Indian Interests

[devesh]

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/warangal-eme ... 2-127.html

Warangal emerges as narcotics hub

Warangal district stands first and Hyderabad fourth in the number of cases registered in the last five years relating to tarnsport and sale of narcotics. The total number of cases registered stands at 1,029. According to the records of the Crime Investigation Department, 242 cases have been registered in Warangal, 231 in Kurnool, 224 in Visakhapatnam, 167 in Hyderabad and 165 in Medak for offences committed under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 in the past five years. “The sale and transport of narcotics is more in Telangana, particularly in Warangal and its surrounding areas where ganja cultivation is rampant,’’ said BL Sujatha Rao, deputy inspector- general of police (CID).
The ganja cultivated in Warangal is transported to other states as well,’’ he said.
The DIG said they had conducted a series of raids on ganja cultivation in the villages of Warangal and other districts in Telangana. Wherever raids wer e conducted, the ganja plants in the fields were set ablaze.
“Though the Narcotics Control Bureau has been advising people of the area to give up ganja cultivation, but farmers are defiant,” said an officer of the CID.

Narcotics, particularly ganja which is sold in Hyderabad and other cities in the state, are usually transported from Warangal and its surrounding districts areas, he added.

Hyderabad is a hub for foreign narcotics.

Apart from 128 cases of sale of local ganja, 17 cases of sale of foreign narcotics were registered in the the state capital and its surrounding areas in the last two years. African students were caught selling cocaine at several universities including the English and Foreign Languages University, Osmania University and University of Hyderabad, and at hangouts such as pubs, IT hub Hitec City and the posh Sainikpuri area. “In Hyderabad the sale of narcotics has been controlled. The decline in the number of cases is proof of it,” claimed Sujatha Rao. He said the narotics users were mainly youngsters aged between 20 and 30 years from universities and those who frequent pubs. Opium, heroin and brown sugar find their way to pubs where many users were caught, he said.

seems like an AP internal report. but the issue is definitely intriguing. Hyd is a known epicenter of the broader Islamist networks which are "headquartered" in Mumbai. an increase in the narco economy can have many effects. what are the causes? and more importantly, what are the networks and groups that are involved in this is Narco economy in AP?

[Prem]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-0 ... -says.html
India Edges Maoist Rebels From Mining Zone, Chidambaram Says
Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) --

India is winning command over mineral-rich areas where Maoist guerrilla attacks deter billions of dollars in potential investment, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said, one year after he declared the conflict deadlocked.“Albeit slowly, we are gaining control of the situation,” reversing Maoist advances that began after 2004, Chidambaram said in a 40-minute interview on counter-terrorism, Pakistan and prospects for expanding foreign investment in India’s economy. “The earlier estimate that in three to four years we will be able to gain ascendancy was an optimistic estimate,” he said. “That I am willing to concede.”
Chidambaram told a conference in 2009 that reinforced police battalions in heavily forested Maoist enclaves would eliminate a rebel-run zone whose area is as big as Portugal. On Feb. 1 last year, he described “a kind of stalemate” in the insurgency, which blocks mining of bauxite, iron and other minerals. Execution Noble Ltd., a London-based financial services company, said in 2010 that the region had the potential to draw $80 billion of investment

[Anurag]

If we don't defend, then there is nothing left to develop!
By Bharat Verma

http://indiandefencereview.com/IDR-Upda ... velop.html

Primary key to India’s emergence as a successful global power lies on the ability to acquire and imbibe superior defence technologies in the knowledge-based society of the 21st century.

It is strange that we expect our police and para-military forces to fight with lathis or outdated rifles, while the Maoists and the external actors who support them attack with the latest automatic weapons and are equipped with satellite phones.

Selection by India of the French Rafale is a wise step to finally begin the shift of air force from the ‘bullock cart’ technology to the ‘Mercedes Benz’ expertise! To secure the borders from the Chinese onslaught requires induction of massive dose of cutting edge defence technologies, which only the West can provide. Today there exists fortunately, a synergy of purpose between the Western democracies and India, which we need to intelligently leverage.

Pakistan desires to carve out three Pakistan’s out of the Union of India while China wants to unhook the entire Northeast.

In fact India’s geographical location is a major irritant to the Islamic fundamentalists as it disallows them to create an Islamic Emirate running from Central Asia to West and East Asia without discontinuity.

Couple this with the fact that India is entirely dependent on import of energy and multitude of other products through the seaborne trade. Therefore, as the second fastest rising economy in Asia, New Delhi will require a modern military with deep offensive capabilities to act as a formidable deterrence.

