So one of the most corrupt and under-developed economies in Europe (per capita income only around Euros 1,700) is about to become a nation, principally because of the sponsorship of the United States and the EU.
Well, I believe in self-determination as the only grounds on which a nation or country should exist, so I must and do welcome Kosovo.
At the same time, I have a foreboding for the future of Kosovo. In the old Yugoslavia, despite all the political peculiarities of that country under Tito, the area of Kosovo was the poorest in Yugoslavia - though Kosovo received substantial development subsidies from all the other Yugoslav republics! Kosovo's economy remains weak today, principally because of corruption. One of the main exports of the country has been drugs and organised crime.
Though Kosovans are highly optimistic about their prospects after independence, I fear they are being a little unrealistic. Yes, there has been a bit of an economic boom over the last few years, but that is mainly in trade, retail and construction, with unreliable electricity supply (even more than in India!) a key constraint to the development of industries. Unemployment is around 40%. There is a massive black economy.
It remains to be seen whether the influence of the Muslim world, the EU and the USA can help Kosovans develop and clean up their country, or whether Kosovo will simply go down the economic charts even faster. The answer actually depends, not on other nations, but on whether the leaders and the people of Kosovo are prepared to pay the cost of creating the right culture. I pray for the best.
Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, February 16, 2008
India: Definitions and Clarifications (new book by Reginald Massey)
Mr Massey's new book, with the title above, crossed my horizon a short while ago, and it is written with passion, displaying incredibly wide historical and geographical knowledge of people, history, culture and politics to do with the peoples of South Asia (though India is of course in the foreground).
He likes to say that he is "a Pakistani by birth" (he was born in Lahore) but, because his family chose India at the time of Partition, he is "an Indian by choice".
Bred therefore in Simla and Delhi, he has been based in the UK for some decades now, for professional reasons. Mr Massey's appearance belies his age (he is MUCH older than I am, so I have to treat him with due respect! From henceforth he is therefore "Masseyji").
I must confess that I have one regret about the book. It is published by such a small publisher (Hansib, UK)! When I ask Masseyji about this, he argues that it is better to be published by an activist publisher which will do its best for you rather than by a large publishing house if they won't exert themselves for you. There is a trace of truth in this assertion but, from my perspective, only a trace: most big publishers, even if they do not particularly exert themselves for you, will outperform a small publisher which does exert itself, because of the difference in the respective weight of the publishers in the market.
In any case, the book is Masseyji's cry from the heart to the rising generation of India's young people, a plea for them to reject the various forms of political correctness (or, rather, historical falsification) with which they have been indoctrinated by their elders, discover the key truths about their history (however uncomfortable the process and the results may be), so as to be able to work for true liberation and a genuinely better future for our peoples and for the world.
Well, I don't agree that historical falsification is the principal reason for the ills of the subcontinent. My view is that the historical falsifications arose from more fundamental definciencies or ills in our respective cultures (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Burmese, Nepalese). In other words, Masseyji's book addresses a major symptom rather than the basic cause. But it is easy to see why Masseyji makes this mistake. He is a large-hearted, generous, alarmingly honest man who does not trim his sails even when that results in his distinct disadvantage - and he romantically imagines that everyone else (particularly from the subcontinent) is like him or is prepared to be like him. At the very least he seems to believe that if a large number of Indians (and South Asians) *were* like that, then the problems of the subcontinent would disappear. Actually, with the last statement, I do agree: if our people were so transformed, our problems would certainly start shrinking - and, because our people are not being so transformed, our problems are expanding at present.
However, I welcome the book and have enjoyed reading it (even where I do not agree with it), just as I enjoy Masseyji's poetry and fiction. His thoroughly authoritative books on Indian music and on Indian dance (written with his lovely wife, the actress Jamila Massey) are definitely worth keeping in one's personal library and using for reference - because one simply can't take them in at one sitting.
I greatly look forward to Masseyji's next book, on which he tells me he has started working, tentatively titled: INDIA: THE 21ST CENTURY AND THE FUTURE.
Dear Masseyji, do make sure that THAT book goes to the biggest possible publisher! Sphere: Related Content
He likes to say that he is "a Pakistani by birth" (he was born in Lahore) but, because his family chose India at the time of Partition, he is "an Indian by choice".
Bred therefore in Simla and Delhi, he has been based in the UK for some decades now, for professional reasons. Mr Massey's appearance belies his age (he is MUCH older than I am, so I have to treat him with due respect! From henceforth he is therefore "Masseyji").
I must confess that I have one regret about the book. It is published by such a small publisher (Hansib, UK)! When I ask Masseyji about this, he argues that it is better to be published by an activist publisher which will do its best for you rather than by a large publishing house if they won't exert themselves for you. There is a trace of truth in this assertion but, from my perspective, only a trace: most big publishers, even if they do not particularly exert themselves for you, will outperform a small publisher which does exert itself, because of the difference in the respective weight of the publishers in the market.
In any case, the book is Masseyji's cry from the heart to the rising generation of India's young people, a plea for them to reject the various forms of political correctness (or, rather, historical falsification) with which they have been indoctrinated by their elders, discover the key truths about their history (however uncomfortable the process and the results may be), so as to be able to work for true liberation and a genuinely better future for our peoples and for the world.
Well, I don't agree that historical falsification is the principal reason for the ills of the subcontinent. My view is that the historical falsifications arose from more fundamental definciencies or ills in our respective cultures (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Burmese, Nepalese). In other words, Masseyji's book addresses a major symptom rather than the basic cause. But it is easy to see why Masseyji makes this mistake. He is a large-hearted, generous, alarmingly honest man who does not trim his sails even when that results in his distinct disadvantage - and he romantically imagines that everyone else (particularly from the subcontinent) is like him or is prepared to be like him. At the very least he seems to believe that if a large number of Indians (and South Asians) *were* like that, then the problems of the subcontinent would disappear. Actually, with the last statement, I do agree: if our people were so transformed, our problems would certainly start shrinking - and, because our people are not being so transformed, our problems are expanding at present.
However, I welcome the book and have enjoyed reading it (even where I do not agree with it), just as I enjoy Masseyji's poetry and fiction. His thoroughly authoritative books on Indian music and on Indian dance (written with his lovely wife, the actress Jamila Massey) are definitely worth keeping in one's personal library and using for reference - because one simply can't take them in at one sitting.
I greatly look forward to Masseyji's next book, on which he tells me he has started working, tentatively titled: INDIA: THE 21ST CENTURY AND THE FUTURE.
Dear Masseyji, do make sure that THAT book goes to the biggest possible publisher! Sphere: Related Content
Does anyone know the exact source of this quotation?
I wonder if any of my readers knows the source of the following quote: "When a culture attempts to be exclusive, it does not last long".
There is at least one attribution of this, on the Internet, to "Gandhi". Presumably, Mahatma Gandhi is meant.
However, I don't recollect the quote from my reading of Gandhiji's work (which I must confess was last some decades ago).
So chapter and verse please, if possible. Sphere: Related Content
There is at least one attribution of this, on the Internet, to "Gandhi". Presumably, Mahatma Gandhi is meant.
However, I don't recollect the quote from my reading of Gandhiji's work (which I must confess was last some decades ago).
So chapter and verse please, if possible. Sphere: Related Content
A school to inspire new idealism
As one travels around India, one is struck by two apparently contradictory facts:
1. The main developmental problem faced by India today is not the physical infrastructure, it is the mental and cultural infrastructure. The required new physical infrastructure has not been built (most of what we have is what the British left us 60 years ago). And such mental and cultural infrastructure as existed on the occasion of India's independence has become weathered, eroded and degenerate, so that we are not producing enough graduates to meet the demand with the result that salaries are exploding and Western companies (even Indian companies) are beginning to look at less developed countries to find people with the right qualities and trainin, at the right salary.,
2. The above is true inspite of a huge number of schools, tutorial institutions, colleges and universities that have come up in the last 60 years.
What explains this contradition? At least two factors: (a) most of the new institutions do not serve the lower levels of India's caste structure (specially in north India, where the bulk of our population is located), and (b) such institutions may graduate people with paper qualifications, but according to at least one study only 10% of these graduates are employable and, more important, the graduates that are being produced have no ideals beyond making money as quickly as possible for themselves (and the rest of the world can go hang). I am aware that, in order to make my point, I am exaggerating - but the exaggeration is not substantial.
How refreshing then to come across a recently-established school which intends to pursue the nurture of not just intellectual development but also moral development, and not primarily for the upper castes and classes, but specifically for the lower castes and classes: http://www.gyanankur.com/
I will watch its progress with interest: many schools were started with such idealism in the past (and indeed it could be argued that whatever secularism, pluralism and democracy we still have in India is a direct result of the contribution made by such schools), but most such schools shed their "naivety" and started adjusting to the "realities" of India some decades ago, and so have lost whatever inspirational power they once possessed.
Will Gyankur School not also inevitably follow in their "realist" train?
I will watch with bated breath to see whether and how the school keeps and feeds and grows its idealism, and whether and how the school resists the blandishments of so-called pragmatism and realism.
Gyanankur is of course not the only school of this sort.
I have earlier drawn attention to Satya Niketan School in Nagod, Madhya Pradesh, central India (http://itagonline.org/index.php?id=18). So far, Satya Niketan has survived - at huge personal cost to the founders, particularly in terms of health - but it has only just survived. The question for Satya Niketan is how the next generation can continue and grow the founders' vision.
http://www.gyanankur.com/ Sphere: Related Content
1. The main developmental problem faced by India today is not the physical infrastructure, it is the mental and cultural infrastructure. The required new physical infrastructure has not been built (most of what we have is what the British left us 60 years ago). And such mental and cultural infrastructure as existed on the occasion of India's independence has become weathered, eroded and degenerate, so that we are not producing enough graduates to meet the demand with the result that salaries are exploding and Western companies (even Indian companies) are beginning to look at less developed countries to find people with the right qualities and trainin, at the right salary.,
2. The above is true inspite of a huge number of schools, tutorial institutions, colleges and universities that have come up in the last 60 years.
What explains this contradition? At least two factors: (a) most of the new institutions do not serve the lower levels of India's caste structure (specially in north India, where the bulk of our population is located), and (b) such institutions may graduate people with paper qualifications, but according to at least one study only 10% of these graduates are employable and, more important, the graduates that are being produced have no ideals beyond making money as quickly as possible for themselves (and the rest of the world can go hang). I am aware that, in order to make my point, I am exaggerating - but the exaggeration is not substantial.
How refreshing then to come across a recently-established school which intends to pursue the nurture of not just intellectual development but also moral development, and not primarily for the upper castes and classes, but specifically for the lower castes and classes: http://www.gyanankur.com/
I will watch its progress with interest: many schools were started with such idealism in the past (and indeed it could be argued that whatever secularism, pluralism and democracy we still have in India is a direct result of the contribution made by such schools), but most such schools shed their "naivety" and started adjusting to the "realities" of India some decades ago, and so have lost whatever inspirational power they once possessed.
Will Gyankur School not also inevitably follow in their "realist" train?
I will watch with bated breath to see whether and how the school keeps and feeds and grows its idealism, and whether and how the school resists the blandishments of so-called pragmatism and realism.
Gyanankur is of course not the only school of this sort.
I have earlier drawn attention to Satya Niketan School in Nagod, Madhya Pradesh, central India (http://itagonline.org/index.php?id=18). So far, Satya Niketan has survived - at huge personal cost to the founders, particularly in terms of health - but it has only just survived. The question for Satya Niketan is how the next generation can continue and grow the founders' vision.
http://www.gyanankur.com/ Sphere: Related Content
Monday, February 04, 2008
Responses to my Blogs - which do I publish?
I am always happy to see responses to my Blog postings.
However, I do not publish all responses to my posts.
Some responses are in the nature of private communications even though they come through my Blog site. So these do not even get considered for publication, except by the permission of the senders.
Any incoherent or intemperate mails naturally do not usually get published.
Nor do I generally publish mails by people about whom I know nothing.
I have published one or two "Anonymous" responses, but these are exceptions. Often because I know the person and s/he does not wish to have their name mentioned for some very good reason.
In other cases, I do some due diligence on the Internet and, if there is information on the person available on the Internet, that's fine.
If there is no information that I can track down via the Internet, then I ask to have some minimum information about people who write in before I consider publishing their responses.
A few folk consider this intrusive and unnecessary. But, hey, its *my* website and that is simply the way I wish to operate it :-)
So if you want me to consider publishing your responses, its very simple: Either ensure that there is some minimum information available about you on the Internet (e.g. your own webpage or website) or respond to my request for minimum information about you.
Apart from anything else, that means that we might even become friends :) Sphere: Related Content
However, I do not publish all responses to my posts.
Some responses are in the nature of private communications even though they come through my Blog site. So these do not even get considered for publication, except by the permission of the senders.
Any incoherent or intemperate mails naturally do not usually get published.
Nor do I generally publish mails by people about whom I know nothing.
I have published one or two "Anonymous" responses, but these are exceptions. Often because I know the person and s/he does not wish to have their name mentioned for some very good reason.
In other cases, I do some due diligence on the Internet and, if there is information on the person available on the Internet, that's fine.
If there is no information that I can track down via the Internet, then I ask to have some minimum information about people who write in before I consider publishing their responses.
A few folk consider this intrusive and unnecessary. But, hey, its *my* website and that is simply the way I wish to operate it :-)
So if you want me to consider publishing your responses, its very simple: Either ensure that there is some minimum information available about you on the Internet (e.g. your own webpage or website) or respond to my request for minimum information about you.
Apart from anything else, that means that we might even become friends :) Sphere: Related Content
Bugging row breaks out in the UK
According to an article in this morning's Financial Times, titled "Brown denies he knew of bugging claims", an internal inquiry has been ordered into accusations that anti-terrorism officers bugged conversations between a Muslim Labour MP and a constituent who is in prison.
Apparently, David Davis, shadow home secretary, said he had written to the prime minister in December saying he was aware of a specific MP being bugged while in conversation with “a constituent, arrested and detained as a terrorist suspect since 2003”.
Whether or not Prime Minister Brown knew of the letter from the Shadow Home Secretary might attest to the PM's memory or to the internal organisation of his office - not great, if Mr. Davis's letter was in fact received by the PM's office.
But what no one seems to be asking is: how was Mr Davis "aware" of the MP's conversation in prison being bugged.
Where did the leak come from? Were established procedures followed in such cases if someone inside and in the know wanted to bring an abuse of justice to the attention of the responsible authorities, before a failure of such procedures led to her/ his leaking the matter to Mr. Davis? Sphere: Related Content
Apparently, David Davis, shadow home secretary, said he had written to the prime minister in December saying he was aware of a specific MP being bugged while in conversation with “a constituent, arrested and detained as a terrorist suspect since 2003”.
Whether or not Prime Minister Brown knew of the letter from the Shadow Home Secretary might attest to the PM's memory or to the internal organisation of his office - not great, if Mr. Davis's letter was in fact received by the PM's office.
But what no one seems to be asking is: how was Mr Davis "aware" of the MP's conversation in prison being bugged.
Where did the leak come from? Were established procedures followed in such cases if someone inside and in the know wanted to bring an abuse of justice to the attention of the responsible authorities, before a failure of such procedures led to her/ his leaking the matter to Mr. Davis? Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, February 02, 2008
So how is Bulgaria really doing?
A recent optimistic assessment from Europe is at: http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=282
However, the following is the view a friend who is actually on the ground: "While Bulgaria has some reasonable economic stats over the last decade for a country in transition, its just catch up - and, considering the recent entry to the EU, I would have expected more, quite frankly. I would have expected the odd year of 10%, and we are far from that. The people are still despondent, the politicians only interested in money (i.e. how to get it into their own pockets) and the current account is a real cause for concern - given the credit issues at present" Sphere: Related Content
However, the following is the view a friend who is actually on the ground: "While Bulgaria has some reasonable economic stats over the last decade for a country in transition, its just catch up - and, considering the recent entry to the EU, I would have expected more, quite frankly. I would have expected the odd year of 10%, and we are far from that. The people are still despondent, the politicians only interested in money (i.e. how to get it into their own pockets) and the current account is a real cause for concern - given the credit issues at present" Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
In Hindi literature, the use of the word "mahaajana"
In a recent article, Professor Arvind Sharma of McGill University, says that in Hindi the word "mahaajana"is used in the sense of "prominent worthies" as well as in the sense of "the great masses of people".
I am, however, not aware of the second usage at all. Has "mahaajana" really been used in the sense of "the majority" or "the masses"?
If so, I should be glad to have the quotations with authors, please. Sphere: Related Content
I am, however, not aware of the second usage at all. Has "mahaajana" really been used in the sense of "the majority" or "the masses"?
If so, I should be glad to have the quotations with authors, please. Sphere: Related Content
Thursday, January 24, 2008
The truth about "Lord Macaulay's Address To The British Parliament - February 2, 1835"
As a quote with the above title has been doing the rounds and came to my attention, I though it worth checking with the only authority on the period who I know personally, Dr. Vishal Mangalwadi. I summarise his response below:
The text is a complete forgery. Macaulay was in India from 1834-38. There is no way he could have even addressed the Parliament in 1835. The forger has not read even one of Macaulay's speeches. However, there is some similarity with one quote from the "Macaulay Minute" of 1835, PROVIDED one twists that quote (as many do!) to misrepresent what Macaulay was saying. A number of people keep using that quote without actually reading the "Minute".
