Aseema april 2014 final to print by kspcb gok

Making RSS more vibrant Status at present and key tasks ahead

Violence against

Women

VOL. 15 ISSUE 09 PAGES 52 APRIL 2014 CHAITRA (JAYA) PRICE ` 25 www.aseema.net.in

IN THIS ISSUE

The Violence of Separatism

A‘Short’ened Christian trip Proselytization takes fearful dimensions

Volume: 15

IT helpline for ‘informers’ Stemming black money flow during elections

Wendy Doniger Episode Freedom Unlimited to Denigrate Hinduism

Intellectual Property Day 18

Protecting and rewarding the inventor

Making RSS more vibrant

Use Slag, Fly Ash as Sand Substitutes

New Govt. Has Challenging Tasks Ahead

Status at present and key tasks ahead

20 A Thriving Business Ghost Writing for Celebrities

Shivaji, the Great Patriot His life is an inspiration for all

Keeping the Economy Going

Issue: 09 April 2014 Chaitra (Jaya)

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

The latest gruesome attacks have happened in Kunming, the capital city of China’s southwestern Yunnan Province,where a group of knife-wielding terrorists, one of whom a woman, chased the passengers in the railway station of that city killing 33 people and injuring more than 140.

Russia’s Crime (a)

Transcending Boundaries

Saving our Rivers The 1962 Chinese Perfidy

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The Violence of Separatism China too in the Muslim Terrorists’ radar

There is no knowing where the long arm of the terrorist will reach. The latest gruesome attacks have happened in Kunming, the capital city of China’s southwestern Yunnan Province,where a group of knife-wielding terrorists, one of them a woman, chased the passengers in the railway station of that city killing 33 people and injuring more than 140. Predictably, the Chinese government has been quick in punishing the culprits, but the hard fact that stares in the face of the Chinese leadership is that they too are now in the terrorists’ radar.

he voices of Muslim separatism are rising from unexpected places. China, a communist regime that was perceived to be impervious to religious unrest, seems to be the latest hotspot on terrorists’ radar. Recently the capital of China’s southwestern Yunnan Province witnessed such an attack, and China has reasons to fear that this is only the beginning of a long battle. On March 1, 2014, the usually bustling railway station in Kunming city was stormed by a group of knife-

wielding terrorists, one of whom was a woman. They chased the passengers in the station and killed 33 people and injured 143 others. The law enforcement authorities killed four of the terrorists and search is on for five more. In many ways, these attacks are a sad reflection of the violent conflicts between native Muslim Uyghurs and Han settlers from mainland China in recent years. Xinjiang is a region on the westernmost edge of northern China. It has a large number of eth-

nic Muslim minorities called Uighurs (also spelled Uyghurs). They speak Turkic and have long chafed under Chinese rule. The separatists in the Xinjiang region have long protested the alleged influx of ethnic Chinese into the region. Over the course of centuries, the Xinjiang region has been part of many different — and, at times, competing — empires. It has been under Communist rule since the party took control of China in 1949. For years, many Uighurs and other

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smaller Muslim minorities in Xinjiang have agitated against China’s authoritarian government. Their protests are a reaction, Uighur groups say, to oppressive official policies, religious restrictions and widespread discrimination. The Chinese government has long denied any oppression of Uighurs or any other ethnic groups. There are numerous Uighurs’ separatist groups operating in the Xinjiang region and they have various demands. But the most common one is to secede from China or to protest against its alleged religious oppression. For long, China has been restricting religious expressions of most of the communities, including Catholics and evangelical Christians. The Chinese government has also issued strict policies for Muslim Uighurs. They must use a state-approved Koran. Mosques are managed by the government. And Uighur men who want government jobs have been forced to shave their beards; women are forbidden to wear head scarves. The separatists, who seek full independence from China, call the Xinjiang region “East Turkestan” and want the right to govern themselves. Also, China’s conduct of treating Uighurs has come under severe criticism from human rights groups. Worldwide, Muslim separatism stems from the fact that their religious rights have been oppressed by the state machinery. What would be interesting to note here is the fact that other religious groups who also have their religious rights removed in the larger interest of the nation have not taken to violence to make their displeasure known. It is only the Muslim separatists who take recourse to violence and who go to any extent to “protect” their religious rights. Although China had very little religious unrest before, the voice of separatism from Uighurs has

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grown strident recently and so has the violence. Ethnic rioting and clashes in Xinjiang reached a peak in 2009, causing roughly 200 deaths and triggering a crackdown by local authorities. Renewed protests last year also turned violent and are thought to have claimed more than 100 lives. But the most shocking attack blamed on Uighurs occurred in October when a jeep veered into a crowd in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, then crashed and burst into flames, killing five people. Almost immediately, the authorities declared it the work of terrorists from Xinjiang, and within 10 hours of the crash, they said they had arrested five suspects who were in possession of long knives and flags calling for “jihad.” The terrorists, or Jihadists, as they would like to call themselves, should consider a few things before initiating violence against innocent people. Terrorism or violence does not result in fulfilling their demands; if anything, it further alienates terrorists from their goals. Some political observers in China believe that the Chinese government is using these terrorist attacks to impose further restritions on Muslims in this region. All over the world, even peace-loving, innocent Muslims are viewed with suspicion by people from other religions. This is mainly because of the dastardly acts of a few Islamic separatists. Those who prefer violence should understand that these types of acts only make them more alienated from the rest of the world.

Reaction to Terror Attacks C

hina’s president Xi Jinxing has called for “all-out efforts” to bring “the black-clad assailants” to justice. Xi urged security officials to “severely punish in accordance with the law the violent terrorists and resolutely crack down on those who have been swollen with arrogance,” state news agency Xinhua reported. He added: “Understand the serious and complex nature of combating terrorism … Go all out to maintain social stability.” One of the 130 survivors injured in the incident described fleeing in terror as a man lashed out with a long knife, nicking his scalp. “I was terrified … they attacked us like crazy swordsmen, and mostly they went for the head and shoulders,” he said. He said that the attackers appeared

to be well trained because many of the cuts directly targeted the internal organs. He said the police were stationed in patients’ rooms and doctors had been served a notice ordering them not to divulge information about the injured, including their condition and how many there were. They were also told to tell the families that the government would arrange adequate compensation.

Russia’s Crime (a) Will there be a confrontation with the West?

his is said to be the biggest standoff between Russia and the West since the cold war. The deployment of Russian troops in the Crimea region of Ukraine allegedly to ‘protect’ the interests of Russianspeaking people has sparked a huge standoff between Russia and the West. If you examine the political developments in this region in recent times, this standoff only promises to escalate. Russia recently deployed its armed forces in the Crimea region of Ukraine. Although the Russian President Vladimir Putin would want the world to believe that this is an act to defend the Russians residing in this region, many political observers believe that this is an outright violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. While the Russian government wants Crimea to be united with Russia, Ukraine and the West believe that Crimea is an integral part of Ukraine, thereby causing the tiff. Crimea has been the hotbed of tension and is threatening to turn into a separatist movement. The region -- a peninsula on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast -- has 2.3 million people, the majority of whom are ethnic Russians and speak Russian. The region voted favourably for Viktor Yanukovych in the 2010 presidential election, and many people there believe he is the victim of a coup which promoted separatists in Crimea’s parliament to vote for joining the Russian Federation and a referendum on secession. Russia has been a major force in Crimea for most of the past 200 years. The country annexed the region in 1783. It was transferred by Moscow to Ukraine -- then part of the Soviet Union -- in 1954. However, another major minority, the Muslim Crimean Tatars, claim that they were once the

US Secretary of State John Kerry (right) & Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (left)

Will the political crisis in Ukraine spill over into a catastrophic confrontation between Russia and the European powers with the backing of the US? Or will the standoff taper off much to the relief of the international community? This is the issue that is confronting the world today since the end of the cold war way back in the fifties. Russian President Putin is an astute statesman who won’t be cowed down by threats from the Western powers since they are heavily dependent on Russian gas supply. Russia has already brought Crimea under its control and Ukraine is too weak to resist it because of its none too strong military might.

majority in Ukraine. They were reportedly deported in large numbers by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1944 for alleged collaboration with Nazi invaders in World War II. Compared with 58% Russians and 12% Tatars, ethnic Ukrainians consisted of 24% of the population in Crimea, according to the 2001 census. Tatars have been returning since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and this has caused continuous tensions with Russians over land rights. Even now, the region remains legally part of Ukraine -- a status that Russia backed when pledging to uphold the territorial integrity of Ukraine in a memorandum signed in 1994, also signed by the US, UK and France. It is an autonomous republic within Ukraine, electing its own parliament. Kiev appointed Crimea’s prime minister in consultation with the regional parliament. But after the crisis

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erupted, Crimean MPs appointed a pro-Moscow leader, Sergei Aksyonov, without the backing of Kiev. He asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for help to ensure peace, and secured the backing of Crimea’s parliament for joining Russia, with a referendum held on March 16. But it will be interesting to see how long Russia can test the patience of Ukraine. Although there have been no bloodshed until now, there are large groups of Ukrainian soldiers who resist the new authority in Crimea, who refuse to surrender their bases and their ships, and who are slowly starting to create problems for the Russians. The West is treading a cautious path in this whole crisis. Although the US and the rest of the West are siding with Ukraine in this whole affair, they are not going all out against Russia either. The US is not talking of an armed attack yet. But it has imposed some economic sanctions on

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Russia. US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that unless Russia took immediate and concrete steps to withdraw, the effect on US-Russia relations and on Russia’s international standing would be profound.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin is an expert politician and he knows a trick or two about how these sanctions work. In 2008, when Russia attacked Georgia, the US imposed various sanctions, but none lasted

A Russian soldier smokes atop of Russian armored personnel

more than a year. In a world where every country places its economic interests above any sort of morality, priorities change, and so do governments. Also, Russia is too intertwined economically with Western partners, especially in Europe. Russia could always in theory retaliate with the Gazprom card - Europe’s reliance on Russian gas, which makes those countries vulnerable. So, how will the deadlock end? Unlike Georgia, Crimea is in Europe’s doorstep, making it impossible for Europe to ignore the struggle there. For Russia, too, Crimea is a prestige issue, since the Russian government considers Crimea as a major part of its history. Whichever way the crisis ends, the international community can only hope that it ends without bloodshed. Russia has a strong military might and armed forces of the West can leave long- lasting wounds in the eastern region of the world. It will be better if leaders from both the sides can be statesmen for once and resolve the crisis before it gets blown out of hand.

Russia’s Equation with Georgia

West too doesn’t lag behind

he Georgia–Russia crisis is an ongoing international crisis between the two countries that escalated in 2008, when both countries accused each other of military buildup near the separatist regions -- Abkhazia and South Ossetia. On March 6, 2008, Russia announced that it would no longer participate in the Commonwealth of Independent States economic sanctions imposed on Abkhazia in 1996. Increasing tensions led to the outbreak of the 2008 South Ossetia war. After the war, a number of incidents have occurred in both conflict zones, and tensions between the belligerents remain high. The crisis has been linked to the push for Georgia to receive a NATO Membership Action Plan and, indirectly, the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo. After the war, Russia officially recognized both South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. In response to Russia’s recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the Georgian government announced that the country had cut all diplomatic relations with Russia. Russia had already closed its embassy right after the beginning of the war in South Ossetia in August 2008 before diplomatic relations between the two countries ended.

