An SSCP Review Committee has been set up by GOI, as per its commitment given to the Supreme Court of India, in the fallout of blasphemous ASI affidavit. The charter of the committee is to hear from all the people and organizations, that feel they are concerned with the issue, review the entire SSCP issue in that light, and prepare a report to GOI, and via them to the Supreme Court.

The whole effort, in my opinion is an eye wash by UPA, to buy more time, and see the state elections in Guj and Himachal through, without allowing Rama Setu and ASI affidavit to become an election issue.

The above pessimism is confirmed by how the committee is constituted. People they have included and those they have avoided. While I don't know many, but those that I know, are definitely anti-Hindu and leftists. At the same time they have not included anyone known for any knowledge in the background of Setu or SSCP. They have not included any archaelogist - active or retired, they have not included any expert on religios matters, any defence/naval expert, any expert on strategic security or energy, have not included any known economist or industrialist, etc.

(members are requested to share if they have info on these committee members. see news article below)

But anyways, the purpose my creating this post was different.

The commitee has published an advertisement, inviting written petitions from general public and any organization that wants to make any objection to the project, or this alignment of the project, etc.

In this regard, <b>can we explore the possibility of sending a petition from India Forum side?</b> That is if members agree.

<b>I also would urge all the members to send individiual petitions from their own personal side too. More the better. Also please inform each and every person, that you know should be concerned with this, and storm the committee with thousands of thousands of petitions. Let this be no lukewarm response, that they can site in the court as such, translating into general public not being concerned with the issue.</b>

Member opinions?

Viren Ji, Mudy Ji, would you please take lead? I can provide some sample strawman content if needed. See some of the protest letters that some visitors to that blog had written are pasted below.

Here is the news report about it:

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sethusamudram project committee meets
Thursday, October 11, 2007

New Delhi, Oct 11 (ANI): The committee of eminent persons constituted by the Centre to look into the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project held its first meeting here today.All the members of the committee were present in today's meeting.The Government has sought three months time from the Supreme Court to examine the Sethusamudram project.The Committee has invited objections and suggestions, including from the writ petitioners in the cases in the Supreme Court, on the project.It will then consider suggestions, proposals and documents after giving them a personal hearing. ...

The ten-member committee constituted to look into the matter is headed by

University of Madras Vice-Chancellor Prof. S. Ramachandran, who is also the Chairman of Monitoring Committee on Environmental Impact Issues.

The committee comprises of
Prof. R S Sharma, former Professor of History at the Delhi University;
Dr. M. Sakthivel, Aqua Culture Foundation of India President ;
Prof. Dilip K. Biswas, former Chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board;
Dr. J.R.B. Alfred, former Director of Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata,
Dr. S.R. Wate, Deputy Director of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur,
Prof. P. Jagadeesan, former Vice-Chancellor of the Bharatidasan University,
Tamil Nadu
Prof. Y. Vaikuntham, former Vice-Chancellor of the Kakatiya University, Andhra Pradesh;
Dr. K. Paddayya, Director of the Deccan College, Pune
R K Jain, Managing Director of the Indian Ports Association

The committee held detailed deliberation on the matter today. It has decided to invite objections and suggestions

<span style='color:red'>by 5 p.m. on October 31 </span>

addressed to
<span style='color:red'>
Sethu Samudram Project Review Committee
Dr. Ambedkar Law University,
Post Graduate and Research Development Block,
"Poompozhil",
5, Greenways Road,
Chennai - 600 028.</span>

The committee will give a personal hearing from October 29 to November 6 (on all days including holidays).The period from November 4-6 has been kept for giving personal hearing to the petitioners.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

some petitions and letters, visitors of ramasetu blog wrote are repreoduced here:


<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->To:
Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji,
Honorable Prime Minister of Bharat

Dear Dr. Singh,

As a citizen of Bharat, and a Hindu, I write this e-mail, in hopes that you would pay some consideration to this appeal.

Rama Setu (or Adam's Bridge as your honorable cabinet colleagues prefer to call it) is a very significant matter of faith and religious belief for millions of Hindus. Indeed, Sri Rama Setu is as significant as Mount Kailasha, spiritually.

