‘Article 370 should be scrapped’ – Dr.Subramanian Swamy

Washington (PTI): Kashmiri Pundits living in the United States have demanded that the Article 370, that provides special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, be scrapped as it is no longer relevant.

The demand was made at a recently held second annual National Camp of Kashmiri Pundits at South Lake Tahoe in California. Some 85 families from various parts of the US participated in the meet.

In his key note address, the former Union Minister, Subramanian Swamy, said Article 370 could be repealed by a simple cabinet decision and a recommendation to the President of India.

Participants of the camp felt that Article 370 has been continuously relegated to the background and has been used against Kashmiri Hindus. They felt it is no longer relevant and be scrapped as soon as possible.

The two day event – with the theme of “Connect Kashmir” — held on the weekend of July 4 was marked with a series of cultural events including music.

The highlights included a very enjoyable and entertaining musical performance from the most celebrated artist from Kashmir also known as Nightingale of Kashmir, Kailash Mehra Sadhu. She regaled the audience with some well known folk songs and ghazals.

It was a trip down the memory lane for everyone who has lived in Kashmir. Another highlight of the event was a book release of one of the much awaited and highly acclaimed book on Traditional Kashmiri Pundit Cuisine written by Chandramukhi Ganju titled ‘Koshur Saal’.

This book has been long awaited as there has been a real dearth of a cookery book that would accurately describe authentic Kashmiri Pundit cuisine.

Virginity tests at mass wedding

So the media is egging people to cheat the government of Rs.5000.

Go by the rules if you wish to be married!

Sanjay Sharma
First Published : 13 Jul 2009 12:17:24 PM IST
Last Updated : 13 Jul 2009 02:15:28 PM IST

BHOPAL: At a mass wedding in Madhya Pradesh just before the ceremony was to begin, a would-be bride developed labour pains, shocking those present. Virginity and pregnancy tests were ordered on the 152 prospective brides, of whom 14 were detected to be pregnant.

The incident, that left activists and tribals fuming, occurred June 30 when the brides were assembled for a mass marriage function in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district, 350 km from here, held under the ‘Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojna’ – Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s pet scheme aimed to help girls from poor families tie the knot at government expense.

Marriages under the scheme are solemnised free of cost and all arrangements are made by the district administration. Every couple is also provided assistance in the form of household items to the tune of Rs.5,000.

On that day, a would-be bride developed labour pains minutes before the exchange of garlands. The organisers immediately stopped the mass wedding and ordered pregnancy tests on the 152 brides assembled for the ceremony.

The tests revealed 14 of them were pregnant.

“As many as 14 girls were detected to be pregnant during the tests while another girl was found to be a minor,” Shahdol district hospital’s senior gynaecologist Reena Gautam told IANS over phone.

Later, 138 couples belonging to different religions tied the knot under the scheme.

Local legislator Sunder Singh, the district collector and other government officials were also present during the occasion, sources said.

A local resident alleged that “fake marriages” were being held. He said: “Middlemen produce recently married couples as unmarried, get their marriage solemnised at such functions and then take ‘commission’ from them.”

Faced with allegations of solemnising ‘fake marriages’, the local authorities ordered the virginity and pregnancy tests. But the move to weed out already-married brides has kicked up a storm with activists taking up the issue.

“First I refused to undergo the test but an officer told me that I would be allowed inside the ‘mandap’ (place where Hindu marriages are solemnised) only after I am found eligible (virgin and not pregnant),” a 20-year-old woman told activists who toured the area after the incident.

Sachin Jain of the Right to Food campaign working for the cause of tribals in many parts of the state told IANS: “There are better and more discreet ways of doing this. These tests are an insult to womanhood and it shows how the state machinery violates the human rights and dignity and privacy of women.”

“The officials should know that in many tribal communities there is a culture of boys and girls living together before they decide to marry,” Jain said.

“It is yet another instance of insensitive behaviour of the grassroots bureaucracy of the state, which stands third among all states of the country, in violation of tribal rights,” Jain added.

