Govt soft-pedals on gay law change
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, June 29: Vocal opposition from religious minority groups and consequent fears of a political backlash have forced the government into cautious — and hasty — retreat on removing the “illegal” tag from homosexuality.
Within 48 hours of indicating a bold move to amend section 377 and give gay people the right to profess their brand of sexuality, the Centre sent out clear signals it was backtracking.
While Union law minister Veerappa Moily claimed he had been “misquoted” as saying the government was planning to legalise homosexuality, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad spoke of the need for “debate and consensus” on the issue before any move. This is a sure way of putting amendments to section 377 in the cold storage as consensus appears unlikely.
On the heels of objections from the Catholic Church yesterday, an influential Islamic seminary spoke out strongly against lifting the ban on homosexuality, saying “unnatural sex” was against the tenets of Islam.
“Homosexuality is an offence under Shariat law and haram (prohibited) in Islam,” Maulana Abdul Khalik Madrasi, deputy vice-chancellor of the Darul Uloom of Deoband said. Madrasi also asked the government not to repeal IPC Section 377 which criminalises homosexuality.
Terming gay activities as crime, Maulana Salim Kasmi, vice-president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, said homosexuality was punishable under Islamic law and Section 377 should not be tampered with. Other prominent spokespersons for Islamic organisations too have strongly opposed any changes.
The law, home and health ministries are expected to meet soon to discuss the issue.
“We need more debate on the positives and the negatives... and there can’t be a better forum than Parliament,” Azad said. “We need a broad consensus within the government and [other] political parties. I don’t think my personal or anyone else’s personal thinking on this should prevail.”
Asked about his personal views on the issue, Azad said: “I don’t come in that category.”
The debate on Section 377 has simmered in India since the early-1990s but has intensified in recent years with health experts arguing it obstructs action to prevent the spread of HIV infection among men who have sex with men. Non-government agencies have also been calling for a change in the law saying it is used by police to harass individuals for their sexual orientation.
Azad said the debate on the proposal to repeal the law would be multifaceted. Some might link the issue with culture, while others may point out its implications for infections or the potential of the existing law to induce harassment. “We need a debate... and then a broad consensus.”
But lawyers who have campaigned for the repeal of Section 377 said history suggests that a majority view or consensus may not be easy to obtain on progressive laws.
“When Raja Rammohun Roy opposed sati and advocated widow remarriage in the early 19th century, there was massive opposition to it — specially from upper-caste Hindus,” said Leena Menghaney, a civil rights lawyer in New Delhi. “In every era, there are unpopular reforms to be made.”
The Government surely should be having more important topics for legislation than legalising gayocracy, if I may coin the word.
This diversion is practised by about 0.01% of our population.
However, this percent is very vocal, made up of artist and media personalities and public school educated children who did not have the benefit of co-ed school but who control the media.
We already have sufficient divisions in society without adding this one.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Minister Exerts Pressure of judge
Union Minister tried to influence me, says HC Judge
PTI | Chennai
In a startling revelation, a Madras High Court Judge told an open court that a Union Minister sought to influence him to grant anticipatory bail to a doctor and his son in a forged mark sheets case filed by CBI.
An agitated Justice R Reghupathy last evening said "a Union Minister talked to me and sought to influence me to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioners."
Justice Reghupathy made the remarks when the advocate, appearing for S Kirub Shridhar, a third year student in a private medical college in Puducherry, and his doctor father Krishnamoorthy, complained that the judge was not granting bail to his clients on the basis of prosecution submissions.
The advocate's remarks came when the judge said he was not inclined to grant any relief as their pleas had been rejected by him on June 15 itself.
Annoyed, the judge retorted saying a "Union Minister talked to me about the matter. You yourself know every thing. Unless an unconditional apology is tendered by you, I will incorporate every detail in my order," he said.
Justice R Reghupathy said he would also be writing to the Prime Minister on the "pressure exerted" on him.
The judge, however, did not name the Minister. The CBI had filed a case against the father-son duo for allegedly using the services of a Puducherry University official and a middle man to inflate the marks of Shridhar.
I suppose, we all know that these type of things occur but is never high-lighted.
I would like to thank Justice R Raghupathy for letting us know.
However, he could serve us better if he would name the minister.
Since this has ocurred in Tamil Nadu, it must be a Union Minister from Tamil Nadu.
Seeing the ruckus created by Karumanidhi during the ministry formation, it does not surprise us.
He tried to get corrupt ministers into the cabinet, so why should this surprise us?
PTI | Chennai
In a startling revelation, a Madras High Court Judge told an open court that a Union Minister sought to influence him to grant anticipatory bail to a doctor and his son in a forged mark sheets case filed by CBI.
An agitated Justice R Reghupathy last evening said "a Union Minister talked to me and sought to influence me to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioners."
Justice Reghupathy made the remarks when the advocate, appearing for S Kirub Shridhar, a third year student in a private medical college in Puducherry, and his doctor father Krishnamoorthy, complained that the judge was not granting bail to his clients on the basis of prosecution submissions.
The advocate's remarks came when the judge said he was not inclined to grant any relief as their pleas had been rejected by him on June 15 itself.
Annoyed, the judge retorted saying a "Union Minister talked to me about the matter. You yourself know every thing. Unless an unconditional apology is tendered by you, I will incorporate every detail in my order," he said.
Justice R Reghupathy said he would also be writing to the Prime Minister on the "pressure exerted" on him.
The judge, however, did not name the Minister. The CBI had filed a case against the father-son duo for allegedly using the services of a Puducherry University official and a middle man to inflate the marks of Shridhar.
I suppose, we all know that these type of things occur but is never high-lighted.
I would like to thank Justice R Raghupathy for letting us know.
However, he could serve us better if he would name the minister.
Since this has ocurred in Tamil Nadu, it must be a Union Minister from Tamil Nadu.
Seeing the ruckus created by Karumanidhi during the ministry formation, it does not surprise us.
He tried to get corrupt ministers into the cabinet, so why should this surprise us?
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Eating Fruits, how, when, why?
The correct way and time for eating fruits. Sent by Prakash Bhartia.
I may have posted this earlier, but it is sufficiently important for a repeat.
EATING FRUIT - Guide
We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think It's important to know how and when to eat..
What is the correct way of eating fruits?
IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS! - FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.
If you eat fruit on an empty stomach, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.
FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD - Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit.. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.
In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid.. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.
So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining - every time I eat water-melon I burp, when I eat durian (fruit from Asia with a foul smell yet delicious flavor) my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet etc. - actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!
Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes - all these will not happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.
There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.
When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans.. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste.
Cooking destroys all the vitamins.
But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.
You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!
KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.
APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoid which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.
STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.
ORANGE: Sweetest medicine, eating 2 to 4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.
WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium
GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.
Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! Can you believe this??
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you.
It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life. Read this...It could save your life!
I may have posted this earlier, but it is sufficiently important for a repeat.
EATING FRUIT - Guide
We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think It's important to know how and when to eat..
What is the correct way of eating fruits?
IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS! - FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.
If you eat fruit on an empty stomach, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.
FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD - Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit.. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.
In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid.. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.
So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining - every time I eat water-melon I burp, when I eat durian (fruit from Asia with a foul smell yet delicious flavor) my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet etc. - actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!
Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes - all these will not happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.
There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.
When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans.. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste.
Cooking destroys all the vitamins.
But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.
You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!
KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.
APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoid which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.
STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.
ORANGE: Sweetest medicine, eating 2 to 4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.
WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium
GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.
Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! Can you believe this??
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you.
It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life. Read this...It could save your life!
A Cake for All Occasions
It took me a second, but make sure you read the story under the picture.
Keep in mind this actually did happen.
This cake is for someone who was moving office to a new job.
Keith
Okay so this is how the cake was ordered.
Wal-Mart Employee: 'Hello 'dis be Wal-Mart’s, how can I help you?'
Customer: ' I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.'
Wal-Mart Employee: 'What you want on da cake?'
Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne' and underneath that 'we will miss you'.
STOP LAUGHING!
You can't fix stupidity,but this is true
Keep in mind this actually did happen.
This cake is for someone who was moving office to a new job.
Keith
Okay so this is how the cake was ordered.
Wal-Mart Employee: 'Hello 'dis be Wal-Mart’s, how can I help you?'
Customer: ' I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.'
Wal-Mart Employee: 'What you want on da cake?'
Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne' and underneath that 'we will miss you'.
STOP LAUGHING!
You can't fix stupidity,but this is true
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The Place of Temples,Mosques,Gurudwaras ,Churches in our Lives
Dear Friends and Family,
It is because I found this mail has such a simple and wonderful logic / message I could not help but send it to you all.... as for the religious slant...just replace Ganesha with the deity you worship and you will find the message has still has the same import.
Affectionately
thondup / drukta / sherpa
WHY GO TO THE TEMPLE ?
If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this!
If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it.
If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!
Why Go To The Temple ?
A 'devotee' goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and
complained that it made no sense to go to the Temple .
'I've gone for 30 years now, he wrote, and in that time
I have heard something like 3,000 mantras.
But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them.
So, I think I'm wasting my time and the Gurus are wasting
theirs by giving services at all.
This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor'
column, much to the delight of the editor.
It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
I've been married for 30 years now.
In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals.
But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu
for a single one of those meals. But I do know
this... They all nourished me and gave me
the strength I needed to do my work.
If my wife had not given me these meals,
I would be physically dead today.
Likewise, if I had not gone to the Temple for nourishment,
Iwould be spiritually dead today!
When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something!
Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and
receives the impossible!
Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!
All right, now that you're done reading, send it on!!!
I think everyone should read this!! 'When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say,
'God , could you get that for me?!!'
Om Vighneswaraya Namah !
You gave me strength to carry on,
When my body was so torn.
And lifted me on wings of love,
When my spirit was so worn.
Through all the times when in despair,
When I hung my head in shame.
You came to me when I knelt down,
As I called upon your name.
And when my heart was troubled,
With more heartache than I could bear.
You caught each and every tear I shed,
In a bottle you have up there.
And when I get to heaven,
I'll kneel before your feet.
You'll wipe away all my tears,
For my soul is yours to keep.
It is because I found this mail has such a simple and wonderful logic / message I could not help but send it to you all.... as for the religious slant...just replace Ganesha with the deity you worship and you will find the message has still has the same import.
Affectionately
thondup / drukta / sherpa
WHY GO TO THE TEMPLE ?
If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this!
If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it.
If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!
Why Go To The Temple ?
A 'devotee' goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and
complained that it made no sense to go to the Temple .
'I've gone for 30 years now, he wrote, and in that time
I have heard something like 3,000 mantras.
But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them.
So, I think I'm wasting my time and the Gurus are wasting
theirs by giving services at all.
This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor'
column, much to the delight of the editor.
It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
I've been married for 30 years now.
In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals.
But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu
for a single one of those meals. But I do know
this... They all nourished me and gave me
the strength I needed to do my work.
If my wife had not given me these meals,
I would be physically dead today.
Likewise, if I had not gone to the Temple for nourishment,
Iwould be spiritually dead today!
When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something!
Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and
receives the impossible!
Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!
All right, now that you're done reading, send it on!!!
I think everyone should read this!! 'When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say,
'God , could you get that for me?!!'
Om Vighneswaraya Namah !
You gave me strength to carry on,
When my body was so torn.
And lifted me on wings of love,
When my spirit was so worn.
Through all the times when in despair,
When I hung my head in shame.
You came to me when I knelt down,
As I called upon your name.
And when my heart was troubled,
With more heartache than I could bear.
You caught each and every tear I shed,
In a bottle you have up there.
And when I get to heaven,
I'll kneel before your feet.
You'll wipe away all my tears,
For my soul is yours to keep.
Msgs from friends 25
Msg from Rajesh Pradhan
Dear Mr.Radheyshyam,
Rajesh Pradhan here from Kurseong,batch of '81 (boarder).I enjoy going through your mails ,I look forward to your mails very much though you don't know me and maybe I am just another ex-Goethalite on your mailing list.I am in constant touch with friends of my days online in messengers or on networking sites like hi5,Facebook and Orkut.
The news about Vice-Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma being the next Naval Chief of our country made me feel really proud and have posted the news to my networking site in Facebook where I can be found as (rajeshpradhan1965@hotmail.com),I am sure many guys from our school can read it there.
I do hope you keep in touch and I look forward to your mails as always.
With regards and warm wishes from Kurseong.
Rajesh Pradhan
NB:
rajeshpradhan1965@hotmail.com
Enclosed is a night view of our school
taken during the Centenary Celebrations,
a souvenir for you and your family.
Cell # 09733458318
Msg from Karanvir Mehta
Dear Radheshyam,
Hope the railways will sort out your problem and you will be able to board the train as planned for your annual visit to your guruji. It must be a wonderful experience for you because I note that you really look forward to this trip every year.
I am attaching a presentation on waste. It is in Italian but I think the message is clear. Everytime we buy something or throw it away we should think a bit more. The first slides translates into - try and guess what these images represent. The words "cosè? questo" mean what is this? And if any one wants further translation on any of the slides they can write to me.
Have a nice trip and look forward to hearing from you on your return.
Karan
Dear Karan,
Thanks for your good wishes.
Yes, the railways have solved my problems.
Both my tickets have been confirmed only yesterday, i.e 26.06.2009. But first I had to send in letter of my complaint to Mamata Banerjee, our Railway Minister and another complaint via E mail to Shree Sunil Kumar, Executive Director (PG) & Public RelationsOfficer, Railway Board, since I thought my complaint to Mamata would not reach in time, considering the poor state of our postal service.
Now, whether, the confirmation came naturally or through the efforts of these august people, I will never know.
Anywy, if it came through them, then, I would like to thank them for taking care of two old people.
Going to Gurudev's place is very refreshing, that is why we make the trip every year, in spite of all the problems. My MD is also very thoughtful and allows me leave during this period, every year.
The presentation is very good. I wish it was in English. But the meaning is clear.
Cheers for now.
Radheshyam
Msg from Keith Haywards
Hello Radheshyam,
I hope you and your family are well.
Can you help me re.the whereabouts of'Teacher(sir)' Lefevere?
If my memory serves me,im sure he lived in Darjeeling.Is he alive?(he would be around 75/80 years old),and if so,do you have his Email Address?
likewise'Teacher(sir)'Mckenzie?
Thanks.
Take care
Keith.PS.
(Did you like the Snow Email)!!I also keep in touch with JK.
Hello Keith,
Yes, I saw your snow mail.
Really frightful.
So much snow.
Where were the pictures taken? Canada?
Ralph was telling me they had plenty of snow last year.
I'll put your message for our teachers on this weekend mail.
We are all fine here.
JK was in Cal about 2 weeks ago. We met at his place for a party.
How is your family?
Hope they are all well.
Haven't heard from Bruce for a long time.
Best regards
Radheshyam
Msg from Amitav Maulik
There's a nice picture and a quote from our very own Jaspal Singh Bindra (1976 ISC -- Class 11) batch in Time Magazine June 29-July 6th 2009 issue (summer double issue).
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1905409,00.html
JAS is now Stan Chart Asia's Hong Kong based CEO.
Way to go JAS!
We are very proud of you
Amitava Maulik
1976 December ICSE
Msg from Jayanta Ghosh
Hello RS,
Just now read your weekly roundup and came to know of your annual pilgrimage to Ahmedabad. I'll also be making my annual pilgrimage, but at another level. In 2007 I went to Kedarnath and Gangotri, in 2008 I went to Manimahesh. This year's trip is the toughest of all - to Panch Kedar. 1) Kedarnath - 3584 m, 2) Madhmaheswar - 3490 m, 3) Tungnath - 3680 m, 4) Rudranath - 2286 m and 5) Kalpeshwar - 2134 m. I'll be skipping Kedarnath this time as I've already visited the pilgrim spot twice. Moreover, the person - my shala - who'll be accompanying me has to take leave from his office. He has also visited Kedarnath previously. We'll have to do a trekking of 110 Kms. So, it'll be tough, no doubt. I'm not getting any younger. This will be my last trekking trip, I think. No more mountain trekking for me. I'll have to prepare myself physically. So, from tomorrow I'll be starting my preparation for that. The mountains simply draw me like a magnet. If we can save a day or two we may go to Gopeswar. It's a beautiful rolling mountain between Chamoli and Kedarnath. You'll love Gopeswar once you see it. Next year I have plans to visit Amarkantak. This trip is eluding me, for some reason or other. A real pity. You should visit these places sometime. I hope you enjoy your pilgrimage to Ahmedabad.
This time I'm going to purchase a digital camera so that I can mail the pictures easily. Actually, my daughter-in-law will purchase the camera for my trip. It was her idea. I'll be departing on the 18th or 19th of September, depending on my shala's leave.
Bengal is burning. 32 years of misrule has culminated to the point of no return.
Hope your natni is keeping you occupied and amused, as my natni is doing. I hardly find time to sit on the net, as you have observed. She keeps me engaged throughout the day. At the end of the day I'm absolutely fagged out. But I love it. This is a temporary phase; once she grows up, it'll be a different stage altogether. So enjoy it.
Well, bye for now.
JK
Friday, June 26, 2009
Unique ID Cards Being issued
Infy’s loss is identity card’s gain
OUR CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, June 25: Nandan Nilekani, the 54-year-old co- chairman of Infosys, has decided to step down from the board of the software giant and take charge of the world’s largest biometric ID card project.
Nilekani will take over as chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) — an organisation that will hand out the ID cards to the one billion-plus people in the country. He will enjoy the rank of a cabinet minister.
His resignation from Infosys is effective from July 9.
The project will give every Indian a permanent unique identity card. It will carry a 16-digit unique ID number, a photograph and biometric data that will provide financial, educational and health-related information on the cardholder.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had invited Nilekani to head the project. “I decided to take up the project in the interests of the nation,” said Nilekani, one of the founders of Infosys.
S. Gopalakrishnan, the company’s managing director and chief executive officer, said the company had not decided on Nilekani’s successor. Infosys chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy told a television channel that no one would replace Nilekani, probably suggesting the post of co-chairman would be scrapped.
The government is hoping to try out the system and issue the first series of the cards by the middle of next year.
I would like to congratulate our PM, Mr. Manmohan Singh on taking the first step in providing a Unique Identity Card to all citizens of India.
The appointment of Nanadan Nilekani as the head of the project shows that our PM is serious.
I had written about the need for the Card as early as 23rd January of this year.I am repeating the article below.
Mr Advani thereafter assured that he would see that Cards were issued if the BJP came to power.
I am very happy to note that the Congress is undertaking the project.
However, while undertaking the project, it is of utmost importance that only genuine Indian citizens are issued such cards.
A fool-proof system must be installed to see that politicians do not destroy the purpose for which this is being done by issuing false certificates for vote bank politics.
Any certificate issued by a any person should be triple checked by other authorities and anybody issuing false certificates should be suitably punished including loss of employment and jail for minimum ten years.
Article of 23rd January, 2009
Two events recently have made me think deeply on the urgency of all Indians having a national identity card.
The incident where Iqbal was denied being given rented accommodation by householders because of his Muslim name.
My activated SIM card was deactivated by Reliance because a verification call allegedly made to the alternate number given to them went answered.
With the spate of terrorism occurring regularly all over India, it is necessary that we immediately have a National Identity Card system for all our citizens.
Is it going to be expensive?
Not at all if you follow my suggestions. It can be made self-financing.
With wide penetration of Mobile phones, throughout the country, we can do it very cheaply.
The verification done by the telecom companies are very cursory and just an eyewash. They are just interested in increasing the number of their connections by hook or by crook.
The verification should be handed over to the post office. It should be removed from the purview of the police since they are very very corrupt. Rather all verifications done by the police should be discontinued.
Most post offices in India may be now having computers and if they do not have, they should be revamped and given computers.
The whole of India is covered by a 6-digit postal PIN code Number. Bangur PO is 700055.
All post offices should maintain in their computers a registry of all residents who come under their P O.
If any new person comes in the area, he should fill in a form with photograph and all relevant details and submit it to the post office.It should be countersigned by his landlord and one neighbour.
The State and Central Government, Election Commission and Income Tax Department could then share this registry on-line.
This could be done by a one time house to house survey.
Who will bear the cost?
The post should appoint temporary educated people who are unemployed to carry out the survey.
All people who have a mobile / landline telephone should make a one-time payment of Rs 100.00 to the post office to carry out the survey. If any person has more than one telephone / Mobile phone, he should submit Rs 200.00.
Any shortfall could be collected by contributions from industrialists. I do not believe in cess as the government is in the habit of imposing a one-time cess and then continuing till eternity.I believe cess is actually a cesspool in which the government drowns its corrupt expenses.
The surveyor should take photographs with digital camera, thump impression and fill in a complete verification report and submit it to the post office for uploading in the computer.
The post office should give each resident a unique identity number, which could be the postal code, followed by a six-digit number. So each person in India would have a 12-digit identity number. Thus each post office could issue 999999 identities. This number should be sufficient to cover all the residents in any post office in India.
When those numbers are exhausted, we could start adding alphabets.
I do hope, India never reaches that stage when we have to start adding alphabets
For new births, concerned Post offices where babies are born could allot a batch of numbers to each maternity home/nursing home/hospital. The nursing home could then issue a Unique Number to new born babies and hand over the forms to the post office for maintaining the registry. Thus a new born baby will have the number of the post office where he is born and not where his parents reside.
Similarly, when a person dies, the post office should be informed so that his name is removed from its registry.
When a person leaves a place he should ask the post office to remove his name and he should have it added to the names in his new post office, through applications.
As you see, the post office, being nearer the people, should be made to play a greater part in the security of the country.
A laminated I-Card with tamper-proof hologram, with photograph and Unique Identity number, Date of Birth, Address, Father’s and Mother’s name should be issued by the post office to each resident.
Once this I-Card is issued, no further verification should be required by any agency as proof, if an attested Xerox copy of the same is submitted and the original is shown at the time of submission of Xerox copy.
We could take it further.
We are having all realty TV programmes asking people to vote by sending SMS.
IDEA is now running advertisements where people can vote for policies of their leaders.
We could take it to our elections and reduce the evil of booth capturing and violence.
Each eligible voter could give his preference of voting by mobile, giving the mobile number, to his post office.
This preference could be recorded in the list, which the polling booth people have on polling day. Anybody opting for mobile voting should not be allowed to cast his vote manually.Thus, anybody living anywhere in India may be able to vote in his constituency.
The mobile software should be so made that any person can access the relevant number and vote only once. Thereafter the mobile is disabled for casting the vote.
This would save time, money, violence and all the evils, which have come to stand for elections.
Only then will respectable people be able to enter politics and improve India.
Another problem India faces is that of people coming over from Bangladesh and then vanishing.
Indians going to USA are asked to give the names and addresses of persons in USA who are sponsoring them.
We should have the same policy with other countries.
Anybody coming to India should give the names and addresses of sponsors with their Unique ID No.
