Saturday, February 28, 2009

Hundreds At London’s Chin Famine Concert

About 350 people last Saturday turned up at the combined event of ‘Chin Famine Live Aid Concert’ and the ‘61st anniversary of Chin National Day’ in London, filling up Chiswick Town Hall in support of famine victims in Chin State, Burma.

The event, aiming to raise awareness and fund for the famine-hit victims and celebrating the Chin National Day, was organised by Chin Community in the UK (CCUK).

Timmy Ni Khuai, Vice-Chairman of CCUK, gave a short speech on the history and importance of Chin National Day, which falls on 20 February. A short presentation on the Chin famine was also given, which was followed by a special ‘relief fund’ collection with a duet from Thang Kim and sister Gloria Mang Man Cing.

“It’s been a successful event. This surely raises awareness, more fund and sends a stronger message to the people about the Chin famine.

We all should keep praying and doing something for our brothers and sisters who have been facing food crisis in the jungle,” said Miss Dim Lian, Secretary of CCUK as she thanked the CCUK members, the audience and those who helped make the event possible.

A variety of traditional foods from Burma, including Chin traditional corn soup called ‘Sabuti’, was available at the event from generous donations of individuals, groups and organisations such as Burma Democratic Concern.

The proceeds will be sent, yet to be confirmed, to the ‘unreached’ Chin villagers of Southern Chin State in the remote bamboo jungle which is not accessible by roads.

The audience had been wowed by cultural dances, fashion shows in different Chin dresses, Chin stand-up comedy, great performances by the Hornbill Band and singers including a talented Mizo singer Dadudi.

A series of ‘Chin Famine Live Aid Concert’ has since last year been organised in collaboration with Chin Human Rights Organisations (CHRO) in countries including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Australia and Europe.

Former Youth Cong Leader suggests unemployed allowance

New Delhi, Feb 28 : Former Indian Youth Congress National secretary Bhanu Pratap Nairain Mishra today appealed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to consider a Rs 2000 per month relief to all “intelligent, educated but unemployed youth suffering due to lack of employment opportunities.” In a statement here, Mr Mishra said the facility of such an allowance should continue till they got a suitable job.

Referring to the economic slowdown, he said although inflation rate had come down to 3.36 per cent, yet the prices of commodities had to register a decline. “A housewife or a normal household person is still finding it difficult to ’stomach’ the declining inflation figures, as its effects are not visible at all,” he said.

This was one reason that a Congress worker was finding it difficult to counter the opposition’s blitz against the price rise, he said.

Urging the Congress president to use the Youth Congress, Seva Dal and other arms of the Congress to launch a concerted campaign against price rise, Mr Mishra said there was need of a serious effort to be made to bring this menace under control before the election so that party swiftly came back to power, headded.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Internet blogger tan fimkhur zual ngai-Zoa Tlau

Ram a changkang zel a, khawvel ram hrang hrangte chu internet hmangin inthlunzawm a ni tawh a, chanchinthar ber ber pawh internet kaltlang hian computer-ah chhiar zung zung theih a ni. Chu changkanna behchhan chuan website chi khat blog site siam a ni thin a, chutah chuan mi chi hrang hrangin comment-te an ziak thin, mahse duh dan dan anga comment ziah chu a him tawh lo a, tun hnai mai khan Supreme Court chuan blog-a duh duh comment chu court-ah thiam loh chantir hial theih an nih thu an sawi.

Source:Evening Post


Kerela rawlthar Ajith D kum 19 mi chuan a blog site-ah Shiv Sena dodalna lam a ziak chiam a, hetah hian mi chi hrang hrangin comment an ziak a, hei hi Shiv Sena chuan an la thutak hle a, Kerela State Secretary chuan FIR a thehlut ta hial a,’mi rilru a tihnat avangin’ tiin case siam a ni ta a, he rawlthar hian ukil rawih tur pawh a hmu meuh lo a, atan an ding duh lo.

Hetiang case ang deuh hi nikum lam khan Mizoramah a thleng tawh a, Chiahpuam boruak a vanglai tak khan Chief Minister hlui adviser pakhat chu Mizo blog pakhat www.misual.com-ah puhna diklo tak hmanga comment pek a ni a, he comment avang hian adviser hlui rilru hi a na hle ni tur a ni FIR pawh a thehlut nghe nghe a, mahse he case hi kalpui zui a ni ta lo niin misual.com neitu Benjamin Rualthanzauva chuan Evening Post a hrilh.

“Tawngkam mawi lo tak taka comment hi blog-ah hian Mizote hian kan uar hle a, hetiang kawngah hian awareness kan neih that a ngai hle a ni,” tiin Benjamin-a chuan a sawi bawk, ani hi tunah hian Bangalore-ah HP company-ah Engineer hna a thawk mek a, internet blog misual.com hi mipui tana a hawn (Community Forum) a nih atangin tlawhtu a ngah hle a, Mizo blog-ah chuan tlawhtu nei tam ber niin ni khatah ‘hit’ sing chuang a awm thin.

Mizo blog zinga hriat hlawh ber pakhat www.buannel.com neitu Lalduhsaka chuan,”Comment thalo tak tak a tam hi ka hlau a, hei vang hian blog ka siam dawn pawh hian ka hlauthawng ru hle,” tiin a sawi a, ani chuan comment avanga harsatna an la tawh loh thu a sawi a,”Comment hi kan duh vak lo a, hei vang hian topic comment vak vak pawh a tlem hle,” tiin Evening Post a hrilh.

