Do you like sequels?

I am losing count here, so help me out. Is it Part III or Part IV?

A 21-year-old woman has alleged that her father-in-law, a local CPI (M) leader, has raped her, bringing to public memory once again the Imrana rape case.

Mortaza Ali, the father-in-law, was arrested on Saturday following her complaint on November 15 that she was raped by him on November 8, police said.

In her complaint, the woman said she had been raped by Ali when she was alone at home.

This is a special issue sequel, as you can see, the perp is likely a Bangladeshi import. West Bengal is up to 25% now. Be careful, some of the hungry imports are pretty desperate.

One nation under Allah

We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources.

I think a much better strategy for the PM to win Muslim votes will be to increase Haj subsidies, Madrasa grants and allow more Sharia control on the Muslim civic code. Why all this trouble? Making a statement and then going all blue in the face denying ever making it. All this gets a little tiring.

I guess the Sachar report is kind of hot right now. For a more detailed coverage, visit RealityCheck.

The most interesting thing about the report is the cover page.

As you can see, the dominant top portion is an image of Muslims performing the Namaaz. The lower left part is a view of the Tajmahal through an arch of sorts, I guess this depicts the Mughal rule. We also see a camel through the arch. The lower right corner is a picture of children, ostensibly Muslim children since one of them dons the skull cap. There is a narrow band of collage in the middle and this is the only part that is in full color. Inexplicably, all the rest of the image is blurred. The middle part has some curious images. On the left is a picture of a cricketer. It is followed by a picture of Infosys headquarters. Could not identify the rest of the images but there are some labs, a picture of a military aircraft, an operating theater and an image of the Bombay stock exchange.

The Sachar report is a curious mix of data, random projections and unverifiable statements straight out of Mr. Sachar and his committee members arses. More than anything else it proves that Congress doesn't feel really confident that the OBC reservations and the Common Minimum Program (which is essentially Garibi Hatao 2.0) will ensure a win in the 2009 elections.

I suppose they got the data part right. Not quite sure what they left out. There is a chapter dedicated to the theme of how terrorist image hurts Muslims. There is no data to support this though. There is a huge chapter trying to prove that Muslim population is under control and it really is a myth that Muslim population is increasing. The committee "feels" that the Muslim population growth may have peaked (the only reason offered is that fertility has decreased in Europe for many populations). Yet, the Sachar report shows a projected Muslim population of 19% by year 2050. That's a net increase of 6% points over the current level of 13% or so.

(...... to be continued).

Eminent Domain?

Just kidding.

Well, it is not so far fetched really. Places of worship belonging to religions other than Islam are by default deemed eminent domain in Islamic nations. Take for instance the destruction of a 100- year old Hindu temple in Malaysia, the destruction of Buddha statues in Afghanistan and the mass destruction of temples in Pakistan post Babri fiasco. I believe Hindus in Bangladesh were seriously hassled as well, some of it chronicled in the Taslima Nasreen book, Lajja.

Singur is a podunk off Calcutta, some 30-40 kms away. The Tatas want to build a plant, so they wanted a 2 km by 2 km plot in that area. Naturally the local landowners would have none of it.
So what we have there is a large scale land grab, commie style. Since commies are doing it, our socialist friends are nowhere to be seen. Dilip D'Souza didn't visit the place, too far from Bombay. Medha Patkar is there and so is Dr. Mamata Banerjee, the resident upholder of downtrodden rights.

Well, at least the landowners are being paid Rs. 8.6 lakhs per acre. In Maharashtra, land is being forcibly acquired for as little as Rs. 24,000. Now, the net profit per acre in India ranges from Rs. 3000 - Rs. 5000. Taken as a perpetuity, it doesn't amount to much. So, why would farmers be so opposed to the Rs. 8.6 lakhs buyout? Actually it could blow holes in the popular myth that the commies did a great land reform and transferred ownership to the share croppers. The truth is, the land merely changed hands to the cronies of the commies. Now, the shared croppers get jack in the above transaction and hence the ire. Of course there could be another reason for it. The landowners recognize that the price of the land will go up sooner or later and in real estate terms, it could reach dizzying heights.

