Karnataka’s new CM Mr Siddaramaiah has sworn in and announces what?
(1) One-time loan waiver for SCs and STs: Rs. 349 Crore; for OBCs: Rs. 514.26 Crore and for religious Minorities: Rs. 362 Crore.
(2) Decision not to allow ban on cow slaughter in the state and a bill passed by BJP govt preventing cow slaughter would be reversed.
(3) Financial help to religious orgs which was done by BJP govt would be stopped.
Now newspaper says Siddaramaiah is a self-declared atheist and he took oath in the name of ‘truth’ than any God. But report also says he began the day with prayers to goddess Chamundeswari and he said, “I prayed for blessings from the deity, for good showers, grains, prosperity and harmony in the state.” I do not understand how could even anyone kill cows and yet bring showers and grains; worship goddess Durga and discriminate people on the basis of caste and religion, and yet claim to be an atheist?
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किसी के सवाल: अंततः भारतीय विदेश निति और दबाब काम आयी, चाइना ने अपने तम्बू उखाड़ लिए और उसे पतली गली से निकलना ही पड़ा …..इसे कहते हे कूटनीति ………और एक सरकार पहले थी तब 125 किलोमीटर हिंदुस्तान की सीमा में घुस गये थे पाकिस्तानी ……कारगिल जेसा युद्ध दिया हजारो सेनिको को मरवा दिया ………..फिर उसी पाकिस्तान के मुशरफ को हिंदुस्तान बुलवाया और उसका सम्मान किया ! क्या हर बात का जबाब युद्ध है ? मेरे जवाब: जब कारगिल में कायर पाकिस्तानी घुसे थे तो हमारे योद्धाओं ने उनके खून की होली खेली थी . फौजियों के लिए मौत “वीरगति” कहलाती है; मातम मनाने की बात नहीं होती. चीनी सैनिक अपनी मर्जी से घुसे, भारत सरकार को उसकी औकात बताई, और जब मन भर गया तो चले गये. (तथ्य है कि भारत ने जितनी “फ्लैग मीटिंग्स” बुलाई उसमे कोई समाधान नहीं निकला. जाने से पहले चीनियों ने “फ्लैग मीटिंग” बुलाई, और वो चले गये।) हमारी सरकार अपने मंत्रियों को भ्रस्टाचार के आरोपों से बचाने में अपनी सारी शक्ति व्यर्थ करती है. सेना के सच्चे सपूत जनरल वी के सिंह जी को जिस तरह उन्होंने ज़लील किया वो हम सब जानते हैं। ये अहिंसा के पुजारी नहीं (वरना सारे भारत-पाक युद्ध इन्होने नहीं लडे होते), बल्कि इनकी हिम्मत नहीं कि नेहरु जी के “हिमालयन ब्लंडर” के बाद चीन से नजरें भी मिला सकें। इन्हें कूटनीति आती तो आज सरबजीत सिंह जिन्दा होता; पाकी सेना हमारे वीरों का सर काट कर अमन से न रह रही होती, और बांग्लादेश और श्रीलंका जैसे देश जब मन में आए हमें ठेंगा नहीं दिखा रहे होते. Congratulations Karnataka for doing a very honest Performance Appraisal of the outgoing BJP Govt. I know your choices were limited and I am very happy that you have elected Cong. rather than any regional party (almost all regional parties are anti-national and corrupt). Though the fact remains that on the date of polling, BJP was the only party which was not corrupt (no corruption charges in the months after Yeddyurappa and his team exited), but trust deficit could be understood. Since you threw out a govt which was plagued by corruption charges (apart from Governor HR Bhardwaj’s tactics), the new govt sure is to understand what you want - development and corruption free governance. Keep it up! 
