Year after 26/11, mum's the word for most Pakistanis
Rezaul H Laskar/PTI / Islamabad November 26, 2009, 16:08 IST
A year after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed nearly 180 people, most Pakistanis have little or nothing to say about the carnage that shook India.
Leading newspapers were silent on the tragedy and so were Pakistanis who are active in the virtual world.
Except for an odd comment on social networking website Facebook, most Pakistanis were unusually quiet.
"Remembering the victims of 26/11" read a comment by journalist Mehmal Sarfraz on her homepage. Though the comment was welcomed by her Indian friends, her fellow citizens were not exactly happy.
"With all due respect, so many more people die in our own country every day. How many people remember the victims of Peshawar? That has been burning much more and much worse than Mumbai did. For a minute I think people need to stop blowing 26/11 out of proportion. How is it that we don't pay as much tribute to the victims of the war against militancy in Pakistan," commented Qudsia Aziz Rana.
Rana’s comment seemed to sum up the mood of most Pakistanis, who do not want India to blame their country for the attacks.
"Stop blaming Pakistan for every attack! If few people are bad that doesn't mean the whole country is bad! It is not that Pakistan is supporting terrorism. Pakistan is also a victim of it," read a post by Mujtaba Husain, the creator of "Pakistan against Terrorism" group. Not a word on the Mumbai attacks was posted by cyber-buffs active in the blogosphere.
Popular ezines Pakteahouse and Pakistaniat did not have any posts dedicated to Mumbai’s victims. There was, however, a post about the "Indian hand" in Pakistan.
"… a near consensus has been reached by all the major political parties in Pakistan, except the MQM, that India is aiding the Taliban in Swat and Waziristan," said a post on a popular blog.
Not long ago, a local TV channel did a spoof interview with Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested by Indian authorities for the Mumbai attacks.
In the spoof, Kasab shows up in the studios with an AK-47, shoots staffers and aims his gun at the anchor too.
He is shown wearing a red thread on his wrist and speaks with a Hyderabadi accent, all of which the anchor contends shows that he is "not Pakistani"! Islamabad has acknowledged in a dossier handed over to New Delhi that the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba carried out the Mumbai attacks.
An anti-terror court in Rawalpindi yesterday indicted seven suspects, including LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, for planning and helping execute the attacks.
All the accused pleaded not guilty.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
truth of islamic charity
The disgraceful conduct of a UK-based Muslim charity with the victim-survivors of the 2002 communal carnage in Gujarat could have been ignored as an isolated, if highly deplorable act. Sadly, this is no isolated incident. If anything, it is but the latest manifestation of a malignancy common to many Muslim outfits, in India and internationally.
For those who missed the news in the November 15 edition of this paper, here is the gist. A UK-based NRI charity named Muslim Relief Organisation (MRO) had built a colony in Detral village in Bharuch district to rehabilitate the victim-survivors of Gujarat’s state-sponsored carnage (2002). Even in charity, it seems, conditions apply.
The MRO has now issued an ultimatum to the Muslims it had helped rehabilitate: Shariah-compliant beards are a must. No rubbing shoulders with fellow Muslims in the village mosque, namaaz only in the special (sectarian) mosque we have built. Banish TV sets from your homes, all music is prohibited. Follow the “Shariah rules” or out you go of the homes we built. For you.
Ads by Google How to Convert to Islam How to convert and become a Muslim with Live Help by chatwww.IslamReligion.coBaby Names Online 1000s of Baby Names by Gender, Origin, Meaning, Free Registration.BabyNameFinder.BabycOnline Muslim Matrimony Meet 1000s of Prospective Muslim Brides & Grooms. Register Free Now!Jeevansathi.com/Musl
It can’t be an easy choice for Detral’s Muslims who, dispossessed by Hindu extremists seven years earlier, now face a second dispossession: by co-believers this time. My salaams to those village folks who at great cost to themselves have chosen freedom over capitulation to mean despots masquerading as custodians of Islam! A Google search doesn’t tell us much about the MRO or its broader ideological affiliation. But it’s easy to see where they are coming from.
The Detral ignominy is no isolated incident. Last year, televangelist Dr Zakir Naik’s flush-with-petro-dollars Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) launched a scholarship scheme for Muslim students. That you might think is a good idea. But here again, conditions apply. Before all else, the aspiring candidates must pass the “Islam test”. Since IRF is the screening body, it is reasonable to assume that the would-be grantee must match-up to the sponsor’s brand of an intolerant Islam. So here is free tuition to future aspirants on IRF’s ‘model answers’ to frequently asked questions:
Is it OK for Indian Muslims to sing Vande Mataram?
Model answer: Forget Muslims, even Hindus must follow the Vedas and refrain from such sinful act. (Rigveda, page…, para…, mantra…; the IRF is pretty good at playing the memory game).
Why can’t non-Muslims practice their faith in Saudi Arabia?
Model answer: Simple, stupid! Islam is the only true religion. How can sinful ways of worship be allowed in the land of the only true religion?
Were the Taliban justified in demolishing the Bamiyan Buddhas?
Model answer: But of course! Since there were no Buddhists in Afghanistan and the territory belonged to the Afghans, they were right in destroying their own property. (How did Buddhists disappear from Afghanistan? Don’t act smart!)
Co-education?
Model answer: Un-Islamic.
Burqa for women?
Model answer: It’s a symbol of women’s dignity while their participation in the Olympics, alongside men, symbolises degradation of women.
How to promote peace in the world?
Model answer: Through a 24/7 ‘Peace TV Channel’ and mega-budget ‘International Islamic Peace Conferences’ in Mumbai, London, Tokyo. Message: “My dear Hindu, Christian, Jews and the rest of you, brothers and sisters, Peace be upon you! We are here to prove with reason and logic how ignorant you are, clueless about your own faith and guilty of the greatest sin: idol worship. Convert to Islam for “Global Unity and Peace”.
(No Islam, no peace? At an estimated expenditure of rupees one crore per convert, IRF’s must be the most cost-inefficient model in the conversion business).
The Sachar Committee’s report convincingly establishes the fact of institutionalised discrimination against Muslims in our ‘infidel’ state? But the Muslim Relief Organisation, the IRF and their types do a much better inside job in discriminating: between Muslims (good) and Muslims (bad) in Islam’s name. It’s a discrimination that’s inevitable when faith is converted into a totalitarian ideology.
“There is no compulsion in religion” (“La ikraaha fiddeen”), says the Quran. “Diversity of opinion in my ummah is a blessing from Allah,” said the Prophet. For the despots of Islam, however, not only is Islam the only true religion, “their Islam” is the only “true Islam”. No space for doubt, no question of choice.
For sensible scholars of Islam, the Shariah is only a problem-solving methodology for those who seek to unravel the Divine Intent with the help of the Quran, teachings of Prophet Mohammed (Ahadith and Sunnah), consensual approach (ijma) and critical reasoning (ijtehad). But when a methodology (Marxist or Islamic) is elevated to the status of Law — frozen in time, all fresh approaches outlawed — you cannot but end up with a totalitarian ideology that by its own internal logic must aspire to the establishment of a totalitarian state (Marxist or Islamic).
It may seem like an ugly utopia for you and me. But to the hopelessly indoctrinated, a school in Mumbai, a village of bruised and battered Muslims in Gujarat, the Swat valley in Pakistan, a country named Afghanistan, or any social space big or small will do as a laboratory for the pursuit of their totalitarian fantasy.
Fortunately for the world and for the ummah itself, when given a chance to express themselves, the vast majority of Muslims — Indonesian, Malaysian, Bangladesh, Pakistani — continue to deliver a resounding ‘No’ to the enemies of freedom and choice. But beware of the dangers of the malevolent, modern-day messiahs. Unlike the poor maulvi sahib from a Muslim mohalla, this seemingly sophisticated lot comes draped in suit and tie, speaks fluent English, swears faith in “reason and logic”, quotes from the Vedas and the Bible as comfortably as from the Quran, oozes cash and promotes disharmony and discord in the name of peace. Don’t take them lightly for many among the new generation of otherwise well-educated but theologically ignorant Muslims assume this out-of-date medievalism to mean ‘Modern Islam’.
The writer is co-editor, ‘Communalism Combat’ and general secretary ‘Muslims for Secular Democracy’.
For those who missed the news in the November 15 edition of this paper, here is the gist. A UK-based NRI charity named Muslim Relief Organisation (MRO) had built a colony in Detral village in Bharuch district to rehabilitate the victim-survivors of Gujarat’s state-sponsored carnage (2002). Even in charity, it seems, conditions apply.
The MRO has now issued an ultimatum to the Muslims it had helped rehabilitate: Shariah-compliant beards are a must. No rubbing shoulders with fellow Muslims in the village mosque, namaaz only in the special (sectarian) mosque we have built. Banish TV sets from your homes, all music is prohibited. Follow the “Shariah rules” or out you go of the homes we built. For you.
Ads by Google How to Convert to Islam How to convert and become a Muslim with Live Help by chatwww.IslamReligion.coBaby Names Online 1000s of Baby Names by Gender, Origin, Meaning, Free Registration.BabyNameFinder.BabycOnline Muslim Matrimony Meet 1000s of Prospective Muslim Brides & Grooms. Register Free Now!Jeevansathi.com/Musl
It can’t be an easy choice for Detral’s Muslims who, dispossessed by Hindu extremists seven years earlier, now face a second dispossession: by co-believers this time. My salaams to those village folks who at great cost to themselves have chosen freedom over capitulation to mean despots masquerading as custodians of Islam! A Google search doesn’t tell us much about the MRO or its broader ideological affiliation. But it’s easy to see where they are coming from.
The Detral ignominy is no isolated incident. Last year, televangelist Dr Zakir Naik’s flush-with-petro-dollars Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) launched a scholarship scheme for Muslim students. That you might think is a good idea. But here again, conditions apply. Before all else, the aspiring candidates must pass the “Islam test”. Since IRF is the screening body, it is reasonable to assume that the would-be grantee must match-up to the sponsor’s brand of an intolerant Islam. So here is free tuition to future aspirants on IRF’s ‘model answers’ to frequently asked questions:
Is it OK for Indian Muslims to sing Vande Mataram?
Model answer: Forget Muslims, even Hindus must follow the Vedas and refrain from such sinful act. (Rigveda, page…, para…, mantra…; the IRF is pretty good at playing the memory game).
Why can’t non-Muslims practice their faith in Saudi Arabia?
Model answer: Simple, stupid! Islam is the only true religion. How can sinful ways of worship be allowed in the land of the only true religion?
Were the Taliban justified in demolishing the Bamiyan Buddhas?
