tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-110402532024-03-04T22:16:33.391-08:00I am no Peter PanHimsa Parmo Dharmah - Fug Me 10.0.0.1Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger181125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-72460815213279490802011-08-18T09:14:00.000-07:002011-08-18T09:22:58.056-07:00Pot Kettle Black<blockquote>Rajya Sabha passes motion to remove Justice Sen (<a href="http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/current-affairs/rajya-sabha-passes-motion-to-remove-justice-sen_577874.html">link</a>)<div><span class="Apple-style-span" >The Rajya Sabha on Thursday created history when the House passed a motion to remove a judge. The House passed the motion to remove Justice Soumitra Sen, a judge of the Calcutta High Court, who is accused of fund misappropriation when he was a lawyer.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >..............</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Sen had got 90 minutes to defend himself against charges of misappropriating funds by claiming he had been victimised. Sen repeatedly blamed former Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan for his predicament.</span></span></div></blockquote><div></div><div>
<br /></div><div>But what about the corruption charges against the accuser, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">former Chief Justice of India </span>K G BalaKrishnan (<a href="http://tehelka.com/story_main48.asp?filename=Ne150111THE_FATHER.asp#">link</a>)</div><div>
<br /></div><div></div><blockquote><div>Post retirement, Balakrishnan became head of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in June last year. Ever since, a rising crescendo of allegations of corruption have been heard, fuelled by the fact that his younger brother KG Bhaskaran and his two daughters and sons-in-law all acquired vast properties during his tenure as Chief Justice.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>TEHELKA has accessed documents that show that between 2007 and 2010, son-in-law Puliyanaveettil Vasu Sreenijan purchased property worth Rs. 1.85 crore. The current real estate value of these properties is in excess of Rs. 25 crore.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>This is a truly amazing story of wealth creation by a man who, while contesting elections from Kerala’s reserved Njarackkal Assembly constituency as a Congress candidate in 2006, had declared a bank balance of Rs. 25,000 apart from 24 g of gold.</div></blockquote><div> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-69880848291957362592011-04-21T07:20:00.000-07:002011-04-21T07:27:20.618-07:00Anna Hazare Anti Corruption Movement and Sonia GandhiSuper <a href="http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/columnists/anna-hazare-suspects-cannot-be-trusted/267090.html">article</a> by S Gurumurthy.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna Hazare, suspects cannot be trusted</span><br /><br />S Gurumurthy<br /><br />Anna Hazare started like Mahatma Gandhi would have done — fast unto death for a law against corruption. Anna bestirred the middle class after long, at least to talk against corruption on TV. Anna’s fast had a very limited objective — that civil society should be involved in drafting the Lokpal Bill — like Gandhiji’s salt march just wanted the salt law repealed. And like Gandhi’s march shook the British, Anna’s fast began shaking the regime in Delhi. Had the British talked to Gandhiji before his march ended, the salt tax would have gone, but the empire would not have been shaken. Drawing a lesson from the British, the rulers in Delhi talked with Anna and gave in to his symbolic demand. The result? Anna’s fast succeeded; but his cause?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna started off saying that “Remote control-se gadbadi hote hain” — that is, ‘remote control causes problems’. No seer is needed to say that Anna had hinted at only Sonia Gandhi as the problematic remote control. This was on April 6, 2011 (Rediff.com). Said CNN-IBN (April 8, 2011), he ‘ignited emotive cries of “Bharat Mata ki Jai!”, “Vande Mataram” — something anathema to the secular audience and the media. Added to that danger was the portrait of Bharat Mata </span>– that which adorns saffron platforms — as the backdrop. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna on fast in this setting, hinting at Sonia Gandhi as the problematic remote control and the fire he set across the country frightened the rulers.</span><br /><br />The scared government forthwith went on the backfoot; it desperately looked for empathetic interlocutors to undo the damage occurring hour-to-hour on 24x7 TV channels. Sonia Gandhi forthwith appealed to Anna to give up the fast in the interest of his health assuring that his views would receive the full attention of the government. Her National Advisory Committee’s subcommittee said it would back the Lokpal Bill. Sensing victory Anna wrote to Sonia, “I am grateful for your concern about my health. The sub-committee of National Advisory Council had agreed with a broad content of the General Lokpal bill barring two issues. We request to get the drafts discussed at a full meeting in the NAC at the earliest and recommend the outcome. I am relieved to know that you fully support the cause.”<br /><br />In the next couple of days it was all over — not only the fast but, more. <span style="font-weight: bold;">A simple man uninitiated to the vicious secular politics, Anna had a word of compliment for Narendra Modi. Hell broke lose. This was sufficient to undo the effect of Anna’s fast; to question his secular credentials; to throw him off balance. His own team began deriding him. The subcommittee of Sonia’s NAC was the first to turn its back on Anna.</span> Kapil Sibals, Digvijay Singhs, Manish Tiwaris and the rest were let lose on Anna. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sibal even gloated that Anna and Co wilted under pressure to dilute the law. Anna had thus the first taste of what a corrupt system could do to besmirch the reputation of those who dare it. </span>To divert from the sequence and recall my own personal experience in fighting corruption, the government even used a forged letter to arrest me for ‘espionage’. This was way back in 1987 when some morals were still in evidence in public life. Now back to the sequence.<br /><br />Then came the news of the CD against Bhushans. Few can question the honesty of Bhushans. Yet, Anna, confused, first said that he could not guarantee anyone’s honesty other than his own; then when the news broke out that the CD could be forged, he came out in their defence. <span style="font-weight: bold;">He wrote to Sonia Gandhi asking her to stop her minions — namely the likes of Sibals and Digvijays, according to the media — from smearing the civil society nominees or face counter smear against the government nominees</span>! Going further, Anna asked her “to fight together” to defeat the designs of the corrupt forces. The Congress Party responded asking, “how can there be a caveat on expression of views in a vibrant and democratic society?” and saying that “discourse cannot be one-sided affair”. No further evidence is needed for the paralysis in the Lokpal Bill committee.<br /><br />Two things are clear now. One, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna Hazare understands that only the remote controller Sonia Gandhi — not the PM — matters in the UPA regime.</span> Here he is undisputedly right. Second, he thinks, she can join the fight against corruption. This shows his ignorance. Anna’s suspicion of corruption seems limited to only Sharad Pawar’s. He is obviously unaware of the serious charges of corruption and of monies illegally held abroad against Sonia Gandhi. Anna does not seem to know that the popular Swiss magazine Schweizer Illustrierte (dated November 11, 1991) had disclosed that deposits of 2.2 billion Swiss Francs existed in secret Swiss banks accounts of late Rajiv Gandhi. Likewise the declassified KGB documents, analysed by Yuvegina Albats, an award-winning Russian journalist, showed that Rajiv Gandhi had thanked the USSR in 1985 for the financial benefits his family and his son, Rahul Gandhi, had received. Anna may not be aware that the former Swedish Investigation Bureau’s chief Sten Lindstorm had written repeatedly that Sonia Gandhi ought to be interrogated in the Bofors payoff to Quattrocchi. Yet Sonia Gandhi repeatedly defended Quattrocchi. Had Anna known these facts, would he have asked her to join the fight against corruption?<br /><br />Anna asked for Sharad’s head because he suspected him as corrupt. But as yet there is no such open charge against Sharad Pawar like the ones against Sonia Gandhi and her family. Sonia Gandhi or her family has not even sued any one of some half-a-dozen writers who have repeated these charges. If ever the Lokpal Bill were to become the law, she may even be the subject of probe by the Lokpal. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna must know that Sonia Gandhi is as much suspected of corruption as Sharad Pawar, and more. Can suspects in corruption be trusted to fight the corrupt?</span><br /></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-58639462019815302752011-03-01T20:39:00.000-08:002011-03-01T20:44:41.287-08:00HC notice to Rahul Gandhi on missing girl<a href="http://www.rediff.com/news/report/hc-notice-to-rahul-gandhi-on-missing-girl/20110301.htm">source</a><br />March 01, 2011 20:45 IST<br />The Lucknow [ Images ] bench of Allahabad high court on Tuesday issued notice to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi [ Images ] on a petition seeking information about the whereabouts of a missing girl and her family.<br /><br />The girl and her family are alleged to be "untraceable" ever since they called on Rahul during one of his visit to his parliamentary constituency, Amethi on December 13, 2006.<br /><br />Moving a petition on behalf of the family, Kishore Samrite, former Samajwadi Party MLA from Madhya Pradesh [ Images ], has accused the Congress celebrity and his five foreigner friends of indulging in criminal assault on the 24-year-old Sukanya Singh.<br /><br />Claiming to have learnt this from some news website, the petitioner has stated, "I was moved by the news. So I came all the way from my home in Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh to Amethi where I found the girl's house locked. Local villagers were tight-lipped about the whereabouts of the family."<br /><br />He has, therefore, sought the intervention of the Allahabad high court "to issue a writ of Habeas Corpus to Rahul Gandhi to produce the missing girl Sukanya, her father Balram Singh and mother Savitri Singh."<br /><br />While issuing the notice, a single judge bench comprising Justice SN Shukla did not fix any date for hearing the case, the petitioner's advocate Surya Mani Raikwar told rediff.com.