Indian Interests

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 20 Jun 2013 21:05

panduranghari, What does all that mean?

Agnimitra · Post by **Agnimitra** » 21 Jun 2013 00:51

Madhu Purnima Kishwar:
BjP govts have been even more callous than çongress govts with regard to Himalayas & ganga -two of most sacred symbols of Hindu culture1/n

Madhu Purnima Kishwar:
Nishank of BJP was the worst possible CM Uttranchal ever had. He was in brazen collusion with builder mafias. Got swami Nigmanand murdered.

member_23692 · Post by **member_23692** » 21 Jun 2013 02:20

X-posted from another thread.

In their haste to get out of Afghanistan, it looks like the US has dropped all pretense now. There are no "Vietanam-esque" declarations of victory and no "Iraq-esque" claims of creating democracy in Afghanistan . By now starting direct negotiations with the Talibs behind Karzai's back and by backtracking on all pre-conditions that they had imposed on Taliban for commencement of talks, the Americans have come out completely in the open now and shamelessly thrown Karzai, the non pashtuns and the anti-pakis under the bus. In a sense, they have thrown India under the bus.

What is India doing about all this ? Perhaps India is being the ultimate Chankian. It does nothing. It seems that the Indian winning strategy is to win it all by losing all its territory and allowing the conversion of all its people. It is way beyond simpletons like me to even comprehend, leave aside conjure up, such brilliance.

Atri · Post by **Atri** » 21 Jun 2013 03:58

The CT that the UK cloudburst has been engineeredby cloud seeding. Ppl are givibg references of operation popeye conducted by US army in Vietnam war to prolong monsoon and make it rain at will PRC is currently the largest cloud seeder.

CT says this cloudburst similar to 2005 mumbai cloudburst was engineered by enemies of india.

Worth a thought??? Any comments on the CT?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 21 Jun 2013 04:02

In 1977 there was a massive cyclone in then Bombay..

Subramaniam Swamy had a massive CT then that the tidal wave that accompanied was due to a US bum test near the area.

So apply your four step Vedanta algorithim and see if this one fits.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 21 Jun 2013 08:26

For the Muslim woman, against arbitrary divorce

Sushupti · Post by **Sushupti** » 21 Jun 2013 22:05

Dr. Zakir Naik, Asaduddin Owaisi among 42 elected for AMU Court

http://www.ummid.com/news/2013/June/12. ... hFGIa.dpuf

Agnimitra · Post by **Agnimitra** » 21 Jun 2013 22:38

India Helps Collection Centres for Goonj

India Helps is accepting public donations of all required materials for the ongoing Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh flood relief efforts. These will be sent to Goonj, who will further direct trucks of resources to the affected areas. Efforts are underway already and the need is URGENT. Please read this recent post on this blog or visit the Goonj appeal to learn about additional ways you can help.

What India Helps will collect: Tarpaulins, mosquito nets, dry ration ( primarily-rice, pulses, biscuits ) blankets and woolens, cooking utensils, buckets, torches and batteries, umbrellas, basic medicines, water purifier tablets, crutches, candles, lanterns, feeding bottles, rope, old flex banners, mats, sponsorship for sanitary pads & Sujnis.

Collection center details: 1) Address:
Hangers: Clothing & Accessories
Shop number 5, Meera Towers,
Opposite Mega Mall,
New Link Road, Oshiwara,
Andheri (West),
Mumbai 400053.

Timings:
11.30 am to 8.30 pm, Monday to Friday

Telephone:
09769968658 (Kavita)
26361518

2) Address:
Karma Communications,
Shop number 12, Bhanumathi Cooperative Housing Society,
Bangur Nagar,
Goregaon (West),
Mumbai 400090.

Timings:
Edited: 10 am to 5 pm, Monday to Saturday

Contact: [email protected]

Feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments section. The situation is grim. Our fellow citizens need us at a time when they've lost everything--homes, material possessions, and loved ones. Please help as much as you can! We will notify donors on this blog when we stop accepting contributions for this particular effort.

Note: We have partnered with Goonj in previous efforts and trust their work. India Helps is an entirely volunteer-run, good faith initiative. We do not accept ANY part of your contribution for ourselves. Please arrive at your donation decisions independently.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 22 Jun 2013 19:39

Equality of opportunity? You’re kidding.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 23 Jun 2013 09:03

Sushupti wrote:Dr. Zakir Naik, Asaduddin Owaisi among 42 elected for AMU Court

http://www.ummid.com/news/2013/June/12. ... hFGIa.dpuf

But Naiks' Dubai based Peace TV is banned in India - isnt it - for anti-India "propaganda" according to the relevant dept of the union gov?

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 23 Jun 2013 09:50

Coomi Kapoor's Column

More time for politics

Her sharp political instincts have been compared to those of her grandmother, but Priyanka Gandhi has never given her full attention to politics because of family commitments. It seems Priyanka may now get more time away from her domestic responsibilities. Son Rehan has got admission to Doon School, his grandfather's alma mater, and daughter Miraya has passed the entrance test for Welham Girls' School, also in Dehra Dun. Incidentally, an attractive, solo poster of Priyanka was recently seen in the office of one of the Congress's general secretaries.

Look who's talking

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been chiding the BJP for not showing an elder statesman like L K Advani due deference. But M Venkaiah Naidu pointed out that Nitish should be the last one to talk about concern for the elderly, considering the way he eased out George Fernandes from all important posts in the party and the NDA, even while Fernandes was still hale and hearty. In April 2006, Fernandes was not allowed to stand for re-election as JD(U) president. In December 2009, Nitish put pressure on Fernandes to step down from his post as convenor of the NDA. The unkindest cut was opposing his one-time mentor from re-contesting from his old constituency of Muzaffarpur. While Nitish talks about Narendra Modi's authoritarianism, the Bihar CM has been ruthless in cutting his opponents down to size. It was not just Fernandes, but also JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan' and the late Digvijay Singh who publicly dubbed Nitish "a dictator".

