Start this weekend by finding out why Nandan Nilekani feels obliged to use his position and ideas ”to make a difference to a country on verge of transformation”.
Continue with Why India needs Narendra Modi….
and end with the “usefulness” of History, courtesy Varnam.
Brief excerpts from all the articles below.
Dear Friends, Thanks to all of you for an overwhelming response to my two posts: Who is B Shantanu? and Changing India - One Step at a Time.
I am more hopeful than ever before and absolutely convinced that we are heading towards a transformation of the political landscape in India…It will not happen overnight…or even in weeks or months…But the fire of “hope” has been lit…and it is spreading slowly but steadily…
Many of you who emailed or called me after these posts asked what should they do, how can they help and what were my next steps. This post is an attempt to answer some of these questions…
.
*** What can you do? How can you begin participating in this noble cause? ***
1. Read and read lots…Unless we are well-informed and aware, we will be hostage to media manipulation, poor arguments and suspect statistics. So please make sure that you set aside time every day to read about the issues that face us (and I dont mean newspaper headlines about murders and rapes) and how would you think about them if you were in power? By way of reading list, I would recomend the monthly magazine “Pragati” and a collection of blogs on politics and economy (some names that jump to my mind include Offstumped, Acorn, Deeshaa, Indian Economy, Bharat-Rakshak etc; there are many others…this is just a sample list).
2. Discuss. Try and have regular informal discussions amongst your friends and acquaintances on these topics…they could even be at a social occassion…and need not be very structured…The important thing is to get people “thinking” about India’s problems - and how the roots for all these lie in poor leadership, ineffective governance and bad policies…and of course, please do join the various discussions on this blog. For those of you who would like to join in serious policy discussions, I would recommend the Freedom Team’s Google Groups where many policy-related issues are discussed in great depth (You of course don’t have to agree with everything that is expressed).
3. Get involved directly: Please think about joining one or more of the new political groups/parties that have recently been formed. There is more information on them here and here. Pl. try and use some of the “tools” that we now have to ensure more accountability, such as RTI. If you are in India, please consider these two excellent initiatives…If you have some more time, pl. consider helping ADR
.
*** How can you help? ***
4. You can help in this by spreading the word…Some of you have already done that…Thank you, in particular to Varnam and Dr Surya…but this work is ongoing …and we cannot afford to be complacent.
5. and finally, If you can help organise meeting(s), seminar(s) and/or fund-raising dinners in your city for me, please let me know by emailing me at jaidharma AT gmail.com The “funds” raised thus will be chanelled towards organising the first-ever meeting of leaders from new political parties, hopefully sometime early in 2009 (pl. see point # 6 here). More on this particular point, later.
I have some more ideas which I will share in the coming days. In the meantime, If you need to talk to me with some specific suggestions or ideas, please email me at jaidharma AT gmail.com and we can set up a skype/ googletalk call…or of course speak on the phone.
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
Related Posts:
Fixing the “system” - getting down to the nuts and bolts
Lets come together to build a *new* and proud India
Politics & Corruption: Here�s how to fix the “system”
….and a deja-vu moment.
Courtesy Sridhar, this news-item from earlier today: Karuna does it again, flays Hindus for sporting tilaks
Flaying the Hindu practice of smearing ash or saffron or sporting a ’tilak’ on the forehead for yet another time, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi questioned the need for ‘such things in a country which preached equality of all religions’.
which reminded me of Don’t wear a “tilak” to work ! …
…and of Mark Tully’s memorable quote:
Secular fundamentalism is alive and kicking in India too.
Next target, Sanskrit?
P.S. I doubt that Thiru Karunanidhi needs any education in the significance of either a Tilak or a “Bindu/ Pottu” in Hinduism but I thought it would be nice to refresh my own memory.
A brief excerpt from Ten Questions about Hinduism on the “Bindu/ Pottu”:
Question Eight: Why do many Hindus wear a dot near the middle of their forehead?
A: The dot worn on the forehead is a religious symbol. It represents divine sight and shows that one is a Hindu. For women, it is also a beauty mark.
