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VOL. 16 ISSUE 03 PAGES 52 OCTOBER 2014

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IN THIS ISSUE

Towards Communal Harmony

JUH in Gujarat shows the way

India & Japan

The Tipping Point

Banning the Bali India and Japan share common values relating to the rule of law, freedom of the individual, freedom of the media and a desire to contribute to the peace and stability of Asia and the world at large. So it is not surprising that PM Modiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visit was viewed as strategically important. The agreements signed between both the countries are of great significance especially the one envisaging transfer technology.

Global Economic Scene

16 19

Smart City How Much You Know About them?

India Should Leverage the Tectonic Shift

IN THIS ISSUE Man-made Disaster Kashmir in the throes of a serious crisis

Transcending Boundaries Volume: 16 Issue: 03 October 2014 Aashwayuja (Jaya)

Published & Printed by NARAYAN SEVIRE for and on behalf of the owners JNANA BHARATHI PRAKASHANA, Mangalore aseemamagazine@gmail.com / 0824-2497091

Face of fanaticism Spreading Hatred Across the Globe

Nalanda University In Search of Past Glory

Pakistan and ISI Casting a Maze of Terror in India

Colour Controversy Was Jesus Christ white or black?

Investments Coming Modi govt sends out the right signal

Saradha Scam Saradha scam drowns millions of families in deep water

30 33 35 37 39 41

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Communal tension has been common in India; but a silver lining is seen in the cloud sometimes, with the religious leaders showing some sense of tolerance and respect for the sentiments of their counterparts. One such initiative has come from an organisation called Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH) which has set up what is called the Gau Hifazat Committee in Gujarat to stop cow slaughter.

Towards Communal Harmony

JUH in Gujarat shows the way

â&#x20AC;˘ Raju Shanbhag

or a better part of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existence as a sovereign nation, communal harmony has been a gimmicky phrase uttered by politicians to garner votes and to make appropriate sounds at the national level gatherings. Everyone understands communal harmony is intrinsic for the success of our constitutional framework, but few know how to achieve and even fewer really care about it. Communal disharmony between Hindus and Muslims has resulted in some of the worst violence in the history of the nation, and both communities have been programmed by their respective political and religious leaders to develop a deep distrust of each other. But like a beacon of light in a dark street, people from each community extend their hands and their minds to embrace their Bhai in another community every now and then. Although such incidents are far outnumbered by the hatred these two communities display towards each other, these rare episodes of humanity show us hope, and encourage us to dream of a better tomorrow. This time, a gesture of brotherhood has come from the Muslim community in Gujarat. The Gujarat unit of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH) has come forward to respect the religious sentiments of the Hindu community by setting up what is called the Gau Hifazat Committee to stop cow slaugh-

ter. This is indeed a rare step by JUH as cow slaughter is a part of Muslim tradition and eating beef is common among them. So, offering not to slaughter cows is a huge step forward by the Muslim community, one that needs to be reciprocated by the Hindu community. JUH is taking all possible steps to ensure that its promise doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t remain on paper. For about a year now, JUH office-bearers have been going from village to village in Bharuch district to convince and educate Muslims against cow slaughter. They also made sure that Muslims in their

area listened to their pleas and acted favourably on it. Apart from taking a positive step to strengthen its ties with Hindus in the region, JUH is seeking to end harassments at the hands anti-cow slaughter activists who take the law into their own hands on the one hand and the state police, especially around Bakra Eid. Bakra Eid coincides with the holy Paryushan period of the Jains, who are already demanding that the town be declared free of nonvegetarianism. Muslims are responding positively to this demand as most local bodies close slaughter houses

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during this eight-day period of penance out of respect for the Jain community. The Surat Municipal Corporation has even gone a step further. It has declared a complete ban on sale of non-vegetarian food this year around and Muslims are cooperating. The Haque has even proposed formation of cow protection committees. The condition is that wherever they are formed, they must have 30 per cent Muslims, 30 per cent tribals and the remaining 40 per cent from other communities. Is this a new beginning in the strained relations between two of the largest communities in the country? Could we look for more such incidents of communal harmony where one community goes out of the way to earn the goodwill of another community? A series of happenings all over the country do give one that impression. Recently, the BJP MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, made a serious allegation about Muslims, supported by facts and figures, according to him. He claimed, “In places where there are 10 to 20 per cent minorities, stray communal incidents take place. Where there are 20 to 35 per cent of them, serious communal riots take place and where they are more than 35 per cent, there is no place for nonMuslims.”

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While the authenticity of the statistics provided by Yogi Adityanath is open to debate, there is no denying the fact that the world’s peace and harmony are threatened largely by fundamentalist Islamic terrorists. While ISIS is fast transforming into a major threat to any non-Islamic entity on the face of the earth, India-based Jihadis are posing serious security problems for the Narendra Modi-led BJP government (See box). While India fights terrorists from outside who invade us with their guns and ammunitions, some parts of the nation are also fighting another form of passive anti-social activities by “Love Jihadists.” Recently, BJP MLA Sangeet Som announced a “mahapanchayat” to protest ‘Love Jihad’ in his constituency, Sardhana, in Meerut district. Before 2008, the term Love Jihad was not commonly used. By 2009, however, it began to appear across Kerala and Karnataka. Also referred to as Romeo Jihad, the term started to show up in alarmist religious literature. At first, it was the Catholic Church pushing the theory that women were being conned into converting. The Kerala Catholic Bishops Council claimed in 2009 that up to 4,500 women had been targeted in this way. This was followed up by the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, which claimed

that 30,000 women in Karnataka alone had already been converted. The term Love Jihad was given sudden legitimacy in the Kerala High Court in 2009, when Justice KT Sankaran asked the police to look into the matter. Authorities in both Kerala and Karnataka eventually denied that such a plan existed. But the fact that it was actually investigated gave a huge boost to the idea that Love Jihad might be a real strategy. The alleged Sarawa gangrape broke into the headlines two weeks ago after a 20-year-old from the village filed a First Information Report claiming she was duped into going to a madrasa, gangraped and forcibly converted to Islam. These allegations don’t amount to a straightforward case of Love Jihad, which involves women willingly going to the men. Clearly, there is a long way before absolute communal harmony can be established between various religious communities in India. People from all the communities should first learn to respect the religious preferences and sentiments of each other and then learn to coexist with each other. Communal harmony is not achieved overnight. It requires sustained effort and a sense of camaraderie between two communities. The initiative by JUH is a right step in that direction.

The Rising Islamic Terrorism in India

hile it is a known the Base of Jihad in fact that Islamic te the Indian Sub- Cont rrorists released on inent, also have eyed India fo line manifestos wr r a long time, the itten by al-Zawahiri new in- spokespers formation is that , on Usama Mahm they have decided oud, and organisa to increase tional ch their focus on the ief Asim Umar. country. The recent statement by Al Qaeda leader Last year, Umar iss Al Zawahiri about In ued an appeal dire dia in a vid- dian Mus eo that was clandes cted at Inlims: “You who ha tinely distributed to ve ruled India for eig the media hundred confirms this. It wa ht ye ars, you who lit th s also reported th e flame of the on at the group true Go established only e d in the darkness of po recently at tempted lytheism: how can to stor m a you rem ship in the Karachi ain in your slumber wh port on the annive en the Muslims of rsar y of 9/11, the wo but reports sugges rld are awakening? t the mission ende ” th e al d -Qaeda ideologue in di sa ster. Asim Umar aske He has announced d India’s Muslims the formation of a last summer. “If new wing the youth of the feared terro of the Muslim world rist group dedica have joined the ba ted to wag- tlefield ing jihad in the In ts with the slogan dian subcontinent. ‘Shari’a or Mar tyrd In the vid- and put eotape—the first om ,’ th eir released by the al lives at stake to es -Qaeda chief ate, ho tablish the Caliphsince August 2013 w ca n you lag behind —al-Zawaheri prom them? Why is ther ises that no stor m al-Qaeda will now e in your ocean,” Um expand its operatio ar demanded to kn ns throughout the region: “O Re ow ce . nt ly, four Maharashtra m ur brothers in Burm en lef t to train with a, Kashmir, the Islam Islamabad, Bangla ic State, and a separa desh,” he says, “w te corpus of former e did not for- Indian get you in AQ and Mujahideen operat will liberate you fo ives went to fight alo rm injustice side jih and oppression.” ngadists in the Afghan The new branch, he istan-Pakistan bord says, is in lands. Fro particular “a messa erm Internet chats betw ge that we did not een Karachi-based forget you, Indian M our Muslim brothe uj ah rs in India.” ideen chief Riyaz Shahbandri—also He asks al-Qaeda known as Riyaz Bh in the Indian Subc atkal and his alleg ontinent, ant Muham or AQIS, “Break all ed lieutenmad Ahmad Siddib borders created by apa, also known as Britain in Yasin Bhat India”, and calls on kal, it is clear the all Muslims in the Indian Mujahideen region to operative “unite under the cr s lef t the organisatio edo of the one go n because they fe d.” The new frustra organisation, nam lt ted that Pakistan’s ed the Jamaat Qa intelligence service idat al-jihad were no fi’shibhi al-qar rat s t all owing them to st al-Hindiya, or Orga age large-scale at nisation of tack s ag ainst India.

O C T O B E R 2014

India

Japan Asia’s Best and Trusted Friends • Aftab Seth

ndia’s relations with Japan reach back over fifteen centuries. The Tokyo Declaration issued on September 1st 2014, on the occasion of the meeting of the two Prime Ministers, echoed this connection in the following words: ”Conscious that from time immemorial whenever Japanese and Indians have come together, they have struck a deep chord in each other…..” (Para 37, Tokyo Declaration of 1st September 2014). This sentence epitomises the trouble-free, cordial and vibrant relationship between the two countries that has grown steadily over the centuries. As former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said on the occasion of the PM’s visit, “I was the first Prime Minister to visit India in a decade.” In August 2000 he and PM Vajpayee established the global partnership between India and Japan. Mori, now Chairman of the Japan India Association which celebrates its 111th anniversary this year, was referring to a ten-year long hiatus between the visit of PM Kaifu in 1990 and his own historic journey to India in August 2000. I was then Ambassador in Vietnam and was called by the government to attend the Mori-Vajpayee talks, since my posting to Tokyo as Ambassador had already been announced. Mori’s visit was historic; it was also courageous, because many in his establishment were still sore about our nuclear tests of May 1998 and were opposed to his going to India.

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In the last 10 months, the bilateral relationship has seen some historic landmarks. Most importantly Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan visited India from November 30 to December 5, 2013. They had returned to India after an interval of 53 years; in 1960 they had come as Crown Prince and Princess! The visits of Their Majesties abroad are carefully chosen by the Imperial Household and Foreign Office to underscore the importance that Japan attaches to the country to which the imperial couple travel. The message to India was thus clear; Japan believes this is a most important bilateral relationship. Republic Day 2014 saw PM Abe as our Chief Guest. He was the first Japanese PM to be so honoured. His attendance at the parade, where India’s military hardware was on display, was well noted by all observers of both countries and their foreign policies. The presence of the Japanese Prime Minister on such an occasion was symbolic of the fact that our relationship has grown immensely in the last 14 years. In the defence and security field in particular, PM Abe has shown that he is willing to make bold departures from past policies. In April 2014, Abe amended the ban then in place on the export of weapons. It is in this context that PM Modi and Abe in their joint declaration (Para 9) spoke of the need to transfer technology and promote the production of defense equipment in India. Special reference was made to the US-2 amphibian aircraft, which was also discussed in January 2014. In the light of PM Modi’s effort to promote the production of defence material in India, the willingness of Japan to assist in the process and transfer technology is most significant. In a similar vein, both Prime Ministers stressed the need to keep the global maritime and civil aviation commons free from interference; the reference was clearly to the recent postures adopted by China in its assertive policies towards Vietnam , the Philippines and Japan (Para 10). During Modi’s visit, a Memorandum

India and Japan share common values relating to the rule of law, freedom of the individual, freedom of the media and a desire to contribute to the peace and stability of Asia and the world at large. So it is not surprising that PM Modi’s visit was viewed as strategically important. The agreements signed between both the countries are of great significance especially the one envisaging transfer technology.