BTW, the whole of the "Minute" is reprinted in Dr Vishal Mangalwadi's book "India: the Grand Experiment" - if you would care to read the "Minute". Sphere: Related Content
The text is a complete forgery. Macaulay was in India from 1834-38. There is no way he could have even addressed the Parliament in 1835. The forger has not read even one of Macaulay's speeches. However, there is some similarity with one quote from the "Macaulay Minute" of 1835, PROVIDED one twists that quote (as many do!) to misrepresent what Macaulay was saying. A number of people keep using that quote without actually reading the "Minute".
BTW, the whole of the "Minute" is reprinted in Dr Vishal Mangalwadi's book "India: the Grand Experiment" - if you would care to read the "Minute". Sphere: Related Content
Air travel rules and regulations becoming intolerably complicated and confusing
As I travel quite a bit, my travel agency does me the courtesy of informing me of changing rules and regulations, and I must say that these are now becoming a nightmare - only because of the incompetence of the global agencies such as IATA.
When we are constructing global rules for so many things, why can't we have global rules for the maximum allowed baggage in each class, and minimum seat space? Why can't we have uniform rules for simple things such as Lithium Batteries?
Believe it or not, that is the latest thing on which there are now guidelines from the USA. But there are no such guidelines from other countries - with the result that you are allowed to carry them in checked baggage from India, Switzerland and the UK for example, but you will probably be arrested on arrival in the US :-)
The US will, however, allow you to pack spare batteries in carry-on baggage provided the terminals are covered/insulated - though it is not clear what these terms mean.
By the way, "travelers may check bags that contain batteries, as long as they are installed in electronic devices".
But would you really want to put electronic devices in checked bags?! If so, more fool you: don't expect to have them at the other end!
Though if you have just put electronic devices in your just-checked baggage, I pray you get lucky. Sphere: Related Content
When we are constructing global rules for so many things, why can't we have global rules for the maximum allowed baggage in each class, and minimum seat space? Why can't we have uniform rules for simple things such as Lithium Batteries?
Believe it or not, that is the latest thing on which there are now guidelines from the USA. But there are no such guidelines from other countries - with the result that you are allowed to carry them in checked baggage from India, Switzerland and the UK for example, but you will probably be arrested on arrival in the US :-)
The US will, however, allow you to pack spare batteries in carry-on baggage provided the terminals are covered/insulated - though it is not clear what these terms mean.
By the way, "travelers may check bags that contain batteries, as long as they are installed in electronic devices".
But would you really want to put electronic devices in checked bags?! If so, more fool you: don't expect to have them at the other end!
Though if you have just put electronic devices in your just-checked baggage, I pray you get lucky. Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Hindu violence and land grabbing
A Hindu friend writes today: " Ever tell you about ... in 1997? XXX and I surrounded by the Head Priest and 300 thugs. Our government car - from the Home Secretary - no use at all. Driver fled. So did two local cops (later tracked of course). Touch and go. I had thumb and index on Mr. Head P's vagus nerve (old training), the rest of his head in a headlock. Had I showed any fear, or yielded - it would have been over. The usual gag - one pushes the other - someone with a knife... Mr. Head P of course alluded to all this latent horsepower, but I told him I would convert him to mincemeat before that. All I asked for - and insisted softly - was a "Sorry". Got it, and the rest of them melted away like cats. XXX's first and last encounter with a mob. Took her a week to get over it."
My closest such experience was a couple of years ago when driving along a forest road in Madhya Pradesh. However, dear Reader, in order to understand the following account, if you don't know what "prasad" is, I need to enlighten you: it is food symbolically offered to an idol and then offered to devotees.
I noticed a mass of people doing something about 400 metres from the road. We had already had a LOOONG drive, so asked the driver to stop in order to have a look at this tamasha and stretch our legs. Somehow, someone in the mass of people at the event must have noticed us stopping. Anyway, the chief honcho interrupted the proceedings and ran all the way up to our location on the road - the rest of his mob following. He asks us to accept prasad. We ask what is going on. He tells me that the worship of certain idols is in progress with a view to a temple being built on that land. *I* decline on the grounds that I don't worship idols. He is furious - as are his colleagues. There is a back-and-forth in which he claims to be insulted and I gently but firmly insist on my right to remain unblessed by the idol. "His" crowd gets increasingly restive. The situation is finally saved by my host (who looks like some kind of guru, in dhoti/kurta) who strokes his long beard and says in an ever so soft voice to the honcho that, according to our scriptures, prasad is not prasad if accepted unwillingly. The honcho is taken aback - retreats with his mob - though I have not yet been able to discover whether our scriptures really do make such a statement
The question in my mind was: why did the Chief Honcho interrupt his obviously important worship of his idol and hot foot it such a long distance to offer us prasad?
The reason: many, if not most of the temples that have been built over the last 20 years in India have been built on grabbed land.
As we were passing by in cars, it was clear to the Honcho and mob that we "must be important". They interrupted their worship and offered us prasad in order to neutralise our possible opposition to their land grab: if we accepted the prasad, we were unlikely to act against the land grab.
That also explains why they were so upset at my refusing to partake of the prasad. In refusing to accept the prasad, I was (unwittingly, but clearly from their point of view) putting myself in a position where I could potentially oppose the land grab.
All this was not clear to me then. It had to be explained to me by a colleague. Regretfully, I was only passing that way, or I might have opposed the grab - particularly of forest land.
Perhaps someone ought to raise a question in Parliament about whether any record exists of how many temples have been built on grabbed land. If not, why not; and if so, what the figures actually are. Sphere: Related Content
My closest such experience was a couple of years ago when driving along a forest road in Madhya Pradesh. However, dear Reader, in order to understand the following account, if you don't know what "prasad" is, I need to enlighten you: it is food symbolically offered to an idol and then offered to devotees.
I noticed a mass of people doing something about 400 metres from the road. We had already had a LOOONG drive, so asked the driver to stop in order to have a look at this tamasha and stretch our legs. Somehow, someone in the mass of people at the event must have noticed us stopping. Anyway, the chief honcho interrupted the proceedings and ran all the way up to our location on the road - the rest of his mob following. He asks us to accept prasad. We ask what is going on. He tells me that the worship of certain idols is in progress with a view to a temple being built on that land. *I* decline on the grounds that I don't worship idols. He is furious - as are his colleagues. There is a back-and-forth in which he claims to be insulted and I gently but firmly insist on my right to remain unblessed by the idol. "His" crowd gets increasingly restive. The situation is finally saved by my host (who looks like some kind of guru, in dhoti/kurta) who strokes his long beard and says in an ever so soft voice to the honcho that, according to our scriptures, prasad is not prasad if accepted unwillingly. The honcho is taken aback - retreats with his mob - though I have not yet been able to discover whether our scriptures really do make such a statement
The question in my mind was: why did the Chief Honcho interrupt his obviously important worship of his idol and hot foot it such a long distance to offer us prasad?
The reason: many, if not most of the temples that have been built over the last 20 years in India have been built on grabbed land.
As we were passing by in cars, it was clear to the Honcho and mob that we "must be important". They interrupted their worship and offered us prasad in order to neutralise our possible opposition to their land grab: if we accepted the prasad, we were unlikely to act against the land grab.
That also explains why they were so upset at my refusing to partake of the prasad. In refusing to accept the prasad, I was (unwittingly, but clearly from their point of view) putting myself in a position where I could potentially oppose the land grab.
All this was not clear to me then. It had to be explained to me by a colleague. Regretfully, I was only passing that way, or I might have opposed the grab - particularly of forest land.
Perhaps someone ought to raise a question in Parliament about whether any record exists of how many temples have been built on grabbed land. If not, why not; and if so, what the figures actually are. Sphere: Related Content
Poor ex-priests of the Lower Himalayas
I am told that the RSS has usurped the hill temples of all the traditional pujaris (priests) and put in young RSS activists instead.
Haven't seen any press coverage of this (if there has been, could someone draw this to my attention?)
Also, not sure whether this applies to "all" the hill areas or only some of them.
On my recent visit to Hardwar, I did think that the central area was rather overflowing with people who I would now (in the light of the above information) classify as "priest beggars".
If these are indeed the "replaced priests", it is rather sad to see them without the traditional respect that would have been accorded them as pujaris - and now reduced to begging rather than the usual fees for services rendered. Sphere: Related Content
Haven't seen any press coverage of this (if there has been, could someone draw this to my attention?)
Also, not sure whether this applies to "all" the hill areas or only some of them.
On my recent visit to Hardwar, I did think that the central area was rather overflowing with people who I would now (in the light of the above information) classify as "priest beggars".
If these are indeed the "replaced priests", it is rather sad to see them without the traditional respect that would have been accorded them as pujaris - and now reduced to begging rather than the usual fees for services rendered. Sphere: Related Content
Monday, January 14, 2008
Indiafacts - Speedpost
How long does Speedpost take to get a package of material from the capital of one state in India to the capital of another state in India?
Three days.
That was from Kolkata to Panaji (Goa) last week. Sphere: Related Content
Three days.
That was from Kolkata to Panaji (Goa) last week. Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Should Kosovo be allowed to become Independent?
Professor Emeritus Raju G. C. Thomas apparently argues against the independence of Kosovo.
A friend asks what I think about Thomas's point of view.
My response: one's attitude depends on whether one believes that politics should be based on Realpolitik or on principle.
And, if the latter, on WHAT principle?
I am totally committed to the principle of self-determination for all peoples who wish to be independent – and I am often told that this is impractical.
However, I am aware of only one alternative to my point of view and that is Realpolitik (which is based on the power of dominant elites to impose their will and to sustain the costs of doing so).
As I do not and cannot believe that international politics can any longer be based on Realpolitik, self-determination and voluntary association are the only principles that I find myself able to defend – but if anyone can suggest another principle, I am always open to considering it. Sphere: Related Content
A friend asks what I think about Thomas's point of view.
My response: one's attitude depends on whether one believes that politics should be based on Realpolitik or on principle.
And, if the latter, on WHAT principle?
I am totally committed to the principle of self-determination for all peoples who wish to be independent – and I am often told that this is impractical.
However, I am aware of only one alternative to my point of view and that is Realpolitik (which is based on the power of dominant elites to impose their will and to sustain the costs of doing so).
As I do not and cannot believe that international politics can any longer be based on Realpolitik, self-determination and voluntary association are the only principles that I find myself able to defend – but if anyone can suggest another principle, I am always open to considering it. Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Orissa Riots 2007-2008: First Official Report
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR MINORITIES
Report of the NCM visit to Orissa, 6-8 January 2008
[Note from aicc: On Dec. 27, 2007 a Christian delegation including aicc leaders met the chairman of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), Mohamed Shafi Qureshi, in New Delhi. They requested that investigators be sent to Orissa as soon as possible. Local aicc leaders met with the two visiting NCM members in Bhubaneswar on Jan. 8, 2008, late in the evening. The NCM was established by the "National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, No. 19" and protects the rights of religious minorities in India. More info is at http://ncm.nic.in/.]
A semblance of normality appears to be returning to the violence hit districts of Orissa. The reasons for the outbreak of violence on the eve of Christmas are far more varied than was apparent from media reports, but there is no doubt that the Christian community and its
places of worship were the principal target of attack. They bore the brunt of violence and suffered the maximum damage. As a result, the Christian community continues to live in fear and feels insecure and unsafe. It may take months and even years to restore their confidence.
This will depend, above all, on the State Government's ability and willingness to address both the immediate and long term issues that were responsible for the violence. This is the overall conclusion reached by the NCM delegation.
Members Zoya Hasan and Dileep Padgaonkar visited Orissa from 6-8 January 2008. During their stay in Bhubaneshwar and visit to Phulbani in Kandhmala district, the Members met a cross-section of political, civil society, religious groups and organizations and the affected
people. The team held meetings with district officials engaged in restoring peace and normality in the disturbed areas. They apprised the team of the measures taken by the administration in the past two weeks to restore peace. In the State capital the Members met the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, DG (P) and other senior officials before calling on the Chief Minister. The team also paid a courtesy call on the Governor.
Several factors were at work and converged to create tension and violence which started on 24th December 2007 and continued until 27th December 2007.
The long simmering Kondh-Pana conflict was in part responsible for the agitation and violence. The Kondhs are Scheduled Tribes (STs) who constitute 51.96 percent of the population in Kandhmal district, the Scheduled Castes (SCs) (many of whom are Pana) are 16.89 percent,
and Christians are 18.20 percent. A section of Christian Panas have been seeking inclusion in the ST category which would entitle them to the benefits of reservation. Their demand is based on their linguistic and cultural affinities with the Kui group. However, the Kuis have been resisting this demand on the ground that they were ethnically different from the Panas.
This issue has been complicated by the High Court order of July 12, 2007. An NGO filed a petition in the High Court demanding ST status for the Panas on the ground that the amended Presidential Order of 2002 shows Kui community as ST and as Pana caste speaks the Kui dialect. Therefore their caste should be changed from Pana as mentioned in the revenue records to ST. The court order directed the Government to look into matter and make the necessary corrections in the record of land rights as per the Presidential Order 2002. Soon after the High Court Order was given the Phulbani Kui Jan Kalyan Sangh started a campaign that all those recorded as SC Pana in the revenue records will now be treated as STs. The Kui Samaj Sewa Samiti of Phulbani and several other Kui organizations reacted by organizing rallies and processions demanding the deletion of Kui from the Presidential Order.
But there are other reasons which Kuis cite which are that taking advantage of their illiteracy etc the Panas have acted as middle men to exploit them notably by grabbing their lands. The Kuis also allege that SC Christians obtain false certificates as Hindu SCs to take the benefits of reservations. It should be noted that the SC category excludes Christians whereas they are entitled to inclusion in the ST category and the reservation benefits that go with it. Hence the
efforts of some Christians groups to get included in the ST category.
The Government is presently conducting an inquiry into these charges and has informed the NCM about that the culprits would be speedily brought to book. It has also been alleged that SC Christians have reconverted to Hinduism while continuing to practice their Christian faith with a view to availing the benefits given to the SCs.
A second, if not more important factor, is the anti-conversion campaign conducted by the VHP and the Sangh Parivar organizations for the past few years. The campaign has aimed to prevent the conversion of tribal and Dalits to Christianity. Swami Saraswati Lakshmanda, the leader of the anti-conversion campaign, established an Ashram in this area in 1969 and has opened educational institutions for tribal boys and girls.
The 1991 Census shows the Christians constituted 75597 of the population of Kandhmal district whereas in the 2001 Census their population had gone up to 117950. While the increase in population in percentage terms is substantial, there is no evidence whatsoever that this increase occurred under duress or on account of inducement to conversion.
A stringent law regarding conversion the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act has been on the statute books for the past four decades. The NCM Members asked both district officials and senior officials in the State Secretariat whether any cases had been reported or filed with regard to infringement of this law over the past 10 years. Not one incident of forcible conversion was cited or adduced. We also inquired from the Church representatives whether they keep a register of conversions. Such a register is a routine practice at the time of baptism. The Church representatives confirmed that they indeed maintained such a register. But no one has apparently bothered to check it. In fact the Archbishop of Bhubaneshwar told the NCM team
that neither he nor anyone in the Diocese was ever summoned by the authorities with regard to matters relating to conversion.
From the above the NCM team has inferred that there is no basis whatsoever to justify the anti-conversion campaign. On the other hand, this mischievous campaign has created an atmosphere of prejudice and suspicion against the Christian community and Christian priests and organizations. The role of the Sangh Parivar activists and the anti-conversion campaign in fomenting organized violence against the Christian community deserves close scrutiny. This is especially urgent in view of the official explanation to the effect fact that the recent incidents in Orissa are largely of an ethnic nature rather than motivated by an anti-minority intent. The NCM team noticed that there was a concerted effort on the part of government officials to evade
and prevaricate on the communal dimension of the conflict and to explain the violence in terms of the Kondh-Pana conflict.
The NCM team discussed in detail the chronology of events with all its interlocutors. The responses were far from uniform because of the endeavor of groups consulted to engage in a blame game. However, the team has been able to construct a factual account of the tragic
turn of events.
As early as 22nd December the Church authorities informed the Sub-Collector that they apprehended trouble on Christmas and asked the district administration to take the necessary measures to prevent anti-social elements from exploiting the situation to create the trouble.
Church authorities informed the Sub-Collector that the Kui Samaj had given a call for a bandh on 25-26 December to press their demands regarding various issues. They requested the district authorities to remain alert and preempt any trouble. On 24 December a group of 150-200 people started demanding that an arch put across the road by Christians should be removed in Brahmanigaon even though the Christian community had received official permission for putting up the pandal and for the use of loud speakers. The district administration
confirmed the grant of permission.
Two reasons were advanced to halt work on the arches and pandal. (i) It would affect business. (ii) The pandal was sought to be erected on the very site used by the Hindus to celebrate the Durga Puja festival in October. Protestors then sought to close the weekly market on 24
December. They also tried to close all the shops in the area. The Christian shopkeepers refused to comply which led to an altercation between the two sides. More than 20 shops were looted and destroyed in the forenoon of 24 December. Two shots fired in the air created a panic and people ran helter skelter. Police officers and the Collector arrived on the scene to help sort out the issue. Even as they were making these efforts news came in of an attack on the vehicle carrying Swami Lakshamanda to Brahmanigaon by a group of Christian youths. This inflamed the majority community even though the nature and scale of injuries sustained by the Swami is yet to be established. From this point the situation took a turn for the worse.
The very fact that the Swami was on his way to Brahmanigaon to raise the "morale of the majority community" is indicative of his desire to exacerbate communal tensions. Meanwhile the Kui tribes people felled close to 2000 trees on the roads leading to the district to prevent Shri Padmanabha Behera, Minister for Steel and Mines, from taking his supporters to Bhubaneshwar where a massive rally was to be held for celebrating 10 years of BJD. Shri Behera belongs to SC Pana and has been the target of opposition of the Kui Samaj leaders and has since then resigned. There is a long history to this conflict and the rivalry goes back to 1994 when large scale mobilization of Kuis by Lambodhar Konhar had taken place culminating in widespread clashes and violence. But the NCM team was given other reasons for blocking of roads. This was to prevent the police from reaching those places where Christian churches, prayer halls, convents, were being targeted by miscreants.