<br /><span class="grey1">Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-12924079693112592602010-12-12T10:53:00.000-08:002010-12-12T10:59:05.809-08:00Self styled 'Secular' Congress plays religious politics<a href="http://expressbuzz.com/nation/post-2611-congress-played-religious-politics/230408.html">source</a><span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblfirstpublish"><br />First Published : </span><span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblPublishedDate">11 Dec 2010 02:24:08 PM IST</span> <div id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_dvLastUpdate" style="float: left; width: 340px; margin-bottom: 4px; display: none;" class="time"> <span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lbllastUpdate">Last Updated : </span><span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblModifiedDate"></span></div> <br /> <span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblDetailNews1"><br />WASHINGTON: Post 26/11, a section of the Congress leadership was seen playing religious politics after one of its leaders, A R Antulay, implied that Hindutva forces may have been involved in the Mumbai terror attacks, according to a confidential memo by the then US ambassador to India, David Mulford, released by WikiLeaks."<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Congress Party, after first distancing itself from the comments (of Antulay, the then minority affairs minister), two days later issued a contradictory statement which implicitly endorsed the conspiracy. During this time, Antulay's completely unsubstantiated claims gained support in ... Indian-Muslim community</span>," Mulford wrote in his secret cable to the State Department on December 23, 2008."<span style="font-weight: bold;">Hoping to foster that support for upcoming national elections, the Congress Party cynically pulled back from its original dismissal and lent credence to the conspiracy</span>," Mulford wrote.Regardless of Home Minister P Chidambaram's dismissal of Antulay's comments, the Indian-Muslim community "will continue to believe they are unfairly targeted by law enforcement and that those who investigate the truth are silenced," he said in the cable."<span style="font-weight: bold;">The entire episode demonstrates that the Congress Party will readily stoop to the old caste/religious-based politics if it feels it is in its interest</span>," Mulford alleged, according to the cable posted by WikiLeaks on its website yesterday. The United States has neither confirmed or denied the authenticity of these cables, but said that some 250,000 papers have been stolen from its system and demanded that WikiLeaks the whistle blower website return them back to the State Department.According to WikiLeaks, there are some 1,300 cables from the US embassy in New Delhi. However, only half a dozen of them have been posted by it on its website.Mulford said while the killing of three high-level law enforcement officers during the Mumbai attacks, including ATS chief Hemant Karkare, "is a remarkable coincidence, <span style="font-weight: bold;">the Congress Party's initial reaction to Antulay's outrageous comments was correct.""But as support seemed to swell among Muslims for Antulay's unsubstantiated claims, crass political opportunism swayed the thinking of some Congress Party leaders</span>," he wrote. "What's more, the (Congress) party made the cynical political calculation to lend credence to the conspiracy even after its recent emboldening state elections victories. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The party chose to pander to Muslims' fears, providing impetus for those in the Muslim community who will continue to play up the conspiracy theory</span>," Mulford wrote in his cable.While "cooler heads" eventually prevailed within the Congress leadership, the idea that the <span style="font-weight: bold;">party would entertain "such outlandish claims proved once again that many party leaders are still wedded to the old identity politics</span>," he said.The 79-year-old Antulay "was probably bewildered to find that his remarks, similar in vein to what he would have routinely made in the past to attack the BJP, created such a furor this time," Mulford said.The cable noted that Antulay "sparked a political controversy on December 17 with comments insinuating that the killing of Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) Chief Hemant Karkare by the Mumbai terrorists was somehow linked to Karkare's investigation of (Malegaon) bombings in which radical Hindus are suspected." </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-91024280269687189802010-07-23T16:52:00.001-07:002010-07-23T17:02:36.992-07:00Muttiah Muralidaran: Best Bowler The World Has Ever Seen Retires<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040804/images/4murali.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 170px; height: 233px;" src="http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040804/images/4murali.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Emotionally confused, both sad and happy. Sad to see the Sri Lankan ace, Murali go but happy that Indian batsmen (and other countries' batsmen, for that matter ) don't have to face him. Even in his last match, Murali went on high with 8 wickets (he has 800 in all) against us. As a Chennai Super King fan (atleast, for the last 3 seasons of Indian Premier League), would love to see him retained for next IPL.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Bye Bye MURALIDARAN and may God bless you and your family forever.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-32805739682012814592010-07-19T10:51:00.000-07:002010-07-19T10:55:12.312-07:00Jammu and Kashmir<div><b><a href="http://www1.lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pageid=11&sectid=edid=&edlabel=CAP&mydateHid=19-07-2010&pubname=Times+of+India+-+Delhi&edname=&articleid=Ar01102&publabel=TOI&max=true"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Source</span></a><br /></b><blockquote><b>J&Ks dependency on Centre alarming </b><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><i>Subodh Varma TIMES INSIGHT GROUP </i></span><br /><br />While Jammu & Kashmir continues through an endless cycle of calm-confrontation-curfew,it is facing a disastrous financial situation.Recently released Reserve Bank of India data on state finances shows how highly dependent J&K is on the central governments support.<br />In 2009-10,J&K received Rs 13,252 crore as grants from the Centre,which constitutes nearly 60% of the states total expenditure.In fact,for the past two decades since the separatist movement spread in the Kashmir valley,the centre has been propping up the state through similar doles.In all,J&K has received grants amounting to Rs 94,409 crore between 1989-90 and 2009-10.<br />For over a decade,from 1994-95 to 2005-06,the state received 10-12 % of all grants disbursed by the central government to the states.In 2009-10,this proportion had dipped slightly to about 8%.This is way above J&Ks share of Indias population,which is a mere 1%.<br />Is the Centre providing similar support to the other hotspot of insurgency in India the northeast Not quite.According to the RBI report,in 2009-10,the eight northeastern states received grants and loans worth Rs 29,084 crore from the Centre,which was 44% of their combined total expenditure,which is significantly lower than in J&K.These figures raise two questions about J&K : one,how is this money being spent,and two,why is it not helping in soothing the discontent that is obviously so widespread<br />Spending on the social sector schools,health,rural development,etc in J&K is surprisingly low at about 30% of aggregate expenditure.That is the fourth lowest proportion among all states.The all-state average is 40% and states like Chhattisgarh (54%),Maharashtra (50%) and Rajasthan (46%) do much better.What is even more surprising in the case of J&K is that it has been stagnating at this level for nearly thirty years.<br />As can be expected for a mountainous region wracked by insurgency,administrative expenditure is high in J&K,working out to about 12% of all expenditure.But Himachal and Sikkim,other Himalayan states,spend only about 6% on administration.So,perhaps J&Ks high administrative costs are largely due to the disturbed situation.But Tripura with 16% and Mizoram with 14% of funds spent on administration have managed to attain stability and peace.Obviously,the high expenditure on administration in J&K is not really working.<br />A clue to this conundrum can be found in the per capita spending by state governments.Three mountainous border states,Sikkim,Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh,which have had militancy problems,but have been relatively stable for a long period,spent Rs 59 lakh,Rs 35 lakh and Rs 38 lakh per capita in 2009-10.<br />In J&K,the annual per capita spending by the state is far short of this,at about Rs 20 lakh.Meghalaya,Manipur and Nagaland all states wracked by insurgency to varying degrees have similar spending levels ranging between Rs 18 to 21 lakh per capita per annum.So,part of the answer to the question as to why pouring money into J&K is not solving the problem lies in the fact that not enough money is being spent,because the state itself is not generating enough revenue.The other part,of course,is whether money shown as spent is really reaching the people.Whats your guess.</blockquote>Freeloading islamic bigots of Kashmir and christian terrorism infested North East. Even dogs do not bite the hand that feeds them.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-55627600554243580872010-06-30T22:33:00.000-07:002010-06-30T23:20:11.319-07:00Hiring based on the religion of the applicant<blockquote><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Huge-rise-in-central-govt-hiring-from-minorities/articleshow/6072762.cms">Numbers sourced </a>from the ministry of minority affairs <span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">{should <span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">be renamed </span></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">ministry of </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">muslim</span> and christian affairs}</span> show that 2009 registered a huge six-fold increase in the number of people from minority communities recruited to jobs in public sector banks and other public sector financial institutions compared to 2007. The story, however, does not end there. The recruitment of minorities into railway jobs doubled from 2007 to 2009 and a strong surge was also visible in their appointments in the paramilitary forces and various public sector undertakings (PSUs).<br /><br />The change, however, has not come about on its own. It is the result of a concerted policy effort by Manmohan Singh's government which first brought out the 'Prime Minister's New 15-Point Programme for Welfare of Minorities' in June 2006. Among other things - like better access for minorities to education and giving technical training to improve their skills - the programme clearly said that "special consideration" would be given to members of minority communities for filling up posts in "police, railways, nationalized banks and PSUs".<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">There is no religion-based quota for jobs in India. However, in this case, the PM's words were followed by action</span> and on January 8, 2007, the Department of Personnel & Training circulated revised guidelines to all central ministries and departments asking them to give special consideration to the recruitment of minorities in central government offices and central PSUs.</blockquote>Re the bolded part above, one need not be Einstein to understand simple things - jobs are given based on an applicant's religion, not merit, but it is still not a religion based quota, huh. It is a religion based quota, through the backdoor, since if made into a law, it'll be opposed tooth and nail. What is next best thing to do? Pressurize and drop hints to hire people based on their religion without going through a legal process and discriminate against people belonging to other religions.