August 28, 2008
Many Kashmiri Muslims vociferously insist that the demand for independence of Kashmir has nothing to do with religion. Instead, they argue that the conflict in and over Kashmir is essentially 'political'. What is conveniently ignored by those who make this claim is that religion and politics, particularly in the case of the Kashmir dispute, involving as it does the rival claims of Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-dominated India, can hardly be separated.
As the current spate of violence in both the Hindu-dominated Jammu division and the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley, triggered off by a controversial decision of the state government to allot a piece of land to a Hindu temple trust, so starkly indicates, religion and communal identities defined essentially in religious terms have everything to do with the basic issue of Jammu and Kashmir [Images] and its still unsettled political status.

Kashmiri nationalists, in contrast to hardcore Islamists and the Hindutva brigade, quickly dismiss this point, finding it, perhaps, too embarrassing, afraid of being labelled as religious chauvinists or 'communal'. But, no longer, it seems, can the crucial role of religion in shaping the contours of the ongoing conflict in and over Kashmir be denied.

That the ongoing Bharatiya Janata Party-inspired agitation in Jammu has marshalled considerable support among the Hindus of Jammu clearly indicates that the political project of Kashmiri nationalists -- of a separate, independent state of Jammu and Kashmir -- has absolutely no takers among the Hindus (and other non-Muslims) of the state.

Kashmiri nationalists insist that in the independent Jammu and Kashmir of their dreams, religious minorities -- Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists -- who would account for almost a fourth of the population, would have equal rights and no cause for complaint. Some even boast, without adducing any evidence, of commanding the support of the non-Muslims of the state for their project.

At the same time as they roundly berate the Dogra Raj as a long spell of slavery for the state's Muslims, they insist that the boundaries of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, as constructed by the same Dogras, against the will of the Kashmiri Muslims, be considered as sacrosanct, as setting the borders of the independent country that they demand.

If, as they argue, Dogra Raj was illegitimate, then surely there is nothing holy about the state boundaries as laid down by the Dogras, bringing Jammu and the vastly different Kashmir valley in a forced union.

If, as they rightly insist, Kashmir was conquered against its will by the Dogras of Jammu, there is no reason why the forced union of the two should continue in the independent Jammu and Kashmir that Kashmiri nationalists dream of, particularly given the Jammu Hindus' resentment of alleged Kashmiri hegemony, a sentiment shared even by many Jammu Muslims.

Kashmiri nationalists, however, would refuse to recognise this basic contradiction in their argument. The reason is obvious: To do so, to recognise that Jammu's Hindus (and Leh's Buddhists) would resist, even to the point of violence, the agenda of an independent Jammu and Kashmir would clearly indicate the obvious but embarrassing fact, that this agenda represents the aspirations and interests largely of Kashmiri Muslims, and is a means to legitimise Kashmir Muslim control over the rest of the state.

The analogy with pre-Partition India is useful. The Muslim League insisted that because the Hindus of India were in a numerical majority, a united, independent India, no matter what safeguards it gave and promises of equality it made to the Muslims, would be dominated by the Hindus, and would, for all its secular and democratic claims, be untrammelled Hindu Raj. Hence their demand for a separate Pakistan.

The Hindus of Jammu and the Buddhists of Leh find themselves in precisely the same position as did supporters of the Muslim League in pre-Partition India, only now the actors have reversed their roles.

Kashmiri nationalists insist they want an independent, united Jammu and Kashmir, just as the Congress did when it talked of a united and free India. And, like the Congress did with the Muslims, they promise the non-Muslim minorities of Jammu and Leh that their rights would be fully protected in this state of their dreams.

Yet, just as many Muslims refused to accept the promises of the Congress, fearing that they would never be honoured, the non-Muslim minorities in Jammu and Kashmir refuse to buy the arguments of the Kashmiri nationalists, which they rightly see as a thinly-veiled guise to justify Kashmiri hegemony.

I have heard Kashmiris, including some of my closest friends, come up with the most ingenious arguments to counter the above point.

'Kashmiriyat, the teachings of love and peace of our Sufis, unite us all and would ensure that non-Muslim minorities will be safe and protected in a free Jammu and Kashmir,' some of them say. A laughable claim, unless all Kashmiris suddenly decide to shun the world and trod the mystical path, an unlikely prospect. Sufism is in a rapid state of decline in Kashmir and elsewhere, as is the case with all other forms of mysticism.

Then there is another bizarre argument, which I heard, among others, from none less than one of the chief ideologues of the Jamaat e Islami in Kashmir and a fervent backer of Kashmir's accession to Pakistan, which runs like this: Islam lays down the rights of non-Muslims and insists that Muslims should respect them. The Prophet Muhammad himself did so. So, if Jammu and Kashmir gets freedom and becomes a truly Islamic State, the non-Muslim minorities will have full freedom and equality.

That the Islamists whom he led had hardly done anything to promote anything even remotely approaching that sort of confidence among the state's minorities -- in fact doing almost everything to completely alienate them -- did not even cross his mind.

The late Sadullah Tantrey, once head of the Jammu branch of the Jamaat e Islami, even went on to insist, in all seriousness, that 'Indeed, so happy will the non-Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir be in this independent Islamic state that even Hindus from India would line up to settle in the state.' I squirmed in my seat as he went on, stunned at his evident ignorance or hypocrisy or, as seemed more likely, both.

I itched to tell him, as I sat before him in his house in Gath, up in the mountains of Doda, that the 'Islamic State' hardly outlived the Prophet Mohammed and has been completely extinct ever since; that the fate of minorities in scores of Muslim countries, even those like Saudi Arabia that claim to be 'Islamic', was deplorable; that even Mohammed Ali Jinnah had promised full equality to the non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan but that had not prevented them from being reduced to virtual second-class citizens; and that, simply put, he was lying or else living in a fool's paradise. I kept my mouth shut, however. After all, I was there to learn what his views were, not to preach.

Clearly, any forced union of the disparate nationalities in Jammu and Kashmir in the form of a separate, independent state that Kashmiri nationalists champion (as now do even some Kashmiri Islamists, former passionate advocates for union with Pakistan who, flowing with the tide, have realised that their earlier stance has increasingly few takers among Kashmiris, given their mounting disenchantment with Pakistan) would be a sure recipe for civil war. The current agitation in Jammu is ample evidence of that. It is time, therefore, that pro-'Azadi' Kashmiri leaders admit this publicly.

This is not, however, to plead the case for the division of the state, as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been advocating, for surely that would further harden communal boundaries and rivalries in just the same way as would the project of an independent Jammu and Kashmir. Rather, it is to recognise and publicly acknowledge the very plural character of Jammu and Kashmir, and the concerns and sensitivities of all its peoples, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others.

Dr Yogi Sikand is the editor of Qalandar, an electronic magazine on Islam-related issues, and also the author of several books on the subject.

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NEW DELHI, August 27 (Compass Direct News) – Three more deaths were reported today in the eastern state of Orissa, where a spate of anti-Christian violence began after suspected Maoists murdered Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his disciples on Saturday (Aug. 23).

The number of people confirmed dead has risen to 21 on the fourth day of ongoing violence in Kandhamal district and other parts of Orissa. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that more than 114 anti-Christian attacks have taken place in various parts of the state.

“The worst hit are the people in Kandhamal district, where more than 400 churches, more than 500 houses and many Christian institutions have been demolished,” GCIC President Dr. Sajan K. George said in a memorandum to the state governor. “The people have fled to jungles for safety.”

The Rev. Dr. Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, told Compass that Christians in Orissa were living in fear and anxiety.

“The law enforcing agencies have not been able to contain the violent elements that are still at large,” he said. “The violent mobs are destroying churches, orphanages, hostels of children, convents of religious women and houses of Christian families. There appears a sense of helplessness among the Christian community that has borne the brunt of the communal frenzy created by some fundamentalist organizations.”

Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported that three more bodies were recovered today. One body was discovered from Phiringia area and another from Raikia in Kandhamal.

“One of them had died on Monday and the other on Tuesday – both died after mobs attacked them,” Kandhamal district collector Kishan Kumar told IANS. “A third person was rescued in a critical condition, but died on Tuesday night in the hospital.”

The state administration, however, claimed far fewer casualties. “Only seven bodies have been recovered thus far,” Deputy Inspector General of Police R.P. Koche told Compass.

‘Shoot-at-Sight’ Orders

Mobs were burning Christian houses in Gadavisa village, around three kilometers (nearly two miles) from Udayagiri in Kandhamal, a local source requesting anonymity told Compass at press time.

IANS reported that mobs defied curfew, blocked roads and attacked churches in Kandhamal even after police issued shoot-at-sight orders to control the situation, as trouble spread to other areas with incidents of violence reported in Sundergarh, Gajapati and Rayaagada districts.

“We have given orders to shoot-at-sight anybody defying curfew and indulging in violence,” Revenue Divisional Commissioner Satyabrata Sahu told IANS.

The news agency also said that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik informed the state assembly today that different police stations had registered a total of at least 70 cases and arrested 54 people in connection with attacks.

