“Why did a courteous, poem-penning, educated young man threaten to tear the secular fabric of a country that his great grandfather and grandmother have so diligently woven into a united whole? Did he get carried away by his debut political address? Ganesha says it's the diabolical Rahu-Ketu effect that fanned the embers in Varun's brain.”
If you want to know more, do click here.
Link via “It’s Not Varun Gandhi’s Fault”
“The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that death from diabetes and heart disease alone costs
So the average person is more likely to die from a lifestyle disease then from an automobile accident, or infectious disease such as pneumonia.”
The above information is lost somewhere in this debate on veg v/s non-veg debate.
“The West Bengal government’s decision to relocate 40 polling booths near Lalgarh in West Midnapore district — as per the demands of the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities, supposedly backed by the Maoists — has the obvious advantages of allowing elections to be held in the troubled area as well as keeping the tribals happy by precluding police presence near their homes. But the compromise worked out by the state government, the Election Commission and the People’s Committee is also the official acknowledgement of the extent of administrative failure.”
An editorial in the Indian Express claims “Maoist victory”
“Stating that the rapid expansion of the Taliban in
“While announcing the new Af-Pak policy last month, Obama had said that
The
Update: It's the terrorism, stupid; not
“Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Thursday that both LTTE and
"It is not against the Union Government or Congress. It is for stopping the hostilities there in that country." He said it was wrong to say that the Union Government did not take any steps to stop the hostilities in the island. Read the whole article here.
With Tamil Nadu on the boil over loss of Tamil lives in the Sri Lankan fighting and political parties calling for either a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities, the Government decided tonight to send National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon as early as tomorrow to
And in an editorial, “Nonetheless, strong words streamed in. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee echoed many of his counterparts around the world, including from the
“The over four-decade old saffron outfit, founded by Bal Thackeray, is reaching voters through telephony, internet, mobile SMS and also plans a full-fledged studio to help meet needs of the electronic media.
The Sena has started a toll-free number 1800222772 on which people can register their grievances to the party over phone. Their complaints would be recorded and addressed by the party leaders.”
Shiv Sena is embracing the new technologies in order to get closer to the Gen Next vote bank. Do I hear anyone tell me that all this is western influence and against our ‘Hindutva’ culture?
“
Don’t you think every citizen has a responsibility? I believe a person who has been educated, has a responsibility towards his nation. That is why I used to say every individual should be a good member of a family. Every individual has to be a good member of the society. Every individual has to be a good member of the nation. Every educated individual should be a good member of the planet earth. The question is how to make the individual into a good member? Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation there is peace in the world. Who will give us that righteousness in the heart? Our parents, our teachers in a spiritual environment.
”
O! How much do we miss you, Sir?
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Their relief camps are shutting down and they have to return to houses that are, in large part, still burnt-out. They’re mostly without election ID cards and quite some distance from the towns where they’re registered. Where responsible politics would heal these wounds, the local — and, unfortunately, the national-level BJP as well — has taken on the task of pushing things in the other direction. Yet another step backward for the BJP in this campaign.”
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Among things that the Samajwadi Party officially opposes are fancy English education, computers, farm machinery, stock-trading, and shopping malls. If this stuff is seriously meant, it reveals the SP’s intellectual vacuity and disconnect with the outside world. If it is a text merely meant to rally the faithful (with no bearing on actual governance), it is shocking in its condescension to the people.
Mulayam Singh’s plan involves phasing out computers wherever human labour can be substituted — a plank that even the Left has left behind, because of its patent absurdity. Warming over a centuries-old man versus machine debate, the manifesto also pushes for some prelapsarian past where farmers would directly cultivate the land. India’s biggest global advantage has been its IT-competent, English-speaking population — a segment that more and more young people openly aspire to — and the SP’s manifesto essentially promises to send his imagined constituency spinning away from that orbit.
“
More at http://www.indianexpress.com/news/translate-this/446139/
Shekhar Gupta in an excellent two part discussion with J K Dutt, former Director General of the National Security Guard, under whose command the siege (Mumbai Terror Attacks at the Taj, Oberoi and Nariman House on
The first part is here and the second part is here.
Please read both the parts in full.
KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL lists some of the cases
“
"When the NDA was ruling at the Centre, they had sent Lord Rama for 'vanvaas' (exile). Now they have again raised the issue of constructing a
”
To be fair to the NDA, the allies during the time the NDA was in power ensured that the mandir would not be built. But it does seem that the mandir issue is dusted and presented only during election time. If the mandir is built, then the BJP would lose an election issue, won’t it?
