All dolled up and ready to canter

Indian artist Ajay Sharma rides his majestic steed into Sydney's art scene

The horse has interesting symbolism m art. Ir is a symbol of energy, of a drivi n g force that carries you through life. Ir also represents freedom of expression, especially as the instinctive wi ld and tamed aspeccs of personality are baLwced. As such, the horse is a petlect medi um for Indian artist Ajay Sharma's work.

In a recent Sydney exhib ition The Speed of Life, he uses a series of horses to lament the loss of traclitions and family v alues, and an increasing dis connect with namre, as a result o f modernisation and globalisation.

In Fa111i!y, we see a brilliant blue horse ar a gallop, with a giant Rajasthani w11brella in the backgrow1d. There are intricate patterns painted in gold on the horse, but look closel y and yo u' ll find the front half subtly different from the back half. Th e back of the horse is embellished in great detail, whereas even the go ld seems a bit dull on the front o f the horse.

" The back half represeucs tradition, and tl1e front half, modernity," Sharma explained to J11dia11 Lit1k. "The horse stands for today's youth in India They have strong roots in tradition but want to gallop ahead with the new ways o f tbe world. Notice the hooves in tbe &onr are differently coloured coo".

And ilie umbrella?

" Thar's the shelter iliac the family will always provide".

Ajay Sha r ma, India's leading miniamrist, was in Sydney recently, invited b y the Sydneybased AirSpace Projects, to present an exhibition and a workshop o n 1:n.iniarure painting

The exhib ition was held at MarrickviUe and opened by Rosana Tyle r, Depmy Mayor of Marrickville and Pawan Lutl1ra, CEO of Indian Link.

1vfost Indian h o mes have some samples of Indian miniature art on their walls, even here in Australia, whether of 1\foghal life or of ilie eternal lovers Radha and Kri shna. Ajay Sharma's work is a modern take on a centuries-o ld tradition.

India 's miniature art originated hundreds of year s ago and evol-ved tbroug h Persian, Islamic, Mughal, Rajput, even British, inAuences. Today it has survived to tel1 its own tale as an amalgam of alJ of these inAuences. Yet, as Sharma has proved, it can still be an independent and innovative art form mar can be used to cast a contemporary look on life.

.Ln a career spanning some 40 ye ars, Ajay has devoted himself to conserving and perpemating mis age-old practice. He heads a stu dio of artists and students in Jaipur, India, launched in 1984, where all aspects of the arr form, including compos ition, drawing, conser vation, copy work, and tl1e research and preparation of pigments, are practiced.

During his Sydney visit, Sharma shared some fascinating stories about his art, such as the process in which he creates the 111asli paper on which the works are made. He also d escribed how, in ilie eady days, he made hls own paimbrushes by physicalJy ouching the squirrels co extract ilie fine hair from tl1eir tails, and how he creates his particular b lend of smoky b lack, b y us in g soot. All otl1er colours and materials are a lso produced in tl1e traditional way, using locally so urced supplies. l\,fany non -ludian artists have now taken up me art form. These include Scottish artist Olivia Fraser, who collaborates with Sharma on a regular basis.

Sharma has been instrumental in taking me Rajasthani style of miniature a.rt to some of me world's leading art instirutions, in the form of botl1 exhibitions and workshops.

There's an interesting story here:

Olivia Fraser's ancestor James Fraser worked on many Indian miniatllres himself in tl1e early 1800s. Tbey lay forgotten, in a trunk somewhere in Scotland, till 1979 when tl1e facnily discovered them. Today as the 'Frase r Album', they are considered a valuab le collection of Indian a.rt char depict Life in ilie Mughal era.

Ajay Sharma's own work is a comment on contemporary India: the psychosocial implications of rampant and unsustainable modernisation in a society that is grappling witl1 the notion of tradition versus modernisation.

Juggernaut marvel: Devotees throng temple chariots during the nine- day chariot festival of Rath Yat ra in Puri, on July 8 , 2014. The three idols ofHindu god Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra are taken out in a grand procession in specially made chariots pulled by thousands of devotees during the festival.

