Paush 1, 2065 Vik Samvat, Yugabda 5110: December 16, 2008

1. FESTIVAL: Lohri, is celebrated every year on 13th of January. It is a festival to worship fire. Lohri Festival is celebrated with great pomp in North India. At this time Earth starts moving towards the sun marking the auspicious period of Uttarayan. First Lohri is very important for the newly wed and the new born babies as it marks fertility. At night, people gather around the bonfire and throw til, puffed rice & popcorns into the flames of the bonfire. Prayers are offered to the bonfire seeking abundance & prosperity. People make merry by dancing & singing traditional folk songs.
2. CENTRAL TERROR AGENCY, TOUGHER LAWS: The UPA government has cleared a central terror agency - christened National Investigating Agency (NIA) - and tightened the relevant laws to allow wiretaps being used as evidence, in camera trials and fast track special courts to deal with terror cases.
The Union cabinet has defined the powers of the NIA. The Agency would be free to take up terror-related crimes on its own across states without getting special permission from states. Drug trafficking and counterfeit currency have been clubbed together with terrorism as designated “scheduled crimes” that can be dealt by the NIA.
The Union Cabinet also cleared significant changes to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), including setting up of fast track courts for speedy trial of terror-related cases.
3. INDIGENOUS FAITH AND CULTURAL SOCIETY OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH: Youth Festival 2008, an exemplary show of strength, vitality and cultural richness of indigenous belief and culture, was held at Pasigahat in East Siang Dist. of Arunchal Pradesh on November 29. 3995 delegates from every nook and corner of 16 districts of AP and Dhemaji and Majuli areas of Assam exhibited the gracious colourful cultural heritage of the state.
There were exhibition stalls of indigenous attires, beads and costumes along with the technological achievements in the field of defence, Communication and Railway by DRDO, BSNL, and North East Frontier Railway respectively.
The Festival demanded strong and effective steps from state Government to preserve the eternal and indigenous art and culture and also urged to declare the 31st December, the Indigenous Faith Day, as officially gazetted holiday through out the state. His Excellency Lt. General(Retd)Governor JJ Singh inagurated the Festival while Poojya Sri Sri Ravi Shankar made the valedictory function glorious.
4. HSS (UK) RESOLUTION ON MUMBAI TERRORIST ATTACK: The Pratinidhi Sabha – Council of Representatives of Hindu Swayam Sevak Sangh (UK) - has taken a serious note of terrorist attacks in Mumbai and strongly condemned this heinous act against humanity which yet again clearly points to a seemingly deep conspiracy to destabilise Bharat. It is quite clear from the reports that terrorists had come by sea route to Mumbai from beyond the borders of Bharat, were well armed with sophisticated weapons and were fully prepared to fight a prolonged battle.
HSS has commended the superb efforts of Bharatiya Security Forces who displayed their wisdom and valour in their careful handling of this most sensitive and dangerous situation.
5. CANDLELIGHT VIGIL IN NAPERVILLE, IL, USA: FISI (Friends of India Society International) organised a candlelight vigil in Naperville, IL on 7th December at the backdrop of recent terrorists attack in Mumbai. 300 people attended the event.
Mr.Atri, India's consul general told the audience the attackers would be brought to justice. "The perpetrators of these crimes attacked a free society which lives in peace and harmony. We are confident such hate will never succeed in dividing our society." he said.
6. LCA TEJAS SUCESSFULLY COMPLETES HIGH ALTITUDE TRIALS: Bharat's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas has achieved a major milestone when its prototype vehicle PV-3 landed at Leh on December 13 in the high-altitude Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
The event is seen as significant on many counts as Leh airfield is situated at an altitude of 10,600 feet and is one of the highest airfields in the world with a temperature variation ranging from plus 5 degree Celsius to minus 20 degree Celsius.
The objective of the current phase of flight trials at Leh was to expose the on-board systems to the extreme low temperatures while making an assessment of the aircraft performance in the rarefied atmospheric conditions, DRDO officials said.
7. WE’LL HAVE OWN SETUP TO COUNTER TERROR -- TATA: Expressing lack of faith in the system to protect his property, Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons, whose group owns the Taj chain of hotels, said on December 16 that he was planning to set up his own; anti-terror mechanism to protect his group’s employees, guests and assets.
“We have decided that we will now look at anti-terrorism or protection of our assets and our people ourselves and we will try to create a deterrent. We will not try to create heroes who will engage with the enemy but to try and find as many invisible forms of deterring this, containing them or thwarting their efforts. That’s what we are engaged in doing and we will seek external expertise to help us set it up,” Tata said.
8. PAK FAILED TO KEEP PROMISE ON LeT ELIMINATION -- POWELL: Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was the Chairman Chief of Staff of the US forces, has said that Islamabad had not honoured its promise to eliminate Lashkar-e-Toiba and felt that Washington could no longer “wink and nod'” on the presence of terrorist groups in Pakistan.
“They promised (after the attack on Bharatiya Parliament in 2001). And they went about saying, see they (terrorists) are not there any more,” Powell remarked, saying the group, suspected to have masterminded the Mumbai carnage, “changed names and changed form.” “They (Pakistan) have to take them on. And if they don't, then you will have these incidents over time, and the situation will remain unstable,” he said.
9. FATWA ON YOGA IS NOT BINDING: MALAYSIAN COUNCIL: With several Muslims expressing resentment over a decree which declared Yoga as 'haram' for them, Malaysia's National Fatwa Council has said the edicts issued by it were only "views" and are "not binding" on any state.
Some Malaysian states like Sarawak had banned Yoga while several others such as Malacca and Johor are contemplating to make the practice out-of-bound for Muslims after the council said it was 'haram' (forbidden) for the followers of Islam.
Dr Abdul Shukor Husin, Chairman of the Fatwa Council, said "What the council presented before the enforcement is considered 'pandangan' (views) after the council held dialogues. The view only becomes a fatwa (edict) once the state governments decide to gazette it," Husin explained.
The ruling was received with shock by several Muslim Yoga practitioners in this country who felt that their health had benefited by the ancient physical exercises.Yoga is very popular in this multi-ethnic country where many Malay Muslims, ethnic Bharatiya Hindus, Christians and Chinese attend Yoga classes.
Husin said it was "a matter of wisdom" how issues should be managed. "We realise it is impossible to please everyone (with fatwa)," he added.
10. CHOUHAN SWORN IN AS MADHYA PRADESH CM: Shivraj Singh Chouhan was sworn-in as the 29th chief minister of Madhya Pradesh on Dec 12 before a massive gathering of enthusiastic BJP workers. At the Jambooree Maidan Grounds on the outskirts of Bhopal with a capacity of five-lakh, brimming with BJP supporters, Chouhan was administered the oath by governor Balram Jakhar. Sadhus, sants, Christian priests, Muslim 'maulvis' and Sikh granthis - all religious heads - were present on the dais. Other victorious chief Ministers including Dr. Raman Singh of Chattisgarh, Sheila Dikshit from Delhi and Ashok Gehlot from Rajasthan also were sworn in as Chief Minister this week.
