Coal Gate: Supreme Court tells govt. to restore CBI's independent position

New Delhi, April 30 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government to restore the independent position of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with regard to its probe of coal block allocations.

It said that the government has shaken the entire process of investigation by asking the CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to show the draft report to the Union Minister for Law and Justice Ashwani Kumar for alleged vetting before its submission to the apex court. "Why was the apex court kept in dark about the sharing of probe report with the government," a bench of the Supreme Court asked the CBI counsel.

The apex court bench further said that:"This suppression by the CBI is not ordinary." It said that Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should not be influenced by its masters and its independent position must be restored. "Our first exercise will be to liberate the CBI from political interference. You don't need to take instructions from political masters," the apex court said.

In an embarrassing admission, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha had last week filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court in which he said that its probe report on coal allocation scam was shared with Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and joint-secretary level officials of Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Union Coal Ministry.

Although governments have rarely been comfortable with judiciary taking charge of a politically significant investigation, the UPA leadership on Monday seemed resigned to having to swallow the not-so-sweet pill in order to get out of the tricky situation it was pushed into on Friday when the CBI confirmed to the court that it was made to share the contents of the report. The apex court asked the CBI to file a fresh affidavit on the matter. (ANI)

Everyone in India knows that the CBI is the pet poodle of the Central Government, whether it is the UPA or the NDA, it is immaterial. It was the worst kept secret.

It was used as a sword against recalcitrant political parties to toe the line of the centre.

Mayawati and Mulayam are aware how effectively it has been used against them.

The Chit fund scam has now given the UPA an excuse to put the CBI dogs on Mamata.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government to restore the independent position of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with regard to its probe of coal block allocations.

But why only this probe.

The CBI should be completely independent in all probes.

And so also the entire police force.

The Supreme Court should set a time limit by which the police reforms should be completed and people should not have to wait indefinitely for these corrupt governments.

Mob thrashes officials in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow, April 30 (IANS) A sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) and a station house officer (SHO) were thrashed by an angry mob Tuesday in Jaunpur, 250 km from here, police said.

The mob was enraged over delayed police action in arresting the accused who allegedly mowed down two local youth.

The rampaging crowd set on fire three vehicles, including police jeeps.

Mahesh Gupta and Pappu were mowed down by a speeding bus on the Mirzapur-Jaunpur road Monday night, after which an angry mob blocked the road near Ramdayalganj bazaar.

The protestors claimed that the bus belonged to a transport company owned by Tirupati Yadav, brother-in-law of Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator from Madihau, Shraddha Yadav, and hence the police was not acting against the accused.

When police baton-charged the angry mob to disperse them, the crowd targeted police and administrative officials. SDM Rajendra Kumar and SHO Ramakant Agnihotri were injured.

Inspector General of Police (Law & Order) R.K. Vishwakarma told IANS that reinforcements were called in to contain the violence. "The injured officials are being treated at a medical facility. Those who damaged government property would be booked," Vishwakarma added.

The police and politicians have become so corrupt that they will not act against influential people.

When the people get angry and react in the only way left to them, the administration is surprised.

Now, when the police start taking action on these people, many of them will go underground and here we shall find the formation of a few more Maoists.

Geniuses and Idiots

If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If you have to get your parents' permission to go on a field trip or take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If you have to show identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book, but not to vote who runs the government ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If the government wants to ban stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines with more than ten rounds, but gives 20 F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt .... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If, in the largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not a 24-ounce soda because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If an 80-year-old woman can be stripped searched by the TSA but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched.. you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If a seven year old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher is "cute", but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If children are forcibly removed from parents who discipline them with spankings while children of addicts are left in filth and drug infested “homes”... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government intrusion, while not working is rewarded with EBT cards, Medicaid, subsidized housing, and free cell phones ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If the government's plan for getting people back to work is to be an incentive NOT working with 99 weeks of Unemployment checks and no requirement to prove they applied but can't find work ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If you pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big screen TV while your neighbor buys iPhones, TV's and new cars, and the government forgives his debt when he defaults on his mortgage ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

If being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you more "safe" according to the government ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.

Participating in a gun "buy back" because you believe that the criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you believe that the neighbors have too many kids.

Sent by Prakash Bhartia

An analysis of the Karnataka polls candidaesby ADR

Dear Friends

Karnataka Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms have analyzed the self-sworn affidavits of 1052 out of the 2948 candidates contesting in the Karnataka 2013 State Assembly Elections. These 1052 candidates belong to 6 political Parties i.e. BJP, INC, JD(S), KJP, BSRC, Loksatta Party (LSP) (and a few independent candidates who mostly are outgoing MLAs).

Following are the highlights of the Analysis;

Highlights:

· Karnataka Election Watch (KEW) has analyzed self-sworn affidavits of 1052 out of the 2948 candidates contesting in the Karnataka 2013 State Assembly Elections. These 1052 candidates belong to 6 political Parties i.e. BJP, INC, JD(S), KJP, BSRC, Loksatta Party (LSP) (and a few independent candidates who mostly are outgoing MLAs). A total of 2242 candidates contested the 2008 Karnataka State Assembly Elections.

Re-contesting Candidates:

Karntaka Election Watch analyed affidavits of 347 candidates who previously contested in the 2008 Karnataka State Assembly Elections and are now re-contesting in the 2013 State Assembly Elections. Average Asset Increase: The average asset increase of 347 recontesting candidates from the 2008 to 2013 Assembly Elections is more than Rs 6.25 crores or 79%

Party Wise Average Asset Increase: 118 re-contesting candidates of INC have shown an average asset increase of more than Rs 8.76 crores, their assets have increased from Rs 16.08 crore in 2008 to 24.85 crores in 2013. Similarly for 93 candidates of BJP the average asset increase is more than Rs 6 crores (Rs 4.5 crore in 2008 to Rs 10.5 crores in 2013). 71 re-contesting candidates of JD(S) have shown an average increase in assets of Rs 5.93 crores (from Rs 4.4 crore in 2008 to Rs 10.34 crores in 2013). 13 re-contesting candidates of BSRC showed an increase of Rs 2.83 crores (from Rs 2.44 crore in 2008 to Rs 5.27 Crore from 2008 to in 2013) while 44 re-contesting candidates of KJP showed an increase of Rs 1.93 crore (from 1.22 crore in 2008 to 3.15 crores in 2013).

Highest Increase in Assets: D.K Shivkumar of INC from Kanakapura Constituency has shown the maximum growth in assets of Rs 175 crore which increased from Rs 75 crore in 2008 to Rs 251 crore in 2013 followed by Priyakrishna of INC from Govindrajnagar Constituency with an increase of Rs 143 crore, from Rs 767 crore in 2008 to Rs 910 crores in 2013 and and Santosh Lad of INC from Kalaghati Constituency with an increase of Rs 124 crore from Rs 61 crore in 2008 to Rs 186 crore in 2013.

Maximum Decrease in Assets: HP Rajesh of INC from Jagalur Constituency has shown the highest decrease in assets with -93% from Rs 1.01 crores in 2008 to Rs 7.5 Lakh in 2013 Assembly Elections followed by M Lakshmana of BJP from Hosadurga Constituency with -87% from 1.6 crores in 2008 to Rs 20 Lakhs in 2013. Anajanamurthy of INC from Nelamangala Constituency has shown a decrease of -86% from 10.6 crores in 2008 to 1.5 crores in 2013.has shown a decrease of -86% from 10.6 crores in 2008 to 1.5 crores in 2013.

Financial:

· Crorepati Candidates: Out of these 1052 candidates contesting from the 6 major political parties in Karnataka, 681 (or 65%) are crorepatis.

· Average Assets: Out of the 1052 candidates, the average asset per candidate contesting in the 2013 Karnataka Assembly Elections is Rs 9.07 crore.

· Party-wise Average Assets: The average asset per candidate for INC (217 analyzed candidates) is Rs 21.99 Crore, for JD (S) (215 analyzed candidates) the average is Rs 10 .5 Crore, for BJP (218 analyzed candidates) average is Rs 7 Crore, for KJP (197 analyzed candidates) the average is Rs 2.76 Crore and for BSRC (171 analyzed candidates) the average is Rs 1.84 Crore and LSP (22 analyzed candidates) the average is Rs 1.88 crore.

· Highest Asset Candidates: The top three candidates with highest declared assets are (in decreasing order):Priyakrishna of INC from Govindrajnagar Constituency has declared assets worth Rs 910 crores followed by N Nagaraju (M.T.B) of INC from Hosakote Constituency with assets worth Rs 470 crore and Anil Lad of INC from Bellary City Consituency with assets worth Rs 288 crores. Among the 215 candidates analyzed for JD(S) the,K. Bagegowda from Basavanagudi constituency has declared the total assets of Rs. 250 crores. Similarly from BJP, the highest assets of worth Rs. 118 crores have been declared by N.S. Nandiesha Reddy who is contesting from K.R. Pura constituency.

· Low Asset Candidates: Out of 1052 candidates belonging to 6 major political parties, analysed from Karnataka, a total of 61 candidates have declared assets less than Rs. 1 Lakh.

· Lowest Asset Candidates: R Sathya Narayana of KJP from K.R Pura Consituency has declared zeroassets in his affidavit. Ramanna R.H.J of Loksatta Party from Raichur constituency has declared assets worth Rs 950 followed by Dr Abdul Kareem of Loksatta Party from Bidar South Constituency who has declared assets worthRs 25,000.

· Liabilities: A total of 40 candidates out of 1052 analyzed have declared liabilities of 10 crores and above.