by the navies of Singapore and Australia for joint naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal. It would thus be seen that Abe has had a deep interest for many years in enhancing defence cooperation with India and like-minded countries such as the USA and Australia. Australian PM Abbot’s visit to India soon after Modi’s visit to Japan and the agreement to sell us uranium, fits in well with Abe’s vision of democracies in Asia working together to secure sea lanes and ensure freedom of commerce. The Japanese press paid attention to the defence and security aspect of the Modi visit, as also to the fact that talks on civil nuclear cooperation will continue. As a symbol of Japan’s determination to do away with all obsta-

of Cooperation and Exchanges in the field of Defence was signed. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to holding joint naval exercises and to continue the trilateral naval exercises with the USA, the Malabar series. Interestingly, the trilateral naval exercises were first held in April 2007 in the waters off Okinawa, during Abe’s first administration. In August of that year, Abe paid a visit to India and addressed the Indian Parliament speaking of “The Confluence of the Two Seas” -- the Indian and Pacific Ocean -- which made India and Japan natural partners. In September of 2007, India, Japan and the USA were joined

cles in the way of nuclear cooperation, Japan removed six of India’s space and defence-related industries from Japan’s ‘End User’ list. The list had been in force from May 1998 when India carried out the nuclear tests. In doing so, Japan has given evidence that it trusts India under PM Modi to refrain from using defence technologies transferred from Japan for delivery systems for Weapons of Mass Destruction. (Modi in his extempore remarks to the Indian community in Tokyo on September 2 made a special reference to this mark of confidence in India). The decision to remove the ban on these six Indian entities

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comes on top of Japan’s promise to continue working with India to make it a full member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Missile Technology Control Regime, Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group. As a corollary to this reaffirmation of Japan’s’ commitment to deal in high technology exchanges was the agreement to work together in the field of rare earths. Indian Rare Earths Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Department of Atomic Energy, will work with Toyota Tsusho Corporation for the production of rare earth products. The press headlined this as “Japan turns to India as supplier of important rare earth metals.” (Japan Times 29/8/14). The Japanese press highlighted this in the background of heavy arm twisting by China, the biggest producer of such products, some two years ago, when they banned the export of rare earth products to Japan. The reason for the ban was entirely political and had to do with the territorial disputes between China and Japan. Japanese high-tech industry was thrown into considerable confusion by the Chinese action. It was realised then that over-dependence on China for such products was not in Japan’s interests. Para 20 of the joint declaration, therefore, views this agreement on rare earths as a “significant step in the Japan India Strategic and Global Partnership.”

Strategic importance of North-East In strategic terms, Modi’s visit gave concrete shape to an idea mooted in January 2014, when Abe came to India. This relates to the North-East of India where there are certain sensitivities relating to China’s claims on Arunachal Pradesh. The agreement has spelled out the steps by which Japan will assist in the development of these areas. The Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) and the Export Import Bank of India will collaborate in enhancing connectivity in our North East and between India and neighbouring countries. In view of the

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free trade agreement between ASEAN and India, the seamless flow of goods from our north-east to Burma and beyond, linking up eventually with Hanoi in Vietnam, will give a boost to our trade with this important region, which already stands at around $100 billion. The measure of trust reposed by India in Japan is clearly seen by this collaboration in an area of strategic importance to our country. JBIC will look at roads, water supply and forestry projects in Manipur and elsewhere in the region. Overall this can be seen as a major enhancement in the level of our strategic relationship. The two Prime Ministers reached agreements in several other areas, including continued mutual help through the G-4 to obtain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council for both countries; to intensify the Energy dialogue in Clean Coal Technologies and LNG; to intensify Human Resource cooperation; to further enhance work on the Delhi Mumbai Infrastructure Corridor, in clusters such as Neemrana and to further develop the Bangalore–Madras corridor where Japanese companies have shown much interest . There was an agreement that the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science will work with our universities to increase the level of student exchanges especially in the field of science. There was a clear personal chemistry between PM Abe and PM Modi. Their private walk, all on their own, through the gardens of the temples of Kyoto showed the nature of the personal bond that has been estab-

lished. PM Modi has agreed with Abe that the historic city of Kyoto, the capital of Japan till 1868, will be linked with Varanasi, our ancient city. Both cities have some of the most beautiful temples in the world and their linkage would further underscore the historical connections between us. The first sermon of the Buddha at Sarnath had a resonance in Japan almost 1000 years after it was delivered; but that in no way lessened the impact of that message of brotherhood, compassion and peace which went out from India to Asia and the world. Some press editorials in Japan spoke of “Japan and India’s China challenge” while others made a reference to PM Modi’s speech where he spoke of European imperialism in the 18th Century and the modern examples of such behaviour. Such press comments concluded that the PM had referred to China in his remarks about the 18th century. But apart from such occasional comments, overall there was a clear understanding that both Japan and India have to deal with their territorial and maritime problems with China in their own respective ways. They would, of course, continue to share intelligence with each other and they would continue to work together to build up each other’s economies and defence preparedness. Above all, these two great democracies share values relating to the rule of law, freedom of the individual ,freedom of the media and a desire to contribute to the peace and stability of Asia and the world at large. These shared values make Japan and India natural partners. This is the clear message that emerged at the end of PM Modi’s discussions with PM Abe which concluded in early September. The visit from all points of view has been a successful one for both India and Japan: one learned commentator, in fact headlined his piece; “Asia’s best friends shape an axis.” While some may question the ’axis’, no one can deny that we are indeed Asia’s best friends.

India Should Leverage the Tectonic Shift

Global Economic Scene • Prof. R Vaidyanathan

s per Angus Maddison’s pioneering OECD study, India and China had nearly 50 percent of the global GDP as late as the1820‘s. Hence, India and China are not emerging or rising powers. They are merely retrieving their original position or reemerging markets. In 1990, the share of G-7 in world GDP (on PPP base) was 51 % and that of the emerging markets was 36 %. But in 2014 it is the reverse. The crisis faced by the West is primarily due to forgetting a sixletter word called ‘saving’ which is the result of forgetting another six-letter word called ‘family’. The West has nationalised families over the last 60 years. Old age, ill health, single mother, child care everything is the responsibility of the State. When family is a ‘burden’ and children an ‘encumbrance’, society can be said to be in a state that should cause concern. Actually, for long, household savings have been negative in the USA.

Table – 1: Overall Debt and Components as % of GDP Country

Overall Debt

Govt. Debt

Household

UNITED STATES

289

CANADA

273

BRITAIN

494

GERMANY

287

FRANCE

349

SPAIN

366

ITALY

310

104

RUSSIA

BRAZIL

148

JAPAN

511

227

SOUTH KOREA

315

CHINA

184

INDIA

122

Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook-2012

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‘Society has become dysfunctional or disorganised in the West. The government is trying to be organised. In India, society is organised and government is disorganised. Because of the disorganised society in the West, the state has to take care of families. The market crash is essentially due to the model of consumption with borrowings and no savings.’ Country

1995

2000

2005

2010

2012

2013

2014

Australia

5.3

1.8

2.7

10.1

11.3

10.4

9.8

Canada

9.3

3.4

1.6

4.3

5.0

5.2

5.0

Denmark

0.2

-4.0

-4.2

-0.7

-0.1

-0.2

Germany

11.2

9.4

10.7

10.9

10.3

10.0

9.9

Japan

12.2

6.8

1.4

2.0

1.3

0.9

0.6

Korea

18.5

9.0

7.5

4.7

3.9

5.1

5.2

USA

5.2

4.0

2.6

5.6

4.5

4.1

France

15.7

14.2

14.8

15.9

15.6

15.7

9.4

4.6

2.9

7.3

5.1

3.9

Source: Household savings—OECD fact book.

We find from Table-1 that the Debt to GDP ratio is above 300% in many developed countries. Importantly, the Household Debt to GDP ratio is significantly high in many G-7 countries like the US, UK and Canada and comparatively low in countries like China and India. Saving is still not forgotten in these countries. Also, the credit card culture could be a major reason for such high levels of indebtedness in the developed countries. We have given in Table-2 the household savings rate as percentage of disposable income for many OECD countries. Except France, most are in single digits. The lack of savings by households has an impact not only on the current situation but also on distribution of wealth over time. We can use a thumb rule to conclude that whenever the savings rate of a society is less than 10% of its disposable income [with stable taxation and inflation] then the society is bound to get into difficulties. Many households begin to rely more and more on social security and this liability, in some countries, is either not funded, or, inadequately funded. This, in turn creates substantial issues of solven-

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(http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/5/48/2483858.xls)

cy of the government and the ability of the government to take care of the old age security of its citizens. This, coupled with the declining population growth rate and longevity of the current generation, creates an explosive situation of a bankrupt state exchequer and lower accretion to the social security fund. The decline, and in many cases, the extinction of the joint family system in these countries adds to the agony of the elderly in terms of their old age security and health and emotional care. The increasing number of children born out of wedlock to younger girls and single mothers creates additional dependency numbers for the State. The consumption driven society turns out to be a ‘Responsibility Denial’ society. A couple of years ago, hundreds of aged people died in France from the heat due to lack of care by their family and the State. Younger family members had all gone on vacation in the summer leaving the old to the vagaries of nature. And the State is blamed for not taking care of the old! The slogan of ‘Shop till you drop’ is slowly changing to ‘Shop and get dropped’. Consumers are feted

Table -2: Household Saving Rates

Note: Net saving as a percentage of disposable household income. In the case of the UK, it is gross saving.

and savers are frowned upon. But the wheel is slowly but surely turning. Suddenly the good old virtues of saving and thrift are becoming the fashion from Alberta to Auckland. The limits to consumption led growth have at last dawned upon the people. On a global scale, the consumption led growth of some countries like the USA is supported by saver countries in the developing world. But how long can these anomalies continue?

Demographic Crisis Not only that, the West is also facing a severe demographic crisis. The population of Europe at the time of the First World War was nearly 25% percent of the world’s population; today, it is around 11% and is expected to become 3% in another 20 years. Europe will disappear from the world map unless migrants from Africa and Asia take it over. The demographic crisis impacts them in other ways too. The social security system goes for a toss since people are living longer and there aren’t sufficient numbers to contribute towards the social security fund or pay taxes. So the nationaliza-

tion of families becomes a burden on the state. European work culture has also deteriorated with even our own Tata complaining about the work ethics of British managers In the UK, the situation is worst with alcoholism becoming a common problem. The Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregation in London says, “There are all signs of arteriosclerosis of a culture and a civilization grown old. Me has taken precedence over We and pleasure today over viability tomorrow.” (The Times, 08-09-2011). Married couples make up less than half (45%) of all households in the USA, says the recent data from the Census Bureau. Also, there has been a huge growth in unmarried couples and single parent (mostly poor black women) families. Society has become dysfunctional or disorganised in the West. The government is trying to be organised. In India, society is organised and government is disorganised. Because of the disorganised society in the West, the state has to take care of families. The market crash is essentially due to the model of consumption with borrowings and no savings. According to a recent report (Wall Street Journal, 10-10-2011), nearly half of the US population lives in households receiving government benefits like food stamps, subsidised housing, cash welfare or Medicare or Medicaid (the federal-state health care program for the poor) or Social security, etc. The unemployment rate in many European countries like Spain and Greece is more than 20% and among youth (aged 16 to 24 years) it is nearing 50%. Britain has fallen out of love with marriage. The 2011 census shows that the number of married people has fallen to 20.4 million, nearly 200,000 less than a decade ago. A quarter of the people in England and Wales are single, while the number of those cohabiting has risen from 9.8% of the population to 11.9 %. Growing numbers of people are also choosing to divorce.

