Thursday, August 31, 2006

kanchan gupta: Let's face the nasty truth

aug 31st, 2006

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kanchan 

The Pioneer / Edit Page / Leading article / 30.08.06
 
Let's face the nasty truth

Kanchan Gupta

 

British Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly has initiated a lively debate on whether excessive emphasis on multi-culturalism has contributed to Muslim separatism in the UK. In comments that have understandably riled the Left and bleeding heart liberals who insist on being politically correct even when faced by the very real and very grim possibility of witnessing passenger airliners being blown up as jihad continues to claim fresh victims around the world every passing hour, Ms Kelly has bluntly asked, "In our attempt to avoid imposing a single British identity and culture, have we ended up with some communities living in isolation from each other with no common bonds between them?"

For good measure, she has added, "We must not be censored by political correctness and we cannot tiptoe around the issues... Our ideas and policies should not be based on special treatment for minority ethnic faith communities. That would only exacerbate division rather than help build cohesion." It would be facetious to suggest that all it took to force a rethink on the noble and politically correct, Left-sanctified concept of multi-culturalism in Britain, which has been the mainstay of Labour politics ever since Mirpuris, Sylhetis and Punjabis from Pakistan began to land on British shores, were the July 7 London Underground bombings of last year that left 52 people dead and the failed plot to blow up planes in midflight after taking off from Heathrow.

A more plausible explanation for Ms Kelly's concern, echoed by influential individuals across the political spectrum, can be found in the results of a recent YouGov survey which show that at least 53 per cent Britons believe that their country "faces a Muslim problem" and an increasing number of people are beginning to fear Islam as also its followers. The poll, conducted by The Daily Telegraph, further reveals that 18 per cent of the respondents are of the view that "a large proportion of British Muslims feel no sense of loyalty to this country and are prepared to condone or even carry out acts of terrorism." The other findings of the elaborate poll are even less flattering to Britain's Muslims, most of them from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Were an honest opinion poll to be conducted in India, with the agency not using "secular" filters to weed out "communal" responses, in all probability the findings would have been no different. With the Muslim leadership, such as India's 15-crore-strong "minority community" is blessed with, becoming increasingly intransigent and using external issues — the Danish cartoons allegedly lampooning   Mohammed, the war in Iraq, the attempts to dismantle Iran's basement nuclear programme, the Israeli response to Hizbullah's terrorism — to foment internal dissent and disquiet, coupled with murderous jihadi assaults like the Mumbai bombings that have never fetched condemnation from the pulpit during Friday prayers, we would be, to quote Ms Kelly, "tiptoeing around the issues" if we were to pretend that all is fine and India is a shining example of excellent inter-community relations.

The rude truth is that Islamophobia is no longer a phenomenon restricted to the US or the UK. With every passing day as Islamists up the ante and push their agenda of imposing faith — never mind how misplaced it might be — over everything else, including their motherland, the ranks of those who believe "Muslims feel no sense of loyalty to this country and are prepared to condone or even carry out acts of terrorism" continue to swell. This is by no means a happy development and could, in the long run, cause irreparable damage to the way Hindus and Muslims look at the "other". It would be tragic if as a nation we were to gridlock ourselves in mutual suspicion and hate whose consequences are bound to visit future generations irrespective of their religious affiliation.

Yet, this is precisely what is being aimed: The UPA Government, driven by the most perverse notions of what constitutes "secularism" which are invariably conceived of by reigning stalwarts of the Congress, has chosen to make common cause with those sections of the Muslim leadership, especially the Ulema, whose loyalty to India is suspect and who make little effort to hide this fact; a strange alliance is taking shape between those who promise to put India on an unimaginable growth trajectory and facilitate its emergence as a power to reckon with, and clerics who are determined to ensure that the crescent of Islamist fanaticism does not bypass India. Pledges of modernisation are heard along with calls for Talibanisation. And, as the level of bigotry rises, the Government ups its offer to placate manufactured anger which is first generated and then skillfully used by the Ulema and other subscribers to pan-Islamism to leverage a better deal.

Haunted by the spectre of Islamist terrorism and the extra-territorial loyalties of the Queen's Muslim subjects, Britain is just beginning to discover that "ideas and policies should not be based on special treatment for minority ethnic faith communities" as they "only exacerbate division rather than help build cohesion." We in India came to realise this decades ago, but since we prefer to be duplicitous and cynically cunning in our politics and policies, we have chosen to pretend that the writing on the wall is no more than an illegible scrawl that need not bother us. Hence the reluctance to call the bluff of those who continue to exploit our emphasis on multi-culturalism and minority rights not for the welfare of the Muslim community but to force on secular India their vision of a separate Islamic identity which jars with that of the national Indian identity. The fatwa against Muslims singing Vande Mataram is only one example of how far the Ulema and the Islamists are willing to go to assert that the ikhwan may live in this country, but is not bound by its national identity.

No purpose shall be served by refusing to admit this truth and confront the reality. On the contrary, we may yet be able to retrieve the situation and prevent the inter-community gap from becoming an unbridgeable chasm by taking the lead from Britain and asking, with full sincerity, without being censored by political correctness or tiptoeing around issues: In our attempt to avoid imposing a single Indian identity and culture, have we ended up with an entire community living in isolation from the others with no common bonds between them? The answer holds the key to India's survival as a nation and a nation-state.



--
Kanchan Gupta
Associate Editor,
The Pioneer,

brahma chellaney: double standards on nukes re pak and iran

aug 31st, 2006

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brahma

A double standard at the UN

 

Brahma Chellaney

 

International Herald Tribune

Thursday, AUGUST 31, 2006

 

NEW DELHI Nothing better illustrates the way global efforts to halt nuclear proliferation are at the mercy of international politics than the contrasting responses of the United Nations Security Council to the two latest proliferation cases. Iran was handed an excessively harsh diktat to cease doing what it insists is its lawful right, while Pakistan has received exceptionally lenient treatment, despite the discovery of a major nuclear black-market ring run by Pakistani scientists and intelligence and military officials.

