Indian Interests

member_23629 · Post by **member_23629** » 28 Mar 2013 23:20

Vivekananda's Ideas - Two revolutions in Western Thought
Author Rajiv Malhotra wrote an important article on Swami Vivekananda that has information which is not well known about his importance to western philosophy today. This is one of the few articles selected by the headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission in their official book commemorating Swami Vivekananda's 150th anniversary. That book was launched recently in Belur Math by the President of India. It is hoped you will read it and circulate it to others.

Click on the link to read Rajiv Malhotra's article. The way the Goras are plagiarizing Swami Vivekananda's ideas and packaging them as their own original thought is downright criminal. The entire race seems to have a dog in the manger attitude.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 31 Mar 2013 01:29

Message to Sonia: reform or perish
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/messa ... h/1094989/

for too long we have been made to believe that, within the UPA, the political decisions were made by Sonia and the economic decisions by Singh. This was the UPA's contribution to an "Indian" model of governance! Thankfully, and at long last, a major Congress leader, Digvijaya Singh, has exposed this myth. In a recent interview, he stated, "Personally, I feel this model hasn't worked very well. Because, I personally feel there should not be two power centres and I think whoever is the PM must have the authority to function." So we needn't indulge in shadowboxing any more — Sonia's own senior party officials (Digvijaya is also a mentor to Sonia's son, Rahul Gandhi) admit that all decisions, political and economic, have Sonia Gandhi's authoritative (authoritarian?) stamp,I have challenged, in every forum possible, whether in the last nine years of UPA rule there has been a single positive economic policy that the UPA has initiated. The answer is No; the "best" answer received is that UPA 1, and definitely not UPA 2, did no harm. It is logically not possible that the UPA's economic policies have any relationship to Manmohan Singh, the economist. If they do, then I am a Bharat Natyam dancer. So let's stop the charade — Sonia has been, and is, the boss on both economic and political policies of UPA 1 and 2.

AbhiJ · Post by **AbhiJ** » 31 Mar 2013 11:56

Jhujar wrote:for too long we have been made to believe that, within the UPA, the political decisions were made by Sonia and the economic decisions by Singh. This was the UPA's contribution to an "Indian" model of governance! Thankfully, and at long last, a major Congress leader, Digvijaya Singh, has exposed this myth. In a recent interview, he stated, "Personally, I feel this model hasn't worked very well. Because, I personally feel there should not be two power centres and I think whoever is the PM must have the authority to function." So we needn't indulge in shadowboxing any more — Sonia's own senior party officials (Digvijaya is also a mentor to Sonia's son, Rahul Gandhi) admit that all decisions, political and economic, have Sonia Gandhi's authoritative (authoritarian?) stamp,I have challenged, in every forum possible, whether in the last nine years of UPA rule there has been a single positive economic policy that the UPA has initiated. The answer is No; the "best" answer received is that UPA 1, and definitely not UPA 2, did no harm. It is logically not possible that the UPA's economic policies have any relationship to Manmohan Singh, the economist. If they do, then I am a Bharat Natyam dancer. So let's stop the charade — Sonia has been, and is, the boss on both economic and political policies of UPA 1 and 2.

X-Posting from Economic Thread

AbhiJ wrote:Inclusive Growth Impossible Without Manufacturing

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 01 Apr 2013 03:03

Nos Of Indians Killed In Bomb Blasts 1993 To 6-3-2013

Ever since the 1993 Mumbai Blasts Indians have got used to blasts at regular intervals. This article has compiled the number of Indians dead in blasts from 1993 to 6th March 2013. Numbers are based on media reports. It excludes those dead in the Khalistani/Kashmiri terrorist movements and Assam violence.

1,446 Indians died and 4,333 were injured during bomb blasts as per attached PDF file. To read PDF file click here

Sushupti · Post by **Sushupti** » 01 Apr 2013 07:41

What will happen to Indian agriculture? Kapil Sibal's wife runs an abattoir.

Beef exports up 44% in 4 years, India is top seller
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 314449.cms

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 01 Apr 2013 08:28

Sushupti wrote:What will happen to Indian agriculture? Kapil Sibal's wife runs an abattoir.

Beef exports up 44% in 4 years, India is top seller
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 314449.cms

All one need to check how many licences were granted for beef export and how many are/were actually utilized?

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 01 Apr 2013 20:36

While women travelling to India has fallen by 1/3rd after the Delhi gang rape case,say stats,here is some very,very,good news!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/ap ... cer-patent

Novartis cancer drug patent bid rejected by Indian court in landmark ruling
Healthcare activists welcome landmark ruling they say will give poor patients continued access to cheap medicines

Novartis cancer drug patent bid rejected by Indian court in landmark ruling

Healthcare activists welcome landmark ruling they say will give poor patients continued access to cheap medicines

Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 April 2013 10.07 BST

Brain scan for cancer
Cancer scans: India’s $26bn (£17bn) drug industry supplies much of the cheap medicine used in the developing world. Photograph: Ark Therapeutics / PA/PA

India's supreme court has rejected drugmaker Novartis AG's attempt to patent a new version of a cancer drug in a landmark decision that healthcare activists say ensures poor patients around the world will get continued access to cheap versions of lifesaving medicines.

Novartis had argued it needed a patent to protect its investment in the cancer drug Glivec, while activists said the company was trying to use loopholes to make more money out of a drug whose patent had expired.

The decision has global implications since India's $26bn (£17bn) generic drug industry supplies much of the cheap medicine used in the developing world.

The ruling sets a precedent that will prevent international pharmaceutical companies from obtaining fresh patents in India on updated versions of existing drugs, said Pratibha Singh, a lawyer for the Indian generic drug manufacturer Cipla, which makes a generic version of Glivec.

The court ruled that a patent could only be given to a new drug, she told reporters outside the court. "Patents will be given only for genuine inventions, and repetitive patents will not be given for minor tweaks to an existing drug," Singh said.

Novartis did not immediately return calls for comment.

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant has fought a legal battle in India since 2006 for a fresh patent for its leukaemia drug Gleevec, known in India and Europe as Glivec.