Model answer: But of course! Since there were no Buddhists in Afghanistan and the territory belonged to the Afghans, they were right in destroying their own property. (How did Buddhists disappear from Afghanistan? Don’t act smart!)
Co-education?
Model answer: Un-Islamic.
Burqa for women?
Model answer: It’s a symbol of women’s dignity while their participation in the Olympics, alongside men, symbolises degradation of women.
How to promote peace in the world?
Model answer: Through a 24/7 ‘Peace TV Channel’ and mega-budget ‘International Islamic Peace Conferences’ in Mumbai, London, Tokyo. Message: “My dear Hindu, Christian, Jews and the rest of you, brothers and sisters, Peace be upon you! We are here to prove with reason and logic how ignorant you are, clueless about your own faith and guilty of the greatest sin: idol worship. Convert to Islam for “Global Unity and Peace”.
(No Islam, no peace? At an estimated expenditure of rupees one crore per convert, IRF’s must be the most cost-inefficient model in the conversion business).
The Sachar Committee’s report convincingly establishes the fact of institutionalised discrimination against Muslims in our ‘infidel’ state? But the Muslim Relief Organisation, the IRF and their types do a much better inside job in discriminating: between Muslims (good) and Muslims (bad) in Islam’s name. It’s a discrimination that’s inevitable when faith is converted into a totalitarian ideology.
“There is no compulsion in religion” (“La ikraaha fiddeen”), says the Quran. “Diversity of opinion in my ummah is a blessing from Allah,” said the Prophet. For the despots of Islam, however, not only is Islam the only true religion, “their Islam” is the only “true Islam”. No space for doubt, no question of choice.
For sensible scholars of Islam, the Shariah is only a problem-solving methodology for those who seek to unravel the Divine Intent with the help of the Quran, teachings of Prophet Mohammed (Ahadith and Sunnah), consensual approach (ijma) and critical reasoning (ijtehad). But when a methodology (Marxist or Islamic) is elevated to the status of Law — frozen in time, all fresh approaches outlawed — you cannot but end up with a totalitarian ideology that by its own internal logic must aspire to the establishment of a totalitarian state (Marxist or Islamic).
It may seem like an ugly utopia for you and me. But to the hopelessly indoctrinated, a school in Mumbai, a village of bruised and battered Muslims in Gujarat, the Swat valley in Pakistan, a country named Afghanistan, or any social space big or small will do as a laboratory for the pursuit of their totalitarian fantasy.
Fortunately for the world and for the ummah itself, when given a chance to express themselves, the vast majority of Muslims — Indonesian, Malaysian, Bangladesh, Pakistani — continue to deliver a resounding ‘No’ to the enemies of freedom and choice. But beware of the dangers of the malevolent, modern-day messiahs. Unlike the poor maulvi sahib from a Muslim mohalla, this seemingly sophisticated lot comes draped in suit and tie, speaks fluent English, swears faith in “reason and logic”, quotes from the Vedas and the Bible as comfortably as from the Quran, oozes cash and promotes disharmony and discord in the name of peace. Don’t take them lightly for many among the new generation of otherwise well-educated but theologically ignorant Muslims assume this out-of-date medievalism to mean ‘Modern Islam’.
The writer is co-editor, ‘Communalism Combat’ and general secretary ‘Muslims for Secular Democracy’.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Anti Hindu frontline livid at Tirupati laddus being recognised
The grant of G.I. status to Tirupati laddu is criticised as being against the spirit of the Geographical Indications of Goods Act, 1999.
THE HINDU PHOTO ARCHIVES
The recent registration granted by the Geographical Indications (G.I.) Registry in Chennai for the famous Tirupati laddu, produced by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), has stirred up a controversy within intellectual property circles.
A G.I. registration for a product denotes that it originates from a particular place of production that has a reputation for certain characteristics attributable to that place. It is distinguished from a trademark, which is used by an enterprise in relation to goods or services so as to distinguish them from others. Well-known examples of G.I. include Darjeeling tea, Kanjeevaram silk and Benaras silk.
The expectations of quality from these products stem from the favourable reputation they have acquired over time from their long-standing connection with the region or the natural advantages of the region (such as soil quality and climatic conditions) or a combination of both. A G.I. such as “Darjeeling” tea, for instance, signifies that the tea owes its special qualities to its geographical origin, which in this case includes the elevation of the tea gardens, moisture, soil quality, exposure to sunlight and other climatically and geologically contingent aspects.
Before 1999, India did not have a law governing geographical indications of goods that could adequately protect the interests of their producers. The law grants stakeholders rights to prevent misuse of geographical indications, protect consumers from deception, add to the economic prosperity of the producers of these goods and promote goods bearing Indian geographical indications in the export market.
Under Article 24.9 in the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), countries are not obliged to extend protection unless a geographical indication is protected in the country of its origin.
The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, (GIGA) came into force only on September 15, 2003, when it was notified by the Central government. The Act has established the institutional machinery for the registration and protection of G.Is. Since 2003, the Registry, established in Chennai, has gathered momentum and registered several products.
The TTD’s application is the first of its kind, as never before has a religious trust managing temple affairs sought G.I. status for its product, which is manufactured and distributed within the temple precincts and is linked to the beliefs of people. The TTD’s application and the statement of case – available on the website of G.I. Registry (Go to http://iprindia.nic.in/girindia/; then click Journal 28 and go to page 38) – therefore deserve close scrutiny in order to determine whether the granting of G.I. status to Tirupati laddus is in accordance with law, and whether the objectives of the TTD in seeking the G.I. status are in conformity with those of the statute.
In its application, the TTD said the Sri Vari laddu, popularly called Tirupati laddu, is offered as prasadam to people who worship Venkateswara, the deity at the Sri Vari Temple at Tirumala Hills, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
The size and flavour, it said, are the laddu’s typical characteristics. “The laddus are not produced anywhere in the world and are very unique in terms of quality, reputation and other characteristics which go into its making. Being a food item, it derives its sanctity, reputation and uniqueness from its being offered as naivedyam to the Lord. The laddu gets reputation not from its taste alone, but from its sanctity,” the application states. It also gave the details of the process involved in the making of the laddu.
The laddus are made in two sizes, with the small ones weighing between 170 and 180 grams and the big ones weighing between 700 and 720 grams.
The application said that to get the laddus one has to visit Tirumala and that they cannot be obtained by any other means. The laddus are made in kitchens, known in local parlance as “pottus”. The preparatory process undergoes many quality checks to ensure the taste and size of the laddu.
At present, the laddus are made in the main pottu, called “Srivari pottu”, where about 130 workers produce about one lakh laddus a day. There is also an additional pottu with about 60 contract workers, who make only the small laddu. A total of about 1.25 lakh laddus are prepared every day. The price of a small laddu is Rs.25 while that of a big one is Rs.100. According to the TTD’s statement of case, on an average 70,000 people visit the temple every day.
The food and water testing laboratory at Tirumala takes one laddu from every batch of 2,000 and analyses it for weight, specified quantity of cashew nuts and other adjuncts, and the moisture content. Only if these parameters are correct are the laddus sent to the temple as offerings and then distributed as prasadam.
Only a few laddus are offered before the main idol in the sanctum sanctorum. After puja, they are taken back to the pottu and mixed with the fried boondhi already mixed with adjuncts, which are then made into laddus. This is done so that at least a small fraction of the prasadam laddu gets mixed with the other laddus. All the laddus so made in the pottu are offered before Vakkula Devi, mother of the main deity, and then sent to the godown where they are stored before distribution. This process, the application states, explains how the uniqueness of the laddus stems from their sanctity.
There can be no dispute with the TTD that the laddus enjoy a reputation mainly because of their association with the temple and the place. One would also tend to agree with the TTD that the taste and aroma of the laddu are attributable to the use of the best quality of raw materials, to the prescribed proportion in which the raw materials are used and to the skill, acquired through experience, of the cooks involved in the various stages.
The TTD has revealed that the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, has prescribed guidelines for the preparation of the sugar syrup, and that these guidelines and precautions are followed scrupulously in making the laddus.
Unique but insufficient
THE HINDU PHOTO ARCHIVES
Laddus being made at the Venkateswara temple. A file picture.
While the TTD’s claims with regard to uniqueness are indeed convincing, these are not sufficient to attract a G.I. registration.
According to experts, the dual objectives of the registration and protection of G.Is. are to protect the community rights of stakeholders and to prevent the consumer from getting deceived or confused by fakes or substandard products. The TTD’s application satisfies the second objective but not the first. In the prescribed application, the TTD has mentioned only TTD against the column on the list of association of persons/producers/organisation/authority.
Section 2(n) of the Act defines a registered proprietor, in relation to a geographical indication, as any association of persons or of producer or any organisation for the time being entered in the register as proprietor of the geographical indication. Section 11 (1) dealing with the application for registration makes it clearer: Under this provision, any association of persons or any organisation or authority established by or under any law for the time being in force representing the interest of the producers of the concerned goods, who are desirous of registering a geographical indication in relation to such goods shall apply in writing to the Registrar.
Rule 32(5) of the G.I. of Goods (Registration and Protection) Rules, 2002, requires that a statement containing particulars of the producers of the concerned goods proposed to be registered be submitted for registration. Rule 32(6) (a) requires that the applicant submit an affidavit as to how the applicant claims to represent the interest of the association of persons or producers. Rule 32(6) (f) requires the full name and address of the association of persons or organisation or authority representing the interest of the producers of the goods.
These provisions make it clear that the G.I. registration is meant only for a community of producers and not for a single entity such as the TTD, whose monopoly over the production of laddus is obvious.
Said one observer: “Unlike Colombian coffee or Darjeeling tea, there are no ‘producers’ who make these laddus and bring it to the temple to be distributed and who eventually get a share of the colossal profits that the TTD is making. On the contrary, the TTD is the producer and the only beneficiary. The laddus are made by workers of the temple, who are paid salaries by the TTD, and by contract workers hired by the TTD for the purpose.” It is tempting to term G.I. as the poor man’s I.P. (intellectual property) in India because most of the stakeholders of G.Is are farmers, artisans and craftsmen belonging to the lower economic strata and, ideally, the benefits of G.I. registrations must trickle down to them. If instead of the TTD a community of skilled cooks in and around Tirupati makes these laddus, and supplies them, after due quality checks, for distribution to pilgrims visiting Tirupati, then the registration as G.I. may be warranted.
Experts in I.P. are, therefore, worried that the granting of G.I. status to Tirupati laddus militates against the very spirit of G.I. protection, which is aimed at protecting, preserving and promoting collective community rights as opposed to private monopoly rights. They point out that permitting such registrations can lead to a situation where a community or private enterprise carrying on a monopolistic business can get a G.I. for its product if it can demonstrate that it is the only one manufacturing or producing the product and that this product has unique features.
