Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is on record as having said he is willing to accept the authority of the LokPal committee in investigating the Prime Minister's Office - however the ministers who supposedly report to him have decided against the views of their 'boss':
This is democracy? Looks like a Shadow Government to me.
These guys are appointees, nominally appointed by Manmohan, but yet they're overruling him, and telling him what he can do and what he can't do. That doesn't look anything like a normal democratic setup to me.
It looks as if real power is held elsewhere, and Manmohan is just a figurehead - a lapdog.
Real power is held elsewhere, so that it can be exercised without visibility or accountability.
The Congress Party is a State Within A State. Congress is the ISI of India.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
China-Vietnam Row on Spratlys in South China Sea - Lessons for India by D S Rajan
jun 28th, 2011 CE
"peaceful rise", my foot.
can we say "lebensraum" and "natural resources"?
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
From:
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers46/paper4562.html
China-Vietnam Row on Spratlys in South China Sea - Lessons for India
By D. S. Rajan 22/6/2011
One can see that the intensity of the ongoing competition between China and Vietnam in claiming sovereignty over two disputed South China Sea island chains, the Paracels (Xisha in Chinese, Hoangsa in Vietnamese) and Spratlys (Nansha in Chinese, Truongsa in Vietnamese) is growing day by day. Beijing claims a vast sea area stretching from Hainan, its southern most province as belonging to it historically, whereas Hanoi argues that the two chains are Vietnamese territory since 17th century. As per known data, China has presence now in 9 locations in Spratlys, while Vietnam has in 29. Other regional powers are also involved in the dispute - the Philippines says that the two chains are its territories on the basis of their geographical proximity to it; Malaysia and Brunei view that the territories fall under their respective Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) as defined by the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.
For all the claimants, the strategic importance of the South China Sea region has increased as current estimates confirm vast reserves of natural resources there – about 25 million metric tones of crude oil and approximately 25 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. The region is also home to important shipping lanes.
... delete
AIM for Seva appeal for funds for education: a good cause worth supporting
jun 28th, 2011 CE
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: AIM for Seva <info@aimforseva.org>
Date: Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 5:28 PM
Subject: AIMS Appeal- ILC
To:
From: AIM for Seva <info@aimforseva.org>
Date: Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 5:28 PM
Subject: AIMS Appeal- ILC
To:
Ms.Judy Nagarajan,Manager Public Relations
AIM for Seva
4, 'Srinidhi Apartments',Desika Road,Chennai -600 004
Ph: 044 2498 7955/ 66
M: +91 95000 60152
E Mail: njudyaimforseva@gmail.com
Meet our 35,000 students, who need your support, spread across 15 Indian States at www.aimforseva.org
82 Student Homes, 18 Healthcare projects,17 educational Institutions and 5 special projects
Sponsor a Child Now - www.aimforseva.org/donate.php
Your support helps us to serve the society, in turning the less privileged children our Nation’s pride !
barron's article on how the inscrutable hans' "peaceful rise" snake oil ain't selling so good any more
jun 28th, 2011 CE
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ram
From: Ram
If you wish to respond to this message, do NOT hit the "Reply" button; please try ramn_wins@roadrunner.com
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111903349804576403561272392884.html#articleTabs_panel_article%3D1
Barron’s Cover SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2011 Dragon Fire By LESLIE P. NORTON
The U.S. military is getting ready to leave Iraq and Afghanistan. The next threat is much bigger. Even the most casual observer seems to know that China’s economy has been growing at a roughly 10% annual rate for much of the past decade. Less recognized and arguably more important to the state of the world is the fact that China’s defense spending rose even faster than that -- 12% or more a year between 2000 and 2009. "The accelerating pace of China’s defense budget increases is driving countries in the region, as well as the U.S., to react to preserve a balance of power and stability," says Jacqueline Newmyer, head of Long-Term Strategy Group, a Cambridge, Mass.-based defense consultant. "There is a real potential for arms races to emerge," she adds. "While once we assumed we’d have access to areas to conduct anti-terrorism or anti-insurgency operations, now we’re compelled to think about preserving our ability to gain access to East Asia."
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111903349804576403561272392884.html#articleTabs_panel_article%3D1
Barron’s Cover SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2011 Dragon Fire By LESLIE P. NORTON
The U.S. military is getting ready to leave Iraq and Afghanistan. The next threat is much bigger. Even the most casual observer seems to know that China’s economy has been growing at a roughly 10% annual rate for much of the past decade. Less recognized and arguably more important to the state of the world is the fact that China’s defense spending rose even faster than that -- 12% or more a year between 2000 and 2009. "The accelerating pace of China’s defense budget increases is driving countries in the region, as well as the U.S., to react to preserve a balance of power and stability," says Jacqueline Newmyer, head of Long-Term Strategy Group, a Cambridge, Mass.-based defense consultant. "There is a real potential for arms races to emerge," she adds. "While once we assumed we’d have access to areas to conduct anti-terrorism or anti-insurgency operations, now we’re compelled to think about preserving our ability to gain access to East Asia."