I believe there could be a third reason. Holding on to Agricultural land in our country has its advantages. You get lots of sops and handouts and they do add up. The farmers may be willing to swap the net but not the socialistic largesses.

Eminent domain or not, in our country you can not really hold on to prime land unless you belong to a certain set of folks and you know what I mean. If you are really lucky, you may get a few paises on the Rupee. If you are unlucky, you may end up on the sidewalk, face down, a bullet through the back of your skull. These incidents are not reported unless you are underprivileged, in which case Mamata will hold a token fast for you.

In a socialistic regime, the state owns your ass, so stop whining.

Would like some cream in your coffee?

The Centre has rejected the recommendations of a Parliamentary Standing Committee to exclude the Creamy Layer from the purview of the 27 per cent OBC quota in Government-aided institutions of higher learning.

No surprises here.

Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Jain
from angry Dalits to the proud Brahmin
Quota or not, India you make it happen

One could wax lyrical about India's future, and sing along with the recent Beastie Boys hit. But the writing on the wall is only too clear.

Question

I had stopped reading some of the socialist blogs. To paraphrase Tolstoy, every good thing in life offers something new, all garbage is absolutely the same. But looks like I may have to change my policy, I may be missing out on much fun.

I came across this utterly astonishing post on KrishWorld (via Nilu).

Milton Friedman could be a great economist but his propaganda (like the one I have linked above) is plain bullshit. I may respect him for the work he has done in the field of economics (like how I respect any other academic) but his propaganda is nonsense.

Now, being the shallow individual that I am, I can only think of one agenda that an academic person can have and that is to prove and promote his academic research and idea.

Anyway.

The question that I have is simple: would it be easier to separate Friedman's research from his agenda or pull Krish's head out of his ass? Just curious.

The "Moderates"

A ten-dollar bill us in the center of the crossroads. To the north, there's Santa Claus. To the west, the Tooth Fairy. To the east, a radical Muslim. To the south, a moderate Muslim. Who reaches the ten-dollar bill first?

The answer of course is the radical Muslim. All the others are mythical creatures.

I am not sure if I have met any moderate Muslim. All the Muslims I have met in school or at work were devout Muslims, who would keep their austere fast regime during the month of Ramadan, pray five times a day etc.

Recently there was a long discussion on Retributions about the European veil ban. There was an Indian Muslim commenter on the thread called Adnan. There was a Muslima called Mariam too, possibly from Pakistan. Please visit the thread, you may be surprised.

Now a little thought experiment. Imagine the worst Tamil derogatory stereotype you can think of. Then imagine I call Abi by that name. Is he gonna like it? Probably not. The same thing happens when you (meaning the good natured and clueless socialist) picks on Muslims on the street and tries to label them moderate. You have to understand, one of the basic ideas of Islam is how severely you can observe your religion, a tenet all (okay, most, if you feel uncomfortable) Muslims live by. Now, he is just trying to live his life, praying as many times as he can, fasting during Ramadan, hoping to pay a visit to the shrine (subsidized of course) at least once in his lifetime. How dare you jump in and call him moderate? Calling a Muslim man moderate is a grave insult, it essentially suggests he is not Muslim enough.

Moderate Muslims exist in a fantasy land inhabited by the likes of Dlip D'Souza, in anecdotes and stories that win essay competitions. We are supposed to believe that they exist, for if we don't, we are Hindu fascists, right-wing hate monger etc.

[Updates and our views on the Sachar report follows.]

Barbarindian answers The Economist letters

A few funny letters to the editor of The Economist came to our attention. The link probably requires subscription, but I will quote the entire letters, no worries.

SIR - It is disappointing to witness an increased blurring of the line between faith and nationality. You referred to a study that showed British Muslims identify more with their religion than their nationality by comparison with French Muslims. As well as wondering if one would ask Italians if they felt more Catholic than Italian, or Indians if they felt more Sikh than Indian, since when did faith become indicative of someone's nationality? Too many people today presume the two are intertwined, yet not all Arabs are Muslim, or Jews Israeli, or Americans Christian. Confusing religious identity with nationality can only lead to more misunderstanding. For instance, my origins are Egyptian and German, I was born in the United States and now live in The Netherlands. What, if any, is my faith?

