Indian Interests

[svinayak]

Acharya,

Do not disagree but who will do it and how can it be done with the current state of the rashtra prevailing?

Change the ruling party. Many elections are required. Many changes are required and atleast 10-20 years are required to restore from the mess. Remove the foreign influence inside India.

[Pranav]

Vastanvi to quit as VC of Deoband - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 364879.cms

[Prem]

Qureshi, Krishna talk bilateral ties on R-Day eve
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/qures ... 110124.htm

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on Tuesday renewed invitation to his Pakistani counterpart SM Qureshi to visit India to "carry forward" the dialogue process to which the Pakistan minister responded positively, but did not indicate when he will travel. The invitation by Krishna was reiterated during a phone call made by Qureshi to convey felicitations on the occasion of Republic Day during which the two ministers also discussed Indo-Pak relations, according to a ministry statement. The two leaders also hoped for a "positive outcome" of the meeting between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan in Thimpu on the margins of a South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation Committee meeting. "The ministers had a brief exchange of views on bilateral relations. Referring to the forthcoming meeting between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan in Thimpu, the ministers hoped for a positive outcome. External Affairs Minister reiterated his invitation to Qureshi to visit India at a mutually convenient date, to carry forward the dialogue process. Qureshi stated that he looked forward to visiting New Delhi [ Images ]," the statement said.
Earlier, in a message of greetings sent to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh [ Images ] on Republic Day, his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani [ Images ] said, "I avail this opportunity to reiterate Pakistan's strong commitment to pursue our desire to develop friendly relations on the basis of sovereign equality and commonality of interest. We are also committed to resolving all outstanding issues, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir [ Images ] and water disputes, towards realising the vision of a peaceful and prosperous South Asia."

[Pranav]

Important exposition of the modus operandi of corruption ... please note the connections to AB Vajpeyi, the Kargil War and the pilfering of funds for irrigation and nutritional supplements for kids..

IAS couple's greed their undoing?
Suchandana Gupta, TNN, Jan 27, 2011, 03.16am IST

BHOPAL: Of the several questions surrounding Bhopal's billionaire bureaucrats Arvind Joshi and his wife Tinu Joshi, the ones most intriguing are what was their modus operandi for minting money, and who blew the whistle on them and why. The questions gain salience because, as a Madhya Pradesh cabinet minister said, "The IAS lobby is in Joshis' support and trying hard to scuttle the probe."

In a peculiar way, the answer to the two questions may be linked. Repeated questioning of some senior bureaucrats revealed that despite a strong backing of the Joshis by the IAS lobby, it's quite likely that it was a woman IAS officer who blew the whistle on the couple's multi-crore deals while Tinu Joshi was principal secretary, women and child welfare.

"Women and child welfare department gets huge grants," said a senior Bhopal bureaucrat. "The empowerment of women and girl child development is one of chief minister's thrust areas. Apart from big budget allocation, this department is also funded by the Centre and the United Nations. Supplies of nutritional supplements is part of the plan," he said.

Not in support of the Joshis, this top civil servant said, "The state allocates crores of rupees for free distribution of 'panjiri' (a sweet made of high protein mixture of powdered lentils, atta, dry fruit and ghee). This is meant for malnourished children and mothers. But this expenditure was shown only on paper."

It's learnt that Tinu Joshi fought with another senior woman bureaucrat because she was withholding funds for 'panjiri. "The contract was given to suppliers of Tinu's choice, who would then also provide her with the necessary paperwork," the bureaucrat said.

The other thing that might have gone against the IAS couple was the sheer amount of money they spun; making it quite likely that someone was deprived of his or her spoils, and who then raised a hue and cry. Joshis' assets include a breathtaking 25 flats and 400 acres of land — estimated to be worth more than Rs 360 crore by the I-T department.

They made the bucks holding key bureaucratic positions in the 1980s and '90s. From July 1, 1988, to January 1, 1990, Tinu was deputy secretary in the PMO and then transferred to the ministry of labour until July 1, 1992. In the same period, Arvind was deputy secretary, health; then, director, health; and finally deputy secretary in the ministry of coal. He was joint secretary for defence ministry during the 1999 Kargil war.

After BJP came to power in Madhya Pradesh in 2003, Arvind got a "creamy" posting as principal secretary, water resources. Seldom has an officer of the principal secretary rank been retained for five years in the same department in Madhya Pradesh. But Joshi was removed only after the minister, Anup Mishra, in charge of water resources, quit after the alleged involvement of his relatives in a murder case in Gwalior. Incidentally, Anup Mishra is a nephew of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Joshi was principal secretary (jail) when he was suspended in February 2010.

The I-T department's appraisal report, submitted to the Lokayukta and the state government, reveal that heavy investments were made for purchase of agricultural property and real estate while Arvind was joint secretary, defence ministry. A large portion of the 387 acres of agricultural land, 25 flats in Guwahati, Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi and seven non-agricultural plots were bought in collusion with developers and real-estate companies in this period. A Noida promoter was instrumental in the purchase of property and flats in Guwahati.

Investigators are now scrutinizing the couple's association with the Vectra Group, controlled by a London-based NRI. Vectra Indo-copters Pvt Ltd, the sole distributors of Eurocopters in India, signed major defence deals for the supply of light helicopters which allegedly started when Arvind was in the defence ministry.

What makes investigators more curious is Vectra Group's possible association with Tinu. She was development commissioner (handicrafts), Union ministry of textiles, between 2004-07. India Exposition Mart, spread over 235,000 sq metres in Greater Noida was developed around this time as a one-stop shop for cottage industry products. Vectra Group acquired majority shares in India Exposition Mart. Sources in the I-T department say that Tinoo's possible role in setting-up of the India Exposition Mart must be investigated.

A senior bureaucrat said that the five years when Arvind was posted as principal secretary, water resources, huge funds were diverted for construction of canals in four districts: Jabalpur, Mandla, Satna and Rewa. The contract involved earthwork, excavation and concrete. A jigsaw puzzle about much of cash, stocks and shares will be solved if investigation follows the trail of the funding of these projects.

The ED has issued notices to the bureaucrat couple and sought explanation on the purchase of 100 acres of agricultural land in MP in the names of Joshi's NRI sisters, Abha and Vibha, for buying the land in gross violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act of 1999. Land could be confiscated if the IAS couple fail to give valid argument. The Reserve Bank of India prohibits the purchase of agricultural land, farm houses and plantation property by NRIs. The ED could also initiate action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002.

