Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Scientists announce new concept of reactor

jan 30th

i wish this were totally true. if it were, india could say "up yours" to the nuclear suppliers' group and to mulford the american ambassador.

india's future cannot depend on uranium-powered reactors. that would be suicidal, as others have all the uranium in the world.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: siva
Date: Jan 30, 2006 12:22 AM
Subject: Scientists announce new concept of reactor
To: Rajeev Srinivasan < rajeev.srinivasan@gmail.com>

In one of your articles you have argued that India would be better off with thorium reactors. So I thought this news item would encourage you.
 
Scientists announce new concept of reactor

- NDTV Correspondent

Sunday, January 29, 2006 (New Delhi):

Indian atomic scientists have announced a new concept of reactor that does not rely on natural or enriched uranium.

The new reactor can run on thorium, that India has in plenty, and a small amount of "seed" plutonium, which India can recover from its spent fuel that has been accumulating over the years.

Called "A Thorium Breeder Reactor" (ATBR), it has been evolved by scientists of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai and has already attracted international attention.

"The ATBR combines the merits of existing heavy water and light water reactor technologies and is tailor-made for large scale utilisation of thorium," BARC Physicists V Jagannathan and Uma Pal announced in a paper published in the journal Current Science.

Incessant energy

One of the unique features of the ATBR concept is loading of thorium oxide fuel rods in specially designed "flux trap" or fissile breeding zones, according to the journal which featured the new reactor concept on the cover page.

With an initial charge of about 2.2 tonnes of reactor grade plutonium, the predominantly thorium loaded core of ATBR "is capable of delivering incessant energy of 600 MW for two years with no refuelling and with no significant mechanical control manoeuvres," the Physicists reported.

"The (plutonium) fissile seed remains conserved for a long duration of six years (three fuel cycles) due to its location in the fuel cluster."

Fuel cycle duration

Scientists said they have been able to prolong the nuclear energy extraction process by designing in such a way that the number of fissile atoms consumed are replenished with new fissile atoms in the same reactor and within the same fuel cycle duration.

"This would require a delicate balance of the fissile depletion and production rates at all times," they said.

This does not happen in the present-day power reactors because fissile depletion is normally at a much higher rate than the rate of production of new ones. (PTI)

money shanker iyer's exit?

jan 30th

i didn't read the news carefully, but what is the scoop behind the fact that money shanker iyer has been shunted aside from his perch in the energy ministry?

my conjecture is that even this marxist/pakistani-lover has not been able to push the iran-pakistan-india pipeline through. so they'll now bring in somebody who will be even more keen on putting this suicidal project together (can you say "pakistan has us by the short-and-curlies"?).

i wonder if the saudi king's visit included some new largesse for congress ministers who do things for global mohammedan interests.

Globalisation & Davos

jan 30th

white guys are having second thoughts about globalization when it turned out *not* to be colonialism by other means. they were expecting to rape and pillage under WTO, but the disruptive technology of the internet has really surprised them! amazing, what a simple technology can do.

this is sort of what happened with the european invention of the steam engine and big naval guns: that suddenly enabled them to go on the colonization spree.

the internet has created an inflection point which india can take advantage of.

in the long run, the us is very vulnerable.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rajan
Date: Jan 31, 2006 11:13 AM
Subject: Globalisation & Davos
To: Rajeev Srinivasan <rajeev.srinivasan@gmail.com>


http://www.morganstanley.com/GEFdata/digests/20060127-fri.html#anchor0



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
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obsession with mittal's skin color

jan 30th

reading between the lines, white guys are really not very happy to see an indian buy up their companies. the fact that mittal steel is a european company does not mollify them.

amazing, despite all their preaching to india, how they do not see that money has no color. mittal has become the world's 3rd richest man despite the fact that he is brown, not because of it!

if i were a betting man, i'd short arcelor right now. because the bid will not go through, and arcelor stock will take a big hit. actually that may be mittal's Plan B -- hurt his biggest competitor.

when white guys put money into other countries, it's 'FDI', a wonderful thing. if non-whites put money into white countries, it's 'colonialism'. the white guys must have learned their semantics from the indian marxists whose best is 'secular intervention', such a gem!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Jan 31, 2006 6:49 AM
Subject: I thought you would be interested to read this article from The Times
To: rajeev.srinivasan@gmail.com

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-2017133,00.html

Steel wheels

Indian entrepreneurship has much to offer the West

yasukuni enoki: japanese ambassador to india

jan 30th

i just noticed the name of the japanese ambassador to india: yasukuni enoki

the yasukuni shrine, which is a shinto memorial to japanese war heroes, is a big irritant to the chinese. the japanese should send this man as ambassador to china just to irriatate them. they will have to keep saying the name yasukuni :-)

More on China versus India with US hovering in the backgound

jan 30th

india-china hyphenation is the big story now.

as i said before, pervez "piss-process" musharraf and wen "indians are useful idiots" jiabao are not at all happy about this.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ram Narayanan <ram@usindiafriendship.us>
Date: Jan 30, 2006 11:37 PM
Subject: More on China versus India with US hovering in the backgound
To: rajeev.srinivasan@gmail.com

Dear Rajeev Srinivasan:

An expert on China who does strategic analyses of Chinese writing in Chinese language avers that China's central focus is the US. India finds only a marginal mention in passing, that too not in mainstream analyses. China's aim is to become the world's NUMBER ONE economic power. If getting the best out of the India relationship will help China, it will go for it. But on the border disputes with India, China has not diluted its stand to any significant extent.

A plethora of assessments of India versus China have been appearing in the international media in the last few days in the wake of last week's Davos World Economic Forum annual meeting in Switzerland.

First, Professor Yasheng Huang of MIT Sloan School of Management, who himself is of Chinese origin and writes on China, in an article titled, "China could learn from India's slow and quiet rise" in the FINANCIAL TIMES of January 23, 2006 ( https://registration.ft.com/registration/barrier?referer=&location=http%3A//news.ft.com/cms/s/e4462190-8c42-11da-9efb-0000779e2340.html), makes the following astute observations:

***India's GDP growth rate at 7-8 per cent is more impressive than than China's 9-10 per cent because India is achieving this result with just half of China's level of domestic investment in new factories and equipment, and only 10 per cent of China's foreign direct investment. The evidence is as clear as ever: China's growth stems from massive accumulation of resources, while India's growth comes from increasing efficiency.

***The microeconomic evidence also casts India in a better light. While India's
stock market has soared in recent years, the opposite has happened in China.
In 2001, the Shanghai Stock Market index reached 2,200 points; by 2005, half
the wealth wiped out. In April 2005, the Shanghai index stood at 1,135
points. This sharp deterioration occurred against a backdrop of GDP growth
exceeding 9 per cent a year. It is difficult to find another country that
has this strange combination of superb macroeconomic performance and dismal
microeconomic performance. It is a matter of time before the two patterns
converge.

***Why, then, is India gaining strength? Economists and analysts have
habitually derided India's inability to attract FDI. This single-minded
obsession with FDI is as strange as it is harmful. Academic studies have not
produced convincing evidence that FDI is the best path to economic
development compared with responsible economic policies, investment in
education and sound legal and financial institutions. In fact, one can
easily think of counter examples. Brazil was a darling of foreign investors
in the 1960s but ultimately let them down. Japan, Korea and Taiwan received
little FDI in the 1960s and 1970s but became among the world's most
successful economies.

