The professor is one of the many residents in Ganoda village who are confident that they can carry on an entire conversation in Sanskrit without a problem. The grocery shop owner claims he can rattle off shlokas in Sanskrit while in the adjoining utensil store, the owner informs that he helps his children with their language homework.When Israel became a nation, they revived their language Hebrew. When India became a nation, we killed Sanskrit.
And the world seems to behave as if nothing has happened. 400,000+ people have been ethnically cleansed from their places of birth. 700,000+ people have been made homeless. A whole community has been forced to live like refugees in their own country. And when this community asks for its rightful rights, nobody cares. I guess, in the bigger scheme of things, 700,000 people in a world population of more than 6 billion people does not deserve enough attention.The reason why this incident is not mentioned anywhere is because these refugees are Hindus who have been ethnically cleansed by Pakistani Islamic Terrorists. When about 1000 muslims were butchered in Gujarat the so called secularists and communists in India went around the world creating an impression as if India kills minorities. When it comes to the issue of Kashmiri Hindus, none of these secularists have anything to say.
(link via the third eye>
After Indian IT professionals were mistreated in Malaysia by Malaysian police, here are some actions by the Indian Govt.
Related Links: Furious, Delhi may clip Malaysian wings|Indians get ready to leave, India may issue Travel Advisory
Explosives destroyed a passenger train compartment Thursday in central Bombay, killing seven passengers and injured 22 others, witnesses said Thursday.
Easy Guru has some thoughts on the bomb blasts 10 years back. I was there too. I had just moved to Bombay, a month back and what a shock it was for me. But Bombay is an amazing city. The next working day, the stock exchange, which was bombed, started functioning.
Update: B Raman on Lessons from the Mumbai blasts
Links: How safe?
In a significant boost to India's space programme, scientists have successfully developed an indigenous cryogenic engine, which can power heavy communication satellites into orbit.
This was a technology which United States refused to transfer to us. We may have been delayed, but we have now mastered the technology
(link via sameer)
BJP unhappy, Cong hails SC verdict
BJP on Thursday expressed serious concern over the Supreme Court decison making it mandatory for candidates to declare their criminal antecedents, assets and liabilities and educational qualification at the time of filing of nomination papers, and favoured an all-party meeting to discuss the issue.The supreme court does not say that it not illegal to be rich, but you just have to declare it. But there are ways thought out by politicians to bypass this. For example, when Lallo Yadav was convicted, he made his wife the Chief Minister of Bihar (the same place where Buddha got enlightenment). There is nothing which prevents ruling by proxy. But still I think this step goes a long way in cleaning up the Indian elections.
For once I am impressed with the Communist Party. They don't have money, they have nothing to hide.
CPI(M) hails SC verdict on electoral reform
The Communist Party of India (CPI) today hailed the Supreme Court verdict setting aside an amendment to the Representation of Peoples (Amendment) Act, 2002 and asked all parties to ''gracefully accept'' the decision that seeks to bring about far-reaching electoral reforms. ''Voters have the right to know the antecedents of their candidates, their assets, liabilities and educational qualifications,'' CPI Genral Secretary A B Bardhan said at a press conference here.
The bottomline is that every nation is looking to its own interests. The Jordanians worry about rising oil bills. The United States and Britain are concerned about their own security. France and Russia are protecting their commercial interests. When will Indian foreign policy makers learn to be equally cold-blooded?India is slowly changing. The two obvious things that I can come up with is the strong stand taken against Malaysia and the pact with Iran. We are looking after our interests and asserting our authority in a small way. Now only if we could assert it against activities like this
Yesterday in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir
In a pre-dawn strike, militants on Monday gunned down 24 Kashmiri Pandits, including 11 women and two children, at a hamlet in Pulwama district of South Kashmir, dealing a blow to state government's plan to bring back Hindu migrants.
and here is what Richard Boucher , the state department spokesman had to say
Boucher said "violence will not solve Kashmir's problems. Dialogue remains a critical element in the normalization of relations between India and Pakistan,"
How come you did not invite Saddam Hussein or Osama to the white house and engage in a dialogue ? Indians have even done that. Our Prime Minister went to Pakistan, asked for peace. Musharraf sent his troops to Kargil. We invited Musharraf to India. We got more terrorists after that. So please, don't insult the Indians by asking for dialogue. You look ignorant and stupid in the eyes of 1 Billion people.
