Vijay Kumar and his family with PV Narasimha Rao.

By Vijay Kumar

The serious-looking man was not really all that serious, though his sense of humour would never be for public consumption or against any individual. There was always an original scholar the insider in P.V. Narasimha Rao who was suppressed by the outsider P.V. Narasimha Rao. Hailing from a backward village in Telangana, he did not even know about the freedom struggle till he finished schooling, went on to Master more than a dozen languages and had he not joined politics would have been the greatest literary figure on the scene.

Being a man of literature he was not impressed by the literary circus of the IAS Officers in the government files and at least as far as language was concerned there could be no bureaucrat to match his elegance and scholarship. As the man did not get enough publicity for his good deeds, many of his achievements are not very well known. The man who changed the path of Indian economy in 1991 had accomplished an equally brilliant revolutionary change in land distribution in Andhra Pradesh more than two decades earlier. Though he is accused as the Brahmin behind Babri demolition and there was a joke going round about a virus called Narasimha Rao Virus: First of all, this virus reduces the CPU speed to 66 Hz. Before executing any instruction, it deliberates over it a number of times and finally does nothing, it should be remembered that he took the country out of disaster.

DDT brings you a few excerpt gems from some of his speeches and writings.

Addressing a joint session of the US Congress, he remarked,

Indeed in 1968 your Supreme Court had to say, When Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation. All the obligations of perpetual union and all the guarantees of Republican Government in the union, attached at once to the state. It was the incorporation of a new member into the political body. And it was complete and final ….. India accepts this statement as truly characteristic of a multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious republic like India or the United States and as totally unassailable.

Natwar Singh once remarked that nobody could explain Gandhian concepts better than PV.

In his address to the US congress, PV quoted from the US Vice-President's book, an anecdote about Gandhiji.

Gandhiji was approached one day by a woman, concerned that her son ate too much sugar. She requested him to counsel her son about its harmful effects. The Mahatma promised to do so but asked her to return after a fortnight. This they did and Gandhiji advised the boy as he had promised. The mother was profuse in her gratitude but could not conceal her puzzlement as to why Gandhiji had insisted on the interval of 2 weeks. He was honest in his reply, and said: `I needed the two weeks to stop eating sugar myself.'

On another occasion he remarked,

The incredible economy of Gandhian action; the inverse relationship between the scale of satyagraha and the demographic momentum of popular arousal, illustrate the tactical genius of the Mahatma.

And there is nothing to beat this, Gandhi stands in lonely eminence in the 20th century.

The Insider:

He had used his insider to comment freely on the system with the licence of a story teller. Even for his autobiography, he chose the medium of fiction. Insider itself is not a new concept or idea as many would believe. He had written a skit for Mainstream in 1984, titled "The Reshuffle". This was a satire on the culture of servility and careerism that had flourished in the Congress, each Minister looking out for himself in the tussle for Cabinet positions that afforded the best rewards. The author of the skit was introduced to the reader as "an insider, who understandably, prefers to remain anonymous, in anticipation of the next reshuffle."

Though as an insider, he had only contempt for the system which reserved rewards for mediocrity, but he continued in the system, which ultimately sucked him, though in the process, he could occupy the highest executive position in the country.

When the skit was reproduced in the Mainstream in 1994, it was again carried under the same pseudonym insider, the writer was introduced as an insider who continues to hold an eminent position in the government - in fact, more eminent than before".

From INSIDER

With India's independence, "imperial authority...merely turned into Central authority....

Neither the democratic nor the federal principle had taken root to supplant the feudal ethos...

the concept of kingship...was ingrained in the collective consciousness.... Democracy in action at best consisted of the question: Who should reign?"

chieftains appeared in the garb of chief ministers."

Description of a powerful Chief Minister in the story: iron-handed administration, cruelty, sadism, egocentrism, intolerance, arbitrariness, aggressiveness, ruthlessness, sexual license as of right...and an utter contempt for the people except, of course, at election time."

Chaudhury, a politician "with no particular ideology other than power."

Chaudhury does not "believe in any of the rhetoric of the Party's statements and resolutions. In a country of sub-naked illiterates living in sub-human conditions, what is the relevance of any ideology, he often asked.... We wanted to rule our own country, so we made the British quit. That doesn't mean we have to reject British techniques of administration. Rule with a firm hand and to hell with ideology!"

Gopi Kishen was initiated into the mysteries of politics-cum-business by his millionaire father, who made him spend a few days in jail with other freedom fighters so that when he came out his record of patriotism would help him rise fast and high up the political and business ladder

Though Gopi Kishen was not quite in the kitchen cabinet, he procured provisions for the kitchen.

His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him that nature might stand up
And say to all the world 'This was a man'

Now the rest of DDT

Anti-dumping

The anti-dumping duty on acrylic fibre imported from Japan, Spain, Portugal or Italy, was imposed vide notification No. 8/99 Cus, dated 22.1.99 and the notification was extended up to 16.11.2004 by notification no. 158/2003 dated 22nd October, 2003. Now on the recommendations of the designated authority, the anti-dumping duty is re-imposed for goods originating in or exported from Japan. Spain, Portugal and Italy are left off now. See notification No. 114/2004-Cus., dated 21-12-2004.

Consequently notification no. 8/99 is rescinded. Actually there is no need to rescind that notification as it died a natural dead on 16.11.2004. See notification no. 115/2004-Cus., dated 21-12-2004

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Exchange rates for Canadian Dollars reduced:- Notification Nos. 129/2004 and 130/2004 amended by notification no 139/2004 and 140/2004-CUS(N.T.) dated 23-12-2004.

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Board issues draft Circular proposing to delete para 2 (2) of Circular no. 762/2003-CX dated 11-11-2003. This circular stipulates that when a case is remanded for denova adjudication without specifying the level of the officer, it should be adjudicated by the proper officer as per the revised monitory limit prescribed by circular no. 762. Board invites comments on the draft circular which may be sent to neeravmallick@yahoo.com or neeravkr@finance.nic.in . For Draft Circular Click here.