Third Eye

Root and Route

2009-11-28T21:45:00.001-06:00

Will the route of Koda's loot be dealt with?

Madhu Koda's political career may be in rout but neither the root of the evil nor the route of the loot has been dealt with.

It may be a tenet of law that Koda is innocent until his guilt is proved beyond reasonable doubt but he already stands condemned in the court of public opinion. So much so that the despondent former chief minister of Jharkhand has already told his followers that he is nominating his wife, Geeta Biruli Koda, from Jagannathpur. (Polling starts for a fresh Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha on November 25.)

But I would like to invite the reader to set aside the blaring headlines about the Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) worth of assets allegedly accumulated by Madhu Koda, and instead turn the spotlight on the 'root' and the 'route' I wrote of above.

The 'root' I refer to is the question of how Madhu Koda came into possession of all that money. People are now talking about officers who paid money to get money for transfers. That is possible but is it really the whole story?

Jharkhand is a poor state but it possesses a wealth of mineral resources. It would be rational to assume that there are a lot of barons in the background who would be willing to open their purses in exchange for concessions. And it is this -- the willingness, even the eagerness -- of a section of businessmen to offer inducements that is at the root of the Koda scandal. And so, obviously, nobody wants even to talk about it much less take action to stop the rot.

If Rs 4,000 crore was accepted by Madhu Koda and his associates, then, it is logical to assume that some people expected to make ten times that amount by way of profit. (I speak of 10 per cent but that may well be a conservative estimate; the money could be as little as one per cent of the potential windfall.) But have you heard of anyone speculating as to the identity of the individuals or entities that paid that obscene sum of money to the former chief minister?

Let us now come to the 'route' that I spoke of. The fact is that most of us would be completely flabbergasted if presented with such an obscene sum of cold hard cash. Barring television and the movies I have never actually seen even one crore rupees in one place.

Madhu Koda, I suspect, was as at as much of a loss when it came to actually handling vast sums. He is a relative newcomer to politics, found himself in a chief minister's chair despite being an independent MLA, and had people thrusting money in trade for his signature.

When did Madhu Koda realise that there are time-tested routes for channelling money, and who introduced him to them? There is a vast network that grew up in the 'Licence-Permit-Quota Raj' to route black money into profitable avenues. Nobody wants to talk about them because there is little or no evidence that can stand up in a court of law yet everybody suspects it is true.

How many Indians have even heard of Liberia, in which nation Madhu Koda reputedly spent almost two million dollars to acquire a coal mine? Which continent is it in, and is it landlocked or does it have a sea coast? There was someone out there who was prepared to tell Madhu Koda that Liberia presented a great opportunity. Who was it?

There is talk of purchases of property in other nations too. Let us be honest, what does the average Indian know about the thicket of regulations about foreign investments in, say, Thailand? Or in South Africa?

If there were people willing to offer bribes worth crores of rupees there were definitely other people who were willing to stand behind Madhu Koda's shoulder, offering hints about investing all those rupees. Who were they? Why is nobody willing to talk about them, and in such a hurry to put all the blame on Koda?

By all accounts the tax authorities have enough on Madhu Koda to rupture his political career. (For some time anyway, it is foolish to write him off for good given the state of Indian politics!) But what difference does it make in the larger context?

India needs to increase governmental transparency and decrease ministerial discretion to prevent any more Madhu Koda episodes. But we all know that is not going to happen any time soon. There are just far too many people around with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

The 'root' and the 'route' alike are going to be with India for many years to come. And there is not a thing that the average citizen can do about it.

TVR Shenoy, Rediff.com, 11/11/2009

How voters are bought in a typical election in Tamil Nadu?

2009-09-05T14:58:00.001-06:00

This article is an extract from an article that appeared in recent Thuglak magazine. The author is Murugan, Retired I.A.S; he writes about a first hand (or a second hand) account of how the voters and election staff and other officials are paid money during the Thirumangalam bye election

தமிழ் நாட்டில் அரசியல் நடவடிக்கைகளும், ஆட்சி முறையும் தியாகம், தூய்மை, நேர்மை, பொது நன்மை எனும் சீரிய அடிப்படைகளில் இருந்து விலகி விட்டன. சுயநலம், ஊழல், பணம் சேர்த்து செட்டிலாகி விடுவது, சட்டத்தை வளைத்து எந்தக் காரியத்தையும் செய்து விட முடியும் என்ற நிலைக்கு இவை தள்ளப்பட்டு விட்டன. இதைச் சமீபகாலத் தேர்தல் முடிவுகளும், அதையொட்டிய அரசியல் நிகழ்ச்சிகளும் உறுதிப்படுத்துகின்றன. அரசு அலுவலர்களும், அரசியல்வாதிகளும் நடந்துகொள்ளும் விதமும் இதையே நிரூபிக்கின்றன.

பணம் தண்ணீராகச் செலவு செய்யப்பட்டு, இடைத்தேர்தலில் ஆளும் தி.மு.க. வெற்றி பெற்றதை, மற்ற கட்சியினரும், அரசியல் நோக்கர்களும் கவனிக்க ஆரம்பித்தது, திருமங்கலம் இடைத்தேர்தலில்தான். அங்கே, இடைத்தேர்தல் வேலை முனிசிபாலிடி மற்றும் பஞ்சாயத்து வார்டுகள் சகிதம் கட்சிக்காரர்களுக்கு கனகச்சிதமாகப் பிரித்துக் கொடுக்கப்பட்டது. ஒவ்வொரு வார்டுக்கும் ஒரு அமைச்சர் அல்லது மாவட்டச் செயலாளர் தலைமையேற்றனர். 100 வாக்காளர்களைக் கவனிக்கும் பொறுப்பு, ஒரு கட்சித் தொண்டர் வசம் ஒப்படைக்கப்பட்டது. இந்த வேலையில் கலந்து கொண்ட பலரும், அங்கே நடந்த விஷயங்களை ஒளிவுமறைவு இல்லாமல் பேசி வருகிறார்கள்.

எப்படித் தேர்தலில் பணம் விளையாடியது என்பதை என்னிடம் விவரித்தார் ஒரு ஆளும் கட்சித் தலைவர். திருமங்கலத்தில் ஒரு வார்டு கமிட்டியின் உறுப்பினர் இரண்டுபுறமும் வீடுகள் உள்ள நீளமான குறுகிய ஒரு தெருவில் ஒரு முனையில் ஆரம்பித்து, ஒவ்வொரு வீட்டிற்கும் சென்று, ஒரு ஓட்டிற்கு 500 ரூபாய் என்ற கணக்கில் குடும்பத்தாரிடம் வழங்கி, தங்கள் வாக்காளருக்கு ஓட்டளிக்குமாறு கேட்டுக் கொள்வார்களாம். இவ்வேலையைச் செய்வதற்கு முன்னரே வாக்காளர் பட்டியலை வைத்து, லோக்கல் கட்சியினர் தெருவில் உள்ள கட்சிக்காரர்கள் மூலமாக, ஒவ்வொரு வீட்டிலும் உள்ள ஓட்டர்களின் எண்ணிக்கை விவரங்களைச் சரிபார்த்து, பணத்தைக் கவர்களில் வைத்துத் தயார் செய்துள்ளனர்.
இதுபோல், வாக்காளர்களைச் சந்தித்துப் பணம் கொடுக்க ஆளும் கட்சியினர் வருவார்கள் எனும் தகவல் முன்கூட்டியே அறிவிக்கப்பட்டு, அவர்களை எதிர்பார்த்து ஒவ்வொரு வீட்டிலும் ஓட்டர்கள் தயாராக இருந்திருக்கின்றனர். ஒரு தெருவில் இதுபோல் பணம் பட்டுவாடா சுமூகமான முறையில் நடந்து கொண்டிருக்கையில், ஆளும் கட்சியின் குழுவில் இருந்த அந்த வார்டு கௌன்ஸிலர் மற்ற தலைவர்களிடம் தயக்கத்துடன் தூரத்தில் இருந்த ஒரு வீட்டை சுட்டிக்காட்டி, அந்த வீடு அ.தி.மு.க.வின் லோக்கல் தலைவர் ஒருவரின் வீடு எனவும், அவர்தான் தன்னை எதிர்த்து அந்த வார்டு எலெக்ஷனில் போட்டியிட்டுத் தோற்றவர் எனவும் கூறியுள்ளார்.
அந்த வீட்டின் முகப்புச் சுவரில் இரட்டைஇலை சின்னம் சிமென்டில் அமைக்கப்பட்டிருந்ததைப் பார்த்து எல்லோரும் தயங்கியுள்ளனர். வார்டு பிரச்சாரத்தில், மற்ற ஊர்களில் இருந்து வந்த தி.மு.க. உறுப்பினர்களும் உண்டு என்பதால், எப்படி அந்த வீட்டிற்கு அருகிலும், அந்த வீட்டிலும் பணத்தைப் பட்டுவாடா செய்வது என்று விவாதிக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறது.
போதாக்குறைக்கு அந்த வீட்டின் சொந்தக்காரரான, அ.தி.மு.க. வேட்பாளராக கௌன்சிலர் எலெக்ஷனில் போட்டியிட்டவர், வீட்டின் முன் குடும்பத்தாருடன் நின்று கொண்டு தி.மு.க.வின் ‘பிரச்சாரத்தை’க் கவனித்துக் கொண்டிருந்தார்.
நிலைமையைச் சமாளிக்க, அவரது வீட்டிற்குப் போக வேண்டியதில்லை என்ற முடிவை ஆளும் கட்சியின் பிரச்சாரக் குழு எடுத்திருக்கிறது. ஆனால், அருகிலுள்ள வீட்டிற்குச் சென்று கவர் கொடுத்து விட்டு வந்து பார்த்தபோது, அ.தி.மு.க. புள்ளி அவர் வீட்டின் வாசலில் இல்லை. அவரது மனைவி ஆளும் கட்சியினரைப் பார்த்து, ‘எங்கள் வீட்டிற்கு வருவீர்களா இல்லையா?’ என்று சிரித்துக் கொண்டே கேட்டிருக்கிறார். இவர்கள் தயங்கிக் கொண்டே முன்னேறி, ‘நீங்கள் எதிர்க் கட்சியைச் சார்ந்த குடும்பம். எங்களிடம் கவர் வாங்குவீர்களா?’ என்று ஒருவர் கேட்க, ‘எல்லோரையும் போல நாங்களும் பெற்றுக் கொள்வோம்’ என்று அந்த அம்மையார் கூறியுள்ளார்.

எல்லோருமே ஆச்சரியப்பட, வெளி மாவட்டத்திலிருந்து வந்த தி.மு.க. தலைவர் அந்த வீட்டிற்கான கவருடன் உள்ளே நுழைந்து, அ.தி.மு.க. புள்ளியின் மனைவியிடம் கவரைக் கொடுத்திருக்கிறார். ‘எங்களுக்கு ஓட்டுப் போடுவீர்களா?’ என்று கேட்டவரிடம், ‘நாங்கள் மிகவும் நாணயமானவர்கள். கைநீட்டி பணம் வாங்கிய பின் நிச்சயம் மாற மாட்டோம்’ என்று கூறியிருக்கிறார் அப்பெண்மணி.
இதைப் போலவே மிகவும் கண்ணியமான வியாபாரம், அரசு வேலை, தனியார் கம்பெனிகளில் வேலை... என்றிருந்த பலரிடமும் பேசிப் பார்த்ததில், பெருவாரியான மக்கள் பணத்தைப் பெற்றுக் கொண்டு வாக்களித்தது தெரிய வந்தது.
இதுபோக அரசு அலுவலர்கள், போலீஸார், மற்றும் கீழ்மட்ட தேர்தல் அதிகாரிகள் ஆகியோர் தங்கள் முழு ஒத்துழைப்பையும் ஆளும் கட்சிக்குக் கொடுத்திருக்கிறார்கள். நடுநிலைமை வகிக்க வேண்டும், நியாயமாக நடந்து கொள்ள வேண்டும் என்று யாராவது ஒரு தேர்தல் அதிகாரி விரும்பினால், அவர் தவறு செய்யாமல் ஒதுங்கிக் கொள்ளலாமே தவிர, தடுத்து நிறுத்திக் கேள்வி கேட்டிருக்க முடியாது என்ற சூழ்நிலையே அங்கு நிலவியதாகப் பலரும் கூறுகிறார்கள்.
பத்திரிகையில் வந்த செய்திகளின்படி, பல தேர்தல் ஊழியர்கள், ஒவ்வொரு வாக்குச் சாவடியிலும், தேர்தல் விதிமுறைகளின்படி ஓட்டர்களின் கையெழுத்து மற்றும் எந்த அடையாள அட்டையைக் காட்டி ஓட்டளித்தார்கள் என்பதை ஃபார்ம் 17-ஏ எனும் படிவத்தில் பூர்த்தி செய்யவில்லை. அதாவது தேர்தல் நடத்தும் விதிமுறைகளில் மிகவும் தெளிவாகச் சொல்லியபடி, ஓட்டர் லிஸ்ட்டில் பெயர் இருக்கும் ஒருவர், ‘எபிக்’ எனப்படும் தேர்தல் ஆணையம் வழங்கிய அடையாள அட்டையைக் கொண்டு வர வேண்டும். அல்லது அனுமதிக்கப்பட்ட அடையாளம் காட்டும் பாஸ்போர்ட், டிரைவிங் லைசென்ஸ், பான் கார்டு போன்ற ஏதேனும் ஒரு தாக்கீதைச் சமர்ப்பித்தால்தான் ஓட்டளிக்க முடியும். எவையெல்லாம் ஏற்றுக்கொள்ளப்பட்ட அடையாள தாக்கீதுகள் எனும் லிஸ்ட்டில் ரேஷன் கார்டுகள் கிடையாது. காரணம், நிறைய போலி ரேஷன் கார்டுகள் உலவுகின்றன.
ஆனால், கள்ள ஓட்டுப் போடுவதற்கு ரேஷன் கார்டுகளை ஐ.டி.யாக உபயோகித்தால், அவர்களின் கையெழுத்தை ஃபார்ம் 17-ஏ-வில் பெறாமல்தான் செய்ய முடியும். எனவே, இதுபோல் நிறைய ஓட்டுச் சாவடிகளில் நடக்கக் காரணமாயிருந்தவர்கள் யார் என்று விசாரிக்கப்பட்டதாம். பகுதி அதிகாரிகள், ஜோனல் ஆஃபீஸர்ஸ் என 10 முதல் 15 பூத்துகளுக்கு ஒருவர், தேர்தல் நேரத்தில் நியமிக்கப்பட்டு, தேர்தல் நாளன்று ஒவ்வொரு ஓட்டுச் சாவடியிலும் சரியான விதிமுறைகளின்படி எல்லாம் நடக்கிறதா என்பதைக் கண்காணிக்கும் அதிகாரம் உடையவர்கள்தான் இதற்குக் காரணம் என்று தெரிய வந்துள்ளது. அவர்கள் மாவட்ட ஆட்சித் தலைவரின் கீழ் வேலை செய்யும் துணை தாசில்தார் அந்தஸ்தில் உள்ள அதிகாரிகள். ஓட்டுச் சாவடியின் அதிகாரிகளிடம், ரேஷன் கார்டை வைத்து கொண்டு ஓட்டளிக்க அனுமதிக்கலாம் என்று இவர்கள் உத்திரவிட்டதாகப் புகார்கள் வந்தன.
மாநில தேர்தல் அதிகாரி நரேஷ் குப்தா, திருமங்கலம் இடைத்தேர்தல் முடிந்தவுடன், 17-ஏ படிவத்தைப் பூர்த்தி செய்து சமர்ப்பிக்காத ஓட்டு சாவடிகளுக்கு பொறுப்பான பகுதி அதிகாரிகளுக்கு, குற்றச்சாட்டு குறிப்பாணை ஏற்படுத்தி, நடவடிக்கை தொடர கலெக்டருக்கு உத்திரவிட்டார். அதன்படி நடவடிக்கைக்கு உள்ளான வருவாய்த்துறை துணை தாசில்தார்களுக்காக மதுரை மாவட்ட அரசு ஊழியர்கள் போராட்டம் நடத்தினார்கள். எல்லா தேர்தல் பகுதி அதிகாரிகளும் ஒரே மாதிரி பதிலை அளித்து, தொழிலாளர் சங்கம்போல் ஒற்றுமையாக இவ்விஷயத்தை எதிர்ப்போம் என்ற வகையில் நடந்துள்ளார்கள். காரணம், இவை எல்லாவற்றிற்கும் ஆளும் கட்சியின் ஆதரவு உண்டு என்று அரசு அதிகாரிகள் நினைப்பதுதான்.
இதைவிட வருந்தத்தக்க அம்சம், ஓட்டுச் சாவடியில் வேலையில் இருந்த அரசு ஊழியர்கள் பலரும் பணம் வாங்கிக் கொண்டார்கள் எனும் பரவலான குற்றச்சாட்டு. ஆளும் கட்சிக்கும், அரசு ஊழியர்களுக்கும் எதிராகத் தேர்தலை கண்காணிக்க எதிர்க் கட்சியினர் ஓட்டுச் சாவடிக்கு அனுப்பும் கட்சியின் தேர்தல் ஏஜென்ட்கள் பலர் பணம் பெற்றுக் கொண்டு, கள்ள ஓட்டுக்களைக் கண்டுகொள்ளாமல் இருந்தனர்.

இதுபோல் கீழ்நிலை அரசு ஊழியர்கள், மாற்றுக் கட்சியின் ஏஜென்ட்கள், வாக்காளர்கள் ஆகிய முத்தரப்பினரையும் பண மழையில் குளிக்க வைத்த பின்னரும், மற்ற கட்சிகளில் தீவிரம் காட்டுபவர்களுக்கு, ஆளும் கட்சியின் அடியாட்கள் பிரச்சனைகளை உருவாக்கியது பரவலாகத் தெரிந்தது.
எந்த ஒரு புகார் எதிர்க் கட்சியினரிடமிருந்து வந்தாலும் போலீஸார் அதை உதாசீனப்படுத்தியும், ஆளும் கட்சி தரப்பில் வரும் புகார்களை உடனுக்குடன் கவனித்து நடவடிக்கை எடுப்பதும் சர்வ சாதாரணமாகியது.
ஆக, தமிழகத்தைப் பொறுத்தவரையில், முதன் முதலாக ஒரு புது அரசியல் நடைமுறையை தென் தமிழ்நாட்டு தி.மு.க.வின் மதுரை தலைவர் உருவாக்கி, அதை நடைமுறைப்படுத்தி, தேர்தலில் எப்படியும் ஜெயித்துவிட முடியும் என்பதை நிரூபித்துள்ளார். அதன் அடிப்படையில் திருமங்கலம் இடைத்தேர்தல் முடிந்தபின், தமிழ்நாட்டில் நடந்த மேலும் ஐந்து இடைத்தேர்தல்களிலும், இதே நடைமுறை பின்பற்றப்பட்டுள்ளது.
இதனால் தமிழக அரசியல் ஒரு இக்கட்டான சூழ்நிலையை அடைந்து, ஜனநாயகம் கேலிக்குரியதாகியுள்ளது. இதுபோன்ற ஒரு நிலைமை உருவாக காரணம் என்ன என்ற ஆய்வை அரசியல், ஜனநாயகம், நல்லாட்சி, மக்களின் சுபீட்சம் இவை பற்றி ஆராய்ச்சி செய்து வரும் அறிஞர்களும், அரசியல் மற்றும் சமூக நோக்கர்களும் விவாதிக்க வேண்டிய காலகட்டத்தில் நாம் இருக்கிறோம்.
தமிழகத்தின் அரசியல் மற்றும் பொதுவாழ்வு என்பது நேர்மை, தொண்டு போன்ற அம்சங்களை விட்டு விலகி, சுயநலம், ஊழல் என்று தடம் புரண்டு பயணிக்க ஆரம்பித்தது 1967-க்குப் பின்னர்தான். திராவிடக் கட்சிகள் மாறிமாறி ஆட்சிக்கு வரும் போதெல்லாம் ஊழல், நேர்மையற்ற ஆட்சி என்ற புதிய உருவத்தை எடுக்கும். ஆரம்பகாலங்களில், இன்றைய ஊழல் ஆட்சியின் சிகரமாக இருக்கும் கட்சிகள், தலைவர்களுக்கு, பொதுமக்கள் தங்கள் மீதுள்ள ஊழல் குற்றச்சாட்டைப் புரிந்து கொண்டு தேர்தலில் தோற்கடித்து விடுவார்களோ என்ற பயம் இருந்தது. அது நடக்கவும் செய்தது. உதாரணமாக எம்.ஜி.ஆர். 1977-ஆம் ஆண்டு பெருவாரியான வாக்குகள் வித்தியாசத்தில் தி.மு.க.வை எதிர்கொண்டு வெற்றி அடைந்ததும், ஜெயலலிதாவை 1996-ல் கருணாநிதி தோற்கடித்ததும் ஊழல் குற்றச்சாட்டுகளின் அடிப்படையிலேயே.
அதுமட்டுமன்றி, தமிழகத்தில் முதல்வரை எதிர்த்து, தங்கள் கருத்துக்களை, தைரியமான முறையில் எடுத்துரைத்து, பல நேரங்களில் தவறான நடவடிக்கைக்கு உடன்பட மாட்டேன் என எதிர்ப்புத் தெரிவிக்கும் ஐ.ஏ.எஸ். அதிகாரிகளும் அந்தக் காலங்களில் உண்டு. மக்கள் பெரிய அளவில் நியாயத்தையும் நேர்மையையும் விரும்பியது, காலம் செல்லச் செல்லக் குறைந்து விட்டது. பொதுவாழ்வில் நுழைந்த பலர் தவறுகள் செய்து, ஊழலில் திளைத்து, பணம் சம்பாதித்து சொகுசான வாழ்க்கையை எல்லோர் முன்னிலையிலும் கூச்சமின்றி அமைத்துக் கொள்வதைக் கண்டு, நாமும் இதுபோல் செட்டிலாக மாட்டோமா என்று சாதாரண ஜனங்களும் நினைக்கும் காலகட்டத்திற்கு நாம் வந்து விட்டோம். ஒரு அரசியல் கட்சியின் மாநிலப் பதவியில் இருந்தபோது, என்னால் இதை நேரடியாகக் காண முடிந்தது

How to blow $3 million?

2009-09-02T20:50:00.001-06:00

I couldn't resist posting this one after reading through. Here is a story of young Callie Rogers, aged 22, a lotto winner from UK explaining how she blew her entire winnings on drugs, clothing and other worthless stuff. But according to me if you take out the millions the story, incidents and happenings of Callie's teen life are not uncommon on any teen in the US or Europe.

The other side of Khandammal story

2009-02-07T18:58:00.003-06:00

By S. Gurumurthy

http://www.gurumurthy.net/

Contrary to what Indians here and Christians elsewhere have been told by evangelical missionaries, media and seculars, the Kandhamal arson is not, as it has been concocted, a clash between Hindu and Christian faithfuls at all! The truth is that it is a continuation of the clashes that had started in early 1990s between the 'Kandha' tribe, who did not convert to Christianity and 'Pana' caste, most of whom had converted. Religion is the spice added to this mix.

Kandhas are a Scheduled Tribe [ST] and 'Panas' are a Scheduled Caste [SC]. Both are entitled to reservation benefits under the Constitution, yet, with a difference. While the ST reservation will continue even if the beneficiary becomes a Christian, the SC reservation will cease on conversion. So, when the Panas became Christians they lost their reservation rights. But, under the influence of the missionaries and secular parties, and claiming to speak the same language 'Kui' as Kandhas, they agitated for ST status. So that, despite becoming Christians, their reservation rights would continue if they got listed as ST. But, the Kandhas, who saw that their share of reservation would be cut into if the Pana demand were conceded, began resisting it. Thus, reservation is a cause of the Kandha-Pana divide, but not the only cause; dispute over land is another.

The Kandhas were the traditional rulers of Kandhamal and that is the reason the district bears their name. The lands at Kandhamal belonged to them by the traditional rights that go with the tribes. It was their misfortune that the Kandhas chose to remain true to their traditional faith and resisted conversion to Christianity. The Panas were fortunate as most of them became Christians accepting the allurements offered by over 360 evangelical outfits operating in Kandhamal and harvesting souls for The 'Only True Faith' and 'God' and, in the process, raking in millions and millions of dollars from global funds for the noble harvest. Besides the perks that conversion yielded, the Panas, as Christian minorities, have now the protection of the state, patronage of the media and secular parties, and above all, the powerful support of the Christian nations all over the world. The Kandhas, whose only fault was that they did not convert, have none of these. So they suffer all the limitations of the majority community under the skewed Indian Constitution that clubs the Hindus in Mumbai with the Kandhas in Khandmal! With such powerful secular forces ranged against them, the Kandhas are being further corned in two ways. One, the Panas who have become relatively better off have gradually taken over much of the lands of the Kandhas, by commerce and fraud, as the Khands see it. Two, on top of it, the Panas are also claiming the ST status to grab a share of the reservation from the Kandhas, and thanks to the secular parties' support, seem to be nearly getting it. In substance thus, it is a Khand vs Pana war over land rights and reservation. Surprisingly, in the face of the 'itch of his colleagues' to paste Hindu-Christian label on Kandhamal, Shivraj Patil, the Union Home Minister, saw the truth and 'refused to treat' the ongoing clashes 'as communal'! But, more surprisingly, only one newspaper, a financial daily, reported his view while others had blacked it out!!

This is not the first time that the Kandhas and the Panas are at war. In the year 1992, the war between them lasted for three months, resulting in over 20 deaths. The issue was then, as it is now, land and reservation, which was the very consequence of the conversion of the Panas to Christianity. The Panas got financial and political advantage and also gained lands that belonged to the Kandhas. But though they lost their reservation benefits in the bargain, they began reclaiming it through their demand for ST status. It needs no seer to say that it is religious conversions that sequenced into hostilities between the Kandhas disadvantaged as Hindu majority and the Panas protected as Christian minority. No major clash between the Kandhas and the Panas was reported before the missionaries entered Khandmal. The Christian population in Kandhamal which was some 2% in 1961 and 6% in 1971, rose to 27% in 2001.These numbers speak volumes without words. Yet, now the missionaries, media and the seculars shout from house tops that only after VHP and Bajrang Dal have entered the scene, there are clashes and the minorities are being butchered. In 1992 there was no VHP worth the name in Orissa; and the Bajrang Dal was not yet born. Yet bloody clashes did occur in Kandhaamal between the Khands and the Panas. This points to only the one and the only fact, namely, that it is not the VHP or the Bajrang Dal, but, the entry of global evangelism aided by unlimited global funds for harvesting the Panas to Christianity that has turned the Kandhas and the Panas hostile to each other and had led to clashes between them. Actually it was the unresisted conversions that brought the Hindu outfits into Kandhamal. Now their resistance is faulted. But what about the cause – the global evangelical conversions powered by huge global funds? Why is the entire secular establishment deafeningly silent on this.

And where does Swami Laksmananda fit into this theatre of Kandhas and Panas, evangelists and the seculars and why was he murdered? A vedanta scholar, his only fault was that, when the establishment had let down particularly the Khands, who refused convert, he stood by them. He did to resist what the missionaries did to convert. Namely, he ran schools, colleges, satsangs, and discourses that had become a great hit with the Kandhas and also the Panas who refused to convert. He became the biggest roadblock to the missionaries in their harvest. He was targeted by the evangelists for a long time. In December 2007 an attempt was made on him in the village of a Congress MP and a Christian convert. Again, some 24 hours before he was murdered, the Swami got a letter threatening that he would be done away with if he did not close down his work against conversion in Kandhamal. He personally lodged that letter as FIR with the police. Yet, the Swami, along with four of his disciples, was done away with the very next evening. The Kandhas reacted violently when their best hope, the Swami, was snuffed out. This was the context for the August 2008 clashes that was always waiting to happen between the Kandhas and the Panas. Yet it was no one-sided affair, as made out to be. A secular newspaper has investigated and reported that the Panas responded to Kandhas attack with gun fire and killed four which has alerted the State to the possibility of the emergence of Christian-extremist alliance in Kandhamal.

This the story of how Kandhamal, the backward district of Orissa, competes for global status with Bangaluru now, but for entirely different reasons. While the fortunate Bangaluru became the pride of India thanks to the twenty-year old software techies who have put the nation on the knowledge map of the world, the unfortunate Kandhamal has become the shame of India, thanks to the seculars aggregating votes and the evangelists harvesting souls, with the media turning blind eye to both and finally to truth.

Layoff's

2009-01-24T23:34:00.003-06:00

With layoff news coming in droves, was wondering why the first thing a company talks about is layoffs rather than cutting cost. Ofcourse layoffs are the outcome of the cost cutting but by no means they are the only ones. Why not cut compensation by a suitable percentage?why not cut on bonuses? why not cut back on advertisements and media blitz (which anyway doesnt serve much purpose beyond a point)? why not cut on political contributions? why not layoff or cutback on lobbyists and lobbying costs? why not cut back on energy cost when throughout the day the corporate buildings are lit up like christmas tree even when there is no one in the building? 2008 just ended with a 4m+ job losses and at the same time we also hear 2008 was the year when the presidential election raised record political contributions unheard of before. Isnt it ironical that this year's super bowl is raising record ad revenue (with spot tv ad rates going upto a 1mn) amidst the economic ruins!?! who are these advertisers? and whom are they trying to attract? and where is the money to buy anyway?isn't this money just going down the drain?? why not remove unnecessary top management positions? - the other day was watching Palm Pre being introduced by 2 senior level executives of the company - one Executive chairman and the other CEO; what the heck are these two guys doing in a small company like Palm and that too a loss making company which was desparately in need of capital infusion until recently???!

Layoffs have become an acceptable solution by American society who are unduly influenced by the stupid and selfish Media and by the equity markets and are being accepted without raising questions on alternatives explored. Layoff news are greated by the markets with a bullish trend and media welcomes it portraying as though there is no other option. Its high time the society starts questioning the ethics and morality and practices of top executives of the company when the going is not good. After all these are the same executives who landed us in the current mess!

An article in another blog explores the same topic. Kudos to the blogger!

Mumbai Terror attack

2008-12-09T21:31:00.002-06:00

If anybody had any doubt that the brazen Mumbai attack was waiting to happen with the deep rooted corruption (& the corrupted society as well) and inefficient administration in India, this Arun Shourie's write-up in IBN live would help them understand where we are as a Nation and the herculean task that will be needed to cleanse it (which I definitely do not hope to happen). And one of the reader's response to the article aptly summarizes the root cause - corrupt Indian society.