Longer answer: The dot worn between the eyes or in the middle of the forehead is a sign that one is a Hindu. It is called the bindi in the Hindi language, bindu in Sanskrit and pottu in Tamil. In olden days, all Hindu men and women wore these marks, and they both also wore earrings. Today it is the women who are most faithful in wearing the bindi.
The dot has a mystical meaning. It represents the third eye of spiritual sight, which sees things the physical eyes cannot see. Hindus seek to awaken their inner sight through yoga. The forehead dot is a reminder to use and cultivate this spiritual vision to perceive and better understand life’s inner workings…to see things not just physically, but with the “mind’s eye” as well.
…In addition to the simple dot, there are many types of forehead marks, known as tilaka in Sanskrit. Each mark represents a particular sect or denomination of our vast religion. We have four major sects: Saivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism. Vaishnava Hindus, for example, wear a v-shaped tilaka made of white clay. Elaborate tilakas are worn by Hindus mainly at religious events, though many wear the simple bindi, indicating they are Hindu, even in the general public.
Related Posts:
“Who is this Ram?” - Will Thiru Karunanidhi look at this evidence?
If you thought banning a “tilak” was funny, think again
…aka “The Great Joke that is Indian Media - Part VIII” or…one standard for Sadhvi Pragya and another for Mohammed Shakeel & Zia-ur-Rehman.
On Oct 23, NDTV reported that
The Maharashtra ATS “…claim that they have evidence that Hindu groups were involved in the blast” in Malegaon
Note that although there was only one (single) blast, the headline of the story says: “Police claim to crack Malegaon blasts case” (notice the plural?)
The NDTV report also mentioned that
Evidence of a Hindu group’s involvement was found while tracing the origins of a scooter found in Malegaon.
The Times of India later quoted Jt Commissioner of Police (ATS) saying that
There is no specific organisation to which the three belong…
The ToI report also mentioned:
The Joint Commissioner denied they had found any links between the trio and other right wing groups like Sanatan Sanstha in Maharashtra whose members were accused of carrying out blasts in Navi Mumbai and Thane earlier this year.
To my untrained mind (and speaking as a layman), it reads like Sadhvi Pragya has so far only been accused not convicted…
If you only rely on the English MSM (mainstream media) though, you may have missed that. Also, I have not seen anyone rising to her defence yet…
Quite a contrast to the students of Jamia who are allegedly involved in the terrorist blasts (as in plural) in Delhi. In a statement issued Sept 22nd, their Vice-Chancellor Mushirul Hasan said:
…the university feels morally bound to defend its students until proven guilty and we will use the legal apparatus for this purpose.
Very good.
Sadly Sadhvi Pragya does not belong to any university and appears to be short on any kind of support.
Also Mushirul Hasan almost got away with accusing the police of lying about the involvement of Jamia students in the Delhi attack:
On Saturday, I informed the minister for human resource development, the secretary and joint secretary of the MHRD and the chairman of the University Grants Commission that Jamia students had no connection with the unfortunate incident.” However, he simultaneously confirms that two of the students picked up by the police on Sunday are on the rolls of the university. [ link ]
…but I have not seen any one accusing the Maharashtra ATS of that (yet).
I would like to end with a quote by Prof Hasan:
“ (the students)…cannot be branded as terrorists until proven guilty — and if they are proven guilty by the court of law, not a tear will be shed by anyone.”
Amen.
P.S.Did anyone notice that the Sadhvi has been cleared of any involvement in the Modasa blast?
…Sabarkantha DSP KK Mysorewala also reached the city to question the Sadhvi in relation with Modasa blast. He gave her clean chit in the case.
“I interrogated the Sadhvi but didn’t find anything that could link her to Modasa blast,” he said.
Related Posts:
“The great joke that is Indian Media” series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7
Malegaon, SIMI, “rule in and rule out”…
and finally, a thought-provoking piece by Sandhya Jain: Karachi, Kansas, Kurukshetra.
A dozen bombs, at least fifty dead and more than three hundred injured…
The government remains clueless…
“It is very early to make a conclusion but ULFA has a history of triggering serial blasts,” Assam’s Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters minutes after the explosions.
even as “…ordinary people believe it as an HuJI attack and Congress government was protecting them by bringing ULFA’s name into picture.”