Update: The real tragedy of Kashmir
Suman Palit as always puts it more eloquently.
I am planning to go to India in June. The usual/cheaper route is via
Singapore/Hong Kong/Malaysia. Right now we have, what the media calls,
Mysterious Disease going on in those places.
Mysterious disease sounds much better than pnumonia. When people ask, how did you die, it is more cool to say, "Mysterious Disease". People walking in Hong Kong airport with masks on their faces look more depressed than people who
have eaten airline food.
Then I thought we would go via the middle east. There are lots of flights to Kerala from there as many Malayalees work in those countries. But there is a war going on there.
The best option would be to fly to South Africa and row from there. Vasco da Gama did it many years back and reached Kerala. Should work now also.
In his blog What is wrong with CPI? VS Babu writes about how the Communist Party of India is hell bent on denying livelihood to many Malayalees citing moral reasons, and resorting to physical violence.
The communist party sanctioned a Coke bottling plant when they were in power. Now they are attacking the same plant in the guise of an anti-war movement. This is what makes Kerala the favourite destination for investors.
These morons like Achyutanandan make a living destroying the businesses of other people.
In 2000 many school children in Kerala missed the most important examination of their lives, the Secondary School Leaving Certificate, because of a strike called by these Idiots. The reason was to protest the visit to India by Bill Clinton.
Since farming is not yeilding much returns these days many farmers are converting their farm lands to real estate and selling it. When I was in Kerala at that time, these folks under the leadership of Achutanandan went around destroying the harvest of the exisiting farmers (logic for this was beamed to his head from the aliens you see in Simpsons). At that time, the ruling party was the Communists.
So if you boil down the Communist Manifesto reads
These are the lunatics that are trying to come to power in the state which calls itself 100% literate.
Today is the 90th birthday of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. He commanded the Indian Army which liberated Bangadesh.
(Picture courtsey: Rediff)
Indian troops won their last great victory against a foreign army of importance in 303 BC when Chandragupta Maurya's army defeated Seleucus Nicator. After 2,300 years of unremitting defeats of Indian armies against every invading army, Sam Manekshaw made the country experience the glow of a stunning victory against the Pakistan army in what is now Bangladesh. That will remain Field Marshal Manekshaw's unique position in Indian military history.
(Link via Ashwini)
In her latest imagination of fantasy Arundhati Roy (no link, don't want to increase ranking) wrote another article (Mesopotamia. Babylon. The Tigris and Euphrates at The Guardian) which is short on facts and large on imagery:
It is unlikely that British and American troops fighting in Iraq are aware that their governments supported Saddam Hussein both politically and financially through his worst excesses.
This one grew over time, but when Iraq was on it's weapons spending spree from 1972 (when its oil revenue quadrupled) to 1990, the purchases were quite public and listed over $40 billion worth of arms sales. Russia was the largest supplier, with $25 billion. The US was the smallest, with $200,000. A similar myth, that the U.S. provided Iraq with chemical and biological weapons is equally off base. Iraq requested Anthrax samples from the US government, as do nations the world over, for the purpose of developing animal and human vaccines for local versions of Anthrax. Nerve gas doesn't require technical help, it's a variant of common insecticides. European nations sold Iraq the equipment to make poison gas.
(Link via StrategyPage)
President George W Bush, commander in chief of the US army, navy, airforce and marines has issued clear instructions: "Iraq. Will. Be. Liberated." (Perhaps he means that even if Iraqi people's bodies are killed, their souls will be liberated.) American and British citizens owe it to the supreme commander to forsake thought and rally behind their troops. Their countries are at war. And what a war it is.
Let us see what her pal, Saddam was doing:
And this is the kind of person Arundhati is crying for. As per Arundhati, liberating people from an opressive regime would be a crime.