To successfully maintain the unity of India, as well as defend the growing strategic interests within the region and beyond, rapid modernization of the Armed Force is a necessity.

It is strange that we expect our police and para-military forces to fight with lathis or outdated rifles, while the Maoists and the external actors who support them attack with the latest automatic weapons and are equipped with satellite phones.

To successfully maintain the unity of India, as well as defend the growing strategic interests within the region and beyond, rapid modernization of the Armed Force is a necessity.

In short term, import of the latest weapon platforms is vital. In the long term, by acquiring the sunrise defence technologies and setting up profitable joint ventures with the western partners is the promising route. This will create a win-win situation — military can be equipped with modern weaponry, India can grow as a defence manufacturing hub, it will create millions of new jobs, impart skills in the hands of the young population, facilitate expansion of strategic footprint, and earn huge foreign exchange subsequently, through export of state-of-the-art weapon platforms.

In the 1980s, a useless debate by various vested interests was conveniently thrown up for allocation of funds between the defence of the country vis-à-vis the development. The argument given was since we are a poor country, we cannot afford to allocate sufficient funds for modernization of the armed forces. The debate hinged on a falsehood of ‘defence’ or ‘development’.
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Of course, rulers neither developed nor defended the nation!

As India finally shifts gears to acquire the western defence technologies once again, the old debate between defence of the country versus development to halt the modernization of the armed forces is being thrown up by various lobbies.

As India finally shifts gears to acquire the western defence technologies once again, the old debate between defence of the country versus development to halt the modernization of the armed forces is being thrown up...

In the last two years we have witnessed that actually there is no paucity of funds. The amount plundered in CWG or 2G scam is large enough to buy many modern weapon platforms which the defence services are in dire need. A house of IAS officer in Madhya Pradesh has coughed up Rs.300 crores worth of black money. In this country, they don’t steal a few thousands or few lacs any more, but rob merrily the government exchequer in crores. Rs.20 crores worth of black-money was recovered on raiding the lowest rung of the government hierarchy i.e. an ordinary peon’s house. The loot of the government treasury in the recent past, shows that this country is extraordinarily rich!

Therefore to argue that India does not have sufficient funds for either defence of the country or development is misleading. Both activities can move simultaneously without hindrance, provided we can put an end to the huge siphoning of the funds.

The gullible, overlook a simple fact that if the Union of India is not defended, there will be nothing left to develop. Therefore to equip the armed force with latest defence technologies and weapon platforms is as important as economic development and urbanization of India at the same time.

[Jarita]

Amazon to India
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/l ... 7420.story

Quote:
Another Seattle company is heading to India. First Starbucks announced plans to open 50 outlets in India by year's end. Now Amazon.com is launching Junglee.com, a smaller version of its global shopping portal. Junglee offers 12 million products from more than 14,000 Indian and global brands. The site allows shoppers to compare prices, but most actual purchases must be made through a network of third-party retailers. Indians will be able to buy shoes from Reebok, computer gadgets from Microsoft India, clothes from Fabindia and luxury leather handbags from Hidesign. (Associated Press)

And Indian traditional industries be damned. India is just a market, not a nation.

[ramana]

Back Issues of English Journal Triveni published from Andhra Pradesh.

Many famous figures wrote for it.

http://yabaluri.org/TRIVENI/CDWEB/TRIVENIHome1.htm

[Prem]

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/04/canadi ... ces-h.html
Canadian musician outsources his indie video to Bangalore, beauty ensues

Derryl Murphy sez, "Drew Smith's lovely new song 'Smoke and Mirrors' needed a video, so he decided to outsource it. The result is wonderful."
So I outsourced my video to Bangalore, India. Why? Well, I figured the last thing the world needed was another low-budget singer songwriter video. Fortunately, the first Virtual Assistant I found on google also happened to be a dance choreographer. After a couple of emails and phone calls, I received this beautiful video in my inbox. Many thanks to Asha Sarella and Vishwas Avathi. I can't thank you enough!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkurGf0e ... r_embedded

[RamaY]

X-posting from PRC thread. Pls read in conjunction with my post on Karna in the previous page.

Now we need to make sure Dharmaraja a.k.a GoI doesn't play the game of dice in the court of Hastinapura lest Drapadi, the cultural fabric of Bharat, gets insulted by Dushtha Chatusthayam...

Vikram is also right, on the other hand, that India has chosen a different path. I don't think there's any hope of, or reason to, convince India to adopt the Chinese development model. Our histories are just too different. India has been a unified polity for less than 100 out of the past 2000 years; China has been a unified polity for almost all of the past 2000 years. This means our societies are just fundamentally different. That's pretty much the bottom line.

