Dear Sanjeev

Congratulations that India Policy Institute has at last succeeded in
getting back the ownership of IndiaPolicy@Yahoogroups.com.

Through my participation in the India Policy Forum since January
1999, I learnt a great lot on how to participate in web-based
debates. Incidentally this knowledge helped me to get one of the
best Water Voice Messenger Prize Awards at Kyoto in March 2003 for
posting outstanding number of messages on water-related problems.

I enjoy reading old messages posted to the forum at
http://www.indiapolicy.org/lists/india_policy/search.html,
particularly by you. Although I could view most messages through
links in the website, I find no link established to the "Search
Page" and the archives pertaining to "1999 of April, August and
December; 2001 of June; and 2002 January, April and May".

The error message that "There is no group called
Indiapolicyinstitute" appears on clicking on 2002 Yahoo-March, Yahoo-
April and Yahoo-May links.

I hope you will be able to arrange for removal of these errors at an
early date.

I have expressed at
http://www.indiapolicy.org/lists/india_policy/1999/Jan/msg00083.html
that there shouldn't be any moderation of messages sent to the
forum. I continue to hold the same opinion even now after gaining
considerable experience of participation in a number of forums. I
suggest to you once again not to have a moderator to this forum.

There is actually need to publish summaries of debates and flyers on
various topics in the website. If you so desire, I can spare some
time on these issues.

I wish that the forum regains its old glory in making an impact on
the governments in India to scrap outdated policies coming in the
way of the country's development.

Regards

Jagadiswara Rao

--- In IndiaPolicy@yahoogroups.com, "sabhlok" <sanjeev@s...> wrote:
> Dear friends,
>
> This list ownership has now been transferred back to the India
> Policy Institute http://www.indiapolicy.org/
>
> Please go thro' old archives of discussions at:
> http://www.indiapolicy.org/lists/india_policy/search.html
>
> We would need a good moderator to help out. Any volunteers?
>
> Thanks, Rajiv.
>
> Regards,
> Sanjeev

Dear friends,

This list ownership has now been transferred back to the India Policy
Institute http://www.indiapolicy.org/

Please go thro' old archives of discussions at:
http://www.indiapolicy.org/lists/india_policy/search.html

We would need a good moderator to help out. Any volunteers?

Thanks, Rajiv.

Regards,
Sanjeev

India's old soldiers finally beaten by time
By P. J. O. Taylor
The Telegraph
(Filed: 12/07/2004)


Have you noticed that there are times in this strange life of ours when an
occasion can be sad - and happy at the same time? A handful of men,
including yours truly, have just had such an experience. Let me explain.

Fifty-five years ago, just after the Second World War and, most
significantly, the coming of independence to India, a sizeable number of
British officers of the magnificent Indian Army decided to keep in touch
with each other, and with the army in which they had served, by forming
Regimental Associations.

One such was the Mahratta Light Infantry Regimental Association, based in
London but with members scattered around the globe. Probably the majority of
these retired officers were like me, war-time only, "emergency
commissioned", and, as one wag put it, only temporary gentlemen, not really
pukka sahibs. But no matter, we had all loved the regiment and were proud of
having served with so fine a body of men. Soldiers, even temporary ones,
never lose the bond that held them tight in times of mortal danger.

Well, knowing the Indian love for initials, the MLIRA as we shall call it,
flourished. But now, alas, it is no more. When the committee virtually
outnumbers the membership of any organisation it's time to call it a day.

With great regret the said committee decided that anno domini and illness
made it virtually pointless to continue in existence, and so they decreed a
grand tamasha at the Bombay Brasserie in London, a reunion to eclipse all
reunions, a bara khana that none of us old fogeys would ever forget. And to
make the occasion even more memorable we would invite dignitaries from India
to join us, in this last ever meeting.

The committee spoke for us all, and we were delighted with the response: no
fewer than three Colonels of the MLI (two past and one current) made the
journey from India, with their ladies, to grace us with their presence. We
ate well, and we drank champagne, and we talked, and talked. After the meal
Major General Archibald R. Cornock, President of the Association, proposed
the health of the guests: to our surprise, and delight, he summoned up
enough Urdu to speak in that language, once the lingua franca of the Army.
He reminded us that the Mahrattas never lost a battle, but this time, old
age, the greatest enemy of us all, has defeated us; he spoke of the sadness
of the occasion but also the pride that it evoked.

The presence of the Colonel of the Regiment, Lt General J. J. Singh, was
particularly welcome. With him had come two former Colonels of the Regiment,
Lt General Vijay Oberoi, and Major General Eustace D'Souza, and the three
Generals had brought their wives to add glamour to the occasion. Other
distinguished guests were present, Generals, Brigadiers, representatives of
the High Commission, Captain Sir Charles Frossard, the President of the
Indian Army Association, and his Lady, and many more, too numerous to name
but all very welcome.

The response to the toast to Our Guests was made by Lt General Oberoi: he
expressed the pride we all shared in the Regiment, and stressed the
continuity of tradition that existed and would always exist: He reminded us
that the Regiment was as great today as it ever had been and that despite
the winding up of the MLIRA nothing had been lost. The Mahrattas lived in
the memory of former officers but they existed also in fact and present
reality. Major General D'Souza followed, and said the British legacy
included the rail system, the Judiciary, Parliamentary Democracy and the
Army, of which we were all so proud.

Lt General Singh concluded the formal proceedings by responding to the toast
to the Regiment and the Association: he too emphasised tradition and its
great value to morale.

That the Regiment was still fulfilling its magnificent role was evidenced in
many ways, not least by the fact that no fewer than three current Army
Commanders in India come from the Officer cadre of the Maratha Light
Infantry.

Sad yes, but pride brings happiness even in the midst of sorrow. We may
never meet again but we will never forget.

(http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2004/07/12/exrupert\
x.xml)



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

hi,
we have had a very interesting discussion here abt a lot of things
esp. abt the twisted indian 'politics'.

but there are no new messages in this group for this month??

i am surprised that a group having a high message density for almost
all the months since its inception suddenly drops dead in the month of
july!!!

am i missing out something???

or has the group shifted to somewhere else???

with regards and cheers
Laks

Unable to view, please visit http://www.hrcbm.org/HRCBM_relief/flood_appeal.html


  An Urgent Appeal:
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.


Dear Friends,

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The aftermath of the flood could be much more devastating as well. Cholera and
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other, the poor millions are struggling to survive.
There is no sign of relief, rivers are swelling up and the rainy weather
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Hence, HRCBM would like to take this opportunity to appeal before International
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Please help us anyway you can, sent your financial and material donation
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At the following address:

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  Only financial contribution will be accepted at USA in the following address:

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P.O. Box 5493
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  Your donation in this regards is tax deductible in USA.

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Thanks

Dhiman Deb Chowdhury
President
HRCBM
http://www.hrcbm.org





---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage!

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

India Studies Network - New Delhi
http://www.swaveda.com/announcement.php

Folks,

As I've indicated earlier, this discussion/ debate/ dialogue is
becoming more public.  Please share this with anyone who would be
interested in attending personally in New Delhi.

Sanjay


Excerpt.....

What is required, then, is, first of all, a network of scholars,
researchers, and intellectuals who can function with a certain degree
of cohesion to respond to contemporary challenges. If such a network
can later coalesce in to a think tank or some other kind of similar
institution, it is even better.

To be effective, we have to be independent of any political party or
its offshoot, have our own sources of funding, and be politically
engaged.

Such a group needs to define it positions in a variety of arenas
including the religious, political, economic, social, cultural, and
so on. It would need to take positions on issues of "majority"
and "minority," on "human rights," "plurality," "multiculturalism,"
the "diaspora," and many such concepts which are often used
mischievously and incorrectly.

The real challenge for such a group would be to function in both
traditional and modern spaces, serving if necessary, as a bridge
between them. It would need to be media savvy, able to project its
point of view effectively, and present its case in such a wave that
policy makers cannot ignore it.


Full text at
http://www.swaveda.com/announcement.php

Dear Friends,

I am interested to the India's politics.

Particularly, I study about he corruption in the
politic , focused on the the indian election of this
year and why?

I am looking some articles and some people who are
interested about this cancer to India.

I will happy to exchange some opinion .

Hope to hear from you as soon as,

Sincerely
Bala GANESSANE

Convenor : Movement for Accountability to Public (MAP)

Columnist : For Several DAILY Newspapers in India

Author: A MODEL OF NEW CONSTITUTION FOR INDIA

(Old Name: Milap Chand Choraria)

Address for Correspondence Only:-

B-5/52, Sector-7, Rohini,

New Delhi-110 085 MOBILE:01120036132 Dated 25th June 2004


MEMORANDUM

To,

His Excellency Shri A. P. J. Kalam,

Hon'ble President of India,

Rashtrapati Bhawan,

Delhi-110004

JUDICIARY

Probity, not the Pseudo Probity

You're Excellency Sir,


You're Excellency Sir, What I have done with great pain for larger
National Interests and Public importance, if I could have done as a
Citizen of United State of America, I might have been awarded one of
the Top Award from that Country. But, my sincere steps in the larger
Public and National Interests, without any intention or motive for
personal gain or benefit, have annoyed a large Number of Powerful and
influential people since their interests have been made questionable
by such steps. As a Result, instead of any award, injustice was
awarded to me from the Supreme Court in serious violations of my
Rights of Constitutional Remedy Guaranteed under Article 32 of the
Constitution of India as well in contravention from Six Judge Bench
Judgment (AIR:1950,Sc: 124, Kania CJ, Fazl Ali, Patanjali Sastri,
Mahajan, B.K.Mokherjea, And Das JJ.), that: "The Supreme Court is
thus constituted the protector and guarantor of fundamental rights,
and it cannot, consistently with the responsibility so laid upon it,
refuse to entertain applications seeking protection against
infringement of such rights". If the issues and matters raised by me
have been considered for larger National and Public Interests,
various important changes may have been surfaced towards betterment
for democracy as a whole.


You're Excellency Sir, in last 20 years Probity from the Judiciary
shifting towards pseudo probity. This fact can be exemplified from my
own stiff experiences. In November, 1983, on the basis of my
Complaint just by Registered Post, Hon'ble Kolkata High Court
constituted an enquiry and in September 1984 first time in Indian
Judicial History a Munsif was dismissed from the Judicial Service.
Whereas under changed meaning of the probity Now, I am fighting for
Justice from the Supreme Court, as I have referred in my Letter dated
18th June 2004 to Hon'ble Chief Justice of India Mr. R. C. Lahoti,
copy is enclosed and also posted in the Website:
http//milapchoraria.tripod.com/scpetition. In fact under threat from
the Mafia I am always compelled to changing my addresses. Therefore,
if I may be compelled to bow down before the Mafia, the injustice
from the Supreme Court will be responsible for the same.


You're Excellency Sir, Since childhood I have committed and followed
life style with High Moral Standard, honesty, sincerity. I was
inspired and influenced by the world famous great saint, my grand
uncle and successor of Anuvarat Movement launcher Acharya Tulsi:
Acharya Mahapragnyaji (His Holiness's Residential name was Nath Mal
Choraria). During this year's eve-independence address to the nation,
Your Excellency Sir, referred His Holiness's name with special
reference relates to moral issues. Two of my own sisters are saints
under Acharya Mahapragnyaji. Since childhood I have acted against the
corruption, and on the basis of my own experience I can submit that
the Corruption or Probity both can sustain or moving from top, not
from lower level. I have also participated in various social
activities based on strong principles, honesty, and sincerity and
completely dedicated to causes. Some of my works with great pain for
Larger National interest having of Public importance are referred
under heading SOCIAL PROFILE OF MILAP CHORARIA, copy of which is
enclosed and posted at http//milapchoraria.tripod.com/msp. In fact
steps taken by me, always invited sufferings for me, but I never
bothered for such sufferings, till I find probity in Judicial System.