***An economic litmus test is not whether a country can attract a lot of FDI
but whether it has a business environment that nurtures entrepreneurship,
supports healthy competition and is relatively free of heavy handed
political intervention. In this regard, India has done a better job than
China. From India emerged a group of world-class companies ranging from
Infosys in software, Ranbaxy in pharmaceuticals, Bajaj Auto in automobile
components and Mahindra in car assembly. This did not happen by accident.

***Although it has many flaws, India's financial system did not discriminate
against small private companies the way the Chinese financial system did.
Infosys benefited from this system. It was founded by seven entrepreneurs
with few political connections who nevertheless managed, without significant
hard assets, to obtain capital from Indian banks and the stock market in
the early 1990s. It is unimaginable that a Chinese bank would lend to a
Chinese equivalent of an Infosys.

***With few exceptions, the world-class manufacturing facilities for which
China is famous are products of FDI, not of indigenous Chinese companies.
Yes, "Made in China" labels are still more ubiquitous than "Made in India"
ones; but what is made in China is not necessarily made by China. Soon,
"Made in India" will be synonymous with "Made by India" and Indians will not
just get the wage benefits of globalisation but will also keep the profits
unlike so many cases in China.

***Pessimism about India has often been proved wrong. Take, for example, the
view that India lacks Chinese-level infrastructure and therefore cannot
compete with China. This is another "China myth" that the country grew
thanks largely to its heavy investment in infrastructure. This is a
fundamentally flawed reading of its growth story. In the 1980s, China had
poor infrastructure but turned in a superb economic performance. China built
its infrastructure after rather than before many years of economic
growth and accumulation of financial resources. The "China miracle" happened
not because it had glittering skyscrapers and modern highways but because
bold economic liberalisation and institutional reforms especially
agricultural reforms in the early 1980s created competition and nurtured
private entrepreneurship.

***For both China and India, there is a hidden downside in the obsession with
building world-class infrastructure. As developing countries, if they invest
more in infrastructure, they invest less in other things. Typically, basic
education, especially in rural areas, falls victim to massive investment
projects, which produce tangible and immediate results. China made a costly
mistake in the 1990s: it created many world-class facilities, but badly
under-invested in education. Chinese researchers reveal that a staggering
percentage of rural children could not finish secondary education. India,
meanwhile, has quietly but persistently improved its educational
provisions, especially in the rural areas. For sustainable economic
development, the quality and quantity of human capital will matter far more
than those of physical capital. India seems to have the right policy
priorities and if China does not invest in rural education soon, it may lose
its true competitive edge over India a well-educated and skilled
work-force that drives manufacturing success.

***Unless China embarks on bold institutional reforms, India may very well
outperform it in the next 20 years. But, hopefully, the biggest beneficiary
of the rise of India will be China itself. It will be forced to examine the
imperfections of its own economic model and to abandon its sense of
complacency acquired in the 1990s. China was light years ahead of India in
economic liberalisation in the 1980s. Today it lags behind in critical
aspects, such as reform that would permit more foreign investment and
domestic private entry in the financial sector. The time to act is now.

Second, in an article titled, "In India-China Race My Money Is on India" in BLOOMBERG.COM dated January 30, 2006, columnist William Pesek Jr. says:

***If you want to shock an audience of businesspeople, make this argument: Twenty years from now, India's rise will be more impressive than China's. Stephen Roach at Morgan Stanley says, "India is on the cusp of something big." As a share of gross domestic product, its burgeoning consumer sector is outpacing China, Europe and Japan. Economists are also noticing that India's economy is looking less like those in East Asia and more like those in the West.

William Pesek goes on to adduce reasons why China may not have the stuff to remain ahead of India by the year 2026. Click: http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_pesek&sid=acdQ2p_Fe8yc

Third, an article by Salil Tripathi in THE GUARDIAN dated January 27, 2006 titled "Merging Markets." Excerpts:

>>
If you are still sceptical about India's emergence as a major global economic power, you should have seen the long queue at the Central Sports hotel off Davos's main promenade last night. It was India's Republic Day, and some of the most senior executives in the world were waiting patiently for overworked attendants to take their coats, hats and bags so they could enter the crowded hall. Inside, you'd have thought you were at Churchgate station in Mumbai during peak hours, except that you were surrounded by people who'd never be seen using public transport.
<<

>>
The links between India and China are old. In his latest book, The Argumentative Indian, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen writes: "The intellectual links between China and India, stretching over two thousand years, have had far-reaching effects on the history of both countries, yet they are hardly remembered today.... Some two thousand years ago the consumption habits of Indians, particularly of rich Indians, were radically influenced by innovations from China. [And] while China was enriching the material world of India two thousand years ago, India was exporting Buddhism to China." Maybe history is repeating itself. Indians are consuming more products made in China, but are they exporting Indian ideas to China now? Here's a hint: there is a big poster at the Zurich airport, inviting investors to India. It describes India as "the world's fastest-growing free market democracy". Maybe that's an idea worth exporting.
<<

For more see  http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1696579,00.html

A fourth -- an article by Anand Giridharadas in THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE -- dated January 26, 2006, is titled, "China vs. India: A battle of ideas." An excerpt:

>>
The effectiveness of the Chinese model is evident in its annual growth rate, which is near 10 percent, but its sustainability is questionable. "For the next two decades, Indian society is predictable and the democratic framework predictable," said Yasukuni Enoki, the Japanese ambassador to India, in an interview. "How about China? Two decades? Really we cannot draw a predictable picture."
<<

For more, click: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/26/news/rindemo.php

Cheers,

Ram Narayanan
US-India Friendship



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Monday, January 30, 2006

Terrorists Released to help Soz--New Cabinet Minister--Will PM explain?

jan 30th

saifuddin soz was the man behind a couple of clever things.

1. his daughter was 'kidnapped' by kashmiri 'boys' and so the govt released lots of terrorists to get her 'release'

2. his single vote brought down the bjp government after their 13 days

so naturally he is a union minister now.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: rv
Date: Jan 30, 2006 8:59 PM
Subject: Terrorists Released to help Soz--New Cabinet Minister--Will PM explain?
To:

MOST IMPORTANT-- TERRORISTS RELEASED TO HELP SOZ-- NEW CABINET MINISTER--

Prof. Saifuddin Soz has become a minister-- after campaining against the constitutional authority of India namely census commissioner and supporting Hizbul for boycotting the census in J & K.

Will Soz at least now reveal how many terrorists of LeT or Hizb were released to secure his daughters' release from the abductors as per press release of CBI dated 28-11-2000 shown below.?

More important is regarding the so called culprit Bhat-- Where is he now? Was he not helped by Soz? Was the abduction a drama to get dreaded terrorists released? The nationa needs answers--

Mr. Manmohan owes it to the nationa to get /give that explanation  and provide the names of the dreaded terrorists released--since it  will also reveal the havoc they created later--

Will the honorable members of Parliament raise this issue?
RV




Press Release

CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

NEW DELHI 28.11.2000

ACCUSED CONVICTED IN A J& K KIDNAPPING CASE:


The Central Bureau of Investigation has secured conviction against Md. Yasin Bhat for kidnapping Ms Nahida Imtiaz daughter of Shri Saifuddin Soz, former Member of Parliament.

The CBI investigation revealed that the accused Md.Yasin Bhat and others had kidnapped Ms Nahida Imtiaz daughter of Shri Saifuddin Soz, ex-Member of Parliament on 27.2.1991 and demanded release of 5 militants of Jammu Kashmir Student Liberation Front (JKSLF) in custody. Few militants had to be released in exchange of the release of Ms Nahida Imtiaz. She was released by kidnappers on 8.3.1991.