· Highest Liability Candidates: The top three candidates with highest declared liabilities are (in decreasing order): Priyakrishna of INC from Govindrajnagar Consituency has declared the highest liabilities worth Rs. 777 crores followed by Prabhakara Reddy R of JD(S) from Bangalore South Constituency with liabilities worth Rs 200 Crore, followed by M. Krishnappa of INC from Vijayanagar Constituency with Rs 78 crores worth of liabilities.

· Undeclared PAN: 142 out of 1052 (13%) candidates contesting the 2013 Karnataka Assembly Elections have not declared their PAN details.

· Candidates who have declared ITR: 305 out of 1052 candidates (29%) declared an annual income in their ITR.

· Highest Income Candidates: N.A Haris of INC from Shantinagar Constituency has declared the highest income of worth Rs 49 crore in the last Income Tax Returns (ITR) filed for the year 2011-2012 followed by N. Nagaraju (M.T.B) of INC from Hosakote Constituency with total income worth Rs 21 crore and Prabhakara Reddy R of JD(S) from Bangalore South with an income of 9 crore. N. Nagaraju and Prabhakara Reddy R have also declared that they filed their income tax returns for the year 2011-2012.

Criminal:

· Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of the 1052 candidates analyzed from 6 major parties contesting in the 2013 Karnataka State Assembly Elections, 220 candidates (or 21 %) have declared criminal cases against them.

· Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: 55 out of 217 (25%) candidates fielded by INC have declared criminal cases against them followed by 48 out of 215 (22%) candidates from JD(S), 44 out of 197 (22%) candidates from KJP, 45 out of 218 (21%) from BJP, 21 out of 171 (12%) from BSRC and 2 out of 22 (9%) candidates fielded by Loksatta Party. Out of the 11 independent candidates analysed, 4 candidates (36%) have declared criminal cases against themselves.

· Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Out of the total 1052 candidates who have declared criminal cases, 110 (10%) have declared serious criminal cases. These include murder and rape related cases.

· Murder Related Cases: 13 candidates from the 6 major political parties contesting in the Karnataka 2013 Assembly Elections have declared murder related cases against them.

· Candidates with rape cases: 2 candidates, Ravikanth Patil of KJP from Indi Constituency and H.Halappa of KJP from Sorab Constituency have declared cases of rape against them.

· Candidates with Corruption Cases: 18 candidates have declared that they have cases under Prevention of Corruption Act.

Other Background details (Education, Gender, Age):

· Candidates’ Education: A total of 590 (56%) candidates out of 1052 analyzed are graduates or have higher degrees.

· Candidates’ Age: A total of 202 candidates out of the 1052 analyzed, have declared their age to be less than 40 years.

· Women Candidates: Out of 1052 candidates analyzed from the 6 major political parties, 58 (6%) women are contesting in the Karnataka 2013 Assembly Elections. A total of 170 female candidates are contesting the Karnataka 2013 Assembly Elections as compared to the 107 that contested in the 2008 Karnataka Assembly Elections.

Thanks & Regards,

Prof. Trilochan Sastry

Harish Narasappa

Vasudev Sharma

> Karnataka Election Watch (KEW):

Have you noticed one thing. The BJP was in power in Karnataka and the Congress has raised quite a noise on corruption there and yet is is the congress MLA's who have acquired he maximum assets.

Cancer doc’s plea to Mamata

Cancer surgeon Pankaj Chaturvedi pens for Metro his reaction to chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s suggestion that smokers smoke a little more to raise money for victims of the Saradha deposit scam. Chaturvedi, a professor at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, is a leading anti-tobacco campaigner in India.

I would sincerely request Mamatadi to visit our hospital in Mumbai or any cancer hospital in Calcutta. I am a cancer surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.

It is well known that cancer patients from Bengal are one of the biggest contributors to our workload. Bengal’s cancer burden is overwhelming and fast increasing as elsewhere.

It is impossible to create treatment infrastructure that can match this rapidly rising burden. Nearly half of these cancers are caused by tobacco. Ninety per cent of mouth cancers and two-thirds of throat/lung cancers are caused by tobacco. Most of these patients die within 12 months of diagnosis because of the advanced stage of the ailment at the time of detection. According to a survey by the ministry of health and family welfare in 2010, every second man and every fifth woman in Bengal use tobacco. When we translate this into real figures, a staggering 2.5 crore people in Bengal are tobacco users. This tobacco-related statistic has earned a dubious distinction for Bengal as the factory of cancer.

According to the WHO, tobacco kills every third user prematurely through lethal illnesses such as cancer, heart attack and stroke. Such is the power of addiction that only 2 per cent of these addicts are able to quit tobacco. That too after getting fatal illnesses.

A global youth tobacco survey by the WHO revealed yet another shocking figure: that every sixth kid in Bengal is a tobacco user.

Tobacco is the most important cause of preventable death amongst youth. Tobacco-related death is equivalent to deaths caused by TB, malaria, accidents, HIV, homicides and suicides put together

Unfortunately, tobacco is deeply ingrained in Bengal’s culture and the tobacco industry has shrewdly exploited this. Successive governments have nurtured a pro-tobacco administration. This is evident from the low tax levied by the state government on tobacco products. While Rajasthan has levied 65 per cent tax on all tobacco products, the Bengal government continues to patronise this killer industry by levying a mere 12.5 per cent tax. The thumb rule is — triple the taxes, double the revenue and halve the tobacco consumption.

The Bengal government is losing thousands of crores in the form of health care losses and earning a few hundred crores in the form of taxes. This does not include human losses in the form of millions of premature deaths.

In August 2011, the government of India had issued a notification that prohibited manufacture, storage and sale of gutkha.

Subsequently, 25 states and five Union Territories banned gutkha by enforcing section 2.3.4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011. Despite pressure from NGOs, media and civil society, the Bengal government did not ban gutkha.

Apparently, the state’s finance department feared loss of revenue if gutkha was banned! Our representations to the administration yielded no results. I made at least three personal trips to Calcutta to meet several important policy makers. Finally, with the help of an NGO (Doctors for You) we filed a PIL (public interest litigation) in Calcutta High Court.

Bengal kept dragging its feet and delaying the matter in the court. The Bengal government issued a notification to ban gutkha two weeks ago, after the Supreme Court issued it a showcause notice.

In 2003, the government of India had enacted the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act to discourage tobacco use. Many states have enforced the act, resulting in a significant drop in tobacco consumption.

The Bengal government has completely ignored such laws. Smoking in public places continues, as also the sale of tobacco near educational institutions and to minors. The point-of-sale norms (like displaying pictures of oral cancer at stores and announcing the ban on sale to minors) are violated all over!

Police are least motivated to enforce the tobacco bar, municipal officers are ignorant, policy makers lack sensitivity and education officers give a damn. Innocent people continue to die miserably!

Mamatadi, you are the only hope for millions of widows and orphans produced by the tobacco industry.

Only you, the health minister of the state apart from being the chief minister, can stop this tsunami of suffering that is endangering the health of your state, especially the youth. A society cannot be called civilised if it cannot protect its young.

. I don't understand why people are making such a noise of Mamata wanting smokers to increase their daily quota of smokes to help all those who were affected by the Sarada group.

Her next action is to impose Entertainment tax on people visiting the Red Light areas of Bengal.

She will also be requesting the youth of Bengal to increase their visits to these areas so that she has more funds to help the poor people affected by their own greed for high rate of returns.

The second oldest profession

We have all had our fill of these films.

Hollywood production lines rolled them out like turtles laying eggs.

What sticks in my mind are the immortal words uttered at peace conferences by the likes of Big Foot, Cochise, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, Sitting Bull and other Indian tribal chiefs, to the new arrivals to North America - "White Man speak with forked tongue".

It is true today as it was then.

Unfortunately, this could be said to apply to all politicians around the world.

It is said that 'looking for an honest politician is like looking for an honest burglar'.

Ronald Regan is quoted as saying "Politics is said to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a close resemblance to the first.

"If a politician isn't doing it to his wife, then he is doing it to his country" - Amy Grant.

And, from Aesop-- "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public life".

Peter.

The Local Response to China's Anti-Corruption Drive

Chinese media have reported two cases in as many weeks in which a local Communist Party official died under the Party's official discipline, known as shuang gui. The Party's internal disciplinary system has always operated separately from the state justice system, and disappearances, beatings, torture and forced confessions are widely known to occur. Nevertheless, these cases are different because they are being reported and discussed by official state news agencies and social media networks. They suggest that local officials are responding to president Xi Jinping's new crackdown on Party corruption, which may soon target high-ranking leaders.

Analysis In the first case, the People's Procuratorate of Wenzhou announced that Yu Qiyi, a Party representative and chief engineer at Wenzhou Industry Investment Group, a state-owned enterprise, died on April 9 after suffering an "accident" while in the custody of the Wenzhou Communist Party Discipline Inspection Committee. Photographs of Yu's body in the hospital showed him badly beaten and circulated widely on the Internet. State news outlet Xinhua posted the photographs online and said an investigation into the incident would get underway.

In the second case, discussions on Weibo and then several media outlets reported that Jia Jiuxiang, the vice president of the Intermediate People's Court of Sanmenxia City, in Henan Province, died on April 23 while under detention from the local Party disciplinary inspectors.

The report cited Jia's family and a local official who said he was aware of the case. One of Jia's relatives said that Jia drew the attention of the inspectors after being named by another official under scrutiny at the Sanmenxia City court, which suggests a broader investigation.