You're Excellency Sir, With reference to my aforesaid statement I
must affirm that if any of my statement proved as false or pleading
as wrong, then I must be punished for misuse of the Good Office of
Your Excellency Sir, as well as for the Contempt of Hon'ble Supreme
court.


Under Article 32 of the Constitution Rights of Constitutional Remedy
have been guaranteed as the basic structure and soul of the Indian
Democracy and also of the Constitution of India. Even Parliament of
India cannot amend or dilute such basic structure of the Constitution.


You're Excellency Sir, Supreme Court is also not empowered to refuse
to entertain applications seeking protection against infringement of
such rights as settled by six Judge Bench (AIR:1950, Sc: 124) as
already referred above, and as founding fathers of the Constitution
expected as Shri M. Ananthasayanam Ayyangar: (subsequently who was
elected as the Speaker of the 1st Lok Sabha) expressed during the
debate on Article 32 of the Constitution of India held in the
Constituent Assembly of India on 9th December 1946, that: "the
Supreme Court according to me is the Supreme guardian of the
citizen's rights in any democracy. I would even go further and say
that it is the soul of democracy. The executive which comes into
being for the time being is apt to abuse its powers, and therefore
the Supreme Court must be there, strong and un-trammeled by the day
to day passions which may bring a set of people into power and throw
them out also in a very short time. In less than three or four years
during which a parliament is in being, many governments may come and
go, and if the fundamental rights of the individual are left to the
tender mercies of the Government of the day, they cannot be called
fundamental rights at all." and further that: "These and other rights
must be carefully watched and for this purpose the Supreme Court has
been vested with the supreme ultimate jurisdiction."


You're Excellency Sir, Founding Fathers never thought that in future
even Supreme Court may belie their expectations. Under such faith
they specifically not referred the words "Supreme Court" under
Article 12 of the Constitution to define within the meaning of
the "State". This might also correct that due to misuse of the Powers
and abuse of the Authority by the Executives, Workload under this
provision might have been increased, and Judicial Activism might have
caused some embarrassments for the "executive". In this respect I
fully agree with Hon'ble Chief Justice of India Mr. R.C. Lahoti that
Judges are also from the Society and its impact may surface amongst
Judges too. Such observations shows that Hon'ble Chief Justice of
India Mr. R.C. Lahoti also aware of the gravity of the problem. But,
because of lack of the appropriate and transparent systems corruption
at the Supreme Court level can cause for various reasons, not
necessarily for monetary gains: but under the impact of egoism; or
indirect rapport with political leadership for appointments after
retirement; or under some kind of influence; or Court may adopts
whimsical attitude under some bias not to accept truth based
pleadings, with references to some crucial issues.


You're Excellency Sir, But for any reason such guaranteed Rights
being the Basis Structure of the Constitution, cannot be diluted in
any manner whatsoever. But, on the basis of my own experiences, I am
understood that for the various reasons, in the garb of the
interpretation or otherwise, and in violation of the oath taken Under
the Constitution for upholding the Constitution, efficacy of such
Rights have been diluted substantially. Now, Hon'ble CJI Mr. R. C.
Lahoti intended to establish probity in the Judicial System, which
can be possible, when following important issues of larger public
importance are addressed after hearing all concerned, otherwise
probity may be proved mere pseudo probity. Such issues are very much
relevant for the efficacy, probity and accountability in the
Judiciary at the highest level.


You're Excellency Sir, Therefore, this is my humble submissions that
experiences having been gained by me from Supreme Court Registry
through refusal to receive for Registration a Writ Petition, under
influence or otherwise, dilution of the Rights to Constitutional
Remedy have been arises, relating to me and on equal basis for more
than 1000 Million people. Therefore, Your Excellency Sir, kindly
refer to the Hon'ble Supreme Court to form an Opinion under Article
143 of the Constitution on important Issues relates to substantial
question of Law relating to the Constitution:-


How Supreme Court can be out of the meaning of the "State" under the
Article 12 of the Constitution, when its each Judge are appointed by
the Head of the "State" (the President of India) and can be removed
by the "State" (Parliament of India)?;


How Principle of the finality of the Final Order of the Supreme Court
interpreted under Article 147 of the Constitution can be applied in
respect of the "Rights of the Constitutional Remedy" guaranteed under
Article 32 of the Constitution?


How Supreme Court can make Rules under Article 145(1)( C) of the
Constitution some one (not a Court) authorising to refuse to receive
a Writ Petition seeking protection of Fundamental Rights, in
contravention of Clause (1) of Article 32 of Constitution,
guaranteeing the Right to move Supreme Court seeking protection of
any of the Rights conferred under Part III of the Constitution ?.


How Truth based expression can be constituted as Contempt of the
Hon'ble Court, in contravention of Fundamental Right of the
expression and Core Principles of the democracy that "TRUTH SHALL
PREVAILS."?


I hope that for the larger Public interest and matter of public
importance Your Excellency Sir, graciously pleased to write a Letter
to Hon'ble Chief Justice of India Mr. R. C. Lahoti.


With Best Regards,

Your Excellency's law Abiding Citizen




(Milap Choraria)

Enclosed as above.

Copy to Hon'ble Chief Justice of India Mr. R. C. Lahoti, for his
Lordship's kind information.

MILAP  CHORARIA
Convenor : Movement for Accountability to Public (MAP)
Columnist : For Several DAILY Newspapers in India
Author: A MODEL OF NEW CONSTITUTION FOR INDIA
Address for Correspondence Only:-
Post Box No.
2690,

New Delhi-110 005     MOBILE:01120036132
Dated 18th June 2004

REGISTERED WITH A/D
To,
Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, Mr. Ramesh Chandra Lahoti,
New Delhi

Hon'ble Lordship,

This has with reference to News published in The Hindustan Times
dated 28th May 2004 in which your Lordship was quoted as saying
that "Judiciary not corrupt but corrupt officials tarnishing the
image of the system should be dealt with. A casual aberration does
not mean that Judiciary is corrupt. The system is not corrupt". After
going through Your Lordship's oath taking ceremony, where Your
Lordship touches foot of mother, hope was restored that after Justice
S. P. Bharucha, (Retd. CJI), Your Lordship might show courage and
boldness to ensure probity in the Judicial System even up to the
level of the Supreme Court. If I could have been allowed to place my
matter sufferings I hope that Your Lordship could have changed
observations with regards to "corruption in the system".

This was my presumption that Your Lordship might have dealt with on
my complaint as the observations were appears in Newspaper
immediately after my Letter dated 26th May 2004, delivered on the
same day, to Your Lordship's residence with reference to Writ Petition
(C) No.D-22474/2003 filed on 29.10.2003, in which I prayed interalia,
that "Under Your Lordship's new appointment, as next Chief Justice of
India, after assuming the charge of new Office, Your Lordship as
custodian of the Fundamental Rights of Individuals, should ensure my
Rights to Remedy, by directing Supreme Court Registry, to register
without any further delay my said Writ Petition as a Writ Petition,
or listing for preliminary hearing for its admission to save most
important core principles of the jurisprudence. But, with my utter
surprise on 15th June 2004 I received Memo Letter No. D.
No.5610/003/X dated 7th June 2004 from the Assistant Registrar (J),
SC, that "The Writ Petition above mentioned filed by you was placed
before Ld. Registrar (J-I) on 26.5.2004, when he was pleased to
decline the same as it does not disclose any reasonable cause upon
which it can be received for listing before the Hon'ble Court under
Order XVIII Rule 5 of S.C.R.1966."

On the basis of following facts doubts in mind cropped up that back
dated order of 26th May 2004 might have been passed just on or before
7th June 2004, under connivance. For instance, language of the said
Memo Letter that "received for listing before the Hon'ble Court"
cannot referred from Order XVIII Rule 5 of S.C.R.1966, but it appears
in aforesaid letter dated 26th May 2004 to Your Lordship, in which I
submitted as "listing for preliminary hearing for its admission".
Secondly, I have changed my name, as "Milap Choraria", which also
referred in the said Writ Petition. But from the said Memo Letter it
appears that said letter might have been dictated by some one else,
who knows me with old name but not aware about change, as such in the
Memo Letter my name was referred as "Milap Chand Choraria".

With regards to Your Lordship's observations, that "The system is not
corrupt", I want to submit that under any provision of the
Constitution Supreme Court is not empowered to reduce efficacy of any
Constitutional Provision in the garb of interpretation, or also not
empowered to hands off from Constitutional responsibility laid down
upon Supreme Court, by converting the "Guaranteed Rights to
Constitutional Remedy" early available equally for 1000 Million
Citizen, mere as "Rights at mercy". Such reduction of the efficacy is
entry point for corruption at the level of Supreme Court. This is my
Humble Submissions that matter of my suffering cannot be termed just
as "a casual aberration". I am suffering under connivance going on in
a planning way to ensure injustice to me, from Supreme Court, under
which Ld. Registrar (J-I) passed the alleged aforesaid order by
misusing his powers and abusing his authority, since a powerful
lobby, having vested interests-, active against me to protect
Mafiadom having close Nexus with powerful politicians. Object of back
dated Order of 26th May 2004 with the same date of my aforesaid
letter, might have to convey me that my complaint cannot produce any
results. Moreover, Ld. Registrar (J-I) further misused his powers and
abused his authority deciding the matter relates to substantial
question of law relating to Constitutional Powers of the Supreme
Court, under Article 145(1)( c) of the Constitution, in the aforesaid
Writ Petition I also challenged Constitutional validity of "Rule 5
Under Order XVIII of the Supreme Court Rules 1966 (substituted by
G.S.R. 407 (w.e.f. 20-12-1997) (Petitions generally) as far as its
applicability in respect of the Petition under Article 32 of the
Constitution is concerned", under which he passed the said Order.

Without going into further details I humbly submit that scope for
corruption in the System was opened when in the year of 1997, in
serious violation of Constitutional Powers provided by Article 145(1)
(c ) of the Constitution Supreme Court Rules 1966 were changed by
Supreme Court with clear motive to reduce the efficacy of "Rights to
Constitutional Remedy" which was guaranteed as basic structure of the
Constitution, under Article 32 of the Constitution, which under any
powers or authority could not have been reduced. Therefore, such
changes have taken away or abridged the Rights of Constitutional
Remedy on the selective basis, in complete contravention of Article 13
(2), and 32 of the Constitution, to put such rights just at the mercy
of the Supreme Court Registry, thereby allowing it to misuse the same
in selective manner. Scope for further corruption was cropped up,
when under the garb of interpretation Supreme Court was placed itself
out of the definition of the "State" within the meaning under Article
12 of the Constitution.

IN fact Article 145(1)( C) authorized to Supreme Court to make
Rules "as to the proceedings in the Court for the enforcement of any
of the rights conferred by Part III", but not authorized to assign
any of its Judicial powers to any one who not constitutes as a Court
Under Article 32 of the Constitution, nor to make Rules empowering
some one (not a Court) to refuse to receive a Writ Petition seeking
protection of Fundamental Rights. This was also in serious violation
of the Judgment settled by six Judge Bench (AIR:1950, Sc: 124, Kania
CJ, Fazl Ali, Patanjali Sastri, Mahajan, B.K.Mokherjea, And Das JJ.),
upholding interalia that: "The Supreme Court is thus constituted the
protector and guarantor of fundamental rights, and it cannot,
consistently with the responsibility so laid upon it, refuse to
entertain applications seeking protection against infringement of
such rights.".

If these Rules could have been in existence, during emergency period
of 1975, then what could have been happened, god knows.

I Humbly Submit that the Rule 11 under Part IV under Order XXXV
thereby importing Rule 1 to 10 under Order XVIII substituted by GSR
407 w.e.f. 20.12.1997 and proviso under Rule 6(1) under Order X
inserted by GSR 407 w.e.f. 20.12.1997, of the Supreme Court Rules
1966 are completely beyond the scope, meaning, ambit, powers,
jurisdictions under Articles 32, 13 and 145(1)( c) of the
Constitution of India in respect of the Applications for enforcement
of the Fundamental Rights. Rule 5 Under Order XVIII of the Supreme
Court Rules 1966 is also in contravention of Rule 7 and 8 of Part IV
ORDER XXXV (APPLICATION FOR ENFORCEMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS), under
S. C. R. 1966. Such Rule 7 and 8 ensuring listing of the Writ
Petition before Hon'ble Court (Court constitutes under Article 32 of
the Constitution) for preliminary hearing and orders as to the issue
of notice to the Respondent. But, aforesaid Rules were changed with
clear intention to put the "Guaranteed Rights of the Constitutional
Remedy" at the mercy of Supreme Court Registry.

Therefore, this is my humble submissions that since Your Lordship is
intended to ensure probity in the Justice System, should call for the
records of the Writ Petition Civil No. D-22474 of 2003 and related
Office File of the Supreme Court Registry and after going through it,
if Lordship satisfied that my said Writ Petition is really failed to
disclose any reasonable cause of action, as falsely and under
connivance hold by Ld. Registrar (J-I), a Contempt Proceeding should
be initiated against me, otherwise appropriate actions should be
initiated against respective corrupt officials.

Supreme Court is having extra ordinary position in the Indian
democracy, and in conformity with Oath taken for the Office of the
Supreme Court Judges, probity can be ensured by accepting the
definition of corruption: "whenever any Judge knowing fully perform
his official duty in slightest violation of Constitutional provision,
should be termed as the Corruption", because, corruption at the
Supreme Court level may causes for various reasons, not necessarily
for monetary gains: but under the impact of egoism; or indirect
rapport with political leadership for appointments after retirement;
or under some kind of influence; or Court may adopts whimsical
attitude under some bias not to accept truth based pleadings, with
references to some crucial issues.

However, in the larger interest of the "Guaranteed Rights of the
Constitutional Remedy", I am going to publish the aforesaid Writ
Petition filed under Filing Diary No, D-22474 of 2003 filed on 29th
October 2004 and all correspondence since 1996 with Supreme Court in
a BOOK.

Your Lordship's duty bound Law abiding Citizen



(Milap Choraria)

America offers to demolish the Abu Ghraib Jail where many prisoners
were
abused and their photos were published all over the Arab world. Why
would USA want to demolish this prison? Probably because it wants
the Iraqis to forget what had happened there?!

It may be that Iraqis want to build memorials and monuments to mark
the end of occupation by a neo-colonial power much like what we did
in India after the British left?

Sincerely,
Vamsi M.
_____________________
From Times Of India Newspaper
WASHINGTON : Iraq 's interim president Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar said on
Sunday that he had refused a US offer to demolish the notorious Abu
Ghraib jail where inmates were abused and humiliated by US troops.

He said Iraq cannot afford to tear down a prison that cost more than
$100 million to build, despite its grim history.

The prison was discussed when Yawar met US President George W. Bush
at the G8 summit last week.

Bush said last month that the US was ready to pay for Abu Ghraib,
which he called "a symbol of disgraceful conduct", to be demolished
and replaced, if the Iraqi interim government agreed.

Yawar said the government would take control of all prisons after it
takes power from the US-led coalition on June 30. But he rejected the
need to demolish Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad , was also used for
tortures and executions under the regime of ousted president Saddam
Hussein.

"It's a prison that we spent more than $100 million building," Yawar
told ABC television's "This Week" programme.

"And if we consider it a symbol of Saddam's atrocities, Saddam used
to torture people in each and every basement in Iraq, so that means
we have to demolish all government entities. That's unwise."

The interim president said "We are people that need every single
dollar we have, in order to rebuild our country, instead of
demolishing and rebuilding."

Many groups in Iraq have also rejected Bush's proposal to pull down
Abu Ghraib. Some politicians have said it should become a museum,
others that it should continue to be used as a jail.

U.S. Hinduism Studies: A Question of Shoddy Scholarship

Sankrant Sanu's article is now on Beliefnet.com rationally critiquing
US academic scholarship on Hinduism from the point of view of the
community. This is the first in a series of articles, essays,
opinions supported by Hindu American Foundation, that will be posted
on Beliefnet.com

This is a momentous occasion because Beliefnet.com is the world's
largest website on religion & attracts a mainstream audience.  It
currently gets over 4 million hits monthly & is growing rapidly
through its association with ABC & AOL. For the first time, this
important dialogue will now move beyond Sulekha.com

http://wwwbeliefnet.com/story/146/story_14684_3.html

Please forward as appropriate and also participate in the Beliefnet
discussion.


Sanjay

This message is again posted after some corrections.


Education at primary level and university level is responsibility of state
government and hence the taxation should be their responsibility. Centre's role
should be limited to policy directives. Hence taxing should be discouraged in
pretext of education. In fact there is vast scope of rationalization as follows.

1. End monopoly of government in education. State Government offices often
restrict role of private sector by restricting sanction of division or allowing
new schools to open. In cities the school owners (I am referring to societies
operating schools) have to buy land by paying huge bribes or buying at
commercial rates, whereas municipal schools get allotment free and preferred
quota. This make creating schools very expensive propositions. This results into
2 problems. One is poor salary structure to teachers and higher fee structure.
When municipality opens school, it gets land from land reserved for public
utilities and government needs to provide more through budgets for building,
salary, maintenance, etc. Please note municipal bodies are assisted by state
governments.

2. University education reforms. Expenses are born by governments and tax
payers. Hence students and parents are indifferent to quality and delivery of
education. Then you find that students register in college without intention to
study or are not attending lectures. If these students are not interested in
study and knowledge, why should we punish taxpayers? Hence at least 20% of cost
of education of college (salary, library, building) should be born by students.
Those from elite families can be made to pay full cost with provision in income
tax for full rebate. This will make university student roll down by 50% and make
education serious activity. If society can not absorb even 20% graduates in
employment, there is no reason why should create so may graduates and pass the
cost onto tax payers.

3. Do away with tokenism in primary education & girls education - Government
needs excuses to dole out funds. In Maharashtra girls have access to free
education and free travel in state transport till graduation and free books till
XII. I find it unconvincing that we have 4 tax payers in our house, why my
chlidren should be allowed free travel, free rice and free books. Rather I
should be allowed to shoulder my responsibility. This applies even to those
schools charging excessive fees. This is inefficient process, since cost of
collecting excess tax & corruption is added onto provisioning cost. I would
prefer to provide feeding to poor students, who are forced to be a child labor.
All this exercise and policy decision are taken without assessing problems,
marketing research, without obtaining consent of beneficiary parents, studying
financial and social impact of decisions onto tax collections. It can happen the
cost will be passed onto government/taxpayers and problems would still
  remain unsolved. I am sure similar adhocism exists in all states also.

Thus such surcharge and separate collection of taxes should be discouraged. It
is better to allow private sector to operate in the same sector where government
resources are insufficient.

Sanjay Jadhav

It may be that a secular India with a market economy has the full
potential in leading and uniting other nations in the region but not
through the lens of American foreign policy.  While America leaves
Iraq in a volatile/lawless state, India is being asked to pick up the
pieces!  I hope the newly elected leaders of India would use best of
their wisdom and not send our young men and women to serve America's
neo-colonial interests in a foreign land.

If India is to bring peace and prosperity to the region it must first
implement a common defense initiative with other developing/powerful
states in the region, namely China and Russia, in order to check neo-
colonial interventionist policies.  Only then, economic integration
and pursuit of self-development will be possible among the nations of
Asia which will bring peace and prosperity to all its people.  These
should be the goals of a modern India for much of this century!

Sincerely,
Vamsi M.
___________________
Asia Times
NEW DELHI - India's new left-leaning coalition government is faced
with a major foreign-policy challenge even before it has been able to
firm up its ideas after its surprise victory in the recent general
elections. This challenge is serious enough even to destabilize the
Congress party-led and left-supported United Progressive Alliance
(UPA).

The United States has launched a major lobbying campaign asking Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh's government first to issue a note welcoming
the latest governmental arrangements being made in Iraq, hail it as a
genuine transfer of sovereignty, and then accede to long-standing
demands for sending at least 20,000 troops to Iraq. The Communist
Party of India (Marxist) or CPIM-led Left Front has threatened
countrywide protest demonstrations if these demands are accepted. The
UPA government depends on the Left Front for its majority in the
lower house of parliament.

India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has reportedly told US
interlocutors that India cannot give any assurances to Washington at
this stage, and will wait for a United Nations Security Council
resolution recognizing the new "government" of Iraq as a truly
sovereign entity, followed by the withdrawal of US troops. The US
position is that its troops will remain in Iraq on the request of the
new government. In fact prime minister-designate Iyad Allawi, in what
Washington has described as his first "national address", has urged
US troops to remain positioned in Iraq, insisting that withdrawal
will spell "disaster".

The Left Front has made it clear that it is keeping a close watch on
developments concerning Iraq. It has reportedly told External Affairs
Minister Natwar Singh that any compromise on this issue will not be
tolerated. When asked whether the US request was being considered,
Communist Party of India leader A B Bardhan said: "No, of course not.
If there is any such move there will be a major movement of protest
in the country." He questioned the supposed "sovereignty" of the new
dispensation being given shape by the Americans, pointing out that
this was set to function under the US and its 130,000-strong
contingent of troops in Iraq.

Similarly, prominent CPIM leader Prakash Karat said: "One of the
lessons of these elections is that people have not relished the
[former ruling Hindu fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party] BJP's
craven attitude to the US. The left campaigned vigorously against
[former prime minister] Atal Bihari Vajpayee's stand on what is
happening in Iraq, Palestine etc. There should be a correction of the
pro-US stand in the foreign policy. The CMP [Common Minimum Program]
has a formulation which stresses that India will pursue an
independent foreign policy by having close and good relations with
Russia, Europe and China."

The relevant portion in the CMP that Karat was referring to
reads: "The UPA government will pursue an independent foreign policy,
keeping in mind its past traditions. This policy will seek to promote
multipolarity in world relations and oppose all attempts at
unilateralism. Traditional ties with West Asia will be given a fresh
thrust. The UPA government reiterates India's decades-old commitment
to the cause of the Palestinian people for a homeland of their own.
Steps will be taken to withdraw Indian mercenaries from Iraq, while
further recruitment for this purpose will be banned. Even as it
pursues closer engagements and relations with the USA, the UPA
government will maintain the independence of India's foreign-policy
position on all regional and global issues."

The Left Front leaders are quite clear that the "sovereignty" being
talked of is a "US ruse to get international support without really
changing the situation on the ground". It is pointed out that the new
Iraqi prime minister, Allawi, was an Iraqi in exile with known close
links to the Central Intelligence Agency and the US State Department.
The redoubtable Iraqi Shi'ite leader Muqtada al-Sadr has totally
opposed the proposed new government, saying, "I do not want to do
anything with this government."

In the first indication of New Delhi's likely course of action, the
Congress-led state government of Kerala has turned down a United
Nations request to train Iraqi police personnel at its prestigious
Police Academy in Thrissur. "Since Iraq is under an occupational
army, we don't want to associate with the present dispensation in
Iraq," Chief Minister A K Antony said on Saturday. He added that
taking up such an offer would "go against the very policies and
principles of the country". The proposal to train about 600 cops had
come through the Union Home Ministry run by former deputy prime
minister Lal Krishan Advani about two months back. The UN request had
also been forwarded to 16 other states.

Sensing the discomfiture of the Congress-led government, the main
opposition BJP is now getting set to make the case for acceding to
the US request. The former ruling party had itself not been able to
send troops to Iraq because of widespread protests in the country,
despite Advani [now leader of opposition] virtually promising to do
so during a visit to Washington. BJP ideologues are now calming to
see "a glimmer of light at the end of Iraq's long tunnel of despair
and discord". They are claiming that "a new chapter has begun in the
country's troubled affairs" with the formation of a 36-member interim
government "which is meant to be a critical step forward along Iraq's
path towards restoration of full sovereignty and democracy".

The point BJP leaders are going to make is that, if Iraq's most
influential Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani can accord
a qualified approval to the new government, why should India have any
difficulty welcoming the development? While making it clear that it
lacked "the legitimacy of elections" and did not represent "in an
acceptable manner all segments of Iraqi society and political
forces", Sistani has said: "Nevertheless it is hoped that this
government will prove its efficiency and integrity and show resolve
to carry out the enormous tasks that rest on its shoulders."

The problem with the government is that while there is no harm in
welcoming the new development, this would make the denial of troops
to Iraq, when formally requested by the new "sovereign" government of
Iraq, that much more difficult. In view of the general hostility in
the country to the idea of sending troops to Iraq, it is not yet
clear if the BJP-led opposition alliance would publicly demand that
India accede to the US request.

The US is seeking troops not only from India but also from other
South Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan. But the key to
its success lies in New Delhi. Unless the Indian government accedes
to its request, other South Asian capitals will not be able to do so
either. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was in Dhaka on Saturday
for the same purpose amid huge protests throughout the Bangladeshi
capital. Rumsfeld left Bangladesh early on Sunday after discussions
on the situation in Iraq; however, he did not ask for a deployment of
Bangladeshi troops there.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Morshed Khan ruled out the possibility
of sending troops to Iraq a day before his visit, saying that Dhaka
will not send troops to any country "on behalf of or against anyone".

The key question for New Delhi, of course, as the US too is beginning
to realize, is the attitude of the left. Left-wing leaders are not
entirely opposed to the idea of sending troops to Iraq in all
circumstances, but they have made it clear repeatedly that the
realities on the ground will have to be assessed after the supposed
transfer of power before India can make any kind of commitment. The
consensus in the Left Front parties that had vociferously opposed the
invasion of Iraq is that: "A UN resolution is not enough. It will
have to be seen if the US is actually moving out of Iraq, how free
and 'sovereign' the new government actually is, and what is the
response of the people there."

Another awkward issue for the Congress-led government is the
formulation of its response to the US government's offer for India to
join the proposed National Missile Defense program, which was openly
favored by the previous regime. US Under Secretary of Defense Douglas
Feith said on Tuesday that his country is still awaiting the UPA
government's response, though he added that it would be premature on
the part of the United States to expect an immediate response from
the new government in Delhi, as it had assumed office only a few days
back. However, the US hopes the interaction on strategic issues
including the National Missile Defense program will continue, he
said.

Feith was in Delhi last week to hold the sixth round of Indo-US
Defense Policy Group (DPG) meetings with Indian Defense Secretary
Ajay Prasad. He told reporters after the first day of parleys on
Tuesday that India had to take its own decision to join the missile
defense program. The US would be happy to talk on this issue and
help, he added. The US official pointed out that both countries had
discussed in the past the threat posed by missiles and the perception
was appreciated by the United States. However, India would have to
lay down the priorities in this regard, he said. The US delegation
also met with Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee and National Security
Adviser J N Dixit.

Responding to a question, Feith said the issue of India sending
troops to Iraq did not come up in the DPG, adding that US Secretary
of State Colin Powell had clarified some days before that it would be
up to the Iraqis to seek troops and help after sovereignty was
restored in the next few weeks. Dispelling the perception that the
Indo-US defense relations were merely cosmetic and the US was
unwilling to part with high-tech items, he said President George W
Bush and Vajpayee had in January mapped out a historic strategic
agreement.

This was a step forward in the direction of sharing high-tech
knowledge and important initiatives had already taken place, he
added. Touching upon the Indo-US strategic relations, Feith said both
countries had developed a multi-faceted relationship in the past few
years. However, there were some legal and technical complexities
involved and it would be up to the new government here to assess the
progress made so far, he said.

While allowing the new government to form an opinion on the US offer
to include India in its National Missile Defense program, Washington
gave a presentation on the issue at the meeting of the DPG that
concluded in Shimla on Thursday. The Ministry of Defense said
presentations and briefings on the National Missile Defense program
were made during the three-day meeting of the policy group, which
guides the Indo-US military relations. A statement said that
presentations by the US were also made on other issues such as the
Proliferation Security Initiative, the Global Peace Operations
Initiative and the Global Posture Review. The US officials also gave
updates on the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On its part, the Indian side made a presentation on the current
Indian involvement in the peacekeeping operations in the United
Nations and reconstruction work being carried out in Afghanistan. The
US officials were also briefed on the current status of Indo-
Pakistani relations. The Defense Policy Group meeting was the first
contact between New Delhi and Washington after the formation of the
Manmohan Singh government. The two sides noted that there was
convergence of views on such fundamental issues as terrorism,
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and security of sea
lanes.

Meanwhile, the DPG meeting would discuss strategic issues and review
the counter-terrorism requirements of India and proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction. The DPG meet was also scheduled to
discuss the entire gamut of defense relations between the two
countries, including strategic issues, joint exercises, training and
acquisition besides security of sea lanes in the Indian Ocean and
peace and stability in Asia, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

This DPG was the first one to be held after the Congress-led
government came to power at center. The DPG has met five times
starting in December 2001 and military-to-military relations between
the two nations have seen dramatic improvement in the past few years.
Owing to the improvement in ties, the two countries have carried out
joint training and participation in US-sponsored multilateral events
and disaster-management and humanitarian activities, the spokesman
said. A general agreement on security measures for the protection of
classified military information was also signed in January 2002 and a
master information exchange to facilitate exchange of defense
research and development as well as information was signed this
February.

In what observers have called "more than a coincidence", the MEA
issued one of its rare statements on Iraq, on the eve of Feith's
visit, saying that New Delhi "notes with concern the deterioration in
the security situation which has caused the violation of the sanctity
of places of religious worship and monuments of great cultural
significance. We would emphasize the imperative need to respect the
religious sentiments and cultural sensitivities of the people." The
statement referred to the damage to the holy Shi'ite shrine in Najaf
by US soldiers and that it had come as a result of "pressure" by
several members of parliament belonging to the ruling coalition.
According to diplomatic observers, the fact that Feith, a top
official at the Pentagon and a close confidant of Rumsfeld, as well
as a star neo-conservative ideologue in his own right, was not given
an audience with Natwar Singh conveys the strength of India's
displeasure on the mess in Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Indian Army is preparing to send 1,500 troops for a
new UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan, but a senior officer made it
clear on Thursday that no such move was contemplated for Iraq. If the
Indian government did ask the army to move to Iraq, it would be done,
the officer said, but noted that the new government was not
enthusiastic about sending troops to that country. "Nothing has come
to us as yet" about sending troops to Iraq, said Major-General R P S
Malhan, additional director general for staff duties in the army
headquarters here.

If the Indian government cleared such a move, the "army will not be
found wanting", he said. But Malhan noted that Natwar Singh had ruled
out the dispatch of troops to Iraq under the current circumstances
prevailing in that country. The minister has indicated that it would
be difficult for India to contribute troops for Iraq if they had to
serve under any flag other than the UN's.

Malhan said the Indian Army would send about 1,500 troops, including
engineers, mechanized infantry and medical personnel, to Sudan by
December-January for a new 6,000-strong UN peacekeeping force to be
set up in the African country. "A major chunk of the troops in this
force will be Indian," he said, noting that India is currently the
fourth-largest contributor of forces for UN peacekeeping missions
worldwide.

The Indian Army has earmarked a brigade-size force, or about 3,000
troops, for deployment in UN missions in case of any contingency.
Malhan indicated these forces would be among those sent for any
peacekeeping mission in Iraq. "A three-month warning would be needed,
and then we would need to look at policy directives and the
objectives of the mission," he said. India, which has sent 69,000
troops to 39 peacekeeping missions since 1950, currently has its
forces deployed with UN missions in Lebanon, Ethiopia-Eritrea and
Congo.

Education at primary level and university level is responsibility of
state government and hence the taxation should be their
responsibility. Centre's role should be limited to policy
directives. hence tax should be discouraged in pretext of education.
In fact there is vast scope of rationalization as follows.
1. End monopoly of government in education. Government offices often
restrict role of private sector by restricting sanction of division
or allowing new schools to open. In cities the school owners (ai am
referring to societies operating schools) have to buy land at
commercial rates, whereas minicipal schhols get alotment either by
paying huge bribes or buying at commercial rates. This make creating
schools very expensive propositions. This results into 2 problems.
One is poor salary structures to teachers and government needs to
provide more through budgets. Please note municipal bodies are
assisted by state governments.
2. University education reforms. Expenses are born by governments
and tax payers. hence students and parents are indifferent to
quality and delivery od education. Then you find that students
register in college without intention to study are not attending
lectures. If these students are not interested in study and
knowledge, why should we punish taxpayers? Hence at least 20% of
cost of education of college (salary, library, building) should be
born by students. Those from elite families can be made to pay full
cost with provision in income tax for full rebate. This will make
university roll down by 50% and make education serious activity. If
society can not absorb even 20% graduates in employment, there is no
reason why should create so may graduates.

3. Do away with tokenism in primary education & girls education -
Government needs excuses to dole out funds. In Maharashtra girls
have access to free education and free travel in state transport
till graduation and free books till XII. I find it unconvincing that
we have 4 tax payers in our house, why my chlidren should be allowed
free travel, free rice and free books. Rather I should be allowed to
shoulder my responsibity. This applies even to those schools
charging excessive fees. This is inefficient process, since cost of
collecting excess tax & corruption is added onto provisioning cost.
I would prefer to provide feeding to poor students, who are forced
to be a child labor. All this excercise and policy decision are
taken without assessing problems, marketing research, without
obtaining consent of parents, studying financial and social impact
of decisions onto tax collections. It can happen the cost will be
passed onto government and problems would remain unsolved. I am sure
similiar ad hocism exists in all states.

Thus such surcharge and separate collection of taxes should be
discouraged. It is better to allow private sector to operate in the
same sector where government resources are insufficient.

Sanjay Jadhav

I have stated this before in the old archive of IndiaPolicy which is
now operated by Subroto Roy under a different name.  India must
workout a common defence strategy with China and Russia to check any
interventions by neo-colonial western states.  Such a mult-polar
power structure would begin to lay the ground work for common markets
among the nations in the region.  Once again, India's secular
political system and market oriented economy will play a major role
in uniting the region.
_______________
Asia Times
India's nuclear appeal to Pakistan, China
By Ron Synovitz

India's new government is calling for a "common nuclear doctrine"
with its nuclear armed neighbors Pakistan and China. In a change in
tone from the statements of India's previous Hindu nationalist
government, newly appointed Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said
officials from all three countries needed to discuss nuclear
policy "at the highest level".

Singh also indicated the readiness of India's new coalition
government to move forward with the peace process on the divided
region of Kashmir, which began with Islamabad more than a year ago.

Singh said a series of talks with Pakistan on both Kashmir and
nuclear weapons already have been scheduled for later this month: "We
have agreed with Pakistan that the officials of the two sides will be
meeting in New Delhi on June 19-20 for the expert-level talks on
nuclear confidence-building measures and June 27 and June 28 for the
foreign secretary talks."

Singh also said that the new Indian government wants to look toward
the future on issues such as Kashmir in order to ease relations with
Pakistan: "The future of Indo-Pak relations no longer lies in the
past. We cannot forget the past but neither should we be the
prisoners of the past."

Analysts say Singh's remarks show that the new Indian government is
adopting a nonaggressive tone toward its two nuclear-armed neighbors.
But observers also note that New Delhi's proposal is still in its
initial stages. They say it will take time before a three-way
dialogue is possible between all three nuclear declared states.

Riffat Hussain heads the department of strategic studies at Quaid-e-
Azam University in Islamabad. He says the new Indian foreign minister
seems to be suggesting that Pakistan is an equal player in the
region's trilateral nuclear equation.

Hussain says that position is a significant development because the
previous Indian government consistently refused efforts by the
international community to bring India, Pakistan and China together
for nuclear talks.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan has described
Singh's statement on a three-way nuclear dialogue as a "new and
innovative proposal that needs further and deeper examination".

There was no immediate official reaction from Beijing to Singh's
proposal. But David Zweig, an observer of Chinese policy based at the
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said the proposal
will help Beijing's efforts to improve relations between India and
Pakistan.

Zweig also noted that India's previous government had responded
angrily when the United States urged a role for Beijing in easing
tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad.

For his part, Singh said New Delhi already has chosen a
representative - the newly appointed Indian national security adviser
J N Dixit - to meet with Chinese officials in the months ahead about
their lingering border dispute: "Special representatives of India and
China on the boundary question will have their meeting in the very
near future. It gives me great pleasure to announce that my friend
and colleague, who has been appointed as the national security
adviser, J N Dixit, will be replacing Brajesh Mishra as our
interlocutor with China," Singh said.

The official platform of India's coalition government calls for New
Delhi to take on a leading role in "promoting universal nuclear
disarmament". But the government also says it wants to maintain
a "credible nuclear weapons program" of its own.

The new Indian premier, Manmohan Singh, said in May that the future
policies of New Delhi will aim, in particular, to improve ties with
Pakistan: "We seek the most friendly relations with our neighbors,
more so with Pakistan than with any other country. We must find ways
and means to resolve all outstanding problems that have been a source
of friction and the unfortunate history of our relations with
Pakistan. It is our sincere hope that that should become a thing of
past. We should look to the future with hope."

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has welcomed New
Delhi's peace initiatives: "The government of Pakistan is committed
to this peace process. We have invested a lot of time and effort [in
the peace process]. And of course, it would be a pity if that were
not the case, and I have no reason to believe that it is otherwise."

But newly elected members of parliament in Indian-administered
Kashmir say the decades-old dispute between Pakistan and India over
the region continues to be the most divisive issue in bilateral
relations. Mehbooba Mufti, a lawmaker and president of the People's
Democratic Party in Srinagar, said the Kashmir dispute is linked to
all other issues. He said a consensus needs to be reached on Kashmir
by all political parties involved so that the peace process is taken
more seriously by lawmakers.

Meanwhile, India's army chief, General N C Vij, has warned that as
many as 4,000 Islamic militants are encamped on Pakistan's side of
the Line of Control that divides Kashmir. Vij confirmed that few
Islamic militants have crossed into Indian-administered Kashmir since
Islamabad pledged in 2003 to crack down on cross-border terrorism.
But Vij said the border still needs to be monitored carefully.

"Now that the snows have started melting, we shall see as to what is
the attitude on the other side. As far as the [terrorist]
infrastructure on the other side is concerned, it is very much
there," Vij said. "The camps are there. The communication is there
and people who want to come across are there. Over 3,500 to 4,000 so-
called mujahideen are there lined up along the border, and we will
have to see in the next couple of months as to what is their
attitude."

Islamabad has denied allegations by New Delhi that it sponsors cross-
border terrorism. It also is denying that thousands of militants are
lined up at the Line of Control with the intention of crossing over
into the Indian-administered side of Kashmir.

Saddam in every sense was/is a Western Agent.  Saddam came to power
much like how Musharaf came to power by putting Bakr under house
arrest after discovering that he was about to negotiate a united
Syria and Iraq!  Had Bakr succeeded, Iran-Iraq war might not have
taken place and the basic building blocks of Islamic Nationalism
comprising of Iraq, Iran, Syria, etc. would have been in place.
There wouldn't have been a Gulf War which enraged Bin Laden, etc.,
etc.  Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf War, etc. have slowly unraveled Islamic
Nationalism and instead of integrating the political and economic
institutions of these nations the wars have actually pulled them
apart!

Saddam's rise to power has similarities to that of currrent day
Pakistan/Musharraf and provided stability and security for most
people in Iraq - the majority were happy or seem to go along with the
Western Agent.  Hence, any new Iraqi leadership will, at best, follow
a similar model with possibly a new dictator or pseudo-dictator.  The
long-term stability of Iraq will mainly depend on its ability or its
leaders' ability to integrate its political and economic institutions
into the larger Islamic Nationalism involving Syria, Iran, Jordan,
Saudia Arabia, Egypt, etc. and vice-versa.

A secular India, with a vibrant democracy and market economy, will
have a major role to play in integrating the political and economic
structures of nations in the Indian sub-continent and beyond!!

Sincerely,
Vamsi M.

Manmohan Singh's suggestions of charging cess in the name of education and
development are vestiges of socialist India. Numerous cesses in the name of
education, roads, health have been charged rather excessively in the last 55
years then why dont we see these goods and services? Do the taxes charged under
these heads really go towards the intended?

All taxes charged by GoI go to the Consolidated Fund of India which is
controlled by the state controlled Planning Commission which then allocates them
to the States under a five year (mis)plan. Thus the funds charged in the name of
education, health go into protecting votebanks by way of announcement of
populist schemes that break the back of Indian economy.

Indians should have more freedom and choice the way they pay taxes. There should
be a number of purpose-driven schemes and funds and the people may allocate a
percentage of taxes to these funds.

Rajiv Verma
Libertarian
New Delhi


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Scientific knowledge can be obtained by very simple and intresting observations
around us. Nobody created anything and and all inventions and discoveries are
explaination of existing natural laws. From earth to distant stars everthing is
based and move on certain principles. Some of these natural principles have
already been explained mostly by European scientists who with their attentive
and creative mind made it possible to make use of these natural laws and
phenomenas in day to day life. People's mind in India is terribly sticked to the
ageold negative thoughts and preoccupied with irrelevant substances of mutual
destructive selfish nature. Mind is not allowed to let free to peep into the
great ocean of knowledge and resources in the seemingly empty space and
irrelevant stars and other natural phenomenas in it.It is often regretted that
there is lack of money and resources to invest in scientific missions. But there
is enough gold to be engraved and painted on the walls of futre
  ruins.  In real sense India lack nothing except the right spirit and
environment for attentive and creative minds.

Ram Karan
Delhi 31-5-2004

In my earlier message, my quote was mistyped, it should have
read "Science & Religion go together, Science
> without religion is bland and Religion without science is blind."


--- In IndiaPolicy@yahoogroups.com, "madhurayala" <madhurayala@y...>
wrote:
> Dear Rajiv!
> Religion like Science is a double edged sword.
> As Einstein quoted it, "Science & Religion go together, Science
> without religion is bland and Religion with science is blind."
> Apart from what you wrote, Gita, Koran, Bible and all the rest of
> the religious scriptures talk about many many things.
> Mainly religion tries to reason with human mind on how to avoid or
> counter Hitler's ugly pogroms, his ideas of PERFECT HUMANBEING or
> mass murder of millions and millions.
> Religion and NOT SCIENCE has many many answers to these recurring
> problems mankind faces but RELIGION ALONE cannot solve the problems
> as a saintlike Mahatma Gandhi wouldn't have countered a Hitler and
> Einstein(who has a pacifist philosophy akin to Gandhi) has to flee
> to USA and urge USA to build an ATOM bomb before Germany blows up
> the world.
> Same way,his peer and a great genius Heisenberg has to use his
> religious conscience(I call it humane nature) and lie to German
> govt. that it is too time consuming & too costly to build an A-
Bomb.
>
> Hindu scriptures may have pushed us into a lazy culture compared
to
> western standards but it also gave us FAMILY VALUES, SACRIFICE
> nature and discipline in certain key aspects of LIFE.
>
> As these are available for free in India, we largely ignore them
and
> look at actual problems. It is great to look at problems but it
also
> fundamentally important to REALIZE THE CONSEQUENCES of ADOPTING a
> PARTICULAR SOLUTION. HASTE makes WASTE and it is not wise to
blindly
> quash away everything that we possess and CRAVE for something
> AVAILABLE with SOMEONE.
>
> I PREFER ELNLIGHTENMENT by deep religious understanding as well as
a
> GREAT RESPECT FOR other CIVILIZATIONS and posses an OPEN MIND to
> ATTAIN PERFECTION.
>
> Sincerely,
> MAdhu Rayala
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In IndiaPolicy@yahoogroups.com, "Rajiv verma" <rajver303@y...>
> wrote:
> > I hold our scriptures responsible for the present state of
Indian
> > nation.
> >
> > Gita, read and recited by millions in India, says:
> >
> > "Whatever is happening is happening for good, whatever
> > happened in the past was good and whatever shall happen would
> happen
> > for good"
> >
> > These notions have made the people of this country to be mock
> > spectators and too reluctant to make things happen and to bring
> about
> > change around them.
> >
> > The notion of kaliyuga says: that there would be widespread
> poverty,
> > millions would die of newer and various diseases. There would be
> > greed and brother would kill brother for money............etc.
> > etc......
> >
> > We seem to have created this Kaliyuga ourselves and demonstrated
a
> > beautiful instance of circular reasoning. Kaliyuga should have
> been
> > the era the world over if it had been a godly creation. A child
> > living in my locality, who receives his daily diet of Ramayana
> from
> > his grandmother, told her after briefly visiting Los Angeles-
> > Grandma, Jesus Christ is more powerful and benign than the
crores
> of
> > Gods we have. Absurd but to the RSS styled "religious" men it
> should
> > seem true in case of western nations.
> >
> > The cows and temples have become powerful instruments in the
hands
> of
> > scoundrels to master the art of getting elected. And skill in
this
> > art does not necessarily mean having a skill in the art of
> governance.
> >
> > The Parliament of this country has to debate new projects,
defence
> > and business more than cows and temples if we have to be a
> prosperous
> > nation.
> >
> > For that to happen, the change must radiate outward from the
self
> as
> > Gandhi said- "You must be the change you wish to see around
> > yourself". Hence, we must stop making donations for religious
> > institutions and activities". We must also stop voting for
people
> who
> > use any of these words in their campaigns- "hindu, hindutva,
> islam,
> > temple, cows, Ram, Allah etc.)
> >
> > The nation is first and foremost and all other things can wait.
> >
> > N.B. The views expressed above are of my own and others may not
> > subscribe to them. They are not meant to defame anyone or any
> > religion.
> >
> > Rajiv Verma

Dear Rajiv!
Religion like Science is a double edged sword.
As Einstein quoted it, "Science & Religion go together, Science
without religion is bland and Religion with science is blind."
Apart from what you wrote, Gita, Koran, Bible and all the rest of
the religious scriptures talk about many many things.
Mainly religion tries to reason with human mind on how to avoid or
counter Hitler's ugly pogroms, his ideas of PERFECT HUMANBEING or
mass murder of millions and millions.
Religion and NOT SCIENCE has many many answers to these recurring
problems mankind faces but RELIGION ALONE cannot solve the problems
as a saintlike Mahatma Gandhi wouldn't have countered a Hitler and
Einstein(who has a pacifist philosophy akin to Gandhi) has to flee
to USA and urge USA to build an ATOM bomb before Germany blows up
the world.
Same way,his peer and a great genius Heisenberg has to use his
religious conscience(I call it humane nature) and lie to German
govt. that it is too time consuming & too costly to build an A-Bomb.

Hindu scriptures may have pushed us into a lazy culture compared to
western standards but it also gave us FAMILY VALUES, SACRIFICE
nature and discipline in certain key aspects of LIFE.

As these are available for free in India, we largely ignore them and
look at actual problems. It is great to look at problems but it also
fundamentally important to REALIZE THE CONSEQUENCES of ADOPTING a
PARTICULAR SOLUTION. HASTE makes WASTE and it is not wise to blindly
quash away everything that we possess and CRAVE for something
AVAILABLE with SOMEONE.

I PREFER ELNLIGHTENMENT by deep religious understanding as well as a
GREAT RESPECT FOR other CIVILIZATIONS and posses an OPEN MIND to
ATTAIN PERFECTION.

Sincerely,
MAdhu Rayala













--- In IndiaPolicy@yahoogroups.com, "Rajiv verma" <rajver303@y...>
wrote:
> I hold our scriptures responsible for the present state of Indian
> nation.
>
> Gita, read and recited by millions in India, says:
>
> "Whatever is happening is happening for good, whatever
> happened in the past was good and whatever shall happen would
happen
> for good"
>
> These notions have made the people of this country to be mock
> spectators and too reluctant to make things happen and to bring
about
> change around them.
>
> The notion of kaliyuga says: that there would be widespread
poverty,
> millions would die of newer and various diseases. There would be
> greed and brother would kill brother for money............etc.
> etc......
>
> We seem to have created this Kaliyuga ourselves and demonstrated a
> beautiful instance of circular reasoning. Kaliyuga should have
been
> the era the world over if it had been a godly creation. A child
> living in my locality, who receives his daily diet of Ramayana
from
> his grandmother, told her after briefly visiting Los Angeles-
> Grandma, Jesus Christ is more powerful and benign than the crores
of
> Gods we have. Absurd but to the RSS styled "religious" men it
should
> seem true in case of western nations.
>
> The cows and temples have become powerful instruments in the hands
of
> scoundrels to master the art of getting elected. And skill in this
> art does not necessarily mean having a skill in the art of
governance.
>
> The Parliament of this country has to debate new projects, defence
> and business more than cows and temples if we have to be a
prosperous
> nation.
>
> For that to happen, the change must radiate outward from the self
as
> Gandhi said- "You must be the change you wish to see around
> yourself". Hence, we must stop making donations for religious
> institutions and activities". We must also stop voting for people
who
> use any of these words in their campaigns- "hindu, hindutva,
islam,
> temple, cows, Ram, Allah etc.)
>
> The nation is first and foremost and all other things can wait.
>
> N.B. The views expressed above are of my own and others may not
> subscribe to them. They are not meant to defame anyone or any
> religion.
>
> Rajiv Verma

I hold our scriptures responsible for the present state of Indian
nation.

Gita, read and recited by millions in India, says:

"Whatever is happening is happening for good, whatever
happened in the past was good and whatever shall happen would happen
for good"

These notions have made the people of this country to be mock
spectators and too reluctant to make things happen and to bring about
change around them.

The notion of kaliyuga says: that there would be widespread poverty,
millions would die of newer and various diseases. There would be
greed and brother would kill brother for money............etc.
etc......

We seem to have created this Kaliyuga ourselves and demonstrated a
beautiful instance of circular reasoning. Kaliyuga should have been
the era the world over if it had been a godly creation. A child
living in my locality, who receives his daily diet of Ramayana from
his grandmother, told her after briefly visiting Los Angeles-
Grandma, Jesus Christ is more powerful and benign than the crores of
Gods we have. Absurd but to the RSS styled "religious" men it should
seem true in case of western nations.

The cows and temples have become powerful instruments in the hands of
scoundrels to master the art of getting elected. And skill in this
art does not necessarily mean having a skill in the art of governance.

The Parliament of this country has to debate new projects, defence
and business more than cows and temples if we have to be a prosperous
nation.

For that to happen, the change must radiate outward from the self as
Gandhi said- "You must be the change you wish to see around
yourself". Hence, we must stop making donations for religious
institutions and activities". We must also stop voting for people who
use any of these words in their campaigns- "hindu, hindutva, islam,
temple, cows, Ram, Allah etc.)

The nation is first and foremost and all other things can wait.

N.B. The views expressed above are of my own and others may not
subscribe to them. They are not meant to defame anyone or any
religion.

Rajiv Verma

Dear Friends,

Political clamour is over now atleast we got sometime to bother about people who
are really dying for us.Its really a pity that PDP govt in J&K has blatantly
ignored the death of these men in uniform.


http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/may/28raman.htm

Who will mourn our martyrs?

May 28, 2004


  Politicians' silence stuns men in uniform,' says the
  second lead story in The Hindu today.

  The report is about the shocking insensitivity of
  the
  political class in Jammu & Kashmir and in New Delhi
  in
  failing to express their solidarity with over 30
  members of our Border Security Force and their
  families, who were killed by Pakistan-sponsored
  terrorists through an improvised explosive device on
  the Jammu-Srinagar highway on May 23.

  True, a statement on behalf of the new Council of
  Ministers headed by Dr Manmohan Singh condemning the
  incident and conveying condolences to the bereaved
  was
  issued immediately after the incident. The prime
  minister himself did not find the time to talk to
  the
  media about it. The statement was read out on his
  behalf by the principal information officer of the
  Government of India.

  How does one express the nation's solidarity with
  the
  martyrs of the security forces on such occasions? By
  visiting the spot of the tragedy, by placing
  wreaths,
  by attending the cremation of those killed, by
  visiting the injured in hospital etc. None of these
  simple gestures occurred to any member of the
  political class as necessary, either in Srinagar or
  in
  New Delhi.

  The over 30 martyrs of the BSF left this world,
  unwept, unsung, unhonoured by the political class.
  As
  one read with shock and disbelief the report in The
  Hindu, one's mind went back to January 10, 1990. On
  that day, Gobind Ram, a 45-year-old officer of the
  Indian Police Service, who was working as the
  commandant of the 75th battalion of the Punjab Armed
  Police in Jalandhar cantonment, and four other
  junior
  police officers were killed by an improvised
  explosive
  device planted by Sikh terrorists in the cooler of
  his
  office.

  Gobind Ram was an exceptionally brave police officer
  who distinguished himself in the campaign against
  terrorism in Punjab. He and members of his family
  figured on the top of the so-called hit-list
  prepared
  by the terrorists. A few weeks before his
  assassination, the terrorists had killed his young
  son
  as he was returning home from school. Gobind Ram
  could
  have gone on long leave or asked for a transfer
  outside Punjab because of the threat faced by him
  and
  the other members of his family.

  He did not do so.He chose to stay at his post of
  duty
  and continue to lead his men in their fight against
  terrorism. Ultimately, he paid with his life as he
  knew he would.

  Gobind Ram was not the only brave officer of the
  Punjab police to have sacrificed his life in the
  fight
  against terrorism. There were 1,700 others of
  various
  ranks who met a similar brave death. One can find
  details of them in the Martyrs Gallery of the Punjab
  Police.

  Please do visit the gallery and spare a thought for
  those martyrs, but for whose sacrifice the nation
  would not have peace in Punjab today.The list does
  not
  include the names of dozens of relatives of Punjab
  Police officers who were gunned down by the
  terrorists
  or killed with IEDs -- just as they killed Gobind
  Ram's young son.

  Remember the day in August 1992, when the Punjab
  Police killed Sukhdev Singh Babbar, the notorious
  leader of the Babbar Khalsa in an encounter? That
  night, in a frenzy of retaliatory attacks, the
  terrorists killed the relatives of many special
  police
  officers and other personnel of the Punjab Police
  all
  over the state. One apprehended that the deaths of
  the
  relatives could demoralise the Punjab Police and
  weaken their fight against terrorism.

  It didn't. They fought the terrorists with redoubled
  determination and ultimately prevailed.

  When there were so many hundreds of brave martyrs,
  why
  am I mentioning the name of only Gobind Ram? What
  has
  his death got to do with deaths of the BSF personnel
  and their families in Jammu and Kashmir on May 23?

  When Gobind Ram was killed, another coalition
  government headed by V P Singh had assumed office in
  New Delhi a few weeks earlier. V P Singh thought he
  would be able to bring peace to Punjab by opening up
  lines of communication with the terrorists through
  Simranjit Singh Mann. He feared that openly
  honouring
  Gobind Ram might damage his relationship with Mann.

  He chose to let Gobind Ram leave the world unwept,
  unsung, unhonoured by him or his Council of
  Ministers.
  He did address a private letter of condolence to his
  widow, but consciously refrained from any public
  gesture of solidarity with the Punjab Police and
  members of Gobind Ram's family lest such gesture
  damage his lines of communications with Mann.

  By consciously failing to honour in public the
  memory
  of  a brave officer, did he achieve peace in Punjab?
  No.Terrorism worsened during his term in office.

  It goes to the credit of the Punjab Police that they
  did not allow this shocking insensitivity by the
  political class to affect their morale and
  determination to fight the terrorists.

  Remember another similar incident during V P Singh's
  prime ministership? The coalition led by him, which
  had been strongly critical of the Rajiv Gandhi
  government for sending the Indian Peace Keeping
  Force
  to Sri Lanka, decided to withdraw it from Sri Lanka.

  Over 1,000 brave officers of our army had fallen
  martyrs in the operations against the LTTE. When the
  returning contingents landed in Chennai, the DMK
  government headed by M Karunanidhi chose to
  dissociate
  itself from the welcoming ceremony and refrained
  from
  any pubic or even private gesture honouring the
  memories of the brave jawans and officers who laid
  their lives in the fight against the most dreaded
  terrorist organisation in the world.

  The DMK then supported the V P Singh government. Its
  sensitivities were more important to him than the
  sensitivities of the families of hundreds of Indian
  armymen killed by the LTTE.

  More officers and men of the security forces have
  died
  in counter-terrorism operations in India than in any
  other country of  the world. Nearly 10,000 men.
  Refraining from demonstrating public gestures of
  honour to the memories of our martyrs out of
  partisan

In addition to all that has been presented so well by
Madhurayala ji, I would like to add a few other
interventions-cum-services that we must provide so
that child rights and female child rights (more so)are
provisioned, so that social justice is not lost sight
of in today's India.

Allocation of resources to the 40% of Indians ( that
is those below 18 years of age )is essential if we are
to be a just and a peaceful and a progressive society.
Far too much is "experimented" or wasted through
armaments and what have you... We have been J&K and
security-cum-terrorist focussed, far too much carried
away on issues related to Pakistan, and have avoided
resource allocation/s to the 300-400 million people in
the rural hinterland and the small and medium towns in
the length and breadth of India. We have allocated
massive resources for river dams and got very rich
farmers in the bargain paying nothing for social
welfare and social security, in the areas of their
growth. Seasonal employment has come to millions via
the green and white revolution/s. Yet "nothing" has
got institutionalised for the other one-third of our
people. The sooner that starts happening and the
poverty stricken India is uplifted the better will it
be for the 21 st century India.

Illiteracy, gender gaps, ill health, rabid
unemployment and so on require a strategy, resources
and a political will that must take hold and act. The
sooner the poltical will recognises these drawbacks in
our polity the sooner we will be rid of a violent
revolution that is seething underneath & meandering on
our horizons. Indians have been submissive and
patient. But not for long.
This century may see an upheavel in our land
primamrily because the gap has grown tragically
between the haves and have-nots.

Our governance and a malfunctioning system of the last
5 decades has not sensitised itself to the mounting
fustration and bitter anger beneath the surface, in a
large number of pockets, throughout India.

I suspect the next 5-10 years are critical to our
growth and progress. The seething anger and revolt
under the surface in rural (and slum) India will take
it lieing down no more!

Dev Chopra.




________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online.
http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/

Presented
By
Madhu Rayala

A great South Asian country `INDIA' is flanked by Arabian Sea to its
West, Bay of Bengal to its East, mighty Himalayas to its North and
majestic Indian Ocean to its South. However, India's real boundaries
are its 5000 year old civilization, its inventions like `ZERO' and
Numbering system , its endurance to centuries of foreign invasions
and its multi-lingual, multi-ethnic population and a varied cultural
heritage.

The reality of such a great country is quite shocking and there is a
very urgent need to protect and strengthen such a glorious
civilization. Two great wars(World war I and World war II) and
holocaust of jews etc., only prove that any kind of violent steps
taken in any country would annihilate races, culture and cause
innumerable suffering to mankind. When the whole world was embroiled
in such a great turmoil, a great leader `Mahatma Gandhi' has given a
new direction to mankind to pursue freedom and justice through
his `Non-Violence' movement.

However, freedom struggle and political movements are not the only
solutions for the development of a society. Industrial revolutions in
England, France, America and Russia (even though they were the
outcomes of a violent struggle) have paved a way for an organized
society with decency, progress and prosperity acting as the texture
for the glory of these nations.

India has a lot to give to the rest of the world in terms of Non-
Violence, patience and tolerance. At the same time, as India was left
out of the race for Scientific perfection due to various factors, it
has a lot to gain from different civilizations, primarily western
civilization. There was a time when India taught the world how to
count, it produced Trigonometry long before Arabians and westerners
understood it and Indian Metallurgy was legendary.

This century is regarded by many visionaries to be that of India's
and various factors corroborate to that thought process. Growing
middle class and a surge in literacy rates are a few reasons out of
plenty. However, a mere commercialization of Education and setting up
few industries would not help India a lot. Infact, urban poverty and
unemployment are extremely dangerous as was proven during Nazi
Germany era.


Due to various reasons, India has lost its charm in the scientific
fields over centuries. Even though we lack basic infrastructure, our
will to force ourselves into a developed nation would once again make
India shine among the nations. This can be achieved through a non-
violent, non-political and a non-profit movement like a scientific
movement called "Space Education Program". Every social movement
starting from Raja RamMohan Roy's Social Reforms movement, Mahatma
Gandhi's Non-violence movement to Vinobha Bhave's Land Reforms
movement have tremendously improved the standards of the society.
Now, a Scientific movement to bring state-of-the-art technology to
the masses would electrify the society and help rebuild our poor
infrastructure.

Space Technology is the outcome of man's ability to understand nature
and conquer heavens. Space Technology like Indian civilization
started the day man started looking at heavens. Great Indian
Astronomers like AryaBhatta and Mathematicians like Bhaskaracharya
and Nobel prize winner Chandrasekhar etc., have contributed
tremendously in this field. Space Technology is the consummation of
all the areas of Science and Technology.

Great Western scientists like Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Einstein
etc., have contributed tremendously and are responsible for today's
Industrial revolution world wide. However, unlike developed nations,
India hasn't taken advantage of the works of these as well as of many
great men. Our Education system focuses on developing a clerical
mindset and some of those bright minds who accomplish well look
towards greener pastures and the outcome is very negative. Indian
Government funds these bright minds and indirectly helps other
countries tap their potential.

No major industries which can compete with world powers are starting
up and India is not able to compete with leading nations in
developing cutting edge technologies. If India tries to run a
scientific movement with the idea of imparting Space Education to
everyone from Kids to senior bureaucrats and politicians, there will
be a national awareness and much like Information Technology
revolution, a new and active movement to improvise our infrastructure
would sprout in the minds of millions of people.

However, a mass hysteria like `Communism', `Nazism' have led to
tremendous suffering and mass murders. To avoid any such dangerous
movements, a government owned and a systematic and planned movement
is a must.

This can be accomplished by starting `Space Libraries' in Engineering
and Technical colleges. A Space Library started by me in National
Institute of Technology, Warangal has evoked tremendous interest and
passion among students and faculty members. As students would learn
Science directly from the books of Aryabhattas, Newtons, Copernicus,
Einstein etc.,. A comprehensive and confident breed of scientists
would emerge in this great nation.

Simultaneously, India should start setting up Space Laboratories and
encourage students to learn how to experiment on various equipment.
India can encourage and improvise its Management and financial
institutes to actively work with these men and set up future
technology industries. A Rural area education and upliftment program
can be easily embedded as part of this program.

Space Education and Research Centers:

These centers would act as breeding grounds for future Scientists,
Technocrats and global entrepreneurs. These centers could play a
pivotal role in commercializing Technology to suit the needs of
common man. India can take advantage of its vast man power and huge
population and mass produce such Scientists and develop new
technologies.

Satellite Computer:

One of the great outcomes of Coldwar were Personal Computer and
Internet. Personal Computer has revolutionized American and Global
economy while Internet played a vital role to start Information
Revolution. However, Computer world is still in its early stages
given the potential of Satellites. NASA's experiments with computers
on Satellites would
once again bring an economic boom all over the world. India should be
ready to take advantage of such situation. India can educate its
youth and professionals and help their careers by giving right
direction.

The advantage of a Satellite computer especially for Indians is the
ability to trasmit information to rural areas without any
infrastructure. This would boost rural economy and various programs
can be started to train and educate villagers in improving their life
standards. This can help stop urban migration and give a big sigh of
relief for government to plan Nation development in a proper way.

Jet Trains:

India's antique Railway system and frequent accidents are a major
hurdle for its economic development and it can be solved with this
program. As this program enables India to produce jet engines, this
technology can be used by Railways to upgrade their train service to
a faster, safer Jet train system.

Commercial Airlines:
As India is in the receiving end of buying aircrafts from developed
nations and an increasing dependance on other nations is draining our
treasury. However, with such massive manpower in this area, we can
easily produce some aerospace products as part of the globalization
plan and play a vital role in reducing the cost factor in purchasing
these kind of infrastructure. Less cost leads to more help in buying
more aircrafts and more airports and more consumers. This paves a way
for an economic boom and leads to more job opportunities all over the
country.

Automobile industry:

As a result of a surge in education in state-of-the-art technologies,
an educated society would help build better roads and improve the
standards of automobile manufacturing and its accessories.

Medical Industries:
One of the greatest worries in India is Health and poor facilities
and resources are contributing to low hygiene, nutrition and poor
health. With the surge of technology and economy, there will be a
great awareness among people and society to improve the overall
health of the nation.


Political stability:
As India's political world is running more and more into coalition
fronts and political instability is impacting the decisions, this
movement would put people in the right perspective and give everyone
a chance to focus on improving the standards of life.

There is no dearth of other means of total destruction, nevertheless, man
preferred to have this  bigger threat (nuclear) to frighten billions of
innocents, to seek their obedience, allegiance and their forceful exploitation
at the hands of some privileged people. By inventing nuclear weapons, man dug
his own grave and this time the deepest one, i.e enough to burry ashes of all
living beings on this planet.

Significant steps have already been taken to make this hitherto unreal threat as
a real threat by devising devices for introducing slow nuclearization just like
slow poisioning. All the morality, wisdom, power and justice is now contained in
nuclear tips fitted on destructive weapons. Everyone is bound to adhere to
nuclear dictum. Natural freedom is being replaced by nuclear freedom to cause
total destruction.

Under these circumtances possession of nuclear weapons by any one cannot be
justified  on any pretext whatsoever it be. Nuclear powers were supposed to keep
maximum restraint and displine while dealing with non nuclear states. These
powers probably  fell victim to the powerful nuclear dictum of their own and
created a sense of fear and insecurity and offered nuclear umbrellas for non
nuclear states. Nuclear umbrellas probably failed to secure confidence of the
covered states, who on account of their own fears and reasons preferred to share
this newly found destructive power. It is very clear by now that nuclear race
can not be stopped without destroying all the existing nuclear weapons with any
one. Countries are likely to make increased attempts, openly or secretly, to
procure and develop these weapons. Serious steps are needed on part of existing
nuclear powers for international commitments and agreements necessry for
elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world.

Sincerly,

Ram Karan

It is probably difficult to say whether people's mandate was in favour of
speedier reforms or against it. A majority of common people seems to be unaware
and unaffected by reforms. They are unaware about the diffrence in the reform
and pre reform systems and most of them are not in a position to have their own
opinion about reforms. Common man is concerned about the real changes and
improvement in his own life and other fellow beings. Many of the so called
educated people also are not in a position to guide properly the illiterate and
innocent people about intricacies of the reforms. Some people do however have
some solid view points and are in a position to influence and organise the
people against or in favour of the reforms. The election in India has however
been influenced by policy on liberalization and people who felt neglected in
liberalization process, have really influenced the election results to some
extent.Public opinion on economic reforms is likely to play an important
  role in future elections.  It is very difficult to achieve total reversal,
therefore, ambiguities if any has to clarified and reform policies has to be
reframed and reoriented for giving due consideration to the needs of the common
man.

While talking about the development  of the rural areas and agricultrure sector
one should not forget that due to well known shortcommings, existing development
programmes has failed to a large extent by leaving a large part of the targetted
groups unaffected. The Centre Government has to take its own steps for proper
implementation of any development programme as much cannot be expected from
states due to publically known favourtism, corruption, irresponsible personnel,
and lack of motivated staff and material and machinery. It is quite evident that
prices of agricultural commodities will not be linked to international prices
unless these are exported. It is therefore quite unsafe for domestic agriculture
and industry to go for total marketisation. One can expect a large number of
aspirants for international championships, but one should also think about the
diet, skills, fundamental requirements and training of international standards
before pushing one to such duos. Mahabharta
  was not fought with child toys like wooden arrows, one has to recognise it and
should not play jokes with helpless millions on that count.

Our relations with other countries have always been good except  some bitter
experience with some  neghbouring countries. Developed countries have drawn the
attention of the people all over the world and expectations have been increasing
regarding the role of the former in the global economic affairs.  Developed
world is undoubtedly the forerunner and crossed most of the difficult barriers
in its own style and manner. These styles and manners may partly fit and largely
unfit in conditions prevailing in underdeveloped countries. Neither EC nor US is
going to provide a permanent solution to the development problems, therefore,
self sufficiency has to be achieved in as many fields as possible at the first
instance. There is also a need to check whether we are in the grip of financial
imperialism of others or otherwise. India has to adopt her own policies and make
these binding on others.

Sincerly,
Ram Karan,

Youths pushed aside, old guard strikes back

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, MAY 24, 2004 12:57:10 AM ]

NEW DELHI: It seemed India would finally have a council of ministers
truly representative of its largely youthful population. Instead,
the old guard struck back with a vengeance.

As one veteran after another took oath, there was an overwhelming
feeling of being transported back in time, to the last century. Not
one of the young MPs made the cut. Understandably, at least a couple
of them are feeling quite disappointed.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, son the late Madhavrao Scindia, was thought to
be a near certainty as minister of state. Sources close to young
Scindia were, in fact, talking of a couple of portfolios which they
thought could go to him. Now they are rather unhappy at Scindia's
claim being overlooked. An articulate person, Scindia had built a
public profile as a forward-looking modern man.

