Media gag in progress

Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi does not smile much. In fact he does not smile at all. He speaks in a monotonous yet forceful voice. He is a curious choice for a party whose major leaders cry themselves to sleep every night over the plight of people. Singhvi does not appear to have an ounce of compassion in him.

Actually Singhvi does his job as the hatchetman quite well. There are not too many people who can claim with a straight face that the proposed Broadcasting Services Regulatory Bill and Draft Content Code is very similar to existing regulations in countries like the US and appear to be fully convinced about it at the same time.


Singhvi comes from the same ideological stable which has provided us with our latest President. There is something chilling about the absolute loyalty they feel for their party and the Gandhi family.

To get a feel for the Draconian nature of the bill, consider this:

1. TV channels and newspapers will have a Government appointed super editor (think of a zealous class monitor in middle school) who will ratify every piece of programming and news.
2. You need prior permission before launching sting operations and need to inform the target.
3. It is strongly suggested that media should not report matters related to political or industrial controversy.

There will be steep fines for violations and even license cancellations.

The implications of this bill is very serious. The likelihood of this bill making it into the law is quite high as well. This is a particularly vulnerable time for the left. They are likely to support the bill. Perhaps a moot point since the lefties are control freaks anyway.

As journalist Nalini Singh pointed out, the channels may have to swallow the bill this time. The reason is simple, there is intense competition between the channels and all of them have made heavy capital investments. Even a temporary license cancellation may wreck their cashflows.

This bill proves the desperation of Congress to win the 2009 elections. They are not leaving anything to chance. Since assuming power all they have done is try and reinforce their vote banks. Many of these moves have backfired. The party has also suffered a series of ill-timed politically inconvenient incidents.

This bill is a harbinger of politically tumultuous times ahead.

Don't compare Apples to Oranges

There is an online signature campaign going on which calls for equitable punishment for Hindu rioters and Muslim terrorists. The verbiage of the petition is disgusting and can be considered a contempt of the Sovereign state of India.

For a fact based (as opposed to life stories based) analysis of the case under consideration, read this post by Offstumped.

Among the many dreadful things I learned from the analysis was the sad fate of a family of five, including a a specially abled girl, charred to death by miscreants.

Justice for all is a fine concept and we are all for it. What is puzzling is the apples to oranges comparison between rioters and terrorists. Riots are primitive, they happened plenty during the Mughal period as well. Terrorism is a very new invention, it is modern, it is far more dreadful in consequence.

What we should really call for is equal punishment for Hindu rioters and Muslim rioters and for Hindu terrorists and Muslim terrorists. Given that about a third or slightly more of the victims of riots were Hindus (in specific cases in Kerala etc. there have been different casualty patterns), it is imperative that the law seeks out and punishes Muslim rioters as well.

Now for the hard part. We had a dreadful attack on our own soil by Hindu terrorists, which resulted in the killing of a charming young Prime Minister. This eventually led to the capture of the culprits. Alas, their death sentence was commuted. Compare this to the death sentences being meted out to the Muslim terrorists. Gross perversion of justice if you ask me.

Of course if you were really a sucker for justice, you would follow the trail of Murugan Nalini & Co. real hard and who knows where you would get to? Would the end of the trail lead to a man wearing dark glasses?

We will never know.

Too much chhole causes flatulence

The alleged mastermind of the multi-crore land scam in the capital, Ashok Malhotra, was on Monday arrested by CBI after he surfaced in the studio of a private news channel.

Malhotra, who had been evading CBI summons for the past few days, was arrested in Noida. CBI officials were waiting outside the studio to arrest him.

Appearing on the channel, Malhotra had offered to surrender on the condition that the central investigative agency interrogate him in the presence of a legal team. [link]

The chickens are coming home to roost (or should we say to feed on chhole) for the UPA Government. Where are the stingers when you need them? Let us remind our readers that Tehelka has been running a special on food vendors in New Delhi for sometime now. Is it possible that they were in on the scam?

It just stinks.

Education Missionary Style

In a shocking incident, the principal of a school in Andhra Pradesh gave electric shocks to a 10-year-old student. Police in Tuni town on Saturday registered a case against the principal of a residential school run by a Christian mission. Police were on the lookout for the principal, who allegedly justified the punishment before escaping to evade arrest.

During the investigation, police found that unable to bear the harsh punishment, a few students ran away from the Good Shepherd International High School. The shocking fact came to light after Shirisha, a Class III student, and her parents dared to lodge a complaint with the police.

"The investigations are on to find out as to how many students were given electric shocks," he said. The incident came close on the heels of another one where a school teacher allegedly pushed a five-year-old student so hard that he injured his tongue badly. Parents of five-year-old K. Devi Vara Prasad, a student of lower kindergarten at St. Mary School in Nallakaunta, lodged a complaint with the police in this regard two days ago.

Last month, the head master of a private school in Mahabubnagar district was arrested for allegedly chaining a Class III student as punishment. [link]

Shocking, very shocking. A similar incident in a non-missionary school would first lead to huge outcries, then allegations of casteist oppression and finally TV programs which would conclude that the reason behind all this is the cultish nature of Hindu religion.

Roaches

Only the paranoid survive.
- Andrew Grove

The threat of major conflict between India and Pakistan will overshadow all other regional issues during the next 15 years. [...] The decisive shift in conventional military power in India's favor over the coming years potentially will make the region more volatile and unstable.
- Global Trends 2015 (CIA Report)

However, their asymmetrical conventional force capabilities and doctrines could create pressures for one side to launch nuclear weapons, even if they would prefer not to.
- The Risk of Nuclear Use Between India and Pakistan (Center for Contemporary Conflict)

There are only three ways to build lasting cooperation and friendship in the international arena. Culture, commitment and credibility. The US and the UK will never go to war against one another. Japan is a trusted nation because of its strong commitment, which they showed by building a no war doctrine into their constitution. The third option requires a lot more work. There are several ways to achieve it, consistency being a primary requirement. Arab nations will never heckle Israel, except for launching covert terrorist attacks against this tiny nation. Israel's doctrine has been very simple and derived directly from Newton's third law. Credible? You bet.

