Miscellaneous news and discussion - 2

[Guest]

bengurion: If you have a list of some good blogs, please post them here. I'll split this thread to be blog specific at a later point.

[Bharatvarsh]

A good blog I found:

http://www.sandeepweb.com/

[acharya]

Try this news media connected to various blogs


www.sarvesamachar.com

Explore

[Guest]

Hi there,

I am wondering why you guys hate socialism. Didn't the father of our nation advocate socialism? In a country where 70% of people are farmers, isn't socialism the right system? Look what happened in AP. Instead of developing the villages, Naidu was busy beggging for foreign investments, and even though that made Hyderabad a hi-tech city, farmers were dying on a daily basis. What a contradiction, in a cybercity, people commit suicide because they dont have enough to eat! <!--emo&:angry:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /><!--endemo--> it is pretty obvious that Indians should stop aping the west and follow socialism, which is very close to Vedic Economics, Swadeshi.

I'd appreciate some views on this.



ADMIN - QUESTIONS CAN BE ASKED IN THIS THREAD

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The Walt Disney Company to Acquire Leading Indian Children's Channel, Hungama TV, and Makes Strategic Investment in UTV Software Communications </b>

MUMBAI, India & BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 25, 2006--The Walt Disney Company (NYSEIS) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Hungama TV, a<b> leading Indian children's television channel</b>, and take an equity interest in media company UTV Software Communications Limited, in each case subject to regulatory approval. Once final, <b>the acquisition will continue to firmly establish The Walt Disney Company's strategic presence </b>in a rapidly growing media market, where local content production is key.

"India is a long-term strategic priority for The Walt Disney Company. The acquisition of Hungama TV, and the investment in UTV will significantly advance our presence in India and allow us to develop a strategic relationship with one of the country's leading integrated media companies," said Andy Bird, President, Walt Disney International.

"Not only will we be acquiring a great channel asset, The Walt Disney Company will also be able to participate in UTV's diversified media businesses and bring to UTV our global media and synergy expertise, including developing and distributing high-quality family friendly content in nearly 200 countries worldwide and expanding related franchises across film, television, music, merchandise, new media and live entertainment," added Mr. Bird.

"Television is and will continue to be the major growth engine in building franchise affinity in India. Integrating Hungama TV into The Walt Disney Company's existing India channel portfolio of Disney Channel, and Toon Disney/Jetix, will allow Disney to fortify its already strong presence in India's children's television market," said Rich Ross President, Disney Channel Worldwide.

"Disney's global portfolio of kids' channels seeks to strengthen connections with kids and families in India and each market we're in by developing local creative content that represents and reflects the lives of kids there," said Ross.

"Hungama TV has proven its appeal to Indian children and families with compelling entertainment choices and has in a brief period built a strong management team and staked out a leadership position in the competitive children's television environment," said Ronnie Screwvala, Chairman & CEO, UTV Software Communications Limited. "We are also delighted that Disney has chosen to make a strategic investment in UTV which will augment our business in India and around the world," he added.

Zarina Mehta, currently Chief Operating Officer of Hungama TV, will work with the Disney team on the organizational and operational integration of Hungama TV into Disney's portfolio of kids' channels.

Launched in September 2004, Hungama is a 24-hour Hindi-language entertainment cable channel for children and is consistently one of the top-rated channels in India's children's market.

<b>Disney currently reaches over 107 million television homes in India </b>through a program block on the terrestrial network and Disney Channel and Toon Disney/Jetix reached approximately 30 million homes on cable and satellite in India and together rank number two in the market. <b>Toon Disney is number one in South India. </b>
UTV has a diversified set of businesses, which includes television and film production and distribution, animation production, and other services. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<b> © Business Wire 2006 </b>

[Guest]

<b>Shahabuddin's mercy killing plea rejected </b>
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/artic...832803.cms
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Patna High Court on Monday rejected an appeal for mercy killing by jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, and ordered his immediate treatment at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for a serious spinal problem.

.....
Shahabuddin, who has been suffering from spinal problems for the last few months, had filed the mercy killing petition as pain in his spine had become unbearable and the state government was apathetic to sending him outside the state for better treatment. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Bharatvarsh]

Good decision, keep the b@st@rd alive in the same unbearable pain.