According to The Hindu newspaper, Patnaik claimed that violence was under control.

The Rt. Rev. Sunil K. Singh, bishop of the Church of North India, told Compass, “The situation in Orissa is far too worrisome and delicate. There has been a total break down of law and order resulting from barbaric communal attacks by anti Christian elements on innocent and peace loving Christians, their priests, nuns, religious workers, their churches and organizations.”

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) called for “immediate” intervention of the federal government on the “outrageous communal violence in Orissa.”

“Reports of violence against a minority community are outrageous,” IANS quoted NCM Chairperson Mohammad Shafi Qureshi as saying. “Efforts must be made to rein in violence, and the [government] must intervene effectively to restore peace in the state.”

The panel also sought a comprehensive report from the Orissa government over incidents of violence and arson that have claimed lives and damaged or destroyed churches and properties.

“We will also send our own delegation to the state to take stock of ground realities,” Qureshi said.

According to a report by Christian Legal Association, the Orissa High Court today passed an order asking the state government to deploy army personnel to ensure that victims are given compensation and are properly rehabilitated.

The court order came in response to a public interest litigation filed by attorney Collin Gonsalves of the Human Rights Law Network, a non-profit organization, on behalf of local Christians.

No-Confidence Motion

In view of the uncontrolled violence, the state legislative assembly yesterday accepted a no-confidence motion by the opposition Congress Party against the ruling coalition of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and the Biju Janata Dal party, a regional party that claims to be secular.

Discussion on the no-confidence motion is expected to be held on Friday (August 29), reported NDTV 24X7 news channel.

About 30 armed men with sophisticated rifles and AK-47s attacked Saraswati’s ashram (religious center) in the Jalespata area in Kandhamal’s Tumudiband Block on Saturday (August 23). A warning letter found at the Saraswati religious center and the use of expensive arms suggested Maoists were behind the attack, and police have reportedly said the Maoist rebels are responsible for the murders of the Hindu leaders.

Violence erupted the next day when Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) extremists paraded the body of Saraswati throughout nearby villages, whipping up anger and mobilizing crowds against Christians, in uncontested defiance of a Kandhamal district administration prohibition against the gathering of four or more people.

Among the slogans shouted was, “Kill Christians and destroy their institutions.”

Saraswati allegedly incited the attacks on Christians and their property in Kandhamal last Christmas season. The violence lasted for more than a week beginning December 24, killing at least four Christians and burning 730 houses and 95 churches.

The 2007 attacks were allegedly carried out mainly by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) extremists under the pretext of avenging an alleged attack on Saraswati by local Christians. Hundreds of Christians were displaced by the violence in Kandhamal, and they are still in various relief camps set up by the state government.

Christians make up 2.4 percent of Orissa’s population, or 897,861 of the 36.7 million people.

Report from Compass Direct News

NEW DELHI, August 26 (Compass Direct News) – At least 18 people are confirmed dead in 92 incidents of violence against Christians since suspected Maoists murdered Hindu leader Swamiji Laxmanananda Saraswati and four others on Saturday (Aug. 23) in Orissa state.

With Hindu extremists inciting hatred by heated accusations that Christians killed Saraswati, the national newspaper Hindu reported today that nine people had been killed in Orissa violence, and a Compass source near the state capital of Bhubaneswar confirmed an additional nine people slain.

The death count by the Hindu included four people killed in the Barakhama area. News agencies had earlier confirmed three dead in Raikia and two others, including a woman, killed in Bargarh, where a missionary-run orphanage was set on fire yesterday. The figure of 92 incidents thus far comes from the Global Council of Indian Christians.

Additionally, the Compass source said that Hindu extremists today killed pastor Samuel Naik of the Bakingia Seventh-Day Adventist Church at Kandhamal, and Jacob Digal and Gopan Naik of Damba village were slain this morning. Also killed today was Golok Naik of Pidinanju village (under Mondakia police station), and yesterday pastor Mukunda Bardhan from Mukundapur, Gajapati was burned to death.

Three other people whose names have not yet been verified, said the source, were killed in Katingia village of G. Udaygiri, along with a pastor belonging to Operation Mobilization from the same area. In Badimunda, about 12 kilometers (seven miles) from G. Udaygiri, nearly 25 Christian homes were burned down.

There were many reports of Christians being pulled from their homes and killed or beaten, with many homes of Christians torched in Baliguda. According to reports by the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), the East India office of Compassion International in Bhubaneswar was ransacked.

Saraswati and four others were killed by suspected Maoists in the swami’s ashram, or religious center, in the Jalespata area of Kandhamal district’s Tumudiband Block in Orissa state. A warning letter found at the Saraswati religious center and use of expensive arms suggested Maoists were behind the attack.

In a state with a strong Maoist presence, police reportedly said they have evidence to link the communist rebels to the murders of Saraswati and his four associates. One police theory is that Maoists would attack Hindu leaders in a misguided effort to gain support among area tribal people, many of whom have converted to Christianity.

On Sunday (Aug. 24) the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a partner in the state’s ruling coalition, and the Hindu extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) called for 12-hour a shut-down in which inflammatory speeches were made accusing Christians of killing Saraswati.

Authorities in Denial

Orissa Police Chief Gopal Chandra Nanda downplayed the violence, telling Reuters that incidents were only “sporadic” and that “some prayer houses have been attacked and vehicles have been burnt.”

Likewise, local authorities and media have painted the shutdown as “peaceful,” denying that organized attacks took place. The state is ruled by a coalition of the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal party.

At the same time, Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) extremists have continued to incite hatred against Christians and criticized the local government. VHP Secretary General Pravin Tagodia accused the state government of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of acting like a “eunuch” and demanded his apology for the killing of Saraswati and his companions.

“Christians murdered Swamiji, but the government is lying and giving it a Maoist color,” Tagodia said. “Naveen as an individual and police, in particular, are responsible for this attack orchestrated by the church on Hindu dharma.’’

At the same time, a senior leader from Christian relief and development organization World Vision told Compass that a news report about the arrest of their staff members in connection with Saraswati’s killing was false. The police had merely kept two of their employees for protection, he said.

“No complaint had been lodged against them,” he said. “The employees have safely reached their homes.”

Widespread Violence

Sources from Kandhamal district said hundreds of Christians along with their families have fled to the nearby forests to save their lives in the rainy climate and are without shelter, food and clothing.

“Three adults and one child were reportedly killed in fresh violence in Barakhama, Kandhamal,” EFI News reported.

At least 14 Christians have been killed in Kandhamal, according to the news agency: Hacked to death by a rampaging mob of Hindu extremists were two Christians in Mutungia village, one in Petaponga village, one in Borimunda village, three in Katinga village, three in Tianga village, three in Adikuppa village and one in Bakingia village.

According to reports received from Kalahandi district, many incidents of violence and house burning have taken place even though it is more than 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the place where Saraswati was killed.

Christian sources said pastor Sikandar Singh of the Pentecostal Mission was beaten and his house was burned in Bhawanipatna. In Kharihar, three Christian shops were looted and burned. Pastor Alok Das was beaten at Kharihar, as was pastor I.M. Senapati. In Aampani, pastor David Diamond Pahar was beaten by more than 200 people. They chased him away from Aampani, and he is hiding in nearby villages.

Pastor Pravin Ship and two other area pastor identified only as Pradhan and Barik were beaten and chased away with their families. In Naktikani, an angry mob surrounded the village to attack Christians. The government sent forces to try to control the mob but without success.

Christian Pleas

A delegation of Christian leaders in New Delhi met with Home Minister Shivraj Patil to brief him of the situation and to register their concern. Patil assured the Christian delegation, including the Rev. Dr. Richard Howell, general secretary of EFI, and Father Babu Joseph, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India of the central government’s support in curbing violence against Christians in the state.

Another delegation led by Orissa state Christian leaders met Gov. Rameshwar Thakur with the same objectives. The Rt. Rev. Samson Das and attorney Bibhu Dutta Das were also among those who met with the Orissa governor today.

In Kolkata, the All-India Minority Forum today condemned the attack on churches in Orissa and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Patnaik for his “failure” to protect religious minorities in his state.

“We condemn in unequivocal terms the incident of burning alive people who belong to the Christian community by Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists, and armed attacks on churches in Orissa,” Forum President Idris Ali said.

‘Kill Christians’

The violence has spread even though church leaders across the country condemned the Hindu priest’s killing and appealed for peace.

The VHP and its allies had called for a 12-hour shutdown to protest the killing of the swami, and Christian leaders expected Hindu mobs would use it to mobilize strikes at the Christian community.

“But what has taken place has even surpassed what we expected,” said one pastor who wished to remain anonymous.

Hindu extremists paraded the body of Saraswati throughout nearby villages, whipping up anger and mobilizing crowds against Christians, in uncontested defiance of a Kandhamal district administration prohibition against the gathering of four or more people. Among the slogans shouted was, “Kill Christians and destroy their institutions.”

