Vol. LVII, No. 10, New Delhi, September 18, 2005

UPA drills hole in aam aadmi's pocket Petrol Rs 45 Onion Rs 20 Killer hike in power bills Reforms rolled back Bihar : State of Lalu-Buta Lawlessness By Shyam Khosla No one questions the sincerity of the Election Commission to ensure a free and fair poll in the coming Bihar Assembly elections. The Commission has taken a series of measures, including the insistence on voters photo identity cards, to check bogus voting and other electoral malpractices. However, its decision to extend the poll process to four phases spanning over a month is likely to prove counter productive. more > Metro rails: Mumbai's dream turns sour again From Anil Nair in Mumbai The Mumbai Metro Rail project, which is supposed to resolve the crushing need for public transport in Mumbai, is yet again dragged into imponderables that might scuttle the project itself. Though it was earlier believed that as the metro rail project is an elevated rail corridor it will not displace any population in its wake, the site engineers have a different story to tell. more > Gas Hits the ceiling By Geetha Before the latest tranche of increase in petroleum and diesel prices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's heart was "bleeding for the Navratna'' oil PSUs, which were to suffer under-recoveries of Rs 40,000 crore this year because of a runaway rise in international crude prices. But no tears for the commonman. In 15 months the UPA has hiked this price five times! more > Column Conversions: my cut please By Sandhya Jain Dr. Manmohan Singh's Government has done well to recognise aggressive evangelical activities by missionaries as the primary cause behind communal unrest in the country, particularly in sensitive states like Gujarat and Rajasthan. more > Editorial Comrades' curriculum Our education should become child-inspired. This is a statement we often hear from Dr. Yash Pal, who is now the head of the Arjun Singh appointed steering committee which prepared the draft, National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005. The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) on September 6, 2005, accepted the NCF, heralding yet another chapter in redefining the style and content of school curriculum in the country. more > New bio-tech policy harmful for native crop varieties By Sanjaya Jena The Orissa government's new bio technology policy would spell doom for native crop varieties and resident wildlife species as well as adversely affect the valuable biodiversity of the State, experts have warned. more > Jihadis spreading terror outside J&K By R.B.L. Nigam On the one hand efforts are being made to put Indo-Pak relations on a friendly track and on the other hand terrorist organisations active in Jammu and Kashmir are trying to extend their activities to Uttar Pradesh and other states of India. more > Indian Railways' Trail to Mauritius By Suresh N. Koppikar The year 1853 is the starting point of the history of Indian Railways. In that year the first railway train joined Bombay and Thane. In the same year Lord Dalhousie annexed Bhosla's Kingdom at Nagpur. The two Presidency towns of Calcutta and Bombay were thus connected and formed an unbroken stretch of British territory. Lord Dalhousie was a man of foresight. more > Development of National Capital Region a priority By R.K. Goyal The Union Government has launched a special afforestation scheme in the NC Region to increase the green cover to counter the problems associated with growing pollution and haphazard urban development. Although part of the funds will be released by the Centre, the major responsibility for implementation of the scheme will lie with the State government. more > Open Forum Sangh Samachar How the left wins polls in West Bangal By Pradip Kumar Sarkar Humanism in food habits By A. Sadananda Pai Russians are our Friends By Dipak Basu At Random    -Rambler Another book banned Marginal drop in child labour Infrastructure growth slows down Who will be next CMD of IA Delhi's old monuments More women seeking jobs Indians need to recognise their knowledge - Michel Danino FOC ABVP celebrates centenary of Vande Mataram FOC K.K. Shastri completes 100 years Hindu Chetana One school in every Vanvasi village by 2011 FOC Dr Hedgewar circle in Mysore VSK, Chennai ABVP sweeps SCA polls in HP FOC Learn Sanskrit through correspondence Swami Ramdev to inaugurate Sevika Samiti's Sammelan in Nagpur FOC Opposition to POSCO will continue - SJM By Sanjaya Jena Massive demostration at Parliament Street Arjun's frame sans fizz or fact By Pramod Kumar At the time when National Curriculum Framework-2005 (NCF) was being adopted by the NCERT council at Ashok Hotel in New Delhi, thousands of educationists, leaders of various social, religious and student organisations as well as teachers belonging to various schools of Delhi and adjoining areas of the national capital region, staged a massive demonstration at Parliament Street in New Delhi on September 6. They completely rejected the new curriculum framework prepared by the Leftist historians. more > Unique Experiments DOCTOR HEDGEWAR WAS A GENIUS RSS a unique Organisation Justice Dr. M. Rama Jois I have been extremely fortunate in coming into contact with this great organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh 60 years ago, in 1944, when I joined high school at Shimoga and began to attend the Sangh Shakha named after Chatrapati Shivaji. Thereafter on account of participation in all activities of the Sangh, I acquired knowledge of the life and work of Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, the founder of RSS and personal acquaintance of Param Poojaniya Guruji, the then Sarsanghachalak and the noble ideology of the RSS, and many other prominent leaders of RSS. more > Statescan Karunakaran factor dooms UDF in Kerala Realignments in Congress, CPM fronts By S. Chandrasekhar The Congress, which had its multicrore headquarters complex inaugurated by Smt. Sonia Gandhi recently, may be on cloud 9, but ground realities show that all is not well with the party. The Congress-led UDF, which was elected with a thumping majority of 100 out of the 140 seats in the Legislature elections in 2001, is a shadowy reminder of its former self. Much water has flowed under the Bharatapuzha bridge in the past more than four years. more > The Fight of two mirwaiza and mosques By R.C. Ganjoo Politics in Kashmir has always been oscillating between the two mosques Jamia Masjid, the political platform of Awami Action Committee (ACC) and Hazratbal shrine, a political pedestal of National Conference (NC). In Kashmir, politics and religion run together since ages. The late Mirwaiz Maulana Farooq used Jamia Masjid as a political platform for his party Awami Action Committee, used to be called "Bakra" (Goat) party, a rival of National Conference of the late Sheikh Mohd Abdullah. Sheikh Mohd Abdullah's party used to be called "Sher" (Lion) party. In political parleys, the two parties' existence was termed as a sher-bakra conflict. more >