Tinu is a post-graduate in chemistry and started her career with the Indian Revenue Service. The I-T department's report on raids was prepared by her juniors in the IRS. Tinoo later switched to the IAS batch of 1979 and met Madhya Pradesh cadre officer Arvind Joshi, and subsequently got married. Both have MBA degrees from little-known Australian universities.

A week ago, chief minister Chouhan said that his government would enact laws to set-up special courts for speedy trial in corruption cases. He also said laws would be enacted to confiscate the ill-gotten property of public servants if corruption is proved in court.

Speaking to reporters, Lokayukta PV Naolekar said, "The state government is taking a long time to provide details and documents on the Joshis required for investigation. Chief secretary Avani Vaish cites volume of the 7,000-page I-T report as the cause of delay for any action."

Read more: IAS couple's greed their undoing? - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... z1CCPYFVXl

[SwamyG]

Not so fast Muppalla garu.....You underestimated the influence of some very powerful people/community.

SC takes back conversion remark in Staines case

Severe criticism of its remarks over conversion has forced the Supreme Court to expunge its controversial observations on the subject in the judgment holding Dara Singh and Mahendra Hebram guilty of burning Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons to death in 1999. The bench headed by
related stories

* Graham Staines killing: A timeline
* SC upholds life sentence for Staines' killer
* Killer Dara wanted to teach Staines a lesson: SC

Justice P Sathasivam clarified its earlier judgment on Tuesday and said it was recasting it with new lines.

The bench had on January 21 concurred with the Orissa HC verdict while declining to send Dara Singh to gallows.

It had held the case did not fall into the rarest of the rare category and imposed life imprisonment to Singh and Hebram while acquitting 12 others.

The bench had observed: "In the case on hand, though Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death... at Manoharpur, the intention was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity."

The bench has now replaced these lines with: "However, more than 12 years have elapsed since the act was committed, we are of the opinion that the life sentence awarded by the HC need not be enhanced in view of the factual position discussed in the earlier paras."

Similarly the bench has re-phrased another paragraph criticising conversion.

"It is undisputed that there is no justification for interfering in someone's belief by way of use of force, provocation, conversion, incitement or upon flawed premise that one religion is better than the other."

The court has now changed it to: "There is no justification for interfering in someone's religious belief by any means."

Though it is rare for SC to expunge its remarks, it can do so under its inherent powers. Senior counsel Rajeev Dhawan said: "It is always open to a judge to suo-motu alter the judgment if a mistake has been made or an inconsistent overstatement of fact or law is made."

[ramana]

Book Review in Pioneer

Peeping into secrecy havens

February 01, 2011

Sense, Sensex and Sentiments
Author: MR Venkatesh
Publisher: KW Publishers
Price: Rs 595

The book focuses on the problems of tax evasion and the flight of capital from India via hawala routes, writes Sandhya Jain

As a successful chartered accountant with an evolved sense of responsibility regarding the crisis engendered in the world by the growing number of fiscal scandals that are sending nations, societies and people into crisis, MR Venkatesh has issued a clarion call to Indian society with his seminal Sense, Sensex and Sentiments. And not a day too soon. As one scam after another roils our politico-economic life, and scams like 2G spectrum in turn involve bank loan and realty irregularities, the opacity of our public life and sheer lack of accountability of power structures hit us like bolts from the blue.

Venkatesh has clinically analysed India’s problems in the context of globalisation, focusing particularly on the problems of tax evasion, the flight of capital from India via hawala routes, and return of tainted money as foreign investment. Also discussed cogently are the issues of Government laxity, and complicity, most notably in the UPA decision to permit participatory notes to operate in the Indian stock market. The book investigates the collusion of national elites and international commercial and criminal interests in this vicious cycle, and their capacity to twist national laws, regulations and processes to their ends.

The key problem, as the author is quick to explain, is the unpleasant truth of lack of political will at the level of the G-20 nations in tackling the growing menace of tax havens. This is particularly true of the United Kingdom (almost all tax havens are former British colonies!) and the United States (whose elite love offshore havens and whose Government loves the power of blackmail these havens afford it over tin-pot dictators in the third world). Thus the crisis of what are politely called secrecy jurisdictions continues because they serve the economic interests of powerful and unaccountable people.

Yet, many of the problems posed by secrecy jurisdictions can be remedied by strengthening international cooperation by sharing information on cross-border flow of funds. With the nation, the author finds that money power has helped certain people with authority to promote a chosen few by making laws that suit them, or to break inconvenient laws with impunity. The system of regulators is grossly inadequate to deliver justice, provided the regulators are interested in serving the nation. Rough estimates of flight of capital out of India suggest between $22-27 billion, thus making India the fifth highest in the world in terms of illicit outflows, after Russia ($32-38 billion), Mexico ($41-46 billion), Saudi Arabia ($54-55 billion) and China ($233-289 billion). Most of this capital disappears into Mauritius or Jersey, then moves on to Europe and North America, but some returns under the guise of foreign investment to benefit from tax holidays and other special treatments.

From the late 1970s, capital has enjoyed great international mobility, with no matching steps at the international level to cope with side-effects like tax evasion, which is now endemic the world over. Worse, abetting financial crime has become a major profit centre for banks and other financial intermediaries, making corruption one of the most corrosive facts of public life. The World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery initiative estimates that cross-border flows of proceeds from criminal activities, corruption and tax evasion amount to between $1 trillion and $1.6 trillion a year, roughly half of which comes from the developing and transitional economies. That only 0.01 per cent of dirty money flowing through Switzerland is detected is a measure of the international laxity in the matter of cracking down on tax evasion and money laundering.

Experts now feel that the corruption debate must expand from politicians and Government servants seeking bribes to incorporate the bribe-payers and the financial intermediaries who create and manage the legal subterfuges through which illicit cross-border financial flows are routed via Offshore Financial Centres (OFCs) into the mainstream banking system. The secretive legal instruments used by multinational companies and rich individuals to dodge taxes are also used for many criminal activities like market rigging, insider trading, payment of illicit political donations, embezzlement, fraud, and payment of bribes and commission kickbacks. These need to be exposed.

Most illicit financial flows go through complex structures like legal entities operated by intermediaries working in secrecy jurisdictions. A typical tax evasion strategy might begin with an offshore trust created in Mauritius, which serves as sole shareholder of an offshore company registered in the Isle of Man using nominee directors and shareholders, and this in turn is a front for a secret bank account in Zurich, Switzerland. The beneficiaries of this structure may have no apparent connection with the original trust, the company of the bank account. In other words, the entire façade, which is expensive to create and operate, is designed only to frustrate investigation.

