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Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 14 Sep 2010 10:29
by Pulikeshi
Neshant wrote:India's lost Buddhist university to rise from ashes

"Nalanda was one of the highest intellectual achievements in the history of the world and we are committed to revive it," said Amartya Sen, the renowned economist and Nobel laureate who is championing the project.

"The university had 2,000 faculty members offering a number of subjects in the Buddhist tradition, in a similar way that Oxford offered in the Christian tradition," he said at a promotional event in New Delhi.
Sen should know better, especially since he once said this (WSJ - "Democracy isn't Western"):
When there is an accidental correlation between cultural prejudice and social observation (no matter how casual), a theory is born, and it may refuse to die even after the chance correlation has vanished without trace.
Yet he creates the theory (false) that Nalanda was a 'Buddhist' University.
Kumaragupta is credited as the founder by historical evidence and the school was open to all Dharmic thought processes.
It did eventually take a Buddhist tone... but snuffed out by followers of the religion of peace.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 04 Oct 2010 09:26
by Raghavendra
Ashamed be to governed by this cruel governor http://www.deccanherald.com/content/101 ... -wait.html
Bangalore, Oct 3, DHNS

The children with cerebral palsy waited for nearly two hours in the hot sun opposite the Raj Bhavan gate for Governor H R Bhardwaj to flag off their walkathon to mark the first ever 'Cerebral Palsy Day' on Sunday.

Though the Indian Academy of Cerebral Palsy had taken an appointment with the Governor three months ago, political developments through the day saw Congress leaders ‘hijack’ the Governor for a short duration, making parents, teachers and also children with cerebral palsy to wait outside Raj Bhavan.


Vidya, one of the teachers complained about the situation and said that though parents and teachers can wait in the hot Sun, the children were getting restless.

"We are not bothered about political situation in the State. Our children cannot wait for such a long time. We made sure they visited the toilets in the morning so that they stay till the walkathon gets over. But here we are, waiting for two hours even before we can start off the walkathon. This is totally unacceptable," she said.

The walkathon was later flagged by the Governor in which nearly 100 children including parents, doctors and various other organisation representatives participated. The walkathon ended at Rotary International premises on Lavelle Road where experts threw light on various aspects of cerebral palsy, its remedies and preventions.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 05 Oct 2010 10:39
by Raghavendra
communists always hate anybody who do good for the people

Subhash Mukhopadhyay - the unlucky doctor behind India's first Test-tube baby http://sify.com/news/Subhash-Mukhopadhy ... fedba.html?

New Delhi: As Test-tube baby pioneer Robert Edwards comes under focus for bagging the 2010 Nobel Prize for Medicine, the physician behind India's first Test-tube baby in 1978 was mired in a controversy and even hounded that led him to end his life.

The country's first successful in-vitro fertilization to produce "Durga" alias Kanupriya Agarwal--second test tube baby in the world--was performed by Dr Subhash Mukhopadhyay on October 3, 1978. The Calcutta-based doctor got belated recognition eight years later but it was tragically late.

The world's first test tube baby Louise Brown was born just three months earlier on July 25, 1978 in the UK when Edwards' efforts were crowned by success. Some four million Test-tube babies have been born worldwide since 1978.

Durga's birth was caught in ethical and moral controversies with the West Bengal government even denouncing Mukhopadhyay's claim that he had created history in India. The physician's achievements were not recognised at first.

Facing social ostracization, bureaucratic negligence, reprimand and insult from the Marxist government and refusal of the Government of India to allow him to attend international conferences, the physician committed suicide in his Calcutta residence on June 19, 1981. :x

The physician was subjected to repeated questioning by a committee formed by the West Bengal government. The committee said the doctor's work was bogus.


His feat has since been posthumously recognised. He has been given belated recognition as the Indian physician who in 1986 was "officially" regarded as being the first doctor to perform in-vitro fertilization in India.

Mukhopadhyaya's life and death has been the subject of countless newspaper reviews and inspired the Hindi movie 'Ek Doctor Ki Maut' (Death of a doctor), directed by Tapan Sinha.