Quick-change artiste

Actress Smriti Irani was not a favourite of Narendra Modi when she joined the BJP. In 2004, she issued a statement calling for Modi to resign as CM. Irani changed her tune after the party ordered her to withdraw her protest. In 2011, when Irani was chosen for a Rajya Sabha ticket, it was with Nitin Gadkari's support. Modi had wanted Nirmala Sitharaman in the Rajya Sabha. But since then, the relationship between Modi and Irani has undergone a sea change. At the BJP's Goa meeting, Irani was constantly at Modi's side, even when he was busy talking with other party leaders.

Back to party

Earlier, when both Ambika Soni and Ahmed Patel were political secretaries to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Patel had gained the upper hand and Soni was eased out of her post. But with Soni's new appointment as "in charge of the Congress president's office'', Congress members are wondering where this puts her in the pecking order. After all, in her new position, Soni is in charge of the office where Patel also sits. Soni will presumably coordinate Gandhi's tours and programmes. There may be no immediate danger to Patel's authority, but time will tell.

A Kao-boy's secrets

When B Raman's memoirs, The Kao-boys of RAW: Down Memory Lane, were first published, another former sleuth V K Singh protested that while his book had been proscribed for reasons of national security, Raman had been permitted to publish his reminiscences. But Raman was a spy who knew how to keep a secret and not compromise national security. The super sleuth, who was personally selected to join the agency by RAW founder R N Kao, played many roles in RAW, including acting as a liaison man for the agency. In the bargain, he developed warm friendships with senior politicians from many of our neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, when they were out of office. He also managed to infiltrate madrasas and enlist jehadis as his sources long after his retirement. He visited Thailand more than 40 times and is believed to have met his secret sources in Bangkok pubs. As he lay dying of cancer in a Chennai hospital, there were messages of concern from across the globe. Even President Pranab Mukherjee sent a moving letter.

Different strokes

Both the Congress and BJP have put a Gujarati in charge of Uttar Pradesh, electorally the most important state in the country. But the temperament of the two Gujaratis who have been given the responsibility of handling the state—Amit Shah from the BJP and Madhusudan Mistry from the Congress—are very different. There was a large gathering of BJP workers waiting to receive Shah when he arrived in Lucknow. Among Shah's first engagements in UP was a puja at the Ganga ghat in Varanasi. He then travelled to Ayodhya for a darshan of "Ram Lalla". Mistry has studiously avoided making himself conspicuous, though he played a key role in the selection of candidates in Karnataka. He has also been travelling frequently, preparing a panel of suitable candidates for Lok Sabha constituencies from all over the country.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 24 Jun 2013 06:13

Gaining from her party’s losses: Inder Malhotra

Indira Gandhi's position was strengthened by the 'catastrophe' that befell the Congress in the 1967 polls

AS the 1967 general election drew near, Indira Gandhi was painfully conscious that the Syndicate and Morarji Desai were united against her and determined to oust her after the polls. She complained openly that they had denied the Congress ticket to many of her supporters and were parsimonious in allotting party funds to those not kept out. So, following the strategy she had unveiled in December 1966, she plunged into the election campaign to appeal to the people over the heads of the party bosses, pitting her mass popularity against their skill in manipulating the party machine.

She was no stranger to electioneering, having canvassed for Congress candidates in all the three elections held in Nehru's time. But helping her father was one thing, to lead the election campaign as prime minister under siege quite another. She knew that she was no orator and her voice was squeaky. Nor did she have her father's breadth of vision. He would lecture simple village folk on the need for economic planning and even the reasons for his support to China's claim to membership of the UN.

Indira decided, however, to put her best foot forward. She chose to give a miss to high policy and such other themes, and to concentrate on people's daily problems and other simple matters, trying to speak with as much poise as she could muster. Her main objective, however, was to project her personality to as many people as possible, and to make them feel that no other leader cared for them, especially the poor, half as much as she did. To this end, she travelled across the country like a hurricane.

Everywhere, the popular response was huge. Tens of thousands of people, with a remarkably large proportion of women, waited hours for a glimpse of her. They cheered her even when what she said went above their heads. Of course, in places there was some hostility too, if only because the socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia, her most trenchant critic, had persuaded the entire range of opposition parties, from the extreme left to the extreme right, to join in their shared objective of defeating the Congress that had ruled the country for "too long". At some places, therefore, she was shown black flags. Elsewhere, there were attempts, usually unsuccessful, to disturb her meetings. The worst happened at Bhubaneswar in Orissa, where one of the stones thrown at her injured her nose. But she refused to discontinue her spirited speech, and got her nose operated on only the next morning in Delhi.

Before going to Bhubaneswar, she had visited her constituency, Rae Bareli (earlier represented by her husband Feroze Gandhi, and now by her daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi), where she declared that all the Indian people were her family and that she was above all divisions in Indian society, such as religion, caste, creed and so on. The crowds chanted that she was "Mother India" even though she was only 50.

This outpouring of support and affection, however, did not translate into votes. On the contrary, the election results, when they came in, were a big jolt to both her and the Congress party as a whole. The Congress vote was down to 41 per cent from 45 per cent in 1962, when the party had last gone to the polls, under her father's leadership. A 4 per cent drop may appear small. But given the first-past-the-post system, it had a disproportionate impact on the number of seats. Ironically, until then, this system had worked to the Congress's advantage. But now, in a House of 520, the Congress share plummeted to 283, compared to nearly 350 earlier. It was barely sufficient to keep the government afloat, but the majority was dangerously narrow because of the constant strife between Indira Gandhi and the combination of Desai and the Syndicate. "After a broken nose, a slap in the face," said The Times, London.

It was in the states that the true extent of the setback to the Congress became evident. The southern state of Madras (now Tamil Nadu) was lost to a regional party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and the Congress has never again been able to come to power there. In the north, the Congress faced not disaster but a catastrophe. It lost power in all eight states, giving rise to the jibe that one could travel all the way from Calcutta in West Bengal to Amritsar in Punjab "without having to traverse a single inch of Congress-governed territory".

Yet, it is one of those paradoxes India is famous for that, instead of being undermined, Indira Gandhi's position was strengthened. The reason was a succession of resounding defeats for stalwarts of the Syndicate. Atulya Ghosh in West Bengal and S.K. Patil in Bombay lost humiliatingly. The fall of Kamaraj, the mighty Congress president and "uncrowned king of Madras since the early 1950s", was staggering. He lost not only his state but also his seat.