Posted by asdharia at 04:47 AM, Dec 02, 2008

TO WHOM EVER IT MAY CONCERN

What this attack is shown is not the Pakistan is behind the attacks-we already knew that, it has shown something worse. The shallowness of the Indian Heart. Our politician have made statements like "Such small incidents happen".."If it were not for Sandeep, even a dog wouldn't have looked that way".."Our home minister resigned, but when the parliament was attacked no one from BJP resigned"..what crap.
Everyone today is complaining that there is no political will, our politicians are wimps etc etc. But have we stopped to ask where these wimps came from. We ourselves have elected these creatures from amongst us. And in the next elections also WE will only elect them again. Either by running away from India (cowards like me) or by not voting at all.
If not SG it will LK. No difference. Both are insensitive, self-serving ...(don't need to repeat the rest of the adjectives)..like us. These people too are from amongst us right and we ourselves have elected them. Some think they are bad because they are illiterate, they should think again. We have MMS to represent the literate lot. Actually even if the PM wants to do something-giving him the benefit of the doubt, he will not be supported by his "allies", who are not the countries allies. He needs a majority in parliament to even breath, right. You think people like Mulayam Singh and Lallu and the entire CPI will support him? We have agents from various enemies ruling us. CPI represents China, Mulayam, Lallu and even that Karunanidhi represent Pak. Sharad Pawar represents Dawood. So their loyalties defer. There is no one who represents us. So we are dying and we will continue to die.
No amount of federal Intelligence or NSG will help us. We already had an ATS what good did they do-not to undermine Karkare's sacrifice, but I seriously think he could have avoided that had he got the intel, which he did have access to. Indian Police did not have the equipment, but GOI had provided the funds, where did they go? In luxury sedans and the pockets of a few. So who is to blame? Is it the Govt up there or the people down here who too are irresponsible and careless?
What we need is to review our democracy and ourselves. The fact is that even we actually don't have any regard for life. Tell me, just a simple instance, in how many places in India do we have fire extinguishers, or even if we do have them, how many really work? We either do not install them or we just put drums with red paint, because we too don't care. If there is an incident and some worms like us die, then we bribe someone and all will forget. It is WE who actually do not respect life not just our politicians. These wimps are only a reflection of us. We feel bad to see this gruesome picture, but it is only you and me whom we see in that distorted image. Because the Government you get is the Government you deserve.
Some say Hindus are cowards, but we dint see that during the Mumbai incident. It is not about valor or bravery, we have a lot of that. It is about attitude. Did any of us came up and sit on dharna when the bomb blasts happened. No one because people die by the scores here everyday and no one cares. We are like a colony of ants, everyone doing their job, and if a few die it doesn't matter-good riddens, there will be someone else to take their place. Today people are worried because, finally, the terrorists have hit us where it hurts "our economy". They tried too many bombs, but got no reaction. I can image their frustration, because even making bombs needs money, skill etc etc... But this time for once they have nailed us. I personally do not like Bal Thakrey, but he is the only one to retaliate in 1992, and Modi who ignored the post Godra incidents, supporting them indirectly, and I dare not say but instigating these incidents too. So are these the only people who care for our lives? We hate them we have abhorred them but looks like they are the only ones who love us, who actually think above money and politics and who have some self-dignity and respect.
So we need to change the system, but then again the bunch of our politicians are all from amongst us. So of course even if something has to change in this system, it is to these very politicians, to make the change, as they make the laws. So they are bound to protect their own interest, like all of us.
Today I hear a lot of you talking of war. But frankly that is what I dread even more than another terror attack. Have you stopped to think what will happen in case of war. For war you need a leader not a "rat" calling himself "Singh". Even if there were a war what would we do? We have more enemies inside than outside. Whom will you fight? It is not in the interest of the muslims in India to annihilate pakistan. Pakistan is their only security and hope as they have been made to fear Hindus, by many of OUR politicians themselves, so they will vehemently support Pakistan, and if I were in their place I too would have. And also attacking pakistan is not in the interest of the Indian Political system. They will never eliminate this golden goose that lays these "VOTES" for them. They need Pakistan and the terrorist threat to survive.
I believe the only thing that can help us, is to cultivate in us a respect for INDIAN life. Till each one us does not believe that my brothers life is as precious as my neighbors, we will continue to die like worms. We can start by having a military rule �\" just something different, and changing this political system. The reason I suggest military is that they are the only once who are respected today in this country, and frankly they are the only ones who have never let us down. Let us take a lesson from our history. The Kshtriyas (military) have to rule, as they are the only ones who can and should. The educated (Brahmins) should teach, preach and help the rulers but not rule themselves. The Vaisnavs and Shudras (the rest of the junta) should do their part in the society by labor and create the wealth but never venture into ruling, as it is not their job.
If we must survive as a nation we have to experiment. As some learned man said "For forms of governance let fools contend, the one that's best governed is the best".

Indiscriminate Live reporting of Terror attack

2008-11-28T01:14:00.003-06:00

Mumbai Terror attack has once again proved the senseless and brainless manner in which the Indian Media acts through its live reporting of a anti-terror operation. Outlook magazine writes about it and the need for banning live media coverage when an operation is in progress.

Intellectual Terrorism!

2008-11-10T22:36:00.002-06:00

Ms Radha Rajan, member of RSS talks about Intellectual Subversion and Intellectual terrorism. Its a powerful speech with some plain speak. You may disagree on certain aspects and conclusion but you cannot disagree on the core/fundamental message of the talk - intellectual subversion and the big role of Media in it and the increasing role of commies in the shaping up the opinion of the people. I'm wondering if there is a second part to the video! somewhere it looks the talk is unfinished in this video.

Why we need a Change in the US?

2008-11-02T09:27:00.001-06:00

With just two days to go for the historic US presidential election, lets take a look at the candidates and why a Obama victory is increasingly looking like a reality. Change at US administration is badly needed at US administration after 8 years of Republican stranglehold in the way US does business. Bush and his neo-con Republican conservatives had made this country into a right-wing Christian theological state. Their Ideology (you can read about the Neo-con's and its ideological thinking in this Ron Paul congressional speech) has completely taken over all aspects of the administration including the Supreme court, foreign policy etc. In this age when a Global clash of civilizations is increasingly becoming a reality, the last thing one would want is US becoming a theocratic state. Though John Mccain is not part of the Neocon group in the party but his choice of the Vice-President has pushed him into that group. His campaign is being increasingly dominated by the Neocon groups and its supporters. That means, you are a terrorist if you had spoken to a Palestinian, you are anti-American if you don't wear your flag pin, you are funded by Saudi's and foreigners if you are collecting big money in campaign funds, you are anti-American if you call for troop withdrawal from Iraq, you are anti-American if you say you will talk to Iran, you are killer if you are pro-choice, you are a terrorist if you are not a christian or jewish etc..etc. Colin Powell made the perfect endorsement for Obama and stated very clearly what is wrong with the Bush Administration and its likely continuation under John Mccain. Besides the fact that Obama is much smarter and intelligent than John Mccain and the fact that John Mccain always looked clueless when the economic crises was unfolding; the troubling aspect would be the continuation of the Neocon agenda for 4 more (or even 8 ) is a dangerous prospect for the country and also the whole world.

Reasons for US Mortgage crisis

2008-10-03T17:25:00.001-06:00

This news about a woman caught in the Mortgage crisis that is crippling this land and bringing down other economies worldwide reveals few information about the reason to the entire crisis and the greed of the capital markets to make money and playing to the stock market. Apparently this woman has been lent a mortgage loan at her ripe age of 86 (in 2004). This loan was for a 30 (!) year period. Who in their sane mind would lend a loan to a person aged 86 and that too for a period of 30 years?? I would bet that the woman is living on social security with no other sources of income. It would be interesting to dig out her loan documents (it was countrywide) and check out who approved that loan and who the agents were who made money out of the transaction. If this is not greed and fraud what else is?? No wonder people of this country are angry at the bailout package!

John McCain's Foreign policy experience!

2008-09-19T17:49:00.000-06:00

Greed brings down wallstreet?

2008-09-15T17:15:00.004-06:00

Goldman doles out record pay - 40% surge
By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer
December 13 2006: 1:52 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Goldman Sachs is handing out big, fat holiday gifts to its employees this year, with an average 25 percent hike in pay per employee, resulting in a record-high compensation package.
Goldman's (down $0.35 to $199.65, Charts) $16.4 billion total compensation package was mentioned as part of this week's fourth-quarter report, in which the firm disclosed a surge in quarterly profit. The package will be divvied among 26,467 employees, resulting in an average annual compensation, with pay and benefits, of $621,906 per worker.
This doesn't necessarily mean that the company's chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, will be expected to survive on a few hundred grand, nor does it mean that assistants will be driving Ferraris. The compensation and bonuses are not allocated in an egalitarian fashion, but are staggered in order of earning importance.
Goldman Sachs spokesman Peter Rose said the compensation was the highest ever for the company, though he did not say how much of the $16.4 billion is from bonuses and how much is from straight salary. Rose said that bonuses, which are a key part of the compensation structure at the investment firm, are handled person-to-person based on individual performance.
The total compensation is up 40 percent from 2005, according to company filings. With a 12 percent increase in employee head count, per-employee compensation is up 25 percent.
Blankfein - as well as another 20 or 30 top-level execs - could end up with more than $25 million, according to news reports. That's not bad, especially considering that Blankfein just recently took over; Henry Paulson left the top job in July to head the Treasury Department.
The compensation increase could bode well for luxury sales - think mansions in the Hamptons.
"What we see is what these guys are willing to spend on homes," said Pamela Liebman, chief executive of Corcoran Group, a real estate firm that handles luxury properties in New York City and the Hamptons, among other pricey locations. "When someone calls us and says that they want an oceanfront home in the Hamptons and they're willing to spend $50 million, we assume those bonuses are pretty big."
Liebman said her firm has already received these calls, and her agents will be taking a couple of Goldman hotshots out to the Hamptons to look at mansions this weekend. She said the market for such homes is "extremely limited," with less than 15 oceanfront mansions on the market along the famous South Fork of Long Island beaches.
Fed holds steady, Lacker dissents again
But the biggest compensation doesn't go to the CEOs. It goes to the top performers who deal in futures in oil and other hot commodities. News reports say that these top-level Goldman traders could reap packages of up to $100 million.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson, by the way, won't be getting any bonus this year, because he left the big bucks behind when he went to work for the government. "[Paulson] receives no end of the year compensation," said Goldman Sachs spokesman Rose. "He's severed his ties with the company."
So how about the little guys?
"I don't think that they'll be driving a Ferrari, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him driving a Mercedes,"said Liebman, referring to lower-level employees. "[Goldman's] known to be very generous and they really spread the money around. Even if you're a newbie at the firm you'll be seeing a six-figure bonus, and many of them will see that as a stepping stone to more money."
Of course, Goldman execs aren't the only ones that made out. Lehman Bros. (up $0.25 to $76.92, Charts) chief executive Richard Fuld was granted 141,543 shares or restricted stock on Dec. 8. With a closing price of $77.03 a share on that day, that translates into a $10.9 million stock grant.
Happy holidays.
CNNMoney.com senior writer Chris Isidore assisted with this story.

Remember the above report? the media went gaga over the above and this was not long ago. This was as late as Dec/2006 which means those dole outs are for those very very riskier and dubious investment/mortage decisions taken by those employees. Also note that Fuld of Lehman Bros., was given stock options as well @$77. It would be interesting to see when he offloaded his stock. Am sure he would have dumped his stocks much before its stock started taking a beating; And the beneficiaries of Goldman might also include Henry Paulson, the current treasury secretary who till mid of 2006 was the CEO of Goldman Sachs; Ironically Paulson is the one who is calling for regulatory overhaul for these failures. But are the regulators only to be blamed (wallstreet would have ofcourse scorned at the talk regulations during its peak)? Its basically the greed for making money at any cost is what leads to such a situation. Till such time making money at any given opportunity and at any cost is the ultimate goal of corporates, no such regulations would be effective.

Coming back to these payouts, on a hindsight these payouts have been for dud investments. John Berry of Bloomberg writes for tying risk to the bonus payouts.

Bankers' Perverse Pay Needs Adjustment for Risk: John M. Berry
Commentary by John M. Berry

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- When federal regulators start writing new rules for financial institutions next year, they should demand big changes in how bankers and traders are paid.
For years, bonuses have been passed out based on gains almost irrespective of the risks the institutions incurred. The industry's skewed incentive structure was a key cause of the unfolding financial crisis.
At the end of last year, when almost all the big investment banks were facing enormous losses, they paid backward-looking bonuses comparable to those handed out at the end of 2006 when profits were much higher and the future looked far rosier.
The payments stripped the companies of much-needed capital, leaving them weaker in the process. Why couldn't the chief executives have told employees, ``Hey, you know a lot of the bets you helped us make have gone bad and we can't afford to pay big bonuses this year.''
Merrill Lynch & Co. paid $9.54 billion in bonuses, down only slightly from what it paid for 2006 even though its net revenue had fallen by two-thirds and it reported a fourth-quarter loss of $9.83 billion.
Morgan Stanley's bonuses increased to almost $10 billion, up from $8.39 billion the previous year. Even Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., now in a heap of trouble, raised its bonus total by half a billion dollars, to $5.70 billion.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. paid the largest bonuses of all, averaging almost $400,000 per employee. Of course, Goldman escaped most of the carnage linked to the subprime mortgage mess.
Nothing in Return
After bonuses are paid in connection with deals and trades that turn out to be so disastrous, the recipients are never asked to pay anything back. Any requirement of that sort would be unworkable.
On the other hand, income that's bolstered by riskier deals that often involve increased leverage shouldn't be treated on the same footing as income from transactions that carry less risk. Bonuses should be calculated with that consideration in mind. Regulators should make that happen.
This isn't a problem just for Wall Street. It's one afflicting many banks with trading desks, both in the U.S. and elsewhere. UBS AG, the Swiss banking giant, is a prime example.
The short-term focus on earnings for publicly traded companies combined with non-risk-adjusted compensation is a lethal mix.
The trader who makes a killing is generally paid much more than the party-pooping risk manager who has the unenviable task of warning that a deal has too much risk. There are tales of risk managers who were shown the door for pushing too hard.
Bright Folks
I'm sure some of those receiving the largest bonuses in recent years were the bright folks responsible for innovations such as collateralized debt obligations, synthetic CDOs and the like. Unfortunately, they were too clever by half, and top executives at their firms didn't know, or perhaps didn't want to know, just how risky these derivatives were.
The whole house of cards was based on a single assumption: that U.S. house prices would increase at a healthy pace.
Many of the subprime mortgages were never viable because of the onerously high interest rates. ``Teaser'' rates in many adjustable mortgages were 8 percent or more and could move up a lot, and down hardly at all. These loans often were made to borrowers with relatively low incomes who could make just tiny down payments.
Going Up
The only way they made sense was if house prices kept going up, creating an equity cushion that made it possible to refinance on better terms. This was one way aggressive mortgage brokers pitched the loans to borrowers.
By 2006, that was an unrealistic assumption. Prices had been rising too far for too long. It was less obvious that the bubble would burst as it has, though housing-price stability would have been just about as bad for the subprime world and all the derivatives based on it as the large price decline we've seen.
None of that affected bonus payments -- not even at the beginning of this year as the meltdown gained momentum, the market for mortgage-backed assets collapsed and institutions began totaling up their losses.
At a July 22 workshop at Stanford University, a large group of economists, lawyers and present and former Federal Reserve officials discussed the financial crisis, the response by the Fed and the Bush administration to it and how policies needed to be changed to make future disruptions less likely.
Several speakers noted the perverse incentives built into the compensation plans of many financial institutions, first and foremost at investment banks. The present system is ``pro- cyclical'' in that it encourages ever-more risk-taking, with the immediate beneficiaries usually unaffected by future losses related to those risks, the participants said.
Fixing this won't be easy. But it ought to be part of the broad overhaul of financial regulations that the new president and Congress must tackle early next year.
If the incentives remain perverse, a future crisis will be all the more likely.
(John M. Berry is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer of this column: John M. Berry in Washington atjberry5@bloomberg.net

Back to Nuclear debate

2008-09-12T11:48:00.001-06:00

For once Burkha Dutt of NDTV was stumped and speechless while discussing the issue with former minister and a journalist of impeccable record Mr.Arun Shourie; Isn't he right in saying that the Media should read the all relevant texts/agreements (US Nuclear act, the Hyde act, 123 agreement, IAEA safeguards agreement, IAEA additonal protocal, NSG waiver declaration) before jumping into a debate on Nuclear deal and not just hopping from one person to another with the mike and saying xyz says so, abc says so without an iota of whats happening and just be satisfied with the soundbites and at the end finish the program with "we have completely run out of time" phrase?? This exposes how so stupid and irresponsible the Indian media is and their so called leading Journalists are. Bottomline is none in the Media (television) comes on a discussion table or a handles a news report with a detailed analysis of the background, form an opinion or prepare questions. They are only good at shouting (apart from looking good!) and expert in cutting out unfavourable comments/opinions. Since the Nuclear debate started some 2 years ago, I guess this is the first time Arun Shourie has been given a reasonable amount of time to discuss the issue. Why was he shunned by the media so far(even though he was a leading Journalist of the Print media)?? just because he is a member of BJP or is it the thinking that he will be too difficult to handle?? The truth is the Media brings people on stage who are /will be supporters of their own view point and not to bring people who will effectively counter the media's opinion (which will be obviously embarassing) and counter others on discussion.

Catch the discussion here -

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/videopod/default.aspx?id=37698

Sanjeev Nanda's case

2008-09-07T07:19:00.002-06:00

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/sep/05bmw.htm
Sanjeev Nanda, grandson of former naval chief S M Nanda, was on Friday sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment by a Delhi [Images] court for mowing down six persons, including three policemen, with his BMW [Images] car in 1999.
"Sanjeev Nanda, I award you five years jail term and the time earlier spent by you inside the jail would be deducted," said Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar, who had earlier convicted him under a stringent penal provision, which carries a maximum punishment of 10 years' imprisonment.
The court, however, did not impose any fine on him.
It sentenced co-convict and businessman Rajeev Gupta to one year rigorous imprisonment for destruction of evidence.
His two employees -- Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh -- were, however, awarded six months' jail terms each for washing off blood stains and pieces of victims' flesh from the offending vehicle after the incident.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Gupta and Rs 100 each on his two employees, who were held guilty under Section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC.
The court had on September 2 convicted Nanda under Section 304 Part II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC prescribing a jail term of up to 10 years or fine or both as punishment.
Nanda had crushed six persons to death while driving the BMW car in an inebriated condition in the wee hours of January 10, 1999, at Lodhi Colony in south Delhi.

-----

What a judgement?? 5 years imprisonment for killing 6 people and that too deductible?? Rs.100 for wiping of crucial evidence?? Wah re wah!! Not even 1year per killing?? having already spent more than 5years in jail so far (the case dates back to 1999) Sanjeev Nanda is scot free now!! What a mockery of justice if there is one in India. Its not Nanda but Vinod Kumar who need to be tried for contempt of Judiciary and the people of India.

Google's Windows killer?

2008-09-02T18:12:00.002-06:00

Google entered into the web browser market with its launch of beta version of Chrome. First impression - its awesome! Its lighting fast as many reviews have commented. It has brought in lots of screen real estate, good ad blocker and very surprisingly supports many sites where even Microsoft IE8 (beta version) failed/crashed on launch. So it looks great to start with and hopefully it can find lots of support from the user community and hardware manufacturers. If Google can find a way to force the PC manufacturers to install chrome as part of free software, then Microsoft would have its work cut out.

'Dosa' Spoof!!

2008-08-10T11:10:00.001-06:00

This is one funny spoof is very popular in aaha FM radio and made very imaginatively. It takes a dig both at the Dasa and "இன்திய தொலைகாட்சியில்" SunTV. It goes like this -

இன்திய தொலைகாட்சியில் "கடைசி" முரையாக, பெயர் வெச்சு பத்தெ நிமிடஙல் ஆன, கொடுமை நாயகன் கூல் பான்டி அருவது வேடன்கலில் நடிக்கும் 'தோச'அவதாரம். And the song clip from the movie goes like this -

"கல்லை மட்டும் கன்டால் தொச தெரியாது, 'தோச' மட்டும் தெரிந்தால் கல்லு தெரியாது...."

இப்படி கொடுமை நாயகன் கூல் பான்டி அருவது வேடன்கலில் நடிக்கும், 'தோச'அவதாரம். உன்கல் இன்ச்டால்மென்ட் TVயில் பார்து 'பயந்து' விடாதிர்கல்.

There are couple of more variations of this with instead of the song clip (!), there is a dialogue interlude with the 'Dosa' man (with a temil slang) and the favourite of mimickry artistes' Poornam vishwanathan which is splendidly done too!

Beijing Olympics live coverage

2008-08-08T07:28:00.001-06:00

NBC Sports is covering the Beijing 2008 live on the Television as well as on the Internet. Go to www.nbcolympics.com for more details on how to watch it live or recorded. The video is provided via Microsoft silverlight player.

Comedy!

2008-08-08T00:23:00.001-06:00

Among the comedies of the Manmohan singh no confidence motion, this one tops - JD(Secular) has three MPs in the Lok Sabha. M Shivanna being the party whip issued the whip to vote against the motion. Curiously, Shivanna himself voted for the motion defying his own whip!!. So much for the whips, policies and procedures!!

Ooma Phone!!

2008-08-06T18:48:00.002-06:00

Ooma phone is another Voip service up on the horizon with exciting features and a fixed cost for the instrument unlike Vonage which charges on a per month basis. As Vonage it is free calling within the US and international rates apply for certain countries (for India it is 9 cents compared to 18 cents with Vonage). Also it has some exciting voicemail features and also a visual voicemail feature (as could be seen in the demo video). The instrument or Ooma Hub as it is known costs $235 at amazon and $250 at Best buy.

If anybody is using it or read about it or heard about, do post your comments in the blog.

watch demo here

Web Standards

2008-08-05T14:56:00.001-06:00

It's refreshing to see website's proclaiming compatibility with leading browsers of the day (and its annoying to see 'netscape' compatibility still being used when the browser itself has died along!) and particularly refreshing to see Indian website proclaiming so –

Whereas SBI and ICICI makes a mention of Firefox, SBI goes one step and mentions Opera as well. Whereas ICICI and HDFC are still stuck with Netscape navigator!?!?

Discussion on Agriculture

2008-07-26T16:20:00.001-06:00

Writer and Communists party activist, Gnani talks to Agriculturist Nammaazhvaar in Kumudam.com webtv. The topic starts with current food crises in India, Green revolution, second Green revolution and about natural farming. Its a excellent discussion with significant insights into what ails Indian agriculture.

You need to login to www.kumudam.com to view this discussion. If the link given is not able to take you to the discussion page, follow this path - login, click any of the links on under webtv (like news, interview etc) and then select from the webtv menu, the section entertainment, click "Gnani pesugiren" on the left. Scroll throw the interviewees on the bottom (scroll on the left to see what is there on the right!!). Or after login to the website, paste the below given link on the address bar and click play. Ooff! so much to get to a content at a Indian website (Dont we feel ashamed that we are calling ourselves IT capital of the world with such stupid websites?)!!

http://www.kumudam.com/webtv_streaming.php?catid=88&strid=2752&leftid=9&type=Entertainment

Abstained and Absent

2008-07-23T06:10:00.001-06:00

Can the media and journalists get this right? - Abstention is not same as being absent. Abstention from voting is a member who was present in the division vote but hit the abstain button meaning he did not vote 'for' or 'against' the motion. On the other hand Absent mean the member was not present in the house during the vote.

This simple fact seems to have been overlooked by the media , Journalists and even the political parties in this mela of a confidence vote.

PM's reply in confidence motion..

2008-07-22T22:24:00.001-06:00

Though the Prime Minister couldnt read out the speech in the parliament (too noisy) he submitted his reply-speech to the parliament and to the press. As usual I poke my nose in some of his statements!!

The Leader of Opposition, Shri L.K. Advani has chosen to use all manner of abusive objectives to describe my performance. He has described me as the weakest Prime Minister, a nikamma PM, and of having devalued the office of PM. To fulfill his ambitions, he has made at least three attempts to topple our government. But on each occasion his astrologers have misled him. This pattern, I am sure, will be repeated today. At his ripe old age, I do not expect Shri Advani to change his thinking. But for his sake and India’s sake, I urge him at least to change his astrologers so that he gets more accurate predictions of things to come.

As for Shri Advani’s various charges, I do not wish to waste the time of the House in rebutting them. All I can say is that before leveling charges of incompetence on others, Shri Advani should do some introspection. Can our nation forgive a Home Minister who slept when the terrorists were knocking at the doors of our Parliament?

[Me - Atleast he had the guts to push the troops to the frontier as a show of strength. On the other hand, our beloved PM should atleast reveal what is happening at our Chinese borders in Arunachal Pradesh (is it still part of India in reality?) and in Sikkim. He didnt have the guts to inform the public about Chinese incursions happening day in and day out, let alone taking action for it!!]

Can our nation forgive a person who single handedly provided the inspiration for the destruction of the Babri Masjid with all the terrible consequences that followed?

[Me - Advani had the guts to bring down a symbol of oppression which should have been brought down long long ago. Will our coward PM and UPA govt will ever take on the Muslim fundamentalism in India? or for that matter any other Politician of the current era even speak of such things except Bal Thackerey or probably Modi??]

To atone for his sins, he suddenly decided to visit Pakistan and there he discovered new virtues in Mr. Jinnah. Alas, his own party and his mentors in the RSS disowned him on this issue.Can our nation approve the conduct of a Home Minister who was sleeping while Gujarat was burning leading to the loss of thousands of innocent lives? Our friends in the Left Front should ponder over the company they are forced to keep because of miscalculations by their General Secretary.

[Me - Probably Mr PM can recollect what the then Prime minister and Home minister were doing at the time of 1984 Sikh rights. Does he remember the famous quote "When a large tree falls, the earth is bound to shake"??]

As for my conduct, it is for this august House and the people of India to judge. All I can say is that in all these years that I have been in office, whether as Finance Minister or Prime Minister, I have felt it as a sacred obligation to use the levers of power as a societal trust to be used for transforming our economy and polity, so that we can get rid of poverty, ignorance and disease which still afflict millions of our people. This is a long and arduous journey. But every step taken in this direction can make a difference. And that is what we have sought to do in the last four years. How far we have succeeded is something I leave to the judgement of the people of India.

When I look at the composition of the opportunistic group opposed to us, it is clear to me that the clash today is between two alternative visions of India’s future. The one vision represented by the UPA and our allies seeks to project India as a self confident and united nation moving forward to gain its rightful place in the comity of nations, making full use of the opportunities offered by a globalised world, operating on the frontiers of modern science and technology and using modern science and technology as important instruments of national economic and social development. The opposite vision is of a motley crowd opposed to us who have come together to share the spoils of office to promote their sectional, sectarian and parochial interests. Our Left colleagues should tell us whether Shri L.K. Advani is acceptable to them as a Prime Ministerial candidate. Shri L.K. Advani should enlighten us if he will step aside as Prime Ministerial candidate of the opposition in favour of the choice of UNPA. They should take the country into confidence on this important issue.

I have already stated in my opening remarks that the House has been dragged into this debate unnecessarily. I wish our attention had not been diverted from some priority areas of national concern. These priorities are :

(i) Tackling the imported inflation caused by steep increase in oil prices. Our effort is to control inflation without hurting the rate of growth and employment.

[Haha...good joke!!]

(ii) To revitalize agriculture. We have decisively reversed the declining trend of investment and resource flow in agriculture. The Finance Minister has dealt with the measures we have taken in this regard. We have achieved a record foodgrain production of 231 million tones. But we need to redouble our efforts to improve agricultural productivity.

[Me - Oh really! then probably the PM can reveal to the nation the fiasco of Wheat and Rice imports in the last three-four years. In the first place, how did we become a wheat and rice importing country out of the blue after several decades of self sufficiency and being an exporting country?? and after deciding to import wheat how did we end up importing wheat at almost four times the price prevailing at the time of decision to import and still end up importing sub standard, non-human consumable wheat which was ultimately dumped??]

(iii) To improve the effectiveness of our flagship pro poor programmes such as National Rural Employment Programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Nation-wide Mid day meal programme, Bharat Nirman to improve the quality of rural infrastructure of roads, electricity, safe drinking water, sanitation, irrigation, National Rural Health Mission and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. These programmes are yielding solid results. But a great deal more needs to be done to improve the quality of implementation.

(iv) We have initiated a major thrust in expanding higher education. The objective is to expand the gross enrolment ratio in higher education from 11.6 per cent to 15 per cent by the end of the 11th Plan and to 21per cent by the end of 12th Plan. To meet these goals, we have an ambitious programme which seeks to create 30 new universities, of which 14 will be world class, 8 new IITs, 7 new IIMs, 20 new IIITs, 5 new IISERs, 2 Schools of planning and Architecture, 10 NITs, 373 new degree colleges and 1000 new polytechnics. And these are not just plans. Three new IISERs are already operational and the remaining two will become operational from the 2008-09 academic session. Two SPAs will be starting this year. Six of the new IITs start their classes this year. The establishment of the new universities is at an advanced stage of planning.

[Me - Mr PM need to be reminded that he is at the end of his tenure and not at the beginning. or does he have the habit of devising ambitious programs at the end of the tenure?]

(v) A nation wide Skill Development Programme and the enactment of the Right to Education Act,

(vi) Approval by Parliament of the new Rehabilitation and Resettlement policy and enactment of legislation to provide social security benefits to workers in the unorganized sector.

(vii) The new 15 Point Programme for Minorities, the effective implementation of empowerment programmes for the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, paying particular emphasis on implementation of Land Rights for the tribals.

[Me- for this programme alone the PM and the UPA govt should have been brought down. Forget the Nuke deal, the UPA govt should have been brought down on this single point alone!!]

(viii) Equally important is the effective implementation of the Right to Information Act to impart utmost transparency to processes of governance. The Administrative Reforms Commission has made valuable suggestions to streamline the functioning of our public administration.

[Me- Transparency??? another of those Jokes!!]

(ix) To deal firmly with terrorist elements, left wing extremism and communal elements that are attempting to undermine the security and stability of the country. We have been and will continue to vigorously pursue investigations in the major terrorist incidents that have taken place. Charge-sheets have been filed in almost all the cases. Our intelligence agencies and security forces are doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances. They need our full support. We will take all possible steps to streamline their functioning and strengthen their effectiveness.

Considerable work has been done in all these areas but debates like the one we are having detract our attention from attending to these essential programmes and remaining items on our agenda. All the same, we will redouble our efforts to attend to these areas of priority concerns.

I say in all sincerity that this session and debate was unnecessary because I have said on several occasions that our nuclear agreement after being endorsed by the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group would be submitted to this august House for expressing its view.

[Me - Will be submitted to the house for expressing its view?? thats precisely why people were objecting. Is'nt it? The PM can do all sorts of stupid agreement and bind the country to inexplicable conditions and the house can only express its views?? Mr PM, the house is a law making body and not a body to express views!!]

All I had asked our Left colleagues was : please allow us to go through the negotiating process and I will come to Parliament before operationalising the nuclear agreement. This simple courtesy which is essential for orderly functioning of any Government worth the name, particularly with regard to the conduct of foreign policy, they were not willing to grant me. They wanted a veto over every single step of negotiations which is not acceptable. They wanted me to behave as their bonded slave.