Posted: 10 Oct 2010 00:21
by ArmenT

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 12 Oct 2010 09:40
by Raghavendra
Congress ka Haath, CIA ke Saath

Book claims Congress took US money http://www.indianexpress.com/news/book- ... e/695997/0

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 13 Oct 2010 05:24
by amdavadi
BJP won civic election in five cities in gujarat. Ahmedabad,surat,rajkot,bhavnagar,junagadh...

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 13 Oct 2010 10:03
by Raghavendra
^Great work is always rewarded, meanwhile congress party is busy grabbing people's land and building dream houses using looted money

Rains shatter Priyanka's cottage dream :mrgreen:
Shimla: The desire of Priyanka Vadra, daughter of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, to have her cottage here built in typical hill architecture remained unfulfilled as its "slate roof" design had to be replaced by corrugated iron sheet due to vagaries of weather.

http://sify.com/news/rains-shatter-priy ... o=obinsite

Comments from readers
Posted by NK on Oct 11,2010 03:56 AM
In 2007, the then Congress government in the state had allowed Priyanka Vadra to buy land in shimla from US-based Satish Kumar Sood and Satinder Sood for around Rs.4.7 million.Under Himachal Pradesh land laws, only the state's permanent residents can only buy land in the state,but then congress gov given approval in 2 days.

Posted by ppsahluwalia on Sep 14,2010 22:07 PM
We are told that a non-Himachali cannot buy any land or build property in the areas of Himachal Pradesh,how come Priyanka could acquire or build a home there whether it started leaking or not is besides the point? Do we have special laws for special persons? Is she really a Himachali,if so,how do people who are totally unconnected with HP are made Himachalies?

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 16 Oct 2010 06:06
by Gaurav_S
Ahmedabad among 19 fastest growing cities: Forbes
Ahmedabad/New York:

Bangalore, Chennai also in the list of global ‘emerging powerhouses’

Three Indian cities — Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai — have made it to the US magazine Forbes’ list of the world’s 19 fastest growing cities of the next decade.

According to a Gujarat government release, Forbes has termed the state as the “most market-oriented and business-friendly” among Indian states, particularly noting that Gujarat’s policies helped lure in the new Tata Nano plant from West Bengal to Sanand, 30 km from Ahmedabad.

The release also pointed out that the Forbes analysis quoted an Indian academic, Sudha Menon, as comparing Gujarat — which has developed infrastructure more quickly than its domestic rivals — with the success of Singapore and Malaysia.

The ‘Next Decade’s Fastest-Growing Cities’ list of 19 urban centres that are “emerging powerhouses” and are expected to play a significant role in the next decade was dominated by the two fast-growing Asian economies, India and China. The list excludes “established global centres”, urban centres, which were in the limelight for the last two decades, and “dysfunctional” megacities, which are also among the planet's most populous.

Interestingly, three Indian and four Chinese cities have found a place in the list. “India, although not by plan, also is experiencing a boom in once relatively obscure cities. Its rising urban centres include Bangalore (home of Infosys and Wipro), Ahmedabad (whose per capita incomes are twice that of the rest of India) and Chennai (which has created 100,000 jobs this year),” Forbes noted.

Many of India’s key industries are establishing themselves in these cities, it added. “The urban powerhouses of the next decade aren’t behemoths like New York or Mumbai, but smaller cities like Chongqing, China; and Santiago, Chile,” Forbes said.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 17 Oct 2010 08:13
by Airavat

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 17 Oct 2010 14:02
by Ameet
Close-Up: A little corner of Korea in India

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11525715

India's film industry, Bollywood, is the country's most dominant form of popular culture.

But there is one exception to this rule - the tiny state of Manipur in the north-east, where separatists have banned Bollywood movies.

As a result, Manipuri film fans have been looking a little further afield - to Korea. And it's not just Korean movies that have taken hold in the region - the country's influence has also filtered down into fashion and hairstyles, as Sanjoy Majumder discovers.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 24 Oct 2010 11:10
by Raghavendra

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 24 Oct 2010 15:07
by Rahul Mehta
Ameet wrote:Close-Up: A little corner of Korea in India

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11525715

India's film industry, Bollywood, is the country's most dominant form of popular culture.

