drisyadrisya: Neighbours envy, Owners pride!

From the drisyadrisya दृश्यादृश्य blog, this article Neighbours envy, Owners pride! is about Narendra Modi's recent election victory in Gujarat. The author identifies two factors that led to Modi's victory: the Congress Party's playing the Hindutva card and the efforts of the ELM (English language media) to defame Modi.

The author notes:

As a Malayalee, having seen the devil and deep sea alternately ruin such a beautiful state, I have to admit.... I envy Gujaratis, I envy Modi. I have seen most youth complain about their state's government - and rightly so many times. But a majority of my Gujarati friends, seem so proud of their government. They put youtube videos showcasing Gujarats rapid development on their orkut..... I am sure, some of them, if not most, also hope that what Sardar Patel was denied will be made up by Modi - if not immediately, some day, may be after Advani !

I can sympathize with the author's point of view. As the author has seen his native Kerala ruined by the Communists, my husband has seen how the Communists have ruined his home state of West Bengal.

Even Modi's foes acknowledge that he's been successful at attracting foreign investment: the Wall Street Journal claims that Gujarat has received 25% of foreign investment in India. People from Gujarat describe Modi as a good administrator (albeit dogmatic) and a clean politician, rather an anomaly in India. Could it be these qualities that make Gujarat a good bet for investment?

Jihad in India: an interview with Moorthy Muthuswamy

Moorthy Muthuswamy

Terrorism in India has been a recurring theme on Mera Bharat Mahan. I have mapped terrorist attacks in India at Tagzania and have presented views of Sadanand Dhume and others about India's susceptability to terrorism. From FrontPage Magazine via Jihad Watch, here is an interview with Moorthy Muthuswamy, Ph.D., author of The Art of War on Terror: Triumphing over Political Islam and the Axis of Jihad.

Salient points from the interview:

• Terrorism is a humanitarian issue. According to Dr. Muthuswamy, "millions of Indian children are going hungry and getting malnourished due to economic bleeding imposed in the name of Islam."

• Political Islam is the enemy. It is based on the trilogy of the Qu'ran, Hadith (documented sayings and actions of Muhammad), and Sira (biography of Muhammad). Dr. Muthuswamy elaborates, "We are now further identifying the enemy: a political ideology of conquest that inspires terror, mosques as the nodes that spawn jihad and axis of jihad [Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan] as the main backer nations of the ideology and the nodes."

• Jihad has forced out non-Muslims in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Kashmir. This pattern has been re-enacted in Muslim majority areas of India itself.

• "… Sonia Gandhi’s Congress party, according to Indian intelligence, has been infiltrated by jihadists. Due to the policies enacted by Manmohan Singh’s government, jihadi infiltration into Indian institutions is escalating, including its paramilitary forces.…"

• "It is a matter of time India is hit in a major way … Strikes on India’s nuclear reactors, oil refineries or call-center infrastructure, for instance, is bound to make devastating economic impact and make hundrends of milions more of its children go hungry, and destitute and set the stage for India’s ireversible destruction andeventual Islamization."

Dr. Muthuswamy notes that India has the right under international law to take pre-emptive strikes when faced with a "blatant and long-pattern of genocide by an enemy." Don't hold your breath for that to happen. Israel had the political will to bomb Saddam's nuclear reactor, as it expected that Saddam would unleash nuclear weapons on Israel (Col. Ilan Ramon, who perished in the Space Shuttle Discovery mission with Kalpana Chawla, was one of the pilots on the mission to take out Saddam's nuclear reactor). India's current leaders do not have that political will.

Sri Aurobindo on Hinduism

Found through Hindu Press International:


Sri Aurobindo

Hinduism gave itself no name, because it set itself no sectarian limits; it claimed no universal adhesion, asserted no sole infallible dogma, set up no single narrow path or gate of salvation; it was less a creed or cult than a continuously enlarging tradition of the Godward endeavor of the human spirit. An immense, many-sided and many staged provision for a spiritual self-building and self-finding, it had some right to speak of itself by the only name it knew, the eternal religion, Sanatana Dharma. Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950)

UPDATE: This item has been cross-posted at Savitri Era Open Forum.

Treating Kala-azar

Kala-azar, also known as "black fever," is a disease transmitted by sand flies. OneWorld Health, a non-profit pharmaceutical company, describes kala-azar as:

a deadly disease transmitted via the bite of an infected sand fly. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the most dangerous of the three manifestations of disease caused by the Leishmania parasite. VL is associated with fever, weight loss, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and anemia. If left untreated, it is nearly always fatal.

This video is the first of 6 videos comprising the documentary Kill or Cure? Visceral leishmaniasis, which was presented on BBC TV in June 2007 (the other videos may be found at YouTube). OneWorld Health has been working with doctors in India to test Paromomycin Intramuscular (IM) injection as a treatment for kala-azar and with Hyderabad-based Gland Pharma to manufacture the injectables at cost to make the treatment affordable to victims and their families.