[Me- aren't we all bonded slaves to the constitution, Mr PM?? and you are certainly bound by the Legislative house. ]

The nuclear agreement may not have been mentioned in the Common Minimum Programme. However, there was an explicit mention of the need to develop closer relations with the USA but without sacrificing our independent foreign policy. The Congress Election Manifesto had explicitly referred to the need for strategic engagement with the USA and other great powers such as Russia.

[Me - But the manifesto didnt let us know that the UPA will sell out to the countries like USA?? or was it mentioned??]

In 1991, while presenting the Budget for 1991-92, as Finance Minister, I had stated : No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come. I had then suggested to this august House that the emergence of India as a major global power was an idea whose time had come.

Carrying forward the process started by Shri Rajiv Gandhi of preparing India for the 21st century, I outlined a far reaching programme of economic reform whose fruits are now visible to every objective person. Both the Left and the BJP had then opposed the reform. Both had said we had mortgaged the economy to America and that we would bring back the East India Company. Subsequently both these parties have had a hand at running the Government. None of these parties have reversed the direction of economic policy laid down by the Congress Party in 1991. The moral of the story is that political parties should be judged not by what they say while in opposition but by what they do when entrusted with the responsibilities of power.

I am convinced that despite their opportunistic opposition to the nuclear agreement, history will compliment the UPA Government for having taken another giant step forward to lead India to become a major power centre of the evolving global economy. Jawaharlal Nehru’s vision of using atomic energy as a major instrument of development will become a living reality.

What is the nuclear agreement about? It is all about widening our development options, promoting energy security in a manner which will not hurt our precious environment and which will not contribute to pollution and global warming.

India needs to grow at the rate of at least ten per cent per annum to get rid of chronic poverty, ignorance and disease which still afflict millions of our people. A basic requirement for achieving this order of growth is the availability of energy, particularly electricity. We need increasing quantities of electricity to support our agriculture, industry and to give comfort to our householders. The generation of electricity has to grow at an annual rate of 8 to 10 per cent.

Now, hydro-carbons are one source of generating power and for meeting our energy requirements. But our production of hydro-carbons both of oil and gas is far short of our growing requirements. We are heavily dependent on imports. We all know the uncertainty of supplies and of prices of imported hydro-carbons.

[Me- Probably the PM is linking the hydro-carbons dependency with the Nuke power. Only the naive's will buy this stupid argument. You have only committed the country to another similar imported Uranium fuel supply]

We have to diversify our sources of energy supply.

We have large reserves of coal but even these are inadequate to meet all our needs by 2050. But more use of coal will have an adverse impact on pollution and climate. We can develop hydro-power and we must. But many of these projects hurt the environment and displace large number of people. We must develop renewable sources of energy particularly solar energy. But we must also make full use of atomic energy which is a clean environment friendly source of energy. All over the world, there is growing realization of the importance of atomic energy to meet the challenge of energy security and climate change.

India’s atomic scientists and technologists are world class. They have developed nuclear energy capacities despite heavy odds. But there are handicaps which have adversely affected our atomic energy programme. First of all, we have inadequate production of uranium. Second, the quality of our uranium resources is not comparable to those of other producers.Third, after the Pokharan nuclear test of 1974 and 1998 the outside world has imposed embargo on trade with India in nuclear materials, nuclear equipment and nuclear technology. As a result, our nuclear energy programme has suffered.

[Me - so the PM wants the country to non-nuclear, right?? the economists PM would have loved if India didnt go Nuclear and didnt test 1974 and 1998. right?]

Some twenty years ago, the Atomic Energy Commission had laid down a target of 10000 MW of electricity generation by the end of the twentieth century. Today, in 2008 our capacity is about 4000 MW and due to shortage of uranium many of these plants are operating at much below their capacity.

The nuclear agreement that we wish to negotiate will end India’s nuclear isolation, nuclear apartheid and enable us to take advantage of international trade in nuclear materials, technologies and equipment. It will open up new opportunities for trade in dual use high technologies opening up new pathways to accelerate industrialization of our country. Given the excellent quality of our nuclear scientists and technologists, I have reasons to believe that in a reasonably short period of time, India would emerge as an important exporter of nuclear technologies, and equipment for civilian purposes.

When I say this I am reminded of the visionary leadership of Shri Rajiv Gandhi who was a strong champion of computerization and use of information technologies for nation building. At that time, many people laughed at this idea. Today, information technology and software is a sun-rise industry with an annual turnover soon approaching 50 billion US dollars. I venture to think that our atomic energy industry will play a similar role in the transformation of India’s economy.

The essence of the matter is that the agreements that we negotiate with USA, Russia, France and other nuclear countries will enable us to enter into international trade for civilian use without any interference with our strategic nuclear programme. The strategic programme will continue to be developed at an autonomous pace determined solely by our own security perceptions. We have not and we will not accept any outside interference or monitoring or supervision of our strategic programme. Our strategic autonomy will never be compromised. We are willing to look at possible amendments to our Atomic Energy Act to reinforce our solemn commitment that our strategic autonomy will never be compromised.

I confirm that there is nothing in these agreements which prevents us from further nuclear tests if warranted by our national security concerns. All that we are committed to is a voluntary moratorium on further testing.

[Me - Joke!! we will all get to know what is our committment when the times comes. That will be a spectacular day but dont know if this PM will be in Polity or alive!!. Unfortunately it will be the unborn future Indians who will pay the price for this.]

Thus the nuclear agreements will not in any way affect our strategic autonomy. The cooperation that the international community is now willing to extend to us for trade in nuclear materials, technologies and equipment for civilian use will be available to us without signing the NPT or the CTBT.

This I believe is a measure of the respect that the world at large has for India, its people and their capabilities and our prospects to emerge as a major engine of growth for the world economy. I have often said that today there are no international constraints on India’s development. The world marvels at our ability to seek our social and economic salvation in the framework of a functioning democracy committed to the rule of law and respect for fundamental human freedoms. The world wants India to succeed. The obstacles we face are at home, particularly in our processes of domestic governance.

I wish to remind the House that in 1998 when the Pokharan II tests were undertaken, the Group of Eight leading developed countries had passed a harsh resolution condemning India and called upon India to sign the NPT and CTBT. Today, at the Hokkaido meeting of the G-8 held recently in Japan, the Chairman’s summary has welcomed cooperation in civilian nuclear energy between India and the international community.

This is a measure of the sea change in the perceptions of the international community our trading with India for civilian nuclear energy purposes that has come about in less than ten years.

Our critics falsely accuse us, that in signing these agreements, we have surrendered the independence of foreign policy and made it subservient to US interests. In this context, I wish to point out that the cooperation in civil nuclear matters that we seek is not confined to the USA. Change in the NSG guidelines would be a passport to trade with 45 members of the Nuclear Supplier Group which includes Russia, France, and many other countries.

We appreciate the fact that the US has taken the lead in promoting cooperation with India for nuclear energy for civilian use. Without US initiative, India’s case for approval by the IAEA or the Nuclear Suppliers Group would not have moved forward.

But this does not mean that there is any explicit or implicit constraint on India to pursue an independent foreign policy determined by our own perceptions of our enlightened national interest. Some people are spreading the rumours that there are some secret or hidden agreements over and above the documents made public. I wish to state categorically that there are no secret or hidden documents other than the 123 agreement, the Separation Plan and the draft of the safeguard agreement with the IAEA. It has also been alleged that the Hyde Act will affect India’s ability to pursue an independent foreign policy. The Hyde Act does exist and it provides the US administration the authorization to enter into civil nuclear cooperation with India without insistence on full scope safeguards and without signing of the NPT. There are some prescriptive clauses but they cannot and they will not be allowed to affect in any way the conduct of our foreign policy. Our commitment is to what has been agreed in the 123 Agreement. There is nothing in this Agreement which will affect our strategic autonomy or our ability to pursue an independent foreign policy. I state categorically that our foreign policy, will at all times be determined by our own assessment of our national interest. This has been true in the past and will be true in future regarding our relations with big powers as well as with our neighbours in West Asia, notably Iran, Iraq, Palestine and the Gulf countries.

We have differed with the USA on their intervention in Iraq. I had explicitly stated at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC in July 2005 that intervention in Iraq was a big mistake. With regard to Iran, our advice has been in favour of moderation and we would like that the issues relating to Iran’s nuclear programme which have emerged should be resolved through dialogue and discussions in the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

I should also inform the House that our relations with the Arab world are very good. Two years ago, His Majesty, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was the Chief Guest at our Republic Day. More recently, we have played host to the President of Iran, President of Syria, the King of Jordan, the Emir of Qatar and the Emir of Kuwait. With all these countries we have historic civilisational and cultural links which we are keen to further develop to our mutual benefit. Today, we have strategic relationship with all major powers including USA, Russia, France, UK, Germany, Japan, China, Brazil, Nigeria and South Africa. We are Forging new partnerships with countries of East Asia, South East Asia and Africa.

[Me - We will all come to know of the Indian Foreign policy in years to come. There is lot that is bound to happen in the middle east and it will be definitely interesting to watch the Government's independent foreign policy!!]

CONCLUSION

The Management and governance of the world’s largest, most diverse and most vibrant democracy is the greatest challenge any person can be entrusted with, in this world. It has been my good fortune that I was entrusted with this challenge over four years ago. I thank with all sincerity the Chairperson of the UPA, the leaders of the Constituent Parties of the UPA and every member of my Party for the faith and trust they reposed in me. I once again recall with gratitude the guidance and support I have received from Shri Jyoti Basu and Sardar Harkishen Singh Surjeet.

I have often said that I am a politician by accident. I have held many diverse responsibilities. I have been a teacher, I have been an official of the Government of India, I have been a member of this greatest of Parliaments, but I have never forgotten my life as a young boy in a distant village.

Every day that I have been Prime Minister of India I have tried to remember that the first ten years of my life were spent in a village with no drinking water supply, no electricity, no hospital, no roads and nothing that we today associate with modern living. I had to walk miles to school, I had to study in the dim light of a kerosene oil lamp. This nation gave me the opportunity to ensure that such would not be the life of our children in the foreseeable future.

Sir, my conscience is clear that on every day that I have occupied this high office, I have tried to fulfill the dream of that young boy from that distant village.

The greatness of democracy is that we are all birds of passage! We are here today, gone tomorrow! But in the brief time that the people of India entrust us with this responsibility, it is our duty to be honest and sincere in the discharge of these responsibilities. As it is said in our sacred texts, we are responsible for our actions and we must act without coveting the rewards of such action. Whatever I have done in this high office I have done so with a clear conscience and the best interests of my country and our people at heart. I have no other claims to make.

Cash for votes!!

2008-07-22T07:33:00.001-06:00

With the UPA govt all set to romp home with a victory in trust vote, its been an entertaining (sometimes nosiy &scandalous) two days of discussion on the confidence motion. Ofcourse except a couple of speeches, all were useless and worthless. Mr Chidambaram, opening the discussion on the second day was as usual shrewd, excellent and patience personified during his 40 odd minutes of reply. He used his all his oratorical skills to the max and being a lawyer of national repute he was bang on the crucial points by opposition (not the opposition party) outside the parliament. His was a star speech (not sure if Kapil Sibal spoke later) and opposition (junk) members didnt have anything to say except shout and interrupt the speech. Following are a gist of his speech (& my counter to each point) -

1. He touched upon how the Hyde Act, being a national law will not apply to India and 123 agreement has primacy to it. He spoke about how 123 agreement, being an international agreement had the security in the vienna conventions blah blah blah...He also quoted the 123 agreement to say that its the primary agreement which will override the Hyde Act.

However he forgot to touch upon this particular clause in the 123 agreement - "The Parties shall cooperate in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement. Each Party shall implement this Agreement in accordance with its respective applicable treaties, national laws, regulations, and license requirements concerning the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes" (Article 2.1). The article is very clear in saying that the agreement would be executed according to national laws of the parties. May be Finance minister need to re-read the agreement again!!

2. He was referring to the example of China and its plans for Nuclear power (50000MW by 2020, 120000MW by 2030) and urged the members to emulate China's example and go for nuclear power.

Mr FM probably forgot that China, being a declared and accepted Nuclear status per the NPT, is entitled to a lenient safeguards and 123 agreement and their safeguards provisions are only voluntary and not mandatory with IAEA. Probably he could have taken that example and tried to negotiate a similar agreement with US and IAEA!

3.He was also recalling the dubiousness and puzzle of the Left parties - being a staunch opponent of India's nuke weapons program, staunch ideologically opposed to any strategic or otherwise relationship with the US and BJP - being a stated proponent of strategic relationship with US and strong proponent of India's nuke weapons program are ganging up together to bring down the government.

Probably the FM need to be reminded, that his own government was running for the last 4.5 yrs with the support of the left parties. Is that not dubious and puzzling??

4. Again referring to China, he reeled of statistics which indicate China's yield per hectare on rice cultivation is thrice that of India and twice that on wheat production. He again urged the people to remember that this is the path we need to adopt to achieve significant growth.

Very true the statistics stated by FM on the agriculture production in India. I wonder what is the connection of this with the Nuke deal or confidence motion but its a valid point on the approach India need to take. I wonder if the UPA govt has taken any steps to achieving this. For long there has been a talk of 2nd Green revolution (increasing the yield is the target) but nothing seems to have happened on the ground. Probably he was invoking to poke at the commies'.

Sovereign interests protected in IAEA deal: Centre

2008-07-13T08:11:00.001-06:00

This is the rediff news on clarifications issued by the Nuke deal Negotiating team Viz - MK Narayanan, Kakodkar, Shivshankar Menon;

The UPA government on Friday insisted that the country's "sovereign" interests, including in strategic nuclear field, were protected in the IAEA safeguards agreement and expressed confidence about getting an exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

The government also ruled out putting Fast Breeder Test Reactors under the IAEA safeguards and asserted that the country's Intellectual Property Rights are firmly protected.

With questions being raised over the agreement, the government fielded its top officials -- National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar and chief negotiator R B Grover -- to "explain" that the pact is in India's interest.

They claimed that the agreement was still under negotiation when the Left parties decided to withdraw support to the government and was initialled on July 7.

A formal letter to IAEA, asking it to circulate the draft, was sent on July 8 after the Left parties announced their decision not to attend the last meeting of UPA-Left committee scheduled for July 10 which was to finalise its findings.

"A negotiating text of an agreement cannot be given out till it is complete," Menon told a press conference.

They said the agreement was not initiated till the Indian government was satisfied that all its interests have been protected.

Asked whether India could withdraw from the agreement if supplies were disrupted to a particular facility, Narayanan said if such a situation arises, India would have the right to take corrective steps.

Kakodkar said the "corrective" measures will include legal steps. The corrective steps will depend on the threat of disruption to a nuclear facility.

He, however, expressed confidence that such a situation will not arise, arguing that there are enough layers to ensure that operation of a nuclear facility is not disrupted.

In this regard, he cited the provision for uninterrupted supplies and creation of strategic reserve for the lifetime of a reactor.

If there is disruption in supplies, India will report it to the IAEA, Kakodkar said. He, however, added that discontinuation will not happen suddenly as there is provision for discussions.

Kakodkar was also dismissive about the argument that the safeguards agreement treats India as a non-nuclear weapon country.

"We are a nuclear weapon state. We know that and the world knows that. We should not worry about that," he said.

He maintained that the definition of nuclear weapon state was derived from NPT, of which India is not a part.

To press his point, he said the IAEA safeguards agreement recognises that India has a nuclear programme outside the civil nuclear programme.

To a question, Kakodkar said India can export nuclear items to a third country as per the export guidelines, which are "very strict".

While exporting, India will be insisting that the receiving country puts the particular facility under IAEA safeguards, he said.

Now lets take a look at the clarifications --

//The government also ruled out putting Fast Breeder Test Reactors under the IAEA safeguards //
This is the UPA Govt's position on fast breeder reactors. However read the below from US Department of state website.

CRITICS: Only 14 of India's 22 nuclear power reactors will be safeguarded under its separation plan, and India's two developmental fast breeder reactors will remain unsafeguarded. With these facilities, India can produce enough nuclear weapons to significantly expand its current arsenal.

COUNTERPOINT: The understanding we have reached with India will significantly increase the number of Indian nuclear reactors under IAEA safeguards, as well as bring associated facilities under safeguards. At present, only four of India's nuclear power reactors are under safeguards. Under its civil-military separation plan, India has agreed to place the majority of its existing nuclear power reactors and those under construction under safeguards and to place the other associated upstream and downstream facilities that support those reactors under safeguards. Furthermore, India has committed to place all future civilian power and fast breeder reactors under safeguards.

It says India has committed to place all future civilian and fast breeder reactors under safeguards! So who is saying the truth?

//Asked whether India could withdraw from the agreement if supplies were disrupted to a particular facility, Narayanan said if such a situation arises, India would have the right to take corrective steps. Kakodkar said the "corrective" measures will include legal steps. The corrective steps will depend on the threat of disruption to a nuclear facility. //

So according to this, India cannot withdraw from the agreement. That is becoming very clear (but he doesnt want to answer that direct). What it can do is only take "corrective" measures. What is that corrective measure mean?? nobody knows, not even the UPA govt. Because it knows that it cannot do anything. This "Corrective" measures being a negotiated clause to save face for India, neither the US nor India would want to venture into the meaning of this. Also legal steps? Again what are the legal steps you can take??The 123 agreement is not even covered under International arbitration or International law (unlike the China 123 agreement). And hence India can only do a discussion, protracted discussion and arm twisting discussion. In reality it can only sit and watch if there is a fuel disruption!

//In this regard, he cited the provision for uninterrupted supplies and creation of strategic reserve for the lifetime of a reactor//
Where is the uniterrupted supplies guaranteed my dear or even mentioned in the safeguards or 123 agreement or the Hyde act??

//If there is disruption in supplies, India will report it to the IAEA, Kakodkar said. He, however, added that discontinuation will not happen suddenly as there is provision for discussions.//

Exactly, that is what India can do. Just report to IAEA. IAEA being a monitoring entity cannot do anything but issue statements. End of the day you will only engage in discussion without any action. The truth is you cannot take any action. You can only appoint a committee and discuss. And we all know what will happen to these committees!

//"We are a nuclear weapon state. We know that and the world knows that. We should not worry about that," he said.
He maintained that the definition of nuclear weapon state was derived from NPT, of which India is not a part. //

Yes, we all know that India has nuclear weapons but that doesnt guarantee a recognition. Recognition is granted via the NPT. If you are recognised there are lot of benefits in safeguards agreement. Currently China (being a Nuclear weapons state per NPT) has favourable safeguards controls and conditions than what Iran is having (being a Non-nuclear weapons status country). That is one of the reason India refused to sign the NPT in the first place accusing it of discriminatory!!. So why this hogwash??

//To press his point, he said the IAEA safeguards agreement recognises that India has a nuclear programme outside the civil nuclear programme.//

Where does the safeguards agreement say this Mr?? which clause pls? It just gets a cursory, indirect mention in the preamble of the safeguards agreement. And nobodys knows the legality of the preamble provision in an international agreement particularly in the safeguards agreement.

It really looks like the UPA govt and the negotiating team doesnt have much to defend itself on these crucial questions. All it can fall back is on the "Corrective" measures. With no clear definition of what this "corrective" means, it will only lead to legal dispute and argument and counter arguments without any finality of action.

View from the other side

2008-07-13T07:29:00.001-06:00

With all furor on the Nuke deal in India, it would be interesting to a take a look at the reaction in Washington on the deal and the real calculations behind the deal.

This is a wonderful piece of opinion published in WSJ.

Negotiating India's Next Nuclear Explosion

By HENRY SOKOLSKI
FROM TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA
July 10, 2008

One of the most notable events of the G-8 meeting in Tokyo this week had little to do with economic growth. In a conversation yesterday, U.S. President George Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed a civilian nuclear deal that has been in the works for nearly three years. The pact, known as the 123 Agreement under U.S. law, would allow American firms to invest and trade in civil nuclear technologies with India -- a significant event if it occurs, given that India hasn't signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and has not allowed full inspections of its nuclear plants.

David Gothard

With only months left before Congress breaks for the U.S. Presidential elections, the time needed to finalize the deal this year may be running out. In addition to securing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) approvals, U.S. law requires Congress to pass a joint resolution of approval.

All of this is causing the deal's backers to wring their hands, despite yesterday's sideline chat. If the 123 Agreement is not approved on Mr. Singh's and Mr. Bush's watch, it could encounter additional difficulties next year. The leadership of the Indian political party most likely to succeed Mr. Singh's Congress-led coalition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has already announced that it wouldn't "mind another [nuclear] blast if it is necessitated." Meanwhile, John McCain and Barack Obama have pledged to ratify or amend the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Not much of this is mentioned when the deal is being sold in Washington. Within the Beltway, the deal is the business opportunity of the century, one that will strengthen global nonproliferation efforts and bring India into the international nonproliferation fold. Enabling legislation, known as the Hyde Act, requires that all U.S. nuclear assistance be suspended if India resumes testing, that the U.S. do nothing to violate its own pledges under the NPT, and that India place all of its civilian reactors under IAEA nuclear inspections in perpetuity. When questioned earlier this year House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Howard Berman, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed that the deal is and must be "completely consistent with the Hyde Act."

All of this sounds pretty good. There's only one problem: To garner the political support necessary to proceed with the deal, Mr. Singh and his supporters have been making a pitch back home that's the polar opposite of Washington's story board. Thus just last week, to gain the support of the Samajwadi Party (an Indian political group previously opposed the deal), the prime minister's office announced that "the 123 Agreement clearly overrides the Hyde Act" and that, as such, "there is nothing in the agreement which places an embargo on India's right to carry out a nuclear test if it thinks this is necessary in India's supreme national interest."

In the next few weeks, India is also expected to submit a safeguards agreement before the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna. India will make a unilateral statement aimed at reserving its right to expel IAEA inspectors from reactor sites if the U.S., or other fuel suppliers, suspend nuclear fuel shipments for any reason -- including Indian resumption of testing. Indian officials are also likely to plead for nuclear fuel supply guarantees so the country can stockpile uranium fuel against future nuclear fuel supplier cutoffs that might occur -- again, following a future nuclear test. If, as expected, no IAEA board member or NSG country objects to these Indian statements, India will construe the silence as assent.

The U.S. State Department is quite aware of these views. It's a key reason why late last year, State pleaded with the House Committee on Foreign Affairs not to release the Department's unclassified answers to whether or not the Executive believed the deal required the U.S. to cut off nuclear supplies to India if it tests; if the Department thought India could stockpile U.S. nuclear fuel to reduce U.S. influence on Indian nuclear testing policies; and precisely what kind of safeguards India must agree to. Oddly, the Committee agreed to keep State's answers under wraps. This suggests American diplomats want India to think it can test with impunity while it is telling Congress India can't.

But there's more: Earlier this year, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee suggested India "delink" finalizing the U.S. nuclear deal from getting the IAEA and the NSG approvals. His idea was to get the U.S. to convince the IAEA and NSG to allow India to do business with any nuclear supplier state. This would then allow India to import Russian and French nuclear goods, instead of American goods which would be laden with troublesome nonproliferation conditions.

His pitch was more than hype. The U.S. actually has been twisting arms at the NSG, threatening to leave and so dissolve the group if countries critical of the India deal did not fall into line on India. Also, as a practical matter, U.S. reactor sales to India won't happen even if New Delhi refuses to buy Russian or French. Why? No private U.S. nuclear firm would risk doing business with India until it establishes a sufficient amount of Indian nuclear damage liability coverage. Given India's horrific experience with the American-built Union Carbine chemical-plant accident at Bhopal, when this will occur is anybody's guess.

* * *

All of which raises the question, if this "peaceful" nuclear deal isn't to pump up U.S. reactor sales, just what is it about? One could argue that India could use more foreign uranium. It's recently run so low on domestic fuel that it's had to reduce the power production level of its civilian reactors significantly. It also needs foreign uranium because its own uranium production has remained relatively flat, while its civilian and military requirements have risen.

This is where the trouble begins. It turns out that fueling India's civilian reactors with foreign fuel is not all that peaceful. As K. Subrahmanyam, former head of India's National Security Advisory board noted, "Given India's uranium ore crunch . . . it is to India's advantage to categorize as many power reactors as possible as civilian ones to be refueled by imported uranium and conserve our native uranium fuel for weapons grade plutonium production."

India, however, doesn't need more weapons to keep up with Pakistan; it needs more and better ones to match China. That's why India has been developing intercontinental range ballistic missiles -- weapons that could use more, smaller, lighter, efficient advanced thermonuclear warheads. This, in turn, is why India's hawks are so interested in resuming nuclear testing. That Pakistan is committed to matching India's nuclear progress, is perhaps why New Delhi has yet to ramp up. But once New Delhi has all the uranium it needs for both its civilian and military program, it will surely revisit this.

Unfortunately, glossing over these points is the most the Americans and the Indians now seem willing do. This may be diplomatically clever but strategically, it's spring loaded to produce misunderstanding and tragedy. The U.S. certainly should not finalize the deal until either India agrees it should stop upgrading its arsenal significantly or we clearly decide that we no longer care if it does. For the record, right now just the opposite applies.

Mr. Sokolski is the executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, a nonprofit research organization in Washington, D.C., and editor of "Falling Behind: International Scrutiny of the Peaceful Atom" (Strategic Studies Institute, 2008).

Ethics and Self regulation in Media

2008-07-12T22:05:00.001-06:00

Note: This is a copy + paste (with corrections to grammatical errors) of my writeup in response to the program "Weekend Edition with Rajdeep Sardesai", CNNIBN Saturdays 8pm & Sundays 12 noon. You can the video here

At the upfront, I want to congratulate CNNIBN and Rajdeep Sardesai for this wonderful introspection. This kind of instrospection is long overdue in the Media. However its one thing to do an introspection and quite another to learn from the introspection and more important implementing the solution. Few of my thoughts are given below -
Problems with the Media -
1. There is no separation of News and Views. The thin line which differentiates the news with one's (journalists) views are non-existent today in Indian Media. This creates biased opinion and also skews the thinking of the reading public. Journalists should understand that views should go to the Opinion section. Sadly this never happens.
2. Sometimes I feel, there is no ethics in the Media industry. No respect for people's sensibilities, what to do, what not to do?? no respect for people's privacy. If you see any news footage about a breaking news or serious happening or a crime or a crime investigation, there is always Journalists acting as thugs. Pardon my language but this is what you see more than often. Even in this case, if you carefully rewind the footage, you could see cameramen, photographers, journalists jostling with one another to get soundbites from Rajesh talwar and in the process violating his privacy and free space! what is the need for such rowdyism? why cant the so called journalists crew act human and give the appropriate respect for the individual and the Police. They very well know that the person is not allowed to talk to media at that particular moment and even then why this insensible behaviour? just for a few soundbites? cant the media not sell without these irresponsibly obtained sound bites?
4. Code of conduct. Where is the so called self regulation or code of conduct in the Indian media industry? If you take the international media (like BBC, CNN to name a few), how do they organise themselves?? Cant the Indian media learn from them??If Media is not going to self regulate itself in India, a day will come for the Government to step in and that will be the end of the Press freedom in India (you wouldnt want to get into that situation right?). There would be no point in jumping around after that happens. It will be largely due to the Media inviting trouble!
5. Is there a proper Institution of education for Journalism in India. I seriously think there needs to be a world class institution which needs to teach the journalists - about ethics in Journalism, how to conduct in public, how to earn respect from the people, how to gain the trust of people, how to respect others, their responsibilities etc. Currently its a jungle out there with no control whatsoever and anybody can do anything.
Its a wake up call for Indian media and unless they self regulate, fight for TRP is going to kill the industry and what it stands for. Please try to learn from the International media, their practices, their control mechanism, their procedures and processes etc. There is no point in blaming the Politicians for everything. First the media has to control itself and gain people's credibility. Only then they can point a finger at others.
regards
Chandramouly

Nuclear Deal in Simpler terms

2008-07-11T08:51:00.003-06:00

Going through the Nuclear deal may be little bit daunting at times with claims and counter claims (and if you are in India with no access to web, chances are that you will get poor and coloured and politically motivated opinions through the media). So what best way to make it in a simpler and understandable terms. Alright, but how? Let me make a try –

I'm taking a housing mortgage loan as a parallel to the current deal. India is the borrower and Mr Manmohan Singh, being the head of the family is the lead signatory to the loan agreement. Mr Bush, being the CEO of the Housing finance company and also being the coordinator-in-chief of the consortium of Housing finance companies is the grantor of the loan. All along Mr Singh has been denied the housing finance for so many years for his and his families various omissions and commissions in the past. However Mr Bush suddenly takes pity on him and comes out with a brilliant Finance deal. I have tried the purported discussion between Mr Singh and Mr Bush in Tamil as it gives me more leverage to be more sarcastic and funny. Non- Tamil readers pls forgive me; Here we go-

Mr Bush – Hello Mr Singh, Loan deal ellam nalla padichu paartheengala?

Innoru dhaba sollren kelunga. Apporam puriyalennu solla theenga!

Neenga Unga Puthisa kattapora veedu engalukku adagu vechudanum, apporam thaan naanga loan process pannuvom. Athoda Neenga vechu irukkara matha ella veedayum (only residential) engalukku adagu vechudanum. Matha Goli velayadara veedu, apporam pattasu thayarikkara veeda ellam engallukku vendam. Atha pathi engalukku kavalai illa!

Normalla paartha ungalukku loan eligibility kedayathu. Irunthaalum neenga oru nalla nanbana irunthukittu irukkeenga. Athunala, ungalukku mattum intha special salugai tharatha mudivu panni irukkom.

Mr Singh – Thalaiva!! Romba nanri thalaiva.

Ana intha agreementla koncham doubt irukkuthu, atha mattum clear pannidunga pls.

Veeda Adugu venchuttom seri!, Ana loan eppo, evalo kudupeenga'nnu sollava maatengreengale? Evalo loan kodupeenga, muthalla loan koduppeengala? Appadi kodutha, evalo koduppeenga, fulla loan koduppeengala? Athellam koncham velakkama sollunga.

Mr Bush – Ada, neenga rumba avasara padreenga. Muthalla neenga puthusa kattapora Veeda adugu vechudunga; apporam munne sonna mathiri matha ella veedayum adagu vechudunga. Antha hypothecation agreement engkitte konda vaanga, apporam atha naanga process panni, evalo loan tharuthunnu mudivu pannuvom.

Mr Singh – Seri, naan veeda ellam adagu vecha apporam, neenga loan thara mattennu sonneengannu naan enna panrathu? Illa muthalla koncham koduthuttu, apporam koncha naal aanapporam loan'a niruthutteenganna naan enna panrathu. Neenga 1974 Tharapur veettukku suddenna loan'a niruthi vechutteenga!! Athukku apporam naanga rumba thindattom ponga!..Athu mathiri ahakoodathu paarunga.

Mr Bush – Athu elllam onnu aagathu kavalai padatheenga. Neenga muthalla hypothecation agreement seekkaram kondu vaanga, apporam loan process paannuvom. Process pannittu loan kandippa loan tharuvomnu nambunga. Nambikkai thaan vazhkkai illa?