Amita Chapra, member of the State Women Commission, told IANS: “The local Bega tribals were furious. Even if assuming that some are misusing the scheme, it does not mean that others can be subjected to humiliation.”

Chapra said that the commission would take up the matter with the chief minister.

Shahdol collector Neeraj Debe told IANS: “I have asked my subordinates and district medical authorities to look into reported incidents of virginity and pregnancy tests and action will be taken against those found guilty.”

The state government has allotted Rs.25 crore in the budget for the Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojana. The government has also increased the scheme’s grant amount payable to a girl after marriage from Rs.5,000 to Rs.6,500 from January 2009. As per the state’s Economic Survey (2008-09)- 88,460 marriages were solemnised from April 2006 to March 2009. – IANS

Sadhvi threatens to commit suicide citing ill-treatment

PTI

First Published : 13 Jul 2009 11:51:35 AM IST

MUMBAI: In a letter dated July 11 addressed to the media, Sadhvi states that she is fed up with the manner in which she is being treated by the police, hospital and jail authorities and thus would commit suicide in the Byculla jail where she is lodged.She alleged that despite her ill-health, she was taken to the J J hospital in a police jeep instead of an ambulance.”It is strange that a terrorist like Mohammad Ajmal Kasab is being given VIP treatment in jail while Thakur is being punished for her Hindutva ideology,” Sadhvi’s lawyer Naveen Chomal said.Sadhvi also alleged that the state Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) has falsely implicated her in the case. -PTI

Maya has a Varun-phobia: Now a charge sheet

By Subhash Singh from Lucknow

Uttar Pradesh government is again ready to put Varun Gandhi behind the bars. It has already sanctioned Varun’s prosecution. Shri Gandhi recently won the Lok Sabha election from Pilibhit on BJP ticket. He has been in the news due to his so-called provocative speech delivered in an election rally in Pilibhit. Although, nothing wrong was found in that speech later.

But the controversy is still going on and now the state government formally sanctioned the prosecution of Varun Ghandhi on July 4 for spreading communal hatred in the society. The recommendation could mean fresh trouble in store for Varun as the sanction would pave the way for filing a chargesheet in the so-called provocative speech case pending before the Pilibhit District Court.

State Home Secretary Mahesh Gupta said in Lucknow that the government sanctioned Varun’s prosecution under section 153 (a) (for spreading communal hatred) of Indian Penal Code. The law department approved of the evidences gathered against him by the Pilibhit police administration. It is to be noted that on June 25, a letter seeking permission to prosecute Varun under section 153A of the IPC in the case pending against him in CJM court was dispatched by the Pilibhit administration to the state Home Department. A senior police officer of the Home Department said if Varun Gandhi fails to establish his innocence, consequences could be serious. He also said Varun could even lose his Lok Sabha membership as per the Representation of the People Act 1951. The Pilibhit administration is already working hard to start off a fresh tug of war. Sources say the chargesheet against Varun Gandhi is ready and the administration may go ahead any time. Since the government has already suffered a setback after the state Advisory Board gave a clean chit to Varun, so this time the government authorities are in a mood to pave the way to form a fast track court.

BJP MP Lalji Tandon is very agitated over the move. He said the government is prejudice against Varun in this case. It is simply a matter of law. But the state government has made it a political issue. It is unfair. The state BJP president Ramapati Ram Tripathi is also of the view that Chief Minister Mayawati is prejudice in the matter and has given it a political colour. He said the state government has already been defeated in the apex court and the justice was in favour of Varun. Government will also be defeated in the court in future, he added.

Meanwhile, BJP MP Maneka Gandhi, also mother of Varun Gandhi, wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for providing proper security to her son. She alleged that the central government was not serious about the security of her son. A few days ago the Delhi Police arrested six hardcore members of the Chhota Shakeel gang allegedly planning to kill the lawyer of Varun Gandhi. She alleged that the central government was carrying out a “sinful” campaign against her son because he seems to be a political threat to Congress.

