How Indian bureaucracy slows down investments by NRIs

A friend of mine has just decided to make an investment in India, which will result in his becoming a Director of this (at present, rather tiny) company.

In order to actually achieve this, however, apparently he has to take the following steps:

1) A colour photocopy of his passport needs to be made.

2) This should be taken to the Indian Embassy for affixing the signature and seal of the concerned officials (even in a small country such as Switzerland, this can take up a whole day or even more if one includes waiting time at the Embassy)

3) The photocopy then needs to be notarized by a local solicitor.

4) This document should then be couriered to the Expat Office in Bangalore where it would be used to apply for his Director Identification Number (DIN).

5) On applying, an application form would be generated and this would be couriered back to him.

6) On receiving this application form by courier you would need to sign at pre-designated places on the form and courier the form back to us at the Bangalore Office.

7) This form would then be submitted to the Registrar of Companies and his DIN would be allotted (on payment of the necessary fees).

In most countries, it would be either step 2 or step 3 (asking for step 3 after step 2 is tantamount to saying that the Indian government does not trust its own Embassies!). Here a simple change, asking for items 2 OR 3, instead of both 2 AND 3, would make life easier for investors.

Sequencing items 5-7 AFTER items 1-4 simply slows down the process. If the form (item 6) were issued at the start of the process, then the whole caboodle would be shortened. That would be a very useful second change in the procedure.

So two simple changes would make life simpler and easier for NRI investors and not change anything in terms of the information required by the government. Sphere: Related Content

Press Release in Response to the report "Caste System" by the Hindu Council of the UK

To provide a befitting response to HCUK’s misleading report on Caste Discrimination
titled: ‘Caste System’ by Dr. Raj Pandit Sharma, a meeting was held at Ambedkar
Centre, Southall, United Kingdom on Sunday 2nd March 2007.

It was attended by members of Valmiki Community, Ravidasi Community, Indian Christians and Indian Buddhists.

To oppose the forthcoming Single Equality Bill in British Parliament and the likely
inclusion of caste based discrimination within it, has triggered this unprecedented alarm
among the Hindu fundamentalists.

To nip the efforts of progressive British Members of Parliament in the bud they have waged shameless onslaught on them and leveled baseless allegations of conversion of marginalized victims of Hindu caste discrimination onto Christianity and other religions.

Their report has been so very prejudiced and full of absurdities that they have
forgotten that the issues they have raised were effectively countered and dispelled by
none other than the Architect of Indian Constitution, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar during his
lifetime. It is the meek effort of HCUK to sell its ideas to the western world hoping that
they would be digested without verification and scrutiny.

Thanks to the Government of Maharashtra’s (India) initiative in publishing the writings and speeches of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar which are available on Ambedkar.org website wherein every point raised in HCUK’s report has already been countered effectively and successfully. In their report, they have even gone ahead and produced a document in the name of Valimiki Sabha
Southall which supposedly has endorsed HCUK’s view. By doing so, HCUK has exposed
itself and its policy of ‘divide and rule’.

We would neither like to name nor shame the Hindu Council for producing this document
as it has given us an opportunity to present the facts straight across to the British media to
settle the age-old scores against the heinous practices of the caste ridden Hindu religion
which has kept 250 million Indians away from enjoying basic human rights. The report
has ascribed the ill-effects of caste discrimination existing in India unfortunately to
British Raj and the various invasions and foreign rules in India - forgetting that the basic
scriptures of Hindu religion like Rigveda, Gita & Manusmriti pre-date all foreign rules.

It was really not essential for them to have come out with a 30 page document as it could
be reduced to not more than 3 pages; since it only projects their apprehensions on the
proposed Single Equality Bill in the British parliament which could have far reaching
impact of having its place in European Parliament and further in the United Nations as
well. This not only concerns Hindu Council UK but also the Hindu bureaucracy in the
Indian Government which has been consistently denying the caste discrimination existing
in India to the enquiries made by United Nations. Caste has always been projected as the
‘internal’ and ‘cultural’ aspects of Hindu society; thus evading international scrutiny and
examination.