Their view is echoed by Assam Police:
“The needle of suspicion points to jehadi outfits who are behind subversive activities in the state,” IGP (Special Branch) Khagen Sharma said here.
The jehadi elements, including Bangladesh-based HUJI, could be working in groups or individually, the senior police official said the modus operandi pointed to their involvement.
“While investigation will go on, the police have been zeroing in on Islamic fundamentalist forces which of late have been active in the state and the region,” he said.
…Kamrup (Metro) Deputy Commissioner Prateek Hajela also suspected the involvement of HUJI militants [ link ]
All the blasts took place almost simultaneously…which suggests a high degree of sophistication and coordination.
Sad statistic of the day: With 19 bomb blasts over a period of last six years the Ganeshguri point of the Guwahati city is arguably one of the most bombed place of country. [ link ]
A Roll Call of Terror:
Dec ‘05: New Delhi: Four Years, Two Attacks, One Story
Mar ‘06: Varanasi: Anger, tears and despair
Jul ‘06: Mumbai: Blasts? What Blasts? ‘Yeh to hota hi rahta hai‘
Aug ‘07: Hyderabad: Another day, another blast - “Kuch nayee baat batao yaar”
May ‘08: Jaipur: Jihadi attack in Jaipur?
Jul ‘08: Bangalore: Blasts in Bangalore…3 killed already
Sept ‘08: New Delhi “Dastardly terror blasts” in Delhi
Jul ‘08: Ahmedabad: Attack in Ahmedabad: Time to say NO MORE
.
Also see Tackling Terrorism: One Step at a Time
Dear All, pl. continue the robust discussion on “Why are Christian Missionaries targeting India - III” below.
I have reproduced the last four comments for the sake of continuity. Please continue the discussion via comments to this post.
*** Comments from Why are Christian Missionaries targeting India - III ***
# ‘42,000 converted, only two followed law’
KANDHAMAL (Orissa): There has been a 66 percent growth in Christian population in Orissa’s Kandhamal region, which has seen attacks on Christians and churches. Of the 42,353 who adopted Christianity between 1991 and 2001, only two followed law to change religion.
According to data available with the district collectorate, the Christian population in Kandhamal was 117,950 in the 2001 census, up from 75,597 a decade earlier.
“The Christian growth rate in the district is 66 percent as against 18.6 percent for the overall population growth in the district,” District Collector Krishan Kumar told IANS.
Of the over 650,000 people in the troubled district, at least 53 percent are tribals, less than 20 percent Christians. Of the nearly 118,000 Christians, a majority has converted from Dalit families.
more here.
Comment by Bharat | October 27, 2008
# Crime Branch sleuths chasing Congress RS Member Radhakant Nayak
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
By Anurjay Dhal
Bhubaneswar: Congress Rajya Sabha member Radhakant Nayak is on run. If unconfirmed reports are to be believed, Nayak, alleged villain behind Swami Laxmananda Saraswati’s murder, is in trouble.
Crime Branch of Orissa Police looking into the brutal murder of noted Hindu saint has reportedly listed name of Nayak as an accused, who is very close to Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi for his Church back-ground and searching him in several areas for his role.
Sources pointed out that police might lay it hand either on Radhakant Nayak or his men. Nayak, a former bureaucrat, was considered the chief patron of Pana Christians and protector of the Church in the district.
However some adverse IB report against him came as a hurdle. In 2004 he was elected to Rajya Sabha on Congress ticket. Hindutava forces always suspected his hand behind the killing. Alleged involvement of Nayak would also help BJP to target Sonia Gandhi.
more here.
Comment by Bharat | October 28, 2008
# …On the other hand, Swami Vidyanand is white and Bhakti Swami Thirtha Krishnapad is an African American but are revered by all Hindus, regardless of race. There is no talk of white swami or African American swami.
My take: ISKCON have brown, white, black, etc Swamijis, and devotees from all color spectrums, race, nationality, languages. And they are nobodys concern, but the devotion and love to Krishna.