India's patent office had rejected the company's patent application because it was not a new medicine but an amended version of its earlier product. The patent authority cited a legal provision in India's 2005 patent law aimed at preventing companies from getting fresh patents for making only minor changes to existing medicines – a practice known as "evergreening".

Novartis appealed, arguing Glivec was a newer, more easily absorbed version of the drug that qualified for a fresh patent.

Anand Grover, a lawyer for the Cancer Patients Aid Association, which has taken the lead in the legal fight against Novartis, said the ruling on Monday prevented the watering down of India's patent laws.

"This is a very good day for cancer patients. It's the news we have been waiting for for seven long years," he said.

Aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders, have opposed Novartis's case, fearing that a victory for the Swiss drugmaker would limit access to important medicines for millions of poor people around the world.

Gleevec, used in treating chronic myeloid leukaemia and other cancers, costs about $2,600 (£1,700) a month. Its generic version was available in India for around $175 per month.

"The difference in price was huge. The generic version makes it affordable to so many more poor people, not just in India, but across the world," said YK Sapru, of the Mumbai-based cancer patients' association.

kumarn · Post by **kumarn** » 03 Apr 2013 11:26

varunkumar wrote:
RoyG wrote:RamaY,

I agree that the social sciences need a drastic overhaul but gems and crystals, numerology, and all that other hocus pocus bullsh*t isn't going to do anything for anyone. As long as it's a private endeavor then fine.
Homeopathy is similar bull crap but thousands of doctors around the world "treat" customers with it and there are fullf-fledged institutes to learn it.

Homeopathy works, or at the very least worked for me. It manages my hypertension quite well. Unlike, allopathic medicines for the same, it does not affect me if I miss a day or two of my homeopathic medications.

Yayavar · Post by **Yayavar** » 03 Apr 2013 11:42

It does work in some cases. Curiously Hahneman got to thinking about similbus similibus curantor based on aspects of Ayurveda acc. to a description I'd read many years back. Ayurveda had vaccination based on observation e.g. Edward jenner based it on the cow-pox swabs used to innoculate people in Bengal by Indian vaidyas. It is unlikely though that the germ theory was as advanced under Ayurveda. So it is all linked. Ancient methods(Indian, chinese, greek, other) which worked in many cases led to modern methods - allopathic/modern medicine as well as homeopathy. Ayurveda had an impact prob because it is well documented and practiced acc. to the written methods.

nawabs · Post by **nawabs** » 03 Apr 2013 21:32

Muslims in Indian Cities: Trajectories of Marginalization

Book launch of 'Muslims in Indian Cities. Trajectories of Marginalization' by by Prof. Christophe Jaffrelot and Dr. Laurent Gayer. Dr. Hamid M. Ansari, Vice President of India, will be the Chief Guest and he will deliver the keynote address.

Numbering more than 150 million, Muslims constitute the largest minority in India, yet they suffer the most politically and socioeconomically. Forced to contend with severe and persistent prejudice, India’s Muslims are often targets of violence and collective acts of murder.

While the quality of Muslim life may lag behind that of Hindus nationally, local and inclusive cultures have been resilient in the south and the east. Within India’s cities, however, the challenges Muslims face can be harder to read. In the Hindi belt and in the north, Muslims have known less peace(as if they were forced to experience that), especially in the riot-prone areas of Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Jaipur, and Aligarh, and in the capitals of former Muslim states—Delhi, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Lucknow. These cities are rife with Muslim ghettos and slums. However, self-segregation has also played a part in forming Muslim enclaves, such as in Delhi and Aligarh, where traditional elites and a new Muslim middle class have regrouped for physical and cultural protection.

Combining firsthand testimony with sound critical analysis, this volume follows urban Muslim life in eleven Indian cities, providing uncommon insight into a little-known but highly consequential subject.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Apr 2013 21:48

nawabs wrote:Muslims in Indian Cities: Trajectories of Marginalization

Book launch of 'Muslims in Indian Cities. Trajectories of Marginalization' by by Prof. Christophe Jaffrelot and Dr. Laurent Gayer. Dr. Hamid M. Ansari, Vice President of India, will be the Chief Guest and he will deliver the keynote address.

Numbering more than 150 million, Muslims constitute the largest minority in India, yet they suffer the most politically and socioeconomically. Forced to contend with severe and persistent prejudice, India’s Muslims are often targets of violence and collective acts of murder.

While the quality of Muslim life may lag behind that of Hindus nationally, local and inclusive cultures have been resilient in the south and the east. Within India’s cities, however, the challenges Muslims face can be harder to read. In the Hindi belt and in the north, Muslims have known less peace, especially in the riot-prone areas of Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Jaipur, and Aligarh, and in the capitals of former Muslim states—Delhi, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Lucknow. These cities are rife with Muslim ghettos and slums. However, self-segregation has also played a part in forming Muslim enclaves, such as in Delhi and Aligarh, where traditional elites and a new Muslim middle class have regrouped for physical and cultural protection.

Combining firsthand testimony with sound critical analysis, this volume follows urban Muslim life in eleven Indian cities, providing uncommon insight into a little-known but highly consequential subject.

Isn't Hamid Ansari, the Vice President of India addressing such a seminar the very antithesis of the book premise?

The two authors should study the marginalization of Muslims in Pakistan where they are being killed everyday for one pretext or the other by Paksitanis, Pakistani terrorists, Pakistani state and American drones remotely operated from US.

Aslo study the role of MIM type parties in the self-ghettoization of Muslims in Hyderabad.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 03 Apr 2013 21:59

I suggest all these Indian Muslims go take a hike.

150+ frikking million of them couldn't get a seat in OIC for themselves under Indian flag. It is blocked by Pakistan, which they claim to denounce. That means Indian Muslims have no say/rights in Ummah.

They are not recognized by people who they and other claims to be same==same people.

Instead they will be better of accepting the alternate offer, which is their true identity; Bharatiyas. Get rid of separate personal law and become/behave like rest of Bharatiyas.

