Media In India/elsewhere -3

[Husky]

<!--QuoteBegin-Bharatvarsh+Oct 14 2008, 05:40 PM-->QUOTE(Bharatvarsh @ Oct 14 2008, 05:40 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->they previously did publish one of my comments against feminist double standards of Renuka Chaudhry.[right][snapback]89134[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Would you perhaps still have the link for this?

[Bharatvarsh]

Sorry Husky couldn't find that link either.

[Shambhu]

<b>India’s First woman saint?? Not India's first woman saint</b>

Francois Gautier, Pioneer

Indian media went into a tizzy while covering the canonisation of Sister Alphonsa, an obscure nun, to prove its secular credentials! Indian journalists forget that this country has had other women saints too.

As a Frenchman, I was coached right from childhood that logic, what we in France call cartesianism, is the greatest gift given to man and that one should use one’s reason to tread in life. Thus, I taught to my students in a Bangalore school of journalism, the SSCMS, that the first tool of a good reporter is to go by his or her own judgement on the ground, with the help of one’s first-hand experience — and not go by second hand information: What your parents thought, what you have read in the newspapers, what your caste, religion, culture pushes you into…

Yet in India, logic does not seem to apply to most of the media, especially when it is anything related to Hindus and Hinduism. One cannot, for instance, equate Muslim terrorists who blow up innocent civilians in market places all over India to angry ordinary Hindus who attack churches without killing anybody. We know that most of these communal incidents often involve persons of the same caste — Dalits and tribals — some of them converted to Christianity and some not.

However reprehensible was the destruction of the Babri Masjid, no Muslim was killed in the process. Compare that with the ‘vengeance’ bombings of 1993 in Mumbai, which killed hundreds of innocent people, mostly Hindus. Yet Indian and Western journalists keep equating the two, or even showing the Babri Masjid destruction as the most horrible act of the two.

How can you compare the Sangh Parivar with the Indian Mujahideen, a deadly terrorist organisation? How can you label Mr Narendra Modi a mass killer when actually it was ordinary middle class, or even Dalit Hindus, who went out into the streets in fury when 56 innocent people, many of them women and children, were burnt in a train?

How can you lobby for the lifting of the ban on SIMI, an organisation which is suspected of having planted bombs in many Indian cities, killing hundreds of innocent people, while advocating a ban on the Bajrang Dal, which attacked some churches after an 84-year-old swami and his followers were brutally murdered?

There is no logic in journalism in this country when it applies itself to minorities. Christians are supposedly only two per cent of the population in India, but look how last Sunday many major television channels showed live the canonisation ceremony of Sister Alphonsa, an obscure nun from Kerala and see how Union Minister Oscar Fernandes led an entire Indian delegation to the Vatican along with the Indian Ambassador. It would be impossible in England, for instance, which may have a two per cent Hindu minority, to have live coverage of a major Hindu ceremony, like the anointment of a new Shankaracharya. What were the 24×7 news channels, which seem to have deliberately chosen to highlight this non-event, trying to prove? That they are secular? Is this secularism?

The headline of the story “India gets its first woman saint”, run by many newspapers, both Indian and Western, is very misleading.

For India has never been short of saints.

The woman sage from over 3,000 years ago, Maithreyi, Andal, the Tamil saint from early in the first Millennium CE and Akkamahadevi, the 15th century saint from modern-day Karnataka, are but a few examples of women saints in India.

What many publications failed to mention in the story is that this is the first woman Christian saint — not the first Indian woman saint.

This statement is ok, when it comes, for instance, from the BBC, which always looks at India through the Christian prism (BBC ran a few months back an untrue and slanderous documentary on Auroville), but when it comes to the Indian media, it only shows the grave lack of grounding in Indian culture and history of most Indian journalists.

As a result, they suffer from an inferiority complex.

This inferiority complex, as expressed by television’s live coverage of the canonisation of Sister Alphonsa, is a legacy of the British, who strove to show themselves as superior and Indian culture as inferior (and inheritor of the ‘White Aryans’, a totally false theory).

Is it not time to institute schools of journalism, both private and public, where not only logic will be taught, but where students shall be made aware of Indian history and of the greatness of Indian culture, so that when they go out to report, they will use their own judgement and become Indian journalists, with a little bit of feeling, pride and love for their own country?
http://pseudosecularism.blogspot.com/

[Husky]

See ^

<!--QuoteBegin-Bharatvarsh+Oct 16 2008, 06:53 PM-->QUOTE(Bharatvarsh @ Oct 16 2008, 06:53 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sorry Husky couldn't find that link either.
[right][snapback]89195[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Thanks for searching for it.