... deleted
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
rajiv malhotra's new column: "The Dangerous Idea of Martyrdom" asks, why die for your god?
jul 28th, 2011 CE
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rajiv Malhotra
From: Rajiv Malhotra
|
business standard: A vacuum of Leadership by A V Rajwade
jun 26th, 2011 CE
I first came to know of Dr Manmohan Singh in the late 1970s from my good friend George Fernandes, an eminent trade union leader known for his militancy. (My contacts with George go back to my trade union activities; they later became more regular when I was advising a cooperative bank promoted by him, of which he was the chairman. I developed great respect for his sharp intellect, quick grasp of any subject and superb articulation.) He was then a member of the central Cabinet as minister for industries. One of the questions I asked him then was about the quality of senior civil servants in Delhi — as trade union leaders, we obviously had a common bias against bureaucracy. That was when he mentioned Dr Singh, describing him as unassuming, deceptively soft-spoken and somebody who would rarely intervene in a discussion. But George later realised that he was the one who had studied the subject more than anybody else.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sanjeev nayyar
From: sanjeev nayyar
The respect Shri Rajwade missed to say that Singh Kohli was RBI Governor when Rajiv Gandhi announced the Loan Mela in the 1980’s – was there a word of protest by Singh then. Yesterday TOI has an article by Swaminathan Ankleshwar Aiyar where he says that the credit for the 1991 REFORMS should actually go to the late Narasimha Rao.
| A V Rajwade: A vacuum of leadership |
| The PM's record has been lacklustre, particularly in the second term |
| A V Rajwade / New Delhi June 27, 2011, 0:09 IST |
In my last week’s column, I had discussed the possibility of the global economy facing “a perfect storm”. Nearer home every day’s news makes me wonder whether we are not facing something even more dangerous — a vacuum of leadership and governance. While talking about the United Progressive Alliance (UPA-II), Shekhar Gupta remarked in his column National Interest in the Indian Express (June 18) that “this has become our most dysfunctional real government in three decades.” (For obvious reasons, he excluded the governments headed by Chandrasekhar, Deve Gowda and Gujral). One felt sad that the first government since independence headed by a professional, who had acquired eminence in his own field, should have come to this sorry pass.
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In the 1980s, when I started writing about the exchange rate from a more economic, as distinct from market, perspective, I read Dr Singh’s doctoral thesis on “India’s export performance, 1951-1960, export prospects and policy implications,” which later grew into a book. It, inter alia, stressed on the relevance and importance of the exchange rate to export prospects. In an era dominated by export pessimistic economists (and hence the emphasis on import substitution regardless of costs), he was one of the very few voices to argue that, given a proper exchange rate, India’s export potential was significant. In the 1980s, when he was governor of the Reserve Bank, Dr Vijay Joshi of Oxford University, spending a couple of years at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), developed the first REER model for the rupee’s exchange rate.
My third brush with Dr Singh was in the mid-1990s through my criticism of the monetary policy then followed by the central bank, taking real interest rates, even for AAA bonds, to double-digit levels! Deena Khatkhate (ex RBI and International Monetary Fund), his colleague and friend of many years, liked the arguments and sent the columns to Dr Singh, then finance minister of India. I called on Dr Singh on my next visit to Delhi, was received very warmly, and later he wrote me a very nice letter.
In the meantime, of course, Dr Singh, after spending a few years as the secretary general of the South Commission, was invited by Narasimha Rao to become the finance minister to steer economic policies after the 1991 balance of payment crisis. Later he was credited with having engineered India’s reforms of the exchange rate, trade and industrial policies post-crisis, which laid the foundation of the average 8 per cent annual growth of the last couple of decades and was a major “about-turn” from the earlier licence/quota/permit raj of a socialist economy. (To be sure, Dr Singh had not voiced much criticism of this over the earlier two decades. Perhaps he held such views in private but his loyalty and reticence precluded any public expression.) One has often wondered whether Rao should not be given far bigger credit for his political courage in introducing the reforms which, in any case, were driven by the IMF conditionalities.
