Monday, August 29, 2011

one more boondoggle visit to another country by manmohan. b'desh refuses transit facilities.

aug 29th, 2011 CE

why on earth is the man wasting time and money going there? he has just been humiliated by anna hazare, why not stay home and lick his wounds?

and if he weren't so 'decent, honest' (TM), maybe he could whisper 'farakka barrage' once or twice to the b'deshis.

agnivesh rampant, hoist on own petard

Unlikely. 'Doctors' of this type hard left secular like him RT : Agnivesh says ‘betrayal’ video ‘doctored’


Poor agnivesh. First bosom buddy Valson thampu ditches him. Now ELM media. The horror! The HORROR! WHATEVER do discarded useful idiots do?


What? Dare question media Red Queen? Off with agnivesh's head! And om puri's too!

ISRO's Oceansat-2 Helps NASA Monitor Irene

India's recently launched Oceansat-2 satellite is helping NASA to monitor Hurricane Irene.


Hazare Stares Down Govt; Rahul's Emergence Disrupted

Anna Hazare has stared down the govt in what is being described as a surrender by the ruling party and the disruption of the ascent to power by Rahul Gandhi.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Agnivesh caught on tape talking to Sibal

aug 27th, 2011 CE

so anna fast has been broken.

exactly what has been achieved with all the sound and fury?

nothing.

same fixers like agnivesh and sibal running rampant.

same radiamedia running rampant.

same rogues running the country.

am i justified in calling this a KLPD (with due apologies)?


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ganesh

Rajeev

Came across this one, decide for yourself.
http://youtu.be/x8plWkPwdiQr

Reporter Sucheta Dalal posted this on her tweet.



 


Saturday, August 27, 2011

Friday, August 26, 2011

Agnivesh Quits Team Anna, As BJP Comes Onside

Swami Agnivesh appears to be departing Anna Hazare's team of advisors, even as BJP comes out more strongly in favour of Hazare's Lokpal bill.

is this siddiqui pakistani or indian? ran up $137million in gambling related debts!

Does apple have a life after jobs? Has apple created a winner-take-all market?

Wsj story on jobs' greatest hits is a eulogy. There were some big duds too.

on sony android phone

Jobs is greatest visionary of computer industry. A design genius

Many Indians are more impressed by bill gates, but his thing is business models, which is not a bad thing, but in products, jobs is the true innovator. Actually jobs also invented disruptive business models with itunes, created whole new channel.

on sony android phone

Thursday, August 25, 2011

prof vaidya: Why Anna's middle class has disdain for Parliament

aug 25th, 2011 CE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Vaidyanathan R

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/why-annas-middle-class-has-disdain-for-parliament-67213.html

Why Anna’s middle class has disdain for Parliament

The poorer sections are more with Anna since he understands their hurt and loss and frozen anger at the government’s minions and their daily dacoity at their expense.PTI

By R Vaidyanathan

The tripod constructed by Jawaharlal Nehru consisted of socialism, secularism and parliamentary supremacy.

The socialism part went with Narasimha Rao, even though the word is still in our constitution, which declares us to be a socialist republic. Every elected representative is forced to swear by it, exposing us to total hypocrisy in running our polity.

The day the law was amended to deny alimony to Shah Bano, the edifice of secularism, too, developed a crack. In a society which considers everything, including trees and animals, sacred, the notion of “secularism” was anyway a bit stretched. It came down fully with the Ayodhya agitation. However, our constitution includes secularism in its preface. The word was inserted into the constitution during the emergency, and was not a part of the original statute.

The third leg of the Nehruvian tripod, the primacy of Parliament in making laws, was treated with an enormous amount of respect, even reverence. Members of  state assemblies and Parliament were called law-makers even though a good number among them do not know what kind of laws they make. The disconnect between our burgeoning middle classes and the so-called law-makers has been widening in leaps and bounds in recent decades.

A great fault line has been developing for a while, and this hasn’t been noticed by blind political experts. Today there is a huge trust deficit with the political class. In the early sixties, during the conflict with China, this author has seen women giving away their gold ornaments when leaders went around in jeeps to collect money for defence. Today, women will probably run inside their homes if they see a jeep with politicians asking for donations.

The Nehruvian middle class was essentially a public sector one: they tended to work in government, or in companies owned by government: HMT, Bhel, LIC, State Bank of India. Every engineer and accountant in the 1950s and 1960s aspired to work for these companies, and prepared massively for the stiff entrance tests.