Tech , commerce to power Indian Ra ilways in future

Bullec trains are sec to become a reality in L1clia with the first service between Mumbai and Ahmedabad as Prime :Minister Narendra Modi's gove rnment soughc co run Indian Railways - one of che world's largest - like a " commercial enter prise buc serve like a wel fare o rganisation".

ln the Railway Budge t presented to parliament o n 8 July, Railway ~1inister D.V Sadananda Gowda unvei.l ed man y new measu.res to make Indian Rail\vays, whicb runs about 20,000 trains and ferries 23 million passengers daily, a modern, efficienc and commercially viable utilicy.

He presented proposals, subject to parliamentary approval, for in troduction of 58 new trains, paperless office in five years, d.igita.l reservatio n charts, wi-fi in select stations and trains, wake -u p call for passengers, separace fre igh t terminals, office- on- w heels for b u siness travellers, more money for cleanliness and safety, food c our cs at stations, eirpansion of rail tourism and better c o nn ectivity in hilly areas and north-eastern states.

He also promised a ruamond quadril at eral project o f high - speed rail connectivity between rhe four metros.

He said some id.emilied statio ns will be developed Like modern airports.

Hav ing already hiked passenger fares by 14.2 percent and the freight carriage charges by 6.5 percenc, which is expected to fetch addition al revenu e of R s.8,000 crore, Gowda focused on ways ro earn from ocher sources, such as allowing foreign equity in areas e.xcl uding operations, as also publicprivate parr.nerships.

Details, he s aid , woul d be worked out.

Rs.500 ,000 crore ($83 b illion) will be required ove r rhe next 10 years to f Lmd the modemisation p la ns of the network, as against the actual spend of Rs.18,400 crore in the past 10 years, but noted char freight and passenger fare bi.kes alone could n o r fetch such large r equirements.

Gowda also mad e i t c leat rhar commercial viab ilicy cannot be sidestepped

"An organisation of chis magnitude vested wi th varied responsibilities, is expected to earn like a commercial enterprise but serve Like a welfare organisation. These two objec tives ate like the lwo rail s o f rhe railway track, which travel together but never meet," he sai d in his hourlong speech

Prime Minister Modi was quick to react.

" The Rai lway Budget keeps in mind the develop ment of India. We can see rhe great use of technology also," he tweeted, adding: "This budget stre ngthens instimtional mechani sm. Ir focuses on tra nsparency and integrity" f-lmvever, the stock markets reacted negatively with benchmark Sensex p lunging by nearly two percent. Railway-related stocks tumbled o n lower than e.xpecred increase in plan outl,'ll~ Texmaco Rail & E ngineering slumped by 20 percent. wfost o ther scrips fell at least five per.cent.

India Inc. larg ely welcomed the budget, s a ying it i s reform oriemed and o pens up vas t opport:1.mi ties for the p u blicprivate partnership in a whole gamut of areas, including cleanliness, upkeep of ma jor stations like the airports, and IT infrastructu.re. The industry b odies also lauded the governme nt's promise of encouraging domestic as well as foreign investment in rhe sector.

Gowda pegged the total p lanned outlay fo r fiscal 2014- 1 5 at R s 65,445 crore, wh ich i s just 1.8 percent higher than Rs.64,305 crore announced by his predecessor in the interim b u dger pr esented in February.

Ranked among the world's top five, the Indian railroad network ferries 23 million. peop le and 2 65 million ton n es of goods daily, or 1.1 billion ton n es annuall)', from 7,172 stations on 12,617 passen ger and 7,421 freight era.ins over m ore than 64,000 route km.

With a netwo rk stretching from Baramulla in Janunu and Kashmir in the foothills of t be 1-iirnalayas to the southern tip of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, tl1e Lidian Railwa ys is also among the largest employers wirh ao estimated 1.4 million people on i ts rolls.

S h ifting m finances, Gowda pegged the total receipts at Rs.1 64,374 crore and tl1e total expenditure at R s.1,49,176 crore while ex pecting a 4 9 percent gro,vtb in freight and a small growth in passenge r traffi c mis fiscal. He p rojected an operating ratio, or di e a mou n t spent to earn o n e rupee, at 92 5 paise - o n e paisa more d1an i n 2013- 14.