The uncovering of the illicit Pakistani supply network, which has been operating for at least 16 years, exposed the worst proliferation scandal in history. Yet in response the Security Council passed a resolution that made no reference to Pakistan, or even to the nuclear smuggling ring, but instead urged the entire world to share the responsibility. Resolution 1540 obligates all states to legislate and implement tight domestic controls on materials related to weapons of mass destruction so as to ensure that non-state actors do not get hold of them.

In contrast, the Security Council's tough line on Iran was expressed in a strongly worded resolution passed a month ago that sets a Aug. 31 deadline. To "make mandatory" Iran's cessation of all nuclear fuel-cycle activity, Resolution 1696 states that the Security Council "demands, in this context, that Iran shall suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, to be verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency."

The difference between these approaches is all the more startling given that the Security Council is acting against Tehran on reasonable suspicion but not clinching evidence, while Islamabad has admitted that the Pakistani ring covertly transferred nuclear secrets (including enrichment equipment and nuclear-bomb designs) to Iran, Libya and North Korea. The exporting state has been allowed to escape international scrutiny and censure while the importing state is being put in the doghouse.

The latest resolution on Iran acknowledges that the Security Council is acting not on conclusive proof but because there are "a number of outstanding issues and concerns on Iran's nuclear program, including topics which could have a military nuclear dimension." But the council has refrained from doing the obvious to settle the outstanding issues relating to Iran's past unlawful imports - empower the International Atomic Energy Agency to investigate the supply chain in Pakistan.

Iran has to shoulder much of the blame for the rising concerns over its nuclear program. It was not until an Iranian dissident group blew the whistle in 2002 that Tehran admitted it had built undeclared facilities in Natanz and Arak. To this day, however, technical assessments by the IAEA still affirm there is no "evidence of diversion" of nuclear materials for nonpeaceful purposes by Iran.

The Security Council has to act wisely and ensure that it does not follow double standards that undermine its credibility and effectiveness. After allowing Pakistan to get off scot-free, despite having been caught red-handed running the world's biggest nuclear proliferation ring, the council should not seek to make amends by prematurely penalizing Iran.

A certain balance is necessary, or else Iran may emulate Pakistan and go overtly nuclear. In fact, by implicitly condoning Pakistani proliferation while taking a tough line on Iran, the Security Council has already sent a message to Tehran that it pays to be a nuclear-weapons state.

In the case of the far-reaching Pakistani network, a single individual, Abdul Qadeer Khan, was conveniently made the scapegoat in a charade that saw Pakistan's military leader, General Pervez Musharraf, pardon him and then shield him from international investigators by placing him under indefinite house arrest.

While Iran is being demonized for certain suspect activities, the world has been made to believe that Khan set up and ran a nuclear Wal-Mart largely on his own.

The Security Council needs to rethink the wisdom of a resolution that commands Iran to accept a standard applicable to no other country. The attempt to single out Iran and enforce a discriminatory standard could well prove counterproductive, if it provoked Tehran to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and kick out IAEA inspectors.

What is needed is a new global consensus on standards governing fissile-material production, not an arbitrary regime that divides the nonnuclear world into fuel-cycle possessors and a single fuel-cycle abstainer. It is not helpful when the Security Council acts as if the military regime in Islamabad is on the right side of international politics but the clerical regime in Tehran is detestable and thus presumed guilty.

At present, Iran is years away from acquiring a nuclear- weapons capability. Through prudent diplomacy backed by stringent IAEA inspections, the Security Council can still ensure that Iran will remain free of nuclear weapons.

Brahma Chellaney is professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.

 

indian agribusiness at take-off point

aug 31, 2006

the ITC echaupals were the first example of change and disintermediation that in theory would help the producer at the start of the supply chain.

now other big players are getting into the business

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/09/04/8384865/index.htm

(thanks to reader kapidhwaja for the pointer)

i believe in the long run we'll all wonder how blind nehruvians had been to the potential of india's agribusiness, with their grandiose plans for heavy industry which made no sense at all.

agriculture is going to be india's savior, not grimy factories. nor, alas, masses of technorobots in bpos.

biotechnology, herbs for ayurveda, indigenous plantation crops, ... the list is endless.

we need to provide irrigation and proper refrigeration, processing and distribution mechanisms. india will be the equivalent of america and australia and canada in its productivity.

as it is, india is the world's largest producer of fruits and the second largest producer of vegetables, but much of it is lost to spoilage and pests. so the gap is in the infrastructure, as usual.

if only the idiot governments would concentrate on this instead of on ridiculous (but good for personal gain) issues like nuclear energy!

4M Report - 30 Aug 2006

aug 30th, 2006

the latest from the keen observers at SABHA

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: SABHA < sabha>
Date: Aug 31, 2006 9:29 AM
Subject: 4M Report - 30 Aug 2006
To: 4mreport

 
SABHA - 4M Report Arvind Kumar, 30 Aug 2006

Your regular dose of pseudosecularism

  1. SABHA-Harvard joint program

    Next year, Harvard University will offer "half" a course covering recent activities of Hindus. The course will be offered by Parimal Patil and Michael Witzel. At SABHA, we decided to help out Harvard and design the course in accordance with the level of scholarship of Harvard's faculty, thus making it a SABHA-Harvard joint effort!

    Course Contents: Introduction to Bible (chapters 8-11 of Genesis), the story of Noah and how Indians are descendents of Noah's son Japheth, advanced techniques proving that the language of the Tower of Babel as described in the Bible is the Aryan language, discovering the original home of Aryans near Mount Ararat (second home of Noah), William Jones's belief that Hindus descended from Japheth, the genius of Max Muller.