[Guest]

In the same new -
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Earlier this month, the court had ordered re-examination of his medical condition after a panel of <b>three neurosurgeons refused to see him</b> .
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Sunder]

Quite spine-chilling.... <!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo-->

http://in.news.yahoo.com/060729/211/669qy.html

Dr butcher chops off limbs for beggar mafia

By IBNlive.com
Saturday July 29, 08:03 PM

New Delhi: A car screeches to a halt, the don steps out, collects money from child beggars, slaps them and zooms away—a scene from numerous Bollywood films on goons chopping off limbs and forcing people to beg. But story is true.

A special investigation by CNN-IBN and DIG has found that a beggar mafia exists and it tortures and maims people to make them beg. And there are even doctors who help the mafia by amputating the limbs of healthy people.

At Connaught Place in Delhi, the DIG group asks beggar Ramesh: Yeh pair kaise, kisne katva diya? (Who chopped off your leg?)

“Bheek mangne wale ne,” says Ramesh (The person who forces us to beg). Ramesh’s leg was chopped off five years ago and he was forced to beg in a subway.

What happened to Ramesh is horrific, and the story becomes even more shocking with the discovery that there are doctors who use their knives to cripple and maim perfectly healthy human being.

Dr Ajay Agarwal, a senior orthopaedic surgeon at district hospitals in the Ghaziabad and Noida cities of Uttar Pradesh, is one such doctor. For a price he will cut off a person’s arm or leg. Posing as artificial limbs suppliers, DIG investigators asked Dr Agarwal if he would amputate healthy limbs.

DIG: “Yahan private mein kitna kharcha hoga, sir aapka?” (How much would you charge for an amputation)

Dr Agarwal: “With medicine, ten thousand (rupees)”

DIG: “With medicine, ten thousand. Chahe haath kate ya pair kate.” (With medicine, ten thousand rupees-for cutting a leg or an arm)

Dr Agarwal: “Chahe yahan kate ya yahan kate.” (For cutting a leg or an arm)

DIG investigators asked Dr Agarwal if he would amputate the limbs of people who were to be made beggars. He said yes.

DIG: Kuch patient to frankly speaking aise bhi hain hamare paas, voh sir for the sake of begging, bheek mange ke iye haath katwa liye pair katwa liya, is type ke hain. (To be frank, some people’s limbs have to be amputated so that we can use them for begging)

DIG: “Bhej do usko?” (May we send a person)

Dr Agarwal nods and takes Rs 2,000 from us as advance. DIG then introduces Dr Agarwal to Nasir, who posed as a beggar.

Dr Agarwal: “Kahan se nikal vana hai?” (Which portion of the legs do you want to be amputated?)

DIG: “Beech mein se kariye.” (From the middle)

Dr Agarwal: “Phir artificial limb lag jayegi na. Jab artificial lagana hoga, tab artificial lag jayega.” (That’s good, as then we can put up artificial legs)

Nasir, the fake beggar, is taken to Dr Agarwal’s Uma Nursing home in Ghaziabad where his blood and urine are tested and a registration form is filled up.

Dr Agarwal then makes a suggestion. “Yeh kuch nahin. Ya phir left ke teen fingers hi cut kar, ya wrist se cut kar lo,” he says. (Why don’t you get three fingers of his left hand chopped off? Or we can cut off the wrist)

DIG: “Teen ungli ya haath ko cut kar lo.” (Cut off his three fingers or a wrist)

Dr Agarwal also had advice on how to make the amputation look legal on documents.

DIG: “To main hi le ke aaunga. To usko kaise show karenge aap, ke iska pair kharab hai, ya haath kharab hai.” (How will you show that the surgery was necessary?)

Dr Agarwal: “Gangrene hua hai show kar denge” (We will show that he had gangrene)

DIG: “Theek hai. Gangrene aap kaise develop karenge, medicine se?” (That’s okay, but how will you develop the gangrene. Using medicines?)

Dr Agarwal: “Nahin voh vessels ko aapne block kar diya.” (Not medicines, we will get the blood vessels blocked)

Dr Agarwal: “Ek do stitch mein vessels blood supply neeche ki gone to gangrene develop ho jayegi do teen din mein.” (If we stitch up the blood vessels, then the leg will develop gangrene in two-three days)

There are more than 12,000 handicapped beggars in Delhi alone. And it’s doctors like Ajay Agarwal that help the beggar mafia to mutilate, terrorise and live off the beggars of the city. A fact confirmed by beggars themselves

Nasir was through a series of medical tests, so that Dr Agarwal could protect himself legally.