"The fodian Railways will impr ove sys t em capabilities in e- ticketing ro support 7,200 tickets p e r minute as against 2,000 tickets and all ow 120,000 simultaneous u sers at any po in t," die ministe r said, adding th at coin-operated vending machines will also be launch ed

As regards d1e high-speed pro jects, the minister said Indian Railways would require more than R s 900,000 crore ($150 billion) to complete the golden q mtdrilateral network and abou t Rs.60,000 crore ($100 billion ) for introducing one b ullet train alone.

" It is the wish and dream o f every Indian d1at lndia runs a b ullet train as ea rl y as possible M adam Sp eaker, India n Railways is on its way to fulfil that l o ng cherished d.rean1. We propose bullet trains by starting o ff with an. afready ide n tified MumbaiAhmeda bad sector, where a number o f srudies have b een done," Gowda said.

Modi, in his election speeches, had ta lked about introducing bullet trains, after seeing d1em run in Japan a nd Chi na, if h e came to power.

The fuse dedicated bullet ttain project will be launched on th e Murnbai -Ahrned abad route for which many feasibility sn1dies have conducted. He added that od1er proposed ro u tes for th e n ew bullet train servic es inc lu d e Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Chandigarh, Mysore- BangaloreC h ennai, Mum bai-Go a and HyderabadSecu n derabad.

Gowda also listed four new ways t0 m c,bilise tesomces foreign equiLy, m o re public- private partne rships, commercial fnnds augmeatation by staterun railway firms and extending t ax h olidays for long gestatio n projects ln a report presented in 201 2, an ofhcial commi ttee c ha ired by noted scientist i\ nil Kakodkar had p ut the number of railrelated deaths at 15,000 p eopl e p e r annum. "No civilized soc ie ty can accept such a massacre on their r a il way system," the report said.

W ith a poor crack record o n safe ty, the railway budget also proposed a m ulti-pro nged ap proach co make train journey safe, secure and comfortable for passenge rs, with more thrust on passenger amenities, cleanliness and effici ent statio n management.

Where is ' Breaking News' ? Modi government tightens grip on information

Among d1e sub tl e changes associated widi Primdvfinister Narendra Modi's government are those dealing with the m edia. Nowhere has it affected a n ewshungry media'.s working mo re than in die way news sources from t he governm ent have completely dried up and resulted in shri n ki ng of the culture of inte rmittent Breaking ews on televis ion.

Earlie r, during the UPA governme n t, Breaking l ews u sed to be the daily stapl e of news television chat u sed to rnrive in 'breaki n g' news from and a b out die government all through the day, some accurate, some not so accurate - and mostl y sensational.

But d1at is history. \'{Tim ministers and top officials b eing evide n tly instructed by the all- powerful Prime i'vfinister's Office (PMO) tO clamp up a nd not engage o r en tertain die media unnecessarily, it has result ed in a virn1al n ews d1·ought for 24x7 m edia, particularly television and soci al m edia diat in a sense used tO di rive on it and derive t he ir revenue -ge n erating eyeballs.

There have been innnm herab le in stances during the pre vio u s U PA governmen t • esp ecially in its dying years - w hen information had "Leaked" from official m eetings like those of the cabinet - chaired by n o ne o d1er ma n the prim e mini ster - a nd made it straight to d1e " Breaking E ews" on TV channe ls

Even differences am ong ministers duri ng cabinet meetings chaired by m en prime minister l\fanmohao Sin gh had many a times become ' 'breaking news" w ithin hours.

But d1i s is not happening anymore, at least for n ow

W idi Modi focusing on building an "ac countable" system mar will curb the culture of sensational journalism , orde rs have been g iven to give d1e media onl y one ver sio n - d1e official one, sources in d1e know cold !:ANS

Eve n dioug h it is too early to comment on a Li erle over a o ne - m o nm o ld BJP government's working style, die rel uctance amongst its ministers to talk to me media i s seen by many members o f the fourdi estate as a " m edia g ag".

But officials dismiss di.is notion, althoug h no one is willing co come on record.