The path that India has chosen is same as what China has chosen: economic liberalization. The difference is in the cultural context.

For whatever reason, Chinese like "power" and respect those who have power. The desire, for historical reasons, is to see a strong central government for stability and prosperity of China. As a result of this love of "power", the end goal is "Number 1 superpower of the world" which the Chinese perceive will bring them great respect+admiration+fear from the rest of the world (as to how realistic and achievable this goal is another topic).

Indians on the other hand like their culture. History has shown that any strong central government that messes with culture of people in India is bound to lead to a mass civil revolt and ultimate collapse of that strong central government. The Mughal Empire and East India Company rule essentially ended this way. India doesn't value democracy. Democracy is just a tool that fits into the cultural values of India. Other similar (democratic) arrangements have existed in India in past (Gupta Empire for example).

In the interest of brevity, I won't go into more detail, but this should give you a good starting picture. So CCP might be able to move 1.3 million people to build a dam and institute one child policy, but in India only a government that has a death wish would do such things. A brand new $3 billion nuclear power plant is sitting idle, because in the aftermath of Fukushima nuclear disaster, a few hundred villagers decided that they don't want the nuclear plant next to their village. Similarly, much of coal that lies under tribal lands is not being mined despite coal shortage. So obviously you are going to have better growth numbers, but then again our growth numbers aren't bad either.

The difference in growth numbers at max is around 2% of GDP per year. Frankly I don't think you would be able to convince even a small minority in India for adopting the Chinese model for that extra 2% growth - not unless the government has a death wish - at least that is what history has shown.

[JE Menon]

>>And Indian traditional industries be damned. India is just a market, not a nation.

Is this comment related to the junglee.com report? If so, I'm not sure I see the connection. Not to mention "just" a market... Plus a nation can be a market also no? In fact, if anything, it must recognise that reality because it is one whether it likes it or not.

[muraliravi]

Amazon to India
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/l ... 7420.story

Quote:
Another Seattle company is heading to India. First Starbucks announced plans to open 50 outlets in India by year's end. Now Amazon.com is launching Junglee.com, a smaller version of its global shopping portal. Junglee offers 12 million products from more than 14,000 Indian and global brands. The site allows shoppers to compare prices, but most actual purchases must be made through a network of third-party retailers. Indians will be able to buy shoes from Reebok, computer gadgets from Microsoft India, clothes from Fabindia and luxury leather handbags from Hidesign. (Associated Press)

And Indian traditional industries be damned. India is just a market, not a nation.

C'mon man, who is stopping you from starting a portal like that in India and marketing it to Indians. Have you heard of flipkart??

[Hari Seldon]

Would've have been funny if it weren't so poignantly true only.... read and laugh/weep at the same time.

Yashwant Sinha's rebuttal to Sibal on a noose channel:

YS: Kapil Sibal has asked BJP to apologize. Let me therefore begin by apologizing comprehensively and from the very beginning.

I apologize for the partition of India; for the lingering Jammu and Kashmir issue and for not resolving this issue at Simla in 1972. I apologize for India spurning the offer to join the Security Council as a permanent member when it was offered to us when we became independent; for the defeat of India in the 1962 war with China and the vexed boundary problem with that country. I apologize for the Hindu rate of growth of 3% for the first three decades of Independence and for all the poverty, deprivation and inequality our people still suffer. I apologize for the massacre of Sikhs in the country in 1984. I apologize for the more recent events like the Army Chief’s age row; for the Antrix Devas deal and for punishing the scientists of the eminence of Madhavan Nair without giving them an opportunity of explaining their conduct; for the PMO not keeping the PM informed of the 2G scam; for the Supreme Court cancelling the 2G licences issued in 2008; for the Commonwealth Games scam, the Air India scam, the KG Basin scam, the Adarsh Society scam and for all the other scams for which this Government is being wrongly blamed. I apologize for the policy paralysis in Government, for the rising fiscal and current account deficits, for the slowing down of the economy; in fact, I am prepared to prostrate myself before Kapil Sibal and apologize repeatedly and profusely to him for all that is wrong with India. After all, if the people of India had not made the mistake of making Vajpayee the Prime Minister of India for six years and the Congress had ruled instead, none of this would have happened and India would have been by now a land of milk and honey. Alas, but for those six years!

[member_20617]

[quote="Hari Seldon"]Would've have been funny if it weren't so poignantly true only.... read and laugh/weep at the same time.

Yashwant Sinha's rebuttal to Sibal on a noose channel:

I agree 100% with YS.

