Suicide of the Human Race

By-Prem P. Verma

The human race in its maddening search for technological success and material comforts has self-willed itself to extinction. According to Darwin’s theory of evolution, ‘species keep on evolving towards the goal of constant survival’, unless, of course, they wish themselves to extinction as happened in the case of the dinosaurs and similar gigantic creatures. Today’s human beings, knowingly or unknowingly, have taken the resolve to a path of suicide and ultimate disappearance from the face of the earth (how much Mother Nature will rejoice at this event!).

Consider the following –• The rich, the powerful, the educated urban elite along with the leaders with vested interest, constituting a minority of the human population, continue to believe that economic development is the cure all for all that is plaguing the humans society despite the stark fact that all this present model of economic development has given us –


a) Hunger – The number of hungry people in the world has gone
up from 843 million in 1990 to more than 1.0
billion
b) Poverty – There have been 270 million deaths due to poverty
in the world since 1990
c) Disparity – The richest 16% of the world’s population receives
84% of the world’s annual income
d) Earnings – 1.2 billion people in the world earn less than $1 per
day
e) Drinking water – 1.1 billion people have no access to safe
drinking water in the world
f) Illiteracy – 1.3 billion people in the world are illiterate
g) War deaths – There have been 4 million war deaths since 1990
in the world and unending wars continue to be
fought
• Despite the green revolution with a second green revolution being planned by the developing nations, we continue to shut our eyes to the fact that –
- The use of fertilizers and pesticides have made our soil infertile
- The hybrid and genetic seeds, promising ever-increase in crop production have led to disappearance of indigenous seeds developed by nature over centuries
- Forced purchase of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides by poor farmers have resulted in indebtedness and consequent suicides in the rural community
- The fertilizer, pesticide and seed Companies have ironically amassed unlimited wealth from the same land from which the farmer has been unable to eke out a living despite 24-hours of physical toil and hard labour
- The hand that produces our food continues to wither away whereas we become fatter and fatter

• We all know that food is a must for our survival, yet we insist on the farmer giving up his fertile land for large and heavy industries, mega-power plants, large dams, highways , airports, etc., thus reducing the acreage for our food production, all this with the false hope that more food can be produced with less land with our ‘brilliant’ technological advancement

• We continue to direct all our so-called development process to urban centres, creating employment opportunities there, resulting in massive migration of rural youth to urban areas. This mirage of development and running after the non-existent golden egg by the rural youth is producing bulging and unmanageable cities with squalid slums which are bursting at the seams and becoming centres of constant discontent and violence.

• We continue to label anger and discontent against the current development process as naxalism, Maoism, terrorism, etc., thus setting up two opposite sides for violent combat intent on destroying each other to produce the silence of peace without human beings. It is interesting to observe that of all the animal species, human beings seem to be the only one who are intent on killing one another through the violent process.

• We are obsessed with the thought that one race is superior to another, one ideology is better for the entire human race, one method of thinking must take precedence over others and consequently wage wars and battles to gain the high ground, sacrificing lives in the process. Paradoxically, we swear by the non-violence of Gautam Budha, Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Tolstoy, Rabindranath, Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama and a host of other personalities whom we deify.

• We continue to believe that economic development is far superior to such mundane ideas as social development, moral growth, human values, community involvement, family unity, self-sacrifice, truth and non-violence. Money is our god and he can defeat all other inferior gods. The educated sincerely believe that end justifies any means, lies and dishonesty are all right if they help us to achieve our money goals, there is no such thing as good or bad, self is far more important than others on the planet and so on.

• We refuse to ponder over the above vital issues facing mankind in our mad rush fior increased wealth, power, monopoly, dictatorship, unlimited consumption and insatiable greed. We have no time to pause and ponder over the devastation we have created because our goal continues to be that pot of gold over the horizon.
Incidentally, someone has suggested, perhaps jokingly, I hope, that the human race has evolved into a species with genes that are now programmed to take the human race to extinction and mankind has become unknowingly self-destructive.

If all above is really true, why should not the human race become extinct? If not, why are we afraid to debate the issues openly? Dialogue not silence is the answer. Are you willing?- Author is the founder of Jharkhand Alternative Development Forum

Racial Bias

By-Amitabh Thakur

Friends,

A "The Star"( Canada) story titled "Racial bias exists on police force, chief says" published on Sep 30, 2009 says that seven years ago, the Toronto police union fervently denied racial bias existed within its ranks and was prepared to sue those who claimed otherwise but today the Chief Bill Blair himself acknowledges that racial profiling is a problem. That's why a panel of community leaders and legal experts gathered at the new police college for a diversity conference hosted by the Toronto Police Service to discuss issues of diversity and racism among police officers.
The Star says that in 2002, when it ran a series of award-winning articles exposing racial bias on the force, then-chief Julian Fantino flatly denied it existed. The police union launched a $2.7 billion class-action libel lawsuit against the Star.
Efforts had been made in the past to address the subject, but progress was minimal. In the early 1990s, the board passed its first race relations policy. An outside consultant was brought in to develop and design diversity training for officers. It was also around this time that chief William McCormack created an aboriginal peacekeeping unit.
Before Blair's time, white males made up between 85 and 90 per cent of the average recruitment class. Today, women and visible minorities account for anywhere between 40 and 60 per cent of new officers.
The majority of police forces across the country operate some form of race relations unit. In addition, many are finding innovative ways to train officers. In York Region, the service has created a Places of Worship Tour, a program that takes its officers to various religious centres across the region.
Are these steps relevant and pertinent for our country as well?

Transparency and the media

It is of great importance for the public to know who the owners of the newspapers and the channels are and what their primary source of funding is. It is also important to know who is on the Boards of these enterprises, says PADMAJA SHAW.

Parliament elections are over. The verdict is unambiguous. The new government has presented its budget. And the corporate media are once again hounding the already schizoid government on `reforms' and `disinvestment'. Much like the `now-on-now-off' reforms from the government, the urgently needed reform in the attitude of the corporate media is also on `loose contact'.

The aggressive anchors of some English channels seek to push their stock-market fetish (what one could call the ESOP-speak) down the throats of the unsuspecting viewers and the reluctant ministers who surface on their programmes. One could dismiss this as part of an effort to fill airtime, but for the fact that often such programming raises conflict of interest issues as well.

For instance, a leading channel (with a private airline for its business partner) is orchestrating a loud campaign on disinvestment in public sector airlines to the extent of questioning whether government should be running airlines. The channel should have scrolled its association with the private airline as a disclaimer while telecasting the two interviews with the Minister for Civil Aviation. The tone of the anchors is, `what is good for us is good for India'. There was a completely biased interview with the Civil Aviation Minister by a younger anchor a few days back that is followed up with an interview of the minister by the channel's boss.

The owner of the channel was deriding the public sector airlines as the worst in the world. While some may agree, it is still his opinion. He held a one-on-one argument with the Civil Aviation Minister on why the private airlines should be supported by whatever means – bail out, buy equity, whatever. The gist of the channel head's argument is: `It is a waste of public money if the government supports Air India, but it is the right of the private sector to get support from the government.' The flamboyant owners can then go ahead and fly a plane-load of models to exotic locations to produce an exclusive calendar of bikinied beauties while talking of fiscal discipline, lay offs and salary cuts for the employees of Air India! Even in the United States of America, from where all the corporate role models seem to
emerge, there is great public awareness and criticism about profligate corporate bosses rewarding themselves for lousy management. The worst part of the interview was the anchor pushing his case by saying, "Ask anyone, ask any foreigner what they think of Air India". Is that how disinvestment decisions are made in India? Ask any foreigner?

The minister in this case held his ground admirably (whatever the policy outcome, after such relentless pressure from an interested party) in both the interviews.