However, none of this prevented Desai from renewing his claim to the office of prime minister. Sternly, he demanded another vote in the Congress Parliamentary Party. But this time round, the party's self-preservation instinct took over. Numerous senior Congressmen, including some known supporters of Desai, bluntly said that, having been badly mauled at the polls, the party just could not afford another recriminatory struggle for leadership. Desai was unmoved. He argued that he had been cheated out of his due twice, and would not stand for it the third time. Indira was heard saying that in the serious matter of electing India's prime minister she would not tolerate any fun or games.

That was when the Syndicate that lay shattered got its second wind and rode again. It ruled that a compromise must be imposed on Indira and Morarji, for another leadership contest was unthinkable. Eventually, after hard bargaining, a compromise was reached under which Desai became deputy prime minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet. He was given the finance portfolio that he had held earlier under her father.

The writer is a Delhi-based political commentator.

Sanku · Post by **Sanku** » 25 Jun 2013 17:56

An excellent summary of the current security challenges by Jaswant Singh made during a conf. on "Threats to National Identity and Security", organised by Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Research Foundation to mark his 60th death anniversary.

Politicians need to take a long term view on national security: Jaswant Singh

"There is a lack of governance, and the situation would continue till the politicians don't begin to think about national security. They have to rise and think beyond winning elections after five years,"

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 25 Jun 2013 22:45

In the city of Toronto, Canada, there is currently an exibition about Mesopotamia at the Museum, run or provided by the British museum. It's all about Mesopotamia's seminal influences on world culture and development. Now, whenever there is( and it's rare) a feature on India at the very same museum, it's scope is far, far less. There was a couple of years ago an exhibition about the lifestyles of the Maharajas, and back in the year 2000, there was a 'Sikh exhibition', about the culture of the Sikh maharajas, particularly Ranjit Singh.

There has *never* been, far as one can see, an all encompassing presenation about ancient India, and its large influence on both the ancient and modern world. One can easily detect a strong institutional prejudice against such a venture, heavily loaded with politics. Is anything with "Royal British.." beside it, going to praise India or highlight its achievements and influence?

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 26 Jun 2013 01:24

^^^ That which is the biggest threat should never be acknowledged. They fear it like a spark to cinder.
That you care is what works for them

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 27 Jun 2013 19:41

Supreme Court:Can't act against websites for sharing information with US intel agencies

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against nine internet companies for allegedly sharing information of Indian citizens with US intelligence agencies.

Among the nine internet companies are Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo. The PIL was filed last week to ensure that the rights of internet users are protected.

The apex court said it cannot entertain the petition as Indian agency is not involved in it and allowed the petitioner, former dean of Law Faculty of Delhi University SN Singh, to move any other forum for seeking remedy against Internet companies and the US agency for snooping data resulting in violation of right to privacy.

So court is telling the petitioner to go seek help from anyone who will give it!}

The bench also said that the court cannot direct Parliament to enact law to safeguard privacy of citizens against such snooping.

{i]{The Court manages to interject itself in matters that dont concern it but where it matters it claims to be directionelss without a mandate. What about the fundamental rights of the citizen in the Consitituion? Why cant it direct the Govt to ensure that pricvacy rights of Indian citizens are not violated if those websites want to do business in India?}[/i]

In his plea, Singh had alleged that such largescale spying by the US authorities is detrimental to national security and urged the apex court to intervene in the matter.

He had claimed that the Internet companies are sharing information with the foreign authority in "breach" of contract and violation of right to privacy.

Singh had submitted that it is a breach of national security as government's official communications have come under US surveillance as services of private Internet firms are being used by them.

He had sought directions to the Centre to "take urgent steps to safeguard the government's sensitive Internet communications" which are being kept outside India in US servers and are "unlawfully intruded upon by US Intelligence Agencies through US-based Internet companies under secret surveillance program called PRISM".

In his petition, Singh had also sought directions restraining the government and its officials from using US-based Internet companies for official communication and that all such companies, which are doing business in India, must establish their servers here so that they can be regulated as per Indian laws.

The Centre had earlier on June 11 expressed surprise and concern over the snooping and said it will seek information and details from the US over reports that India was the fifth most tracked country by the American intelligence which used a secret data-mining programme to monitor worldwide Internet data.

With Additional Inputs From PTI

Shows how sadly the Judges have fallen short of their commitment to the Constitiution.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 28 Jun 2013 01:06

Should India collaborate with NATO, especially against piracy in the Indian Ocean?
http://www.cfr.org/piracy/should-india- ... ean/p31013

( Why this Barambar Nudging and Hugging)

Although there is no formal institutional connection between India and NATO, India and the NATO allies, most importantly the United States, informally share an interest in maintaining maritime security in the Indian Ocean and have spent significant resources to combat piracy in this vast area. Particularly notable are India's bold efforts to combat piracy off the Horn of Africa.In the U.S. experience, the potential for genuine, two-directional learning and new insights from military cooperation with India is substantial. Collaboration has proven beneficial to both sides and has contributed positively to security in the region, where India is a crucial and uniquely stabilizing force.ith the exception of the U.S.-India-Japan naval exercises of 2009 and 2011, however, India has more recently been reluctant to officially collaborate on a multilateral rather than bilateral basis on maritime security issues. But as demonstrated by India's prior joint cooperation with the United States, Japan, and Australia in post-2004 tsunami relief missions, multilateral action in the realm of maritime security can reap benefits for both India and the United States and its allies.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 28 Jun 2013 01:09

Sorry but they are the original pirates of the Indian Ocean. The current NATO countries I mean.

Anyway piracy is criminal thing that a Coast guard can handle. No need for US 5th and 7th fleets to get agitated to justify budget cuts!