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-64055192435555089642010-06-18T14:04:00.000-07:002010-06-18T14:07:34.293-07:00Britain bans Islamic preacher Zakir NaikKudos to Britain for taking a step in the right direction and <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Britain-bans-Islamic-preacher-Zakir-Naik/articleshow/6064154.cms">banning</a> this hate mongering joke of a man.<br /><br />PTI, Jun 18, 2010, 06.12pm IST<br />LONDON: Britain has banned controversial Indian Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik, who once claimed that "every Muslim should be a terrorist," from entering the country, citing his "unacceptable behaviour".<br /><br />Home Secretary Theresa May said 44-year-old Naik would not be allowed to enter the country under laws that can exclude anyone who writes or publishes material that can "foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence".<br /><br />Indian television preacher Naik was due to give a series of lectures at arenas in Wembley and Sheffield.<br /><br />May said the doctor was being excluded because repeated comments attributed to him was evidence of his "unacceptable behaviour".<br /><br />She said: "Coming to the UK is a privilege not a right, and I am not willing to allow those who might not be conducive to the public good to enter the UK."<br /><br />Website footage had shown the preacher making the claim that every Muslim should embrace terrorism.<br /><br />Naik said Muslims should beware of people saying Osama bin Laden was right or wrong, adding: "If you ask my view, if given the truth, if he is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him.<br /><br />If he is terrorising the terrorists, if he is terrorising America the terrorist, the biggest terrorist, every Muslim should be a terrorist."<br /><br />He is also reported as saying that western women make themselves "more susceptible to rape" by wearing revealing clothing.<br /><br />Mumbai-born Naik is a medical doctor by profession, having attained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from the University of Mumbai.<br /><br />Naik is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) which is a non-profit organisation. It also owns and broadcasts the free-to-air global Peace TV channel.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-48202483619359717322010-06-17T16:18:00.000-07:002010-06-17T16:25:50.773-07:0013 Naxal Terrorism supporters heldJun 18, 2010<br />Kolkata: The West Bengal police on Wednesday arrested 13 Maoist sympathisers, including a scientist, a professor and an author. They have been charged with sedition and waging war against the state. Among others detained, members of human rights group APDR, were let off.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nisha Biswas</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">scientist of Central Ceramic and Glass Research Centre</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kanishka Choudhury, professor of Behala college and author-activist Manik Mondal</span> were produced in a Midnapore court on Wednesday.<br /><br />They were picked up on Tuesday along with 70 others by the joint security forces while trying to meet Maoist leaders in Lalgarh. Now, they have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days along with 10 others.<br /><br />The arrests came just before the joint forces did their most successful operation in Lalgarh, only two days before the completion of one year of their operation. At least eight Maoists were killed. Over the past 12 months, the forces had killed only 12 Maoists. Maoists killed many more, including 24 para-military soldiers in one single attack.<br /><br />It was not without reason that for the first time, the joint forces personnel were seen congratulating each other.<br /><br />Ardhendu Saha, public prosecutor said, “<span style="font-weight: bold;">They said that they had come for a survey but the police realised that they were instigating villagers with anti-national thoughts.</span> That’s why they were arrested.”<br /><br />The West Bengal police sources have told CNN-IBN that the arrested scientist, professor and author figured in their intelligence reports for the past 18 months. Their phone conversation have been tapped and recorded. Police claim they are incriminating enough to slap them with charges of sedition and trying to wage war against the state. Human rights groups have called the arrests a farce.<br /><br />Sujato Bhadra, Association For Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR)<span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">{A <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/war_on_maoists_activists_feel_the_heat.php">chargesheeted</a> naxal terrorist overground supporting group like PUCL, PUDR}</span> said, “If there is any evidence that they were supporting Maoist organisations, they (police) could have arrested them much earlier.”<br /><br />West Bengal police's record to produce evidence against the Maoists and their sympathisers isn't exactly glorious. At the same time, it's clear that the crackdown has started on the sympathisers who provide money and hideouts to the Maoists<br /><br />(With inputs from Sougata Mukhopadhyay)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-24874552184472607142010-06-13T03:50:00.000-07:002010-06-13T03:53:17.306-07:00History of NagalandWas searching for history of Nagaland and came across this <a href="http://tarun-vijay.blogspot.com/2007/10/whose-interest-is-national-anyway.html">article</a> by Sh. Tarun Vijay,<br /><br /><blockquote>Manipuris also feel threatened by the growing clout of the separatist Naga organizations like National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isaac-Muivah group (NSCN-IM) which demands a chunk from Manipur to create a "Greater Nagalim for Christ". In fact, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nagaland was created on December 1, 1963 slicing off parts of Assam, namely Naga Hills, Tuensang district and Dimapur after a fierce insurgency launched by A Z Phizo, who took refuge in London under British patronage and the Church's support. </span>They still nourish a dream to create a Christian-dominated colony serving British and US interests in the region and their "war cry" is "Republic of Nagalim for Christ."</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-10071721143399267262010-06-12T07:27:00.000-07:002010-06-12T07:41:01.559-07:00An example of routine media biasNo debates or shrill rants by Burka Dutt and uND-TV and total silence of our limp dick media on this molester mullah shows the persistent media bias in favour of muslims and a lack of character amongst the greedy and tankhaiya media honchos. Samir and Vineet Jain, protectors of freedom of press, where are you chaps and why this news does not make the front page? Counting dollars or throwing Page 3 parties where I see your ugly faces often, eh?<br /><br /><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Surat/Maulvi-accused-of-molesting-minor-girl-students/articleshow/6038596.cms">source</a><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Maulvi accused of molesting minor girl students</span><br />TNN, Jun 11, 2010, 09.27pm IST<br /><br />SURAT: A complaint has been lodged at Kosamba police station against a maulvi, who has been accused of molesting girls at the madrasa and forcing them to have oral sex with him. Parents of two seven-year-old girls have told police that maulvi Mahebub Malek has been victimising their daughters at the madrasa.<br /><br />Police started investigation on Friday against the accused after the complaint of sexual molestation was lodged.<br /><br />The incident came to light when one of the victims informed her parents. The girl allegedly told them that the maulvi forced her and other girls to do oral sex and threatened them not to say anything about it to anyone. She alleged that the girls were being molested by him for the past few months.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-39147246679667518582010-06-03T21:22:00.000-07:002010-06-03T21:24:28.438-07:00Publicity Hungry and Socialist Yahoo Arundhati Roy<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Publicity-craving-Arundhati-Roy-fancies-being-Suu-Kyi-of-wrong-things/articleshow/6009481.cms">Publicity craving Arundhati Roy fancies being Suu Kyi of wrong things</a><br /><br />NEW DELHI: Writer-activist Arundhati Roy, who has been throwing pity parties for Maoists, has said that Naxalism should be an “armed movement.”<br /><br />“It ought to be an armed movement. Gandhian way of opposition needs an audience, which is absent here. People have debated long before choosing this form of struggle, Ms Roy, who had saluted the people of Dantewada after 76 CRPF and police personnel were butchered by Maoists in one of the deadliest attack targeting security forces, said.<br /><br />“I am on this side of line. I do not care... pick me up put me in jail,” she said while delivering a lecture, ‘The War on People’ organised by the Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights in Mumbai on Wednesday night.<br /><br />Ms Roy, a regular at the cop-bashing seminars organised by those engaged in white-washing terror unleashed by Maoists, purveyed the by-now-familiar ‘root cause’ theory. She termed the Naxalite violence as a corollary to the battle between tribals and corporate houses to gain control over natural resources like minerals, water and forests.<br /><br />“What the government calls Maoists corridor, is in fact MoU-ist corridor. You have an MoU on every mountain, river...MoUs signed by biggest corporations in the world who are waiting to gain hold of the resources,” Ms Roy said.<br /><br />The activist was scathing in her attack of those who are reluctant to buy into her dangerous theory that Naxalism movement alone can provide answers to current problems. “The Naxal movement could be nothing but an armed struggle. I am not supporting violence. But I am also completely against contemptuous atrocities-based political analysis,” she said.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-72700375725676521182010-05-26T08:11:00.000-07:002010-05-26T08:20:01.406-07:00Islamist discrimination goes on, UPA looks the other way<a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/Govt-thwarting-return-of-migrants-to-valley/Article1-547097.aspx">'Govt thwarting return of migrants to valley'</a><br /><blockquote>An organisation of Kashmiri Pandits on Saturday accused Kupwara district administration of taking possession of their land and thwarting the chances of their return to their ancestral homes in the valley.<br /><br />"Not the Muslims of Kupwara, but district administration itself is acquiring the land of Kashmiri Pandits in four villages of the district, thereby thwarting the ways and means for return of KPs to their ancestral homes", President of Sanatan Dharam Sabha (SDS) B L Pandita told reporters.<br /><br />He alleged that the administration in the border district had acquired land of Kashmiri Pandits in villages of Kherman Hanood, Kherman Nandram, Khanabal and Handwara.