Kerela lama blog-a comment an khin avang hian India ramah chuan blog chungchang hi inhnialna a awm mek a,”Legal debate” a ni tiin Bengjamin Rualthanzauva chuan a sawi a, nimin mai khan Times of India chuan blog comment hi khin theih a ni lo tih lam hawi zawngin a tarlang tiin a sawi a,”Tun lai hian print media leh internet blog hrang hrangah blog comment khin leh thiam loh chan theih chungchang hi inhnialna lian tak a ni mek,” tiin a sawi bawk.

Internet blog hi website pangngai a ni a, hetah hian community blog a nih chuan a tlawhtute hian topic leh news-te an post thei a, chung an post-te chu blog neitute chuan lo thlifimin blog-ah chuan an tarlang ta thin a ni. Blog-a post an tarlante chu blog site entu apiang chuan a topic hnuaiah an duh ang zawngin an comment thei a, chu an comment-ah chuan hminglem an hmang thin a, an duh duh an sawi thin a ni.

“Hminglem hmanga duh duha comment hian mi pawite sawi an ching thin a, hei hi a tha lo a, internet a nih avanga duh duh sawi hi chhia leh tha hriatna hmang pawhin chin loh a tha,” tiin Lalduhsaka chuan a sawi.

www.misual.com comment avanga FIR thehluh chu a titu awlsam taka an hriat avangin hmalak chhunzawm a ni lo a, hei hi Mizo blog-a comment avanga case awm hmasa ber niin a ngaih theih a, India ramah chuan hetiang thil titute hi na taka hrem theih a ni tawh dawn a, fimkhur pawh a ngai tawh hle dawn a ni.

[http://buannel.com]

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Mizo youth body concerns about misinformation on Chins in Mizoram

Central YMA expressed grave concern on the spread of wrong informations about the Mizos and the YMA through Human Rights Watch Website which malign the Mizos and the NGO.

It also blamed Mizo tribes of Myanmar presently scattered in various parts of the world for spreading such wrong informations while the Mizos understand their problems and treat them with love and care.

Report of Human Right Watch here - Look for ‘We are like Forgotten People’ - Chin people in Burma.

kaladan

EU presidency urges Burma to implement political reforms

New Delhi, Feb 26  : The European Union’s current Presidency in a statement on Monday urged Burma’s military government to release all political prisoners, including detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, lift all restrictions on political parties and embark on a dialogue with opposition groups.

“The Presidency of the EU, strongly calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and detainees, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, lifting of all restrictions on political parties, and an all-inclusive dialogue between the authorities and the democratic forces, including ethnic groups,” the statement said.

From January to June 2009, the Czech Republic holds the EU Presidency and will later transfer it to Sweden, in the second half of 2009. The Czech Republic has been supporting the Burmese democratic movement and has lately accepted Burmese refugees into its country.

Its former President Václav Havel along with South African Arch Bishop Desmond Tu Tu, in September 2005, published a report on Burma, titled, “Threat to Peace” and called for the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution against Burma’s military rulers.

The statement said, the Presidency recalled the United Nations General Assembly resolution, which stated that the political process in Burma was "not transparent, inclusive, free and fair, and that the procedures established for the drafting of the constitution, resulted in the de facto exclusion of the opposition from the process.”

The Presidency also shared the view expressed by Gambari, the UN Secretary-General’s special advisor on Burma, that it was time for Burma to demonstrate its commitment in “addressing concretely the issues of concern to the international community.”

The EU, since 1996, has had a common position on Burma, which includes economic sanctions, an arms embargo and visa bans on Burmese military officials and their family members. The common position also restricts visits to Burma, by high-level officials from EU member states.

The EU further tightened its sanctions on Burma following the junta’s crackdown on monk-led demonstrators in September 2007.

However, in response to the humanitarian crisis due to Cyclone Nargis, the European Commission provided Euro 39 million (USD 50 million) for the initial recovery project in 2008.

During the weekend, Germany’s Members of the Parliamentary Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development, Jürgen Klimke and Hellmut Königshaus, visited Burma’s Irrawaddy delta, where Cyclone Nargis had struck, to see the process of recovery work being done by the Tripartite Core Group, formed with the UN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Burmese junta.

It is the second visit by an European high-level delegation. Last month, the Minister of Environment and International Development of Norway, Erik Solheim, and Minister for Development Cooperation of Denmark, Ulla Toernaes, visited the delta to assess the progress of Post-Nargis response and future recovery needs.

Displaced villagers flee to border

Aizawl, Feb 26 : Forced relocation continues to devastate the lives of local villagers in Tavoy District, southern Burma according to a refugee family which just arrived on the Thai-Burma border.

Since January this year, sporadic fighting between the Burmese Army and Karen National Union (KNU) has left rural villagers of Nyaung Done, Metta Sub-township effectively prisoners in their own village.

Permission was granted to leave by Lt. Col Ye Yint Naing of Infantry Battalion No. 103. However it was for just three days and was under extenuating circumstances – villagers had to complete their paddy harvest. Further, leave was only granted after a pig worth approximately100, 000 Kyat was offered to him.

These controlled movement restrictions and relocations are not new to the region. This time last year the Burmese Army forced Kami villagers to move into Nyang Done village and about 60 of 400 households were uprooted.

"Even though they (the Burmese Army) offer each household a plot of land to build a new house, we had to leave our old land and livelihood and try to make a new life. They don't allow us to return to our farms that some of us have spent so long cultivating and we face constant hurdles just to survive from day-to-day. That is why we have to flee from our country to Thailand,” said the head of the refugee family.