After using the "good offices" of UN diplomacy (economic sanctions and weapons inspections) to ensure that Iraq was brought to its knees, its people starved, half a million of its children killed, its infrastructure severely damaged, after making sure that most of its weapons have been destroyed, in an act of cowardice that must surely be unrivalled in history, the "Allies"/"Coalition of the Willing"(better known as the Coalition of the Bullied and Bought) - sent in an invading army!
Even after years of sanction she is not surprised that Saddam and his cronies are still living in lavish palaces. Why did he not sell his palaces, offer his food to his people.
Operation Iraqi Freedom? I don't think so. It's more like Operation Let's Run a Race, but First Let Me Break Your Knees.
I think she is talking about the people who suffered in the Torture Chamber that we found recently.
Arudhanti has one weakness. A love with brutal dictators. She prefers them over democracies. And this is not the first time she has shown her hatred of democracies. In 2002 she visited Pakistan, (a country which sends terrorists to kill Indians and has a dictator as the President) and made comments against a democratically elected Govt. of India. Now she loves Saddam Hussein. Coming soon from her will be an article on why Fidel Castro is a saint.
As an Indian, I am sad that that our sacred soil has produced such a thing homo-sapien.
Indian Americans, Speak Now and Be Heard!
There are nearly 2 million Indian Americans in the United States. We are among the most highly educated, and affluent ethnic groups. Our diverse community would like to see progress on a number of political issues: US-India relations, trade, business and equal opportunity, just to name a few. Yet, because we lack a political brand that can collectively represent us in Washington, we have no influence on Capitol Hill. By contrast, the Jewish, Hispanic and African-American communities are much better organized, and are able to effectively influence U.S. policy.
The article is about USINPAC (US India Political Action Commitee), an organization started in 2002 to represent Indo-Americans at Capitol Hill. There have been lot of questions on the agenda of this
organization. The basic question that everyone has about Indian groups
in US is this (which was asked by Rajiv Malhotra)
The stand of this organization is pro-India. Now why would we be suspect of any Indian organization. ? The answer is the various South Asian neocolonists and sepoys who have been bad mouthing India in the American media. They think degrading India in the eyes of the world is the only way to cure India of its ills. They conveniently ignore the fact that India is a democracy and still has a judicial system (however bad it is)
So please go through the discussion of this issue at Sulekha.
First pro-US rally in city on April 8
A few professionals in the city and outside have come together to express their solidarity with the coalition forces led by the US and UK under the banner of Alliance Against Terrorism (AAT). The members of AAT have organised a rally on Tuesday to demonstrate their support to US-led war on Iraq. It is the only such initiative taken by any organisation in India.
Way to go!
Ravikiran asks some questions to Anti-War Indians, you know the guys who are light candles only when America is involved in a war.
We have no moral right to condemn US
What were we doing when the NATO forces were bombing Serbia? If we are concerned with the primacy of the UN, did Parliament condemn Iraq for thwarting UN resolutions for 12 years? If morality were to be the guiding force, one can apply it only if one has been always following it. We lost the moral authority to condemn US action when we decided to ignore all that Saddam has been doing.
There are people near the Marina Beach area who are not holding candles!
Infosys mentor against caste-based reservations
It [the reservations] cannot be based on a certain caste. It doesn't matter to what caste an individual belongs, as long as such a person or his/her family is handicapped because of resources...I think they alone deserve to be considered for reservation, be it in education or employment, Murthy said.
Only a politician who does not want to be elected again will remove caste based reservations for Govt. posts. If you read Krishna's statements in the same article, you can see that he wants caste based reservations even in private sector.
First stealth warship launched
The ``Shivalik'' and its sisters are 143 metre long and 16.9 metre wide (at beam). Their stealth character diminishes physical signatures ? radar, infra red and sound ? making it difficult for an enemy to detect and attack them.
India develops 'silent' intercept radar
India has developed a low probability intercept radar that cannot be detected by incoming aircraft and can escape from anti-radiation missile attack, local media reported on Wednesday.
A welcoming friend to many a terrorist
The orchestrated campaign against Syria mounted by the United States is more proof of what this writer has been saying for weeks, namely, that neutralization of jihadi terrorism directed against Israel and the US and not oil is the priBook Review: Pakistanmotivating factor of US actions in the Middle East.
