by Jagmohan
Unjustified is the demand for withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers)
Act. By and large, the conduct of the Indian army has been commendable.
As a part of the propaganda by the terrorist-outfits, a number of concocted
or highly exaggerated stories about human rights violations are circulated
in the media. .....
by Bernard Lewis
This essay is excerpted from remarks by Princeton historian Bernard Lewis,
who was awarded the Irving Kristol Award at the American Enterprise Institute
in Washington last week. His most recent books include "What Went
Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East"
(2002); "The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror" (2003);
and "From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East"
(2004). .....
by K.P.S. Gill
There is much focus now on the Maoist threat in India and, despite entirely
inconsistent assessments by various Government agencies, an increasing
consensus around the view that this is the greatest internal security
challenge confronting the country. At the same time - and particularly
in the aftermath of the major incidents that are all-too-frequently engineered
by the Maoists - there is rising concern at the 'police failure' or 'security
forces failure' to contain this rising menace. .....
by Pudhari
There is a terrible greed among leaders for publicity along with power
and supremacy. These people are constantly struggling to get their name
or photographs in the newspapers. Only for publicity, measures from launching
a movement to making a show of social work are resorted to. Still there
are leaders whose name hardly shines in the newspapers. .....
by Timothy R. Furnish
Images of masked terrorists standing behind Western hostages in Iraq and
Saudi Arabia have become all too common on Arabic satellite stations such
as Al-Jazeera and Al-Manar. Islamist websites such as Muntadiyat al-Mahdi[1]
go further, streaming video of their murder. .....
by The Pioneer
Alarm bells are clanging all over the security establishment over the
UPA Government's reported move to relocate troops in Jammu & Kashmir
by getting them to vacate orchards and premises, many of which belong
to Pandits who have been forced out of the Valley by terrorists. The move
is part pandering to the demand of the PDP and part demonstration of the
present regime's inability to stand up to threats and political blackmail.
.....
by The Hindu
The Tamilnadu Brahmin Association (TAMBRAS) has expressed "anguish
and anger over the attack on Brahmins particularly temple priests at Thanjavur."
.....
by Chennai Online
Alleging that Hindu priests in Tamil Nadu were not secure under DMK regime,
AIADMK whip K A Sengottaiyan today demanded action against those who had
assaulted a priest at Neyveli in Cuddalore district and cut his sacred
thread. .....
by M N Chatterjee
There's this story of a young boy whose dialogue with death is as fascinating
as it is exploratory, coursing down the six chapters of the Katha Upanishad.
.....
by PK Balachandran
The Islamic fundamentalism found in the all-Muslim town of Kattankudy
in the eastern Sri Lankan district of Batticaloa, is rooted in Wahabism,
sanctioned and practiced in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia. .....
by The Indian Express
When a Union minister, in the course of an election campaign, tells a
section of voters that they would be committing a "crime" if
they vote for a contending party in the fray, it is quite frankly a scandal.
Saifuddin Soz, made such a statement last weekend in Uttar Pradesh asking
the Muslim community not to vote for the Samajwadi Party. .....
by Rajeev PI
The latest achievement of the Rs 4,000-crore CPI(M) Inc in Kerala could
be the envy of many corporate honchos. Labour disputes and a protracted
strike, which the party itself led, had got a large private textile company
of 600-plus workers here to down shutters some nine years ago. .....
by The Indian Express
Sunday morning at Arthur Road Jail. Satsang: 1,500 prisoners performing
yoga asanas, meditating and singing bhajans in the courtyard. Among them
Pravin Mahajan and Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar. .....
by Rediff.com
Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence is working with Bangladesh's intelligence
agencies to facilitate cooperation between north-east militant groups
like United Liberation Front of Asom and other jihadi outfits in South
Asian regions, besides Tamil rebels in Lanka, US intelligence service
Startfor has said. .....
by Seema Guha
India, an ardent admirer of Bangladesh's army-backed interim administration,
has surprisingly remained silent over recent actions of the army regime
in Bangladesh. .....
by Rediff.com
The Centre's efforts to implement the 27 per cent Other Backward Classes
quota in elite educational institutions this year suffered a major setback
on Monday with the Supreme Court declining to vacate the stay granted
by it on March 29. .....
by G Parthasarathy
Over two decades ago, a visiting Indian journalist, charmed by the old
world splendour of Lahore and the vigour and vitality of the bustling
commercial city of Karachi, where I was then India's Consul General, described
Islamabad as a city of "bureaucrats, bores and boulevards".