The area they have fled from is located along the proposed route of the Asia Highway Kanchanaburi-Tavoy Road Project. The joint project by the Kyaw Lynn Naing Company and Kanchanaburi Tavoy Development (KTD) began in 1997, but has stalled due to the fighting between the Burmese Army and the KNU.

The Brigade 55 and Marine Command of the Burmese Army and Brigade No. 4 of KNU were engaged in fighting in the areas where 10 villages were relocated and 17 others were destroyed, effecting the rural population of approximately 7,000 people.

A further setback to people in the region is it’s marking as a ‘black area’ or killing zone; several villagers have been arrested, tortured or killed by the Burmese Army during military operations.

bnionline

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

HPC-in party flag puang

Aizawl, Feb 25 : Hmar Peoples’ Convention (HPC) registered party chuan Feb. 23, 2009 khan Aizawl-ah Central executive council meeting an nei.
An party dan bu in a sawi angin an pawl puanzar (party flag) sir tawn tawnah rawng dumpawl hman a ni a, hei hian Pi leh Pu incheina (traditional dress) a entir a, a lai rawng var hian inremna leh thianghlimna entirin a lai Arsi kil nga hian Hmar Arsi danglam ngailo a entir a ni, tiin meeting thuchhuak chuan a tarlang. (Courtesy Evening Post)

Monday, February 16, 2009

Massive outlay for Programmes benefiting common man, Rs 14000 cr for rural infrastructure

New Delhi, Feb 16 : There is massive outlay for programmes benefiting, common man - Aam Aadmi.

Presenting the interim budget in Lok Sabha on Monday the finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee sought a massive allocation of 40,900 crore rupees for its flagship programme - Bharat Nirman for the coming financial year. The interim Budget seeks 30,100 crore rupees for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) to benefit the rural households. The interim budget proposed 14 thousand crore rupees corpus for rural infrastructure projects including 4 thousand crore rupees for rural roads. Considering the significant contribution of the Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan programme to boost elementary education, the interim budget seeks an allocation of 13, 100 crore rupees for 2009-2010. The world's largest mid-day meals programme in schools, will get 8,000 crore rupees and the Integrated Child Development Scheme over 6,700 crore rupees.

Another Aam Amadi programme Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for development of urban infrastructure and services is proposed to get an outlay of over 11,800 crore rupees.

The interim budget proposes an outlay over 12,000 crore rupees for National Rural Health Mission, 7 thousand 400 crore rupees for Rajiv Gandhi Rural Drinking water Mission and 1,200 crore rupees for rural sanitation programme.

NISA, SSU lead 3rd Maniur State League Football

Imphal, February 16 : The 2nd Leg round of the ongoing 3rd Maniur State League which is organised by the All Manipur Football Association (AMFA) under the Vision India Project, Manipur of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has began today.

In today's matches, All Moirang Football Association (AMOFA), Southern Sporting Union (SSU), Singjamei and North Eastern Reorganising And Cultural Association (NEROCA) defeated their respective opponents while Eastern Sporting Union (ESU), Wangkhei and Manipur Police Sports Club (MPSC) had a drawn match.

SSU and defending champion NISA are in theb lead with 27 points each.

SSU is in the first position as they have more goal credit in their account.

MPSC is in the third position with 25 points.

The match played between ESU and MPSC at THAU ground, Thangmeiband as homne ground of MPSC was concluded as a drawn match between the two teams.

No players of the two team could scored any goal against each other in the match.

In the second match played between SSU and Phoudel Youth Club (PYC), Phoudel, SSU beat PYC 3-0 and won the match.

In the second half, L Tiken of SSU striked all the three goals against PYC in the 61st, 63rd and 91st minute of the match and earned a hat trick.

The third match which ws played at the ground of ESU as homeground of TRUPGU, was won by AMOFA after defeating TRUPGU 2-0 .

All the two goals of AMOFA were scored in the second half of the match.

Herojit and Lalinvang of AMOFA scored the two goals in the 78th and 82nd minute of the match.

The fourth match today was won by NEROCA after defeating NISA 4-2 at its home ground at ESU stadium.

The scorers of NISA were S Herojit (22 min) and Manimohon (84 min) .

The four goals of NEROCA were scored by Malemnganba, L Nabachandra and H Amarjit in the 25th, 34th, 59th and 64th minute of the match.

Ginger,flowers, Fruit Juice invited

New Delhi, February 16 : Consequent upon the Government's effort in exporting the products of North East States for economic development by way of organizing business summits regularly, specially for North East States, some prominent trade organizations in New Delhi have started looking for the unique products available in these States.

As there is not any nodal officer of the Government of Manipur based in New Delhi dealing in Commerce and Industries of the State, a few trading organisations frequently approached to the Manipur Information Centre, New Delhi for making arrangement of the supply of ginger, flower and fruit juice in bulk from Manipur.

The contact numbers of the Department of Commerce and Industries are also frequently disturbed.

Being felt that it would be a great opportunity for the entrepreneurs of Manipur who dealt in ginger, flowers and fruit juice etc, in the larger interest of the people of Manipur, the prospective entrepreneurs in Manipur dealt in raw ginger, flowers and fruit juice are asked to send their information on the products and the rates and other conditions to the Manipur Information Centre, New Delhi either by fax number: 011-23746361 or e-mail: maninformation@yahoo.co.in as early as possible so as to enable this Centre to introduce them to the trading organisations.

