You need a subscription to access this article, i believe.

The word games have begun already. But we in the Indian subcontinent are long acquainted with these games.When a terrorist is a Muslim he is automaticallly a militant. of course it is never explained what he is militant about and of course it is never explicitly stated that these socalled brave and courageous militants are also almost always killers of women and children. the unfortunate but unavoidabe consequences of a coflict in the words of the good CEO from across the border. Unavoidable , my dear general ? all it would take is a word from you Herr General and the killing of women and children would stop.

Godhara and its aftermath is now invariably referred to as a pogrom by our homegrown leftists but it is never explained why in a pogrom hundreds of policemen are killed or that several hundred Hindus were killed. But i forget Killing of Hindus doesnt count. it matters only when Muslims are killed. Otherwise how to explain the fact that the initiating event in Godhara is hardly ever mentioned.

So the moral equivalence goes on, something that Europe is only just discovering. But we have been used to facing this moral equivalence from our long and lugubrious history. We are told, that history does not matter and neither does it matter that the greatest and most massive holocaust was committed during the last seven centuries. What matters is only the present. But what of the present ? The present where 400,000 Hindus have been driven out of otheir homes in their own country . The same present where the Hindu population of pakistan has been decimated from 5 million to nothing. The same present where Hindus in Bangladesh are systematically being eliminated. But in the word games we play the current violence in the subcontinent is all the fault of hindu nationalists such as Atal behari Vajpayee. So the moral equivalence goes on and the word games will continue to be played with gusto and with total disregard for the truth.

The more important consequence of the fecklessness of the US president in fighting the real enemy, is that the war on terrorism has become a mockery. Ameerica is continuing to pay a heavy price for its embrace of the terrorists in Pakistan, just as it paid a heavy price on 9/11 for an act committed in part by those who were initially trained by the US CIA.

Kudos to Garry kasparov for bringing attention to the subtle propaganda being waged to portray the killers and perpetrators of the violence as the victims.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Originally posted by Amber G.in the other forum<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Stop the Moral equivalence

BY GARRY KASPAROV
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 12:01 a.m.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It is said that to win a battle you must be the one to choose the battleground. Since the Abu Ghraib abuses were revealed, the battleground has been chosen by those who would blur the lines between terrorists and those fighting against them. The Bush administration has contributed to the confusion with its ambiguous "war on terror." You cannot fight a word. You need targets, you need to know what you are fighting for and against. Most importantly you must have beliefs that enable you to distinguish friend from foe.
While al Qaeda may not have a headquarters to bomb, there is no shortage of visible adversaries. What is required is to name them and to take action against them. We must also drag into the light those leaders and media who fail to condemn acts of terror. It is not only Al Jazeera talking about "insurgents" in Iraq, it is CNN. Many in Europe and even some in the U.S. are trying to differentiate "legitimate" terrorism from "bad" terrorism. Those who intentionally kill innocent civilians are terrorists, as are their sponsors.  <b>No political agenda should be allowed to advance through terrorist activity. We need to identify our enemy, not play with words.</b>


The situation is worse in the Muslim world.  <b>Calling the terrorists "militants" or "radical Islamists" presupposes the existence of moderates willing to confront the radicals. Outside of Turkey, it is very hard to find moderate clerics who will stand up to Islamist terrorists</b> , even though the majority of their victims are Muslim. In Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr has been murdering his religious opposition and using armed gangs to establish political rule. He appears immune to anything resembling condemnation. We know that his militia receives outside support--and where would it come from other than Syria and Iran?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Karnataka
Karnataka's illustrious Rajput connection
By A. Jayaram
BANGALORE, MAY 30. The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, is the first head of the Government who can trace his origins to a different State in the country.

<b>He belongs to a Rajput family that migrated to the old Nizam State (Hyderabad) from Rajasthan. </b>
The Rajput connection with Karnataka is a long one and can be traced to the 18th Century. There were Rajput soldiers in the armies of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, and later those of the maharajas of Mysore.

There were Rajput officers and men in the Mysore Infantry and Mysore Lancers which were merged with the Indian Army in 1953.
However, it was also the former royal family of Mysore which forged marriage alliances with the Rajput royalty of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in the 20th Century. In fact, there is also a claim to the Rajput ancestry of the Mysore royal family which belongs to the Arasu caste. The founder of the dynasty, Yaduraya, was said to be a Rajput from Kathiawar.