The breaking up of the family has put tremendous pressure on the state to sustain single parent/single women families and also the elderly. This has put their social security schemes – if at all funded – under strain. Europe has become secular, which is a euphemism for renouncing or ignoring the church. For instance, the

many French children may be able to identify their fathers only through DNA tests. The USA is facing similar issues. In 2010, more than 50% of the children were born out of wedlock and illegitimacy is the new norm. Among blacks, it is 75% and among Latinos, it is more than 55%.

recent census in the UK has revealed that there has been a decline of 12% in people belonging to Christianity and 25% of the population said they had no faith – an increase from 15% a decade earlier. The UK is also exhibiting tendencies in societal behavior more typical of third world countries. For instance, urinating in the streets is becoming a major issue and the town of Chester is using innovative ways to punish offenders like asking them to maintain local heritage sites. The French are grappling with the issues of illegitimacy and a failure of the family system. An ex-French law minster had simultaneous relationships with eight men and it was difficult to ascertain who the father of her child was. In another decade,

The US faces an unprecedented crisis since families have been nationalised and businesses privatised. Society has become dysfunctional. This year, more than half the births are of non-white children, giving rise to the possibility of the US becoming a nonwhite majority country in another 30 years where Spanish and Chinese could become major languages. This could have a tremendous impact in Mid-West and give Southern Bible-thumpers like Rush Limbaugh a field day. This could also give rise to sharper social conflicts and open up the old civil war fault lines. Two reports released in December 2012 in the US will have significant and far-reaching implications for countries like India. These reports are: Global Trends 2030: Alternative

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Worlds, by the US National Intelligence Council, and US Strategy for a Post-Western World: Envisioning 2030, by the Atlantic Council. The aforementioned two reports tell us something we always hesitate to believe till someone from the West confirms it for us. The reports indicate how China and India will be more powerful than the US by 2030. One of the reports also suggests that Asian cultures will supersede America’s and Europe’s in 20 years as the global middle class grows. But it also predicts that competition for resources, including food, space and water, will be fierce. Five trends which will have farreaching implications for the West and us are the following: • The West’s problems are

related to the decline of the family as an institution and household savings. • Demography is increasing the proportion of old people in the population. • Rising longevity is leading to a social security crisis which will bankrupt governments. • The decline of the Church and belief systems – both in Europe and US – could have major implications. • The Westphalia Consensus about the sovereignty of nations which are not western/white is over. These trends have not been dealt with in full detail in the main reports possibly because they are focused more on economics, energy etc. But the building blocks of any civilization start with the family, and this has become an issue in the western world, without alternate institutions emerging.

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India needs to strategize for the future We should recognise that for most of the Indian elite, their umbilical cords are linked to the West. Many of them are/were educated in the US or Europe, and most of them have their children studying or working there. Due to colonial genes, acceptance and recognition by the West is critical for average middle class Indians. The danger is that we are going to replicate their failed models when they are in decline. They will try to sell us everything they have, and we will buy it because of our colonial genes. They will hire more Indians to head global companies as showpieces in order to penetrate our markets. The reality that the West is in decline and many of its institutions are

failing has still not struck us and we will continue to try and imitate them – including their dysfunctional family systems. We should recognize that we are a civilization and not just a market. Today, funds are in search of markets and not the other way round. Instead of heading global institutions, we should prepare to acquire them. Civilisationally, we are nearer to the East than the West. We should take the lead along with others in the East to create alternative institutions to the World Bank, the IMF and the UN. The need is to recognise that the old debate about big business or big government is passé. Our ability to look beyond Marx and market into our thriving communities and bazaars will provide us answers to many issues. (The author is Member, VIF Advisory Board)

Love Jihad

Foreseeing A Social Epidemic

alcolm Gladwell, renowned journalist and author, once wrote that those who are successful at creating social epidemics do not just do what they think is right. They deliberately test the will of the society. So, to make sense of emerging social epidemics in our midst, viz. ‘Love Jihad’, we must first understand its perpetrators, their goals, discuss and debate about them freely to avoid the society from going on a downward spiral. But have we enabled such free social scrutiny of ‘Love Jihad’? The November 29th, 2013, edition of the English magazine, “Frontline” carried a story titled “Sensational Grist”. The story starts off with the depiction of a Marathi booklet from Hindu Rakshak Samiti on Love Jihad, written by Ramesh Shinde and Mohan Gowda. The very first image is that of a Muslim looking man in beard thinking “Love Jihad” in his mind, ferrying an innocent Hindu looking girl thinking “love”. The article portrayed ‘Love

Jihadi Romeos are roaming all over the country these days, especially in the coastal state of Kerala and coastal areas of Karnataka. Termed ‘Love Jihad’ it is not just a paranoia of a few Hindu groups. It’s a well established phenomenon with numerous FIRs, court cases, books, real-life interviews and most importantly its use by the terror syndicates to expand their base and for money laundering to fund their activities. Jihad’ as more of paranoia of Hindu organisations. However, after the case of the Meerut gang-rape and religious conversion emerged in August 2014, several TV channels ran shows

on ‘Love Jihad’, only to run down the epidemic and portray it as more of a fabrication to be used by political parties during the elections. So, what exactly is the truth about Love Jihad? Jihad in Islam is an obligatory religious duty of every Muslim under the Quran which mean to ‘struggle’ or ‘fight’ for the cause of Allah relentlessly by employing ‘all means’ till all the ‘infidels’ or ‘kafirs’ (non-Muslims) accept Islam. Jihad in its most ancient form, Jihad-bil-saif (Jihad by sword) and AL-Jihad Fi-sabilillah, meaning the greatest of all Jihads striving in the cause of Allah and Prophet Mohammad, as written in the Quran has been waged from the birth of Islam in the 7th AD up till now. Now, with several other forms of Jihad emerging world over it is prudent on our part to be aware and put this dangerous malice of ‘Love Jihad’ under the scanner. As a term, ‘Love Jihad’ was first publicly heard in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala in September 2009 in a case of love-affair which resulted

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in an inter-religious marriage. The term was later used in a judgment of the Kerala High Court in December 2009 where Justice KT Sankaran made an observation that ‘an alleged Muslim plot to forcefully convert young Hindu girls to Islam by having Muslim boys entrap them in love affairs’. The judgment also asked the state government to consider enacting a law to prohibit such “deceptive” acts of Love Jihad”. The court further observed that “As per available information, the plan was to ‘trap’ brilliant upper caste Hindu and Christian girls from well-to-do families. The programme was started in 1996 with the blessings of some Muslim organisations of Kerala.” The court had earlier dismissed the anticipatory bail applications of Shanshah and Sirajuddin, two youths who had eloped with Hindu and Christian girls. According to police, the girls said they were persuaded to convert to Islam and were directed not to disclose the activities of Popular Front of India (PFI) which allegedly assisted the two accused. Justice Sankaran, in his judgment, also noted that this also causes communal tensions amongst the religious groups, endangering peace and harmony. Hundreds of cases of Love Jihad have been registered all across Kerala and coastal Karnataka till date. Even elsewhere in India, similar cases have been reported though they did not make it to the mainstream media. A Marathi book on Love Jihad, written by Suneela Sovani and translated into English by Shreerang Godbole with the title “Love Jihad, Muted Horror” and published by Bharatiya Vichar Sadhana Pune Prakashan, details several such cases across India. The book has interviews of the victims, the methods used to trap, conversations with parents and activists, understanding the psyche, the legal position and authentic Islamic references talking about the nature of Jihad. Among the cases highlighted in the book, the cases of Rekha and Revati give details about the ways the girls were trapped using friendly gestures, presenting them with costly gifts, engaging in physical relationship and eventually eloping and converting for a consummate Islamic marriage. The menace of Love Jihad has also been recognised by Christian groups too. Father Johny Kochuparambil, Secretary of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council’s Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance, wrote in an article in the church council’s newsletter listing 2,868 Christian girls who fell to the Love Jihad net between 2006 to 2009. The Council has also issued guidelines to parents of school and college going girls to prevent it from recurring. According to Global Council of Indian Christians, “Love Jihad in Kerala is part of global Islamisation project.” “Janmabhumi,” a newspaper published from Kerala, has this to say: “The Jihadi Romeos engaged in ‘Love Jihad’ are given special ranks, rewards, and money for carrying out their operation of trapping more and more unsuspecting girls into this. Jahangir Razak, a former

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student of Kozhikode Law College, one such Jihadi Romeo, is said to have trapped 42 Hindu girls till date. He is reportedly linked with a sex racket running in Chennai and terrorist organisations. One Shajahan from Pathanamthitta has trapped six young girls from Malayalappuzha Panchayat itself.” On June 25, 2012 Oommen Chandy, Chief Minister of Kerala, informed the state legislature that 2667 young women were converted to Islam in the state since 2006 (“India Today”, September 4, 2012), which then resulted in Islamic marriages. But the Muslim League, part of the Congress led UDF government, objected saying that these were cases of ‘Love Jihad’ and termed it as ‘myth’. In December, 2011 the Karnataka government asked the state police to investigate the case of 84 Hindu girls missing from Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts since June of the same year, suspecting Love Jihad behind it. “The Times of India” on April 6, 2010, under the headline ‘Love Jihad: girl rescued’ reported that “Pooja, 17, from K R Nagar, Mysore district, was rescued 10 days after she was kidnapped by Azeem Afeez, 22. She told the police that Azeem forcefully converted her to Islam before marrying her. She was also rechristened as Meheq Taj.”, the report said. The cases of ‘Love Jihad’ can be found across India, thus making it an all India phenomenon. In 2012, a woman Congress MLA of Assam, Rumi Nath, was reportedly entrapped by her Facebook Muslim friend, Zakir from Bangladesh, and fled with him to Dhaka. She was already married to a Hindu and was a mother of a child. Two years later she filed a case against her second husband for mental and physical harassment. According to a reputed Malayalam Daily, “Kerala Kaumudi”, “Trapping naive non-Muslim girls (mostly Hindu girls) in the web of love in order to convert to Islam is the modus operandi of Love Jihad”. The Muslim boys are given money, cell phones, bikes, etc. to trap non-Muslim girls, the daily

wrote. In October 2009, Ketan Ranga of “Mid-Day” wrote in his article titled “Love Jihad’s baby machines”, “The plot (Love Jihad) recruits young Muslim boys to make Hindu or Christian girls fall in love with them (in a time span of two weeks) and then convert them to Islam in six months. If the recruits can’t make the girl fall in love in two weeks, they are told to move on to the next target.” Later, those nonMuslim girls are made to bear children from these Muslim boys who after giving birth to children are then forced to involve in terrorist activities. Some of them are also sent to the Middle East

(mainly Saudi Arabia and Dubai) to be engaged in ‘sex trade’ there, as per his report. In November 2013, Kannada dailies carried a barrage of news about Ayesha from Mangaluru, who was arrested in connection with Patna bombings at Narendra Modi’s rally. It was reported that after conversion, she had about 35 bank accounts and transacted more than one crore rupees in just two months, while her reported profession was that of a ‘beedi roller’! This case highlights the modus-ope-

randi of ‘Love Jihad’ where terrorists lure, marry and then push the victims into the terror network. In conclusion, Love Jihad is not just paranoia of a few Hindu groups. It’s a well established phenomenon with numerous FIRs, court cases, books, real-life interviews and most importantly its use by the terror syndicates to expand their base and for money laundering to fund their activities. The baffling silence of Islamic organizations, religious bodies, Quranic experts of both national and international stature and their reluctance in condemning Love Jihad have raised more questions than answers. Does this mean that the practice of Love Jihad in India and across the globe enjoy their blessings for furthering the Islamic cause? We hope that Islamic organisations come forward and condemn such practices which create huge fissures in the society. Novelist Thomas Mann famously said, “Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.” Echoing him Angela Markel, Chancellor of Germany in her speech to the European Parliament said, “Tolerance sounds its own death knell if it does not protect itself from intolerance. Tolerance without acceptance of intolerance is what makes us humane.” Not reporting the unpleasant facts of Love Jihad will be a selfdestructive folly of all the remaining secular and democratic states as well as civilised societies across the world. Hence, in the interest of free speech and justice, empirical facts on Love Jihad must be published and widely disseminated for creating greater awareness about this dangerous malice. Otherwise our cherished liberal values like democracy, secularism, tolerance, etc will be decimated by continuous onslaughts of such sectarian exploits.