Mera Bharat Mahan commends the Principal Investigators and Gland Pharma for developing solutions for fighting kala-azar in India.

India’s Pernicious Politics of Backwardness

Arun Shourie

Economist, author, and disinvestment minister under the BJP Government Arun Shourie is among India's best thinkers. Most everything he writes is worthwhile reading.

This article India’s Pernicious Politics of Backwardness from the Asian Tribune is a review of his book Falling Over Backwards: An essay against Reservations and against Judicial Populism.

In his book, Shourie not only slams politicians for promoting reservations, but also faults the judicial system for legitimizing the aims of the politicians. Shourie claims that politicians and the courts have subverted Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India, which refer to discrimination and equality of opportunity, respectively (the link is to a Word document; to quickly locate the referenced Articles, use View > Document Map and select "Right to Equality"). IMHO it seems that the clauses within Article 16 provide a means to enable caste-based reservations.

There is no one solution to casteism. I do favor promoting education and training among all so that they can compete on a level playing field. I also agree with Shourie's recommendation to make the individual not the group "the unit of State policy." In this case, it should be verified that an individual suffered discrimination in hiring on the basis of caste by examination of systematic hiring practices: if discrimination has been discovered, provide for remedies for the individual, rather than extend caste reservations.

Falling Over Backwards may be purchased through third-party sellers via Amazon.com

India Appeases Radical Islam - WSJ.com

In this article India Appeases Radical Islam from the November 27, 2007 edition of the Wall Street Journal, Sadanand Dhume addresses the UP courthouse bomb blasts and cites terrorist attacks that I have mapped: the August 2007 blasts in Hyderabad, the July 2006 train blasts in Mumbai, and October 2005 bomb blasts in Delhi.

He argues that "An increasingly radicalized neighborhood, fragmented domestic politics and a curiously timid mainstream discourse on Islam add up to hobble India's response to radical Islamic intimidation." Nothing new here for people who follow these issues, but the significance is that these issues are being addressed - however cursorily - in a prominent newspaper.

NOTE Some access to the Wall Street Journal online is available only to subscribers.

Bomb blasts in UP

According to the New York Times (via The Jawa Report) "At least 13 people were killed and more than 60 were wounded Friday [November 23, 2007] in a series of nearly simultaneous bomb blasts outside courthouses in three cities in northern India, the authorities said."


2007-11-23 tagged map by user - Tagzania

St. Louis doctor closes practice to work in India

Here's an inspiring story about Dr. Santosh Gupta, who is closing her medical practice in St. Louis to work at the RKM Hospital in Hardwar:

Local Doctor Leaves to Save Lives
created: 11/23/2007 5:52:23 PM
updated: 11/23/2007 10:27:40 PM
By Kay Quinn

KSDK - It's a story that will have you questioning what it really means to be successful and fulfilled in work and in life.

A local doctor is closing her West County medical practice so she can care for the poor and sick half a world away.

Dr. Santosh Gupta is at the pinnacle of her profession. Her young patients, many with diabetes or other metabolic problems, consider her part of the family.

"She helps me get better," said Elizabeth Behan, on a recent visit see Dr. Gupta.

For 32 years, this pediatric endocrinologist has treated the children of St. Louis. She and her husband have raised two children. But she's giving it all up for a 100 year old hospital that serves the poor in Haridwar, in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India.

"It's a 150 bed hospital but on a given day there are 300 patients, if you count the patients on the bed and under the bed," says Dr. Gupta.

She's volunteered in India before. But it was her daughter who found RKM Hospital while on a volunteer mission. The facility is unlike any you will ever see in the U.S.

Dr. Gupta says initially her decision to work in India was a difficult one. She was overwhelmed by the poverty and questioned whether she could work in the hospital.

She called her daughter, Sandhya, with her doubts.

"I said I think I made a mistake," recalls Dr. Gupta of that phone call with Sandhya. "She said do you have a chair? I said yes. She said, the fabric is torn? I said yes. She said you have a table? I said yes. She said, the paint is chipping? Yes. She said, is it clean? I said yes, it is."

"She said just give yourself three weeks and you'll get used to it, believe me you won't see it," said Dr. Gupta. "And three weeks later, I didn't notice it."

As inspired and energized as she is by her new calling, Dr. Gupta is sad to leave her patients here.

"It's very hard. There's part of me that says I with I could do both," says Dr. Gupta.

Many now write her notes and bring her donations.

"One little girl has decided to collect money for diabetic in India," says Dr. Gupta, "and I can just imagine every time they put a penny in there, they were thinking about helping a diabetic in india."

But her heart is also with her patients in India. Like a young woman named Poonam who Dr. Gupta saved from a diabetic coma on her last trip.