Contrary to the general belief, women in the Western countries too are subjected to sexual violence and other humiliations. The only difference is that this doesn’t get so much publicity as it does when such things happen in Asian countries. A survey conducted recently by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) came up with certain startling facts:One-third of women in the West – 62 million -- have experienced physical and/ or sexual violence since the age of 15 and 43% have experienced psychological violence such as public humiliation. • Raju Shanbhag

he media in India and the world would want us to believe that third world countries like India and Pakistan are highly unsafe for women. The crimes against women in these countries are highlighted and in comparison, the European countries are projected as safe havens for women to live and work. That may not be the case after all. The despicable atrocities against women seem to be a universal disease and even Europe is not a safe

Russian President Putin with his aide

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place for women. Recently, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) conducted a survey in Europe and found out that one-third of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15. That comes to 62 million women in the EU. Even more women, 43 percent, have experienced psychological violence ranging from public humiliation to being locked up or forbidden to leave the house. The agency interviewed some 43,000 women face to face across the 28 EU countries, and

asked standardised questions to ensure that definitions were the same. Apart from the disturbing facts about the lack of safety for women in Europe, the survey also reveals some other worrying facts. Until now, it was widely believed that due to the culture inculcated to women in countries like India and Pakistan, they abstained from reporting sexual violence against them. But now, it seems to be the same case even in Western countries. The survey reported that women across the EU too were also

very unlikely to report the incidents of violence. The most serious event of partner violence was reported only 14 percent of the time. Non-partner violence was reported less often. Of course, the conditions of women in Western countries are better than those in Asian countries, but it is definitely not as rosy as projected in the Western media and believed by the people in the East. Even in Europe, the authorities are reluctant to provide equal opportunities for women. The number of European Court of Justice convictions shows that laws often have to be secured in court, because the national authorities have not acted. This is true for both old and new member states. Recently, the European Commission, as “guardian of the treaties”, warned the German government that the implementation of the anti-discrimination directives in the German General Law for Equal Rights was insufficient. This law was first passed in 2006 after years of debating, after the European Commis-

ments is in fact 40 percent. At the other end of the scale are Greece, France, Slovenia, Ireland and Romania, where the percentage of women is below 15 percent, which is only underrun by Malta and Hungary with not even 10 percent. In spite of women’s high qualifications, they often find them-

selves in lower positions and less well-paid jobs in comparison with men. In spite of similar demands on qualifications, the wages for typical women’s jobs are lower than in typical man’s jobs in several countries. Those women in education thereby receive lower wages than a car mechanic, and nurses earn less than police men and women. Forty percent of female employees work in health jobs, in the fields of upbringing and education, or in trade and sales. In contrast, only 20 percent of men work in such jobs. Women earn 15 percent less than men EU-wide. The wage-difference is particularly apparent in the groups of older female workers. Women of between 50 and 59 earned 33 percent less than men of the same age in 2005. Germany belongs to the member states with particularly high wage discrimination (22 percent) whereas France is better than the EU average with its 12 percent. Coming back to violence against women, the rot runs deeper and stronger that what the statistics reveal. The group of female experts for the European Commission, “Gender, Social Inclusion and Employment”, has reached the conclusion that there is a large number of unreported cases, far above the cases of domestic violence, human trade and forced prostitution which are filed. For example, the British government estimates that between 2000 and 2001, there were 15.4 million cases of domestic violence in Great Britain, of which 84 percent were directed against women; and that every week two women died due to domestic violence. Domestic violence occurs in every social class. About one quarter to half a million women and children become victims of human trafficking each year in Europe. The countries of origin are central Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America, yet the richest EU member states are the main target countries. Irrespective of what the statistics say, violence against women

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The Safest Countries for Women

ccording to a survey conducted by Gallup, the countries where women feel safest walking around alone at night are Georgia, Rwanda and Singapore. Interestingly, none of these countries are in Europe. Many of the countries on this list -- including Rwanda, Tajikistan, and Laos -- are authoritarian regimes in which security forces exercise a high degree of control over the population, suggesting that in some cases personal security may come at the expense of personal freedom. Women in Denmark have the most overall life satisfaction ... but then again, so do the men, perhaps it’s just a happy place. A whopping 89 percent of people in Denmark reported having more positive experiences in an average day (feelings of rest, pride in accomplishment, or enjoyment) than negative ones (pain, worry, sadness, or boredom).

sion had threatened with penal fines amounting to 900,000 Euros daily. In politics, women in general are underrepresented in all European countries. In Germany, Austria, Spain and Belgium, the proportion of women in politics is just over 30 percent; in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands, the proportion in Parlia-

is a heinous crime, whether it happens against a single woman or a large number of women. But what we would like to point out here is how these cases are viewed by media in Western and Asian countries. The atrocities against women in Asian countries are given international coverage. Foreign governments advise their women travellers to be cautious while travelling to India. But, on the other hand, no Asian country issues any warning to their women travellers

who are visiting to European countries. These countries are generally perceived safe, while statistics tell an entirely different story. Of course, these statistics do not justify the crimes against women in any non-European country. Neither does it make them less responsible for the crimes against women. But it intends to act as an eye-opener for the eulogists of the West who blindly believe everything that is portrayed by the Western media.

It was Swami Vivekananda who told the Western countries, “Bring anything to India, but not religion.” Why? Because Bharath is already suffused with spirituality that it is not in need of a new religion to enlighten its people. But the Christian missionaries thought and still think otherwise. They believe that the whole of Asia needs to be converted to Christianity. One such religious zealot, who dared to spread Christianity in – of all the places—North Korea, was recently arrested by the authorities there. John Short, an ex-soldier of the Australian army, symbolizes a new form of militancy -- religious terrorism if one may call it -- which is raising its ugly head all over the non-Christian countries of the world.

A‘Short’ened Christian trip

Proselytization takes fearful dimensions

f one thinks one can proselytize in a communist country like North Korea and still get away with it, he must be daydreaming. Missionary John Short’s dreams of spreading Christianity in that part of the world received a rude wakeup call when he was arrested on February 20 by North Korean officials. The charges against him included proselytizing and disseminating religious material. The 75-year-old John Short carried Korean-language pamphlets advocating Christianity into North Korea. In a communist country that offers very little religious freedom to its own citizens, John Short’s audacious venture with religious pamphlets in his hand has evoked little sympathy. Even Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott said his government is doing all it can to get John Short released. However, his words contained a veiled rebuke, as he urged his countrymen, “to be careful to obey the laws of the country you’re in,” especially the less democratic ones. “Not all countries have the same legal system or the same laws as Australia,” he said. John Short is not new to taking risks. He has had a history of trying to proselytize people in the Asian region and getting into trouble with the local governments. He was arrested

Asian countries are especially being targeted, because it costs Christians many times more money to convert someone in rich developed countries such as Switzerland than in poor developing countries such as India and Pakistan. The result of missionary activities has been astounding in the last few decades. As a result of their persistent proselytizing tactics, China, which had one million Christians in 1950, today has more than 100 million Christians. South Korea had 2.2% Christian population in 1945 and now the number has risen to an alarming 49%. Papua New Guinea is a glaring example of proselytizing tactics of Christian missionaries.In 1950, the country had only 1.7% Christian population. Today, a staggering 97% of its population are Christians! In fact, US evangelism, a term used to define militant Christian missionaries hell bent upon converting world to Christianity, is the new form of terror silently being unleashed on the world. From shaping American foreign policy to manipulating local third world conflicts, evangelical Christian-

ity has become a powerful force. Note that these missionaries target poor countries more than the developed countries. It is easier to convince the downtrodden, the beaten, and convert them. Most missionary organisations disguise their conversion efforts as charity organizations. Often in the press, we hear about “faith-based initiatives” but that is just a euphemism for aggressive and violent conversion organizations. In the Western media, missionaries are portrayed as true saviors who feed the hungry and nurse the sick. However, the missionaries do not do this for the good of humanity, but to convert people to Christianity. They have also decided to target the poorest for conversions, not because they are the neediest, but rather, because they can be easily bribed into changing their faith and they cannot easily report to the press the atrocities which the missionaries have inflicted upon them. Many innocent looking child sponsorship programmes such as Christian Children’s Fund and World Vision

that often advertise on the US television are guilty of forced conversions. Many often say, “For 50 cents a day, you’ll make a real impact on the life of a child and their community!” However, instead of nurturing these children as they claim, they use this money to buy children of poor non-Christian families. The children unwillingly are then separated from their mothers and are raised by missionaries who brainwash them with Christian fundamentalist ideas. In other cases, missionaries will “bribe” the entire family of the child to convert to Christianity. True social service should be done without expecting anything in return from the recipient. Otherwise it becomes a debased form of charity and at best can have an accidental redeeming value. If the motive is bad, then the social service has no real merit. There are many organizations that are doing noble service without expecting anything in return. Apart from the Australian media and the media in the West projecting John Short as a man of God, the rest of the world has little sympathy for his foolhardy act.

Missionary Aggression in India T John Short at his desk three times for proselytizing in China. Their Christian Book Room publishing firm, which they have run since the mid-1990s, translates Christian literature, posters and pamphlets into foreign languages and distributes them across Asia. In North Korea, Short’s misadventures first came to light when he left some pamphlets at a damaged Buddhist temple on the second day of their tour. John Short is no stranger to testing circumstances either. A for-

mer soldier in the Australian military, he arrived in Hong Kong in 1964 and worked at a refugee clinic during the turmoil of China’s Cultural Revolution. And he is not alone. Every year, churches around the world perform US $1.1 billion worth of research in 3,000 languages, covering 180 religious topics for conversion purposes. Missionary literature in today’s libraries number 175,000 different titles in 500 languages, increasing by 4 newly published book every day. The

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he attitude of Christian missionaries and churches towards India is summed up by the following phrase by a popular gospel magazine in the US. A recent issue of the Texas-based magazine, “Gospel for Asia”, says: “The Indian subcontinent with one billion people is a living example of what happens when Satan rules the entire culture... India is one vast purgatory in which millions of people.... are literally living a cosmic lie! Could Satan have devised a more perfect system for causing misery?” In 1999, the Indian Church of Christ in Assam was caught redhanded for forcibly converting at least 14 Hindus. Over a period of six

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months the missionaries belonging to this Church offered money, jobs and other economic benefits to these extremely poor people if they embraced Christianity. They were threatened with dire consequences if they revealed the circumstances under which they had been converted. However, two of them who were forcibly converted came to the police and told them the details of how Christian priests had lured them to their residence with the promise of jobs and money. In return for this favour, the priests asked them to convert themselves to Christianity. There are many such examples of Christian missionary tactics to con-

vert people from other religions. But the biased media in India is always shy of highlighting them.

IT helpline for ‘informers’ Stemming black money flow during elections • Ganghadhar Shandilya

he Income Tax Department has set up a helpline for allowing people to inform the department about anyone they have found or suspect of circulating black money during the ongoing election campaign. Informers can remain anonymous and can even check if the agency acted on their complaint. The helpline will be supervised by a committee made up of senior officials from various departments, including the Financial Intelligence Unit, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau and the intelligence wings of the Border Security Force, Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) and of Railway Protection Force. In addition to the helpline, IT officials are monitoring thousands of bank accounts of people closely associated with candidates and political parties. Anybody withdrawing more than 10 lakh rupees will have to answer a number of questions and convince the authorities that they are not using the money for any candidates. This is for the first time the IT Department is joining hands with the Election Commission in monitoring the financial transactions of people involved in the electoral process. What perhaps caused the Commission to involve the IT Department is the amount of cash it seized in the last assembly elections. More than Rs.100 crores of unaccounted cash was confiscated in Tamil Nadu alone. If everything goes according to the plan, we are going to have the most transparent election ever. Noose will be tightened further on political par-

In its efforts to track down the flow of unaccounted money -- black money--during the current election campaigns, the Income Tax Department has devised a plan. A helpline has been set up for those who have information about these funds being used by the candidates or their supporters. The department will keep the names of those who provide the information confidential. As is well-known, there is bound to be a huge circulation of black money in months ahead. It is reported that most of these funds have free flow mainly in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. ties in the years ahead, as a plan is in the offing to have the account books of political parties audited by chartered accounts. Such an action may also need the parties to maintain account books as systematic as any other business firm. What makes elections much stricter

this year is the Reserve Bank’s decision to withdraw high- denomination banknotes (such as 500 and 100 rupee notes) printed before 2005.As per the RBI data, 7,351 crore pieces of currency notes were in circulation as on March 31, 2013. Of these, 14.6 percent was Rs 500 notes and 5.9 per-

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cent Rs 1,000 notes. That means these high-denomination banknotes accounted for more than 20 percent of currency notes in circulation. Notes hidden in underground cellars will go to waste if they are not brought out before the stipulated time. Soon, everyone will see through these notes to check the year of printing. The Election Commission says it has identified the parliamentary constituencies where black money is most likely to be used on a large scale. Most of these constituencies are in the southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Policemen across the countries, in the meanwhile, are gearing up to set up check-points to check vehicles for unaccounted cash. Such checkpoints had yielded high results in southern states last year. Security is being stepped up in airports and railway stations. Security personnel have been specifically told to keep a watch on bags containing cash. The Election Commission is taking control of some of the least regu-

lated helipads used by politicians. Black money is generally transported through hawala agents in unsuspecting vehicles. Sometime, politicians transport them on chartered flights or helicopters.

