Indian Interests

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 14 Feb 2012 12:48

Kapil Sibal: No censorship on social media

Anther Joke, from Zero Loss, MF Husain-Rushdie stalwart, After making file compliance notice that thier content is INC Kosher, he now makes anther Joke.

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 14 Feb 2012 15:57

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 881091.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 881068.cms

R Sangeetha, daughter of slain school teacher M Uma Maheshwari at a memorial service at St Mary's Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School

A student of class 11 of Ebenezer Marcus Matriculation Residential School in Ambattur, Sangeetha

This is a incident which can never be wiped from our hearts, but it is my duty as a daughter to live by the ideals my mother lived for. She was highly religious and spread the word of Christ and lived according to the Bible.

It was a moving sight when tears rolled down the cheeks of a few students when the hymn 'How great thou art' was sung.
Shashi Lourdmary, a colleague and close friend of Uma Maheshwari, was choked with emotion when she spoke. "There are a lot of things Uma spoke to me about. For some reason she even said she didn't think she would live for two more years. She once said, 'Sangeetha (Maheshwari's 16-year-old daughter) wants a computer and mobile phone but I want to give her Jesus Christ. In case something happens to me you should look after my daughters, Sangeetha and Janani. You don't need a bank balance in heaven," Lourdmary said.

"She had been speaking about the power of Christ recently and kept stressing that there is no power bigger than him," she added.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 14 Feb 2012 17:05

svenkat wrote:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 881091.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 881068.cms

R Sangeetha, daughter of slain school teacher M Uma Maheshwari at a memorial service at St Mary's Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School

A student of class 11 of Ebenezer Marcus Matriculation Residential School in Ambattur, Sangeetha

This is a incident which can never be wiped from our hearts, but it is my duty as a daughter to live by the ideals my mother lived for. She was highly religious and spread the word of Christ and lived according to the Bible.

It was a moving sight when tears rolled down the cheeks of a few students when the hymn 'How great thou art' was sung.
Shashi Lourdmary, a colleague and close friend of Uma Maheshwari, was choked with emotion when she spoke. "There are a lot of things Uma spoke to me about. For some reason she even said she didn't think she would live for two more years. She once said, 'Sangeetha (Maheshwari's 16-year-old daughter) wants a computer and mobile phone but I want to give her Jesus Christ. In case something happens to me you should look after my daughters, Sangeetha and Janani. You don't need a bank balance in heaven," Lourdmary said.

"She had been speaking about the power of Christ recently and kept stressing that there is no power bigger than him," she added.

The family must be going through a lot of grief and at this time it is natural to turn to religion.

Nothing justifies murdering your teacher. Let us not discuss religion in this murder.

I hope the boy gets more than 3 years for the action he has committed.

P.S I did my schooling in a related institution and was on the receiving end of my teachers for many reasons including sometimes religion and diary was full with remarks. But never did I think of ever harming my teachers.

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 14 Feb 2012 17:14

Saar,
you missed the point which was Uma Maheswaris of the world spreading the word of christ and living by the bible.

kshatriya · Post by **kshatriya** » 14 Feb 2012 22:58

BTW, the kid that murdered the teacher belongs to the "religion of piece" TN media showing extra caution coz of that

svenkat wrote:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 881091.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 881068.cms

R Sangeetha, daughter of slain school teacher M Uma Maheshwari at a memorial service at St Mary's Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School

A student of class 11 of Ebenezer Marcus Matriculation Residential School in Ambattur, Sangeetha

This is a incident which can never be wiped from our hearts, but it is my duty as a daughter to live by the ideals my mother lived for. She was highly religious and spread the word of Christ and lived according to the Bible.

It was a moving sight when tears rolled down the cheeks of a few students when the hymn 'How great thou art' was sung.
Shashi Lourdmary, a colleague and close friend of Uma Maheshwari, was choked with emotion when she spoke. "There are a lot of things Uma spoke to me about. For some reason she even said she didn't think she would live for two more years. She once said, 'Sangeetha (Maheshwari's 16-year-old daughter) wants a computer and mobile phone but I want to give her Jesus Christ. In case something happens to me you should look after my daughters, Sangeetha and Janani. You don't need a bank balance in heaven," Lourdmary said.

"She had been speaking about the power of Christ recently and kept stressing that there is no power bigger than him," she added.

nawabs · Post by **nawabs** » 15 Feb 2012 06:49

Caste Hindus, Dalits stride towards peace

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tam ... 893744.ece

In a significant move, the caste Hindus and Dalits of Uthapuram village, who fought over the ‘wall of untouchability', have taken the next step forward to sinking their long-drawn enmity and embrace peace.

Representatives of both sides on Tuesday jointly met Deputy Inspector General of Police (Madurai), B. Bala Naga Devi, and Superintendent of Police, Asra Garg, for the withdrawal of cases registered against the people of both sides.

Some 30 cases are pending against both sides since 2005, the DIG told reporters. They include cases for attempt to murder, those under the Explosives Act and Prevention of Atrocities (Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes) Act.

“We will follow due procedures of law to withdraw all the cases.”

This is the second major step both sides have taken to bring about peace after the caste Hindus allowed Dalits to enter the Muthalamman temple in the presence of Mr. Garg on November 10 last year.

“This is part of the peace agreement reached by both parties on October 20, 2011,” Mr. Garg said. Vishwa Hindu Parishad functionary Chinmaya Somasundaram, who, along with former Aavin General Manager K. Athimoolam brokered the peace, said that people of both sides had suffered a lot socially and economically ever since the fresh bout of tension in the village near Usilampatti in recent years.

The ‘wall of untouchability' on a common pathway dividing the Dalits from caste Hindus was demolished by the district administration in 2008. “We (caste Hindus) are ready to allow people of all communities into our temple. This peace process has given the village a new lease of life,” said an auditor and leader of the caste Hindus, B. Murugesan.

“We (people of both the sides) have realised that we cannot fight each other forever,” Dalit leader K. Ponnaiah said. “Though not all the people of the caste Hindus were happy about our entry into the temple, we were, indeed, given a warm welcome by some of them.”