[Shambhu]

Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN IBN

OK, I can see a lot of vilifications and name-calling against me and my channel in this thread. But in doing that aren’t you people missing the woods for trees? I mean watching a bolt but missing the tank? Let me put it straight - Your day-dreaming of Hindu Bharat will remain, a hard truth to swallow, a day-dream. Actually it’ll be reversed. Within next 20 years, India will become a Hindu minority country politically. 30% of the population will be from non-Indic religions and another 10% will comprise the marxist atheist secular people. How would you counter that data you desktop warmongers. You know, Hindus have lost the battle a long ago in 1991 with the killing of Rajiv Gandhi (you know what I mean). There is only one path for you to follow - convert to Abrahamic religions or join us in atheist secular brigade and condemn the Hinduism - a false concept from the beginning. Otherwise you’ll be hated, maligned, persecuted, ostracized and if you react, branded terrorist and put into jail. Don’t even think of relying on your beloved leaders. We already discredited that Karachi Boy. Only the goon from Gujarat is our last frontier but that too will be conquered gradually. With 40% population successfully detached from the Hindu cult, will there be any hope for your party then?

http://offstumped.nationalinterest.in/2008...orist/#comments

Few numbnuts here are suggesting boycotting my channel! How crazy is that? As if I care a hoot for your watching and clicking. My sponsor has that much money to pocket all the media houses in this country. Are you going to boycott all of them? How are you going to watch the news? And for the fools who think English media doesn’t matter - here is a simple statistic. Your goons party lost most of their incumbent LS seats in urban areas in 2004. Any idea who influenced those urban voters?

India will always remain India but Bharat and Hindustan will cease to exist. With modern monotheistic religions, outlook and prosperity it’ll surely be a great nation. Join now or you might have to repent later.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN IBN<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->This man is Keith Olbermann of India. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

[quote=Shambhu,Oct 23 2008, 11:38 PM]
Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN IBN

It is not Rajdeep SArdesai who has submitted the comments to Offstumped but 'SIrdesai'. (evidently an assumed name).

The commentator has written the whole thing with tongue in his cheek !


I am sure 'shambu' has seen through this artifice.

[Shambhu]

Chandramoulee, are you sure? Sirdesai has repeatedly written on Offstumped. RS could as easily be using the handle Sirdesai as someone else.

Here is another comment:

Sirdesai
October 13th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Prannoy a Christian is an old story. You are a fool if you didn’t know that. Actually it happened when his brother married Mary. And I told you guys many a times - Bengali CPIM leaders are not Christians. They are actually upper caste Brahmin or Kayasth. I heard from Mazumdar that 85% of their ministers/MLAs are from upper caste. Secularism comes naturally to a Bengali who has crossed plus 2 level. It’s imbibed into their school system. That’s why I recruit mainly Bongs since I don’t need to train them on my channel’s vision and ideals. And for the numbnuts contemplating about my belief - I’m a liberal secular peace-loving agnostic Hindu.

****On the other hand, if you are sure this Sirdesai is not RS, I will take your word for it..I do not know the history of Offstumped as well as you do..you have been there longer than me.

[acharya]

http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/27/stories/...510400.htm
<b>
Initiation of a ‘Brahmin’ instrument

George Jacob</b>

An upanayanam, complete with all the rituals, was performed for mizhavu at a ‘madhom’ on Sunday.



Ceremonial: The ‘upanayanam’ ceremony for the instruments in progress.

Kottayam: The priest was chanting Vedic manthras, tolling the bells, offering flowers and sprinkling the holy water, even as the smoke from the burning of incense at the temporary homakund, filled the interiors of the naalukettu. An upanayanam ceremony was in progress at Pothiyil Chakyar Madhom at Manganam on Sunday. However, this was not a rite-of-passage ritual for a Brahmin boy, but a very rarely performed ‘sacred thread ceremony’ for a percussion instrument.
<b>
Mizhavu, one of the oldest percussion instruments in the world, is apparently of ‘brahminical’ origin.</b> Considered sacred, the instrument is used only as accompaniment to ritualistic performances inside the temples.