In spite of an Orissa state-imposed curfew, crowds violated restrictions and proceeded to attack Christian communities throughout the state. Compass has received reports that the violence has spread to the districts of Gajapati, Phulbani, Nuaparha, Kalahandi, Rayagada and Koraput.

The Orissa Legislative Assembly was disturbed for the second consecutive day at the various calls for the resignation of Chief Minister Patnaik.

Christians make up 2.4 percent of Orissa’s population, or 897,861 of the total 36.7 million people.  

Report from Compass Direct News

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police have busted a racket run by its own officers in which hundreds of national arms licences were issued in violation of procedures.

The racket was allegedly run in connivance with senior police officers. Among those who were issued illegal licences are defence and paramilitary personnel, bureaucrats and businessmen.

A particularly worrying aspect of the scandal is that the licences could have been issued to many outlaws as well since there was no credential check.

All state governments can issue arms licences, but securing such a licence is no easy task. There are stringent verification norms, not to speak of a long waiting list.

In Delhi, the police are the state arms licensing authority, while the office of the lieutenant governor (LG) issues national licences, a job assigned to the office of the director-general of police in other states.

The scandal was unearthed when Delhi Police records of national licenses were found to be different from those of the lieutenant governor’s office.

At last count, the discrepancy in the number was 300, with hundreds more fraudulent licences expected to surface.

A senior officer in the licensing branch said: “During a scrutiny of our documents in 2004, we found that some all-India licences had quoted order numbers from the LG’s office. Upon checking with the LG’s office, we found that the licence holders’ names were missing from the records. We reported the matter to the economic offences wing (EOW).”

More discrepancies in the licensing branch’s records came to light in 2006, but it was only in 2007 that the scale of the racket became apparent following yet another scrutiny of the records.

The licensing branch officer said the fraudulent licences could not have been issued without the consent of IPS officers. Indeed, the names of certain senior police officers of the rank of deputy commissioner have come up during investigation. A retired assistant commissioner, too, has been named.

An EOW officer said the matter was under investigation. “We have received case files from the licensing branch,” additional commissioner of police (EOW) SBK Singh said, adding, “It appears that all-India licences were fraudulently issued and forged documents used.”

A senior EOW officer, who is part of the investigation, said the licences were given in return for money.

“It is certain that some of our officers are involved in the scandal,” he said, “but bringing them to book may not be easy.”

It is surprising that the EOW has not yet opened individual cases for each of the fraudulent licences issued, though the case files were transferred to it a long time ago.

“Now that it is clear that the licences are illegal, the law enforcement agency is bound to register individual cases,” a senior police officer said. “But may be there is pressure not to take action.”

Aditya Kaul, DNA, August 28, 2008

NEW DELHI: The explosion that killed two Bajrang Dal leaders on Sunday night in Kanpur when they were making bombs reinforces suspicions that at least some of the terror strikes of the recent past can be traced to a small fringe of Hindu fundamentalists. Investigators especially point to the blasts at Delhi’s Jama Masjid in April 2006 and the Ajmer Sharif dargah in October 2007.

From Sunday’s blast site, the Kanpur police seized a large amount of explosives, including potassium nitrate, similar to that used in terror strikes. Besides, there were hand grenades, timers, over two kg of pellets and pins, several batteries, and some 50 metres of electric wires.

One of those killed was a former convener of the Bajrang Dal’s Kanpur city unit, and the other an active member of the group, according to the Kanpur police.

Several sources in the intelligence and security establishment say they see a distinctive pattern in the bomb blasts at the historic mosques — the Jama Masjid in Delhi and Durgah Ajmer Sharif.

Besides, some intelligence operatives also do not subscribe to claims by local investigators that the Students Islamic Movement of India was behind the blasts at the Malegaon mosque in September 2006 and the May 2007 blasts at the Mecca Masjid of Hyderabad. It is significant that the CBI which took over the Malegaon case several months ago has not yet come up with any credible breakthroughs, through the local police had blamed it all on Simi.

More than one senior official involved in investigating the Jama Masjid blast told DNA that they had “clear indications” that some Hindu fanatics could be behind the bomb blast. Nothing was ever said in public.

Over the past few years, there has been a string of developments, especially in Maharashtra, that calls for a broader investigation into the serial blasts across India. In these incidents evidence of Hindu fringe groups making bombs and trying to disrupt peace have repeatedly emerged.

The latest was in June this year, when several members of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and the Sanatan Sanstha were arrested in Maharashtra for planting crude bombs in several places.

The first clear sign that members of fringe Hindu groups are into making explosives emerged in Nanded in April 2006 when at least two of them were killed and four others injured while making bombs. Investigations into the Nanded blast had also pointed to the possibility of such elements being responsible for the blast at the Prabhani mosque in November 2003, which went off injuring over 25 people.

Josy Joseph, August 27, 2008, DNA INDIA

At 5am beneath the Shivalik hills in northern India, Swami Ramdev sits cross-legged swaddled in saffron robes commanding the rapt attention of 500 devotees of his brand of yoga. The crowd is made up mostly of middle-class Indians, many suffering from chronic conditions for which traditional medicine has little to offer but comfort.

Each "patient" has paid 7,000 to 40,000 rupees (£90 to £500) to be among the first to spend a week at the swami's newest venture: a village of 300 bungalows offering spiritual retreat in the shadow of eucalyptus trees.

Swami Ramdev's pitch is that pranayama, the ancient Indian art of breath control, can cure a bewildering array of diseases. "Asthma, arthritis, sickle-cell anaemia, kidney problems, thyroid disease, hepatitis, slipped discs - and it will unblock any fallopian tubes," he tells his audience in the yoga village, who line up to have their blood tested and receive herbal remedies.

Although India has a long tradition of mystical gurus, Swami Ramdev represents a new phenomenon: the television yoga evangelist. Almost all his congregation have been drawn through his shows on India's Aastha channel.

Every morning, the swami appears on television chanting prayers and explaining that ailments, physical and mental, can be treated by what looks like little more than sharp intakes of air and painful-looking body contortions. More than 20 million tune in each day in India alone. The television guru, who is also known as Baba Ramdev, is also available across the world - including Britain.

He has just finished teaching on a yoga cruise from India to China, which even after attracting corporate sponsorship still charged disciples £1,000 a ticket. Last year he appeared in Westminster to give British politicians a chance to sample his yogic wisdom.

Ludy Mantri, a housewife from Mauritius, has paid 40,000 rupees and travelled 4,000 miles to see "her swami" in the Haridwar yoga village in the hope he can help her find a cure for diabetes.

"I have been on medicines every day for the last 12 years. The chanting of Om has an amazing effect and the words of Ramdev energise one through the day."

Born into a farming family in north India he retains a common touch, making rustic jokes in chaste Hindi. The guru combines this with a gentle manner and a knack for public relations. The swami sells himself as a one-person health service. He says he only charges the wealthy and that the poor get his medicines for free. He has 500 hospitals in India serving more than 30,000 a day.

It is no surprise that many sections of the Indian elite - including judges, ministers and Bollywood stars - have visited his camps. Such is his popularity that the Indian army incorporated Ramdev's techniques claiming it made for a "deadlier fighting force".

Ramdev often speaks less of spiritualism and more of the need to develop his country through yoga, portraying himself as an Indian nationalist. He attacks multinational companies for seeking to drain India of profits. He calls Coke and Pepsi good only for "toilet cleaning".

In a country where renunciation is seen as almost a divine virtue, Ramdev announces that he has long ago given up sex - because "it is not love".

The adoration he inspires was seen in 2006 when Indian communists accused the guru of using human bones and animal parts in ayurvedic drugs produced by his pharmacy. His followers rioted and attacked the party headquarters. The Communist party backed down when it saw where public sympathy lay.

In an interview with the Guardian, Ramdev said that the problem with communists was that they did not have "faith in spirituality and are philosophically against religion. My cures are clean but the communists have an agenda."

There is little controversy about his basic assertions. He says that following his yoga teachings for 30 minutes a day, along with a vegetarian diet of raw or lightly boiled food and no alcohol or tobacco, clears clogged arteries, reduces blood sugar and lowers blood pressure.

But the swami defended his more extravagant claims that yoga could cure terminal illnesses such as cancer. He also said he had evidence that breathing exercises could help Aids patients recover by enabling a rise in the number of cells that the HIV virus destroys.

Ramdev has an explanation for his success with cancer - that yoga oxygenates the blood which kills the tumour. "Yoga is self-healing and self-realisation. I have many cases of cancer which I can provide where patients have recovered. We have cured blood, throat, ovarian, uterine and throat cancers with yoga."

In the case of HIV, he says scientists "have not understood [it] properly". He says that "through yoga and lifestyle changes people increase their CD4 count [the cells the HIV virus attacks]. The truth seen for the first time does appear like a miracle."

Such claims have angered many doctors. Mohammed Abbas, The president of the Indian Medical Association, said that although yoga is "good exercise, it cannot be used to make ridiculous claims about curing HIV or cancer. This is false hope for ill people."

