National Summary:
Politcs:
Bharatiya Janata Party national president Nitin Gadkari blamed the Congress-led Centre for the price rise and unemployment and the DMK-led State government for the power and water crises in Tamil Nadu. According to him Congress government at the Centre is appeasing the minorities and terrorist organisations for political gain and for vote-bank politics which he said, would endanger the country's unity and integrity. Criticising the Congress and other secular political parties for describing the BJP as a communal party, Mr. Gadkari said the party was for justice for all irrespective of caste and creed.
Chief Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla expressed concern that roughly 700 out of 1,000 registered political parties do not contest polls but said the Election Commission has no power to de-register them.
The involvement of Tharoor in the IPL franchise for, the Kochi team has raised concerns among political circles and even in his own party. Left parties demanded his resignation as, for them, its highly inappropriate for a minister in the Union government to be part of such activities.
Minorities' Isuues:
Muslim groups in Rajasthan have alleged that over a dozen persons accused of carrying out and conspiring in the May 2008 serial blasts in Jaipur were being kept at the Central Jail without basic facilities and forced to make fresh confession despite the completion of investigation.
Hindu Fundamentalism:
Senior BJP leader L K Advani emphasized that the party needs to work to explain to the people that Hindutva and Indian secularism are synonymous. The BJP leader quoted Supreme Court judgment on Hindutva in which the court had observed, “Hindutva is a way of life or state of mind and cannot be understood as religious Hindu fundamentalism.”
Insurgency Movements:
After the government came under opposition attack on the handling of Naxal violence, Home Minister P Chidambaram said that the state governments have the primary responsibility to fight the Maoist menace and the Centre was ready to assist them.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has said there are no Maoists in West Bengal. Banerjee claimed there are about 200 camps of the Communist Party India (Marxist), which have unleashed violence across the state. Criticising the so-called Operation Green Hunt of the government, Banerjee said the operation is being carried out to suppress or kill rural folk in the area.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles successfully flew over the forests of Bastar in the first trial run for anti-naxal operations. The trials, which assumed urgency after the Dantewada massacre in which 76 security personnel were killed by Maoists, were aimed at generating real-time intelligence information to help ground forces in any offensive. The first trial involved an American UAV.
Economy:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India was poised to achieve 9-10 per cent economic growth but for this it required protection-free international climate. During the meeting with President Barack Obama, Singh said, there was a need to "rewrite" the architecture of global economic system in which the G-20 could play an important role. Referring to the global economic crisis, Singh referred to role of US in strengthening growth impulses in world economy particularly in developing countries in period after World War II and stressed that that experience should be repeated.
According to the 'ING Investor Dashboard Survey' Investor sentiment in India has been the highest among the Asian economies in the January-March period of 2010 because of robust domestic consumption and expectations of increased stock market activity. The India index, which provides market insights into investor attitude and outlook, has jumped to 174 for the first quarter of 2010, from 169 in the immediate previous quarter. The survey found that a majority of Indian investors (91 per cent) believe the economic situation will improve in the next quarter, signaling continued confidence in the local economy. Also investors are willing to take more risk as the economic outlook turns bullish.
Geo-strategic Developments:
US President Barack Obama has hoped that the controversial nuclear liability bill will be concluded "expeditiously" by the Indian Parliament. The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, introduction of which was deferred by the government on March 15, figured in the talks Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had with Obama on Sunday. The bill that seeks to limit the liability of a nuclear power plant operator at Rs 500 crore in case of an accident has generated criticism from opposition parties.
India seeks access to David Coleman Headley under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), 2005, which binds India and the US to share information and material while pursuing criminal cases.
The Obama Administration has asked the Congress to double its anti-terrorism budget to India to USD 4.5 million for the fiscal 2011.
Social Issues:
s:A Freak storm preceded by hurricane-force winds killed nearly a hundred people in four blocks of North Dinajpur district in West Bengal and Araria, Purnea and Kishanganj districts of Bihar around midnight on Tuesday. While 31 people were killed and more than 50 injured in West Bengal, the toll was around 65 in Bihar. The figure is likely to rise as rescuers are still clearing debris of flattened houses in both states
Regional Summary:
Central India/Hindi Heart Land
Congress and BSP are struggling hard to gain Dalit’s vote bank in UP. Both parties have announced different programmes to celebrate the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar. Rahul Gandhi and UP chief minister Mayawati are the main contester in vote bank politics.
Northern States:
Rajasthan government extended a fresh invitation for talks to Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, who is spearheading a protest demanding five per cent quota for the community in state jobs. Hundreds of Gujjars led by Bainsla have been marching to Jaipur since April 11 to press for their demand.
Eastern States:
Muslim religious leaders publicly voiced their support for Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee and criticised the CPM for not helping the Muslims in Bengal.
Southern States:
Tamil Nadu government has allocated Rs 1,000 crore for a project of constructing roads of international standard in 11 cities, including Madurai. Discussions were taking place at various levels to build the roads, which would have good lighting facility, footpath, and sign boards, an official release said.