The investigation of this case was entrusted by Govt.of India to CBI on the request of the Govt. of J&K. The CBI filed the charge sheet in the Designated Court on 18.12.1992 after completing the investigation.

The Designated Court Jammu has convicted Md. Yasin Bhat for the offences punishable under Sections 364, 365 & 120-B IPC and under section 3 TADA (P) Act and sentenced him to undergo six years Rigorous Imprisonment with a fine of Rs.13,000/-.

The CBI had investigated number of sensitive cases of J&K and they are presently under trial in the Court.



--
RV

china's aircraft carrier

jan 30th

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/30/business/carrier.php

and india is letting the chinese govt build the deep-water port at vizhinjam, trivandrum! i wonder whom and how much the chinese paid off to get this contract, which means the completion of their containment of india from a naval perspective.

negroponte - microsoft circus on cheap computers for the poor

jan 30th

this is even more entertaining now. i feel negroponte's initiative is mostly grandstanding, but i also see that he has now persuaded india to chip in $100 million. when last heard, india had been smart enough to keep away from this boondoggle.

now comes microsoft with its FUD and promises of something better just down the road.

here's my analysis.

1. microsoft is pissed off that negroponte wants to use linux
2. so they come up with this great new pie in the sky idea of cellphone-computing
3. they will put one underemployed product manager on it to keep producing some PR material but wont waste any actual technical effort on it
4. negroponte's initiative will die because everyone gets hooked onto the microsoft idea
5. microsoft will quietly drop the cellphone-computing idea

this is exactly what microsoft did to kill of handwriting recognition pioneer Go computing years ago. someone had a parody about 'microsoft kitchen' somewhere

i love this battle of the marketeers :-) both of them high on hype and low on content.

i believe negroponte's idea -- which was dubious to begin with -- is now truly dead.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/technology/30gates.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

ps. to darkstorm, you were complaining about no tech stories. here's one. and no, you were not the person i was referring to as a lurker, it was someone who did a shoot-and-scoot, one-time post abusing someone and then disappearing

sandhya jain on the man who would be king

jan 30th

how appropriate on gandhi's birthday! yet another white man to become king of india.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sandhya

Organiser-Rahul-29January2006

Rahul: no ray of hope

Sandhya Jain 

 

Rahul Gandhi's de facto anointment at the Hyderabad plenary session of the Congress, under the watchful eyes of his mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, sent political and media acolytes into the throes of a self-induced hysteria and hyperbole. Even though the truth is that the scandal involving the surreptitious de-freezing of Ottavio Quattrocchi's London bank accounts which contained Rs. 21 crores of Bofors payoff money forced Ms. Sonia Gandhi to postpone bringing Rahul Gandhi into the Congress Working Committee, senior party leaders and media mandarins behaved as if his "reluctance" to assume a formal position in the party was the last word in self-abnegation.

 

One has only to recall his informal interview with Tehelka last year, where he bragged that he could have become prime minister at the age of 25, to realize that his humility is borne out of necessity. The parallel that comes to mind is of the Sonia Gandhi who falsely claimed the support of 272 MPs to President K.R. Narayanan finally staking her claim before President APJ Abdul Kalam, only to be told she could not be sworn in, and cloaking her humiliation in dramatic renunciation.

 

            Rahul's supposedly off-beat speech reflects the yawning chasm between Congress' top leadership and the people of India, which is the reason for the party's dwindling fortunes in state after state. The demeaning drama that preceded Rahul's speech failed to disguise the reality that the Congress' future leader is a youth without vision, without passion for India, and without any knowledge about Indian society and its grand civilizational ethos. He is in politics because his family background ensures him a seat in Parliament.  

 

To his credit, Rahul is canny enough to realize that he cannot shoulder the burden of the party's expectations alone, since he does not empathize with the Indian people, and hence he cannot emerge as a significant vote-catcher, on the lines of Indira Gandhi. This is equally true of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and that is why Congress performs poorly in states where it lacks credible local leaders. That is why Rahul has called for rebuilding the party leadership in states where Congress is weak, which encompasses most of north India.

 

Rahul Gandhi is wise not to blame communal and religion-based parties for the decline of the Congress, as this will only alienate the sections of society that vote for these parties and whom Congress is trying to woo. Besides, as Congress in the guise of the UPA is only pursuing communal and religion-based politics, which is excessively biased towards the minorities, the party should introspect why if still fails to impress voters. Thus, while Rahul may be right that Congress has the largest number of young leaders, the sad fact is that most of these so-called leaders are merely, like him, the scions of political families, who have "inherited" the family seat. They are Babalog, not innovative and energetic youth who will take the country forward in any area.

 

Indeed, their disconnect with the people of India was powerfully underlined by Rahul when he made his appeal to the youth leaders: "let us move into a battlefield, the heart of India. Let us go to the villages, and the towns and the cities. Let us go to universities and schools. Let us move away from the corridors of power. Let us cement the links with our people. Let us listen to wisdom of our great people. Let us understand their concerns and their aspirations. Let us become leaders by listening and by learning and by working rather than through post and positions." Biased media bards have gone into raptures over this speech, yet this is precisely, to my mind, the segment that best betrays the complete alienation of Congress' city-breed MPs with the India that breathes outside the large megapolises. Rahul has let the cat out of the bag – Congress has no grassroots youth leaders at all!  

 

As for the Congress ideology, I wish we could know what it is, other than minority appeasement and fostering of divisive tendencies in the larger Hindu community. The late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi wrote a piffling verse in memory of Bahadur Shah Zafar when he visited Rangoon, but his horrible gaffe came when he allowed a scriptwriter from Mumbai to make him mouth the infamous "nani yaad dila denge" for Pakistani President Gen. Zia-ul-Haq. 

 

Rahul's script writer has asked him to tell him slavish audience that his religion was the Indian flag. This is simply dishonest. Given the Congress penchant, especially under the UPA regime, to exploit religion for electoral purposes; given the Roman Catholic background of his mother Sonia and the fact that his sister has married into a Christian family; and his own foreigner girlfriend having a Catholic background, Rahul should not have dissimulated about his religion after himself raising the issue.

 

But having raised the issue, he owes the nation the truth. He has to tell us whether or not he roots himself in the ancient dharma of India, respects its civilizational ethos and feels duty bound to uphold and protect it, or whether he feels that missionaries have the right to freely enter the country, demean its native traditions, and undertake conversions by any means. Since many western countries consider conversions as an instrument of foreign policy and have huge budgets reserved for evangelical activities, which impinge upon India's national sovereignty in sensitive regions like the north-east, the Congress party's heir apparent should have used to first opportunity to clarify his position on conversion to foreign faiths, funded and monitored by foreign governments.

 

END

 

like the good old pre-partition days

jan 30th

slippery slope: separate electorate, separate everything, finally separate 'moplahstan'.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: siva
 
 
Reserved constituencies urged for Muslims till law change
Monday January 30 2006 09:42 IST

THANJAVUR: Noting that provision of representation in proportionate to the population of each community is the 'only right way' to enable the respective communities get their due share in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies, Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaat (TNTJ) has urged the Centre to amend the legislation for conducting elections so as to provide due representation to Muslims in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies in proportionate to their population.

A resolution to this effect was adopted during the 'Muslims' rights retrieval conference' held in Kumbakonam on Sunday.