Islamabad has always been a sanitised city, far removed from the reality
of what is Pakistan. .....
by G.D. Sachar
The mentors of terrorism are still engaged in strengthening their network.
The reports from across the LoC reveal that the Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT)
has established many new madrasas in the areas, which were badly affected
by the devastating earthquake of October 8, 2005, in which many government
schools were destroyed and the people were rendered destitutes. .....
by Deccan Chronicle
The State government has decided to clamp down on propagation of other
religions in certain notified places of worship. The cabinet has decided
to issue an ordinance soon in this regard and also notify demarcation
of area where such propagation is banned. .....
by Ram Kelkar
The news that the Supreme Court has declined the Indian Government's appeal
to vacate the stay on the imposition of OBC quotas on elite educational
institutions such as the IITs and IIMs is being hailed by opponents of
the quotas. .....
by Esther Williams
Peace and prosperity - That's what people hope for each New Year. Pudhu
Varudam marks the beginning of the Hindu Solar Calendar (Almanac) on the
first of the Tamil month of Chittirai when the sun moves from the last
house of the Zodiac (Pisces), to the first house (Aries). .....
by M R Venkatesh
To rule India -- with her huge size and population -- the British hit
upon a simple yet brilliant idea: divide and rule, with the State playing
the crucial role of an arbitrator between various warring groups. .....
by ExpressIndia.com
Most Muslims want US military forces out of the Middle East and Islamic
countries and many agree with al-Qaeda's goals, if not its tactics, suggested
a public opinion poll conducted in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan and Indonesia.
.....
by KR Phanda
Apropos the article, "Rahul embodies Gen-Next's dreams" (April
21) by Kapil Sibal, the writer has essentially made two points: One, the
Nehru-Gandhi family has made huge sacrifices for the cause of freedom
and, two, non-Congress parties have divided the country on communal lines.
There is no substance in these arguments. .....
by Afternoon Despatch & Courier
A Malaysian court today agreed to quickly hear a lawsuit filed by an ethnic
Hindu Indian worker who has accused the Islamic authorities of illegally
detaining his wife and five children .....
by Joginder Singh
In a raid on Meerut Jail led by the DIG of Agra Jail to recover and seize
cell phones and other unauthorised and prohibited items, there was a fight
between the jail police and inmates of the high-security prison. It left
six police officials and four inmates injured. .....
by Kanchan Gupta
Even those who know him and admire his erudition would not disagree with
noted economist and former West Bengal Finance Minister Ashok Mitra being
described as an unreconstructed Marxist with an acid tongue. In fact,
Mr Mitra revels in being rude - although he makes an exception if he takes
a shine to you, which is a very big if - and unlike other Bengali bhadralok
Marxists believes bhadrata and Marxism do not go hand-in-hand. .....
by Rediff.com
Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence is working with Bangladesh's intelligence
agencies to facilitate cooperation between north-east militant groups
like United Liberation Front of Asom and other jihadi outfits in South
Asian regions, besides Tamil rebels in Lanka, US intelligence service
Startfor has said. .....
by Organiser
When the disputed structure (Babri Masjid), a decrepit building, built
revengefully over a destroyed temple by an ungracious Islamic general
during the reign of Babar was brought down by an angry gathering who felt
deeply hurt, there was hell to pay. Forgotten was the fact that a Muslim
ruler had deliberately built a mosque in a Hindu holy city, Ayodhya, to
show who was in power. .....