Western States:
The number of suicides in Gujarat has risen by 10.5 per cent in 2008, as compared to 2007, with housewives constituting the highest percentage, according to a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report. The recently published report titled 'Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India-2008' said the number of suicides in Gujarat has increased to 6,165 in 2008 from 5580 registered in 2007, an increase of 10.5 per cent. The all-India average was recorded at 2.2 per cent. Out of the 6,165 suicides in 2008 in Gujarat, 1,744 (28.3 percent) were housewives. Gujarat, where 4.9 per cent of the total suicides in the country took place in 2008, stands eighth in the list of state after West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, where high suicide rates were recorded.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
An India- Pakistan love story
Indian and Pakistani men cannot see beyond their male pride in the love story of a Pakistani cricketer and Indian tennis champ, writes Aijaz Zaka Syed*
Ah, to be young and in love! And when you are young and in love, you seldom see beyond your nose -- or that of your sweetheart's. If Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik was foolish to exchange vows over the telephone with an Indian girl in distant Hyderabad eight years ago without ever having met her, he is down right stupid to fly to India to meet tennis champ Sania Mirza, his new love, in the face of a brewing storm of global proportions.
But then what love is -- madness. And as someone said, when love is not madness, it is not love.
The affair between Pakistan's former cricket captain and the hot Muslim tennis champion of India reads like a Bollywood love story.
It has all the elements that make for a juicy, heady potboiler, and the Bollywood dream merchants are drooling over it: love, the seat-edge suspense, conspiracy of circumstances and resistance from zalim samaj (society), the villainous other woman, and two telegenic and famous faces at the heart of all the emotional circus. This India-Pakistan love saga is far more arresting than anything the most gifted of Bollywood storytellers could come up with.
No wonder the media in India and Pakistan, especially its over-the-top television news networks, is hungrily lapping it up, producing the same chewed and overchewed, long regurgitated crap 24/7.
My youngest holds her pretty head in her tiny hands when she sees me tune in to Zee News to watch for a zillionth time the latest on the Shoaib-Sania affair. Which is not much different from what you saw five minutes back -- or five hours ago.
This affair seems to have cast a spell on the entire South Asia and beyond. The faces of Indo-Pak sports celebrities and lovers are permanently plastered on television screens. The two of them are torn apart by the bespectacled image of the beady, bleary-eyed Ayesha Siddiqui, the girl who claims to have married Shoaib in 2002. Shoaib, who is in trouble now, what with the Hyderabad police filing a criminal case against him and seizing his passport after hours of interrogation, says Sania and her family know "the truth" about his first marriage.
But whatever the truth and the suspicious circumstances in which this marriage was performed, a marriage is a marriage.
Besides, whether Shoaib divorces Ayesha and marries Sania or not, this whole episode has made a mockery of Islamic Sharia and the institution of marriage that plays such a critical role in Muslim and South Asian society.
I can't bear to watch Islamic scholars, dazed by the blinding lights and all the paraphernalia of a television studio, hopelessly try to explain Shoaib's actions in the light of Sharia even as their hosts bend over backwards to suggest all Muslim males are like Shoaib and this happens all the time to poor women in Muslim society.
But what has it got to do with Sharia or Islam? No religious teachings can explain or justify the recklessness or pure idiocy that love seems to bring out in the Shoaibs of this world.
After the damning revelations made by Ayesha's parents in a globally telecast press conference, Shoaib flew down to Hyderabad like a gallant, cavalier hero in true filmy fashion to woo back his disturbed heroine and reassure her obviously concerned parents. But in doing so, he may have provided a heaven-sent opportunity to the scorned Siddiquis, the media and the mob, of course.
Hopelessly bedazzled by love, Shoaib seems to have walked into a minefield from which I am not sure how he is going to walk out alive or at least without egg on his face.
True to the sub-continent's time-honoured traditions, this crossborder love story has turned into an ever-widening mudslinging match between India and Pakistan. Soon after Sania's family revealed her plans to tie the knot with Shoaib, there was all-round jubilation in Pakistan with many Pakistanis patting Shoaib's back -- and their own --- for his "Indian conquest".
After years of Bollywood movies that always show Pakistani girls falling for Indian men, the revenge couldn't have been sweeter for Pakistanis. Predictably, this was greeted by loud condemnations on the other side of the border, with many of my fellow Indians seeing in Sania's love for Shoaib the ultimate betrayal of mother India.
The irrepressible Bal Thackeray, again hopping mad over the fact that Sania's heart beats for a Pakistani, as usual implies all Indian Muslims are traitors and Pakistani agents.
And it is not just the Hindu groups that are upset. There has been total bedlam online here in the Gulf. A fellow Hyderabadi based in Saudi Arabia sparked the free-for-all by thrashing the tennis sensation in earthy Deccani Urdu for picking a Pakistani. Suggesting he cannot now face his Pakistani colleagues and neighbours, he moaned: Main munh pe kapda daalke ghoom rhhaun aajkal because of her (I have to cover my face because of her).
This started a virtual cacophony with some, including yours truly, defending the lovers' right to find their love wherever they please and others interpreting it as a "surrender" to Pakistan. Some were upset that this could spark another vicious campaign against Indian Muslims by militant Hindu groups.
Remarkably, all of those who see in this harmless love affair a catastrophic sellout to Pakistan are Muslims and come from the city of pearls and Charminar like Sania does. The city that some in India see as being allegedly soft on Pakistan with the police regularly rounding up young Muslims as ISI agents.
But clearly this has little to do with patriotic fervour and more to do with male chauvinistic pride being hurt by the fact that one of their girls has fallen for someone from across the border. The same pride that forced pre-Islamic pagan Arabs and some communities in Rajasthan, India to kill their daughters right after birth.