Then there will be no Muslim ghettos and there will be no political alienation.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 04 Apr 2013 07:10

Views from the Right

EU Deal

While the BJP was busy with its organisational reshuffle, the Sangh Parivar discovered that India was all set to get a raw deal in the proposed Indo-EU free trade agreement (FTA). Consequently, the journal Organiser has decided to raise the pitch against the FTA in its latest issue, with over three pages of coverage claiming that the deal is "discriminatory, dangerous and of no real benefit to India," but that the prime minister is pushing a deal that "deeply hurts" the economy.

"The official negotiators are under pressure from the UPA top brass to mortgage national interest at the altar of EU's economic aggression," it asserts. Claiming that the proposed FTA has "dangerous consequences for farmers, goods and services, investment, drugs and survival of SMEs" in the country, the two articles on this issue state that "North-South FTAs do not make economic sense" because India will "have to significantly open its markets" for the EU, with only a "marginal" gain of "additional market access" from the EU. It reasons that "developed countries already have low tariffs in most products, so India can actually get access without an FTA... the possibility of a gain (to EU) just from tariff reduction (by India) is huge for the partner but very limited for India".

On the contrary, the article seeks to highlight that it is European "subsidies, non-tariff (such as standards) and process barriers" that block the Indian access to the EU market but "these are hardly addressed under the FTAs".

Law Elitists

Both Sangh parivar weeklies have frowned upon the clamour within a section of population favouring pardon for actor Sanjay Dutt after the Supreme Court convicted him for a case related to 1993 Bombay bomb blasts. Organiser's editorial asserts that "law elitists want terror as celebrity pastime" asking, "how else does one explain the support to

Sanjay Dutt, who has proven links with the underworld and anti-nationals"? It has also come down against the doubts cast over the arrest of suspected Kashmiri terrorist Liaqat Shah and the government bowing to the demands from the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister to order an NIA probe into the arrest.

It argues that "amnesty is a noble thought" that should be "approached with a lot of responsibility, commitment to justice and to the nation", but that "the reactions on Sanjay Dutt and Liaquat Shah betray none of these".

The editorial also contrasts Pragya Thakur's case with Dutt's to argue that "Sanjay Dutt was roaming free all these years, making commercial hit movies" but "Sadhvi has been wasting away in jail, her body bruised from police abuse, her mind numbed from mental torture", merely because "she sold a bike fifteen years ago, and did not bother to change the papers" and this bike was used in a blast. Similarly, it questions the motives behind investigations into Aseemanand and Lt Col Purohit.

Educational Telescope

A report in Panchjanya is critical of adopting a Western approach towards education in the country. It attacks English medium education in primary schools, with an editorial wondering whether "English is the sole repository of wisdom". It says that "forget about telescopes, Indian sages could tell the velocity of celestial movement by observing the movement through their naked eye when even spectacles were not discovered". It laments that "we have started orbiting around Western model" by ignoring our own model. A report from the C.D. Deshmukh Memorial Lecture in Organiser also criticises rising private participation in education.

Compiled by Ravish Tiwari

AbhiJ · Post by **AbhiJ** » 04 Apr 2013 19:06

RamaY wrote:Sanku maharaj,

While I do hate LTTE and do not condone Tamiz Elam calls, Sri Lanka is part of extended India (along with Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Tibet, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan).

Given the lessons we have learned w.r.t Burma, BD/Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet and Afghanistan the best approach for SL is to support Jafna state (separate from TN) as part of India.

SL can remain separate, if it wants to, or can become part of Union of India as one or two states.

We need to start thinking big and start exploiting the opportunities as they come in any shape or form.

Also the Gateway of Church will be Blocked.

ShauryaT · Post by **ShauryaT** » 04 Apr 2013 22:28

Rahul Gandhi takes questions from India Inc at CII meetNot bad for a dynasty prince. Shows, he understands the issues at least and has a brain up there. Let us see, what he does. INC that did not support the innocuous NCRWC, has a long way to go to restore their credibility. But, will applaud this one speech.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 04 Apr 2013 22:29

^

RamaY wrote:Key takeaway from Pappu's speech (at least for me)

1/ There are three planes of indian society - Poor, Middleclass and Industry/Rich. Rich manage the show, Middle-class pays the taxes but it is poor that votes. INC's strategy is to connect Rich with Poor and probably make them middle-class, so INC will have its own committed middle-class.

2/ Relations between Center, State and Local bodies (Panchayats) - INC as a central party is connecting to Panchayats with its policies and plans. This is the way to eliminate state noise. This is also the way to empower center.

3/ Industry's involvement - Probably asking industry to engage in education policy so the poor can be employed. Looks like this is the new JNU-lobby ploy. Now that people are brainwashed with fake-history and fake-identity; let us make them productive laborers working for the super rich.

This is the beehive.

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 04 Apr 2013 22:38

ShauryaT wrote:Rahul Gandhi takes questions from India Inc at CII meetNot bad for a dynasty prince. Shows, he understands the issues at least and has a brain up there. Let us see, what he does. INC that did not support the innocuous NCRWC, has a long way to go to restore their credibility. But, will applaud this one speech.

He actually didn't offer any solutions. Just the same old BS in different packaging. Flop show overall.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 04 Apr 2013 22:48

http://www.firstpost.com/business/the-r ... 85660.html

First, good insight and analysis are no substitute for action. As the scion of India’s most powerful political family and with his own government in place for nine years, why did these ideas never get implemented?

Second, talk about empowering the last man is fine, but the UPA’s actions were more about throwing freebies in the direction of the aam aadmi – in fact the UPA’s flagship schemes are the exact opposite of empowerment since they were shoved down the states’ throats.

Three, Rahul Gandhi, of course, wants power devolved even below the state level – to panchayats – but the question is has he deployed this model even in states ruled by the Congress?

Four, Rahul’s “beehive” analogy certainly is a new idea, but he did not address the central question of why the hive is busy stinging the Congress party for its failures on governance.

Five, the Gandhi scion talked of listening even to one’s worst enemy in order to find solutions, but why hasn’t he done anything to put this ideal into practice – by talking to the BJP and its leaders on how the Indian beehive can be made to buzz more musically.