How Much Black Money?

ow much black money is in circulation in the country? That’s of course a difficult question to answer. The other name for black money is unaccounted money. That means nobody has counted it to measure its real size. But the Central government said last year that it had tracked undisclosed incomes worth more than Rs.50,000 crore since 2000. A conservative estimate puts the figure at Rs.25 lakh crore. Analysts say that is less likely. If that money is taxed, the government can amass so much cash that it will be enough to lift the country’s infrastructure to the level of the United States.Alternately, the government could offer a

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“zero-tax” year for all individuals and companies, and still enable sufficient budget to fund all expenses, includ-

ing salaries and welfare schemes. A joint study on black money conducted by the government agencies, including the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and the National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM), says that about a third of black money is transacted in real estate, followed by manufacturing, gold and film industry. According to US-based think tank Global Financial Integrity, India had lost around Rs.6.76 lakh crore in black money during the course of ten years between 2000 and 2010.

BRINGING NATIONAL RESURGANCE TO THE FORE, SINCE 1999

aseema

Keeping the Economy Going

New Govt. Has Challenging Tasks Ahead

ecent weeks have seen a remarkable rally on the Bombay Stock Exchange largely due to investors’ expectations that Narendra Modi will be the Prime Minister and that under his leadership the economy will rebound as it did during the regime of Shri Narasimha Rao in the early nineties, when Manmohan Singh as the Finance Minister. Foreign investors started pumping in large amounts buying shares and bonds. True, Modi is bound to unshackle the economy which is still bound by a number of restrictions, but what is overlooked often is the fact that the Indian economy is still suffering from certain systemic problems. At least for now, the current account deficit and fiscal deficit have been repaired. CAD stood 0.9% of GDP during the October-December quarter, lowest in eight years. But the fact remains that it is done by squeezing gold imports, which has started worrying the jewellery export trade. Investors are watching keenly the various alignments and “non-alignments” of the political parties and their leaders. Says Rohini Malkani, City group economist: “The (coming) elections already seem to be making a difference … the expectations are up and so are equity and currency markets, which have also been buoyed by the real gains on the deficit issues. There clearly is a feel-good factor in the markets.” But it would be naïve to overlook some the real challenges that the economy is facing. Inflation has tapered off for the time being but that is because of larger supply, especially of food items. Economists say that it is a seasonal change and the prices of food items can go up anytime. This phenomenon will continue to persist

until the supply constraints are removed. One cannot overlook the sluggish growth in the infrastructure sector and in the manufacturing sector. Industrial growth, according to the data released by the Central Statistics Organization on Wednesday, March

There is a slight improvement in current account deficit and fiscal deficit. Inflation also has tapered off, thanks to abundant supply of food articles. But that should no lull the government into inaction. The new government that will take over after the elections has its tasks on the economic front cut out. It must keep a wary look on the price front; and at the same time initiate novel steps to boost the economy.

12, showed that the growth was just 0.1% in January led by growth in the power sector. The same in January 2013 was 2.5%. Overall, the manufacturing sector shrunk by 0.7% in January, the fourth consecutive month of decline. Factory output too remained flat 1%. These dismal data shows that the new government has an uphill task to tackle to get the economy moving fast. The UPA government has initiated some drastic steps to stimulate the economy, but the results won’t be known until after some time. So there is no chance of the UPA government getting credit for all that now. Again, dark clouds are rising on the horizon, because of international events such

as the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the US/EU sanctions on that country. This will affect not only Russia, but other countries as well, and we may be heading for a global economic crisis if the Ukrainian situation takes a turn for the worse. The effect of such an economic crisis will be far more worse on weak economies such as those of India and Pakistan. The new government that will take over after the elections has a yeoman’s task before them to make the economy vibrant. It will have to direct its attention to different directions and come up with a comprehensive plan of action that will show results without being enmeshed in red tape and policy paralysis. On the revenue front it will have to lower taxes and make the tax laws simple. Not all are taxed even now; it is reported that only 3% of the people shows taxable income. This emphasizes the need for bringing in more people into the tax net. What the governments have been doing all these years is to tax further those who are already paying tax, in the form of surcharge, service tax, etc. Introduction of standard deduction from salaries (this was discontinued nine years ago) will ensure seamless collection of tax by the government. Another task before the new government would be to take urgent steps to bring back black money, at least part of it, that has been tucked away in tax havens. The unaccounted money that has flowed out of the country so far is estimated to be Rs. 14 lakh crore since Independence till 2008. An amnesty scheme has been suggested to bring back at least a small percentage of this amount that could meet the needs of certain sectors like education and health.

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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

Making RSS more vibrant

Status at present and key tasks ahead

As statistics show, the RSS is growing from strength to strength. But it has to resolve some of its inherent contradictions and widen its mass base. The Sangh’s strong organizational set-up has helped it to withstand the tremendous pressure from many quarters to weaken it, but it needs to change its growth trajectory and improve its quality of membership.

he annual meet of Akhila Bharat Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), the highest elected decision-making body, was held in Bangalore from March 7 to 9, 2014. The meeting, attended by over 1000 top leaders, provided an occasion for discussions and deliberations about the activities of the organization. The annual report of 2014, presented by Sarakaryavaha (General Sec-

retary) Suresh Joshi, gave statistics relating to the present status of work by the RSS. A medium-term view of the growth statistics of the organization and an assessment of the impact of on the society may be obtained by combining the statistics of previous years. The report provides statistics of Shakhas (daily congregations), Saptaahika milans (weekly congrega-

tions) and Sangha mandalis (monthly congregations). The organization has a very structured training regime graded in three years termed as Officer Training Camps (OTC). A preliminary training, called Initial Training Camp (ITC) is a prerequisite for enrolment to OTCs. In Table – 1, all the congregations are clubbed as branches. The participation numbers in OTCs are consolidated in training

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RSS - Status of Work Year Branches1 Training2 Core strength3 Comments 2011

54329

15000

5.4L to 27L

2012

55844

15494

5.5L to 27.5L

2013

59716

18601

5.9L to 29.5L

2014

62515

14019

6.2L to 31L

1 Branches to include daily Shakhas, weekly milans, and monthly mandalis. 2 Training to include officers training camps (OTC) but to exclude initial training camps (ITC).

3 Each Branch to have varying membership of 10 to 50. RSS is growing at a moderate rate of 2% to 5%.

numbers. Initial training numbers are not included in the training numbers. The table providing the core strength of the RSS, although not official, is a fair estimate based on annual reports. A glimpse of the impact of the RSS on society is obtained when we look at the number of participants in special camps conducted at state levels periodically. For example, in 2012, just six special camps in different states witnessed a total participation of over 1.25lakh Swayamsevaks. The capability of Sangh is revealed when

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looked at its ability to educate masses. In 2012, the RSS conducted more than 3,117 programmes all over the country highlighting the dangers of the proposed ‘Communal Riots Prevention Bill’ and more than one lakh and 54,000 people participated in these programmes. As another example, in 2013, more than two lakhSwayamsevaks participated in just five special camps at state levels. These special camps indicate the extent of contact of the RSS among the wider population and the depth of penetration. Sangh

Parivar organizations publish periodicals, newspapers and newsletters. Newsletters published by each RSS state unit, numbering about 30, reach about 1.7lakh villages throughout the country, effectively establishing direct communication with the masses. But these numbers alone would not provide the impact of the RSS which has more than 35 associated organizations and these are referred as‘Sangh Parivar’ inthe media. The organizations include Bharateeya Janata Party, Kisan Sangha and Bharateeya Majdoor Sangha. The membership of three major organizations is about 40 million and the rest of the organizations together have a membership base of another 20 million. Together, with a moderate 10million of sympathisers, the membership base of the Sangh Parivar organizations, having similar ideological moorings, is about 70million. In India, there are 672 districts, 4100 Taluks, and 256,000 village panchayats for about 638,000villages. According to one estimate, India has 16lakh habitations spread mostly in these villages. The population of India is about 1.25billion. In terms of percentage, the RSS may be having a base of 5% of the population. It may be argued that the goal of RSS, which is about reaching to about 5% of the population, as set out during its formative years, as a completed task. But it is clear that rephrasing of the goal statement is long overdue. Although the membership of the RSS and its affiliated organizations are present in district/taluk levels, the growth rate of the organizations may not be encouraging from the long-time perspective. Although the educated, upper middle class and elite of the country are part of the RSS base, the members of RSS may not be aggressive enough and are not positioning themselves

Sangh has always been fighting Corruption– Bhayyaji Joshi Shri.Suresh (Bhayyaji) Joshi, Sarakaryavaha (General Secretary) of RSS, addressed the media on the third day of the Akhil Bharateeya Pratinidhi Sabha held at Rashtrotthana Vidyakendra, Thanisandra, Bengaluru. His interactions with media persons:

to change the ground realities. The visibility of Hindu thoughts in public affairs appears to be inadequate in every sphere of life. The RSS needs to solve some of the challenges to change the growth trajectory of its support base. Firstly, the ability of the Sangh in communicating with the public independently needs a recalibration. The Shakha system may not be scalable to perform this task. Additional structural

elements are to be quickly assembled from this perspective. The goal statement of the Sangh has to have a clear impact imagery as a yardstick for assessment purposes. Secondly, the quality of the membership needs a relook. The recent quality initiatives undertaken by the RSS leadership may be paying dividends, but it should be noted that such initiatives suffer from structural constraints. An easy, effective way of maintaining quality, not just in the RSS but in affiliated organizations, is important from the ideological perspective. Thirdly, there is a need for urgent resolution of inherent contradictions among the Sangh organizations, among other Hindu organizations and traditional institutions. The contradictions may not appear to be a major issue at the outset. This is due to the general soft approach taken by all Hindu organizations, and inherent diversity of Hindu populations. But differences among Hindu groups may be inhibiting synergy towards changing the ground realities of public affairs. The RSS being a modern entity and leader has dual roles to play --to position itself strategically through adaptations and set ground rules of engagement.

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the right choices.

Q: Has there been a discussion on homosexuality and the laws regarding the same? What is Sangh’s view on this? A: Though we have not discussed this topic, we are of the view that anything which is detrimental to the health of society should be detested.

Q: What is the view of Sangh on corruption and anti-corruption movements? A: Sangh has always been against corruption in society and has said earlier too that Swayamsevaks will involve in any anti-corruption movements. Even Sangh organizations like ABVP are also involved in fighting against corruption.

Q: Will Sangh interfere in BJP’s selection process when they are unable to reach a conclusion? A: Sangh will not interfere in the internal affairs of the party as we feel that the leaders of that party are capable enough of dealing with such situations.

Q: With the emergence of AAP on the political scene, how does Sangh view AAP? A: We too see AAP as you in the media do. New parties are formed in a democracy and time will decide who is right and who is not. Their performance has been visible. But if they are indeed capable of fighting corruption Sangh will surely support them too.

Q: Dalai Lama has supported live-in relationships. But he has also supported Singh earlier. Now, how does Singh view his statement? A: It is his personal view and he is entitled to it. But we will try to engage him on this convey our viewpoint on it. Q: Were there any resolutions in this ABKM? A: No resolutions but have taken in this ABKM but we have released two press releases. One regarding, the sinister ploy to discredit Amma which we feel is a planned effort by several people and organizations and we condemn it. The second is regarding the centenary celebrations of Nagaland Rani Gaidinliu, who fought against the British and was also awarded the Padma Shree. We have invited everyone to involve in these celebrations.

