Sunday, October 31, 2010

today is Sardar Patel JANMA DIWAS

oct 31st, 2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sanjeevnayyar
Date: Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 1:47 PM
Subject: today is Sardar Patel JANMA DIWAS
To: Sanjeev Nayyar 

Namaskar Mitra,
 
It is because of Sardar Vallabhai Patel that over 300 Princely States merged to become what is India today. It was he who said the Somnath Temple should be rebuilt after Independence. Today-
 
 
2. Read excerpts from a book titled 'Patel - A Life' by Rajmohan Gandhi. http://www.esamskriti.com:80/essay-chapters/Life-of-Sardar-Patel--1.aspx. Book is o/s.
 
Sardar was against taking the Kashmir issue to the United Nations. Now suppose GOI had allowed the Indian Army to regain the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, the history of the last 63 years would have been very different.
 
From Sardar Patel I have learnt that brave and strong people do not have to shout from the roof top what they are. It is their karmas that speak! Born Vallabhai Patel it was his actions that got him the name 'Sardar' and then 'The Iron Man of India'.
 
With Prem
Sanjeev Nayyar
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businessline: Why do politicians want to cling to power at ANY cost?

oct 31st, 2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: A P 
Subject: Why do politicians want to cling to power at ANY cost?
To:


a very incisive and informative column on the cost of corruption in a typical state govt.
 
pl take a careful look at the tables
 
 

Government, a lucrative business VIVEK KULKARNI

A government the size of Karnataka should yield Rs 3,000 crore a year, through kickbacks. The cost of purchasing legislators being about the same, the payback is swift and fabulous. No wonder, politicians are lethal businessmen.



 

The recent events in Karnataka showed how easy it is to take over or destabilise a government. MLAs are available for sale for Rs 25 crore each. They are ever willing to travel with you anywhere, as long it is a five-star resort. Have they visited their constituency lately?

Having seen the government as an IAS officer and worked on three State budgets quite closely, I have worked out how profitable the Government can be for any investor.

While the Tata-Corus deal was over Rs 36,000 crore, they could have acquired the Government of Karnataka for just Rs 2,825 crore by buying 113 MLAs. Another Rs 1,000 crore might have had to be doled out to mid-term dissidents and other contingency expenses. For such investment, the returns from bribes are fabulous. Even Warren Buffet cannot match it.

How do politicians make money? Most States usually spend substantial portion of their budgets on irrigation, power and roads. Table 1 summarises the budget for major departments in Karnataka. They release crores to the district and village level panchayats for schemes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Finally, the real goldmine is the slew of government positions that are almost auctioned in a transfer game.

Table 2 summarises the sitting ducks that can be targeted for transfer. How else can you explain the fact that the Chief Minister of Karnataka retains most of the transfer powers, instead of delegating them to the respective heads of department?

IRRIGATION AND POWER

Consider irrigation projects. On the one hand, politicians get all the accolades for rural development. They also get to collect 15-25 per cent on all capital works. Most contractors are happy to shell out speed money. Most of these projects usually do not attract any undue press coverage, like the Commonwealth Games did.

Roads are yet another treasure-chest. The smaller village roads can sometimes yield 90 per cent margins. Some village roads are not really built at all — rather, some red soil is spread around to close a few potholes, with the hope that the rains won't wash them away till inspection. If you really lay the road properly, the material cost goes up. Politicians are lucky that NGOs and self-styled activists at the Central level prescribe almost zero material costs and a higher proportion of labour.

Power sector subsidies often equal the State's fiscal deficits. The subsidies are actually meant for poor farmers, who seldom get electricity for more than six hours a day. But power theft by politicians' favourites is often included in the farm sector's T&D losses.

Next, the purchase of substandard transformers and replacing them is a money spinner. The vendors often co-operate to show false replacement. Transformer replacement in Karnataka is remarkably high. Most power purchase files often go up all the way to the Minister, even though the Department has several talented officers.

LAND DEALS

Politicians love land. The Bangalore Development Authority has notified land acquisitions for thousands of acres over the last two decades. It could have paid the market price and taken possession. However, it did not have the money and has abandoned all those projects.

The area is now well-developed and worth crores. The land-owners cannot sell it without de-notification.

When the government found that some were selling, they came out with the Karnataka Land Transfer Restriction Act, 1991, to declare such sales a criminal offence. No wonder that, for the last many years, while all the cities in the State have been with one minister, Bangalore always stays with the Chief Minister.

Construction permits and land registration are yet another big source of money. About 12 million sq ft of new concrete is built in Bangalore alone, every year. Karnataka has over 18 cities where real estate is booming.

While the stamp duty and registration charges could be 7.5 per cent, the bribes can be at least 1 per cent. The Government collects over Rs 3,500 crore in official revenues. This implies that bribes could be close to Rs 500 crore.

Politicians often use the local language excuse and stipulate the vernacular medium of instruction for all new schools. At the same time, they allow the managements to run English medium schools, which most parents demand. The threat of disqualification after inspections means endless money every year from private school managements.