11. HOUSE ON FIRE: Speaking in Parliament on December 11, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee questioned Pakistan's tactic of placing the leaders of terrorist outfits under house arrest. Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) a front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba has been put under house arrest by the Pakistani government after the United Nations banned the JuD.
Mukherjee suggested that by placing the leaders of terrorist organisations under house arrest and not in judicial or police custody, Pakistan was showing a lack of intent in tackling terror. House arrest a kind of preventive detention is something that the Pakistani government routinely employs to silence critics. During the Musharraf regime, judges, lawyers, human rights activists and journalists were regularly put under house arrest.
But how effective is that going to be against terrorists? Very little if we are to go by the past. After the 2001 attack on Bharatiya Parliament, which was also the work of the LeT, the Pakistan government in 2002 banned the organisation.
That year, Saeed was put under house arrest and several other LeT members were also arrested. But the LeT continued to operate as Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Within a year, Saeed was released along with the other arrested LeT members. To overcome the stigma of heading a banned group, Saeed became a leader of the JuD. The JuD continued the work of recruiting and training young men for terrorist activities. And in this, elements in the Pakistan army and ISI aided them.
There is no reason to believe the same won't happen again. It is apparent that the Pakistan government is handling the LeT with kid gloves. Just before the police surrounded his house in Lahore, Hafeez was allowed to hold a press conference where he said his organisation wouldn't accept "any decision taken under Indian pressure". To minimise domestic reaction, the Pakistan government announced the decision to ban JuD on television at midnight. And according to reports, the JuD school and medical clinic were still operating despite the ban.
The Pakistan government seems to be going through the motions of cracking down on terror under acute international pressure. But Pakistan needs to realise that its very existence is under threat from terrorists and radical Islamists. There are reports in Pakistani newspapers of a possible takeover of Peshawar by the Taliban. For its own sake, the Pakistan government has to do much more than token gestures such as house arrests of terrorist leaders. If it doesn't, there is a very real chance of the country breaking up. -- Times of India, Editorial, 13 Dec 2008.
12. NETAJI’S DEATH MYSTERY MUST BE UNVEILED — K. S. SUDARSHAN: RSS Sarsanghachalak KS Sudarshan stressed the need to unveil the mystery of death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in an air-crash in August 1945. He was releasing a Hindi book, Bhagwanji Se Netaji Tak, in New Delhi on December 5. The book was published by Subhas Chandra Bose Rashtriya Vichar Kendra and was written by Shakti Singh. The book mainly highlights the life of Gumnami Baba of Ayodhya who was said to be Netaji and died a few years back. Senior BJP leader Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi also spoke at this occasion. Scores of intellectuals of Delhi including RSS Prant Sanghachalak Ramesh Prakash and former Director General of UP Police Shri Prakash Singh were present. Shri Sudarshan said the suspicion developed in the minds of people about the death of Netaji must be cleared. He alleged that majority of the governments, even after the departure of Britishers from Bharat, tried to ensure that truth about Netaji remains a mystery. He said the government has no evidence to prove that Netaji died in the air-crash.
13. DIWALI FOOD DRIVE CONDUTED BY MIDWEST SAMBHAG, USA: "Serving the poor is the true service to the God". During 2008 Diwali 4 shakhas in Midwest Sambhag - Abhimanyu shakha at Shaumburg, Bloomington shakha, Eagen shakha and Shree Ram shakha, Indianapolis took up food drive to bring into reality this age old adage from our Hindu scriptures. Although all the shakhas took up this initiative independently, the common thread that seemed to be running through them was the urge to something for the society in which they live. It was a matter of great satisfaction and a spiritual experience to the karyakartas of each of these shakha. As one of the karyakartas said “You cannot measure the satisfaction found in helping people who are in need. On the occasion of Diwali this year, we found the true meaning of being a Hindu, spreading light".
14. HINDU TECHNIQUE OF MASSAGING BABIES REACHES CHILE: The year was 1976. A Hindu woman called Shantala caressed and massaged her newborn while the French doctor Frederick Leboyer recorded a video in Santiago, Chile. She performed a technique which has been passed from generation to generation in Bharat, but to the doctor, it was entirely new.
Such was his amazement that he wrote a book on the subject and spread the technique he named “Shantala massage” in honor of that mother. Today, more than 30 years after their “discovery,” these techniques are being used daily in Chile, specifically in the kindergartens in the region of Valparaiso.
15. OUTRAGE IN KUALA LUMPUR OVER DEMOLITION OF HINDU SHRINE: The Malaysian Indian Congress has expressed anger over the Kuala Lumpur City Hall''s (DBKL) decision to demolish a 15-year-old Hindu shrine in Taman Desa, Seputeh. DBKL issued a notice indicating the actions it would take, but the message was pasted on the shrine''''s wall and not handed over to the management.
16. REVIEW BABUS AFTER 20 YRS, SACK IF UNFIT’: The second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) headed by M. Veerappa Moily in its latest report has recommended that non-performing bureaucrats should be booted out after 20 years of service and the upper age limit to sit for the civil services examination be reduced from 30 to 25 years.
The report said the first review at 14 years would primarily serve the purpose of intimating the public servant about his or her strengths and shortcomings, while the second review at 20 years would mainly serve to assess the fitness of the officer for continuation of service. The report was submitted to the Prime Minister last month and was made public on Dec 12. The Moily-chaired panel has also favoured introduction of a formal degree course in public policy and management in the higher education curriculum for candidates seeking a career in civil services.
17. HOW MOHAMMED AJMAL AMIR KASAB WILL BE TRIED: 12 cases have been filed against Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist who was arrested in connection with the 26/11 attacks. Sections applied: murder, attempt to murder, waging war against the country, criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and other provisions of the Arms Act, Explosives Act.
14 days: Minimum remand period in each case that the police can seek.
168 days: Maxium period Kasab may have to spend in police custody.
90 days: Period within which the Mumbai Crime Branch has to file a chargesheet in each case, once he is sent to judicial custody.
18. YOGA FOR ALL SCHOOL-CHILDREN: Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said he wants to push all school-going children to learn yoga, in the hope that it can reduce the prevalence of diseases such as diabetes and hypertension in years to come.
“There should be extensive scientific deliberations on yoga. And today I blatantly put that yoga reduces diabetes, yoga reduces hypertension, yoga reduces stress,” Anbumani Ramadoss told a regional diabetes summit in Chennai in southern Bharat. “I am going to make yoga mandatory for all school-going children in Bharat (from) the coming year.”
19. RASTRAPATIJI FOR ENSURING WELFARE OF ARTISANS, WEAVERS: Rashtrapati Smt. Pratibha Patil has said the Government should frame policies and programmes for ensuring welfare of handloom and handicraft artisans who have contributed in preserving and promoting Bharat’s heritage.
“I would like to suggest that the Government could bring in certain policies and programmes, which apart from addressing the developmental needs should also address welfare concerns of artisans and weavers,” Patil said, after conferring National Awards for Marster Craftpersons and Weavers and Shil Guru Awards on December 15.