But there is one exception to this rule - the tiny state of Manipur in the north-east, where separatists have banned Bollywood movies.

As a result, Manipuri film fans have been looking a little further afield - to Korea. And it's not just Korean movies that have taken hold in the region - the country's influence has also filtered down into fashion and hairstyles, as Sanjoy Majumder discovers.
There is one more reason why secessionists (who are funded and armed by Christianists) want to promote SoKo movies in Manipur - SoKo movies silently promote Christianity.

.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 25 Oct 2010 02:00
by Neshant
^^ I doubt it has a religious angle. More like a fad.

The young are looking for some kind of role model they can relate to i.e. people who look like them. Bollywood does not have such folks.

Culturally they are closest to burma & bangladesh. But those places are typical third world basket cases. So can't quite use that as a role model.

I would have thought they would relate more to chinese movies. But apparently they have gone even further afield to korea.

At least they have not gone to the lengths that pakis do to copy arab culture i.e. stooping to the level of trashing their own culture.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 27 Oct 2010 12:08
by Airavat
Assam-Arunachal tensions

Arunachal mega dam:
The row concerns the 2,000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro Electric Power Project in Arunachal Pradesh that began in 2003. Several environmental and pressure groups in Assam have demanded that its construction be scrapped, citing an adverse ecological impact on the state's downstream areas. The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), the firm executing the Rs.9,000-crore project, said it would be commissioned by 2012 despite strident protests in Assam with the work at an advanced stage.

The Arunachal Pradesh government has signed MoUs with several private firms for 10 major hydropower projects to generate an estimated 30,000 MW power in 10 years' time. The state, bordering Myanmar and the Tibet region, has the potential to generate an estimated 50,000 MW of hydropower.
Assam Tribune
The agitation demanding Permanent Residential Certificate (PRC) by nine non-tribal communities residing in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh since pre-independence period has had echoes in Tinsukia district also. The ethnic groups namely Deori, Mising, Kachari, Moran, Lichu, Ahom, Adivasi, Nepali and Kaibortas demanding PRC from the Arunachal Government have links with the people of Assam mainly in Tinsukia district.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 27 Oct 2010 19:50
by Raghavendra
Cong using agencies like IT, CBI to settle scores: BJP http://www.dailypioneer.com/292578/Cong ... s-BJP.html
Questioning the "timing and selective" nature of tax raids targeting some party MLAs in Karnataka, BJP today accused the Congress of misusing agencies such as the Income Tax department and CBI in "a brazen manner" to further its interests.

"Why is not the I-T department probing who paid for the expenses of the dissident MLAs during their travel and accommodation in Chennai, Kochi and Goa?" senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said.
Attacking Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj, Naidu alleged his agenda was to destabilise the BJP Government and he was "orchestrating" the dissidents' campaign against the BJP.

"When all efforts failed, the IT department raids were conducted against the BJP MLAs," he said.

He said the Congress had adopted "a 3D policy" of diverting attention from its failures, destabilising non-Congress governments and defaming adversaries.

He charged that ATS in Rajasthan was being misused to defame RSS (by naming outfit's leader Indresh Kumar in the Ajmer blast case) and to "embarrass the BJP."

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 28 Oct 2010 15:50
by Raghavendra
Cash scandal rocks Bihar before Sonia Gandhi's rally http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20101028/8 ... oni_1.html

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 04:26
by Airavat
Uttar Pradesh on the move

Farmers in India are wary of governments which talk of just tariffs on electricity. The only state which has successfully separated domestic and commercial feeder systems is Gujarat. And the other state going the same way could be Uttar Pradesh. “We have already ordered the separation of feeders in Western UP. And trust me, farmers have told us that as long as the supply of power is constant, they don’t mind paying for it,” says UPPCL chairman Sahgal.