This comment is particularly interesting as the person writing this is the former head of the counter-terrorism division of the Research & Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Shanti has this on Praful Bidwai's latest column which is aptly titled "Of Lies, Trickery & Deception"
It is unfortunate that people like Praful Bidwai are disseminating lies and a news organization like Rediff is giving them the forum to do it. The allegation that the toppling of the statue in Baghdad was stage-managed has been debunked at least two weeks ago, as soon as it surfaced. It is a great disservice to the readers to publish such columns without any mention of the other point-of-view or at least a note at the end of the column pointing to the debunking.
I would like to see how Rediff responds to this. Ajit Balakrishnan, the CEO of Rediff has a blog. But he does not have comments enabled.
Update: Got a mail from Ajit Balakrishnan. He has asked his editorial collegues to look into it.
The Unclassified Report to Congress on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions published by the CIA is written in a very interesting way.
Even after failing twice, the Indian Prime Minister offers talks again to stop violence by Pakistan in India.
Reconciliation is PM's message, dialogue his mantra
We want to settle all issues through negotiations. I visited Lahore for the same purpose. As prime minister, I went there for peace. I failed. They attacked us in Kargil. I invited General Sahib to Agra thinking that things will work out but it again failed. I don' want to go into the details as to how it (these initiatives) failed or who was responsible," Vajpayee said. "We want to extend the hand of friendship again but it should be reciprocated. It should come from both the sides".
The south-west monsoon which hits India in June is the most important weather phenomena affecting everything in India. The monsoon hits the coast of Kerala in the first week of June and moves up north, bringing rains all over India.
Every year some parts of India are flooded while some parts experience severe drought. This happens every year. So this year the Supreme Court of India directed the Central Govt. to look into linking the major rivers of India.
As I was saying before, the monsoons are the most important weather phenomena affecting everything in India. General elections are due in 2004 and political parties are gearing up to face the fact their prospects maybe affected by a less than normal rainfall this year.
How Ballot Hopes Rest On Good Monsoon
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is drawing up a contingency plan to boost its electoral prospects in case the monsoon fails for the second year in a row. The plan includes involvement of non-government organisations (NGOs) to augment food distribution network. The plan is aimed at neutralising the impact of drought.A bad monsoon is not good news for the ruling party which is gearing up to face elections.
Around this time, the most important person in the country is the head of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), who makes the weather prediction. In his book, Chasing The Monsoon, Alexander Frater mentions that the Prime Minister's Office makes regular calls to the IMD to keep track of the arrival of the rains.
Update: Salomon says Indian monsoon a source for worry
"Some of the long-term global circulation models are indicating a dry bias across much of India during the time frame of June through September -- the Indian monsoon season," Russo and Davis said. This does not mean there will be a replay of last year's poor monsoon, but the "guidance...raises the possibility for a dry bias this season," the two concluded.
Pakistan offers nuclear-free deal
"As far as Pakistan is concerned, if India is ready to denuclearize, we would be happy to denuclearize," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said. "But it will have to be mutual."
This is one trick we should not fall for as Scott Draker warns
Rights crusader Arundhati Roy has been caught on the wrong foot � a hilltop bungalow her husband owns near Panchmarhi stands on notified forest land and has to be pulled down.
The Panchmarhi district administration last week informed the couple that the allotment of the land on which the bungalow stood had been cancelled on grounds of violation of forest law. Section 18 of the law bars buying and selling of notified forest land.
I weep for my country when so called activits who preach morality to the world blatantly violate the law of the land. Who the hell is this person to decide where she can build her house and turn everything we love - our earth, our skies, our mountains, our plains, our rivers - to her personal property in an instant? Think of the amount of wild life she has destroyed by building her house on protected land ? Doesn't she owe an apolgy to that eco system that was destoyed by her illegal abode. I weep for those ferns and trees and that little crow whose nest was destroyed by this inhuman activity.
No freedom for rest of the world to do as they please, but only for me.
(The Editorial adapted from The End of Imagination)
Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede was the governor of Cochin from 1670 and
1677 when Cochin was a Dutch Colony. He undertook an effort to write a
treatise called Hortus Malabaricus meaning the "Garden of Malabar", on
the medicinal plants of Kerala.