Mr Singh – Apporam, veeda adagu vecha apporam, neenga loan tharalenna naan enna panrathu. Illa loan naduvulla niruthutteenganna enna panrathu? Athukku apporam naanga veeda ellam thiruppi eduthukkalaama?

Mr Bush – Ada, Neenga vera! Adagu vechatha adagu vechathu thaan. Atha thiruppi ellam eduka mudiyathu. Loan koduthaalum seri, Loan naduvula niruthinaalum seri, loan mudinchaalum seri, adagu vechathu vechathu thaan. Apporam, neenga veetla enna panreengannu naanga Kan kaanichukitte iruppom.

Mr Singh – Appo Loan ambo thaana; Veedum ambo, Loan'um ambova??

Mr Bush - Azhaatheenga Mr Singh, Loan ellam avalo seekkaram nirutha maattom! Ungalukku oru varusham time koduppom. Apporam thaan niruthuvom. Athunala kavalapadatheenga. Naan niruthi naalum, matha consortium companies'la irunthu ungalukku loan kedaikkum. Athukku naan help pannuven.

Mr Singh - Amaa, veetkkulla naanga enna panrommnu watch pannuvomnu sonneenga, athu ethukku?

Mr Bush – Ama, neenga veetukkulla pattasu ethachum thayaar pannineengannu, athu engalukku Aabathhu aatche? Neenga pattusu ethachum thayaar pannuneenga, apporam Aappu thaan! Nyabagam vechukkonga.

Ithu oru rumba nalla agreement. Ungalukkaga speciala thayaar panninathu. Intha mathiri loan agreement vera yaarukkum kodukka maattom. So Athunaala, itha vaayppa nazhuva vitturatheenga. Seekkaram odippoi agreement sign pannittu vaanga.

Mr Singh – Eanga, ivalo avasra paduthreenga?

Mr Bush – Amaanga, intha Agreement ungalukkagave speciala Naan Thayaar panninathu. Enna veettukku anuparathu munnadi antha unga loan sanction pannalaamnu irukken. Athunala, enna veettukku anuparathu munnadi , seekkarama poi, hypothecation agreement sign pannittu vaanga. Apporam naan seekkarama ungalukku loan sanction panniduven. Etho ennalana oru nalla kaariyam pannina thripthiyoda veetkku pogalaam illa.

Mr Singh - Athuvum serithaan Thalaiva!

Nuclear deal

2008-07-05T09:53:00.001-06:00

Several points have been raised for and against the deal; more so against than for the deal. I'm trying to list down specific points that have come to light on the opposition to deal and its official/unofficial counter (if any) to it;

Nuclear test: Contrary to what has been officially projected, The deal implicitly takes away India's right to conduct further nuclear test. After the deal is operational, it will be very foolish of the Governtment to go ahead with any kind of Nuclear tests knowing the full implications of the reactions(Hyde act and 123 agreement provide for explicit right to stop fuel supply). So Nuclear tests will all but be dead except that the Government can only boast of a theoretical right.
- Counter1: Mr. Brajesh Mishra, former National Security Adviser, has offered an interesting counter to this. India has anyway officially announced (by Mr Vajpayee after Pokhran II) that it will voluntarily enter into a moratorium on Nuclear tests even though it has not signed the NPT.
- Counter2 - CTBT; US ratification of CTBT will force many other countries which have not signed or ratified the treaty to ratify it. He says US ratification of CTBT is imminent in the sense that with a Democratic President likely in the White house and a democratic controlled Congress in place, it will be a matter of time before it is ratified by the Congress. Though this offers a plausible counter argument, it is nevertheless foolish to assume that US is close to ratifying it with current debate on national security.
- Counter3: There is no explicit bar on future nuclear tests in the 123 agreement. However there is an indirect one which comes from the Hyde act (Section 106 has this - " A determination and any waiver under section 104 shall cease to be effective if the President determines that India has detonated a nuclear explosive device after the date of the enactment of this title"). It is explicitly clear that any detonation of nuclear device for whatever reasons will call for the US to stop the fuel supply and thats what history says as well (US stopped the fuel supply to Tarapur after India tested its first device in 1974 inspite of a then existing 123 agreement.
Uninterrupted fuel supply: There is no concrete assurance on the uninterrupted and perpetual fuel supply even though India has committed to perpetual IAEA/US safeguards and inspection regime which cannot be revoked or suspended for any reason at any time after the agreement comes into effect. Thus for India once it signs the dotted line, there is no going back on its inspection regime whatever be the reason (even stoppage of fuel supply) whereas the US has every right to stop the supply by giving a year's note of termination or worse can still put in additional regulations by amending the Hyde Act or bringing in similar Hyde act in future to take away whatever little that is provided in the 123 agreement. So its only a one-way street as far as India is concerned without any recourse whatsoever!! This is particularly true if you look at what Iran is going through; Iran having signed the NPT but would want to get out of it now but it cannot and the pressure it is subjected is unbelievable. Atleast India should have taken note of it which putting things in fine print.
Termination of Agreement: "Either Party shall have the right to terminate this Agreement prior to its expiration on one year's written notice to the other Party. A Party giving notice of termination shall provide the reasons for seeking such termination. The Agreement shall terminate one year from the date of the written notice, unless the notice has been withdrawn by the providing Party in writing prior to the date of termination". Nothing is there what would happen to the fuel supply incase of stoppage etc but just a simple termination note is enough to end the deal (not the perpetual inspection India would be subjected to)
Inspection in Perpetuity: US under secretaries - Robert Joseph and Nicholas Burns, were quoted in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations as saying, “Our negotiators were very clear that, while the US would be willing to provide reasonable fuel assurances designed to counter market imperfections, fuel assurances are not a ‘condition’ to any of India’s commitments under the plan — including, in particular, safeguards in perpetuity.” Meaning, India is committed to safeguards and inspection in perpetuity, there is no fuel supply assurance in perpetuity.
Unilateral right to walk away: Option to walk away from the deal at any time for both parties with a prior notice period of 1 year. This has been projected as a great option repeatedly by the UPA Govt saying if the US acts funny, we can terminate the contract and go each others way. Yes, walk out of the agreement is an option provided to both the parties, but the catch is that even if India walks away or the US backs off, the Inspection regime in perpetuity agreed to by India as part of the deal is non negotiable and will still continue come whatever once the agreement is signed and ratified (by US, there is no ratification in case of India!). Meaning even after the deal is terminated India has to comply with Inspection regime of IAEA and the US. So, for India there is no going back on the Inspection regime whereas the US can walk away easily without any obligation!!
Inspection regime: As part of the deal, India is obligated to segregate and open up its civilian nuclear facilities for inspection of IAEA and the US. This is pretty normal but the catch is that the Inspection is not only restricted to IAEA but also the US has a right to have its own inspectors do the job in India. Meaning if tomorrow there is a hostile regime (to the US) at the IAEA and if it doesnt heed their council, then it can dispatch its own inspectors to India for doing the job and recommend to the president on the nature of the facility. This bilateral inspection regime has been put in place only for India and is not found in other 123 agreements (with other countries) which requires only IAEA inspection regime (Reference: Section 104 (B) (III) of Hyde Act states: In the event the IAEA is unable to implement safeguards as required by an agreement for cooperation arranged pursuant to Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2153), appropriate assurance that arrangements will be put in place expeditiously that are consistent with the requirements of Section 123 a.(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2153(a)(1)) regarding the maintenance of safeguards as set forth in the agreement regardless of whether the agreement is terminated or suspended for any reason)
Shutdown or planned shutdown of Cirus nuclear facility which is one of the two reactors which produce weapons grade plutonium. UPA Govt's decision to shutdown the facility has raised considerable doubts on the Governtment intentions on the continuity of its Nuclear programme for Military purposes.
Impact on foreign policy: With all those conditions in the Hyde Act and US Presidential report to the Congress on India's commitment to the cooperation with US on NPT, Iran etc, how would India have a free hand to decide its own foreign policy. With the threat of fuel disruption India would be forced to toe the US line on whatever occasion it demands it to be. Reference: Section 103 (b) (4) of Hyde Act: Secure India’s full and active participation in United States efforts to dissuade, isolate, and, if necessary, sanction and contain Iran for its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including a nuclear weapons capability and the capability to enrich uranium or reprocess nuclear fuel, and the means to deliver weapons of mass destruction. Section 104(c) (2) (G) of Hyde Act - A description and assessment of the specific measures that India has taken to fully and actively participate in United States and international efforts to dissuade, isolate,and, if necessary, sanction and contain Iran for its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including a nuclear weapons capability and the capability to enrich uranium or reprocess nuclear fuel and the means to deliver weapons of mass destruction.

Section 104 (c) (2) (D) - A description of the steps that India is taking to work with the United States for the conclusion of a multilateral treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons, including a description of the steps that the United States has taken and will take to encourage India to identify and declare a date by which India would be willing to stop production of fissile material for nuclear weapons unilaterally or pursuant to a multilateral moratorium or treaty.

Cost of Nuclear Fuel - With the cost of Uranium rising (its almost rising at the level of Crude oil in terms of percentage of increase), the ultimate nuclear fuel costs by the time even the first reactor under the deal comes thru, would have trebled compared to hydel or coal based costs per KWH. With limited supply of Uranium, India would eventually have to pay more for its per KWH rate going forward. So its not going to come cheap as well.
Goal: Ultimate US Goal in the deal: Halt, rollback and eliminate the Nuclear capability of India and the Sub-continent has been the long term goal of any US government. The Hyde act states this very explicitly. Section 103 (b) of Hyde Act -
The following shall be the policies of the United States with respect to South Asia: (1) Achieve, at the earliest possible date, a moratorium on the production of fissile material for nuclear explosive purposes by India, Pakistan, and the People’s Republic of China. Section 104 (c) (2) (D) - A description of the steps that India is taking to work with the United States for the conclusion of a multilateral treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons, including a description of the steps that the United States has taken and will take to encourage India to identify and declare a date by which India would be willing to stop production of fissile material for nuclear weapons unilaterally or pursuant to a multilateral moratorium or treaty". While the US Policy towards India is very clear and the objective achieved out of this deal, what has been India's objective out of this deal? Nuclear weapon status -? No, thats clear in the Hyde Act (see below); Uninterrupted and perpetual fuel supply? : No, for reasons stated above. So what then are we gaining out of this one sided agreement??
Formal recognition of Nuclear status for India: On the contrary the Hyde act stipulates that India adhere to the additional protocol of IAEA. Additional protocol of IAEA are applicable for Non-nuclear, non-member NPT states. Section 104 (g) A - (A) any material noncompliance on the part of the
Government of India with—
(i) the nonproliferation commitments undertaken
in the Joint Statement of July 18, 2005, between the
President of the United States and the Prime Minister
of India;
(ii) the separation plan presented in the national
parliament of India on March 7, 2006, and in greater
detail on May 11, 2006;
(iii) a safeguards agreement between the Government
of India and the IAEA;
(iv) an Additional Protocol between the Government
of India and the IAEA
No Arbitration clause: While a typical 123 agreement with China provides for International law jurisdiction incase of dispute, strangely the India 123 agreement has omitted that specific clause which means, India can only sit and watch incase of any arbitrary action by the US. While the US has been clever to remove the International law provision from the agreement, Indian negotiators has been caught napping!! Absence of International law principles mean, the US can even invoke a domestic law to stop supplying the fuel or refuse to cooperate per the agreement while India cant do anything except sit and watch and cannot walk out of the safeguards and inspection regime both by IAEA and the US. Wonder who was the legal brain who negotiated such an agreement? Also curiously provisions of tribunal reference is missing in India 123 agreement as compared to what is available in Japan 123 agreement. (Article 2(1) of 123 agreement :"The Parties shall cooperate in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement. Each Party shall implement this Agreement in accordance with its respective applicable treaties, national laws, regulations, and license requirements concerning the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.")
Impact of stoppage in fuel: What happens in the event of stoppage of fuel supply (as happened in Tarapur reactor in 1974 with then 123 agreement with US): There is no provision to safeguard India's interest when and if the US walks away from the commitment unilaterally except a provision for providing 1 year notice and "consultation". With huge economical costs involved if the country's energy requirement would be disrupted with no alternative plan, the US would be happy to walk away putting India with no choice but to follow whatever the US at that time stipulates for restoration. This would India put in a energy dependency with the US and a bonded labour situation without an exit clause. It can neither arrange for alternate fuel nor walk away from safeguards and inspection regime!! (Article 14 (2) of 123 agreement- "The Party seeking termination has the right to cease further cooperation under this Agreement if it determines that a mutually acceptable resolution of outstanding issues has not been possible or cannot be achieved through consultations. The Parties agree to consider carefully the circumstances that may lead to termination or cessation of cooperation. They further agree to take into account whether the circumstances that may lead to termination or cessation resulted from a Party's serious concern about a changed security environment or as a response to similar actions by other States which could impact national security")

With such legal loopholes in the agreement I wonder why the UPA government is bending over backwards to sign the dotted line. No Insane country would sign such an agreement particularly from a position of strength (remember US wants this deal badly because it would greatly serve its purpose of halt, rollback and eliminate Nuke in India and huge economical windfall it is expected to get).

If this ever happens, that would be a disastrous day for India.

123 Agreement can be had from here

Hyde Act is available here

India's slowing growth??

2008-07-02T21:30:00.001-06:00

This blog post is about this non sense article in Business week about India's slowing growth and its attempt to find reasons.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2008/gb2008071_743900.htm

Lets try to analyze point by point what the author tries to portray are the reasons for the slowdown -

Much of the crisis India faces today could have been avoided by skillful planning. India imports 75% of its oil to meet demand, which have grown exponentially as its economy expands. The government also subsidizes 60% of the price of such fuels as diesel. In 2007, when inflation was a low 3%, economists such as Standard & Poor's Subir Gokarn urged New Delhi to start cutting subsidies. Instead, the populist ruling Congress government spent $25 billion on waiving loans made to farmers and hiking bureaucrats' salaries.

The primary reason for slowdown in growth being the spike in Oil imports. If the Government has reduced subsidies on oil an year earlier as suggested by S&P, it would have been disastrous and we would have seen the slowdown an year earlier. This only shows how stupid are the Standard & Poor economic guru's sitting at Hong Kong or New york without having an idea of what India is and how Indian people are and what are the economic fundamentals of India. There is no magic wand on the Global oil shortage, atleast for the time being. If you can think and plan a strategy, may be it will take another 10 to 20 yrs to lessen the dependance but nothing can be done at the present unless you can rein in the speculators and/or the OPEC. Standard & Poor should be better advised to give economic advice to George Bush and / or better concentrate on its rating philosophy or investigate on why its so called AAA rated Mortage securities in the US went bust within days and led to the collapse of the entire financial market in the US and across the world!!

Waiving farm loans leading to Slowdown?? what nonsense? waiving loans can atmost affect only government finances and deficit and if its able to manage alternate sources of additional revenue then it shouldnt matter. On the other hand it could even fuel Agricultural growth if farmers benefit out of this.

Again, raising salaries contributing to slowdown??crap..

those expenditures, plus an additional $25 billion on upcoming fertilizer subsidies, is adding $100 billion a year—or 10% of India's gross domestic product, or equivalent to the country's entire collection of income taxes—to the national bill. This at a time when India needs urgently to spend $500 billion on new infrastructure and more on upgrading education and health-care facilities

Yes, spending is required in infrastructure. But these requirements are nothing new or things that have come up suddenly from heavens. These are being in the wish list for last 10 yrs and inspite of it the growth has peaked at 9%. Ofcourse urgent spending in infrastructure is required to sustain this growth and push it ahead. But non action is not the reason for slowdown. Slowdown is due to inflation contributed by Crude oil imports. It will take couple of years to see the impact of infrastructure bottlenecks to reflect in the Economic growth.

A plan to build 30 Special Economic Zones is virtually suspended because New Delhi has not sorted out how to acquire the necessary land

Non action in SEZ didnt contribute to slowdown. Because the growth was not dependant on whether SEZ would be setup in the first place. Ofcourse this factor would be important to sustain and enable to reach the next level of attaining 10% and beyond but those are not reasons which contributed to current slowdown.

A June 16 report by Goldman Sachs' (GS) Jim O'Neill and Tushar Poddar, Ten Things for India to Achieve Its 2050 Potential, is a grim reminder that India has fallen to the bottom of the four BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) in its growth scores, due largely to government inertia.

Yes, government inaction is there for all to see and its common across the government - whichever party that is in power. It doesnt need a Goldman Sachs report. Anybody who has an iota of knowledge about India would know of these.

The report states that India's rice yields are a third those of China and half of Vietnam's. While 60% of the country's labor force is employed in agriculture, farming contributes less than 1% to overall growth

Increase in rice yields and all other food grains is the lowest in India is well known. But to achieve this in a Country like India would take decades to see actual result. If you start now, it will take a another decade to see real impact. Probably Goldman Sachs didnt know of these 10yrs before. Need for a second green revolution is precisely to achieve this and its been in public discussion for last five years. Probably the author didnt hear about it when Dr M S Swaminathan talked about it!

Already this year, foreigners have taken $5.5 billion out of the market, compared with the $19 billion they invested last year

Foreigners who have taken out $5.5B out of Indian market are those who are speculative investors who had invested in the stock market. These are pure investors who have taken out when the market started going down. These money is not in anyway connected to the Growth of the economy or slowdown. These are hot money or flight capitals which keep flying from country to country looking for short term returns. Its not as though any Foreign investment in Manufacturing, Industrial, financial, infra or IT sector which have been taken out. On the contrary the investment in these areas are growing because of the rapid slowdown in their own home markets!!

By reading such stupid writeups. I'm getting confidence that I too can become a journalist and would do a better job without depending on S&P writeups or Goldman sachs report or Moodys advisories!!...

I guess no brains Journalists are permeating all across the media spectrum!! Thought this was confined to only Indian Media. But ofcourse the article is written by an Indian, a product of Indian media. So what better can you expect?

Will Intel embrace Mac??

2008-06-27T08:33:00.001-06:00

With the news that Intel Inc. has decided not to upgrade their in-house employee's (about 80000) computer systems from Windows XP to Windows Vista, the question now is whether it will bite the bullet and take plunge into Mac OSX?? Surely that will be a coup of sorts for Steve Jobs if that ever happens..Let's wait and see

Martha Stewart refused entry to the UK

2008-06-20T17:23:00.001-06:00

Martha Stewart has been refused a visa to Britain because of her criminal convictions for obstructing justice, the Daily Telegraph has learned.

Martha Stewart leaves the Federal court during her trial in 2004

The lifestyle guru, convicted four years ago in the US for obstructing justice, was planning to speak at the Royal Academy and to hold meetings with several figures in the fashion and leisure industry, including Jasper Conran, and was due to travel within the next few days.

The refusal by the UK Border Agency was sent to Ms Stewart, aged 66. A spokesperson for the business magnate said: "Martha loves England and hopes this can be resolved and that she will be able to visit soon."

She added that Ms Stewart has many friends in Britain, which she has visited numerous times.

A cook, designer and publisher, Ms Stewart was once called "the definitive American woman of our time" and once collaborated with Wedgwood on a range of crockery.

A British government official called the decision "an own goal" given the transatlantic business and goodwill her visit could generate.

"It is a bit silly given some of the other people allowed into the country," the official added.

It was not clear if Ms Stewart had been singled out or was a victim of a blanket rule imposed by the new agency. In 2004 she served five months in prison for lying to federal agents investigating the sale of shares shortly before they fell sharply in value.

The UK Border Agency said it would not comment on individual cases. A spokesman added: "We continue to oppose the entry to the UK of individuals where we believe their presence in the United Kingdom is not conducive to the public good or where they have been found guilty of serious criminal offences abroad."

Source – Telegraph.co.uk - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2159979/Martha-Stewart-refused-entry-to-the-UK.html

How hypocritical and comical is the decision of UK government to deny visa to Martha Stewart!! Wonder who took this decision. When criminals and hardcore terrorists are allowed free entry or as though there is none in Britain without a conviction, this decision smacks of hypocrasy. Was Bush administration instrumental in this decision or hand-in glove? Atrocious to say the least!!

Breaking news?!?!

2008-06-13T15:44:00.002-06:00

Looks like the media madness is not only special to India. Consider
this- CNN's popular news editor Tim Russert has died of heart attack
and this is flashed as breaking news!??! And this breaking news
nonsense continues hours together now and as I type this, its still
going on. What a stupidity?? Is there no other news to cover?? There
are so many things going on but CNN chose to stop everything and cover
this non sense as though he was a national figure or he died of
unnatural reasons..
Stupid CNN!!!

Correction: Tim Russert was a NBC managing editor

Predicting Indian Weather

2008-06-03T09:19:00.002-06:00

Always wondered why the Indian weather prediction is lousy compared to weather pattern forecasts in countries like US/Europe. Director of IMD in an interview to Rediff gives his opinion on this. Read on --

The Rediff Interview/Dr M Rajeevan, Director, National Climate Centre

'The Indian monsoon is very complex'

Inside one of Pune's most stately buildings is the Indian Meteorological Department, a heritage structure, which has housed the IMD since the 1920s. "It was the first big building in Pune with a lift," says Dr Mahadevan Rajeevan, director of IMD's National Climate Centre.

Every year, by the time June approaches, Indians start anticipating and discussing the arrival of the monsoon. This year, of course, the monsoon has far greater significance -- a good monsoon will not only impact rising prices but also have a bearing on the elections to follow.

"It would be a normal monsoon this year. So it should be good news for the people," says Dr Rajeevan, a weatherman who joined the IMD 23 years ago.

In a detailed conversation with Archana Masih on his day off on a quiet Saturday morning, he spoke about the complexities about the Indian weather system, why predictions have gone wrong at times and why if the Americans are asked to issue a forecast for India, they will also do badly.

This year the monsoon has far more importance with rising prices and so much depending on how good the monsoon will be. It will also have a bearing on the elections that are to follow. What is the monsoon forecast for this year?

This year the forecast is that it will come by May 29, of course there is a margin of 3 to 4 days, it can come early or come late. It is almost a normal onset.

We issue many forecasts for the monsoon -- one of course is the monsoon onset, that is when Kerala [Images] will get the first rain -- it is very important. It may not have economic value but definitely has a psychological value that 'Ah, the monsoons have come.' It is a tricky issue.

The Indian Meteorological Department, IMD, gives its forecast in April which is updated in June after more data comes in. In April we give an advanced forecast so that the government has enough time to respond. It is very difficult but we are trying to do it and are doing it for many years now.

In addition to that we issue a separate forecast for monsoon rainfall for the country as a whole. That is very important -- whether there will be a drought, normal monsoon or excess monsoon.

We issued the first forecast for this in April which said that it would be a normal monsoon this year. So it should be good news for the people. At present we don't see any adverse things that will affect the monsoon performance. There may not be plenty of rain but definitely it will be normal rain which will be sufficient for good agriculture. It is not bad news.

What changes are there likely to be?

It can change by hardly 2% to 3%. Definitely it is not going to be a drought this year. There is more chance of a normal monsoon than anything else.

How do you go about predicting the Great Indian Monsoon? Last year you used a technique called the ensemble method.

There are two main methods of issuing forecasts -- statistical or empirical method that IMD has been using for more than 100 years now. The first forecast was issued in 1886, and India was the first country to issue a seasonal forecast. So we are the pioneers. The US, for instance, uses statistical method plus dynamical method, in which they run a numerical model using a big computer.

There are so many things we don't know about the monsoons, there is more information about the Pacific Ocean. They know more about the American climate, the Indian monsoon climate on the other hand is very complex. People have been working on it, even in the US, there are so many universities working on it.

What are the primary complexities about the Indian climate?

There are so many complexities that are involved -- topography, the influence of the ocean. India is locked from north and south by the Himalayas and the ocean. The Himalayas have a non linear topography and the monsoon system that is formed is very tricky, it is not a very simple, its relationship with ocean dynamics is very difficult.

We don't know how the Indian Ocean is behaving, we have more information available about the Atlantic Ocean. They have more data, more research, more modeling, observation -- so there is plenty of data about the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

I am not saying that people are not working on the Indian monsoon. In India and abroad people are working on it but as far as our monsoon meteorology is concerned, it is said God has given us a little problem -- it is called predictability.

For example, you can better predict the Australian or African monsoon but when it come to India -- the signal to noise ratio is very small -- that is, basically you are trying to predict weather into feature -- so what happens is there is a lot of noise in the ocean data, so as you continue assimilating data over days, this noise will grow and you get more noise than signal.

So God has given us a very small signal to noise ratio. Nobody can help us with this, there are many reasons for this. This signal to noise ratio is predictability and so the limit to predictability is itself very bad over the Indian monsoon compared to other monsoons.

Nature itself has given us some limitations. Within these limitations we try to do maximum as possible.

There was a difference in the onset of the monsoon as predicted by your department last year while the monsoon arrived later.

That was about the onset of the monsoon but our rainfall prediction was off by 11% which is not really good. Last year the model did not perform very well but that does not mean that the model is bad. Models are not expected to do well every year. No model is perfect.

Models are being updated every 5, 6 years. We get new ideas and data into the analysis. We apply all this and use these to improve. So the ensemble model which we introduced last year is basically an attempt from us to improve the capability of the statistical model. Last year the prediction wasn't pretty good.

The IMD in the last five years has got its prediction wrong thrice (2004/2006/2007) and right twice (2003/2005) -- is that correct?

2004 it was bad. 2006 it was okay. We need to have a correct forecast for drought. We should be able to tell if a drought will occur in the monsoon season. We should be able to tell that in advance so that the government can take some kind of mitigation measures.

We did this last year also, so our emphasis is to predict a drought. Drought is important, this is not to say that other monsoon scenarios are not as important. The impact of drought is more than a good monsoon. When rainfall goes on the negative side, its impact on economy and agriculture is very large. When it rains more the impact is not much.

What is the signal for drought this year?

The possibility of drought is very less this year. Climatologically, take 100 years of monsoon rain data -- for 20 years we had drought -- even if a person has to issue a forecast, there is a 20% probability of drought. This 20% probability is always there.

When IMD gives a forecast for drought that probability is 5%, it means that drought probability has come down -- it is almost ruled out. We are giving a probability less than the climatological probability. 5% is nothing, it is good news.

So this year the drought possibility is very less?

Yes. Excess rainfall is also not very much. We have more probability confined to normal monsoon. There is 60% probability for a normal monsoon.

You have said no set of equations or formula can predict the Indian monsoon consistently and accurately, is it like you have mentioned earlier in the interview, primarily because of our weather system or are there other reasons like lack of state of the art of equipment?

There are plenty of reasons, one is of course, that our weather system is highly complex. The person who designed the first computer Von Newman, he once made a remark that seasonal forecast is the second most difficult prediction problem in the world. The first is to predict human behaviour.

That is the seriousness of the problem. But that does not mean we can rest on that. We have to do the work. Still we need to know many things about the Indian monsoon. We do know but we need to know much more. We need more observation from the Indian Ocean.

Why don't we have enough data from the Indian Ocean?

There are lots of reasons but now things are improving. Under Kapil Sibal (the Union minister for science and technology) we are putting automatic stations, automatic rain gauges, Doppler radars, buoys, data platforms in the ocean -- so it is being done. The future is definitely bright.

What about the IMD's weather channel that is going to be launched? What can you tell us about it?

They already have a project team. I understand they have appointed some private agents to see the feasibility of sustaining the channel. The feasibility report is being submitted. The government is very serious about it.

We have to teach the people, because the required awareness is not there. In the USA and Australia -- the information, not only forecast but real time information about weather; if El Nino is developing -- the climate information data is being conveyed to the people. People should be receptive and know what kind of data is being given, how it can be made use of.

We issue forecasts that the monsoon will be like this but we don't know how people are using that information. Whether they need something else, how they use this information in agriculture, we don't know how to gauge that by simply issuing a forecast. We need many application oriented projects.

In Australia when you issue a forecast, farmers are told if you believe this forecast what is the risk involved. The farmer says by going with this forecast, his agricultural produce will have so much percenatge of loss. If I don't, I will have a greater percentage of loss. We do not do this kind of assessment in India. We do not know how much risk is involved.

When do you begin work on predicting the monsoon every year?

We do it round the year but we begin collecting data in October, some data from December goes into the model and we have continuous monitoring. We don't wake up at the last moment and collect data.

How many places in India do you get this data from?

For seasonal forecasts, we take data from the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, South Indian Ocean, China region. For day to day forecasts IMD has 550 observatories, 30 to 40 upper air observatories -- we send balloons -- and radars. Rain gauge network and radar network around the coast. We don't have a very good mesoscale network which is very important for predicting thunderstorms and strong winds. Like the Mumbai rains happened, we need a high resolution mesoscale network every 2 to 5 kms. A Doppler radar was asked for by Mumbai, it is coming.

Isn't it true that we don't have state of the art equipment to predict our weather?

Not completely true. We do have our own network. Some instruments are obsolete and we need better equipment and technology -- Doppler radar is a new technology and we have only 6, 7 of them in India. We need weather stations, observatories to be automated. The government is doing it.

In this financial year, they will install 1,000 automatic rain gauges, which will be introduced for the first time. We have some automatic weather stations. We have already installed 150 or so and next year some 1,000 are to be installed, so the government is taking action. We definitely need more data, good observations, better equipment and the government is doing it.

There is so much stress laid on the monsoon, understandably so because 70% of our country is dependent on agriculture -- but since we have been experiencing such bitter winters and severe summers which has taken so many lives in the recent years -- we don't seem to have information about how these months are going to be. What are we doing about it?

We seem to be more worried about the monsoon rainfall and we have 100 of problems with the monsoon season itself but we appreciate a need for issuing a separate forecast. So far nothing has been done, I admit but definitely we are planning to do that.

Why are our winters becoming colder and summers hotter? 2007 was the fourth warmest year since 1901 -- and among the 10 warmest years since 1901, 8 have been after 1998.

Our temperatures are increasing. Warming is continuing, it is a part of global warming. The maximum day time temperature is increasing, not night time temperature. That means you have more heat waves. It has been increasing for the last 20 years. It is also observed that the intensity of rain has increased. It rains a heavy amount in a short time, like what happened in Mumbai. Research and theory has shown that the intensity of precipitation has increased in many parts of the country.

Our country also sees a lot of havoc being caused by floods each year? Why don't we have proper prediction for that?

We can predict 2, 3 days in advance. I can't tell you now where it will be flooded in August. I can tell you 2, 3 days in advance.

It may not be enough?

But it can still save lives. People can be asked not to go out etc. The nullahs can be cleaned. Many floods are also man-made because of inaction.

When is the monsoon hitting Mumbai?

Let it come to Kerala. If everything goes very well, by June 7-8, it should come to Mumbai. It is very difficult to say.

In countries like the US, much importance is given to weather forecasts on news channels. People watch the weather on television before setting out, how do they bring about a largely accurate forecast?

One reason is their science and technology is better. Secondly, their weather pattern, their science of weather is different. Here up to 3 o' clock, there will be no cloud but at 4 you will get a cloud and by 5 it will rain. This won't happen in the US. If it's going to rain there at 4 pm, by morning there will be clouds. Even two days prior it will be known that clouds are coming. But not so in our country.

