Indian Advocates of Foreign Interests Monitor

[RajeshA]

I thought it was high time we had a dedicated thread for following the activities, behavior and statements of Indians who are in critical positions of influence in India, including in

1. Government of India
2. Political Parties
3. Bureaucracy
4. Think Tank Scholars
5. Media
6. Business & Industrialists
7. Prominent personalities from Culture, Sports, Economics, Education

and have or still do advocate the interests of foreign countries over and above India's own national interests.

Whereas the issues may be discussed at length in other threads, e.g. "Indian Interests", this thread focuses on the various personalities themselves.

Some requests on dos and donts:

• The purpose is not to go on a political vendetta against some individual which goes over and above their advocacy of foreign interests over Indian interests.
• The working assumption is that the individual or some faction to which he/she belongs has been compromised by foreign interests, and not the whole party, organization, company of which he/she may be a member, unless of course the whole organization leaves little doubt about its intentions.
• Let's desist from disfiguring the names of the individuals, as that distracts from the message and the dignity of the messenger.

The benefits of such a thread would be:

• Indian citizens can on the basis of knowledge here choose to not vote for, boycott the work and products of the individual or group.
• Competitors and Rivals can use the knowledge here to mount an effective critique or attack on the individual or group.
• A better structured knowledge base and analysis of individuals here, can tempt their rivals and competitors, who may likewise be in positions of influence in India, to visit BRF, thus becoming more informed of issues of national importance.

It is as such not unsavory to favor a certain foreign country, it is however a different thing altogether if this goes beyond a certain admiration for the other country and turns into advocating the interests of these foreign countries and putting them over and above the national interests of India. So we should keep the activities, behavior and statements of all Indians who favor interests of USA, China, Pakistan, Russia, UK, Israel or any other foreign interest.

All is welcome here - official statements, press releases, interviews, news reports on the individuals, analysis, rumors, speculation

I thank all for their contributions to the thread and effort.

Should the moderators feel, this thread should not be there, please delete it.

[Jarita]

Maybe GD

[RajeshA]

Maybe GD

The reason why I chose this board is because it deals with India's International Relations.

[RajeshA]

Keywords: China, Jairam Ramesh, Huawei

Jairam Ramesh: Jairam Ramesh (Kannada: ಜಯರಾಮ್ ರಮೇಶ್; Telugu: జయరామ్ రమేష్) has been an elected member of the Indian Parliament representing Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha since June 2004. He has been the Indian Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests since May, 2009. He is also a member of the National Advisory Council. From January 2006 to February, 2009, he was the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and from April 2008 to February, 2009 was also the Minister of State for Power in the Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Published on May 8, 2010
By KJM Varma
'We Are Still Suspicious of Chinese Investment in India'

India should be 'much more relaxed' in its approach to Chinese investments into the country and get rid of 'needless' restrictions, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said, adding 'we are imagining demons where there are none.'

Ramesh's comments came today in the context of recent reports that India had barred import of telecom equipment from major Chinese firm Huawei, especially in the border areas following security concerns.

Suggesting that India should be more open and receptive to investments and technology from the neighbouring country, Ramesh said the spirit of cooperation evolved at the Copenhagen Climate summit between the prime ministers of the two Asian giants should be taken forward.

Ramesh said the "overly defensive and alarmist" approach in the security establishments in India which are raising telephone tapping concerns will not help in sustaining the Copenhagen spirit.

"Even in the power sector there have been controversies about Chinese participation. So unless we become much more relaxed in our approach to Chinese investments in India, I am afraid the Copenhagen spirit may not last long," he said talking to Indian correspondents.

"Huawei is creating assets in India, hiring Indian professionals. Over 80 per cent of its employees are Indians. Assets are being created in India," Ramesh said.

He said "Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) is totally gung ho about it. It is a joint venture between Singh and (Chinese Prime Minister) Wen Jiabao. National Security Advisor (NSA) and Ministry of External Affairs, (MEA) are fully backing this. People who have the questions are Home Ministry and the security establishments".

Ramesh further said, "China is implementing projects worth over USD 30 billion but unfortunately the controversy over Huawei has overshadowed the whole issue of Chinese investments."

Asked about the stand by the Defence Ministry, he said they are also quite suspicious. "India should get rid of the needless restrictions on Chinese investments. We are imagining demons where there are none and the Copenhagen spirit will disappear itself."

To a question on China's strategic relationship with Pakistan specially in the aftermath of Beijing decision to build two more nuclear reactors there, he said in Chinese establishment there are people who "want to kick us around" but China wants to carry on with the engagement.

Referring to the benefits of the engagement, he said China recently gave details of Zangmu hydro power project being built on the Brhmaputra river.

China kept repeating earlier that they were not obliged to give details but gave it during the Foreign Minister level meeting recently, he said.

Arguing his case for opening India to China's technology and investment he said India is asking Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to be open for Indian investment to enable them to reduce trade deficit.

"We have a huge trade deficit with China. But we are still suspicious of Chinese investment in India," he said.

[AdityaM]

How is this different from Psyops + Media watch ?

[RajeshA]

How is this different from Psyops + Media watch ?

In the first post, I introduced a color code, though did not explain it. 'Media' is in red, which means that perhaps monitoring of media can take place in a different thread.

Those which are in green, should be taken up here. Those in yellow, can be mentioned here as well, even though it is not the focus here.

[Arjun]

Jairam Ramesh was of course, also central, in scuttling both Vedanta's mining plans in Orissa and the Navi Mumbai airport which is critical for the regeneration of Mumbai as a commercial center. But then as environment minister, his actions are bound to be at loggerheads with industry - so we whould watch his actions for a while before judging.

His connection with China seems to reach back very far...he claims credit for coining the phrase 'Chindia' !! He has also written a book on this topic. Is this lifafa or conviction? We should continue to monitor on this thread.

[Arjun]

Picking up post from Red Menace thread...

Maoists want peace, claims Swami Agnivesh

Is Swami Agnivesh appropriate for discussion here? Chances are high he is working for some external agenda.

[Aditya_V]

Up

[Lilo]

Asinine Roy's interview on Kashmir to BBC Urdu.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/multimedia/20 ... udio.shtml
I think we should expect a Nobel award for her from her masters some time soon as was done in China's case.