The same channel also was orchestrating the candidature of one of their Directors for the post of President of India some time back. The person may be iconic and of impeccable credentials, but the channel still needs to let the public know of his particular relationship with it. Incidentally, no other channel was plugging for him so hard. One wonders how many viewers were aware of this when they were asked to vote on the campaign. While one is deeply appreciative of the commonsense of
the person on the street in not falling for such campaigns, nevertheless the over all ethical issue remains. Think what would be said of Doordarshan if it ran an orchestrated campaign to promote one of the eminent directors on its board of governors! Such influence peddling would be unethical journalism by any standards.

On a related issue, there is much debate on transparency in public life in a democracy. Often media, the primary champions of transparency confine the idea to state and central government institutions. But the private sector, which ultimately is run on public money anyway, sees itself outside all frameworks of accountability, more so the media industry, which strong-arms public and policy agenda on many issues with varying degrees of success.

For instance, there are over a dozen TV news channels and several newspapers in Andhra Pradesh. Except for a few owned by prominent people, little is known about the antecedents of the investors of the rest. Very few of these have updated websites. Those that do have websites like TV9 have removed detailed information about their investors, who happen to include Srini Raju (erstwhile CEO of Satyam and boss of iLabs – which seems to have changed its name to Peepul
Capital) and others. (Only iLabs is mentioned, no mention of the other directors and their background).

The websites of both ETV and RTV, which clearly state ownership and information about the other businesses the channels are involved in, are exceptions. Some of the websites (HMTV, for instance) are still under construction.

It is of great importance for the public to know who the owners of the newspapers and the channels are and what their primary source of funding is. It is also important to know who is on the Boards of these enterprises, the stakes they have and the terms of their engagement with the enterprise, as sometimes it is these people who surface on the same channels as experts.

Broadcast legislation should mandate it as a licensing requirement for channels in the public interest that the information about the entire board of directors and their antecedents should be placed in public domain. Now only listed companies have their information so available. But it takes a highly motivated, savvy search to discover the information. This information should be made easily available to people who visit their websites, as has been made mandatory for state-run
institutions under the RTI Act.

In a country where every piece of printed material, including 1/8 demi pamphlets are mandated to carry information on the source, the publisher and the printer, major news operations that sway public opinion are allowed to operate without the minimum requirements of transparency. It is not enough that the government agencies know who they are licensing to spread information and entertainment. The audience has a greater need to know to put the information they receive in perspective.

If we accept journalism as a special category of business that is allowed sweeping powers to access and disseminate information, it is also necessary to treat it as a special category of business with special requirements to practice transparency. It cannot be allowed to hide behind the excuse of private domain information.

And lastly, an idle comparison of Doordarshan with the private channels: Doordarshan may shoddily promote the cause of a party in power and change colours as soon as a new dispensation takes over. We know it may profit an individual officer in some way while it does not do much good for the channel.

But the ownership of private channels is not up for assessment every five years. They indulge in unapologetic self-promotion and promotion of the interests of their corporate cronies and political friends for profit and political clout as long as they are the owners of the enterprise. This routine strategy is occasionally flagged with a good investigative story or documentary, absolving the channels of their long-term responsibility to the viewer. (Is poverty alleviation possible through crony capitalism?) If tomorrow the channels get into financial trouble, must the government treat them on par with Doordarshan and provide liquidity to `save the industry'? (mediavigil)

Duplicate Obama in Indonesia

Most wanted car jacker Bakkarwala arrested

Delhi’s most wanted car jacker, Manoj Bakkarwala, was arrested by the Special Cell. The police have claimed that he is involved in more than 500 car thefts in the past 11 years. His four associates, including a Punjab Police constable, were also arrested.

“We got information that Bakkarwala was disposing off stolen cars in Chandigarh and identified a hideout of one of the receivers. On July 14, police spotted a stolen car driven by the receiver. They were arrested from Najafgarh area,” the police said. The Commissioner of Delhi Police, Y S Dadwal said with Bakkarwala’s arrest, they have now arrested 19 members of the gang. “He is the most wanted carjacker sought by Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana Police. A reward of 50,000 was on him.” One of Bakkarwala’s associates, Parveen, 24, was also arrested.

Bakkarwala’s arrest followed the arrest of three persons — Sarwan Singh, 34, the Punjab Police constable, Prabhsharan Singh, 31, and Gurcharan Preet Singh, 23 — from Chandigarh on July 13. Two sophisticated English pistols were recovered from Bakkarwala’s possession. The police said Bakkarwala is an expert in driving cars and preferred to steal late at night or early in the morning, preferably on wide roads with no traffic signals so that he could escape easily.
“He has a lavish lifestyle and has a girlfriend in Haryana who is doing MBA,” the police said. “Manoj has been bearing all her expenses, including tuition fees, for the some time now.” Dadwal added that Bakkarwala also used to change his accomplices from time to time and constantly changed his hide-outs. The carjacker, who allegedly started his criminal life in 1998 along with one Makhan, was first arrested in 1998 and then in 2003. He continued with his criminal activities once he was out on bail. In 2007, he was arrested by the Gurgaon police but escaped in July 2008 with the help of Parveen.

On May 8 this year, he managed to give the slip to the South Delhi police in Kanjhawala area when a police party spotted him in an Endeavour car. He was also hurt in a brief encounter. Dadwal said after escaping from Kanjhawala, Bakkarwala went to Chandigarh. The police said Prabhsharan is unemployed and currently pursuing LLB while Parveen, who allegedly sold the stolen vehicles to Sarwan Singh, is a school drop-out. Delhi Police has also invoked Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against Bakkarwala.

Manoj Bakkarwala is a B.C. of Police Station Nangloi and is involved in more than 200 cases of carjacking/auto-lifting. Earlier, on two occasions, he had escaped from the police custody, once from Gurgaon Police and second time from the custody of Special Cell, Delhi Police.

He is a very desperate criminal and has many accomplices in different parts of NCR who undertake sensational cases of carjacking. He has an expertise in driving and prefers to commit crime late at night, preferably on wide roads having no traffic signals so that after committing the crime he could easily escape. He is fond of lavish lifestyle and luxurious vehicles. He used to stay in the rented houses in the different cities like Dehradoon, Karnal, Haridwar etc. To evade the police net, he keeps changing his accomplices from time to time.

Wear and tear

By- Dr Nutan Thakur

From the various news that we are getting from across the world, it seems what a person can or shall wear is also slowly acquiring social relevance and has spilled from the realm of a completely private matter to something that concerns everyone else. To quote only a few examples, the Talibans and many such retrograde organizations have been issuing fatwa and firman for long warning the women and girls not wear all kinds of "western" dresses as also to strictly comply with the Purdah as prescribed by the rules of Shariat and other Islamic conventions. Going to the other extreme we have France where initially the government had banned the Sikhs from wearing turbans because they do not want any person to present a distinct look which they feel acts like a hindrance to the making of a homogenous society.