Our foreign office in India should confirm with the person concerned through the post office whether they are sponsoring the person.
If the person agrees to sponsor and the emigrant goes missing, the sponsorers assets should be confiscated as Enemy Property.
Radheshyam
OUR CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, June 25: Nandan Nilekani, the 54-year-old co- chairman of Infosys, has decided to step down from the board of the software giant and take charge of the world’s largest biometric ID card project.
Nilekani will take over as chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) — an organisation that will hand out the ID cards to the one billion-plus people in the country. He will enjoy the rank of a cabinet minister.
His resignation from Infosys is effective from July 9.
The project will give every Indian a permanent unique identity card. It will carry a 16-digit unique ID number, a photograph and biometric data that will provide financial, educational and health-related information on the cardholder.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had invited Nilekani to head the project. “I decided to take up the project in the interests of the nation,” said Nilekani, one of the founders of Infosys.
S. Gopalakrishnan, the company’s managing director and chief executive officer, said the company had not decided on Nilekani’s successor. Infosys chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy told a television channel that no one would replace Nilekani, probably suggesting the post of co-chairman would be scrapped.
The government is hoping to try out the system and issue the first series of the cards by the middle of next year.
I would like to congratulate our PM, Mr. Manmohan Singh on taking the first step in providing a Unique Identity Card to all citizens of India.
The appointment of Nanadan Nilekani as the head of the project shows that our PM is serious.
I had written about the need for the Card as early as 23rd January of this year.I am repeating the article below.
Mr Advani thereafter assured that he would see that Cards were issued if the BJP came to power.
I am very happy to note that the Congress is undertaking the project.
However, while undertaking the project, it is of utmost importance that only genuine Indian citizens are issued such cards.
A fool-proof system must be installed to see that politicians do not destroy the purpose for which this is being done by issuing false certificates for vote bank politics.
Any certificate issued by a any person should be triple checked by other authorities and anybody issuing false certificates should be suitably punished including loss of employment and jail for minimum ten years.
Article of 23rd January, 2009
Two events recently have made me think deeply on the urgency of all Indians having a national identity card.
The incident where Iqbal was denied being given rented accommodation by householders because of his Muslim name.
My activated SIM card was deactivated by Reliance because a verification call allegedly made to the alternate number given to them went answered.
With the spate of terrorism occurring regularly all over India, it is necessary that we immediately have a National Identity Card system for all our citizens.
Is it going to be expensive?
Not at all if you follow my suggestions. It can be made self-financing.
With wide penetration of Mobile phones, throughout the country, we can do it very cheaply.
The verification done by the telecom companies are very cursory and just an eyewash. They are just interested in increasing the number of their connections by hook or by crook.
The verification should be handed over to the post office. It should be removed from the purview of the police since they are very very corrupt. Rather all verifications done by the police should be discontinued.
Most post offices in India may be now having computers and if they do not have, they should be revamped and given computers.
The whole of India is covered by a 6-digit postal PIN code Number. Bangur PO is 700055.
All post offices should maintain in their computers a registry of all residents who come under their P O.
If any new person comes in the area, he should fill in a form with photograph and all relevant details and submit it to the post office.It should be countersigned by his landlord and one neighbour.
The State and Central Government, Election Commission and Income Tax Department could then share this registry on-line.
This could be done by a one time house to house survey.
Who will bear the cost?
The post should appoint temporary educated people who are unemployed to carry out the survey.
All people who have a mobile / landline telephone should make a one-time payment of Rs 100.00 to the post office to carry out the survey. If any person has more than one telephone / Mobile phone, he should submit Rs 200.00.
Any shortfall could be collected by contributions from industrialists. I do not believe in cess as the government is in the habit of imposing a one-time cess and then continuing till eternity.I believe cess is actually a cesspool in which the government drowns its corrupt expenses.
The surveyor should take photographs with digital camera, thump impression and fill in a complete verification report and submit it to the post office for uploading in the computer.
The post office should give each resident a unique identity number, which could be the postal code, followed by a six-digit number. So each person in India would have a 12-digit identity number. Thus each post office could issue 999999 identities. This number should be sufficient to cover all the residents in any post office in India.
When those numbers are exhausted, we could start adding alphabets.
I do hope, India never reaches that stage when we have to start adding alphabets
For new births, concerned Post offices where babies are born could allot a batch of numbers to each maternity home/nursing home/hospital. The nursing home could then issue a Unique Number to new born babies and hand over the forms to the post office for maintaining the registry. Thus a new born baby will have the number of the post office where he is born and not where his parents reside.
Similarly, when a person dies, the post office should be informed so that his name is removed from its registry.
When a person leaves a place he should ask the post office to remove his name and he should have it added to the names in his new post office, through applications.
As you see, the post office, being nearer the people, should be made to play a greater part in the security of the country.
A laminated I-Card with tamper-proof hologram, with photograph and Unique Identity number, Date of Birth, Address, Father’s and Mother’s name should be issued by the post office to each resident.
Once this I-Card is issued, no further verification should be required by any agency as proof, if an attested Xerox copy of the same is submitted and the original is shown at the time of submission of Xerox copy.
We could take it further.
We are having all realty TV programmes asking people to vote by sending SMS.
IDEA is now running advertisements where people can vote for policies of their leaders.
We could take it to our elections and reduce the evil of booth capturing and violence.
Each eligible voter could give his preference of voting by mobile, giving the mobile number, to his post office.
This preference could be recorded in the list, which the polling booth people have on polling day. Anybody opting for mobile voting should not be allowed to cast his vote manually.Thus, anybody living anywhere in India may be able to vote in his constituency.
The mobile software should be so made that any person can access the relevant number and vote only once. Thereafter the mobile is disabled for casting the vote.
This would save time, money, violence and all the evils, which have come to stand for elections.
Only then will respectable people be able to enter politics and improve India.
Another problem India faces is that of people coming over from Bangladesh and then vanishing.
Indians going to USA are asked to give the names and addresses of persons in USA who are sponsoring them.
We should have the same policy with other countries.
Anybody coming to India should give the names and addresses of sponsors with their Unique ID No.
Our foreign office in India should confirm with the person concerned through the post office whether they are sponsoring the person.
If the person agrees to sponsor and the emigrant goes missing, the sponsorers assets should be confiscated as Enemy Property.
Radheshyam
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Pay Commissions - Are they necessary?
Manmohan assures support to Air India
Vinay Kumar
But it should become leaner, trimmer
NEW DELHI: Reeling under an unprecedented financial crisis, national carrier Air India was on Wednesday offered a glimmer of hope, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured government support to the airline. The condition, however, is that it should undertake a comprehensive restructuring process and should become leaner and trimmer.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who met Dr. Singh on Wednesday along with top ministry and airline officials, pleaded the case for government support to the carrier. He said the Prime Minister gave it a “sympathetic and patient hearing.”
Addressing a press conference later, Mr. Patel said Air India has been asked to submit its plans for comprehensive restructuring at the earliest before a high-power committee of secretaries, to be headed by the Cabinet Secretary. It would undertake a monthly review of the plans.
“The Prime Minister has said the entire weight of the government is behind Air India. It is a national carrier and it is our pride. But there is conditionality that Air India must put its best foot forward. The employees must realise that there is a problem, and that it is a cumulative problem,” Mr. Patel said.
He said Air India would need to shed flab and undertake a lot of restructuring from within, organisationally, financially and manpower wise. Until serious steps are taken to improve the functioning of the airline and make if financially viable, it would be difficult for the government to back it.
No bailout package yet
However, he did not give any figures for the bailout package, and said Air India must first submit its restructuring plan and proposals. “All figures appearing in the media in this regard are hypothetical and may be based on some sectional views of departments,” Mr. Patel said.
Replying to a query, he said the first set of measures could come after a month, and it could take about two years as a turn-around period for Air India. Mr. Patel said it would not mean “open-ended cheques” from the government.
“Perform or Perish”
While appealing to employees to desist from any plans of a strike, as it would only “hasten Air India’s demise”, he said his message to the 31,000 employees was clear: “Perform or perish.”
Pointing out that the global civil aviation scenario was also “grim”, and international carriers like British Airways were also finding it difficult to put down their losses, Mr. Patel said: “These are extraordinary measures being discussed by the government, and Air India has to come up with equally or more extraordinary measures and live up to the expectations of the government.”
To another question, he said that as an interim measure, the government could give financial assistance at any time, and it could be in any form.
Mr. Patel said the government would reconstitute Air India’s board, bring in independent, eminent persons as directors, and even change or reshuffle functional directors.
On acquisition of new aircraft, he said a majority of jetliners were meant to replace the ageing fleet. “It is a Catch-22 situation; if you continue to fly 20-year-old planes, how will you remain competitive?” While Air India’s equity base is put at Rs.145 crore, the working capital is about Rs.15,000 crores. It runs up a wage bill of Rs.350 crores every month, and efforts are on to reduce it drastically.
Every five years or so, our Central Government goes on a spending spree as if it was Santa Claus and doles out salary increases to its employees under the awards of the Pay Commission. This sets of a chain reaction where all semi government and quasi government and PSU and state government employees start agitating for similar pay increases.
The government then begs, borrows or steals to fulfil the new wage structures. The Central Government can print notes which it goes about printing merrily. But the poor state government who do not have the authority, have to go with begging bowl to the centre.
The organised private sector have to bear the brunt of the dissatisfied employees as they can neither print notes nor go to the centre with begging bowl.They have to go to their banks and their interest charges increase.
The worst affected are the unorganised sector who do not have a regular source of income and find themselves poorer with each pay commission award.
What we are seeing with the Air India employees employees taking a voluntary salary cut is the result of all this pampering of its employees by the government.
All government employees get their salary as Basic + DA + Different allowances.
The DA part takes care of any inflation in cost of living.
Then I don't see the necessity for increasing their salaries by about 30%to 50% every 5 years through Pay Commissions.
The sixth pay commission award will increase the annual central government salary bill by Rs 8000.00 crores and the bill for retrospective salaries would come to around Rs 18000/- crores.
This is only for the central government.
If we consider, all the state governments and quasi governments the bill will be annually Rs 24000/- crores.
Instead of fattening the already fattened pigs , wouldn't it be better to use the money for the adivasis and poor people who are committing suicides as they can get hardly get one square meal.
Maybe, then we will have fewer Maoist and Naxalites and the security cost of our VIPs could decrease.
Vinay Kumar
But it should become leaner, trimmer
NEW DELHI: Reeling under an unprecedented financial crisis, national carrier Air India was on Wednesday offered a glimmer of hope, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured government support to the airline. The condition, however, is that it should undertake a comprehensive restructuring process and should become leaner and trimmer.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who met Dr. Singh on Wednesday along with top ministry and airline officials, pleaded the case for government support to the carrier. He said the Prime Minister gave it a “sympathetic and patient hearing.”
Addressing a press conference later, Mr. Patel said Air India has been asked to submit its plans for comprehensive restructuring at the earliest before a high-power committee of secretaries, to be headed by the Cabinet Secretary. It would undertake a monthly review of the plans.
“The Prime Minister has said the entire weight of the government is behind Air India. It is a national carrier and it is our pride. But there is conditionality that Air India must put its best foot forward. The employees must realise that there is a problem, and that it is a cumulative problem,” Mr. Patel said.
He said Air India would need to shed flab and undertake a lot of restructuring from within, organisationally, financially and manpower wise. Until serious steps are taken to improve the functioning of the airline and make if financially viable, it would be difficult for the government to back it.
No bailout package yet
However, he did not give any figures for the bailout package, and said Air India must first submit its restructuring plan and proposals. “All figures appearing in the media in this regard are hypothetical and may be based on some sectional views of departments,” Mr. Patel said.
Replying to a query, he said the first set of measures could come after a month, and it could take about two years as a turn-around period for Air India. Mr. Patel said it would not mean “open-ended cheques” from the government.
“Perform or Perish”
While appealing to employees to desist from any plans of a strike, as it would only “hasten Air India’s demise”, he said his message to the 31,000 employees was clear: “Perform or perish.”
Pointing out that the global civil aviation scenario was also “grim”, and international carriers like British Airways were also finding it difficult to put down their losses, Mr. Patel said: “These are extraordinary measures being discussed by the government, and Air India has to come up with equally or more extraordinary measures and live up to the expectations of the government.”
To another question, he said that as an interim measure, the government could give financial assistance at any time, and it could be in any form.
Mr. Patel said the government would reconstitute Air India’s board, bring in independent, eminent persons as directors, and even change or reshuffle functional directors.
On acquisition of new aircraft, he said a majority of jetliners were meant to replace the ageing fleet. “It is a Catch-22 situation; if you continue to fly 20-year-old planes, how will you remain competitive?” While Air India’s equity base is put at Rs.145 crore, the working capital is about Rs.15,000 crores. It runs up a wage bill of Rs.350 crores every month, and efforts are on to reduce it drastically.
Every five years or so, our Central Government goes on a spending spree as if it was Santa Claus and doles out salary increases to its employees under the awards of the Pay Commission. This sets of a chain reaction where all semi government and quasi government and PSU and state government employees start agitating for similar pay increases.
The government then begs, borrows or steals to fulfil the new wage structures. The Central Government can print notes which it goes about printing merrily. But the poor state government who do not have the authority, have to go with begging bowl to the centre.
The organised private sector have to bear the brunt of the dissatisfied employees as they can neither print notes nor go to the centre with begging bowl.They have to go to their banks and their interest charges increase.
The worst affected are the unorganised sector who do not have a regular source of income and find themselves poorer with each pay commission award.
What we are seeing with the Air India employees employees taking a voluntary salary cut is the result of all this pampering of its employees by the government.
All government employees get their salary as Basic + DA + Different allowances.
The DA part takes care of any inflation in cost of living.
Then I don't see the necessity for increasing their salaries by about 30%to 50% every 5 years through Pay Commissions.
The sixth pay commission award will increase the annual central government salary bill by Rs 8000.00 crores and the bill for retrospective salaries would come to around Rs 18000/- crores.
This is only for the central government.
If we consider, all the state governments and quasi governments the bill will be annually Rs 24000/- crores.
Instead of fattening the already fattened pigs , wouldn't it be better to use the money for the adivasis and poor people who are committing suicides as they can get hardly get one square meal.
Maybe, then we will have fewer Maoist and Naxalites and the security cost of our VIPs could decrease.
Jails, A rest house for criminals and politicians
No restrictions at Arthur Road jail, gangsters take leave at will
Gitesh Shelke / DNA
Pune: A highly confidential inquiry report by the Maharashtra prison department has revealed that several key undertrials, including Mohammad Dossa, underworld don-turned-politician Arun Gawli and DK Rao (the right-hand man of fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan), among others, freely availed of "leave" out of the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai over the last three years. The jail authorities neither reported the leave granted to these high-profile undertrials to senior prison authorities, nor did they raise objections to the leave applications in court.
A senior prison officer told DNA that the inquiry report has been sent to the state home department for action as it has exposed corrupt practices at the jail.
Ironically, officials of the state prison department have none other than 26/11 accused Mohammed Ajmal Amir aka Kasab to thank for the revelation of this nexus between the prison authorities and the undertrials.
Sources told DNA that when the undertrials, including Rao and Gawli, were shifted to Taloja in Navi Mumbai, they started demanding similar treatment at the new jail premises. They were shifted to Taloja so that maximum protection could be provided to Kasab, who was to be lodged at the Arthur Road jail.
"The undertrials continued to demand leave at Taloja as they had at Arthur Road," said an official, adding that the authorities at Taloja then reported the matter to senior prison authorities in Pune and Mumbai.
Former superintendent of Arthur Road jail Swati Sathe, who is currently posted in Nashik, said she was unaware of any inquiry.
It was during Sathe's tenure that the "influential undertrials" availed of leave.
The inquiry revealed that leave extended from a few hours to even a couple of days.
It also found that this practice had been going on at the jail for nearly three years.
The authorities did not deny leave to around 45 gangsters, most of whom are booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999. One undertrial gangster was found to have "gone on leave" on 35 occasions, the report said.
The Maharashtra Prisons Manual has no provision to grant leave to undertrials, as is allowed in the case of convicts lodged in jails. It is customary for an undertrial to obtain permission from a court in order to avail leave.
The inquiry revealed that none of the 45 undertrials sent their applications via the jail officials. They were directly sent to court.
Significantly, the authorities at Arthur Road jail failed to appeal against this.
The jail authorities also failed to report the leave taken by the under-trials to the state government, which generally alerts the police machinery to keep a close watch on the activities of the suspects.
State prisons chief, inspector-general of police Uddhav Kamble confirmed to DNA the commissioning of the inquiry, but refused to elaborate. A senior official of the prison department confirmed the developments as well.
Another senior jail official explained that leave is only granted to an under-trial by the court for emergency situations, like the demise or serious health condition of the next-of-kin, besides attending the marriage of his/her children.
Leave can also be availed for emergency medical treatment at the private hospitals, but only under the supervision of the jail authorities. However the under-trials went on leave to attend marriages and death of distant relatives, other minor health issues of family members and even their companions.
Kamble sought a detailed record from the deputy inspector general of police (prisons), Mumbai, of all the leave awarded by the courts. The DIG, Mumbai conducted an inquiry and found the involvement of Arthur Road Jail officials. Another inquiry was commissioned to verify the findings of the DIG's report.
In Pune, 22 inmates have been missing from the Yerawada Central Prison after they were granted parole or furlough in the past 30 years.
Mumbai-based gangster Vijay Thopte who was accused in the murder of union leader Datta Samant and Arun Gawli gang member Eknath Arjun Mohite of Bhosari are among those missing from the Yerawada jail. While Thopte has been missing after he was granted parole a year ago, Mohite, who has several cases registered against him with the Pune city and rural police units, has been missing for more than a year now.
What we are being told in the above article is what they have been showing in Bollywood movies where gansters control the world outside from inside the jail. One such movie was "Gangajal" starring Ajay Devgan.
With the existing close cooperatin between criminals and politicians, it is not at all surprising.
In todays India, it is very difficult to differentiate between criminals and politicians.
Gitesh Shelke / DNA
Pune: A highly confidential inquiry report by the Maharashtra prison department has revealed that several key undertrials, including Mohammad Dossa, underworld don-turned-politician Arun Gawli and DK Rao (the right-hand man of fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan), among others, freely availed of "leave" out of the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai over the last three years. The jail authorities neither reported the leave granted to these high-profile undertrials to senior prison authorities, nor did they raise objections to the leave applications in court.
A senior prison officer told DNA that the inquiry report has been sent to the state home department for action as it has exposed corrupt practices at the jail.
Ironically, officials of the state prison department have none other than 26/11 accused Mohammed Ajmal Amir aka Kasab to thank for the revelation of this nexus between the prison authorities and the undertrials.
Sources told DNA that when the undertrials, including Rao and Gawli, were shifted to Taloja in Navi Mumbai, they started demanding similar treatment at the new jail premises. They were shifted to Taloja so that maximum protection could be provided to Kasab, who was to be lodged at the Arthur Road jail.
"The undertrials continued to demand leave at Taloja as they had at Arthur Road," said an official, adding that the authorities at Taloja then reported the matter to senior prison authorities in Pune and Mumbai.
Former superintendent of Arthur Road jail Swati Sathe, who is currently posted in Nashik, said she was unaware of any inquiry.
It was during Sathe's tenure that the "influential undertrials" availed of leave.
The inquiry revealed that leave extended from a few hours to even a couple of days.
It also found that this practice had been going on at the jail for nearly three years.
The authorities did not deny leave to around 45 gangsters, most of whom are booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999. One undertrial gangster was found to have "gone on leave" on 35 occasions, the report said.
The Maharashtra Prisons Manual has no provision to grant leave to undertrials, as is allowed in the case of convicts lodged in jails. It is customary for an undertrial to obtain permission from a court in order to avail leave.
The inquiry revealed that none of the 45 undertrials sent their applications via the jail officials. They were directly sent to court.
Significantly, the authorities at Arthur Road jail failed to appeal against this.
The jail authorities also failed to report the leave taken by the under-trials to the state government, which generally alerts the police machinery to keep a close watch on the activities of the suspects.
State prisons chief, inspector-general of police Uddhav Kamble confirmed to DNA the commissioning of the inquiry, but refused to elaborate. A senior official of the prison department confirmed the developments as well.
Another senior jail official explained that leave is only granted to an under-trial by the court for emergency situations, like the demise or serious health condition of the next-of-kin, besides attending the marriage of his/her children.
Leave can also be availed for emergency medical treatment at the private hospitals, but only under the supervision of the jail authorities. However the under-trials went on leave to attend marriages and death of distant relatives, other minor health issues of family members and even their companions.
Kamble sought a detailed record from the deputy inspector general of police (prisons), Mumbai, of all the leave awarded by the courts. The DIG, Mumbai conducted an inquiry and found the involvement of Arthur Road Jail officials. Another inquiry was commissioned to verify the findings of the DIG's report.
In Pune, 22 inmates have been missing from the Yerawada Central Prison after they were granted parole or furlough in the past 30 years.
Mumbai-based gangster Vijay Thopte who was accused in the murder of union leader Datta Samant and Arun Gawli gang member Eknath Arjun Mohite of Bhosari are among those missing from the Yerawada jail. While Thopte has been missing after he was granted parole a year ago, Mohite, who has several cases registered against him with the Pune city and rural police units, has been missing for more than a year now.
What we are being told in the above article is what they have been showing in Bollywood movies where gansters control the world outside from inside the jail. One such movie was "Gangajal" starring Ajay Devgan.
With the existing close cooperatin between criminals and politicians, it is not at all surprising.
In todays India, it is very difficult to differentiate between criminals and politicians.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A Ghost From the Past...........
International News
Polish city ravaged by Nazis to cut Hitler's tree
Associated Press
WARSAW, Poland - The towering tree is believed to have been Adolf Hitler's gift to the occupied town of Jaslo - planted to the sound of a Nazi band during World War II.
Town authorities now want it cut down and burned to make way for a new roundabout. But some residents have become attached to the 40-foot (12-meter) oak and are lobbying to save it.
"The tree has not hurt anyone and is not guilty of anything," protest organizer Kazimierz Polak said, adding that his group was appealing to local and regional authorities to preserve the tree. "It is growing healthy and tall. Let it grow."
But Mayor Maria Kurowska said it was a reminder of Jaslo's connection to Hitler, whose Nazi troops razed the town in late 1944 as the Soviet Army advanced.
"It's only a tree; we have hundreds of them here," Kurowska said. "Instead, I can plant trees in honor of Hitler's victims."
The tree also interferes with a planned roundabout that would increase road safety, she said, explaining why authorities were only now looking to have to removed.
But the mayor said she had received e-mails and letters from residents both for and against saving the oak.
Polak said he remembers the tiny tree arriving in April 1942 in a box wrapped in the Nazis' swastika flag. It was a gift from Hitler on his birthday and came from the Austrian city of Braunau am Inn, where the Nazi leader was born in 1889.
