Outlook Money editor quits and exposes outlook

Monika Halan has quit Outlook Money and in the process has exposed the wrongdoings at Outlook 

Test of resignation

Dear All,
I am deeply upset to tell you that I have resigned. For the last three years we've been like a close-knit family and to leave like this so suddenly is not nice I know. But there is an increasing conflict of interest between edit and management and my work ethics do not allow me to be a party to this. As always, transparency is the key word and
I want to share why I am taking this step.
1. The OLM Awards are being used to fulfil the advertising goals of the Group. In fact, we were all part of the meeting where we were told that the award should have gone to LIC despite it not making the cut since it is a large company with many readers as policyholders. In a subsequent mail from the President, I was told that the concern is that LIC has withdrawn all ads to the Outlook Group. I see it as a clear conflict of interest between ad and edit, especially since edit has sincerely worked on the awards in an attempt to make them the most
unbiased awards in the country -- and for which we involved eminent market professionals like Dr R.H. Patil of CCIL and Ravi Narian of NSE.
2. Edit is being blamed for falling circulation. When we were doing 1.5 lakh copies a fortnight there was no sharing of credit with edit by the management. But in the middle of a global downturn when the circulation of a market-linked product like OLM slips, edit is being blamed. I think all of you pull really hard, work sincerely and have re-created a sinking brand to a world class product that OLM is today.
On behalf of all of you comprising this fantastic team as well as personally, I do not accept this blame.
3. There is direct management intrusion into edit now. We are being asked to get our cover stories cleared by the publisher and send our stock picks to Outlook Profit for clearance. I think this is an insult to a team that has proved its worth many times over. I think the Group will be happier with a more pliable editor. I am not that person.
Good luck to you all. And keep in touch -- you guys rock! One last meeting tomorrow at 11? See you.

Warm regards,
Monika
--
Monika Halan
Editor, Outlook Money
8th Floor, NAFED House,
Ashram Crossing
New Delhi -110014

YSR and minority AID from public money exposed!!!!

Grant-in-Aid Sanctioned by Government of Andhra Pradesh to various Christian Churches from Feb 2008 to Jan 2009 = 258, worth Rs. 263 Lakhs of public money.

Grant-in-Aid Sanctioned by Government of Andhra Pradesh to various Wakf boards from Feb 2008 to Jan 2009 worth Rs 1013 Lakhs.

Details here ------> http://suryassk.googlepages.com/AP_GOs.htm 

Not a single GO granting any aid to a Hindu temple can be found. This in spite of the fact that in AP, the Hindu temples are managed by the Endowments Ministry (put it simply they take all the money which the temples generate). Govt takes away all the money which Hindu temples generate, but do not grant a single penny to any of its temples. It does not touch the money from Christian and Muslim institutions, but grants them huge amounts of money.
[All the data courtesy Surya, owner Hinduism community]

Other freebies being doled out by YSR from public pockets
details ----> http://www.apsmfc.com/ (please donot open this link as my Anti Virus detected a trojan there)

NOTICE from website: The First batch of Christian Mass Marriages in all the Districts will be held on 11-12-2008. The time and venue will be intimated shortly. The Parents/Guardians who intends to perform their daughter's marriage in Government sponsored MASS MARRIAGE scheme, and fulfills the eligibility criteria may apply in the prescribed format and submit the filled in application forms with required enclosures to the District Minorities Welfare Officer/Executive Director, APSMFC Branch Office of the respective District.

This means that Christian marriages are now state sponsored. How about less privileged in Hindus? do they have to get converted to get this benefit? Wont this automatically encourage conversion as it means Get your Hindu daughter married to a Christian for free!!!  

Should be read along with ----> THIS

Rahul Gandhi: Government not doing much for 26/11 Heroes

Breaking News! In a surprising development, which may put the ruling UPA government in an embarrassing position, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has turned the heat on his own government, saying it is not doing much for the 26/11 heroes, who laid down their lives during the recent Mumbai carnage.

Speaking at a meeting of Congress functionaries in Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi described martyr Tukaram Ombale as a hero. He saluted Ombale for fighting the terrorists even though he did not have a weapon. Rahul admitted that the government needed to do more to hail the real heroes of the country.

"Despite having only a lathi to fight, Tukaram Ombale snatched the gun from one of the terrorists and allowed others to capture him. Ombale got seven bullets in his stomach in the process and died a martyr's death", said Rahul.

Well, I am sure why Crown prince keep forgetting that its congress government both at centre and state? if Rahul is not satisfied with performance of these governments, he should either fire them(he can do it being crown prince) or leave the party. BUT PLEASE DONT PLAY BOTH SIDES

Source

Can an Indian PM take oath on Gita?

Barack Obama, the first black-American President of the US, on Tuesday took oath on the same Bible used to swear in Abraham Lincoln in 1861.

Point to Ponder: Can an Indian PM take oath of office on a Gita and quote from it?