The handloom and handicraft sectors provide a livelihood to more than 12 million people who need Government support. “The Government could, therefore, look at how to broaden the existing marketing infrastructure in the country, so that products have a continuous demand throughout the year,” the Rashtrapati said.
20. CHINA PROMOTING JIHADIS TO WAGE WAR AGAINST BHARAT: It has been revealed that Communist China was supporting Jihadi organisations in Pakistan who wage their ‘HOLY WAR’ against Bharat.
Three attempts to ban Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the frontal organisation of the Pakistan-based terror outfit LeT, in the UN Security Council were blocked by China in the past.
Communist China which encourages Jihad against Bharat through Pakistan and Bangladesh and promote Maoist terrorism through Nepal is in reality the main enemy we should tackle.
21. TIME TO 'RIGHT' THEM! : Human rights is much talked about in these times of terror attacks. 10 December is marked as the 'Human Rights Day'. The universal human right of living peacefully with equal rights is being promoted now throughout the world.
In Bharat the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution are The Right to Equality, The Right to Freedom, The Right to Freedom of Religion, The Right against Exploitation, cultural and Educational Rights and The Right to Constitutional Remedies.
While the intention of the Constituent Assembly in including the above-said 'rights' in the Constitution was noble, the last sixty years of practice and implementation have led to a situation where certain clauses need to be questioned and certain amendments have to be made using the 'Right to Constitutional Remedies'.
For instance, the 'Right to Freedom of Religion' enshrined in the Constitution has proved to be 'discriminatory' in nature against the majority community, as evidenced by the turn of events over the last sixty years. While the majority community's freedom of religion has been restricted in almost all the fields from education & educational institutions to practice and places of worship, the minority communities are awarded full freedom in all the fields. They misuse the freedom to propagate, and indulge in conversions leading to unrest in the society.
While the temples and worshipping places of the majority community come under the control of governments, the same is not the case with minority communities. Similarly the pilgrimages of minorities get State's support through subsidies and other benefits, while there is no such facility for majority community (the point is, a secular State should not fund both). In the educational sector, minority communities enjoy the full freedom to establish and run their educational institutions according to their fancy, the same is restricted for the majority. The fact that the Church has the largest land holdings, second only to the government, says it all!
Unfortunately in Bharat, the 'human right' is seen through 'secular' prism. The NGOs and other Human Rights Organisations (HROs) in Bharat indulge in covert anti-Bharat operations using the health and education sectors. Here again the freedom of religion and the cultural & educational rights are clubbed together and blatantly misused.
Another dangerous aspect with regards to the 'human rights' in Bharat is the consistent attempts by the NGOs and HROs to take the cause of anti-social elements like naxalites, Maoists and anti-national elements like terrorists. These organisations have never bothered about the human rights of victims of terror and naxal menace.
When the State has a separate 'National Minority Commission', there is no such facility for the majority community. Even the so-called National Human Rights Commission has never bothered about the victims belonging to majority community. When 'inhuman' terrorists like Madhani and Afzal Guru have advocates of human rights fighting for their rights, the rights of Hindu religious leaders and Army officers incarcerated in prisons have been totally ignored by the State.
With so many discrepancies in the laws of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution discriminating against the majority community without any freedom of equality, there is no point in observing the 'Human Rights Day'. The need of the hour is to make the necessary amendments in the Constitution, so that, all people are equally treated as 'Indians' for a peaceful coexistence.
Editorial http://newstodaynet.com 10/12/2008
22. OBAMA PRAISES AKSHAYA PATRA FOR ITS NOBLE WORK: US president elect Barack Obama has praised the charitable work of Akshaya Patra, considered the world's largest non-governmental organisation (NGO) working for the uplift of the underprivileged, describing it as a model not only for Bharat but also for other nations as well.
"It has an imaginative approach that has the potential to serve as a model for other countries," Mr Obama said.
His remarks came in a letter he wrote to Akshaya Patra's US president Madhu Sridhar. The Karnataka-based organisation serves five other states in Bharat where about a million underprivileged children at 5,600 schools are served free vegetarian meals daily.
23. HSS VARGA 2008 IN MAURITIUS: The Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh of Mauritius held its Varga 2008 at DAV College, Morcellement Saint Andre in the north of the country from November 28, to December 04, 2008. Some 118 participants, 93 swayamsewaks and 25 sevikas aged 10 to 23 from 17 villages attended the camp. Pracharak Sandip Paithankar from Vishwa Vibhag Bharat guided the varga.
During the Varga, the day started with morning sandhya, subhashit and thought of the day followed by two hour sanghsthan sharirik; samta, yogasan, vyayam, yog, khel, danda, niyudha, yogchap, ghosh and sanchalan in seven different groups. Sandip Paithankar and the shikshakas made their utmost effort ot make the Varga a real success. In varga charcha, the participants were divided in four groups. Topics like; Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh, the identity of a Swayamsewak, model shakhas, the role of karyavaha, mukhya shikshakas, dhwaj pramukh, the significance of bhagwa dhwaj and the meaning of the prayer were imparted to them.
Besides Sandipji, Sanghchalak Ragoonath Deeal, Shri Satyadeo Peerthum ji - president of the Arya Sabha, Mauritius guided the shiksharthis.
24. NORTH AMERICAN HINDUS CALL FOR A NEW DIALOGUE ON TERRORISM: Members of the Hindu community of North America came together to perform a Shanti Homam (ceremony of peace) to pray for peace for the affected families and also for the world. The Shanti Homam at the DFW Hindu Temple, Irving, Texas attracted members of over 30 Hindu organizations living in the DFW metro area. Members of the Jewish and Islamic faiths were also present at the ceremony where prayers for world peace and solace for the affected families were offered, in Sanskrit language in a traditional Vedic ritual. Similar Homam ceremonies were also offered in many cities in United States of America, Canada, Australia and around the world. "We come together to look into the eyes of terror and say we stand together as one people of the world in support of humanity - not in despair or hopelessness, but rather in love, strength, resolve, and peace for the present and the future" says Ranna Jani, President of the DFW Hindu Temple, Irving, Texas.
25. BABA RAMDEV PAYS TRIBUTE TO SLAIN COPS: As tribute to the cops who gave up their lives to protect several others in the 26/11 attack on Mumbai, Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth has given Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the 18 security personnel who died fighting the terrorists.
Baba Ramdev presented the cheques to the families of the slain cops in an event in New Dellhi on Dec. 15, 2008.
He said that the donation was a token of condolence and to tell the victims of militancy that the country is with them in their hour of grief.
In a separate incident, thousands of girl students in Coimbatore held a candle light vigil in remembrance of the victims of 26/11.
26. IN MELTDOWN, 2 BIG BPO DEALS CHEER BHARAT: Outsourcing fights back and lives to see another day. While everybody was rushing to write off the industry in the wake of Barack Obama's election and the global economic slowdown, two major outsourcing deals in the hospitality and the pharma sectors have been signed which should bring hope and cheer for the Bharatiya BPO sector.
The world's premier hotel company, Chicago-based Global Hyatt Corporation, has outsourced part of its financial and accounting transaction services to Bharat's Genpact. The Hyatt agreement is a trend-setting move in the hospitality industry and follows in the footsteps of other global banking and insurance giants who outsourced a large part of their processes to Bharat's BPO sector to save costs.
