Every Indian has right to settle anywhere: SC

The Supreme Court asserted that every Indian has the right to settle anywhere in the country.

A Bench of Justices H K Sema and Markandey Katju remarked.

"India is not an association or confederation of states, it is a union of states and there is only one nationality that is Indian. Hence every Indian has right to go anywhere in India, to settle anywhere, and work and do business of his choice in any part of India peacefully," The apex court deplored the growing tendency of some sections in indulging in violence on issues that they differed on.

The Bench said

"We are one nation and must respect each other and should have tolerance," .

Quoting Tamil poet Subramaniam Bharti, the apex court said

"this Bharat Mata has crores of faces! But her body is one. She speaks 18 languages! But her thought is one."

Are political parties listening? Can we start this from Jammu and Kashmir?

Technorati Tags: India,Jammu and Kashmir,Politics

Tibet and Palestine: Why this double standard from GOI?

In a shameful incident, India has cracked down on protesting India-based Tibetans. GOI in a statement said

“The Government of India does not permit Tibetans to engage in anti-China political activities in India."

A leader of Tibetan activists, Chime Youngdrung condemned the crackdown and said

"We condemn this decision by the Indian authorities to treat these peaceful Tibetan marchers as criminals,"

India has in the past been sympathetic to the Tibetan cause but in recent years Delhi's relations with Beijing have improved and India has not allowed large-scale public protests for fear of embarrassing Beijing.

Meanwhile, Thousands of Chinese soldiers and police were surrounding two Buddhist monasteries in Lhasa yesterday in an effort to crush the biggest wave of street protests by Tibetan monks since the 1980s. The rare wave of demonstrations began on Monday when about 500 monks from Drepung monastery held a protest march in Lhasa to mark the 49th anniversary of a Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.

Why is Government and the communist Watch Dogs not protesting against this? Why is GOI taking using a different standards when addressing Israel/Palestine issue. GOI has used strongest words to protest the Blockade of Gaza. The Muslim Organisations in India also protested against the happening in Gaza. In fact, GOI even readied a assistance package for Palestine. A spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said

“The misery and hardship faced by the people of Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip, is deplorable. India condemns the use of force on the civilian population of Palestine and calls upon all sides, including Israel, to exercise restraint.”

“A package of such assistance is being worked out and will be announced shortly. India also stands ready to help the peace process move forward,” said a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs.

While, Israel claims that the blockade of Gaza was to protect its citizens from Harm. They said

Since Hamas took over the Gaza strip in a coup in June last year, 697 Qassam rockets and 822 mortar shells have been fired on cities in Israel without provocation.

We can understand the position (or silence in this case) taken by Communists as they have to keep their masters happy but why is congress have such ballant double standards?

Technorati Tags: China,Communists,International,Politics

Indo-Italian Sonia Gandhi, Longest serving Congress Chief

March 14, 1998, was the day the Congress had, through a “constitutional coup”, ousted Kesri as its 60th president and anointed Indo-Italian Sonia Gandhi, flagging off a new era for the then 113-year-old party. Now, Sonia has the  unique distinction of becoming the longest serving Congress president. Even Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi did not have the privilege of holding the post for 10 years at a stretch.

There is a interesting story about how Sita Ram Kesri was Ousted in a classic "coup" so typical of congress.  The ailing Kesri  had arrived at the Congress Working Committee meeting at 24 Akbar Road convinced that a party president could not be forced out. He did not know that before the 11am meeting, most CWC members had gathered at Pranab Mukherjee’s home to endorse two crucial statements. The first was an ultimatum asking Kesri to step down; the second a resolution replacing him with Sonia. As soon as Kesri stepped into the hall he could sense the mood: loyalist Tariq Anwar was the only one who stood up to greet him.

As Kesri sat cross-legged, Pranab began reading out a resolution “thanking” him for his services and invoking clause J of article 19 of the Congress constitution. A dumbstruck Kesri listened to its provisions: the CWC could act beyond its constitutional powers in “special situations” as long as it got the decision ratified by the All India Congress Committee within six months.