<br /><br />The district administration has been acquiring the leftover land of KP migrants in these villages for construction of stadium, floriculture park, tourism hut and police line in violation of the provisions of J&K Migrant Immovable Property (Preservation, Protection and Restrain on distress sale) Act 1997, he said.<br /><br />The officers of the district administration have been doing it despite the circulars issued by Revenue Department vide No. Rev/mr/56/2009 dated July 14, 2009 in which the state government has said that acquiring properties of migrants is contradictory to its policy and will upset the process of return and rehabilitation of migrants to the valley, Pandita said.</blockquote><a href="http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1233">Jazia on Amarnath yatra: furthering the Islamic cause </a><br />Nancy Kaul<br />21 May 2010<br /><br /><blockquote>The dark ages of Islamic domination seem to be slowly seeping back into independent India. First was the Kashmiri Muslim hegemony of not allowing land and infrastructure for Hindu yatris; and now Jazia has been levied on the pilgrims and langars for the revered Amarnath Yatra.<br /><br />In their appeasement of Muslims, the Omar Abdullah Government and Governor N.N. Vohra-led Sri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), have fallen on the repressive Mughal policy of imposing Jazia (religious tax) on Hindus in their very own country.<br /><br />The abode of Lord Shiva, Amriteswara tirtha, is a pilgrimage precious to Hindus; the Shiva lingam manifests itself in the holy cave of Sri Amarnathji. The yatra to Sri Amarnath is as old as the history of Kashmir and Neelmat Purana bears testimony to this. Rishi Kashyap, Adi Sankara, Vivekananda and the common Hindu find peace and solace in the darshan of the Holy Lingam; the soul is entrenched in the divine manifestation.<br /><br />A levy of Rs 15/- from each yatri (pilgrim) for registration was not considered sufficient by the authorities, so they imposed a charge of Rs 2,800/- per day (earlier Rs 300/day) on the buses and trucks, and Rs 2,300/- on light vehicles, carrying food supplies and pilgrims, in addition to the toll tax on entering the State of Jammu & Kashmir at Lakhanpur. The State Government has not stopped at this, and has further sponsored the radicalisation process by asking the Langar committees, which constitute religious and social organisation, to deposit a non-refundable sum of Rs 25,000/-! At the same time, the area on which the langars are to run has been considerably reduced.<br /><br />The proponents of Islam have thus imposed religious tax on Hindu yatris, whereas they spend thousands of lakhs of rupees on Muslims in terms of Urs and Haj.<br /><br />Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in one breath does away with the tax on houseboat owners and hoteliers in Kashmir, and on the other hand imposes Jazia on Hindus; they will have to pay even for placing their shoes in the racks near the cave and toll on entering the State. These measures reek of an illogical bent towards Islamic talibanisation and immense hatred channelled at slighting the religious sentiments of the Hindus.<br /><br />Sri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) is in charge of the yatra and the money that the devotees offer. The Board has yet to come clean on how the money is used. The money accumulated should have been used for infrastructure development and yatri comfort; however, typically this money donated by Hindus is being diverted towards the amusement and entertainment of Kashmiri Muslims. In 2006, the then Governor Lt Gen (retd) S.K. Sinha launched a Sufi festival (SASB along with ICCR) in Srinagar on the banks of the Dal Lake, where artistes from Pakistan apart from others participated, with the money of Sri Amarnath Shrine Board! Lakhs was spent and since then ever year this sham of Sufism is conducted from the money of the devotees of Amarnath ji.<br /><br />Governor Vohra has increased the paradigm of this entertainment sham and it continues. The role of Shri Vohra during the Amarnath Yatra and his overtures to Muslims are neither reformed nor new. His closeness to the People’s Democratic Party is no secret, and along with the Kashmiri Muslims he was largely responsible for the atrocities heaped on the nationalistic Jammu population when they stood up for the Yatra in 2008.<br /><br />As Chairman of the SASB, N.N. Vohra wanted Muslims as Board members, a move which would have meant direct Muslim interference in a Hindu shrine, whereas no moves to include Hindus in Wakf Boards are ever conceived. Yet the present committee of six members has so far maintained silence over this issue.<br /><br />The present Chief Minister, who has yet to prove his acumen, has rushed to play to the separatist gallery. His by now famous speech in Parliament, “I am a Muslim and I am an Indian…” and, “not even an inch of land will be given,” with reference to the Amarnath agitation of Jammu cannot be wished away.<br /><br />Omar Abdullah is so emotionally overwrought for the gun-totting terrorists and their life in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, where they went for terror training to unleash violence in Jammu & Kashmir and the rest of India, that he wants the Centre not to ask them to surrender, but to give them an honourable return. He wants the Central Government to clear four crossover points for them to return to India with their families. Such magnanimity for one group, such pettiness for another community!<br /><br />The terror network that these terrorism-trained Kashmiri Muslims are part of in PoK and Pakistan is still intact; so is the motive to unleash terror on India through overt and covert means and thousand cuts. Pakistan has not resiled from its agenda of terrorism against India, nor has Lashkar-e-Toiba and many such terror factories. In a recent meeting organized by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (new name of the banned LeT) in Lahore, it demanded that the government of Pakistan should either stop India from building dams on rivers flowing into Pakistan or give a ‘free hand’ to the ‘Kashmiri mujahideen’ (read terrorists) to deal with the issue. After the meeting a joint declaration was issued by the JuD which asked the Pakistan government to keep open the option of using force to protect its water resources if India does not stop work on projects on rivers flowing into the country.<br /><br />The head of JuD's political affairs wing, Abdur Rehman Makki, and the group's Pakistan Water Movement convener, Hafiz Safullah Mansoor, presided over the meet. It included representatives of major political parties including the Pakistan Peoples Party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the Jamaat-e-Islami and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Tehrik-e-Insaaf.<br /><br />Interestingly, Omar Abdullah wants the Indian State to give amnesty to terrorists who could still be part of this terror network. The terror network with the active help of Pakistan is also taking advantage of the trade and bus routes between Kashmir and POK. Recently, two PoK citizens were sent to judicial lock-up for smuggling satellite phones for a commander and working for militants (read terrorists). One of them had reached Poonch via the weekly Poonch-Rawlakote bus service, while the other was arrested in Mendhar for travelling via the Wagah border.<br /><br />Another ISI agent managed to return to PoK after spending a month in Mendhar; his involvement surfaced only after he had gone back. Earlier, few traders on Uri-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawlakote route were found working for militants/terrorists by providing hawala money which was being used to fund militancy and terrorism. Sources confirm that the intelligence agencies have issued an alert on this front again.<br /><br />As if this was not enough, Omar Abdullah has further rushed to the rescue of terrorist Afzal Guru, who has been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court for masterminding the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001. He wants Afzal Guru to be treated like other criminals. A person holding the office of Chief Minister should know better, for Afzal Guru is no criminal but a terrorist. This love for a terrorist is followed by another MLA of Kashmir.<br /><br />Abdul Rashid, MLA from Langate, attended the funeral prayers of three terrorists killed in a recent encounter with security forces in Handwara area of the frontier Kupwara district. A fortnight ago, the Army launched Operation Thunder Strike, to neutralize terrorists. The MLA in his speech in Shazipora grounds wanted the government to talk to armed terrorists. “The key of peace lies with militants, and there should be direct negotiations with them for they have rendered sacrifices,” he said.<br /><br />This appalling love for Islamic terrorists and Jazia for Hindu Yatris raises vital questions about the efforts of Pakistan, terror organisations, and the likes of Omar, Mufti, Rashid and others. The effort to Talibanise Indian Muslim society is getting a fillip by such overt and covert actions.<br /><br />It will be pertinent to watch what the UPA chairperson will do about this tax on Amarnath, as it was her mother-in-law and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who desired the concrete flight of stairs to be made in the 1970s; Indira ji’s love for Shiva and Shakti is well known. Her interpretation of Kashmir was not Islam, but the thousands of years of Advaita Shaivism and Shakti – the fountainhead of Indian Hindu Sanskriti and heritage. She would visit Amarnath and a Shakti peeth in Kashmir with deep devotion.<br /><br />Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will also have to answer the nation for this talibanisation in Jammu & Kashmir under his watch. On a recent visit to Saudi Arabia, First Lady Gursharan Kaur, the Prime Minister’s wife, insisted on wearing her usual dress of sari and half-sleeve blouse. Will she stand up this time too?<br /><br />Will the Prime Minister, for he had said:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Deh shiva var mohe hai shubh karman te kabhun na daroon</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">na daroon ersoh jab chahe laroon, nishche kar apni jeet karoon</span><br /><br />[O Siva, grant me the boon that I will never fear to do the right action<br /><br />That I will not fear, will fight when I want, and with determination will be victorious]<br /><br />-Guru Gobind Singh<br /><br /> Or do Indians have to look for Guru Teg Bahadur, Guru Gobind Singh, and Shivaji Maharaj.<br />The author is convener, Daughters of Vitasta</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-58278190125742346612010-05-24T13:34:00.000-07:002010-05-24T13:39:03.221-07:00Facebook Blocks Access in India to Controversial Page<p>Where are the freedom of speech and expression perverts? Practicing their art selectively, i am sure.<br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p>Facebook has<a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/196984/facebook_blocks_access_in_india_to_controversial_page.html"> blocked in India</a> the controversial "Everybody draw Mohammed Day!" page that last week led to the site being banned in Pakistan.</p><p>The move follows protests by Muslims in the country over the page which invites users to put up caricatures of Prophet Mohammed.