppressed, the enslaved, the poor, the depressed and the deprived as well as all those in the opposite camp to understand a simple point that God’ blessings need to be put in to good use for doing good karmas otherwise we waste our blessings. For example, if we are blessed with ability to have good, plenty and tasty food every day of our life, then we need to have capacity to enjoy, digest and remain healthy. But in fact in reality it is not true at all. We have to do work to digest that food or share it with have not’s. If we are blessed with any talent then we must use it for the humanity at large. An unused blessing is being insulting to our creator.

  Jai Hari Vitthal . 64

65. MORTAL’S DOORS FOR DEMANDS

Tukaram realized that no mortal can ever be self sufficient in his /her life time. He /she have to depend on help from different sources available to him /her. The great saint had to analyze different sources from where demands could be addressed and help needed could be effectively procured. There are four types of sources where most of the mortals put up their demands when in need. They are almost in logical sequence as per practices prevailed then and even today in our country.

 Birth Right to demand from parents

 Relationship Right to demand from Siblings

 Friendship Right to demand from very trusted and close friends

 Extended Relationship Right to demand from siblings of the parents.

However, the great saint had to bring out the point that demands may be made but not necessary expected to be met or full filled! God has given every mortal basic intellect to cut the demands to the fundamental needs. One should not make any demand from any available sources out of selfishness or treachery or deceit. A demand free life is perfect life and way to reach moksha. Keep the demands at the lowest low level as we bring nothing, take nothing but we can certainly give away many things and that includes unnecessary demands from our dear near ones!

There is so much to learn and adopt from a mortal who came in this world nearly four and half centuries ago and gave his entire life to up-lift humanity from bad practices.

  Jai Hari Vitthal . 65

66. BEING REALLY RICH!

Tukaram had to redefine the state of being truly rich so that mortals could understand the real meaning of richness. The great saint took pains to explain that material richness is of no consequences except that it drastically reduces one’s chances of reaching moksha. He says what good is richness if it prevents you from breathing god’s name (Vitthal), thinking of God, and doing good karmas. The great saint convincingly spread the word through his abhang and kirtans that the excess wealth has negative effect on a mortal’s life. In all his kirtans the great saint has been consistent to convey that excess wealth is to be avoided in order to live life of simplicity, virtue and devoted to good karmas. He concludes that a mortal who is able to breathe God in each breath is truly rich.

It is a fact so true indeed and valid in today’s times. The society is full of evil of drug abuse, rapes, loot, and fraud and daily murders with guns. The lust for becoming rich in shortest possible time is the objective of the new generation of mortals and they leave no stone unturned to achieve their sinister goal.

TYPES OF DEVOTEES

Tukaram perfectly understood the psyche of devotion and prayers practiced by various devotees of Lord Vitthal. His deep thinking, research and intellect enlightened him to a fantastic conclusion and he incorporated that in his abhangs and kirtans to convey and share that “God too has preferences in accepting devotion from the devotees!

The great saint simplified his explanation as follows; There are four types of devotees in all mortals who only pray for help and blessings when placed in special circumstances during their life journey.

1. Those who only think of God and pray when in some dangerous, difficult, unusual and life threatening circumstance and situation beyond a normal mortal’s capacity.

The great saint sites the classic and very well known example of Drupadi who asked for Vitthal’s ( Kishna’s) help when her modesty was publicly threatened in front of her helpless husbands!

2. Those who only think of God and pray when in great poverty and dire effects of it on the family and self. They pray for blessings of prosperity.

The great saint sites the classic and very well known example of Sudama who calls at the doors of his very close friend Lord Krishna, the king of Dwarka state.

3. Those who only think of God and pray for extension of life span of their dear near ones when they are seriously sick or on death bed due to various causes such as accidents, deceases and injuries in war. The great saint sites the classic and very well known example Kunti who prays to Lord Krishna to stop the battle of Mahabharata between the cousins!

4. Those who have the intellect to understand that nothing belongs to mortals except the unconditional devotion to VItthal and they only think of God and nothing else! Such devotees surrender to God in full totality. The great saint sites the classic and very well known examples of Saints such as Dnyaneshwar Maharaj, Namdev, Swami Samarth, Kabir, Mirabai and other well known saints of India.

God embraces the category- 4 devotees and takes them in his arms and escorts them to moksha. Tukaram left the mortal world the same way.

Jai Hari Vitthal. 66.

67. BEING BORN A MORTAL

Fortunate to be writing this abhang today, the 30th 30th March 2021, because the dates 29^th,30^th & 31^st March are of great significance for those who are the devotees of the greatest saint ever born on this planet. These three days are locally known as “Tukaram Bij Diwas”. During this period the great saint got enlightenment came to understand the true essence and the very purpose of being born as a mortal (either as man or woman).His intellect advised him to renounce everything associated with being a common mortal such as attachment and attraction of human forms of dear near ones, personal material wants, fatal attractions such as lust, jealousy, enmity, dishonesty, robbery and treachery. It was not at all an easy task for an involved family man Tukaram! He had to perform the Herculean task of separating his soul from his human form during him being alive! He was slowly but surely convinced that we mortals are all born again and again to cleanse our soul to a point that it is so pure that God grants it moksha. Tukaram finally did that and left behind all the secrets to attain moksha through his abhangs and kirtans.

 BODY & SOUL.

Tukaram managed to study and compare Body and Soul of a mortal by experimenting first on himself. When he analyzed Body he got only negative feedback and impact too. The great saint has put down his brilliant observations in his work such as;

 Body is a serious liability rather than an asset as it is very vulnerable and fragile.

 Body ailments, pains & aches, body form faults, color, shape, facial looks, ugliness etc all are very hurting and humiliating to a mortal.

 Body is constantly changing towards degeneration as year of life passes by thus causing a very great discomfort in the mortal’s mind.

 Body’s aging process puts the fear of death in the mind of the mortal although it is an ultimate truth known to every mortal the day he/she is born!

 Body breeds more negative factors in life of a mortal than positive.

 Body never ever ends its attractions, attachments and wants till death destroys it forever.

 Body constantly encourages myths and confuses the Soul from remaining pure.

The above faults fully convinced the ordinary Tukaram to give up the Body in favor of the Soul. The greatest saint was in making now. When Tukarm lost his beloved wife he thanked Vitthal (God) to have reduced his attractions. When he lost his son he once again thanked God profusely to have him freed from family attractions. When he lost business and suffered unprecedented losses in farm productions he kept on praising the God to have helped him to renounce the world and its fragile life. Finally he could feel so close to his Soul and God that nothing mattered or bothered him anymore that would have otherwise!

The extreme choice which the great saint made may not be possible to so many of us but one could consider the midway choice of loving the Soul more than the Body.

 Jai Hari Vitthal 67

68. Equality at Birth

Tukaram pointed out to masses that all mortals are born as innocent, ignorant, pure and simple human beings. From the first cry we all begin our life journeys. Things change every day for each newly born mortal and we form ourselves into a single unique identity and live life on that basis. During our life time we do different types of karmas to achieve different objectives and goals. The good qualities at birth are slowly but surely lost without we being even aware of it! Why? The great saint took pains to ponder over it and found answers to each of his questions. The innocence is lost at the first instance as we get acquainted with our place of birth, parents and physical situation around us. The ignorance is replaced by types of knowledge, sights, surroundings, culture and environment we are exposed to. The purity and simplicity are lost in turn as we grow out of child hood towards state of adolescence. Tukaram realized that we all miss the opportunity of being guided and corrected at our young and vulnerable age by a saintly person (sage). He felt that there is a great moral obligation on him put up by Vitthal to offer sagely advice and guidance to the humanity and take them towards their moksha. He took upon himself this mission and renounced his own beautiful world of his family. First the great saint corrected everything wrong in him to utter perfection and achieved direct contact with God and then sat down to write his abhangs and sang his way to every heart by doing thousands of kirtans. Being a poet of great talent he could write two liners of deep wisdom that took hundreds of pages to be explained. His two liners stood the test of time of over 4 centuries without losing its contents and concentration. One of his most powerful abhang says” A pat from one single saintly person is far more satisfying experience than being carried over shoulders by thousand foolish persons”.

  Jai Hari Vitthal 68

69. WISHES OF KUNTI

Tukaram was overwhelmed with extreme admiration for KUNTI ( mother of five Pandavas) when he came to know her story ( through teachings of Dnyneshwar Maharaj) of her devotional feelings for Lord Shri Kishna. He picked up the powerful message of that story which goes as “Kishna was very impressed with devotion ( Bhakti) of Kunti. He said to Kunti “let me bless you with anything at all that you desire from bottom of your heart. It will make me very happy indeed.” Kunti was totally dumbstruck and was not ready to receive such a wonderful response from Lord Krishna towards her constant prayers for peace and happiness for her family. However her pure and simple love for her God and her ultimate trust in God came to her rescue! With folded hands, she said to Krishana “God I know you can give me any thing that I would desire, demand, ask or request for. I have not an iota of doubt on that score but I request you to bless me with pain, sadness, disappointments and setbacks so that I would not forget you ever during my living days on this earth because I fear that comfort, riches, success, luxury and worldly things will take me away from you forever.” These words of Kunti got engraved in the loving heart of the great saint till his end. They became his guiding light and he could easily deal with personal losses such as wife and son’s death, loss of business, loss of wealth and living as neighbor of nasty Brahamin Shatri . In one of his abhangs, the great saint has written; “Vitthala to reach at your feet at the earliest make me forget my parents, wife, children, friends, dear near ones, wealth, desires, needs ,wants and comforts so that I can then only be totally free to worship you ,think of you and my mind will have no confusion about my objectives

It is so true and ironic that we all mortals think of God only when we are in trouble! Why? We are selfish with God too. We could be more magnanimous and pious and pray in best of times and in utter comfort. Be grateful to God for the little mercies we receive daily without praying.

Jai Hari Vitthal 69

70. WORSHIPPING GOD /SAGE.

 During his search for path to attain moksha, Tukaram reached the cross road where he had to choose between God and a Sage as his guru. Although he was personally convinced that the surest way to reach God’s feet was only through the guidance and advice of sage, he decided to analyze his observation and feelings. He was blessed with the right answer! By worshipping God directly one would be able to get rid of all the material desires, basic wants and be free from fatal attractions (Vasana mukta) but by following a sage a mortal would be able to achieve a total renunciation which will take him /her to God’s feet and finally to attain moksha.