In a manner of speaking, India's foreign policy has been pretty consistent so far, consistent in its continuous bungling and utter lack of direction. This must frustrate other countries no end. The objective of foreign policy is the well being of citizens, not earning brownie points (or awards) for being nice.

There were some quotes in the beginning of this post. They are somewhat outdated, because they analyze the India-Pak situation within assumptions of rationality. After the Red Mosque fiasco, who will believe that Pakistan (as a sum total of its various fractious groups, powerful army and a dubious Government) will behave rationally?

This brings us to an important question. How likely is a preemptive nuclear strike from Pakistan? A corollary to that is, if Pakistan is supposed to be X% irrational, why even bother? Both questions can be easily answered. Given how close Pakistan was to launching a preemptive attack recently, the probability remains very high. Now, irrationality takes many hues. One can be a complete basket case in which case all bets are off. But it is easy to see that the powers that be within Pakistan do care about their own well being. Therefore, it is safe to assume that a credible deterrant on India's part will necessarily involve:

(a) A complete annihilation of Pakistan
(b) A complete subjugation of Pakistan leading to a likely capture of its leadership

The 1-2-3 agreement will act as a serious dampener against India's nuclear counter-strike credibility.

First, think of the US point of view. The US needs to build its own credibility. It directly follows that if another nation were to jerk it around after signing an agreement, the US will not like it too much. The nuke agreement, to the American people, is a commitment to reduce chances of nuclear war, as simple as that. Now, think of what happens when Pakistan launches a preemptive attack now. The US is in a jam. Pakistan will be defeated in a conventional war and the US Dems will press for a conventional war. The outcomes are fuzzy, Pak leaders can sneak into Syria. If you apply backward induction, many radical Pakistani leaders will be happy to recommend a nuclear strike.

Second, the agreement makes it look like we are a civilized nation or trying our best to look like one. The part of the problem for Pakistan was that it could never be completely sure that we didn't have one or two nuts in our country. Now they know, especially after watching our National Security Advisor on Devil's advocate. What a shame. The dude looks like the uncle next door who just retired and takes his toddler grandchild for a morning walk to the park every day and whose only guilty pleasure is an extra cup of filter coffee.

Third, this agreement is a bilateral agreement with the US only. We are villains in the eyes of the international community (especially the militant anti-war European liberal lobby) simply for owning nukes. Ambition to own more nuclear stuff, peaceful or otherwise, makes us look even worse. Needless to say, it doesn't earn us any goodwill from the Arab nations (queue: recent announcement of hefty arms deal with Arab states by the US).

We will analyze the economic part in another post. If you add the economic situation, it starts too look even sillier.

We believe that this hastily signed agreement is a colossal blunder on India's part. However, we do wish for the best and hope that nothing unpleasant happens in the near future.

Remember that after a nuclear winter, only roaches survive.

1-2-3

One of the stalwart American film directors during the heydays of studio era, Billy Wilder is perhaps best known for his classic noir Double Indemnity, which would see several remakes in both Hollywood (Double Jeopardy) and Bollywood (Jism).

He made a string of well known films including Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the hole (out of print and recently out on Criterion), Apartment (the theme of which was used in a segment of Life in a Metro).

One, two three is a rare gem from the veteran director. Set in 1960s Germany, this is a scathing satire of the communists which pulls few punches. It also makes fun of American corporate types though in a much more benign way.

An ambitious Coca Cola executive is deputed to West Berlin. His wife and two young children are not very happy about this but he works diligently, so that someday he can be head of entire Europe. All is well until the Coca Cola president sends his wayward teenage daughter to West Berlin so she could be prevented from making trouble back home in Atlanta. The daughter is gingerly accepted within the family. But she has several things on her mind. Finding West Berlin dull, she starts sneaking into East Berlin, unbeknownst to her hosts. Hilarity ensues.

Highly enjoyable film with crisp dialog and tight screenplay. Wilder shows how comedy is done without compromising character development or story.

---

Meanwhile, the entire agreement of the famous India-US 123 agreement has been made public. We are somewhat disappointed. You can see a copy from the Ministry of External Affairs website [pdf]. Our analysis will shortly follow.

A bridge too old

Strange.

Global Warming: Part I

Japanese scientists have concluded that beef production typically contributes more to global warming than cars do. A study commissioned by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Tsukuba, Japan, and published in the Animal Science Journal, found that producing 2.2 pounds of beef generates more carbon dioxide than an average car does every 160 miles.

The main source of greenhouse gas emissions is the methane released from an animal's digestive system. [link]

Don't eat a cow, man.

Freedom of Speech vs. Secular Socialist Democratic Republic

Police have found prima facie evidence against J Prashanti, political science lecturer of the St. Ann's College for Women, Mehdipatnam.

The students of the college, taking umbrage at their lecturer's alleged remarks on Islam, resorted to demonstrations at the college forcing police to step in. Following this, a case was booked against her. Later, the college suspended her.

The Asif Nagar inspector of police would send his report to the public prosecutor for review and for further proceedings in court.

A case has been filed under section 153 A (promoting enmity between classes in places of worship, etc) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Prashanti. [link]

It is not clear exactly what did the lecturer say that had her students' panties in tiny knots.

According to merinews:

She is reported to have said, "Islam is nothing...Quran is written by Satan...Prophet (SAW) P.B.U.H. is nothing, not to believe him. Whatever is happening in the world it’s because of Muslims...and there is no religion as Islam and Hinduism…there is only one religion and that is Christianity."

To this her students replied:

"Prashanti mam ko aaj pata chala Friday the 13th kya hai!!!!"

According to arabnews:

In the political science class for Bachelor of Arts (BA) final year, she asked the students to discuss Salman Rushdie and his writings.

When she spoke in favor of the author, who was recently conferred knighthood by the British government, and praised Satanic Verses, the girls objected. Thereupon, she made controversial remarks against Islam and the Holy Qur’an. Five students walked out in protest.

Again, on Friday, she made similar comments while taking a class of BA second year students. She told them not to follow the tenets of the Holy Qur’an.