In case of Sarabjit Singh, our worst fears came true. It is difficult to say if he died some days back and still the treacherous nation Pakistan kept doing drama over his body, but it does not matter now. Today’s newspaper quotes Sarabjit Singh saying from Pakistani Jail, “I will reach heaven the day I reach India - alive or dead”. This was his patriotism! He longed not only to meet his wife and two daughters in India, but “to be in India”! We can’t imagine the inhuman conditions in which he had to spend 22 years in Paki jail. Great Chandrashekhar Azad had shot himself rather than getting captured by the enemy. But innocent that he was, Sarabjit might not have considered Pakistan as an enemy and would have tolerated all with our good old belief “satyamev jayate - truth alone wins”… His end may not justify his faith in this world’s goodness, yet, he has left a long list of inspirations for all of us. We complain and crib, but we are living in the land which gave us birth and sustained us - is cause of all the great things which ever happened in our life. This land was Sarabjit Singh’s heaven… Finally his mortal remains have come here… Mother India would have wept a lot today… At the same time there are people amongst us who ask why Sarabjit Singh was declared a martyr in India? The question is: “In the Indian version, Sarabjit Singh was a farmer but in Pakistani version he was a bomber and his guilt was proven by Supreme Court in Pakistan; hence Pakistan’s treatment of him should be expected! Also, a martyr is defined only if one sacrifices life for some honorable cause. What was the honorable cause in case of Sarabjit?” Here is what I have to say as answer: (1) To say “his guilt of bombing and killing innocent people has been proven in court” is misleading. There is no proof against him. There was one man called Shaukat Salim who the police claimed was “eye witness”. But the man after some days denied seeing him and said he made that statement under pressure from the police! If courts of some nations start giving verdicts without any proofs, we can’t call it justice just because it is called “court” by that nation. There is nothing called “Indian version” and “Paki version”. There is only known facts, and known facts tell us that he was a common farmer and was not linked to the bomb blasts. In fact he was arrested months after bombings had happened there. (2) Definition of Martyr and what is “honorable cause” in this case: Most dictionaries tell martyr as ” One who makes great sacrifices or suffers much in order to further a belief, cause, or principle” So what is the belief, cause, or principle in this case? Or what is the “honorable cause” you question? It is simply what always is in case of martyrs - TRUTH! Sarabjit was innocent and had not bombed Pakis. But they falsely accused him of doing that and tortured him till death. Thereby, he becomes a martyr. He had belief in “victory of truth over lies” and “good over evil”, this is why he lived! Otherwise one could have done suicide to save himself from Pakis’s so called justice. Just like Chandrashekhar Azad had shot himself. But the good man Sarabjit believed in truth winning and this was his “honorable cause”! Thirdly, his patriotism! Did you read today’s newspaper where his one letter is quoted, where is says, “I will reach heaven the day I reach India - dead or alive”? Such was his patriotism!!! If after reading his this statement, still you don’t find a “honorable cause”, your heart is made of stone! Sorry for strong words, nothing personal, but I think there are more than one honorable causes in case of Sarabjit, only if we look. Attack on Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh in a Pakistani Jail is not surprising. After all, Pakistan is a lawless state where incidents of large and small scale violence are so much rampant. What is surprising is that India left its son Sarabjit Singh to suffer in silence and there is no real pressure on government of India to do something about him. So far only the BJP has spoken strongly in his support. There is no credible proof against Sarabjit Singh, at least in public domain, and yet Pakistan has made him a case to appease anti-India elements in Pakistan. Sarabjit Singh, a farmer, had strayed inside Pakistani border by mistake in a drunk state in August 1990, 3 months after the bombings happened for which he was accused. He was originally arrested on the charges of illegally crossing Pakistan border, but 8 days afterwards, charges of planting bombs were imposed on him for political reasons. Since Pakistan bombs Indian cities and sends trained terrorists inside India, it captures innocent Indians and frames them with charges of domestic terrorism which regularly happen in Pakistan. This is done for political reasons and is part of state sponsored propaganda there for votes. Sarabjit is not the only Indian prisoner who was arrested and killed inside a Pakistani jail. Another Indian prisoner Chamel Singh was killed after being tortured in January. Sarabjit Singh is a resident of Tarn Taran in Punjab and has his wife and two daughters waiting for him. Due to the attack, 60% of his brain is damaged and his backbone is broken. May God give him power to cope up with all this. I pray from my heart and soul to God to save him. And may Indian politicians have some sense and respect. Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and are in no way linked to any organization associated with the author. The purpose of the article is for solely academic and brain storming purpose and there is no attempt to attack or malign the name of any party or person. In case of any complaints on this article or blog, please use the Guest Book entry. So the run-up to upcoming general elections has started with some unpredictable scene. While the whole country was expecting this to be BJP Vs Congress Party war, a new face has made this fight multi-dimensional. Officially JDU and Nitish Kumar say that they have nothing in common with and will never ally with Congress Party. But the manner in which Nitish Kumar is attacking Narendra Modi with intensity increasing with proximity to the general elections, his actions are proving different than his words. The best strategy for Congress Party is to make NDA allies fight each other because it can’t win next elections on the basis of its performance. It can only win if there is no one to challenge it. The biggest alleys of Congress are some of the most corrupt political parties and dynasties, be it Mayawati, Mulayam, DMK or NCP. In fact now UPA led by Congress Party is considered synonym with political corruption in India. Therefore it was important for the sake of the nation that all opposition parties with integrity should unite and give a tough fight to the Congress party. Alas, this is far from what is happening! Nitish Kumar has been acting as an agent of Congress Party. His histrionics against Narendra Modi looks so ugly that it is but natural that his own personal integrity would be starting to be questioned. What does Bihar’s CM got to do with the CM of a faraway state which does not even share boundaries with it? People have failed to understand this and it will not be late when they will realize the truth behind Nitish’s veiled attack on Modi. Nitish Kumar plays minority vote bank politics. His goal is to steal Muslim voters from going towards any other party especially Laloo’s RJD. Biased favors, policies and schemes made with communal vote bank politics in mind, state sponsored racial and communal discrimination – these are the less known sides of his so falled “Bihar’s growth story”. This is the dark side of his government and such communal politics is forcing him to attack Narendra Modi with the assumption that Muslims will love it. JDU has 115 seats in Bihar assembly while BJP has 91. In the last elections, JDU added 27 seats while BJP won 36 new seats. In fact the speed at which BJP is gaining ground in Bihar, is also one of the worries of shrewd politician like Nitish Kumar. So what should the BJP do to pacify Nitish’s attack? It should ask for what is its right. All across India when two equal parties make a coalition, there is also a fair sharing of power. Why should Nitish Kumar alone enjoy the CM’s Chair? Why should not there also be a CM from the BJP? I am sure if BJP demanded its right to have its own CM for rest of the term, Nitish Kumar will be forced to come down to fair terms. Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and are in no way linked to any organization associated with the author. The purpose of the article is for solely academic and brain storming purpose and there is no attempt to attack or malign the name of any party or person. In case of any complaints on this article or blog, please use the Guest Book entry. I think our democracy is faulty because it has been exploited on religious and caste lines. It does not matter by which party, because if a fault line exists someone or the other will exploit it. Ideally we should have declared a state religion after a separate nation was created for followers of Mhd. Since we chose a difficult path, religious minorities became vote banks and Hindus had to live with minority appeasements and also we keep seeing communal riots. Next, caste politics decides who is going to win in most of the seats. The caste based politics stemmed from politics of payoffs by quota and other benefits. All our reservations, subsidy, and scholarships should have been for poor people below poverty lines irrespective of castes. But we made open casteism our state politics and hence worst kind of people came over to rule us, exploiting us by divide and rule policy! I think there is no pride in the fact that our democracy is being exploited by petty people by dividing us on caste and religious lines. I know almost every wrong thing can be attributed to the dynasty ruling us, but I believe if they did not do it then someone else would have done it. We should stop state sponsored casteism and religious discrimination. Then only politics of growth will remain and India will see real growth… Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and are in no way linked to any organization associated with the author. The purpose of the article is for solely academic and brain storming purpose and there is no attempt to attack or malign the name of any party or person. In case of any complaints on this article or blog, please use the Guest Book entry. Immediately after enactment of execution of terrorist Mohammed Afzal Guru, I had expressed serious concerns on this blog that this may result in retaliation and more violence in already fragile communal climate in India. You can read the original post here: Ever since Kumbh Mela has started this year 2013 at ancient city Prayag, TV News