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 28 Jun 2013 01:18

Like flawed Honest Abe, Singh should aim for greatness

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/07324f12 ... z2XRtAutKx

As prime minister Manmohan Singh enters his final year in office, he is likely to be hoping to go down in history as the man who made India a miracle economy, growing at 8.5 per cent a year. However, after a series of scandals, critics say he stands to be remembered for presiding over New Delhi’s most corrupt regime ever.Nobody doubts his personal integrity. He has long been seen as an honest man struggling against the tide in dishonest times. But the Teflon is finally wearing off. In May he tried to save the jobs of two ministers: one accused by the Supreme Court of interfering in a probe of an alleged coal mines allotment scam; the other following the arrest of his nephew over a disputed bribery allegation. Both ultimately had to resign.The Supreme Court accused Mr Singh of trying to convert the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is examining the coal case, into a “caged parrot”. Columnists who once sympathised with him now say he is tainted by complicity.I think history will judge him more positively: it usually lionises people achieving difficult goals in tainted times. Consider, for example, Abraham Lincoln, as portrayed in last year’s Oscar-winning biopic. Lincoln graphically shows the dirty tricks and bribes the 16th US president used to ensure passage of the bill abolishing slavery. Yet this did not diminish his heroic stature, in the film or in history books. Indeed, he is popularly remembered as “Honest Abe”.
American politics was highly corrupt in Lincoln’s time. There was no permanent civil service, so hundreds of important (and lucrative) positions could be given by the president to his supporters. “To the victor the spoils” was the motto of the day. It could also be the motto of contemporary Indian politics.Lincoln was not an idealist demanding freedom from slavery as a fundamental right. Rather, he held that the constitution gave each state the right to keep or abolish slavery. .Lincoln tried hard to avoid civil war. He repeatedly said his aim was to preserve the union, and for this he was willing to tolerate southern slavery. But once the war began, he conveniently changed his own views. He decided in 1862 that, using war powers, he had the authority to issue the emancipation proclamation.This did not make slavery illegal throughout the land: it freed slaves only in those southern states that had rebelled. It did not apply to border states, whose support Lincoln viewed as absolutely crucial. He once said: “I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.”For all that, history does not treat Lincoln as a practitioner of realpolitik or bribery. It treats him as a hero who abolished slavery. What matters, ultimately, is the greatness of an achievement rather than the means to achieve it.Going by this logic, history will view Mr Singh positively, too. Memories of his government’s scandals will fade. He will be remembered as the finance minister who initiated the nation’s economic reforms in 1991-96, and who as prime minister in 2004-13 made India a miracle economy. Earlier, the success of the Asian Tigers led to theories that fast growth was possible only in autocracies. But Mr Singh proved that democracies – even messy ones – can become miracle economies, too.
( But man is known for the company he keep)
As in Lincoln’s case, critics will say he has escaped too lightly. In his first cabinet in 2004, he had seven politicians facing criminal charges – including murder and fraud. But these were the nominees of small parties whose support was vital for his government’s survival. For Mr Singh, the compulsions of survival trumped morality.In his second term, too, Mr Singh was often urged to sack dubious colleagues. He replied: “I am not in the business of losing my government’s majority.”
However, as he approaches his final year in office, Mr Singh should show some spine, and not simply bank on history’s forgiveness. In particular, he should push aggressively for two pieces of legislation. One is the long-postponed bill for creating the Lokpal, an anti-corruption body. The second is a bill providing statutory autonomy for the CBI, meeting the Supreme Court’s demand for a truly independent body.These two bills will not end corruption. If given teeth, however, they might just start the reversal of the current moral morass. Mr Singh’s place in history as an economic reformer is assured but he should aim for a higher goal: to be remembered as the man who took the first step towards cleansing Indian politics

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 28 Jun 2013 01:22

ramana wrote:Sorry but they are the original pirates of the Indian Ocean. The current NATO countries I mean.Anyway piracy is criminal thing that a Coast guard can handle. No need for US 5th and 7th fleets to get agitated to justify budget cuts!

The Indian ocean side of Africa is going to be Half ME in Hydrocarbon reserves. India is in good position to exploit these resources for the mutual benefits of both Africans and Indians , hence the Pirates Drool Parade is on now.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 28 Jun 2013 03:11

Persistent delays and putting off project allocations is causing a large cost to the nation in financial and capabilities terms.

Recent example the installation of Doppler radars in Uttarakhand a project sanctioned in 2007 is still not funded.

The Rafale fighter will now cost even more while the rupee is devalued!!!!

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 28 Jun 2013 07:59

Views from the Right

HIMALAYAN LESSON

Even before the rescue operations in Uttarakhand have ended, the Sangh Parivar has highlighted the single "clear lesson". Both its weeklies feature the floods as cover story and have carried editorials on the same. While the stories underscore how RSS workers have participated in relief operations, the editorials seek to blame human activity in the eco-sensitive Himalayan zone. "Nature does not tolerate exploitation for long and it 'pays back with interest' very soon," says the editorial in the Organiser. "At least now, we will have to rethink the largescale construction of hydro-power projects in the Himalayas... allowing so many hydro-power projects... was a blunder," says the Organiser.

BIHAR CREDIT

As the reality of the BJP-JD(U) split hits home, a full-page article in the Organiser acknowledges that "when they have parted ways, both will try to count the failures of each other". But it also asks "whether the collective achievements of the NDA government in Bihar are the achievements of the JD(U) alone", asserting that the credit should be "shared" between the BJP and JD(U). "He (Nitish) has been trying to take away the credit for all the positive and people-friendly works... The credit for it goes to the collective efforts of the NDA..." says the article pointing out how some of the "main achievements in the state have been because of the ministers from the BJP".

BJP IS NOT RSS

With Mohan Bhagwat's intervention making the RSS's role too obvious in papering over the cracks in the BJP, Panchjanya seeks to allay apprehensions about the RSS's micro-management of the BJP. Countering an editorial in The Indian Express that suggested "it's high time the RSS dropped the fiction of being apolitical and distant from BJP matters", a full-page article by Sangh ideologue M.G. Vaidya dismisses the parallels drawn between Nagpur and 10, Janpath. It claims that the RSS has a "unique working style", whereby it lends its workers to various affiliate organisations, including the BJP, but asserts that those organisations using the services of their volunteers remain "independent and autonomous".