What Pranab should tell Holbrooke

Rajinder Puri

Today President Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, will meet External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Shortly afterwards US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Beijing to talk with Chinese leaders. Speaking to CNN on Sunday Dr Henry Kissinger stressed once again that the present global meltdown makes imperative that America and China preserve and strengthen their close alliance, which he had forged during the Nixon presidency. Kissinger advised Secretary of State Clinton to do everything possible to win China’s trust for confronting the challenge jointly with the US.

One hopes that Mr Pranab Mukherjee in his private talks with Holbrooke will be blunt enough to point out that Dr Kissinger’s concerns reflecting corporate America may be in serious conflict with Holbrooke’s own responsibility to protect America’s, and the world’s, security. To accomplish that Mr Mukherjee in the seclusion of private conversation should remind the US envoy of some home truths.

Such as, that Pakistan is a failed state artificially propped up by big powers. Its economy has collapsed. If the foreign aid tap is turned off it could be brought to its knees within days. It is the acknowledged hub of global terrorism hosting training camps for terrorists. Its civilian government is impotent. Its army and secret service are openly colluding with international terrorism. Its public, fed on chauvinistic Islamic slogans, is in a state of perpetual denial. Its nuclear proliferation record and links to global terrorism render it a threat to world peace. It confronts decades old insurgency and separatism in Baluchistan. It has lost authority in its NWFP province.
According to credible sources, Pakistan’s nuclear-proliferator-in-chief AQ Khan along with his nuclear scientist colleague Murad Qasim met Osama bin Laden as recently as April 2003. Now Khan has been released from house arrest in a barely concealed deal with the government by which he would not divulge the Pakistan establishment’s complicity in creating the international nuclear arms bazaar. Despite this, the world is helpless. America, which could bomb and occupy Iraq without justification, cannot act beyond mumbling unhappy statements. Why?

The answer is obvious. Pakistan for all practical purposes is China’s puppet. The evidence to conclude this is so overwhelming that it does not bear repetition. Pakistan’s nuclear programme was created by China. China’s aid and training to Islamist terrorists is decades old. All this has been recorded. Yet the US remains mute. David Sanger and William J Broad reported for the New York Times, quoting CIA documents, how the agency monitored Khan’s movements in China when he received crucial nuclear know-how from Beijing. Yet the newspaper editorially continues to keep alive the fiction that Pakistan was ultimately responsible for nuclear proliferation! American laboratory scientist Thomas Reed has disclosed how Beijing conducted Pakistan’s nuclear test. Official America ignores the disclosure.

Decades ago Yossef Bodansky, director of the US Congress Anti-Terrorism Task Force, wrote an official paper for the Congress adducing evidence of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) funding and aiding Islamist terrorists in Southeast Asia through Iran and Pakistan as well as separatists in India’s northeast through Pakistan’s ISI.

Yet America turns a blind eye. The Wall Street Journal reported how China’s PLA signed a memorandum of understanding with Afghanistan’s Taliban government headed by Mullah Omar on 9/11 itself for setting up Afghanistan’s telecommunication system. Later reports from credible researchers established that PLA leaders met with Mullah Omar’s son-in-law Osama too. The deal was that in exchange for the telecom aid Al Qaida would not support the separatists in Xingjian. A little later Osama described America, Russia, India and Israel as the enemies of Islam. He did not name China despite the Uighur trouble in Xingjian. China officially did not deny the MOU signed with the Taliban on 9/11 but dismissed it as of no consequence. Much more evidence can be summoned to establish the links between China and Pakistan’s army and ISI which unleashed adventurism against India in Kashmir and its northeast states. Despite such evidence, America seems helpless to confront China. Why?

Is it so because US policies after 1978 economically joined America and China at the hip? They sink or swim together. To his credit President Bush did try to reverse US policies in his second term although the vested interests opposing him were extremely powerful. He did lay a shaky foundation for President Obama to work on to create a genuine new world order. The challenge facing the Obama administration today is to demolish the negative forces within China without fatal damage to Sino-US economic ties. The incredibly talented and industrious Chinese people would not be averse to democracy if they were not repressed by a ruthless one party dictatorship. Now conditions have reached a crisis point that impels the US with the help of liberal elements inside China to take on the negative forces. The time has come for President Obama to override influential voices, such as of Dr Henry Kissinger, reflecting the concerns of a greedy corporate America to persist with current policies towards China.

Dr AQ Khan’s release provides President Obama with his litmus test. It is time to call a spade a spade and act decisively no matter whose feelings get hurt in Beijing or in Islamabad. The prospect of a future nuclear terrorist strike in India or the US is a real threat. So, how will America act?

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Irate Mumbai commuters ground train services

Rahi Gaikwad
Thousands left stranded on trains and at stations
— Photo: Shashi Ashiwal

Rail tracks being blocked by thousands of office-goers at the Borivili station in Mumbai, disrupting suburban train services for nearly five hours on Wednesday.

Mumbai: On a busy Wednesday morning, Mumbai’s lifeline came to a grinding halt as angry commuters staged an impromptu blockade for several hours at the Borivili station along the western line. They were protesting against the sudden cancellation of a train.

During the rush hour, commuters awaiting a Churchgate-bound local became furious when it was announced at the last minute that the train would arrive on another platform quite a distance away.