The public sector middle class of those decades was often aligned with  Left unions. They sought the creation of more government entities and agitated for enhanced pay. They waved flags when Indira Gandhi nationalised banks. The middle classes shouted Inquilab Zindabad in processions those days. Bengal led this class, and so did Kerala.

This middle class influenced and infiltrated all aspects of Indian life, including the arts, cinema, literature, books and history. They selected their “intellectuals” and “academic leaders”. The government was criticised, but only for being less leftist. They captured the Planning Commissions and hundreds of other academies. They were essentially government-subsidised revolutionaries. The pinnacle of their achievement was the creation of the Jawaharlal Nehru University – appropriately named – where “lal salaam” and “inquilab” could be paraded as serious academic research in social sciences.

... deleted

jobs' resignation: sic transit gloria mundi. steve's era too has passed, but what a glorious era it has been! #jobs

firstpost piece: #anna ends re corruption good, but not means (hungerstrike) or dubious hangers-on http://bit.ly/oR5r03

Does apple have a life after jobs? Has apple created a winner-take-all market?

Wsj story on jobs' greatest hits is a eulogy. There were some big duds too.

on sony android phone

Wsj: Steve Jobs retiring. Time to short apple?

on sony android phone

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Anna Health Deteriorating, Wants Direct Talks with Rahul



Now we cut to the chase. There aren't too many good options for Congress -- with Hazare's health going downhill, the novice Rahul could end up with a death on his hands, which would destroy his political aspirations forever. Or else Rahul "saves the day" -- after meeting directly with Anna, the young prince has a "change of heart" and feels moved to present to parliament an anti-corruption bill satisfactory to critics -- in which case, Manmohan, Chidambaram & Co get ditched.

That latter option would be more Congress' style, preserving the Family's future, while its generals have to fall on their swords, and bow out into the shadows. But we know from Indian and even Japanese politics, that tainted and unpopular politicians still get to remain powerful backroom men. The problem for Congress is that without corruption and black money to keep it alive, Congress could gradually be marginalized and superceded by more populist Leftist/casteist parties, just like its old opponent Janata Dal. That could one day lead to BJP aligning with Congress in the far future, like it supports Nitish in Bihar.

Team Anna Q&A

NDTV hosts a Q&A session with Team Anna.

How to Fix Europe? Default? Or Euro-TARP?



The more Eurozone butts up against fiscal limitations, the more it will inflame national animosities between its component states.

Monday, August 22, 2011

dna: Part 5: Manmohan Singh's role in India's economic ruination

aug 22nd, 2011 CE
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Arvind Kumar
Date: Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 8:39 AM
Subject: Part 5: Manmohan Singh's role in India's economic ruination
To: 

Headline in print edition: When Binge Spending led to Ruination

Manmohan Singh's role in India's economic ruination

Arvind Kumar & Arun Narendhranath | Monday, August 22, 2011

In the fifth of their eight-part series on the contemporary history of the Indian economy, the authors focus on the excessive spending of the 1980s that eventually led to a balance of payment crisis.

By the 1980s, the Indian government had become dependent on foreign aid and loans. If it was not the US, UK or the former USSR that the government approached, it was the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund.

These loans made it worse for the economy as the Bretton Woods system had set up the World Bank and the IMF in such a manner that the former colonial powers would benefit from the resources of the developing countries.

Aid was always “tied aid” and was contingent upon purchasing goods and services at arbitrarily high prices from specific American and European corporations and non-profit groups. Many times, these goods and services were of little use and even frivolous in nature.

Thus the corporations and non-profit groups in the West received the money from aid programmes while the recipient nations received only goods and services. However, the recipient nations had to repay these loans in cash to the IMF despite IMF not being the source of the money. This was an onerous task since the nation never received any money that could be used to invest and grow the economy.

In addition, the IMF always violated the principles of the free-market system and forced the recipient nations to hold their interest rates and exchange rates at artificial levels that stifled economic growth but ensured that the interest paid to the IMF had a high value.

The conditions removed all risks for the corporations benefiting from the programmes and at times even forced the recipient government to use public funds to guarantee profits for the corporations. These measures typically devastated the economies of the countries that received IMF loans.