    The last 8 lectures will deal with advanced topics: Recent advances in mathematics - Steve Farmer's new discovery that all numbers are derived from 1 not through repeated addition but through repeated multiplication with itself, science as a Hindu conspiracy, Madhav Deshpande's violation of basic laws of physics, International geopolitical conspiracy suppressing the real reason for India-Pakistan wars (experts supporting Communists in California have revealed that the contents of textbooks are the real reason for wars).

    The course will conclude with an expedition to Armenia in a quest to determine the real home of Aryans. The methodology used will be to study the Bible and determine the truth.

  2. Shekhar Gupta: Hindus carried out terrorist bombings!

    Writing in Newsweek, Shekhar Gupta, the editor of Indian Express stated:
    On the other side, in April Hindu fanatics bombed the Jama Masjid, the stately 17th-century mosque in old Delhi that is an abiding symbol of Islam in the Subcontinent.
    At SABHA, we condemn Hindus for carrying out terrorist bombings while we note that Islam is the real Religion of Peace. Hindus have even terrorized Newsweek into retracting this claim.
  3. Our religion says to fight for jihad

    From an interview with retired Lieutenant General Muhammad Nasir Akhtar of Pakistan's army.
    We are practicing Muslims. Our army is the most modern army. But we are Muslims and our religion says to fight for jihad.

    All over the world the armies fight with religion in their minds. Christians do. Yes, we are a Muslim army. There is no denying that fact. It has always been Islamised.
    . . .
    When Pakistanis fight they fight for Pakistan and also for Islam. Our religion says to fight for jihad.
    . . .
    Jihad is one of the important factors when you fight. It is a greater motivation.

  4. Jihad to remain in school books in Pakistan

    . . . the Pakistan government has said the concept of jihad would not be deleted from the new school curriculum as it is an integral part of Islamic teachings.

    Stating this, Pakistan Education Minister Asharaf Qazi pointed out that "jihad has many dimensions which also includes self-negation. We will teach students the full concept of jihad".

    An independent study by SABHA found that Pakistani children are just like children around the world. Expressing his dreams, a six-year old Pakistani boy said, "When I grows up, I wants to be an airline pilot."
  5. San Francisco Chronicle: 100 - 35 -12 -2 -2 = 82!

    According to mathematical calculations performed by 'experts' at The San Francisco Chronicle, 100 -35 - 12 -2 -2 = 82!

    In an article arguing that tribals and 'Dalits' were not Hindus, the paper gave 35 percent as the percentage share of these groups in India's population.

    Tribals and Dalits make up about 35 percent of India's 1 billion inhabitants. Traditionally, they have joined India's Muslims, who represent just 12 percent of the population
    If you add 2 percent Sikhs and 2 percent Christians to this number, that leaves you with roughly the number of Hindus. What is this number? San Francisco Chronicle provides the answer in the same article.
    "If Hindus do not unite, we will soon become a minority in our own country," said Chauhan. Though census figures do not support his argument -- India's Hindu population has held steady for decades at about 82 percent . . .

  6. Sitaram Yechury promises violent Revolution

    Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) clarified his party's position.
    By developing a powerful mass revolutionary movement, by combining parliamentary and extra-parliamentary struggle, the working class and its allies will try their utmost to overcome the resistance of the forces of reaction and to bring about these transformations through peaceful means. However, it needs always to be borne in mind that the ruling classes never relinquish their power voluntarily. They seek to defy the will of the people and seek to reverse it by lawlessness and violence. It is, therefore, necessary for the revolutionary forces to be vigilant and so orient their work that they can face up to all contingencies, to any twist and turn in the political life of the country.

  7. BBC expresses concerns on opposition to Maoists

    The Indian government is experimenting with new ways of fighting back against Maoist fighters, who now operate in almost half of the country's 28 states. In the past year, the Chhattisgarh state government has introduced new anti-terrorism training for the police - and is backing a civil militia called Salwa Judum.
    . . .
    There are clear concerns about this arming of civilians and the lack of accountability of this new civil militia.


South Asian Bleeding Hearts Association welcomes comments, suggestions and leads for items published here. Please send your comments to feedback@sabha.info. If you wish to unsubscribe, or have been forwarded this mail and would like to subscribe, click here.

The Green Devolution

aug 30th, 2006

i tend not to believe much of anything newsweek international says, because i find it to be a) ill-informed, b) full of anti-india editors (including farid zakaria, an indian-origin person), c) too pushy in promoting american interests.

however, this information about wheat imports is sobering. although china too is importing lots of wheat. the old argument that india is over-populated has lost its zing, i guess nobody told this jason person who wrote the article. the new mantra is that india's young working age population is an asset; so jason is a little behind the times in coming up with the old chestnut/bromide about india's population.

i am concerned about agriculture i believe india's two greatest core competencies are:
1. intellectual property
2. agriculture

i have repeatedly talked about this, how it is not manufacturing or services that will be india's savior in the long run, it is our extraordinarily fertile land -- it has the fertility and the climatic conditions to cultivate practically anything successfully. we also have retained for millennia diverse genetic strains of major crops, in particular rice, which was domesticated in india. i remember that at one time there were 18 or so different types of rice cultivated in kerala alone. we are moving towards monocrop culture, imported from the us, and with the GM seed direction. this is utterly disastrous as a single pest can wipe out the entire crop, as has happened memorably in ireland with the potato famine.

and increasingly, the white guys are coming and stealing the germ plasm of the different indigenous strains of crops. this they will then patent and sell back to us. biopiracy is a huge potential problem that nobody is paying attention to.

in many ways, this is intellectual property theft, as it is the combined racial wisdom of our ancestors that has resulted in the development of strains of crops that are uniquely suited to local conditions, rainfall, etc.

esp in kerala, this is all going out the window because of distortions introduced by marxists. by raising labor costs too high, they have caused the massive abandonment of paddy fields. if you drive down the state, you'll see mile after mile of what used to be within my own memory beautifully productive paddy fields that now lie fallow, and are then filled in for residential purposes. meanwhile the cultivators have moved on to cash crops like rubber, cocoa, vanilla, etc all of which are prone to violent price fluctuations based on global trends; all of them have crashed dramatically, ruining many farmers. yet they are all going for the *next big thing* hoping to make a quick profit.

meanwhile, it being hard to eat rubber, kerala imports all of its foodstuff from tamil nadu. one of these days the 'dravidians' will decide to embargo kerala. then i suppose we will eat vanilla. or, like the arabs, eat sand. (which of course is that the saudis et al will do as soon as somene invents substitutes for oil).