It may sound strange to us, but these tax havens are actively marketed by financial intermediaries to potential clients throughout the world by mainstream newspapers and magazines such as The Economist — which gives an idea of the financial stakes their Governments have in perpetuating these essentially criminal pads. The advertisements are an open invitation to illicit financial flows and tax evasion. They expose a major fault line in the system. While capital is almost fully mobile, the ability to police cross-border dirty money flows is nation-based and international judicial co-operation is almost non-existent.

Governments and multilateral agencies downplay concerns about dirty money except when drugs and terrorism are concerned. But this too is not the whole picture as we now know that most Western banks owe their liquidity to the drug trade out of Afghanistan and other locations like Kosovo (the latest revelation). So, the global financial system, in reality, encourages and facilitates laundering of money. Neither the World Bank nor International Monetary Fund has tried to investigate or quantify illicit financial flows and tax evasion.

Terrorism and drug trade are linked, so unless there is political will among the nations that dominate the world financial system and control the tax havens, little can be expected to stem the rot. While money laundering has been made an offence, and financial institutions and intermediaries in the ‘wars’ on drugs and terrorism given responsibility to know the originators and beneficiaries of all financial transactions, there have been many instances when banks failed to follow the rules and inform the authorities about suspicious currency transactions in certain accounts.

There are also charitable trusts that are set up as a front for ‘special purpose vehicles’ used for international tax planning and for hiding both assets and liabilities ‘off-balance sheet’, as happened with the American Enron and British bank Northern Rock, both of which collapsed spectacularly. The near collapse of the Greek economy in May 2010 can be directly linked to the levels of tax evasion there. Experts say things are worse in countries like India.

Venkatesh deals extensively with the related issues of money laundering, participatory notes and a lax regulatory regime, stressing their deleterious effects on the domestic economy and national security. He advocates action in three critical areas of crime, corruption and capital market manipulation, because as long as the close nexus between criminals, politicians and unscrupulous businessmen flourishes, India’s national security and future are in danger.

[Prem]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 71016.html
India Through Clear Eyes
A review of Patrick French's "India: A Portrait".

mid the welter of investment bank reports and breathless magazine articles chronicling India's rise, it's easy to forget that not so long ago the country was better known for beggars and fakirs than for software engineers and ambitious tycoons. Not many people outside the subcontinent paid it much attention. Or, as the British writer and historian Patrick French, who first visited India as a 19-year-old in 1986, puts it, "Comprehending the country was a specialist interest, rather than a necessity, as it is today."That need—to make sense of a land with one-sixth of the world's population, in the midst of the fastest change in its 4,000-year history—drives Mr. French's new book, his first since his controversial and critically acclaimed biography of V.S. Naipaul appeared in 2008.

Ever wondered about the astrological period most respected by Indian politicians? It's not when power is there for the taking, but when enemies are most easily destroyed. Which is the preferred private jet of the rich Indian in London? The Dassault Falcon 900: No pesky refueling stops in Baku or Dubai en route to New Delhi. How best to compare ***** produced in the neighboring southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu? Apparently, the Tamil variety is tamer: "The performers were restrained and usually took off only their tops."
A visit to the badlands of Uttar Pradesh brings the author face to face with the gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, a giant of a man rumored to carry a .357 Magnum and six mobile phones with him at all times

On the fraught question of religion in public life, Mr. French criticizes the secular Indian media's tendency to treat "clerics on the further fringes of Islam" deferentially. But he also sees the intellectual bankruptcy of Hindu nationalism, "a view of the future that is rooted in a faraway past, arising from the historical imagination."

[ManjaM]

[youtube]lMSatkxO_r0&feature=player_embedded#[/youtube]

Video presentation of corruption in India 2010

[SSridhar]

India Gathering Support for Permanent UNSC Seat

India will make a determined bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council this year, with the process having begun last month, sources in the government said.

With the go-ahead for the text-based negotiations on expanding the Security Council, India is now gathering support, primarily from developing countries seeking concrete action.

India began the year by inviting 12 Permanent Representatives to the United Nations from the Caribbean nations to visit the country. Besides showcasing its economic strengths, it sensitised the Ambassadors to the need for urgently making the Security Council more representative.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will leave for New York to attend the first session of the Security Council, in which India is a non-permanent member. On the sidelines, he will interact with Foreign Ministers from the other G-4 countries. G-4 is a grouping of India, Germany, Brazil and Japan, all of whom claim to be ideally placed for seats on an expanded Security Council. Along with Brazilian Foreign Minister,

Mr. Krishna will separately meet his South African counterpart to discuss the issues affecting unanimity on representatives from the African continent.

On his return, the Ministry of External Affairs will host a Ministerial meeting of 45 least developed countries here. After a mini-gathering of east African nations on February 10, India will host an African summit in Ethiopia in the middle of this year. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will also arrive here around this time of the year. Besides other issues, the two sides will review the progress made in the bid for expanding the Council.

“We have started the work for a non-permanent seat,” the sources said, pointing out that 40 countries, including India, had already called for a much shorter text to accelerate negotiations. Called L-60, the group has rejected the proposal to have an intermediate solution in place till the real issue is decided.

This group has decided to seek the expansion of the Council from 15 (five permanent and 10 rotating) to 25 or 26. The permanent category should be increased from five to 11, with two each of the new members from Africa and Asia and one each from South America and the Caribbean. The non-permanent category should be increased from 10 to 14 or 15.

The group has sought restrictions on using the veto by proscribing it under conditions such as genocide, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and terrorism.

[suryag]

RajaRam Garu are you planning to run for the upcoming assembly elections

[negi]

Wannabe world supel powel

J&K exits World Bank project over ‘disputed territory’ tag

The Jammu & Kashmir government has abandoned the Rs 740 crore integrated watershed development project after the World Bank sought a disclaimer from the Union government that the aid plan would not recognize India's territorial claim over the state. {This is absurd what business has a world financial body in J&K's politics}

The three-phase project meant to control soil erosion was signed between the Jammu & Kashmir government and World Bank in 1992. Two tranches of Rs 300 crore each were released by 1996, but the remaining Rs 740 crore was in abeyance.
Curiously, it was only in 2009 that the World Bank asked for a disclaimer before releasing funds for the third phase.

"We have given up on aid for the project. We had approached the Union government in 2009 for a disclaimer undertaking to be given to the World Bank. The Central leadership had promised us that it would ask the World Bank to drop the clause, but there was no progress. So we decided to give up the project,'' Jammu & Kashmir forest minister Mian Altaf Ahmad told TOI.

[ramana]

NSV at Newsinsight.net

C O M M E N T A R Y

"Fools rush in...."
Silence is often golden in foreign affairs, says N.V.Subramanian.