"W hat has changed in d1is n ew governme n t is that everyone, including t h e secretaries, are accountable to dieir seniors. So u nlike previous government where m any sec retaries would leak out information to the news channels, this governm en t believes more in officially communicating with the m edia," one source to ld IANS.

"A cl ear message has also been g iven. d1at one can he p uUed up if somer11ing appears on televis io n or in d1e p rim media which has not b een ofhcially communicated.

"A.lso, officials have been cold that d1ey are n ow answerable to me prime minister because d1e barriers between him and o d1er offici als have been reduced," one official, w h o strictly did not wa nt to be id entified, sai d.

The reference was to the m eeting b erween Modi and the 77 secretary-leve l bu re aucrats on June 5. T he official line about d1e m eeting was that Modi had asked d1e sec retaries to make me government "peop le frie ndly"

"It is felt drnt d1is breaking news culture syndrom e is extremel y h ar mful and can lead to m isleading information This government wants to make sure that n odling o f tllis so.rt h appen s," another source mid IJ\NS, while seekin g assurance tha t h e was not ide ntified.

"Iu d1e absence of a ny acco untability, m edia ch anne ls h ad man y intern al sources and mere was a kind of a fight to break die n ews first," said the so urc e, who is familiar wid1 official commu1lications.

"There is no doubt this gove rnment i s to taJ.ly different fro m me previous o n e in dlis r egard and rllis fact is n ot going d own well wi th the rnecLia:' me source said.

Adding to the media woes is the fact mat the nlioisters are r eluc tan t co tal k t0 reporters. Many ministe rs have privatel y to ld journali sts they kn ew as oppositio n leaders that they have been " instructed" to keep quiet and not give unnecessary bytes or inte rviews, without "clearance fro m the top".

O n e se ni or journali st, w h o tried to get a wri tten answers from External Affairs Minister Sus hm a Swaraj was, after th ree weeks, cold by her aide "to forger die interview fo r die cin1e being as it is not going to happen " He did not el aborate.

The soutces said one reason could be tliat these ministers - most o f them are handling a m in istry for the first time - are rakin g rneir time co settle in and understand issues b efore t hey talk about them.

"This ti m e aro und 70 -80 percent minis ter s are n ew. They are taking tim e ro understand the issues and what thei r IO0-day's plan will be They d o n't wane tb get into any Lt011ecessary controversy," anodier official added.

"So, till d1en, w ha tever tbey have co communicate is being o ffi cially done e ither d1rough the PIB (Press I nformation Bureau) or T witter This i s also ano r11er reason for less bre aking news a s everyon e is getting tl1e news at me sam e time," h e c o ncl uded.

India successfully tests BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

lndia successfully test- fired me BrahMos superso1lic cruise missile from a d efence base in Odisha o n 8 July It bas a range o f 290 km and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg

The missile was launched from d1e Integrated Test Ran ge in Chandipur in Balasore distric t in Orissa

"The test was successful lt was a land version o f BrahMos. It was done with a torn.I indigenou s airfram e," 1VLVK.V: Prasad, clirector of die test range, told JANS

The n.lissi.le, developed by the lnd o - R uss ian jointvenmre Brahl\fos Aerospace, has a to p speed of Mach 2 8, which is about three ti m es faster tl1an me US subsonic Tomahawk cruise mis sile. Thi s makes Brahl\fos o ne of the fastest crui se miss iles in d1e world The nlissile can be lmmc h ed from submarines, s hip s and aircraft. Sea and grou nd lau nched ver sions o f the missile have been successfull y tested and put in to service widi d 1e army and d1e navy.

Indian- American doctors organi se free medical check- up

T h e American Association o f Physician s of India n Origin (AAPI, one o f the largest eth1lic orga1lisations in die US representing some 100,000 Indian -American doctors, organised its annual comm uni ty health fair in San Amonio, T exas, at die conclusion of its 32nd annual c o nvention d1er e

Hundreds of home less people lined up Sunday morning to avail themsel ves of a unique o pportu1li ty for free medical clieck up offered by MecLi cal Missions and Community Service Committee of AAPI at their doo r steps, according to an AA PI release.

