This is never the case with the termite matriarch and her brood.Sanku wrote:Interesting. Why? Tantra? Pow-wow with like minded people behind the scenes?Shah has one big flaw that has hindered his rise and could do so in future: He has a habit of remaining incommunicado for long periods. This, in turn, keeps him disconnected at crucial times and ends up inflaming even his friends.
Energy is a fundamental necessity for life, let alone a vigorous society or civilization. This fact has been recognized by humans for a very long time — Sun, Wind, Fire and Water (in the form of rivers and waterfalls and rain), worshipped by most cultures, are manifestations of energy in one form or the other. The main difference between pre-industrial times and the present day is that we have restricted our worship only to Fire, neglecting the others almost entirely. Why this became the case, and as humanity again pays due attention to the other Gods again, what entities must again return into our moral equations, is what this essay tries to describe.
Mrs. Dillie's First Grade Class
Open the door...
'Sometimes looking into a classroom is a bit like looking into a beehive. The uninformed visitor might see lots of bees moving in many directions with no apparent logic, but the beekeeper knows what each bee is doing and how the activity fits within the overall pattern.' Author Unknown
This 'beekeeper' hopes you enjoy peeking into our busy bee lives. Beth Dillie
this is not the India his great grand father discovered Brand Modi vs Brand Rahul: India votes on speeches
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-bu ... o-featured
And so on and on...On a day when Congress scion unveiled his visions before the industry, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi let out one more signal of his national ambition saying that he is obligated to "repay the debt of the nation."
Modi was addressing a book release function at Gandhinagar. The author of the book, an industrialist from Odisha R.P. Gupta while addressing the gathering, earlier, had suggested that Narendra Modi after paying up the debt of Gujarat should now repay the debt of the country.
Modi in his address while underlined the changes brought about in governance in the state and their positive ramifications, said "Guptaji said that Modiji has paid the debt of Gujarat and now should repay the debt of the nation. I don't understand what he was saying," Modi said with a smile.
"There is no child in this country, who is not indebted to the country," Modi said adding that the debt of the country is not only upon Narendra Modi but on every one.
"Bharat Ma ka karz sirf Modi par nahi hum sab ka upar hain," Modi said, "And all of us should use all the opportunity to pay back the debt to the country. A teacher pay back his debt to the country or a doctor pays back the debt by saving the life of a child. So this becomes all of our responsibility to ensure that we repay the debt to our country so that Mother India blesses us so that we do not leave any debt behind," he added.
However, Modi's statement is widely being read as an indication to his rising national ambition, coming particularly on a day when Congress scion addressed the industry first time after becoming the vice president of the Congress.
While this is not for the first time that Modi had indicated his ambition for the top job, this assumes significance coming on the heels of his induction into the Parliamentary Committee of his party recently.
I also want to repay my debt to Mother India. Doesn't mean I want to be PM.Hari Seldon wrote:More media spon, deception, hallucination or something actually going on on this front? Knowing NM, he wouldnb't take such steps w/0 first gaming out the possibilities...
Narendra Modi voices his PM ambition, says it's time to repay India's debt
So saying its time to repay India's debt == wanting to be PM?
And the reason why Gandhi & Buddha are acceptable because their breed can be controlled & muzzled & dictated. Both coteries have been infested heavily by defenders of western interests, hence, perfectly acceptable. BG or MB, however, throws open a completely different can of worms, that the macualayites can't digest.RajeshA wrote:OT,
Gandhi and Buddha are acceptable in the Macaulayite frame, and in fact the West has tried to digest both. Mahabharata/Bhagavad Gita are totally different things altogether and cannot be digested.RamaY wrote:He says India has the capability not only take all Indians along but entire world. I loved his point that the "Idea of India" is NOTwhat we hear in "Idea of USA". It is what told by Gandhi/Buddha (he need to go a little back, but it is ok) as in Bhagavad Gita.