I understand that Ministry of Shiping and Road Transport is fiercely spearheading Sethusamudram project, with a design that dredges and damages the Setu. I have also seen news reports and gone through the records of the honorable Parliament to verify that various cabinet colleagues of yours (Mr. T R Baalu, Ms. Ambika Soni, and Mr. Kapil Sibal) have repeatedly assaulted this religious belief of Hindus by claiming that, 'there is no Rama Setu. Those who say there is, prove it scientifically'.

This line taken by your colleagues is the most preposterous stand possible. It is similar to saying:

"Before revering Kabaa, first prove scientifically that Kaba is really that place where God appeared before Abraham / Moses." OR "Before believing in the divinity of Jesus Christ, it must be first proved archaeologcally that he existed, was born of the virgin mother, was crucified and then resurrected"

All of the above are plain absurd. Kaaba IS a holy site, whether the historicity can be proved or not. Jesus Christ IS to be worshipped, irrespective of his historicity.

Likewise Setu is a respected and revered site of Hindus, period.

This stand that your government is unfortunately taking is simply absurd, because the question here is not whether the bridge is man-made or nature-made, or investigating the proofs of Rama Setu. Simple fact is that the people in tradition over ages have been and are revering Setu, which makes it a holy site for them - man made or natural.

Therefore, Dr. Singh Ji,

I earnestly appeal to your conscience, to:

1. Kindly restrain your colleagues from bashing the Hindus' faith
2. Kindly Stop dredging the Setu area
3. Please amicably find a solution which all would agree to.

Jay Hind!

Thank you,
XXX
USA
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sridharan Hariharan (sridharan.x.hariharan@..) wrote:

To: President Of India

Respected Sir,

I do appreciate your broad mindlessness when you proudly ask every youth of India to read Bhagavad Gita as the teachings of Gita is Universal. Similarly, I pray now to you to intervene and show mercy on the inanimate stone structure that keeps strengthening the faith of every Hindu or Non-Hindu who believe in the History of Rama. You have the highest authority to bring a man back from the noose of Yama and forgive the sinful acts of that culprits; Why not extend the same mercy to the age old man made structure that lies deep in the sea very close to Rameshwaram and Ramanathapuram.

I have faith in Lord Rama and the Almighty God.

Please help everyone to follow the message - HELP EVER; HURT NEVER.

Thanks,

Sridharan Hariharan
Houston, TX, USA
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Raksha Aggarwal (raksha.aggarwal@..) wrote:

it is with disgust i write and protest at the proposed construction of the channel. the alternate paths given can be considered.

raksha aggarwal-- kenya
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->V. Manikandan Mani (vmanis78@..) wrote:


Sir / Madam,

RAM SETU , belived to be built by LORD SHRI RAMA 17 Lac 25 thousand years ago.

Without any evidence all these 17 lac 25 thousand years we believe that there is a bridge built by Shri Rama to Save Sita from Ravana,King of Lanka.

Today we have got a SOLID PROOF that " A BRIDGE EXIST BETWEEN DHANUSKODI TO SRILANKA" by looking at the SATELITE PHOTOGRAPH released by NASA.

" Those who are trying to break the bridge , not only tries to break the bridge but 17 lac 25 thousand year old belief also "

17 LAC 25 THOUSAND YEAR BELIEF HAS GOT ITS OWN POWER. STILL THIS BELIEF CONTINUES ........

Don't try to destroy the evidence.

At this point of time, the Goverment should investigate more about this bridge and the historical values , rather breaking RAM SETU.

SATYAMEVA JAYATE
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sunil Patel (suntel@...) wrote:


To,
The Prime Minister of India


Sub : DISMANTLING RAM SETU IS HITLARY DECISION IN INDEPENDENT INDIA.

Most respected Sir,

In reference to the subject, I would like to request you that Ram Setu should not be dismantled.

I am very surprised to hear that Govt. has planned to destroy the Ram Setu. I have read the Chennai Govt. Tamilnadu government gazette that when Rama returned from Lanka he himself destroyed the bridge by shooting it with an arrow".

From last 50 to 100 years back only we have technology to build this types of long huge bridges across the countries. 100 years of before it is not possible. Tajmahal, Piramids etc can be prepared but a bridge from one country to another on sea was impossible mission for humans.

When I believe in Hinduism, I am also believe that only in the period of Ram "Satyoug" construction of bridge can be possible.