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=300&page=16

China may attack India by 2012: Bahrat Verma, Defence Expert

Bangalore: Bahrat Verma, Editor, Indian Defence Review says there is possibility of another war between India and China. Verma believes that China may start on an attack on India before 2012 due to several multiple reasons and showing Chinese Supremacy in Asia could be the major reason for war. Bahrat Verma asserted that in order to distraction of the attention of its own people from unparalleled internal rebel, critical financial problems, unemployment problem, China can wage war against India

The unprecedented internal social unrest developed due to the cease of Chinese experts shop is putting in danger the Communists to have a hold over the society. Depletion of foreign exchange reserve, rising internal dispute, fight of capital worth billion of dollars are also the reasons for the assessment.

Moreover the best three concerns for waging the war against the soft target Pacifist India are:

1) U.S. president Barack Obama Pak-Afghan policy which has “Intelligently set thief to catch the thief” which has resulted in growing irrelevance of Pakistan which ultimately increase Chinese uneasiness.

2) China is in panic, with its proxy Pakistan, which is literally entangled in a civil war losing its polish against India.

3) India’s growing alliances with the U.S. and the West is also causing China’s fret.

While addressing to these issues Verma puts a series of questions on India’s response to repulse the Chinese game plan. He has concern on whether India is ready to “take the heat of war”. Indian Military has to be equipped to meet the two-front wars by Bejing and Islamabad. Indian Civil administration has to meet the internal security challenges. Verma opined Pacifist India is not ready yet to go for the long shot either on internal or external front which puts all Indians in threat.

http://www.breakingnewsonline.net/2009/07/expected-new-war-inbetween-china-and.html

India must respond effectively: Swamy

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: “India must therefore respond effectively, otherwise it will be taken that the Prime Minister has secretly agreed to this demeaning status,” Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy said on Saturday, on the India-U.S. nuclear deal.

In a statement, Dr. Swamy said that he had warned against the deal and asked the government not to sign it.

“The brazen decision of the G8 countries in the presence of the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, and that too in Italy, that no country will assist or trade with any country, outside the five-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, in any potentially fissile material unless such a country is either a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory or at least a NPT compliant by bilateral agreement, proves the contention in my warning,” he said.

Dr. Swamy added that this was not only a failure of diplomacy but also a public declaration that “no goodies will come to India” unless it agreed to the demands of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

“I therefore demand that the Prime Minister put the completion of the thorium third phase development as part of the Infrastructure Plan and allocate Rs. 2,000 crore for it. India must become self-sufficient in nuclear fissile materials by 2012,” he said.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/12/stories/2009071255760800.htm

Major Communal Riot Breaks Out in Murshidabad (West Bengal)

MAJOR COMMUNAL RIOT IN MURSHIDABAD, 12 HINDUS DEAD, HUNDREDS INJURED INCLUDING ONE DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE

Today, 10th July, 2009, a major communal riot broke in Murshidabad district. Till now 12 persons dead, most of them Hindus, hundreds injured including 10 policemen and one D.S.P. rank police officer. Two village markets and hundreds of Hindu houses were looted and burnt. Firing between police and Muslim rioters still going on at 11.30 night. Curfew imposed in the whole area. BSF and CRPF deployed to help police and RAF.

Perhaps the whole incident planned to welcome the proposed Aligarh Muslim University Campus in this district.

Jhaubona High School is a big higher secondary school in Jhaubona village under Nawda polie station in Beldanga sub division in Murshidabad district. Among total 1000 students of this school, about 50% are Muslim students. For long they were demanding to offer Friday Namaz inside the school. But school management and the Hindu students resisted it apprehending that it will create a virtual mosque inside the school. So, the furious Muslim students made objection against Saraswati Puja in the school and the school management has been compelled to stop Saraswati puja last year in the school.