In this background, one had great hopes when Dr Singh became prime minister of the UPA-I government, courtesy the Congress president. Since then, however, his record has been lacklustre, particularly in the second term — not that much was done in the first term other than the Indo-US nuclear pact. But this could be blamed on the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on whom the UPA-I was dependent for survival as the ruling coalition. He talked about administrative reforms on many occasions but nothing happened. Perhaps his first major mistake was in the acceptance of the National Advisory Council (NAC) as a super Cabinet. [Kapil Sibal has recently said, with reference to Anna Hazare and his so-called civil society, “we cannot have a parallel government” (The Economic Times, June 22). He overlooks the fact that the UPA has accepted a parallel government since its inception — in the name of the NAC.] Exaggerating only slightly, the result was that he became the prime minister with all responsibilities — but no political power. Perhaps few ministers considered themselves responsible to the prime minister — they held their posts at the pleasure of their respective party chiefs. Many of the scandals that have dogged the UPA-II perhaps originate in this.
| | ||||||||
Warm Regards
sanjeev nayyar
sanjeev nayyar
Monday, June 27, 2011
pioneer: Professor Saradindu Mukherji reviews 'Breaking India'
jun 26th, 2011 CE
actually these are not imaginary, but manufactured fault lines. manufactured by NATO and the christian world-domination enterprise.
much like the hutu-tutsi difference -- vanishingly small -- was manufactured and elevated to genocide by the missionaries/godmen/godwomen in rwanda, who also participated with gusto in the actual killings. (several were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: HARAN BR
http://www.dailypioneer.com/348433/Imaginary-fault-lines.html![]()
AGENDA | Sunday, June 26, 2011 Imaginary fault lines
June 25, 2011 9:53:03 PM
Breaking India
Author: Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan
Publisher: Amaryllis
Price: Rs 699The book exposes three strands operating in today’s India — Islamic radicalism, Maoist and Marxist activism, and Dravidian and Dalit identity politics — all engaged in systematically breaking up the country, writes Saradindu MukherjiThis book has an eerie cover image taken from www.dalitstan.com, showcasing a map of the Indic region wherein its northern part stretching up to Assam is depicted in green as Mughalistan — Pakistan and Bangladesh included. The southern parts are called Dalitstan and Dravidistan. For the authors, such a holocaustic scenario seems a distinct possibility unless the process is immediately halted and neutralised.Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindam Neelakandan expose three strands operating in contemporary India — Islamic radicalism, Maoist and Marxist activism, and Dravidian and Dalit identity politics — all engaged in systematically breaking up what the venerable Ram Swarup called a “shrinking and shrunken” India.This book, however, deals only with the third dimension related to the Dravidian/Dalit ‘studies’, the ridiculous Afro-Dalit project that seeks to showcase the Dalits as ‘Blacks’ of India and non-Dalits as ‘Whites’. It also exposes the hypocritical roles of various American/European academic institutions and evangelical organisations, besides the NGOs and their collaborators in the media. The entire gamut of the mechanism and ‘ideology’ to break the country is exposed in 19 well-researched chapters. “Breaking civilisation”, the authors say, is “like breaking the spine of a person. A broken civilisation can splinter, and the balkanised regions can undergo a dark metamorphosis.”
... deleted
From: HARAN BR
http://www.dailypioneer.com/348433/Imaginary-fault-lines.html
June 25, 2011 9:53:03 PM
Author: Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan
Publisher: Amaryllis
Price: Rs 699The book exposes three strands operating in today’s India — Islamic radicalism, Maoist and Marxist activism, and Dravidian and Dalit identity politics — all engaged in systematically breaking up the country, writes Saradindu MukherjiThis book has an eerie cover image taken from www.dalitstan.com, showcasing a map of the Indic region wherein its northern part stretching up to Assam is depicted in green as Mughalistan — Pakistan and Bangladesh included. The southern parts are called Dalitstan and Dravidistan. For the authors, such a holocaustic scenario seems a distinct possibility unless the process is immediately halted and neutralised.Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindam Neelakandan expose three strands operating in contemporary India — Islamic radicalism, Maoist and Marxist activism, and Dravidian and Dalit identity politics — all engaged in systematically breaking up what the venerable Ram Swarup called a “shrinking and shrunken” India.This book, however, deals only with the third dimension related to the Dravidian/Dalit ‘studies’, the ridiculous Afro-Dalit project that seeks to showcase the Dalits as ‘Blacks’ of India and non-Dalits as ‘Whites’. It also exposes the hypocritical roles of various American/European academic institutions and evangelical organisations, besides the NGOs and their collaborators in the media. The entire gamut of the mechanism and ‘ideology’ to break the country is exposed in 19 well-researched chapters. “Breaking civilisation”, the authors say, is “like breaking the spine of a person. A broken civilisation can splinter, and the balkanised regions can undergo a dark metamorphosis.”