... deleted

SARASWATI SAGA; How hard reality is made into a myth - Narendra Kaushik from Kurukshetra for "Uday India"

aug 22nd, 2011 CE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: HARAN 
Date: Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 11:27 AM
Subject: SARASWATI SAGA; How hard reality is made into a myth - Narendra Kaushik from Kurukshetra for "Uday India"
To:

http://www.udayindia.org/content_27august2011/spotlight.html


Uday India

27 August 2011

SARASWATI SAGA
How hard reality is made into a myth

By Narendra Kaushik from Kurukshetra

 
From the looks of it, it appears to be one of those numerous muddy puddles of rain water which sprout out of nowhere in the lowlands on either side of National highways during every monsoon season in the country. Located next to a bridge on GT road, near Pipli, a village-pretending-to-be-a-town on the highway near Kurukshetra, the city, which once hosted the great Mahabharata war, and surrounded by erect eucalyptuses and overgrowth, the slimy puddle seems to be unremarkable and undisturbed except by kids who may occasionally throw lumps of mud into it to enjoy the ripples.

 


       But scout the surface around the puddle and you will get to know that it is also an appropriate proof of what is wrong with implementation of policies in the country. A few-hundred-metres-long swamp which has filled up the farmland in its neighbourhood is evidence of how history gets converted into a four-letter acronym myth-in modern India. How living and unadulterated chronicles of times gone by are consigned to dustbin after falsely associating them with Hindutava revivalism.


Forgotten & Forsaken

The puddle and the two concrete platforms that stand next to it were part of Saraswati revival project Haryana State Government embarked on a few years back. The platforms adorned sculptures of Saraswati, the goddess of learning, and Rantuk Yaksha, one of the godly figures which defined the four corners of the 20-yojana-long (one yojana equals around 8 miles) Mahabharata battlefield, when Haryana government launched a project in 2008 to bring the mighty river back to life again. Today, the platforms stand vandalised and stripped off the bronze sculptures.


Apparently, the robbers took advantage of the government neglect and slipped out the idols. Today, the area has turned into marshy land where cannabis and other wild plants are grown. The 52 kilometre long channel or course which Haryana government dug up in 2008 to release water again is dry and layered with weeds.


       Haryana government proposal to revive over 75 kilometre long course of the river is held up because Oil and Natural Gas Limited (ONGC) is sitting on its request to dig two deep bore wells for supplying fresh water to the river channel. “Haryana government takes interest in the project. But it is stuck up with the ONGC for 3 years. People stole the sculptures. The project is almost defunct for all practical reasons,” says Darshan Lal Jain who has been pursuing the project for several years through an NGO (Non-government Organization) called Saraswati River Research Organization. Jain who looked at the project as a panacea for providing drinking water and tourism today sounds a bit dispirited. His desire to see the river flowing again in his lifetime is getting diminished by the day.


       The ONGC entered into an agreement with Haryana government about half a decade ago to explore the course of the river which finds a mention in Vedas, Mahabharata and several other Hindu scriptures. Subsequently, Haryana government convinced farmers on a 52 kilometre-long stretch to vacate their lands for flow of fresh water and launched the project near Pipli, a town on National highway-I near Kurukshetra. The government not only installed bronze sculptures of Saraswati and Rantuk Yaksha, a godly figure associated with Mahabharata, at the site but also fixed colour lights, swings and dug up the pond in 2008.


Denials & Admission UPA style

The project is hanging fire despite the UPA having finally admitted in June this year that there was evidence that the Vedic river once flew through Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat before falling into the Arabian Sea. After having been in a denial mode for several years, Union Ministry for Water Resources admitted writing in Rajya Sabha, the upper House of the Parliament that the river’s existence was conclusion of a study jointly conducted by scientists of ISRO, Jodhpur and Rajasthan Government’s Ground Water Department, published in the Journal of Indian Society of

Remote Sensing. The Journal had written on the basis of interaction with ISRO and the Ground Water Department that there were “clear signals of Palaeo-channels on the satellite imagery in the form of a strong and powerful continuous drainage system in the North-West region and occurrence of archaeological sites of pre-Harappan, Harappan and post-Harappan ages beyond doubt indicate the existence of a mighty palaeo-drainage system of the Vedic Saraswati river in this region… The description and magnanimity of these channels also match with the river Saraswati described in the Vedic literature.”


