Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The Pioneer > Going back to square one

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    • A Surya Prakash
    • The resolution adopted by Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind at its annual conference at Deoband endorsing the fatwa of the Darul Uloom Islamic Seminary that Muslims should not recite Vande Mataram because it is against the religious principles of Islam, has once again reminded us of how some people can disturb the secular rhythm of India by raking up issues which were settled long years ago when we adopted our Constitution and chose to become a democratic republic.

      Even more annoying is the fact that the arguments that are now being advanced against the National Song by Muslim leaders, is a rehash of the arguments that were put forth by the Muslim League when it demanded the country’s partition. Mohammed Ali Jinnah raised a dispute over the National Flag, Vande Mataram and Hindi while addressing delegates at the Muslim League Conference in 1937. He argued that the flag, the song and the language were all Hindu symbols and that, therefore, they were unacceptable to the Muslims. Anxious to avert partition, India’s political leaders offered to treat only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram — which describes the bounteous gifts that nature has showered on India — as the National Song. But, despite this and many other concessions offered to him, Jinnah achieved his ambition of vivisecting the country and carving out an Islamic state a decade after he announced his opposition to Vande Mataram, the tricolour and Hindi.

Whatever happened to PM’s working groups on Kashmir?

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    • By Sarwar Kashani
    Manmohan Singh
    • Srinagar
    • The most critical of the working groups set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006 to improve relations between Jammu and Kashmir and the central government has not met for over two years now, putting a question mark on how serious the authorities are when they talk of initiating confidence building measures to tackle the Kashmir problem.

भारत नाम का मनोभाव

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    • तमिलनाडु, असम, तिरुअनंतपुरम, चेन्नई, बेंगलूर, मुंबई, कोलकाता.. और अब ओडिसा। विदेशी शासकों द्वारा दिए गए नामों को त्याग अपने सही नाम अपनाने की यह प्रक्रिया स्वागत योग्य है। इसके पीछे कहीं न कहीं अपनी सच्ची पहचान के महत्व को समझने और उसमें गौरव महसूस करने की भावना है। सौभाग्यवश, जब भी औपनिवेशिक नामों को बदल स्वदेशी नाम अपनाए गए तब हमारे देश के अंग्रेजी-प्रेमी और पश्चिमोन्मुखी वर्ग ने कोई विरोध नहीं किया। वैसे यह बात नहींकि उन्हें यह सब रास आया हो। इस बात की पूरी संभावना है कि जिस दिन देश के नाम को पुनस्र्थापित करने की बात उठेगी वे अपनी पूरी क्षमता से विरोध करेंगे। 'इंडिया' को बदलकर भारतवर्ष करने में किसी भाषा, क्षेत्र, जाति या संप्रदाय को आपत्ति हो, इसका कोई आधार नहीं है, बल्कि जिस कारण मद्रास, बांबे, कैलकटा, त्रिवेंद्रम आदि को बदला गया वह कारण देश के नाम के लिए और भी समीचीन है। इंडिया शब्द भारत पर ब्रिटेन के औपनिवेशिक शासन का सीधा स्मरण दिलाता है। नहीं भूलना चाहिए कि किसी आधिकारिक नाम में 'इंडिया' शब्द का पहला प्रयोग 'ईस्ट इंडिया कंपनी' के नाम में किया गया था।
    • [एस. शंकर : लेखक स्वतंत्र टिप्पणीकार हैं]

'Entrepreneurs are new icons in China'

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    • BANGALORE
    • China's investments in entrepreneurial infrastructure dwarf India's, America's and European Union's", said Mr Crompton who uses the metaphor of a popular TV reality show `Win in China' to tell the story.
    • Executive Producer of  Win in China-The Movie, Robert A Compton and CEO, Flatworld Technology,  Suresh N Murthy at a press conference on the launch of new documentary `Win in China, in Bangalore on  Monday 
    • Shot over a period of two years, the documentary through the reality show (that has nearly 120,000 entrepreneurs compete for prize money in excess of dollar five million with the winner receiving nearly dollar 1.5 million to invest in their new business plan) captures how the show was an opportunity for government to educate and motivate entrepreneurs.

      Entrepreneurship in China is not accidental as it is usually in US and India.It is a deliberate and intentional effort by the government'', Compton said adding that the world's most lucrative business plan competition is being held not in the United States or in any Western country, but in Communist China.

    • Entrepreneurship in China is not accidental as it is usually in US and India.It is a deliberate and intentional effort by the government'', Compton said adding that the world's most lucrative business plan competition is being held not in the United States or in any Western country, but in Communist China.