Caste discrimination has neither been compared with apartheid by British MP’s nor by
any other international communities but it has been unequivocally expressed by the
present Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh on December 27, 2006. The HCUK
report has mentioned this fact without mentioning the Prime Minister’s name.

HCUK shouldn’t really have gone for mudslinging against various organizations such as Dalit
Solidarity Network UK and Caste Watch UK as these organizations have beyond doubt
been instrumental in providing voice to 250 million people discriminated on the basis of
caste in the Indian sub continent and in the UK.

The HCUK having lived in this civilized country could have frankly accepted the responsibility of Hindu religion for the inhuman creation of caste system and been apologetic about its role in this practice. The meeting at Ambedkar Centre, Southall has constituted a committee which would carry out research and will come out with a full report in due course of time. This full report would inform the world once and for all unambiguously the nefarious designs of spreading
disinformation and hiding facts that Hindu Council UK has employed.

UK government should in fact take an initiative and have implementation of the General
recommendation XXIX of The United Nations CERD’s (Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination) in order to prohibit and eliminate Caste discrimination
effectively. This should be in furtherance of its commitment to elimination of slavery 200
years ago.

We take this opportunity to inform British Parliamentarians that let the good sense
prevail in supporting our cause to include caste discrimination in the forthcoming Single
Equality Bill.

Contact: Mr. C. Chahal Sphere: Related Content

multitasking or singletasking: which is Indian?

A young friend writes personally to me as follows:
"From the time that they lined up to fill their plates to the time that they finished their dessert of yogurt made from the milk of the buffalo that lives in the shed out back, these young Indians remained conspicuously silent. Coming from a culture where talking is an important part of any meal, the silence struck me immediately. I wanted to practice speaking Hindi with our young hosts at this shelter home, but I decided to wait until finding out the reason for the solemn meal. For the next few minutes, I awkwardly finished my own meal using my fingers. Later, Charu, one of our guides, explained that the students are forbidden to speak during their meals. She elaborated that it is an important principle in India to do one thing at a time. The rationale is that a person will do a better job of nourishing the body when completely focused on that task. There will always be time to talk after the meal. I admire this Indian aversion to multitasking, and am interested to see how it manifests in other areas of the society. In the sprawling metropolis of Delhi where I spent the first part of the week, I didnt see anyone phoning while driving or reading the newspaper while walking down the street. Multitasking is the norm in American society and in my daily life. While I am here in India, I am going to try doing one thing at a time and see how it goes."

My response:

" I don't know what group you are wtih, but they are fooling you if they want you to believe that there is anything Indian about singletasking! The whole of India lives on multi-tasking from the President of the country to the poorest and least-educated person, and from the richest to the poorest! If you haven't yet seen multi-tasking in India, then you need to open your eyes and look more "innocently" around you.

"Singletasking is good in itself and if you want to see a society that has internalised it, teaches it, practices it and lives on it, you need to visit Continental Europe (not UK)

These Indians are trying to teach something that is good to fellow-Indians (and perhaps foreigners) but are doing so on the basis of a lie - singeltasking is not Indian at all.

The idea of concentration is well accepted in India, but only in relation to one field: meditation – when it is a case of meditating on nothing or nothingness – such as the sound of a meaningless though supposedly powerful word (mantra) or the tip of your nose or the feelings involved in breathing or something like that

However, if you can learn singletasking, whether in India or elsewhere, that will not be a bad thing at all!" Sphere: Related Content

Comment on my post "The psychology of the new Hindutva terrorists"

As you know, I generally do not publish comments from people who do not now me or at least enter into some minimum relationship with me by giving me some minimum information on themselves (though they do not have to reveal that information to the public on my Blogsite).

However, an anonymous person who calls herself/ himself "universalhindu" has sent me a comment on my post "The psychology of the new Hindutva terrorists". I feel that her/ his comment merit publication under the right to reply (usually, anonymous comments are simply hate-mail).

She or he says: "When somebody from the film world distorts history blatantly just for the sake of box office affecting Hindu sentiments Hindus naturally will feel hurt and point out the injustice and protest. Anybody who sees 'Jodha Akbar' will definitely feel the armtwisting of history to suit purse linings of the film team. "

This is a very similar argument to those used by Muslims who wanted to ban THE SATANIC VERSES, and those of Christians who wanted to ban some of the filmy/ novels of Dan Brown. No doubt there are some Buddhists who are indulging or have indulged in similar behaviour somewhere - and Marxists - and so on.