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 30 Jun 2013 03:37

Coomi Kapoor's Column

Incommunicado

Rahul Gandhi celebrated his birthday on June 19 in Europe, which is why he did not show up initially in the wake of the Uttarakhand floods. So secretive was the Congress vice-president about this that even PM Manmohan Singh was not informed. Singh's office tried several times to reach Rahul on his birthday so that the PM could wish him. It was only in the evening that Rahul returned the Prime Minister's call.

Adding fuel to fire

Two people close to L K Advani, Sudheendra Kulkarni and Pratibha Advani, have further strained relations between him and the RSS, despite the efforts of intermediaries to bring about a patch-up. The RSS is upset with Kulkarni's article on rediff.com, where he described BJP president Rajnath Singh as foxy, Modi as autocratic and self-centred and accused the RSS of contributing to the BJP's defeat in 2009. The RSS presumes that the article was written with Advani's knowledge, while Advani was not taken into confidence by Kulkarni. Advani's daughter Pratibha, though not in politics, has been urging her father to take a tough line against his detractors. It is believed that it was on Pratibha's advice that Advani's resignation letter, which he later withdrew, was leaked to the media. Whether to cool tempers all round or just by coincidence, Pratibha has left on a 10-day trip to Singapore. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, meanwhile, is believed to have conveyed to the BJP's elder statesman that he should not stand for election in the coming parliamentary polls and make way for new blood.

Family feuds

The sibling rivalry in Lalu Prasad Yadav's family is getting pronounced. Lalu wants his son Tejaswi Yadav, an unsuccessful cricketer, to be his political heir. But wife Rabri Devi is backing elder son Tej Pratap Yadav. Tej Pratap is unhappy that Tejaswi gets to address RJD political rallies. He too wants to be invited to speak. In Mulayam Singh Yadav's family, Akhilesh Yadav's step-brother Prateek Yadav is cut up that all the political responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of Akhilesh. Prateek, who prides himself on his muscular body, has not even been made an MLA. There are dissensions even in the Pawar family. Patriarch Sharad Pawar is getting increasingly put off by nephew Ajit Pawar's behaviour with his colleagues.

Faster on the draw

It was not only Gujarati pilgrims stranded in Uttarakhand who were given a helping hand by Narendra Modi. Ten priests from the Sivagiri Mutt in Kerala, which Modi had visited in April, sent Modi an SOS pleading for rescue. Congress leaders were upset at a news report giving Modi credit for evacuating some 15,000 Gujarati pilgrims stranded in the Char Dham region. The number of rescued pilgrims may have been grossly exaggerated but Modi was certainly faster on the draw than others in organising rescue of pilgrims from his home state. He chartered Boeing planes to airlift passengers from Dehradun to Gujarat, hired a fleet of vehicles and sent a team of 25 officers to the Uttarakhand control room to coordinate timings for chopper landings and take-offs. While the Congress deplored Modi's interference, which they claimed hampered the Central government and Uttarakhand state relief efforts, belatedly three Congress CMs—Prithviraj Chavan, Ashok Gehlot and Bhupinder Singh Hooda—followed Modi's example and flew to Uttarakhand. Other states also sent teams to take care of victims. Even the opposition TDP chartered a plane to ferry pilgrims to Andhra.

Disastrous management

THE National Disaster Management Authority held no meetings between 2008 and 2011 and only one after 2011. The vice-chairperson, M Shashidhar Reddy, is a sitting MLA from Andhra Pradesh with little time to spare. The four-time legislator has the status of a Cabinet minister. Other members enjoy the rank of minister of state but also seem to have little time to plan relief and rehabilitation when disaster strikes. It took three days for senior members of the NDMA to visit Uttarakhand.

Relocated not removed

The Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which is doing a valiant job in assisting stranded pilgrims in Uttarakhand, has a camp in the mess at Gauchar. But when Rahul Gandhi visited Uttarakhand to oversee the relief work, he and his SPG team were put up at the ITBP camp and the policemen had to move out. Director General Ajay Chadha was quick to explain that his force had simply been relocated, not removed. A small adjustment for a VVIP.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 30 Jun 2013 04:38

How we got pukka

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 01 Jul 2013 01:53

Indian prestige declines as its economy falters
http://newindianexpress.com/magazine/vo ... 655933.ece

The prestige and influence of nations are predominantly moulded by their economic resilience and the integrity and resolve of their leadership in the face of adversity. India’s international prestige rose towards the end of the last century, as its liberalised economy started taking off. This process was augmented when India overcame US-led global economic sanctions that it faced after its 1998 nuclear tests and successfully countered challenges posed by Pakistan’s ill-advised Kargil intrusion in 1999. Goldman Sachs soon proclaimed that the shape of the World Order 21st century would be significantly influenced by BRIC—the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
The UPA government assumed power in 2004, when India was riding high in the councils of the world. It was this image of India as an emerging power that led the US, together with France and Russia, to end global nuclear sanctions on India, imposed after its 1974 nuclear test. When the world’s economy faced a downturn, the US was compelled to end its exclusive dependence on the G-8, made up of the US, its NATO allies and Japan, and turn to emerging powers like Brazil, Russia, India and China and constitute the G-20, to face global economic challenges. India, with an economic growth of 8% and a growing military potential, stood tall in world forums. Even Pakistan’s Musharraf was compelled to give up old clichés and negotiate in a realistic way to resolve the Kashmir issue.
Barely five years later, UPA has succeeded in ruining India’s standing in the world. In the eyes of many across the globe, the Indian economy is in tatters, with a ballooning fiscal deficit, which has led to spiralling inflation, rendering its exports increasingly uncompetitive, and a growing and unsustainable current account deficit, which is eating into its forex reserves, which stood at around $300 billion. This is largely seen as a result of populist and unsustainable economic policies forced on a constitutionally elected government responsible to Parliament by an extra-constitutional ‘National Advisory Council’. India’s economic performance, in terms of its per capita growth, is well below that of its BRICS partners, Brazil, Russia and China. One frequently hears remarks nowadays that the cause of BRICS would be better served if Indonesia, which manages its economy prudently, replaces the fiscally profligate India.
Economic mismanagement has led to curbs on even essential investments and expenditure on national defence. Plans to counter China’s military and logistical build-up on India’s borders by raising a new strike Corps for the Northeast have been put on hold; acquisitions like fighter aircraft postponed on one pretext on another, while the submarine fleet is becoming obsolescent. China, therefore, feels increasingly emboldened to challenge India’s control of its border areas. India looks on passively as China strengthens Pakistan’s military and nuclear capabilities, while increasing its presence in PoK. Moreover, Chinese companies based in Sri Lanka are preparing to fish close to Indian shores, Pushpa Kumar Dahal Prachanda visits Beijing proclaiming Nepal’s “equidistance” from India and China and Maldives arbitrarily abrogates a contract for the largest Indian project on its soil.
As Bangladesh prepares for elections in January 2014, the fundamentalist Hefajat-e-Islam (HeI) has attacked the homes, businesses and dozens of worship places of the Hindu and Buddhist minorities, demanded introduction of “blasphemy laws”, advocated curbs on the rights of women and called for “Islamic education” in Bangladesh. What is, however, more shocking is the tacit support HeI received reportedly from the state government, during demonstrations in Kolkata that denounced the secular Awami League government in Bangladesh, with the slogan “Islam is in Danger in Bangladesh”. India’s Northeast will become a hotbed of communal violence if an appropriate national response is not framed to developments in Bangladesh. Our relations with our South Asian neighbours need to be seriously reviewed.
[email protected] Parthasarathy is a former diplomat