If this is how Indian Muslims think, imagine the heartburn this whole thing must have caused our sensitive friends in the Hindutva brigade. Let's face it. In our hearts, we are all Male Chauvinistic Pigs no matter how much progress we have made in terms of education and economic growth. Also at play are double standards and rank hypocrisy that seem to come naturally to us.
We take immense pride in some of our distant relatives making it to the West, flaunting their Western passports. We get hysterical even at the suggestion of Sania settling down in Pakistan or embracing her prospective husband's nationality. And what's wrong if it's the other way round and Shoaib settles down in India?
We were after all one people and one country, for God's sake! Until only six decades ago. We do not just share culture, language, religion, literature, music and sports. We share this great land. Whether we like it or not, we inseparable from each other. Let's learn to live with each other. And, yes, let's give Shoaib and Sania a break. It's their life after all. This India-Pakistan love story should bring the two nations and people together, not tear them further apart.
* The writer is opinion editor of Khaleej Times.
But then what love is -- madness. And as someone said, when love is not madness, it is not love.
The affair between Pakistan's former cricket captain and the hot Muslim tennis champion of India reads like a Bollywood love story.
It has all the elements that make for a juicy, heady potboiler, and the Bollywood dream merchants are drooling over it: love, the seat-edge suspense, conspiracy of circumstances and resistance from zalim samaj (society), the villainous other woman, and two telegenic and famous faces at the heart of all the emotional circus. This India-Pakistan love saga is far more arresting than anything the most gifted of Bollywood storytellers could come up with.
No wonder the media in India and Pakistan, especially its over-the-top television news networks, is hungrily lapping it up, producing the same chewed and overchewed, long regurgitated crap 24/7.
My youngest holds her pretty head in her tiny hands when she sees me tune in to Zee News to watch for a zillionth time the latest on the Shoaib-Sania affair. Which is not much different from what you saw five minutes back -- or five hours ago.
This affair seems to have cast a spell on the entire South Asia and beyond. The faces of Indo-Pak sports celebrities and lovers are permanently plastered on television screens. The two of them are torn apart by the bespectacled image of the beady, bleary-eyed Ayesha Siddiqui, the girl who claims to have married Shoaib in 2002. Shoaib, who is in trouble now, what with the Hyderabad police filing a criminal case against him and seizing his passport after hours of interrogation, says Sania and her family know "the truth" about his first marriage.
But whatever the truth and the suspicious circumstances in which this marriage was performed, a marriage is a marriage.
Besides, whether Shoaib divorces Ayesha and marries Sania or not, this whole episode has made a mockery of Islamic Sharia and the institution of marriage that plays such a critical role in Muslim and South Asian society.
I can't bear to watch Islamic scholars, dazed by the blinding lights and all the paraphernalia of a television studio, hopelessly try to explain Shoaib's actions in the light of Sharia even as their hosts bend over backwards to suggest all Muslim males are like Shoaib and this happens all the time to poor women in Muslim society.
But what has it got to do with Sharia or Islam? No religious teachings can explain or justify the recklessness or pure idiocy that love seems to bring out in the Shoaibs of this world.
After the damning revelations made by Ayesha's parents in a globally telecast press conference, Shoaib flew down to Hyderabad like a gallant, cavalier hero in true filmy fashion to woo back his disturbed heroine and reassure her obviously concerned parents. But in doing so, he may have provided a heaven-sent opportunity to the scorned Siddiquis, the media and the mob, of course.
Hopelessly bedazzled by love, Shoaib seems to have walked into a minefield from which I am not sure how he is going to walk out alive or at least without egg on his face.
True to the sub-continent's time-honoured traditions, this crossborder love story has turned into an ever-widening mudslinging match between India and Pakistan. Soon after Sania's family revealed her plans to tie the knot with Shoaib, there was all-round jubilation in Pakistan with many Pakistanis patting Shoaib's back -- and their own --- for his "Indian conquest".
After years of Bollywood movies that always show Pakistani girls falling for Indian men, the revenge couldn't have been sweeter for Pakistanis. Predictably, this was greeted by loud condemnations on the other side of the border, with many of my fellow Indians seeing in Sania's love for Shoaib the ultimate betrayal of mother India.
The irrepressible Bal Thackeray, again hopping mad over the fact that Sania's heart beats for a Pakistani, as usual implies all Indian Muslims are traitors and Pakistani agents.
And it is not just the Hindu groups that are upset. There has been total bedlam online here in the Gulf. A fellow Hyderabadi based in Saudi Arabia sparked the free-for-all by thrashing the tennis sensation in earthy Deccani Urdu for picking a Pakistani. Suggesting he cannot now face his Pakistani colleagues and neighbours, he moaned: Main munh pe kapda daalke ghoom rhhaun aajkal because of her (I have to cover my face because of her).
This started a virtual cacophony with some, including yours truly, defending the lovers' right to find their love wherever they please and others interpreting it as a "surrender" to Pakistan. Some were upset that this could spark another vicious campaign against Indian Muslims by militant Hindu groups.
Remarkably, all of those who see in this harmless love affair a catastrophic sellout to Pakistan are Muslims and come from the city of pearls and Charminar like Sania does. The city that some in India see as being allegedly soft on Pakistan with the police regularly rounding up young Muslims as ISI agents.