</p><p>"Out of respect for the local regulations, standards and customs, we have decided to restrict access to the 'Everyone Draw Mohammed!' page from India, after being contacted by authorities and reviewing the matter closely," a spokeswoman for Facebook said on Sunday in an email. </p><p>We have not removed the Page from Facebook, but have only restricted access to it from India," she added.</p><p>The page was inaccessible from India from late Saturday.</p><p>Officials at India's Departments of Telecommunications and Ministry of Home Affairs said on Sunday that they were not aware of the Indian government blocking the site. The country's Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 allows the government to block web sites under certain conditions.</p></blockquote><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-32882954260413561022010-05-19T13:18:00.000-07:002010-05-19T13:43:15.549-07:00Sonia Gandhi statement on Maoists hailedWell, well, well after self imposed maun vrat, do <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sonia-gandhi-statement-on-maoists-hailed_1384800">read </a>Sonia Maino's opinion on Maoist terrorism. As soon as the statement came out, it was hailed by poisonous people(bolded below in the article) masquerading as writers, academics basically Naxal-Lites if not full naxal terrorists. Surely, if these bigoted people hail this statement, it cannot be good for the common folks but excellent news for their goonda comrades.<br /><blockquote>New Delhi: Writers, academics and jurists have hailed Congress president Sonia Gandhi's statement that the "extreme neglect" of tribal areas is linked to Maoist insurgency.<br /><br />"We welcome the statement ... that the extreme neglect of the tribal areas is at the root of the present crisis in those (Maoist) regions," they said in a joint statement here.<br /><br />"We hope this appreciation of the need to go deeper into the question would lead to initiatives for immediate cessation of hostilities and dialogue so that the process of people-oriented development can be made feasible."<br /><br />The signatories to the statement include <span style="font-weight: bold;">former Supreme Court judges VR Krishna Iyer and PB Sawant, poets Shankar Ghosh and Joy Goswami, writers Mahasweta DevI and Arundhati Roy, historian Romila Thapar, playwright Bibhas Chakraborty, former Indian ambassador to Portugal Madhu Bhaduri, academics Amit Bhaduri, Amit Bhattacharyya, PK Vijayan and Randhir Singh, and Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan</span>.<br /><br />The statement was issued just before Maoist guerrillas blasted a bus in Chhattisgarh Monday killing more than 30 people. The Maoists are most active in tribal areas, which are home to the poorest of the poor in the country.</blockquote>Lets keep the Naxal-Lite (bolded above) scumbags rants and breastbeatings aside and focus on the statement of Sonia Maino. Just see how extremely neglected was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobad_Ghandy#Early_life">Kobad Gandhi</a>, a naxalite thug arrested by the police in 2009?<br /><blockquote>Kobad Ghandy was born to Nergis and Adi, a senior finance executive in Glaxo. He hails from a wealthy Gujarati Parsi family in Mumbai. They lived in a huge house at Worli Seaface in Bombay. His sister, Maharukh, ran a family hotel in Mahableshwar with her husband. His brother, Farokh, ran an ice-cream unit.<br /><br />He did his schooling from Doon School, where he was Congress leader, Sanjay Gandhi's classmate. He went to St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and did his chartered accountancy from London.</blockquote>Tsk tsk tsk, see how poor and extremely neglected was Kobad!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-49569121775802110302010-05-18T08:38:00.000-07:002010-05-18T08:41:38.158-07:00<span class="arttle"></span><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Judicial-activism-to-blame-for-Naxal-rise/articleshow/5942764.cms">Judicial activism to blame for Naxal rise</a><br /><blockquote>MYSORE: Union law minister Veerappa Moily on Monday asked the judiciary to restrain itself from admitting PILs and said "unrealistic judicial activism on the part of the judges is one of the main reasons for increased Naxalism in the country".<br /><br />Talking to reporters here, he said the Supreme court judgment in the Godavarman case, which in his words was against the ground realities and prevailing conditions in the forests, led to the displacement of a large number of tribals forcing them to join Maoist groups. "If the court had exhibited restraint and gone according to ground realities today situation in the forests would have been totally different," he said, adding that even the new Supreme Court CJ had raised the point.<br /><br />In the Godavarman case, the SC had expanded the scope of the term "forest" and included within its scope forests mentioned in the government record as well as forests in the dictionary meaning irrespective of the nature of ownership and classification on December 12, 1996.<br /><br />Moily said his concern was that when judges admit PILs and deliver judgments, "they should be realistic and go by the ground realities instead of believing arguments". He echoed Congress leader Dijvijay Singh's on "Salwa Judum" and said it was a blunder committed by the state government to deal with the Naxal menace. "There is no difference of opinion in the UPA government on the issue of tackling Naxalism," he claimed.</blockquote><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Naxal-sympathizers-will-find-it-tough/articleshow/5942760.cms">Naxal sympathizers will find it tough</a><br /><blockquote>NEW DELHI: The massacre of civilians by Maoists could not have come at a worse time for their champions and sympathisers among civil society and the political class. It exposes their claim about Maoists being "misplaced ideologues" — who are fighting the cause of the poor and the downtrodden — as false just when a propaganda has been cranked up to guilt trip the state into abandoning the fight against the extremists.<br /><br />The massacre of bus passengers is a far more heinous crime than the massacre of CRPF personnel. The paramilitary personnel who were butchered came from families of marginal farmers and landless labourers. Though they did not qualify to be class enemies whose annihilation was an ideal to be achieved by Maoists, their pamphleteers have sought to justify their criminal deed by tagging their victims as mercenaries of the anti-people state.<br /><br />Moreover, they were armed and trained to fight back in their defence. The bus passengers who were killed could not be accused of any such crime. Even if you count out the 20 alleged Special Police Officers, the Maoists, in their pursuit of the goal of capture of state power, killed at least 30 innocent unarmed combatants.<br /><br />The defenders of Maoists raise a cacophony of protests against collateral casualties US forces cause even when they are on genuine anti-terror missions. But there are many instances when even the US has called off operations that looked set to eliminate terrorists for the fear of causing collateral damage.<br /><br />In fact, those who regularly attack the government for not agreeing to a truce on terms dictated by Maoists cannot justify the killing of the SPOs either. For, to act otherwise would amount to conceding the spurious argument that while the government should give up violence, Maoists are justified in killing whoever they treat as 'class enemies' and their adjuncts since they are fighting for the rights of the poor.<br /><br />The latest brutality should alert civil society to the fact that while Maoists will exploit their resourcefulness for tactical reasons, they actually care two hoots for what civil rights activists and others stand for. The bus passengers were killed just when advocates of Maoists in the political class and among rights activists were gloating over their alleged success in forcing the government to concede that the threat of extremists could not be tackled merely by using force. The killing of civilians shows that for Marxists, indiscriminate violence remains the most preferred weapon, although for tactical reasons, they may invoke the Constitution and the rule of law enshrined there. </blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-14421907914213952242010-05-17T09:47:00.000-07:002010-05-18T09:04:24.653-07:00Parmarth Niketan and Jeremy Pivens Journey of a Lifetime<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcl7rkBPzqsbbwLF0i1PEGrETBHYaoKlnGVGV0nV6cPjcQmg9LIxncCvOWZRYwxWrC1jLJn7PVzPby4xpxL24RlqiKwxhKy4tEp-n2lzePLOi-u3b68i9yrSUFG0PFdiHAuTc/s1600/Ad0130816.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 380px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcl7rkBPzqsbbwLF0i1PEGrETBHYaoKlnGVGV0nV6cPjcQmg9LIxncCvOWZRYwxWrC1jLJn7PVzPby4xpxL24RlqiKwxhKy4tEp-n2lzePLOi-u3b68i9yrSUFG0PFdiHAuTc/s320/Ad0130816.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472639917597844130" border="0" /></a><br />I saw Swami Chidanand and Rishikesh for the first time on a Discovery Channel show called Jeremy Pivens Journey of a Lifetime. Then searching for his ashram, stumbled on to <a href="http://www.parmarth.com/home.html">Parmarth Niketan</a> and its <a href="http://www.parmarth.com/gurukul.html">Gurukul</a>. Saw this advertisement in the paper and am thankful to people associated with Nirmal Ganga, Sparsh Ganga project.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-47831461559629611702010-05-07T07:00:00.002-07:002010-05-11T19:52:36.320-07:00Support Naxals, face punishment<span style="">NEW DELHI: <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Support-Naxals-face-punishment/articleshow/5900678.cms">Toughening its stance</a> against Naxalites, the Centre on Thursday warned Maoist sympathizers — including<span style="font-weight: bold;"> members of civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)</span> — found supporting the ultras by propagating their ideology or by any other means to be ready to face severe punishment. </span><br /><br /><span style=""> The dire warning, which marks a significant escalation and carries the risk of confrontation with influential rights activists, also represents a rebuff to the post-Dantewada clamour for a relook at the use of force against Naxals. </span><br /><br /><span style=""> The law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, empowers the state to punish those collaborating with a banned organization with imprisonment up to 10 years. Besides, section 39 of the UAPA also provides for fine to be slapped on those found collaborating with extremists. </span><br /><br /><span style=""> Though the two provisions have been enforced by authorities in states worst affected by violence, state governments as well as the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Centre have more often than not winked at the espousal of the Maoist cause by the rights activists</span>. The declaration of the new intent came a day after home minister P Chidambaram was heckled in JNU, though the Centre's annoyance over continued support for the extremists from sections of civil society goes back a while. </span><br /><br /><span style=""> The home ministry said, "It has come to the notice of the government that<span style="font-weight: bold;"> some Maoist leaders have been directly contacting certain NGOs and intellectuals to propagate their ideology and persuade them to take steps, which would provide support to the CPI (Maoist) ideology.