With two friends, Polak watched German authorities plant the tree with great pomp - part of an effort to "Germanize" the town, he said.
Two years later as the Red Army approached, the Nazis ordered that the town be evacuated and looted, according to historians. By the time they left, only 39 of the town's more than 1,200 houses remained.
Polak, now 81 years old, is the town's source for information about the tree's provenance. The mayor noted that he is active in studying Jaslo's history and there is no reason to doubt his account.
Nevertheless, she said she was not convinced the tree should be spared. The town will decide within weeks about the proposed roundabout.
"You plant trees in honor of truly great people, like John Paul II," she said. "If we keep it, we will walk in the city center remembering this is Hitler's tree."
Polish city ravaged by Nazis to cut Hitler's tree
Associated Press
WARSAW, Poland - The towering tree is believed to have been Adolf Hitler's gift to the occupied town of Jaslo - planted to the sound of a Nazi band during World War II.
Town authorities now want it cut down and burned to make way for a new roundabout. But some residents have become attached to the 40-foot (12-meter) oak and are lobbying to save it.
"The tree has not hurt anyone and is not guilty of anything," protest organizer Kazimierz Polak said, adding that his group was appealing to local and regional authorities to preserve the tree. "It is growing healthy and tall. Let it grow."
But Mayor Maria Kurowska said it was a reminder of Jaslo's connection to Hitler, whose Nazi troops razed the town in late 1944 as the Soviet Army advanced.
"It's only a tree; we have hundreds of them here," Kurowska said. "Instead, I can plant trees in honor of Hitler's victims."
The tree also interferes with a planned roundabout that would increase road safety, she said, explaining why authorities were only now looking to have to removed.
But the mayor said she had received e-mails and letters from residents both for and against saving the oak.
Polak said he remembers the tiny tree arriving in April 1942 in a box wrapped in the Nazis' swastika flag. It was a gift from Hitler on his birthday and came from the Austrian city of Braunau am Inn, where the Nazi leader was born in 1889.
With two friends, Polak watched German authorities plant the tree with great pomp - part of an effort to "Germanize" the town, he said.
Two years later as the Red Army approached, the Nazis ordered that the town be evacuated and looted, according to historians. By the time they left, only 39 of the town's more than 1,200 houses remained.
Polak, now 81 years old, is the town's source for information about the tree's provenance. The mayor noted that he is active in studying Jaslo's history and there is no reason to doubt his account.
Nevertheless, she said she was not convinced the tree should be spared. The town will decide within weeks about the proposed roundabout.
"You plant trees in honor of truly great people, like John Paul II," she said. "If we keep it, we will walk in the city center remembering this is Hitler's tree."
Monday, June 22, 2009
The Humble Grass
Have you noticed grass???
Even if somebody steps on it, it never gets hurt….
It never hurts others too….
When a wild storm attacks, all the big trees get uprooted….
But the simple grass survives….
So be noble & humble like that grass…Simple but Strong….
Have a Good Day
Krishna Joshi has sent these good wishes
S...House
I Found It
I found it...
And you thought there was no such place,huh????
You will all be so pleased to receive this.......
How many times have we been "up there without one!
Sent by Graham Hope.
Nothing to add.
I found it...
And you thought there was no such place,huh????
You will all be so pleased to receive this.......
How many times have we been "up there without one!
Sent by Graham Hope.
Nothing to add.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
W Bengal police, their shame.
Ambushed, cops refuse to move without CRPF
PINGBONI (BANKURA): What will happen when paramilitary forces leave Lalgarh? TOI had a glimpse of this on Saturday when a police contingent heavily armed but without the protection of central forces was ambushed at Pingboni, 16 km from Lalgarh.
Rattled by the attack, many constables have reportedly refused to carry out any operation without central forces accompanying them.
In the two-hour-long encounter, police struggled to see the attackers, some 500-700 yards away, because the 500-strong force did not have a single binocular. They borrowed the Times of India photographer's camera to use the tele-lens to check on the attackers' weapons and movements. What's worse, when six of them were hit and lay injured, police had no vehicle to take them to hospital. They borrowed the TOI car.
The battle spot is located 2 km from Goaltore on the way to Ramgarh via Kantashole. It marks the beginning of the Maoist stronghold in Bankura and extends to West Midnapore, where the battle for Lalgarh is currently under way.
A contingent of state police and Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) jawans led by Burdwan additional SP Humayun Kabir stopped at the nearly deserted Pingboni village at 3.45 pm after spotting movement behind some embankments on the fields. The same unit had passed that very spot on Friday. But instead of setting up base and engaging with villagers, they left after roughing up some youths and smashing a few shops. The withdrawal gave the Maoists ample time to regroup and take position for Saturday's ambush.
As the policemen waited, assessing the threat, they saw mobs charging towards them from either side of the road around 4 pm.
As Maoist mobs charged towards the police contingent at Pingboni, some of the cops rushed forward with lathis, only to scatter as arrows were shot at them. Suddenly, a deafening explosion ripped through. One of the policemen had apparently tripped a booby trap an IED rigged to a tree. That was the signal for the Maoists to open fire. It was 4.15 pm. Dazed from the blast, the policemen now faced a hail of bullets and arrows.
An SI and three constables lay injured in the blast. The attack took the force completely by surprise. Policemen scrambled behind every possible cover and started returning fire with INSAS and AK-47s. TOI was the only media team present during the encounter.
Sixty to 80 Maoists had taken up vantage positions along embankments and atop roofs of deserted houses. Initially, the insurgents fired indiscriminately, but the exchange became more focused after police took up position away from the line of fire.
Though a helicopter was summoned to make an aerial assessment of the situation, it wasn't of much help because darkness was approaching. The firing petered off around 6 pm. Two more policemen were injured in the gunbattle. They were all taken to Goaltore police station in the TOI car.
The Burdwan additional SP claimed his men had shot dead at least six Maoists. The body of a known Trinamool Congress supporter Gobinda Daw was later found in the area. He had been shot but it wasn't known by whom.
This is the condition of once famous police force.
They have been trained by the Marxist to only take action on defenceless people and connive with the party cadres to murder opposition workers.
At the first sin of problem, they are flabbergasted.
It is packed with people to espouse their cause.
Efficiency was put on the back-burner.
PINGBONI (BANKURA): What will happen when paramilitary forces leave Lalgarh? TOI had a glimpse of this on Saturday when a police contingent heavily armed but without the protection of central forces was ambushed at Pingboni, 16 km from Lalgarh.
Rattled by the attack, many constables have reportedly refused to carry out any operation without central forces accompanying them.
In the two-hour-long encounter, police struggled to see the attackers, some 500-700 yards away, because the 500-strong force did not have a single binocular. They borrowed the Times of India photographer's camera to use the tele-lens to check on the attackers' weapons and movements. What's worse, when six of them were hit and lay injured, police had no vehicle to take them to hospital. They borrowed the TOI car.
The battle spot is located 2 km from Goaltore on the way to Ramgarh via Kantashole. It marks the beginning of the Maoist stronghold in Bankura and extends to West Midnapore, where the battle for Lalgarh is currently under way.
A contingent of state police and Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) jawans led by Burdwan additional SP Humayun Kabir stopped at the nearly deserted Pingboni village at 3.45 pm after spotting movement behind some embankments on the fields. The same unit had passed that very spot on Friday. But instead of setting up base and engaging with villagers, they left after roughing up some youths and smashing a few shops. The withdrawal gave the Maoists ample time to regroup and take position for Saturday's ambush.
As the policemen waited, assessing the threat, they saw mobs charging towards them from either side of the road around 4 pm.
As Maoist mobs charged towards the police contingent at Pingboni, some of the cops rushed forward with lathis, only to scatter as arrows were shot at them. Suddenly, a deafening explosion ripped through. One of the policemen had apparently tripped a booby trap an IED rigged to a tree. That was the signal for the Maoists to open fire. It was 4.15 pm. Dazed from the blast, the policemen now faced a hail of bullets and arrows.
An SI and three constables lay injured in the blast. The attack took the force completely by surprise. Policemen scrambled behind every possible cover and started returning fire with INSAS and AK-47s. TOI was the only media team present during the encounter.
Sixty to 80 Maoists had taken up vantage positions along embankments and atop roofs of deserted houses. Initially, the insurgents fired indiscriminately, but the exchange became more focused after police took up position away from the line of fire.
Though a helicopter was summoned to make an aerial assessment of the situation, it wasn't of much help because darkness was approaching. The firing petered off around 6 pm. Two more policemen were injured in the gunbattle. They were all taken to Goaltore police station in the TOI car.
The Burdwan additional SP claimed his men had shot dead at least six Maoists. The body of a known Trinamool Congress supporter Gobinda Daw was later found in the area. He had been shot but it wasn't known by whom.
This is the condition of once famous police force.
They have been trained by the Marxist to only take action on defenceless people and connive with the party cadres to murder opposition workers.
At the first sin of problem, they are flabbergasted.
It is packed with people to espouse their cause.
Efficiency was put on the back-burner.
The Advantage of knowing English
English gets a career boost
OUR BUREAU
English has won top honours among admission-seekers this season, with the demand for teachers in the subject in south Asian countries and West Asia spurring the scramble to study Shakespeare.
“The number of applicants for English honours has almost trebled in the last three to four years. This year we have received 3,100 applications for just 60 seats,” Father Felix Raj, the principal of St Xavier’s College, told Metro.
Seats in the English departments of other colleges in the city are also in demand. The average annual increase in the number of applications is 700 to 800.
“English teachers are now much-sought-after in countries like Japan, China, Thailand and the UAE, which has raised the demand for English honours among students here,” said Father Felix Raj.
Ananda Lal, the head of the department of English at Jadavpur University, confirmed that better job prospects abroad had contributed to the subject being the clear favourite in the humanities stream.
“We receive a lot of enquiries about our students from West Asia and Singapore. There is a demand for English teachers in those countries, and India definitely fulfils that need,” added Lal.
Jadavpur University has received around 2,700 applications for 50 English honours seats despite raising the cut-off mark in the subject from 65 to 70 per cent.
Teaching is not the only option for those who study English literature. The basket of career opportunities now available to English honours students is the key behind the popularity of the subject,
“Students do not want to narrow down their career opportunities from the beginning. After three years of studying English, they can explore various options,” said Lal.
With campus recruitment becoming the norm even in the arts stream, students of English are being snapped up.
English graduates from Presidency College and Asutosh College have been getting offers not just from media houses and HR firms, but also in IT and other businesses.
“There is a huge demand for our English graduates in companies like Cognizant Technology Solutions, Tata Consultancy Services, IBM and Wipro. Good job offers have perked up interest in the subject,” said Dipak Kar, the principal of Asutosh College.
Asutosh received 1,600 applications for its 70 seats this year, 51 of which were snapped up on the first day of admissions. “I don’t think we will need to bring out a second list,” said Kar.
At Presidency, the number of applicants has increased from 1,800 last year to 2,500 this season.
Debalina Banerjee, the head of the department of English at Presidency, attributed the rush to rising awareness about career opportunities.
“The opportunities for English graduates are not restricted to media and academia. Students have become aware of this,” said Banerjee.
According to her, even students applying for seats in engineering, physics, chemistry and economics consider English a second option.
It helps that Calcutta University has no strict rules for applying. “English does not need qualifying marks in related subjects. That helps,” said John Abraham, the principal of Scottish Church College.
The above is from the Telegraph of 20.06.2009.
This is another answer to the likes of Mulayam Singh, Swami Ramdeo and the other leaders of The Hindi Speaking of North India who are trying to impose Hindi in the guise of Nationalism.
English has become as much an Indian language as any other recognized Indian language in the India.
After Hindi, it is the most widely spoken and understood language throughout the length and breadth of India.
It is English which has allowed India to become leaders in the IT and BPO services.
Why remove the advantage which the British have given us while ruling over us for 300years.
English is the most widely spoken language of business and commerce on the Earth.
The Communists destroyed Bengal's educational advantage by removing English from the primary and secondary level in government schools while they themselves sent their children to English medium schools.
The 3-language formula which was prevalent in India upto the 60's is the best.
Allow children to study three languagss.
Mother tongue, Hindi and Englsih.
For Hindi speaking states any other Indian regional language should be compulsory.
English should be taught from Class 1, itself.
Unless we follow this system, we will soon lose the advantage we have over the Chinese , Japanese, Philipinos and others
Radheshyam
OUR BUREAU
English has won top honours among admission-seekers this season, with the demand for teachers in the subject in south Asian countries and West Asia spurring the scramble to study Shakespeare.
“The number of applicants for English honours has almost trebled in the last three to four years. This year we have received 3,100 applications for just 60 seats,” Father Felix Raj, the principal of St Xavier’s College, told Metro.
Seats in the English departments of other colleges in the city are also in demand. The average annual increase in the number of applications is 700 to 800.
“English teachers are now much-sought-after in countries like Japan, China, Thailand and the UAE, which has raised the demand for English honours among students here,” said Father Felix Raj.
Ananda Lal, the head of the department of English at Jadavpur University, confirmed that better job prospects abroad had contributed to the subject being the clear favourite in the humanities stream.
“We receive a lot of enquiries about our students from West Asia and Singapore. There is a demand for English teachers in those countries, and India definitely fulfils that need,” added Lal.
Jadavpur University has received around 2,700 applications for 50 English honours seats despite raising the cut-off mark in the subject from 65 to 70 per cent.
Teaching is not the only option for those who study English literature. The basket of career opportunities now available to English honours students is the key behind the popularity of the subject,
“Students do not want to narrow down their career opportunities from the beginning. After three years of studying English, they can explore various options,” said Lal.
With campus recruitment becoming the norm even in the arts stream, students of English are being snapped up.
English graduates from Presidency College and Asutosh College have been getting offers not just from media houses and HR firms, but also in IT and other businesses.
“There is a huge demand for our English graduates in companies like Cognizant Technology Solutions, Tata Consultancy Services, IBM and Wipro. Good job offers have perked up interest in the subject,” said Dipak Kar, the principal of Asutosh College.
Asutosh received 1,600 applications for its 70 seats this year, 51 of which were snapped up on the first day of admissions. “I don’t think we will need to bring out a second list,” said Kar.
At Presidency, the number of applicants has increased from 1,800 last year to 2,500 this season.
Debalina Banerjee, the head of the department of English at Presidency, attributed the rush to rising awareness about career opportunities.
“The opportunities for English graduates are not restricted to media and academia. Students have become aware of this,” said Banerjee.
According to her, even students applying for seats in engineering, physics, chemistry and economics consider English a second option.
It helps that Calcutta University has no strict rules for applying. “English does not need qualifying marks in related subjects. That helps,” said John Abraham, the principal of Scottish Church College.
The above is from the Telegraph of 20.06.2009.
This is another answer to the likes of Mulayam Singh, Swami Ramdeo and the other leaders of The Hindi Speaking of North India who are trying to impose Hindi in the guise of Nationalism.
English has become as much an Indian language as any other recognized Indian language in the India.
After Hindi, it is the most widely spoken and understood language throughout the length and breadth of India.
It is English which has allowed India to become leaders in the IT and BPO services.
Why remove the advantage which the British have given us while ruling over us for 300years.
English is the most widely spoken language of business and commerce on the Earth.
The Communists destroyed Bengal's educational advantage by removing English from the primary and secondary level in government schools while they themselves sent their children to English medium schools.
The 3-language formula which was prevalent in India upto the 60's is the best.
Allow children to study three languagss.
Mother tongue, Hindi and Englsih.
For Hindi speaking states any other Indian regional language should be compulsory.
English should be taught from Class 1, itself.
Unless we follow this system, we will soon lose the advantage we have over the Chinese , Japanese, Philipinos and others
Radheshyam
New treatment for Prostrate Cancer
Some people in the network might find this useful
Kind regards
Fay
Drug-trial cancer patients recover
3 hours ago
Two men with advanced and inoperable prostate cancer have staged dramatic recoveries after being treated with an experimental antibody drug.
Both are now cancer-free and have returned to normal life after they took part in a trial of a drug called ipilimumab that boosts the immune system.
Before treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, US, each of them had aggressive tumours that had grown well beyond the prostate gland into abdominal areas.
Trial leader Dr Eugene Kwon said: "The goal of the study was to see if we could modestly improve upon current treatments for advanced prostate cancer.
"The candidates for this study were people who didn't have a lot of other options. However, we were startled to see responses that far exceeded any of our expectations."
First, the patients received traditional hormone therapy to remove testosterone, which fuels prostate cancer. Researchers then introduced a single dose of ipilimumab. The drug is an antibody which builds on the hormone therapy and boosts the immune system's response to the cancer.
Both patients saw their prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels drop to the point where they became eligible for surgery. PSA is a protein in the blood that allows doctors to monitor prostate cancer.
When the surgeons made their incisions, they had a surprise.
Mayo clinic urologist Dr Michael Blute said: "The tumours had shrunk dramatically. I had never seen anything like this before. I had a hard time finding the cancer. At one point the pathologist asked if we were sending him samples from the same patient."
Further research is now planned to understand more about the mechanisms of the antibody and how best to use it on patients, but Dr Kwon added: "This is one of the holy grails of prostate cancer research. We've been looking for this for years."
The above has been sent by Fay Kelly
Kind regards
Fay
Drug-trial cancer patients recover
3 hours ago
Two men with advanced and inoperable prostate cancer have staged dramatic recoveries after being treated with an experimental antibody drug.
Both are now cancer-free and have returned to normal life after they took part in a trial of a drug called ipilimumab that boosts the immune system.
Before treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, US, each of them had aggressive tumours that had grown well beyond the prostate gland into abdominal areas.
Trial leader Dr Eugene Kwon said: "The goal of the study was to see if we could modestly improve upon current treatments for advanced prostate cancer.
"The candidates for this study were people who didn't have a lot of other options. However, we were startled to see responses that far exceeded any of our expectations."
First, the patients received traditional hormone therapy to remove testosterone, which fuels prostate cancer. Researchers then introduced a single dose of ipilimumab. The drug is an antibody which builds on the hormone therapy and boosts the immune system's response to the cancer.
Both patients saw their prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels drop to the point where they became eligible for surgery. PSA is a protein in the blood that allows doctors to monitor prostate cancer.
When the surgeons made their incisions, they had a surprise.
Mayo clinic urologist Dr Michael Blute said: "The tumours had shrunk dramatically. I had never seen anything like this before. I had a hard time finding the cancer. At one point the pathologist asked if we were sending him samples from the same patient."
Further research is now planned to understand more about the mechanisms of the antibody and how best to use it on patients, but Dr Kwon added: "This is one of the holy grails of prostate cancer research. We've been looking for this for years."
The above has been sent by Fay Kelly
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Child Labour & Population Control
A Child peeping through the grills of a foundry where he works
A child working on a drill machine
A child polishing an aluminium dekchi
A girl child attempting to sell flowers to some people in a car, will she be successful. I dobt it as the car people think of her as a nuisance.
A child collecting waste from a garbage dump which he will then sell for earning something for gis family. This is a common sight at all garbage dumps.
Three children collecting partially burnt coal from cinders thrown by a foundry. These too will be sold again.
A child breaking bricks.
Children carrying bricks at construction sites.
A child on a grinding machine
This child has managed to get some rest from his work in a press or hammer.His stool is a welding machine.
A child working in a galvanising shop. You can see the acid fumes.
A child helping on the lathe
The sweat
Again sweatOur government has put in place some laws banning chld labour.
It seems the owners of the workshops where these children may not have heard of the law.
Maybe, some of these workshops are owned by our legislators who pass these laws, and they care two hoots for such laws.
Or may be they may have heard of it but the children or there parents may have just wanted the children to work to keep away the pangs of hunger.
The parents may have considered themselves lucky to have got the work against stiff competition from other hungry families.
How does the government propose to feed all these children?
None of our political parties are seeing the population bomb ticking away.
None of them mention the word family planning in their election manifestoes for fear of antagonising a particular community.
Children will continue to be produced to be then thrown on the streets to beg, steal and become criminals or work in such factories.
It is unavoidable unless we control our population.
Photographs were sent by Krishna Joshi
How to Prevent Worms from entering your computer
How to protect your e-mail address book
A computer repairman says this is like having gold.
This is a really good thing.
I learned a computer trick today that's really ingenious in its simplicity.
As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer
it heads straight for your email address book,
and sends itself to everyone in there,
thus infecting all your friends and associates.
This trick won't keep the virus from getting
into your computer, but it will stop it from using your address book
to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact that the worm has
got into your system.
Here's what you do:
First, open your address book and click on
'new contact,'
just a new friend to your list of email addresses.
In the window where you would type your
friend's first name, type in 'A'.
For the screen name or email address,
type AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA
Now, here's what you've done and why it works:
The 'name 'A' will be placed at the top of your address book
as entry #1.
This will be where the worm will start
in an effort to send itself to all your friends.
When it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA,
it will be undeliverable
because of the phony email address you entered.
If the first attempt fails
(which it will because of the phoney address),
the worm goes no further
and your friends will not be infected.
Here's the second great advantage of this method:
If an email cannot be delivered,
you will be notified of this in your In Box almost immediately.
Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an email addressed to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA could not be delivered
I may have posted a similar article earlier this is more comprehensive.
Sent by Graham Hope
A computer repairman says this is like having gold.
This is a really good thing.
I learned a computer trick today that's really ingenious in its simplicity.
As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer
it heads straight for your email address book,
and sends itself to everyone in there,
thus infecting all your friends and associates.
This trick won't keep the virus from getting
into your computer, but it will stop it from using your address book
to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact that the worm has
got into your system.
Here's what you do:
First, open your address book and click on
'new contact,'
just a new friend to your list of email addresses.
In the window where you would type your
friend's first name, type in 'A'.
For the screen name or email address,
type AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA
Now, here's what you've done and why it works:
The 'name 'A' will be placed at the top of your address book
as entry #1.
This will be where the worm will start
in an effort to send itself to all your friends.
When it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA,
it will be undeliverable
because of the phony email address you entered.
If the first attempt fails
(which it will because of the phoney address),
the worm goes no further
and your friends will not be infected.
Here's the second great advantage of this method:
If an email cannot be delivered,
you will be notified of this in your In Box almost immediately.
Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an email addressed to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA could not be delivered
I may have posted a similar article earlier this is more comprehensive.
Sent by Graham Hope
Friday, June 19, 2009
India Helping USA in providing Employment
India Inc buys 143 US cos in 2 yrs
19 Jun 2009, 1108 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: The greater engagement of US with India seems to have benefited the former during the economic downturn as thousands of Americans managed to save their jobs when Indian corporates went on a major acquisition drive in the US.
During the last two years, Indian companies acquired 143 US firms across various sectors. While 94 deals were concluded in 2007-08, in the following year when the economy was on the downturn, Indians bought as many as 50 US entities that were on the verge of closure, saving thousands of jobs.