But clearly this has little to do with patriotic fervour and more to do with male chauvinistic pride being hurt by the fact that one of their girls has fallen for someone from across the border. The same pride that forced pre-Islamic pagan Arabs and some communities in Rajasthan, India to kill their daughters right after birth.
If this is how Indian Muslims think, imagine the heartburn this whole thing must have caused our sensitive friends in the Hindutva brigade. Let's face it. In our hearts, we are all Male Chauvinistic Pigs no matter how much progress we have made in terms of education and economic growth. Also at play are double standards and rank hypocrisy that seem to come naturally to us.
We take immense pride in some of our distant relatives making it to the West, flaunting their Western passports. We get hysterical even at the suggestion of Sania settling down in Pakistan or embracing her prospective husband's nationality. And what's wrong if it's the other way round and Shoaib settles down in India?
We were after all one people and one country, for God's sake! Until only six decades ago. We do not just share culture, language, religion, literature, music and sports. We share this great land. Whether we like it or not, we inseparable from each other. Let's learn to live with each other. And, yes, let's give Shoaib and Sania a break. It's their life after all. This India-Pakistan love story should bring the two nations and people together, not tear them further apart.
* The writer is opinion editor of Khaleej Times.
India: Last Week Summary
National Summary:
Politics
BJP is not happy with government’s policies to improve minorities’ status in the country as BJP president Nitin Gadkari criticized the Congress for its "minority appeasement" policy saying this is a threat to the country's unity and will create a divide between the so called majority and minority. The BJP leader also hit out at the Congress for "sheltering" infiltrators from neighboring Bangladesh rising inflation.
The SP and the RJD are committed to oppose the Women's Reservation Bill in its present form at an all-party meeting convened by the government and stick to their demand for quota for Muslim women and backward classes.
Home minister P Chidambaram accepted "full responsibility" for the Dantewada massacre of a CRPF contingent by Naxalites, while all political parties condemned the incident and killing.
BJP is not happy with government’s policies to improve minorities’ status in the country as BJP president Nitin Gadkari criticized the Congress for its "minority appeasement" policy saying this is a threat to the country's unity and will create a divide between the so called majority and minority. The BJP leader also hit out at the Congress for "sheltering" infiltrators from neighboring Bangladesh rising inflation.
The SP and the RJD are committed to oppose the Women's Reservation Bill in its present form at an all-party meeting convened by the government and stick to their demand for quota for Muslim women and backward classes.
Home minister P Chidambaram accepted "full responsibility" for the Dantewada massacre of a CRPF contingent by Naxalites, while all political parties condemned the incident and killing.
Hindu Fundamentalism
The VHP once again wants to disturb communal harmony by raising Ram temple issue as the verdict is expected by year-end from the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in the main title deed case related to the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid complex. Muslim community is not interested in any clash and determined to accept the court verdict.
The VHP once again wants to disturb communal harmony by raising Ram temple issue as the verdict is expected by year-end from the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in the main title deed case related to the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid complex. Muslim community is not interested in any clash and determined to accept the court verdict.
Insurgency Movements
Maoist rebels killed 74 members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and two policemen from the Chhattisgarh police, and destroyed an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in Dantewada district. The attack took place in the Mukrana forest, about 540 km southeast of the State (Chhattisgarh) capital Raipur when the force was returning to base camp after a three-day area domination exercise.
It is revealed by Special Investigation Team interrogation of suspected Naxalites in Gujarat that international Maoist groups are involved in the arms training of Indian Mao rebels and one such session was held in the forests of Kerala. Surat Range IGP A K Singh told that interrogation of Bharat Puwar and Sulat Puwar, who were allegedly involved in Naxal activity in Dangs district, has revealed that members of the Communist Party of Philippines (CPP) had trained a batch of 25 tribals from various parts of the country in guerrilla warfare and the use of arms, ammunition and explosives.
Maoist rebels killed 74 members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and two policemen from the Chhattisgarh police, and destroyed an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in Dantewada district. The attack took place in the Mukrana forest, about 540 km southeast of the State (Chhattisgarh) capital Raipur when the force was returning to base camp after a three-day area domination exercise.
It is revealed by Special Investigation Team interrogation of suspected Naxalites in Gujarat that international Maoist groups are involved in the arms training of Indian Mao rebels and one such session was held in the forests of Kerala. Surat Range IGP A K Singh told that interrogation of Bharat Puwar and Sulat Puwar, who were allegedly involved in Naxal activity in Dangs district, has revealed that members of the Communist Party of Philippines (CPP) had trained a batch of 25 tribals from various parts of the country in guerrilla warfare and the use of arms, ammunition and explosives.
Economy
Qatar is interested to invest in Indian energy sector. According to the report, a delegation from India will soon visit Qatar to discuss prospects for investment.
Salman Khurshid, Minister of State for Corporate and Minority Affairs has said reverse brain drain to country has begun and it is a great sign of the world's confidence in India and its recognition of India's potential. Many second-generation Indians are coming back to the country. Top multinationals are sending their top Indian minds to head their companies in India.
Qatar is interested to invest in Indian energy sector. According to the report, a delegation from India will soon visit Qatar to discuss prospects for investment.