Shri Sureh Joshi at a function Q: Sangh had earlier called for retirement of old politicians. What is its view on several old politicians who are still active and want to contest elections even now? A: Sangh does not give directions but is of the view that new generation should get an opportunity. It is also true that we require the guidance and experience of the older generation. Keeping this in mind we need to make

Q: What is Sangh’s view of Rahul Gandhi call to regard Jains as a minority community? Also how do you view his accusation that RSS members killed Gandhi? A: Sangh has already said it does not support any move to divide the society as majority and minority. Jains are part and parcel of the Hindu ethos, history and culture. A few of our traditions and rituals might be different but every culture of this land is Hindu. Regarding Rahul Gandhi’s statement at a rally, we have complained to the Election Commission and hope that they will take appropriate action.

A Thriving Business Ghost Writing for Celebrities

his is a recent phenomenon. Readers all over the world are suddenly inundated with crisply written, cleverly worded celebrity books. While one wonders how these celebrities manage to find the time and energy to pen large books, the secret behind the truth of these celebrity writers may have been finally exposed. It is learnt that many celebrities use “ghost” writers to write their piece of literature; and yes, the celebrities walk away with all the credit, as usual. Recently, the Kardashian sisters, best known for their exploits and their penchant for being in the news

Yes, this is the era of ghost writers: Behind some of the books in the best-seller list is the apparition of ghost writers. They make big bucks, while all the credit goes to those who employ them. Have you noticed some of the celebrities coming up with book after book in succession and wondered where they have the time and talent to churn them out? Well, the answer is that they use this tribe who like to remain behind the screen and watch their patrons walk away with the trophy. in reality-shows, announced that they would be publishing their first novel soon. Hollywood celebrities like Nicole Richie and Hilary Duff too have published their novels. Nicole Polizzi, otherwise known as Snooki of the

MTV show “Jersey Shore,” published a novel in January, despite telling “The New York Times” last year that she had read only two books in her life. Her book, “A Shore Thing,” quickly landed on the “New York Times”

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best-seller list. So who is a a ghost writer? He/she is one who writes books, articles, stories, reports, or other texts that are officially credited to another person. Celebrities, executives and political leaders often hire ghost writers to draft or edit autobiographies, magazine articles or other written material. In music, ghost writers are often used for writing lyrics. Screenplay authors can also use ghost writers to either edit or rewrite their scripts in order to improve them, increasing their chances to be optioned or produced. Also, ghost writers may work on accompanying documents, such as treatments for screenplays. These writers are paid handsome amounts; obviously they need all of them. The nexus between publishers, editors and agents and ghost writers is increasing day by day as everyone involved in this find the deal too hot to resist. While the publishing houses get the name of the celebrity authors to sell their books quickly, the ghost writers make quick bucks, apparently doing what they love most -- writing. Unfortunately, the ultimate loser in this game is the reader, who naively buys the book, believing it is written by the celebrity author. Often, the words of these alleged celebrity authors are misleading and it’s hard to arrive at a conclusion as to who has written the book. When promoting their books in the news media, celebrities tend to say they did all the work. When Ms. Polizzi appeared on “Today” in January, Matt Lauer asked, “Did you really write this book?” “I did,” Ms. Polizzi said. “Because if you read it, you’ll know the first page that I wrote it. Cause, like, it’s all my language.” (When pressed further, she admitted that there was a co-writer). Ms. Richie promoted her second novel, “Priceless,” in an interview last year with “USA Today”, describing her writing routine: write early in the morning, before the rest of her family wakes up. “I write all my own stories,” she said. But Ms. Richie’s publisher, Judith Curr of Atria Books,

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Ghost Writers in India I

ndia has always had its share of ghost writers, but the tribe is increasing in strength. The spread of the Internet across India has led to a mushrooming of ghost writers. Fluent in English, many Indians are sought after by people wishing to use their language skills. And the ghost writers are finding it increasingly lucrative to write under another’s name. Clearly, ghost writing in India is going global. The Net is the medium for those seeking ghost writers, as well those in search of assignments. When it comes to remuneration, ghost writers in the international market speak in dollar terms. Payments above $1,000 can be made in instalments. Getting an entire book “ghostwritten” by an Indian ghost writer could cost between $4,000 and $15,000. A single page would cost $20, adding another fiver for a page of fiction.

indicated otherwise, saying that a ghost writer did most of the writing of Ms. Richie’s book. But some celebrity writers have the honesty to accept that it’s the ghost writers who do most of their writings. Recently, Tinsley Mortimer, a socialite and handbag designer, wanted to publish a book that made the rounds among major publishing houses. When Ms. Mortimer pitched her book to publishers in meetings, said one editor who was there, she brought her ghost writer. Simon & Schuster eventually purchased the book. Publishing houses play their part in the game well with their own little tricks in this entire process. When the typical celebrity novel is published, only the celebrity’s name is printed on the book cover. (Generally, publishers believe that two names on a cover is a turnoff to readers, especially in fiction). A brief reference to another writer or collaborator may appear deep on the acknowledgments page. The publishing houses also train their “celebrity writers” to speak to the media in a certain way to get the desired results. Ms. Duff, the pop singer and actress whose novel was published in October by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, said in an interview that she came up with the book’s plot and characters. She said she did not consider crediting her co-writer on the book cover instead of in the acknowledgments. “It is my story,” Ms. Duff said. “It is my book. I wrote it and she helped guide me through the process.” Ghost writing is a business that will keep growing in the coming years. The celebrities who want to show off their literary skills are only adding fuel to the fire. While it seems to be a mutually beneficial understanding between willing parties, one cannot help the feeling of sadness for the reader. Most readers are not aware of the very concept of ghost writing and selling them a book exploiting their naivety is almost a crime.

Subrata Roy, who is now in Tihar Jail, is still finding it difficult to wriggle out of the financial mess he finds himself in. He has not been able to explain the exact source of his enormous wealth to the satisfaction of the authorities concerned, nor has he been able to comply with some of the orders passed by the Supreme Court, which took strong exception to his defiance of its order to appear before it for a hearing and so ordered his arrest, something he hardly expected. Now the future of his company, Sahara, is hanging in the balance. What started out with one rupee is today worth more than Rs. 1,50,000 crore. How it grew so much in so short a period? With its bank accounts seized and chief thrown into jail, Sahara is now feeling caught in a storm which it is less likely to survive. Roy appears to have chosen to stay on in jail rather than pay the money. SC is asking payment of Rs. 25,000 crore, one-sixth of Sahara’s market value. The trouble Sahara is facing today is not something anyone had imagined, not even Subrata Roy.

hara to act just like any legitimate business in the country. Everything went well for Sahara until 2009 when the company contacted SEBI as part of plan to list its Sahara Prime City on the stock exchange. Somewhere in the lengthy document it had submitted, SEBI officials found that Sahara owed Rs.35 crore to the Income Tax Department. SEBI rejected the application, asking Sahara to clean up its account books first. Then in 2010, an Indore-based chartered accountant Roshan Lal sent a letter to the National Hous-

Subrata Roy Has Too Many Questions to Answer • By Narayan Ammachchi

Subrata Roy with his face spattered with ink

he Supreme Court is asking Sahara chief Subrata Roy the biggest question he always refused to answer: who is funding you and how did you amass so much money? This layman from Uttar Pradesh once ran a food business, selling salted snacks, like potato chips. Then his company was called ‘Jaya Products’ and all he owned was a rickety scooter. Today, Roy’s business spans from real estate to media, hospitality to financial services. He even ran an airliner called Air Sahara, which he sold to Jet Airways in 2006. In addition to them all, Sahara sponsors the Indian hockey team and owns a stake in Formula One racing team, Force India.

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More than the questions pertaining to cash, Roy needs to say who is funding him. Market regulator SEBI wants to know who are the investors and is asking the company to pay back in a transparent way all the money it owed to them. In other words, SEBI is asking Sa-

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ing Bank, asking it to investigate the bond-buying programme of Sahara’s two real estate units, which were involved in developing properties in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The NHB forwarded the letter to SEBI, the regulator for bonds and stocks.

Angered, SEBI banned Sahara from raising any more money in the bond market and asked how it could issue bonds without its permission. In response, Sahara launched an advertisement blitzkrieg to question the motive of SEBI. The regulator launched an investigation and Sahara sent two truck-loads of documents to SEBI’s office in Mumbai. The documents were naturally massive in size because Sahara said it raised Rs.20,000 crore by selling bonds to millions of people. Most of the investors had actually paid in cash. But SEBI insisted it wanted to see the original receipts. Then what these truck-loads of documents contained is still a mystery. It was then the Sahara directors started feeling the challenges of white business. SEBI sued Sahara and sent letters to the so-called investors whose address Sahara had mentioned in the duplicate documents. Of the 20,000 letters it dispatched, 8000 letters returned with a stamp “addressee untraceable”. Yet Sahara persisted that every investor it mentioned was genuine. But SEBI shot back, “Then give us the original receipts.” Sahara was caught in almost a similar case about two decades ago. In December 1996, the Lucknowoffice of the Income Tax Department had asked Sahara to give it a list of those who had invested in its money schemes. The list shocked the officials, because most of the investors were known

Shivaji,the Great Patriot His life is an inspiration for all

A lawyer removes his shirt after throwing ink on Sahara Chief Pariwar Subrata Roy outside the Supreme Court (PTI) politicians in Uttar Pradesh. The case died down as the government transferred a key official who had asked for the list. But in this age of ‘Right to Information’ Sahara is finding it extremely tough to hide its financial transactions. Thanks to RTI, even the officials in SEBI may feel frightened at helping Sahara get away with its guilt. The reason why analysts are saying that Sahara is caught in a bigger trouble than it had imagined is that in December 2012 Sahara deposited Rs.5,120 crore with SEBI and informed the regulator that it had paid back all the money it owed to the bond investors. It was in fact a desperate attempt to wash its hands of the scandal. But this step has backfired more harshly. Angered,the Supreme Court asked Sahara to name its so-called investors or else allow SEBI to attach its properties. In its judgment, SC asked Sahara to pay back the dues to its investors with 15 percent interest.

A year passed, yet Sahara did nothing. In February, the Supreme Court asked Subrata Roy to appear in person to give the court a timetable as to how and when Sahara would repay the money. Roy bunked the hearing, citing the ill health of his mother. Outraged, SC called for his immediate arrest. Once again, Sahara is saying that it had paid back all the money it owed to investors. “They (investors) would not have kept quiet had they not been paid,” reiterated Sahara’s directors. But SC is not ready to buy that story; it is asking Sahara to prove with documents that it had paid back all the dues. Now the apex court has asked Roy to come up with a whopping Rs.25,000-crore bank guarantee and also a roadmap detailing how he would repay. If Sahara cannot name its investors, their money should go to the government. Therefore, the option for Sahara is either to name its real investors or give the money to the government.

Lavish parties S

ubrata Roy often hit headlines for his colourful lifestyle and considerable political connections. The likes of Amitabh Bachchan are his friends and he rubs shoulders with persons like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. His son’s wedding was a fortnight-long celebration and was attended by every person with star value. Over 10,000 guests -- including business moguls, Bollywood idols, cricket stars and fashionistas -- were airlifted to Lucknow by special chartered planes. The then Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, also flew down to bless the newly-weds at Roy’s 270-acre expansive Sahara headquarters in the capital of Uttar Pradesh. It is true that Sahara employs more than 1.1 million workers and is the country’s biggest private sector employer. Also true is that Roy has a fleet of private jets and helicopters, and one of his mansions is modelled on the White House. What’s more, he owns a fleet of Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and BMWs, and his residence at Amby Valley, Maharashtra, is a replica of Britain’s Buckingham Palace. Reports say he has stakes in New York’s landmark Plaza Hotel and London’s iconic Grosvenor House.