A study, jointly conducted by Indian industry association FICCI and Ernst & Young, said Tata Chemicals, Wipro, Reliance Communications and Firstsource Solutions were some of the top Indian entities that were involved in bailing out US companies in the red.
The report released on Thursday said IT&ITeS, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals were the prime sectors in which most of the deals were formalised. Indian companies from the IT sector have over the years been aggressively expanding in the US market.
The deals were predominantly debt financed with cash being a popular mode of payment. "This trend probably extends from India Inc's traditional preference for cash transactions in the domestic merger and acquisition space," the report observed.
The Ernst & Young report says the boom in the Indian economy in the last three to four years made the domestic companies cash-rich which provided them with access to more capital than in the past.
Interestingly, one of the key factors, as the report cites, behind more acquisitions has been the liberal policies introduced by the government and RBI for overseas investments.
According to RBI data, in 2007-08 the total outbound investments of Indian companies amounted to $18 billion. In the first half of 2008-09, at least 2,000 proposals valued at $9 billion were cleared for overseas investments in joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiaries.
Is this the empire striking back?
Is this the new East India Co, this time actually originating from the East and not from the UK?
Our culture and our Gurus have made us hard-working,living within our means, individuals.
Our politicians and their selfish motives has made us now among the top corrupt nations.
Attempts are now being made to reverse the trend.
Just imagine what a power house India can become if 1) it removes corruption and 2) controls population.
What surprises me is not a single party utters a word for controlling our galloping population. How are we going to feed our population?
One action on Sanjay Gandhi has made all parties of shying away from that word.
19 Jun 2009, 1108 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: The greater engagement of US with India seems to have benefited the former during the economic downturn as thousands of Americans managed to save their jobs when Indian corporates went on a major acquisition drive in the US.
During the last two years, Indian companies acquired 143 US firms across various sectors. While 94 deals were concluded in 2007-08, in the following year when the economy was on the downturn, Indians bought as many as 50 US entities that were on the verge of closure, saving thousands of jobs.
A study, jointly conducted by Indian industry association FICCI and Ernst & Young, said Tata Chemicals, Wipro, Reliance Communications and Firstsource Solutions were some of the top Indian entities that were involved in bailing out US companies in the red.
The report released on Thursday said IT&ITeS, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals were the prime sectors in which most of the deals were formalised. Indian companies from the IT sector have over the years been aggressively expanding in the US market.
The deals were predominantly debt financed with cash being a popular mode of payment. "This trend probably extends from India Inc's traditional preference for cash transactions in the domestic merger and acquisition space," the report observed.
The Ernst & Young report says the boom in the Indian economy in the last three to four years made the domestic companies cash-rich which provided them with access to more capital than in the past.
Interestingly, one of the key factors, as the report cites, behind more acquisitions has been the liberal policies introduced by the government and RBI for overseas investments.
According to RBI data, in 2007-08 the total outbound investments of Indian companies amounted to $18 billion. In the first half of 2008-09, at least 2,000 proposals valued at $9 billion were cleared for overseas investments in joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiaries.
Is this the empire striking back?
Is this the new East India Co, this time actually originating from the East and not from the UK?
Our culture and our Gurus have made us hard-working,living within our means, individuals.
Our politicians and their selfish motives has made us now among the top corrupt nations.
Attempts are now being made to reverse the trend.
Just imagine what a power house India can become if 1) it removes corruption and 2) controls population.
What surprises me is not a single party utters a word for controlling our galloping population. How are we going to feed our population?
One action on Sanjay Gandhi has made all parties of shying away from that word.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Nostalgia
This piece has been sent by Swapan Das
This one was too fully to let go so here is one out of the blue. Frankly I could tick off atleast 15-20 of these as a given. J
Group for people who grew up during the 70s and well early eighties in middle class India.If you are unsure...Join this group if you say YES for any 5 of the following:
1 Though you may not publicly own to this, at the age of 5-8 years, you were very proud of your first "Bellbottom" or your first "Maxi"
2 Phantom & Mandrake were your only true heroes. You can also nod your heads to names like Chandamama, Champak, Lot-Pot, Nandan. The brainy ones read "Competition Success Review".
3 You took pride in turning to the back page of your latest Amar Chitra Katha and ticking off yet another title. How many ever you ticked, you still had many to go.
4 Your "Camlin" geometry box & Flora pencil was your prized possession.
5 The only "Holidays" you took were to go to your grandparents' or your cousins' houses.
6 Ice-cream meant only - either an orange stick, a vanilla softy in a cone or at most - a Choco Bar if you lived in a swanky town.
7 Your first family car ( and the only one) was a Fiat. Or an ambassador. This often had to be pushed by the entire family to get going.
8 The glass windows in the back seats used to get stuck at the two-thirds down level and used to irk the shit out of you! The window went down only if your puny arm could manage the tacky rotary handle to pull it down. Locking the door was easy. You just whacked the other tacky, non-rotary handle downwards.
9 Your mom had stitched the weirdest lace curtains for all the windows of the car. They were tied in the middle and if your dad was the comfort-oriented kinds, you had a magnificent small fan upfront, below which screwed to the board was the cassette player.
10 Your parents were proud owners of HMT watches. You "earned" yours after 8th or the 10th standard exams.
11 You have been to "Jumbo Circus" ; have held your breath while the pretty young thing in the glittery skirt did acrobatics, quite enjoyed the elephants hitting football, the motorcyclist vrooming in the "Maut ka Gola" and it was politically okay to laugh your guts out at dwarfs hitting each others bottoms!
12 You have atleast once heard "Hawa Mahal" on the radio.
13 If you had a TV, it was normal to expect the neighborhood to gather around to watch the Chitrahaar or the Sunday movie. If you didn't have a TV, you just went to a house that did. It mattered little if you knew the owners or not.
14 Sometimes the owners of these TVs got very creative and got a bi or even a tri-coloured anti-glare screen which they attached with two side clips onto their Weston TVs. That confused the hell out of you!
15 Black & White TVs weren't so bad after all because cricket was played in whites.
16 You thought your Dad rocked because you got your own ( the family's; not your own own!) colour TV when the Asian Games started. Everyone else got the same idea as well and ever since, no one came over to your house and you didn't go to anyone else's.
17 You dreaded the death of any political leader because of the mourning they would announce on the TV. After all how much "Shashtriya Sangeet" can a kid take? Salma Sultana didn't smile either during the mourning.
18 You knew that "Indira Gandhi" was somebody really powerful and terribly important. And that's all you needed to know.
19 The only "Gadgets" in the house were the TV, the Fridge and the Mixie.
20 All the gadgets had to be duly covered with a crochet covers and sometimes even with ingenious, custom-fit plastic covers.
21 Movies meant Amitabh Bachchan. Before the start of the movie you always had to watch the obligatory "newsreel".
22 You thought you were so rocking because you knew almost all the songs of Abba and BoneyM
23 You had a turntable "stereo" and a collection of LP Records. Your hormones went crazy when you bought "Disco Deewane" by Naziya Hassan & Zoheb Hassan.
24 You couldn't contain your happiness when you suddenly had knowledge of Grammy awards and Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper & OMG even Michael Jackson became familiar names.
25 School teachers, your parents and even your neighbours could whack you and it was all okay.
26 Photograph taking was a big thing. You were lucky if your family owned a camera. A reel of 36 exposures was valuable hence it justified the half hour preparation & "setting" & the "posing" for each picture. Therefore, you have atleast one family picture where everyone is holding their breath and standing at attention!
27. When you really counted down days to "Diwali" every year
This one was too fully to let go so here is one out of the blue. Frankly I could tick off atleast 15-20 of these as a given. J
Group for people who grew up during the 70s and well early eighties in middle class India.If you are unsure...Join this group if you say YES for any 5 of the following:
1 Though you may not publicly own to this, at the age of 5-8 years, you were very proud of your first "Bellbottom" or your first "Maxi"
2 Phantom & Mandrake were your only true heroes. You can also nod your heads to names like Chandamama, Champak, Lot-Pot, Nandan. The brainy ones read "Competition Success Review".
3 You took pride in turning to the back page of your latest Amar Chitra Katha and ticking off yet another title. How many ever you ticked, you still had many to go.
4 Your "Camlin" geometry box & Flora pencil was your prized possession.
5 The only "Holidays" you took were to go to your grandparents' or your cousins' houses.
6 Ice-cream meant only - either an orange stick, a vanilla softy in a cone or at most - a Choco Bar if you lived in a swanky town.
7 Your first family car ( and the only one) was a Fiat. Or an ambassador. This often had to be pushed by the entire family to get going.
8 The glass windows in the back seats used to get stuck at the two-thirds down level and used to irk the shit out of you! The window went down only if your puny arm could manage the tacky rotary handle to pull it down. Locking the door was easy. You just whacked the other tacky, non-rotary handle downwards.
9 Your mom had stitched the weirdest lace curtains for all the windows of the car. They were tied in the middle and if your dad was the comfort-oriented kinds, you had a magnificent small fan upfront, below which screwed to the board was the cassette player.
10 Your parents were proud owners of HMT watches. You "earned" yours after 8th or the 10th standard exams.
11 You have been to "Jumbo Circus" ; have held your breath while the pretty young thing in the glittery skirt did acrobatics, quite enjoyed the elephants hitting football, the motorcyclist vrooming in the "Maut ka Gola" and it was politically okay to laugh your guts out at dwarfs hitting each others bottoms!
12 You have atleast once heard "Hawa Mahal" on the radio.
13 If you had a TV, it was normal to expect the neighborhood to gather around to watch the Chitrahaar or the Sunday movie. If you didn't have a TV, you just went to a house that did. It mattered little if you knew the owners or not.
14 Sometimes the owners of these TVs got very creative and got a bi or even a tri-coloured anti-glare screen which they attached with two side clips onto their Weston TVs. That confused the hell out of you!
15 Black & White TVs weren't so bad after all because cricket was played in whites.
16 You thought your Dad rocked because you got your own ( the family's; not your own own!) colour TV when the Asian Games started. Everyone else got the same idea as well and ever since, no one came over to your house and you didn't go to anyone else's.
17 You dreaded the death of any political leader because of the mourning they would announce on the TV. After all how much "Shashtriya Sangeet" can a kid take? Salma Sultana didn't smile either during the mourning.
18 You knew that "Indira Gandhi" was somebody really powerful and terribly important. And that's all you needed to know.
19 The only "Gadgets" in the house were the TV, the Fridge and the Mixie.
20 All the gadgets had to be duly covered with a crochet covers and sometimes even with ingenious, custom-fit plastic covers.
21 Movies meant Amitabh Bachchan. Before the start of the movie you always had to watch the obligatory "newsreel".
22 You thought you were so rocking because you knew almost all the songs of Abba and BoneyM
23 You had a turntable "stereo" and a collection of LP Records. Your hormones went crazy when you bought "Disco Deewane" by Naziya Hassan & Zoheb Hassan.
24 You couldn't contain your happiness when you suddenly had knowledge of Grammy awards and Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper & OMG even Michael Jackson became familiar names.
25 School teachers, your parents and even your neighbours could whack you and it was all okay.
26 Photograph taking was a big thing. You were lucky if your family owned a camera. A reel of 36 exposures was valuable hence it justified the half hour preparation & "setting" & the "posing" for each picture. Therefore, you have atleast one family picture where everyone is holding their breath and standing at attention!
27. When you really counted down days to "Diwali" every year
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Boyfriend or Husband
It is a fact of life that when a boyfriend or girl friend becomes a spouse, there is a marked difference in behaviour, which many people just cannot understand why the same person behaves so differently.
Here is how a computer geek, tries to find a solution.
I am not sure whether this was posted earlier.
Presently, it is sent by Krishna Joshi
Radheshyam
A woman writes to the IT Technical support Guy
Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5.0, MONEY 3.0 and CRICKET 4.1.
Conversation 8..0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.
Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5..3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed,
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________
Reply
DEAR Madam,
First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.
Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme. . html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If that application works as designed, Husband1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3..5..
However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta..
Whatever you do,DO NOTunder any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)
In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.
We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Hot Looks 7.7.
Good Luck Madam!
Here is how a computer geek, tries to find a solution.
I am not sure whether this was posted earlier.
Presently, it is sent by Krishna Joshi
Radheshyam
A woman writes to the IT Technical support Guy
Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5.0, MONEY 3.0 and CRICKET 4.1.
Conversation 8..0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.
Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5..3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed,
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________
Reply
DEAR Madam,
First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.
Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme. . html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If that application works as designed, Husband1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3..5..
However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta..
Whatever you do,DO NOTunder any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)
In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.
We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Hot Looks 7.7.
Good Luck Madam!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Knowing Languages
So, how does a group of Syrian protest leaders create the most impact with their signs by having the standard "Death To Americans"(etc.) slogans printed in English?
Answer:
They simply hire an English-speaking civilian to translate and write their statements into English.
Unfortunately, in this case, they were unaware that the "civilian" insurance company employee hired for the job was a retired US Army Sergeant! Obviously, pictures of this protest rally never made their way to Arab TV networks, but the results were PRICELESS!
This picture is not doctored.
Most Syrians struggle to even read Arabic, much less have a clue about readingEnglish.
Lack of knowledge of any language has always been the subject of humour, throughout the ages. It, on many occasions, leads to anger and fights. The Bible tells us the story of the Tower of Bable when men became so arrogant and corrupt that they stopped believing in God.
They thought of reaching Heaven by building a tower which would reach up to heaven. The bible says that as the reached up, he made their languages different. They could not understand each other and started fighting and killed themselves.
It is always good to learn as many languages as possible.
Doctors say, the more languages you learn, the greater your brain develops.
Answer:
They simply hire an English-speaking civilian to translate and write their statements into English.
Unfortunately, in this case, they were unaware that the "civilian" insurance company employee hired for the job was a retired US Army Sergeant! Obviously, pictures of this protest rally never made their way to Arab TV networks, but the results were PRICELESS!
This picture is not doctored.
Most Syrians struggle to even read Arabic, much less have a clue about readingEnglish.
Lack of knowledge of any language has always been the subject of humour, throughout the ages. It, on many occasions, leads to anger and fights. The Bible tells us the story of the Tower of Bable when men became so arrogant and corrupt that they stopped believing in God.
They thought of reaching Heaven by building a tower which would reach up to heaven. The bible says that as the reached up, he made their languages different. They could not understand each other and started fighting and killed themselves.
It is always good to learn as many languages as possible.
Doctors say, the more languages you learn, the greater your brain develops.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The Ten Commandments, Modified.
These commandments have been sent by Keith Hayward.
Either I may have read them earlier or I may have posted them earlier.
Whatever it may be, the ten commandments are always important, whether brought down by Moses or sent by Keith.
Commandment 1
Marriages are made in heaven. But so are thunder and
lightning.
***********
Commandment 2
If you want your wife to listen and pay strict
attention to every word you say; talk in your sleep.
***********
Commandment 3
Marriage is grand -- and divorce is at least 100
grand!
***********
Commandment 4
Married life is very frustrating. In the first year of
marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.
In the second year, the woman speaks and the man
listens.
In the third year, they both speak and the neighbours
listen.
***********
Commandment 5
When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you
can be sure of one thing: Either the car is new or the wife is.
***********
Commandment 6
Marriage is when a man and woman become as one. The
trouble starts when they try to decide which one.
***********
Commandment 7
Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night
thinking about something you say. After marriage, he will fall asleep before
you finish.
***********
Commandment 8
Every man wants a wife who is beautiful,
understanding, economical, and a good cook.
But the law allows only one wife.
***********
Commandment 9
Marriage and love are purely matter of chemistry. That
is why wives treat husbands like toxic waste.
***********
Commandment 10
A man is incomplete until he is married. After that,
he is finished.
***********
Bonus Commandment ( Story )
A long married couple came upon a wishing well. The
husband leaned over, made a wish and threw in a penny.
The wife decided to make a wish too. But she leaned
over too much, fell into the well, and drowned.
The husband was stunned for a moment but then smiled,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"It really works!"
I just hope Sylvia is not reading this.
Either I may have read them earlier or I may have posted them earlier.
Whatever it may be, the ten commandments are always important, whether brought down by Moses or sent by Keith.
Commandment 1
Marriages are made in heaven. But so are thunder and
lightning.
***********
Commandment 2
If you want your wife to listen and pay strict
attention to every word you say; talk in your sleep.
***********
Commandment 3
Marriage is grand -- and divorce is at least 100
grand!
***********
Commandment 4
Married life is very frustrating. In the first year of
marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.
In the second year, the woman speaks and the man
listens.
In the third year, they both speak and the neighbours
listen.
***********
Commandment 5
When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you
can be sure of one thing: Either the car is new or the wife is.
***********
Commandment 6
Marriage is when a man and woman become as one. The
trouble starts when they try to decide which one.
***********
Commandment 7
Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night
thinking about something you say. After marriage, he will fall asleep before
you finish.
***********
Commandment 8
Every man wants a wife who is beautiful,
understanding, economical, and a good cook.
But the law allows only one wife.
***********
Commandment 9
Marriage and love are purely matter of chemistry. That
is why wives treat husbands like toxic waste.
***********
Commandment 10
A man is incomplete until he is married. After that,
he is finished.
***********
Bonus Commandment ( Story )
A long married couple came upon a wishing well. The
husband leaned over, made a wish and threw in a penny.
The wife decided to make a wish too. But she leaned
over too much, fell into the well, and drowned.
The husband was stunned for a moment but then smiled,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"It really works!"
I just hope Sylvia is not reading this.
Children in Action
I AM SURE ALL OF YOU WILL ENJOY THIS
LOVE AND REGARDS
PRADEEP KUMAR MOHAN
The above pictures sent by Pradeep Mohan, must bring back memories of the mischief of our own children.
I am seeing and enjoying similar pranks of my own grand-daughter.
Childhood is a beautiful time.
The child himself does not realize how his carefree pranks gives pain and pleasure to his parents and grand-parents.Pain to his parents and pleasure to his grand-parents.
I have probably forgotten my own childrens pranks or was too busy to notice them at that time but now I am really enjoying my grand-daughter's every action.
LOVE AND REGARDS
PRADEEP KUMAR MOHAN
The above pictures sent by Pradeep Mohan, must bring back memories of the mischief of our own children.
I am seeing and enjoying similar pranks of my own grand-daughter.
Childhood is a beautiful time.
The child himself does not realize how his carefree pranks gives pain and pleasure to his parents and grand-parents.Pain to his parents and pleasure to his grand-parents.
I have probably forgotten my own childrens pranks or was too busy to notice them at that time but now I am really enjoying my grand-daughter's every action.
Cadbury Mystery
Keith Hayward has sent this.
Don't tell me your age;
you probably would tell a falsehood anyway - but
the Cadbury Man will know!
This is pretty neat.
It takes less than a minute .
Work this out as you read .
This is not one of those waste of time things, it's
fun.
1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you
would like to have chocolate (more than once but
fewer than 10)
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)
3. Add 5
4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the
calculator
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759
If you haven't, add 1758.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
You should have a three digit number
The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each
week).
The next two numbers are
YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)
THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD
IT AROUND TO YOUR FRIENDS WHILE IT LASTS
The last few posts on calculations made me think and use algebra to solve this one.
My calculations are given beow,
Let the number thought be a
Step 2.............a*2
Step 3.............(a*2 +5)
Step 4.............(a*2 +5)*50 = 100a + 250
Step 5.............(100a + 250) + 1759 = 100a + 2009
Step 6..............100a = 2009 - 1948 ...1948 is my year of birth
Now this is a three digit number.
When you subtract the year of birth from this year 2009, you naturally get your age.
100a gives you the hundreds column in the three digit number, which is the single digit number of chocolates which cadbury gave you.
You see, Algebra has many uses, besides mundane formulae like (a+b)(a+b)=.....
Once a mother was telling her friend of the new subjects being taught to her daughter in School.
"My Lucy is being taught French, German, Latin and Algebra in School", pointing proudly to her daughter.
Then as is the habit with mothers, she called out to Lucy to come.
"Come Darling, tell Mrs. John, how do you do in Algebra"
Don't tell me your age;
you probably would tell a falsehood anyway - but
the Cadbury Man will know!
This is pretty neat.
It takes less than a minute .
Work this out as you read .
This is not one of those waste of time things, it's
fun.
1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you
would like to have chocolate (more than once but
fewer than 10)
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)
3. Add 5
4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the
calculator
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759
If you haven't, add 1758.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
You should have a three digit number
The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each
week).
The next two numbers are
YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)
THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD
IT AROUND TO YOUR FRIENDS WHILE IT LASTS
The last few posts on calculations made me think and use algebra to solve this one.
My calculations are given beow,
Let the number thought be a
Step 2.............a*2
Step 3.............(a*2 +5)
Step 4.............(a*2 +5)*50 = 100a + 250
Step 5.............(100a + 250) + 1759 = 100a + 2009
Step 6..............100a = 2009 - 1948 ...1948 is my year of birth
Now this is a three digit number.
When you subtract the year of birth from this year 2009, you naturally get your age.
100a gives you the hundreds column in the three digit number, which is the single digit number of chocolates which cadbury gave you.
You see, Algebra has many uses, besides mundane formulae like (a+b)(a+b)=.....
Once a mother was telling her friend of the new subjects being taught to her daughter in School.
"My Lucy is being taught French, German, Latin and Algebra in School", pointing proudly to her daughter.
Then as is the habit with mothers, she called out to Lucy to come.
"Come Darling, tell Mrs. John, how do you do in Algebra"
Friday, June 12, 2009
Is the CBI shadow boxing?
CBI cracks down on India's corrupt babudom
12 Jun 2009, 0400 hrs IST, Sachin Parashar, TNN
NEW DELHI: India regularly features in the list of most corrupt nations in the world and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has revealed just why. The agency's countrywide drive against corruption by public functionaries threw up an arc of corruption — from forgery of caste certificates and data theft to bungling in purchases in the much-vaunted Indian Army.
The accused as just as diverse — officials of PSUs, Income Tax, Doordarshan, Delhi Jal Board, army, CISF and several other government organizations in Delhi, MP, UP, Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland and Karnataka.
The CBI registered a case on Thursday after it found that army authorities had fraudulently purchased material for barbed wire fencing along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir. According to CBI officials, these purchases said to be worth Rs 12.5 crore were made through the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd to avoid floating tenders. The purchase was shown from Shiva Steel and Wires Ltd at Gangyal in Jammu which, the CBI found, is not equipped to handle such a huge order.
``Wrongdoing is suspected because such purchases are not supposed to be made through NCCF India. Also the firm from which it was shown to have purchased does not have the capacity to supply so much material. The role of some army authorities is being looked into,'' said an official requesting anonymity.
While it appears that the agency has gone into an overdrive in the face of severe criticism over its alleged diffidence before the government in high-profile cases, the sheer scale of the exercise is enough to send warning messages to corrupt public servants. Sixty-nine cases have been registered in the past few days in what is being described by officials as the biggest-ever drive against corruption which has also enrolled the common man through its widely publicised SMS campaign. And the CBI isn't done yet.