T he fair was in keep ing with AAPI's ttacLitio n of offering free medical se rvices to the lo cal population of d1e city where die annual convention is held.

The health fair organised at "Haven for Hope," a homeless sh elter in San. AntoLlio D own town , "offered vital signs measurement, b lood tests for total cholesrrol , HDL, sugar and n oninvasive haemoglob in an d co n sultati o n wid1 primary care and va rious availabl e specialists"

These included imernists, paediatricians, pulmo n ologists, aroJogi scs, obstetrician s and gynaeco logists, a n aestliesiologisrs and padiologists, according tO Dr N i tin Sh ah, a n A,\ PI leade r and organiser of die clinic.

"O n ce agai n, these AA.Pl members have shown d1ei.r dedicatio n by conducting the free commrnlicy health fair, so well o rganized by the host city of San Antonio," said Dr. Ravi Jahagirdar, Pres ident of AAP I.

The AAPI delegates prov ided diese ser v ic es free of cost helping our at every level of die cl inic.

" Ttwas a pric eless experience to serve t h ese many real needy people jn a short period of tin1e with li.nlired resources and manpower," said Dr. Nick Shroff, chairman of AAPI's charitable fow1datio n.

IANS

The Univers ity of Adelaide's architecture stud ents have beaten the Feds tO the punch. The New Colombo Plan (NCP) \Vas ro ll ed our by the Federal Government in 2014 Its objective is to "lift knowledge of the IndoPacific in Australia and strengthen people-to- peop le and institutional relations". India was not even to be considered until th e wider rollout in 2015. lnterestingly, the University of Adelaide's School of Archite cture decided to ta ke che matter into their own hands by setting our an India project. Their ' India Studio: Collaboration in Design' m iss ion ,vas designed with ove rall aim s remarkably in line with those of the NCP bur with a narrower focus, and incl uded a visit by their architecmre students to India.

M ore recen tl y, a differen t group of students has visited Nepal as part of th eir course, for a project to construct buildings for mothers' groups o n rwo different sites in the mountains north of Kathmandu.

The groups were led by Dr Am.it Srivastava, lecturer in tl1e School o f Arc h itecture. The India Studio project was developed in collaboration with Professor Rajat Ray of the Su sham Schoo l of Architecmre in Delh i The s tu dents a lso had the o ppornmity to visit Agra, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.

The observations of the Adelaide students provide an interesting wind ow into the Lives of their peers in India, and Indian architecture in general. Smdeors with bo m1dJess energy need to be kept occupied, so o n e of the aims of the India Studio in D elhi was to work alo n gside local architecture s tudents on a design project based in De lhi The idea here was to come up with designs fo r tl1e redevelopment of an o ld textile mill site in North Delhi

This stroke of genius led to s tu dents getting to learn more abouc each otl1er

Adelaide smdent Jesse recalled, "S tudents atSushant were enthusiastic and pass ionately opinion ated. rt was eye-opening to see the way in which the)' interacted during scndio sessions, wi th great endrnsiasm and sometimes btutal honesty"

The visit to C h andigarh was one o f the h ighlights of the Indian trip As i s well known, this northern city was created as part of first Prime i'Vuo.ister J awaharlaJ Nehru's grand vision for a m odern lndia. Ir was a massive project especially for its time a nd came to symbolise hope for d1e future a rchitectural landscape of India.

Adelaide students Lana and M a rguerite saw Le Corbus ier's Chandigarh as an exampl e of a large- scale project created b y the masters that exempliEes modern.iscic tendencies withouc disengaging from the human scale.

Daniel's reAection was somewhat different. "While plaruiing a city ca n be i ncredibl y important for tl1e success and good - working of a city, it does n ot itself mean that the city is 'successful'," he noted. "1,Cuch of the quirky and culmtall)' rich elements we saw in the ocher Indian cities, were no t present in Chandigarh".

H e added, " The most beautiful part of C h andigarh w a s the Rock Garden, where Indi-an culnu:e, materials and a r tistry was on d ispl ay"

The students were also pleased to meet Nek Chand Saini, the creatnr of the famous Rock Garden.