========
Christian church is obsessed with race
Published:Oct 26, 2008
The Times
It is a white supremacist mindset that claims “Pope Benedict XVI has created India’s first woman saint”.
Sister Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception is not “India’s first woman saint” but the first Christian, or more specifically Catholic, woman saint in India. India has many woman saints belonging to the homegrown faiths.
If race consciousness were not so pronounced in the Christian church, especially the Catholic church, she would have been a saint for the entire Catholic world.
After all, the media did not refer to Mohammed Siddique Khan, the mastermind of the London bombings of July 7 2005, as a British terrorist (although he was born in Britain) but as an Islamic terrorist.
Similarly, a Catholic saint, even if born in India, is a Catholic saint, not an Indian saint.
For instance, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, although he resided in the West for a great number of years, was always described in the media as an Indian Rishi, Yogi, spiritual master, etc.
On the other hand, Swami Vidyanand is white and Bhakti Swami Thirtha Krishnapad is an African American but are revered by all Hindus, regardless of race. There is no talk of white swami or African American swami.
Another noteworthy example of the Christian obsession with race was the picture of former Miss Deaf World, the lovely Candice Morgan, sporting a symbol of Hindu affirmation, the bindi, on her forehead. On April 15 2007, in an interview on the TV1 programme Spirit Sundae, Morgan stated that she was a Christian.
Many Indian Christians have taken to sporting such symbols of Hindu affirmation in the new South Africa in order to repackage their racism as culture, in order to segregate themselves from Christians of other races, especially black Christians.
Some Indian Christians no longer want to be buried in what used to be called “sanctified ground” but choose to enter the Christian heaven via the back door, the Clare Estate Hindu Crematorium, previously regarded as a “demonic” place! These are the clever ways of racism. — REALITY CHECK
http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/News/Article.aspx?id=870299
Comment by Bharat | October 28, 2008
# Hi to all
Check this website
Comment by Indian | October 28, 2008
Related Posts:
“Why have Missionaries chosen to attack India?”
“Why are Christian Missions targetting India?” - II
Why are Christian Missionaries targeting India - III
*** UPDATE ***
You can still participate in the poll by clicking on clicking on this link. Thanks
***
A few weeks ago, I requested you to take part in a poll on “What is stopping you from joining active politics?“.
I am very pleased with the level of participation. I got over a 100 responses and also some though-provoking comments e.g. “…Fear that at the end I will be forced to be corrupt for survival sake” and “no inner party democracy in any party…”. But first, the results…
Poll: What is stopping you from joining active politics? (only one response was allowed)
Inability to raise funds for campaigning: 24%
Family responsibilities: 20%
Loss of income: 18%
Worry about personal safety: 15%
Fear of not succeeding: 8%
Risk to personal reputation: 6%
Not worth it: 5%
Other: 4%
The single biggest reason(s) stopping good, thinking, committed people from joining active politics are
Sanjay of Freedom Team conducted a similar poll on the FTI website for FTI members. The results from that poll revealed that although members were keen to contest elections, 60% of them cited “lack of funds” as the prime reason of dropping out.
Surprisingly, only 10% gave “family reasons” as a reason for not contesting (I guess this is because most FTI members are senior professionals in various fields and are less worried about potential loss of future earnings).
Interestingly, 20% (as against 8% in my poll) mentioned “pessimism of winning” (fear of not succeeding) as a reason for not considering joining active politics. Does this mean there are more pessimists amongst FTI members - or are they more realistic? I will look forward to thoughts and comments from Sanjay, Sanjeev Sabhlok and others on this.
I will add my thoughts and analysis (hopefully) later today…
In the meantime, please share your thoughts, suggestions and ideas on the results…and what would you do to change people’s perceptions re. active politics.
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
Related Posts:
What is stopping you from joining active politics?
Fixing the “system” - getting down to the nuts and bolts
Lets come together to build a *new* and proud India
A Marathi Manoos’ house is ransacked in Jamshedpur for no other reason except that he belonged to the wrong “state”
A 10-year old boy - almost certainly too young to understand what the fuss is all about - gets killed in Bihar
Four people are killed in violence at Kalyan that erupted after Sh Raj Thackeray’s arrest.