President Xi Jinping's administration, which took over the Party in November and the state bureaucracy in March, has prioritized fighting corruption and, at least in appearance, reducing the disparity in wealth and privilege between the elite and the masses in order to buttress the Party's support. Xi has called for officials to behave legally and appropriately and avoid extravagant spending as well as taking bribes and other criminal activity. While Xi will not be able to stomp out the notorious problem of Party officials abusing power, he might be able to build support for his administration at a time when the party fears public resentment is becoming particularly worrisome. Similarly, on the military front, he has mulled measures to send senior military officials to do short rotations among the enlisted ranks so that they can theoretically experience life as an ordinary soldier and improve morale -- part of a broader effort to professionalize the armed forces.

The first step in Xi's anti-corruption drive is the consolidation of power within the Party. Wang Qishan, one of Xi's fellow princelings, is heading up this effort. He sits on the Politburo Standing Committee and is the new secretary for the Central Commission of Discipline and Inspection. Wang's specialty is financial and economic policy -- he led the bank bailouts in the late 1990s and helped manage economic policy in the previous administration as Vice Premier on the State Council under former Premier Wen Jiabao. But he also has a general reputation for effectiveness, so his somewhat surprising appointment to the disciplinary post was taken as a sign of the new administration's commitment to bringing the Party into line.

The Communist Party has a long history of anti-corruption and interparty rectification campaigns to refresh the Party's legitimacy and achieve political priorities, especially when a new leader takes over and seeks to consolidate power. In the Yan'an Rectification of the early 1940s, Mao Zedong introduced methods of self-criticism or confession (whether forced or voluntary) and organizational reshuffling into the Party to establish himself as the sole leader of the Communist Party. He intensified this crusade for party "morality" to cleanse the Party of political enemies and alleged capitalists throughout the 1950s. In the Cultural Revolution, he stirred up mass movements to root out elements of the Party deemed corrupt or disloyal.

After Mao's time, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin both waged anti-graft and intraparty campaigns to weed out Party members deemed corrupt or deviant. Jiang in particular managed to reassert party control over the military. But these two leaders were not widely perceived as successful in fighting corruption -- mainly because they tolerated the fact that economic opening enabled Party members and well-connected people to get rich, which made corruption worse, or at least more visible. By the 2000s, public grievances and protests over official corruption were impossible to ignore, and former President Hu Jintao's administration tried to intensify anti-graft campaigns, though it failed to make much headway in breaking the informal socio-economic networks of corruption that continued to grow.

Xi's administration has placed anti-corruption as a priority, describing his policy as "attacking the big tiger but not letting small flies escape," which implies that national as well as local figures will suffer punishment. Previous anti-corruption campaigns have suffered criticism for targeting minor figures without catching any of the most powerful and most flagrant offenders of party discipline, and without requiring any substantial reshuffling of major officials, so Xi's going after the big tiger is meant to show his determination to move forward aggressively on intra-party reform.

The recent deaths of two low-level Party officials in Wenzhou and Henan under inspection may point to the developing local level response to Xi's and Wang's national policies. Local discipline inspection committees will seek to show their loyalty to the new administration and hope to prove themselves zealous prosecutors of corruption. But this effort will lead to abuses, especially as local authorities often act outside of the central government's oversight. The recent deaths may also highlight rising attention, in social and other media, to official abuses. Xi himself has called for people to report crimes and misbehavior by officials, so there is an incentive to call out the abuse of power by disciplinary officials themselves.

Ultimately, Xi's goal is to make examples of flagrant offenders or political enemies and thus consolidate power within the ranks of military and civilian officialdom, making sure that party cadres are falling in line and that the right cadres are in place, rather than try to solve unsolvable problems like bribery and elitism. These recent incidents are "small flies." The question is when and how Xi will begin "attacking the big tiger." On the national level, the sacking of former Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai and former Railroad Minister Liu Zhijun are two examples, but other prominent figures may be targeted in future.

Needless to say this kind of intra-party rectification campaign must be carefully managed in order to prevent it from spiraling out of control, as has happened before in the Party's struggles, most notoriously during the Cultural Revolution. In shaking up the Party, its new leaders must balance their desire to firm up the ranks and burnish its moral authority with the need to contain public expectations and prevent the public from demanding too much reform.

Sent by Jimmy Keir.

It seems that the Congress party and the BLP do not have a monopoly on Corruption.

The Chinese Communist Party too is afflicted by the disease.

6 year old Rape victim has six other siblings

New Delhi, April 27 (IANS) The "brave" six-year-old girl undergoing treatment at AIIMS after being allegedly raped had apparently resisted the assault, which may be the reason for her serious throat injuries, her uncle said Saturday.

"When we found the girl, she had held herself steadfast with the toilet wall. She had her throat slit. It clearly appeared that she had resisted the assault," girl's uncle, Jeetinder told IANS. Her father is a balloon seller.

A passer-by had spotted the six-year-old minor lying in an unconscious state near a public toilet in Badarpur area of south Delhi Friday afternoon, who later informed the police.

The police are suspecting that the girl may have been raped, but the doctors have yet not confirmed. Around 22 people have been rounded up for questioning and the public toilet's contractor has also been detained.

"When the girl's cousin, who first got to know about the news went to see her, he found a deep injury on her neck. She was completely naked," the victim's uncle said.

The girl was taken to a nearby medical store, from where she was shifted to All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Trauma Centre, Jeetinder said.

The victim had suffered critical injuries and had to undergo a three-hour-long surgery to save her life, Friday night. Doctors on Saturday said the girl is stable now.

"There is severe damage to the anal canal and the doctors had to perform a colostomy to create space for passing stools, apart from dressing to contain infection and clean dead tissues," M.C. Mishra, chief of All India Institute of Medical Sciences' (AIIMS) Trauma Centre had said Friday.

On Satuday, the family of the victim held protest on the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road. They also blocked the traffic for about an hour and demanded immediate action from the administration.

The minor's father is a balloon-seller. The family, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, had been living in a slum cluster near National Thermal Power Corporation plant in Badarpur for the past 25 years. The victim girl has seven other siblings.

I sympathise with the girl and all other rape victims.

However, please note the last paragraph which I have marked in red.

A balloon seller having eight children.

How can you expect him to look after them.

Naturally, they will roam about the streets and you have seen the result.

Of course, he is better than Lalu Yadav, who had ten

When is our government going to pay attention to family planning?

The Sanjay Gandhi Syndrome is acting like an albatross round their neck which they cannot throw off.

The result is that while China has controlled its population by introducing the one child norm, we in India are multiplying in leaps and bound.

No wonder the fruits of any development we make do not reach the people and we see the footpaths in all our metros populated by these people from Bihar and UP.

In Kolkata, earlier, they spread their wares on the footpaths.

Now they have started occupying important roads like Brabourne Road and Mahatma Gandhi Road.

India protests detention of UP minister at Boston airport

Washington, April 26 (IANS) India has formally protested to the US over the brief detention of Uttar Pradesh Urban Development Minister Mohammad Azam Khan at Boston airport as he arrived to take part in an event at Harvard University.

Khan, who is accompanying State Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for the presentation of a Harvard study on the Kumbh Mela pilgrimage, was detained for about 10 minutes for "further questioning" at Boston Logan International Airport Wednesday, according to Indian officials.

Once the visitors were cleared for entry by immigration, a woman officer of the US Customs and Border Protection wing of the Homeland Security took Khan to an adjacent room "for further questioning," sources said.

Incensed, Khan is reported to have kicked up a ruckus in the Imigration area saying he was detained because he was a Muslim and sought an apology from the officer who merely said she was doing her duty. As arguments became heated, officials from the Indian consulate in New York intervened and Khan was escorted out of the airport.

In Washington, Indian embassy spokesman M. Sridharan said the mission has "taken up the issue with the State Department officially and we have conveyed our serious concern."

"We have asked them to intervene and take appropriate measures to avoid recurrence in the future."

At the State Department, when asked to comment on the incident, spokesman Patrick Ventrell said he was "not aware of the specifics of this case" as the Department of Homeland Security has jurisdiction over airport movements inside the US.

But "I do want to underscore that we have a very important bilateral relationship with India and a very robust and thorough diplomatic exchange with our partners, he said. "We very much value our partnership with the Government of India."

The Azam Khan case is the latest instance of Indian VIPs being detained at US airports. Last year, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan was detained for over two hours by immigration officials at a New York airport.

Former President A P J Abdul Kalam was twice subjected to frisking at New York's JFK Airport by US security officials. India's then ambassador to the US Meera Shanker was patted down by a security agent in Mississippi in December 2010.

I don't understand why we Indians are becoming so touchy on being questioned for just 10 minutes.

The US staff at the airport are just doing their duty which they have been instructed to do after 9/11 and see the effect.

Since 9/11/2001, ie twelve and half years, they have not had a repeat terrorist strike until a few days ago in Boston. That is just because of the strong security measures they had taken.

The Boston episode too would not have occurred if they had taken the warning from Russia seriously. However, they thought Russia was just fooling them.

Contrast that with India, where we have had countless bomb blasts all over India since 26/11/2008, just because of our lax security.

People all over the world now know that if you have a Muslim sounding name, the USA is going to be extra careful while allowing you to enter their country.

If our ministers and movie stars are so allergic to being questioned why don't they ask our foreign ministry to inform in advance the US airport where they propose to land.

The ministry could send them the photographs and other details which the US may ask so that they can be cleared fast.

However, if they want to be treated like the general public then they should ask and convince their brethren all over the world to give up terrorist activities.