Extending it further, Sarkozi, their flamboyant President has only recently not only banned the women from wearing Purdah in public but has also come out in the open, with harsh words which condemn the system of purdah as being an unwanted and unwarranted burden imposed on the Muslim women, which is acting as a hindrance to their path of equality. Not to be left out, the Uttar Pradesh Principal's Council came with a diktat that tried to put a ban on girls wearing jeans and T-shirts etc in the colleges. The reason cited was that such a dress acted as a factor that increased the possibilities of girls being molested or ill treated. The order was promptly overruled by the State government to ward-off an unsavoury embarrassment.
Thus we find all kinds of dress-codes and dress related diktats coming up in all kinds of societies and this tendency seems to have increased in the recent times. The question is- "Are such dress-codes warranted?" Isn't it that imposing any kind of dress related limitation is something that should strictly be avoided save in such places which necessitate some kind of uniform for their job requirements. I mean, a woman in sarees or burqas can't work as a air-pilot nor can she work in a security-related Commando force. But save in such conditions, whenever any kind of dress-code is imposed, its only effect is that of stifling and congesting the normal pace of societal life. It acts as a restraining agent to the proper prospering of society and gives arbitrary and undeserving authority to a few people to act as moral-police. This is certainly bad for society, whether it is done in the way the Talibani have been imposing or even the way Sarkozi has promulgated. If a Muslim woman feels that she should wear burqa, I don't think the State should come in its way to define and interfere in a matter that is purely religious in nature. Much worse is the way the Talibanis, the hardliners, the Al-Quada people and all such other backward looking organizations have been pronouncing and implementing all sorts of abhorrent and abominable dress codes on hapless girls and women.
One interesting similarity in most of the cases is that such restrictions are being imposed on the women folk only. While the men are hardly being touched (except may be the Sikh vase in France), all these organizations never give any opportunity to come up with more and more restrictions on the women folk. Is this proper? Isn't it a clear sign of gender bias and the hiatus between the positions occupied by a man and a woman in our society? It is high time such tendencies were given up. in all circumstances and people be made free to wear a dress of their choice.(mediavigil)

The Lavalin Case- Rethinking over section 197 CrPC

Note: Procedural Establishments Under The Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1973: Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 gives protection to a person who is still a Public Servant at the time the prosecution is launched, and also when he is no longer a public servant. This is to protect the Public Servant from a case being filed against him after his retirement. When the government servant or the employee is not removable from his office without the sanction of the Central Government, then the same is necessary. Sanction under this section is not necessary before a Public Servant could be prosecuted for an offence of bribery under Section 161 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. There are three facets in the consideration of the protection given by Section 197 of the Cr.P.C. to the acts done by public officers. (i) The act complained attaches to it the official character of the person doing it; (ii) The official character or status of the accused gave him an opportunity of doing the act, and (iii) The offence is committed at a time when the accused was engaged in his official duty.

By- Nutan Thakur

Pinarayi Vijayan is the state Secretary of the Kerala CPI(M) and is also the member of the Central Polit bureau, which is the highest decision making body of the Party. The 19th Congress of the CPI(M) had elected a 87 member Central Committee, which on April 03, 2008 elected a 15 Member Polit Bureau. Pinarayi Vijayan is a member of both these.

The other members of this Polit Bureau include such stalwarts as the General Secretary Prakash Karat along with his wife Brinda, Sitaram Yechury, Biman Basu, Manik Sarkar, the two CPI(M) Chief ministers Buddhadev Bhattacharya and V S Achuthanandan along with others. He is thus among the most important members of the CPI)M).

The so-called Lavalin case relates to memorandum of understanding (MoU) Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) signed with SNC-Lavalin, a Canadian company in August 1995. During the initial period of the contract, G. Karthikeyan of the Congress Party was the Minister for Electricity. Later during further contracts in February 1997 Pinarai Vijayan was the Minister for Electricity.

Later the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) found that Lavalin was only a consultant intermediary and not the original equipment manufacturer and that the supply of goods and services was made by other firms at a much higher cost leading to excess expenditure. According to the CAG, various avoidable (and at times deliberate) failures on the part of the Board and the government to properly execute the deal resulted in heavy losses to the government of an amount nearly Rs 25 crores.

On 16 January 2007, Kerala High Court ordered a CBI enquiry into the scandal. On February 19, 2008, the CBI informed High court of Kerala that the investigation was progressing and hinted at the complicity of former Electricity Ministers Pinarayi Vijayan and G. Karthikeyan.

On 21 January 2009, the CBI filed a progress report on the investigation in the Kerala High Court where it named Pinarayi Vijayan as the 9th accused. A total of 11 persons have been arraigned.

As per CBI's version Vijayan, while serving as Electricity Minister between May 1996 and October 1998, colluded with K. Mohanachandran, Principal Secretary (Power) in a criminal conspiracy already in motion in the matter of awarding supply contracts of the projects to Lavalin.

The investigations revealed that the supply contract for renovation and modernisation of the Panniyar, Shengulam and Pallivasal hydel projects was given to SNC Lavalin at an exorbitant rate and the per MW cost for the same was the highest. This caused a loss to the Government of Kerala with corresponding wrongful. Thus CBI requested an order for prosecuting Vijayan.

Thus came the question of Prosecution. As per our statues, section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure deals with prosecution of Judges and public servants. Section 197(1) states that when any person who is or was a Judge or Magistrate or a public servant not removable from his office save by or with the sanction of the Government is accused of any offence alleged to have been committed by him while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty no court shall take cognizance of such offence except with the previous sanction of the concerned government.

There are two important Supreme Court judgements in this regards, both exactly opposite to each other. While in the state of Uttar Pradesh vs. Paras Nath Singh, the Supreme Court has ruled that a public servant cannot be given the protection of sanction under Section 197 CrPC if he is facing allegations of indulging in criminal offences.

The Court said that forgery, criminal conspiracy, cheating and taking gratification cannot form part of official discharge of duty by a public servant saying-''A public servant, however, is not entitled to indulge in criminal activities,''. The apex court also noted, "It is no part of the duty of a public servant while discharging his official duties to commit forgery of the type covered by the aforesaid offences. Want of sanction under Section 197 of the code is therefore no bar."

At the same time, in another case related to some senior police officers of Maharashtra another bench of the SC had held the prosecution of these officers under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) illegal, on the ground that the accused cannot be prosecuted without proper prior sanction.

The CPI (M) leadership and the workers, both at the Center and in the state of Kerala have refused to take this prosecution lightly decided to fight it out. While the Press Statement in its statement dated June 8, 2009 said that the CBI case "is politically motivated" and that "it is unfortunate that the Governor of Kerala decided to grant permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation to initiate prosecution proceedings" , the workers on the street took the message wholeheartedly and went for a heavy rampage and large-scale ransacking and violence.

Previously Vijayan had also issued threats of retaliation and punishment to K. Gopalakrishnan, Editor, Mathrubhumi Malayalam for having played a lead role in exposing and pursuing the Lavlin case.

Thus all these efforts are being made to save a person who is primarily being seen as an accomplish in a criminal case where he has supposedly misused his official position to cause heavy losses to the State exchequer. This from a party that has always boasted of belonging to the toiling masses- the workers and the peasants. But more important than the individuals, it is the basic legal postulate that I want to harp upon. Do we really need section 197 of the CrPC?

Isn't this provision of law being misused persistently or is being used selectively for political ends? For the same criminal acts, the governments and the authorities go by different yardsticks. Against some they grant the prosecution sanction while for others they withhold it for years.

From all this, it seems that this provision of section 197 CrPC is primarily being misused or is being used for specific purposes. At least, it shall be scrapped for cases related with forgery, misappropriation, cheating, misuse of official positions for wrongful gains etc. This is something that is immediately required.(mediavigil)

Obama reinforces presumed religious identities

Marieme Helie Lucas asks, 'Where are women and secularists of Muslim countries in Obama's speech in Cairo?' (WLUML Networkers/SIAWI)

It is beyond doubt that many people around the world, of various political opinions and creeds, will feel relieved after the speech the President of the USA delivered in Cairo today. It is apparently a new voice, a voice of peace, quite far from Bush's clash of civilisations. But is it so?

I presume that political commentators will point out the fact that Obama equates violence on the part of occupied Palestinians to violence on the part of Israeli colonizers, or that he has not abandoned the idea that the United States should tell the world how to behave and fight for their rights, or that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is reduced to a religious conflict, or that he still justifies the war in Afghanistan, etc...