“Being considered a Brahmin, all holy rituals connected with Brahminic tradition should be accorded to the mizhavus — including upanayanam, the ritualistic ceremony converting “one into a ‘brahmanan’ and initiating him into the life of a ‘brahmachari,’” said Pothiyil Narayanan Chakyar.
When ‘death’ calls…

“Mending and reusing the instrument is forbidden,” he said. “When it becomes unfit for performance after some time, the Mizhavu is considered dead and we have to perform all solemn rites connected with the death of a Brahmin.”

According to him there are eight stages in the upanayanam of a Brahmin boy. “In the case of the upanayanam for Mizhavu we skip the ‘upanishkramanom’ phase,” Mr. Narayanan Chakyar said.
The rituals

The day commenced with Ganapathy homam at 5.30 a.m., followed by Kalasaabhishekom. The crucial ceremony of ‘poonool upanayanam’ was performed after the Kalasaabhishekom. The rituals concluded with the ‘deepaaradhana.’ Following deepaaradhana, priest Jayasuryan Bhattathirippad of Suryakalady Mana handed over the two mizhavus for covering their narrow mouth with animal skin, to Kalamandalam Gopinathan Nambiar, noted Mizhavu exponent. When the rituals were over, it was almost noon.

The Pothiyil Chakyar Madhom has a long history of teaching chakyar kooth in the traditional gurukula system. The tradition, which was disrupted for a quarter of a century since 1968, was renewed in the 1990s. The ceremonies were held within the old Madhom building on Sunday. It also marked inauguration of a new Kalari building for training students.

[Husky]

http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2008/10/why...modi-suhel.html
Supporter of islamoterrorism is suddenly praising Modi.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sunday, October 26, 2008
"WHY INDIA NEEDS NARENDRA MODI?" - SUHEL SETH
oct 26th, 2008

when a mohammedan ad-man starts waxing eloquent about modi, then you know something is up.

alas, it could also be that the mohammedans have modi in their gun-sights, of course.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Heritage

<click for actual article>

Posted by nizhal yoddha at 10/26/2008 10:44:00 PM<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->This comment is insightful:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->1 comments:

Ghost Writer said...

    There is a pattern with these Nehruvian-Stalinist Jhollawallahs - they love to create bogeys and then bash them for 5 years. There is no end to the abuse that will be hurled - and then in a very sly way they will climb down.

    When they climb down they will have you believe that it was not they that got it wrong (notice the Hitlerian comparisons still exist)- no - instead they will tell you that bogey-man has softened. That he is not a firebrand anymore but a nice person, that he has come around and even apologised for his sins (even if bogey-man has not apologised)

    So it will go on - Advani for the decade of the 90's - Modi for 2010 and someone else waiting in the wings the next ten years
    10/27/2008 7:13 PM<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Bodhi]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->When readers question core values

The response from readers overwhelmed me on one occasion. At two other points of time I was taken aback by their anger. This time it looked like I would go under: the readers’ anguish was so intense. The days after September 30 were stressful. Messages kept coming in, all raising the same point, in different ways. Generally I respond to all messages, trying to offer some explanation or my opinion on the issues raised. That, I feel, will be inadequate now and so I attempt a more detailed answer to those who have communicated with me, and to all those who may hold similar views.

On September 30, 2008, The Hindu published what can be called a “semi-banner” story on Page 1 with the headline, “Nun was gang raped and priest brutally assaulted in Kandhamal.” More than half of an inside page was taken up by more details of the incidents and pictures of the Orissa violence — one of them was particularly gruesome, the close up of a partially burnt face. (Publication of such pictures continues to be questioned by readers. I have, earlier in these columns, provided the editorial department’s justification.)


* * *

The continuous flow to the Readers’ Editor’s office took various forms — email, letters, phone calls. This in addition to being harangued personally. One reader even called on my wife and asked her to convey his displeasure to me. I do not propose to take up these messages individually. The main point is the same, and there are too many asides and broadsides. What follows is a gist, specifically relating to the news stories of September 30 and my response is limited to this.

While agreeing that the incidents reported were shameful, readers were uniformly shocked by the display. The points some of them made were as follows: Such “sensationalising” of highly sensitive issues was “unbecoming” of a responsible paper of The Hindu’s stature. Reports like these would have serious consequences in terms of “furthering” violence and disharmony. Was this paper trying to further “destabilise” the already precarious communal relations? The Hindu is expected to play a constructive role in society. “Wisdom is associated with doing what is justifiable rather than justifying whatever happens to have been done,” wrote one reader.