Tarek El Heneidi
Amsterdam

Dear Mr. Heneidi,

Your faith is Islam. If I were in Amsterdam, I would spend my time in the pot cafes and cavort with scores of blonde Dutch chicks. You choose to read a fuckin' boring mag like The Economist and not only that, get your knickers all in knots over some weird article that remotely touches upon your faith.

Sincerely,
Barbarindian.

SIR - Your reading of the constitutional conventions that led to Bangladesh's president, Iajuddin Ahmed, becoming the head of the country's interim government and the circumstances that led to his assumption of the office of chief adviser was wrong-headed. The reason he is now "commander-in-chief of the armed forces and his own adviser" is that under the constitution the president is the military's supreme commander and is allowed to assume the chief adviser's office, provided certain conditions exist. Since all the constitutional steps were rigorously followed and the necessary conditions were fulfilled, your innuendo about an "unconstitutional concentration of power" is absolutely preposterous.

Fazal Kamal
Bangladesh High Commission
London

Dear Mr. Kamal,

Bangladesh has a constitution? I mean other than the Koran? Could you please send us a copy? By the way, how does it feel lickin' the lip smackin' goodness that comes out of your Prez's rear? Does your leader read The Economist? If not, could you not have saved a few swift strokes of your tongue for later reuse?

Sincerely,
Barbarindian.

Advisory for the Privileged

* * * * * Updates below * * * * *

Please stay away from Dalit infested areas, especially in Maharashtra. You are completely safe in TN (for the time being), the powerful OBCs rule there.

Three persons were killed and over 60 injured on Thursday during protests across Maharashtra following the alleged desecration of B R Ambedkar's statue in Kanpur, DGP P S Pasricha said.

Five coaches of the Deccan Queen train were burnt and over 90 buses damaged in various parts of this city during violent protests.

Update:

The case is getting weirder by the minute.

Arun Valmiki, the man arrested for defacing Babasaheb Ambedkar's statue in Kanpur on Tuesday, has alleged that the police forced him to make a false confession.

Residents of Ambedkar basti in Kakadeo where the statue was damaged, however, claimed Valmiki had not returned home and he may have "gone underground" fearing police action.

and ...

Senior Superintendent of Police P C Meena rejected Valmiki's allegations. "He admitted to having damaged the statue in a drunken state along with two friends on Wednesday," says Meena.

Valmiki's release came after angry Dalits took to the streets, blocked traffic and damaged vehicles claiming he was "falsely implicated".

Let's be cool and try to assimilate this, work with us here. We are as confused and puzzled as you are.

1. A Dalit dude, living in Ambedkar basti gets drunk and damages a statue.
2. Dalits go on rampage, damaging property worth more than Rs. 7 crores (how many IIT seats is that?)
3. Police catch the dude called Valmiki
4. Valmiki fesses up
5. Residents of Valmiki basti get mighty upset so back to step 2.

Let me pour myself a large tequila, be back in 15.

Do you like sequels?

Bet you do. Well, it seems like now there is Imrana II (actually III if you take into account a similar story that broke a couple of days earlier).

A Muslim woman was raped by her father-in-law in Jharkhand in a case reminiscent of the trauma suffered by Imrana Bibi of Uttar Pradesh.

The incident occurred three days ago in Barapansari village of Deoghar district. When the woman threatened to speak out, she was asked to keep quiet or face more torture.

In the earlier case, the Imams had ruled that the rape victim abandon her husband and start living with her father-in-law. We won't speculate whether that ruling influenced this in any way.

Now, why do we have to blog about this? Aren't there incidents of rape by family members in Hindu families? Those are the type of questions being raised in this interesting thread at the retributions blog.