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he indelible impression he left on the history of India in general and Maharashtra in particular is now an integral part of folklore and legend. He symbolisesour country’s pride and he fought the Muslim invaders with exemplary courage. As the nation observes Chhatrapati Shivaji’s death anniversary on April 3, it will be appropriate to highlight some of the stupendous achievements of this great warrior and proud patriot of our country. Shivaji was born in the hillfort of Shivneri, near the city of Junnar in Pune district in 1630. His mother named him Shivaji in honour of the goddess Shivai, to whom she had prayed for a healthy child. Shivaji was born at a time when his birthplace was ruled by numerous Mogul rulers. In fact, Shivaji’s father Shahaji Bhosale was a Maratha general who served the Deccan Sultanates. At the time of Shivaji’s birth, the power in Deccan was shared by three Islamic sultanates: Bijapur, Ahmednagar and Golconda. Shahaji often changed his loyalty between the Nizamshahi of Ahmadnagar, the Adilshah of Bijapur and the Mughals, but always kept his jagir (fiefdom) at Pune and his small army with him. Although surrounded by Mogul empires and their religious and cultural influences, Shivaji had proper inculcations of his fundamental Hindu values by his mother Jijabai, who was deeply religious. Shivaji refused to be ruled by Sultans

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The life of Shivaji is an inspiration for every generation of Indians. He fought the Muslim rulers who were ruling the Deccan ruthlessly and defeated them in countless battles. His escape from the clutches of Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb is legendary. Not only did he unite the Marathas, but also all the people of India against the Muslim invaders. Shivaji passed away on April 3, 1680, leaving a rich legacy of ardent patriotism that still inspires every one in our country. and nourished the dream of independence at a very young age. He drew his earliest trusted comrades and a large number of his soldiers from the Maval region, including Yesaji Kank, Suryaji Kakade, Baji Pasalkar, Baji Prabhu Deshpande and Tanaji Malusare. In the company of his Maval comrades, Shivaji wandered over the hills and forests of the Sahyadri range, hardening himself and acquiring firsthand

knowledge of the land, which was to prove to be of great advantage to him in his military endeavours. At the age of 12, Shivaji was taken to Bangalore where he, his elder brother Sambhaji and his stepbrother Ekoji I were further formally trained. He married Saibai, a member of the prominent Nimbalkar family, in 1640. Around 1645-46, teenager Shivaji first expressed his concept for Hindavi Swarajya in a letter to Dadaji Naras Prabhu. Shivaji’s first direct conflict with the Mogul rulers began when Shivaji, then 16 year old, bribed or persuaded the Bijapuri commander of the Torna Fort, Inayat Khan, to hand over the possession of the fort to him. On July 25, 1648, Shahaji was impris-

oned by Baji Ghorpade under the orders of the Adilshah, Mohammed Adil Shah, in a bid to contain Shivaji. During this period, Shivaji maintained a low profile. In 1659, Adilshah sent Afzal Khan, an experienced and veteran general, to kill Shivaji in an effort to put down what he saw as a regional revolt. Afzal Khan desecrated Hindu temples at Tuljapur and Pandharpur, hoping to draw Shivaji to the plains where the superior Bijapuri army could destroy him. Shivaji, however, sent a letter to Afzal Khan requesting a meeting to negotiate. The two met in a hut at the foothills of Pratapgad fort on November 10, 1659. The arrangements had dictated that each come armed only with a sword and attended by a follower. Shivaji, suspecting Afzal Khan would attack him, wore armour beneath his clothes, concealed a bagh nakh (metal “tiger claw”) on his left arm,

and had a dagger in his right hand. In the fight that ensued, Afzal Khan couldn’twound Shivaji as he was protected by the armour that he wore and Shivaji’s weapons inflicted mortal wounds on the general; Shivaji then signalled his hidden troops to launch an attack on the Bijapuris. That was the beginning of a battle of epic proportions for Shivaji and his troops. Shivaji led his troops to victories in some famous battles such as the battle of Pratapgarh, where his forces decisively defeated the Bijapur Sultanate’s forces. The battle of Kolhapur proved Shivaji’s battle skills beyond any doubt as his cavalry of 5,000 men defeated the army of 10,000 men, commanded by Bijapur’s Abyssinian general Rustamjaman. This battle lasted several hours and at the end Bijapuri forces were roundly defeated and Rustamjaman fled the battlefield. Adilshahi’s forces lost many soldiers, about 2,000 hors-

es and 12 elephants. Following his countless conquests and his popularity among the Marathas, Shivaji was crowned the king of the Marathas in a lavish ceremony at Raigad on June 6, 1674.In the Hindu calendar it was on the 13th day (trayodashi) of the first fortnight of the month of Jyeshtha in the year 1596. After his numerous conquests and leading the life of a hero, Shivaji died on April 3, 1680, at the age of 52 on the eve of Hanuman Jayanti. Shivaji may have died, but he has left behind a heroic life to inspire millions of his countrymen. He is the unquestionable leader of the Marathas, who made them realize their worth and fight for their self respect. But in a much larger way, he is also the hero of the entire nation; a nation that is always in search of inspiration from its leaders.

The Great Escape

ne of the most exciting episodes in the life of Shivaji was his escape from Agra where Aurangeb had kept him prisoner. Shivaji was imprisoned when he went to pay his respects to Aurangzeb on his birthday with his son. In the prison, Shivaji feigned sickness and began to send regular presents of fruits and sweetmeats to Brahmins and other holy men in large wicker baskets, each of which was covered with flowers and was carried on a pole by two men. The soldiers guarding the house got used to seeing these baskets pass in and out of Shivaji’s house. They examined the baskets very carefully for some days; Shivaji and Sambhaji concealed themselves in two of the baskets and slipped out of the gates of the house and out of the walls of Agra. Then, at a selected spot, they mounted swift horses that had been kept ready saddled for their escape. For many hours after the flight, Shivaji’s disappearance was not noticed by anybody. One of his faithful followers had taken his place on the sick bed, covering himself with a blanket but showing on his finger the diamond ring that the Maratha chieftain always wore. The guards naturally thought that Shivaji was still sleeping. They discovered their mistake when it

was too late. Meanwhile, Shivaji and Sambhaji had galloped away to Mathura. There Shivaji shaved off his head and whiskers, rubbed his face with ashes, and looking like a wandering Gosavi journeyed by secret paths to the Deccan. He travelled right round the country, through Bihar, and then to the east coast, and thence across central India to Raigarh. Many months later, he went in this disguise to his mother Jijabai and threw himself at her feet. She could not recognise her own son. But when he placed his head on her lap, and took off his cap, she burst into tears of joy. Her son, whom she had believed dead, had returned to her safe and sound after a miraculous escape from his enemies.

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Ukraine Developments US/ EU Attempt to Stretch Europe’s Frontiers? • Kanwal Sibal

evelopments in Ukraine should be understood as part of US/EU’s project of stretching the frontiers of “Europe” eastwards as far as possible in order either to eventually topple the present Russian political and economic order from within and make Russia a “European” country, or isolate it as a political and economic backwater beyond a “European” buffer extending into the former Soviet Union’s heartland. “Europe” for the protagonists of this strategy is a geography of shared values of democracy, market economy, freedom of expression, rule of law and respect for human rights. The first attempt nine years ago through the Orange Revolution to incorporate Ukraine into “Europe” proved abortive. But the objective was not abandoned and has been pursued by leveraging internal Ukrainian divisions, especially the strong pro-western sentiments of the Catholic, non-Russian speaking population of western Ukraine to draw the country towards “Europe”. The US has provided political encouragement to internal Ukrainian forces to split with Russia by frequently affirming that as an independent country Ukraine had the right to choose its partners; in other words join the EU and NATO, irrespective of Russian concerns. Its democracy-promoting NGOs have been active on the ground for years. Ukraine’s leadership has proved unequal to the task of governing a fractured country, and faced with competing pulls has played politics with both sides - the West and Russia.

The Russians actually view Yanukovich as a bungling and corrupt politician; politically docketing him as “pro-Russian” is an analytical shorthand that distorts reality. The rejection of the Association Agreement with the EU at the last minute provided “pro-democracy” elements as well as Ukrainian ultra-nationalists just the pretext they needed to stage violent protests leading eventually to the overthrow of Yanukovich’s legitimately elected government. The West’s support for this unconstitutional act in a territory of great sensitivity for Russia, without weighing the likely repercussions on Russia-Western ties, shows either acute diplomatic clumsiness or misplaced self-confidence in handling any challenge from a weakened Russia. The US abetment of this political coup in Ukraine has been exposed by the conduct of its politicians and diplomats. Apart from making expletives the currency of diplomacy, the

US Assistant Secretary in charge of the region has been filmed handing over food packets to anti-government street demonstrators in Kiev. No self-respecting country would normally allow such blatant interference in its internal affairs. That this was tolerated reveals the insecure foundations of the Ukrainian state, the disarray of country’s political class and the penetration of foreign interests into its political system. The West’s attitude towards Russia is puzzling. Russia’s “great power” status, on the one hand, is no longer recognised and dire predictions are made about its future because of its demographic decline, obsolete industrial infrastructure, overdependence on raw material exports, heavily state controlled economy that stifles enterprise, and its weak justice system. Europe, in fact, wants Russia to accept its diminished status and instead of seeking equality with Europe as a

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whole, it is called to see itself simply as another major European power. Uneasy diplomatic relationships with Western Europe have given Ukrainian ultra-nationalists just the pretext they needed to stage violent protests leading eventually to the overthrow of a legitimately elected government Beyond that, for Europe’s Russophobia to end, Russia must accept European political, economic and social values, becoming, in fact, a clone of Western European powers. On the other hand, Russia is still treated as the West’s principal geopolitical rival and cold war rooted efforts to contain it have not been abandoned, with employment of military, economic and ideological tools to that end, represented by the eastward expansion of NATO, EU and Western values. China, despite its 1.3 billion population, its emergence as the world’s second largest economy as well as its largest exporter, its expanding military power and strategic ambitions of challenging US hegemony in the western Pacific, is treated as less menacing.

Perceived threat The persistent Euro-centric view

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that the West has of the world, the belief that Russia has the potential to threaten the centre of gravity of Western power represented by NATO, might explain this in part. US interests are of course served if the Russian threat is not allowed to fade away in public mind, as it enables the US to continue dominating European defence and security policies through NATO. Germany, as Russia’s strongest European partner, could have played a bridging role between US/EU and Russia, but it is constrained to work within the limits imposed on its foreign policy by its EU/NATO membership. Germany was at the centre of the cold war; it should be at the centre of burying it permanently. It is best positioned to scotch the resurfacing cold war type tensions with Russia that the US and select EU countries on the immediate periphery of Russia cultivate.

Repercussions America’s domineering instincts, the language of threats, intimidation, and sanctions by its leadership, the assumption that it speaks for the “international community” as a whole,

have once again manifested themselves during the Ukrainian crisis. This time it is not small and relatively defenceless countries like Iraq, Libya, Iran or Syria, but a permanent UN Security Council member that is being hectored by the US. The US has threatened to expel Russia from the G-8, has imposed visa restrictions on some category of officials and is examining economic sanctions, ignoring that the reasons being given to punish Russia could have amply justified similar penalisation of the US for forcing regime changes in several countries in violation of international law. Such US conduct has international repercussions, diminishing support for the existing international system and reinforcing the need for re-balancing global power equations still skewed heavily in favour of the West. Ironically, the US is undermining the very international system that it wants others to emulate.

