Dangers of trusting them too much

Subramanian Swamy

There are many ways to prevent EVM fraud.

One way to reduce the risk is to have machines print a paper record of each vote, which voters could then deposit into a conventional ballot box. While this procedure would ensure that each vote can be verified, using paper ballots defeats the purpose of electronic voting in the first place.

Using two machines produced by different manufacturers would decrease the risk of a security compromise, but wouldn’t eliminate it.

A better way, it is argued in the cited International Electrical & Electronics Engineering Journal article, is to expose the software behind electronic voting machines to public scrutiny. The root problem of electronic machines is that the computer programs that run them are usually closely held trade secrets (it doesn’t help that the software often runs on the Microsoft Windows operating system, which is not the world’s most secure). Having the software closely examined and tested by experts not affiliated with the company would make it easier to close technical loopholes that hackers can exploit.

Now the Madras High Court is soon to hear a PIL on the EVMs. This is good news. The time has arrived for a long hard look at these machines. Otherwise elections would soon lose their credibility.

Samarth: Enough of worthless democracy

Govt. not approving Savarkar memorial in France from 11 years

Anti-Savarkar Congress-led Central Government has not done anything for 11 years on the project approved by the French Government!

Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar had jumped into the sea in France and the incident will complete 100 years on 8th July 2010. The French Government has granted permission to erect a memorial of Swatantryaveer at Marseilles port.

But the proposal is lying with the Central Government for the last 11 years. Fans of Savarkar have therefore, decided to start a signature campaign and submit a representation to the President, Pratibhatai Patil.

क्या प्रधानमंत्री आज रात सोयेंगे ??????????

क्या प्रधानमंत्री आज रात सोयेंगे ??????????

from त्यागी by त्यागी

प्रधानमंत्री के रूप में इस महान शख्शियत को एक मुस्लमान के आस्ट्रलिया में पकडे जाने पर रात भर नींद नही आई थी. रात भर जागता रहा। नींद ही नहीं आई की हिंदुस्तान के एक मुस्लमान को आस्ट्रलिया ने आतंकवाद की घटनाओ में संदेहास्पद जान कर पकड़ कैसे लिया ।

अरे यहाँ हिंदुस्तान में तो घटना करने के बाद भी घर जमाई मानते है और आपने उनको जेल के संखिचो के पीछे धकेल दिया। जब तक वो वापस हिंदुस्तान नही आगया यहाँ उसे सेलिब्रटी जैसा स्वागत नही मिला तब तक तो माननीय प्रधानमंत्री ने भोजन नही किया.

और जब आज दिन रात हिंदुस्तान के हर एक चैनल और अख़बार बता रहे है की हिंदुस्तान के नौजवान बच्चे आस्ट्रलिया की सडको पर दरिंदो द्वारा लहू ल्हुअन हो हस्पताल में जिंदगी और मौत से लड़राहे है तब हिंदुस्तान का यह अजीम शख्श अपने शेयर मार्केट और नए मंत्रियो के रंगीन ख्वाबो में खो रहा है. एक बयान अभी तक नहीं आया की वहा पर हिन्दुस्तानी नौजवानों का होगा क्या?

हिन्दुओ का खून इतना भी पानी नहीं हुआ परधानमंत्री जी की आप उनका इसप्रकार तृसकर ही करदो.
आप चाहे कैसे भी बने प्रधानमंत्री पर हो तो १२५ करोड़ हिन्दुस्तानियो के और जो मर रहे है वो हिन्दुस्तानी ही है क्या हुआ जो मुस्लमान नहीं. उनको बचाना तो आपको ही पड़ेगा. बड़े आदर से एक बात कहूँगा प्रधानमंत्री जी आप कमजोर नही है यह तो मानगाये अब सहाभ सिद्ध भी तो करदो। क्योंकि निर्णायक और मजबूत लोग अभी घाव ही धो रहे है। आप वहा मरहम नही लगा सकते यहाँ आस्ट्रलिया में पिटे, लुटे, घायल भारतीयों पर तो लगा दो.

सोचो इसी आस्ट्रलिया ने नुक्लिएअर टेस्ट करने, उसके पादरी ग्राहम के उडीसा में मरने, या कंधमाल की घटनाओ ने हम हिन्दुस्तानियो से नाक रगड़वा दी थी। और हम है की अभी अपने मंत्री मंडल के बाप बेटे, सासुर और दामाद की कुर्सी बिछाने में ही लगे है। अब तो सरकार को रंगीन खुमरियो से बहार आजाना चाहिय.