</span>" </span><br /><br /><span style=""> Asking the general public to be extremely vigilant of the propaganda of the Maoists and not unwittingly become a victim of such propaganda, the ministry said, "This is being issued in public interest so that the general public are aware that the CPI (Maoist) and all its formations and front organizations are terrorist organizations whose sole aim is armed overthrow of the Indian state and that they have no place in India's parliamentary democracy." </span><br /><br /><span style=""> In what can come as a <span style="font-weight: bold;">rude shock for civil rights activists</span>, the investigating agencies looking into Naxal affairs along with Delhi Police also warned the citizens to be 'careful' before throwing their weight behind Maoists. This comes at a time when <span style="font-weight: bold;">several such activists have been named in the FIR along with Kobad Ghandy for helping the alleged Naxalite leader in waging war against the state</span>. </span><br /><br /><span style=""> A senior Delhi Police officer said there was ''growing evidence'' that <span style="font-weight: bold;">a section of the intelligentsia was helping the Naxal leaders flee states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and West Bengal to set up base in colonies of east and south Delhi. ''Besides this, these individuals are also helping various frontal organizations of the Maoists to raise funds</span>,'' said the official. </span><br /><br /><span style=""> The recent arrest of Naxal leader Gopal has given important clues to the Delhi Police in this regard, said senior special cell officers. </span><br /><br /><span style=""> The civil rights activists are, however, livid over the directive. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gautam Navlakha</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">{Off course this Navlakha joker will be livid and outraged as he is one of those named in the Kobad Gandhi FIR}</span>, a senior editor with a prominent magazine, said that such a directive from the home ministry was ''outrageous''. ''This is an attempt to thwart dissenting voices and a demand that all individuals toe the official line. Even a couple of Congress men led by Digvijay Singh had protested the recent development. Is the government planning to silence him too?'' questioned Navlakha.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">{Tomorrow this fool will demand Kasab be released, that is, if he and his ilk haven't already done so. And he will label it as a "dissenting voice" to which no dissent is allowed. I refuse to buy his idiotic and hoary morality which is different from normal morality and vehemently register my dissent. India, it seems, has more than its fair share of arse holes and suddenly these twerps are coming out of the woodwork, what gives?}</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-33170539513516682912010-04-19T09:35:00.000-07:002010-04-19T12:53:46.569-07:00Indian Supreme Court and its mysterious ways<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SC-upholds-ban-on-book-against-Islam/articleshow/5822303.cms"></a><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SC-upholds-ban-on-book-against-Islam/articleshow/5822303.cms">SC upholds ban on book against Islam</a><br /><blockquote>NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday said <span style="font-weight: bold;">it was more concerned with peace in society than a person's fundamental right to freedom of speech</span> and upheld a Maharashtra government ban on a book titled "A Concept of Political World Invasion by Muslims".<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">{Basically, it is a open lesson for Hindus - Mofo Husain denigrates Hindu Gods/Godesses, protests against his perverted paintings will do zilch instead attack mohammedans, their properties etc and our courts, which are </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">more concerned with peace in society than a person's fundamental right to freedom of speech and thought, </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">will do the rest.}</span><br /><br />Petitioner R V Bhasin had challenged the state government's 2007 decision four years after the publication of the book to ban it on the ground that it perpetrated hatred against Muslims, promoted enmity between communities and on the apprehension that it would breach harmony in society.<br /><br />The Bombay High Court had said that the state government committed no wrong by banning the book. "The way this sensitive topic is handled by the author, it is likely to arouse the emotions and sensibilities of even strong minded people. We have held that criticism of Islam is permissible like criticism of any other religion and the book cannot be banned on that ground...But the author has gone on to pass insulting comments on Islam."<br /><br />Dismissing the appeal against the HC order, an <span style="font-weight: bold;">apex court Bench comprising <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Justices P Sathasivam and H L Dattu</span></span> said it agreed with the HC that <span style="font-weight: bold;">a person's freedom to expression permitted him to criticise a religion, but it could not be at the cost of public interest and public peace.</span><br /><br />"<span style="font-weight: bold;">We should not allow this kind of book to be read by citizens.</span> You are entitled to criticise a religion. <span style="font-weight: bold;">But, if an ordinary citizen reads your book, then there could be some misconception leading to clash between communities</span>," the Bench said refusing to entertain the appeal.<br /><br />"<span style="font-weight: bold;">We are not against your right. But, we are more for public interest and public peace in the country</span>," the Bench said, adding that it was satisfied that the HC had considered the matter threadbare before upholding the ban.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">{Ooooh moral bombast is one thing Messrs Sathasivam and Dattu but what about the violation of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights especially the right to freedom of speech and expression. So tomorrow if anybody criticizes any religion, you will be banning his books and prosecute him/her under IPC. I promise to watch this space.}</span></blockquote><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"></span>Heard and read a lot about freedom of speech, thought and what not during publicity hungry and an absconding criminal MF Hussain saga. But the same voices who went ballistic at that time are silent when this news report came out. Because our secular dickheads are actually Hinduphobes and do not believe a word of what they say. To them, if you score a brownie point against Hindus, it is a good day in the office but such news reports exposes them as two bit cowards who will capitulate moment who threaten them with violence and actually carry it out. That is the reason why they never speak about freedom of speech type arguments when it comes to mohammedans and islamic cult. These jokers are following a set script but what about the Supreme Court? What is their fear or motivation? Can it be that they too are scared of jihadist loon's and the political fallout? I think this is most probably the case and it only erodes the credibility of Supreme Court and its verdicts in the past and future regarding these types of cases should be microscopically examined and the incompetent cowering cowards of Supreme Court should be named, shamed and stripped off their positions.<br /><blockquote><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"></span></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-2797685261927053162010-04-04T18:06:00.000-07:002010-04-05T10:48:21.495-07:00DNA: Rest assured, this jawan at LoC 'will die but not let anyone intrude'<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4MIyfRo5K_zUhN61uEFBj-W-zsUJAG-I5SUZiD6hnovVyi_fqs1_XafX1CHNeI-Yae_Snv5dvRyJYPnkcxRT5Qihpq8PoEmqFROrubegPJki7hpfWxP2Z1Wlx5jN0DRxUzGD/s1600/jai_hind.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 114px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4MIyfRo5K_zUhN61uEFBj-W-zsUJAG-I5SUZiD6hnovVyi_fqs1_XafX1CHNeI-Yae_Snv5dvRyJYPnkcxRT5Qihpq8PoEmqFROrubegPJki7hpfWxP2Z1Wlx5jN0DRxUzGD/s320/jai_hind.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456711099631672738" border="0" /></a><blockquote>Aanganpathri (Line of Control): Sub-zero temperature, massive snowfall and high velocity winds are an alien experience for Havaldar M Kumar Velu, who grew up in warm and humid Tamil Nadu. But as he negotiates 12-feet deep snow at an altitude of 10,500 feet along the fence on the Line of Control (LoC) at an ungodly 4am, worry-lines don’t furrow his head. It’s the call of duty, “nothing less than religion’’.<br /><br />“Every day is a challenge for me. Protecting the LoC against the enemy is a matter of honour for all of us. We will die but not let anyone cross over,” says Velu. This sums up the mood at Fox-land, the company headquarters of 40 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), which has been deployed on the LoC forward base.<br /><br />The soldiers are on extra vigil now. It is summer and time for infiltrators to sneak in. There are already reports that 2,000 to 2,500 militants are training in camps in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and looking to cross the borders soon. For Velu and his colleagues in the Aanganpathri company, the hostile weather can wait.<br /><br />“There are approximately 42 training camps across the border. Thirty-four of them are active in the PoK,” Gurdeep Singh, brigadier general of staff (BGS) of the Jammu based 16 Corps, says.<br /><br />The soldiers of the Aanganpathri company know the gravity of their job. They guard a strategically crucial route, the shortest for infiltration. It connects Jammu and Kashmir through mountains south of Pir Panjal. The company covers 22 kilometres of the LoC and has some posts at an altitude of 12,000 feet. Terrorists use the Makhni Nallah to enter the valley. It is this threat that makes this company one of the important components of the army’s anti-infiltration strategy.<br /><br />“The inclement weather, a combination of snow, rain, fog and high-speed winds reduces the visibility and enables terrorists to infiltrate. Our aim is to negate infiltration or ex-filtration,” Major DK Bansal, company commander of 40 RR, says.<br /><br />What makes the work of Velu and his colleagues unenviable is their company is deployed opposite to some of the launch pads established by the Pakistani troops on their side of the LoC.<br /><br />“Terrorists are launched from these detachments,” said Bansal. The army has a three-tier strategy to foil the designs of militants in summer. It includes area domination, aggressive patrolling, laying ambushes, gathering intelligence and streamlining surveillance.<br /><br />Velu may be a small cog in the entire operation, but at 4 in the morning, fighting the freezing weather, he is focussed on his job. “National duty comes before everything else,’’ he says.<br /><br />Two ultras killed<br />The army on Sunday foiled another infiltration bid, by killing two militants who were trying to sneak in from Keran sector on the LoC in Kupwara district. Two AK rifles, six magazines, 96 rounds, three grenades, an ICOM radio set and a wire cutter were found on them.