Subodh Kumar of the Andhra Pradesh Technology Development and Promotion Centre, who had a major role in drafting the TTD’s application and statement of case before the G.I. Registry, said that Section 2 (k) (iii) of the GIGA defines producer as any person who makes or manufactures the goods, and that under Section 2(n) of the GIGA, any organisation could be the proprietor of the G.I. In other words, according to him, the GIGA protects the G.I. of a single producer, such as the TTD, as well as a community of producers, if there is any.
Some I.P. experts expressed surprise that the TTD did not consider seeking protection under the Trade Marks Act, 1999, which according to them was a better alternative. According to them, Tirupati, as the geographical name, has acquired enough secondary meaning to qualify for registration as a trademark in respect of laddus under the Trade Marks Act, 1999, if the objective of the TTD is only to prevent the sale of fake laddus to pilgrims.
Intangible objectives
However, as Subodh Kumar told Frontline, prevention of the sale of fake laddus is only the minuscule purpose being pursued by the TTD, whereas the G.I. serves its holistic purposes, which include legal/global recognition for Tirupati’s cultural heritage.
While trademark helps an enterprise to pursue trade objectives that are tangible, the G.I. helps an organisation aim at intangibles, as he put it.
Elaborating, he said, the G.I. would enable the TTD to gain world recognition and attract more devotees to the shrine. Asked whether the objective of enacting the GIGA was not something else, he said once the Registry granted it, it was left to the applicant to decide how to use the G.I.
Subodh Kumar’s explanation – in the absence of the TTD’s own clarification of its intangible purpose in seeking G.I. status – has given rise to misgivings that the TTD may be pursuing non-secular purposes by exploiting the infirmities in a secular law such as the GIGA.
On February 23, the then Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh (now Minister for Environment and Forests), while explaining the need for greater sensitisation on G.Is, told the Rajya Sabha that the lack of understanding had led to people filing applications for articles such as Tirupati laddu, among others.
Observers of I.P., therefore, suggest that the G.I. Registry must review suo motu its decision to grant G.I. status to Tirupati laddu.
THE HINDU PHOTO ARCHIVES
The recent registration granted by the Geographical Indications (G.I.) Registry in Chennai for the famous Tirupati laddu, produced by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), has stirred up a controversy within intellectual property circles.
A G.I. registration for a product denotes that it originates from a particular place of production that has a reputation for certain characteristics attributable to that place. It is distinguished from a trademark, which is used by an enterprise in relation to goods or services so as to distinguish them from others. Well-known examples of G.I. include Darjeeling tea, Kanjeevaram silk and Benaras silk.
The expectations of quality from these products stem from the favourable reputation they have acquired over time from their long-standing connection with the region or the natural advantages of the region (such as soil quality and climatic conditions) or a combination of both. A G.I. such as “Darjeeling” tea, for instance, signifies that the tea owes its special qualities to its geographical origin, which in this case includes the elevation of the tea gardens, moisture, soil quality, exposure to sunlight and other climatically and geologically contingent aspects.
Before 1999, India did not have a law governing geographical indications of goods that could adequately protect the interests of their producers. The law grants stakeholders rights to prevent misuse of geographical indications, protect consumers from deception, add to the economic prosperity of the producers of these goods and promote goods bearing Indian geographical indications in the export market.
Under Article 24.9 in the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), countries are not obliged to extend protection unless a geographical indication is protected in the country of its origin.
The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999, (GIGA) came into force only on September 15, 2003, when it was notified by the Central government. The Act has established the institutional machinery for the registration and protection of G.Is. Since 2003, the Registry, established in Chennai, has gathered momentum and registered several products.
The TTD’s application is the first of its kind, as never before has a religious trust managing temple affairs sought G.I. status for its product, which is manufactured and distributed within the temple precincts and is linked to the beliefs of people. The TTD’s application and the statement of case – available on the website of G.I. Registry (Go to http://iprindia.nic.in/girindia/; then click Journal 28 and go to page 38) – therefore deserve close scrutiny in order to determine whether the granting of G.I. status to Tirupati laddus is in accordance with law, and whether the objectives of the TTD in seeking the G.I. status are in conformity with those of the statute.
In its application, the TTD said the Sri Vari laddu, popularly called Tirupati laddu, is offered as prasadam to people who worship Venkateswara, the deity at the Sri Vari Temple at Tirumala Hills, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
The size and flavour, it said, are the laddu’s typical characteristics. “The laddus are not produced anywhere in the world and are very unique in terms of quality, reputation and other characteristics which go into its making. Being a food item, it derives its sanctity, reputation and uniqueness from its being offered as naivedyam to the Lord. The laddu gets reputation not from its taste alone, but from its sanctity,” the application states. It also gave the details of the process involved in the making of the laddu.
The laddus are made in two sizes, with the small ones weighing between 170 and 180 grams and the big ones weighing between 700 and 720 grams.
The application said that to get the laddus one has to visit Tirumala and that they cannot be obtained by any other means. The laddus are made in kitchens, known in local parlance as “pottus”. The preparatory process undergoes many quality checks to ensure the taste and size of the laddu.
At present, the laddus are made in the main pottu, called “Srivari pottu”, where about 130 workers produce about one lakh laddus a day. There is also an additional pottu with about 60 contract workers, who make only the small laddu. A total of about 1.25 lakh laddus are prepared every day. The price of a small laddu is Rs.25 while that of a big one is Rs.100. According to the TTD’s statement of case, on an average 70,000 people visit the temple every day.
The food and water testing laboratory at Tirumala takes one laddu from every batch of 2,000 and analyses it for weight, specified quantity of cashew nuts and other adjuncts, and the moisture content. Only if these parameters are correct are the laddus sent to the temple as offerings and then distributed as prasadam.
Only a few laddus are offered before the main idol in the sanctum sanctorum. After puja, they are taken back to the pottu and mixed with the fried boondhi already mixed with adjuncts, which are then made into laddus. This is done so that at least a small fraction of the prasadam laddu gets mixed with the other laddus. All the laddus so made in the pottu are offered before Vakkula Devi, mother of the main deity, and then sent to the godown where they are stored before distribution. This process, the application states, explains how the uniqueness of the laddus stems from their sanctity.
There can be no dispute with the TTD that the laddus enjoy a reputation mainly because of their association with the temple and the place. One would also tend to agree with the TTD that the taste and aroma of the laddu are attributable to the use of the best quality of raw materials, to the prescribed proportion in which the raw materials are used and to the skill, acquired through experience, of the cooks involved in the various stages.
The TTD has revealed that the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, has prescribed guidelines for the preparation of the sugar syrup, and that these guidelines and precautions are followed scrupulously in making the laddus.
Unique but insufficient
THE HINDU PHOTO ARCHIVES
Laddus being made at the Venkateswara temple. A file picture.
While the TTD’s claims with regard to uniqueness are indeed convincing, these are not sufficient to attract a G.I. registration.
According to experts, the dual objectives of the registration and protection of G.Is. are to protect the community rights of stakeholders and to prevent the consumer from getting deceived or confused by fakes or substandard products. The TTD’s application satisfies the second objective but not the first. In the prescribed application, the TTD has mentioned only TTD against the column on the list of association of persons/producers/organisation/authority.
Section 2(n) of the Act defines a registered proprietor, in relation to a geographical indication, as any association of persons or of producer or any organisation for the time being entered in the register as proprietor of the geographical indication. Section 11 (1) dealing with the application for registration makes it clearer: Under this provision, any association of persons or any organisation or authority established by or under any law for the time being in force representing the interest of the producers of the concerned goods, who are desirous of registering a geographical indication in relation to such goods shall apply in writing to the Registrar.
Rule 32(5) of the G.I. of Goods (Registration and Protection) Rules, 2002, requires that a statement containing particulars of the producers of the concerned goods proposed to be registered be submitted for registration. Rule 32(6) (a) requires that the applicant submit an affidavit as to how the applicant claims to represent the interest of the association of persons or producers. Rule 32(6) (f) requires the full name and address of the association of persons or organisation or authority representing the interest of the producers of the goods.
These provisions make it clear that the G.I. registration is meant only for a community of producers and not for a single entity such as the TTD, whose monopoly over the production of laddus is obvious.
Said one observer: “Unlike Colombian coffee or Darjeeling tea, there are no ‘producers’ who make these laddus and bring it to the temple to be distributed and who eventually get a share of the colossal profits that the TTD is making. On the contrary, the TTD is the producer and the only beneficiary. The laddus are made by workers of the temple, who are paid salaries by the TTD, and by contract workers hired by the TTD for the purpose.” It is tempting to term G.I. as the poor man’s I.P. (intellectual property) in India because most of the stakeholders of G.Is are farmers, artisans and craftsmen belonging to the lower economic strata and, ideally, the benefits of G.I. registrations must trickle down to them. If instead of the TTD a community of skilled cooks in and around Tirupati makes these laddus, and supplies them, after due quality checks, for distribution to pilgrims visiting Tirupati, then the registration as G.I. may be warranted.
Experts in I.P. are, therefore, worried that the granting of G.I. status to Tirupati laddus militates against the very spirit of G.I. protection, which is aimed at protecting, preserving and promoting collective community rights as opposed to private monopoly rights. They point out that permitting such registrations can lead to a situation where a community or private enterprise carrying on a monopolistic business can get a G.I. for its product if it can demonstrate that it is the only one manufacturing or producing the product and that this product has unique features.
Subodh Kumar of the Andhra Pradesh Technology Development and Promotion Centre, who had a major role in drafting the TTD’s application and statement of case before the G.I. Registry, said that Section 2 (k) (iii) of the GIGA defines producer as any person who makes or manufactures the goods, and that under Section 2(n) of the GIGA, any organisation could be the proprietor of the G.I. In other words, according to him, the GIGA protects the G.I. of a single producer, such as the TTD, as well as a community of producers, if there is any.
Some I.P. experts expressed surprise that the TTD did not consider seeking protection under the Trade Marks Act, 1999, which according to them was a better alternative. According to them, Tirupati, as the geographical name, has acquired enough secondary meaning to qualify for registration as a trademark in respect of laddus under the Trade Marks Act, 1999, if the objective of the TTD is only to prevent the sale of fake laddus to pilgrims.
Intangible objectives
However, as Subodh Kumar told Frontline, prevention of the sale of fake laddus is only the minuscule purpose being pursued by the TTD, whereas the G.I. serves its holistic purposes, which include legal/global recognition for Tirupati’s cultural heritage.