[Sidhant]

Hari saar, if you can share the link for Yashwant Sinha's rebuttal on news channel then I would like to spread that via FB, tweeter etc.

The rebuttal is fantastic and more people should see it.

[nawabs]

Not averse to joining politics: Robert Vadra

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 780039.cms

Hitting the campaign trail in Amethi- Gandhi family bastion, Priyanka Gandhi's husband Robert Vadra on Monday indicated that he was not averse to joining politics.

Arriving here along with his daughter last night, Vadra took part in a rally in Gauriganj this morning and later addressed the electorate in Salon assembly segment of Amethi.

When asked whether he would join politics during an informal chat with reporters, Vadra said, "I would definitely contest if the people so desired".

He stressed that he is lending support as a family member to take forward Rahul's message, though both Rahul and Priyanka do not require any help.

"I have come to share and take Rahul's message to villages and every corner and you will definitely see a change," he said.

To a question whether it was time for Rahul to become the prime minister, he said that he could not speak on the issue and Rahul would himself reply to it.

Priyanka who has been here since the past February 3 would be addressing about 20 meetings all over the constituency today before she is expected to leave later in the day.

According to Congress sources, Rahul Gandhi is also scheduled to address three meetings on February 11 in Sultanpur, Gauriganj and Rae Bareli assembly constituencies, where polling is scheduled for February 15.

Bas,yahi kasar baki thi.

[ramana]

So whats the calculation? Why now? Is Amul baba not pulling in votes?

I dont see any reason for Amul baba to seek their injection into the campaign.

[brihaspati]

^^^Not him, but his wife. Removing him from the scene may not be as convenient as it happened "accidentally" and out of "natural causes" for the granddad. Its good that the desire by many of us to bring the sis in is being listened to. Its all going according to how destiny has planned it. The house is going down. But it is important that the lady steps in now. It will work out beautifully. Whether we want it or not - the sis will come. What her effect on the house is, will be obvious in the medium term. The transition from family to something else needs her.

[JE Menon]

This Vadra guy reminds me a bit of Zardari.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/its- ... 72228.html

Batting for wife Priyanka, Vadra said, "It is up to Priyanka... whenever she wants she can join politics. It's Rahul's time now. Priyanka's time will also come."

Thank heaven for idiots!!!

[SBajwa]

Robert Vadra's father is Rajinder Vadra His mother is Maureen Vadra of Scottish origin
and here is his rest of the story.

His brother Richard Vadra was found dead in September 2003 at his Vasant Vihar residence, and his sister Michelle died in a car accident in 2001. His father Rajinder Vadra committed suicide[2][3] on 2 April 2009. Rajinder Vadra in an interview[4] was highly critical of his son Robert and said that after the wedding with Priyanka Vadra, he disowned his son.

[Prem]

Leftist spoof on 'Last Supper' leaves CPI-M red-faced
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/lefti ... 120205.htm

Barely days after it faced flak for displaying a painting of Jesus alongside Communist icons at an exhibition, the Communist Party of India-Marxist in Kerala [ Images ] has landed itself in another soup after a billboard carrying a political spoof, allegedly put up by party workers, raised hackles in the state.
The board, depicting United States President Barack Obama [ Images ] at a table along with senior Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party [ Images ] leaders, was a takeoff on Leonardo da Vinci's [ Images ] masterpiece 'The Last Supper', showing Jesus with his disciples. The picture, titled 'The Last Supper of Capitalism', was put up at Thirkannapura area of the city. When asked about the board, CPI-M [ Images ] State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan claimed it was put up "without the knowledge of any responsible party functionary" and said his party had "no intention to belittle the ideals of Christ or Christianity". "The moment the matter came to the notice of the local party leaders, it was removed," Vijayan said.Meanwhile, ruling United Democratic Front trained its guns on the CPI-M for displaying pictures of Jesus Christ [ Images ] and episodes from the Bible as political material, terming them as "blasphemous and heretical."Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said distorting 'The Last Supper' for political purposes could be seen only as a "heretical act" and the party would have to face the consequences for hurting the sentiments of the believers.

[Prem]

http://www.celsias.com/article/india-ta ... biopiracy/
India to Take Action Against Monsanto for BioPiracy

India has decided to take a case against corporate giant, Monsanto for bio-piracy. This will be the first case of its kind and will create precedents for others

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EHUp21Q ... r_embedded

[Hari Seldon]

Hari saar, if you can share the link for Yashwant Sinha's rebuttal on news channel then I would like to spread that via FB, tweeter etc.