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 02 Jul 2013 10:49

Broke, ailing, Amar Kant willing to sell Akademi Award, medals

True to the title of his novel Inhin Hathiyaron Se, which fetched him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2007, octogenarian Amar Kant is fighting against penury. And his only weapon is his pen.

The internationally acclaimed Hindi litterateur, who had also participated in India's freedom struggle, is ailing and penniless. He has already sold his original manuscripts at throwaway prices and may now be forced to sell his awards and mementos so that he can buy food and medicines.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 02 Jul 2013 16:29

18 hunger deaths recorded in Andhra Pradesh; Six in Hyderabad (Deccan Chronicle)

Why is this not getting as much play in the national media, I wonder.... merely because of its' Govt's political color?

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 02 Jul 2013 19:04

Interestingly, the word "pukka" becomes a loan-word from "Hindi and Urdu". But the root is actually "pakka" - pure sanskrit, literally meaning well-ripened-matured/well-digested. Hence it is used in several large dialects of the north and centre outside of Hindi and Urdu - and also in Bengali - which the Brits would encounter more widely than Hindi or Urdu in the expansion of their empire.

But that root cannot be noted - as usual - because it goes beyond the cultural aspects India should be associated with. Its a Mughal-sherwani past that the English must think - it borrowed from, not the Sanskrit-ik one.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 02 Jul 2013 19:06

Jhujar wrote:Indian prestige declines as its economy falters

Prestige should not be in our interests. jmt

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 03 Jul 2013 23:41

xxxpost
http://www.intomobile.com/2013/07/03/in ... ne-market/
India is now the world’s 3d largest smartphone market

During the first quarter of this year, India became the third largest smartphone market after China and United States. In the first three months, Indians bought more smartphones than users in Japan, who until that point held the third spot.Among the brands that dominate the local landscape are major companies like Samsung, Nokia and Apple, as well as a number of local players such as Micromax, Karbonn and Spice. These domestic players are especially interesting as they keep growing like it’s nobody’s business, experiencing 200-500 growth on an annual basis.According to Strategy Analytics‘ figures, some 10 million smartphones were shipped in India during Q1, almost tripling from 3.8 million a year earlier. And that’s just a start with India currently growing four times faster than the global average, 163 versus 39 percent. Yup, that’s faster than China, which is growing at still-impressive 86% per year.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 03 Jul 2013 23:46

The Moral Obligation of India's Media
By MANU JOSEPH ( RNI Psec , Man of No Morals Himself and EJ Brother)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/world ... .html?_r=0

NEW DELHI — The philosophical owner of India’s most profitable newspaper used to tell his senior editors that his publication was like a temple. The objective of a temple, he said, was to use the entertainment of rituals and the frivolity of festivals to lead people into the sanctum sanctorum, where more serious matter resided. The outer sections of his newspaper — the dramatic news, the sports pages and the colorful supplements about beautiful ladies and men in red pants — lured readers inside to serious news, and finally to the sacred editorial page. Most people do not make it so far, but the point is that some do.How can mainstream Indian journalism have the heart to be celebratory and frivolous, and not as grave, conscientious and despondent as, say, socialists? These questions form a portion of a new book on India, “An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions,” by two economists, Jean Drèze, an Indian citizen of Belgian origin, and Amartya Sen, who was awarded the Nobel in economic science in 1998.What these two eminent economists are saying, in reality, is that it is unfortunate that the Indian media does not exhibit a socialistic attitude. They wish that it would not celebrate the rise of the few when it could lament the miseries of the many. The book itself is an analysis of modern India from a socialist perspective. They quote, with unambiguous appreciation, a prominent journalist who dismisses foreign direct investment in India’s retail sector as a “trivial” issue.
In fact, the authors, early in the book, claim that India’s failures cannot be blamed on socialism because the nation was never a socialist republic, as is widely believed. But they do concede that “interpretations of socialism are, of course, many and various.” One of the interpretations, it appears, is that if socialism has gone awry somewhere, it is no longer socialism. It is not surprising, then, that a major reason for the authors’ disenchantment with the media is the existence of journalists who condemn India’s massive expenditures on eradicating poverty — which, historically, have achieved little.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Jul 2013 23:58

Amartya Sen should hardly cirticize the media when he himself thrived on publicising and celebrating India's poverty while at same time married into Rothschild family!!!!