While trademark helps an enterprise to pursue trade objectives that are tangible, the G.I. helps an organisation aim at intangibles, as he put it.
Elaborating, he said, the G.I. would enable the TTD to gain world recognition and attract more devotees to the shrine. Asked whether the objective of enacting the GIGA was not something else, he said once the Registry granted it, it was left to the applicant to decide how to use the G.I.
Subodh Kumar’s explanation – in the absence of the TTD’s own clarification of its intangible purpose in seeking G.I. status – has given rise to misgivings that the TTD may be pursuing non-secular purposes by exploiting the infirmities in a secular law such as the GIGA.
On February 23, the then Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh (now Minister for Environment and Forests), while explaining the need for greater sensitisation on G.Is, told the Rajya Sabha that the lack of understanding had led to people filing applications for articles such as Tirupati laddu, among others.
Observers of I.P., therefore, suggest that the G.I. Registry must review suo motu its decision to grant G.I. status to Tirupati laddu.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
sharia rule in grab of charity in gujarat
from indian express
A London-based charity that set up a rehabilitation colony for Muslim victims who lost their homes in Gujarat’s 2002 riots is laying down a hard “Sharia law” for those living there — forcing many to pack up and leave.
The Muslim Relief Organisation, run by NRI businessmen in London, built 46 houses in Detral, a village in Bharuch, for families of riot victims.
Now it has imposed a blanket ban on what it calls “shaitani” (devilish) things such as TV, music systems and all forms of electronic entertainment. It has threatened to evict the riot victims if they don’t adhere to these.
Residents have been ordered to stay away from fellow villagers, asked to pray only in the special “Sharia-specified” place of worship built for them and not in any local mosque. Among other diktats, they are also required to wear skull caps and keep long beards.
The notice, accessed by The Sunday Express, reads: “... As per Islamic Shariyat, any person possessing a television, or any other such Shaitani goods in his house, cannot be the beneficiary of money from Zakat, Fitr, Sadka or any Imdaah. Last week, when the committee trustee came down from London, he showed his unhappiness when he saw television antennas and dish connections. So, take notice that within 15 days after receiving this, all televisions must be removed from all houses. If any television is found turned on, or even in a non-use condition, after 15 days, take note that as directed by the trustees from London, we will be forced to take re-possession of those houses. If you want to stay in this colony, all of you will compulsorily remove all televisions from your houses.”
“This land was donated by the elder brother of one of the trustees. These houses are built using zakat money we raised. That’s why everyone has to adhere to these religious rules. Those not following the rules have left,” says the local representative for the sponsors, Bashir Dawood Dukanwala who is the camp’s caretaker.
The order was first issued last year but several reminders have followed. A dozen families have already left and many more are on their way out, sources said.
Most families here say they got the Rs 50,000 compensation for their homes destroyed but that’s too meagre to buy or build another home.
When contacted at their London office, a functionary of the Muslim Relief Organisation, who declined to be named, admitted that the outfit’s members themselves used TVs in London, but “only when required”.
“Television is only a necessary evil, we use it only when required. It is not meant for any entertainment or pleasure,” he said.
The Tableeghi-e-Jamaat in Vadodara, which Dukanwala is associated with, claimed it had nothing to do with the issue.
Speaking to The Sunday Express, its Amir, Shoaib Qazi, a schoolteacher, said: “We do not mind TV or music. If they are doing this in the relief colony, it is beyond my knowledge.”
For the residents, that’s of little comfort. After five years in relief camps, Mohammad Shah Diwan hoped he had, at last, found a secure home in Detral.
“I never expected that we will have to go through this,” he said. “We are constantly harassed and told that if we do not follow those rules, we are kafirs.”
Diwan moved out three months ago with his daughter. At Detral, he worked as a poultry farmer but the caretaker asked him to limit his interaction with local villagers. “Then they built an Ibadatkhana for residents to pray and asked us not to even go to the village mosque,” says Diwan. He now lives off his teacher’s pension while his two sons drive autorickshaws.
Similar is the plight of Idrish Shaikh, a tailor who lost his home in Vejalpur in Godhra in the riots.
“I lost all my property in the riots and now our own people are treating us like animals,” says Shaikh. “Once the caretakers came and tried to lock up my home in my absence. They said I had been warned not to let my customers into the colony. I had no choice but to obey them.”
But Iqbal Diwan is one who moved out to his uncle’s house in Halol in the Panchmahals. “My sister is unmarried and we no longer have a home. We stay with our uncle in Halol who faced a lot of hardship after his house was damaged in the riots. But this is still better than staying under those people in Detral,” says Iqbal.
“They asked me and my father to wear caps at all times and to keep a long beard. We are not very comfortable with that lifestyle. There were unpleasant situations outside my house almost everyday when the caretakers would come and ask us to do this or that,” he says. “So the only option we had was to leave.”
Detral sarpanch Gajanand Mahant admitted he was aware of the new rules in the relief colony but said he didn’t wish to intervene. Some families went to the police, too. “But the police said it was our internal problem and it was up to the trust to decide what to do,” says Idris Sheikh.
A London-based charity that set up a rehabilitation colony for Muslim victims who lost their homes in Gujarat’s 2002 riots is laying down a hard “Sharia law” for those living there — forcing many to pack up and leave.
The Muslim Relief Organisation, run by NRI businessmen in London, built 46 houses in Detral, a village in Bharuch, for families of riot victims.
Now it has imposed a blanket ban on what it calls “shaitani” (devilish) things such as TV, music systems and all forms of electronic entertainment. It has threatened to evict the riot victims if they don’t adhere to these.
Residents have been ordered to stay away from fellow villagers, asked to pray only in the special “Sharia-specified” place of worship built for them and not in any local mosque. Among other diktats, they are also required to wear skull caps and keep long beards.
The notice, accessed by The Sunday Express, reads: “... As per Islamic Shariyat, any person possessing a television, or any other such Shaitani goods in his house, cannot be the beneficiary of money from Zakat, Fitr, Sadka or any Imdaah. Last week, when the committee trustee came down from London, he showed his unhappiness when he saw television antennas and dish connections. So, take notice that within 15 days after receiving this, all televisions must be removed from all houses. If any television is found turned on, or even in a non-use condition, after 15 days, take note that as directed by the trustees from London, we will be forced to take re-possession of those houses. If you want to stay in this colony, all of you will compulsorily remove all televisions from your houses.”
“This land was donated by the elder brother of one of the trustees. These houses are built using zakat money we raised. That’s why everyone has to adhere to these religious rules. Those not following the rules have left,” says the local representative for the sponsors, Bashir Dawood Dukanwala who is the camp’s caretaker.
The order was first issued last year but several reminders have followed. A dozen families have already left and many more are on their way out, sources said.
Most families here say they got the Rs 50,000 compensation for their homes destroyed but that’s too meagre to buy or build another home.
When contacted at their London office, a functionary of the Muslim Relief Organisation, who declined to be named, admitted that the outfit’s members themselves used TVs in London, but “only when required”.
“Television is only a necessary evil, we use it only when required. It is not meant for any entertainment or pleasure,” he said.
The Tableeghi-e-Jamaat in Vadodara, which Dukanwala is associated with, claimed it had nothing to do with the issue.
Speaking to The Sunday Express, its Amir, Shoaib Qazi, a schoolteacher, said: “We do not mind TV or music. If they are doing this in the relief colony, it is beyond my knowledge.”
For the residents, that’s of little comfort. After five years in relief camps, Mohammad Shah Diwan hoped he had, at last, found a secure home in Detral.
“I never expected that we will have to go through this,” he said. “We are constantly harassed and told that if we do not follow those rules, we are kafirs.”
Diwan moved out three months ago with his daughter. At Detral, he worked as a poultry farmer but the caretaker asked him to limit his interaction with local villagers. “Then they built an Ibadatkhana for residents to pray and asked us not to even go to the village mosque,” says Diwan. He now lives off his teacher’s pension while his two sons drive autorickshaws.
Similar is the plight of Idrish Shaikh, a tailor who lost his home in Vejalpur in Godhra in the riots.
“I lost all my property in the riots and now our own people are treating us like animals,” says Shaikh. “Once the caretakers came and tried to lock up my home in my absence. They said I had been warned not to let my customers into the colony. I had no choice but to obey them.”
But Iqbal Diwan is one who moved out to his uncle’s house in Halol in the Panchmahals. “My sister is unmarried and we no longer have a home. We stay with our uncle in Halol who faced a lot of hardship after his house was damaged in the riots. But this is still better than staying under those people in Detral,” says Iqbal.
“They asked me and my father to wear caps at all times and to keep a long beard. We are not very comfortable with that lifestyle. There were unpleasant situations outside my house almost everyday when the caretakers would come and ask us to do this or that,” he says. “So the only option we had was to leave.”
Detral sarpanch Gajanand Mahant admitted he was aware of the new rules in the relief colony but said he didn’t wish to intervene. Some families went to the police, too. “But the police said it was our internal problem and it was up to the trust to decide what to do,” says Idris Sheikh.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
conversion in government college in bihar
परसथुआं (रोहतास)। स्थानीय गिरीश नारायण मिश्र महाविद्यालय के प्रांगण में मंगलवार को 35 हिन्दुओं को बतीस्मा पिला इसाई धर्म स्वीकार कराया गया। धर्म परिवर्तन करने वालों में दलित व गरीब हैं। सभी को गोरिया नदी में पवित्र स्नान कराया गया।
बर्न आउट रिच नेटवर्क पटना के तत्वावधान में आयोजित कार्यक्रम में कैमूर व भोजपुर जिले के अलावा कई जगहों से धर्म परिवर्तन के लिए लोग जुटे थे। पास्टर कन्हैया राम ने कहा कि प्रभू यीशु ने उन्हें दुष्ट आत्मा से मुक्ति दिला इसाई धर्म कबूल करवाया। भोजपुर के रविकुमार, काराकाट के बेतिया देवी, सफरौली के एकादशी राम, सुरेन्द्र पाल, मानिक पासवान, उपेन्द्र साह, रणविजय राय, रामकिशोर सिंह सहित 35 लोगों ने धर्म परिवर्तन किया। मिशन इतना गुप्त रखा गया कि पुलिस को भी भनक नहीं लगी। कोल बहादुर व विनोद कुमार ने बाइबिल का पाठ सुनाकर उन्हें ईसाई बनाया। खुढ़हरिया, खुढ़नू, सकरौली सहित कई गांवों के दलितों ने भी धर्म परिवर्तन किया। प्राचार्य डा. उमाशंकर द्विवेदी ने कहा कि वे महाविद्यालय कार्य से बाहर थे।
कार्यक्रम की अनुमति किसने दी इसकी जांच की जाएगी।
थाने की बजती रही घंटियां..
