Bhadrapad 31, 2065 Vik Samvat. Yugabda 5110 September 16, 2008

1. FESTIVALS: Vijaya Dashmi which falls on Aashwin Shukla 10, Oct 9 this year, signifies victory of good over evil. It is on this day Ram vanquished Ravan and Arjun picked up his weapons hidden on the Shami tree for a battle with Duryodhan in order to retrieve Virat Raja's cows from him. There is also a story of Kautsa, for whose sake Raghu Raja challenges Kuber - the treasurer of the devas. On this day, Kuber sprinkled gold coins on the Shami tree which Raghu offered to Kautsa. Thus, people perform pujan of Shami tree on this day as its leaves are symbol of gold. The day is also celebrated with ' Shastra Poojan ' when People perform pujan to weapons, tools and instruments and vehicles. They also perform 'Sharda pujan' - of books. It is customary to embark on all types of new ventures on this day, without the need to consider the auspicious time in the 'panchaang.' - muhurta. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh started on this day in 1925 at Nagpur and as such is one of the important among six utsavs.
2. ON TEACHER’S DAY, MODI HOLDS CLASS: Ek swarnim sankalp 5.5-crore gujaratio ne agad vadhar che (One golden resolve can lead 5.5 crore Gujaratis to progress) — thus echoed the voice of Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Town Hall at Gandhinagar on September 5.
The occasion was Teacher's Day. The state government had organised the Vidyarthi Sankalp Abhiyaan along with the presentation of the Best Teacher Awards where around 1.5 crore students including 2.43 lakh from the tribal-dominated Valsad district took a vow of ‘Swarnim Gujarat’. The function was shown live to people across the state through a videoconference.
The students had an interactive session with Modi where he gave candid answers to their questions on education, examination fear and school infrastructure. One student even asked Modi how he had studied during his student days.
With the literacy rate rising in Gujarat, Modi has a vision to further improve the education system. He also urged people to educate their daughters.
Modi said that the state government is ready to provide all technical support to its students so that they have an edge over others. He also said that colleges should concentrate on the development of language skills. Although English is essential, a child learns best if the medium of instruction is his mother tongue, said Modi.
3. GANESH IDOL IN MUMBAI INSURED FOR RS 26.5 MN: For the first time in its 75-year history, Mumbai's popular Ganesh idol known as Lalbaugcha Raja and its massive marquee have been insured for a whopping Rs 26.5 million.
Ganesh idols are worshiped for 10 days and on the 11th day, the statues are taken through the streets in processions accompanied with dancing, singing and fanfare to be immersed in sea, symbolising a ritual see-off of the god.
4. NEW SHAKHA STARTED: A new Shakha of HSS was started on 7 September in University of Southern California(USC), Los Angeles. Total Sankhya was 9 on the first day which included 5 Swayamsevaks and 4 Sevikas. Shakha started with warm up, surya namaskar, Yogasan and Pranayam, parichay, games discussion on how to contact other students on campus for Shakha. Shakha was concluded with Sangh Prarthana.
5. KOSI HAVOC IN BIHAR: On the East of Kosi Embankment are situated the districts of Katihar, Purnea, Araria, Supaul, Saharsa and Madhepura and on the West of embankment are the districts Madhubani, Darbhanga and Samastipur. KUSAHA is the name of the place where the embankment broke, on the 18th of August 2008, causing this catastrophe, leaving behind an unforgettable tale for the survivors of the floods. Organizations like Sewa International, Sewa Bharati, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and other like minded organizations are working together, and serving under the banner of “BARH RAHAT SAHAYTA SAMITI” with its centre at Saharsa and “BARH PEERIT SAHAYTA SAMITI” with it’s headquarters at Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
Samiti has a very strong force, of over 3500 dedicated volunteers involved, working round the clock rescuing, distributing relief materials, providing food and essential health care etc. It has volunteers from local region who are well aware of the topography and hence reaching far flung areas to locate the needy people, waiting to be evacuated to safer locations, in the first place and provide them with the needed help which other agencies involved aren’t able to effectively do , as they are unaware of the terrain.
From 19th of August 2008 itself, the Samiti set up 7 Sewa Centres/Camps in seven most affected districts to provide immediate relief, food, shelter and treating sick people on arrival. The seven centres are as mentioned below: Raghopur; Vivah Bhawan, Shankar Chawk, Saharsa; Bihariganj, Madhepura : Sewa Bharati Office, Madhubani Chawk, Purnea; Sangh Karyalaya, Shiv Mandir Chawk, Katihar; Sangh Karyalaya, Nawgachhia and Shiv Mandir, Forbisganj, Araria
Though the people have started moving back to their homes due to receding flood waters, over 3000 people are still there in our relief camp operating from Zila School in Saharsa district of Bihar.
Distribution of relief materials is still being done from all 7 centres and 21 sub-centres and a regular community kitchen is in operation to provide them food and safe drinking water.
On 7th of September, Baba Ramdev, Acharya Balkrishan and R K Sinha visited our relief centre at Zila School, Saharsa, where he performed Bharat Mata pujan. Speaking on the occasion, he praised the good work being done by Seva Bharati volunteers during this disaster, and went ahead saying that other organizations should also do similar things to serve the needy.
From the 5th of September, a new relief centre has been started at Kodiyapatti in Triveniganj block of Saharsa, catering about 4000 people. This centre is 12 KM from the Triveniganj block headquaters and can only be reached by boats. Team of Doctors from Sewa Bharati, Gorakhpur has set up a medical camp to treat the flood victims in the village Kodiapatti.
6. SIX BHARATIYAS IN FORBES' YOUNG ASIAN RICH LIST: Six Bharatiyas, including Ranbaxy promoter family's Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, Suzlon's Girish Tanti and Indiabulls' Sameer Gehlaut, have made it to a list of 15 youngest Asian billionaires, compiled by business magazine Forbes.
"The country's millionaires jumped 23% last year. The billionaire count soared to 53 from 36 the previous year," Forbes said, adding that Bharat has maintained its pace in the money race.
Other Bharatiyas on the list include real estate firm Oberoi Constructions' Vikas Oberoi and online gambling entity PartyGaming's founder Anurag Dikshit.
7. MY EXPERIENCE DURING MY LAST TRIP TO BHARAT: In my last trip to Bharat, I stayed in my village for 17 days which is my longest stay in my village after 1983. I wanted to
Utilize this stay for some social service. Yoga and accupressure being my favourite topics, I mobilized my fellow villagers, explained them the benefits of these free medical treatment techniques. They were very interested to learn it. Invited them in the morning at 5:30am and had one and a half hour session for several days. It brought very exciting results. Over 50 of them,
Men, women, young, adults and children are performing pranayam, yoga postures and accupressure every day. My sister had severe thyroid and low blood pressure problem. She was on medicine everyday. She stopped the medicine, the day she started the accupressure and pranayam. Now she is very happy to learn these. She feels more strength and no fainting any more. I had to see so many patients with different diseases like thyroid, stomach pain, liver problem, high sugar and others.
They all feel happy now. My mom, who is 75 years old, had chronic pain in her leg. She is practicing both pranayam and accupressure every day. She is very happy to get rid of her leg pain. Another problem I found was heavy smoking and tobacco use. I worked with 3 of them. I am happy to mention that 2 of them, both my elder cousins have stopped it for ever. They mentioned that they feel better doing pranayam, than smoking. I tried to take a few more initiative with other issues, but could succeed because of shortage of time.