This raises several important questions which remain unanswered by the official account. How can so many trees have been felled within a matter of hours without planning, organization and large numbers of people involved in felling? Why were the state intelligence agencies not aware of the felling of trees which is against the law? The answers received by the NCM team to these questions were far from convincing. Nor could they tell the team of the extent of complicity
between Kui tribes and the VHP. One senior Kui leader regretted that the Sangh Parivar had used the leadership of the tribals for its own ends. Another leader acknowledged that the VHP had penetrated the ranks of the Kui Samaj and always put them in front in such conflicts.
Before the VHP's anti-conversion campaign the tribal Christians and non-Christians had lived in harmony but the Parivar's efforts had succeeded in creating a chasm. It must be remembered that Swami Lakshmanda has been working among the STs since 1969 when he established his base here. He enjoys a big following in this area and Christians allege that there is some degree of complicity between the tribal leaders and Sangh Parivar outfits.
Attacks took place in various places between 24-27 December. We were informed that Christian properties destroyed in these incidents include parish churches, village churches, convents, presbyteries, hostels, a vocational training centre, a leprosy centre, and scores of shops and houses. Incidentally Hindu owned properties were also destroyed though the number is a fraction of the losses sustained by Christians. The Orissa Government is yet to give its full assessment of the damage. Three persons were killed: one Christian, one Hindu while the identity of the third is yet to be established.
Destruction on such a large scale in places which are difficult to access could not have taken place without advance preparation and planning. The manpower and logistics required to damage so many Christian properties is immense. We visited an NGO and a Revenue Inspectors office on our return to Bhubaneshwar. The RI office was completely gutted which indicated a high level of planning and use of incendiary materials in the attack.
The sense of insecurity runs deep in the Christian community. As many of them were left with nothing except the clothes they were wearing. Children and women including nuns had to seek refuge in the forests. The Government has provided some immediate relief.
Conclusions and Recommendations:
1. Throughout the fact finding mission one question rose again and again and this was whether the choice of 25th December for holding a bandh by the Kuis was a mere co-incidence. A second bandh called by Swami Lakshmananda to protest the attack on his car was also fixed for the same day. We find it difficult to believe that this too was entirely fortuitous. The authorities were warned well in advance by the Christians that trouble was brewing during the Christmas season.
In this background it is extremely difficult to understand why the district authorities did not take active steps to defiuse the situation and ensure that peace was maintained.
2. The official accounts sought to stress the complexity of the situation in Kandhamal district and attributed the violence to the confusion over the High Court Order on the inclusion of SC Christians in the ST category which is vehemently opposed by the Kui tribes in the area. The situation is certainly complex and overlaid with multi-layered contradictions. The conflation of caste-tribe-communal issues has contributed to the aggravation of social conflicts in this area.
But none of this complexity detracts from the principal issue which is that the Christian minority was the target of organised attacks. The State agencies if they had been vigilant could have prevented the violence arising out of the two bandhs on Christmas.
3. The State Government must look into the speeches of Swami Lakshmananda to determine whether they amount to incitement to violence and take appropriate action.
4. The State Government must issue a White Paper on the conversion issue to dispel fears and suspicions that have been assiduously raised about the Christian community and the role of its institutions.
5. Rehabilitation package announced by the Orissa Government needs to be reviewed to provide rehabilitation keeping in view the actual loss suffered by the victims of violence.
6. Augmenting the number of police personnel and providing them with adequate training and equipment was also imperative. Moreover for reasons that have not been explained the State Government was reluctant in reaching out to civil society and NGOs working as they do work at the grassroots can provide authorities with advance information about simmering tension and co-operate in the prevention of such incidents.
7. Orissa does not have a State Minorities Commission. The State Government must take the necessary steps to set up a statutory Minorities Commission for safeguarding the rights of minorities.
8. The confusion created by the High Court Order needs to be swiftly cleared to prevent further outbreak of tensions between STs and SCs. The government must address the obvious tensions that will arise from the different treatment given in the matter of reservation to Christians belonging to the SC community and the ST community. If Christian tribals are backward Christian SCs are no less so. To create an artificial distinction between the two is simply to communalise poverty and drive a wedge between two homogenous groups who are among
the most deprived. The group therefore, recommends that the reservation given to Christian tribals should be extended to cover Christian SCs who are of exactly the same background and are subject to exactly the same disadvantage.
9. None of the above must detract from the social and economic backwardness of the district. Every indicator points to acute poverty, illiteracy, ill-health, lack of infrastructure, in short, an absence of development. Nearly two thirds of the people in this district live below the poverty line. Even as the authorities are called upon to show greater vigilance to prevent the outbreak of violence, the Government must urgently address issues of social exclusion and structural inequities.
10. The terrible fact remains that in parts of Orissa Christians were unable to celebrate their most important festival. By preventing Christians from celebrating Christmas, the VHP and its affiliates have ensured that the minority should not be in a position to enjoy the rights guaranteed to it by the Constitution. The action of such forces is blot on the Republic a matter which deserves more attention and consideration from authorities both at the level of State and Centre.
(Source: http://ncm.nic.in/pdf/orissa%20report.pdf, retrieved on 23
Jan. 2008)
ENDS Sphere: Related Content
NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR MINORITIES
Report of the NCM visit to Orissa, 6-8 January 2008
[Note from aicc: On Dec. 27, 2007 a Christian delegation including aicc leaders met the chairman of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), Mohamed Shafi Qureshi, in New Delhi. They requested that investigators be sent to Orissa as soon as possible. Local aicc leaders met with the two visiting NCM members in Bhubaneswar on Jan. 8, 2008, late in the evening. The NCM was established by the "National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, No. 19" and protects the rights of religious minorities in India. More info is at http://ncm.nic.in/.]
A semblance of normality appears to be returning to the violence hit districts of Orissa. The reasons for the outbreak of violence on the eve of Christmas are far more varied than was apparent from media reports, but there is no doubt that the Christian community and its
places of worship were the principal target of attack. They bore the brunt of violence and suffered the maximum damage. As a result, the Christian community continues to live in fear and feels insecure and unsafe. It may take months and even years to restore their confidence.
This will depend, above all, on the State Government's ability and willingness to address both the immediate and long term issues that were responsible for the violence. This is the overall conclusion reached by the NCM delegation.
Members Zoya Hasan and Dileep Padgaonkar visited Orissa from 6-8 January 2008. During their stay in Bhubaneshwar and visit to Phulbani in Kandhmala district, the Members met a cross-section of political, civil society, religious groups and organizations and the affected
people. The team held meetings with district officials engaged in restoring peace and normality in the disturbed areas. They apprised the team of the measures taken by the administration in the past two weeks to restore peace. In the State capital the Members met the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, DG (P) and other senior officials before calling on the Chief Minister. The team also paid a courtesy call on the Governor.
Several factors were at work and converged to create tension and violence which started on 24th December 2007 and continued until 27th December 2007.
The long simmering Kondh-Pana conflict was in part responsible for the agitation and violence. The Kondhs are Scheduled Tribes (STs) who constitute 51.96 percent of the population in Kandhmal district, the Scheduled Castes (SCs) (many of whom are Pana) are 16.89 percent,
and Christians are 18.20 percent. A section of Christian Panas have been seeking inclusion in the ST category which would entitle them to the benefits of reservation. Their demand is based on their linguistic and cultural affinities with the Kui group. However, the Kuis have been resisting this demand on the ground that they were ethnically different from the Panas.
This issue has been complicated by the High Court order of July 12, 2007. An NGO filed a petition in the High Court demanding ST status for the Panas on the ground that the amended Presidential Order of 2002 shows Kui community as ST and as Pana caste speaks the Kui dialect. Therefore their caste should be changed from Pana as mentioned in the revenue records to ST. The court order directed the Government to look into matter and make the necessary corrections in the record of land rights as per the Presidential Order 2002. Soon after the High Court Order was given the Phulbani Kui Jan Kalyan Sangh started a campaign that all those recorded as SC Pana in the revenue records will now be treated as STs. The Kui Samaj Sewa Samiti of Phulbani and several other Kui organizations reacted by organizing rallies and processions demanding the deletion of Kui from the Presidential Order.
But there are other reasons which Kuis cite which are that taking advantage of their illiteracy etc the Panas have acted as middle men to exploit them notably by grabbing their lands. The Kuis also allege that SC Christians obtain false certificates as Hindu SCs to take the benefits of reservations. It should be noted that the SC category excludes Christians whereas they are entitled to inclusion in the ST category and the reservation benefits that go with it. Hence the
efforts of some Christians groups to get included in the ST category.
The Government is presently conducting an inquiry into these charges and has informed the NCM about that the culprits would be speedily brought to book. It has also been alleged that SC Christians have reconverted to Hinduism while continuing to practice their Christian faith with a view to availing the benefits given to the SCs.
A second, if not more important factor, is the anti-conversion campaign conducted by the VHP and the Sangh Parivar organizations for the past few years. The campaign has aimed to prevent the conversion of tribal and Dalits to Christianity. Swami Saraswati Lakshmanda, the leader of the anti-conversion campaign, established an Ashram in this area in 1969 and has opened educational institutions for tribal boys and girls.
The 1991 Census shows the Christians constituted 75597 of the population of Kandhmal district whereas in the 2001 Census their population had gone up to 117950. While the increase in population in percentage terms is substantial, there is no evidence whatsoever that this increase occurred under duress or on account of inducement to conversion.
A stringent law regarding conversion the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act has been on the statute books for the past four decades. The NCM Members asked both district officials and senior officials in the State Secretariat whether any cases had been reported or filed with regard to infringement of this law over the past 10 years. Not one incident of forcible conversion was cited or adduced. We also inquired from the Church representatives whether they keep a register of conversions. Such a register is a routine practice at the time of baptism. The Church representatives confirmed that they indeed maintained such a register. But no one has apparently bothered to check it. In fact the Archbishop of Bhubaneshwar told the NCM team
that neither he nor anyone in the Diocese was ever summoned by the authorities with regard to matters relating to conversion.
From the above the NCM team has inferred that there is no basis whatsoever to justify the anti-conversion campaign. On the other hand, this mischievous campaign has created an atmosphere of prejudice and suspicion against the Christian community and Christian priests and organizations. The role of the Sangh Parivar activists and the anti-conversion campaign in fomenting organized violence against the Christian community deserves close scrutiny. This is especially urgent in view of the official explanation to the effect fact that the recent incidents in Orissa are largely of an ethnic nature rather than motivated by an anti-minority intent. The NCM team noticed that there was a concerted effort on the part of government officials to evade
and prevaricate on the communal dimension of the conflict and to explain the violence in terms of the Kondh-Pana conflict.
The NCM team discussed in detail the chronology of events with all its interlocutors. The responses were far from uniform because of the endeavor of groups consulted to engage in a blame game. However, the team has been able to construct a factual account of the tragic
turn of events.
As early as 22nd December the Church authorities informed the Sub-Collector that they apprehended trouble on Christmas and asked the district administration to take the necessary measures to prevent anti-social elements from exploiting the situation to create the trouble.
Church authorities informed the Sub-Collector that the Kui Samaj had given a call for a bandh on 25-26 December to press their demands regarding various issues. They requested the district authorities to remain alert and preempt any trouble. On 24 December a group of 150-200 people started demanding that an arch put across the road by Christians should be removed in Brahmanigaon even though the Christian community had received official permission for putting up the pandal and for the use of loud speakers. The district administration
confirmed the grant of permission.
Two reasons were advanced to halt work on the arches and pandal. (i) It would affect business. (ii) The pandal was sought to be erected on the very site used by the Hindus to celebrate the Durga Puja festival in October. Protestors then sought to close the weekly market on 24
December. They also tried to close all the shops in the area. The Christian shopkeepers refused to comply which led to an altercation between the two sides. More than 20 shops were looted and destroyed in the forenoon of 24 December. Two shots fired in the air created a panic and people ran helter skelter. Police officers and the Collector arrived on the scene to help sort out the issue. Even as they were making these efforts news came in of an attack on the vehicle carrying Swami Lakshamanda to Brahmanigaon by a group of Christian youths. This inflamed the majority community even though the nature and scale of injuries sustained by the Swami is yet to be established. From this point the situation took a turn for the worse.
The very fact that the Swami was on his way to Brahmanigaon to raise the "morale of the majority community" is indicative of his desire to exacerbate communal tensions. Meanwhile the Kui tribes people felled close to 2000 trees on the roads leading to the district to prevent Shri Padmanabha Behera, Minister for Steel and Mines, from taking his supporters to Bhubaneshwar where a massive rally was to be held for celebrating 10 years of BJD. Shri Behera belongs to SC Pana and has been the target of opposition of the Kui Samaj leaders and has since then resigned. There is a long history to this conflict and the rivalry goes back to 1994 when large scale mobilization of Kuis by Lambodhar Konhar had taken place culminating in widespread clashes and violence. But the NCM team was given other reasons for blocking of roads. This was to prevent the police from reaching those places where Christian churches, prayer halls, convents, were being targeted by miscreants.
This raises several important questions which remain unanswered by the official account. How can so many trees have been felled within a matter of hours without planning, organization and large numbers of people involved in felling? Why were the state intelligence agencies not aware of the felling of trees which is against the law? The answers received by the NCM team to these questions were far from convincing. Nor could they tell the team of the extent of complicity
between Kui tribes and the VHP. One senior Kui leader regretted that the Sangh Parivar had used the leadership of the tribals for its own ends. Another leader acknowledged that the VHP had penetrated the ranks of the Kui Samaj and always put them in front in such conflicts.
Before the VHP's anti-conversion campaign the tribal Christians and non-Christians had lived in harmony but the Parivar's efforts had succeeded in creating a chasm. It must be remembered that Swami Lakshmanda has been working among the STs since 1969 when he established his base here. He enjoys a big following in this area and Christians allege that there is some degree of complicity between the tribal leaders and Sangh Parivar outfits.
Attacks took place in various places between 24-27 December. We were informed that Christian properties destroyed in these incidents include parish churches, village churches, convents, presbyteries, hostels, a vocational training centre, a leprosy centre, and scores of shops and houses. Incidentally Hindu owned properties were also destroyed though the number is a fraction of the losses sustained by Christians. The Orissa Government is yet to give its full assessment of the damage. Three persons were killed: one Christian, one Hindu while the identity of the third is yet to be established.
Destruction on such a large scale in places which are difficult to access could not have taken place without advance preparation and planning. The manpower and logistics required to damage so many Christian properties is immense. We visited an NGO and a Revenue Inspectors office on our return to Bhubaneshwar. The RI office was completely gutted which indicated a high level of planning and use of incendiary materials in the attack.
The sense of insecurity runs deep in the Christian community. As many of them were left with nothing except the clothes they were wearing. Children and women including nuns had to seek refuge in the forests. The Government has provided some immediate relief.
Conclusions and Recommendations:
1. Throughout the fact finding mission one question rose again and again and this was whether the choice of 25th December for holding a bandh by the Kuis was a mere co-incidence. A second bandh called by Swami Lakshmananda to protest the attack on his car was also fixed for the same day. We find it difficult to believe that this too was entirely fortuitous. The authorities were warned well in advance by the Christians that trouble was brewing during the Christmas season.
In this background it is extremely difficult to understand why the district authorities did not take active steps to defiuse the situation and ensure that peace was maintained.
2. The official accounts sought to stress the complexity of the situation in Kandhamal district and attributed the violence to the confusion over the High Court Order on the inclusion of SC Christians in the ST category which is vehemently opposed by the Kui tribes in the area. The situation is certainly complex and overlaid with multi-layered contradictions. The conflation of caste-tribe-communal issues has contributed to the aggravation of social conflicts in this area.
But none of this complexity detracts from the principal issue which is that the Christian minority was the target of organised attacks. The State agencies if they had been vigilant could have prevented the violence arising out of the two bandhs on Christmas.
3. The State Government must look into the speeches of Swami Lakshmananda to determine whether they amount to incitement to violence and take appropriate action.
4. The State Government must issue a White Paper on the conversion issue to dispel fears and suspicions that have been assiduously raised about the Christian community and the role of its institutions.
5. Rehabilitation package announced by the Orissa Government needs to be reviewed to provide rehabilitation keeping in view the actual loss suffered by the victims of violence.
6. Augmenting the number of police personnel and providing them with adequate training and equipment was also imperative. Moreover for reasons that have not been explained the State Government was reluctant in reaching out to civil society and NGOs working as they do work at the grassroots can provide authorities with advance information about simmering tension and co-operate in the prevention of such incidents.
7. Orissa does not have a State Minorities Commission. The State Government must take the necessary steps to set up a statutory Minorities Commission for safeguarding the rights of minorities.
8. The confusion created by the High Court Order needs to be swiftly cleared to prevent further outbreak of tensions between STs and SCs. The government must address the obvious tensions that will arise from the different treatment given in the matter of reservation to Christians belonging to the SC community and the ST community. If Christian tribals are backward Christian SCs are no less so. To create an artificial distinction between the two is simply to communalise poverty and drive a wedge between two homogenous groups who are among
the most deprived. The group therefore, recommends that the reservation given to Christian tribals should be extended to cover Christian SCs who are of exactly the same background and are subject to exactly the same disadvantage.