DIG: “Usse kuch consent bhi lena hoga. Mareez se kuch consent bhi lena hoga.” (Don’t we have to take the patient’s consent for the amputation?)

Dr Agarwal: “Hanh pehle accident mein kharab hua tha, yeh likhwa lenge. Pehle accident mein kharab hua tha, ab yeh chalne layak nahin hai isi liye main yeh tang katva ne ke liye tayyar hoon.” (We will show in documents that he damaged his leg in an accident and now wants to get it amputated because it’s useless)

Dr Agarwal: “Unko ten thousand mein kar hi denge.” (I will do this for Rs 10,000)

Dr.Ajay Agarwal was paid another Rs 2,000 at this point. Later that day while the hospital attendants got ready for the amputation, Nasir and the DIG team escaped.

Ramesh and many beggars like him couldn’t make a similar escape.

(With inputs from DIG investigator Jamshed Khan and CNN-IBN's Neeti Tandon and Rohit Khanna)

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Plan body scraps Mallika project </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
In the face of stiff opposition from the Gujarat Government, the Planning Commission has terminated a Rs 10 crore project allotted to noted dancer Mallika Sarabhai for producing a series of documentaries on social changes and empowerment in Gujarat. The Pioneer had first reported the news in its edition dated July 18.

Planning Commission member secretary Rajeeva Ratna Shah wrote a letter on July 28 to Gujarat Chief Secretary SG Mankad conveying the decision to scrap the project.

"Since doubts have been raised by the honourable Chief Minister about the objectivity of the producer and her ability to be 'factually correct and politically neutral', it is felt that the very purpose of the project will be defeated. Planning Commission cannot support a venture which is not perceived to political and non-partisan," Shah wrote, adding, "In the light of the above, it has been decided to terminate the project forthwith."

The Gujarat Government had communicated its objection in writing to the Planning Commission and expressed fears that the Gujarat-centric serial would be manipulated to project the State in a negative way.
...................
The choice of Mallika Sarabhai as a producer was also criticised as she is known to be a bitter critic of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The State Government and some members of the Prasar Bharti Board had told the Plan panel that the objectivity and credibility of any such serial produced by Mallika Sarabhai would always be open to doubt.
  .................
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

WHo is this idiot?

<b>India’s Hitler-themed restaurant draws fire</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->MUMBAI, India - A new restaurant in India’s financial hub,<b> named after Adolf Hitler and promoted with posters showing the German leader and Nazi swastikas</b>, has infuriated the country’s small Jewish community.

<b>Hitler’s Cross</b>, which opened last week, serves up a wide range of continental fare and a big helping of controversy, thanks to a name the owners say they chose to stand out among hundreds of Mumbai eateries.

“We wanted to be different. This is one name that will stay in people’s minds,” owner Punit Shablok told Reuters.
..............<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Can they do same with Mohamad restr and background with his cartoons?

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>[B]'India has been part of my love'</b>

August 25, 2006

Maura Moynihan, who says she would like to be born an Indian life after life, has come out with her first novel, Covergirl: Confessions of a Flawed Hedonist (following the successful short story collection, Yoga Hotel) which blends reality and fiction, drawing liberally from her life as Andy Warhol's friend and from her many years of working with Tibetan refugees in Asia.

<b>The only daughter of New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan</b>, who died a few years ago, 46-year-old Maura Moynihan says the turning point in her life was when her father was named American ambassador to India over three decades ago.

As a high school student in India in the 1970s, Maura was immediately drawn to yoga, Urdu poetry and "everything else about India."   

In an interview to Arthur J Pais, the writer answers questions about the influences on her writing and her abiding love affair with India.

<b><i>When did you first think of writing?</i></b>

I have always loved telling stories, right from my childhood. I have Irish blood, you know. I think I was writing even before I turned six.

<b><i>Who was the most influential person in your early writing years?</i></b>

My parents encouraged me the most. But my father had a special influence. He got me to read world literature, he got me to understand the precise meanings of words and he got me to appreciate the beauty of literature more than anyone else.

But somehow, till I turned 40 I did not think of putting together a collection of stories. I had kept on postponing my dreams of writing a novel because I was also doing many exciting things including running a business in Nepal (to produce fashion accessories for the American markets) and working with the Tibetan refugees in India.

<b><i>What have you inherited most from your father?</i></b>

His deep passion for scholarship and social justice. He wrote 19 books. He felt writing was the highest art. I always wanted to be a writer. He was a great humanist. He used to say there was terrible poverty in India but in America, there was less terrible poverty but more terrible behaviour.