परसथुआं : थाने की बजती रही घंटियां और थानाध्यक्ष का मोबाइल स्वीच आफ रहा। स्थानीय बाजार में इसाई मिशनरीज द्वारा आयोजित धर्म परिवर्तन सभा में थाना से न तो चौकीदार पहुंचा और न हीं थानेदार। लोग थाने के नम्बर पर फोन करते रहे, लेकिन कोई नहीं उठाया। थक-हारकर लोगों ने थानाध्यक्ष के मोबाइल पर फोन किया वह भी स्वीच आफ रहा। कुछ लोगों ने थानाध्यक्ष तारणी प्रसाद यादव को जानकारी दी। श्री यादव ने कहा कि सभा करने की कोई सूचना थाना को नहीं दी गयी है। धर्म परिवर्तन कब और कहां हुआ इससे भी वे सिरे से इंकार गए।
बर्न आउट रिच नेटवर्क पटना के तत्वावधान में आयोजित कार्यक्रम में कैमूर व भोजपुर जिले के अलावा कई जगहों से धर्म परिवर्तन के लिए लोग जुटे थे। पास्टर कन्हैया राम ने कहा कि प्रभू यीशु ने उन्हें दुष्ट आत्मा से मुक्ति दिला इसाई धर्म कबूल करवाया। भोजपुर के रविकुमार, काराकाट के बेतिया देवी, सफरौली के एकादशी राम, सुरेन्द्र पाल, मानिक पासवान, उपेन्द्र साह, रणविजय राय, रामकिशोर सिंह सहित 35 लोगों ने धर्म परिवर्तन किया। मिशन इतना गुप्त रखा गया कि पुलिस को भी भनक नहीं लगी। कोल बहादुर व विनोद कुमार ने बाइबिल का पाठ सुनाकर उन्हें ईसाई बनाया। खुढ़हरिया, खुढ़नू, सकरौली सहित कई गांवों के दलितों ने भी धर्म परिवर्तन किया। प्राचार्य डा. उमाशंकर द्विवेदी ने कहा कि वे महाविद्यालय कार्य से बाहर थे।
कार्यक्रम की अनुमति किसने दी इसकी जांच की जाएगी।
थाने की बजती रही घंटियां..
परसथुआं : थाने की बजती रही घंटियां और थानाध्यक्ष का मोबाइल स्वीच आफ रहा। स्थानीय बाजार में इसाई मिशनरीज द्वारा आयोजित धर्म परिवर्तन सभा में थाना से न तो चौकीदार पहुंचा और न हीं थानेदार। लोग थाने के नम्बर पर फोन करते रहे, लेकिन कोई नहीं उठाया। थक-हारकर लोगों ने थानाध्यक्ष के मोबाइल पर फोन किया वह भी स्वीच आफ रहा। कुछ लोगों ने थानाध्यक्ष तारणी प्रसाद यादव को जानकारी दी। श्री यादव ने कहा कि सभा करने की कोई सूचना थाना को नहीं दी गयी है। धर्म परिवर्तन कब और कहां हुआ इससे भी वे सिरे से इंकार गए।
political correctness in wake of shoot out by US major
a good piece from newyork times
We’re all born late. We’re born into history that is well under way. We’re born into cultures, nations and languages that we didn’t choose. On top of that, we’re born with certain brain chemicals and genetic predispositions that we can’t control. We’re thrust into social conditions that we detest. Often, we react in ways we regret even while we’re doing them.
David Brooks
But unlike the other animals, people do have a drive to seek coherence and meaning. We have a need to tell ourselves stories that explain it all. We use these stories to supply the metaphysics, without which life seems pointless and empty.
Among all the things we don’t control, we do have some control over our stories. We do have a conscious say in selecting the narrative we will use to make sense of the world. Individual responsibility is contained in the act of selecting and constantly revising the master narrative we tell about ourselves.
The stories we select help us, in turn, to interpret the world. They guide us to pay attention to certain things and ignore other things. They lead us to see certain things as sacred and other things as disgusting. They are the frameworks that shape our desires and goals. So while story selection may seem vague and intellectual, it’s actually very powerful. The most important power we have is the power to help select the lens through which we see reality.
Most people select stories that lead toward cooperation and goodness. But over the past few decades a malevolent narrative has emerged.
That narrative has emerged on the fringes of the Muslim world. It is a narrative that sees human history as a war between Islam on the one side and Christianity and Judaism on the other. This narrative causes its adherents to shrink their circle of concern. They don’t see others as fully human. They come to believe others can be blamelessly murdered and that, in fact, it is admirable to do so.
This narrative is embraced by a small minority. But it has caused incredible amounts of suffering within the Muslim world, in Israel, in the U.S. and elsewhere. With their suicide bombings and terrorist acts, adherents to this narrative have made themselves central to global politics. They are the ones who go into crowded rooms, shout “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” and then start murdering.
When Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan did that in Fort Hood, Tex., last week, many Americans had an understandable and, in some ways, admirable reaction. They didn’t want the horror to become a pretext for anti-Muslim bigotry.
So immediately the coverage took on a certain cast. The possibility of Islamic extremism was immediately played down. This was an isolated personal breakdown, not an ideological assault, many people emphasized.
Major Hasan was portrayed as a disturbed individual who was under a lot of stress. We learned about pre-traumatic stress syndrome, and secondary stress disorder, which one gets from hearing about other people’s stress. We heard the theory (unlikely in retrospect) that Hasan was so traumatized by the thought of going into a combat zone that he decided to take a gun and create one of his own.
A shroud of political correctness settled over the conversation. Hasan was portrayed as a victim of society, a poor soul who was pushed over the edge by prejudice and unhappiness.
There was a national rush to therapy. Hasan was a loner who had trouble finding a wife and socializing with his neighbors.
This response was understandable. It’s important to tamp down vengeful hatreds in moments of passion. But it was also patronizing. Public commentators assumed the air of kindergarten teachers who had to protect their children from thinking certain impermissible and intolerant thoughts. If public commentary wasn’t carefully policed, the assumption seemed to be, then the great mass of unwashed yahoos in Middle America would go off on a racist rampage.
Worse, it absolved Hasan — before the real evidence was in — of his responsibility. He didn’t have the choice to be lonely or unhappy. But he did have a choice over what story to build out of those circumstances. And evidence is now mounting to suggest he chose the extremist War on Islam narrative that so often leads to murderous results.
The conversation in the first few days after the massacre was well intentioned, but it suggested a willful flight from reality. It ignored the fact that the war narrative of the struggle against Islam is the central feature of American foreign policy. It ignored the fact that this narrative can be embraced by a self-radicalizing individual in the U.S. as much as by groups in Tehran, Gaza or Kandahar.
It denied, before the evidence was in, the possibility of evil. It sought to reduce a heinous act to social maladjustment. It wasn’t the reaction of a morally or politically serious nation.
We’re all born late. We’re born into history that is well under way. We’re born into cultures, nations and languages that we didn’t choose. On top of that, we’re born with certain brain chemicals and genetic predispositions that we can’t control. We’re thrust into social conditions that we detest. Often, we react in ways we regret even while we’re doing them.
David Brooks
But unlike the other animals, people do have a drive to seek coherence and meaning. We have a need to tell ourselves stories that explain it all. We use these stories to supply the metaphysics, without which life seems pointless and empty.
Among all the things we don’t control, we do have some control over our stories. We do have a conscious say in selecting the narrative we will use to make sense of the world. Individual responsibility is contained in the act of selecting and constantly revising the master narrative we tell about ourselves.
The stories we select help us, in turn, to interpret the world. They guide us to pay attention to certain things and ignore other things. They lead us to see certain things as sacred and other things as disgusting. They are the frameworks that shape our desires and goals. So while story selection may seem vague and intellectual, it’s actually very powerful. The most important power we have is the power to help select the lens through which we see reality.
Most people select stories that lead toward cooperation and goodness. But over the past few decades a malevolent narrative has emerged.
That narrative has emerged on the fringes of the Muslim world. It is a narrative that sees human history as a war between Islam on the one side and Christianity and Judaism on the other. This narrative causes its adherents to shrink their circle of concern. They don’t see others as fully human. They come to believe others can be blamelessly murdered and that, in fact, it is admirable to do so.
This narrative is embraced by a small minority. But it has caused incredible amounts of suffering within the Muslim world, in Israel, in the U.S. and elsewhere. With their suicide bombings and terrorist acts, adherents to this narrative have made themselves central to global politics. They are the ones who go into crowded rooms, shout “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” and then start murdering.
When Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan did that in Fort Hood, Tex., last week, many Americans had an understandable and, in some ways, admirable reaction. They didn’t want the horror to become a pretext for anti-Muslim bigotry.
So immediately the coverage took on a certain cast. The possibility of Islamic extremism was immediately played down. This was an isolated personal breakdown, not an ideological assault, many people emphasized.
Major Hasan was portrayed as a disturbed individual who was under a lot of stress. We learned about pre-traumatic stress syndrome, and secondary stress disorder, which one gets from hearing about other people’s stress. We heard the theory (unlikely in retrospect) that Hasan was so traumatized by the thought of going into a combat zone that he decided to take a gun and create one of his own.
A shroud of political correctness settled over the conversation. Hasan was portrayed as a victim of society, a poor soul who was pushed over the edge by prejudice and unhappiness.
There was a national rush to therapy. Hasan was a loner who had trouble finding a wife and socializing with his neighbors.
This response was understandable. It’s important to tamp down vengeful hatreds in moments of passion. But it was also patronizing. Public commentators assumed the air of kindergarten teachers who had to protect their children from thinking certain impermissible and intolerant thoughts. If public commentary wasn’t carefully policed, the assumption seemed to be, then the great mass of unwashed yahoos in Middle America would go off on a racist rampage.
Worse, it absolved Hasan — before the real evidence was in — of his responsibility. He didn’t have the choice to be lonely or unhappy. But he did have a choice over what story to build out of those circumstances. And evidence is now mounting to suggest he chose the extremist War on Islam narrative that so often leads to murderous results.
The conversation in the first few days after the massacre was well intentioned, but it suggested a willful flight from reality. It ignored the fact that the war narrative of the struggle against Islam is the central feature of American foreign policy. It ignored the fact that this narrative can be embraced by a self-radicalizing individual in the U.S. as much as by groups in Tehran, Gaza or Kandahar.
It denied, before the evidence was in, the possibility of evil. It sought to reduce a heinous act to social maladjustment. It wasn’t the reaction of a morally or politically serious nation.
forgotten bretheren : Roma
http://www.merinews.com/article/hindus-laud-hungary-hosp-for-honoring-roma-traditions/15787948.shtml
HINDUS HAVE commended the hospital in Hungary town of Gyongyos for reportedly setting up a special room for Roma patients and their visitors to practice their cultural rituals.
Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA), described it as a “step in the right direction” and urged other hospitals of Hungary also to make similar accommodations to speed-up the integration of Roma.
This hospital in eastern Hungary was reportedly the scene of a cultural misunderstanding in 2002 when about a dozen Roma and police officials were injured in the conflict over the mourning behavior of Roma over the death of a relative. Roma have reportedly certain traditions linked to birth and death and they expressed their emotions differently than other Hungarians. This hospital is also reportedly considering having Roma liaison officers.
Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that in Hungary, despite various government initiatives, Roma reportedly continued to face blatant discrimination, shanty town living, an atmosphere of hostility, huge unemployment rate, lower life expectancy, prejudice, significantly higher school dropout rate, racism, bias and stereotyping, school segregation, social exclusion, mistrust, human rights violations, etc. According to an estimate, less than 1% of Roma obtained higher education degrees.
Rajan Zed pointed out that instead of reportedly continuing to marginalize Roma socially, this country of Lake Balaton, romantic Danube River, Franz Liszt and Bela Bartok, should be more embracing of Roma brothers and sisters who had been reportedly living with them since 14th century. Hungarian government should be more proactive in protecting Roma and other minorities. Zed urged all religious leaders, religions and denominations of Hungary to work for the upliftment of Roma, because religion told us to help the helpless.
Roma in Hungary, whose estimated numbers sometimes reach around one million, form about ten percent of total Hungary populace, which makes it largest Roma minority as percentage of total population in the world. Current demographic trends indicate that in 2050, about 21 percentage of Hungary population will be Roma.
Zed stressed that it was moral obligation of Europe to take care of its largest minority Roma population and stop human rights violations suffered by them, who numbered around 15 million and lived in apartheid like conditions. There seemed to be no coherent and effective policy to assimilate them into the society. Their alarming condition was a social blight for Europe and the rest of the world.
HINDUS HAVE commended the hospital in Hungary town of Gyongyos for reportedly setting up a special room for Roma patients and their visitors to practice their cultural rituals.
Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA), described it as a “step in the right direction” and urged other hospitals of Hungary also to make similar accommodations to speed-up the integration of Roma.
This hospital in eastern Hungary was reportedly the scene of a cultural misunderstanding in 2002 when about a dozen Roma and police officials were injured in the conflict over the mourning behavior of Roma over the death of a relative. Roma have reportedly certain traditions linked to birth and death and they expressed their emotions differently than other Hungarians. This hospital is also reportedly considering having Roma liaison officers.
Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that in Hungary, despite various government initiatives, Roma reportedly continued to face blatant discrimination, shanty town living, an atmosphere of hostility, huge unemployment rate, lower life expectancy, prejudice, significantly higher school dropout rate, racism, bias and stereotyping, school segregation, social exclusion, mistrust, human rights violations, etc. According to an estimate, less than 1% of Roma obtained higher education degrees.
Rajan Zed pointed out that instead of reportedly continuing to marginalize Roma socially, this country of Lake Balaton, romantic Danube River, Franz Liszt and Bela Bartok, should be more embracing of Roma brothers and sisters who had been reportedly living with them since 14th century. Hungarian government should be more proactive in protecting Roma and other minorities. Zed urged all religious leaders, religions and denominations of Hungary to work for the upliftment of Roma, because religion told us to help the helpless.
Roma in Hungary, whose estimated numbers sometimes reach around one million, form about ten percent of total Hungary populace, which makes it largest Roma minority as percentage of total population in the world. Current demographic trends indicate that in 2050, about 21 percentage of Hungary population will be Roma.
Zed stressed that it was moral obligation of Europe to take care of its largest minority Roma population and stop human rights violations suffered by them, who numbered around 15 million and lived in apartheid like conditions. There seemed to be no coherent and effective policy to assimilate them into the society. Their alarming condition was a social blight for Europe and the rest of the world.
Monday, November 09, 2009
can india dare to do same to rioters in kashmir?
एक चीनी अधिकारी का कहना है कि चीन के पश्चिमी प्रांत शिनकियांग में जुलाई में हुए दंगे के अभियुक्त नौ लोगों को फांसी दे दी गई है.
ग़ौरतलब है कि स्थानीय उरुमकी समुदाय और चीन में प्रभुत्वशाली हान गुट के बीच जुलाई में हुए दंगे में 197 लोगों की मौत हो गई थी.
चीन की सरकारी समाचार सेवा ने इस बारे में और कोई जानकारी नहीं दी है. अभी यह पता नहीं चल पाया है कि यह फांसी कब और कहां दी गई.
स्थानीय सरकार के एक प्रवक्ता के मुताबिक यह सज़ा सुप्रीम कोर्ट की समीक्षा के बाद दी गई है.
फांसी दिए गए लोगों को हत्या और अन्य सज़ा का दोषी पाया गया.
फांसी दिए गए लोगों के नाम से पता चलता है कि इनमें आठ लोग उरुमकी समुदाय के हैं जबकि एक हान समुदाय का है.
जुलाई में जो दंगा हुआ था वह चीन के इतिहास में भयावह था. हान लोगों का आरोप था कि दंगे में शामिल लोगों को प्रशासन पकड़ने में विफल रहा है.
हालांकि मानवाधिकार गुटों का कहना है कि जिन अभियुक्तों को सज़ा दी गई उनमें से कुछ मामले में सुनवाई महज पाँच घंटे ही चली. साथ ही सुनवाई ठीक ढंग से नहीं हुई.
शिनकियांग चीन का सबसे अशांत इलाक़ा है जहाँ चीनी सेना की काफ़ी मौजूदगी है.
हाल ही में चीनी सुरक्षा बलों ने शिनकियांग में 'अपराधियों को ख़त्म' करने के लिए 'कड़ी कार्रवाई' करने का निश्चय किया था.
उरुमकी में ज़्यादातर मुस्लिम समुदाय के लोग रहते हैं. उनका कहना है कि इस इलाक़े में हान समुदाय के लोगों ने आकर अपना डेरा डाल दिया है और अच्छी नौकरियों पर क़ब्ज़ा कर लिया है.
ग़ौरतलब है कि स्थानीय उरुमकी समुदाय और चीन में प्रभुत्वशाली हान गुट के बीच जुलाई में हुए दंगे में 197 लोगों की मौत हो गई थी.
चीन की सरकारी समाचार सेवा ने इस बारे में और कोई जानकारी नहीं दी है. अभी यह पता नहीं चल पाया है कि यह फांसी कब और कहां दी गई.
स्थानीय सरकार के एक प्रवक्ता के मुताबिक यह सज़ा सुप्रीम कोर्ट की समीक्षा के बाद दी गई है.
फांसी दिए गए लोगों को हत्या और अन्य सज़ा का दोषी पाया गया.
फांसी दिए गए लोगों के नाम से पता चलता है कि इनमें आठ लोग उरुमकी समुदाय के हैं जबकि एक हान समुदाय का है.
जुलाई में जो दंगा हुआ था वह चीन के इतिहास में भयावह था. हान लोगों का आरोप था कि दंगे में शामिल लोगों को प्रशासन पकड़ने में विफल रहा है.
हालांकि मानवाधिकार गुटों का कहना है कि जिन अभियुक्तों को सज़ा दी गई उनमें से कुछ मामले में सुनवाई महज पाँच घंटे ही चली. साथ ही सुनवाई ठीक ढंग से नहीं हुई.
शिनकियांग चीन का सबसे अशांत इलाक़ा है जहाँ चीनी सेना की काफ़ी मौजूदगी है.
हाल ही में चीनी सुरक्षा बलों ने शिनकियांग में 'अपराधियों को ख़त्म' करने के लिए 'कड़ी कार्रवाई' करने का निश्चय किया था.
उरुमकी में ज़्यादातर मुस्लिम समुदाय के लोग रहते हैं. उनका कहना है कि इस इलाक़े में हान समुदाय के लोगों ने आकर अपना डेरा डाल दिया है और अच्छी नौकरियों पर क़ब्ज़ा कर लिया है.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Muslims stopped from going to yoga camps by Deoband
मुजफ्फरनगर। देवबंद स्थित इस्लामिक शिक्षा संस्थान दारूल उलूम ने फतवा जारी कर कहा है कि मुसलमान योग गुरू बाबा रामदेव के कैंप में न जाएं, क्योंकि उसकी शुरूआत में वंदेमातरम गाया जाता है। दारूल उलूम के फतवा विभाग के उप प्रमुख मुफ्ती एहसान काजमी ने कहा कि वंदेमातरम् एक प्रार्थना है और मुसलमान अल्लाह के सिवा किसी की प्रार्थना नहीं कर सकते। हालांकि योगा करने में कोई हर्ज नहीं है, क्योंकि यह एक व्यायाम है।
Thursday, November 05, 2009
sikh girl kidnapped in Kashmir and forcibly married
युवती को अगवा करने पर भड़के सिख संगठन
Nov 05, 03:43 am
बताएं
* Twitter
* Delicious
* Facebook
जम्मू, जागरण ब्यूरो
श्रीनगर में सिख युवती को अगवा कर जबरदस्ती शादी करवाने की कोशिश का मामला सामने आने पर भड़के सिख संगठनों ने प्रदर्शन कर राज्य सरकार का पुतला फूंका। प्रदर्शनकारियों ने प्रेस क्लब के बाहर प्रेम नाथ डोगरा चौक की तरफ बढ़ने का प्रयास किया, परंतु पुलिस ने रोक दिया। इस बीच प्रदर्शनकारियों व पुलिस के बीच हल्की धक्का-मुक्की भी हुई।
शिरोमणि अकाली दल बादल के प्रदेश प्रधान महेंद्र सिंह के नेतृत्व में विभिन्न संगठनों के प्रतिनिधियों ने कहा कि श्रीनगर के बेमिना में एक सिख युवती अमित कौर को हिरासत में रखा गया है। घाटी में अल्पसंख्यक सिख समुदायों के साथ अन्याय किया जा रहा है। प्रदर्शनकारियों को संबोधित करते हुए महेंद्र सिंह ने कहा कि सिख युवती पर दवाब बनाया जा रहा कि वह मुस्लिम युवक के साथ मनमर्जी से शादी करने की बात कबूल ले। उन्होंने कहा कि सोची समझी साजिश के तहत कश्मीर में अल्पसंख्यकों को तंग किया जा रहा है। वीरेंद्र जीत सिंह व अन्य प्रतिनिधियों ने कहा कि उन्हें कश्मीर पुलिस पर भरोसा नहीं है, इसलिए युवती को जम्मू लाकर न्यायालय में उसके बयान दर्ज करवाए जाएं, ताकि सच्चाई सामने आ सके और युवती पर किसी तरह का दवाब नहीं रहेगा।
प्रदर्शनकारियों में चरणजीत सिंह खालसा, वीरेंद्र जीत सिंह, एचएस बाली, महेंद्र पाल सिंह पांडु, करण सिंह, अमरजीत सिंह, प्रेम सिंह, बाबू सिंह, नरेंद्र सिंह, महंत हरमिंद्र सिंह, रामपाल शर्मा, राजेश केसरी, राजेश गुप्ता, संजय बडू, राजेंद्र सिंह, हरभजन सिंह व अन्य लोग शामिल हुए।
Nov 05, 03:43 am
बताएं
* Delicious
जम्मू, जागरण ब्यूरो
श्रीनगर में सिख युवती को अगवा कर जबरदस्ती शादी करवाने की कोशिश का मामला सामने आने पर भड़के सिख संगठनों ने प्रदर्शन कर राज्य सरकार का पुतला फूंका। प्रदर्शनकारियों ने प्रेस क्लब के बाहर प्रेम नाथ डोगरा चौक की तरफ बढ़ने का प्रयास किया, परंतु पुलिस ने रोक दिया। इस बीच प्रदर्शनकारियों व पुलिस के बीच हल्की धक्का-मुक्की भी हुई।
शिरोमणि अकाली दल बादल के प्रदेश प्रधान महेंद्र सिंह के नेतृत्व में विभिन्न संगठनों के प्रतिनिधियों ने कहा कि श्रीनगर के बेमिना में एक सिख युवती अमित कौर को हिरासत में रखा गया है। घाटी में अल्पसंख्यक सिख समुदायों के साथ अन्याय किया जा रहा है। प्रदर्शनकारियों को संबोधित करते हुए महेंद्र सिंह ने कहा कि सिख युवती पर दवाब बनाया जा रहा कि वह मुस्लिम युवक के साथ मनमर्जी से शादी करने की बात कबूल ले। उन्होंने कहा कि सोची समझी साजिश के तहत कश्मीर में अल्पसंख्यकों को तंग किया जा रहा है। वीरेंद्र जीत सिंह व अन्य प्रतिनिधियों ने कहा कि उन्हें कश्मीर पुलिस पर भरोसा नहीं है, इसलिए युवती को जम्मू लाकर न्यायालय में उसके बयान दर्ज करवाए जाएं, ताकि सच्चाई सामने आ सके और युवती पर किसी तरह का दवाब नहीं रहेगा।
प्रदर्शनकारियों में चरणजीत सिंह खालसा, वीरेंद्र जीत सिंह, एचएस बाली, महेंद्र पाल सिंह पांडु, करण सिंह, अमरजीत सिंह, प्रेम सिंह, बाबू सिंह, नरेंद्र सिंह, महंत हरमिंद्र सिंह, रामपाल शर्मा, राजेश केसरी, राजेश गुप्ता, संजय बडू, राजेंद्र सिंह, हरभजन सिंह व अन्य लोग शामिल हुए।
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Vande Mataram 'banned' by Muslim organisation
देवबंद। जमीयत-ए-उलेमा हिंद ने राष्ट्र गीत "वन्दे मातरम्" को इस्लाम के विरूद्ध बताते हुए इसके खिलाफ फतवा जारी किया है। जमीयत-ए-उलेमा हिंद के राष्ट्रीय अधिवेशन में आज इस संदर्भ में प्रस्ताव पारित किया गया। प्रस्ताव के अनुसार "वन्दे मातरम्" इस्लाम के विरूद्ध है, इसलिए मुस्लिम इसे नहीं गाएंगे।
प्रस्ताव में स्पष्ट किया गया है कि "वन्दे मातरम्" की पंक्तियां इस्लाम के कुछ सिंद्धांतों के खिलाफ हैं। इसलिए मुस्लिम इस गीत को नहीं गाएंगे। मुस्लिम लॉ बोर्ड ने भी जमीयत-ए-उलेमा हिन्द के इस फैसले का स्वागत किया है।
बोर्ड के एक प्रमुख नेता कमाल फारूखी ने "वन्दे मातरम्" के खिलाफ फतवे का समर्थन करते हुए कहा कि "हम देश का सम्मान करते हैं, पर इस्लाम के सिद्धांतों के तहत हम अल्लाह के अलावा किसी और की पूजा नहीं कर सकते।"
प्रस्ताव में स्पष्ट किया गया है कि "वन्दे मातरम्" की पंक्तियां इस्लाम के कुछ सिंद्धांतों के खिलाफ हैं। इसलिए मुस्लिम इस गीत को नहीं गाएंगे। मुस्लिम लॉ बोर्ड ने भी जमीयत-ए-उलेमा हिन्द के इस फैसले का स्वागत किया है।
बोर्ड के एक प्रमुख नेता कमाल फारूखी ने "वन्दे मातरम्" के खिलाफ फतवे का समर्थन करते हुए कहा कि "हम देश का सम्मान करते हैं, पर इस्लाम के सिद्धांतों के तहत हम अल्लाह के अलावा किसी और की पूजा नहीं कर सकते।"
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Jharkhand being lost to Bangladeshis
साहिबगंज। देश विभाजन के बाद से ही पश्चिम बंगाल की सीमा होकर झारखंड में बंगलादेशी घुसपैठ से क्षेत्रीय जनसंख्या असंतुलन विकास के मार्ग की एक अनसुलझी समस्या है। जो इस क्षेत्र के पिछड़ेपन का एक महत्वपूर्ण कारक रहा है। साहेबगंज जिला के उधवा, राजमहल तथा साहेबगंज प्रखंड के सुदूरवर्ती दियारा क्षेत्र के अतिरिक्त पतौड़ा झील का संरक्षित क्षेत्र सरकारी खास भूमि तथा गैर मजरूआ जमीन पर घुसपैठियों का सहज कब्जा वाला क्षेत्र है। जहां उसे अपना आशियाना बनाने में सरकारी प्रतिरोध कम तथा स्थानीय लोगों का अप्रत्यक्ष सहयोग अधिक मिलता है। हालांकि आरक्षी अधीक्षक सुधीर कुमार झा कहते है कि बंग्लादेशी घुसपैठ की सूचना शून्य है, पुलिस निगरानी रखे है।
1950 के दशक से ही इन अवैध घुसपैठियों ने अपना पहुंच मतदाता सूची, लाल कार्ड, जॉब कार्ड से लेकर इंदिरा आवास एवं सामाजिक सुरक्षा पेंशन योजना तक बना रखा है। बोलचाल तथा रहन सहन में एकरूपता के कारण घुसपैठ का पहचान कर पाना कठिन है। सरकारी तंत्र भी घुसपैठ का पहचान कर पाने में नाकाम रही है तथा केन्द्र व राज्य सरकारो को भेजी गयी सूचना में भी बताया गया है कि उधवा तथा राजमहल में घुसपैठ का शिनाख्त नहीं हुआ है। उपायुक्त सुभाष शर्मा के समय घुसपैठ के शिनाख्ती के लिए पहल किया गया था। जबकि तीन वर्ष पूर्व जिले में पदस्थापित विशेष शाखा के एक पदाधिकारी ने प्रदेश कार्यालय को भेजे अपने प्रतिवेदन में कहा था कि उधवा प्रखंड के संरक्षित पक्षी अभ्यारण्य तथा पतौड़ा पंचायत के सरकारी भूमि पर अवैध कब्जा है जिसमें कुछ बंगलादेशी भी हो सकते है। राजमहल नगर क्षेत्र में नया बस्ती तथा रेलवे प्लॉट के अवैध कब्जा वाला क्षेत्र में कुछ बंगलादेशी मूल के लोग है। हालांकि स्थानीय लोग इस बात से इंकार करते है कि बंगलादेशी यहां रहते है। लेकिन राजमहल तथा उधवा प्रखंड के कुछ पंचायतों में दो दशक के जनसंख्या वृद्धि दर को देखा जाए तथा मतदाता सूची का गहन अध्ययन किया जाए तो इस बात का खुलासा हो सकता है कि घुसपैठ हुआ है या नहीं। अगर स्थानीय लोगों की मानें तो बंगलादेशी घुसपैठिये इन क्षेत्रों में स्थानीय किसी परिवार की सूची के साथ अपना नाम मतदाता सूची में डलवा लेते है फिर अपना नाम पृथक कर स्वतंत्र परिवार के रूप में रहने लगते है। सरकारी संरक्षित क्षेत्र की भूमि तथा दियारा क्षेत्र की जमीन उन्हे सस्ते में मिल जाती है। मूलत: ये पश्चिम बंगाल के कलियाचक, मोहदीपुर तथा नदिया जिला में बार्डर से यहां प्रवेश करते है। जाली नोटों का कारोबार, पशु तस्करी तथा मौका मिलने पर चोरी डकैती की घटना को अंजाम देने में ये सिद्धहस्त है तथा शारीरिक परिश्रम में भी स्थानीय लोगों से आगे है। लिहाजा स्थानीय लोगों को रोजगार के अवसर भी छीन रहे है। जबकि यहां के मजदूर मुम्बई, दिल्ली तथा अहमदाबाद जैसे शहरों में रोजी रोटी तलाशने जाते है। फिलहाल बंगलादेशी घुसपैठ की समस्या स्थानीय लोगों के लिए समस्या भले ही है लेकिन राजनीतिक दलों के नेताओं की चुप्पी तथा प्रशासनिक मजबूरी के कारण वे इसे झेलने को विवश है।
1950 के दशक से ही इन अवैध घुसपैठियों ने अपना पहुंच मतदाता सूची, लाल कार्ड, जॉब कार्ड से लेकर इंदिरा आवास एवं सामाजिक सुरक्षा पेंशन योजना तक बना रखा है। बोलचाल तथा रहन सहन में एकरूपता के कारण घुसपैठ का पहचान कर पाना कठिन है। सरकारी तंत्र भी घुसपैठ का पहचान कर पाने में नाकाम रही है तथा केन्द्र व राज्य सरकारो को भेजी गयी सूचना में भी बताया गया है कि उधवा तथा राजमहल में घुसपैठ का शिनाख्त नहीं हुआ है। उपायुक्त सुभाष शर्मा के समय घुसपैठ के शिनाख्ती के लिए पहल किया गया था। जबकि तीन वर्ष पूर्व जिले में पदस्थापित विशेष शाखा के एक पदाधिकारी ने प्रदेश कार्यालय को भेजे अपने प्रतिवेदन में कहा था कि उधवा प्रखंड के संरक्षित पक्षी अभ्यारण्य तथा पतौड़ा पंचायत के सरकारी भूमि पर अवैध कब्जा है जिसमें कुछ बंगलादेशी भी हो सकते है। राजमहल नगर क्षेत्र में नया बस्ती तथा रेलवे प्लॉट के अवैध कब्जा वाला क्षेत्र में कुछ बंगलादेशी मूल के लोग है। हालांकि स्थानीय लोग इस बात से इंकार करते है कि बंगलादेशी यहां रहते है। लेकिन राजमहल तथा उधवा प्रखंड के कुछ पंचायतों में दो दशक के जनसंख्या वृद्धि दर को देखा जाए तथा मतदाता सूची का गहन अध्ययन किया जाए तो इस बात का खुलासा हो सकता है कि घुसपैठ हुआ है या नहीं। अगर स्थानीय लोगों की मानें तो बंगलादेशी घुसपैठिये इन क्षेत्रों में स्थानीय किसी परिवार की सूची के साथ अपना नाम मतदाता सूची में डलवा लेते है फिर अपना नाम पृथक कर स्वतंत्र परिवार के रूप में रहने लगते है। सरकारी संरक्षित क्षेत्र की भूमि तथा दियारा क्षेत्र की जमीन उन्हे सस्ते में मिल जाती है। मूलत: ये पश्चिम बंगाल के कलियाचक, मोहदीपुर तथा नदिया जिला में बार्डर से यहां प्रवेश करते है। जाली नोटों का कारोबार, पशु तस्करी तथा मौका मिलने पर चोरी डकैती की घटना को अंजाम देने में ये सिद्धहस्त है तथा शारीरिक परिश्रम में भी स्थानीय लोगों से आगे है। लिहाजा स्थानीय लोगों को रोजगार के अवसर भी छीन रहे है। जबकि यहां के मजदूर मुम्बई, दिल्ली तथा अहमदाबाद जैसे शहरों में रोजी रोटी तलाशने जाते है। फिलहाल बंगलादेशी घुसपैठ की समस्या स्थानीय लोगों के लिए समस्या भले ही है लेकिन राजनीतिक दलों के नेताओं की चुप्पी तथा प्रशासनिक मजबूरी के कारण वे इसे झेलने को विवश है।
Friday, October 30, 2009
nation's money wasted on these hooldums of Aligarh Muslim university
it is interesting that a simple law and order problem can be given coomunal colors by these students and they can hold whole city and traffic to ransom.