The author is Dean, Centre for International Relations and Diplomacy, VIF

Freedom Unlimited to Denigrate Hinduism

Wendy Doniger Episode • By Prof. Makkhan Lal

endy Doniger is once again back in the news, as always, for the wrong reasons. This time the Penguin Books publishers decided to withdraw her book rather than face criminal charges in the court of law. For those who are not fully aware of the facts of the matter, briefly the story is as follows: Wendy Doniger published her book ‘The Hindus: An Alternative History’ in 2009. She holds high sounding Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor Chair in History of Religions at the University of Chicago. Even before the publication of this book, she and her students have published many books denigrating Hinduism. Most of her own and her students’ dissertations/books on Hinduism have often been described as pure pornography by even the most seri-

‘Never in the intellectual world has any other religion – be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism, or even the smaller sects – been denigrated and ridiculed in the manner in which Hinduism is treated under the garb of intellectual freedom and freedom of expression and creativity. Are scholars like Wendy Doniger frustrated individuals who are staying away from the well defined path of intellectual discourse or is there a greater design to what they are doing?’

ous academic journals. Doniger and her students work around a central theme called “Psychoanalysis of the Hindu Religion”. Their approaches show serious problems with the training, competence and the mindset of academic scholars of Hinduism and raise questions about their parochial approaches and methodologies and distort the image of India and Hinduism. Imagine the psychological damage wrought on an Indian who is made to read a text that says that ‘Ganesa’s trunk symbolises a limp phallus; Ganesa’s broken tusk is a symbol of castration complex of Indian men; his large belly and love for sweets are proof of Hindu male’s enormous appetite for oral sex. Lord Siva is interpreted as a womaniser whose temples encourage ritual rape, prostitution and murder; Ramakrishna Paramhamsa was a conflicted homo-

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sexual and a paedophile who sexually abused Swami Vivekananda; Lord Rama caused oppression of Indian minorities and women; Laxman had illicit relationship with Sita, Goddess Kali is the mother with penis; Tantra temples are centers of rape and murder rituals, and so on. This section also gives examples as to how American scholars not only try to justify such outrageous writings but also how various foundations and organizations go to the extent of praising and awarding such works and giving prestigious appointments. Such things have been going on for almost 40 years. But after the publication of her book, a concerned citizen took note of what she and her group have been writing. Dina Nath Batra, a practising Hindu, filed an FIR with the police and initiated criminal proceedings against Wendy Doniger and the Publishers – Viking and Penguin. Once the publishers saw no escape from punishment, including a jail sentence, they opted for an out of court settlement and decided to withdraw the book from the published list and circulation. This out of court settlement between Penguin, a giant in the publishing industry, and Mr. Batra has prompted the pseudo-secularist and anti-Hindu activists to indulge in their old game: Hindu bashing in the name of freedom of expression and artistic creativity. It is pertinent to note here that never in the intellectual world has any other religion – be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism, or even the smaller sects – been denigrated and ridiculed in the manner Hinduism is treated under the garb of intellectual freedom and freedom of expression and creativity. Therefore, a far deeper question needs to be addressed here. Are scholars like Wendy Doniger frustrated individuals who are staying away from the well defined path of intellectual discourse or is there a greater design to what they are doing?

Who Controls and Promotes Such Studies? As with any large academic field,

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religious studies in the US are highly organised and features prestigious journals, academic chairs and planned and extensive programmes of study. The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is a primary organisation for academic scholars of religious studies in the United States. Religion in South Asia (RISA) is a unit within the AAR for scholars who study and teach about religions of the Indian subcontinent. Americans in general are deeply religious. They see the world through the lens of religion, particularly some variants of Judeo-Christianity. Western representation of India is inseparable from the depiction of India’s religions, particularly Hinduism. Many post-colonial scholars of Indian origin have tried unsuccessfully to wish this link away. The problems of India are seen by the Americans as inseparable from the problems of Hinduism. Attempts by ‘secular’ Indians to distance themselves from Hinduism have led to an academic vacuum about Indian traditions, which has been filled by Western and American scholars who often have their own agendas to serve. The researches and writings of religious scholars associated with AAR and RISA go beyond the discipline’s boundaries, penetrating the main-

stream media, and directly impacting the American public perception of India via museum displays, films and textbooks. The study of religion informs a variety of disciplines, including Asian Studies, International Studies, Women’s Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, History, Literature, Journalism, Education and Politics. Western theories of Hinduism have produced fantastic caricature of Hindus that could be dramatised by Hollywood movies, satirical TV sitcoms, or animated sci-fi cartoons. In all this, AAR’s Religion in South Asia (RISA) group can be identified as a key source of Western academic influence over India-related studies. Inputs from these scholars decidedly have an impact on US foreign policy. For instance, a conference at the University of Chicago featured Wendy Doniger, Martha Nussbaum, Amartya Sen, among others, who discussed the generic ‘Hindu groups’ as the most serious threat to India’s democracy. Indeed, in the conference announcement, Nussbaum claimed that ‘Americans are wrong to be focusing on Islamic fundamentalism as a threat to democracy’. She alleged that thinking about India is instructive to Americans, who in the age of terrorism can easily over-simplify pictures of the forces that threaten democracy… In India, the threat to democratic ideals comes not from a Muslim threat, but from Hindu groups.

Who is to be Blamed? Let us be honest and do some soul searching to understand who is responsible for such a sorry state of affairs regarding Hinduism studies. It must be clear that the entire blame for biases and selective portrayals of Hinduism and Indian culture cannot be laid at the doorsteps of the AAR, RISA or even the biased scholars within it. Indians themselves have contributed to the problem in significant ways. While American universities have major programmes for studying world religions and cultures,

Indian universities do not offer similar programmes and provide the intellectual inputs to the world. Indeed, the discipline of religious studies does not even exist in most universities in India due to the particular myth that positive knowledge about, and intellectual involvement with, religion breeds communalism. However, India’s case and responsibility of Indian academia and universities do not end here. Even the departments (like Sanskrit, Archaeology, History, Culture, Philosophy etc.) where religious studies could be undertaken have not fulfilled their obligations to the nation and its people. The reason for this apathy/failure/ willful negligence is best illustrated by Dilip Chakrabarti, who observes how the West has bred and bought off a whole generation of elitist Indians, and how this axis operates: “After Independence ... (Indians) – especially those from the ‘established’ families – were no longer apprehensive of choosing History as an academic career... To join the mainstream, the historians could do a number of things: expound the ruling political philosophy of the day, develop the art of sycophancy to near-perfection or develop contacts with the elite in bureaucracy, army, politics and business. If one had already belonged to this elite by virtue of birth, so much the better. For the truly successful in this endeavour, the rewards were many, one of them being the easy availability of ‘foreign’ scholarships/fellowships, grants, etc. not merely for themselves but also for their protégés and the progeny. On the other hand, with the emergence of some specialist centers in the field of South Asian social sciences in ‘foreign’ universities, there was no lack of people with different kinds of academic and not-so-academic interest in South Asian history in those places too. The more clever and successful of them soon developed a tacit patron-client relationship with their Indian counterparts, at least in the major Indian universities and other centers of learning. In some cases,

‘institutes’ or ‘cultural centers’ of foreign agencies were set up in Indian metropolises themselves, drawing a large crowd of Indians in search of short-term grants or fellowships, invitations to conferences or even plain free drinks.” And finally, even the scholars, who have done substantial work that challenges the Western scholars’ theses, are demonised, accused of communalism, Hindutva, etc. A number of historians and sociologists have pointed out that the control of others’ depiction by the White Americans has

image and credibility. This image, in turn, will either facilitate or hamper India’s quest for economic growth in a globally competitive world. He writes: “A country is like a brand because it has a reputation, and because that reputation partly determines its success in the international domain. The ability of each country to complete against others for tourists, for investments, for consumers, for the attention and respect of the media and other countries is significantly determined by power and quality of

Wendy Doniger led to their ethnic cleansing, incarceration, enslavement, invasions and genocides. Native Americans, Blacks, Jews, Gypsies, Cubans, Mexicans, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Vietnamese and now Iraqis have suffered brutalities that were legitimised by their depictions as primitive, exotic, irrational, heathen, savage, dangerous and lacking in human values. On a wider canvas, one may feel upbeat about India’s success from business and economic points of view which is exemplified by books like Gurucharan Das’ “India Unbound” or Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat” or even a large number of articles in business periodical like Forbes, Fortune and Business Week. But the fact remains that perceptions change with much efforts. Diplomat and intellectual Simon Anholt observes that while India is shining in business, especially IT, there are many other factors determining its

its range… What seems certain is that India’s brand new image is a fragile one, based on a couple of prominent sectors and a handful of globally successful entrepreneurs… but it isn’t yet clear how ‘Capitalist India’ fits together in the public imagination with the Indo-Chic of music, fashion and movies and with the ‘Traditional India’ image of vast, mysterious, culturally rich but chaotic and even desperate country. A clear, single, visionary national strategy is badly needed – but one that is, of course, rooted in truth and not in wishful thinking. Anholt’s point is that unless Indians take charge of engagement with the world vis-à-vis their country and its culture is portrayed properly, the economic future of all Indians may be at stake.

Intellectual Property Day Protecting and rewarding the inventor

he emphasis on intellectual property rights is increasing with the passing of every day. With companies and individuals taking intellectual properties and their violations more seriously than ever before, it would be appropriate to throw light on the world Intellectual Property Day, celebrated every year on April 26. Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims at fostering an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.

Protection of intellectual property rights has become the topmost priority of the patent holders and other inventors in different fields of human activity. That is why in 2000, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced observance of the Intellectual Property Day on April 26 every year. There is little awareness of intellectual property in most countries; therefore, the day is aimed at making countries conscious of this aspect so that those who invent and innovate will not go unrecognized and unrewarded.

There are various types of intellectual properties, such as copyrights, patents, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications. In 2000, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced this event to “raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs impact on daily life” and “to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies across the globe.” April 26th was chosen as the date for World Intellectual Property Day, because it coincides with the date on which the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization came into force in 1970. Although intellectual property rights seemed to have entered the public consciousness only recently, there have been various efforts on the part of numerous companies and individuals to make the stan-

Prof. Makkhan Lal is Senior Fellow, Vivekananda International Founation.

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dards of patentability similar in the countries of the world. The harmonization of patentability standards is a first step towards global patenting. A second step is harmonization of the enforcement options available to patent owners against persons allegedly infringing these patents, both in what to enforce and in how to enforce patents. Awareness about intellectual property rights is still a matter of concern in most of the countries around the world. To counter this, WIPO works in close cooperation with governments, with intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and with multiple public and private sector stakeholders worldwide to help them realize the benefits of the international IP system for society. Efforts are being made in various industries, especially where there is a huge chance of intellectual prop-

television content. The Industry Trust is funded by more than 30 member organizations from across the film and television sectors, ranging from film studios to retail outlets. By communicating the role of copyright in protecting creative works and the 150,000+ people in the UK film and television industry, whose jobs are supported by it or directly depend on it, the Industry Trust aims to “demonstrate the value in choosing legal downloads and DVDs over unauthorised content.” erty loss, to make people aware of this concept. For example, The Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness was set up by the UK video industry in 2004 and was joined by retailers, film and TV industry to help promote the role of copyright in the creation of film and

IP Rights in India Compared to the international standards, India is lagging in maturity related to all aspects of intellectual property, especially in the case of patents. So, naturally, Indian policy makers are looking towards the US/

EU. The quality of inventions from inventors, the quality of patent applications, the quality of examination procedure, the professionalism in all these aspects equip India to meet its national IP objectives. Training of IP professionals, deployment of sufficient number of competent persons in IP offices, speedy and efficient granting procedures are required components. This necessitates a meaningful, not costly patent system. India has the responsibility to comply with all international agreements.

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material resources of the country are provided to sustain the patent system. Over-enthusiasm towards harmonization is directing national resources towards long-term benefit of the Western world. The patent system is dependent on the English language and Indian languages have no place in the system. This peculiar situation has significant impacts on economic and cultural interests of the country. A sustainable business model for the patent system is an immediate requirement for meeting our national strategic objectives.