“Around 3,000 irate commuters then grounded the trains on the track. They did not allow trains to move ahead. It was a leaderless, non-violent protest, although there was some stone throwing,” said A.K. Sharma, Commissioner, Government Railway Police (GRP).
The Additional Divisional Railway Manager arrived on the scene and tried to assure the agitators in vain. When the talks made no headway, the police resorted to a “minor” lathi charge at 1.20 p.m. to disperse the crowd, Mr. Sharma said. Around 300 police personnel of the GRP and the State Reserve Force were deployed.
The four-hour agitation played havoc with people’s schedules as thousands were left stranded on a number of trains and at stations. Rows of people were seen walking along the rail track.
About 15 men and 15 women were arrested for damaging public property and assaulting police personnel, Mr. Sharma said.

Russia to supply more Krivak-class warships to India

Moscow, Feb 5 (RIA Novosti) Russia and India are negotiating a new contract on the delivery of additional warships for the Indian Navy, the head of Russia’s arms exporter said Wednesday. Currently, Russia is building Krivak IV-class guided missile warships for the Indian Navy at the Yantar shipyard in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad under a $1.6 billion contract signed in July 2006, Rosoboronexport’s general director Anatoly Isaikin said in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta.


A delegation of Indian military officials led by India’s deputy chief of the naval staff, Vice Admiral Raman P. Suthan, had visited the Yantar shipyard in October last year and said it was satisfied with the pace and the quality of the construction.

“The contract deadlines are very tough and there were indeed some disruptions in the construction,” Isaikin said.

The official said most of the problems were related to advanced weaponry and electronics installed on the frigates to meet the requirements of the Indian navy.

Russia previously built three Krivak-class frigates; INS Talwar, INS Trishul and INS Tabar for India and delivered them all in late 2004.

All of the frigates will be armed with eight BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missile systems and not the Club-N/3M54TE missile system, which was installed on previous frigates.

The Krivak-class frigate has deadweight of 4,000 metric tonnes and a speed of 30 knots, and is capable of accomplishing a wide range of maritime missions, primarily hunting down and destroying large surface ships and submarines.

“In terms of firepower it (the Krivak IV-class frigate) has no rivals in the world in its class,” Isaikin said.

Clear strategies needed to forecast changing weather pattern : M. Nair

weatherIndia should evolve a clear-cut strategy for observing various parameters associated with the atmospheric phenomena in the light of ever changing pattern of weather, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said.
"With greater deviations in climatic pattern and global warming driving people to chaos for want of proper mechanism to have effective and timely prediction, we should evolve a clear cut strategy for observing various parameters associated with atmospheric phenomena," Nair said.
With the help of modern equipment at its disposal, India could make precise forcasting of the changing weather pattern, he said, inaugurating the Department of Atmospheric Science at Kannur University's Mangattuparamba campus in Kannur.
The Department is coming up here with the help of ISRO's contribution of Rs 18.20 lakh.
He said ISRO has begun preparations for the launch of Chandrayan-II mission to land a spacecraft into the Moon by 2012-13.
Nair, who led the successful Chandrayaan Mission to the Moon, said all the apparatus inside the orbiting space craft is working in total perfection and has so far sent around 50,000 images of the Earth's satellite providing much needed data to the scientific community.

EMRI services not affected by Satyam scam

 SHILLONG, Feb 4 – The Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI), conceptualized by Satyam founder chairman B Ramalinga Raju, will go on with a new lookout to further the free health services to the people, EMRI chief and board member of Satyam, Venkat Changvalli categorically stated here yesterday.

Answering queries related to Satyam fundings to the EMRI projects, Changavalli told newsmen, Raju voluntarily funded Rs 37 crore to the project and our project will go on because it is not related to any investment for financial benefits.

Elaborating about Raju volunteered fundings to EMRI till he informed him about the financial controversies resulting in his arrest, Changvalli stated, Raju’s resignation on January 7 and the Stayam anomalies have nothing do to with EMRI.

Raju used his personal and family property to provide software technology to us, stated the CEO of EMRI, adding, Satyam has a new board set up and it is still supporting us as per the five years contract that can be extended for another five years. The contract was excuted in 2005.

With Satyam encountering a crisis that has hit the headlines each day, Changavalli was, however, apt that EMRI is looking for new partners from the corporate sectors to carry the mission of providing quality health care and emergency health services in right earnest.

The 108 emergency response service will not encounter any hiccups, stated Changavalli, even as he listed that six corporate houses have been approached for similar aid besides the other enterpreneuers who are involved in other big business.

Changavalli, however, added that till a new deal was inked, EMRI would continue its association with Satyam for technolgical support.

“Glad he (Raju) resigned and is facing the consequences. Only thing I can say is that EMRI owes not a single ruppee to Satyam and therefore there is no reverse flow of fund from EMRI to Satyam,” he claimed.

EMRI has signed an agreement with the Meghalaya Government and would run Community Health Centres, Public Health Centres and give emergency ambulance support on a Private-Public Participation.

Ninety-five per cent of the fund would be provided by the State Government, while EMRI would chip in with five per cent to run the project to provide the free health services to the State

Concern over Naga students’ plight in Tamil Nadu

 KOHIMA, Feb 5 Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee has expressed serious concern over the plight of Naga students, after colleges and hostels were closed in Tamil Nadu over the ongoing conflict in Tamil-inhabitated areas of Sri Lanka.

Hundreds of students from the State have been pursuing both technical and general education in different parts of Tamil Nadu but the sudden closure of hostels led them to facing with immense hardship, NPCC said in a statement issued here yesterday.

The Opposition party urged the Nagaland Government to take up the matter with its Tamil Nadu counterparts to mitigate the sufferings of the Naga students.