       The UPA was in a denial mode since 2004 when it assumed power at the centre. Earlier it also scrapped the Saraswati River Heritage Project which was launched by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA government. It scrapped the project on the grounds that it was undertaken to establish that a Vedic civilization preceded Harappa or the Harappan culture was Vedic. In short, the UPA and its then outside supporter Communists saw in the excavations a saffron design. It is to be noted that under the then Culture Minister Jagmohan, the ASI had undertaken excavations at 10 places-Adi Badri, Thanesar, Sandhauli, Bhirrana, Hansi (all in Haryana), Baror, Tarkhanwala Dhera, Chak 86 (all in Rajasthan), Dholavira and Juni Karan in Gujarat. The project’s action taken report had then claimed that during the excavation, remains from the pre-Harappan, Harappan and even medieval times have been discovered.



Saraswati in Scriptures

More than the archaeological and satellite proof of river’s existence, the UPA and pseudo secularists have refused to accept the evidence stored in the various ancient scriptures. There are several references to the river in Mahabharata to the Saraswati River. The epic for instance mentions that Pandavas hid in Kamyaka forest for some time during initial years of their 14-year-long banishment. Kamyaka was located on the west of Kurukshetra plain and on the banks of river Saraswati. They returned to Kamyaka second time from Dwaita woods, a rich forest again on the bank of the

river, which was in full flow this time due to heavy rains. Sage Markandeya lived next to Markanda river which was supposed to be tributary of the Saraswati River.


       Besides, Nadistuti hymn in Rigveda mentions that Saraswati was located between Yamuna in the east and Sutlej in the west. Later Vedic scriptures like Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas mention that Saraswati dried up in the desert. The river, in fact, had started drying up during Mahabharata (3067 BC) itself and disappeared completely by 1500 BC. Mahabharata describes Balram’s pilgrimage to the river before the war broke out between the Pandavas and Kurukshetra. He returned to the battlefield on the day Duryodhana was killed by Bheema. There are references to the fissures and faults in the dry bed of the river in the middle ages texts. The invading armies of Islam marching from the Sindh province to Delhi are said to have a longer mountain route instead of the dry river bed due to difficulties in crossing the large cracks. More than this satellite images have confirmed the existence of a large number of ground faults in the earthquake-prone northwest of India which constituted the Saraswati-Sindhu valley.



River in Revenue Maps and Satellite imagery

In 1995, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) found water in the Rajasthan desert at depths of merely 50 to 60 metres, making agriculture possible even in extreme summer. The Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur, mapped the defunct course of a river through satellite and aerial photographs and field studies. Obviously it was none other than Saraswati.

       But none of this can match the hard evidence you come across in the form of small revenue maps which were traditionally maintained by Patwaris. The maps covering 38

villages clearly delineate the course of invisible Saraswati. This means that Saraswati’s course has been known to mapmakers from the time the river flowed from Adi Badri to the Arabian Sea to the time it disappeared following tectonic disturbances in earth’s crust. It was known as Saraswati in Haryana, Ghaggar in Rajasthan (after its confluence with Ghaggar), Hakra in Cholistan and Nara in Sindh (Pakistan). It was part of Sapt Sindhu, the seven rivers, which flew from Himalayas into the plains. Yamuna and Satluj were then tributaries of Saraswati. Due to tectonic disturbances, Yamuna started flowing towards East and Satluj started flowing from Southeast (into Saraswati) to Southwest near Ropar causing final drying up of what Rigveda calls Ambi tame, nadi tame, devi tame (greatest of mothers, rivers and goddesses).
 
 
Evidence on Ground

Even more incontrovertible than this is the proof which exists on the ground in Bid Pipli, the village on national highway, Kheri Markanda, a village situated about 2 kilometres from Kurukshetra and Pehowa, a town in Kurukshetra which is famous for being a Hindu pilgrimage. In Bid Pipli, the course of Saraswati is still filled up with water. During the monsoon, the river comes alive when water from upstream Baban flows next to the village and further to Kurukshetra. It frequently floods the nearby villages and parts of Kurukshetra. In Kheri Markanda too, the river turns into a drain. Unfortunately, Kurukshetra administration releases sewerage into the drain now. Pehowa is the place where the river is said to have converted into a pond where Hindus have performed pind daan (a ritual for liberation of souls of their dead relatives). Saraswati is worshipped here as a goddess. There is a big Saraswati temple here and the pundits who have seats near the pond and the temple claim to have histories of many families. This site was called ‘Prithudaka’ in the epics of Mahabharata named after the King Prithu, a Saraswati tribe king, who prayed for the salvation of his father’s soul here. Sister-in-law of Harshvardhan, who ruled over a large part of northern India first from Thanesar and then Kannuaj, committed sati on the bank’s river.