This reminds me. Some of the members here might recall that I wrote once that a friend of mine once said that she doesnt care which religion she belongs to and she wont mind converting to Islam if the push came for some reason (it was in response to me wondering about the push Hindus will face with their declining population). She too was just like what you describe. Typical metro girl, CBSE/ISCE studied, doesn't care about Hinduism and why it matters, secularism is good, BJP is communal and is bad etc.Chandragupta wrote:I hope to first convert her & then scare her into voting. Let's see how it works. Typical DU studied, MBA types, high flying yuppie with a large yuppy group. Like a wolf, I'm eyeing her entire yuppy group for conversion.Aditya_V wrote:Chandragupta, if she is not the type to vote, dont waste your time.
NM shouldn't shy away from KA. Rahul has now given him and BJP some shoulder room. If fought hard against odds in true NM style and somehow KA is retained it will be a massive game changer.kittoo ji,kittoo wrote:I am glad to report that after long discussions and debates, she is now a fierce Hindu and a huge modi fan. She is probably even more fierce than me in this regard. She has started liking her roots again, now reads Gita, can see the pseudo-secularism of congress easily and has started talking to others about this too (basically she has also become a foot-soldier like us).
Just wanted to give this example to say that it's possible and important that we engage these people and not leave them as it is, thinking that there is no hope.
In the nine years he has been in politics, Rahul Gandhi was not known for answering questions. Hence, it came as a surprise that he agreed to a Q&A session at the end of his opening speech at the CII meet on Thursday. However, he did not answer either of the two questions posed to him — one on poor Centre-state relations and the other on India's water crisis. Additionally, he left another big question hanging, long after his departure from the venue. Why did Rahul Gandhi, the newly appointed Congress vice-president, choose a business forum for his coming-out speech? If his intent was limited to reiterating well-known Congress positions on 'inclusive growth' and repeating his India-Bharat cliche, with the middle class thrown in for good measure, he only needed to revisit one of his past speeches.
But to give him his due, Rahul Gandhi is a more confident public speaker now. He has developed a technique of stringing together anecdotes. But does this befit a potential prime minister, especially at a time when the Indian economy is facing its biggest crisis since 1990-91? Neither did he offer concrete ideas or solutions to tackle the slowdown nor an alternative vision for governance.
Rahul sent out the message that he was not interested in addressing the problems at hand. He had one stock answer for all questions: Structural change in India's political system. For him, the panacea to all problems is 'giving people a voice'.
While empowering the socio-economically marginalised is vital, repeating that one phrase ad nauseum does little to address the issue, particularly since Congress has been in power for the past nine years. It was astounding to know that Rahul Gandhi thinks one of the biggest problems facing India is that we suffer from a feudal mindset, because we think one person (perhaps he was referring to himself and also taking a swipe at Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi) would solve all the problems.
So, what are we to think of Rahul Gandhi if not as someone who is going to solve India's problems? That he is a political activist whose mission is to help the voiceless get a voice? It may all sound very well-intentioned, but there is no getting away from the fact that he remains Congress face for the 2014 general elections. Given that this is not going to change, he came across as ill-prepared and uninterested in the top job.
Deyam bhojyadhanam dhanam sukruthirbhino sanchayah tasya vaikmkraoind wrote:Indeed Rahul's analogy of beehive is perfect, we have one Queen bee, millions of slaves and honey moved to Swiss stores.
Pratush ji.. would you mind giving some examples? Curious - my experience with die hard INC guys is that they are just that.. they wild never accept anything (truth included) even if its laid out in front of them as they don't distinguish between the message and the messenger.Pratyush wrote:Even in my office I see INC loyalists every day. Some cannot be saved. But over the last 3 years I have converted most of them usually with one liners. That are so blunt & sarcastic that even the most die hard INC supporters are unable to defend the INC.
Someone please tell that stinking insect to not to utter Bhagvat Gita's or any other sacred names from his dirty mouthRamaY wrote: Yes he did (I typed that post while listening to him).
He clearly mentioned that Idea of India is not something like Idea of USA; it is much much bigger. It (the Idea of India) is what told to us by Gandhi, Buddha and Bhagavat Gita. It has the power to not only take the 200 million muslims along but the entire world along with us.
. We are ok with your sickular rhetoric. And don't even think that Hindus will be betrayed by this buffoonish tactics.Modi once said (in light mood) that he has Chappan Ki Chhati (56 inch chest), basically saying he fears no one.Sriman wrote:Btw, what's this 'Chappan' thing about? I'm sure whatever it is, it's hilarious.
The heir to the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty in India, Rahul Gandhi, tried today to compete with the BJP’s Narendra Modi on Modi’s home turf: the business world. By many accounts, he failed to impress. Addressing a gathering of Indian business tycoons in Delhi, his speech was vague and long on imagery and empty clichés, suggesting that Rahul has few or no concrete ideas about how to address India’s many economic quandaries.
“Millions of Indians are brimming with energy,” said Rahul, according to Reuters. “We are now sitting on an unprecedented tide of transformation. This tremendous movement of people and ideas are going to define this country in the 21st century…. It’s our duty to provide India with an infrastructure that connects our villages and cities and the rest of the world.”
Criticisms of the “shy and secretive” 42-year-old Rahul came fast and furious. Before his speech had even ended, the hashtag #PappuCII began trending on Twitter (Pappu is a derogatory Hindi term meaning “dumb kid” and CII was the name of the conference he was speaking at). ”A confused leader presented his confused ideology which nobody could understand,” the spokesperson for Modi’s BJP party told reporters. Rahul has ”nothing to offer on the present problems” said former Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha.
One of the main factors contributing to the Congress Party’s slipping popularity is that its leaders either don’t know what to do or can’t summon the political energy to get the economy out of the doldrums. Modi has capitalized on this disillusionment, presenting himself as a no-nonsense, efficient businessman. If Rahul’s speech today represents the best he and his party have to say about India’s economic and social future, he has his work cut out for him.
Lies, damn lies, and statistics
Rajiv Shah
10 June 2012, 10:42 AM IST
Does Gujarat government fudge figures to “prove” its success story? The suspicion is, indeed, not new. I recollect how chief minister Narendra Modi, post-2002 riots, insisted for at least three continuous years that Gujarat’s annual rate of growth was 14.6 per cent. I also believed him (and his aides) till one fine day a senior bureaucrat showed me unofficially – that the high rate was being shown even for the year when it was around six per cent! At a press conference that followed – a rarity nowadays – I asked Modi about his comment on this six per cent. He looked around for a while, and on getting a reply from an aide murmured, “When you are already on a high pedestal, it is difficult to go higher.” One can possibly say, then, he had political reasons for hyping Gujarat’s growth story. He wanted to establish himself, wanted people to forget riots and see how Gujarat had already become No 1 under him.
Things, apparently, have not changed more than half-a-decade later, though he has established himself as Prime Ministerial candidate. Modi today insists, Gujarat’s agriculture has been growing double digit every year. And, this at a time when his officials told Planning Commission on June 1-2 in Delhi that, during the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12), state agriculture grew by just about five per cent per annum. There was a year when agriculture was in the negative – minus 13 per cent, followed by another year when it was “equal to zero”, to quote one official. Figures handed over to the Planning Commission also suggested that in the industrial sector (secondary sector in official jargon), where Gujarat claims to be No 1, the state grew in single digit in 2011-12 – by eight per cent, exactly. All these figures have been kept under the carpet. They are not being officially released. The pretext is, they are being “finalized”.
“Fudging figures” may indeed be a tall order. A few senior experts met in a closed-door seminar in Ahmedabad about a fortnight ahead of the Planning Commission meet. They, too, wanted to “understand” Gujarat’s growth story, whether it could at all be called a model for other states to follow, as Modi would want them to believe. I didn’t attend the seminar, but I managed a note from a source in the Planning Commission on its conclusions. Scanning through it, what struck me most was, several experts seemed to feel that there is something fundamentally wrong with the figures Gujarat government has been officially disseminating. The scholars only fell short of declaring that the figures had been manipulated, though one of them, a demographer, agreed, “Manipulating figures to suit one’s ideology is common.”
Speaking at the seminar, Prof YK Alagh, a well-known economist, wondered why Gujarat was at all claiming a double digit rate of growth in agriculture when, even by global standards, a four plus per cent of growth in the sector was considered very good. The seminar note quotes him as saying, “Though the growth rate was not 10 per cent per year as has been claimed, but a little more that five per cent growth rate also is one of the highest agricultural growth rates achieved anywhere in the world for a decadal period.” Coming from such a veteran expert left no doubt in my mind that growth figures may have been fudged even though there is no reason to do it. One official later told me, “Our data, based on satellite imagery, are different from the agricultural surveys carried out for crop insurance. The discrepancy is wide.”
Others at the seminar suggested how social sector data are being “manipulated”. Prof Leela Visaria, speaking on the status of health of children and women, said that she “relies more on data from large national surveys, as the other data sources such as official administrative data are frequently not reliable”. While she agreed that the infant mortality rate (IMR) has declined from 69 per 1000 live births in early 1990s to 44 in 2010, quoting survey data, she said, “Gujarat ranks poor in the rank in this decline among the major 20 states in India.” In fact, she revealed that “the percentage of married women aged 15-49 suffering form anaemia increased in the state, from 46 in 1992-93 to 56 in 2005-06. This incidence is particularly high among rural, illiterate, ST and poor women. This is a serious matter also because the children of anaemic mothers are highly prone to chronic and acute malnourishment. Clearly, mere distribution of iron and folic acid tablets to pregnant women is not a solution.”
Speaking almost in a similar tone, Prof Sudarshan Iyengar said the official data on retention of children in primary schools need to be checked. “Since the official method of calculating dropout rate is not specified by the Directorate Primary Education, the reliability of these data is questionable. There is no reason to believe in the official data on school retention. The reliability of the data is also challenged by other studies by scholars”, he underscored, adding, “Poor quality of education is a serious problem in Gujarat. Introduction of Gunotsav in 2009 was, in a way, recognition of the fact that quality of education is below the desired level. This annual event, however, cannot substitute regular machinery.”
Scanning through what Prof Iyengar had to say, I instantly remembered of what a senior state official told me about how the political leadership actually likes to show up cent per cent enrolment in schools by hook or by crook. This official, who has now retired, told me how Anandiben Patel, a former education minister who remains ideologically closest to Modi, called for enrolment data from different districts soon after the Kanya Kelavni child enrolment drive. “We collected the data and gave it to the minister. The minister called for a meeting and declared the data were all wrong. She split the meeting angrily. Later, she directly called for more data from districts, which she got. She added these data to the data that we had given. And what she gave us a nearly cent per cent enrolment!”, this official said.
The transparency sham
Rajiv Shah
04 February 2013, 10:47 AM IST
It was nearly two years ago. A representative of Ahmedabad-based voluntary organization, Pathey, founded by one senior activist-turned-Congress politician, handed over to me during a session of the Gujarat state assembly a four-page folder which said, on the basis of a survey, that Gujarat government topped in transparency index among a group of 10 major states. The state powerdom, obviously, went gaga over it, seeking political gain. The index was based on queries regarding transparency in budget making. The survey was carried out in alliance with New Delhi-based Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA). What seemed to provide credence to the survey was, it was sponsored, among others, by Ford Foundation and Oxfam India. Covering budget-making in Gujarat every year after being posted in Gandhinagar in 1997, I wasn’t just amused but irritated, as my interaction with top state guns was just the opposite. Indeed, there was lot of transparency when I began covering Sachivalaya for the Times of India in late 1990s, so much so that officials would willingly part with any data you wanted, even if these told harsh realities. But after Narendra Modi came to power in October 2001, things changed, so much so that inconvenient data began being increasingly suppressed. Only those data which seemed convenient to Modi was selectively released.
Recently, senior academic Indira Hirway told me how she was getting frequent calls from members of the Planning Commission wanting her to ask state officials to provide latest state growth rate data. All states had “reconciled” these data for 2011-12, except Gujarat. I don’t know the reason, but a Planning Commission source says, much against the loud claims of the state government of double digit rate of growth, state agriculture grew by 7.53 per cent during the 11th five year plan. A good growth rate, it also seemed to suggest that it was mainly because during one year the state agriculture grew by 27.05 per cent, but slipped into the negative for two other years!
I was instantly reminded of the Pathey survey during my during interaction with two Ahmedabad-based Right to Information (RTI) activists, Pankti Jog and Harinesh Pandya, who run Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP), which provides hotline service to anyone wanting to know on how to make an RTI application. As I sat with them during a wintry afternoon, phone calls kept ringing. If ordinary citizens wanted to know how to make RTI applications, government officials tried to find out how to reply to particular RTI pleas. “There is no dearth of phone calls from officials, who wanted to be acquainted of the rules under which an application is accepted or rejected”, they told me, suggesting, awareness on RTI rules was lacking at all levels in the government.