Tukaram also found that there was no difference between God and A sage! In fact in his own humble way he felt that Vitthal was always present at all times by the side his Guru Shri Dyneshwar maharaj. He could feel their presence together. By following Dyneshwar he could renounce the world( Vairagya purti) easily and handover the burdens of a mortal’s life to God! when Tukaram was away for days on his kirtan tours his family was miraculously helped and served by unseen hands of Lord Vitthal. There are factual records of hundreds of miracles that happened in Tukaram’s household without he knowing nothing nor did he ever find out anything!

Tukaram was now sure that total renunciation( Vairagya) is the only way to moksha and complete detachment with every human bond would bring him in God’s orbit under the guidance of a Guru like Dyneshwar ji. The eternal peace and happiness for a soul of a mortal is being in constant and close touch with his/her Guru.Tukaram just did that and became what he is known as today after 450 years after his departure for heavenly abode ( Vaikunth).

There is true story about him becoming sage during his own life time without him realizing it at all. “One day while walking in the village to conduct a kirtan the great saint was approached by an old lady. She said to Tukoba “ If you are going towards the market please buy some cooking oil as I am old and disabled person. Today my son is not present at home.” Tukaram took the empty oil pot and brought her the oil as asked. The lady used the oil for almost twice the normal period that it should have lasted before refill requirement. She looked into the pot to take the inventory of balance of oil left. She was shocked that the pot was as full as before and showed no sign of the consumption has taken place! She went to the house of great saint to report the miracle. She said to him “Tukoba what magic have you done? My oil is not finishing in spite of daily consumption. Tukoba replied with a smile “Aai(mother)Vitthal has blessed you” and walked away. The story was told to all the villagers by the old lady. That night the villagers realized that God is living with them but they failed to realize! Needless to mention Tukaram became a living sage for them and they started to believe his abhangs and kirtans. Rest is history .

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71. MORTAL’S DESTINY IS BLESSED BY THE CREATOR.

Tukaram was enlightened by his guru Dyneshwar that ‘whatever happens in every mortal’s present life is the function of his/her destiny which in turn is the outcome of the sum total of the pluses & minuses of their past karmas done in their life. The great saint discovered that nothing happens without a reason attributed to its cause. He put down his observations in a logical sequence in the abhangs he wrote so meticulously but in very short and simple language so all can understand. Tukaram said a mortal’s life journey follows a carved path from the birth onwards based his /her past karmas. The great saint wrote “The soul gets the best womb it deserves through the designated parents. The quality of house and place is also as per blessings received. The siblings, life partner, friends, livelihood, comforts, money, riches, pains & aches, health, happiness, satisfaction, neighbor & neighborhood, successes & failures etc and finally type of death too are all received by the soul as function of their past karmas in their last life. To a common mortal this was not easily acceptable till they heard the kirtans of the great saint where he vividly explained that “everything a mortal gets, faces, possesses, feels, sees and craves for are the blessings in disguise for we all mortals. We need to count our blessings when tide is against us. A mortal may be miserably poor but if his/her partner is affectionate and full of love then the person is blessed. If you have wonderful siblings who shower love and respect you then you are a happy person indeed. So and so forth. The great saint managed to convince his followers that look at your own garden of life and admire the flowers it has rather than looking at others and feel sad for what you lack.We are accountable, responsible and cause of our happiness or unhappiness. Do not hold the creator for anything as we are only blessed and never cursed by our creator. Jai

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72. REAL RICHNESS

Tukaram realized that the society of mortals had totally wrong notion of being rich. Almost all of them thought that material richness is the only truth and nothing else matters in life time. Tukaram had to cause a revolution their minds that real richness lies in having noble thoughts. The great saint had to put up great efforts in his kirtans to convince his believers that unwanted, excess and unnecessary material richness brings more misery, problems, jealousy and restlessness in mind. It has a negative impact on life. It takes you away from your main goal of attaining moksha. The great saint wrote special abhangs on this subject. The mind should nourish only good thoughts that lead you to doing good karmas. The thoughts generate and initiate initial reaction to do any karma and therefore it follows logically that karmas will be according to the quality of thoughts generated in the our minds. How do one cultivate the art of developing good thoughts in the mind? The great saint had to find a convincing answer to this all important question raised by his followers. He did it so by experimenting it on himself. He had to develop a clear mind set to acquire, accept and nurse good thoughts. He cleansed his mind through his intellect and unshakable trust in his guru Dyneshwar. He renounced all the weaknesses (wants, greed, enmity, jealousy, cruelty, dishonesty, treachery and many other follies associated with a common mortal. Tukaram managed to convince the innocent and ignorant masses that once the mind is under control of intellect the good thought will automatically enter in your mind and that would be the beginning of your salvation through your good karmas.

SAINTS SET THE RELIGION

Tukaram was the first person to bring forth an important view point that had along term effect on the society of mortals. He said “ No saint follows the boundaries, limitations and restrictions set by so called the custodians of a religion but it is the way a saint lives his/her life that becomes a religion which masses follow for their struggle to attain moksha.” Is it not true that Dyneshwar started a way of life that became a religion (Dharma) in itself which was then followed by Tukaram and so many great saints?

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73. TO BE HELPFUL & OF SERVICE TO MANKIND.

Tukaram was fully convinced and sincerely believed that “God is with those mortals who are helpful and give selfless service to others without expecting anything in return.” He preached” SEVA ME BHAGVAN HAI meaning that when you help or give service to a needy person you are in unison with God.” It is so true even today. Our country is facing multiple external threats from hostile neighbors and internal terrorists. Every day we read about soldiers ((Jawans) dying in the fights with enemies. Then we have covid pandemic raging in our towns and villages where doctors, nurses and hospital staff are working round the clock against serious odds to save patients. We have the city police struggling to help keep peace, law and order in the society. The great saint conveyed to all his followers that helping and serving is the greatest religion in the world.

GENUINE FEELING IN MIND TO SEE GOD.

Tukaram was often asked by his believers and followers that “How can we see God?” In his famous abhang he wrote “Mani Nahi Bhav Nahi Dise Dev meaning that if one does not have genuine feelings for God in his/her mind then it is not possible to see or feel God’s presence.” To develop true feelings for Vitthal in one’s own mind one has to adopt the vision that Vitthal is present in all our actions, words, deeds and karmas. Everything must be dedicated to Vitthal during our life time.”

Story associated with Mira Bai’s life.

As we all know Mira Bai was an ardent worshipper of Lord Krishna (Krishna Bhakta). She was always open to charity and help to needy and poor people. One day a woman beggar along with her teen age son came at the door step of Mira’s potential home ( She was the queen of Mewad state in Rajasthan )and gave a cry for some money and food. Mira at once answered the call and came out to give money and food to the beggar. The teen age son of the beggar woman was totally bowled over by the serene and captivating beauty of Mira’s face. He was simply fascinated by her and in excitement begged his mother “ I want to marry Mira!”The bewildered beggar woman was red faced and apologized to Mira for the misbehavior of her son but to her utter surprise Mira agreed to marry her son but on a condition. Mira said to her “I will marry you provided you do seven days of nonstop prayers at the Kishna temple with absolute devotion.” To the young mind the condition imposed by Mira looked like a cake-walk and the young man agreed readily. As agreed Mira brought the young man to the Krishna temple and asked him to commence his prayers and left for her home. The beggar woman decided to wait at the place and made herself comfortable just outside the temple premises. Slowly but surely the week passed and Mira came to the temple to meet the young man and so as his mother too! Mira was calm, cool and collected was sure of the outcome but the beggar woman was totally confused in her mind. Mira called the young man to come out of the temple. There was utter silence and no response at all. Mira and the beggar woman entered the temple and what they saw simply froze them at the spot! The son was in total trance of Hari Bhakti (Krishna prayers). He did not feel presence of any one around him. He was shaken by the mother who said “Come on get up it is now seven days you have completed the promise to Mira bai.” The young man looked up and said “Ma, I do not want anything now in my life except Hari Bhakti. My mind is married to Krshna bhakti. Mira bai knew it all before and the beggar woman left the temple with peace and happiness.

Moral of the story is nothing is mine, yours, ours, theirs or for that matter everything belongs to Vitthal and no one else

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74. LIFE LONG COMPANION OF A MORTAL.

Tukaram had to remind us all mortals as to who is our constant companion during our life time from conception in the womb till we are cosigned to the flame or returned to the grave. The great saint was not at all surprised at the ignorance to the answer shown by almost all the people who attended his kirtans. Tukaram wrote special abhangs to prove and show that it is God who is with us from start to finish during our life journey but we fail to feel his presence due to our own faults, malpractices, ignorance chase of money and involvement in worldly affairs. The great saint pointed out how” God looks after the soul after it is being formed in the womb for the birth. The entire journey is scripted to the minutest details with the accuracy of an astronomical clock followed by the solar system. Tukaram gave many instances of how Vitthal came to the rescue of his worshipers in dire circumstances when near dear ones backed off! One of the famous stories is as follows;

A devotee of Vitthal took his parents on a pilgrimage to Pundharpur. On the way back home the family stopped in front of a rich man’s house gate where there was a large shady tree nearby. The devotee family was poor and needed some water and food so the young man called up from the gate “May we come in request for some food and water?” A ferocious watch dog, sitting on the drive way of the gate, came running menacingly towards the young man and knocked him down flat on his back. Now the young devotee was in dangerous situation with dog sitting on his chest and pinning him down. The young man had only one option that to ask his parents help to nudge the dog away from his chest! So he shouted as hard as he could but the parents were frozen with fear and did not make any efforts or move to save their son from the clutches of the wild dog. Now the young man collected all his wits and prayed to Vitthal for help. The Dog had not yet made any move to bite his neck and at that moment the owner came out and saw this ghastly sight of his dog sitting on the chest of the young man. He simply shouted”Vaghya( Tiger) come here.” The dog immediately jumped off the chest of the young man and ran loving towards his master! To his great relief the young man got up was grateful to God to have saved him in nick of time! But he was equally perturbed and upset that his parents abandoned him in time of his need. Needless to mention that the young man realized that Vitthal (God) came to help in the shape of the dog owner and that love of the parents for him had no depth.

Today the hard truth and reality of life is repeating itself when a covid infected patient is surviving on God’s help and there is no one else except God to see him / her through the end of the journey of life.

Jai Hari Vitthal. 74.