In the other major deal, the $30-billion global pharma giant AstraZeneca has outsourced its end-to-end maintenance services for a variety of corporate services (such as human relations, finance) to Bangalore-based Infosys. While the values of the two deals have not been disclosed yet, both envisage increasing the scope of the work over time.
27. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Visitors: Shri Jai Prakash Goel from Hong Kong; Shri Radheshyam Dwivedi, Smt. & Shri Babulal Gupta from USA; Shri Bharatbhai Shah & Shri Vinoo Wadher from UK; Shri Yogeshwar Dikshit from Singapore; Shri Rabindra Gosh from Bangladesh; Shri Niyanta Deshpande from Japan.
28. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Burn down the forest of ignorance with the fire of the conviction. ‘I am the one, and Pure Conciousness’, be free from grief and be happy. You are that Conciousness, Bliss: Supreme Bliss, in and upon which this universe appears superimposed, like a snake on a rope. Live Happily. -Ashtavakra Samhita I.9.10
JAI SHREE RAM
CHINA AND THE KARMA FACTORY
Reshma Patil
Have karma, so no problem,’’ said the Chinese businessman with rudraksha beads on his wrist, flipping open his Apple MacBook to show this correspondent photographs of his product: the Bhagavada Gita in Chinese. Five thousand copies have sold since last year, for 58 yuan (about Rs 400) per copy.
So thirty-something entrepreneurs like Li Jian Lin alias Lohitaksa in Sanskrit, have an expanding Bharat-China yoga outsourcing business on hand. “Many Chinese are now rich, but unhappy. They want religion,’’ said Lohitaksa at Starbucks.
“The Chinese believe in one life, so they are stressed out trying to achieve everything,’’ he said.
“I teach them karma and Vedic culture.’’
When Lohitaksa was Jian Lin in 1992, he bought a Chinese Bhagavada Gita in Hong Kong. “My spiritual questions became clear,’’ he said. “I believed Lord Krishna’s teachings and turned vegetarian.’’ His mother, upset over his vegetarianism, made him cook his meals. Today she shuns meat too.
He started learning yoga from shows on China Central Television over a decade ago, until a meeting in Xian with an Indian ‘guruji’ from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness transformed his life.
He’s planning a July opening for a yoga institute in Beijing with courses on the Bhagavada Gita and Management.
The writer is China Corresponent in Beijing, Hindustan Times, December 12, 2008.
BATTLE FOR THE MIND
RONOJOY SEN
Post-Mumbai terror strikes, most of the talk has been about improved security and ways of hitting terror camps within Pakistan. But we often forget
that the battle against terror must be won in the mind too. It is in this context that the unequivocal condemnation of the Mumbai terror by prominent imams in Delhi and Mumbai is important. And well before the Mumbai carnage happened, a gathering of some 6,000 Islamic clerics in Hyderabad endorsed a fatwa against terror issued by the influential Deoband seminary.
What effect, you might ask, would the Deoband fatwa and the imams have on those who inflict terror in the name of Islam? Possibly not much. Those who have been indoctrinated into taking up arms in the name of martyrdom and a place in paradise would probably continue doing terrible deeds.
But the actions of the clerics are not academic exercises either. By identifying the terror attacks as "un-Islamic", the clerics undermine the religious legitimacy that the terrorists seek to bring to their violent acts.
In a larger context, the proclamations by the clerics and the Deoband school are very much a part of the process of interpretation of Islamic law and canons, which have been going on since centuries. It's a common error to regard Islamic law as unchanging and cast in stone. Though the Quran, the sunna (the practice of the Prophet) and the hadiths (sayings of the Prophet) are the primary sources of Islamic law, there is also a place for ijma (consensus), qiyas (analogical thinking) and ijtihad (systematic original thinking).
Ever since Islam was founded, change has been a part of the religion. And this continues to be so. Just a few weeks ago, lawyers, religious scholars, judges, journalists and activists gathered at Salzburg a not-so-unlikely place considering the Ottomans had once reached the gates of Vienna to debate and discuss if there was a common ground between Islamic and international law. There were no simple answers at the Salzburg Global Seminar but the consensus was that in many areas Islamic law was compatible with international law and covenants such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The gatherings in Hyderabad or Salzburg must be seen in this context of reinterpreting tenets of Islam, perhaps the most controversial being jihad. Jihad which in Arabic means "righteous struggle" or "striving" can be looked at in several ways. There are many Islamic scholars who believe that the greater jihad is the inner or spiritual struggle. These interpretations, of course, cut no ice with the terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) or the "army of the pure" which orchestrated the Mumbai terror.
It is no secret that jihadi terrorism has emanated from radical and backward-looking strains of Islam such as Wahhabism and Salafism. It's also no secret that the dominance of these hardline ideologies can be traced to Saudi backing and money.
This has resulted in the mushrooming of mosques and madrassas across the world that preach an ideology of hate. LeT is known to have received Saudi funds and, of course, Pakistani patronage. Undoubtedly there are some in India who are also receptive to this ideology.
This is where Islamic clerics figures of authority for many Muslims could play a crucial role. If they interpret Islam as being patently against terror and violence, it is bound to have an effect on believers. And if the majority of Muslims subscribe to that view, it makes it that much more difficult for the purveyors of terror to gain acceptability.
A long-term solution to countering the ideology of hate must involve liberal interpretations of Islam. India, and indeed South Asia, could be one of the poles of this transformation. It is often forgotten that nearly half of the world's Muslims live in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. And contrary to what many people think, an overwhelming majority of ordinary Muslims in South Asia we must not, of course, confuse them with governments reject the ideologies of hate and violence. That's why international relations scholar Vali Nasr said during a recent visit to India that South Asia "matters to the Muslim world in real terms much more than the Arab world".
There could be other poles for the reinterpretation of Islam. Turkey, where the AKP party has won elections for the second time running, could provide a testing ground for a confluence of Islam and secular ideologies. The AKP leader and Turkish PM, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has on more than one occasion affirmed his faith in secularism even while arguing for more freedom for Muslims. Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation but also a multi-religious one, could be another pole. Recent reports suggest that the government is serious about cracking down on radical groups such as the Jemaah Islamiah.
And Muslim groups, including the Indonesian Ulemas' Council, have said that the three men recently executed for the 2002 Bali bombings must not be treated as martyrs. These are encouraging signs.
It is a truism that terror has no religion. But when that terror emanates from a twisted interpretation of religion, we must acknowledge it instead of justifying it by referring to Kashmir or atrocities against Muslims as some prominent commentators have done.
This is precisely the sort of logic employed by LeT ideologues. Such bigots and their followers have no place in civilised society. But they cannot be countered by force alone; their militant ideologies have to be thoroughly discredited. This is where India's 150 million Muslims and clerics could play a significant role. -- The Times of India, December 9, 2008

Margshirsha 16, 2065 Vik Samvat, Yugabda 5110, 1 December, 2008

1. FESTIVALS: Makar Sankranti normally falling on January 14 marks the commencement of the Sun's northern course - the Uttaraayana patha. This turn in the Sun's course takes place at the point of time when it enters the sign of Makara or Capricorn. Sankraanti, signifying light, also gives the message of intellectual illumination. It is the capacity to discriminate between the right and the wrong, the just and the unjust, truth and falsehood, virtue and vice.
It is this discriminative wisdom - Viveka - which leads the individual on the path of human evolution and human happiness. Mere dry reasoning power devoid of this insight will be like the charging of a wild horse without the stirrup and the rider.
Kite flying in Gujarat and in many other parts of Bharat has been associated with this festival in a big way. It has become an internationally well-known event.
This festival is one among the six festivals celebrated in Sangh Shakhas. The close of the function is sweetened by distribution of TIL-GUL to the participants.
2. GITA STUDY TO BE MANDATORY AT SETON HALL UNIVERSITY: The study of Srimadabhagvad Gita has become mandatory for every student joining Seton Hall University in New Jersey, USA from this year. Seton Hall is an independent, Catholic university under the Archdiocese of Newark founded in 1856.
"This is unique," said A D Amar, professor, Stillman School of Business, the driving force behind the decision. "Nowhere there is a university-wide core program. The colleges decide on the core courses and generally oppose the university imposing core courses. But Seton hall decided that all its students should learn the core courses."
One-third of Seton Hall's more than 10,800 students are non-Christian. Many non-Catholics also study there. It has a significant number of Bharatiya students. The core course is for all students, whatever the discipline.
3. HELP VICTIMS, KEEP UNITY AND VIGIL: RSS SARSANGHCHALAK KS SUDARSHAN: The RSS expresses shock and anguish over the dastardly attack of the terrorists in Mumbai city that killed over 100 people including a number of policemen on Nov 26. The magnitude of the attack-- number of terrorists, huge quantity of weapons that they were carrying and brazenness with which they attacked a number of prime locations in the city -- clearly indicates that the terrorists have launched not just an attack but a war on the nation. It is clear that the intention of the terrorists is to destroy peace, harmony and morale of our nation. The RSS has always stood firmly against all those who have been the enemies of our national unity, democracy and civilization. At this hour of crises, I extend wholehearted support to the government and the agencies and call upon the entire nation to rise as one man and destroy the nefarious designs of the terrorists.
I urge the Swayamsevaks to continue their efforts to rescue hundreds injured or otherwise affected by this terror attack. I also ask them to maintain utmost vigil to ensure that nothing would hamper the efforts of the government and the agencies would be allowed to take place anywhere in the country.
I pay tearful homage to all those people who have lost their lives in this barbarous terrorist attack. I salute the brave security personnel, including senior officers like Shri Hemant Karkare, Shri Vijay Salaskar, Shri Ashok Kamte, who have laid down their lives valiantly defending our nation.
4. THE UPA HAS A LOT TO ANSWER: LK ADVANI, LEADER OF OPPOSITION: I visited terror-struck Mumbai on evening on Thursday, November 27, accompanied by my colleague Shri Jaswant Singh, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. I visited the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (VT) Railway Station, where terrorists had fired indiscriminately at innocent rail users and exploded several hand grenades causing massive panic and killing more than 50 persons last night, I went to JJ Hospital where 102 victims of Wednesday's mayhem are lying in various states of injury. It was painful to hear the victims narrate their tale of misfortune. Sadly, over the last few years I have had to visit many such hospitals in the aftermath of terror attacks that have now become alarmingly frequent. Thereafter, I visited King George Memorial (KGM) Hospital to commend the valour of Assistant Commissioner of Police Sadanand Date, who volunteered to join the police action in South Mumbai although he was posted elsewhere. He has suffered several injuries from grenade shrapnel including one in his eye. But I marveled at his grit and determination even in this condition. As I left his bedside, he said to me, "Don't worry, we'll get them."
It is this spirit of our security officials that gives me confidence that despite the government's pussyfooting and its politically-motivated refusal to arm the security agencies with appropriately tough anti-terror laws, we shall overcome the terrorist challenge in the end.
It is a curious coincidence that starting with the attack on kar sevaks on board Sabarmati Express at Godhra on February 26, 2002 almost every major terror strike in India has happened on the 13th or 26th of the month. This year alone, the Jaipur blast took place on May 13, Ahmedabad followed on July 26, Delhi on September 13 and now Mumbai on November 26. It appears the terrorists have made it a pattern to strike on the 13th or 26th of every alternate month. I wonder whether we will have to resort to numerology rather than firm intelligence to anticipate terror attacks.
The government's non-serious approach in this regard is reinforced by reports that the Mumbai attackers arrived in the city from the sea. Official agencies had been warning the Home Ministry for some time about such a possibility, but the government did nothing to bolster the Navy or the Coast Guard's capacity to intercept rogue boats. As a result, two mother ships are reported to have dropped the Mumbai terrorists off some 15 nautical miles from the Mumbai shoreline and they managed to reach their destination uninterrupted. it hardly bears reiterating that apart from strengthening and streamlining the intelligence network, the government needs to take whatever intelligence inputs it receives seriously and act on it.
Before leaving for Mumbai I had told mediapersons in Delhi that I suspected that the degree of planning and quantum of ammunition used, indicated that the terrorists were probably not homegrown.
My suspicions have been confirmed with Maharashtra government officials telling me that one terrorist arrested has admitted arriving by the sea route. It now appears that a mobile phone on a terrorist's person is of Pakistani origin. This reinforces what I told the media yesterday about the intelligence agencies' energies being diverted to nail so-called Hindu terror, which evidently enabled the Mumbai attackers plot away undetected.
5. SARKARYAVAH Ma. Mohanrao Bhagwat in an appeal to all patriotic citizens expressing satisfaction over the successful elimination of the terrorists who attacked various important installations in Mumbai, has appealed to organise public programmes to pay homage to victims of Mumbai terror attack and also to express solidarity with those who are fighting this terror valiantly so that all of us can live in peace with dignity and honourn on Nov. 30.
6. TIME FOR SOME TOUGH ACTION: As Mumbai and the rest of India come to terms with the carnage in Colaba and count the long-term costs of the devastation, there are two small points of reassurance.
First, the prolonged 60-hour shot-by-shot, live TV coverage of the siege of two hotels and a Jewish community centre, has bluntly brought home to Indians — particularly the country's opinion-makers — the ugly face of terrorism. The threat to national security and the well-being of the country could not have been driven home more unequivocally. India is no stranger to terrorism and Mumbai in particular has suffered incessantly since March 1993. But the sheer audacity of this particular operation and the spectacular publicity surrounding it ensured that every Indian, with access to TV, lived through the horror. If there ever was a wake-up call to rouse a Kumbhakarna, this was it.
Second, this was one outrage which finally snapped the endurance and infinite generosity of India. In the past, every assault on Mumbai — where, at times, the death toll was higher — had produced a flicker of anger, followed by an astonishing display of fatalism. What was often flaunted by the angst-ridden section of the media as the ‘spirit of Mumbai' wasn't a display of the gritty, stiff upper lip resolve Londoners showed during the Blitz in 1940-41. It was actually a demonstration of lofty aloofness which very easily translated into indifference or, worse, denial.