Both want the State government to expedite development works such as the construction of a bus shelter and diversion of sewerage lines that drain sewage into the Dalit areas.

Asked about the main bone of contention of the Dalits – right to worship in the temple – Mr. Garg said that the temple was under construction and soon kumbabhishekam would be performed. “After that both the parties can enter it.” . On allowing the Dalits to use vehicles on the common pathway, Additional Superintendent of Police A. Myil Vaganan said that the pathway was being put to maximum use and was open for Dalits too. “There are some encroachments on it. Once it is widened, bigger vehicles can be allowed.”

Mr. Garg said that the police pickets would stay as a precautionary measure.

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 15 Feb 2012 08:04

I think dalit issues are important but out of place here.It is not black and white as portrayed many times .In the larger scheme,its not just about basic rights/awareness but also about quota privileges.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 15 Feb 2012 08:09

Meanwhile, back at the ranch..........

Biodiversity up for grabs

Monsanto has slyly patented the Indian melon in violation of the UN Convention on Biodiversity. Will the Government fight back?

The Government of India must invoke the UN Convention on Biodiversity to fight the growing piracy of this country’s biodiversity by multi-national corporations, rather than leave this vital task to well-meaning activists and NGOs that could be out-manoeuvred by powerful corporates backed by the clout of Western capitals in which they are embedded.

The Indian melon is the latest instance of Western multi-nationals steadily and surreptitiously chipping away at the sovereign rights of nations and communities over their indigenous food wealth as part of a grand design to bring the planet’s entire food chain under their control.

This is a test case for the UN and its declaration of 2011 to 2020 as the UN Decade on Biodiversity, and other major world capitals would do well to take an interest in the matter. In May 2011, the European Patent Office in Munich, Germany, quietly granted Monsanto a patent (EP 1 962 578) on conventionally-bred Indian melons with a natural resistance to certain plant diseases.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 15 Feb 2012 10:42

svenkat wrote:Saar,
you missed the point which was Uma Maheswaris of the world spreading the word of christ and living by the bible.

Saar, you missed the last point where I said this has been going on since time immemorial and I was failed in 5th standard half yearly English exam for raising my Hand and saying I did not believe in Jesus. But that does not justify murder.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 15 Feb 2012 23:27

What I talk about when I talk about F***ing

And we share one objective—to bring the story of the sea into the lives of people on land. The sea and its resources might seem infinite, but the truth is fish stocks in Indian waters are fast depleting.
The effects of such a phenomenon are not limited to our fish eating habits alone. If you were to look deep into the reasons of why such decline is happening you would know that these problems are due to our carelessness. As the appetite for fish expanded, so did the way we fish, and this resulted in indiscriminate fishing practices like bottom trawling which has rendered the Indian domestic waters overfished and overexploited.
A similar pattern has been manifesting itself worldwide. While industrialised fishing nations exhausted their fish stocks, they found developing countries’ waters a fertile ground for the insatiable demand for fish in the global markets. Highly lucrative fish species like tuna is the sought after prize. Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing was thus born.Trouble is, India’s fisheries management record has been far from perfect. So, while Indian fishermen bear losses (more effort and less catch) year after year, IUU activities in the Indian EEZ are stealing away fish they could have been catching. Lack of surveillance and loopholes within government schemes mean that illegal fishing goes unabated and unchecked. Unreported fishing costs the Indian government between 250 to 350 million USD annually and it is clearly having it impacts on local fishing communities in India as well, with fishermen incomes now having fallen to 1200 to 1400 USD annually.

F***ing, however, does not need to be dirty and unsustainable. If done right, it can pave the way for a sustainable future. Catching less fish now, only using sustainable fishing methods, can mean catching more fish in the future.It is crucial that more people realize that India’s seas are as important as the rest of the country. Spanning over 2 million sq kms, sustaining over ten million livelihoods and providing foreign exchange annually in the range of 2.8 billion dollars, besides being home to staggering biodiversity and fragile but significant ecosystems, their conservation should be a top priority. They need attention and they need management

http://www.greenpeace.org/international ... log/39043/

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Feb 2012 01:49

India has to find the Israel embassy car attacker(s) and bring closure or it will lead to getting sucked into a maelstorm brewing in the Middle East.

Uncle will force a choice as they are interested in making India commit.

Its not like Maldives coup to shrug it off.

devesh · Post by **devesh** » 16 Feb 2012 02:19

ramana garu,

a parallel interest for us is to understand similar situation that India has faced in the past. for the present Rashtra, being non-committal on such issues has been a strict policy for decades. if they are forced to commit to one side or the other now, does the Rashtra have the resources and wherewithal to go through and secure the nation's interests?!?! does the state apparatus and the interest groups that revolve around the state have the dynamism to quickly adapt to the new circumstance?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Feb 2012 03:38

They don't. Thats why they want to opt out. However the correlation of forces is such that the others cant accept an India that has opted out. By opting out India is standing while tehy are in the swirl.
So the urge to make India commit.

Best option is to find the real perpetrators and punish them. This will show equidistance.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 16 Feb 2012 08:20

Sir Sobha Singh (From wiki)

Sardar Bahadur Sir Sobha Singh, OBE (1890-1978) was a civil contractor and a prominent builder of Lutyens' Delhi and real estate owner of Delhi[1]. He was the father of famous indian writer Khushwant Singh.

...

Testimony against Bhagat Singh

Sobha Singh witnessed Bhagat Singh throw bombs in the Central Legislative Assembly. Singh was deposed in the trial and identified Bhagat Singh as the perpetrator. Bhagat Singh pleaded guilty and was subsequently hanged to death. His son, Khushwant Singh, denies the claim that the testimony led to Bhagat Singh's death sentence and says that his father's knighthood was bestowed 15 years later.[8]

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 17 Feb 2012 08:05

Views from the Right

Tax vexations

The UPA government’s assurance that it will work out ways to exempt Muslim religious bodies from the purview of the Direct Tax Code (DTC) and will also consider keeping out madarsas from the ambit of the Right to Education Act has been criticised by the RSS.