The Gandhian philosophy on prohibition comes in handy to ban new bar licences. Those who want licences can only get it from the old licencees at a huge premium. Of course, they must share a bit with the Excise Department.

This technique is not unique to Karnataka. Many European countries, such as Greece, are better at it in other sectors.

TRANSFER GAMES

Transfer of officials is a big business. Some, like teachers, are a low-margin-high-volume game. Over a third of three lakh teachers can be transferred every year, but cannot fetch more than Rs 10,000 each. Just a few forest officials in the Bellary mining area can yield a crore. PWD engineers and commercial tax officials are all-time favourites and can also fetch sums in crores.

A lowly, yet very powerful official in the government, is the accounts superintendent, who writes government cheques and earns just Rs 15,000 a month, but whose transfer is usually worth a crore. Many of them manage recommendations from five to eight MLAs at the time of transfer.

Food for the poor is money for politicians. Even though the Planning Commission claims that just 30 per cent of the population is below the poverty line, many States show more than 100 per cent. More cards mean more ration money that can be swindled. Ration-shops are doled out to village level political functionaries. I am not sure if the UID program will make any dent in these practices.

The problem with our poverty schemes is not technology, nor the problem of identifying the poor, but the lack of political will to tackle corruption. The Right to Food programme will mean more money available for illegal distribution.

Conservative estimates show that, if all possibilities are implemented, a State government the size of Karnataka should yield Rs 3,000 crore per year. Compared to the investment, the payback is just above one year. Considering five-year cash flows, and one mid-term destabilisation costing Rs 1,000 crore, the IRR works out to 175 per cent. Politicians have become lethal businessmen.

(The author is a former IT Secretary, Government of Karnataka, and Founder Managing Director, Brickwork Ratings. blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu Business Line


rajeev oped in rediff.com on the likely 'november surprise' from obama's visit to india

oct 30th, 2010


The November Surprise

 

Rajeev Srinivasan on why the Obama visit is likely to be a disaster for India

 

Bitter experience has convinced me to be wary of dignitaries' state visits – usually no good comes of them. I was terrified that Manmohan Singh's so-called First State Visit  would culminate in something negative. Fortunately nothing much happened. Now I am extremely worried that Barack Obama's visit to India in November is likely to end up in a major setback for India's national interests.

 

There is a tradition of 'October surprises' in the US: just before the biennial November elections, one of the parties (usually the incumbent) is accused of coming up with some ruse – often a crisis – that enables it to come out smelling of roses, thus swaying public opinion in its favor, and thereby winning the elections.

 

This year, indications are that Obama and the Democrats will lose their majority in the House of Representatives (the lower house) and possibly in the Senate (the upper house) as well. It appears there is no 'October surprise' this time. Just in time for his India visit, Obama will be seen as a lame-duck with little chance of getting his agenda through a hostile US Congress (the parliament).

 ... deleted

Saturday, October 30, 2010

silicon valley news: job losses bite, intel builds chip plant in vietnam, SAP oracle saga

oct 29th, 2010

so, obama, why didn't the intel chip plant come to india? fine words are very nice, but how about some action that's useful to india?

RajeevSrinivasa 
silicon valley: 40% of households hit by job loss. 
http://bit.ly/...
 meanwhile, intel opens chip plant in vietnam.
http://bit.ly/...
RajeevSrinivasa 
silicon valley spy vs. spy: SAP admits industrial espionage/theft of oracle intellectual property.
http://bit.ly/...

Mr Obama, do you have real business to talk with us? - DNA / R Vaidyanathan / Tuesday, October 26, 2010 3:10 IST

oct 29th, 2010

the good professor lays it out like it is.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: HARAN BR


http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/comment_mr-obama-do-you-have-real-business-to-talk-with-us_1457914#comments


 Mr Obama, do you have real business to talk with us?


DNA / R Vaidyanathan / Tuesday, October 26, 2010 3:10 IST



The next two weeks will be full of atmospherics and inanities linked to the visit of US president Barack Obama. Indians are known to derive satisfaction from symbolism rather than substance. When Diwali was supposedly celebrated by George Bush's White House — a celebration in which the US president did not participate — we went into raptures. When Rajan Zed of Nevada was called to chant Vedic hymns at a Congressional opening, we were ecstatic. Similarly, when Obama visits India next month, we will drool over Michelle buying Kanjeevaram sarees or Obama savouring a paratha at a Delhi dhaba — or some such meaningless events. There is a move to take Michelle to the Red Light areas of Mumbai to get a feel of "inclusive" growth. Imagine Gursharan Kaur being paraded in Soho in London as part of her itinerary. Sikhs are pleading with Obama to visit the Golden Temple, even if he merely wears a baseball cap to cover his head.