"She said why do you have to go back?" recalled Dr. Gupta. "And I said I'm not going back, I'll be back in January. And she said its a long time, so it's that kind of thing."

So she keeps in touch long-distance and worries about the hospital, thousands of miles away.

"I heard last week that they had to close the ICU and neonatal ICU because of lack of nurses."

It may seem like the ultimate sacrifice. But Dr. Gupta says she's doing this for purely personal reasons. Giving it all up, because by serving others, she is fulfilled.

"I just like the idea of working where I forget myself," says Dr. Gupta. "That's the most reward, that I get so engrossed that I just forget about myself."

It's a living example of the power of the human connection.

Dr. Gupta and her husband plan to leave for Haridwar in January. They'll stay at least four months this next time, but and plan to return each year for at least six months.

Dr. Gupta and her husband have started a foundation to increase awareness about the epidemic of diabetes in low-income communities in India.

It's called Manav Seva Foundation: Service to Humanity. It's objectives also include providing practical instruction for the prevent, early detection, and treatment of diabetes and heart disease for low-income patients in India and to improve the delivery of health care in rural areas of that country.

To learn more about the foundation, e-mail Dr. Gupta at santoshgupta@charter.net. ...

As I noted previously, too often it seems that only foreign organizations, particularly Christian groups, undertake humanitarian efforts in India. The RKM Hospital, where Dr. Gupta will work, is run by the Ramakrishna Mission. This story, which was broadcast on St. Louis's KSDK TV channel, provides the opportunity for many to learn about homegrown humanitarian efforts in India.

We wish Dr. Gupta and her husband success in their new endeavor!

Diwali greetings from Mera Bharat Mahan

Indian Unrest Ensnares a Doctor - WSJ.com

The Wall Street Journal featured an article about Naxal terror in its Monday, November 12, 2007 edition. The article focuses on Dr. Binayak Sen, who was charged with passing notes from an imprisoned Naxal leader: Indian Unrest Ensnares a Doctor - WSJ.com.

This article will be available to non-subscribers until November 20. Access after that date, access will be provided only to subscribers to WSJ.com.

More than just the Mahatma

This article More than just the Mahatma by Sanjeev Nayyar, which was published in the September 24, 2007 edition of the Hindustan Times, echoes many of the thoughts in my article The Assertive Indian:

More than just the Mahatma
Savarkar, Subhas Bose and Bhagat Singh left a legacy that India can be proud of. A re-evaluation of Gandhi’s role in India’s independence is necessary to give other leaders due credit.

In his article, Nayyar re-evaluates Gandhi's role by providing evidence that ahimsa did not lead to India's independence. He then discusses the contributions by Veer Savarkar and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to the freedom struggle.


Vināyak Dāmodar Sāvarkar

If anyone in the West knows anything about Savarkar, they probably learned it through Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre. Collins and LaPierre portray Savarkar as a homosexual and intimate that he was guilty of conspiracy in the assassination of Gandhi, even though he was exonerated of the charges.

October 2007 - Two more bomb blasts to report

Back to the dreary task of documenting terrorist attacks in India:


2007-10 terrorist attacks tagged map by user - Tagzania

Thursday, October 11: A blast at sufi shrine of Khawaja Moinuddhin Chishti in Ajmer, Rajasthan killed two, injured nine.

Sunday, October 14: A blast at a cinema hall in Ludhiana, Punjab killed six, injured 32.

Zoom out to see locations of these bomb blasts in India.

Dr. L. Subramanian in concert

If The first ever Indian and American Achievement Awards program disappointed, the same cannot be said about the Fairfax (VA) Symphony program honoring India's 60th anniversary of independence that featured Dr. L. Subramanian, his wife Kavita Krishnamurthy, and two of his three children.


Dr. L.Subramanian and son "Ambi" with supporting musicians

The program opened with traditional Carnatic music, featuring Dr. Subramanian and his teenage son "Ambi" on violins. Additional musicians performed on Mridangam (drum), Ghatam (clay pot), Kanjeera (tambourine), and Morsing (jews harp) [the links are to audio clips from Swar Systems that demonstrate the sounds of these instruments - ed.]


Kavita Krishnamurthy and stepdaughter Seetaa Subramaniam performing Freedom Symphony

The rest of the program featured three of Dr. Subramanian's compositions that fuse western and Indian music styles: Global Symphony, Freedom Symphony, and Turbulence Concerto. Freedom Symphony, which was billed as a world premiere, featured poems of Rabindranath Tagore (Jodi Tor, a favorite of Gandhi, in Bengali), Subramanya Bharati (Acham Illai, in Tamil), and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (Vande Mataram, in Sanskrit) set to music. We were seated near the stage, where we were thrilled to see and hear Kavita Krishnamurthy at such close range.