The mood is different this week; it is palpably angry. It is one thing for the three Thackerays to spew indignation. That's habitual. But when pillars of Mumbai society such as Ajay Piramal and Shobhaa De say enough is enough and when Ratan Tata expresses his understated dissatisfaction with the administration's unpreparedness, it suggests that something has finally given way. Those Swami Vivekananda once caricatured as “the patient Hindu, the mild Hindu” may well have become angry Indians.
The transformation was waiting to happen. For more than a decade terrorists espousing unacceptable causes have blown up trains, bombed crowded markets, hijacked a plane and attacked places of worship. Indians have suffered stoically but left it to governments to take remedial action. Instead of building on that trust, the political class has approached terrorism as a game of political one-upmanship, stoked subliminal fears and then left India vulnerable. Every terrorist atrocity was followed by assurances of “tough” action, greater preparedness and continuing laxity. The fanatically motivated terrorists who held Mumbai to ransom for 48 hours have made a mockery of the state's ability to protect its citizens. They not only killed but made a whole country suffer.
The men in uniform did a wonderful and professional job under difficult and even adverse circumstances. They showed what the country is capable of achieving when driven by a common resolve. But India has been shamed by the incompetence of those it entrusted with running the country. Mumbai wasn't a victim of ordinary intelligence failure; the grim truth is that there was zero intelligence. India was caught napping.
It is important to vent our anger through the ballot box, to reject those who preened while our cities burned. Unfortunately, this isn't enough. The collective choice must be shaped by a candid realisation that India is no longer on a conventional flight path: it is at war. Another wrong turn and a Mumbai that is already suffering the burden of a government's mismanagement of public finance will end up as a Beirut, a Karachi.
India doesn't need to replace an uninspiring tweedledum with a dreary tweedledee. It needs someone inspirational, someone blessed with guts, imagination, energy, integrity and application. It yearns for a leader who has the self-assurance to prescribe a bitter dose of medicine. India doesn't need a leader to manage the peace; it needs a leader who can lead us in a war. We are through with a Chamberlain; it's time for a Churchill. -- Swapan Dasgupta, the Pioneer, 30 Nov 2008,
7. WHY THE DELAY IN HANGING AFZAL GURU? : A terrorist has been on the death row for three years now. Had he been hanged after fair trial and all due review, it might have sent out the message that Bharat was going to be tough on terror.
Since September, 2005, when SC dismissed petitions seeking review of its judgement upholding the death sentence on Afzal Guru in the December 13, 2001, Parliament attack case, the convicted terrorist has been marking time in Tihar. Why the delay?
The evidence against Afzal is staggering. His mobile number, recovered from Mohammed, a slain terrorist who fell near Parliament’s gate No 1, was a crucial breakthrough. The court said that even minutes before the attack, three calls were made by Mohammed to Afzal. Also, there was evidence that the mobile was being exchanged between Afzal and Mohammed and other terrorists.
The court noted that an instrument used by Afzal till December 12, 2001 was recovered from a dead terrorist the next day. Also, there was recovery of explosives, fake uniforms, a key laptop and identification of Afzal by a landlord of a premise where the terrorists stayed. So, what is the Delhi government’s view?
8. RSS AND BAJRANG DAL ARE NOT TERRORIST GROUPS -- UK: The British government has said neither the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) nor the Bajrang Dal are terrorist organizations. Therefore, their members are not banned from entering Britain. “Neither organization is proscribed in the UK or in India, nor do the Indian government classify either as a terrorist organization,” British Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Lord Malloch-Brown said in reply to a question by former cabinet minister Lord Chris Patten. Malloch-Brown said decisions on whether or not to ban a group in Britain “must be proportionate and based on evidence that a group is involved in terrorism as defined in the Terrorism Act 2000.”
9. RSS RELIEF WORK DURING MUMBAI TERROR ATTACKS: During the recent terrorist attacks on Nov 26, RSS workers and workers from other organizations including BJP immediately rushed and worked hard at various hospitals in Mumbai to cater for the victims and injured people and security personnel.
The morale of these workers and general public was high and they worked even while the bullets were being fired at GT hospital. They arranged for food, shelter for relatives at JJ ( 125 workers),GT( 15 workers), and St. George hospital, arranged blood donation camps and other necessary help and coordination work.Workers at Mandovi arranged for shelter of stranded women passengers on the night of 26th. At Colaba, when people tried to retaliate and storm the Nariman house, a BJP worker Harish Gohil succumbed to the bullets while Praksh Surve was injured in the grenade attack.
10. FATWA AGAINST YOGA IS INSENSITIVE MALAYSIA HINDU SANGAM: The Malaysia Hindu Sangam respects the right of the National Fatwa Council to give guidance for persons professing Islam on the tenets and practices of Islam. However, in doing so, they must respect the sensitivities and feelings of other religions in Malaysia. Many Hindus have been deeply disturbed by the Fatwa Council’s announcement. Although the fatwa does not directly prohibit Hindus from practicing yoga, Malaysians do not live in isolation from each other. Many Hindus and non Hindus practice yoga together in a non religious manner, and this fatwa will have a tendency to drive a wedge between ourselves. This fatwa prohibiting yoga shows a tendency towards a lack of tolerance and understanding which can cause communities to distance themselves from one another.
11. WHY THE TAJ HOTEL SURVIVED?: A lesser building would have collapsed from the pounding it took during the anti-terror operations that lasted 59 hours, but the Taj hotel stands intact.
While the inside may be gutted, the structure itself withstood the blasts and gunbattles that lasted nearly three days.
So how did the 105-year-old building remain standing?
“The strength comes from the strong basalt stone, the large solid base and the design itself — atrium in the middle and the smaller cut-outs in the heritage wing,” explained Brinda Somaiya, conservation architect.
The Taj, that took five years to be completed and opened in 1903, was built with teakwood, Chinese mosaic flooring, rolled steel joists, girders and coarse rubble. JN Tata had ordered 20 steel-spun pillars, the latest technology at the time, for the ballroom that came under brutal assault during the terror strike.
In the 1950s, the hotel underwent additions and alterations. But, being a Grade 2A heritage building, the changes were minimal. The open galleries and shafts were left untouched. This helped minimise the damage.
The sixth floor that bore the brunt of the attack, was added in the ’60s. A decade later, the 23-storey tower wing was added with decorative arches and balconies overlooking the sea.
Earlier, as flames engulfed the structure, there were concerns that the extensive use of wood would make the structure vulnerable. Somaiya said it depends on the section of wood used. “If the section of wood is big enough, it can withstand fire even if the outer part catches fire,” she said. “Like an old lady with great inner strength, the Taj withstood the assault.”
12. BHARATIYA NAVY SHIP FIGHTS SOMALI PIRATES, SINKS SHIP: Bharatiya Navy stealth frigate INS Tabar has successfully repulsed an attack by pirates off the Somali coast and sunk their ship.
The Bharatiya Navy ship was fired at by pirates in the Gulf of Aden late on Nov. 18.