R_Kumar wrote:Media is sold out as we know. 9 years of interrupted power, and he still talk about we have problem and we need to fix it. He should have been bombarded with questions that ask accountability of last 9 years.

ShauryaT · Post by **ShauryaT** » 04 Apr 2013 23:50

In more ways than one, RG and Modi were talking about the same issue, empowerment. The difference being one is proven the other is not. I understand that many here have a visceral hatred for the INC but if both major parties are on the same page on the issues and approaches, then the winner can only be India!

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 04 Apr 2013 23:54

ShauryaT wrote:In more ways than one, RG and Modi were talking about the same issue, empowerment. The difference being one is proven the other is not. I understand that many here have a visceral hatred for the INC but if both major parties are on the same page on the issues and approaches, then the winner can only be India!

One is rhetoric of a vision and then going back on it and doing populism, and the other is sticking to the vision.

Just because one says fantastic stuff does not mean one means it, all it means is that one has people who study trends and one has good speech writers. It may not mean more than that. Consistency and Implementation are the deciding factors.

Sanku · Post by **Sanku** » 04 Apr 2013 23:54

ShauryaT wrote:both major parties are on the same page on the issues and approaches, !

But they are not. Lip service once in a while when the actions are 180 deg opposed, is not the same thing as being on the same page.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 05 Apr 2013 00:00

ShauryaT wrote:In more ways than one, RG and Modi were talking about the same issue, empowerment. The difference being one is proven the other is not. I understand that many here have a visceral hatred for the INC but if both major parties are on the same page on the issues and approaches, then the winner can only be India!

That is not a correct understanding.

First of all, the issue is on everyone's face, we dont need a RG or NM to tell that. The question is how they plan to address/solve it.

Secondly not both parties are on the same page w.r.t issues and approaches. If that was the case we wouldn't have these issues now, after 10 years of INC rule.

Rahul Gandhi's party has been in power for past 9 years, and has ruled this nation 50+ years. Rahul Gandhi has been in an influential role for past 9 years. If he wanted, he could have become the PM of India at least 4 years ago if not in UPA1.

This search for == in everything is ~~idiotic~~ insanely irresponsible.

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 05 Apr 2013 01:26

RamaY wrote:This search for == in everything is ~~idiotic~~ insanely irresponsible.

It is all a question of light and resolution. Sitting in 7th Swarga, many things can look the same.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 05 Apr 2013 01:38

ShauryaT wrote:In more ways than one, RG and Modi were talking about the same issue, empowerment. The difference being one is proven the other is not. I understand that many here have a visceral hatred for the INC but if both major parties are on the same page on the issues and approaches, then the winner can only be India!

One party had 50 years to do it and the other is yet to be elected in majority

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 05 Apr 2013 03:52

ShauryaT wrote:In more ways than one, RG and Modi were talking about the same issue, empowerment. The difference being one is proven the other is not. I understand that many here have a visceral hatred for the INC but if both major parties are on the same page on the issues and approaches, then the winner can only be India!

There really isn't any visceral hatred for INC - the Gandhi's and it's secularists/leftists. Narasimha Rao was a great PM. It's hard to believe that anyone could think this prince can deliver. If Sonia can't, how can he?

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 05 Apr 2013 07:38

From the Urdu Press

The BJP's 'New' Face

On the constitution of the BJP's new team, Inquilab, in its editorial on April 2, writes: "By rewarding Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Varun Gandhi, the message sent by Rajnath Singh is... that even if someone has a 'bad reputation', was in jail or been accused (in a criminal case), he is welcome to high office in the BJP because electoral gains are dearer to the party than a good image. Now, it is also obvious that the party again wants to demonstrate its old Hindutva character." The paper's editor, Shakeel Shamsi, writes in his signed column the same day that "moving forward from its 'Hindutva' agenda, the BJP has now adopted 'Moditva' as its mask (mukhota) for the elections."

Sahafat writes in its editorial on the same day: "Six years ago, Rajnath Singh as the BJP president, had decided to keep Narendra Modi out of the party's parliamentary board. But, after the passage of time, conditions are such that he cannot ignore him. L.K. Advani has become isolated." The daily Hamara Samaj in its editorial (April 2) asks: "The question is whether Modi, who has succeeded in hijacking the party, will also succeed in adding crores of people in the county to his votebank. If this happens, it would definitely be a matter of shame for a democratic country like India."

A newly revived daily, Qaumi Salamati, edited by Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi, an accused in the bombing of an Israeli diplomat's car, writes: "Whatever effort is made by the BJP to project itself as clean, the country's new generation is not prepared to tolerate corrupt and tainted elements at any cost. Rajnath Singh's first test will come in the Karnataka Assembly elections, where his own party's rebels are determined to dislodge it from power, not to talk of the opposition parties."

Bombay blasts verdict

In a commentary on the Supreme Court's judgment in the 1993 bomb blasts in Bombay, Masoom Moradabadi, editor of Jadeed Khabar, writes: "Justice demanded that the same effort made to unveil the conspiracy of Bombay blasts and punish the guilty was made to find those guilty of the anti-Muslim riots in Bombay in 1992 and give them exemplary punishment."

The weekly Nai Duniya, edited by former SP leader Shahid Siddiqui asked: "Terrorism has no religion, then why a religion for hanging? One country, one court, one law, then why double standards for justice? After Ajmal and Afzal, the noose is ready for Yakub Memon." The paper writes: "No action has so far been taken on the riots... What is it, if not a mockery of justice that only one person, [Madhukar] Sarpotdar, was slapped with a year's sentence for the murder of 1,500 persons... and he got quick bail?"

Inquilab, in its editorial on March 23, writes: "If the ISI had hatched this conspiracy [of bomb blasts], what is the reason that there is still no strategy to deal with this universally hated organisation? Efforts should have been made by India to corner Pakistan under international law. This would have spared us Pakistan's mischief, like the terror attack of November 2008."