TNTJ also urged the Centre to create 'reserve constituencies' for Muslims similar to that of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes until such amendment is brought.

Stating that Muslims constituted 20 percent of the population of the country, the conference urged the Centre to bring legislation so as to provide 20 percent reservation in educational institutions including the premier educational institutions like IIT, IIM, and employment opportunities both at government and private agencies to Muslims in proportionate to their population.

Reminding the Congress, DMK and PMK parties, the constituents of UPA government at Centre, of their electoral promise and the same in their election manifesto during the parliamentary election to provide reservation for Muslims in education and employment, the conference urged the parties to keep their promise without any further delay before the announcement of the date for Assembly elections.

Rejecting the argument that the litigation with regard to the provision of 69 per cent reservation which is pending before the Supreme Court is a deterrent for providing any reservation to Muslims in Tamil Nadu, TNTJ urged the State government to provide Muslims their due share within the 50 per cent general reservation without increasing the percentage of reservation exceeding the 69 percent.

This arrangement will in no way affect the litigation pending before the Supreme Court, the resolution said.

Rejecting the observation of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh that provision of reservation based on religion is unconstitutional, the conference argued that the legislation was banned by the High Court on technical grounds.

"Had the provision of reservation to any community based on religion been unconstitutional, the governments in Karnataka and Kerala would not have provided reservation to muslims" the resolution added.

It also urged the state government to follow the footsteps of Karnataka and Kerala and provide reservation to Muslims. Several other resolutions were passed during the conference.

Earlier, a massive rally was taken out by the activists of Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaat.

TNTJ State president P Jainullabuddin flagged off the rally, which started from near Asur bye pass road in Kumbakonam and meandered through the main roads before culminating at the conference venue on Gandhiadigal Salai.

TNTJ State general secretary S M Parker, secretary M Jaffer Ali, Deputy General Secretary A S Alauddin also participated.

MSN News: Experts: Map of `Chinese Columbus` is fake

january 30th

i did not expect anything different.

now wait until they 'find out' that zheng he was actually the first person to explore the moon :-)

they make so much noise about this guy, what is pathetic is that all he did was sail around a bit.

on the other hand, raja raja chola in 1017CE sent an *expedition* with hundreds of ships all the way to sumatra and defeated the maritime srivijaya empire! that was the *greatest naval feat in history* until the invention of steamships and metal hulls and big naval guns in the 19th century! bigger than the famed spanish armada, probably the first thing that eclipsed it was the russo-japanese war and the victory of admiral tojo in the yellow sea in 1905.

not surprisingly, given the marxist-oriented history of india that we learn, there is no mention of this in india's textbooks.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sa

MSN News


Check out the following link for more details.

Experts: Map of `Chinese Columbus` is fake

Personal Message:
Hi Rajeev, This gives prrof to the Chiniese to colonize North America:).

chinese human rights (sic)

jan 30th

appropriate on gandhi's birthday. even though he was not exactly god (as indian textbooks claim), he was a marketing genius and did highlight the plight of the poor.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: G
 
Chinese lawyer hits out at regime
 
 
Defiant human rights activist Gao Zhisheng tells Jonathan Watts in Beijing that Europe must not 'honeymoon' with a state that murders millions

Sunday January 29, 2006
The Observer


 
France, Germany and other states that have coddled up to the Communist dictatorship in Beijing will one day have to answer to the Chinese people, one of the country's leading civil rights activist has told The Observer.

Gao Zhisheng, a firebrand lawyer who has defended hundreds of victims of torture and persecution, said the Communist party was responsible for more deaths than the Nazis, but Western governments turned a blind eye because they were desperate to trade with the world's fastest growing economy.

'When the Nazis slaughtered Jews, the outside world condemned them,' he said. 'But the Communist party has taken the lives of 80 million people, 13 times more than the death toll among the Jews, yet the world says nothing.'

......

Sunday, January 29, 2006

the 'brown peril' argument from white guys

jan 29th

interesting. for this white guy, it's ok if the chinese come in and do hostile takeovers. but a british company with an indian at the head, oh no, that's pretty bad. so indians are 'untouchable' still.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ku

 
Oh oh...Here's the "how dare a brown man excel" speech!
 
I'm sure Mr. Mittal anticipated this. If he didn't then he's pretty dim.



Hindu Leadership: In Defence of Hindu Gurus - Francois Gautier Jan. 9th 2006

jan 28th

francois minces no words. he's quite right, too. we're in a life-and-death battle. hinduism is the last obstacle left standing in the way of semitic ideologies. buddhism they know how to wipe out, eg. afghanistan, uzbekistan, pakistan, bangladesh, and now south korea and possibly china too. simple method: destroy the buddhist centers and that's the end of buddhism, eg. nalanda.

but they had not until recently figured out how to uproot hinduism. now they have found a fatal weakness: all those marxist converts and their fellow travelers who claim to be 'hindus' when in reality they are card-carrying semitics based on their acceptance of the semitic death cult known as marxism. (literally worships dead people, like the embalmed lenin and mao).

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sucheta

Respected elders and dear friends:
 
Namaste.  Please excuse my long letter and intrusion.
I believe a general lack of leadership is the prime challenge facing the global Hindu community from microcosm to macrocosm today.
Attached article by Mr. Francois Gautier highlights this issue one more time.
 
Gautier ji, in his following article has made an excellent suggestion of having several most favored contemporary Hindu gurus to make a
Council of Hindu Gurus which could meet perhaps three to four times in an year and issue edicts to bind all Hindus together. 
Now, at onset this may sound outrageous to our Hindu sensibilities. But, if we can just take a step back at history and see things from
a different perspective, maybe it will give us a different view and hopefully open up new possibilities:
After Industrial Revolution when human beings left villages for greener pastures of urbanity, they not only left their families, homes
and livelihoods behind but also A SENSE OF BELONGING. This vacuum was cleverly filled by Christianity, Communism and especially
Islam at various periods as these ideologies provided a safety net away from the extended families left behind in the villages. When
Hindus started moving away from villages mostly in 20th century, although they adjusted very well into the new milieu of cities and
other countries there was no structured safety net of extended family or social religions to rescue from adversities of life in general
and life in foreign lands in particular.  Hinduism is a religion of personal faith, spirituality and divinity-within and not much of social 
structuring religion that is why its loose general social structure. Because a Hindu does not find a safety net of an extended family or
even an atmosphere conducive to being a Hindu, an expatriate Hindu often feels that he belongs somewhere else that has been left in
the deep distant past which is unreachable and so there is a sense of longing and helplessness.  Whereas a Muslim, a Communist or a 
Christian or even a secular Hindu (who is Hindu only for namesake) has no qualms about his identity or sense of belonging. 
 
The Hindu Swaminarayan sampradaya is successful because it fills this particular void of 'belonging' for the Hindus away from their homes. 
The Swadhyay paripar, which is another success story but works the other way, by providing an extended family structure for Hindus who
are primarily still in the villages.  We can learn from Hindu success stories... and there are surely more.. and look beyond for models.
A recent meet in Mumbai of 80 plus Shankaracharyas and Mahamandaleshwars from all over India with 400 of their close associates
was a great initiative taken in the direction of 'Hindu Leadership' by Swami Dayananda Sarasvati of the Arsh Vidya Gurukulam, Mangalore
and Pennsylvania. This meet was covered by Hinduism Today.  Rest of the Hindu community needs to plug into this debate.
 