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Banning the Bali Court’s order has a deep impact • Raju Shanbhag

t’s a judgment that needed debate. It’s a judgment that has appeased numerous self-styled animal activists in the country. The Himachal Pradesh High Court’s ban on animal slaughter in the name of religion is hailed as a landmark judgment by many in the media and in the social circles. But like every story, this decision by the court has two sides and we are currently listening to only one side. The court banned animal slaughter in religious places, stating, “No person throughout the state shall sacrifice any animal in any place of public religious worship, including all land and buildings near such places of religious worship which are ordinarily connected to religious purposes.” A cursory glance at this highly important decision by the honorable court shows that thousands of animals will be saved every year. The decision appears to be pro-animal and, therefore, pro- nature. But if you look deep into the details of the petition filed, you will discover that there is more to it than meets the eye. To start with, the petition, filed in the Himachal Pradesh High Court showed a number of examples of Hindu temples where animal sacrifices were being conducted. It made no mention of animal sacrifices by Muslims and Christians on various occasions. Now, although the court has clearly mentioned that no one from any religion should be allowed to slaughter animals in a public place or street, what remains to be seen is whether the governments of the states will

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The Himachal High Court has passed a verdict banning animal sacrifice, but it is an issue bristling with many problems. How can the government prevent this practice all of a sudden since it doesn’t have the wherewithal to muster enough man power and other requirements that are essential to impose the ban? And what about the religious sanction of sacrifices in other religions such as Islam and Christianity? So the issue cannot be set at rest with the court issuing an order. There are more aspects to be considered before enforcing the honourable court’s verdict. have the wherewithal to impose this ban on ALL religions. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that cruelty to animals is not restricted to temples or mosques. Every day, countless animals and other forms of beings are killed all over the world to be eaten by humans. You cannot expect those animals to be

treated with love and respect before they are slaughtered! So, how is their torture different from the ones inflicted upon animals in temples? Animals will not understand and agree for their slaughter if they are being eaten and protest if they are slaughtered as sacrifice. It’s the same for them, and it’s a torture against animals.

So our humble question to the petitioner is, how will you differentiate between the torture inflicted upon animals to eat them from the ones that are being slaughtered for sacrifices? PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) website has loads of videos and pictures of ill treatment meted out to animals every single day all over the planet. Why no one files a petition against meat eating, against leather and cosmetics industries which use tons of kilos of animal produces each year and mercilessly torture them every single day for commercial purposes.? If the petitioners are really serious at stopping torture on animals, they should first look at all these industries, where animals are abused on a much larger scale every single day. They can also look at the booming clinical research labs in India, which use thousands of animals to test their drugs. These animals are locked up in ugly places for a long time and various unsafe, unproven drugs are test-

ed on them every day, leaving most of these animals with defects for the rest of their lives, which is thankfully short anyway after these abuses are wreaked upon them. This is not to argue that animal sacrifices in religious places should be left as they are. There can be no god in any religion which gets excited with the death of its own, innocent creatures. But a petition against religious practices alone, overlooking various other forms of torture on animals in other walks of life is preposterous. Complaining against religious practices in the name of modern thinking has been a fad and the sooner we get rid of this, the better it will be for our society.

Animal Sacrifices in Various Religions

lmost all the religions in the world practise animal sacrifice. In Christianity, references to animal sacrifice appear in the New Testament, such as the parents of Jesus sacrificing two doves (Luke 2:24) and the Apostle Paul performing a Nazirite vow even after the death of Christ. Some villages in Greece also sacrifice animals to Orthodox saints in a practice known as kourbĂ nia. Sacrifice of a lamb, or less commonly a rooster, is a common practice in Armenian Church and Tewahedo Church. This tradition, called matagh, is believed to stem from pre-Christian pagan rituals. Additionally, some Mayans following a form of Folk Catholicism in Mexico today still sacrifice animals in conjunction with church practices, a ritual practised in past religions before the arrival of the Spaniards. Muslims engaged in the Hajj (pilgrimage) are obligated to sacrifice a lamb or a goat or join others in sacrificing a cow or a camel during the celebration of the Eid al-Adha. Other Muslims not on the Hajj to

Mecca are also encouraged to participate in this sacrifice to share in the sanctity of the occasion. It is understood as a symbolic reenactment of Abrahamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sacrifice of a ram in place of his son, a narrative present throughout Abrahamism. Other occasions where the lamb is sacrificed include the celebration of the birth of a child, reaching the final stages of building a house, the acquisition of a valuable commodity, and even the visit of a dear or honourable guest. For Muslims, the sacrifice of lamb is associated with celebrations, feasts, generosity, and the seeking of blessings. Most schools of faith hold the animal must be killed according to the traditions of halal sacrifice. Hinduism itself forbids animal sacrifice, and indeed any meat processing, based on the doctrine of ahimsa. But animal sacrifices practices are still current and are mostly associated with either Shaktism or with local tribal traditions.

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Smart City! This is the “inthing” now ever since the Modi government made an announcement to this effect as soon as the BJP government came to power. But what exactly it is no one seems to know. Smart City in short will have hundreds of houses in a sprawling ground with all the modern facilities. Proximity to airports and highways, and modern civic amenities will be their key elements. What will set them apart will be the technology they embrace to ease things for the citizens.

Smart City

How Much You Know About them? • Gangadhar Sharma

arendra Modi government wants to develop 100 smart cities across the country. But a large number of Indians do not know what the smart city is all about, how it looks like and what transformation it might bring about. Smart cities will spread across thousands of acres with sophisticated civic amenities and easy access to airports and railway lines. What makes smart cities stand out is that they will make the most of emerging Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). In a smart city, you won’t have to hang around hunting for a parking space. Your cell phone will receive a text message as soon as you arrive, guiding you to the

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nearest parking place. There won’t be traffic jams, air or sound pollution. More than anything else, every smart city will have round-the-clock power and water supply. They boast of a lengthy fibre optic cable and mobile 4G towers to provide residents with high-speed internet access. From road traffic and water and electricity supply, computer terminals will control everything. And they will be inclusive of schools, colleges, hospitals, shopping malls and garbage disposal facilities. Every smart city will have an internet portal, which will act as a telephone exchange receiving and distributing information between the government, people and private service providers. Here people will be allowed to express their grievances, and newspaper reporters will find what they call “story ideas.” Internet will interconnect everyone, letting every resident know one another. This will also help them get together and fight for their causes. In other words, smart cities will look like any other planned residential township in advanced countries like the United States and Japan. If implemented properly, they will ease the pressure on major cities like Bangalore and Mumbai, housing commercial and residential complexes for the country’s expanding outsourcing companies. Not all smart cities will be built from the scratch; the government is mulling the idea of molding some of the existing towns into smarter cities. It is, however, a possibility that smart cities will make a clear distinction between the poor and the wealthy. Another worry is that smart cities will push down real estate prices in major cities with companies moving into smarter cities to escape the chaotic atmosphere there. The industrial belt between Delhi-Mumbai is where the first set of smart cities are likely to spring up. Before the Modi government completes its term in office, analysts say, nearly

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three smart cities will be ready for occupation. These are Dholera, Shendra-Bidkin and Global City. Japan has already agreed to finance the construction of seven smart cities along the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor. Four factors set a smart city apart from other townships: Everyone here will be able to drive from one end to the other in less than 30 minutes; there will be a public transport system within 800 meters of every residence; a single window system for smart healthcare services and government operations. In every city, there will be websites for citizens to interact with the city administration and manage various services offered by the city, thereby minimising the need for physical visits. Integrating mobile and social media technology, this E-portal will enable citizens to communicate with city officials, access amenities and services, report on issues and receive feedback from city officials.

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A Living Example of a Smart City A

few miles north of Mumbai, Lodha Group, one of the largest real estate firms in the country, is set about building a smart city on a 4000-acre land. Named Palava, a Sanskrit word for a beautiful flower, this township can give you a glimpse of how a smart city that the Modi government wants to develop may look like. Palava is predicted to be amongst the world’s top 50 most livable cities over the next decade, because it wants to be the best in every term –– from the business environment and the excellence of educational facilities to the quality of public space, technological solutions, healthcare facilities, safety and so on. “There will be several educational and healthcare facilities, cultural and sports infrastructure, and safe public spaces, in addition to high quality residences at affordable prices,” says the developer’s press release. Considering news reports, more than 6,000 families are already living in Palava, which is just 20 minutes from the Navi Mumbai International Airport, a short drive from the key employment hubs of Thane, Navi Mumbai and Kalyan, and about 60 minutes (40 km) from the southern tip of Mumbai. Proximity to airports and highways, and modern civic amenities will be the key components of all the smart cities that the government is designing. Once built, Palava will be home to over 100,000 families and there will be many businesses creating jobs for 350,000 people. That means, every smart city needs to be self-reliant in terms of jobs. Unlike normal residential townships, smart cities will be

as normal as any other cities. What sets them apart is the technology they embrace to ease things. In Palava, neighbourhoods are planned in such a way that residents can access every important amenity – including schools, temples, retails shops, hospitals and bus terminals – within a 5 to 15 minutes’ radius from their homes. Over 60% of the total area is dedicated to open spaces. 25% of Palava will comprise parks, playing fields and recreation grounds – 10 times more than currently available in Mumbai. These will include a 100-acre central park like the one in New York with bicycle and walking tracks, open space for picnics, etc. and a riverfront that stretches 3.5 km long with promenades, cafes and theatres. A 50-acre lakefront and a two-km long periphery will add to the variety of open spaces. Here, US technology major IBM is putting in place data centres to integrate information from all city operations into a single system. Central to this smart city is the fibre optic network that runs all through the city. For water management, the builders have partnered with America’s General Electric, which will treat all waste water, recycling water for landscaping, flushing and chilled-water needs. Residential welfare associations will be repeatedly advised about the need to harvest rainwater and recharge the groundwater. To make sure that the city never runs short of electricity, a major school in the township has fixed solar panels on its rooftops. In the days to come, it will generate the power it needs.

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Man-made Disaster

t was a disaster waiting to strike. In August this year, the picturesque valley of Jammu and Kashmir was hit with the worst flood in a century. Hundreds of people died, lakhs were caught in the disaster which was part natural and part man-made and it

would take years before the beautiful cities of Jammu and Kashmir would return to their past glory. The flood took too many lives, and property along with it. While thousands of people from all over the country are still missing, people

of Jammu and Kashmir worry about restoring normalcy in these cities. While homes and commercial establishments have been wrecked by ravaging waters, the fear of water-borne diseases looms large on J&K as water makes a slow retreat. The flood may

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Kashmir in the throes of a serious crisis

It was the flood of the century. Never has Kashmir witnessed a natural disaster of this magnitude. Thousands have been marooned and many have died. Those who lost their dear ones and their dwellings are yet to be accounted for. Apart from the climate change that is taking place all over the world, what caused flood havoc of this scale is, according to experts, the unbridled development of resorts and other related ventures that are part and parcel of the travel industry which is the backbone of Kashmirâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy.

be coming to an end, but certainly not the miseries of the people who were caught up in those floods and those who have to live with its ill effects for the rest of their lives. Believers often look at natural disasters as a way of god to warn his

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erring children. The atheists look at them as acts of nature on which man has no control. But science looks at these floods in a different way. A Centre for Science and Environment analysis suggests the recent flood is possibly a climate-change induced

fallout aided by large-scale environmental degradation and unplanned development on the river banks of the Jhelum. A study done by B N Goswami of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, shows that between 1950

and 2000, the incidence of heavy rainfall events (> 100 mm/day) and very heavy events (>150 mm/day) have increased and moderate events (5-100 mm/day) have decreased. This is corroborated by the latest analysis of the IPCC Assessment Report (AR5) that says India will get more rainfall but in lesser number of rainy days. This is mainly because the travel mafia and the industry mafia have been slowly eating away the available space, even the water bodies in J&K over the last few decades. As tourists flock to Jammu and Kashmir, resorts and houseboats have grown to be a highly lucrative industry in this part of the country. As a result, the once pristine lakes of Jammu and Kashmir are slowly disappearing. In the last 100 years, more than 50% of the lakes, ponds and wetlands of Srinagar have been encroached upon for constructing buildings and roads. Construction in low-lying areas of Srinagar, especially along the banks of the Jhelum, had blocked discharge channels of the river almost five years ago. Srinagar’s natural drainage system has collapsed due to the degradation of the network of lakes. This has been worsened by the excessive siltation in the lakes and water bodies from the massive deforestation in the Jhelum basin. With the link between the lakes cut off due to unplanned urbanisation and encroachment, the lakes have lost their power to absorb

water and save the city from floods. Regulations to manage rubbish – or solid waste, as the experts like to call it – were almost totally ignored during the atmosphere of violence that reigned for 20 years in Jammu and Kashmir. The few hardy tourists who did venture into Kashmir despite the danger were not large enough in number for this to become a major problem. Recent improvements in the security situation have led to a surge in

tourism. Some 1.4 million tourists visited Kashmir in the summer of 2011, according to official figures. With half a million people directly or indirectly involved in the valley’s tourism industry, this is now easily the biggest contributor to the local economy. So the boom in tourist numbers is cause for joy, and has also led to a boom in hotel construction, especially in the famed resorts of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg. Environmental experts maintain

that construction should be prohibited within these resorts. But the government has not only allowed construction of hotels right on the most scenic spots, but has also failed to provide adequate disposal systems for solid and liquid waste. Similar destruction is visible in the state’s other famous tourist area of Ladakh, the cold desert in the high Himalayas that abuts the Kashmir valley. Few of the 400-odd hotels and guest houses in Ladakh have a sewage disposal system. The only saving grace is a total ban on polythene bags. To make things worse, the state also suffers from major electricity shortages, which means hotels, restaurants, shops and commercial enterprises all use highly polluting diesel generators for hours every day. Environmentalists are fearful of the effect on the surrounding glaciers and endangered animals – like the snow leopard and the red deer – in the state’s protected forests. Clearly, humans and their greed have a significant role to play in the recent flood in Jammu Kashmir. When a natural calamity strikes, we show a rightful sense of urgency to save whatever we can, including human beings and immovable properties. But why that same urgency is not shown to prevent these calamities? The floods in Jammu and Kashmir should be a wakeup call for the government.