The swami says patients are tested and improvements measured by "independent" doctors. Asked whether he has run any tests to analyse treatment, he offers a book of testimonies from disciples convinced they have been cured of cancer, cirrhosis and kidney failure.

Some have called for the swami to be prosecuted for "peddling quackery of the highest order".

"Claiming such absurdities is against the law," said Sanal Edamaruku of the Indian Rationalist Association. "The magical remedies act of 1954 was brought in to stop people such as Baba Ramdev from promoting dangerous ideas about curing cancer and the like.

"The political class is running scared of this man and the backlash that such a prosecution might unleash."

Randeep Ramesh in Haridwar
The Guardian, June 14 2008

Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- One in five herbal products used in so-called Ayurvedic medicine and sold over the Internet contain harmful levels of toxic metals, a study found.

Herbal pills, powders and liquids are the foundation of Ayurvedic medicine, an ancient system of health care that originated in India. It has become more popular in the U.S. as interest in yoga and alternative medicine has grown.

Almost 21 percent of 193 Ayurvedic products purchased online contained amounts of lead, mercury or arsenic that exceeded one or more U.S. safety standards, according to the research published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found. In a finding that surprised the researchers, products manufactured in the U.S. were slightly more likely to contain contaminants than those made in India.

``The take-home message here is that current regulations in our country governing dietary supplements, in general, are inadequate to protect the consumer,'' said Robert B. Saper of Boston University School of Medicine, the study's lead author, said an Aug. 25 interview.

The highest concentrations of metals were found in a type of Ayurvedic product known as ``rasa shastra,'' in which mercury, lead, zinc and other metals are deliberately combined with herbs to produce a therapeutic effect, Saper said. Rasa shastra products, primarily made in India, were more than twice as likely to contain lead and mercury, the researchers found.

In the worst cases, some rasa shastra medicines from India contained lead and mercury levels that would be 100 to 10,000 times greater than the acceptable limit for a person to ingest,'' the authors wrote.

Consumer Recommendation

Based on the findings, Saper said he would recommend that consumers avoid remedies labeled as rasa shastra products.

The report's authors called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to establish and ``strictly enforce'' daily dose limits for toxic metals in dietary supplements, and require that suppliers submit to independent, third-party testing of products to ensure quality.

The finding on U.S.-sold herbs was surprising because their sale is generally unregulated in India, Saper said. In the U.S., dietary supplements, such as herbal products, are largely subject to the same regulatory standards as food, not the rigorous scientific testing that applies to prescription or over-the-counter drugs, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Olmos in San Francisco at dolmos@bloomberg.net.

ORISSA ANTI CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE

UPDATE 25th August 2008

Complined by

Dr. John Dayal & Madhu Chandra

Time 23.10 hrs, Aug 25, 2008

1. NUN REPORTED BURNT ALIVE: A Christian woman, possibly a nun, was reported burnt alive on 25th August 2008  by a group of Vishwa Hindu Parishad mob which  stormed the orphanage she ran in the district of Bargarh (Orissa). Police Superintendent Ashok Biswall has told this to news reporters. A priest who was at the orphanage was also badly hurt and is now being treated in hospital for multiple burns.

2. NUN RAPED: A young Catholic Nun of the Cuttack Bhubaneswar diocese working  Jan Vikas Kendra, the Social Service Centre at Nuagaon in Kandhamal was reportedly gang raped on 24th August 2008 by groups of Hindutva extremists before the building itself was destroyed.

3. SENIOR PRIEST AND NUN INJURED: Fr Thomas, director of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre in Kanjimendi, less than a kilometer away from the Social Service Centre, and another Nun were injured when the centre was attacked. They were taken to the police station in a  disheveled state as the armed mob bayed for their blood. The Pastoral centre was then set afire.

4. BALLIGUDA CHURCH BUILDINGS DESTROYED AGAIN: On 24th August 2008 evening lynch mobs at the block headquarters of Balliguda, in the very heart of Kandhamal district, which had seen much violence between 24th and 26th December 2007, attacked and destroyed a presbytery, convent and hostel damaging the properties.

5. The mobs in Balliguda caught hold of two boys of the Catholic hostel and tonsured their heads.

6. PHULBANI CHURCH DAMAGED: On 25th august 2008 morning followers of the late Lakshmanananda Saraswati damaged the Catholic Church in Phulbani, the district headquarter town.

7. MOTHER TERESA BROTHERS ASHRAM ATTACKED: mobs  attacked the Mother Teresa Brothers’ residence and hospital in Srasanada, destroyed once before and rebuilt two months ago, and beat up the patients. Fundamentalists have targeted Priests, religious and also the Faithful in Pobingia also.

8. BHUBANESWAR BISHOP’S HOUSE ATTACKED: On the morning of 25th August 2008, violent mobs made several attempts to enter the compounds of Catholic Church and Archbishop’s house in the heart of the Capital of the State of Orissa.

They could not enter because of the police presence. They threw stones at the guesthouse of Archbishop’s House, damaging windows.

9. DUBURI PARISH; Another group of fundamentalists entered presbytery in Duburi parish, managed by the SVDs and destroyed and damaged property. Two priests of the parish are missing.

10. Mr. Jamaj Pariccha, Director of Gramya Pragati, is attacked and his property, vehicle etc. damaged, burnt and looted.

11. A Baptist Church in Akamra Jila in Bhubaneswar is also damaged.

12. Christian institutions like St. Arnold’s School (Kalinga Bihar), AND NISWASS report some damage.

13. BOUDH DISTRICT [Adjoining Kandhamal]: Fundamentalists enter the Catholic parish church and destroy property. People are fleeing to safer places. But nothing seems safe.

14. Muniguda Catholic Fathers and  Nuns’ residence have been damaged.

15. Sambalpur HM Sister’s residence (Ainthapalli) has suffered damage.

16. Padanpur: One priest is attacked and admitted to a hospital. Hostel boys and the in charge have moved away from the place.

17. Madhupur Catholic Church currently under attack.

18. SMALL CHURCHES: Attempted violence on small churches in various districts, including Padampur, Sambalpur near GM College, Talsera, Dangsoroda, Narayanipatara, Muniguda, Tummiibandh, Tangrapada, Phulbani, Balliguda, Kalingia, Chakapad, Srasanranda.

19. VILLAGE CHRISTIAN HOUSES ATTACKED: Houses attacked on forest hamlets of Balliguda, Kanjamandi Nuaguam (K.Nuaguam), Tiangia (G.Udayagiri), Padangiri, Tikabali.

20. KALAHANDI DISTRICT: houses burnt even though the district is more than 300 kilometers from the place where Swami Lakshmanananda was killed.

21. Pastor Sikandar Singh of the Pentecostal Mission beaten up and his house burnt in Bhawanipatna.

22. Kharihar: 3 Christian shops were looted and burnt. Pastor Alok Das and Pastor I M Senapati beaten up.

23. Aampani: Pastor David Diamond Pahar, Pastor Pravin Ship, Pastor Pradhan and Pastor Barik beaten up and chased away with their families.

24. Naktikani: Mob surrounds village to attack Christians. The government has sent forces, it is reported.

25. Raikia village evacuted, whole village fled to forest for survival

26. Rev. Abhiram Singh, Orissa leader of Good Shepherd Community Church, fled to forest for survival of his life. Wife and two kids are in another town with fear and trembling.

27. Good Shepherd School at Bhugorai, in Balasore district, threatened by VHP members.

Kanpur: A powerful explosion killed two Hindutva terrorists in a mixed colony of Kanpur. The powerful explosion destroyed the door and walls of the room where it occurred on Sunday.

Rajiv alias Piyush Mishra (25) and Bhupinder Singh (32) are among the dead, they both are reported to be Bajrang Dal core members. Bhupinder was Bajrang Dal's city chief 10 years ago and according to Hindi daily Hindustan Piyush was present in RSS's morning shakha the day of the blast, quoting a Sangh activist Surendra Mishra.

Police found eleven live bombs, and enough material to make nine additional bombs, seven timer devices, and batteries. Ammonium nitrate and potassium nitrate was also recovered from there.

The explosion occurred at a hostel in Kalyanpur area of Kanpur, about 80 km from Lucknow. Piyush Mishra is the son of SS Mishra who own this hostel. Piyush worked in Lucknow but used to come to Kanpur every weekend.

Piyush came home with Bhupinder and asked the residents of the hostel to vacate the rooms on the pretext of checking the electric wiring. As soon as the occupants left the hostel, a massive blast took place, AK Singh told IANS.

"The recovery of timer device and prohibited explosive raw material indicates a major terror plot and police teams have begun a probe," S.N. Singh, inspector general (Kanpur zone), told IANS on phone.

Bhupinder used to run a photo studio in the Sarvoday Nagar locality of Kanpur and his shop was close to the city's popular J.K. temple, police said.

"Many people visit this temple on Janmashtami and as his shop was close by, we suspect the explosives were meant to spread terror during Sunday's celebrations," a police official said.

27 August 2008

MASKED by the Olympics, the bloody events in Georgia, and the forced departure from office of Pakistan's president Parvez Musharraf, another closely linked troublespot has begun to rumble.