If the Americans are asked to issue a forecast for India, they will also do badly (laughs). That's what I feel because our weather pattern is difficult. When you assess a forecast skill, don't assess the IMD's skill with the skill of the USA. It is like comparing Tendulkar with a school cricket boy. It is meaningless.

You should compare the weather forecasting capability of India with any country in the tropics, that is a reasonable comparison. I am not saying the IMD is doing the best job, but it is uneasy for me to compare the IMD skill US or UK. You can compare India to Thailand or to some extent Korea, Singapore. Among the tropical countries, we are leaders, that's what I feel.

You are hopeful and feel things are improving.

Definitely. But we need more people. Many students come for research in meteorology. There are courses in IIT, Indian Institute of Science but they are not coming here and go out. They may be working on the monsoon but could be doing something else -- like studying the weather over Scandanavia or the Belgium rain. We need 200 good officers in IMD. Even if we want, we can't get 200 good people trained in meteorology.

Are there enough people opting for meteorology?

Education of meteorology is not being done very well in many universities. It is being taught in Cochin university, Poona university, Andhra university. Most universities teach physics, we need universities to come up with these courses.

Once students get their PhD, there should be a mechanism to absorb them in India and give them good jobs. I know some good students from IISc but next thing I know they are working in some lab outside India. Many people opt for IT now, so IT has really spoiled the whole science scene.

http://ia.rediff.com/news/2008/may/27inter1.htm

Afzal and UPA

2008-05-21T22:46:00.001-06:00

Rediff quotes Home Minister Shivraj Patil saying this -

In controversial remarks, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said when the government has been pressing for clemency for Sarabjit Singh facing death sentence in Pakistan, how can the demand be made for the hanging of Afzal Guru, condemned prisoner in Parliament attack.
"You want Afzal Guru to be hanged. (At the same time) you are saying that don't hang a person who has gone to Pakistan (Singh)," Patil told reporters in Latur on Tuesday.
"These people want others to be hanged. What are you doing? You are saying don't hang that person (Singh) and you say hang this person (Guru) here," Patil said and added that law would take its own course.
Guru was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court for being involved in the criminal conspiracy to attack Parliament on December 13, 2001. His clemency plea is pending with the government.
The statement of Patil is likely to stir a row with main the opposition BJP already slamming Patil for his "irresponsible" comments.
"The government which has been dithering on the execution of Afzal Guru is actually supporting and playing vote bank politics by giving such absurd reasons," party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
The "ill-informed Union home minister of the country does not even know that while Sarabjit Singh was a case of mistaken identity, Guru's role and involvement in Parliament attack is proven," he said.

My long felt apprehension on Afzal guru hanging case that the present UPA government will do all it takes to somehow block or suspend the hanging is becoming much clearer by the day. First the deliberate delay on deciding the clemency petition, then this equation of unrelated issues like Sarabjit singh's case in Pakistan. Probably the UPA government is trying its utmost to delay the hanging so that any one of the following can take place-

- Afzal himself escapes from prison (or allowed to escape as is normally the case)

- Or wait for something like Kandhahar to take place so that he can be happily traded.

- Or trade for Sarabit's release with Afzal

- Or worse still create a public opinion for abolition of capital punishment citing the European practice.

- or create a medical case and release him on medical grounds..

Cowards!! thats the best way you can describe these bootlickers party called Indian National congress!!

Definition of Indian Nation

2008-05-16T17:47:00.001-06:00

Mr Gurumurthy (I guess he doesn't need any intro) tries to define "Indian" and Indian nation. Very very thought provoking article. Gurumurthy basically addresses the issue of Sonia Gandhi's shot at Prime ministership and in trying to address this, he goes back and tries to define the Indian Nation and basic cultural characteristic of India. First half of the article is very interesting and the last part can be majorly ignored unless you are still interested in the subject matter. He starts with "India is a civilization pretending to be a nation". How true? Ofcourse there are few statements which I don't agree but still the article is excellent. Read on..

Source - www.gurumurthy.net

SONIA IN POLITICS – A NATIONAL DISASTER

Dear brothers and sisters,

It is certainly not a matter of pride to have Sonia as the Prime Minister. You cannot be electing a person as Prime Minister and not feel proud about having elected her. When someone wants to lead this country, it must be a matter of pride for the people of the country to have that person leading the country. It is not one of those also ran positions where you say, ok let her be the Prime Minister. You do not appoint even a clerk in your office with so little thought. Imagine the depths to which this issue has descended. “What is wrong if she is the Prime Minister”, is an argument which comes not from the ordinary people of India, but comes from the educated Indian. This comes from the Chidambarams and from the Rajdeeep sardesais of this country; this comes from editorial writers sitting in Madras. So let us analyze this issue in all its deeper implications for a country like India which as Radha Rajan said has an unbroken continuity.

India is a civilization pretending to be a nation. Something like this is inconceivable by the intellectuals we are turning out of our universities today. This civilization is now facing the might of the nation-state, which has evolved in the west. The nation-state mechanism in the west is basically aggressive, violent, conquering, invasive, dominating, imperialistic. A concept, which the Indian mind cannot internalize, cannot understand, and cannot exhibit in its attitudes. It is basically a civilization, which is committed to fostering our civilization. That is why it grew far beyond its boundaries, known as India, without a single soldier moving out of this country.

You find temples, you can still hear the sound of the Vedas in Indonesia, in Vietnam, in Thailand even today. Two days ago someone presented with a book on Hindu temples in Vietnam. It is unbelievable that Vedic sounds are still to be heard in tribal areas there. No Hindu king went there. No one imposed his culture on them, his tradition or literature on them. Hinduism grew because of its worth, because of its philosophic reach. This is a civilization, which is non-conflicting, which cannot understand why people confront and kill each other. It cannot really understand why someone has to fight over whether his god is superior or my god; to decide this through a boxing match or a jehad or a crusade is not something our people can comprehend. For a civilization of this kind, to be aggressive is alien, violence is alien, domination is alien. But the affairs of the world today are organized only on this basis. These are the fundamental rules of existence. Organized violence is the basis of the nation-state in the west.

The nation-state in the west was forged by clans, by dictators, by oligarchies, and by powerful men. And their power was signaled by their armies; and this power was seen in the destruction you can see through out Europe. You can see broken monuments and the ruins of cities and societies in all parts of Europe. So a nation-state which philosophically grew out of this kind of attitude to other civilizations, other nations, other peoples, and other societies, and which is now recognize as the paradigmatic framework of all political existence, is, for people like us, a difficult phenomenon to understand, and to deal with. We have another problem too, a philosophic problem. In no religious-political literature of this world will you find the equivalent of “let noble thoughts come to us from all sides”. Because all political, social and religious philosophy of the west and of the Abrahamic faiths rest on the premise “only what I say or think is noble”. This is the essence of all their philosophies.

Contrast this to our civilization. You open your hearts and mind to others, to other people, and say the athithi is god personified, you belong to a civilization, which has internalized this value. We therefore find it very difficult to reconcile it with the modern idea of the nation-state, which is based on violence, exclusivity and intolerance. We have problem which we, as intellectuals must understand and deal with eventually. Why do we have difficulty in dealing with this problem of the idea of foreigners and their rising to high offices in our country? Britain would never enact a constitution in which they have to provide the condition that only a natural born British will be the Prime Minister or Chief Justice or whatever. The French and the Germans too will see no necessity to do it because it is generally accepted in their political, social and cultural traditions that only a white, Christian will hold the highest office in their countries. But the USA will have to make such a stipulation in its Constitution. Why? Because America is basically an immigration society. It is a nation state brought about by a boarding and lodging mentality. So the safe guards which are needed for a nation which is forced, forged out of a melting pot identity drawn from all countries of the world, from all races and religions, have to be made to ensure a modicum of loyalty to the American State. The white, Christian American in the USA today, his forefathers rather, had systematically and ruthlessly wiped out the nation, the society, the civilization, which existed 500 years ago. A 110 million people where wiped out in a planned genocide lasting three centuries! The entire Mayan civilization was wiped out in this campaign of hatred and intolerance.

So something new had to be brought about in the place of what had been destroyed. So I would not like to relate myself to the American situation. We are a far more evolved society. This society, this country, this nation, this civilization is not run, controlled, or administered by the police, President or the Prime Minister. I am amazed at the conclusion which I have now internalized for the last twenty-years. In the twenty-five years after I completed my university education and when my real education began. And the conclusion, the understanding is, this society it is an enormously harmonious society. It knows how to live with others. Seven and a half lakh villages and fifty thousand police stations only. American society cant live like this. Their insecurity is so internalized in the system of relationship between the State and the society and there is nothing called society anyway, and in inter-personal relationships, that they depend on the police and the law for security and protection.

So we do not understand the rules that govern the idea of nation-state in the west and at the global level and what is the idea of nation state that all of us in this country are experiencing. What is the nation in India? The greatest sociologists have been confounded by this country. In this context I have often asked myself what it is about our understanding of this nation that a Thanjavurian in Los Angeles continues to feel anxious about the level of water in the Mettur Dam. He has no land, he has disposed of them all but he continues to watch from Los Angeles, the water level in the Mettur Dam. The reason is, he is still linked to the Cauvery, he is linked to his village , he is linked to cultivation there. In thought, in his ideas. And it is ideas welding a person with the land, that makes a nation. At the highest level of existence there have been nations without territories, nations without governments. On a more mundane level and from recent history, one singular example is the Hebrew nation. For two thousand years, they were butchered and persecuted and displaced from a hundred and seven countries. They were strewn and scattered around the world as refugees. Hated everywhere, uniformly hated. They forced to seek asylum in a hundred and eight countries; they were persecuted and abused in 107 of them. They were treated with courtesy and respect and compassion in only one. In India.

The jewish people published a book in 1965 if I remember right. This book was printed in America distributed all over the world but not in India, I don’t know why. And in this book the Jewish government has said that in a hundred and eight countries the Jews had to go to beg for survival. In 107 countries they were butchered, maimed & raped. But in one country, in India we were received and treated like their own even better than their own.

There was no constitution of India at that time. There was no article 29,30,25,26 calling for protection of the minorities. Do we mean to say that it is the constitution which protects the minorities here? Our constitution, if it provides for the protection of minorities, is the product of this civilization. It has evolved out of our working, our method, our language, our life. and when we wish to discuss the issue of foreigners holding high offices in this country, we are told, look at the Constitution, you are communal, you are promoting hatred.

Please understand the idiom of the discussion. The majority community in India has been increasingly losing confidence in the last 50 years. Look at it deeply. A country in which the majority, whether you like it or not there is a majority, because there is a minority, and this majority has been abused, hounded out of public discourse on issues which are important to Hindus, all its symbols were discredited, its points of respect derided. For fifty years it has been forced to assume such an excruciatingly defensive position in the country’s public life. This situation assumed such tragic proportions that a senior Hindu institution like The Ramakrishna Mission went to the courts asking them to please declare that they were not a Hindu institution. And that was the kind of pressure on the Hindus. If eighty-five percent of the people of a country are under pressure, the country can’t be at ease. We intellectuals were looking at the situation for all these years. But what did we do about it? Nothing. This inaction was the direct consequence of the enormous implication, destructive implication of the Macaulayan mix in our education.

This civilization was so noble but it was hardly a competitor to the exclusive civilization, exclusive States, powerful States, destructive States, which could easily conquer the State of India but not the nation. The nation in India has always been free. The State in India may have been conquered and may have passed into the hands of aliens and the invaders but it never mattered. The state in India never symbolized the nation in India. The State was never the protector of the nation. The State was only the residual mechanism in which was vested only residuary power. But in western societies, the State, the king, the administration, the building, the army, and the police symbolize everything, symbolize the State and society. Therefore if you take over the capital, the country is gone, the civilization is gone.

But here, in this country, as Swamy Vivekananda says, temple after temple was broken but they rose again because the spirit of the people was not broken. You are asked to pay tax and go to temples by rulers of alien religion and you paid the tax but you went to the temple. Yes it was a submissive approach but in a tempest it is the unbending trees which fall; the pliant and submissive grass lives to see another day. This is how we learnt how to face a barbarian attitude, a barbarian civilization, barbarian army, barbarian rulers. So this nation is a very difficult nation to define. One can easily define what is French - one who detests all things English is French. You can also define what is British and what is Australian because they are all shades of the same culture. There is no difference among them in their overall attitude to other civilizations. There is no civilizational demarcation between them. They are distinguished only by their approach to power -what is my power and what is his power and how to demarcate that power.

These are civilizations whose age is marked in decades and centuries and millenniums. Thy have no conception of ‘yuga’. Our life is not demarcated in centuries and so we have a much wider area to cover. We need an aerial view so to say, to understand this nation and a clue is provided to you in the freedom movement. What triggered India to fight for freedom and what was the core of the philosophy of the Indian freedom movement? Maharishi Aurobindo said “ Sanathana Dharma“ is the nationalism of India. He went to deliver a talk in Uttarapara in Bengal. He had a prepared text with him and when he wanted to read from this text and an inner voice instructed him to ignore the text and speak what it wanted him to speak. And that was his last speech because afterwards he came to Pondicherry. In the speech he said Sanathana Dharma is the nationalism of India. If ever it is possible that Sanathana Dharma will decay, then this nation will decay; if Sanathana declines, this country will decline too, he said. This country is synonymous sanathana Dharma and Vande Mataram. This one single slogan motivated thousands of our people to go to jail, and hundreds to go to the gallows.

What this country responds to, what this country accepts, what this country reveres is Vande Mataram, Rama Rajya, Sanathana Dharma. Swami Vivekananda said spiritual nationalism. It is these ideas, abstract ideas that provided concrete shape to this country, guided the freedom movement. People left their homes, never went back. People gave up their practices, lucrative practices; rich people destroyed their property, gave up their property. Young people destroyed their career. They did not do it for a democracy to be installed in this country, for some one to get elected as Prime Minister and President. Even that an Indian must soon become the head of this country was not in their minds. They wanted that this country should become free. Free of domination by foreigners, foreign ideas, alien civilization, destructive nation-states. India was for freedom in the real sense of the term. It is this philosophy that shaped the Indian freedom movement, but subsequently the greatest destruction of the Indian mind was brought about by the intellectual and academic systems of free India.

Whatever Macaulay said whatever Marxist said for the destruction of civilizations in nations particularly the civilizations which cannot conflict, which cannot be angry, which cannot be aggressive, their ideas were implemented to the last detail in the academic institutions and in the intellectual life of this country. Marx and Macaulay had expounded rules for the destruction of civilizations which are rooted in families and localities, which were not constituted as monoliths, which were not represented by a king, by a rule, or by any imposing structure, by demolishing which you could demolish that civilization. India was such a civilization and she posed a major challenge to both Macaulay and Marx. And we have it in their own words. The Indian civilization is ideas rooted till the lowest levels of our social and political structures. It could therefore have been destroyed only by ideas, other ideas, distortive and destructive ideas. Nothing else could have made an impact, adverse impact, destructive impact on the Indian civilization. Invading armies could not do it, foreign rule could not do it, coercive and violent religious conversions could not do it.

Nine hundred years of the Indian State passing into the hands of successive invaders meant there was no protection for the Hindus of this nation. In fact, I remember one of my friends, he was an IAS officer, now he has resigned and gone to some Australian University. Telling me Hindus were the only people in the whole world who were denied protection to life and property for 900 years; and he said just one amendment in the constitution of India, amendment to article 21 which guarantees protection to life and property should now be done in a manner to make it available only to Hindus in India. There will be no other people in India in the next 200 years he said, but this thought will not even occur to us. This is the thought on which was based the entire concept of nation-state in the west and in the middle east. Only I can live, you have no right to live and to say this they have a right. And to protect and defend their right to say this in this country is protecting the minority right. Please understand the extent to which the thinking of Indian intellectuals has been convoluted by the English language. We have to straighten them out and only English speaking Indians can do it.

So, we have a problem of the Indian mind, the Indian philosophy, the non-conflicting approach of the Indian civilization when they have to confront the exclusive, conflicting and aggressive nature of the other civilizations and the institutions born out of the those civilizations. This problem, we have to understand, is a very real problem. It is against this background that we must place the attitude of our constitution makers and why they did not think of stipulating in the constitution that only Indians who are people or persons who are born in India, could hold high offices in this country. Because the idea that anybody located on this soil would one day target these high offices would never have occurred to them. We had just won freedom from foreigners. To even stipulate and mention specifically that foreigners cannot hold high office in free India would have been superfluous. But the fact that this was not stipulated for this reason, is today cited as the best reason why constitutionally there is no bar to foreigners holding high office and so a foreigner can become the Prime Minister.

So, now we are conceding that foreigners can become Prime Ministers in India, Presidents of India, provided they hold a citizenship certificate. And odious comparisons are being made with great people in support of their arguments to making Sonia the Prime Minister. Look at sister Nivedita they say, people who have not studied her. She rebelled against the British for India. She and Vivekananda, and Swami Vivekananda’s brother, Brahmapandava Upadhyaya, many people may not know he was a Christian by faith, they were smuggling arms into India to fight the British and she was such a ferocious patriot! The Ramakrishna Mission, which kept away from politics requested her to leave The Ramakrishna Mission. Where is a comparison? And her name was Margaret and Swami Vivekananda called her Nivedita because she had surrendered herself to this country.

Compare Nivedita with this woman. She came to India marrying a very good looking husband. When she came to India in 1968, she was wedded to an Indian who was the son of that country’s Prime Minister. People who say now that it is our tradition that when women enter their husband’s homes, they become a part of that family’s tradition and so Sonia is family now, she too is an Indian, they say sentimentally. But she did not apply for Indian citizenship in 1968 when she married Rajiv and came to India, which is what good Indian wives would have done. She filled in an application in 1968 for permission to stay as a foreigner in India for five years. She said I am married, I am married into the family of the Indian Prime Minister but I would still like to remain a foreigner. So she was given a certificate in 1968 to reside in India as a foreigner for five years. Okay, this may have been due to some adjustment problems.

In 1973, after the first five year period expired, she again applied for the permit to stay on India for another five years as a foreigner and this is the person who is going to live and die for us. I will now come to what Cho, my friend told me, never believe what she says. There is not only complete divorce between what she says and what she does there is also a clue that she will do precisely the opposite of what she says. I will come to it later, there are instances and instances. So, she again applied for a foreigner’s permit. You know why? Between 1968 and 1973, the indications were all there of the imminent war with Pakistan over East Pakistan. And sure enough, there was the Bangladesh war. During the Bangladesh war, when all commercial pilots were asked to forego their leave and come into service, she asked Rajeev to go on a long leave and he was given special permission and they left India. And throughout the period of the war, they were in Rome. Why, because the American seventh fleet was moving towards India, and Sonia Gandhi probably had serious doubts about India’s survival! So she ran away from the country with her husband; to that extent faithful. And she returned only after peace were restored, after India had won the war, when because of Indira Gandhi, that family acquired stature and became invincible.

And this is where the stark contrast between Sonia Gandhi and Vajpayee is the most glaring. Look at their conduct after two wars. After the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, Vajpayee who was the opposition leader at that time, stood up in Parliament and congratulated Indira Gandhi for her courage and vision and praised her as Durga. He was a patriot. At that important moment, he never thought that acknowledging the achievement of his political adversary will cost him votes. Yes, he lost votes. In 1971 election, the entire four party grand alliance was wiped out and in the 1973 elections, in all assemblies they lost, but not because Vajpayee stood tall in his praise for Indira Gandhi. when Mrs. Gandhi took on Pakistan and created Bangladesh and made India victorious, nobody said it is only the army jawan who has won the war, please do not ask for any credit. And this is what Sonia Gandhi said to the NDA government when we had evicted every invader from the heights of Kargil. This is meanness, pettiness, smallness, and foreign mindedness. It is only someone who would not like another nation to be proud of what it has done who would speak in this manner. Such people will deny credit even where it is due.

It is not everyday that a nation comes together to feel proud, such opportunities do not come in the way very often and that is why those opportunities are to be studied, reread and recapitulated by history. Yes, you are a great nation because you don’t get this opportunity every decade. Yes you have an opportunity now to feel proud. But what was Sonia Gandhi’s attitude? She played politics even with the self-esteem of this country by choosing the wrong moment to demand an explanation from the government, to raise issues of corruption in defense deals. Even her praise for our armed forces came later when she realised that the people of this country were not taking her criticism of our armed forces very well. That she was a foreigner and had no business asking for explanations came through very clearly. Every intelligent Indian knew there were problems, including corruption associated with some sections of the army and that it was these problems that resulted in the Kargil invasion. Do you mean to say this is the occasion to expose some small number of people and defame the entire army in the process? The army today represents the core of Indian nationalism. Yes, there will be one or two wrong peoples everywhere and they will be there in the defense forces too. But this is the occasion for the nation to rise above everything and pat the army for its heroism, its courage and its sacrifice. But only a nationalist will think like that. But a person like Sonia Gandhi who is after votes, who is after power, who is after a small citizenship certificate to rule this country, cannot think like this.

So, we have to read between the lines, you have to look at the persons behind the skin. So, in 1973, she again applied for a permit to remain a foreigner in India. Now let us come to the period between 1973-1978. In the year 1977 when Mrs. Gandhi was defeated after she lifted the Emergency and called for elections, Sonia Gandhi learnt the mood of the nation and she went into the Italian embassy and refused to come out of it. She said she was going back to Italy. Sanjay Gandhi had to go and plead with her to return. This is the person who is going to live and die for India, please understand. To live in India is very different from living for India. And to live in India in such glory, with such protection, with such resources, is very different from dying for India. No one will die for something which one does not own up to. Owning up to India is different from thinking you own India.

So, the idea of the nation, love for the nation is irrational. Swami Vivekananda descended in Columbo after his American visit. When everybody was waiting with garlands somewhere on the stage, this man was rolling on the sand saying I am embracing my mother – he who was one of the towering intellectuals of the world, he who could keep a hostile audience spellbound for hours, in city after city on foreign soil, a man who was a rationalist to start with, who questioned Ramakrishna, tell me where is your damn God. That man was rolling on the sand; he said I am in the lap of my mother. This is nationalism.

Nationalism will not come merely by wearing Sarees, it is as much a fancy dress today as any other dress can be. But some Indians are very happy. She wears a saree we are very happy. That she is in India is our good fortune. It is all because, you see I am going to say something which many of you may not like and because we are brought up in the anglo-saxon tradition some of you may even say I am a racist. I was discussing with Cho Ramaswamy the phenomenon of Sonia. He told me something, which he may not write, but I will share this with this audience. So, we were about 10 people sitting, and he said a simple thing. If Sonia Gandhi had been black, had she been a person of African origin, this problem would never have arisen. Do you all understand what this means, unpalatable though it may be to some of you? It is this fascination for the white skin and it is we the English educated Indian who is responsible for this. We have cultivated a reverence for this.

One of my friends often used to ask me how will you remove this distortion from the Indian mind, this fascination for the white skin, for the English language. Let us assume that you become the Prime Minister, he told me, what would you do? If I become the Prime Minister, I will bring in 50,000 white men who are shoe shiners from every where in the world and make them sit in bus stands and railway stations and airports and the government will pay for any one who wants his shoes shined by white men. So, the idea that the white man is also a shoe shine boy must come to you. It may be a petty idea, it may a funny idea, but there is a great civilizational implication in this idea. Somebody will be a lorry driver in the USA or Britain or in any one of these European countries. Let us assume he comes to India for holiday and approaches the Air India counter. The person in the Air India counter will say, “Sir, please sit, I have to look at this person first”. This is the way you treat the white man in this country, any white man, with deference. And so, there is a definite racial bias in favor of Sonia. We must understand this.

And also please understand, the ordinary Indian needs guidance from you, attitudinal guidance - how do you look at India, how do you look at Sonia?. An educated Indian must be willing to say blatantly, openly, shamelessly, if it is a choice between Sonia and Lallu, I am for Lallu, not for Sonia. Do you have the guts, this is what Tilak said, this is what Bharathi said, “Ayiram undingu jathi, enil anniyar vanthu pugal enna neethi”. Yes, we have hundreds of problems but that is no reason for an alien to fish in our troubled waters and play arbiter here. That is what Tilak said, swaraj first. We may fight among ourselves, we may even kill each other, but we don’t want a foreign arbiter between us. It is this kind of hardened, irrational, emotional approach that makes a nation. We have to intellectualize this approach. We cannot distance ourselves from this approach. Nations are made out of emotional glue. It has a civilzational marking. Do you mean to say nations are produced by constitutions, laws, and regulations? These follow a nation.

A nation cannot be created by all this. A nation produces laws, a nation produces a constitution. This is where the Indian intellectual has failed, particularly the English educated intellectual because he is not grounded in Indian civilization. He reads English literature, he is happy with Shakespeare, he says Kalidasa is the Shakespeare of India, never having read Kalidasa. And we are always defining Indians in terms of some foreigner or the other. Atalji spoke like Churchill, or something like that. Please understand why repeatedly in meeting after meeting I keep saying this - that the English educated Indian has to indigenise himself. He has to become truer to this soil, he has to become nearer to the situation obtaining here and only then will many things unfold.

Had we created such a situation, the issue of whether Sonia in Politics should be made an election issue or not would never have arisen. If it will never be discussed, that issue would never be there. I have been associated with political parties and leaders who were weighing the options on - if we say it is an issue, which sections of the country will oppose us. And I know of several top leaders saying that the English press will stand against us. Only because the Indian English press was bound to take a hostile attitude if we raise the issue of Sonia being a foreigner and a reluctant citizen, many political parties were unwilling to make this a national issue. This was the terrorizing influence that the English educated Indian intellectuals had on the political class. Another argument was, this is not an issue in rural areas. If you don’t make it an issue, how will they make it an issue?

The emergency was imposed on India. The national TV, the press, everything was controlled by the government. The cities revolted against the Emergency; in six months it spread and percolated, and then the villages too revolted. Ideas always percolate down, but if ideas are edited at the top, if we edit our thoughts, if we screen our minds, if we cosmetize our approach, the nation remains confused. Now it is in this situation that all of us are facing a very queer phenomenon. Never in the history of the world, has a foreigner ruled another country except by invasion. Foreigners always invade, they bring their army, superior firepower, they conquer, rule. It is normal. Under such circumstances the invaded or conquered nation will say no foreigner shall rule, we will fight for our freedom. We will take to guns or as we did we will undertake Sathyagraha. This is also normal.

But what is abnormal here is that we are in danger of electing a foreigner to rule this country. This is something unknown to the history of the world that a foreigner will contest elections in India or in any other country for that matter and claim the right not only to be elected but also to rule. And this has been made possible because the best minds in India are on the defensive. They don’t want to be seen as being narrow minded, less liberal. What is liberalism? One-sixth of humanity living together is in itself the greatest liberalism. All these nations, which are masquerading as countries and great countries, they cannot even compare to a state in India, in territory or population. We are one-sixth of humanity that lives together and lives well together. We don’t need one-sixth of policing in the world, to keep us together. The greatest thing about us is that we live with all our Gods in the Hindu pantheon and with alien gods too. Two tribals can live together. Tribals societies can live together, two unknown persons can live together, but two gods can never live together. There are jealous gods who dish out the harshest punishment for worshipping other gods. But we have been able to make 33 crore gods live together in this country. It is not easy and we the people of this civilization do not have the self-assurance as a people to confront and deal with this issue.

I will now quickly go in to what is Sonia, In 1978, after Indira Gandhi lost the elections in 1977, she again applied to stay on in India as a foreigner. 1968, ‘73, ’78 – for three five year terms, Sonia applied for a foreigner’s permit to stay in India. In 1983, on the thirtieth of April 1983, her third 5 year permit, to stay in India as a foreigner expired. By that time it was becoming certain that Rajeev Gandhi was to become the heir to Mrs. Gandhi. And so, even on the 27th of April, 3 days before the permit expired, till the very end she had still not opted for citizenship, she wanted to be a foreigner till the last day the permit allowed her to a foreigner. Till the last date! And this is precisely what Sharad Pawar asked her in the Congress Working Committee.

In the Congress Working Committee, please don’t think these fellows had taken a principled stand after deliberations. It all happened suddenly. Sharad Pawar described to me how it happened. On that day, the working committee was to discuss the forthcoming Goa election and Sharad Pawar was supposed to present his analysis of the situation in Goa. The CWC assembled, this lady came with a prepared speech; please note even in the 20 member working committee, she comes only with a prepared speech. She begins reading out this speech. Everybody was surprised at what she had to say. She said that the Sangha Parivar against which my mother in law carried on a campaign to finish off communalism, against whom my husband did this and that, they have now decided to destroy me. They are branding me as a foreigner. I will fight them to the last drop my blood. But, I don’t want this issue to drag on till the elections. I want it decided today because if it is decided now, we can fight it out at the time of election, and it will be no issue at all. So, I want to know first whether any of you has any objection to my becoming the Prime Minister. All these fellows remained silent. And then Madhav Rao Scindia spoke, “Madam, you do not have to fight the Sangha Parivar propaganda, I will fight. This is not your battle, this is my battle”’ this set the tone for the rest of the discussion and soon most members began to ask who are these RSS people to dub Sonia a foreigner. Soon it was Sangma’s turn to speak. Sangma said, “Madam, I have very different views on this issue. I don’t know anything about you. There are people who are saying that for 17 years you lived as a foreigner in India. If the voters ask me, how will I explain? Please tell me why you did not opt for Indian citizenship in 1968? I cannot convince the people of my own state, my own constituency on this”. And then it was Sharad Pawar’s turn. He told me he was sitting immediately to her right. Sharad Pawar was the last speaker to speak, he told me what he told her. He said I was the first one to organize a public meeting for you, a massive rally in Maharashtra. In that rally, you said I am an ordinary humble Congress worker. You said I don’t want any position, I don’t want power, I am associated with the Congress family. You also said I don’t even want to become a Congress member. I can’t bear to see a party with which my mother-in-law, her father, her grandfather, and my husband were all associated, decaying like this. So, I want to strengthen this party. This is what you said on that day. And then, I stood up and spoke, and told the people in the rally, if she is willing to do such a generous job for a nationalist party, there should be no objection. She doesn’t want to be the President of the party, she does not want to be in any position, she doesn’t want to be a member of parliament. This is how I defended you against Bal Thakre, but the day you ran to the President of India and told him that you have 272 members to become the Prime Minister of India, which was a lie, all of us changed and I changed too.

This is how the tussle took place and every word of what Sharad told that day was true. This lady said that she was not interested in politics, she would not enter politics. She said she would not become a Congress member. She will only help the party as a person belonging to the Congress family. She said, I am just a four anna member, I will not occupy any position. And then she goes and physically throws out poor Sitaram Kesari from the office. Physically, poor fellow. He has gone to the toilet. His chair was empty, and you know what happened? These congress goons, they went and locked up the toilet and made Sonia occupy that place. And the elderly man cried. This is how she became the Congress President. In the same way as the western armies in the past, would invade other civilizations. Seize power, she seized power in a ‘coup d’toilet’.