Though I went to take care of the final rites of my father, I enjoyed doing these sewa works in my spare time. -- Arun K Sharma, USA
8. REVELATION ON SWISS BANK ACCOUNTS: Subject: Is Bharat a poor Country?
This is so shocking...wish black money deposits was an Olympics event...India would have won a gold medal hands down. The second best Russia has 4 times lesser deposit.
DISHONEST INDUSTRIALISTS, scandalous politicians and corrupt IAS, IRS, IPS officers have deposited in foreign banks in their illegal personal accounts a sum of about $ 1500 billion, which have been misappropriated by them. This amount is about 13 times larger than the country's foreign debt. With this amount 45 crore poor people can get Rs 1, 00,000 each. This huge amount has been appropriated from the people of India by exploiting and betraying them.
Some 80,000 people travel to Switzerland every year, of which 25,000 travel very frequently.
Black money in Swiss banks -- Swiss Banking Association report, 2006 details bank deposits in the territory of Switzerland by nationals of following countries:
Top five
India---- $1,456 billion
Russia ---$ 470 billion
UK -------$390 billion
Ukraine - $100 billion
China -----$ 96 billion
Now do the maths - India with $1456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined. Public loot since 1947.
Can we bring back our money? It is one of the biggest loots witnessed by humankind -- the loot of the Aam Aadmi (common person) since 1947, by his brethren occupying public office. It has been orchestrated by politicians, bureaucrats and some businesspersons.
What is to be noted here is that most of the wealth of Indians parked in these tax havens is illegitimate money acquired through corrupt means. Naturally, the secrecy associated with the bank accounts in such places is central to the issue, not their low tax rates as the term 'tax havens' suggests. Remember Bofors? India could not trace the ultimate beneficiary of those transactions because of the secrecy associated with these bank accounts.
9. NEW JERSEY COURT DISMISSES SONIA DEFAMATION SUIT: A New Jersey court last week tossed out one of the two defamation lawsuits filed by the Indian National Overseas Congress (INOC) seeking $100 million in damages from individuals and non-profits for allegedly defaming Congress party president Sonia Gandhi. The court said the INOC does not have the right to seek damages. A decision on the other identical lawsuit filed by the INOC – but in a New York court and against different individuals – is pending.
The defendants hailed Judge Patricia DelBueno Cleary of New Jersey's Monmouth County Superior Court's dismissal of the much-publicized lawsuit as a measure of the fairness of the American judicial system. Satyanarayana Dosapati, a defendant along with Naresh Sharma, Sunanda Thali, the Mahatma Gandhi Center and Hindu Temple and others, said that he believed the ruling by the New Jersey court would positively impact the case in New York, because the charges are similar.
10. BHARAT WILL AVOID 5MN TONNES OF CO2 BY 2012: Through carbon trading projects under the Clean Development Mechanism, more than 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide will be avoided by 2012 - cutting back 10% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions every year.
The government has cleared more than 1,000 projects for carbon trading, the highest in the world, followed by China, attracting investments worth Rs 119,662 crore in these green ventures. The Clean Development Mechanism is a market driven device under the UN Framework on Climate Change that allows industries in developing countries to get funds to make their plants and production facilities a bit greener.
Under the convention, rich countries are expected to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by a fixed percentage by 2012. But realizing that transition would be costlier in developed countries, the treaty allows rich countries to instead fund green transitions in developing countries and claim credit of the reduced emissions against their targets.
11. 51% OF BUSINESSES OWNED BY SC/ST/OBCS: Over half of all business establishments in the country — 51% to be precise — are today owned by the socially disadvantaged sections, mostly OBCs, with a slim contribution coming from SCs and STs. A closer look at the data shows that the majority of businesses owned by OBCs/SCs/STs are establishments without any hired workers — that is, these are pa-and-ma ops, run by members of the household. They are possibly efforts at self-employment.
The data shows that while people from these sections owned 45% of business establishments at the time of the last Economic Census in 1998, their share has registered a 6 percentage point increase since then. OBCs account for the largest chunk of this growth.
12. HSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA KARYAKARTHA VARG: The HSS Southern California Vibhag hosted a two-day karyakartha varg on August 30th and 31st in San Diego, California. 42 participants fo various age groups and backgrounds from as far as 150 miles came driving to meet in a community center The varg geet was “dhyeya marg par chale veer to”, which inspired all to march forward in the mission for Hindu Unity and the spread of Sanatana Dharma. A two hour Shakha was held on both the days, with emphasis on training in conducting Shakhas; sharing of experiences; a variety of rough games, including tank, tug of war, curuchela; volley ball; Mahakhel; Samarop Bauddhik were main attraction of the varg.
13. LETTER TO EDITOR, THE PIONEER: Reference "A Dark Tunnel Ahead" - (06 Sep).
The usual chant of minority victimhood at the hands of the 'fascist Sangh Parivar' comes out loud and clear. But, how far is this true? Dr. (Father) Vincent Kundukulam of St Joseph Pontifical Seminary, Aluva, Kerala, undertook a doctoral research entitled: Le RSS Et L'Eglise En Inde (RSS and Church in Bharat), at the Sorbonne University, Paris, France, in 2003.To Fr.Kundukulam goes the credit for being the first Christian priest to do a doctoral thesis on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, that too in a foreign university. He is also the first clergyman to author a book on the RSS titled RSS: Enthu? Engott? (What is RSS and Where is it headed for).
The findings of his research and successful defence of the thesis makes for ' very interesting reading '!! Far removed from the stereotype depiction of the RSS by our secularists! ! In his view, the RSS is a multi-faceted organisation which is political, cultural, religious and voluntary in nature and approach. At the same time, Fr. Kundukulam argues against branding the RSS ideology as fascism, Nazism, fundamentalism and communalism. He said the terms fascism, Nazism, and fundamentalism are much abused terms in Bharat. They have a distinct connotation in the European context that can hardly apply to the Bharatiya milieu.One admirable aspect of the RSS, Fr Kundukulam says, is its flexibility to move with the times and to adopt the best from other socio-cultural- religious movements.He admires the RSS for the dedication and discipline of its cadres,the simple life style of its pracharaks, the moral teaching it imparts to the younger generation in its daily sakhas,and the voluntary labour put in by its cadres at critical times such as natural calamities.
Similarly, the Justice Wadhwa Commission of Inquiry appointed to go into the Graham Satines murder, concluded on the basis of evidence presented: "There is no evidence to suggest that any of the persons involved in the crime was in fact a member of either the Bajrang Dal or the BJP or any organization ".
In this light, Father Dominic Emmanuel's Article, can therefore be construed as a case of ' Suppressio Veri, Suggestio Falsi '. H.Balakrishnan, Chennai
14. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Visitors: Sh.Ramesh Mathur, Sh. Niyanta Deshpande - Japan, Sh. Dineshmani Dubey - Thailand, Sh. Jitesh Sehwani - USA. Pravas: Sh. Mohan Bhagwat, Sarakaryavaha RSS is on his last leg of the tour with book release functions on Sept 26 at New York and Sept 28 at London. Dr. Shankar Tatwawadi Samyojak - Vishwa Vibhag is in UK till Oct 9.
15. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Regneration is literally re-birth comes not by the intellect, not by the fullness of the purse, not by policy, not by changte of machinery, but by the getting of a new heart, by throwing away all that we were into the fiare of sacrifice and being reborn in the Mother. Self-abadonment is the demand made upon us. She asks of us, "How many will live for me? How many wil die for me?" and awaits our answer. -- Sri Aurobindo, India's Rebirth.
JAI SHREE RAM

UNIQUE SANGH EXPERIMENT IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
PRAMOD KUMAR

With 98 per cent rate of literacy, majority of the villagers speak Samskrit.
* There are 53 kinds of small and cottage industries in the village of 450 families with a population of 2500.
* Every inch of the agriculture land is irrigated.
* Majority of the farmers have said firm no to the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and adopted organic farming.
* No family uses wood for preparing food; almost every house has a bio-gas plant.
* Awareness about protecting the environment is so wide-spread that every girl of the village ties rakhi to trees on Rakshabandhan day and resolves to protect them.
* Every house has a tulsi plant and flower garden in the premises.
* Every building has a sign of Om/Swastik and other ethical messages on the walls.
* Every house has a toilet.
* The village is free from theft, violence and all kinds of addictions including paan, biri, cigarette, gutkha, liquor, etc.
* No dispute of the village is pending in any court or police station.
* Every family has Sangh swayamsevaks.
Having gone through these highlights, you must be wondering whether it is a fairy tale. But don’t be mistaken. It is absolute truth and the village is Mohad, where people are well aware of their duties and rights. This is manifest in the escalating literacy rate, concisousness about protecting the environment and all-pervasive religious atmosphere in the village. Mohad falls under Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh. About 20 years ago this village was also like any other village of the country. But now it has gone through a sea change. Credit to bring about this incredible change goes to Sangh swayamsevaks of this village.
The man behind this revolution is 75-year-old Shri Surendra Singh Chauhan, who, however, does not claim the credit personally and transfers it to his fellow villagers. “I am just a catalyst; the entire development work has been done by our villagers,” said Shri Chauhan who is affectionately called Bhaiyaji. He made it clear that he does not wish to make the village a town. “The village will remain a village but the technology available in towns will be brought to the village also,” he added.
Mohad is about 100 km from Jabalpur and falls under Kareli tehsil. It is just 5 km from Kareli town. After reaching the village border, one can realise the uniqueness of the village. As one enters the village, a Hanuman temple is standing tall to bless everyone. When I entered the village in the morning of September 1, the thing that impressed me the most was greetings of Jai Shri Ram and Namo Namah even by the kids of three-four years to me, who did not know me at all. On every step the village and the villagers inspire the outsiders. Their every activity carries a message.
Gaon ki pratibha gaon mein, gaon ka paisa gaon mein and gaon ka paani gaon mein (talent, water and money of the village should remain in the village) is the formula on which the village has been developed by swayamsevaks. The village has highly qualified people including Ph.Ds, LL.Bs, engineers, etc. Shri Bhaiyaji is himself MA in English literature. His son Shri Sangram Singh is MA Economics and the second son Shri Vikram Singh is BA LL.B. And all are doing farming in the village. The village has two Ph.Ds, dozens of post-graduates, over 20 graduates, 30 teachers, two journalists, four engineers, three doctors, one Superintendent of Police, two retired and three serving army officers.
Shri Beni Prasad is MA LL.B and is doing farming. He has done a wonderful work in organic farming. He stopped using chemical fertilizers and pesticides and turned most of his farming to organic. There are 38 tractors in the village and at least two farming symposia are held every year in which agriculture scientists are invited to guide the farmers. The government officers of different departments are called in the village to discuss the problems of farmers on regular basis.
Besides other animals the village has over 3000 cows and 154 bio-gas plants. The pressure of bio-gas is more than the LPG. It is also less sensitive than the LPG. “Bio-gas plant has changed our life beyond our imagination. Now there is no tension of purchasing LPG cylinder or cutting the woods from the forests. It is also very cheap. It solved all our energy and power problems,” said seventh pass Smt. Pratibha Chauhan in Samskrit. She pointed out that the cow dung produces more bio-gas than any other animals’ dung in the plant. The villagers have adopted Deenbandhu model of bio-gas plant, which requires less space and less cost. All plants are built underground and the space over them is used mostly for animals. According to Shri Bhaiyaji one plant of 2, 3, 4 and 6 cubic metres costs around Rs 10,000, 12,000, 14,000 and Rs 16,000 respectively. This model has proved very successful. That is why following requests from other villages the artisans of this village go to different states to build similar plants. Now the work is on in the village over the experiments of running diesel engines with bio-gas and storing it in cylinders too. Bio-gas plants have proved to be a milestone in protecting the environment and forests. Tying rakhi on trees by girls has also been taken up as a step to protect them.
Till 15 years back, the people from dalit communities and Vanvasis were not allowed to have even drinking water from the public handpumps and wells. But now the picture has changed. All people belonging to any community can have water from any handpump or well freely. The village Panchayat has ensured at least one handpump at every 100-meter distance. The social harmony has improved to the extent that all villagers jointly perform bhajan-keertan in temples and have meals together. Those people who were earlier deprived of performing aarti during the Durga Pooja and Ganesh festivals now happily do it along with other villagers. Kanyapujan is also held in the village to bridge the gap between the upper and lower classes during Navratras.
Adarsh Hindu Ghar competition is held in the village every year. A few years back, this award was won by a Jatav family of Shri Devkaran Jatav. RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri K.S. Sudarshan and the late BJP leader Saheb Singh Verma jointly visited the village to present the award to this family on 11-4-2000. Writing Om or the sign of Swastik outside every house and having a tulsi plant in the premises is part of the 21-point programme under this competition, which is followed by all.
The village has four schools including one Saraswati Shishu Mandir. Every child of the village goes to school and those who are below three years of age go to balwadis. All the schools begin with Saraswati Vandana and Vande Mataram. Interesting part of it is that even the Muslim students sing Saraswati Vandana and Vande Mataram without hesitation. They also sing Samskrit shlokas along with other students. Every house has the Ramayana and the Gita and the family members read them regularly. But the family members of one Jumman reads the Quran.
Special attention is paid to improve handwriting of the students. Apart from personal efforts on the part of Shri Bhaiyaji who still writes very beautifully, Shri Nana Labhe, a handwriting expert, is invited from Nagpur to teach the techniques of improving handwriting. So far, he has visited the village nine times since 1996.
Mohad has set a noteworthy example on Samskrit propagation. The first Samskrit Sambhashan Varga was held on January 15, 1996 and so far six such Vargas have been organised by the Samskrit Bharati. More than 800 persons including children have learnt Samskrit in these Vargas. There are more than 100 minor children, who can introduce themselves fully in Samskrit. A woman, Smt. Pramila Devi, even topped the All India Kovid Exam of Samskrit, conducted by Samskrit Bharati in 2004, with 84 per cent marks.
Under Udyan Utsava school children are taken to village nursery twice a year and are taught about grafting. According to Shri Bhagvendra Patel, suprintendent of the nursery, the nursery has more than two lakh saplings of rare species. Special experiments of grafting are undertaken here. It has a variety of mango trees, which produces four kinds of mangos—dashahari, chausa, langada and Amrapali at a time.