* * *

The publication of a report on an “incident” that was more than a month old was questioned by many. What one expects on the front page is the latest news. This is also another form of trial by media, when investigations had not been completed. Was The Hindu trying to do what others did in the Arushi murder case? Why rake up the issue when the report mentioned that the Church was conscious of what publicity might do to the young nun?

Quite a few readers raised doubts about the details of the incidents as reported. The September 30 report repeatedly said there was gang rape. The later report, confirming the incident, said one person from a crowd of 30-40 committed the crime. When was she examined? There is no mention of who rescued the father and the nun.

Another common thread in all the communications was that The Hindu had not shown the same concern in reporting violence against Hindus, particularly the murder of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four of his associates — the incident that sparked the violence. The Swami was repeatedly referred to as an RSS activist, while his activities, some readers maintained, were in a wider field. There was “no reference” to the police firing on Hindus. Clashes in this area have been occurring over a long period, but this was the first time it was being given a religious colour.


* * *

All the messages were forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief and the main points from his response are:

The featuring of news stories is a matter of editorial judgment. The shocking and shameful rape of the nun and the brutalisation of the Catholic priest had been covered up by Central and State governments. We investigated and authenticated the details. FIRs had been lodged and there were eye-witnesses but the police failed to register a case until The Hindu’s investigative reporting made it a major issue and brought it on the national agenda. Our prominent Page 1 coverage and the meticulous follow-up has had a significant impact and there was greater pressure on the governments to act according to the law of the land and the canons of civilised conduct. Seymour Hersh’s path-breaking expose of the My Lai massacre (by American troops in Vietnam) happened weeks after the atrocity took place but the story had a huge impact and is still being talked about. The murder of Swami Lakshmanananda was well reported and the police have been investigating seriously. We have published plenty of reports on Islamist fundamentalism and terrorism.

Some of the readers’ letters reveal a Hindutva agenda. Frankly, the Editor-in-Chief commented, we are shocked by these responses from a small section of our readers, which imply that the responsibility and indeed dharma of an independent and secular newspaper is to avoid detailed and graphic coverage of such atrocities! The newspaper, and the journalists who did such a fine job of investigating the incidents, have been vindicated by the Orissa Chief Minister’s public admission of the rape of the nun and the arrest of some persons in connection with the heinous crimes. None of this would have happened without the expose in the press.


* * *

These, in essence, are the points I have to deal with. A reader reminds me that I am enjoined, under my terms of reference, “to seek to ensure the maintenance of high standards of accuracy, fairness and balance in our reporting and writing.” Featuring of news is an editorial judgment, no doubt. And judgments can be subjected to review and criticism. There is always an element of subjectivism in news selection and display, with personal preferences and prejudices often coming into play.

The whole report was an account of one person. This I am told was corroborated with other authoritative, reliable sources. The site where the incident occurred could not be visited, as the way was blocked. The Superintendent of Police was quoted as saying the matter was being investigated. Rape had also been medically confirmed. These facts are not disputed, but the question about the display remains. The prominence given to the story would have provoked some people and caused distress all round. This I feel was out of character for a paper which has always avoided creating or adding to tensions. The comparison with the 1968 My Lai massacre, where hundreds of Vietnamese were killed by American troops, is not apt.


* * *

The news of Swami Lakshmananda’s murder did not get much importance because details were not available at that time. But it should have been followed up to see what he had been doing. It was his active role in promoting and defending the cause of Hinduism that led to his death and this needed study. He was also a religious personality, as the father and the nun were. To treat complainants of inadequate attention to attacks on Hindus as Hindutva-vadis is unfair. All these are long-time readers who hold the paper in high regard and are upset now. People have called The Hindu names, made fun of it, criticised it, but still respected it. Hostility from loyal readers is a new experience.

What is happening in Orissa is basically a clash between the Kandha tribals and the Dalit Panas. Their antagonism is decades old and has economic causes, besides other factors. They have clashed before also, but this time these acquired a bigger religious dimension because of the involvement of external agencies on both sides. The Hindu has always opposed fundamentalism of all kinds and receives flak from Hindus and Muslims. Is there some form of Christian fundamentalism practised by some groups that causes tensions? All these need to be examined.


* * *

Retaliatory violence is no solution and what has happened in Orissa and Karnataka is a matter of shame. If the forces behind such violence canalise their energies towards eradicating the social and economic causes that make some sections oppressed, the bogey of conversion may not be there.

readerseditor@thehindu.co.in

http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/27/stories/...881100.htm
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Shambhu]

Chindu editor:
"Retaliatory violence is no solution and what has happened in Orissa and Karnataka is a matter of shame. If the forces behind such violence canalise their energies towards eradicating the social and economic causes that make some sections oppressed, the bogey of conversion may not be there."