The activists handed over to me a reply they had received to their plea to get details of tours of ministers and other officials, both foreign and domestic. Jog wanted these should be declared suo motu, as part of voluntary disclosure under RTI. She showed me a Government of India order, which said that half-yearly suo motu declaration, starting with January 1, 2012, be regularly made public and posted on the web, so that public do not need to resort to the RTI Act to obtain it.
Gujarat government, in its reply dated January 5, 2013, told Jog that though it had received the Central order, it couldn’t give the information or put it on the web, as the file on was “under consideration”. I wondered, if Gujarat government was so transparent, why this reluctance? Or, was it afraid of parting with some hard facts? It is common knowledge: Modi must ride the chopper even if he has to go just 50 km from Gandhinagar. Jog and Pandya told me that, voluntary disclosures, under RTI rules, should be made not just of official tours of ministers but also about any concessions the government may have given to entrepreneurs or organizations. As an example, they gave me an order by Gujarat information commissioner RN Das, dated June 27, 2011, where he quotes serial No (viii) of Section 4 (1)(b) of the RTI Act, which stipulates the need to proactively disclose “particulars of the recipients of concessions, permits, or authorizations” granted by a public authority. Jog had demanded information on mining leases in Porbandar, given by the state, and it took full four years for the state information commissioner to order it be given. “Eighteen months after the order, the government hasn’t provided any information, let alone put it on the web”, she told said. It wasn’t hard for me to guess as to why concessions to the Tatas’ Nano car project, or Ford, or other such mega projects aren’t made public either. The pretext is – it would harm the corporates’ business interest!
In her application dated July 9, 2007 to the district collector’s office, Jog had demanded “details of the all the leases/permissions” for building stone (bela patthar) mining in Porbandar district”. The information she had sought included name of the lease holder and contact details, the date of commencement of the lease, its expiry date, the date of renewal, the area for which the mining is permitted or lease is allotted, nature or type of land on which mining is allowed, the depth in feet till which mining is allowed, number of visits to the mining site by the government officers from the date of the commencement, and details of violations and action taken.
The illegal mining issue, if anything, suggests the travesty of transparency of Gujarat government. In mid-2000s, two IAS bureaucrats were posted, one after another, as district collector, Porbandar, Sheila Benjamin and VN Chhibber. Both exceptionally tried to fight illegal mining. At one stage Benjamin wrote to the government how mafia was running the show and she was helpless in the face of lack of support from the government. She was summarily transferred. Chhibber actually took action against the mafia. And, he was made to suffer – insiders confirm, a fake inquiry was instituted against him on the last date of retirement, December 31, 2011. As the story goes, Chhibber was posted in Porbandar with specific instructions from the chief minister’s office (CMO) to “investigate illegal activities” of Opposition leader Arjun Modhwadia, who hails from Porbandar. On reaching Porbandar, Chhibber found nothing against Modhwadia, but found a senior BJP leader very close to Modi deeply involved in illegal mining. This senior leader, incidentally, is now a Cabinet minister under Modi.
Travesty of transparency is strongly felt in budget making, too. As the last year drew to a close, I would often approach additional chief secretary, finance, Varesh Sinha – just promoted as Gujarat chief secretary – for details of the amount collected by Gujarat government as value added tax (VAT) and registration of real estate deals, as reflected in stamp duty collection. I told him, it would suggest the impact of the slowdown on the state economy. Sinha, without mincing words, replied he “didn’t have” these details. Once he said he would “look into the matter”, but he never did. I approached his junior, economic affairs secretary S Aparna. She promised me she would give me details. I approached her half-a-dozen times, and she would either say she had “forgotten” or I should approach her some other day. Finally, she told me to approach some other officials. Interestingly, these details come to her and Sinha on a daily basis and were part of their budget-making exercise.
In another instance, a senior state official would in the past gladly hand me over details of the amount spent by the state government under annual plan, for developmental works. For the last two years, things became difficult for him to retrieve the information because, as he put it, “Gujarat government doesn’t make available comprehensive details of the amount spent to all secretaries. Each department secretary is kept in the dark about the amount spent by all other departments.” Insiders, of course, tell me, how at the end of each year the government fails to spend huge sums, often up to Rs 10,000 crore, and all of it is shown as “spent” by “parking” it with government boards or corporations!