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 04 Jul 2013 06:29

How India names its villages

GODS, GURUS, Rulers & RELATIVES
Lord Krishna

3,309

villages with one or the other of Krishna's various names. These include Madhopur, Gopalpur, Govindpur, Gopalnagaram, Shyamnagar. The name Gobardhan alone accounts for 81 other villages

Lord Ram

3,626

Rampur, Rampura, Ramnagar, Ramgarh, Rampuria, Raghunathpur are some examples of villages named after him. UP tops with 1,026 such villages, Assam has 57 and Andhra Pradesh 55

Radha

380

villages named after her, mostly in UP, MP, Orissa

Sita

75

villages derive their names from Sita or the alternative Janaki; mostly in UP

Emperor Akbar

234

He clocks the highest number of villages among those named after a Mughal emperor. His grandfather Babur has 62 villages named after him while father Humayun has 30; his grandson Shah Jahan has 51 while great-grandson Aurangzeb has 8, all in Bijnore district of UP

Kansa

42

villages named after Kansa, the cruel uncle who was killed by Lord Krishna

Dashrath

8

Ram's father has 8 villages named after him

Guru Nanak Dev

35

villages named after the Sikh guru, such as Nanakpur, Gurunanak Nagar, Nanak Ganj. All but four of these are outside Punjab

Lord Ganesh

446

The names of these villages include Ganesh Nagar, Ganeshpur, Ganeshpura, Ganeshganj

Counting the HIGHS

616 villages with names derived from Ganga, such as Gangapur, Ganganagar, Gangasar, Gangasandra. Many of them in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu

469 villages have names celebrating their "bravery" such as Bahadurpur, Bahadurnagar, Bahadurwaas

217 villages named after Haathi (elephant); 46 take after Chinti (ant)

206 villages bear Kanchan (or gold) in their name, while 413 villages have Hira (diamond), such as Hirapur, Hiranagar, Hirakund.

162 villages hail the lion, such as Sherpur, Sherganj, Shergudha

144 villages have a hill in their name, such as Parbat, Parvatpur, Parvatnagar, Paharpur

52 villages' names include Tala (lock); 9 have names with Kunji or Chabi (key)

27 villages named Kalapani (long, harsh jail term). Assam tops

25 villages celebrate wealth, such as Amirpur, Amirnagar

14 villages invoke Shani (the planet Saturn), such as Shanichara, Shaninagar, Shanighar

11 villages invoke progress, as Vikasnagar, Vikaspalli

8 villages named Pyasa (thirsty); 5 in MP and 3 in UP

Identity crisis

458 villages named Sultanpur, the home turf of Gandhi family

142 villages named Balia, as is the home district of former PM Chandrashekhar

92 villageS' names include Bangal, such as Bangalnagar, Bangalpura, Bangalimohalla, Bangalpara, Bangalipur. All outside West Bengal, these are in states such as Maharashtra, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh

47 Nagpurs in the country, and as many as 97 Malegaons

70 Kundas, one of them well-known because of Raja Bhaiya. The other 69 are in Rajasthan, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, etc

40 villages' names have Nepal, such as Nepalpura, Nepalganj, Nepalnagar

37 villages named Badalpur besides the UP village of Mayawati. Uttarakhand's Champawat district has a village named Mayawati

33 villages are named Kerala, all of them outside the state of Kerala

20 villages named Amethi, at least 10 in UP, outside the Gandhi bastion. One each in MP, Bihar, rest in Chhattisgarh

3 Lucknows outside the Uttar Pradesh capital. One each in Andaman and Nicobar, Uttarakhand and UP

Gandhi & 20th-Century NETAS

subhas chandra bose

27: Subhas Nagar, Subhas Gram, etc. Maharashtra has 11, Rajasthan 9, Bengal none

Jawaharlal Nehru

72: Names range from Nehru Nagar, Nehrugarh to Chacha Nehru Nagar, Jawahar Nagar

Mahatma Gandhi

117: The villages named after the Father of the Nation are spread all over the country

Indira Gandhi

36: Indira Gaon, Indira Gandhi Nagar, etc. Bengal, Karnataka, Maharashtra top list

Rajiv Gandhi

19: Villages named after the former prime minister, 10 of them in Rajasthan

Name game: 3,626 villages named after Ram, 3,309 after Krishna

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 04 Jul 2013 06:33

Views from the Right

Himalayan Credit

While the Congress and the BJP are engaged in a blamegame over the recent Uttarakhand disaster, the RSS has taken credit for the relief and rescue operations conducted by its volunteers. Both Sangh Parivar publications have cover stories on the Uttarakhand floods for the second consecutive week. They seem to want to establish some parity between their efforts and those of the armed forces. The Panchjanya cover story asserts that the "army and swayamsevaks (are the) lone support" for the stranded pilgrims because the "government has failed". The Organiser has a picture of army men trying to repair a footbridge on its cover. Its front page claims that "9,80,000 people have been served meals" by the RSS camps up till June 28 by 500 workers, who are engaged in relief operations. The cover story further claims that RSS volunteers reached Kedarnath before anyone else, and "prepared a helipad for army helicopters". Both weeklies have published several photographs of RSS volunteers, in their trademark khaki shorts, doing relief work in Uttarakhand. Both publications have also criticised the alleged "negligence and inefficiency" of the Congress-led regimes at the Centre and state.

Dystopian Society

The Panchjanya carried a two-page report on the recent revelations of the US's global surveillance and Edward Snowden's attempts to escape American law enforcement agencies. The report raises fears that no one is immune to being snooped on. The report also draws parallels between cyberpace and the dystopian society envisaged by George Orwell in 1984. The article reasons that when most large, internet companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook and Apple have been forced to cooperate with the PRISM programme, then the programme ceases to remain "confined to America alone" and becomes a project of global snooping. Highlighting how European countries have objected to the project, the article criticises the Indian government for the ambiguity in its position.

Ambitious plans

The Organiser carried a full-page article comparing Nitish Kumar to his Gujarat counterpart, Narendra Modi, in which it criticised Kumar's exit from the NDA ahead of Lok Sabha elections. The article alleges that Modi stood in the way of Kumar's prime ministerial ambitions as his "most formidable rival for the post", which resulted in the split. The article further argues that, with the BJP pushing ahead with Modi, the fall-back "weapon" for Kumar is a "front of the three large eastern states". "The final assumption is that Nitish Kumar and his new allies can then play on the fears of the Congress about a Narendra Modi-dominated ministry taking office, forcing the Nehru-Gandhi family to offer support", the article states. It rejects such calculations asking, "Does this sound like a government that can lead India, particularly so when there are grave strategic and economic problems on the horizon?"