“We have divided the state into two parts, Eastern and Western UP, and plan to privatise transmission lines, upto 765 KV lines, each for about Rs 4,000 crore. This is the first time in India that transmission is going to be privatised, and we have already issued Requests for Proposals,” says Sahgal.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 05:14
by vijayk
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home ... 800612.cms
Travelling across Bihar in the middle of a heated political campaign this week, psephologist and political analyst Yogendra Yadav says he didn't find a single person who felt that Bihar had not changed for the better in the last five years. "Development is a complicated word. It might not have reached each and every Bihari but the hope for a better future has reached all of them. That's not a small change," says Yadav, a fellow of Delhi's Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

Economist Shaibal Gupta agrees. "I do not expect an economic turnaround in five years in a state where the state (government) was absent for earlier 15 years," he says. Gupta adds that the most important change Bihar saw from 2005 was that its "fundamentals got corrected".

With Nitish Kumar as chief minister, Bihar is a different state from the time Lalu Prasad called the shots, first as head of government and later as husband of chief minister Rabri Devi. In the Lalu era, bureaucrats, ministers and even the chief minister managed to land in jail for their role in scams. But in the last five years, there has not been a single scandal in Bihar. In an earlier age, the corrupt bosses of the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) hardly ever worked at their day jobs; instead they cooled their heels in prison. Now, the BPSC routinely clears the recruitment backlog and it is not considered surprising anywhere. From 2005, thousands of doctors, policemen, engineers and teachers have been appointed. Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi acknowledges it was an uphill task.

"Initially, much of our time was spent in creation of workforce. After all, you need people even to use development funds".

It has been a challenge on economics as well. Bihar grew at an annual rate of 3.5% from 1999 to 2004. From 2004, its average growth rate rose to 11.35%. In 2004-05, the state's per capita income was Rs 8,307. By 2008-09, it had risen to Rs 13,959. Plan expenditure, which denotes development activities and assets creation, went up from an average Rs 4,689 crore every year till 2006-07 to an average of Rs 14,800 crore every year from 2007. "But it would be a fallacy to compare Bihar with developed states like, say, Gujarat," says Gupta.

Statistics apart, there has been some very real change on the ground. For housewife Mamata Sinha, Bihar has become a better place to live. So too for Confederation of Indian Industry's Bihar chairman Satyajit Singh. He says his home state has become a better place from which to operate. "The most important change is that I can now work at my industrial unit till late in the evening and my wife at home would not make anxious calls about my wellbeing. And after the day's work, I can take my family to watch a movie at night," Singh says. "For the first time, I fell in love with my state. Look at the roads; they are as good as the ones in the metros," gushes Rahul Ranjan, who belongs to Patna and studies engineering in Nagpur. It's a far cry from what Satyajit Singh recalls as the dismal days when Patna High Court described the law and order situation as "jungle raj".

For now, "jungle raj" seems to be history.

Consider this:

* There were 14,664 murders in Bihar between 2006 and August 2010, down from 22,040 in the five years from 2000

* There were 484 kidnappings for ransom between 2006 and 2010, down from 2,196 kidnappings from 2000 to 2005

* Roughly 53,600 criminals were convicted between January 2006 and September 2010; 9,280 were sentenced to life imprisonment and 132 sent to the gallows

* With fears of being kidnapped pretty much over, business has thrived and food chains such as Yo-China, Smokin Joe's and Domino's Pizza swept into the state. As have mobile service providers.

According to a CII survey, private investment of at least Rs 30,000 crore came to Bihar from 2006. This included Rs 750 crore invested in 12 major towns in the state, mostly to open new showrooms. The state's economic survey report shows high growth rates of 36%, 17% and 18% in the construction, communications and trade sectors respectively from 2004. The construction boom has benefitted the poor as well with daily wages rising from Rs 120 to Rs 200 for labourers and from Rs 150 to Rs 250 for masons in Patna.

Surgeon Narendra Prasad is all praise for the Nitish Kumar government. It has "performed wonderfully" he says. Not so Nawal Kishore Chaudhary, an economist at Patna University. "This government gave relief to richer sections only and at least 55% of the population still lives below the poverty line," he says.

But fellow economist Shaibal Gupta disagrees. "If you earlier scored 0 in math and now you get 30, that's also a growth even though it is merely a pass percentage," he says.