The consort of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, Pratapkumari Devi, was a Rajput princess from the principality of Bansda in Gujarat. The marriage which took place in 1900 was arranged by the Maharani Regent at that time, Vanivilas Sannidhi. Pratapkumari Devi died at the Bangalore Palace in 1953 and she had no children.

The first wife of Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, Sathyapremakumari was a Rajput princess from Charkhari State in Madhya Pradesh. Krishnaraja Wadiyar had arranged the marriage which took place in 1938.

All the three daughters of Kanteerava Narasimharaja Waidyar (the former Yuvaraja of Mysore) and sisters of Jayachamaraja Wadiyar had been married off to royal families outside the State. Princess Sujayadevi and Princess Vijayadevi had been married into the royal houses of the principalities of Sanand and Kotdasanghani respectively in Gujarat. However, the third sister, Jayachamundeshwari, who died young, had married the Maharaja of Bharatpur in Rajasthan, who was a Jat and head of a leading royal family in the North.

One of the sons-in-law of Jayachamaraja Wadiyar is from the former Rajput royal family of Wadhwan in Gujarat.

One of the Rajput settlers in the State to rise high in the State's civil service was C.M.H. Ranajodh Singh who retired as the Inspector-General of Police in Mysore (1947-50). He was also a leading landlord in the Mysore Road area of Bangalore.

Another senior civil servant in princely Mysore was Ramachandrasinhji. Rana Lakshman Singh who settled down in Mysore was a noble in the Mysore court.

Pandit Chandrabhan Singh of Mysore was a leading practitioner of Ayurveda. M.E. Bharatraj Singh, who was Professor of English in Mysore and Bangalore universities, was Principal of Central College in Bangalore.

Shankar Singh was a prominent Kannada film director and producer. So is his son, Rajendra Singh Babu. In the field of Kannada journalism it is M.D. Singh.

In the field of politics was Sathyanarayan Singh of Bellary who was a Congress MLA and also a mine owner.

<b>UPA to make communal violence a federal offence</b>

May 21, 2004 22:39 IST

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance proposes to enact a separate comprehensive law on communal violence under which investigations will be carried out only by central agencies and prosecution by special courts.

On Ayodhya, the UPA will await the verdict of the courts while encouraging negotiations between the parties to the dispute for an amicable settlement, a draft of the common minimum programme circulated among allies and supporting parties today said.

The draft said the government would enact a comprehensive law on communal violence providing for investigations by central agencies, prosecutions by special courts, and payment of uniform compensation.

The draft said the UPA is committed to the implementation of the Protection of Places of Worship Act, 1992.
<b>It said the UPA would amend the Constitution to establish a commission for minority educational institutions that will provide direct affiliation for minority professional institutions to central universities</b>.

<b>The document said the UPA would promote modern and technical education among all minority communities and the social and economic empowerment of the minorities through more systematic attention to education and employment will be its primary concern</b>.

It proposes to set up a national commission to examine the issue of backwardness and adequate representation of <b>all religious and linguistic minorities and to make recommendations on the issue</b>.

On administrative reforms, the draft said the UPA would prepare a detailed blueprint for revamping the public administration system and promotion of e-governance on a massive scale.

The Right to Information Act will be made more progressive, participatory, and meaningful, it said.

<b>It also said the UPA would take a leading role to drastically cut delays in high courts and the lower judiciary and expand their legal aid services.</b>

in.rediff.com/election/20...21cmp2.htm

<b>9 farmers commit suicide in 4 days</b>

Hyderabad, May 19: As many as nine farmers have committed suicide in the last four days, sending out signals both in the government and the Congress that Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s package on farmers’ suicides may boomerang.

Two farmers — G Ayyanna Goud, 45, of Mathurapur village in Mahbubnagar district and K Pullaiah, 36, a cotton farmer in Timmineni Palem of Khammam — committed suicide due to severe indebtedness on Wednesday, a day after the Chief Minister announced the package of Rs 50,000 for settlement of loan and Rs 1 lakh fixed deposit for the kin of the deceased.

On Tuesday evening, even as Reddy was urging farmers not to commit suicide, a farmer couple attempted to end their lives after writing a leter to the Chief Minister. Srinivasa Rao, 45, and his wife Venkata Rathnam of Nagarajupalli in Martutu mandal of Prakasam district said they were ending their lives because of pressure of debtors. They are fighting for their lives in Chilkaluri pet.

Rao had one-acre land where he dug a well and had taken four acre on lease for cultivation. Continuous drought and poor returns forced him to borrow money, which he was unable to repay.