According to andhracafe:

The students alleged that J. Prashanti, a political science lecturer of the college, had made the remarks after asking final year students to discuss Salman Rushdie and his writings.

When she spoke in favour of the writer, the students disputed with her. Then the lecturer allegedly made remarks against Islam and Holy Quran. "She repeated this thrice in two days," an agitating student said on condition of anonymity.

One of our correspondents tried to privately reach out to several intellectuals who had written passionate essays following the Vadodara MS University Art fiasco. Unfortunately none were available.

Ouch!

This is how all the trouble started.

Al Dilbert

From: The Exile.

Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask

It appears that the intellectuals of our country are totally taken with the idea of sex education. Great. Children ought to be told about the birds and bees. But the sex education proposal has met with various roadblocks. The commies in Kerala don't want anything to do with it which may have something to do with the high Muslim population in the state. Mayawati wanted sex-ed but angry teachers in UP rejected it. Various governments, both Congress and BJP, have decided not to introduce sex-ed.

We do not have much opinion on this matter, except that one can not ignore the political opportunism at play here. As if we do not have more important issues to tackle.

You can rest assured, even the most staunch proponents of sex-ed within Congress will not make a peep on this topic while campaigning in rural or Muslim dominated areas. These issues are exclusive to the habla Englais crowd. Basically it gives your sec-soc friends another stick to beat you with in case you happen to support a certain communal party.

Sex-ed is also being touted as a panacea for AIDS, teenage pregnancy and as a measure to prevent sexual abuse of children. These are questionable claims.

Sex-ed is a serious topic, it's not picnic. It is not like you give condoms to your kids at age 12 and take them to a sex party like folks do for chicken pox. When the kids in the above pic start to paw one another, it won't look so cute any more.

Introducing sex-ed could be a good idea but trying to score political goals with from the get go is doomed for failure.

Eclipse

Yesterday, two of the greatest film directors of all time passed away, within hours of each other.

Easy on the Kaju Feni

It appears that the Congress has won the first round in the game being played on Goa assembly floor. From the analysis provided at Offstumped and Lex it looks like quite simply what Congress did was to run away with the last three chairs instead.

Various indignations followed. The Joker Singhvi claimed it a victory of ideology etc. Fourteen governments in seventeen years, some ideology this.

Meanwhile our favorite TV personality Sagarika Ghosh is holding her breath. To recap, recent Goa related coverage basically followed this pattern:

Eve of election: Goa land of sleaze and land mafia, flesh trade, land grab, foreign hand
After election (Congress had won): Goa the heaven, land of tranquility where people rejected communalism.

We are extremely curious to see some Goa related coverage after this episode plays out.

HRD Minister Arjun Singh in Anti-Dowry jam

A case under the Anti-Dowry Act has been registered against Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh, his wife Beena Singh, son Abhimanyu Singh, grandson Abhijeet Singh and three others at a police station on Sunday, police said.

The case has been registered on the direction of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chandausi, on a complaint by Madhvendra Singh, the father of the Union Minister's daughter-in-law Priyanka Singh, Moradabad district police chief Prem Prakash said.

The court had ordered the registration of the case on July 27 but the FIR was registered at Chandausi Kotwali police station on Sunday, he said.

Madhvendra Singh has alleged that his daughter's in-laws had been demanding a Mercedes car and a flat from him and his daughter was being tortured when their demand was not met, Prakash said. [link]

Image: UNICEF Comics - Say No to Dowry [pdf]

Helpless in Hyderabad

After Goa, AP could become the next Congress state on the verge of imploding.

Eight people, including two women, were killed and eight others injured when police opened fire and rained lathi blows on them in Khammam district during the statewide bandh called by the CPM and CPI on Saturday. The bandh was to protest "police highhandedness" against leaders and cadres of the two parties on Thursday while picketing collectorates in the districts. [link]

Media reports strongly emphasized:
(a) Police opened fire only when they were pelted with stones
(b) The police were vastly outnumbered
(c) CM YSR Reddy suspended a top cop and ordered a judicial enquiry

Compare and contrast this with media reports during the Chattisgarh protests and Gujjar crisis. This being a Congress state, no poetic flourish is forthcoming from our Sec-Soc friends.

Dr. Reddy also appeared on Devil's advocate. The interview segments are highly educational for those interested in understanding Indian politics [video 1, video 2, video 3]. It may be noted that Dr. Reddy recently got a lot of flak when he used most unparliamentary language against his political opponent Chandrababu Naidu.

Dr. Reddy is running quite a racket over there. Land grab, intimidation, mafia style operations, illegal mining permits. You have to really watch him on the Devil's Advocate interviews, he breaks into smiles at the most inopportune moments. This is a man who does not care, in the numbers game the fractious Indian politics has become, he is beyond judicial reach, since he brings in precious support using identity based politics.

Perhaps the most atrocious thing Reddy has done is trying to silence the Eenadu media and newspaper group:

A nasty situation has developed for media freedom in South India's largest State — with the dominant Eenadu group targeted by a State Government that is at the receiving end of aggressive investigative journalism. The modus operandi of the Rajasekhara Reddy Government has an element of ingenuity: it is to attack the financial base of the media group, ostensibly targeting the owners' HUF financial institution, Margadarsi Financiers, while claiming that no attempt has been made to curb either the daily newspaper or the television channels of the group. [link]

When the Congress rag Hindu reports such items, you can safely assume the cut runs much deeper.

The Nuke Deal: An open RTI petition

Come to think of it, the mango must be a mysterious enough fruit for foreigners that they need a step-by-step instruction on cutting and consuming it. Some folks like to suck on the sweet nothingness of the mango seed, long after the flesh is gone. Of course the foreigners miss out on the fun.

The nuke deal is one such issue all sides will keep on sucking, even after the issue is bone dry. We have not gone into too much analysis of the nuke deal. I am sure the NationalInterest folks and many others will have a lot more to ruminate on this topic for days to come.


So, we decided to take a layman's approach and see through what the deal is about. Specifically, we took this Tehelka article to put some structure around our thought process. If you find any inaccuracy in what we say here, please let us know.

To summarize, the nuke deal can be explained as follows:

The Nuke deal will allow India to procure civilian nuclear technology from American firms in exchange for some covenants on its military nuclear programs.

Several questions immediately pop out of that statement alone.

• How is Iran able to procure nuclear technology? How about China?
  
• Will we get a discount? Any freebies?
  
• Who will guarantee that the stuff that we get are the good stuff and not some watered down version?
  
• Who will make sure that there is no Bofors style underhand dealing?
• Do we really need nuclear energy? Will it be viable? How long before we scale up (current capacity meets 3% or energy need)?
  
• Any estimate and timelines on how much of India's energy needs will be met from nuclear power?
• How will we finance the technology? Will the overall picture make economic sense? If the costs are too prohibitive, maybe we will be better off just using coal and oil.
  
• How about the green lobby? Will they like the risk exposure (nuke! ooooh!)

As you can see, this is decidely murky territory and we haven't even gone into the other aspect yet!

So let's see what the people's paper has to say on the deal. As mentioned, we do not wish to go into the details of the issue at this point, so we will restrict ourselves to some eye popping quotes from the article (written by Ram Jethmalani, no less):

• The criticism [ed. of A Gopalakrishnan, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board] , from whatever quarter it emanates, just makes no sense.
• India is not preparing for nuclear aggression against any one, nor is it threatened with nuclear aggression at the moment.
• The Chinese are not interested in Indian territory now. Their target is the Indian market and we have allowed them complete capture.
• The International Court of Justice or a commission acting under its supervision can turn out a binding judgment in a fraction of the time that we have wasted on useless negotiations for the last 45 years.
• Can India continue to make progress without the deal? The answer again is a resounding 'no'.
• The most conclusive evidence in favour of the deal is that all our known enemies are against it.
• We must be grateful to Pakistan that though it has lost its democracy, its President Pervez Musharraf has realised that Mahatma Gandhi was right that impurity of means is bound to taint even a pure end.
  

The Government can not pretend that they are helping out the Bush administration by keeping the documents secret. For far too long socialist ponzi scheme after ponzi scheme has robbed our nation. The recent exposes of CIA links, explosive books by RAW insiders, clearly indicate that nefarious deals have been done in the past, to the great detriment of the people. The invokation of Mahatma Gandhi is a red flag right there.

Deal or no deal, we deserve to see the goddamn document, in full.

What's next?

Skinny little Mohammed Haneef, he grew up, his beard filled out. No sooner than the Auzzies dropped him like a political hot potato, he was lapped up by the eagerly waiting political opportunists.

Offstumped reports:

The excitable Abhishek Singhvi has handed himself a slap in the face by allowing his emotions to displace sobriety to celebrate the the prevailing of the rule of law in a foreign land. [...] Coming especially on a day when it took 17 years to award death sentence to the accused in the 1993 Mumbai Blasts, one would have expected the Congress to have performed some honest introspection on its Executive Delinquency rather than jump on the opportunity to score a few political points. Fairness and Justice in Australia mean very little by way of National Interest to India and Indians. Abhishek Singhvi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would do well to introspect on their perverse celebration of the same. [link]

The celebration is expected. You have to remember that there is no room for ambiguity in the Jeep driving Jihadi case. But no one is talking about Kafeel Ahmed or his brother Sabeel Ahmed. These names were drowned in the constant media and political rhetoric surrounding the Haneef case. To the casual observer, the case never even existed, it was a conspiracy at a global level to malign the names of minorities.

The simplified version of this case asserts that Haneef just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Indeed you can not blame a man if he has a black sheep in the family. Unfortunately there are unexplained facts in the case and the facial hair is not the last of them. First, a note on the beard. It could be due to outgrowth during the period of detention but this picture does not suggest so. Also, Auzzie prison regulations clearly state that a prisoner can shave or shower if they so desire. There are serious discrepancies in the interview Haneef gave that even the most liberal media can not discount.

The global terror networks see India mostly as a facilitator for now. With its easy come easy go policy, lax law enforcement, chalta hai chalne do attitude and a people friendly Government coupled with its relative modernity (i.e. access to technology, travel and modern financial systems), makes it particularly suitable to do planning, procurement and training related activites. Ever wonder why there are so many cases of RDX seizure? They keep showing up on news every other day. Every week there is a new report on fake currency racket involving the ISI.

Like it or not, terror has been outsourced. Funny that it should start at Bangalore!

The ad that got their knickers in a bunch

The fascists are at it again.

Barkha please!

Barkha Dutt, super star journalist and editor-in-chief of NDTV wrote an article called Haneef: India's hypocrisy which was published on 21st July. The tone of the article was strikingly similar to a post on our blog titled Dor, published on 16th July.

Now, we are not saying that the mighty Barkha Dutt reads our blog. While all the other journos were calling Auzzies racist etc., we took a contrarian view, just like Barkha did. That's all we are saying.

It came to our notice that the same article was published in Australian media, now the title was changed to Haneef - the view from India. This version was slightly modified from the originally published article, which is understandable.

A quick recap on the major themes as put forward in the media and blogs:

Indian MSM: Haneef good, Bush bad, Howard puppet, Auzzies racist, Hindu bad, Modi bad.
Most Indian blogs: PM idiot, why he losing sleep? Let sleeping dogs lie.
Our blog: Haneef Muslim - Auzzies civil -> media mad, Saudi tough -> media silent.
Hindutva blogs: Hang Afzal, who is Haneef?

Barkha took a contrarian approach, as pointed out earlier. She argues that Indians are hypocrites because they let Hindus play rough shod on innocent Muslims detained for terrorism while they are crying foul over Haneef's alleged bad treatment by Auzzies.

Barkha's article is full of anecdotes such as:

More recently, Tariq Dar, a Kashmiri model who made it big in Bangladesh was locked away on charges of terrorism. [..] The judge who acquitted him was passionate in her ruling. "It’s astonishing," she wrote that "without an iota of evidence against him, Dar was kept in custody for 90 days which could be a lifetime for any common citizen." But do you remember anyone you know sharing her anger?

Well, I remember at least two who shared the judge's anger. Arundhati Roy and Barkha Dutt.

Then Barkha goes on to cite the following example to prove how Auzzies are so good:

According to the Herald Sun, an Australian citizen, Roy Somerville, who has never met Haneef emerged as an unlikely benefactor and offered to post the ten thousand dollars in bail because he believes in a 'fair go'. The newspaper quotes the Brisbane resident as saying that if the police only charged Haneef for giving his cousins an old sim card, then it was "bullshit". Can you imagine anyone in India bailing out a stranger implicated in a case of terrorism?

Let's see here, who was that eminent lawyer in India who offered his services for Afzal? Who was the then CM of UP who gave a clean chit to SIMI? Which party in India said that POTA was not needed and that ordinary laws for tackling burglaries etc. were enough to tackle a few misguided youth?

Barkha would have run amock with her indignation at Indian hypocrisy but for the fact that she had to stop right before she killed many of her own articles. Articles where the Western imperial forces are conspiring to destroy world peace. That is why she does not venture into the actual legality of the case. These are murky territories and it requires the skills of a trapeze artist to prevent one from falling into icky material. Even as we cry ourselves hoarse discussing Haneef, India is handing out very tough sentences to the ones implicated in the '93 terror attacks. These sentences can not be justified unless you are willing to discuss issues such as nationalism, national threat, attack on a sovereign country etc.

Overall Barkha's article seemed like a watered down version of early Roy when she was starting out on the lecture circuit. There is hypocrisy alright, but the hypocrisy lies in understanding the explosive political potential of the Haneef case and exploiting it to the hilt.

Freedomnomics

Price discrimination, price gauging, predatory trade practices etc. are wrong. Always wrong.

Actually all these practices are hailed as progressive steps when undertaken by various Government agencies. They are denigrated only when corporations engage in them. Even then, there are very strong evidence that markets tend to correct themselves beautifully even when corporations indulge in such activities.

Opinion poll after opinion poll reveals that politicians are ranked lower in terms of trustworthiness than CEOs and entrepreneurs. Yet people tend to believe that the very same politicians can become beneficent and altruistic saviors of the oppressed when they form a mysterious entity called the Government.

Move over Freakonomics, Freedomnomics is here. In a lucidly written text, economist John Lott explains why free market works so well. A section of the book does deal with rebutting some of the ideas put forward in the famous book Freakonomics, but this book is much more than an empty exercise in polemics. John Lott provides interesting examples, lots of them.

Among other things he explains why the academia is predominantly leftist and always roots for a big Government. Freedomnomics explains why there is a perverse cycle of justifications given to over zealous Governments attempting to correct real or imaginary market failures, which they end up making even worse.

A must read for free market believers.

Requiem for a dream

It's a classic tale of small towns and big dreams -- only this time round, the dream almost came true for Sushila Mishra, a resident of Nadda Village in the Bangah District of Bihar.

She scored 91 per cent in her class XII boards and also cleared the IIT-JEE exam, but Sushila wasn't able to get a seat at IIT because her father couldn't afford to pay Rs 40,000 as admission fee.

"It was my dream to study at IIT. I heard from somewhere that the state government is helping poor students. I was hopeful, but I didn't get any help," says the dejected girl.

Sushila's father approached various banks for a loan, but failed to get any because of his weak financial status. [link]

I guess there is some substance to the rumor spread by vicious anti-reservationists that piss poor Brahmins do exist.

Crime and Punishment

Ten-year-old Asma is not only living through the pain of her grievous injuries in a Mumbai hospital, but also of her nightmarish, near death experience under the wheels of a jeep driven by an eve teaser. [link]

Discuss.

No Blood, No Tears

The clock is ticking for 23 South Koreans, kidnapped by Taliban affiliated terrorists. It is unclear what will be the outcome of this grave incident. The forces are standing by as multi-Government negotiations are going on. It is an international mess. A google news search reveals that there are several thousands of news items on this issue. Surprisingly, this incident has attracted little coverage in Indian media.

The Koreans were reportedly on a humanitarian mission and consisted of young men and women, mostly English teachers and paramedics. It may be noted that South Korea has some military technicians deployed in Iraq.

In many ways this is a bad move by the Taliban, one that they may come to regret in the days to come. South Korea is a very strong nation today, with a vibrant economy and a solid education system. The country has seen extreme savagery in the recent past in the form of wars. There is constant tension with the "friendly" neighbors in the North. I am not sure this incident will go down well with the Koreans.

[No Blood, No Tears is a popular Korean movie. Korea has a strong movie industry and Bollywood has adapted at least two from the South Korean stable - Zinda (Oldboy) and Awarapan (A bittersweet life). The lead actress from this movie, Jeon Do Yeon, won the best actress award in the recent Cannes festival.]

Caption Contest

One way ticket

Hungry kya? Try the Gitmo cookbook

The cookbook is a professionally printed 5.5 x 8.5 softcover book. The recipes are official Navy recipes that serve 100, so if you are cooking for a crowd this book will be extremely useful. We have also scaled the recipes down to 6-8 servings so that you can prepare Gitmo meals for your family.

Some of the recipes are Baked Tandouri Chicken Breast, Mustard-Dill Baked Fish, Lyonnaise Rice, and Fish Amandine.

The recipes in the cookbook are standard Navy recipes that have been modified for the detainees to comply with halal requirements. We've tried them. They're pretty good, and easy to make. Most have 8 or fewer ingredients and can be made quickly.

Read more here.

The anti-reservation movie you have been waiting for is here!

Well, not quite. It is meeting some unexpected roadblocks along the way.

Author Shiv Khera is angry with the Censor Board for "irrational and irrelevant" cuts in his documentary film, inspired by the AIIMS anti-quota stir

Shiv Khera is an angry man. Known for his motivational writing and statements, along the lines of 'Winners don’t do different things; they do things differently', Khera is fighting a lone battle against the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for issuing some "irrational and irrelevant" cuts in his documentary on reservation called Jaati Todo -- Bharat Jodo (Break Caste -- Unite India).

"This whole thing about raising objection to some scenes and asking them to be deleted is so petty," says Khera. He still has to take a decision on whether he will carry them out or not. "My talks with my lawyers are still on, let’s see what my plan of action will be."

The film came about after Khera had participated in the anti-reservation protest launched by the doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) against the OBC reservations in institutes of higher education, and understood what the students were going through. [link]

Khera will be lucky if the film is not outright banned. Meanwhile, after being side-stepped by presidential elections etc., the whole OBC reservation chaos is all set to resume its run. Read a preliminary report on it here.

Dor

The latest film from Nagesh Kukunoor has the same problems his movies usually do, sentimental, cliched and overlong. You can see the official website here.

The plot of the movie is rather simple. A Muslim man and a Hindu man, both economic migrants, share an apartment in Saudi Arabia. The Hindu man gets killed under suspicious circumstances and the Muslim man is condemned to death. The only way his fiancee can bring about his acquittal is by undertaking the near impossible task of tracking down the family of the deceased in rural Rajashthan and getting a Maafinaama signed by his widow. Time is running out and all sorts of odd things happen .......

Even as the media is doing backflips over the alleged misfortune of Mohammed Haneef, detained under suspicion of indulging in terrorism related activities, similar tales are unfolding without catching anyones attention.

Salim, who went to Saudi Arabia in September 2003 for employment, was caught from his friend's house by officials, who had raided the latter's room in May 2006 for narcotic drugs. Salim, 30, was working as a mechanic in Riyadh.

In a memorandum to the ambassador on Thursday, Bichaminabi claimed that no drugs were seized from Salim's room or from his custody during the raid.

"He was wrongly implicated in this case. Salim being a poor, uneducated person and having no knowledge of Arabic, was unaware of the proceedings and was having no means or knowledge to defend himself and convince the court of his innocence," Bichaminabi said in the memorandum. [link]

For some reason, Sagarika Ghosh didn't make a show on this and call the Saudi authorities racist. Is she pandering to the Muslim elite?

A quick fact check reveals that far more Indians are incarcerated in the Arab world, often under frivolous charges.

The recent arrests of Indian doctors in terror-related cases is only a drop in the ocean of Indians incarcerated in prisons scattered across the world. On the last count, there were over 6,000 Indians in foreign jails. The good news however, is that the number may be coming down and not rising.

Almost one-third of these prisoners are in Saudi Arabia (1,116), followed by the UAE (825). Add Bangladesh (893), Singapore (791), Pakistan (655) and Mala-ysia (545) and these six countries account for more than three-fourths of all Indian prisoners in foreign jails. [link]

Meanwhile, the response of the Auzzie press and human rights groups have been excellent to say the least. Their coverage and protests against the issue has been effective so far. Read some of it here and here.

Granted that her hubby just won one of those prizes and she is feeling overly zealous, but we just wish Sagarika exercised a bit more restraint while throwing around terms like racism, casteism etc. Given the volatile situation in India, this sort of irresponsible journalism may lead to serious headaches.

A typical racist Australian.

Who the fuck is Haneef?

I want updates on the presidential election. That is all.

Riot breaks out on CNN-IBN show

A riot broke out on a CNN-IBN show and was narrowly averted by anchor Sagarika Ghosh when a Muslim member of the audience threateningly advanced towards a Hindu man who had asked a question about the Quran. You can see the show here.

There are 7 video segments. Modi was invoked on the fifth segment, at around 2:30. The Sachar commission report was also invoked at some point of time.

The show featured prominent personalities from media and public sphere such as Teesta Seetalvad. We did not quite understand the objective of the show. However, we learned quite a few new things. We urge you to take your time to watch all the seven segments.

Some highlights (apart from the almost riot and Modi and Sachar invokations):

1. A fully Burqa clad young Muslim woman claimed that the likes of Shah Rukh Khan were not true Muslims. She was proud to be one and that Islam requires strong adherence to dress code. At this point the camera panned towards Heeba Shah (in jeans and tight Tees) and she shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
2. Muslim MP Owaisi said he didn't believe in a distinction between the so called moderate and radical Islam and that there was only right or wrong.
3. Dr. Farooq Dhondhi from London strongly rubbished any claims of discrimination in UK and the US and claimed that Muslims have more freedom in the said countries than in any other. He also said Muslim youth should not blame others for their lack of sexual skills in acquiring the type of partners they seek. This was translated in the CNN-IBN transcript as "materialistic" skills.
   

We are still confused as to who was blamed in the end for the Glasgow bombing. At one point we thought it was Western civilization. A quick check revealed that there were no incidents of this nature prior to the industrial revolution. However, at one point actress Heeba Shah squarely put the blame on Pioneer columnist Sandhya Jain.

Sagarika Ghosh sheepishly grins as she is administered
a harsh reality check on a CNN-IBN show.

Kaisa Mamu Banaya!

In a development that could drive a wedge into India-China relations, the CIA has revealed declassified information on American policy and thinking that were kept secret for decades.

They also paint Nehru as a naive and romantic statesman who trusted the Chinese. The documents claim that Nehru kept disagreements on the border issue out of public domain, to maintain his relationship with China. [link]

"Love blossomed" between a "lonely" Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of the country, and the last Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten's wife, Edwina, who had other "lovers" before, says her daughter.

Pamela Mountbatten, who fondly called Nehru "Mamu" (maternal uncle), has used diary entries and extracts from family albums as documentary evidence to write India Remembered: A Personal Account of the Mountbattens During the Transfer of Power . [link]

Hmmm, looks like they made quite a Mamu out of Chachaji.

"Calm down"

Random predictions

1. No major surprises in the Asian currency market and Chinese economic policies before the next olympics, Beijing 2008.
2. No major terror attacks on US soil before the US presidential elections, 2008.
3. Next major Gujjar agitation scheduled for just after the Indian presidential election. This could be messy.
   

Six degrees of Modi separation

We have invented a new game, let's call it the Six degrees of Modi separation game. The rules of the game are simple. Take any malaise (real or imaginary) the world faces today and connect it with Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, using 6 or less number of connections.

We tried this game and found it to be great fun. Some suggested topics:

1. UP Election loss
2. Global Warming
3. Glasgow bombing
4. Christian quota in St. Stephens.
5. Deforestation
6. Flood

Scripts and Manuscripts

A letter by Gandhi, reportedly written just 19 days before his death went up for auction at Christie's. For a country where bullock carts are a common sight in most major cities, our Government acted on a frenetic pace to stop the auction and acquire the said letter.

Apparently this letter was the last ever written by Gandhi. Well, maybe not. In any case, the letter is safe and sound and is back in India where it belongs.

The same zeal was not exhibited in releasing the full text to the public. For something as important as this, where the highest level diplomatic intervention and an undisclosed sum of money was used to procure this symbol of secularism, the public needs to see the stuff. Unfortunately, it does not look like the full text disclosure is forthcoming. Perhaps we will need to depend on people friendly interpretations that are being released in bits and pieces.

According to some sources, in his last letter, Gandhi called for better treatment of religious minorities. But from many reports, it appears that the subject matter of the letter was the dwindling sale of the Urdu edition of Harijan, a magazine Gandhi published. Clearly the folks that this magazine was intended for wasn't showing too much enthusiasm.

Meanwhile Gandhi has been rather unceremoniously dropped from the British school curriculum.

Have fun

Please do not leave any abuses against any religions in the comments. They will be promptly deleted. Thanks.

7/11

Bounce

You might be curious to know how the much touted PM's relief fund is working for the debt ridden Vidarbha farmers. According to reports, one farmer was beaten up when he went to ask about his relief. But this one was perhaps the most ironic. A woman tried to cash her relief fund check and it bounced! [link]

I can't seem to locate the video from any of the links on the site. I had a copy of the URL in my browser cache. Meanwhile, looks like some damage control was done. Apparently, the check bounced because of local issues.

The cheque issued to the widow of a debt-ridden farmer in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region did not bounce due to delay in release of assistance by the Prime Minister’s Office but "local issues", a PMO statement said on Saturday.

The Yavatmal district officials had erroneously issued the cheque from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund account of the district rather than the CM’s Relief Fund. [link]

Perhaps competence and good Governance will never be a relevant topic of debates.

CNN-IBN: Naxals are not terrorists

Hawala is an informal money transfer system which operates below the financial systems radar. But it's not a terrorist activity only that the hawala route funds, but also the Naxal activities. Who is funding the Maoists and their expanding armed guerrilla movement?

There is now speculation that a number of NGOs in Bihar are funding the training of Maoist guerrillas. Twenty-two NGOs in Gaya district have been issued a show-cause notice for their Maoist links. [link]

CNN-IBN also ran "investigative" reports that conclude it is easy to send large sums of money abroad using Hawala rackets, without any official documentation. POTA anyone?

Price of stardom

Rajnikanth is perhaps the biggest star in India at the moment. The box office figures speak for themselves. The recent flick Sivaji drew crowds into a mad frenzy all over the globe, causing mini riots from Bangalore to Malaysia. The movie was able to transcend language barriers to a great extent. Two bloggers found this the hard way when their blogs drew over thousand comments apiece [confused, Anuradha Sengupta].

Unfortunately, the biggest stars also make the biggest shakedown targets.

CHENNAI: A Congressman on Monday sought a ban on screening- Sivaji-the Boss , the tamil film starring superstar Rajnikant, for allegedly defaming UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Congressman, M Satyamoorthy, on Monday filed a PIL in the Madras High Court, seeking the ban on the plea that the film portrayed Gandhi and Singh along with the villain, intending to defame them and the Congress.

The PIL, which is likely to come up for hearing on Tuesday, also sought Rs.50 crore from Rajnikant, film producer A V M Saravanan and Director Shankar as damages to the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee for "defaming" the leaders in the movie. [link]

I think this is the first time an entertainment industry related PIL seeks such a large sum of money. The politics behind this is highly confusing, a line of dialog from the movie (heard on the trailer) says: the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. This appears to be straight out of the election manifesto. From whatever I have heard about the movie so far, I doubt if the audience would even notice the pictures of Gandhi and Singh amid such concentrated action. On the other hand, it is doubtful that such a movie will depict anything remotely politically incorrect for the relevant demographic.

I will not speculate if this is a result of an uneasy alliance between DMK and Congress (with the latter solidly being at the receiving end). I will grab a DVD the first chance I get. This is a movie I just can't miss.

That's a lot of global warming

As investigations continue, more details are emerging on Kafeel Ahmed, the Indian national involved in the attempted attack at Glasgow airport. Kafeel - the elder brother of one of the other suspects, Sabeel Ahmed - was driving the flaming jeep which crashed into Glasgow airport.

According to sources, in his last conversation with his family, Kafeel claimed to be working on a large scale confidential project, apparently on global warming.

[link]





Distance between Ahmedabad and Bangalore: 1000 miles
Distance between Bombay and London: 4400 miles
Distance between secularism and reality: ______ miles

No more Mr. Nice Guy?

First a little quiz. Why this picture and why is this relevant? What movie is this from?

Stakes have been raised once again in the presidential election. I just read the transcript of Rajnath Singh Devil's advocate interview and sure enough, some skeletons appeared to have tumbled out of Mr. Shekhawat's closet.

According to the transcript, there appears to be four principal charges against Shekhwat, who had been hitherto touted as Mr. Clean of Indian politics.

1. He accepted bribe as a young policeman during the British era and was suspended for that.
2. He had cases against him dropped during his tenure as chief minister.
3. Some land related scandal involving his son-in-law.
4. He was an MLA from MP while he had his residence in Rajasthan.

Now, I think the 4th charge is rather hypocritical. Our esteemed PM happens to be an MP from a constituency in Assam.

The Presidential election represents the very fibre of our democracy and it needs to be held by persons of the most impeccable track record. Just by raising these issues, the charges against Pratibha Patil will not go away. At the same time, Mr. Shekhawat needs to answer these questions ASAP.

There was yet another very serious charge against BJP that many of their allegations against Pratibha Patil were manufactured. Apparently Pratibha Patil's bio never said she was founder president of a bank. Well, I found a version of the bio [pdf] on the web which suggests otherwise. I also suspect some spring cleaning was performed. Someone needs to do a proper post mortem, an improper burial may lead to ghost sightings.

