I don�t know how many of you came across this story of a graduate from Deoband making it through the UPSC Civil Services Examinations
The story is good and inspiring but the odd thing is the way in which it has been reported.� Note the differences (in blue) and enjoy (emphasis mine):
From: Madrasa student cracks civils�by Mateen Hafeez | TNN
Mumbai: At a time when eyebrows are being raised about education standards in madrasas, a maulana from the Darul-Uloom-Deoband in Uttar Pradesh has passed the country’s most elite examination, the civil services …

This post was inspired by Hrishi and Dnyanesh’s comments�which I am reproducing below. The point raised by Hrishi was (essentially) that democracy and politics (of the modern kind) is incompatible with religion…
***
Comment by Hrishi on 5th May
…There�re are few points I thought worth making, as saw them:
…iii) Viewing religion as a politically relevant practice is more of an imported concept, definitely applcable today to �Hinduism� but I am inclined to believe its more of a �me too� reaction to the activities of the more organised and politically (as against …

Yesterday, I was alerted to this news-report from earlier this week in which�Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad�was�quoted as saying:
the state of Israel will cease to exist with or without the involvement of his country.
‘This will happen whether we are involved in it or not,’ the Iranian leader told a news conference…..
He had been asked to explain his statement earlier this week in which he said the Jewish state would soon disappear from the map.
This is�not the first time�that Mr Ahmedinejad has expressed similar sentiments…But the reason this particular report caught my …

Did anyone�notice the missing “T-word”?
From JK: Six militants killed; blast on Amarnath route�
…Six militants were killed across Kashmir in separate incidents on Monday.
From Four militants killed in J&K encounter:
…Four Lashkar-e-Toiba militants, including a self-styled district commander of the outfit, were killed in separate encounters with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla and Kupwara districts…
…sources said…the slain militants were believed to be Pakistan nationals.
From Army kills two militants in Jammu and Kashmir�
…Two militants were killed in a gun battle with soldiers in a village in Baramulla district of Jammu and …

First, some excerpts from Internet key to Obama victories, by Steve Schifferes � BBC MMVIII
“With Barack Obama moving close to victory in the Democratic presidential primary campaign, the internet has proved one of the key tools to his success…
The internet has been moving to the mainstream of political life in the US for some years. But in this presidential cycle it has been particularly important for the Obama campaign, which was starting from scratch with few resources and little name recognition.
The internet favours the outsider, and gives them the ability …

In my previous post, I has asked the question: What could be the reason(s) for the Government’s continued silence on the matter of Netaji’s disappearance?
It would be tempting to blame this on partisan politics but actually it is not just the Congress that has failed us in this regard.  As Anuj Dhar mentions: “The BJP seems to be in unison with the Congress over the Subhas Bose death case. That’s why you haven’t heard anything on this matter from their senior leaders, with the notable exception of Dr Murli Manohar …

Like many of you, I have often wondered how India’s present would have looked if Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had lived (and led) an independent India.
Last week I was alerted to this site dedicated to finding the truth behind Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s tragic disappearance from the national freedom struggle in 1945 (Thanks a lot, Mohan). Specifically it deals with the Mukherjee Commission (which was the third official proble into Netaji’s disappearance) and what came out of it.
The site mentions how the government tried hard to stall the work of …

From an article in UK’s Daily Mail today:
The Church of England was accused by one of its most senior bishops yesterday of failing in its duty to convert British Muslims to Christianity.
…The Pakistani-born bishop…was echoing concerns that many Church leaders are abandoning attempts to spread Christianity among Muslims out of fear of a backlash.
The bit that I found most interesting was this:
Synod member Paul Eddy…said that the active recruitment of non-believers and adherents of other faiths had always been a Biblical injunction on Christians, commanded by Christ himself.
But …

By now, most of you must have read the story�of the�amazing comparison�by our�esteemed Home Minister:
In highly controversial remarks that could embarrass the UPA Government, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has drawn a curious parallel between Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, an Indian in an Indian jail, and Sarabjit Singh, an Indian in a Pakistani jail. Calling for Afzal Guru�s death, he said, doesn�t go with demanding clemency for Sarbajit.
As Nitin points out on The Acorn:
India must be the only country in the world where the government finds ever more dubious …

Many of you must have read and followed with great interest the avalanche of comments in response to the events in Karnataka involving Lok Paritran.
Several of you have also underlined how important it is for all of us to come together and join this fight against corruption, ineffective governance and indifferent political leadership that we currently have – both at the national as well as state level.
Fortunately a number of options exist.
For those of you who are keen to plunge into active politics straight away, I would suggest having a …