The question is what to do when someone is distorting, you believe, the truth about something or someone you hold dear.

The first matter to explore is whether the "distortion" is meant as entertainment or as a serious attack.

If it is intended as entertainment, then one naturally will not like things that are dear to one being used for that purpose. However, in the modern world, it is not possible to prevent entertainment even if it is offensive to you. One person's joke is another person's insult. We should all learn to grow up and not have infantile prickliness about things that are not intended seriously.

A film or a novel is not a work of history. It is an imaginative exploration of some theme for the purpose of whiling away the time. If one happens to get some instruction from it, that is a bonus. But one does not go to these sorts of things for instruction. One goes for escape, for emotional release, for fun.

Naturally, the novelist or film-maker wants to make money. But at least he/she is trying to make money by doing something productive, and not simply by cheating or by getting bribes. If he/she/they produce a moderately satisfactory product they will make a moderate amount of money; if they provide an outstanding product, they will make an outstanding amount of money; if they provide a poor product, they will end up losing a lot of money. In all such matters, the market decides. Either you believe in the virtues of a free market or you don't. If you don't, then you believe in controlled markets and the limitations and foolishnesses of controlled markets have been demonstrated for decades if not centuries.

In India, it has historically been proven that "devotional" type films produce many times more money than "anti-religious films". So I doubt if the people involved in "Jodhaa Akbar" were actually trying to attack any religion, let alone any of the religions of us hindus. These filmi guys were simply trying to produce a piece of entertainment - but they did it in a way that happens to hurt our sentiments.

However, today the situation is that one gets "distortions" even in works that present themselves as serious works of history!

For these, as for works of entertainment, the best strategy is rational debate in the open market of ideas. Ultimately, people believe what they want to - and whatever they believe shapes not only their individual lives but also their family lives and their community and national lives. Ultimately, history judges the fruit of whatever one believes. The difference between secular, atheist, marxist, buddhist, etc beliefs is clear for all to see in the communities and nations such beliefs have produced and are producing.

THE SATANIC VERSES was not the first "attack" on Islam. In fact, there are any number of much more blasphemous literary works (well, at least poems!) available in Urdu and Persian to my knowledge (I don't know Arabic, but I can't imagine that they don't exist in that language too). Many of these go back some centuries. Similarly, attacks on Christ go back right to his own time, two thousand years ago. But the followers of Christ continue to grow and grow (not only within the horrible thing called "Christianity"). And the followers of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) are today the 2nd largest conglomeration of religious people in the world.

Dear "universalhindu", please focus your efforts on positive rational debate that commends whatever you believe to thinking people and not on such negative things as violence - that will bring only disrepute to whatever kind of belief you hold.

In most parts of the world, mobilisation of the "faithful" for violence is merely a pretext or a mechanism to mobilise them for the sake of grabbing political power. But once political power has been grabbed in this way, it is usually only to the benefit of the few who have grabbed power in terms of money under the table to them.

We see this under Bush in the USA, we have seen this in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other so-called "Islamic countries" for nearly a century now. We have even seen it in our own country, when the BJP was in power. Not that the other political parties were or are any better!

My point is only that religious mobilisation can land a corrupt group of people in power but that does not help the nation or even the community that allowed itself to be mobilised for the purpose. Sphere: Related Content

The psychology of the new Hindutva terrorists

I have just received a mail, from someone claiming to be a Hindu, with the following text: Namaskar
This is an awareness drive to awake people to boycott movie 'Jodhaa Akbar'.The movie Jodhaa Akbar is a vile, vicious, and covert attempt by a mischievous producer/director from Bollywood (Mumbai) to make quick bucks by denigrating and vilifying the Hindu (Rajput) people. ...
Visit - http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/3815.html to -
Know true story of Cruel Akbar and Jodhaabai
Know the people behind this conspiracy (The movie crew)
View glimpses of protests
Send this mail to your friends for creating awareness and protecting self-respect.
Shameful Hindus who throng to watch Jodhaa-Akbar, a film which glorifies Hindu hater Cruel Akbar, are worthy of getting killed by Terrorists!

So, according to "Hindu Jagruti", it is now not only "Christian missionaries" and "muslim mobsters" who are to be targeted, it is also "shameful Hindus".

The definition of "shameful Hindus" is interesting: everyone who sees this film!

Today, all "non-shameful Hindus" are told to avoid watching this film (and a few others), and the paintings of M. F. Husain (and of a few others). Tomorrow we will be told what to wear and what we can think.

The aim of Hindu Jagruti and other groups like it is simple: totalitarian control.

Exactly what was sought by the German Nazis, the Italian Fascists, the Russian Marxists, the Chinese Maoists and the contemporary political right-wing in Europe and (particularly) the UK and USA. Like them all, Hindu Jagruti will also fail in its quest for totalitarian control.

However, the attitude of Hindu Jagruti is exactly equivalent to that of Muslims who wanted to target Salman Rushdie for writing THE SATANIC VERSES.

The psychology of the new Hindutva terrorist seems to me no different from the psychology of the Muslim suicide-bomber: both are so totally consumed by hatred that they are unable to see the distinction between art and history, philosophy and sociology, politics and life.

As the vast majority of Hindus around the world are "shameful Hindus" on one count or another, we had better all watch out. Sphere: Related Content

"mahâjan"

In response to my query regarding this word, Professor Dr. Rahul Peter Das of the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, in Germany, has sent me a personal e-mail which he has kindly allowed me to quote:
"The most common meaning (in Hindi and Bengali, and I suppose in other South Asian languages too) is 'moneylender, banker' (apart from 'great person'). However, in Sanskrit 'mahâjana' is actually found in the sense of 'mass of the populace'. It is, of course, common practice for modern South Asian languages to borrow from Sanskrit, and thus there is theoretically no bar to using 'mahâjan' in the meaning which the Sanskrit expression can have. Whether that is in accord with the nature of the word in the modern languages is another matter. I would very much doubt whether a modern speaker confronted with "mahâjan" would even know the meaning "mass of the populace", unless he be quite learned." Sphere: Related Content

Can Western civilisation be saved? Why imitate those who are messed up?

My friend Kuru Chandy from Lucknow has sent me the following, which he says has been doing the rounds since last year. But it is so good/funny/tragic that I have decided to include it here:

"Stop this madness: The Westernisation of Child Rearing"
School 1960 vs. School 2008

SCENARIO: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1960 Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up mates.
2008 Police are called, SWAT team arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark. Mobiles with video of fight confiscated as evidence. They are charged with assault, AVOs are taken out and both are suspended even though Johnny started it. Diversionary conferences and parent meetings conducted. Video shown on 6 internet sites.

SCENARIO: Jeffrey won't sit still in class, disrupts other students.
1960 Jeffrey is sent to the principal's office and given a good paddling. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2008 Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. Counselled to death. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra funding because Jeffrey has a disability. Drops out of school.

SCENARIO: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1960 Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2008 Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. Psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mum has an affair with the psychologist. Psychologist gets a promotion.

SCENARIO: Mark, a student, chews gum in class
1960 Mark shares gum with the school principal.
2008 Police are called and Mark is expelled from School for drug possession. His car is searched for drugs and weapons.

SCENARIO: Johnny falls during recess and scrapes his knee. His teacher, Mary, finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him.
1960 Johnny soon feels better and goes back to playing.
2008 Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy. Becomes gay.

SCENARIO: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers, puts them in a model plane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.
1960 Ants die.
2008 Security and ASIO are called and Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. Teams investigate parents, siblings are removed from the home, computers are confiscated, and Johnny's dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

SCENARIO: Raju I.M. Indian fails high school English.
1960 Raju gets special coaching in Remedial English, passes and goes to college.
2008 Raju's cause is taken up by local human rights group. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that making English a requirement for graduation is racist. Civil Liberties Association files class action lawsuit against state school system and his English teacher. English is banned from core curriculum. Raju is allowed to pass anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English. Sphere: Related Content

What is the right basis for recognising Kosovo?