<b><i>He also had an excellent sense of humour, didn't he?</i></b>

Oh yes. I remember when the US sold a building that belonged to the American embassy in New Delhi. But the bureaucrats in Washington were not happy with his decision. There were arguments and counter arguments. At one point, my father said: 'They have an edifice complex.'

<b><i>He also gave interesting advice to young writers, did he not?</b>

My father took writing very seriously and he wrote for many hours every morning. David Stockman, economic adviser in the Reagan administration, worked under my father. When he received a fabulous advance to write a book, he asked my father, 'How do you write a book?'

'In the morning,' my father said.

<b>[I]Can you think of writing a story or a novel without an Indian setting?</i></b>


I may find it difficult to do so. India has been part of my love more than any other place and that is where my soul is happiest.

<b><i>What did you tell yourself when you began composing the stories in Yoga Hotel [her previous book]?</i></b>

Many American and British writers have written about the Raj, about the maharajas, tiger-hunting, snake charmers, and of spiritual seeking. But I wanted to write about the India I know intimately -- the India of expats, seekers, gurus, discos, third-class trains, Delhi cocktail parties with diplomats and World Bankers. The world I have known in India is a place where worlds and people collide, often with unpredictable and complex results.

<b><i>How do you describe yourself as a religious person?</i></b>

Hinduism and Buddhism are the two greatest influences on my life. I cherish the broadmindedness in Hinduism and the compassion in Buddhism.

<b><i>What else do you admire in Buddhism?</i></b>

That one doesn't have to invoke the name of God to lead a good, ethical and honest life.

<b><i>When did you get interested in Buddhism?</i></b>

I think it was around 1989 when I first met with the Dalai Lama. And that was also the time I started getting involved with Tibetan exiles. My father encouraged me a lot. He believed that there should never be another Holocaust, that everyone should have a right to a good life, where they could profess their faith and have their own identity.

<b><i>Spending many years in India also helped you to become a vegetarian, isn't it?</i></b>

Yes, but remember that I was born a vegetarian.

<b><i>Born a vegetarian? </i></b>

Indeed I was. It was the people around me who made me into a non-vegetarian. But it did not take me too long a time to realise the importance of being a vegetarian, for health and ethical reasons.

<b><i>But the Dalai Lama is not a vegetarian and so are most Tibetans, isn't it?</i></b>

The Dalai Lama has said he ate meat because you could not get good vegetables in the hostile climate of Tibet. But of late he has been telling people of the importance of having a great amount of vegetables in their meals.

<b><i>What kind of a vegetarian are you?</i></b>

See this milk I am drinking, it is soy milk. I avoid animal products. There's no justification for eating meat, is there?

<b><i>Many Indian vegetarians find it difficult to be vegetarians in America, especially when they travel?</i></b>

I can understand it was a problem two decades ago but now you find many vegetarian restaurants across the country. But worse comes to worse, one can pick up fresh fruit and raw vegetables from a shop. It is never really difficult to be a vegetarian. 

<b><i>Talking about health, many foreigners especially Americans hesitate to go to India because they are afraid that they will fall sick.</i></b>

You take precautions whenever you travel. But I have the feeling that some people fall ill because they constantly worry about it. I have always felt at home wherever I have traveled in India.

<b><i>Do you believe in reincarnation?</i></b>

Absolutely, and over the years my belief in rebirth has become stronger. I somehow feel that in all my avatars I have been connected to India.

<b><i>What do you dislike most about foreigners headed to India? </i></b>

The kind of people who are convinced that they are going to save Indian masses. On the other hand, there are many people who do good work in India without any big ambitions or the urge to convert the people to their own faiths.

<b><i>When did you really fall in love with India?</i></b>

I think it was the moment I stepped out of the plane and touched Indian soil. A very powerful feeling came across me, and I felt I had belonged to that country for ages. It was like I had come home. I was just 13 but I felt I had lived in India for centuries, in various parts of the country and that though I had been born in America, it was my good karma that had brought me back to India.

<b><i>Do you have an Indian name?</i></b>

Sometimes when people find it difficult to pronounce my name, I say I am Maya. In Braj, some people called me Madhu. I love that name too. I am very fond of Braj. I believe when I prayed and meditated there Krishna 'lifted the veil of Maya,' as they say. It is difficult to explain, but for an instant I saw everything as illusion, then the insight vanished. The pandit at the ashram told me sometimes Krishna grants this insight to the devotees he favours.

http://us.rediff.com/news/2006/aug/25inter.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I did enjoy her reply to the question of what type of foreigners she disliked seeing in India - the evangelists/missionaries!