We in the USA can go on debating, petitioning, forwarding, appreciating and criticizing ALL that is happening here and in India...
while time is running out and for Hindus the world is getting worse by day. It is time for action.
 
Given the democratic nature of Hindu Dharma, it is difficult to say how Hindus can be led but a strong, assertive leadership indeed ... 
is the need of the hour.  Any brainstorming on this burning issue will be of great benefits to all.
 
Bhavdiya -
Sucheta Maheshwari
 
********************************************************************************************************************
 
In Defense of Hindu Gurus
- by Francois Gautier

When Marxist leader Brinda Karat attacks Swami Ramdev, she is not
attacking Ramdev in particular, she is attacking Hinduism in general.
This guru or that guru makes no difference to her; she is against all gurus.
 
Other gurus might think they are safe, that Ramdev committed some sin
for which he is paying. But one of them will be the next in the line of fire!
 
Hindu gurus are all vulnerable in today's India: The Kanchi Shankaracharya
has already been hit. So has Satya Sai Baba. Amritanandamayi has to live
under the constant shadow of a hostile Kerala Communist-dominated
government. Dhirendra Brahmachari is dead and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is
periodically targeted as the 'Guru of the rich', the 'Glib Godman' etc.
 
May I be forgiven my arrogance, but what Indian gurus have to
understand is that for Indian Communists, Hinduism is the Number 1
enemy. Mao called religion 'the opium of the people'. But for Indian
Communists, what stands between their ambition for absolute power in
India (and eventually the triumphant return of Communism in the world
-- as Indian Communists believe) is the hold Hinduism has in the hearts
of the rural people of India, who constitute 80 per cent of this country.
 
Yet, the humble farmer from Uttar Pradesh to Tamil Nadu has a natural
understanding of the universality of God, who takes many names throughout
the ages who could be Buddha, Jesus Christ, Ram or Mohammad.
This humble farmer possesses the knowledge that there is a something
deeper than the skin and the mind, and a life beyond death. This
knowledge is inbred, it is not in his head, not even in his heart, but
in his or her genes from generation to generation.
 
Of course, the English-speaking media is too happy to oblige Brinda
Karat and come down hard on gurus with all kind of accusations.
Before Ramdev, they came down on the Kanchi Shankaracharya, before him
on Osho, before him on Dhirendra Brahmachari. You can even go back to
Sri Aurobindo, who was accused in the early 1900s by the moderate
Congress-controlled press to be a 'fanatic', when he was only demanding
total independence from the British long before Gandhi took it up.
Accusations against Hinduism of superstition, brainwashing, ritualistic
ignorance, date back from British missionaries and have been taken up
today by the Communists. Yet, Hinduism -- at least the Hinduism which
goes beyond the rituals and becomes universal spirituality -- has
nothing to do with superstition and conmanship: it is all about
science, knowledge and light.
 
Look at Pranayama, a science that has known for thousands of years how
to harness breath and use it for controlling the mind, for a better,
more healthy, more spiritualised life. If you read Osho's books today,
you find a lot of solid common sense, wisdom, even light.
 
Satya Sai Baba cannot have millions of disciples from the most humble
to the Presidents of India without 'something' which is beyond
superstition. So goes for Amritanandamayi, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,
Ramdev, or Guruma of Ganeshpuri.
 
And why should Brinda Karat target Ayurveda, the most ancient medical
system in India still in practice, the first medicine to realise 3,000
years ago that plants and minerals offer the best cure, that many
illnesses have a psychosomatic origin, the first to practice plastic
surgery on patients?
 
In India today, every third shop is an allopathic medical shop, whose
profits go to Western multinationals (hello Mrs Karat!) at a time when
Ayurvedic medicine is becoming increasingly popular in Western
countries, after being disillusioned by antibiotics and other
heavy-handed medicines.
 
We are witnessing an interesting phenomenon in India today. Some
Communists, some Christians, some Muslims and some Congress leaders --
all of whom have nothing in common and often hate each other are united
against Hinduism and Hindu leaders.
 
In contrast, look at the Hindus: Swami Ramdev himself criticised Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar live on television, advising his followers not to
practice Art of Living breathing techniques. During the tsunami relief
operations in Nagapattinam, disciples of Amritanandamayi and Sri Sri
Ravi Shankar nearly came to blows over who would give relief to whom,
instead of networking and uniting their efforts.
 
And who came to the rescue of Osho when he was maligned to death, or
Dhirendra Brahmachari when the entire press came down on him, or Satya
Sai Baba, when he was slandered, or the Shankaracharya when he was
thrown into jail, or Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, when Javed Akhtar accused him of
coming 'from a cave to live in a palace' (and not from a palace to a cave like
 the Buddha)? None of the previously mentioned. Yet, Indian politicians can
commit any crime, have any number of court cases against them, and they
still end up as Union ministers and get positive press coverage.
 
The greatest curse of Hinduism throughout the ages has been its disunity
-- and more than that -- its betraying each other. The British did not conquer
India, it was given to them by its warring Hindu princes, jealous of each other.
The same is true of Islam: the last great Hindu empire, that of Vijaynagar,
was betrayed to the Muslims by the Lingayats.
 
I know there is something mysterious and unfathomable in the
manifestation of the Divine upon earth, and that each guru has a
defined task to fulfill and that the combined task of all the gurus may
solve the great puzzle that is this ignorant and suffering earth.
Thus, it may not be necessary for each guru to communicate with each
other. But nevertheless, it is of the greatest urgency today that Hindu
leaders unite to save Hinduism, rather than 'each one for his own' that
we see today.
 
The Catholics have their Pope and his word is binding on all Catholics.
Muslims have Prophet Mohammed's words and that binds all of Islam
together. Indian Communists have the words of Marx and Lenin, even if
it has become irrelevant in Russia, Germany, and also in China. But the
poor Hindus have nobody to refer to, so as to defend themselves.
Yet, if you take the combined people power of Satya Sai Baba,
Amritaanandamayi, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Ramdev, Guruma of
Ganeshpuri, the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram, and so many others I
cannot mention here, it runs in hundreds of millions.
 
Again, in all humility and conscious of the limitation of mind compared
to some of these great gurus whom I have met, I propose that a Supreme
Spiritual Council, composed of at least seven of the most popular Hindu
leaders of India, be constituted, maybe under the leadership of Sri Sri
Ravi Shankar, the most travelled of all these, the one who has disciples
and teachers of all religions, both from India and the West.
It should be a non-political body, and each group would keep its 
independence but nevertheless. It could meet two three times a year and
issue edicts, which would be binding on 850 millions Hindus in India
and one billion over the world.
 
Then and then only can this wonderful spirituality which is Hinduism,
this eternal knowledge behind the outer forms, the wisdom to understand
this mad earth and its sufferings, be preserved for the future of
India, and for the future of humanity.
 
I bow down to each of these gurus mentioned above and to all those not
mentioned, to Swami Vivekananda, the initiator of modern Hinduism, to
Sri Aurobindo, the great avatar of the supramental, and to all the
great gurus who have graced over the ages, this wonderful and sacred
land which is India and beseech them to hear my prayer:
 
Hindus leaders, unite, if you want eternal Dharma to survive.

==============================================================================

 

Older civilisation than Indus found

jan 28th
 


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: siva
Subject: Older civilisation than Indus found
To: Rajeev Srinivasan <rajeev.srinivasan@gmail.com>

 
How much more evidence does these nazis witzel & co need to prove that the aryan invasion turned migration that is waiting  to be named tourism fantasy of Chrisitan lunatics did not happen.
 