... deleted
DNA: "indians like free enterprise", arvind kumar and arun narendranath; ToI (swami iyer) also gave credit for 1991 to narasimha rao
jun 26th, 2011 CE
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Arvind Kumar
From: Arvind Kumar
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/analysis_indians-inclined-towards-free-enterprise_1559506
| ||||
Pioneer letter: "hindus support freedom for all" by arvind kumar
jun 26th, 2011 CE
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Arvind Kumar
From: Arvind Kumar
Hindus support freedom for all
This refers to the article, “Sterile debate over free speech“ (Coffee Break, June 19) by Kanchan Gupta. While the writer makes several valid points in his article on the freedom of expression, he also says that two wrongs don't make a right. It should be noted that any retaliatory action against those who infringe on the freedoms of Hindus cannot be considered wrong because Hindus have always supported absolute freedom for everyone. If Hindus hit back, it would be akin to grabbing the weapon of the assaulter and using it against the assaulter. In this particular case, the weapon happens to be the Indian state which treats Hindus as second-class citizens.
In an attempt to correct the situation, Hindus have already exhausted all other methods that form part of a civilized discourse. They have approached the executive branch, the judiciary, the legislature, and framed their ideas in debates. The other side is unwilling to listen and believes that it is entitled to special privileges under Indian law. In addition, it has also enlisted the media and academia in the West which believes that freedom of expression and a law similar to the “Equal Protection Clause“ in the American Constitution does not apply to Hindus.
When the Indian Government is insincere and the only way of calling attention to the egregious acts of the Government is to do unto others what the Indian Government does to the Hindus, it is the second `wrong' that will catalyse the removal of the first wrong.
Even this debate exists thanks to the very people who face criticism today. They were vigilant enough to discover the double standards of the Government and highlight them. Otherwise, the plight of Hindus would have been even worse.
Arvind Kumar
Saturday, June 25, 2011
why is there female infanticide? "world full of men" implies development may actually be a reason
jun 24th, 2011 CE
i was listening to an interview with the author of this book; 160 million missing women in east asia and the indian subcontinent.
i am beginning to wonder if the culprit is development: it is the more affluence middle classes who wish to have only 1-2 children who are selectively aborting female fetuses, it sounds like. this has been the experience in punjab etc.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Another Mormon Runs for US Presidency
Jon Huntsman has announced his presidential candidacy, making him the next Mormon after Mitt Romney to run for President of the United States:
Frankly, I think this is a positive, not just because he's a Republican, but because Mormons tend to be more on the side of American nationalism, which will help to break the grip of the extra-territorialist Atlanticist Left which always leans towards Europe.
Frankly, I think this is a positive, not just because he's a Republican, but because Mormons tend to be more on the side of American nationalism, which will help to break the grip of the extra-territorialist Atlanticist Left which always leans towards Europe.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
dr kak on the architecture of the great siva temple at prambanan, java, indonesia @bharatenduh
jun 20th, 2011 CE
superb essay on how the dimensions of the great siva temple at prambanan are consistent with hindu architectural principles and astronomy. prof kak has written a similar essay on the architecture of angkor wat as well. his work on the vedic fire altars -- such as the ones constructed for the great vedic rituals (agnicayana) such as the recently concluded yaga at panjal, kerala -- and on the astronomical codes in the rig veda is relevant in this context.
prambanan and the buddhist equivalent, borobudur, are both within a few km of jogjakarta. i visited both about twenty years ago. unfortunately the eruptions of the nearby volcano mount merapi have damaged prambanan quite a bit. of the three tall, slender temples there to the trinity, the siva temple is the biggest and best preserved. (it is actually a devi temple, also known as 'slender maiden'). but even that has been hurt by the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
when i went there, on full moon nights, the local javanese enacted the 'ramayana ballet' in an open-air stage next to the temple. it was a magnificent sight. i don't know if they still do it.
borobudur, by the way, is the largest structure in the southern hemisphere! and angkor wat in cambodia is the largest religious structure in the world.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Subhash Kak Dear All, This attached article on the great Shiva temple of Java will interest you. Subhash
From: Subhash Kak Dear All, This attached article on the great Shiva temple of Java will interest you. Subhash
Monday, June 20, 2011
via @shashitharoor, an interesting post by @ajaypp on the vizhinjam port. hope they are planning for the giant maersk ships just ordered
jun 19th, 2011 CE
this could be a super container port. i am not sure that confusing the issue with a thermal power plant or a naval base or cruise-line base makes a lot of sense, but this is the port that has 24m (72 feet) of undredged depth close to shore -- which is fantastic. it is the deepest-water port in india, and in fact this was not lost on ancient mariners. if i am not mistaken, the vizhinjam-poovar area was the capital of the ay kingdom, and the biblical port of 'ophir' was in fact vizhinjam-poovar.
and this deep-water port is only 40 km away from the north-south national highway to kanyakumari, so if a spur is built to trivandrum, container trucks can easily move upcountry.
similarly, there are three railway lines from trivandrum: one via nagercoil to the trunk route to madurai and upcountry; one via kollam and punalur to shencottah over the western ghats -- this mountain track is scenic but probably not good for container traffic; and then one via ernakulam/palakkad to salem/erode and bangalore/chennai. the route via nagercoil is the best because it is only 50 km from vizhinjam to nagercoil, and there the western ghats have died down into a plain so there is no mountain to cross.