Another young leader who was considered a ministerial probable is
Ajay Maken. Maken has had some experience as a member of Sheila
Dikshit's government in Delhi and has acquitted himself well in his
job. Many observers were surprised by the Congres decision to deny
Ajay Maken a ministerial postconsider him as a better choice than
Jagdish Tytler who has been a minister in the past but is tainted by
his alleged involvement in the 1984 riots.

There are some other young Congress MPs like Jatin Prasada, Sachin
Pilot and Navin Jindal, but none of these were ever in serious
contention for ministerial posts. Even so, the complete absence of
the young brigade is making people wonder if any new ideas or
impulses would be forthcoming from the new government.

Soon after the polls and the victory of a number of young party MPs,
it was Congress rather than BJP which was appearing as more of a
young party. But their exclusion and inclusion of ageing leaders
like Arjun Singh, Pranab Mukherji and Shivraj Patil has changed this
perception. Even in Congress, partymen are asking if there was any
need to bring in defeated MPs like P M Sayeed and Shivraj Patil when
it could have introduced zeal and passion with young and fresh
talent.

From Times of India.

NEW DELHI: The high drama of the elections and Sonia's renunciation
are over. Now it's time to roll up our sleeves and get on with the
urgent tasks at hand. Once before, in 1991, when India teetered on
the brink of disaster, Manmohan Singh had hit the ground running and
unleashed a series of revolutionary changes. As time went on, the
momentum stalled due to political exigencies.

The lesson for PM Manmohan: do what needs to be done, and do it
fast. And never forget that an increasingly restless electorate
means PMs no longer have the luxury of an extended honeymoon.
Ideally, he should look for some major achievements within the first
100 days. The countdown has begun.

What should Manmohan tackle first? The best way to prioritise tasks
would be to see what the people's mandate reflects. Let's take
economic reforms. The people's vote wasn't against reforms.

In fact, it was for more changes for more people in more ways.
Reforms cannot remain a monopoly of the urban middle-class. They
must percolate to the rural hinterland if good economics is to also
become good politics.

AGRICULTURAL SECTOR: Happily, Manmohan will be provided a golden
opportunity by the forthcoming budget. One of his top priorities
must be to raise the contribution of the agricultural sector from
its current 26 per cent of GDP. Without this back-up, neither the
manufacturing nor the service sectors can hope to sustain
themselves, much less grow.

Three major problem areas in the rural hinterland are unemployment
or underemployment, poor irrigation, and chronic malnutrition, even
as foodgrains rot in state-owned go-downs. All three could be
addressed through a single coordinated strategy. Create food-for-
work irrigation projects in keeping with local needs. Dismantle the
inefficient centralised food procurement and distribution system.

Increasingly replace it with the already successful initiative of e-
chaupals, which currently help some 2.4 million farmers, spread over
six states. This will help them to integrate with the market economy
and get optimum prices for their produce through the elimination of
extortionate middlemen.

Talking about better management of rural resources, why not make it
a requirement for IIT and IIM graduates to participate in field
projects in rural areas to help solve local problems as part of
their curriculum? This would help bridge the invidious gap between
high-tech India and notech Bharat.

DISINVESTMENT: In recent statements, Manmohan has indicated a
slowdown in disinvestment, while talking of developing a social
safety net. But far from being contradictory, the two could actually
act in synergy. Critics of disinvestment decry the profligacy of a
sarkar which is seen to be selling off the family silver to finance
its wasteful ways.

However, if the funds raised through disinvestment were to be
channelled into the social infrastructure of providing a safety net
to the economicallydisadvantaged and improving public health and
education, even the Left could have no objections to such a salutary
reallocation of the country's resources. There are other nettles
which have to be firmly grasped, including the longpending hike in
fuel prices.

This will doubtless be greeted with howls of protest, particularly
by Mrs Manmohan Singh who has already said the price of LPG should
not be further raised. However, we suggest that the PM plug his ears
and scrap all subsidies currently enjoyed by the urban middle-class.
How could he sweeten this undoubtedly bitter pill? Simple.

Use the crores saved on such subsidies to scrap — or at least slash —
  personal income-tax, and forget about levying any cess, 2 per cent
or otherwise on individual incomes. Getting rid of this middle-class
bugbear — neither the very rich nor the very poor pay income tax
anyway — will turn growls into purrs.

The economic wish list could stretch on and on, but as PM, Manmohan
must pay attention to other matters. One that he needs to urgently
look at is a revamp of the legal system. Elsewhere, the law might be
an ass.

In India, it's an overloaded beast of burden — because our statute
books are clogged with obsolete regulations and taboos that make no
sense whatsoever. Partly thanks to this, our courts are inundated
with pending cases, many of which have been hanging fire for
decades.

The PM needs to appoint a multiparty Parliamentary Commission —
he'll find plenty of lawyers in both the Lok and Rajya Sabha — to
cut through the legal thickets and streamline the judicial system.
The entire process might take more than 100 days but surely the
reform panel could be set up within that deadline.

PAK OBSESSION: Also, let's not forget that there is a world beyond
India. We've been so obsessed with the dance of democracy that we've
forgotten this small fact. Indeed, for all too long, India's
external affairs ministry has been obsessed only with Pakistan.

Even Indo-US relations have been seen through this prism. It's time
to jettison such a blinkered world view and assertively develop a
multipolar policy which would engage countries and groupings as
diverse as Western Europe, China, Japan, Latin America and Russia.

Indeed, post-Iraq, the EU has made several overtures to India which
go beyond normal concerns of trade and commerce. Such relationships
would give India far greater strategic depth globally and provide it
more room to manoeuvre on various outstanding issues, including
Kashmir.

Whether New Delhi likes it or not, Kashmir has already been
internationalised — thanks to the fact that both India and Pakistan
are nuclear powers.

Surely India is selfconfident enough today to go global on Kashmir?
No, we're not talking about a UN-sponsored plebiscite, but why not
have an international human rights conference in Srinagar, and
invite everyone — including the sponsors of jihad — to it? That
could be the first step to evolving a special status for Kashmir,
not as a barbed wire enclave, but as a showcase window on the open
society of India.

Similarly, why not have a world ecumenical council in Ayodhya on the
theme of disputed religious sites the world over, from Jerusalem to
Spanish churches which once were mosques? If nothing else, such an
initiative would help put this long-festering dispute into a larger
perspective. This would also be in keeping with the marketing mantra
of `glocal': using a global fulcrum to handle local problems.

If the 21st century is truly to be India's, as the new PM has
prophesied, we have little time to lose. So let's get cracking,
right away.

Over to you, Dr Singh.

If Mr. Naidu is the CEO then the people of Andhra Pradesh are the
shareholders and they have voted for a new CEO.  Here is one
perspective of why he was voted out.

___________
Naidu - the man who thought globally, but lost locally
Ch. Prashanth Reddy

Mr Naidu, who was popularly known as the CEO of Andhra Pradesh, put
the State at the forefront of economic reforms but failed to realise
that faster growth through economic reforms would not always be
accompanied by a faster rate of poverty reduction.


VANQUISHED & VICTOR: Mr Chandrababu Naidu at his residence and
(below) the Congress leader, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, with a
bouquet on Monday. - A. Roy Chowdhury

Hyderabad , May 11

MR N. Chandrababu Naidu, arguably the most high-profile Chief
Minister Andhra Pradesh has ever had, might have been surprised at
the dismal performance of his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the 2004
elections to the State Legislative Assembly.

However, the landslide victory of the Congress has not come as a
surprise to many considering the fact that around one-fourth of the
State's population still suffer from chronic food insecurity and the
employment growth under his regime had recorded a drastic decline.

Besides unemployment, the anti-incumbency factor, continuous failure
of monsoons, inadequate power supply to the farm sector, increase in
the power tariff, shortage of drinking water and discontent among
Government employees have contributed to the defeat of the TDP that
ruled the State for the past nine years.

Mr Naidu, who was popularly known as the CEO of Andhra Pradesh, put
the State at the forefront of economic reforms but failed to realise
that faster growth through economic reforms would not always be
accompanied by a faster rate of poverty reduction.

According to a study made by economists Prof C.H. Hanumantha Rao and
Dr S. Mahendra Dev, of the Centre for Economic and Social Studies
(CESS), the work participation rates in the State declined
significantly in both rural and urban areas in the 1990s.

"Thus, the expectations of increasing employment opportunities due to
economic reforms have not materialised."

Added to his woes was the stepped up campaign by the Congress, which
had promised free power to farmers and people living below poverty
line using one electricity bulb for lighting.

The 1,600-km padayatra undertaken by the Congress leader, Dr Y.S.
Rajasekhara Reddy, who is the strong contender for the Chief
Minister's office, also seemed to have rallied people behind his
party, which remained in the opposition during the last two terms.

The emergence of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) dealt a major
blow to the TDP's electoral prospects in the backward Telangana
region.

Outside of Andhra Pradesh, it was referred to as the "most happening
State" during the regime of the media-savvy Chandrababu Naidu but the
CESS economists have pointed out that the State had not been able to
step up the GDP growth rate in the post-reform period and its
distance from fast-growing States such as Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat had widened on account of weak social and
economic infrastructure.

The infrastructure that had been developed in the State was also
largely focused on IT at the cost of the industrial sector.

According to Mr S.S. Raju, President of the Federation of AP Small
Industries Association, 40 per cent of the 1.25 lakh SSI scale units
in the State have become sick.

Speaking to newspersons after the declaration of the election
results, Dr Rajasekhara Reddy alleged that Mr Naidu had never
bothered when the plight of the farmers was "going from bad to
worse".

He said that 3,000 of the 4,000 farmers who committed suicide in the
country hailed from AP.

The communist parties, on other hand, accused Mr Naidu of virtually
adopting the World Bank's agenda while ushering in structural
reforms.

On the whole, there is a general feeling that Mr Naidu, while trying
to think globally, forgot to act locally.

This article appeared on Economic Times.

Sincerely,
Vamsi M.
_______________

When Manmohan Singh is sworn in as India's Prime Minister, it will be
a triumph of the new symbol of India's global success: the
professional.

The thousands of pros – from the infotech, services and manufacturing
sectors – from around the country who have put India on the global
map as a powerhouse of business talent can now look up to Singh as
their poster boy.

After all, what else is Singh but a pro in the true sense of the
word? He will be the first Prime Minister of India who has not cut
his teeth on politics: he was an economist and academician by
profession and a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India (that
also makes him the first potential PM to have his signature on
currency notes).

Indeed, while Singh's innings in the Congress party spans many years,
his external political activity, in terms of vote-gathering, has been
unexciting. He has lost the Lok Sabha elections the only time he
contested, from Delhi, and is currently a member of the Rajya Sabha
from Assam. Singh's real focus, as befits a true pro, has been on
organisational and administrative tasks while the Congress was out of
power, besides, of course, on the Finance Ministry when he was the
Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao administration.

Clearly, what Singh brings to the table as Prime Minister is not
political craft or popular support, but the competencies and skills
of someone who can grapple with intellectual issues, formulate
strategies for action and execute them. The other aspect of a top-
flight pro – managing a high-performing team – will now be called
into action after he takes charge of the coalition government in New
Delhi.

This triumph of the professional probably augurs well for India as
well as India, Inc. As with pros in a corporation, Singh's allegiance
will be to setting and meeting objectives, leading a cross-functional
team of other professionals, creating strategies for competing, and
adapting to the external and internal environment. And he will lead
by example, using his own skills as an economic policymaker to set
and fulfil the agenda for Government, Inc.

While Sonia Gandhi may not have picked Singh specifically for his
experience in North Block – despite the obvious demand from India,
Inc. for a business-friendly administration --  there could not have
been a better time for this unique combination of professional
competencies and experience in economic management. But, more
important, the move signals that the Indian professional has been
rewarded the way he deserves to be for using his skills to power
India and India, Inc. on a globalised growth path.