The rebuttal is fantastic and more people should see it.

Hi Sidhant,

It was from a tweet that a tweep had painstakingly transcribed and written up. Now I didn't retweet it and can't locate that particular tweet anymore. Sorry.

[devesh]

bji,
this might not be the place to discuss it, but have you looked into past patterns of how power shifts from the faction that is going down to a new faction? especially in the last 200 years of colonial meddling, around the world. what happened to India itself is a major lesson. the Brits used the coercive machinery to systematically eliminate those that they hated and then placed power in the hands of the weakest possible candidate that the indigenous culture could come up with.

the whole think will repeat again this time around. the question is will we be able to avert another Nehru-like disaster from happening? we already know that the state-bureaucracy-police machinery has long links back to the colonial era and that they will not help in any kind of Bharatiya renewal. this regime still exists and have clearly proven their mettle in eliminating adversaries to the regime.

what things have changed that make this state-bureaucracy-police machinery weaker than it was the last time around? modern communications and social media is definitely one tool which will weaken this machinery, but they are cracking down on that too.

[nawabs]

Monsanto is one of the most hated biotech firm out there .Another example of their scant regard for Indian law below.

No nod, yet Monsanto tried GM maize: RTI
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-new ... 07774.aspx

US biotech firm Monsanto had put a variety of genetically modified maize on trial without permission and India's biotech regulatory panel overlooked the violation, according to facts accessed under RTI, a leading anti-GM body has said.
Such violations could queer the pitch for the biotech giant and sharpen criticism that it pays scant regards to rules, even though Indian farmers have widely taken to its variety of BT cotton, which has helped raise yields by 31%.


An RTI query revealed that Monsanto planted herbicide-tolerant maize, called "NK603", illegally inside the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, even though approval was granted only for HT/Bt maize, which is a hybrid of two Bt genes, "MON89034" and herbicide tolerant line "NK603".

Monsanto did not respond to queries from the HT.

The violation was detected during routine monitoring by the Directorate of Maize Research, tasked with supervising level-II trials of GM maize in the country, the Coalition for a GM-Free India said.

In his field report of May 5, 2011, the designated supervisor noted: "Before planting NK603 event treatment in future, permission from competent authority may be obtained."

"Monsanto's illegal planting was known to the regulator, Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) as the information was obtained through RTI from it, but it chose not to look into the matter pro-actively," alleged Kavitha Kuruganti, a member of the anti-GM coalition.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/base ... 68817.html
Baseless genetically modified cotton ads earn Monsanto flak

As far as I understand,they have developed terminator technology which makes the seeds sterile which means farmers must buy them again each year.
The implications that terminator seeds could have on the world's food supply are disastrous: the traits from genetically engineered crops can get passed on to other crops. Once the terminator seeds are released into a region, the trait of seed sterility could be passed to other non-genetically-engineered crops, making most or all of the seeds in the region sterile. If allowed to continue, every farmer in the world could come to rely on companies like Monsanto for their seed supply.A detailed article on this topic below.The author is the one who first objected to the biopiracy act by Monsanto last Sept.

http://www.asianage.com/columnists/seed-emergency-225

Earlier too,the company has been involved in many controversies all over the world.

[svinayak]

New tools for neo colonization

[shyamd]

Attempted coup in Maldives. Heavy instability. Unclear whether president has reaigned

[nawabs]

The president has resigned.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... 553300.701

The Maldives' first democratically-elected president resigned Tuesday after a mutiny by police described by his office as an attempted coup, capping three weeks of political upheaval in the holiday paradise.

"It will be better for the country in the current situation if I resign. I don't want to run the country with an iron-fist. I am resigning," President Mohamed Nasheed told a televised press conference.

His announcement came as police officers joined anti-government protests that have rocked the capital Male for the past three weeks.

Army spokesman Colonel Abdul Raheem Abdul Latheef told AFP that troops had used tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with protestors and police who had gathered outside the military headquarters in Male.

"The sporadic clashes began after midnight and continued until 8:00am (0300 GMT)," Latheef said.