i am just concerned that the planners are not planning for the enormous new ships that, say, maersk just ordered. we have a problem of planning to solve yesterday's problem tomorrow.
anyway, nice writeup by @ajaypp
good thing too: slighted, india takes its ball and goes home
jun 15th, 2011 CE
it should have been done long ago. notice how india has more soldiers than all the P5 put together in peace-keeping missions. why isn't china, with the world's largest army, putting more of its soldiers into UN missions?
also, i have read that there is differential salaries: the UN pays indian soldiers less than they pay white soldiers. well, then, let the whites go rough it in congo.
the only question is, why on earth is manmohan doing this? doesn't he know that it is india's job to have its soldiers die so that whites may live?
after all, manmohan is the 'intellectual' who proclaimed after receiving a honorary doctorate from some uk university that the british imperial era was good for india. p chidambaram has also said this.
Fwd: hindi-chini bhai bhai version 2.0: this time in NYC
jun 19th, 2011 CE
this is similar to chinese in san francisco unsuccessfully suing to eliminate indians from the 'asian' minority category for affirmative action.
yup, dem chinese feel a lot of bhai-bhai for dem injuns.
and i also love the 'special relationship' indians have with the US.
India's Opposition Deficit
India suffers from a lack of coordination among the political opposition, says an article. This is allowing the Congress to walk away with the elections.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Accelerator-Driven Thorium Reactor
A smaller and cheaper type of particle accelerator is being planned, which could finally enable the development of an accelerator-driven thorium reactor, which is a holy grail among thorium power supporters. Such a reactor could operate sub-critically, and would require no fissile seed material.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
wsj: china's cyber-assault on america
jun 15th, 2011 CE
the chinese do cyberwarfare on its enemies via legions of hackers.
meanwhile india jails its cyberwarriors (eg the guy who pointed out that EVMs are hackable).
sort of encapsulates the difference between the two, no?
NREGA is destroying artisans: nirmala sitharaman in hindu bizline. well, brits did it first, so it must be good, no?
jun 15th, 2011 CE
brits destroyed the entire clusters of small enterprises, artisans, metalworkers, weavers, leatherworkers and other skilled workers in the brahmaputra and kaveri deltas, which together accounted for some 15% of world GDP in 1700 CE. they turned these skilled workers into itinerant, landless laborerers, which is the cause of endemic poverty even today -- prosperous tradespeople were overnight turned into paupers.
now NREGA is repeating this, says nirmala sitharaman.
figures.
Fwd: arvind kumar's surgical demolition of ashok malik's tirade: Freedom, equality and Husain
jun 15th, 2011 CE
kudos, arvind.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Arvind
http://www.dailypioneer.com/345883/Freedom-equality-and-Husain.html
From: Arvind
http://www.dailypioneer.com/345883/Freedom-equality-and-Husain.html
Freedom, equality and Husain
June 15, 2011 4:50:08 PM
Arvind Kumar
Exaggerating minor acts of vandalism and portraying them as issues related to free speech despite such acts of vandalism not being state-sanctioned makes a mockery of the concept of the right to free speech. Nor should Hindus be criticised for contesting misleading claims by liberal journalists by posting their comments on the Internet. For that would be an assault on free speech
Ashok Malik's article ("Vanvaas from Ram's India", June 11) betrays a lack of understanding of the principles underlying the issues of equality and the freedom of expression. When the state abridges the rights of the individual's freedom to freely express one's views, it is a serious assault on one's liberty. In the cases of vandalism against MF Husain's paintings, they were just that — minor acts of vandalism against which proper safeguards must be taken.
Exaggerating every minor act of vandalism and portraying them as issues related to free speech despite such acts of vandalism not being state-sanctioned makes a mockery of the concept of the right to free speech. What is really alarming is that the author brushes away the more serious assaults on our freedoms using the full force of the state's power.
The Government has never pretended to defend the individual's right to the freedom of expression. Instead, it has always used the excuse of maintaining public order to infringe on the basic rights of individuals. Some of the most egregious examples of the violation of the freedom of Indians include the censorship during the Emergency, the ban on Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, the ban by eight States on the movie The Da Vinci Code, the ban on the reproduction of the works of a Danish cartoonist, the arrest of individuals who set up websites and mailing lists expressing their views against the Communists and Ms Sonia Gandhi, and most recently, the vicious attack on Baba Ramdev and his supporters who dared to oppose corruption in the Government. In each of these cases, it was either a case of targeting Hindus or pandering to Muslims and Christians.