An editorial in the latest issue of the RSS journal, Organiser, says that this is yet another instance of the Congress playing the religion card. It attacked the HRD minister, Kapil Sibal, for assuring leaders of the Muslim community last week that government “would work out details to exempt them (minority bodies) from the purview of DTC”.

The DTC bill, which has received cabinet nod recently, brings under its ambit donations made to religious institutions. “Earlier 50 per cent of the amount donated was exempted from tax. Now this will be fully taxed. But Sibal assured the Muslim leaders that he would present their case to the government and do the needful. This is gross injustice” says the Organiser. It contends that the same will not apply to temples as the government directly controls incomes of all major temples and use the money for running government expenditure. “The shameful capitulation that the Congress party did in front of the paranoid Deobandis over Salman Rushdie’s visit to India is a classic proof of the party’s attitude,” says the editorial.

All for Modi

An Organiser article says that the clean chit given by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his government again confirms the propaganda unleashed against Modi. “The propaganda against the state government was so powerful that even the media was carried away by it. Now it has come to light that many of the social activists as well as the NGOs were directly funded and supported by Muslim organisations and governments in West Asia,” says the article. “This is the third independent investigation into the role of the state government and its chief minister in the Gujarat riots of 2002. All the three investigations have come to the same conclusion that neither the state government nor the chief minister can be held culpable for any kind of conspiracy or inaction during the riots.”

Tears apart

The Sangh Parivar’s Hindi weekly Panchjanya has lashed out at the Congress for its overt attempt to woo minorities in Uttar Pradesh with the Batla House issue, especially Law Minister Salman Khurshid’s claim that Congress President Sonia Gandhi wept when shown pictures of the encounter. Panchjanya says Khurshid’s act raises the question of whether Gandhi’s tears were only for terrorists, and whether they dry out for those who give their lives fighting terror. While party general secretary Digvijaya Singh had denied that Ms Gandhi had cried, the Congress president herself has chosen to remain silent on the issue, says the editorial.

The Congress may be playing with Muslim sentiments for electoral gains, but the party is still unable to speak in one voice, claims Panchjanya. Salman Khurshid and Digvijaya Singh are contradicting each other now, even though the latter had until lately maintained that the Batla House encounter was fake, and demanded an inquiry, which was dismissed by Home Minister P. Chidambaram who contended that the encounter was genuine. “The Congress may be using the Batla House incident for political gains, yet its own leaders are outdoing each other in trying to endear themselves to Muslims” says the editorial. On the other hand, neither Prime Minister Manmohan Singh nor Salman Khurshid or Digvijaya Singh have a single word of solace for Mohan Chandra Sharma, who died fighting the terrorists at Batla House, says Panchjanya.

Compiled by Swaraj Thapa

From the Urdu Press

Israel’s calculations

Commenting on the attack on an Israeli diplomat’s car that occurred in New Delhi, and a similiar attempt in Tblisi, Rashtriya Sahara writes on February 15: “Such acts, wherever they happen and whoever commits them, deserve the surest condemnation, but equally condemnable is the reaction of the Israeli government to these incidents. Their prime minister first declared that Iran was behind these incidents, but within minutes, changed the statement and said Lebanon’s Hezbollah was behind this.” The paper adds: “Iran’s name was first mentioned because the media would readily accept this, but then he realised that if Iran was accused, the world would remember many stories. Three brilliant Iranian scientists were killed in mysterious circumstances within a year, and Iran had claimed that it had evidence that Mossad was behind these killings. That is why Israel mentioned Hezbollah’s name, as it would be more acceptable to the western media.”

Inquilab, published from Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur and Bareilly, sees an Israeli effort to disturb the existing ties between India and Iran. The paper writes: “The Israeli government is very worried about India’s refusal to yield to US and Israeli pressure. In this scenario, one would not be surprised if these blasts were conducted by Mossad itself.”

Khurshid’s do-or-die

The Delhi-based Hamara Samaj has taken a critical view of Union Law Minister Khurshid’s recent statements. In an editorial on February 13, it writes: “Khan Saheb (Salman Khurshid) has tried to hit several birds with one stone. He is seeing to it that his wife Louise Khurshid’s seat is safe, and he knows that in the present election, whatever effort the Congress is making, it is difficult to win even 50 seats. In such a situation, he can paint as rosy a picture as he likes, but people will remember that when the backward biradari of Muslims had raised the issue of reservations, the same Salman saheb was issuing statements against the biradari day and night. Why did he not show the fighting spirit for minority rights then?”

Hyderabad’s leading daily, Munsif, writes in an editorial on February 13: “ The question is why Salman Khurshid saheb has suddenly developed so much sympathy for Muslims that he is willing to be hanged for removing their backwardness. If an assessment is made of the period after his assuming the office of a minister, he has not revealed any performance worth mentioning.” The paper goes on to say his role has consistently been that of damaging his own (“ghar ko aag lag gayee, ghar ke chiraagh se”).

Rashtriya Sahara too, on February 13, warns against “taking up cudgels against constitutional bodies”, saying it “would not be advisable for politicians.” The paper says it backs the quota, but says “taking issue with constitutional bodies, for politicians, would make them lose popularity amongst people.”

The Delhi-based Jadeed Khabar, on the same day, offers another take. It asks why, if Khurshid has been censured by the Election Commission, have “BJP and other communal groups been left free to disturb the atmosphere on the issue of the sub-quota, by criticising it to promote their own interests?” The editor of the daily Inquilab, Shakeel Shamsi, in a signed column on February 13, has lauded the work of the election commission and expressed discomfort at the row between Khurshid and the CEC.

Coup in Maldives

The daily Siasat, published from Hyderabad and Bengaluru, writes in an editorial on February 9: “Bringing the 30-year old dictatorial rule in Maldives to an end, Mohamed Nasheed tried to give democratic government to a Muslim-majority country.” However, the paper argues, in his four years, he demonstrated “shortcomings and drawbacks”, referring to “unpopular” decisions involving “nepotism and allegations of corruption.” The paper believes that “the people of Maldives, who strictly followed Islamic teachings, were not willing to tolerate un-Islamic practices in their country”, referring to the “restoration of flights to Israel and allowing entry to Israeli tourists to the country.”