Husband convicted of rape despite wife's consent for sex

London, April 25 (IANS) A British court has ruled a man could be convicted of rape even if the woman agreed to have sex.

A court headed by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, ruled in a sign-post decision that a man would still be guilty if he did something she asked him not to, Daily Mail reported Thursday.

The High Court ordered the director of public prosecutions to have a rethink over a decision not to prosecute a man accused of raping his wife.

The woman had consented to sex, but only on condition that her husband withdrew as she did not want to become pregnant.

However, at the last minute the husband told her he was not withdrawing and told her "because you are my wife and I'll do it if I want".

The woman did not want another child. She turned pregnant after the incident in February 2010.

In his landmark decision Lord Judge ruled since the man, the woman's husband under Sharia law, did not stick to his part of the pre-sex deal, he could be held guilty of rape.

Its becoming a tough world for men.

With the law so favouring women in India, women nowadays taking advantage of it to harass men in multiple ways.

They are filing false cases against husbands and their families for even minor grouses.

They are marrying and then not living with their husband and giving him conjugal rights.

When the husband requests for divorce, they demand large sum of money.

Many of them do not want to marry as they are already into affairs with other men in their localities.

They marry under pressure from their families who fear their reputation would be sullied in society..

These women marry and then do not go to their in-laws houses or with their husbands.

Repeated requests by the in-laws and the husband have no effect on her or her family.

Finally the husband suggests that if she will not come, then they should get divorced.

The girl then files a case of torture and marital harassment against the husband and the in-laws and then demands a substantial amount, running into several lakhs to give divorce.

I have come across two cases recently.

The first was in the papers in Bangalore in February, when I was there.

The girl was having an affair before her marriage which she continued even after her marriage.

She preferred to stay at her parent's place instead of her husbands.

When the husband found out, he demanded divorce.

The woman demanded Rs 5.00 lakhs for giving the divorce.

Since the husband could not afford that amount and feeling the injustice, he murdered his wife.

The second involves a relative of mine whose marriage I attended in February 24, 2012 in Bikanir, Rajasthan.

She stayed for a period of 21 days between her marriage and 19th May, 2012 when she returned to Bikanir, for the third time.

25.2.2013 to 1.3.2012, 3.4.2012 to 14.4.2012, 13.5.2012 to 19.5.2012.

During this period the couple did not have any physical relations as she avoided the same, giving one excuse or another.

Thereafter, in spite of repeated requests she did not go to her husbands place.

It was then that my relatives became suspicious and made enquiries and found out that she was having pre-marital affair which was continuing after the marriage and that is why she was not coming to her husband.

My relatives then requested her father to advise the girl to give a divorce.

The girl then filed a case of torture and harassment against the husband's family.

At that point she did not file the case against the husband as he was out of India.

Their demand then came that they would give divorce if they were given Rs Nine lakhs in cash.

My relatives agreed to even that, since they wanted to disossociate themselves from the girls family and move on in life.

However, the girls family, still have not agreed to the divorce, probably thinking of demanding even more.

The stalemate is continuing.

Here, I would request the legal luminaries amongst for suggestions as to what the boys family should do in the above case.

I would also request our readers to write about similar cases which they know of so that these can be sent to the Chief Justice of India for bringing about balance so that men too are not harassed.

CBI tells SC it shared coal blocks probe report

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS): The CBI Friday told the Supreme Court that it shared its March 8 status report on investigations into coal blocks allocation with union Minister for Law and Justice Ashwani Kumar and a senior bureaucrat in the Prime Minister's Office.

But the investigating agency's status report of April 26 has not been shared with anyone, including the political executive, CBI director Ranjit Sinha told the apex court.

In an affidavit filed in the apex court Friday, the CBI director said: "I submit that the draft of the same (March 8 status report) was shared with honourable union minister for law and justice as desired by him prior to its submission before the honourable court."

The affidavit revealed that "besides the political executive, it was also shared with one joint secretary level officer each of the Prime Minister's Office, and ministry of coal, as desired by them".

Ranjit Sinha said this in response to March 12 orders of the apex court asking him whether the March 8 status report was vetted by him and whether its contents were shared with the political executive.

However, the CBI director in his affidavit also told the court that the investigating agency's status report of April 26 has been personally vetted by him, and not shared with anyone, including the political executive.

Political storm

Ranjit Singh's reported visit to Minister of State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy's residence a day before the agency filed Friday affidavit in the Supreme Court on the coal block allocations has kicked up a political storm.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the government of trying to meddle in the affairs of the CBI.

"The way Congress has used, abused and misused the CBI for its own purpose is a real threat to (India's) democracy. That is why we are raising the issue," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here Friday.

"We will see what kind of affidavit is filed on the coal issue and then we will comment further," he added.

Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta said: "There is nothing surprising in the meeting. The Congress has used CBI time and again."

Ranjit Sinha met Narayanswamy on Thursday, a day before filing an affidavit before the Supreme Court that the CBI's status report on the coal issue submitted to the court in a sealed cover on March 8 had been shared with the political executive. Sinha spent about half an hour at Narayanasamy's Tughlak Crescent residence.

The ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions is the administrative ministry in-charge of the CBI, and is headed by the prime minister.

So, finally the cat it our of the bag.

The CBI has confirmed on oath what we all knew all along, that, the Central government interferes in the investigation of the CBI to doctor is as per its convenience.

Similarly the state governments use the CID of the individual states to influence the investigations.

Thus during the left Front rule in Bengal, all murders committed by the CPM cadres were white-washed and no action taken.

Those same cases are now being revived by the Mamata government to punish the perpetrators of the crimes.

The Mamata government is now doing the same thing.

The murders and rapes committed by its cadres are being given clean chits by Mamata herself.

The involvement of her ministers in the Sarada Chit fund was so intensive that the High Court is of the view that the investigation be handed over to the CBI as the local police, CID would white-wash the whole crime.

They are already trying to do so by involving P Chidaambaram's wife in the money trail of Sudipta Sen, the owner of Sarada group.

DIDI’S SIN TAX Rs 500cr plan to refund poor victims

Calcutta, April 24: If those who commit the sin of smoking sin a bit more, it will pay for some of the alleged sins of Sudipta Sen.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today announced a Rs 500-crore relief fund for the worst-affected poor depositors of the Saradha Group, signalling a 10 per cent additional tax on tobacco products to raise the money and asking smokers to light up “a little more” to fill the mercy purse.

The announcement, considered a political water-cannon to douse public anger, stunned officials who are bracing for an administrative nightmare.

Some wondered how the government could refund the investors when Sebi, the capital markets watchdog, had asked Sen to pay back the money in three months. “Is it a bailout package for the poor or for Sen?” asked an incredulous official.

Mamata cited compassion for the downtrodden — a theme that was at play in Singur when plots could not be returned and after a hooch tragedy near Diamond Harbour. “Despite our acute financial constraints, we have decided to set up a relief fund of Rs 500 crore. This will be exclusively for those depositors who are really poor, downtrodden and those who are banking exclusively on the money they had deposited with the company,” she said.

It was not clear how Mamata arrived at the figure of Rs 500 crore as the extent of the defaults is not yet fully known. Sen has put his liability between Rs 300 and 400 crore, though others had spoken of Rs 1,200 crore.

“I seek apology from everyone for having to say that we have decided to increase 10 per cent tax on cigarettes and all kinds of tobacco products…. Despite this measure, Rs 500 crore cannot be arranged as the tax increase will give us only Rs 150 crore. We will arrange for the remaining sum somehow,” the chief minister said.

She added: “Apnara ei kodin ektu beshi korey khan, taholey taratari uthey ashbey (please smoke a little more these few days, then the amount can be raised quickly).”

Public health specialists were aghast. About 36 per cent of adults in Bengal consume some form of tobacco, in contrast to 35 per cent in India, and 14 per cent adults smoke in Bengal, against 9 per cent across India.

“A move to raise taxes on tobacco would be in favour of public health — as it’s intended to reduce consumption. But such a move should certainly not be accompanied by suggestions that people should use more tobacco,” said Monika Arora of Public Health Foundation of India, a research institution in New Delhi.

“If this was intended to be a serious message, it would tantamount to a violation of the 2003 law that prohibits any person from promoting tobacco for any purpose,” said Amit Yadav, a lawyer with Hriday, a Delhi-based NGO.

The chief minister cited the examples of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, where taxes on tobacco products add up to around 50 per cent. She said that even after the hike, the tax would be only 40 per cent in Bengal.

Slapping a “sin tax” on addictive and harmful products is not unusual if the objective is to discourage their consumption and fund welfare projects. But few could recall an instance where the proceeds were used to repay deposits collected illegally amid allegations of links to those in power.

A comparison could be the $700-billion bailout the US government offered in 2008 to banks that triggered the crisis by reckless lending. But the default in Bengal does not have the global implications the US meltdown had — barring the political uncertainties confronting Trinamul.

“Why is the government shouldering the responsibility of Sen? Is the government trying to pay the price of the party’s proximity to the Saradha Group?” asked a city-based economist.

According to him, the chief minister should take measures to ferret out the money the group had collected.

Saradha Realty’s balance sheet for the year to March 2011 shows it had collected an advance of Rs 78 crore on account of bookings against property. Another unexplained advance of Rs 79 crore is shown. Saradha Tours and Travels, the other company raising deposits, shows Rs 17 crore under this head as on March 2012. Government officials felt the figures were too low, compared with the mobilisation drive.

According to the chief minister, the Justice Shyamal Sen commission will determine the beneficiaries of the relief fund.