A few years back the village had six patients of leprosy and 13 of infectious diseases. But now all have been fully cured. The initiative was taken by the swayamsevaks. Though, there is no health centre in the village, there are two arogya rakshaks who cater to the primary health needs. Two camps of Patanjali Yoga training have also been organised in the village to teach proper yoga techniques.
The Sangh work in the village began in 1947 and was on even during the Emergency. Today, every house of the village has at least one swayamsevak. Three swayamsevaks are third year trained and seven have done first year OTC and over 20 have done Prathamik Varga. Today, there is one evening shakha, which has over 30 swayamsevaks including four Muslim swayamsevaks—Habib Khan, Rashid Khan, Jumman and Rais Khan. “Basically the shakha develops the genuine workers who are required for such development. The qualities and facilities that we wish to have for our own family should be available to all villagers, and this is our basic thinking,” added Shri Bhaiyaji.
Before leaving the village on September 2, Bhaiyaji introduced me to Major (retd.) Prabhat Singh Chauhan who has settled in the village after taking VRS. He did wonderful work on vermiculture. “Vermi is basically bhoomiputra and is the best friend of farmers. It is called intestine of the soil. But the chemical fertilizers and pesticides have killed it. It could become a major profession in the villages if taken up properly and seriously,” he said. He has promoted the use of rainwater in batteries instead of distilled water in the village. “This is the benefit of bringing the talent back to the village,” Shri Bhaiyaji explained.
Every person of the village appears energetic and enthusiastic. Nobody throws garbage in streets and every family cleanses the street outside their houses. Bhaiyaji is highly regarded in the village and he visits all the houses and is treated as if he is part of them. The swayamsevaks of Mohad also inspired the people of Baghuwar, an adjoining village, which is also being developed on the lines of Mohad. It has also shown good results. Seeing the inspiring and highly informative quotations on the walls of every house and building in the village the local Collector Shri Manish Singh had commented that the students preparing for UPSC exams must visit this village at least once. And after that two batches of such students have visited the village.
At the time when villagers are migrating to cities, Mohad sets an example as to how to develop villages and how the facilities available in urban areas can be made available in villages. -- The Organiser September 21, 2008

NEEDED: VICHY DETERRENT
SWAPAN DASGUPTA

The conflict between national sovereignty and the 'international architecture' of modern existence has been the source of unending heartburn in the post-War world. Europe was the first to confront it during transition from the Common Market to the European Union. If Ireland's rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon in a referendum two months ago is any indication, the birth-pangs of a new European order have not ceased. The attempt to graft a European constitution on deep-rooted national cultures will continue to agitate the minds of those who still see themselves as Irish, English or Poles.
India's experience with rule-based multilateralism has been dominated by the WTO, a body whose mention arouses virulent populist responses from earthy politicians. For two decades, India has had to face a nuclear debate and demands to join the non-proliferation regime. So far, India has resisted signing CTBT and NPT and chosen to plough a lonely furrow. The Indo-US nuclear deal tickled the national imagination because it indicated a desire by four Big Powers to redesign the 'international architecture' to accommodate India on generous terms.
The debate on how much national sovereignty to concede was bound to be stormy, more so because India's democratic culture is inherently robust. As the deliberations enter the final leg, it is worth taking a step back and examine what the nuclear debate reveals of India. By far the most important discovery is the growing evidence that the Indian establishment, defined loosely as official and non-official decision-makers and opinion-makers, has changed dramatically in the past two decades. Whereas earlier, there was an irrational but unflinching faith in Fortress India, growing prosperity and global exposure has led to a significant erosion of the siege mentality (the ultra-nationalist section of NRIs may be an exception). However, far from generating a healthy cosmopolitanism there has been a temptation to swing to the other end of the spectrum.
The point can be best illustrated by an observation by Brian Sedgemore, a Left-wing British politician. Writing in 1977 on the tedious negotiations over Europe, he noted that "officials interpret being a good European as being synonymous with selling out British interests". He smelt a "Vichy mentality", the willingness to mask surrender in the cloak of nationalism, as Marshal Petain did after the fall of France to the Germans in 1940.
There is little evidence to indict Indian officialdom for displaying a capitulationist streak. On the contrary, there is reason to believe that Indian diplomats fought hard, negotiated well and upheld national interest during discussions on the N-deal. It is, for example, now becoming evident that the Indian negotiators were unaware of the contents of the 'secret' letter sent by the Bush Administration to Tom Lantos. Yet, the statement by the American Ambassador to India that the US had shared with the Indian Government the contents of the letter cannot be disregarded.
It prompts the conclusion that the Indian leadership knew more about the real thinking in the US Administration than it let on. In other words, there was a significant mismatch between how officials and the political leadership perceived national interest. The divergence is not difficult to fathom. Since liberalisation changed the face of the economy, India has seen the emergence of a class more at ease with global citizenship than Indian citizenship. The manifestation of this shift was evident in the defeatist impulses that greeted the azadi hysteria in the Kashmir Valley, the pusillanimity over terrorism and, earlier, in the pro-appeasement noises over Pakistan and China.
On the nuclear question this perspective was best expressed by Rajiv Desai, a publicist for the Congress. Explaining NDA's defeat in 2004, he wrote: "When the Congress came to power three years ago, middle class hearts were gladdened. Having supported the Neanderthal Democratic Alliance led by BJP, many were dismayed by the 1998 N-tests, following which India became a pariah of the international community." Match this statement with those TV pundits who wonder why India is making a fetish of retaining the right to conduct N-tests -- "we don't need it, so why insist on it", they say -- and you can gleam the Vichy mentality in India.
There may be compelling arguments why science has made N-tests as irrelevant as indigo plantations. In that case, why wasn't the Government more forthright about it and willing to incorporate it in the 123 and NSG agreements? It would have made life easier at Vienna. If there is an abhorrence of N-arms in India, why didn't the Government repudiate Pokhran-II and undertake a rollback?
Are we to assume that the political leadership is afraid of public opinion favouring a strong India, values sovereignty and believes in nationalism? The nuclear debate has been marked by widespread intellectual dishonesty. The Government has fallen back on needless secrecy and practised covert diplomacy in an age of information overload. It refused to make public the IAEA draft on the ground that it could provoke "nuclear terrorism" only to see it floating on the Internet. Since 2004, the MEA has closed its doors to scrutiny and prefers dealing with what Arun Shourie calls a "managed media".
The daddy-knows-best syndrome, so prevalent in the pre-information age, has persisted in today's India, triggering a distorted debate and generating lively but needless conspiracy theories. So much so that in the past three years there was more information about the deal coming from American quarters than the Indian Government. This lack of transparency will ensure that the nuclear deal will remain at the heart of many future political storms. India's nuclear assets won't be compromised as long as there is institutionalised vigilance to deter the Vichy mentality. -- September 7, 2008 The Pioneer

Bhadrapad 16, 2065 Vik Samvat. Yugabda 5110, September 1, 2008

1. FESTIVALS: Pitru Paksha, Mahalay Paksha or Shraddha starts from September 15th upto 29th September this year. One of the Vedic traditions observed in the Siddha Yoga path is the observance of Pitru Paksha, which is designated as an especially powerful time to honor our ancestors.