The Rediff reporter (conveniently ?) ommited to ask her what it is about Hinduism that she liked, and instead focused on Buddhism. Mmm...it seems not many Indian media persons like giving favorable attention to Hinduism.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Haryana to confiscate book :Mahatma Gandhi a Curse  for Bharat</b>
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/haryana-to-con...hi/21008-3.html
by  Anand Parkash Madan


Chandigarh: The Haryana government has  decided to confiscate every copy of a
book called Mahatma Gandhi a Curse for  Bharat, written by Anand Parkash
Madan and published in English and Hindi  with immediate effect.

Stating this here today, an official spokesman said  that the decision to
confiscate the book had been taken because after carefully  going through the
book it was found that it contained objectionable derogatory  remarks against
the Father of the Nation and tended to promote feelings of  enmity, hatred and
ill-will between different communities. 

The government after going through the book  concluded that it contained
"objectionable and derogatory" remarks against  Mahatma Gandhi and "tends to
promote feelings of enmity, hatred and ill-will  between different communities,"
the spokesman said. 

The state government found the publication an  offence and under sub section
(1) of section 95 of the Criminal Procedure Code  1973, decided that every
copy of the book in Haryana be confiscated.

A case will also be registered against the writer  soon, the spokesman added.
In the book, the word Mahatma is defaced by a red  line cutting right through
the word to show Madan did not agree with the  appellation given to Gandhi by
Rabindranath Tagore, sources said.

Gandhi is portrayed as anti-Hindu in the book, the  sources said.
The officials said that the book was banned  following complaints from
certain people against  it.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>129 persons \'reconverted\' to Hinduism</b>
Oct 2, 2006
NewKerala.com
Baripada (Orissa), Oct 2: As many as 129 people belonging to 27 families were
\"reconverted\" to Hinduism at a function organised by the Viswa Hindu Parishad
(VHP) at Chengua Mangalpur in Orissa\'s Mayurbhanj district today, VHP sources
said.

\"All of them were Hindus, who had been forcibly converted to Christinity. Now
they have returned to their own religion\", Gouri Rath, state secretary of VHP
claimed.

Those, who were \"reconverted\" today were all tribals including 40 women and 29
children and belonged to seven villages -- Bhandara, Serengisahi, Saradiha,
Baghadhapa, Prasannachandrapur, Gokulachandrapur of Mayurbhanj district and
Durgadevi under Balasore district.

The tribals were given new clothes and sprinkled with \"holy water\" amidst
chanting of hymns and shrill sounds of conch shells.

Swamy Adwaitananda Brahmachari performed the rituals even as a large number of people including BJP Rajya Sabha MP Bhagirathi Majhi, BJP MLA Pratap Sarangi and Sachidananda Giri, VHP secretary in charge of Mayurbhanj and Balasore Districts were present<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[ramana]

This article is a convergence of history, mathematics and religio- politics!

[url=http://129.130.29.130/Collegian/article.php?a=5435}Concept of Zero, Nothingness changed the World[/url]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
COLUMN: Concept of zero, nothingness changed the world
Published on Thursday, March 17, 2005 
Aaron Duncan
Kansas State Collegian 


The USS Yorktown was a billion-dollar missile cruiser. Warships like it are designed to withstand the strike of a torpedo or the blast of a mine.
Though it was heavily armored against physical attacks, no ever thought to defend the Yorktown from zero.

On Sept. 21, 1997, while cruising off the coast of Virginia, zero struck, and 80,000 horsepower became worthless. The Yorktown's computers had just received new software to run its engines. Unfortunately, a single zero that was supposed to be removed from the software slipped by engineers. It lay hidden until the ship’s computer system tried to divide by zero, and everything shut down.

<b>Charles Seife relates this story in his 2000 book, “Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea.” He notes, “The biggest questions in science, religion, mathematics and philosophy are about nothingness.” </b>

Too often, we have not paid attention to our history and the evolution of concepts. In particular, the concept of nothing or zero has important implications for where our society has been and where it is going.