... deleted

TOI avers that govt. funds are the personal property of 'kingini kuttans'

oct 29th, 2010

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


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Modi-used-UPA-funds-conned-Congress-/articleshow/6806286.cms

Modi used UPA funds, conned Congress

"Chief minister Narendra Modi used a whopping Rs 4,700 crore to distribute doles in a little more than six months — between December 2009 and August 2010 — to rural and semi-urban poor. All this money for the doles came from the Government of India! Even the schemes for which the doles were given out were Central programmes."
****************************************************************************************
We love doling out "our" funds - that's our birthright.
How dare a provincial chief minister do that with "our" funds?
How stupid of citizens to think that these are actually "their" tax monies, presumably at work!  
 
 




ramakrishna matham: Bangalore Book Festival 2010

nov 29th, 2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ulsoor Math-gmail


Dear Friends,

Swami Vivekananda had a great vision for the youth of our country. With a clear philosophy of life along with proper understanding of Values and Culture, youth can be developed into beacon lights and can be involved in Nation Building Activities.

As a part of Value Education Programme, our Math is participating in various book fairs wherein our publications are exhibited and ideas regarding the "Value Education" are counselled.

In order to introduce the Great Teachings of Swami Vivekananda,  to the youth, our Math  distributes a complementary book "Vivekananda - His Call to the Nation" to the youth  who visit these fairs.

This year also our Math is going to participate in the Annual Bangalore Book festival 2010 to be held from 12th to 21st November at Vishala Vihar, Palace Grounds,  Bangalore.
 
Those who are stationed in Bangalore are cordially invited to visit the stall.  About 2 lakh people will be attending this Book Festival. We are planning to give the complimentary books to about 25,000 youth.

We are cordially inviting you  to render your valuable service to this noble cause by volunteering and by donating generously.

For online donation, please click below link
http://www.ramakrishnamath.in/pages/q_and_a/donation.htm

Those who are staying in Bangalore and willing to volunteer can kindly send us the confirmation e-mail by mentioning the date and time of their volunteering in the Book Fair.


You can go through the moments of the previous book fairs by clicking the below link
http://picasaweb.google.com/rkmathulsoor/BookFairs#slideshow/5494827126143778338

With best wishes,

Yours in service,
Swami Veetabhayananda
Adhyaksha
-----------------------------------------
Ramakrishna Math,
Swami Vivekananda Road,
Ulsoor, Bangalore
560 008
Phone: +91-80-2536 7878 /
           +91-9902244822
URL:
www.ramakrishnamath.in
Email: yuvajagrati@gmail.com
               rkmathulsoor@gmail.com

Friday, October 29, 2010

taqiya and kitman in action in the maldives

oct 29th, 2010

the whole gang is in on this charade -- nobody misses a beat. therefore they must have done this many times before, it seems well practiced.

this is a metaphor for what the pakistanis are doing to the americans. 

a lot of maldivians hang around trivandrum allegedly for medical purposes. i have always thought them to be particularly strange and off-putting. so close to india, but so far off in culture. they look vaguely indian, but you can tell them by their clothes.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sri 


Foreign couple mocked as "infidels" and "swine" throughout resort's
'wedding ceremony'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3anLy3Hz9I


Maldives arrest marriage celebrant after 'hate' ceremony

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/travel-news/maldives-arrest-marriage-celebrant-after-hate-ceremony-20101029-1777r.html

October 29, 2010
The Maldives express 'shock and disgust' over a video of a couple
being mocked and insulted by a celebrant during a ceremony at a luxury
hotel.

Police in the Maldives have arrested a marriage celebrant who abused a
foreign couple as "swine" and "infidels" during a luxury ceremony in
the holiday paradise, an official said today.

Maldivian police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam said the celebrant, who
conducted the ceremony in the local language at an upmarket resort
fringed by white sand and turquoise water, had been arrested with
another hotel employee on Thursday.

A video of the ceremony, during which the hapless couple are taunted
and subjected to a series of insulting and religious-tinged abuse, was
posted on YouTube and has sparked fears for the country's
tourism-dependent economy.

... deleted

guha and genocide suzie -- now that's a mighty fine little hissy-fit

oct 29th, 2010

guha, along with other writers of drivel like william dalrymple and romila thapar, will go down in history as the most banal of sarkari his-masters-voices.

good to see that guha has a pet peeve against that other third-rate writer and plagiarist, the soon-to-be-sainted genocide suzie.

thank you for the light entertainment, bangalore mirror!

RajeevSrinivasa 
and following up, guha peddles his new book and admits both he and genocide suzie are 'inconsequential'. amen to that. 
http://bit.ly/...
RajeevSrinivasa 
good to see two nehruvian stalinist 'writers' at each other's throats, telling some home truths about each other. 
http://bit.ly/...

swapan dasgupta on the perversion of history in india

oct 29th, 2010

Trivandrum: Nov 1 Seminar on Kashmir

oct 29th, 2010

see the attached pdf files for details. 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rajesh 


All are welcome to attend on a national seminar,

Venue: Samakrithi Bhavan,TVM. Nov: 1st 2010





Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Saturday, October 23, 2010

The New Bin Laden

46-year old Ilyas Kashmiri is the new top mastermind of terror, according to Newsweek. Now a senior member of AlQaeda, he's responsible for plotting attacks in India, Europe and the USA.