Agenda Great Indian women in more recent times By Stephen Knapp Sri Gangamata Goswamini was born as Sachi, the daughter of King Naresh Narayana, in the present state of Bengal. She was very religious from her early childhood. As she grew a little older, she studied grammar and poetry but soon spent all her time studying the Vedic scriptures. more > Expose Donations: A legalised loot in Kerala's literacy drive By Rama Rajendrababu During a chat with a relative in Kerala, I casually asked about her daughter's admission to a kindergarten. I was told that Rs 8,000 as donation to get a seat and of course the usual hefty monthly fees had been paid. There are some `premium' schools in Kerala which charge Rs one lakh as donation to admit a child! more > The Moving Finger Writes Reservations and social justice By M.V. Kamath Members of Parliament belonging to the Democratic Progressive Alliance in Tamil Nadu are up in arms against the recent Supreme Court's ruling abolishing government quotas and reservation in unaided, professional educational institutions. more > Culture Plus Ganesh festival marks social harmony Ganesha: The God of creativity By S. Chandrasekhar On Sunday, August 31, 2003, one of the streets in central Paris was littered with broken coconuts, signs of the yearly Ganesh festival celebration. The street gave a wonderful visual treat when the rath-yatra of Lord Ganesh was being taken. The crowd gathered was mostly of Indians (Tamilians) estimated to be about 1,35,000 in France. more > India That is Bharat Perfection as a privilege of Politicians Satiricus Satiricus is in an introspective mood these days. He has been thinking. And wondering. If, as he fondly supposes, he is a journalist, why is he not a shining success? More honestly, why is he a dismal dud? On reading editorials and articles and columns and sundry journalistic gems by prestigious pen-pushers, he has become convinced that he is an illiterate as the best of them. Then why are they the flattered fourth estate of the realm, while he is a feckless, floundering failure? more > BOOKMARK Prince of Ayodhya: A different version By M.V. Kamath Prince of Ayodhya: Book One; Ashok K. Banker; Penguin Books, pp 517; Rs 295. Siege of Mithila; Book Two; Ashok K. Banker; Penguin Books; pp 522; Rs 295. Demons of Chitrakut; Book Three; Ashok K. Banker; Penguin Books; pp 615; Rs 350. Either Ashok K. Banker who has attempted to writeor rewritethe Ramayana in seven volumes is thoroughly mad or he is a ranking genius, a superstar in the literary heavens. There is no story comparable to the Ramayana. If Valmiki who first wrote it some 3000 years ago were to come alive now he would probably be shocked to know that since he wrote the aadi-kaavya, there are over 70 variations currently in existence. And all being read and re-read and re-re-read and enjoyed, thank you. more > Research for resurgence By Manju Gupta National Resurgence in India, Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram, 296 pp, Rs 350.00 This is a compilation of the proceedings of an orientation course held on `Research in National Resurgence' at Aluva, Kerala to focus on the following themes: more > Debate More on Netaji: Did Nehru suppress facts? By Dr. Dipak Basu After the publication of the article, 'Was Stalin responsible for Netaji's Death (Organiser, June 19, 2005), one of the readers Dr Hirendra Narayan Sankar has sent me his book 'A, Homage to Netaji: A Commentary on his life & Activities'. There is some information which is very revealing. more > Kids Org. A lesson for the King By Manju Gupta The royal courtiers of King Krishnadevaraya were being escorted by the King himself around his palace that was adorned with paintings by a famous painter. Among the courtiers was Tenaliraman who was enjoying looking at the paintings. Suddenly he went and stood in front of a painting, smiling wryly at the work of art.The King saw the look on Tenaliraman's face and asked, "Tenaliraman, what is it that is amusing you so much about the painting?" more >