So, what does Bihar expect from the next government? Expectations are high and no one wants a return to the dark days of yesteryears. The Congress party's youthful icon, Rahul Gandhi, wants to raise the benchmark further. At every rally in the state he has asked Bihar's voters to compare their state with more developed ones such as Delhi, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Don't compare Nitish's Bihar to Lalu's, he begs them. "Even the poorest of African nations would look better in comparison to Bihar under Lalu regime," the Congress general secretary said at rallies on Thursday.

Perhaps. But even Nitish's Bihar is a great leap forward for a state that has long been known as the basket case of India. The people's verdict will be clear a month from today, November 24, the last day of polling and the day votes are counted.

Bihar is India’s second fastest growing state. It’s feverishly discussing development in the ongoing assembly elections. And yet this may not be enough to keep its people from leaving for anywhere that might offer a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 06:18
by Muppalla
Airavat wrote:Uttar Pradesh on the move

Farmers in India are wary of governments which talk of just tariffs on electricity. The only state which has successfully separated domestic and commercial feeder systems is Gujarat. And the other state going the same way could be Uttar Pradesh. “We have already ordered the separation of feeders in Western UP. And trust me, farmers have told us that as long as the supply of power is constant, they don’t mind paying for it,” says UPPCL chairman Sahgal.

“We have divided the state into two parts, Eastern and Western UP, and plan to privatise transmission lines, upto 765 KV lines, each for about Rs 4,000 crore. This is the first time in India that transmission is going to be privatised, and we have already issued Requests for Proposals,” says Sahgal.
I don't why transmission privatization is called as first in the country. I beleive it became private in AP and the company is called as TRANSCO. APSEB purchases electricity from TRANSCO. But TRANSCO is not completely private.

I hope to see UP does it with complete privatization.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 12:55
by arjunm
Report Card based on the State performances are just published by GOI and , truth be told, Congress run states are the worst performers. Embarrassed by it's report Congress spokes person Manish Tewari, my BP goes up when ever I saw this guy, rubbished their own Govt's report and said "All this is baseless. We consider it wrong and reject the report"..... :rotfl:

http://www.dailypioneer.com/292991/NDA- ... ap-it.html

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 15:24
by kvraghav
^^^
My MY,Outlook's most corrupt state in india(Karnataka) is ranked 2nd in this. :rotfl:

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 17:05
by Sachin
Deepavali gift to Karnataka Govt.
Karnataka High Court upholds Speaker's order‎
Yeddyurappa pulls through this time (like proverbial cat with nine lives).

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 20:30
by manju
Admins move to appropriate thread


Running government is a lucrative business

Former IT secretary has authored this. He has dropped his IAS work and got into IT venture now...

Government, a lucrative business VIVEK KULKARNI

____________ _________ _________ __

A government the size of Karnataka should yield Rs 3,000 crore a year, through kickbacks. The cost of purchasing legislators being about the same, the payback is swift and fabulous. No wonder, politicians are lethal businessmen.

____________ _________ _________ __


<http://www.thehindu businessline. com/2010/ 10/28/images/ 2010102851210802 .jpg>

The recent events in Karnataka showed how easy it is to take over or destabilise a government. MLAs are available for sale for Rs 25 crore each. They are ever willing to travel with you anywhere, as long it is a five-star resort. Have they visited their constituency lately?

Having seen the government as an IAS officer and worked on three State budgets quite closely, I have worked out how profitable the Government can be for any investor.

While the Tata-Corus deal was over Rs 36,000 crore, they could have acquired the Government of Karnataka for just Rs 2,825 crore by buying 113 MLAs. Another Rs 1,000 crore might have had to be doled out to mid-term dissidents and other contingency expenses. For such investment, the returns from bribes are fabulous. Even Warren Buffet cannot match it.

How do politicians make money? Most States usually spend substantial portion of their budgets on irrigation, power and roads. Table 1 summarises the budget for major departments in Karnataka. They release crores to the district and village level panchayats for schemes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Finally, the real goldmine is the slew of government positions that are almost auctioned in a transfer game.

Table 2 summarises the sitting ducks that can be targeted for transfer. How else can you explain the fact that the Chief Minister of Karnataka retains most of the transfer powers, instead of delegating them to the respective heads of department?