Juan Williams Fires Back

After being abruptly fired from NPR for confessing his feelings about seeing people wearing Muslim garb on airplanes, Juan Williams is firing back:



NPR is now taking a withering barrage of criticism over its actions, which clearly showed their overzealous left-wing bias. Others with a more leftist-Atlanticist persuasion are however continuing to pump money into NPR and affiliated NGOs.

Friday, October 22, 2010

NPR's Islamomania & Thought Police





Veteran civil rights journalist-commentator Juan Williams has been fired from his position at NPR because of his frank admission (made on Fox News) on how he gets worried every time he's on a plane and sees people in overtly Muslim garb boarding. There has been a lot of justifiable outrage over the sacking of Williams just for expressing his feelings while appearing on another news network. Here's my comment posted below the article:
NPR is trying to stifle people from expressing their opinions. It’s not Juan Williams’ credibility that has been undermined, it’s NPR’s credibility that has been undermined by its own ill-thought actions. The problem doesn’t come from people like Juan Williams, it comes from NPR and their thought-police, which have their own curiously leftist slant. Had Juan Williams authored a Maplethorpe-style art exhibit featuring urine-soaked crucifixes, then he’d have no problems getting a paycheque from any US govt agency, whether NPR or the NEA. But he made the mistake of expressing his heartfelt apprehensions about a group aligned with the Left, and that means that all state-funded agencies have to bar their doors to him.






More on this from WSJ.

Just as a footnote - I'm reminded of my own recent experience on Bharat Rakshak Forum, which styles itself as India's leading national defense discussion site, when they promptly banned me after I expressed my non-preference over A R Rahman's music and his conversion to Islam.

Hindu assaulted in Mangalore for befriending Mohammedan girl

http://www.hindu.com/2010/10/22/stories/2010102250270500.htm

Apparently, only Mohammedan males are allowed to engage in love (lust) Jihad in Mangalore pubs. If anyone opposes them, all hell breaks loose.

In this instance, a Hindu man merely befriended his female Mohammedan neighbour and was beaten up by the "Religion of Peace" stormtroopers.

And, ironically ended up being arrested by the police - this in "fascist", "communal" BJP ruled Karnataka!!!!

Where is Renuka Chowdhary now? Where is the Pink chaddi (knickers) brigade, incandescent with rage about moral policing, vigilantism etc? Apparently, all those things are not applicable when the victim is a Hindu.
Those uppity Hindus need to be shown their place you see.


Thursday, October 21, 2010

Khoslanomics and Social Arbitrage

Jason Saul of Forbes describes Vinod Khosla as a “social arbitrageur” - someone who wants to use market forces to alleviate social problems like poverty. It's even claimed that Khosla's approach could outperform charitable NGO's, something which could see these socially parasitic lobbies shown the door.

Uncle Sam & Pak: 'Making Love to a Cactus'

David Rothkopf of Foreign Policy Journal describes US engagement with Pakistan as 'making love to a cactus'. Well, it's upto the US not to become a prisoner of its own fetishes.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

"Secular" Indian caravan to Gaza

Psecs & Jihadis from India intending to travel to the Gaza strip in a caravan to "promote peace". What, haven't you folks done enough of that within India
itself?

I do wish these enablers and apologists for Jihad get blasted to smithereens by the Israeli Defense Forces. That would be a huge favour by Israel to the Indian people in time for the festive season.

Read the list of associated individuals and organizations.
A veritable who's who of Jihadi fifth columnists in India, including the bearded scumbag -
Sandeep Pandey, of ASHA.

Yet another reason to think a million times before donating a single penny to shady organizations like ASHA. You never know where that money will end up getting used!

http://www.milligazette.com/news/112-in-solidarity-for-palestine-asian-activists-announce-caravan-to-gaza




Shiv Sena demands ban on Burqa

http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/6773397.cms

The Shiv Sena has been wallowing in Marathi parochialism in the recent past.
Therefore, the demand for a ban on Black tents comes as a breath of fresh air.

Although, due to uncontrolled changes to the demographic character of large parts of the nation, and perversion of the political parlance by the "secularists" - such a demand will unfortunately have rhetorical value only - like the Calcutta Quran petition demanding a ban on the book in India, 20 odd years ago.

In addition to the enslavement of
100 million citizens of India in oppressive black tents, unsuitable to the Indian climate and the inherent health risks, there are several legitimate security concerns with the Burqa, such as concealment of identity at voting booths, law courts and being a perfect stealth mechanism for criminal and terrorist elements.

Alas, the Shiv Sena's recent pre-occupations have undermined its credibility - although this is a perfectly valid and eminently reasonable concern, shared by millions of Indians.

