A Hindu perspective. (Reflections On Tolerance).

COERCION IN FAMILY PLANNING is a major concern for Hindus--but for political, rather than religious reasons. Hinduism per se is not opposed to family planning, but during the period of emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in the 1970s, draconian methods of family planning were imposed, leading to a backlash. The so-Called Hindu parties were political beneficiaries of the backlash and now that they are in power they do not wish to repeat Mrs. Gandhi's "mistake." There is another political concern: the perception among Hindus that the Muslim minority in India is extremely fertile and may outnumber the Hindus in due course.

On a religious level, Hindu ethics in general are less individualistic than Western ones although its religious practices are more so. Hence the Hindu does not have to be convinced in favor of collective ethics. Hindus do need to be convinced however that everyone is doing his or her fair share in helping cope with any perceived problems. In this respect Hindu scholars tend to compare population levels in India and consumption levels in the West and point out that high consumption levels pose as much of an ecological challenge as population levels. When calculated in terms of energy consumption, for example, US consumption surpasses that of India as the energy consumption levels of an individual in the US exceed those of an Indian by a factor of five.

For a Hindu the policy being pursued by the US in relation to its contribution to the United Nations Population Fund prompts fresh reflection on the Hindu doctrine of karma, according to which we must undergo the consequences--good or bad--of our own actions. The US is in effect curtailing the availability of medical facilities to women in more than 140 countries because it is concerned that coercive abortions are practiced in one country, namely, China. If we treat the doctrine of karma not merely as a descriptive but prescriptive doctrine as well then it follows from its fundamental premise that only those who are guilty of a violation should be punished and no others--that the link between action and result be kept as transparent as possible. By making over 140 countries bear the consequences of one errant country profoundly violates the moral intuition underlying the doctrine of karma. If the US is going to make Burundi suffer for the violations committed by China it is karmically exposing itself to a situation in which, in due course, it will also have to bear the burdens of others not of its own making.

DR. ARVIND SHARMA is the Birks Professor of Comparative Religion of Religious Studies at McGill University in Montreal and an international consultant for the Encyclopedia of Hinduism.