by The Pioneer
For the first time, the Centre has admitted it is looking into allegations
of foreign funding by support groups of the Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao
Andolan. The admission is part of an affidavit filed by the Centre on
a PIL seeking a CBI probe into activities of the NBA for sabotaging the
construction of Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh
through violent means. .....
by A. Surya Prakash
In what is clearly an indictment of PV Narasimha Rao, one of India's greatest
Prime Ministers, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi declared a couple of weeks ago
that the Babri Masjid would have been saved if a member of the Nehru-Gandhi
family had been in active politics at that time. .....
by Swapan Dasgupta
There are many who will emerge from the Uttar Pradesh election not smelling
of roses. There is the Samajwadi Party leadership which gives the impression
of frolicking in Mumbai while Lucknow prepares for an upheaval; there
are the "secular" psephologists who, it is being suggested,
allowed their personal preferences to cloud their forecasts; and there
are the Congress strategists who fantasised that only Muslims vote in
Uttar Pradesh. .....
by Jahed Ahmed and Mehul Kamdar
Lately an important piece of news has gone unnoticed by most of the mainstream
news media of Bangladesh. In a recent political campaign, Rahul Gandhi,
a member of the Indian parliament and son of a former Indian prime minister,
the late Rajiv Gandhi, has solely credited his family for the division
of Pakistan in 1971, which led to the independence of Bangladesh. .....
by Anil K. Joseph
In a major blow to Pakistan's counter-terrorism credentials, China has
for the first time publicly acknowledged the existence of terrorist camps
within the territory of its "all-weather" ally. .....
by Free Press Journal
It is the season of the Begums in our immediate neighbourhood. And one
might add some serious deal-making too. The Bangladesh armed forces, the
real power behind the civilian caretaker government, have undertaken a
massive cleansing process rather seriously. All power to them in their
laudable objective. .....
by Stratfor.com
India's insurgent-ridden northeastern region has long given foreign powers
a gamut of exploitable secessionist movements to use to prevent India
from emerging as a major global player. .....
by CrusadeWatch.org
Sri John Dayal and other strident spokespersons of Christian Church and
missionaries have faulted Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister,
for the public expression of his opinion that the humanitarian services
that the Christian missionaries are rendering through their schools and
hospital have a conversion motive. It is really astounding for them to
disown the conversion motive. .....
by D.P. Sinha
That there was a secret understanding between Gandhi and the British Govt.
is obvious from the foregoing facts. But, in some corner of my heart,
I do not want to believe this. It hurts me to damage the icon, built so
laboriously by Congressmen over the years. Rightly or wrongly he has come
to be identified with India and Indianness. .....
by Satya Prakash
For over a century, followers of two sects of Islam - Shia and Sunni -
are fighting with each other over a piece of land in Varanasi City of
Uttar Pradesh. .....
by Annie Jacobsen
During a terror raid in Manchester, England, British police officers searched
an Al Qaeda member's home and discovered a manual outlining terrorists'
tactics for jihad. The manual, available through the Department of Justice's
Archive, is particularly interesting in its behind-the-scenes revelations
about how terrorists gather intelligence about their enemy and conduct
espionage in the enemy's camp. .....
by Cindy George
Former Houston resident Daniel Joseph Maldonado pleaded guilty today to
participating in an al-Qaida training camp in East Africa, federal prosecutors
said. .....
by Rediff.com
The United Liberation Front of Asom is creating terror in Assam on behalf
of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intellegence agency, a top army official
heading anti-insurgency operations in the state said on Friday. .....
by Nithin Sridhar
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh was formed
in 1971, under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after the bloody
Bangladesh Liberation War, in which it was supported by India. .....
by P V Indiresan
As one would expect from a person of his judicial background, Rajindar
Sachar made a dispassionate analysis of the problem of the OBC reservation
issue (April 16, 2007). .....
by Haseena Parkar
Deeply embarrassed by an Anti Corruption Bureau probe linking some senior
Crime Branch officers to the Dawood Ibrahim gang, the Mumbai police is
now close to booking Dawood's sister and the gang's 'God Mother', Haseena
Parkar alias Haseena Aapa, under MCOCA. .....