What is common between these
There is lot of discussion going onin the Indian Blogosphere about the decision of the central govt. to ban cow slaughter. The book I am reading now Gem in the Lotus by Abraham Eraly has the following passage about beef eating during the Vedic times.
Few days back we said that it is not in India's interest to accept Pakistan's offer to denuclearize. The Indian Prime Minister made that more clear.
In Kerala, last week, a group of Hindu fishermen were attacked by an armed Muslim mob and 9 people were murdered. The Government has taken over the local mosque after a large amount of arms were discovered there. When the police went to enter the mosque, they were stopped by the Muslim League leaders.
There are many people who believe that it was due to Buddhism that Vegeterianism was introduced into Hinduism. Again let me quote some paragraphs from the book I am reading now Gem in the Lotus by Abraham Eraly.
Buddhist monks were not vegetarians, but they were forbidden to eat the meat of an animal specifically slaughtered to feed them, for that would indirectly make them the killers of the animal. Said Buddha: "Let no one, O monks, knowingly eat the meat[of an animal killed for that purpose...] I prescribe, O monks, that flesh (or fish) is pure to you in three cases: if you do not see, if you have not heard, if you do not suspect[that it has been caught or killed specially to prepare food for you]."
While the IMD has predicted a below normal monsoon this year, the IRI is predicting that the monsoon will arrive on time and bring good rains. IRI is the US-based International Research Institute for Climate Prediction
Now, some good news on monsoon
In its sumBook Review: Pakistanreport, the IRI notes with satisfaction that the El Nino of 2002-03 has now nearly dissipated to neutral conditions. That?s very good news for India because El Nino years have a 60 per cent chance of of average rains being below normal and 55 per cent chance of the driest season.
It seems El Nino is out and La Nina is in. No one tells me anything these days. And here is some accusing IMD of "gratuitously staying prisoner to the exigencies of vote bank politics". Note that the IMD is just the Meteorology Dept.
Prospects For South-West Monsoon 2003
However, by not making public the details of its own forecasting exercises, the IMD is gratuitously staying prisoner to the exigencies of vote bank politics. The only way to establish its professionalism is to make public the product of its exertions without an eye to the comfort or discomfort of politicians. Else, it fails to serve the public interest.
This blog will keep track of who won the prediction contest. The IMD or the IRI.
So vicious and depraved is this campaign that the Library of Congress is unlikely to reverse Prof Thapar's appointment. But other US institutions and universities might want to play safe and avoid appointing Indian scholars of Left-wing or anti-communal persuasion.
Wouldn't that be something. So Mr. Bidwai equates Left-Wing == ant-communal. Let's see for a moment what that means in the state of West Bengal where some Left-Wingers are conducting elections.
Here are the results of the elections held in a state ruled by the Communist Party of India.
Bengal panchayat poll violence takes 14 lives
West Bengal today put Bihar to shame in the three-tier panchayat election which left at least 14 dead and 36 injured, as per official figures. Police had to fire 27 rounds to quell violent mobs from both the ruling CPI-led Left Front and Opposition in more than three districts. Unofficial circles put the death toll at 19.
Even women were not spared. Two women voters were gunned down by Communist Party of India(Marxist) group members. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee claimed that the elections were by and large peaceful.
This is the definition of peace according to the Communists of India.
We are now two weeks away from the onset of monsoon, and one more participant has entered the monsoon prediction game. This time it is a Think-Tank called Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation, based in Bangalore.
Indian think-tank sees 15% monsoon deficit
"Basically, there is a 15 per cent deficit for the whole country for the entire year," Prashant Goswami, scientist at the Bangalore institute, told Reuters. The Centre uses sophisticated software to predict rainfall based on an analysis of patterns of past data.
This is a deadly combination: 'think tank' and 'sophisticated software'. Like any other model, this one too could not predict last years drought. But no other model predicted it as well.
So at this point in time here are the main contestants with their predictions:
But then the Indian Met Dept. in a bold move made an announcement on when the monsoon will hit India. This time it will be June 1. This works out fine for everyone, since June 1st is the day the schools re-open after summer holidays.