Compiled by Seema Chishti

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 17 Feb 2012 19:48

Brilliant is as brilliant does. In this article, this sherlock named 'CJ' nails cognitive biases and dissonance bang on so hard it seems like a revealation only. Pisko master hakim saab will be pleased only....

Truth Through Innuendos and Assertions

Some excerpts...

“Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Someone asks you, ‘Spell yoke, as in to hitch two things.’ You reply, ‘y-o-k-e.’ Then he says, ‘Spell folk, as in people.’ You reply, ‘f-o-l-k.’ Then he says, ‘Spell the white of an egg.’ And you say, ‘y-o-l-k.’ He then points out, ‘You idiot, that’s the yellow of an egg, not the white.’ That’s cute, isn’t it?” said CJ.

“Yes. So?” I asked.

“It’s a neat little trick that uses a cognitive failing of the human mind. Our minds can be primed to go along a familiar route. We fill in details that are missing and assume things that are not necessarily true. It has survival value and usually serves us well. We don’t examine all the evidence carefully because it is cognitively costly. But sometimes that failing can be used deliberately to misdirect and mislead.

“Juxtapose two cases, however tenuously related they may be, and some of the features of one case can bleed into the other. Use the same brush for two different colors and you cannot avoid mixing them up on the canvass.

[...]

“The technique is effective and therefore widely used. Truth though innuendos and assertions. Opinions expressed repeatedly morph into “facts” in the average mind. Assert something without proof, and repeat the assertion often enough that it spread through contagion and becomes general knowledge. Then rely on that general knowledge to provide the fillers needed for making one’s case.

“Malik correctly reports that Wallace had a change of heart. And then the attention shifts to Modi, the SIT, and Modi’s detractors. Modi may be undergoing a convenient change of heart. Or maybe he’s not. Or maybe Modi is just too clever. Maybe this or maybe that. All that is up for grabs. But by introducing Wallace, Malik essentially poisons the well and whatever you draw from it, you cannot get away from the suspicion that Modi harbors ill will towards Muslims, maybe perhaps something like Wallace did towards blacks,” CJ said.

And then proceeds to demonstrate how Ashok Malik does that with a piece on NaMo.

Must-read folks...

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 20 Feb 2012 06:20

Kudos to BJP-Karnataka for scrapping AIT syllabus. All the chest beating from the psec pimtelligentisia is wonderful to behold...

History, geography get a saffron hue in Karnataka

Saffron hue, eh? Good thing too, given that saffron in our culture is associated with the search for truth. Saffronish perspective on history is very welcome, I say.

The wiseguy who said "History is a set of lies commonly agreed upon" probably didn't have Aamchi Yindia in mindbut how aptly it fits the marxist historians' wanton destruction over the past 6 decades of the cultural narrative native to this land and its peoples?

From the next academic year onwards, Class V and VIII students in BJP-ruled Karnataka will be learning history of a different hue. The cultural map of India given in the beginning of the draft textbook of social studies in Kannada medium depicts Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, parts of Tibet and Nepal as part of India.

They were all part of the dharmic sphere once. And history is about the world that once was. No?

Even more controversial is the course material on religion. The textbooks claim that Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism are not religions proper, but "dharmas". The term religion is restricted to Semitic religions like Christianity and Islam.

Ouch I guess

Sure enough, sekular papers publishing this stuff will have to give 75% of the article space to marxistic goons and so here goes - all old tricks are in display - bogeys like brahminism, anti-dalit etc flogged once again...

"The textbook is patriarchal, anti-Muslim and anti-Dalit. It is an attempt at Brahminisation of history. The cultural map of India that is given in the textbooks is the same as the one in RSS literature. While Brahmins are referred to in the plural, non-Brahmin figures like the Buddha and the Kannada saint Shishunala Sharif, are referred to in the singular. So are women like the warrior queen Rani Chennama," says Dhawarakanath, former Backward Classes Commissioner of Karnataka.

RSS version of history, eh? OK. Gotta start somewhere to balance and ultimately cancel out the CPIM version of history that has been poisoning young minds in India for decades now...No?

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 20 Feb 2012 09:31

MEA spokesperson's twitter account...

http://twitter.com/#!/AkbarMEA

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 20 Feb 2012 10:06

Hari Seldon wrote: Truth Through Innuendos and Assertions

Exactly the tactic used by Martha Nussbaum and Arundhati Roy

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 20 Feb 2012 10:09

Narendra Modi speaking at IIT Gandhinagar

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 20 Feb 2012 18:37

The textbooks claim that Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism are not religions proper, but "dharmas". The term religion is restricted to Semitic religions like Christianity and Islam.

I have been saying this for some time here too now. That is correct. All our Indic and their rooted Asian 'religions' come under the Dharmic banner. When we lay out the basics of Dharma, enshrine them people tend to follow and conform. This is an evolutionary thing. If the value systems of people improve, the nation improves too. Dharma gives the rallying point. Also importantly is it gives personal freedom to explore Godhead by meditation, Bhakti, through Guru's, through practice of non-violence, through a middle path, through austerity, through Nyaya, Dvaita , Advaita or if you are interested in starting another meme, go ahead. Dharma provides the framework to religious and spiritual freedoms, some thing excluvist religions don't provide for. By giving Dharmic religions an excluvist hue wrt each other, colonialists have tended to divide us on religious lines..

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 20 Feb 2012 22:49

A major problem is developing as the effects of the 1990 liberalisation are coming into effect. The States have been given the choice to become economic power houses by adopting liberal economic regulations to spur development. What this does it makes the Center role less and less important in those States that have understood the paradigm.

The big consequences is the INC mode of governing based on handouts to pliant states will get more or less discredited as time goes on.

Off course the INC can reverse this by getting elected in those states and bring them back into economic jahliya.

For example Gujarat, TN and now West Bengal or on this trail.

AP was on this trail but the election of YSR and co has reversed this.