If Govt. dont agree the "adams bridge" to be "Ram Setu", than also it can be preserved as an antique, rare historical monument on which India Heritage, culture can be proud.

Dismantling Ramsatu stating that it is not Ram Setu is a ANTI HINDUISM ACT. I strongly condemn it.

I have full hope that you will stop this type of proposal and did not hurt the feelings of crores of Indians.

With respectful regards,
Sunil Patel

http://ramasetu.blogspot.com/2007/03/protest.html
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

What has helped along this diversity is the amazing number of religions and the sects and sub-sects within them; each of them often has strict dietary codes. For example, Hindu Brahmins may not eat onions, ginger and garlic, which meant that a special cuisine came up around that bias and so on.

Various forms of milk products like, curd, cream and paneer (cottage cheese) is used in cooking in the north. In contrast, the south Indians use this sparingly. Instead, they use coconut in almost every dish. Here, it would be apt to mention that even the cooking medium differs as, the north Indians use mustard or vegetable oil, while the south Indians use groundnut or sesame oil. Keralites use coconut oil for almost

A lot of care and thought goes into the preparation of every Indian Food Recipes. A study into recipes reveals a lot of surprises. Every single ingredient of the dish is there with a purpose and compliments each other. In fact, the succession of dishes also keeps in mind the flavour and 'nature' of the spices, whether hot or cool.

Spices and herbs used in Indian cooking are either fresh or dried – in which case the flavour changes for each form. However, that is not all: the dried spices and herbs are used in various ways. They can be used whole or grounded (more often than not still pounded at home!) and they may be roasted, fried, deep-fried, half-done, well done … all according to the taste that the cook wants to give to the eventual dish.

Some of the commonly used ingredients in Indian Food Recipes are: Chilli (hot fiery red or green); Coconut; Garlic; Ginger; Basil, coriander (cilantro), mint and parsley; Fenugreek (methi); Saunf; Garam Masala; Mustard Seeds; Tamarind (Imli); Saffron (Kesar) and Rose water (gulkand).

Proverbs, phrases and sayings offer one way to peep into our cultural past. Apart from helping us narrate our culture it provides valuable insight into our ancestors' lifestyle and opinions. Let us catalog them here. I propose the following format:

Proverb:
Language:
Translation:
Meaning:
Commentary:

I will start the ball rolling....

<!--emo&:ind--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/india.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='india.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'><span style='font-family:Impact'>Yes, they can.
And here is how:
http://o3.indiatimes.com/kaunbaneganextPM/</span></span>

<b>Old Thread </b>- <b>Rama- Setu -1 </b>

http://www.india-forum.com/forums/index.ph...pic=1839&st=240
___________________________________________________________

Post 23:
<!--QuoteBegin-Bodhi+Sep 13 2007, 05:28 AM-->QUOTE(Bodhi @ Sep 13 2007, 05:28 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Sep 12 2007, 01:56 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mudy @ Sep 12 2007, 01:56 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->और दूसरी ओर इलाहाबाद हाईकोर्ट गीता को राष्ट्रीय धर्मशास्त्र घोषित करने का सुझाव दे रहा है। [right][snapback]73035[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Most TV channels and English media has ignored this news. We missed this news on the forum too.

Allahabad High Court has given a landmark judgement a couple of days back. Responding to a PIL moved by a priest of Varanasi, it stated that like lotus is national flower, and peacock national bird, Jana Gana Mana national anthem, like that Bhagawad Gita can be called the national dharma grantha. It said that Gita is not a sectarian document like the other granthas. It is not a theology. It is a value system of all humanity that India should be proud of. It said Gita inspired countless freedom fighters, and more than anything else, was the backbone of India's national spirit in various forms.

Court also admitted the government's excesses on temples of Hindus. It also said that excluding Parsi, Jew, Christian and Muslim - followers of all the other faiths that originated in India are known as HINDU. It also admitted and inquired how Hindus are becoming minority in parts of India and UP. It also directed Center and UP govts to set up separate task forces to safe guard the "Hindu" places of worship. Same bench (Justice Srivastava) that had earlier pronounced that Muslims are not to be treated as 'minority' by UP Govt.