 
 
Older civilisation than Indus found
Vadodara, Jan 21: Recent excavations in parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Pakistan have made the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) believe that a developed civilization possibly existed in the region in the 6th millennium BC, assumed to be older than the Indus valley civilisation.

According to ASI Director Dr B R Mani, the civilisation, believed to be much older than the Indus civilisation of the second and third millennium BC, stretched from Iran in the west to North Bengal in the east.

Dr Mani, who is here to attend a two-day international seminar on 'Magan (the present Oman) and Indus civilisation,' said till now the Indus and Harappan were considered to be amongst the world's earliest civilizations, but the relicts found during the recent excavations provided some evidence regarding existance of about 7,000-year-old civilization.

''Excavations at Lahuradeva site in Uttar Pradesh, Mehergadh in Pakistan and Haryana have led to recovery of pottery, cultivated rice and other artefacts dating back to that period,'' the ASI director said, adding that further research and excavations were on not only by the ASI but also by concerned state agencies and different universities.

Bureau Report

Britain to discuss Russian Harassment of Hindus at EU summit: Foreign Minister Douglas Alexander

jan 28th
 
where are the indian govt and the marxists? obviously not worried about hindu rights.
 
and, oh, to the lurker who claimed the hare krishnas are a cult, well there are plenty of cults doing extremely well, for instance, the madonna cult seen in velankanni, not to speak of the cults operated by oral roberts, pat robertson, and a host of others. go fix them before maligning hindu groups.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hindu Forum Office <info@hinduforum.org>
Date: Jan 27, 2006 11:15 AM
Subject: Britain to discuss Russian Harassment of Hindus at EU summit: Foreign Minister Douglas Alexander
To: info@hinduforum.org

 

British Parliamentarians have filed an Early Day Motion at the House of Commons to discuss the harassment of Russian Hindus. We urgently need more MPs to sign up and support the Early Day Motion in the British Parliament.

 

PLEASE THEREFORE WRITE TO YOUR LOCAL MP AND ASK THEM TO SUPPORT THIS MULTI-PARTY EDM.  You can find out who your local MP is by visiting: http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/clomps.cfm.

 

You can find email addresses for some MPs from:

http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/alms.cfm

 

Alternatively, you can write to them at the House of Commons using the following address: House of Commons, Palace of Westminster, London SW1A 0AA.

 

You can check which MPs have signed up to the EDM by checking: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=29869&SESSION=875

 

Regards,

 

Ramesh Kallidai

Secretary General

Hindu Forum of Britain

 

 

Britain to discuss Russian Harassment of Hindus at EU summit: Foreign Minister Douglas Alexander

 

26 January 2006 – While acknowledging that Hindus in Russia face difficulties in practising their faith freely, Foreign Minister Douglas Alexander has assured the House of Commons on 25th January that the inability to establish a permanent place of worship for Hindus will be discussed with Russian officials at the EU as part of Britain's ongoing dialogue with Russia. The Foreign Minister was responding to a written question raised by Conservative MP James Clappison requesting the Foreign Secretary's assessment of the treatment of Hindus in Russia and the effect on the community of the loss of the Hindu temple in Moscow

In response, Foreign Minister Douglas Alexander had responded by saying, "The Hindu community, like a number of other religious communities have faced difficulties freely practicing their faith in Russia . These include the inability to establish a permanent place of worship in Moscow since the demolition of the Hindu temple in 2004. We raise the issue of religious freedom during regular EU and bilateral contact with the Russian Government. We will continue to monitor this and other religious freedom issues in Russia and raise them as appropriate in the course of our ongoing dialogue."

Earlier, a multi-party Early Day Motion led by Labour MP Ashok Kumar expressed Parliamentary support for the Defend Russian Hindus campaign and regretted the intolerance shown towards Russian Hindus manifest as denial to establish a place of worship.

 

The Hindu Forum of Britain has urged MPs from all political parties to support the Early Day Motion in response to the Defend Russian Hindus Campaign launched by Hindu organisations from UK, America, Canada , Africa , India and Australia. The campaign was launched on 18th January by parliamentarians Ashok Kumar MP, James Clappison MP and Lord Dholakia to highlight the plight of Russian Hindus.

 

"The crux to the issue", said Lord Dholakia, "is that Russian Hindus were given a temple which was demolished to make way for a commercial complex and were then promised a piece of land to build another temple. This has now been taken back and Hindus in Russia have no place to worship."

 

"Some members of the Russian Orthodox Church had orchestrated mass protests and started a misinformation campaign against Hindus in the Russian media," explained Ramesh Kallidai, secretary general of the Hindu Forum of Britain. "Many Hindus have and still are being victimised, threatened, bullied and even beaten and subjected to violence."

 

 Last month Archbishop Nikon of the Orthodox Church had described Lord Krishna as an "evil demon, the personified power of hell, opposing God", and sparked worldwide condemnation. The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone had also shown his concern for the harassment of Russian Hindus by discussing the matter with the visiting Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov on 15 th January, when he handed over letters of protest from the Hindu Forum of Britain and other organizations.

 

British Parliamentarians will be seeking a meeting with the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to discuss the issues faced by Russian Hindus and lead a delegation to meet the Russian Ambassador in the UK. On 18th January, members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Muslim Council of Britain, and the Catholic Bishops Conference had joined hands with Hindu organizations to unanimously call for more respect and tolerance to allow Russian Hindus the same right to a place of worship as other communities.

Ends    

For more information contact Ramesh Kallidai on 07915 383 103 or 07867 837 241 or Sanjay Mistry on 07810 368 772

 

Editor's Notes:

1.           Full text of the EDM put before the House by Ashok Kumar MP: That this House notes with concern the denial of a place of worship for the Hindu community in Moscow as a result of the retraction by the Moscow City Government of an offer of land which was to be made available for the construction of a new temple; further notes the intolerance shown towards Hinduism in certain quarters in Russia; regrets the effect of this on individual Hindus wishing to peacefully follow their faith and the wider implications for religious toleration in Russia; and expresses its support for the Defend Russian Hindus campaign.

2.           Full text of the White Order Paper on 23 January 2006 by James Clappison MP: 190 MR James Clappison (Hertsmere): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of (A) treatment of the Hindu community in Russia and (b) the effect on the community of the loss of the Hindu temple in Moscow (45227).

3.           Date Answered: 25 January 2006 by Mr Alexander: The Hindu community, like a number of other religious communities have faced difficulties freely practicing their faith in Russia. These include the inability to establish a permanent place of worship in Moscow since the demolition of the Hindu temple in 2004. We raise the issue of religious freedom during regular EU and bilateral contact with the Russian Government. We will continue to monitor this and other religious freedom issues in Russia and raise them as appropriate in the course of our ongoing dialogue.

4.           The Defend Russian Hindus Campaign is supported by the Hindu Forum of Britain, the National Council of Hindu Temples UK, the Hindu Council UK, Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Hindu Council of Australia, the Hindu American Foundation and the Hindu Conference Canada .

 

5.         The Hindu Forum of Britain is the representative umbrella body for British Hindus with formal membership of over 250 Hindu organisations from different regions and cultural backgrounds in Britain . The Hindu Forum of Britain has conducted some of the largest community consultation activities on behalf of the Hindu community to influence Government policy and runs a number of projects for Hindu youth, women, community safety and temples. For more information visit the HFB Website:   www.hinduforum.org.