For the first time in a decade, serious unrest has brought the troubled region of Kashmir to the brink of a full-scale rebellion by disgruntled Muslims, who form the overwhelming majority of the population.

Tens of thousands marched in the capital, Srinagar, last week demanding United Nation's intervention and freedom from India after police and para-military forces shot dead 15 protesters at an earlier demonstration. The shootings took the death toll to 34 since June, when unrest surged following the transfer of state land for use by Hindu "Amarnath Yatra" pilgrims.

The State Government was forced to revoke the transfer order, which prompted activists in the Hindu-majority Jummu area to erect roadblocks that stopped all trade between the Valley of Kashmir and the rest of India. The tit-for-tat reprisal meant that Muslims were the losers - at both ends.

The violence prompted Meenakshi Ganguly, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, to call on the Indian Government to end the "cycle of violence" by ordering its security forces to act with restraint.

"With violence escalating, the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir is again at the brink of catastrophe," Mr Ganguly warned.

And with good reason. Many of Kashmir's restive Muslims have been smarting since the partition of British India into India and Pakistan in August 1947 left them in a tinderbox "no man's land". The anger has grown since a rigged election in 1989 led to massive agitation by Muslim Kashmiris and an increase in militancy backed by Pakistan. The upshot: hundreds of Hindus murdered by Muslim militants, but tens of thousands of Muslims slaughtered by Hindu nationalists, police, para-military forces and the Indian Army.

Some Indian officials acknowledge that about 10,000 people have been killed, but other observers, including human rights bodies put the figure at about 35,000. Others on the Muslim side claim as many as 75,000

Given that only recently Radovan Karadzic was tracked down and sent for trial by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for, most notably, the killing of 7000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, should not the civilised world be seriously looking at similar culpability by successive Indian leaders?

An earlier Human Rights Watch (Asia) report damned India for its jackbooted approach to security in Kashmir - New Delhi has up to 700,000 troops and para-military in the disputed territory - accusing it of culpability in state-sponsored terrorism.

The report also cited armed (Muslim) militant groups for human rights abuses, but saved its greatest condemnation for India and its paramilitary forces, including "a secret, illegal army . . . composed of captured or surrendered former militants." It said these Indian forces indulged in "extrajudicial killings, abductions and assaults" with no official accountability.

The report also revealed a little-known detail from the murky depths of the conflict: India's military and intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), created a paramilitary group called Taliban to operate in Kashmir before the Afghani version came to world attention, just to confuse the situation. An interesting twist given that India portrays Pakistan's ISI military intelligence as the devil incarnate.

Even allowing for India's response that it needs such large numbers of troops to keep insurgents from infiltrating from Pakistan-held Azad (Free) Kashmir, the number is disproportionate to the needs of border duties.

The long-festering Kashmir dispute won't go away until the fundamental questions are addressed fairly by India and the international community, which should have a vested interest. After all, Islamic fundamentalists - epitomised by al-Qaeda - terrorising the world have their roots more so in Kashmir than in Palestine. The Kashmir-Afghanistan mujahideen nexus is unbroken and has morphed into more sinister variants that use the often undeniable perception of Muslim subjugation as the glue of, and combustion for, their cause.

The underlying Kashmir dispute began amid the cycle of violence that accompanied partition. Precious little has been achieved from the earliest post-partition talks to summits in Tashkent after the September 1965 war, Simla in 1972 after the December 1971 war, and then in Lahore.

The adversaries simply must go back to the starting point of the dispute if it is to be resolved. There are two unfulfilled United Nations resolutions on the matter that were passed more than 50 years ago and reaffirmed in the Security Council in 1957 and again in 1964.

The essence of those resolutions is that the final disposition of the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations .

It is curious that India, a country of remarkable and laudable achievements in many spheres, fails to live up to its claim of being the world's biggest democracy when it continues to deny 17 million Kashmiris a plebiscite to determine their own future.

Gerry Carman is an Age journalist

Gerry Carman, August 26, 2008, The Age,  Australia

Read also:

The Kashmir tinderbox By Meenakshi Ganguly, senior researcher on South Asia for Human Rights Watch

Sixty-one years since Indian independence, a plethora of sops, schemes, programs, projects and a complete ministry dedicated to the child -- and yet over 2 million children did not live to see their fifth birthday in 2006, accounting for one-fifth of the world's children who died before turning five. India is home to 20 percent of the world's under-fives. What this means is that the global attainment of the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDG) depends on New Delhi's achievements in this respect.

India has pledged itself to the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015. And child survival - reducing child mortality, also referred to as MDG 4 - poses one of the most serious challenges to these goals. It requires reducing the global rate of under-five deaths by two-thirds by 2015 from the 1990 levels. The death rate should be 30 deaths per 1,000 live births to meet the target.

While there has been a sure decline in the number of infant deaths in the Asia Pacific region, having come down to around four million in 2006 from 6.7 million in 1990, India alone, that year, accounted for half the number (2.1 million). Since 1960, the country has managed to reduce the death rate from 236 deaths per 1000 live births to 76 per 1,000 live births, and a growing economy has enabled India to reduce the under-five mortality rate by one-third. Yet despite the fact that the country is witnessing an economic boom, the growth restricted to small pockets of the country. Sixty percent of the under-five deaths occur in just five states -- telling a poignant story of the fight to survive. An Indian child's chance of celebrating the fifth birthday clearly depends on the state or community it is born into.

The urban-rural divide and several other socio-economic factors evidenced in the disparate Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) -- like the gap in the rural and urban IMR rates of 64 and 40, respectively; between boys and girls of 56 and 61, respectively; and in states ranging from 76 in central state of Madhya Pradesh to 14 in the southern and literacy high state of Kerala -- are the disparities in society reflected in the under-five deaths, and also indicate a strong link between poverty and child mortality.

The country's economy is growing at an average rate of nine percent a year, but still, two out of every five children in India are malnourished. Accompanying the economic boom is the shift to privatization of many essential services which has only widened the gap when it comes to accessibility of even very basic facilities. As the affluent demand better services, there has been a further deterioration in the availability and quality of government facilities. And since the MDGs are related to improving health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education and child protection, gender equality and women's empowerment, it is hardly surprising that the child mortality is a direct manifestation of the lack of these. More than 50 percent of this country's under-five deaths are associated with malnourishment and anemia, while another 30 per cent are caused by pneumonia. Further, an estimated nine percent of children are suffering from diarrheal diseases; in absolute numbers a figure that is even higher than that in Afghanistan.

That South Asia, as a region, spends only 1.1 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on public health expenditure, much below the world average of 5.1 percent, also reflects trends in the region. While the Indian budget did reflect a fifteen percent increase in the health sector, it still remains at a mere one percent of the GDP.

A new study by Save the Children compares child mortality in a country to its national income per person, clearly placing India behind poorer neighbors like Bangladesh and Nepal when it comes to cutting child deaths. Of the 41 countries ranked depending on how well they are using their resources to boost child survival rates India stands at a low 16, behind both Bangladesh and Nepal, who are in the top ten.

The entrenched discrimination against the girl child, evidenced in various forms of medical and technological misuse over the years (and the insidious transformation of older practices of infanticide to what came to be commonly termed as ‘feticide' in more recent years), also finds itself reflected in many communities in discriminatory child-rearing practices. What this means is that gender inequalities in the country determine access to food and medicine. Moreover, the poor health of the pregnant mother, also a manifestation of the status of women even in the marital homes with regard to diet and access to medical or health care facilities, also directly impacts the newborn. Lack of knowledge or information on child rearing and nutrition also play a part. With one out of every three women being underweight in India, it leads to low-weight babies who are more likely to die in infancy. The largest absolute number of newborn deaths in the world occurs in South Asia and India contributes around one quarter of the global total. It is hardly surprising then that South Asia is also the only region in the world where when compared to males female life expectancy is lower. So not only is the location that determines the chances of survival for children in the country but also their gender. Being born a girl carrying higher risks as it raises the chance of premature death between the ages of one and four by about one-third. Again it is hardly surprising that the region also has a massive gender imbalance in population numbers, with around 50 million more men than women.

With maternal mortality closely linked to child mortality - since the chances of survival of a child significantly reduces if the mother has died due to childbirth related complications - it really is the health (or the ill health) of the mother that is also a crucial issue. To combat this issue the Government of India relies on its Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) which has been running for over 30 years. But the MDG goals would require the government to re-evaluate its flagship program for mother and childcare, started in 1975, which provides health and nutrition education for mothers of infants and young children, along with other services, such as supplementary nutrition, basic health and antenatal care, growth monitoring and promotion, preschool non-formal education, micronutrient supplementation and immunization. The services delivered through a network of around 700,000 community (anganwadi) workers has had limited effectiveness due to a variety of factors, ranging from downright corruption and mishandling of the allocated funds, the limited skill and knowledge of anganwadi workers themselves to a lack of supervision, vacancies and flaws in program policy itself, reflected in the inadequate focus on the young children. Even today the maternal mortality remains between 300-500 deaths per 100,000 births, which means 75,000 to 150,000 women die every year in India during childbirth.