``In order to have demonstrative impact, extensive special drives, preferably at least once every quarter, are being organised to target the known corrupt departments/organisations and public servants so as to attack corruption both at the grassroot and high levels,'' said an official.
During the drive in Delhi on Wednesday, eight cases were registered over the usage of forged scheduled tribe certificates, on the basis of which employees of various PSUs and government offices had secured jobs. These organisations included the income tax department, Doordarshan, Delhi Jal Board and Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. The agency also seized Rs 25 lakh from the home of a senior manager in Oriental Insurance in Ghaziabad.
The Delhi wing has also detained three junior engineers and two retired superintending engineers for causing a loss of more than Rs 1 crore to the Delhi Development Authority during 2003-5 while benefiting a contractor. During searches, six bank lockers were found in the possession of the accused. ``So far, one locker has been searched from which Rs 972,000, 10 gold biscuits, 29 gold coins, and 810 grams of gold jewellery have been recovered. The cash available in the bank accounts is around Rs 60 lakh,'' said an official.
On Thursday, the agency raided the premises of seven MCD engineers who allegedly allowed unauthorised constructions. The accused include executive engineer B S Yadav from whom documents suggesting purchase of 12 immovable properties have been seized. Around Rs 8 lakh cash was seized from another engineer, Anil Kumar, as also documents from another senior official who had bought properties worth Rs 1.5 crore.
Apart from the anti-corruption cases, the agency also unearthed cases of data theft and supply of sub-standard dolomite to Bokaro Steel Plant causing a loss of Rs 1.3 crore to Vijaya Bank by a Punjab-based firm. In another case related to Punjab National Bank, the agency found that the credit facility of the bank had been enhanced without obtaining any collateral securities.
* All 16 divisions of CBI in the country carried out raids on officials of the Army, PSUs and government organisations including Doordarshan, income tax department, Delhi Jal Board, DDA and banks; 69 cases registered
* Case registered after army authorities were found to have committed fraud in purchasing barbed wire fencing for the Indo-Pakistan border
* CBI says SMS campaign for citizens will be revived for a fortnight from now to get more information about these cases and to seek information for fresh ones
Can this be the light at the end of the tunnel? or
Is this a false dawn?
Only time will tell.
However, they are putting the cart before the horse.
They are attacking the symptoms and not the disease.
The disease are politicians.
As long as there are corrupt politicians who continue to demand money from bureaucrats for favours, how can you say the CBI is taking action on corruption.
Do you notice that among the list there is not a single politician.
Have politicians suddenly become angels.
No!
The CBI is just scared of taking action against them.
Unless the CBI is removed from the control of politicians, we cannot have a corruption free society and what the CBI is doing is just eye-wash for public consumption.
The only politician on whom I would have to control the CBI is A K Anthony.
12 Jun 2009, 0400 hrs IST, Sachin Parashar, TNN
NEW DELHI: India regularly features in the list of most corrupt nations in the world and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has revealed just why. The agency's countrywide drive against corruption by public functionaries threw up an arc of corruption — from forgery of caste certificates and data theft to bungling in purchases in the much-vaunted Indian Army.
The accused as just as diverse — officials of PSUs, Income Tax, Doordarshan, Delhi Jal Board, army, CISF and several other government organizations in Delhi, MP, UP, Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland and Karnataka.
The CBI registered a case on Thursday after it found that army authorities had fraudulently purchased material for barbed wire fencing along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir. According to CBI officials, these purchases said to be worth Rs 12.5 crore were made through the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd to avoid floating tenders. The purchase was shown from Shiva Steel and Wires Ltd at Gangyal in Jammu which, the CBI found, is not equipped to handle such a huge order.
``Wrongdoing is suspected because such purchases are not supposed to be made through NCCF India. Also the firm from which it was shown to have purchased does not have the capacity to supply so much material. The role of some army authorities is being looked into,'' said an official requesting anonymity.
While it appears that the agency has gone into an overdrive in the face of severe criticism over its alleged diffidence before the government in high-profile cases, the sheer scale of the exercise is enough to send warning messages to corrupt public servants. Sixty-nine cases have been registered in the past few days in what is being described by officials as the biggest-ever drive against corruption which has also enrolled the common man through its widely publicised SMS campaign. And the CBI isn't done yet.
``In order to have demonstrative impact, extensive special drives, preferably at least once every quarter, are being organised to target the known corrupt departments/organisations and public servants so as to attack corruption both at the grassroot and high levels,'' said an official.
During the drive in Delhi on Wednesday, eight cases were registered over the usage of forged scheduled tribe certificates, on the basis of which employees of various PSUs and government offices had secured jobs. These organisations included the income tax department, Doordarshan, Delhi Jal Board and Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. The agency also seized Rs 25 lakh from the home of a senior manager in Oriental Insurance in Ghaziabad.
The Delhi wing has also detained three junior engineers and two retired superintending engineers for causing a loss of more than Rs 1 crore to the Delhi Development Authority during 2003-5 while benefiting a contractor. During searches, six bank lockers were found in the possession of the accused. ``So far, one locker has been searched from which Rs 972,000, 10 gold biscuits, 29 gold coins, and 810 grams of gold jewellery have been recovered. The cash available in the bank accounts is around Rs 60 lakh,'' said an official.
On Thursday, the agency raided the premises of seven MCD engineers who allegedly allowed unauthorised constructions. The accused include executive engineer B S Yadav from whom documents suggesting purchase of 12 immovable properties have been seized. Around Rs 8 lakh cash was seized from another engineer, Anil Kumar, as also documents from another senior official who had bought properties worth Rs 1.5 crore.
Apart from the anti-corruption cases, the agency also unearthed cases of data theft and supply of sub-standard dolomite to Bokaro Steel Plant causing a loss of Rs 1.3 crore to Vijaya Bank by a Punjab-based firm. In another case related to Punjab National Bank, the agency found that the credit facility of the bank had been enhanced without obtaining any collateral securities.
* All 16 divisions of CBI in the country carried out raids on officials of the Army, PSUs and government organisations including Doordarshan, income tax department, Delhi Jal Board, DDA and banks; 69 cases registered
* Case registered after army authorities were found to have committed fraud in purchasing barbed wire fencing for the Indo-Pakistan border
* CBI says SMS campaign for citizens will be revived for a fortnight from now to get more information about these cases and to seek information for fresh ones
Can this be the light at the end of the tunnel? or
Is this a false dawn?
Only time will tell.
However, they are putting the cart before the horse.
They are attacking the symptoms and not the disease.
The disease are politicians.
As long as there are corrupt politicians who continue to demand money from bureaucrats for favours, how can you say the CBI is taking action on corruption.
Do you notice that among the list there is not a single politician.
Have politicians suddenly become angels.
No!
The CBI is just scared of taking action against them.
Unless the CBI is removed from the control of politicians, we cannot have a corruption free society and what the CBI is doing is just eye-wash for public consumption.
The only politician on whom I would have to control the CBI is A K Anthony.
Another example of Trinumul Bullying
Terror boot on other foot
- Trinamul supporters ransack CPM homes in Khejuri
ANGSHUMAN PHADIKAR
Khejuri, June 11: Yesterday’s bullied have turned today’s bullies.
The Trinamul Congress, which overran CPM stronghold Khejuri two days ago, today continued its run of ransacking party offices and homes of leaders, apparently in search of hidden weapons.
Around 11 this morning, around 200 Trinamul supporters went to the Kamarda CPM office, which had been attacked once on Tuesday, and destroyed whatever remained of it.
Then they proceeded to the home of zilla parishad mem- ber Himangshu Das. On the pretext of “searching for arms and ammunition”, they went about systematically ransacking his house and breaking furniture. Task accomplished, they turned to the house of his neighbour Makhan Panda, a CPM local committee member at Kalagachhi.
In neither house did they find any arms or ammunition.
Around 3pm, another group raided the CPM local committee office at Janka, some 10km away. They broke the furniture, made a bonfire of them and set it ablaze.
“If they were accusing the CPM of being brutal and terrorising people, is Trinamul behaving any better?” asked Santosh Kumar Barui, a primary school teacher and CPM local committee member who fled home in fear today.
Trinamul MP Subhendu Adhikari said the violence was “an expression of people’s pent-up anger”.
“The CPM had been stockpiling arms and ammunition in its offices and the homes of party leaders. Since police will not enter these places, the task is left to us. It is a spontaneous movement.”
Unlike on earlier occasions, however, the police today arrested 14 Trinamul supporters for ransacking and arson. “We have set up seven police camps in the sensitive areas along the Talpatti canal to build confidence among the people,” said East Midnapore police chief P.K. Ghosh.
But the camps have not instilled any sense of security among many CPM supporters.
Prabodh Maity, a local committee member, has left his home in Bansgora and is refusing to return. His wife Namita said she had “no idea” where he was. “There has neither been any attack on us nor has anyone threatened us. But still there is a sense of fear,” Namita said. “Some Trinamul people had come home and told us my husband should meet them after his return since many of his comrades had switched to Trinamul.”
Kamarda gram panchayat member Haripada Bera is among them. “I’m joining Trinamul since the CPM no longer enjoys popular support here,” Bera said.
Mouthing words that Trinamul used till the other day, he added: “The police cannot provide us (CPM supporters) any protection.”
In Calcutta, home secretary Ardhendu Sen ruled out a central team’s visit to inspect the situation in Khejuri.
Events are developing in Bengal just as I feared.
Now that the Trinumul has gone on winning spree, true to her disruptive character, they have started bullying.
This is the situation where I said a person should be allowed to reject all candidates and the President of India should appoint responsible people to represent those people.
I was not satisfied for the CPM and I knew that Mamata was equally worthless, yet I advised my family to vote for Mamata, just for change.I could not since my name was removed from the voters list.
Now, she is taking advantage of that.
She should realize that people have voted for her as negative votes and if she does not perform and just goes on witch hunt, the same people will throw her out two years hence when the assembly elections are held.
- Trinamul supporters ransack CPM homes in Khejuri
ANGSHUMAN PHADIKAR
Khejuri, June 11: Yesterday’s bullied have turned today’s bullies.
The Trinamul Congress, which overran CPM stronghold Khejuri two days ago, today continued its run of ransacking party offices and homes of leaders, apparently in search of hidden weapons.
Around 11 this morning, around 200 Trinamul supporters went to the Kamarda CPM office, which had been attacked once on Tuesday, and destroyed whatever remained of it.
Then they proceeded to the home of zilla parishad mem- ber Himangshu Das. On the pretext of “searching for arms and ammunition”, they went about systematically ransacking his house and breaking furniture. Task accomplished, they turned to the house of his neighbour Makhan Panda, a CPM local committee member at Kalagachhi.
In neither house did they find any arms or ammunition.
Around 3pm, another group raided the CPM local committee office at Janka, some 10km away. They broke the furniture, made a bonfire of them and set it ablaze.
“If they were accusing the CPM of being brutal and terrorising people, is Trinamul behaving any better?” asked Santosh Kumar Barui, a primary school teacher and CPM local committee member who fled home in fear today.
Trinamul MP Subhendu Adhikari said the violence was “an expression of people’s pent-up anger”.
“The CPM had been stockpiling arms and ammunition in its offices and the homes of party leaders. Since police will not enter these places, the task is left to us. It is a spontaneous movement.”
Unlike on earlier occasions, however, the police today arrested 14 Trinamul supporters for ransacking and arson. “We have set up seven police camps in the sensitive areas along the Talpatti canal to build confidence among the people,” said East Midnapore police chief P.K. Ghosh.
But the camps have not instilled any sense of security among many CPM supporters.
Prabodh Maity, a local committee member, has left his home in Bansgora and is refusing to return. His wife Namita said she had “no idea” where he was. “There has neither been any attack on us nor has anyone threatened us. But still there is a sense of fear,” Namita said. “Some Trinamul people had come home and told us my husband should meet them after his return since many of his comrades had switched to Trinamul.”
Kamarda gram panchayat member Haripada Bera is among them. “I’m joining Trinamul since the CPM no longer enjoys popular support here,” Bera said.
Mouthing words that Trinamul used till the other day, he added: “The police cannot provide us (CPM supporters) any protection.”
In Calcutta, home secretary Ardhendu Sen ruled out a central team’s visit to inspect the situation in Khejuri.
Events are developing in Bengal just as I feared.
Now that the Trinumul has gone on winning spree, true to her disruptive character, they have started bullying.
This is the situation where I said a person should be allowed to reject all candidates and the President of India should appoint responsible people to represent those people.
I was not satisfied for the CPM and I knew that Mamata was equally worthless, yet I advised my family to vote for Mamata, just for change.I could not since my name was removed from the voters list.
Now, she is taking advantage of that.
She should realize that people have voted for her as negative votes and if she does not perform and just goes on witch hunt, the same people will throw her out two years hence when the assembly elections are held.
The Power of Ads
People say a picture is worth a thousand words.
These pictures or rather ads (sent by Lalit Narayan) say more than I could have said.
Radheshyam
.jpg)
These pictures or rather ads (sent by Lalit Narayan) say more than I could have said.
Radheshyam
.jpg)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Now Trinumul is becoming the Bully
Plea in teen murder case
OUR LEGAL REPORTER
An appeal by 18-year-old student Kuntal Sain’s killers against the life sentence awarded to them by the Howrah district sessions judge four months ago was admitted in the high court on Tuesday.
Kuntal, a resident of Shibpur, Howrah, was murdered in July 2004 by his friends Sampad Mukherjee and Arijit Pal. Sampad’s mother Manjusha and brother Jyotirmoy helped the two.
The four were arrested and tried for the murder. Sampad, 21, died in Presidency jail after a throat ailment in October 2004. The other three moved the high court challenging the legality of the earlier judgment.
“The trial judge had failed to find the motive of the murder. Moreover, the prosecution could not prove Manjusha and Jyotirmoy’s involvement in the incident but they were still awarded life sentences,” Jayanta Narayan Chatterjee, the lawyer representing the convicts, told the division bench of Justice D.P. Sengupta and Justice Tapas Kumar Giri while moving the appeal.
According to police, Sampad, who had dropped out of college, had invited his neighbour Kuntal to his house at Sasthitala in Howrah on July 2, 2004.
Arijit, Kuntal’s senior at St Thomas School in Dasnagar, reached Sampad’s house soon after Kuntal got there on his motorcycle.
Sampad and Arijit, with the help of Manjusha and Jyotirmoy, confined Kuntal to a room and allegedly demanded a ransom of Rs 25 lakh from his father Avijit, a prominent trader in the area.
He agreed to pay but, on a hunch, sent a friend of Kuntal to check if his son had been detained by the Mukherjees. The three members of the Mukherjee family and Arijit, none of whom had criminal record, managed to send the friend away but feared that they might get caught.
That evening, Arijit and Sampad took Kuntal to Pankuria, also in Howrah. They hit him with a chopper over 40 times and dumped the body under a railway bridge at Salap More.
Shibpur police had started probing the murder on the basis of a complaint lodged by Kuntal’s father the same day. The trial began in 2005.
This is not a fit case for me to comment since this is being put in front of learned judges.
However, seeing the problems created by extortionist, rapist, murderers and terrorists to society and our judges continuing being lenient to these animals, I have to air my views.
The above criminals premeditated the murder with intent to extort money from the victims father. How can the defence lawyer find no motive.
The case should be tried expeditiously and the criminals made to serve the life sentence.
OUR LEGAL REPORTER
An appeal by 18-year-old student Kuntal Sain’s killers against the life sentence awarded to them by the Howrah district sessions judge four months ago was admitted in the high court on Tuesday.
Kuntal, a resident of Shibpur, Howrah, was murdered in July 2004 by his friends Sampad Mukherjee and Arijit Pal. Sampad’s mother Manjusha and brother Jyotirmoy helped the two.
The four were arrested and tried for the murder. Sampad, 21, died in Presidency jail after a throat ailment in October 2004. The other three moved the high court challenging the legality of the earlier judgment.
“The trial judge had failed to find the motive of the murder. Moreover, the prosecution could not prove Manjusha and Jyotirmoy’s involvement in the incident but they were still awarded life sentences,” Jayanta Narayan Chatterjee, the lawyer representing the convicts, told the division bench of Justice D.P. Sengupta and Justice Tapas Kumar Giri while moving the appeal.
According to police, Sampad, who had dropped out of college, had invited his neighbour Kuntal to his house at Sasthitala in Howrah on July 2, 2004.
Arijit, Kuntal’s senior at St Thomas School in Dasnagar, reached Sampad’s house soon after Kuntal got there on his motorcycle.
Sampad and Arijit, with the help of Manjusha and Jyotirmoy, confined Kuntal to a room and allegedly demanded a ransom of Rs 25 lakh from his father Avijit, a prominent trader in the area.
He agreed to pay but, on a hunch, sent a friend of Kuntal to check if his son had been detained by the Mukherjees. The three members of the Mukherjee family and Arijit, none of whom had criminal record, managed to send the friend away but feared that they might get caught.
That evening, Arijit and Sampad took Kuntal to Pankuria, also in Howrah. They hit him with a chopper over 40 times and dumped the body under a railway bridge at Salap More.
Shibpur police had started probing the murder on the basis of a complaint lodged by Kuntal’s father the same day. The trial began in 2005.
This is not a fit case for me to comment since this is being put in front of learned judges.
However, seeing the problems created by extortionist, rapist, murderers and terrorists to society and our judges continuing being lenient to these animals, I have to air my views.
The above criminals premeditated the murder with intent to extort money from the victims father. How can the defence lawyer find no motive.
The case should be tried expeditiously and the criminals made to serve the life sentence.
Hindu Terrorism?
Not intended to ruffle any feathers…. Just an opinion of a guy. Just FYI. Dunno if discussing would help…
The Hindu Rate Of Wrath
When the Mahatma's cowards erupt in fury, it hurts. It isn't terror.
Francois Gautier
Is there such a thing as 'Hindu terrorism', as the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for the recent Malegaon blasts may tend to prove? Well, I guess I was asked to write this column because I am one of that rare breed of foreign correspondents—a lover of Hindus! A born Frenchman, Catholic-educated and non-Hindu, I do hope I'll be given some credit for my opinions, which are not the product of my parents' ideas, my education or my atavism, but garnered from 25 years of reporting in South Asia (for Le Journal de Geneve and Le Figaro).
In the early 1980s, when I started freelancing in south India , doing photo features on kalaripayattu, the Ayyappa festival, or the Ayyanars, I slowly realised that the genius of this country lies in its Hindu ethos, in the true spirituality behind Hinduism. The average Hindu you meet in a million villages possesses this simple, innate spirituality and accepts your diversity, whether you are Christian or Muslim, Jain or Arab, French or Chinese. It is this Hinduness that makes the Indian Christian different from, say, a French Christian, or the Indian Muslim unlike a Saudi Muslim. I also learnt that Hindus not only believed that the divine could manifest itself at different times, under different names, using different scriptures (not to mention the wonderful avatar concept, the perfect answer to 21st century religious strife) but that they had also given refuge to persecuted minorities from across the world—Syrian Christians, Parsis, Jews, Armenians, and today, Tibetans. In 3,500 years of existence, Hindus have never militarily invaded another country, never tried to impose their religion on others by force or induced conversions.
You cannot find anybody less fundamentalist than a Hindu in the world and it saddens me when I see the Indian and western press equating terrorist groups like SIMI, which blow up innocent civilians, with ordinary, angry Hindus who burn churches without killing anybody. We know also that most of these communal incidents often involve persons from the same groups—often Dalits and tribals—some of who have converted to Christianity and others not.
However reprehensible the destruction of Babri Masjid, no Muslim was killed in the process; compare this to the 'vengeance' bombings of 1993 in Bombay , which wiped out hundreds of innocents, mostly Hindus. Yet the Babri Masjid destruction is often described by journalists as the more horrible act of the two. We also remember how Sharad Pawar, when he was chief minister of Maharashtra in 1993, lied about a bomb that was supposed to have gone off in a Muslim locality of Bombay .
I have never been politically correct, but have always written what I have discovered while reporting. Let me then be straightforward about this so-called Hindu terror. Hindus, since the first Arab invasions, have been at the receiving end of terrorism, whether it was by Timur, who killed 1,00,000 Hindus in a single day in 1399, or by the Portuguese Inquisition which crucified Brahmins in Goa . Today, Hindus are still being targeted: there were one million Hindus in the Kashmir valley in 1900; only a few hundred remain, the rest having fled in terror. Blasts after blasts have killed hundreds of innocent Hindus all over India in the last four years. Hindus, the overwhelming majority community of this country, are being made fun of, are despised, are deprived of the most basic facilities for one of their most sacred pilgrimages in Amarnath while their government heavily sponsors the Haj. They see their brothers and sisters converted to Christianity through inducements and financial traps, see a harmless 84-year-old swami and a sadhvi brutally murdered. Their gods are blasphemed.
So sometimes, enough is enough.At some point, after years or even centuries of submitting like sheep to slaughter, Hindus—whom the Mahatma once gently called cowards—erupt in uncontrolled fury. And it hurts badly. It happened in Gujarat . It happened in Jammu , then in Kandhamal, Mangalore, and Malegaon . It may happen again elsewhere. What should be understood is that this is a spontaneous revolution on the ground, by ordinary Hindus, without any planning from the political leadership. Therefore, the BJP, instead of acting embarrassed, should not disown those who choose other means to let their anguished voices be heard.
There are about a billion Hindus, one in every six persons on this planet. They form one of the most successful, law-abiding and integrated communities in the world today. Can you call them terrorists?
(The writer is the editor-in-chief of the Paris-based La Revue de l'Inde.)
Original article link
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=2&fodname=20081110&fname=BMalegaon+Terror+(F)
As mentioned above, the above article was written by Francois Gautier.
I have nothing to add to it.
It says it all for the vast Hindu population of India.
However, if it was uttered by any of us, we would be branded as communalists. But coming from an independent minded reputed French author, I hope the authorities will care to look into our grievance.
It was sent by one of my colleagues Pradeep Nahata.
The Hindu Rate Of Wrath
When the Mahatma's cowards erupt in fury, it hurts. It isn't terror.
Francois Gautier
Is there such a thing as 'Hindu terrorism', as the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for the recent Malegaon blasts may tend to prove? Well, I guess I was asked to write this column because I am one of that rare breed of foreign correspondents—a lover of Hindus! A born Frenchman, Catholic-educated and non-Hindu, I do hope I'll be given some credit for my opinions, which are not the product of my parents' ideas, my education or my atavism, but garnered from 25 years of reporting in South Asia (for Le Journal de Geneve and Le Figaro).