The entire program was awe-inspiring. I don't think that I'll hear or see such a program again.

NOTE: I am indebted to Cathy Smith, Director of Marketing, Fairfax Symphony, for the photos and supporting information.

The first ever Indian and American Achievement Awards program – a qualified success

On Thursday, September 13, my husband and I went to the first ever Indian and American Achievement Awards program held at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. The organizer, Cinemaya Media Group, will have to rethink this event if they hope to host a second Indian and American Achievement Awards program. The fault was not the performers – heavy hitters such as dancer Birju Maharaj, santoor maestro Shiv Kumar Sharma, singers Ajoy Chakraborty and M. Balamuralikrishna, and – as a late addition to the program – A.R. Rahman, with his hair cut short. You may see a Flash presentation of pictures from the event at Cinemaya Media Group's web site - a better view than what we had, since we had balcony seats!

Ambassador Ronen Sen introduced the program, but as he went through the list of performers on the program, his speech became increasingly halted. Awards presentations were alternated with performances lasting 30-40 minutes apiece. When it was announced that A.R. Rahman was one of the nominees for an award in media, arts, and entertainment, it was a foregone conclusion whom the awardee would be. He was one of the few awardees to receive his award in person.

A large venue such as the Kennedy Center Concert Hall is not amenable to Indian music, which had been traditionally performed in courts and music rooms. We would have liked to see Birju Maharaj and his female partner perform an extended dance. My husband said that the sound system was not properly adjusted during the segment featuring Ajoy Chakraborty and M. Balamuralikrishna: indeed, I heard the rhythm-perfect interplay between M. Balamuralikrishna’s south Indian mridangam player and Ajoy Chakraborty’s tabla player very clearly, but not the vocal interplay between the two singers.

Most of the audience (the hall was only half full) left after Ajoy Chakraborty and M. Balamuralikrishna’s performance and did not stay for the last award presentation. At best, the first ever Indian and American Achievement Awards program was a qualified success. If the organizers hope to host a second Indian and American Achievement Awards program, I recommend that they choose a smaller, more intimate venue (I like Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University) and present the awards at the beginning of the program so that all the audience can be on hand. Then the audience and awardees can relax and enjoy the performance.

Did India invade?

One of the truisms about India (spread by Swami Vivekananda, among others) is that it never invaded another country. Yet this commentary Ancient Indian Logic, from The Telegraph (Kolkata) via Sarve Samachar, ostensibly about Communist opposition to U.S.-indian joint naval exercises in southeast Asia (Malabar 07), suggests that India did spread its culture through Southeast Asia not only through commerce but also through invasion.

Poor Calcutta - A commentary on Mother Theresa in the New York Times

Mother Teresa

During the same discussion in which one of the participants opined that had Gandhi lived during Jesus's time, he would have been regarded with the same reverence as Jesus, my husband voiced his criticism of Mother Theresa and the shame that she brought on Calcutta, where he grew up. One person said that all great people are criticized, while another person didn't see anything wrong with Mother Teresa's promoting Roman Catholic orthodoxy. This commentary from the New York Times echoes my husband's criticisms.

Poor Calcutta - New York Times
By CHITRITA BANERJI
Ten years and one beatification later, the tunnel vision of the news media continues to equate Calcutta with the destitution and succor publicized by Mother Teresa.

The author rightly notes the massive influx of refugees into Calcutta after Partition and after the Bangladesh war of independence. Many of my friends are surprised to learn that Calcutta has also provided a home for Jewish and Armenian refugees, among others.

Some explanations why India has frequent terror attacks

Last Saturday's twin bomb blasts that killed 43 in Hyderabad scarcely received any notice in western media. Perhaps it's because such incidents are all too familiar in India.

I was particularly haunted by the three bomb blasts that happened in Delhi in October 2005, given that the Sarojini Nagar market is within 15 minutes walking distance of my brother-in-law's home and that his family often shops there. This article Hyderabad blasts timed for Vinayaka festival from TOI notes that as with last week's bomb blasts in Hyderabad, the October 2005 Delhi blasts were timed before a festival, namely Diwali.

As with every terrorist strike, there is the usual debate on how to prevent another terror attack. Tavleen Singh, in her column A Violent History (found via Naxal Terror Watch), notes, "...we are losing the war against the jehadis who target India with increasing frequency is because successive governments, both in Delhi and our state capitals, have done nothing to fight back." She cites Ajai Sahni, Editor, South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR), who notes in his article Hyderabad Déjà, Déjà, Déjà Vu that India has too few police and "deficiencies of capacity" in intelligence. Tavleen Singh notes that more police would not be enough and then places blame on those in her profession who hamstring investigations: "If [police] enter Muslim neighbourhoods in search of clues they are charged with racial profiling and for this we in the media are more to blame than the politicians. We make the loudest protests without realising that the result is that the jehadis are winning the war against India."