9. None of the above must detract from the social and economic backwardness of the district. Every indicator points to acute poverty, illiteracy, ill-health, lack of infrastructure, in short, an absence of development. Nearly two thirds of the people in this district live below the poverty line. Even as the authorities are called upon to show greater vigilance to prevent the outbreak of violence, the Government must urgently address issues of social exclusion and structural inequities.
10. The terrible fact remains that in parts of Orissa Christians were unable to celebrate their most important festival. By preventing Christians from celebrating Christmas, the VHP and its affiliates have ensured that the minority should not be in a position to enjoy the rights guaranteed to it by the Constitution. The action of such forces is blot on the Republic a matter which deserves more attention and consideration from authorities both at the level of State and Centre.
(Source: http://ncm.nic.in/pdf/orissa%20report.pdf, retrieved on 23
Jan. 2008)
ENDS Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
What is the Orissa Government trying to hide?
A five member Fact Finding Team that had gone to the Phulbani area of Kandhamal district in Orissa on Saturday, 29th December 2007, was forcibly expelled by Inspector General of Police Pradeep Kapoor.
What exactly is the State Government trying to hide?
Meawhile, the Fact Finding team was able to establish that, among other structures, the School of Social Work set up by Member of Parliament Dr. R K Nayak suffered extensive damage.
Here is the message from Mr Dayal:
FACT FINDING TEAM EXPELLED FROM PHULBANI
I report with deep sorrow and anguish that I and a five member Fact
Finding Team that had gone to the Phulbani area of Kandhamal district
on Saturday, 29th December 2007, was forcibly expelled by Inspector
General of Police Pradeep Kapoor who ordered the Phulbani Town Police
Inspector to ensure that I left the district that night. The Town
Police Inspector then made us follow an armed police escort for a one
and a half hour drive through the night darkness till we reached the
border of Ganjam district, where he left us. We could return to
Bhubaneswar by 4 am today, 30th December 2007, deeply distressed and
feeling very frustrated with the experience.
The fact finding team was set up at a meeting of activists in the
Swasti Hotel in Bhubaneswar on 28th December 2007 to get an authentic
first hand account of the developments and the violence in the
Kandhamal district because rumours, absence of authentic media reports
and often inaccurate government accounts of the casualties, had left
the people confused. There were also fears that lack of authentic
information would impact on the confidence building measures and the
peace process. I was requested to lead the Fact Finding Team in view
of my experience in Gujarat, Nandigram, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan the North east.
As a matter of abundant precaution, I wrote to the Director General of
Police, Orissa, on 28th December 2007. I, inter alia, said "I am a
Member of the National Integration Council, Government of India, and
the National President of the All India Catholic Union. I am part of a
Fact Finding team set up by Civil society and Human Rights groups to
assess the situation in the violence affected areas of Orissa for us
to be able to formulate People's initiative for confidence building
and peace. The team, consisting of six persons including me, intends
to leave Bhubaneswar on the morning of 29th December 2007 and return
in the evening of 31 December 2007. We will have a night halt in
Phulbani. We will appreciate any assistance and facilitation we can
get from the Orissa Police and in particular from the Police forces of
the District. I am sure your office will take the necessary steps, and
inform the District Police of the area."
We drove to Phulbani on 29th December; reaching safely and without any
problems, by about 5 p.m. En route we were able to assess the damage
done to the NISWAS School of Social Work set up by Dr. R K Nayak, IAS
retired and currently a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. We also saw
the damage done to the Carmelite Convent and the Carmel English
School. Nuns we interviewed told us how attempts were made to set the
convent on fire even as the Nuns were cowering in a room where they
had locked themselves in. Two sisters who could escape injured
themselves in the process.
Later, we went to the Offices of the Police Superintendent to discuss
with them our onward journey to Balliguda that evening or early next
morning, and to see if here was need for Curfew Passes, which are
normally given to Media and other groups.
The Inspector General of Police, Mr Kapoor, the Divisional
Commissioner and the Deputy Inspector General of Police were present
in the room. I was questioned in some detail, always very politely, by
Mr Kapoor who wanted to know about my membership of the NIC, my
credentials as a journalist and the books I had authored. He also
photographed my colleagues and me with his Mobile Telephone camera. I
gave a patent reply to every single question. I also pointed out that
this was not a government enquiry, but that I would prepare a report I
would submit to the authorities and which would also help facilitate
the National Minority Commission members who are scheduled to visit
the spot on 6th January 2008. I reminded the police were a peaceful
group, and our team included an Advocate, apart from interpreters and
with expertise in ethnic studies.
Mr Kapoor was ever polite, but remained adamant. My colleagues felt
hey were being interrogated in a police station.
Mr Kapoor said he would not allow me to proceed, or even to remain in
Phulbani. He said it would not be safe for me, or for the persons with
whom I would stay. He said the Rapid Action Force had been deployed in
Phulbani town and I had to draw my inference from this fact about the
situation and tension in the place. I told him there was no way we
would be crashing police barriers. It was not for fear of our lives
but in deference to the rule of law that we would go. He was
apparently not satisfied. He called the Phulbani police officers and
ordered them to escort me out.
The Kandhamal region needs not just media coverage and government
relief operations. The rescue, relief and rehabilitation programme has
to be done in a transparent manner. Already there have been too many
complaints of police and administrative apathy, complicity and even
aggressive force against one community, the victim community.
Independent fact finding teams and the information they give help in
maintaining transparency and positively contribute to the peace
process.
I hope we will be able to visit and record the situation in every
affected village as an important part of building long term peace,
harmony and in ensuring relief, compensation and rehabilitation
John Dayal (dated 31 December 2007) Sphere: Related Content
What exactly is the State Government trying to hide?
Meawhile, the Fact Finding team was able to establish that, among other structures, the School of Social Work set up by Member of Parliament Dr. R K Nayak suffered extensive damage.
Here is the message from Mr Dayal:
FACT FINDING TEAM EXPELLED FROM PHULBANI
I report with deep sorrow and anguish that I and a five member Fact
Finding Team that had gone to the Phulbani area of Kandhamal district
on Saturday, 29th December 2007, was forcibly expelled by Inspector
General of Police Pradeep Kapoor who ordered the Phulbani Town Police
Inspector to ensure that I left the district that night. The Town
Police Inspector then made us follow an armed police escort for a one
and a half hour drive through the night darkness till we reached the
border of Ganjam district, where he left us. We could return to
Bhubaneswar by 4 am today, 30th December 2007, deeply distressed and
feeling very frustrated with the experience.
The fact finding team was set up at a meeting of activists in the
Swasti Hotel in Bhubaneswar on 28th December 2007 to get an authentic
first hand account of the developments and the violence in the
Kandhamal district because rumours, absence of authentic media reports
and often inaccurate government accounts of the casualties, had left
the people confused. There were also fears that lack of authentic
information would impact on the confidence building measures and the
peace process. I was requested to lead the Fact Finding Team in view
of my experience in Gujarat, Nandigram, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan the North east.
As a matter of abundant precaution, I wrote to the Director General of
Police, Orissa, on 28th December 2007. I, inter alia, said "I am a
Member of the National Integration Council, Government of India, and
the National President of the All India Catholic Union. I am part of a
Fact Finding team set up by Civil society and Human Rights groups to
assess the situation in the violence affected areas of Orissa for us
to be able to formulate People's initiative for confidence building
and peace. The team, consisting of six persons including me, intends
to leave Bhubaneswar on the morning of 29th December 2007 and return
in the evening of 31 December 2007. We will have a night halt in
Phulbani. We will appreciate any assistance and facilitation we can
get from the Orissa Police and in particular from the Police forces of
the District. I am sure your office will take the necessary steps, and
inform the District Police of the area."
We drove to Phulbani on 29th December; reaching safely and without any
problems, by about 5 p.m. En route we were able to assess the damage
done to the NISWAS School of Social Work set up by Dr. R K Nayak, IAS
retired and currently a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. We also saw
the damage done to the Carmelite Convent and the Carmel English
School. Nuns we interviewed told us how attempts were made to set the
convent on fire even as the Nuns were cowering in a room where they
had locked themselves in. Two sisters who could escape injured
themselves in the process.
Later, we went to the Offices of the Police Superintendent to discuss
with them our onward journey to Balliguda that evening or early next
morning, and to see if here was need for Curfew Passes, which are
normally given to Media and other groups.
The Inspector General of Police, Mr Kapoor, the Divisional
Commissioner and the Deputy Inspector General of Police were present
in the room. I was questioned in some detail, always very politely, by
Mr Kapoor who wanted to know about my membership of the NIC, my
credentials as a journalist and the books I had authored. He also
photographed my colleagues and me with his Mobile Telephone camera. I
gave a patent reply to every single question. I also pointed out that
this was not a government enquiry, but that I would prepare a report I
would submit to the authorities and which would also help facilitate
the National Minority Commission members who are scheduled to visit
the spot on 6th January 2008. I reminded the police were a peaceful
group, and our team included an Advocate, apart from interpreters and
with expertise in ethnic studies.
Mr Kapoor was ever polite, but remained adamant. My colleagues felt
hey were being interrogated in a police station.
Mr Kapoor said he would not allow me to proceed, or even to remain in
Phulbani. He said it would not be safe for me, or for the persons with
whom I would stay. He said the Rapid Action Force had been deployed in
Phulbani town and I had to draw my inference from this fact about the
situation and tension in the place. I told him there was no way we
would be crashing police barriers. It was not for fear of our lives
but in deference to the rule of law that we would go. He was
apparently not satisfied. He called the Phulbani police officers and
ordered them to escort me out.
The Kandhamal region needs not just media coverage and government
relief operations. The rescue, relief and rehabilitation programme has
to be done in a transparent manner. Already there have been too many
complaints of police and administrative apathy, complicity and even
aggressive force against one community, the victim community.
Independent fact finding teams and the information they give help in
maintaining transparency and positively contribute to the peace
process.
I hope we will be able to visit and record the situation in every
affected village as an important part of building long term peace,
harmony and in ensuring relief, compensation and rehabilitation
John Dayal (dated 31 December 2007) Sphere: Related Content
88 places of worship now destroyed or damaged in violence starting Christmas Eve and still continuing
The following letter to the President of India mentions 50 places of worship destroyed or damaged in the Phulbani District of Orissa (that was the right figure to the best of public knowledge then).
However, the best figure available now is 88 places of worship destroyed or damaged.
Loss of life and injury to individuals as well as to property continues....
To Her Excellency the President of India
-through His Excellency, Mr S C Jamir, Governor of Goa
Your Excellency Madam President
We the undersigned members of the Writers' Forum assembled here in Goa for our second annual meeting, taking note of the international damage to India's reputation due to events of the last few days:
1. Are horrified to hear of the destruction of 50 places of worship in 5 days of ongoing violence so far in Orissa, beginning on Christmas Eve (December 24, 2007), with attendant loss of life and damage to property, due to a premeditated and well-planned campaign of violence which was prepared for with public statements from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and associated bodies regarding their intention to launch such a campaign (and we note that they are still making public statements regarding their intention to continue such a campaign);
2. Are grieved at the relative inaction of the Central Government, with not even a statement condemning the violence let alone asserting the determination of the Central Government to ensure the peace and security of the Indian people;
3. Note with astonishment the reported statement of the Union Home Minister that he cannot ensure that the guilty parties will be brought to justice - such a statement is tantamount to shirking the responsibilities he has taken upon himself;
4. Denounce the failure of the Orissa State Government to learn the lessons of the history of such planned campaigns in other parts of India as well as in Orissa itself, for example at the time of the murder of Graham Staines and his two young sons; if the State Government had learnt the lessons of those campaigns, it would have put measures in place to prevent a recurrence of such things;
5. Recognise the complicity of the machinery of the State Government in the violence by means of deliberate delays in registering FIRs and responding to unfolding events, and then providing unbelievably weak excuses for their failure;
6. In view of the above-mentioned complicity, we reject the appointment of the Judicial Probe by the State Government, and insist on the institution of a CBI probe into the events, including the behaviour of the Orissa Chief Minister, the Orissa Home Minister and the relevant Police Authorities; and
7. Call for the banning of the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on the grounds of their being organisations that have publicly stated and now repeatedly demonstrated in practice their intention of subverting and opposing some of the basics of the Indian Constitution by illegal and violent means;
Finally, Madam President, we call on you to intervene in order to ensure that the Central and State Governments do not continue in their failure to fulfil their most basic duty to protect life and property within the Indian Union.
Respectfully submitted
SIGNED:
Dr. A. Y. Aghamkar
S. A. Aghamkar
S. Andrade
J. Chacko
E. S. Daliya
N. M. Daliya
A. Fernandes
P. S. Guptara
P. M. Guptara
R. Guptara
S. Guptara
J. Guptara
I. Kostka
R. Mangalwadi
Dr. V. Mangalwadi
B. Verghese
CC:
- the Prime Minister,
- the Union Home Minister,
- the Leader of the Opposition
- the Chief Minister of Orissa, and
- the Press and Media. Sphere: Related Content
However, the best figure available now is 88 places of worship destroyed or damaged.
Loss of life and injury to individuals as well as to property continues....
To Her Excellency the President of India
-through His Excellency, Mr S C Jamir, Governor of Goa
Your Excellency Madam President
We the undersigned members of the Writers' Forum assembled here in Goa for our second annual meeting, taking note of the international damage to India's reputation due to events of the last few days:
1. Are horrified to hear of the destruction of 50 places of worship in 5 days of ongoing violence so far in Orissa, beginning on Christmas Eve (December 24, 2007), with attendant loss of life and damage to property, due to a premeditated and well-planned campaign of violence which was prepared for with public statements from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and associated bodies regarding their intention to launch such a campaign (and we note that they are still making public statements regarding their intention to continue such a campaign);
2. Are grieved at the relative inaction of the Central Government, with not even a statement condemning the violence let alone asserting the determination of the Central Government to ensure the peace and security of the Indian people;
3. Note with astonishment the reported statement of the Union Home Minister that he cannot ensure that the guilty parties will be brought to justice - such a statement is tantamount to shirking the responsibilities he has taken upon himself;
4. Denounce the failure of the Orissa State Government to learn the lessons of the history of such planned campaigns in other parts of India as well as in Orissa itself, for example at the time of the murder of Graham Staines and his two young sons; if the State Government had learnt the lessons of those campaigns, it would have put measures in place to prevent a recurrence of such things;
5. Recognise the complicity of the machinery of the State Government in the violence by means of deliberate delays in registering FIRs and responding to unfolding events, and then providing unbelievably weak excuses for their failure;
6. In view of the above-mentioned complicity, we reject the appointment of the Judicial Probe by the State Government, and insist on the institution of a CBI probe into the events, including the behaviour of the Orissa Chief Minister, the Orissa Home Minister and the relevant Police Authorities; and
7. Call for the banning of the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on the grounds of their being organisations that have publicly stated and now repeatedly demonstrated in practice their intention of subverting and opposing some of the basics of the Indian Constitution by illegal and violent means;
Finally, Madam President, we call on you to intervene in order to ensure that the Central and State Governments do not continue in their failure to fulfil their most basic duty to protect life and property within the Indian Union.
Respectfully submitted
SIGNED:
Dr. A. Y. Aghamkar
S. A. Aghamkar
S. Andrade
J. Chacko
E. S. Daliya
N. M. Daliya
A. Fernandes
P. S. Guptara
P. M. Guptara
R. Guptara
S. Guptara
J. Guptara
I. Kostka
R. Mangalwadi
Dr. V. Mangalwadi
B. Verghese
CC:
- the Prime Minister,
- the Union Home Minister,
- the Leader of the Opposition
- the Chief Minister of Orissa, and
- the Press and Media. Sphere: Related Content
Monday, December 17, 2007
Global Warming, Global Cooling and the New Global Intolerance of Dissent
Not being a practising climate scientist, I haven't been able to come to a conclusion about whether we are facing global warming or global cooling. Indeed, even practicing climate scientists seem divided on the issue.
However, what is clear is that we face a kind of creeping global intolerance regarding dissenting views: the legacy of the Reformation, which produced free speech and free thought (and which modern atheists would like to attribute instead to the Renaisance and to modern atheism) seems to be declining or simply being overwhelmed. But modern skeptics find it difficult to explain how and why intolerance is increasing when their brand of atheism has become the dominant ideology over the last half-century. For those who see the inheritance of the Reformation clearly, the explanation of the new intolerance is equally clear: as the influence of the Reformation has waned, the rise of intolerance is natural and inevitable.
For an example of the new totalitarianism at work, see the post by the British journalist, the Lord Monckton, regarding how he was denied journalist accreditation at the recent Bali conference simply because he is known to be a climate sceptic, and how the machinery of the UN seems to have behaved in ways that one expects from tinpot dictatorships in third world countries: http://icecap.us/images/uploads/MoncktononBali2007.doc Sphere: Related Content
However, what is clear is that we face a kind of creeping global intolerance regarding dissenting views: the legacy of the Reformation, which produced free speech and free thought (and which modern atheists would like to attribute instead to the Renaisance and to modern atheism) seems to be declining or simply being overwhelmed. But modern skeptics find it difficult to explain how and why intolerance is increasing when their brand of atheism has become the dominant ideology over the last half-century. For those who see the inheritance of the Reformation clearly, the explanation of the new intolerance is equally clear: as the influence of the Reformation has waned, the rise of intolerance is natural and inevitable.
For an example of the new totalitarianism at work, see the post by the British journalist, the Lord Monckton, regarding how he was denied journalist accreditation at the recent Bali conference simply because he is known to be a climate sceptic, and how the machinery of the UN seems to have behaved in ways that one expects from tinpot dictatorships in third world countries: http://icecap.us/images/uploads/MoncktononBali2007.doc Sphere: Related Content
Is the US system equally fair to asylum seekers from all countries?