Kesri railed at the “unconstitutional” meeting and screamed that he was still the Congress chief. But Jitendra Prasada, a party vice-president, was already announcing amid thunderous applause that “madam Sonia Gandhi” was the new leader.

The axed president stormed out, followed by Anwar. He spent over an hour in his office calling up h is advisers, but it was already getting difficult to hear them amid the crackers and slogans welcoming Sonia. When Kesri stepped out of the room, his nameplate was missing, replaced by a computer printout that said: “Congress president Sonia Gandhi”.

Sonia has come a long way from her "disastrous" initial days which ranged from claiming to have adequate seats to form Government after 12th Lok Sabha Election to Relinquishing Prime Minister Post after her "Inner Voice" didnot agree with her Head.

Now  she has mastered the art of exercising power from behind the scenes goes without saying. Rules and regulations are interpreted or amended to suit her wishes. This amounts to wielding power without being accountable. She enjoys the role. Indeed, she has added new vocabulary to the lexicon of politics: power without responsibility.

But the paradox in Ms Gandhi's leadership is that while she has been growing stronger, the party is getting weaker. The Congress, which was ruling in 14 States when she took over the party, is now in power in just four States. The overall confusion is telling on the organisation. After the recent debacle in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, the murmurs from Congressmen have become louder. The charges of favouritism where some people hold more than one position while others are ignored, and the lack of nurturing of grassroots leaders by the leadership, are among the most common complaints

Will she now listen to her sons voice who has candidly admitted

“India is a democratic country, but there is practically no internal democracy in any party, be it the Congress, BJP or any other,”

Technorati Tags: Congress,Sonia Gandhi

Move over Lux, Welcome Sex

According to a research from Queen’s University in Belfast, a good morning session at least three times a week can keep you in good health. 

This can make the hair shine and skin glow by raising the output of oestrogen and other hormones which are associated with it.

It also decreases the risk of heart attack or stroke by half and improves circulation, thereby reducing blood pressure. 

For the health freaks, a 60 Minute session can as many as 300 calories.

But hold on before you jump into the bed (for the traditionalists). As per the 2005 Durex survey, Indians do it only 75 times a year which would mean approx. 1.5 times a week. So please donot get your hopes high and continue using lux.

Tailpiece: As per the same Durex survey, Greeks lead the race with 138 times and year. If we believe Queens University Research, we would have to hit the magic figure of 156 times a year to start getting benefits

Technorati Tags: Social,Humor

Still untouchable!

IN THEIR LONG struggle for equality, India's dalits, or "untouchables," have often exchanged their Hinduism for Christianity  believing that they will lead better lives by doing so.  At the time of conversion, they are assured that they are being inducted into a religious fold that is egalitarian and free from the twin curses of caste and untouchability. But the reality is altogether different.

In a recent incident, upper caste Catholics attacked  Dalits Christians, destroying dozens of their homes for demanding a separate parish.  Two Christians died and many more were wounded shot by police who intervened to stop the clashes.

Troubles started on 7 March when a group of Dalit Christians from the Villupuram district began a hunger strike to protest discrimination in a local parish by the Vanniyar.

Three months ago Dalits from St Jabamalais Annai Church in Earyur built another church dedicated to Saghaya Madha (Our Lady of perpetual Help) and sought to have it erected as a separate parish with its own priest.

In response some 500 upper caste Christians went on a rampage on Sunday, attacking Dalits and torching over 30 huts.

Fr G Cosmon Arokiaraj, secretary to the Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India says

“For years Dalits have been discriminated within the Church itself. They cannot sit with upper caste members in the same church; they are buried in separate cemeteries; they cannot use the same roads as upper caste people. When the mother of a Dalit priest died in the 1990s the upper caste did not allow the funeral procession to use the main road; even the bishop failed to bring about a compromise.”

If same thing had happened between  “upper-caste” Hindus and "Dalits" the entire secular media and secular parties would have whipped a Hysteria Reaching  Epic Proportion and would also have assembled a band of assorted left leaning  intellectuals to discuss the "evil called Hinduism".