All those are important issues that need to be challenged. However, what affects me most, as an Algerian secularist, is that Obama has not done away with the idea of homogeneous civilisations that was at the heart of the theory of the 'clash of civilisations'. Moreover, his very American idea of civilisation is that it can be equated to religion. He persistently opposes ' Islam and the West' (as two entities/civilisations), ' America and Islam'(a country vs. a religion); he claims that 'America is not at war with Islam'. In short 'the West' is composed of countries, while ' Islam' is not.

Old Jomo Kenyatta used to say of British colonizers: "When they came, we had the land, they had the Bible; now we have the Bible, they have the land." Obama's discourse confirms this: religion is still good enough for us to have, or to be defined by. His concluding compilation of monotheist religious wisdom sounds as if it were the only language that we, barbarians, can understand. These shortcomings have adverse effects on us, citizens of countries where Islam is the predominant and often the state religion.

First of all, Obama's discourse is addressed to 'Islam', as if an idea, a concept, a belief, could hear him; as if those were not necessarily mediated by the people who hold these views, ideas, concepts or beliefs. As Soheib Bencheikh, former Great Mufti of Marseilles and now Director of the Institute of High Islamic Studies in Marseilles, used to say: "I have never seen a Qur'an walking in the street..."

Can we imagine for one minute that Obama would address himself to ''Christianity' or to 'Buddhism'? No, he would talk to Christians or Buddhists – to real people, keeping in mind all their differences.

Obama is essentialising Islam, ignoring the large differences that exist among Muslim believers themselves, in terms of religious schools of thought and interpretations, cultural differences and political opinions. These differences indeed make it totally irrelevant to speak about 'Islam' in such a totalizing way. Obama would not dare essentialise, for instance, Christianity in such a way, ignoring the huge gap between Opus Dei and liberation theology...

Unfortunately, this essentialising Islam feeds into the plans of Muslim fundamentalists whose permanent claim is that there is one single Islam – their version of it – one homogeneous Muslim world, and subsequently one single Islamic law that needs to be respected by all in the name of religious rights. Any study of the laws in 'Muslim' countries show that these laws are pretty different from one country to the other, deriving not just from different interpretations of religion, but also from the various cultures in which Islam has been spreading on all continents, and that these supposedly Muslim laws are rooted, as well, in historical and political factors including colonial sources*, which are obviously not divine .

This is the first adverse consequence of Obama's essentialising Islam and homogenising Muslims: as much as he may criticize fundamentalists – who he calls 'a minority of extremists' – he is using their language and their concepts. This is unlikely to help the cause of anti-fundamentalists forces in Muslim countries.

It follows suite that Obama talks to religions, not to citizens, not to nations or countries. He assumes that anyone has to have a religion, overlooking the fact that in many instances, people are forced into religious identities. In more and more 'Muslim' countries, citizens are forced into religious practice **, and pay for dissent with their freedom and sometimes with their lives. It is a big blow to them, to their human rights, to freedom of thought and freedom of expression, that the President of the USA publicly confirms the view that citizens of countries where Islam is the main religion are automatically Muslims (unless they belong to a religious minority).

Regardless of the fact that one is a believer or not, citizens may choose not to have religion as the main marker of their identity; for instance, they may choose to give priority or prominence to their identity as citizens. Many citizens of 'Muslim' countries want to leave religion in its place and divorce it from politics. They support secularism and secular laws, i.e. laws democratically voted for by the people, changeable by the will and vote of the people; they oppose unchangeable, ahistorical, supposedly divine laws, as a process that is alien to democracy. They oppose the political power of clerics.

Obama is claiming to defend democracy, democratic processes, and human rights. How can this fit with addressing whole nations through their supposed, hence imposed, religious identities? Where is the place for secularists in Obama's discourse – for their democratic right to vote in laws rather than have laws imposed upon them in the name of God, for their human right to believe or not to believe, to practice or not to practice? Secularists simply do not exist. They are ignored. They are made invisible. They are made 'Muslims'. Not just by our oppressive undemocratic governments, but by Obama too... And when he talks of his own fellow citizens, these `Seven million American Muslims', has he asked them what their faith is or is he assuming faith based on geographical origin?

In this religious strait-jacket, women's rights are limited to their right to education, and Obama distances himself from arrogant westerners by making it clear that women covering is not seen by him as an obstacle to their emancipation – especially if it is 'their choice'... Meanwhile, Iran is next door, with its morality police that jail women whose hair slips out of the aforementioned covering, in the name of religious laws. And what about Afghanistan or Algeria where women were abducted, tortured, raped, mutilated, burnt alive, killed for not covering***?

At no point does he raise the issue of who defines culture, who defines religion, who speaks for 'the Muslims' – and why they could not be defined by individual women themselves, without clerics, without morality police, without self-appointed, old, conservative, male, religious leaders – if their fundamental human rights were to be respected. Obviously, Obama trades women's human rights for political and economic alliances with 'Islam'... 'Islam' definitely owns oil, among other things.

No, this discourse is not such a change for an American President: Obama remains within the boundaries of the clash of civilisations/religions. How can this save us from the global rise of religious fundamentalism, which this discourse was supposed to counter? He claims that "as long as our relationship is defined by differences, this will empower those who sow hatred.../... promote conflict...", but the only thing he finds we have in common is "to love our families, our communities, our God..." Muslim fundamentalists will not disown such a program. In God we trust....

Shooting the messenger

If the media is reporting the misuse of force by the state government against protesters is it unprofessional? NASEER A GANAI on Omar Abdullah’s outburst over the Shopian coverage.

Jun 06, 2009

On June 1, 2009, when Kashmir was on boil against the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian district of South Kashmir by security forces, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah addressed a press conference.

In Shopian the women went missing on May 29 after they set out for the apple orchards near the fields. Their bodies were found on the morning of May 30 on the riverside. The family members and the residents alleged that members of the security forces raped the women and then murdered them. The incidents evoked widespread protesters across Kashmir valley in which over 300 people have been injured, four of them are critical and one has succumbed to injuries.

Back to the press conference of June 1, held by the chief minister. The CM said his government enjoys credibility among people and he would sacrifice power for the sake of credibility. However at the same press conference he contradicted himself when he said people have no faith on the institutions of the State and even if the government would come up with the findings about killing of the two women, people will not believe the findings of the government. Then he announced a judicial probe. So far, fine.

But he didn't stop there. The chief minister asked the media not blow trivial issues out of proportion, and to use the word 'alleged' when the allegation has not been proved. He referred to an incident in which an army truck hit a scooter outside the 15 Corps headquarter killing a youth. He said people lodged protests against the accidental killing and blocked the road and media gave it full coverage.

On the same day, he said, three other incidents involving civilians took place in valley but no one protested against them. The chief minister is forgetting that the army represents the State and as he rightly pointed out, people have no faith in institutions of the State. So they believed that the army vehicle deliberately hit the scooter and killed the youth. Hence, widespread protests and the local media coverage.

Abdullah then went on to comment on the media reportage of the Shopian incident saying that some news channels were reporting "Bandh in the valley against the rape and murder of two women by security forces." He wanted to know: how did they establish that rape has taken place when his government has not yet been able to establish either rape nor the murder? He asked the media to be balanced.

But the question is, if the media is carrying the version of people of the Shopian district and family members of the two women, is it doing something wrong? If the State government has not been able to tell people of J&K who are protesting for last four days, whether the women have been subjected to rape or not, is it fault of media?

The police have not registered the rape and murder case despite the Supreme Court of India ruling last year: "In a given case, even if the doctor, who examined the victim, does not find [any] sign of rape, it is no ground to disbelieve the sole testimony of the prosecutrix." Now if the media is reporting about the misuse of force by the State government against the protesters is it unprofessional?

Doctors say that within 15 minutes it can be established whether rape has taken place or not but the State government that claims it has credibility among of people has failed to establish the cause of death of the young girls even after four days of the incident. And instead of accepting its incompetence it is trying to blame the media, particularly the local media and cable news networks in the valley. The State needs a scapegoat and it finds it in media here.