The protests by Hindus against MF Husain's works were clearly a demand for the equal application of the law. For more than a decade after MF Husain painted his first provocative works, Hindus demonstrated their tolerance for his right to paint whatever he wanted. They began their protests only after the Government pandered to Muslims in quick succession on the twin issues of the Shah Bano case and the ban on Salman Rushdie's book.
The author uses a clever bait-and-switch ploy to compare Hindus to Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran who had issued a fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie. Hindus who protested against MF Husain's works were not asking for the implementation of fatwas similar to those issued by the Ayatollah. They were asking for the law to be applied to Hindus in the same manner that Rajiv Gandhi had applied it to Muslims. Their objection was to the Government's application of the law in a partisan manner to favour Muslims. The author has conveniently replaced Rajiv Gandhi with Ayatollah Khomeini so that he can demonise Hindus.
The author bemoans the fact that there were lawsuits filed against MF Husain and calls this an abuse of the system. Filing lawsuits is a peaceful way of dealing with the issue. If he has a problem with the law, he should oppose the law, and he will find that Hindus support him in the quest for equality and freedom. Indeed, Hindus have consistently demanded that the Government implement a Uniform Civil Code. To keep the current law and selectively use it on Hindus while bemoaning it when used against a Muslim is unacceptable.
In a country like India with a population of around 1.2 billion people, there are bound to be all sorts of people. While some like the author may have attended charm school and are articulate, others have not been so fortunate to be literate and are rough around the edges. Their method of articulation is in the form of protests and may not be palatable to the author, but it would be sheer arrogance to reject their views on the grounds that they do not speak English.
Sometimes their methods may have crossed acceptable boundaries, but it is clear that they understand the principle of equality better than smooth-talking journalists who seem smitten by inferiority complex and want to be accepted by those in the West who call themselves liberals. It is very common for Westerners who call themselves liberals to support the equal application of the law in their countries while opposing the Uniform Civil Code in India. Many Indian journalists who are inferiority-ridden seek to boost their self-esteem by gaining acceptance among this category of Westerners and simply adopt their views without a proper analysis of the issues at hand.
The most disconcerting part in Ashok Malik's article is his objection to Hindus making their views known on the Internet. In India, as well as elsewhere, the flawed arguments of journalists and the many fictitious claims perpetrated by them have been confronted by facts posted on the Internet by ordinary people. In response, many insecure journalists have clamoured for imposing controls on the Internet and have lost no opportunity to criticise the Internet. It is this advocacy of imposing controls that should concern the advocates of free speech.
The author must realise that expressing one's views on the Internet is a right that must not be infringed upon even if such views are expressed by Hindus. Abridging such rights would make India a totalitarian state and cannot be accepted. Individuals must always have a right to their freedoms, while it must be the Government's duty to treat everyone in an even-handed manner. That is the crux of the issue that the author fails to grasp.
The author also makes a gross exaggeration when he claims that MF Husain quit India due to harassment by Hindus. Even after the lawsuits against MF Husain were filed, he continued to live in India for several years, including the years when his political opponents were in power. He quit India only after eyebrows were raised in certain quarters when it became known that his customers were always wealthy business houses based in India, but they conducted their financial transactions with MF Husain in a foreign country and channelled the money back to India. Sometimes, MF Husain has donated the proceeds of his sales to charities operated by members of business families. Such patterns in financial transactions are bound to raise suspicions as these patterns are usually associated with money-laundering schemes.
It is not inconceivable that the authorities in India were hot on his heels making him leave the country for good. Even if he left the country due to the lawsuits filed against him, it is wrong to blame Hindus since Hindus have always opposed draconian laws.
It is thus clear that it is Hindus who have been consistently correct on the twin issues of equality and freedom while their opponents have consistently presented wrong arguments to buttress their flawed positions.
-- The author can be reached at arvind@classical-liberal.net.
June 15, 2011 4:50:08 PM
Arvind Kumar
Exaggerating minor acts of vandalism and portraying them as issues related to free speech despite such acts of vandalism not being state-sanctioned makes a mockery of the concept of the right to free speech. Nor should Hindus be criticised for contesting misleading claims by liberal journalists by posting their comments on the Internet. For that would be an assault on free speech
Ashok Malik's article ("Vanvaas from Ram's India", June 11) betrays a lack of understanding of the principles underlying the issues of equality and the freedom of expression. When the state abridges the rights of the individual's freedom to freely express one's views, it is a serious assault on one's liberty. In the cases of vandalism against MF Husain's paintings, they were just that — minor acts of vandalism against which proper safeguards must be taken.
Exaggerating every minor act of vandalism and portraying them as issues related to free speech despite such acts of vandalism not being state-sanctioned makes a mockery of the concept of the right to free speech. What is really alarming is that the author brushes away the more serious assaults on our freedoms using the full force of the state's power.