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar

The Green Devolution
 
India's population is growing faster than farm output, threatening one of its most prized achievements.
By Jason Overdorf
Newsweek International
 
Sept. 4, 2006 issue - The furnace Australia sailed into Chennai last month carrying a load of wheat and, some warned, ill tidings. India's first wheat imports in six years marked a reversal in the march toward "food independence" that the country began in the 1970s. To M. S. Swaminathan, one of the agronomists credited with sparking the so-called Green Revolution, the return of grain imports should be seen as "a wake-up call" for a country that has in recent years taken its ability to feed its people for granted.
 
Though India's government officially dismissed the return of grain imports as a passing event, Swaminathan and other experts saw it as the latest sign of a long-term decline. The growth rate of grain production has fallen from 1.5 percent before 1995 to 1 percent today, due to a combination of bad management, unpredictable weather and a growing water shortage. Meanwhile, the growth rate for all crops has fallen to 1.25 percent a year, the lowest level since India gained independence in 1947, says Ramesh Chand, acting director of India's National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research. That's too slow to keep pace with a population now growing, according to United Nations estimates, at a rate of 1.5 percent a year. Chand says the threat to India's food independence is manageable, if the government makes the right moves.
 
These are sobering indicators for the Green Revolution, which was originally inspired by grave threats to the food supply in India. After back-to-back droughts put the country in danger of massive starvation in 1966, a U.S. presidential-advisory commission called for an "effort unprecedented in human history" to raise farm output around the world. And so it did, as scientists produced new strains of rice and wheat that boosted yields by a factor of five, with the help of heavy irrigation and applications of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. In India, an initially well-executed campaign raised grain output from 82 million metric tons in 1960 to 176 million tons in 1990 and cut imports to zero by 2000. That is, until the trend reversed last month.
 
Now production gains are slowing as the water supply dwindles, overzealous use of fertilizer and pesticides taints the soil and excessive irrigation waterlogs the land along canals in the showpiece states of India's Green Revolution, like the Punjab and Haryana.
 
Because irrigated land is two and ahalf times more productive than rain-fed land, many of the gains of the Green Revolution were produced by an increase in the area under irrigation. But as India's population and economy grow, water supplies are shrinking. Already, the World Bankestimates, India meets most of its irrigation and household demand by tapping groundwater—a practice that is "no longer sustainable."
 
Similar threats haunt China and other developing nations that were big beneficiaries of the Green Revolution. China has responded by relaxing its commitment to being completely self-sufficient in the production of food—encouraging farmers to grow more lucrative fruits and vegetables, while importing wheat and soybeans. To free-trade advocates, this approach makes sense—why obsess over "food independence" in an increasingly global free market, if others grow wheat more efficiently than you do? Focus on the goods, agricultural or not, that you grow most efficiently.
 
Indeed, when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called in January for a "second Green Revolution," his concern focused on raising farm incomes, not securing the food supply. He called for a fresh emphasis on fruits, vegetables and new plant varieties that would command higher prices in export markets. He also encouraged measures to harvest rainwater more efficiently, improve the soil and spread the benefits of agricultural technology, including genetically modified seeds.
 
But the basic position of the Singh government is that India normally produces more grain than it consumes, and soon will again. As for the recent return to imports, officials dismissed it as a procurement snafu: this year, for the first time, India allowed private buyers, including multinationals, to buy wheat directly from farmers. That helped push up prices, and the government responded by refusing to match the prices offered by private buyers. It wound up buying less wheat than usual for the federal program that provides subsidized grain to 150 million poor Indians. When supplies fell short, the government had to turn to imports—temporarily, officials insist.
 
Critics argue that Singh and his government are missing the big picture. Farm-policy analyst Devinder Sharma complains that "the people who govern this country believe technology is the answer to every problem," and are pushing a second revolution without examining why the first "has collapsed." Chand says the key going forward is to target backward states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, which have done little to modernize their farms, and thus have "huge potential" to reverse the slowdown in output.
 
One reason for these problems is that over the past decade India, as part of its effort to reduce the state role in the economy, has cut back significantly on investment in farms. Public-sector investment fell from just over 2 percent of agricultural output in 1991 to less than 1.5 percent in 2001. That slashed funds for upgrading Green Revolution technologies and for the extension programs that teach farmers how to make it all work.
 
By the late 1980s, when the early gains made in rice and wheat had slowed, India attempted to extend its success to pulses (peas and beans) and oilseeds. Though it did manage to produce high-yield seeds, the program failed to supply enough of these seeds to farmers, and poor oversight allowed corrupt traders to pass off ordinary seeds as high-yield hybrids, says Delhi University agricultural economist Usha Tuteja. With its vegetarian tradition India is the world's largest consumer of protein-rich pulses, but now ranks near the bottom in the production of these crops.
 
Swaminathan urges leaders to focus on what he calls an "evergreen revolution." The goal would be to correct the damage wrought by the first Green Revolution: adoptingnew methods like the use of natural predators instead of chemicals to eliminate pests, and switching to organic fertilizers and more efficient drip irrigation. He also says Singh should promote crops that require less water, including native Indian grains such as finger millet ( ragi), pearl millet (bajra) and sorghum (jowar).
 
That's a tough sell for two reasons: these coarse grains, once a staple of regional Indian cuisines, have fallen out of style since the first Green Revolution made wheat cheap and plentiful. So restoring their popularity will take a major marketing push, of the kind governments rarely do well. Second, Singh sees India very differently from the critics, as a nation fighting to attain middle-class comfort, not one at risk of sliding into mass hunger. Watch the future voyages of the Furnace Australia, and whether it is carrying grain to India, for one strong sign of which view is right.
© 2006 Newsweek, Inc.
 


