On the demoralising effect of the Sixth Pay Commission on the Armed Forces: A General’s letter in anguish to the PM
On the cheerleaders controversy: A Culture of Tolerance�
On the developments in Nepal: India gifts Nepal to China�
On how some Koranic schools in Africa are forcing children into beggary: Islamic Islamic schools turn African kids into beggars�
On Flat World Hindutva – A Moral Compass to guide on Contemporary Issues�
Excerpts below

A recent BBC report suggests that, “…some computer keyboards harbour more harmful bacteria than a toilet seat”
“…Out of 33 keyboards swabbed, four were regarded as a potential health hazard and one harboured five times more germs than one of the office’s toilet seats.  Microbiologist Dr Peter Wilson said a keyboard was often “a reflection of what is in your nose and in your gut”.
During the Which? tests in January this year, a microbiologist deemed one of the office’s keyboards to be so dirty he ordered it to be removed, quarantined …

This is beyond being “funny”
“…(Maharashtra) state Finance Minister Jayant Patil…announced in the state legislative assembly that 80 per cent jobs in companies that will now open units in Maharashtra must go to locals.
…The finance minister also defined the Marathi manoos.  It has to be a person who has been living in Maharashtra for more than 15 years and knows Marathi, he said.
I fail the test…miserably.
The problem is – in my entire life, I have never lived for 15 years in any single city or state…Who will hire me now?

And …

A few weeks ago, I had asked the question, Can NRIs become MPs in India?
I now understand that not only NRIs but even foreigners can apparently become MPs provided they have the right documents
….the CBI in its final probe report before the Supreme Court said the documents produced by Congress MP from Assam Mani Kumar Subba to claim Indian citizenship were “not correct”
If the findings of the CBI are held to be correct by the apex court after scrutinising the response of the MP, Subba could stand to lose his …

Unfortunately this is one list which does not stir any pride:�Dawood 4th ‘most wanted’ criminal on Forbes list�

Some�believe naming and shaming the criminals and the countries that harbour them will help�
Referring to the Forbes list, former CBI director U S Misra (said)…”These lists will put pressure on such countries which will have to answer their own people in due course for giving shelter to the fugitives.”
Misra, a former Interpol vice-president, said details of such fugitives…will tell the world how the country concerned was not cooperating with Interpol by …

Many of you may have come across this information about “Ancient Indian Scientists” before. I received it in a chain email but I shall be most grateful if any reader(s) have links or references to the original source(s).
There are many assertions and statements here that have not been verified or explained (see e.g. the entry on Acharya Bharadwaj who is credited with advances in aviation technology*). We need to source and evidence these it to make it more credible.
Some excerpts below (statements on which I need help are marked …

First, the good news.
Last week Freedom Team�released the first issue of its magazine with the following preface:
�…We all want a Great India. But why is there so much failure around us despite these good intentions? ……bad governance and bad policies have added up to make India a highy corrupt, poor nation…why should our governance be so bad?
We believe it is primarily because our best people�do not enter politics. The Freedom Team has chosen to fix this problem. The Team will bring togther 1500 leaders…and��provide Indians with high qiuality candidates …

I recently came across this interesting admission by a senior US government official putting it on record that:
Saudi Arabia today remains the location where more money is going to terrorism, to Sunni terror groups and to the Taliban than any other place in the world
As the report, Saudi Arabia’s Terror Finance Problem by Douglas Farah notes,
There is little willingness to tackle the Saudis anymore on the issue of cracking down on terror finance. Intelligence services here and in Europe know most of the money for the mujahadeed in Iraq, Afghanistan …

I discovered earlier today that I am on Alltop’s India page.
For those of you who may not be familiar with Alltop, here is a little bit about them.�
Alltop helps “you explore your passions by collecting stories from �all the top� sites on the web.”
These collections are grouped “into individual Alltop sites based on topics such as environment, photography, science, celebrity gossip, fashion…”etc and each of them “display the latest five stories from thirty or more sites on a single page” in what is called “single-page aggregation.�
“…You can think of an …

Courtesy Radha Rajan�enjoy.
This afternoon one of the CNN-IBN news report is that over a 100 militants have �slipped/slinked/sneaked� into J&K . They may be heading towards Bandepura. I decided to take off to J&K pronto and do my CNN-IBN citizen journalist sleuthing.
***** Report BEGINS *****
Hi, i am now standing with Muhammad Maqbool Malik who first told CNN IBN about the infiltration. Let me pan my camera for the stunning visuals.
Malik saheb, can you please us what is this thing over which we are standing?
This is the watch tower of the …