Several months ago, I was asked to write a piece on the above topic: http://www.ttf.org/index/journal/detail/immigration-who-is-our-neighbour)
In response, a certain gentleman wrote as follows:
"I am first not an American but a Canadian, so thatcolors my view of the world. I'm also a Canadian whohas been an American resident for the last 16 years,as I graduated from an American college and thenseminary, and have continued to work here. What I have observed is that America since the 1800'shas had a "melting pot" for ethnic identity: come toAmerica, lose your immigrant customs, become anAmerican, work hard and you'll do well here. For thelast hundred or so years, as numerous articles,ranging from Finance & Development (June 1999) to theDeVoretz and Laryea study in 1998 that indicate thatAmerica wants to be a brain drain for all countries;Europe, Asia, Canada, Latin America. It's a smartidea to attract other countries' top talents and putthem to work for you. America does allow for skilled laborers to come, and Ibelieve Jack Welch said it most recently that theAmerican government may have to up the number of H-1Bvisas to allow for skilled workers to come. (Theeffect of outsourcing may be a discussing for adifferent day.) Both America and Canada allow for asylum status, thatis, if your country is persecuting you for somereason, or, according to the USCIS site, "traumaticand painful experiences" that caused you to leave yourcountry. So I think that in all fairness, America is ratherfair in the immigration policy. What America is afraid of, I believe, is a large bodyof people who basically want a free lunch, or worse, alunch at everyone else's expense. And rightly so;we've all heard stories about people who run acrossthe border and basically enroll their kids at theexpense of taxpayers, which the parents are not(they'd have to have a social security number to paytaxes, and illegal immigrants don't have one). Now, I live in a city that has had a lot ofimmigrants, and has been plagued by some of the abusesto immigrants, and we are still paying for our pastsins. In the past, there were Italians, the Irish,Puerto Ricans, and numerous other ethnic groups. Theyalways got pushed to the bottom of the social peckingorder and were often underpaid and put in dangerousjobs (much like the Chinese immigrants who worked onthe transcontinental railroad in the 1860s and 1870s). Of course, to love my neighbor as myself would meanthat I should not put them in demeaning, dehumanizing,or dangerous roles -- but at the same time, if I knewthat I had broken a law, would I not submit myself tothe authorities and suffer just punishment andconsequences?"
My response was along the following lines:
I agree and sympathise with your position below. However, where we differ is regarding your statement "Both America and Canada allow for asylum status, that is, if your country is persecuting you for some reason, or, according to the USCIS site, "traumatic and painful experiences" that caused you to leave your country....So I think that in all fairness, America is rather fair in the immigration policy."
My disagreement with you arises for the following reason: you seem to be unaware that NOT all politically persecuted asylum seekers have equal status in seeking asylum in the USA.
There is a politically-determined quota system that decides how many political refugees from which country are admitted. For a purely mythic illustration, the US "system" decides every year how many to allow from Pakistan and how many from India; the system might decide to allow in 10K from Pak, and 9K from India, or the other way around or zero from Pakistan and a 100K from India, or whatever. Some countries are allocated very few places, some are allocated no places, and some are allocated lots of places.
Naturally, the US has every right to decide how many to admit and from which country. But the process for allocating the respective "asylum seats per country" is not transparent (behind-the-scenes political jockeying is what determines the countries and the numbers).
That is what I meant when I argued that the system is not fair by objective standards (that is, by God's standards) .
Sphere: Related Content
In response, a certain gentleman wrote as follows:
"I am first not an American but a Canadian, so thatcolors my view of the world. I'm also a Canadian whohas been an American resident for the last 16 years,as I graduated from an American college and thenseminary, and have continued to work here. What I have observed is that America since the 1800'shas had a "melting pot" for ethnic identity: come toAmerica, lose your immigrant customs, become anAmerican, work hard and you'll do well here. For thelast hundred or so years, as numerous articles,ranging from Finance & Development (June 1999) to theDeVoretz and Laryea study in 1998 that indicate thatAmerica wants to be a brain drain for all countries;Europe, Asia, Canada, Latin America. It's a smartidea to attract other countries' top talents and putthem to work for you. America does allow for skilled laborers to come, and Ibelieve Jack Welch said it most recently that theAmerican government may have to up the number of H-1Bvisas to allow for skilled workers to come. (Theeffect of outsourcing may be a discussing for adifferent day.) Both America and Canada allow for asylum status, thatis, if your country is persecuting you for somereason, or, according to the USCIS site, "traumaticand painful experiences" that caused you to leave yourcountry. So I think that in all fairness, America is ratherfair in the immigration policy. What America is afraid of, I believe, is a large bodyof people who basically want a free lunch, or worse, alunch at everyone else's expense. And rightly so;we've all heard stories about people who run acrossthe border and basically enroll their kids at theexpense of taxpayers, which the parents are not(they'd have to have a social security number to paytaxes, and illegal immigrants don't have one). Now, I live in a city that has had a lot ofimmigrants, and has been plagued by some of the abusesto immigrants, and we are still paying for our pastsins. In the past, there were Italians, the Irish,Puerto Ricans, and numerous other ethnic groups. Theyalways got pushed to the bottom of the social peckingorder and were often underpaid and put in dangerousjobs (much like the Chinese immigrants who worked onthe transcontinental railroad in the 1860s and 1870s). Of course, to love my neighbor as myself would meanthat I should not put them in demeaning, dehumanizing,or dangerous roles -- but at the same time, if I knewthat I had broken a law, would I not submit myself tothe authorities and suffer just punishment andconsequences?"
My response was along the following lines:
I agree and sympathise with your position below. However, where we differ is regarding your statement "Both America and Canada allow for asylum status, that is, if your country is persecuting you for some reason, or, according to the USCIS site, "traumatic and painful experiences" that caused you to leave your country....So I think that in all fairness, America is rather fair in the immigration policy."
My disagreement with you arises for the following reason: you seem to be unaware that NOT all politically persecuted asylum seekers have equal status in seeking asylum in the USA.
There is a politically-determined quota system that decides how many political refugees from which country are admitted. For a purely mythic illustration, the US "system" decides every year how many to allow from Pakistan and how many from India; the system might decide to allow in 10K from Pak, and 9K from India, or the other way around or zero from Pakistan and a 100K from India, or whatever. Some countries are allocated very few places, some are allocated no places, and some are allocated lots of places.
Naturally, the US has every right to decide how many to admit and from which country. But the process for allocating the respective "asylum seats per country" is not transparent (behind-the-scenes political jockeying is what determines the countries and the numbers).
That is what I meant when I argued that the system is not fair by objective standards (that is, by God's standards) .
Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Sex, the "profession" of prostitution, and philosophy
Among a group of acquaintances, primarily Indians, a discussion was started by one of us who was horrified at the actual social and physical conditions that exist in the world of prostitution in India (this is well documented in publicly accessible records but of course few of us like to think about such things).
Some others in our group defended the practice of prostitution on the grounds that there is nothing wrong with pleasure in exchange for money.
One used the term "oldest profession" in the discussion to provide a sort of historical legitimacy to prostitution.
Another responded to this with: "Its interesting how we have provided social acceptance to the term "the oldest profession". Is prostitution a profession? How many commercial sex workers do it because they enjoy it? (like people do in most other professions?)? Is it a profession to which we would happily send our wives and daughters?"
This prompted the following reflections from me, disconnected as they are:
A profession is an occupation, vocation or career governed by a self-regulatory body which enforces adherence to an ethical code of practice and supervises the communication of specialized knowledge of a subject, field, or science, usually through systematic training and acquisition of proficiency certified by some formal examination and the award of an appropriate qualification.
So it is clear that "sex work" is not a profession. Any expression such as "oldest profession" simply tries to disguise an unpalatable reality – in other words, such an expression is simply a lie.
This is not to make any comment on the question of pleasure. Sexuality is pleasurable, otherwise I am not sure whether its messy side would be indulged in.
In all cultures, sexuality is bounded by long-term mutual commitment on the part of those who consent. Prostitution (sex for money) provides the pleasure without the relationship. That is to say, the money exchange substitutes for the long-term relationship. In every society, there will always be people who will (at least for a period) resort to short cuts or the easy way in terms of providing pleasure for themselves without regard to the long-term consequences. But any such short-cut or easy way will always interfere with any existing or future long-term relationship.
I guess there is a sort of parallel in hiring a servant to look after a baby or an aged parent. That is different from looking after the baby or parent yourself. Naturally, some services can be bought. But the very process of buying the service distances you from the personal commitment (and therefore the relationship) involved. In other words, it changes the relationship.
No society believes that faithfulness (which is different from "possessiveness") is easy. That is why sexual pleasure is bounded by moral, social and psychological factors in every society, even in what is reputed to be the "free" West.
Of all the philosophies regarding sex, the most difficult of all is the philosophy of Jesus according to whom the ideal sexual relationship is one man and one woman for life, in which care and nurture and understanding each other provides a superior context for, as well as quality of, sexual pleasure. Naturally, in the historical gospel accounts regarding him, his teaching was not based on personal experience but on first principles going back to his understanding and teaching regarding the origin of the universe and of human beings.
However, the most difficult teaching of Jesus was at least one of the factors that, according to social historians, led to the rise of the West from being one of the poorest parts of the world to one of the richest.
It is also interesting that the teaching of Jesus instinctively finds resonance in societies such as ours (Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Jain....) in which there is no other basis for any teaching about one man-one woman in our own traditions, so that most middle-class Indians favour at least theoretically the notion of one man-one woman, even though all our great teachers and scriptures nowhere put forward such a notion. Hindu tradition is traditionally polygamous and polyandrous as can be seen in the Vedas, Puranas, and so on; Islam allows four wives and innumerable "temporary wives", Buddhism and Jainism have very little to say on the subject. The sexual antics of many of our great gurus are common knowledge but do not detract from their supposed "holiness" because, in our tradition, such gurus are "liberated" from the moral constraints that are supposed to apply to ordinary mortals. Sphere: Related Content
Some others in our group defended the practice of prostitution on the grounds that there is nothing wrong with pleasure in exchange for money.
One used the term "oldest profession" in the discussion to provide a sort of historical legitimacy to prostitution.
Another responded to this with: "Its interesting how we have provided social acceptance to the term "the oldest profession". Is prostitution a profession? How many commercial sex workers do it because they enjoy it? (like people do in most other professions?)? Is it a profession to which we would happily send our wives and daughters?"
This prompted the following reflections from me, disconnected as they are:
A profession is an occupation, vocation or career governed by a self-regulatory body which enforces adherence to an ethical code of practice and supervises the communication of specialized knowledge of a subject, field, or science, usually through systematic training and acquisition of proficiency certified by some formal examination and the award of an appropriate qualification.
So it is clear that "sex work" is not a profession. Any expression such as "oldest profession" simply tries to disguise an unpalatable reality – in other words, such an expression is simply a lie.
This is not to make any comment on the question of pleasure. Sexuality is pleasurable, otherwise I am not sure whether its messy side would be indulged in.
In all cultures, sexuality is bounded by long-term mutual commitment on the part of those who consent. Prostitution (sex for money) provides the pleasure without the relationship. That is to say, the money exchange substitutes for the long-term relationship. In every society, there will always be people who will (at least for a period) resort to short cuts or the easy way in terms of providing pleasure for themselves without regard to the long-term consequences. But any such short-cut or easy way will always interfere with any existing or future long-term relationship.
I guess there is a sort of parallel in hiring a servant to look after a baby or an aged parent. That is different from looking after the baby or parent yourself. Naturally, some services can be bought. But the very process of buying the service distances you from the personal commitment (and therefore the relationship) involved. In other words, it changes the relationship.
No society believes that faithfulness (which is different from "possessiveness") is easy. That is why sexual pleasure is bounded by moral, social and psychological factors in every society, even in what is reputed to be the "free" West.
Of all the philosophies regarding sex, the most difficult of all is the philosophy of Jesus according to whom the ideal sexual relationship is one man and one woman for life, in which care and nurture and understanding each other provides a superior context for, as well as quality of, sexual pleasure. Naturally, in the historical gospel accounts regarding him, his teaching was not based on personal experience but on first principles going back to his understanding and teaching regarding the origin of the universe and of human beings.
However, the most difficult teaching of Jesus was at least one of the factors that, according to social historians, led to the rise of the West from being one of the poorest parts of the world to one of the richest.
It is also interesting that the teaching of Jesus instinctively finds resonance in societies such as ours (Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Jain....) in which there is no other basis for any teaching about one man-one woman in our own traditions, so that most middle-class Indians favour at least theoretically the notion of one man-one woman, even though all our great teachers and scriptures nowhere put forward such a notion. Hindu tradition is traditionally polygamous and polyandrous as can be seen in the Vedas, Puranas, and so on; Islam allows four wives and innumerable "temporary wives", Buddhism and Jainism have very little to say on the subject. The sexual antics of many of our great gurus are common knowledge but do not detract from their supposed "holiness" because, in our tradition, such gurus are "liberated" from the moral constraints that are supposed to apply to ordinary mortals. Sphere: Related Content
Monday, December 10, 2007
Goa - a land of coconuts in which it is difficult to find coconut water!
One of the puzzles of India is why we have such difficulty in providing basic things even for tourists - which presumably would be at high profit, if one did suplly them.
Try and get coconut water or indeed simple fruit at almost any restaurant in Goa and you'll see what I mean.
You'll find plenty of beer, wine, whisky - as well as coca-cola and other varieties of coloured water.
And if you are vegetarian, Goa is a tough place in which to survive..... very little variety in the kinds of dishes available - as against the huge variety of non-vegetarian dishes.
So Goa is great for non-vegetarians and alcohol-imbibers....but I'm afraid I go to Goa on sufferance.... Sphere: Related Content
Try and get coconut water or indeed simple fruit at almost any restaurant in Goa and you'll see what I mean.
You'll find plenty of beer, wine, whisky - as well as coca-cola and other varieties of coloured water.
And if you are vegetarian, Goa is a tough place in which to survive..... very little variety in the kinds of dishes available - as against the huge variety of non-vegetarian dishes.
So Goa is great for non-vegetarians and alcohol-imbibers....but I'm afraid I go to Goa on sufferance.... Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, December 08, 2007
passports, visas and the limits of achievements
A friend from a Western country writes asking if I can help find a job for an Indian friend, who we may call Vinod for the moment.
Unfortunately, Vinod is one of the many tens of thousands, in Western countries, who have an Indian passport and no appropriate visa for working in these countries.
My friend pleads with me to try to find some solution as Vinod is both extraordinarily gifted and extraordinarily hard-working.
As someone who is very familiar with this problem over many years, I had to say that
it does not matter how gifted or hard-working you are, your passport and visa-status define your minimum and maximum possible achievements in this world.
Though it does not seem that way to many of us, specially when we are young, there is after all Someone outside ourselves who determines where we are born, and to whom we are born. That Someone therefore defnies the entire framework with which, and within which, we have to work out our lives. Sphere: Related Content
Unfortunately, Vinod is one of the many tens of thousands, in Western countries, who have an Indian passport and no appropriate visa for working in these countries.
My friend pleads with me to try to find some solution as Vinod is both extraordinarily gifted and extraordinarily hard-working.
As someone who is very familiar with this problem over many years, I had to say that
it does not matter how gifted or hard-working you are, your passport and visa-status define your minimum and maximum possible achievements in this world.
Though it does not seem that way to many of us, specially when we are young, there is after all Someone outside ourselves who determines where we are born, and to whom we are born. That Someone therefore defnies the entire framework with which, and within which, we have to work out our lives. Sphere: Related Content
Summoning some gods to a court of law?!
A friend draws to my attention an interesting story on a BBC website, concerning a dispute regarding the ownership of 1.4 acre plot of land on which stand temples dedicated to the gods Shri Ram and Shri Hanuman - and the question is: does the land belong to the gods or to the priest?
**Hindu gods get summons from court **
A judge in India summon the Hindu gods Ram and Hanuman to help resolve a property dispute.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7132124.stm >
This will be a fascinating case, setting a precedent for the millions of temples across the land.
And it will be most interesting to know what the priest is proposing to do with the land IF he gets ownership of it:
Demolish the temple and build a mall?!
But is that really more lucrative than having a temple in the first place?
Unlikely. So my guess is that the priest wants to leave the 2 temples to continue producing money on their own, but sell the remaining land, or build on it for commercial purposes , so as to realise some of the "marginal" value of the land. Sphere: Related Content
**Hindu gods get summons from court **
A judge in India summon the Hindu gods Ram and Hanuman to help resolve a property dispute.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7132124.stm >
This will be a fascinating case, setting a precedent for the millions of temples across the land.
And it will be most interesting to know what the priest is proposing to do with the land IF he gets ownership of it:
Demolish the temple and build a mall?!
But is that really more lucrative than having a temple in the first place?
Unlikely. So my guess is that the priest wants to leave the 2 temples to continue producing money on their own, but sell the remaining land, or build on it for commercial purposes , so as to realise some of the "marginal" value of the land. Sphere: Related Content
Thursday, December 06, 2007
On French versus the US Tax Code
A friend is looking for a European CFO who speaks French.
Another responds: "Unfortunately, most of my CFO friends are trying to learn how to interpret the US Tax Code as a second language"
:) Sphere: Related Content
Another responds: "Unfortunately, most of my CFO friends are trying to learn how to interpret the US Tax Code as a second language"
:) Sphere: Related Content
Schools and solving the world's problems
A report on schools around the world, in the most recent issue of The Economist, concludes with the following : "...across the world, the less students know about science, the more optimistic they are about the chances of solving the planet's environmental problems".