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chinese involvement in ports

aug 30th, 2006

thanks, kapidhwaja, for the post on the chinese being denied security clearance for port building.

here is a news story that says this is not true.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/08/30/india.hutch.ap/

however, it is interesting that the vizhinjam port in trivandrum would have been destroyed anyway by t r baalu, the shipping minister. he, the 'dravidian' fundamentalist, shows the true colors of 'dravidians':

a. they are basically a creation of the christists. baalu is the person who famously went to the paul dhinakaran mad-fundamentalist conversion machine church in chennai and declared that he, baalu, was 'ashamed to have been born a hindu'. when hindus protested peacefully against this by symbolically excommunicating baalu, the hindus were arrested. (food for thought: what do mohammedans do under similar circumstances? riot, murder, assassinate, etc. nobody would have been arrested, and the media would have supported their mayhem under the general heading of 'hurt sentiments of the minority community', which is an open excuse for mass murder, burning people alive, and such other fun stuff. no mohammedan would have been arrested even if they assassinated baalu)

b. the 'dravidians' are extreme tamil chauvinists. when it comes time to grabbing territory, they claim that kerala is also 'dravidian' -- the LTTE had posted maps which showed 'tamil eelam' as consisting of kerala as well as tamil nadu plus northern sri lanka (those maps have since been removed from their website). but when it comes to providing any benefits to kerala, the whole 'dravidian' bunkum goes out the window. so, for instance, baalu is dead against vizhinjam in kerala because he wants to promote a) tuticorin and b) colachel ports, which are in tamil nadu.

thus, 'dravidianism' == narrow-minded tamil imperialism, an exact match with
chrisitsm == white imperialism
mohammedanism == arab imperialism
marxism == chinese imperialism

this is why i categorize the 'dravidians' as neo-semites, whereas the jews and zoroastrians are paleo-semites, and christists and mohammedans are meso-semites.

this is also why kerala, karnataka and andhra totally reject any 'dravidianism': we dont want to live under a tamil empire, any more than we like living under a hindi dictatorship.

c. the 'dravidians' insist on acting like bulls in china shops when they become part of the central govt. on the one hand, you have ambumani ramadoss wreaking major havoc on the medical establishment by messing with AIIMS etc. why? why is he acting like a rustic buffoon, reminding one of raj narayan et al? dayanidhi maran is busy forcing companies in IT to invest in chennai. and baalu is attempting to destroy the vizhinjam port. if these guys really want to secede and form a tamil nation, we should gladly put them on a boat and ship them to the LTTE, gift-wrapped.

'dravidians' are utter maniacs.

i love san's idea of a 'dravidian' homeland in baluchistan. there have been other proposals to create a 'dravidian' homeland in the arctic, but baluchistan sounds good.

let the LTTE fight it out with the ISI. they deserve each other. yeah, go, brahui. brahui is practically tamil (i assert, and shall prove it so by repeated assertion!) so LTTE-Baluchi zindabad!

the pakis are a little scared of this connection. the LTTE are pretty smart operators, and if they hook up with the Baluch, they will make life hell for the pakistanis and the chinese. this is an outcome to be welcomed. the appointment of a pakistani air force general as adviser to the sri lankan government is a heaven-sent opportunity for turning the LTTE against the ISI and discreetly giving them funds to wreck gwadar. after all, the LTTE has previously also had trouble with the chinese-supported JVP in sri lanka.

let us keep vaiko and baalu and ramadoss busy with LTTE-Baluch insurrection plans, and that will keep them out of other mischief.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Re: An obsession with opulence

Here is the lowdown. If one is a jewellery exporter, don't spill the uncut diamonds. Priyanka and her son who was saluted by Hon'ble MMS may need them without frisking by airport security.
 

One has to use a variety of spellings to get to this: Vadra, Wadhera, Vadhera…

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Vadra

 

Robert Vadra (also spelled Wadhera) son of Rajinder (a Punjabi) and Maureen Vadra (a European Christian). Robert grew up largely influenced by his mother, and is a baptized Catholic. Robert, a worker in a garage, married Priyanka Gandhi, the daughter of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi on February 18, 1998. It was reported that the Sacred Heart Cathedral at Delhi did not permit a Christian marriage [citation needed] since Priyanka was not baptized[ citation needed], they were married in a Hindu ceremony. He converted to Hinduism at this time.[ citation needed] They have two children.

He had one brother Richard Vadra who was found dead in mysterious circumstances in September 2003 at his Vasant Vihar residence, and his sister Michelle died in a car accident in 2001.

Robert's family belongs to Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh . Robert's father Rajinder has claimed to be a supporter of the Congress Party, however Rajinder's older brother Om Prakash had donated his property to a trust in Moradabad, some members of which are affiliated with RSS.

Luxuries

He, alongwith other V VIPs like HH the Dalai Lama and the Chief Justice of India, has been exempted from frisking at airports though he has also carried a pistol to the Indian Parliament. [1] The list of such V VIPs was compiled and forwarded to the concerned authorities by the government led by his mother-in-law Sonia Gandhi (Edvige Antonia Albina Maino). Others on the list include the President, the Prime Minister, former PMs and presidents and SPG protectees. [2] Even the Service Chiefs (of the Army,Navy,Airforce Staff) and the Chief Justice of India do not enjoy such luxuries. The exemption for the Dalai Lama too has been questioned.

He has been allotted a plush Government bungalow in Lutyens' Delhi which is a display of shameless nepotism.

[ edit]

External links

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020108/nation.htm#15

http://ia.rediff.com/news/feb/19wed.htm

The Rediff Interview with Rajinder Vadra

                                                                                                         This Indian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it

 

Excerpts from http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/interview/0,9754,612444,00.html "We're not underdogs"

TIME: Priyanka, are you getting into politics too?
Priyanka Vadra: I'm quite happy doing what I'm doing. Looking after women's programs and health programs and education programs in Amethi. I'm happy doing that kind of thing.