<b>Justice Srivastava will soon face the music. Watch it.</b>
[right][snapback]73071[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

As predicted, Nyaymurti Shambhunath Srivastava receives threats - security provided. He just retired too.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->जस्टिस शंभूनाथ को धमकी, सुरक्षा बढ़ी

इलाहाबाद, 12 सितम्बर (त्रिलोकी यादव): इलाहाबाद उच्च न्यायालय के सेवानिवृत्त न्यायाधीश एसएन श्रीवास्तव को चिट्ठी के माध्यम से धमकाने का एक सनसनीखेज मामला सामने आया है। यह धमकी उन्हें प्रदेश में मुसलमान अल्पसंख्यक नहीं फैसला देने के कुछ दिनों बाद दी गयी थी। संवेदनशील मुद्दा होने के कारण पुलिस इसकी चुपचाप जांच कर रही थी। अब गीता को धर्मशास्त्र बनाने के सुझाव के फैसले के बाद पुलिस उनकी सुरक्षा बढ़ाने के साथ ही इस मामले में एसटीएफ की मदद लेने की भी सोच रही है। न्यायमूर्ति शंभूनाथ श्रीवास्तव कुछ दिन पहले ही रिटायर हुए हैं।

http://epaper.jagran.com/main.aspx?edate=9...de=37&pageno=1#
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

(thanks for link ramana)

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Make Geeta national dharma shastra: HC</b>

Allahabad: In a judgement that may ruffle many feathers, the Allahabad High Court has said that Bhagvad Geeta should be made the national dharma shastra of the country and it should be considered a fundamental duty of all citizens to follow the 'dharma' (sublime duty) as propounded by it. "As India has recognised its national flag, national anthem... Bhagvad Geeta may be considered as national (rashtriya) dharma shastra," Justice SN Srivastava has observed.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Call for papers

OK, folks, after all the articles and discussions and laughter, we are down to where the law finally catches up with the Aryan Invaders.


The CAPEEM lawsuit is into the Deposition stage, where the Experts have to try to refrain from lying for a few minutes, on pain of perjury charges. From what we hear, the heat is on their musharrafs, because, well, we all know the "because" - there is clear evidence that some of the Board bigots conspired with the East Coast guns-for-hire, and their West Coast cronies, to deny rights to the American citizens who were demanding equal treatment for their kids.


However, to paraphrase Leon Uris from "Exodus",

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->ONLY THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN RUNS ON TRUTH
ALL THE KINGDOMS (AND COURTROOMS) OF EARTH RUN ON $$$<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Time for a focused campaign to build up enough $$$ so that the people who are fighting for all of us, don't go without the needed resources.

Consequence of being forced to cut corners would be that some of the guilty may get off without giving sworn depositions, because the "expenses" that they demand cannot be paid.

This is not about sending your $0.02 (though of course, please do that too as possible). This is about planning and execution.

Do some hard thinking, folks, and build up

a) A LIST of donors (or time, money, everything) so that the NUMBER of supporters can be seen to be as large as it is. This is needed to convince those who need to be convinced.

b) A list of people to appproach.

and then let's go do it - get the big $$.

I assume that this effort will create a fund that goes on well beyond this case, and becomes a resource that deters nonsense of the sort that Witzel , Courtright, the bigots who had to be arrested in the Senate, and all their bigot cohorts have been pulling.

Call for papers: Seminar at the 5th annual Human Empowerment Conference
Dallas, Texas
Fri., Oct. 12th - Sun, Oct. 14th, 2007

PL. contact me for further details. my website indicstudies.us has my email address webmaster at indicethos dot org