The unfortunately titled We're our own worst terrorists, again from TOI, intimates that additional police would not be enough by putting the blame on bribery and corruption endemic at all levels of government in India:

It is often said that India is a 'soft', insteadof a 'hard', state. This means that we, collectively and individually, arewilling or unwilling accomplices to a flagrant flouting of the laws of the land. From the street constable who can be bought for Rs 50 to let an errant trucker or motorist go free, to a chief minister who, indicted in a scam, can openly defy the legal system by saying that he is answerable only to the 'court of the people’, the Indian state — as exemplified by its representatives at various levels — is commonly seen to be up for sale or otherwise open to subversion from within.

Time and again, our top law enforcement agencies have been reprimanded by the judiciary for hopelessly bungling or inexcusably delaying investigations with regard to crucial criminal cases, be they terror related or otherwise.

The inevitable suspicion arises as to whether the perpetrators of such acts enjoy political or other patronage which puts them out of reach of the truncated arm of our law: they are above or beyond the law...

A 'hard' state has to learn to be tough on itself first, in upholding its own rule of law and being seen to do so, before it can be tough against terror. Do we — should we —build the political and ethical sinews to do this? It’s a question for our collective conscience. And till we decide, we’ll have to learn to live with terror from outside, and our complicity with it within.

I have updated my map of terrorist attacks in India to include the most recent bomb blasts in Hyderabad.

Naxal Terror Watch

This report India celebrates independence from Associated Press was published on Yahoo! and in many newspapers. While I get frustrated by mainstream media (MSM) reporting on India (barring business reporting) because of its negativity, I feel that it is worth noting that the article mentions Muslim insurgencies in Kashmir and violence in the Northeast. However, it ignores persistent terrorism by Naxalites. Fortunately, the Naxal Terror Watch blog fills that void with frequent updates. I have now added Naxal Terror Watch to my blogroll on Bloglines.

The Assertive Indian

with apologies to Amartya Sen and his book The Argumentative Indian

Today is the 60th anniversary of India's independence and I thought that I would share some thoughts about leaders for independence.

Many of our friends think that Gandhi was a saint; in fact, one person opined that if he had lived in Jesus's time and stories about him had accumulated over the years, as with Jesus, that he would be regarded with the same reverence as Jesus. However, Gandhi, and those who promote his legacy, especially in the West, have created the unfortunate impression that India and Indians must be docile. Whenever Indians act assertively, it's met with shock and then condemnation.

As for Nehru, he created a travesty of major proportions when he threw the fate of Kashmir to the UN. The Maharaja of Kashmir was offered the same terms of accession as given to rulers of other princely states. He dithered, until marauding Pathans from Pakistan compelled him to throw his lot with India. And for that, many Pakistanis refer to him as a "Hindu despot"! An acquaintance from India mentioned that he had a friend in the Indian army who, along with his fellow soldiers, were stunned when Nehru commanded the army to stand down, rather than fight in Kashmir. A former army officer told us that India could take Kashmir in 7 days if there were the political will.

Most of our non-Indian friends know about Gandhi and Nehru, but have never heard of assertive Indians like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Sardar Patel. Could Netaji's volunteer army marching from Burma have had more to do with Indian independence than Gandhi's satyagraha? A war-weary Britain was unwilling to fight in one of its possessions following WWII. As for Sardar Patel, he did more for integration of India than anyone.

It's time to make Netaji and Sardar Patel better known in the West - it will change perception of India and Indians.

Reuters - Pilgrims destroying the Himalayas: experts

This news item was ultimately overshadowed by the news that three protesters disrupted the Hindu prayer before the U.S. Senate, the first time a Hindu prayer was offered. Originally, this article had the charged title Hindus destroying the Himalayas, which reflected badly on Hindus and Hinduism.

This is one article that I wish that I didn't have to print, but it is in keeping with one of the themes of this blog, namely, protection of India's heritage:

Pilgrims destroying the Himalayas: experts

By Sheikh Mushtaq
Thu Jul 12, 10:41 AM ET

Hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims flocking to holy sites in the Himalayas are fouling fragile mountain ecosystems with rubbish, human waste, air pollution and the deforestation that comes with development.

Hindus believe the Himalayas are the abode of Lord Shiva, the god of destruction and regeneration, and devotees trek through treacherous mountain passes every year to seek Shiva's blessings at various holy shrines.

But a rise in pilgrimages to these once pristine areas have made the region a dumping ground for hundreds of tons of garbage and human waste which is contaminating nearby rivers, environmentalists say.

"Increased pilgrims to these areas is definitely taking its toll on these once beautiful and clean areas," said Shruti Shukla from WWF India.

"Plastic rubbish is found littered everywhere, nearby rivers are filled with human waste and roads have been built bringing in daily buses packed with pilgrims which is contaminating the air."