Yeah! The "oppressed" classes' conversions suddenly came into existence when the powers that be started granting free passes to babblemaniacs and psec anti-Hindu NGOs. The virgin mother of all coincidences, no?

[Husky]

http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx...eID=7457&SKIN=M
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Hindu phobic Indian media, FHRS chalks out remedial steps</b>
04/11/2008 14:50:00  PRESS- RELEASE

Foundation For Hindu Religious Studies (a non-profit organization)

P.O. Box 451015, Westlake, OH, 44145, USA Contact Telephone Number: 440-503-6692

The Foundation for Hindu Religious Studies organized a historic symposium on <b>"Indian Media's War on Hinduism"</b> in Chicago as part of the Human Empowerment Conference-2008 from October 31-November 2nd 2008. The symposium was widely attended. There were 18 presentations from India as well as from the USA.

The Indian media since the time of India's independence in 1947 has been under the Leftist and Marxist influences and suffers from Hindu-phobia. The focus of the symposium was to find strategic solutions to the problem of Indian media's systemic bias against Hinduism and repeated bashing and lampooning of Hindus, Hindu icons and Hindu practices. Most of the participants suggested engaging the Indian media more seriously to correct these biased attitudes towards Hinduism.

Since western media picks up these biased and motivated stories from the English Language Indian media, it is imperative that these Hindu-phobic biases of the Indian media be corrected. Some of the strategies suggested involved writing letters to editors, economic boycott of offending media groups, writing informative articles in print media, participating more closely in content creation for entertainment media and using the internet-based media outlets to correct these biased attitudes. Hindu youth were encouraged to take up journalism as a serious career choice.

At the end of the FHRS symposium the participants passed five resolutions so as to continue to take sustained measures to resolve this problem. It was decided to start a local radio station on the model of NPR in each major city in the USA for correct portrayal of Hinduism, designate independent Hindu spokespersons for media in major US cities and start a media investors' group that may invest in Indian print and electronic media. The FHRS decided to create a continuous media monitoring group that will work on an ongoing basis till Hindu-phobia in Indian media is resolved.

SWADESHE POOJYATE RAJAH VIDWANSSARVATRAH POOJYATE<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Wouldn't call it Hinduphobia at all - it's not fear of Hindu Dharma that the christomedia in India and outside suffer from. It is hatred.
They can't bear that somewhere out there is a large country with hundreds of millions of people that are not beaten into christoislamic subservience yet. It's an affront to their non-existent gawd.

[Husky]

Looks like good stuff (after reading a bit from it):
http://rajeev.posterous.com/guerilla-media

[acharya]

Looking through the glass, darkly

Premen Addy

Nothing quite gets up the noses of the Herrenvolk than the sight of the lesser breeds reaching for the skies. The British media’s comfort zone on India doesn’t as a rule extend beyond the prescribed imperial parameters of famines, diseases known and unknown, illiteracy, fecklessness and a range of ‘charming’ eccentricities, heaving mobs, religious or ethnic riots (you can take your pick) and much else besides that tell of the continuing triumph of chaos over order, of abject failure over the seeming insolence of power through achievement.

The Guardian’s man in India, Randeep Ramesh, scolded a Moon-struck country for its vaulting ambitions in space. One must expect an indentured overseer lecturing the natives on right conduct. Except for radical chic addicts his paper limps along disconsolately, in the Darwinian struggle for survival, with its more robust competitors. Its once trusty radicalism has given way, for the most part, to a whimpering defence of Pakistan and Islamist lost causes. India has long been a target for its slings and arrows and this is unlikely to change anytime soon.

A few years ago, on the eve of Mr Bill Clinton’s presidential visit to India, Islamist terrorists wiped out the better part of a Sikh community deep in the Kashmiri hinterland. The Guardian’s front-page story laid responsibility for the massacre at the door of R&AW, India’s external intelligence agency, which apparently ordered the deed so as to tap into the US President’s well of sympathy. It was the fanciful reporter’s cry of Eureka, sitting as he was many hundred miles away watching a TV newscast. But such things are of small moment in the greater endeavour to malign a country in perverse independent orbit.

Across the Atlantic, the sainted New York Times also carried this account of Indian wrongdoing on its front page. This heavyweight publication has many a bone to pick with obstreperous India, whether it be Jammu & Kashmir, the Indo-US nuclear deal or any of a number of kindred topics.