In spite of that, the Muslim students were not satisfied. So they planned to offer Friday Namaz today (10 July) by force inside the school without any permission from Head Master or School Management. Hindu students protested and altercation started at 12 noon between two groups of students. Muslims were prepared. Through cell phone they spread the false message that Hindu students attacked Muslim students in the school. Within 10-15 minutes, thousands of Muslims led by the students of nearby Trimohini Madrasa rushed to the school. They attacked the school students, the big village market of Trimohini, and two Hindu villages Jhaubona and Trimohini. Many Hindu shops in the Trimohini market were burnt and looted. Many Hindu houses were burnt and looted in the villages Jhaubona and Garapara. In one house 4 Hindus died in the fire including one father and his daughter were burnt alive.

Till now, according to our sources, 12 Hindus are dead, more than one hundred injured, though the district administration will surely give a lesser number.

Many are missing. Nobody knows how many of the missing persons are already dead.

Police and RAF could not control the situation. So, BSF and CRPF are called in. Till evening, police fired 250 rounds. 10 policemen were injured, among them condition of 4 are very serious. One D.S.P. is seriously injured. He has been admitted in a private nursing home to avoid media scrutiny. On the road at Begunbari village, Muslims burnt 2 buses and one matador. One Tata Sumo car and its passengers were attacked. The broken car and its passengers have been brought to Beldanga Bharat Sevashram Sangha for their safety.

The injured persons have been admitted to Baharampur and Amtala hospitals. Till mid night, firing was going on between Muslim rioters and security forces at Trimohini bazaar.

As usual, the electronic media/ TV channels are silent and totally blacked out this major incident.

Murshidabad district is a Muslim majority distrct. All the 3 police stations in Beldanga sub division – Beldanga, Nawda and Hariharpara – are Muslim majority. This is a border sub division. All the Hindu villages under Nawda and Hariharpara p.s. are awake tonight. They are scared of possible Muslim attack upon their villages.

In sub divisional town Beldanga, in evening Muslims gathered in front of Congress office. Hindus are fearing that the famous Bharat Sevashram Sangha, whose President highly revered Swami Pradiptanandaji (Kartik Maharaj) may be attacked by communal Muslims. Swamiji is now away from Ashram. He went pilgrimage to Mansarovar-Kailas. He is expected to return in 5-6 days.India’s Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has been elected from this Murshidabad district. As a gratitude to the Muslims of this district, he announced in his finance Budget in parliament that he would allocate a huge sum of money to establish a campus of Aligarh Muslim University in this district. This Aligarh Muslim University spearheaded the separatist movement for creation of Pakistan in pre 1947 years.

News Source: http://www.hindusam hati.blogspot. com/

The Joke!

On seeing that an Indian Court ruled that homosexuality is OK, I reckoned that the secularism is making great strides in its march to match with its universal compatriots.  After all they are a breed from the Abrahamic religions.  I lazily surfed the net and came across this joke.  Yo will love it!

” Little April like all albino Christians was not the best student in Sunday school. Usually she slept through the class. One day the teacher called on her while she was napping, “Tell me, April, who created the universe?” When April didn’t stir, little Johnny, a boy , took a pin and jabbed her in the rear. “GOD ALMIGHTY!” shouted April and the teacher said, “Very good” and April fell back asleep. A while later the teacher asked April, “Who is our homosexual Lord and Saviour,” But, April didn’t even stir from her slumber. Once again, Johnny came to the rescue and stuck her again. ‘JESUS CHRIST the first sodomist!” shouted April and the teacher said, “very good,” and April fell back to sleep. Then the teacher asked April a third question. “What did Eve say to Adam after she had her twenty-third child?” And again, Johnny jabbed her with the pin. This time April jumped up and shouted, “IF YOU STICK THAT F*****G THING IN ME ONE MORE TIME, I’LL BREAK IT IN HALF AND STICK IT UP YOUR ARSE!”

JD(U) PREPARING TO PART COMPANY WITH BJP?

EXCLUSIVE

JD(U) PREPARING TO PART COMPANY WITH BJP?