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Humanity in Calamity B

JP and RSS, which are often wrongly accused by media as working only for Hindus, proved the media and pseudo intellectuals wrong as they set out to join hands with the government and military aid workers to assist and rescue people trapped in the flood. BJP chief Amit Shah through a statement to all MPs, MLAs, representatives of urban bodies and workers asked them to assist the local authorities in relief and rehabilitation works. Sewa Bharati, an organisation run by swayamsevaks, has extended its help in the flood-hit regions. Hundreds of â&#x20AC;&#x153;karyakartasâ&#x20AC;? have worked day and night to rescue thousands of people trapped, arranging the last rites of the dead, building temporary shelter for the homeless, distributing blankets and warm clothes, medical aid, etc. The road connectivity between Jammu and the valley was snapped but their workers were taking alternate routes to reach the affected areas.

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Face of fanaticism

Spreading Hatred Across the Globe

hen we speak of Islamic fundamentalism, we a often tend to think that the jihadist mindset is the handiwork of a few zealous Muslims. Islam, or the true followers of Islam, does not preach violence or hatred, we are told. While this may be true, what is also true is the fact that Islamic fundamentalism is not restricted to a few gun-wielding terrorists in some remote areas. Hatred towards non-believers or Kafirs is systematically inculcated into the minds of young children in most of the madarsas. This is done by even by countries which condemn the rise of extremists in countries like Iraq. For instance, Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh has called Islamic State and al Qaeda as “kharijites” (the ultimate heretics of Muslim history). While this appears to be a balanced viewpoint from the outset, a look into various well funded madarsas in Saudi Arabia paint a different picture. The arch conservatives Abdulrahman al-Barrak and Nasser al-Omar, who has more than a million followers on Twitter, openly accuse Shi’ites of sowing “strife, corruption

Behind Saudi Arabia’s garb of ultra-modern and swanky townships and princely mansions lurks its hardcore ideology Wahhabi faith, an extreme form of Islam that encourages any means to propagate Islam. A huge chunk of wealth that the country accumulates by selling oil goes to the promotion of extreme and austere outfits that have been causing havoc all around the world. A number of sources have reported that Saudi private entities and individuals, as well as sources from other countries, are allegedly financing or supporting Islamic extremism.

and destruction among Muslims”. Fundamentalist views, which almost echo the views of sworn extremists all over the world, are rife all over Saudi Arabia. In 2008, Sheikh Saleh al-Luhaidan claimed that owners of media that broadcast depravity have forsaken their faith. He is a member of the kingdom’s top Muslim council. Other regressive views and unfounded claims continue to be aired with alarming regularity on state sponsored media platforms. In one such instance, Abdulaziz al-Fawzan, a professor of Islamic law, has accused that Western countries have masterminded the September 2001 attacks in the US to tarnish the image of Muslims. The oil and cash rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia may look modern with its princely mansions and swanky shopping malls; but at its heart, it still remains a hardcore Islamic state that steadfastly clings on to its extremist beliefs. The kingdom still applies Sharia Muslim law, has beheaded 20 people in the past month, and clerics still oversee a lavish state-funded religious infrastructure. It’s no wonder, therefore, that

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Tr a n s c e n d i n g B o u n d a r i e s

The Wells of Terrorism T

Saudi Arabia and its ultra-conservative Wahhabi schools are often seen as the origin of extremist outfits like Al Qaeda. The government of Saudi Arabia too seems to be lenient about the extremist views expressed by its top religious leaders. In fact, calling non-Sunnis infidels is not even extremist in Saudi; it natural! Wahhabi clergy offer legitimacy and public support to a king who styles himself the “custodian of the two holy mosques”, and leave all matters of governance and foreign policy to him so long as his edicts do not contradict the Muslim law. In return, the ruling family has given them top government jobs, control over Saudi Arabia’s Sharia Muslim law, great influence over so-

cial issues and public morality, and funds for foreign evangelism and massive Wahhabi seminaries. For more than two centuries, Wahhabism has been Saudi Arabia’s dominant faith. It is an austere form of Islam that insists on a literal interpretation of the Koran. Strict Wahhabis believe that all those who don’t practise their form of Islam are heathens and enemies. Critics say that Wahhabism’s rigidity has led it to misinterpret and distort Islam, pointing to extremists such as Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Wahhabism’s explosive growth began in the 1970s when Saudi charities started funding Wahhabi schools (madarsas) and mosques from Islamabad to Culver City, California.

he oil money from Saudi Arabia supposedly goes into funding numerous madarsas all around the world, including India. Saudi Arabia is said to be the world’s largest source of funds for Salafi jihadist terrorist militant groups, such as al-Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistan Taliban, ISIS and Lashkar-e-Taiba in South Asia, and donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide, according to Hillary Clinton. According to a secret December 2009 paper signed by the US secretary of state, “Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaida, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups.” A number of sources have reported that Saudi private entities and individuals, as well as sources from other countries, are allegedly financing or supporting Islamic extremism. However, US agencies are still examining Saudi Arabia’s relationship, and that of other sources in other countries, to Islamic extremism. For example, in July 2005, a Treasury official testified before Congress that Saudi Arabia-based and funded organisations remain a key source for the promotion of ideologies used by terrorists and violent extremists around the world to justify their agenda. In addition, according to State’s 2005 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, Saudi donors and unregulated charities have been a major source of financing to extremist and terrorist groups over the past 25 years.

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Nalanda University

In Search of Past Glory

t was supposed be the revival of India’s glorious past in the education sector. Nalanda University as an international centre of learning was inaugurated after a gap of 800 years. It will be headed by of Amartya Sen, one of the highly respected economists of the world. The revived university will have active cooperation with Yale’s School of Forestry Studies, Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University’s Department of History, Seoul University in South Korea and Peking University in China. While the 800-year-old university was reopened as promised in September this year, the opening was not as spectacular as one was hoping for. The university had faced shortage of students, as only 15 students were found eligible among the thousands of applicants. The Nalanda University fellowships are designed to encourage excellence in multi-disciplinary research in specific fields and mainly relate to inter-Asian connections while also engaging with various aspects of building a unique university. The programme will initially concentrate on fellowships in the two inaugural Schools of Historical Studies and Environment and Ecology Studies. The fellowship programme will support work determined to further existing knowledge in the above-mentioned areas, develop new methods to address them and inspire future scholars with newer directions of research. Finally, in accordance with the vision of the university, the programme aspires to learn and teach simultaneously. The opening ceremony of Nalanda University was somewhat dimmed as Amartya Sen, the brain behind this operation, was conspicuous by his

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Nalanda University, which was once a famous centre of learning in the East, has been revived after a gap of nearly 800 years. It was burnt and destroyed by the Turkish hordes and since then, there was no effort to revive it until now. The university is facing some financial hiccups, but one hopes it will overcome that and soon will regain its old glory under the able guidance of some of the famous members of the faculty, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. absence. Prof. Sen, who had earlier praised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the effort his government has put in for making the university a reality, later threatened to resign after the Finance Ministry raised pointed queries about the financial management of this megarevival plan. The university will be obtaining Rs 2,727 crore financial support package over a period of 12 years. The ministry’s department of ex-

penditure has asked the Ministry of External Affairs, the nodal ministry for the project, the reasons why government rules should not apply to the project. This came while the university campus was still under construction in Rajgir. It had a small office in Delhi for the vice-chancellor. Some believe that the provocation for the crisis was the huge expenditure being incurred on maintaining the governing body of the university,

Amartya Sen – the Leading Light E

conomist and philosopher Amartya Kumar Sen has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States since 1972. He has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, economic and social justice, economic theories of famines, and indexes of the measure of wellbeing of citizens of developing countries. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 for his work in welfare economics. He is currently the Thomas W. Lamont University

known earlier as the Nalanda Mentor Group, as well as the tax-free salaries to the tune of $80,000 per year to some of the top functionaries of the university. Faculty salary packages range around $50,000-55,000 per year. These queries apparently upset Sen – who is part of the 12-member governing body. He conveyed to the MEA at the highest levels that he would resign if such objections were not opposed and quashed. Amartya Sen had also passed on similar messages to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Planning Commission. The university’s argument has been that full autonomy must mean complete financial independence. But since the government is putting much of the money, the finance ministry feels there has to be accountability – a view that has takers even in the MEA. The Nalanda University (Amend-

ment Bill), 2013 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha last September by the Ministry of External Affairs. The amendments seek to provide for the Government of India to meet the uni-

versity’s capital and recurring expenditure to the extent required and also to ensure that the university attains a truly international stature and is able

Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University. He serves as the chancellor of the Nalanda University and is also a senior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, distinguished fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he previously served as Master from 1998 to 2004. Prof. Sen is also known for being one of the strongest champions of rationalism, secularism and egalitarianism in India, and has condemned the unfortunate ghettoization of Ambedkar as a Dalit leader. He has been called “the Conscience of the profession” and “the Mother Teresa of Economics” for his work on famine, human development theory, welfare economics, the underlying mechanisms of poverty, gender inequality, and political liberalism. However, he denies the comparison to Mother Teresa by saying that he has never tried to follow a lifestyle of dedicated self-sacrifice.

to attract eminent academics from across the world. However, there have been concerns raised – among others by the Parliamentary Standing Committee – about the immunities and privileges being extended to the university. More recently, President Pranab Mukherjee wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs asking them to speed up processes related to the university, the appoint a CEO and shift the staff operating from Delhi to the campus in Rajgir in Bihar. Amidst all these controversies and governmental setbacks, what is important is that Nalanda University has started functioning again. While it would not be realistic to expect the university to scale its ancient glories again in the near future, it would be apt to expect the government and people like Amartya Sen to bury their differences and work towards a

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Pakistan and ISI

Casting a Maze of Terror in India

At first it was thought that the ISI was concentrating only on the western border of India to launch terrorist activities. Now, with the arrest of an LTTE activist, the government has come to know that the Pak spying agency has a far more sinister plan: to encircle India by setting up terrorist modules not only in neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bangladesh but also in Sri Lanka and Maldives. The plan seems to be to create communal tension resulting in utter chaos and confusion in the country. â&#x20AC;˘ Prashanth Vaidyaraj

he arrest of Arun Selvarajan, an LTTE cadre and a Sri Lankan national, who was spying on India on behalf of Pakistan, has alarmed the government and intelligence agencies alike. NIA has revealed that this was no small catch and most certainly part of the same module to which another Sri Lankan national Shakir Hussain, arrested in 2013, belonged. Both these vital arrests, coupled with the intelligence inputs emanating from other neighbouring countries, reveal a deeper, sinister plan of the ISI to encircle and bleed India at will from different locations

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and still maintain anonymity. In November 2012, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) had submitted a highly classified report to the then UPA government, which warned that Pakistanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ISI has started surrounding India from all neighbouring countries as part of its new strategy to use each country as a launch pad to strike at various locations in India. This strategy includes setting up modules for its agents in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and even Burma to promote and sponsor subversive activities against India. After the LTTE was vanquished in 2009, its trained but jobless cadres were hunting for jobs. It was the ISI which began hiring such mercenaries. The arrest of Selvarajan

has proved how Sri Lanka has become a new recruitment hub for the ISI. Increasing radicalisation among Muslims in Sri Lanka is also proving to be a breeding ground for ISI recruitment. Zaheed Hussain, a resident of Kandy in Sri Lanka, who was arrested a week before the twin explosions aboard a train at Chennai’s Central railway station on May 1, made startling revelations about Pakistani plans to direct terror in south India. Hussain’s confession reveals that ISI assigned an official at its High Commission in Colombo to plan terror attacks in south India. The NIA dossier, based on Hussain’s revelations, identified the Pakistani official as Amir Zubair Siddiqui, posted at the Pakistan High Commission in Sri Lanka. The NIA also revealed that Siddiqui asked Hussain to recruit people in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and target the US and Israeli consulates.