Barbara Crossette, a senior editor of the New York Times, and, until 1991 its principal correspondent in India, told how the Kashmir insurgency of those years (on the basis of a confidential Western diplomatic briefing) would alter the sub-continental balance of power.

It didn’t happen, of course, but hell hath no fury than a woman scorned, even if it be by Clio, so Ms Crossette’s India: Facing the Twenty-First Century, was the purest vitriol and cast in stone. Her Veritatis Splendor was a fevered polemic whose architectonic form incorporated the baroque, the gothic and the surreal. Indian reality was drawn and quartered, then salted and spiced and served up piece by piece for our delectation.

Kautilya and Sudhir Kakar were used as aids to fathom the deeper mysteries of the Indo-Soviet relationship. She was in high dudgeon that a supposed democracy had consorted with a totalitarian behemoth. Washington’s honeymoon with Beijing had clearly slipped through her memory cells.

“The world has seen strange bedfellows before but never in a stranger and bloodier bed,” wrote the American columnist IF Stone of the Sino-US liaison on the Bangladesh liberation war against their common client, the military junta in Pakistan.

No matter, New Delhi was the villain in every regional dispute, a view endorsed by her paper’s editorial in the summer of 1992 castigating India as the greatest disturber of the Asian peace since the World War II.

On the eve of the 1989 general election, The Economist solemnly prognosticated that India would start a war against its neighbours in order to distract domestic attention from the country’s internal woes; it subsequently pronounced that Indians took special pleasure in killing, witness the number of Victoria Crosses they had won in two World Wars.

The early and mid-1990s were India’s time of trouble and British scribes simply went to town, quills blazing. Chris Buckland, of the Daily Express, in Lord Beaverbrook’s day an incandescent India-baiter, opined that India could “make the slaughter in Yugoslavia look like a minor skirmish” and that “India had already started the march towards chaos.” Hence British Prime Minister John Major’s meeting with “India’s lame-duck Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, the subject of many plots to depose him and establish a Hindu dictatorship,” would be a futile exercise.

For the Evening Standard’s political editor, Charles Reiss, “the Indian venture (Major’s state visit to India) remains a gamble”. He told of “an export agreement between British Aerospace and a Hindi aeronautics firm”. He meant Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, but what’s in a word: Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, does it matter? The Daily Telegraph’s Robert Shrimsley wrote of Mr Major’s trip to the “home of Mr Pandit Nehru.”

Small wonder, therefore, that India’s Moonshot was greeted on the Internet with some truly surreal responses. One zombie answering to the name Colin wrote: “This will be the India which Brown the Clown gave £ 860 million to in overseas aid a few months ago. Is it any wonder that the UK is on its knees when New Labour throws our money away like this?” Another said: “This is a good reason to stop sending them their annual handout.” A third remarked: “One earthquake or monsoon and the begging bowl will be shown to the Western world.”

Quite amazing how the grand larceny on Wall Street and in the City of London has been lost so quickly to the virus of racist amnesia.

Why blame these inconsequential voices when Peter Popham, once India correspondent of the superior Independent, in an early-June (1999) despatch complete with map, reported the great Gujarat famine that never was? Talk of the vaunted Indian green revolution was dismissed as self-serving native poppycock.

British media gurus claim to be hurting on Indian poverty, the looming apocalypse of a regional war over increasingly scarce water resources, and the like. However, there were no expressions of concern for the well-being of Black American ghettos as US astronaut Neil Armstrong bestrode the Moon. Excursions on India’s chronic inability to compete with China — a much loved theme for British scribes — have more than a touch of the usual schadenfreude, refracting a resentment of the deepening Indo-Russian relationship.

The novelist Raja Rao told how his friend Andre Malraux, the French Minister for Culture, had said: “In the Cabinet meetings de Gaulle would never permit Ministers to mention India and China in the same breath. They are not of the same dimension. India is closer to us philosophically, culturally. China is an empire.”

Which explains the allure of the Middle Kingdom.

[Bharatvarsh]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Jesus statue desecrated at a church in Chennai

TAMIL Nadu continued to reel under anti- Christian violence as an imposing statue of Jesus at the historic St Thomas Mount in Chennai was found desecrated, while a cemetery was vandalised in Dindigul.

The statue of Jesus was found damaged on Friday and the police were alerted about the incident. The heart with a cross was removed from the 10- ft statue placed on a 20- ft pedestal atop a hillock. The fingers on the right hand were mutilated, said parish priest Fr Bosco.