A senior minister said he would not be surprised if people started queuing up outside BDO offices. “This may set a precedent as people will ask the government to return the money if other companies default,” he added.

The above is from The Telegraph

There seems to be no limit to the thuggery of our politicians.

They loot the people, they loot the businessmen and when they are caught they raise more taxes to hide their thuggery.

Why can't Mamata Banerjee collect the money from the payment her ministers and her supporters have received from the Sarada group.

Why can't she confiscate all the properties Sudipta Sen and his friends and relatives amassed using the money of the investors.

Do the tax-payer have no say in how these corrupt politicians collect our tax?

Is there no limit?

I appeal to some legal luminaries to take u the issue in the high court.

This additional tax is most unfair although I admit I do not smoke.

It is the principle of the way they are doing it to hide their sins.

An Irish Family Tradition

Paddy had long heard the stories of an amazing family tradition.

It seems that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 18th birthday.

On that special day, they'd each walked across the lake to the pub on the far side for their first legal drink.

So when Paddy's 18th birthday came 'round, he and his pal Mick, took a boat out to the middle of the lake. Paddy stepped out of the boat and nearly drowned!

Mick just barely managed to pull him to safety.

Furious and confused, Paddy, went to see his grandmother.

'Grandma,' he asked, "Tis me 18th birthday, so why can't I walk 'cross the lake like me father, his father, and his father before him?"

Granny looked deeply into Paddy's troubled blue eyes and said, "Because ye father, ye grandfather and ye great-grandfather were all born in December, when the lake is frozen, and ye were born in August, ya fookin idiot!"

Sent by Prakash Bhartia

No policeman can act without my orders: UP Minister

Lucknow: In remarks that are likely to stoke a controversy, UP Textile Minister Shiv Kumar Beria has said no policeman can do anything without his orders and if anybody does so, he will be sacked within 24 hours. "No cop can do anything until I give orders. No cop can even sit till I give orders. I am in government, not in opposition. How can he not listen to me. If a cop does not listen to me, he has no right even for a minute to sit on the chair, he will be sacked within 24 hours," the Minister said yesterday. Not to be left far behind, another UP minister said that no power can stop crimes in Uttar Pradesh. "Crimes in UP keep happening, they happened and will keep happening. No power can stop crimes in UP," Social Welfare Minister Ram Murti Verma said. The remarks are likely to embarrass the Akhilesh Yadav government which is already under fire from opposition parties in the state including BSP for the law and order situation. BSP chief Mayawati has asked the governor to recommend President's Rule in the state accusing the state government of having failed to deal with law and order and crimes there. I had said a few days ago that the policemen are not to be blamed for they have been completely immobilized by the politician.

Well, here it is from the own mouths of the politician.

If the country is to improve, urgent action is to be taken to stop this control by politicians.

On road to bliss with Mahavira

Bhagwan Mahavira gave a scientific explanation of the nature and meaning of life and guided mankind to draw this nature and meaning into their own lives. He preached that right faith (samyak darshana), right knowledge (samyak jnana), and right conduct (samyak charitra) together are the real path to free the soul from the bondage of Karma. These are the “three jewels” of Jainism.

Mahavira was the 24th Tirthankara “The Divine Soul” of the Jain religion. At the age of 42, he annihilated subtle attachment and attained a completely detached state of his being and became a naked monk. In his journey from a prince to an evolved seeker, Vardhman became Mahavira. The titles Ativir, Sanmati and Mahavira were conferred upon him on different occasions during his journey to enlightenment.

Vardhman, who was born on the thirteenth day of the rising moon of Chaitra month (that usually falls in April) of the lunar calendar in 599 B.C. in Bihar, India, was a great reformer of Jain religion. His teachings have great relevance even in today’s world of science and technology. He initiated a simple five-fold path for the householders — ahimsa (non-injury — physical or mental — to others), asatya (non-stealing), brahmacharya (temperance in sexual pleasures), aparigraha (non-acquisition of property) and arjava (simplicity).

Mahavira did not neglect adherence to social values by being overwhelmed by spiritual realisation. Consequently, this social mind exhorted that non-violence consists of recognising the dignity of man irrespective of caste, colour and creed. The dignity of man is sacred and it is our duty to honour this dignity. Every individual should enjoy religious freedom without any distinction. He bestowed social prestige upon downtrodden individuals — this led to the development of self-respect in them, easing of tensions and cessation of conflicts among states.

The teaching of non-possessiveness (aparigrah) tells us that one should keep with oneself that which is necessary for one’s living; the rest should be returned to society for its well being.

He made religion simple, free from elaborate ritual complexities. His teachings reflected the popular impulse towards internal beauty and harmony of the soul.

Even to this day, nearly 2,600 years after the passing away of the great master, the pure and upright tradition of the monks has been maintained.

In short, Mahavira’s philosophy is applied intelligence. It is training in modesty rather than twisting the facts for a supposed explanation. His philosophies influence life with deepest insight, widest far sight in a man’s journey towards state of infinite perception, knowledge, bliss and strength.

Today being Lord Mahavira's birthday, I thought our readers should know him.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 23

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today put the State of Haryana on notice on a petition filed in public interest against the transfer of around 42 acres in Rohtak district for Savindhan Sthala. It is being built in memory of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's father Ranbir Singh Hooda.

The notice was issued on a petition filed by Sunil Kumar and 11 others of Garhi Bohar village in Rohtak district. This is the second petition to be filed in the high court on the issue. In October 2011, a similar petition was filed but was withdrawn about a month back by the petitioners with the liberty to file it afresh.

The petitioners argued that the state had issued a notification in 2008 and in 2009 to acquire around 42 acres in their village. The land was to be acquired originally by the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation for developing an industrial township, but it was later transferred arbitrarily for the Savindhan Sthala.

Dubbing the action of transferring land as illegal, the petitioners contended it was done without following the procedure. They added that public land cannot be transferred for building memorials of private persons and, that too, on 42 acres.

The audacity of the Chief Minister of Haryana is limitless.

After gifting away land to Robert Vadera, son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, now he wants to acquire land for a memorial for his father.The Congress party cannot tell him anything as he has already pleased them by his gift.

We must thank the persons who have filed the PIL for bringing it to the notice of the people of India

The case that saved Indian democracy

A March 2013 picture of Kesavananda Bharati.

The judgment in Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala, whose 40th anniversary falls today, was crucial in upholding the supremacy of the Constitution and preventing authoritarian rule by a single party

Exactly forty years ago, on April 24, 1973, Chief Justice Sikri and 12 judges of the Supreme Court assembled to deliver the most important judgment in its history. The case of Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala had been heard for 68 days, the arguments commencing on October 31, 1972, and ending on March 23, 1973. The hard work and scholarship that had gone into the preparation of this case was breathtaking. Literally hundreds of cases had been cited and the then Attorney-General had made a comparative chart analysing the provisions of the Constitutions of 71 different countries!

Core question

All this effort was to answer just one main question: was the power of Parliament to amend the Constitution unlimited? In other words, could Parliament alter, amend, abrogate any part of the Constitution even to the extent of taking away all fundamental rights?

Article 368, on a plain reading, did not contain any limitation on the power of Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution. There was nothing that prevented Parliament from taking away a citizen’s right to freedom of speech or his religious freedom. But the repeated amendments made to the Constitution raised a doubt: was there any inherent or implied limitation on the amending power of Parliament?

The 703-page judgment revealed a sharply divided court and, by a wafer-thin majority of 7:6, it was held that Parliament could amend any part of the Constitution so long as it did not alter or amend “the basic structure or essential features of the Constitution.” This was the inherent and implied limitation on the amending power of Parliament. This basic structure doctrine, as future events showed, saved Indian democracy and Kesavananda Bharati will always occupy a hallowed place in our constitutional history.

Supreme Court v Indira Gandhi

It is supremely ironical that the basic structure theory was first introduced by Justice Mudholkar eight years earlier by referring to a 1963 decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Chief Justice Cornelius — yes, Pakistan had a Christian Chief Justice and, later, a Hindu justice as well — had held that the President of Pakistan could not alter the “fundamental features” of their Constitution.

The Kesavananda Bharati case was the culmination of a serious conflict between the judiciary and the government, then headed by Mrs Indira Gandhi. In 1967, the Supreme Court took an extreme view, in the Golak Nath case, that Parliament could not amend or alter any fundamental right. Two years later, Indira Gandhi nationalised 14 major banks and the paltry compensation was made payable in bonds that matured after 10 years! This was struck down by the Supreme Court, although it upheld the right of Parliament to nationalise banks and other industries. A year later, in 1970, Mrs Gandhi abolished the Privy Purses. This was a constitutional betrayal of the solemn assurance given by Sardar Patel to all the erstwhile rulers. This was also struck down by the Supreme Court. Ironically, the abolition of the Privy Purses was challenged by the late Madhavrao Scindia, who later joined the Congress Party.

Smarting under three successive adverse rulings, which had all been argued by N.A. Palkhivala, Indira Gandhi was determined to cut the Supreme Court and the High Courts to size and she introduced a series of constitutional amendments that nullified the Golak Nath, Bank Nationalisation and Privy Purses judgments. In a nutshell, these amendments gave Parliament uncontrolled power to alter or even abolish any fundamental right.

These drastic amendments were challenged by Kesavananda Bharati, the head of a math in Kerala, and several coal, sugar and running companies. On the other side, was not only the Union of India but almost all the States which had also intervened. This case had serious political overtones with several heated exchanges between N.A. Palkhivala for the petitioners and H.M. Seervai and Niren De, who appeared for the State of Kerala and the Union of India respectively.