Abstract

The issues

It is clear that much of what we learned in our school history books is suspect if not downright erroneous, starting from the chronology of ancient India to the postulation of an Aryan Invasion, the location of the ancient home of the Zoroastrian people, the dating of Chandra Gupta Maurya's reign, the dating of the Buddha himself, the origin of the Brahmi script, the embellishment of the Caste system by the Colonial overlord, the dating of the impregnation of Indic culture in countries of South East Asia to name a few. More importantly, the Eurocentric approach to the narration of the fascinating story of Indian History taken by English authors is at variance with the facts and the history as we knew it prior to the arrival of the Europeans in the Indian subcontinent. We will do our best to peel the layers of the onion, but it is too large a task to be undertaken by a handful of individuals, especially as the narration of this history is firmly in the grip of individuals with certain ideologies who are deeply ensconced in New Delhi and whose viewpoint is for all intents and purposes in conformance with the story as told by the British. The underlying premise here is that the history of ancient India as taught today to our children is substantially at variance with reality, and with the facts as we now understand them
The Rationale - How to remedy the situation
Obviously we need to inform ourselves as to the truth of the matter , apply criteria such as logical consistency to assess the data as it is available and determine whether a particular event or that a substantial portion of the current chronology passes the tests. We invite individuals to contribute in various ways to such a project by participating in the seminar. We are particularly interested in the contributions to the exact sciences such as Astronomy mathematics and linguistics in ancient India, not only to assess the content of the contribution but to use this event to see if it can give us clues and markers which will help us decipher the occurrences of the past several millennia. For example in the many delightful problems that Indian mathematicians pose, such as In Lilavati by Bhaskara II, he may make reference to a currency or a social and legal practice that is particular to a specific era, that would tilt the evidence in the direction of that era. Another example may be the dating of Panini. If texts in classical sanskrit started appearing at a certain date, then it stands to reason that Panini must have completed his monumental work on the Ashtadhyayi prior to this date. This explains why amongst all the dates assigned by Western Indologists , the dating of Panini is one of the oldest. However reluctantly they may have done so , the conclusion that classical sanskrit literature must have post dated Panini is inescapable, since he was the most famous one to codify the language and its grammar.
The Topics
We request interested authors to
1. Identify key distinguishing characteristics and dates of the Indic civlization
2. Indicate those areas of Indian history which are egregiously in error
3. Propose methodology and criteria to evaluate the accuracy of the current or future proposed narratives
4. Discuss the extent to which India borrowed astronomical concepts, such as the Nakshatra system of the precession of the equinoxes from Baylonian, Greek and Chinese sources
5. Discuss the possible connections between Panini’s Linguistic efforts with the invention of the place value system








We encourage individuals to think out of the box and suggest related topics that fall under the overall rubric of the heading above


Objective

The goal of the seminar is to increase awareness of the importance of learning the accurate History of India and to extricate ourselves from the present situation where we have relinquished control of our history to individuals who have little stake in India and hardly any accountability for any errors that they make.


Methodology

Interested people can take part in the seminar that will be held at the Human Empowerment Conference at Dallas, Texas on 13th October 2007. (Conference dates are 12th, 13th, 14th October 2007). Research papers can be either presented at the seminar or be submitted for publication in the conference proceedings in absentia or both.

Pioneer, 22 August, 2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Rs 600 cr gold temple to be consecrated in TN

K Venkataramanan | Chennai

A temple made of more than a tonne of gold, said to be grander than the Golden Temple in Amritsar, will be consecrated in the northern Tamil Nadu town of Vellore on Friday, a spiritual organisation that has built the temple said here on Tuesday.

The temple called 'Sripuram' and dedicated to Goddess Mahalakshmi, but open to devotees belonging to all religions, has been built by the Sri Om Sakthi Narayani Peetam at a cost of Rs 600 crore, the spiritual organisation's office-bearers said.

The temple, spread over 55,000 square feet, is located on a sprawling plot of 100 acres at Malaikodi near Vellore, about 150 km from here, by the organisation run by a 31-year-old religious leader who calls himself 'Sri Narayani Amma'.

Except for a walkway that runs through the complex, the entire structure is made of gold and copper, and contains many intricate carvings and sculptures in gold.

It took six years for about 400 goldsmiths and copper craftsmen from the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam to complete the structure, according to P Murali, trustee of the Peetam.

The temple structure was first covered with a copper coating, and then draped in nine layers of gold beaten into foils.

The main deity, Mahalakshmi, stands in granite stone, but the idol has been plated with pure gold.

The star-shaped pathway leading to the temple has messages of 'Amma', who has conceived and designed the place of worship, and quotations from the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible and the Koran displayed on both sides.

"The temple is Amma's gift to mankind," an official of the Peetam said. Devotees say it is will be recognised as one of the 'wonders of the world'.

Officials say the gold had been procured in the form of bars through the Reserve Bank of India in a transparent manner, probably using funds raised from philanthropists and devotees.

<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->