In the near term, the Sainiks should expect an inquisition from the "mainstream" Indian media, i.e. the print tabloid rags such as the TOIlet paper and the electronic dhimmis such as the (N)ehru (D)ynasty TV. Surely, Burqa Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesia et al will fly into apoplectic , perhaps even orgiastic rage for
suggesting such an idea!!

The Shiv Sena still has potential
to emerge as the Geert Wilders party of India. It could begin by focusing its energies on the question of the estimated 2 million (20 lakh) lawless Bangladeshi Mohammedans present illegally in the Mumbai region alone.










Monday, October 18, 2010

Animal Sacrifice

This is the first time I've heard of Hindus sacrificing animals for a festival. I thought sacrificing goats was a Muslim thing, and I've always felt it to be distasteful. Where did this tradition originate from?

A TEXTBOOK CASE OF HOWLERS - Michel Danino

oct 17th, 2010

i couldn't open the link below, so i am attaching the entire message.

i am amazed the DMK textbooks do not also suggest that thomas converted tiruvalluvar, and that tirukkural is a christist scripture. 

i guess we must be thankful for small mercies.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: HARAN BR
Date: Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 8:38 AM
Subject: A TEXTBOOK CASE OF HOWLERS - Michel Danino
To:


http://epaper.expressbuzz.com/NE/NE/2010/10/18/index.shtml

 

A TEXTBOOK CASE OF HOWLERS




Michel Danino



Some parts of Class VI Social Science textbook legitimise certain theories that were outrightly rejected by experts or are accepted by just a few among them. At other places, legends and myths are passed off as scientific findings






AS a nation, we often take pride in our hist tory, yet in my decade-long interactions with Indian students and teachers, I have rarely found any in love with the " discipline. Rather, comments like "I hate history" or "History is so boring" sum up the general feeling.


You are likely to share it if you open the latest history textbook prescribed for Class VI in 2010­-11 by the Tamil Nadu government under its "common syllabus".


Let us begin with the Indus or Harappan civilization, Chapter 2. On a map, an important Harappan site, Kalibangan, is shown inside Pakistan instead of northern Rajasthan (has Pakistan encroached on Indian land?); another site, Rupar, is placed right on the international border, while it is close to t Chandigarh. The text informs us that "Harappa in Sindhi means `Buried City'," even though Harappa is in Punjab, not Sindh, and its etymology is unknown. Harappan cities were so sophisticated that they boasted "street lights"--certainly a world first! Another gem: "The terracotta planks discovered here were engraved with letters"--as a student of archaeology, I confess my ignorance of what a l "terracotta plank" might be; perhaps this is a garbled reference to Dholavira's famous a three-metre-long inscription, consisting of e crystalline material set in a long-vanished t wooden board. Curiously, Dholavira, one of i the five largest Harappan cities, and the second largest in India, figures nowhere. Apparently, our textbook writers rarely believe in updating their knowledge.


Among the five reasons given for the decline of this civilization, the first is nonsensical: "Wooden articles would have got destroyed by fire," as if that could have finished a whole civilization. The second is sheer fancy: "Ri valry because of the civil war." The fourth --"The Aryans would have destroyed these towns in order to succeed" (succeed whom or in what is unclear) -was rejected by archaeologists over 40 years ago, and so has the fifth: "The heap of bones discovered in Mohenjodaro is evidence of the invasion of the foreigners," especially as there is no "heap of bones" anywhere, only a few scattered skeletons which belong to different epochs. The third reason alone -a change in the course of the Indus -is among the accepted factors, but is poorly expressed and quite incomplete.


Let us turn to Chapter 4, "The Vedic Period", which opens with the arrival of the Aryans around 1500 BCE--a highly disputed colonial theory presented as hard fact. It adds piquant details: Aryan men, besides dhotis and shawls, wore turbans and had "bands on their foreheads", an awkward and wholly fictitious combination. The Congress (I) will be delighted to learn that among other gods, the Aryans worshipped "Indira" (instead of Indra; another is "Varna", instead of Varuna).


A table summarizes the "qualities of Dravidians and Aryans" in two neat columns of nine points, the first of which attributes to Dravidians "dark complexion, medium height, dark long hair", and to the Aryans "fair, tall and brown hair". Clearly, we shall never move away from the racial theories of the colonial era, even if they stand wholly discredited in the light of modern anthropology and genetics.


The other eight points take it for granted that the Dravidians were the authors of the Indus civilization, a theory that has been around for decades but has few takers among archaeologists. That the Dravidian/Aryan contrast is viewed as purely racial is confirmed by the complete absence of a linguistic comparison, the only legitimate one today. In fact, there is no mention of Sanskrit; our Class VI student shall never learn that such a language existed, in conformity with the anti-Sanskrit stance of the Dravidian movement.

Tamil, by contrast, receives much attention.