Adhikar Rally

Munsif, in its editorial on March 19, writes: "In the name of Bihar, he [Nitish Kumar] has assumed the leadership of other backward states too... This posturing prior to the Delhi Assembly elections is significant. He believes that if the people of Bihar are united, Delhi will be in his pocket. If Bihar is given special status, the alliance between Nitish Kumar and the BJP could break down. If this happens before the assembly elections in November, the Congress could gain... Apart from demonstrating the strength of Bihar to the Centre through his rally, he also seems to be positioning himself to meet possible challenges within Bihar."

Siasat, in an editorial on March 19, emphasises that Nitish Kumar at his rally said that the next person to sit on "Delhi's throne" would be one "with the ability to move ahead and take all sections with him." In so saying, "he has clearly targeted Narendra Modi." Rashtriya Sahara, in its editorial on March 19, agrees; "Nitish Kumar's stress on the Bihar model of development for the country was an attack on the Gujarat model espoused by Narendra Modi. He said the Bihar model provides for development of all sections."

Compiled by Seema Chishti.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 05 Apr 2013 10:31

Rahul ridiculed at the CII meet!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... peech.html

Rahul Gandhi mocked for 'beehive' speech
Rahul Gandhi, scion of India's ruling Congress dynasty, was ridiculed and mocked yesterday as a keynote speech was dismissed as 'rambling' and 'naïve' by business leaders he had set out to win over.

By Dean Nelson, New Delhi

4:57PM BST 04 Apr 2013

Mr Gandhi, who has been ear-marked as a future Congress party leader and Indian prime minister, sought to set out his vision for the country's future in a rare public speech to some of the country's most powerful business leaders at the Confederation of Indian Industry.

But his attempt to appear passionate, messianic and informal backfired as critics mocked his chummy addressing of business leaders as 'Boss,' a series of mixed metaphors, and his ponderous and bumbling delivery.

A speech that lasted well over an hour was overshadowed by a Twitter hashtag referring to him as 'Pappu', a local term for naïve, and quickly became the most popular trending discussion in India.

In a storyline resembling a TED talk, he said India was like a "beehive' buzzing with complexity and energy. The country's challenge was to harness this hive of energy with better infrastructure and education for all its 1.2 bullion people.

The country's leaders were "sitting on an unstoppable tide of human aspiration," and must "provide roads on which our dreams are paved", but not roads which "have potholes, they can't break down in six months," he said.

The "complexity" of India's problems, he said, alluding to corruption and slow bureaucracy, had in fact given its business leaders a competitive advantage over rivals in the United States and Europe who had emerged from a more "simple" environment.

"The beehive is a good analogy, you are masters of complexity, this buzzing sound you don't like, these newspaper stories which drive me nuts, this is your training, developing you to deal with complexity. This is what's going to give you the competitive advantage like nobody has ever had before. When you go out into the world and you have dealt with this complexity and you're dealing with competitors in the United States, France and Germany, you are people trained in complexity dealing with people trained in simplicity. I tell you who is going to win – you are going to win," he said to muted applause.

He dismissed continuous speculation over whether he will replace prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh as the Congress party's candidate to lead the country at the next election.

"The only relevant question in this country is how can we give our people voice. It is not important what Rahul Gandhi thinks, its important what a billion Indians think," he said

Critics alighted on his failure to offer specific solutions to some of the country's most daunting problems – such as inflation, public debt, lagging foreign investment, and a series of corruption scandals which have tainted his party.

"Rahul Gandhi said 'Boss' .. . visualise him talking to world leaders: 'Boss, hey dude, howz it hangin?'" said leading editor and commentator Madhu Trehan. Leading broadcaster Sagarika Ghose criticised his "fumble for written notes," while top newscaster Rajdeep Sardesai demanded to know: "Where are the solutions, Mr Gandhi?"

PS: And in a "beehive",who rules the hive,who is the "Queen Bee" ? No guesses for the right answer,it is......Queen Soniaji!!!

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 05 Apr 2013 10:42

ramana wrote:Muslims in Indian Cities: Trajectories of Marginalization

Isn't Hamid Ansari, the Vice President of India addressing such a seminar the very antithesis of the book premise?

.

He also has responsibilities to his political masters that minorities feel as of they in constant siege and hence vote en masse for a national party

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 05 Apr 2013 13:45

Pappu has actually done INC substantial harm by showing the hollowness in substance and apathy to civilized norms.

Pappu compared India to a beehive. Here is what the worker bees do:

What he is telling Indians are to work and work and make honey! Congress and its Chamchas who are the beehive-keepers, they would then come, harvest the honey and give Indians instead the sweet syrup of empty promises.

One should thank Rahul for his directness and honesty and about telling Indians what their role in the Congress's scheme of things is.

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 05 Apr 2013 15:03

>>In a storyline resembling a TED talk, he said India was like a "beehive' buzzing with complexity and energy.

An unfortunate use of simile, considering that immediately one thinks of a Queen Bee, and we all know who dat be... Perhaps it is a simile used at home...

Added later: Damn, guys have already picked up and on that and are running like Bolt with it!!!

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 05 Apr 2013 21:50

RajeshA wrote:Pappu has actually done INC substantial harm by showing the hollowness in substance and apathy to civilized norms.

Pappu compared India to a beehive. Here is what the worker bees do:

What he is telling Indians are to work and work and make honey! Congress and its Chamchas who are the beehive-keepers, they would then come, harvest the honey and give Indians instead the sweet syrup of empty promises.

One should thank Rahul for his directness and honesty and about telling Indians what their role in the Congress's scheme of things is.

Scams after scams testify to this truism.

Meanwhile Pappu vote kyon nahi karta??

He also referred to Night Club in Spain. What Pappu was doing there and with whom??

member_23629 · Post by **member_23629** » 06 Apr 2013 10:42

Boss, read the true history before speaking
By S Gurumurthy
06th April 2013 07:41 AM

Nine years after advent in public life, Rahul Gandhi addressed the Confederation of the Indian Industry [CII]. Media conferred on him the title ‘Boss’. The Boss told captains of industry: “They used to look at India and say, Boss, the Hindu rate of Growth. They have been saying like this for 3,000 years. Now the Hindu Rate of growth is like the European rate of growth’. This less serious comment calls for serious response. Otherwise illiteracy about India will continue to persist for lack of literacy among Indians who speak for India. But, it calls for a peep into the world and the Indian economic history which most Indian academics, particularly economists, seem to be least interested in and therefore less aware of.