Its really amazing how this news was blacked out from Mainstream media! Incidentally, yesterday, NDTV was having a field day with a news item on "Murder of Five Dalits" in Etawah due to some land dispute! Its outrageous they gave caste color to a incident which had nothing to do with caste.

Source

Technorati Tags: India,Christianity,Conversion

China making inroads in India's backyard, wooing Lanka

China has overtaken Japan and India among Sri Lanka's major donors, pumping over USD one billion in aid with no strings attached and is carrying out major development projects there, including a new port in the home town of President Mahinda Rajapakse.

China's "assistance  " is double the India's contributions which stands at USD 500 million this year emblematic of a major shift from 20 years ago, when India was the only power center in the region.

Technorati Tags: China,South East Asia,Politics

If Bobby Jindal is Indo American why is Sonia Not Indo-Italian?

The News papers today proudly published 5 "Indo-Canadians" elected to Alberta assembly. The news is about Five Indo-Canadians who have been elected to the Alberta Legislative Assembly, elections for which were held on March 3. One of them Manmeet Bhullar was Born in Canada, His parents left Canada in 1970's

Previously, there were reports on how Indian-American Bobby Jindal made history a year ago winning Louisiana governor Election. Boddy Jindal was also born and Raised in Canada. Similiarly, We also  read newspapers declaring ecstatically about how "Indo-American"  Sunita Williams  has conquered Space .  She was not only born and Raised in US. In fact, it would be more appropriate to call her she is Indian-Slovenian American as she is a Slovenian from Mothers Side.

Going by the above standards, Why is the same Media not calling Sonia Gandhi "Indo-Italian". In fact, unlike the above cases she was not even born in India and she took Indian Citizenship only in 1983! That means she is an Indian only for last 25 Years! 

Its Amusing considering the fact that even NRI's donot have voting right!

Technorati Tags: India,Congress,Sonia,Media

Babies Day Out

Our crown price has just returned back to Indraprasthi after discovering Orissa. During this trip he visited Kalahandi to study  "Poverty as it happens in India" . Addressing the praja there, he reminded them his special relation with them thru his father, He said

Main yahan aayan hoon. Mere parivar ka aapse khas rishta hai. Mere pita Rajiv Gandhi bhi yahan aaye. (I have come to you as my family has special relation with you. My father Rajiv Gandhi had also came here.)

His visit gave Sleepless Nights to the BJD-BJP Government there. Oh No not in Bad way... Our prince is too naive opps.. Nice  for that. After full day of Hardwork, who can blame if the young price gets a bit playful at night and decides to play "Police and Thief" with the real police. I am sure his mother will be real proud of him because he beat the local police hands down and spent more than four hours in a tribal village without the police finding him out.

In one of the remote Village where people  were not fortunate to enjoy the divine presence of "Royal Family" of the country,, He humbly introduced himself and explained to them in Simple Language

“I live in Delhi. I am a MP and I assure you that there in enough money in India, but the money is not reaching you. Why India, there is enough money in Orissa as well. There are many mills and natural resources here. The people of Orissa are poor, but not the state,”

He told them a story of a place  called Andhra Pradesh where "Honey and Money" flows. He narrated

"In Andhra Pradesh the money is straight away transferred to the bank accounts of the workers".

There was a rumble of excitement among his  entourage  as they assumed that by "workers" he meant "congress workers". In ancient times,  the Entourage of Royal Family was sometimes referred as "congress Workers"

During one of the interactions, he was annoyed with the lack of intelligence among his praja as they kept asking him "how should one join politics"   He asked

 “Why is it that at every single meeting I attended during my tour of the State, people asked me the same question — how should one join politics?”

Is it too hard to understand the Basic Funda of Politics? To join Politics, You have to be born into Royal Family! People should moderate their expectations if they think of ruling the country without having the royal blood in them. However, the Political Analysts are trying hard to understand what he the fifth Generation Crown prince  meant when he said "people should be promoted irrespective of who their parents were". 