Salman Khurshid, Minister of State for Corporate and Minority Affairs has said reverse brain drain to country has begun and it is a great sign of the world's confidence in India and its recognition of India's potential. Many second-generation Indians are coming back to the country. Top multinationals are sending their top Indian minds to head their companies in India.
Foreign Relations/Geostrategic Developments
After the February 25 fruitless Foreign Secretary-level talks, India is willing to have the second round of talks but is yet to get any response from Pakistan’s side. Water issue is getting critical as India refused to accept that it is violating Indus Water Treaty by constructing illegal water reservoirs on Pakistan’s share of water resources. Indian authorities claim that fault lies with Pakistan’s poor management of water resources as it has very short water storage dams and reservoirs.
India wants to join Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as it is an important regional organization. The government had asked the missions in four central Asian countries, Russia and China to explore the nature of rule changes for joining the SCO that are under way. India's inclination comes amid the SCO's plan to take into its fold more countries from the near neighbourhood, including Pakistan and possibly Iran.
India seeks China’s support for permanent membership of Security Council. External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna’s visit to China is focused on two issues; China’s investment in Azad Kashmir and improvement of ties with China to increase cooperation in different fields.
After the February 25 fruitless Foreign Secretary-level talks, India is willing to have the second round of talks but is yet to get any response from Pakistan’s side. Water issue is getting critical as India refused to accept that it is violating Indus Water Treaty by constructing illegal water reservoirs on Pakistan’s share of water resources. Indian authorities claim that fault lies with Pakistan’s poor management of water resources as it has very short water storage dams and reservoirs.
India wants to join Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as it is an important regional organization. The government had asked the missions in four central Asian countries, Russia and China to explore the nature of rule changes for joining the SCO that are under way. India's inclination comes amid the SCO's plan to take into its fold more countries from the near neighbourhood, including Pakistan and possibly Iran.
India seeks China’s support for permanent membership of Security Council. External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna’s visit to China is focused on two issues; China’s investment in Azad Kashmir and improvement of ties with China to increase cooperation in different fields.
Indian Held Kashmir
A railway track was blown up in Indian held Kashmir. . An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was triggered, probably using a remote-control device, which left a three-foot crater on the tracks, police said.
Separatist leaders of Indian held Kashmir advised people to participate in census. In a shift from their past stand, separatists have not asked people to boycott the Census. On the contrary, they have asked them to actively participate in the exercise. The reason for this shift is the separatists’ concern that the Muslim majority status of J&K is being eroded. Chairman of Hurriyat’s hard-line faction Syed Ali Shah Geelani hinted he wasn’t opposed to the exercise by saying, “There are concerted efforts under a pre-planned conspiracy to reduce the Muslim majority status of the state. The Census is being carried out by the employees from outside the state and they have been tasked to erode the Muslim majority status of the state.” Geelani said Muslims were 85 per cent of J&K’s population before 1947 “but in the subsequent censuses of 1961 and 1981, it (Muslim population) was put at 69 per cent and 64.5 per cent respectively.”
A railway track was blown up in Indian held Kashmir. . An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was triggered, probably using a remote-control device, which left a three-foot crater on the tracks, police said.
Separatist leaders of Indian held Kashmir advised people to participate in census. In a shift from their past stand, separatists have not asked people to boycott the Census. On the contrary, they have asked them to actively participate in the exercise. The reason for this shift is the separatists’ concern that the Muslim majority status of J&K is being eroded. Chairman of Hurriyat’s hard-line faction Syed Ali Shah Geelani hinted he wasn’t opposed to the exercise by saying, “There are concerted efforts under a pre-planned conspiracy to reduce the Muslim majority status of the state. The Census is being carried out by the employees from outside the state and they have been tasked to erode the Muslim majority status of the state.” Geelani said Muslims were 85 per cent of J&K’s population before 1947 “but in the subsequent censuses of 1961 and 1981, it (Muslim population) was put at 69 per cent and 64.5 per cent respectively.”
Social Front
According to the Annual Flow Report released by the US Department of Homeland Security the number of Indians receiving the coveted Green Card or the Legal Permanent Residency status in the US has experienced a considerable decline in the past three years. Latest official figures released showed that the number of Indians being granted the Green Card has declined each year since 2007. In 2009, as many as 57,309 Indians received the Green Card, while in 2008 the figure was 63,352 and the previous year in 2007 as many as 65,353 Indians had received the Legal Permanent Residency Status. India was, however, among the top five countries who provided the maximum number of LPRs to the US in 2009.
Regional Summary:
According to the Annual Flow Report released by the US Department of Homeland Security the number of Indians receiving the coveted Green Card or the Legal Permanent Residency status in the US has experienced a considerable decline in the past three years. Latest official figures released showed that the number of Indians being granted the Green Card has declined each year since 2007. In 2009, as many as 57,309 Indians received the Green Card, while in 2008 the figure was 63,352 and the previous year in 2007 as many as 65,353 Indians had received the Legal Permanent Residency Status. India was, however, among the top five countries who provided the maximum number of LPRs to the US in 2009.
Regional Summary:
Central India/Hindi Heartland
Opposition parties included Congress held protest in Chhattisgarh on Thursday against the massacre of 76 troopers by Maoist guerrillas. The shutdown hit life in the five districts- Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar and Kanker. Schools remained closed across the state while shopkeepers downed their shutters as a mark of protest. Chhattisgarh state Congress president Dhanendra Sahu told reporters here that the strike was called to protest the flawed policies of the state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) that resulted in the the killing of 76 troopers Tuesday in the biggest ever attack carried by Maoists.
