Incorrectly correct?

Curios Case of Selfish-ness in India

2011-03-11T14:52:00.003+05:30

The Recent news caught my eye on a news channel where a converted

Christian Still want to get benefit of Notorious Kota System of Indian

Constitution on Basis of Creed and Caste.

This example shows how badly our kota system needs review and

Overhauling.

___________________________________________________

The Gujarat High Court has rejected a plea filed by a converted

Christian seeking access to benefits extended to him earlier as a

Scheduled Caste Hindu.

While a state government panel held that he had converted, the

petitioner denied doing so and challenged the cancellation of a

Scheduled Castes certificate issued to him.

The bench of Chief Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya and Justice JB Pardiwala

refused relief to petitioner Nimesh Zaveri and said he and his family

members could not enjoy the benefits after conversion.

Zaveri had obtained a Scheduled Castes certificate from the state

authorities. After a complaint that he had converted to Christianity, a

scrutiny committee issued show cause notice to him seeking his reply.

In his reply, he denied converting to Christianity and claimed he

continued to be a Scheduled Caste Hindu.

The committee, after considering all the aspects, directed the

cancellation of the caste certificate given to Zaveri and his family. It

held that he and his family had converted.

A single judge bench upheld the order of the committee against which

Zaveri preferred an appeal before the division bench.

The division bench noted, in an order made available Monday, that the

committee relied on an affidavit of Zaveri before an executive

magistrate July 5, 1990.

"The affidavit stated that he had converted to Christianity by baptism

on July 14, 1987 and he had declared that he and his children will not

be known as 'Hindu Vankar' (caste) but as 'Indian Christian'."

The scrutiny committee found that Priest Samuelbhai Ukabhai Parmar had

issued a certificate registering the petitioner in the Methodist Church

June 18, 2002 on the basis of baptism conducted July 14, 1987.

In the marriage invitation card of Zaveri's sons, they were described as

Christians.

The judges said these findings and the refusal of grant of relief by the

single judge did not call for their interference and dismissed the

appeal.

Present Dalit (Scavengers) Situation in India

2011-03-11T14:38:00.004+05:30

The word oppressed, perhaps, conveys, in the nearest sense, the meeting

of the word Dalit. The oppression of a set of people in society can have a

very wide connotation. I, however, would like to concentrate and confine

my talk to the word Dalit being equated with those who are engaged in the

profession of scavenging i.e. manual cleaning of excreta of others. Before

Independence of our country they were called untouchables. Existence of

this class of people is peculiarly related to the Indian caste system which

even today prevails in India.

In Indian caste system particularly among Hindus, each caste is

traditionally associated with a particular occupation. This phenomenon is

so striking that one can say that caste is nothing more than the

systematization of occupational differential. The most downgraded

occupation was considered to be cleaning or sweeping and removal of

human and animal excreta. Where scavengers were concerned the

concept of pollution, of being tainted by association or touch or at times

even by shadow persisted. In India, caste system crept in amongst

members of other religions, as well, even if it did not get associated with

ethico-religious ideas; in practice, though, in other non-Hindu religious

groups caste hierarchy, as amongst the Hindus, regulates inter-caste

relations. The concept of polluting influence of a member of a lower caste

may not prevail among the converts or their descendants, but lack of social

interaction continues to prevail more or less to the same degree as it did

* Founder

Sulabh Sanitation Movement

Sulabh Gram, Mahavir Enclave, Palam-Dabri Marg, New Delhi-45

Tel. : 011-25032617, 25032654, Fax : 011-25034014

Email: sulabh1@nde.vsnl.net.in, Website : http://www.sulabhinternational.org,

www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org2

during their erstwhile membership of the caste to which they belonged,

before getting converted. This is explained by the fact that the majority of

the members or their descendants of any religious group in India have

been converts from amongst the Hindus. This is true in India of Muslims,

Christians, and Sikhs.

The scavengers are also known as Bhangis (considered derogatory) ,

Balmiki, Chuhra, Mazhabi, Rangreta, Lalbegi, Hela, Hari, Dom, Dhanuk,

Thoti, Pakay, Mukhiyar, etc.

The names of scavenging castes suggest that they are a functional

community recruited from many different racial and social groups. It is very

likely that one of the reasons that may have led people belonging to the

lowest strata to take to the profession of scavenging especially in the

urban areas was the compulsion, arising due to economic necessity. The

great variations in the physical features of the different sections of this

community, and also the varied recruitment from higher castes of “broken

men*”, outcasts, destitutes, etc. show that the members of various castes

have joined this profession at different points of time obviously owing to

economic compulsions. It is also generally believed that after the advent of

the Muslims in India ‘sweeping and scavenging’ seems to have taken the

form of a formal profession. It is said that the system of bucket privies was

designed and constructed by Muslims for their women in ‘pardah’. Those

who were made captives, were forced to clean latrines, bucket privies and

throw off the night-soil at distant places. These captives when freed, were

not accepted by the society and they formed a separate caste and

continued the work of scavenging. During the British period with the setting

up of army cantonments and municipalities, a large number of people were

required to do these services on a regular basis. How could the imperial

masters suffer the indignity of being seen going out to answer the call of

nature! The white man’s burden, a-la-Kipling, which a white burdened

himself with, became the headload of scavengers.3

The religion of the sweepers and scavengers is a curious mixture of

various faiths. They profess to be Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and

tribals. They stand at the very bottom of the social ladder. Though all

religions, except Hinduism, preach the social equality of all men, they

refuse to recognise them as brethren in the faith. They are compelled, on

the ground of “untouchability”, to do scavenging or sweeping or to remove

any carcass or to flay any animal. The “compulsion” includes a threat of

social* or economic boycott. It was untouchability and the practice of social

discrimination amongst the Hindus that was largely responsible for

conversion to another faith. But the scourge of untouchability never really

left those who converted. The change of religion did not bring about any

significant change in their occupation or social status. It, however, infused

a feeling of greater solidarity amongst them towards members of their own

community than towards other members of their religion. For example, a

Hindu Chuhra will readily marry a Chuhra girl belonging to Muslim or

Christian religion and vice versa, while being reluctant to marry a mate of

the same faith, but outside their caste.

The hereditary occupation of the scavengers has been scavenging -

removing night-soil and cleaning of latrines, removal of filth, dead cattle,

sweeping of houses and roads.

In a large number of States, the job of scavenging of private

latrines have been municipalised. It is estimated that about

two-thirds of the scavenging population works as municipal

employees and the remaining one-third is engaged in the

cleaning of bucket privies in private houses. Though, those

engaged in private houses consider themselves superior the

wages paid to them are lower than those of the municipal

employees. The scavengers of private latrines are in a very

disadvantageous position as compared to the municipal

scavengers. Their housing condition is also far from

satisfactory. The habitation of these people is the filthiest spot,4

very often near and around a public latrine or a dumping

ground and far from their place of work.

Generally where latrines in private households are cleaned by

scavengers privately and not on behalf of the municipality,

scavengers acquire scavenging right which also become

hereditary. Each scavenger acquires a right to clean a specific

number of latrines, as against another scavenger by mutual

undertaking or agreement.

Some scavengers are noted for their musical ability. They are

also very good music band masters and play on ‘Sehnai’, a

musical instrument. In their spare time they make baskets,

mats, weaving fans or sieves, etc. They also work as village

menials and agricultural labourers, watchmen, drummers,

trumpeters and town-criers. During an eclipse the sweepers

make good earnings; for it is believed that ‘Rahu’, the demon

who devours the sun and moon and thus causes an eclipse,

was either a sweeper or the deity of the sweepers, and alms

given to them at this time will appease him and cause him to

let the “luminaries” shine again. As soon as the darkening sets

in they go about shouting ‘Grahandan’, ‘Vastradan’,

‘Rupadan’, etc.

The sweepers also work as hangman tying a rope round the neck of a

criminal shouting ‘Dohai Sarkar, Dohai Judge Sahib, Dohai Darogaji’ in

order to shelter himself under their authority and escape any guilt attaching

to the death. The hangman is accompanied by four or five other sweepers

of the caste panchayat. The hangman receives some money as his fees.

They also work at the burning ghats and are called ‘Doms’. One can

always find sweepers in all the mortuaries attached to the hospitals.

The jobs of scavengers is not only undesirable, polluting and tedious, but

is also low paid. Within the scavenging castes some sections are superior

to others, depending upon the type of work a particular section is doing.5

The lowest place is generally occupied by those who carry night soil and

the highest by those who have given up scavenging.

The scavenging population has grown considerably. In census 1961, they

were returned not by profession of scavenging alone but their caste

names, (such as Mehtar/Bhangi, Dom/ Dhangad, Mazhabi and Hari/ Hadi

etc.) and were 35.32 lakhs which number rose to 59.28 lakhs in 1971.

Those amongst the scavenging communities, engaged in the profession of

scavenging in 1961, numbered 8,02,400, of whom 3,86,725 were

Scheduled Castes constituting 48.20 per cent of the total work force and

the remaining 51.80 per cent were non-Scheduled Castes, such as

Muslims, Christians.

The Task Force constituted by the Planning Commission (1989) had

estimated the number of scavengers belonging to Scheduled Castes as 4

lakhs of whom 3.34 lakhs (83 per cent) were in the urban areas and

67,220 (17 per cent) in rural areas. In the urban areas, 2,06,62 were males

and 1,27,167 females. There may be another 3 lakhs from other religious

groups, like Muslims, Christians and Tribals and thus the total number of

persons engaged in scavenging may be more than 7 lakhs. The Task

Force had also estimated that the total number of dry latrines in the

country was 76.4 lakhs, of which 54 lakh were in the urban areas and 22.4

lakhs in the rural areas.

A rapid survey to identify scavengers and their dependants, undertaken by

the State Governments and Union Territories recently, revealed that there

were 6,84,742 scavengers who were actually engaged in manual

scavenging in 22 States/UTs. The survey is still incomplete in some

States.

The magnitude of the problem of the sanitation is enormous. According to

2001 census there are 122 million households (63.6%) in the country

which do not have any kind of toilet facility. Of these 108 million (78.1%)

are in the rural and 14 million (26.3%) in the urban areas. Thus, there are

63.6% households in the country people from where go for open6

defecation. The census has also given the figures of service latrines (dry

latrines) viz. in 13 million households (6.9%), 6 million (4.5%) in rural and 7

million (13%) in the urban areas. These service latrines are cleaned by

manual scavenging.

The first sanitation bill was introduced in India in 1878, which envisaged

construction of public latrines within the limits of municipalities in Bengal

and also to levy fees for cleaning public and private latrines. The provision

of the Bill was taken as part of the Bengal Municipal Act, 1876. In Punjab,

the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 (amended from time to time) provided that

if a customary sweeper failed to perform scavenging, in a house or

building, in a proper way and at reasonable intervals, the occupier of the

house or building could complain to a magistrate who, on receiving such a

complaint, would hold an inquiry and if it was found that the customary

sweeper had failed to perform the scavenging in the house, the magistrate

had authority to impose upon the sweeper a fine extending to Rs. 10, (a

great sum in those days). Under the provisions of the Act, the municipality

could, at any time, undertake the scavenging of any house or building on

request or with the consent of the occupier. A similar provision was made

in the other States’ Municipal Acts. Later concept of imposition of

conservancy tax, developed, at times, as a separate tax and at times was

included in the property tax.

In 1993, the Parliament passed the Employment of Manual Scavengers

and Construction of Dry-Latrines (Prohibition) Bill, to abolish scavenging

and ban the construction of dry latrines. Seventeen States and Six Union

Territories have adopted this Act by passing resolutions in their

Assemblies. The remaining states have not followed suit. Parliament also

passed the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993 (as

amended) setting up a National Commission for Safai Karamcharis to

recommend to the Central Govt. specific programmes of action towards

elimination of inequalities in status, providing facilities and opportunities for

Safai Karamcharis under a time-bound action plan.7

Fortunately, however, the unsatisfactory condition of scavenging work in

this country began to draw the attention of social workers as well, since the

beginning of the last century. The credit of awakening the sanitary

conscience of the people goes largely to Mahatma Gandhi himself. He

drew the attention to the problem as far back as 1901 and again in 1908.

He sat an example by ensuring that no scavenger was engaged in the

Ashram set up by him at Sabarmati (locality of Ahemdabad in the State of

Gujarat) in 1918. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I may not be born again,

but if it happens, I will like to be born in a family of scavengers so that I

may relieve them of the inhuman, unhealthy and hateful practice of

carrying night soil.”

It was in 1968 i.e. the year of Gandhi Centenary celebration

commencement that I was assigned the task of finding out an alternative to

scavenging and in 1970 I launched Sulabh Sanitation Movement by setting

up, social voluntary non-profit organisation, Sulabh Shauchalaya Sansthan

to carry forward the movement which combined in itself sanitation

technology and humane ideology.

The crux of the problem was devising a system which would dispense with

the need of engaging scavengers to clean human excreta, from the

individual households. After extensive research and ground work I came

up with a simple and cost-effective low-cost technology of two-pit pour-

flush toilet popularly known as Sulabh Shauchalaya.

In India, prior to this the systems that prevailed were and continue to be of

sewrage and the one based on septic tanks. The sewerage was introduced

in India in 1870 but only in the civil lines. There were no toilets in the Indian

Railways. Either it was in 1909, when one Okhil Chandra Sen encountered

a very awkward situation owing to nature’s call while travelling in a

passenger train. Being forced by the intensity of the call he had to get

down from the coach on the platform at Ahmedpur station just to relieve

himself of the pressure but in doing so, he had the ill luck of being left

behind on the platform as the train left the station as per guard’s signal.8

Being aggrieved, he lodged with the Sahibganj Railway Division, Bengal, a

complaint which prompted the British authorities to provide attached toilets

in railway coaches used by Indians. The sewerage system, however, is

prohibitively costly. In sewerage system the sullage/sewege is either

drained out directly in the water bodies or through the Sewage Treatment

Plant. The STPs involve costly maintenance and normally are in a state of

disrepair. There is the fact also of poor maintenance of the sewerage pipes

which lead to pollution. The septic tanks require periodic cleaning either

through machines which are costly to maintain or are either unavailable or

where so available mostly remain dysfunctional. It also means dumping the

sludge at a far away place for atleast a couple of years before it becomes

pathogen free.

On the other hand the twin-pit pour-flush water-seal attached Sulabh toilet

system was found to be cost-effective, technologically appropriate and

culturally acceptable. It is environmental friendly, pollution free,

economises water use and has the biggest advantage of on-site disposal.

It was this which brought about a revolution in waste matter treatment and

disposal.

The Sulabh technology has been approved not only by the Centre and

State Governments, but also by WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, UNDP, etc.

and was considered as one of the Global Urban Best Practices in the

Habitat-II Conference, held at Istanbul, Turkey in June, 1996. UNCHS

(Habitat) has also conferred the 2000 Dubai International Award on Sulabh

for the “cost-effective and appropriate sanitation system” for improving the

environment. The Economic and Social Council of United Nations granted

Special Consultative Status to the Sulabh International Social Service

Organisation.

But I was not satisfied with bringing up a new technology only. Besides,

were formulated a number of schemes to liberate the scavengers from

their degrading occupation, to bring them into the mainstream of the

society by providing them opportunity, to be engaged in alternative9

employment, imparting vocational training, quality education and

attempting upgradation of the status socially by persuading the elite to

have social interaction with them.

At Sulabh’s initiative a meeting was organised in March 1981 in which

participated representatives of the Ministries of Works and Housing and

Home Affairs of the Central Government and representatives of the

Government of Bihar. It was decided in the meeting that a comprehensive

scheme should be introduced in the selected small and medium towns on

the whole town approach basis by conversion of the existing dry latrines

into water pour flush latrines. The scavengers so liberated were to be

given alternative and dignified employment without any loss of income and

any time gap after giving them some vocational training. The scheme was

started in March 1981 in the two towns of Bihar. The scheme was

subsequently taken up in other states as well. The scheme worked well in

all the states.

A basket of schemes has been formulated by Government which is a

mixture of training programmes with stipends and grants for setting up

employment oriented projects with varying components of loan, subsidy

and margin money etc. The primary objective of the scheme is to wean

away the scavengers from their demeaning task and to rehabilitate them

and to convert the bucket privies to the flushing system on Sulabh model.

Of 7 lac scavengers about 50% have been rehabilitated. The

implementation of the schemes, however, has been rather tardy and hardly

13% of the privies were converted by the end of 8th plan period.

The problem is gigantic. The number of households in urban areas alone

without any toilet facility is nearly 14 million. The main reasons for the slow

progress of the scheme are inadequate subsidy, no financial assistance for

superstructure, the loan amount being small and general apathy of the

state Govts. towards this programme. The local bodies cannot avail of

loans because the municipal finances are in poor shape and most of the10

local bodies cannot be funded without state guarantee. There is need for

the involvement of NGOs like Sulabh, user education and motivation (IEC).

Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, which is a non-profit

voluntary organisation working in 26 states and 3 union Territories, 1019

local bodies, 1050 towns and 400 districts, has constructed more than a

million Sulabh Shauchalayas all over the country in addition to about

6,000 pay and use community toilets which are used by 10 million people

daily. Sulabh has liberated 60,000 scavengers from the demeaning

practice of manual scavenging, provided vocational training set up English

Medium Public School for scavengers’ children at New Delhi and installed

118 biogas plants for generation of energy and bio-fertilizer.

The practice of manual scavenging in India violates the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by the General

Assembly of the United nations on December 10, 1948, the preamble of

which speaks of recognition of the inherent dignity and of equal and

inalienable rights of all members of the human family which is the

foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” The scavengers

who have been made untouchables and slaves in their own country, need

protection under the Charter. It is hoped that this practice will be abolished

soon. That even fifty five years after independence, the inhuman and

degrading practice of manual scavenging of night-soil is still prevalent, in

certain parts of the country, is an affront to human dignity and a social evil.

The crucial issue of right to live with dignity has now been taken up in the

country by the National Human Rights Commission which has urged all the

State Governments to take urgent steps to eliminate this practice and to

rehabilitate scavengers by 2nd October, 2003.

One can forget about the past and have the satisfaction of not feeling

responsible for what has happened but what is worrying is the present

continuous if I may say so. For, it is this which determines the future

scenario. But, I am sure, with arising awareness, will of the Government

and the efforts of the NGOs the situation which is improving, is bound to11

improve further. I hope till such time the scourge of scavenging becomes a

bad dream.

Introspective Silence Befalls Bali, but Only for a Day

2011-03-11T14:33:00.001+05:30

The resort island of Bali fell quiet over the weekend as the authorities shut down its airport and seaports, and switched off all radio and television transmissions. Its streets, normally jammed with tourists, were deserted as security guards patrolled the island, ensuring that locals and foreigners alike stayed indoors, and even exhorting them to turn off their lights.

The authorities closed down Bali not to stamp down on political unrest, but to mark the annual Day of Silence, a Balinese Hindu holiday called Nyepi that ushers in the New Year. For a full 24 hours starting at 6 a.m. Saturday, Balinese Hindus were urged to remain silent and engage in introspection. Bali, which first became known as a destination among hippies from the West a couple of generations ago, tuned in and dropped out, at least for the day.

“Have a quiet time! Enjoy the silent day!” Wayan Sutama, 51, a traditional security guard called a pecalang, called out to a group of potentially unquiet Australians gathered on a terrace overlooking the beach here. With a half-wary smile, he flashed them a thumbs-up.

In Kuta, a rowdy beach resort on the southern tip of the island, only roosters and pigeons, usually drowned out by the din, could be heard Saturday. The pecalang peered down side streets in search of transgressors but found only other pecalang looking back, or the occasional stray cat.

As the last redoubt of Hinduism in Indonesia, the nation with the world’s largest Muslim population, the island of Bali has been attracting increasing numbers of outsiders in recent years, thanks to its booming tourism industry. While Hollywood romanticized Bali in the recent movie “Eat Pray Love,” Indonesians, mostly Muslims from the islands of Java and Sumatra, have been gravitating here looking for jobs. The tension between local tradition and outside forces is perhaps at its most intense in Kuta, where Islamic extremists bombed a nightclub in 2002, killing 202 people, and bombed three restaurants in 2005, killing more than 20 people.

In reaction, officials in Bali have been reinforcing local customs, especially those of Nyepi. Three years ago, they began sealing off Bali from the rest of Indonesia for 24 hours after tour organizers were caught smuggling in tourists on the Day of Silence as part of “Nyepi packages.” At the same time, the authorities banned radio and television and, last year, extended the ban to all satellite transmissions.

“The lesson from the Bali bombings was to return to our traditions and not be too influenced by outsiders,” Mr. Sutama said Saturday. He and another pecalang, Nengah Renda, 51, spoke as they faced a memorial for the bombing victims on Kuta’s main commercial strip; behind them, a lingerie shop called 69Slam featured an image of a woman with a man on all fours attached to a dog leash.

The day before, in one of the many local temples squeezed between shops in Kuta, the residents of a neighborhood called Pande Mas had been putting the final touches on their ogoh-ogohs, effigies 20 feet tall representing evil spirits that would be burned later. “After chasing away the evil spirits, we have Nyepi to purify our minds, to reflect on what we did in the past year and to engage in introspection,” said Made Mastra, 52, the neighborhood chief. “Then we will be clean to enter the new year.”

Neighborhood boys, who can often be seen rubbing shoulders on Kuta’s streets with Australian, Asian and European tourists, were required to make their own ogoh-ogohs. On Saturday, a group of boys, led by Wayan Putra Setiaman, 14, said they would obediently stay home, not daring to step outside lest they be caught by the pecalang.

They would not be allowed to use their television sets.

“But we can send SMSs to our friends as long as we’re quiet?” he said, zeroing in on a subject under debate among the pecalang.

How about video games?

“Yes,” he said.

“No!” said another boy, Wayan Wima Putra, 10, said, tapping the older boy across the chest.

“No,” the older boy corrected himself, explaining that videogames connected to television sets were forbidden but that portable ones were O.K.

Even as Bali has reinforced its traditions, some outsiders said it had lost a bit of its legendary openness. Ucok, 41, the manager of a tattoo shop who moved to Bali from Sumatra 15 years ago, said he and other Muslims felt a little “discrimination.”

“Since the bombing, the locals are more suspicious toward Muslims,” Ucok said, adding that outsiders would nonetheless keep coming here. “Bali is like sugar. Ants come to it.”

Made Darsana, 59, the deputy chief of one of Kuta’s three subdistricts, said outsiders were occupying an increasingly larger share of the population.

On Saturday, Mr. Darsana and a dozen pecalang were taking a break from their patrol at a temple where they quietly shared fried rice. Mr. Darsana, who spoke English with an unmistakably American accent, said he learned English about 40 years ago from an American Indian named Joe. Joe was among the hippies who discovered Bali, back when Kuta had perhaps a single guesthouse, Mr. Darsana said. “Life isn’t about material things, about tall buildings,” he said. “It’s about being one with the world. That’s the core teaching of Hinduism. I didn’t know this when I was younger. You learn these things as you live. Been there, done that.”

With development and the influx of outsiders, Bali’s environment has been irreparably damaged, he said. Outsiders now owned almost all the major businesses in Kuta.

“It’s sad,” Mr. Darsana said. “We now have only our culture.”

His smile and constant cheerfulness, though, belied his expression of loss. Despite the Day of Silence, Mr. Darsana grew increasingly loquacious as he reminisced about his hippie youth — hanging out with Joe, mastering the surfboard as well as the bong, taking a three-day drive all the way to Jakarta. “And my girlfriend was in the back,” he added, to roars of approval from the subdistrict chief as the other pecalang nearby immediately chided him in unison, “Shhhh!”
Sheepishly, Mr. Darsana mentioned that, at night, he himself would make sure that his neighbors turned off any electric lights or candles. “It’s going to be like Kuta in the 1960s,” he said. After a long pause and perhaps some memories left unmentioned, he added. “Been there, done that.”

Mail sent to all Infosys staff

2011-02-26T12:04:00.002+05:30

Mail sent all Infosys staff:

It's half past 8 in the office but the lights are still on...

PCs still running, coffee machines still buzzing...

And who's at work? Most of them ??? Take a closer look....

All or most specimens are ??

Something male species of the human race...

Look closer... again all or most of them are bachelors....

And why are they sitting late? Working hard? No way!!!

Any guesses???

Let's ask one of them...

Here's what he says... 'What's there 2 do after going home...Here we get to surf, AC, phone, food, coffee that is why I am working late...Importantly no bossssssss!!!!!!!!!!!'

This is the scene in most research centers and software companies and other off-shore offices.

Bachelors 'Passing-Time' during late hours in the office just bcoz they say they've nothing else to do...

Now what r the consequences...

'Working' (for the record only) late hours soon becomes part of the institute or company culture.

With bosses more than eager to provide support to those 'working' late in the form of taxi vouchers, food vouchers and of course good feedback, (oh, he's a hard worker... goes home only to change..!!).

They aren't helping things too...

To hell with bosses who don't understand the difference between 'sitting' late and 'working' late!!!

Very soon, the boss start expecting all employees to put in extra working hours.

So, My dear Bachelors let me tell you, life changes when u get married and start having a family.... office is no longer a priority, family is... and

That's when the problem starts... b'coz u start having commitments at home too.

For your boss, the earlier 'hardworking' guy suddenly seems to become a 'early leaver' even if u leave an hour after regular time... after doing the same amount of work.

People leaving on time after doing their tasks for the day are labelled as work-shirkers...

Girls who thankfully always (its changing nowadays... though) leave on time are labelled as 'not up to it'. All the while, the bachelors pat their own backs and carry on 'working' not realizing that they r spoiling the work culture at their own place and never realize that they would have to regret at one point of time.

So what's the moral of the story??

* Very clear, LEAVE ON TIME!!!

* Never put in extra time ' unless really needed '

* Don't stay back unnecessarily and spoil your company work culture which will in turn cause inconvenience to you and your colleagues.

There are hundred other things to do in the evening..

Learn music...

Learn a foreign language...

Try a sport... TT, cricket.........

Importantly,get a girl friend or boy friend, take him/her around town...

* And for heaven's sake, net cafe rates have dropped to an all-time low (plus, no fire-walls) and try cooking for a change.

Take a tip from the Smirnoff ad: *'Life's calling, where are you??'*

Please pass on this message to all those colleagues and please do it before leaving time, don't stay back till midnight to forward this!!!

IT'S A TYPICAL INDIAN MENTALITY THAT WORKING FOR LONG HOURS MEANS VERY HARD WORKING & 100% COMMITMENT ETC.

PEOPLE WHO REGULARLY SIT LATE IN THE OFFICE DON'T KNOW TO MANAGE THEIR TIME. SIMPLE !

INDIA’S INTRACTABLE CANCER WITHIN AND WITHOUT:SONIA GANDHI

2010-11-28T13:40:00.005+05:30

QUIT INDIA! QUIT INDIA! SONIA!!

The time for the final reckoning of Sonia Gandhi and her unimaginably corrupt ways by abusing her authority has arrived. Her acts of Himalayan corruption have been brought to public light in a short and succinct manner, (Wednesday, 24th November, 2010) by Dr Subramanian Swamy, President of Janata Party and former Union Law and Commerce Minister, in his letter addressed to the Prime Minister. I am presenting below a copy of this historic and explosive letter which speaks for itself.

November 24, 2010.

Dr. Manmohan Singh,

Prime Minister of India,

South Block,

New Delhi.
Dear Prime Minister:
You may by now have realized that the 2G Spectrum scandal is not only bad for the country in the dimension of corruption, but now it emerges that there is a national security dimension too. The RAW, IB, CBI, ED all have enough material which they may have placed before you regarding the dubious aspects of the principal player in this scam.

According to my information two sisters, Anushka and Nadia, of Ms Sonia Gandhi had received sixty percent of the kickbacks in this deal i.e. Rs.18,000 crores each. The frequent travel of Sonia Gandhi and her immediate family to Malaysia, Hongkong, Dubai and parts of Europe including London requires to be probed under the law. What requires your special attention is the mode of the travel, not by commercial airliners, but by jets provided by the corporate sector which itself is illegal under the DGCA Rules. I find that often Ms. Sonia Gandhi and family have traveled to Dubai and then traveled onwards on private jets provided by dubious Arab business interests to Europe. It is not clear on what passport they have traveled. In Dubai they were felicitated by agencies of countries which are hostile to India including that of Pakistan.

You can no more not take a stand when evil is permeating in the country in the form of terrorism, religious conversion and demographic infiltration. The ill-gotten money in billions of dollars equivalent, the money laundering and Participatory Notes have all undermined our national integrity. The time is come for you to take a stand.

I am familiar with the information and data with our intelligent agencies. I also know that you can seek cooperation of other countries especially the United States in pooling information especially from inter Intelligence interaction that take place regularly. I hope therefore you will rise to the need of the hour and take effective steps to set right the sorry state of affairs in the country caused by overtly and covertly resident foreigners. In this connection I would like to meet you at the earliest. My Secretary will be in touch with your Secretariat to fix a time.

Yours sincerely,

(Sd SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY )

The title for this article I have derived from the historic speech of Mahatma Gandhi at Bombay on August 9, 1942, when he gave the clarion call of QUIT INDIA to the British in India.

In this context, I cannot help recalling the famous speech of Oliver Cromwell to the Rump Parliament in England on 20 April 1653. In 1653, after learning that Parliament was attempting to stay in session despite an agreement to dissolve, and having failed to come up with a working constitution, Oliver Cromwell’s patience ran out. On 20 April, 1653 he harangued the members of the Rump Parliament. This speech does not survive but has often been paraphrased, for instance in the Book of Days: “You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately ... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, Go!”

These very words of Cromwell were used by Lord Amery against Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in a moment of high drama during the notorious Norway Debate in the House of Commons in May 1940. After a string of military and naval disasters were announced, Lord Amery famously attacked Chamberlain's Government, quoting the above words of Oliver Cromwell. Lord Amery told Chamberlain and the House of Commons:

“You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”

Lord Amery’s speech had the desired effect. Neville Chamberlain resigned from the Office of the Prime Minister and Sir Winston Churchill succeeded him in that Office on May 10, 1940.

I am constrained to use the same words of Oliver Cromwell and quoted with devastating political effect by Lord Amery against Neville Chamberlain, against the corrupt Firangi Memsahib Sonia Gandhi as well, after reading the above letter sent by Dr Subramanian Swamy to the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh.

In one of my recent articles I had written about the nefarious attempts by the Solicitor General of India Gopal Subramaniam to cover up the acts of Himalayan corruption of former Union Telecom Minister A. Raja in the 2G Spectrum affair. I had described the Solicitor General as the Saboteur General of India! I am quoting below my own words in this article where I have referred in outline form to the massive corruption of Sonia Gandhi in this case:

“THREE CHEERS TO THIS ‘MOST HONOURABLE’ SABOTEUR GENERAL OF INDIA and MOST DISHONOURABLE SOLICITOR GENERAL for MOST HONOURABLE UNION MINISTER A. RAJA! THREE CHEERS TO THE FIRANGI MEMSAHIB AND HER ITALIAN FAMILY FOR THEIR FACILITATING/PARTICIPATING ROLE IN THE HIMALAYAN 2 G SPECTRUM Rs. 1,760,000,000,000/-LOOT OF AND THE LOOT CASE AGAINST RAJA!!! THREE CHEERS TO OUR BONELESS AND MOST HONEST PRIME MINISTER FOR CONTINUING TO SUPPORT THE MOST CORRUPT UNION MISTER A. RAJA ON THE IRREFUTABLE COMMAND OF THE FIRANGI MEMSAHIB, THE MOST EXALTED, THE MOST VENERABLE AND THE MOST VENAL MOTHER SUPERIOR—SUPREME COORDINATOR AND FACILITATOR--- OF ALL SCAMS IN THE COLONIAL AND ANTI-NATIONAL UPA II (NON) GOVERNMENT OF INDIA!!!”

The common people of India whose innocent blood is getting sucked every minute every day by the Firangi Memsahib, and her family in Italy, apart from the members of her half-Italian family in India, expect our Prime Minister to initiate action on war-footing to deal with the serious issues relating to terrorism, religious conversion and demographic infiltration by Bangladeshi Muslims. The Prime Minister has to take a bold and heroic stand against the ill gotten money in billions of Dollars equivalent, the money-laundering and Participatory Notes, which are destroying the foundations of Indian polity by undermining our National Security. Considering the point relating to the illegal use of corporate sector private planes by Sonia Gandhi, her sisters, her son and others closely related to her for the sole purpose of suitably parking the looted funds in safe tax havens abroad, the Prime Minister has to suo moto initiate immediate action against Sonia Gandhi, the Chairman of UPA Coordination Committee or more precisely the Chairman of the UPA Corruption Committee, failing which Dr Manmohan Singh will be laying himself open to the legitimate charge of criminal negligence of his constitutional responsibilities as the Prime Minister and Chief Executive of India.

Catherine de' Medici Lucrezia Borgia Firangi Memsahib

THE MOTHER SUPERIOR OF ALL CORRUPTION IN THE UPA II GOVERNMENT IN NEW DELHI IS THE FIRANGI MEMSAHIB SONIA GANDHI. In her over weening political arrogance and bumptiousness, she reminds us all about Catherine de' Medici (1519 – 1589) (born in Florence, Italy) who later became Queen of France, and Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519). Authentic history tells us that both these political women were incorrigible political criminals!!

I am presenting below the excerpts from the website of Janata Party of Dr Subramanian Swamy relating to the shady background and criminal antecedents including Nazi and KGB connections of the Firangi MemsahibSonia Gandhi who fully deserves to be compared with Catherine de' Medici (1519 – 1589) (born in Florence, Italy) who later became Queen of France, and Lucrezia Borgia (1480 – 1519). Authentic history tells us that both these political women were incorrigible political criminals of the most reprehensible kind!

Dr Subramanian Swamy has given all the facts relating to the shady past and criminal record of the Firangi Memsahib Sonia Gandhi which can make the record of Catherine de' Medici and Lucrezia Borgia pale into insignificance. I am presenting below excerpts from Dr Subramanian Swamy’s website.

I. INTRODUCTION

Patriotic Indians should thank the President of India for having the courage, by citing a legal hitch, to dissuade Ms. Sonia Gandhi from staking her claim to form the government on May 17th this year. She therefore, despite all the contrived media hype, did not, and could not, become the Prime Minister of 1 billion plus people of India.

It can now be said that Bharat Mata has been saved from a monumental, devastating, and permanent injury to her national interest and to the patriotic psyche of Indians.