BJP lags behind, but Rajnath races ahead

BJP lags behind, but Rajnath races ahead

Nazarwala

The cadres were confused and bewildered, and found absurd excuses to stay indoors in the scorching summer heat.

The Varun Gandhi effect was stunningly electrifying. Youthful Varun had a point of view. He articulated what many Hindus felt -- nothing wrong in that.

The opportunistic RSS/BJP bosses were in two minds. Mark their initial reactions and the subsequent ones. They wanted to reap positive benefits flowing from his statements and, yet, they were neither honest nor supportive for Varun when he faced criticism.

The unpalatable truth is that the Varun effect went a very long way in boosting the sagging BJP morale in UP. But for him, the BJP would have got fewer seats than the 10 they eventually got.

The man solely responsible for the BJP's humiliating defeat is Rajnath Singh. He was the party president with unfettered powers.

Shifting the responsibility for the BJP's all-India failure on Narendra Modi and cunningly escaping accountability by the national president is a move in that direction.

Rajnath is a highly ambitious and ruthless leader in a hurry. A pensive L K Advani owned up moral responsibility and refused to act as the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. Rajnath was thrilled. He thought the decks had been cleared for him to take on that important role.

Unfortunately for the ambitious Rajnath, in comes his senior Murli Manohar Joshi. Rajnath's dreams got crumpled for the time being. Hastily, he rushed to Advani and manipulated things to keep Joshi out. A shattered 82-year-old Advani was a safer bet than Joshi.

A Gorakhpur boy plays a dutiful son to his blind mother

A Gorakhpur boy plays a dutiful son to his blind mother

By Pawan Shah

Gorakhpur, May 27: In a unique case of son's dedication towards his mother, Kailesh Giri Brahamchari, has been carrying his mother on his shoulders and taking her all over the country to visit places of Hindu worship.

He left his house at a young age of 23 years. He has been traveling continuously for over 13 years to accomplish his mother's desire of undertaking a pilgrimage to the four most prominent abodes of Hindu Gods, spreading across length and breadth of India.

He says that it's his duty to fulfill his mother's desire of visiting the four abodes in India as his mother undertook the pledge after he had fallen off a tree.

People do admit candidly that the son's gesture is indeed rare. He is also being referred to as the modern day 'Shravan Kumar'.

The mother-son duo are being sought after everywhere, the people seek the blessings of the mother and give her offerings as well.

‘Sethu project will be revived’

‘Sethu project will be revived’

VINODHINI
New Delhi

May 28: Newly sworn-in Cabinet minister M.K. Azhagiri on Thursday has promised to revive the controversial Sethu Samudram which was inaugurated in Madurai by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi during the previous UPA regime when T.R. Baalu was the Union shipping minister.

Visibly relaxed after the swearing in ceremony at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan, the elder son of the chief minister who won from Madurai parliamentary constituency by more than one lakh votes told this newspaper that the DMK manifesto had promised the people that the "prestigious" project would be revived despite opposition by some people on religious grounds.

"I will personally meet the Prime Minister in this regard. We will fulfill the promise we have given to the people," he said at Tamil Nadu Bhavan after the ceremony at Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

The winner takes all

The winner takes all (May 28, 2009)

An effortless return to the Indira and Rajiv Gandhi era
By Swapan Dasgupta

It is paradoxical that despite functioning in a democratic environment, the internal regime of India’s political parties is grounded in committee-room secrecy. This wasn’t always so. Till the late-1960s, the Congress, for example, had a reasonable degree of inner-party democracy.

The tradition of political openness received a grave setback after the Congress split of 1969 and the Emergency. The emergence of an all-powerful leader and the dynastic principle meant that decision-making was abrogated to the one and only leader. This may explain the steady stream of regional leaders and social constituencies that felt stifled and broke away from the Congress, never to return.

The Congress recovery in 2004, and the awesome advance in 2009, owed little to any well-considered plan of rejuvenation. It was an outcome of happy circumstances.

Rahul Gandhi has proclaimed his intention of democratizing the Congress, beginning with the Youth Congress. The intention is noble, and suggests that the heir apparent may have cottoned on to the root cause of the decline of political culture — a problem he has tried to circumvent by encouraging the growth of political families.