The label ‘Hindu rate of growth’ was coined by Professor Rajkrishna, a socialist establishment economist, in 1978 to rationalise why India was growing ‘slowly’ despite following the socialist prescriptions. Raj Krishna’s label was original but its philosophy was borrowed. It all originated in the colonial discourse on India. A notable victim of colonial discourse on India was Karl Marx. Even before he brought out his magnum opus Das Kapital, Karl Marx wrote an article on the Indian economy [June 25, 1853] in New York Harold Tribune. In his article, he was generally positive about the distinct ‘Hindoo’ India’s village system of agriculture and manufacturing which, he said, gave to people their independent organisation and social life. But he said that that had made India changeless for two thousand years. So the British, he said, were doing the right thing, though painful, causing a social revolution by demolishing the village system which Marx described as ‘semi-barbarian and semi-civilised’. Why semi-barbarian and semi-civilised?

Not because the village economic model was wrong per se, but, because, Marx said, the Hindoos were worshipping cows and monkeys and were even claiming antiquity greater than Christianity’s! Karl Marx, who never came to India, never met any informed Indian, nor read any worthwhile Indian literature dismissed India as a semi-barbarian. His knowledge about India was limited colonial records on India. Then came Max Weber. He had theorised that only Protestant Christian societies could progress under modern capitalist model since Protestantism alone promoted individualism and enterprise. He was entitled to his comment because he had studied the rise of America and European protestant nations as compared to the Catholic countries which had stagnated. But he impertinently wrote in late 1920s that India and China, which followed Hindu-Buddhist faiths, would not succeed under capitalist model because they believed in karma, rebirth and caste. He too never went to India, perhaps never met a proper Indian, but still adversely commented on Hinduism and Buddhism. Studies have established that the Marx and Weber theories had exerted the greatest influence on Indian academic, sociological and economic thinking. In the same stream of thought, Winston Churchill called Indians anarchic and barbaric. After freedom J K Galbraith described India as a functioning anarchy. Professor Rajkrishna’s remark was the Indian affirmation of this thought stream that held Hinduism guilty for keeping semi-barbaric and under-developed. This is what the Boss also has recalled in his CII speech.

But this colonial theory was proved fake in 1983 -- exactly five years after Rajkrishna trashed Hinduism for India’s low growth. In that year Paul Bairoch, a Belgian economist, came out with his study of the world economy and his findings astounded the West. He said that in 1750 India’s share of world GDP was 24.5 per cent, China’s 33 per cent, but the combined share of Britain and the US was - believe it - just two per cent. Yes only two per cent!

India’s share, Bairoch found, fell to 20 per cent in 1800; to 18 per cent in 1830; and finally crashed to 1.7 per cent in 1900, while China’s crashed to 6.2 per cent from 33 per cent. In these 150 years, the combined share of Britain and the US rose to from 2 per cent to over 41 per cent. Bairoch shook the West by saying that in middle 19th century, the West had a lower standard of living than Asians - read Indians and Chinese. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], network of rich nations, forthwith constituted a Development Institute Studies under Angus Maddisson, a great economic historian, to conduct a comprehensive research into economic history - the implied agenda was to prove Bairoch wrong.

Angus Maddisson postulated, ‘if Bairoch is right, then much more of the backwardness of the third world presumably has to be explained by colonial exploitation’ and ‘much less of Europe’s advantage can be due to scientific precocity, centuries of slow accumulation, and organisational and financial superiority’. After two decades of hard work, Maddision published his studies titled ‘World Economic History - A Millennial Perspective in 2001’.

His study confirmed Bairoch’s study of 150 years and more, as Maddisson studied the entire 2000 years economic history. Maddisson showed that India was the leading economic power of the world from the 1st year of the first millennium till 1700 - with 32 per cent share of world’s GDP in the first 1000 years and 28 per cent to 24 per cent in the second millennium till 1700.

China was second to India except in 1600 when China temporarily overtook India. India again overtook China in 1700. The global economic play was in the hands of India and China till 1830. And two nations disqualified for development by Weber for following Hindu and Buddhist religions. Maddison confirmed, actually confessed, that [Hindu] India fell only due to colonial exploitation. Now the Maddisson study, endorsed by OECD, is the most authentic economic history of the world. What does it prove? The Hindu rate of growth had kept India going as the most powerful economy of the world for 1850 years out of 2000 years. That is why William Dalrymple described the rise of India ‘as the empire striking back’ -- meaning that India’s rise was not rags to riches story.

The Bairoch-Maddisson studies have sealed the discourse decades back. Their studies have also been corroborated by other studies and records. Some of them are: studies into the Mayuran export-led economic Model Hindu India [American Journal of Economics and Sociology April 1993]; study into consumption during Akbar’s regime as being higher than in Europe by Centre for West Asia Studies Jamia Milia Islamia University; the Economic History of Greco-Roman World which described how two thousand years ago India was bankrupting Roman Egypt of its gold reserves by its export surplus; the history of Indian merchant navy which had a fleet strength of 40,000 ships in Akbar’s time and as many as 34,000 ships before the British arrived and the Bank of International Settlements [BIS] Annual report of 1934-35 which said that between 1493 and 1930 India absorbed 14 per cent of world gold production - which meant that it earned that much export surplus for five centuries continuously.

QED: Hindu rate of growth had made India super power. Colonialism did India down to poverty. Nehruvian socialism made it stagnate even after freedom.

The slow growth of India was due to Nehruvian socialism. But thanks to Rajkrishna the label Hindu rate of growth was globalised by the World Bank President Robert McNamara in 1980s. He said that India would always be in need of aid and it would ever be a burden on the world.

Another person who carried on the tradition of Marx-Weber-Rajkrishna-McNamara to trivialise Hindu India was Montek Alhuwalia who endorsed Rajkrishna’s description of India even after the 21st century opened. The only exception in the present establishment is Shiv Shankar Menon, the National Security Adviser, who profoundly called India’s rise “re-rise”. Will the Boss begin learning the true history of Hindu rate of growth, not repeat the spurious history when he talks to the FICCI or elsewhere later?