Therefore, it should be the resolve of every Indian to make any and every effort that can be made in a democracy, to ensure that Ms. Sonia Gandhi is kept permanently out of reckoning for any public office. For those who instinctively understand that imperative, this Note has been written to explain the factual basis for this rational determination, and suggest what patriotic Indians can do now to implement that democratic and patriotic resolution.

My opposition to Ms. Sonia Gandhi is not merely because she is Italian---born, although that by itself is a major issue. In other democratic countries, including in Italy, such an issue [of foreign-born aspiring to be head of government]would not even arise at all because the issue has already been settled by incorporating into law that a person cannot hold the highest public office unless he or she is native born.

In India there is no such law but the President, according my knowledge, has correctly acted on a proviso to Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act[1955] which requires the Union Home Ministry to lay down conditions to Indian citizenship acquired by foreigners by registration, condition based on the principle of reciprocity. In Ms Gandhi’s case, such of those conditions that apply to Indians on becoming citizens of Italy, would apply to her.

The President reportedly had communicated to Ms. Gandhi on the afternoon of May 17, 2004, that if she insisted on being invited to form the government, he would want first to clarify, on a reference to the Supreme Court, whether in view of this proviso her appointment as PM could be successfully challenged in the court.

It is fair to assume that this report of the President’s decision is correct, since the President had before him my petition dated May 15, 2004 making just that point--- that Ms. Gandhi’s citizenship is conditional, and in particular she cannot be the PM legally.

The President had also given me an appointment at 12.45 PM on May 17, 2004 to explain my submissions in person, which I did. I also told him that I would challenge such a unconstitutional appointment in the Supreme Court just as I had in 2001 when Ms Jayalalitha was illegally sworn in as Chief Minister by the Tamil Nadu Governor.

In that case, the Supreme Court had after hearing me and many other constitutional luminaries, upheld my contention that mere majority in the House is insufficient for being sworn in to a constitutional office, and that the constitutional appointing authority must ensure that there are no disqualifications as well. Ms. Jayalalitha had therefore to step down because she had been disqualified by her conviction in a trial court in the TANSI corruption case. She was subsequently acquitted by the Madras High Court, and hence became eligible the following year.

I also cited to the President a 1962 Allahabad High Court case which held that this proviso in the Citizenship Act was binding and lawful.

The nation by the stalling of Sonia becoming Prime Minister of India, has thus got an unexpected but temporary reprieve, a reprieve received not only because her citizenship of India by registration is not equal to one by birth even by Indian law, but a reprieve more because of the national security risk that was averted.

To comprehend that risk, we must however first understand who Sonia Gandhi really is and what kind of danger she, her family and her friends in Italy, hold for India’s national security. Very little is known about the Mainos’ murky past, and the little that we are told about Sonia are lies. In other words, Indians do not know who Sonia really is or what she represents.

Even for an Indian born citizen, we find it difficult to know a person’s true background, but for a foreign-born it is extremely hard because of the remoteness of the place and the language barrier for most people, in this case---Italian.

This note is thus an aide d’memoir of certain verifiable facts that taken together constitute the danger that Sonia Gandhi represents for the nation. And that is the real Sonia and what she represents.

THREE LIES
Ms. Sonia Gandhi’s background as publicized by her and her Congress Party is based on three lies in order to hide the ugly reality of her life.

First, her real name is Antonia not Sonia. This was revealed by the Italian Ambassador in New Delhi in a letter dated April 27, 1983 to the Union Home Ministry which letter has not been made public. Antonia is Sonia’s real name as stated in her birth certificate.

Sonia is the name given to her subsequently by her father, Stefano Maino [now deceased]. He had been a prisoner of war in Russia during World War II. Stefano had joined the Nazi army as a volunteer, as many Italian fascists had done. Sonia is a Russian not Italian name. While spending two years in a Russian jail, Sonia’s father had become quite pro-Soviet, especially after the liberating US army in Italy had confiscated all fascists’ properties including his.

Second, Sonia was not born in Orbassano as she claims in her bio data submitted to Parliament on becoming MP, but in Luciana as stated in her birth certificate. She perhaps would like to hide the place of her birth because of her father’s connection with the Nazis and Mussolini’s Fascists, and her family’s continuing connections with the Nazi-Fascists underground that is still surviving in Italy since the end of the War. Luciana is where Nazi-Fascist network is headquartered, and is on the Italian-Swiss border. There can be no other explanation for this otherwise meaningless lie.

Third, Sonia Gandhi has not studied beyond High School. But she has falsely claimed in her sworn affidavit [see Annexure-6] filed as a contesting candidate before the Rae Bareli Returning Officer in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, that she qualified and got a diploma in English from the prestigious University of Cambridge, UK.

Earlier, in 1999 in her biographical data given under her signature to the Lok Sabha Secretariat and which was published in Parliament’s Who’s Who, she had made the same false claim

But later she wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker, after I had pointed it out to him in a written complaint of a Breach of Ethics of the Lok Sabha, that it was a “typing mistake”. This qualifies her for inclusion thus in the the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest typing mistake in history.

The truth is that Ms. Gandhi has never studied in any college anywhere. She did go to a Catholic nun--run seminary school called Maria Ausiliatrice in Giaveno [15 kms from her adopted home town of Orbassabo]. Poverty those days had forced young Italian girls to go to such missionaries and then in their teens go to UK to get jobs as cleaning maids, waitresses and au pair. The Mainos were poor those days. Sonia’s father was a mason and mother a share cropper [now the family is worth at least $ 2 billion].

Sonia thus went to the town of Cambridge UK and first learnt some English in a teaching shop called Lennox School [which has since 1990 been wound up]. That is her “education”--- enough English language to get domestic help jobs.

But since in Indian society, education is socially highly valued, thus to fool the Indian public, Sonia Gandhi wilfully lied about her qualifications in Parliamentary records [which is a Breach of Ethics Rules] and in a sworn affidavit [which is criminal offence under IPC, severe enough to disqualify her from being MP]. This also violated the spirit of the Supreme Court judgment requiring candidates to reveal their educational qualification on an affidavit.

These three lies indicate that Ms. Sonia Gandhi has something to hide, or has a hidden agenda for India to brazenly fool Indians for some ulterior purpose. We therefore need to find out more about her.

III SONIA'S KGB CONNECTIONS

Such has been the patronage from the beginning extended to Sonia Gandhi and her Italian family from the Soviets. When a Prime Minister of India’s son dates a girl in London, the KGB which valued Indo-Soviet relations, would naturally investigate her. They had, and found out that she was the daughter of Stefano, their old reliable Italian contact. Thus, Sonia married to Rajiv, meant deep access for the Soviets, into the household of the Indian Prime Minister. Hence cementing the Rajiv-Sonia relations was in the Soviet national interest and they went to work on it. And they did, through their moles in the Indira Gandhi camp.

After her marriage to Rajiv, the Soviet connection with the Mainos was fortified and nurtured by generous financial help through commissions and kick-backs on every Indo—Soviet trade deal and defence purchases. According to the respected Swiss magazine, Schweitzer Illustrate Rajiv Gandhi had about $2 billion in numbered Swiss bank accounts—which Sonia inherited upon his assassination.

Dr. Yevgenia Albats, Ph.D[Harvard], is a noted Russian scholar and journalist, and was a member of the KGB Commission set up by President Yeltsin in August 1991. She was privy to the Soviet intelligence files that documented these deals and KGB facilitation of the same. In her book—“The State Within a State: The KGB in the Soviet Union”, she even gives the reference numbers of such intelligence files which can now be accessed by any Indian government through a formal request to the Kremlin.

The Russian Government in 1992 was confronted with the Albats’ disclosure by the media. The official spokesperson of the government confirmed the veracity of the disclosure [which was published in Hindu in 1992. The spokesperson defended such financial payments as necessary in “Soviet ideological interest”. Part of the funds were used by the Maino family to fund loyal Congress party candidates in the General Elections .

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, things changed for Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Her patron nation had been disbanded into 16 countries. The rump that became Russia was in a financial mess and disorder. So, Ms. Sonia Gandhi switched and became a supporter of another communist country much to the annoyance of the Russians.

The national security ramification of this ‘annoyance’ is now significant: The President of Russia today is Putin, a former dyed-in-the-wool KGB officer. Upon Dr. Manmohan Singh’s government taking office, Russia called back it’s career diplomat Ambassador in New Delhi and immediately posted in his place, as the new Ambassador, a person who was the KGB station chief in New Delhi during the 1970s.

In view of Dr. Albats revelation, it stands to reason that the new Ambassador would have known first hand about Sonia’s connections with the KGB. He may have in fact been her “controller” and local contact. The new Indian government today which is defacto Sonia’s, cannot afford to annoy him or even disregard Russian demands that come from him. The Sonia coterie will obviously seek to placate him so as not to risk exposure. Is this not a major national security risk for India and a delicate matter for the nation’s sovereignty?

Of course, all Indians would like good normal and healthy relations with Russia. Who can forget their assistance to us in times of need? Today’s Russia is the residual legatee of that Soviet Union which helped India. But just because of that, should we tolerate those in our government set up having clandestine links with a foreign spy agency? In the United States, the government did not tolerate an American spying for Israel even though the two countries are as close as any two countries can be. National security and friendship are as different as chalk and cheese.

In December 2001, I had filed a Writ Petition in the Delhi High Court with the photocopies of the KGB documents, and sought a CBI investigation which the Vajpayee Government was stoutly refusing. Earlier, Minister of State for CBI, Vasundara Raje[now Rajasthan CM], on my letter dated March 3, 2001, had ordered the CBI to investigate. But after Sonia Gandhi and her party stalled the proceedings of Parliament on this issue, the then Prime Minister Vajpayee overruled and cancelled Vasundara’s direction to the CBI.

The Delhi High Court in May 2002 issued a direction to the CBI to ascertain from Russia the truth of my charges. The CBI procrastinated for two years, and finally told the Court that without an FIR registered, the Russians will not entertain any such query. But who stopped the CBI from registering an FIR? The Vajpayee government! And why? Thereby hangs another tale.

IV SONIA'S CONTEMPT FOR LAWS OF INDIA

After Sonia married Rajiv, she and her Italian family aided by friend and Snam Progetti’s New Delhi resident Ottavio Quattrocchi, went about minting money with scant regard for Indian laws and treasures. Within a few years the Mainos rose from utter poverty to become billionaires.

There was no area that was left out for the rip-off. On November 19, 1974, as fresh entrant to Parliament, I had asked the then Prime Minister Ms. Indira Gandhi on the floor of the House if her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi, was acting as an insurance agent of a public sector insurance company[Oriental Fire&Insurance], giving the Prime Minister’s official residence as her business address, and using undue influence to get insured the officers of the PMO, while remaining as an Italian citizen[thus violating FERA]. There was an uproar in Parliament, but Mrs. Indira Gandhi had no alternative but to cut her losses. She made a rare admission in a written reply a few days later that it indeed was so, and that it was by mistake, but that Sonia had resigned from her insurance agency[after my question]. But Sonia was incorrigible. Her contempt for Indian law continued to manifest.

The Supreme Court Justice A.C. Gupta Commission set up by the Janata Party government in 1977 came out with a voluminous report on the Maruti Company then owned by the Gandhi family, and has listed eight violations of FERA, Companies Act, and Foreigners Registration Act by Sonia Gandhi. She was never prosecuted, but can still be prosecuted because under Indian law, economic crimes are not subject to the statute of limitation.

In January 1980, Indira Gandhi returned as Prime Minister. The first thing Sonia did was to enroll herself as a voter. This was a gross violation of the law, enough to cause cancellation of her visa [since she was admittedly an Italian citizen then]. There was some hullabaloo in the press about it, so the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer got her name deleted in 1982. But in January 1983, she again enrolled herself as a voter even while as a foreigner [she first applied for citizenship in April 1983] .

More recently, A.G. Noorani is his book: Citizen’s Rights, Judges, and State Accountability records [page 318] that Ms. Sonia Gandhi had made available to a foreign national the secret papers of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru obviously illegally in her possession, and comments as follows:

“Sonia Gandhi has no right to hold them in her possession at all, let alone decide whom to accord permission for access to them”

Such is her revealed disdain for Indian laws and that is her mindset even today. She suffers from a neo-imperialist mentality.

For more details about the glory and grandeur of the Firangi Memsahib Sonia Gandhi see : (http://www.janataparty.org/sonia.html)

CONCLUSION

The exploited and poor people of Bihar have already given the following clarion call to the country as a whole.

SONIA CONGRESS HATAO! DESH KO BACHAO!!

FIRANGI DAKAIT KO BHAGAO! DESH KO BACHAO!!

Let us chase away the foreign dacoit!

Let us Redeem and Reclaim our country!!

INDIA’S INTRACTABLE CANCER WITHIN AND WITHOUT

AK

India should shun the Generals of Burma

2010-08-05T16:18:00.002+05:30

In November 2009, India opposed a resolution on Burma’s human rights violations in the United Nations General Assembly. So did China, North Korea, Libya, Iran, Zimbabwe and Belarus. If any of these countries is celebrated for the vibrancy of its democracy or the intensity of its commitment to human rights, then it is as closely guarded a secret as any embarrassment that India might have felt for being in such exclusive company. Judging, however, by its record of fawning over the Burmese junta, it must have felt proud and not embarrassed. That this was so, tends to be further indicated by the warm welcome it extended to Gen Than Shwe during his ‘religious-cum-official’ visit to this country from July 25 to 29.

The General is Burma’s President and the head of the country’s State Peace and Development Council, which, in turn, is a reincarnation of the State Law and Order Restoration Council. The SPDC is, as the SLORC was, the principal striking arm of one of the most obnoxious dictatorships the world has seen. The junta that spawned both has been brutally suppressing Burma’s movement for democracy ever since it defenestrated the result of the May 27, 1990 parliamentary election, in which the National League for Democracy, led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, won more than 80 per cent of the seats.

The junta has been accused, and not without basis, of war crimes and crimes against humanity under international law including the use of child soldiers, the destruction of villages, the displacement of ethnic minorities, the use of rape as a weapon of war, extra-judicial killings, forced relocation and forced labour. Its persecution of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under detention for 14 of the last 20 years, requires no elaboration. Three years ago, it ordered a crackdown on peaceful protests which were joined by Buddhist monks who were ruthlessly subjected to torture, imprisonment and murder. In a supremely ironical act, Gen Than Shwe started his tour of India with a visit to Bodh Gaya and the Sarnath Temple!

Nor is there any indication that the junta will change. The election, expected later this year, is scripted to be a sham. A farcical referendum has approved the Constitution of 2008, under which the election is to be held. It puts the military above the law and gives the armed forces’ commander-in-chief the right to appoint members to 25 per cent of the seats in both Houses of the Burmese Parliament. More, the SPDC has enacted five draconian laws which give the junta absolute control over the election process, and bar political prisoners, including Daw Suu Kyi, from contesting. Even campaigning is going to be restricted. On June 21, Burma’s Election Commission prohibited political parties from campaigning in a manner that “harms security, the rule of law and community peace”. While the reference to “rule of law” sounds like an exercise in black humour by a junta that respects neither legality nor humanity, those familiar with its ways, know what precisely the EC’s directive means. Understandably the NLD has refused to contest the election without a change in the electoral laws.

Why is India courting the junta? The standard answer is realpolitik related to countering China’s penetration of Burma, ensuring Burma’s cooperation against the rebels in north-eastern India, promoting economic cooperation with Burma, particularly in the energy sector, and implementing India’s new ‘Look East’ policy which demands good relations with Burma through which land routes to countries East and South-East Asia, run.

Unfortunately, the junta is playing India and China against each other to serve its own ends. Also, New Delhi will be hard put to catch up with Beijing which has established extensive ties with Rangoon. On the economic front, Burma is receiving more than it is giving. Unlike Bangladesh, which has cracked down hard on India’s rebels on its soil, driving some of their leaders into India’s custody, there is little tangible evidence of Burmese action against them. Clearly, India’s Burma policy is unlikely to have the intended results and is more likely to strengthen an obnoxious dictatorship besides selling Burma’s democracy movement down the river.

A burdened generation

2010-07-28T14:29:00.002+05:30

People talk of the need for change as if the times gone by were soiled diapers. But seriously, were the previous ages all that bad? Perhaps the luxuries may have been wanting in some respects; the plasma television sets, the split-units and the condos may have been missing. But people still had fun. In fact, large amounts of it. The rich had their Riviera and the middle classes their ambition. The poor had fellow feeling.

Wherever you looked in the 1950s, be it in India or in Europe, the desire to start life all over again was in evidence. We in India were washing away the stains of Partition’s blood; those in the West were busy putting the trauma of World War II behind them. They were grim times, but there was hope in the air and a great confidence that we were the makers of our future. That’s why the past is not to be cast aside.

Still, every age leaves its mark on people. Despite the advances that we have made in knocking at the frontiers of knowledge, it is not adequately appreciated that the physical conditions, the political system and economic circumstances of the era shape vitally the behaviour and mental make-up of the population. Dictatorship, for instance, leaves people suspicious and nervous; they walk about morosely, constantly looking over their shoulders to see as to who is following them. Thus cramped they leave corrosiveness as their mark on history. The grim art and brooding literature of the Soviet era East Europe are examples. But it is not just dictatorship; social conditions too can corrode the creative process.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels has a large display of paintings by Bosch. He was a great artist, but his art overwhelms with its grotesqueness. Most of his paintings are of starving people and withering bodies. Many others are fantasies. All this was a reflection of the times because in the 15th century, Western Europe was in a state of great turbulence. The Catholic Inquisition was in full sway; hangings, moral depravity and protest against the church were commonplace. Moreover, thousands of people would die regularly due to plague and other epidemics. Since the printed word did not have mass circulation then, paintings became the message. Bosch captured images of the time by painting misery on canvas.

Yet, barely a few hundred kilometres to the south, there were stirrings of a great renaissance. The same 15th century saw the flowering of some of the most joyous and delicate art the world has ever seen. All this was taking place in Italy because of the amazing financial boom it was enjoying under art-loving royal patrons.

Centuries later, our age has been witness to this phenomenon repeatedly. Wars, recessions and periods of financial boom have each left a profound mark. Thus those born before 1946 were called ‘The Silent Generation’ because of the deprivation of recession and the hardships of war that they had to cope with. An entire generation went through life with heads hung down.

Then, came the sunshine years of peace and plenty. No wonder that people born after World War II came to known as ‘The Baby Boomers’. There was optimism in the air and people had money to experiment with lifestyles. Who, for example, can forget the heady days of the late-Sixties, 1968 in particular, when students erupted in a revolt that was daring yet endearing. Love and lament were equally in the air.

Up until today, people continue to be nostalgic about the hippie era. Its excesses may have consumed the gullible but the joys of that age also led to a bountiful flowering of the mind. If Pandit Ravi Shankar, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and The Beatles were beckoning the world to the exotic, groups like ABBA were lilting out an altogether new beat. Fashion and literature were strumming refreshingly bold themes, even as technology was reaching for the Moon. And why just the Moon, the information technology age is largely the product of the Baby Boomers’ imagination.

Despite being so productively fertile otherwise, that generation seems to have faltered on the reproductive front. The wonderful world of plenty that was their creation was brought to its knees by their offspring. It is the children of the Baby Boomers, people born in the late-Sixties and thereafter, who became the financial masters of the world at a very young age.

They are the ones who were making the major decisions in the high street banks of New York that led to the global financial meltdown and the drying up of creative juices. Art and literature no longer sprout stunning new forms. One doesn’t hear of path-breaking writers or great sculptors any longer. Now it is staid sameness. The young no longer demand the impossible, like those who had so famously barricaded the streets of Paris in May 1968.Perhaps that is why the latest generation, born after 1980, is known as GenY. It questions every issue with a ‘Y’ — ‘Y’ should I get a job?’; ‘Y should I shift out and find my own home?’; ‘Y should I clean my room?’ Of course, it will be unfair to tar an entire generation with the same brush. But caught as GenY is between the age of plenty and the current spell of uncertainty, its members could well turn out to be a confused lot. That is a worrying prospect because previous generations, from those of the Silent Age to the Baby Boomers and thereafter, would be dependent upon the decisions and actions of GenY.

This generation’s acts of commission and omission would influence our daily lives far more intimately and comprehensively than ever before. Earlier, people lived in units of families, tribes and communities, often disconnected from the daily destinies of others. But in our age globalisation is the intrusive buzz word — our stocks plunge every time the DOW dips.

GenY, therefore, carries an enormous extra cross — one that might hold them accountable for oil spills like that in the Gulf of Mexico, or for failing to meet the minimum aspirations of the tribals vis-a vis their heritage of natural resources. But isn’t it is all so unfair? Y should GenY be called upon to shoulder the burdens of the past?

The new generation is raw of age and relatively innocent. It was bred on plenty with promises of a lot more in perpetuity. It was told to believe that all would always be well, that the good times would keep rolling in.

Yet the tide has turned, abruptly and painfully. With the Governments across the world tightening belts, the consumer spending is going to be squeezed steadily making good times feel like a mirage. But adversity could be their big chance, provided they seek the impossible. For all you know that quest may bring out the best in them — a Picasso here, a Hemingway there, maybe even a Gandhi like transformational figure.

Rajeev Dogra

Most neglected in neglected North-East

2010-07-28T13:28:00.004+05:30

All petrol pumps in Imphal are firmly shut. They look like forlorn relics in a ghost town. But on the road outside these once-bustling outlets sit rows of women with bottles of various shapes and sizes. They contain petrol or kerosene; diesel is completely out of stock. Petrol is currently selling at Rs 90 a litre, a dramatically reduced price compared to Rs 150 a couple of weeks ago. LPG cylinders, if and when available in the black market away from public areas, sell at Rs 1,500 — down from Rs 2,200 at the peak of scarcity. Food items are no less costly, with rice, the people’s staple, priced at Rs 27 a kg, more than double its normal rate. “When you organised a Bharat Bandh to protest against the hike in fuel prices, we could only laugh. The Rs 53 for a litre of petrol that you pay in Delhi is only of nostalgia value here,” a Manipuri journalist told me.

How do people make both ends meet when prices compare to Zimbabwe, which endured 4,400 per cent inflation some years back? Manipuris, resigned to their fate and pessimistic about matters improving, just grin and bear it — at least on the surface. But beneath the impassive exterior lies a grim, almost sinister, reality. My inquiries revealed that most middle class families follow a simple strategy: They depute members into diverse professions, pool in the resources and lead a reasonable existence. It is not uncommon to find the youngest son of a family enrolled in a terrorist outfit, which indulges in extortion and loot. Another male member becomes a contractor. In cahoots with politicians and officials, he siphons off development funds meant for improving the infrastructure. But some members of the family lead perfectly respectable lives as junior functionaries in Government establishments or teachers in schools and colleges.

I read that last week a crude petrol bomb exploded in a busy commercial area in the heart of Imphal. The next day, shops and establishments in the vicinity received a threat letter from the ‘commander’ of a new militant outfit demanding a hefty sum as protection money. None had heard the commander’s name earlier and doubted if his so-called organisation existed. But some interlocutors said that the signatory to the letter was certain to pick up a couple of lakh rupees because not paying up could invite targeted attacks. With this ‘seed money’, the commander would probably go on to actually recruit a handful of associates and emerge as yet another ‘recognised’ terror outfit. On present count, the number of militant organisations, spanning Naga, Kuki, Meitei and other Manipuri groups, is estimated at between 40 and 52. Incidentally, Manipur’s population is merely 25 lakh, one-fifth of Delhi’s!

Dr Mahendra Singh, CMO of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, narrated his institution’s pathetic tale in my hotel room. Ever since the 67-day blockade of the main highway connecting Manipur to the rest of India by Naga students’ organisations (lifted barely 10 days ago), the hospital has run out of essential drugs. Although some medicines are periodically airlifted, supplies of bulk material are yet to be restored. The onset of the monsoon and consequent water-logging has provided mosquitoes with perfect breeding sites. In the last fortnight, six persons died of Japanese encephalitis, and over a hundred are feared infected. “To prevent encephalitis assuming epidemic proportions it is essential to do methadone fogging, which used to be carried out this time every year. The drug has to be mixed in the ratio of 1:9 with diesel before being sprayed. Since there is no diesel, we can’t undertake this,” he pointed out.

Similarly, RIMS has shut down the State’s only MRI facility because helium, which is needed to run the imaging machine, is almost over. “It has to be topped up every year. But trucks are not running and so the gas, which is brought from Mumbai, has virtually run out. I shut the machine down because operating it with a very low reserve of helium will damage the costly equipment and we will never get a replacement,” he ruefully admitted.

I had never experienced or heared such abysmal negligence and callous indifference towards people’s suffering on the part of the Indian state and the political establishment. New Delhi allowed the Naga students’ blockade to continue for over two months, while the Congress-led State Government was too busy aggrandising and appropriating vast Central funds for private pockets. The media, hyperactive in Jammu & Kashmir offering gratuitous suggestions for appeasement of pro-Pakistan separatists, disdainfully ignored Manipur’s pain. Even now, the situation is viewed with cynicism because everybody seems convinced things can never improve.

Manipur is the forgotten eastern outpost of a country that prides itself on democracy and the rule of law. How many of us even know that there are only two highways linking the State to the rest of India? How many bother to find out that the shorter and reasonably well-maintained NH 39, connecting Imphal to Guwahati, passes through Dimapur in Nagaland and was effortlessly blocked by Naga students protesting the Government’s last-minute denial of permission to Mr T Muivah, chief of NSCN(I-M), to visit his home village in the Naga-dominated Ukhrul district of Manipur? At least I didn’t know that the only other road link to Manipur, NH 53, goes via Silchar in Assam, is 300 km longer than NH 39, was described by a globe-trotting Japanese driving enthusiast as the “worst road in the world”, and takes 60 hours to cover a distance that should be done in six.

With trucks still refusing to run on NH 39, fearing more extortion and also because they have not been compensated for their losses during the blockade, the only alternative is to improve the condition of NH 53. Last Friday I learnt that the Truckers’ Association had despatched 80 lorries laden with stones and some labourers to repair the most seriously damaged portions of NH 53, without waiting any longer for the Government to intervene. Can there be a more telling example of the supreme unconcern of the Indian Establishment towards people’s suffering?
The Indian state can sometimes be more insensitive that tin-pot dictatorships of African countries. By treating the problems in Manipur as a pure law and order issue, fuelled by ethnic rivalries, the authorities have blindfolded themselves to the appalling reality of India’s abandoned State. Ironically, those who cry themselves hoarse over alleged human rights violations by the state against Kashmiri terrorists and Maoist predators have no time for the wanton violation of the Manipuris’ basic human right to live with dignity.
The problem of manipur is not only confined to its boundries but prevalent in almost in whole north east differing in intensity only. However i didn't expect any firm and really good step in this matter as they are involved in much more serious and country saving issues like the fake encounter case of "his highness Sohrabbuddin "and allied glorious criminals who were real patriot of this country, the uncontrollable Inflation and mindit it is beacause of the international causes our government has nothing to do with it etc etc etc the list is more lengthy but these two are important and much relevent this time.
Gandhi ji once said to British that leave us on our god and we still left on the god. Now only God will save us as we are very peaceful , dumb and mind about our own business type Great Indians , Glorifying the history of being ruled rather than rule.

Pseudo Secularist Undemocratic Congress

2010-07-28T13:18:00.003+05:30

During a TV discussion on the case relating to the alleged murder of notorious gangster Sohrabuddin Shaikh and his associates, one of India’s most respected legal luminaries, Mr Harish Salve, made two observations. While not commenting on the merits of the case against Mr Amit Shah, he said it has nevertheless to be admitted that

(a) CBI’s impartiality has been under a cloud for a long time especially in politically sensitive matters, and
(b) the timing of the notice issued to Mr Shah is questionable.

His second observation was made in ccord with my assertion that the CBI had deliberately raked up the issue just on the eve of Parliament’s Monsoon Session despite having enough time over the past few months to probe Mr Shah’s alleged role. The purpose, I had contended, was to put BJP on the back foot and torpedo Opposition unity in the run-up to the Session. This column is not about the much-hyped Sohrabuddin encounter although it is distressing that sections of the media seem to have fallen into the Congress’s trap and are busy shedding copious tears over the death of a wanted criminal while ignoring hundreds of alleged fake encounters that routinely happen in other States — Uttar Pradesh leading the pack.

The Government’s political motives are easily understood. The deployment of the CBI to encircle Mr Amit Shah, thereby targeting Mr Narendra Modi at this juncture has a lot to do with UPA2’s pathetic track record on several fronts. Arguably it was the Supreme Court that directed the CBI to swing into the act after breast-beating professional Modi-baiters raved and ranted against the SIT. Incidentally, SIT’s probe too was being monitored by the apex court. But given the CBI’s proven ability to surrender before Congress regimes in Delhi and tailor findings in accordance with directions from the PMO or 10 Janpath, the Supreme Court may have been well-advised to keep this agency out of a politically sensitive case.

It should not be forgotten how former Law Minister HR Bhardwaj tweaked the CBI’s ears not only to close the Bofors investigation but also sent an officer of the agency to London to ensure Ottavio Quattrocchi’s frozen account was reopened and the dubious Italian could decamp with the money. The CBI’s astounding flip-flops in the Mayawati and Mulayam Singh disproportionate assets cases hardly bear recalling. Each time the Government finds itself short of votes in the Lok Sabha, the CBI is trotted out first to accelerate the pace of investigations and then, once the affected parties are badgered into submission, permission is sought to dilute or close the matter “for want of sufficient evidence”. Regardless of whether Mr Amit Shah is convicted, the country has reason to be concerned about the repeated brazen misuse of the India’s top investigative agency by the Congress.

With attention diverted to the fallout of a notorious gangster’s death, Mr Manmohan Singh has ensured a breather for his beleaguered Government over issues like runaway inflation, Foreign Minister SM Krishna’s shameless genuflection before his Pakistani counterpart, previous Congress regimes’ complicity in letting mass murderer Warren Anderson off the hook and other instances of ineptitude or even wilful misgovernance. Despite the presence of so-called economic wizards in Government, it has abysmally failed to control food prices. Worse, it does not seem too worried about it. In July 2009, Mr Manmohan Singh had assured the nation that prices would start spiraling downwards by December of that year. Without batting an eyelid he repeated that assurance one year later. A usually sober Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee uncharacteristically promised that inflation would be down to five to six per cent by the year-end. This at a time when food inflation is running at over 12 per cent despite the arrival of the bountiful rabi crop in the market. Meanwhile overall inflation figures have again touched the double-digit mark.

The hike in petrol prices at a time when inflation is completely out of the Government’s control makes us wonder what kind of economic expertise and management skills UPA2 possesses. Compared to our neighbours, none of whom has significant oil reserves, retail prices of petroleum products are incredibly high in India. The Congress’s much vaunted aam aadmi plank stands ruptured not only by galloping inflation but also the insensitive imposition of an additional cost of Rs 3 per litre on the aam aadmi’s principal energy source — kerosene. The full impact of the decontrol of petrol prices is yet to be felt by the consumer. But it is a matter of time before monthly rate hikes become the norm. I can clearly foresee how enhanced prices will be announced for a few months and then a slight reduction will happen amid much fanfare.

The Prime Minister warned on board his aircraft while flying back from abroad last month that diesel too will not be spared the Government’s decontrol zeal. This is even more ominous, for increase in the cost of diesel immediately impacts the transport of foodgrain and promptly reflects in higher retail prices. NDA too had begun the process of dismantling the Administered Price Mechanism for petroleum products, but gave up the experiment when international prices started to climb unmanageably. Incidentally, the real beneficiaries of decontrol are not Indian oil PSUs or the Government exchequer but multinational petroleum giants, mostly US-based: Yet another pointer to this Government’s surrender to American lobbies?

That the Government has already lost its vertebrae under sustained American battering is equally evident from what happened in Islamabad when Mr SM Krishna went there earlier this month. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi stomped all over the Indian delegation, publicly mocked Mr Krishna for taking ‘telephonic directions’ from Delhi during their talks and compared India’s Home Secretary to terrorist chieftains Hafiz Saeed and Salahuddin. Far from rebutting the rampaging Qureshi and his uncivil remarks, Mr Krishna returned home and launched a tirade against Home Secretary GK Pillai on lines similar to the Pakistan Foreign Minister! Astonishingly, neither the Prime Minister nor the Congress establishment stood up to defend national honour.

The chain of humiliation heaped upon India, first at Sharm el-Sheikh, then in New Delhi during the Foreign Secretary-level talks and now in Islamabad has left India diplomatically bruised, its prestige maimed. But Washington is insistent that India must continue the dialogue with Pakistan as that serves US interests in Afghanistan. A Prime Minister less infatuated with America would have said ‘Thus far and no farther.’ But that is a stance we cannot expect Mr Manmohan Singh to take. So more insults will come our way; Mr SM Krishna will be asked to grin and bear it.

Space constraints prevent me from delving into the recent exposure of the Rajiv Gandhi Government’s duplicitous role in the aftermath of the Bhopal gas tragedy. But the ghosts of Bhopal have risen from their grave and the incumbent Government cannot wash its hands of the sins. Is it any wonder that the Congress would want Parliament stalled every day so that these issues cannot be discussed thoroughly? Is it any wonder that the Government has sought to divert attention to Sohrabuddin?

The Myth: Aryan Invasion

2010-07-28T11:54:00.002+05:30

One of the main ideas used to interpret and generally devalue the ancient history of India is the theory of the Aryan invasion. According to this account, India was invaded and conquered by nomadic light-skinned Indo-European tribes from Central Asia around 1500-100 BC, who overthrew an earlier and more advanced dark-skinned Dravidian civilization from which they took most of what later became Hindu culture. This so-called pre-Aryan civilization is said to be evidenced by the large urban ruins of what has been called the "Indus valley culture" (as most of its initial sites were on the Indus river). The war between the powers of light and darkness, a prevalent idea in ancient Aryan Vedic scriptures, was thus interpreted to refer to this war between light and dark skinned peoples. The Aryan invasion theory thus turned the "Vedas", the original scriptures of ancient India and the Indo-Aryans, into little more than primitive poems of uncivilized plunderers.

This idea totally foreign to the history of India, whether north or south has become almost an unquestioned truth in the interpretation of ancient history Today, after nearly all the reasons for its supposed validity have been refuted, even major Western scholars are at last beginning to call it in question.

In this article we will summarize the main points that have arisen. This is a complex subject that I have dealt with in depth in my book "Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization", for those interested in further examination of the subject.