 75. SEARCH YOUR SOUL NOT GOD

As great Kabir ji said “Khudaki khoj jaruri nahi par khudhi ko khoj” He was so right indeed. Tukaram said the same thing in a different way, He said “Instead of searching God for getting blessed it is better to adopt godly ways to live life and attain moksha. Self realization and self cleansing of mind is the key to sainthood and that is what all the saints of the world adopted.” The great saint saw it all clear when he followed his guru Dyneshwar maharaj and the way he lived his short life of 21 yrs! Because of this belief Tukaram found all the rituals futile and waste of time and money. The great saint found that a mortal has only two choices as to what to adopt to live life given to him/her by the creator; either to live with daily worries and circumstances around or create a mindset that will overcome them and attend purity of mind through his/her intellect. Tukaram chose the second option that every saintly person adopts “ full and effective control over one’s own mind.” This made things very easy for Tukaram to reach sainthood and reach at Vitthal’s feet.

Stories of Ramakrishna Paramhansa & Vivekananda

Vivekananda followed Tukaram very closely when shaping his life. He preached that even the glory of moksha could be felt in one’s own life time if you challenge your soul to rise to the occasion. He got this guide line (diksha) from his guru Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa. There are two very thoughtful stories from their lives.

“ Ramakrishna Paramhanse used to daily meditate on the river bank. One day, stranger came near him and disturbed him “Guru ji I want to cross the river to go to the other bank. I see two boats there. Which boat do you recommend so that I can reach in shortest possible time?” The great saint was rather amused as well as annoyed but he politely replied “It is your choice. One of the boats is a rowing boat and other is a sail boat. Normally the sail boat reaches in half the time as the wind is strong on the river front.” After hearing gurudev the stranger said “what if the wind does not blow and the oars break or slip off in water?” Gurudev realized the anxiety of the mortal wanting to cross the river. He advised go with the sail boat as God will never stop the wind from blowing where as manmade oars have no guarantee at all. So trust God and make your journey.” The stranger took the sail boat.

 Vivekananda ji was on the tour of USA. He had gone there to address the conference on Religions of the World. At the conference he noticed that various religious book were stacked up and kept on the dais table. He noticed that copy of “Gita” was kept at the bottom by the organizers. When Vivekananda was called upon to come to dais to address the gathering. He greeted the audience in the most perfect and unique manner” my dear sisters and brothers.” that drew thunderous applause from the congregation. But the next comment invited bigger and louder claps from one and all “I represent the philosophy of Hinduism which is apparently represents the policy of foundation of all the religions represented here at Chicago in this conference and perhaps rightly so the copy of “GITA “is placed at the bottom of all the religious booked kept here for the public review!”

After the conference Vivekananda ji was interviewed by the press. Here too an answer by him stunned the press. A reporter asked him “Sir, you are so handsome and good looking gentleman then why do you wear such a odd dress and of saffron color only?” Vivekananda replied with gentle smile “my dear man, here a tailor makes you look like a gentleman where as in my country it is the character and behavior that decides who is a gentleman!”

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 76. GET ENLIGHTENED NOT INFLUENCED!

Tukaram was convinced that one should not get influenced by his/her guru instead be enlightened. We should praise and adopt the work of the saintly people and not their faces! This was the right way to overcome one’s weaknesses mainly lust, anger and selfishness (kama, Krodha and Lobha).The great saint found that his guru had exclusively prayed to God to help get rid of these three evils. He saw the clear reasoning in doing so because he was fully convinced that these three elements made the mind a devil’s workshop. Tukaram slowly but surely got rid of the triple propensities from his mind but then there appeared the fourth and most potent and dangerous element of Ego/Pride (Abbhiman /Ahaankar).The great saint realized that” most of us mortals are an easy victim of ego. We succumb to it knowingly or at times unknowingly but it is not at all acceptable to our creator (God). When God sees Ego in the devotee he says “I go!” Tukaram found that ego/self pride is most destructive for a mortal’s mind and also most difficult to get rid of too. The great abhang written by the saint on ego riddance is worth its weight in gold indeed. So we need to get rid of the three devils and the ego in order to facilitate our road to attain moksha.

 The human history is proof of it. A single man’s ego has destroyed kingdoms, nations, families and societies at large. There are ample examples in the historical records of various religions and communities where the egos of so called important and influential leaders and Heads led to annihilation of a race, a kingdom and unnecessary wars. If we trace the Indian history from times of Ramayana, Mahabharata, the Muslim and British rules, we will be able see many examples of how a mortal’s ego has caused inconceivable destruction of life, property, culture and heritage.

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77. WHO IS REALLY POOR?

Tukaram brought dignity and reality to the word ’poor’ as applicable to a mortal. He had to correct the definition of poverty as was known and understood by a commoner in the society. The people at large associated being poor as having very little or no money and material needs. To a mortal poverty meant curse and punishment from God for his/her bad karmas of last life! The great saint studied the true meaning and brought out the definitions in words and expressed them in his abhangs. He says “those who could not get rid of their lust, anger and desires (kama, krodha and Lobha) are poor. Those who nurse ego and self pride are poor. Those who flow along and live with society of mortals with blind faith and rituals (andha wishwas /andha shradha)) are poor. Those who do good karmas but develop ego about it are poor. Those who donate, give, help and contribute for good cause but boast about it, have ego about it and talk about it are all poor indeed. In short the great saint bifurcated material poorness from spiritual ( adhyatmik) poverty. The great saint had to remove the serous anomaly in the prevailing psyche of the mortals as to what is poverty and who is really poor in life? In simple thinking process it means we are truly rich not because of our material richness or actual money but because of our riddance from real ills mentioned by the great saint or we are really poor if we have not been able to eradicate all those ills as pointed out by the great saint.

Tukaram accepted the material poverty in exchange and favor of spiritual richness to attain saint hood during his life time and then moksha after his death. We all mortals cannot become Tukaram but we can help ourselves to enlightenment from his works by following his path. This will improve our quality of life in true sense.

 Jai Hari Vitthal. 77

78. Tukaram was often asked by his followers “How you say that you can see and feel Vitthal (God) in everything you do in your day to day life?” Tukaram wrote a simple one liner abhang to answer such an important question by an ordinary and common mortal. He says “ Mani Nahi Bhav Nahi Dise Dev” meaning if you do not think of him then he cannot be seen or felt. He went further to explain” that a mother can feel presence or virtually see her child at all times during her life because she has huge and unlimited love for child. You need to develop deep attachment, desire, wish and love for God.” The great saint sent a very strong and an effective message through his very famous bhajan” Bolava Vitthal, Aaikava Vitthal, Sangava Vitthal, Ghyva Vitthal, Dyawa Vitthal” the sequential meaning would be as follows ; When you speak to others then think that you are addressing Vitthal, when you are listening then think that Vitthal is talking to you, when you are conveying something thing then think you are doing so to Vitthal, when you are receiving something then think that it is coming from Vitthal and similarly when you are giving something to somebody then think that you are giving it to Vitthal. When we mortals practically apply this approach of the great saint in our daily life it gets very simplified. It means that when we are in communication mode using various tools and skills such as ”talking, listening, conveying, receiving and giving we must feel as if we are dealing with God so that we remain decent, meek, unselfish, do no harm nor hurt any body’s feelings.

Today, the technology has brought the communication skills to a level of instant happenings and we are creating mass havocs, disturbances, destruction of life and property all because we have lost God’s presence in our life, mind and thoughts.

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79. INDEPENDECY & DEPENDENCY OF HAPPINESS.

Tukaram made a deep introspection on the subject of true happiness as applicable to a common mortal. After spending considerable time and energy his mind gave him the answer to this otherwise a mystery subject to an ordinary mortal. The great saint says “there are two categories or types of happiness out which a mortal can choose only one and pursue it and achieve it. The first one is worldly happiness through a set of three standard elements mainly circumstances around us, self being as a mortal and our material possessions. This type of happiness is totally ‘Dependent’ on these three things which themselves are constantly changing! The great saint convinced the masses that a mortal’s happiness of this type can never ever be b stable and permanent during his/her life time. He further explained that “we all (souls) are born in some family as a part of the blessings of God according to our past karmas. The mortal families on the earth live as per the above three elements and laws, regulations and ways set up by the society of the region. The great saint went on to explain further that worldly happiness is not the true happiness a mortal should pursue but instead he/she should search and work for total independency in the personal happiness and free himself /herself from worldly dependencies! Tukaram wrote simple and knowledgeable abhangs to show the masses the clear ways to achieve true and long lasting happiness totally independent of worldly elements. Once we overcome our basic weaknesses and worldly instincts by controlling our mind through our intellect and spiritual path shown by saintly Gurus we achieve Independency of our happiness .

In today’s times technology and scientific advances have increased the material comforts to an un imaginable level. Our living circumstances, our self being & personality and our mobility have changed to such an extent that we do have doubts about our creator, life after death and existence of re-birth cycle!

 But Covid-19 pandemic has brought back once again the harsh reality to lime light. Realty of futility of wealth, neo richness, technological & scientific advances available are of no real use to an individual mortal in a real need and emergency like covid! Look at where humanity stands toady? All over the world from USA to a poorest nation everyone is helpless. Why? A single virus has brought the entire world to its knees in less than a year! A mortal’s life remains very fragile, vulnerable and momentary in every sense of these words!

 We need to have faith our creator indeed.

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80. BELIEF IN CREATOR ERADICATES FEARS OF LOSSES.

 Tukaram penned down a classic abhang that gives a loud and clear message to us all mortals that “earlier one believes in our creator-God the faster one loses his/her fears about losses and death too.” Tukaram proved this theory by following the path of developing an unshakable, limitless, infinite and total devotion to his God Vitthal. His prayer to God was very simple” Vitthala you take over the reins of my family responsibilities and make my mind free of the worries of material and physical losses and deaths of dear near ones so that I can concentrate on my work to write my abhangs and do kirtans for the fellow villagers”. What the great saint meant “ that once we all mortals put our trust in God and have total and an unshakable belief in him we need not fear anything at all not even death which is unavoidable in any case!”

Tukaram also faced a direct threat like many others like him who were banned and thus prevented from visiting temples! This was so because the Brahmins were controlling the entries to all the temples and they persecuted the members from so called the lower casts or people belonging to low strata of materialistic society. The great saint started to pray and do his kirtans by standing outside the entrance of the Vitthoba temple! This further irritated and infuriated the temple heads. But they could do nothing about it. The great saint put a simple logic in his message” if we can’t enter the temple then at least Vitthal (God) could come out to meet us. Who will dare stop him?” It is here a miracle happened that stunned the arrogant temple head. Without entering the temple, the blessed worshippers who could not enter the temple for a darshan ( viewing the image) could describe the stone carved image (deity) of Vitthal with perfection and accuracy as if they were inside the temple! The eternal wait of oppressed worshippers ( saburi/pratiksha) had paid off. That is why the saying “ Bhagwan ke ghar me der hai par aandher nahi “ meaning ( God’s blessings may be delayed but never denied). We need to trust him fully and do our karmas. Faith can move mountains.