Agnimitra · Post by **Agnimitra** » 20 Feb 2012 23:50

Hari Seldon wrote:Kudos to BJP-Karnataka for scrapping AIT syllabus. All the chest beating from the psec pimtelligentisia is wonderful to behold...

History, geography get a saffron hue in Karnataka

Some of the changes are welcome, but some are unwise IMO. I think a better and more sensible job could have been done, based one some of the points I read in the article. I have responded in GDF here.

ShauryaT · Post by **ShauryaT** » 20 Feb 2012 23:53

ramana wrote:A major problem is developing as the effects of the 1990 liberalisation are coming into effect. The States have been given the choice to become economic power houses by adopting liberal economic regulations to spur development. What this does it makes the Center role less and less important in those States that have understood the paradigm.

The big consequences is the INC mode of governing based on handouts to pliant states will get more or less discredited as time goes on.

Off course the INC can reverse this by getting elected in those states and bring them back into economic jahliya.

For example Gujarat, TN and now West Bengal or on this trail.

AP was on this trail but the election of YSR and co has reversed this.

True. What we need to do is institutionalize the discretionary powers of a state instead of making it personality driven and hence not lasting. For starters, article 200 has to go.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 21 Feb 2012 03:39

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... f-progress
India's elite is blinded by a cultish belief in progress

Siddhartha Daboo

From 2007 to 2009, during the process of gathering material for a non-fiction book on India, I often found myself exposed to the aspirations of its upper and middle classes. These people were part of the 150 or 200 million who had done very well materially from the economic changes of the past two decades, and as a group they believed firmly in India as a superpower on a path of infinite growth. The people I met ranged from extremely wealthy businessmen, part of a super-elite, to the salaried middle classes. When I encountered them as individuals, usually in extended sessions, they often showed themselves capable of nuance and even outright contradiction, from the government official who expressed understanding for ultra-left guerrillas fighting the government and mining corporations in central India to the waitress at an upscale Delhi restaurant who wished, despite her apparent upward mobility, to have her mother's less affluent but stable life as a provincial schoolteacher.But what was apparent in my long conversations with individuals was hardly ever true in the aggregate. In the public discourse produced by the upper and middle classes in India – in newspapers and talk shows, in tweets and television soaps, in the comments that flood websites should anyone dare make a dissenting note – such contradictions vanish, replaced by an uncomplicated, almost cultish faith in India as a success story. In this version of contemporary India, the material wealth of the upper and middle classes can only keep on increasing. The comfortable will get rich, the rich get richer. As for the poor living on 50 cents a day (perhaps as much as 77% of the entire population, according to one government report), they might see their lot improve. If not, they have only their lack of ability, effort and merit to blame.

( Usual fuddus with Caste , Missle, Space Tech etc rona dhona )

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 21 Feb 2012 06:54

Cross post - more appropriate in this thread
Folks let me just put some dates on here for perspective, all courtesy Wiki. The post is somewhat OT here but I will not be able to make myself understood unless I go back a few thousand years. I believe it is important that "Indians" understand this and I will cross post in the Indian Interests thread.

Maurya empire 322 BC–185 BC
Chola Empire 300 BC–1279
Gupta Empire 320 CE -600 CE
Vijayanagar empire 1336–1646
Mughal Empire 1526–1764
Maratha empire 1674 - 1820
Sikh Empire 1799–1849
British Empire 1858–1947

First: What was "India" 2000 plus years ago?

1. Alexander came to the Indus and found India
2. Roman ships were trading off the coast of Pondicherry with "India" 2500 km from what Alexander called "India"
3. Buddha was born 2000 km away from Alexanders "India" and the Roman sourthern trading coast of India and the Bodhidharma that went East also came from "India"

India was, and is a huge place. The only way to protect such a huge territory is to define its borders in "nation-state" format

If you look at the dates above, South India was relatively free from foreign influence because of the Chola and Vijayanagar empires (highlighted in bold). Particularly. Muslim influence on the South was not as long and severe as the North. However Christianity via the Portuguese and later Evangelists (even today) started exerting a more insidious influence in South India especially with the Hinduization of Christianity which was deliberately done to reconcile Hindu concepts with Biblical concepts.

Islamic invaders were definitely not the worst thing to happen to whole of India. Islam's worst excesses were mainly in the North. The worst raped areas were Sindh and Punjab, and later Rajasthan, Gujarat and all the way down the Ganga river. But Muslim influence South of the Vindhyas was later and smaller. The Portuguese and British came via the sea. South India is more exposed via the sea route. The British came as traders and set up in Madras and Calcutta. Cochin/Goa/Mangalore had Portuguese influence. Note that early British exposure to India (1700s) was via the East India comany onlee to the relatively darker skinned Indians of the Southern and Eastern coasts

The British "took over" India at a time of flux when the Mughal empre was being defeated by the Marathas and Sikhs. By the tome the british crown took over India the Industrial revolution had started and the racial theories of White European Christian superiority had been invented. With the spurt in exploration European scholars like Max Muller "discovered" Sanskrit knowledge even as the British "understood" Indian history as "Fair Skinned North Western races overran dark skinned Dravidians. Later the Hindus were defeated by the Mughals. Again fair skin Gunga Din Martial won over contaminated cross breeding Hindus. And we the supreme British defeated the Mughals and now lord over the world."

This was the history that you and I inherited. So the Islamic loot and rape was more limited that we like to imagine. It was there but it persisted far longer and was more severe in North India. In fact what is completely missing from this history is the fact that the Portuguese destroyed 500 temples in Sri Lanka. And the Portuguese had an Inquisition killing Hindus in India. Of course these atrocities were for a shorter period of time than Islamic atrocities and so fewer people were murdered, but that is a lousy excuse.

The British gave Indian the impression that they were benevolent superior races. Their "Christianity" was hidden by their overall white supremacy. White and Protestant was for them the greatest race of man. Not just plain Protestant. Not Catholic. Not Jew. White and Protestant. Hindu Indians admire White Protestant nations for their greatness while we hate Islam for its murder. That allows "benign" conversion by superior white races - but the converts are never equal to the original white.