Opposition parties included Congress held protest in Chhattisgarh on Thursday against the massacre of 76 troopers by Maoist guerrillas. The shutdown hit life in the five districts- Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar and Kanker. Schools remained closed across the state while shopkeepers downed their shutters as a mark of protest. Chhattisgarh state Congress president Dhanendra Sahu told reporters here that the strike was called to protest the flawed policies of the state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) that resulted in the the killing of 76 troopers Tuesday in the biggest ever attack carried by Maoists.
Eastern States
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee announced that the state government will implement 10 per cent Muslim reservation in government jobs at the earliest. He argued that if Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes can be provided with reservation, why Muslims can’t be provided the same as they are equally backward. Stressing on the overall minority development, the CM also announced that in 12 districts of the state, Rs 500 crore would be spent as Multi-Sectoral Development Fund for the overall development of minorities.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee announced that the state government will implement 10 per cent Muslim reservation in government jobs at the earliest. He argued that if Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes can be provided with reservation, why Muslims can’t be provided the same as they are equally backward. Stressing on the overall minority development, the CM also announced that in 12 districts of the state, Rs 500 crore would be spent as Multi-Sectoral Development Fund for the overall development of minorities.
Southern States
The World Bank is ready to give a massive grant to the tune of Rs. 1,000 crore to develop the city traffic and public transportation infrastructure. World Bank team identifyied measures necessary to improve road network, signages, public transport, pedestrian facilities, multi-level parking et al, senior civic officials concluded that a whopping Rs. 4,128 crore was required for the same. The large-scale perspective plan was prepared for seeking funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
Kerala has decided to seek Rs 165 crore as assistance from the Centre to tackle drought conditions. According to Revenue Minister K P Rajendran, the state wanted central support of Rs 115.69 crore for maintaining water supply through short-term schemes in drought-hit areas.
The World Bank is ready to give a massive grant to the tune of Rs. 1,000 crore to develop the city traffic and public transportation infrastructure. World Bank team identifyied measures necessary to improve road network, signages, public transport, pedestrian facilities, multi-level parking et al, senior civic officials concluded that a whopping Rs. 4,128 crore was required for the same. The large-scale perspective plan was prepared for seeking funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
Kerala has decided to seek Rs 165 crore as assistance from the Centre to tackle drought conditions. According to Revenue Minister K P Rajendran, the state wanted central support of Rs 115.69 crore for maintaining water supply through short-term schemes in drought-hit areas.
Western States
Sudhir Mungantiwar was unanimously elected Maharashtra BJP president at the party's State convention, which began at Jalgaon on Friday.
The relocation of slums from the riverfront development area spanning from Subhash Bridge to Sardar Bridge is expected to adversely impact attendance in at least 10 municipal schools. Nearly 4,000 children will feel the pinch from the coming academic session.
Sudhir Mungantiwar was unanimously elected Maharashtra BJP president at the party's State convention, which began at Jalgaon on Friday.
The relocation of slums from the riverfront development area spanning from Subhash Bridge to Sardar Bridge is expected to adversely impact attendance in at least 10 municipal schools. Nearly 4,000 children will feel the pinch from the coming academic session.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Maoist rebels kill at least 76 troops in east India
Maoist rebels in eastern India killed at least 76 paramilitary troops Tuesday, authorities said, underscoring the continued strength of an insurgency that India has tried for decades to wipe out. The dawn attack in Chhattisgarh state was among the deadliest by the guerrillas in memory.S.R. Kalluri, a deputy police inspector in densely forested Dantewada district, where the attack occurred, told local reporters that the troops were on an extended patrol and stopped to rest Monday night.Insurgents learned of their location and "at the break of dawn the Maoists attacked," Kalluri said. "Now we are chalking a strategy to retaliate."Several thousand people have died in attacks since the Maoist insurgency began in the late 1960s. The rebels are said to number about 20,000, including an estimated 6,000 hard-core combatants.In recent months, they have stepped up their attacks in response to a police offensive initiated late last year across several "red corridor" states. On Sunday, rebels set off a land mine that killed at least 10 members of an elite anti-Maoist unit in the mineral-rich eastern state of Orissa.The rebels are funded in part by hundreds of millions of dollars extorted from companies each year. Their arsenal includes automatic rifles, shoulder-fired rocket launchers, mines and related explosives, some of which have been stolen from Indian authorities and some purchased from Chinese smugglers.The Maoists, who say they are fighting for poor farmers and landless workers, are particularly strong in impoverished, rural areas where basic government services are limited and local corruption is endemic. India's expanding middle class displays its affluence in the cities, clogging roads and crowding shopping centers, but vast swaths of the country have not shared in the economic gains.Home Affairs Minister P. Chidambaram said an evident intelligence failure allowed the patrol, a joint operation of state and central government forces, to walk into a trap. Monday was reportedly the second night that the paramilitary units had been camping out in remote jungle terrain.Police spokesman R.K. Vij estimated that 1,000 rebels took part in the attack; others put the number closer to 300.Although the central government has claimed progress in its Operation Green Hunt campaign against the Maoists, the number of attackers and their ability to avoid detection suggest that the government faces a tough fight. More than 1,000 attacks, resulting in 600 deaths, were recorded last year."They will hit you where you are the weakest and run and hide when you are strong," said Ajai Sahni, executive director of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, a think tank. "It is the basic principle of guerrilla warfare. . . . The government needs to stop telling people about massive deployments and giving sound bites to the media. It needs to develop a strategy."