       Some time back, the geologists and hydrologists found more evidence when subsurface water gushed out of a pond of the famous Kapil Muni Ashram in Kalayat (Haryana). A multi-disciplinary scientific team studied the oozing water and the sand that accompanied it. Dr. A R Chaudhri of Kurukshetra University found a suite of angular heavy minerals having their source in higher Himalayan region. Dr. A K Gupta and Dr B K Bhadra of ISRO identified fossil valleys of Vedic Saraswati in the area from the study of space imageries and concluded that this water was of the Saraswati River. Rajesh Purohit, then curator of Srikrishna museum, conducted geomorphologic studies and concluded that this water belonged to Vedic Saraswati that has been described in Rigveda and other scriptures. Later on, he along with his team discovered the actual river bed near Jyotisar (Kurukshetra).


       The ONGC, the oil exploration giant which is involved in exploring the river, has found strong evidence that it once flew next to Jaisalmer, the tourist town in Rajasthan. The ONGC has dug up over a dozen deep wells there. These wells have plenty of sweet water. Earlier images taken by an American satellite clearly showed the presence of underground water in a definitive pattern in Jaisalmer. The bore wells are said to have been named after the river which once flowed for 1500 km and was at places around 15 km wide.


       Interestingly farmers have voluntarily vacated their farms on a 52 km stretch when they heard about Haryana Government’s project on revival of the river. Darshan Lal Jain, who has been pursuing the revival project for long through an NGO called Saraswati Nadi Shodh Sansthan (Saraswati River Research Organization), wants the government to hurry up the revival. According to him, the revived river could provide drinking and irrigation water to several districts in Haryana. Jain demands formation of Saraswati Development Authority or Board to fast pace the project.


       Purohit who recently got transferred to Allahabad begs the detractors to shut up, have a look at the plethora of evidence available with the ASI, Geological Survey of India, ONGC, Indian Space Research Organization and other research groups and stop calling the river mythical or mythological. “Myth won’t be a myth if it is supported by scientific evidence. Saraswati exists now. It existed in the past,” he signs off.





IIT Student Refuses to Accept Degree from Manmohan

An IIT student has taken a courageous stand, and is urging his fellow batchmates to do the same, in refusing to accept his degree from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who will appear at the graduation ceremony. He is doing this in support of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement.

Arundhati Roy Attacks Hazare

The goddess of small things is now also the goddess of all things corrupt too, as she blasts Anna Hazare for his "aggressive nationalism".

happy janmashtami


 rajeev srinivasan 

the crux of the #anna matter

 rajeev srinivasan 

Team Anna Rejects Govt Proposal



What's important to stay focused on, is the need to ensure the govt's crooked bill doesn't get passed. Hazare's group are amenable to negotations on the bill, as long as it's not the watered-down ineffectual version made by the govt.

Hopefully, we all see the need to make the PM's Office accountable. It's not necessary that it be accountable via the same Lokpal body, just as long as there's some effective mechanism for accountability that can't be bypassed.

Mr. Hazare's Iftar appeasement


http://www.hindustantimes.com/Slowly-Muslims-are-shedding-Anna-apathy/Article1-735931.aspx

.........
“During his fast in April, Anna shared stage with Hindu fundamentalists, with people chanting Vande Mataram. This put us off,” says Maulana Umer Illyasi, head of the All-India Imams’ Organisation. That may now be changing.
Mufti Noorullah Yusuf Zai, the chief imam of Guna, Madhya Pradesh, is headed for Delhi’s ground zero. On board a Delhi-bound train are several fellow imams.....


Back in April, Mr. Hazare - Mark I, consciously decided to remove a picture depicting Bharat Mata (Mother India)from his stage, lest the tender iconoclastic sentiments of Mohammedans be "offended".

"Bharat Mata" is an icon venerated by infidel Hindoos, therefore, it is inherently "communal". Vande Mataram is a song dear to the idolatrous Hindoos. They sing it to glorify their "idol" Bharat Mata. Therefore, that too is "communal", "right wing" and unacceptable.