It was not all work a nd no p lay. Any excuse wiJJ do to explore the Jantar Man.tar in Delhi. The srndents enjoyed clambering all over the structures Bui.It b y Mahataja Jai Singh of Jaipur, the site is a marvel of architectural and engineering design. J\1d10ugh it was built for the scienti fie pursuit of astronom}; it conjures np an image of almost being a p laything or a ' foll y' Other p laces of interest visited inc luded the Red Fort and Humayun's Tomb in Delhi.

Cities in Ind ia have typically developed organically over long periods of time. Beset with d1e problems of a developing country, urban planning tends to disp lay haphazard tendencies and this was reflected in die opinions of die smdents.

For instance, Jesse observed, "Many of die more recent developmenrs and newer buildings in d1e large ci ties often seemed disconnected and lacked a thor ough understanding or representation of die context".

Daniel on the other hand, ,vas impressed by the Akshardham Temple and the Lotus Temple in De lhi but felt chat the bu.iidings o f Gurgaon "were the uninspiring soldiers standing co attention in rows co accommodate more pe.oplein chese indivi dual, but coo - familiar monoliths".

What stood out for Lana and Jvfarguerite were me "predominantly gated and often guarded" build ings, "creatin g Li ttle is lands of modernistic architecture where the chaos of Jndia seemed co panse".

Bur the plains of India were a l ong way from the cranguil setting in the moumains o f Nepal, which was die destination for the second group of architecture students from the U niversi ty of Adelaide. The project to assist in the construction of two mod1ers' group haUs was undertaken with th e NGOs Aussie.Action Abroad and Architecture Wichour Frontiers. The 23 smdents were split into two groups; one travelled to the Khudi So u th site and tl1e other to the T aal site The project was co use simple techniques with local materials and mainl y manual labour in the construction.

It was fascinating to hear the views of tl1ree students - Scott, As h leigh and Char lotte - on t heir experienc es in Nepal. Ash leigh mentioned that she ·'didn't mat d1e visit by the students gave hope to che people chey met. Finally, of course, is tl1e practical aspect in tl1ac the halls are now being used by mothers and rnn b y die local people d1emselves. The haUs will be a lasring memory to die contribution of a handful of Adelaide srudenrs t o the future lives of die Nepalese community. Any v isit to Nepal is incomplete wid1our a diet of daal-hbat and a trek. So di e two groups went on five-day organised treks accompanied b y guides. The s tudems also visited the histo ric city of Bhaktipur which d1ey fo tmd guite fascinating. They noted the Roman -like inAuence in die construction tluough die wide use of bricks even on d1e roads. know what to expect" and --------------------=~... so felt quite. upset b y the culture shock. AU three were struck b y tl1e simplicity of d1e Nepalese people's lives and their generosity.

There is always a risk that such 'flying visits' can be just for self-gratification o f die visitors widi no re.al benefit for tl1e local population. But the responses dispelled tl1is n otio n.

Firstly, in this case, die money being spent did go cowards the benefit of the local community Secondly, it helped me relationship, even if sligh tl y, between Austral ia and Nepal.

In me b igger picture, what stands out as d1e most important benefit here, is

The Nepal trip was b rought co a close widi a flourish, b y means of an exhibition in i'Vlay. This transported tl1e colour, feel and atmosphere of d1e mountains and its people to Adelaide and showed glin1pses o f the work done by the students.

For d1e future, the School of Architecmre is very like ly to maimain its Links w ith the subcontinent. When asked if d1ey wouJd go back to India and Nepal, t he ove r-riding response was positive. Such visits help develop unigue bo nd s Somed1.ing of onesel f i s left behind: a mark, a memory or a moment, in exchange for someth ing taken, to be cherished or recalled in years to come.

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Opinion

Prevailing over saffron traditionalists

As PM, Narendra Modi has to date showed that his vision for India is a forward-thinking one, writes AMULYA GANGULI appears to keep a close tab on events far and near, is clearly aware t hat neither an egregious disp lay of cousenratism nor an uncalled - for trip at the tax- payers' expe n se will enhance its image of purposefnlness.

The Hindut:va fundamentalists may be slo,vly realising tbat the Bharatiya Janata Party's victory is unlikel y to help their cause as much as they would have liked.

