Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Another Indian “intellectual” prostituting herself in White Man’s flesh market

Another Indian “intellectual” prostituting herself in White Man’s flesh market: "A creature who responds to the name of Meera Nanda has written this piece about origins of Yoga. The editor of Open magazine must have been snorting something powerful to have agreed to publish this kind of drivel. I have lost all respect for the Open magazine, which now seems to be another version of the [...]"

Teesta in dock for hacking e-mails, doctoring affidavits - Daily Pioneer

Teesta in dock for hacking e-mails, doctoring affidavits - Daily Pioneer: "


Teesta in dock for hacking e-mails, doctoring affidavits
Daily Pioneer
More trouble is brewing for Mumbai-based social activist Teesta Setalvad. The city Crime Branch has registered an FIR against her after establishing that she hacked Rais Khan’s e-mail ID to fabricate affidavits filed on behalf of Gujarat riot victims.

Setalvad’s associate since the 2002 post-Godhra riots, Khan had complained to the Police Commissioner in September last year that she illegally used his ID after the two parted company following differences over the issue.

Khan was city-based coordinator of Citizens for Justice & Peace (CJP), which had nurtured the 2002 riot victims and survivors. He had fallen out with Setalvad nearly three years ago but decided to spill the beans only after there were allegations against him.


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Divorcing women to soon have property rights too - Daily Pioneer

Divorcing women to soon have property rights too - Daily Pioneer: "


Divorcing women to soon have property rights too
Daily Pioneer
Women caught in a failed marriage can now heave a sigh of relief as they will not be so vulnerable after a divorce on grounds of ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of marriage. In such a scenario, the husband will have to share property acquired after marriage.

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Second Coming of Islam, post-War - Daily Pioneer

Second Coming of Islam, post-War - Daily Pioneer: "


Second Coming of Islam, post-War
Daily Pioneer
Less than 24 hours before Mr Hosni Mubarak bid adieu to the imposing structure he called home for 30 years, we congregated around an oval table in the ...

In other words, when historical events unfold timing is of the essence. And to that extent, Mr Mubarak left just at the critical point. Many were puzzled why he announced his intention to stay put and fight back via national TV just a day earlier. Didn’t this have the potential of steeling the demonstrators’ resolve? While that must have happened, in all probability Mr Mubarak declared his determination to stay only after he had actually decided to quit. The camouflage was aimed at the military, which Mr Mubarak needed to protect him to the end. With sections of the Army, particularly young recruits, wavering under the emotional surge around them, there was no guarantee that Mr Mubarak’s televised resignation would not have resulted in the Army switching sides and permitting mobs to invade the Presidential Palace and assault, if not lynch, the outgoing President. By pretending to stay on with gusto, Mr Mubarak probably avoided such a fate.

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Primacy of culture - Daily Pioneer

Primacy of culture - Daily Pioneer: "


Primacy of culture
Daily Pioneer
Mistakes of the Raj have returned to haunt Britain in the form of Islamic extremism. Great Britain, mother of Western colonialism whose footprints still ...

The British Prime Minister’s confession that multiculturalism has ‘failed’ vindicates the Hindu concept of Hindutva, which asserts that India’s natal, primordial and living civilisation must determine her national character. India has long suffered at the hands of Islamic and British-Christian invaders, and continues to be stifled by an elite comprising soulless atheist-Marxists, hostile minorities, and fellow travellers, all of whom advance the power of the two millenarian faiths.

India’s sanatana dharma is a religion and living civilisation, inspired by the ideal of universal welfare of all beings, human and non-human. Dharma is not fixed in time or space, and eternally renews itself in response to the Age; it is always contemporary … Dharma respects all faiths, for it is not given to any human agency to arbitrate a final truth for mankind. Hindus believe the Vedas are the ‘revealed’ truth ‘heard’ by the Vedic rishis (Sruti). Yet that is no reason to impose them on the world by human regents. Hence, despite the belief in One Supreme Being (Parabrahma), non-monotheism is the hallmark of all Indic traditions. Our polity and innate secularism flow from this understanding; Aristotle said centuries ago that Hindus were the only people to have successfully made dharma the basis of their public life.

This generous tradition made India the perfect refuge for all — the Parsi community fleeing persecution in Persia; the Dalai Lama and his followers; the now controversial Karmapa; the Bahai community ... Christians and Muslims established beachheads here centuries ago; Jews believe they came after the destruction of the Second Temple of Solomon in AD 70. Our political culture is equally accommodative — the first cabinet of independent India included Maulana Azad and B R Ambedkar.

Mother India regards her minorities as strands in a multi-strand civilisation, who interact with each other at will. Traditionally, they automatically positioned themselves around the core culture based on her ancient and native traditions. They were not accorded inferior status, but they did not determine the nation’s identity and ethos.

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Govt has big ears, snoops on your innocuous calls! - Daily Pioneer

Govt has big ears, snoops on your innocuous calls! - Daily Pioneer: "


Govt has big ears, snoops on your innocuous calls!
Daily Pioneer
In the five years between 2006 and 2010, the nation's law-enforcement agencies overheard private conversations on 1.51 lakh telephone numbers on the network ...

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Hosni Mubarak, like Nehru, is a Great Statesman

Hosni Mubarak, like Nehru, is a Great Statesman: "

Amul’s ads are clever. A few days ago I caught their take on the revolution in Egypt. “Hosni, kranti Mubarak ho!” Translated, “Hosni, felicitations (mubarak) on the revolution (kranti)!” Wonder what Amul will say now, now that Mr Mubarak has departed for greener pastures. Hosni Mubarak, from what I gather at the wiki entry on him, was like any other corrupt ruler of a Third World country.



Here’s a bit:


While in office, political corruption in the Mubarak administration’s Ministry of Interior has risen dramatically, due to the increased power over the institutional system that is necessary to secure the prolonged presidency. Such corruption has led to the imprisonment of political figures and young activists without trials.


Hmm. What does that remind me of? Rise of corruption, imprisonment of political figures? Think Think. Ah, yes! Indira Gandhi. Let me read on.


Egypt is a semi-presidential republic under Emergency Law and has been since 1967, except for an 18-month break in 1980s (which ended with the assassination of Sadat). Under the law, police powers are extended, constitutional rights suspended and censorship is legalized.


Ah so. Reminds you of Mrs Gandhi’s ghost, doesn’t it? Corruption and heavy-handed autocratic rule. Still, I am sure that no one in India would approve of a corrupt and autocratic ruler.


Waittaminit. Hold on. I spoke to soon. It seems that the Indian government awarded Mr Mubarak the Jawaharlal Nehru Award in 1995. The award is awarded to people “for their outstanding contribution to the promotion of international understanding, goodwill and friendship among people of the world”.


What a joke, as my friend Rajan remarked. You can always depend on the Congress Party to support corruption, not only at home but also abroad.


The Congress government in power (as the senior partner in the Unholy Parties Alliance) is keeping its avowed promise of supporting corruption. So in that sense, giving the Jawaharlal Nehru Award to Mubarak is appropriate and in keeping with the hallowed tradition that Nehru started.


Mubarak is a great statesman, much like Nehru and his daughter were. They all figured out a way to keep the Third World miserably poor and backward.

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