It has been interventions of local organizations, especially women's groups, working at the grassroots level within the communities that have been able to make any inroads in these orthodox structures. Working within the cultural ethos and cultural context these groups have built on the established structures within communities that extend to other areas of development, including education and credit, as well as health. And in more recent months hoping to tap into the potential of the access and community confidence these grassroots workers (like midwives) enjoy within the communities the government has adopted strategies to exploit their presence.

The UNICEF in collaboration with the center has launched a five year action plan which would use a grant of $700 million for child protection, education and nutrition and protecting children from AIDS. This 2008-2012 Country Program would jointly focus on India's infant and maternal mortality rates amongst other things. With both maternal and infant mortality so closely tied to societal practices, age-old customs and traditional roles that place less of a premium on the education and health of the girl child, the wife or the mother any effort to reverse this trend would also require a change in the status of women both in their paternal and marital homes with equal access to the most basic human needs; and where the chances of survival of the infant remain equal irrespective of the socio-economic background or geographical location of the community it is born to.

Deepali Gaur Singh, RH Reality Check, August 26, 2008

Prafulla Das

— Photo: By Special Arrangement

After the arson: Firefighters douse the flames at an orphanage at Khuntpalli village in Orissa where protesters burnt alive a 20-year-old woman. BHUBANESWAR: Orissa was on the boil on Monday during a bandh called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal in protest against the killing of VHP leader Swami Lakshmanananda.

Protesters burnt alive a 20-year-old woman in an orphanage at Khuntpalli village in Bargarh district. In Kandhamal district, where the Swami and four others were killed by suspected Maoists on Saturday night, a villager was burnt to death.

Many churches, prayer houses and other Christian institutions were attacked in Kandhamal, Bargarh, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Boudh, Sundargarh and Jajpur districts. At least two prayer houses were damaged in the capital city.

Director-General of Police Gopal Chandra Nanda said the woman who was killed in the orphanage was a student. Asked whether the victim was a nun, he said it was yet to be ascertained.

As regards the death of a villager in Kandhamal, Mr. Nanda said the police had received information, but were yet to reach the spot.

Unconfirmed reports said the victim, Rasanand Pradhan, who was suffering from paralysis, could not escape when many houses in the Christian-majority village were set on fire.

Road and rail traffic was affected all over the State during the bandh. Banks, markets and business establishments remained closed, while government offices recorded thin attendance. Educational institutions were closed.

In the Assembly, the Naveen Patnaik government faced an embarrassing situation when Bharatiya Janata Party legislators trooped into the well and stalled the proceedings demanding the immediate arrest of those involved in the killing of the Swami.

Simultaneously, the Opposition Congress demanded a discussion on the “deteriorating” law and order situation. They demanded the resignation of the Biju Janata Dal-BJP coalition government for its failure to maintain law and order.

Speaker Kishore Kumar Mohanty adjourned the House for the day after he failed to persuade the BJP members to allow the proceedings to continue.

The Congress, however, gave notice for moving a no-confidence motion against the government on Tuesday.

ibnlive.com

BOILING POINT: The orphanage in Bargarh district which set on fire on Monday.

Bhubaneswar: A woman was burnt to death and a priest injured when a mob set fire to an orphanage run by Christian missionaries in a village in Bargarh district of Orissa on Monday during a statewide shutdown called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Suspected Sangh Parivar activists first chased away around 20 children at the orphanage in Khuntapali village and then set it ablaze at around 1600 hrs. A 25-year-old woman, who worked as a teacher-cum-caretaker at the orphanage, was killed in the fire. First reports from the village had said the woman was a nun.

A priest who was trapped in the burning building was badly burnt and is now recovering in a hospital.

In the past Hindu extremists in Orissa have attacked Christian missionaries. In 1999 an Australian missionary, Graham Staines, and his two sons were killed by a mob that set their car on fire.

The VHP had called the statewide bandh in Orissa to protest against the murder of its leader in Kandhamal district on Saturday.

Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a member of VHP's central advisory committee, and four other people were killed at his Jalespata ashram in Kandhamal district on Saturday evening after suspected Maoist rebels opened fire on them.

Over a dozen churches and prayer halls were torched, police outposts attacked and about 15 vehicles damaged in the communally sensitive Kandhamal district during the bandh.

The administration imposed curfew in Baliguda and Phulbani towns in Kandhamal district, but people defied the order when Saraswati’s body was brought in a procession to his ashram. Those in the procession attacked churches and prayer houses, eyewitnesses said.

More than 1,000 security personnel were deployed in the region. Officials said the curfew would continue in both towns till Tuesday.

PTI reports that churches were also attacked in Khurda, Bargarh, Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Koraput, Boudh, Mayurbhanj and Jagatsinghpur districts.

A paralytic patient identified as Rasananda Pradhan was killed by a mob in Rupa village in Kandhamal on Sunday night. Pradhan was trapped when the mob set houses in the village on fire.

"Two people have died in two separate incidents. This is most unfortunate," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters.

"The situation is under control and we are closely monitoring it," he said, adding that he had asked the central government for more security forces.

Most government and private offices witnessed thin attendance as thousands staged demonstrations and burnt tyres in several villages, towns and on national highways. Almost all shops and petrol pumps remained closed and many were stranded at bus stops.

Train services were affected across the state, J P Mishra, spokesperson of the east coast railway, told IANS. "Passenger and goods trains were not allowed to move from stations." Road traffic was also badly hit and vehicles were attacked.

In Bhubaneswar, Sangh Parivar activists fanned out in large numbers in order to enforce the bandh and blocked important roads and intersections.

The unrest was reflected in the Orissa Assembly as well with ruling and opposition legislators clashed over the killing.

The opposition Congress demanded suspension of the question hour and an immediate discussion on the law and order problems in the state; and the BJP, an ally of the BJD government, demanded suspension of proceedings for the day in view of the shutdown.

Saraswati was leading a campaign against cow slaughter and religious conversion in Kandhamal. The district has a population of around 600,000, including 150,000 Christians, and has witnessed clashes between Hindus and Christians in the past.

Saraswati's supporters had been holding protests since Saturday night, blocking trains and vehicles.

The state government on Sunday ordered a judicial probe into the killings and announced compensation for the victims. Authorities also constituted a special police team to investigate the murders.

(With inputs from IANS and PTI)

India’s outsourcing industry is battling a rising number of “résumé cheats” – recruits who lie about their experience or qualifications – in a struggle that could be critical to the long-term prosperity of the business.

Recent high staff turnover at large outsourcing groups has been partly owing to the weeding out of résumé cheats who were able to penetrate the industry during the past two years when growth was high and companies were hiring tens of thousands of people each quarter.

“As the war for talent picked up and we kept looking for people with very specific experience and the talent pool became narrow, other people wanted to jump into that talent pool by embellishing their résumés,” said Girish Paranjpe, joint chief executive officer of Wipro Technologies, India’s third largest computer services company.

The integrity of recruits in India’s outsourcing industry, which employs about 2m people, is a concern because they are often entrusted with highly sensitive information and processes from multinational clients, including the world’s leading financial groups.

The faking of curriculum vitae and work experience has long been a problem in the industry but it has become more critical in recent years, when the top outsourcing companies stepped up recruitment. A common deceptive tactic among those applying to Wipro or its rivals, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, is to claim to have worked for one of the other members of the big three since their fierce competition precludes much sharing of data.

First Advantage, a US-based background screening company with operations in India, found that “education discrepancies”, or misinformation provided by recruits on their educational qualifications, rose 80 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the final quarter of 2007.

“In percentage terms, this [the number of CV liars] might just be something like 1 per cent of the [applicant] population but it is still a significant figure given the kind of trust-based work that we do. We do not want this happening,” said Som Mittal, president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies, the Indian outsourcing industry body.

In the January-March quarter, Wipro experienced a rise in staff turnover, to 18.5 per cent. Up to three percentage points of this related to an exercise in weeding out people who had lied about their qualifications.

“It’s not good either to have 300 or 400 people out of the few thousand people that we get in every quarter who have not made the grade,” said Suresh Vaswani, the other joint chief executive of Wipro.

Nasscom’s Mr Mittal said one initiative, the setting up of a “national skills registry” to screen employees’ credentials, was gathering steam, with about 322,000 people signed up, but registration was not compulsory and there were concerns among some employees about privacy.