Not really surprising, since the more students know about science, the more they realise that our environmental problems are a direct result of scientific advancement, and that, though science and technology certainly have a role to play for example in reducing energy consumption in relation to the same output, solving environmental problems is not primarily a matter of scientific or technological advance, but rather of rational analysis and political will (which always boils down to social, psychological and spiritual resources).
AsI have written elsewhere, the means to address the world's ecological as well as economic problems are already available and have been available for some time. It is because the means have been systematically ignored, specially since the end of WWII, that we have the present mess in the world. Sphere: Related Content
Not really surprising, since the more students know about science, the more they realise that our environmental problems are a direct result of scientific advancement, and that, though science and technology certainly have a role to play for example in reducing energy consumption in relation to the same output, solving environmental problems is not primarily a matter of scientific or technological advance, but rather of rational analysis and political will (which always boils down to social, psychological and spiritual resources).
AsI have written elsewhere, the means to address the world's ecological as well as economic problems are already available and have been available for some time. It is because the means have been systematically ignored, specially since the end of WWII, that we have the present mess in the world. Sphere: Related Content
sand ecology
A report on schools around the world, in the most recent issue of The Economist, concludes with the following : "...across the world, the less students know about science, the more optimistic they are about the chances of solving the planet's environmental problems".
Not really surprising, since the more students know about science, the more they realise that our environmental problems are a direct result of scientific advancement, and that, though science and technology certainly have a role to play for example in reducing energy consumption in relation to the same output, solving environmental problems is not primarily a matter of scientific or technological advance, but rather of rational analysis and political will (which always boils down to social, psychological and spiritual resources).
AsI have written elsewhere, the means to address the world's ecological as well as economic problems are already available and have been available for some time. It is because the means have been systematically ignored, specially since the end of WWII, that we have the present mess in the world. Sphere: Related Content
Not really surprising, since the more students know about science, the more they realise that our environmental problems are a direct result of scientific advancement, and that, though science and technology certainly have a role to play for example in reducing energy consumption in relation to the same output, solving environmental problems is not primarily a matter of scientific or technological advance, but rather of rational analysis and political will (which always boils down to social, psychological and spiritual resources).
AsI have written elsewhere, the means to address the world's ecological as well as economic problems are already available and have been available for some time. It is because the means have been systematically ignored, specially since the end of WWII, that we have the present mess in the world. Sphere: Related Content
Which will be the world's reserve currency in 2035?
In view of the current decline of the dollar, one of the most respected international commentators on financial matters has recently gone on record with the following statements: "By the time the dollar has lost its (reserve currency) status, somewhere around 2035, the Chinese renminbi or even the Indian rupee - not the euro - will be best placed to take over its mantle. ...The biggest risk to a RMB-standard by the mid-21st century is that between 2007 and 2035, there is likely to be major political change in China. This may be as smooth as the "velvet revolution" in the former Czechoslovakia in 1989 or it may be as tumultuous as China's own cultural revolution of the 1960s. However, if China is delayed or diverted by politics, it is not clear that this provides an opportunity for Euroland in 2035. India's economic and political path, by contrast, appears well set. China's one-child policy makes it all the more likely that India will end up with the largest population and, one day, the largest economy in the world".
Being Indian, I am naturally flattered by such views. It is also true that China's population is set to decline before India's, and that India will in all probability be the most populous country in the world, from something like 2035. However, the world's most populous country has not always had the largest economy - think China from about 1875 to a few years ago. By contrast, think of a rather small country (France) having one of the largest economies in the world from approximately 1625 - 1825; or think of another small country (the UK) having one of the largest economies in the world from about 1825 - 1950; or indeed think of one of the smallest countries in the world by population (Sweden) which had the world's second largest economy between 1775 - 1800. In other words, size of population has often had relatively little to do with size of economy.
Regretfully, therefore, I must decline to agree with the basis of my colleague's prognostication about the world's currency in 2035 - though, as I say, being Indian, I hope that he is right on other grounds nevertheless :)
My own sober view is that there will be no single reserve currency within the current global system as the system is multipolar and unstable, and will continue to be so till any country (possibly Russia? - unpalatable thought! - but possibly in alliance with Europe, which may make this more palatable!) establishes military superiority. Which explains why the world's arms sales are soaring, as every country is now rushing to arm itself in order to expand its reach and/ or in order to defend itself. China may collapse in the future, but it won't be because the Chinese are stupid. It will be because they have an inappropriate system which will make it very difficult for them to negotiate the future. India has an appropriate system (democracy) but it is as yet unclear whether the secularists will win the culture war currently underway or whether the Hindu fascists will win; the latter would like to take the country back to the middle ages - if not earlier! Russia has an inappropriate system (at present Putin's de facto dictatorship) but, with its relatively sparse population, it will have plenty of gas on which to base its growth - though it will also face the danger of collapse because of its inappropriate political system. Europe has both the right system and the right culture, so my bet is on Europe, possibly in alliance with Russia - or possibly Russia will be a part of a reconstructed Europe by then. Sphere: Related Content
Being Indian, I am naturally flattered by such views. It is also true that China's population is set to decline before India's, and that India will in all probability be the most populous country in the world, from something like 2035. However, the world's most populous country has not always had the largest economy - think China from about 1875 to a few years ago. By contrast, think of a rather small country (France) having one of the largest economies in the world from approximately 1625 - 1825; or think of another small country (the UK) having one of the largest economies in the world from about 1825 - 1950; or indeed think of one of the smallest countries in the world by population (Sweden) which had the world's second largest economy between 1775 - 1800. In other words, size of population has often had relatively little to do with size of economy.
Regretfully, therefore, I must decline to agree with the basis of my colleague's prognostication about the world's currency in 2035 - though, as I say, being Indian, I hope that he is right on other grounds nevertheless :)
My own sober view is that there will be no single reserve currency within the current global system as the system is multipolar and unstable, and will continue to be so till any country (possibly Russia? - unpalatable thought! - but possibly in alliance with Europe, which may make this more palatable!) establishes military superiority. Which explains why the world's arms sales are soaring, as every country is now rushing to arm itself in order to expand its reach and/ or in order to defend itself. China may collapse in the future, but it won't be because the Chinese are stupid. It will be because they have an inappropriate system which will make it very difficult for them to negotiate the future. India has an appropriate system (democracy) but it is as yet unclear whether the secularists will win the culture war currently underway or whether the Hindu fascists will win; the latter would like to take the country back to the middle ages - if not earlier! Russia has an inappropriate system (at present Putin's de facto dictatorship) but, with its relatively sparse population, it will have plenty of gas on which to base its growth - though it will also face the danger of collapse because of its inappropriate political system. Europe has both the right system and the right culture, so my bet is on Europe, possibly in alliance with Russia - or possibly Russia will be a part of a reconstructed Europe by then. Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Should we support NGOs?
A friend writes on a list that I subscribe to: "NGOs hold up development in deeply impoverished rural areas offering much, delivering little and spreading fear amongst local people. Ultimately the locals begin to realize that without development they can never achieve the lifestyle that the donors and management of these very NGOs live on a daily basis - in Islington or Kensington or Double Bay. If you want more on this topic, get the movie "Mine Your Own business" - it's a franklook at the NGO business, the damage they do and they say in their very own words".
My response:
Certainly, there are NGOs as well as scientific institutions/ organisations around the world that are neither as honest nor as effective as they should be.
Equally, there are honest and effective scientific institutions/ organisations - just as there are honest and effective NGOs.
Honest/effective NGOs believe in independent assessment by qualified outsiders - and publish audited accounts which state clearly how much of the money reaches the intended beneficiaries and how much gets eaten up in administration et al.
A similar point might apply to scientific institutions/ organisations, except that the whole of the "science industry" is vitiated by politics - I mean of the national or "Party Political" sort, since a lot of funding comes from national governments.
Individuals can choose *not* to give to NGOs - and can choose, if they wish to give, the NGO they prefer. They do not have any such choice in relation to taxation.
We all know that underdevelopment is a choice that political elites make in the interests of their own pockets (as can be seen starkly in Sudan, Zimbabwe and other countries), and we know that NGOs can do little about that. But what honest and effective NGOs can do is to make some marginal difference to a few lives here and there - which is important for those lives. If someone on this list can point to some organisation dedicated to "shifting" the stance of guilty political elites (not only in the three-fourths world), I will happily join that individual and organisation. Meanwhile, I am committed to making what difference I can through honest and trustworthy NGOs.
On this list, the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) has often been attacked for being "political". I could pursue this also in relation to some scientific institutions/organisations in India. No doubt others could do so in relation to some scientific institutions/ organisations in other countries - or even most scientific institutions/organisations in relation to certain countries.
Attacking any or all such NGOs/ scientific organisations/ institutions gets us nowhere".
In response, a correspondent responds with an illustration: "Sofia - now a city of 900,000 motor vehicles does not have a garbage dump. Garbage is collected and compressed and baled and then trucked 150 kilometres to a remote disposal site outside the second largest city in he country - Plovdiv. Why? Because of local NGOs with strong political connections. The NGOs have more than strong ties with the Socialists with the main ones in Bulgaria having been founded by the Sons of Communist era Generals one of whom is VP of the country). Why is Plovdiv willing to take the garbage? - US10 million a year I believe".
My response:
The problem in Bulgaria is clearly not NGOs per se but the fact that they are manipulated by the political elite there ... as happens in so many other parts of the world.
Conclusion: We need to scrutinise NGOs just as we need to scrutinise companies - or governments, for that matter. The human tendency to twist for personal benefit whatever can be twisted has to be watched in every sphere of activity. But that does not mean that we can do without governments, companies or NGOs. The difference is that companies rely on investors, workers and customers; and governments rely on the consent of the governed; while NGOs rely on the goodwill of ordinary people. Corrupt NGOs need to be "outed" in order to maintain the credibility of the entire NGO sector. In my view, non-corrupt NGOs do not do enough to "out" the corrupt NGOs. But, at the end of the day, "outing" corrupt NGOs is the responsibility of every human being. Sphere: Related Content
My response:
Certainly, there are NGOs as well as scientific institutions/ organisations around the world that are neither as honest nor as effective as they should be.
Equally, there are honest and effective scientific institutions/ organisations - just as there are honest and effective NGOs.
Honest/effective NGOs believe in independent assessment by qualified outsiders - and publish audited accounts which state clearly how much of the money reaches the intended beneficiaries and how much gets eaten up in administration et al.
A similar point might apply to scientific institutions/ organisations, except that the whole of the "science industry" is vitiated by politics - I mean of the national or "Party Political" sort, since a lot of funding comes from national governments.
Individuals can choose *not* to give to NGOs - and can choose, if they wish to give, the NGO they prefer. They do not have any such choice in relation to taxation.
We all know that underdevelopment is a choice that political elites make in the interests of their own pockets (as can be seen starkly in Sudan, Zimbabwe and other countries), and we know that NGOs can do little about that. But what honest and effective NGOs can do is to make some marginal difference to a few lives here and there - which is important for those lives. If someone on this list can point to some organisation dedicated to "shifting" the stance of guilty political elites (not only in the three-fourths world), I will happily join that individual and organisation. Meanwhile, I am committed to making what difference I can through honest and trustworthy NGOs.
On this list, the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) has often been attacked for being "political". I could pursue this also in relation to some scientific institutions/organisations in India. No doubt others could do so in relation to some scientific institutions/ organisations in other countries - or even most scientific institutions/organisations in relation to certain countries.
Attacking any or all such NGOs/ scientific organisations/ institutions gets us nowhere".
In response, a correspondent responds with an illustration: "Sofia - now a city of 900,000 motor vehicles does not have a garbage dump. Garbage is collected and compressed and baled and then trucked 150 kilometres to a remote disposal site outside the second largest city in he country - Plovdiv. Why? Because of local NGOs with strong political connections. The NGOs have more than strong ties with the Socialists with the main ones in Bulgaria having been founded by the Sons of Communist era Generals one of whom is VP of the country). Why is Plovdiv willing to take the garbage? - US10 million a year I believe".
My response:
The problem in Bulgaria is clearly not NGOs per se but the fact that they are manipulated by the political elite there ... as happens in so many other parts of the world.
Conclusion: We need to scrutinise NGOs just as we need to scrutinise companies - or governments, for that matter. The human tendency to twist for personal benefit whatever can be twisted has to be watched in every sphere of activity. But that does not mean that we can do without governments, companies or NGOs. The difference is that companies rely on investors, workers and customers; and governments rely on the consent of the governed; while NGOs rely on the goodwill of ordinary people. Corrupt NGOs need to be "outed" in order to maintain the credibility of the entire NGO sector. In my view, non-corrupt NGOs do not do enough to "out" the corrupt NGOs. But, at the end of the day, "outing" corrupt NGOs is the responsibility of every human being. Sphere: Related Content
Should Germany ban Scientology?
Readers who know Germany better than I do will not need to be reminded that Hamburg is a city-state and has its own Minister for the Interior. Nor will they need to be informed that Hamburg's interior minister is Udo Nagel.
Some of us lesser mortals have become acquainted with Nagel's name following the story that he is seeking a nationwide ban against Scientology, on the grounds that this cult is an "unconstitutional big business": http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,521262,00.htmlAs I am not an expert on the German constitution, I will ignore that aspect of this story but here is the rest of it, with my comments in brackets: German officials consider Scientology a business, not a religion, and tax it accordingly. Scientologists, naturally, complain about this as 'religious discrimination'. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) apparently ruled that Scientology is a religion (though it is not clear to me what competence the ECHR has in matters of religion nor am I sure whether the ECHR considered the fact that there can be religions which are big business - probably the best other examples are the Roman Catholic Church, the Moonies and the Hare Krishna). Scientologists enjoy the same freedom as any other business in Germany. Berlin has a Scientology Center, and the famous Scientologist Tom Cruise came to Berlin this year to film a big-budget Hollywood film -- even, after some debate, in restricted Nazi-era buildings. Anyway, Nagel's argument is that Scientology is not only a commercial enterprise but also an "anti-constitutional" group with "aggressively fierce" tactics. The German Office for the Protection of the Constitution has watched the group for years because of its recruitment practices. The German government worries that Scientology, as a foreign organization, wants to win over adherents and influence German politics. "There is substantial evidence that the Scientology organization is involved in activities directed against the free democratic order," the agency has written in official reports. Nagel hinted at his new campaign last summer, when he said that Scientology aimed at nothing less than the "complete repression of the individual." But a single German state can't push through a ban. So Nagel is taking his case to colleagues in other states with the idea of forging a nationwide prohibition.
This is an interesting line for an Interior Minister to take. My own instincts are for religious and business freedom. However, Scientology is a special case in that it seems to use, as the German point of view quoted above indicates, psychological techniques to repress individuals. The question that remains is whether, in a free society, individuals should not be free to belong to groups that repress their "normal" members (apparently, they treat their "star" members as royalty, instead). The only problem with my libertarian view is that once someone has become a Scientologist, it is extremely difficult to get out - and even those who get out find themselves having suffered, and continuing to suffer, physical, mental and emotional harm (at least, that is the claim made by ex-Scientologists).
In any case, it might be argued, from a national security point of view, all that matters whether individuals, repressed or otherwise, pose a real security threat. With Islamic Jehadists, the answer is clear. With Scientology (though I dislike it intensely), I have to say that the answer is not at all clear. So far as I know, no Scientologist has attempted by any violent means to attack any nation state.
I conclude that Minister Nagel is going down the wrong track. There may be very good grounds in German law to proceed against Scientology (and certainly no one should look on Scientology with anything but contempt), but national security has, so far, not (to public knowledge) been a matter of any substantial concern in relation to Scientology.
Scientology is considered, in Germany, a profit-oriented "psycho-group" or "commercial cult" with totalitarian internal structures and undemocratic goals - specifically, one that it is "striving for world power". A German national commission established in 1996 to investigate "so-called sects and psycho-groups" including Scientology, concluded in its report that such groups did not at present pose a threat to society and state, and underlined the constitutional principle of religious freedom as well as the state's obligation to observe strict neutrality in these matters. However, it called upon the Government to introduce legislation for consumer protection in the "psycho-market" and highlighted the need for the Government to inform the public about dangers to health and property posed by psycho-cults and groups. Particular emphasis was placed on Scientology because it allegedly pursues policies of "misinformation" and "intimidation of its critics", according to the report. Scientology has been described as "an unscrupulous commercial enterprise that harasses its critics and abuses the trust of its members".
The way to deal with Scientology is through consumer education and the same kind of appropriate legal action which one takes against other "unscrupulous commercial enterprises" when they are discovered doing something for which they can be taken to court.
Herr Nagel's approach may appeal to some individuals and officials in Germany but it is almost certainly not the right approach. Sphere: Related Content
Some of us lesser mortals have become acquainted with Nagel's name following the story that he is seeking a nationwide ban against Scientology, on the grounds that this cult is an "unconstitutional big business": http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,521262,00.htmlAs I am not an expert on the German constitution, I will ignore that aspect of this story but here is the rest of it, with my comments in brackets: German officials consider Scientology a business, not a religion, and tax it accordingly. Scientologists, naturally, complain about this as 'religious discrimination'. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) apparently ruled that Scientology is a religion (though it is not clear to me what competence the ECHR has in matters of religion nor am I sure whether the ECHR considered the fact that there can be religions which are big business - probably the best other examples are the Roman Catholic Church, the Moonies and the Hare Krishna). Scientologists enjoy the same freedom as any other business in Germany. Berlin has a Scientology Center, and the famous Scientologist Tom Cruise came to Berlin this year to film a big-budget Hollywood film -- even, after some debate, in restricted Nazi-era buildings. Anyway, Nagel's argument is that Scientology is not only a commercial enterprise but also an "anti-constitutional" group with "aggressively fierce" tactics. The German Office for the Protection of the Constitution has watched the group for years because of its recruitment practices. The German government worries that Scientology, as a foreign organization, wants to win over adherents and influence German politics. "There is substantial evidence that the Scientology organization is involved in activities directed against the free democratic order," the agency has written in official reports. Nagel hinted at his new campaign last summer, when he said that Scientology aimed at nothing less than the "complete repression of the individual." But a single German state can't push through a ban. So Nagel is taking his case to colleagues in other states with the idea of forging a nationwide prohibition.
