sdmsh@tstt.net.tt

Piggott’s act of ignorance

• Water in Hinduism has a special place because it is believed to have spiritual cleansing power.
• Hindu community has a reverence for nature and water in particular.
• The story of the Great Flood of Manu appears in Hindu scripture.

Minister of Agriculture Arnold Piggott recently, in Parliament, chastised the farming sector for planting crops too close to the waterways. The implication was that the farmers essentially set themselves up for a cash bailout by the Government when the floods came.

The minister ignores the fact that the streets of Port-of-Spain flood when a brief drizzle of rain visits the capital city. On November 10, the whole of the Champs Fleurs/St Joseph area along the Eastern Main Road remained flooded for hours and the entire WASA compound was under water.

Next morning was spent washing out the slush and mud rather than focusing on supplying drinking water to the population. Was WASA and the Eastern Main Road built to win state funding also?

The minister fails to appreciate the work farmers have been doing in producing food for the nation for decades. This lack of appreciation was highlighted in his budget contribution. Instead of addressing the issues of praedial larceny, access roads, irrigation, and other issues related to creating food security/Piggott, like many of his colleagues, spent the time praising the Patrick Manning administration.

Many of the farmers that Minister Piggott criticised are members of the Hindu community. Piggott fails not only to appreciate the nuances of agriculture but also of the community involved in agriculture. The Hindu community has a reverence for nature and water in particular.

This reverence for water is best observed during the Kartik celebrations where thousands of Hindus go to various beaches and rivers for prayer. Kartik Snaan, locally called Kartik Nahan, is the last Hindu festival in the calendar year. It falls in the eighth lunar month named Kartik, usually in October/November. This year it was observed on November 12.

It is customary for our people to go to the rivers or oceans to perform pujas and take a bath (snaan). It is the general belief that your sins or negative karmas are washed away or forgiven when you perform this ritual.

Water in Hinduism has a special place because it is believed to have spiritually cleansing powers. Hinduism encompasses so many different beliefs but most of us do share the importance of striving to attain purity and avoiding pollution. This relates to both physical cleanliness and spiritual well-being.

Pilgrimage is very important to Hindus. Holy places are usually located on the banks of rivers, coasts, sea shores and mountains. Sites of convergence, between land and river or two, or even three, rivers carry special sig- nificance and are especially sacred.

Sacred rivers are thought to be a great equaliser. Cremation grounds are always located near a river so the ash of the deceased could be placed in the running water of the river to merge with the oceans.

The story of the Great Flood of Manu appears in Hindu scriptures. This is the story of how all creation was submerged in a great deluge but Manu is rescued by a fish that he once saved from being eaten by a larger fish. The fish told him to build a large boat and to take into it seeds and animals.

The fish then towed the boat to safety by anchoring it on the highest peak of the Himalayas. He stayed on the mountain (known as Manu’s Descent) while the flood swept away all living creatures. Manu alone survived. This story finds echo in the Christian story of Noah and his Arc.

Piggott’s ignorance of the needs of the nation’s agriculturalists are not unique as previous Consumer Affairs Minister, Danny Montano, in January 2005, publicly advised the nation to eat more cassava as an alternative to rice, as a way to combat the food crisis.

Montano appears to be ignorant of the French queen who lost her head in the French Revolution when she advised the French people to eat cake because bread was not available.

Minister Piggott remains silent on the bulldozing of crops in Picton, Diamond Village, by the Estate Management Business Development Corporation. He appears to lay the blame for the high food prices on the floods alone and fails to recognise that in agriculture you have to invest a significant amount of money. Chemicals, herbicides and seeds are costly and intense labour is required.

Flooding is not the only reason for high prices but also high production costs. One would expect a Minister of Agriculture to be sensitive to all these issues and take to his Cabinet financial proposals to subsidise many of the important costly requisites like machinery, fertilisers and other market facilities.

Better appreciation for the water should be considered by Minister Piggott. It is a better substitute for liquids that impair.

Satnarayan Maharaj is the

secretary general of the

Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha