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Fwd: CC News Letter, 10 Feb - Pentagon Plans US-Backed War Against Syria

2012-02-11T00:30:00.001-08:00

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From: Countercurrents <editor@countercurrents.org>
Date: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 12:30 AM
Subject: CC News Letter, 10 Feb - Pentagon Plans US-Backed War Against Syria
To: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

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Pentagon Plans US-Backed War Against Syria
By Chris Marsden

http://www.countercurrents.org/marsden100212.htm

The Pentagon has drawn up plans for military intervention in Syria. A military strike would be coordinated with Turkey, the Gulf States and the NATO powers, according to reports that acknowledge such plans officially for the first time. The plan is described as an "internal review" by Pentagon Central Command, to allow President Barack Obama to maintain the pretense that the White House is still seeking a diplomatic solution

Western Shenanigans Against Syria, Iran
By Dr. Ismail Salami

http://www.countercurrents.org/salami100212.htm

The volatile situation in Syria generated by the Saudi-Qatar-funded Wahhabi armed group known as the Free Syrian Army and backed by the West is now an accident waiting to happen

Targeting Iran
By Ghali Hassan

http://www.countercurrents.org/hassan100212.htm

The world is witnessing the emergence of a powerful U.S.-led military force aimed at dominating the world through violence and state-sponsored terrorism. It is utmost importance to support Iran's right to self-defence and oppose any U.S.-Israel aggression

Israel Vying For War: Attacking Iran Will Not Repeat History
By Ramzy Baroud

http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud100212.htm

If history ever repeats itself, it does so only when we fail to learn its important lessons. Israel might be prepared to take such chances, but why should the rest of the world?

Three GOP Presidentials Commit Crime Against Peace Under Nuremberg Principles
By Jay Janson

http://www.countercurrents.org/janson100212.htm

Mitt, Newt, Rick vow to bomb a foreign nation, a crime against peace indictable under Nuremberg Principles, which, when they was signed automatically became part of the US constitution. At Nuremberg, Nazi media personalities were indicted for promoting war. They stood alongside Nazi officials who ordered the wars and generals who executed criminal orders

The Iraqi People: Criminally Neglectedby The International Community (PDF)
By Dirk Adriaensens

http://www.countercurrents.org/adriaensens100212.pdf

Open Letter to The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights NaviPillay

Genocidal Racist Charles Dickens , Indian Holocaust And UK - US Muslim Genocide
By Dr Gideon Polya

http://www.countercurrents.org/polya100212.htm

This week the English-speaking world is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of arguably the greatest Victorian era English novelist Charles Dickens. However ignored in the celebrations will be the reality that Charles Dickens, like many of his English and British contemporaries, was a genocidal racist

Egyptian Blood And "The Silent Hand" Of Omar Suleiman
By Thomas C. Mountain

http://www.countercurrents.org/mountain100212.htm

When Egyptian blood flows in the streets, whether from "Ultra" football cadre or Coptic Christian, or both together, there is the silent hand of Omar Suleiman behind it all, pulling the strings needed to create just enough murder and mayhem so as to legitimize continued military rule

A Ruling Class Alliance In An Agitating Egypt: One Year After Mubarak's Ouster
By Farooque Chowdhury

http://www.countercurrents.org/chowdhury100212.htm

Class collaboration between the Egyptian military junta and their neo-political allies, the Muslim Brotherhood, now confront the people standing for democracy. One year ago, the matrix of collusion was not evident to many. One year ago, the actors on the Egyptian political stage had different robes

Learning From La Venezuela
By David Swanson

http://www.countercurrents.org/swanson100212.htm

Cindy Sheehan has published a book. If Venezuela makes it to the top of the list for the next U.S. war, this book will be a valuable tool for confronting the propaganda. But why wait? Our government has attempted a coup and is openly funding opposition groups. Why wait to consider what it is we're paying to try to undo?

The Cycle of Civilization
By Peter Goodchild

http://www.countercurrents.org/goodchild100212.htm

The main difference between ours and previous civilizations is that, from now on, the cycle of "civilization" cannot be repeated. Oil is not the only mineral that will be in short supply in the coming years

Resources And Anthropocentrism
By Guy McPherson

http://www.countercurrents.org/mcpherson100212.htm

We see finite substances and the living planet as materials to be exploited for our comfort. We treat resources as our entitlement

Why Did Palestinian Refugees Come To Lebanon?
By Franklin Lamb

http://www.countercurrents.org/lamb100212.htm

In most private and public schools in Lebanon, sensitive political subjects have long been culled from textbooks by polarized confessional watchdog committees seeking a proper education for their children. UNWRA schools are forbidden to teach Palestinian history in Lebanon or even their history in Palestine lest the US Congress cut UNWRA funding

Palestine Needs A New Struggle Strategy
An Interview with Salim Nazzal

http://www.countercurrents.org/nazzal100212.htm

Palestine needs its own spring. Palestinian leadership needs to review its policy following the Arab Spring. They need to think of a new struggle strategy on light of these developments

U.S Apology For Nuclear Weapons And Open Disclosure Of Nuclear Weapons By Israel And Iran
By Mary Hamer

http://www.countercurrents.org/hamer100212.htm

The purpose of this paper is to request the U.S. , Israeli and Iranian Governments and Military-industrial complex officials for full, open disclosure regarding their nuclear agendas. Only with honest talk can these three countries secure a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the Middle East conflict

Strengthening U.S.-Canada Security Interests In North America And Around The Globe
By Dana Gabriel

http://www.countercurrents.org/gabriel100212.htm

Defense Minister Peter MacKay has also indicated that if necessary, Canada's armed forces are ready to offer assistance in Syria. More than ever, the U.S, and Canada share a more common approach to advancing security interests in not only North America, but around the globe

Elliott Abrams' Dark History In Latin America And The Struggle For Justice
By Cyril Mychalejko

http://www.countercurrents.org/mychalejko100212.htm

Elliott Abrams, a former high level State Department official during the 1980s, testified last week that the Reagan administration knew that Argentina's military junta was systematically stealing babies from murdered and jailed democracy activists and giving them to right-wing families friendly to the regime

The Framing of Kevin Cooper, On San Quentin's Death Row
By Hans Bennett, Prison Radio

http://www.countercurrents.org/bennett100212.htm

In this interview, author J. Patrick O'Connor discusses his newly released book Scapegoat: The Chino Hills Murders and The Framing of Kevin Cooper , explaining why he is convinced of Kevin Cooper's innocence. O'Connor asserts that the police and prosecution orchestrated an obvious frame-up that continues to be upheld by federal appeals courts, albeit with the blatantly unfair rulings by US District Court Judge Marilyn Huff blocking critical forensics tests that had been ordered by the US Ninth Circuit Court in 2004

Trial And Terror Of The Gujarat Pogrom Verdict
By Farzana Versey

http://www.countercurrents.org/versey100212.htm

Will the Modi government and the honourable Supreme Court order a probe, for the report does mention that people were burnt alive? How did it happen? Or did it not happen? Did Gulberg Society just disappear? There has to be other "prosecutable evidence". Whose job is it to find out – the victims, the NGOs or the intelligence agencies?

American Model Of Electoral System Detrimental For Democracy In India
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

http://www.countercurrents.org/rawat100212.htm

India suffers from democratic deficit and true representation of its marginalized and minorities and an American model imitation would be suicidal for the very health of democracy with unfettering invisible powers in the hands of crony capitalists will only prove detrimental for the idea of India which stand for social justice and democratic values

Sri Lanka : The Agony Of Political Lies
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

http://www.countercurrents.org/ilangamuwa100212.htm

What we are seeing today in Sri Lanka in terms of the institutional setup is the result of the cynical manipulation by the President and the members of his family. Indeed, they may be attempting to change the entire history of the Nation. Their attitude is simple. If you kneel before us then you are a patriot of the Nation; if you do not you are traitor

US Congressional Hearing On Balochistan
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

http://www.countercurrents.org/ghazali100212.htm

The subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on Wednesday (2/8/2012) to discuss the target killings and human rights situation in Balochistan and termed it a matter requiring urgent attention

Kashmir: Forgive And Forget
By Burhan Majid

http://www.countercurrents.org/majid100212.htm

Ever since the third generation Abdullah rose to throne as the State's Chief Minister, he continues to bat for the setting up of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission(TRC) which, he believes, would help to find out the truth behind the widespread atrocities perpetrated, by the Government forces, in the State of Jammu and Kashmir

Gita: Not A Religious Book?
By Ram Puniyani

http://www.countercurrents.org/puniyani100212.htm

The Madhya Pradesh High court has ruled that "Gita is essentially a book on Indian philosophy, not book on Indian religion". This judgment gave a sanction on the decision of M.P. Government to continue with the teaching of Gita Sar (Essence of Gita) in the MP schools

Shahid Lives, Shahids' Never Die
By Subhash Gatade

http://www.countercurrents.org/gatade100212.htm

In one of his last interview Shahid Azmi told the correspondent how he grew up seeing the police barge in night and day in their slum, terrorising and kidnapping people,which bred in him a hatred — nafrat — for the police. It was noteworthy that he gave a positive direction to this hatred and went down fighting for the people

Home Ministry, UIDAI Misleading State Govts And Citizens
By Gopal Krishna

http://www.countercurrents.org/krishna100512.htm

State Govts pretend ignorance about Parliamentary Report rejecting central Govt's UID/Aadhaar

India's Affirmative Action Politics As Seen Through Tamil Nadu's Specious Quota Law (PDF)
By P Radhakrishnan

http://www.countercurrents.org/radhakrishnan100212.pdf

The report 'Justification of Reservation under the Tamil Nadu Act 45 of 1994 on Quantifiable Data' by the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission, headed by retired high court judge, M S Janarthanam is fraudulent and farcical

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Fwd: Man against Manu

2012-02-11T00:25:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shiva Shankar <sshankar@cmi.ac.in>
Date: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 12:18 PM
Subject: Man against Manu
To:

"... This book is also a forceful confirmation of Phule's radical humanism and his revolutionary spirit as a rationalist raging against the obscurantism of organised religion. ... ... Natarajan and Ninan make us stare at the very real viciousness, injustice, violence and not-subtle-at-all tyranny that caste wields over millions in India to this day. ... "

Man against Manu

A powerful graphic book breathes life into Jotiba Phule's thoughts

Review by Indrajit Hazra, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, February 10, 2012

A Gardener In The Wasteland

Story: Srividya Natarajan, Art: Aparajita Ninan, Navayana, Rs. 220 pp. 128

One hundred and thirty-three years before Richard Dawkins launched his frontal attack against the idea of god in his 2006 book The God Delusion, Jotirao Govindrao Phule declared war against a religious system that sanctified one class of people trampling over others deemed to be inferior. Phule's weapon of choice was his 1873 publication, Gulamgiri (Slavery), a scathing attack on brahminism and Hindiusm, in which he not only attacked the codified exploitation of the 'sudras' and 'atisudras', but also called for the uplift of India's 'lower castes' through education and by aligning their cause with the British.

What makes this graphic book such a stand-out among scores of publications on India's political and social histories is that it resusciates Phule's iconic - and iconoclastic - work while constantly reminding the reader how it remains such a cogent, palpable, living text even in 'sovereign socialist secular democratic republic' 21st century India. The artwork by Aparijita Ninan, with its bold black and white, thick outlined drawings reminiscent of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis books, riffs perfectly with Srividya Natarajan's intelligent and moving narration.

A Gardener in the Wasteland slips in and out of the 'here and now' where we constantly find Natarajan and Ninan in 2010 Delhi exploring, understanding, commenting on and ultimately sharing the world and ideas of Jotiba Phule and his wife and 'business partner' Savitribai. So even as many of us tend to see 'caste' through the peephole of various isolated cardboxes - as an almost abstract phenomenon that provides dissertations to scholars; or as an easy electoral tool used and misused by heartland politicians; or as anthropological set of parameters to study various aspects of Indian society down the ages; or as a benign marker used by families to perpetuate happy kinship norms through marriage - Natarajan and Ninan make us stare at the very real viciousness, injustice, violence and not-subtle-at-all tyranny that caste wields over millions in India to this day. In a powerful doublespread, we are told on one side of Phule's reiteration of what is literally depicted in the Manusmriti with regard to sudras and the Vedas (see picture below). On the other side, the author-artist duo makes a compelling comparison of caste brutality with Abel Meeropol's poem 'Strange fruit' made immortal by Billie Holiday in her song about American racism and lynchings of Blacks. The image in the middle of a portly brahman priest sharing the strange fruit of prasada with a hooded Ku Klux Klansman drives the point home more effectively than any other argument made about casteism and racism being kissing cousins. Turn the page and we see a news report on 'nine dalit children among 15 rescued from bondage in Tamil Nadu'. This is not Phule's 19th century Pune. It is April 2010, India.

Savitribai's 'direct action' of being a 'lower caste' woman teaching 'sudra' and 'atisudra' girls in the face of hysterical protests of 'high caste' Hindus comes early in the book - in fact three pages before we first encounter Jotiba - underlines how important her immense courage and belief in education being the gateway to equality was to her husband's thinking.

This book is also a forceful confirmation of Phule's radical humanism and his revolutionary spirit as a rationalist raging against the obscurantism of organised religion. We are given Phule's counter-arguments against the Vedic depictions of early Indian history through 'Aryan-centric' mythologies. Phule cuts through each of the ten avatars of Vishnu one by one, pointing out how these were glorified depictions of early invaders who were given 'divine' attributions for political reasons, the prime one being to keep India's original inhabitants (depicted as asuras) under the thumb of the brahman-usurpers (depicted as devas). One speech bubble quotes Phule in Gulamgiri: 'Since Brahma had vaginas in four places - mouth, groin, arms and legs (since the four varnas were born out of these four parts) each of them must have menstruated for at least four days each, and he, must have sat on seclusion, as an unclean person, for sixteen days each month. Then who did the chores?' If this counter-argument sounds hilarious (or blasphemous), it's because Phule is countering arguments by using the same ludicrous logic used by the brahman.

A Gardener In The Wasteland is a powerfully passionate book that brings smack into the foreground something unequivocally evil that keeps simmering in the background, or worse, is kept distressingly invisible.

Buy online from 'Flipkart'(25 percent discount) dan holars Without Borders. Available at all leading bookstores

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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/

Fwd: Verse case scenario

2012-02-11T00:23:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: kamayani bali mahabal (Google+) <noreply-b6d2c75c@plus.google.com>
Date: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 12:49 PM
Subject: Verse case scenario
To: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

Verse case scenario

Syeda Hameed | February 11, 2012 Sufi poetry could inspire a change in attitudes to the girl child. Maulana Altaf Husain Hali was born in Panipat in 1837. Panipat was then the centre of Su...

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Palash Biswas
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CHANGING IDENTITIES - Uttar Pradesh past and present Politics and Play Ramachandra Guha

2012-02-11T00:19:00.001-08:00

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120211/jsp/opinion/story_15113378.jsp

CHANGING IDENTITIES

- Uttar Pradesh past and present

Politics and Play

Ramachandra Guha

That old, safe feeling

In his charming memoir, Lucknow Boy, Vinod Mehta writes of the leisurely pace of life in his home town. Like most students of his class and generation, he paid little attention to books and exams, spending his time rather in the streets and cafés of Lucknow. A Punjabi Hindu, Mehta numbered two Muslims among his closest friends. The early chapters of his book feature Parsis, Christians, Sikhs, and South Indians too. Reflecting on this experience, Mehta writes that "Lucknow bestowed on me one priceless gift. It taught me to look on the individual rather than his religion or caste or the tongue he spoke".

Mehta believes that because his "secularism was deeply personal", because it was learned through life, not academic instruction, "because it was instinctive and not the by-product of logic", it "has better weathered the periodic communal storms which have battered our republic". His experience resonates with mine. I grew up in another large town in Uttar Pradesh, where the population was likewise mixed. My closest friends were Sikhs. My sister's Bharatnatyam teacher was a Tamil Christian. The town's best known dentist was a Parsi.

The life of the middle classes in the UP of the 1950s and 1960s was, in a word, Nehruvian. Jawaharlal Nehru himself was a native of UP. Within the state and out of it, he energetically promoted religious harmony. It is a striking fact that despite the creation of a Muslim homeland and the violence that accompanied it, the decade after Partition was a decade of communal peace. Muslims and Christians and Sikhs felt safe in newly independent India because Jawaharlal Nehru made them feel so.

Nehru's commitment to secularism is well known. Less talked of nowadays is his struggle to overcome the sectarian identities of caste and region. He asked his fellow citizens to forget the divisions of the past by building a future in which all could share. Thus his emphasis on, and even enchantment with, economic planning. It is commonly argued that Nehru's preference for an interventionist State was a product of his dislike for the market. In fact, it was equally a product of his hope that in coming together to build steel plants and large dams the citizens of India would overcome their parochial identities. Writing to chief ministers in December 1952, Nehru said that behind the First Five Year Plan "lay the conception of India's unity and of a mighty co-operative effort of all the people of India". If Indians focused strongly on economic planning and development, then, he thought, "the less we are likely to go astray in the crooked paths of provincialism, communalism, casteism and all other disruptive and disintegrating tendencies".

Nehru's worldview was both cosmopolitan and egalitarian. In practice, however, Hindu upper castes maintained their dominance. In the UP in which Vinod Mehta and I were raised, the most powerful politicians tended to be Brahmins, such as Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna and Kamalapati Tripathi, or Banias, such as C.B. Gupta. The hegemony of the suvarna was consolidated by the control they exercised on the upper levers of the administration. Senior bureaucrats and judges in UP often bore Brahmin names like Mishra and Shukla or Kayastha titles such as Saxena and Srivastava.

The revolt against upper-caste dominance in UP occurred in two phases. In the 1960s, the Jat leader, Charan Singh, left the Congress, on the grounds that the party was hostile to the interests of the farmers. At the same time, the Socialists led by Rammanohar Lohia had consolidated the backward castes in opposition to the Congress. These two groups joined hands, and in 1967 a non-Congress government was formed with Charan Singh as chief minister. Twelve years later, Charan Singh briefly served as the country's first prime minister from a farming caste.

The Congress of the 1950s and 1960s was in fact what the Bharatiya Janata Party was later said to be — at the top, a 'Brahmin-Bania' party. But only at the top. The Dalits voted largely for the Congress, a legacy of the Gandhian years, when the Mahatma had made the ending of untouchability a precondition for swaraj. And the Muslims of UP also voted massively for the Congress, in acknowledgment of what Nehru, in particular, had done to make them feel secure in a post-Partition India.

In the 1980s, a brilliant political entrepreneur named Kanshi Ram began consolidating the Dalits in a voting bloc of their own. Three decades of affirmative action had created an articulate Dalit middle class. Kanshi Ram formed a trade union of Dalit government employees, which was soon transformed into a political party to advance their interests.

The Dalits now increasingly abandoned the Congress for the Bahujan Samaj Party. Meanwhile, the Muslims became disenchanted with the Congress in the wake of the Ayodhya movement. Congress governments had failed to protect their lives and properties during the communal riots that both preceded and followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Muslims now put their trust in Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party, that had shown greater resolve in combating the sangh parivar.

The cumulative effects of these changes has been to radically transform the public discourse of Vinod Mehta's home state. In UP, identity became all. An individual was now judged chiefly by his caste or religion. This explains why, in his tours through UP, Nehru's great-grandson, Rahul Gandhi, addressed communities as communities, rather than as aggregations of individuals. First he slept in a Dalit home to send the signal that he cared more for Dalits than their presumed protector, Mayavati. Then he took Sam Pitroda to a meeting of backward castes to suggest that since Pitroda was born in a family of carpenters, and had yet been Rajiv Gandhi's friend, the Congress cared more for other backward classes than the Samajwadi Party. Then he stayed conspicuously silent when the Deoband mullahs issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie, lest he, and the Congress, be seen as 'anti-Muslim'.

The UP election campaign of Rahul Gandhi thus consisted of appeals to a series of sectarian fears. He perhaps thought that these appeals would create a vote bank of some Dalits plus some Muslims plus some backwards, with some Brahmins and some Banias voting Congress out of sentimental attachment to the Nehru-Gandhi family. He hoped thereby to bring round 25 per cent to 30 per cent of the electorate, which in three- and four-cornered contests would allow the Congress candidate to win.

Instead of adding up these sums, Rahul Gandhi should have looked to the example of Bihar. There, Nitish Kumar realized that the politics of izzat, or self-respect, had played itself out. Dalits, backward castes, and Muslims all now wanted social and economic development. Thus Kumar's emphasis on schools, public health, and rural roads. But to improve the lives of people one needs also to live (continually and not episodically) alongside the people. Notably, Nitish Kumar left national politics to devote himself exclusively to his home state.

Through much of the election campaign in UP, Rahul Gandhi did not altogether eschew the crooked paths of casteism and communalism. In the last phase, perhaps realizing that this was a mistake, he has spoken of wishing to rid the state of criminality and corruption. At the same time, both Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Priyanka, have insisted that he does not want to become prime minister. These protestations would have carried more weight if he was to have fought an assembly seat, and made it clear that he was the Congress's chief ministerial candidate, thereby exchanging part-time parachuting for full-time commitment. Surely the two hundred million citizens of UP deserved nothing less.

ramachandraguha@yahoo.in

Trinamul labour pangs spill out

2012-02-11T00:18:00.001-08:00

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120211/jsp/bengal/story_15121332.jsp

Trinamul labour pangs spill out

OUR BUREAU

Calcutta, Feb. 10: The divisions in Trinamul's labour arm tumbled out in the open today when veteran trade union leader and government chief whip Sovandeb Chattopadhyay blamed a section in Indian National Trinamul Trade Union Congress (INTTUC) for bringing disrepute to the organisation.

"I am not a liability to the party and the party has never been embarrassed because of me. These days, one can hear several complaints against some of our leaders," said Chattopadhyay, two days after he was removed as national president of INTTUC.

Subrata Mukherjee, panchayat, rural development and public health engineering minister in Mamata Banerjee's cabinet was given the charge of Trinamul's labour wing in a shuffle that did not come as a surprise to many. Subrata's trade union background will come in handy if and when Trinamul tries to make inroads into Congress labour pockets.

Naxalite-turned-Trinamul leader Purnendu Bose, who is also the state labour minister, was made the chairman of the organisation while his aide, Dola Sen, remains the state president.

"I have been associated with trade unions for three decades and that's why I am saddened. I am getting calls from party supporters and leaders, who are saying that an injustice was done to me," Chattopadhyay later told The Telegraph.

During his unscheduled interaction with the media at Writers', he said that though a section in the organisation was elated with his ouster, he would continue playing a role in Trinamul's trade union front. Chattopadhyay did not name Bose, but it was apparent that his tirade was directed at the labour minister.

"Nobody ever associated me with syndicates but some leaders have brought disrepute to the party for their alleged involvement in them," said the veteran trade union leader, who was closeted in an hour-long meeting with Mamata yesterday.

Some syndicate members had claimed indirect support from Bose, though the minister has always maintained that he has got nothing to do with syndicates.

Referring to today's remarks by Chattopadahyay, a Trinamul source said: "Everyone in the party knows that two factions of INTTUC are at war with each other. In several companies across the state, INTTUC members are running parallel unions that are in conflict with each other."

While Chattopadhyay has been at the helm of one of the factions, Bose and Sen are heading the other group. A Trinamul source said that Chattopadhaya's removal would help Bose and Sen to try and consolidate their position in INTTUC.

But controlling the trade union front of the party will be easier said than done for the duo, who are facing stiff resistance in districts like East Midnapore, South and North 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Howrah.

In East Midnapore, resistance is expected from Haldia MLA Seuli Saha and INTTUC district unit president Tushar Mondal. Saha alleged that Sen did not give approval to newly formed unions in companies across Haldia. "I am saddened by the fact that whenever a new union with the local MLA at the helm seeks INTTUC affiliation, we are denied it for unknown reason," Saha said.

Why the controversy now, asks court, and tells general to retreat and keep his word SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY

2012-02-11T00:15:00.001-08:00

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120211/jsp/nation/story_15121363.jsp

Why the controversy now, asks court, and tells general to retreat and keep his word

SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY

Defence minister AK Antony greets army chief Gen VK Singh at Rajghat on Martyrs' Day in January. (PTI)

New Delhi, Feb. 10: General V.K. Singh got praise for his four decades of service but little else from the Supreme Court, which today refused to intervene on the army chief's date of birth and asked him why he was creating "such a controversy" now after having earlier committed to accept whatever was in the "best interests" of the force.

At the end of a two-hour hearing, the two-judge bench gave Singh, who it described as a "meritorious" officer that the court was "proud" of, the option to withdraw his petition. "You withdraw. We want to ensure that as army chief you serve the country as you have served for years now. This (petition) should not come in the way of your commitment (to the country), in public interest, in national interest," Justice R.M. Lodha said.

After making a last-ditch bid to persuade the court by offering to resign "within 48 hours" if his year of birth in official records was accepted as 1951 instead of 1950, the army chief withdrew his petition.

The court then disposed of the matter as "not pressed", with the face-saver of an assurance from the attorney-general that the government had full "faith" in Singh and his capability to lead the Indian Army. The government had only contested his petition on a matter of principle, Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati said.

At the outset, the government in deference to the court's wish agreed to withdraw parts of its December 30, 2011, order that had made adverse references to Singh.

The dispute is over two records of the chief's date of birth maintained by the army headquarters — the adjutant general's branch shows it as May 10, 1951, the date on Singh's matriculation certificate. The military secretary's branch reflects it as May 10, 1950. The government has gone by the military secretariat, which is responsible for promotions and postings, and the army chief had appealed against this decision months before he is due to retire on May 31.

The court saw nothing wrong with the general approaching it. "We have no doubts that you have been honestly pursuing your date of birth," Justice Lodha said. "Right from the beginning you have been saying this. You have not come up suddenly for having some benefits."

"You have just come to the court to point out the government's fault in not correcting your date of birth… There is no malice in your seeking to restore the date of birth as May 10, 1951," the court said. "It is unfortunate, inadvertent or a matter of destiny, whatever you call. You have been very candid and honest."

Such matters "should not have been dragged into the public domain and should have been handled properly", it further said.

But the bench expressed its inability to declare any date as his actual date of birth while sitting in judicial review on the government decision.

"There is a civilian authority, you have to accept it," Justice H.L. Gokhale said at one point. "Let's be fair to them, they could have very well said: 'We don't want you as a chief.' But they didn't."

Justice Gokhale reminded the general that if he wanted to have his date of birth determined, he would have to file a civil suit and appear in the witness box and give evidence in support of his claims.

"This is not adjudication for determining date of birth but concerns the recognition of a particular date of birth by the respondent (Union of India) in the official service records," the two-judge bench said.

The bench examined three letters, dated January 24, 2008, January 30, 2008 and November 12, 2009, to shrug off Singh's plea.

"You say that you will accept what is determined in the best interests of the organisation. Why are you ruining it at this stage? Creating such a controversy?" Justice Lodha asked, citing the letters.

"We can't deny that you hold such a high post. Why do you want to reopen all these issues? With all the pain in your heart, you ultimately left it to authorities. They have taken a decision. It was well thought out and well deliberated. You respected your commitment repeatedly. Why do you want to get out of it now?"

Justice Lodha also said that it would have been a different case had he been victimised, harassed and had not achieved anything. "You have achieved what you had to in the army. Why should a person of your stature, having given a commitment, go back on it now?"

The date of birth discrepancy should have been corrected at the UPSC level. But it wasn't. "What can we do now?" he asked Singh's counsel Uday Lalit.

"The records were reconciled at the stage of commissioning. UPSC records should have shown 1951," Lalit contended, suggesting the army chief should not be penalised because this wasn't done. "After that every single document has been 1951," he said.

The bench, however, refused to accept his arguments. "All the documents at the threshold show your date of birth as May 10, 1950."

Even as late as 2008, the military secretary's branch and the adjutant general showed different dates of birth, it said.

"The matter was then discussed at the highest level. You were called, you accepted your date of birth as 1950…. if you had insisted on 1951, you would have exposed yourself to disciplinary action. Therefore, the concerned officer writes to bring to a close the controversy. You are reconciled to it (date of birth as 1950)," Justice Lodha observed.

"Having given that assurance, it would not behove a meritorious officer to go back on that position," he said. "It is extremely unfortunate. You have every right to agitate your grievance in the highest court. It was an unfortunate inadvertence. But you accepted it in 2008, 2009."

"We have to find fault with the government of India in deciding your date of birth," the judge continued.

But Justice Gokhale was quick to cut him short. "It is not fair to criticise the ministry. Thereafter, you become chief," he said.

After the two-hour hearing in a packed courtroom, the bench asked Singh: "Does it (date of birth as determined by the authorities) suffer from such a flaw that it has to be corrected by exercise of our extraordinary powers?"

Lalit insisted on arguing the case further, saying there was no such thing as official date of birth as opposed to actual date of birth. Justice Lodha shot down his arguments: "With all the inconsistencies in the records maintained by two branches in the army, you left it to the authorities to take a final call. This commitment must also be honoured."

Lalit offered that the army chief would step down within 48 hours should the court agree to change his date of birth to May 10, 1951, and spoke of the morale of the 13-lakh strong force. "I have been wronged," he maintained.

This prompted the court to ask: "Has the stage come where all the dirty linen has to be washed in public?"

The bench then asked Lalit to check with Singh whether he intended to press on further.

The attorney-general intervened at this stage to assure the court that the government had full faith in Singh.

Justice Lodha told Lalit: "You have rightly and gracefully, as a dignified officer, you left it to the government to act objectively. You will accept this."

Justice Gokhale interjected: "You could have gone to court then. But you became chief of army staff."

After Singh agreed to withdraw his petition, the court disposed of it.

"Given the constraints of judicial review, the government decision (on date of birth) stands," the two-judge bench ruled at 2pm after a short recess. "Wise people are those who move with the winds."

Age of civilian age and service age SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY

2012-02-11T00:06:00.001-08:00

Age of civilian age and service age

SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY

New Delhi, Feb. 10: The Supreme Court's decision today means that the entry made for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam has been recognised without going into the "civilian" matriculation certificate that is used often to settle age-related disputes.

"All the documents at the threshold show your date of birth as May 10, 1950," the court told Gen. V.K. Singh's counsel, referring to the entries made when forms were filled for the UPSC-conducted exam to the National Defence Academy. (Gen. Singh's supporters have been saying 1950, instead of 1951, was scribbled by mistake, possibly by a teacher who inspired him to join the military.)

Under established law, the matriculation certificate (the general's lawyer has said civilian documents such as PAN card shows 1951 as his year of birth on the basis of the matriculation certificate) is usually taken into consideration.

In the absence of such a certificate or if it's proved that the certificate has been falsified, courts often recognise school-leaving certificates issued by headmasters. Bone tests are also allowed when no other options are available.

However, in this particular case in which the general directly went to the Supreme Court because of paucity of time and to avoid hierarchical complications, the matriculation certificate faced a legal hurdle.

The Supreme Court, under Article 32 of the Constitution, cannot examine such certificates as evidence. For that, a civil suit has to be filed and the person has to prove the authenticity of the certificate.

The court declined to go into "the civilian aspect", taking the UPSC entry as the threshold. "We are not adjudicating the real date of birth. We are only concerned with the recognition of the date of birth. The controversy is confined to the date of birth recorded in service records," the bench said.

The court added that "nobody has challenged the matriculation certificate about his date of birth…. None, even the government has not challenged his date of birth in the matriculation certificate".

Declining to pass any directive on the documents issued by civilian agencies like the school board and the income-tax department, the bench said: "We can't say so as none of the authorities is before us."

If Gen. Singh wanted to rest his case on the matriculation certificate, he would have had to go to a civil court or the Armed Forces Tribunal where an officer junior to the army chief would have adjudicated the matter.

So, the Supreme Court today broadly based its decisions on a well-known principle of administrative law, known as the doctrine of estoppel in which a person cannot go back on a claim once it is legally made. Under the doctrine, Singh cannot go back on his acceptance, made in 2008 and 2009, of 1950 as his date of birth, wherein he implicitly gave up his rights.

However, in cases of estoppel too, lower courts normally carry out an inquiry into whether the right had been waived without fear or favour.

This assumes significance in Singh's dispute as an annexure to his complaint includes excerpts of communication that suggest he was issued an ultimatum to accept the date preferred by the army headquarters.

The Supreme Court made a reference to this today. "…if you had insisted on 1951, you would have exposed yourself to disciplinary action. Therefore, the concerned officer writes to bring to a close the controversy. You are reconciled to it (date of birth as 1950)," Justice R.M. Lodha of the two-judge bench said.

However, the top court cannot inquire if the waiver was voluntary in a judicial review, where it is only authorised to examine whether the decision-making process was vitiated or mala fide.

Singh had not alleged any mala fide and the court chose not to look into whether the process was vitiated.

The court today suggested that if Singh persisted with his plea, "we will refer the case to the tribunal. Other service matters go to the tribunal. If you are going to the tribunal, you may have to go to the witness box".

Had Gen. Singh gone to a civil court, it would have been time-consuming and a conclusion may not have been found before this May 31, the scheduled date of his retirement if 1950 is taken as his year of birth.

Gone with the ‘wise’ wind VK bows to court, cloud on full stint SUJAN DUTTA

2012-02-11T00:03:00.000-08:00

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120211/jsp/frontpage/story_15121383.jsp

Gone with the 'wise' wind
VK bows to court, cloud on full stint

SUJAN DUTTA

New Delhi, Feb. 10: India has an army chief who is twice-born. Year after year, in 1950 and in 1951, Gen. V.K. Singh was born to the same set of parents and the same Gen. V.K. Singh rose to be the army chief.

Damned by superlative praise from the Supreme Court, Gen. Singh has lost in the unparalleled case of the army chief versus the Union of India.

While the court sought to mollify the general, lavishing praise on him and noting the praise from the government for him, there is a sense of impotent rage among the general's frustrated friends who say he has no option now but to quit.

The government's position will remain unchanged — that he was born on May 10, 1950, and, therefore, has to retire on May 31 this year. Gen. Singh will have to give up his contention that he was born a year later.

The army chief's lawyer at one point said that he would step down in 48 hours if the government accepted his contention. That was not accepted by the court.

The Supreme Court said the date of birth set by the government in his service records must reign supreme. He has to accede to civilian authority. But on his contention that he was born on May 10, 1951 — the date reflected in his passport, identity card and PAN card issued by the same civilian authority — the court found no reason to doubt his honesty. But the honesty was immaterial.

"Wise people are those who move with the winds," Justice R.M. Lodha, the senior on the bench that also included Justice H.L. Gokhale, advised the army chief, bringing closure to the general's legal battle.

In the government, bureaucrats believe Gen. Singh has been tilting at windmills. He believes he is acting out of conviction in a battle for his honour and integrity.

Any time now, Gen. Singh is set to quit office, resign or ask for premature retirement after the Supreme Court today "disposed of his petition as withdrawn", his friends believe.

The general has not made his intention public yet. He left for a scheduled visit to the south-western command in Jaipur.

On a day the Supreme Courts of the Maldives, Pakistan and India looked set to reshape the texture of relations among state institutions in the sub-continent, it was here in New Delhi that officials, bureaucrats, ministers, politicians and soldiers were glued to television sets following the case of the army chief versus his own government.

There was a quiet but barely concealed satisfaction within the government. The usually reticent A.K. Antony's defence ministry was happy with the outcome.

"We are happy that the issue has been finally resolved and the controversy has been put to rest," defence ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said after the Supreme Court order with emphasis added to "finally".

Gen. Singh, who was in his office in Army Headquarters during the nearly two-hour hearing in the Supreme Court, left for the scheduled visit to Jaipur shortly afterwards. He is due back in New Delhi tomorrow.

But a confidant of the chief admitted that "it is now untenable for him to continue to occupy Army House after challenging the government in court and saying that it was a matter of honour and integrity".

"We have a robust machinery," a defence ministry official replied, asked if the government has begun the process of naming Gen. Singh's successor, should he quit early.

There is still some confusion in Army Headquarters on the technicalities of the case. Since the government had withdrawn its December 30 order, which rejected Gen. Singh's statutory complaint, an officer wondered what would be its fate now.

But there is no confusion in the ministry. Armed with the Supreme Court order it will expect the adjutant-general's branch — the official record-keeper — to abide by its directives.

Gen. Singh has to retire on May 31, this year, after all his pleas to reconcile records were quashed.

In the event of Gen. Singh's premature departure from office, the government can appoint any of the seven army commanders or the vice-chief of army staff as the chief.

If it goes by the seniority principle, the top three lieutenant generals in contention for the office would be western army commander Lt Gen. Shankar Ghosh, central army commander Lt Gen. V.K. Ahluwalia and eastern army commander Lt Gen. Bikram Singh. If Gen. Singh chooses to stay in office till May 31, Lt Gen. Bikram Singh would automatically be the senior-most army commander as the others would have retired on reaching the age of 60 years by then.

The government could also force the hand of Gen. Singh with whom the trust deficit is now public. Usually, the government announces the name of the chief-designate two months before the retirement of the incumbent. An earlier announcement could make it difficult for Gen. Singh to demit office at a time of his own choosing because he could be asked to continue as a caretaker, effectively a lame-duck, chief.

सभ्यता के विद्रूप

2012-02-11T00:00:00.001-08:00

सभ्यता के विद्रूप

http://www.jansatta.com/index.php/component/content/article/20-2009-09-11-07-46-16/11240-2012-02-11-04-59-15

Saturday, 11 February 2012 10:28

प्रमोद भार्गव
जनसत्ता 11 फरवरी, 2012: जब किसी समाज की दशा और दिशा अर्थतंत्र से तय होने लगती है तो इंसान को देखने या आंकने के तरीके बदलने लगते हैं। यही कारण है कि हम जिन्हें सभ्य और आधुनिक समाज का हिस्सा समझते हैं, वे प्राकृतिक अवस्था में रह रहे लोगों को इंसान मानने के बजाय जंगली जीव ही मानते हैं। आधुनिक कहे जाने वाले समाज की यह एक ऐसी विडंबना है, जो सभ्यता के दायरे में कतई नहीं आती। अंडमान-निकोबार द्वीप समूह में लुप्तप्राय जारवा प्रजाति की औरतों को स्वादिष्ट भोजन का लालच देकर सैलानियों के सामने नचाने के जो वीडियो-दृश्य ब्रिटिश अखबारों में सिलसिलेवार छपे हैं उन्हें शासन-प्रशासन के स्तर पर झुठलाने की कवायद कितनी भी की जाए, लेकिन हकीकत यह है कि अभयारण्यों में दुर्लभ वन्यजीवों को देखने की मंशा की तरह, दुर्लभ मानव प्रजातियों को भी देखने की इच्छा नवधनाढ्यों और रसूखदारों में पनप रही है।
अफसोसनाक यह है कि जिस सरकारी तंत्र को आदिवासियों की सुरक्षा के लिए तैनात किया गया है, वही इन्हें लालच देकर नचवाने का काम कर रहा है। इसी कुत्सित मानसिकता के चलते जारवा लोग इंसानों के बजाय, मनोरंजक खिलौने होकर रह गए हैं। यह विचित्र है कि एक ओर तो हम दया दिखाते हुए सर्कसों और मदारियों द्वारा वन्यजीवों के करतब दिखाए जाने पर अंकुश लगाने की वकालत करते हैं, वहीं दूसरी ओर अपने में मगन निर्वस्त्र या अर्ध-निर्वस्त्र जन-जातियों को नाचने के लिए मजबूर करते हैं।
लंदन के अखबार 'आब्जर्वर' ने एक बार फिर जारवा जनजाति के बारे में मोबाइल फोन से फिल्माई गई दो फिल्में जारी की हैं। इनमें से एक फिल्म 3.19 मिनट की है, जिसमें एक पुलिस अधिकारी के सामने नृत्य करती हुई जारवा जाति की अर्धनग्न लड़कियां दिखाई गई हैं। दूसरे वीडियो में सेना की वर्दी पहने बैठे एक व्यक्ति के सामने अन्य जारवा युवतियां नाच रही हैं। अखबार ने दावा किया है कि ये वीडियो नए हैं और वहां सुरक्षा में लगे अधिकारियों की मिलीभगत से सामने आए हैं। इनमें से एक वीडियो दो माह पहले पोर्टब्लेयर में भी प्रकट हो चुका है। इसके पहले विदेशी सैलानियों के सामने इन महिलाओं को नचाने के जो वीडियो जारी किए गए थे, उनका फिल्मांकन गोपनीय ढंग से इसी अखबार के पत्रकार ने किया था। इस कारण देश में हल्ला मचा और केंद्र सरकार ने वीडियो की हकीकत जानने के लिए एक जांच भी बिठा दी। यह जांच कुछ खुलासा कर पाती उससे पहले दो और नए वीडियो आ गए।
आधुनिक विकास और बहुराष्ट्रीय कंपनियों के लिए वन कानूनों में लगातार हो रहे बदलावों के चलते अंडमान में ही नहीं, देश भर की जनजातियों की संख्या लगातार घट रही है। आहार और चिकित्सा जैसी बुनियादी सुविधाओं की कमी होती जा रही है। अंडमान-निकोबार द्वीपसमूह में अलग-अलग दुर्गम टापुओं पर जंगलों में समूह बना कर रहने वाली जनजातियों का अन्य समुदायों और प्रशासन से बहुत सीमित संपर्क है। जारवा लोगों की संख्या घट कर महज तीन सौ इक्यासी रह गई है।
एक अन्य टापू पर रहने वाले ग्रेट अंडमानी जनजाति के लोगों की संख्या महज साठ के आसपास है। इन लोगों में प्रतिरोधात्मक क्षमता इतनी कम होती है कि ये एक बार बीमार हुए तो इनका बचना नामुमकिन हो जाता है। एक तय परिवेश में रहने के कारण इन आदिवासियों की त्वचा बेहद संवेदनशील हो गई है। लिहाजा अगर ये बाहरी लोगों के संपर्क में लंबे समय तक रहते हैं तो ये रोगी हो जाते हैं और उपचार के अभाव में दम तोड़ देते हैं। अब जनजातीय मामलों के केंद्रीय मंत्री वीके चंद्र देव ने एलान किया है कि इनकी प्रतिरोधात्मक क्षमता बढ़ाने के लिए टीकाकरण करने और पौष्टिक खुराक देने के उपाय किए जाएंगे।
करीब एक दशक पहले तक ये लोग पूरी तरह निर्वस्त्र रहते थे, लेकिन सरकारी कोशिशों और इनकी बोली के जानकार दुभाषियों के माध्यम से समझाने-बझाने पर इन्होंने थोडेÞ-बहुत कपड़े पहनने या पत्ते लपेटने शुरू कर दिए हैं। इसीलिए ब्रिटिश अखबार के जरिए जिन वीडियो दृश्यों की जानकारी सामने आई है, उनमें जारवा महिलाओं को कपडेÞ पहने नृत्य करते दिखाया गया है। इससे तय है ये वीडियो नए हैं। पुलिसिया पूछताछ से खुलासा हुआ है कि ब्रिटिश अखबार 'द आॅब्जर्वर' के पत्रकार को पोर्टब्लेयर के राजेश व्यास और टैक्सी चालक इनके निवास स्थल तक ले गए थे। वहां इन्होंने स्वादिष्ट भोजन के चंद निवाले डाल कर उन आदिवासियों से नृत्य कराया और नृत्य करते हुए उनका फिल्मांकन किया। जबकि यह इलाका सर्वोच्च न्यायालय और स्थानीय प्रशासन के दिशा-निर्देशों के अनुसार पर्यटन के लिए पूरी तरह प्रतिबंधित है। इन्हें संपूर्ण संरक्षण देने की दृष्टि से अंडमान ट्रंकरोड को बंद करके समुद्र से ऐसा मार्ग बनाए जाने की संभावनाएं तलाशी जा रही हैं, जो जारवा संरक्षित क्षेत्र से होकर न गुजरे।
भारत की सांस्कृतिक विविधता एक अनूठी खूबसूरती है। यहां विभिन्न आदिवासी समुदायों को अपने पुरातन और सनातन परिवेश में रहने की स्वतंत्रता हासिल है। जबकि मानवाधिकारों की सबसे ज्यादा वकालत करने वाले अमेरिका जैसे देश में आदिम जनजातियों को सुनियोजित ढंग से समाप्त किया गया और यह सिलसिला वहां अब भी जारी है। अमेरिका महाद्वीप में कोलंबस के मूल्यांकन को लेकर दो तरह के दृष्टिकोण सामने आए हैं। एक दृष्टिकोण उन लोगों का है, जो अमेरिकी मूल के हैं और जिनका विस्तार और वर्चस्व उत्तरी और दक्षिणी अमेरिका के अनेक देशों में है।

दूसरा दृष्टिकोण उन लोगों का है, जो दावा करते हैं कि अमेरिका का अस्तित्व ही हम लोगों ने खड़ा किया। इनका कहना है कि कोलंबस का आना इनके लिए कहर साबित हुआ। क्योंकि कोलंबस के आने तक अमेरिका में वहां की जनजातियों की जितनी आबादी थी वह घट कर अब आधी रह गई है। इतने बडेÞ जनसंहार के बरक्स जुल्म की दूसरी बड़ी कहानी अफ्रीका से लाए गए अश्वेतों को गुलाम बनाने की है। दास प्रथा तो खत्म हो गई, पर अश्वेतों के साथ भेदभाव का सिलसिला अब भी जारी है। ब्रिटेन के भी हालात बहुत अच्छे नहीं हैं। वहां हाल ही में नस्लीय आधार पर भारत के अनुज बिदवे की हत्या का मामला इसका उदाहरण है।
शोषण और सुनियोजित संहार के ऐसे ही पैरोकारों का एक दल हमारे यहां भी पैदा हो गया है जिसमें योजनाकार और अर्थशास्त्री शामिल हैं। ये भूमि, जंगल और खनिजों को महज आर्थिक उत्पाद मानते हैं। इनका कहना है कि इस प्राकृतिक संपदा पर दुर्भाग्य से ऐसी छोटी और मझोली जोत के किसानों और वनवासियों का वर्चस्व है, जो अयोग्य और अक्षम हैं।
सकल घरेलू उत्पाद दर में लगातार वृद्धि के लिए जरूरी है, ऐसे लोगों से खेतीयोग्य भूमि छीनी जाए और उसे विशेष व्यावसायिक हितों, शॉपिंग मॉलों और शहरीकरण के लिए अधिग्रहीत कर लिया जाए। इसी तर्ज पर जिन जंगलों और खनिज ठिकानों पर जन-जातियां आदिकाल से रहती चली आ रही हैं, उन्हें विस्थापित कर संपदा के ये अनमोल क्षेत्र औद्योगिक घरानों को उत्खनन के लिए सौंपे जा रहे हैं।
इस मकसद की पूर्ति के लिए 'क्षतिपूर्ति वन्यरोपण विधेयक 2008' बिना किसी बहस-मुबाहिसे के पारित करा दिया गया था। जबकि इसके मसविदे को जनजातियों, वनों और खनिज संरक्षण की दृष्टि से गैर-जरूरी मानते हुए संसद की स्थायी समिति ने खारिज कर दिया था। लेकिन कंपनियों को सौगात देने की कड़ी में प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह ने समिति की सिफारिश को दरकिनार कर यह विधेयक पारित करा दिया।
यही कारण है कि देश में जितने भी आदिवासी बहुल इलाके हैं, उन सभी में इनकी संख्या तेजी से घट रही है।जारवा जनजातियों को भोजन का लालच देकर नचाने की घटना जहां शोषण और अमानवीयता का ही एक रूप है, वहीं इससे देश की कथित प्रगति का एक विद्रूप भी उभरता है। चंद निवालों के लालच में अगर परदेशियों के सामने अर्धनग्न जारवा महिलाएं नाच रही हैं तो विकास का ढिंढोरा पीट रहे देश के लिए यह लज्जा की बात है। क्योंकि ये भोले और मासूम जारवा नहीं जानते कि कथित रूप से सभ्य मानी जाने वाली दुनिया में नग्नता बिकती है। लेकिन इसके ठीक विपरीत जो लोग धन का लालच देकर इनकी नग्नता के दृश्य कैमरे में कैद कर करवा रहे थे, वे जरूर अच्छी तरह जानते थे कि यह नग्नता उनके व्यापारिक प्रतिष्ठान की टीआरपी बढ़ाने की सस्ती और जुगुप्सा जगाने वाली अचरज भरी वीडियो क्लीपिंग है। इसीलिए जन्मजात अवस्था में रह रहे जारवाओं की मासूमियत को बेचने की कोशिश की गई। पर यह एक क्रूर मजाक है।
इसी तरह का एक मामला ओड़िशा के प्राचीन आदिवासियों को लेकर भी सामने आया है। इन्हें एक सरकारी मेले में नुमाइश की तरह पेश किया गया। हालांकि हमारे देश के सांस्कृतिक परिवेश में नग्नता कभी फूहड़ता या अश्लीलता का पर्याय नहीं रही। पाश्चात्य मूल्यों और भौतिकवादी आधुनिकता ने ही प्राकृतिक और स्वाभाविक नग्नता को दमित काम-वासना की पृष्ठभूमि में रेखांकित किया है। वरना हमारे यहां तो खजुराहो, कोणार्क और कामसूत्र जैसी रचनाधर्मिता से स्पष्ट होता है कि एक राष्ट्र के सामाजिक-सांस्कृतिक परिदृश्य में हम कितनी व्यापक मानसिक दृष्टि से परिपक्व थे। लेकिन कालांतर में विदेशी आक्रांताओं के शासन और उनकी संकीर्ण कार्य-प्रणाली ने हमारे सोच को बदला और नैसर्गिक नग्नता फूहड़ सेक्स का हिस्सा बन गई।
इसीलिए कहना पड़ता है कि कथित रूप से हम आधुनिक भले हो गए हों, लेकिन सभ्यता की परिधि में आना अभी बाकी है। वरना जो आदिम जातियां प्रकृति से संस्कार और आहार ग्रहण कर अपना जीवनयापन कर रही हैं, उन्हें मानव मानने के बजाय चिंपांजियों जैसे रसरंजक वन्यप्राणी मान कर नहीं चलते और न ही भोजन के चंद टुकडेÞ डाल कर उन्हें बंदर या भालुओं की तरह नाचने को बाध्य करते। अगर इसे ही मुख्यधारा की सभ्यता कहा जाता है तो अच्छा है इन्हें अपने ही दायरे में, आदिम सभ्यता में रहते हुए बख्शा जाए। प्राकृतिक परिवेश में रहने वाले इंसानों की लाचार मासूमियत को भुनाने या बेचने का यह प्रसंग आदिवासियों के प्रति हमारे नजरिए पर एक बार फिर सवालिया निशान लगाता है।

प्रियंका अमेठी-रायबरेली में कई वजहों से हैं सीमित

2012-02-10T23:58:00.001-08:00

प्रियंका अमेठी-रायबरेली में कई वजहों से हैं सीमित

Saturday, 11 February 2012 10:16

प्रदीप श्रीवास्तव नई दिल्ली, 10 फरवरी। प्रियंका वाड्रा के एक हफ्ते के चुनाव प्रचार ने मीडिया का ध्यान अपनी ओर खींचा। इसका असर यह हुआ कि आज सभी पार्टियों के निशाने पर कांग्रेस, खासकर गांधी परिवार है। पहले चरण के चुनाव से ठीक पहले प्रियंका को प्रचार में उतारने की कई वजहें बताई जा रही हैं। कहा जा रहा है कि 2 जी स्पेक्ट्रम घोटाले पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट के फैसले के बाद कांग्रेस जिस तरह घिर रही थी। उसमें यह फैसला किया गया। कांग्रेस के हतोत्साहित कार्यकर्ताओं में उत्साह भरना भी प्रियंका को प्रचार में उतारने का एक कारण माना जा रहा है। लेकिन यहां यक्ष प्रश्न यह है कि प्रियंका वढरा को कांग्रेस इन वजहों से इतना उपयोगी मानती थी और उन्हें उत्तर प्रदेश के चुनाव में अपना स्टार प्रचारक बनाना चाहती थी तो, उन्हें अमेठी और रायबरेली तक ही सीमित क्यों रखा गया है? कांग्रेस उनकी इस कथित लोकप्रियता का लाभ पूरे प्रदेश में क्यों नहीं उठाना चाहती?
इसमें भी संदेह नहीं कि न केवल मीडिया में मिली प्रमुखता बल्कि दूसरे मुकामों पर भी प्रियंका के आने से कांग्रेस को लाभ मिला है। रायबरेली और अमेठी में टिकट बंटवारे और स्थानीय गुटबाजी से कार्यकर्ताओं में जो मतभेद थे उन्हें सुलझाने में प्रियंका ने अहम भूमिका निभाई। वे राजनीतिक रूप से पूरी तरह परिपक्व दिखाई दे रही हैं। वे कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष सोनिया गांधी या बसपा प्रमुख मयावती की तरह चुनावी भाषण पढ़ कर नहीं देती और न ही उन्होंने ख्रुद को बड़ी जनसभाओं तक सीमित रखा है। वे नुक्कड़ सभा और पैदल जनसंपर्क का भी इस्तमोल कर रही हैं। उनके चेहरे पर थकान भी नहीं दिखती है। प्रियंका अपने भाषणों में जिस तरह 22 सालों से प्रदेश की सत्ता में कांग्रेस की अनुपस्थिति को दर्ज करा रही हैं। उसका मनोवैज्ञानिक प्रभाव युवाओं पर पड़ रहा है। इसका अर्थ यह है कि पिछले 22 साल में प्रदेश की जो दुर्दशा हुई है, उससे कांग्रेस का कोई लेना-देना नहीं है। आज से 22 साल पहले कांग्रेस की सत्ता में क्या अच्छा हुआ था और क्या बुरा, यह आज के 21 से 30 साल के युवाओं को कहां पता है।
बहरहाल कांग्रेस के एक वरिष्ठ नेता की माने तो एक रणनीति के तहत प्रियंका की भूमिका केवल राहुल और सोनिया गांधी के चुनावी क्षेत्र तक ही सीमित है। कांग्रेस उत्तर प्रदेश का चुनाव राहुल गांधी के नाम पर लड़ रही है। अपने मिशन 2012 के लिए राहुल गांधी पिछले दो साल से लगे हैं। उनका जलवा कितना काम करेगा, कांग्रेस यह देखना चाहती है। केवल कांग्रेस ही नहीं बल्कि दूसरी पार्टियों के साथ-साथ

राजनीतिक विश्लेषकों की निगाहें भी इस पर लगी हैं। कांग्रेस जानती है कि उत्तर प्रदेश में कोई चमत्कार नहीं होने जा रहा है, उसकी खुद की सरकार भी नहीं बनने जा रही है। लेकिन अगर उसकी सीटों की गिनती 60 से ऊपर आती है तो इसका श्रेय राहुल को मिलेगा। खराब प्रर्दशन का असर राहुल गांधी की साख पर पड़ेगा। बिहार के पिछले चुनाव में हालांकि राहुल गांधी ने कोई खास मेहनत नहीं की थी और न पार्टी को खड़ा करने में समय दिया था। लेकिन विपक्ष अभी तक वहां की असफलता का ठीकरा राहुल के सिर पर फोड़ता है। ऐसे में प्रियंका वढरा की साख को दांव पर लगाने का जुआ कांग्रेस के रणनीतिकार नहीं खेलना चाहते। वह भी तब जब कि पिछले एक दशक से प्रियंका गांधी की 'लोकप्रियता' को वह अपना राजनीतिक ब्रम्हास्त्र मानती रही है। कांग्रेस उसे तरकश से निकालने में कई वजह से संयम बरत रही है। प्रियंका अमेठी और रायबरेली में पहले भी प्रचार करती रही हैं।
कांग्रेस के एक अन्य नेता इस मामले में रार्बट वढरा के बयान की तरफ भी ध्यान दिलाते हैं। प्रियंका के पति रार्बट वढरा के राजनीति में आने के सवाल पर जिस बयान को लेकर बावेला मचा, उससे खुद कांग्रेसी भी हतप्रभ रह गए थे। उस पर गौर करें तो पाएंगे कि रार्बट ने उसमें कांग्रेस की भावी योजना और रणनीति के संकेत दिए थे। उन्होंने कहा कि यह राहुल गांधी की बारी है, इसके बाद प्रियंका की बारी आएगी और फिर हम सबकी बारी आएगी। उनके कहने का अर्थ यही था कि उत्तर प्रदेश चुनाव राहुल का है। इसके बाद यानि 2014 के लोकसभा चुनाव में पूरी तरह कांग्रेस के प्रचार में प्रियंका उतरेंगी। जाहिर है 2014 चुनाव के बाद प्रियंका को राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर चुनाव प्रचार में उतारने का कोई मतलब भी नहीं है। 2019 तक उस पीढ़ी के बहुत से लोग दुनिया छोड़ जाएंगे जो प्रियंका में इंदिरा गांधी को ढूढ़ते हैं।
अमेठी और रायबरेली के तहत आने वाली सीटों के चुनाव नतीजों से भी राहुल गांधी की प्रतिष्ठा जुड़ी है। यहां अगर कांग्रेस को सफलता नहीं मिली तो विपक्ष यह कहेगा कि खुद अपना ही घर राहुल और कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष नहीं बचा पाए। कांग्रेस नेताओं के मुताबिक चूंकि राहुल गांधी पूरे प्रदेश में घूम रहे हैं इसलिए अमेठी और रायबरेली पर ध्यान देना उनके लिए संभव नहीं है। यह जिम्मा प्रियंका को दिया गया है। वे इस पर लगी हैं। वैसे 2007 में जबकि पूरे प्रदेश में कांग्रेस की हालत खराब थी, इन दोनों लोकसभा सीटों के तहत आने वाली 10 सीटों में से उसे छह सीटें मिली थीं।

बटला हाउस कांड के वक्त कहां थीं सोनिया: मुलायम

2012-02-10T23:55:00.001-08:00

बटला हाउस कांड के वक्त कहां थीं सोनिया: मुलायम

Friday, 10 February 2012 19:00

मैनपुरी, 10 फरवरी (एजेंसी) सोनिया गांधी के 'भावुक' होने के खुर्शीद की टिप्पणी को मुलायम ने चुनावी हथकंडा करार दिया।

समाजवादी पार्टी :सपा: अध्यक्ष मुलायम सिंह यादव ने दिल्ली के बटला हाउस मुठभेड़ कांड की तस्वीरें देखकर कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष सोनिया गांधी के 'भावुक' हो जाने सम्बन्धी केन्रदीय कानून मंत्री सलमान खुर्शीद की टिप्पणी को चुनावी हथकंडा करार दिया है। जिले में गत सात फरवरी को एक सड़क हादसे में मारे गये 27 लोगों के परिजन से मुलाकात करने आए यादव ने संवाददाताओं से बातचीत में कहा, ''बटला हाउस कांड के वक्त सोनिया गांधी कहां थीं। सलमान खुर्शीद को चुनाव के वक्त ही उनके आंसू क्यों याद आए।''
उन्होंने कहा कि वह इस मामले पर पहले कई बार बोल चुके हैं और उत्तर प्रदेश विधानसभा चुनाव के दौरान खुर्शीद का ताजा बयान चुनावी हथकंडा है।

गौरतलब है कि खुर्शीद ने कल मुस्लिम बहुल जिले आजमगढ़ के सगड़ी क्षेत्र में बटला हाउस मुठभेड़ कांड को एक बार फिर गरमाते हुए कहा था कि उस मुठभेड़ की तस्वीरें देखकर कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष सोनिया गांधी की आंखों मे आंसू आ गये थे।
यादव ने चुनाव के बाद सपा के सत्ता में आने पर गुंडागर्दी से सख्ती से निपटने के पार्टी प्रदेश अध्यक्ष अखिलेश यादव के बयान का समर्थन करते हुए कहा कि उनकी सरकार बनने पर गुंडों से सख्ती से निपटा जाएगा।
उन्होंने कहा कि अगर चुनाव के बाद राज्य में सपा की सरकार बनती है तो पूर्वांचल में हर साल फैलने वाले इंसेफलाइटिस रोग पर अंकुश के लिये प्रभावी कदम उठाए जाएंगे।

बेदाग नहीं उप्र में किसी भी दल का दामन

2012-02-10T23:51:00.001-08:00

बेदाग नहीं उप्र में किसी भी दल का दामन

http://www.jansatta.com/index.php/component/content/article/1-2009-08-27-03-35-27/11237-2012-02-11-04-51-56

Saturday, 11 February 2012 10:21

अनिल बंसल नई दिल्ली, 11 फरवरी। सूबे के लोगों को भयमुक्त राज देने के दावे तो उत्तर प्रदेश में सभी पार्टियों ने किए हैं, पर दामन किसी का भी बेदाग नहीं है। सत्ता हासिल करना सबका एकमात्र मकसद है और जीतने की क्षमता उम्मीदवारों के चयन की एकमात्र कसौटी। अपराधियों को तो टिकट दिए ही हैं, कई सीटों पर तो ऐसे उम्मीदवार भी उतार दिए हैं जो जेल की हवा खा रहे हैं। पश्चिमी उत्तर प्रदेश के बाहुबली डीपी यादव को पार्टी में शामिल न करके खुद को पाक साफ दिखाने का उपक्रम कर रहे अखिलेश यादव भी इसी जमात में शामिल हैं। मुलायम सिंह यादव के लाडले को डीपी यादव भले दागी दिखे हों, पर जेल में बंद अभय सिंह, विजय मिश्र और शेरबाज खां उन्हें भले मानुष लगे होंगे। तभी तो सभी को उम्मीदवार बना दिया है।
भाजपा सियासत में शुचिता का ढिंढोरा पीटती रही है। उसने दागी बाबू सिंह कुशवाहा को अपना कर बेवजह फजीहत कराई। चौतरफा हमले हुए तो उन्हें टिकट भी नहीं दिया। पर बदनामी बेवजह मोल ले ली। कुशवाहा पर तो भ्रष्टाचार के ही आरोप हैं। पर उन्हें मुद्दा बना कर जिस कांग्रेस और बसपा ने भाजपा को जम कर कोसा उनके सारे उम्मीदवार भी दूध के धुले कहां हैं। यूपी के लोगों को स्वर्ग सा सुख देने का दावा करने वाले कांग्रेस के युवराज राहुल गांधी से कोई पूछे कि गाजीपुर की जेल में बंद शैलेश कुमार सिंह को जंगीपुर से और कलावती बिंद को जमनिया से उन्होंने टिकट क्यों दे दिए। नानपारा से दिलीप वर्मा और श्रावस्ती से कुलदीप चौधरी के दामन पर लगे दाग भी उन्हें दिखे नहीं होंगे। दिखते तो दोनों की पत्नियों को उम्मीदवार क्यों बनाते?
हकीकत तो यह है कि उत्तर प्रदेश विधानसभा का चुनाव लड़ रहे दलीय-निर्दलीय उम्मीदवारों में आधे भी ऐसे नहीं हैं जिनके खिलाफ कोई आपराधिक मामला दर्ज न हो। पर जो जेल की सलाखों के पीछे रह कर जनादेश हासिल करना चाह रहे हों, उन्हें मौका देने के धतकरम पर ये पार्टियां क्या सफाई देंगी। अखिलेश यादव की समाजवादी पार्टी ने तो कत्ल के गुनाह की सजा भोग रहे अमरमणि त्रिपाठी को न सही उनके बेटे अमन मणि त्रिपाठी को ही टिकट दे दिया। सपा के 35 उम्मीदवारों की तो पुलिस थानों में हिस्ट्रीशीट तक मौजूद हैं।

फिर भी अखिलेश डीपी यादव को गले नहीं लगाने के फैसले को ब्रह्मास्त्र की तरह इस्तेमाल कर रहे हैं। उन्हीं की पार्टी के एक हिस्ट्रीशीटर सीतापुर के ओमप्रकाश गुप्ता हैं। उनकी जगह उनके बेटे अनूप गुप्ता को उम्मीदवार बनाना पड़ा है क्योंकि सीट जीतने की मजबूरी है।
राहुल गांधी भी इस कसौटी पर अलग नहीं है। पीलीभीत की बीसलपुर सीट के अपने उम्मीदवार को बदल कर उन्होंने इसे साबित किया है। कांग्रेस ने पहले यहां कुर्मी देवस्वरूप पटेल को उम्मीदवार बनाया था। उनकी स्थिति कमजोर दिखी तो अनीस अहमद खां उर्फ फूल बाबू को उम्मीदवार बना दिया। फूल बाबू पिछला चुनाव बसपा टिकट पर जीते थे। मायावती ने उन्हें मंत्री भी बनाया था। पर सूबे के लोकायुक्त ने उनके खिलाफ विधायक निधि के दुरुपयोग की शिकायत को सही पाया तो मायावती ने उनसे मंत्री पद भी छीन लिया और पार्टी से बाहर भी कर दिया। ऐसे दागी का प्रचार अब राहुल गांधी किस मुंह से करेंगे। इसी तरह सिकंदराबाद की सीट पर भी लालू यादव के समधी जितेंद्र यादव को उम्मीदवार बनाने से पहले राहुल गांधी ने उनका अतीत नहीं खंगाला। पुलिस के रिकार्ड में उनका दामन भी बेदाग नहीं है।
छोटी पार्टियों के बाहुबली उम्मीदवारों की सूची भी छोटी नहीं है। मुन्ना बजरंगी, बृजेश सिंह, अतीक अहमद, जितेंद्र सिंह बबलू, पुरुषोत्तम नरेश द्विवेदी, मुख्तार अंसारी आदि भी चुनाव में खम ठोंक रहे हैं। सपा के विजय मिश्र पर इलाहाबाद के बसपा विधायक गोपाल नंदी पर जानलेवा हमला करने की साजिश का आरोप है। मिश्र इस समय मेरठ की जेल में हैं। नानपारा में कांग्रेस ने दिलीप वर्मा को टिकट दे दिया था। बाद में पता चला कि सजायाफ्ता होने के कारण वे चुनाव लड़ ही नहीं सकते लिहाजा उनके बाहुबल का फायदा उठाने के लिए पार्टी ने उनकी पत्नी को टिकट देने में कतई बुराई नहीं समझी।
उत्तर प्रदेश के मतदाताओं के सामने आज सबसे बड़ी दुविधा यही है कि वे चुनें तो किसको। एक नागनाथ है तो दूसरा सांपनाथ। मात्रा का फर्क भले हो पर भ्रष्टाचार, धन-बल, बाहुबल और जातिवाद व संप्रदायवाद जैसी बुराईयों से एक भी पार्टी बची नहीं है। पहले चरण में मतदान भले 62 फीसद हो गया हो पर मतदाताओं में न किसी के प्रति उत्साह है और न किसी का मुद्दा उन्हें प्रभावित कर पा रहा है।

The Bombay High Court on Thursday indicted former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for irregularities in a joint venture for the allotment of 20 acres land to film director Subhash Ghai's film training institute Whistling Woods!

2012-02-10T10:27:00.001-08:00

The Bombay High Court on Thursday indicted former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for irregularities in a joint venture for the allotment of 20 acres land to film director Subhash Ghai's film training institute Whistling Woods!

"The decision was taken by the then administration to encourage education in the filed of entertainment. Bollywood is the capital of entertainment in the country," Mr. Chavan stated.

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Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh (Marathi: विलासराव दगडोजीराव देशमुख) (born May 26, 1945), popularly known as Vilasrao is the current Minister of ...

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Vilasrao Deshmukh indicted over land allotment to Whistling Woods

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The Bombay High Court on Thursday indicted former Chief MinisterVilasrao Deshmukh for irregularities in a joint venture for the allotment of 20 acres land ...
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The Bombay High Court on Thursday indicted former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for irregularities in a joint venture for the allotment of 20 acres land to film director Subhash Ghai's film training institute Whistling Woods. The court stated that the agreement signed between Mr. Ghai's company Mukta Arts and the Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation (MFSCDC) is "illegal, arbitrary and without authority of law".In a scathing order against former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, the Bombay high court on Thursday said he misused his position to allot 20 acres at Film City, Goregaon, to film producer Subhash Ghaifor just Rs 3 crore a decade ago. The Mumbai collector said the market value of the plot, where Ghai's institute Whistling Woods stands, was Rs 66.21 crore in 2000.

Dealing with two PILs against the deal, a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Girish Godbole quashed a joint venture pact between Maharashtra Film Stage and Cultural Development Corporation on October 24, 2000, and Ghai's company, Mukta Arts.In quashing the agreement, the judges were particularly harsh on Deshmukh, who is now the Union science and technology minister. "The role played by Respondent 7 (Deshmukh) in the entire transaction is deprecable. As highest functionary of state executive, (he) must be held to be aware of the legal provisions regarding public property," they said. "(Deshmukh) has clearly misused his official position as CM and it is certainly not acceptable that a chief minister will personally sign an agreement as a witness, though such agreement is completely illegal and does not have any support or authority even in the form of a resolution," they said.

Congress today said law will take its own course in the wake of the Bombay High Court judgement in the land allotment case in Mumbai allegedly involving Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury told reporters that law is universally applicable to all, but noted that in one para of the judgement, it has been said that there was no personal gain for Deshmukh, who was the chief minister at that time. "We will see the judgement," she said. The High Court has asked film maker Subhah Ghai to return to Maharashtra government the 20-acre land allotted for his film institute, making a scathing indictment of Deshmukh for "misusing his official position" as chief minister in showing "undue favours." The court, however, said there is no need for a CBI probe in the land deal since there was no material to indicate that its sale at reduced prices was a quid pro quo to get the then chief minister's actor son (Riteish Deshmukh) established in the film industry.

On Thursday, the Bombay High Court held that the joint venture agreement signed between Mr. Ghai's Mukta Arts and the Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation (MFSCDC) in 2004 for the director's film school Whistling Woods International was "illegal, arbitrary and without authority of law". The court also stated that Mr. Deshmukh had extended "undue favours" to Mr. Ghai.

"Mukta Arts has been directed by the court to immediately surrender 14.5 acres of the 20 acres land to the State government. The rest of the 5.5 acres land, on which the institute has been constructed, can be retained by them till May 2014, for which they will have to pay rent at the market rate. The condition of delay has been put only to prevent any loss to the students, who have already enrolled for courses at the institute," Bhushan Mahadik, advocate for the petitioner, toldThe Hindu.

he State government will fulfill all its responsibility, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said reacting to the Bombay High Court's order indicting senior Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh for "misusing his official position" as former Chief Minister and while allotting land to film maker Subhash Ghai for his film institute, Whistling Woods International.

However, Mr. Chavan chose not to comment on Mr. Deshmukh's role. Addressing mediapersons before his road show in the city on Friday, ahead of the upcoming corporation elections, Mr. Chavan said, "I cannot comment on Vilasrao's role without reading the court order. But our commitment for a clean government still stands."

"The decision was taken by the then administration to encourage education in the filed of entertainment. Bollywood is the capital of entertainment in the country," Mr. Chavan stated.

However, Mr. Chavan chose to take credit for the court decision, by emphasising on the governance of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). "It is because of the Right to Information (RTI) act, implemented by the UPA, that such things are coming into public light," he said.

The division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Girish Godbole was particularly severe on former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh during whose tenure the controversial allotment of the land, in Filmcity, took place.

"Respondent 7 (Deshmukh) has clearly misused his official position as the chief minister, and it is certainly not acceptable that a chief minister of the state will personally sign an agreement as a witness, though such agreement is completely illegal...," the bench said, adding that Deshmukh had clearly extended undue favours to Mukta Arts.

Stage & Cultural Development Corporation (MFSCDC) and Ghai's production company had entered into the joint venture for setting up of Whistling Woods. The agreement for the 20-acre plot, which was valued at only Rs 3 crore by the state administration, was signed in Deshmukh's presence in May 2004. Five agriculturists from Latur and Osmanabad, and two Goregaon residents had later challenged the allotment in separate petitions.

On Thursday, the High Court directed Mukta Arts to "surrender" the land. "Here is a case where all norms of transparency and reasonableness have been given a complete go by. The present case is a classic example of arbitrary, unreasonable and illegal decision of permitting use of available land owned by the government without any authority of law," the division bench said.

In a minor relief, the court allowed the company to retain 5.5 acres, on which Whistling Woods stands, till July 2014. It granted the reprieve because students have enroled in courses at the institute that will end only in May 2014. However, Mukta Arts has been asked to pay annual rent of Rs 5.3 crore from the date the land agreement was struck till it returns the remaining 14.5 acres.

One of the petitioners had alleged that Deshmukh favoured Ghai to boost his son Ritesh's film career. The court rejected this accusation. It, however, faulted the former chief minister in almost every other aspect. Deshmukh had said that he endorsed the land agreement "at the spur of the moment".

Rejecting his defence, the court observed: "Being the highest functionary of the executive of the State, he must be held to be aware of the legal provisions regarding public property. The defence of innocence cannot be accepted, and we decline to accept that defence that just as token of goodwill at the spur of the moment respondent no 7 (Deshmukh) signed the joint venture."

"The court has also directed Mukta Arts to pay rent on the entire property from the year 2000 onwards at the prevailing market value and to also pay interest on the rent at six per cent simple interest," Mr. Mahadik said.

The court stated that Mr. Deshmukh, as the then Chief Minister, misused his official position and illegally signed on the agreement papers, giving undue favour to Mr. Ghai's institute. It said that all norms of transparency had been bypassed in the case.

Rajendra Sontakke and four other agriculturists from Latur and Osmanabad districts had filed a public interest litigation in the court in 2009 alleging that Mr. Deshmukh had "grossly abused his power" for allotting the land to Mr. Ghai.

"We had filed the petition stating that the land which was actually owned by the Maharashtra government, was given to Mukta Arts without the government's permission. There were no competitive bids for the same. Even the board of the MFSCDC had not given an approval for the MoU [Memorandum of Understanding]," Mr. Mahadik said.

"Still, very significantly and for no ostensible and bona fide reason, the ex-Chief Minister as the Chief Minister signed the agreement below the signatures of the parties to the agreement, underneath a handwritten endorsement made by him saying 'signed before me'," he said.
The petition stated that the value of the land was wrongly calculated as Rs.325 per square metre by the MFSCDC, whereas the prevailing rate notified by the Mumbai municipal corporation in that year was Rs.3,900 per sq. m.

It stated that even the Comptroller and Auditor General had raised queries about it but it was told that the agreement will be renegotiated. "However, the existing agreement has not been rescinded till date. Action has not been taken against the officials responsible for the undervaluation," the petition stated.

"The court has directed the State government to appoint an expert committee to look into the valuation of the construction on the land. That consideration price will either be adjusted in the rent or will be payable by the government," Mr. Mahadik said.

The petitioners had also sought interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the matter on the grounds that the deal may have been struck to promote Mr. Deshmukh's son Ritesh Deshmukh in the films. It is however learnt that the court dismissed this plea.

"The court has stayed the order for six weeks so that they can appeal in the Supreme Court. But they will not be able to take any new admissions in the period for any course which runs beyond May 2014," Mr. Mahadik said.

Vilasrao Deshmukh indicted over land allotment to Whistling Woods
The Hindu - ‎33 minutes ago‎
The Bombay High Court on Thursday indicted former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for irregularities in a joint venture for the allotment of 20 acres land to film director Subhash Ghai's film training institute Whistling Woods.

Bombay HC slams Vilasrao Deshmukh- Subhash Ghai land deal
Times of India - ‎21 hours ago‎
Bombay high court on Thursday said Vilasrao Deshmukh misused his position as chief minister to allot 20 acres at Film City, Goregaon, to film producer Subhash Ghai for just Rs 3 crore. MUMBAI: In a scathing order against former Maharashtra chief ...

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Daily Pioneer - ‎Feb 9, 2012‎
Validating the severe strictures passed earlier by CAG against a State-run body on a questionable land deal, the Bombay High Court on Thursday indicted Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for "misusing his official position" as Chief Minister to allot 20 ...

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Daily News & Analysis - ‎14 hours ago‎
By Urvi Mahajani | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday raised serious questions about the role played by former chief minister (CM) Vilasrao Deshmukh in setting up Whistling Woods International, a film training institute ...

Chavan silent on Deshmukh's indictment
The Hindu - ‎4 hours ago‎
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IBNLive - ‎Feb 9, 2012‎
In a setback for Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh, the Mumbai High court has ordered that the land given to Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts in 2006 be taken back. http://ibnlive.com/livetv.

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7 (Vilasrao Deshmukh) has clearly misused his official position as chief minister of a State," the division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Girish Godbole observed, while disapproving the chief minister's counter-signing the agreement.

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Chavan was reacting to media queries related to the HC's indictment of then Chief MinisterVilasrao Deshmukh for the allotment of 20-acre land of Film City in Mumbai's Goregaon to Ghai for his film institute, Whistling Woods.

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The Bombay high court on Thursday ordered filmmaker Subhash Ghai to return the 20 acres allotted to his film institute in Goregaon in 2000 and said then Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh "misused his official position" to allow the deal.

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IBNLive.com - ‎2 hours ago‎
PTI | 09:02 PM,Feb 10,2012 New Delhi, Feb 9 (PTI) Congress today said law will take its own course in the wake of the Bombay High Court judgement in the land allotment case in Mumbai allegedly involving Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

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The High Court, in response to a PIL by Rajendra Sontakke and others, yesterday ruled that allotment of land to Whistling Woods by the state (when Vilasrao Deshmukh was the Chief Minister) was without "authority of the law", and amounted to abuse of ...

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The division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Girish Godbole was particularly severe on former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh during whose tenure the controversial allotment of the land, in Filmcity, took place. "Respondent 7 (Deshmukh) ...

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Vilasrao Deshmukh, the father of Bollywood star Ritesh Deshmukh, has come under fire in India for a "gross abuse of power" related to the land which is occupied by a film school. Whistling Woods International is a high-tech film school run by Bollywood ...

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The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Rajendra Sontakke and four others from Latur and Osmanabad districts alleging "gross abuse of power" by former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in allotting the land.

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Indlaw.com - ‎7 hours ago‎
The land was allotted to Subhash Ghai in 2000 by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh during his tenure. As per the court order, Ghai will need to return back 14.5 acre of open land that was allotted for building his film school.

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Newstrack India - ‎Feb 9, 2012‎
The court also asked Ghai to pay Rs 5.3 crore annually from 2000, from the time Mukta Arts entered into a joint venture with the Maharashtra Government headed by then chief ministerVilasrao Deshmukh. The court order comes in response to a case filed ...

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Deccan Chronicle - ‎Feb 9, 2012‎

The studio and the institute were built on 5.5 acres of land and Ghai was allotted an additional 14.5 acres of surrounding land for expansion in 2000 by then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. The court directed Ghai to immediately hand over 14.5 acres ...

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The HC bench verdict follows a public suit filed by five agriculturists from Latur and Osmanabad districts who alleged that then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had abused his power while allotting land to the filmmaker. "In the interest of justice, ...

Fingers at 15% political commission
ZEESHAN JAWED

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Calcutta, Feb. 9: Some of the political hands that allegedly nurture and feed off the amorphous entity called "the syndicate" have been named by disgruntled operators from within.
Several syndicate members have told The Telegraph that a hefty commission to Trinamul Congress satraps is one of the main reasons forcing them to short-change contractors in New Town.
The conversations — some of which are on tape — threw up the names of some Trinamul leaders who the syndicate members said were directly or indirectly associated with the chains that monopolise the supply of building materials.
The syndicate members would not have spoken to the newspaper under normal circumstances. However, brewing discontent over the commission appears to have prompted some of them to step forward and speak up but on condition of anonymity as they fear for their safety.
For the sake of convenience, the 3,000-hectare township has been divided into three regions — Bhangar, New Town and Rajarhat — to ensure that syndicates do not fight among each other.
One name that cropped up was that of Arabul Islam, the former MLA of Bhangar. "Arabul-bhai charges 15 per cent on every consignment of construction materials that the syndicates dump at construction sites within the Bhangar block," said a man who identified himself as a close aide of the former MLA.
According to the person in his mid-fifties, the rate chart for the construction material is prepared keeping in mind the profit margin of the syndicate members and the commission. In exchange for the commission, the syndicate members are given protection from police and big promoters in Bhangar.
The South 24-Parganas block, which borders Rajarhat, is part of the upcoming township. It includes the 50 acres each the erstwhile Left Front government had allotted to Infosys and Wipro. The formal handover was held up because of protests from landowners over inadequate compensation.
Arabul had then led the agitation against the Left government's "land grab". The same leader, however, played a different role after the change of guard at Writers'.
"The government is building a road to connect the project sites to the Rajarhat Expressway. Arabul-da is overseeing its implementation so that no disgruntled landowner can hinder the work," said a close aide.
Another aide of Arabul — also an active member of the same syndicate — said the former MLA was eyeing the contract to supply materials to the proposed Infosys office in Bhangar. "He is our leader and we do not do anything without his consent," said the aide.
The aide, however, added that resentment was building up among some syndicate members over the demand for commissions. "Giving him such a big share leaves us with very little. But he has assured us that he will sit with us and negotiate the percentage after settling certain party-related issues in Bhangar," said the aide whose syndicate has over 30 members.
Several contractors have complained of dwindling quantity and quality of materials being supplied. The syndicate members claimed that they have to cut corners to accommodate the demands for commission and protect their share of the pie.
Contacted, Arabul denied not only his involvement but also the very existence of syndicates (see graphic).
Another leader whose name figured in the conversations was Sabyasachi Dutta, the MLA of New Town and vice-chairman of Bidhannagar municipality.
In the past, whenever this newspaper contacted Dutta, he had always denied having any knowledge about syndicates and their arm-twisting tactics in New Town. Today, the MLA said all he tried to do was to ensure there was no law-and-order problem and he wanted villagers also to progress (see graphic).
"He controls all the syndicates in New Town. Whenever we have any problem we just need to give him a call and he would be there by our side," said an aide who was previously associated with the CPM but switched sides after the 2008 panchayat elections that marked Trinamul's rise in what used to be a CPM fortress.
According to the aide, Sabyasachi has a political interest in retaining control over the syndicates. "All the boys are either our supporters or party workers. Sabyasachi-da has to run the party in New Town. If the party does not allow us to run syndicates, we will never associate ourselves with Trinamul. Sabyasachi-da understands this very well and gives us shelter if we run into any trouble with the police or builders," said the aide.
Another aide in Bhangar recalled how "100 of them" met Sabyasachi in November when there was confusion over territorial demarcation between syndicates. "He suggested we should oppose anybody who tries to stop us from supplying. According to him, that was the only way to solve this problem," said a syndicate member.
At least one minister's name was also mentioned by some syndicate members. Purnendu Bose, labour minister and Rajarhat MLA, does not get directly involved in matters related to syndicates.
"Several of his close associates like Babai Bose are very powerful in Rajarhat and they control the supply of construction materials," said a syndicate member.
Some syndicate members suggested Trinamul functionaries down the ladder also control the levers. They cited the name of Prabir Kar , Trinamul block president in Rajarhat, as an example. "His men conduct business in Rajarhat," said an aide.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120210/jsp/frontpage/story_15117142.jsp

--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
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तेल के बाजार में जारी अनिश्चितता प्रमुख चुनौती! टाटा मोटर्स ने नैनो कार और आरिया को छोड़कर अन्य वाहनों के दामों में इजाफा किया

2012-02-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

तेल के बाजार में जारी अनिश्चितता प्रमुख चुनौती! टाटा मोटर्स ने नैनो कार और आरिया को छोड़कर अन्य वाहनों के दामों में इजाफा किया

डीजल की गाडि़यों पर 80,000 रुपये अतिरिक्त उत्पाद शुल्क लगाने की सिफारिश

मुंबई से एक्सकैलिबर स्टीवेंस विश्वास

तेल के बाजार में जारी अनिश्चितता प्रमुख चुनौती है।ऑटो क्षेत्र की दिग्गज कंपनी टाटा मोटर्स ने नैनो कार और आरिया को छोड़कर अन्य वाहनों के दामों में इजाफा किया है।टाटा मोटर्स ने बढती लागत से निपटने के लिए शुक्रवार को कहा कि उसने नैनो और प्रीमियम कार आरिया को छोड़कर अन्य सभी मॉडलों की कीमतें 12000 रुपये तक बढ़ा दी हैं। संबंधित तिमाही में मटीरियल लागत में बढ़ोतरी की वजह से आटो क्षेत्र पर खासा दबाव रहा और यह अब भी चुनौती बना हुआ है।हालांकि कार बनाने वाली देश की सबसे बड़ी कंपनी मारुति सुजुकी इंडिया की कारों की बिक्री एक करोड़ इकाई को पार कर गयी,पर आटो उद्योग की मुश्किलें आसान नहीं हुई है!पेट्रोलियम एवं प्राकृतिक गैस मंत्री एस. जयपाल रेड्डी ने वित्त मंत्री प्रणव मुखर्जी से आगामी बजट में डीजल की गाडि़यों पर 80,000 रुपये अतिरिक्त उत्पाद शुल्क लगाने की सिफारिश की है।

डीजल कारों पर अतिरिक्त उत्पाद शुल्क से प्राप्त राजस्व को तेल कंपनियों की इधन सब्सिडी की भरपाई में इस्तेमाल किया जा सकता है। तेल मंत्रालय ने तरल प्राकृतिक गैस (एलएनजी) के आयात पर पांच प्रतिशत आयात शुल्क समाप्त करने की भी मांग की है ताकि उर्वरक और बिजली जैसे बुनियादी जरुरत वाले क्षेत्रों में इधन लागत कम की जा सके।

पेटोलियम मंत्री ने कच्चे तेल और पेटोलियम पदार्थों को भी प्रस्तावित वस्तु एवं सेवाकर :जीएसटी: कानून के दायरे में रखने पर जोर दिया। फिलहाल कच्चा तेल, पेटोल, डीजल और एटीएफ को जीएसटी दायरे से बाहर रखने का प्रस्ताव है। इससे इन पदार्थों पर केन्द्र और राज्यों के कर मौजूदा दर पर लगते रहेंगे। मंत्रालय ने अपनी बहुत पुरानी मांग को भी इस बार दोहराया है।

टाटा मोटर्स ने अपने वाहनों के कीमतें करीब 7,000 रुपये से लेकर 12,000 रुपये तक बढ़ायी है। कंपनी ने बढ़ती उत्पादन लागत बढ़ने का हवाला देते हुए ये बढ़ोतरी की है। यह बढ़ोतरी 9 फरवरी 2012 से प्रभावी हो गयी है। टाटा मोटर्स अपनी सपनो की कार नैनो की सेल बढ़ाने के लिए नई रणनीतियों पर ध्‍यान देगी। ऑटो सेक्‍टर में टाटा नैनो की बिक्री को लेकर कई तरह की चर्चा होने लगीं है जिससे कंपनी कुछ नई योजनएं तैयार करने पर विचार कर रहीं है। कंपनी के अध्‍यक्ष रतन टाटा ने नैनो की ब्रिक्री और मार्केटिंग में कुछ खमियों को स्‍वीकारा है।गाड़ी की बिक्री बढ़ाने के लिए डीलरशिप नेटवर्क का विस्तार, विभिन्न आय वर्ग के ग्राहकों तक पहुंच बढ़ाने तथा गाड़ी के लिए खरीदारों को कर्ज उपलब्ध कराने की व्यवस्था पुख्ता करने जैसे उपाय किए जा रहे हैं।

नई रणनीति के तहत कंपनी हर तीसरे और चौथे दर्जे के शहरों में नए शौरूम बनाएगी। हम आपको बता दे 2009 में लांच होने के बाद से ही टाटा नैनो का प्रदर्शन उम्मीदों के मुताबिक नहीं रहा है। पहले जहां हर महीने करीब 25 हजार नैनो बिकती हैं वहीं नवंबर 2010 में यह संख्या घट कर मात्र 509 हो गई थी दिसंबर में कंपनी ने 7466 नैनो बेची हैं। पिछले साल दिसंबर के मुकाबले यह 29 प्रतिशत अधिक थी।

शेयर बाजार में टाटा मोटर्स के शेयर भाव में हल्की कमजोरी रही। बीएसई में शुक्रवार के कारोबार में कंपनी का शेयर 0.02% की मामूली गिरावट के साथ 257.10 रुपये पर बंद हुआ।सुबह 9:45 बजे सेंसेक्स (Sensex) 38 अंक की बढ़त के साथ 17,869 पर है। निफ्टी (Nifty) 11 अंक की मजबूती के साथ 5,423 पर है। एनएसई के मँझोले सूचकांक सीएनएक्स मिडकैप में 1.09% की तेजी है। बीएसई स्मॉलकैप में 0.69% और बीएसई मिडकैप में 0.92% की मजबूती है।क्षेत्रों के लिहाज से बीएसई के रियल्टी और आईटी सूचकांक को छोड़कर अन्य सभी सूचकांकों में बढ़त का रुख है। सबसे ज्यादा मजबूती ऑटो सूचकांक (Auto Index) में दिख रही है। यह सूचकांक 0.89% ऊपर है। सेंसेक्स के 19 शेयरों में बढ़त है, जबकि 11 शेयरों में गिरावट है। सबसे ज्यादा मजबूती टाटा स्टील में है। इसका शेयर 2.97% ऊपर है।

गौरतलब है कि पिछले महीने ही मारुति और जनरल मोटर्स ने अपनी गाड़ियों के दाम 17,000 रुपये तक बढ़ाए हैं। मारुति ने भी डिजायर को छोड़कर सभी कारों के दाम 3.5 फीसदी तक बढ़ाए थे। जनवरी में ही महिंद्रा एंड महिंद्रा, ह्युंदई और टोयोटा किर्लोस्कर भी अपनी कारों के दाम बढ़ा चुकी हैं।

इस बीच महिंद्रा एम्ड महिंद्रा ने शुद्ध मुनाफे में गिरावट दर्ज की है। वित्त साल 2011-12 की दिसंबर तिमाही में कंपनी का नेट प्रॉफिट 9.8 फीसदी गिरकर 662.15 करोड़ रुपए रहा।

बीते वित्त वर्ष की समान अवधि में कंपनी का नेट प्रॉफिट 734.68 करोड़ रुपए रहा था। महिंद्रा का कहना है कि कंपनी ने पिछले कारोबारी साल की तीसरी तिमाही में ओवेन कॉर्निंग इंडिया लिमिटेड में होल्डिंग्स बेची थी और वजह से इसे इस दौरान 117.5 करोड़ की राशि लाभ में जुड़ गई थी। दिसंबर तिमाही में कंपनी की कुल बिक्री 8,327 करोड़ रुपए रही, जबकि पिछले साल की संबंधित अवधि में यह 6,074 करोड़ रुपए रही थी।

डीजल कारों पर कर कर बढ़ाने के सुझावों को उल्टा कदम बताते हुए महिंद्रा ऐंड महिंद्रा समूह ने गुरुवार को कहा कि ऐसी पहल से देश में वाहन उद्योग की वृद्धि प्रभावित होगी।

रिजर्व बैंक चाहता है कि सरकार डीजल डीकंट्रोल करे ताकि उसको वित्तीय घाटा कम करने में मदद मिले। लेकिन बढ़ते वित्तीय घाटे के बावजूद सरकार इस पर कोई फैसला लेने से हिचकिचा रही है।

खुद पेट्रोलियम मंत्री जयपाल रेड्डी ने कहा है कि रिजर्व बैंक की ये सलाह सुनने में तो अच्छी लगती है और वो इससे सैद्धांतिक रूप से सहमत भी हैं लेकिन राजनीतिक वजहों से फैसला लेना मुश्किल है।

पेट्रोलियम मंत्री जयपाल रेड्डी के मुताबिक डीजल डीकंट्रोल पर महंगाई को नजर में रखते हुए फैसला हो पाएगा। साथ ही उन्होंने कहा कि डीजल डीकंट्रोल का फैसला पेट्रोलियम मंत्रालय अकेले नहीं कर सकता, इसके लिए सरकार की मंजूरी भी जरूरी है।

महिंद्रा ऐंड महिंद्रा समूह के अध्यक्ष (ऑटोमोटिव ऐंड कृषि उपकरण क्षेत्र) पवन गोयनका ने कहा, 'मेरे ख्याल से डीजल वाहनों पर अतिरिक्त कर का विचार करना एक उल्टी सोच है।' महंगी डीजल कार में सब्सिडी पर डीजल के उपयोग को देखते हुए डीजल कारों पर 80,000 रुपये तक अतिरिक्त कर लगाने के सुझाव दिए जा रहे हैं। इस बारे में महिंद्रा का कहना है कि व्यक्तिगत काम के लिए डीजल का उपयोग 0.2 फीसदी से भी कम है।

गोयनका ने कहा कि किरीट पारिख की अध्यक्षता वाली विशेषज्ञ समिति ने भी अपने आंकड़ों में सुधार किया है जिसने पहले कहा था कि 15 फीसद डीजल ईंधन का उपयोग व्यक्तिगत डीजल वाहनों के लिए होता है। उन्होंने कहा, 'आगामी आम बजट में वाहन क्षेत्र के लिए यह सबसे महत्त्वपूर्ण मुद्दा होगा क्योंकि इससे आगामी वित्त वर्ष में उद्योग की वृद्धि पर बड़ा असर हो सकता है।'

वर्ष 2011 उद्योग के लिए अच्छा नहीं रहा है। निर्माताओं के संघ सियाम के ताजा आंकड़ों के मुताबिक घरेलू बाजारों में कारों की बिक्री 2011 में 4.24 फीसदी बढ़कर 19,46,373 हो गई जो 2010 में 18,67,246 थी। वित्त वर्ष 2010-11 में कुल 21,60,153 कारों की बिक्री हुई थी जिनमें 28.42 फीसदी कारें डीजल थीं और पेट्रोल कारों की संख्या 71.58 फीसदी थी।

जबकि मारुति सुजुकी इंडिया के तीसरी

तिमाही नतीजे उम्मीद से काफी ज्यादा खराब रहे। अक्टूबर-दिसंबर तिमाही के दौरान कंपनी का मुनाफा 63.6 फीसदी घटकर 205.6 करोड़ रुपए पर सिमट गया। कंपनी का मुनाफा घटने का प्रमुख कारण बढ़ती ब्याज दरें और महंगा होता ईंधन रहा। इन वजहों से एशिया की तीसरी सबसे बड़ी इकॉनमी भारत में मांग प्रभावित हुई।

दिसंबर तिमाही के दौरान मारुति की मांग 28 फीसदी गिरी। कंपनी ने जानकारी दी कि आलोच्य अवधि में कंपनी का मुनाफा 205.06 करोड़ रुपए पर सिमट गया, जबकि बिक्री घटकर 7,663 करोड़ रुपए रही। बीते कारोबारी साल की इसी तिमाही में कंपनी को 565.17 करोड़ रुपए का शुद्ध लाभ हुआ था।

इस दौरान डॉलर के मुकाबले रुपए की कमजोरी भी कंपनी के कारोबार पर असर डालने वाले कारकों में शामिल रही। दोपहर 2 बजकर 21 मिनट पर बीएसई पर मारुति सुजुकी का शेयर 1.61 फीसदी की बढ़त के साथ 1116.75 रुपए के स्तर पर कारोबार करता देखा गया।

दूसरी ओर सेंटर फॉर साइंस ऐंड इन्वाइरनमेंट ने डीजल गाड़ियों पर अडिशनल टैक्स लगाने की मांग की है। संस्था का कहना है कि यह फ्यूल सरकारी खजाने को भी नुकसान पहुंचा रहा है। इस मांग से कार कंपनियां खफा हैं। दिल्ली के एनजीओ ने छोटी डीजल गाड़ियों पर 81,000 रुपए और डीजल से चलने वाले मल्टी-यूटिलिटी वीकल और स्पोर्ट्स यूटिलिटी वीकल पर इससे दोगुना टैक्स लगाने की मांग उठाई है।

सरकारी तेल कंपनियां डीजल पर 14.57 रुपए प्रति लीटर की सब्सिडी देती हैं। इसके एक हिस्से की भरपाई सरकार करती है। पेट्रोल महंगा होने से डीजल गाड़ियों की बिक्री काफी ज्‍यादा बढ़ गयी है। 4 लाख रुपए से ज्यादा में आने वाली 60 फीसदी से ज्‍यादा गाड़ियां डीजल से चलती हैं। मारुति स्विफ्ट और ह्यूंदै वरना के डीजल मॉडल की डीमांड इतनी है कि बुकिंग के बाद ग्राहकों को इंतजार करना पड़ रहा है।

सोसाइटी ऑफ ऑटोमोबाइल मैन्युफैक्चरर्स (सियाम) के डायरेक्टर सुगातो सेन ने कहा कि इंडस्ट्री परफॉर्मेंस, इमिशन और सेफ्टी के सभी मानकों को पूरा कर रही है, इसलिए डीजल को बदनाम नहीं किया जाना चाहिए। और वहीं ऑटो कंपनियों का कहना है कि इस बारे में जल्दबाजी में किया गया फैसला इंडस्ट्री को नुकसान पहुंचाएगा।

--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
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Fwd: [Indians Against Fascist BJP & RSS] बलराज मधोक जैसे प्रखर हिंदूवादी नेता भाजपा से...

2012-02-10T07:38:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ambalal Chauhan <notification+kr4marbae4mn@facebookmail.com>
Date: 2012/2/10
Subject: [Indians Against Fascist BJP & RSS] बलराज मधोक जैसे प्रखर हिंदूवादी नेता भाजपा से...
To: Indians Against Fascist BJP & RSS <215196645205736@groups.facebook.com>

Ambalal Chauhan posted in Indians Against Fascist BJP & RSS.

Ambalal Chauhan

9:07pm Feb 10

बलराज मधोक जैसे प्रखर हिंदूवादी नेता भाजपा से निकाल ही दिए गए थे. सेक्यूलर दिख कर प्रधानमंत्री बनने की जुगत में जिन्ना की तारीफ़ करते हुए अडवानी जी हिन्दुओं के नेता ही नहीं रहे. बाकी छोटे नेताओं के बड़े अहंकारों ने हिंदुत्व को एक जुट करने के बजाय अपनी संभावना तलाशते हुए विखंडित ही कर डाला, जैसे राज नाथ सिंह आज हिन्दुओं के नहीं ठाकुरों के नेता हैं, कलराज मिश्रा हिंदुत्व के नेता नहीं अभिनेता ही हैं. मुरली मनोहर जोशी लुप्त हैं. विनय कटियार राय बरेली और खीरी लखीमपुर के कुर्मी बहुल क्षेत्रों से चुनाव लड़ कर खेत रहने के बाद अब महज कुर्मी नेता ही हैं. केशरी नाथ त्रिपाठी का सभी को पता है कि इलाहाबाद में अतीक से लम्बे समय से चला आ आरहा चुनावी साझा है. उमा भारती सत्ता के गलियारे की साध्वी हैं सो लोधी बहुल इलाके से चुनाव लड़ कर अपने लोधी नेता के असली स्वरुप में आ चुकी हैं. अब बचे अरुण जेटली और सुषमा स्वराज जिनका चरित्र पूर्णतः वातानुकूलित है. रही बात राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष नितिन गडकारी की सो वह अपनी काया से गल्ला मण्डी के आढतिया ज्यादा लगते हैं , जन नेता कम. कुल मिला कर भाजपा में आज कोई ऐसा व्यक्ति ही नहीं जो सम्पूर्ण हिदुत्व के प्रवक्ता और नेता होने का दावा कर सके. बचता है एक अकेला नरेंद्र मोदी जिस पर हिन्दुओं को अभी पूरा विश्वास है लेकिन पहचान के संकट से जूझ रहे भाजपा के बाकी नेता उन्हें राष्ट्रीय राजनीति में आने ही नहीं देते. कश्मीर में तिरंगा फहराने वाला एक और युवा चेहरा था अनुराग ठाकुर उसका भी इस्तेमाल नही किया जा रहा. याद रहे हिजड़े विकराल और स्वस्थ दीखते हैं, उनकी आवाज़ भी बुलंद होती है, नगाड़े भी जोरदार बजाते हैं पर युद्ध नही जीत सकते." ---- राजीव चतुर्वेदी Observe, modi isnt canvassing in any state ! Is he going to launch a new BJP after these elections /

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Fwd: [CHARBAK MISSION] Mallik Manon

2012-02-10T07:37:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Pronab Mondal <notification+kr4marbae4mn@facebookmail.com>
Date: 2012/2/10
Subject: [CHARBAK MISSION] Mallik Manon
To: CHARBAK MISSION <charbakmission@groups.facebook.com>

Pronab Mondal posted in CHARBAK MISSION.

Pronab Mondal

8:40pm Feb 10

Mallik Manon
সকল বন্ধুদের দৃষ্টি আকর্ষণ করছিঃ
সাম্প্রদায়িক সহিংসতায় চট্টগ্রামের হাটহাজারি উপজেলার 'নন্দির হাট',ছবির মতো সুন্দর গ্রামটি সম্পূর্ণ ধ্বংসের মুখে।
ইতোমধ্যে নন্দির হাটের সবকটি মন্দির ভেঙ্গে ফেলা হয়েছে,পুড়িয়ে ফেলা হচ্ছে একের পর এক ঘর-বাড়ি,ভেঙ্গে ফেলা হয়েছে নান্দনিক নিদর্শণ সুরকার সত্য সাহার জমিদার বাড়িটি।পুরো গ্রামটি ঘিরে রাখা হয়েছে।আর এটা চলছে টানা দু'দিন ধরে অথচ প্রশাসন কোন পদক্ষেপ নিচ্ছে না,অজ্ঞাত কারণে খবর আসছে না কোন মিডিয়াতেও।আতংকগ্রস্ত,গৃহবন্দি মনুষেরা এখন শুধু মৃত্যুর অপেক্ষায় আছে।
আমাদের কি কিছুই করার নেই,মধ্যযুগিয় বর্বরতাই কি আমাদের সর্বশেষ পরিচয়???!!!
বন্ধু,দয়াকরে শেয়ার করুন লেখাটি।

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WHY CODIFICATION OF MUSLIM PERSONAL LAW ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER.

2012-02-10T07:29:00.001-08:00

WHY CODIFICATION OF MUSLIM PERSONAL LAW

ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER.

Islamic Law or what is called Muslim Personal Law comes under attack not only by Hindutva forces but also is criticized by secular forces who stand for gender equality. The Hindutva forces attack it not for their love for gender justice but out of hostility for Islam. But same cannot be said for secular forces. They find existing Muslim personal law as gender biased in favour of man.

Most of us think that the Muslim personal law as applicable in India today is Shari'ah law. However, it is not so. Those Muslims who defend Muslim personal law as Shari'ah law do not understand the difference between Muslim personal law applicable today and Shari'ah law. In fact it was called Anglo-Mohammedan law before independence but was renamed as Muslim personal law after independence.

The British Government, after it seized power from Mughals, established its own courts, which also heard cases pertaining to Muslim marriage, divorce, inheritance etc. In most of these courts there were either British or non-Muslim judges who did not know Shari'ah law or if even Muslim judges heard these cases, most of them were trained in British laws.

What these judges did was to consult Hidayah, written by Mirghayani, a Hanafi scholar, and translated into English by Mr. Hamilton. Often they also consulted some Maulavi before delivering the judgment. Since the cases were heard in these British courts, the procedural law followed was English law and substantive law was based on Hidayah, it came to be known as Anglo-Mohammedan law.

The judgments in these cases delivered by higher courts became precedents for subsequent cases and thus whole corpus of law came into existence based on these judgments which came to be known as Anglo-Mohammedan law and renamed as Muslim personal law as calling it Anglo-Mohammedan law was now rather embarrassing. Thus to call it Shari'ah law would be a misnomer.

Unfortunately what we Muslims or rather Muslim personal law Board is defending is not divine law but Anglo-Mohammedan law known by another name. It is unjust in many respects to women and we try to rationalize these injustices in the name of Islam. In fact Islamic law has to be based on Qur'an and Sunnah and then alone it could be called Shari'ah law and such law would not tend to be unjust.

If we codify the present Muslim personal law, many shortcomings in the present law can be removed thus making it much more gender just than it is at present. In fact in its original spirit Islamic law in matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance etc. was most progressive, and empowered women as no other law had done before. However, over period of time this original spirit was lost due to then prevailing social ethos and values. And customary laws acquired greater importance over Qur'anic and Prophet's (PBUH) pronouncements.

We are doing this codification precisely for this reason. And our team is meeting noted Ulama and Muftis, Muslim lawyers and Muslim women activists to evaluate their views and problems encountered by them. Our team has recorded their interviews based on properly designed questionnaire prepared in consultation with some experts on Islamic law. It is important to know that we are interviewing Ulama of various schools i.e. Hanafi, Shari'I, Ithna Ashari, Ahl-e-Hadis etc. those who have presence in India.

These views will be very much kept in mind while actual codification is done. And it need not be reiterated that this codification will be based on Islamic framework and nothing outside it so that it is acceptable to all. It will not be based on anything outside Islamic laws. However, codification need not follow only one school of law as in some schools there are provisions more favourable to women, than other schools. Thus partly we may follow what was done in Turkey in framing Tanzimat laws.

It is interesting to note that so far our interviews are very encouraging and many Ulama from Deoband, Lucknow, Aligarh, Azamgarh and other places have fully supported our views about making present Muslim personal law gender-just by bringing it closer to Qur'anic spirit and spirit of Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH). It was indeed very pleasant surprise to us. They also do not agree with Muslim personal Law Board in maintaining status quo and causing problems to women.

First of all we have covered area of marriage. Marriage being civil contract in Islam bride's approval is a must and which must be obtained in presence of two witnesses and conveyed to the Qazi and she would also stipulate the amount of mehr which will not be less than one year's income of the bridegroom and should preferably be in gold or silver or in bank deposit to avoid inflationary consequences.

There will be no limit for maximum amount depending on bridegroom's economic status. In case of higher amount of mehr landed property or house in bride's name should be a preferable option. It would not only avoid inflationary consequences but, on the contrary, would appreciate in price and benefit the bride in long term. As far as possible there should not be deferred payment component mehr muwajjal, and if at all there is, it should be only in gold or property, not in cash in any case.

Marriage should be registered and records should be maintained by Qazi concerned and he could charge fee from the bridegroom for registration of marriage. He can club records of few such marriages and get them registered once in a month or once in three months depending on his convenience and time. Registration of marriage will have permanent record and will avoid many disputes. There is no need to oppose it as in no way it is against Shari'ah law.

Most of the Ulama, with some exceptions of course, agreed with us that polygamy cannot be permitted unregulated as Qur'an makes it strictly conditional, on ability of men to do equal justice to his wives as Qur'an clearly states in 4:3 and 4:129 that if justice is not done, one should marry only one. In fact 4:129 is very very emphatic on justice so much so that it says you cannot do justice even if you want and do not leave first wife suspended or neglected.

The question of polygamy is controversial. By broad consensus it was decided that neither it should be abolished right away nor should it be made so loose as to enable anyone to marry another wife according to ones whim. This is the most important area of codification. There should be a marriage council comprising eminent Muslims of known integrity in the town. If a person wishes to take second wife he would serve a notice to his wife and the marriage council stating clearly the reasons why he wishes to take a second wife and furnish necessary documents. He would also prove that he is capable of maintaining both the wives with his given means and that he will fulfill the requirement of justice stipulated by the Qur'an.

Among the conditions for second wife it was agreed that either the first wife should be barren and medically proved and that she gives her consent for taking second wife without any coercion and the Qazi in consultation with marriage council will give first wife to present her case and judge whether she is given free consent or there is any element of coercion involved.

The second condition could be if she is suffering from terminal disease and results in deprivation of husband of fulfilling his sexual needs due to this disease and again this should be medically proved and all documents submitted to the marriage council and the Qazi who would take final decision in consultation with the first wife. Second marriage, as stipulated by the Qur'an (see 4:3 and 4:129) has to be in keeping with principles of rigorous justice and should in no case be treated as privilege of man, much less his right, as it often happens.

Some prominent Ulama from Deoband, Lucknow and Aligarh, to our pleasant surprise, favoured abolition of triple divorce and they were critical of Muslim Personal law Board on its insistence to retain it. One of them pointed out that if triple divorce in one sitting is justified on grounds of 2nd Caliph Hazrat Umar permitting it, why don't they take into account that he later punished those who resorted to it.

These Ulama pointed out that divorce should be pronounced on three different occasions as described in the Qur'an so that reconciliation could be brought about in the meanwhile, if possible. Some even maintained that it should be only thrice in lifetime. All of them agreed that as per Qur'anic requirement prior to divorce arbitration should be attempted failing which divorce procedure may be started (4:35). This verse too emphasizes reconciliation rather than divorce.

Also, triple divorce should be replaced by talaq al-sunnah or Qur'anic form of divorce both are quite fair to women. Even divorce where inevitable has to be fair to women and Qur'an repeatedly exhorts men to either retain her (in marriage) in goodness or leave her (i.e. divorce her) in kindness (2:229). She cannot be thrown out arbitrarily as it is usually done through triple and oral divorce. Law must prevail and proper procedure must be followed as laid down in Qur'an and sunnah. Triple divorce is not in keeping with either of the two,

Though incidence of polygamy is not very high among Muslims in India still some men do marry second wife by either deserting first wife or refusing to divorce her when wife asks for khula'. Thus there is need to regulate polygamy by stipulating strict conditions as required by the Qur'an and no man should be free to take another wife according to his whims. Codification would attempt to lay down such conditions and make it justiciable as per law.

Thus these are two main issues in Muslim personal law, which are causing injustices to Muslim women. If polygamy and triple divorce are properly regulated Islamic personal law will not only come much closer to the Qur'anic spirit but would become much more progressive than what it is today.

A woman also has right to khula from her husband and it is her Qur'anic right (see 2:229) and according to hadith also the Prophet (PBUH) granted Jamila khula' on grounds that she did not want to live with her husband though he loved her and maintained her with respect and dignity. He only asked Jamila to return the orchard he had given her by way of mehr. Thishadith clearly shows that her right to khula is absolute and involving no conditionality. Here no consent of husband is needed for khula'. It is not correct to insist on husband's consent it would amount to overruling the Prophet (PBUH) himself.

Rethinking Muslim personal law as prevalent in India is certainly not to violate divine injunctions as often maintained by some people but to bring in much closer to divine injunctions i.e. to infuse in them really divine spirit. Well it may not always be possible to achieve complete unanimity but certainly we will attempt to create a broad consensus around codification so that Muslims women really enjoy equal status as they are entitled to according to Qur'anic injunctions and also in accordance to modern laws.

Press Release 2/10/2012 (on the Struggle against Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant)

2012-02-10T07:25:00.001-08:00

People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy
(PMANE) February 10, 2012
Idinthakarai
& P. O. 627 104
Tirunelveli
District, Tamil Nadu
Phone:
98656 83735

Press Release

While the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) welcomes
the State Expert Team set up by the Chief Secretary on behalf of the Honorable
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, we are obliged to point out that Dr. M. R.
Srinivasan, a member of the team, is a well-known pro-nuclear person. He is the
former Chairman and a current member of India's Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).
He was also a member of the site selection committee in the 1980s for
the Koodankulam
Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP). He has been writing and speaking in favor of
nuclear power and the Koodankulam project itself. Speaking to the press on
November 13, 2011 in Chennai, Dr. Srinivasan claimed that when he had visited
the Koodankulam area in 1984, there were no habitations there, nobody lived in
the area and the whole region was vast seashore. This is a complete falsehood
as Koodankulam and Idinthakarai villages have been in existence for
centuries. He
also requested Tamil Nadu Government's full cooperation to the Central
Government to open the Koodankulam project.[i] On December 15, 2011
Dr. Srinivasan spoke about the Koodankulam Project at an
event in Coimbatore, claimed that "the dangers perceived by the locals
were 'imaginary'"
and wanted the project to be commissioned at the earliest.[ii]

The people of Tamil Nadu had expected that the State Expert Team
members would be neutral and independent but Dr. Srinivasan is neither. So it
is hard for the PMANE to accept Dr. Srinivasan. Given this situation, the PMANE
would like to request the Honorable Chief Minister to replace Dr. Srinivasan
with another expert and expand the Expert Team with experts in
Geology, Oceanography
and Hydrology in order to deal with a few KKNPP-specific issues.

The former Chief Minister and DMK president Mr. M. Karunanidhi has
claimed that it is mysterious on the part of the Government of Tamil Nadu to
arrest a Madurai advocate who had accused the PMANE Coordinator S. P.
Udayakumar of acting at the behest of a foreign power, instigating the
Koodankulam struggle, and doling out money for the relay fast. This "Tamizhina
Thalaivar" who has consistently compromised on the interests and welfare of the
Tamil people both here in Tamil Nadu and there in Tamil Eezham, has no moral
authority to criticize the Tamil people's genuine struggle for life and
livelihood. He and the non-functioning electricity minister in his
erstwhile cabinet
should explain to the Tamil people what all they together did to augment
electricity generation in the state. They focused more on reaping monetary
benefits from coal deals than generating more electricity from new and
renewable energy sources. They never developed any original and sustainable
plans and projects to face the power crisis of the State. They alone are
responsible for the present sorry state of the power scenario in Tamil Nadu and
hence forfeit their right to comment on our people's struggle.

The PMANE members and our supporter Fr. Thomas Kocherry feel
vindicated about our personal integrity and moral uprightness. Responding to
the legal notice of S. P. Udayakumar on the false charge of having received Rs.
1.5 crores from abroad, Union Minister Narayanaswamy has retracted his
story. And
similarly, the Dinamalar daily has apologized to Fr. Kocherry (issue
dated February 9, 2012) about its atrocious claim of his channeling money from
Germany to our struggle. These ridiculous episodes prove that the charges
against us are completely false and those who accuse us of these charges have
no credibility.

Having failed miserably to allay the fears and concerns of our
people, the Central Government and its intelligence agencies are now sending
spies and agents into our villages to divide our communities, create fear and
panic among the people and instigate violence. For instance, on February 8,
2012, three men had entered our relay fast site at Idinthakarai and loitering
about the complex with a few bags and boxes. Our people drove them
away and filed
a complaint with the Koodankulam police. The PMANE condemns this kind
of anti-people
tendencies and approaches and requests the Central Government and the Congress
Party to accept and respect our people's spontaneous struggle to protect our
right to life and livelihood.

The
PMANE requests the Honorable Chief Minister to make the State Expert Team meet
with our own experts, consider their findings and engage in a genuine dialogue
with them. Shunning the usual public hearing model interactions, the Expert
Team should visit the project-affected villages and hamlets individually, listen
to the fears and concerns of the people and arrive at a conclusion in a
democratic manner on the basis of majority opinion. Only such an
action by the Government
of Tamil Nadu will ensure the democratic and Constitutional rights of
our people.

S.
P. Udayakumar, Ph.D.
Coordinator:
PMANE Struggle Committee

________________________________

[i] "50 Kelvikku Intha Varam Badhil," Dinakaran, November 14, 2011.
[ii] "Former AEC chairman clarifies on Kudankulam plant's safety," The Hindu,
December 16, 2011.

Puddles and His Puppy Friend By Yoginder Sikand

2012-02-10T07:24:00.001-08:00

Puddles and His Puppy Friend

By Yoginder Sikand

The only way to describe Puddles, as he once was, was that he was a little bundle of enormous fear. He lived in terrible fear of everything. He feared his parents most—their constant fights and their furious tempers. Nothing that poor Puddles did was ever right for them. Not a day passed without their losing their heads screaming at or even badly beating him up—more often than not for nothing at all. It was hardly surprising, then, that Puddles began to believe that this was simply how all parents ought to behave. As for Puddles' siblings, they behaved exactly as their parents did, for they had learned from them that all that Puddles deserved was a round scolding and an occasional wallop.

As he grew older and learned about God, Puddles began to live in terrible fear of God, too. If he was naughty or forgot his prayers or disobeyed his parents, he was told, God would throw him into the leaping fires of hell, from where there was simply no escape for all time to come. How awfully terrified this made the poor lad!

As you can well imagine, there was little cause for fun and cheer for hapless Puddles. At night he would be haunted by dreams of ghosts—not that he had ever seen one but they were a stick his parents wielded to force him to do as they pleased. 'If you don't brush your teeth or listen to Daddy, a ghost will take you away tonight,' his sharp-tongued mother would sternly warn him. And when, after a restless night, he would climb out of his bed Puddles would start trembling at the thought of all the fearful people he would have to meet that day: his teachers in school, who delighted in beating him for no reason at all; his class-mates, who called him a 'sissy' and played cruel pranks on him; and then, when he returned home in the afternoon, his parents and siblings and their constant banter and beatings.

Little wonder, then, that wherever little Puddles went he kept all to himself. He had no friends at all, and at home all he did was to sit on his bed and think of all the many people he so greatly feared.

Things had come to such a pass that Puddles even feared to cross the road by himself. What if he banged against a speeding car or a pedestrian or knocked a child down? What if he tumbled into a pothole? What if a bird flying above were to drop something on him? These were the fears that haunted the child each time he had to cross a road.

One day, it so happened that Puddles developed a high fever—his father had given him a round thrashing for getting wet in the rain and his mother had added to that by refusing him his dinner. As his fever mounted his head began to spin like a top and he felt that he would soon fall unconscious. No one at home, he sobbed to himself, loved him. How he wept in despair!

But just as Puddles was about to give up all hope, a thought struck him. 'I must help myself', he said to himself firmly. 'If I don't, there is no one else who will.' And, to his utter surprise, he mustered enough courage to climb out of his bed, step out of his house and head towards the chemist's shop.

As he walked ahead, Puddles came to an intersection, from where, to get across to the shop, he needed to cross a busy road. It was rush-hour and the road was clogged with traffic. You won't believe how frightened this made poor Puddles! After all, he had never crossed a road alone before. Each time he hesitantly tried to take a step forward all the fears he had of crossing roads would haul him back. 'I can't cross. I simply can't and won't!', a voice thundered in his head, and all this while Puddles felt his fever going from bad to worse.

An hour passed as Puddles stood at the corner of the road, torn between the need to cross over and a powerful urge to rush back home, back to the safety of his bed, even if that meant leaving his fever untreated.

Just then, a puppy strode up and squatted beside him. Puddles looked down at the puppy. It seemed so full of joy and love. It had kindly eyes and a smile seemed to dance on its lips. It turned up to look at Puddles, and, as their eyes met, something strange happened. It was as if the puppy was calling out to Puddles, saying, 'Come, little one! Fear no longer. We may be small and helpless, but together we can cross the road.'

Do you know what happened next? All of a sudden, Puddles forgot all his fears of crossing the road! The puppy looked to the right and then to the left and then trotted across the road, with Puddles bravely following after him.

'We've crossed the road! We did it! Wow!' Puddles excitedly exclaimed as he and the puppy reached the other side. He could hardly believe what he had just done! He swept up the puppy in his arms and showered it with kisses. And just then, to his utter surprise, he felt his fever vanish at the same time as he knew that he no longer feared crossing the road.

Puddles had now no need to go to the chemist's and so for the rest of the evening he and the puppy had the time of their lives crossing from one side of the road to the other, just for the fun of it—much to the amazement of passers-by—until they were really exhausted. You wouldn't have been able to recognize Puddles, so excited was he that evening!

And do you know what happened after that? Puddles took the puppy home and somehow managed to convince his parents to let it live with them. The puppy became Puddles' best—and only—friend, and with all the love that it shared with him Puddles learned to gradually overcome all the many fears that had haunted him for as long as he could recall.

Truly, as the saying goes and as Puddles came to learn, love overcomes every fear.

Gita: Not a Religious Book? ISP II Frb 2012

2012-02-10T07:22:00.001-08:00

Gita: Not a Religious Book? ISP II Frb 2012

Gita: Not a Religious book?

Ram Puniyani

Srimad Bhagwat Gita or Bhagwat Gita or Gita has been in the news recently for various reasons. Few months ago, the matter came up when a Siberian Court in the Tomsk City of Russia was to decide about the ban on the translation of Gita by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad Swami, the founder of ISKCON. The argument was that this particular translation was promoting social discord and so be banned. It was perceived in India as if there is a demand for ban on Gita in Russia. In this context the matter came up in the parliament and a strong protest was voiced against banning of Hindu religious text. Later the court did not ban this particular translation and so the matters came to rest there. Incidentally it can be reemphasized that Gita as a Hindu religious scripture is prevalent in Russia from centuries, and what was being demanded was a ban on particular translation and not on the Holy Scripture as such.

Closer home, the M. P. High court has ruled (Jan 2012) that "Gita is essentially a book on Indian philosophy, not book on Indian religion". This judgment gave a sanction on the decision of M.P. Government to continue with the teaching of Gita Sar (Essence of Gita) in the MP schools. This petition had come up in the court when the Catholic Bishop Council appealed that moral values of all religions should be taught in schools and not just Gita. So now the M.P. High Court has concluded that since Gita is a book on Indian Philosophy and not on religion, it can be continued as such and the need to consider introducing the moral values from other religions as well, need not be considered. Incidentally other BJP ruled state; Karnataka is also planning to introduce the teaching of Gita in its schools. While giving this judgment, one wonders if the honorable judge forgot that while the oath is administered to Hindus in his court, they are made to do take oath by keeping their hand on the same Holy book, as a religious book not for its philosophy!

One is reminded of another judgment at this time, the one known as "Hindutva as a way of life". The Supreme Court was to decide whether the use of the word Hindutva in elections tantamount to corrupt electoral practices or not, as Hindutva divides people along religious lines. Contrary to the theological, sociological and political understanding that Hinduism is a religion and that the word Hindutva is built around Hindu religious identity, Court ruled something which opened the floodgates of dividing people along religious lines. This judgment 'Hindutva is a way of life' exonerated someone who was doing divisive religious propaganda and gave legitimacy to the politics in the name of religion. Now the Gita judgment has again raised the questions about the nature of Hinduism, its religious texts and its religious belief.

Opportunistically the MP government and other Hindutva ideologues who called Gita as a holy Hindu religious scripture, and so needs to be taught in schools are keeping quiet, as this judgment suits their political agenda. The confusions prevail at multiple layers, as Hinduism is not a prophet based religion and there is no single 'revealed holy book' this understanding is being used by many to take the convenient path of taking the meaning which suits their purpose.

While term Hindu is of late origin, eighth century, the consolidation of Hinduism from the various prevailing religious sects has been a process beginning around that time with Magadh Maurayan empire. There are many a religious scriptures, many a holy books in this umbrella of Hinduism, Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata etc. So which is the holy scripture of Hindus? While all these books are regarded as Holy, over a period of time Hindu religion is being shaped around, One Deity, (Lord Ram) One Book (Gita), One Clergy (Acharyas, Mahants). The verdict of the court defies logic when it proclaims, "Gita is essentially a book on Indian philosophy not book on Indian religion."

The Bhagwat Gita or Gita (Song of God) is a 700 verse scripture that is part of the epic Mahabharata. As it is drawn from Mahabharata it can be labeled as Smriti text. Some sects of Hinduism give it the status of Upanishad, thereby making itsruti (revealed) book. It is also regarded to represent the summary of Upanishadic teachings and so it is also called as 'Upanishad of Upanishads'. In this Holy Scripture Lord Krishna teaches Arjun about his duties as a Prince belonging to Kshtriya Varna. Arjun was faced with the dilemma of the war, the possibility of killing his own kin, cousins and others. Lord tells Arjun that it is his holy duty to undertake the war. Lord elaborates on different Yogas and so Gita is often described as a core of Hindu theology. As most holy scriptures are the revelations from the supreme God, in Gita also Krishna reveals his identity as Supreme Being himself (Svayam Bhagvan). He blesses Arjun with the awe inspiring vision of divine universal form.

The Gita elaborates on the central part of Hindu theology, the origin of Varnas. In Purush Sukta of Vedas Lord Brahma narrates as to how he created four Varnas from the body of Virat Purush. In Gita on similar lines Lord Krishna also tells about the divine origin of Varna's. Lord says that the fourfold order was created by him according to the divisions of quality (Guna) and work (karma).

One knows that origin of Hinduism is different from the Prophet based religions. Here there has been an evolution of the Hinduism over a period of time and today while Hinduism is a religion, Gita is its Holy Scripture. To take the stand that it is Indian philosophy and not religious one is far from truth. There is philosophy also in many a Holy Scriptures. Notwithstanding that, they are primarily religious scriptures. The verdict of the court needs re-examination as it is not conforming to the belief of millions of Hindus; neither can it stand the scrutiny of rational understanding about Hinduism as a religion. From the religion of Pastoral Aryans to the practices of Hindus today, there is a long journey. The communal forces want to introduce this text in schools as not only they want to impose Hindu nation in this country but also through this book, they aim to reinforce the concept of Varna, which is one of the core doctrine of Hinduism, and Gita tells this by attributing Varna to the divine creation by Lord Himself. While there are many a philosophical formulations in this divine book there is also the subtle defense of what the Hindutva politics wants to bring in today, Varan- Jati in a repackaged form.

Issues in Secular Politics

II February 2012

Response only to : ram.puniyani@gmail.com

First new nuclear reactors OK'd in over 30 years

2012-02-10T07:21:00.001-08:00

http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/09/news/economy/nuclear_reactors/

First new nuclear reactors OK'd in over 30 years
By Steve Hargreaves @CNNMoney February 9, 2012: 2:50 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved
licenses to build two new nuclear reactors Thursday, the first
authorized in over 30 years.

The reactors are being built in Georgia by a consortium of utilities
led by Southern Co. (SO, Fortune 500) They will be sited at the Vogtle
nuclear power plant complex, about 170 miles east of Atlanta. The
plant already houses two older reactors.
The AP 1000
An artist rendering of the AP 1000

"Today marks an advancement in our nation's energy policy," Southern
Company chief executive Thomas Fanning said at a press conference
after the approval. "The project is on track, and our targets related
to cost and schedule are achievable."

The 5-member NRC voted in favor of the licenses four to one, with
Chairman Gregory Jaczko dissenting.

Jaczko said the new licenses don't go far enough in requiring the
builders to incorporate lessons learned from the Japanese nuclear
disaster last year.

Although new nuclear reactors have come online in the United States
within the last couple of decades -- the last one started operation in
1996 -- the NRC hasn't issued a license to build a new reactor since
1978, a year before the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania.
Reactors that have opened in the last decades received their initial
licenses before 1978.

The combination of the Three Mile Island incident and the high costs
of nuclear power turned many utilities away from the technology.

The utilities building the new Vogtle reactors submitted their
application seven years ago. Prep-work at the site has been under way
for some time, but construction on actual reactors couldn't begin
until the final license was issued.
How close is your home to a nuclear plant?

The new reactors are a Westinghouse design called the AP 1000.
Together they are expected to cost $14 billion and provide 2200
megawatts of power, according to a spokesman for Southern Co. That's
enough to power 1 million homes.

The plants are being built with the help of a conditional $8.3 billion
loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. The loan guarantee is
part of DOE's broader loan program that has been criticized for
backing companies like Solyndra, the bankrupt maker of solar panels.

The Southern spokesman said the loan guarantee, combined with other
regulatory measures, enable the project to receive cheaper financing
that will ultimately save ratepayers $1 billion.

The first reactor is expected to come online in 2016 and the second
one in 2017, according to Southern Co.

The AP 1000 is the newest NRC-approved nuclear reactor. This would be
the first one built in the United States, although four are already
under construction in China, said Scott Shaw, a Westinghouse
spokesman.

Critics have said the containment walls of the AP 1000 aren't strong
enough to withstand a terrorist attack, but Shaw says they were
redesigned after September 11, 2001 and have held up during
simulations.

He also said the design's passive cooling system makes it much safer
than older designs. The AP 1000 uses gravity and condensation -- not
electricity -- to cool the fuel rods.

It was the loss of electric power that led to the meltdown of Japan's
Fukushima Daiichi reactors following the tsunami in 2011.

Still, a coalition of nine mostly regional anti-nuclear groups say the
current design is not safe. They plan on challenging Thursday's
decision in federal court.

In addition to fears of a meltdown at a nuclear power plant, critics
also point out that the nation still has no long term plan for the
disposal of nuclear waste.

The waste, which is highly radioactive, is currently stored at the
plants themselves while the federal government continues its
decades-long search for a permanent disposal facility.

There are currently 104 operating nuclear reactors at 64 plants across
the country. Half are over 30 years old.

Nuclear power provides the country with about 18% of its electricity.
Coal is the nation's largest source for electricity, providing 43% of
our energy, while natural gas makes up another 25%, according to the
Energy Information Agency.

Renewables make up the remaining 14%, with hydroelectric dams
accounting for more than half of that. Wind accounts for about 3% and
biomass (think paper mills or agricultural plants) another 2%. Solar
and geothermal make up under 1% of American electricity production,
according to EIA.

In addition to the Vogtle plant, 16 other plants across the country
have applications with the the NRC to build 25 more reactors.

Most of those reactors would be built at existing nuclear power plants
but there are two applications submitted for brand new nuclear plants
-- one in Levy County, Fla., and another outside Gaffney, S.C.

Environmentalists are split when it comes to nuclear power. Many are
weary of it, citing the safety, cost and waste disposal concerns.
Others favor it on the grounds that it can provide massive amounts of
power that's basically greenhouse gas-free.

"Moving away from fossil fuels in order to address climate change is
the biggest challenge facing our power sector, and safe nuclear power
will be an important part of that solution," Richard Caperton,
director of clean energy investment at the left-leaning Center for
American Progress said in a statement.

But, underscoring the dichotomy, he added: "If the new reactors are
not brought online in a timely and cost-effective manner, as often
happens with nuclear plants, those consumers could see their electric
bills skyrocket."

-- CNN's Carol Gantt contributed to this report To top of page
First Published: February 9, 2012: 12:15 PM ET

Let's oppose Valentine's Day - A Cultural Conversion of Hindus !

2012-02-10T07:20:00.001-08:00

Media Release: Lok Satta Party Candidates for BMC and TMC Polls have taken a Historic Pledge Affirming Their Commitment to Clean Corruption Free Citizen Centric Governance in their Wards to The Citizens of Mumbai and Thane

2012-02-10T07:18:00.001-08:00

Media Release
(Mumbai, 10/02/2012)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lok Satta Party Candidates for BMC and TMC Polls have taken a Historic Pledge Affirming Their Commitment to Clean Corruption Free Citizen Centric Governance in their Wards to The Citizens of Mumbai and Thane

For the first time in the political history of Mumbai and probably India, Lok Satta Party (LSP) candidates for BMC and TMC polls have taken, a Unique Public Pledge to reaffirm their commitment to clean corruption free citizen centric governance in their wards.

The Citizen has become cynical about all politics and all politicians. Through this event, LSP candidates have solemnly and publicly committed their actions towards the betterment of the wards where they will get a mandate.

This pledge is NOT just a promise but guarantees that the actions of the elected corporators are transparent and that through this pledge they hold themselves directly accountable and answerable to the citizens they seek to serve.

The pledge is a public manifestation of LSP and its candidates of the commitment to the principles as enshrined in the Model Nagar Raj Bill and The Ten Guarantees that LSP has publicly released.

The candidates have pledged that.

"I will work as a public servant for all the citizen in my ward without fear or favour and without discrimination based on caste, creed, language or community
I will constitute a Ward Committee in my ward as mandated in the Model Nagar Raj Bill.
The ward Committee will meet at least 12 times in a year and I will ensure that area sabha meetings are held at least 3 times in a year.
All development projects in the ward will be decided and carried out in consultation with the Ward Committee.
I will remain accountable to the citizen through the ward committee.
I will work for delivering the 10 guarantees of Lok Satta Party to the citizens in my ward."

For more details, please contact Lok Satta Party, Mumbai - Spokesperson Dr. Ram Ramdas on 0 982 0538 685 OR General Secretary Shri Mustan Tambawala on 0 982 0137 765.

For Lok Satta Party

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Regards,

Surendra Srivastava
Volunteer - Lok Satta Aandolan
Tel: +91 22 2377 2279 Email: surendra@loksatta.org.in
The Answer to "Bad Politics" is "Good Politics" Not "No Politics" - Dr. JP, Lok Satta Aandolan
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Name	Shri Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh
Father's Name	Shri Dagadoji Venkatrao Deshmukh

nandigramunited

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Gita: Not a Religious Book? ISP II Frb 2012

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First new nuclear reactors OK'd in over 30 years

Let's oppose Valentine's Day - A Cultural Conversion of Hindus !

Media Release: Lok Satta Party Candidates for BMC and TMC Polls have taken a Historic Pledge Affirming Their Commitment to Clean Corruption Free Citizen Centric Governance in their Wards to The Citizens of Mumbai and Thane

Gone with the 'wise' wind
VK bows to court, cloud on full stint