IRRIGATION AND POWER

Consider irrigation projects. On the one hand, politicians get all the accolades for rural development. They also get to collect 15-25 per cent on all capital works. Most contractors are happy to shell out speed money. Most of these projects usually do not attract any undue press coverage, like the Commonwealth Games did.

Roads are yet another treasure-chest. The smaller village roads can sometimes yield 90 per cent margins. Some village roads are not really built at all — rather, some red soil is spread around to close a few potholes, with the hope that the rains won't wash them away till inspection. If you really lay the road properly, the material cost goes up. Politicians are lucky that NGOs and self-styled activists at the Central level prescribe almost zero material costs and a higher proportion of labour.

Power sector subsidies often equal the State's fiscal deficits. The subsidies are actually meant for poor farmers, who seldom get electricity for more than six hours a day. But power theft by politicians' favourites is often included in the farm sector's T&D losses.

Next, the purchase of substandard transformers and replacing them is a money spinner. The vendors often co-operate to show false replacement. Transformer replacement in Karnataka is remarkably high. Most power purchase files often go up all the way to the Minister, even though the Department has several talented officers.

LAND DEALS

Politicians love land. The Bangalore Development Authority has notified land acquisitions for thousands of acres over the last two decades. It could have paid the market price and taken possession. However, it did not have the money and has abandoned all those projects.

The area is now well-developed and worth crores. The land-owners cannot sell it without de-notification.

When the government found that some were selling, they came out with the Karnataka Land Transfer Restriction Act, 1991, to declare such sales a criminal offence. No wonder that, for the last many years, while all the cities in the State have been with one minister, Bangalore always stays with the Chief Minister.

Construction permits and land registration are yet another big source of money. About 12 million sq ft of new concrete is built in Bangalore alone, every year. Karnataka has over 18 cities where real estate is booming.

While the stamp duty and registration charges could be 7.5 per cent, the bribes can be at least 1 per cent. The Government collects over Rs 3,500 crore in official revenues. This implies that bribes could be close to Rs 500 crore.

Politicians often use the local language excuse and stipulate the vernacular medium of instruction for all new schools. At the same time, they allow the managements to run English medium schools, which most parents demand. The threat of disqualification after inspections means endless money every year from private school managements.

The Gandhian philosophy on prohibition comes in handy to ban new bar licences. Those who want licences can only get it from the old licencees at a huge premium. Of course, they must share a bit with the Excise Department.

This technique is not unique to Karnataka. Many European countries, such as Greece, are better at it in other sectors.

TRANSFER GAMES

Transfer of officials is a big business. Some, like teachers, are a low-margin-high- volume game. Over a third of three lakh teachers can be transferred every year, but cannot fetch more than Rs 10,000 each. Just a few forest officials in the Bellary mining area can yield a crore. PWD engineers and commercial tax officials are all-time favourites and can also fetch sums in crores.

A lowly, yet very powerful official in the government, is the accounts superintendent, who writes government cheques and earns just Rs 15,000 a month, but whose transfer is usually worth a crore. Many of them manage recommendations from five to eight MLAs at the time of transfer.

Food for the poor is money for politicians. Even though the Planning Commission claims that just 30 per cent of the population is below the poverty line, many States show more than 100 per cent. More cards mean more ration money that can be swindled. Ration-shops are doled out to village level political functionaries. I am not sure if the UID program will make any dent in these practices.

The problem with our poverty schemes is not technology, nor the problem of identifying the poor, but the lack of political will to tackle corruption. The Right to Food programme will mean more money available for illegal distribution.

Conservative estimates show that, if all possibilities are implemented, a State government the size of Karnataka should yield Rs 3,000 crore per year. Compared to the investment, the payback is just above one year. Considering five-year cash flows, and one mid-term destabilisation costing Rs 1,000 crore, the IRR works out to 175 per cent. Politicians have become lethal businessmen.