S Gurumurthy is a well-known commentator on political and economic issues.

Email: [email protected]

Shalav · Post by **Shalav** » 06 Apr 2013 19:17

Rahul is Rajiv, and Rajiv was no Indira! I'm pretty sure that had IG been alive during the IPKF days, she would have molded policy and never have allowed the situation to get as bad as it did.

RG the pilot benefited from the sympathy and grief over IG. He then made India a 'banana' republic with his 'hame banana hai' speeches, but he never achieved much.

RG the 'pappu' seems even more dense than RG the pilot. Maybe the Nehru/Gandhi clan should take a break from politics. They've been at it for over 170 years since the Motilal days, and by themselves they haven't done much. There were always giants like MG, SP, BRA, RP, LLR doing the actual heavy lifting.

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 07 Apr 2013 04:41

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 08 Apr 2013 18:28

Lesson for Indians who think India should focus only on economy and Pakistan will behave once India becomes an economic power....

Surya wrote:I feel bad for the South Koreans

all the hard work of decades can be destroyed by the lunatics next door with arty and rockets

as for the US - it is nervous - by what I cannot pin point

is it the mobile missiles?/

the nukes??

or some failings in its ABM which it cannot depend on

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 08 Apr 2013 18:49

National Idiot Katju Uvacha

Source: Andhrajyothy news paper
1. 80% of Hindus and Muslims are religious fundamentalists and fanatics

Source: old news
2. 90% Indians are idiots.

Then he complains that
Markandey Katju lashes out at media for 'demonising' Muslims

HYDERABAD: As outspoken as ever, Press Council chairman MarkandeyKatju on Sunday rebuked the media for what he described as "demonising" Muslim community through "irresponsible" journalism.

Meanwhile...

Katjus 20-year-old judgment leaves SC red-faced

The HC Judgment, which was co-authored by Justice Markandey Katju, had gone to great lengths in justifying how high court Judges as constitutional post-holders were dignitaries, who could not be removed even by the appointing authority and that their official cars should not be stopped by traffic police.

The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Singhi had one sarcastic line to add: "A judge becomes hourable by his judgments and not by using red beacon at the top of his official car." The bench also drew attention of senior advocate Harish Salve and Rakesh Dwivedi, who appeared for UP, to the title of the 20-year-old High Court case "Red Light on the cars of the Honourable Judges vs. State of UP."

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 09 Apr 2013 12:53

Time to revisit the vienna convention

Unilateral changes by the West are increasingly affecting diplomats from the developing world

The Italian Ambassador’s matter before the Supreme Court is over but problems with the Vienna Convention will not go away. This is because the past three decades have witnessed an increasing effort on the part of western countries to unilaterally introduce changes in the application of the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations to the detriment of diplomats of developing countries. They say that this aggressive approach is in keeping with new standards of humanitarian and labour laws. However, its selective, self-serving and at times unscrupulous application belies these tall claims. These countries are also taking care to ensure that the functioning or personal situations of diplomats working in their embassies are not impaired while considerable difficulties are experienced by those of developing countries.

Some years ago the domestic help who had accompanied a senior Indian diplomat to his post in a Western country sued him for maltreatment in a local court. Along with the diplomat, the Indian government was also sued. The country concerned took the position that its courts had jurisdiction as it was a civil law matter.

As the case was going on, authentic documentary evidence emerged that established the involvement of the officials of the host country in a virtual conspiracy to instigate the domestic help to leave his employer. They had also created circumstances that had enabled him to take legal action. Under sustained pressure from South Block, the country cleared up the matter within its own system, including its courts, but requested the Indian authorities that the issue be kept confidential. That request was accepted for diplomats prefer to deal with all matters relating to privileges, immunities and protocol discreetly, outside the public gaze. They especially try to avoid entanglements with the courts. That is one reason why the Italian Ambassador’s affidavit to the Supreme Court was, per se, so extraordinary.
Safety net

The Convention codifies traditional immunities and privileges given to diplomats to enable predictable diplomatic interaction between states. Immunities are essential for diplomatic interaction. They also provide a safety net for intelligence officers posted under cover in Embassies. The identity of such officers is known or discovered by host countries. Whenever their activities cross the acceptable line, they are declared persona non grata and are publicly expelled. Reciprocal action is taken in such cases by the other country. Diplomats caught in unbecoming acts including criminal acts such as smuggling or bribing are withdrawn quietly at the demand of the host country or suo moto. Reciprocal action is seldom taken in such cases.

Till about four decades ago, a laissez-faire approach was taken in the working of Missions. Issues relating to commercial disputes of embassies or differences between embassies and local employees were almost always resolved quietly between the embassies and foreign ministries. They were not allowed to reach the courts. It was generally felt that local staff were outside the jurisdiction of the application of local labour laws even if their work contracts were more generous than the contracts between embassies and local staff. Western countries took the lead in asserting that their labour laws would cover employees recruited locally by embassies and disputes between them would, if necessary, have to go to the courts whose decisions would be executed. Bank accounts of some embassies have been frozen on orders of Italian courts or payments made from them in commercial or labour disputes.
Defining family

There was certainly no attempt at intervening with home based personnel including domestic help. Now this is being done regularly as in the Indian domestic help’s case. Court action is being allowed even though they are Indian nationals, are recruited in India and always travel on official passports.

Another emerging problematic area is the definition of family itself. The Convention prescribes that members of a diplomat’s household also enjoy immunity. It does not define household but it is accepted that household means family. The official definition of family differs from country to country. In the past, a relaxed attitude was taken and dependent children irrespective of their age or dependent parents were accepted as family and given the protection of the Convention. Now, western countries and some others are applying their official definition of family. Consequently many diplomats from developing countries with elderly single parents or dependent university going children face problems. On the other hand western countries are urging that live-in partners of their diplomats be accepted as family members under the Convention.