The Karachi Project The capture of Indian Mujahedeen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and an IM operative Assadullah Akhtar in 2013 showed that the ISI terror infrastructure in Nepal is intact. Bhatkal and other operatives were provided a safe hideout and cover in Nepal by ISI through its Karachi Project. The bases in Nepal are the launching pads for ISI-sponsored terrorists to plant bombs in Indian cities and distribute fake Indian currency notes. The porous Indo-Nepal border is an ideal route to achieve this. The hijack of Indian Airlines flight 814 exposed this terror apparatus in Nepal. The WikiLeaks US cables revealed that in the run up to the hijacking of the Indian Airlines Flight IC-814 by Pakistan-based terrorist outfits, ISI had made Nepal a hub of anti-India terror activities from where it pushed huge quantities of RDX into the country. Wikileaks also revealed that ISI created various terrorist fronts to carry out terror activities in India and one of such organisation was Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front (JKIF), with

destination to launch terror attacks on our coastal cities. Experts feel that the Maldivian Muslim youth, who are getting increasingly radicalized due to the Saudi-Pakistani influence, are being recruited by the ISI for its terror activities in India and elsewhere.

India’s Rohingya Conundrum its main base in Kathmandu. The ISI has also been pumping in money for the upkeep of mosques and madarsas along the border. The funds are routed to them through the Himalayan Habib Bank, a joint venture of Pakistan’s Habib Bank and Nepal’s Himalayan Bank. Another terror sanctuary for the ISI is Bangladesh. ISI’s main objective in Bangladesh is to fund Muslim fundamentalist organisations and through them reach out to terrorist and insurgent outfits operating in our NorthEast. The ISI provides them with funds, weapons, explosives, advice, forged travel documents and sanctuary in its bases in Bangladesh. Two ISI trained ULFA militants who surrendered in 1996 had narrated how the ISI facilitates terror activities in India. Further, the ISI and the Bangladesh Institute for Strategic Studies, a Dhaka-based defence think-tank evolved a theory of ‘Strategic Frontier’ whose aim is to Islamize the international border with India and to facilitate the influx of terrorists through the Siliguri corridor. The latest developments connect India’s southern shore to jihadist threats emerging from Maldives. Shakir Hussain revealed that he made 20 reconnaissance trips to India to facilitate terrorists from the Maldives to attack Israeli and US consulates in Bangalore and Chennai. He also revealed that the ISI has set up bases in Maldives and this has also marked the emergence of maritime terror. The numerous islands in Maldives and the easy connect to South India through Sri Lanka makes it an ideal

The expanding ISI footprint in the Rohingya belt of Myanmar was revealed following the arrest of one Noor-ulAmin from the Idgah madarassa in Chittagong, on September 11, 2012. During his interrogation, Amin confirmed his association with the ISI and revealed that the spy agency was involved in gun-running in the Rohingya refugee belt. Intelligence inputs available to our agencies indicated that Rohingya Muslim extremist activities were being funded by groups in Saudi Arabia, but its militant cadres are being trained by Pakistan-based terror groups. India’s primary concern is that the Pakistani militant groups will use such recruits and cells in Myanmar and Bangladesh to carry out terrorist activities in the North-East and try to encourage communal violence in places like Assam. In conclusion, the recent arrest of spies is only the tip of the iceberg. It is important to find out how many more spies are on the prowl. Our counter-intelligence capabilities require a thorough review and revamping to cater to meet the rapidly changing threat of environment. Intelligence at the state level requires rapid modernisation. Human intelligence requires more attention than just technical intelligence. Intelligence flow from the Centre to States and vice-versa has to be improved on a war footing. New Delhi should not be shy of interventionism and state publicly, without any reluctance, to its neighbours that it will assist them to curb terrorist forces and intervene if need be. India needs to wake up fully before more terror sanctuaries crop up in its backyard.

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Colour Controversy Was Jesus Christ white or black?

hink of Jesus Christ, and you will picture a white man with long beard and hair, nailed to a cross. While that has been the staple picture of Jesus Christ supplied to us from time immemorial, the religious education site Patheos.com seeks to change all that. It argues that Jesus Christ being white is a white lie perpetrated by European artists who painted Jesus white. The site claims that Jesus was originally black. In fact, the website has even started a social media challenge named #BurnWhiteJesus — and also known as the White Jesus Picture Challenge. This challenge invites people to post online videos of themselves burning pictures that depict Jesus as a white man. The site claims, “This Will Be The HARDEST challenge For Most Black Folks To Do. In Order For You To Free Your Mind, You Must Get Rid Of This Image From Your Subconscious. In Order To Have Real Liberation Of The Self. The Kill White Jesus Challenge Is One That I Feel That’s Needed To Open The Door To TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF SELF.” Patheos.com is not speaking without any basis. Interestingly, the Bible has no description of Jesus’ physical appearance and this has given rise to lots of speculations amongst painters from all over the world. But scientists and historians believe that a man who lived in the Middle East 2,000 years ago would be anything other than dark-skinned. In 2001, an interesting research to this effect was conducted by BBC. It commissioned an esteemed group of forensic experts to reconstruct the image of Jesus based on records available from Bible and reliable sources. What these experts turned

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Was Jesus Christ, whom millions worship, white or dark-skinned. For a long time hardly anyone bothered about it, but now a new group says that Christ was dark-skinned and that painting him white only shows the racial bias of the Western painters and religious scholars. In fact, there is hardly any physical description of Jesus Christ either in the Bible or anywhere else, but the new theorists strongly cling to the belief that he was a nonwhite.

up was a startling image of a black man who looked nothing like the Jesus we all know these days. It has been argued that as Christianity spread, it adopted some of the pagan taste for idols. It is also believed that one agreed physical appearance for Christ strengthened the argument against those who denied Jesus had ever taken on human form at all. For inspiration, religious artists looked to “miraculous” likenesses of Christ. The Turin Shroud (said to have been used in Christ’s burial) is the most famous relic bearing his features, but it is not the only one. The Veil of Veronica was a cloth said to have been held out to Jesus, and to have taken his image, as he was led to his crucifixion at Calvary. Despite being lost in the 1500s, it still informs our ideas of what Jesus actually looked like. Paintings based on such “true likenesses” of Christ received a boost when worshipers were told in the Middle Ages they could knock up to 10,000 years off their time in purgatory by praying in front of them. That people in Western Europe were so ready to believe their God was fairskinned is perhaps of little surprise, especially given the cultural baggage of the Crusades, in which non-whites were seen as non-believers. But why would European painters paint Jesus white? One of the major reasons behind this is to gain religious supremacy over their African slaves. Remember, Christianity was used to justify the subjugation, slavery and abuse of Africans and other non-whites for centuries. Religion, and the ‘fact’ that Christ was a white man, were used as weapons. African Americans willingly em-

braced the faith of their white slave masters. Even to this day, white supremacists like the KKK and the Christian Identity movement continue to use Christianity to justify their racial hatred. One may argue that the physical ap-

pearance of Jesus Christ is not important. What is indeed important is the message he delivered to the world. But in a world where countless dark skinned people are discriminated against, just because of their colour, the physical appearance of Jesus

t seems confusions always galore in Christianity, like most other religions in the world. From arguments about the appearance of Jesus Christ, there have been many confusions and endless arguments on who actually wrote the Bible. Jews and Christians widely believe that Moses wrote the first five books in the Bible. In 1886, the German historian Julius Wellhausen proposed that the Hexateuch (the Pentateuch plus Joshua) was a composite of four distinct documents by different authors. Some theorists believe that Deuteronomy in the Bible was written during the time of King Josiah in the seventh century to promulgate new laws strengthening the priesthood and creating a more exclusive religion for Judah. The four canonical gospels in the New

Christ is surely a matter of great interest. New revelations about this can end the racial supremacy of whites in Europe and other continents and may give a sense of pride to dark skinned people who were always subjected to religious hatred.

Testament are anonymous. The names of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were not attached to them until the second century. The majority of New Testament scholars agree that Mark’s gospel was written first out of all four gospels. It is short, was written in poor Greek, and contains geographical and other errors. The traditional view that Jesus’s disciple John wrote the Book of Revelation was questioned as early as the third century. Christian writer Dionysus of Alexandria, using the critical methods still employed by modern scholars, spotted the difference between the elegant Greek of John’s gospel and the crudely ungrammatical prose of Revelation. The works could not have been written by the same person.

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Investments Coming Modi govt sends out the right signal “Invest, Invest” is the new mantra of the Modi government. And that is as it should be, because investment had almost shrunk to a trickle due to the faulty policy of the previous government, which was sending wrong signals to investors at home and abroad all the time. Besides there was a policy paralysis that almost “killed” the economy. But things are changing fast. Japan and China are going to invest huge funds and set up industrial parks in India. These are signs that good days are not far behind.

hat the country requires at present is huge investments that will bolster its infrastructure and other basic industries. Significantly this has been well-recognised by the new government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has persuaded Chinese President Xi Jinping, who came to India on a three-day visit, to encourage Chinese investments and the latter has promised that his country will invest 20 billion dollars in five years, besides setting up two industrial parks -- one in Maharashtra and another in Gujarat. In spite of the existing border dispute, both the countries signed a record 16 agreements which included the one on the abovementioned investments. Though this is considerably less than the amount pledged by Japan (35 billion dollars) during Modi’s recent visit to that country, this is a significant achievement in spite of deep political differences between the two countries, which will open a new chapter in our economic relations. China, with its huge industrial base (its economy is four or five times bigger than India’s) has to have safe haven to keep its funds stockpiled and

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India could be one of them. The SinoIndian trade is booming, though the balance of trade is in favour of China. Noting this point, an official said, “The need for measures to rebalance bilateral trade and address the existing structural imbalance in trade that has a bearing on its sustainability was discussed. The talks focused on pharmaceutical supervi-

sion, including registration, need for speedier phytosanitary negotiations on agro-products for two-way trade, stronger links between Indian IT companies and Chinese enterprises, and increasing services trade in tourism, films, healthcare, IT and logistics.” Meanwhile, in a bid to shore up the funds crunch, the government has decided on divestment. It proposes to sell stakes in Coal India, ONGC and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) to mop up a whopping Rs.45,000 crore. The sale of stake in Coal India will be 10%, which will fetch Rs.23,600 crore at its current price. The government is expected to shed 5% of its stake in ONGC which is expected to yield Rs.19,000 crore. And a sum of Rs.3,000 crore is expected trough the sale of 11.3% share in NHPC. Even as the government is going in for stake sales in these PSUs, there is a move to close down some of the loss-making public sector companies. Dozens of PSUs are making losses but are kept going through budgetary support. At least 10 firms have incurred biggest losses to the tune of Rs.24,500 crore in 2012-13. These laggards include BSNL,

MTNL, Air India, Hindustan Photofilms and Hindustan Fertilisers Corporation. The government has come up with “Jan Dhan Yojana”, a scheme aimed at providing every household with a bank account. But RBI govenor Raghuram Rajan has cautioned the banks against hasty implementation of the scheme as the risks involved in the new scheme are yet to be properly assessed. Addressing the bankers in Mumbai recently, he warned them of the risks involved in such as banks opening multiple accounts for the same person, concluding the scheme with patchy coverage, and opening accounts that might end up being dormant. According to bankers, Aadhaar is crucial for the success of the scheme. The scheme was mooted much earlier by a panel constituted by the RBI to improve financial inclusion. Now that the government has given its green signal, bankers are

in a hurry to speed up the process of opening Jan Dhan accounts. But Rajan told them that the idea is universality and not just speed or numbers. There is bad news on the industrial front. Production slowed to a four-

month low of 0.5% in July mainly due to a fall in manufacturing output; at the same time retail inflation stood around 8% in August. This is a clear indication that the economy is still on a patchy ground. NO doubt, there is a perceptible sense of confidence

