I was alerted to this via Nitin’s blog. Last weekend, a line was crossed in Tamil Nadu.
According to a report in The Hindu:
A convoy of Army trucks was attacked near the Neelambur bypass road here (Coimbatore) on Saturday (2nd May) by Tamil chauvinists belonging to the Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (PDK) who claimed that the vehicles were transporting weapons for the Sri Lankan Army for use in the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Over 100 activists, armed with stones and logs, blocked the convoy…The windscreens of some vehicles were smashed, …

Following up on Why the “War Against Terror” cannot be won by guns alone. 
Full credit for alerting me to this goes to borneveryday.
Sh Rahul Gandhi, quoted in a report in DNA India:
“I am confident that this country can take on terrorism. Defeating it is no problem. If we empower those people in villages, we can sit back, relax and we will destroy terrorism in 15 minutes,” Gandhi told a press conference here (New Delhi).
Just to satisfy myself that this was not some kind of a joke, I did some quick googling and …

*** CAUTION: Long Post ***
Over the last few days, as news continued to pour in about Taliban’s seemingly unstoppable march across north-west Pakistan, the question that would not go away in my mind was: Why is this not on the national agenda?
Is the Indian media really clueless? is it really so naive that it does not realise the gravity of the situation? or was this simply something that could be dismissed with a “Yeh to hota hi rahta hai” (and/or its variant: “Kuch nayee baat batao yaar“) ?
And yet, the happenings in Pakistan are not only much …

Connect the dots.
…The Interpol has removed the red-corner notice issued against Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman who is being sought in India  for criminal charges for acting as a conduit for bribes in the Bofors scandal…The 12-year-long Interpol red corner notice…has been withdrawn by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
This comes just three weeks before the Congress-led UPA government’s term ends. [ News dt 28th Apr '09 ]
Next,
…The Supreme Court on Monday (27th) asked the Special Investigation Team to probe a complaint against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi that he and …

Dear All, I am very pleased to share news about the latest initiative from friends at ADR: http://myneta.info/ 
MyNeta is a a phenomenal effort to empower voters and to make them more aware of their candidates’ background, assets and other details from affidavits…Besides being able to see profile of individual candidates, you can also make comparison charts by constituency e.g. here is the chart for Gandhinagar, Sh Advani’s constituency: http://myneta.info/gandhinagar
This time, make an informed choice – and pl. spread the word.
Related Posts:
“Jaago Re!” and ADR – Two Excellent Initiatives 
“Don’t Vote. Select” – brought …

“Freedom…(is)  looking a policeman in the eye…”
- a SEWA member, quoted in a profile of Ela Bhatt 
Related: A few past quotes here.
 

As some of you know, I have been organising a regular monthly get-together of like-minded fellow citizens and concerned Indians in London since the Mumbai Remembrance event that we did in December.
The meetings have continued steadily since the first follow-up in January. The mailing list now includes around 40 people…and we always run short of time (though rarely on food!).
In between the discussions and shared pizzas, we have also managed to raise funds for Loksatta and ADR (Election Watch).
The next meeting is on Monday (27th April) and the agenda is …

Start your weekend with Varnam on Einstein, Nehru and Israel. 
Next, read N Gopalaswami on poll process, Varun and Congress 
have a  look at another site that promises to inform voters…
read Brahma Chellaney on Pakistan’s Terrorist Windfall aka Fail, then reap rewards…
Nicholas D Kristof writes why there may be hope for moderate Islam in Islam, Virgins and Grapes…
and finally, Narayana Murthy on why ‘The Rich Can’t Live In A Make-Believe World In India’.
Enjoy the weekend. Stay healthy. keep smiling.
If you enjoyed this post, pl. consider subscribing to my Daily Feed or the Weekly Newsletter.
and don’t forget …

Courtesy Sunitha, this curious statement from Sh Veeramani of DK, as reported in the New Indian Express (emphasis mine):
The call of Dravidar Kazhagam  leader K Veeramani to “reject the Aryan leaders” in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections has been seen by many as a ploy to promote the politics of Dravidianism, particularly that of the DMK, in the State.
Thiru Veeramani is no stranger to controversy…and he is of course, far too well-read and educated to make this statement out of ignorance…
Sad to see people like him get down to this level …

This is a neat idea…Thanks to Sanjay for tipping me off about this…
As he wrote, it maybe “…worth creating one for each city of India…for corporators upwards to MPs…”
What do you think?

I am trying to get in touch with the team.
Related Posts:
“Jaago Re!” and ADR – Two Excellent Initiatives 
Empowering India and another small step towards change