This is a skewed worldview that we need to reconsider if we take the history of all of India into consideration rather than only North West and the Ganga plains.

member_20617 · Post by **member_20617** » 21 Feb 2012 16:12

From Wiki:

The Goa Inquisition was the office of the Inquisition acting in the Indian state of Goa and the rest of the Portuguese empire in Asia. It was established in 1560, briefly suppressed from 1774–1778, and finally abolished in 1812.[1] The Goan Inquisition is considered a blot on the history of Roman Catholicism in India. Based on the records that survive, H. P. Salomon and I. S. D. Sassoon state that between the Inquisition's beginning in 1561 and its temporary abolition in 1774, some 16,202 persons were brought to trial by the Inquisition. Of this number, it is known that 57 were sentenced to death and executed in person; another 64 were burned in effigy. Others were subjected to lesser punishments or penance, but the fate of many of the Inquisition's victims is unknown.[2]

The Inquisition was established to punish apostate New Christians—Jews and Muslims who converted to Catholicism, as well as their descendants—who were now suspected of practicing their ancestral religion in secret.[2]

In Goa, the Inquisition also turned its attention to Indian converts from Hinduism or Islam who were thought to have returned to their original ways. In addition, the Inquisition prosecuted non-converts who broke prohibitions against the observance of Hindu or Muslim rites or interfered with Portuguese attempts to convert non-Christians to Catholicism.[2]

While its ostensible aim was to preserve the Catholic faith, the Inquisition was used against Indian Catholics and Hindus and also against Portuguese settlers from Europe (mostly New Christians and Jewish but also Old Christians) as an instrument of social control, as well as a method of confiscating victims' property and enriching the Inquisitors.[3]

Most of the Goa Inquisition's records were destroyed after its abolition in 1812, and it is thus impossible to know the exact number of the Inquisition's victims.[2]

In the 15th century, the Portuguese explored the sea route to India and Pope Nicholas V enacted the Papal bull Romanus Pontifex. This granted the patronage of the propagation of the Christian faith in Asia to the Portuguese and rewarded them with a trade monopoly for newly discovered areas.[8]

After Vasco da Gama arrived in India in 1498, the trade became prosperous, but the Portuguese were not interested in proselytization. After four decades, the Catholic Church threatened to open Asia for all Catholics.[9]

Now missionaries of the newly founded Society of Jesus were sent to Goa and the Portuguese colonial government supported the mission with incentives for baptized Christians. They offered rice donations for the poor, good positions in the Portuguese colonies for the middle class and military support for local rulers.[9]

Many newly converted Indians were opportunistic Rice Christians, who still practised their old religion. This was seen as a threat to the purity of Christian belief. St. Francis Xavier, in a 1545 letter to John III of Portugal, requested an Inquisition to be installed in Goa.[9]

The first inquisitors, Aleixo Dias Falcão and Francisco Marques, established themselves in the palace once occupied by Goa's Sultan, forcing the Portuguese viceroy to relocate to a smaller residence.[10]
The inquisitor's first act was to forbid any open practice of the Hindu faith on pain of death. Sephardic Jews living in Goa, many of whom had fled the Iberian Peninsula to escape the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition to begin with, were also persecuted.[10] The narrative of Da Fonseca describes the violence and brutality of the inquisition. The records speak of the necessity for hundreds of prison cells to accommodate fresh victims.[10]

From 1560 to 1774, a total of 16,172 persons were tried and condemned or acquitted by the tribunals of the Inquisition. While it also included individuals of different nationalities, the overwhelming majority—nearly three fourths were natives, almost equally represented by Christians and non-Christians. Many of these were hauled up merely for crossing the border and cultivating lands there. [11]

Seventy-one autos da fe were recorded. In the first few years alone, over 4000 people were arrested.[10] In the first hundred years, the Inquisition burnt at stake 57 alive and 64 in effigy, 105 of them being men and 16 women. Others sentenced to various punishments totalled 4,046, out of whom 3,034 were men and 1,012 were women.[12] According to the Chronista de Tissuary (Chronicles of Tiswadi), the last auto da fe was held in Goa on 7 February 1773.[12]

The Portuguese colonial administration enacted anti-Hindu laws with the expressed intent to "humiliate Hindus" and encourage conversions to Christianity. Laws were passed banning Christians from keeping Hindus in their employ, and the public worship of Hindus was deemed unlawful.[13] Hindus were forced to assemble periodically in churches to listen to preaching or to refutation of their religion.[14]

The viceroy ordered that Hindu pandits and physicians be disallowed from entering the capital city on horseback or palanquins, the violation of which entailed a fine. Successive violations resulted in imprisonment.[15]

Christian palaquin-bearers were forbidden from carrying Hindus as passengers. Christian agricultural laborers were forbidden to work in the lands owned by Hindus and Hindus forbidden to employ Christian laborers.[15]

The Inquisition guaranteed "protection" to Hindus who converted to Christianity. Thus, they initiated a new wave of baptisms to Hindus who were motivated by social coercion into converting.[16]
The adverse effects of the inquisition were tempered somewhat by the fact that Hindus were able to escape Portuguese hegemony by migrating to other parts of the subcontinent[17] including to Muslim territory.[18]

Ironically, the Inquisition also had an adverse unintended consequence, in that it was a compelling factor for the emigration of a large number of Portuguese from the Portuguese colonies, who although Roman Catholic by faith, had now acculturated into Hindu culture. These people went on to seek their fortunes in the courts of different Indian kings, where their services were employed, usually as gunners or cavalrymen.[19]

Persecution of Hindus
According to Indo-Portuguese historian Teotonio R. de Souza, grave abuse was practiced in Goa in the form of 'mass baptism' and what went before it. The practice was begun by the Jesuits and was later initiated by the Franciscans also. The Jesuits staged an annual mass baptism on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (25 January), and in order to secure as many neophytes as possible, a few days before the ceremony the Jesuits would go through the streets of the Hindu quarter in pairs, accompanied by their Negro slaves, whom they would urge to seize the Hindus. When the blacks caught up a fugitive, they would smear his lips with a piece of beef, making him an 'untouchable' among his people. Conversion to Christianity was then his only option.