Police also took over the state television station and began broadcasting an opposition channel.
Opposition demands for Nasheed to step down have escalated since he ordered the arrest last month of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed on charges of misconduct and favouring opposition figures.
A statement by the government posted on the president's website said that "the government of the Maldives together with all state institutions will work to ensure peace and stability in Male.
"The government of the Maldives calls on people to remain calm and support to stabilise the situation."
A delegation from the UN Department of Political Affairs headed by Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco had been due to arrive on Thursday in a bid to broker a resolution to the political crisis.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem had written to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Commonwealth last month asking them to "urgently dispatch" a team of jurists.
Nasheed, a former political prisoner, was elected in 2008 when the Maldives staged its first democratic presidential election, unseating the long-serving autocratic regime of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
The Maldives, a country of 1,192 Indian Ocean islands scattered across the equator, is famous for its upmarket holiday resorts and hotels that cater for honeymooning couples and high-end travellers.
Problems, including high youth unemployment, a widespread illegal drug use problem, an increasing rise in Islamic fundamentalism and a downturn in tourism due to the weakening global economy, have fuelled discontent against Nasheed's rule.
As a political activist, Nasheed, who was an outspoken critic of Gayoom's one-party rule, was at one point an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience.
He formed the Maldivian Democratic Party in exile but then returned home to a hero's welcome, sweeping 54 percent of the vote in the 2008 elections whose results brought people out into the streets dancing and cheering.

A background :Maldives judiciary needs reform, says foreign minister

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connec ... 421660.htm

[brihaspati]

Maldives is poised to be taken over by islamists. They have been undermining the gov anyway for at least 2 years now. The first stage was the support given to the overt pro-democracy anti Gayoom mood - by which the Islamists returned from Paki and Saudi establishments in the 90's became legitimized. [The strategy followed in ME and north Africa]. Both Gayoom and Nasheed had started bending to Islamist demands. The next phase is the removal of these interim tools and get more direct influence.

Lets see how the global christian harvestors of souls react to this. They had been at the merry receiving end in Maldives for some time.

[ramana]

Gautam Mukherjee in Pioneer

With the French-made Rafale combat aircraft selected for the IAF, another nuclear sub added to the Navy and FII funds coming in, things look better.


In a ‘those were the days’ kind of way, time-passing can seduce us to think of a perfection encountered long ago. This is, of course what myth is made of, with every inconvenient inconsistency air-brushed out of memory. But certain things are dug too deep to evaporate in the mists of time.

The inequities and savage barbarisms of racism, for example, or the blood-soaked wounds of religious feuds. But even such fore-knowledge and genetic memory can be, and often is, suppressed on the altar of expediency. The question, in evolutionary terms, however, is: Does an old trick work in perpetuity?

The covering up of elephant statues in Uttar Pradesh while turning a blind eye to the numerous schemes, programmes and projects named after Jawaharlal Nehru and his stick-to-power family of successors, is one such straw in the wind.

Income Tax raids on the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s crony capitalists, not in the routine course of a work-a-day week, but pretty much during State elections, is another. Preventing controversy’s child Salman Rushdie from attending a literature festival at the instance of Darul Uloom Deoband is yet another.

But not all our straws in the wind portend the pessimistic. The once unassailable bastions of Western prescription, the venerable Time — and Newsweek too — now routinely feature Indian, Asian and Iranian lead-writers, even on their covers, using their non-Caucasian by-lines. No more are such people confined to the footnotes and acknowledged for “inputs”. Newsweek’s international edition even boasts of an Indian-American Muslim editor, though nothing can apparently save it from going the way of all print in the West.

The poignancy in such ‘establishment’ publications turning fair-handed and liberal at the point of death may not be lost on all. What are they expecting now — Asian White Knights or perhaps resurrection in Hindi and Mandarin? Why not? After all, it is happening all over in business and industry. Not only are Indians and Chinese snapping up Western businesses but even the once Western glamour-struck Arabs are beginning to invest in India, having lost billions of dollars down the plughole in Europe and the US.

But, all in all, the belated fairness does rankle, and makes for hard-hearted negotiations. One should pause before blaming the Chinese for this, and perhaps take a cue from them instead. Or have we already begun to do so? The new ‘make-nice’ is a departure from arch imperialist Rudyard Kipling’s back-handed compliment to Gunga Din, the selfless water-bearer in his famous poem.

Gunga Din’s day is decidedly done. He is seen to be as anachronistic as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom. Sweet as the tales may have seemed once, they are slurs and swear-words now.

American Actor Will Smith says he is a star because of the success of the Civil Rights Movement. US President Barack Obama acknowledges as much too. There were, of course, early White sympathisers, but history shows us that morality turns into reality when economic compulsions force the conversion. The American Civil War and the abolition of slavery is a case in point.

This was also the reality during Mahatma Gandhi’s struggles too, both here and in South Africa before that. And how women got the vote in the West, and later, man-size jobs, battered and depleted as men were by the ravages of the World Wars.