Last year when pro-freedom marches started in Kashmir the State acted in the same manner. In August 2008 over a million people marched upto the United Nations Militarily Observers Group office in Srinagar calling for independence. The million-man march embarrassed the Government of India and the State Government. So the government took two steps.

First, it went for undeclared curfew that has now become the norm, putting the whole valley under siege. Undeclared curfew is curfew without a formal announcement. In a situation of undeclared curfew, lawyers say there are more chances of killing as civilians don't know that stepping out would cost them with their lives. Last year the government placed barbed wires across the streets and highways and restricted the movement of people. It didn't allow anyone to come out. Almost all separatist leaders were booked under the Public Safety Act, under which a person is kept in jail without trial for 2 years. This year it followed same technique of undeclared curfew.

Its second step last year after curbing the movement of people was to curb the media. It closed down all cable news channels without issuing any order. In J&K, the State does not believe in written orders. It just tries to bring the 'order' without issuing any order. Democracy Zindabad!

The cable news channels, which were giving full coverage to protests and government action against protesters, were only allowed to work after they were forced to sign an agreement that they would show only to people what government wanted people should view. Here lies the difference between the sate and the national media: in Kashmir the media are being forced to comply with the State policies. The New Delhi-based news channels and newspapers comply with the State policies about Kashmir willingly.

However the cable news channels did not stick to that agreement this month when they saw thousands on streets protesting against the alleged rape and murder. They showed everything. Protests, statements and of course the government version. Now they have been asked to follow last year's guidelines. If they fail to, the government can close them down.

Last year the State government acted against the newspapers as well. It didn't allow journalists to move out of their homes, and those who came out had their identity cards torn, while many were thrashed. This way, it stopped publication of all newspapers across Kashmir valley for over eight days.

In Kashmir protesters accuse media of not giving enough space to them and the security forces beat them up for "inciting the masses." For the last two years over a dozen photo journalists, camera men were thrashed and beaten up by the security forces while doing their professional work. Number of times photo journalists have gone for sit-in against the atrocities of police and security forces against them but situation never improves for them. At times they get thrashing from people as well.

Last year when scores journalists were thrashed by the security forces for covering protesters in Sopore, the Srinagar-based journalists who were working for local, national and international media groups; perhaps for the first time, issued a statement. The September 2008 statement says it all:

"In the aftermath of the Amarnath land controversy, members of press in Kashmir have been coming under serious attack by the personnel of CRPF and in some measure by the crowds. We have reasons to believe that the attacks happen by deliberate design of the State agencies. When the governor N N Vohra was informed about these attacks, he pleaded ignorance and, in presence of some members of press and the secretary information, instructed the Director General of Police not to let such attacks to continue.

However, to cite just one instance, the attacks continued the next day, confirming our suspicion that the attacks are carried out by design. Journalists have faced irrational demands from CRPF personnel manning the streets like "you are not carrying a curfew pass for your camera." Such instances could tell volumes.It seems Omar too wants journalists in Kashmir to carry curfew passes for their cameras. (mediavigil)

Man sentenced to life for Mehar Bhargav's murder

Lucknow : A local court here awarded life imprisonment in connection with the Meher Bhargava murder case on Friday. According to the sources, Sunny Rawat, the prime accused in Meher Bhargava murder case, was found guilty, but the court acquitted three other accused due to lack of substantial evidence. Sunny Rawat shot at Meher Bhargava when she resisted an attempt to molest her daughter-in-law.

Sunny Rawat, arrested in connection with the Mehar Bhargava murder, confessed before the media to having fired the fatal shot at her in a fit of rage. ‘Yes, I fired the shot,' Rawat told reporters here after which he was produced before a local court as the main suspect. Rawat, who was presented by police at a news conference, claimed Mehar threatened him and his accomplices with dire consequences and also abused him following which he shot her in a fit of rage. ‘She (Mehar) used filthy language which I could not bear and fired at her,' he said.

He alleged that it was Pramod Singh who passed lewd remarks about Mehar's daughter-in-law near the stairs of their house on February 28 after which she scolded Singh and threatened to call the police.The family driver, Ganga Prasad, identified Rawat as the one who had fired the fatal shot after Rawat and another youth Sanjay Menon were arrested.

The four men, identified as Sachin Pahadi, Pramod Singh, Amit Singh and Jaiprakash came down from K D Singh's flat, where they had been drinking the previous night. The accused tried to flee when Meher threatened to call the police. When Meher's driver chased them, Sachin Pachadi shot at her. Two of the accused, Sachin and Amit, have a criminal history, with Sachin already having two murder charges against him. The reward on Sachin has been increased from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000, according to Hazratganj inspector D K Rai. Amit has cases lodged against him at Mughalsarai police station in Chandauli district. While Jaiprakash and Pramod have been arrested, Amit and Sachin are still missing.

Meher Bhargava was the 50-year old wife of senior Congress leader Luv Bhargava. A little more than an month after she was shot, barely metres from the Lucknow police superintendent's office, she succumbed to injuries and died at 6.15 pm on March 25th at the Apollo Hospital where she was admitted.

Cassette king killer arrested in Dhaka

Abdul Rauf Merchant, who was convicted for killing audio king Gulshan Kumar in 1997, and had absconded has been arrested in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Merchant had been released on furlough when he went absconding since Saturday, May 23, 2009.Merchant, a resident of Mumbra suburb of Thane near Mumbai, was released on furlough for 14 days by the Bombay High Court last month on condition that he would report to police every day.

Merchant reported for a week but had thereafter stopped coming to Mumbra police station, Joint Commissioner of Police, Rakesh Maria said, adding efforts were on to trace him."We have got certain clues about his whereabouts but at this stage we cannot disclose anything", Maria said. Furlough is leave granted to a convict every two years for a fortnight to visit his family and return to jail after expiry of the period.

Merchant had filed a petition from jail asking for release on furlough. The court had allowed his plea after advocate Farhana Shah argued his case as amicus curiae.This is for the first time that Merchant was released from jail on furlough after he was given life sentence for killing Gulshan Kumar. Merchant was convicted in 2001, while 18 other accused were acquitted by the trial court as policecould not prove conspiracy charges against them.

Civil rights activist Binayak Sen gets bail

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Binayak Sen, a doctor accused by authorities of links with Maoist rebels, in a high-profile case that saw a host of Nobel laureates call for his freedom. Sen, 59, was jailed about two years ago in Raipur, capital of Chhattisgarh on accusations he passed notes from an imprisoned Maoist leader.

Chhattisgarh is one of the centres of a Maoist insurgency that stretches across a swathe of eastern and central India.Sen, who has won international fame for running health clinics for poor villagers in this tribal region, denies the charges. He has also been critical of government-backed tribal militia that were formed to battle Maoist insurgents.

Lower courts had previously turned down his bail plea. But on Monday Supreme Court Justices Markandeya Katju and Deepak Verma granted bail to Sen. The prosecution did not contest his bail plea. Last year, the Global Health Council, an association of health organisations and workers, announced he was the winner of the 2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. After that 22 Nobel prize-winning scientists appealed to the Indian government to release Sen and let him travel to Washington D.C. to collect the award.

The Nobel laureates spanned around three decades of winners, including economists, chemists and doctors.They said the laws under which Sen had been jailed fell short of international human rights standards. Maoist rebels say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless. They regularly kill policemen and attack government establishments.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the four-decade-old Maoist rebellion as the single biggest threat to India's internal security. It has killed thousands of people. Human rights groups had launched a high-decibel campaign, including on social network websites and through emails, to demand Sen's release."I am very happy that my personal ordeal is over, the judiciary has stood up for what is correct," Ilina Sen, the accused doctor's wife,told reporters.