More atrocities on Dalits

Abi asks (by proxy of course):

The roused conscience of the nation should ask itself why [nobody heeded the horror of the Bhotmanges of Kherlanji]. Because Kherlanji is a remote location? But it's only a mobile call away from everywhere on earth. Because the Bhotmanges were dalits?

The same question was asked by Dr. Bruno elsewhere.

Let me answer the question for you, Herr Doktor Professor. Actually, the reverse is true. The incident was reported because the Bhotmanges were Dalits. Such incidents happen with alarming regularity in our country. Dalits are not the only victims, as a matter of fact, as far as law and order is concerned, it is the badlands out there. Even the socialists acknowledge it:

Indian judiciary says that capital punishment should be given in the rarest of rare cases, and this is not one of them. Rapes and murders take place all the time.

and more,

But what Santosh did was very human, born out of human impulses, and has to be resolved within the parameters of human society, not outside it

Stalking a young woman for two years, violating restraining orders, entering her home when no one else was around then cruelly violating her and beating her to death with a helmet is merely normal human impulse. Much like a kid helping himself to the cookie jar. We don't need capital punishment for this, right? Right.

The truth is, the incident got wide publicity. A google news search reveals it was reported by TOI, NDTV, The Hindu and Tehelka (please, none of that Tehelka is an activist newspaper and doesn't count BS, it is pretty much mainstream, with heavy artillary support - only it no longer stings so much).

Now back to the professor. You didn't happen to notice this news, did you?

In yet another slap on the face of the so-called "Sushasan", claimed by the Nitish-led NDA government, two Dalit women of a family on Saturday night were raped by four persons in Lakhanpur Sondipi village under the Muffasil police station of the district. [...]

An FIR, however, was lodged in the Muffasil police station on Sunday in which three unknown persons, besides one, Kapildev Yadav, of the adjacent Pathlatol village were made accused in the crime.

Happened within just a few days of the other incident. The professor didn't take note, neither did the other poseur socialist. They found one poster girl for their political agenda, did the blogging bit and that was it.

I think if one really wants to help Dalits or at least give them a fighting chance, one has to acknowledge the root cause of the problems. First of all, they are outnumbered by the OBCs. If winning votes is the only objective, of course 22.5% is going to lose out against 52% (plus 12% minority religion folks) again and again. And that is exactly what is happening in the hamlets of India. Again and again.

He said a majority of cases against dalits are related to land grabbing by OBCs, and not by upper castes.

"Wherever the two communities are stronger, there is confrontation. The atmosphere in the state shows that there is a confrontation between dalits and OBCs."

Another family massacred

A group of militants barged into the house of one Ahad Bhat at Mangloobi-Dalwah in Gool sector of Udhampur district in the wee hours today and fired indiscriminately on the inmates.

Bhat, his wife Fatima, their daughter Mubeena and niece Shameema died on the spot.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Udhampur, Basant Kumar Rath said the family was targeted after Bhat refused to marry his daughters to two militants who had visited the house with the proposal last night. (more ....)

You won't see the socialists picking up this story. No pics either.

Do you like snuff pictures?

* * * please scroll down for updates * * *

If the answer is yes, please head over to the Satyam Shivam Sundaram blog, pronto.

You must have heard, how could you not, if you are one of the gazzillion perpetually ashamed of his religion/caste Indian, about the atrocious brutality committed on a Dalit (erstwhile Dalit, I suppose, for they had embraced Buddhism) family.

Needless to say, the socialist/gimme seats lobby is overjoyed at this incident and it shows. For some reason, this atrocity translates into the absurd solution of sending rich OBC/Dalit kids in the metros to IITs and IIMs. Yeah.

My heart particularly aches for the young woman Priyanka. She was a good student, but she would find it difficult to get into a good school. The creamy Dalits will continue to grab the prime land as always.

By the way, in case you missed it, here is a little factoid for you:

The Bhotmange's were one of the two Mahar families of the village that is dominated by the OBC's, the landlord clans here. Bhaiyyalal had movedto this village to farm his mother's 5-acre land about 18 years ago. But it was surekha, who tilled her farm and fought for regaining the hold over a portion grabbed by the upper castes, which is a decisive political force in this part.

So, hope you will feel better when we start sending rich OBC kids to IITs and IIMs from the next academic session.

Jai Hind.

[Note: we recommend the death penalty for the perpetrators, unlike the Afzal shouldn't hang/Santosh Kumar should, gang of socialist freeloaders.]

[Update: 1]
Shivam Vij confirms that the perpetrators, members of the Power and Kalar castes, are OBCs. Remember that this is the true face of rural India today - marginalized Dalits and MBCs living in perpetual fear in villages dominated by powerful and ever ambitious OBC landlords.

[Update: 2]
Dilip D'Souza compares this incident with past black lynchings in America. Well, I suppose he has got to try harder. A correct analogy would be a massacre of a say a Red Indian family by black youths in a Philadelphia suburb (for instance).

[Update: 3]
Shivam does NOT support the death penalty for the perpetrators. Well, nice try. Do that in a Dalit annual meeting or something.

[Update: 4]
Abi has a post up at the Other Idiots site, which claims percentage wise, Dalits actually experience less violence than the general population. Although he ends the post by suggesting under-reportage, I believe he is building up something stronger. Don't be surprised if you see him googling up documents all over the internet and proving that the most recipients of violence are OBCs and most givers are the privileged.

[Update: 5]
The good Doctor Bruno never fails to surprise us. He left a comment for me on the It's my way or the Highway blog:

@ Barbarindian : This incident says that OBC Castes need education. Being dominant in a village by virtue of being the majority caste / rich may be just a factor. Education is more important.

How to educated these guys, any ideas??

Er, is that a question Doc?

Did Afzal just run out of luck?

I think I mentioned it earlier, the Other Idiots blog and its various offshoots such as this and this are sort of like leading indicators for upcoming Congress political strategy. These guys are mostly card carrying party members, they know what's going on inside. For instance, the Other Idiots blog started just around the time Arjun Singh was planning his diabolical OBC game plan. The blog pretended to be a one stop shop for various socialistic weepy issues, starting from stray dogs to atrocities directed towards women. When the reservation issue was at its hottest, the blog was churning out about a dozen posts per day on the topic. Most recently, not only has the frequency of posts gone down, they have moved towards the same ole same ole, i.e. the very original Garibi Hatao. By the way, no post about 7/11 on the blog.

Sometimes I wish I were a socialist. Posh jobs with no responsibilities, guaranteed pseudo-journalistic assignments in various Cong-pet-poodle newspapers, fine whiskey, lavish lifestyle, lots of free time to blog.

Anyway.

After 7/11 happened, some folks (you know who they are) tried their level best to start a riot. It just didn't happen. As a matter of fact, folks reacted with a mixture of bewilderment and confusion, much to the chagrin of the riot-plotters. Then the blasts happened in Malegaon. For a while they tried to pass it off on Hindu fascists. That didn't hold water, since the explosive used was RDX. Another strange fact came out during this time. Apparently the Bombay blasts had been planned several years ago, around 2000-01. At the time the Gujarat riots still didn't happen. So, the revenge motif just wouldn't work. It was a blow to an election strategy like no other.

Then the issue of Afzal came up. It was a golden opportunity, not to be missed. Congress' most vocal spokesperson on the blogosphere went to town on the issue.

Here is a sampling of how the viewpoint changed over time:
1. Death penalty is primitive and immoral (by the way, try seaching for Dhananjay in those blogs).
2. Afzal hanging will be a blow to Indo-Pak relations (as if they are the best of buddies now).
3. Afzal hanging is illegal (read here).

Some of these articles were categorized under "human rights".

Most unfortunately for them, another issue, which had captured the country's attention came into prominence around this time. Well, I am talking about Priyadarshini Mattoo. The man on the street is now unequivocally "hang that bastard". Now this is too sensitive a time to run afoul of popular sentiments. In fact, this is high time to screw Afzal. Last time I checked, they are basically deciding between the lethal injection and the rope from Tihar jail. See?

Of course, this is all verifiable, because apparently now there is only a feeble justification not to hang Afzal.

This is not an argument against the death penalty. I do not claim that Afzal is innocent of the charges against him, or that he did not receive a fair trial. I am simply saying: Afzal alive is our only chance to find out the truth about the attack on Parliament.

Sorry if all this leaves you completely speechless.

India's next Prime Minister

Far fetched? Hardly.

Abu Salem is already starting to contemplate a deeper role in Indian politics. In a country where Osama bin Laden is revered as a hero, this is not at all surprising. As a matter of fact, the likes of Abu Salem is being increasingly seen as martyrs for a cause, for instance here. A man unambiguously convicted of hatching a conspiracy to bomb the Indian Parliament (in case you have forgotten, it is the very basis and symbol of India the sovereign state) is hailed as a hero.

We all know about Arjun's quota games. Laloo's Garib Rath can't be far behind.

Gandhi never won the Nobel peace prize, Yasser Arafat did. You see, all it takes is just a little imagination.

Blogger returns, yarns spun

Readers might recall that Dilip D'Souza bid goodbye to the blogosphere a while ago. I was quite certain he would come back and that it was a cheapshot attempt at attracting attention much in the manner of our politicians when they resign, protest and stage dharnas. If Dilip had expected that there would be scores of readers pleading him to come back, it didn't quite happen. The thread of the goodbye post ended up being a slugfest with Shivam Vij doing much of the cursing using different handles.

Anyway.

As expected Dilip did come back, with a bang so to speak because he has focused his attention on the so many bombings and explosions prepetrated by Islamic terrorists in India. He is spinning yarns with a zeal not seen in his pre-self-exiled avatar. For instance, in this post he links an alleged act of violence perpetrated by BJP affiliated student unions with the issue of singing Vande Mataram. In the same post he claims that this was the worst incident ever involving student union leaders. Needless to say, he does not support his premise with facts.

His latest posts mention his disillusionment at the Pope's recent remarks and the surrounding controvery. This is strange because for a man who so vociferously claims to be secular, it is quite perplexing that he could ever have been illusioned by religion in the first place.

Tragically for Dilip, the recent turn of events have summarily squashed his hopes that the Mosque attacks were the work of Vajrang Dal. The recent revelation about the long-term planning of the 7/11 bombings also shatters the myth that they were an aftermath of Gujarat riots.

The conspiracy behind the 7/11 blasts was hatched over five years ago in 2000-2001, when some of the accused in the blasts visited Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir to undergo training with the who's who of the world of terror.

The operational work was taken care of by the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba while funds and the crucial training given to the culprits came from the al-Qaeda, clearly underlining the spread of global terror.

So, while Dilip continues to spin his yarns, they appear to be a lot weaker than before.

Can you tell the difference?

The most worrying trends in the recent times may be the nexus between Islamic terrorists and communists. We already know of the nexus between LeT and Naxalites. Well, the similarities don't end there. Both indulge in large scale propaganda, often involving unsuspecting do-gooders or chronic anti-nationals with an agenda.

As far as the fake currency racket is concerned, it is by far dominated by ISI supported outfits. The reach and scale of this racket is astonishing and needless to say, several of our leaders are on the take. Needless to say, communists are well versed in this game.

It is no surprise that much of India's underworld is dominated by Muslims. It starts from the Bombay mafia, Bollywood film financing and reaches its zenith (or nadir, depending on your point of view) in the Abdul Karim Telgi stamp scam, Bangalore BPO fraud by LeT operatives etc. India remains for the Muslim world a land of heathens, to be conquered by hook or crook. Osama and Dawood are celebrated heroes in the various Muslim ghettos. The Shahi Imam issues statements to the effect that India will be once again taken by Muslims on a regular basis.

So next time you pop out a crisp 500 Rupee bill, reflect on it for a second.

Abi discovers Sweden

No one was as thrilled to discover a country since Columbus discovered Amerca. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, comminists have had trouble finding fairy tales of happy commie kids singing lores of equality and "freedom". For a while China sufficed, but soon detractors called the bluff. Not only about half of China live in dire straits, the rest are essentially progressing because of a test tube version of capitalism. Strikes are a big weapon in the commie arsenal, except when they run the country, in which case they are banned. Dissenters are thrown into cages of wild animals. Ok, I made that one up.

Quite expectedly the desi commie community are looking elsewhere. Their recent discoveries include Chile and Sweden.

Abi writes:

Of course, its ideology makes the Economist try very hard indeed to trash this model. However, if you read between the lines (and you don't really have to try that hard!), it's quite clear that the choices facing the Swedish people are between different versions of the Welfare State; the Swedish model is in no danger of being dismantled.

We have been urging Abi to stick to what he knows best, i.e. materials science, because venturing into the murky territory of economics has its dangers. We are unsure whether it is plain ignorance or a propensity to spin propaganda which made Abi ignore large portions of the said article from the economist magazine. Because the portions Abi chose to ignore contain some serious indictment to Sweden's welfare statism.

Some examples (requires subscription):

In truth, the Swedish economy's best years are long gone. Between 1870 and 1950, average growth in Swedish GDP and productivity was, by some measures, the fastest in the world. In 1970 Sweden was the fourth-richest member of the OECDclub of industrial countries. But for most of the past 50 years the story has been one of relative decline, including a deep recession in the early 1990s (see chart 1).

Also:

Where will all this leave the much-trumpeted Swedish model? Most Swedes are weary of listening to foreign claims about the perfection of their society. Mr Lindbeck suggests that, where it does have economic strengths, they are of an essentially Anglo-American, market variety. Johnny Munkhammar, who runs a pro-market think-tank, Timbro, argues similarly that history shows Sweden's economy to have flourished when it has been more liberal and low-tax—and to have gone off the rails when higher taxes and more regulation have been imposed.

The version of Sweden the great welfare state that Abi conjures up (complete with socialism and Swedish blondes on the arms of materials science professors) resides only in his mind. Welfare in that context merely means job security and health and retirement benefits. In India of course it means complete blockage of anyone's ability to carry out economic activities. Sweden is decades away in terms of economic freedom and openness to global trade (remember Bofors?) and with ministers like Kamal Nath and PC seems to be basically out of reach.

Anniversaries all year round

Within days after the Russian city of Beslan remembered the massacre of school children and as the US prepares to remember the 9/11 victims, Islamic terror struck once again.

This time though, the public has rejected the overtures of politicians. As they say - you can fool some people some of the time etc. etc.

Looks like pretty soon we will have a terror attack to remember each day of the year. We can even come up with a new terror calendar. Something like, the month of Beslan, day of Malegaon bombings etc. Meanwhile, Dilip D'Souza claims that the residue found at the blast site is not RDX but his groin dust.

The only resolution of the Bombay/Malegaon bombings we have so far is as follows:

Following each terror attack, if you don't run out and hug a muslim, you are likely to be a Hindu fascist.

The "socialists" are doing pretty well for themselves - Part II

Abdul Karim Telgi, the main accused in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scandal, has named Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar during investigation. Telgi also accused former deputy chief minister of Maharashtra Chhagan Bhujbal and former Karnataka minister Roshan Baig of involvement in the scam.






Meanwhile, the daughter hasn't done badly for herself either.

The affidavit filed by NCP chief Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule for Rajya Sabha elections shows her to be one of the richest politicians in the state. Sule, her husband Sadanand and their two children, have properties worth a whopping Rs 41.52 crore.

(......) Mataram

What would our man say?

Noted Shia scholar and All India Muslim Personal Law Board vice-president Maulana Kalbe Sadiq on Tuesday tried to explore a midpath between national pride and religion, when he tried to delve deeper into the actual meaning of the word 'Vande'. "Does it mean salutation or worship?" he asked, adding that Muslims should have no problem if the word means 'saluting or paying respect to the country'.

In a country where women belonging to a certain religion are forced to accept polygamy by law, the Vande Mataram controversy is a non-issue. The biggest champions of human rights such as this and this never pick up stories such as this.

If you are a privileged Hindu, you had better keep your head down and wait for the sword. You are already doomed.