Interestingly, even though as a nation we hesitate to overtly express hard power, having been born in the crucible of non-violence which encompasses, at least in concept, thought, word and deed, we sometimes do manage to make our intentions plain. Acquiring a nuclear submarine at last on lease from Russia, albeit for the second time, but this one in the context of our own nuclear weapons-carrying indigenously built nuclear submarine Arihant about to be inducted, some say, before 2015, is a clear message to China which has six such submarines in its Navy already.

Our buying some $ 20 billion worth of the French company Dassault’s Rafale state-of-the-art multi-role combat aircraft is a departure from our default position of buying Russian hardware. Though we will continue to hang on to that line of military supply for other items, including Sukhoi-35 aircraft and that much delayed and awaited aircraft carrier.

We can’t, and won’t, win an all-out war with China today or any time soon, but we are not going to be a pushover as we were in 1962. And that is why we are raising another mountain regiment for Arunachal Pradesh and getting on with roads, bridges, helipads and air strips there. Also, why we are talking to others in the Pacific maritime region which China wants to convert to a Pax of the Dragon pond.

The British and the Americans might be sorry to lose to the French, but we may have done something, for ourselves, based on merit, of both the aircraft and the accompanying commercial deals. We may be giving shape and fuel to our long-term ambition to actually make our own multi-role combat aircraft, not by just bolting them together, but inclusive of the technology development.

France needed us to buy its Rafale aircraft, unable as it has been to find international buyers so far. We needed a good aircraft to see us through today’s challenges and 20 years ahead and the possibility of developing indigenous fifth generation multi-role combat aircraft one day. China is already doing all this, but this decision says, after five pondering years, that we are not giving up the ghost either.

There are other hopeful straws in the wind. The FII gush of funds into India in January 2012 may portend the revival of the Indian stock markets after all. Our markets do represent viability and long term potential in a world that has largely let itself down. The FIIs can apparently see their way beyond the current softening in growth rates and seem encouraged by the successful curbing of food inflation. The RBI and the Ministry of Finance too have started injecting financial liquidity into the system and this is definitely good news.

Politically, we continue to appear chaotic, but a consolidation of public opinion in favour of good governance and the candidacy of Mr Narendra Modi for Prime Minister as per a recent opinion poll is a good sign for the next general elections.

Mr Anna Hazare may have been eclipsed for the moment, but his anti-corruption crusade has certainly touched a chord with the public. Besides China, the West and the Arabs may decide to curry favour with a deceptively mild-mannered India now, instead of perennially trying to show us our place. And Pakistan too won’t be in a position to exploit the difference.

[Prem]

Duz Rafale slection process and deal bury the ghosts of Bofor?

As i suspected, the economic might opens many close minds and gates. We must not be bothered by pinpricks and continue to achieve the 2022 economic target of 8T GDP and them go on accomplishing the pending task of cleaning the filth in immediate and nea abroad neighborhood. Onward to the Kaaj of Dharmraj over Mlecchraj.

[RamaY]

Maldives is poised to be taken over by islamists. They have been undermining the gov anyway for at least 2 years now. The first stage was the support given to the overt pro-democracy anti Gayoom mood - by which the Islamists returned from Paki and Saudi establishments in the 90's became legitimized. [The strategy followed in ME and north Africa]. Both Gayoom and Nasheed had started bending to Islamist demands. The next phase is the removal of these interim tools and get more direct influence.

Lets see how the global christian harvestors of souls react to this. They had been at the merry receiving end in Maldives for some time.

A good development from Indian perspective.

[ramana]

Leftist spoof on 'Last Supper' leaves CPI-M red-faced
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/lefti ... 120205.htm

Barely days after it faced flak for displaying a painting of Jesus alongside Communist icons at an exhibition, the Communist Party of India-Marxist in Kerala [ Images ] has landed itself in another soup after a billboard carrying a political spoof, allegedly put up by party workers, raised hackles in the state.
The board, depicting United States President Barack Obama [ Images ] at a table along with senior Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party [ Images ] leaders, was a takeoff on Leonardo da Vinci's [ Images ] masterpiece 'The Last Supper', showing Jesus with his disciples. The picture, titled 'The Last Supper of Capitalism', was put up at Thirkannapura area of the city. When asked about the board, CPI-M [ Images ] State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan claimed it was put up "without the knowledge of any responsible party functionary" and said his party had "no intention to belittle the ideals of Christ or Christianity". "The moment the matter came to the notice of the local party leaders, it was removed," Vijayan said.Meanwhile, ruling United Democratic Front trained its guns on the CPI-M for displaying pictures of Jesus Christ [ Images ] and episodes from the Bible as political material, terming them as "blasphemous and heretical."Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said distorting 'The Last Supper' for political purposes could be seen only as a "heretical act" and the party would have to face the consequences for hurting the sentiments of the believers.