The inquisition was set as a tribunal, headed by a judge, sent to Goa from Portugal and was assisted by two judicial henchmen. The judge was answerable to no one except to Lisbon and handed down punishments as he saw fit. The Inquisition Laws filled 230 pages and the palace where the Inquisition was conducted was known as the Big House and the Inquisition proceedings were always conducted behind closed shutters and closed doors.

According to the historian, "the screams of agony of the victims (men, women, and children) could be heard in the streets, in the stillness of the night, as they were brutally interrogated, flogged, and slowly dismembered in front of their relatives.""Eyelids were sliced off and extremities were amputated carefully, a person could remain conscious even though the only thing that remained was his torso and head.[20]

Fr. Diago de Boarda and his advisor Vicar General, Miguel Vaz had made a 41 point plan for torturing Hindus. Under this plan Viceroy António de Noronha issued in 1566, an order applicable to the entire area under Portuguese rule:[20]

I hereby order that in any area owned by my master, the king, nobody should construct a Hindu temple and such temples already constructed should not be repaired without my permission. If this order is transgressed, such temples shall be, destroyed and the goods in them shall be used to meet expenses of holy deeds, as punishment of such transgression.

In 1567, the campaign of destroying temples in Bardez met with success. At the end of it 300 Hindu temples were destroyed. Enacting laws, prohibition was laid from 4 December 1567 on rituals of Hindu marriages, sacred thread wearing and cremation.[20]

All the persons above 15 years of age were compelled to listen to Christian preaching, failing which they were punished. In 1583 Hindu temples at Assolna and Cuncolim were destroyed through army action.[20]
"The fathers of the Church forbade the Hindus under terrible penalties the use of their own sacred books, and prevented them from all exercise of their religion. They destroyed their temples, and so harassed and interfered with the people that they abandoned the city in large numbers, refusing to remain any longer in a place where they had no liberty, and were liable to imprisonment, torture and death if they worshipped after their own fashion the gods of their fathers." wrote Filippo Sassetti, who was in India from 1578 to 1588.[20]

An order was issued in June 1684 eliminating the Konkani language and making it compulsory to speak the Portuguese language. The law provided for dealing toughly with anyone using the local language. Following that law all the symbols of non-Christian sects were destroyed and the books written in local languages were burnt.[20]

The victims of such inhuman laws of the Inquiry Commission included a French traveller named Charles Delone. He was an eye witness to the atrocities, cruelty and reign of terror unleashed by priests.[21] He published a book in 1687 describing the lot of helpless victims. While he was in jail, he had heard the cries of tortured people beaten with instruments having sharp teeth. All these details are noted in Delone's book, L'Inquisition de Goa (The Inquisition of Goa).[21]

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 22 Feb 2012 07:33

Secret note blows cover of govt move to shackle Election Commission

The NGOs that received the highest foreign donations in J&K

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 23 Feb 2012 10:03

Views from the Right

Fabulous wealth

Picking up from the CBI director’s comment last week that illegal money worth roughly Rs 25 lakh crore is stashed away in tax havens abroad, the latest issue of the RSS weekly, Organiser, runs another campaign to retrieve this black money.”Indians are the largest hoarders of black money in foreign banks. Ironically, the Indian government is doing the least to retrieve it. The manner in which the prime minister, the finance minister and home minister fumble when questions are raised about getting the money back or releasing names of account holders, is a dead giveaway to the fact that they want to protect the offenders,” alleges the Organiser editorial.

It writes of India’s legendary wealth in the past: “Our history is dotted with anecdotes of invaders loading camels and elephants with gems and silk and gold to be transported to their homeland,” it says. After the Mughals, it was the turn of the British, the Portuguese, the French and the Dutch to plunder India, it adds.

“The latest looters are homegrown, with an exception of one family at the top,” it says, referring to the Gandhis. “The rest are all born Indians, brought up by this land that offered opportunities to grow and flourish. In return they have exploited every chance to steal money, take it abroad and hide it. They do not even plough it back here,” it says. “Like the King of Kosala who did penance for years to bring the Ganga to the earth,” the Organiser says that “India needs a modern day Bhageerath to bring the tainted money back to the country.”

Curiously, the Organiser gives full credit to Baba Ramdev for launching an agitation against black money, Ram Jethmalani for raising the issue early in the Supreme Court and demanding the revelation of the names, and Subramanian Swamy for his crusade against corruption, but skips any reference to senior BJP leader L.K. Advani who led a rath yatra on the issue.

RSS Bangalored

Another article in the Organiser describes how the RSS has been working, slowly but innovatively, to endear itself to young people in Karnataka, especially those who do not hail from the state. The initiative is directed through IT Milans, an organisation of software professionals steered by young RSS swayamsevaks, which is involved in teaching Kannada to non-Kannadigas in Bangalore and elsewhere in the state.

Over the last few years, IT Milans have been conceptualised by the RSS as a forum to attract the youth. Though they meet regularly in IT shakhas, members of IT Milans have been exempted from the customary dress code and exercises. The article says in Bangalore alone, over 300 IT swayamsevaks are involved in the exercise of teaching Kannada to non-Kannadigas.

In Mayawati land

The editorial in the latest issue of Panchjanya has attacked the BSP government led by Mayawati for its involvement in the NHRM scam, which the article has dubbed “khooni ghotala” (killer scam) because of the deaths of six people who were allegedly involved in it. The killing of these six individuals in the last year or so, with the last death occurring just a week ago, leaves little doubt that those involved in the scam do not want the truth to come out, and are willing to go to the extent of murdering to prevent this, says the Panchjanya.