college has to be shut down due to hooldum nature
and this is the college for which all media and secularists fight tooth and nail while neglecting education of poor tribals and villagers.
college has to be shut down due to hooldum nature
and old hisotry, clearly pointing out that if we create more such universities or campus we are bound to have more such riots.
and this is the college for which all media and secularists fight tooth and nail while neglecting education of poor tribals and villagers.
and this fools pass as anchors on indian media...
Mao TV. Actually, MoU TV. For days now, news TV has been bringing to us long conversations on Maoists with important people who have asked us to understand or admit that memoranda of understanding (MoU) on exploiting natural resources between the Indian state and domestic/foreign companies are the reason the state is waging a “war”. This seems to be the current grand narrative of the “we don’t support violence but the real fault lies with the free-market ideology” group. News TV seems somewhat shy in interrogating this thesis. Members of this group were asked several times if they condemn Maoist violence, but they were seldom asked to fully explain the MoU narrative. Even when some details were offered, anchors didn’t seem interested. I am puzzled because it is not as if the same anchors didn’t ask 20 questions on all the other stuff. Why not, say, two questions on the big economic claim?
Before expanding on this a bit more, let me first put on record that there was a moment when my sympathies were with Arundhati Roy. Roy, being quizzed by a CNN-IBN double-anchor team, was told Mahatma Gandhi would have appealed to Maoists to stop the violence. I am not Mahatma Gandhi, Roy said. Quite. Good answer to a very curious argument.
Roy appeared twice on CNN-IBN recently (the other time on Devil’s Advocate) and made a series of economic arguments, including the one on MoU, most of which went more or less uncontested. On Devil’s Advocate, she said:
1. Capitalism guarantees better living standards for a few at the cost of many — plainly wrong, but she wasn’t asked to explain herself. 2. Many Dalits are living in famine-like conditions in India — plainly wrong, but no comeback from the anchor. 3. The UNDP’s Human Development Index shows 80 per cent of Indians are living in extreme poverty — wrong, but she wasn’t asked to give details on this data.
4. Even since Independence, the rich have got richer and the poor have got poorer — all the poor haven’t got poorer, poverty has come down, there’re truckloads of data on this, but she got away with it on national TV.
This was more or less jaw-dropping to me. Hey, okay, I am an insignificant but sincerely committed member of what is now called the corporate media. But I can still ask, can’t I, why news TV won’t quiz big intellectuals when they trot out these big economic claims. There seems to be no attempt at product differentiation on this: what you see on CNN-IBN is also what you see on NDTV. On NDTV’s We the People, Medha Patkar said the Indian state is hand in glove with corporates and international financial institutions, there was the MoU thesis again. Did the anchor, who fluently interrogated all panelists on many issues, ask Patkar to explain:
1. What she means by the state being hand in glove?
2. Which corporate is she talking about? 3. What does she mean by international financial institutions? Of course, not. Why not is the question that’s keeping me awake.
You see, senseless violence is being committed — against economics, by important people, on news TV. My appeal: Will someone in news TV please try to stop it?
saubhik.chakrabarti@expressindia.com
Before expanding on this a bit more, let me first put on record that there was a moment when my sympathies were with Arundhati Roy. Roy, being quizzed by a CNN-IBN double-anchor team, was told Mahatma Gandhi would have appealed to Maoists to stop the violence. I am not Mahatma Gandhi, Roy said. Quite. Good answer to a very curious argument.
Roy appeared twice on CNN-IBN recently (the other time on Devil’s Advocate) and made a series of economic arguments, including the one on MoU, most of which went more or less uncontested. On Devil’s Advocate, she said:
1. Capitalism guarantees better living standards for a few at the cost of many — plainly wrong, but she wasn’t asked to explain herself. 2. Many Dalits are living in famine-like conditions in India — plainly wrong, but no comeback from the anchor. 3. The UNDP’s Human Development Index shows 80 per cent of Indians are living in extreme poverty — wrong, but she wasn’t asked to give details on this data.
4. Even since Independence, the rich have got richer and the poor have got poorer — all the poor haven’t got poorer, poverty has come down, there’re truckloads of data on this, but she got away with it on national TV.
This was more or less jaw-dropping to me. Hey, okay, I am an insignificant but sincerely committed member of what is now called the corporate media. But I can still ask, can’t I, why news TV won’t quiz big intellectuals when they trot out these big economic claims. There seems to be no attempt at product differentiation on this: what you see on CNN-IBN is also what you see on NDTV. On NDTV’s We the People, Medha Patkar said the Indian state is hand in glove with corporates and international financial institutions, there was the MoU thesis again. Did the anchor, who fluently interrogated all panelists on many issues, ask Patkar to explain:
1. What she means by the state being hand in glove?
2. Which corporate is she talking about? 3. What does she mean by international financial institutions? Of course, not. Why not is the question that’s keeping me awake.
You see, senseless violence is being committed — against economics, by important people, on news TV. My appeal: Will someone in news TV please try to stop it?
saubhik.chakrabarti@expressindia.com
why no human rights wala for security of rukhsana
our humana rights activists who are so fond of defending inalienable rights of terrorists and naxals are mum on issue of protecting this brave girl.
राजौरी। लश्कर ए तैयबा के आतंककारी को बड़ी बहादुरी के साथ मार गिराने वाली जम्मू कश्मीर की लड़की रूखसाना कौसर के घर पर आतंकियों ने हमला किया। आतंकियों ने बदले की कार्रवाई करते हुए शुक्रवार देर रात रूखसाना के घर पर ग्रेनेड फेंके। हालांकि, घटना के वक्त वह और उसके परिवार के सदस्य घर पर मौजूद नहीं थे। उल्लेखनीय है कि लश्कर के आतंकी को मारने के बाद रूखसाना सुर्खियों में छाई थी।
राजौरी के जिला कलेक्टर एस जयपाल सिंह ने बताया कि आतंकियों ने थानामंडी स्थित रूखसाना के घर पर ग्रेनेड फेंक कर फरार हो गए। पर उस दौरान वहां घर का कोई भी सदस्य मौजूद नहीं था। उन्होंने कहा कि रूखसाना और उसके परिवारवाले बेहद सुरक्षित स्थान पर हैं।
गौरतलब है कि पिछले महीने रूखसाना के घर तीन आतंकी घुस आए थे। 22 वर्षीय रूखसाना ने बहादुरी दिखाते हुए एक आतंकी को ढेर कर दिया था। इस घटना के बाद उसे केन्द्र सरकार की तरफ से बहादुरी पुरस्कार से भी नवाजा गया था।
राजौरी। लश्कर ए तैयबा के आतंककारी को बड़ी बहादुरी के साथ मार गिराने वाली जम्मू कश्मीर की लड़की रूखसाना कौसर के घर पर आतंकियों ने हमला किया। आतंकियों ने बदले की कार्रवाई करते हुए शुक्रवार देर रात रूखसाना के घर पर ग्रेनेड फेंके। हालांकि, घटना के वक्त वह और उसके परिवार के सदस्य घर पर मौजूद नहीं थे। उल्लेखनीय है कि लश्कर के आतंकी को मारने के बाद रूखसाना सुर्खियों में छाई थी।
राजौरी के जिला कलेक्टर एस जयपाल सिंह ने बताया कि आतंकियों ने थानामंडी स्थित रूखसाना के घर पर ग्रेनेड फेंक कर फरार हो गए। पर उस दौरान वहां घर का कोई भी सदस्य मौजूद नहीं था। उन्होंने कहा कि रूखसाना और उसके परिवारवाले बेहद सुरक्षित स्थान पर हैं।
गौरतलब है कि पिछले महीने रूखसाना के घर तीन आतंकी घुस आए थे। 22 वर्षीय रूखसाना ने बहादुरी दिखाते हुए एक आतंकी को ढेर कर दिया था। इस घटना के बाद उसे केन्द्र सरकार की तरफ से बहादुरी पुरस्कार से भी नवाजा गया था।
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