Media Watch Many reports but no justice Narad You can say this of the English media insofar as the Nanavati Report on the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 is concerned: There is unanimity in condemning the Congress Party and its leaders for their pusillanimous role during the four days that the massacre of the Sikhs continued unchecked. Three things are clear, wrote the editor of Hindustan Times (August10), Vir Sanghvi. One, that the Congress was involved. Two, that the administration and the police did nothing to protect the Sikhs and three, there was an unforgivable delay in calling the military. more >

Think It Over Were Arabs against idols? By M.S.N. Menon The Arabs had a multiplicity of gods and goddesses. Hence the Arab saying: When you enter an Arab village, swear by the God of the village. This was the tradition of the entire region from the times of the Sumerians and Assyrians. Al-Azraqui says: There was an idol in every Arab home. More often, of goddesses. And they lived in the idol. Allah was the tribal God of the powerful Quraishite tribe, which played a major role in the rise of the Arab state. Mohammed belonged to it. They were wealthy traders of Mecca and had a major hand in the administration of the templethe Kaa'ba. (Reminds one of the rich merchants of Pataliputra (Patna) who backed the religion of Mahavira.) more >

Readers? Forum Hindus wake up: India, after 58 years of Partition, once again stands at the crossroads. The Muslim problem, for which India was divided in 1947, is once again taking dangerous shape. Muslims, in 1946, had en masse voted for Pakistan. Those left in India on their free will were not Indianised. The Congress party used them as its vote-bank to pollute the process of genuine democracy in India. The Muslims in India are openly supported by Pakistan and Bangladesh. A majority of them follow the rules of millat, kufr, Dar-ul-Harb and Dar-ul-Islam. Islamic madrasas, mushrooming in the country, indoctrinate the impressionable young minds to become terrorists and finally participate in Islamic jihad. more >

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