It is a traditional religious belief that deceased ancestors from Lord Yamaraja's region visit their homes on earth during this time. So, if the rite of shraddha is performed on one of the days in the fortnight, then the subtle bodies of ancestors are considered to remain gratified for years.
It is traditional during Pitru Paksha to dedicate spiritual practices such as meditation, chanting, mantra repetition, and prayer to our ancestors. It is also common to perform actions like donating food or money to a charity and planting a tree on the ancestors’ behalf that sustain the natural rhythm of giving and receiving.
2. JAMMU STIR OVER, SAMITI GETS LAND: The Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (AYSS) has suspended its 61-day "mother of all agitations" which saw unprecedented Hindu awakening in the Jammu region with support across the Bharat against the reversal of land allotment . The State panel agreed to set aside 800 kanals of land for the exclusive use of Sri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) at Baltal and Domail during the pilgrimage season without changing its proprietary status/ownership/title. The Board would use the land for the duration of the yatra, including the period needed to make the required arrangements and winding them up, for use by various service providers according to its needs and priorities.
3. GUJARAT ATTRACTS MAXIMUM INVESTMENT IN THE COUNTRY, SAYS RBI STUDY: GUJARAT still tops the list when it comes to most attractive investment destinations in the country. The state attracted maximum project investments in 2007-08, followed by Maharashtra, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, according to a study by the Bharatiya Reserve Bank on projects funded by banks and financial institutions. At the same time, the overall investments in the country are expected to be moderate during FY’09.
With a proposed investment of Rs 62,442 crore from 100 projects, Gujarat continued to occupy the top spot as far as investment intentions are concerned. Of the total investments planned in 2007-08, the state accounted for 22% of the total investment proposals for the year, though this share dipped from the previous year’s share of 25.8%.
4. HINDU ORGANIZATIONS SUSPECT CHURCH HAND IN SWAMIJEE MURDER: The President, Hindu Jagarana Samukhya, Ashok Sahu has accused the Orissa Government of deliberately misleading the public by giving a Maoist color to the gruesome murder of Swamijee Laxmanananda Saraswati at his ashram in Jalasapata in Orissa. His work in Kandhamal was protecting the tribals from Christian conversion. He tried his lavel best to reconvert the tribals to their original faith. Inspired by his personality thousand of people in different parts of the states became his disciple.
As the reconversion got momentum Christians feared of losing their ground. So they attacked Swamiji several times (9 times). The ninth attack on him was on 24th December 2007, where he was narrowly saved being murdered by heavily armed group of 200 people, at Darsingbadi of Kandhamal.
On 22nd August, Swamijee appealed the District magistrate to enhance his personal security. The news that his life is in danger was broadcast by the media in the morning hours, but alas he was done away with in a well planned cold blooded murder by the evening before midnight in his own room. He died on the spot along with all those four others who were with him in the spiritual discourse. Besides him, the deceased included Mataji who was in charge of the Girls' Boarding School, Amritananda Baba, Kishore Baba and guardian of a female student in the Ashram.
Swamiji’s last words before getting killed while speaking to one of his devotees "Never have fears of death when you are working for the cause of the Motherland". He laid his life for the cause for which he stood his entire life.
Vedanta Kesari Swami Laxmananda Saraswati: Vedanta Kesari Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati (84) is known as second incarnation of Lord Parsuram. He took the vow to develop the downtrodden class of the society and made his centre of activities at Chakapada in tribal dominated Orissa's Kandhmal district.
Besides social and religious development of the tribal people, he tried almost four decades to empower them economically and academically. He established a Gurukul pattern of school and a college to teach Sanskrit in Chakapada a remote place of Kandhamal.
Sankaracharya Kanyashram, a residential school at Jalespatta is another ashram of Swamiji in the district, where education is being imparted to women population with an intention to build their character and bring cultural nationalism among them.
While there was a move to ban cow slaughter in Bharat, Swamiji came from Himalaya to Orissa. After the movement of cow protection was over, Swamiji decided to return back to his Tapashya, when the then RSS chief of Orissa Sri Bhupendra Kumar Basu narrated the sad stories of the tribal population and requested him to help the suffering population. Swamiji went to Phulbani (Kandhmal) with Sri Basu, saw the life of people there and decided to serve the backward people mostly tribals and harijans there and help them to join into the main stream of the society.
In 1969 he started his first ashram at Chakapada and the ashram became a centre for brisk activities. He renovated the temples: Birupakshya,
Kumareswar and Jogeswar and established a Sanskrit school and a college.
Swamijee invested his full energy to teach the youth of schedule caste and schedule tribe in Sanskrit and built the youths as disciplined citizen well civilized, well cultured, well educated, well spiritual and protector of the society.
Swamijee was well versed in Vedanta philosophy, Sanskrit grammer and was awarded with the honour as "VEDANTA KESHARI". He not only gave philosophical thoughts to the people but taught them good cultivation, animal care, and horticulture and so on. The students coming out from the Kalyan Ashram Gurukula are taking leadership of the society in economic, social and cultural fields.
He stood firm in Phulbani district for a long time and struggled hard to preserve and protect the tribal culture and dharma, the Sankaracharya of Govardhan Pitha, Puri awarded him with the Upadhi as "BIDHARMI KUCHAKRA VIDARAN MAHARATHI.
He has started night school for adult education. Insisting the parents to send their children to the school by which the literacy rate amongst tribal and Harijans of that area has increased.
The local Harijan and tribal people of Kandhamal become more health conscious after coming to the satsangh. They started to keep their houses clean, take bath every day, take safe drinking and thousands of families of the scheduled caste community have given taking beef which, made them healthy and disease less.
Swamiji taught them not to take liquor or any other alcoholic drinks during Satsang. Then gradually they leave the habit of taking such drinks. When they were free form alcohol they got ample time to do some work. Which, they utilize in their field and other activities for their development. More than 500 villages in the district benefited out of Swamiji's noble way to control liquor business as well as people on their own boycotted all intoxicant materials.
Swamiji taught grammar to the student in the class and technique of good cultivation in the field. He taught the villagers when and how to cultivate paddy vegetables etc. By which people of G.Udaygira and Raikia block area produce the best quality and highest quantity of beans in orissa. There also formed a vegetable cooperative society at Katingia by agricultural development the economic conditioned improved a lot.
Swamiji always insisted the tribal not to be afraid of any body. He accompanied them to the govt offices and police stations and made them fearless. They got the courage to face to the collector or SP directly.
Now we can see greenery everywhere in the Kandhmal because it has more forest cover than any other district. It is all due to Swamijis efforts
to insist them to take wood when required. He also established 'Maths' on the hill tops in several parts of the district and told the villagers that the trees in the hill belong to math and the village community. If emergency arises one can cut a tree and take wood only after the permission of the village committee. That worked tremendously. The joint
forest management system which govt. started now has been started by Swamiji from 1970.
He was against the indiscriminate cow slaughter. He taught the people to protect cattle from slaughtering and taking beef. In several occasion he staged demonstration, dharanas and participated in the hunger strike in several parts of the state. He toured through out the state for this cause.
He was associated with several socio-cultural and religious organizations. He was a founder member and inspiration of VHP and Kalyana Ashram of odisha.