channels and print media have been bringing out many reports on the arrangements done by the government to facilitate the pilgrims. Everything was going alright and peacefully and the whole nation was getting tremendous positive energy by the good atmosphere created by the Kumbh. But then, as if in an anti-climax, an accident happened at Allahabad railway station which distressed all of us. But reading even little about the accident brings out many hidden truths: Indian Railways had imposed Rs 5-20 tax called Mela Surcharge on everyone using its facility to reach to the Kumbh Mela. The surcharges are as follows: It was a shocking revelation that Indian Railways imposed a tax on Hindu pilgrims for completing their pilgrimage!!! Though there is some business logic in it – how could the Railways provide additional and exceptional services to the huge number of people traveling if it did not charge more? Total 10 Crore people were expected to visit the Kumbh and the number of foreign visitors is expected to be 10 Lakh! But the manner, in which the accident was handled, exposes the Railways to the core: The Times of India reports that Railways had released only 50 medical boxes for the lakhs of passengers expected to come to the Allahabad Railway station on the Mauni Amavasya day. And when the accident happened, these boxes were nowhere to be found! And how did the accident happen in the first place? The railway station was totally packed with lakhs of outstation pilgrims (who were forced by the authorities to leave the riverside immediately after taking the holy dip and hence had come to the railway station to travel to their places). Trains were running as late as 20 hours and were all packed. A train was expected to come at Platform number 4 but suddenly Railways announced that the train was arriving on Platform number 6! People rushed to change the platforms using the bridge. Then GRP (Government Railway Police) then lathi-charged (caned) the pilgrims to control the crowd! This created a panic in commuters who ran and stampede happened… It is clear that this was a “man-made” disaster! Why I say Railway’s Kumbh Mela Surcharge is like Jazia Tax because the Railways taxed pilgrims but failed to provide then facility! Minister “In charge” Azam Khan has resigned from ministry but it is expected that after some weeks pass he will be inducted back into the Samajwadi Party government in UP. 36 people are dead and so many injured. It is immensely sad the way Railways and the Government have used Hindu Pilgrims as Cash Cows for monetary benefits… References: Times of India, “No justification for Railways’ Kumbh surcharge”, TNN | Feb 12, 2013, 04.55 AM Jagran Post, “Railways increase Kumbh Mela surcharge from 1st January”, 07 Dec 2012, 08:47 PM Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and are in no way linked to any organization associated with the author. The purpose of the article is for solely academic and brain storming purpose and there is no attempt to attack or malign the name of any party or person. In case of any complaints on this article or blog, please use the Guest Book entry. “Terrorist Mohammed Afzal’s execution may indicate desperation in the Congress Party to come up well before general elections, but the risks it is taking may not be best for the nation” So finally, after a long wait, terrorist Mohammed Afzal Guru met his destined fate of being met with capital punishment. At the time of posting this post, Congress leader Manish Tewari has accused principle opposition party BJP for playing politics over its criticism of delay in the hanging. That there has been a huge delay can’t be denied. We just have to look at the timeline: During the last 2009 General Elections, BJP had made Afzal’s hanging case a poll issue. It fared miserably in moving the masses and channelizing the voters on the issue of terrorism. By this time, Afzal’s issue was not even able to raise the brow of the voters. So the probability that the issue of pending-execution of Mohammed Afzal would have created some big difference in the upcoming general elections would be a far-fetched vision. So what made the Congress party go for it suddenly and unexpectedly? One reason was to preempt BJP from keep citing pending execution as a failure of government and as a proof of minority appeasement politics which Congress Party plays. Narendra Modi often cited Afzal’s case as a big failure of govt, which would have been in the mind of Congress strategists for some time now. Then Dr. Subramanian Swamy had threatened to pull Manmohan Singh govt to the court, claiming that no-execution was equivalent to insult of the Supreme Court’s order! Then there can be a reason that Congress party always wanted to hang Afzal but the law and order situation was bad and hence had waited for a peaceful spell to thwart any hazard or riots and communal violence. Nothing can be far from the truth than this! Over the last few months, the law and order situation and communal harmony has not been at its best. There was an atrocious attack from Pakistan side where the beheaded one of the Indian soldiers and took the head away (which they never gave back despite Indian side ‘asking’ for it). Then Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde made a provocative and colorful allegation on the BJP-RSS of so called terrorism, which resulted in charged moments. Lately, an FIR was filed against Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Dr. Praveen Togadia for so called “hate speech” when he tried to offer a reply to the hate mongering Owaisi. Just when everything was going from bad to worse, govt came up with this execution which resulted in some protests in the Kashmir valley. By all logic, Congress Party was not to lose a lot but would have won some minority votes if it kept Afzal’s execution pending. If it won the next elections, it could have gone ahead with the execution to honor the spirit of the law. What this decision tells most is that the Congress Party is desperate to preempt the opposition parties from having any valid poll-matter. Then, perhaps more importantly it is a clever maneuvering of national psyche where systematically the government is trying to alter the mood of the nation towards anything other than the “real issues”. For how many days now “corruption” has not been in the news? The plan it seems is to keep people engaged and distracted in other issues which can make them forget the rampant corruption cases and scandals which used to break out till a few weeks back. The decision also tells that the govt is ready to take risk for its strategy. It is ready to risk communal harmony in order to win smaller brownie points which may not be in best interests of the nation. Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and are in no way linked to any organization associated with the author. The purpose of the article is for solely academic and brain storming purpose and there is no attempt to attack or malign the name of any party or person. In case of any complaints on this article or blog, please use the Guest Book entry. “Will VHP endorse Narendra Modi for PM’s post at Kumbh?” This is a prominent headline in Hindustan Times today. Same is the case with all prominent news media, be it the newspapers or the TV news channels. All are busy focusing on Narendra Modi and speculating on whether he will be declared as BJP’s or NDA’s Prime Ministerial Candidate during the ongoing Kumbh Mela. And a lot of hype has been built around it. The suspicious part is that this whole “campaign” is media devised! The timing of the campaign is much revealing. The campaign was started around the time Rahul Gandhi was declared Vice President of Indian National Congress (popularly called Congress Party) and the news became butt of a joke with people from all quarters ridiculing him and his credentials. Congress Party became uncomfortable, especially with the popular sentiment at the social networking sites and designed its own counter-propaganda initiatives to correct the poor image of Nehru/Gandhi dynasty scion. But the party could not find answer to the one question which was underlying everything, “Does Rahul Gandhi has it in him to become PM some day?” It was from this question, that a need arose to “divert” public attention away from the PM Candidate of Congress Party. Making the focus being diverted to BJP/NDA was a very logical choice. The fact that there were multiple contenders of the post from within BJP/NDA, gave it its much desired leverage. Any discussion to declare Narendra Modi as PM’s candidate would certainly ruffle feathers of a lot of other contenders from within the BJP/NDA. And this media-fed campaign did produce the dividends for Congress Party. Internal fissures within NDA came to the forefront. JDU’s shrewd politician Nitish Kumar was encouraged to further his anti-Modi stance to win some more Muslim voters. BJP came out strongly in favor of Narendra Modi to silence Nitish somehow. Next, NDA’s key ally and an opposite pole of minority-politics player JDU, Shiv Sena came out in the support of Sushma Swaraj. News channels found it easier to keep stretching this campaign for Narendra Modi because of Kumb Mela. Modi’s recent visit to a college in New Delhi (SRCC) to address students was hyped by the media as if it was address to the nation of a future Prime Minister. Everything is falling in the line of what Congress wants! Because of multiple contenders for PM’s role, if BJP/NDA wins the next general elections, it is logically in the best interests of the party to not declare its PM Candidate in advance. Its focus should be on the wrong-doings of the Congress led UPA government’s misdeeds and failures and it should come out as “one team” against the incumbent. Therefore any discussion on “Who should BJP declare its PM Candidate?” is counterproductive to BJP/NDA’s interests. But logically what is wrong for the BJP is good for the Congress Party and using its network and leveraging its power position, the Congress Party is trying to keep the national attention on BJP’s candidate instead of its own! Now the biggest question is: Will the Indian Public look through this design or will they be fooled by the Media barons? Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and are in no way linked to any organization associated with the author. The purpose of the article is for solely academic and brain storming purpose and there is no attempt to attack or malign the name of any party or person. In case of any complaints on this article or blog, please use the Guest Book entry. Here is a learned article on the subject which sums up the origin and evolution of Urdu very well. Recently Nadrendra Modi made a comment apparently on Shashi Tharoor. To my surprise, Mr. Tharoor has responded to Modi.