A popular pilgrim centre, the mount is of much significance since it is believed to be the place where St Thomas, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus, was martyred by local Brahmins during the beginning of the Christian era. The desecrated statue stands close to the chapel, housing the cave where the saint was killed.

“ We have lodged a complaint with the police but no action has been taken, except deployment of security,” Fr Bosco added. The police, however, said investigations were on.

In Dindigul, about 400 km from Chennai, a catholic cemetery was vandalised by miscreants. Crosses were uprooted and broken at the graveyard in the Thomayarpuram area.

Tamil Nadu has seen an increase in attacks against Christian institutions and symbols in the last few months, since the ransacking of a prayer hall and the thrashing of a pastor at Paramathi Velur in August.

http://www.mailtoday.in/showstory.aspx?que...02008%2012:00AM<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
www.hamsa.org

[Husky]

<!--QuoteBegin-Bharatvarsh+Nov 11 2008, 08:11 AM-->QUOTE(Bharatvarsh @ Nov 11 2008, 08:11 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Jesus statue desecrated at a church in Chennai

TAMIL Nadu <b>continued to reel under anti- Christian violence</b> as an imposing statue of Jesus at the historic St Thomas Mount in Chennai was found desecrated, while a cemetery was vandalised in Dindigul.
http://www.mailtoday.in/showstory.aspx?que...02008%2012:00AM<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
www.hamsa.org
[right][snapback]89992[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Never believe a word christians say. Theirs is a religion of lies - centred around the biggest lie ever ('jeebus') - that consequently breeds only liars.

Let me guess, the cretins attacked themselves <i>again</i> to blame the Hindus (like they also do elsewhere, like in Sri Lanka: Attacks on Christian Churches are Self-Inflicted). And why would they do this? Because <b>christians have recently been terrorising the Hindus going to the Kapaleeshwarar Kovil and desperately need to create a christo conflict in TN too</b> with their lies (reminiscent of the conflicts they did their very best to incite in Karnataka and Orissa). All is being timed and orchestrated to reach a crescendo by next election time so Sonia Goonda and her Goons can be elected with the help of psecular twats who, led by christomedia's one-sided reporting (aka lying) are meant to be brainwashed by then to think Hindus must have lost it.

A repeat of the christoterrorism in Karnataka, now in TN: doing their disgusting best to provoke Hindus in TN so christos can shriek "persecution" again
http://newstodaynet.com/col.php?section=20&catid=29
via http://haindavakeralam.com/HkPage.aspx?P...514&SKIN=C
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Blasphemous distortions</b>
By: B R HARAN letters@newstodaynet.com

Tuesday, 11 November, 2008 , 02:18 PM

ATamil weekly magazine has reported the following in its latest issue (dated 14 November): (<- that's obviously a typo meant to be 4 November).
Active Image

Book titled ‘Light in Darkness’


<b>‘On Friday 24 October, the devotees of the world famous ‘Sri Kapalishwarar Temple’ Mylapore, Chennai were literally shocked when they were given five booklets each containing defamatory write-ups about Hinduism, Vedas, Vedic heritage, Hindu Shastras, Hindu culture & tradition, Sabarimala Ayyappan and denigrating articles on Sage Thirumoolar, Nayanmars and others, by a bunch of mean-minded Christian evangelists just in front of the Temple entrance!</b> For example, in the book titled ‘Light in darkness’, it is written that, the word ‘Sadhaa’ in the verse ‘Sadhaa Shivaaya’ means ‘forever’ and there is only one God, who blesses and takes care of this world forever, and he is ‘Jesus’ and the verse ‘Sadhaa Shivaaya’ denotes only him! All the five books are said to have contained more defamatory stories about Hindu Gods and Religious Gurus. Many people have called up this magazine and sent mails to it giving complete details about what happened in front of the temple that day’.

<b>Incidentally, the Santhome Cathedral stands on the ruins of the original Kapalishvarar Temple, which was destroyed by the Portuguese invaders and now the evangelical invaders are trying to destroy the Hindu culture and religion in front of this reconstructed Kapalishvarar Temple.</b>

This outrageous incident has brought out the following facts:

<b>The evangelists have made bold to distribute blasphemous literatures and conduct a hate-campaign against Hinduism, that too in front of a very famous historic temple.</b>

The minority appeasement policies of a ‘minority’ government, which openly said that it is committed to the welfare of minorities, and its anti-majority stand have emboldened these evangelists to indulge in this kind of illegal activity.