HC notice to Meghalaya Govt

 SHILLONG, Feb 5 Taking note of the ‘unhygienic condition’ at the Meghalaya Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Science (MIMHANS), the Gauhati High Court has issued a notice to the Meghalaya Government.

A division bench comprising Justice J Chelameswar and Justice AC Upadhyay issued the notice on Friday after hearing a PIL filed by one Siddhartha Shankar Dey.

Around 300 inmates of the MIMHANS, located at Mawlai here, were suffering due to lack of infrastructure and water supply for the past three months, the PIL submitted.

The court gave seven days’ time to the Meghalaya Health department to explain its position on the PIL.

The superintendent of the government-run institute, M Raphlang admitted before reporters today that water was not adequate in the hospital campus.

She, however, maintained that the hospital was a temporary arrangement, and it will be shifted to a permanent campus where all the basic facilities will be made available

BSNL to invest Rs 18 cr in Sikkim

GANGTOK, Feb 5 – Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is going to invest Rs 18 crore for the improvement of telecom services in Sikkim.

This is the highest investment made by the organisation in Sikkim in recent years. Out of this investment, Rs 10 crores will be utilised exclusively for GSM mobiles where 22 new BTS are proposed during this current financial year.

BSNL is already going in a big way for the improvement of rural internet services and 30 telephone exchanges are currently placed with broadband facilities. Seventeen more such exchanges are proposed to be established in a couple of months.

In a press release issued here, General Manager Telecom, Gangtok SN Roychowdhuri said BSNL has launched new Mobile SIM for 365 days validity.

NGO shows shining example of self-employment potential

 SIPAJHAR, Feb 5 Jagaran, an NGO of Devananda village in Darrang district formed under the leadership of retired Army personnel Nabin Chandra Deka of the village, has now become an inspiring example for income-generating self-employment activities.

It is to be noted that the NGO took birth under the name Jagaran Self-Help Group. It has launched a massive awareness drive for SHG formation and constituted 100 SHGs covering the entire locality, among which 70 are women’s groups and 30 are men’s. All of them undertake economic activities like piggery, dairy farm, broiler farm, etc., by taking bank loans from Bordoulguri branch of Asom Gramin Vikash Bank and also repay the loans.

The State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) also provides guidance in this regard. The Jagaran set up an agriculture farm at river rine areas covering 22 bighas of land. The members of NGO took up vegetables and winter crops on a commercial basis without using the hired labours and chemical fertilizers and already earned a good amount by selling their productions in the local market.

Monday, February 2, 2009

MPCC has not yet discussed pre-poll alliance: Gaikhangam

Imphal, February 2 : MANIPUR PRADESH Congress Committee President Gaikhangam on Saturday said his party is yet to discuss pre-poll alliance for the Lok Sabha election which is likely to be held in April this year.

Gaikhangam, speaking to some reporters on the sidelight of the annual calendar release function of the party yesterday morning, said, "We are yet to discuss the pre-poll alliance issue." "Besides no party has also approached us for it".

Congress and CPI, coalition partners of the Secular Progressive Front government are likely to go separately in the ensuing poll.

Reacting to a question on projecting new faces in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls,MPCC President also said that it's too early to name the party candidate at the moment.

However, the Congress leader observed that the party has no separate preparation for the election as "We're preparing all the time".

Except the technical programs, Congress has a routine electioneering activities round the year, he added.

Earlier releasing the annual colour calendar of MPCC, Gaikhangam said that his party is praying for a "free and fair election" in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"I hope, the media will also play a vital role in conducting a free and fair poll" the MPCC president said.

As the people supported the party in the election of local bodies, the party believes that it would do the same in the Lok Sabha election as well.

Gaikhangam said that the Congress led government has been taking up many developmental and welfare projects for the general public since the party assumed power.

The people have extended faith in the Chief Minister Ibobi led ministry in the state, Gaikhangam said.

Vice Presidents of the MPCC Dr Chaltonlien Amo and A K Mirabai, General Secretary Bidyapati Senjam and Chairman of the Media department of MPCC, Seram Mangi were also present at the calendar releasing function.

ZU declines to hold Lui Ngaini fest at Tamenglong

Imphal, February 2: THE ZELIANGRONG Union (ZU) Assam, Manipur and Nagaland has declined to hold the Lui Ngaini festival at Tamenglong this year, and asked the United Naga Council (UNC) to organise the festival elsewhere.

Dr S Xavier Pamei, general secretary of ZU (AM&N) stated in a press release issued today that the Union welcomed the decision of the Lui Ngaini celebration committee, declaring Tamenglong headquarters as the venue for Lui Ngaini 2009 .

But the ZU and Zeliangrong public, after considering all factors, find it impossible to host the state level Lui Ngaini festival at the eleventh hour, it stated.

In this connection, the ZU, AM&N had requested the celebration committee to shift the venue to some other suitable place to organise the state level Lui Ngaini with great pomp and gaiety, the ZU press release stated.

However, it is unfortunate to learn that the officials of UNC had requested the authority concerned to release fund for organising the festival at Tamenglong headquarters in spite of best efforts to avoid any ugly scene.

Therefore, the ZU (AM&N) and Zeliangrong people will never allow any organisation to hold Lui Ngaini 2009 at Tamenglong headqurters to make a mockery out of it, the general secretary warned.

Hotel set afire in Imphal

Imphal, February 2 : TWO UNKNOWN persons who were having tea at a fast food hotel located at the Churachandpur parking on Tiddim road near Keishampat junction here sprinkled petrol in the bedroom of the workers and set on fire.