by Robert Spencer
According to former Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Eddie Green,
Kifah Jayyousi is "a great guy, one of the nicest people I've ever
met." While Green was superintendent, Jayyousi oversaw the Detroit
school district's capital improvement program, which had a $1.5 billion
budget. .....
by The Telegraph
The Supreme Court today clarified that its March 29 ruling staying higher
education quotas was not "advice" but an "order binding
on the government. .....
by The Pioneer
The Supreme Court has done the right thing by admitting the review petition
of the Rashtriya Mukti Morcha that had been earlier rejected by the Delhi
High Court, seeking, in essence, a judicial clarification on whether a
person of foreign origin who is not a citizen of India by birth can hold
high public office in this country. .....
by The Pioneer
The political and diplomatic row kicked by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's
claim about his family's role in the division of Pakistan continues to
gather momentum both within the country and across the border. .....
by Prafull Goradia
While sponsoring the Pakistan Resolution on March 23, 1940, Jinnah elucidated
as to what the Muslims were. In his own words, "Muslims are not a
minority; they are a nation, of a nation and they must have their homeland,
their territory and their state. We wish to live in peace and harmony
with our neighbours as a free and independent people. We wish our people
to develop to the fullest our spiritual, cultural, economic, social and
political life in a way that we think best". .....
by PTI
The Madras High Court has set aside a communication issued by the Tamil
Nadu government that convert to Hinduism was not eligible for the benefits
of reservation. .....
by Bhaskar Roy
A government-instituted inquiry has indicted members of the committee
managing affairs of the famous Sufi shrine at Ajmer and called for immediate
steps to end corruption and mismanagement at the dargah. .....
by Gurpreet Mahajan
Earlier this month a single judge of the Allahabad High Court held that
Muslims could no longer be treated as a religious minority in Uttar Pradesh.
A day later, a division bench of the same high court stayed the order.
But the case has stoked more than a few curiosities - and some anxieties
- about a vital and sensitive issue. .....
by Suna Erdem
Hundreds of thousands of Turks took part in two days of protests hoping
to persuade the Prime Minister against running for president, amid concerns
that his election would put at risk the separation of religion and state
in the predominantly Muslim country. .....
by Deccan Chronicle
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy has decided to sanction grant-in-aid
to old churches for repairs. Similarly, grant-in-aid would be sanctioned
to new churches. He is the first chief minister to take the decision to
give a facelift to abandoned churches. State Government has issued a specific
GO Ms No. 21, stating that Rs. 80,000 will be sanctioned to each church
for repair and renovation purposes, and Rs.1.50 lakh for constructing
a church in the shape of grant-in-aid. .....
by
This is a remarkable piece of research work by Rajani Sudan which belies
the fraudulent claim, a myth, of Macaulay in his notes on education of
the 'natives' asserting that they were superstitious and could not match
the superiority of European knowledge. .....
by Rajeev Ranjan Roy
The Centre has no option but to approach the Supreme Court for vacating
stay on the quota for other backward classes (OBCs) without data on their
population. Social Justice and Empowerment (SJ&E) Ministry's dossier
on the OBC population points out that most of the States do not have any
authentic data to justify the quantum of 27 per cent quota in the elite
academic institutions. .....
by Adnkronos international
At least 70,000 Muslim civilians in the southern Filipino province of
Sulu were displaced due to fighting between a faction of former rebel
group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the army. .....
by The Times of India
The boy with the knife looks barely 12. In a high-pitched voice, he denounces
the bound, blindfolded man before him as an American spy. Then he hacks
off the captive's head to cries of "God is great!" and hoists
it in triumph by the hair. .....
by Mohammed Wajihuddin
Every fortnight, Anandini Thakur takes a round of the Khar area, halting
on the way at a moribund municipal school and a public library before
she reaches an improbable destination: a cricket pitch. She has also done
something even more apparently improbable; she has created a cricket team.