The infamous Emergency was declared in 1975 and, by then, eight new judges had been appointed to the Supreme Court. A shocking attempt was made by Chief Justice Ray to review the Kesavananda Bharati decision by constituting another Bench of 13 judges. In what is regarded as the finest advocacy that was heard in the Supreme Court, Palkhivala made an impassioned plea for not disturbing the earlier view. In a major embarrassment to Ray, it was revealed that no one had filed a review petition. How was this Bench then constituted? The other judges strongly opposed this impropriety and the 13-judge Bench was dissolved after two days of arguments. The tragic review was over but it did irreversible damage to the reputation of Chief Justice A.N. Ray. Constitutional rights saved

If the majority of the Supreme Court had held (as six judges indeed did) that Parliament could alter any part of the Constitution, India would most certainly have degenerated into a totalitarian State or had one-party rule. At any rate, the Constitution would have lost its supremacy. Even Seervai later admitted that the basic structure theory preserved Indian democracy. One has to only examine the amendments that were made during the Emergency. The 39th Amendment prohibited any challenge to the election of the President, Vice-President, Speaker and Prime Minister, irrespective of the electoral malpractice. This was a clear attempt to nullify the adverse Allahabad High Court ruling against Indira Gandhi. The 41st Amendment prohibited any case, civil or criminal, being filed against the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister or the Governors, not only during their term of office but forever. Thus, if a person was a governor for just one day, he acquired immunity from any legal proceedings for life. If Parliament were indeed supreme, these shocking amendments would have become part of the Constitution.

Thanks to Kesavananda Bharati, Palkhivala and the seven judges who were in the majority, India continues to be the world’s largest democracy. The souls of Nehru, Patel, Ambedkar and all the founding fathers of our Constitution can really rest in peace.

(Arvind P. Datar, the writer of the above article, is a senior advocate of the Madras High Court.)

The above is taken from the Hindu of 24.04.2013.

It gives in a nutshell a very famous case in the history of India.

I wanted to show our readers the true face of the Congress leaders on whom the present leaders swear.

An answer to the age old question -Does God Exist?

The above are two views of a building at the entrance of Narayana Hrudalaya, Bangalore where I had taken my cousin for treatment.

It has four entrances, each housing a place of worship of four religions, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians.

Most people who bring their near ones to Narayana Hrudalaya for treatment spend some time at the place of worship to request The Almighty to give good health to their patients.

Does The Almighty listen to their prayers?

One of our friends raised the question of the very existence of God itself.

Some thought provoking theological correspondence was exchanged between us (started after I returned from Bangalore) which I am giving below.

I am sure you will find the correspondence interesting.

Radheshyam

Hari Om, Sharmajee,

I am deeply saddened at your loss, on top of the stress you had to endure for those eight+ days. Even if the mission was successful, a man of your age and health condition would need time to recuperate... not to speak of the great expenses you must have had to undergo inspite of the failure of the mission.

You all are pious, vegetarian Brahmins. On the other hand, I am a blasphemous, beefeater Brahmin who finds idol-worship as repelling as the mussalmans do.

But the most simple and obvious conclusion escapes you.... that there is no GOD ? God is an invention of Brahmins to fool the rest of humanity, or at best an excuse for the corrupt to absolve their sins. As the famous 'sheir' goes...

Subah Piye, Shyamko Tauba Kiye

Rind Ke Rind Rahey, Jannat Bhi Haath Sey Na Gaye

God is precisely that excuse for us to be corrupt, cowardly, selfish and all that is evil, as HE is EVIL in its purest form... one who can be bribed by offering everything from a simple pooja to building a temple which does not feed or house anyone but the most corrupt again !

I am sorry if I am adding to your sorrows, but I felt that I must share 'truth-as-I-see-it', with a person who has (somewhat) adopted me as a younger brother,

Jai Shree Ram,

Hari Om ….,

I suppose everyone has a right to his views.

However, I could not have made the Universe nor could my fore-fathers.

I cannot explain how the Sun, Moon, Planets and the whole solar system and ever expanding Universe was made and how they have been moving in their orbits for millions of years and will continue to do so for millions more.

I could not have made the seasons by a slight inclination of the Earth's axis and its rotation in an elliptical orbit.

I could not have made the beautiful human body which runs like clock-work or the heart which pumps blood throughout the body, even when we are asleep, for all the years we live.

Why? I could not even make one of the elements in the Periodic Table. Scientists have only discovered them and put them in tables. Hence, I prefer to give that credit to God.

It saves me a lot of bother and useless thoughts of trying to find the Hand behind all this order and disorder. I suppose, you would be having an explanation?

I would like to hear that.

As far as bribing God is concerned, I have explained my views earlier.

It has no effect on God.

God is neither pleased when we praise Him nor does He get angry when we abuse Him.

We humans prefer to think that God is like a human being.

We assume He has the same likes and dislikes as us and hence we do to Him what we would to please another like our boss or our family or any other acquaintance.

Yes, I suppose, the Brahmins were partly responsible for these views as whatever was offered to God, finally went to them.

Yes, He has made both the Evil and the Good; I suppose for us to see the contrast.

If a person is good, the inner voice which we call conscience gives us satisfaction and we know this is what the Great Power likes.

If we are evil, the same conscience pricks us and we know this is not what He wants.

Of course, if we don't listen to the pricks, after some time it stops sending those pricks and we turn into hardened criminals.

However, we must understand that both the saint and the sinner have been made by God, for nothing can be outside His creation.

Thus, although I am regularly cursing politicians for the ills in India, I still know that they too are God's creations.

Everything moves as per His plans.

Global warming, melting of the Arctic and Antarctic ice cover is also as per His plans.

We should all do what we can do for the environment so that many more generations can inhabit the Earth.

However, it is only He, who will decide when the earth with its entire flora and fauna and the human race should or should not be wiped out.

Cheers,

Radheshyam

Hari Ohm, Sharmajee,

I am sorry to cause more trouble than comfort in your hour of grief, but, if God made all these... the inevitable question is.... who made God? My explanation is that all these are a freak accident of science, something like 'the big bang theory'.

If there really was a God, he would not ensure that only the corrupt and evil survive and make merry, while the rightous suffer... and don't tell me all that about trials and sufferings being good for you -- they have given me gastric ulcers and bags under the eyes from insomnia !

If there really was a God, he would not fill India and China with roughly 300 crores of humans, at the cost of his less destructive creations. He would quietly get rid of mankind, and the "God-Debate" would end there!

Wishful fantasies !

Hari Om …,

Your question, who made God would naturally come to the mind of rationalists.

I would say our minds are too small to reach anywhere near that answer when we have not even been able to understand the working of the human body.

We are still down to the DNA level and have still to go below that.

I accept that I or anyone else will never be able to answer that question in a thousand lives for our brains and mind are also made by the same Infinite and we are finite having a shelf life of about 100 years so how can we understand Infinite Time?

"The Big Bang Theory" may sound very scientific but what caused the Celestial Bodies to collide and cause the "Big Bang". Someone must have made the Celestial bodies to cause the Big Bang.

I call That Power, God.

As I said earlier bad and good will always go hand in hand.

Only in Satyayug, the age of truth, we had only truth and no evil.

In Tretayug, we had the three Awtars (reincarnations) of Lord Vishnu. The Vamana, Parusharam and Shree Rama.

In that age the ratio of truth and good reduced to 75%. Thus we had the different demons like Ravana torturing and killing the people.

But among the demons too, we had good people like Bali who was willing to offer everything, including his head to Lord Vishnu, who appeared as a Vamana, a dwarfed Brahmin, asking for alms.

In Dwaparyug, when truth and good was reduced to 50%, we had the Awtar of Lord Krishna who said He would come on Earth to restore faith in religion and good every time Evil and untruth became excessive. He killed a number of demons, the main being His own mama (maternal uncle), Kangsa.

The present age is Kaliyug. Now the evil people out number the good in the ration 75% to 25%. This is very much evident in our Parliament where the evil MPs far outnumber the good, probably in the ratio 90: 10.

This is all as per our Purana.

We have to now wait for the next Awtar of Lord Vishnu, The Kalki Awtar, and Lord Shiva to once again restore Satyayug.

There is no point in having wishful thoughts of India and China.

He will do all that is necessary to destroy Evil and restore Good.

It may not occur in mine or your lifespan or even our grand-children's.

But our life spans are nothing in the plans of God.

In the meantime don't fill your life with tension.

Accept, whatever is occurring is happening because of the will of God.

Cheers,

Radheshyam

Hari Om, Sharmajee,

Leaving aside GOD, let us tackle lifestyles.

I am a high smoker, low drinker (blame that on the Calcutta heat), like pork lard the best, but do a lot of physical work in spare time, walk to short destinations, run up stairs etc. My dad had a massive myocardial infraction at 54, and he had started smoking in his forties ( I at 17-18 ). Yet I bet my lipid profile is better than yours, because Marwaris, like bongs, hate physical activities. Moreover, you must be a ghee-addict, like most.

My role-model is late Beant Singh, CM of Punjab, who used to have a whole hen for breakfast, and (probably) a whole goat for lunch! He said." cholesterol will not kill me", and he was right ! He died from an assassin's bullet! Way to go, man!

Let us go the whole hog.

Bye

Hari Om ……

You cannot leave aside God for He is there everywhere and in everything.

As I said earlier, at the time of your birth, God programmes your whole life just as NASA has programmed the Curiosity to work as per NASA instructions on Mars, 225 million km away. Because NASA is finite and fallible, NASA has to change its directions depending upon circumstances.