Inherent to the Vienna Convention is the practice of reciprocity. Reciprocity can be applied if a diplomatic privilege is restricted or denied by one country, even if it is applied uniformly to all diplomats stationed there. The problem lies in uneven situations where on account of their power and economic clout some countries can get a better deal for their diplomats.
There is no absolute freedom of movement for diplomats. Many countries require that diplomats seek the clearance of the Foreign Ministries before leaving the capital city. In any event, sensitive areas are out of bounds for them. The European Union mildly and indirectly protested against the Supreme Court’s decision that the Italian Ambassador should not leave the country till it heard the matter on April 2. In view of the sui generis circumstances of the case, this writer feels that it was not unwarranted.

The Vienna Convention is now 50 years old. In these decades, the world, including that of diplomacy, has changed in fundamental ways. A review of the Convention will be timely.

(Vivek Katju is a former Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan and Myanmar.)

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 09 Apr 2013 19:43

I think National Idiot Katju is a Indic bot gone Viral.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 09 Apr 2013 23:57

Offshore Finance Leak Exposes Millions Stashing Money, Maybe You Too?
Desh Loot Kar Abb Kanha Jayegga , Jahan Jayegga , leak Payeega
( Queen Bee make another Trip?)

$20 trillion? A leak of epic proportions is exposing many to taxes, embarrassment, even prosecution. Millions of internal records have leaked from Britain’s offshore financial industry. Holders of once-anonymous wealth from around the world are in the open.Millions of emails and other documents are in the wind and coming to your local TV shows, tabloids and tax collectors. That means public figures, investors, families, Brits, Yanks, and more. It’s a who’s who from the sedate offshore haven of the British Virgin Islands (BVI). See Leaks reveal secrets of the rich who hide cash offshore.While it will be weeks before investigators root through all the documents and details, many names will stick out. French politicians, wealthy Chinese, Mongolians, Indians, Pakistanis and Russians. Americans? Clearly, and many Canadians and Britons too.You might put money overseas to deal with local family needs, keep it discreet from your spouse, ex-spouse, kids, business partner, or creditors. Taxes too. You might have added to an account a parent started or that was leftover from a business or estate deal or a foreign trip. You might do it for a rainy day.But regardless of the reason or location or backstory, global transparency is coming if it isn’t already upon us. And with the intersection of technology, tweets, WikiLeaks, and all the other sources that have roiled our world, it isn’t just telling Uncle Sam or other governments about your foreign assets and income. Soon the whole world will know.There is nothing illegal about setting up companies in BVI or other offshore havens. But not disclosing it and paying tax can be another matter. The BVI has long been a safe bet with more than a million such offshore entities. It is orderly, fast, and inexpensive. Of course, owners’ identities remain secret. Until now.The names were unearthed in a project by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, in collaboration with the U.K.’s Guardian and other international media. They are jointly publishing their research results this week.Expect more revelations. Remember the firestorm in 2010 when WikiLeaks got two gigabytes of leaked U.S. military and diplomatic files? That was tiny. This BVI leak is over 200 gigabytes covering more than a decade of financial information. It’s not just BVI but Singapore, Hong Kong and the Cook Islands, too..

nawabs · Post by **nawabs** » 10 Apr 2013 06:21

Indian security forces killing Indians: SC

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 468643.cms

Reflecting the grievances of people in Jammu and Kashmir and north-eastern states, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said prolonged deployment of armed forces in disturbed areas was bound to result in extra-judicial killings.

Dealing with the issues raised by public interest litigations alleging 1,528 extra-judicial killings in Manipur in the last three decades, a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana P Desai said, "Manipur's woes must be recognized. It has gone on for 10-15 years. If security forces are kept in a state for 10-15 years, these things are bound to happen. No one can prevent it."

It praised the painstaking efforts of the Justice Santosh Hegde committee to inquire and conclude that the six incidents of encounter referred to it were fake which resulted in the cold-blooded killing of seven persons including a 12-year-old boy.

The bench said it could never express the depth of sorrow felt by it on reading the findings of the inquiry report. "We cannot tell you how shameful the case is. Indians were being killed by Indian security forces. What is the use of our sitting here (in the Supreme Court) if people are killed like this," the bench said.

"Those deaths (fake encounter killings) reflect utter callousness and no respect for human rights and no respect for the right to life," the bench said but did not forget to mention the constraints and difficult situation into which the armed forces personnel were thrown in.

"But we must also see the picture from the side of the security forces who are away from their families for long periods. These are young soldiers. The constant violence has a brutalizing effect on them. If you keep Army in a place for 10-15 years, these things are bound to happen. The security force personnel do not lead a normal life being stationed in the midst of constant violence," the bench said but clarified that even a single fake encounter killing was unacceptable.

Additional solicitor general Paras Kuhad made an impassioned presentation saying Justice Hegde committee's report was being considered at the highest level in Army headquarters, ministry of home affairs, ministry of defence and the Union government and the authorities were one with the court that even a single fake encounter was unacceptable.

When the bench made it clear that it would brook no objection to the Hegde panel report, Kuhad said, "The response of the Union government and the Army will be restrained yet calibrated. We will have to show the constraints faced by the Army in difficult situations and terrain in which they operate. The Cabinet Committee on Security has to deliberate on it and formulate a final response." The court accepted his request for four weeks time to file the response.

The bench said, "Most important part of the adjudication process in the court would be how to implement the guidelines and the dos and don'ts for the security forces to prevent fake encounter in future. But it is no less important to bring to book those guilty in the six fake encounters in 2009-10 in which seven were killed."

Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves said there were 32 cases of fake encounter - six found by the Hegde panel, 17 found by magisterial inquiries and nine found by commissions of inquiry instituted by the state government. "Manorama killing too was a blatant fake encounter," he said and demanded a special investigation team to probe and fix responsibility for the 33 killings.

Kuhad agreed that there were transgressions by the armed forces in some cases but said hundreds of security force personnel too were killed in the operations. The bench asked him to provide details of militants killed in operations, casualty suffered by forces, death of civilians along with the response of the Union government.

Manipur government through senior advocate V Giri submitted that it was ready to furnish all information including the nine cases of commission of inquiry, reports of which have not seen the light of day till now.