The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation suffers a loss of Rs 30 Lakhs in two days of violence which resulted in 286 of its buses being damaged.
And the last “not funny” bit:
A Sikh group supports Raj’s cause and his “approach” since the “state doesn’t provide suitable enviournment for non-violent struggle”…Oh, by the way, they also express alarm at the “heavy influx” of migrant population into the state and accuse all political parties of “pursuing narrow political ends” [ link ].
Will Sh Thackeray now show genuine leadership and commitment to national interest and call off his mis-guided supporters?
Related Posts:
There is a “राष्ट्र” in “महाराष्ट्र”…
After Maharashtra, it is the turn of West Bengal
…in which I get annoyed by Praful Bidwai’s gratuitous reference to “ethnic cleansing” and “communal clashes” while conveniently forgetting Assam where these words have taken on an entirely different meaning…and the scale of human misery has well surpassed the killings and attacks in Orissa, Karnataka etc..
Related Post:
The not so “communal” clashes in Assam
I first heard of “Jago Party” a few months ago during some meetings I had in Delhi. Earlier this month, I finally got around to visiting their website and leaving a comment requesting an interview with their founders/ leaders.
I was impressed by the speed of response…My comment was acknowledged within a day and I got responses to my email questions within a week…Without further ado, below is an email interview with Deepak Mittal, Founder President of ”Jago Party”.
Please also read Interview with Ujjwal Banerjee - Part I and Interview with Geeta Gokhale, BPD - Part I
*** Interview begins ***
Q. What is your stance towards economic reforms?
A. In a recent (2008) survey done by World Bank in respect of ease of doing business, India stands at the dismal rank of 122 out of 181 countries. There is an urgent need to facilitate private investment in all areas of economy. Besides, several government and public sector enterprises are working as a drag on the economy by remaining financially unviable, inefficient and corrupt. They should be either privatized or run on commercial lines. Number of taxes and tax rates need to be reduced drastically. Government spending in the name of the poor by way of various welfare schemes and subsidy is ridden with massive corruption and inefficiency and hence it must be completely dismantled. This should be replaced by direct transfer of cash to the poor. All these measures have already been included in the manifesto of Jago Party.
Q. What is your position on campaign finance? Corruption in elections/ vote-rigging?
First this weekend, a post by Sandeep in which he explains why Aravind Adiga’s ”White Tiger” is award-winning India-bashing. To Sandeep’s analysis, I would add this nugget (Hat Tip: Sh Kak; emphasis mine)
Michael Portillo, chairman of the five-member judging panel, praised The White Tiger…
“What set this one apart was its originality,” Portillo said. “For many of us this was entirely new territory — the dark side of India.
“It’s a book that gains from dealing with very important social issues — the divisions between rich and poor and the impossibility of the poor escaping from their lot in India.”
Next, a fascinating scheme involving “naked” streets (i.e. streets without road signs, traffic lights etc) being trialled in London which suggests that the apparently mindless chaos on Indian roads may actually be saving lives and increasing road-safety!
Brief excerpts from all the articles below:
.
…for India.
Picked this up y’day morning…(Courtesy Paul Kedrosky) ” Pakistan, The Land That Financial Bad News Forgot: Part II“. The really scary bit is towards the end…(in bold - emphasis mine):
Given all the pain in markets last week, I thought it would be a good time to check in again on The Land That Financial Bad News Forgot. Yes, Pakistan.
If you recall, the wise folks running the Karachi Exchange decided back in August that they would put a floor under the KSE at 9100. After watching stocks tumble 40% in the preceding six months, no longer would investors have to worry about their stocks falling further. They could only drop enough to take the index to 9100, and then … well, they couldn’t fall further. Bad news be damned!
…After a few palpitations, the Karachi market has now flat-lined. …Volumes have collapsed, going from a healthy 186-million shares a day to a comatose million shares a day, a 99.4% decline. It is simply no longer a viable exchange, with companies unable to raise money and investors unable to get liquidity or — heaven forfend — buy shares. Nothing. Traders are reduced to sleeping and playing video games.