The BJP’s problems have multiplied on two counts.

First, the RSS has lost its moral authority and social influence, thanks to its unwillingness to face contemporary realities.

Secondly, success in electoral politics has triggered a breakdown of ideological certitudes and added to the charms of aggregative politics.

Since the defeat in 2004, the BJP has more or less shed all pretence of inner-party debate, not least because the RSS minders and their chosen nominees have lacked the calibre and self-assurance to handle challenges. After the May 16 defeat, there is a strong possibility that a beleaguered RSS may insist on eschewing all debate altogether and settling for greater control. If that happens, the future of the BJP may be bleak.

To strengthen the quality of democracy and the efficacy of political parties, a system of constant interaction involving the top and the bottom is imperative. David Cameron’s reinvention of the British Conservative Party suggests a possible way. It is time the political culture incorporated the argumentative Indian.

Terrorism must be finished like this .....

Slaying of Afzal Khan by Shivaji Maharaj

The Incident


Who was Afzal Khan?

Afzal Khan was the Mughal Sardar in the Court of Aurangzeb and notorious for severing the Tulja Bhavani idol at Tuljapur near Kolhapur. After he Severed Tulja Bhavani idol Shivaji took an oath of exterminating Afzal Khan.

He was a typical Hindu Hater and gave a free hand to his troops to attack and plunder Hindu Homes in Maharashtra. His troops massacred Hindus and committed undescribable atrocities on Hindu women and Children. His Aim was to somehow bring Shivaji down from the fort and kill him and present his head as a gift in the name of Allah to Aurangzeb! However, Shivaji tore open the guts of Aurangzeb and a handful of Maratha Army routed the huge Mughal Army by the Grace of Goddess Bhavani.

india's future: the ugly reality of nuclear power costs

india's future: the ugly reality of nuclear power costs

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/business/energy-environment/29nuke.html?ref=business

Some Indian analysts like Swaminathan Aiyar of Swaminomics fame think that cost of nuclear fission reactors will come down as India becomes a manufacturing base.

I have my doubts. For one India does not possess a critical mass of scientific/ intellectual/ academic base in reactor construction that it does in software. Even if this does happen - the deal does not immidiately allow us critical technologies like reprocessing spent fuel. In fact - this might lead to dual slavery. We build cheaper reactors for others (e.g. US, Australia and Canada) while they hold us hostage to Uranium shortages.

Incidentally - Brahma Chellaney has been warning for years about the absurd costs of fission, and Manmohan's pipe-dream deal. India is better served investing in indigenous breeder reactors - or better yet solar power

Ram Pradhan committee : A cover up of Police failures

Ram Pradhan committee : A cover up of Police failures

steps to second partition

Vinita Kamte, the wife of slain police officer Ashok Kamte who was killed during the 26/11 terror attacks, has expressed disappointment over the Ram Pradhan committee report which has given a clean chit to the Mumbai police and government.

"There are serious lapses and discrepancies on the part of senior police officials, which has been conveniently covered by the committee report. All the officers who had not performed their duties have been given a clean chit and will continue occupying their office," Vinita said.

She said that she wanted to depose before the panel to point out these discrepancies but was not allowed to do so

Vinita, however, said she would not approach the Maharashtra Chief Minister or any other politician and would take an appropriate legal recourse to address the issue.

She alleged that certain portions of the call records of the police control room on November 26 were deleted.

BJP must choose between ideology and drift

BJP must choose between ideology and drift

from Agent Provocateur by Kanchan Gupta

The BJP must decide its ideological direction/orientation, reframe ideology within the matrix of today’s India, and stand by it. Or it must boldly stand up and say, “Ours is an ideology neutral party. We shall sway with the wave.”

The consequences of the former course of action would be three-fold:
. Those allergic to ideological rigour will make an exit. This could debilitate the party in the short and medium term, but strengthen it in the long term.

. The BJP’s integrity quotient will increase.

. The drift which began in 1998 will be arrested.

The consequences of abandoning ideology would also be three-fold:
. Those who lack morals and scruples shall take over the party.

. The BJP will, in due course, become a pale shadow of its past and jostle for space with the RJD and SP.

. The drift will gather speed; integrity quotient (at an all time low) will plummet.