This blog will be reporting from Kerala on June 1st on this prediction (unless the Communists there, upset at the thought that rains are hitting India before China, decide to destory all communication facilities)
PS: Why are think-tanks called so ? Do they think in a tank ?
Few years back when the Communists were in power in Kerala, they sanctioned a Pepsi bottling plant. Now the Communist controlled panchayat has decided to cancel the licence. The official party policy is to boycott multinational goods in protest against the Iraq war. But all Pepsi bottling plants in West Bengal are running fine. No one is shutting them down.
Kerala govt to provide legal protection to Pepsi
In West Bengal, there were three Pepsi units and two Coca-Cola units. CPI-M was boycotting the products of these companies in the state while allowing the companies in West Bengal, he said, adding CPI-M's "attitude was against the development of the state."
The comrades in Bengal are currently busy killing people. So time cannot be wasted on implementing stupid official policies.
4 women, 2 children beheaded in Rajouri
In a gruesome act of reprisal against the family of a security services personnel, militants belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad beheaded six members, four women and two infants, in Chowikan Kotedara village of Rajouri district last night. The militants stormed the house around 11 p.m. on Sunday and beheaded the six persons, including two infants, Arshad Mohammad (4) and Maroof Ahmad (2).
I have nothing to say.
A student belonging to the student wing of the Communist Party did not have the required attendance. So the principal of the college did not let him write the exam. The student filed a case against the college. He also asked for a large amount of money for the "emotional damage".
In a bold move, the High Court of Kerala said this on the case
You have to have studied in Kerala to understand the importance of this statetemt. Politics runs in the blood of everyone here. In every college, elections are more important than studies. This results in violent fights, resulting the deaths of students. The colleges then get shutdown, and classes are lost. Many colleges are held hostages by Goonda gangs which are usually outsiders.
This is why I love the Kerala High Court.
A previous acheievement of Kerala High Court is banning of smoking in public places. It is now a crime for which you can be arrested without a warrant.
These few days have been unbelievably hot here in Kerala. Every day when I wake up, the sky is overcast. By 9 am the clouds vanish and the sun comes out. Then the air becomes humid and you start oozing sweat. The onset of the monsoon moved from May 21st to June 5th.
I have been travelling extensively in Kerala, both to the North and South. Everywhere there are posters asking people to boycott American and British products. There are also posters saying that we don't need globalization. There is no poster which tells what Kerala needs.
There was an extensive and violent campaign against Coke and Pepsi. Today I read in "The Hindu" that for the first time, since its entry into India, Coke has registered a 'modest profit'. So the only benefit of the Communist campaign has been that, lots of poor people who made a living selling Coke, Pepsi and other soft drinks, lost their daily wages for some time.
Finally it poured --- the South-West monsoon. The first rains came on the morning of the 8th. It was a real good downpour. Today the whole day it did not rain, but a weak shower has started now at 10 PM here. The Met dept after watching the rain yesterday predicted that monsoon would hit the coast yesterday. After seeing that the rains were weak, it also added that the rains were weak.
Andhra was the state that was badly hit by the heat wave. More than 1000 people died there. Now the south-west monsoon which started in Kerala on June 8th, has covered Karnataka and reached Andhra.
Monsoon sets in over Andhra Pradesh
Meteorological Centre Director C V V Bhadram told rediff.com the monsoon has covered the Rayalaseema region, most parts of Telangana, except Adilabad district, and south coastal Andhra Pradesh up to East Godavari district.
Monsoon Rains Displace 400,000 People in India
With some railway lines submerged, transport links to the district have been disrupted forcing people to use makeshift boats and rafts of banana leaves and bamboo to get around. The International Red Cross says its volunteers are also using such rafts to distribute relief supplies to those who have been affected, including food provided by the government.
This is an annual phenomena. While one part of the country is submerged under water, other parts of the country would be reeling under the heat wave without any water. In his book Ignited Minds, APJ Abdul Kalam writes on his visit to Tezpur University in Assam.
When I finished giving autographs I faced two interesting questions. One was: "Why cannot water from the Brahmaputra, which is in flood much of the time, be diverted to Rajasthan or Tamil Nadu which are starved of water?"