Why we need to follow philosophy and knowledge of saints such as Dyneshwar & Tukaram ?

The following story should be able convince most of us why we need to adopt, follow and practice the advice and guidance of Tukaram in our lives.

 A stable owner decided to do an experiment at his stable. He started raising some colts (baby donkeys) along with his horses in his stud farm. Over a period he noticed the colts had adopted to the behavior and habits of the horses. He also noticed that the stud farm grown donkeys could run faster than other donkeys! In short donkeys could adopt themselves to horses. Now the stud farm owner decided to do the reverse experiment, he stared raising foals (baby horses) with grown donkeys in a secluded area of his farm. To his great surprise, the baby horses did not adopt anything from donkeys they were living with! Horses remained horses but donkeys did change to a large extend to become horse like!

 The saints are horses and we all mortals are donkeys and we need to become horse like by being living close to them and in their constant company.

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81. Who is the most blessed mortal?

Tukaram was in the search of the answer for the question foremost in his mind “who is the most blessed mortal and why so? He found the answer in Dyneshwar’s life story and the ways the greatest saint spent his short life time in doing only good karmas. Tukaram realized that it is absolutely impossible for any human being to know the time, place and means the death will embrace him/her. The predictions by astrologers and palmist were either fake or highly vague and totally untrustworthy! Therefore, the great saint realized that one had to believe that past is gone forever, the present is the truth and the future is in the hands of the creator. To the great saint the present meant doing the right karma at the right time at the right place. He managed the three “R” in his life time. He could do so because he controlled his mind by his intellect and full trust in his God (Vitthal). Tukaram in his first ever appeal in his prayers to his Vitthal was “Help me to forget my devotion and love for my parents so that I can singularly think of you and you alone” What a supreme example of ultimate sacrifice for a mortal indeed! We all us mortals fully understand that the parental love specially that of and for mother is the strongest bond fortified by our creator through umbilical cord right from the conception and finally leading to our being as we are from birth to death. Tukaram’s unusual but very powerful prayer brought tears to the eyes of the Lord! No doubt Tukaram attained moksha during his life time because Lord Vitthal personally took him with him to his abode. As recorded in authentic records of history of those times the great saint walked over the hill to the oblivion never to return again to the place of his karma. The following story is the true account of the incident that proves the extra ordinary and super natural powers the great saint had been blessed with, without his knowledge!

The Brahmin priests and pundits were well aware of the abhangs written and completed by Tukaram. They were also disturbed by the fact that the general public was getting influenced by the contents of the abhangs. This was damaging to their ritual business and detrimental to blind faith dictums. So they decided to steal the bounded book copies of abhangs and throw them in the river. But some of them got scared of public rebuke so they changed their approach to destroy the great saint’s work! They challenged Tukaram’s unshakeable faith in Vitthal by asking him to sink his abhang books in the river “Indriyani “by tying stones to each bundle of the books in the public view. Tukaram had no choice but to yield to the pressure from the Village Head and his advisors. The crowds of devotees of Tukaram watched with great dismay this atrocity on the great saint inflicted by the cruel and jealous Brhamin community. As Tukaram walked into the river basin with his life time work tied to the stones to be sunk by his own hands he simply prayed his Vitthal for help. One by one the great saint consigned his work in the river waters and saw it sinking down to the river bed. After all the books gone Tukaram returned to his hut and sat down to rewrite them again! Next day the sun rose in the east as usual, there was knock at the door of the hut. Tukaram opened the door and what he saw simply overwhelmed him totally. There stood a fisherman who had all the sunk books in his hand “Tukaram I saw all these books drifting near the riverside this morning they are wet but the words are not wiped out. You can dry them in the sun light now and rebind the pages. Tukaram at once realized the reason for this miraculous recovery of the books. He thanked the fisherman who then went back to the village head and told him the full story of the recovery of the books. The whole village came to Tukaram’s hut to celebrate the blessing. Needless to mention that a strong message had gone around loud and clear to the opponents to keep away from Tukoba ji.

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82. BAD DEEDS (Karmas) HELP INITIATE PANDEMICS

Tukaram too had to search for the answer for the question as to “why from time to time different types of pandemics such as plague cholera, typhoid, measles, tuberculosis, small.pox and other deceases attack the humanity at large with nagging accuracy killing hundreds of the mortals in large numbers in a very short time destroying the vary basic fabric of the human society”. The great saint saw plague pandemic wiping out village after village during his life time. Similarly, he faced the dangerous bursting of cholera (Mahamari) decrease in and around his village. He found a sound answer for such horrible occurrences. His studies and observations led him to conviction that whenever a society of mortals crossed the limits of human decency their bad deeds initiated the destruction through natural causes such as earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and pandemics. In his well known abhang “Pape Yeti Roge Rupe” meaning our sins return back as diseases and expanded and deeper meaning would be bad karmas destroy humanity. How right the great saint was 450 yrs ago can be seen by studying the world history records tracing from Ramayana & Mahabharata through fall of Roman & Egyptian empires and then several dynasties in India & China, fall of Alexander the great, Napoleon and then Hitler followed by the two world wars. The great saint was convinced that the creator cant tolerate ego and pride of the mortals and therefore, from time to time the creator sends a strong message to the human society to behave and mend its ways!

 It looks absolutely right and logical in today’s times that covid pandemic has hit every corner of the world and from the riches to rags every mortal has come down on his/her knees in a year’s time only. Money nor knowledge has been able to rescue us nor anyone can help each other in need of the hour . Even the last farewell and dignity has been denied to the dead. It is night mare indeed. Once again the great saint words have come so loud and clear “that life is too fragile, vulnerable and mostly full of futile deeds that takes you away from attaining moksha. We need to mend our ways for better quality of life. For doing good deeds very few people come forward to help. We have to use the gift of our bodies and the organs given there in for performing good deeds and help the humanity.

  82. Jai Hari Vitthal.

83. MEANING OF MOMENT.

 Tukaram has meaningfully defined “what is moment? in his abhangs. The great saint says the period from the very first time a mortal opens his/her eyes at the birth till he/she shuts his/her eyes at time of death is the true definition of ‘moment” (kshan) . He further explains “the time lapse between the natural blinking of eyes are mini moments. The great saint then sums up as: “a mortal’s life is nothing but a moment of being extremely fragile, unpredictable and open to instant end or termination (death) without any notice what so ever to the owner of the body!” Tukaram had to work very hard on his theory of moment to convince a commoner that a mortal’s body will last only till the moment the creator has destined it for. The great saint finally managed to convince the masses that human body is in possession of the soul only from birth to death and it is a very precious gift from God to mortals to do good karmas to help their souls to attain moksha. Hereafter, the great saint emphasized that a human body is an absolute and ultimate marvel of nature’s creativity and is priceless in every way. He further explained to the ignorant masses that we all have to use our bodies to the best of our abilities for only good karmas and not for bad karmas. The misuse of human form will be our own downfall indeed. So true he was then 450 yrs ago and so valid it is even in 21^st century. The vital body organs and parts replacement cost a bomb and it may not be a success in medical terms

Look at how most of the mortals misusing their bodies for, crimes, rape, murders, wars, destruction of environment, wastage of precious natural resources, terrorism, arson ,loot ,shoot the list is endless. Where will this all lead the human race to? Nowhere but to ultimate self destruction of our very existence. What happens then to our efforts to attain moksha? Only those who will keep out of all these evil acts will reach their goal for sure.

83. Jai Hari Vitthal.

 84. SIGNIFICANCE OF REMEMBERANCE

While searching the ways and means for the benefit of mortals to attain moksha (eternal peace) Tukaram noticed that people who did good karmas (deeds) are remembered for a long time and some forever and the average duration of being remembered by the society depending upon the quantum of good karams done by the mortal. The great saint traced the history of remembrance right from the characters depicted in epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata till his life time period. He spiritually felt that “if a mortal is remembered for at least 50% of his/her life time period then that person has gainfully utilized the human form for a good cause and purpose!” He was also convinced that those mortals who are always revered, worshipped and remembered on their birth days and death anniversaries have attained moksha! He felt that saints, sages and soldiers (who died for their motherland in wars) (Shahid) are never ever forgotten in the history and minds of common mortals.; In fact they all become role models, great motivators for the generations to follow. The great saint was so very right then in his judgment indeed and even today. We all remember the great saints, sages, brave hearts and all those wonderful men and women who did great work for the society at large. Tukaram himself is alive in him being remembered for last 450 yrs.

I considered myself lucky to have been blessed to write few words about the greatest saint ever born in the world in my own humble way.

 84. Jai Hari Vitthal.

 85. CURSES DETRIMENTAL TO HAPPINESS.

Tukaram was a very observant orator and reader of the human behavior and therefore he could make out the types of audience attending his public kirtans and bhajans. He divided them into four types as follows;

The first group was those who reluctantly attended the kirtans without any feelings (Bhakti bhava) and therefore wasted their time!

The second group was those who wanted to listen and implement the changes in them for betterment of their behavior but did not have the power of perseverance (intellect controlling mind).

The third group was those who wanted to listen implement and adopt the advice of the great saint in their life but could not choose between Happiness & Peace v/s Worldly life & Material comforts.

The fourth group was those who already had a guru to lead them and they simply loved the the kirtans and bhajans of the great saint dedicated to Vitthal.

In the words of Tukaram the first three groups were under curses or effects of their past sins and were being prevented from doing the right things during their life. The great saint felt that the mortals in these groups needed to be guided by a guru to do more good karmas so that they could be blessed by God to overcome the curses preventing them from achieving mental happiness rather than material comforts and richness. In practical life we all mortals have to realize that we need someone to wake us up from of our deep slumber and make us aware that everything around us is so very imaginary (Mithya) and so very fragile (Kshanbhangur) that we could lose it all in matter of seconds! We all need to be blessed from all these curses that prevent us from seeking moksha and happiness during life time .