On Saturday, Taking a break from political rallies and public meetings, Rahul baba  showed his love for sports  and promised to promote the game. He said

"I have something in mind for the development of hockey and I will do something concrete. You will come to know about it later,"

I am not sure why he forgot to mention that  he got admission to St Stephen's College under Sports Quota, He is a known expert in Rifle Shooting. However, The list of Games  he won for Rifle Shooting is a closely Guarded Secret. Currently, he is busy organizing Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Tournament in his backyard-Amethi. We are told by Royal Messengers that that this cricket tournament will be played using "Tennis ball".  

"Anyone interested in entering politics does not know how to join a party," he observed in Orissa, adding, "Why is it that at every single meeting I attended during my tour of the state, people asked me the same question -- how should one join politics?"

Next week he would be traveling to "Discover Karnataka"

Technorati Tags: Congress,Nehru Family,Rahul Gandhi

Kannur: Tread with Caution, CPM on Prowl here

Kannur located in north kerala is famous for its folklore such as theyyam, kathakali and also for its martial arts called kalaripayattu. It is also (in) famous for Political Murders which started way back in 1950's. In last 15 days, 07 Persons have lost their lives due to political violence between the CPI-M and RSS. The latest bout was triggered when CPM activists  "free after Kottayam Congress" attacked RSS  Karyavahak, K V Sumesh.

In Kannur, The most heroic leaders live on walls, as faded, framed memories of martyrdom.  It all started way back in 1958.  In 1958, the Mangalore Ganesh Beedi factory shifted to Mangalore (from Kerala) due to labour problems created by the Communist unions. Innumerable workers including Communists - lost their jobs. RSS played an active role then in rehabilitating these workers by securing alternate employment for them. Consequently, many Communists joined the RSS.  The RSS struggle against the imposition of Emergency also provided impetus to RSS Growth in kannur. There were only 17 or 18 shakhas in Thalassery Taluk of Kannur district. Post-Emergency, the number crossed 55.

CPM responded by attacking Political Opponents.. The initial fights were between the CPM and the Socialist Party led by former minister P R Kurup. Then CPM vs Congress, CPM vs Muslim League and now CPM vs RSS. Vadikkal Ramakrishnan, a swayamsevak, was the first victim in 1968 . In 1979 a college student, Panunda Chandran, was murdered inside a RSS shakha. Since then, Kannur has been limping from murder to murder. Unconfirmed reports put the number of deaths due to political violence at 177 - 63 in BJP-RSS camp, 62 CPM cadres, 40 Congress workers and 12 others.

The worst was in 1981, when RSS and CPM workers spent two weeks engaged in a bloodbath that claimed 24 people: 12 RSS workers and 12 from the CPM. Most gruesome of all was the murder of  Jayakrishnan, a teacher of mathematics at Primary School, vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He was axed to death inside the classroom, in front of his terror-stricken students, on December 1, 1999. In the case of  Jayakrishnan Teacher, A local court sentenced five CPM men to death, the Kerala High court upheld it. The Supreme Court, which let four of them off for want of evidence on appeal later, observed:

“The police investigation, for whatever reason, had not been conducted properly. The slipshod manner in which the investigation was carried out was amply borne out from the records. Despite the fact that a teacher in the classroom before the students of tender age had brutally been murdered, the police did not appear to have shown a very keen interest in the matter. It was expected that the teachers (in the school) would speak out the truth, but they did not.”

The killing fields were more or less calm during the Last  five years of the Congress-led United Democratic Front government. The previous government had brought an end to the madness by giving the police the power to deal with the perpetrators of violence. The police ended the annihilation spree by acting tough against the leaders, who ordered the killings for their political gains. The political hit gangs seem to have returned with a vengeance with the CPM-led government coming back to power.The LDF government replaced all the  upright officers with pliable ones, who allowed CPM activists to interfere with the law and order functions.  Kannur range Inspector General of Police A. Hemachandran and Superintendent of Police Mathew Polycarp were  among the victims. Jail Director General of Police (Prisons) M.G.A Raman was shunted out after he insisted on shifting the prisoners affiliated to the CPM from Kannur jail to Viyyur central prison following violence inside the jail. The Kannur  jail, which used to be CPM fortress barely a few months ago. The LDF Govt lumped together the  “comrade convicts” and they were virtually running the prison themselves, assaulting fellow prisoners of other parties and enjoying the good life.