.....
by Vishwa Mohan
Acting on the basis of a TOI alert, the United Nations Security Council
has frustrated Pakistan's attempt to get Interpol acquiesce to its claim
that it was not sheltering India's most-wanted don, Dawood Ibrahim. .....
by Meenakshi Sinha
It's not only spirituality, yoga, holistic healing or tourism which draws
foreigners to India; an increasing number of them are now coming here
in search of love and life partners. Interestingly, this is a stark reminder
of a trend prevalent 150 years ago when British girls were sent to India
to get suitably hitched. .....
by Bharti Jain
Not only have the jehadi outfits moved beyond the known theatres of violence
like J&K, but they are also increasingly relying on surrogate bases
in Bangladesh, Nepal and West Asia for movement of trained terrorists
and finances for anti-India operations. .....
by A. B. Masoud
India has around 250 thousand Waqf properties, the largest in the world,
but most of them are under illegal occupation of none other than the central
and state governments. The main usurper of the waqf properties is the
Central Government that has built several key department buildings by
"illegally occupying" the Waqf land. .....
by Frances Harrison
Iran's Supreme Court has acquitted a group of men charged over a series
of gruesome killings in 2002, according to lawyers for the victims' families.
.....
by Federated-fds.com
Macy's 61st Annual Flower Show invites visitors to "Imagine India"
and celebrate the country's vibrant colors, distinctive style, seductive
sounds, delicious food and amazing flowers. From the opulence and grandeur
of India's golden palaces, to the excitement of Mumbai's (Bombay) nightlife,
to the intoxicating beauty of the spice markets, India is a country on
the cutting edge that has maintained a strong connection to its rich history.
.....
by Edward B. Driscoll Jr.
Tell me if you've heard this one before: prominent journalist with a quarter
century experience at a nationwide broadcasting network leaves said network
to write tell-all book exposing its liberal bias. .....
by Aftenposten
Norwegian-Somalian Kadra, who became famous in Norway for exposing imam
support of female circumcision, was beaten unconscious on Thursday. .....
by Matt Leingang
Federal authorities say an Ohio man was so dedicated to committing violent
jihad that he angrily told a fellow al-Qaida member that the terrorist
group should never consider scaling back military operations. .....
by Investors.com
Maintaining a high level of vigilance against an enemy is wearisome business,
especially in this war. We salute those who have not succumbed to 9/11
fatigue. .....
by Ashok Malik
Old-timers in Delhi remember Navin Chawla as an affable sort of chap.
A talented lad at St Columba's, son of an upstanding doctor couple, biographer
of Mother Teresa, married to perhaps India's best art restorer, Rupika.
With a CV like that, really, you can scarcely go wrong. .....
by Swapan Dasgupta
The Constituent Assembly witnessed some interesting debates on the reservation
of seats in legislatures for minorities. The demand for the retention
of communal quotas in independent India had been championed by those Muslim
League MPs who either chose to remain in India or, like Choudhury Khaliquzzaman,
delayed their departure to Pakistan. .....
by Dr Farrukh Saleem
One hundred and fifty-nine million Pakistanis are headed nowhere. If we
are going nowhere, I guarantee, that any road will take us there. The
day that the chief justice was 'suspended' my closest friend couldn't
hold back his tears. We wept not knowing whether the tears dropped for
our children, our army or our country. Unprecedented was the fact that
a Punjabi and that too from Faisalabad dared say "no". .....
by WorldNetDaily.com
Muslim charity groups posing as "moderates" continue to support
terrorist activities, according to a report by the government watchdog
Judicial Watch. .....
by Balbir K. Punj
Whichever way the Election Commission (EC) decides on the Congress and
Marxist combine's plea to derecognise the BJP, the sordid episode has
surely revealed the chinks in the secularists' armour. By making this
demand on the EC, the "secularists" have conceded that they
are unable to fight the BJP on the basis of ideology and that their faith
in democracy continues to be skin-deep. .....
by Richard Kerbaj
The most senior Muslim cleric in Canberra regularly praises Islamic jihadists
in Iraq and Afghanistan in his Friday afternoon sermons. .....
by Abraham Thomas
The UPA Government suffered a major loss of face in the Supreme Court
on Friday over its decision not to consult the Chief Election Commissioner
on the NDA petition seeking removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla.