She too is dragged out into the crowd.

TIME: [To Robert Vadra, Priyanka's husband] do you ever get used to this?
Robert Vadra: It's love, it's unconditional love.

Capt. Satish Sharma [friend of Rajiv Gandhi, who is driving today]: I worked with Rahul's dad, and I've never seen the sort of response Rahul gets from the crowd. Never.

TIME: Don't you need to get away from this sometimes?
Robert Vadra: It can get a bit much. I mean, it's good, it's love, but sometimes when people come up in the street and ask for autographs...

TIME: Where do you go?
Robert Vadra: Out of India. Phuket. Plus I travel for business, so my family comes out to me sometimes.

See Robert Vadra, jewellery exporter marrying Priyanka.

http://www.rediff.com/news/feb/19wed.htm

 

 

No security checks: After Dalai Lama, Robert Vadra only one named in VIP list

Author: Sourav Sanyal
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: November 13, 2005
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=81873&headline=No~security~checks~at~airports~for~Sonia's~Son-in-law

So far, Nobel Laureate, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, is the only "individual" named in the list of "VVIPs/VIPs" who don't have to go through a security check at domestic airports across the country.

Now there is a new name to that list: Shri Robert Vadra.

Son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Vadra's name was added to the list on September 28 in a circular issued nationwide by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The list mentions that Vadra is exempted from security checks "while travelling with SPG (Special Protection Group) protectees."

As husband of Priyanka Gandhi, who is an SPG protectee like her mother and brother Rahul, Vadra does get SPG protection when he travels with either of them. But no other spouse or family member of any SPG protectee has been so named in the list. Vadra is the 23rd entry in the list, the other 22 identify positions and categories including President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, former PMs, Speaker, CJI, Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, CMs, Ambassadors and all SPG protectees.

Why is he the only spouse named in the list? BCAS Commissioner S R Mehra declined to comment despite a faxed questionnaire sent five days ago.

On November 10, when The Sunday Express contacted his office, Deputy Commissioner R D Gupta said: "We have no official reply. BCAS just took out the order as advised by the Ministry. Please talk to MCA Under Secretary L Haokip for clarification," he said. When contacted by this newspaper Haokip refused to comment.

http://www.hvk.org/articles/1105/103.html

 

Wednesday, August 30, 2006       

 

Nation

 

                                                                            

No security checks for VIP Robert Vadra

 

Sourav Sanyal

 

New Delhi, November 12: So far, Nobel Laureate, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, is the only "individual" named in the list of "VVIPs/VIPs" who don't have to go through a security check at domestic airports across the country.

Now there is a new name to that list: Shri Robert Vadra.

Son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Vadra's name was added to the list on September 28 in a circular issued nationwide by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The list mentions that Vadra is exempted from security checks "while travelling with SPG (Special Protection Group) protectees."

As husband of Priyanka Gandhi, who is an SPG protectee like her mother and brother Rahul, Vadra does get SPG protection when he travels with either of them. But no other spouse or family member of any SPG protectee has been so named in the list. Vadra is the 23rd entry in the list, the other 22 identify positions and categories including President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, former PMs, Speaker, CJI, Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, CMs, Ambassadors and all SPG protectees.

Why is he the only spouse named in the list? BCAS Commissioner S R Mehra declined to comment despite a faxed questionnaire sent five days ago.

On November 10, when The Sunday Express contacted his office, Deputy Commissioner R D Gupta said: "We have no official reply. BCAS just took out the order as advised by the Ministry. Please talk to MCA Under Secretary L Haokip for clarification," he said. When contacted by this newspaper Haokip refused to comment.                                                                             

URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=58245

 



 
On 8/30/06, Rajeev Srinivasan <rajeev.srinivasan@gmail.com> wrote:
aug 29th, 2006

all well and good for a pakistani to laud india's 'simplicity'. of course, the ministerial motorcades are a fact of life in india, too, and so are the high-handed 'sideys' of vvips shoving people around.

but what takes the cake is this: there are a few people who are exempt from security checks at airports. i happened to see this list posted at an airport some time ago, and it astonished me.

1. president
2. prime minister
3. supreme court chief justice
4. other high officers
....
14. robert vadhera

can you imagine, robert vadhera is the *only* person who is named by name in this list. all others have this facility by virtue of their position. but robert vadhera is exempt.

and who is robert vadhera? a nonentity, who just happens to have married into the dynasty. in case you were wondering who he is, he is married to priyanka bianca maino gandhi.

i wonder if someone can explain this bit of bizarreness to me.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar

 
 
 An obsession with opulence
Kamila Hyat

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor

There was an astonishing piece of news recently from India. No, the small news item, buried within the inner columns of most newspapers, did not concern miraculously sweetened sea water, or any other such event. The item reported on the fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's brother had arrived at his official residence in a smoke-belching New Delhi rickshaw, and unassumingly told security men on duty at the gates that he wished to see his brother.

... deleted

Re: An obsession with opulence

Bizarre and also shocking, Rajeev. What if a private citizen, Robert Vadhera carried a pistol? He is not accountable to anyone under the Constitution. Robert Vadhera is not a constitutional office. Our journalists have not realised that we are in a state of emergency -- undeclared. Anything goes, if it is related to 10 Janpath. Vande mataram.
 
Read on...k
 
Pistol seized from former Union minister at Chennai

Press Trust of India

Chennai, August 30, 2006
A pistol was recovered from former Civil Aviation Minister CM Ibrahim before he boarded a flight to Bangalore from Chennai, airport sources said in Chennai on Tuesday.

Ibrahim had come to the airport to board a Kingfisher Airlines flight scheduled to leave at 9:45 pm on Tuesday night, the sources said.