</blockquote><blockquote></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-35622899168625172302010-04-03T15:59:00.000-07:002010-04-03T16:45:31.773-07:00Times of India (ToI-LeT paper) Lies And Half TruthsAbout a week ago, the Toilet paper (Times of India) published an article on the recent communal riots in Hyderabad (AP). My first gut feeling on reading this was that there was something amiss and there was more to it since Toilet paper - and most of secular rags which pass off as news papers - have a history of whitewashing and hiding the truth specially when riots are started by Islamic fanatics. No such 'sensitivity' and 'objectivity' is shown when Hindus react to this kind of Islamic extremism. In fact, Toilet paper and secular rags go a step further, they forget the initial spark and focus only on the reaction as if the Hindus had started the riots and muslims are the victims. Such reports (and of ministers caught on the wrong side of the law esp of Congress party) generally do not carry the name of the reporter. What the fuck are you afraid of, Toilet paper?<br /><br />Two glaring examples - Gujarat riots where local islamic thugs burnt 60 innocent Hindu women, children and men in a train and quite naturally, the islamic thugs were on the receiving end. Fraudulent Toilet paper and other rags conveniently forgot the 60 Hindus roasted alive since the aggressors were one of the two Toilet papers favourite rioters: islamic fanatics. Second favorite rioters of Toilet paper are christian fanatics and there is no better example of the prejudice and anti Hinduness of the turncoat Toilet paper than Kandhamal riots, where a Hindu seer and his disciples were brutally hacked to death by christian fanatics and here also, expectedly a Hindu reaction happened. In both the cases the fanaticism (and the agression, the initial spark) of islamic and christian thugs was overlooked and the gaze was fixed firmly on the Hindus - How can Hindus do<br />that? As if self defence is a crime in our country and when justice is not given to the Hindus, what will a common Hindu do to defend his faith, loved ones and property? Fighting back and turning a deaf ear whilst showing the middle finger to rabid anti Hindu secular dogs and dear friends' of islamism and christianism jihadis (like Toilet paper and other rags) bleatings, makes sense.<br /><br />A simple search of the news on the internet regarding Hyderabad riots and I didn't have to wait long. First, the <a href="http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=1&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=CAP&mydateHid=29-03-2010&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI">front page</a> of Toilet paper's March 29th, 2010, (words in blue mine)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Riots shatter Hyds calm of 2 decades </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">{And conveniently forget the islamic fundamentalism in Gujarat riots of 2002 or the recent March 2010 Bareilly riots, covered by Toilet Paper in the inside pages where one needs a handheld microscope to read what is written, by narrowing the affected area}</span><br />TIMES NEWS NETWORK<br />Hyderabad: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Communal tension triggered by a fight over flags</span> escalated into full-blown clashes in the Old City of the Andhra capital on Sunday,shattering almost two decades of calm.At least 30 people were injured in sporadic violence while several places of worship and a goshala (cattle shelter ) were targeted by rioters.<br /><br />Prohibitory orders were imposed in the entire south zone of Hyderabad.Seventy people were arrested and 15 cases registered. Hyderabad police commissioner A K Khan said the violence appeared to have been planned and would be probed by an SIT.Paramilitary forces,including RAF,have been deployed.<br /><br />Trouble began in Moosabowli on Saturday night when Hindu activists tried to replace green flags with saffron ones.On Sunday,around 11am,police prevented local BJP leaders from visiting Peepal Hanuman temple in Moosabowli.Angered by police action,locals started raining stones on houses and shops belonging to Muslims,leading to retaliation.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ripple Effect </span><br />Trouble began on Saturday night as Hindu activists tried to replace green flags with saffron ones in Moosabowli<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">{Are only green flags allowed to fly? Trouble began when intolerant muslims did not remove their flags after celebrating prophet of superstitious muslims, Mahamad's so called birthday}</span>.</blockquote>I suspect that the timing and content of the Toilet paper article was part of the media's effort to help islamic jihadis with their campaign of religious cleansing of the region like they have done in Kashmir where half a million Hindus have been murdered and driven away out of the valley by local islamic jihadis. As can be expected, Toilet paper has never reported local Islamic jihadist fanaticism with the same zealousness (op eds, editorials and tin hat wearing writers etc) that they have shown towards Gujarat riots. Toilet paper fools the readers by reporting about pakistan sponsored terrorism in the valley (despite the terrorism, Toilet Paper has a gay fest going on with pakistan called <a href="http://fugme.blogspot.com/2010/01/aman-ki-asha.html">A MAN Ki ASsA</a>). Toilet paper will not tell the truth about local jihadis and will go a step further in covering up the atrocities of local jihadis. Down with these lying arseholes and don't hear what they say.<br /><br />Now read <a href="http://www.fullhyderabad.com/hyderabad-news/hyderabad-old-city-riots-communal-clashes-on-hanuman-jayanti-2010-eve-465">another report</a> (local paper),<br /><br /><b></b><blockquote><b>29th Mar, 2010:</b> <span style="font-weight: bold;">What started as a show of power by a leading city-based political party has spiralled out of control.</span> Saturday's Hindu-Muslim clashes, despite the police commissioner's assurances of security, are still on. There is tension at Begum Bazar currently, and it remains to be seen how law and order will be restored in the Old City.<br /><br /><b>How It All Began</b><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">On February 24th, the Milad-Un-Nabi celebrations were being carried out in full swing, with heapfuls of support from the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), and flags and buntings being set up in the entire Old City. One month later, these flags were removed to put up saffron flags marking the Sri Ram Navami celebrations on March 24 in Madannapet (near Saidabad Colony), marking the first of the tensions.</span><br /><br />On March 27 (Saturday), organisers of Hanuman Jayanti celebrations in Moosa Bowli in the Old City tried to hoist their flags and buntings, removing the ones that had been put up for Milad-un-Nabi, sparking heated arguments, that were followed by clashes.<br /><br />On the following Sunday, at around 11am, the BJP state unit president G Kishan Reddy and Himayatnagar MLA Baddam Bal Reddy were prevented from visiting the Peepal Hanuman temple in Moosabowli by the police, where clashes took place on Saturday night. Angered, the locals attacked houses and shops of the other community who retaliated with equal vengeance. Attempts were made by the MIM legislators and the BJP leaders to pacify the mob, but none could stop the news from reaching other areas, and violence eventually broke out.<br /><br />Soon, as rumours aided by SMSes spread like wildfire, stone pelting & vehicles being set ablaze ensued, along with injuries.<br /><br />Sporadic incidents of violence continued at Gulzar Houz where cameras of some media photographers were damaged, and also in Chatrinaka, Shalibanda, Shamshergunj and Parthiwada.<br /><br />Stone pelting also began at the Gol Moque in Siddiamber Bazar after the afternoon prayers, and the temple opposite the mosque was also pelted as a riposte. The agitation spread to Gowliguda Chaman as well.<br /><br />The areas Siddiamber Bazar, Afzalgunj, Gowliguda, Begum Bazar, Kalapathar, Chatrinaka, Shah-Ali Banda, Puranapul, Afzalgunj, M J Market, Shamshergunj and Moosabowli were all reported to have witnessed trouble in the Old City. </blockquote>Toilet paper will never show this, after all these creatures have no voice.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05SK8Yb8Ri932/610x.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 610px; height: 406px;" src="http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05SK8Yb8Ri932/610x.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-7605845142735935292010-03-21T19:38:00.000-07:002010-03-21T19:40:31.399-07:00Ammo for future<h2><a class="titles" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html">Texas conservatives get approval to rewrite textbooks</a></h2><br />AUSTIN, Tex. — After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.<br /><br />Jack Plunkett/Associated Press<br /><br />Mary Helen Berlanga accused fellow members of the Board of Education of “rewriting history.”<br /><br />*<br /> How Christian Were the Founders? (February 14, 2010)<br /> *<br /> The Lede Blog: Textbooks a Texas Dentist Could Love (March 12, 2010)<br /><br />The vote was 10 to 5 along party lines, with all the Republicans on the board voting for it.<br /><br />The board, whose members are elected, has influence beyond Texas because the state is one of the largest buyers of textbooks. In the digital age, however, that influence has diminished as technological advances have made it possible for publishers to tailor books to individual states.<br /><br />In recent years, board members have been locked in an ideological battle between a bloc of conservatives who question Darwin’s theory of evolution and believe the Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles, and a handful of Democrats and moderate Republicans who have fought to preserve the teaching of Darwinism and the separation of church and state.<br /><br />Since January, Republicans on the board have passed more than 100 amendments to the 120-page curriculum standards affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school. The standards were proposed by a panel of teachers.<br /><br />“We are adding balance,” said Dr. Don McLeroy, the leader of the conservative faction on the board, after the vote. “History has already been skewed. Academia is skewed too far to the left.”<br /><br />Battles over what to put in science and history books have taken place for years in the 20 states where state boards must adopt textbooks, most notably in California and Texas. But rarely in recent history has a group of conservative board members left such a mark on a social studies curriculum.<br /><br />Efforts by Hispanic board members to include more Latino figures as role models for the state’s large Hispanic population were consistently defeated, prompting one member, Mary Helen Berlanga, to storm out of a meeting late Thursday night, saying, “They can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don’t exist.”<br /><br />“They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians,” she said. “They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.”