The Commission underscored that it expects that “all political parties, their leaders, workers and supporters as well as their candidates shall scrupulously observe the Model Code of Conduct in letter and spirit”.
And that “it sincerely hopes that they will be guided by the advice of the Honourable Supreme Court of India in conducting their electoral campaigns and set high standards of electoral morality.”
“Violations of the Model Code of Conduct and, in several instances, the law of the land, seem to be turning into something of a trend, which if unchecked, is bound to seriously damage the election process and set a deplorable precedent for future elections,” the Commission warned.
"...the Congress stands for nothing, while the BJP stands for something pernicious. The BJP has, in its DNA, the politics of divisiveness. It is true that the Congress has also played such politics, but out of convenience, not belief. That makes their acts no less heinous, but, in my eyes at least, it makes them slightly less dangerous because there is less chance of things going wrong, of a repeat of 1984 or 2002.
And ya, it burns me up that I need to decide who I support on the basis of who is less dangerous. That totally sucks, but such it is, so there we go."
That's Amit Gupta at talking about what Tytler and Sajjan tell him about the Congress party
“
After visits in and around the Gandhi
- Why is there no PHC in Jalund village?
- Why is there no ST service in Moti Adraj?
- Why are there no toilets in Borij?
- Why has a tank in Ghatlodia - that is said to have cost Rs. 60 lakhs- never had a drop of water?
- Why are there only 32 polling booths for 2 lakh people in Juhapura?
- Why are there no gutters in Borisana?
- Why is NREGA not applicable in Sonawada?
- Why do villagers in Gokulpura have to walk a 15 km circuitous route when a 3 km road could ease their transport problems?
Why?
It would be too simple to answer all these questions with "Its because the local authorities are inefficient". Of course, there is a certain level of inefficiency that is only too obvious to those who talk to villagers around Gandhi
“
Mallika Sarabhai, independent candidate from Gandhi
“Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee likened Jarnail Singh to a Panthic hero and offered him a job in case he lost the one he has now. It also offered to bear his legal expenses if he's booked and need to fight his case. “
As per the Indian Express, The govt has also asked CBI “Why clean chit to Tytler, why no copy to us?”
“Spurred by concerns raised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CBI director Ashwani Kumar was asked to provide the facts of the case and the report that his agency submitted to Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate last Thursday giving a clean chit to Tytler. The case comes up for hearing tomorrow.
Sources said Kumar is learnt to have told the government that since it had been asked by the court in December 2007 to file an investigation report after questioning Jasbir Singh, it was duty bound to submit it “only” to the court.”
The ToI also reports that
“The fate of Congress leader Jagdish Tytler's nomination from Delhi North-East is hanging by a slender thread. With the "shoe throwing" protest by journalist Jarnail Singh triggering sharp reaction among Sikhs, Congress leadership is seriously considering to dump Tytler to secure its prospects in
My post on the shoe throwing incident is here.
Alka Pande & Ravish Tiwari in the Indian Express give the low down on the Amar and Azam saga.
“As I see it, the two most probable candidates for Prime Minister are Mayawati and Rahul Gandhi. If Mayawati ma
“While the Kishanganj administration booked him for his verbal attack on BJP leader Varun Gandhi, the second FIR was filed at Garhwa town in Jharkhand over his chopper skipping the helipad and landing at the venue of his rally. His arrest came in a similar offence - landing his helicopter at the venue of his meet in 2005 - but he was released on bail.”
From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Lalu-booked-in-two-cases-arrested/articleshow/4369272.cms
“Besides the two currently held constituencies, Kanyakumari (earlier Nagercoil) and Madurai, the CPI(M) will contest from the Coimbatore constituency.”
“The AIADMK is continuing talks with the MDMK, the only ally with which it is yet to reach an understanding on sharing of seats.”
The article also claims that “The talks between the two parties were prolonged because the CPI(M) insisted on the Tirupur constituency. It, however, agreed to settle for Coimbatore.”
I had been posting several election related news on a discussion thread on The Consortium of Loose, Forward and Pub going women, but this particular forum has been subject to several attempts to bring it down. It seems that some people are not really happy with this concept.
In an attempt to provide election related information to those interested, I will be posting the same info on this blog too. Readers are encouraged to comment on the same. Treat this as a test post as I'm trying to post this directly from my email client.