In fact, Chapter 3 on "Ancient Tamil Nadu", judiciously placed before "The Vedic Period", presents as fact the legend of the Kumari Kandam, a mythical land south of India, where the first two of the three Sangams flourished before the land was swallowed by the sea (to appear more credible, the textbook uses the word "tsunami", unaware of the fact that a tsunami swallows no land). This occurred "before prehistoric period" and "this land mass was eight to ten times bigger than South India," complete with "wide ranges of mountains", "civilized people and efficient kingdom" (excuse the broken English). So we had civilization even before prehistory! The textbook goes on to identify Kumari Kandam with the equally mythical lost continent of Lemuria, and asserts that "conditions were favourable for the growth of living organisms only at Cape Comorin which was submerged after the tsunami... Because of this the evolution of man would have taken place then. The language spoken by those people was the basic of Tamil language." Humans thus evolved near Cape Comorin in Lemuria -not in Africa as we thought -and spoke Tamil right from the beginning. I have no problem with a mild dose of national or regional pride, but this planetary jingoism boggles the mind.


There is more. Lemuria was a "big land mass connecting Africa and Australia" and was so called after "the monkey Lemur" -but lemurs are not monkeys. Never mind, "it was believed that human beings evolved from the Lemurs. The language of the people was ancient Tamil" -in case you had forgotten. As regards humans being descended from Lemurs, this is a momentous discovery that will call for rewriting textbooks on human evolution. On geology, too: the supercontinent of the Southern hemisphere, which is thought to have included South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Australia and Antarctica, is called Gondwana -not Lemuria -and broke up some 200 million years ago, according to current research. Compare this with two million years of human evolution, and the absurdity of a Lemur-descended, Tamilspeaking early humanity ought to be plain enough.


Legends and myths are wonderful windows on the ancient mind in any culture. But to present the Kumari Kandam tradition as a scientific finding (adding spicy details that figure nowhere in the Sangam literature) would be like asserting that Rahu's swallowing of the sun during eclipses is the latest in astronomy.


There are more howlers in following chapters (we learn that "to attain the spiritual goal the Jains starved"; moreover, "they eliminated clothes"), but the above examples will suffice to illustrate the abysmal incompetence of some of our textbook writers. Remember, in most Tamil Nadu schools, students will not be allowed to move on to the next class unless they have mugged up this farrago.


Better textbooks (such as those published by NCERT) do exist, but are not free either from errors, confusion and lingering colonial stereotypes. In this Internet age, perhaps it is time, as forward-looking educationists suggest, to move beyond a textbook-centric education and make creative use of a variety of materials. This may involve some trial and error, but it cannot do worse than the above kind of disgraceful material.


(The author is a lifelong student of Indian civilization and culture; his latest book is The Lost River: On the Trail of the Sarasvati (Penguin India, 2010)) micheldanino@gmail.com



EMAIL
micheldanino@gmail.com

 





 

 



case study on dabbawallahs of mumbai

oct 17th, 2010

succession planning, north korea style. congress taking notes

oct 17th, 2010


is there any difference between kim jong un and rahul gandhi?

Sunday, October 17, 2010

'Multiculturalism Has Failed,' Says Germany's Merkel

German PM Angela Merkel has openly said what the rest of us already know: multiculturalism has failed as a social model. She made her comments specifically in response to a question about Germany's Muslim population. Merkel was alluding to the fact that Muslim immigrant populations refuse to integrate or assimilate to any wider surrounding society.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Canadian Intelligence Alleges Govt Infiltrated by China

CSIS, the Canadian intelligence agency, is alleging that local govts like the provincial govt of Ontario have suffered infiltration by foreign powers like China.

Naipaul opens fourth year of Babel (2010-05-10)

WBFO: Naipaul opens fourth year of Babel (2010-05-10)

If you are in Buffalo the coming week - the ticket would be a small price to pay to hear VS Naipaul. (though they are promoting him as a writer from "T&T" may mean he will walk out in a huff)

Nearly all reviews of his latest book have been spiteful and nasty (not just negative). Hopefully he will talk about his book and what went into it's writing


BABEL: V.S. Naipaul
Sponsored by: Just Buffalo
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 @ 8 PM
Venue Information
Kleinhans Music Hall
71 Symphony Cir
Buffalo


Charlie Rose also has him scheduled to appear on Monday - 18th of Oct. Would be worth looking up your local PBS channel or watch him online here
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11246

Is this part of some kinf of "book tour"? does anyone here know ?

The Archbishop of Canterbury owes Hindus an abject apology – Swami Devananda Saraswati

oct 15th, 2010

rowan has been running around apologizing to and sucking up to mohammedans. why doesn't he feel the need to do the same with hindus?

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The Archbishop of Canterbury owes Hindus an abject apology – Swami Devananda Saraswati

Posted on October 15, 2010 by IS

Rowan Williams

The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams is on a working  tour of India since Oct. 9th. His primary business is church business and consolidating church interests in India. He probably will not visit Khajuraho and the Taj Mahal. But he does intend to visit St. Thomas Mount in Chennai.