While it is difficult to say for sure if Jeejaji Scam is true or not and perhaps no one will come to know because the govt will perhaps never do an honest probe in the scam, some facts speak for them. What is mentioned below came in yesterday’s Times of India on the front page: The allegations in the Robert Vadra Scam: 1. 5 companies owned by Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen Vadra bought 31 properties in 2007-10 (during the Congress led UPA rule). 2. These include 50% share in Hilton Hotel in Saket, Delhi for Rs 31.7 Crore (current price = Rs 150 crore or more), 10000 Sq. Ft flat in DLF Aralias, Gurgaon, for Rs 89 lakh (current price = Rs 25 Crores), 7 flats in DLF Magnolia, Gurgaon, for Rs 5.2 Crores (current price Rs 100 Crores). 3. Balance sheets show these 5 firms had a total share capital of Rs 50 Lakh. Value of these properties on books was Rs 69.64 Crores. Firms had no obvious revenue stream. Seed money for acquisition came from unsecured, interest-free loan of over Rs 65 Crores from DLF. 4. Kejriwal and Bhushan claim that the worth of the properties when bought was Rs 300 Crores; now over Rs 500 Crores. Source: The Times of India, October 6, 2012 The newspaper also mentions one quotation from Mr. Vadra: “I have known the DLF people for a long time and they are friends of mine. I wanted to invest in real estate and one thing led to another.” – Robert Vadra, to Economic Times, March 14, 2011 Ever since I read The Da Vinci Code, I have been a great fan of Dan Brown. His revelations based on some really serious research impressed me hugely. One of the major pointers which came out of Dan Brown’s books (which also erupted into a controversy) was that Jesus had a wife and she was none other than his disciple Mary Magdalene. In fact I had never observed that there was a lady in The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci before I read Dan Brown. This pointer remained an assertion refuted by many traditionalists amongst Christians who had problems accepting the fact that Jesus Christ could have had a wife. But now, it seems there is a better clarity, thanks to the recent findings. As reported in The New York Times here on 18/09/2012, a professor at Harvard Divinity School, Karen L. King, has found a scrap of papyrus on which Jesus is quoted as referring to “my wife.” As reported, the papyrus seems to have been written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife …’” The Australian News presents a good review of the finding and how the professor went about it, here. It looks authentic and as reported in the TOI, those who have reviewed the papyrus have said that it looks genuine and is not a fake. The probability of Jesus having a wife has again created a flutter. But at the same time we can’t ignore the Dan Brown connection here. As mentioned in his books, the Church had tried to destroy all evidences of the lady and even distorted facts to suit its own version of the things and history. It will really be a great discovery to bring some of the surviving hard facts and proofs in front of all, so that people could be more aware than knowing what is expected by the Church for them to know. We hope more such revelations come out in the open and throw light on such ignored parts of history. If such issues are controversial, I wish we rise above such controversies and see the ultimate truth. Because truth is one thing which separates us from the animals and if we don’t have it, our civilization doesn’t count much. Disclaimer: The views are personal and not related to any organization attached to the author. The article mentions and provides web links and third party resources referred in this article, to the extent possible.