<br /><br />The curriculum standards will now be published in a state register, opening them up for 30 days of public comment. A final vote will be taken in May, but given the Republican dominance of the board, it is unlikely that many changes will be made.<br /><br />The standards, reviewed every decade, serve as a template for textbook publishers, who must come before the board next year with drafts of their books. The board’s makeup will have changed by then because Dr. McLeroy lost in a primary this month to a more moderate Republican, and two others — one Democrat and one conservative Republican — announced they were not seeking re-election.<br /><br />There are seven members of the conservative bloc on the board, but they are often joined by one of the other three Republicans on crucial votes. There were no historians, sociologists or economists consulted at the meetings, though some members of the conservative bloc held themselves out as experts on certain topics.<br /><br />The conservative members maintain that they are trying to correct what they see as a liberal bias among the teachers who proposed the curriculum. To that end, they made dozens of minor changes aimed at calling into question, among other things, concepts like the separation of church and state and the secular nature of the American Revolution.<br /><br />“I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” said David Bradley, a conservative from Beaumont who works in real estate. “I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution.”<br /><br />They also included a plank to ensure that students learn about “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”<br /><br />Dr. McLeroy, a dentist by training, pushed through a change to the teaching of the civil rights movement to ensure that students study the violent philosophy of the Black Panthers in addition to the nonviolent approach of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also made sure that textbooks would mention the votes in Congress on civil rights legislation, which Republicans supported.<br /><br />“Republicans need a little credit for that,” he said. “I think it’s going to surprise some students.”<br /><br />Mr. Bradley won approval for an amendment saying students should study “the unintended consequences” of the Great Society legislation, affirmative action and Title IX legislation. He also won approval for an amendment stressing that Germans and Italians as well as Japanese were interned in the United States during World War II, to counter the idea that the internment of Japanese was motivated by racism.<br /><br />Other changes seem aimed at tamping down criticism of the right. Conservatives passed one amendment, for instance, requiring that the history of McCarthyism include “how the later release of the Venona papers confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration in U.S. government.” The Venona papers were transcripts of some 3,000 communications between the Soviet Union and its agents in the United States.<br /><br />Mavis B. Knight, a Democrat from Dallas, introduced an amendment requiring that students study the reasons “the founding fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring the government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion above all others.”<br /><br />It was defeated on a party-line vote.<br /><br />After the vote, Ms. Knight said, “The social conservatives have perverted accurate history to fulfill their own agenda.”<br /><br />In economics, the revisions add Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, two champions of free-market economic theory, among the usual list of economists to be studied, like Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. They also replaced the word “capitalism” throughout their texts with the “free-enterprise system.”<br /><br />“Let’s face it, capitalism does have a negative connotation,” said one conservative member, Terri Leo. “You know, ‘capitalist pig!’ ”<br /><br />In the field of sociology, another conservative member, Barbara Cargill, won passage of an amendment requiring the teaching of “the importance of personal responsibility for life choices” in a section on teenage suicide, dating violence, sexuality, drug use and eating disorders.<br /><br />“The topic of sociology tends to blame society for everything,” Ms. Cargill said.<br /><br />Even the course on world history did not escape the board’s scalpel.<br /><br />Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond who is a strict constitutionalist and thinks the nation was founded on Christian beliefs, managed to cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and William Blackstone. (Jefferson is not well liked among conservatives on the board because he coined the term “separation between church and state.”)<br /><br />“The Enlightenment was not the only philosophy on which these revolutions were based,” Ms. Dunbar said.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-22289078248324940952010-03-10T08:14:00.000-08:002010-03-10T08:15:39.565-08:00Naxalites, Lashkar e Taiba conducted recce of power plants for attacks: Govt<p><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/LeT-Maoists-conducted-recce-of-power-plants-for-attacks-Govt/Article1-517093.aspx">source</a><br /></p><p>Government today said the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Naxalites had undertaken extensive recces in a bid to attack CISF armouries located at power plants in several states.</p> <p>“Militant and terrorist outfits had planned to target some power plants in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.</p> <p>“Besides LeT, there are also reports of CPI-Maoist having undertaken extensive recces to target CISF armoury located in some power plants,” Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran told Lok Sabha in a written reply.</p> <p>As on date, 72 power plants all over the country are being provided security cover by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).</p> <p>There is a proposal to extend CISF security cover to some more power plants in the country and surveys are under process, he said.</p> <p>According to the CISF, a total of 20,000 personnel are protecting almost 58 installations in Naxal-hit areas.</p> <div class="BottomChunkBox"> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-22601656418357150202010-02-24T10:37:00.000-08:002010-02-24T10:44:57.413-08:00Aman ki asha: An empty slogan while Pak Hindus and Sikhs are beheaded and abducted<a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=in%2F0_0_s_1_0_t&ct3=MAA4AEgBUABqAmlu&usg=AFQjCNFOE1jaaz7shL_-1UToH0K7SMYGGQ&cid=0&ei=0nGFS9CaJoGGkAX5sOTtAw&rt=SEARCH&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeenews.com%2Fnews606640.html">Govt condemns abduction of a Hindu living in Pak</a><br /><a href="http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?674979">Taliban Beheads 2 Sikhs in Pakistan</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11040253.post-14872446549965831092010-02-24T10:24:00.000-08:002010-02-24T10:58:40.580-08:00Singer Abhijeet speaksKudos to Abhijeet for <a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/82221/India/Now,+singer+Abhijeet+slams+SRK.html">saying</a> which the Hindi film industry wallahs can never bring to their lips. Cowards!<br /><p></p><blockquote> <p style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Abhijeet has criticised Shah Rukh for speaking in favour of the Pakistani players in the IPL row. The singer has advised Shah Rukh to go to Pakistan to make movies.</span></p><span style="font-size:85%;">He said that while India is liberal towards artistes from Pakistan, Indian performers are not treated the same way by Islamabad.</span></blockquote><p></p><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/music/The-Bhatts-should-be-investigated/articleshow/5292922.cms">Abhijeet</a> on Mahesh 'Khujli' Bhatt,<br /><blockquote>KING OF CONTROVERSIES<br />I don’t court controversies, they come to me. I don’t mince my words and call a spade a spade. I am not a hypocrite. Yes, I might have got into a lot of trouble because of my badbolapan but I have stood by what I have said.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">THE BHATT ANGLE</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Years ago, I had protested about Mahesh Bhatt and his soft corner for Pakistan. But nobody took notice. And see what’s happening now. I want to know why a thorough investigation hasn’t being carried out against the whole Bhatt family? How come no one else in the industry had any connections with US terror suspect David Headley except the Bhatt family? Why do they call Pakistani singers and actors to work in India when we have so much talent here? Both the brothers, Mahesh and Mukesh themselves travel to Delhi and personally get the visas of Pakistani artists made. Why?</span></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pageid=38&edlabel=CAP&mydateHid=17-02-2010&pubname=&edname=&articleid=Ar03800&format=&publabel=TOI">Update</a>: Phonies lock horns<br /></span><span class="pda"></span><blockquote><span class="pda">It was a meeting meant to sort out the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> imbroglio between film producers and lyricists-writers</span>,the <span style="font-weight: bold;">latters forum represented by Javed Akhtar</span>.But matters took a turn for the worse when <span style="font-weight: bold;">Aamir Khan</span>,siding with film producers,<span style="font-weight: bold;">said lyricists dont really contribute much to the impact of a song.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">It was just too much for poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar</span> to take,and it soon became a war of words between him and Aamir. Says an eyewitness, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Aamir made it clear that he felt a song becomes a hit because it is picturised on a big star.To this Javed asked him,Your first big song was Papa Kehte Hain.Did it make you a star or did you make that song run<br /><br /></span>Things began to get heated,but Aamir stuck to his stand.<span style="font-weight: bold;">When Aamir again insisted that its the star who makes a bigger contribution to a song becoming a hit,Javed retorted,Your so-called contribution is nothing but interference.We lyricists would be eternally grateful if you keep your so-called contribution to yourself.We manage to do good work not because of,but in spite of your contribution.</span><br /><br />But when <span style="font-weight: bold;">Aamir went a step further to claim that in any film,a writer contributes more than a song-writer to the film,it was the last straw for Javed.He said,Good for Chetan Bhagat.</span><br /><br />News of the altercation spread like wildfire in the industry.When contacted,Javed Akhtar said,I wouldnt like to comment on what happened between me and Aamir.But this is not just a matter about lyricists,but all writers.Certain royalties have to be paid to writers,which in our film industry,arent paid properly.<span style="font-weight: bold;">We writers are almost like bonded labourers.There is no room for us to profit in any way.But the government is making suitable amendments in the favour of writers and musicians.</span>This amendment will benefit everyone,including classical musicians like Pandit Ravi Shankar,who has spoken up in favour of the amendment.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0