.....
by The Indian Express
In a unique tribute to the Dnyaneshwari, Pune-based 22-year-old Swati
Pethkar will complete her feat of writing the entire text in calligraphy
in Nevase on Friday. .....
by Vishwa Mohan
Pakistan continues to be the hub of printing and circulation of fake Indian
currency despite the emergence of a couple of other countries including
Thailand and Bangladesh on the scene of late. .....
by Pranava K Chaudhary
An unspecified number of CDs, containing Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's
exhortations to Muslims to wage "jehad"(holy war), surfaced
in the remote areas of Bihar's Bhojpur district on Friday. .....
by Sanjay K Singh
In a development which does not augur well for the UPA government at the
Centre, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to refer a BJP-sponsored
memorandum challenging Navin Chawla's appointment to the Election Commission
to the Union Cabinet, rather than the Chief Election Commissioner, came
under the Supreme Court's scrutiny on Friday. .....
by Soli J. Sorabjee
The prime minister's recent statement that each organ of the state has
"constitutionally assigned roles" and "each must respect
the functions of the other" raises the critical question about the
legitimate role of each state organ. .....
by Andrew Bolt
Maybe this time, I thought. Maybe this first Australian Islamic Conference
would at last show us the moderate Muslim leaders we've searched for.
.....
by The Pioneer
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was uncharacteristically blunt while pointing
out that "the dividing line between judicial activism and judicial
overreach is a thin one" at a conference of Chief Justices of High
Courts and Chief Ministers in New Delhi on Sunday. The unusual sharpness
of his comments reflect the UPA Government's increasing disquiet over
the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, undoing policy framed not
for the welfare of the masses but with an eye to garnering votes at election
time. .....
by JS Rajput
The last three years will be remembered for the initiatives of the Union
Ministry of Human Resource Development that were purely political and
hence explicitly unproductive. In May 2004, within a few days of the changeover
in the Ministry, it was made clear to every one as to what would be the
shape of things to come. .....
by The Age
A Buddhist woman was shot dead and her body set ablaze early today in
Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south, police said, as the country's
junta leader began a visit to the region. .....
by The Telegraph
Lord Venkateshwara, said to draw devotees from all over the world to India's
richest temple near Tirupati, is reaching out to the lowest of the lowly.
.....
by Sify News
An Australian police team had visited the city to question a person in
connection with bomb blasts in Indonesia's Bali island in 2002 that killed
202 people, including 90 Australians. .....
by The Pioneer
The lone Kannada Chaluvali Paksha legislator in Karnataka Assembly was
perhaps being unnecessarily harsh while describing Infosys chief mentor
NR Narayana Murthy as a "traitor" for "insulting the National
Anthem". But such irascible comments apart, the criticism that is
being heaped upon the man who claims to have been in the vanguard of India's
information technology revolution is largely justified. .....
by Daily Times
Ministers and intelligence bosses voiced opposition to a crackdown on
students of Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia and the Lal Masjid administration
for political and security reasons, at a meeting on Monday, Daily Times
has learnt. .....
by Sudipto Dey
Abodes of God are turning out to be money-spinners for hotel companies.
Religious tourism has caught the fancy of many domestic and international
hospitality chains, which are bringing places such as Tirupati, Katra,
Dharamsala, Shirdi, Varanasi into their global network. .....
by Ayoob Ali Khan
The Andhra-Pradesh government's move to grant 5% reservation to Muslims
by categorising a majority of them into backward classes seems to be running
into rough weather with some powerful Muslim groups opposing it. .....
by The Times of India
The supreme court on Thursday decided to examine the legality of the existence
of Islamic and Shariat courts in the country which are allegedly posing
a challenge to the Indian judicial system. .....