New Delhi, 4 February 2011: From the perspective of "peaceful rise", how far should India go in managing/ manipulating/ influencing the internal affairs of other countries?

Not far at all. This needs to be explained in the context of the Egypt uprising.

Some commentators rue that India did not openly back/ support the movement against Hosni Mubarak. In this writer's opinion, India couldn't do more than it did, which is admittedly little.

Countries should not box above their weight-class. This realization or hard pragmatism recognizably has come to India.

Often, India is accused of not being able to manage its neighbourhood. This charge is not invalid. But there is only so much India can do.

To her best ability, Indira Gandhi did what had to be done with Bangladesh. But her best was not good enough.

It is not enough to win the war, as India did in 1971. You have to secure the peace. India has failed with that in Bangladesh.

Securing peace is never easy. The United States copped out in Iraq. And it will soon withdraw from Afghanistan changing little to nothing on the ground.

Or take India in Sri Lanka. India has lurched in opposite extremes in respect of the Tamil ethnic problem there.

Indira Gandhi authorized military training to the Tamil terrorists but particularly the LTTE. Her son ordered military action against the Liberation Tigers. The Tigers assassinated him.

A future Congress-majority government, that is the UPA administration, backed the Sri Lankan government to decimate the LTTE. The result is that a triumphant, chauvinistic Sri Lankan president, who has become more dictatorial than before, will no longer even accept the existence of the Tamil question.

His chief hedge against India is China.

Or consider Nepal, a so-called Hindu kingdom before the deposition of the monarch. An Indian semi-blockade forced the institution of Nepal's parliamentary democracy in 1991.

But that appears on hindsight to have been an easier mission than managing Nepal's democracy since, which has derailed.

Or take Pakistan, which has sought to avenge Bangladesh by becoming obsessed with Kashmir to the point of destroying its future. Steadfastly, this writer has urged India to leave Pakistan alone to sink whilst securing its territories against Pakistani terrorism.

This is India's only option against nuclear-armed Pakistan unless Pakistan provokes a war, when all bets are off.

Or check on China. It thought it strategically wise to weaponize Pakistan against India and to look the other way of its anti-India terrorism.

Well, its blowback time now. Sinking Pakistan (a process this writer believes cannot be reversed) could conceivably leak nukes (dirty IEDs at the least, says Wikileaks) to the terrorists, including to China's restive Uyghurs who train with the Al-Qaeda in FATA.

So what was the good of China's pro-Pakistan/ anti-India policy if it couldn't -- and cannot -- stop India's peaceful rise but catastrophically threatens it?

The United States is the last of the great imperial powers, and it is in irreversible decline. The old concept of imposing peace (Pax Britannica, Pax Americana) is over.

If China tries to be a full-throated Middle Kingdom, it will fail in this new world where chaos is the only certainty. If imperial overstretch unfailingly can apply to Britain, Soviet Russia and the United States, China cannot be an exception.

The best policy is the policy of peaceful rise, which India has intuitively but genuinely embraced.

It makes India not an evangelist state at all but a valuable status quo power. Where it can box within its weight-class (and even tiny land-locked Nepal may not qualify for such a place), it tries to do, and utmost unwillingly.

Instead, it uses its economic levers, trade heft and development tools. Success with them takes longer. But they sustain. Partnership is the name of the game.

India can have done little about Egypt. Egypt is an Arab state with diminishing influence since its peace agreement with Israel. The United States which has lead Egypt since corralling Anwar Sadat to abandon Abdel Gamel Nasser's policies has been dumfounded with the recent upheaval.

It could not be bothered who ruled Egypt so long the oil economy and world trade via the Suez was not hit, Israel was safe, and the Tunisia "contagion" did not spread to client states like Saudi Arabia which is the epicentre of Wahhabi terrorism.

What could India do in the circumstances? Support a (Middle-East) mass rebellion uncertain of the end-state? Which sensible government would drop its guard to do that?

Foreign policy cannot be dictated by news-TV emotionalism. Governments, like it or not, have to be hard-nosed about such matters. That old adage, "Fools rush in...", eminently applies to the Egypt situation.

Wait and watch may appear pusillanimous but is often the best policy. Indian civil society may feel completely empathetic to the Egypt street, and why not?

But governments cannot become emotional. Even democratic ones like India's.

Trust time to heal India's relations with Egypt, if any have been strained. The only thing India ought to be evangelical about -- if at all -- is peaceful rise.

[Prem]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/f ... 385244.stm
India's passion for traditional tea in a clay cup
Judy Swallow
Chai, chai."

It is the hawkers' call you hear all over India. The call I first heard more than 30 years ago, at the start of my first, long, overnight train journey out of the city then called Bombay (now Mumbai).
Chai. Tea. But not as we know it. Chai, on that first tasting, was like a joke played by the Indians on the British habit of, to eastern taste-buds, ******** this delicate exotic brew. The recipe for chai: Start with a big, battered pot of rapidly boiling water. Add a packet of powdered milk, one of sugar and then chuck in a generous measure of coarse tea leaves and carry on boiling until you have a thick, sticky, stewed cloying mix.
And then there is one last essential ingredient for the total experience - the gritty aftertaste of red Indian clay. Chai always came in tiny rough-hewn pottery cups, lightly fired, unglazed, always with a bit of grit at the bottom That first time I tried it, I thought it was utterly disgusting, and tipped it out of the window, much to the horror of my fellow passengers. Then to my horror, they threw their cups out of the window. Eurgh! Not only had I been given a vile drink, but witnessed a national vile habit, littering on a criminal scale. Or so I thought. I had a lot to learn about India. The next morning, after a sleepless night on that sleeper train, the point of chai became clear. Weary, shaky and hungry, it was the total restorative - the caffeine hit of the long-stewed tea, the energy of the sugar and the nourishment of the double-strength milk

[ramana]

My first chai in kullad was at Pragati Maidan, Delhi. It was in 1992 on my first visit there. There is a small national museum for textiles and handicrafts. I saved the post for a few days. It broke due to rough baggage handling! ;(

[ramana]

Deracination makes it into desi media!


Ind Express:

Upper Middle Class dreams

If you read English-language books, if you dream in English (more about this later), are you an alienated, deracinated, upper middle class, elite Indian? Gosh! Are you?! Am I?! And does it help if you occasionally dream in your vernacular mother tongue or in any of the other scheduled Indian languages?....

And goes on without understanding the issues!

Its not English but detachment of Indian mileu. If you hanker for Mao instead of Gandhi in Telugu you are as deracinated as the memsaab hankering for Louis Vuitoon bag instead of the one from Handicrafts Emporium.