 

If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, please send an email to admin@hinduforum.org with "unsubscribe" in the subject field.

 


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[PINR] 27 January 2006: The U.S.-India Nuclear Deal: The End Game Begins

jan 28th
 
fairly good writeup on the current state of the indo-us agreement, which i personally continue to think is bunkum. india is giving away far too much and getting nothing in return. a very lop-sided treaty. india has to worry about energy security, but not at the cost of losing military security.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

People Throng Carmelite Convent To Meet Nun With Stigmata

jan 28th

reminds me of a movie scene:

"sweet jesus, it's a miracle! i can see!"

-- conman eddie murphy in 'trading places' after being busted by the cops for pretending to be a blind, lame beggar

stigmata = hysteria

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: 27 Jan 2006 22:04:31 -0000
Subject: People Throng Carmelite Convent To Meet Nun With Stigmata
To: Rajeev.Srinivasan@gmail.com

Hi Rajeev, Some interesting news items. Regards, Sriram

People Throng Carmelite Convent To Meet Nun With Stigmata

By SAR NEWS

PONDICHERRY Jan 27 -- Hundreds of people flocked to the Carmelite convent in Pondicherry, January 17, seeking the blessings of Sister Therese Margaret said to have suffered the Holy Stigmata.

An external Sister from Thanjavur Carmel in Tamil Nadu, Sister Margaret was on a private visit to the Pondy monastery at the request of the local Carmelite nuns.

Sister Rosy, as she is popularly known, first suffered the passions of Jesus on Good Friday last year, it is said. She bled in the head from the agony of the crown of thorns, on the shoulders due the cross and the agony of the thongs on her back and in the palms and feet. Since then, she experienced the sufferings from Thursday night till Saturday.

Starting with swelling of the palms with bursting pain, the blood gushed out or oozed from the palms and feet on Friday during Mass or prayer time. On Sunday morning she was her normal self with no sign of suffering except for a scar where she bled.

The Church and the Carmelite authorities are silent on the matter. Some are even sceptical about the whole episode.

The bleeding signs appeared last on November 26 last year. However, the passions on the head, shoulders, back, palms and feet are said to continue but with no outward sign. The bloodstains in her clothes are said to smell sweet.

During her suffering, the Carmelite nun has had many visions of the Lord talking with Mother Mary and to her. Once the Lord asked Sister Rosy whether she preferred internal or exterior stigmata. She is said to have preferred internal passion.

Another time, Mother Mary cleaned dry the blood from her wounds when a nun helping her left for community prayer. "It is just shade of my sufferings," Jesus seems to have confided to Sister Rosy.

Sister Theresa is keen on meeting priests and nuns and motivating them to living up to their vocational vows. She is claimed to have pointed out the failings of individual priests and nuns.

For the lay people her message is – read the Bible daily, pray using the words of the Bible, frequent the Holy Mass, receive Communion and say the family prayer.

People come to her seeking counselling, prayer and healing.

Sister Therese Margaret is aged around 40 years and wears a big smile while blessing the people. This SAR News correspondent saw a number of priests and nuns among the people waiting to meet with the Carmelite nun.

Dalit Catholics Deserting Church In Hordes Has Missioners Worried

RAIPUR, Chhattisgarh (SAR NEWS) -- Missioners of Raipur Archdiocese in this Hindi belt have expressed deep concern over the Gada Dalits deserting the Catholic Church for fearing of losing government benefits.

"After some years, the Catholic Church in Fuljher area may disappear," says Abraham Narayan, a senior Gada catechist from Basna. The educated are joining the Protestant groups for employment reasons and the non-literate are becoming Hindus for fear of losing scholarships (made available under government reservations), he added.

The father of a nun, Mr. Narayan said, "It is a critical issue…because of it we are not able to practise our Faith."

When the matter was raised at the archdiocesan missionary meeting, January 11, Raipur Vicar General Father Augustine Varikyckal proposed to submit a memorandum to Christian Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi who was recently appointed chairman of the Scheduled Caste and Tribe Commission.

Many Gada Dalits in Fuljher (eastern) region of Raipur Diocese embraced Catholicism during drought in 1932. Some of them had been Mennonites and others were Hindus. Though officially there are about 10,000 baptised Gadas in the seven parishes of the archdiocese, lately many have either turned indifferent to religious practices after the American Catholic Relief Services stopped aid, or have joined other Christian denominations for material benefits.

Some others have returned to Hinduism in the Ghar Vapasi (returning home) programme organised by former Union Minister and Hindu propagandist Dilip Singh Judeo.

About six months back, 41 Catholic Gada families in Roopapli village under Basna parish formally became Hindus, as the local village authority belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party refused to give them Hindu Dalit certificates and threatened to order an inquiry into Catholics receiving government concessions.

Punith Sona, a young Catholic says, he wants to participate in the Ghar Vapasi programme to get the Hindu Dalit caste certificate. The Gada Dalit from Baelmundi village, Baloda parish, is anxious since the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Saraipali refused to issue him a Dalit certificate to avail government loan concession granted to Hindu Dalits.

"The SDM has been told that all Gadas of Baelmundi are Christians," the village assistant Sarpanch told SAR News.

"The problem (of not getting government grant) had been there earlier too, but it has become serious after the BJP came to power (in the state). They have posted their officials and workers in our region," said Father Mathew Valiyathara, the dean and parish priest of Pithora. He has been working in the region for more than 15 years.

Subhakar Gwal, another senior Gada catechist of Kutela parish said, Catholics from 3-4 villages did not turn up for the midnight Christmas Mass in their parish church at Kutela because they were told the government officials were spying in their villages.

Some villages have even asked the missioners not to come to their villages for offering the customary thanksgiving Mass after harvest.

"We feel bad because after so many years of our hard work, when it's time to bear fruit, people are abandoning the Faith," he added.

Christian Council Demands CBI Inquiry Into Forceful Conversion

BHUBANESWAR, Orissa (SAR NEWS) -- A premier Christian rights organisation has demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into forceful conversion of tribal Christians to Hinduism in this eastern Indian state.

The Global Council of Indian Christians alleged January 24 that the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and the fundamentalist Bajrang Dal activists were forcibly converting tribal Christians at gunpoint.

GCIC national convener Sajan K George told newspersons in the State capital that "forced conversion of tribal Christians into Hinduism in many parts of Orissa, particularly in western Orissa, be probed by the CBI as they are converted at a gun point by the radicals in clear violation of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act."

CBI is the premier police agency of the Government of India with special thrust on anti-corruption work and special and economic crimes.

Mr. George alleged that the administrative machinery of the Orissa Government was being used by the radicals to intimate and convert the Christian people.

He said in Tumbai village under Gurundia police station in Sundargarh district, the tribal Christians were recently converted forcibly by the radicals. He accused former Union Minister and BJP State unit president Juel Oram of encouraging and funding the conversion of Christians into Hinduism in the state.

Mr. George said eight Christian families at Palsakutni village in Boudh district were evicted by Hindu fundamentalists who set ablaze their houses and belongings and threatened to kill them if they returned to the village. These panicked Christian families, he said, had taken shelter in dense forest since February 2005 even without bare necessities like food, clothing and medical treatment.

The GCIC convener accused the state government headed by Naveen Patnaik of ignoring the plight of the Christians. "The Christian families, who were assaulted in Kilipal and Kanimal villages in Jagatsinghpur district February 2004, are now facing starvation," he said.