In a letter to his Secretary for Inter Religious Affairs, Dr. Katherine Wharton, we asked her to bring to the Archbishop's attention that the St. Thomas fable is deeply offensive to Hindus. It charges Hindus with "diecide" — the killing of Thomas by a Hindu assassin. We also informed her that San Thome Cathedral and the other churches associated with St. Thomas are built on the remains of Hindu temples destroyed by the Portuguese.

We ended our message by asking if the Archbishop condoned the conduct and lies of the Portuguese who built the St. Thomas Mount church he intends to pray in?

Mount churchThe secretary Dr. Elizabeth Wharton has not replied to us. This is not surprising. The Archbishop has other things on his ecclesiastical mind. He and his various national churches abroad are at odds. He would like these churches to accept gay men and women priests to lead the congregations as bishops. The churches are outraged at his suggestion. But he will continue to try to have his way so long as he is archbishop and the various Anglican congregations stay with him and accept him as leader.

This is the same archbishop who advised the British government to recognise Shariah as a valid  legal justice system in England. But he does not hold similar sympathies for Hindu traditions.

Archbishop Dr. Williams in his public statements has already offended Hindus as best he can, by asking the various warring Christian churches to unite against the violence of the host Hindu community in India.

Swami Lakshmananda"Sustained violence against Christians in India has helped different denominations to bridge differences and heed the Good Shepherd's voice," he told a meeting of 1,200 church delegates in Nagpur on October 14th.

There is no sustained violence against Christians in India today and there has never been any at any time. This is a foul lie being told by the Archbishop probably on the advice of his devious Catholic counterpart in New Delhi. He would like Hindus to be put on the defensive as his own position is very weak.

When communal violence occurs between Hindus and  Christian converts who have been alienated from their traditions and native society (as happened in Kandhamal), it is the converts who initiate the violence and the Hindus who respond.

This has been found to be true in every case without exception.

The Archbishop Sahib is trying to create misunderstanding and hatred between Christians and the host Hindu community with his mischievous remarks.

He is to meet Hindu sadhus in Bangalore on Oct. 20th. The press release reads:

20th October 2010

Archbishop of Canterbury and Hindu Swamis in Dialogue
Whitefield Ecumenical Centre, Bangalore

On the afternoon of the 20th October 2010, the Archbishop will be
hosting a dialogue meeting with five Hindu Swamis. They will speak in

private for two hours and then give a public presentation together

before responding to questions from the audience.

Participants:

Archbishop Rowan Williams, Anglican Communion.

His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Ramanuja Chinna
Jeeyar Swamiji, Sri Vaishnava , Founder of Jeeyar Educational Trust

(JET), Hyderabad.

His Holiness 1008 Sri Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji, Dvaita, Shri
Puthige Matha, Udupi.

Srimat Swami Harshanandaji, President of Ramakrishna Math, Bangalore.

Sri Taralabalu Jagadguru Dr Shivamurthy Shivacharya Mahaswamiji, Lingayat.

Swami Paramananda Bharati, Dashanami, Sringeri Math.

Chair: Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Lancaster University, U.K.

This dialogue is at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury to
respected teachers and leaders of Hindu sampradayas/traditions to

engage in discussions for mutual understanding.

Programme

1pm – 2:30pm Visions of the Divine
'I want to suggest that, understood as a means of God-given discovery,

dialogue actually brings us up against a greater and fuller awareness

of the sheer mystery of the God with whom we all have to do.'

Archbishop Rowan Williams

Each participant will set out the nature of their traditions
conception of the divine and the specific practices recommended to

attain spiritual knowledge (jnana).

2:30pm – 3:30pm Social Harmony
What is the ideal community? The Swamis and the Archbishop will

discuss the social values central to their respective traditions and

ask how a pluralist society can encourage and protect true freedom of

belief.

3:30pm – 4:30pm Public Question and Answer Section.
The Archbishop and Swamis will reflect on the dialogue and articulate

the main points for a public audience. Then questions will be taken

from the audience.

Press release issued by

Dr. Kate Wharton
Research Assistant to the Revd Canon Guy Wilkinson

National Inter Religious Affairs Adviser &

Secretary for Inter Religious Affairs to the Archbishop of Canterbury

Lambeth Palace, London, SE1 7JU

TEL: 020 7898 1216
; FAX: 020 7401 9886; EMAIL: katherine.wharton@c-of-e.org.uk


Vatican TwoFrom its inception at the Second Vatican Council til today, inter-religious dialogue has been used as an instrument of proselytization of the heathen and nothing else.  The invitation to such a dialogue by a Christian leader has always been insincere. And the dialogues themselves have never served the Hindu interest. Never. Read the thoughtful discourse of Radha Rajan, Sandhya Jain, and B.R. Haran to know the truth about inter-religious dialogue and what it holds for the Hindu.

When Christian missionaries are still engaged in their war on Hinduism, alienating the people from their families and native traditions with money and false promises of salvation, how is it possible for Hindu representatives to sit and talk about "visions of the divine" and "social harmony" with the Archbishop of Canterbury or any other Christian leader?