The Himalayan mountain range stretches across India, Bhutan, China, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan and is often referred to as the "Roof of the World."

There are several popular Himalayan pilgrimage sites -- including Amarnath in India's Kashmir region, Gangotri, Kedernath and Badrinath in the northern state of Uttarakhand, as well as Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar in western Tibet.

Cashing in on India's economic boom and a rapidly growing middle class, many tour operators are now offering package tours to holy Himalayan sites.

The commercialization of pilgrimages, some of which offer helicopter rides, has brought in hotels, guest houses, restaurants and roads.

Efforts have been made to clean up sites like the Amarnath shrine, where devotees flock to worship an ice stalagmite which forms every year and is believed to be a form of Shiva, but local volunteers say more needs to be done.

"Last year we tried to clean a portion of the track, but our efforts can only be termed as a drop in the ocean," said Mohammed Ashraf, president of Jammu and Kashmir Mountaineering Club.

Environmentalists say Gangotri, the origin of the Ganges river which Hindus believe to be sacred, has become a shanty town filled with filth left by around 800,000 pilgrims a year.

Experts say trees are being chopped down for firewood and to make way for hotels and roads, and human interference is even speeding up the melting of glaciers.

"It is not just greenhouse gases which are leading to melting glaciers, but it is also increased human activity and development in the Himalayas," said Syed Iqbal Hasnain, a glaciologist from New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research.

"These ecosystems are very, very sensitive to human interference and over two billion people in the region rely on the rivers which are fed by these glaciers."

(Additional reporting by Nita Bhalla in New Delhi)

As Francois Gautier, another Westerner who writes about India, notes in his book Arise Again, O India!:

That India is a vast dump of garbage, not because it is too poor to process it and store it properly, BUT BECAUSE IT DOES NOT CARE, BECAUSE THE TAMAS IN THIS COUNTRY IS SO VAST, SO DEEPLY INGRAINED IN THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS, THAT NOBODY GIVES A DAMN FOR THE OTHER.

And we can infer from the Reuters article, they don't give a damn about the abode of the gods.

Yes, the Government can, and should, take such measures such as limiting the number of pilgrims, providing latrines, and even make examples of litterers who get caught by punishing them with fines and jail. Similarly, shrine boards, tour companies, and charitable organizations that serve pilgrims can do more to protect the abode of the gods. Ultimately, the pilgrims themselves should take responsibility. If appeals to the environment won't work, then perhaps reminding the pilgrims that this is the abode of the gods might work.

Human Rights Group Censures Eleven Countries for Abuses Against Hindus

The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) has announced the release of its report Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A Survey of Human Rights 2006. This 200-page report covers Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir.

HAF is one organization that has its act together. I was privileged to part of their delegation for the 2005 Government Outreach Day, when we met with representatives of the Department of State and U.S. Representatives and their staffers.

Unfortunately, there are critics of HAF, such as Vijay Prashad, whose Letter to a Young American Hindu claims:

In the Diaspora, there was some reflection of this change in the Indian political landscape. The far Right moved to consolidate its agenda despite changes within India – closer ties between Indian American lobby groups and pro-Israeli lobby groups, to sharpen the idea that the Indo-Pakistani problems can only be resolved in the Israeli fashion, through force; the creation of the Hindu American Foundation (whose main campaign in 2004-05 was the Diwali resolution, and who was an active leader of the California textbooks campaign); an assault on scholars of India and Hinduism, led this time by the Infinity Foundation. [my italics]

Note that Prashad (willfullly?) does not cite the work that HAF has done in documenting human rights abuses against Hindus and taking its case to the State Department and Congress, often to Congressional representatives and staffers who are hostile to India and Hindus.

Arise Arjuna: Seeds of Terrorism: Economic Disparity or Ideology

Islamic Rage Boy in Kashmir:
It's not the economy, stupid!

It's been a long time since Atul Kumar has blogged on Arise Arjuna, but for some reason, this article showed up when I viewed news feeds for favorite India blogs in Bloglines:

Arise Arjuna: Seeds of Terrorism: Economic Disparity or Ideology

This article is meaningful today, as it debunks the idea that poverty and the desparation it causes drives people to terrorism. The example of Kashmir illustrates the author's point.

Terror Unbound: 14 years old Hindu youth burnt alive

A truly heart-rending story about a Hindu youth from a West Bengal village whom Muslim miscreants set on fire: Terror Unbound: 14 years old Hindu child burnt alive.

The victim's father fled Bangladesh to escape persecution, only to rediscover it in his adopted village in West Bengal. The family has since relocated to Kolkata (Calcutta).

My mother once asked me where the street dwellers in Kolkata came from. I told her that I assumed that most of them were economic refugees who were fleeing poverty in rural Bihar and West Bengal. Now I wonder if many of them fled terrorism such as that experienced by Samrat Mondal and his family.