And his reply to the student was that India needs to connect its rivers across state boundaries. The present Government has started the river linking project under a directive from the Supreme Court.
According to a Reuters report, suicides are on a decline around the world. But it has been increasing in countries like Russia, Australia and Ireland.
Suicide Rates Fall in Many Countries, Rise in Some
"It is almost impossible to find a common cause for all the different trends across regions and countries, but certain factors like socioeconomic instability, unemployment, easy access to means of committing suicide, mental disorders and substance use disorders are those commonly implicated," he said.
Another place where suicide rates are rising in an alarming rate is the land of 100% literacy, Kerala. In May 2002 the average suicide rate was 27 per day.
Pritish Nandy consumed by jealousy against rich NRIs writes:
The truth is: they have nothing to offer us. The $ 80 billion we have in our reserves have not come from them. It has come from foreign investors who see a future in India. All we get from our NRIs is gratuitous advice and boastful success stories that we can easily do without. They need India. India does not need them.
The truth is:
Mayawati invites NRI investment in UP
"I have come here because in Uttar Pradesh my government has started many schemes to initiate various businesses. People of Indian origin staying here in the U.S. and the state (Uttar Pradesh) will be able to benefit from this," Mayawati added.
Budget seeks to boost NRI, FDI inflows
The Union Budget for 1998-99 announced several measures to revive the economy and encourage non-resident Indian and foreign investment to meet the possible shortfall in resources resulting from sanctions imposed by the United States and other industrialised countries in the wake of five nuclear tests conducted by India last month.
India seeks NRI investment in highways, IT
India on Friday invited foreign investments by NRIs in the field of highways, oil exploration, information technology and power projects and assured them all possible support.
They are pouring money into India, especially into the real-estate market. Since the September 11 attacks in the US, investments in Indian markets have gathered pace. NRIs have pumped in a major chunk of the $1.75 billion India earned in forex between October 26 and November 30 last year. NRIs accounted for 16 per cent of the foreign investments in India in a year.
I did not expect that Pritish Nandy would turn out to be another liar like Praful Bidwai.
The monsoons which hit India every year had two arms. One arm progresses along the west coast and the other through the east coast. Both of them start off at the same time. Both these branches are now actively moving up the country bringing in rains to most of the states including Rajasthan.
Usually one day in a year, the rains hit real bad in Mumbai submerging railway tracks and thus bringing the city to a complete standstill.
Heavy rain throws life out of gear in Mumbai
"I could not even get on a train because people were hanging on to windows, doors and roofs," said Manu Kumar, a stock market analyst, who returned home after trying to get on a train for more than an hour.
The next major city awaiting rains is Delhi.
In the article Waiting For 'Godaganga' B. G. Varghese has some interesting facts
While presenting the case for river linking he righty says that this alone will not solve the water problem.
The other components in the Hariyali package include rainwater and rooftop harvesting, watershed management, afforestation, groundwater recharge, the desilting of ponds, tanks, beels, jheels and other water bodies, wasteland reclamation and the proper maintenance of canals, drainage systems and embankments
For 15 years, V Subramanian and Dr R Madhavan has been riding tricycle carts in the morning carrying tree saplings, finding streets in Chennai which did not have trees and planting them. Read their inspiring story at How green is my Chennai
The Supreme Court of India has directed the GOI to complete all the river links, 30 of them by the year 2012. The feasibility study of 6 of them have been completed. Now Texas wants to partner India on interlinking rivers. The project will cost 5.6 trillion rupees. One NRI Sockalingam 'Sam' Kannappan has been actively involved
NRIs keen on river linking project: Realising that the phenomenal cost (estimated at an astronomical Rs 560,000 crore or Rs 5.6 trillion) would probably put off most political parties from investing in it, Kannappan urged the Bush administration to support India when it sought World Bank aid for the project. He also pledged to use his technical expertise to ensure that the proposal report would be acceptable to the World Bank.
Here is some related reading:
Since most of us grew up in India we may have missed this small piece of information. India is an Islamic Country . This comes up from the fact that India has 85% Hindu population, 12-14% Muslim population. Hence.. I don't know how I missed this.
That piece of enlightenment came to you from C Raja Mohan, strategic affairs editor of The Hindu.