The policemen who have been posted near the temple for security (Mylapore temple is under terror threat) have turned a blind eye to this venomous act, probably due to fear motivation from the ‘minority’ government or money motivation from the evangelists.

The Hindus have just exposed their ‘dhimmitude’ by remaining passive without acting against those evangelists. Sadly, not even one devotee has exhibited the courage to lodge a police complaint against them. The traders near the temple have not bothered to drive away those Christian rapscallions. Certainly the number of devotees must have easily outnumbered those evangelists and they must have caught them with their collars and taken them to the Mylapore police station. Instead of doing all this, some people have written to this particular weekly magazine.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->The link goes to show the books and their typically christianly vile content.

Coincidence that the christians - in all likelihood - now attacked their own terrorist's statue at some thomas church after attacking the Hindus, in order to play the victim <i>after</i> having been the known aggressors? (They have to get the drama started somehow - when Hindus won't <i>give</i> them a drama)

Christians always behave like this. Just like in Rome. It's their evil ideology. It must be destroyed.
Christianism and its cannibal pseudo-'sheep' are working hard in different parts of India, all towards the same goal.

[acharya]

http://www.edutopia.org/muddle-machine

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>
The Muddle Machine: Confessions of a Textbook Editor
An exposé of the politics of educational publishing.</b>
by Tamim Ansary
The Muddle Machine
Credit: Monte Wolverton

Some years ago, I signed on as an editor at a major publisher of elementary school and high school textbooks, filled with the idealistic belief that I'd be working with equally idealistic authors to create books that would excite teachers and fill young minds with Big Ideas.

Not so.

I got a hint of things to come when I overheard my boss lamenting, "The books are done and we still don't have an author! I must sign someone today!"

Every time a friend with kids in school tells me textbooks are too generic, I think back to that moment. "Who writes these things?" people ask me. I have to tell them, without a hint of irony, "No one." <b>It's symptomatic of the whole muddled mess that is the $4.3 billion textbook business.

Textbooks are a core part of the curriculum, as crucial to the teacher as a blueprint is to a carpenter, so one might assume they are conceived, researched, written, and published as unique contributions to advancing knowledge. In fact, most of these books fall far short of their important role in the educational scheme of things. They are processed into existence using the pulp of what already exists, rising like swamp things from the compost of the past. </b>The mulch is turned and tended by many layers of editors who scrub it of anything possibly objectionable before it is fed into a government-run "adoption" system that provides mediocre material to students of all ages.
assessment
Credit: Monte Wolverton<b>
Welcome to the Machine</b>

The first product I helped create was a basal language arts program. The word basal refers to a comprehensive package that includes students' textbooks for a sequence of grades, plus associated teachers' manuals and endless workbooks, tests, answer keys, transparencies, and other "ancillaries." My company had dominated this market for years, but the brass felt that our flagship program was dated. They wanted something new, built from scratch.

Sounds like a mandate for innovation, right? It wasn't. We got all the language arts textbooks in use and went through them carefully, jotting down every topic, subtopic, skill, and subskill we could find at each grade level. We compiled these into a master list, eliminated the redundancies, and came up with the core content of our new textbook. Or, as I like to call it, the "chum." But wait. If every publisher was going through this same process (and they were), how was ours to stand out? Time to stir in a philosophy.

By philosophy, I mean a pedagogical idea. These conceptual enthusiasms surge through the education universe in waves. Textbook editors try to see the next one coming and shape their program to embody it.

The new ideas are born at universities and wash down to publishers through research papers and conferences. Textbook editors swarm to events like the five-day International Reading Association conference to pick up the buzz. They all run around wondering, What's the coming thing? Is it critical thinking? Metacognition? Constructivism? Project-based learning?

At those same conferences, senior editors look for up-and-coming academics and influential educational consultants to sign as "authors" of the textbooks that the worker bees are already putting together back at the shop.
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[Shambhu]

I want to collect names of *print* media in Bharat that are non-psec. Any language....

Organizer
Pioneer
India Today
Dainik Jagran
Sanatan Prabhat
Saamna
Panchajanya
Tarun Bharat

please add/edit...

[ramana]

Deccan Chronicle which owns Asian Age is a Congress supporter owned paper. What makes you think its non-secular paper? They have no good words for any BJP or nationalist initiatve. They hate natiaonlist Muslims and give them no space. They love YSR and his xtian tricks. And love the MIM Owaisi badmashes.