Continuing the series on our “Param Veers”, today the story of Lt Col “Adi” Tarapore, hero of the Battle of Phillora – by most accounts, the biggest tank battle during the war with Pakistan in 1965.
From the Indian Army website:

The Param Vir Chakra is awarded for most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self sacrifice, in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea, or in the air. The …

Many of you may have read Nitin’s recent article in Yahoo! India on an unusual approach to deal with the matter of illegal immigration from Bangladesh. As he noted, the problem is old…and a real threat to national security…(emphasis added)
“Probably the most important event in (Assam) during the last 25 years — an event, moreover, which seems likely to alter permanently the whole future of Assam and the whole structure of Assamese culture and civilization — has been the invasion of a vast horde of land-hungry Bengali immigrants, mostly Muslims, …

Continuing the series on our “Param Veers”…please take a moment today to remember the “Heroes of Tithwal“, Company Havildar Major Piru Singh Shekhawat and Lance Naik Karam Singh.
From the Indian Army website:

The Param Vir Chakra is awarded for most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self sacrifice, in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea, or in the air. The decoration may be awarded posthumously.

*** Saluting our Heores – The Param …

…but still could not find anything to support your contention that “many…jain/buddhist temples (were) destroyed to build hindu temples” (pl read the beginning of this discussion here; emphasis added, throughout)
*** CAUTION: Long Post ***
Below, I have made an attempt at addressing each of your points (in bold blue) one-by-one. I have also made serious efforts to provide references wherever possible. Pl do point out if I have missed something.  You will recall that in the first response to my tweet asking you to name three Jain/Buddhist temples destroyed to build …

A thought-provoking excerpt for the week (emphasia added):
Our English schools are flourishing wonderfully. We find it difficult, indeed, in some places impossible, to provide instruction for all who want it. At the single town of Hoogly fourteen hundred boys are learning English.
The effect of this education on the Hindoos is prodigious.
No Hindoo, who has received an English education, ever remains sincerely attached to his religion. Some continue to profess it as matter of policy;but many profess themselves pure Deists, and some embrace Christianity.

It is my firm belief that, if our …

Thanks to Sandeep for alerting me to this post by Sh Rajeev Chandrasekhar, published yesterday. In the post (emphasis added), Sh Chandrasekhar mentioned how 421 million fellow Indians continue to live in abject conditions (almost a third of our population) even as the country registers a growth of 8.5% and how the private wealth of 49 Indians on Forbes list is nearly 31% of India’s GDP.
He asked a simple question:
…So, where is the money going? Why are we so complacent about people’s lives? Why is there no debate or Bharat …

Several months ago, while idly surfing the web, I stumbled on a somewhat oddly titled monograph*. It read: “Passage to Hindu State: DharmaRajya and RajaDharma” – A Socio-Political Study of the Mahabharata”
It was a serendipitious discovery. I can hardly claim to be an authority on ancient history or the socio-political traditions of the Vedic period but I feel that Dr Nagarajan‘s work deserves serious study – and wider dissemination.  The main focus of his research has been to develop a socio-political constitution for this sub-continent from the point of view …

…comes the news that almost half of the candidates* standing for the Assembly elections in Bihar * have pending criminal cases against them…

Worse, “Several of these criminal charges are serious charges, like Murder, Criminal Intimidation, assault, wrongful restraint, etc.”
Some of the more “note-worthy” candidates include Rajesh Kumar Raushan urf Babloo Deo (RJD) who has “7 charges related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307)” against him;  Shankar Singh (LJP)  with “17 charges related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) and 12 charges related to Murder (IPC Section-302) against him and Manoranjan …

I wonder whats next? Misguided Tourists?
This is what I am talking about…

Screenshot of Google World News webpage taken at around 1.16am IST
Related Posts:
Very very bad militants
My name is whatever…and I’m not a terrorist
Bad Militants…
The missing “T-word”
Somewhat Related: Why the “War Against Terror” cannot be won by guns alone
Also read: Why terrorists are called “militants” in India

Some of you may remember a Discussion we had at IIT-Delhi, courtesy the IIT-D Alumni Association and FTI, a few weeks back (Aug ’10). The digital recording is finally in and I have slowly begun the process of editing it in manageable snippets and uploading them on the web. I am about half-way through this exercise (expect to complete by weekend) and this is my favourite snippet so far. It is in response to a question by Dr Vijay Saluja, Convenor, Social Outreach Committee, IITDAA
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Feedback, comments and thoughts very welcome. …