The Indus valley culture was pronounced pre-Aryans for several reasons that were largely part of the cultural milieu of nineteenth century European thinking As scholars following Max Mullar had decided that the Aryans came into India around 1500 BC, since the Indus valley culture was earlier than this, they concluded that it had to be preAryan. Yet the rationale behind the late date for the Vedic culture given by Muller was totally speculative. Max Muller, like many of the Christian scholars of his era, believed in Biblical chronology. This placed the beginning of the world at 400 BC and the flood around 2500 BC. Assuming to those two dates, it became difficult to get the Aryans in India before 1500 BC.

Muller therefore assumed that the five layers of the four 'Vedas' & 'Upanishads' were each composed in 200 year periods before the Buddha at 500 BC. However, there are more changes of language in Vedic Sanskrit itself than there are in classical Sanskrit since Panini, also regarded as a figure of around 500 BC, or a period of 2500 years. Hence it is clear that each of these periods could have existed for any number of centuries and that the 200 year figure is totally arbitrary and is likely too short a figure.

It was assumed by these scholars many of whom were also Christian missionaries unsympathetic to the 'Vedas' that the Vedic culture was that of primitive nomads from Central Asia. Hence they could not have founded any urban culture like that of the Indus valley. The only basis for this was a rather questionable interpretation of the 'Rig Veda' that they made, ignoring the sophisticated nature of the culture presented within it.

Meanwhile, it was also pointed out that in the middle of the second millennium BC, a number of Indo-European invasions apparently occured in the Middle East, wherein Indo-European peoples the Hittites, Mit tani and Kassites conquered and ruled Mesopotamia for some centuries. An Aryan invasion of India would have been another version of this same movement of Indo-European peoples. On top of this, excavators of the Indus valley culture, like Wheeler, thought they found evidence of destruction of the culture by an outside invasion confirming this.

The Vedic culture was thus said to be that of primitive nomads who came out of Central Asia with their horse-drawn chariots and iron weapons and overthrew the cities of the more advanced Indus valley culture, with their superior battle tactics. It was pointed out that no horses, chariots or iron was discovered in Indus valley sites.

This was how the Aryan invasion theory formed and has remained since then. Though little has been discovered that confirms this theory, there has been much hesitancy to question it, much less to give it up.

Further excavations discovered horses not only in Indus Valley sites but also in pre-Indus sites. The use of the horse has thus been proven for the whole range of ancient Indian history. Evidence of the wheel, and an Indus seal showing a spoked wheel as used in chariots, has also been found, suggesting the usage of chariots.

Moreover, the whole idea of nomads with chariots has been challenged. Chariots are not the vehicles of nomads. Their usage occured only in ancient urban cultures with much flat land, of which the river plain of north India was the most suitable. Chariots are totally unsuitable for crossing mountains and deserts, as the so-called Aryan invasion required.

That the Vedic culture used iron & must hence date later than the introduction of iron around 1500 BC revolves around the meaning of the Vedic term "ayas", interpreted as iron. 'Ayas' in other Indo- European languages like Latin or German usually means copper, bronze or ore generally, not specially iron. There is no reason to insist that in such earlier Vedic times, 'ayas' meant iron, particularly since other metals are not mentioned in the 'Rig Veda' (except gold that is much more commonly referred to than ayas). Moreover, the 'Atharva Veda' and 'Yajur Veda' speak of different colors of 'ayas'(such as red & black), showing that it was a generic term. Hence it is clear that 'ayas' generally meant metal and not specifically iron.

Moreover, the enemies of the Vedic people in the 'Rig Veda' also use ayas, even for making their cities, as do the Vedic people themselves. Hence there is nothing in Vedic literture to show that either the Vedic culture was an ironbased culture or that there enemies were not.

The 'Rig Veda' describes its Gods as 'destroyers of cities'. This was used also to regard the Vedic as a primitive non-urban culture that destroys cities and urban civilization. However, there are also many verses in the 'Rig Veda' that speak of the Aryans as having having cities of their own and being protected by cities upto a hundred in number. Aryan Gods like Indra, Agni, Saraswati and the Adityas are praised as being like a city. Many ancient kings, including those of Egypt and Mesopotamia, had titles like destroyer or conquerer of cities. This does not turn them into nomads. Destruction of cities also happens in modern wars; this does not make those who do this nomads. Hence the idea of Vedic culture as destroying but not building the cities is based upon ignoring what the Vedas actually say about their own cities.

Further excavation revealed that the Indus Valley culture was not des- troyed by outside invasion, but according to internal causes and, most likely, floods. Most recently a new set of cities has been found in India (like the Dwaraka and Bet Dwaraka sites by S.R. Rao and the National Institute of Oceanography in India) which are intermidiate between those of the Indus culture and later ancient India as visited by the Greeks. This may eliminate the so-called dark age following the presumed Aryan invasion and shows a continuous urban occupation in India back to the beginning of the Indus culture.

The interpretation of the religion of the Indus Valley culture -made incidentlly by scholars such as Wheeler who were not religious scholars much less students of Hinduism was that its religion was different than the Vedic and more likely the later Shaivite religion. However, further excavations both in Indus Valley site in Gujarat, like Lothal, and those in Rajsthan, like Kalibangan show large number of fire altars like those used in the Vedic religion, along with bones of oxen, potsherds, shell jewelry and other items used in the rituals described in the 'Vedic Brahmanas'. Hence the Indus Valley culture evidences many Vedic practices that can not be merely coincidental. That some of its practices appeared non-Vedic to its excavators may also be attributed to their misunderstanding or lack of knowledge of Vedic and Hindu culture generally, wherein Vedism and Shaivism are the same basic tradition.

We must remember that ruins do not necessarily have one interpretation. Nor does the ability to discover ruins necessarily gives the ability to interpret them correctly.

The Vedic people were thought to have been a fair-skinned race like the Europeans owing to the Vedic idea of a war between light and darkness, and the Vedic people being presented as children of light or children of the sun. Yet this idea of a war between light and darkness exists in most ancient cultures, including the Persian and the Egyptian. Why don't we interpret their scriptures as a war between light and dark-skinned people? It is purely a poetic metaphor, not a cultural statement. Moreover, no real traces of such a race are found in India.

Anthropologists have observed that the present population of Gujarat is composed of more or less the same ethnic groups as are noticed at Lothal in 2000 BC. Similarly, the present population of the Punjab is said to be ethnically the same as the population of Harappa and Rupar 4000 years ago. Linguistically the present day population of Gujrat and Punjab belongs to the Indo-Aryan language speaking group. The only inference that can be drawn from the anthropological and linguistic evidences adduced above is that the Harappan population in the Indus Valley and Gujrat in 2000 BC was composed of two or more groups, the more dominent among them having very close ethnic affinities with the present day Indo-Aryan speaking population of India.

In other words there is no racial evidence of any such Indo-Aryan invasion of India but only of a continuity of the same group of people who traditionally considered themselves to be Aryans.

There are many points in fact that prove the Vedic nature of the Indus Valley culture. Further excavation has shown that the great majority of the sites of the Indus Valley culture were east, not west of Indus. In fact, the largest concentration of sites appears in an area of Punjab and Rajsthan near the dry banks of ancient Saraswati and Drishadvati rivers. The Vedic culture was said to have been founded by the sage Manu between the banks of Saraswati and Drishadvati rivers. The Saraswati is lauded as the main river (naditama) in the 'Rig Veda' & is the most frequently mentioned in the text. It is said to be a great flood and to be wide, even endless in size. Saraswati is said to be "pure in course from the mountains to the sea". Hence the Vedic people were well acquainted with this river and regarded it as their immemorial hoemland.

The Saraswati, as modern land studies now reveal, was indeed one of the largest, if not the largest river in India. In early ancient and pre-historic times, it once drained the Sutlej, Yamuna and the Ganges, whose courses were much different than they are today. However, the Saraswati river went dry at the end of the Indus Valley culture and before the so-called Aryan invasion or before 1500 BC. In fact this may have caused the ending of the Indus culture. How could the Vedic Aryans know of this river and establish their culture on its banks if it dried up before they arrived? Indeed the Saraswati as described in the 'Rig Veda' appears to more accurately show it as it was prior to the Indus Valley culture as in the Indus era it was already in decline.

Vedic and late Vedic texts also contain interesting astronomical lore. The Vedic calender was based upon astronomical sightings of the equinoxes and solstices. Such texts as 'Vedanga Jyotish' speak of a time when the vernal equinox was in the middle of the Nakshtra Aslesha (or about 23 degrees 20 minutes Cancer). This gives a date of 1300 BC. The 'Yajur Veda' and 'Atharva Veda' speak of the vernal equinox in the Krittikas (Pleiades; early Taurus) and the summer solstice (ayana) in Magha (early Leo). This gives a date about 2400 BC. Yet earlier eras are mentioned but these two have numerous references to substantiate them. They prove that the Vedic culture existed at these periods and already had a sophisticated system of astronomy. Such references were merely ignored or pronounced unintelligible by Western scholars because they yielded too early a date for the 'Vedas' than what they presumed, not because such references did not exist.

Vedic texts like 'Shatapatha Brahmana' and 'Aitereya Brahmana' that mention these astronomical references list a group of 11 Vedic Kings, including a number of figures of the 'Rig Veda', said to have conquered the region of India from 'sea to sea'. Lands of the Aryans are mentioned in them from Gandhara (Afganistan) in the west to Videha (Nepal) in the east, and south to Vidarbha (Maharashtra). Hence the Vedic people were in these regions by the Krittika equinox or before 2400 BC. These passages were also ignored by Western scholars and it was said by them that the 'Vedas' had no evidence of large empires in India in Vedic times. Hence a pattern of ignoring literary evidence or misinterpreting them to suit the Aryan invasion idea became prevalent, even to the point of changing the meaning of Vedic words to suit this theory.

According to this theory, the Vedic people were nomads in the Punjab, comming down from Central Asia. However, the 'Rig Veda' itself has nearly 100 references to ocean (samudra), as well as dozens of references to ships, and to rivers flowing in to the sea. Vedic ancestors like Manu, Turvasha, Yadu and Bhujyu are flood figures, saved from across the sea. The Vedic God of the sea, Varuna, is the father of many Vedic seers and seer families like Vasishta, Agastya and the Bhrigu seers. To preserve the Aryan invasion idea it was assumed that the Vedic (and later sanskrit) term for ocean, samudra, originally did not mean the ocean but any large body of water, especially the Indus river in Punjab. Here the clear meaning of a term in 'Rig Veda' and later times verified by rivers like Saraswati mentioned by name as flowing into the sea was altered to make the Aryan invasion theory fit. Yet if we look at the index to translation of the 'Rig Veda' by Griffith for example, who held to this idea that samudra didn't really mean the ocean, we find over 70 references to ocean or sea. If samudra does noe mean ocean why was it traslated as such? It is therefore without basis to locate Vedic kings in Central Asia far from any ocean or from the massive Saraswati river, which form the background of their land and the symbolism of their hymns.

One of the latest archeological ideas is that the Vedic culture is evidenced by Painted Grey Ware pottery in north India, which apears to date around 1000 BC and comes from the same region between the Ganges and Yamuna as later Vedic culture is related to. It is thought to be an inferior grade of pottery and to be associated with the use of iron that the 'Vedas' are thought to mention. However it is associated with a pig and rice culture, not the cow and barley culture of the 'Vedas'. Moreover it is now found to be an organic development of indegenous pottery, not an introduction of invaders.

Painted Grey Ware culture represents an indigenous cultural development and does not reflect any cultural intrusion from the West i.e. an Indo-Aryan invasion. Therefore, there is no archeological evidence corroborating the fact of an Indo-Aryan invasion.

In addition, the Aryans in the Middle East, most notably the Hittites, have now been found to have been in that region atleast as early as 2200 BC, wherein they are already mentioned. Hence the idea of an Aryan invasion into the Middle East has been pushed back some centuries, though the evidence so far is that the people of the mountain regions of the Middle East were Indo-Europeans as far as recorded history can prove.

The Aryan Kassites of the ancient Middle East worshipped Vedic Gods like Surya and the Maruts, as well as one named Himalaya. The Aryan Hittites and Mittani signed a treaty with the name of the Vedic Gods Indra, Mitra, Varuna and Nasatyas around 1400 BC. The Hittites have a treatise on chariot racing written in almost pure Sanskrit. The IndoEuropeans of the ancient Middle East thus spoke Indo-Aryan, not Indo-Iranian languages and thereby show a Vedic culture in that region of the world as well.

The Indus Valley culture had a form of writing, as evidenced by numerous seals found in the ruins. It was also assumed to be non-Vedic and probably Dravidian, though this was never proved. Now it has been shown that the majority of the late Indus signs are identical with those of later Hindu Brahmi and that there is an organic development between the two scripts. Prevalent models now suggest an Indo-European base for that language.

It was also assumed that the Indus Valley culture derived its civilization from the Middle East, probably Sumeria, as antecedents for it were not found in India. Recent French excavations at Mehrgarh have shown that all the antecedents of the Indus Valley culture can be found within the subcontinent and going back before 6000 BC.

In short, some Western scholars are beginning to reject the Aryan invasion or any outside origin for Hindu civilization.

Current archeological data do not support the existence of an Indo Aryan or European invasion into South Asia at any time in the preor protohistoric periods. Instead, it is possible to document archeologically a series of cultural changes reflecting indigenous cultural development from prehistoric to historic periods. The early Vedic literature describes not a human invasion into the area, but a fundamental restructuring of indigenous society. The Indo-Aryan invasion as an academic concept in 18th and 19th century Europe reflected the cultural milieu of the period. Linguistic data were used to validate the concept that in turn was used to interpret archeological and anthropological data.

In other words, Vedic literature was interpreted on the assumption that there was an Aryan invasion. Then archeological evidence was interpreted by the same assumption. And both interpretations were then used to justify each other. It is nothing but a tautology, an exercise in circular thinking that only proves that if assuming something is true, it is found to be true!

Another modern Western scholar, Colin Renfrew, places the IndoEuropeans in Greece as early as 6000 BC. He also suggests such a possible early date for their entry into India.

As far as I can see there is nothing in the Hymns of the 'Rig Veda' which demonstrates that the Vedic-speaking population was intrusive to the area: this comes rather from a historical assumption of the 'comming of the Indo-Europeans.

When Wheeler speaks of 'the Aryan invasion of the land of the 7 rivers, the Punjab', he has no warrenty at all, so far as I can see. If one checks the dozen references in the 'Rig Veda' to the 7 rivers, there is nothing in them that to me implies invasion: the land of the 7 rivers is the land of the 'Rig Veda', the scene of action. Nor is it implied that the inhabitants of the walled cities (including the Dasyus) were any more aboriginal than the Aryans themselves.

Despite Wheeler's comments, it is difficult to see what is particularly non-Aryan about the Indus Valley civilization. Hence Renfrew suggests that the Indus Valley civilization was in fact Indo-Aryan even prior to the Indus Valley era:

This hypothesis that early Indo-European languages were spoken in North India with Pakistan and on the Iranian plateau at the 6th millennium BC has the merit of harmonizing symmetrically with the theory for the origin of the IndoEuropean languages in Europe. It also emphasizes the continuity in the Indus Valley and adjacent areas from the early neolithic through to the floruit of the Indus Valley civilization.

This is not to say that such scholars appreciate or understand the 'Vedas' their work leaves much to be desired in this respect but that it is clear that the whole edifice built around the Aryan invasion is beginning to tumble on all sides. In addition, it does not mean that the 'Rig Veda' dates from the Indus Valley era. The Indus Valley culture resembles that of the 'Yajur Veda' and the reflect the pre-Indus period in India, when the Saraswati river was more prominent.

The acceptance of such views would create a revolution in our view of history as shattering as that in science caused by Einstein's theory of relativity. It would make ancient India perhaps the oldest, largest and most central of ancient cultures. It would mean that the Vedic literary record already the largest and oldest of the ancient world even at a 1500 BC date would be the record of teachings some centuries or thousands of years before that. It would mean that the 'Vedas' are our most authentic record of the ancient world. It would also tend to validate the Vedic view that the Indo-Europeans and other Aryan peoples were migrants from India, not that the Indo-Aryans were invaders into India. Moreover, it would affirm the Hindu tradition that the Dravidians were early offshoots of the Vedic people through the seer Agastya, and not unaryan peoples.

In closing, it is important to examine the social and political implications of the Aryan invasion idea:

First, it served to divide India into a northern Aryan and southern Dravidian culture which were made hostile to each other. This kept the Hindus divided and is still a source of social tension.
Second, it gave the British an excuse in their conquest of India. They could claim to be doing only what the Aryan ancestors of the Hindus had previously done millennia ago.
Third, it served to make Vedic culture later than and possibly derived from Middle Eastern cultures. With the proximity and relationship of the latter with the Bible and Christianity, this kept the Hindu religion as a sidelight to the development of religion and civilization to the West.
Fourth, it allowed the sciences of India to be given a Greek basis, as any Vedic basis was largely disqualified by the primitive nature of the Vedic culture.
This discredited not only the 'Vedas' but the genealogies of the 'Puranas' and their long list of the kings before the Buddha or Krishna were left without any historical basis. The 'Mahabharata', instead of a civil war in which all the main kings of India participated as it is described, became a local skirmish among petty princes that was later exaggerated by poets. In short, it discredited the most of the Hindu tradition and almost all its ancient literature. It turned its scriptures and sages into fantacies and exaggerations.

This served a social, political and economical purpose of domination, proving the superiority of Western culture and religion. It made the Hindus feel that their culture was not the great thing that their sages and ancestors had said it was. It made Hindus feel ashamed of their culture that its basis was neither historical nor scientific. It made them feel that the main line of civilization was developed first in the Middle East and then in Europe and that the culture of India was peripheral and secondary to the real development of world culture.

Such a view is not good scholarship or archeology but merely cultural imperialism. The Western Vedic scholars did in the intellectual spehere what the British army did in the political realm discredit, divide and conquer the Hindus. In short, the compelling reasons for the Aryan invasion theory were neither literary nor archeological but political and religious that is to say, not scholarship but prejudice. Such prejudice may not have been intentional but deep-seated political and religious views easily cloud and blur our thinking.

It is unfortunate that this this approach has not been questioned more, particularly by Hindus. Even though Indian Vedic scholars like Dayananda saraswati, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Arobindo rejected it, most Hindus today passively accept it. They allow Western, generally Christian, scholars to interpret their history for them and quite naturally Hinduism is kept in a reduced role. Many Hindus still accept, read or even honor the translations of the 'Vedas' done by such Christian missionary scholars as Max Muller, Griffith, MonierWilliams and H. H. Wilson. Would modern Christians accept an interpretation of the Bible or Biblical history done by Hindus aimed at converting them to Hinduism? Universities in India also use the Western history books and Western Vedic translations that propound such views that denigrate their own culture and country.

The modern Western academic world is sensitive to critisms of cultural and social biases. For scholars to take a stand against this biased interpretation of the 'Vedas' would indeed cause a reexamination of many of these historical ideas that can not stand objective scrutiny. But if Hindu scholars are silent or passively accept the misinterpretation of their own culture, it will undoubtly continue, but they will have no one to blame but themselves. It is not an issue to be taken lightly, because how a culture is defined historically creates the perspective from which it is viewed in the modern social and intellectual context. Tolerance is not in allowing a false view of one's own culture and religion to be propagated without question. That is merely self-betrayal.

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References

"Atherva Veda" IX.5.4.
"Rig Veda" II.20.8 & IV.27.1.
"Rig Veda" VII.3.7; VII.15.14; VI.48.8; I.166.8; I.189.2; VII.95.1.
S.R. Rao, "Lothal and the Indus Valley Civilization", Asia Publishing House, Bombay, India, 1973, p. 37, 140 & 141.
Ibid, p. 158.
"Manu Samhita" II.17-18.
Note "Rig Veda" II.41.16; VI.61.8-13; I.3.12.
"Rig Veda" VII.95.2.
Studies from the post-graduate Research Institute of Deccan College, Pune, and the Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhapur. Confirmed by use of MSS (multi-spectral scanner) and Landsat Satellite photography. Note MLBD Newsletter (Delhi, India: Motilal Banarasidass), Nov. 1989. Also Sriram Sathe, "Bharatiya Historiography", Itihasa Sankalana Samiti, Hyderabad, India, 1989, pp. 11-13.
"Vedanga Jyotisha of Lagadha", Indian National Science Academy, Delhi, India, 1985, pp 12-13.
"Aitareya Brahmana", VIII.21-23; "Shatapat Brahmana", XIII.5.4.
R. Griffith, "The Hymns of the Rig Veda", Motilal Banarasidas, Delhi, 1976.
J. Shaffer, "The Indo-Aryan invasions: Cultural Myth and Archeological Reality", from J. Lukas(Ed), 'The people of South Asia', New York, 1984, p. 85.
T. Burrow, "The Proto-Indoaryans", Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, No. 2, 1973, pp. 123-140.
G. R. Hunter, "The Script of Harappa and Mohenjodaro and its connection with other scripts", Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London, 1934. J.E. Mitchiner, "Studies in the Indus Valley Inscriptions", Oxford & IBH, Delhi, India, 1978. Also the work of Subhash Kak as in "A Frequency Analysis of the Indus Script", Cryptologia, July 1988, Vol XII, No 3; "Indus Writing", The Mankind Quarterly, Vol 30, No 1 & 2, Fall/Winter 1989; and "On the Decipherment of the Indus Script A Preliminary Study of its connection with Brahmi", Indian Journal of History of Science, 22(1):51-62 (1987). Kak may be close to deciphering the Indus Valley script into a Sanskrit like or Vedic language.
J.F. Jarrige and R.H. Meadow, "The Antecedents of Civilization in the Indus Valley", Scientific American, August 1980.
C. Renfrew, "Archeology and Language", Cambridge University Press, New York, 1987.

Arya: Its Significance

2010-07-28T11:41:00.002+05:30

To those not familiar with Vedic culture, the word 'arya' is no more than a hieroglyph which attracts or repels according to their temperament. To some, the word has been converted to purely racial terms, an unknown ethnological quantity on which different speculations fix different values. To others, the word represents a difference of culture because the Vedic rishis had accepted a particular type of self-culture, of inward and outward practice, of ideality, of aspiration. Their gods were the supraphysical powers who assisted the mortal in his struggle towards the nature of the godhead. All the highest aspirations of the early human race, its noblest religious temper, its most idealistic velleities of thought are summed up in this single vocable.

In later times, the word Arya expressed a particular ethical and social ideal, an ideal of well-governed life, candour, courtesy, nobility, straight dealing, courage, gentleness, purity, humanity, compassion, protection of the weak, liberality, observance of social duty, eagerness of knowledge, respect for the wise and learned, the social accomplishments. It was the combined ideal of the Brahmana and the Kshatriya. Everything that departed from this ideal, everything that tended towards the ignoble, mean, obscure, rude, cruel or false, was termed un-Aryan or anarya (colloq anari). There is no word in human speech that has a nobler history.

In the early days of comparative Philology, when the scholars sought in the history of words for the prehistoric history of peoples, it was supposed that the word Arya came from the root 'ar', to plough, and that the Vedic Aryans were so called when they separated from their kin in the north-west who despised the pursuits of agriculture and remained shephards and hunters. This ingenious speculation has little or nothing to support it. But in a sense we may accept the derivation. Whoever cultivates the field that the Supreme Spirit has made for him, his earth of plenty within and without, does not leave it barren or allow it to run to seed, but labours to exact from it its full yield, is by that effort an Aryan.

If Arya were a purely racial term, a more probable derivation would be 'ar', meaning strength or valour, from ar to fight, whence we have the name of the Greek war-god Ares, areios, brave or warlike, perhaps even arete, virtue, signifying, like the Latin virtus, first, physical strength and courage and then moral force and elevation. This sense of the word also we may accept. "We fight to win sublime Wisdom, therefore men call us warriors." For Wisdom implies the choice as well as the knowledge of that which is best, noblest, most luminous, most divine. Certainly, it means also the knowledge of all things and charity and reverence for all things, even the most apparently mean, ugly or dark, for the sake of the universal Deity who chooses to dwell equally in all. But, also, the law of right action is a choice, the preference of that which expresses the godhead to that which conceals it. And the choice entails a battle, a struggle. It is not easily made, it is not easily enforced.

Whoever makes that choice, whoever seeks to climb from level to level up the hill of the divine, fearing nothing, deterred by no retardation or defeat, shrinking from no vastness because it is too vast for his intelligence, no height because it is too high for his spirit, no geatness because it is too great for his force and courage, he is the Aryan, the divine fighter and victor, the noble man, aristos, best, the srestha of the Gita.

Intrinsically, in its most fundamental sense, Arya means an effort or an uprising and overcoming. The Aryan is he who strives and overcomes all outside him and within him that stands opposed to the human advance. Self-conquest is the first law of his nature. He overcomes earth and the body and does not consent like ordinary men to their dullness, inertia, dead routine and tamasic limitations. He overcomes life and its energies and refuses to be dominated by their hungers and cravings or enslaved by their rajasic passions. He overcomes the mind and its habits, he does not live in a shell of ignorance, inherited prejudices, customary ideas, pleasant opinions, but knows how to seek and choose, to be large and flexible in intelligence even as he is firm and strong in his will. For in everything he seeks truth, in everything right, in everything height and freedom.

Self-perfection is the aim of his self-conquest. Therefore, what he conquers he does not destroy, but ennobles and fulfils. He knows that the body, life and mind are given him in order to attain to something higher than they; therefore they must be transcended and overcome, their limitations denied, the absorption of their gratifications rejected. But he knows also that the Highest is something which is no nullity in the world, but increasingly expresses itself here, - a divine Will, Consciousness, Love, Beatitude which pours itself out, when found, through the terms of the lower life on the finder and on all in his environment that is caoable of receiving it. Of that he is the servant, lover and seeker. When it is attained, he pours it forth in work, love, joy and knowledge upon mankind. For always the Aryan is a worker and warrior. He spares himself no labour of mind or body whether to seek the Highest or to serve it. He avoids no difficulty, he accepts no cessation from fatigue. Always he fights for the coming of that kingdom within himself and in the world.

The Aryan perfected is the Arhat. There is a transcendent Consciousness which surpasses the universe and of which all these worlds are only a side-issue and a by-play. To that consciousness he aspires and attains. There is a Consciousness which, being transcendent, is yet the universe and all that the universe contains. Into that consciousness he enlarges his limited ego; he becomes one with all beings and all inanimate objects in a single self-awareness, love, delight, all-embracing energy. There is a consciousness which, being both transcendental and universal, yet accepts the apparent limitations of individuality for work, for various standpoints of knowledge, for the play of the Lord with His creations; for the ego is there that it may finally convert itself into a free centre of the divine work and the divine play. That consciousness too he has sufficient love, joy and knowledge to accept; he is puissant enough to effect that conversion. To embrace individuality after transcending it is the last and divine sacrifice. The perfect Arhat is he who is able to live simultaneously in all these three apparent states of existence, elevate the lower into the higher, receive the higher into the lower, so that he may represent perfectly in the symbols of the world that with he is identified in all parts of his being, - the triple and triune Brahman

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References

The Supramental Manifestation and Other Writings By Sri Aurobindo

Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization,Dr.David Frawley,

How to surmount our ego

2010-05-04T17:49:00.000+05:30

I do always harbor a delusion that I’m a nice man. I feel everyone should have a good opinion if not an fulsome admiration for me. I’m not Mr Perfect but I’m not a bad entity either. If you aren’t necessarily bad, you are a good man. I love the people I come in contact, why can’t they be like me ? Why can’t they reciprocate in the similar vein. Why can’t I get along with every one ? Many people hate me, contradict me and ignore me. One penny question - Am I alone with this complex ? Did I ever ask myself : why the people don’t care for me ?

A wise man has said, “When people say they do not care what others think of them, for the most part they deceive themselves. Generally they mean only that they will do as they choose, in the confidence that no one will know their vagaries; and at the utmost only that they are willing to act contrary to the opinion of the majorities because they are supported by the approval of their neighbors. It’s not difficult to be unconventional in the eyes of the world when your unconventionality is but the convention of your set.” It would give me little relief if I accept this theory.

However, everyone is EGOISTS in this world. The levels may be at variance. Everyone wants to be superior to next person he or she meets. We may hide these feelings in the most sophisticated manner, style and language but we all are hypocrites. We all are the victim of a strange complex which you may term as superiority or inferiority complex. These complexes are invisibly intertwined. Superiority Complex is the acute form of Inferiority Complex.
We all need friends and we have two type of friends. A friend who tells point blank that I’m a loser. I may not like this friend. No one ever likes him anyway. And we have the other kind of friend who will always tell me that I’m a great guy. He lies but still he is the best friend ? It is socially acceptable to offer mild false praise. Its symbolic of mediocrity. We all want to be honest but we end up doing the opposite. Honesty is the best policy but the deliverance of this policy is also an art. Advice delivered in a caustic manner doesn‘t go far. We can't see our shortcomings ourselves. That’s why it is necessary to surround ourselves with people who will tell us the truth about us - even when we don't want to hear it. Still we let down the same best friends and they let down us at times.
Let us realize that human nature is prone to egoism. We do always want to receive. We feel ‘giving up‘ could be a virtue and ‘giving in’ is defeat. The law of nature is quite contrary to that. It is based upon altruism. The essential force which binds us is love. The whole balance of existence is based on giving in. The whole flora and fauna give in for us. The ecosystem of the universe revolves around giving in. As Paulo Coelho of “The Achemist’ has said - The whole universe conspires for us when we move forward. The separate objects which surround us work together just like organs within our body. Everything in nature functions that way except for the inner life of an individual that’s me.

I love to receive as much as possible to satisfy myself and I care two hoots about giving the least amount of effort to anyone. I always end up being at the expense of others. Our most outwardly kind and generous acts are done only with the intention of self-gratification. Is it our fault ? Aren’t we were built this way ? Hate, avarice and greed are integral part of our nature. How to mold these negative instincts into a positive energy ? Can’t we just turn around our egoistic nature in a way that allows us to rise above it. Religion and not the science has the solution for this dilemma. “Love our Neighbor as our self – Love others exactly as you love yourself! – Putting their interests before anything else – just like you do with your own self interest now.”

Create a strong Aura for yourself

2010-04-30T14:53:00.000+05:30

ओरा व्यक्ति के आभामंडल को कहते हैं। हर व्यक्ति का अपना एक प्रभाव होता है और उसमें इस ओरा का खास महत्व होता है। स्वयं को प्रभावशाली बनाने के लिए ओरा का प्रभावी होना आवश्यक है। पेश है कुछ टिप्स अपने ओरा को चमकदार बनाने के लिए।

1. अपने प्रवेश द्वार पर 2 इंच ऊँची दहलीज लगवाएँ। यह दहलीज लकड़ी की ही हो।

2. प्रवेश स्थल को साफ-सुथरा एवं ठीक रखें।

3. प्रवेश द्वार के सामने बाथरूम का दरवाजा न दिखे, अगर ऐसा हो तो प्रयास करें कि उसका दरवाजा दूसरी तरफ खुले अथवा उसके दरवाजे पर बाँस की चिक का पर्दा लगाएँ।

4. घर के अंदर दरवाजे के सामने कचरे का ‍डिब्बा न रखें।

5. घर के किसी भी कोने में अथवा मध्य में जूते-चप्पल (मृत चर्म) न रखें।

6. जूतों के रखने का स्थान घर के प्रमुख व्यक्ति के कद का एक चौथाई हो, उदाहरण के तौर पर 6 फुट के व्यक्ति (घर का प्रमुख) के घर में जूते-चप्पल रखने का स्थल डेढ़ फुट से ऊँचा न हो।

7. द्वार के बाहर दरवाजे के दोनों तरफ प्रमुख व्यक्ति की आँखों की सतह की ऊँचाई पर काले स्वस्तिक बनाएँ, जिससे नेगेटीव आकाशीय एनर्जी घर में प्रवेश न कर सके।

8. द्वार के सामने खाली दीवार हो तो काँच के कटोरे को ताजे फूलों से भरकर रखें।

9. बैठक के कमरे में द्वार के सामने की दीवार पर दो सूरजमुखी के या ट्यूलिप के फूलों का चित्र लगाएँ।

10. घर के बाहर के बगीचे में दक्षिण-पश्चिम के कोने को सदैव रोशन रखें।

चीन है तो चैन कहां रे?