The Government has never pretended to defend the individual's right to the freedom of expression. Instead, it has always used the excuse of maintaining public order to infringe on the basic rights of individuals. Some of the most egregious examples of the violation of the freedom of Indians include the censorship during the Emergency, the ban on Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, the ban by eight States on the movie The Da Vinci Code, the ban on the reproduction of the works of a Danish cartoonist, the arrest of individuals who set up websites and mailing lists expressing their views against the Communists and Ms Sonia Gandhi, and most recently, the vicious attack on Baba Ramdev and his supporters who dared to oppose corruption in the Government. In each of these cases, it was either a case of targeting Hindus or pandering to Muslims and Christians.
The protests by Hindus against MF Husain's works were clearly a demand for the equal application of the law. For more than a decade after MF Husain painted his first provocative works, Hindus demonstrated their tolerance for his right to paint whatever he wanted. They began their protests only after the Government pandered to Muslims in quick succession on the twin issues of the Shah Bano case and the ban on Salman Rushdie's book.
The author uses a clever bait-and-switch ploy to compare Hindus to Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran who had issued a fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie. Hindus who protested against MF Husain's works were not asking for the implementation of fatwas similar to those issued by the Ayatollah. They were asking for the law to be applied to Hindus in the same manner that Rajiv Gandhi had applied it to Muslims. Their objection was to the Government's application of the law in a partisan manner to favour Muslims. The author has conveniently replaced Rajiv Gandhi with Ayatollah Khomeini so that he can demonise Hindus.
The author bemoans the fact that there were lawsuits filed against MF Husain and calls this an abuse of the system. Filing lawsuits is a peaceful way of dealing with the issue. If he has a problem with the law, he should oppose the law, and he will find that Hindus support him in the quest for equality and freedom. Indeed, Hindus have consistently demanded that the Government implement a Uniform Civil Code. To keep the current law and selectively use it on Hindus while bemoaning it when used against a Muslim is unacceptable.
In a country like India with a population of around 1.2 billion people, there are bound to be all sorts of people. While some like the author may have attended charm school and are articulate, others have not been so fortunate to be literate and are rough around the edges. Their method of articulation is in the form of protests and may not be palatable to the author, but it would be sheer arrogance to reject their views on the grounds that they do not speak English.
Sometimes their methods may have crossed acceptable boundaries, but it is clear that they understand the principle of equality better than smooth-talking journalists who seem smitten by inferiority complex and want to be accepted by those in the West who call themselves liberals. It is very common for Westerners who call themselves liberals to support the equal application of the law in their countries while opposing the Uniform Civil Code in India. Many Indian journalists who are inferiority-ridden seek to boost their self-esteem by gaining acceptance among this category of Westerners and simply adopt their views without a proper analysis of the issues at hand.
The most disconcerting part in Ashok Malik's article is his objection to Hindus making their views known on the Internet. In India, as well as elsewhere, the flawed arguments of journalists and the many fictitious claims perpetrated by them have been confronted by facts posted on the Internet by ordinary people. In response, many insecure journalists have clamoured for imposing controls on the Internet and have lost no opportunity to criticise the Internet. It is this advocacy of imposing controls that should concern the advocates of free speech.
The author must realise that expressing one's views on the Internet is a right that must not be infringed upon even if such views are expressed by Hindus. Abridging such rights would make India a totalitarian state and cannot be accepted. Individuals must always have a right to their freedoms, while it must be the Government's duty to treat everyone in an even-handed manner. That is the crux of the issue that the author fails to grasp.
The author also makes a gross exaggeration when he claims that MF Husain quit India due to harassment by Hindus. Even after the lawsuits against MF Husain were filed, he continued to live in India for several years, including the years when his political opponents were in power. He quit India only after eyebrows were raised in certain quarters when it became known that his customers were always wealthy business houses based in India, but they conducted their financial transactions with MF Husain in a foreign country and channelled the money back to India. Sometimes, MF Husain has donated the proceeds of his sales to charities operated by members of business families. Such patterns in financial transactions are bound to raise suspicions as these patterns are usually associated with money-laundering schemes.
It is not inconceivable that the authorities in India were hot on his heels making him leave the country for good. Even if he left the country due to the lawsuits filed against him, it is wrong to blame Hindus since Hindus have always opposed draconian laws.
It is thus clear that it is Hindus who have been consistently correct on the twin issues of equality and freedom while their opponents have consistently presented wrong arguments to buttress their flawed positions.
-- The author can be reached at arvind@classical-liberal.net.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Pak Arrests Informants Who Aided Bin Laden Raid
Pakistan has arrested 5 of its citizens who helped the CIA to raid Osama Bin Laden's compound.
Now, if ever there was a sign that Pakistan was sheltering Bin Laden and opposed to seeing him killed, this would be it. Those who helped the US get Bin Laden have been arrested. So much for Pakistan being an "ally" in the war on AlQaeda.