Joe Leahy, August 25 2008 The Financial Times

( M.S Golwalkar, , Hindu Rashtra and Minorities)

The above lines are taken from Bunch of Thoughts, by M.S Golwalkar, 'tapasvi' (sage), 'man of high character', 'embodiment of austerity with an aura of dynamism around' as defined by India's “Prime Minister in waiting” Mr. Lal krishna Advani in his memoir 'My Country My Life'. In his Book Mr. Advani tries to remove the misconceptions and prejudices that has grown over the years around the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in particular. RSS is the focal organization connected with the project of Hindu nationalism (Hindu Rashtra). RSS was founded in 1925 and its first leader was Baligram Hedgewar who was influenced by writings of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Savarkar excluded Islam from his notion of Hindutva as he considered that Islam carried cultural components that did not fit into Hindus way of life as a collectivity. Mr. Advani advocates the Common people to read 'non communal' Golwalkar and then themselves validate the authenticity of this 'mendacious' blame. Mr. Advani in his memoir seems to be sorrowful as he considers his master Golwalkar, commonly referred as Shri Guruji by Advani et.al as the victim of vilification Campaign ( the same vilification as faced by V.D Savarkar according to Mr. Advani). Advani was 14 years old when he was for the first time introduced to his destiny called RSS. The man who has been dominating Indian national politics from last 60 years needs to be paid attention when he defends some one, that also the master of his ideology M.S Golwalkar. Advani believes that his master was never communal, instead was a person with 'saintly appearance' and of secular character. Advani's Golwalkar aspired for so called Indianization of Indian Muslims, which in Advani's consideration is secular.

Advani  considers himself involved in every right thing that has happened to India and ardent critique of every other 'bad' thing which questioned the very basic credentials of the his Motherland (India). Lets evaluate 'secular' traits of Advani's guru by taking the very text written by M.S Golwalkar into consideration.

Conceptualiztion of Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation) and Minorities by M.S Golwalkar: According to Golwalkar “the so-called minorities living in India have nothing to lose but everything to gain by the rejuvenation of Hindu Rashtra”. Golwalkar confesses that Secularism as originated in the west has no relevance to India. According to Golwalkar the word secularism is centuries ago concept, while as India's great book on secularism edited by Rajeev Bhargava 'Secularisn and its Critics' claims secularism as a modern concept as the term secularism was coined in 1851 by George jacob Holyake. Golwalkar asserts that the word secular is nowhere to be found in our constitution and foisting of such a word can be termed as interpolation and a superimposition upon the constitution. Golwalkar strongly believe that his narrow nationalist outlook will ultimately help in raising up the nation after absorbing the desirable form. Golwalkar wants the Muslims to be assimilated, digested, absorbed in manner so that they shed their Mohammedan roots. .

Golwalkar gives the reasons why motherland (Hindu Rashtra) is Hindu not Bharatiya or Arya.

 1 ) Why it is not Arya, is because the name Arya has gone out of use especially for the last thousand years. Due to Aryan-Dravidian controversy, “the use of 'Arya' would be self-defeating in its purpose of bringing up before our people stretching from Himalayas to Kanyakumari, irrespective of all denominations, past and present.

2) According to Golwalkar there is misconception regarding the word Bharatya. as it is used as a translation of the word 'Indian' which includes all the various other communities like the Muslim, christian, parsi, etc, residing in this land. “So the word 'Bharatya' too likely to mislead us when we want to denote our particular scociety.

3) Why Hindu?. According to golwalkar “Hindu alone connotes correctly and completely the meaning which we want to convey” . It gives one the constipation by the logic presented by Golwalkar to defend the name 'Hindu'.

The logic is as,.

“We find the name Sapta-Sindhu in the oldest records of the world-the Rig-Veda itself-as an epithet applied to our land and our people. And its is also well know the syllable 'S' in Sanskrit is at times changed to 'H' as some of our Prakrit languages and even in European languages” and thus the name Hapta-hindu and then 'Hindu' came into currency”

Golwalkar quotes Brihaspati Agama according to whom “the word 'Hindu' is formed with the letter 'Hi' from the Himalayas and 'Indu' from Indu Sarovar (the southern ocean), conveying the entire stretch of our motherland”

Advani's 'sage' has deep entrenched antipathy towards Muslims which is defended by Advani by naming it as vilification, misconception, misunderstanding. Advani presented two arguments in his memoir 'My Country My life' to prove Golwalkar's liking towards Muslims. But if Advani would have gone a bit further he would have been trapped into the colossal quandary.

According to Golwalkar “ after the death of Mohammed Pygamber his followers poured out from Arabstan in waves after waves with their swords dripping with blood and overran vast portion as of the globe, trampling under their feet all the various empires that lay in their path—Iran, Egypt, Rome, Europe and all others up to China. The same tides of fanatic fury dashed also against the shores of Hindustan. Our people braved the onslaughts relentlessly for over hundred years and instead of being sucked up, ultimately succeeded in crushing completely the forces of enemy”.

Muslims according to Golwalkar's are enemies who are foreign, intruders to this land called Hindustan. For Golwalkar the nation consists of five units geography, race, religion, culture and language. This implies itself about the identity and status of India's Muslim population and other groups like Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists. To this Golwalkar has answer Sikhs and Buddhists are Hindus and thus Indians. Here it becomes important to refer Hedgewar, first leader of RSS

 “ Hindu coincides with rashtra or nationality and therefore Hindus are automatically true nationals. Members of other religions, if they denied they are Hindus were also denying that they were Indians”

According to Golwalkar the serious failure of democracy in independent Hindustan is growing menace of communism. By voting along with Communists in recent, BJP didn't worried about this menace and happily voted against the UPA government. Golwalkar who earlier refers Christianity as intolerant faith changes his argument and assures that in West it is the Christianity that alone can stem the tide of Communism. Golwalkar says communism takes root only where faith is shattered.

Advani's book My country My life as reviewed by Praful Bidwai is a launching pad for the next election, exposing Advani's pettiness which he has inherited from his guru Golwalkar. According to Golwalkar “ Ever Since that evil day, when moslems first landed in Huindustan, right to the present moment, the Hindu nation has been gallantly fighting on to shake off the despoilers ....”

Such is the hate for Muslims in Golwalkar entrenched and Mr. Advani tries to defend him. The problem is solved here, as BJP might try to prove itself as secular in the the form writing memoirs like written by advani, but it is clearly understood that their agenda is to Indianize Muslims of Hindustan.  ndia and ultimtely Hinduize them.The 'other' need to be eliminated in order to give proper definition to the 'self'. The other here refers Muslims. My Country My life is desperate attemp by L.K advani to win over the hearts and minds of people to be next prime Minister of India so as to continue the Communal legacy that he has inherited from his gurus like Golwalkar , Savarkar, Rajpal Puri, Shyam prasad Mukherjee.

Nepal's new Maoist PM, Prachanda, has made his choice clear. Within a week of taking office, he is breaking bread with the Chinese leadership at the closing ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing, preferring it over meeting the Indian leadership in New Delhi.

The political overflight of New Delhi has not gone unnoticed here — Prachanda would be the first Nepalese leader to make Beijing his first stop and not New Delhi.

However you look at it, it's a snub, particularly since New Delhi had invited him to visit much earlier. It doesn't begin the new government's ties with India on a promising note. Prachanda even chose to ignore signals from India that it would not be "helpful" in relations with New Delhi.

There will be little comment from South Block, but it might be a while before Prachanda visits New Delhi. It's more likely that the new Nepal president, Ram Baran Yadav, whose invitation to India is already in process, may make it here first.

Prachanda swore in his new government on Friday, and was off to Beijing on Saturday with an 11-member delegation. However, the Maoist minister for law and justice, Dev Gurung, said Prachanda's visit to China cannot be regarded as directed against India. He said the Maoist-led government has vowed to follow the policy of "equidistance" from India and China.

Prachanda's actions, said sources, follows his earlier statements where he wanted to review the India-Nepal friendship treaty, because it was "unequal". This has been his way of showing that it would no longer be business as usual between India and Nepal, and henceforth, Nepal will be overtly open to Chinese overtures.

And there was no dearth of that in Beijing. According to reports, Prachanda met both Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao. Hu was reported as saying that China and Nepal were "good neighbours, good friends and good partners". Hu noted that "the two countries have established a good neighbourly partnership and enjoyed friendship generation upon generation".

Hu added, "This fully demonstrates the great attention Nepal attaches to relations with China and its profound friendship with the Chinese people. We highly appreciate that."

Clearly, Prachanda is building up China as a hedge against India, much in the manner of all of India's other neighbours. Which, in its own way, is not cause for alarm in New Delhi, except for what it might bring in its wake, in terms of greater Chinese access into Nepal. China has also promised a lot of assistance to Nepal, which widens its choices, from being dependent on India, a dependence that has ramifications in its domestic politics.

On the other hand, Beijing was never a supporter of the Maoists, and in fact, during the jan andolan, it had taken the side of the now deposed monarchy. Even now, China remains worried about Tibetan protesters continuing their protests in Nepal. The effects of a Chinese hug will soon be felt in Nepal, because China can be quite single-minded in advancing its interests rapidly. New Delhi has floundered with the Maoist victory and is yet to strike the right notes with the new formation there.

Despite the popular linkages between India and Nepal, more hard-nosed approaches may now become the norm between India and Nepal, said sources.

24 Aug 2008, Indrani Bagchi, TNN

Akin to Brazil’s ‘Condominio Fechados’ (closed housing estate) or Argentina’s ‘Barrios Privados’ (private neighbourhood), more and more cash-stacked Indians today are seeking the security and the luxury of living in a ‘Gated Community’, a trend catching up fast in the domestic real estate sector here.