Dhimmi Watch: Fitzgerald: Non-Muslims in India and the "wrong signals"

Sen scratching his head: "Now where did that elephant go?"

A good article by Hugh Fitzgerald in Dhimmi Watch, companion to the Jihad Watch website:

Non-Muslims in India and the "wrong signals"

I particularly enjoyed the skewering of Amartya Sen:

For every mordant truth-teller such as [V.S.] Naipaul, or for that matter such apostates as Anwar Shaikh and Ibn Warraq, there are a hundred, such as Amartya Sen, who acquire a reputation in one field, and then proceed, as natives of India, to present themselves as experts on Islam, its tenets, and the history of Islam.

Sen's views seem to be a result of a formative experience he had as a youth, when a Muslim man was attacked outside his family's home and lied dying: for more, see In Conversation with Amartya Sen. This experience, as horrific as it was, and his collaboration with a Pakistani economist, probably inform his anti-Hindutva views.

However, Hindus were victims of communal riots in Bengal. In the interview, Sen stated that there are no longer Hindu-Muslim communal riots in Dhaka. Could it be that few Hindus still reside in Bangladesh? The Hindu population in Bangladesh has gone down precipitously, due to well-documented incidents of discrimination and attacks on Hindus and their places of worship.

Hindu-perpetrated violence is an easy target: unlike Muslim terrorism, which is global in its reach and intimidates all, it is confined within the borders of India. There is no comparable risk in denouncing Hindu-perpetrated violence as there is with denouncing Muslim terrorism. Hindu-on-Muslim violence within India is also an irrestible cause for human rights organizations to prove that they are not anti-Islam or anti-Muslim.

On reporting on Godhra and its aftermath

Found in IBN blogs:

The Curse of Being a Hindu in Modern IndiaIn this article, Saurabh Saksena ponders why the media focused only on Muslim victims of the Gujarat riots and not on the victims of the train fire in Godhra.

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After reading a cover story by Rajiv Chandrasekharan (formerly the  National Editor of The Washington Post),  in The Indian American, I hastily sent a letter to the editor about an article that Chandrasekharan wrote about Godhra, in he essentially blamed the victims of the Godhra train fire for their fate. In my letter, I quoted at length commentary by the lat Varsha Bhosle and Rajesh Srinavasan (with attribution, of course) on Charndrasekaran's article.

Imagine how startled I was to see an edited (mangled) version of my letter published in the next issue of The Indian American. Then imagine how overwhelmed I felt when a rejoinder by Chandrasekharan was published in the following issue, in which he told the editor that letters such as mine should not be published. He alternatively praised and blamed Indian media for the coverage of Godhra and its aftermath. He congratulated himself on interviewing many parties, including perpetrators, observers, and officials after the events. He said that Bhosle's and Srinavasan's commentary was written soon after the event, when passions ran high, when in fact, the commentaries were further removed in time, as they were reactions to his reporting.

I mean, how petty!  Rajiv Chandrasekharan was a reporter with the Washington Post.  The 2010 movie Green Zone starring Matt Damon was based on his 2006 book Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone.

Who was I?  Just someone who wrote a letter to the editor.

Jihad Watch: Islamic jihadists kill five Hindu road workers in Jammu and Kashmir

From the indispensable Jihad Watch web site:

Islamic jihadists kill[ed] five Hindu road workers in Jammu and Kashmir in March 2007.

Rājauri has now been added to our terrorism map.

The Constitution of India and the secular state

As I have stated before, India is (or rather, should be) a secular state (राज्य, rajya), but a Hindu nation (राष्त्र, rashtra). However, several articles in the Constitution of India obstruct the realization of India as a secular state.

Here is an excellent letter to the Hindustan Times by Sanjeev Nayyar, founder of the eSamskriti web site, about minority rights in the Constitution of India and the implications:

esamskriti- Marking lives less ordinary
The term minority is not defined in the Constitution. Nowhere in the world, except in India, is a minority defined by religion or caste. Is anyone listening?

The subject articles, Articles 25-30, may be located in http://lawmin.nic.in/legislative/Art1-242%20(1-88).doc. To quickly locate these articles in Microsoft Word (I use Word 2002), select View > Document Map. Articles 25-28 may be found under the heading Right to Freedom of Religion; Articles 29-30 may be found under the heading Cultural and Educational Rights.

PS eSamskriti is a treasure trove of essays on Indian culture, history, and philosophy and photographs. Check it out!