The incident happened at Shanti Fast Food Hotel at about 2 pm today.

One Kangujam Chaoba (35) runs the hotel by employing some Bihari workers.

One of the Bihari workers who was a witness to the whole incident told reporters that the two persons entered the hotel to have tea.

After having tea and some snacks, one of them went out and brought a bottle of petrol, and told him (Bihari worker) that it was very costly, he bought the petrol at Rs 40 .

Then he entered the room where the workers sleep, and poured the petrol in the room and lit it.

The two persons immediately left the hotel.

Fire Service reached the hotel at once and extinguished the fire before it could spread and cause heavy damage.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

What does Anita Bose(Subhash Chandra Bose's daughter) think about BJP?

Riposte to LK Advani's Speech on Subhash Chandra Bose's112th birthday 13/01/09


THE PANTHEON HEROES OF HINDUTVA

Emilie Schenkl (Austrian wife of Subhash Chandra Bose)
Gandhi and Bose

L K Advani has made a speech on Subhash Chandra Bose's 112th birthday trying to APPROPRIATE the legacy of Subhash Chandra Bose; and in the same breath putting Veer Savarkar on the same pedestal as Subhash Chandra Bose. He has been trying to appropriate Subhash Chandra Bose's speech Give me blood, and I promise you freedom!
See full speech below:

The debate is focused to the following:
1. Who is the true torch-bearers of Subhash Chandra Bose's legacy?
Answer: The true bearers of Subhash Chandra Bose's legacy are "The All India Forward Block Party" in letter. And also the Congress Party to a certain extent, since Bose was a Congress Party member and President.


2. Would Subhash have compromised with "Communal forces like BJP", in the opinion of his daughter Anita Bose-Pfaff, Forward Block and others carrying the legacy of Bose.
Answer: NO.
3. Is the controversy about Netaji's death important to his daughter Anita Bose-Pfaff?
Answer: NO. She is interested in how he lived. And, how he died is no longer relevant.

The whole country knows that during the freedom movement, Nothing positive was done by certain parties. One certain ex-PM was involved as a British informer, and one certain other person was allegedly identified in ' a failed assassination plot of Jinnah". And now, they are teaching us about freedom movement of India.

References: Wikipedia on above-named persons.

So, MR LK Advani, please do not try to appropriate Subhash Chandra Bose as a right-wing icon, because despite the fact that he tried to enlist the support of Hitler's Germany to help Indian freedom movement, he is not a communal person with prejudices and discrimination.

Subhash Chandra Bose is a figure of personal belief (to be kept at home) with a deep sense of Hindu spiritualism with a respect for multi-culturality (He married an Austrian lady in Germany). He respected Gandhi, despite his opposition and would not have supported his assasination.

The pantheon of right-wing icons Gopal Godse, Nathuram Godse, Veer Savarkar and Mookherjee all made death threats to Mohandas Gandhi and were accused in the Assassination plot of Mahatma Gandhi.
But where Netaji parted company with Nehru and Gandhi was his strongly held conviction, which he voiced from 1939 onwards, that armed resistance was a perfectly legitimate tactic for India to use in the struggle for its independence.

It was this belief -- the British would only yield to force -- that led him to seek help from the Axis powers during World War II. He met Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and was befriended by their Japanese allies in the lead-up to the formation of the Provisional Government of Free India that was recognised by the Axis powers and their Southeast Asian allies on October 21, 1943.

During his stay in Berlin in 1943, Netaji founded the Free India Center and the Azad Hind Radio station. It was also in Berlin that the foundation was laid for what later became known as the Indian National Army or INA.

Indian prisoners of war captured in North Africa by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps were released into Netaji's custody and went on to form the India Legion that fought against Allied forces on the Western front.

The idea taken up by the Japanese high command led to the release of some 30,000 Indian prisoners of war in South-east Asia. The resulting INA force traveled as far as Kohima, now in Nagaland in northeast India, in 1944. Then, as the tide started to turn against the Axis forces, the INA was forced to retreat into the jungles of Burma.

Netaji was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa, one of the 14 children of a successful lawyer, Janakinath Bose, and his wife, Prabhavati Devi. A graduate of Kolkata's Presidency College, he was subsequently sent by his father to England to prepare for entry into the prestigious Indian Civil Service.

Although he passed his ICS exam with flying colors, Netaji's heart was in politics. Strongly influenced by Gandhi, Chittaranjan Das and the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, he joined the Indian National Congress and was jailed 11 times by the British between 1920 and 1941.

Like many Indians of his generation the turning point in Netaji's political education was the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre of April 1919 when hundreds of unarmed Indian civilians were shot dead at point blank range on the orders of a British general.

British analysts have vilified his subsequent meetings with Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese government as evidence of Netaji's so-called fascist leanings. Quite the opposite was true. A Left wing activist to the end of his days, he held no brief for Hitler and Mussolini's racist and fascist ideologies and viewed his relationship with them purely in the context of India's freedom struggle.

Although he failed to win Hitler's unqualified endorsement for a free and independent Indian state, Netaji secured the freedom of Indian prisoners of war in German custody. The story of how some Germans and Indians subsequently fought side by side in the India Legion against British forces on the Western front has remained one of the best kept secrets of the Second World War.

Netaji died in a plane crash on the island of Taiwan in August 1945. At the time US troops were only two days away from occupying Japan and Netaji, on his way from Saigon to Tokyo, was trying to make contact with remnants of the Imperial Japanese government. What remained of the INA had started to disintegrate after Germany's surrender in April 1945, followed soon after by Japan's. Netaji's death accelerated the process.