2010-04-19T18:22:00.000+05:30

यह अखाड़ा कुछ फर्क किस्म का है। यहां कमजोर भी जीतते हैं, वह भी सीना ठोंक कर। यह लड़ाई बाजार की है जिसमें कमजोर होना एक बड़ा रणनीतिक दांव है। देखते नहीं कि महाकाय, बाजारबली चीन ने अपनी मुद्रा युआन (आरएमबी) की कमजोरी के सहारे चचा सैम के मुल्क सहित दुनिया के बाजार पर इस तरह कब्जा कर लिया कि अब अमेरिका और चीन के बीच ट्रेड वार की नौबत आ गई है। अमेरिका चीन को आधिकारिक रूप से धोखेबाज यानी (करेंसी मैन्युपुलेटर) घोषित करते-करते रुक गया है। चीनी युआन का तूफान इतना विनाशक है कि उसने अमेरिकी बाजार से रोजगार खींचकर अमेरिका के खातों में भारी व्यापार घाटा भर दिया है। पाल क्रुगमैन जैसे अर्थशास्त्री कह रहे हैं कि दुनिया के बाजार में छाया मेड इन चाइना चीन की मौद्रिक धोखेबाजी का उत्पाद है। सस्ते युआन के सहारे चीन दुनिया के अन्य व्यापारियों को बाजार से दूर खदेड़ रहा है। अमेरिकी संसद में चीन के इस मौद्रिक खेल के खिलाफ कानून लाने की तैयारी चल रही है। अमेरिका के वित्त मंत्री गेटनर, हू जिंताओ को समझाने की कोशिश में हैं। क्योंकि करेंसी मैन्युपुलेटर के खिताब से नवाजे जाने के बाद चीन के लिए मुश्किलें बढ़ जाएंगी। वैसे बाजार को महक लग रही है कि शायद चीन अपनी इस मारक कमजोरी को कुछ हद तक दूर करने पर मान भी सकता है। बाजारबली की मारक दुर्बलता चीन को यह बात दशकों पहले समझ में आ गई थी कि कूटनीति और समरनीति की दुनिया भले ही ताकत की हो, लेकिन बाजार की दुनिया में कमजोर रहकर ही दबदबा कायम होता है। यानी अगर निर्यात करना है और दुनिया के बाजारों को अपने माल से पाट कर अमीर बनना है तो अपनी मुद्रा का अवमूल्यन ही अमूल्य मंत्र है। 1978 में अपने आर्थिक सुधारों की शुरुआत से ही चीन ने निर्यात का मैदान मारने के लिए मुद्रा अवमूल्यन के प्रयोग शुरू कर दिए थे। आठवें दशक में चीन का निर्यात बुरी तरह कमजोर था। सस्ती मुद्रा का विटामिन मिलने के बाद यह चढ़ने और बढ़ने लगा। इसे देख कर अंतत: 1994 में एक व्यापक बदलाव के तहत चीन ने डॉलर व युआन की विनिमय दर को स्थिर कर दिया, जो कि इस समय 6.82 युआन प्रति डॉलर पर है। चीन का युआन, डॉलर और यूरो की तरह मुक्त बाजार की मुद्रा नहीं है। इसकी कीमत चीन के व्यापार की स्थिति या मांग-आपूर्ति पर ऊपर नीचे नहीं होती, बल्कि चीन सरकार इसका मूल्य तय करती है, जिसके पीछे एक जटिल पैमाना है। चीन की सरकार बाजार में डॉलरों की आपूर्ति को बढ़ने नहीं देती। चीनी निर्यातक जो डॉलर चीन में लाते हैं उन्हें चीन का केंद्रीय बैंक खरीद लेता है, जिससे युआन डॉलर के मुकाबले कम कीमत पर बना रहता है। अमेरिका का आरोप है कि चीन अपने यहां उपभोग को रोकता और बचत को बढ़ावा देता है, जिससे चीन के बाजारों में अमेरिकी माल की मांग नहीं होती, लेकिन अमेरिकी बाजार में सब कुछ मेड इन चाइना नजर आता है। अमेरिका का यह निष्कर्ष उसके व्यापार के आंकड़ों में दिखता है। पिछले साल चीन के साथ अमेरिका का व्यापार घाटा 227 अरब डॉलर था, जो अभूतपूर्व है। चीन ने अमेरिका को 296 अरब डॉलर का निर्यात किया, जबकि अमेरिका से चीन को केवल 70 अरब डॉलर का निर्यात हो सका। चीन का विदेशी मुद्रा भंडार भी इसका सबूत है जो पिछले एक दशक में पूरी दुनिया में जबर्दस्त निर्यात के सहारे 2,500 अरब डॉलर बढ़ चुका है और चीन के सकल घरेलू उत्पादन का 50 फीसदी है। ऐसे में छोटे निर्यात प्रतिस्पर्धी युआन की आंधी में कहां टिकेंगे? ....चीन ने दुर्बल मुद्रा से दुनिया के बाजारों को रौंद डाला है। महाबली की बेजोड़ विवशता महाबली इस समय ड्रैगन के जादू में बुरी तरह उलझ गया है। चीन इस महाबली को कर्ज से भी मार रहा और व्यापार से भी। अमेरिका के अर्थशास्त्री क्रुगमैन का हिसाब कहता है कि चीन के मौद्रिक खेल के कारण हाल के कुछ वषरे में अमेरिका करीब 14 लाख नौकरियां गंवा चुका है। उनके मुताबिक चीन अगर युआन को लेकर ईमानदारी दिखाता तो दुनिया की विकास दर पिछले पांच छह सालों में औसतन डेढ़ फीसदी ज्यादा होती। चीन ने सस्तंी मुद्रा से अन्य देशों की विकास दर निगल ली। अमेरिकी सीनेटर शुमर व कुछ अन्य सांसद चीन को मौद्रिक धोखेबाज घोषित करने और व्यापार प्रतिबंधों का विधेयक ला रहे हैं। अमेरिका के वित्त विभाग को बीते सप्ताह अपनी रिपोर्ट जारी करनी थी जिसमें चीन को मौद्रिक धोखेबाज का दर्जा मिलने वाला था, लेकिन अंतिम मौके पर रिपोर्ट टल गई। .. टल इसलिए गई क्योंकि महाबली बुरी तरह विवश है। चीनी युआन की कमजोर ताकत बढ़ाने में अमेरिका की बड़ी भूमिका है। चीन जो डॉलर एकत्र कर रहा है, उनका निवेश वह अमेरिका के बांडों व ट्रेजरी बिलों में करता है। यह निवेश इस समय 789 अरब डॉलर है, जो कि अमेरिकी सरकार के बांडों का 33 फीसदी है। दरअसल अमेरिका के लोगों ने बचत की आदत छोड़ दी है। सरकार कर्ज पर चलती है जो कि बांडों में चीन के निवेश के जरिए आता है। अगर चीन निवेश न करे तो अमेरिका में ब्याज दरें आसमान छूने लगेंगी। अमेरिकी अर्थव्यवस्था में मौद्रिक प्रवाह का पहिया इस समय चीन से घूमता है। अमेरिका के वित्तीय ढांचे में चीन के इस निवेश के अपने खतरे हैं, सो अलग लेकिन अगर मौद्रिक धोखेबाजी की डिग्री मिलने के बाद चीन ने निवेश रोक दिया तो चचा सैम के लिए मुश्किल खड़ी हो जाएगी। लेकिन अगर अमेरिका युआन की कमजोरी को चलने देता है तो अमेरिका के उद्योग ध्वस्त हो जाएंगे। ... अमेरिका के लिए कुएं और खाई के बीच एक को चुनना है। दुनिया में दोहरा असमंजस पांच छह साल पहले मुद्राओं की कीमतों को मोटे पर अंदाजने के लिए एक बिग मैक थ्योरी चलती थी, जिसमें दुनिया के प्रमुख शहरों में बर्गर की तुलनात्मक कीमत को डॉलर में नापा जाता था। तब भी युआन सबसे अवमूल्यित और स्विस फ्रैंक अधिमूल्यित मुद्रा थी। लेकिन अब बात बर्गर के हिसाब जितनी आसान नहीं है, बल्कि ज्यादा पेचीदा है। चीन के लिए दस फीसदी व्यापार बढ़ने का मतलब है कि अमेरिका के रोजगारों में दस फीसदी की कमी, लेकिन अगर चीन अपने युआन या आरएमबी को 25 फीसदी महंगा करता है तो उसे अपनी 2.15 फीसदी जीडीपी वृद्घि दर गंवानी होगी। दुनिया को उबारने में चीन का बड़ा हाथ है, इसलिए यह गिरावट उन देशों को भारी पड़ेगी जो मंदी से परेशान हैं और चीन उनका बड़ा बाजार है। इन देशों में आस्ट्रेलिया व न्यूजीलैंड प्रमुख होंगे। इस सबके बाद भी दुनिया में यह मानने वाले बहुत नहीं हैं कि ताकतवर युआन महाबली की समस्याएं हल कर देगा। अमेरिका में बचत शून्य है और निर्यात ध्वस्त। जिसे ठीक करने में युआन की कीमत की मामूली भूमिका होगी। अलबत्ता इतना जरूर है कि भारत, ताईवान, कोरिया, मलेशिया जैसों को बाजारबली चीन की प्रतिस्पर्धा से कुछ राहत मिल जाएगी। दुनिया का सबसे सफल युद्ध वह है, जिसमें शत्रु को बिना लड़े पराजित कर दिया जाता है। ..यही तो कहा था ढाई हजार साल पहले चीन के प्रख्यात रणनीतिकार सुन त्जू ने। चीन ने दुनिया के बाजार को बड़ी सफाई के साथ बिना लड़े जीत कर सुन त्जू को सही साबित कर दिया। पूरी दुनिया युआन की खींचतान का नतीजा जानने को बेचैन है। नतीजा वक्त बताएगा, लेकिन दिख यह ही रहा है कि बाजार में खेल के नियम फिलहाल बीजिंग से तय होंगे। चीन अपनी शर्तो पर ही युआन के तूफान पर लगाम लगाएगा, क्योंकि भारी कर्ज और ध्वस्त वित्तीय तंत्र के कारण दुनिया के महाबलियों की तिजोरियां तली तक खाली हैं, जबकि चीन अपनी कमजोर मुद्रा के साथ इस समय महाशक्तिशाली है। दुनिया का ताजा आर्थिक विकास मेड इन चाइना है, जबकि दुनिया का ताजा आर्थिक विनाश मेड इन अमेरिका और यूरोप।.. जाहिर है कि दुनिया मूर्ख नहीं है अर्थात वह विकास को ही चुनेगी, यानी चीन की ही शर्ते सुनेगी।

Elections still can be fixed, even if voting machines can't

2010-04-16T17:13:00.000+05:30

When I cast my vote, does the machine record it properly? And how would I know? That’s a great question. Then there's also the question of whether electronic receipts would expose who voted for whom.

There has been no lack of controversy over electronic voting machines in recent years. What started out as a technological progression of convenience in casting and counting ballots has turned out to be a giant argument of security, anonymity and the old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Just the other day El Paso County Judge Anthony Cobos put an item on the regular agenda to propose purchasing electronic voting machines that produce a receipt after a ballot is cast. Seems pretty simple, right? Not really.

I’m sure you remember as well as I do the controversy that has surrounded our foray into electronic voting, but do you know the history? Let’s review.

The first thing you need to know is that in the voting machine industry the touch screen type of ballot casting system you use is referred to as a Direct Recording Electronic voting system, or a “DRE” if you want to sound cool the next time you run into an elections department head. If you trust the government they’ll tell you that way back in 1996 a whopping 7.7 percent of Americans cast their ballot on a DRE voting machine

The machines at that time were approved sparingly by state governments. Remember, the Constitution provides for the states to conduct elections, which means they are responsible for setting the rules. That all changed in 2002. Why?

The infamous “hanging chads” of the 2000 election convinced Congress to pass the Help America Vote Act of 2002. While the act did not require every precinct in the nation to use DRE voting systems, it pretty much made it the most viable option for states to comply with the new standards. The government even made money available to municipalities to make the switch all that much easier. Wikipedia has pretty decent rundown of the requirements put forth in the act. [link

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The presidential election in 2004 was the first major test of the new machines. One of the major manufacturers of DRE voting systems was Diebold, Inc. Their CEO, Walden O'Dell, announced in August of 2003 that he was a fundraiser for then-President George W. Bush. Needless to say a storm of controversy has since surrounded not just Diebold-produced machines, but all DRE voting machines. Shortly thereafter charges of being able to hack the DRE machines with MacGyver-like skills and tools surged through the media, convincing almost everyone who had lost their election that they had been cheated.

Using the simplest historical high points, that’s how we find ourselves here. Feel free to rage about your personal experiences with DRE machines or the vast right wing conspiracy in the comments section below. However, do know that I didn’t steal your vote, invent the machines or ask the State of Texas to approve them. But go ahead and call me an asshole if it makes you feel better.

We now find ourselves with a question of how to authenticate our election results so that we know the winner is really the winner.

We could go back to optical scan sheets or paper ballots. They leave the often sought “paper trail” people are so sure will keep all elections secure. The initial problem with both options is the possibility of someone casting an “over vote.” An over vote occurs when a voter marks more than one candidate for a particular office. This results in the vote being thrown out given that it cannot be determined what the voter’s intent was. This was the exact problem they faced in 2000 in Florida. You can’t over vote on a DRE machine – it simply won’t let you.

The DRE machine prevents the events of Florida from recurring, but it doesn’t make any of us feel better about what happens when we electronically cast our vote. When I cast my vote, does the machine record it properly? And how would I know?

That’s a great question. A question you should have also been asking about your old paper ballots as well.

There’s no guarantee that when you take your paper ballot and put it in the ballot box as you leave that it will be counted later that night at all. Voter fraud using paper ballots is historically the most common way of stealing an election by the sheer amount of time the system has been around. Let me explain how simply this can be done.

All one needs to do to compromise a paper ballot system is to have anyone in the process of transporting the ballot box or handling the ballots on the take. Paper ballots are only counted to make sure they match up with the number of voters on that precinct’s register. At any point a new batch of ballots that have been pre-marked and of the same count can be substituted. You have no way of knowing if this happens. There is zero chance for you to verify that your vote was accurately cast. You can only check the voter rolls after the election to see if they have you marked as having voted in the last election. Nobody knows but you how you voted. If you think they got your vote wrong, what proof do you have of it? None, zero, nada – when you drop that ballot in that box you are as helpless in the process as when you cast your ballot on a DRE machine. You have no real “paper trail” with paper ballots. Your “I Voted” sticker doesn’t count, either.

Ah, but where does one get a paper ballot? They must be impossible to replicate and are under strict lock and key at all times, right? Nope. I used to have stacks of the different kinds of ballots from all around the country in my office in Washington, D.C. I simply called up the FEC and state elections offices and asked them for samples because I spent my days on the road working on getting people registered to vote and trained on how to use a voting machine. They were always more than happy to help.

I had provisional ballots, ex-pat ballots, absentee ballots, optical scan ballots and regular paper ballots. The only difference was that the optical scan and paper ballots didn’t have the printed progressive numbers below the perforated edge. A quick trip to any print shop or a person with a good number stamp could knock out thousands of valid-looking paper ballots in a day. Besides, they are quite easy to replicate. We’re not exactly talking about the new $20 bill here, are we?

Going back to the paper ballots would also mean we spent a lot of money on DRE machines we can’t use anymore. So what is a county government to do?

Well, maybe they could buy new DRE machines that print out a receipt of your vote. This doesn’t solve the problem of abandoning a bunch of expensive DRE machines, but it does appear to leave a “paper trail.” Are there any drawbacks to this perfect solution? Yes.

The folks in Ohio have required that the machines spit out a receipt of a cast ballot and have run into a very disturbing problem – people can see who voted for whom!

If you’re too lazy to click the link, I’ll explain. When a person casts their vote the computer must keep a record of it, obviously. When giving you a receipt it must mark that receipt in some manner that allows someone to go back and verify the ticket against the computer. A “time stamp” is the most common method of validating the receipt. Obviously the elections department retains a copy of the receipts on their system because it is what tallies the votes. All anyone has to do is get that tally and compare the time stamp to the registrar’s book. They match up the time people came in and the vote cast at that time and they know exactly how you voted. So much for a secret ballot, I guess. Anybody who has those two pieces of information has a lot of power.

Critics of the DRE voting machines giving out a receipt also point out that the receipts don’t go home with the voter as many assume. They go into a ballot box at the polling place and are considered the official count. Again, there’s no guarantee that the computer didn’t print one thing and tally another. Then there’s the whole problem with the receipts being corrupted, lost or counterfeited. You still have no record of your vote.

Basically what I’m getting to here at the end of this journey is that there isn’t currently a full proof solution on the table. We are left to either accept the imperfect methods in front of us, or keep searching. I guess what I’m saying is that if you aren’t busy, there could be a lucrative market out there for a better ballot casting and counting system.

Any change to be made at the municipal level would have to take a basic principal of change into account. Is the solution that much more secure for the cost? If the solution costs a lot of money and isn’t that much more secure, then we should probably wait until the right system comes along before we make a move.

The only request I have is that when we do find a new system – we vote on it.

The Future of our Televisions

2010-04-16T10:52:00.000+05:30

Television has changed a lot over the years--from black-and-white tube sets to Technicolor consoles to plasma and LCD high-definition TVs.

But the medium is still evolving. Tech companies are producing bigger (yet thinner) TV screens and immersive, customizable viewing experiences with Internet connectivity, widgets, and apps; and broadcasters are looking at ways to move beyond high-definition.

We still have a long way to go before our home entertainment systems look like something out of Minority Report, but some of the new technologies are pretty impressive: 3D TV that approximates what you'd get in a movie theater, multiple monitors designed to present a wall-size picture, and ultra-definition resolution are just some of the innovations you can look forward to.

We spoke with representatives of Samsung, one of the leaders in the television industry, about what TVs of the future might have in store for consumers. Here's what they told us.

3D Television

When tech companies tried to make "3D TV" the catch-phrase of CES 2010, many reviewers were skeptical. What's the demand for 3D TV? How many people want to don a pair of expensive and dorky-looking glasses just to watch TV? Is there enough 3D content out there for 3D TV to be more than an expensive curiosity?

Scott Birnbaum, vice president of Samsung's LCD business, says that the demand for 3D TV will skyrocket in the next couple of years, fueled by televised sports. ESPN plans to broadcast this year's soccer World Cup (which is being held in South Africa) in 3D.

If you're unsure whether a 3D TV is a good investment, you may be reassured to learn that 3D TVs can handle 2D video just fine; also, Samsung's 3D TV can convert 2D content into "3D" content (that is, content with simulated depth, but not "real" 3D content). In addition, Samsung has formed a "global strategic partnership" with DreamWorks Animation, the studio that produced such 3D features as Monsters vs Aliens and How to Train Your Dragon, to make 3D television more feasible, with Samsung producing the hardware and DreamWorks producing the content.

Sony plans to introduce its 3D TVs in Japan on June 10, and will start selling 3D TVs worldwide at around the same time. Leaked reports indicate that LG Electronics will begin delivering full-array LED-backlit LCD 3D TVs in the near future. For its part, Panasonic has promised 3D Plasma TVs by this summer, and it launched one model in March at Best Buy.

Though a number of companies are launching 3D TVs this year, the industry faces quite a few unresolved issues. 3D shutter glasses, which usually come bundled with 3D Blu-ray disc players and 3D TVs, can be quite expensive on their own (around $100 for a low-end pair). In addition, some people may experience bad effects from watching 3D TV--the list includes teens, children, the elderly, pregnant women, sufferers of serious medical conditions, and individuals who are sleep-deprived or inebriated, according to Samsung's 3D TV Warning. And finally, 4 to 10 percent of the population can't even see 3D TV because they're unable to process stereoscopic imagery (optometrists say that the condition is treatable, however).

Samsung has produced a 3D display that lets you see the 3D effect without glasses, for the "Digital Out of Home" market (for example, for screens used on digital billboards and signage). The technology uses a lenticular lens to produce 3D effects that are visible without special glasses; initially advertisers will employ it to display ads in places like airports, as a novel way of catching the attention of passersby. Though this nonglasses technology is not as yet suited for home entertainment, it could be someday. And if 3D TV ever manages to ditch the glasses, it may really take off.

Superthin Bezels

LCD panels keep getting thinner and thinner, but what about those annoyingly thick screen bezels? Enter the Runco WindowWall, which Samsung developed for high-end home-theater enthusiast vendor Runco.

An LCD screen consists of two pieces of glass that must be bonded together around the edges, and this creates a certain amount of dead space where LCD two panels abut. Samsung has reduced the amount of dead space between contiguous panels to just 7.33mm, however, giving the WindowWall an almost seamless look.

The 1366-by-768-pixel panels in the WindowWall measure 46 inches diagonally. From close up you can see the 7.33mm-thick bezels between panels, but if you look at the whole picture from about 15 feet away, the big picture looks great.

The WindowWall is scalable and can consist of as few as four or as many as twenty screens. You can hook up the screens to display one image across all of the screens or to display something different on each screen. To make the system work in sync, however, you must have a display controller unit and power supply unit for every four screens.

TV manufacturers already can make huge, seamless LCD screens--but the WindowWall is a more economical product. For one thing, shipping a 92-inch screen costs a lot more than shipping four 46-inch screens does. Unfortunately, the technology isn't consumer-friendly at the moment: A nine-screen setup costs around $100,000.

Visible Light Communication

One day, you may be able to obtain customized information directly from your television's LED backlights, thanks to a new technology dubbed "Visible Light Communication." The LED lights transmit information by flickering at high frequencies; a device with a photodiode (for example, a cell phone) then picks up the transmitted signals.

According to Samsung, this new technology could have a profound impact on the future of TV, in part because it would allow advertisers to take a completely different approach to airing commercials.

Though Samsung says that products featuring Visible Light Communication won't arrive anytime soon, the technology has been demonstrated with working prototypes. The Nakagawa Laboratory of Tokyo's Keio University has done extensive research in Visible Light Communication, as well.

Ultra-Definition TV

Visible Light Communication, WindowWalls, and 3D TV aren't all that's in store for home-theater systems. TVs with 240Hz refresh rates and Internet connectivity are becoming increasingly common, and 480Hz sets are slated to arrive later this year. Farther down the road, ultra definition (with 3840-by-2160-pixel resolution in place of high definition's 1920-by-1080-pixel resolution) could make its way into your living room.

Ultra definition (UD) will become more critical as display sizes get larger, Birnbaum says. Samsung has demonstrated a UD 82-inch LCD panel, but UD content is not readily available yet, and as a result no market for the technology exists yet. Like HDTV, UDTV will be able to handle lesser (720p or 1080p) content.

A significant feature of ultra-definition television will be its zoom capability. As screens get bigger, viewers will be able to zoom in to get a close-up view of the action. "Imagine watching a football game, pausing the action, and zooming in on your own instant reply to 'make the call' on a questionable end-zone catch. UD will get viewers completely involved in the game," Birnbaum says.

So that's what awaits you in the future of television: an immersive viewer experience, personalized content, and huge screens. It looks as though Samsung and its fellow TV producers are out to make movie theaters obsolete. But much of this technology is still far ahead of the market--so you'll have to continue paying for movies for at least a couple more years.

Management Lesson from Ramayana

2009-04-25T23:32:00.000+05:30

All of us know that Ramayana is all about Sri Rama’s story.

Kaikeyi asked for boons ordaining Rama to go to the forest, Sita humbly following Him, her falling in love with a deer, Ravana taking her away, Rama waging a war with Ravana and eventually getting Sita back.

Beyond this, Ramayana is a great benefit to our everyday life too. How? If we read Ramayana carefully, chapter by chapter, we can realize the import of the story in our daily life, as conveyed by the great Maharshi.

The first part of the epic talks about a prosperous Ayodhya. The overflowing Sarayu river, the abundance of grains, the devoted king and the devoted subjects, the affluence of the people – all these signifying a wealthy and prosperous land of Ayodhya is clearly depicted.

One day, Dasharata addressed the masses and expressed his wish to crown Rama and retire from his regal duties. The citizens rejoiced. Rama was then informed about the crowning ceremony scheduled for the following day. The whole city was agog with this happy news – decorations and preparations for the crowning ceremony were on.

Hearing this news, Kaikeyi’s aide, Manthara (Kuni) rushed to Kaikeyi ‘Hey! Did you hear that Kausalya’s son Rama is going to be crowned?’
Kaikeyi, being a noble person at heart immediately gifted her with a necklace. ‘Rama is like my own son! I love him even more than Bharata. What difference does it make crowning Rama or Bharata?’

Manthara said, ‘Oh! My dumb Mistress! Don’t you realize that if Rama becomes the king, even Kausalya’s servants will disrespect you? You will be trampled once Rama is crowned. Bharata will be doomed!’ Saying thus, she poisoned Kaikeyi’s mind so much so that the latter merely submitted to her - ‘What should I do now?’

Manthara said ‘Long ago, when you assisted Dasharata in a war, he granted you two boons. Exercise them! One, let Bharata be crowned. Two, have Rama exiled for 14 years.’

Kaikeyi was ready to ask these boons.

That night, when Dasharata came to her harem, she lay there as if in abject misery. As instructed by Kuni, she asked Dasharata for the two promises. It was a blow to the king.

Dasharata pleaded with her to take back her request. He beseeched her, ‘Let Bharata rule. But don’t separate Rama from me. You know I can’t live without him.’ Kaikeyi was stubborn. Begging with Kaikeyi all through the night, Dasharata was completely wrecked by grief and swooned.

At dawn, Kaikeyi summoned Rama and explained Dasharata’s promise to her. ‘Your dad has given me a word that you shall go to the forest!’ she said.

If we read this part of the story, we find that the whole town was plunged into grief. Rama leaves for the forest and the entire Ayodhya follows him. Wails of sorrow sound in every home and there is inauspiciousness all over. The queens Kausalya and Sumitra wail, Vasishta cries, the whole kingdom is in tears as they see Sita following Rama to the forest.

As Rama leaves the kingdom, he halts on the bank river Sarayu for the night. The citizen who have followed him, lie down to sleep. Rama sheds tears seeing their pitiable plight – Such a flourishing and happy kingdom as Ayodhya now bears a deserted and orphaned look! The scene is now transformed into a gloomy one. There is inauspiciousness all over. The king, who ruled for 60,000 years, passes away. The queens are widowed. Bharata renounces the kingdom and is disturbed because of the false blame on him.

In a moment, the whole scenario has turned topsy-turvy. Who is the reason behind this? Is it God? Fate? The king’s misconduct? No! It is thanks to the woman with a hunchback (Kuni) named Manthara.

Introducing an insignificant character called Manthara, Valmiki shows how she could cause a whole kingdom, its king, princes and everyone to crash.

Any organization or setup should be wary of the fact that it could be shaken to its roots by sinister designs of even lowly employee from an insignificant corner.

This important management precept which is a part and parcel of our everyday life is being eloquently taught to us by Ramayana.

Regard

A nuclear Talibanistan?

2009-04-17T23:11:00.000+05:30

Our view of Pakistan's role in the Afghanistan war has undergone an ominous but necessary series of shifts. At the outset of the war in October 2001, Pakistan correctly was seen as a necessary ally - both politically and geographically - as the primary conduit for our entry and lines of communication into Afghanistan.
Over the years, we came to understand that Pakistan's intelligence service was playing a double game - helping us, but also supporting the Taliban, while Pakistan's northern area had become a safe haven for both the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Thus, Pakistan came to be seen as part of the problem that the Obama administration reasonably has taken to calling the “AfPak” war. Gen. David H. Petraeus told a Senate committee that he saw Pakistan and Afghanistan as “a single theater.”
Now another perception shift is starting to take hold: The increasing instability of the Pakistani government makes Pakistan - more than Afghanistan - the central challenge of our AfPak policy.
Last week, David Kilcullen, a former Australian army officer who was Gen. Petraeus' senior counterinsurgency strategist and is now a consultant to the Obama White House, said Pakistan could collapse within months.
“We have to face the fact that if Pakistan collapses, it will dwarf anything we have seen so far in whatever we're calling the war on terror now,” he said.
Mr. Kilcullen said time was running out for international efforts to pull both countries back from the brink. “You just can't say that you're not going to worry about al Qaeda taking control of Pakistan and its nukes ... the Kabul tail was wagging the dog,” he said.
Afghanistan was a campaign to defend a reconstruction program. “It's not really about al Qaeda. Afghanistan doesn't worry me. Pakistan does,” Mr. Kilcullen said. He said maybe we can manage Afghanistan and Richard Holbrooke can cut an international deal, but there is also a chance that Washington will fail to stabilize Afghanistan, Pakistan will collapse and al Qaeda will end up running what he called “Talibanistan.”
“This is not acceptable. You can't have al Qaeda in control of Pakistan's missiles,” he said.
“It's too early to tell which way it will go. We'll start to know about July. That's the peak fighting season ... and a month from the Afghan presidential election.”
Gen. Petraeus himself recently said that “extremists ... pose a truly existential threat to [Pakistan].”
The radical Islamist threat to the already weak and unstable Pakistani government has become acute because of reconciliation of former adversaries: Mullah Omar (leader of the Taliban fighters who have left Afghanistan for their new stronghold in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan province) and Baitullah Mehsud (leader of the Pakistani Taliban in the tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan) .
According to last week's Der Speigel, “In late February, flyers written in Urdu turned up in the Pakistani-Afghan border region announcing the formation of a new platform for jihad. The Shura Ittihad-ul Mujahideen (SIM), or Council of United Holy Warriors, declared that the alliance of all militants had been formed at the request of Mullah Omar and [Osama] bin Laden.
”There is a new quality to this .... These groups are now the Pakistani face of al Qaeda,” the German newsmagazine reported.
The problem is that the united radical Islamists are expanding the combat zone inside Pakistan, threatening the state itself. Our drone attacks on the united Taliban (and al Qaeda) are driving the radicals deeper into Pakistan, including its major cities. Also, the attacks inevitably also kill Pakistani women and children (or are claimed by the radicals to have done so), which serves as a recruiting tool for new jihadists.
Thus Mr. Kilcullen was quoted by Der Speigel: “I am against the drone attacks. Even if we could kill half of the al Qaeda leaders, what does it help us if we cause an uprising by the population of Pakistan?”
Mr. Kilcullen's quote raises the strong inference that because the Obama administration has increased the George W. Bush administration's level of drone attacks into Pakistan and Gen. Petraeus' top counterinsurgency adviser publicly opposes the attacks, there must be a major policy fight going on within the administration.
Military strategy disputes are understandable. We have no good choices. Because of the overstretched condition of our military, we have too few troops available to deal with Pakistan, which itself has an active and reserve military manpower of 1.4 million.
Yet Pakistan's military seems insufficient to deal with the radical Islamists. After the Taliban took over the Swat Valley in the middle of Pakistan, seized an emerald mine to help finance their war with America and Pakistan, and established Shariah law, the Pakistani government was so weak it accepted a cease-fire with Maulana Fazlullah, a local thug and terrorist.
With our own Army too small, our NATO allies unwilling to help and Gen. Petraeus' senior counterinsurgency adviser worried that the Taliban and al Qaeda may be able to take over nuclear Pakistan, we are left with a policy of temporizing and crossing our fingers.
Tony Blankley is the author of “American Grit: What It Will Take to Survive and Win in the 21st Century” and vice president of the Edelman public relations firm in Washington.

An Unconscionable Act

2009-04-17T22:35:00.000+05:30

The news reports of the Supreme Court appointed SIT’s charges against a leading activist, Teesta Setalvad are truly disturbing. She is charged with adding morbidity to the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat by “cooking up macabre tales of killings”. One has to see the full SIT report to come to terms with how grievous the charges are. On the face of it the SIT is credible. But by all news accounts Teesta Setalvad has done the cause of justice irreparable harm. And her actions, as described, will undermine the capability of civil society to have any imprimatur of impartiality in investigating riot cases.
If true, she has not only done deep disservice to the victims of the Gujarat riots; she has also undermined the credibility of so-called secular interlocutors. It confirms the suspicion many have, that often those speaking in the name of secularism do not subscribe to the very values they claim to be fighting for: truth, justice, impartiality and the rule of law. Their secularism is in the service of beating down opponents rather than discovering the truth. “Tutoring witnesses”, concocting horror stories in a politically charged situation is a serious crime; of a piece with what the supposedly “bad” guys do. After all, their politics depends upon falsely whipped-up paranoia, tampering with the system of justice, engaging in a pornography of violence and having scant regard for the truth. The fact that this is done in the name of victims, for a supposedly just cause, does not excuse it. It makes it worse.
This story should have been a big front page story. It deserves much more coverage and discussion. Of course, this is not the first time Teesta Setalvad’s role has come under the scanner. Her role in the Zahira Sheikh case was a matter of some concern, and there has been a widespread perception in legal struggles that her advocacy sometimes makes the cause of justice more, not less difficult. One cannot speculate about the circumstances under which she engaged in this self undermining rhetorical overkill. On the face of it, it was all so needless. The events in Gujarat were horrific enough -- there was no need to spoil the case with appalling falsehoods.
The good news is that in the case of Gujarat, at least some wheels of justice are turning. But the SIT’s findings against Teesta Setalvad are a salutary reminder, that the rule of law and the cause of truth should not be allowed to be subordinated to any ideology: communal or secular.

Is punishment necessay for discipline?

2009-04-09T00:15:00.000+05:30

WITH recent instances of corporal punishment stirring up a hornet’s nest, the issue has hit a raw nerve. While it is true that corporal punishment cannot be used as a means to enforce discipline in a civilised society, there are questions that, perhaps, need to be addressed.
How do you handle a classroom when you have 70 students to take care of ? Even one rowdy or disobedient student can cause enough disruption to ruin a class. In such cases what are the ‘classroom guidelines’ that a teacher should go by?
Most educators feel that punishment and discipline doesn’t go hand-in-hand. Instead, it can be achieved by re-enforcing positive qualities in children.
To start with, Lilly Vishwanathan, advocacy manager, project on corporal punishment, Plan India, feels that there is a need to foster a primarily pro-active attitude, empathy from teachers, encouragement techniques and so on — both at the adult level and in adult-student relations.
However, most teachers admit that initially they warn students, but when things get out of hand, they are forced to take ‘action.’
Monika Chopra, a PGT in chemistry from N C Jindal School, Punjabi Bagh, says, “We have a system where we write a note for parents in students’ diaries. Once the student gets three remarks in his/her diary, the parents are called. They, along with the teacher, talk to the child and arrive at a solution.”
Sharing an instance of good practices, Chopra cites an example of a class IX student, “This child was indisciplined and never followed instructions in class. We could figure out that he had a strong desire for stage and public speaking. So, we made him the class mo nitor as well as the house prefect. This worked and we saw a marked improvement in his behaviour and academic performance.”
On the other hand, Deepak Dahiya, a teacher with the Delhi Government School, Roop Nagar, says punishment may be necessary. He says, “I do believe in punishing students to ensure discipline, but one should know where to draw the line. Since our students are first generation learners, we have to teach them everything — behavioural issues, discipline and learning.” He adds, “But once I have punished them, I use various therapies to help the child understand why I punished him, so that he doesn’t repeat it again.”

TIPS FOR BUILDING POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CHILDREN

Teachers can use a variety of strategies to build positive relations hips with children and prevent violence within the school environment. To do so, they can:

• Listen to children and encourage them to listen to others

• Teach with enthusiasm. Students engaged in work that is challenging, informative, and rewarding are less likely to get into trouble

• Set norms for behaviour in the classroom and refuse to permit violence. Learn and teach conflict resolution and anger management skills

• Invite parents to talk about and share their children’s progress and any concerns they have

• Encourage and sponsor student-led anti-violence activities and programmes ranging from peer education, Bal Panchayats, and mediation to mentoring and training

• Work with school authorities, parents and children to develop and implement a `Safe School Plan,’ including how teachers and other school staff should respond in emergencies
• Enforce school policies that seek to reduce the risk of violence.Take responsibility for areas outside, as well as inside, your classroom

• Encourage students to report crimes or activities that make them suspicious

Talibanization of INDIA ?

2009-04-06T21:26:00.000+05:30

Muslim organisations are up in arms over an alleged comment on Monday by a Supreme Court judge, who reportedly cited "Talibanisation" while turning down a Muslim student's plea to sport a beard in school. Now, the debate over the Muslim beard -- commonly considered an Islamic virtue rather than an immutable tenet - has come full circle.