The reverse of carrying a Handicrafts Emporium bag (jholawalas) and talking about 'revolution of the proletariat' is also deracination.

[Prem]

My first chai in kullad was at Pragati Maidan, Delhi. It was in 1992 on my first visit there. There is a small national museum for textiles and handicrafts. I saved the post for a few days. It broke due to rough baggage handling! ;(

Yougurt or lassi in Kullard add few pedas or barfi . Daryaganj/ Chandi Chawk in Delhi is good start.

[ramana]

Motimahal in Daryaganj?

Tandoori , Qawalli singer, Daru, coal fire in sigri on late December night! No wimmins

[Prem]

Motimahal in Daryaganj?

Tandoori , Qawalli singer, Daru, coal fire in sigri on late December night! No wimmins

N wimmin, not even mature ones !!

[Rony]

India On Verge of ''Cultural Ecocide' Says Scholar

Sheldon Pollock, a renowned scholar of Sanskrit and Indian literary history, warned that in literary terms, India is on the verge of becoming a country as brand-new as America. He gave the keynote speech opening the Jaipur Literature Festival Friday morning. 'It is now entirely legitimate to ask, if dismaying and disturbing, if within two generations there will be anyone in India who will have the capacity of reading Indian literature produced before 1800,' he said. 'I have a feeling that that number is slowly approaching a statistical zero.'

Of India's ancient languages, it is only classic Sanskrit that is not endangered.

Mr. Pollock's concern is over the loss of the treasury of literature that already exists and has been preserved over thousands of years. The scholar, who teaches at Columbia University, says he has become gravely concerned over 40 years of coming and going from India and learning its classical languages, including Hale Kannada, or ancient Kannada, in Mysore and Bangalore.

'Over the 35 or 40 years coming to India...it's been the same in classical Assamese, it's the same in Bangla, it's the same in Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and all the way down the long list,' he said. 'India is on the verge of a potentially cataclysmic cultural ecocide.'

As general editor of Harvard's Murty Classical Library, he's trying to do his bit. A $5.2 million initiative aims to translate a variety of works from a slew of Indian languages. But he said a lot more needs to be done.

[svinayak]

'Over the 35 or 40 years coming to India...it's been the same in classical Assamese, it's the same in Bangla, it's the same in Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and all the way down the long list,' he said. 'India is on the verge of a potentially cataclysmic cultural ecocide.'

See he mention 35 40 years and this is the period when the Indian education system has been tampered and the secular/euro education has forcefully been thrust inside. The result is the this product of vacuum

[ramana]

And he was part of the gang that pushed for it.

Isnt he the genius who wrote "Death of sanskrit" and got a medal from the upa govt?

[Maram]

I was comparing Rising Global Powers over the last 300 years. They are :-

1)Britain – 1700s- 1940s
2)US :- 1940s- till date
3)China :- 2000s- some point in the future.

The remarkable similarity is the the continous right wing power during their ascendency.

In Britain’s Case :-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog ... preadsheet

It was around the time of decline that Labour came to Power.

In America’s case :-

http://www.heptune.com/preslist.html#Party

At the height of their powers they had republican presidents or democratic presidents who were more centrist and slightly to the right of centre. Is the Obama presidency equal to Ramsey MacDonald/Harold MacMillan and Clement Atlee when Britain was on the verge of losing their pre-eminent status?

In China’s case :-

Most of the information is controlled by the firewall of China ?

http://www.greatfirewallofchina.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_c ... c_of_China
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/c ... 587622.stm

How can we believe any information, when it is not INDEPENDENT. My view ( it is only a view, I am not an expert and neither do I have any sources for this information) There are multiple centres of Power(Just like Pakistan) and China presents that centre of power to each individual country can engage with. So, with India its Wen Jia Bao. With US it is Hu Jin Tao, With Pakistan its the military dudes.... But majority view is Jingoistic and nationalistic, sorry ULTRA NATIONALISTIC.

In my view, Nations on ascendency have right wing governments. India has left of centre governments at centre and several states. So we remain an aspirational Global Power, not a global power of ascendency. India needs it Churchill/Reagan/Thatcher on the right to make right wing governments to happen.

Currently, the local satraps (Karunanidhi/ jayalalitha/ jagan /mayawathi /sena/NCP/Biju Patnaik/JMM/deve gowda and reddy brothers) are looting the nations and carving their own fiefdoms. This is effectively stopping the BJP from developing their power base in these following states. That is what should happen before India is not a nepotistic democracy controlled by vested interests

[Arjun]

I was comparing Rising Global Powers over the last 300 years. They are :-

1)Britain – 1700s- 1940s
2)US :- 1940s- till date
3)China :- 2000s- some point in the future.

The remarkable similarity is the the continous right wing power during their ascendency.

That's an interesting thought, Maram.

My take is that nations that excel (all the three you have listed at various points of time, as well as Japan in the seventies and eighties) are typically led by teams that have strong belief in their country's exceptionalism. The exceptionalism involves having a developed sense of what makes their country unique and a faith that the uniqueness will ultimately translate to leadership in different facets (business, military etc). And this attitude needs to have time to permeate to different layers of society over at least a generation or more, and needs to be rooted in some aspect of the country's culture and basic values.

The US certainly had a strong belief in American exceptionalism, as did Britain ("the Sun will never set on the British empire"), and currently China with its Confucian view that accentuates the Chinese sense of seperate culture and uniqueness.

Typically, this type of attitude is more associated with what has been regarded in the West as the 'Conservatives' while liberals, since they start out on the basis that all races are equal - also downplay any possibility that their own culture can have unique attributes.

[Maram]

I was comparing Rising Global Powers over the last 300 years. They are :-

1)Britain – 1700s- 1940s
2)US :- 1940s- till date
3)China :- 2000s- some point in the future.

The remarkable similarity is the the continous right wing power during their ascendency.

That's an interesting thought, Maram.

My take is that nations that excel (all the three you have listed at various points of time, as well as Japan in the seventies and eighties) are typically led by teams that have strong belief in their country's exceptionalism. The exceptionalism involves having a developed sense of what makes their country unique and a faith that the uniqueness will ultimately translate to leadership in different facets (business, military etc). And this attitude needs to have time to permeate to different layers of society over at least a generation or more, and needs to be rooted in some aspect of the country's culture and basic values.

The US certainly had a strong belief in American exceptionalism, as did Britain ("the Sun will never set on the British empire"), and currently China with its Confucian view that accentuates the Chinese sense of seperate culture and uniqueness.

Typically, this type of attitude is more associated with what has been regarded in the West as the 'Conservatives' while liberals, since they start out on the basis that all races are equal - also downplay any possibility that their own culture can have unique attributes.