Colonial Hangover I

n a move which smacks of neo-imperialism and is reminiscent of the colonial days, British MPs debated on the state of human rights in Kashmir on September 11. Though the debate took place in a committee room in Britain’s Houses of Parliament and not in the main chamber of the House of Commons, its contents were officially recorded. David Ward, a Liberal Democrat MP, sought the debate in which government as well as opposition spokesmen participated. Mr Ward represents Bradford East in the House of Commons. Bradford city has the biggest Pakistani-origin population in Britain and these constituents have been known to pressure their MPs to censure India on Kashmir. Of the 18 MPs who participated in the debate, two were of Indian origin:

Paul Uppal (Conservative) and Virendra Sharma (Labour). The three-hour debate in Westminster Hall on the ‘political and humanitarian situation in Kashmir’ witnessed strong words as MPs mostly upheld the Indian position on Jammu and Kashmir that included highlighting the plight of Kashmiri Pundits driven out of their homeland and the

among the investors, but economists have warned of volatility for a few more months. The Supreme Court verdict cancelling several coal block allocations will affect coal production drastically, they say. However, the overall sentiment is positive. Says Dr. D K Joshi, chief economist of rating agency Crisil, “… there may be some volatility for a few more months, but the numbers should improve since the overall economic environment is better.” What is worrisome is that deceleration in July is somewhat broadbased, extending to consumer durables and capital goods, said FICCI president Sidharth Birla. Another worrisome factor is that in view of the current level of inflation at 8%, RBI is unlikely to cut the rates in its monetary policy review at the end of the month. In spite of all this, the outlook for the economy looks bright with the Modi government keen on giving a push to investment.

continued infiltration into J&K from the across the borders. This was the second debate on J&K in the House of Commons in three years. A similar debate was held by England in September 2011. At a time when many people of Scotland are opting for independence from the UK, this move is seen as an over-reach on the part of England. Several British MPs themselves have asked as to how England would react if the Indian Parliament were to debate the merits or demerits of Scottish independence and pass judgment upon it. Many of them have also stressed that the only remaining issue of J&K is that the Pakistani forces illegally occupying large parts of the state should leave and that no other country has any role whatsoever in J&K. However, the foreign office minister Tobias Ellwood reiterated that, “It is not for the UK to prescribe a solution or to mediate in finding one.”

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Saradha Scam Saradha scam drowns millions of families in deep water This time around, Navratri is unlikely to be as colourful as it has always been in West Bengal, with the name of Goddess Saradha attached to the state’s largest-ever financial scandal. Saradha Group depositors are looking at her image with pain as the CBI unravels the scam that has deprived crores of rupees of the poor man’s hardearned money. • Narayan Ammachchi

retired DGP has committed suicide and political leaders across West Bengal are scrambling to protect their names as the CBI unravels Kolkota’s notorious Saradha chit fund scandal. Though a year has passed since the scandal broke out, nearly 17 lakh families are still crying for help to get back their three lakh crores of hard-earned money. Saradha scam is the result of just one more Ponzi scheme common in the country. But the money it has squandered is quite huge, so huge that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee is struggling to cling to power with the CBI arresting her close associates one after another. The fire of the scam has also engulfed several neighbouring states including Jharkhand, As-

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sam and Chhattisgarh. It all began in April last year when Sudipto Sen, founder and chairman of the Saradha Group, went into hiding after dispatching a lengthy confessional letter to the CBI. His letter admitted that the group had gone broke. Sudipto argued that TMC leader Kunal Ghosh forced him to enter

into money-losing media ventures and blackmailed him into selling one of his channels at below market price. These adventures, Sudipto said, brought the company to its knees. Like all Ponzi schemes, Saradha Group promised depositors astronomical returns for their investments. Lured by this promise, people of all walks of like went on pouring money into Saradha Groups fancy business ventures that ranged from banking to newspapers and television channels. In return for their cash, Saradha issued secured debentures and redeemable bonds. Today, with Saradha out of business, these papers have been reduced to mere waste papers found in trash bins. Agents were offered a hefty commission -- as much as 25–40% of the deposit. Soon its coffers were brimming with cash, with the number of

Sudipta Sen

Naxalite Connection?

udipta Sen, chairman and managing director of the Saradha Group, changed his name before he launched the Saradha Group. His original name was Shankaraditya Sen, who was part of the Naxal movement in West Bengal. Some reports say that he might even have had a plastic surgery done in the ‘90s. The land bank he formed at the turn of the century became the initial vehicle for enticing early customers into his Ponzi scheme. A soft-spoken and charming person, Sudipta Sen befriended Trinamool leaders in a desperate attempt to protect his firm. But it is hard to believe that he does not know that any company based on Ponzi scheme cannot survive long. His close associate is Debjani Mukharjee, a 30-year-old former receptionist. Though she joined the group as a receptionist, she quickly rose up the official ladder to become one of its directors. At the time the company collapsed, she had had the authority to sign the cheques on behalf of the company. Funding Militants In September 2014, Anandabazar Patrika, the reputed Bengali newspaper, citing several domestic and foreign intelligence reports, published a series of investigative pieces which reported that the Saradha Group, through Ahmed Hassan Imran, a parliamentarian of Trinamool Congress, engaged Jamaat-e-Islami, a banned Bangladeshi extremist organisation, to funnel money out of India. It has also been reported that Jamaat-e-Islami used its brokerage from the laundering operation to fuel its militant protests across Bangladesh.

agents and depositors ballooning in size. To confuse the regulators, the group used a nexus of companies to launder the money. And then came the political help and involvement. In a matter of years, the group came to control in excess of 200 private ventures. At the bottom of its business pyramid was a chit fund, which financed other ventures such as newspapers and television channels. When the depositors came onto the streets in protest, Mamata Banarjee announced a Rs. 500-crore package to help the ‘poor depositors.’ Citing inter-state ramifications, possible international money laundering, the Supreme Court asked the CBI to investigate the scam. For Saradha Group its very name gave it a veneer of respectability, because the Goddess Saradha is a spiritual icon of the region. But market regulator SEBI confronted Saradha founders and asked them why they were collecting money from people. Saradha Group responded by opening as many as 200 new companies to create more crossholdings. This created an extremely complex corporate web structure which made it difficult to pin blame on any one company. However, SEBI came chasing. Soon Saradha changed its methods of raising capital. In West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam and Chhattisgarh, it now ran variations of collective investment schemes (CIS), such as tourism packages, real estate, infrastructure finance and motorcycle manufacturing. All that depositors were told was that they would get a large sum in return for their money. And depositors never questioned as long as they got their yearly instalments. In 2011, SEBI warned the West Bengal government about Saradha’s dubious chit fund activity. The government did nothing but passed on the information to Saradha founders. Saradha Group changed its methods again. This time, it acquired and sold

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a large number of shares of various listed companies, siphoning off the proceeds of the sale to dubious bank accounts. Around this time, according to a few investigative articles on Anand Bazaar Patrika, Saradha laundered money in Dubai and South Africa, and is alleged to have even funded a terrorist organisation in neighbouring Bangladesh. Running out of options, SEBI in 2012 ordered Saradha to immediately halt all its investment schemes. However, Saradha Group ignored SEBI, and continued to operate in the same manner until it collapsed in April 2013. Trouble began in January 2013, when cash payouts outweighed cash inflow. That’s the real problem with all Ponzi schemes. And that’s when its founder go into hiding. For weeks, Sudipta Sen tried to calm uneasy depositors and agents, but things went out hand as the cash inflow dried up. In his absence, the Ponzi scheme unravelled into a full-blown crisis. On April 17, approximately 600 collection agents claiming to be associated with Saradha Group assembled at the headquarters of TMC and demanded government intervention. A “Times of India” article described the mood on the street soon after depositors realized that Saradha was an illusion, a bubble on water. “People who were friends have turned enemies. Happy households have become miserable. Students have stopped going to school. Traders have lost interest in opening shutters. There is a sense of treachery. Suddenly everything has become vicious,” the article reads. After a massive manhunt, Sudipto Sen was arrested along with several of his close associates in Kashmir. SEBI asked Saradha to return all deposits within three months. But where is the money to come from?

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Mamata’s Struggle

s the CBI unravels Saradha scam, the noose is tightening round the neck of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee. A lot of TMC leaders have now been held by the CBI sleuths. Haunted by the SEBI, it seems, Saradha founders sought political protection for their activities. They made Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh as CEO for its media ventures. He went on a spree of buying and establishing local television channels and newspapers, investing around Rs 900 crore in the media group. By 2013 it employed over 1500 journalists and owned eight newspapers in five languages. Its Urdu daily “Azad Hind” was meant to drum up support for Trinamool among Muslim population. Noted auteur Aparna Sen was made the editor of one of the papers. Sudipto Sen reportedly spent Rs.1.8 crore to buy paintings by Mamata Banerjee. After this purchase, Mamata’s government issued a notification that public libraries should buy and display newspapers of the Saradha Group. The loss-making Lamdmark Cement company, co-owned by Textiles Minister Shyamapada Mukherjee, was bought at a premium by the Saradha Group. On April 24, 2013, Mamata Banerjee announced a controversial Rs 500-crore relief fund for the low-income depositors of the Saradha Group, introducing a 10 per cent additional tax on tobacco products to raise the money and in jest asked smokers “to light up a little more” to quickly fill up the requisite fund. Remember, the WB State Government opposed all investigations by CBI or ED, but conceded only after the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to investigate. 0n September 11, 2014, West Bengal Law Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya led approximately 100 TMC women supporters in an indefinite sit-in protest against CBI, alleging biased and “politically motivated” probe.

The Supreme Yoga â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Yoga Vasistha By Swami Venkatesananda

Quarter Index to the Bhagavad Gita By Dr. K.S.Kannan

Yoga Vasistha is one of the greatest treatises of the land for the truth seekers. Swami Venkatesananda has taken up this work not as a mare academic study reflecting skills of translation but it is his sadhana. Its special appeal lies in its thoroughly rational approach, and in its presentation of the Vedanta as a bridge to gulf the gap between action and contemplation. This monumental scripture helps in spiritual awakening and direct experience of the Truth. Vasistha demands direct observation of the mind, its motion, its notions, its reasoning, the assumed cause and the projected result, and even the observer, the observed and the observation-and the realization of their indivisible unity as the infinite consciousness. Pages: 398, English, Published in 2010, available as 4th print Paperback: Rs 325 and Harbound: Rs 525.

The book is an index to all the quarters (shloka-paada-s) of the Bhagavad Gita, making it easy to search for any quarter of any verse of the Gita. Sometimes quarters repeat within the same chapter or in different chapters, as distant as 15 chapters. The book also enables to search for paada-s which repeat. The book also notes major variant readings. The text is in Devanagari script and the Introduction and Appendixes are in English. The author of the book has served as Director of Karnataka Sanskrit University and is a very well known Sanskrit Scholar. Pages 160; English, Published in September 2014 and is priced at Rs. 75

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Getting India Back on Track: An Action Agenda for Reform By Reece Trevor, Ashley J. Tellis & Bibek Debroy India has suffered from policy paralysis and queasy governance for over a decade. This book provides a guide on how Indian policymakers can help India return to the path of sustained economic growth and development. To make this happen, the new government has to bring about a lot of reforms and reflect on its policy choices across a wide range of issues. The book hopes to trigger a public debate on the reforms the new government should pursue in order to bring India back on the path of high growth. The book comprises 17 concise and focused chapters, which will offer the readers a clear picture of India’s future. Pages: 320, English, Published by Random House India in 2014 Harbound; Price: Rs 309.

Prosperous India By Prof. P Kanagasabapathi A refreshing feature of the book is the optimism of the author which springs from his unshakable faith in the native genius of the common man in India. Despite innumerable assaults by Islamic hordes who repeatedly ravished India’s wealth, she remained rich. India became poor only when the British entered. Though the author scrutinises the reasons for India’s fall, he also details as to why we still tick as a civilizational state. ‘Prosperous India’ injects a shot of tremendous selfconfidence in our youth. A must read for today’s youth and anyone interested in India’s history. Pages 160, English. Published by Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan Trust. Paperback: Price. Rs.100.