The former minister was allowed to proceed on his journey, although the pistol was seized. The sources said Ibrahim has been asked to produce the licence for the weapon before he can reclaim it. Ibrahim had been the Civil Aviation Minister in the Devegowda ministry.

http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_1781350,000600010002.htm

 
On 8/30/06, Rajeev Srinivasan <rajeev.srinivasan@gmail.com> wrote:
aug 29th, 2006

all well and good for a pakistani to laud india's 'simplicity'. of course, the ministerial motorcades are a fact of life in india, too, and so are the high-handed 'sideys' of vvips shoving people around.

but what takes the cake is this: there are a few people who are exempt from security checks at airports. i happened to see this list posted at an airport some time ago, and it astonished me.

1. president
2. prime minister
3. supreme court chief justice
4. other high officers
....
14. robert vadhera

can you imagine, robert vadhera is the *only* person who is named by name in this list. all others have this facility by virtue of their position. but robert vadhera is exempt.

and who is robert vadhera? a nonentity, who just happens to have married into the dynasty. in case you were wondering who he is, he is married to priyanka bianca maino gandhi.

i wonder if someone can explain this bit of bizarreness to me.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar

 
 
 An obsession with opulence
Kamila Hyat

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor

There was an astonishing piece of news recently from India. No, the small news item, buried within the inner columns of most newspapers, did not concern miraculously sweetened sea water, or any other such event. The item reported on the fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's brother had arrived at his official residence in a smoke-belching New Delhi rickshaw, and unassumingly told security men on duty at the gates that he wished to see his brother.

... deleted

Balochistan United Front

aug 29th, 2006

this was sent to me by girish, just before the assassination of the bugti chief.

the assassination using bunker-buster bombs is comparable to the assassination of mujibur rehman. and yet, no newspaper in india has raised its voice. after all, it's okay if mohammedans are killed by musharraf; then they are not victims. after all, musharraf is "our guy", since the lefties have an especially soft corner for him and his saudi-supplied money.

for comparison's sake, how would the indian newspapers have covered it if mufti mohammed sayeed and his daughter mahbooba had been murdered by the central government? after all, those people are very clearly secessionist and speak of 'indian occupation' and their love for the 'boys with guns' is legendary. sardar bugti was along the same lines a leader of his people and a secessionist.

the double standards of the indian media are endemic. the only time they worry about dead mohammedans if they are killed by non-mohammedans.
oh, i forgot, it's okay if chinese kill mohammedans too (eg. the uighurs).

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Girish K

The coming together of Baloch of three nations - the beginning of the end of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

http://www.balochfront.org/
(check the English version)

http://gedrosia.blogspot.com/2006/08/political-parties-or-groups-of.html



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an estimate of colonial loot

aug 29th, 2006

from everybody's favorite unimpeachable leftist source, the EPW:

http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2002&leaf=06&filename=4555&filetype=html

upa, the savior of india

aug 29, 2006

thanks to ad

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ad

A flurry of news items from today's Indian Express showing how the UPA sarkar is destroying india.

Of course, Manmohan is still upright, highly capable and a man of total integrity!

Next step for India: Balkanisation and Sharia
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=73105
Deoband's latest fatwa: Muslims can't insure

fatwa against insurance LUCKNOW, AUGUST 29: The Darul Uloom of Deoband, the supreme body of the majority Sunnis, has declared life insurance as illegal but prominent Shia leaders have opposed the decree.

UPA = United Poverty Alliance
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/11674.html
Key infrastructure projects crippled by delay, admits Govt
Kandula Subramaniam

Who's worse: the Naxals or the militants
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/11675.html
More securitymen killed by Naxals than by J&K militants: Centre, states discuss today
Raman Kirpal

NEW DELHI, AUGUST 29:Chief Secretaries and Director Generals of Police of 13 Naxalite-affected states are reaching New Delhi tomorrow for a meeting with Union Home Secretary V K Duggal to assess how states have fared in pooling intelligence on Naxal movement and the progress made in security operations in the last three months.


An obsession with opulence

aug 29th, 2006

all well and good for a pakistani to laud india's 'simplicity'. of course, the ministerial motorcades are a fact of life in india, too, and so are the high-handed 'sideys' of vvips shoving people around.

but what takes the cake is this: there are a few people who are exempt from security checks at airports. i happened to see this list posted at an airport some time ago, and it astonished me.

1. president
2. prime minister
3. supreme court chief justice
4. other high officers
....
14. robert vadhera

can you imagine, robert vadhera is the *only* person who is named by name in this list. all others have this facility by virtue of their position. but robert vadhera is exempt.

and who is robert vadhera? a nonentity, who just happens to have married into the dynasty. in case you were wondering who he is, he is married to priyanka bianca maino gandhi.

i wonder if someone can explain this bit of bizarreness to me.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar

 
 
 An obsession with opulence
Kamila Hyat

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor

There was an astonishing piece of news recently from India. No, the small news item, buried within the inner columns of most newspapers, did not concern miraculously sweetened sea water, or any other such event. The item reported on the fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's brother had arrived at his official residence in a smoke-belching New Delhi rickshaw, and unassumingly told security men on duty at the gates that he wished to see his brother.

... deleted

Intersting read-demograhic implosion of europe

aug 29th, 2006

we discussed this article here when it first came out, but it is quite timely still. there is a new cottage-industry in predicting demographic disaster for white people and christism. which of course is why they are desperately trying to convert lots of brown people to christism.

just like the map-making exercise for mohammedanism that the US armed forces journal published, there is clearly another map-making exercise for india in progress.

northeast = east christiststan
travancore-cochin = south christistan
chota nagpur/jharkand = central christistan

this, in fact, was the christiststan that the missionaries proposed at partition time. they wanted a christist nation along with the 'nation of the pure' pakistan.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anand

Hi Rajeev,
I thought this was a good article on the demographic
implosion of Europe and similar implosion of the blue
states in the US. Which means that you can pretty
expect the demise of the Atlanticist lobby in about a
decade.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007760

Regards
Anand.