by Hari Jaisingh
One major tragedy of Indian governance has been the failure of leaders
to take hard decisions on burning issues facing the nation at a given
time and in a given situation either because of their politics of expediency
or the lack of political will, or both. Any number of examples can be
cited to prove this point. .....
by P. Deivamuthu
Hindu Institutions are being systematically demolished by anti-Hindu Governments
both at the centre and in the state. Here is the latest example of Kalakshetra,
Chennai, famous for Karnatic music and Bharathanatyam exposition. .....
by The Telegraph
A pastor, a school student and two others were arrested early today in
a police raid on a church in Madhupur near the Kalaikunda airbase. .....
by The Pioneer
The UPA Government's pernicious policy of introducing 27 per cent quota
for OBCs in institutions of higher learning that has been stayed by the
Supreme Court for the moment, has led to an equally insidious demand for
a caste Census. What is unfortunate is that this demand has found support
from many across the political spectrum, including nationalist parties
that are opposed to dividing society along caste and communal lines. .....
by Swapan Dasgupta
The reality of defeat, even when it seems imminent and inescapable, is
very cruel. We saw it on the faces of top BJP leaders in 1998 when they
tried to pretend that the onion crisis that triggered mass revulsion was
a media exaggeration. .....
by K. R, Phanda
This is with reference to the article, "Uniformity is right"
(March 27), by Prafull Goradia. The writer has aptly observed that the
supreme priority of a nationalist party should be to ensure the unity
and integrity of the country. In this context, Mr Goradia has pointed
to the absence of a Uniform Civil Code, on the one hand, and the existence
of wakfs, which have stalled the process of unity and integrity, on the
other. .....
by The Times of India
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said in an exclusive interview to Times
Now that Taliban leader Mullah Omar is in Pakistan. The Afghan President
was in India to attend the 14th Saarc summit held in New Delhi on April
3 and 4. .....
by Ambreesh Mishra
For these children of a lesser God, marriages aren't made in heaven. The
nuptial plans of hundreds of physically-challenged individuals are charted
at a unique event that takes place in Bhopal every year. While every caste
and community has taken to the idea of Vivah Parichay Sammelans with gusto,
one man in Bhopal has taken it to a whole new level. .....
by Sudheendra Kulkarni
When the issue of Nandigram roiled Parliament last month, there was a
significant pronouncement by A.R. Antulay, minister of minority affairs,
created for the first time in independent India by the UPA government.
.....
by Tavleen Singh
As a frequent traveller to foreign lands, may I begin by stating humbly
but categorically that in my view there is no non-Muslim country in the
world in which Muslims have more freedom to practice their religion and
culture than India. The rise of radical Islam and the continuing horror
of global terrorism have made Muslims into international pariahs in most
of the western world. And they are not that popular in places like Thailand
and Bali either. .....
by The Economic Times
The order of a single-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court that Muslims
had "ceased to be a religious minority" in Uttar Pradesh is
plainly unconstitutional. A division bench of the high court has done
well to promptly stay the judgement. Given that this peculiar ruling has
come on the eve of the volatile UP assembly elections, the sooner it's
struck down the better. The term 'minority' is not a semantic marker of
superficial cultural difference. .....
by K.P.S. Gill
Unless strong and sustained external interventions, coherently directed
at re-engineering the power relations in Pakistan, and at demolishing
the ideological state, are evolved, Pakistan will continue to grow into
a bigger problem, both for itself and for the world. .....
by The Times of India
In the aftermath of the supreme court order freezing implementation of
the OBC quota in educational institutions, two of the OBC heavyweights
Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad were conspicuously silent. .....
by Swapan Das Gupta
If over-kill and pig-headedness hadn't been the hallmarks of the CPI(M)'s
re-conquest of Nandigram on March 14, conspiracy theorists may well have
been justified in claiming that the incident was a diabolical ploy by
the flatearth society to discredit Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's perestroika.