This is how every word that she has spoken so far had nothing to do with what she did. Her conduct was the very reverse of her professions. She said I have no ambitions to become the Prime Minister. Who ran from pillar to post? Who brought down the Vajpayee government? I will demonstrate to you her several lies. She told the press recently when the press people put to her the question that Quatorocchi is suspected to have accepted a bribe in the Bofors deal and Quatorocchi is your friend. What do you have to say about him? She said, “Yes, CBI is saying he is a suspect, but they have not produced any papers; and unless you produce papers to prove that somebody is guilty, you cannot say he is guilty”.

All of you are newspaper readers. I will tell you what happened exactly on Quatorocchi. In the Bofors gun deal, the issue is not the quality of the gun, it was always rated as a good gun, but there was a better gun called the Sofma gun. In 17 meetings, the negotiating committee had kept the Sofma gun ahead of Bofors gun from 1994 June to early February 1996, for two years, in 17 meetings, all army people involved in the decision making, they have preferred Sofma over Bofors. But everything changed on 17th February. Please mark the dates. And this tussle for selling guns to India is on from 1980. On 15th November 1985, a company called AE services entered into an agreement with Bofors. The agreement is this, “Gentleman, I will get you the Government of India order for Bofors guns”. And this order I will get by the 31st of March 1986. They fixed the date. I will get it by 31st March and if I get it by 31st March, you will give me 3% commission. 3% commission worked out to 36.5 million dollars, which at current rates of exchange is 160 crore rupees. So, if I get you this order by 31st March, you will give me this commission and if I don’t get it you need not give anything. I owe no obligation to you. Who can enter into this kind of contract except the person who can get it? Everyone was wondering. We were all investigators. Finally, the person who signed the contract, he filed an affidavit in the Swiss court saying it was Quatorocchi who advised him to enter into this contract. It is the sole affidavit in the Swiss Court to the effect Quatorocchi told me to sign this contract. This man who signed this contract and who filed this affidavit was only a pen; and I will tell you what happened.

On the 17th February 1986, the Bofors gun was nowhere in the picture. On 15th and 16th March, however, Rajiv tells the Swedish Government, he was on a State visit to Sweden then, that we will give Sweden the order for supply of Bofors guns. On the 17th March, the negotiating committee clears the deal. In 48 hours. Eleven officials and Rajiv Gandhi signed the deal and on 21st of March 1986, 10 days ahead of the deadline to which Quatorocchi had committed himself, the contract is signed.

The bribe agreement between AE Services and Bofors says money will be paid by Bofors to AE Services, proportionate to the amount the Government of India pays to Bofors. The Government of India paid 20% of the money to Bofors and exactly 20% of 3% was released in the month of September 1986 to AE Services. Within 13 days, that money is transferred to into an investment company and two years later, after The Hindu and The Indian Express came out with exposes on the deal, with documents as proof, it is transferred to another company and the Swiss police has unearthed the fact that the person behind all the three companies into which these monies had gone, was Quatorocchi and his wife. Only they had the authority to sign the secret accounts. And when this was found out and the bank documents were being transmitted, Quatorocchi filed an appeal against the transmission in the Swiss court and the Swiss court said he is a dishonest man and overruled the objection and said this man is involved in the deal, he has taken bribes and it says in beautiful words, he is related to the Indian administration at the highest level!

It is the Swiss court mind you and the Swiss court order comes in July 1993, when Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister and the Interpol tells the Government of India that Quatorocchi’s appeal in the Swiss Courts has been dismissed, which means ‘arrest him’. One-week time was given to Quatorocchi to escape from India. Just like Win Chaddha has been allowed to escape one year earlier. And this man goes out of India and when the CBI raids his home and finds in his diary notes telling them that every week he has been having dinner meetings with Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi and his photographs, letters exchanged, everything is seized. Then the Delhi High Court issues arrest warrants against him. He appeals to the Interpol and his appeal is dismissed. The Delhi High Court also dismisses it saying this man’s presence is needed and he has to be arrested. These are all judicial orders printed, published, available in the public domain and the matter goes to the Supreme Court. These orders were dated three years before and the Supreme Court orders are dated in February and March and this man tells the Supreme Court through his advocates that I will come and present myself, don’t arrest me. The Supreme Court says, the man says he will come and present himself and be available for interrogation, why should we arrest him? And the man defies the orders of the Supreme Court and doesn’t come; and he files an affidavit in the Swiss Court saying that India is a brute country and he cannot get justice in the judicial system of India and this woman is defending him. Fellow Italian. And it is a blatant lie that there were no documents to prove Quatorocchi’s guilt. It is also a lie that she did not know he planned to abscond from the country. It is impossible that somebody who resided in Delhi for 20 years, who shared weekly evenings with Rajiv and Sonia, would have suddenly left Delhi without even telephoning to her to say I am leaving.

She must have been privy to all these things and she has the audacity to say I will find out the truth about Bofors, I will see that the investigation is carried on and our editorial writers say, “see, how fair she is”. Then allow Jayalalitha to become the Chief Minister, she will also investigate all the cases against her. Lies. And we cannot, our intellectuals cannot understand these are lies. We are very happy, she is such a democratic person. She will allow rule of law, the law will take it’s own course, Narasimha Rao’s famous idiom. This is the problem with us as a people. And ask Moopanar, poor man, about Sonia. I personally met him. Cho met him hundreds of times. This lady had convinced him that she would never ally with Jayalalitha. He was hoping and hoping and hoping that what she said was true. You all know what happened.

So, truth has nothing to do with Sonia. There is absolute total divorce between her words and deeds; it is Thalak thrice between her and truth. Now the topic is whether Sonia in politics is a national shame. Whether it is a national shame or not, it is certainly a matter of danger to national security. Why do we have rules in the army which prohibit a foreigner, a foreign born person, even though he is a citizen, from occupying certain high ranking offices in the army. Why? Why do we say that our IFS officers should not be of foreign origin? Why do we say that our IFS officers cannot marry foreigners and if they marry foreigners, they have to subject themselves to an investigation as to who they were marrying?. Now, herein comes the idea of the modern nation-state.

A modern nation state has a built-in insecurity and that is the reason why it has to secure itself. But can the Prime Minister have a foreign wife? Can the Prime Minister’s son have a foreign wife, sitting in the Prime Minister’s office, in the Prime Minister’s home, a foreign wife for 15 years; who ran away with her husband when the nation was at war, breeching the discipline of commercial pilots not being given leave for security reasons, for national reasons. We had this foreigner in the Prime Minister’s family sitting in the Prime Minister's home, we had the Prime Minister's son breaching a well-established principle in discipline because politicians in India, the MLAs, MPs, ministers are not subject to any rule, to any discipline. Even today whether an MLA or MP is a public servant is a matter debated in courts. So, can a MP have a foreign wife? Can a minister have a foreign wife? This distortion has crept into the system. And what are consequences of foreigners penetrating our polity? When George Fernandez spoke on this issue on the national hookup, I was chilled inside. He said there is a particular secret file in which all the secrets of the Government, where are the atom bombs, where are the missiles, who can press the button, the missiles point towards which cities, who are our spy links in different countries in the world, all these secrets are kept in that file. And that file is not handled by anybody other than the Prime Minister of India. And if Vajpayee ceases to be the Prime Minister and Sonia becomes the Prime Minister he personally will have to hand over the file to her. It will have every national security secret. It will strip India naked to any inimical force.

Can you afford to hand over that secrets to her? George said even the Defense Minister cannot do anything; he can’t look at that file. The Services Chiefs can’t, they know only their part of the secret, the combined, collective secret, national secret in the hands of one man that will be handed over to this woman.

Whether somebody can speak tolerable Hindi or not is not the issue here. The issue is far, far more serious, it is momentous, it goes to the root of the existence of the nation, its security, its survival and the integrity of this woman when it comes to Washington or Vatican and her loyalty to India will always in doubt. The Pope called her his abimanaputri. This is what the Malayala Manorama published on its front page. If the Pope issues an edict I want to have a copy of this file, how many of us can be sure that she will not provide him access to that file? A nation survives on perceptions, not proof.

That you can give me any kind of proof is not adequate but that there is even the one-millionth of a chance that her loyalty to this country is in question, should disqualify her. So please do not think the issues are so simple. I had to say many things and I have many things to say but in an evening I don’t want to burden you with more details I would only request that from today, till the election day, all of you should have only one mantra, defeat this woman and anyone who stands with her whether he is honest, whether he is intelligent, whether he is educated, is not the issue. Anyone who is against her whether he is corrupt, whether he is dishonest, whether he is black white, nothing matters. The issue is not that she is going to be the Prime Minister, but the very idea that somebody can have the ambition like this must be completely destroyed. She must be roundly defeated as a party and as a candidate and there is every possibility she may lose in both the seats which she is contesting. If the intellectuals of India whose duty it is to preserve the mind of India have failed, at least the ordinary people of India should succeed as they did in 1977 and that’s my prayer.

IPL T20

2008-05-13T10:16:00.001-06:00

As things hot up in IPL t20 tournament, just jotting down the weblinks for live stream.

http://ipl-live-cricket-streaming.blogspot.com/

(TV Ants installation via activex)

http://live-ipl-sopcast.blogspot.com/

(UStream.tv)

http://ipl-cricket-live.blogspot.com/

(Sopcast web player)

http://ipl-on-sopcast.blogspot.com/

(Sopcast web player)

http://cricket-duniya.blogspot.com/

Pay for Not working

2008-05-09T18:35:00.002-06:00

KERALA: TRADE UNIONISM

Men (Not) At Work

Idling too earns them wages. It's a nasty relapse of an old Left habit.

John Mary

The trade union movement in Kerala has largely thrived on blessings from the Communist parties.



	"Which working class rights classifies nokku kooli? Need we support unjust demands by trade unions?" Pinarayi Vijayan, CPI(M) leader

Ironically, the ruling CPI(M)-led front in the state today is facing problems from the very institution it nurtured. Worker's unions have crossed all limits by making it a practice to demand money for work they are not doing. They call it 'nokku kooli', or wages for (just) looking on. While this practice has only picked up ever since the Left came to power, its latest victim is the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)

in Thiruvananthapuram.

It was a norm till the other day: vehicles that brought in machinery, including sophisticated equipment, to VSSC, the Indian Space Research Organisation's lead centre for launch vehicles, had to stop half a km away from its gate. They can enter only after the lorry drivers paid the union leaders nokku kooli. The government eventually saw the ludicrous aspect of it—state industry minister Elamaram Kareem, himself a trade unionist, intervened and stopped it.

There is no guarantee, though, that it won't be revived. "I just can't wish away all this," ISRO chief G. Madhavan Nair told Outlook. "My only prayer is that they spare the prestigious Indian Institute of Space Sciences and Technology (close to the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at nearby Valiyamala) for which work is to start next month. The problem is it has to be completed in 12 months and any wrangling by the labour could either delay the project or jack up the civil costs by 20 to 30 per cent."

Whether it be the airport, hospitals, IT, construction or the tourism sector, nokku kooli has become a ubiquitous menace. It is rampant in the loading/ unloading sector—be it at strategic facilities or power projects, be it in the Gulf money-fed northern town of Kozhikode or the booming port city of Kochi. Head-loaders, who deem all loading/ unloading anywhere in the state to be their prerogative, simply insist on a cut even if the load is too heavy or sensitive for them to handle. The 'we won't work but you still pay' principle rules.

The unethical practice has earned Kerala the dubious reputation of being hostile to investors. Already, labour is expensive in Kerala and nokku kooli raises the costs further. Recently, in one of his most candid admissions, Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said "wages are for those who do their work and not for those who just hang around." Pinarayi, a known foe of the more old-school figure of CM V.S. Achuthanandan, questioned how a certain section thought nokku kooli was part of its right. "While unions are progressive in their slogans, they must examine why they don't practise what they preach."

Pinarayi's blunt words invited a flurry of reactions—for and against. Opposition leader and former CM Oommen Chandy termed it "belated wisdom". All the same, he welcomed it since it "augurs well for Kerala". The head-load workers are hardly amused, although no one has protested.

There's support for Pinarayi from within the Left.

Says finance minister Thomas Issac: "Instead of questioning his motives, we must look at the wisdom in what Pinarayi says. " Adds cooperation minister G. Sudhakaran: "Trade unions, which had been set up to end the exploitation by the monopolists and to work for people's welfare, are now looting the masses."

Nokku kooli often enjoys a quasi-statutory status. The wages list finalised by the Head-load Workers Welfare Fund Board in an industrial zone in Kochi shows Rs 200 per load of ready-mix concrete. This, when the entire process is machine-driven. Here, nokku kooli gets into the statute book. Similarly, one tipper load (lorry which can mechanically tip the load) fetches Rs 15 for the union. At least 1,000 tipper lorries are at work in the Vallarpadom container trans-shipment terminal site in Kochi. Yet another example was in Idukki. Power minister A.K. Balan publicly censured head-load workers who took Rs 3,000 each as nokku kooli while cranes installed some 14 turbines, each weighing 80 tonnes, atop 120-ft towers, for a windmill farm.

Even as Pinarayi spoke of not tolerating the unethical practice, three containers with pvc pipes from Chandigarh were stranded outside Thiruvananthapuram. Reason: non-payment of (exorbitant) wages. It took a nearly 10-day wait and an intervention by the labour officer for the unloading to start—but only after the container drivers paid Rs 4,000. But the same work gets done for a fraction of it in, say, Chandigarh.

Now that a sharp political consensus has evolved on ending unethical labour practices, especially when the Left coalition is in power, there's a flash of hope. There's not been a whimper of protest against Pinarayi's outburst. The big question is the motive behind it: is it because his party is in power that he wants improved labour ethic or is it because of the impending Lok Sabha elections? If Pinarayi wanted to end nokku kooli, a mere fiat from the akg Centre, the CPI(M)'s state headquarters, would have done the trick, say his detractors. But Pinarayi brushes aside the sceptics. The CPI(M), he feels, can no longer be blind to what is going on.

Seva @Kirkwood

2008-04-22T19:16:00.003-06:00

Kirkwood Ballpark

Ultimate Swimming pool??

2008-04-22T19:12:00.002-06:00

Victoria Falls' Devil's pool

Something good to hear..

2008-03-28T20:10:00.001-06:00

Arguably one of the good (only one??!) things the UPA govt has done or announced so far is this. Its the announcement on setting up more IITs, IIMs, central universities and world class universities (wonder what that means?!). Possibly the only sensible thing our beloved stupid minister Arjun Singh has done so far!!

ICICI Madness!!

2008-03-27T23:21:00.001-06:00

Dial ICICI bank helpdesk..

music...music.....music...........................................music......

ICICI Helpdesk relationship mgr: Hello, Welcome Mr Chandramohan. How can I assist you today..

me: Hi, I'm Chandramouly, I'm calling to confirm a payee information I had updated online...

ICICI: Thanks Mr Chandramohan (*@$@$**); Kindly hold-on sir while we try to fetch your account information

me: ok

ICICI: music...music.....music...........................................music......

ICICI: thanks for holding sir. We cannot confirm your payee information because your DOB, mother's name, PAN etc are missing in your account information.

me:What????

ICICI:yes sir, DOB, mother's name, PAN are missing; hence we cannot confirm. You can download a payee confirmation form online and send us. It will take a week's time for updation once we receive it.

me: But what happened to my account information?? how did it suddenly disappear??

ICICI:no sir, these informations are not there in the system. You can visit a nearest branch and provide all these information or send it through a third person with authorised signature.

me: but how did it go off suddenly??How did ICICI opened an account without these info in the first place and I remember providing all these info while opening? Also how is ICICI issuing me TDS certificates every year with PAN number??

ICICI: Pls hold-on sir, let me check again.....

ICICI: music...............music......................................music.............................................

ICICI:NO SIR, these informations are not there in the system. You can visit a nearest branch and provide all these information or send it through a third person with authorised signature.

me: How did these information go off suddenly??

ICICI: no sir, for your benefit and security of the bank, we migrated to a new system. These informations are not there in the system. Hence I cannot confirm your payee; You can visit a nearest branch and provide all these information or send it through a third person with authorised signature

me: just because you moved to a new system and screwed up my information, why should I redo the whole thing again? same thing happened in ICICI demat (re-execution of account opening forms last year). whats going on??

ICICI: that was because of the flooding in mumbai sir. we didnt expect all the three floors to get flooded. that was unexpected sir. we have migrated to the new system for your benefit only sir(?!?!)

me: but whats the point, if you guys are going to mess up repeatedly. whts the guarantee that you will say my account doesnt exist in another 2 yrs time??

ICICI:Pls hold-on sir...

ICICI: music...............music......................................music.............................................

ICICI:These informations are not there in the system. Hence I cannot confirm your payee; You can visit a nearest branch and provide all these information or send it through a third person with authorised signature.

me: Can you put me onto your manager?

ICICI:yes, sir. Pls hold-on sir....

ICICI: music...............music......................................music.............................................

ICICI: currently none of the managers are available on the floor sir. I can ask them to call you back.

me: ok, can you provide me the branch contact number and branch mgr contact number?

ICICI: yes sir. pls note it down sir..........................................thanks for calling ICICI bank......music...music.....music.......................

Hello, Anybody has any clue on whats going on at ICICI bank??

enna koduma saravana idhu?

Safari 3.1

2008-03-23T23:54:00.001-06:00

New version of Safari 3.1 for windows released (pushed as update for non Safari iTunes users) by Apple last week has definite improvements in terms of speed. It renders web page at amazing speed compared to the new version of Firefox 3.1 beta4, or for that matter Opera 9.25 and also renders many of web pages better compared to the earlier windows version with respect to embedded videos etc. However it hogs memory as good (?) as firefox 3b4. Still early days but real fast in terms of page rendering.

Extreme Segregation

2008-03-16T17:20:00.001-06:00

Couldn't believe such non-sense exists in Chennai and that too in an engineering college. Read through the entire piece including all the links (particularly the one on actual rules and regulations of the so called University and the Timesnow investigative pieces). Wonder which age are we in??

Extreme Segregation

Article courtesy - Chennai Metroblogs

IBN has egg on its face-

2008-03-06T20:14:00.001-06:00

After all the celebration (& complete coverage of it in its website and TV Channel, making a killing by the way of Ad revenue), CNNIBN ran this story (discussion) on how crazy we are to celebrate and hype the victorious Indian cricket team. The purpose seems to have been to put the blame on BCCI (& Pawar) but the panelists had different ideas and they in turn started blaming the media for extensive (&non sensical) coverage of the celebration. It was comical to see the compere cutting off each and moving to other panelist when they started blaming the media. But ultimately at the end of the show he did blame the BCCI (&Pawar) for whatever that was happening!!

IE8 Beta is here

2008-03-05T21:41:00.001-06:00

Finally the first beta of the supposedly Killer browser from Microsoft is here . If you are interested and confident enough on Microsoft beta products, give a try (you might want to reminded of the number of times IE7 crashed during beta stage!!). I'm giving a try (its still downloading and installing for the past 10mns!!)..Lets see what the killer features are?!

Sports "Mandi"

2008-02-23T11:47:00.001-06:00

A Perfect response to the now infamous IPL Auction (some compare it with slave trade too)...Lol...

"The (C)Hindu"

2008-02-22T10:13:00.001-06:00

I love this blog - wonderfully titled and named, mocking at the way "The Hindu" delivers news today!!

Doesn't Ram (Editor in Chief and Member of CPI(M)) feel ashamed of himself??

The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry

2008-01-12T08:27:00.001-06:00

www.wired.com

By Fred Vogelstein 01.09.08 | 9:00 PM

Photo: Landov

The demo was not going well.

Again.

It was a late morning in the fall of 2006. Almost a year earlier, Steve Jobs had tasked about 200 of Apple's top engineers with creating the iPhone. Yet here, in Apple's boardroom, it was clear that the prototype was still a disaster. It wasn't just buggy, it flat-out didn't work. The phone dropped calls constantly, the battery stopped charging before it was full, data and applications routinely became corrupted and unusable. The list of problems seemed endless. At the end of the demo, Jobs fixed the dozen or so people in the room with a level stare and said, "We don't have a product yet."

The effect was even more terrifying than one of Jobs' trademark tantrums. When the Apple chief screamed at his staff, it was scary but familiar. This time, his relative calm was unnerving. "It was one of the few times at Apple when I got a chill," says someone who was in the meeting.

The ramifications were serious. The iPhone was to be the centerpiece of Apple's annual Macworld convention, set to take place in just a few months. Since his return to Apple in 1997, Jobs had used the event as a showcase to launch his biggest products, and Apple-watchers were expecting another dramatic announcement. Jobs had already admitted that Leopard — the new version of Apple's operating system — would be delayed. If the iPhone wasn't ready in time, Macworld would be a dud, Jobs' critics would pounce, and Apple's stock price could suffer.

This 4.8-ounce sliver of glass and aluminum is an explosive device that has forever changed the mobile-phone business, wresting power from carriers and giving it to manufacturers, developers, and consumers.

And what would AT&T think? After a year and a half of secret meetings, Jobs had finally negotiated terms with the wireless division of the telecom giant (Cingular at the time) to be the iPhone's carrier. In return for five years of exclusivity, roughly 10 percent of iPhone sales in AT&T stores, and a thin slice of Apple's iTunes revenue, AT&T had granted Jobs unprecedented power. He had cajoled AT&T into spending millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours to create a new feature, so-called visual voicemail, and to reinvent the time-consuming in-store sign-up process. He'd also wrangled a unique revenue-sharing arrangement, garnering roughly $10 a month from every iPhone customer's AT&T bill. On top of all that, Apple retained complete control over the design, manufacturing, and marketing of the iPhone. Jobs had done the unthinkable: squeezed a good deal out of one of the largest players in the entrenched wireless industry. Now, the least he could do was meet his deadlines.

For those working on the iPhone, the next three months would be the most stressful of their careers. Screaming matches broke out routinely in the hallways. Engineers, frazzled from all-night coding sessions, quit, only to rejoin days later after catching up on their sleep. A product manager slammed the door to her office so hard that the handle bent and locked her in; it took colleagues more than an hour and some well-placed whacks with an aluminum bat to free her.

But by the end of the push, just weeks before Macworld, Jobs had a prototype to show to the suits at AT&T. In mid-December 2006, he met wireless boss Stan Sigman at a suite in the Four Seasons hotel in Las Vegas. He showed off the iPhone's brilliant screen, its powerful Web browser, its engaging user interface. Sigman, a taciturn Texan steeped in the conservative engineering traditions that permeate America's big phone companies, was uncharacteristically effusive, calling the iPhone "the best device I have ever seen." (Details of this and other key moments in the making of the iPhone were provided by people with knowledge of the events. Apple and AT&T would not discuss these meetings or the specific terms of the relationship.)

Six months later, on June 29, 2007, the iPhone went on sale. At press time, analysts were speculating that customers would snap up about 3 million units by the end of 2007, making it the fastest-selling smartphone of all time. It is also arguably Apple's most profitable device. The company nets an estimated $80 for every $399 iPhone it sells, and that's not counting the $240 it makes from every two-year AT&T contract an iPhone customer signs. Meanwhile, about 40 percent of iPhone buyers are new to AT&T's rolls, and the iPhone has tripled the carrier's volume of data traffic in cities like New York and San Francisco.

But as important as the iPhone has been to the fortunes of Apple and AT&T, its real impact is on the structure of the $11 billion-a-year US mobile phone industry. For decades, wireless carriers have treated manufacturers like serfs, using access to their networks as leverage to dictate what phones will get made, how much they will cost, and what features will be available on them. Handsets were viewed largely as cheap, disposable lures, massively subsidized to snare subscribers and lock them into using the carriers' proprietary services. But the iPhone upsets that balance of power. Carriers are learning that the right phone — even a pricey one — can win customers and bring in revenue. Now, in the pursuit of an Apple-like contract, every manufacturer is racing to create a phone that consumers will love, instead of one that the carriers approve of. "The iPhone is already changing the way carriers and manufacturers behave," says Michael Olson, a securities analyst at Piper Jaffray.

In 2002, shortly after the first iPod was released, Jobs started thinking about developing a phone. He saw millions of Americans lugging separate phones, BlackBerrys, and — now — MP3 players; naturally, consumers would prefer just one device. He also saw a future in which cell phones and mobile email devices would amass ever more features, eventually challenging the iPod's dominance as a music player. To protect his new product line, Jobs knew he would eventually need to venture into the wireless world.

If the idea was obvious, so were the obstacles. Data networks were sluggish and not ready for a full-blown handheld Internet device. An iPhone would require Apple to create a completely new operating system; the iPod's OS wasn't sophisticated enough to manage complicated networking or graphics, and even a scaled-down version of OS X would be too much for a cell phone chip to handle. Apple would be facing strong competition, too: In 2003, consumers had flocked to the Palm Treo 600, which merged a phone, PDA, and BlackBerry into one slick package. That proved there was demand for a so-called convergence device, but it also raised the bar for Apple's engineers.

Then there were the wireless carriers. Jobs knew they dictated what to build and how to build it, and that they treated the hardware as little more than a vehicle to get users onto their networks. Jobs, a notorious control freak himself, wasn't about to let a group of suits — whom he would later call "orifices" — tell him how to design his phone.

By 2004 Apple's iPod business had become more important, and more vulnerable, than ever. The iPod accounted for 16 percent of company revenue, but with 3G phones gaining popularity, Wi-Fi phones coming soon, the price of storage plummeting, and rival music stores proliferating, its long-term position as the dominant music device seemed at risk.

So that summer, while he publicly denied he would build an Apple phone, Jobs was working on his entry into the mobile phone industry. In an effort to bypass the carriers, he approached Motorola. It seemed like an easy fix: The handset maker had released the wildly popular RAZR, and Jobs knew Ed Zander, Motorola's CEO at the time, from Zander's days as an executive at Sun Microsystems. A deal would allow Apple to concentrate on developing the music software, while Motorola and the carrier, Cingular, could hash out the complicated hardware details.

Of course, Jobs' plan assumed that Motorola would produce a successor worthy of the RAZR, but it soon became clear that wasn't going to happen. The three companies dickered over pretty much everything — how songs would get into the phone, how much music could be stored there, even how each company's name would be displayed. And when the first prototypes showed up at the end of 2004, there was another problem: The gadget itself was ugly.

Jobs unveiled the ROKR in September 2005 with his characteristic aplomb, describing it as "an iPod shuffle on your phone." But Jobs likely knew he had a dud on his hands; consumers, for their part, hated it. The ROKR — which couldn't download music directly and held only 100 songs — quickly came to represent everything that was wrong with the US wireless industry, the spawn of a mess of conflicting interests for whom the consumer was an afterthought. Wired summarized the disappointment on its November 2005 cover: "YOU CALL THIS THE PHONE OF THE FUTURE?"

The Apple Touch
Apple has created two music phones. The ROKR, made with Motorola in 2005, respected the traditional relationships between manufacturers and carriers. The iphone, released last summer, completely overturned them.

ROKR

Won't hold more than 100 songs, even if there's memory left.
iTunes Music Store purchases must be synced from a PC.
Clunky interface is sluggish and hard to navigate.
Design screams, "A committee made me."

iPhone

Can hold about 1,500 songs — as much as its 8-GB drive allows.
iTunes Music Store purchases download wirelessly, directly to the phone.
Just tap and go; no user manual required.
C'mon. Look at it. It's gorgeous.

Even as the ROKR went into production, Jobs was realizing he'd have to build his own phone. In February 2005, he got together with Cingular to discuss a Motorola-free partnership. At the top-secret meeting in a midtown Manhattan hotel, Jobs laid out his plans before a handful of Cingular senior execs, including Sigman. (When AT&T acquired Cingular in December 2006, Sigman remained president of wireless.) Jobs delivered a three-part message to Cingular: Apple had the technology to build something truly revolutionary, "light-years ahead of anything else." Apple was prepared to consider an exclusive arrangement to get that deal done. But Apple was also prepared to buy wireless minutes wholesale and become a de facto carrier itself.

Jobs had reason to be confident. Apple's hardware engineers had spent about a year working on touchscreen technology for a tablet PC and had convinced him that they could build a similar interface for a phone. Plus, thanks to the release of the ARM11 chip, cell phone processors were finally fast and efficient enough to power a device that combined the functionality of a phone, a computer, and an iPod. And wireless minutes had become cheap enough that Apple could resell them to customers; companies like Virgin were already doing so.

Sigman and his team were immediately taken with the notion of the iPhone. Cingular's strategy, like that of the other carriers, called for consumers to use their mobile phones more and more for Web access. The voice business was fading; price wars had slashed margins. The iPhone, with its promised ability to download music and video and to surf the Internet at Wi-Fi speeds, could lead to an increase in the number of data customers. And data, not voice, was where profit margins were lush.

What's more, the Cingular team could see that the wireless business model had to change. The carriers had become accustomed to treating their networks as precious resources, and handsets as worthless commodities. This strategy had served them well. By subsidizing the purchase of cheap phones, carriers made it easier for new customers to sign up — and get roped into long-term contracts that ensured a reliable revenue stream. But wireless access was no longer a luxury; it had become a necessity. The greatest challenge facing the carriers wasn't finding brand-new consumers but stealing them from one another. Simply bribing customers with cheap handsets wasn't going to work. Sigman and his team wanted to offer must-have devices that weren't available on any other network. Who better to create one than Jobs?

For Cingular, Apple's ambitions were both tantalizing and nerve-racking. A cozy relationship with the maker of the iPod would bring sex appeal to the company's brand. And some other carrier was sure to sign with Jobs if Cingular turned him down — Jobs made it clear that he would shop his idea to anyone who would listen. But no carrier had ever given anyone the flexibility and control that Jobs wanted, and Sigman knew he'd have trouble persuading his fellow executives and board members to approve a deal like the one Jobs proposed.

Sigman was right. The negotiations would take more than a year, with Sigman and his team repeatedly wondering if they were ceding too much ground. At one point, Jobs met with some executives from Verizon, who promptly turned him down. It was hard to blame them. For years, carriers had charged customers and suppliers for using and selling services over their proprietary networks. By giving so much control to Jobs, Cingular risked turning its vaunted — and expensive — network into a "dumb pipe," a mere conduit for content rather than the source of that content. Sigman's team made a simple bet: The iPhone would result in a surge of data traffic that would more than make up for any revenue it lost on content deals.

Jobs wouldn't wait for the finer points of the deal to be worked out. Around Thanksgiving of 2005, eight months before a final agreement was signed, he instructed his engineers to work full-speed on the project. And if the negotiations with Cingular were hairy, they were simple compared with the engineering and design challenges Apple faced. For starters, there was the question of what operating system to use. Since 2002, when the idea for an Apple phone was first hatched, mobile chips had grown more capable and could theoretically now support some version of the famous Macintosh OS. But it would need to be radically stripped down and rewritten; an iPhone OS should be only a few hundred megabytes, roughly a 10th the size of OS X.

Before they could start designing the iPhone, Jobs and his top executives had to decide how to solve this problem. Engineers looked carefully at Linux, which had already been rewritten for use on mobile phones, but Jobs refused to use someone else's software. They built a prototype of a phone, embedded on an iPod, that used the clickwheel as a dialer, but it could only select and dial numbers — not surf the Net. So, in early 2006, just as Apple engineers were finishing their yearlong effort to revise OS X to work with Intel chips, Apple began the process of rewriting OS X again for the iPhone.