The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, a Muslim mass organisation, filed a broader case last month in the highest court, angling for a far-reaching ruling to allow Muslims to keep beards unconditionally, like Sikhs. The Jamiat case is likely to be one of the most fascinating courtroom duels over an Islamic emblem outside the Muslim world.

Here's why. It is not often that an Indian civil case rests largely on the validity of anecdotes from the Islamic world.

Evidence in support of the beard ranges from 1,000-year-old Islamic injunctions from the Hadith (Prophetic traditions) to the Hukum ul Islam, a famous treatise in Arabic. The English translation was specially procured from London's Dar At-Tawheed Publications.

"Our contention is that it is essential for Muslims to keep a beard in the light of the texts and traditions," Anis Suhrawardy, the lawyer representing Jamiat leader Arshad Madani said. Just in case the court rules in favour of the Jamiat, India could become the first non-Muslim country to uphold the Muslim's unfettered right to sport a beard.

Few Muslims think that keeping a beard could amount to supporting the Taliban's extremist character. "I don't dispute a particular judgement but if keeping a beard is akin to being a Taliban, I am proud to be one," Jamiat leader Mahmood Madani told HT. Two previous cases over a right to keep a beard, both involving employees in the armed forces, prompted the special leave petition filed by the Jamiat.

In defence organisations, a person is allowed a beard if it was sported on joining service. Most Muslims agree that the beard has great religious significance but it is commonly treated as non-essential.

Congress election slogan should be -- Jai Ho: Pub Bharo--

2009-03-10T01:50:00.000+05:30

The survey found that nearly 44.4 per cent of Class 12 students hadconsumed alcohol in the survey period. Instead of looking at thesefacts, Sonia Gandhi and Renuka Chowdhury are planning to use theso-called Mangalore pub incident as a political weapon. They don’tseem to realise what damage they are doing to India by theirirresponsible behaviour.Congress president Sonia Gandhi is reported to have said that she willfight the upcoming national elections on two issues: One concerningthe attack on a pub in Mangalore and the other concerning thedemolition of the Babri Masjid. The best advice that one can give toher is: Don’t. On both issues, she will pay for her folly. The Muslimcommunity in India will do the greatest good to itself and to itsrelations with the majority community if it graciously concedes theRam Janmabhoomi to its Hindu claimants and not stand on prestige. Allthese years the Muslims have allowed themselves to be exploited byso-called ‘secularists’ and have needlessly alienated themselves frommainstream India, reaping no benefit whichever way. It has doneneither the Muslims nor the Hindus any good. The time has come for theMuslims to change their mindset and concede graciously to the Hindus’claimand thereby win the hearts and souls of their fellow citizens. TheMuslims will lose nothing thereby.On the other hand, they will gain the eternal gratitude of Hindus towhom the Ram Janmabhoomi has tremendous emotional significance. Onepositive step and that will strengthen Hindu-Muslim unity as neverbefore. To both Muslims and Hindus it will be a win-win situation. Byattempting to widen the gulf between the two communities Sonia Gandhiwill render immense harm to the country which she professes to serve.A word to the wise should suffice. As for the Mangalore pubcontroversy, it has been plainly overplayed for political reasons andstatements have been made by Congress leaders that call for strongcondemnation.According to Renuka Chowdhury, Women and Child Development Ministerthere has been “a complete breakdown of law and order in Karnataka”.Nothing of that sort has happened and by making such highlyprovocative remarks, the Minister has only hurt her own party’schances at the forthcoming polls. Complete breakdown of law and order?Really? What happened in Mumbai during the jehadi siege? Was it anexample of high maintenance of law and order with the blood of acouple of hundred innocent people staining the earth? Mangaloreans cando without the patronage of the likes of Renuka Chowdhury and herboss. Besides, in the matter of young people visiting pubs, is theMinister aware of what is happening right under her nose in thecapital?According to a survey conducted by an NGO, called Campaign AgainstDrunken Driving (CADD) “nearly 80 per cent of those visiting pubs andbars in the Indian capital are below the age of 25 and that of theunder-age population at Delhi’s pubs 67 per cent are below 21 years ofage”. It would seem that Delhi’s excise laws ban the sale of liquor toor by anyone below 25 years and if an underage person is caughtconsuming alcohol, or if the vendor is caught, it could mean a fine ofRs 10,000. The CADD study found the laws ineffective, as nearly 33.9per cent of those below the age of 16 easily procure alcohol fromgovernment–authorised liquor shops, bars and pubs.According to a press report, the law also prohibits any person belowthe age of 25 years to be employed at any bar or pub and the offenceis punishable with a fine of Rs 50,000 or imprisonment of three monthsto be levied on the outlet. Says a report in the Free Press Journal:(February 2) “Still nearly 55 per cent of those working as serviceattendants in bars and restaurants are young boys and girls below theage of 25. The research was conducted from December 2008 to January2009 among 1,000 youth who go to the pubs and bars. Nearly 85 per centof the youth surveyed were in the age group of 14-21, even though thelegal drinking age is 25 years”.Can one believe that youngsters between the ages of 14 and 21 visitpubs and that too, in Delhi, where the government is run by theCongress party under the leadership of Sheila Dixit? How many of the youthfulpub-patrons have ever been arrested and how many of the pubs have hadto pay a fine? And what have Renuka Chowdhury and Sonia Gandhi to sayabout these revelations? According to the survey, in Delhi, annuallyabout 2,000 youths under age 21 die from motor vehicle crashes, otherunintentional injuries, homicides and suicides that involve underagedrinking. Prince Singhal founder of CADD is quoted as saying:“Underage drinking is a prelude to drunk driving and thus it isimportant to curb it in the initial stages, so that it does not end upas a habit among young individuals”.Another startling fact revealed was that the drinking age in Delhi hasgone down from 28 to 19 years since 1990. CADD estimates that inanother five to seven years, this figure may come down to 15 years.The survey found that it is not binding for liquor serving outlets orvends to verify the age of the consumer. But the survey found thatnearly 44.4 per cent of Class 12 students had consumed alcohol in thesurvey period. Instead of looking at these facts, Sonia Gandhi andRenuka Chowdhury are planning to use the so-called Mangalore pubincident as a political weapon. They don’t seem to realise what damagethey are doing to India by their irresponsible behaviour.Should we say that there is no law and order in Delhi? Obviously thereisn’t and the police look the other way when teenagers visit pubs. Wedo not have any information on how long these visitors stay at the bar or howmuch liquor they drink. Parents obviously are either unaware of whatis going on or couldn’t care less. One might damn the Shri Ram Sena toone’s heart’s content for using violence, but at least they seem tocare enough. At this point in time we have no statistics as to how oldthe girls serving drinks are and how many teenagers have beenattending the Mangalore pub.According to the CADD survey it is not binding for liquor servingoutlets or vends to verify the age of the consumer; that can onlyencourage the youngsters to take advantage of such a situation. Thatall this is happening in Delhi and under a Congress administrationsuggests not only a weak government that does not care for people buta leadership that is engaged more in talk than in action. Beforetaking up the Mangalore pub issue as a stone to hit at the BJP, SoniaGandhi would do well to set right matters within her own politicaljurisdiction. Both Sonia Gandhi and Renuka Chowdhury surely know whatthe Bible says: Judge not, least ye be judged.

Loss of true science

2009-03-10T00:52:00.000+05:30

Excerpts from the following text, taken from the book "Harikatha and Vaishnava Aparadha" by His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj were published by the Leading Indian National Newspaper, "The Times of India", in one of their editorial columns on 19th July, 2007)The synonym of the English word 'logic' of the West is 'Tarkashastra' or 'Yuktividya' , in India. They have ascertained two methods of attaining knowledge, which have their basis of reasoning: the inductive method and deductive method. Whatever finite human beings with finite intellect may ascertain, whether inductive or deductive, is actually in the domain of the process of ascension, which in India is called Avarohavaada. Induction refers to inferring of general law from particular instances, while deducting refers to inferring of particular instance from general law. In his book Raja Vidya, His Divine Grace Tridandi Swami Srimad Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj is writing, 'There are two processes for attaining knowledge: one is inductive and the other is deductive. The deductive method is considered to be more perfect. We may take a premise such as, " All men are mortal," and no one need discuss how man is mortal. It is generally accepted that this is the case. The deductive conclusion is: "Mr. Johnson is a man; therefore Mr. Johnson is mortal." But how is the premise that all men are mortal arrived at? Followers of the inductive method wish to arrive at this premise through experiment and observations. We may thus study that this man died and that man died, etc, and after seeing that so many men have died we may conclude or generalize that all men are mortal, but there is a major defect in this inductive method, and that is that our experience is limited. We may never have seen a man who is not mortal, but we are judging this on our personal experience, which is finite. Our senses have limited power, and there are so many defects in our conditioned state. The inductive process consequently is not always perfect, whereas the deductive process from a source of perfect knowledge is perfect. The Vedic process is such a process'.In India, there are disciplic successions coming from Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Nimbarka, Vishnuswami and other great sages. The Vedic literatures are understood through the superior spiritual masters. Arjuna understood the Bhagwad Gita from Lord Krishna, and if we wish to understand it, we have to understand from Arjuna, not from any other source. If we have any knowledge of Bhagwad-Gita, we have to see how it tallies with the understanding of Arjuna. If we understand Bhagwad-Gita in the same way that Arjuna did, we should know that our understanding is correct. This should be the criterion of our studying of the Bhagwad-Gita. If we actually want to receive the benefit from Bhagwad-Gita, we have to follow this principle. The Bhagwad-Gita is not an ordinary book of knowledge that we can purchase from the market place, read and merely consult a dictionary to understand. This is not possible. If it were, Krishna would never have told Arjuna that the science was lost. It is not difficult to understand the necessity of going through the disciplic succession to understand Bhagwad-Gita. If we wish to be a lawyer, an engineer or doctor, we have to receive the knowledge from the authoritative lawyers, engineers and doctors. A new lawyer has to become an apprentice of an experienced lawyer, or a young man studying to be a doctor has to become an intern and work with those who are already licensed practioners. Our knowledge of a subject cannot be perfectionalized unless we receive it through authoritative sources. This has been acknowledged in the Bhagwad Gita.In Sreemad Bhagwatam, Lord Vamana said to Shukracharya, (the spiritual master of demons): "Your disciple Bali Maharaj is in difficulty, it will be befitting for you to perform Yajna for his benefit". Shukracharya smiled and replied, "My disciple has seen you and you have graced him by setting your Holy Lotus Feet on his head. He has performed 'Anusankirtana' , meaning that he has recapitulated about your Name, Form, Attributes, Pastimes, after hearing about these from a bonafide pure devotee. Where is the necessity of performing Karmakanda Yajna? By utterance of your Holy name and glories, all defects in the utterance of mantra and tantra (inversion of sequence) and sinister influence of place, time and articles are removed." Anusankirtana means recapitulation of the glories of Supreme Lord, heard through a bonafide preceptorial channel. Here also a condition is imposed, that the hearing should be in from a bonafide devotee, not from a professional singer.In order to establish how to sing the glories of Supreme Lord Sree Krishna and how to perform Harinama without offence, it is necessary to remember the teachings of the authentic scriptures. The scriptural evidence of Brihad Naradiya Purana gives triple emphasis that there is no other way except Harinama in Kaliyuga. Sage Veda Vyasa confirms the same in Sreemad Bhagwatam 12.13.23.Please understand that there are infinite forms of devotion, of which chanting of the Holy Name is the foremost. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has given the following five principal forms of devotion: Association of sadhus, chanting of the Holy Name, hearing of Sreemad Bhagwatam, dwelling in transcendental realm of Mathura Dham, and worship of Deities with firm faith. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has emphatically said that out of these five forms of devotion, Nam-Sankirtana is the best.

INDOBAMA - The Real Hidden Challange

2009-02-28T00:31:00.000+05:30

Within the enormous caverns of the Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan is a nugget for US companies to spend a few billions to construct roads and bridges, mass transit rails and national parks. The US president is right in expecting a massive spin off for his economy from the measure that will improve the top lines of construction companies, if not their profits and lead to a surge in job creation. In more or less the same period the European governments too plan a similar push to their infrastructure investments.
This is one part of the plan that should be of most concern to India, probably even more than the proposal to cut tax breaks for firms which ship jobs overseas. Because, in the same time frame ie within the next two years or 2012, we also plan to spend about $500 billion to develop our infrastructure in a massive way. The dampener on outsourcing will be moderated as Indian and US companies will be on the same wave length on thisÂ—cut costs. But that benefit will not work in the race to capture the global infra funds.
Put simply, after a nice lull of several years, companies planning to invest in Indian infra sectors will now face steep competition in attracting the attention of global infra fund managers. They will have to sound convincing that India offers a better deal than the US or Europe in the infrastructure business, in the next few years. This will include the rules for doing business and the rules for raising finance. All this has to be done, in the midst of the ripples that have already begun in the global financial markets about the Obama plan. At least one global fund house has already begun mobilising finance at Libor plus 500 bps to invest in US infrastructure.
We also have to remember that even for domestic infra funds, the rules for investment abroad have been simplified. Few fund managers at this stage will be able to say that given a chance they will prefer to invest in a special purpose vehicle to develop a road project in India than one in the US. These are not academic exercises but real bread and butter choices that companies in very harsh financial markets will be making very soon.
If that sounds challenging there is no doubt it is and talking to the Indian companies has made me sure that they too think the Obama plan will impact them big. So it is very urgent that we get our act right on the stuff that crimp infra investment in India.
And here, instead of moaning about the problems, I feel there is cause for cheer if one looks at some things we have recently got right. Of these, the one that needs a big round of applause is a government proposal to allow single bidders for projects, especially for roads and highways. This might seem like playing with government money but it is not. Of the 34 projects that the NHAI had advertised, only 16 have received any bids. Of these, six stretches have got only one bid.
Before readers begin to draw pictures of cartels playing cahoots with rules, it is worth recounting that the railways face the same problem. Its flagship project to construct a locomotive factory at Madhepura in Bihar has received only one financial bid out of the three companies that had put in technical bids. The phase II of the Mumbai metro project has done worse. It has got no bidders from among the seven companies that put in technical bids.
The central government is plainly waking up to the sudden drying of funds in infrastructure sector. But what is most needed at this juncture is similar realisation among state governments too. Indian infra projects with the glorious exception of the Delhi Metro have consistently been delayed in completion, largely due to state level bottlenecks. The latest flash report of the ministry of programme implementation shows that 47% of the 523 biggest projects involving the government are running delayed. The more important piece of statistic is that this has raised the cumulative cost of these projects by over 11%. The implications are obvious. Since infra project developers rarely get funding at less than 14-16% rate of interest in normal circumstances, an 11% cost over run means adding one more per cent to the project cost.
So, it is quite pleasing that governments, both at the centre and states, have revised their take on land acquisition. On February 23, for the first time in nearly two years states and the Centre publicly acknowledged that they need to go for the jugular to get land for projects. Infra projects were almost paralysed as a fall out of the problems in acquiring land from 2007 onwards. But at a meeting of the state chief secretaries with the cabinet secretary to work out ways to make the government stimulus package work, ministry officials, to quote the government release, told states to give "special attention to land acquisition wherever projects are stalled on account of this reason". In Indian government speak that could mean a big step forward.
Would these be enough? I doubt it. In the next few months, several Indian entities will approach the international markets to raise debt to finance their projects. To ensure they have any reasonable chance to compete, the entire infra project approval and delivery mechanism needs to be redrawn very fast

A tale of two cities

2009-02-27T02:26:00.000+05:30

Two films in recent times have sought to capture the imagination of the city; Slumdog Millionaire and Delhi-6. The first in its English version is a stunning hit and the other has been met by a quiet silence. Danny Boyle's Slumdog is a western attempt to read Bollywood. It is a mythical reading of Bollywood. Myth seeks to reconcile fundamental tensions using any set of symbols. What Slumdog does is to weave Bollywood and Hollywood and it is this that makes it fascinating. What it says about poverty, violence in itself is banal.
The semiotic task it performs can be seen as a set of tables. Firstly, there is the Bollywood myth of the slum where goodness by itself is self-defeating. As a turf subject to temporariness, the slum is always prone to the tyranny of gangs, cops and politicians. It takes the machismo, the physical violence of the hero to break through. There is however a second myth of the city emerging. It derives from the intellectual and inventive power of the Diaspora which brings with it the same idealism but a better set of skills from the world of management and engineering.
The second myth was actually captured by the TV show 'Kaun Banega Crorpati'. It centres on a quiz as the rule game of an information society. The skills of the slum don't always work in the intellectual akhada of the quiz. Danny Boyle takes the myth of the slum and the quiz and blends them into one story of a slum boy who makes it big in a quiz game. To make it realistic and more competitive he makes the quiz master played by Anil Kapoor a tougher, seedier and hostile creature. This is a character contemptuous of any chai wala who can even dream of entering a quiz.
Now comes the sleight of hand because Bollywood has never merged the two. What is Boyle's procedure for merging the two myths of mobility into one story?
Firstly, he speeds up and compresses time. The movie which is a triptych of parts - the child boy in the slum, the adolescent boy, and the young man- speeds up time. What was a scrap book reads internally like flip-book. Space is now read as time. The second move is a more complex one. Boyle argues that the knowledge of the slum, the little things that happen to you, the visualness of urban life, the primers that you read, are "information". It also creates a subplot where the police are suspicious of the hero's skills. It is under interrogation - which is the only quiz slum kids undergo with the police - that Dev Patel explains how he could answer the questions. The pairing of the two forms of questioning is powerful. It reminds one that interrogation in a police station is also a quiz, and secondly that a quiz intellectually can be as tough as a police interrogation. Both make you sweat it out and in both the stake is survival. Where Boyle is shaky is when he regards the slum as a repository of information. Maybe his message is that we should hybridise knowledge and information. The body as physicality no longer provides the skills because globally the body is the locus of desire, not of labour or physical power.
It is only on seeing Delhi-6 that one realised that Slumdog creates the myth of Bollywood in a hall of mirrors by inverting, inflating and reversing it. Delhi-6 is about an Indian boy from a Diasporic family who escorts his grandmother to her home in Chandini Chowk. If Slumdog is about desire and information, Delhi-6 is about love and stupidity. Stupidity is what happens to knowledge when it is caught in the dark alleyways of superstition. America haunts the movie and it is caught in the visuality of exhibits and spectacles where suddenly the Statue of Liberty is ensconced next to Jama Masjid. The exhibits outside are but dreams within, where Chandini Chowk searches for the America of success and desire in all of us. In Slumdog it is the quiz, in Delhi-6 it is Indian Idol. Both demand a high spectatorship, yet both are dreams of individual mobility. One seeks information to escape the slum, one combines knowledge and the mobile-nubile body to escape the slum, the middle class slum of conservatism and intolerance.
In Boyle's film, the slums of Bombay enact the myth of individual mobility. The tension is the tension of competition. The streets of Chandini Chowk recognise that individual success or freedom cannot come with mobility alone, it needs a collective change of mentalities. Two communities which have synergetically come together fall apart in a fight over a 'black monkey' which threatens all of them. The message is clear; one can't be free till a community is also free. It is here that Delhi-6 brilliantly adds something that Danny Boyle does not understand. Despite the myth of information and the ersatz attempts to see the city as a knowledge society, Bollywood provides a theory of culture. Chandini Chowk with all its rituals reminds the worlds of Bombay and Bangalore. It is a warning that when you priviledge information over knowledge and disembed the two, a culture is emasculated. When a culture is threatened violence becomes the answer, the quick answer to difficult questions. Delhi-6 reminds you that culture is a slow thing, even stupid but it has possibilities. Culture is a whole, a commons in the way a pub culture or quiz culture are not. In a quiet way, a small film on Chandini Chowk tells Slumdog Millionaire it has not quite grasped Bollywood or India. Information can never substitute for the complexity of culture. Every stupid Indian knows that

MALAYSIAN POLICE BRUTALLITY AGAINST MALAYSIAN INDIANS

2009-02-23T23:50:00.000+05:30

Today, I tagged along with our Human Rights Activists who have been
fighting Police Abuses for a long time – S. Jayathas, S. Surendran,
Manickavasagam (MP for Kapar) and M. Manohar (MP for Teluk Intan),
to find out what actually transpired when the 6 were killed by the
Police in Kulim.

fEver since their killing the other day, I have been very bothered
by the event. The media shouted out "criminals" – as if that was
the foregone truth. The Police had executed all 6 of them as if they
were the Prosecutor, Judge and Executioner all in one and utterly
above the law. It was not one, not two; it was six -and it seems
with impunity. Every one had their own view of the episode. But I
needed some answers.

At the outset, let me say that I am not condoning crimes or
criminals; but there are so many questions that this incident raises
that we need some good answers, and fast, as this situation seems to
be spinning out of control – before the ink dries on one, another
seems to happen. Kugan's case before Prabakaran's settled, and now
the six before Kugan's case is settled.

We visited the shootout site, the families of 3 of the deceaseds and
spent some time with the neighbour at the shootout site. The picture
that emerges is different than what the mainstream media has been
putting out. The MSM paints a picture that the Police only returned
fire after being shot at and that this turn of events was totally
unavoidable and that they were dealing with a bunch of unscrupulous
criminals.

Let me detail some of the facts we gathered before commenting on
them. The scene of the shooting was in a small town of Karangan some
15km from Kulim. It was in a small house which was being renovated
in one of the backroads of Karangan, a little off the main road of
the town. The fence around the house was a tall wall made up of
corrugated sheet – something you would do to cut off from view what
was going on inside.

A very forthcoming neighbour told us that when he returned home from
work that rainy night at around 10 or so, he was met with a large
group of policemen in front of his house, who had already packed his
family into the prayer room of his house in the event of stray
bullets during the impending ambush. He was asked to get in with
them. He only heard the frightening shootout that dreadful night
from within his prayer room.

The shootout took place at around 10.30, a very noisy and
frightening episode, narrated that neighbour. There did not seem to
be any attempt by the Police to try to get the people they were
seeking out from the premises, by summoning them out first using
hailers or some such device, before the shoot out. The shooting just
happened. The neighbour knew nothing more till the bodies of the
killed men were removed at somewhere between 4 and 5 am the next
morning.

The first of the killed men, the one that the Police probably had a
reason to get, the owner of the house where the shootout happened,
was shot in the middle of the top of his head, top down it appeared.
The family of this victim mentioned he had several more shots on the
front side of his body – as if someone shot at him from the front.
This individual, we were told by the family had no prior police
record.

The second victim that we visited was someone who was actually
working in Singapore for a company called SBS (maybe the Singapore
Bus Company) who had come back to Kulim for a holiday. He was due
to go back shortly and had a return ticket for that. His death
certificate also indicated death due to shots in the chest.
Apparently he had several shot wounds on the front side of his body
also, as if shot from the front. He appeared to be a friend of the
first victim.

It is not clear from the little information we got that this person
was at all a close accomplice or even a participant in any crime
that may have been in the works. Of course, I am concluding this
with very little information, but these are the facts as we got them
from the family. The family was distraught, because this had damaged
the standing of the family in the community, having their dead son
branded a criminal. This victim also has no past criminal record, we
were told by the family.

The third family we visited was that of a young chap of about 20.
His family lives in a dilapidated little estate house in Padang
Serai. He had seven siblings and it was obvious the family was just
existing. This young chap, it appears, was working for the first
victim assisting in the renovation of the house where the shootout
happened. The parents did not seem to know much more about what he
did. He was obviously not being paid very much, as he had just 2
days before the incident asked one of his family members for 20
ringgit.

He had shot wounds on the forehead and it looked like the back of
his head was all bloodied as if from an exiting bullet. He was
dressed only in a towel at the time of his death. His parents even
had difficulty putting together some money to buy him a shirt and a
dhoty for his burial. 36 ringgit was all they had. They could not
even afford the coffin in which he was ultimately buried. The Police
disallowed the victims' kin to examine the body when they tried to.
The body was all bloodied in the front. This victim also had no past
record, we were told.

To say the least, this was a carnage. It appears like we are in Gaza
or in Iraq or in Afghanistan or even in Sri Lanka – the scale and
method of killing suggests nothing short of this. Let me ask, are we
in one of these countries or is Malaysia descending there?

It looks like Indian lives have become very cheap, very cheap in
this country – the lives of anjing keling, yes that's what it is,
the cheap lives of the anjings - that they can be wasted in this
manner. Uthayakumar was so right!

By all of this, I am in no way saying crime is alright. What I am
saying is the way the problems of crime are being dealt with. Let me
lay out some perspectives for you all to consider:

1) What was the need to kill these people? They were not terrorists.
They had no previous records. They were not murderers, surely not
the mafia. They could have been easily arrested. In fact, where the
first victim regularly stays is just a stone's throw from the Police
Station. Why were they not apprehended? Or why were they not given a
chance to come out with their hands up to surrender themselves for
arrest – even in war this is done. Why were they not given this
chance?

2) We understand there were a number of sharp shooters from around
the country on hand for the job for the Police. This seem to
indicate that this was a planned kill event.

3) Why was it that the shot wounds were all in the front side of the
victims – not any location on the body, but systematically on the
front side?

4) One victim was shot on the top of the head. How could that happen
in a normal exchange of fire? That seems to suggest some crouching
position and a shot into the head, from the top.

5) Why were the victims not shot at on their legs or where they will
not be killed but disabled on being shot?

6) Why were the kin of one of the victims denied their right to
inspect the body?

7) If it was a shootout between the Police and the victims, only two
could have had the guns, as the police produced two guns; why were
the shot wounds so systematic in the chest and the heads on all
three of the victims? We do not know about the other two victims –
but I suspect they will show similarities.

In summary, this ugly incident in the series of incidents of police
killing and atrocities seem to emphasise the following issues.

a) The Police in Malaysia continue killing Indian crime suspects
with impunity – taking upon themselves the role of Prosecutor, Judge
and Executioner all in one. I am sure that the powers be know
exactly what they are doing. So, we have to take it that they are
trying to provoke a response from us so they can slam emergency rule
or something like that and set us all back?

b) The Police very urgently need to be Policed. That looks like
a very remote possibility, as long as UMNO rules this country of
ours. See what's happening to the reform-driven MACC, it has become
just another tool of UMNO. Any IPCMC will probably end up in that
same rubbish bin. In any case, this UMNO regime seems to be
promoting Police brutality as a means of maintaining their hold on
the levers of power.

c) So many crime suspects in Malaysia are from among the Indian
community. I think the answer to this has been already abundantly
answered by Uthayakumar – this underclass of Indians are a direct
result of the UMNO policies over the last 50 years of marginalizing
Indians – neglecting the development of the Indian community. There
does not yet seem to be any serious effort to get to the bottom of
this problem.

d) The way the Police are shooting Indian crime suspects seem to
give additional credence to the racist line of UMNO – the anjing
keling line. They seem to be wittingly or unwittingly creating a
stereotype of the Indians in the country – despicable,
troublecausing and uncouth Indian. What do you think the jibes of
children in school reflect – when little Indian children are
called "anjing keling" by their Malay classmates.

e) Poverty seems to be intertwined with all of this. Take the case
of the third victim that we visited - what kind of money was he
making for him to be lumped up and shot. Does this make sense, 20
years old, barely making a living and then shot in the middle. These
are the youth of the country who should be nurtured and built up
into the the human potential we so much need.

This is all very infuriating.

There comes a time when all of this has to stop. This cannot
continue. UMNO , stop playing games and get on with doing something
positive about the problem. If you do not know how, then get expert
help. I am sure there are agencies around the world that can help.
Or are we to take it that you just do not want to, and then the only
way we can find some resolution to the problem is by replacing you,
UMNO.

UNITED WE MUST STAND
UNITED WE MUST ACT!!!!!

Swat valley: transition from Buddha to Radio Mullah

2009-02-23T13:39:00.000+05:30

Celebrated in the Hindu scriptures as 'udyan' (garden), it's a stunningly picturesque place where the Buddha once walked, cultures intersected, poets sang and mystics came in search of peace. But, sadly, Swat valley in northwest Pakistan has now become synonymous with unrest, bloodshed and Talibanisation.
Not many know that the Swat valley, which is in the news now for the local government's much-criticised peace deal that allows the Taliban to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, in return for surrendering arms, has an unbroken history of over 2,000 years that has seen many religions and civilisations come and go.
'The Swat river is mentioned in the Rig Veda as Suvashtu which literally means the river on which settlements can be made,' Kumkum Roy, professor of ancient Indian history at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the author of 'Historical Dictionary of Ancient India', told IANS.
'Kushan rulers also had connections with the Swat valley,' she said.
Centuries later, the scenic river, which flows from the majestic Hindukush mountains into the Kabul river in the Peshawar valley, is a magnet for Pakistani tourists who love to flaunt the Swat valley as the Switzerland of Pakistan.
Some historical accounts also mention that in 327 BC Alexander the Great crossed the Swat river with part of his army and before going south to conquer the locals at what are now Barikoot and Odegram.
The region has also played host to a succession of dynasties like the Mauryans, the Indo-Greeks, the Indo-Syphians, the Kushans, the Turk-Shahis and the Hindu-Shahis down the ages before the invasion by Mahmud of Ghazni who brought Islam to the valley in the 11th century.
Buddhism thrived in the region that was once the centre of the Gandhara civilisation. The Swat museum has the footprints of the Buddha, who, as legend has it, came to Swat during his last reincarnation as the Gautama Buddha.
Statues of the Buddha, stupas, monasteries, rock carvings, art, coins, pottery and other artefacts can be found everywhere in the valley. Emperor Ashoka is also said to have ordered the erection of a stupa in the region.
In 403 AD, the famous Chinese pilgrim, Fa-Hien, counted 6,000 monasteries in the valley. Two centuries later, Hsuan Tsang, another itinerant monk, saw around 1,400 monasteries.
This splendid multi-layered heritage now stands imperilled with a resurgent Taliban determined to impose its austere version of the ideal Islamic society based on Sharia that has no place for music or other niceties of life and scorns sending girls to school.
Although the restive Swat valley has been known for anarchy and lawlessness for some time, the process of Talibanisation started acquiring a sinister ring in July 2006 when Maulana Fazlullah, a firebrand cleric-turned Taliban ideologue and commander, started broadcasting his Wahhabi interpretation of the Quran and preaching extremist messages to people in the valley.
'Radio Mullah', as he came to be known, soon became a local legend and acquired an army of volunteers who pillaged and burnt girls' schools, CD shops, the famous ski resort and Buddha statues to turn his dream of installing an Islamic emirate into reality.
Not surprisingly, much after their ideological fellow travellers across the border in Afghanistan who brutally destroyed the famous Buddha statues in Bamiyan, they have also turned their ire on what they consider remnants of an infidel culture.
Nearly one and a half years ago, Fazlullah's informal army defaced a 23-foot-high, 7th century Meditating Buddha, carved in a rock in the lap of a mountain in Jehandabad village, in Swat, triggering protests among conservationists and Buddhists all over the world.
Things can only get worse with the Islamabad-backed provincial government striking a deal with the local Taliban represented by Sufi Muhammad, the father-in-law of 'FM Mullah.'

Reclaiming India and Pakistan. Just imagine, pre-islamism, Sanatana Dharma territory.

2009-02-22T22:46:00.000+05:30

The attacks on Mumbai are reminiscent of the first Arab incursions, by sea between 634 and 637 AD through Thana, Broach and Debal. These were repulsed and led to incursions through land routes in the Northwest between 650-711 AD. Muhammad Bin Qasim finally succeeded in occupying parts of Sindh in 712 AD. In contrast to the 70 years it took to occupy Sindh in face of Hindu resistance, the Islamic armies had conquered Persia, Syria, Egypt within eight years of the Prophet"s death. North Africa was taken between 640 AD and 709 AD with Spain falling in 711 AD. Thus the entry of Islam into Hindu India which now has broken into a Muslim Pakistan, a Muslim Bangladesh and a Muslim Afghanistan faced more resistance than its triumphant march elsewhere. When Christian Europe finally won against Islam, they did not leave growing colonies within, to repopulate and create new Islamic nations. Arabs, no longer need attack India. The Muslim descendents of the Hindus, at least in Pakistan and Bangladesh, having severed themselves from their roots and heritage, find greater commonality with Arabic language, customs and religion. The idea of roots, state, civilization or cultural heritage are super ceded by the common ground of Islam.

Islam, does not recognize the idea of sovereignty of state or the concept of individual free will guiding individual choice –whether towards lifestyle or to one"s spiritual path. All Semitic faiths speak of a single God, but clearly not the same one, as each claims an exclusive covenant and an exclusive revelation through an exclusive prophet and salvation through the individual agency representing the religion. Thus if all were true then there must be three equal Gods or if only one were true then there is one true God and two other false Gods with two false creeds and two false institutions. If all were false, the idea of God must be difficult to sustain for the majority of the world and these religions must find a separate mission than offer salvation -invited or uninvited. Of the three great faiths one must admit that the modern Jewish faith does not directly negate
others and does not indulge in the task of conversions overtly and covertly and therefore intrinsically seeks no conflict -only the right of self existence. The Hindus seek peaceful self existence but differ from all, in laying no claim to a unique covenant or a unique
relationship with their own particular God. They further believe in self inquiry, the right to- differ, question, criticize, adopt or reject any particular aspect or tenet of spiritual life. Faith is welcome but not necessary and lack of faith or criticism does not call for execution. No conversions are needed as spiritual life does not mandate membership in an exclusive creed. State has no spiritual responsibility. The spiritual path at the beginning calls for personal purity and righteousness, with non violence and harmlessness to all- and evolves finally towards individual spiritual inquiry leading to
enlightenment or realization -of the nature of God. Venerable Prophets are many, within and outside India, who can be guides but are not necessarily needed. Being reflections of the Divine through the human form they are exalted beings but may have human limitations or imperfection at times. There is no Hindu Umma, Dar al Hind and Dar al
Harb and there are no Momins and Kafirs. No Ghazis are required to wield swords to decapitate heads of Kafirs to reap rewards in an indulgent Zannat to please the one God. For Hindus- property, life and women of Non Hindus, are not subject to enjoyment, destruction, enslavement and confiscation as per scriptural guidelines. Places of worship where others worship are not special targets of wrathful destruction. Hindus have largely chosen to accept, ignore, negate and justify their suffering, believing that tolerance and patience would certainly be rewarded in the long run by dawning of reason among those
who have brutalized India for about ten centuries. Large scale negation has been supplemented by outright falsification of the scale of atrocities on part of Islamic invaders. Indians have also submitted to more subtle but equally pernicious civilizational and spiritual subversion along with economic destruction by the Christian West. Purposeful erosion of the Hindu culture (Kul-achar) and ethos, was ensured, post Independence by the Congress-Communist nexus, under the cloak of secularism. This destruction continues unabated today.