However, Iftar parties, Mullahs and Namaaz - these are all intrinsically "secular" in the perverted political parlance of Nehruvian Stalinist India. They
conform to the best ideals and personal practices of Mohandas Gandhi - exalted as a "Mahatma" by the dhimmis - and
the so called "freedom movement" staged by the Gandhian Congress.

To be fair, Mr. Hazare is only emulating the lofty traditions of
Gandhi, Nehru and the Congress. Indeed, the divorce of
Hindu symbology from the "freedom movement" was accomplished approximately a century ago by Gandhi and his band of dhimmis - to assuage Mohammedan intransigence.

A comical and humilating "Lucknow pact" was signed by Congress dhimmis - ostensibly on behalf of the entire Hindu community. Gandhi pandered to pan-Islamic bigotry with his idiotic "Khilafat movement" which was a precursor and catalyst for partition.

Does anyone among the Facebook addicted, urban middle class Twitterati take cognisance of Mr. Hazare's double standards and naked appeasement of Moslem fundamentalism? Does anyone care?

Mr. Hazare's two-faced, toothless activism
and the gullibility of the middle class Twitterati has the potential to inflict huge calamities on the Hindu nation, as yet unawakened after 1300 years of involuntary servitude to foreign invaders.



Where Do You Stand, Economically and Politically?

Where do you stand, economically and politically? Take this test and find out.

are ex-IAS NGO types especially um... fervent? why? eg. mander (actionaid), aruna roy (kisan-mazdoor)

relevant fable? 'kagemusha'. samurai warlord sickens, dies; clan finds body double to pretend he's still alive, lead troops

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Janmashtami Divas Special

aug 21st, 2011 CE

happy ashtami rohini to all. although it's a little strange, my panchangam tells me the star today is bharani à´­à´°à´£ി भरणी 

à´°ോà´¹ിà´£ി रोहिणी rohini (the star sirius) is only on the 23rd

the 22nd is ashtami, but Lord Krishna' star is rohini.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sanjeev 


Namaskar Mitra,
Janmashtami is on August 22. Some useful links.
 
1. How science discovered the historical Krishna by Rakesh Krishnan - http://www.esamskriti.com/essay-chapters/How-science-discovered-the-historical-Krishna-1.aspx
 
2. Travel to Vrindavan clicked these pics on Janmashtami day 2009 - http://www.esamskriti.com/photo-detail/Vrindavan.aspx
 
 
4. War and Non-violence in the Holy Geeta by Jeffery D Long - http://www.esamskriti.com/essay-chapters/War-and-Non-violence-in-the-Bhagavadgita-1.aspx.

5. To know all about the Festival - http://www.krishnajanmashtami.com

6. Krishna worship and the Rathayatra Festival in Ancient Egypt by Bibhu Mishra - http://www.esamskriti.com/essay-chapters/Krishna-worship-and-Rathayatra-Festival-in-Ancient-Egypt-1.aspx

With Love and Light 

Sanjeev Nayyar
Become a FAN of eSamskriti on Facebook www.facebook.com/eSamskriti
Our Mission - "A platform to share knowledge and insights which will help Indians globally, to reconnect with our heritage so that together we can build a truly glorious future".
To unsubscribe write back

 

Will Sonia Gandhi Fall? -- Huffington Post

aug 21st, 2011 CE

disclaimer: i didn't say it, i want the CBI guys monitoring twitter to note. some white woman said it.

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


World's #9 Most Powerful Person Now Accused of Corruption --
Will She Fall?

Posted: 04/25/11 07:17 AM ET

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cleo-paskal/worlds-9-most-powerful-pe_b_853132.html

New Delhi. Some of India's biggest fish are getting caught up in the
country's fast-growing wave of anti-corruption activity. In what could
be India's equivalent of a judicial jasmine revolution, previously
invulnerable politicians, business icons, and pillars of the community
are all nervously keeping their lawyers on speed-dial.

The anti-corruption push is an unprecedented coming together of myriad
facets of Indian society. Religious leaders are concerned about the
effects on morality and spiritual growth. NGOs speak of the effects on
the poor. The middle class is angry about its future being stifled by
a smothering blanket of day-to-day corruption. The intelligence
services see corruption a clear threat to national security. And the
business community, thanks to globalization, has seen how efficiently
things can operate without having to constantly pay bribes or be
tangled in red tape, and they want the same thing at home.