SimpletonHindu representatives who engage in these inter-religious dialogues are either simpletons and fools who live in Cloud-Cuckoo-Land. Or they are quislings who have been paid by the Church to subvert and undermine their own community. They are either of these; there is no third kind!

As for the Lord Archbishop Sahib, he owes Hindus an abject and unconditional apology for the crimes against humanity that have been perpetrated in India against the Indian people by his church when they were enslaved by the British and robbed of their wealth and self-esteem.

India was by all accounts the richest country in the world until the 17th century when, after 300-plus years of rule by the Christian British, she became one of the poorest nations on earth.

Church of England divines were right in the middle of the thievery. Besides the dirty books they printed about Hindu Gods on their new printing presses, there are government records that show that almost all churches in Kerala received lands misappropriated from temples during the British regime. These lands have never been returned to their rightful owners, the deities of the dispossessed temples.

Francis XavierThere was also the temple-breaking. Not so much as that perpetrated by the Roman Catholic priests roaming around the countryside looking for converts and little boys, but a few incidents high-profile enough to be remembered.

There was the removal of the Hindu shrines from within the Fort St. George campus because they offended the sensibilities of the British officials who lived there; there was the occupation of the temples of Triplicane and Mylapore by troops when the British and French were fighting; there was the confiscation of the beautiful Jalagandeeswara Shiva Temple in Vellore Fort — the image had been removed earlier either by or because of the threat posed by the Nawabs of Arcot — and its use by British troops as a stable for horses; there was the firing on the Kalahasti temples by British troops in order to intimidate the local people; there was the removal of the Mumbai Devi Temple from its mulastan to its present location to facilitate the building of Victoria Terminus in Mumbai.

There is more to the list but this is enough to make our point to the visiting White Sahib.

NT in TamilPerhaps more criminal than these visible attacks on Hindus was the vast quantity of vile and perverted literature produced by Church of England missionaries against Hinduism and Brahmins — Brahmins were (and are) targeted by missionaries because they are the custodians of Hindu culture and are not easily converted. Ziegenbalg was one of the first to produce anti-Hindu religious pornography on his imported printing press at Tranquebar. But the Christian publisher ISPCK in Delhi, a colonial institution the Archbishop is today praising to the skies, also produced a lot of this missionary garbage.

So the Lord Archbishop Sahib is on the warpath. He is not repentant of past crimes perpetrated by his predecessors and Church of England  missionaries in British India. He has already taken the offensive and accused Hindus in Nagpur of "sustained violence against Christians". What then is he going to say to the swamijis in Whitefield before he offers them their bags of "dakshina"?

The Archbishop should get down off his high horse; indeed, he should get down on his knees before Mother India.  She is about to be recognised a world power while his own depraved country, England, has be recognised as the favourite catamite of US presidents. England  and the English Church has become the laughingstock of the world.

The Archbishop of Canterbury owes Hindus an abject, unconditional apology for the crimes — those past and those still being contemplated — of his missionaries and countrymen in India.

And if the Archbishop is really a man of God as some of his guided followers believe, then he will give an unequivocal undertaking to stop the conversion of Hindus in India from today. If he is a sincere and good man — and he may be — he will give this commitment to his Hindu guests in Whitefield before he gives them their bags of money.

GFCHAs for the swamijis themselves, before they accept the Archbishop's gifts they must demand a commitment from him to give up the harvesting of souls in India for the duration of all time. Conversion is destroying the social fabric of Mother India and must stop.

What say the swamijis? They are the representatives of Sanatana Dharma at this dubious conference and are answerable to the Hindu community at large.

Or are they?

_________

Reference from ChristianToday.com:

Head of the Church of England and Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, will hold talks with religious leaders during his visit here on October 20.

During his brief tour aimed at promoting religious harmony, the archbishop will hold talks with SriTridani Srimannarayana Ramanajua Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji, Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji, Srimat Swami Harshanandaji, Sri Taralabalu Jagadguru and other seers. The meeting will be held at the Ecumenical Christian Centre in Whitefield, Bangalore

The archbishop is on a 16-day tour of India from October 9 at the invitation of the Communion of Churches in India.

"The archbishop is visiting the Church of South India in his official capacity as head of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion," said Bishop and moderator S Vasanth Kumar of Church of South India.

During his visit, the archbishop will visit congregations and look at the development initiatives of the Church of South India and Mar Thoma Church.

He will be the main celebrant at St Marks Cathedral. He will be the preacher at the Eucharist service to be held there on October 21. Later, he will address the faculty and students of the United Theological College. In the evening, he will participate in the public reception organised by the Karnataka Central Diocese. Governor HR Bhardwaj will be the guest. – DNA INDIA

"It will be the time when all Anglican churches will come together. The Roman Catholic church will also participate in the event. The Archbishop of Bangalore Fr Bernard Moras will also take part in the event," Kumar said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury had visited India in 1985.