O C T O B E R 2014

Al-Qaida targets India

gence and security agencies to discuss the al-Qaida video. SK Nanda, the senior-most bureaucrat in the home department of Gujarat, told Reuters that in the wake of the al-Qaida video, the state is on a higher alert and would work closely with the central government to tackle any threat posed to the state. Reacting to the video, Congress has said that the government must take cognisance of it and also put pressure on Pakistan to expedite the 26/11 case.

Murder of RSS Leader Shocks the Nation

l-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in early September announced the formation of an Indian branch of his militant group and said that he would spread Islamic rule and “raise the flag of jihad” across the subcontinent. In a 55-minute video posted online, Zawahri also renewed a longstanding vow of loyalty to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, in an apparent snub to the Islamic State armed group challenging al-Qaida for leadership of transnational Islamist militancy. Zawahri described the formation of “al-Qaida in the Indian subcontinent” as glad tidings for Muslims “in Burma, Bangladesh, Assam, Gujarat, Ahmadabad, and Kashmir” and said the new wing would rescue Muslims there from ‘injustice and oppression’. Al-Qaida has struggled to respond to the challenge to its authority posed by ISIS, which has seized huge areas of strategically vital territory in the centre of the Middle East, including cities, weapons dumps and oilfields. One al-Qaida strategy to counter its decline appears to be an effort to build support among the nearly half a billion Muslims who live in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Following this development, Union Home Minister Rajah Singh said that the Prime Minister’s office has been briefed about the al-Qaida terror video threatening to take the terror outfit’s campaign to India. Rajnath Singh said that the video is being verified as its authenticity is not yet confirmed. Earlier, Rajnath Singh held a meeting with intelli-

anoj (42), a district office-bearer of RSS, was hacked to death by a gang that attacked him at Kathirur in Kannur district in north Kerala on September 1. Two others were injured, one of them seriously, in the attack. Country-made bombs were hurled at the car in which Manoj and his companions were travelling and the attackers then hacked him to death. RSS-BJP leaders alleged that the CPI (M) was behind the killing and their state functionaries gathered in Kannur to pay homage to their slain colleague. The killing happened on a day when BJP President Amit Shah was in Thiruvanathapuram. BJP state president V Muraleedharan demanded action against the son of a prominent CPI (M) leader who had allegedly made a post on a social networking site hailing the murder of Manoj. A dawn-to-dusk hartal was called by RSS and BJP in Kerala on September 2 to protest the murder of Manoj. Voicing serious concern over the murder, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh telephoned Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and sought details of the circumstances of the killing and the steps taken to track down the culprits. The UDF government has ordered a crime branch

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probe and booked eight suspects in connection with the killing. State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said a special team headed by a Superintendent of Police had been constituted to probe the killing.

Dalai Lama Criticises Putin

n a move that is seen as a support to the United States, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader Dalai Lama has criticized the Russian President Vladimir Putin by calling him a “self-centred” leader who wants to rebuild the Berlin Wall. “His attitude is: ‘I, I, I’,” the Dalai Lama said, pointing out that Putin had served as Russian President, then as Prime Minister and then as President again. The Buddhist leader was also more critical of Russia than China and said that the two are very different from each other because China wants to be part of the global political system and would be ready to abide by international rules in future but it is difficult to say the same about Russia at the moment. He was further quoted as saying that Putin is hurting the interests of his own country by his actions. Speaking about the alienation being faced by Russia in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis, he said that “Isolation is suicide for Russia.” His words attracted attention around the world but Dalai Lama’s words of criticism for Putin may have immediate and serious consequences in Kalmykia, a Buddhist republic in the North Caucasus. Politicians there are scrambling to find a way not to offend Putin or the Buddhist electorate. The statement came in the backdrop of a standoff between Russia and the West which is being termed the worst since the Cold War.

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BJP rebuts horse-trading charge

he AAP has been alleging that the BJP is trying to buy its MLAs to be able to form its government in Delhi. In a new move the party, released a video alleging that Delhi BJP leader Sher Singh Dagar tried to poach one of its MLAs by offering Rs.4 crore. Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia, in a series of tweets in Hindi, alleged that the BJP offered Rs.4 crore to buy his party’s Sangam Vihar MLA, Dinesh Mohania. Delhi’s Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, in his report to the President of India, sought permission to call the single largest party, the BJP, to take a shot at power even though it is well short of majority in the Assembly. The AAP said Jung’s invite to the BJP to form government in Delhi will be an “open invitation for horse-trading” and would amount to the “murder of democracy”. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in his letter to President Pranab Mukherjee said that in the absence of support of the Congress party or AAP, the BJP is not in a position to win a confidence vote, except by engineering defections. However, Home Minister Rajnath Singh dismissed Kejriwal’s accusation and said his party will not indulge in horsetrading in order to form the government in Delhi, which is under the President’s rule since February 17 following the resignation of the 49-day-old AAP government. Political commentators are of the opinion that the BJP has shot itself in the foot by dithering very long over Delhi. They say that prolonging the uncertainty over elections or government formation in Delhi is giving more leeway for the AAP to make right noises and regroup, when it was demoralized after the massive loss of face in the Lok Sabha elections.

Stephen Hawkings’ warning

signals the existence of the Higgs field, an invisible energy field present throughout the universe that imbues other particles with mass.

Saudi clerics preach intolerance

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he elusive ‘God particle’ discovered by scientists in 2012 has the potential to destroy the universe, famed British physicist Stephen Hawking has warned. According to Hawking, at very high energy levels the Higgs boson, which gives shape and size to everything that exists, could become unstable. This, he said, could cause a “catastrophic vacuum decay” that would lead space and time to collapse. Hawking wrote in the preface to a new book called “Starmus” that the Higgs potential has the worrisome feature that it might become mega stable at energies above 100bn giga-electron-volts (GeV). This could mean that the universe could undergo catastrophic vacuum decay, with a bubble of the true vacuum expanding at the speed of light. This could happen at any time and we wouldn’t see it coming, wrote Hawking. He said the likelihood of such a disaster is unlikely to happen in the near future, however, the danger of the Higgs becoming destabilized at high energy is too great to be ignored. Hawking is not the only scientist who thinks so. The theory of a Higgs boson doomsday, where a quantum fluctuation creates a vacuum “bubble” that expands through space and wipes out the universe, has existed for a while. However, scientists don’t think it could happen anytime soon. The Higgs boson, sometimes referred to as the ‘God particle,’ is a tiny particle that researchers long suspected existed. Its discovery in 2012 by scientists at CERN, lends strong support to the Standard Model of particle physics, or the known rules of particle physics that scientists believe govern the basic building blocks of matter. The Higgs boson particle is so important to the Standard Model because it

n the one hand, Saudi Arabia’s official Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam attacks Islamic State and al Qaeda as heretical and “deviant”; on the other many of its most senior and popular clergy preach a doctrine that encourages intolerance against the very groups targeted by IS in Iraq. The arch conservatives Abdulrahman al-Barrak and Nasser al-Omar, who have more than a million followers on Twitter, have accused Shi’ites of sowing “strife, corruption and destruction among Muslims”. In 2008, Sheikh Saleh al-Luhaidan had said that the owners of media that broadcast depravity have forsaken their faith, a crime punishable in Sharia law by death. Though he was sacked as judiciary head for saying so, he still remains a member of the kingdom’s top Muslim council. Abdulaziz al-Fawzan, a professor of Islamic law and frequent guest on the popular al-Majd religious television channel, has accused the West of being behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, saying “these criminals want to take control over the world”. Such opinions, which echo the views of militants in Iraq, are not unusual in Saudi Arabia as it applies Sharia Muslim law on its citizens. Saudi Arabia has beheaded 20 people in the past month over violations of the Sharia law. The powerful clerics, who have tremendous support from the ruling elite, oversee a lavish state-funded religious infrastructure. Saudi Arabia and its ultra conservative Wahhabi school are often seen in the West as the ideological wellspring of al Qaeda, which has staged attacks across the world and of the Islamic State, which has beheaded hostages in Syria and Iraq.

Move against promotion using Facebook

ormer BJP ideologue KN Govindacharya has questioned the Narendra Modi government’s enthusi-

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asm for social networking sites, saying it only benefits companies like Facebook at the cost of public exchequer. In an affidavit filed in HC, Govindacharya has also challenged the government’s move to outsource management of official social networking accounts to private agencies, saying it endangers public data and may lead to more cyber crimes. “Government can neither surrender the rights on public records nor can it give commercial usage rights without sharing the revenue from such operations, since there are many social media companies which offer sharing of revenue with users as per their usages. That the huge business empire of Facebook is created in India due to the Government’s surrender of rights of public records and also active propagation/ advertisements of their business operations through government machinery,” the affidavit says, seeking a stay on decisions of many ministries which have issued tenders for appointment of management agencies for the operations of government social media accounts. The affidavit came in response to HC direction on August 01 when it asked Govindacharya to elaborate on his allegations that social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter, are being used by government officials and ministers for official purposes in violation of the Public Records Act. Earlier HC had observed that “use of internet services, which transfers public data to offshore locations, concerns the integrity and sovereignty of the country” and had questioned the Centre “why public records should go outside India”. Govindacharya has also alleged that “under the pretense of free services to Indians, the private companies are capturing huge volume of data, including public records and thus monopolizing operations in the Indian economy”. His PIL seeks a direction to government to ensure safety of the data of 140 million Indian users which are transferred “to the US and is being used for commercial gains in violation of the right to privacy.”

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Australia acts to tackle terrorism

ustralian Police arrested several people during a series of raids in the Brisbane region in early September on charges of having links with the ISIS. Agim Kruezi, 21, was arrested at his residence in Logan and a sawn-off .22 caliber semi-automatic firearm and small arms ammunition were found with him. Along with the terrorism-related charges, he is also alleged to have recruited another person to become a member of Islamic State. He was furthered charged with obtaining funds in preparation for incursions into a foreign state between 24 February and 9 March this year. In a related incident, Brisbane man Omar Succarieh, 31, has been charged with helping Kruezi obtain the funds. Succarieh, whose occupation is listed as “driver”, has also been charged with making funds available to or collecting funds for terrorist the organisation Jabhat al-Nusra since 10 August, 2013. Succarieh is believed to be the brother of Ahmed Succarieh, who reportedly became Australia’s first suicide bomber in Syria last year. Both Omar and Kruezi were charged under Australia’s Crimes (Foreign Incursions and Recruitment) Act, which makes it an offense to fight or train to fight for rebel groups overseas, or assist such groups. In further raids on terror in mid-September, authorities detained 15 people and one person was charged with terrorism offences, in the pre-dawn

raids across Sydney and Brisbane. More than 800 counter-terrorism police and ASIO officers swooped on homes in the early hours, with some of those detained believed to have links to the terror group Islamic State. In Sydney alone, 25 arrest warrants were executed. The Joint operation was conducted in less than a week after Australia’s terror alert level was raised from medium to high.

Russia accuses US

ussia has alleged that unilateral US airstrikes on jihadists in Syria would be a crude violation of international law. Alexander Lukashevich, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry alleged that the US President has directly announced the possibility of strikes by American armed forces against positions of the Islamic State in Syria without the consent of its legal government. He further stated that in the absence of an appropriate decision of the UN Security Council, such a step would become an act of aggression and thus a crude violation of the norms of international law. US president Barak Obama has said that he was ready to launch air strikes on Islamic State fighters in Syria, expanding the campaign already undertaken

against the jihadists in Iraq. Though Lukashevich said Moscow welcomed the fact that Washington had acknowledged the threat from the radical Islamists, he accused the United States of “double standards” over its support for the opposition in Syria. “While on the one hand the US is helping the Iraq government to confront Islamist militants, Obama is once more asking Congress for 500 million dollars to support the Syrian armed opposition, which as a whole is little different from the radicals in the Islamic State,” Lukashevich said. But Russia too offered its help in the international fight against the Islamic State as global powers step up efforts to help Iraq battle jihadists. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Paris that they too have got a contribution to make to the joint efforts in the specific area of ensuring security in Iraq through consolidating society and mobilizing it in a fight with terrorism and extremism. He was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of an international conference convened to formulate a common strategy against the Islamic State militants. Representatives from around 30 countries and international organisations gathered after the Islamic State beheaded a third Western hostage over the weekend and the United States said it was considering air strikes on jihadists in Syria.

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