CPI seeks withdrawal of all cases against Binayak Sen
Welcoming the bail granted by Supreme Court to prominent civil rights activist Binayak Sen, CPI today asked the government to set him free by withdrawing all cases against him."Foisting of cases against such eminent persons is a shame on our democracy. The time has now come for the government to withdraw all cases against him and he must be set free immediately," party National Secretary D Raja told here.
The Apex court today ordered the release of Sen, who was lodged in a Chhattisgarh jail since two years. A prominent PUCL leader, Sen was arrested by the Chhattisgarh police for allegedly colluding with certain naxalite leaders, a charge denied by the activist. Raja also demanded dismantling of the private anti-Naxal army Salwa Judum, saying even Home Minister P Chidambaram had earlier admitted that this outfit was a "non-state actor".(mediavigil)

SIT and witness protection‎

By-Dr Nutan Thakur

R K Raghavan's statement in Gandhinagar (Gujarat) that "witness protection will be given the highest priority during trial" and that all witnesses will "be getting adequate protection" is a welcome one. More so because he is the head of the Special Investigation team (SIT) that has been constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate into the Gujarat riots and recently has also been assigned the task of looking into the various complaints against the Chief minister Modi, many of his close associates and some important government functionaries as well.

Not that everyone is satisfied with the SIT's job so far and more often than once, figures have been raised against its functioning, where it has been felt that it has not come up to the expectations of the people in its process of trying to bring the culprits before the Court. And yet, this is what we have and thus every one of us, who knows that Gujarat is the worst example so far of the State sponsored violence and mayhem in our country, are pinning our hopes on the SIT.

Through these words Raghav has tried not only to assuage the feelings of the devastated and brutalized victims but has also tried to instill some sort of confidence in them to come up and speak the truth. He exhorts them by saying that "they need not fear anyone." How much does he really mean when he speaks these brave-sounding words and how much of it would actually be implemented on the ground during the long processes of trial, no one knows but the fact that witness security is being recognized as an important issues and steps are being taken to ensure it, is itself something to feel good about. Moreover, it also brings forth the fact that even the Supreme Court and SIT, as its assisting body, realizes the possibility of such things happening in Modi's land.

One more thing that the SIT must do is to complete the arduous and difficult task assigned to it by the Supreme Court as regards investigating into the roles of the bigwigs including the all-powerful and invincible-looking Narendra Modi and his lieutenants. It seems easier than done because of the kind of complete hold that the government enjoys in the State, with its kind of brute majority which naturally makes the affected persons feel helpless and despondent, with no one to really look at for support, save the public spirited persons and social activists. It will be difficult to come out with concrete evidence that would nail down these persons but if the SIT is able to do anything in this regards, it would be truly great service to the Nation.(mediavigil)

Shame on Indian Government

Every year on 14th Aug (Pakistani Indipendence Day), Pakistani flag is hosted every where in Kashmir, including the govt. buildings and on 15th Aug, same people burn the Indian flag.









A Kashmiri separatist leader burning the Indian Flag

Shock and anger on pro-Hindutva websites

"The BJP does not impress Hindus any more, and it manages to frighten non-Hindus. Not a combination to win India." B.RAMAN gives a flavour of the discussion on the election results on pro-Hindutva web sites. May 18, 2009

There has been a lot of discussion going on for the last 12 hours or more in the pro-Hindutva web sites in India and abroad about the stunning failure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to do well in the just-concluded elections to the Lok Sabha, the lower House of the Indian Parliament, and the dramatic success of the Congress (I). The pro-Hindutva elements, which regularly visit these web sites and make their postings, are in an astonishing state of shock. There is more introspection already going on in these web sites than in New Delhi and State capitals and there is more loud-thinking than in the endless debates in our TV channels. It is more interesting and educative to read these postings in the web sites than to listen to the blah, blah, blah of the spokesmen of different parties and the so-called analysts who
have congregated in New Delhi.

2. As one goes through these web sites, one is struck by the admiration of many pro-Hindutva elements over the way the Congress (I) has managed to give a youthful image to the party and over the quality of the intellect and powers of articulation of the youth brigade of the Congress (I). There is a grudging admiration even for Rahul Gandhi. Some admit that he has made an impact on the nation as a whole. Others insist
that his impact is confined to Uttar Pradesh.

3. Many have compared the youthful image of the Congress (I) to the tired and aging image of the Hindutva leaders. Where are the young people in the BJP, the posters have been asking. The majority are agreed that L.K.Advani was a bad choice to lead the election campaign. They allege that instead of surrounding himself with youthful faces and intellects, he surrounded himself with old pensioners from different government services and the armed forces who were unable to read the mind of the Indian youth.

4. A perusal of many of these postings shows that the angry pro-Hindutva elements do not look upon younger BJP leaders such as Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Shourie etc as representing the newly rising Indian youth. They dismiss them as middle-aged backroom manipulators and not genuine representatives of young India.

5. Many of the postings say that Advani made the election campaign a personality-based one and not an issue-based one, which was a serious mistake. Interestingly and significantly, many admit that the just-concluded election has shown that Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, has no national stature. The fact that he has been able to galvanise the Gujaratis in Gujarat and outside does not mean that he will be able to galvanise the rest of India. They feel that one of the biggest problems of the BJP is that it has not been able to produce a leader of national stature after Atal Behari Vajpayee, the former Prime Minister. It has produced a number of good regional leaders, but they are not in a position to expand their appeal beyond their region and beyond their respective communities.

6. I am reproducing below some examples of the kind of comments I picked up from my browsing:"I think BJP should dismantle, and regroup under a new name, new leadership, with a bit more conviction (I mean the mental kind, not legal) and spine. Bottom line: The BJP does not impress Hindus any more, and it manages to frighten non-Hindus. Not a combination to win India."

" How do old people like Advani answer to the aspirations of the youth and also how can they 'connect' to a grandfatherly figure when a much older figure like me sees him as an anachronism. Are you going to inspire the youth so that they will vote for Advani in 2014? I see it in simple terms: Manmohan Singh kept Advani engaged while the Congress youth brigade engaged the voters. This is a classic military tactic though I don't believe the Congress worked it out as a strategy. But that was the effect and people should learn from it and plan for the future. What worked in the 80s will not work with the voters today many of whom were not born then or were small children. The electorate is not static. As you going to take them back to the 80s? Also, the BJP is being ill-served by some of its 'intellectuals', who talk smoothly on TV and score debating points, but have no clue about the electorate. This
is soothsaying, not problem solving. A defeat of this magnitude is due to a fundamental shift, not minor issues like whether Modi or Vajpayee would have made a better speaker. I already see futile talk that BJP made a tactical error by bringing in Narendra Modi as speaker and so forth. This is like a drowning man clutching at straws. This shows that the BJP doesn't know what hit them-- the youth brigade.
Where is a BJP youth brigade that can engage Rahul, Sachin Pilot, Jyotirmayi Scindia and so forth? Why did the BJP fail to cultivate them even with its vast cadre? It has five years to focus on this issue.

Bringing up a cadre of young leaders should be the first priority of BJP-RSS. It should allow them some freedom and not put them in an ideological straitjacket. That will nip talent in the bud. My concern is more for future generations than the fortunes of any political party. Where are the future leaders? I hope people are listening. I will bring this up with some people I know and also mention it in a couple of presentations."

" The BJP has to be a party for all communities if it has to be a truly national party. A party that has India's interests as its priority and delivers on development will have no problems getting the support of a large section of Christians and Muslims. All that the BJP has to do is remove the institutional bias against Hindus that exists in govt circles. That's all Hindus ask of them."

"I am not a Hindu though I have Hindu heritage. I was looking forward to INC's defeat mostly because I vehemently am opposed to the idea of dynasty. India is a republic not a monarchy. I am seriously disappointed by the disastrous performace of BJP.