This is an interesting line for an Interior Minister to take. My own instincts are for religious and business freedom. However, Scientology is a special case in that it seems to use, as the German point of view quoted above indicates, psychological techniques to repress individuals. The question that remains is whether, in a free society, individuals should not be free to belong to groups that repress their "normal" members (apparently, they treat their "star" members as royalty, instead). The only problem with my libertarian view is that once someone has become a Scientologist, it is extremely difficult to get out - and even those who get out find themselves having suffered, and continuing to suffer, physical, mental and emotional harm (at least, that is the claim made by ex-Scientologists).
In any case, it might be argued, from a national security point of view, all that matters whether individuals, repressed or otherwise, pose a real security threat. With Islamic Jehadists, the answer is clear. With Scientology (though I dislike it intensely), I have to say that the answer is not at all clear. So far as I know, no Scientologist has attempted by any violent means to attack any nation state.
I conclude that Minister Nagel is going down the wrong track. There may be very good grounds in German law to proceed against Scientology (and certainly no one should look on Scientology with anything but contempt), but national security has, so far, not (to public knowledge) been a matter of any substantial concern in relation to Scientology.
Scientology is considered, in Germany, a profit-oriented "psycho-group" or "commercial cult" with totalitarian internal structures and undemocratic goals - specifically, one that it is "striving for world power". A German national commission established in 1996 to investigate "so-called sects and psycho-groups" including Scientology, concluded in its report that such groups did not at present pose a threat to society and state, and underlined the constitutional principle of religious freedom as well as the state's obligation to observe strict neutrality in these matters. However, it called upon the Government to introduce legislation for consumer protection in the "psycho-market" and highlighted the need for the Government to inform the public about dangers to health and property posed by psycho-cults and groups. Particular emphasis was placed on Scientology because it allegedly pursues policies of "misinformation" and "intimidation of its critics", according to the report. Scientology has been described as "an unscrupulous commercial enterprise that harasses its critics and abuses the trust of its members".
The way to deal with Scientology is through consumer education and the same kind of appropriate legal action which one takes against other "unscrupulous commercial enterprises" when they are discovered doing something for which they can be taken to court.
Herr Nagel's approach may appeal to some individuals and officials in Germany but it is almost certainly not the right approach. Sphere: Related Content
Islamic Autocracy, Fundamentalism and Refugees
Perhaps some kind soul (preferably Muslim, as that will be more likely to be authoritative) will explain to me why autocrats, specially from Muslim cultures, like to sponsor fundamentalist Islam?
We have seen the phenomenon in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other countries in the past. Now we are seeing the phenomenon in Malaysia where Hindus seem to be losing their rights.
And I see today that the Constitutional Assembly in the Maldives has just passed an amendment stating that “none except Muslims can be Maldivian citizens”. If implemented, this amendment to the constitution will mean that a number of Maldivians will lose their citizenship and become stateless. President Gayoom's autocratic regime has been promoting militant Islamism in the Maldives, so that it is now common to punish any person who follows, preaches or simply reads texts of other religions until he or she turns to Islam. The President did promise to take measures to combat Islamic extremism after a bomb explosion earlier this year, attributed to an Islamic militant group, injured a number of tourists. However, President Gayoom has done nothing to implement that promise (as far as I am aware) , and the amendment referred to above will be like more meat to the fundamentalist beast.
Meanwhile, there is one other consideration: if the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is right, the Maldives will be one of the countries which will completely drown in the foreseeable future as the sea-level rises.
That means that all the 300,000 inhabitants (or whatever the total population then is) will have to become refugees in other countries.
It will certainly be far easier for them to be accepted as refugees in other parts of the world if measures are taken to create a more liberal and tolerant society in Maldives.
Since Islamic societies become steadily poorer than they need to be, it is not surprising that their record for absorbing refugees is not exactly outstanding. Sphere: Related Content
We have seen the phenomenon in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other countries in the past. Now we are seeing the phenomenon in Malaysia where Hindus seem to be losing their rights.
And I see today that the Constitutional Assembly in the Maldives has just passed an amendment stating that “none except Muslims can be Maldivian citizens”. If implemented, this amendment to the constitution will mean that a number of Maldivians will lose their citizenship and become stateless. President Gayoom's autocratic regime has been promoting militant Islamism in the Maldives, so that it is now common to punish any person who follows, preaches or simply reads texts of other religions until he or she turns to Islam. The President did promise to take measures to combat Islamic extremism after a bomb explosion earlier this year, attributed to an Islamic militant group, injured a number of tourists. However, President Gayoom has done nothing to implement that promise (as far as I am aware) , and the amendment referred to above will be like more meat to the fundamentalist beast.
Meanwhile, there is one other consideration: if the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is right, the Maldives will be one of the countries which will completely drown in the foreseeable future as the sea-level rises.
That means that all the 300,000 inhabitants (or whatever the total population then is) will have to become refugees in other countries.
It will certainly be far easier for them to be accepted as refugees in other parts of the world if measures are taken to create a more liberal and tolerant society in Maldives.
Since Islamic societies become steadily poorer than they need to be, it is not surprising that their record for absorbing refugees is not exactly outstanding. Sphere: Related Content
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Eyewitness account of the assassination attempt on the Governor of Goa, on a visit to Nagaland a few days ago
As I have not noticed any media picking up the story of the facts regarding the assassination attempt, here is the account of the ambush by the Officer of Special Duty to the Governor, Mr Zumvu:
Facts about the Ambush on His Excellency SC Jamir, Governor of Goa at Changki village area, Mokokchung, Nagaland on November 24, 2007
1. His Excellency SC Jamir, Governor of Goa reached Mokokchung on November 19, 2007 ton a private visit. After completion of his engagements, as per his schedule, he was to depart Mokokchung on November 24, 2007 to Calcutta via Dimapur by Indian Airlines.
2. From the day His Excellency arrived at Mokokchung, intelligence reports from the Administration as well as well-wishing public informed the Raj Bhawan Officials that insurgents were determined not to let him get out of Mokokchung and that they were planning to lay ambush on His Excellency’s convoy when he travels out of the State. On November 22, 2007, it was learnt from highly placed sources that the Ministry of Home Affairs had sent a red alert to the State Government that miscreants were likely to lay ambush on His Excellency when he travels by road. A security coordination meeting was accordingly called the same morning at the residence of His Excellency which was attended by the Deputy Commissioner, Mokokchung, SP Mokokchung, PSO attached to His Excellency and officials of the Raj Bhawan Goa traveling with the VVIP. In the meeting, His Excellency asked the DC to alert all the GBs of the villages along the Mokokchung-Mariani road and sanitize their respective areas. It was also decided that additional security forces would be requisitioned and that Road Opening Parties would be arranged in all the three exit routes from Mokokchung, namely, NH 61 via Wokha, NH 61 via Tuli and State Highway via Mariani. His Excellency decided to go by the State Highway via Mariani. In addition to the security personnel, two bullet proof ambassador cars were also requisitioned, and the same were provided though not in very good condition.
3. Raj Bhawan officials accompanying His Excellency were in constant touch with the Intelligence personnel as well as villagers. The local functionaries of the NSCN were reported to be unaware of any plans to ambush the VVIP. But at the same time, well wishers conveyed their apprehension that even if militants were to do any mischief, it would be carried out by some special hit teams and that the local functionaries would be kept in the dark. On November 23rd evening, highly placed and reliable sources reported that one self styled Lt Col Hopeson Tangkhul of the NSCN (IM) had arrived in Mokokchung for some undisclosed purpose. In spite of the reports of security threat on His Excellency, it was felt that the factions of the NSCN would not dare to violate the Ceasefire by laying ambush on the visiting Governor. Nevertheless, all necessary security arrangements were made and even the SP and SDO © Mokokchung accompanied the VVIP’s convoy.
4. On November 24th morning, the ADC to the Governor and I, the undersigned approached His Excellency a few minutes before 5.00 a.m. and requested him to sit in a bullet proof car at least till Mariani. However, the request was not heeded and the VVIP decided to travel in his own car. His reasoning was that how he could be so selfish as to travel in a bullet proof car when the security personnel traveling with him were in open vehicles exposed to bullets.
5. At 5.00 a.m. on November 24, His Excellency and the Lady Governor got into the vehicle. The two VIP “dummy” cars, my private car and the pick up vehicle used to transport the kitchen attendants and ration which were parked in the compound of the residence, moved out of the gate. All the other police vehicles were parked outside the compound. However, on the road below the VVIP’s residence, the convoy stopped for a few minutes for the security personnel to arrange the convoy sequence. Till the time the ambush took place when the His Excellency had to be shifted out of the VIP Car, I myself did not know in which car the VVIP was in.
6. At about 6.20 to 6.25 a.m. after crossing Changki village towards Mariani when the convoy slowed down at a landslide/sinkage area, huge explosions rocked the area followed by heavy gun fire. The convoy came to a stop as the commandoes got out of their vehicles and quickly retaliated to the gunshots coming out of the thick foliage above the road. There was a heavy exchange of fire for several minutes, followed by intermittent burst of gun shot from the ambushers whose number or positions were not known. I was asked by the driver and the commandoes standing nearby to move on to the nullah/drainage for protection. There were some freshly unloaded boulders of rocks for road repairs near my vehicle and it was there that I and some drivers and unarmed uniformed attendants took shelter. Lying there in the drain I made phone calls to Raj Bhawan Goa, media persons, police and administrative officers in other districts of Nagaland and Assam informing them of what was taking place at that moment. After a few minutes, the SP Mokokchung came running to where I was taking shelter and asked where and how His Excellency was. I pointed towards the next turning and whispered, for fear of alerting the ambushers about the exact location of the VVIP, that the VVIP was in the next turning. At a time when bullets were flying everywhere, the SP ran over towards the VVIP only with a pistol in his hand without taking cover or shelter and not bothering at all about his own saftey. He went round the turn of the highway towards the VVIP and after a few minutes, he came back to where I was and said His Excellency was calling for me. At the same time, he shouted for the bullet proof car which was a few vehicles away from where we were, to proceed towards the VVIP car. This was after 10 to 15 minutes when the explosions and firing started.
7. By this time, it was obvious that the concentration of gun fire was aimed at the VVIP car and not on any of the other vehicles in the convoy. With extreme precaution and taking shelter of the retaining wall, I approached a few metres to where the VIP car was and saw that the VVIP was being taken into the bullet proof car. From the place where I was taking refuge, I could clearly see that as he was being taken into the BP car, his back was exposed to the ambushers’ gunfire. I noticed that the VIP car was driven to the nullah/drain and the edge of the side of the road provided natural cover to the car and that the bullets from the ambushers were ricocheting away on the tarred road unable to touch the VIP car. But the area in which the BP car was parked and in which the VVIP was taken into, was exposed to the bullets of the ambushers. However, the ring round security personnel provided heavy covering fire while the VVIP was being taken into the BP car and after a few seconds, the VVIP was whisked away.
8. A minute or so after the VVIP was taken away to safety, there was a heavy burst of gun fire again. This was promptly reciprocated by the commandoes who were kneeling by the side of the road exposed to the oncoming gun shots. I could see bullets ricocheting away on the ground kicking up dust and smoke a few inches away from them. It was as if they thought they were immune to bullets. From my position, I could see a few fairly large craters along the drain very close to the stranded VIP car. I was later told by the commandoes that four bombs went off simultaneously next to the VIP Car and that a few 2-inch mortars too exploded in close proximity of the car. The ADC to the Governor who was in the VIP car with the VVIP later told me that while getting out of the car to the BP car, he saw two unexploded mortars not even five feet away from the VIP car. He said he picked up one and threw it away below the road, while the PSO did the same to the other.
9. The rest of the convoy was stranded because the ambushers fired intermittently at us. We could not get out of the place for several minutes but once it was noticed by the sounds of the gun shots that the ambushers were retreating, the rest of the convoy slowly moved out of the ambush site to join up with the VVIP some 15 minutes later during which time/interval/distance, I saw that the nearest ROP personnel were no where near the site of the incident. The two uniformed personnel providing road protection/opening were at least a kilometer or so away from the site and they did not appear to be aware of the ambush.
10. The convoy then proceeded towards Tsutapela Gate, Nagaland where security personnel from Assam Police were also waiting and after a quarter of an hour or so, the convoy proceeded towards Dimapur. DGP Nagaland and Additional DGP received the VVIP at the NH 31 and NH 39 junction in Assam and escorted him till Chumukedima. There were also scores of vehicles belonging to well wishers at the Nagaland Check gate to receive and follow the VVIP back to Dimapur.
11. At Dimapur, I was informed by the Assistant Commandant of the 9 IRB which provided the VVIP security and protection till Dimapur, that the site of the incident was “swept” by his bomb disposal party at 4.30 a.m. that morning. Later in the day, I was informed by police officers that more bombs have been detected and that the whole place was cordoned off. Passengers traveling on that route that morning were stranded for a few hours, and some of them phoned up through mobile phones that they heard a very loud explosion. It was learned that the Assam Rifles party had detected more than ten High Explosive Devices and other assorted explosives buried in four places in the drain underneath boulders. Huge impoverished gelatin bombs around which splitters were tied to have more devastating effects were detected and one was exploded by the Assam Rifles party. It was also informed that had even a single one exploded, it would have devastated several vehicles in the vicinity. It was sheer providence that these explosives could not be detonated by the ambushers.
12. I think it was also the large number of commandoes providing security to His Excellency that deterred the ambushers to come closer to their target. There were around 65 to 70 armed commandoes from the 9 IRB and DEF Kohima and other units at the time of the ambush. At Dimapur, when the bullets were counted, it was found that more than 800 rounds were fired by the commandoes in a time span of 25 to 30 minutes.
13. Recalling about the whole incident, I note with particular concern that the ambushers knew exactly in which car the VVIP was in. After the initial melee and confusion when I felt bullets were flying everywhere – and indeed it was so – I noticed that most of the shots were fired at the VVIP car. The dummy cars, it appears, did not fool the ambushers.
14. It was also a quite a coincidence that no ROP personnel were near the site of the ambush. The two uniformed personnel I saw after the ambush were more than a kilometer away and they did not appear to be aware that the ambush had taken place. Or if they were aware, they were taking it pretty cool.
15. The site was said to be swept by the bomb disposal team at 4.30 a.m. that day, as reported to me by the Assistant Commandant of the 9 IRB. The ambushers must have been in a very large number to have planted not one or two, but eight bombs between 4.30 a.m. and 6.25 a.m.
16. Four non-locals whom I presumed to be labourers engaged in road repairs, were standing by the side of the road barely a hundred metres or so from the site of the ambush. I do not know when or how they got there, or what they were doing there, but investigating agencies might get some inputs from them.
Dated Panaji the 2nd December, 2007 (Sebastian Zumvu)
OSD to Governor
Goa Sphere: Related Content
Facts about the Ambush on His Excellency SC Jamir, Governor of Goa at Changki village area, Mokokchung, Nagaland on November 24, 2007
1. His Excellency SC Jamir, Governor of Goa reached Mokokchung on November 19, 2007 ton a private visit. After completion of his engagements, as per his schedule, he was to depart Mokokchung on November 24, 2007 to Calcutta via Dimapur by Indian Airlines.
2. From the day His Excellency arrived at Mokokchung, intelligence reports from the Administration as well as well-wishing public informed the Raj Bhawan Officials that insurgents were determined not to let him get out of Mokokchung and that they were planning to lay ambush on His Excellency’s convoy when he travels out of the State. On November 22, 2007, it was learnt from highly placed sources that the Ministry of Home Affairs had sent a red alert to the State Government that miscreants were likely to lay ambush on His Excellency when he travels by road. A security coordination meeting was accordingly called the same morning at the residence of His Excellency which was attended by the Deputy Commissioner, Mokokchung, SP Mokokchung, PSO attached to His Excellency and officials of the Raj Bhawan Goa traveling with the VVIP. In the meeting, His Excellency asked the DC to alert all the GBs of the villages along the Mokokchung-Mariani road and sanitize their respective areas. It was also decided that additional security forces would be requisitioned and that Road Opening Parties would be arranged in all the three exit routes from Mokokchung, namely, NH 61 via Wokha, NH 61 via Tuli and State Highway via Mariani. His Excellency decided to go by the State Highway via Mariani. In addition to the security personnel, two bullet proof ambassador cars were also requisitioned, and the same were provided though not in very good condition.
3. Raj Bhawan officials accompanying His Excellency were in constant touch with the Intelligence personnel as well as villagers. The local functionaries of the NSCN were reported to be unaware of any plans to ambush the VVIP. But at the same time, well wishers conveyed their apprehension that even if militants were to do any mischief, it would be carried out by some special hit teams and that the local functionaries would be kept in the dark. On November 23rd evening, highly placed and reliable sources reported that one self styled Lt Col Hopeson Tangkhul of the NSCN (IM) had arrived in Mokokchung for some undisclosed purpose. In spite of the reports of security threat on His Excellency, it was felt that the factions of the NSCN would not dare to violate the Ceasefire by laying ambush on the visiting Governor. Nevertheless, all necessary security arrangements were made and even the SP and SDO © Mokokchung accompanied the VVIP’s convoy.