By Mark Magnier and Anshul Rana
April 7, 2010
April 7, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
From 1 to 1.2B, India counting and ID'ing citizens
India began a yearlong census of its billion-plus population in which it plans to photograph and fingerprint every citizen over the age of 15 to create a national database and then issue its first national identity cards.
About 2.5 million census-takers began traveling across more than 630,000 villages and 5,000 cities Thursday in an effort to visit every structure serving as a home, from tin shanties to skyscrapers, in what the government calls the world's largest administrative exercise.
For the first time, they will note the availability of toilets, drinking water and electricity, and the type of building materials to create a comprehensive picture of housing in India. They will also take fingerprints and photographs of each person and collect information on Internet, mobile phone and bank account usage.
The census-takers — mostly local government officials or schoolteachers — also plan to include millions of homeless people who sleep on railway platforms, under bridges and in parks.
So far, India has not had a system of national identity cards. The collection of fingerprints and photographs will be linked with another massive exercise launched last year to assign every Indian an identity number.
"It is for the first time in human history that an attempt is being made to identify, count, enumerate and record and eventually issue an identity card to 1.2 billion people," Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said.
The total cost will reach 57 billion rupees ($1.2 billion), the government said.
Most Indians welcome the ID cards, saying they will reduce the need for multiple identification papers and make it easier to receive government benefits and services.
Wealthy Indians can flash a combination of passports, driver's licenses and credit cards to establish who they are. But the poor — who often don't possess birth certificates — are forced to rely on electricity bills, ration cards, voting cards or letters from local officials, none of which is foolproof and often come at the cost of hefty bribes.
"It's a very good move," Raviranjan Sinha, a retiree in the eastern city of Patna, said of the plan for national identity cards and numbers. "It will bring some uniformity to the jumble of paperwork we are faced with."
"If this is true, there can be nothing better," said Kanhai Lal Gupta, a vegetable vendor in the northern city of Lucknow who makes less than $2 a day. "I hope we won't have to pay bribes to get this card."
A separate law making primary education compulsory came into effect Thursday, opening the door for impoverished children who have been denied school admission because of a lack of documents such as birth certificates.
At New Delhi's imposing pink sandstone presidential palace, President Pratibha Patil's household became the first to be registered Thursday in the first phase of the census, known as "house-listing."
While China, the world's most populous country, also counts its population, its census is carried out by various agencies, including Communist Party units, commune leaders and factory heads, unlike the single Registrar and Census Commission that carries out India's count.
India's population of nearly 1.2 billion is growing at more than 1.4 percent a year, while China, with about 1.3 billion people, is growing at a much lower 0.65 percent, according to the CIA World Fact Book.
India's census will face a special challenge from left-wing extremists active in 20 of the country's 28 states who have stepped up a campaign of violent attacks on government officials.
The census-takers plan to finish their work by February 2011. The information will be used for government policymaking, planning and budget allocations.
This will be India's 15th census held without interruption at the start of every decade. Census operations in India were begun in 1872 by British colonial rulers.
Associated Press writers Biswajeet Banerjee in Lucknow, Indrajit Singh in Patna, and Wasbir Hussain in Gauhati contributed to this story.
About 2.5 million census-takers began traveling across more than 630,000 villages and 5,000 cities Thursday in an effort to visit every structure serving as a home, from tin shanties to skyscrapers, in what the government calls the world's largest administrative exercise.
For the first time, they will note the availability of toilets, drinking water and electricity, and the type of building materials to create a comprehensive picture of housing in India. They will also take fingerprints and photographs of each person and collect information on Internet, mobile phone and bank account usage.
The census-takers — mostly local government officials or schoolteachers — also plan to include millions of homeless people who sleep on railway platforms, under bridges and in parks.
So far, India has not had a system of national identity cards. The collection of fingerprints and photographs will be linked with another massive exercise launched last year to assign every Indian an identity number.
"It is for the first time in human history that an attempt is being made to identify, count, enumerate and record and eventually issue an identity card to 1.2 billion people," Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said.
The total cost will reach 57 billion rupees ($1.2 billion), the government said.
Most Indians welcome the ID cards, saying they will reduce the need for multiple identification papers and make it easier to receive government benefits and services.
Wealthy Indians can flash a combination of passports, driver's licenses and credit cards to establish who they are. But the poor — who often don't possess birth certificates — are forced to rely on electricity bills, ration cards, voting cards or letters from local officials, none of which is foolproof and often come at the cost of hefty bribes.
"It's a very good move," Raviranjan Sinha, a retiree in the eastern city of Patna, said of the plan for national identity cards and numbers. "It will bring some uniformity to the jumble of paperwork we are faced with."
"If this is true, there can be nothing better," said Kanhai Lal Gupta, a vegetable vendor in the northern city of Lucknow who makes less than $2 a day. "I hope we won't have to pay bribes to get this card."
