New Seven Wonders of the WorldMany of you may not be following this topic (as I did not until a couple of weeks ago). The first list of seven remarkable man-made constructions of classical antiquity was drawn up 2000+ years ago by a Greek philosopher. Obviously, the Taj Mahal was not part of the original list of seven wonders of the ancient world. In more modern times, it is generally recognized to be one of the seven wonders of the medieval times, although there is no consensus on this. There are several lists of wonders like “seven wonders of modern world” etc. Not all of these lists include the Taj Mahal.
A privately-funded Swiss-based organization proposed a revision of the Seven Wonders of the World. It has put forward a shortlist of 21 monuments to find the new Seven Wonders by a global poll. Anyone and everyone in the world with access to computer or mobile phone can vote for their favorite “wonder”. The voting ends on July 7, 2007 (07-07-07). Brazil's President Lula de Silva used a radio address to urge people to vote for Rio's statue of Christ the Redeemer. The government of Peru is encouraging people to vote for the ancient city of Machu Pichu. But there is very little enthusiasm is generated in India. No wonder! The Taj Mahal is not doing too well in
We went to see the Taj Mahal for the first time four years ago (in 2003). We arrived in Agra by train from Jaipur in the evening and went straight to the Taj View Hotel. The hotel receptionist told us we got the best room. We did not understand why it was the best room. After finishing our dinner, we went to sleep. When we got up in the morning and opened the window curtains, we were amazed by the view of the Taj Mahal. It was like seeing the big summer full moon hanging low in the horizon. We had another view of the splendor of the Taj Mahal from distance when we were in the Red Fort that afternoon. In spite of these previews, we were wonder-struck when we entered the gateway of the Taj complex. The closer we got to the monument, more mystified we were. I have only seen one other monument in the short list. That is the Statue of Liberty in New York. This is a wonderful monument, but it did not create the same awe or wonder in me as did Taj. So it is clear for me that I vote for Taj Mahal.
The Taj Mahal is visited by about 3 million people a year -- a rate of more than 8,000 a day. About half of them are foreigners and many of the foreign tourists are expatriate Indians. Tourism is the third largest contributor to foreign exchange following Information Technology and Textile. The tourism industry employs about 25 million people (six percent of India's total workforce).Yet, India is ranked 44th among the world's top 60 tourist destinations. The ranking must go up and India should enjoy a larger share of world tourist dollars. Leaving the Taj Mahal out of the list of wonders will do exactly the opposite thing.
Mark Twain once remarked the world is divided between two types of people: those who have seen the Taj Mahal and those who have not. The Taj Mahal is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world and the image most associated with India. It is good for India if the Taj Mahal maintains its prominent place in the “Seven Wonders of the World”.
Please give your vote to Taj Mahal at http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php
Justice Krishna Iyer and India’s Nuclear Swaraj
The opponents of Indo-US nuclear deal found a strong voice in their favor in Justice Krishna Iyer’s letter to Mr. M. N. Ramamurthy who filed a PIL in India’s Supreme Court to oppose the nuclear deal.
The 90+ year old living legend, former Justice of the Supreme Court, renowned legal scholar and social activist, V. R. Krishna Iyer has come out with a strong attack on what he has described as the “dangerous” civilian nuclear energy agreement with the United States. He called it “a dangerous treaty... and deprives our nation of nuclear swaraj.”
The timing of the letter is also perfect for the opponents of the deal as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his team made significant progress with the US counterparts during the G-8 summit in Germany. Mr. Singh also launched a strong campaign to gather support of his countrymen by saying that every patriot should support the Indo-US nuclear deal as it is in India’s national interest.
It is clear why the Prime Minister is interested in the success of this deal. He sees it as the best way to end India’s nuclear apartheid – maintain the strategic nuclear weapons capability while gaining access to nuclear fuel and technology for meaningful expansion of civilian nuclear energy sector to maintain the fast growing economy. By the way, this is the same policy the previous Prime Minister Mr. Vajpayee advocated and is understood to have started negotiations with the Bush administration for a similar deal. Remember the Suo Motu Statement by Prime Minister Vajpayee in Parliament on 27th May, 1998: “… Government has already announced that India will now observe a voluntary moratorium and refrain from conducting underground nuclear test explosions. We have also indicated willingness to move towards a de-jure formalisation of this declaration.”
Why is Justice Krishna Iyer so opposed to the deal? It is not possible to find out the real reason for his vigorous opposition by reading his statements published in the newspaper. He declared it is a dangerous deal, but did not say why and how it is dangerous. He served the country for a long time with distinction and he is genuine well-wisher of India.
To understand his mind, I studied his biography and researched his work as a politician and legal scholar. One plausible reason for his strong opposition is that he is looking at this deal with his socialist/communist blinkers on. For a communist, any kind of deal with the US is against India’s national interest. His recent pronouncements are clearly consistent with this characterization. He is a strong opponent of globalization. For him, it is an MNC euphemism for rob-grab-globalism. He was a lashing campaigner against patent law changes, GATT, WTO etc. Of course, he was a cabinet member of the first communist government in Kerala in 1957. Only recently, in a letter to Mr. Karat, dated March 15, 2007, Justice Krishna Iyer wrote, “I hold Com. Jyoti Basu as a creative wonder of the Communist Marxist Party. As you know, I remained in power with the Communist Government in 1956 in Kerala under the charismatic Chief ministership of EMS, the great Leftist thinker.”
Therefore, I will say to supporters of Indo-US deal not to loose heart. Justice Krishna Iyer is a brilliant legal scholar, but his judgments in this regard are guided by the political philosophy of the past that failed everywhere. His opinions can, therefore, be respectfully set aside as they are not born out of his independent mind.
Govinda Bhisetti
June 12, 2007