Political empowerment of minorities is yet to occur in Europe and North America while in Islamic countries systematic cleansing has reduced minorities to near extinction almost everywhere. Indian congress, communists, secularists and Human right activists have not
bothered themselves with the Hindu victims of Islam or Christianity. They have built their credibility among foreigners and anti- Hindu faiths by sabotaging the ideal of India"s Nationhood based on Sanatan Dharma.

The idea of a tolerant Islamic State (for Non Muslims) is a contradiction in terms. For Christianity, state and religion, have historically been symbiotic entities -one thriving on the expansion of the other, each empowering the other. State was certainly the vehicle
for Christianity" s spread and eventual conquest of Europe rendering extinct all indigenous forms of spirituality and culture, from Greece to Lithuania beginning from Italy. For Islam, conquest of Arabia wiped out millennia of pre-Islamic Arabic history and culture. Persia and Egypt did not fare better. State as an entity, is subservient to Islam
and is merely its tool for expansion. In Western Europe and more prominently in America, while the pursuit of an individual religion is not interfered with but political empowerment of minority faiths other than Judaism is not even entertained as an idea in political or social discourse .The idea of Hindutva, Hindu fundamentalism are not merely
illogical concepts but are carefully crafted themes to empower the exclusivist faiths who battle today for the soul and soil of India.

There is no state other than India, that has seen political empowerment of minority faiths to an extent that persecution of majority is no longer looked upon with surprise. The ethnic cleansing of 400,000 Kashmiri Hindus in Hindu majority India is ignored, while
communal riots in response the burning of Hindu pilgrims in Godhra is termed pogrom with international condemnation, humiliation, and enquiry commissions whose findings contradict the charge of genocide due to state complicity or permissiveness. This of course cannot satiate the Indian media"s Hindu bloodlust. India"s English media,
human rights activists, television and it"s ruling Cabal reflect a coalition of Christians, Communists, Moslems, Western educated McCaulayites and foreign agents who live on the crumbs from middle east or the West. The zenith of one"s recognition in politics,
academia, art , media, or intellectual circles is related to the degree of virulence one is able to muster against the Hindu and the culture of his forefathers. Regrettably, the defense of majority Hindus in their own land is at the hands of parties like BJP, whose
apologetic conviction of their own heritage offers little hope. Their need for eulogies from the nation"s enemies is only matched by their gutlessness, lack of vision for their nation, colossal lack of cohesive planning and the spinelessness of political opportunism.

How about the spiritual foundation? the very reason why the Hindu has not given up his identity through millennia of occupation. India"s conquest to a large extent was due to loss of Dharma. Dharma as it relates to individual action guides the individual towards his larger sphere of responsibility towards family, community, nation, environment, and world at large. It is not merely individual salvation that religion should contract to, but it must exhort the individual to righteous and courageous action to uphold eternal values enjoined in Sanatan Dharma. Hindu spiritual leaders have miserably failed to exhort Hindus to the highest ideals of civic or community life and have forgotten the entire notion of Rashtra Dharma. Creating competing cults and creeds for self promotion, ritualistic worship or individual salvation without fulfilling all aspects of one"s Dharma is the foundational deficit that is once again propelling India into subjugation by Asuric forces. India"s multitude of temple goers and professional priests can no longer understand the ethos that had decreed motherland to be more exalted than the heavens. Therefore, the ritualistic, cult based, habit reinforced and temple oriented Hindu today is oblivious of the environment he lives in. The insularity of ritualistic behavior has degraded a deep worship tradition to "customary practice" severing philosophic continuity with our children - while outsiders have hardly been subtle in their contempt. For almost a thousand years jeering Islamic armies destroyed temples telling the Hindus that their Gods were mere idols who could not protect themselves, while the Hindu kept rebuilding his temples. The mosque built by the genocidal Babur was no mosque but merely a usurped temple that the weak Hindu finally used his bare hands to bring down
-but to what dramatic disbelief, condemnation and outrage -that a servile Hindu could do this! None bothered that a place of worship was named after a genocidal monarch - for it is but natural for Islam to honor its Ghazis. To protect Babur"s monument (though no Islamic scholar claimed it to be a true mosque) seemed to be a national obsession for the liberal Indian, for it to be brought down a national shame? Can such a country survive its citizenry? Is there a Church in Poland named after Hitler (a faithful) or for that matter, one in Rome after Constantine or Theodosius?

Finally one must come to the intellectual elite of India. The intellectual leaders of India are no longer creative, natural thinkers in indigenous languages but are brilliant products and protagonists of Western Education. One would be hard put to find an Indian thought
leader today who reads or writes in a language other than English. The Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Greeks, Germans, Spaniards, Mexicans or Egyptians do not have "English" intellectual Elite. These countries do no obsess themselves with intellectuals adorned with Booker prizes or Oscars for denigrating their countries. Their leading newspapers, media, or academic institutions do not have to use English to be well
regarded. It is perfectly cute to have the Chinese Premier shake his head at the US President and exchange pleasantries through an interpreter while it is not for the Indian savage to do the same. Indian parents regard education in English and higher studies in the English speaking West to be the highest form of academic achievement. It is a natural consequence to imbibe the English based knowledge systems and discard the vast indigenous intellectual wealth, available in Sanskrit and other indigenous literature. Thus the first rung of our civilization -the intellectual Indian has been simply de-indigenized. Validated by economic success and access to leadership positions this Indian intellectual leadership is Indian only in appearance -in character it represents colonial continuity. It is
virulently anti -Hindu and seeks not to be identified with Hindutva . Why else is "Hindu Tattva" or the essence of being a Hindu a dirty word while "being a good Christian" - a claim to value. Is it not the Hindu seer who gave the world Numbers and Counting, Astronomy, Music, Grammar, Yoga and Ayurveda besides Philosophy and the first glimpse of God ? What knowledge streams did the Prophets from the Monotheistic
faiths bequeath to the world ? India"s English media and its English Children have turned the Hindu into a despicable, backward and intolerable heathen, who is now violent as well. To unleash violence outside one"s borders on alien lands is natural as long as the
perpetrators are Christians or Moslems but to defend oneself and one"s faith within one"s own borders is fundamentalism in case of the Hindu. When the Christians or Moslems disallow proselytization or conversion it is the natural inclination to preserve one"s identity but for the Hindu to take such a view would be unacceptable bigotry. Barring
exceptions, India"s intellectual elite today is India"s most pernicious enemy - an elite reared on the subsidized state sponsored education funded by the toiling Hindu.

One must end with a discussion on solutions. As a first measure the Hindu majority of India must find its voice and aspiration reflected in the media. It must not support an anti India media through viewership, audience, subscription or advertisement revenue in any
form. India must demand a media free of foreign ownership or revenue based influence. Indians must control their media. Equally important for Indians is to elect a leadership that to start with is not anti-India. Needless to say, any leadership that is anti- Hindu is
anti-majority and by definition, anti-India. They cannot be at the helm of the country. Therefore, the UPA, its adherents and its supporting parties must be defeated and discarded into political oblivion. Marxism is welcome as part of academic discourse but its anti-national and anti-majority views do not permit it to be a legitimate political body . Marxist organizations and political parties need to be outlawed. The nexus of criminals and politicians has to be broken by a strengthened judiciary and ruthless imposition of law. A criminalized democracy manipulated by feudal families, foreigners, anti India and anti Hindu agencies is worse than an undemocratic, but ethical administration. India of the past has done far better under Vikramaditya or Chandragupta. The academic institutions of India starting from at its schools need to be entirely revamped. Study of its indigenous languages, knowledge streams, and its classical history from indigenous sources must be mandatory for all, but most of all for its political leadership and administration, as a prerequisite for electoral contest or administration. Anti India
academicians cannot have any public funding sources towards salary, research and publications and media presentations offending Hindu sentiments should not be tolerated. India"s 1.2 billion people and 1 billion Hindus must be what they want to be, not what others manipulate them to be -in this respect they must learn from China. Minorityism in the form of appeasement, selective economic aid, reservation, media propagation and political empowerment for votes, must be eliminated without any compunction -Hindu"s who have chosen to adopt foreign religions have no basis for special consideration,
though they remain free to practice their faith in private. Political action or activism that promotes sedition or violence must be met with violence and eliminated ruthlessly. Hindus should not be supportive of any Hindu religious institution, cult, temple or spiritual leaders who remain disconnected from the concept of a nationalism based on Sanatan Dharma .There cannot be any spiritual path divorced from Dharma in its
broadest sense .To support such self serving Hindu institutions and spiritual leaders is a folly as well. The intellectual leadership of India must be reconstructed and realigned to be steeped in its historical traditions that have always reflected a combination of value systems - a search for discriminatory wisdom, simple living, cultivation of Dharma combined with a sense of honor and valor. Meekness, avoidance of responsibility, search for self gratification and success should not be lauded but are worthy of rejection and
derision. India cannot honor those who dishonor it. Leaders in politics, academia, media, corporate world, arts, sciences or spiritual domain must not be honored anymore for being Anti-Hindu. If Tasleema Nasreen cannot be given asylum in India for offending
sensibilities of Muslims, on what grounds does one have to tolerate the likes of Arundhati Roy, M F Hussain, Jayalalitha , Brinda Karat, Karan Thapar, Shabana Azmi, Agnivesh or AR Antulay?

Hindu majority India managed to lose power and suffer enslavement, decapitation, conversion, jiziya, dhimmitude, and famines apart from annihilation of its identity for over a thousand years. Its current course shows no memory of this experience. All Hindus must act now, through forging a common Hindu identity and must express this identity
through a Hindu vote for a Hindu India - a Muslim India or a Christian India cannot be a pluralistic tolerant India. Let Islam and Christianity demonstrate this first in the lands they control. Let the US elect a non Christian Governor or President and let Indonesia or
Pakistan have a Hindu President first. Let rest of the world demonstrate its equality to the Hindu .The Hindu must protect himself first, to deliver humanity. While India as a nation state should stand for equality for all its citizens and proclaim all life to be sacred as decreed by Sanatan Dharma - it must let its external enemies know, that the future theatres of war would be on their soil and the rites of war would be one that they inflict on others.

Mumbai terror, implications for US interests (Congressional Research report)

2009-02-22T22:18:00.000+05:30

http://www.scribd.com/doc/9940655/001R40087 Congressional Research Service document. Terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India and implications for US Interests by K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs dated December 19, 2008

Excerpts:

A 2006 session of the U.S.-India Joint Working Group

on Counterterrorism ended with a statement of determination from both countries to further

advance bilateral cooperation and information sharing on such areas of common concern as

bioterrorism, aviation security, advances in biometrics, cyber-security and terrorism, WMD

terrorism, and terrorist financing.105 The Working Group has met a total of nine times since its 2000 creation, most recently in August 2008. Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mullen was in New Delhi in early December to meet with senior Indian leaders, where he reiterated the U.S.

military’s commitment to work closely with Indian armed forces on counterterrorism. http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/pr120408a.htm.

The Mumbai incident elicited more vocal calls for deepening U.S.-India counterterrorism

cooperation that could benefit both countries. Such cooperation has been hampered by sometimes divergent geopolitical perceptions and by U.S. reluctance to “embarrass” its Pakistani allies by conveying alleged evidence of official Pakistani links to terrorists, especially those waging a separatist war in Kashmir. Mutual distrust between Washington and New Delhi also has been exacerbated by some recent clandestine U.S. efforts to penetrate Indian intelligence agencies.

Despite lingering problems, the scale of the threat posed by Islamist militants spurs observers to encourage more robust bilateral intelligence sharing and other official exchanges, including on maritime and cyber security, among many more potential issue-areas. See Lisa Curtis, After Mumbai: Time to Strengthen U.S.-India Counterterrorism Cooperation, Heritage Foundation

Backgrounder, December 9, 2008, http://www.heritage.org/Research/AsiaandthePacific/upload/bg_2217.pdf.

U.S. law enforcement agencies possess specialized equipment that can trace voice-over-internet calls, along with other expertise for examining the global position and satellite phone systems used by the attackers. One unnamed senior Indian intelligence source was quoted as saying that FBI assistance in tracing VoIP calls will be a “test case for U.S. promises.” (Praveen Swami, “Key Test for Indo-U.S. Intelligence Ties” (op-ed), Hindu (Chennai), December 3, 2008; quote in “Terror Boat Was Almost Nabbed Off Mumbai,” Times of India (Delhi), December 10, 2008.)

Summary

On the evening of November 26, 2008, a number of well-trained militants came ashore from the

Arabian Sea on small boats and attacked numerous high-profile targets in Mumbai, India, with

automatic weapons and explosives. By the time the episode ended some 62 hours later, about 165

people, along with nine terrorists, had been killed and hundreds more injured. Among the

multiple sites attacked in the peninsular city known as India’s business and entertainment capital

were two luxury hotels—the Taj Mahal Palace and the Oberoi-Trident—along with the main

railway terminal, a Jewish cultural center, a café frequented by foreigners, a cinema house, and

two hospitals. Six American citizens were among the 26 foreigners reported dead. Indian officials

have concluded that the attackers numbered only ten, one of whom was captured.

The investigation into the attacks is still in preliminary stages, but press reporting and statements

from U.S. and Indian authorities strongly suggest that the attackers came to India from

neighboring Pakistan and that the perpetrators likely were members and acting under the

orchestration of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group. The LeT is believed to

have past links with Pakistan’s military and intelligence services. By some accounts, these links

are ongoing, leading to suspicions, but no known evidence, of involvement in the attack by

Pakistani state elements. The Islamabad government has strongly condemned the Mumbai

terrorism and offered New Delhi its full cooperation with the ongoing investigation, but mutual

acrimony clouds such an effort, and the attacks have brought into question the viability of a

nearly five-year-old bilateral peace process between India and Pakistan.

Three wars—in 1947-48, 1965, and 1971—and a constant state of military preparedness on both

sides of the border have marked six decades of bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan. Such

bilateral discord between two nuclear-armed countries thus has major implications for regional

security and for U.S. interests. The Administration of President-elect Barack Obama may seek to

increase U.S. diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving conflict between these two countries. The

Mumbai attacks have brought even more intense international attention to the increasingly deadly

and destabilizing incidence of Islamist extremism in South Asia, and they may affect the course

of U.S. policy toward Pakistan, especially. The episode also has major domestic implications for

India, in both the political and security realms. Indian counterterrorism capabilities have come

under intense scrutiny, and the United States may further expand bilateral cooperation with and

assistance to India in this realm.

For broader discussion, see CRS Report RL33529, India-U.S.

Relations, and CRS Report RL33498, Pakistan-U.S. Relations. This report will not be updated.

www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33529.pdf

www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33498.pdf

Chidambaram’s visit cancelled; US report puts focus on 26/11

Livemint Posted: Fri, Jan 9 2009. 12:38 AM IST

Mint could not immediately ascertain whether the home minister’s trip had been put off because of the imminent change in the US leadership

Liz Mathew

New Delhi: Home minister P. Chidambaram’s proposed trip to the US to share evidence about the involvement of Pakistan-based groups in the Mumbai terror attacks has been cancelled even as a US Congressional research report said it may be time to evolve a new foreign policy for South Asia.

In less than two weeks, Barack Obama will take charge as the next president of the US. Mint could not immediately ascertain whether the home minister’s trip had been put off because of the imminent change in the US leadership.

According to a top official in the ministry of external affairs, or MEA, Chidambaram’s visit had been cancelled because India had already handed over evidence establishing links between the attacks and Pakistan-based “elements” to Pakistan and given copies to the US. The official did not want to be identified. When contacted, Chidambaram declined to comment. He had been expected to meet US homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in Washington.

Meanwhile, the report, “Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai, India and Implications for US Interests”, prepared by the Congressional Research Service for circulation among lawmakers, said the Mumbai attacks could complicate the US’ South Asia policy.

“Potential issues for the 111th Congress with regard to India include legislation that would foster greater US-India counterterrorism relations. With regard to Pakistan, Congressional attention has focused and is likely to remain focused on the programming and potential further conditioning of US foreign assistance, including that related to security and counterterrorism,” the report said.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president of the Centre for Policy Research, a Delhi-based think tank, said the attacks have “re-hyphenated India and Pakistan in the US foreign policy” and “it would be a fair hypothesis to say that the Mumbai attacks were partly carried out to complicate US foreign policy”.

“I think it is now time that the US does a fundamental rethink on its Pakistan policy rather than its South Asia diplomatic efforts,” Mehta said.

Former national security advisor Brajesh Mishra said, “Much is going to depend on the (Joe) Biden visit. Obama is sending Biden, along with four colleagues, to see for themselves.” US vice-president-elect Joe Biden is scheduled visit to Pakistan this week.

Independently, Ted Osius, minister counsellor for political affairs at the US embassy in India, told a conference organized by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce on Thursday that the US would want to look at Russia as an alternative to route its supplies and equipment for bases in Afghanistan and thereby reduce reliance on Pakistan.

Ruhi Tewari, Rahul Chandran and Asit Ranjan Mishra and PTI contributed to this story.

liz.m@livemint.com

http://www.livemint.com/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?artid=BA08F254-DDB1-11DD-A9CC-000B5DABF636

SP blows hot, and then cold, on pullout threat

8 Jan 2009, 0246 hrs IST, TNN

NEW DELHI: A day after the Supreme Court threw a spanner in the Centre's bid to bail out Mulayam Singh Yadav in the DA case, the Samajwadi Party raised the ante with threats of pullout from the UPA, only to suddenly calm down after an audience with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

The sudden rise and fall in SP temper, with party general secretary Amar Singh as protagonist, left political circles bewildered as observers linked the flip-flop to the brazen CBI attempt to get SP chief out of the agency's net.

SP linked its anger to the UPA government's refusal to act decisively against Pakistan, and the late-evening U-turn was also argued around terror, but few were ready to buy the argument.

While the Centre has done its part to help Mulayam Singh out of the CBI net, going to the extent of seeking a withdrawal of the case after having sought the SP chief's prosecution, Samajwadis feel that more needs to be done to clinch the issue.

As the drama played out within a day of the apex court's strong remarks on CBI, the terror-Pakistan link to the rise and drop in SP anger had few takers.

Amar Singh told reporters in the afternoon that SP could withdraw support to UPA as the latter had failed to take decisive action against Pakistan for the Mumbai terror attacks.

"During an all-party meeting 40 days ago, the government had promised party chief Mulayam Singh that decisive action against Pakistan will be taken in 15 days...that deadline is over," he said, adding that a decision would be taken at the parliamentary board meeting on Thursday.

As Congress downplayed the outburst, saying it only showed SP's concern over terrorism, Amar Singh drove to 10, Janpath, for a meeting with Sonia Gandhi. He emerged from her residence to say there was no question of a pullout and that he had only expressed the sentiments of his party workers.

After having built a case around terror in the day-long drama, SP leaders may gather on Thursday to raise the pitch even further. It suits Samajwadis to take a belligerent stand on Pakistan, having realised that public mood has turned completely against the politicking as it did during the Batla House encounter.

SP believes that a tough stance on terror would endear it to voters across the board. That rival Mayawati has also taken a strong line on terror only shows how language of UP politics has changed since the Mumbai attacks.

Brisking neighbour

2009-02-22T22:15:00.000+05:30

Officials estimate that the Taliban has either burnt down or blown up more than 140 educational institutions in the past two years. The picture shows students outside a school after it was destroyed in the Kundar village of Swat Valley.

A small bomb blast does not make the headlines in Karachi anymore. The ensuing dialogue is always followed by the same question: how many killed? One, two or even 10 does not merit a pause in the conversation, let alone a prayer for the departed. These stoic rejoinders are not limited to Karachi. Similar reactions punctuate news of bombings all over Pakistan, perhaps with even more pronounced restraint when the incidents take place in the tribal areas. Just as the news of a bomb blast is met with little incredulity, Pakistanis, confronted with an Islamist insurgency spanning into its third year, continue to insist that their daily lives remain unaffected by the upsurge in Islamist violence around the country. The twin symptoms, resignation and denial, are denominators of Pakistan's new 'normal' — defined as it is by violence so commonplace and insecurity so routine that it no longer registers shock or protest.

This redefinition of ordinary has not been gradual. Even a mere five years ago, the Taliban was an idea relegated to beyond the western border in Afghanistan, and tourists continued to swarm areas like Swat for summer vacations. Ski lifts were crowded and guesthouses remained full all season. The death of that Swat is now old news, no longer reported by journalists, either in Pakistan or abroad.

Yet the magnitude of violence and fear unleashed tells a story of how, in a short span of time, a population can be so vastly terrorised that it is rendered effectively mute. Officials estimate that the Taliban has either burnt down or blown up more than 140 educational institutions in the past two years, leaving nearly a million of the children without access to education. With nearly 30 per cent of the girls having withdrawn from schools and colleges anyway, the news of the announcement by Mullah Shah Doran, the Taliban's second in command, that all girls would be forbidden from attending school from January 15, 2008 was relegated to the inside pages of most newspapers.

If the girls in Swat are bearing the brunt of the Taliban campaign against education, the girls daring to go to school in the urban centre of Lahore are not spared either. The bomb squad in the city reported nearly 50 threats to various schools and colleges in the past few months. The threats were part of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's effort to expand its activities into the cultural capital. As part of this campaign, nearly five "cultural blasts" took place on January 9, 2009 outside theatres which were accused of spreading immorality. The incidents were connected to blasts that took place in the city last year near the Al-Hamra Arts Centre and Garhi Shahu ice cream parlours. The last time the area was threatened, in the form of an anonymous letter written to Shabbir Labha, head of a local trader's organisation, the writer said the area would be bombed if the sale of pornographic CDs was not halted immediately. One day later, traders voluntarily burned 60,000 CDs in a pragmatic move to avert an attack on their market. This most recent "cultural blast," however, came without warning, costing millions of rupees in damage to the theatres.

Singular incidents such as these come and go, but their cumulative effect on the maimed psychology of people is far from being of "low intensity," the term used to describe the explosive used in the most recent Lahore attack. In the past year, Pakistan has overtaken both Iraq and Afghanistan in the number of suicide attacks, with casualties numbering over 600.

No category of targets — from schools to juice shops and from fancy hotels to barber shops — has been spared. The victims have been security officials, businessmen, poor trader women, shopkeepers and, of course, even former Prime Ministers. Television audiences have become used to watching clips of decapitated heads of suicide bombers, which are regularly made available to TV crews after attacks. Everyone knows that when a suicide bomber detonates his explosives, his head pops off and is usually found intact.

The visibility and constant onslaught of violence has a peculiar effect on those witnessing it. As the grasp of the insurgency widens, from the remote tribal areas always, relegated to the recesses of the Pakistani geographical imagination, to the streets of Karachi and even the cultural centre of Lahore, the world of the individual Pakistani constricts further and further. The web of concern and empathy, once expansive enough to encompass fellow countrymen, gets ever narrower, stretching only to include those in ever smaller circles. In contracting their radius of concern, Pakistanis look only to their near and dear, finding solace in the small group that may still remain untouched, and insulating themselves from the assassinated, the kidnapped, the looted and the threatened.

As a result, it is not just bomb blasts that merit little attention, empathy or protest from Pakistanis. Ever worsening crimes — from the live burial of five Balochi women by the relative of a Minister to the unleashing of dogs on a 17-year-old pregnant girl — prompt little mass protest other than by token women's groups and journalists. In a mental exercise engaged in only by the most traumatised, Pakistanis routinely slice their much taxed sympathy into those few that matter and the millions that don't. In the words of one Karachi-ite, "I look down, do my work, pick my children up from school and don't worry too much about what is happening. It's the only way I can survive here."

And then there are the moral conundrums permeated by violence that strategically attacks a set of confused ideological premises which have long plagued the moral conscience of Pakistanis. One area where this confusion is glaring is the regulation of cultural practices considered un-Islamic under the draconian Taliban rubric. It is thus not just the Taliban threats that have an impact on local populations but their reverberations. One example is the Lahore High Court's recent decision to ban 'mujra,' the age-old dance form practised in Lahore for nearly 400 years.

Following the ruling, the theatres where the dancers performed went on strike, prompting the court to reverse the ban and order the dancers to "wear shawls covering their necks and wear shoes." Necks and bare feet were considered too erotic, and hence impermissible. The moral of the story is clear: in a society unsure of the religious merit of its culture and unable to articulate the place of religion, all ills can be blamed on the guilty pleasures that can produce moral shame, and hence justify terror. In this case, the misogyny heaped on female entertainers and the guilt of those selling and consuming their product are effectively used to valorise even the terror produced by the Taliban. When those enjoyments relegated to the guilty recesses of consumption are attacked, their elimination, however crude, is painted as purification rather than denigration of society.

In the years and months since the Taliban insurgency has taken hold, its measure has been taken in lives lost and property damaged. Little effort has been made, however, to evaluate how the incursion of religious extremism has altered civil and social life in Pakistan. The indirect effects of the constriction of empathy, the tacit acceptance of insecurity and the self-imposed moral monism that is intolerant of all differences are effects that have a longer and much more drastic effect. This can already be seen in the muffled non-existence of civil society that can no longer organise or conceptualise a position on any political or legislative issue.

If Pakistan does not have a national, organised movement of civil society groups against terror, it is not because Pakistanis are not suffering. The conglomeration of a survivalist indifference, in which caring is reserved not for the larger world but for the chosen few of one's immediate circle, and the confusion of faith and its role as a moral regulator are ultimately giving birth to a new, more menacing definition of normalcy.

In a country where the population is inured to violence and has resigned itself to persecution, there can be little expectation of political organisation or representation beyond the most illusory. Lulled into catatonia by such pervasive helplessness,

Pakistanis can do little except deny that the violence exists, persecutes and targets them every single day, or stubbornly insist that even if it does, it means little and that life — simply if uncertainly — goes on just as before, with a new definition of normal.

Barbarians at the gate

2009-02-22T22:11:00.000+05:30

There is sufficient reason to be worried about the gutless civilian Government in Pakistan abjectly capitulating to the Islamic fanatics of Swat Valley who have prohibited girls from attending school, ordered women to stay at home, instructed parents to give their daughters as ‘wives’ to the Taliban, begun flogging men in public squares, and will soon replace popular entertainment by way of films and music with stoning victims of rape to death in bazaars. With the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi — never mind that we are talking about the Pakistani variety of Mullah Omar’s masked Afghan killers — virtually coming to power in Malakand division of North-West Frontier Province, reducing the secular ANP Government to no more than a nominal ‘authority’ forced to do Islamabad’s bidding, it’s only a matter of time before the geographic expanse of ‘Jihadistan’ increases to consume large chunks of what remains of Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s moth-eaten Pakistan.

It’s really of little or no relevance that last week’s ‘peace deal’ hinges on the imposition of ‘Nizam-e-Adl’, or shari’ah criminal law: Malakand won’t be the only place in the world where limbs will be chopped off for petty offences or women done to death for the crimes of men. Nor should we be unduly impressed by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s description of the Taliban as “murderous thugs and militants” who “pose a danger to Pakistan, the US and India”. Surely he hasn’t forgotten that it was Benazir Bhutto who connived with the ISI to promote the Taliban, nor should he pretend to be ignorant of the fact that it was Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who aggressively preached “Islam is the solution, the Islamic Bomb is the means”. Having sent Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to the gallows, Gen Zia-ul-Haq could not but have aggressively pushed Islamism and its attendant evils. The poison fruit is now for the PPP and the people of Pakistan to relish.

Mr Arun Jaitley of the BJP was not being facetious when he said that the Taliban are a mere five hours away from India. Parliament may have missed the point and the Prime Minister’s flatterers may be upset that he should have compared the absentee head of Government as a ‘night watchman’, but it would be outright stupid to ignore the fact that the barbarians are at the gate. Let us also bear in mind that the Deobandi madarsas which produced the taliban who then went on to become the Taliban — in Pakistan and Afghanistan — are not entirely dissimilar to the madarsas which have mushroomed across the length and breadth of India, nurtured by both mullahs and their patrons in the ‘secular’ political parties, of which the Congress is just one example.

Let it also be said that the ‘intolerance’ of the Taliban which so alarms us is not specific to the ‘murderous thugs’ of Swat Valley and Kandahar. We have seen dissident Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen being hounded out of Kolkata by Islamic fanatics and forced to leave India by the ‘secular’ UPA Government which now wrings its hands and waxes eloquent on the dangers of the rise of Talibani fanaticism. If only such concern had been expressed over the editor and publisher of The Statesman being arrested for reproducing a scintillating article from The Independent, written by Johann Hari, Mr Anand Sharma’s vapid reaction to the fall of Swat Valley would have carried some conviction. If Pakistan is now paying a steep price for its duplicitous policy of using violent Islamism to further its strategic interests in Afghanistan and bleed India through a ‘thousand cuts’, we too shall pay a price for following a line of least resistance and legitimising appeasement by grafting what the Prime Minister described as “Muslims first” to the policies of an allegedly secular state.

There are other similarities which make India as vulnerable as Pakistan to the scourge of Taliban. For all its emphasis on subjugating the country to the supremacy of Islam, of being one with the ummah, and its repeated proclamation of the equality of Muslims, Pakistan has abysmally failed to deliver good governance. Elected Prime Ministers and military dictators have equally fleeced the country, pushed the masses deeper into poverty, made a mockery of the judicial system, and maintained a dissolute elite’s hegemony over Pakistan’s politics, economy and society. Islamism was once a useful means to distract the masses and silence critics. Islamism now has become a powerful tool to mobilise the masses against the elite. Real grievances and imagined victimhood have coalesced to create a fetid swamp that breeds the deadliest of germs, of which the Taliban is a particularly venomous species.

Cut to India. The vast Muslim underclass remains unaffected and untouched by the Prime Minister’s “Muslims first” creed. While Mr Manmohan Singh spends sleepless nights agonising over the plight of those suspected to be involved in jihadi terrorism, millions of Muslims spend sleepless nights — as do millions of Hindus — wondering where their next meal is going to come from. When the Government decides to reward the families of slain jihadis, it sends out a loud message to Muslims: Take up the gun, die in action, ensure a better life for your families. By casting aspersions on Delhi Police and accusing them of killing ‘innocent’ Muslims, the Prime Minister’s Cabinet colleagues encourage moderates to turn extremists. When madarsas are euologised and Saraswati Sishu Mandir schools are relentlessly demonised, the ulema feel sufficiently emboldened to include hate in their teachings. When the Government slyly allows the setting up of qazi courts, which dispense justice according to shari’ah, and lets them function without so much as a whimper of protest, it tells Muslims that India’s secular justice system is incapable of protecting their interests. When a wholly illegitimate All-India Muslim Personal Law Board is allowed to dictate how Muslims should run their personal lives, the state abdicates its responsibility to its citizens. As in Pakistan, here too the Government has come to believe that Islam is a substitute for jobs, housing and health services. Azamgarh to Alappuzha, Dibrugarh to Dharwad, a fetid swamp similar to that of Pakistan’s is spreading; the ‘Indian Mujahideen’ are the produce of this swamp.

The distance between Swat Valley and Islamabad is 160 km. Jamia Nagar is in Delhi.

2009-02-22T22:05:00.000+05:30

The recent surrender by the Pakistani State to the Taliban in the Swat valley may well turn out to be a watershed in the history of the Indian subcontinent. In terms of long-term impact, this may even overshadow the recent Mumbai massacres. All signs point to the 'Talibanisation' of Pakistan. Here are several pointers:

* I A Rehman writing in the Dawn newspaper on February 12 says 'the Pakistani armed forces were indoctrinated in General Zia-ul Haq's rule to reserve senior posts for genuine Islamists. The Pakistan army may have the capacity to kill hordes of people, but it will not -- and cannot -- do that.' The army and the State may well disintegrate if it does.
* General Ashfaq Kayani, son of a former soldier, is the first non-elite chief of the Pakistani army. Given his socio-economic background, he is more likely to be part of the 'natural' constituency of the Taliban.
* We have the example of Iran -- on February 11, 1979, when the mass upsurge to impose 'Islamic rule' reached its zenith, the Iranian army declared its 'neutrality' in the ongoing conflict. This sealed the fate of the Shah of Iran. A similar happening in Pakistan is very likely.
* Slumdog Jihadis: The Dawn on December 18, 2008, quoted the Pakistan Planning Commission's Deputy Chairman Sardar Asef Ahmad Ali that poverty had skyrocketed to above 40 per cent in the country, leaving millions helpless. It is these poor/unemployed/ uneducated people that are cannon fodder for the jihadis. The interrogation of the lone surviving Mumbai terrorist Ajmal Kasab's story fits the bill. There are such 48 million Ajmals waiting in Pakistan to be primed against India.

I found it extraordinary that Indians were always blissfully unaware of developments in their neighbourhood. No ruler of Delhi ever woke up when the enemy crossed the Khyber Pass. The first stirrings of action were usually when the enemy was at the gates, at Panipat, just a day's march from Delhi.

Indians have been made to totally forget the holocaust that they faced in past; the name Hindukush itself means 'Hindu killer', a reminder of the days when thousands of Indians died on the mountain slopes while being taken to Central Asia as slaves.(the Encyclopaedia Britannica quoting a 12th century traveller Ibn Batua)

Nearer our times, the 1981 UN declaration of Universal Human Rights writes; 'Among the genocides of human history, the highest number of people killed in the small span of time is in Bangladesh in 1971. An average of 6,000 to 12 000 people were killed every single day. This is the highest daily average in history.' The lower estimate shows that 15 lakh were killed, a majority of them Hindus. A commission of inquiry appointed by the Pakistan government, the Hamidoor Rehman Commission, has recorded testimonies of Pakistani army officers who have quoted General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi asking the question 'How many Hindus have you killed today?' as a matter of routine. We have forgotten this recent episode as well.

Demography is destiny

Pakistan has a very high rate of population growth. Although it has declined from three percent at the time of the census in 1981 to the present 1.9 per cent it is still the highest among populous countries of more than 50 million, except Nigeria. The more reliable indicator of population growth is the total fertility rate -- the number of children born to a woman in her reproductive span. Pakistan's TFR is four. A TFR of 2.1 is considered replacement level which leads to a stable population.