__________________________________________________
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Indians head home in 'brain gain'

aug 29th, 2006

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar

Indians head home in 'brain gain'
By John Sudworth
BBC News, Delhi

For much of the last century India suffered a "brain drain". Generations of Indians set off in search of a better life in other countries. Today, an estimated 25 million people of Indian origin live overseas. But could the tide be turning?
 
"My dad was against me moving back to India," Manish Amin tells me in his new flat in Delhi where he lives with his wife and two sons.
 
Three decades ago Manish's parents moved from India to the UK. He has just moved back.
 
"My dad's idea was that everyone wants to get away from India", Manish says. "But now he's seen the big high rise flats, the big shopping malls, even he's amazed. You get Marks and Spencer, Debenhams, everything's here now."
 
....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/5290494.stm

Published: 2006/08/27 12:41:26 GMT

© BBC MMVI


MF Hussain paintings campaigns

aug 29th, 2006

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: R
Date: Aug 27, 2006 2:00 PM
Subject: MF Hussain paintings campaigns
To:

Hi Rajeev,

Could you please give some prominence to this in your blog? 'Lord' Meghnad Desai and other people are trying to reinstate the obnoxious exhibition of Hussain's paintings in the Asia House, London.

http://www.hindujagruti.org/petition/ukprotest.php

Thanks

Deccan Herald Sanskrit special Sunday Supplement

aug 29, 2006

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: arun <drisya@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 27, 2006 8:47 AM
Subject: Deccan Herald Sanskrit special Sunday Supplement
To: usaka@yahoogroups.com

Monday, August 28, 2006

India's faltering education system

aug 28th, 2006

yet another 'expert' speaketh.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar <shah >
Date: Aug 28, 2006 9:15 AM
Subject: India's faltering education system
To: Rajeev Srinivasan <rajeev>

I thought it was a universal truth that teachers always get less money but better tenure (and usually gold-plated pension plans) than workers in the private sector!
 
India's faltering education system
 

 

By Kaushik Basu
Professor of economics, Cornell University

On the one hand, India's higher education system is widely acclaimed.
With Indian managers and consultants crowding investment banks, Indian computer scientists sighted in Silicon Valley with the abundance of wildebeests in an African safari and IIT-trained engineers not only working all over the world but appearing in Dilbert cartoons, there seems to be good reason for this.
 
Yet, over these last two months that I spent in India I came across repeated warnings from prominent personalities associated with Indian academe.
For instance, the scientist CNR Rao, the sociologist Andre Beteille and, most recently in a lecture in Calcutta, Mr Narayana Murthy of Infosys, who is also chairman of the board of directors of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, have all warned about India's faltering higher education system.
 
... deleted

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4793311.stm

Published: 2006/08/18 15:24:05 GMT

� BBC MMVI


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CPM takes its nautanki to the next level -- anti US play in pakistan

aug 28th, 2006

used to be they would have indian women dancing for mohammedans. under duress. conquered women.

now we have indian men marxists dancing for mohammedans. willingly. conquered men.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ad
Date: Aug 28, 2006 10:35 AM
Subject: CPM takes its nautanki to the next level -- anti US play in pakistan
To:

Rajeev

Something for entertainment

Seems Messrs Karat and Yechury want to demonstrate to the pakis how
the american troops are like the nazis.

This from a bunch of stalinists who have killed more of their own in
india and kashmir than the pakis!

Of course, its indian taxpayer money; perhaps they even travel
business class (ironic, is'nt it.. a commie in business class)


Ad


http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=198586

Stage set for CPM-backed anti-US play in Pakistan
Script for Operation Flush cleared by state party headquarters; UPA
govt to foot troupe's travel bill
Bidyut Roy

Kolkata, August 26: An anti-US play will be staged by the Communist
Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in Pakistan, with travel sponsored by
the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre headed
by Manmohan Singh.

As they say, all's fair in love and war. So, Prakash Karat is getting
the UPA government to foot the travel bill for a troupe of the Indian
People's Theatre Association (IPTA), scheduled to visit Pakistan in
November. Never mind the fact that Karat loses no opportunity to
stridently criticise the same government at other times. The IPTA's
West Bengal chapter is patronised by state CPI(M) leaders.

Advertisement
The play deals with the atrocities perpetrated by US forces in Iraq's
infamous Abu Ghraib prison. The fact that American forces treated the
Iraqi detainees inhumanly has been corroborated by an internal
inquiry. The report covered the period from October to December 2003.

The IPTA's "docu theatre", titled Operation Flush, has been scripted
by Sangram Guha and directed by Samudra Guha — two brothers who are
CPI(M) members. The play, whose script was cleared by the CPI(M)'s
State secretariat, was first staged in July 2004, when Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee attended the premiere show. Since then, it has
often been staged at the party's cultural events.

Now, it is being adapted in Urdu in order to cater to the Pakistani
audience, which is expected to comprise Leftists and representatives
from 28 countries. The Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop in Lahore is hosting
the tour of Pakistan, from November 9-26 this year, and will bear all
costs there.

"We had sent three plays to Rafi Peer Theatre, out of which they
selected Operation Flush," said the playwright, Sangram Guha. He
confirmed that the Centre's Indian Council for Cultural Relations
(ICCR) had agreed to foot the troupe's travel expenses, estimated to
touch Rs 2.85 lakh.

"We are now talking to the Ministry of External Affairs for the
required clearances," he added. The theatre troupe will be accompanied
by 18 others, of whom seven are CPI(M) members.

The state CPI(M)'s Alimuddin Street headquarters had approved the
script, which relies extensively on reports published in western media
like the UK's The Guardian, The Daily Mirror and America's The New
Yorker, as well as the Al Jazeera website.

According to reports, the story revolves around the trial of an US
Army officer on charges of rape, torture and murder of prisoners. The
playwright has used the trial proceedings to draw comparisons between
the US Army and Hitler's Nazis.



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