In the early 1980s, when I started freelancing in south India , doing photo features on kalaripayattu, the Ayyappa festival, or the Ayyanars, I slowly realised that the genius of this country lies in its Hindu ethos, in the true spirituality behind Hinduism. The average Hindu you meet in a million villages possesses this simple, innate spirituality and accepts your diversity, whether you are Christian or Muslim, Jain or Arab, French or Chinese. It is this Hinduness that makes the Indian Christian different from, say, a French Christian, or the Indian Muslim unlike a Saudi Muslim. I also learnt that Hindus not only believed that the divine could manifest itself at different times, under different names, using different scriptures (not to mention the wonderful avatar concept, the perfect answer to 21st century religious strife) but that they had also given refuge to persecuted minorities from across the world—Syrian Christians, Parsis, Jews, Armenians, and today, Tibetans. In 3,500 years of existence, Hindus have never militarily invaded another country, never tried to impose their religion on others by force or induced conversions.
You cannot find anybody less fundamentalist than a Hindu in the world and it saddens me when I see the Indian and western press equating terrorist groups like SIMI, which blow up innocent civilians, with ordinary, angry Hindus who burn churches without killing anybody. We know also that most of these communal incidents often involve persons from the same groups—often Dalits and tribals—some of who have converted to Christianity and others not.
However reprehensible the destruction of Babri Masjid, no Muslim was killed in the process; compare this to the 'vengeance' bombings of 1993 in Bombay , which wiped out hundreds of innocents, mostly Hindus. Yet the Babri Masjid destruction is often described by journalists as the more horrible act of the two. We also remember how Sharad Pawar, when he was chief minister of Maharashtra in 1993, lied about a bomb that was supposed to have gone off in a Muslim locality of Bombay .
I have never been politically correct, but have always written what I have discovered while reporting. Let me then be straightforward about this so-called Hindu terror. Hindus, since the first Arab invasions, have been at the receiving end of terrorism, whether it was by Timur, who killed 1,00,000 Hindus in a single day in 1399, or by the Portuguese Inquisition which crucified Brahmins in Goa . Today, Hindus are still being targeted: there were one million Hindus in the Kashmir valley in 1900; only a few hundred remain, the rest having fled in terror. Blasts after blasts have killed hundreds of innocent Hindus all over India in the last four years. Hindus, the overwhelming majority community of this country, are being made fun of, are despised, are deprived of the most basic facilities for one of their most sacred pilgrimages in Amarnath while their government heavily sponsors the Haj. They see their brothers and sisters converted to Christianity through inducements and financial traps, see a harmless 84-year-old swami and a sadhvi brutally murdered. Their gods are blasphemed.
So sometimes, enough is enough.At some point, after years or even centuries of submitting like sheep to slaughter, Hindus—whom the Mahatma once gently called cowards—erupt in uncontrolled fury. And it hurts badly. It happened in Gujarat . It happened in Jammu , then in Kandhamal, Mangalore, and Malegaon . It may happen again elsewhere. What should be understood is that this is a spontaneous revolution on the ground, by ordinary Hindus, without any planning from the political leadership. Therefore, the BJP, instead of acting embarrassed, should not disown those who choose other means to let their anguished voices be heard.
There are about a billion Hindus, one in every six persons on this planet. They form one of the most successful, law-abiding and integrated communities in the world today. Can you call them terrorists?
(The writer is the editor-in-chief of the Paris-based La Revue de l'Inde.)
Original article link
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=2&fodname=20081110&fname=BMalegaon+Terror+(F)
As mentioned above, the above article was written by Francois Gautier.
I have nothing to add to it.
It says it all for the vast Hindu population of India.
However, if it was uttered by any of us, we would be branded as communalists. But coming from an independent minded reputed French author, I hope the authorities will care to look into our grievance.
It was sent by one of my colleagues Pradeep Nahata.
INDIA OF MY DREAMS- GANDHI
I SHALL WORK FOR AN INDIA IN WHICH THE POOREST SHALL FEEL IT IS THEIR COUNTRY, IN WHOSE MAKING THEY HAVE AN EFFECTIVE VOICE, AN INDIA IN WHICH THERE SHALL BE NO HIGH CLASS OR LOW CLASS OF PEOPLE, AN INDIA IN WHICH ALL COMMUNITIES SHALL LIVE IN PERFECT HARMONY. THERE CAN BE NO ROOM IN SUCH AN INDIA FOR THE CURSE OF UNTOUCHABILITY, OR THE CURSE OF INTOXICATING DRINKS AND DRUGS. WOMEN WILL ENJOY THE SAME RIGHTS AS MEN. WE SHALL BE AT PEACE WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD. THIS IS THE INDIA OF MY DREAMS.
MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI
The above has been sent by Jimmy Keir.
What noble thoughts.
How I wish our MPs and MLAs followed Ganghiji's ideas instead of making annual pilgrimage to Rajghat to pay homage to his samadhi
MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI
The above has been sent by Jimmy Keir.
What noble thoughts.
How I wish our MPs and MLAs followed Ganghiji's ideas instead of making annual pilgrimage to Rajghat to pay homage to his samadhi
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Discipline - West Bengal Style
A spitting image of what ails Bengal’s education
- Teacher-cum-Trinamul councillor sprays inspector’s face with spittle for refusing to accept demands
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Siliguri, June 8: Day’s lesson from a schoolteacher to Bengal’s children: if you disagree with someone, spit on his face.
Ranjan Sil Sharma, secretary of a teachers’ association, puckered his mouth and squirted betel juice into the face of the district inspector of schools, Siliguri, today. Once, twice, thrice. In full view of journalists and TV camera crews.
The man taught the immediate lesson, Riazul Islam, had refused to endorse the association’s demands relating to transfers and promotions.
The attack, which left Islam’s face spattered with tiny red splotches, took place at the schools inspector’s office. It came a day before the Centre, which has marked education down as a key engine for the country’s progress, attempts to clear 390 higher education institutions.
Sil Sharma, secretary of the Trinamul Congress-backed Bengal Primary School Teachers Association, is Trinamul councillor in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation. He also teaches students through Class I to Class IV —“almost all the subjects taught in these classes”, he said — at the Netaji Government-Sponsored Free Primary School in Siliguri’s Subhaspalli.
Sil Sharma had led a team of 20 association members to Islam’s office around 12.30pm with a list of demands. When the official refused to put his initials on the list, an angry exchange broke out that ended 20 minutes later with Sil Sharma’s heroics. The teachers walked out around 1pm.
Day’s lesson No. 2: when caught red-handed, keep denying.
“Not one among us who met the district inspector did any such thing,” Sil Sharma said.
“None of us misbehaved. He (Islam) is levelling false allegations,” he insisted even after reporters told him they were there and saw him spit. The media had been tipped off by Sil Sharma about a possible showdown at Islam’s office.
The schools inspector did not get up from his seat till the teachers had left. He then rang up his seniors to complain about the “atrocities committed by people engaged in a noble profession”.
“Such behaviour is not expected from teachers. They should face severe action. You all are witness,” he told the reporters.
Islam has filed a police complaint against Sil Sharma and two other association members, Shikha Chatterjee and Anukul Dutta.
School education joint secretary Sukumar Mahapatra said Sil Sharma could be punished “but we must find out if he is guilty and if there was provocation”. He said the maximum punishment could be suspension, whose duration would depend on the “gravity” of the crime.
The Trinamul district chief said: “I have asked two senior district leaders to find out about the incident and submit a report to me. Being a responsible political party, we shall definitely take steps against anyone found guilty.”
The association, though backed by Trinamul, is not affiliated to it. Most of its senior officials, however, are Trinamul members.
Biswajit Bhowmik, chairman of the district primary council, a government body that regulates appointments in primary schools, called a news conference to condemn Sil Sharma’s act.
“This is absolutely unacceptable coming from teachers. We have received a complaint from the district inspector and will forward it to higher authorities. The charges are very serious,” he said, adding that Islam told him the teachers had used filthy language.
Discipline is West Bengal has completely vanished, whether it is the CPM or the Trinumul Congress. This is as it should be.
None of these people have a strong views on any ideology.
Those who were earlier in the CPM have now changed their loyalties to the Trinumul, since the Trinumul stars are rising.
Could we ever imagine doing this type of things in our school days.
What sort of example will these teachers set on their pupils.
This type of teachers should be sacked.
- Teacher-cum-Trinamul councillor sprays inspector’s face with spittle for refusing to accept demands
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Siliguri, June 8: Day’s lesson from a schoolteacher to Bengal’s children: if you disagree with someone, spit on his face.
Ranjan Sil Sharma, secretary of a teachers’ association, puckered his mouth and squirted betel juice into the face of the district inspector of schools, Siliguri, today. Once, twice, thrice. In full view of journalists and TV camera crews.
The man taught the immediate lesson, Riazul Islam, had refused to endorse the association’s demands relating to transfers and promotions.
The attack, which left Islam’s face spattered with tiny red splotches, took place at the schools inspector’s office. It came a day before the Centre, which has marked education down as a key engine for the country’s progress, attempts to clear 390 higher education institutions.
Sil Sharma, secretary of the Trinamul Congress-backed Bengal Primary School Teachers Association, is Trinamul councillor in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation. He also teaches students through Class I to Class IV —“almost all the subjects taught in these classes”, he said — at the Netaji Government-Sponsored Free Primary School in Siliguri’s Subhaspalli.
Sil Sharma had led a team of 20 association members to Islam’s office around 12.30pm with a list of demands. When the official refused to put his initials on the list, an angry exchange broke out that ended 20 minutes later with Sil Sharma’s heroics. The teachers walked out around 1pm.
Day’s lesson No. 2: when caught red-handed, keep denying.
“Not one among us who met the district inspector did any such thing,” Sil Sharma said.
“None of us misbehaved. He (Islam) is levelling false allegations,” he insisted even after reporters told him they were there and saw him spit. The media had been tipped off by Sil Sharma about a possible showdown at Islam’s office.
The schools inspector did not get up from his seat till the teachers had left. He then rang up his seniors to complain about the “atrocities committed by people engaged in a noble profession”.
“Such behaviour is not expected from teachers. They should face severe action. You all are witness,” he told the reporters.
Islam has filed a police complaint against Sil Sharma and two other association members, Shikha Chatterjee and Anukul Dutta.
School education joint secretary Sukumar Mahapatra said Sil Sharma could be punished “but we must find out if he is guilty and if there was provocation”. He said the maximum punishment could be suspension, whose duration would depend on the “gravity” of the crime.
The Trinamul district chief said: “I have asked two senior district leaders to find out about the incident and submit a report to me. Being a responsible political party, we shall definitely take steps against anyone found guilty.”
The association, though backed by Trinamul, is not affiliated to it. Most of its senior officials, however, are Trinamul members.
Biswajit Bhowmik, chairman of the district primary council, a government body that regulates appointments in primary schools, called a news conference to condemn Sil Sharma’s act.
“This is absolutely unacceptable coming from teachers. We have received a complaint from the district inspector and will forward it to higher authorities. The charges are very serious,” he said, adding that Islam told him the teachers had used filthy language.
Discipline is West Bengal has completely vanished, whether it is the CPM or the Trinumul Congress. This is as it should be.
None of these people have a strong views on any ideology.
Those who were earlier in the CPM have now changed their loyalties to the Trinumul, since the Trinumul stars are rising.
Could we ever imagine doing this type of things in our school days.
What sort of example will these teachers set on their pupils.
This type of teachers should be sacked.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Congratulations. 1st MP of new Lok Sabha charged with Murder
Pawar MP held for murder
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Mumbai, June 7: Sharad Pawar confidant Padamsinh Patil was today arrested in connection with the 2006 murders of his cousin-turned-rival Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver.
The Osmanabad MP, detained overnight for questioning by the CBI, was charged with double murder and conspiracy. He is the first MP in the new Lok Sabha to be arrested on these charges.
Patil, 64, was produced before a court in Panvel, Navi Mumbai, and remanded in police custody till June 14. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.
“There is no truth in this. I am a victim of political vendetta,” the NCP legislator said before entering the court.
Nimbalkar, a Congressman, and his driver Samad Qazi were shot on June 3, 2006, in Navi Mumbai while returning after negotiating a land deal.
Senior leader Govindrao Adik distanced the NCP from the arrest, saying it “has nothing to do with the case”.
Pawar, a distant relative of Patil, said: “I have full faith in the judicial system and would like a fair investigation to be conducted.”
The case passed from Navi Mumbai police to the state CID, but failed to make headway. In February 2008, Nimbalkar’s wife Anandibai and son Om Raje moved Bombay High Court demanding a CBI probe. Last October, the CBI took charge.
Investigations, however, did not gather pace till the arrest of Parasmal Jain and underworld sharpshooter Dinesh Tiwari on May 26. The next day, the CBI told the Panvel court the duo had “confessed” that they were offered Rs 30 lakh to kill Nimbalkar at Patil’s behest.
Political sources said relations between Patil and Nimbalkar soured after social activist Anna Hazare made corruption allegations against four Congress-NCP ministers, including Patil, in 2002-03.
The allegations pertained to a co-operative sugar factory controlled by him, and led to Patil’s removal from the then Vilasrao Deshmukh cabinet. Patil suspected that Nimbalkar had helped Hazare expose the irregularities.
Subsequently, Nimbalkar contested against him as an Independent but lost. Nimbalkar later joined the Congress.
We are off to a flying start.
Our new parliament is hardly one week old and the Osmanabad MP, Padansinh Patil has been charged of murder and arrested.
I can say he is the true representative of our MP and MLA class.
He should be rewarded.
But how long will he be in jail?
You can rest assured that he will soon be out on bail to threaten the people who have been witness to his crime.
But my question is how was this person allowed to contest?
Shouldn't some methodology be developed so that such persons are weeded out and not allowed to contest?
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Mumbai, June 7: Sharad Pawar confidant Padamsinh Patil was today arrested in connection with the 2006 murders of his cousin-turned-rival Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver.
The Osmanabad MP, detained overnight for questioning by the CBI, was charged with double murder and conspiracy. He is the first MP in the new Lok Sabha to be arrested on these charges.
Patil, 64, was produced before a court in Panvel, Navi Mumbai, and remanded in police custody till June 14. If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.
“There is no truth in this. I am a victim of political vendetta,” the NCP legislator said before entering the court.
Nimbalkar, a Congressman, and his driver Samad Qazi were shot on June 3, 2006, in Navi Mumbai while returning after negotiating a land deal.
Senior leader Govindrao Adik distanced the NCP from the arrest, saying it “has nothing to do with the case”.
Pawar, a distant relative of Patil, said: “I have full faith in the judicial system and would like a fair investigation to be conducted.”
The case passed from Navi Mumbai police to the state CID, but failed to make headway. In February 2008, Nimbalkar’s wife Anandibai and son Om Raje moved Bombay High Court demanding a CBI probe. Last October, the CBI took charge.
Investigations, however, did not gather pace till the arrest of Parasmal Jain and underworld sharpshooter Dinesh Tiwari on May 26. The next day, the CBI told the Panvel court the duo had “confessed” that they were offered Rs 30 lakh to kill Nimbalkar at Patil’s behest.
Political sources said relations between Patil and Nimbalkar soured after social activist Anna Hazare made corruption allegations against four Congress-NCP ministers, including Patil, in 2002-03.
The allegations pertained to a co-operative sugar factory controlled by him, and led to Patil’s removal from the then Vilasrao Deshmukh cabinet. Patil suspected that Nimbalkar had helped Hazare expose the irregularities.
Subsequently, Nimbalkar contested against him as an Independent but lost. Nimbalkar later joined the Congress.
We are off to a flying start.
Our new parliament is hardly one week old and the Osmanabad MP, Padansinh Patil has been charged of murder and arrested.
I can say he is the true representative of our MP and MLA class.
He should be rewarded.
But how long will he be in jail?
You can rest assured that he will soon be out on bail to threaten the people who have been witness to his crime.
But my question is how was this person allowed to contest?
Shouldn't some methodology be developed so that such persons are weeded out and not allowed to contest?
Sunday, June 7, 2009
The Ethanol Fraud
The Ethanol Fraud
By Christian Hill
While the viability of the electric car is still heavily debated, the other attempt to reduce our dependency on foreign oil is making news again. And the news is not good.
Ethanol fuel currently comprises up to 10 percent of a gallon of gas. There is a movement underfoot, primarily led by 54 ethanol manufacturers, to increase this to 15 percent per gallon. This request is based on the current government mandate that 10.5 billion gallons of ethanol be blended into gasoline this year, and rise to 36 billion gallons by 2022.
Look at it this way: there likely won’t be enough demand for that many gallons by 2022 at the current 10% blend, so the only way to reach the target is by increasing the blend to 15%, perhaps 20%.
If it were only that simple.
Already, there are numerous reports of engine failure due to ethanol blends that are higher than 10 percent. Simply put, existing engines are being destroyed at a 10 percent blend. A higher blend will accelerate the process. The other big problem: auto manufacturers’ warranties cover fuel blended with up to 10 percent ethanol. Increasing the blend to 15 percent will void all factory warranties, and rightly so.
But here’s the real rub: just a little over a week ago, the Obama Administration proposed raising mile-per-gallon requirements by 2016. This would raise the required fleet average from the existing 27.5 to 35.5 mpg. Cars would see the biggest increase in fuel economy, from the current requirement of 27.5 mpg standard to 39 mpg in 2016. Light trucks would see the requirement rise from the current 24 mpg to 30 mpg.
The problem with all of this is these requirements are to be met by 2016, in the middle of the timeframe to increase the use of ethanol in a gallon of gas (remember, 36 billion gallons by 2022).
The problem is that ethanol is less efficient that gasoline!
A gallon of E85 (15 percent ethanol currently used in “flex-fuel” vehicles) has approximately 27 percent less energy than a gallon a gasoline, according to drivingethanol.org. This translates into a 10-25 percent loss in fuel economy.
So on one hand, the government is requiring that more ethanol be blended with gasoline by 2022. This will undoubtedly lead to lower fuel economy. On the other hand, the President just proposed a major increase in fuel economy be in place by 2016.
Time will tell how this plays out. But I hope that the increased fuel standards take effect and we can finally end the ethanol fraud.
Respectfully,
Christian Hill
The above article has been taken verbatim from the IDEs news bulletin I receive.
I have reproduced it because it is very pertinent to India since we too are proposing to increase the allowable adulteration of petrol with ethanol from 5% to 10 %.
The article shows how the efficiency of the engine has reduced by increasing the percentage of ethanol.
This decision benefits two powerful lobbies, the auto lobby and the sugar lobby.
The more engine failures there are, the more people will buy new cars, and the higher percentage of ethanol will find a regular market for ethanol from sugar since people are reducing the consumption of sugar for fear of diabetes.
It is up to the government to take a lesson from the USA and keep the adulteration to 5% only so that the consumer is not fooled.
Radhehyam
By Christian Hill
While the viability of the electric car is still heavily debated, the other attempt to reduce our dependency on foreign oil is making news again. And the news is not good.
Ethanol fuel currently comprises up to 10 percent of a gallon of gas. There is a movement underfoot, primarily led by 54 ethanol manufacturers, to increase this to 15 percent per gallon. This request is based on the current government mandate that 10.5 billion gallons of ethanol be blended into gasoline this year, and rise to 36 billion gallons by 2022.
Look at it this way: there likely won’t be enough demand for that many gallons by 2022 at the current 10% blend, so the only way to reach the target is by increasing the blend to 15%, perhaps 20%.
If it were only that simple.
Already, there are numerous reports of engine failure due to ethanol blends that are higher than 10 percent. Simply put, existing engines are being destroyed at a 10 percent blend. A higher blend will accelerate the process. The other big problem: auto manufacturers’ warranties cover fuel blended with up to 10 percent ethanol. Increasing the blend to 15 percent will void all factory warranties, and rightly so.
But here’s the real rub: just a little over a week ago, the Obama Administration proposed raising mile-per-gallon requirements by 2016. This would raise the required fleet average from the existing 27.5 to 35.5 mpg. Cars would see the biggest increase in fuel economy, from the current requirement of 27.5 mpg standard to 39 mpg in 2016. Light trucks would see the requirement rise from the current 24 mpg to 30 mpg.
The problem with all of this is these requirements are to be met by 2016, in the middle of the timeframe to increase the use of ethanol in a gallon of gas (remember, 36 billion gallons by 2022).
The problem is that ethanol is less efficient that gasoline!
A gallon of E85 (15 percent ethanol currently used in “flex-fuel” vehicles) has approximately 27 percent less energy than a gallon a gasoline, according to drivingethanol.org. This translates into a 10-25 percent loss in fuel economy.
So on one hand, the government is requiring that more ethanol be blended with gasoline by 2022. This will undoubtedly lead to lower fuel economy. On the other hand, the President just proposed a major increase in fuel economy be in place by 2016.
Time will tell how this plays out. But I hope that the increased fuel standards take effect and we can finally end the ethanol fraud.
Respectfully,
Christian Hill
The above article has been taken verbatim from the IDEs news bulletin I receive.
I have reproduced it because it is very pertinent to India since we too are proposing to increase the allowable adulteration of petrol with ethanol from 5% to 10 %.
The article shows how the efficiency of the engine has reduced by increasing the percentage of ethanol.
This decision benefits two powerful lobbies, the auto lobby and the sugar lobby.
The more engine failures there are, the more people will buy new cars, and the higher percentage of ethanol will find a regular market for ethanol from sugar since people are reducing the consumption of sugar for fear of diabetes.
It is up to the government to take a lesson from the USA and keep the adulteration to 5% only so that the consumer is not fooled.
Radhehyam
The "Aila" Effect
Some pics of the damage done by "Aila" to GMS
The famous benches ended up somewhere in the middle of 1st Field. The eucalyptus was above 2nd field.
Br Martin Fernandes
Bro. Martin Fernandez has sent the above photographs showing the effect "Aila" had on our school.
We in Kolkata were truly lucky that it missed us by a few kilometres.
However, the efect of that miss itself showed how devastating it was.
People in the Sunderbans are still feling the effect.
Radheshyam
The famous benches ended up somewhere in the middle of 1st Field. The eucalyptus was above 2nd field.
Br Martin Fernandes
Bro. Martin Fernandez has sent the above photographs showing the effect "Aila" had on our school.
We in Kolkata were truly lucky that it missed us by a few kilometres.
However, the efect of that miss itself showed how devastating it was.
People in the Sunderbans are still feling the effect.
Radheshyam
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Msgs from Friends 22
Msg from Tamding Tempo
Hello Radheshyam,although I do not know you,maybe I can console the grieving children of the man who died.If he died of a brain stroke it was probably not related to his blood pressure,but rather a lifetime of hardening of the blood vessels to his brain,largely genetic with some contribution from his life-style.Please assure the children that they had little to do with their father's demise.Nevertheless I fully empathise with their grief and wish them well for the future.
Tamding
Hello Tamding,
Thank you for your kind message.
Yes, I shall inform the children.