Even the Supreme Court is fed up, with Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy
saying about the vast sums of Indian money being illegally hidden away
in Liechtenstein Bank:

We are talking about the huge money. It is a plunder of the nation. It
is a pure and simple theft of the national money. We are talking about
mind-boggling crime.
The scandals are bursting on to the front pages fast and thick. Suresh
Kalmadi, a Congress Party politician and the former head of the
corruption-plagued Commonwealth Games, was arrested April 25.
According to a report by the Indian Comptroller and Auditor General,
the 2G spectrum scam alone, in which 2G licenses were sold off in a
manner that was, to say the least, less than transparent, cost close
to $40 billion in lost revenue.

All across India, people are saying enough is enough. And suddenly the
unthinkable is starting to happen. People considered above reproach,
or at least untouchable, are coming under the judicial cross-hairs. 2G
alone has seen charges laid against one former government minister and
several captains of industry.

And the latest high profile target is one of the biggest fish of all,
Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, currently #9 on Forbes list of
the World's Most Powerful People.

Sonia Gandhi has one of the most remarkable life stories in
international politics. Born Edvige Antonia Albina Maino into a family
of modest means in rural Italy, she didn't even get a chance to
complete high school before heading to the UK for work. There she met
Rajiv Gandhi, son of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She
eventually married him and the young family moved in to Indira
Gandhi's New Delhi's home, putting her literally in the heart of
Indian politics.

... deleted

re GONGO, @barbarindian, there is a well-known and slightly sinister term QUANGO -- quasi-ngo. (useful in scrabble too).

is software truly "eating the world"? according to andreessen in the wsj, it is. i beg to differ #software rules? no. #innovation #appropriability

aug 21st, 2011 CE

i fear andreessen doth protest too much. 

software is not about to take over the world. 

what is happening is what teece, among others, predicted long ago: the US is hollowing out in manufacturing. 

it thinks it's escaping up the value chain by focusing on software.

wrong. 

there is the cautionary tale from christensen about steel mills and mini-steel mills. the insurgents will chase the incumbents up into more and more high-end segments, causing each of them to become a Red Ocean where profits have collapsed.

for instance, apple is now enjoying the fruits of its massive business model innovation in creating an alternative channel in iTunes, and thus finding that it could escape from the tyranny of microsoft and windows as the gatekeeper. that led it to prosper. 

but the future will be cheap tablet knockoffs such as the $99 4 inch android tablet just introduced in india. apple will have a couple of good years, and then it will be back to niche player. 

truly sad story about HP's decline and fall: http://www.cringely.com/2011/08/losing-the-hp-way/

TV Debate on Anti-Corruption Movement

Here's a televised debate held by Nidi Razdan of NDTV. Present were a member of BJP, Team Anna, that jackass Manish Tiwari from Congress, the Lokpal member from Karnataka, and the editor of Business Standard.

lament about #HP #webOS. like marlon brando in "on the waterfront": "i coulda been a contender".

GE Masters Laser Enrichment Technology

GE is about to build its first laser enrichment facility for nuclear fuel, after having mastered the technique in the lab. It seems to be ready for primetime.

This is definitely a technology that India should also look to develop. Remember, not only can it be used for enrichment of initial fuel, but it could also be useful for reprocessing of spent fuel.
Link

Saturday, August 20, 2011

independence day SMS i got: let us remember all those who struggled against the english...

... sreesanth, gambhir, sehwag, zaheer, ...

and you thought i didn't know cricket?

Watch the Chicago Hinduism Summit live | Online webcast on August 27th, 2011

aug 19th, 2011 CE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Babita 



|| Sree ||

Namaste  Rajeev ji,


You are cordially invited to the online webcast of the third Hinduism Summit (Hindu Dharmajagurti Sabha) in Chicago at the Hindu Mandir
of Lake County, on Saturday 27th August 2011.

I request you to please forward this invitation to other members of your organization, family, friends and anyone interested. If you would like to assist us further in spreading the word about this summit, please see section "How can I support the Hinduism Summit" below.