85. Jai Hari Vitthal

 86. EXPERIENCE v/s IDEA (ANNUBHAV v/s VICHAR)

Tukaram came to the conclusion and rightly so that Experience is of higher value than Idea in the process of achieving moksha. The great saint’s reasoning was so very logical indeed. He says “ideas may crowd our mind but an experience is the most apt example for learning the truth. For a common and an ordinary mortal it was not easy to implement good ideas leading him /her to towards good karmas but it was easy to follow a saintly guru who already had the experiences that could be shared and learnt from! Tukaram applied this principle to himself in his life time as he made Dyneshwar his Guru. The great saint fully studied the Dyneshwari and the spiritual experiences of Sant Dyneshwar maharaj. This changed his life forever and the net end result was the emerging of the greatest saint “ Jagat Guru Shri Sant Tukaram” from an ordinary money lending farmer Tukaram! The great saint has backed the Experience over the Idea in his life time. Had he not followed his guru Dyneshwar, Tukaram would have died as an unknown like million of others. An experience is a great teacher, a motivator, hopes to live on with positivity. The great saint says “An experience has no age nor any religion or faith. The heavenly and super natural experiences felt and faced by many great saintly people from different parts of the world resulted in creating history by one single mortal! Jesus founded Christianity, Gatum Budha founded Buddhism, and Prophet Muhammad founded Muslim faith. Dyneshwar wrote Dyneshwari, which changed the course of Hindu Faith and so on. In short, what the greatest saint of the century meant that nothing can surpass or supersede or replace a spiritual or a miraculous experience of a mortal and it then can becomes a great teacher. In our ordinary day to day life we all mortals must learn from each other’s experiences and correct ourselves in time to save us from losses, bad karmas, sins and hurting the humanity.

86. Jai Hari Vitthal.

 87. PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE.

Tukaram derived the right definition of three constant stages that form the integral and main parts of the time span of a mortal’s life on earth. There is a past, present and future of every human being while he/she are living. The great saint defined the “Past “as Experience, “Present” as Implementation and “Future” as Thoughts. He further says “Experience” is a teacher and “Present” is a student and “Future is objective /goal of life! Tukaram was very sure that we only learn from our past experiences while living our daily lives and we need to constantly correct our wrongs and mistakes so as not to repeat them and suffer because of them. So we need to live in present times only. The great saint advises not to look or search into “Future “(Bhavishya) and waste time in doing so instead use your own intellect to control your thoughts and mind and make future happen through your good karmas leaving the fruits or the end reward in the hands of God (Vitthal). The great saint also says “don’t chase your “future” instead make it happen through your good karmas. “ What is the common ‘Future” for all mortals He asks? Obviously the answer is moksha. We all mortals from all walks of life and different backgrounds have a common goal to achieve in our lives that is to attain eternal peace and escape from repeated cycles of birth/death.

 Tukaram’s words do make a huge sense indeed in today’s time of despair brought about by pandemic. We are all confused about our future life. Well the best choice is to accept the present state of our lives and plan our future on positivity but the goal remains unchanged. Last one year’s experience of the first phase of the pandemic has taught us that a mortal’s life is very fragile and vulnerable and therefore each day is to be lived with happiness only thanking the lord for the blessings that we are still there to do some more good karmas.

Jai Hari Vitthal. 87

88. SUPPORT & SHELTER (Aadhar & Ashraya)

 Tukaram maharaj realized that every mortal needs support and shelter to survive his/her life no matter which geographical part of the world he/she lives in. The great saint also observed that when one mortal asks for support and shelter from another mortal it comes to him/her with a tag of either cost, service to be rendered or both in worst case scenario! Tukoba was well aware of the fact that every mortal was neither in a position nor fortunate enough to afford the tag attached for procurement of support and shelter by the society at large. He had to find a spiritual way to save these unfortunate mortals with dignity and honor and find the way to lead them. The great saint found a paradox in this situation that the rich and the poor both needed support and shelter! The rich mortals had physical support and shelter with all the worldly comforts and yet they did not have happiness and peace in their lives, where as the poor lacked physical support and shelter and yet they were happy and satisfied with their lot but needed God’s blessings to survive daily life! In short, Tukaram realized that a common remedy was needed by both the sections of the society; the rich and the poor. The great saint found the answer in his prayers “we all mortals need to surrender totally to God (Vitthal) and he wrote the wonderful abhang “ Deva maze mann lago tuzya charani” meaning “ God let my mind surrender at your feet”. To rich he says “surrender your ego” and to the poor “wants, need and worries of daily life” The great saint saw extreme richness as well as extreme poverty too and he therefore could see both the sides of one coin “Life” so to say. The common denominator for all mortals is seeking happiness and attaining moksha in the present life. The key of eternal happiness and satisfaction is to surrender our wavering and wandering “Mind “ at Vitthal’s feet using our intellect and path shown by the saints such as Dyneshwar maharaj.

Jai Hari Vitthal. 88

89. Creation of Life on earth.

Tukaram minutely observed and then analyzed the common qualities which every living creature has and as well as what special qualities the human beings are blessed with! The great saint first listed the basic four qualities of every living creature as follows;

 Every type of creature needs air, water and food to survive.

 Every type of creature has fear of death.

 Every type of creature needs sleep/rest.

 Every type of creature has capability and necessity to procreate.

The great saint then turned his attention to the human beings to find out all about the special and common qualities the creator blessed them with. He listed fourteen them as follows;

 Ability of Speaking /talking/writing to each other.(Communication skills)

 Ability of Smiling /crying (expressing joy & sorrow)

 Pair of Hands with a set five dedicated fingers to each hand. (ability for performing hand skills)

 Practices of Modesty (Lajja/Sharam)

 Ability to Think /Invent /Educate/Contemplate. ( Aachar/Vichar )

 Ability to Progress.

 Ability to experience Happiness/Satisfaction

 Ability to do work (Karama)

 Ability to judge right /wrong, sin and virtue and what is good and bad.

 Ability and use of Intellect /Intelligence to control mind.

 Ability to apologize/mend /regret.

 Ability to Change for better.

 Ability to sacrifice for good cause

 Ability and capability to attain moksha by way of sainthood. To be God like by doing good karmas.

The fourteen different qualities bring forth the very point which the great saint tried to convince the common masses as to how important and rare blessing it is for our soul to be born as a human being . The great saint has written several abhangs in praise of the lord for he/she being born as a human being. In all his kirtans we advises his followers to use all the abilities to do good karmas and attain moksha .

 Jai Hari Krishna 89.

90. MORTAL’S COMMITMENT TO BODY (DEHA).

Tukaram has brought out the importance of commitment to look after the precious human form /body blessed by the creator to each of us mortals. Whatever is the state of body/form given to us at birth must be kept healthy, and fit, with pure mind and in the state of happiness commensurate with the circumstances and place where we are destined to live during our lifetime. What the great saint meant that” unless our bodies are physically healthy and mentally fit only then we can do good karmas with constant ease and satisfaction.” A healthy body helps to develop sound and pure mind which in turn becomes easy to control by intellect. Once this loop is managed then it becomes easy to have disciplined and addiction free habits. When we mortals achieve all above then automatically decent behavioral pattern follows and it leads us to become a worthy mortal who can then search for a saintly guru to guide him/her to moksh while living his/her life. The great saint gave utmost importance to having a spiritual guru. Tukaram was convinced that” God is our father and Guru is our mother” and it is guru like Dyneshwar who could only guide him to Vitthal’s feet. That is why Dyneshwar is recognized as Dyneshwar Mouli in Maharashtra. Tukaram found four pre-requisites to reach God’s feet and then moksha. He has shared them with his followers,

 No attachments with any other mortal.

 No attachment with material things.

 No reaction to good /bad news.

 Full trust in existence of God. (Vitthal)

 Ability to talk/converse with God (Vitthal )

 Ability to shed tears for God (Vitthal).

Tukaram advises to live a detached family life while you are a family mortal with full trust in God and true feelings of love and affection for the Lord.

Jai Hari Vitthal. 90

· Concepts they should know and the level to which they should be prepared in Education.

· Industry recognized the job role that the students should be prepared for

Earlier the stress has been on heavy equipment such as heavy cameras cranes Linear Editors like Steinback everything has been aimed for Delivery to Multiplexes. Drones are Replacing Cranes. As Video and Audio storage became digital, cameras became lighter. The tripods are therefore lighter. You no longer need Heavy Steadycams.

Now the trend is shifting totally towards web based shows which don’t need a giant projector but rather a digital platform for screening. Now after the lock-down the trend has become even more rapid. This is where our Commputer Science and Design students and even ECE students can ease themselves in without much difficulty.

In terms of a film company the Job Descriptions are as under

· Film producer.

· Film producer cum Financial Planner

· Production Manager

· Film director

· Script Writer / Song Writer

· Visualiser and Story Boarder

· Ad Film Designer

• Set Designer

· Virtual Set Designer

· 3 D Modeller

· Location manager.

· Director of Photography / Cinematographer

· Lighting Designer

• Sound Recordist

• Video / Film Editor

• Audio Editor

· Digital Marketing Executive

· FX Designer

· Social Media Expert

· You Tuber

· COMPANIES WHERE THEY COULD GET A JOB

Major Film Production Houses in India
Balaji Telefilms Ltd
Balaji Telefilms Ltd was founded in the year 1994 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India. The leading production house produces Indian soap operas, comedy, game shows, entertainment, reality TV and factual programming in several Indian languages. Balaji Telefilms is promoted by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor and is a public company listed at the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India.

Dharma Productions Pvt Ltd

Dharma Productions Pvt Ltd is one of the top 10 production houses in India. The company is mainly involved in the business of film production and distribution since 1979. The production house is located in Mumbai and owned by Karan Johar. The production house has produced a huge number of hit films.

Endemol Shine India

Endemol Shine India is a part of the Endemol Shine Group. Endemol Shine India was founded in the year 2015 and is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Endemol Shine India, at present, is the premier content provider in the Sub- Continent, producing over 800 hours of programming annually for the biggest broadcasters; mainstream & regional. Endemol Shine India’s slate represents the most exciting and popular programming on TV channels – shows such as MasterChef, Biggboss, Khatron Ke Khiladi, with many other projects in development.  It is one of the top 10 production houses in India.

Eros International Media Ltd

Eros International was founded in the year 1977 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The public ltd company is dealing in the media and entertainment industry. It offers a wide range of services including co-production, distribution and acquisition and film production. Eros’s major subsidiaries are Eros Now, Eros Music and Trinity Pictures. Its offices are located in India, UK, Australia, United States, Dubai, Fiji and the Isle of Man. It is one of the leading production and distribution companies in India.

Ramoji Film City (ETV Network)

Ramoji Film city is a broadcast television company owned by Network 18 company. It is a network of Satellite television channels in India. The company is based out in New Delhi. In the year 2015, it has been acquired by Reliance Industries. The Hyderabad daily newspaper Eenadu (Telugu for ‘today’) started its own channel named Eenadu TV on 27 August 1995. It is among the top 10 production houses in India.

Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt Ltd

The company was founded in the year 2005. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Its major products are motion pictures, music, television, and games. Its parent company is Reliance Anil Dhirubhai and Ambani Group. The key content initiatives are across music, movies, Internet & mobile portals, gaming, sports, leading to direct opportunities in delivery across the emerging digital distribution platforms like digital cinema, IPTV, DTH, and mobile TV. It is one of the top 10 production houses in India.

Saregama India Ltd

Saregama India Ltd was founded in the year 1946 and s headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company is India’s oldest music label, youngest film studio, and a multi-language TV content producer. The company is engaged in the production of television serials, including free commercial time. The Company’s segments include Music, Films/TV Serials, Publication, and Marketing Support Services.

Super Cassettes Industries Ltd (T-Series)

T-Series was founded in the year 1983 by Gulshan Kumar. One of the top 10 production houses in India, the company is well known for Bollywood music soundtracks and Indi-pop music. T-Series is India’s largest music record label. The company is headquartered in Noida, India. The company’s line of business includes the manufacturing of phonograph records and prerecorded audio tapes and disks.

Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd

Its major subsidiaries are Viacom 18 US, Viacom 18 media, Roptanol, the Indian Film Company, and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. Viacom 18 owns and operates various channels of the Viacom group for the Indian viewers, as well as various consumer products in India. It is one of the top 10 production houses in India. Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. is India’s fastest growing entertainment network and a house of more than 3 dozen iconic brands. Viacom18 defines entertainment in India by touching people across its core lines of businesses – broadcast, digital, experiential, filmed entertainment and consumer products.

Yash Raj Films Pvt Ltd

Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company working in Hindi cinema. Its major products are Movies, Studio, Production, Distribution, Marketing, Music, Home Video and many more. The company is among the top 10 production houses in India. It is a broad spectrum company diversified into following segment

Besides the above the following are:

Currently Active film production houses in India

Indicative List (there are many more)

Name	Headquarter
Ramanaidu Studios	Visakhapatnam/Hyderabad
PVP Cinema	Vijayawada/Hyderabad
August Cinema	Thiruvananthapuram
Friday Film House	Thiruvananthapuram
Pranavam Arts International	Thiruvananthapuram
Prithviraj Productions	Thiruvananthapuram
Riverbank Studios	New Delhi
Sahara One	New Delhi
Aamir Khan Productions	Mumbai
Ajay Devgn FFilms	Mumbai
Anurag Kashyap Films	Mumbai
Bhansali Productions	Mumbai
Chilsag Entertainment Network	Mumbai
Clean Slate Films	Mumbai
Colour Yellow Productions	Mumbai
DAR Motion Pictures	Mumbai
Drishyam Films	Mumbai
Emmay Entertainment	Mumbai
Excel Entertainment	Mumbai
Fox Star Studios	Mumbai
Grazing Goat Pictures	Mumbai
Hari Om Entertainment	Mumbai
Illuminati Films	Mumbai
Medient Studios	Mumbai
Mukta Arts	Mumbai
Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment	Mumbai
Narrative Pictures	Mumbai
Navketan Films	Mumbai
NFDC Cinemas of India	Mumbai
Pen India Limited	Mumbai
Percept Picture Company	Mumbai
Phantom Films	Mumbai
Rajshri Productions	Mumbai
Red Chillies Entertainment	Mumbai
Salman Khan Films	Mumbai
Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision	Mumbai
Sudha Productions	Mumbai
T-Series	Mumbai
Tips Industries	Mumbai
Trimurti Films	Mumbai
UTV Motion Pictures	Mumbai
Viacom18 Motion Pictures	Mumbai
Vinod Chopra Films	Mumbai
Vishesh Films	Mumbai
Walt Disney Pictures India	Mumbai
Yoodlee films	Mumbai
Zee Entertainment Enterprises	Mumbai
Eskay Movies	Kolkata
Jeetz Filmworks	Kolkata
Shree Venkatesh Films	Kolkata
Surinder Films	Kolkata
Aashirvad Cinemas	Kochi
Big Bang Entertainments	Kochi
Playhouse Motion Pictures	Kochi
Wayfarer Films	Kochi
Annapurna Studios	Hyderabad
Arka Media Works	Hyderabad
Geetha Arts	Hyderabad
Konidela Production Company	Hyderabad
Mythri Movie Makers	Hyderabad
Suresh Productions	Hyderabad
Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram	Hyderabad
Vyjayanthi Movies	Hyderabad
PVR Pictures	Gurgaon
Dehra Productions	Dehradun
2D Entertainment	Chennai
AGS Entertainment	Chennai
AVM Productions	Chennai
Cloud Nine Movies	Chennai
Gemini Film Circuit	Chennai
Kavithalayaa Productions	Chennai
Lyca Productions	Chennai
Madras Talkies	Chennai
Qube Cinema Technologies	Chennai
Raaj Kamal Films International	Chennai
Red Giant Movies	Chennai
S Pictures	Chennai
Sivaji Productions	Chennai
Sivakarthikeyan Productions	Chennai
Studio Green	Chennai
Sun Pictures	Chennai
Wunderbar Films	Chennai
Y NOT Studios	Chennai
Tarang Cine Productions	Bhubaneshwar
Felis Creations	Bangalore
Jayanna Combines	Bangalore
Kanteerava Studios	Bangalore
Paramvah Studios	Bangalore
Pushkar Films	Bangalore
Rhythm Boyz Entertainment	Amritsar
CineMan Productions	Ahmadabad

Major Music Studios in India for Radio and Film both

Aditya Music, Hyderabad

Balaji Music, Mumbai

Eros Music, Mumbai

Madhura Audio, Hyderabad

Muzik 247, Chennai

Pen India Music, Mumbai

Saregama, Mumbai (It has also forayed into Film Production)

Satyam Audios, Kochi

SVF Music, Kolkata

Shemaroo, Mumbai

Sony Music, Mumbai.

T-Series, Mumbai

Tharangni, Chennai

Think Music, Chennai

Times Music, Mumbai

Tips Music, Mumbai

Universal Music, Mumbai

YRF Music, Mumbai

Zee Music Company, Mumbai

Video Streaming Platforms

· HBO Now.

· YouTube TV

· Netflix

· Sling TV

· Amazon Prime.

· Acorn TV

· CBS All Access

· DirecTV Now.

· HULU

· Show Time

· Social Streaming: Facebook Live, LinkedIn Live, YouTube Live, Periscope, Instagram Live.

Major News Channels in India

· ABP News Network Pvt Ltd (ABP)

· BBC Worldwide (India) Pvt Ltd.

· DD News.

· Diligent Media Corporation Ltd (DNA India)

· Independent News Service Pvt Ltd (India TV)

· New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV India)

· TV Today Network Ltd (AajTak)

· TV18 Broadcast Ltd (ibn7)

Renowned Podcasting Platforms

1. Podbean. 

2. BuzzSprout

3. Sound Cloud

4. Blubrry

5. Amazon Music

6. YouTube Music

6. Transistor. …

7. Smart Podcast Player. …

8. Libsyn.

Radio Stations

International English Speakinh

The top radio stations in the United States by Nielsen Audio ratings.

1. WLTW-FM 106.7 Lite fm – New York

2. WHTZ-FM Z100 – New York

3. WKTU-FM 103.5 – New York

4. KIIS-FM 102.7 – Los Angeles

5. KBIG-FM 104.3 MYFM – Los Angeles

6. KOST-FM 103.5 – Los Angeles

7. WCBS-FM 101.1 – New York

8. KRTH-FM K-EARTH 101 – Los Angeles

9. WBMP-FM 92.3 AMP Radio – New York

10. KAMP-FM 97.1 AMP Radio – Los Angeles

United Kingdom

1. Classic FM (99.8–101.9 MHz) …

2. BBC Radio 5 Live (693/909 kHz) …

3. Smooth Radio (97–108 MHz) …

4. Capital FM (95–108 MHz) …

5. BBC Radio 1 (97.1–99.8 MHz) …

6. Heart (88–108 MHz) …

7. BBC Radio 4 (92.5–96.1 MHz) …

8. BBC Radio 2 (88.1–90.2 MHz)

National

1. All India Radio (Prasar Bharti)

AIR operates at present 18 FM stereo channels, called AIR FM Rainbow, targeting the urban audience in a refreshing style of presentation. Four more FM channels called, AIR FM Gold, broadcast composite news and entertainment programmes from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai.

Private FM Radio Stations

Ministry of Infomation and Broadcasting has listed 381 operational Private FM Radio stations as on 18.06.2019

Because FM has a limited range every major city in India has an FM radio with same frequency please go to the link to see the detailed list of stations.

https://www.asiawaves.net/india-fm-radio.htm

3. Recommended Courses Tools and Certifications.

Each Film School offers a basket of specialised course including Phd. The student has to see which area he wants to grow in and choose his school accordingly.

1. American Film Institute

Located in the film-making capital of the world, Hollywood, the American Film Institute or AFI is one of the most famous schools in the world. AFI’s film making programs are offered by the AFI Conservatory boasting of alumni with major industry awards including the Academy Awards and Emmy Awards. The AFI Conservatory does not offer typical degrees or diplomas but a highly structured Masters of Fine Arts program in six disciplines – Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design and Screenwriting

2. Los Angeles Film School

A top-ranking school for film studies. Although the school offers only associate and bachelor degrees in Film, Animation one would recommend the following courses which would broaden the vision: Entertainment Business, Audio Production, Music Production in addition to the programs offered in their Hollywood campus, the school offers online programs in, Entertainment Business, and Music Production, besides other standard courses like graphic design animation etc

4. Vancouver Film School

Located in Vancouver, Canada, Vancouver Film School or VFS is a leading school for entertainment arts. Such is the film school’s reputation that the Government of Shanghai selected VFS to rebuild the nation’s creative industry. The school offers post-secondary programs of one-year duration in areas including Film Production, Makeup Design for Film & Television, Acting for Film & Television, 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Digital Design, Classical Animation, Foundation Visual Art & Design, Game Design, Entertainment Business Management, Sound Design for Visual Media, and Writing for Film & Television.

5. Concordia University

Concordia University’s The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema is the largest, university-based centre for the study of film animation, film production and film studies in Canada. Programs offered by the prestigious Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema includes a BFA with majors in areas of Film Animation, Film Production and Film Studies, MFA in Cinematic Arts, and MA and Ph.D. in Film Studies. Only MFA is recommended

6. London Film School

Enhance your skills deeply in film making at the centre of the European Film industry by pursuing a graduate degree from the London Film School. LFS offers MA, Ph.D. and part-time workshops programmes focused on craft excellence, aesthetic achievement, creative collaboration, and artistic freedom. Areas of study include MA Film Making, MA Screenwriting, MA International Film Business and Ph.D. Film by Practice and many short-term professional development courses.