China tunes out of Obama's reference to communism

While millions across world tuned into Obamas inaugural speech, Chinese media tuned out from his references on communism.

Obama said in his 18-minute inauguration address said

"Recall that earlier generations faced down communism and fascism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions," 

He later added:

"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

After the Chinese translator said the word "communism," the China Central Television feed went briefly silent, then shifted to an anchor who stumbled through a question to an analyst about what type of difficulties Obama faced with the US economy. The analyst looked equally caught off-guard. In the text translations available on top Chinese Internet portals Sina and Sohu on Wednesday, the word "communism" is omitted and the paragraph on dissent was gone.

Leopards never change stripes

India checkmated due to UPA lies?

Pakistan has said if India persisted with its demand for the extradition of Pakistani nationals linked to the Mumbai attacks, Islamabad would seek the handing over of persons involved in the 2007 bombing of the cross-border Samjhauta Express train.

After reports appeared in Indian media suggesting a possible link of the Malegaon blast accused with the train attack, political leaders here have been saying that the Government should seek the extradition of Indian nationals, including Col S K Purohit, for the Samjhauta bombing that killed nearly 70 people, including Pakistanis.

"If the Indian demand for handing over the accused in the Mumbai attacks persisted, then the accused of the Samjhauta Express case might be asked for" by Pakistan, Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik told Geo News yesterday.

It was UPA who claimed

Purohit had 60 kg of RDX: ATS

Nashik: Lieutenant-Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, a serving Army officer and a key suspect in the Malegaon blast of September 29, had 60 kg of RDX in his possession while he was in the Army’s Deolali camp in 2006, Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) special prosecutor Ajay Misar told the Nashik court here on Friday. He was seeking Purohit’s remand extension.
Calling Purohit a “mastermind,” Mr. Misar argued that portions of the RDX were used in Malegaon and the Samjhauta Express blast of 2007.

And Later retracted it

ATS retracted RDX claim under pressure

It was pressure from an embarrassed Centre which forced the ATS to go back on its charge that 60 kg of RDX allegedly pilfered by Lt Col Prasad Purohit was used in the Samjhauta Express blast last year. Even though the ATS' public prosecutor Ajay Misar had told the Nashik court on Saturday that the RDX allegedly stolen by Lt Col Prasad was used in the Samjhauta blast, on Sunday the ATS claimed that he has been misquoted by the media.
Soon after Misar made the sensational charge in Nashik, the intelligence bureau (IB), which is keeping a close tab on the probe, alerted the Centre about the implications of Misar's statement. When the train blast took place, the Centre had blamed Pakistan's ISI for the terror strike on the basis of the bureau's findings.
"But the ATS' charge on Friday would have seriously impaired the Centre's credibility internationally. The central government has been informing its counterparts in the US and other countries about the role of the ISI and here the ATS was claiming that the blast was the handiwork of a serving Indian Army officer. Forensic examination of the blast site and two unexploded bombs had conclusively proved that RDX was not used, but the ATS was levelling an allegation to the contrary," a senior bureau official observed.

Those who are interested in "The third Wheel"

A must read book for salacious tidbits about the alleged amours of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty (Nehru-Padmaja Naidu, Nehru-Edwina Mountbatten, Feroze-Kamla Nehru, Feroze- Lekha Pandit, Indira-M O Mathai, Indira-Dinesh Singh, Indira-Dhirendra Brahmachari)

Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi By Katherine Frank

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002

You can get an overview of the book from following link.

http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=0eolM37FUWYC&printsec=frontcover

SHAME on Rahuls Poverty tourism

Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Discovery of India’ is following such bizarrely unconventional ways that it is impossible not to subject it to public scrutiny. Last week he thought he needed a phirang co-discoverer and hence took British Foreign Secretary David Miliband to spend a night on a charpoy in the cowshed of a poor dalit widow in a village near Amethi, his parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh.  

Miliband, 43, slept in Karma Devi’s house, whereas Rahul had a sleepover in the thatched hut of Shiv Kumari, another dalit woman in the neighbourhood. Rahul explained the purpose of this rural rendezvous:

“A lot of people come to India and they have a particular perspective based very much on the big cities. I thought it would be quite interesting for the foreign secretary to come to rural India.”

There was of course the mandatory visit to a milk collection centre, a school, a hospital and a women’s self-help group—all bearing the name of the Gandhi family. But make no mistake, it was India’s poverty on display for the benefit of Britain’s PM-in-waiting, courtesy the Congress party’s PM-in-waiting.

As Miliband himself wrote in his blog while leaving for Amethi:

“800 million Indians live on less than 2 dollars a day, 450 million on less than 1 dollar and I will get a chance to see some of the gap that exists between metropolitan middle class India and the rest.

How is Rahuls Poverty tourism different from this ------> tourism-or-voyeurism-at-its-worst