A separate law making primary education compulsory came into effect Thursday, opening the door for impoverished children who have been denied school admission because of a lack of documents such as birth certificates.
At New Delhi's imposing pink sandstone presidential palace, President Pratibha Patil's household became the first to be registered Thursday in the first phase of the census, known as "house-listing."
While China, the world's most populous country, also counts its population, its census is carried out by various agencies, including Communist Party units, commune leaders and factory heads, unlike the single Registrar and Census Commission that carries out India's count.
India's population of nearly 1.2 billion is growing at more than 1.4 percent a year, while China, with about 1.3 billion people, is growing at a much lower 0.65 percent, according to the CIA World Fact Book.
India's census will face a special challenge from left-wing extremists active in 20 of the country's 28 states who have stepped up a campaign of violent attacks on government officials.
The census-takers plan to finish their work by February 2011. The information will be used for government policymaking, planning and budget allocations.
This will be India's 15th census held without interruption at the start of every decade. Census operations in India were begun in 1872 by British colonial rulers.
Associated Press writers Biswajeet Banerjee in Lucknow, Indrajit Singh in Patna, and Wasbir Hussain in Gauhati contributed to this story.
India: Last Week
National Summary:
Politics:
Congress party’s criticism on BJP and Modi for its involvement in 2002 Ahmedabad riots and recently Modi’s hesitation to face SIT ignite words war between the two parties.
Minorities' Issues:
Zakia Jaffery the widow of former Congress MP Eshan Jaffery, who was killed in Gulburg society riot case of 2002 along with 69 others, is optimistic that now the time comes to get justice as SIT (Special Investigation Team) summoned Narendra Modi for first time for questioning regarding its alleged involvement in 2002 riots.
Insurgencies:
Home Minister P Chidambaram has said India would be able to counter the Maoist insurgency by 2013.
Economy:
Knight Frank and Citi Private Bank unveiled their latest research study worldwide 'Wealth Report 2010' giving a global view on the performance of prime residential property markets with a focus on the key regions in the Asian Pacific property markets. Several key findings showcased that the Mumbai and New Delhi realty markets held a significant level of promise for potential investors. Chairman and MD, Knight Frank India said, “There are growing prime markets in every city of India. But, South Mumbai and South New Delhi are the markets which are most high in terms of prices followed by Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
The Bombay Stock Exchange sensitive index, Sensex, surged to a two-year high on Monday, with a modest gain of 66.59 points. The Sensex settled at 17711.35, the highest closing level since February 29, 2008.
India’s merchandise exports grew 34.8 percent to $16.09 billion for the fourth consecutive month in February following revival of economies in developed countries, official data released Thursday said.
Geostrategic:
India tested nuclear-capable, ship-based Dhanush and surface-to-surface Prithvi-II successfully in quick succession early Saturday. The 8.5-metre-tall Prithvi-II is a surface-to-surface missile, the 11-metre long Dhanush is a ship-to-surface and ship-to-ship system. Both are single-stage, liquid propelled missiles and each of them is capable of carrying a 500-kg payload. Agni-I ballistic missile, which can carry nuclear weapons and has a range of 700-km range, was successfully test-fired on Sunday.
India and the United States have agreed to the arrangement and procedures under which the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel will take place at two stand-alone safeguarded sites. New Delhi also retains the right to make additions and modifications. This will allow India to retrieve recyclable material found in spent fuel from U.S.-origin nuclear plants for further generating electricity. The reprocessing plants would operate under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) procedures, the U.S. State Department and the Indian Department of Atomic Energy simultaneously announced on Monday.
India is concentrating on its military presence in the northern borders and upgrading infrastructure along the border with China as it perceives Beijing's rapid infrastructure development and its upgraded military force projection in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang province a threat.
Pakistan said it will guarantee safety of the IPI pipeline and may give New Delhi an equity stake in the section passing through its territory as additional surety of safe delivery of the fuel, while US again warn both the countries to avoid any proceedings with Iran in this matter.
Social Front:
Against the backdrop of racial attacks and stricter immigration rules, Indian students' enrolment in universities in Australia's Victorian state has recorded a massive drop of around 40% in the first two months of the new academic year as compared to the same period in 2009.
The Delhi High Court judgment decriminalizing homosexuality is of great concern and it would adversely affect the ethos in India since most of our values are shaped and nurtured by customs and religion, association of Catholic doctors in Goa has said.
India launches on Thursday the task of counting its billion-plus population, with 2.5 million people set to fan out over the country to begin work for the 2011 census. The exercise has formidable challenges -- coverage of a vast geographical area, left-wing rebels and separatists, widespread illiteracy, and people with a bewildering diversity of cultures, languages and customs. The twin census and population register processes will stretch over 11 months, consume 11.63 million tonnes of paper and cost 60 billion rupees (1.25 billion dollars).
Regional Summary:
Cantral States/Hindiheartland
In a thrust to provide sustained support to life-saving innovations in India and around the world, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is placing new emphasis on innovations that effect social and cultural change to bring down the unacceptably high death rates for children under five years of age in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Foundation is committing $55 million in UP over the next three to five years to bringing down the under-5 child death rate in U.P., polio eradication, immunisation coverage, maternal and child issues, and development in the State.
Southern States:
Old city of Hyderabad is under curfew as situation is tense after Hindu Muslim riots in the city. Several people got injured while some causalities also reporters.
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