It is often said that castes are a reality in India. These are not some virtual tags or surnames which impact nothing but only the way you write names. Your caste (mostly, if you are a Hindu) may affect the way you will be treated by others. Your caste may decide whether you are eligible to marry a girl of your choice or not. By and large and socially, this happened to be the limit castes would have impacted you - to gain you first cut acceptance or respect by your fellow caste-members, or to decide your eligibility criteria during prospective marriages. But when politics entered it, it has spiraled into many more spheres. Today, governments in India give entries into schools and colleges; give jobs, promotions, bank loans, ration, and a hell lot of other things, depending on your caste. Though most political parties have employed this ‘divide and rule’ strategy, if there is one party which has been pioneer in inventing more ways to ‘legalize’ casteism (caste based discrimination), it is the Indian National Congress (INC). You can read more about this news here: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/27-pc-quota-in-petrol-pump-allocation-for-obcs-reddy/977397/ http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/article3695129.ece Without doubt, such decisions and schemes are taken in order to build and please caste-based vote banks. I strongly oppose all such ‘caste-based’ schemes existing and being introduced. Castes and religion can’t be the criteria based on which an allocation can be done. Poverty alleviation is a completely different agenda and not related to castes. If we make laws and boost our economy to grow at a high ratem poor and downtrodden people from all castes will be benefited. But obviously politicians don’t see it the same way and they have their vote banks and elections in mind while they take any decision. Hence national interests take a back-seat. Now that petrol also has a ‘caste’ in India, aap kaun se caste ka petrol bharwate hain? Which caste does your petrol belong to? Disclaimer: Views are personal and do not represent views of any person or organization associated with the author. This is a personal blog. Purpose of write-ups is not to hurt anyone’s sentiments. I support Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam as Our President: Supporting Dr. Kalam for President’s post and opposing attempts to erect seasoned hard-core politicians at this post. [here] School of Hinduism (Lesson-3): Lessons from Hinduism; lessons in the recent days. Highlight in this piece is Lord Shiva. [here] The Tasters Vs Hardworking Types: No matter how perfect a workplace is; there will always be different ‘types’ of resources working in it. Presenting: The Tasters Vs Hardworking Types [here] कस्तूरी Kasturi: First book about to get published! [here] God’s Own Kerala Tops in What?: Why Kerala is topping the wrong charts? With statistics and data about its alarming rates of cybercrime, gruesome violent crimes, crimes against women, high rates of suicides, and even highest drinking rates. What is ailing Kerala? [here] The way Indian politicians are using caste as a vote bank politics is really shameful. Instead of reducing caste-quota gradually, they are increasing it for political vote bank politics. Congress govts have been leaders in such divide-and-rule politics. Now a new decision has been made in Delhi (where Congress party rules), to increase the caste quota limits: Delhi government increases OBC quota for higher education to 27 per cent 27 Feb, 2012, 01.29PM IST, PTI NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Monday increased the reservation in higher education for OBCs to 27 per cent from the present 21 per cent. With this increase, the total reservation in higher education institutions for SCs, STs and OBCs will go up to 49.5 per cent. The decision to increase the OBC quota was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet chaired by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. News [Ref] What bewilders me is that there is no proper study, no public debate, no time taken to understand the issue, but pure political opportunism. Whichever group of people (caste creates a group, giving them distinct identity) demands caste based reservations and does protests, will get it. Also note that this increase in OBC quota has been done in “higher education”, while there has been no focus on primary education… Such caste-quota in higher education helps only rich and powerful OBC candidates get easy admissions in best colleges and universities. Our politicians will let the people below poverty line remain poor but will pamper the politically powerful richer classes within the communities, for political vote bank purpose… While reading “Recess: The Penguin Book of Schooldays” (Penguin Books; Edited by Palash Krishna Mehortra; ISBN 978-0-14-310011-9), I came across some curious