For inst,wce, any sense of elation which they felt when Naren dra Modi said during the election cam paign chat the Bangladeshi infi ltrators would h ave to pack their bags and leave on the day the results were ann ou nced, must have diss ipated b y now.

It is aware diat an economic program, which highlights me capitalis tic agenda represented by g littering malls and multiplexes, cannot be implem ented in an atmosphere where woruen have to be careful of not offending ulcra-ordiodox seutimems.

It isn 't only the good neighbourly relations which New Delhi wants to establish with Dhaka which muse

''Development is more than mere economic growth. It is not on ly

What these overtures emphasise is die primacy of development on Modi's agenda, calling for eschewing any possibility of tens ion in die South Asian region. Since th.is may not be feasible where China and Pakistan are concerned, New Dellii a matter of roads and bridges - and bullet trains which seem to hold a special fascination for Modi - but also reducing all manner of controversies to the minimum since they may queer the pitch for investment chauvinism and the Congress-led Maharashtra government's ban on bar girls in Mumbai. His view was tbac a city aspiring to be the financial capital of India cannot allow "parochial and jingoistic statements and misconceived intentions that belong to moral policing"

This very point was stressed by former finance minister P. Chidambaram in rue con teirt of the Shiv Sena's Maracha have disheartened th e saffron camp b u t also the suggestion for v isa - free entry for Bangladeshis below the age of 13 and above 65 years, which has been opposed by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

Despite the caution, the Chavan government is bent on banning dance bars co please d1e conservatives.

Bue by openly disapproving of such sections in die saffron ranks, Modi has shown an assertiveness which is not common among lndian politicians \Vho tend to cake the line of least resistance, is appacendy keen co establish benign ties at lease w ith Dhaka, ignoci.ng the earlier imputations b y rue Rashtri ya Swayan1sevek Sangh (RSS)-Jed Sangh Parivar that the illegal immi grants not only intended to tilt d1e demographic balance in India in favour of .Muslims but also act as "s leeper cells" associated wid1 terrorists.

What is evident from chis turn of events is diat development has aspects other d1an mere econ omic growth. It is not only a matter of roads and bridges - and bullet trains which seem to ho ld a special fascination for 1fodi - but also red ucing all manner of controvers ies co the minimum since they especially where conservative sensibilities are concerned.

However, by sid elining some of the key preferences of the Hindutva camp on matters of religion such as the Ram temple, or o n d1e social scene such as women's dresses, the government has underlined its wish to follow a new course, which is markedly different from what used to characterise the BJP and di e RSS in the 1990s when tlie traditionalists held sway The primary objective now is on containing price rise and reviving the economy.

''There is little doubt d1ar may quee r the pitch for invesanent

The government's exhortations, therefore, to i cs supporters to be careful in

An economic program, which highlights the capitalistic agenda tli e present scene will be disappointing for any group in the Sangh Parivar whicli believes that there will be a r eturn to the '90s, such as when Ashok Singhal of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) said that only Jvfodi can save India from "total d1eir comments on the social scene are in sync with its desire for a b u siness-friendly represented by glittering malls and multiplexes, cannot be implemented in environment. An y him of an atmosphere where misogyny, or an attempt women have to be atwhac has been called a careful of not offending psycho -analytic explana tion ultra-orthodox for crimes against wom en, are to be avoided. sentiments

I slamisation".

Hence the speed wi th which a Goa minister retracted his clisapproval

''of e,.._tracting user charges from the public are criticised by his political opponents

Modi can be said, therefore, to have prevailed against d1e traditionalists His trtmip card is eco nomic revival. If the growth rates go up and the re is hope that the emplo yment si tu ati on will improve, his acceptability will be even wider than at present even if his "bitter medicines" in the shape of women wearing sho r t dresses in pubs or b ikinis on the beach A few days earlier, in die sam e state , a proposal to send a team of legislators co Brazil ostensibly co learn abou t the handling of W'odd Cup matches was nipped i n tbe bud.

The keen-eyed Modi government, which

Bue outside d1e field of economics, 1'1odi's main achievement may well be the taming of the saffron extre rnists.