Opinion Pioneering Bharat

An opinion piece in the Organiser suggests that courts do away with the British legacy of long vacations in order to reduce the number of pending cases

June 10, 2015 12:06 AM IST First published on: Jun 10, 2015 at 12:06 AM IST

An article in the Organiser calls India the pioneer of discoveries. It connects cosmologist Carl Edward Sagan’s words — “The early universe was filled with radiation and plenum of matter. Originally hydrogen and helium were formed from elementary particles in a dense fire ball” — to Vedic terminology and says: “In Atharva Veda tapa means heat, urmi is motion, panch-karma means live properties of motion, and panch-maha-bhutas stand for five types of pre-elements. Thus Atharva Veda shows knowledge of the construction of the atom, as also of magnetic and electro-magnetic force.”

It adds that dwipada dhenu (two-legged cow) actually means bipolar magnetic force and “one-legged cow” means the single proton present in hydrogen, the first element. The Vedic terms himam and dhramsam stand for “cold fire” and “hot fire”, which mean negatively charged electron and positively charged proton respectively. Also, in the Atharva Veda, viraj means carbon, skambha stands for hydrogen, and lithium is called brahmachari. To drive home the argument, Albert Einstein is quoted as saying: “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.”

The article lists other examples too. Aryabhatta was the first to propound the theory of the earth being a sphere in the 5th century AD, a thousand years before Copernicus and Galileo. Brahmagupta estimated the circumference of the earth and Sushruta, who lived 3,000 years ago, is the father of surgery. He had described 1,120 diseases, 760 medicinal plants, 121 surgical instruments.

Courting Holidays
An opinion piece in the Organiser suggests that courts do away with the British legacy of long vacations in order to reduce the number of pending cases. “To expedite the process of justice dispensation, it will indeed be in the interest of the litigating public if the courts do not close at all for long vacations,” the article says. It argues that vacation judges do not help as the courts remain deserted: “The Supreme Court calendar usually shows week-long vacations for festivals like Holi, Dussehra, Muharram and Diwali, apart from fortnight-long winter vacations for Christmas. Does any other section of society enjoy such… long festival breaks?”

Pointing out that the number of pending cases runs into crores, the article says:
“The judges can, and should, get the same number of holidays that they are getting now, but they can proceed on leave by rotation, and not together, which leads to a closure of the courts, as happens now because of the long holidays.” The relevant ministry should take a call on the total number of holidays admissible to judges.

Inside The Sangh
Panchajanya has a cover story on the functioning of RSS shakhas. Its editorial takes a swipe at those who view the shakhas with suspicion and argues that none of the critics has ever tried to visit a shakha before airing their apprehensions.

A set of people has not been able to see through its illusions and relies on others’ views. Another section has just a peripheral understanding about the shakhas. They fail to understand the spirit that brings both children and the elderly to the shakhas, the story says.

It further asserts that such critics are like people who judge a book by its cover. There are innumerable examples of Sangh members who are committed social volunteers. It has a tradition of volunteers who possess the attitude of sages and of generations of patriots. The editorial lauds the fact that the Sangh’s doors were never closed to such doubting or apprehensive personalities.
Compiled by Liz Mathew