Radheshyam
Msg from Ranjan Guha Mazumdar
Dear Friends,
Cyclone Relief : N. G. Kar (of KARCO Restaurant, New Market) and his wife have started a drive to collect old / used clothes for the Cyclone Hit people of Bengal. All of you who have old / used clothes (for gents, ladies and children) and would love to give these clothes to the needy who have lost their everything in the recent Cyclone are requested to pack these clothes and take the trouble of dropping the packet at the Cash Counter of KARCO Restaurant (New Market). Please attach your Visiting Card / Name Card to the packet so that the packet can be identified easily. N. G. Kar and his wife will arrange to deliver these clothes to BHARAT SEVA SHRAM.. I am sure Ex-Goethalites will not be found to b lagging behind in supporting this nobel cause initiated by one of our school-mates.
Bank Account : The Goethals Alumni (Kolkata) Bank Account has been opened with State Bank of India , Gol Park Branch. We decided to opt for SBI because Axix Bank requires Rs. 25,000/= to be maintained in the Current Account every quarter or else they deduct a Service Charge whereas SBI requires only Rs. 10,000/=. Moreover, I had some connections with some higher-ups of SBI. We opted for SBI Gol Park branch mainly because our Treasurer Rudra RoyChowdhury of M P Jewelers could operate the Account from his Gariahat Showroom.
Registration Certificate : The Registrar has personally checked our papers that we had submitted for getting the Alumni Registered and he has opined that everything is in Order . However, he wants that our Signatures should be Witnessed. He has therefore desired that we should take the Signatures again and get the same Witnessesed so that he can replace the existing Signature Pages and grant us the official Certificate. We are already in the process of getting the Signatures once again.
Membership of Goethals Alumni (Kolkata) : Now that we have a Bank Account, all Ex-Goethalites who have not yet enrolled as a Member of the Goethals Alumni (Kolkata) are requested to fill-up the Membership Form (a copy of the Form is being attached along with this mail for your benefit) and together with a cheque for Rs. 1,000/= (1 year Membership Fees), may please drop the Form and the Cheque either at M P Jewelers, Gariahat or KARCO Restaurant, New Market. The cheque should be drawn in the name of Goethals Alumni (Kolkata).
A line in confirmation by E-Mail or SMS or a Phone Call to the undersigned would be appreciated so that we do not miss any Form / Cheque.
Get-Together : Unfortunately, our last Get-Together at the Armenian Club on Park Street was a damp squib with many of the boys who had confirmed their participation doing the disappearing act ---- a very un-Goethalite like act. Anyway, as decided in that Get-Together we are seriously considering another Get-Together sometime in JUNE. You will be hearing more about it soon.
Hill-Schools Get-Together : We are also contemplating a Get-Together (spear headed by us) of all Ex Hill School boys and girls to satisfy the requests of our hill-school friends who had missed our Centenary Celebrations. Ofcourse this will be decided after discussing the same with all of you. During our up-coming Get-Together.
Bye N Keep Smiling N Take Care
Ranjan Guha Majumder
Good work Ranjan,
Looking forward to the get-together.
June is OK but if you take it to July I won't be there as I will go on my annual pilgrimage to my Gurudev's Ashram in Ahmedabad in July.Also it is best either on Saturday Evenings or Sunday mornings.
June does not have any holidays as such.
Holiday season starts from August again.
Radheshyam
Yes we are planning a Saturday dinner
Ranjan Guha Majumder
Msg from J K Ghosh
Dear RS,
When did you reach home after the dinner (?) Vegeterian dishes were there. You should have tasted one or two items. They were good. I could not attend to you people all the time. Sorry for that. We are now enjoying a pleasanter climate than in Kolkata. When we're in the room, with the cooler on, it's comfortable. Outside it's blazing hot. The hot breeze will burn through your skin and suck the liquid from your body. Fortunately, there's another floor above ours, otherwise we would have been boiled. Persons living in the top floor of a building in Delhi are the worst sufferers. How is the weather in Kolkata ? And how about load shedding ? Fortunately, load shedding does not occur in our area. What's happening in Alimuddin Street ? What I hear in TV reports the WB comrades are back to their old game. They haven't learnt a lesson as yet. What I hear is that comrades in many areas did not vote for their party. Those comrades who were ideologically attached to the party were fed up with the activities of the party voted against it. This I heard from one of my comrade relative.
I hope all of you are OK, including your natni. We are all fine here. Bye for now.
JK
Dear JK,
Returning was not a problem.
We reached home quite fast, no jam.
My wife would not have been able to eat even with the veg dishes because in any Non-veg marriage feast, the scent of the non-veg dishes disturbs us.
That is why, I take only sweets when we go to these parties.
I remember in School when I happened to go to the non veg refectory, I used to face the same problem. But don't worry. We don't go to eat but to meet each other and know each others families.
With the rains bringing in some showers, the temp has gone down but if there is no rains for two days the humidity and temp again goes up.
The pleasantness in the atmosphere can come only from July, if we have no floods in Bangur Avenue.
The communist sins are now plaguing them.
They completely destroyed the administration with the result that in any emergency, they do not know how to cope with it.
We in Bengal have been fortunate until this year that the hurricanes which came were sent by God either to Bangladesh or to Orissa/Andhra Pradesh.
This time God has tested our readiness and found it wanting.
It is said that when misfortune strikes, it does not strike alone.
First the poor result in the elections and now this Aila.
And the worst part is that they cannot turn to God too for they profess not to believe in Him, so Jyoti Basu says.
We are all fine.
Bye for now.
RSS
Sent by Pradeep Mohan
YOU love someone
YOU marry someone else.
The one you marry becomes your wife or husband.
And the one you loved becomes the password of your mail id
*********
There's only one perfect child in the world & every mother has it.
There's only one perfect wife in the world & every neighbor has it.
*********
Three dreams of a man:
To be as handsome as his mother thinks
To be as rich as his child believes
To have as many women as his wife suspects
*********
Husband & wife are like liver and kidney. Husband is liver & wife Kidney.
If liver fails, kidney fails. If kidney fails, liver manages with other kidney.
Hello Radheshyam,although I do not know you,maybe I can console the grieving children of the man who died.If he died of a brain stroke it was probably not related to his blood pressure,but rather a lifetime of hardening of the blood vessels to his brain,largely genetic with some contribution from his life-style.Please assure the children that they had little to do with their father's demise.Nevertheless I fully empathise with their grief and wish them well for the future.
Tamding
Hello Tamding,
Thank you for your kind message.
Yes, I shall inform the children.
Radheshyam
Msg from Ranjan Guha Mazumdar
Dear Friends,
Cyclone Relief : N. G. Kar (of KARCO Restaurant, New Market) and his wife have started a drive to collect old / used clothes for the Cyclone Hit people of Bengal. All of you who have old / used clothes (for gents, ladies and children) and would love to give these clothes to the needy who have lost their everything in the recent Cyclone are requested to pack these clothes and take the trouble of dropping the packet at the Cash Counter of KARCO Restaurant (New Market). Please attach your Visiting Card / Name Card to the packet so that the packet can be identified easily. N. G. Kar and his wife will arrange to deliver these clothes to BHARAT SEVA SHRAM.. I am sure Ex-Goethalites will not be found to b lagging behind in supporting this nobel cause initiated by one of our school-mates.
Bank Account : The Goethals Alumni (Kolkata) Bank Account has been opened with State Bank of India , Gol Park Branch. We decided to opt for SBI because Axix Bank requires Rs. 25,000/= to be maintained in the Current Account every quarter or else they deduct a Service Charge whereas SBI requires only Rs. 10,000/=. Moreover, I had some connections with some higher-ups of SBI. We opted for SBI Gol Park branch mainly because our Treasurer Rudra RoyChowdhury of M P Jewelers could operate the Account from his Gariahat Showroom.
Registration Certificate : The Registrar has personally checked our papers that we had submitted for getting the Alumni Registered and he has opined that everything is in Order . However, he wants that our Signatures should be Witnessed. He has therefore desired that we should take the Signatures again and get the same Witnessesed so that he can replace the existing Signature Pages and grant us the official Certificate. We are already in the process of getting the Signatures once again.
Membership of Goethals Alumni (Kolkata) : Now that we have a Bank Account, all Ex-Goethalites who have not yet enrolled as a Member of the Goethals Alumni (Kolkata) are requested to fill-up the Membership Form (a copy of the Form is being attached along with this mail for your benefit) and together with a cheque for Rs. 1,000/= (1 year Membership Fees), may please drop the Form and the Cheque either at M P Jewelers, Gariahat or KARCO Restaurant, New Market. The cheque should be drawn in the name of Goethals Alumni (Kolkata).
A line in confirmation by E-Mail or SMS or a Phone Call to the undersigned would be appreciated so that we do not miss any Form / Cheque.
Get-Together : Unfortunately, our last Get-Together at the Armenian Club on Park Street was a damp squib with many of the boys who had confirmed their participation doing the disappearing act ---- a very un-Goethalite like act. Anyway, as decided in that Get-Together we are seriously considering another Get-Together sometime in JUNE. You will be hearing more about it soon.
Hill-Schools Get-Together : We are also contemplating a Get-Together (spear headed by us) of all Ex Hill School boys and girls to satisfy the requests of our hill-school friends who had missed our Centenary Celebrations. Ofcourse this will be decided after discussing the same with all of you. During our up-coming Get-Together.
Bye N Keep Smiling N Take Care
Ranjan Guha Majumder
Good work Ranjan,
Looking forward to the get-together.
June is OK but if you take it to July I won't be there as I will go on my annual pilgrimage to my Gurudev's Ashram in Ahmedabad in July.Also it is best either on Saturday Evenings or Sunday mornings.
June does not have any holidays as such.
Holiday season starts from August again.
Radheshyam
Yes we are planning a Saturday dinner
Ranjan Guha Majumder
Msg from J K Ghosh
Dear RS,
When did you reach home after the dinner (?) Vegeterian dishes were there. You should have tasted one or two items. They were good. I could not attend to you people all the time. Sorry for that. We are now enjoying a pleasanter climate than in Kolkata. When we're in the room, with the cooler on, it's comfortable. Outside it's blazing hot. The hot breeze will burn through your skin and suck the liquid from your body. Fortunately, there's another floor above ours, otherwise we would have been boiled. Persons living in the top floor of a building in Delhi are the worst sufferers. How is the weather in Kolkata ? And how about load shedding ? Fortunately, load shedding does not occur in our area. What's happening in Alimuddin Street ? What I hear in TV reports the WB comrades are back to their old game. They haven't learnt a lesson as yet. What I hear is that comrades in many areas did not vote for their party. Those comrades who were ideologically attached to the party were fed up with the activities of the party voted against it. This I heard from one of my comrade relative.
I hope all of you are OK, including your natni. We are all fine here. Bye for now.
JK
Dear JK,
Returning was not a problem.
We reached home quite fast, no jam.
My wife would not have been able to eat even with the veg dishes because in any Non-veg marriage feast, the scent of the non-veg dishes disturbs us.
That is why, I take only sweets when we go to these parties.
I remember in School when I happened to go to the non veg refectory, I used to face the same problem. But don't worry. We don't go to eat but to meet each other and know each others families.
With the rains bringing in some showers, the temp has gone down but if there is no rains for two days the humidity and temp again goes up.
The pleasantness in the atmosphere can come only from July, if we have no floods in Bangur Avenue.
The communist sins are now plaguing them.
They completely destroyed the administration with the result that in any emergency, they do not know how to cope with it.
We in Bengal have been fortunate until this year that the hurricanes which came were sent by God either to Bangladesh or to Orissa/Andhra Pradesh.
This time God has tested our readiness and found it wanting.
It is said that when misfortune strikes, it does not strike alone.
First the poor result in the elections and now this Aila.
And the worst part is that they cannot turn to God too for they profess not to believe in Him, so Jyoti Basu says.
We are all fine.
Bye for now.
RSS
Sent by Pradeep Mohan
YOU love someone
YOU marry someone else.
The one you marry becomes your wife or husband.
And the one you loved becomes the password of your mail id
*********
There's only one perfect child in the world & every mother has it.
There's only one perfect wife in the world & every neighbor has it.
*********
Three dreams of a man:
To be as handsome as his mother thinks
To be as rich as his child believes
To have as many women as his wife suspects
*********
Husband & wife are like liver and kidney. Husband is liver & wife Kidney.
If liver fails, kidney fails. If kidney fails, liver manages with other kidney.
New Speaker also Controversial
False affidavit slur on Speaker
; Statesman News Service
NEW DELHI, 5 JUNE: Lok Sabha Speaker Mrs Meira Kumar, daughter of the late Babu Jagjivan Ram, has been accused of submitting a false affidavit aimed at "usurping family property" by her niece. At the heart of the allegation is 6.5 acres of agricultural land worth millions at Palwal in Haryana that belonged to Mrs Kumar’s late mother Indrani Devi.
On 15 May, a little over two weeks before Mrs Kumar made history for being elected the first woman Speaker, Mrs Medhaavi Kirti, grand-daughter of Jagjivan Ram, and her mother, Ms Kamal, wife of Mrs Kumar's deceased brother Suresh Kumar, filed a criminal petition in the CJM's court in Palwal charging that Mrs Kumar had allegedly usurped their one-half right over this piece of land by allegedly submitting a "false affidavit" before the Palwal Tehsildar while getting the land mutated in her name in March 2003.
Contesting Mrs Kumar's claim in the affidavit staking full rights over Indrani Devi’s land on the grounds that she was the "sole heir", the petitioners also challenged the mutation documents which stated that Suresh Kumar had died without an heir. Describing Mrs Kumar’s move as "deliberate, illegal, malafide and a criminal offense", the petitioners have pleaded for a thorough investigation into the case, registration of an FIR against Mrs Kumar under various sections of the IPC, and her prosecution. The hearing in the case is scheduled for 10 July.
On her part, Mrs Kumar has said that such allegations levelled in the past various courts by Mrs Kirti and her mother ~ the property dispute is a longstanding one ~ are "false and baseless", and has asserted her claim to absolute ownership of Indrani Devi’s properties claiming the petitioners are "neither the heirs to her nor her successors". The battle over the Palwal property, though, is a new development.
Since December 2006, Mrs Kirti and her mother have been crying foul, and have submitted letters to Palwal revenue officials and Faridabad police and administrative authorities on the issue. They have essentially highlighted that Mrs Kumar’s affidavit and application before the Palwal Tehsildar on 14 March 2003 to "usurp" Indrani Devi’s land was allegedly "false", claiming that they too were her "legal heirs" and should therefore get half share of the property by way of inheritance following her demise.
The complainants have also sought to pinpoint the mention of Suresh Kumar as "having died without any issue" in the mutation documents, alleging that the Palwal revenue officials had
"colluded" with Mrs Kumar to transfer the land to her.
Although Mrs Kumar had made no mention of her mother’s Will in her affidavit, close on the heels of the complaints, she submitted, in December 2006, a review petition before the Palwal Tehsildar stating that the land in question mutated in her name by way of inheritance was "not based on facts" and that it should have rather been mutated in light of her mother’s Will. Mrs Kumar has maintained that Indrani Devi’s Will, dated 15 January 1988, and a Codicil, dated 18 March 2002 (she died on 14 April 2002), bequeaths the latter's entire property to her. Moreover, she has asserted that the Palwal land was jointly purchased by her mother and herself.
Mrs Kirti and her mother, while claiming that Indrani Devi died intestate (without a Will) have alleged that the Will produced by Mrs Kumar was "manufactured and doctored". Mrs Kirti, incidentally, is, like her estranged sister-in-law, a politician albeit a minor one not affiliated to any major political party. She had briefly been a minister in the Haryana government in 1991.
As part of the protracted legal battle involving the two sides to gain control of Jagjivan Ram’s and Indrani Devi’s properties across India, Mrs Kirti and her mother had also moved Palwal civil court in December 2006 to stake their half-share claim over the Palwal land, plead for setting aside its mutation as "null, void and illegal", and seek injunction to restrain Mrs Kumar from alienating their inheritance rights through disposal of the land. The court granted an injunction but vacated the stay on 16 January 2009 while refraining from pronouncing on the genuineness or otherwise of the Will as well as the final merits of the case. But, subsequently, when the petitioners challenged this order, the Faridabad district court on 17 January 2009, while noting their allegations that Mrs Kumar had allegedly sought to "conceal" their inheritance rights to get mutation of Palwal land, again restored the injunction.
The Statesman today faxed a questionnaire to Mrs Kumar’s residence and reached her staff to get her fresh reaction on the 15 May petition moved in the CJM court, Palwal. There was, however, no response till the time of going to Press.
Why does there have to be a controversy that leaves a bad taste in the mouth, every time the Congress party selects a woman for an important post.
Earlier when Pratibha Patel was chosen to be President of India, there were many discordant notes sounded regarding the illegal activities of her family. These were all swept under the carpet and she was selected in place of a people's President, an honest and able Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam.
Now, when Mrs Meira Kumar has been chosen as Speaker of the Lok Sabha another controversy rakes its head for her illegal land transactions.
With 120 crore population in India, can't the Congress party appoint people to important posts who are pure as Caesar's wife.
In public life, you must not only be honest but also appear to be honest.
With these controversial people there, the general mass cannot give them the respect due to them. At the back of their minds, that doubt is always there, is this person honest? Is he/she speaking the truth?
We chose the women concerned not because they have any extra-ordinary qualifications or abilities but because they are subservient to the powers that be. So it is not women empowerment but rather belittling a woman.
It is not that the Congress party have not appointed emasculated men to the post of President.Two names come to mind. Giani Zail Singh and V V Giri.
They have also appointed towering personalities like Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. S Radhakrishnan.
But that was before the advent of Mrs Indira Gandhi.
She preferred to be surrounded by impotent, yes men and women.
The tradition is carried on by those who have inherited her mantle.
; Statesman News Service
NEW DELHI, 5 JUNE: Lok Sabha Speaker Mrs Meira Kumar, daughter of the late Babu Jagjivan Ram, has been accused of submitting a false affidavit aimed at "usurping family property" by her niece. At the heart of the allegation is 6.5 acres of agricultural land worth millions at Palwal in Haryana that belonged to Mrs Kumar’s late mother Indrani Devi.
On 15 May, a little over two weeks before Mrs Kumar made history for being elected the first woman Speaker, Mrs Medhaavi Kirti, grand-daughter of Jagjivan Ram, and her mother, Ms Kamal, wife of Mrs Kumar's deceased brother Suresh Kumar, filed a criminal petition in the CJM's court in Palwal charging that Mrs Kumar had allegedly usurped their one-half right over this piece of land by allegedly submitting a "false affidavit" before the Palwal Tehsildar while getting the land mutated in her name in March 2003.
Contesting Mrs Kumar's claim in the affidavit staking full rights over Indrani Devi’s land on the grounds that she was the "sole heir", the petitioners also challenged the mutation documents which stated that Suresh Kumar had died without an heir. Describing Mrs Kumar’s move as "deliberate, illegal, malafide and a criminal offense", the petitioners have pleaded for a thorough investigation into the case, registration of an FIR against Mrs Kumar under various sections of the IPC, and her prosecution. The hearing in the case is scheduled for 10 July.
On her part, Mrs Kumar has said that such allegations levelled in the past various courts by Mrs Kirti and her mother ~ the property dispute is a longstanding one ~ are "false and baseless", and has asserted her claim to absolute ownership of Indrani Devi’s properties claiming the petitioners are "neither the heirs to her nor her successors". The battle over the Palwal property, though, is a new development.
Since December 2006, Mrs Kirti and her mother have been crying foul, and have submitted letters to Palwal revenue officials and Faridabad police and administrative authorities on the issue. They have essentially highlighted that Mrs Kumar’s affidavit and application before the Palwal Tehsildar on 14 March 2003 to "usurp" Indrani Devi’s land was allegedly "false", claiming that they too were her "legal heirs" and should therefore get half share of the property by way of inheritance following her demise.
The complainants have also sought to pinpoint the mention of Suresh Kumar as "having died without any issue" in the mutation documents, alleging that the Palwal revenue officials had
"colluded" with Mrs Kumar to transfer the land to her.
Although Mrs Kumar had made no mention of her mother’s Will in her affidavit, close on the heels of the complaints, she submitted, in December 2006, a review petition before the Palwal Tehsildar stating that the land in question mutated in her name by way of inheritance was "not based on facts" and that it should have rather been mutated in light of her mother’s Will. Mrs Kumar has maintained that Indrani Devi’s Will, dated 15 January 1988, and a Codicil, dated 18 March 2002 (she died on 14 April 2002), bequeaths the latter's entire property to her. Moreover, she has asserted that the Palwal land was jointly purchased by her mother and herself.
Mrs Kirti and her mother, while claiming that Indrani Devi died intestate (without a Will) have alleged that the Will produced by Mrs Kumar was "manufactured and doctored". Mrs Kirti, incidentally, is, like her estranged sister-in-law, a politician albeit a minor one not affiliated to any major political party. She had briefly been a minister in the Haryana government in 1991.
As part of the protracted legal battle involving the two sides to gain control of Jagjivan Ram’s and Indrani Devi’s properties across India, Mrs Kirti and her mother had also moved Palwal civil court in December 2006 to stake their half-share claim over the Palwal land, plead for setting aside its mutation as "null, void and illegal", and seek injunction to restrain Mrs Kumar from alienating their inheritance rights through disposal of the land. The court granted an injunction but vacated the stay on 16 January 2009 while refraining from pronouncing on the genuineness or otherwise of the Will as well as the final merits of the case. But, subsequently, when the petitioners challenged this order, the Faridabad district court on 17 January 2009, while noting their allegations that Mrs Kumar had allegedly sought to "conceal" their inheritance rights to get mutation of Palwal land, again restored the injunction.
The Statesman today faxed a questionnaire to Mrs Kumar’s residence and reached her staff to get her fresh reaction on the 15 May petition moved in the CJM court, Palwal. There was, however, no response till the time of going to Press.
Why does there have to be a controversy that leaves a bad taste in the mouth, every time the Congress party selects a woman for an important post.
Earlier when Pratibha Patel was chosen to be President of India, there were many discordant notes sounded regarding the illegal activities of her family. These were all swept under the carpet and she was selected in place of a people's President, an honest and able Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam.
Now, when Mrs Meira Kumar has been chosen as Speaker of the Lok Sabha another controversy rakes its head for her illegal land transactions.
With 120 crore population in India, can't the Congress party appoint people to important posts who are pure as Caesar's wife.
In public life, you must not only be honest but also appear to be honest.
With these controversial people there, the general mass cannot give them the respect due to them. At the back of their minds, that doubt is always there, is this person honest? Is he/she speaking the truth?
We chose the women concerned not because they have any extra-ordinary qualifications or abilities but because they are subservient to the powers that be. So it is not women empowerment but rather belittling a woman.
It is not that the Congress party have not appointed emasculated men to the post of President.Two names come to mind. Giani Zail Singh and V V Giri.
They have also appointed towering personalities like Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. S Radhakrishnan.
But that was before the advent of Mrs Indira Gandhi.
She preferred to be surrounded by impotent, yes men and women.
The tradition is carried on by those who have inherited her mantle.
Did You Know?