Compiled by Ravish Tiwari

dinakar · Post by **dinakar** » 04 Jul 2013 10:48

Data of no. of different visas issued by all the Indian Embassies in abroad from July 2010 to April 2013. Some interesting observations can be seen in this..
Link
Snippets:
Large no of Employment visa - Japan
Large no of Business visa - UK
Large no of Diplomatic visa - China!! and Canada (Whether Canada is bcz of some conference???)
Large no of Tourist visa - UK and Russia

Arjun · Post by **Arjun** » 05 Jul 2013 10:38

X-posted from Modi vs Dynasty thread...

Morsi code and the Modi script

Strong signals that the Congress is likely to turn into a rogue organization and upend democracy in the country if it loses...

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 05 Jul 2013 23:47

India’s demographic time-bomb: the elderly

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/fce0e9dc ... z2YCJirVCU

As a young married couple in the 1960s, Hari and Usha Saxena, both of whom were doctors, lived in a traditional Indian family, sharing a New Delhi home with Mr Saxena’s parents. The young couple had extra help looking after their three children, and later ensured the seniors were well cared for as they aged.
“My parents lived with us until the last,” recalls Mr Saxena. “In typical Indian society, you take care of your parents.”Today, Mr and Mrs Saxena, now 82 and 79 respectively, live in very different circumstances. Their three adult children – and six grandchildren – all live abroad. So the elderly couple rely primarily on hired domestic help to meet their basic needs in an increasingly-chaotic and crowded city.“Delhi is hard for old people,” Mr Saxena says. “In the neighbourhood, everybody used to know everybody. Now there are neighbours here we don’t know and they never talk to us. Social isolation has increased. Transportation is a big problem.”The Saxenas are part of a little discussed demographic group now posing a new challenge for India: the elderly, whose numbers are rising fast at a time when the traditional extended family safety net is being eroded by rapid social economic transformation.“It is the unsung story – nobody talks about it,” says Kabir Chadha, a former McKinsey & Company consultant, who started a business last year to provide support services to the elderly. “This country isn’t built to take care of its seniors.”About 100m Indians are above the age of 60, the world’s second-largest senior population after China. That number will rise sharply to 170m in the next 13 years, when about 70m Indians – slightly more than the population of France – will be over 70 years old.Most of these retirees come from India’s middle-class or more affluent groups, where better long-term nutrition and healthcare has extended lifespans far beyond the current national average of 66 years.
Overall, India remains a young country. The elderly account for just 9 per cent of the population with their ranks expected to rise to about 14 per cent by 2025. But many urban Indians find it increasingly tough to care for their elders at home, as a result of rising migration, more women entering the workforce and soaring property prices.India’s government, and society, is only beginning to recognise the challenge. “We used to take great pride in our family system,” says Mathew Cherian, chief executive officer of HelpAge India, a national charity. “The joint family is under stress – almost non-existent in some places – but we have not put into place any other system for caring for the elderly.”
In 2007, New Delhi passed a law – derided by critics as “legislative love” – that made it a crime for adult Indians to fail to take care of their ageing parents. Many seniors do complain of neglect to special tribunals. But new care models are also emerging.Mr Chadha’s year-old company, Epoch Elder Care, provides companionship to the elderly living in their own homes – some with, and some without, family. The company’s 100 clients are visited from once to three times a week by care specialists.“Their biggest need is emotional and intellectual companionship,” Mr Chadha says of his clients. “They are lonely.”Traditionally, ideas of specialised senior housing – such as retirement homes or assisted living facilities – have evoked horror among elderly Indians, who equate them to abandonment. But increasingly they are also seen as practical solutions to difficult problems.“Elderly homes are a must,” says Kamla Nath, who struggles to care for her fragile, and often depressed, 79-year-old husband, and is considering moving him to a senior living facility. “I would like to go with him there.”
Property developers see growing demand. According to Jones Lang LaSalle – the real estate consultancy, India has about 30 privately run, non-charitable senior living projects, and another 30 in the pipeline.
Many are in India’s more affluent south, which has a higher percentage of old people, as a result of better healthcare and better family planning, though development of such models – and provision of appropriate services – are still in the nascent stages.India’s urban property prices mean many senior living facilities are built far from cities, which Mr Cherian says condemn the elderly residents to “isolated living”.HelpAge believes India’s government should provide discount price urban land for senior housing in cities, as well as starting universal pensions, and better health insurance, as it prepares to meet the growing challenge of caring for its elderly population. It is hoping such measures will be included in a new policy on ageing due to be unveiled soon.“We need to put in certain systems for this demographic shift that will take place, otherwise it’s going to be quite disastrous,” Mr Cherian says. “We need to start right now.”

krishna_krishna · Post by **krishna_krishna** » 06 Jul 2013 05:25

Guys don't know if this is a right post for this. Would request admins to add this to archives. It nails all the problems desh faces both internal and external :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU36jqdloxM

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 06 Jul 2013 06:22

Abhishek_sharma ji,
something is not right with the list : two things strike immediately :
(1) "sher" is not the onlee word used ins place names in India : any village with "singha/singh" also denotes lion connection, and they are a plenty.
(2) There are several place names with name Subhas in WB, and at least one village - as far as I know, in north Bengal (Dinajpur?) called Subhasgunj. There are also cases of "netaji" used.
(3) Kalapani : is a common motif in Bengal delta. The purer or older praakrit version often would use "krishna-sayar" ( dark-sea), "krishna-dighi"( from "dirhgika" - elongated/artificial lake) - and not always with "krishna" the avatar. It literally means dark-water - and often would be assigned to a avillage if there was a well-known deep water body nearby.
(4) krishna has many names - what about looking for "gopal" in village names?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 06 Jul 2013 06:29

Folks apropos Snowden affair recall Spinster used ro express discomfort visavis samkyavani being sponsored by CMU and Arunachalam.