To read the latest news about this event, please visit:
http://forumforhinduawakening.org/dharma/news/2011/08/11/third-hinduism-summit-in-chicago-to-carry-on-hinduism-awareness-drive/

Warm Regards,

Volunteer

www.HinduAwakening.org
-------------------------------------

Participate in the Live Webcast of Hinduism Summit - Visit the Dharmajagruti Sabha virtually through your PC and derive the spiritual benefits of the blissfully charged atmosphere, express your views and ask any questions to the speakers in the "question and answer" session after the presentations. A very unique opportunity indeed, so make the most out of it! Be a participant on this free live event by visiting our livestream channel on the day of the Hinduism Summit.

  

                Time of Webcast ( US Central time) : 2.30 PM to 4.45 PM               
To check the time in your respective city and country visit www.timeanddate.com 

Saint's blessings for the Hinduism Summit
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1. Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Jayendra Saraswati of Kanchi Kamkoti Peeth
2. His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
of The Art of Living Foundation

3. His Holiness Pande Maharaj of Sanatan Sanstha
4. Her Holiness Mata Amritanandmayi (Amma) of Mata Amritanandmayi Math
5. Sadhvi Ritambhara of Param Shakti Peeth and Vatsalya Gram, India
6. Mahamandaleshwar Sri Sarvanand Saraswati Maharaj of Uttarakashi, India  

The Programme
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1. Invited speaker on 'Growing up in America and embracing Hindu spirituality’

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2. Spiritual Science Research Foundation’s presentation on 'Spiritual dimension underlying Hinduism concepts and Hindu issues’


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3. Invited speaker on ‘Human rights violations against Hindus in Bangladesh’


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4. Forum for Hindu Awakening’s presentation on 'Understanding, living and preserving Hinduism in daily life'

Register for online attendance (optional) 
To help us organize this event and its live webcast better please register
@ www.HinduAwakening.org/events/chicagosummit
How can I support the Hinduism Summit:
  • Email this invitation to the board of directors or any other interested members of your organization, family, friends and other acquaintances.  (If you would like a PDF version of the offline poster do let us know)
  • Publish the press release and/or banners of this event on your website.
  • Share this event with your friends on Facebook and tweet about this summit on your Twitter account as well.
  • Donate for this Hinduism Summit as an offering of your wealth for the sake of Dharma and for individual spiritual upliftment
About Forum for Hindu Awakening
Forum for Hindu Awakening (FHA) is a Hindu spiritual organisation
devoted to awaken society to the unique spiritual science underlying Hinduism concepts and practices. FHA provides a platform for like minded individuals and organizations to unitedly resolve issues concerning Hindus, within Hinduism's tradition of peace and tolerance. The primary aim of FHA is to facilitate the spiritual progress of humanity on the path to God-realisation
(Moksha
).
 Follow FHA on:
The intention behind this email is to reach all of those interested in understanding, living and preserving Hinduism (Sanatan Hindu Dharma).
If you do not wish to receive these emails, please respond to the sender's email ID with “Remove from list” in the subject line.

 




Correlation Between Riots and Price of Food

A new study has shown that the likelihood of riots is greatly increased during times of high food prices. That's probably a no-brainer, but it's useful to see a formal correlation based on data.

Friday, August 19, 2011

consolidation in mobiles: #webOS to die as HP looks to exit. RIP, #palm. #symbian dead already. #RIM next? or MS Win Phone?

aug 18th, 2011 CE

is this fallout from the google-motorola deal and apple's apparently insurmountable lead in tablets?

so it's becoming an oligopoly -- iphone and android phones will dominate, with perhaps a distant third player also.

i thought HP webOS had a decent chance at the third slot, but leo apotheker thinks otherwise. 

quite sad, actually. now that HP is looking to shop its PC business, it is exiting smartphones/tablets as well, it looks like. sort of like Cisco killed off the Flip video player, i guess Palm is now history? i was an early palmpilot user and quite liked the platform.

i guess there's no point in being 5th in a 5-horse race.

the others still in the race: RIM's QNX, Microsoft's WinPhone7, Samsung's Bada

RIM *has* to stay in the business, or they shut the company. they have an incentive to push QNX and hardware hard, but their efforts recently have been dismal.

and Microsoft/Nokia -- must rankle MS to be so far behind the leaders, but they have the cash to hang on. so i predict they will remain, keep trying, and eventually get some traction.

samsung should kill bada and drop MS WinPhone7 and just stick to android