RT @kishanreddybjp Banner of Sri.G.Kishan Reddy garu's movement against state govt failure in power sector. http://t.co/n5RDPETVF4
Kar will see a 3D Modi
April 5, 2013
The fact that the BJP in Karnataka is banking heavily on Modi is no secret. Not only will they convince the Gujarat Chief Minister to address 15 rallies in Karnataka, the people of the state will see Modi masks and interestingly the 3d holographic projection technology which will project the leader himself in the state.
Looking at the preparations of each of these parties closely, it looks that the most tech savvy of all the campaigns would be put up by the BJP.
The BJP has a dedicated IT Cell in Bangalore and has been responsible for almost all events of the party in which technology has been put to good use. The IT Cell would work on the party’s campaign this time. Many within the party are aware that the chances of the party are not all that great and hence they would have to do something spectacular to put up a good show. The BJP in Karnataka is in talks with leaders in Gujarat who made the 3d technology a possibility.
The surprise package this time around is the Janata Dal (S) which has always been averse to using technology for its campaign. The party has traditionally relied on a rural vote bank and never found the need to adopt to technology. This time around the party. The party has hired a special officer to ensure that the party’s message is conveyed on all social media sites such as twitter, facebook and youtube. All speeches made by these the leaders of the party would be on youtube, a JD(S) leader informed.
The Congress on the other hand has decided to limit the use of technology and rely more on star power. Their campaigns would be led by leaders such as Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and also Dr Manmohan Singh. In Karnataka, there is reliance on Siddaramaiah to pull the crowds. But the party is also roping in actors such as Chiranjeevi from Andhra Pradesh, Ambareesh, Darshan and Ramya to woo the voters. In addition to this they have hired a professional to interact with the media.
After Manish Tewari, Rashid Alvi takes a dig at Modi, labels him Yamraj
India Today Online New Delhi, April 5, 2013 | UPDATED 18:13 IST
The Congress-Narendra Modi war of words is getting worse by the day. In the latest attack on the Gujarat Chief Minister, Congress's senior leader Rashid Alvi on Friday went on to compare him with the god of death in Hindu mythology, Yamraj.
At a press conference, the Congress spokesperson was taking questions on party vice-president Rahul Gandhi's speech at Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) meet on Thursday when he said, "Rahulji was talking about a guy on horse. Had he been referring to Modi, he would have said the man on buffalo."
In further attack on Modi, Alvi said the BJP leader's desire to rule in Delhi reflected in his speech in Gandhinagar as he talked bout repaying India's debt.
"Dilli aane kee khwaish aisee hai ki hajar khwahishe aisee hee, har khwahish pe dum nikle... If Lord Ram brings him to Delhi and Modi begins to repay his debt as he did in Gujarat, then even the thought is scary...," Alvi said reacting to Modi's hint about his willingness to serve in Delhi on a national role.
Earlier in the day, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari had also targeted Modi over his ambitions as he too referred to 2002 Gujarat communal riots.
"As someone who believes in the idea of India and the plurality of the Indian ethos and is committed to the founding values of the India constitution, I often worry at the statement of the state of chief minister of Gujarat and hope he does not want to do in the rest of India what he did in 2002," Tewari said referring to the 2002 riots.
Earlier, Modi had said on Thursday, "People are saying that I have repaid the debt of Gujarat and they are now asking me to repay the debt owed to India."
- With inputs from Headlines Today
If any person's MAIN identity is challenged/dismissed/belittled, it can bring out tremendous viciousness. He and many of his ilk cannot digest even a tiny fraction of what our netas (politicos) need to digest as part of their daily job.SwamyG wrote:Wow, did Rajdeep seriously say there Fvck off? I am not prudent, but a journalist uttering that should be shameful. All pretense gone, all gloves off, they are getting paid more.
who? Obama? He was ready to touch the feet of Saudi royalsPratyush wrote:US says Modi welcome to apply for visa
What are the chances that they will make Modi enter the US and then arrest him for Crimes against humanity? What will the UPA do in that case?