In school we must have all read of the famous liars, Ripley's, Believe it or Not. Some papers still carry a daily syndicated picture.
Pradeep Mohan , has sent a similar "Did you know?", don't blame him, it was passed on to him
To be frank, most of these I did not know and I shall assume you to do not.
Hence, I am passing them on for activating and tintillating your grey cells.
Pradeep Mohan , has sent a similar "Did you know?", don't blame him, it was passed on to him
To be frank, most of these I did not know and I shall assume you to do not.
Hence, I am passing them on for activating and tintillating your grey cells.
Friday, June 5, 2009
No Ministers from Bihar
Congress led UPA might have created history by making a first women speaker of the Lok Sabha, but in the process it has also created history of insulting Bihar. The current UPA government led by the Dr. Manmohan is perhaps the first government in the history of independent India that does not have a representation from Bihar.
A state, that witnessed several important ministers in the union cabinet in different governments since independence, today feel alienated from policy making of the country. Those who complained of step motherly treatment to Bihar from centre will get boosted to prove their point. In fact a state that played an important role in revolutionising the politics of the country is today feeling as isolated as never before. And whole responsibility for this discrimination goes to congress party, which claim to treat every state equally.
It is also true that ministers from the state have not done much to ameliorate the suffering of the state, yet some initiative by them for the development of the state cannot be ignored. Moreover it gives pleasure to state to see its representative in the nation building.
While there were 10 ministers from Bihar in the outgoing Union Cabinet constituted after the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, there were 13 ministers from the state in the NDA government formed in 1999. Ten ministers from the state were in the Deve Gowda-led government in 1996 and the same was the case in I.K. Gujral's government.
Apart from Minister For Defence and External Affairs Minister, the state have sent seven Railway Ministers from 1956 to 1962 when Jagjivan Ram became the first Railway Minister from this state.
It is interesting to note that at one hand congress is thinking of reviving the party in Bihar by gaining people sympathy while on the other hand it is leaving no stone unturned to marginalize the state leaders in the national politics. At the time Lok Sabh election the congress party particularly its local leaders in Patna were so enthuse that within 24 hours they finalised names of 40 candidates from state within 24 hours. They were hopeful that the congress was only party that would turnaround the ailing Bihar. Though party could not succeed in from of seats, it managed to improve its percentage of vote in the state by over six percent. In 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the party managed to secure four per cent votes while in 2009 LS elections its percentage increased to 10.26%.
Yet the congress party choose to ignore the state, which played an important role in the nation building. People of Bihar are not only feeling hurt over ignoring an elected member, Asrarul Haq Qasmi from giving a berth in union cabinet, there are also feeling that there were several non elected political and non political persons from Bihar who have sympathy with congress could have been accommodated in the union cabinet. Who could latter be accommodated in the Rajya Sabha. But it could not happen. Bihar’s enthusiastic congress leaders’ stoic silence over the insult of state at centre is questionable. Are they get active during elections only to get party funds or they have some tacit understanding with rival groups in the state.
If congress continue to ignore Bihar in such a way it can not hope to get sympathy and votes in the state.
While I sympathise with the above writer for not having a minister in the union cabinet, I cannot but suggest that it is because of Bihar's own doing.
As per the writer Bihar has had a good run of ministers at the centre but what have they got to show for their presence.
Bihar has become more famous for the number of criminals who have been elected as MPs.
With jokers like Lalu who perpetually made a fool of himself in front of the camera, how can Bihar ask for any ministers.
Lalu they say turned around the railways but the real credit should go to the bureacrats who turned it around. Yes,Lalu should be credited for allowing them to do their work unencumbered, without any interference.
The bureaucrats on their part allowed Lalu to take all the credit at the IIM's and various forums where the railways performance was the subject of many case studies.
The face of Bihar which is visible to outsiders is the behaviour of its commuters to bona fide passengers in the railways.
As long as genuine passengers in reserved compartments are pulled up and made to sit in cramped position and their seats are occupied by unauthorised persons, Bihar will remain as it is, whether Lalu or Paswan or Nitish Kumar comes.
Bihar has got more than its rightful share of ministers.
Further, the Congress is trying to set a new example of corruption government.
finding people who are not corrupt in Bihar is like looking for a needle in a haystack
A state, that witnessed several important ministers in the union cabinet in different governments since independence, today feel alienated from policy making of the country. Those who complained of step motherly treatment to Bihar from centre will get boosted to prove their point. In fact a state that played an important role in revolutionising the politics of the country is today feeling as isolated as never before. And whole responsibility for this discrimination goes to congress party, which claim to treat every state equally.
It is also true that ministers from the state have not done much to ameliorate the suffering of the state, yet some initiative by them for the development of the state cannot be ignored. Moreover it gives pleasure to state to see its representative in the nation building.
While there were 10 ministers from Bihar in the outgoing Union Cabinet constituted after the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, there were 13 ministers from the state in the NDA government formed in 1999. Ten ministers from the state were in the Deve Gowda-led government in 1996 and the same was the case in I.K. Gujral's government.
Apart from Minister For Defence and External Affairs Minister, the state have sent seven Railway Ministers from 1956 to 1962 when Jagjivan Ram became the first Railway Minister from this state.
It is interesting to note that at one hand congress is thinking of reviving the party in Bihar by gaining people sympathy while on the other hand it is leaving no stone unturned to marginalize the state leaders in the national politics. At the time Lok Sabh election the congress party particularly its local leaders in Patna were so enthuse that within 24 hours they finalised names of 40 candidates from state within 24 hours. They were hopeful that the congress was only party that would turnaround the ailing Bihar. Though party could not succeed in from of seats, it managed to improve its percentage of vote in the state by over six percent. In 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the party managed to secure four per cent votes while in 2009 LS elections its percentage increased to 10.26%.
Yet the congress party choose to ignore the state, which played an important role in the nation building. People of Bihar are not only feeling hurt over ignoring an elected member, Asrarul Haq Qasmi from giving a berth in union cabinet, there are also feeling that there were several non elected political and non political persons from Bihar who have sympathy with congress could have been accommodated in the union cabinet. Who could latter be accommodated in the Rajya Sabha. But it could not happen. Bihar’s enthusiastic congress leaders’ stoic silence over the insult of state at centre is questionable. Are they get active during elections only to get party funds or they have some tacit understanding with rival groups in the state.
If congress continue to ignore Bihar in such a way it can not hope to get sympathy and votes in the state.
While I sympathise with the above writer for not having a minister in the union cabinet, I cannot but suggest that it is because of Bihar's own doing.
As per the writer Bihar has had a good run of ministers at the centre but what have they got to show for their presence.
Bihar has become more famous for the number of criminals who have been elected as MPs.
With jokers like Lalu who perpetually made a fool of himself in front of the camera, how can Bihar ask for any ministers.
Lalu they say turned around the railways but the real credit should go to the bureacrats who turned it around. Yes,Lalu should be credited for allowing them to do their work unencumbered, without any interference.
The bureaucrats on their part allowed Lalu to take all the credit at the IIM's and various forums where the railways performance was the subject of many case studies.
The face of Bihar which is visible to outsiders is the behaviour of its commuters to bona fide passengers in the railways.
As long as genuine passengers in reserved compartments are pulled up and made to sit in cramped position and their seats are occupied by unauthorised persons, Bihar will remain as it is, whether Lalu or Paswan or Nitish Kumar comes.
Bihar has got more than its rightful share of ministers.
Further, the Congress is trying to set a new example of corruption government.
finding people who are not corrupt in Bihar is like looking for a needle in a haystack
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Bihar - back to its Old ways.
Abducted Bihar businessman's family demands JD-U leader's arrest
Patna, June 02: The wife and daughter of Satyendra Kumar Singh, a businessman who was abducted here 10 days ago, Tuesday accused Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Vijay Krishna and his son Chanakya of the crime and demanded his arrest.
Singh, a 50-year-old transporter, was associated with the JD-U. His wife Laxmi Devi has alleged that Vijay Krishna, a former MP, and his son Chanakya were involved in the kidnapping and accused the police of inaction.
"I fail to understand why the police has not yet arrested Vijay Krishna and his son. The police have evidence against them in the case. We demand their immediate arrest," Laxmi Devi said.
Singh's daughter Sweety, along with some relatives, met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and sought his help.
"We demanded justice. We asked him to order an impartial inquiry and police action in the case," Sweety said.
The family had visited the chief minister's residence thrice before but had to return without meeting him since he was busy.
On Monday, Gagan Kumar, a domestic help of Chankaya, was arrested in connection with Singh's abduction. Gagan has reportedly given vital information to the police.
"We have some clues and the investigation is on. The culprits will not be spared," said Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Neelmani.
Vijay Krishna quit the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in April ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and joined the JD-U.
I had read long ago of someone saying that the more things are purported to change, the more they remain the same.
Bihar is a living example of the truth of that statement.
Pappu Yadav and his ilk had a roaring business in kidnapping people during Lalu Yadav's time.
They had to shut down business for some time after the departure of Lalu and the Nitish Kumar's action of crime.
Now that those elements have joined Nitish Kumar's party, the kidnapping business has started with a bang, just after the election results were announced.
Now Nitish kumar does not have to worry of the electorate for four years. during the fifth year, he will again take action.
And my mistake was that I thought Nitish Kumar is different.
Patna, June 02: The wife and daughter of Satyendra Kumar Singh, a businessman who was abducted here 10 days ago, Tuesday accused Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Vijay Krishna and his son Chanakya of the crime and demanded his arrest.
Singh, a 50-year-old transporter, was associated with the JD-U. His wife Laxmi Devi has alleged that Vijay Krishna, a former MP, and his son Chanakya were involved in the kidnapping and accused the police of inaction.
"I fail to understand why the police has not yet arrested Vijay Krishna and his son. The police have evidence against them in the case. We demand their immediate arrest," Laxmi Devi said.
Singh's daughter Sweety, along with some relatives, met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and sought his help.
"We demanded justice. We asked him to order an impartial inquiry and police action in the case," Sweety said.
The family had visited the chief minister's residence thrice before but had to return without meeting him since he was busy.
On Monday, Gagan Kumar, a domestic help of Chankaya, was arrested in connection with Singh's abduction. Gagan has reportedly given vital information to the police.
"We have some clues and the investigation is on. The culprits will not be spared," said Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Neelmani.
Vijay Krishna quit the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in April ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and joined the JD-U.
I had read long ago of someone saying that the more things are purported to change, the more they remain the same.
Bihar is a living example of the truth of that statement.
Pappu Yadav and his ilk had a roaring business in kidnapping people during Lalu Yadav's time.
They had to shut down business for some time after the departure of Lalu and the Nitish Kumar's action of crime.
Now that those elements have joined Nitish Kumar's party, the kidnapping business has started with a bang, just after the election results were announced.
Now Nitish kumar does not have to worry of the electorate for four years. during the fifth year, he will again take action.
And my mistake was that I thought Nitish Kumar is different.
Terrorists Hafiz Saeed released
India doubts Pak sincerity
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, June 2: As Hafiz Mohammad Saeed walked free from a Lahore court, India said the Lashkar founder’s release raised doubts about Pakistan’s “sincerity” in probing the conspiracy behind the Mumbai carnage.
Hours later, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and foreign minister S.M. Krishna went into a huddle along with national security adviser M.K. Narayanan and foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon.
Sources said Delhi could appeal to the international community, particularly America, to mount pressure on Pakistan to ensure that it acted in a concrete manner against those involved in the 26/11 mayhem.
“India will take all possible steps in order to drive home its point,” Krishna told reporters, asked whether Delhi would make efforts to build international pressure on Pakistan.
US undersecretary of state William Burns is scheduled to visit India next week.
Earlier, soon after the Lahore High Court order, home minister P. Chidambaram said it was a “commentary on the commitment of Pakistan to investigate the perpetrators” of the Mumbai attack.
“We are unhappy that Pakistan does not show the degree of seriousness and commitment that it should to bring to justice perpetrators of the Mumbai attack,” he said but added the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief’s release wouldn’t be a setback to India’s 26/11 investigations.
The foreign ministry said it was “disappointed”.
“He is the head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the Lashkar-e-Toiba, organisations listed by the United Nations under UNSC Resolution 1267, as being affiliates of al Qaida and the Taliban. Hafiz Saeed is specifically listed as linked to these terrorist groups. It is regrettable that notwithstanding this background and the international obligations it entails on Pakistan, he has been released,” the ministry said.
The ministry said Saeed, the Lashkar and the Dawa had a “long and well established background of planning and launching terrorist acts against India”. His “professed ideology and public statements leave no doubt as to his terrorist inclinations”, the statement added.
“His release raises serious doubts over Pakistan’s sincerity in acting with determination against terrorist groups and individuals operating from its territory. These actions by Pakistan raise questions about sincerity of Pakistan’s investigations into the conspiracy that planned, launched and executed the terrorist attack on Mumbai….”
Security experts said Saeed’s release might embolden the Lashkar to carry out a terror strike on India.
“The release underlines that Pakistan is not fully on the same page with India as far as dismantling terror infrastructure is concerned,” former Intelligence Bureau director Arun Bhagat said.
I have always maintained that Pakistan can never be trusted.
It is at a perpetual undeclared war with India.
Pakistan is mired in all sorts of contradictions and conflicts and cannot tolerate the progress India makes.
You can straighten a dog's tail but you cannot straighten Pakistan and those who think otherwise are living in a fool's paradise.
Our leaders are still giving a thought to the Iran - Pakistan - India gas pipe line.
The earlier they forget the whole thing, the better it will be for India.
During crisis Pakistan will shut of the gas without any provocation and our forces will be left high & dry.
The bus service to Lucknow should be stopped immediately.
The routes used by infiltrators should be mined so that infiltration and shoot at sight orders should be issued.
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, June 2: As Hafiz Mohammad Saeed walked free from a Lahore court, India said the Lashkar founder’s release raised doubts about Pakistan’s “sincerity” in probing the conspiracy behind the Mumbai carnage.
Hours later, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and foreign minister S.M. Krishna went into a huddle along with national security adviser M.K. Narayanan and foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon.
Sources said Delhi could appeal to the international community, particularly America, to mount pressure on Pakistan to ensure that it acted in a concrete manner against those involved in the 26/11 mayhem.
“India will take all possible steps in order to drive home its point,” Krishna told reporters, asked whether Delhi would make efforts to build international pressure on Pakistan.
US undersecretary of state William Burns is scheduled to visit India next week.
Earlier, soon after the Lahore High Court order, home minister P. Chidambaram said it was a “commentary on the commitment of Pakistan to investigate the perpetrators” of the Mumbai attack.
“We are unhappy that Pakistan does not show the degree of seriousness and commitment that it should to bring to justice perpetrators of the Mumbai attack,” he said but added the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief’s release wouldn’t be a setback to India’s 26/11 investigations.
The foreign ministry said it was “disappointed”.
“He is the head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the Lashkar-e-Toiba, organisations listed by the United Nations under UNSC Resolution 1267, as being affiliates of al Qaida and the Taliban. Hafiz Saeed is specifically listed as linked to these terrorist groups. It is regrettable that notwithstanding this background and the international obligations it entails on Pakistan, he has been released,” the ministry said.
The ministry said Saeed, the Lashkar and the Dawa had a “long and well established background of planning and launching terrorist acts against India”. His “professed ideology and public statements leave no doubt as to his terrorist inclinations”, the statement added.
“His release raises serious doubts over Pakistan’s sincerity in acting with determination against terrorist groups and individuals operating from its territory. These actions by Pakistan raise questions about sincerity of Pakistan’s investigations into the conspiracy that planned, launched and executed the terrorist attack on Mumbai….”
Security experts said Saeed’s release might embolden the Lashkar to carry out a terror strike on India.
“The release underlines that Pakistan is not fully on the same page with India as far as dismantling terror infrastructure is concerned,” former Intelligence Bureau director Arun Bhagat said.
I have always maintained that Pakistan can never be trusted.
It is at a perpetual undeclared war with India.
Pakistan is mired in all sorts of contradictions and conflicts and cannot tolerate the progress India makes.
You can straighten a dog's tail but you cannot straighten Pakistan and those who think otherwise are living in a fool's paradise.
Our leaders are still giving a thought to the Iran - Pakistan - India gas pipe line.
The earlier they forget the whole thing, the better it will be for India.
During crisis Pakistan will shut of the gas without any provocation and our forces will be left high & dry.
The bus service to Lucknow should be stopped immediately.
The routes used by infiltrators should be mined so that infiltration and shoot at sight orders should be issued.
Monkey & Ginger
One expensive
mess up!!
.jpg)
The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built, sat in its hangar in Toulouse France without a single hour of airtime. Enter the Arab flight crew of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) to conduct pre-delivery tests on the ground, such as engine run-ups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi
..
The ADAT crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area. Then they took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft. Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an empty A340-600 really is.
The takeoff warning horn was blaring away in the cockpit because they had all 4 engines at full power. The aircraft computers thought they were trying to take off but the aircraft had not been configured properly (flaps/slats, etc.). Then one of the ADAT crew decided to pull the circuit breaker on the Ground Proximity Sensor to silence the alarm. This fooled the aircraft into thinking it was in the air.
..
The computers automatically released all the brakes and set the aircraft rocketing forward. The ADAT crew had no idea that this is a safety feature so that pilots can't land with the brakes on.
Not one member of the seven-man Arab crew was quick enough to throttle back the engines from their max power setting, so the $200 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totaling it.
..
The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown for there has been a news blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere. Coverage of the story was deemed insulting to Muslim Arabs. Finally, the photos are starting to leak out.
The above has been sent by Prakash Bhartia
We have a saying in Hindi, Bandar Kya jane Adarakh ka Swad, meaning how will the monkey know the taste of ginger, with due apologies to Andrew Symonds.
When you give something to a person who is not fit for it, catastrophes like the above are bound to happen.
Fortunately, the loss did not extend further which would have been the case if the plane had flown and then fallen on human habitation.
mess up!!
.jpg)
The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built, sat in its hangar in Toulouse France without a single hour of airtime. Enter the Arab flight crew of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) to conduct pre-delivery tests on the ground, such as engine run-ups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi
..
The ADAT crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area. Then they took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft. Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an empty A340-600 really is.
The takeoff warning horn was blaring away in the cockpit because they had all 4 engines at full power. The aircraft computers thought they were trying to take off but the aircraft had not been configured properly (flaps/slats, etc.). Then one of the ADAT crew decided to pull the circuit breaker on the Ground Proximity Sensor to silence the alarm. This fooled the aircraft into thinking it was in the air.
..
The computers automatically released all the brakes and set the aircraft rocketing forward. The ADAT crew had no idea that this is a safety feature so that pilots can't land with the brakes on.
Not one member of the seven-man Arab crew was quick enough to throttle back the engines from their max power setting, so the $200 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totaling it.
..
The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown for there has been a news blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere. Coverage of the story was deemed insulting to Muslim Arabs. Finally, the photos are starting to leak out.
The above has been sent by Prakash Bhartia
We have a saying in Hindi, Bandar Kya jane Adarakh ka Swad, meaning how will the monkey know the taste of ginger, with due apologies to Andrew Symonds.
When you give something to a person who is not fit for it, catastrophes like the above are bound to happen.
Fortunately, the loss did not extend further which would have been the case if the plane had flown and then fallen on human habitation.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Strange Times in the USA....
Obama's court pick keeps gun stocks soaring!
President Obama's nomination of federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter heralds yet another victory for gun-makers. Yes, you read that right.
Let me explain.
While most investors have been rightly focused on the crisis in the markets and economy lately, some Americans have been focusing on other political issues, namely the Second Amendment.They wonder, will the Obama Administration and new Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor put the right to bear arms in jeopardy?
Clearly, many think so, as evidenced by an increase in gun sales and an associated rally in gun stocks. Indeed, two favorite gun stocks, Sturm Ruger & Co. (RGR) and Smith & Wesson (SWHC), rallied Thursday on the news of Sotomayor's nomination. But it's not just Sotomayor's nomination that has been lifting the gun-makers.
The recession has helped, too.You wouldn't think a recession as deep as the one we've been experiencing would be a boon to gun sales, but many citizens are arming themselves expressly because of the recession. You see, the recession has brought massive budget cuts to many municipalities. That means less fire and police protection. In response, gun sales are on the rise.
Sturm Ruger & Co. is one of the leaders in the space, producing products across the firearm spectrum. The company is enjoying growing sales at a time of recession due to the political undercurrent.
Smith & Wesson was made famous by Clint Eastwood’s, “Dirty Harry” character. Some poor management decisions helped push SWHC to under $2 per share prior to the election last November.
But post-election, the stock has doubled in value. We can expect more of the same until the administration can definitively ease concern regarding the Second Amendment.
Another benefactor of the boom in gun sales is the sporting goods retail space. That bodes well for sporting goods superstore, Cabela’s. Retail sales have struggled during this recession, but gun sales are easing the pain for CAB. That, combined with expectations of economic recovery, have pushed CAB to pre-financial crisis levels.
The market is treading water due to the tug and pull of the inflation and deflation camps. The gun story though seems to be on a straight shot higher. Investors can benefit by following that trend.
From: the ‘Money blog’- Top Stocks
President Obama's nomination of federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter heralds yet another victory for gun-makers. Yes, you read that right.
Let me explain.
While most investors have been rightly focused on the crisis in the markets and economy lately, some Americans have been focusing on other political issues, namely the Second Amendment.They wonder, will the Obama Administration and new Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor put the right to bear arms in jeopardy?
Clearly, many think so, as evidenced by an increase in gun sales and an associated rally in gun stocks. Indeed, two favorite gun stocks, Sturm Ruger & Co. (RGR) and Smith & Wesson (SWHC), rallied Thursday on the news of Sotomayor's nomination. But it's not just Sotomayor's nomination that has been lifting the gun-makers.
The recession has helped, too.You wouldn't think a recession as deep as the one we've been experiencing would be a boon to gun sales, but many citizens are arming themselves expressly because of the recession. You see, the recession has brought massive budget cuts to many municipalities. That means less fire and police protection. In response, gun sales are on the rise.
Sturm Ruger & Co. is one of the leaders in the space, producing products across the firearm spectrum. The company is enjoying growing sales at a time of recession due to the political undercurrent.
Smith & Wesson was made famous by Clint Eastwood’s, “Dirty Harry” character. Some poor management decisions helped push SWHC to under $2 per share prior to the election last November.
But post-election, the stock has doubled in value. We can expect more of the same until the administration can definitively ease concern regarding the Second Amendment.
Another benefactor of the boom in gun sales is the sporting goods retail space. That bodes well for sporting goods superstore, Cabela’s. Retail sales have struggled during this recession, but gun sales are easing the pain for CAB. That, combined with expectations of economic recovery, have pushed CAB to pre-financial crisis levels.
The market is treading water due to the tug and pull of the inflation and deflation camps. The gun story though seems to be on a straight shot higher. Investors can benefit by following that trend.
From: the ‘Money blog’- Top Stocks
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