 



This News is featured in Mangalorean.com
www.Mangalorean.com

california textbook hearing

jan 28th

did anybody attend the latest hearing in sacramento which i believe was yesterday? what happened?


Fwd: Baba Ramdev vs Vrinda Karat

jan 23rd

interesting how the left-wing media, realizing that swami ramdev had the upper hand and was trouncing brinda karat, all of a sudden became very quiet about it.

they had expected it to be a cake-walk like in the case of the kanchi acharya. but the dignified and courteous kanchi swamiji -- an intellectual -- was easy to defame partly because the state machinery was at their disposal because of jayalalitha's animosity.

in the case of swami ramdev, who has the gut instinct of a street fighter, the attack boomeranged on the marxists. the public -- the common man -- revolted against this attack on a man who had done no wrong other than promote indian/hindu culture. (of course that is the worst crime in the eyes of the marxists.) also, in this case, the yadav/OBC bonds worked against the marxists, as mulayam singh yadav, laloo prasad yadav et al rallied to the side of the yadav swami ramdev.

this whole play has the fingerprints of the vatican/baptists on them. attack the swamis of hinduism one by one. their attacks on the satya sai baba and mata amritananadamayi have so far not gotten them any dividends.

the attack on the kanchi swami succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. if hindus had any sense, there should have been huge riots, but there weren't.

the attack on ramdev boomeranged. it was clear that common people in the north would take to the streets if it was prolonged. therefore the marxist-christist alliance made a tactical withdrawal.

now they will be careful to only attack brahmin swamis, because the OBC swamis will retaliate in like terms, whereas the brahmins have become like the jews. whatever they do or dont do, they are condemned, and it is only a matter of time before it will be declared a crime to be a brahmin. they will be forced into visible dhimmi-hood (like forced to wear clothes that identify them -- like the jewish yellow star -- etc.)

lessons to be learnt by all those preaching intellectual solutions: they don't work when you are confronted by sophisticated minds using adharmic methods. the only thing that works is a response that scares them. for instance, the congressis, in particular the dynasty, never will say anything against mohammedans because they are scared they will send suicide bombers. if there is the FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt) that hindus will go for violence -- and it is this paranoia that comes out as continuous depiction of the RSS as violent in an excellent example of people projecting their own nature onto others -- they will become remarkably pliant.

a good example of chrisist cowardice was a bangalore christist boy who married a mohammedan girl. the mohammedans killed both of them brutally. there was not *a peep* from john dayal, sajan george, and all the other christist luminaries who pontificate all the time. no questions from the USCIRF either. moral: christists are pissing in their pants about mohammedans.

on the other hand, christists are on the rampage against hindus in kerala, the northeast etc because they know they can get away with it. there was the sustained rape of an OBC girl by a foreign missionary and his indian collaborators. result: no conviction. there were the murders of hindu priests by christist terrorists in the northeast. result: no conviction. therefore they are emboldened.

the point is that the credible threat of serious retaliation is the key to deterrence. this is the idea behind 'mutually assured destruction' which kept the soviets and yanks from nuking each other. unfortunately, even though the mullah-marxist-missionary alliance continually paints the RSS as seriously violent, they know the RSS is actually a bunch of really nice guys who simply want to serve humanity. why, even when a bunch of christist priests were drowning in bengal, the RSS rescued them. in gratitude, christist terrorists kidnapped and murdered RSS activists!

i asked an indian-american friend what were the great horrors perpetrated by the RSS. his answer was revealing: a) gandhi was killed by them, b) they *may* do something in the future, so they have to be oppressed!

a) this is slander, and the courts have exonerated the RSS of this
b) this is like the film minority report, what, pre-crime? and who decides what is a crime? n ram, no doubt. it is also an astonishing illustration of the extent to which repeated propaganda has worked.

in fact, the RSS and the rest of the indian right-wing are real pussy-cats compared to the christist right (eg. ku klux klan) or mohammedan (eg. taliban). they have actually done nothing terrible, but the general impression has been created that they have.

the time for samam, danam, and bhedam are over (although it is a good idea to get the mohammedans and christists to fight with each other. remember how the deendar anjuman tried to get the christists all worked up by attacking churches and the media immediately blamed hindus). it would be good to get the various christist cults fighting with each other too (they show a tendency to do that in kerala anyway). but the key is dandam. or at least the credible threat of dandam. this is what makes people behave and be good little boys.

for instance, the marxists were running rampant in north kerala killing hindus. when there were a few retaliatory killings, they quickly quietened down. they generally believe their own propaganda that hindus are meant to quietly die when marxists/mohammedans/christists attack them. if hindus resist, it is "communal violence". for instance, in maraad, kerala, there was "communal violence" in 2003 when hindus resisted mohammedan attacks on them. in 2004, mohammedans ambushed and hacked to death a bunch of hindus. that was "secularism", not "communal violence".

we have to understand what these terms mean:

"secularism" -- discrimination against hindus

"secular intervention" -- marxists/mohammedans/christists killing hindus

"communal violence" -- hindus refusing to die quietly during "secular intervention"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Babu Suseelan



Vrinda Karat's oppressed and stifled  mindset was at its best when she
>issuedmeaningless and highly objectionable statements against Swami Ramdev.
>Indian Communists like Karat have distinguished themselves by the utmost
>lackof giftedness, by creative impotence and incapacity for thought. Their
>overt and covert hatred for India and Hindu culture was evident in Karat's
>pronouncement against Swami Ramdev. The Communists have entered into an
>alliance with the multinational corporations and Christian fundamentalist
>groups to destroy and malign Hindus and Hindu cultural ethos. While issuing
>pro-forma condemnation against Swami Ramdev, Vrinda karat and her fellow ilk
>have nothing to say about Jihadi terrorism, coercive religious conversion,
>and the economic exploitation of poor Hindus by the multi-national
>corporations.
>
>
>
>The more we understand how Communists think and function,  the less likely
>weare to be paralyzed by the shock of their behavior, and the less likely we
>are to be taken by their ingenious cunning and manipulation.
>
>Communism, Islam and Christianity are closed systems with rigid ideology.
>They oppose each other. But in India, they have established an unholy nexus
>to destroy our culture, social stability and spiritual heritage. Lately
>Communists, aligned with the multinational criminal organizations have been
>attacking Hindu social institutions and economic interest to please their
>slave masters. Most Hindus have no idea how ant-Indian the hardcore
>Communists truly are. The agenda of the unholy alliance has always been
>directed to attacking all aspects of our culture, tradition, economy,
>including undermining our military capability. Vrinda Karat and their fellow
>travelers are truly a Fifth Column at work in Bharat.
>
>Christian-Muslim-Corporate-Communist alliance is designed to wage a battle
>against Hindutva and Bharat. Vrinda Karat and her fellow hired coolies are
>counseled to perform their tasks in such a way not to expose the dark hidden
>hands. These Communist obscurantist desire to hold the masses in darkness.
>It is also a terrible mistake to think, that the Communist condemnation of
>Swami Ramdev signifies the condemnation of Jihadi terrorism, deceptive
>Christian conversion and importation of discarded western Christian values
>inthe name of Globalization. Anti-Hindutva has become so deeply enmeshed
>withthe communist radical obsession of ant-Indian phenomenon? It takes lots
>of different forms.
>
>The challenge we face today is daunting. But we must meet them and conquer
>them. If we don't, who will?
> babususeelan@hotmail.com