Arjun, India was ruled by East India Company(yes a british company) till 1857.We only came under the Crown in 1857. Broadly speaking Britain saw us a source of raw material and cheap Manpower. Indian Troops served as allied forces in both world wars.This concept of "cheap man power/labour" was further expanded under Macaulay's educational reforms.(http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/1044.html)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_in_World_War_II
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/in ... ar_one.htm

The idea was to get a section of the local populace believe in the doors/jim morrison song " the west is the best"(akin to the RAPE class in TSP currently who believe Vilayat is better than Desh). To that extent the British have succeeded(sadly).

But, The British were only doing what every other colonial old iorpean power wanted to d o. They are all sinners. Divide and Rule, and They ruled over India for 300 years.
The British Idea was not about "British Exceptionalism". It was that they wanted to train you from a very young age to believe Britain was best/ they also used divide and rule. American exceptionalism was about educating fellow americans thaaat they are the best in the world, they are meant to be rulers blah blah blah... but the British way was to convince the other countrymen/indians etc..... that British is best.Minor difference, but neverthless an important one to highlight in my view.

[A_Gupta]

India's rise not inevitable.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 64390.html

[svinayak]

Arjun, India was ruled by East India Company(yes a british company) till 1857.We only came under the Crown in 1857.

No difference between the two.
It was a sham transfer and the crown just took over all aspects of the country.

Broadly speaking Britain saw us a source of raw material and cheap Manpower. Indian Troops served as allied forces in both world wars.This concept of "cheap man power/labour" was further expanded under Macaulay's educational reforms.(http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/1044.html)

This kind of analysis started only after the industrial revolution around 1850s. Until then agricultural trade was the dominant part of the global economy.

But, The British were only doing what every other colonial old iorpean power wanted to d o. They are all sinners. Divide and Rule, and They ruled over India for 300 years.

It started as trade in 1600
It resulted in interfering inside the different Indian kingdoms in 1700s
This gave them control over the land people and trade in 1800s
Industrial revolution started by late 1800s and complete control over asia seas and land using the money from India
To control they used the divide and rule in 1800s -1900s to control the globe.

The British Idea was not about "British Exceptionalism". It was that they wanted to train you from a very young age to believe Britain was best/ they also used divide and rule.

British empire and expansion between 1800 - 1910 gave them that attitude.

According to the book The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective
and Historical Statistics in the Sixteenth Century , Mughal India was the
second largest economy in the world, representing about 24.5 percent
of the global economy. The largest economy at that time was Ming ’ s
China, which represented nearly 25 percent of the global economy.
Therefore, India and China in the sixteenth century were actually global
leaders that represented nearly 50 percent of the global economy!
In a way, we are just tracing back to those roots.
According to the same books, Indian Emperor Akbar ’ s treasury
in 1600 was 17.5 million pounds compared to the empire treasury of
Britain, which was about 16 million pounds at that time. By 1700,
India had instituted common levies and duties around the Mughal
Empire and the Aurangzeb ’ s exchequer was over 100 million pounds,
twice the size of Europe at the time, thus making India the world ’ s
largest economy.
Then, in the eighteenth century, the Mughals were replaced by
the Nawabs in the north, Marathas in the Central, and Nixams in the
south of India, somewhat fracturing the country.

This allowed the British to take over and stake India as a new
continent. While the British did build the infrastructure of India ’ s
great railway system, institute common law, and bring some stability,
Britain ’ s main purpose was to exploit resources from the Indian economy.

We must remember that it was India, not the Caribbean, Africa,
nor even the United States or Canada, that was considered to be the
jewel of the British Empire. This is the main reason the British tried
to hang on to it for so long.

[brihaspati]

Looking at economic motivations for all actions in history is problematic and is only one side of the story - a result of predominance of the Marxian school in sociology and economics.

Those who highlight economic motivations alone as the driver of national moves actually do not show whether the "movers" were actually conscious or aware of their economic drive. These are all post-event analysis trying to fit data to a hallowed model. The thing is in any society there are two groups of people - one more driven by material/biological greed, and the other more by power and control over their environment. The former in modern times form the core of the "mercantile/finance/economic" interests, while the latter form the core of the "idealists/ideologues/nationalists".

Both these groups realize pretty quickly that they need each other to advance their respective interests. When this understanding and recognition gets disrupted - whole society suffers. The Brits and Indians were no exceptions. The reason that the Brits succeeded in subjugating this subcontinent primarily lay in a very similar situation to the way the early Caliphs could expand in ME - when the Byzantines and the Persians bled each other to exhaustion.

In India, none of the standard theories advanced to explain Brit success will really hold up to scrutiny - since a lot of them were sugar-pills of deception created under the Brits themselves. Indian society first retreated under Islamist attacks because the "economic" interests overdominated running of the rashtra.

The British could succeed partly from the consequences of this earlier disruption in that successive Islamist regimes, the Sultanate and the Mughals saw the non-Muslim Indian as something to be ideally eliminated and destroyed, and at the very least to be tolerated and bled and weakened.

By simply stating that the Mughal empire was somehow fractured by the Marathi/Nizami/Nawabi-s and that preceded British entry and expansion is an indirect accusation for these forces to have paved the road of British success. Thats actually a big cover for the role of the Mughals themselves in destroying not only their own empire but creating the causes of the supposed centrifugal forces. Moreover it is wrong to characterize the Marathas as a centrifugal force - they were trying to unite India under a different regime to that of Islamists, and represented the culmination of a long period of counter-struggle of the Hindu society and civilization of India to survive and retake their ancestral land from the hands of the Islamist regimes who remained essentially anti-Indian [they consistently took pride in identifying with Central Asia, Arab or ME more than they took pride as Indians and represented India mostly as a subjugated land and people over whom their God had granted power - but these were not their "people"].

It was this struggle phase between the Marathas and Sikhs on one hand and the remnant Islamist powers on the other - which was used by the Brits in the same way that the Persian-Byzantine struggle was used by the "pious" Caliphs. If anyone is to blame - the Mughals primarily and the Sultanate secondarily for Brit advance.

[Bharath.Subramanyam]

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?270323

See the article by Patrick French in Outlook. He exposes Pankaj Mishra and the loony left. I have been observing in many articles & reviews that Left & anti-Hindu groups are not happy with Patrick French. They can't call a white guy like Patrick French as "sanghi" or "fundamentalist" or "communal" and also the option of guilt by association is not possible as these guys would not be any way connected to the "facist right wing forces".