7. National Film and Television School (NFTS), London

Featured as one of the top 15 International film schools by The Hollywood Reporter, 2018 ranking. In the last six years, NFTS student films have been nominated three times for an Oscar. The wide variety of programs offered by NFTS include MA courses in Cinematography, Film Studies Programming and Curation, Sound Design to name a few, Diploma courses in Directing Commercials, Sports Production among others and Certificate courses in areas such as Character Animation and Producing Your First Feature

8. Sydney Film School, Australia 

Australia is a popular study abroad destination, those interested to pursue film studies in Australia can consider the popular Sydney Film School (SFS) which was founded 14 years ago. It is a private film school offering two 1- year courses – Diploma of Screen and Media, and Advanced Diploma of Screen and Media.  While the Diploma program is an introductory program designed for candidates with no experience and covers all aspect of film making. The Advanced Diploma is designed for more deeper studies and offers a specialization such as Production, Cinematography among others for skill enhancement and is recommended

9. City University of Hong Kong’s School of Creative Media

For students looking for study options in Asia, the School of Creative Media of the City University of Hong Kong could just be the ideal choice.  The school offers BA and BSc in Creative Media, BAS New Media, Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts in Creative Media and Ph.D./MPhil programmes

10. Lodz Film School

One of the oldest film schools in the world, Poland’s Lodz Film School is a one-stop solution for candidates seeking knowledge in film art, television, photography, and acting. Also known as the Polish National Film School in Lodz or Leon Schiller National Higher School of Film, Television, and Theatre, the school has four departments – Film and Television Directing, Direction of Photography and Television Production, Acting and Film Art Organization. The school typically offers consolidated Masters programs lasting for 4- 5 years in areas such as Direction, Screenwriting and Acting. Tuition fee can range from 2000 to 6000 Euro per semester for Masters studies. The school also offers various part-time programs and Ph.D. studies in film, television and theatre specializations. As a foreign student without Polish language knowledge, you have to join a Polish language class since the language of instruction is entirely Polish.

For those students wanting to enhance their skills in India ONLY the following are the reputable Film Varsities in India.

There are many more film schools than those listed below, but they are not recommended at present. However education is a dynamic field and many institutions can come up with time

1. Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

Since I have taught here, I also know first hand that the quality of learning is experentially the best. National Film Archives is just next door and they have some kind of collaboration with FTII. Students have access to India’s largest video archives here. Established in 1960 by the Government of India, the institution has its campus on the erstwhile premises of the Prabhat Film Company in Pune. The FTII offers 11 post graduate diploma programmes across a number of specializations in both film and television. One would recommend Screen Writing for Film TV & Web Series, which is probably the best in India. Also Cinematography would give access to students professional equipment

2. Satyajit Ray Films and Television Institute, Kolkata

SRFTI is a Sister Institution of FTII. In fact FTII faculty keep visiting that institution as Visiting or Guest Faculty. So their Film Making Courses are identical and are recommended as highly as FTII. However EDM is one area where they have adopted Leading Edge Technology. Films, in 2016 faced a decline in its two main market segments – domestic theatricals and cable & satellite rights. However, digital ‘versioning’ has emerged as a new vertical. Home video saw a decline too. With the above scenario in mind, it is a boon to get trained in Electronic and Digital Media at SRFTI, where hands-on training using state of the art equipment will strengthen the creative process of potential content creators of the future. They have many courses where our Design Graduates will be able to get industry connect if the do PG there

I would recommend Electronic & Digital Media Management course there because not many institutions are offering courses in this.

3. L V Prasad Film and TV Academy, Chennai

This was a great Institution in the yester years, but after its very famous lab closed and with the departure of Hariharan Krishna the energy of the institution has ebbed a little.

4. National Institute of Design, Ahemdabad.

5. AJK, Mass Communication Research Centre, New Delhi

Here too I have taught. It was a very good institution for Documentary films, but now it has got into a phase of uncertainity

6. Whistling Woods International, Mumbai.

Very Expensive. However, advantage of doing PGD here is that it is in Mumbai and has a direct connect with Film Industry.

7. Department of Media Studies, Christ University

8. Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication.

It’s more of a communication institution useful if a student wants to join a Media House

Embankments:
They may be defined as earthen banks extending generally parallel to the river channel and designed to protect the area behind them from overflow by flood water. The choice, the location the alignment, the type, the shape, and the size of the embankment depend upon the flood, the protected area, the economics, and the after effect of such protective structures. There are three major types of Embankments:

Marginal Embankment: They are constructed along both sides of a river upstream of a barrage or weir at a short distance from the margin.
Approach Embankment: It is the embankment that is provided to approach the barrage or weir from the high river edges on the both sides.
Retired Embankment: They are constructed at a distance from the river edge behind the existing embankment as a second line of defense. When Retired Embankments are constructed along both sides on high ground, sufficiently away from the river bank, more or less straight and little away from river channel to minimize the risk, they are sometimes called Flood Embankments. This is a very effective system and a neat solution to Flood Control where conventional methods of providing closer embankments are not effective. The following is an excerpt from our Book,

Irrigation Practice & Design Vol I by K. B. Khushalani & Manohar Khushalani (Published by Oxford & IBH and sponsored by National Book Trust)

12-6. System of Retiring Embankments. The retiring emban^kments are a via media between no embankments and very close embankments. They are constructed at a distance from the river.

The advantages of the retiring embankments are:

(i) They cause lesser interference with the natural operation of silt deposited by the river over the country and raising its level.

(ii) They enable the river flood to be spread over more area, thus creating an artificial storage. This storage is not the storage in the ordinary sense but storage due to the detention of Water for some period. This reservoir capacity enables the river to maintain a fair irrigating level for a longer time, and hence can be utilised in giving water to inundation canals.

(iii) By providing a wider waterway they enable the high flood water level to be lower than would be the case with closer banks and thus, they reduce chances of erosion of fertile land and throwing up of sterile sand banks.

 (iv) The banks being away from the river are not so frequently attacked as would be the banks near the river edge.

(v) The longer life thus bestowed on the embankments permits of their being constructed slowly and carefully and much in advance of time when they will be required to face the flood. Enough opportunity is thus given to these embankments for settlement and consolidation.

(vi) The longer life, on account of creating the sense of security, which is essential for progress and prosperity, provides greater permanence to the irrigation investments.

The disadvantages of the retiring embankments are:

(i) Increased cost, as they are to be sometimes constructed on lower ground. The cost is more in the beginning, but if frequent damages to the closer banks are taken into account the ultimate cost will be less.

(ii) They afford protection to lesser area than do the closer banks.

The area between the river and the embankments will grow some inundation crops after floods or even forests can be grown on them. Thus the loss can be reduced.

(iii) They require longer length of open canal heads which get silted. This is a serious objection and has to be tolerated in view of so many advantages and can be remedied by constructing an escape upstream of the head regulator to scour out the silt.

(iv) On account of their being constructed on lower grounds they are risky. The land generally slopes away from the river and as the banks are to be constructed further away their height will be great. A bank of higher height is naturally prone to be more dangerous than a bank of smaller height. Though this is true, water could be led in by the side of a bank for soaking: As the bank is on a lower ground this should be possible.

All the flood control methods are not to be considered as separate solutions of flood problems; often two or more of them would be necessary to tackle a particular stream. Where it is, found that combination is eventually the correct solution, the extent to which the various components should be used, can be determined by striking an economical mean

Retiring Embankment has been used in India For eg. Mr. M . Zonneveld, an expert from Holland after rigorous survey in Sundarban put forwarded the suggestion of building ‘retiring’ embankment at considerable distance from from the existing one¹. I quote “The embankment should be built as far away from the main river as possible to minimize the impact of the dashing waves. This proposal can be introduced in the Ghoramara Mouza under Sagar Island block now facing severe erosional threat where land is consistently being withered away by strong fluvial erosion”.

Retired Embankments have also been used extensively in Farakka Barrage² and in 1960 it was provided on the 220 Km Brahmaputra Right Bank Embankment (BRE)³,

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¹  https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/155888/18/18_concluding%20remarks.pdf

²  http://ir.nbu.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/831/13/13%20CHAPTER%206.pdf

³  https://ewsdata.rightsindevelopment.org/files/documents/34/WB-P149734_wP3HlM2.pdf

Delhi: November 2011. Nepal with a geographical area of 1,47,480 sq km has been bestowed with an abundance of water resources in the form of glaciers, snow pack, ground water and river network which” contribute 200 Billion Cubic Meter (BCM) as surface runoff annually to the river basin system. The steep topography and high run-off offer opportunities of generating vast hydropower of the order of 83,000 MW, out of which 44,600 MW has been assessed as being technically feasible. At present, a total installed capacity of all the hydropower plants in Nepal is just over 600 MW that has been developed so far for internal consumption, due to limited financial resources of Nepal. On the other hand, India is short of around 70,000 MW of peaking power for which hydropower is the best option. Therefore, India can look forward to join hands with Nepal in harnessing the hydropower potential and after fulfilling all Nepal’s internal needs avail surplus hydropower from Nepal to meet its own power demand besides augmentation of river flows in non-monsoon period and considerable flood control benefits in monsoon season.

India has concluded several water and power sharing treaties with Nepal the treaties of Sarada (1920), Kosi (1954) and Gandak (1959) are the early examples. Other examples of water sharing is the ‘Mahakali Integrated Treaty (1996) for the integrated development of Mahakali River including the Sarada Barrage, Tanakpur Barrage and Pancheshwar Project. The DPR of the Pancheshwor project was agreed to be prepared within six months of the agreement made, but it has not yet been finalised. However one is told that major progress has been achieved, as the field investigations required for preparation of DPR are completed (except for some confirmatory tests). But mutually acceptable DPR could not be finalized due to differences on following contentious issues:

 Apportionment of project (capital) cost

 Stage based development

 Water availability & existing consumptive uses downstream of the Pancheshwar Dam

 Power benefits

 Re-regulating structure

There is a realisation now in India that one of the reasons for the stalemate in finalization of the DPR of Pancheshwar Project for the last five years, is the rigid position taken by technical experts on location of the regulating structure, stage based development and sharing of the extra cost chargeable to Irrigation. However, in the process, valuable time and the peaking power (over 10,800 Gwh annually) is being lost by delaying the decision; apart from perpetual flood losses and damage faced by Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar every year during monsoon.