4. On November 24th morning, the ADC to the Governor and I, the undersigned approached His Excellency a few minutes before 5.00 a.m. and requested him to sit in a bullet proof car at least till Mariani. However, the request was not heeded and the VVIP decided to travel in his own car. His reasoning was that how he could be so selfish as to travel in a bullet proof car when the security personnel traveling with him were in open vehicles exposed to bullets.
5. At 5.00 a.m. on November 24, His Excellency and the Lady Governor got into the vehicle. The two VIP “dummy” cars, my private car and the pick up vehicle used to transport the kitchen attendants and ration which were parked in the compound of the residence, moved out of the gate. All the other police vehicles were parked outside the compound. However, on the road below the VVIP’s residence, the convoy stopped for a few minutes for the security personnel to arrange the convoy sequence. Till the time the ambush took place when the His Excellency had to be shifted out of the VIP Car, I myself did not know in which car the VVIP was in.
6. At about 6.20 to 6.25 a.m. after crossing Changki village towards Mariani when the convoy slowed down at a landslide/sinkage area, huge explosions rocked the area followed by heavy gun fire. The convoy came to a stop as the commandoes got out of their vehicles and quickly retaliated to the gunshots coming out of the thick foliage above the road. There was a heavy exchange of fire for several minutes, followed by intermittent burst of gun shot from the ambushers whose number or positions were not known. I was asked by the driver and the commandoes standing nearby to move on to the nullah/drainage for protection. There were some freshly unloaded boulders of rocks for road repairs near my vehicle and it was there that I and some drivers and unarmed uniformed attendants took shelter. Lying there in the drain I made phone calls to Raj Bhawan Goa, media persons, police and administrative officers in other districts of Nagaland and Assam informing them of what was taking place at that moment. After a few minutes, the SP Mokokchung came running to where I was taking shelter and asked where and how His Excellency was. I pointed towards the next turning and whispered, for fear of alerting the ambushers about the exact location of the VVIP, that the VVIP was in the next turning. At a time when bullets were flying everywhere, the SP ran over towards the VVIP only with a pistol in his hand without taking cover or shelter and not bothering at all about his own saftey. He went round the turn of the highway towards the VVIP and after a few minutes, he came back to where I was and said His Excellency was calling for me. At the same time, he shouted for the bullet proof car which was a few vehicles away from where we were, to proceed towards the VVIP car. This was after 10 to 15 minutes when the explosions and firing started.
7. By this time, it was obvious that the concentration of gun fire was aimed at the VVIP car and not on any of the other vehicles in the convoy. With extreme precaution and taking shelter of the retaining wall, I approached a few metres to where the VIP car was and saw that the VVIP was being taken into the bullet proof car. From the place where I was taking refuge, I could clearly see that as he was being taken into the BP car, his back was exposed to the ambushers’ gunfire. I noticed that the VIP car was driven to the nullah/drain and the edge of the side of the road provided natural cover to the car and that the bullets from the ambushers were ricocheting away on the tarred road unable to touch the VIP car. But the area in which the BP car was parked and in which the VVIP was taken into, was exposed to the bullets of the ambushers. However, the ring round security personnel provided heavy covering fire while the VVIP was being taken into the BP car and after a few seconds, the VVIP was whisked away.
8. A minute or so after the VVIP was taken away to safety, there was a heavy burst of gun fire again. This was promptly reciprocated by the commandoes who were kneeling by the side of the road exposed to the oncoming gun shots. I could see bullets ricocheting away on the ground kicking up dust and smoke a few inches away from them. It was as if they thought they were immune to bullets. From my position, I could see a few fairly large craters along the drain very close to the stranded VIP car. I was later told by the commandoes that four bombs went off simultaneously next to the VIP Car and that a few 2-inch mortars too exploded in close proximity of the car. The ADC to the Governor who was in the VIP car with the VVIP later told me that while getting out of the car to the BP car, he saw two unexploded mortars not even five feet away from the VIP car. He said he picked up one and threw it away below the road, while the PSO did the same to the other.
9. The rest of the convoy was stranded because the ambushers fired intermittently at us. We could not get out of the place for several minutes but once it was noticed by the sounds of the gun shots that the ambushers were retreating, the rest of the convoy slowly moved out of the ambush site to join up with the VVIP some 15 minutes later during which time/interval/distance, I saw that the nearest ROP personnel were no where near the site of the incident. The two uniformed personnel providing road protection/opening were at least a kilometer or so away from the site and they did not appear to be aware of the ambush.
10. The convoy then proceeded towards Tsutapela Gate, Nagaland where security personnel from Assam Police were also waiting and after a quarter of an hour or so, the convoy proceeded towards Dimapur. DGP Nagaland and Additional DGP received the VVIP at the NH 31 and NH 39 junction in Assam and escorted him till Chumukedima. There were also scores of vehicles belonging to well wishers at the Nagaland Check gate to receive and follow the VVIP back to Dimapur.
11. At Dimapur, I was informed by the Assistant Commandant of the 9 IRB which provided the VVIP security and protection till Dimapur, that the site of the incident was “swept” by his bomb disposal party at 4.30 a.m. that morning. Later in the day, I was informed by police officers that more bombs have been detected and that the whole place was cordoned off. Passengers traveling on that route that morning were stranded for a few hours, and some of them phoned up through mobile phones that they heard a very loud explosion. It was learned that the Assam Rifles party had detected more than ten High Explosive Devices and other assorted explosives buried in four places in the drain underneath boulders. Huge impoverished gelatin bombs around which splitters were tied to have more devastating effects were detected and one was exploded by the Assam Rifles party. It was also informed that had even a single one exploded, it would have devastated several vehicles in the vicinity. It was sheer providence that these explosives could not be detonated by the ambushers.
12. I think it was also the large number of commandoes providing security to His Excellency that deterred the ambushers to come closer to their target. There were around 65 to 70 armed commandoes from the 9 IRB and DEF Kohima and other units at the time of the ambush. At Dimapur, when the bullets were counted, it was found that more than 800 rounds were fired by the commandoes in a time span of 25 to 30 minutes.
13. Recalling about the whole incident, I note with particular concern that the ambushers knew exactly in which car the VVIP was in. After the initial melee and confusion when I felt bullets were flying everywhere – and indeed it was so – I noticed that most of the shots were fired at the VVIP car. The dummy cars, it appears, did not fool the ambushers.
14. It was also a quite a coincidence that no ROP personnel were near the site of the ambush. The two uniformed personnel I saw after the ambush were more than a kilometer away and they did not appear to be aware that the ambush had taken place. Or if they were aware, they were taking it pretty cool.
15. The site was said to be swept by the bomb disposal team at 4.30 a.m. that day, as reported to me by the Assistant Commandant of the 9 IRB. The ambushers must have been in a very large number to have planted not one or two, but eight bombs between 4.30 a.m. and 6.25 a.m.
16. Four non-locals whom I presumed to be labourers engaged in road repairs, were standing by the side of the road barely a hundred metres or so from the site of the ambush. I do not know when or how they got there, or what they were doing there, but investigating agencies might get some inputs from them.
Dated Panaji the 2nd December, 2007 (Sebastian Zumvu)
OSD to Governor
Goa Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, December 01, 2007
how is free trade with China possible without a freely traded currency
In the midst of the polite and not so polite spats (and more) at the EU-China Trade Summit being held in Beijing, I see plenty of European concern about product safety, currency reform and the historically unprecedented and almost unbelievably large trade deficit.
One thing has been remarked on and will probably not be remarked on: the trade deficit is a direct result of the undervalued Chinese currency which makes Chinese goods cheaper in the world market.
How undervalued is the Chinese currency? Tthe Europeans view is that the Yuan is undervalued by probably as much as 25 percent. That is, Chinese goods are up to 25% cheaper than they should be, simply because the Chinese Communist Party which governs China keeps the currency artifically cheap.
But this is a system-flaw that is well-known to everyone who was and is involved in the WTO negotiations: we have so-called free trade, when everyone knows that whoever is prepared to manipulate their currency will win in the marketplace. So a freely-tradeable currency should be a pre-requisite to participation in the WTO "free trade" treaties.
But, for various reasons (mostly to do with their own back yards) none of the dominant powers want to make a freely-tradeable currency a pre-requisite for participation in the WTO "free trade" treaty.
So everyone knew of the danger that some countries would go down the route of manipulating the value of their currency. Now that the Chinese have been systematically making use of the dangerous possibility for some decades, the Europeans have finally joined the Americans in crying over spilt milk.
The way to cure the problem is not to whimper to the Chinese Communist authorities, but to change the rules of the WTO to what they should have been in the first place. Free trade is fine, but only on the basis of a genuinely level playing field. And that includes freely traded currencies from participating countries. Sphere: Related Content
One thing has been remarked on and will probably not be remarked on: the trade deficit is a direct result of the undervalued Chinese currency which makes Chinese goods cheaper in the world market.
How undervalued is the Chinese currency? Tthe Europeans view is that the Yuan is undervalued by probably as much as 25 percent. That is, Chinese goods are up to 25% cheaper than they should be, simply because the Chinese Communist Party which governs China keeps the currency artifically cheap.
But this is a system-flaw that is well-known to everyone who was and is involved in the WTO negotiations: we have so-called free trade, when everyone knows that whoever is prepared to manipulate their currency will win in the marketplace. So a freely-tradeable currency should be a pre-requisite to participation in the WTO "free trade" treaties.
But, for various reasons (mostly to do with their own back yards) none of the dominant powers want to make a freely-tradeable currency a pre-requisite for participation in the WTO "free trade" treaty.
So everyone knew of the danger that some countries would go down the route of manipulating the value of their currency. Now that the Chinese have been systematically making use of the dangerous possibility for some decades, the Europeans have finally joined the Americans in crying over spilt milk.
The way to cure the problem is not to whimper to the Chinese Communist authorities, but to change the rules of the WTO to what they should have been in the first place. Free trade is fine, but only on the basis of a genuinely level playing field. And that includes freely traded currencies from participating countries. Sphere: Related Content
The misuse of language, thought, and other public structures
Someone I know writes to invite me to join an organisation's Board of Governors.
I ask for details of the organisation. He is cagey about this, saying that there have been "a number of hostile attempts to take over the organization". So he and his colleagues have "had to take extreme measures and put together strict procedures and governance. The organization is now restructured. We have a new Ceo and President and a new capable board of directors. The entity 501 c6 is now legally protected by the board, legal team and founding team. Board of governors is honorary and advisory, and we are very careful in providing this information at this time to prospective active board of governors.All of the board of directors would be seeing constitution and by laws for the first time during the board of directors meeting in nyc under strict guidelines. Due to the current sitution and request from our CEO, we have to keep bylaws and constitution on very controlled and restrictive basis".
So here is an interesting situation:
1. You have to agree to be on the board of an organisation about which you know nothing before you are allowed to see the constitution of the organisation (!).
2. There is a Board of Directors that has executive or non-executive authority AS WELL AS a "Board of Governors" that is merely advisory. The right and transparent terminology for any advisory board is of course to call it either a "Board of Advisors" or a "Board of Patrons" (or, possibly, a "Board of Reference" - depending on how eminent the members are). A "board of governors" is usually the governing board of a public entity. The organisation in question is not a public entity and here is a "board of governors" that does NOT "govern"! Given the degeneration and public misuse of language that has been going on for some decades, I guess this kind of usage is not entirely surprising but it does not add to the credibility of the organisation.
3. I note that "The 501(c)(6) is specifically reserved to Chamber of Commerce organizations, economic development corporations, real estate boards, trade boards, professional football leagues (e.g., the NFL), and other types of business leagues. They are characterized by a common business interest, which the organization typically promotes. Organizations under this category are exempt from most federal income taxes. Donations to a 501(c)(6) are not tax deductible as charitable contributions, as is the case in the 501(c)(3) category. 501(c)(6) organizations may engage in limited political activities that inform, educate, and promote their given interest. They may not engage in direct expenditures advocating a vote for a political candidate or cause. Donations to 501(c)(6) organizations are not required to be disclosed" - that quote is from the Wikipedia - which is not entirely reliable but is usually good as a rough-and-ready guide and gives you enough to chew on and double-check with more reliable authorities if you really want to follow something through.
In any case, this makes the organisation whose "Board of Governors" I am invited to join even more curious as, typically, a 501(c)(6) organisation's membership would consist of other ORGANISATIONS and *not* individuals - with the Board of Directors and other such bodies consisting entirely of representatives duly nominated by member organisations. Again, this sort of thing does not add to credibility for the organisation inviting me to join its "Board of Governors".
So here is an interesting case of the connection of language misuse with unclear thought - or possibly deliberate obfuscation.
Does this sound like something put together by an American lawyer? It does sound like that but, actually, it isn't! It is put together by an "ordinary" (or I should say, extraordinary) techie and a group of otherwise highly-educated and highly-regarded individuals - who should certainly be able to think and to organise things individually (and undoubtedly collectively!) much more clearly and logically than me.
It is rather a pity that the organisation is not put together by an American lawyer. At least you would know what to blame. Sphere: Related Content
I ask for details of the organisation. He is cagey about this, saying that there have been "a number of hostile attempts to take over the organization". So he and his colleagues have "had to take extreme measures and put together strict procedures and governance. The organization is now restructured. We have a new Ceo and President and a new capable board of directors. The entity 501 c6 is now legally protected by the board, legal team and founding team. Board of governors is honorary and advisory, and we are very careful in providing this information at this time to prospective active board of governors.All of the board of directors would be seeing constitution and by laws for the first time during the board of directors meeting in nyc under strict guidelines. Due to the current sitution and request from our CEO, we have to keep bylaws and constitution on very controlled and restrictive basis".
So here is an interesting situation:
1. You have to agree to be on the board of an organisation about which you know nothing before you are allowed to see the constitution of the organisation (!).
2. There is a Board of Directors that has executive or non-executive authority AS WELL AS a "Board of Governors" that is merely advisory. The right and transparent terminology for any advisory board is of course to call it either a "Board of Advisors" or a "Board of Patrons" (or, possibly, a "Board of Reference" - depending on how eminent the members are). A "board of governors" is usually the governing board of a public entity. The organisation in question is not a public entity and here is a "board of governors" that does NOT "govern"! Given the degeneration and public misuse of language that has been going on for some decades, I guess this kind of usage is not entirely surprising but it does not add to the credibility of the organisation.
3. I note that "The 501(c)(6) is specifically reserved to Chamber of Commerce organizations, economic development corporations, real estate boards, trade boards, professional football leagues (e.g., the NFL), and other types of business leagues. They are characterized by a common business interest, which the organization typically promotes. Organizations under this category are exempt from most federal income taxes. Donations to a 501(c)(6) are not tax deductible as charitable contributions, as is the case in the 501(c)(3) category. 501(c)(6) organizations may engage in limited political activities that inform, educate, and promote their given interest. They may not engage in direct expenditures advocating a vote for a political candidate or cause. Donations to 501(c)(6) organizations are not required to be disclosed" - that quote is from the Wikipedia - which is not entirely reliable but is usually good as a rough-and-ready guide and gives you enough to chew on and double-check with more reliable authorities if you really want to follow something through.
In any case, this makes the organisation whose "Board of Governors" I am invited to join even more curious as, typically, a 501(c)(6) organisation's membership would consist of other ORGANISATIONS and *not* individuals - with the Board of Directors and other such bodies consisting entirely of representatives duly nominated by member organisations. Again, this sort of thing does not add to credibility for the organisation inviting me to join its "Board of Governors".
So here is an interesting case of the connection of language misuse with unclear thought - or possibly deliberate obfuscation.
Does this sound like something put together by an American lawyer? It does sound like that but, actually, it isn't! It is put together by an "ordinary" (or I should say, extraordinary) techie and a group of otherwise highly-educated and highly-regarded individuals - who should certainly be able to think and to organise things individually (and undoubtedly collectively!) much more clearly and logically than me.
It is rather a pity that the organisation is not put together by an American lawyer. At least you would know what to blame. Sphere: Related Content
Tolerant Islam
In the West, it is becoming politically intolerant to question whether Islam produces tolerant and diverse societies. The lessons of some 1400 years of history are mixed on the question - historically, Islam has produced tolerant as well as intolerant societies, depending on the country/ region and time-span being discussed. For example, within India, the Mughal rulers (who were all Muslim) were some of them tolerant and some of them intolerant. Jews were tolerated at certain times/ places in Muslim societies but not in others. And so on.
But what happens when a society becomes increasingly Islamised? That is a question that "politically correct" westerners are loath to face.
Here is the latest news analysis (not by me) of what Islamisation is doing to a historically tolerant Muslim society, Malaysia:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The_Right_View/Intolerant_Malaysia_tolerant_faith/articleshow/2577230.cms
Ironically, the writer is a member of the Hindu fascist organisation, the RSS - and if his ilk were elected to power in India, they would not produce any more tolerant a society for Muslims or other minorities in India. Sphere: Related Content
But what happens when a society becomes increasingly Islamised? That is a question that "politically correct" westerners are loath to face.
Here is the latest news analysis (not by me) of what Islamisation is doing to a historically tolerant Muslim society, Malaysia:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/The_Right_View/Intolerant_Malaysia_tolerant_faith/articleshow/2577230.cms
Ironically, the writer is a member of the Hindu fascist organisation, the RSS - and if his ilk were elected to power in India, they would not produce any more tolerant a society for Muslims or other minorities in India. Sphere: Related Content
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