“The pirates fired at INS Tabar, which was patrolling the waters off the Somali coast. The ship retaliated and sank the pirate vessel,” a navy official said.
Earlier, INS Tabar had staved off an attack by Somali pirates on two merchant vessels - one from Bharat and another from Saudi Arabia.
13. ISRO TO ROLL OUT A RIVAL TO GOOGLE EARTH: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is based in Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of the sub-continent, will roll-out a rival to Google Earth, the hugely popular online satellite imagery service, by end of the month.
The project, dubbed Bhuvan (Sanskrit for Earth), will allow users to zoom into areas as small as 10 metres wide, compared to the 200 metre wide zoom limit on Google Earth.Bhuvan will use a network of satellites to create a high-resolution, bird's-eye view of Bharat - and later, possibly, the rest of the world - that will be accessible at no cost online and will compete with Google Earth. If a pilot version passes muster, Bhuvan will be fully operational by the spring. There are also plans to incorporate a global positioning system (GPS) into the online tool.
14. EMBRACING MEDITATION: Buzz up! Like many churchgoers in the Bible Belt, Kristy Robinson teaches Sunday school with her husband and helps prepare communion at their Episcopal church in Franklin, Tenn, USA.
She rounds out her church- and prayer-filled life with another spiritual practice that's not quite as familiar: meditation.
"I'll see a difference in my day if I don't," says Robinson, who opens each day with 20 minutes of absolute silence.
A report released this year showed an astonishingly high number of Protestants -- nearly half -- say they meditate at least once a week. Among the public, 39 percent meditate at least weekly, according to a report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Meditation has been, at times, eyed with suspicion. The Vatican in 1989 went so far as to say that methods such as Zen, yoga and transcendental meditation can "degenerate into a cult of the body" and be dangerous.
But for many Christians, meditation fits quite nicely into their religious life. They're drawn to biblical Scriptures, such as in the Psalms, which says, "Be still, and know that I am God."
For them, meditation has brought deeper meaning to their lives.
15. ASHOKA PILLAR NOW STANDS TALL IN AUSTRALIA: It has been hailed as historic. A five-metre-high Ashoka Pillar now stands at a monastery located midway between Sydney and Canberra, in a celebration of the spread of Buddhism from Bharat to Australia.
Believed to be the first in Australia, the Ashoka Pillar has been installed at the Sunnataram Forest Monastery in the verdant surroundings of Southern Highlands.
It was during a pilgrimage to Bharat last year that head monk of the monastery, Phra Mana Viriyarampo, decided to construct an Ashoka Pillar in Australia.
The monastery is dotted with carved sandstone 'Life of the Buddha' panels, copied from the Sanchi Stupa in Bharat, on display in the garden and under trees.
The Ashoka Pillar has been hand-carved by artists in Thailand and the sandstone supporting base has been constructed by monks and volunteers of the monastery.
16. YOGA DRESSED IN ARAB COLORS GAINS POPULARITY IN EGYPT: After searching for a year for a fitness routine compatible with her Islamic faith Fatima Ismael, a 32-year-old British mother of three has developed Rakha, a new yoga-like workout that incorporates Islamic chants rather than Hindu mantras. The new Islam-inspired total body fitness routine, may be the yoga alternative Muslims are searching for following a fatwa, or religious ruling, by a Malaysian sheikh denouncing yoga as un-Islamic in Egypt.
The postures of “Rakha” (which is also the Arabic term for prosperity) are gaining popularity among British Muslims eager for healthy lifestyles. A basic routine begins stretches and light cardiovascular exercise. Yoga breathing and stretching techniques are used throughout the routine to help center the body and relax. Instead of Hindu mantras, anasheeds or Islam-inspired religious hymns are used to trigger the spiritual state of mind.
17. SIX FALLEN BHARATIYA JOURNALISTS HONOURED IN STOCKHOLM: Six Bharatiya journalists, including Delhi journalist Soumya Vishwanathan, among the 87 worldwide who perished in their line of duty during the past 12 months, were among those honoured at the the Royal Cathedral of Stockholm, in an ecumenical service, on Nov.18.
The memorial, instituted by the Professional Foreign Correspondents Association, PROFOCA, of Sweden 2002, was commemorated for the seventh consecutive year. The six Indian journalists featured in the memorial, that has grown to become a global event of increasing repute were: Mohamad Muslimuddin, a correspondent for the daily Asamiya Pratidin; Ashok Sodhi, a photographer for Jammu's English-language Daily Excelsior; Ved Prakash Chouhan, a senior journalist; Komal Yadav, a photographer of Amar Ujala, a Hindi daily; Javed Ahmed Mir of a local Kashmir paper and Soumya Vishwanathan, a TV journalist, working with Headlines Today, who was shot dead in the capital by unidentified persons earlier this year when she was returning home late at night from work.
Ambassadors and senior diplomatic representatives of 34 countries - with the exception of Bharat - to which the slain journalists belonged, along with senior representatives of the Swedish government, participated in the memorial.
18. 11 ANJUMAN MEMBERS GIVEN DEATH PENALTY: A special court in Bangalore sentenced to death 11 members of Deendar Channabasaveshwara Anjuman Trust on Nov. 29 for setting off serial blasts at several churches in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa in 2000.
Special Judge S.M. Shivanagoudar, while sentencing a dozen others to life imprisonment, said though none was killed during these blasts, the attacks tantamount to anti-national activities by the members of the trust. He pronounced the order through a videoconferencing facility from the Sessions Court Complex because of security reasons.
19. POTTU AND NAMASTE, 5,000-YEAR OLD TRADITIONS: The sindhur, or pottu by which it is known in Southern Bharat, a unique marking on the foreheads of Bharatiya, dates back to the third millennium BCE. Even during the early days of civilization people used to wear the sindhur or tilak on their foreheads, excavations along the now defunct Saraswati river have proved. “The Bharatiya woman had adorned her forehead with sindhur as a symbol of marriage. This perhaps also indicated the existence of a structural family life in an orderly society,” Prof B.B. Lal, former director general, Archaeological Survey of India has said.
“We came across the sindhur in terracotta figurines from the sites along the states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Carbon dating confirmed the fact that these terracotta figurines date back to the third millennium BC,” said Prof Lal. “Similarly the practice of greeting one another with namaste and the criss-cross pattern of furrows on farm lands, seen even today in Haryana and Rajasthan, date back to the Saraswati era,” he said.
20. OBAMA PROMOTES SONAL SHAH: US President-elect Barack Obama on November 19 named Bharatiya - American policy wonk Sonal Shah as a leader of a key policy working group.
Shah is one of nine leaders who will head seven Policy Working Groups tasked with "developing priority policy proposals and plans from the Obama Campaign for action during the Obama-Biden Administration,” the transition team announced.
Shah will co-chair the Technology, Innovation and Government Reform panel along with Julius Genachowski and Blair Levin.
Sonal Shah currently heads Google.org’s global development efforts and is on temporary leave from that job to help with the transition. Prior to joining Google, she was Vice President at Goldman, Sachs and Co. developing and implementing the firm’s environmental policy.
21. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PREZ INVITES HINDU STATESMAN ZED: Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has been invited by President of European Parliament (EP) Hans-Gert Pottering for a meeting to discuss Hindu issues and promote interfaith dialogue.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, will meet President Pottering in his Brussels (Belgium) office on December 10.
This might be the first major formal visit of a Hindu leader to EP during the current European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (EYID). Various other world religious leaders who visited EP as part of EYID include Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, Grand Mufti of Syria and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
Zed is Spiritual Advisor to the National Association of Interchurch and Interfaith Families, Director of Interfaith Relations of Nevada Clergy Association, and has been recognised by various organisations for his efforts in interfaith dialogue.
The EP consists of 785 elected members from 27 countries representing 492 million people.
22. YALE UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCES A $75M INDIA INITIATIVE: The renowned Yale University in US launched a Bharat initiative with a corpus of $ 75 million to increase its academic ties with the country.
“The initiative will create new faculty positions on Bharat; specific courses and new curricula across arts, culture, religion and science,” Yale University President Richard C Levin said. Yale plans to triple the number of Indian professors to about 30.
23. COUNTER-INSURGENCY SCHOOL CHANGES COURSE: When the Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJSW) some 130 km from State capital Aizawl, was set up in 1970, the credo was: “Fight a guerrilla like a guerrilla.” The guerrilla, who followed certain ‘ethics of bush war’, is an endangered species today, having evolved into terrorists and shifted from the jungles to the urban landscape.
“Our regular job is to train the armed forces in India and abroad to beat guerrillas in their own game,” told CIJWS commandant Brigadier Anil K Ram. “But we have been updating ourselves to deal with the changing face of extremism, tailoring special courses for the police, who would be manning the battlefields of the future – thickly populated urban centres.”Accordingly, CIJWS has devoted three of its 13 training ranges to hostage intervention.
24. MULTIPLYING MADARSAS REFUSE MODERNISATION: In spite of the Uttarakhand Government's best efforts to modernise madarsas and bring these on par with mainstream schools by adequately funding the traditional religious learning centres, the madarsas have failed miserably to live up to expectations.
At the most, the State exchequer's generous gesture could help increase the number of registered madarsas from 11 in the hill State (when it was part of Uttar Pradesh eight years ago) to a whooping 299 at present.
In a shocking display of utter misuse of the Government's money, of the 299 madarsas registered with the Muslim Education Mission (MEM), only 33 could be modernised by the Social Welfare Department under its ambitious mission of bringing the hitherto old school of learning into the mainstream.
25. ROTORUA DEEPAWALI FESTIVAL 2008: The first Rotorua Deepawali Festival was celebrated in a grand manner on Saturday, 8th November 2008 at the Rotorua Convention Centre, New Zealand. More than 1500 people participated.
Inspite of being an Election Day, many dignitaries participated in the opening ceremony which was held at 11.00 am in the Banquet hall at the Rotorua Convention Centre. Mita Mohi (MBEJP) a Maori Elder, recited a Maori prayer and blessed the occasion. His worship the Mayor, Kevin Winters, JP, officially opened the first Rotorua Deepawali Festival by lighting the lamp. Mrs Steve Chadwick and Todd McClay (Members of Parliament), Brent Crowe (Police officer), and Sridhara Mysore (Hindu Elders Foundation) and a number of councilors were also present. The Master of Ceremony was Dr Meeta Patel and vote of thanks was given by Samir Shah.
26. 'RAM SETHU' ROCKS SELLING LIKE HOT CAKES: Ram Sethu, the mythical bridge which got embroiled in a controversy over the Sethusamudram project, is back in news. This time for the trade of coral rocks, considered to be a part of the holy structure. Droves of pilgrims here are buying coral rocks being sold by the agents and tourist guides, who claim that the rocks were a part of the bridge built by the 'Vanara Sena' for Lord Ram to crossover to Lanka to rescue Sita.
"Pilgrims visiting this temple town buy these stones thinking that they are from the Ram bridge. But they are actually coral rocks," an official of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park said.
As coral rocks tend to float naturally, pilgrims believe that the rocks are the ones used by Rama's army and buy it, he said.
27. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Visitors: Shri Umeshchandra Mishra, pracharak for Thailand, Shri Dineshmani Dubey from Thailand, Shri Kulbhushan Joshi from UK; Shri Vasudev Singh from USA. Pravas: Dr. Shankar Tatawadi, Samyojak Vishwa Vibhag reached UK from Bharat after his pravas of Nepal and Myanmar. Shri Dattatreya Hosbale arrived in Bharat after his pravas of USA, Canada and UK. Shri Shyam Parande toured Bhutan and returned Bharat.
28. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Formlessness: Whatever takes from is false. Only the formless endures. When you understand The truth of this teaching, You will not be born again. For God is infinite, Within the body and without, Like a mirror, And the image in a mirror. As the air is everywhere, Flowing around a pot And filling it, So God is everywhere, Filling all things And flowing through them forever. -- Ashtavakra Gita.
JAI SHREE RAM
SECURE OUR SECURITY
On November 24, defence minister A K Antony told a public gathering in Kochi that our land borders are secure but not the seas. His words turned out to be, unfortunately, prophetic. Intelligence reports suggest that the perpetrators of the terror operation in Mumbai came from the sea. In all probability, they sailed past the naval headquarters before running amok in the city. How did terrorists at least 20 of them seem to have come in rubber dinghies evade the entire security establishment?
Clearly, our long coastline dotted with ports, oil rigs and tourist resorts is a porous border. The Coast Guard, the primary agency responsible for guarding the coastline, doesn't have the personnel or infrastructure to do its job. No border of this nation is secure, especially when there are numerous failed or failing states surrounding the country. But any attempt to secure land borders will fail if we don't secure our coastlines with more ships, listening posts, landing stations and trained personnel.
There is an urgent need for better coordination among various intelligence agencies and with the armed forces. This, however, is possible only if we have a major revamp of our security architecture. Many experts have outlined structural changes in the security establishment, like creating a federal agency, a centralised command structure and a nationwide information base with real-time access to security agencies. Besides, various wings of the security establishment have to be made autonomous and accountable.
An agency like the IB spends most of its resources to gather political intelligence for the ruling party. Most appointments at the highest level in the security establishment are politicised, which explains the lack of accountability. This country has witnessed scores of terror strikes since the 1980s and in the past three years alone, over 800 people have died in terror attacks. But not one public official in India has had to resign after a terror strike. Should security bosses, including the home minister, national security adviser and heads of agencies like RAW and IB, be so secure in their jobs when security personnel and civilians risk lives for their failures?
There is no dearth of reports on how to restructure our security infrastructure. The Kargil Review Committee and Girish Saxena Committee reports are just two of many. These suggested drastic changes in intelligence gathering mechanism and policing. Successive governments have endorsed them. But how much of the strategic vision charted out in these reports has been translated into reality? The government should come out with a white paper and Parliament should have a detailed discussion. We have had enough of piecemeal action and ineffective rhetoric. Wake up to the enormity of the challenge and act now. -- Editorial, Times of India, 29 Nov.