Last year,  National Crime Records Bureau says Kannur has logged the country’s highest number of riot cases in 2006 — 737 cases, averaging more than a couple every day

The state government says it will do its best to put and end to the killings, but it’s a well known fact that unless the CPI-M and the state government allows the police to act independently, Kannur will remain to be Kerala's killing fields. Well this might be "distant dream" considering the fact that it was the current Chief Minister who had famously thundered during 1999 Mayhem

“attackers would be repaid with interest and compound interest”.

Technorati Tags: cpm,political Violence,rss

Sins Rev. 02

The Vatican has released latest revision of ' sins. The latest variation has atleast got me all confused. The No. 01 sin on the new list is

`Bioethical' violations such as birth control

Over the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has reasoned its opposition to mechanical birth control on the basis of natural law: i.e., God gave man his sexual pleasure with a reproductive string attached, and to separate one from the other is to thwart the will of God.  In our own Kerala, The Catholic Church has given out a call to the laity on not to indulge in "childless pleasure-seeking". This spiritual advice on the worldly matter came in the form of a pastoral letter, which was read out in some 2,000 parishes in Kerala. Asking the faithful to indulge in procreation, the pastoral appeal says

"The Encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI based on the words from St John epistle, 'God is Love', deals with the sanctity of sexuality. The Pope likens sexuality as an exodus of man from the prison of his selfishness to a state of deliverance through self-giving."

From hereon things gets a bit confusing as 4th, 5th and 7th sin reads

4. Polluting the environment

5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor

7. Creating poverty

It is a well accepted fact that Poverty Causes Population Growth Causes Poverty. Most hungry people live in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where populations have grown fastest in recent decades. Thee pressures of population compound the threat through deforestation, overgrazing, and depletion of fish stocks. The rural poor are often forced to live on fragile lands and waters that require sensitive resource management in the face of increasing degradation. The urban poor are exposed to disease and illness resulting from overcrowding and polluted living conditions. Population explosion also puts strain in limited resources of developing countries bring multitudes of problems such as educating growing numbers of children, creating jobs for swelling ranks of young job seekers, and dealing with the environmental effects of population growth.

In my humble opinion, the new revision of Sins is more suited for Developed countries. Its high time Vatican two versions of Sins Rev 02. Sins Rev 02 Ver. Developed Countries  and Sins Ver. 02 Ver Developing Countries

Technorati Tags: Catholic,Vatican

Indian scientific and corporate prowess

The extent to which desis have made an impact in the US was reeled off in the Rajya Sabha — as many as 12% scientists and 38% doctors in the US are Indians, and in NASA, 36% or almost 4 out of 10 scientists are Indians.

34% employees at Microsoft, 28% at IBM, 17% at Intel and 13% at Xerox are Indians.

We may still be struck with Third world country 20% of gold in the world is used by Indians and nine out of 10 diamonds used in the world are made in India.

Source

Technorati Tags: India

Hockey: National Game or National Shame?

The national sport of the country has hit the rock bottom. For the first time in 80 years, India has failed  to qualify for the Olympics. Its a sad fall for a country who lost only one Olympic match  between 1928 and 1964 capturing seven gold medals and one silver. Of their eig ht gold medals, six were won consecutively.

It needs no Rocket Scientist  to say that Indian hockey is in Death Throes.But what is Ailing our National Games?