“The way in which Mayawati’s rule in Uttar Pradesh has become a den of corruption, scams and scandals with open loot of money from the government treasury, has been proved by the fact that she herself dropped about half a dozen ministers after facing corruption charges. At the same time, Mayawati’s own assets have increased three times over, putting her in the league of richest chief ministers... The state has been shouting itself hoarse on development and infrastructure such as roads, water, power, education and health, but the state government spent over Rs 4,000 crore on parks and statues,” it says, adding that if any charges are levelled against Mayawati, she invokes the Dalit card as a counter. “The people are now wanting to extricate themselves from the situation and UP is witnessing winds of change. But the question is whether ousting Mayawati from power will be enough, or whether she will have to pay for her misdeeds”, says the Panchjanya.

Compiled by Swaraj Thapa

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 23 Feb 2012 20:47

OT alert:Aditya_V saar,I dont how on earth you got the idea that i supported the poor teachers murder? At most,I was insensitive posting about a dead person.sincere apologies to the departed soul.last post on topic.

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 23 Feb 2012 20:52

On the Italian Navy vs Indian Fishermen incident:

It's easy to see how the Italian media and Govt is hoodwinking Italians and Indians alike that the Italian Vessel was in international waters and so India does not have jurisprudence according to Maritime Law over an Italian flag vessel. That logic is plain dumb and wrong according to Maritime law itself. That logic assumes/ or would be right if the crime was committed on the Italian ship. But the muder actually took place on Indian soil. The Fishermen's boat is Indian flag and any crime taking place on board it, will have to be governed by the Flag state which is India! So the murder did take place technically on Indian soil and anybody having committed murder on Indian soil and running away will be caught even if they are in international waters. They may be extradited from other countries with bilateral agreements on the same too. International law accepts that. IF the Ship crew is not cooperating with the investigation, India has every right to seize the ship and arrest whosoever is involved in concealment of evidence, Guns for example.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 24 Feb 2012 02:01

Quite harsh op-ed from Deccan Herald on the Italian tanker killing incident. DH is a INC pasand paper.

Take a tough stand

Why does our government soft-pedal every issue when our citizens’ lives are involved? Do Indians’ lives come cheap?

Recently, two Indian fishermen were killed off the coast of Kerala by the staff of the Italian ship ‘Enrica Lexie.’ It was an excessive, unprovoked and patently arrogant action on the part of the crew of that foreign ship. Any self-respecting nation would have immediately moved its coast-guard or other defence vessels into action, arrested the captain and the crew, brought the errant foreign vessel to the shore and promptly started legal action against them as per the law of the land. When it is a question of foreign powers that are responsible for the loss of our citizens’ lives, our government has been known in the past to dither and dilly and dally. It is doing the same over the past week and more. It took several days to decide to bring the errant Italian crew to Kochi port for questioning.

The whole lethargy, delay and unnecessary debate smacks of our government’s subservient attitude towards foreign powers. Had it not been for the clamour by the media, it appears as though the government might have conveniently shut its eyes to this incident. When our government has responded so tepidly, it is but natural that the Italian government is now flexing its muscles and demanding diplomatic immunity for the crew. Italian interlocutors are now insisting the ship’s staff can only be tried in Italy and not in India.

....

Have they gone over to BJP?

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 24 Feb 2012 02:14

ramana wrote:
Have they gone over to BJP?

You are reading too much into one article IMHO.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 24 Feb 2012 04:18

Again 2022 is the breaking point when Indians get in to Taap Gear , wipe out all the past tears and begin to gather without fear all that have been dear to our peers.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 24 Feb 2012 04:21

India the Global Balancer by 2030

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 24 Feb 2012 07:13

Next edition of 'know your overlords'...

Sonia Gandhi cites privacy, refuses to disclose info on I-T returns

CHENNAI: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has declined to disclose details of her income tax returns under the RTI Act, citing personal freedom and security risk. In her reply to the I-T department, she also said there was no public interest involved in disclosing such information.
[...]
This is the second time that the CPIO has rejected the petition. The application was first rejected without even seeking objection from Sonia. After the appellate authority's intervention last month on Gopalakrishnan's plea, the CPIO sought a response from Sonia. "By not calling for an objection, the CPIO has ignored the possibility of the third party expressing willingness for disclosure of personal I-T information," the authority had said.

Brazen or what? Public figures citing privacy concerns at the rop of a hat. When poll candidates and babaus have been required to declare their assets, what's sonia's problem I wonder.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 25 Feb 2012 04:12

Science in India
India Rising
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6071/904

At the Indian Science Congress last month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to hike R&D expenditures from around $3 billion last year to $8 billion in 2017. The windfall is meant to turbocharge initiatives to create elite research institutions, bring expatriate Indian scientists home, enrich science education, and equip smart new laboratories. Included in this push is South Asia's first biosafety level–4 lab for handling the most dangerous pathogens, slated to be up and running this spring. Over the next 5 years, an estimated $1.2 billion in public funds will be funneled to a new National Science and Engineering Research Board. Modeled after the U.S. National Science Foundation, the board is expected to fund its first competitive grants this year. Researchers will have to clear some daunting hurdles, though.

( Any Jwan with full axxexx to the Magzine)

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 25 Feb 2012 04:22

Wow

This is potentially huge.

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 25 Feb 2012 05:42

India proposes BRICS bank

member_21708 · Post by **member_21708** » 25 Feb 2012 11:28

Jhujar wrote:Science in India
India Rising
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6071/904
At the Indian Science Congress last month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to hike R&D expenditures from around $3 billion last year to $8 billion in 2017. The windfall is meant to turbocharge initiatives to create elite research institutions, bring expatriate Indian scientists home, enrich science education, and equip smart new laboratories. Included in this push is South Asia's first biosafety level–4 lab for handling the most dangerous pathogens, slated to be up and running this spring. Over the next 5 years, an estimated $1.2 billion in public funds will be funneled to a new National Science and Engineering Research Board. Modeled after the U.S. National Science Foundation, the board is expected to fund its first competitive grants this year. Researchers will have to clear some daunting hurdles, though.
( Any Jwan with full axxexx to the Magzine)

http://imgur.com/9mW2S
http://imgur.com/59NQy
http://imgur.com/Py4hF
http://imgur.com/qSOgw
http://imgur.com/GV7Bz
http://imgur.com/acdHI
http://imgur.com/vhI9F
http://imgur.com/AlUuC