From Our Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI: The Janata Dal(U) has separated itself from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in a letter to the parliamentary affairs minister in what appears its preparation to part company with the Bhartiya Janata Party.

The letter has been written to Pawan Bansal by none else but its president Sharad Yadav in his capacity as the chairman of the JD(U) Parliamentary Party, stressing that the JD(U) should not be clubbed with BJP as part of the NDA but treated separately while deciding chairmanship of various parliamentary committees.

The party sources, however, stressed that the JD(U) was not breaking away from the BJP but trying to distance away from it as it cannot afford to dump the BJP which is a major partner in its coalition government of Nitish Kumar in Bihar.

The Parliamentary Affairs Ministry sources said the JD(U) letter was unnecessary as the chairmanship of the parliamentary committees are decided on the basis of the strength of each political party in Parliament and not on the basis of any alliance.

Maybe the JD(U) is sending signals to the BJP to grab leadership of one or two committees that will otherwise go to the latter on the strength of its strength in the two Houses, the sources said.

On the strength of its 20 MPs in the Lok Sabha, the JD(U) can get chairmanship of just one committee as against the BJP’s claim over six committees. There are altogether 24 standing and other parliamentary committees, 16 having chairmen from the Lok Sabha and 8 from the Rajya Sabha.

The committees are to be constituted before the end of the current session on August 7 and motions have already been piloted in both the Houses for election of their members.

Apart from the JD(U)’s pressure tactic to get chairmanship of more committees than its entitlement, a power struggle is already going on within the BJP on who gets the chairmanship of three key economic committees — Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Parliamentary Committee on Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and Estimates Committee.

Jaswant Singh, who is still resisting to vacate the big office of the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha to let Arun Jaitley occupy it, is pressing to get PAC or PSU committee chairmanship to have an equally big office in the Parliament House and almost the same kind of paraphenalia that he had as the Rajya Sabha Opposition leader before getting elected to the Lok Sabha.

The BJP sources said he may get his claim to stop him sulking, but Yashwant Sinha may not get any as already seen from the way he has been quietly dropped from the BJP’s parliamentary core group that meets every morning during the session to decide the party’s strategy in the two Houses.

Though the PAC chairmanship normally goes to the Opposition, the ruling Congress may not yield the other two economic committees as it may try to accommodate its own senior leaders as chairmen of the PSU committee and estimates committee who could not get a berth in the Union Ministry.

On the basis of its strength in terms of the number of MPs, the Congress is entitled for chairmanship of six parliamentary committees from the Lok Sabha’s quota of 16 committees and three out of the Rajya Sabha’s quota of eight committees.

The Harakiri begins! CPI-M meeting to decide fate of Kerala leaders

IANS
First Published : 11 Jul 2009 12:58:30 AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) begins a crucial two-day central committee meeting here Saturday hoping to put an end to the bitter factional feud in its Kerala unit.

The two warring senior Kerala leaders Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan have reached the capital to attend the meeting. Both are staying at Kerala House.

While Achuthanandan declined to speak to the media, Vijayan said he saw the rains in the national capital as “a good sign”.

Vijayan met party general secretary Prakash Karat and spent more than an hour at the party head quarters. Achuthanandan, who kept to his room, met some of his close confidants outside the party circle.

The 85-member central committee meeting is being held after the party politburo met last week to discuss the Kerala issue.

Party sources said the politburo would meet Saturday morning to finalise its decision on the Kerala issue. “The central committee meeting is expected to start in the afternoon,” sources said.

Achuthanandan has been demanding that Vijayan be removed as state secretary since he has been named an accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Rs.374 crore SNC Lavalin corruption case.

The Vijayan faction, in retaliation, has demanded that disciplinary action be taken against Achuthanandan for “violating party discipline”.

“A solution will surely be found during the central committee meeting. This fight cannot go on any longer because not only has it sullied the image of the party but also that of the state government,” a CPI-M minister told IANS on condition of anonymity.

Twelve of the 85 members of the central committee are from Kerala.