Two farmers from Karimnagar and one each from Medak and Anantapur committed suicide on Monday and one farmer each from Karimnagar and Warangal resorted to the extreme step on Tuesday. Murmurs have begun in the party over the sudden spurt in farmers’ suicides and the Chief Minister’s “unilateral” decision on the package, while suggestions came in from farmers’ organisations that rescheduling of repayment of loan, both in banking and private sectors, for a few months could work as an effective preventive measure.

The Telugu Desam has been maintaining a stoic silence over the issue but is closely following the developments to strike at the government. Reddy fought for five years as Opposition leader for a package for the kin of farmers who have committed suicide, made it a prime electoral slogan. On a dramatic note, he announced from the dais of his swearing-in ceremony as Chief Minister on May 14 that no farmer in the State should commit suicide henceforth.

Reddy, who held a preliminary meeting on the issue on May 16, rushed the officials to prepare the package on May 17 following the suicide of P Suresh Kumar, a farmer in Medak. As many as four farmers, two from Karimnagar and one each from Medak and Anantapur committed suicide on Monday and one farmer each from Karimnagar and Warangal resorted to the extreme step on Tuesday.

“We are only worried that spurt in suicides may lend credence to the TD’s argument that any package would encourage the debt-ridden farmers to end their lives,” a senior Congress leader said.

Congress sources also said the CM did not make any mention about the package when he discussed the State’s financial situation with senior Congress leader K Rosaiah and a host of State officials on May 16. “Though the CM signing the first file on free power is justified, other policy decisions need to be discussed in the Cabinet before making any announcement,” another leader said referring to package to prevent suicides and taking up irrigation projects in a big way.
......
“The package is more focussed on relief to the kin of farmers who committed suicides, while it did not contain any preventive measure,” association president Mallreddy said.

<b>1857 A Mutiny</b>

<b>The Revolutionary Upheaval of 1857 </b>
Although dismissed by some as merely a sepoy's mutiny or revolt, or as a protest against the violation of religious rights by the British, the great uprising of 1857 is slowly gaining recognition as India's first war of independance. And in it's broad sweep it was the greatest armed challenge to colonial rule during the entire course of the nineteenth century. Attracting people from all walks of life - both Hindus and Muslims, it triggered demands for radical social and economic reforms, calling for a new society that would be more democratic and more representative of popular demands.
<b>Early Precedents</b>

Neither was it a bolt out of the blue. Although not very well known, the period between 1763 and 1856 was not a period during which Indians accepted alien rule passively. Numerous uprisings by peasants, tribal communities and princely states confronted the British. Some were sustained - others sporadic - a few were isolated acts of revolutionary resistance - but nevertheless they all challenged colonial rule. Precipitated by the policy of unchecked colonial extraction of agricultural and forest wealth from the region - the period saw tremendous growth in rural poverty, the masses being reduced to a state of utter deprivation.

Even as official taxation was back-breaking enough, British officers routinely used their powers to coerce additional money, produce, and free services from the Indian peasants and artisans. And courts routinely dismissed their pleas for justice. In the first report of the Torture Commission at Madras presented to the British House of Commons in 1856, this was acknowledged along with the admission that officers of the East India Company did not abstain from torture, nor did they discourage its use. That this was a practice not confined to the Madras presidency alone is confirmed by a letter from Lord Dalhousie to the Court of Directors of the East India Company in September , 1855 where he admits that the practice of torture was in use in every British province. Click for more details

Desperate communities had often no choice but to resist to the bitter end. Armed revolts broke out practically every year - only to be brutally suppressed by the British. Lacking the fire power of the British arsenal - they were invariably outgunned. And lacking the means of communication available to the British - individual revolts were also unable to trigger sympathetic rebellions elsewhere. Disadvantageous timing led to crushing defeats. Yet, some of these struggles raged for many years. Click for more details

Amongst the most significant were the Kol Uprising of 1831, the Santhal Uprising of 1855, and the Kutch Rebellion which lasted from 1816 until 1832. There was also a precedence for a soldiers mutiny when Indian soldiers in Vellore (Tamil Nadu, Southern India) mutinied in 1806. Although unsuccessful, it led to the growth of unofficial political committees of soldiers who had several grievances against their British overlords

Please use this thread to keep track of how the market is responding.......

Right now on, rediff: <b>Sensex crashes 500pts, trading halted</b>


PS. No other discussion on economy. Just the political effect on the market. Thanks!