It is difficult for us to imagine it today, but there was a point in time when nothing wasn’t anything at all. <b>Dr. Robert Kaplan writes in his book, “The Nothing That Is,” that zero first appeared in the Babylonian civilization around 300 BC.</b>
<i>{Psy-ops!!! By Kaplan}</i>

<b>The West did not respond favorably to this Eastern concept. The most important reason for the West rejecting zero is that zero broke the rules of mathematics established by Western civilization. </b>

One of these basic rules is the axiom of Archimedes, which states that if you add a number to itself enough times, it will exceed any other number in magnitude. We see that 1 + 1 = 2 and 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.

However, this is not true of zero. Add zero to itself, and all you get is zero. Zero refuses to change. Because of this, the West could not accept it for nearly two millennia.

<b>Mathematics was not the only area in which zero clashed with Western life. Zero challenged the West’s belief in God. </b>Aristotle wrote a theory to justify the existence of God. In that theory, he reasoned that there was no such thing as nothing, thus something had to have created the heavens and the Earth. Something must be moving the sun, the stars and the moon, and that something was God.

<b>Christianity adapted Aristotle’s theory to much of early Christian theology. Everything was fine until the 1500s when Renaissance thinkers rediscovered zero and realized that if nothing does exist, then Aristotle’s theory is flawed at a very fundamental level. The Catholic Church was left with two choices: either accept zero and see their faith destroyed or reject it and preserve their theology.

They choose the latter and zero soon became labeled as a device of heretics, and the teaching of it was banned by the church. However, not even the Catholic Church could contain zero. Despite the Papal ban, the teaching of zero continued and eventually the West was forced to accept this most dangerous of all concepts.</b>

<i>{Mpre psy-ops that Renaissance Europe rediscovered Zero.}</i>

Ultimately, Seife puts it best when he reminds us that, "No other number can do such damage. Computer failures like the one that struck the Yorktown are just a faint shadow of the power of zero. Cultures have grinded against it, and philosophies have crumbled because of it. This why it has been feared, hated and even outlawed."

<b>Learning from the Yorktown and from past civilizations, the zero is not a thing to be feared. It should be revered. </b>


Aaron Duncan is a graduate student in speech communication. Please send your comments to opinion@spub.ksu.edu
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Came across this article by Mera Bharat Mahan who is an IT prof at Clifornia, USA(no more details could be traced):
Politics: A religion with -No entry- board
My maternal grandfather was a freedom fighter, spent most of his early life in jails and after independence of India, he joined politics, ran for an election and was a legislature from a small constituency in Bihar. Sticking to his ideals, he didn’t even think of bringing his children to politics and my mother or my uncle and the coming generation ended up remaining as ordinary people. There were many others whose children never joined politics in their life e.g. Dr Rajendra Prasad the first president of India.



Some others did it differently. The biggest role model was our first prime minister Nehru whose next three generations have been in power and it would go even further. It ended up creating a big conglomerate of rulers for whom, politics become like a family business which they keep passing on to the next generations. People like Scindias, Pilots, Deoras, Thakres, Dixits, Yadavs (Mulyam Singh), Abdullahs, Sayeds etc. are some of the examples from a long list.



Now there is a list of opportunists such as Mayawati, VP Singh, Mulayam, Lalu Yadav, Advani, Vajpayee who used people’s emotions and sensitive issues to quickly come to the power and add to the conglomerate.



More people like journalists, industrialists and even criminals joined them because the mainstream guys wanted to remain in the power with help of money, publicity or muscle power they needed to remain in the power.



All this has created a big “religion” of politicians. This religion prohibits anybody from joining unless they fulfill five basic criteria for joining politics. These criteria are:



You quit any religion you already follow or the cast you are in. You can keep the name though and your old religion on papers as they might be needed. By doing this, you enhance your qualifications to create rift between other religions.


You should be a close friend or relative of a politician. Closest the relation, quickest will be this religion in accepting you.


You should have lot of money to invest in different “political ventures” i.e. fund some campaign, pay to big guys for getting a seat in Rajya Sabha or just become famous somehow!


You should be a criminal with big muscle power and be able to “fight for the religion” which means killing people who speak right against wrong or wrong against wrong.


Make sure that anybody not fulfilling any of the above four do not convert to this religion. It might involve killing the guy, involving him in a false case or just mudslinging on him. You might need to associate with your biggest enemy to achieve this.


Additional to that, there are some “Nice to have” qualifications. Things such as “No self respect”, “Ability to deny your own statements”, “Changing allegiance”, “Mudslinging”, “Sycophancy” etc. etc.