In Pakistan, the under-15 population is 37 per cent of the total. Given the poor education, health and skills of this youth, they are fodder for jihad and little else. With the mullahs constantly drumming that all of Pakistan's ills are due to the evil Hindu India/Zionist Israel/Christian America troika, Pakistan's biggest export for a long time is likely to be terror.

If by some miracle, Pakistan is to implement population control tomorrow, it will take two to three decades for it to take effect. Even if the re-brainwashing was to begin now, again it is bound to take time. The sad fact is that neither of these things is happening either tomorrow or any time soon.

Impact of the economic meltdown

For decades over 25 percent of the Pakistani labour force was employed in the oil-rich Middle East. With the economic downturn and lower oil prices, the boom is over. The Dubai shopping festival was a flop this year. The returning labour force will only add to the unemployment in the country.

In any case, Pakistan has very little industry and its agriculture is confined to Punjab and parts of Sindh. Most of the country's landmass is arid and unfit for agriculture. Rural poverty will gallop in the near future.

Ripe for implosion

The politics of extremism as represented by the Taliban, the economic meltdown and demographic pressure all point to a major implosion in Pakistan. Are we ready for the fallout?

Despite this threat staring in our face there is a palpable lack of national unity -- another Indian trait. In the last four years, we have let our defence apparatus go to seed, so much so that we have lost the conventional edge over Pakistan.

Given this situation the only option for India is to 'isolate and contain' Pakistan. That still leaves the million dollar question about Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Here one hopes that all those joint exercise with special forces of the US, UK, Israel, China and Russia were in preparation for this very contingency.

If not, then God save the world!

The corrupt Government and Ivestigation agency

2009-02-12T00:27:00.000+05:30

Agency has sold its soul, say legal luminaries

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) acted under the Centre's
directive in seeking to bail out Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh
Yadav in the disproportionate assets case. The CBI's admission in the
Supreme Court on Tuesday sent shock waves among legal luminaries, with
senior advocate KTS Tulsi even saying the CBI "has sold its soul".

Making the startling disclosure, Additional Solicitor General (ASG)
Mohan Parasaran said the CBI's plea to withdraw an earlier letter for
Mulayam's prosecution was based on the Union Law Ministry's
instructions.

The shocking revelation is another low in the disgraceful history of an
organisation that has invited regular criticism for being a "puppet" of
the Central Government. The CBI's role in Bofors accused Ottavio
Quattorocchi' s escape and de-freezing of his London accounts, its
refusal to challenge RJD chief Lalu Prasad's acquittal in the fodder
scam and its flip-flop on corruption cases against BSP supremo Mayawati
have earned it a great deal of notoriety.

On October 26, 2007, the agency had filed an application seeking
permission to table its investigation report before the Supreme Court.
The CBI had then held that there was prima facie evidence to nail
Mulayam Singh and his kin in corruption cases. Those were the days when
the SP and the Congress were on opposite sides of the political divide.

But after the SP came closer to the UPA and bailed out the Manmohan
Singh Government by voting in favour of the confidence motion, the CBI
took an about-turn. On December 6, 2008, the agency filed an application
to withdraw its earlier request to table charges against Mulayam, which
could have led to his prosecution. The agency said it had received
representation from Mulayam to reconsider the evidences and cited this
reason for the flip-flop.

"We proceeded to take the view of the Law Minister whether to take
action on Mulayam's representations. We received opinion from the Law
Ministry to withdraw the October 2007 application and file a fresh
application dated November 26, 2008, which was filed in the court on
December 6. On that opinion, we filed the fresh application, " the ASG
added.

The CBI's submission stunned the court, forcing the Bench of Justices
Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph to remark, "So you were acting at the
behest of the Law Ministry. You were not acting independently. What you
just now said is something unusual."

Digging deeper, the Bench asked, "Is this the only case where the CBI
has followed the practice of referring for opinion to the Law Ministry
or has it been resorting to this in the past also?" The ASG replied, "In
the past also, we have referred (cases) for their opinion. I have stated
the facts as they are."

The Bench sought to know what stopped the agency from approaching the
court on considering the representations. It was on March 1, 2007, that
the apex court had directed the CBI to investigate into the
disproportionate assets of Mulayam, his two sons Akhilesh and Prateek,
and daughter-in- law Dimple on a PIL filed by one Vishwanath Chaturvedi.
"Why did you go to the Central Government? Why didn't you approach us?"
the Bench asked.

It also asked, "When the investigation was completed and you received
additional material, does anything stand in way of your examining it?"
The ASG replied in the negative. This gave the court sufficient proof to
hold the CBI at fault.

Finding itself in a rather sticky position, Solicitor General GE
Vahanvati chose to remain neutral. Appearing for the Centre, he
clarified, "We don't want to take any decision in this matter. Let the
CBI consider the representation and submit report to the court."

The CBI's admission, however, gave sufficient ammunition to petitioner
Chaturvedi and Mulayam and his kin to take potshots at the agency's foul
play.

Leading the attack was senior advocate Harish Salve, who hinted at the
CBI report being replete with errors and falsehoods, such as Rs 1 lakh
being shown as Rs 10 lakh and a non-existing hotel valued as an asset of
Mulayam. Salve said, "I said it then and I say it now that the CBI is
not to be trusted with investigations in this case."

Referring to the CBI report available in the public domain, a fact that
attracted shock and anguish from the court, Salve blamed the CBI for
"select leak" of the report designed to tarnish his client's image.
Offering to get the Augean stables cleaned for once, Salve offered to be
probed by a judicial authority in place of the CBI.

Amused by this suggestion, the Bench remarked, "It was Hercules who
cleaned the Augean stables. Where do you get a Hercules?" The concern of
the Bench resonated in the arguments of senior advocate KTS Tulsi, who
appeared for Chaturvedi. Referring to a catena of Supreme Court
decisions and the CBI manual, Tulsi suggested that the apex court since
the 1991 Veeraswamy case was concerned to preserve the CBI's
independence.

Quoting the CBI manual, which requires the preliminary inquiry report in
court-directed cases to be deposited with the court, Tulsi added, "It is
not that the CBI does not know the law. It only shows that CBI has sold
its soul."

The counsels appearing for Mulayam's kin demanded that the CBI's
application ought to be decided along with the review petitions being
heard by the court filed by them. Salve raised the plank that his client
was a victim of political vendetta at the behest of the petitioner, who
was a "professed" Congress activist. In this regard, he referred to a
taped conversation of Chaturvedi where he bared out his vested interest
by showing the judiciary in poor light. On his part, Chaturvedi's
counsel requested the court to provide security to his client in the
wake of the threats received.

The court allowed Salve to file additional material in the form of CDs
and related affidavit. Posting the matter for March 31, it left open the
question whether the hearing pertaining to the taped conversation should
be held in camera. The Bench directed the UP Government to ensure
security to Chaturvedi as requested by him.

The rotten judicial system of India

2009-02-11T15:46:00.000+05:30

The root cause of the delay in judicial system is the judges who
only give another date, instead of deciding the case before them.
Adjournment of cases without sufficinent cause,should be treated
as "non-performance" of duties, for which judges should be
answerable and accountable to all concerned. Currently, there is no
stigma attached to non-performance of judicial duties by the judges.

According to Articles 227 and 235 of the Constitution of India, High
Courts have control over District Court and Subordinate Courts.There
is a strong case for extending this to identify, admonish and take
administrative measures against "non-performing" judges of
subordinate courts, who prefer to adjourn cases instead of deciding
them.

High Courts have excessive burden on account of cases pending before
them and have no time for excercising effective control. They are
also guilty of "adjourning instead of deciding cases"; therefore
such non-performance by subordinate courts is treated vey lightly.
High Courts should strengthen administrative support to carry out
their duties under Article 227/235 in a thorough manner, to find
solution to the rot in subordinate courts.

If RTI is used to demand public records about superintendance of
High Court over subordinate courts, one can gather "documentary
evidence" regarding non-performance of constitutional duties by the
High Court. It is in public interest to find effective solution to
excessive judicial delays.

Lawyers can not be expected to solve this problem: they thrive on it
and it is a matter of their rozi-roti. Lawyers may prefer to oppose
any change in legal process that may have adverse effect on their
income.

श्रीराम सेना का रास्ता

2009-02-10T11:28:00.000+05:30

मंगलूर के एक पब में शराब पीने वाली लड़कियों की पिटाई के मामले ने जैसा राजनीतिक रंग अख्तियार किया है उससे देश में सात्विक सोच रखने वालों की मानसिक पीड़ा में भले वृद्धि हुई हो, लेकिन किसी को आश्चर्य नहीं हुआ है। हमारी राजनीति अपनी ही निर्धारित कसौटियों पर जिस अध:पतन की ओर अग्रसर है उसमें किसी भी मुद्दे पर विवेक से राष्ट्रहित के लक्ष्य से आचरण करने की कल्पना अब बेमानी हो चुकी है। यह दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण है, क्योंकि इसके कारण आम आदमी के लिए कौन सही है और कौन गलत, यह फैसला करना कठिन हो जाता है। मंगलूर मामले में भी यही स्थिति है। किसी भी परिस्थिति में हिंसा का समर्थन नहीं किया जा सकता। चाहे कारण कितना भी न्यायसंगत हो, हिसंक विरोध से केवल नकारात्मक संदेश ही निकलता है। श्रीराम सेना के कार्यकर्ताओं द्वारा अपनाया गया तरीका गलत है। कुछ लोग इसे कानून अपने हाथ में लेना कह सकते हैं, लेकिन आंदोलन करने वालों को कानून-व्यवस्था के वास्तविक चेहरे का बेहतर अहसास है। बावजूद इसके ऐसे अराजक विरोध की इजाजत किसी को नहीं मिलनी चाहिए, किंतु इसका यह भी अर्थ नहीं कि गलत तरीके से विरोध करने के कारण मुद्दा भी गलत हो गया। तर्क दिया जा सकता है कि पब को सरकार ने लाइसेंस दिया है और उसमें यह कहीं नहीं लिखा कि लड़कियां/ महिलाएं वहां शराब नहीं पी सकतीं। संविधान एवं कानून हमारे यहां स्त्री-पुरुषों के बीच भेद नहीं करता तो फिर कोई लड़की/ महिला यदि पब में शराब पी रही है या डांस कर रही है तो इससे किसी को आपत्ति क्यों होनी चाहिए? आखिर पुरुष वही सब करें तो आपत्ति नहीं है और महिला करे तो इतनी आपत्ति कि उन्हें भयभीत करने के लिए हिंसा तक का सहारा लिया जाए। श्रीराम सेना के नेता प्रमोद मुथालिक ने कहा है कि वे भारतीय संस्कृति बचाने के लिए लड़कियों को अनैतिक होने से बचाना चाहते हैं। श्रीराम सेना की संस्कृति, अनैतिकता एवं अश्लीलता की परिभाषा से असहमति हो सकती है और यह भी प्रश्न किया जा सकता है कि आपको इसकी ठेकेदारी किसने दी, किंतु लोकतंत्र यदि आपको सरकारी लाइसेंस से कुछ करने का अधिकार देता है तो दूसरे को उसका विरोध करने का भी उतना ही अधिकार है। हिंसक विरोध का तो प्रतिकार होना चाहिए, लेकिन विरोध होना ही नहीं चाहिए, ऐसी दलीलें गैर वाजिब हैं। श्रीराम सेना का विरोध करने की सीमित मानसिकता में हम यह भूल रहे हैं कि शराबखोरी का सबसे ज्यादा दुष्परिणाम महिलाओं को ही झेलना पड़ता है। पिछले कुछ सालों में शराब की दुकानों या ठेके बंद करवाने का अंादोलन जहां भी तीखा हुआ उसकी अगुआई महिलाओं ने ही की है। वस्तुत: सारी समस्या पूरे प्रकरण को गलत नजरिये से देखने एवं राजनीतिक दलों द्वारा इसे राजनीतिक रंग देने के फलस्वरुप पैदा हुई है। श्रीराम सेना की यह सोच बचकानी है कि ऐसे विरोधों से वह भारतीय संस्कृति की रक्षा करेगी या महिलाओं या संपूर्ण समाज को अनैतिक होने से बचा लेगी, लेकिन यह एक हिंदुत्ववादी संगठन है और इस समय कर्नाटक में भाजपा की सरकार है इसलिए विरोधियों द्वारा उसे निशाना बनाना बिल्कुल आसान है।

दुनिया में मार्ग दुर्घटनाओं पर काम करने वाले बार-बार यह साबित कर रहे हैं कि इनमें बड़ी संख्या उन चालकों की है जो शराब पिए थे। शराबबंदी आंदोलन के समर्थक बार-बार आंकड़े देकर यह साबित करने का प्रयास करते हैं कि इससे होने वाली आमदनी से इसके कारण होने वालों अपराधों के नियंत्रण एवं उनकी कानूनी कार्रवाइयों पर खर्च कहीं ज्यादा है। इन आंकड़ों पर सहमति कठिन है, लेकिन हमें शराब पर महात्मा गांधी के विचार जानने चाहिए: उनका कहना था,''आपको ऊपर से ठीक दिखाई देनेवाली इस दलील के भुलावे में नहीं आना चाहिए कि शराबबंदी जोर-जबरदस्ती के आधार पर नहीं होनी चाहिए और जो लोग शराब पीना चाहते हैं उन्हें इसकी सुविधाएं मिलनी ही चाहिए। राज्य का यह कर्तव्य नहीं है कि वह अपनी प्रजा के कुटेवों के लिए अपनी ओर से सुविधाएं दे। हम वेश्यालयों को अपना व्यवसाय चलाने की अनुमति पत्र नहीं देते। इसी तरह हम चोरों को अपनी चोरी की प्रवृत्ति पूरी करने की सुविधाएं नहीं देते। मैं शराब को चोरी और व्यभिचार, दोनों से ज्यादा निंद्य मानता हूं।'' आज अगर गांधी जिंदा होते तो शराब के समर्थक उन्हें भी प्रतिगामी घोषित कर देते। उन्होंने सोचा भी नहीं होगा कि कभी ऐसा दिन जाएगा जब विकास के नाम पर शराब या ऐसे अन्य नशे को सरकार की सुरक्षा इसलिए मिलेगी कि इससे कर राजस्व प्राप्त होता है। जाहिर है कि इस बुराई को दूर करना होगा, किंतु इसके लिए अहिंसक रास्ता अपनाया जाना चाहिए।

Golden Words of Hitler:

2009-02-10T00:26:00.000+05:30

When u r in light, everything will follow u. But when u enter dark, even your own shadow
will not follow u
that is life
God made relatives. Thank God we can choose our friends
Money glitters, beauty sparkles, and intelligence shines.
Keep a very firm grasp on reality, so you can strangle it at any time.
Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're getting.
People may not always believe what you say, but they will believe what you do.
I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.
You can't have everything - where would you put it?
Laugh and the world ignore you. Crying doesn't help either.
God is not moved or impressed with our worship until our hearts are moved and impressed by Him.
Life is like a mirror, if you frown at it, it frowns back; if you smile, it returns the greeting.

Never trust a person who isn't having at least one crisis.
Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
The only thing lazy people do fast is get tired.
Never deprive someone of hope; it may be all they have.
Silence is the only thing that can't be misquoted!
If we don't control our money, it will control us.
Life Insurance: A contract that keeps you poor all your life so that you can die rich..

Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.
If you r living on the edge, make sure you're wearing your seat belt.
A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
Minds, like parachutes, only function when they are open.
The shortest distance between two points is under construction.
Learn from other people's mistakes, life isn't long enough to make them all yourself.
On the road, never argue with a vehicle heavier than yours.
One thing you can give and still keep is your word.
Life is funny if you don't think about it.
Life is like a grammar lesson. You find the past perfect and the present tense.
There are two kinds of lawyers, those who know the law and those who know the judge.
More doors are opened with 'please' than with keys.

worlds biggest Failures

2009-02-06T23:06:00.000+05:30

To succeed in business or life we must continually take remedial actions. Putting yourself on the line day after day can be extremely draining, especially when things do not work out as desired. Hence, each time a disappointing event happens, I like to get reminded of these famous failures:

Bill Gates founder and chairman of Microsoft, has literally changed the work culture of the world in the 21st century, by simplifying the way computer is being used. He was the world's richest man for more than one decade. However, in the 1970's before starting out, he was a Harvard University dropout. The most ironic part is that, he started a software company (that was soon to become Microsoft) by purchasing the software technology from "someone" for only $US50 back then.

Abraham Lincoln received no more than 5 years of formal education throughout his lifetime. When he grew up, he joined politics and had 12 major failures before he was elected the 16th President of the United States of America.

Isaac Newton was the greatest English mathematician of his generation. His work on optics and gravitation made him one of the greatest scientists the world has even known. Many thought that Isaac was born a genius, but he wasn't! When he was young, he did very poorly in grade school, so poor that his teachers became clueless in improving his grades.

Ludwig van Beethoven, a German composer of classical music, is widely regarded as one of history's supreme composers. His reputation has inspired ? and in many cases intimidated ? composers, musicians and audiences who were to come after him. Before the start of his career, Beethoven's music teacher once said of him "as a composer, he is hopeless". And during his career, he lost his hearing yet he managed to produce great music ? a deaf man composing music, ironic isn't!

Thomas Edison who developed many devices that greatly influenced life in the 20th century. Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S patents to his name. When he was a boy his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything. When he set out on his own, he tried more than 9,000 experiments before he created the first successful light bulb.

The Woolworth Company was a retail company that was one of the original five-and-ten- cent stores. The first Woolworth's store was founded in 1878 by Frank Winfield Woolworth and soon grew to become one of the largest retail chains in the world in the 20th century. Before starting his own business, Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21. But his employer would not let him serve any customer because he concluded that Frank "didn't have enough common sense to serve the customers".

By acclamation, Michael Jordon is the greatest basketball player of all time. A phenomenal athlete with a unique combination of grace, speed, power, artistry, improvisational ability and an unquenchable competitive desire. Jordan single-handedly redefined the NBA superstar. Before joining NBA, Jordan was just an ordinary person, so ordinary that was he was removed from the high school basketball team because of his "lack of skill".

Walter Disney was American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor and animator. One of the most well-known motion picture producers in the world, Disney founded a production company. The corporation, now known as The Walt Disney Company, makes average revenue of US $30 billion annually. Disney started his own business from his home garage and his very first cartoon production went bankrupt. During his first press conference, a newspaper editor ridiculed Walt Disney because he had no good ideas in film production.

Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade. However, that never stopped him to work harder! He strived and eventually became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Churchill is generally regarded as one of the most important leaders in Britain and world history. In a poll conducted by the BBC in 2002 to identify the "100 Greatest Britons", participants voted Churchill as the most important of all.

Steven Spielberg is an American film director. He has won 3 Academy Awards and ranks among the most successful filmmakers in history. Most of all, Steven was recognized as the financially most successful motion picture director of all time. During his childhood, Spielberg dropped out of junior high school. He was persuaded to come back and was placed in a learning-disabled class. He only lasted a month and then dropped out of school forever.

Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist widely regarded as the most important scientist of the 20th century. He was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect in 1905 and "for his services to Theoretical Physics". However, when Einstein was young, his parents thought he was mentally retarded. His grades in school were so poor that a teacher asked him to quit, saying, "Einstein, you will never amount to anything!"

In 1947, one year into her contract, Marilyn Monroe was dropped by 20th Century-Fox because her producer thought she was unattractive and could not act. That didn't deter her at all! She kept on going and eventually she was recognized by the public as the 20th century's most famous movie star, sex symbol and pop icon.

John Grisham's first novel was rejected by sixteen agents and twelve publishing houses. He went on writing and writing until he became best known as a novelist and author for his works of modern legal drama. The media has coined him as one of the best novel authors even alive in the 21st century.

Henry Ford's first two automobile companies failed. That did not stop him from incorporating Ford Motor Company and being the first to apply assembly line manufacturing to the production of affordable automobiles in the world. He not only revolutionized industrial production in the United States and Europe, but also had such influence over the 20th century economy and society. His combination of mass production, high wages and low prices to consumers has initiated a management school known as "Fordism". He became one of the three most famous and richest men in the world during his time.

Soichiro Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation during a job interview as "engineer" after World War Two. He continued to be jobless until his neighbours starting buying his "home-made scooters". Subsequently, he set out on his own to start his own company. Honda. Today, the Company has grown to become the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer and one of the most profitable automakers - beating giant automaker such as GM and Chrysler. With a global network of 437 subsidiaries, Honda develops, manufactures and markets a wide variety of products ranging from small general-purpose engines and scooters to specialty sports cars.

Akio Morita, founder of giant electric household products, Sony Corporation, first product was an electric rice cooker, only sold 100 cookers (because it burned rice rather than cooking). Today, Sony generates US$66 billion in revenue and ranked as the world's 6th largest electronic and electrical company.

Cyclical upheavals, routine shock

2009-02-04T22:52:00.000+05:30

Every few years, we have a downturn. This is not a very surprising thing to say for

history has taught us that periods of prosperity are
interspersed with those of
economic tightness. This means that ever so often, good times will give way to bad, economies that were booming will stagnate (Japan for the last 15 years), companies that were star performers will struggle (Sony) and countries that were superpowers will find themselves going through a rough patch (Russia after the end of the Cold War). Sometimes these changes in fortune will be of a longer duration and occasionally, we will see a change in the order of a more permanent kind.

Things move in cycles. This is a simple truth. Then why is it that we find ourselves in such a tizzy when we come across a routine, frequently recurring phenomenon? Why are we so unprepared both commercially and emotionally, to face the transient challenge of economic hardship? In India's case we are not shrinking, merely slowing down our rate of growth. But even if we were to talk about the developed world why do we find ourselves in such a state of desperation today? The idea of the market is that there will always be losers; the market celebrates the unequal nature of the world and sees it as the reason why individuals are driven to achievement.

For everyone who is buying when the price is low, someone is selling at the same price. Why do we celebrate the discriminatory nature of the market in good times and run to the referee the moment the market as a whole takes a dive. Isn't that too part of the market mechanism?

More importantly, we know this will pass. Just as we knew this would happen, but for a large part, chose to believe otherwise. Experts told us that the growth would be sustained for longer. The story seemed compelling then just as today the recession story seems equally inevitable. Of course, this had to happen; hindsight loves inevitability, just as foresight skirts around the cyclical nature of reality.

And yet, the story of humankind is nothing but a sustained battle against the stubborn inevitability of Nature. For nature imposes its bloody-minded gods on us that do not allow any event or phenomenon to continue unhindered. Night foils day, winter shrivels summer, good monsoons get rudely interrupted by droughts.

Civilizations flourish and tumble, species multiply and die, mountains become oceans and grasslands turn to sand. Which is why the idea of progress is based on pushing back the constraints imposed on us by nature. Culture seeks to harness biology as well as to thwart it. The manmade replaces the god-given as we set out to dismantle the power of natural phenomena, physical constraints and cyclical upheavals.

Technology has helped us erase the experience of most cycles. Electricity has turned night into day, air-conditioning has made summers quilt-friendly and cosmetics and medical science have postponed both death and age. Viagra has reduced the consequences of age while contraceptives have eliminated the tyranny of the fertility cycle. Menstruation continues its reign, albeit with a little less certitude and it is only a matter of time before this cycle too, is tamed.

The rebellion against cycles and the belief in an unbroken journey towards more reveals itself in other arenas of life too. Classical music, with its carefully extended rhythm and its spirally unfolding structure, works over too long a period of time to be popular. Cricket too leans towards the T20 format with its compression of ups-and-downs. In the West, most marriages do not survive the first emotional downturn that couples encounter and the quest for unbroken excitement creates a sweeping disregard for the psychic debris that is gathered in its wake.

So why should business be any different? Why should it not pretend that the market should perpetually rise and why should it not judge individual companies on a consistently upward performance every single quarter? Why prepare for bad times when you can sack thousands ever so often? Why not feed into the huge anxiety that such downturns generate and cadge a few billions from panicky governments?

The animal kingdom understands the rhythm of cycles and works to create a sustainable future for itself. Mating, breeding, feeding and migration occur cyclically and are all geared towards long-term survival. The male emperor penguin spends 115 days without a meal while incubating its offspring while its mate spends the winter at sea. It does not see deprivation and abundance as two separate phenomena but recognizes that they are part of a single process, something we seem curiously unable to do. We react to these two phases as if they are unrelated and need to be managed independently. We do not prepare in good times for bad and vice versa.

So right now we believe that we need to do something dramatic to get out of this cycle. It's almost as if we don't believe in the market any more. For India, the disconnect is even greater as we rush to embrace somebody else's reality as our own. Eventually things will get better. And then we will again forget that they will, very soon get worse again.

Give your 100% always

2009-02-03T22:43:00.000+05:30

A Small Story…

A boy and a girl were playing together. The boy had a collection of marbles. The girl had some sweets with her. The boy told the girl that he will give her all his marbles in exchange for her sweets. The girl agreed.

The boy kept the biggest and the most beautiful marble aside and gave the rest to the girl. The girl gave him all her sweets as she had promised.

That night, the girl slept peacefully. But the boy couldn't sleep as he kept wondering if the girl had hidden some sweets from him the way he had hidden his best marble.

Moral of the story: If you don't give your hundred percent in a relationship, you'll always keep doubting if the other person has given his/her hundred percent.. This is applicable for any relationship like friendship, employer-employee relationship etc., Give your hundred percent to everything you do and sleep peacefully

पख्तून राष्ट्रवाद का यथार्थ

2009-02-03T22:03:00.000+05:30

This was a good article from Dainik Jagran(Hindi Daily)-just go through its good

भले ही राष्ट्रपति बराक ओबामा कुछ शर्तें लगाएं, लेकिन पाकिस्तान को अमेरिकी सहायता एक मजबूरी बन गई है। अमेरिकी विदेश मंत्री हिलेरी क्लिंटन के मुताबिक जरूरी है कि पाकिस्तान में लोकतंत्र को मजबूत किया जाए। पाकिस्तानी प्रशासन के भाग्य से किसी को भी ईष्र्या हो सकती है। पाकिस्तान आज भी बेहतर ब्लैकमेल की स्थिति में है। सोवियत संघ के खिलाफ तालिबान को खड़ा करने के लिए 3.2 अरब डालर, तालिबान के खात्मे के लिए 8 अरब डालर और अब लोकतंत्र मजबूती के लिए दी जा रही रकम दोनों को मिलाकर भी उससे कहीं अधिक होने की संभावना है। पाकिस्तान को असैनिक सहायता से सैन्य साजोसामान खरीदने की महारथ हासिल है। सिर्फ अकाउंट बुक में हेरफेर की जरूरत है, इससे ज्यादा और कुछ नहीं। अगर अमेरिका पाकिस्तान को सिर्फ उसके भाग्य के भरोसे छोड़ दे तो भी समस्या का समाधान हो जाए। साम्राज्यवादी काल के अंत में पश्चिमी शक्तियों ने एशिया में इजरायल और पाकिस्तान के रूप में दो बड़े नासूर दे दिए। उनका रणनीतिक उद्देश्य एक तो अरब दुनिया और दूसरा भारत की महत्वाकांक्षाओं को नियंत्रित करना था। अब वे चौधरी बनकर अपनी ही पैदा की हुई समस्याओं का समाधान हम पर थोप रहे हैं। अमेरिका की भौतिकवादी सोच भारतीय उपमहाद्वीप और पश्चिम एशिया के क्षेत्र का मनोविज्ञान समझ नहीं पाती। अफगान विजय के बाद जुनूनी तालिबान का जिहाद में विश्वास दृढ़ होता गया। पाकिस्तानी सेना और आईएसआई के मजहबीकरण के बाद से यह संभव नहीं है कि पाकिस्तानी सेना को तालिबान के विरुद्ध युद्ध करने के लिए एक सीमा से आगे मजबूर किया जा सके। अब सदियों बाद परमाणुसंपन्न सेना की मजबूत इस्लामिक धुरी आकार ले रही है। वह विचारधारा जिसने दुनिया को दारुल इस्लाम और दारुल हरब में बांट रखा है, के वैश्विक एजेंडे के लिए इससे उपयुक्त अवसर और कौन सा है? अमेरिका को समझना होगा कि उनकी सहायता आतंक की समस्या को कितनी मुश्किल बनाती जा रही है।

अफगान और पख्तून वे कौमे हैं जिन्हें गुलामी के विचार मात्र से गहरी नफरत है। उनके भीतर विद्रोह और खुदमुख्तारी की भावना इसलिए भी जबरदस्त है, क्योंकि उन्हें अपनी सरकारें चलाने का अवसर कम मिला है। परिणामस्वरूप वे कबीलाई स्वायत्तता के टापुओं में तब्दील होते गए। तानाशाहों ने वहां कबीलाई व्यवस्था में दखल दिए बिना शासन किया है। वे अपने उसी मध्यकालीन कबाइली समाज की मानसिकता में आज भी कैद हैं। उनके लिए वक्त उसी दौर में ठहर गया है जहां जिहाद इंसान का बुनियादी दायित्व था। जिहाद और राष्ट्रीयता परस्पर विरोधी विचार हैं। जिहाद एक विद्रोह है नई पहचान के लिए, इसके विपरीत राष्ट्रीयता अस्तित्व का स्वीकार है। पाकिस्तान की सरकारें डालरों के लिए दूसरी भाषा बोलती हैं, लेकिन पाकिस्तान का आम नागरिक अमेरिका से घृणा करता है। अमेरिका के मुद्दे पर तालिबान और पाकिस्तान एक साथ हैं। वे जानते हैं कि अमेरिका तेल मुल्कों की राजनीति और अर्थव्यवस्था अपने अनुसार चलाना चाहता है। अमेरिकी समझते हैं कि लोकतंत्र लादकर वे इस्लामी जगत को नियंत्रित कर लेंगे। लोकतंत्र को लेकर दोहरे अमेरिकी प्रतिमान इससे भी जाहिर हैं कि वे सऊदी अरब में लोकतंत्र नहीं, बल्कि सुल्तानों का ही शासन चाहते हैं। इसलिए लोकतंत्र जब तक अमेरिकी हाथों में है, उसे उनका हथियार ही समझा जाएगा।

नार्थ वेस्ट फ्रंटियर प्राविंस जिसे आजादी से पहले सरहदी सूबा कहा जाता था, को कभी भगवान बुद्ध और उनके काफी बाद खां अब्दुल गफ्फार खां ने शांति का पाठ पढ़ाया। अंग्रेजों की जिन्ना से मिलीभगत के कारण 1946 में खां साहब की चुनी हुई सरकार को बर्खास्त कर उसे पाकिस्तान के हवाले कर दिया गया। खां अब्दुल गफ्फार खां ने आजादी के बाद कहा भी था कि कांग्रेस द्वारा पख्तूनों को भेड़िये की मांद में धकेल दिया गया। पाकिस्तान की राजनीति में इतने बरसों में पख्तून हाशिये पर ही रहे और अपने इलाके में खुदमुख्तारी का परचम लहराते रहे। वे मुहाजिरों के दबाव में बने पाकिस्तान के कभी भी दिली समर्थक नहीं थे। पाकिस्तान ने मजहब की आड़ में उन्हें कभी कश्मीर में तो कभी रूस के खिलाफ इस्तेमाल किया, लेकिन इतने वर्षों में उनकी जिंदगी में तालीम की रोशनी नहीं आने दी। जब उन्हें तालिब या शिक्षित बनाने का वक्त आया तो उन्हें रूस के खिलाफ लड़ने के लिए जिहादी तालिबान बना दिया गया। पाकिस्तानी सेनाओं द्वारा अब तक सिर्फ इनका इस्तेमाल किया गया है, सत्ता व अधिकार में कोई भागीदारी नहीं दी गई। पख्तूनों के इलाके को अफगानिस्तान और पाकिस्तान की सरहदों में बांट दिया जाना एक बड़ी ऐतिहासिक गलती थी। अंग्रेज यह नहीं समझे कि पख्तूनों को सीमाओं में बांटना संभव नहीं है। वह राष्ट्रवाद जिसे मजहब की आड़ में दबाया गया, अब जिहाद के रूप में अभिव्यक्त हो रहा है।

अब रास्ता क्या है? अगर पाकिस्तानी सेना, तालिबान, और अलकायदा के संयुक्त तंत्र को तोड़ना है तो पख्तून काउंसिल या 'लोया-जिरगा' की परंपरा में पख्तून समाज के सत्ता व अधिकार की बात करनी पड़ेगी। उन्हें अपने इलाके की खुदमुख्तारी देनी पड़ेगी। पख्तून क्षेत्र को बांटने वाली डूरंड लाइन को दरकिनार कर उन्हें वह आजादी देनी पड़ेगी जो पश्तो कवि स्व. कबीर स्तोराई की शायरी में मुखर है और सदियों से पख्तून समाज का ख्वाब रही है। अगर अमेरिकी नीति-नियंता पख्तून राष्ट्रवाद को समझेंगे तो तालिबान और अलकायदा के भूत के गायब होने का रास्ता दिखना प्रारंभ हो जाएगा। आईएसआई और पाकिस्तानी सेना इसी पख्तून राष्ट्रवाद से भयभीत होकर उन्हें वैश्विक मजहबी साम्राज्य का सब्जबाग दिखा रही है। पख्तून राष्ट्रवाद की असलियत स्वीकार करते हुए सरहदी सूबे को पाकिस्तान की गुलामी से मुक्ति देनी होगी। तालिबान और जिहाद के फलस्वरूप समस्याओं के समाधान के मद्देनजर क्या अमेरिका इसके लिए तैयार है?

[आर. विक्रम सिंह पूर्व सैन्य अधिकारी हैं]

Some wise quotes

2009-02-03T21:46:00.000+05:30

Past is experience, Present is experiment. Future is expectation! !! Use ur experience in your experiments to get your expectations. Wish u a happy life.

Life is only traveled Once, Today's Moment becomes Tomorrow's memory. Enjoy every moment, good or bad, because the Gift of Life is Life itself...

Love urself, Flirt with ur understanding, Romance with dreams, Get engaged with simplicity, Marry genuiness, Divorce the egos... Thats Good Life...

In the end, only 3 things matter the most: How fully you lived, how deeply you loved & how well you learned to let go of things not meant for you!

So simple is to live; So simple is to love; So simple is to smile; So simple is to win, but so difficult it’s to be simple!

Happiness comes not because we do great things, but because we do small things with great love. Be filled with love everyday.

The Lord will change all our defeat into a path for new blessings. Do not think that failure can push us down. Instead it will be changed into a ladder of blessings.

A leaf which falls from a tree goes wherever wind takes it. Be the wind to drive others, not the leaf to be driven by others.