Gated Community is a form of a residential complex, sometimes characterised by high walls and fences. It boasts of controlled entrances for pedestrians and automobiles, surveillance of those entering the premises, clean streets and amenities on a par with a dream luxury resort.

The concept, already popular abroad, is making a foray into the country as NRIs returning to their roots are looking for the security and amenities of gated communities found abroad, says Manoj Namburu, CMD of Alliance Group.

These communities offer the perfect getaway from everyday civic problems, ranging from water cuts, pebble-strewn streets to living with the stench of unpicked garbage cans.

“It is a world in itself with all the latest amenities. It has its own power, water and maintenance departments,” says a builder.

Security is one of the key features that a gated community offers, says Edward, deputy marketing manager of Puravankara, a leading real estate developer.

Special security personnel man various entry and exit points. A closely connected set of security personnel feed information on visitors entering the premises and save residents the pain of answering umpteen doorbells rung by salesmen or other unwanted visitor on the premises.

With many professionals who keep shuttling between India and countries abroad, security of their homes is a big challenge, says Edward. “An independent house or just a regular apartment does not offer that security. But in a gated community, these residents can leave their house for some months without fear of being broken into or tampered with.”

But it is not just the security, but also the amenities, some of which border on ‘living life king size’, which are getting the cash-rich professionals hooked on to these communities.

An upcoming 275-acre integrated township offers its residents the luxury of catching a helicopter shuttle to the new Bangalore airport virtually from their doorstep! The township will have its own helipad to enable residents take the helicopter shuttle. The chopper will also double up as an air ambulance to lift critically ill residents to hospital for emergency service, doing away with wasting precious minutes in traffic jams.

In a bid to woo this high-end segment, developers have begun offering amenities of international standards, albeit at a premium cost.

These residential complexes resembling luxury hotels boast of swanky swimming pools, saunas, clubhouse, spas, dedicated areas for jogging freaks and fitness centres, well manicured lawns, vast green stretches of golf courses, cricket pitch, shopping malls and multiplexes.

Self-contained entities, these communities, also perceived by some as a fancy of the nouveau rich, is an attempt to segregate from those who do not fit into their class.

A neighbourhood with fancy names like 10-Downing or Inner Circle, speaks volumes of those opting for them. A perfect neighbourhood with a perfect address.

Business Standard, Bangalore August 25, 2008

The Guardian (UK)
Friday August 22 2008

Kashmir is in crisis: the region's Muslims are mounting huge non-violent protests against the Indian government's rule. But, asks Arundhati Roy, what would independence for the territory mean for its people?

A Kashmiri Muslim shows a victory sign during a march in Srinagar, India. Photograph: Dar Yasin/AP

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/22/kashmir.india

For the past 60 days or so, since about the end of June, the people of Kashmir have been free. Free in the most profound sense. They have shrugged off the terror of living their lives in the gun-sights of half a million heavily armed soldiers, in the most densely militarised zone in the world.

After 18 years of administering a military occupation, the Indian government's worst nightmare has come true. Having declared that the militant movement has been crushed, it is now faced with a non-violent mass protest, but not the kind it knows how to manage. This one is nourished by people's memory of years of repression in which tens of thousands have been killed, thousands have been "disappeared", hundreds of thousands tortured, injured, and humiliated. That kind of rage, once it finds utterance, cannot easily be tamed, rebottled and sent back to where it came from.

A sudden twist of fate, an ill-conceived move over the transfer of 100 acres of state forest land to the Amarnath Shrine Board (which manages the annual Hindu pilgrimage to a cave deep in the Kashmir Himalayas) suddenly became the equivalent of tossing a lit match into a barrel of petrol. Until 1989 the Amarnath pilgrimage used to attract about 20,000 people who travelled to the Amarnath cave over a period of about two weeks. In 1990, when the overtly Islamist militant uprising in the valley coincided with the spread of virulent Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) in the Indian plains, the number of pilgrims began to increase exponentially. By 2008 more than 500,000 pilgrims visited the Amarnath cave, in large groups, their passage often sponsored by Indian business houses. To many people in the valley this dramatic increase in numbers was seen as an aggressive political statement by an increasingly Hindu-fundamentalist Indian state. Rightly or wrongly, the land transfer was viewed as the thin edge of the wedge. It triggered an apprehension that it was the beginning of an elaborate plan to build Israeli-style settlements, and change the demography of the valley.

Days of massive protest forced the valley to shut down completely. Within hours the protests spread from the cities to villages. Young stone pelters took to the streets and faced armed police who fired straight at them, killing several. For people as well as the government, it resurrected memories of the uprising in the early 90s. Throughout the weeks of protest, hartal (strikes) and police firing, while the Hindutva publicity machine charged Kashmiris with committing every kind of communal excess, the 500,000 Amarnath pilgrims completed their pilgrimage, not just unhurt, but touched by the hospitality they had been shown by local people.

Eventually, taken completely by surprise at the ferocity of the response, the government revoked the land transfer. But by then the land-transfer had become what Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the most senior and also the most overtly Islamist separatist leader, called a "non-issue".

Massive protests against the revocation erupted in Jammu. There, too, the issue snowballed into something much bigger. Hindus began to raise issues of neglect and discrimination by the Indian state. (For some odd reason they blamed Kashmiris for that neglect.) The protests led to the blockading of the Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only functional road-link between Kashmir and India. Truckloads of perishable fresh fruit and valley produce began to rot.

The blockade demonstrated in no uncertain terms to people in Kashmir that they lived on sufferance, and that if they didn't behave themselves they could be put under siege, starved, deprived of essential commodities and medical supplies.

To expect matters to end there was of course absurd. Hadn't anybody noticed that in Kashmir even minor protests about civic issues like water and electricity inevitably turned into demands for azadi, freedom? To threaten them with mass starvation amounted to committing political suicide.

Not surprisingly, the voice that the government of India has tried so hard to silence in Kashmir has massed into a deafening roar. Raised in a playground of army camps, checkpoints, and bunkers, with screams from torture chambers for a soundtrack, the young generation has suddenly discovered the power of mass protest, and above all, the dignity of being able to straighten their shoulders and speak for themselves, represent themselves. For them it is nothing short of an epiphany. Not even the fear of death seems to hold them back. And once that fear has gone, of what use is the largest or second largest army in the world?

There have been mass rallies in the past, but none in recent memory that have been so sustained and widespread. The mainstream political parties of Kashmir - National Conference and People's Democratic party - appear dutifully for debates in New Delhi's TV studios, but can't muster the courage to appear on the streets of Kashmir. The armed militants who, through the worst years of repression were seen as the only ones carrying the torch of azadi forward, if they are around at all, seem content to take a back seat and let people do the fighting for a change.

The separatist leaders who do appear and speak at the rallies are not leaders so much as followers, being guided by the phenomenal spontaneous energy of a caged, enraged people that has exploded on Kashmir's streets. Day after day, hundreds of thousands of people swarm around places that hold terrible memories for them. They demolish bunkers, break through cordons of concertina wire and stare straight down the barrels of soldiers' machine guns, saying what very few in India want to hear. Hum Kya Chahtey? Azadi! (We want freedom.) And, it has to be said, in equal numbers and with equal intensity: Jeevey jeevey Pakistan. (Long live Pakistan.)

That sound reverberates through the valley like the drumbeat of steady rain on a tin roof, like the roll of thunder during an electric storm.

On August 15, India's independence day, Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of Srinagar, was taken over by thousands of people who hoisted the Pakistani flag and wished each other "happy belated independence day" (Pakistan celebrates independence on August 14) and "happy slavery day". Humour obviously, has survived India's many torture centres and Abu Ghraibs in Kashmir.
On August 16 more than 300,000 people marched to Pampore, to the village of the Hurriyat leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, who was shot down in cold blood five days earlier.

On the night of August 17 the police sealed the city. Streets were barricaded, thousands of armed police manned the barriers. The roads leading into Srinagar were blocked. On the morning of August 18, people began pouring into Srinagar from villages and towns across the valley. In trucks, tempos, jeeps, buses and on foot. Once again, barriers were broken and people reclaimed their city. The police were faced with a choice of either stepping aside or executing a massacre. They stepped aside. Not a single bullet was fired.

The city floated on a sea of smiles. There was ecstasy in the air. Everyone had a banner; houseboat owners, traders, students, lawyers, doctors. One said: "We are all prisoners, set us free." Another said: "Democracy without freedom is demon-crazy." Demon-crazy. That was a good one. Perhaps he was referring to the insanity that permits the world's largest democracy to administer the world's largest military occupation and continue to call itself a democracy.

There was a green flag on every lamp post, every roof, every bus stop and on the top of chinar trees. A big one fluttered outside the All India Radio building. Road signs were painted over. Rawalpindi they said. Or simply Pakistan. It would be a mistake to assume that the public expression of affection for Pakistan automatically translates into a desire to accede to Pakistan. Some of it has to do with gratitude for the support - cynical or otherwise - for what Kashmir