I liked this the best:

"I have some questions for the vendors of the apocalypse, who make a living abroad selling a constrained, outdated and implacably narrow vision of what India is and could be. Where do they currently see their own political and economic ideas being put into effect in a useful, humane way?"

[Maram]

Acharya Ji,

I am not a history expert, but, my understanding was that the transfer of Power from East India Company to the Crown was significant in one aspect in that the Indians were given a small stake in the pie. the RAPE class equivalent was encouraged and bred selectively. The Crown stopped interfering in the socio-religious and ethnic issues of Indians broadly speaking and just started dividing us as Hindoos and musalmaans instead!The Macaulay educational reforms should be seen in this light.

I tried to over simplify 300 year rule of the British in to a couple of lines. It is not always the best thing to do. You are right in entirity about the facts you pointed. The other issue that is often over looked is the scotish contribution in terms of troops/man power towards maintaining british rule of India.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Union_1707). Scotland provided manpower in terms of troops. Infact,Scotland still form a significant portion of the British Army. A lot of antiques like the sword of Tipu Sultan are still displayed in Edinburgh Castle to this day. The rule of India consolidated the Union between Scotland and England. Interestingly since the Indian Independence they have gradually drifted apart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence) The Scottish National Party was formed in 1934!

The East India Company is owned by an Indian now(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence) and is still operational in the isle of Dogs on docklands light rail. I went and visited the old dilapidated building and was very emotional when I saw it!

Brihaspathi Ji,

How does Tipu Sultan fit in this broad issue of Marathas and sikhs versus Mughals. He supported mysore dussera celebrations apparently and fought the british. NASA credits him as the inventor of Modern Rocketry. Kalam ji mentions it in his autobiography "Wings of Fire". Was Tipu Sultan too small a fish in this sequence of events???

[svinayak]

Acharya Ji,

I am not a history expert, but, my understanding was that the transfer of Power from East India Company to the Crown was significant in one aspect in that the Indians were given a small stake in the pie. the RAPE class equivalent was encouraged and bred selectively. The Crown stopped interfering in the socio-religious and ethnic issues of Indians broadly speaking and just started dividing us as Hindoos and musalmaans instead!The Macaulay educational reforms should be seen in this light.

Paarag Tope may explain more clearly what happened in 1857 and why Indian fought against EIC.
Indians actually proclaimed independence and had a charter for an independent govt!
The British had to give many concessions and stop many activity including plans for large conversion. It was reaching similar scale what we are seeing now.
The crown and EIC are no different and they just switched. Lot of Indians were enamored by the monarchy and followed. The crown created their own system of network and connections to keep the peace and trade.

The East India Company is owned by an Indian now(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence) and is still operational in the isle of Dogs on docklands light rail. I went and visited the old dilapidated building and was very emotional when I saw it!

Go to the same thread in the earlier pages and see some poster asking for foreign media to interfere inside India and change the perception of Indians about the leaders. That was the reason how the British entered India and even now the Indians have not learned the lessons.

^^Atleast a foreigner is writing something that none of our indigenous journalists had guts to write.India is fast becoming not only a monarchy but also a kleptocracy which is defined by corruption and crony capitalism.Until unless India goes for complete reforms as far as its politics and bureaucracy is concerned the future might not be so bright atleast in medium term.

[ramana]

In simpler words the British by transferring the power from a Corporation to the Crown made British rule more palatable to the Indian people as the idea of people's representation was still in infancy. Recall the declaration of Delhi Badshah as the legitimate ruler. The Crown claimed to be the successor regime to Mughals and Queen Victoria claimed to be an empress. This was not recognized in Europe which already had the Austrian Emperor and later the Wilhemine Kaiser (Caeser/Emperor) and Russia had Tsar/Emperor and even the Ottomons were an Empire. In Europe she was only a Queen not an Empress.

The Indian people fought for three goals and one of them was to stop conversion which was rampant.

The Queen's take over of the EIC ended intereference in religious matters of the people and thus one third of the war aims of 1857 movement was achieved. The history of the 1857 movement is still to be critically written.


Also one should recall the grand events happening in Europe at that time. The Ottomons were thrown out of Greece in the early decades, the Crimean War was fought and Garibaldi started the Red Shirt movement to unify Italy. Count Cavor was the brain behind Italian unification. He invited Victor Emmanuel to invade Southern Italy and started the unification process. He also induced Napoloen III to stay put.

So to see the 1857 thru British eyes only is to get a distorted picture. Its like viewing a n-dimensional body by its projections in a 2-D plane. You will get only the shadow in that plane!

Parag Tope calls it the Blind Men and the Elephant syndrome. For each blind man (ie ignoring other facts) proclaims his perception.

[JwalaMukhi]

How does Tipu Sultan fit in this broad issue of Marathas and sikhs versus Mughals. He supported mysore dussera celebrations apparently and fought the british. NASA credits him as the inventor of Modern Rocketry. Kalam ji mentions it in his autobiography "Wings of Fire". Was Tipu Sultan too small a fish in this sequence of events???

Let the light shine. Jai ho. Read it all. Please do read first hand accounts of the histories and gloating kept by the wazirs themselves.

http://www.merinews.com/article/making- ... 5059.shtml

However, these remarks are far from the truth. The new generation of scholars points to the correspondence between Sringeri Shankaracharya Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya and Tipu Sultan during 1791-92 and 1798, and argues that Tipu was an upholder of secularism and respected Hindu religious heads and places of worship.

However if one goes through the letters and edicts issued by Tipu Sultan to his principal military commanders, the governors of forts and provinces, their argument falls apart. The letter of January 19, 1790, sent to Budruz Zuman Khan by Tipu himself says: "Don't you know I have achieved a great victory recently in Malabar and over four lakh Hindus were converted to Islam? I am determined to march against that cursed 'Raman Nair' very soon (reference is to Rama Varma Raja of Travancore). Since I am overjoyed at the prospect of converting him and his subjects to Islam, I have happily abandoned the idea of going back to Srirangapatanam now."

Previously, a letter dated March 22, 1788, to Abdul Kadir reads: "Over 12,000 Hindus were 'honoured' with Islam. There were many Namboodiris (Brahmins) among them. This achievement should be widely publicised among the Hindus. There the local Hindus should be brought before you and then converted to Islam. No Namboodiri (Brahmin) should be spared.” A letter dated January 18, 1790, to Syed Abdul Dulai says: "With the grace of Prophet Muhammed and Allah, almost all Hindus in Calicut are converted to Islam. Only a few are still not converted on the borders of Cochin State. I am determined to convert them also very soon. I consider this as Jehad to achieve that object."