.....
by Amrith Lal
K G Paulose is a Sanskrit scholar who has recently written a history of
Kutiyattam, the ancient Sanskrit theatre. Paulose spoke to Amrith Lal
about the tradition of Sanskrit scholarship in Kerala, its non-Brahmin
and non-Hindu lineages .....
by Sudheendra Kulkarni
Islam fascinates me. But the conduct of some of its adherents also frustrates
me. The positive aspects of Islam are too numerous to escape the attention
of any unprejudiced and truth-seeking non-Muslim. For example, Hindus
have much to learn from Muslims about the virtue of solidarity and fellow-feeling
within their community. .....
by Coomi Kapoor
Most chief ministers take the conventional route for raising funds, by
holding road shows abroad for NRIs from their home state. Rajasthan Chief
Minister, Vasundhara Raje, has done one better. Accompanied by a phalanx
of officials, she flew to Seattle to see Bill Gates. She met the world's
richest man, but not to ask for funds but for technical assistance. .....
by Tavleen Singh
Delighted though I am that the Supreme Court kicked the government in
the butt over educational quotas last week, may I remind you that the
issue is not quotas but education? The issue is the abysmal failure of
the Indian state on the educational front, not merit or the absence of
it. .....
by Shveta Vashist Gaur
Sujata Tarte used to walk for an hour every day to get to school at Nimbgaon
Bhogi village, in Shirur, Maharashtra. "Now it takes only half an
hour," says the class IX student, who can continue her studies even
as she helps out with the household chores. Sheetal Vyavahre too has decided
to pursue a diploma in agriculture instead of dropping out of school,
and though Vijaya Sambhare cycles 13 km to Shirur, she is not complaining
because she hopes to complete her BEd some day. .....
by Stavan Desai
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will question 28-year-old Pakistani
national Taseem Azim alias Larib Khan Gulab Khan in connection with the
serial blasts at Malegaon on September 8 last year. .....
by Subrata Nagchoudhury
The CPM-led Left Front government in West Bengal has maintained that the
March 14 police firing in Nandigram in which 14 people were killed was
"unfortunate" and "tragic" and that the police had
little choice when they were faced by a violent mob. The government denied
that CPM party cadres were involved in any way. .....
by Deepshikha Sikarwar
You may not like it, but your religious affiliation could be recorded
when you open a new bank account. You may now have to disclose your religion
while completing the bank formalities. .....
by Prerna Katiyar
It's everyone's dream to visit the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi once in
lifetime. For the believers, it's a spiritual journey. And surprisingly
even non-believers throng the place curious to find out what is it that
pulls the masses to its fold every year. Well, for me it was sheer excitement
of taking a weekend break and the pleasure to visit a holy place with
my family. .....
by Swapan Das Gupta
I must confess my profound unease at the irrational exuberance of those
junior doctors and medical students at the All India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS) who observed "holi" after last Thursday's Supreme
Court interim order on reservations for Other Backward Castes students.
.....
by Prerna Katiyar
It's everyone's dream to visit the holy shrine of Vaishno Devi once in
lifetime. For the believers, it's a spiritual journey. And surprisingly
even non-believers throng the place curious to find out what is it that
pulls the masses to its fold every year. Well, for me it was sheer excitement
of taking a weekend break and the pleasure to visit a holy place with
my family. .....
by Peter Foster
Our journey begins with a prayer, a deep "om" that emanates
from a Brahmin Hindu priest who dips his hand into a small copper pot
and three times sprinkles the holy waters of the Ganges over our bowed
heads. .....
by Peter Foster
In the foothills of the Himalayas, on a hill overlooking the Ganges, the
Ananda Spa is where India's wealthy industrialists and Bollywood stars
come to de-stress and detox. .....
by ninemsn.com.au
A directive by Italian bishops ordering Catholic politicians to vote against
gay rights legislation has caused a political uproar and prompted fresh
charges of Church interference in domestic affairs. .....
by Mushtaq Yusufzai and Carol Grisanti
"We were told to fight against Israel, America and non-Muslims,"
said Muhammed Bakhtiar, 17, explaining why he wanted to become a suicide
bomber. "We are so unhappy with our lives here. We have nothing,"
he said. .....