The conversation about which operating system to use was at least one that all of Apple's top executives were familiar with. They were less prepared to discuss the intricacies of the mobile phone world: things like antenna design, radio-frequency radiation, and network simulations. To ensure the iPhone's tiny antenna could do its job effectively, Apple spent millions buying and assembling special robot-equipped testing rooms. To make sure the iPhone didn't generate too much radiation, Apple built models of human heads — complete with goo to simulate brain density — and measured the effects. To predict the iPhone's performance on a network, Apple engineers bought nearly a dozen server-sized radio-frequency simulators for millions of dollars apiece. Even Apple's experience designing screens for iPods didn't help the company design the iPhone screen, as Jobs discovered while toting a prototype in his pocket: To minimize scratching, the touchscreen needed to be made of glass, not hard plastic like on the iPod. One insider estimates that Apple spent roughly $150 million building the iPhone.

Through it all, Jobs maintained the highest level of secrecy. Internally, the project was known as P2, short for Purple 2 (the abandoned iPod phone was called Purple 1). Teams were split up and scattered across Apple's Cupertino, California, campus. Whenever Apple executives traveled to Cingular, they registered as employees of Infineon, the company Apple was using to make the phone's transmitter. Even the iPhone's hardware and software teams were kept apart: Hardware engineers worked on circuitry that was loaded with fake software, while software engineers worked off circuit boards sitting in wooden boxes. By January 2007, when Jobs announced the iPhone at Macworld, only 30 or so of the most senior people on the project had seen it.

The hosannas greeting the iPhone were so overwhelming it was easy to ignore its imperfections. The initial price of $599 was too high (it has been lowered to $399). The phone runs on AT&T's poky EDGE network. Users can't perform email searches or record video. The browser won't run programs written in Java or Flash.

But none of that mattered. The iPhone cracked open the carrier-centric structure of the wireless industry and unlocked a host of benefits for consumers, developers, manufacturers — and potentially the carriers themselves. Consumers get an easy-to-use handheld computer. And, as with the advent of the PC, the iPhone is sparking a wave of development that will make it even more powerful. In February, Jobs will release a developer's kit so that anyone can write programs for the device.

Manufacturers, meanwhile, enjoy new bargaining power over the carriers they've done business with for decades. Carriers, who have seen AT&T eat into their customer bases, are scrambling to find a competitive device, and they appear willing to give up some authority to get it. Manufacturers will have more control over what they produce; users — not the usual cabal of complacent juggernauts — will have more influence over what gets built.

Application developers are poised to gain more opportunities as the wireless carriers begin to show signs of abandoning their walled-garden approach to snaring consumers. T-Mobile and Sprint have signed on as partners with Google's Android, an operating system that makes it easy for independent developers to create mobile apps. Verizon, one of the most intransigent carriers, declared in November that it would open up its network for use with any compatible handset. AT&T made a similar announcement days later. Eventually this will result in a completely new wireless experience, in which applications work on any device and over any network. In time, it will give the wireless world some of the flexibility and functionality of the Internet.

It may appear that the carriers' nightmares have been realized, that the iPhone has given all the power to consumers, developers, and manufacturers, while turning wireless networks into dumb pipes. But by fostering more innovation, carriers' networks could get more valuable, not less. Consumers will spend more time on devices, and thus on networks, racking up bigger bills and generating more revenue for everyone. According to Paul Roth, AT&T's president of marketing, the carrier is exploring new products and services — like mobile banking — that take advantage of the iPhone's capabilities. "We're thinking about the market differently," Roth says. In other words, the very development that wireless carriers feared for so long may prove to be exactly what they need. It took Steve Jobs to show them that.

Japanese Schools Envy Indian School system

2008-01-03T00:31:00.001-06:00

Ko Sasaki for The New York Times

At Little Angels English Academy & International Kindergarten, founded by an Indian woman, 2-year-olds count to 20, 3-year-olds use computers, and 5-year-olds write essays in English.

By MARTIN FACKLER

Published: January 2, 2008

MITAKA, Japan — Japan is suffering a crisis of confidence these days about its ability to compete with its emerging Asian rivals, China and India. But even in this fad-obsessed nation, one result was never expected: a growing craze for Indian education.

Despite an improved economy, many Japanese are feeling a sense of insecurity about the nation’s schools, which once turned out students who consistently ranked at the top of international tests. That is no longer true, which is why many people here are looking for lessons from India, the country the Japanese see as the world’s ascendant education superpower.

Bookstores are filled with titles like “Extreme Indian Arithmetic Drills” and “The Unknown Secrets of the Indians.” Newspapers carry reports of Indian children memorizing multiplication tables far beyond nine times nine, the standard for young elementary students in Japan.

And Japan’s few Indian international schools are reporting a surge in applications from Japanese families.

At the Little Angels English Academy & International Kindergarten, the textbooks are from India, most of the teachers are South Asian, and classroom posters depict animals out of Indian tales. The kindergarten students even color maps of India in the green and saffron of its flag.

Little Angels is located in this Tokyo suburb, where only one of its 45 students is Indian. Most are Japanese.

Viewing another Asian country as a model in education, or almost anything else, would have been unheard-of just a few years ago, say education experts and historians.

Much of Japan has long looked down on the rest of Asia, priding itself on being the region’s most advanced nation. Indeed, Japan has dominated the continent for more than a century, first as an imperial power and more recently as the first Asian economy to achieve Western levels of economic development.

But in the last few years, Japan has grown increasingly insecure, gripped by fear that it is being overshadowed by India and China, which are rapidly gaining in economic weight and sophistication. The government here has tried to preserve Japan’s technological lead and strengthen its military. But the Japanese have been forced to shed their traditional indifference to the region.

Grudgingly, Japan is starting to respect its neighbors.

“Until now, Japanese saw China and India as backwards and poor,” said Yoshinori Murai, a professor of Asian cultures at Sophia University in Tokyo. “As Japan loses confidence in itself, its attitudes toward Asia are changing. It has started seeing India and China as nations with something to offer.”

Last month, a national cry of alarm greeted the announcement by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that in a survey of math skills, Japan had fallen from first place in 2000 to 10th place, behind Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. From second in science in 2000, Japan dropped to sixth place.

While China has stirred more concern here as a political and economic challenger, India has emerged as the country to beat in a more benign rivalry over education. In part, this reflects China’s image in Japan as a cheap manufacturer and technological imitator. But India’s success in software development, Internet businesses and knowledge-intensive industries in which Japan has failed to make inroads has set off more than a tinge of envy.

Most annoying for many Japanese is that the aspects of Indian education they now praise are similar to those that once made Japan famous for its work ethic and discipline: learning more at an earlier age, an emphasis on memorization and cramming, and a focus on the basics, particularly in math and science.

India’s more demanding education standards are apparent at the Little Angels Kindergarten, and are its main selling point. Its 2-year-old pupils are taught to count to 20, 3-year-olds are introduced to computers, and 5-year-olds learn to multiply, solve math word problems and write one-page essays in English, tasks most Japanese schools do not teach until at least second grade.

Indeed, Japan’s anxieties about its declining competitiveness echo the angst of another nation two decades ago, when Japan was the economic upstart.

“Japan’s interest in learning from Indian education is a lot like America’s interest in learning from Japanese education,” said Kaoru Okamoto, a professor specializing in education policy at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

As with many new things here, the interest in Indian-style education quickly became a fad.

Indian education is a frequent topic in forums like talk shows. Popular books claim to reveal the Indian secrets for multiplying and dividing multiple-digit numbers. Even Japan’s conservative education ministry has begun discussing Indian methods, said Jun Takai of the ministry’s international affairs division.

Eager parents try to send their children to Japan’s roughly half dozen Indian schools, hoping for an edge on the competitive college entrance exams.

In Tokyo, the two largest Indian schools, which teach kindergarten through junior high, mainly to Indian expatriates, received a sudden increase in inquiries from Japanese parents starting last year.

The Global Indian International School says that 20 of its some 200 students are now Japanese, with demand so high from Indian and Japanese parents that it is building a second campus in the neighboring city of Yokohama.

The other, the India International School in Japan, just expanded to 170 students last year, including 10 Japanese. It already has plans to expand again.

Japanese parents have expressed “very, very high interest” in Indian schools, said Nirmal Jain, principal of the India International School.

The boom has had the side effect of making many Japanese a little more tolerant toward other Asians.

The founder of the Little Angels school, Jeevarani Angelina — a former oil company executive from Chennai, India, who accompanied her husband, Saraph Chandar Rao Sanku, to Japan in 1990 — said she initially had difficulty persuading landlords to rent space to an Indian woman to start a school. But now, the fact that she and three of her four full-time teachers are non-Japanese Asians is a selling point.

“When I started, it was a first to have an English-language school taught by Asians, not Caucasians,” she said, referring to the long presence here of American and European international schools.

Unlike other Indian schools, Ms. Angelina said, Little Angels was intended primarily for Japanese children, to meet the need she had found when she sent her sons to Japanese kindergarten.

“I was lucky because I started when the Indian-education boom started,” said Ms. Angelina, 50, who goes by the name Rani Sanku here because it is easier for Japanese to pronounce. (Sanku is her husband’s family name.)

Ms. Angelina has adapted the curriculum to Japan with more group activities, less memorization and no Indian history. Encouraged by the kindergarten’s success, she said, she plans to open an Indian-style elementary school this year.

Parents are enthusiastic about the school’s rigorous standards.

“My son’s level is higher than those of other Japanese children the same age,” said Eiko Kikutake, whose son Hayato, 5, attends Little Angels. “Indian education is really amazing! This wouldn’t have been possible at a Japanese kindergarten.”

Discussion on Pak

2008-01-02T00:05:00.001-06:00

NDTV had a special 'Big Fight' program on the situation in Pakistan after Benazir's assassination. The program had some excellant minds on the subject (like Parthasarathy, Brahma, Saeed Naqvi etc). But NDTV also had a special invitee -Yasin Malik of Kashmir. I fail to understand the logic of bringing in Yasin malik to the discussion? do these guys at NDTV dont have any sense of Nationalism or pride in the country?!? Is Yasin malik, a specialist in Pakistan affairs or is he representing the Pakistani backed terrorist groups???

Smart move?

2007-12-22T19:55:00.001-06:00

Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico announced today that Pepsi would launch Milk / Soya based drinks. Considering the opposition the cola companies faced last year, this could turn out to be a smart move. Unlike Coca cola, Pepsico seems to be smart in moving and expanding into other drinks / snacks market with its acquisition of several leading brands like Tropicana, Lays, quaker, gatorade.

Every action has an opposite reaction

2007-12-09T17:00:00.000-06:00

This is how a CPI(M) cadre describes what happened in Nandhigram. Little surprising in the statement when the Chief minister himself used exactly the same words to describe the attack by CPI(M) in Nandhigram. But what is surprising is that everything has been captured in camera by CNNIBN (another surprise from a left leaning mainstream media). I'm really amazed at the reaction from the government and finally CPI(M) has gone scot free in this episode!
Anyways watch the video from CNNIBN -

Test Post via Firefox

2007-12-03T20:02:00.001-06:00

While in firefox, I accidentally pressed the F8 function key and got a mini window in firefox called ScribeFire?! and it said something about blogs etc. Wondering if it could be a blog writer tool (like Windows live writer tool), launched the account setup wizard and setup the account and here I go, with this blog post and a screenshot!! never heard of such a feature in firefox!!..really cool............

Changing times?

2007-11-27T21:33:00.001-06:00

Verizon decides to open up their service to outside phone devices. That was a significant announcement from Verizon today and it could probably change the way Wireless/mobile business goes on in the US. To the uninitiated, Mobile service business in the US is little backward considering the way it works back home in India and other countries. There is very little presence of Handset manufacturers selling here (Apple ofcourse is an exception) and people buy services alongwith handset. Will the announcement from Verizon pave the way for the industry in general or will it be a one off strategy in response to falling market share or is Verizon thinking ahead of its time seeing the threat from Apple and Google phone??

Diwali Wishes

2007-11-09T08:43:00.000-06:00

Diwali Wishes to all..................

Enjoy the festival season and be happy as always!!

Wow!! New ways of Outsourcing!!

2007-11-04T22:20:00.001-06:00

Looks like outsourcing to India has taken a new turn. Gone are the days of traditional IT outsourcing; now it is the tun of non traditional and unexpected sectors/areas. This NYT writeup on outsourcing of personal chores and tutor services to India is very interesting to read. Not sure how this is going to shapeup in future but definitely will be a new milestone in outsourcing. This only reminds me of an old post in this blog

Another bubble burst in the corner?

2007-10-28T07:28:00.001-06:00

Thats what came to my mind when I read this crazy Facebook Stake acquisition by Microsoft and its potential valuation. Microsoft took a miniscule percent (1.6%) of stock in Facebook for $240m which means it lead to a valuation of $15b for facebook. Is this crazy? couldnt believe that a company whose revenue doesnt even come close $200m can be valued at $15b which leads me to think that all these hypes on social networking sites could see a repeat of 2001 bubble.

Yahoo IM revealing more?

2007-10-25T21:48:00.001-06:00

Often I had noticed there is something quite different in the web enabled Yahoo IM enabled by the Yahoomail beta when compared to the desktop version. Take a look at the screenshot below; IM on the web has more members online when compared to the desktop version on the right?! Does the web version doesnt recognise invisible loggers?? If so, good! catch hold of all your invisible chat friends!!

Truth in Journalism?!

2007-10-25T21:35:00.001-06:00

Looks like there is a big gap between Journalism and truthful reporting. Take a case of this news regarding recent Supreme court order making Marriage registration mandatory to all communities. Apparently the Muslim community has some complaints it seems or it seemed after reading our truthful IBNLive report -

The headline being - "Muslims oppose SC's order on marriage registration" with comments from All India Muslim personal law board member -

AIMPLB Member Kahlid Rashid says, “We think they should not be made compulsory because they are a religious affair as far as Muslim personal law is concerned and to say that marriages not registered are null and void is against the very concept of Muslim personal law. Our appeal to the honorary court to the state and central government the registration should not be made compulsory.”

However Rediff comes with same news in a different manner -

The news has been titled "Muslim leaders welcome SC ruling on marriage" with a quotation from same organization - All India Muslim Personal Law Board -

"Islam asks its followers to register the marriages and there is nothing new in the apex court directive," All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) spokesman Qasim Rasool Ilyas said.

I'm confused on which one is true?!?!

Presidential Campaign 2008

2007-10-21T21:24:00.000-06:00

One interesting candidate fighting for the nomination for 2008 Presidential election is Ron Paul. He is fighting for a nomination from the Republic party and has a very strong views on issues which will not be liked by the majority population and definetely not the media. He advocates stopping Iraq war, non-interventionist foreign policy (how on earth will any one in the US accept this?), break the US hegemony over the world, Stop Oil backing of US dollar etc..etc.. In the first debate, he was asked about the current state of the economy and his proposal for its mitigation. Bang came his reply - Abolish IRS in totality, stop spending way beyond our means, pull back from iraq and spend the dollar on local economy. Thats a tough stance to take, particularly in the US where imperialistic tendencies and empire building are rampant. He would probably be the only guy to openly talk about US Nation (read empire) building and its interventionist policies. But he is absolutely bang on target and very true. These are the policies that is going to wreck the world and take us to a probable WWIII;

If you are interested to read about currencies and Dollar hegemony - read his excellent article (or his house speech) on the subject here

He is a total misfit in the current political thinking in the US but surprisingly seems to be getting decent support. He is very active on the internet and has a dedicated You tube page. I read that he gets considerable support on the internet forum.

Grand Canyon Hike....

2007-10-20T16:01:00.000-06:00

This is a much delayed post. Wanted to write about our trip to Grand canyon but didnt get the time or patience to writeup.

The trip was scheduled during the labour day long weekend (8/30 - 9/3); Our itinerary was to reach Phoenix on the evening of 8/30, proceed towards West rim (cover the much famed Skywalk), proceed towards South rim and .......???...(undecided on whether to go down for a Hike towards the River); Well, we reached Phoenix on time, took a car with GPS and hit the pedal towards South Rim. But somebody forgot to tell Krish the difference between West rim and west rim drive (at the South rim) and he happily tapped the West rim drive at the South rim. Krish and Vivek were happily enjoying the drive not knowing where they will end up the next morning while I went for a small (!) nap; When I woke up and checked the place where we were in, it was tooo late and we were oncourse for a beautiful Sun rise view at the South rim!! It was fun though and were on time for a perfect Sunrise view at the south rim and hence no complaints. Time for course correction, we hit the road again towards the city of Page, where the Glen canyon dam is situated and where smooth water rafting was possible. After the Glen canyon view, smooth water rafting we were back to South rim on the night of 8/31.

9/1 was the fateful day when we stepped onto the hike unmindful of the tortuous journey ahead. The trail was South Kaibab trail (one of the most dangerous, devoid of any shade, devoid of water, most steep and no resting place but the shortest trail to the colorado - 6mile); Knowing the terrain (plenty of literature on Internet), I had made up my mind not to go down all the way but go to the first stop and take rest till evening and turn up in the evening. But as fate would have it, the rest place were just an apology of a place (infact these were not rest places but only sign boards!!) and kept going not finding any decent place to rest and turn back. Of course beyond a point, there is no way you can turn back on the south kaibab trail because of the terrain. As the famous saying in Grand canyon goes Everything that goes down has to come up, we struggled at various levels to go down to the colorado without knowing how to hike up. Among the lot, Krish was at decent shape (with experience in hike
in India and elsewhere). Me and Vivek were totally off and it was struggle all the way.

Apart from the peaking sun- another error in our plan; we started the hike coolly at around 8am when we should have started at around 5am so that we can reach the Colorado before the peaking sun, the other thing which really killed us was the impact the trail was having on our Ankles and knees. The trail was literally breaking our ankle and knees simultaneously. As was correctly reiterated by the Forest ranger (at the Phantom ranch, down the Colorado river), the trail down would take a toll on the ankle and knees whereas the Sun would be the only major killer when hiking up. Somehow with lots of breaks, rest and sweating, we finally made it to the Colorado and the South Kaibab bridge across the river. Krish found a good shade to rest on the river banks where a rafting party had set shop. I just went flat out (literally) and rested there for few hours to regain some strength. A dip at the freezing (really freezing; while the sun was belting at 110*c, it was ironical that the Colorado was coolly flowing at freezing temperature) river refreshed us a lot and gave us some confidence to go ahead to the next point.

The next point was the Phantom ranch, which is the base camp for all Hikers. The North Kaibab trail, (Up and down North Rim) South Kaibab trail and the Brighangel trail (Both up and down South Rim) all converge at this place and people take rest, enjoy the food offered at the cafeteria and stay at the dorm and proceed to the next trail in their journey (up the South rim or up the North rim). I was lucky enough to get a bed at the male dorm whereas Krish and Vivek were not that lucky. The Phantom ranch dorm booking is normally done a year earlier and gets booked immediately when the booking opens because of its enormous popularity among the hikers. This year because of the unusual hot days during the labor day weekend (Phoenix was easily clocking 110*c on a regular basis) there might have been some cancellations.

Cafeteria offers some decent enough stuff for your lunch, dinner and breakfast. Lemonade offered at the cafeteria was excellent stuff after that arduous journey down and was really refreshing enough.

Me went to the dorm to prepare (?!) myself for the next day hike up and Krish and vivek rested for some time before hitting the trail for going up.

Next I had planned to start early on so that we could up the south rim before the sun starts to hot up. The Bright angel trail was 9miles in total from the Colorado upto the rim. I started per plan, at around 6am, joined a few others in the dorm who were on the same trail. It was pretty cool, early morning sun coming up. Unlike the South kaibab trail, the Bright angel trail was much better in the sense, it was not that steep, with lot of shade cover, good water on the way. A nice little stream followed us for quite a distance. The next stop was the Indian gardens, which was mid-day up the trail at around 4.5m from the bottom. Half way up the distance to Indian Gardens, the tiredness caught up with me and it began to be a struggle then on. Though it was full of shade, the climb up was taxing and due to lack of regular food intake and water, it became a struggle. Regular food (salty protein rich food) and frequent water intake are mandatory to survive the hike. However this is where I had failed with no appetite to take food, it aggravated the situation. By the time we reached Indian garden it was horrible. The Sun had come out and was beginning to heat up. Took a long rest at Indian garden stop but it was not necessary to carry on for few miles. After that the Sun too started to have its effect and no shade cover to the top from now on, the journey up was really tough and breaking. After several breaks and with help somehow reached the three mile stop and before then had decided not to proceed further on the sun (the temp on the clock was reading around 107*c); The Three miles stop luckily had good resting area and was there till around evening 4pm which allowed me to recoup, take sufficient food and water. The hiking group who came along with proceeded with their hike as they had to reach the top by evening because of their travel plans. Now, another worry is to find out the whereabouts of Krish and Vivek who had hiked up the previous day; Since we didnt have a hotel booking for the day, I had no idea how they were coping. Little did I expect that my iPhone would work at that place- three miles down the Grand canyon and with the history of poor telecommunication services in the US, I didnt even take out my iPhone to check for services. However that was a pleasant surprise for me from ATT and spoke to Krish to get to know that they were good (!) and waiting for me!!.

Once the Sun went down, I headed to the trail again. Atleast this time I had decent level of confidence that I would be able to make it up with Sun nowhere in picture and it was just three miles. Well, that was what I had thought. However the last three miles were ofcourse the toughest part primarily because the elevation gain were on the higher side compared to the trail so far. However being alone on the trail and no one to push me, I had taken ample timeouts in between and was going at my own pace. To reach the next point - the 1.5 mile stop, it had taken me around 2 hrs and the time was 6.30; Another 1.5 mile at same pace would mean 8.30; no problem I had thought but what about the visibility??? The evening was getting dark and surely it wont last until 8 for sure. No torch and no light source. The Moon would appear only around 10pm. Thinking all those I hurried up from the 1.5mile stop up the trail. With very little junta going up the trail at this time and were racing past me and hiking up faster pace to avoid darkness , I was way behind at my own pace. Nevertheless I moved along with no energy to push my pace and the steepness getting better of me, I was at my own pace. However after a point, I decided not to take those short breaks so that it doesnt become so near yet so far....As expected the light dimmed pretty fast and by 7.30 it was pitch dark with no visibility of whatsoever. With another hour to go for sure, it was really a challenge to reach up. The Hiking poles were a real help at these stages. It really helped to find the correct path. It was like blind people walking with their sticks!!.

If I look back now, I shudder to think how I made up the last hour because one slip in the trail would have been disastrous. However it was not that difficult, ofcourse one misstep could have been disastrous but my eyes by that time had accustomed to the dim light and was able to make good judgement of the path and with the help of the poles, it was fairly decent I would say. After around half hour in darkness, at around 8pm, I saw the light at the Brightangel trailhead, brought me a good amount of relief and confidence to reach the head. It was ofcourse, another half hour of hike left to reach the top but the thought of the end near reach was enough to make me confortable at last.

By the time I had reached the trail head, it was 8.30 and was though relieved, the next thing to do was to reach the lodge where Krish and Vivek were put up. Tried to reach them but couldnt (after effects of their hike was taking their toll!). However got the bus after few minutes of wait and reached the lodge some 30mins later (legs started real pain now with each steps becoming like an ordeal). Knock, knock....knock, knock.....no response....again knock, knock...no response!! was wondering if this is the correct door or????were they not in? or?? with my legs all gone and very little strength to even stand up, was wondering what to do and where to go??!..luckily after few more knocks, it had knocked Vivek out of slumber to open the door (few more minutes of delay would have meant that I might have slept on the floor!!).

But All's well that ends well!! what next? went straight to the bed!! . With no energy to move out for a dinner, I straightaway hit the bed but luckily Vivek had the presence of mind to pack some burgers from the cafeteria for me!! though it had become cold by that time, it was delicious and was enough for the night. There was no sign of Krish waking up and Vivek told their side of the story - that was even more dangerous and strenuous (remember they hikedup all in the night) with Vivek flattening out on the trail midway (lucky to have escaped all those nightly Canyon creatures) and Krish resting at a more safer place at Indian gardens rest area. Probably they would have another story to tell in their blogs!!

The next few days became more an ordeal than hiking! with legs all cramped up and tightened, each step was a test of endurance. Wish I had carried my hiking sticks!!

Catch Grand canyon photo album here

The Arctic melt

2007-10-18T18:20:00.000-06:00

While many are concerned about the alarming ice melt at the Arctic (the ice melt has been at record levels this year and in the last 30 yrs, the Arctic Ice cap has come down by half - from 7.8million SqKm in 1980 to 4.2million SqKm in 2007); the Ice melt itself has opened up few cans of worms -

1. The Ice melt in the Arctic has opened a navigable sea route - the Northwest Sea passage which directly connects Asia to the Europe. Canada is claiming a key part of the route as its territorial waters and US, Europe are in opposition to it!
2. Russia is laying its claim to the North Pole itself!! Reason being Arctic region has been traditionally believed to contain significant Oil resources. Now the Ice cap is melting away, laying claim and occupying the sea would have strategic implications. As usual there are opposition to this and several countries like Denmark lay similar claim.

3. Other disputes over the Arctic region.

While People are very much concerned about the Ice melt and its impact in global weather, as usual there are people fighting for the area vacated by Ice- the sea!!...Human beings never change I guess..Always the fight is on whether its money, natural resources, women, property etc...etc..doesnt matter, we are always engaged in fight!!

Do a Sting and Grow!!

2007-10-17T20:44:00.000-06:00

There seems to be no limit to the depth being attained by Media and Journalism in India. This statement from this article clearly summarizes Journalism today

With the media in the hands of the powerful in society, who cares for anything called social responsibility or ethics?

As is being pointed out, the media is only playing into the hands of the Government and Politicians who will be very glad to clamp down and revive the Broadcasting bill from the days of Rajiv Gandhi. By that time, they might have even lost the public sympathy!!

Chat Comedy!

2007-10-14T16:51:00.000-06:00

This morning as usual when I was browsing, up comes a gtalk pop from a ID which looks familiar to me (my former colleague had a similar sounding ID and hence had accepted the chat invite) and says 'Hi eppadi irukkeenga' etc...and started as usual. The chatting person had a photo uploaded to his ID and when I took a closer look, found that the guy is different and unknown to me and hence started checking with him If I knew him and told him that I didnt recognise him...then he responded back suggesting me to wear my specks and not stopping at that he advised me to ask for the specs from 'akka'(?!) and look clearly at the photo!. Then I again clarified saying, there is no akka here and asked him to check the identity and typed in my full name etc..I also told him that I dont know his "akka" etc...The guy was probably so sure of my identity (!) responded sarcastically -"hello Mrs.Gayathri chandramouly, ungala yarunu kekeararu parunga" ..I laughed back to him saying that I dont know any of Gayathri or akka and asked him to come out of the confusion and check the identity..He responded back within few minutes (dont know how he checked during couple of minute break in this comedy) and said he is sure of the identity and asked me if I have been "thani adichingaala" (drunk)!!..I couldnt control my laugher and responded back saying he is chatting with a wrong person and told him that he is confused and advised him to check the identity. He responds thus - "nanga theliva than irukom, remember this conversation is saved and if i show akka that u typed " i dont know gayathri" imagaine what would happen Sooru poda matanga sir" (LOL)

Controlling my laugher I replied back saying the same thing again and also added that nothing will happen to me because I'm yet to find my 'akka' and told him to stop this comedy. Then better sense prevailed and he asked my name etc. Fortunately this time he read the message and understood he was caught on wrong foot and apologized!!

Dai ennankada?! yaaru kitte pesittu irukkomnu theriyamala kathai adikka aarambichudaraanunga!?! ithula "akka" puraanam vera?!

Enna kodumai Saravana idhu?!

Linux Live

2007-10-11T11:41:00.000-06:00

Those of you interested in trying out Open source OS - Linux, have the best opportunity to try it out without much sweating. The newly launched version of Mandriva - Mandriva one 2008 has a facility to run the OS without even installing it in your hard drive. It can be run from CD/DVD and it comes with Firefox browser, Openoffice.org office application, thunderbird mail client etc clubbed with OS. And after trying it out if you feel you would need to install to the Hard disk, you can click the icon on the Linux desktop for actual installation. Otherwise simply shut down and take out the CD!!..Sounds good? it looks terrific to me because you are not going to disturb anything by trying out by running from CD!!...You wont need to have it installed in your hard disk unless you need another application to be installed and nowadays I just use the browser 95% of the time on my laptop. I dont remember when is the last time i opened an application other than the browser!. This probably could have been the best thing happened to Linux..

Instructions for writing them to a CD/DVD is here

It can also be copied to a thumb drive but the instructions are bit complex.

Nikon D3

2007-10-02T21:00:00.000-06:00

Has Nikon finally arrived in the Sports Photography segment? looks like it is. Nikon's recently announced DSLR - D3 (launch date is Nov07, in time for the long weekend) is expected to take the fight to Canon DSLR Camp, the uncrowned king of Sports Photography. Last week Nikon USA came out with it sample images of D3 fueling the debate about its IQ and suitability for Sports. If you are interested, take a review by Ken Rockwell here

Comedy!!

2007-09-24T19:48:00.000-06:00

So much for Journalism! This Pakistan newspaper doesnt know the difference between Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Kaif!!

IBM Symphony goes Open(Free)

2007-09-18T23:13:00.000-06:00

Symphony is the office product from IBM. It contains Spreadsheet, document and presentation solution. IBM has recently made it open source and available for free

Indian Media Counts only the death??

2007-09-16T10:15:00.000-06:00

A news item on the recent Phuket Plane crash incident. IBN Live reports this. Read through and see how patchy it is. It has little to offer except the count of the dead and few cut and paste from Reuters and other sources; Contrast the same news from other sources - CNN , Reuters and BBC; Yes, they too start with the count but the news item proceeds further with information on the incident, steps taken and much more. Though IBNLive says "with inputs from Reuters/AP", they have carefully selected what they want to put on their website/TV leaving many gaping holes in the news!. This is a funny part of the news story -

"Airport officials said the plane, flying from Bangkok, was carrying 128 passengers and an unknown number of crew"

Normally it is the other way around?! Airport officials dont know about the crew members?!? strange!!

I take a break to see what NDTV says about this incident. It is worse- it is very brief, just a statement about the count and a liner about the casualty figures..nothing more about the incident, how it occurred, survivors etc..etc..
Tried to get headlines today but only got this piece from India today website; Again it talks about count, bodies etc. nothing much..
Timesnow has this junk about the incident!.