The above clearly, shows the ‘secularism’ of Tipu Sultan. Further, these historians try to portray Tipu as a nationalist as he fought against the British. But the renowned historian, Dr. I.M. Muthanna, says in his ‘Tipu Sultan X-Rayed’ that Tipu was a traitor as he invited the French to invade India. The letter, dated April 21, 1797, written by Tipu and classified as No. 4 in the Persian File of Records reads: "Since I manifested my friendship in writing to you, my messengers have arrived with the following intelligence which will not be displeasing to you..I inform these events in order to prove to you that it is now the moment for you to invade India. With little trouble we shall drive the British out of India. Rely on my friendship.”

The propaganda that Tipu Sultan was tolerant and fair-minded towards the Hindus in Mysore is also without any foundation, as explained in ‘History of Mysore’ written by Lewis Rice. According to Lewis Rice, during the rule of Tipu Sultan, only two Hindu temples inside the Sreerangapatanam Fort had daily pujas conducted while the assets of all other temples were confiscated.

Historian Gopal Rao says - "Muslims were exempted from all taxes. Even those who were converted to Islamic faith were also allowed the same concessions," The ‘Mysore Gazetteer’ says that the ravaging army of Tipu Sultan destroyed more than 8000 temples in South India.

Despite this overwhelming evidence to the contrary the myth of Tipu Sultan’s tolerance is being propagated in academic circles. It is high time to voice objection against the whitewashing of history by vested interests. We, the people of India should gather the courage to call a spade a spade.

[brihaspati]

maram ji,
as Jwalamukhi ji points out - Tipu is not uncontroversial in that respect. There are supposed letters written to the Porte [Ottoman] which claim how good a "Muslim" he has been, especially with regards to "non-Muslims". Tipu should be seen as a regional Islamic satrap who is trying to carve out his personal dominion. "Professional historians" will probably doubt Tipu's declaration of "Islamic piety" by genocide on Hindus, as being a propaganda in two ways :f irst that most of what comes down in that respect comes contemporarily from British sources who are therefore seen as likely to vilify Tipu, and second that Tipu himself was doing a propaganda in making himself a better Muslim in the eyes of the Ottomans seeking support from them.

But then the fact remains that if Tipu "thought" that such a pretension will make hime more acceptable to the Islamic world, it shows what the collective Islamic thought on this was. But then, why would Tipu have an incentive to deviate from that collective norm - especially because that would have weakened his precarious position among the predominantly Hindu of the Mysore kingdom?

I think Tipu has been a good catch for historical reconstruction - in a period, where Muslim effort is singularly lacking as opposition against the Brits. Nizam was already a collaborator, the successors of Siraj in Bengal (except the last minute turn around of Mir Qasim) were already collaborators, and the Mughal Badshah was already in a sense the client [the Diwani of Bengal was granted to the EIC in 1766] on the long way to become a EIC pensioner. So Tipu had to be spectacularly built up as an iconic figure of "national resistance" to the "invading" Brits, and whose Muslimness had therefore to be prominently displayed. This was partly to downplay the role of the Hindu/Sikh resistance to the Brits, and hide away the singular absence of Muslim resistance to the Brits.

[Maram]

Ramana Garu,

Your Grasp European history is amazing.

Jwalamukhi ji,

The highlighted bits of your link are self explanatory really. Thank You for the post. I learnt something there.

Brihaspati ji,

I have followed followed several of your post in these forums for a long time. your post on American presidents was a post I have enjoyed so much! Thanks for educating me on the larger picture ( need to potray muslim ruler as hindu benovelant and anti british).

[A_Gupta]

The pictures of the average Egyptian citizen volunteers cleaning up the streets after their protests are very touching. This sense of civi pride - Indians may have something to learn from it.

[ramana]

SM Krishna reads Portugal's speech at UN General Assembly!

Krishna's gaffe at the UN: Reads out Portugal minister's speech

[Muppalla]

SM Krishna reads Portugal's speech at UN General Assembly!

Krishna's gaffe at the UN: Reads out Portugal minister's speech

Later he requested media not to report the gaffe. He read five minutes before he realized that the speech was meant for Portugal FM.

SMK is in old days when in these days of tools like Twitter, you can't stop press.

[putnanja]

SMK is already on his way out, as per prior reports during the last cabinet "reshuffle". It is reported that he will be out in the major surgery planned post-budget.

Given that most of the foreign policy is being driven by the PMO, do we even need a cabinet level foreign minister A minister of state to look after administrative and passport issues should be sufficient

[Muppalla]

GVLNRAO's Tweet

Like 'Chatur' in movie'Three idiots,' SM Krishna reads Portuguese speech at UN assembly. This is incompetence at its worst. He must quit.

[Muppalla]

Mr.Narayana Murthy, please do something or admit you are a stooge of Congress

But there is a fundamental disconnect between what Mr Murthy says and what he does.

I believe it it TOTALLY WRONG to exhort others to not indulge in rhetoric but to take action when he himself is the CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF RHETORIC, NOT ACTION.

Just as the credibility of people like MMS and Shashi Tharoor has been totally shredded by their joining and supporting the most corrupt outfit in India's 5000 year history – the CONgress party – so also Mr. Murthy's credibility has been shot to pieces by his mere exhortation without action for the past decade. How many times does one have to listen to this blather, with ZERO action.

The same approach has been taken by Nandan Nilekani (see this). These people say a lot but the moment time comes to take action, they freeze – in fright or in cowardice.

JRD Tata was the ONLY leading Indian businessman who, in the midst of grave danger to his own company's prospects, had the courage to fight Nehru and funded Swatantra Party. These people are puny pygmies in comparison. They have far greater wealth, and far greater connectivity, but ZERO courage. Not even a pale imitation of JRD in courage and leadership.

I say these strong words with deep regret since for many years I had hoped that India's fight for freedom will be fought on the shoulders of IT geniuses such as these, for they always seemed to say the right thing. But then they rushed to the coat tails of Sonia Gandhi. ZERO SELF RESPECT.

Let me exhort them (and mine is not idle rhetoric: I have actually given up a major career in India in the IAS for the sake of a much greater future for India) – that if they are CITIZENS OF INDIA and not slaves of Sonia Gandhi and the corrupt gangsters who rule India, then let them stand up and launch a political movement for reform. Enough said. Either do something or SHUT UP. This hypocrisy just boils my blood.

If they are genuinely serious, they should join FTI and give it the filip it deserves, as the ONLY pre-political formation that is determined to enhance freedom in India. Do this, or be sidelined in history as stooges of the Congress Party and ENEMIES of the people of India. The world is black and white. Either you are with the White Force or against it.