I gather that the EU's leaders are about to commit a historical and legal (and historic) absurdity, not by recognising Kosovo, but by the basis on which they are proposing to do so.

This basis appears to be to exempt the case from the rule saying international borders can only be changed with the agreement of all parties - because of the province's history of "conflict, ethnic cleansing and humanitarian catastrophe".

If the maximum claimed figure of 12,000 Kosovan casualties can be called "ethnic cleansing" then, on that basis, the world should recognise Scotland and Wales (and probably Yorkshire and several other regions) if these regions choose to bid for independence, as these regions were also subject to such "ethnic cleansing" by the English in the past. In what is France today, the world should recognise the independence of, for example La Rochelle and Lyons where the Huguenots were wiped out or expelled. In India today, the world should immediately recognise Kashmir, Mizoram and Nagaland. In China, the same applies to Tibet, Sinkiang and other regions. And so on.

In fact, accepting such a basis for recognising Kosovo is tantamount to sanctioning, as a prelude to independence, the start of ethnic cleansing in other areas where we have not yet seen this . Sphere: Related Content

The Collected Poems of the British-Asian poet Reginald Massey

It brings one up short to be confronted with the Collected Poems of a contemporary who one knows more or less well personally: I used to produce poems a little more often but have over the last several years succeeded in completing only about one a year!

Masseyji's collection falls into 2 sections. The first part consists substantially of a long poem "Lament of a Lost Hero" and nine short poems - including those to Vikram Seth, Ambika Paul, "Saeed" (presumably Jaffrey) and W.H. Auden. The second section consists of older poems, some of which were published in magazines, journals and anthologies.

The other poems are interesting and even good but it is "Lament of a Lost Hero" which rightly takes pride of place in the collection - every callow youth writes love poems.

If one ignores Sri Aurobindo (or Aurobindo Ghosh as his name was before he was ennobled), whose turgid Greek classical metre is overpoweringly soporific, "Lament of a Lost Hero" is the most technically competent and socially aware long poem embodying a contemporary Indian consciousness to have emerged from our land in our 60 years of independence.

In any case, here is one of his lovely short poems:

AN IMAGE

The autumn moon
willow-veiled,
beckons her silent love
the pool;
For she knows
his patient eye
will soon be glazed
with a cataract
of ice. Sphere: Related Content

Azaadi! (collection of short stories by Reginald Massey)

As Massey is a guest of mine at present, I really could not put off reading a book that has been on my reading list ever since it was published in 2005.

"Azaadi!" is a bit of a mixed bag of short stories in terms of its themes - military, politics, national leaders, prostitution, wife abuse and, most poignantly, stories of friendship across the murderous hindu-muslim divide at the time of the partition of India and Pakistan, or the independence of Bangladesh.

The collection testifies to Massey's dictum that "the world is a stranger place than is dreamt of in the philosophies of foolish men". Here is indeed evidence (albeit in fictional form) that "in spite of the hatreds, the massacres, the migrations, the flame of humanity - often small and dangerously flickering - was not extinguished. We have produced killers and monsters but we have also produced ...Gandhi and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan". The pity is that not many of today's Indians know even the name of the Khan.

In any case, Massey writes in his introduction to the book, "the thousands of books that pour out of publishing houses every year, not single one, so far as I am aware, celebrates the heroism, goodness, decency and sheer selflessness of the few that kept the flame of humanity alive. This collection of stories takeas as its protagonists those Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis who ... very simply, placed their lives on the line". Such are inspiring and weighty themes of "Azaadi!".

If you have ever met Massey, he may strike you as an "English gentleman manque". However, it is clear from this collection that, if you scratch beneath the surface, his sensibility is entirely Asian. No wonder the book is selling very well in the subcontinent.

Never having read any of his short stories earlier, I had no idea what to expect. I see that his work is closer to the work of the iconic Hindi short story writer Munshi Premchand than any other writer I know in English, and I am now convinced that Massey is undoubtedly one of our best living short story writers.

Masseyji, please abandon everything else - all your work on drama and music, all your novels and poetry - and simply give us more of your short stories for all the the rest of your life. Sphere: Related Content

Should we welcome Kosovo's independence?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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