Would anybody believe you if you said that Curiosity was running on its own without any guiding force.

And yet people say, the whole Universe and our beautiful Earth runs without there being the Supernatural Power called by many names like God, Allah, Ishwar, Waheguru, Jehovah.

However, God is Infinite and so He does not have to change His programmes.

So whether you are a meat eating, chain smoking alcoholic or a completely vegetarian teetotaler, the programme for your death has been set and all your actions will be leading towards that with the help of your surroundings.

So go ahead and do whatever you like (for your likes and dislikes too have been programmed by Him), for everybody is going to die at some point of time.

Nothing can prevent that.

Radheshyam

Hari Om Sharmajee,

I feel better, already. May my horoscope be true then, as it says I will die at 58 in a road accident! I have noticed that I am already driving faster and more recklessly!

I agree with you that there is a superior/supreme power making the universe go round, only I refuse to call him GOD and offer him bribes in the form of poojas, prasads, etc, or build statues and prostrate myself in front of them. I even refuse to offer chaddars at tombstones, or go sit and fan the great book while I sweat myself! If we are pre-programmed, I might as well go ahead and enjoy myself rather than live an austere life, and loot. plunder, and rape !

I think 'the supreme power' is scientific, something not easily explainable yet, rather than some mumbo-jumbo listener who likes to bathe in cow's milk!

Hari Om

At last we have covered some common ground and you appreciate that there has to be a Supreme Being who is running the Universe. However, the beauty is He runs it so imperceptibly that we start believing that we are running it.

You don't have to call Him God or Allah or Iswar or Jehovah of Wahe Guru.

As long as you accept that there is this Supreme Being, it is enough.

You don't have to offer Him any Puja, Prasad, flowers or water.

He has no need for these as He is the creator of all these.

You don't even have to erect statues or prostrate yourself.

You don't even have to offer chaddars or fan the great book.

These rituals are for the people who think rituals make your religion.

There is a difference between being religious and being spiritual.

You can be religious without being spiritual.

All these Hindus, Muslims and Christians who are killing each other in the name of religion, fall in this category.

You can be Spiritual, without being religious.

Most of the great thinkers like Christ, Gautam Buddha, Mahavir, Kabir, Guru Nanak were Spiritual.

They gave their thoughts to the people asked them to follow those thoughts.

It was the followers who misinterpreted them and started converting people forcibly or by bribery.

The Crusades were an example of converting to Christianity by force.

Some of the missionaries in India are examples of conversion by bribery.

I don't consider Mohammed to be Spiritual.

His basic premise was that there is only one God called Allah and went about killing anyone who did not believe in what he said.

His followers are still doing the same, killing people who do not follow what they dictate.

Aurangzeb was a good example of conversion by force into Muslims.

By no stretch of imagination can Mohammed be called spiritual.

He was a religious fanatic and his followers are just following his footsteps.

Yes, you are pre-programmed and if you want to go and enjoy yourself, probably your programme has been set that way.

Yes, He is not only scientific but He is Science.

Everything comes from Him and His creation follows His laws.

All rituals are what people think He wants.

Thus people still recite all mantras in Sanskrit as if that is the only language understood by our gods.

It has been intentionally kept that way as only Brahmins used to study Sanskrit.

Similarly, the Christians used to use Latin in their dialogue with God.

That is gradually being replaced by English.

Prayers should only be your expression of thanks to God for all that He has given you.

Your life, your family, your friends and relatives, your neighbours, etc etc.

You can thank Him for the Sun, moon, Stars, for rain and sunshine, water, air, all the animals, birds, reptiles.

It can go on. There is so much you can thank Him for.

Don't ask Him for anything.

You use your own efforts to get it.

However, without your own effort you will not.

If it is in the programme He has made for you, you will get it. If not, you will not.

Sometimes He gives you without any effort on your part.

This is again because it was programmed by Him probably because of good deeds performed in earlier lives.

The same goes with your health.

The life you lead has been programmed in you so that you will reach the age He has fixed for you.

Radheshyam

Hari Om Sharmajee,

That was a long sermon ! But at last, I am in 100% agreement. I have not been able to offer solace in your hour of grief, but your 'spirituality' has raised you several notches in my esteem. Hope we meet soon at some get-together !

Bye

Hari Om,

It has been a long time indeed since we met. I was hoping to meet you in October when we went to the school sports but you could not make it since you had gone there in May.

Let us see at one of the parties.

I actually find myself out of place at these parties as there is free flow of hard drinks and non-veg food which is strictly no-no for me. That is why I usually give them a miss. I had asked the people who organise these events to every now and then have a party where vegetarian food and only soft drinks are served. But the meat eating alcoholics far outnumber me and so my voice is silenced.

I suppose, in a democracy, you have to go with the majority.

Radheshyam

Hari Ohm, Sharmajee,

No, I did not go in May as I was suffering from stomach ailments still to be correctly diagnosed, and could not risk the 14hr long bus ride without a toilet The organizers had mis-spelt my mail ID and I came to know too late for a confirmed train ticket. Anyway, the organizers ignored all my arguments for a group mail ID, and a Facebook page was formed but no one informed me of its location or invited me to become a member). Our BITS Pilani group is arranging another reunion in Dec-Jan, and just one line in the Yahoogroup invites replies, suggestions, and comments from all over the world. But GMS people are too smart to listen to an ignoramus like me !

I could not go in October because my mother was yet to recover from a hip-joint replacement surgery.

So it is that being only 650 kms from my school, I have been unable to visit it for some forty years. Anyway, I am glad that I did not go in October because I would have been more interested in really seeing the school, its environs, the places we would go for walks etc, and also Ghoom and Darj.

I would not mind a get-together with only veg food, as I really relish the occasional veg lunch/dinner with my Marwari or Tamil friends, but you should make allowance for booze, Sharmajee, because (a) it too is vegetarian, and (b) the life-&-soul-of-the-party types will not come if the spirits do not flow!

I have myself given up going for the once-a-month morning ADDA at the Rangers' Club at the maidan. But if you made an appearance there only once in a while, you may not find it too bad. I had invited Jayanta-da to that gathering, too, as I became quite fond of him after coming to know of his love for the outdoors, mountains, and jungles etc, but he never came.

To conclude, I have to say, yes, in democracy you have to go with the majority, but you and I seem to be going away from the majority! I would not have, probably, become a beef-eater if I had not gone to GMS and watched the unfair practice of charging us more for a limited quantity of mutton twice a week, while those who had beef paid less for twelve unlimited helpings a week! How did you manage, I wonder?

Hari Om …..,

I too felt short-changed when we veggies were charged Rs 140/- per month but the non-veggies paid only Rs 120/- per month.

We only got two Indian sweets, twice a week only for the Rs 20/- per month we were charged extra.

However, I decided to remain a veggie.

I am now 65 and have remained a veggie although once when I had got gland TB in 1975 I was advised to take eggs.

I tried for about three or four days but each day I had to fight with myself to take those eggs.

I decided to stop fight with myself and stopped taking any further eggs.

On another occasion, when I underwent Angioplasty at Rabindranath Tagore Institute, Mukandpur. I was being fed lying down. With one spoonful, I felt an unfamiliar taste.

I asked the nurse, what it was.

She said it was fish.

I immediately threw it out of my mouth.

The dietitian and other staff members came and apologized but it was done.

A similar incident occurred with my younger brother when he went there for after a heart attack.

Thus while RTIIC is good for heart treatment, we veggies have to be careful.

The above were the only two occasions I flirted with a non-veggie diet.

Of course, that does not count the numerous cakes and pastries I had during school days from Lobo's and Glenarie's.

During those years, I was blissfully ignorant of the fact that eggs are used in making cakes and pastries.

Some people include eggs in the veggie diet and call themselves eggetarian (a new word for many).

I am a true blue-blooded veggie. My wife and I do not take even onions and garlic (for the smell).

My sons and D-in-laws do take onions and garlic.

I had a terrible time when I had to go the Bangalore for the treatment of my cousin.

I had to remove the pieces of onion from the sambar before I could eat the idlis and dosas.

Br. Peter Gomez used to say in school, it is not important what goes into you.

What is important is what comes out of you - through your mouth and brains.

There have been many meat eaters and alcoholics who have been saints and on the other hand there have been many veggies who were the devils personified.

Having said that, I would add that diet does play a part in the behaviour displayed by its eater.

Thus we see that Muslims who are mostly meat-eaters are more violent than others although they may be reciting the namaaz five times a day. The world has become violent and unsafe because of terrorist mainly because of the Muslims.

Our government agrees internally with me but won't say it because of vote bank politics.

George Bush saw the problem when he asked the US forces to invade Iraq using non-existent WMDs in Iraq as an excuse. Obama wants to favour the Muslims because of his own Muslim background but the continued violence of the Muslims does not give him much chance to favour them.

Bye for now.

Hari Om,Sharmajee

I disagree with you about garlic and onion, they ARE veg, and they are very good for health, all around. But even you are not as strict as Bengali widows used to be, up to my grandmothers --- not even Masoor ka dal (too much protein - so heat inducing, I guess), no sugar (machine-made, using bone charcoal for whitening) but only gurh (molasses), only rock-salt, etc. My mother made some noises about not touching fish after my father died, but knowing she cannot survive without it, we forced her to continue, and all are happy. Moreover, the doctor said that as a diabetic, protein intake is essential to build resistance against kidney damage ... her brother's wife (also a diabetic) died of renal failure early as she had become a vegetarian even while her husband was alive ! But my mother, who does not take hen's eggs but only duck's, was blissfully unaware of what she was being fed in the four hospitals she has stayed in, in the last five years ... RNTagore, RSV in Tollygunge, Medica in Mukunapur, and Nightangel on Theatre Road, in that order.