Now I look at myself and find myself totally scared. I probably do not have any of these qualifications and the fifth basic qualification scares me even more. I am probably better off being part of my own religion.



I have seen others suffered because they didn’t check the qualifications completely before they decided to join politics. Remember, my favorite Big B who came to politics with a big bang. He had some of the qualification but he failed on the additional qualifications and the poor guy had to leave the religion. There are other examples such as Rajeev Gandhi’s best friend Arun Singh who recently disclosed his bitter experience with his best friend. Recently, a UP legislature Krishnanad Rai who challenged another legislature with basic qualification number four, was killed.



At the other side, we have Rajeev Shukla, a Congress MP who used to interview politicians on Zee TV, made some good friends and joined the religion. We have Chandan Mitra (Owner of daily Pioneer) decided to join Rajya Sabha on BJP’s support. Anil Ambani joined Rajya Sabha on Congress support and Jaya Bachchan went to Rajya Sabha on Samajwadi Party’s support. I am not against intellectual people joining Rajya Sabha but it really hurts when you see these intellectuals speaking the supporting party’s language (additional qualification of “no self respect”). Probably, I won’t be able to do that.



The funny thing is that unlike Hindu Religion, people of “Politics” religion are very supportive of conversion-so if somebody wants to leave the religion, people let them go very happily. Even they help the person settling down after leaving the religion by dropping their pending court cases, stopping mudslinging and giving them all the respect they don’t even deserve. There are few exceptions to this rule. Mrs Sonia Gandhi or Mr Jyoti Basu and some others are like Shankaracharyas of the religion who cannot leave on their own wish as the religion will be orphaned in case they leave.



India is a secular country but this religion of politics is always ahead and takes priority over others. People of other religion like Uphaar Cinema fire victims, Jessica’s relatives, Nitish Katara’s parents, Mattu’s parents, 1993 Bomb Blast victims and many more wait for justice for decades but when there is an attack on politicians (e.g. attack on parliament), in retaliation, we start gathering our troops to the border and justice also happens very quickly by ordering death penalty for the culprits.



Like other religions, this religion also has it’s festival. They celebrate at time of election , riots, farmers committing suicide, land ceiling in Delhi, spread of epidemic such as dengue etc. are the festivals some of people in this religions celebrate. They get a chance to feast and get some brownie points by making a hill out of mole for to get some political mileage.



Do you really want to convert and join the religion? Perhaps “a big NO” and so do I. All these qualification are similar to a “No entry” board for me. I probably want to follow a different path to change the society. It may be my writings (“pen is mightier than sword” still applies) or my other actions. There are lot of other means to make this world more beautiful. Perhaps, 100 years from now, some actions inside or outside this religion will make some of the basic qualifications liberal and more sincere people join the politics. You can call me a “Coward” until then.



Mera Bharat Mahaan!!!

[Guest]

<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo--> and here is my reply:
Mera Bharat Mahan ke dosto, first of all, accept my heartiest congrats on penning down a comprehensive article as the redeeming feature of politics is also part of article whereby you say that likes of Vajpayee, Mulayam, VP Singh, Advani, Lalu came into politics to plug in the opportunity. Though it looks farfetched to myself; what to talk of others yet I will not hesitate to quote Gita's famous sholk in modified style here:
yada yada hi political dharmasay galanir bhavti Bhartam
tada tada hi political dharamsay uthanam atamanam srajami aham
So, thanks a bunch for giving hope also in your article proverbially proving that every cloud has silver lining.
In nutshell, I will request you and all others to come out of closet and follow Gita's another famous sholka:
karmanayev adhikara te, ma faleshu kadachan
In conclusion, if you take to cowardice, you are already dead before your actual death; then why not die fighting? Valiants taste of death but once.
Jai Hind.

[Shambhu]

I was thinking..
It is a great necessity today for some enterprising person/group to put together booklets on
1. archeological findings (with photos) worldwide that confirm the dominance of Hindu civilization in various places;
2. linguistic evidence for the same
etc..

Small booklets that can be bought cheaply..People will buy them, if readily accessible. Should go a long way.

Emphasis need not be on comprehensiveness, only on encouraging curiosity...

[acharya]

http://www.india-seminar.com/2004/539/539%...n%20chandra.htm
<b>Elections as auctions</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The more competitive an election, therefore, the more such voters from these groups are likely to benefit. But no matter how competitive it is, a democracy that does not guarantee access to a minimal set of entitlements for its most vulnerable citizens has malfunctioned in a serious way.