portions which touch internal conflicts within Indian society during growing years of Christianity: 1. … Calcutta in 1834 when I came to that city from my native village. There were then four principle schools – the Hindu College; the General Assembly’s Institution, always called Duff’s School; the School Society’s School, called Hare’s School; and the Oriental Seminary, usually called Gour Mohana Addhya’s School. The question with my father was – into which of these schools should I be put? … There remained then the General Assembly’s Institution, where admission was given generously… But, then, there was one serious drawback. Dr. Duff (he was then simply Mr. Duff) was a most zealous Missionary. He made no secret of it, but publicly avowed, that his chief object in setting up the Institution was to initiate Hindu youth into the principles of the Christian religion. He had already appeared as a Public Lecturer on Christianity, and his Lectures had taken Calcutta by storm. Those Lectures had not only created a great sensation in the Hindu community, but had brought to the Christian faith some of the brightest and most intelligent youth of the city. Only a year and half before, Dr. Duff had baptized Krishna Mohana Banerjea (now the Reverend K. M. Banerjea); and the conversion of Krishna Banda – as he was then universally called – had produced a tremendous impression on the Hindu community. “Is it right – is it expedient,” argued some of my father’s friends, “to imperil the religion of your son by putting him for education into the hands of so zealous a Missionary, of a man whose avowed object is to eat the religion of young Hindus, of a man who has already succeeded in eating the religion of several young men?”… (From Lal Behari Dey, Bengal Peasant Life, Folk Tales of Bengal, Recollections of My School-days (1876), edited by Mahadevprasad Saha, Calcutta: Editions Indian, 1969) — 2. The Mission School and the Girls’ School were housed in a large bungalow, and were separated by a wall. Only Christians studied in the Girls’ School. The fear of losing caste was so great among the Hindus that they would not send their daughters to school. (From Fakir Mohan Senapati, Story of My Life (1918, published in 1927), translated from the Oriya by Jatindra K. Nayak and Prodeepta Das, Bhubneshwar: Sateertha Publications, 1997.) — 3. “What an annoying fellow that old teacher is, to be sure. If it were not for the English I wouldn’t tolerate him a bit. I had a good mind to give it to him this day. What does he mean by always dinning into our ears the Bible, as if we had no Shastras of our own? I told him today, when he took me aside and spoke to me in serious tones about my spiritual condition, to learn a little more of our Shastras. What can compare with our grand old Vedic religion and our scriptures?” “That is right T…! Make the old fellow a convert to our religion,” says an old dame jocularly. “We will give him some marks on his forehead and besmear him with ashes. He will be a perfect Brahmin.” “Ha! ha! ha!” laugh all the females, while the males put their heads down and deign to smile inwardly and wear a pleased expression. “The polluted old one, how dare he speak of the religion of the pariahs to you, my dear son! I greatly fear him,” says the mother. “No need of fear, mother! He will be a convert first before I become one. I am quite a match for him and can hold my own. I tolerate him and the school only for the English. Do you mean to say I like him?” The father chuckles in silence. The meal ends and the son majestically stalks out with a heap of books under his arm. The father says to the women with a wink in the direction of the young man, meant to express a sort of a self-satisfied pride. “Leave him to himself. He knows how to manage the old fanatic. Be sure he will come out scatheless. He is no ordinary lad.” (From Krupabai Satthianadhan, ‘The Story of a Conversion’, in The Satthianandhan Family Album, Edited with an Introduction by Eunice de Souza, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 2005.) — 4. Ours was a Lutheran Mission School – mostly for boarders who were Christian converts. The teachers were all converts, and, towards the few non-Christian students like me, they displayed a lot of hatred. Most of the Christian students also detested us. The scripture classes were mostly devoted to attacking and lampooning the Hindu gods, and violent abuses were heaped on idol worshippers as a prelude to glorify Jesus. Among the non-Christians in our class I was the only Brahmin boy, and received special attention; the whole class would turn in my direction when then teacher said that Brahmins claiming to be vegetarians ate fish and meat in secret, in a sneaky way, and were responsible for the soaring price of those commodities. (From My Days, R. K. Narayan) — Posted [here] |
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