You are in the trenches against an enemy more powerful and more organized moving against you and as you are running low on ammunition, you don't want traitors in your rank. You also don't want ultra patriots among you who might do serious damage to your battle plan. It is almost like giving the enemy your ammo stock even while you are running low yourself. Varun Gandhi played that spoiler. He may have made a tactical error in judgement but the moment the national and international media
caught of that it brought about strategic implication. Sadly, the BJP's reaction was hew and haw without clear and concise action/reaction.

Remember how GWB disowned Trent Lott? That is what leadership is. Does not matter how charismatic a person is and how popular he/she might be but the moment he/she steps out of line.....he/she however capable must be gone. In 1991 the Deputy Commander of all US forces arrayed against Iraq made a statement to the press about how the war would be waged. Norman Swarzkoff fired him even though he was said to be a brilliant war planner because he went to the press without approval. Despite being friendly with the Bush family he was fired nevertheless. BJP officials did not show leadership when it was needed.

India has the world's largest twenty something population. Many of these are urbanized or dream of being urbanized. Many move to urban areas in search for that extra rupee. Many of these even in the country are fascinated by Bollywood and its regional cousins. Admit it. Materialism, westernization and its associated fashionals/influence is ever expanding. In light of these developments, it would have been prudent for BJP to endear itself among this demographic. Beating up couples on their Valentine dates or trashing pubs/nightclubs will alienate these
folks. The Hindu forces should be geared to fight Talibanization and not become like the Taliban. Believe it or not, of all the good things you do one small infraction is all that is needed for the media to show you like a demon. The zealots played into the hands of the media like fools.

For a youngster in Madras who has heard of BJP and other Hindu right movements, he would know little of what great work these movements are doing in Gujarat or Haryana. But he would hear from the media when a couple on a Valentine date get beaten up. That would be his impression of the HIndutva movement. Like the the old saying....a drop of ink is enough to spoil a bucket of milk. Also, in light of this twenty something demographics, where are the young blood faces in the BJP? This is the largest twentysomething population in the world and largest voting block in the country. Eighty-something year old Mr. Advani, no disrespect to him and his huge contribution to the country, but there is a disconnect and I don't think he instils much confidence among the young crowd.

All these time Rahul Gandhi and his sister went around charming whoever that could be charmed. Lets admit it. We humans are visual animals. It is nature and no matter how indoctrinated we are otherwise this will forever be dominant. In 2009, the India voter wants to see someone like him/her. Regardless of MMS, Rahul was the featured face of the INC in this election. Then the allienation and division among Hindus. Given that Hindus are intrinsically secular, stealth must have been the operative word. You cannot charge around like a bull.

People however worried about their Hindu religion will be seriously repulsed. You should win the heart and mind of people via stealth instead of repulsing them. Does the BJP stand for all Hindus or some Hindus only? If a man does not do his husbandly duties, his wife will not sit and wait around. She is bound to seek the arms of another willing man. And there are no shortage of men who will not think twice of doing the deed when a vulnerable or willing housewife arrives on the scene. This is the same with the controversy surrounding conversion.

Why do people convert to another religion? Can we all agree that the reason they convert is because the new religion offered them hope and other related benefits that the original religion did not offer? You can cry till your lungs burst about the activities of the evangelists but as long as you have a vulnerable population that you hardly care except that they convert to another religion....the ants will keep moving to where the sugar is. Its the law of nature that you cannot change. Until HIndus themselves take the initiative to empower and help the downtrodden and vulnerable among them....these same vulnerable and downtrodden will be played for their votebanks by the cunning foxes.For a party that desires to change the nation, the party must first instil change in the party. Does not matter how INC does business or XYZ party does business....its about time the BJP does business differently and stand out as a force of positivity. Have a national referendum to select a party candidate just like the US primary. This will galvanize the rank and file and allow everyone a chance to vote their leader and give every party member a voice. Be the agent of change instead of giving lip service to it.On the whole all these news about goondas beating up people, color tv or sack of rice or money in exchange for vote stinks bigtime. What happened to the spiritual Indian? Does this prove that Hindu influence is depleting? No wonder HIndutva lost its appeal?Lastly, you cannot fight corruption by being less corrupt. You are either incorruptible or corruptible. BJP needs to stand as an incorruptible
party that is for good governance."

A caveat: Not all these people who post in these web sites are necessarily Hindutva cadres or sympathisers. There are some who feel more comfortable with the strategic thinking of the BJP on national issues than with that of the Congress I(I), but they cannot be characterised as pro-Hindutva.(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt.of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai)

LTTE Chief Prabhakaran shot dead

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was on Monday shot dead by Sri Lankan special forces as he tried to stage a dramatic breakout from the army encirclement, a military spokesman said.

"They (LTTE leaders) were all killed by the army during combat. They did not commit suicide. We are now in full control of the country," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.Army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, who is considered to be the strategist who plotted the current military campaign against the LTTE, said, "Our armed forces have militarily defeated the LTTE and freed the nation from three decades of terror".

His spokesman Nanayakkara said, "We believe Prabhakaran was amongst those 250 LTTE cadres who were killed. No DNA tests are to be carried out. We are identifying the bodies based on the intelligence information we have".

The Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, General Sarath Fonseka, has confirmed that LTTE chief Prabhakaran’s body has been found on Tuesday morning by the Lankan troops. The terror chief’s body was found by the 53 Division troops led by Major General Kamal Goonarathne, Sri Lankan military sources said. A Lankan military spokesman also said that Prabhakaran was in uniform and there were bullet wounds on his head.

Latest report emerging from the war zone reveals that Prabhakaran’s body has been recovered and it has been flown to an Army camp in Colombo for DNA testing and to confirm it medically.At the time of filing this report it is learnt that Sri Lankan Army has so far recovered more than 35 dead bodies of the Tigers and they continue to collect more bodies.

It is learnt that except for Dwaraka, the only daughter of Prabhakaran who is away somewhere in Dublin for her higher studies, said to be holding a Swedish Nationality Passport, all the other members of the family - Prabhakaran (father), Charles Anthony (son), Balachandran (son) and Mathivathani(wife) have deceased according to an unconfirmed report emerging from an army source, who wanted to remain anonymous.

In the meantime, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa who arrived early this morning and received a heroic welcome at the international airport at Katunayake, will not be delivering an address to the nation as earlier planned. According to a source in the Presidential Secretariat, it is now learnt that he will be filing a report in the Sri Lanka Parliament on Tuesday 19 May, regarding victory over the Tamil Tigers and the end of the three decade old scourge of terrorism in the country.

Supreme Court awards techie Rs 1cr damages for medical negligence

In the first judgment of its kind, the Supreme Court on Thursday awarded Rs1 crore to a software engineer who became a paraplegic because of medical negligence.A bench of justice BN Agrawal, justice HS Bedi, and justice GS Singhvi ordered the Hyderabad-based Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) to pay the money to Infosys engineer Prashant Dhanaka, who was paralysed waist downwards while undergoing treatment at the institute.