…At the same time, the “badla” rate, a sort of interest rate at which investors can borrow money, soared to 100% on Friday, making the record-high Libor look positively like a giveaway. It is, in short, really, really bad.
But the news gets even worse.
The country’s debt has been downgraded by S&P deep into junk status; it has just enough foreign reserves to pay for two months of imports; and Pakistan looks increasingly like it will default on a major loan on Friday, plus it has $3-billion more in upcoming debt payments. Unless something happens quickly, we are about to see what happens when you have a systemic collapse in a nuclear power next door to a terrorist hotbed.
Paul slightly amended his last sentence in one of the comments to:
…Let’s call it a systemic collapse of a country containing a sizable terrorist faction.
Also stumbled on this earlier today: Pakistan’s “Macabre” Economics in which Desh has this memorable sentence:
Aid was Pakistan’s “monetary and fiscal policy”. When it was absent, then it was Nuke and military sales.
Adjacent Posts:
Terrorism and Public Opinion in Pakistan
India - Pakistan: Notes from an Island
Emergency in Pakistan: Opportunity or Headache? Part-II and finally,
The “Raja-Mandala” approach to containing Pakistan
Many of you must have, read about the controversial move by the Maharashtra state government to amend the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC) Sec. 125 with a view to legalising “live-in relationships”. I spent a few hours today gathering links in favour of and against the debate.
The arguments that have been made “for” this move are:
It will protect the interests and rights of the so-called ‘mistress’ or ‘other woman’. We may not admit it but we all know that these women are the worst sufferers in the current system in spite of giving up years of their lives (and more) to one man without any legal protection at all (especially in cases of abuse or harrassment). The move would equate such women to legally married wives in matters of property, inheritance and maintenance
In the words of women’s activist Flavia Agnes:
“…Men, who until now used to deny such a relationship on grounds that the marriage was never conducted as per Hindu rites, shall now have no escape route…” (and) this will protect the rights of such women who had limited protection under the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 [ link ]
As Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research in Delhi said:
You need a law that protects children and entitles these women to a share or property. It is a step forward in recognising the autonomous rights of women [ link ]
Timeless post by Varnam on why Thiru Karunanidhi and Mallika Sherawat are closer than you think.
Atanu Dey writes about a creative way to fund 50 new IITs.
And an unusual group that brings together the secular and the sacred on the US presidential election trail.
Brief excerpts from all the articles below.
.
As I chanced upon this news-item yesterday, “Five cops…suspended…nexus between cops and the drug mafia“, I was reminded of this article from earlier this week: Vulnerable India faces a new threat by Ramtanu Maitra in which he wrote, “…India is becoming increasingly unstable…(and) the latest source of instability is the growing inflow of drugs and the establishment of drug-trafficking networks inside India…”
Sh. Maitra cited the latest report (March ‘08) of the International Narcotics Control Board which mentioned (that): “…the use of courier services for drug trafficking is on the rise in India, and the country is increasingly being used as a major transit as well as destination country for smuggling of banned substances…”
While the International Narcotics Control report did not go into any details about drug trafficking in India, the increasing prevalance of drugs in the border areas and rise in drug trafficking is well documented…
Alongside Goa, Rajasthan and Himachal are fast becoming major transit areas for movement of drugs within and outside India.
In pristine Himachal, the roots of drug smuggling can be traced to the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which led to “settlement of displaced Afghans in Kullu” and consequently “…to the first planned business in trade and cultivation of narcotics in that area. Afghan settlers preferred the hilly terrain of Kullu-Manali for climatic reasons. They gradually developed links with local youths, and soon heralded the era of “smack, heroin, and brown sugar” in that region…” [ link ].
Manali’s links with the drug trade have been known for at least a few years now as is the heavy presence of Israelis in the region. According to this report in The Hindu, the Israeli government …”has established a camp in Manali town of Himachal Pradesh to rescue their citizens from becoming drug addicts and educate them about their religion.”
and my inferences are based on...