(The author is a former IT Secretary, Government of Karnataka, and Founder Managing Director, Brickwork Ratings. blfeedback@thehindu .co.in)

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 11:23
by Airavat
Fight against illegal conversion campaign in J&K
A new organization under the name of Dharam Jagran Manch has come into being to fight for the common cause of the people. The office bearers of the organization while taking serious exception to kidnapping of the Ladakh cloudburst victims’ children by a self styled NGO demanded stern action against those people who are involved in religious conversions. They be booked under PSA, interrogated, their connections outside the state be also unearthed and their harbourers too be booked under law, they added.

They said that in March 2009 Jammu police had unearthed a racket of the religious conversion into Christianity of minors and at that time around six to seven persons including some girls involved in the racket were arrested. These youth and girls who were posing as tutors were working in a nexus with some outside agencies. Later these persons resurfaced in Jammu with a new look as volunteers and office bearers of a NGO Youth Movement for Peace and announced that the organization has adopted 30 Ladakh disaster children.

But after the activists of the Manch filed cases with police and District Juvenile Board it was found that the NGO was involved in illegal racket of conversions and its members were arrested by police and the children liberated.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 14:44
by chetak

But the same illegal activity is OK in the rest of the country??

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 30 Oct 2010 23:18
by Neshant
certain states have banned missionary activity.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 31 Oct 2010 02:38
by Airavat
chetak wrote:But the same illegal activity is OK in the rest of the country??
Kidnapping of children for conversion is legal???

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 06 Nov 2010 22:38
by Raghavendra
Gujarat recruits 10,000 teachers http://sify.com/news/Gujarat-recruits-1 ... aiacg.html
The Gujarat government Saturday issued appointment letters to about 10,000 vidhyasahayaks (assistant teachers) recruited through an online process.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad and other ministers in the various district headquarters handed over appointment letters to the teachers.

About 5,000 assistant teachers have been recruited for maths and science subjects and another 5,000 for English language.

It is for the first time that the education department carried out a centralized online recruitment process and completed the selection within a month.

Addressing the newly-recruited teachers through a satellite network, the chief minister appealed to them to be innovative in teaching.

'Lay stress on the spread of computer literacy and encourage sports, especially chess,' he said.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 11:34
by Murugan
Aadarsh Mukhya Mantri CM of Maharashtra Ashok Rao Chavan Resigns

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 09 Nov 2010 22:41
by ramana
Apaprently Kalmadi aka Calamity was also felicitated by the INC.

With Order of the Boot!

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 11:10
by Murugan
Prthviraj Chavan is new CM of Maharashtra.

He is, it is believed, an able administrator.

An engineer BITS Pilani. masters degree from the University of California. He is arch rival of sharad cricket kaka the ugly cricket minister of India.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 11:17
by shyam
Politics party astrologer has predicted 12 CMs to go and Maharashtra CM was one of them.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 21:06
by Vipul
http://www.domain-b.com/people/in_the_n ... van_2.html

Chavan has a BE (Hons.) from BITS, Pilani and also a MS from University of California, Berkeley. He has spent some time working in the field of aircraft instrumentation and designing audio recorders for anti-submarine warfare in the US before returning to India and entering Indian politics.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 10 Nov 2010 21:37
by RamaY
I truly hope Prithviraj Chauhan is 50% of what he is believed to be.

Having BITs or IITs or even a POTU MBA means nothing in a persons ability to be an able administrator and more importantly a promoter of Indian Interests.

We have many such RNIs in intellectual, policy making and leadership positions for more than 40-50 years and the proof is that they contributed more to India's failure (ares where India failed) than India's success (areas in which India succeeded).

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 10:08
by Raghavendra
Congress goons attack RSS office http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-82009.html

The clash broke out after the Congress supporters in Allahabad attacked the BJP office.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 10:01
by Raghavendra
Charges made against Sonia Gandhi
  • Sonia Gandhi had plotted assassinations of her husband Rajiv Gandhi and mother-in-law Indira Gandhi.

    Sonia had blocked an attempt to remove Satnam Singh as Indira Gandhi’s bodyguard who later fired at Indira Gandhi along with another guard Beant Singh.

    Sonia had “insisted” the dying prime minister be taken to AIIMS instead of the nearby Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

    Sonia is as an illegitimate child since her father was in jail at the time of her birth in 1944, but that she deliberately misrepresented her date of birth as 1946.