Biggest Intellectual Property Cases In recent years, the world has witnessed numerous cases relating to intellectual property violations. Here are some of the biggest of them all:

The US and EU are leading in taking big initiatives of patent harmonization (harmonization of patent laws across the countries). The harmonization initiative implies same or similar interpretations of national laws, examination procedure and interpretation of patentability issues. Indian IP professionals need to be trained to adopt independent, original and bold stance in issues related to the requirements of compliance and competitiveness and cooperation. A patent system is maintained by the national government. Human and

In April 2009, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling stating that Google must continue in a trademark infringement lawsuit brought on by Rescuecom. In the lawsuit, Google was accused of selling the trademarked name “Rescuecom” as a keyword to Rescuecom’s competitors. The keywords are used to deliver Google’s sponsored search results, thereby allowing competitors to appear on the results page when a user searches for “Rescuecom.” The lawsuit was originally filed in 2006 and dismissed by the lower courts. In the famous Da Vinci Code court case of Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh vs. The Random House Group Limited, Baigent and Leigh alleged that Dan Brown, author of the bestselling Da Vinci Code, infringed the copyright of their non-fiction work, Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Because Brown had not copied the text of the earlier book, the claim was based on “non-literal” copying—Baigent and Leigh asserted that Brown told his story in the same “manner” in which they had expressed historical facts in their book.

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In one of the Internet’s the most well-known intellectual property cases, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued Napster, a filesharing site. Founded in 1999, Napster allowed users to share music files and thousands of people began downloading songs for free rather than buying CDs. However, Napster did not own the rights to the music that people were uploading to its servers, where the music was stored and ultimately shared. The rights were owned by the recording artistes and recording studios. The RIAA sued Napster and won, causing Napster to close its doors.

In 2008, Barbie was finally declared the winner in the long-running intellectual property rights battle between Mattel, Inc. and MGA Entertainment Inc., the makers of Barbie dolls and Bratz dolls, respectively. In the lawsuit, Mattel sued MGA claiming that MGA stole the concept and the name of the Bratz doll from them.

Saving our Rivers

Slag from Steel Industry

Use Slag, Fly Ash as Sand Substitutes • Akshatha Bhat

e all know that sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles. It is mainly used in the preparation of mortar and concrete and is very much required in the manufacture of building blocks. Owing to the enormous growth of the construction industry and infrastructure ventures, there is now a huge demand for sand as a building material. This is leading to heightened shortage of river sand for construction purposes. Apart from that, excessive sand mining has serious environmental impacts such as reduced water head resulting in less percolation of rain water into the ground, which results in lower ground water level; erosion of nearby land due to sand lifting, and destruction of plants and many living creatures. So all these issues call for an alternative to meet the needs of the growing construction industry. It

is high time an alternative is found out before human greed engulfs all the natural resources and destroys the environment.

Some successful stories To discourage sand mining which is killing our rivers, researchers worldwide are in search of alternatives to sand. Some of the alternatives suggested by experts are: • Manufactured sand • Processed quarry dust • Processed crushed rock fines • offshore sand • Dune sand • Washed soil (filtered sand) • Fly ash/ Bottom ash / Pond ash • Slag sand • Copper slag sand • Construction demolition waste • Powdered glass • Aluminium saw mill waste • Granite Fines/ slurry An important point to be noted is that this is not just a theoretical con-

jecture. It has already been brought into practice effectively and profitably by many private industries. Jindal Steel mooted the idea of producing artificial sand from the slag left after manufacturing steel as the best alternative to sand. The company estimated that by 2020, 70 million tonnes of slag could be stacked. And, instead of treating it as a waste material, it can be put to good use. Approximately 500 tonnes of slag is produced from the manufacture of every 1,000 tonnes of steel. The sand made from such slag costs about Rs 100 per tonne on site (in Bellary and Hospet), considerably less than the river sand. “Our use of the Combi-Comflex technology has kept us ahead of the curve and helped us produce green cement. This production process uses less energy compared to conventional methods of cement making and slag from our steel plant is put to better use here. With teamwork and dedication, we are aiming to make JSW Cement the most widely used Portland

Flyash-RTPS

To say that our rivers are dying may be an exaggeration, but facts point to a situation like this in the not-too-distant future if sand mining continues at the present pace. To overcome this fearful situation, what is needed is to find out alternatives to river sand. Luckily, there is good news: alternatives are available in plenty. All that is needed is awareness and a keen desire on the part of the builders and others concerned to switch over to sand substitutes like fly ash, slag, etc. which are available in large quantities in our country. In short, going in for river sand substitutes is the only way to protect the environment.

slag cement across the country,” says Mr. J.Veerabahu, unit head and Vice President of JSW Cement. If all other steel and mining industries give a thought on this, it surely will fill the gap between demand and supply of river sand. It will also bring fortune to respective industries as well. Keeping this in mind, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) took major initiatives to encourage alternative courses of action and to create awareness about river sand substitutes.

Initiatives taken in Karnataka by KSPCB Karnataka is the third largest producer of steel in India with the current production level touching 10.7 million

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tonnes per annum. Generally a blast furnace used in steel making produces approximately 250-300 kg of slag per tonne of iron produced. Properly processed slag can be a very good substitute for natural sand. KSPCB is encouraging such industries to produce less resource consuming cement. Some of them are listed below: *In Indalco, Belgaum, after recovery of aluminium from bauxite, 550,000 MT/A of red mud is generated. It is stored over a layer area creating an artificial hillock. The composition of red mud is 9% silicon, 41% of ferrous oxide and 19 % of aluminium oxide. Hence it stands as an efficient substitute for river sand. *Udupi Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL) has established a 2x600 MW

coal-based thermal power plant. The coal is imported from countries like Indonesia, South Africa and Australia. The minimum and maximum ash contest varies from 1 % to 8 % and sulphur content varies from 0.09% to 0.8%. The fly ash from ash silos is unloaded through a mechanised system into a closed bunker of 20 tonnes capacity and is transported to the ash pond. The film of water is maintained always in the ash pond. Now UPCL has entered into an agreement with ACC for the same. Initially around 30% of ash was being lifted by ACC by road to other locations. Further utilisation of fly ash is being explored. *In Raichur, RTPS has a coal-saved thermal power station having pro-

The 1962 Chinese Perfidy

Indalco, Belagaum

Declassified report exposes Nehru’s ill-conceived policies duction capacity of 1470 MW. Total average coal consumption is around 750,000 TPM. Daily, around 6528 tonnes of fly ash is generated here. The same is being stored in silos and transported to cement industries located in Gulbarga by road. Presently after persuasions by the Board the fly ash is transported to cement industries for manufacture of fly ash cement through closed wagons. The total operation is automised

and the fly ash spillage during handling and transport file is drastically reduced. In this regard environmental campaign was initiated by KSPCB Chairperson on July 18, 2013, for utilising steel slag as an alternative to sand. Dr. P V Sivapullaiah, Professor, Department of Civil engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, carried out a study on “Assessment of suitability of granulated blast furnace

slag in embankment construction”. As the report said, the samples have a reasonably good angle of internal friction without any cohesion. Based on the test results obtained, it is recommended that all the slag materials from JSW Steel Limited like industries can be effectively utilized to meet the standards of the construction industry.

The

need of the hour is to maintain a balance between the growing needs of the construction industry and environmental concerns to preserve our river beds. So, switching over to alternative methods of recovering sand is the only option. It takes only an initial effort to make people aware of the usages of slag and to help them come out of their traditional mind sets.

t was a war that shook the confidence of an entire nation. It was also a sad reminder of backstabbing by a neighbour and incompetent leadership. The 1962 India-China war, which made a mockery of Nehru’s Hindi Cheeni Bhai Bhai claim and which eroded the public and military morale of India, is once again in the news which doesn’t show Jawaharlal Nehru in favourable light. Fifty-two years after that infamous

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encounter with China, a large section of the Henderson Brooks Report, which details a comprehensive operational review of India’s military debacle in 1962, has been made public. Ironically, the Congress government reacted with uncharacteristic swiftness and blocked the website where the report was posted. But like in 1962, the government has failed to assess the situation fully and left many loopholes in its preparation.

The copies of that report are freely available all over the internet and can be downloaded even from India. The 126-page report has been blocked by the Congress government for obvious reason. On the eve of the upcoming elections, the details of how the Congress government, under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, fumbled resulting in the ignominious retreat of our troops from the war zone will naturally be embarrassing

It was a defeat which the Nehru government didn’t expect, nor did the nation. Yet when it happened, every one was shocked and ashamed. Nehru’s slogan, Hindi Cheeni Bhai Bhai was torn to pieces by the Mao Tse-tung government in China; their armies came in floods and engulfed the whole region along the McMahon line. Then the Chinese withdrew on their own, leaving the Indian government in a helpless and embarrassing position. This and further damning details are contained in parts of the declassified Henderson Brooks Report. As could be expected it shows Nehru and his advisors, including the then Defence Minister, V. K. Krishna Menon, in bad light.

for the party cadres. The now retired Mr. Maxwell was a former correspondent of The Times of London, who reported on the war from New Delhi. He authored in 1970 ‘India’s China War’, a path-breaking, yet controversial, account of the conflict which angered the Indian establishment by drawing upon classified information to highlight the flawed decision-making that led to defeat at the hands of the Chinese. This report was generated when Lt. General T B Henderson Brooks, the Corps Commander posted in Jallandhar, Punjab, was tasked to inquire into India’s defeat by the then Army Chief General J N Chaudhary, who took over after the Chinese war. Another officer, Brigadier P S Bhagat, assisted in the inquiry. Their report was submitted to the Defence Ministry in April 1963. And since then, it has remained top secret, despite shrill demands for its release and the formation of four separate inquiries as to whether the whole, or parts of it can be made public. The subsequent governments after 1962 have claimed that the morale of the country and military would be down if they revealed the documents. The question now is, what was in that report that would demoralise the entire armed forces of a country? To start with, the report indicts the highest levels of the government — from then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s own office and the Defence Ministry headed by V.K. Krishna Menon— particularly for its Forward Policy, which was enforced, the report reveals, despite considerable concerns and ob-

jections from on-the-ground military commands that lacked resources. What the report does not include, of course, is the second volume and annexures, which contain damning correspondence between army commands and Delhi. The 1962 war strained the relations between China and India and made resolving the border dispute a herculean task. To this day China continues to claim the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, while New Delhi lays claim to the Chinese-controlled Aksai Chin. This dispute continues to prevent normalisation of relations in spite of continuous negotiations and Prime Minster Vajpayee’s 2003 visit to China. Despite efforts to sideline this issue, it has not only remained central to bilateral relations, but has powerfully reasserted itself in recent years. A series of incidents- including Indian officials visiting the disputed areas, Beijing refusing to issue visas to Indian officers stationed in the disputed area and official Chinese references to Arunachal

Pradesh as “South Tibet” have rekindled the dispute and led to a new cycle of accusations and tensions.

Nehru’s nonchalance about the entire episode came to light while leaving for a conference in Colombo. He told the waiting reporters at the Palam airport that he had ordered the army to ‘clear the Chinese from the Indian soil’. He had done no homework, there was no assessment of the Chinese presence in the North East Frontier Agency (present Arunachal Pradesh) and there was absolutely no preparedness of the Indian troops to operate in the mountainous terrain. May be this had to do with Nehru’s own gullibility and the type of men he surrounded himself with. To start with, he had his intelligence chief, B N Mullick and Gen B M Kaul, Chief of General Staff at Army HQ. And then there was V K Krishna Menon, defence minister and a Nehru protégé, who gave many ill-informed advice to Nehru. But we do not seem to learn from our past mistakes; not at least the government. Fifty-two years after the war, India still refuses to beef up its military might on the Indo-Chinese border, giving our belligerent neighbour enough encouragement to poke its nose into our matters. China keeps violating various treaties and keeps trespassing into our borders; and we are only too happy if it considers a retreat. The resurfacing of this debate should open up a national debate on our defense policy. But instead of digging up ghosts from the past, this debate should throw light on what we need to do for the future, so that another 50 years later, our next generation does not feel ashamed about us, just like we are now feeling about the then Nehru regime.

What Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Predicted I

n 1950, twelve years before the Chinese attack, the then Home Minister of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, wrote a 2000-word letter to Jawaharlal Nehru, giving his assessment of the developments across the Himalayan frontier and cautioning Nehru about the imminent threat from China. An excerpt from his letter reads as follows: “The Chinese Government has tried to delude us by professing peaceful intentions. My own feeling is that at a crucial period they managed to instill into our Ambassador a false sense of confidence in their so-called desire to settle the Tibetan problem by peaceful means. There can be no doubt that during the period covered by this correspondence the Chinese must have been concentrating for an onslaught on Tibet. The final action of the Chinese, in my judgment, is little short of perfidy. The tragedy of it is that the Tibetans put faith in us; they chose to be guided by us; and we have been unable to get them out of the meshes of Chinese diplomacy or Chinese malevolence. From the latest position, it appears that we shall not be able to rescue the Dalai Lama.”

BRINGING NATIONAL RESURGANCE TO THE FORE, SINCE 1999

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three employees on duty and spread petrol in the premises. The staff luckily survived the attack. Though the centre has a capacity to house about 60 people at a time, the stress-elimination programme was shifted to Nankana Sahib, about 350 km from Islamabad, according to a statementby AoL Pakistan faculty member Shahnaz Minallah. Shahnaz Minallah is the Pakistan co-chair of Art of Living. She was in Lahore at the time of the incident. Police said the motive for arson was not yet clear but they were investigating whether it was related to the centre’s connection with India. Sri Sri Ravishankar’s centres, which have branches all over the world and count some 300 million followers, teach breathing designed to relieve stress and

Malaysian Plane Hijacked?

alaysian authorities believe that the airliner that vanished from the radar might have been deliberately steered to a course that could have taken it anywhere from central Asia to the southern Indian Ocean. The plane disappeared from radar screens with 239 passengers on board on March 7. Malaysian leader Najib Razak instructed the police who began searching the house of the aircraft’s 53-year-old captain for any evidence that he could have been involved in foul play. Search operations by the navy and aircraft from more than a dozen nations were immediately called off in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea to the east of Malaysia, where the plane dropped off civilian air traffic control screens (1722 GMT Friday, March 7). Malaysian authorities said new data showed the last communication between the missing plane and satellites at 8:11 a.m. (0011 GMT), almost seven hours after it turned back and crossed the Malay peninsula. India stepped up its search in two areas at the request of Malaysia -- one around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and another further west across the Bay of Bengal -- but found no evidence that would indicate that the plane had come down in its waters, the Defence Ministry said. Indian aircraft had combed waters stretching up to 300 nautical miles (550 km) offshore and overflown all 572 islands in the chain. India’s Eastern Naval

Command was investigating a separate rectangular ‘box’ 15 km wide by 600 km long, some 900 km east of Port Blair, but had found nothing. The data did not show whether the plane was still flying or its location at that time, presenting searchers with a daunting array of possible last locations. Seven hours more flying time would likely have taken it to the limit of its fuel load. Najib said the plane’s final communication with satellites placed it somewhere in one of two corridors: a northern corridor stretching from northern Thailand to the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, or a southern corridor stretching from Indonesia to the vast southern Indian Ocean. As the search continues, several governments are using imagery satellites - platforms that take high definition photos - while data from private sector communications satellites are also being examined. China alone has deployed 10 satellites.

Art of Living Centre Torched

rmed men have burnt down the Art of Living Centre in Islamabad. The centre was torched in the upmarket Bani Gala suburb of the capital. It was the Pakistan branch of an international non-government organization founded by Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Some eight to nine men armed with pistols and guns came and asked for money. Then they tied up

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other mental disorders. Its adherents in Pakistan were mainly drawn from the country’s urbane, educated elite. This attack comes three weeks after outspoken television anchor Arshad Sharif suggested it was a potential threat to Pakistan’s national security. In a Feb. 14 episode of his prime-time show “Kyoon?” - meaning “Why?” – Sharif suggested that the facility’s spiritual leader, India’s yoga guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, “could be a national security threat to Pakistan” by having access to important officials. There was an angry response on social media, where Sharif’s detractors likened him to Meher Bokhari, another Pakistan anchor whose television face-off with a liberal governor, Salman Taseer, was said to have led to the latter’s assassination in 2011.

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‘Defining Hindutva’ Released at VIF

lthough scholars can speak at length about Hindutva, they and even supporters of Hindutva find it difficult to explain Hindutva in a capsule form for the benefit of general masses. Often, many experts of Hindutva believe that Hindutva should be given in a capsule form for the benefit of general masses. ‘Defining Hindutva’, written by Amb O P Gupta, was released at the VIF on February 24, 2014, by Dr Mohan Rao Bhagwat, Sarsanghchalak, RSS, in the presence of Ajit Doval, Director, VIF, and Santosh Taneja, Coordinator, Sankalp. In his introductory remarks, Doval focuses on the importance of a common past and a common vision to build a strong nation. For this, the current ideology would have to change, he said. In his address, the RSS Chief explained the Sangh’s vision of Hindutva and sought to allay many a misapprehension and confusion in this regard. He said Hindu was a geographical term to begin with and it has been scientifically established that the DNA of all the people living on the Indo-Iranian plateau has been the same over the last 40,000 years. He said Hindus were equally responsible for the misinterpretation of the term Hindutva as they themselves were not aware of the concept. He agreed with Doval that Hindutva was infinite and cannot be defined. He praised Amb Gupta for bringing out the book and suggested that it be read widely. Speaking on the occasion, Amb Gupta asserted that Hindutva was akin to genuine secularism and Hinduism and Hindutva are not contradictory. The concept of Hindu Rashtra, he said, was as old as the Rig Veda itself. While listing out the various griev-

ances of the Hindu community, he said Hindutva is neither anti-minority nor anti-Muslim. Several dignitaries, including former Rajya Sabha Chairperson Najma Heptulla, former Union Minister Arif Mohd Khan and Rajya Sabha member Justice Rama Jois were present on the occasion.

‘India Uninc’ Released

ndia Uninc, written by well-known economist Prof R Vaidyanathan, was released by former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, former Union Minister Dr Subramanian Swamy and Ajit Doval, Director, VIF, at a function at the Foundation’s auditorium on February 14, 2013. On the occasion, Prof Vaidyanathan stated that the socalled unorganised sector in the country which accounts for 4050% of the country’s income was being treated as a residual sector. According to him, the factors hindering the growth of this sector were regulations and non-availability of credit. Dr Swamy said absence of infrastructure, multi-tier governmental hierarchy and corruption among other factors were hindering the growth of the Indian industry when compared with its Chinese counterparts. Shri Advani stated that the last ten years of misgovernance by the UPA was responsible for the alltime low witnessed in all aspects of national life. Ajit Doval praised Prof Vaidyanathan for bringing to light the hitherto neglected aspect of Indian economy in his book. The book delves into the non-corporate sector, explains how the many proprietorship and partnership firms, small manufacturing units, kirana stores, single entrepreneurs and household enterprises are the true future of the Indian economy in the long term. Prof. Vaidyanathan said that the country must be

proud and supportive of the “unincorporated sector” as it contributes nearly 50 per cent of the gross domestic product and therefore needs access to credit. He highlighted the uniqueness of the Indian economy and explained how the engine growth for India lay in the unincorporated sector. Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education Services, suggested that the sector be incentivized for growth and job creation. Rangachary, former chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, and Murali, Managing Director, Sriram Properties, were among the dignitaries present at the event. In his book, Prof. Vaidyanathan brings out the salient aspects of the Unincorporated or Non-Corporate India primarily consisting of partnership and proprietorship firms, what is termed as the P&P sector.

Fire Near Tirumala Temple

wildfire in the forests across the seven hilly range of the Seshachalam forest terrain has dissuaded the pilgrims and also destroyed millions of years old biodiversity-rich flora and fauna in the area. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has sought the assistance of the Eastern Naval Command to send helicopters to drop loads of chemicals that could stop the forest fire which has already engulfed 10,000 hectares across nearly 10 km in the forest belt. TTD has even relaxed regulations to allow planes to fly over Tirumala to tackle the fire. As a precautionary measure, TTD has closed the pedestrian footpaths across the forest to Tirumala shrine for safety of pilgrims as wild animals fleeing the fire could attack them. Though TTD officials ruled out any threat to the historic and holy temple of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala, which is nestled in the hillocks, its security has been doubled up and all protective measures were under way to protect thousands of pilgrims at Tirumala. Foot walkers have been stopped in view of the fire across the footpath from Alipiri. The fire broke out at Kakula Konda near the TTD’s sandalwood plantations, just 6 km from the Tirumala Temple. It was noticed in the early hours of Tuesday. March 18, by the locals and by evening the fire spread over a vast area of the forest, razing to

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Fire ranging in Thirumala Hills ground whatever came in its way. It sparked off due to dry leaves catching fire in the summer blaze as the mercury has touched the 40 degrees Celsius in Tirumala. Over 300 fire fighters and forest and TTD employees toiled all through Tuesday and Wednesday to stop the fire from spreading. Hundreds of TTD workers are participating in the rescue work. As of now there is no threat to the holy Temple of Balaji, but officials are concerned that if the fire spreads now with the evening winds, it could come closer to the temple area .Enough water is stored in Tirumala around the temple to meet any emergency and protect the temple, officials said.

the Falklands),” Kirchner said after meeting French President Francois Hollande in Paris. “Territorial integrity has to apply to everyone.” Ironically, Britain and other Western countries have called for Kiev’s territorial integrity to be preserved, and have stated that Crimea is part of Ukraine and not part of Russia which absorbed the Black Sea peninsula after it voted to join Moscow in a referendum. Kirchner added that a March 2013 referendum on the

British Rule in Falklands Likened to Crimea

ritain’s rule over the Falkland Islands is as bad as Russia’s incorporation of Crimea, Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner recently stated. She said: “You can’t defend the territorial integrity of Crimea and not do it for the Malvinas (the Spanish name for

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Argentinian President - Cristina Kirchner

Falkland Islands, in which 99.8 percent of the islanders voted to remain a British overseas territory, was worthless. “The Malvinas have always belonged to Argentina, whereas Crimea belonged to the Soviet Union and was given by Khrushchev to the Ukrainians,” she added. The Falklands have been ruled by Britain since 1833 and the vast majority of the population of just under 3,000 people are of British origin. Over the years, the United Kingdom and Argentina have been fighting over two British overseas territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It began on Friday April 2, 1982 when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands (and, the following day, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands) in an attempt to establish the sovereignty it has long claimed over them. On April 5 the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with the Argentine surrender on June 14, 1982, returning the islands to British control after the conflict in which 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders died.

showing disrespect to the deity. Further, the plea argued that the coins would “create communal disharmony” since the “minority community” would “take umbrage at the religious overtones”. The coins have a picture of the goddess on the reverse side, with the words “Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board” around the rim of the coin. During arguments before the bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, advocate Mishra said the issue was a very serious one. He said it could “incite communal riots” as Vaishno Devi was a “revered goddess” and since coins were used universally as small change, there was a chance that they would be used in an inappropriate manner in places such as liquor shops and toilets. The lawyer also informed the court that a representation had been sent to the RBI to recall the coins, but there had been no response. The High Court declined to issue any orders on the plea and asked the petitioner to approach the RBI with a modified representation seeking discontinuation of the series instead of a recall of the coins.

Mata Vaishno Devi Coins Trigger Petition

ecently, RBI introduced Rs 5 and Rs 10 coins with the image of Mata Vaishno Devi on the reverse side. But some sections of society have raised an objection to that. A petition filed in the Delhi Court claims that it would “hurt religious sentiments” as the state would be seen to be “espousing the cause of a single religion”. The petition urged the court to recall the new coins and prohibit their circulation. According to the PIL filed through advocate Sachin Mishra, the coins were released to commemorate the silver jubilee of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. The plea contended that these coins would be “used everywhere including places such as liquor shops, meat shops, toilets, etc.”, which would amount to

A coin with the image of Mata Vaishno Devi

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