<b>Sensex slumps 330 pts on divestment threat</b>
Reuters
Mumbai, May 14

Indian shares slumped over six per cent on Friday as investors worried privatisation and foreign investment could be hit by a shift to a leftist-backed Government following the surprise election victory of the Congress party.

The slump in the Bombay 30-share index -- Sensex was led by selling in state-backed firms and banks, such as ONGC and State Bank of India. The Sensex ended down as much as 329.60 points to 5069.87. The Indian rupee fell half a per cent against the dollar.

The fall in shares extended a selling trend over more than two weeks, in which the Bombay index has tumbled 14 per cent since it became clear the pro-reform National Democratic Alliance (NDA) might not fare as well as had been expected in the election.

Congress and its allies, including some on the far-left, stunned pundits with a commanding victory and were trying to form a new Government on Friday, prompting the latest sell-off.

"It has reached a situation where people have given up hope. They have lost heavily," said managing director of Dimensional Securities, Ajit Suarana.

"But, I think it is being overdone and people should use this as a buying opportunity. Just because privatisation may not go through, doesn't mean the country will come to a halt."

India is Asia's third-largest economy.

Confirming the fears of many investors, the country's largest communist party described India's privatisation ministry as "unnecessary".

Congress says it will continue with privatisation, but only "selectively", and will not sell profit-making state companies.

"Clearly, the privatisation story is over for now," said director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management, C Jayaram. "And the big India story, which was popular among foreign investors, will lose some its appeal."

The share slump knocked half a per cent off the value of the Indian rupee, which had gained gained five per cent against the dollar in 2003 as record levels of overseas money flowed into India.

Among those shares hardest hit were companies in which the NDA government had announced plans to sell a strategic stake.

Refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd both dived 13 per cent, while Shipping Corp of India, the country's biggest shipping line, lost 17 per cent to hit a nine-month low of Rs 86.70.

Shares in ONGC, the country's top oil producer, in which the Government sold a record $2.3 billion worth of shares in March, dropped 11 per cent to Rs 731.40.

Foreign funds have sold a net $365 million worth of Indian shares in seven straight trading sessions through Wednesday.

<b>Banks were also hit on expectations crucial sector reforms will be delayed or shelved</b>. State Bank of India, the biggest commercial bank, slumped 14 per cent to Rs 516.9 and Punjab National Bank plunged 18 per cent to Rs 263.50.

Hello,

I am doing a school paper, and I would like some feed back from users on this board.

When Britain was in India (around 1850-1930) did they help the economy of India or ruin it?

Can you please place links of your source/idea.

My thought: Ruin the economy - 1. Cottage Industry 2. Monopoly

Thanks

`Linking rivers will solve water crisis'

By the end of 2020, NDA will make India a totally developed nation by connecting each of the six lakh villages with road besides ensuring electricity, water, irriga- tion, healthcare and housing.

Vajpayee has Ambitious project of interlinking rivers. Actor Dharmendra, BJP candidate from Bikaner wants to talk Punjab Chief Minister for bringing water from Punjab to Bikaner. Actor Rajnikant donated one crore for the said project and promised to vote BJP.
Government encourages students to think their future with the India’s Vision 2020.
Narayan Agrawal, 3rd year B.Tech (Civil of IIT-Delhi presented an example to select the topic of his project: \"Least Cost Canal Path Simulation Using Geographical Information System". The topic comes under Water Resources Management and minimizing the cost of transportation of water to the people. Presented papers by him in International Conferences: MapIndia2004 held in New Delhi on topic, “How MapIndia2004 can become Geospatial Democratic country before 2020”.
International Conference, GSDI-7 held in Bangalore, organized by ISRO and DST on how GIS could be used for National Spatial Development Infrastructure programs.
International Conference, ISSMA-2004 held in Manali, organized by ISRO and DST on Avalanche forecasting using GIS-PP.
"In a project with an expected cost of hundreds of crores, private participation could be sought and some charges might be levied on direct beneficiaries too", Chairman of the Task Force on Interlinking of major Indian rivers, Suresh Prabhu said February 10, 2003 at a round table session on "Networking of Indian rivers" organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here in New Delhi. Elaborating on the progress made so far, Prabhu said "latest technology including GIS and satellite imagery would be used during preparation of feasibility reports to achieve greater degree of accuracy. he said adding sociologists and NGOs were welcome to give in their suggestions on the same.

By Premendra Agrawal, Raipur, India
Comindia2000@hotmail.com

/*
** Goes here.
*/