Seva for orphans

It often seems that Indians don't take care of their own, and that only foreign organizations undertake humanitarian efforts in India. Here, however, are two indigenous efforts to provide homes for orphans, found through Hindu Press International:

• Mayor Of Delhi Visits Home for Kids Orphaned And Displaced By Kashmir Terrorism - Twenty-three children orphaned by terrorism in Kashmir are receiving instruction in Hinduism, in addition to food, clothing, shelter, and education in other studies. According to Shri Rakesh Gupta, if these children were not adopted and looked after by the society, they might fall into wrong hands, "resulting into a disastrous situation for the Hindu society and the nation itself."

• Project Hope and India Heritage Research Foundation Open Orphanage for Tsunami Orphans - "An orphanage for the tsunami orphans has been constructed in Cuddalore by Project Hope, the organization founded by H.H. Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, Spiritual Head of Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh and Bollywood star Vivek Oberoi, operating under the auspices of India Heritage Research Foundation, Rishikesh." This project will pair orphans with widowed or abandoned women, thereby providing love and comfort for all (take that, Deepa Mehta!)
  

In a subsequent post, I will highlight the efforts by Indians, in conjunction with non-profit organizations, to wipe out two major scourges: leprosy and kala-azar (black fever), more formally known as Visceral leishmaniasis (VL).

Tagore in Hindi

UPDATE 2007-06-04: This article was replicated on Blogs - Gadar - Film Information without attribution.


Rabindranath Tagore

Outside of his native Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore is probably best known for Jana Gana Mana, India's national anthem. Now there are two efforts in making his work better known outside of Bengal.

DD One began a weekly series of Tagore's songs on May 13. The series is broadcast at 10:30 PM IST and will run for a year. According to Indiantelevision.com,

... A unique aspect is that Gurudev's compositions have been translated into Hindi while retaining the originality of the musical and lyrical flavour of Tagore.

The songs have been rendered by some of the best known voices - both classical and popular. Some of the singers include Anup Jalota, Anuradha Paudwal, Bhupinder Singh, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Vinod Rathore, Suresh Wadekar and Mitali Singh.

Somnath Chatterjee (CPI-M), Speaker of the Lok Shaba, who represents Tagore's Shantiniketan and surrounding areas, also released a DVD (the first of a series) of songs of Tagore. No word on how or even if these DVDs will be made available to the public.

The second effort is a CD called "Mere Mann Main Dhadkan Main" to be released by T-Series. Hindi versions of Tagore's songs are sung by Indrajit Dasgupta, a government tax official, and narration preceding the songs is provided by Amitabh Bachchan. Bollywood actors Ashmit Patel and Rituparna Sengupta (who is also a veteran of Tollywood, that is, the Bengali film industry) will be featured in a video.

Mere Mann Main Dhadkan Main was announced with great fanfare this past January. At that time, it was said that the recording would be released in February. Nothing happened. Now, with renewed buzz, it seems that the release might be imminent. I couldn't find anything on the T-Series web site.

Google to Digitize 800,000 Books at Mysore University

One of the recurring themes here on Mera Bharat Mahan is the protection of India's heritage, be it natural or cultural, tangible or intangible. From Hindustan Times via Hindu Press International:

Google will digitize 100, 000 manuscripts, many inscribed on paper and palm leaves, held by University of Mysore. Topics cover ayurveda, mathematics, medicine, science, astrology and economy. In addition, Google will digitize 700,000 books held by Mysore University. All digitization will be done free of charge.

This is wonderful - using modern technology to protect traditional knowledge.

Common Myths About Hinduism

For me, India's nationhood is based in its Hindu culture. To put it another way, India is (or rather, should be) a secular state (राज्य, rajya), but a Hindu nation (राष्त्र, rashtra) (Thanks to Santhosh for providing the Sanskrit words).

This article Hinduism is Not a Religion: Common Myths About Hinduism from about.hinduism.com neatly makes these points: in particular, read the sections A Culture More than a Religion and A Common Faith of the Indian Subcontinent. The only section that I quibble with is Hinduism is Not Really Polytheistic! I agree with Sita Ram Goel that terms such as "monotheistic" or "polytheistic" are terms adopted from revealed religions that divide and confuse.

Homegrown terrorists

A good article from Sulekha on the changing tactics of terrorism: Terror 'outsourced' in India.

Terrorist groups are relying more on native Indians to carry out terrorist attacks using crudely assembled bombs, whereas previous attacks were carried out by Afghan mercenaries or Pakistanis who used sophisticated weaponry.

Below is a map of terrorism in India that I created:


terrorism tagged map by user - Tagzania

I invite readers to make this map more complete by registering with Tagzania and tagging locations of terrorist attacks with "terrorism" and "India." I also request that readers identify source URLs for your information as documentation under Resources.

Two worthwhile essays to read

Indians are most unpatriotic people
Kashmiri pandit warns against a second partition of India

The dreaded "H-word"
"Anish Shah analyses the psychology behind the widespread tendency of many Hindu-inspired spiritual or yoga groups to vehemently deny any connections with Hinduism," in this editorial from Hindu Voice UK.