Life is like a fingerprint that can't be changed, so make the best impression with it.

Success lies not in the result but in the effort. Being the best is NOT at all important, doing the best is all that matters!

4 steps to attain success! 1st THINK. 2nd BELIEVE. 3rd DREAM. 4th DARE. Good Luck.

We always feel that good things happen only to others, but we always forget that we are others for someone else!

Multi lingual People switch personality along with language

2009-02-03T13:26:00.001+05:30

Report: People who are bicultural and speak two languages may unconsciously change their personality when they switch languages, according to a US study.
Researchers David Luna from Baruch College and Torsten Ringberg and Laura A Peracchio from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee studied groups of Hispanic women, all of whom were bilingual, but with varying degrees of cultural identification.
They found significant changes in self perception or “frame-shifting” in bicultural participants — women who participate in both Latino and Anglo culture.
“Language can be a cue that activates different culturespecific frames,” the researchers said in a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
While frame-shifting has been studied before, they said this research found that people who are bicultural switched frames more quickly and easily than people who are bilingual but living in one culture.
The researchers said the women classified themselves as more assertive when they spoke Spanish than when they spoke English.
“In the Spanish-language sessions, informants perceived females as more self-sufficient and extroverted,” they said.
In one of the studies, a group of bilingual US Hispanic women viewed advertisements that featured women in different scenarios. The participants saw the ads in one language — English or Spanish — and then, six months later, they viewed the same ads in the other language.
Their perceptions of themselves and of the women in the ads shifted depending on the language.
“One respondent, for example, saw an ad’s main character as a risk-taking, independent woman in the Spanish version of the ad, but as a hopeless, lonely, confused woman in the English version,” said the researchers

80 percent pub-goers in Delhi underage: Survey

2009-02-03T02:22:00.001+05:30

Lucknow,3 Feb: A survey says nearly 80 percent of those visiting pubs and
bars in the Metro citiesare below the legal age of 25 years. The
findings come close on the heels of a shocking attack on young women
at a pub in another city. Of the underage population at the city's
pubs, 67 percent are below 21 years of age, according to the survey by
NGO Campaign Against Drunken Driving (CADD). Delhi's Excise Law bans
the sale of liquor to or by anyone below 25 years. If an underage
person is caught consuming alcohol or if the vendor is caught, it
could mean a fine of Rs.10,000.
However, the study finds the laws rather ineffective, as nearly 33.9
percent of those below 16 years of age easily procure alcohol from
government authorised liquor shops, bars and pubs.

The law prohibits any person below the age of 25 years to be employed
at any bar or pub. The offence is punishable with a fine of up to
Rs.50,000 or imprisonment of three months to be levied on the outlet.

Still, nearly 55 percent of those working as service attendants in
bars and restaurants are young boys and girls below the age of 25,
says the survey.

The research was conducted from December 2008-January 2009, amongst
1,000 youth who go to pubs and bars. Nearly 85 percent of the youth
surveyed were in the age group of 14 -21 even though the legal
drinking age in Delhi is 25 years.

"According to the survey, in Delhi annually about 2,000 youths under
age 21 die from motor vehicle crashes, other unintentional injuries,
homicides and suicides that involve underage drinking -- Underage
drinking is a prelude to drunk driving and thus it is important to
curb it in the initial stages, so that it does not end up as a habit
among young individuals, " said Prince Singhal, founder of CADD.

Another startling fact revealed was that the drinking age in Delhi has
gone down from 28 to 19 years since 1990. CADD estimates that in
another five to seven years this figure may come down to 15 years.

The survey also found that it is not binding for liquor serving
outlets or vends to verify the age of the consumer.

As per the Delhi Excise Law, university students even at the
postgraduate and Ph.D level are underage as far as consumption of
alcohol is concerned. But the survey found that nearly 44.4 percent of
Class 12 students had consumed alcohol in the survey period.

"Underage drinking presents an enormous public health issue. Alcohol
is the drug of choice among children and young adults. This initiative
of a survey on underage drinking in the national capital was to
intensify research, evaluation and outreach efforts regarding underage
drinking," said Singhal.

CADD recommends that the minimum age limit for alcohol consumption
should be brought down to 21 years from the archaic 25 years keeping
in view the ground realities and that availability of liquor to minors
should be curbed whether it is in residential areas or at petrol
pumps.

Incidentally, the survey comes at a time when an incident at a pub in
Mangalore has left many Indians shocked over what they call 'moral
policing'. On Jan 24, activists of a rightwing group attacked young
women and men at the pub, saying the women were violating "traditional
Indian values".

Coming up with more intresting news next time ..........

A paper on Terrorism index and Pakistan

2009-02-03T02:13:00.000+05:30

A perfect terrorist storm may be brewing in Pakistan. When asked to choose the nation that is most likely to become the next al Qaeda stronghold, more experts chose Pakistan than any other country, including Iraq. Osama bin Laden reportedly remains at large along Pakistan's mountainous border with Afghanistan, where al Qaeda is also regrouping; the country's intelligence service is said to be still cooperating with radical Islamist elements; and President Pervez Musharraf's political future seems increasingly imperiled. These developments would not be as worrisome had the experts not also said that Pakistan is the country most likely to transfer nuclear technology to terrorists in the next three to five years. Together, it's a terrifying combination.

But if there is a wide consensus about the dangers that Pakistan poses, there is very little agreement about what to do about it. A modest number of the index's experts, fewer than 1 in 3, favors threatening Pakistan with sanctions. Yet about the same number support increasing U.S. aid to the country. Such a muddled response underscores the puzzle that Pakistan presents to American policymakers. What is clear is that the experts do not favor more of the same: More than half of those surveyed believe the current U.S. policy toward Pakistan is having a negative impact on U.S. national security. Getting the strategy right could be critical if the world is to keep those dark clouds from forming.

A strategy to deter terrorism

2009-02-02T22:48:00.001+05:30

Most prominent national security analysts have argued that in countering terrorist threats, deterrent strategies as formulated for conventional warfare have no significant role to play in combating terrorism. A 2002 Rand Corporation study asserts: "The concept of deterrence is both too limiting and too naive to be applicable to the war on terrorism."

Within the coming four years, we have to prepare to pre-empt this holocaust by making meaningful allies and drawing up a strategy. This necessarily means an US, Israel, and India compact. The LeT has delivered in effect that message to the world by brutal murders on 26/11 and thus written the message for us in blood.
In the human body, when the cells start to grow independently of the brain, we say that the body has cancer. Pakistan as a nation thus is suffering from political cancer. After another few, may be four, years this cancer will become terminal.

In four years, I reckon that the Taliban, Mullah, ISI and Army government will unite to form a unified jehadi government. Zardari will then have to return to Dubai and the rest of the prominent members of Pakistani civil society will end up as kafirs in a morgue. Thereafter, India will have nothing left to piously debate about Pakistan on 24/7 TV channels because a jehadi nuclear war will be on the cards. Hence if we do not risk a war with Pakistan at a time of our choosing, we shall have a war anyway of the united jehadi government after four years at the time of their choosing.

Hence, within the coming four years, we have to prepare to pre-empt this holocaust by making meaningful allies and drawing up a strategy. This necessarily means a US, Israel and India compact. The LeT has delivered in effect that message to the world by brutal murders on 26/11 and thus written the message for us in blood.

I do however think our neighbour, and Pakistan's unwavering benefactor, China, has to be kept in the loop, and won over. It can be done because China cannot survive as an economic power without the US. The recent financial crisis has proved that convincingly. Moreover, China has a Islamic fundamentalist problem brewing in Xinjiang, and would be interested in ending it, particularly the infiltration from Kazhakstan and Turkmenistan.

But the core countries of our strategic planning have to be those who have been long identified by Osama bin Laden as the enemies of Islam: US, Israel and India.

Today destiny has bound us together for a common purpose: the extermination of terrorism from the face of the earth by going to its festering source: Islamic fundamentalist theology embedded in the Koran, Sira and Hadith. The hardliners are in control, and their inspiration is Umar of the Caliphate.

All the humane sounding verses quoted by apologists from Koranic texts are really reserved for "believers" i.e., Muslims. For others especially non-kitabis, only brutality, murder and reducing to degrading dhimmi status are prescribed. Let us therefore not be under any illusions. There is therefore no such thing as a "moderate" Muslim. Either one is a Muslim or a renegade equivalent to a kafir. There is no room in Islamic theology for a third alternative believer.

A study by Peter Hammond concludes that where Muslim population in a country is less than 5 per cent, that population does not agitate for a separate law, the Sharia, in fact the community totally integrates itself with the majority in society. He cites the US and Australia as examples. Where the population of Muslims is between 5 per cent and 15 per cent they start agitating on religious grievances and separate identity. He gives India, France and UK as examples. When the population crosses 15 per cent and reaches 40 per cent, then an aggressive struggle by Muslims for autonomy starts. Thus India is at the threshold percentage today. Hammonds analysis corresponds to the classification of countries in Islamic theology: Darul Islam where Muslims rule, Darul Harab where Muslims are not in power but as a minority can agitate by fair or foul, hook or crook, to convert these countries to Darul Islam, and Darul Ahad (or Taqqiya) where a Muslim in minority risk the wrath of the majority, and hence Muslims must be compliant to the wishes of the majority for survival. Islamic theology does not, however as Hammond does, classify nations according to percentage of Muslim population but according to the nature of the majority—whether it is united and aggressive or divided and passive. India is in the latter category, and hence even where Muslims are less than five per cent as in Tamil Nadu, in pockets in the state where Muslims are in majority such as Thondi in Ramanathapuram district or Melvisharam in Vellore district, Muslims have established Darul Islam where Hindus are denied all civic amenities and live defacto as dhimmis. In Kashmir, where statewise they are in a narrow majority, they have engaged in religious cleansing to achieve Darul Islam by driving out half a million Hindus and Sikhs and made them refugees in a 83 per cent Hindu country. Only the Indian army is holding back the establishment of Darul Islam in Kashmir.

I do not blame Islam for this behaviour but find fault with the Hindus for not understanding the nature of Islamic theology even after a 1000 year experience of brutal Islamic rule, or by the betrayal by Ali brothers of Mahatma Gandhi following the foolish Khilafat movement, or the religious cleansing in Kashmir. Globally today, no Muslim nation permits any other religion to be practised even inside one's home, nor permits gender equality as even a goal, or regards democracy as a human value.

No Muslim can be a "moderate" unless he risks becoming a kafir. The experience of Rushdie and Taslima should leave no one in doubt about this. That is why I insist that unless an Indian Muslim proudly acknowledges that his ancestors are Hindus, and hence Hindu civilisation is his or her legacy too, he or she cannot be treated as an equal citizen in India. We need this commitment from the Muslims of India to secure our nation and civilisation from jehadi terror from abroad. According to me, even if half the 83 per cent Hindus unite above caste and linguistic divisions, Muslims will accept this historical truth of being descendents of Hindus. India then can become through the democratic process a virat brihad Hindu nation, where Hindus and Muslims can live securely as blood brothers.

At the same time, let us be clear not to go overboard, as we are prone to do, in forging the US-Israel-India compact against Islamic terrorism. The US interest will always remain to make India into another Australia or Japan, a reliable, pliant, and neutered poodle. But Indian mindset must never waver on the basic goal of a virat brihad Hindutva, and to make India a power of global reach.

Every concession to the US therefore must be negotiated as a return for India's emergence in the global power structure as a pole. India has one asset that the US or Israel does not have, but urgently needs—a huge labour surplus of gifted and intelligent individuals—our demographic dividend now available thanks to the resounding defeat of the Congress in 1977 by the Janata Party and thus putting an end to its horrid nasbandi campaign.

Hence, wherever there exists a "demographic hole" in these two societies, we must offer to fill it. That means readiness to make available our best brains for R&D, and to deploy our army, airforce, and navy in any theatre that they cannot adequately. In return, we must get them to build our infrastructure, modernising our armed forces, and develop our agro-industries with market access.

This bonding is sufficient to make the US-Israel-India compact durable and rewarding for us. Without India the other two cannot fight Islamic terrorism in the most important theatres of the world.

With this compact in place, our virat brihad Hindu identity or Hindutva clearly defined and assimiliated, India can formulate a strategy for deterrence against terrorism that nullifies the political objectives of the patrons of terrorists.

India is today infested with a host of terrorist insurgency. The JKLF, SIMI, ULFA, the PWG, the Maoists, the Tripura TNA, the Naxalites, the Naga terrorists, the Manipur terrorists, etc., etc. They can be crushed quickly except for one factor: The support given to them by Pakistan and Bangladesh. Pakistan's support is via the ISI, a wing of the army, which engages also in fake Indian currency to finance such activities. Pakistani involvement is not because its civil society wants it, but because of the Islamic fervour in the army that is not reconciled to the defeat of its forces in Bangladesh. The same Islamic fervour has turned the Bangladesh establishment against India, and hence with the help of the ISI, AI Qaeda has through it's Indonesian wing established a base to help these terrorists and also to develop the HuJI which is emerging as the human infrastructure of the terrorists in India. Thus, Islam is the heart and Pakistan is the brain of terrorism devil in India. Challenging Islam in the realm of ideas, without diluting the debate with secular platitudes, jamming the brain of terror, and destructing its human infrastructure embedded in Indians the core of a strategy to deter terrorism. This means sanitising Pakistan and truncating Bangladesh is required.

Most prominent national security analysts have argued that in countering terrorist threats, deterrent strategies as formulated for conventional warfare have no significant role to play in combating terrorism. A 2002 Rand Corporation study asserts: "The concept of deterrence is both too limiting and too naive to be applicable to the war on terrorism.1' US President's National Security Strategy document states: "Traditional' concepts of deterrence will not work against a terrorist enemy".

Of course. I am not concerned here with "traditional concepts" but with new ideas to combat the new form of warfare—clandestine violence under the name of terrorism.

This overwhelming consensus against efficacy of deterrence has now been challenged by two US based scholars, Robert Trager and Desseslava Zagorcheva [in "Deterring Terrorism - It can be Done" International Security Journal (Harvard-MIT publication, Vol.30. No. 3, 2006)]

According to them the case against the use of deterrence strategies in counter-terrorist campaigns appears to rest on three pillars. First, terrorists are thought to be irrational, and therefore unresponsive to the cost-benefit calculation required in successful deterrence. Second, many terrorists are said to be so highly motivated that they are willing to die, and so not deterred by fear of punishment or of anything else. Third, even if terrorists were afraid of punishment, they cannot be deterred because they lack or have a shifting "return address"1 on which retaliation can be visited. Therefore if terrorists' base cannot be found, the use of force against them is useless, eounterterrorist strategies that advocate addressing "root causes", such as by "winning hearts and minds'', economic packages and promoting human rights, are for the long run. The required cure is however for the short run.

Trager and Zagorcheva argue that neverthrelress even the most highly motivated terrorists can be deterred by holding at risk the political goals of their patrons and financier rather than by threatening the life or liberty of the terrorists themselves.

Thus from a policy perspective, my view is that the ability of a terrorist targeted nation to put political goals of the patrons of the terrorists and their benefactors at risk stands the best chance deterring terrorism, and hence is the most important objective of counter-terrorism policy.

The structure of a counter-terrorism policy and the selection of instruments for implementation of this policy has to be targeted nation-specific and terrorist organisation- centric. There cannot be a general global strategy of deterrence against terrorism.

Harvard scholar and Nobel Laureate Thomas Schelling, in his Arms and Influence, (pp.70-71), contrasts deterrence (the threat to take hostile action unless the adversary acts).

Traditional view of deterrence in strategic studies literature implies the scope for a bargain: both sides agree to co-operate on a state of affairs that both prefer to alternatives they face. This is called cost-benefit analysis. Deterrence, therefore, is not just about making threats; it is also about making offers. Deterrence by punishment is about finding the right combination of threat and offer.
This war is against Indian culture
By Subramanian Swamy
The Islamic terrorists in India have only one goal: To convert the Dar-ul-Harab India of today into the Dar-ul-Islam of tomorrow. Judging by the secret writings in circulation amongst clerics in Saudi Arabia, the Muslim clerics consider as unacceptable the failure of 800 years of Islamic rule in India to convert India into a 100 per cent Muslim nation, as they did in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt etc.

In 1989, to obtain the release of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's daughter, Rubaiyya who had been kidnapped by terrorists, five terrorists in Indian jails were set free by the VP Singh's government. This made these criminals in the eyes of Kashmiri separatists and fence sitters as heroes, as they had brought India's 'Hindu establishment' on it's knees.
In the case of terrorist menace, because of their ideological and religious beliefs, many terrorists place extreme value on their political objectives relative to other ends (e.g., life and property). For this reason, it appears impossible that a deterrer could hold at risk something of sufficient value to terrorists such that their behavior is affected.

The Islamic terrorists in India have only one goal: To convert the Dar-ul-Harab India of today into the Dar-ul-Islam of tomorrow. Judging by the secret writings in circulation amongst clerics in Saudi Arabia, the Muslim clerics consider as unacceptable the failure of 800 years of Islamic rule in India to convert India into a 100 per cent Muslim nation, as they did in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt etc. Leave alone 100 per cent. Akhand Hindustan could not be converted more than 25 per cent. Thus, it was a passive victory of the Hindus and a blow to the imagined invincibility of Islam.

Hence, Islamic theologists consider the US a meddling nation that is corrupting the social morals of Muslims, Israel to represents a reversal of Islamic conquest of territory in West Asia by Jews who were hated by Prophet Mohammed, and Hindustan a challenge to the invincibility of Islam.

India has a huge population, and worse has begun to develop quickly. Thus India must be targeted by terrorising Hindus and make them to submit. The mad mullahs are thus on a rampage, and we Hindus have to wake up to the real challenge of Mumbai 26/11 and all that preceded it.

Therefore, recognising that targeting of Hindus is the political goal of the Islamic terrorists, while Muslims of India are largely just passive spectators, and that the foreign patrons of Islamic terrorists are beginning to engage in terrorist acts that could put Muslims against Hindus in nation¬wide conflagration and possible civil war as in Serbia and Bosnia, hence the first lesson to be learnt from recent history is that for tackling terrorism India should recognise that the Hindu is the target, and that Muslims of South Asia are being programmed to slide into suicide against Hindus.

The recent of Al Qaeda video tapes in Bihar seeking recruits for terrorism against the ';US-lsrael-India axis" is an indication of this. It is to undermine the Hindu psyche and create fear of civil war that terror attacks are organised. And hence since the Hindu is the target, Hindus must collectively respond as Hindus against the terrorist and not feel individually isolated, or worse be complacent because he or she is not personally affected. If one Hindu dies merely because he or she was a Hindu, then a bit of every Hindu also dies. This is a necessary part of an essential menial attitude of a virat Hindu [for fuller discussion of the concept of virat Hindu, see Hindus Under Siege: The Way Out, Haranand, 2006] required in formulating a deterring strategy against terrorism which is Hindu-centric in it's targets.

Therefore we have to have a collective mindset as Hindus to stand against the terrorist. In this response, Muslims and Christians of India can join the Hindus if they genuinely feel for the Hindus. That they really do so feel, cannot be believed unless they acknowledge with pride that though they may be Muslims or Christians, their ancestors are Hindus. It is not easy for them to acknowledge this ancestry even though that is the truth, because the Muslim Mullah and Christian Missionary would consider it as unacceptable according to the Koran and the Bible.

That realisation of oneness with Hindus would also dilute the religious fervour in their faith and thus create a mental option for their possible re-conversion and return to the Hinduism. Hence, their religious leaders preach hatred and violence against the kafir and the pagan i.e.. the Hindu [for example read Chapter 8 verse 12 of the Koran] to keep the faith of their followers. The Islamic terrorist outfits, e.g., the SIMI being the latest has already resolved that India is Dar-ul-Harab. and they are committed to make it Dar-ul-Islam. That makes them free of any moral compunction whatsoever in dealing with Hindus, including in massacring them.

Bul still, if any Muslim or Christian does so acknowledge his or her Hindu legacy, then we Hindus can accept him or her as a part of the Brihad Hindu Samaj. which constitutes Hindustan. India that is Hindustan is thus a nation of Hindus and those others whose ancestors are Hindus. Even Parsi and Jews in India have Hindu ancestors. This is the true identity of India, known as Hindustan. Others, those who refuse to so acknowledge or those foreigners who become Indian citizens by registration can remain in India, but should not have voting rights [which means they cannot be elected representatives] .

Hence, to begin with, any policy to combat terrorism must first begin with requiring each and every Hindu becoming collectively committed or a virat Hindu. By this it is meant that it is not enough commitment if one individually claims to be Hindu, or goes to temples, does pujas, and celebrates festivals. That is not sufficient to be a committed or virat Hindu. To be a virat Hindu one must have a Hindu mindset.

The second lesson for combating the terrorism that we face today is: since demoralising the Hindu and undermining the Hindu foundation of India in order to destroy the Hindu civilisation, is the goal of terrorists in India we must never capitulate and never concede any demand of the terrorists.

Terrorists are encouraged by appeasement but never satisfied by it. Therefore, no matter how many Hindus have to die for it, the basic policy has to be: never yield to any demand of the terrorists. That necessary resolve has not been shown in our recent history. Instead ever since we conceded Pakistan in 1947 under duress, we have been mostly yielding time and time again.

In 1989, to obtain the release of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's daughter, Rubaiyya who had been kidnapped by terrorists, five terrorists in Indian jails were set free by the VP Singh's government. This made these criminals in the eyes of Kashmiri separatists and fence sitters as heroes, as they had brought India's 'Hindu establishment' on it's knees. To save Rubaiyya it was not necessary to surrender to terrorist demands. There were other ways. But the then government was capitulationists in outlook, or perhaps the then Home Minister was in cahoots with the terrorists.

The third lesson to be learnt is that whatever and however small the terrorist incident, the nation must retaliate—nor by measured and"sober" responses but by massive retaliation. For example, when Ayodhya Temple was sought to be attacked, or the Institute of Science in Bangalore was targeted, these were not big terrorist incidents but we should have massively retaliated. Our Intelligence agencies keep telling us that we have clinching proof of terrorist training camps in PoK and Bangladesh, and if that is so, we should bomb them by despatching our airforce. There is some evidence that the US agency, the FBI has presented to a district court in California satellite photos that establish that five terror training camps exist near Balakot in northeast Pakistan, Indian government claims proof which has not been made public that there are 57 camps in Pakistani held territory and 36 camps in Bangladesh.

Many are advising the Hindus to deal with the root "cause" of terrorism rather than concentrating on eradicating terrorists by retaliation. And pray what is the root "cause"?

According to bleeding heart liberals, terrorists are born or bred because of illiteracy, poverty, oppression, and discrimination. They argue that instead of eliminating them, the root cause of these four disabilities in society should be removed. Only then terrorism will disappear. Moreover they argue, terrorists cannot be deterred by force since they are irrational, willing to commit suicide, and have no 'return address'.

Searching the backgrounds of some of the world's most notorious Muslim terrorists; we find:
• Bin Laden, the son of a Saudi billionaire, studied engineering.
• His deputy Ayman al-Zawahri is an eye surgeon.
• Mohamed Atta. the son of a lawyer, earned a master's degree in urban planning.
• 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed graduated from an American college with an engineering degree.
• Flight 93 pilot Ziad Jarrah's father is a Beirut bureaucrat who drove a Mercedes and put his son through prep school.
Some of the London bombers had college degrees. One was a school teacher. Another's father owned a store.

Many of the Saudi hijackers were the best and brightest in their towns.

Hani Hanjour who crashed the plane into the Pentagon, studied English at the University of Arizona. Family members were wealthy merchants from Taif, a resort city in Saudi Arabia.

Most Palestinian suicide bombers have come from middle-class homes.

They didn't do what they were expected to do to escape poverty.

And some of the most radical imams in America have doctorates.

Muslim Fundamentalists have an education and an economic future, yet they still terrorise hate. They're literate enough to liberally interpret their holy books, yet they still embrace jihad against kafirs.

The fourth lesson to learn is that more than the activities of the terrorists in India, the more sinister corrosion of our nation state occurs from within. This corrosion provides 'a force multiplier' to the terrorists.

That is, the terrorists are able to leverage the influence of highly placed individuals in the government, media and academia, who have been compromised by the terrorists and blackmailed on sex, drug money and illegitimate favours, into collaborating with them.

One thing is for sure—terrorists in India of all hues and background have their compromised moles in the India's establishment, and hence no anti-terrorist policy can succeed unless these fifth column elements are weeded out. The IB/RAW/MI/CRPF all have files on them and so identifying them is no problem. The political support these traitors have to withdrawn and some have to be made an example of.

It is thus a ridiculous idea that terrorists cannot be deterred because they are irrational, willing to die, and have no 'return address. Our inference here is that terrorist master-minds have political goals and a method in their madness. An effective strategy to deter terrorism is therefore to defeat those political goals and to rubbish them by counter-terrorist action

FAILING NATION ?

2009-02-02T22:42:00.000+05:30

Lucknow,24th JAN. At the time of yet another republic day everyone is filled with lot of enthusiasm and pride about the nation. I am too feeling same but suddenly a altogether different thought came in my rotten mind(as my friends says) “why should we have pride?”.Should we have pride for suciding thousands of farmers ,for being at 98th position in literacy and pay attention it is literacy not education,for being at 55th position in 102 developing nations,for having a regional barbarianisms by some group of regional street level leaders who even did not know how to talk,for having naxalite songs spread from 3 states to 13,for unable to get any jurisdiction for any alive politician in case of corruption,for having about 1/4th population below poverty(according to U.N.,reliability is in question),for every time getting educated by an terrorist attack(according to union home ministry),for having population of 1 Bn and still searching oasis of podiums in Olympics,being largest in no. of movies maker and still on his knees(with whopping tounge out) for Oscars,for all the technological advancement but still not able to make,for being performing grand in economic front but still not able to get distribution of the benefit and there are much more such feelings and experience were,but as you know these are thoughts which arose in every one’s mind but we take things as “hum kya karein?,its govt. job not ours”.
Before discussing all these things,we should look in the foundation of this country.As we have been boasting biggest democratic nation,but interestingly the decision on the first P.M. was taken by favourism rather than democratic way.As we got independence we thought now everything is achieved,work over and everyone started to use his freedom for making and sustaining his upper hand and privileges.The british gone and the place of them taken by the “black skinned British(s)”(as Mr.Nehru in his first addressing to parliament).We clearly defined our rights and our responsibilities but cannot able to decide what will be in which category,we made a secular country without defining the secularism.By concerning one can say “wow what a great country?”.We are talking about economic growth that we have achieved a phenomenon success in that,but this success must have some benchmark,around which we should make decision,lets take case of BRIC(Brazil,Russia,China,India) countries and you find yourself at lowest,in 1950 Shanghai and Mumbai(then Bombay) are in same condition and in present there is a big gap in two cities.and we still making hoo-hoopla about our success.
When it came to education we still have those frame of British period and interestingly British educational system itself has been changed in leap and bounds.From last 59 years we are trying to increase literacy rate only,educating the citizens was nowhere in the picture since then.The case of higher education is much more pathetic.Today universities are just a place of distributing the degrees in a manner that person getting degree himself doesn’t know the importance and meaning of it.We still in the process of producing the literate Mules for clerical purposes.
Nationalism is taken as fascism in our country,votebank politics had made the situatation worse and regionalism is engulfing the nationalism and governments are busy in making and saving their chairs. Our whole politics have been concentrated around the benefits of groups formed on basis of our cheap concerns.Our constitution and legislature are impotent in dealing such issues.In india freedom means freedom in evry thing ,limit has been defined by those who himself never cares about limits.It is also a record that till now despite having numerous corruption charges no any living politician has been accused guilty(only Prime minister Rao has been accused after his death).And even some are contesting polls by being under police custody.
The treatment to the achievers in any field is being such harsh and illogical that when it comes to global competitiveness we lose our edge. The efforts of individuals at individual level has been making us proud from a long time but we never paid attention towards the impact of collective effort similar to that.
The fragile social structure is getting worsen day by day, extent of intolerance has increased how much is evident from the recent Mumbai –northindian incident. The reservation policy on cast basis has made the classism more prevalent and only widen the gap. Apart from this the social fragmentation, reservation has made wrong persons on important positions which created problems more that it solved.

A POVERTY PORNOGRAPHIC FILM IN OSCAR

2009-02-02T22:36:00.001+05:30

In keeping with American politics of the times, Slumdog Millionaire has been nominated for as many as 10 Oscars and our deracinated media, which constantly looks for inspirational ‘good news’ stories that invariably revolve around Western appreciation of ‘truthful’ portrayal of the Indian ‘reality’, has gone into a tizzy. Saturday’s edition of a newspaper published from New Delhi had a blurb on the front page that read, “The Slumdog story: How ‘Danny uncle’ and his ‘moral compass’ created the biggest ‘Indian’ blockbuster — and why you should watch it.” Predictably, the chattering classes, who had been blissfully ignorant of Vikas Swarup’s Q and A (as they had been of Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger till its perverse denigration of India and all things Indian wowed the judges of last year’s Man Booker prize) are now making a beeline for the nearest bookshop for a copy of the novel, whose title has been suitably changed to Slumdog Millionaire so that the book and the film are eponymous and both publisher and producer can encash the extraordinary hype that has been generated. Late last year, there was similar hoopla over AR Rahman getting the Golden Globe award for the music he has scored for Slumdog Millionaire. An approving pat on the back by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, it would seem, is the most important marker in an artiste’s career. Those Indian musicians who haven’t got the Golden Globe are not worthy of honour at home just as Sahitya Akademi award winners are not worthy of finding space on our bookshelves, leave alone feature on news pages or news bulletins.

The larger point is not really about going gaga over an American award or a British prize, but how they are seen as India being admitted into the charmed circle whose membership is strictly controlled and is by invitation only. That invitation invariably follows a certain pattern; it’s not merely the keepers of the gate chanting, “Eeny meeny miny mo, catch a tiger by his toe, if he hollers let him go…” Apart from the fact that the ‘tigers’ in this case are not hollering but salivating at the prospect of seeing themselves clutching a handful of trophies on Oscar night, the nomination process is far more rigorous than we would think, with filters to keep out those films and books that do not serve the judges’ purpose or pander to their fanciful notions — in this case, of India. Aravind Adiga crafted his novel in a manner that it could not but impress the Man Booker judges who see India as a seething mass of unwashed hordes which worship pagan gods, are trapped in caste-based prejudices, indulge in abominable practices like untouchability, and are not worthy of being considered as an emerging power, never mind economic growth and knowledge excellence. Similarly, Danny Boyle has made a film that portrays every possible bias against India and structured it within the matrix of Western lib-left perceptions of the Indian ‘reality’ which have little or nothing in common with the real India in which we live.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Boyle’s film is about a slum where extreme social exclusion, political suppression and economic deprivation define the lives of its inhabitants. He has made every effort to shock and awe the film’s audience by taking recourse to graphic and gory portrayal of bloodthirsty Hindu mobs on the rampage — the idiom that defines India as it is imagined by the lib-left Western mind — laying to waste Muslim lives (a Hindu is shown slitting a Muslim woman’s throat in an almost frame-by-frame remake of the videotape that was released by the killers of Daniel Pearl) and property. There’s more that makes you want to throw up the last meal you had: Hindu policemen torturing Muslims by giving them ‘electric shock therapy’, street children being physically disfigured and then forced to beg, and such other scenes of a medieval society where rule of law does not exist and every Hindu is a rapacious monster eager to make a feast of helpless Muslims.

Nor is it surprising that Boyle should have cunningly changed the name of the film’s — as also the book’s — protagonist from Vikas Swarup’s Ram Mohammad Thomas (a sort of tribute to the Amar Akbar Antony brand of ‘secularism’ which was fashionable in the 1970s) to Jamal Malik. The name implies a Kashmiri connection, and we can’t put it beyond Boyle suggesting a link between Jamal’s travails — it is his mother whose throat is shown as being slit by a Hindu — and the imagined victimhood of Kashmir’s Muslims who, the lib-left intelligentsia in the West insists, are ‘persecuted by Hindu India’. Asked about the protagonist’s name being changed, Swarup is believed to have said that it was done to “make it sound more politically correct”. There is a second hidden message: The Hindu quizmaster on the ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ show has doubts about Jamal, who gets all the questions right, not because he is a ‘slumdog’ but because he is a Muslim; so he sets India’s Hindu police on the hapless boy. Swarup did not quite put it that way in his book, but the film does so, and understandably the critics in Hollywood who sport Obama buttons are impressed.

The last time depravity was portrayed as the Indian ‘reality’ was when Roland Joffé did a cinematic version of Dominique Lapierre’s City of Joy. In that film, the Missionaries of Charity were shown as the saviours of an India trapped in filth, squalor, poverty and Hindu superstition. Some two decades later, Boyle has rediscovered Joffé’s India and made appropriate changes to fit his film into the Hindu-bad-Muslim-good mould so that it has a resonance in today’s America where it is now fashionable to look at the world through the eyes of Barack Hussein Obama.

In her review of the film, “Shocked by Slumdog’s poverty porn”, Alice Miles writes in The Times: “Like the bestselling novel by the Americanised Afghan Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Slumdog Millionaire is not a million miles away from a form of pornographic voyeurism. Slumdog Millionaire is poverty porn.” Commenting on the BBFC's decision to “place this work in the comedy genre”, she says, “Comedy? So maybe that’s it: I just didn't get the joke.” It’s doubtful whether most Indians, Hindus and Muslims, would get it either if they were to watch Slumdog Millionaire.
Today in Mumbai film industry has been dipping in tides of Oscar nominations,they doesnot seeing any objection in the theme of the “great” movies which talks about the “dogs” living in slums of their city. Infcat we Indians are so much dumb that we not recognize the truth until the “great westerns” tells us that it is appreciable.Then either it was the case of Mr.Gandhi or Swami Vivekanand. Thig incident again confirms the western belief that”we are unable to analyze our things on our own”. The film strengthens the western concept about us that’s why the film got so much admiration. The western world was not able to and whenever possible tried to accept and recognized the technical supremacy of Indian I.T..But these were the truth that they cannot deny, these type of movies are like “soothing breeze” for their mental facets.
Just a remark from Mr. Bacchan about the film make the big story by our electronic media shows how ideologically hollow are they. The film showed about the social poverty in its worst form of our country but the reactions from Indians has shown that we are not as much socially & economically poor as ideologically.
Orignal article by – Kanchan Gupta (The Pioneer)
Additional contribution – Abhinav S. Kumar Gupta