Is it the Despotic rule of Indian Hockey Federation chief K P S Gill who has been in power for the past 12 years inspite the Sports Ministry's 1975  stipulation that no person shall contest more than 2 terms and it requires 25% representation by Sportspersons in Sports bodies. Aslam Sher Khan, a former Union minister and player-turned-selector says

"The entire selection process has been made into a farce. The IHF is nothing but a one-man show being run by Gill. Only God knows and Gill knows who will make it to the team"

Mr. Gill should take the "blame and responsibility" for the team's dismal run and stepdown from this Post. National Sports Federation should not becoming resting place for retired bureaucrats

Or is it the Glorious Administration of IHF? In the last five years, Indian hockey had more than half a dozen coaches namely Bhaskaran, Cedric D'Souza, C. R. Kumar, Rajinder Singh, Gerhard Rach, Jagbeer Singh, Vasudevan Baskaran and Joaquim Carvalho being the latest. Former Olympic captain and one of the best defenders of his era Pargat Singh says

''IHF needs to stop experimenting with the coach's post and should accept the fact that they have failed. Rather, they should form a former Olympians' panel and entrust the job of picking the coach to the panel,''

The selection of Indian Hockey team is always a Mysterious Exercise. For example, half the team was discarded from the team that won the Asian Games in 1998 within an year without any valid reason, India's four best forwards Gagan Ajeet Singh, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjyot Singh and Dhanraj Pillai were dropped for the 2004 Champions Trophy when in fact they were leading scorers for India in the previous edition of Champions Trophy

Lastly, The players are also very much responsible for the state of Indian Hockey right now. I sort of agree with their dissatisfaction due to  lack of support from media and Nation when compared to cricket.  India hockey Olympian Pillay says

"While cricketers these days get match fees, when we represent our country we get a mere $30 for expenses. Cricketers stay in five-star hotels, while hockey, football players as well as other athletes are put up in the stadium itself!

When Indian Cricket team won 20-20 World Cup, almost all the state govts announced awards but during the same time our football team won The Nehru Cup "First time in History". Our hockey team also  won the Asia Cup. One didn't of course witness mass euphoria and hysteria after these triumphs. The State Governments didn't announce any cash rewards for these sporting ambassadors.

It is time nation and its leaders give hockey and restore the pride of our national sports

Technorati Tags: Sports,Hockey

Muslim Organisations force closure of Aurangazeb exhibition and Its implications

An exhibition named  "Aurangzeb as he was according to Mughal records."at the prestigious Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA) by journalist Francois Gautier was forced to shut down due to  to protest by people affiliated to the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, Manitha Neethi Paasarai and other Muslim organisations.

The Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali also lend his voice  to shutdown the show as according to him the paintings amounted to "fabrication and distortion of history". He was particularly enraged by two miniatures -- the first depicted Aurangzeb's army destroying the Somnath temple and the second showed the destruction of the Kesava Rai temple in Mathura.

I am amazed why should these Muslim organizations join issues here? Why are they feeling obliged towards Aurangzeb? It is a well know fact that among many Hindus the name of Aurangzeb evokes the same passionate hatred as do the names of Mahmud of Ghazni and Muhammad of Ghori. It was Aurangzeb who ordered all temples destroyed, among them the Kashi Vishwanath temple, one of the most sacred places of Hinduism, and had mosques built on a number of cleared temple sites. Other Hindu sacred places within his reach equally suffered destruction, with mosques built on them. A few examples: Krishna's birth temple in Mathura; the rebuilt Somnath temple on the coast of Gujarat; the Vishnu temple replaced with the Alamgir mosque now overlooking Benares; and the Treta-ka-Thakur temple in Ayodhya. The number of temples destroyed by Aurangzeb is counted in four, if not five figures. Aurangzeb did not stop at destroying temples, their users were also wiped out; even his own brother Dara Shikoh was executed for taking an interest in Hindu religion; Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded because he objected to Aurangzeb's forced conversions.

It is outrageous that someone is supporting a Tyrant like Aurangzeb just because he happens to be a Muslim!  If we expend this logic would the same Muslim organizations protest if we hold an exhibition on 1971 War with Pakistan!  A further stretch of this logic would make some  Christian Organizations to  protest any exhibition on British.

It is more outrageous considering the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam(TMMK) is electoral ally of DMK and the "Mother" Secular CPM! 

The pictures that caused the protest:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Appeasement,Religioin,Secularism