    Sonia is allegedly an CIA agent.
Election commission should order a probe into this matter, if sonia has lied about real father's name then it's an offence under People's Representation Act.

Supreme court should take suo motu notice of this and order an SIT to investigate the charges against sonia, Was she responsible in the deaths of two Indian prime ministers. Only beneficiary of the deaths of these 2 individuals is sonia gandhi.

Sonia also helped nalini, one of the accused in rajiv gandhi's murder. Nalini was designated as the backup suicide bomber in case dhanu, the first suicide bomber, failed to kill Rajiv. Inspite of knowing this sonia lobbied with president of india to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment and recently this life convict was caught with mobile phones in her jail cells, making calls all over the world, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 837746.cms

Why is sonia helping the murderer of rajiv gandhi? Is this part of keeping nalini happy with all luxuries in her jail cell part of the deal with nalini to keep her from revealing the real killers of rajiv which may expose sonia's hand in it.

More on nalini
The PAB, headed by the Vellore District Collector C Rajendran, was set up following the HC’s direction. The board heard Nalini and two other life convicts in the same case on January 20. In its report the PAB observed that “gravity” and “heinous” nature of the crime along with the fact that there is still no guilt or remorse in Nalini provides adequate ground to reject her plea.

“Nalini had harboured the prime accused and had been associated with the accused. She became part and parcel of the conspiracy hatched to assassinate former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in which 18 others also died. She had also been informed about the assassination plot well in advance… Even now she does not admit her guilt and she has no regrets for her act,” the PAB report said.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/245661/TN-r ... -plea.html

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 17:41
by Raghavendra
Good response, Congress goondagiri shouldnt be tolerated

Stop attacks on RSS offices or face wrath: BJP tells Cong http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20101113/14 ... -face.html

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 18:10
by Sachin
Raghavendra wrote:Nalini was designated as the backup suicide bomber in case dhanu, the first suicide bomber, failed to kill Rajiv.
Minor nit pick. The backup suicide bomber was not Nalini, but another Sri Lankan Tamil Subha. Nalini was based out of Chennai and had helped the LTTE team in logistics. She never receieved any sort of training from the LTTE. Even Radha Vinod Raju's book on the assasination and subsequent investigation does not mention any thing on Nalini being the backup bomber.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 13 Nov 2010 18:29
by Raghavendra
^ Thanks for correcting, The Hindu mentions Subha as the backup suicide bomber while Indian Express and sister sites name nalini as the one who was designated.

Re: States News and Discussions

Posted: 14 Nov 2010 05:40
by Hari Seldon
Swapan da writing about the Bihar polls in Pioneer makes some pointed observations that IMHO merit further dissemination.
On the one hand, there is the example of Bihar and, for that matter, Gujarat (at the other end of the economic spectrum) where growth rates have been built on a foundation of good governance. In these States, the premium has been put on the quality of political leadership, particularly the exacting standards of personal integrity set by the Chief Ministers, and the relative efficiency of the administration. In Bihar and Gujarat, Nitish and Narendra Modi didn't have to replace the existing bureaucracy with a parallel political cadre, as was done in West Bengal. If sufficiently motivated, the same set of babus can rise above indolence and sloth and do what is expected of them.

It is instructive to contrast the mood of optimism in Bihar and Gujarat with the gloom that is evident in Maharashtra, India's most economically advanced State. In Maharashtra, political venality and the inability of the state do its job has led to economic stagnation. With corruption creaming off a chunk of the surplus that in normal circumstances would have been productively invested, the State has fallen back on Centre-funded welfare measures such as the waiver of bank loans. The Congress, it would seem, has lost the capacity to earn its votes; it is dependent on buying votes with welfare sops — acts of misplaced charity calculated to kill initiative and entrepreneurship. What is particularly alarming is that this model of politics based on profligate spending (and, by implication, corruption) is being sought to be imposed on the whole country by a short-sighted Sonia Gandhi and her National Advisory Council.
Apt. Would've ended up highlighting the entire text up there. Worthwhile read, IMHO.

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