Justifying the payment of compensation, the court said the sum was justified "keeping in mind that a brilliant career had been cut short and there is, as of now, no possibility of improvement of his physical condition". Reacting to the verdict, Dhanaka said, "I am happy justice has been done." But he said he was examining the possibility of filing a review petition for greater compensation.
"This is not for my family, which is there to offer me love and affection; it is to support the costs being incurred from the time I get up till late night when I have to wake up every three hours to prevent bed sores from worsening," he said. "I need two attendants and a driver. There are also the daily costs on physiotherapy and occupational therapy." Dhanaka's parents said they were "unhappy and shocked" over the "inadequate" compensation.
"We had claimed Rs7.5 crore after carefully calculating the expenses we had incurred over 18 years. But I am shocked as we never expected the court's verdict to direct just an amount of Rs1 crore as compensation. We have already spent more than that," said his mother Indira Seshadri. Dhanaka was a 20-year-old student in 1990 when he was admitted to the NIMS, a government-aided hospital, for treatment of a tumour in the chest cavity. He left the hospital seven months later in a wheelchair, permanently disabled.
In 1993, he moved the National Consumer Redressal Commission seeking compensation of Rs4.56 crore. The commission held the institute, its director, as well as the professors of cardio-thoracic surgery, neurosurgery, and general medicine guilty on various counts. The commission held that though it was not an emergency, the doctors failed to conduct the necessary pre-operative tests that would have indicated the need to involve a neurosurgeon.

While removing the tumour the surgeon noticed erosion of the vertebrae and called in a neurosurgeon. By then the spinal cord had been damaged, resulting in paraplegia. Further negligence resulted in the patient developing a urinary tract infection, septicaemia, pulmonary infection, and bed sores, necessitating a seven-month hospital stay. The commission awarded him compensation of Rs15.5 lakh, to be paid by the institute. Dhanaka then moved the apex court seeking Rs7.57 crore from the NIMS.
The Supreme Court bench recorded its "deep appreciation" of Dhanaka for arguing his own case. "He remained unruffled and behaved with dignity and equanimity and pleaded his case bereft of any rancour or invective against those who, in his perception, harmed him," the justices observed.

CRPF recruitment scam and Naxal violence

By-Dr Nutan thakur

With the arrest of the IG of CRPF Pushkar Singh along with the Commandant Yajbinder Singh we come across another recruitment scam in our country. A constable Mukesh Kumar has also been arrested along with these senior officers of the force, considered as among one of the Elite forces in India. Mukesh Kumar's wife Swati has also been arrested, from whose custody a huge amount of cash (nearly 70 lakh rupees), which is certainly much more than can be expected from a Constable having a salary, including all kinds of perks, of not more than twenty to twenty five thousand rupees per month. As per the information received so far, this amount had been taken in lieu of recruitment of Constables for the Anti-Naxal Force in Korba, Madhya Pradesh. A cash of Rs. 23 lakh were recovered from the IG Pushkar Singh's house. This is apart from the various other documents and assets recovered from his different households.
Interestingly it is not the IG and the Commandant but the Constable Mukesh Singh who is being considered as the kingpin of the entire scam. Does it not tell the shameful state of affairs of these so-called elite forces where their IGs are being led and fed by the Constables to do all such dirty tricks of making money by recruiting sub-standard persons after taking money from them. The result of such recruitment is bound to be disastrous. Considering the fact that these Constables were being inducted for the Anti-Naxal forces, one can very well understand why our Para-military forces are proving to be so ineffective not only in curbing the menace of Naxal violence but also in saving their own skins in all the Naxal onslaughts. Only yesterday 11 persons have been killed which includes two CRPF personnel in a landmine blast by Naxals in the Dantewada district in Chattisgarh. We have the greatest sympathy for the poor CRPF personnel, the other policemen as also the innocent citizen who get killed in these different Naxal attacks but have the least regard for the senior police officers who go on to recruit substandard police personnel to earn some extra money, never for once thinking about the security of the country, the effectiveness of these people and the adverse impact such inductions are going to make in the police force ion the days to come.
Even more shameful is the conduct of S S Gill, the DGP of CRPF who till now was apparently quite oblivious of these developments till the time, CBI, an outside agency came to know of these events and got these people arrested before the CRPF could even wink. Now that these officers have been arrested Gill comes up with the classic statement of goofiness when he says that the matter is being looked into and attempts are being made to bring about the required amendments in the recruitment process to check such repetitions in the future.

CBI-Closed Bureau of Investigation

BY-Dr NUTAN THAKUR

Two of the recent actions of the CBI have helped it reach the lowest level of its credibility. The first of these is the Sikh rioting case of 1984 and the second the most recent one is the equally infamous Bofors. So much so that they have added much credence to the words of voluble Amar Singh when he calls the CBI as the Congress Bureau of Investigation. Thankfully, even the Congress Party does not do much to dispel this notion when one of its senior leaders, Digvijay Singh, who has remained the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for two consecutive terms comes out in open to threaten another Chief Minister by showing the deadly fangs of this Institution, in almost the same tone and tenor that Shashi Kapoor's words had when he had delivered those famous lines in Deewar- "Mere paas Maa hai" (I have mother with me). Thus while the police inspector in that film had his mother to shield him, the Congress (or for that matter any ruling establishment) seems to have the CBI as their last refuse.
Let us first look at what the CBI did in the 1984 rioting case.

Everyone knows that Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler along with the now deceased H K L Bhagat went openly out not only to assist the rioters, but to initiate and propagate the entire event, which was no less a state-orchestrated pogrom than the Gujarat riots. The purpose of these people were two-fold. The first was to use the situation to produce a Hindu-Sikh divide and to use this voter's polarization to their advantage in the coming Lok sabha elections. successfully. But more important was to gain some brownie points in the eyes of Rajiv Gandhi whose infamous statement about the little tremors as a result of a falling Banyan tree had already made his preference clear. This triumvirate, along with several other lesser minions played havoc for days in the most dirty and dastardly fashion. Yet, it takes the CBI more than 25 years to come to any conclusion. And what results do they arrive at- that there is not enough evidence again Kumar and Tytler. This too again at a time when the General elections are in process and the Government is not sure of its retuning back. Could there be a more blatant example of the clear-cut misuse of the powers of the CBI? This entire act was managed so secretly that it could have simply passed unnoticed. It took a shoe to be thrown at the Home Minister for the Nation to know of this chicanery. The CBI is still speaking in double tones as regards the case, to much so that no one knows where exactly it stands on this issue. If this is what the CBI has brought its stature and reputation to, it has no one except itself to blame.

The second case is no less more glaring. Bofors is a chapter that the Gandhi-Nehru family would never like to remember. Yet, this weapon has the inbuilt capability of bouncing back. The latest in this series of headlines in the long list of deliberate mishandling is the act of the CBI of asking the Interpol to drop the name of Ottavio Quatroccchi from the list of the most wanted persons. How could the CBI do this to our Nation? in a case that has become the byword for corruption at the highest level, in which even the then Prime Minister himself was accused and even implicated in the earlier stage of investigation, and where it is common knowledge that Quatrocchi played the chief facilitator of this sleaze, does it suit the CBI to act as a benefactor to the same person who owes so much explanation to us? Again, here, as in many other cases in which CBI plays the hide and seek game in its two-forked manner, while clearing the name from Interpol list, the CBI goes to the Court and asks for two months time to decide on the further course of action. What is this? What right do the officers of this investigative agency have to reduce it to a farce?
The CBI's performance in all the cases of political nature has been very poor, at least in the last few years. Whether it is the Mulayam Singh Yadav disproportionate assets case or Mayawati's Taj corridor and DA case, the CBI has been seen to be shifting its stand as per the political weather. When the person is out of favour with the Central government, the agency suddenly acquires wings and starts playing the prosecutor with the highest sense of urgency and alacrity. But the moment the same person becomes inevitable for the government, with the power of influencing its policy decisions, the CBI starts playing a radically different tune. Is this what is expected from a body like the CBI? Is this anything less than being shameful?

These are the questions the CBI will have to think over and will have to answer, not only to itself but to the entire country. And it shall never expect the Government of the day to come to its assistance in this regards. this is because every government would always love to use the CBI to achieve its political goals and would never hesitate to dictate it as long the organization is willing to oblige. But had the CBI officers joined this premier organization to enjoy its privileges, perks and prestige only to pawn their conscience before these hankering and hovering politicians? (mediavigil)