Meanwhile, two more things caught my notice. While the allegations of accepting bribe as a cop needs to be answered, I think it is a monumental blunder to imply there was anything improper in accepting British employment by Shekhawat.

"When people left behind everything to join the freedom struggle responding to Mahatma Gandhi’s call, Shekhawat thought it fit to be part of the repressive colonial police," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said. "No one knows whose ideology motivated him but the fact remains that he left the force only when India became independent," he said, urging Shekhawat or his campaign managers to explain this part of his past now that he was contesting for the highest constitutional position. [link]

Remember these were the days of Ahimsa. You were supposed to lead a dual existence, accept British salary during the day and wear khadi in the evening and sing Raghupati Raghava. Who accepted British employment during those days? Well, almost everyone, including some great names. Indian soldiers were a proud part of British army during WW II with many valiant victories to their credit.

The second item was nothing but a veiled threat.

On the other hand, the NDA too needs to temper its assault on Patil as it builds Shekhawat's campaign. Patil is, after all, very likely to become Head of State, and the NDA, as the main opposition, will have to deal with her. Midway through the next President’s term will come a general election and a new Lok Sabha. Getting shrill against Patil would be justified if there were a real chance of beating her in the contest. It is fair to raise noises about a rival candidate — especially when there are substantive issues to raise — but the NDA might want to calibrate its opposition in tones that do not become a liability later. [link]

I am not sure what is being implied here. There is a very dangerous message embedded in this. On the other hand, knowing the sort of loyalty Patil feels for the Gandhi family, it is a rather moot point.

I don't know about you, but I want a clean and competent president, someone I can look up to and respect.

Posters then and now

Here are some assorted posters from various times. See if you can recognize some of the folks in the older posters. The print quality has definitely improved. This is an interesting article which gives some more details. [link]

I still think the Rahul riding on Sonia's back is the best in terms of creativity.

Previous:

Goddess of all things
World's fastest growing religion

Your personal immigration agent: Manmohan Singh

It didn't take our hon'ble PM long after a couple of Indian doctors were detained in London and Australia in connection with bombing plots in UK to reach out to the British PM:

"I spoke to British prime minister and told him I am worried about stereotyping of Indians in the UK. Britain should not draw hasty conclusions about the guilt of those arrested," Manmohan Singh told reporters. [link]

Is he really concerned about stereotyping of "Indians"? How did he react when Modi's visa was rejected, does anyone know? Recently there was a huge outcry when BJP leader Ritambara was planning to visit the US. Didn't see the PM react then.

You could argue that for some reason some people believe that they know better than Scotland Yard and various other international intellgence agencies put together. Meanwhile there are strange headlines in the newspapers. "Wife says she knows why there was a one way ticket", "He led a humble life" etc. There was the customary interview with the family who believe that they were innocent. The media reports became a little subdued when a dude drove a flaming Jeep into an airport and was subsequently identified as the brother of one of the doctors. The latter dude is an Engineer.

There is no reason to presume guilt but I feel it is beneath the dignity of our PM to make presumptions about a sovereign nation's policies.

For those who value freedom

The United States of America:

Date of Birth: July 4, 1776
Constitution adopted: September 17, 1787
Number of amendments: 27
Year of last amendment: 1992 (limits on Congressional pay, previous: 1971, 1967, 1964, 1961, 1951, 1933)
Typical Text of amendment: "Prohibits the federal government and the states ......."

Republic of India:

Date of Birth: August 15, 1947
Constitution adopted: January 26, 1950
Number of Amendments: 94 (and counting)
Year of last amendment: 2006 [link]
Typical text of amendment: "Nothing shall prevent the state from making any special provision..."

---

Note: The officially recognized intellectuals in India reject nationalism and patriotism. Barbarindian recommends that the Government of India put an immediate stop to all independence day/republic day celebations (perhaps using another constitutional amendment) and use the funds for feeding hungry street children. We can not allow a virulent emotion such as nationalism to sprout. These celebrations might put the wrong ideas into the heads of Indian youth.

Want medical advice? Ask NGOs

The HIViro worship continues and now new twists and spins are being added to the already troubling problem.

Painful though the attitude of untouchability during her delivery, what is more painful now for the woman is that the doctors have stopped her from breastfeeding her child.

They fear that the child might get infected with the HIV virus as well if breastfed and the five-day-old baby is being given powdered milk as of now.

Outraged local NGOs and social workers have come to the aid of the hapless couple saying that being HIV positive does not mean one cannot breastfeed their child. [link]

Yeah, the NGOs are medical experts now. Meanwhile take a look at this WHO report:

With the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, however, and the recognition that HIV-infected mothers can transmit HIV to their infants through breastfeeding, specific recommendations apply to infants born to HIV-infected mothers. The overall aim of these recommendations is to achieve the ultimate goal of increasing child survival, while reducing HIV infection in infants and young children. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV can occur during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, during delivery, or at any point during breastfeeding. The risk through breastfeeding is cumulative; the longer the HIV-infected mother breastfeeds, the greater the additional risk of transmission through breastfeeding. [link]

It is highly likely that the family in question contracted HIV via the husband, who went whoring. But media hails these folks as victims. The only reason the media is interested in such stories is the allusion of untouchability which allows them to indulge in another round of Hindu bashing.

Meanwhile no efforts are being made to enact strong laws with strict penalties for errant spouses who expose their families to this disease. The report goes on to claim that while India spends millions on AIDS awareness, for many people being HIV positive continues to spell untouchability. We all know how these millions are spent, by staging fake kissing shows.

It would help if at least some of these millions were spent in telling people that HIV spreads mostly through utterly irresponsible and reckless behavior such as whoring and needles.

[Note: It would be interesting to know Pratibha Patil's views on this issue. I hear she is quite enthusiastic about sterlization etc. ]

Gods come in various sizes

Allah is great, Jesus is good too. It is well known that Hindu Gods are evil. What about the other Gods? Well, secular media thinks they are merely small. Some of these religions are denominations of Christianity. It is not clear whether they are officially recognized or even eligible for reservations at St. Stephens. [link]