Paradoxically, however, this malfunction may well be the reason for the survival of democracy in India. When survival goods are allotted by the political market rather than as entitlements, voters who need these goods have no option but to participate.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


http://assets.cambridge.org/052181/4529/sa...521814529ws.pdf
Why ethnic parties succeed.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald...04/br4.asp
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/0...42400070800.htm


http://yale.edu/ycias/ocvprogram/licep/1...handra.pdf
Strategic voting

http://yale.edu/ycias/ocvprogram/licep/5/c...ndra-laitin.pdf
Frame work for identity change




<b>
Why Ethnic Parties Succeed: Patronage and Ethnic Head Counts in India. By Kanchan Chandra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 368p. $80.00.

In the post-9/11 world where the “clash of civilizations” has moved beyond classroom debates to the public realm, it is refreshing, and challenging, to see a study that does not give ethnicity an easy ride. The title of this book is slightly misleading, though, because even while it concedes that appeals for political support on the basis of ethnic categories based on “race, caste, tribe or religion” (p. 2) are frequently made, sometimes with considerable success, it asserts that such tactics do not always succeed. When they do, it is not necessarily because of their putative appeal to sentiments but, instead, because both ethnic candidates and their supporters, rather than being swayed by appeals to their nonrational selves, are actually driven by sophisticated calculations of expected gain. Their utility calculus takes the size of the ultimate prize as well as the probability of winning it into account when they choose to align themselves with one set of politicians as opposed to another. Kanchan Chandra's parsimonious and general model explains why ethic parties in India, riding on Hindu or, for that matter, Tamil nationalism, succeed in some contexts but not in others.</b>

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ethnic Bargains, Group Instability, and Social Choice Theory
KANCHAN CHANDRA

This article makes two arguments: first, it argues that theories connecting ethnic group mobilization with democratic bargaining are based, often unwittingly, on primordialist assumptions that bias them toward overestimating the intractability of ethnic group demands. Second, it proposes a synthesis of constructivist approaches to ethnic identity and social choice theory to show how we who study ethnic mobilization might build theories that rely on the more realistic and more powerful assumption of instability in ethnic group boundaries and preferences. It illustrates the promise of this approach through a study of the language bargain struck in India's constituent assembly between 1947 and 1949.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


http://www.aasianst.org/absts/1998abst/sasia/s-toc.htm

http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/politics/facu...ndra/as2000.pdf
Elite Incorporation in Multiethnic soceities

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>TTD gives 1 gm gold to prevent conversions</b>
http://www.christianaggression.org/item_di...35490&type=NEWS
Oct 20, 2006
Deccan Chronicle

Hyderabad, Oct. 20: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which runs the richest temple in the country, will hand out one-gram of gold to poor families to keep them from converting to other religions.
The new board that runs the TTD took this decision following complaints from religious leaders that preachers of other religions were luring poor Hindus either through financial help or promises of a better living.

If that is indeed the case, the TTD is in for a rethink. One gram of gold — assuming the jeweller is honest and does not adulterate it — would cost less than Rs 900. The gold will be given in the form of mangalsutras to one lakh below poverty line (BPL) couples every year.<b> “There are several lakh Hindu families living below the poverty line. They have never ever worn gold ornaments. The TTD will distribute gold mangalsutras and perform one lakh mass marriages every year,” said TTD chairman B. Karunakar Reddy</b>.  <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->

<b>“On February 22, 2007, one lakh mass marriages will be performed between 8 am and 8.30 am all over the State and the TTD will provide free food to 20 family members and relatives of each couple. The basic idea is prevent poor Hindus from converting to other religions,” Mr Reddy said. The TTD has also come out with a programme to distribute “atchintalus” of Lord Sri Venkateswara and “kumkuma” of Goddess Sri Padmavati among all Hindu families in the State. This will create awareness among Hindus and bring them to the religious fold</b>, he said.

The chairman also revealed the <b>board’s plan to reduce VVIP darshan time by half from the present four hours</b> so that the masses can have longer darshans. “We can accommodate an additional 3,000 general pilgrims,” Mr Reddy said. The TTD has written to MLAs, MPs and senior officials to reduce the number of “recommendation letters” they issue. It has also set up a committee to define who is a VVIP. <b>Giving thrust to amenities for the common pilgrims, the TTD will construct 35,000 new quarters, in addition to the present 35,000 cottages and rooms in the temple town</b>. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Excellent!!!!!!!!