Apart from the fact that there has been no progress at technical level, due to law and order problem and Maoist agitation in Nepal for the last three years, any resolution on the above contentious issues appears to be difficult as the present joint mechanism(s) in vogue are not fully empowered to take independent decisions. A decision in this regards is imperative at the government level appropriately from both sides. A new approach has to be evolved to resolve these issues.

Ministry of Water Resources, Government of Nepal, brought out “Hydro Power Development Policy- 2001”. Its emphasis is on Private Sector participation in the development of hydropower taking into account internal consumption and export possibility.

Since the present atmosphere has become extremely vitiated, our study will examine whether this could perhaps be a key to a fresh approach on the matter. The private sector could be brought in, which could perhaps make Nepal more comfortable. Another approach that could be examined would be a tripartite negotiation by involving Bangladesh. Though the one valid objection to this approach is that tripartite negotiations invariably take longer and are often inconclusive. But, maybe, that could make Nepal more comfortable and less apprehensive in dealing with a larger neighbour. The other approach could be to acceding to Nepal’s demands, but perhaps it is too late for that approach. (October 2011)

Update (2017) :
Matters changed with a new Government at the center.

A revised second detailed project report for the multi-purpose ^​*​Pancheshwar dam project had finally been sent to the development authority, which was forwarded to the Indian and Nepalese governments for clearancehttps://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/revised-dpr-for-pancheshwar-dam-sent-to-project-development-authority-118090400608_1.html.

The approval of the two stakeholder countries will pave the way for the works to start on the long-awaited project which is expected to fulfill power andirrigation requirements for both countries.

A fresh,updated version of the second DPR, prepared by WAPCOS, was sent last month to Pancheshwar development authority (PDA) which will now forward it to the Indian and Nepalese governments for approval, ” a WAPCOS official at Pancheshwar site said Tuesday.

India and Nepal are the two stakeholders in the ambitious project and WAPCOS is the Indian company entrusted with the task of preparing the DPR.

The fresh DPR is the revised version of the second report sent to the PDA in June, 2017, about which both countries had some reservations.

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1. ^​*​
   https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/revised-dpr-for-pancheshwar-dam-sent-to-project-development-authority-118090400608_1.html

Will the next decade be marked by confrontation over water and hydro energy, or will it be known for cooperation over sharing the natural resources? This is the second part of my series on India’s riparian relations with it’s neighbours
– Manohar Khushalani

Independent India’s first treaty with Communist China was marked by the 1954 Panchsheel Trade Agreement. This was the first official document signed with Mao’s China by a third party recognising Tibet as a region of the People’s Republic of China after the People’s Liberation Army’s invasion of Tibet in 1949. With this, India set its diplomatic relations with China on a weak footing, squandering the high ground of knowledge on the historic status of Tibet inherited from the British Empire.

China is the only neighbour, with whom India has geographically shared water resources, but there is no water sharing treaty so far. There seemed to be a great degree of timidity in this matter in the past, but it is changing now. The present government is now asserting itself as it holds national interest above everything else. The first written agreement pertaining to water is an MOU which the water resource ministries of the two countries have signed about provision of Hydrological Information of the Sutlej / Langqen Zangbo River in Flood Season by China to India. The MOU envisages provision of hydrological information in respect of the Sutlej / Langqen Zangbo River in flood season for flood control and disaster mitigation in downstream areas. The arrangement entailed building of a hydrological station by the Chinese side on the Sutlej / Langqen Zangbo River before the flood season of year 2006 and provision of hydrological information to the Indian side beginning the flood season of year 2006. The Chinese side was to bear the cost for setting up of the hydrological station and the Indian side would bear the cost for provision of the hydrological information and the operation of the hydrological station. The detailed implementation plan was to be finalised between the two sides.

According to the MOU, the Chinese side will provide information on any abnormal rise/fall in the water level/discharge and other information, which may lead to sudden floods on the basis of existing monitoring and data collection facilities on real time basis. Both sides will continue to discuss the possibility of providing hydrological information during flood season by China to India in respect of two more rivers – Parlung Zangbo¹ and Lohit /Zayu Qu.

One recalls some time back, a program on BBC wherein Chinese army was shown trying to drain out a dam created by an earthquake by directly using artillery fire. On the flip side it is rumoured that China appears to be perfecting a procedure of creating instant dams by setting up a series of explosion and triggering a man made landslide. This will help it to divert large quantities of river water at short notice. Apparently some officials from Nathpa Jhakri project were allowed, after much reluctance, to visit China, where they have physically seen a lake on Parechu River that the Chinese claim was created by natural landslides.

There is not much reliable information on the present or proposed water-related developments and projects in the Tibet region. In the last few years, some arrangements were agreed upon on receiving information on glacial lake outbursts in the upper regions of the rivers that flow into India from the Tibet region of China, but information on the manner of its implementation, its comprehensiveness and the effectiveness thereof are not available.

In 2002, the Government of India had entered into an MOU with China for sharing of hydrological information on Yaluzangbo²/ Brahmaputra river in flood season by China to India. In accordance with the provisions contained in the MOU, the Chinese side was providing hydrological information (Water level, discharge and rainfall) in respect of three stations, namely Nugesha, Yangcun and Nuxia located on river Yarlungzangbo/ Brahmaputra from 1^st June to 15^th October every year. The requisite data up to the year 2004 was received and the same was utilised in formulation of flood forecasts by Central Water Commission.

India and China have now signed the implementation agreement for operationalising the MoU on sharing flood-related hydrological data for Brahmaputra which was renewed during Pranab Mukherjee’s, the then External Affairs Minister, visit to China in 2008. Under the agreement, China will continue providing flood-related data of its side of Brahmaputra during June 1-October 15 period each year till 2012. After 2012, both countries will have to renew their MoU and finalise a fresh implementation agreement. During this time window every year, the Chinese side will provide these hydrological data from three identified hydrological stations twice a day to India to help better manage floods.

For decades it is known that a great possibility of harnessing significant extent of hydropower exists at the giant U bend between Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh, in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra. How this matter is being pursued is not known. It is reported³ that Chinese engineers had informed the Chinese Academy of Sciences that the waters of the upper Brahmaputra could be diverted into the arid northwestern region and Gobi desert using nuclear explosives. Publically this has been denied by the Chinese Government, as well as experts. At the Kathmandu Workshop of Strategic Foresight Group in August 2009 on ‘Water Security in the Himalayan Region’, which was attended by leading hydrologists from the Basin countries, the Chinese scientists argued that it was not feasible for China to undertake such a diversion⁴. In a subsequent meeting of the scientists at Dhaka, 25 leading experts from the Basin countries issued a ‘Dhaka Declaration’ on Water Security⁵ calling for exchange of information in low flow period, and other means of collaboration.

It has also been mentioned by some that the possibility of diverting from Yarlungzangpo to the upper Arun Kosi or Gandaki have also been mooted. No detailed or reliable information on these developments are available. However, the idea of diverting water from the South to the north is not new in China. The Grand Canal is, basically, more than a thousand years old. At the World Water Congress held in New Delhi in November 2005 China’s Vice-minister of Water resources Dr. Jiao Yong highlighted their problem of uneven distribution of water resources. He reiterated that the government was planning and constructing the South to North Water Diversion project, which can ultimately relieve water shortage in north China and northwest areas. No specific details or the final scope were made available.

The Indian government has been relaying its concern to Beijing since 2006 on Chinese reports that China intended to dam rivers like Yarlung Tsangpo / Brahmaputra and divert its waters to its arid north-east. Although China officially denied such an intention, the evidence against such a denial continues to mount. Indian officials have said the reports continued to abound inside China, including a proposed construction time table which was to have begun in 2009. Recent reports indicate that Chinese engineers are reportedly lobbying Beijing to ignore Indian concerns and dam the upper Brahmaputra in Tibet⁶ with what they envisage as the world’s biggest hydroelectric project and several smaller dams and tunnels. Tibetan researcher Tashi Tsering at the University of British Columbia, posted online a map of potential sites reportedly sourced from Chinese government website. China is likely to build a 38,000 MW power station near Motua wrote Tsering. He told Hindustan Times over email that: “China is likely to hold back water when it’s most needed in India, during spring, and release more during the monsoon.” Zhang Boting, an official of the China Society for Hydropower Engineering, backing a 38,000 MW Motuo dam proposal to generate renewable energy equivalent to the oil and gas in the South China Sea. Zhang said the dam research has been carried out but plans are not yet finalised⁷.

 

Any major storage or run-of-the-river projects for hydropower or navigation purposes planned in the Brahmaputra within China need not create difficulties for India, so long as the re-regulated flows from the power houses are returned to the river. On the other hand, consumptive uses or long distance transfer of waters outside the Basin to, say, the arid north China will hurt the interests of India and also Bangladesh.

What is making India think twice about Tibet now are geopolitical issues — how India and its South Asian neighbours might be adversely affected by what Beijing plans in Tibet. China’s development schemes for the Tibetan Plateau include large-scale mining, clear-fell deforestation, infrastructure- and road-building and firming up a burgeoning tourism industry⁸.

Meanwhile, Indians living on the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra have been devastated by death and destruction as the river changes its course every season and is affected by floods due to heavy siltation caused by the ruthless deforestation of Tibet. Environmentalists fear even more devastation and drought if China implements its plans to divert a part of the Brahmaputra.

Obviously there is a need for Indian leadership to engage the Chinese. A simple denial from Chinese polity or Water Resources experts would not guarantee a safe future. Perhaps an iron tight international riparian treaty similar to the Indus Water treaty would go a long way in diffusing possibility of future conflict. Since India has been unsuccessful so far would a third party intervention from the UN help? A word of caution however, China was among the only three countries that voted in the UN General Assembly in 1997 against the Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Water Courses⁹.

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¹  Parlung Zangbo River is a major tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo

²  Due to lack of standardization, the Chinese equivalent of the Brahmaputra River is spelt in different texts in various phonetically similar sounding names such as; Yaluzangbo,Yarlungzangbo, Yarlung Zangpo, Yarlung Tsangpo, all the spellings have been used deliberately to be in consonance with the current usages.

³  Scientific American, June 1996

⁴ http://asiasecurity.macfound.org/images/uploads/news_attachments/Kathmandu_Workshop_Report.pdf [accessed March 18, 2010]

⁵  The New Nation, 17th January 2010 [ available at http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/01/17/news0350.htm [accessed on March 20, 2010]]

⁶  Reshma Patil report from Beijing in Hindustan Times, 26^th May 2010

⁷  The Guardian, 25^th May 2010

⁸  Hindustan Times, November 14, 2006

⁹  The other two were Burundi and Turkey