During the last reunion at BITS Pilani in 2008, I survived on veggie food at all meals for three days, quite happily, at the VFAST (visiting faculty and students') Home, though I was getting tired of mattar-paneer at lunch and dinner every day !

I agree, about eggiterians, they are just looking for excuses to eat non-veg while staying veg by name. In fact, by the time we were in our final year at Pilani (1978) they had opened an Eggie section at the students' messes on top of the existing Veg and Non-veg ones ! The ideal solution would be Maneka Gandhi's VEGAN... where we shun ALL animal products including milk.

About Islamic fundamentalism, I think the petro-dollar prosperity is more to blame than meat eating. Americans and Europeans eat more meat than 'Allah Ke Bandey' . Beduins who used to stay in tents now have too much cash in hand, so they dream of spreading Islam over the entire world, but internally they are as insecure and paranoid as the Gorkhalandis. So they run amok at the slightest resistance. George Bush, I feel, was just protecting North American petro-security. Why did the USA never come to the rescue of Tibet, as communism was their favourite DEMON before the JEHADIS ?

To conclude, I also agree with Br P Gomez.

Bye

Parliament disruptions: A negation of democracy?

New Delhi, April 23 (IANS) Daily disruptions and ruckus inside parliament - that Vice President Hamid Ansari said has been described as "competitive hooliganism" - have become routine and both the government and opposition blame each other for it, but experts say it is a negation of democracy and probably a way to get media coverage.

"The way parliament has been functioning, it is a total negation of democracy," Jagdeep Chhokar, a retired IIM-Ahmedabad professor and founder-member of the National Election Watch & Association for Democratic Reforms, told IANS.

"Democracy is being negated by the people citizens have elected and this is the anti-thesis of democracy," he said.

In 2012, parliament proceedings were marred by disruptions over a wide range of issues, notably the CAG report on coal allocation and FDI in retail, says data complied by thinktank PRS Legislative Research.

Only 61 percent of available time was used for parliamentary work in the Lok Sabha and 66 percent in the Rajya Sabha. The government had listed 94 bills for consideration and passing (some repeatedly) across the three sessions of parliament. By the end of the winter session, only 22 bills were passed.

More than half-way through the 15th Lok Sabha, productive time is at 70 percent - significantly lower than the previous Lok Sabha.

The first half of the budget session this year was also marred by protests over issues like the situation of Sri Lankan Tamils, and comments of Congress Minister Beni Prasad Verma against Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The disruptions resulted in lesser time for transacting business and the Rajya Sabha passed the appropriation bill, which is a finance bill, without a debate.

Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman, in an all party meeting Sunday, even suggested amending the rules to suspend members who display unruly behaviour in the houses. However, his suggestions were not accepted by political parties.

"When the Rajya Sabha chairman made the suggestion why didn't political parties agree," Chhokar wondered.

Praveen Rai, academic secretary at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, said disruptions were aimed at grabbing media attention. "Disruptions are an easy way to get media coverage. Our parliamentarians don't want to go to the in-depth of issues, they are not very interested in debating legislation. Disruptions come as an easy way to get attention," he said.

Rajya Sabha chairperson Ansari had also suggested that live telecast of the question hour should be stopped to avoid its disruption. The average Indian is not taking all this kindly.

Rajni Shastri, a BA second year student of Delhi University, says it's "open loot of public money".

"What can it be called but an open loot of public money? They (MPs) go there and do nothing," she said.

A government employee working with the health ministry, who did not want to be named, said "It is a very sad reflection on the way our polity is being shaped up. This is the time when our democracy is maturing, and this is what we find. Crony capitalism, and corruption is what is reflected in parliament."

An e-mail message doing the rounds calls for stopping the pension of MPs and not allowing them to raise their salaries.

"Parliamentarians should purchase their own retirement plans, just as all Indians do... Parliamentarians should no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Their pay should be linked to the CPI (consumer price index) or 3 percent, whichever is lower," reads the e-mail message, which is being widely circulated.

"Serving in parliament is an honour, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work," the e-mail adds.

Rai said that electoral reforms are needed to check this situation. "Electoral reforms are needed, and we need to choose better candidates if we want this situation to change," he said.

It is all very well for the Vice President to talk of negation of democracy.

But was it not negation of democracy when he abruptly stopped the debate of the Lok pal bill at the instigation of Congress and adjourned the house. At that time, the house wanted the debate to continue but he did not listen to them. It too was a black day for democracy.

Anyone seeking to be appointed to the lowest post in government service, say a peon, has to have some basic qualification.

He has to fill in an application form and appear for a written interview and later a viva before he is selected.

But the highest post in the country has no such requirement.

Instead you have to be a crook, a thug, a rapist, a kidnapper, a smuggler, a dacoit, a murder to get a party ticket.

You have to have plenty of money to fight the elections no matter where you got it from.

You have to be a member of the family in power in the state or centre.

The founding fathers expected that only good people would go into parliament as they themselves were good.

How were they to know that the scums of society would find place there.

So what can we expect of our parliamentarians?

Three girls harassed on bus, youth arrested

HOWRAH: At a time when the police are being criticized for their lackadaisical attitude in handling crime against women, prompt action by a team of Howrah police on Sunday evening came as relief to three teenage girls who were being harassed by a youth in a bus. The victims were rescued and the youth, identified as Prasenjit Dutta, was arrested.

The three girls - all residents of Belur - have appeared for their Class XII board examination this year. On Sunday, they came to Kolkata to attend coaching classes at an institute in Topsia. After their classes got over the trio boarded a bus from Topsia to Esplanade.

From Esplanade the girls boarded another bus that would take them to Belur. Trouble started right from the time the teens got on to the bus on Route No. 54 a little after 7pm. With the bus being relatively empty at that time, 25-year-old Dutta reportedly started harassing the girls. Not only did he pass lewd remarks but also started making indecent gestures at them. Though the three protested, the youth refused to stop.

When the number of passengers gradually increased, the girls informed them and the bus conductor of Dutta's antics following which he remained quiet for some time.

But the moment the bus crossed Howrah Station and most passengers got off, Dutta allegedly resumed his indecent activities. With no solution and help in sight, one of the girls sent a text message to his brother's mobile phone and apprised him of their ordeal.

The girl's brother went to Belur police station and informed officials of the harassment by Dutta. Police wasted no time and pooled in all resources to intercept the bus. Meanwhile, the girl kept updating her brother of her whereabouts.

At 8.30pm, the bus was finally intercepted the bus near Don Bosco School in Liluah. Police officials got into the bus and nabbed Dutta after the girls identified him. While Dutta, a resident of Belur Morapara, was whisked away in a police van, the three girls were rescued.

Confirming the incident, Howrah City Police DC (headquarters) Nishat Pervez said the accused is being interrogated. "The three girls have been rescued and the accused has been booked under section 354 of IPC (outraging the modesty of a woman)," said Pervez.

Congratulations to the Howrah police.

This is what I meant when I said that if there is no political interference, the police can move fast.

Unfortunately, at every step, the police have to give into the demands of the political masters.

Probably this Dutta does not have political backers or if he has, this is not the last of the matter.

He will probably be released by tomorrow the threaten the girl and her brother to withdraw the case.

Delhi rape case: Demand for death penalty for rapist's increases, Delhi Police take some protesters into custody

New Delhi, April 21 (ANI): Even as the public clamours for giving the death penalty to rapists, police in Delhi took several protesters into preventive custody on Sunday.

A demonstrator fell unconscious while protesting the brutal rape of the five-year old girl in New Delhi, and demanding more safety for women. An irate protester, Shikha Rai, said the police and the government should take adequate security measures for the safety of women in the country.

She added: "Our demand is to make safe a safe place for women. We elect government for the security and safety of the people and if they or if Delhi police are unable to provide that security that I think, we will have to come out and take care of ourselves."

Meanwhile, reports of protests against the rape of a five-year-old are coming in from other parts of the country.

Protesters took to the streets raising slogans, demanding a harsh punishment for the man suspected of raping the five-year-old girl who is battling for her life at a hospital in New Delhi.

To express solidarity with the five-year-old girl, protesters shouted slogans against Delhi Police and the Union government demanding the resignation of Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar.

An agitated protester, Neelam said, "We are demonstrating against the brutal incident done by an animal like human being with the small girl.

We demand resignation of Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar, as during his tenure, another horrifying incident happened after the December 16 incident. Attitude of police has not changed. They still do not lodge FIR and the family of victims is asked to compromise and shut their mouth. We want to ask them as to what is their role? What is their duty? Is it to make the victim keep quite or to help them?"

Lashing out at United Progressive Alliance (UPA), a protester Sharda, urged the government to hang the accused.

"The biggest problem is that the culprits are not being punished due to which they are fearlessly raping women. I just want to say that in such cases, the culprits should be hanged to death or else women will have to find ways to protect themselves," said Sharda

I had said it earlier and I repeat, Delhi is the rape capital of India.

Not only rape, it is the Corruption Capital of India since Parliament is located there and our MPs are the fountainhead of corrupt practises in India.

However instead of demanding stricter laws against rape, if the police were allowed to do their job impartially, this would not be required.

Political interference and manipulations has emasculated the police force in the country.

So the first job would be insulate the police force from this interference and manipulations.

Everything would then fall into place.