But arent the Commies supposed to be heretical! Thats their unique selling point.

Or the Commies supposed to be heretical of Hinduism onlee!

[devesh]

RamaY garu,

no such luck. the harvesters will lick their wounds and exit knowing that some defeats are necessary for the big picture. after all, they have India, don't they?

the happenings in Maldives are definitely bad in the short term. All around the IOR, we are being boxed in by one Islamist nutcase country after another. Maldives joins the club. we are being surrounded and cutoff.

[Prem]

Have some one looked it from Cheen angle using Poaq Mullahs.

[Muppalla]

MMS, the closet spiritualist

The globally respected economist and scholar has been credited with heralding a new era of economic liberalisation in India.

Yet Manmohan Singh has been at the receiving end of several barbs of late. Criticisms range from adjectives like "ineffective", "pusillanimous" and "understated" to "spineless" and "puppet PM."

"It astonishes me that Manmohan Singh should talk so little and be so barely visible that we might be forgiven for thinking that India has an imaginary Prime Minister," wrote a celebrity-journalist in his blog a few months ago.

It is difficult to believe that the architect of India's reforms could be all that vulnerable, naive or "imaginary". The non-committal, non-controversial and understated disposition that characterises the gentleman could be a veneer that conceals a far more evolved and enlightened approach towards his duties - that enables him to navigate life without much ado.

In a speech he gave at a conclave held in the Capital, Singh said: "I do not want India to be a superpower; I just want India to stand with dignity in the comity of nations." So he doesn't seem to display any signs of being power-needy.

Perhaps he has no dark side, then. Manmohan Singh could, in all likelihood, be an advanced spiritualist who perceives himself as having absolutely no stake - neither in the country, nor in the species nor indeed in the planet! He also shows great resilience in adverse situations, whether in a political, social or economic exigency. To be detached like a yogi even while living among fellow beings in the rough and tumble of politics and economics is no easy task. Guru Nanak described such a one as 'raj mein jog' - one who can achieve enlightenment in civic life. He also said: "The lotus in the water is not wet / Nor the water-fowl in the stream. / If a man would live, but by the world untouched, / Meditate and repeat the name of the Lord Supreme."

Extolling the attributes of the one who has cultivated studied non-attachment to highs and lows, Guru Tegh Bahadur sang thus: "...He who has neither gluttony in his heart / Nor vanity nor attachment with worldly things, / He whom nothing moves, / Neither good fortune nor ill, / Who cares not for the world's applause, / Nor its censure, / Who ignores every wishful fantasy / And accepts what comes his way as it comes... / He knows the righteous path..."

Some might conclude that the PM's proclivity for remaining 'Nirlep Narayan' makes him out to be one without a stake and therefore he has nothing to win or lose. If he makes promises, they're bound to be ones that concern issues that would get resolved. If not now, then later and if not later, even later, perhaps,... or not.

Could one compare Manmohan Singh with King Janaka, who is the only one Krishna praises in the Bhagwad Gita for having transcended everything even while administering a kingdom? There are tantalizing similarities between the PM's studied 'indifference' and the transcendence of Janaka that leads one to conclude that Manmohan Singh is laissez-faire by nature, in the spiritual sense.

How will all this pan out if Manmohan Singh and his party lose the next round of elections? He might just quote from the Ashtavakra Gita: "Lifetime after lifetime, kingdoms, sons, wives, jewels and appearances to which you were attached, have been lost... For innumerable births have you undertaken work, painful and exacting, with your body, mind and speech. Hence find rest at least now."

[ramana]

^^^ Above is psy-ops to protect MMS legacy if there is a stumble.

[RajeshA]

Nobody needs a detached spiritualist on the throne. It has to be a man with passion for his people and his country!

[Klaus]

MMS, the closet spiritualist

Inaction on several fronts should not be covered up as being "untouched" or detached. It is hardly the sign of being spiritualist.

[shyamd]

^^ Strategic restraint.

[Sanku]

MMS, the closet spiritualist

Inaction on several fronts should not be covered up as being "untouched" or detached. It is hardly the sign of being spiritualist.

True, that is the message of Gita at its core, an unattached mind does not mean lack of action. As Sri Krishna says to Arjun to guide him "look at me, I do not need to do anything, because I am everything, yet I do, for that is my role and my dharma"

[Sanku]

^^ Strategic restraint.

Nice joke.

[shyamd]

So what should India have done? Gone to war?