5. ANOTHER CIVILIAN TREK TO SIACHEN IN OCTOBER: Bharat has finalised plans for another civilian trekking expedition to Siachen this October, in a clear reiteration to Pakistan that the forbidding glacial heights are fully under Bharatiya control and remain "non-negotiable" till it accepts Bharatiya conditions.
Defence ministry sources said the Army Adventure Cell would organise the trek to the world’s highest, coldest and costliest battlefield, which no longer witnesses the daily artillery duels after the November 2003 ceasefire, from October 1 to 21 this year. The plan is to take around 40 people, including Army experts, defence scientists, NCC and military school cadets and "civilian volunteers", on the "unique adventure activity".
Though both Bharat and Pakistan have accepted the need to demilitarise the glacial heights right since 1989, the bone of contention in the protracted negotiations has been the "authentication" of the AGPL beyond the NJ-9842 grid reference point — where the well-delineated Line of Control simply stopped dead in the 1972 Simla Pact — right till the Karakoram Pass. Bharat wants the AGPL to be "authenticated" first as an international safeguard before any troop disengagement, withdrawal and the final demilitarisation of the glacier.
6. SHANTIJI TEACHES BABA RAMDEV’S YOG IN US: This July and August, Shanti Prasad Agrawal, associated with Vishwa Vibhag of HSS in Delhi and a trained teacher of Baba Ramdev’s yogic exercises, was on a visit to his family members in US. While Baba Ramdev was holding five-day camps in Los Angeles, Houston and Washington DC, Shantiji’s yog classes were arranged in Hindu Temple of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. The first two classes on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th of July, attended by 45-50 people including many of foreign origin, Bhastrika, Kapal Bhati, Bahya Pranayam, Anulom-Vilom, Bhramari, Udgeeth and Pranav alongwith seven mini exercises and seven asans were taught with demonstration. The extended classes Monday-Thursday, were attended by 30-50 sadhak-sadhikas. At the end, Shantiji was presented a memento and a card of thanks appreciating his efforts.
Similar encouraging response was received to eight of Shantiji’s yog classes in Hindu Temple of North Carolina in Raleigh-Durham between July 25-August 12, attended by 50-60 sadhak-sadhikas having roots in many countries. Two of Shantiji’s yog classes were held in shakhas of HSS amidst more than 20 families. A bauddhik on Shivaji was imparted to kids of Bal Gokulam in the same temple.
7. YOGA SOOTHES WORST SYMPTOMS OF MENOPAUSE: Women had fewer night sweats, better concentration, study says: Yoga can reduce hot flashes and night sweats among women going through menopause, and also appears to sharpen their mental function, researchers from Bharat report.
To investigate whether yoga would help women with physical and cognitive symptoms of menopause, they randomly assigned 120 menopausal women, 40 to 55 years old, to yoga practice or simple stretching and strengthening exercises five days a week for eight weeks.
The postures, breathing and meditation included in the yoga intervention were "aimed at one common effect, i.e. 'to develop mastery over modifications of the mind' ... through 'slowing down the rate of flow of thoughts in the mind,"' the researchers explain.
After eight weeks, women in the yoga group showed a significant reduction in hot flashes, night sweats, and sleep disturbances, while the women in the control group did not, Dr. R. Chattha, of the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana in Bangalore, Bharat, and colleagues found.
Both groups showed improvements in a test of attention and concentration, although improvement in the yoga group was significantly greater. In a test of memory and intelligence with 10 components, the yoga group improved on eight, while the control group improved on six. 8. ROUTE MARCH ON GURU PUJA IN MAURITIUS: Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh Mauritius organized its yearly route March on 6 August 2008 in the town of Quatre Bornes. 45 Swayamsewaks and 30 Sevikas in ganavesh participated in the march with the Bhagwa Dhwaja for two kilometers on the beat of Anak, Panava and on the tune of bansis. The march lasted for half hour.
Later in the day, Subhash Bhagwat, a senior Sangh Karyakarta from Mumbai had an interactive session with the Swayamsewaks and sevikas on Sangh work and the duty of a Swayamsewak and a Sevika.
9. SAMAPAN SPEECHES AT VISHWA SANGH SHIKSHA VARGS AT BHAGYANAGAR: (This is in sequel of the Sangh and Samiti Shiksha Varga news:): RSS Sarkaryavah Shri Mohan Bhagwat speaking at the concluding function of Vishwa sangh Shiksha Varga appealed to the swayamsevaks to work collectively to make Bharat strong. He stressed that Bharat has solutions to many of the ills plaguing the humanity like environmental protection, family system and capacity to overcome religious fundamentalism. Only strong Bharat can give solutions the world is looking for and achieve universal happiness. He quoted Arnold Toyanbee who said that Bharat has to share her thoughts with the world and the world should get faith in Bharat about her ability.
Bharatiyas- Leave Westernism and Strengthen Bharatiyata: Vandaneeya Pramilatai Medhe, Pramukh Sanchalika of Rashtra Sevika Samiti who spoke at the concluding function of Samiti Shiksha Varga exhorted the sevikas to dedicate for the cause of Hindutva and hindu unity by making offerings physically, mentally and financially thereby contributing for universal happiness. She pointed out that even after 60 years of Independence; Bharatiyas are looking at western countries. She appealed Bharatiyas to shed westernization and adopt and strengthen Bharatiyata meaning Hindutva, which denotes complete universal happiness, universal peace and victory to Hindu Dharma.
10. RS. 80 CRORE MASTER PLAN TO RENOVATE KUKKE TEMPLE: The BJP Government of Karnataka has prepared a Rs. 80 crore Master Plan for renovation of the Kukke Subramanya temple located in the village called Subramanya in the Western Ghats of the State, about 105 km from the coastal town Mangalore. The temple is one of the famous pilgrimage sites in the state. A sum of Rs. 80 crore of the temple funds would be utilized for renovation work of the temple, construction of guesthouse, commercial complex, booking counter, bus-stand and other facilities.
Tirupathi Temple: A decision has also been taken to construct a 1,000 room guesthouse on 7.5 acres, land adjoining the Lord Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala in Tirupathi, for providing accommodation for pilgrims visiting the temple from Karnataka.
11. HINDU HERITAGE CAMP (HHC) BY JIJAMATA SHAKHA MILPITAS, US, Aug 18-20: Milpitas Shakha team conducted three full days HHC from Aug 18th to Aug 20th 2008 .Forty one children (16 Balas, 25 Shishu’s) attended the camp. Out of this only 12 children were from Shakha. Camp was inaugurated with lighting of a lamp by Praudh Swayamsevak Prabhakarji with reciting of shloka of Lord Ganesha.
The games were held from 12-1pm. Shishu Gana participated in Vyayam Yoga and Bala Gana in Samata and Niyudh. Warm up and Surya Namaskar were common for all Ganas. Three geets were taught: Shishu learned “come here my dear”, Balas practiced “eesh hame deta hai sub kuch” but “ham honge kamyab” was common for both the Ganas. A beautiful art and craft project, led by Kanchanji, was carried in three phases on all three days. A guided tour to Paramhansa Swami Nityananda Temple was arranged.
On the last day, Shri Mahendraji (Yoga master) conducted Yoga session for Balas; and Prarthana with Bhagwa Dhwaj was done. In the Graduation Ceremony, at 5:30pm, the campers showcased what they had learned in the camp to their parents.
12. US BHARATIYAS TURN TO ETHNIC BANKS FOR LOANS: Bharatiya immigrants in the US now have a much better chance of realising their American dream. More and more banks run by Bharatiyas are opening in North America to cater to the new Bharatiya immigrant. At least seven Indian-American ethnic banks have opened in the past three years; there are about a dozen such banks in the US now. The richest among these banks, the Mutual Bank of Chicago, has assets worth $1.35 billion. It's 1,000 times smaller than Bank of America, the leading bank in the US.
13. DETECT, DELETE AND DEPORT THE BANGLADESHI INFILTRATORS: The ABVP unit at JNU, Delhi has come out with a strongly worded appeal against the disinformation spread on the campus in view of its campaign against Bangladeshi infiltration in N-E Bharat. ABVP release said in unequivocal terms that it does not intend to hurt the feelings of the Bangladeshi students but the fact remains that there exists difference between migration, infiltration and visiting a country as student or tourist on Visa. Infiltration and immigration are a constant threat to internal security and stability of a polity.
The ABVP appeal seeks your (students from Bangladesh) constructive support in our movement and states that ABVP is not standing against any individual….but against a phenomenon called infiltration and atrocities against the Hindu-Buddhist minorities in Bangladesh. It appealed to all the democratic and nationalist minded Bharatiyas to rally behind ABVP so as to create a situation by mounting pressure on the Bharatiya Government to implement 3D policy (Detect, Delete and Deport) against the Bangladeshi infiltrators.
14. BHARAT'S FOREX RESERVES ABOVE OPTIMAL LEVEL, SAYS IMF: Bharat's foreign exchange reserves at around $286 billion are much above the optimal level, said a recent IMF study, pointing out that forex accumulation has reduced external vulnerabilities and decreased the risk of financial contagion. Bharat ranks among the other major emerging Asian nations like China, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand which have accumulated excessive foreign exchange reserves, said an IMF working paper on "Are emerging Asia's reserves really too high?".
15. BANDHS CAN NEVER BE THE ULTIMATE WEAPON: LEFT CM: West Bengals Left Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya told a cluster of businessmen on August 26 in Kolkata how frequent bandhs were bothering him. Not only this, he went on to maintain that irrespective of his political affiliations he would never sponsor general shutdowns.
It ws "unfortunate" that he had a political affiliation, he said, adding "given to me, my personal views are" bandhs as a weapon were less fruitful than it once considered and "I will continue to raise my voice against such activities."
The Chief Minister was firmly backed by his Transport Minister Subhas Chakrabarty who maintained "frequent bandhs can never be the ultimate weapon to extract demands", and added strikes were often counter productive in modern context.
16. OVL TO ACQUIRE IMPERIAL ENERGY FOR $2.6 BILLION: Bharat's state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp has won approval from Imperial Energy PLC for a 1.4 billion pound ($2.6 billion) takeover of the British company, a deal which will help ONGC meet surging demand from its burgeoning domestic economy for fuel.
ONGC and Imperial said in a joint statement on August 26 that their boards had reached agreement on the terms of a preconditional cash offer, which values Imperial shares at 1,250 pence (US$22.95).
17. GOING VEGGIE CAN SLASH YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT: STUDY: Giving up meat could drastically reduce your carbon footprint, with meat-eaters' diets responsible for almost twice the emissions of those of vegetarians, a German study has said. A diet with meat is responsible for producing in a year the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving a mid-sized car 4,758 kilometres (2,956 miles), the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IOeW) said.
But the food a vegetarian consumes in 12 months is responsible for generating the same emissions as driving 2,427 kilometres, the IOeW said in a study commissioned by independent consumer protection group Foodwatch.
18. PRAVAS REPORT: Dr. Yashwant Pathak, Sah-samyojak Vihwa Vibhag: Sridhar Talanki ji (Denver Sanghachalak) and five other swayamsevaks from Colorado Vibhag attended Conference of Indigenous Cultures of Southwest USA at Lama Foundation, San Cristobal near Taos on July 31. Yashwant ji introduced International Center Cultural Studies (www.ICCSUS.org) to all participants, emphasized the need for all indigenous traditions to strengthen the foundation and exhorted everyone to be a part of this great mission to work for entire humanity. All the thirty five participants listened in rapt attention; some of the Native American elders were touched emotionally to know about the efforts being made.
SD YoungWolf (Surya Das ji), a Cherokee elder, started with a traditional Cherokee blessing. Pat McCabe, a Navajo elder performed Lakota mother earth worship with all the participants. This was followed by a Hindu havan ceremony.
In the afternoon session there was a nice slideshow presentation by SD YoungWolf, on his travel experiences across north eastern states of Bharat. Yashwant ji spoke about the “The importance of conservation of ancestral cultures before the globalization” and “Non Eastern Dharmic Cultures and Traditions”. Taos Pueblo elders, Mountain Dann who visited Bharat on a project studying similarities of ‘Ganga' & 'Rio Grande’ rivers known for their sanctity among the lives of Hindus and Native Americans respectively praised the efforts of ICCS and all the volunteers for bringing together this great forum to encourage everyone work for the common cause.
19. BALDEV BHAI SHARMA IS NEW PANCHJANYA EDITOR: Senior Hindi journalist Shri Baldev Bhai Sharma has joined as the new editor of the leading Hindi weekly Panchjanya on August 14. He replaced Shri Tarun Vijay who is now director of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Sewa Nyas.
20. BIHAR FLOOD APPEAL SEPTEMBER, 2008: The floods in north Bihar are back. Each year Bihar faces cycle of destruction, involuntary displacement, migration and large-scale loss of human life, cattle, crops and infrastructure. But this year’s change of course by Kosi river due to a breach in its embankment has proved catastrophic – a disaster affecting more than 2 million people in 15 districts – that the PM declared it a national calamity. More than 2000 volunteers in Kosi Vibhag and 500 in Purnia are working day and night, under the auspieces of ' Badh Peedit Sahayata Samiti', providing food and shelter along with rescue work at over a dozen places viz Raghopur, Bihariganj ( Saharsa ), Madhubani Chowk ( Purnia). Sewa International has already resolved to aid this onerous task of relief and rehabilitation work started by its partner organizations.More information can be seen at www.sewausa.org, www.sewainternational.com
21. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: Sarkaryavaha Shri Mohan Bhagwat will be on a 3-week pravas of Trinidad, Guyana, Surinam starting on Sept 11. On the return leg he will be in New York (Sept 26) and London (Sept 28) for the book release function of the book ' M S Golwalkar - Vision and Mission '. Dr.Shankar Tatwawadi, Samyojak Vishwa Vibhag will reach UK on Sept 12 for a month long stay. Visitors: A group of 6 sevikas and 5 swayamsevaks from Carribeans visited many places in and around Delhi after the VSSV 08. 5 UK shisksharthis also visited Delhi and Amritsar. Dr. G.L.Bhan UK
22. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: All our great men have invariably commanded everyone, however good and virtuous he may be, to be humble and prusdent in all his behaviour. It does not, however, mean that a worker should lose his self confidence while moving with men or facing difficult situations. Self confidence is in fact the very life breath of all great workers. The tranquility of mind born out of supreme confidence in one’s own strength is an inexhaustible dynamo of power. – Sri Guruji
JAI SHREE RAM

SILENT HINDU, ANGRY HINDU
Tolerance should not be seen as weakness
ASHOK CHOWGULE

A Hindu finds it very uncomfortable to talk bad about others. And this characteristic is often treated as a sign of weakness by his opponents, and serious attempts are made to bully him into submission. A Hindu tolerates it all -- but only up to a certain point. When he reacts, he reacts ferociously.
Forces which have been working to destroy Hindu civilisation have had success almost in all their other encounters. Even though Hindu civilisation has retreated from some areas, the Hindu has still kept alive the ethos in a large area. It is today the oldest surviving civilisation.
Despite its proven record of resilience, the attacks on Hindu civilisation have not ceased. The expectation of the enemy is that the resistance may snap, and then victory will be theirs. It is the duty of every Hindu to be eternally vigilant and not let down their ancestors who so valiantly fought to keep the ethos alive.
The issues surrounding the provision of facilities for pilgrims to the Amarnath shrine have to be viewed in this context to make sense of those opposing the leasing of 97 acres of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board. The Hindu is reacting not just to the injustice that is being done in this case, but the injustices that he has been suffering for a long time.
In an article in Arab News, MJ Akbar has succinctly stated the Hindu case. He writes: "The Hindu who has quietly watched mosque and dargah expand around him, explodes when a few acres are denied to pilgrims on the arduous trek to Amarnath. He has seen Haj houses sprout around him for Muslims on their way to Mecca. These Haj houses are not loaned to the community for the two months involved in the two-way journey for Haj; they have become community centres all year round. He asks a question: Why should he be denied a place for tired feet on the way to Amarnath?"
This denial is supported by those who are considered to be moderate Muslims, as well as those who carry the label of secularism proudly on their sleeves. Mr Omar Abdullah announced in the Lok Sabha that Kashmiri Muslims "will give their lives but won't part with the land". If that be the case, does he have any moral right to own land outside the Kashmir Valley? The 'secularists' are blaming the previous Governor for implementing the orders of the various courts to provide proper facilities for pilgrims.
The 'secularists' have also made serious attempts to obfuscate the real issue. They have implicitly given credence to the ridiculous argument by the separatists that the granting of the land would alter the demographic composition of the Kashmir Valley. They want people to forget that the damage was done in the 1990s when Kashmiri Hindus were ethnically cleansed from the Valley by the very forces which are today opposing the leasing of land.
This is not the first time Hindu angst has expressed itself. Famously the Ram Janmabhoomi movement is the beginning of it in modern times -- a movement which VS Naipaul described as one which started from the bottom. The attempt by the UPA Government to belittle, through an affidavit in the Supreme Court, the memory of Sri Ram, the maryada purushottam (the ideal person), was met with widespread resistance on the streets.
On the one hand, Hindus are faced with the threat of Islamist terrorism, and on the other, the are confronted by an indifferent system. Decisions relating to the interest of the nation are taken on the basis of vote-bank politics, and this programme is authenticated by pseudo-secular intellectuals. Thus, it is alleged by the latter that the Jammu intifada has made Islamist terrorists and separatists in the Kashmir Valley stronger. The support to them by parties like the PDP is completely ignored. And there is no mention that it is to appease them that the lease of land to the SASB was cancelled.
'Secular' political parties take Hindus for granted. As in the past, this time too Hindu anger was underestimated by the Government which did not anticipate a reaction. Pseudo-secular intellectuals, rather than place the facts in the proper perspective, have only ended up communalising the entire issue. -- The writer is vice-president of the VHP. (The Pioneer 18 August)

SIMI'S SECULAR ADMIRERS
They will do anything to further their vote-bank politics

S GURUMURTHY
A few publicly known facts expose the state of the debate on Islamist terror. After the blast in Ahmedabad, the Gujarat Police kept uncovering, defusing dozens of live bombs in Surat that fortunately did not explode. Even as the recovery of such bombs was being telecast live on TV channels on August 5, a Delhi court lifted the ban on SIMI, faulting the UPA Government for providing "no fresh evidence" to continue the ban.
The real story followed after this. Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, the two crutches of the UPA, welcomed the lifting of the ban, saying that the ban itself was wrong in the first place. Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said the court decision was "no set-back" for the Congress! He went one step further and said, "It is the State Governments which are investigating the matter so it's their responsibility to submit the evidence against SIMI to the Union Government," almost implying that no evidence exists against SIMI.
Other secular parties, including those with the NDA, were careful not to fault the Government for allowing the SIMI to escape the charge of terror. Stunned by the court's view that "fresh evidence" of terror was necessary to continue with the ban, the Government rushed to the Supreme Court and got the tribunal's order stayed.
It was in the background of such prevarication on SIMI that the Gujarat Police broke the news on August 16 that it had arrested 10 top SIMI activists who had masterminded the Gujarat blasts; and also the blasts in Rajasthan and elsewhere. It also came out with the irrefutable story of how the terrorists conspired.
When the 'secularists' were handing out a negative certificate of good conduct to SIMI, thanks to the court order, a study by the Institute of Conflict Management, headed by KPS Gill, had already catalogued over a hundred incidents from 2000 to July 2008 that characterised SIMI as a terror outfit. Its cadre had been charged as motivators and perpetrators in major terror attacks between 2002-08. State Governments, including the Congress and Communist, and the UPA at the Centre, had told courts and Parliament at different times that SIMI was an anti-national, terrorist organisation; that it was linked to Lashker-e-Tayyeba and other Islamist terror outfits; that huge quantities of arms and ammunition, including RDX, were seized from their hideouts and cadre.
In February 2007, the Supreme Court said that SIMI had not stopped its activities when its counsel pleaded that after 2003 there was no evidence to link it to anti-national activities. Moreover, the Maharashtra Police had alleged in a chargesheet that SIMI was linked to Pakistan.
After it was founded in 1977 for the propagation of Islam and jihad in the cause of Islam, how did SIMI grow to this menacing proportions? The answer is pretty simple. It received open and clandestine political patronage from the 'seculars'.
The NDA Government first banned SIMI in September 2001 and extended the ban thereafter in 2003 which continued till September 2005. The UPA Government, which came to power in 2004, did not extend the ban when it expired in September 2005, thus helping to revive a disintegrating SIMI.
But why did the UPA not continue the ban? Because the Congress had opposed the first ban on SIMI in 2001. It was Mr Salman Kurshid, president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, who was the counsel defending SIMI in the High Court and in the Supreme Court against the ban.
See how these secular admirers of SIMI defended the terror outfit that was anti-secular, anti-democracy, anti-India. The Government of the very same party had to re-impose the ban in 2006 after its own Maharashtra Government found SIMI involved in the Mumbai train bombings. But this was after SIMI had grown to gigantic proportions.
Yet, even now Congress president Sonia Gandhi has not uttered a single word against SIMI. Does it mean that she admires it? Or she is so saintly that, like one of the three noble monkeys of Mahatma Gandhi, she sees no evil, whether it is SIMI or LTTE or Nalini or Afzal -- the RSS and its allies being the only exceptions. -- The Pioneer 27 August 2008