Now, if ever there was a sign that Pakistan was sheltering Bin Laden and opposed to seeing him killed, this would be it. Those who helped the US get Bin Laden have been arrested. So much for Pakistan being an "ally" in the war on AlQaeda.
Will Japan Bend Toward China?
An article in Forbes predicts that Japan will bend toward China, which will come to be its main export market and trading partner.
I'd say that if this happens, prepare to see a Japan that gets humiliated and eventually even discarded. By then, of course, we'll have raised the price for partnering with us.
I'd say that if this happens, prepare to see a Japan that gets humiliated and eventually even discarded. By then, of course, we'll have raised the price for partnering with us.
subtle propaganda to support NREGA, a brain-dead socialist scheme which is really job security for UPA cadres siphoning funds off?
jun 14th, 2011 CE
this has all the hallmarks of a 'planted' piece thought up by the propaganda department of the UPA.
in reality, most of the NREGA funds are -- as always in the case of socialist schemes -- ending up with 'ghost' recipients, siphoned off by the middlemen.
NREGA has also been responsible in part for inflation -- the 70,000 crore that was printed up to spend on it is running around chasing goods.
@shashitharoor says print-enabled EVMs to be rolled out. EC is then making tacit admission existing EVMs have been hackable
jun 14th, 2011 CE
if EVMs have been hackable, then what is the probability they were *in fact* hacked in the 2009 elections? circumstantial evidence, including the hounding and arrest of security researchers who pointed out this possibility, suggests the probability was high.
which came first, religion or agriculture?
jun 14th, 2011 CE
prehistoric turkish site raises interesting questions. from the description, this sounds much like the universal nature-worshiping religion of which hinduism is the last surviving example. the violent semitic desert-dwelling death-worshipers have made mincemeat of all the other old faiths.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Reason Evolved to Win Arguments
It may be that the human capacity for reasoning developed as a tool to win arguments and debates, rather than as a path to find the truth, say researchers.
wsj: china scales down pricing, speed on bullet trains. $300 billion boondoggle. UPA, please note.
jun 13th, 2011 CE
china has sharply reduced the prices on its soon to be inaugurated peking-shanghai bullet train, and also scaled down its speed from 350 km/hour to 250 km/h. there is a plan to spend $300 billion on bullet trains by 2020 (i am sure UPA is paying attention to this juicy little investment that leaves the 2G loot in the dust. i am awaiting, any day, the announcement of the mumbai-delhi bullet train at $200 billion.)
the existing bullet trains are plagued by poor ridership and allegations of poor safety regulations and massive corruption, as well as unviability of operations, given the debt/asset ratio is already 57%.
time to revisit Ray's brilliant calcutta trilogy: seemabaddha, pratidwandi, jana aranya. is delhi 2011 = calcutta 1971?
jun 13th, 2011 CE
calcutta in 1971 is portrayed as a city of the morally degenerate, of pimps, and the insane.
even though there's much more money in delhi 2011, i wonder if it's as much of a hellhole as calcutta in 1971, depicted by ray in gritty black and white. delhi 2011 is a metaphor for a nation that has lost its moorings: a nation on the verge of a nervous breakdown. a failing state, sort of like russia after the implosion.
the characters of most interest are seemabaddha's (company limited's) organization man who engineers a fatal riot to save his sales job; and the young unemployed man in jana aranya (middleman) who pimps his friend's sister to a fat businessman. the alienated protagonist in pratidwandi (adversary) is not as memorable.
even though ray's classics remain charulata, the apu trilogy and aranyer din ratri, the calcutta trilogy are under-appreciated masterpieces, based on outstanding novels. i remember reading 'seemabaddha' when it was serialized in malayalam decades ago.
tangentially, i am also reminded of aravindan's uttarayanam and the calcutta-based vaastuhara. in a way, we are all becoming vaastuharas, those deprived not only of vastu but also vaastu (a sense of self) by the predatory State.
further reading:
Hinduism: Path of the Ancient Wisdom' 3rd Presentation Utube Link and Web site Link
jun 13th, 2011 CE
this is posted not as an endorsement necessarily, but on the request of the sender.
i say this because i have not personally watched the video or visited the site.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dr Hiro Badlani
Date: Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 7:34 AM
Subject: Hinduism: Path of the Ancient Wisdom' 3rd Presentation Utube Link and Web site Link
To:
From: Dr Hiro Badlani
Date: Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 7:34 AM
Subject: Hinduism: Path of the Ancient Wisdom' 3rd Presentation Utube Link and Web site Link
To:
I have now launched the 3rd Presentation (Roots of Hinduism) of my book 'Hinduism: Path of the Ancient Wisdom' on Utube. Earlier I had uploaded all 65 chapters on the web site. Both links are given below. In about 400 pages, the book describes all aspects of Hindu religion, culture and philosophy.