Phuket is an international tourist destination-one among the top10 tourism location in the world. But none of the Indian media had any information on any Indian passenger involved in the accident. Particularly located in South east Asia and close to Singapore and Malaysia where there is significant Indian population, I thought Indian media would atleast take care to find out if there is any Indian passenger or passenger from Indian origin involved and be responsible while focussing on the count??. Wonder what the so called Journalist do?? it would be really interesting to see how they source their news. Just cut paste from the initial source - Reuters/AP/PTI?? and that too edit the portion which they dont like???It looks it is very easy to start a news media in India - just subscribe to all these news agencies (PTI/AP/Reuters etc) and cut & paste...Wow!! so easy:(

Is there any School for Journalism in India? are these people having any Journalistic background? does the media house look for any prequalification before being hired as Journalist??
When are we going to rein in the Media?? and who is going to do that? Its really going scot free now without any self regulation (?!) and without any ethics in place?? I read sometime ago that BBC has its own internal code of conduct and policy on what and how to report, taking care with respective to sensitivity of the news, authenticity etc. Does any of the Indian media house has any of these in place??

We surely need a regulatory authority and also a place where readers can report about - misinformation, incorrect reporting, news suppression, opinions reported as news, rumours reported as news, hiding key information, blaring headlines without any content etc. If this already exists, pls drop a comment with details.........

Gmail Offline client?

2007-09-15T17:42:00.000-06:00

If this report is to be believed, then Google might unveil a offline email client shortly. This could be one killer app which could directly threaten Microsoft. And as usual Google could offer them as a free application which might force Corporate users of Microsoft to think hard and twice whether to stick with Outlook. Ofcourse it will all depend on the features on the plate but definitely it could pose a serious threat to Microsoft.

New hangout place - Delhi Metro?

2007-08-27T22:11:00.000-06:00

Thats what this news suggests. And why DMRC should frown upon? Rather if they have the business acumen, should be able to capitalise on it by making it more user friendly and bringing a mall culture to Railways (& Airports). That would add value to DMRC coffers as well make metro travel as a pleasurable experience.

Enabling the Loot??

2007-08-27T22:05:00.000-06:00

News - Railways mulling ATM in moving train for the benefit of passengers. Dont know if it will really benefit passengers but definetely going to benefit those mobile looters (who use every ingenious way to loot and fool the people!)....Rather Railways would be better advised to install in all the railway station. Currently only a few stations has and that too limited to only one service provider (didnt understand this logic of only one?!?)...

Madras Birthday

2007-08-19T10:38:00.000-06:00

Chennai celebrates its birthday on Aug/22. A week long celebrations is being between Aug/19 to 26. More details here

GOC!!

2007-08-12T19:02:00.000-06:00

Republican party in the US is fondly(!) remembered as the Grand old party(GOP) for its being the first national political party. In India we can coin a similar name only that to denote a different thing - Grand Old Cabinet (GCC); as per Karan thapar, the average age of the current Cabinet is 65yrs; and if you breakup the numbers its even pathetic - 16 ministers over 60, 10 over 70, one over 80. I wonder what are these "Kazhads" doing at the Cabinet?!? As Karan rightly puts it "They are in Cabinet rather than, forgive me, in retirement homes";

On the eve of the 60th Independance day, Karan thapar takes up this issue with Jyotiaditya Scindia in his devils advocate; offcourse you wont get any worthwhile answer to these questions. I think a movement is required to send all these Kazhads back to retirement home;

MS Steps in

2007-08-09T21:25:00.000-06:00

With endless wait for Gdrive (the supposedly Google drive) turning into despair, Microsoft has stepped in and launched its own drive on the web - its skydrive facility (or live folders). Windows live folders beta or Skydrive is available at http://folders.live.com. At 500mb free space (for how long?) it looks pretty decent. Check it out if you are able to signup.

IBN-Dead! (Brain Dead)

2007-08-08T21:05:00.000-06:00

I am wondering if there is any editorial oversight in IBN Live Website- the sort of stories that get published, the language, the content and the "news" that those stories claim to disseminate. While it is nothing surprising to come from NDTV, I am really distraught to see this reporting stupidity pervading the media space.

Take for example the below headline in IBN-Live Website:

Tata Steel ranked world's best producer by Fitch

I read the story, re-read it and read it again to find a faint shred of evidence to understand where exactly had the Fitch said that TATA Steel is the best producer of Steel- I couldn't find any such reference. All it said was,

"The rating with stable outlook reflects the company's position as an efficient value added steel producer, with significant iron-ore and coal linkages, making it one of the low-cost steel producers in the world, Fitch said in a release."

The opening lines of the story states:

India’s biggest conglomerate Tata Group just got another feather to its hat. Global rating agency Fitch has assigned the highest rating of 'F1+(ind)' to Tata Steel's Rs 500 crore short-term debt programme.

There are factual misrepresentations in that assertion:

Though Fitch is a Global company, the TATA Steel was rated by Fitch India, which is an Indian Company- Fitch as a global entity didn't do the rating.
This assertion sounds as though, this rating is the highest rating available for any short term debt programme globally- by subtly tying the Global tag at the beginning, it is misleading to an unsuspecting reader that this rating is on a Global scale. However, the Fitch India site makes it very clear on the meaning and definition of the grade as below:
Credit Ratings
The suffix ‘(ind)’ refers to National Ratings assigned by Fitch India. Fitch’s National ratings provide a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities in countries with sub- or low-investment grade international sovereign ratings. The best risk within a country is rated ‘AAA’ and other credits are rated only relative to this risk. National ratings are designed for use mainly by local investors in local markets and are signified by the addition of an identifier for the country concerned, such as ‘AAA (ind)’ for National ratings in India. Specific letter grades are not therefore internationally comparable.
This is already a sub- or low- investment grade international sovereign- to induce a global comparison implicitly by clever wording is not what a journalist should do.
There is no attribution to the story- it is as if, IBN Live website itself wrote the story itself with no manual intervention- or probably some divine power wrote it for IBN.
I agree and respect TATA for all it might. But what is the need for IBN to stroke such hype around the company?

Look at another headline from yesterdays.

Big deal: Tatas set to bag Jaguar, Land Rover
[Dt. 26/07/2007]

It declared in bold letters that TATA is "set" to acquire Jaguar and Land Rover, it even went ahead and told its readers this:

Tata Motors has nearly clinched the deal to buy iconic British brands, Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford, sources tell CNN-IBN.

Again unattributed sources-that would tell only to CNN-IBN that TATA has nearly bought it. Such hype. Later today, the headline reads like:

Ford can't afford to let go of Jaguar, Land Rover
[Dt. 07/08/2007]

This headline leads to this wonderful realisation in the story:

Ford had received preliminary bids from some private-equity firms including TPG, Cerberus Capital Management, Ripplewood Holdings and One Equity Partners apart from two Indian auto manufacturers -- M&M and Tata Motors.

The company that had earlier nearly clinched the deal is reduced to a passing mention along side the other contenders.

More interesting is the part that says,

Prospective bidders for Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover brands have reportedly begun due diligence, but the sale may finally go through only in the next two month.

A deal that was imminent any moment earlier, is turning out to be a long, weary, drawn out process. While I was reading the earlier article, I was sure that Ford was begging TATA to buy Jaguar and Land Rover, now I find TATA and other prospective buyers doing a due diligence- earlier TATA had decided to buy those two brands, just like I buy my morning breakfast at Dunkin Donuts- look at the colour of the muffin and buy the one that is brightest- now they are thinking about the calorific value!

Mysterious are the ways of the world- that which was imminent and a near certainty just a week ago now looks not so imminent.

If you think these are the only hyperbolic stories that IBN can run, think again- better go rinse your brain again and come back.

Take a look at yet another master piece of logic, fantastic reporting and excellent grasp of concepts.

ICICI, Dena bank cut deposit rates, loans get out of reach
[Dt. 09/08/2007]

This article is the heights of intellectual paucity that had come to haunt the media. This draws such amazing conclusions as interest rate hike is "anti-consumerist" and "pro-capitalist". Look at the sentence construction:

The trend that’s emerging now is completely anti-consumer and pro-capitalist—low rates on deposit while skyrocketing interest rates on loans.

While I agree that hike in interest rate is hard on consumer, I am at loss to understand how would that be "anti-consumerist" and ludicrous of all -"Pro-Capitalist".

More over, the story tries to paint a picture as if, there had been a hike in the lending rates and reduction in the deposit rates- whereas only the second part is true- there has been a cut in the deposit rates and the lending rates are not changed- they are already higher- trying to tie two non-simultaneous events is not only illogical, but also stupid.

Inducing a causation where there exists none is bad journalism. It also announces the naiveties of the reporter on things that are monetary and complete lack of understanding of what is being reported. I doubt if the reporter meant what he/she had written there- the pro-capitalist and anti-consumerist bit.

If he/she understands a bit of finance, he/she would have known by now, that such easy credit and excess liquidity in the system would lead to high inflation which would be the real anti-consumerist proposition, than availability of cheap credit. I think its time for IBN Live to get some real finance knowledge to cover the business, rather than treating business as if it is political news- sensationalizing and hyping. And remember, this is yet another author-less, bot written story.

And the fun doesnt end there. Read for example this headline:

Walmart may eat away Indian retailer's bread-and-butter
[Dt. 08/08/2007]

This story not only convinces me of the complete lack of understanding of the business but also of english as a language, on the part of the reporter. What is Indian retalier's bread and butter and how does Wal Mart entering India as a B-2-B partner of Bharti going to alter that? If anything, it would be Bharti that would be eating away the proverbial bread and butter!

Look at the sentence below:

World’s biggest grocery store brand Walmart has probably sensed the insecurity of the small-time Indian retailers who are threatened by the entry of international brands in the market.

Did you read it right?? Walmart is the world's largest Grocery store!- Can you beleive it- Grocery Store-this is a complete ignorance(for the lack of better word) of what Walmart is and what is Grocery Store is and the difference between Grocery store and retailer. And how did Walmart sense that small time Indian retailers are insecure- I think they were roaming around Indian cities with a mask to sense the insecurity- and what have they done- that part is hanging in the air. What is the purpose of that statement- No Idea- it freely hangs in there.

These stories are more of an opinion pieces than real news. I wonder if there is any journalistic control on the sort of language that is used and editorial control at IBN- Live. Is it a fiefdom, for an individual to publish unattributed, author-less, bot generated stories?

~Cross Posted at "Straight Angle"

Interview of Gurumurthy

2007-08-05T20:34:00.001-06:00

As the interviewer says Mr Gurumurthy, do not require any introduction. His views ranging from Nationalism, Hinduism to economics is clearly and forthrightly articulated in this interview. Don't miss his explanation on the term 'Hinduism' and 'fundamentalism'. Amazing stuff. Its segregated into 5 different parts and video of each part is embedded below-

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Fighter Jet on the streets?!?

2007-06-18T22:52:00.000-06:00

How would you feel if you are to experience a fighter jet (F16s, Mirages type) scorching at its full blast on the streets or race track?!..Confused? Had this experience of viewing the Formula 1 at the Indiannapolis GP stadium this weekend. My God, what an experience?!. Its was like 20 fighter jets descended on the track and racing for the top slot..it was amazing and mind blowing experience of all time. You have to be THERE to experience what I'm writing over here.

More on this later and some snaps on the race as well a little later.

Sivaji @St louis

2007-06-18T22:45:00.000-06:00

The weekend gone by was a busiest one so far. Had an opportunity to take a look at the latest movie craze here - Sivaji!...People here at St louis just recreated the experience of a Superstar movie just like back home except without much Banners, cutouts and posters. All in all it went well, with crowd going berserk inside the hall but luckily it was generously calm to hear follow the movie unlike Superstar movies of day 1 back in Chennai..Some snaps taken before the crowd started assembling in the hall. We were early birds so that not to miss out on the back rows!!...

Verdict - Going by the craze this movie has created, it sure is going to be a blockbuster one. My take - I personally liked the Mottai BOSS at the end the movie over all the other stuff in the movie....that was a good one....

Wow!! - Safari for Windows

2007-06-13T18:40:00.000-06:00

Voila..Apple has just launched its Famous browser application - Safari for Windows; The new Safari beta version is available for free for both windows and mac(?)!; Well...well...the browser market is getting interesting....As I keep typing this post on a Safari, am very much excited on this windows version..Allow me to play around in Safari for times to come and probably new post on whats interesting about the supposedly worlds fastest browser!!.

New Gadget!!

2007-06-02T12:43:00.000-06:00

This week I graduated into the SLR world with the Nikon DSLR D40; DSLR is a fun world as it provides so much control to you that you would obviously begin to understand the nuances and skills of photography. From now on all my free times would go to this new toy!!..And my old P72 which had given me company for last 4 years is staring at me and might even be cursing from behind!!

Openoffice

2007-06-02T12:30:00.000-06:00

Recently had the opportunity to install an office Product in my laptop (courtesy: Formatting of my C Drive!!); One of the applications that doesnt come along with the recovery DVD is the MS office application and hence thought of trying the popular alternative Openoffice.org (though had a copy of MS office'03, thought of trying this alternative without going for both the applications which would not help you to understand Openoffice.org); Was able to see most of the popular features in it like - Macros, frequently used functions, formatting etc; so lets see how different it is from MS office 2003 or 2007; However MS office 2007 has gone way beyond and is into a new world altogether considering how jazzy and stunning it looks. Openoffice.org may not come any near to that level but it should work if its able to cover most of MS office functionality and more importantly it comes for free!!..That matters a lot considering how much an MS office suite costs. Many people would buy a PC/laptop for that price!!.

Blog post via MS word 2007

2007-05-28T21:42:00.000-06:00

Among other things in MS office 2007, this feature would be very useful to bloggers. Creating an posting via MS Word is very useful feature for all bloggers...If you have Office07, follow the instructions and get started...

Kalaigner TV

2007-05-21T19:22:00.000-06:00

Miss being in Chennai now - just for this. Really missing the drama thats been happening on this front. Lol

Interview of Mr. Keki Gharda

2007-05-21T19:17:00.000-06:00

Sometimes Rediff comes up with some stunning articles, columns and interviews. One such is this one - Interview with Mr Keki Gharda of Gharda Chemicals. It has all - Brilliance, arrogance, ego, Gandhism, Socialism, Game theory (?) etc....but a interesting piece. Read it in full

Mani plain speak...

2007-05-08T23:03:00.000-06:00

Mani shankar is in his elements in this fair talk about India growth story. Though didnt agree with some of his rantings (about Nehru, Indira etc..) there are some plain speak on the growth rate and media bias -

I was always Leftist. Economic reforms made me completely Marxist’

Mani Shankar Aiyar

Posted online: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at 0000 hrs Print Email

In a speech at a CII meet, Mani Shankar Aiyar argued that policy is hijacked by a small elite. That the cabinet he belongs to is quite comfortable with this hijacking. That India’s system of governance is such that Rs 650 crore for village development is considered wasteful but Rs 7,000 crore for the Commonwealth Games is considered vital. The classes rule all the time, Aiyar says, the masses get a look-in every five years

A few weeks ago the newspapers reported that the number of Indian billionaires had exceeded the number of billionaires in Japan, and there was a considerable amount of self-congratulation on this. I understand from P. Sainath that we rank eighth in the world in the number of our millionaires. And we stand 126th on the Human Development Index. I am glad to report that last year we were 127th.

At this very fast rate of growth that we are now showing, we moved up from 127th to 126th position. This is the paradigm of our development process. In a democracy, every five years the masses determine who will rule this country. And they showed dramatically in the last elections that they knew how to keep their counsel and show who they wanted. We, my party and I, were the beneficiaries and we formed the government. Every five years, it is the masses who determine who will form the government. And in between those five years the classes determine what that government will do.

In determining what that government will do, the CII has played an extremely important role. I am not surprised, as that is its job. It represents industry, and therefore it argues for the interests of the industry. Industry has been enormously benefited by the processes of economic reform that we have seen in this country over the last 15 years or so. But the benefits of these reforms have gone so disproportionately to those who are the most passionate advocates of reforms that every five years we are given a slap in the face for having done what the CII regards as self-evidently the right thing for this country.

It is a sustainable economic proposition, because our numbers are so vast, that there are perhaps 10 million Indians who are just as rich as the richest equivalent segment anywhere in the world or in any group of countries. There are about fifty million Indians who really are extraordinarily well off. That’s the population of the UK.

But if you look at the 700 million Indians who are either not in the market or barely in the market, then the impact of the economic reforms process, which is so lauded by the CII, makes virtually no difference to their lives. That is why there is a complete disjunct between what the democratic processes are trying for in the short run and what those who have made an enormous success of our achievements in the last fifteen years deem to be, at least in the short run, their own requirements.

So when you talk of a nine point two per cent growth rate, it becomes a statistical abstraction: 0.2 per cent of our people are growing at 9.92 per cent per annum. But there is a very large number, I don’t know how many, whose growth rate is perhaps down to 0.2 per cent. But certainly, the number of those who are at the lower end of the growth sector is very much larger than those who are at the higher end.

Yet what happens when you have the budget? As an absolute ritual every finance minister (my colleague Chidambaram is no exception) will devote the first four or five pages of his budget speech to the bulk of India and there will then be several pages, including whole of part B, which deals perhaps with one or two per cent of our population. Almost the entire discussion that takes place at CII or CII-like forums, will be about Part B rather than Part A.

There are comfort levels that you get from statistics — for instance, suddenly Arun Shourie, announcing in the NDA government that our poverty rates have fallen from 35 per cent to 22 per cent. He did it by changing the basis on which you estimate poverty. You cannot compare apples and oranges. The next national sample survey has shown that our poverty levels have actually increased. Are we going to be mesmerised by these statistics or understand that 700 million of our people are poor?

So we have an Indira Awaas Yojana which will ensure that there will be a ‘jhuggi’ for every Indian round about the year 2200. We have the PM Gram Sadak Yojana which was supposed to complete all the gram sadak in seven years — we are in the eighth year. And where we are told that the education of 1000 may be covered, who knows only the education of 500 will be covered. And if you happen to be a tribal in Arunachal, you are told that because of your social custom you are to live in one hut atop a hill, we can’t provide you a road.

I was always something of a leftist. But I became a complete Marxist only after the economic reforms. Because I see the extent to which the most important conception of Marx — that the relationship of any given class with the means of production determines the superstructure — holds.

This ugly choice is placed before the government. An unequal choice, because you have organised yourself to say what you want to say but the others are only able to organise themselves and that too without speaking to each other in the fifth year when the elections take place. That is why this expression anti-incumbency, although the Oxford Dictionary says that it is a word belonging to the English language, is a peculiarly Indian phenomenon. Because everything that goes in the name of good governance like the economic reforms either does not touch the life of people or affect them at all.

We have seen what happened at Nandigram, we have seen what was happening at Singur and we have these propositions that say that SEZs are going to come and lakhs of hectares are going to be utilised for the good of the country. For what’s the syndrome in all this, it’s still ‘do bigha zameen’. The chap says that I want my one bigha of zameen to be reinstated, but you offer double the compensation and “baad mein dekha jayega”. You go to Hirakud, which is where Jawaharlal Nehru actually used the expression modern temples of India, and you ask what happened to the tribals who were driven out of there. Absolutely nobody knows.

Coming to the cabinet, you see what happens. The minute suggestions are made as to what would perhaps benefit the people and what would benefit the classes, the tendency is to say that our great achievement is 9.2 per cent growth. Our great achievement is that Indian industrialists are buying Arcelor and Corus. That Time magazine thinks we are a great power.

In these circumstances, when a proposal came before the government to spend Rs 648 crore on the Gram Nyaya department, we were solemnly informed by one of the most influential ministers in the government to remember that we are a poor country. I was delighted when the next day he was with me in a group of ministers and I reminded him of his remark and said in that case can we stop spending the Rs 7000 crore on the Commonwealth Games and he said, “No, no, that is an international commitment and a matter of national pride.” This national pride will of course blow up if you spend Rs 7000 crore on the Commonwealth Games. We will be on the cover of Time and Newsweek.

I have always wondered why this rate of growth and economic reforms process is dated to Manmohan Singh. Because actually it should be dated to L.K. Jha’s book Economic Strategy for the 80s. It is the decade in which we quickly recovered from agricultural depression and registered a double digit growth. At the beginning of the decade our biggest import was crude oil and after that it was edible oil. By the end of the decade we were exporters of several kinds of edible oil.

Why is it that Nehru became successful with his Hindu rate of growth? The reason is that the Hindu rate of growth was five times what our pre-Hindu rate of growth was. From 1914 to 1947, the figures of which are available, the rate of growth of the Indian economy was 0.72 per cent. And we got the Hindu rate of growth which was five times that and it made a difference to the people. The minute you had solid land reforms, the people had their ‘zameen’. That is what Mother India was all about. People felt that they were involved in the process. All the political talk was: gareeb ke liye ham kya kar sakte hain. Indira Gandhi matched it beautifully when the entire political spectrum joined hands against her by saying, “Woh kehte hain Indira hatao, hum kehte hain Garibi hatao.”

There is nobody so marginal in a government as the minister of Panchayati Raj. I count for nothing. Nothing! When I was the minister of petroleum, I used to walk surrounded by this media. I kept on telling them that petrol prices can do only three things — go up, go down or remain where they are. And it was all over the place. But try and get them to write two words about the 700 million Indians — absolutely impossible. And now with terrestrial television it is even worse. You have to be quarreling with your mother-in-law or hitting your daughter-in-law to be able to hit the headlines. It is impossible to get particularly the pink papers to focus on issues that affect the bulk of the people. And it is so easy to get them to focus on issues that are of high relevance to only one or two per cent of the people.

I believe the CII, if it is serious about the issue, should not be restricting itself to 25 minutes discussion before lunch but hold discussions for ten days and maybe something will come out of it.

Edited extracts from a speech at the CII Northern Region annual meeting 2006-07, New Delhi, April 4

Microsoft Vision 2010

2007-05-03T19:31:00.000-06:00

Take a sneek preview at how Collaboration is going to go places with Windows in the forefront of it. Ofcourse, all these are Microsoft's vision (video is actually quite old - 2005) and looking at its past history, it might well be 2020 vision. But it looks awesome and this is the way to go!!..

Video: Microsoft's Vision of 2010.

Yahoo IM

2007-05-02T23:54:00.000-06:00

Yahoo has launched a web version of its popular IM; logon to http://messenger.yahoo.com and login to the latest web version. This completes the cycle for main 3 popular webmessenger services Gtalk, msn and Yahoo.. So till the Corporate firewalls take notice, enjoy!!

Joost..

2007-05-02T23:05:00.000-06:00

Further take on Joost after usage for couple of months now. First thing that impresses when one starts using the application is the picture/image quality. The image quality is simply stunning, probably in a different league and particularly when you learn that its a simply an existing P2P technology thats in play. Image quality is simply stunning. But further than that there are some good features to play around and brings you a feel of watching a TV. However what is going to differentiate and make it to the top would be its content. Currently the content part is very limited and the moment they start tie-up with big names (they have already done some) and some live content its going to be big but till then it will be good and curious but no further.

Anyways, have some invites left; if anyone interested, log a comment to this with your email; will do the rest. Want to know more about Joost? just click the Joost icon available anywhere in this blog...

SEVA..

2007-05-02T22:47:00.000-06:00

More on SEVA and rebuilding together and the 2007 activities can be found in this link

earlier post on Rebuilding together in St louis is here

Tulips in India?!

2007-04-25T22:24:00.000-06:00

Yes, Its true! Take a look at this

Tulips are specially being grown in Kashmir and they have roped in an expert from Netherlands - home to some world famous tulip gardens..

This disdain on Ram Sethu, because it's Hindu ?

2007-04-24T19:54:00.000-06:00

Though this article is from the 'Organiser' (mouthpiece of RSS), there could be no disagreement on its content..

This disdain on Ram Sethu, because it's Hindu ?
By Dr Jagan Kaul & Krishan Bhatnagar

The Taj corridor scheme on the banks of river Yamuna was stopped by the Supreme Court on the ground that it would threaten the historic Taj Mahal. Similarly the Delhi Metro Rail route was changed when the older scheme was considered dangerous to the historic Qutub Minar. The same sense of history, culture and preservation must be applied in the case of Ram Sethu.

The Hindus all over the world are dismayed at creating the so-called Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project (SSCP), which has been given charge to demolish the historic Ram Sethu. This is in continuation of the Indian authorities’ efforts to humiliate and disintegrate Hindus by taking total control of temples and endowments and expelling the Hindu community from them. The Kanchi Shankaracharya’s arrest on concocted charges was yet another blow towards the same goal. In its anti-Hindu crusade the Indian officialdom did not stop here. Rather than remaining even handed it encouraged—nay boosted, minority religious fundamentalism to enforce a divide and rule strategy that could further divide and disintegrate Bharat, the land of Hindus.

Hinduism is under an assault as never before. Given the lethal nature of this attack it is time for a Gandhian type mass movement for protecting religious freedom and dharma samsthapana. The agenda of this movement could include:-

1.

protection and maintenance of the Ram Sethu;
2.

protection and freedom of the Hindu temples, religious infrastructure and cultural centres from the onslaught launched by government and for their governance by autonomous Hindu Boards;
3.

integration of weaker sections in the mainstream;
4.

amendment to the divisive Article 30 of the Constitution; and
5.

creating an all important Hindu vote bank for ensuring righteous governance of the country.

Dredging work at Ram Sethu, which is a part of Ramayana and is deeply embedded in the Hindu psyche, hurts intensely the religious beliefs and sentiments while causing heightened degrees of distress and deep resentment among billions of Hindus worldwide. The Ram Sethu must be classified as religious, cultural, historical and an ancient monument of invaluable archaeological importance. Unlike many others, this site has immense traditional and cultural value for the vast majority of Indian citizens. The bridge has been revered by the entire Hindu civilisation since times immemorial.

It should be noted that the Taj corridor scheme on the banks of river Yamuna was barred by the Supreme Court on the ground that it would threaten the historic Taj Mahal. Similarly the Delhi Metro Rail route was changed when the older scheme was considered dangerous to the historic Qutub Minar. The same sense of history, culture and preservation must be applied in the case of Ram Sethu.

If the ongoing destructive process is not stopped right away, there should be highly critical and unfavourable comments in every Ramayana Katha now and for ever, that there was a Congress regime that in utter violation of the sense and sensibility of the Indian masses heartlessly destroyed the age old traditional and sacred Ram Sethu.

The destruction of Ram Sethu is a symptom of deep malaise, which is amply proven by injurious government control of Hindu temples. There is a concerted effort by the so-called secular political establishment to de-Hinduise India by applying the colonial policy of divide and rule. Therefore, we may also need a strong nationwide campaign for promoting the change of mindset in the uncaring authorities.

As the ongoing developments suggest some of the State Governments in the South are in the forefront for demolition of Hinduism and its religious infrastructure under their jurisdiction. Furthermore, the self professed secular Government of India has become an active participant in promoting competing religions while funding their enlargement from the Hindu coffers.

In Andhra Pradesh, a state where non-transparency and non-accountability for Hindu endowments under Government management is a rule rather than exception, utilises the huges resources of TTD for many non-Hindu purposes. This loot takes place without any legitimate constitutional authority. The world famous Tirupathi Tirumala temple receives an annual income of Rs. 3,100 crore in the form of direct cash collected from various sources. In the financial year 2005-06, the TTD collected 2,400 Kgs of gold, 2,33,000 Kgs of silver and 543 Kgs of other precious stones including diamonds, rubies, etc. from the devotees. How such enormously large amounts were used for the benefit of the community has never been revealed. In the absence of any factual and public explanation how can one trust the authorities whose anti-Hindu antecedents are already well established?

According to the latest official pronouncements, the Andhra Pradesh Government is going all out for taking over the entire spectrum of Hindu religious institutions. The Endowment Minister, Diwakar Reddy, announced on March 12 that the Government has decided to take over all temples, mutts and religious trusts in the state. Additionally, the state Government was planning to amend the AP Endowments Act to enable the Endowments Commissioner to oversee the day-to-day administration of mutts. It clearly amounts to Hinduism being made a “keep of the state” in A.P. The number of temples under government control has gone up to over 184,000 from about 33,000 a few years ago, and under the new plan the state wants to take over even smallest of private temples.

The world famous TTD with massive income of over Rs. 3,000 crore and vast endowments properties and Hindu educational institutions have been infiltrated, particularly by Christians under the patronage of Chief Minister Rajashekhar Samuel Reddy. There was a recent news of protests and tension at TTD’s Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam (SPMVV) on March 14 , 2007, against university Vice Chancellor Veena Nobel Das for the alleged propagation of Christianity in the varsity and the recent suicide by a first year post-graduate student K. Uma Maheswari in the varsity hostel room against conversion.

In Tamil Nadu, through the out right abuse of Government power two top Hindu institutions, Shankaracharya and the Kanchi Mutt, have been marginalised and rendered dysfunctional. The Shankaracharya, whose status is not less than the Pope for Hindus, was arrested on Diwali night in 2004. He was humiliated, put in jail without bail and treated like a common criminal. Such a barbaric action against the most revered leader of the highly civilised and non-violent faith was tantamount to a serious assault on Hinduism and its leadership. It is over two years now that neither the case against him has been proven nor has he been exonerated. There are serious allegations that heavy corruption and bribery was involved in getting him arrested and getting the anti-conversion Act repealed in Tamil Nadu.

In Kerala, the Government hastily promulgated an ordinance on February 4, 2007 to disband the Travancore and Cochin Autonomous Devaswom Boards (TCDB) and usurped their authority. The timing, intent and integrity of the said ordinance was extremely suspicious and questionable particularly in view of the impending session of the State Assembly and the existence of a three man Commission appointed by the High Court for investigating the allegations of corruption.

In the current fiscal year secular Kerala’s treasury was filled with Rs. 268 crore solely by the revenue from temples under Travancore Devaswom Board, Cochin Devaswom Board and Guruvayur Devaswom, but how much of it was used for temple maintenance and the Hindu causes remains a mystery. According to some reports, out of tens of thousands of temples that have been rendered dysfunctional, only a few hundred are currently fully operational. As if that was not enough, under the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 13,000 acres of Guruvayoor’s land has been reduced to 230 acres amounting to 98 per cent land grab.

In Karnataka, the Government has set new standards of lawlessness by taxing the temples and without any justifiable legal authority simply diverting their funds to enhance the madrasas and run churches—both being the adversarial religions against Hinduism. In the year 2002-2003, out of Rs 79 crore of temple revenues, Rs. 59.15 crore were given away to mosques, madrasas, Haj, etc., Rs. 12.75 crores were given to Christian institutions and mere Rs. 7.1 crore were allocated to maintain over 248,000 temples. Nowhere in the world does a Government engage in such robbery of one religion to benefit its competitors.

Our priority must be saving Hinduism and its religious infrastructure. Undoubtedly the Ram temple issue is an important one. However, its nature under the present divisive political climate has rather become somewhat contentious, we strongly believe that a step by step process for revitalising the Hindu society is a pre-requisite for achieving this goal.

We must demand that Government allow Hindu Advisory Councils for overseeing the Endowments Departments. Such Councils could be elected by the community or nominated by religious organisations like Dharma Sansad and Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha for providing oversight and guidance to Government. They could simultaneously eliminate anti-Hindu policies and non-Hindu personnel from the temple management till the denationalisation is realised. Should the Government refuse to set up such an apparatus that could justify launching a protest movement.

(The writers can be contacted at Hindu Jagran Forum (USA)

email: krishan.kb@verizon.net)