Anxious to reassert their control over India the British attempted to try Netaji's senior commanding officers for treason. But the trial of commanders like Shah Nawaz Khan, Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and Prem Sehgal in Delhi's Red Fort soon collapsed and a general amnesty for all INA soldiers was declared.

Critics have questioned his belief in a more authoritarian system of government for the sake of India's development, but even they concede that his views on workers and women's rights and population control were considered far ahead of their time and are still relevant today. How India would have developed with Netaji in charge remains one of the great 'What Ifs' of 20th century history and politics.

Anita Bose Pfaff, Netaji's only child, was born in Vienna, her mother's city, which her father visited in 1934 for medical treatment. During his stay Netaji asked an Indian friend to locate an English-speaking secretary to help him with a book he was planning to write.

The friend, who ran an English conversation course, introduced him to Emilie Schenkl in June 1934. Emilie was the daughter of a prominent veterinary surgeon. They soon fell in love and married in December 1937 in Bad Gastein. Anita, who was born in 1942, is married to Professor Martin Pfaff, formerly a Green Party member of the Bundestag, the German parliament. They have three children: Peter Arun, Thomas Krishna and Maya Carina. 

1---------------Appropriating Subhash Bose's Legacy debate in 2004---------- 
The last birthday that Subhash Bose celebrated, in all probability, was on January 23, 1945, in Rangoon. In the shadow of imminent defeat,despite his distaste for pomp, it was observed with gusto by his supporters.

On the material plane, they collected 20 million rupees and weighed him in gold. On the emotional plane, several young men and girls pledged, in blood, to serve him by forming a suicide squad.

While it is not possible at this distance in time to evaluate the depth of feeling that those unknown youngsters had for their leader, it is reasonably sure that the platitudes that will come from all parts of the political spectrum on his birth anniversary today will be tokenisms in comparison.

In acceptance of the fact that Bose refuses quietly to fade away from public memory, the political class now wish to claim him as its own, indeed, the BJP deems it appropriate to kick off its campaign for re-election.

Who really has the copyright politically to encash Subhash Bose today? The party that he joined first famously elected him president (Congress Party) and shortly afterwards realised that divergent opinions didn't work there, leaving him with little choice but to tread his own path.

The Congress somehow pretends that all this never happened and that he is part of the Congress diaspora.

When Messrs Pawar, Sangma and Tariq decided to defend the Congress legacy against Italian influence, they wrote of the party having "the good fortune to have, as role models, people like Mahatma Gandhi, Pt Nehru, Maulana Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi".

Subhash Bose doesn't quite fit in this list. Nehru candidly spoke at a press conference in April 1942: "We parted company with him many years ago. Since then we have drifted further apart and today we are very far from each other".

Those distances were never bridged, even if the mood in the country after Subhash Bose's death meant that the party never lagged behind in paying tribute to him.

The absurdity of the Indian Communist position on Netaji took many decades to strike home, till his last birth anniversary when Buddhadev Bhattacharya famously apologised for the great mistake committed earlier.

The chief minister's statement that "Netaji never compromised with communal forces" served to confirm the perception that the Left needed politically to reclaim Netaji in order to foil the RSS-VHP-BJP plan to showcase him as a right-wing icon.

It is not just the communists who take offence at the idea, though; another school of thought supports the militarist stance taken by Subhash Bose but asserts that having contributed little to their efforts in the freedom movement, the Hindu right wing has no business to claim Bose and other militant leaders as their own.

Then there is the Forward Bloc founded by Bose himself. It could have done so much with that USP but never quite did.

The FB may have chosen to atrophy into an also-there element in the Left Front for decades, but Bose certainly did not suffer from Marxist tunnel vision.

His daughter, Anita Bose-Pfaff, has pointed out that he was no communist, since he consciously chose to form the Forward Bloc instead of aligning with the existing Left forces.

Netaji was a devout Hindu and believed in spiritualism and his ultimate aim and goal was to serve the nation, she said, ironically enough, at a function organised by the Forward Bloc at Mumbai in March 2000.



The FB has followed Bose in letter, but the spirit seems to have eluded it. Further, how did the FB so comfortably cohabit with the Left Front in the context of the period when the great mistake was being made, are questions Bose's loyalists could well ask the party that claims to idolise him.

The BJP's critics say that it has tried to sell the idea of a homogeneous national pantheon consisting of Shivaji, Bose, Savarkar and Bhagat Singh.

It has certainly found that a re-invented Bose is complementary to its ideological position. It has been vocal in giving him his due: L K Advani, for instance, told INA veterans in April 2002 that Bose's place should have been such that no leader could have matched it in 50 or 55 years.

BJP ideologues wrote as far back as 1996 of Mr Advani's audacious attempt to co-opt Subhash Chandra Bose in the pantheon of proponents of Hindutva.

An article in a BJP journal says: "Not only does the BJP stand to gain electorally, but Subhash Chandra Bose will be freed from the confines of political myth-making. The appropriation by the BJP is a posthumous homecoming for a nationalist who believed that rashtrabhakti is a synthesis of religion and nationalism, of the spiritual and the political".

A question as campaigning for the elections kicks off: Those who swear by Gandhi may be clear that they will not vote for the BJP, Marxists will not vote for anyone from the right wing, hardcore RSS activists will never vote for a communist, but do those who swear by Subhash Bose know whom they should not vote for?

2-------------Interview with Anita Bose Pfaff, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's only child----
She refused to attach importance to the unending debate about the circumstances under which her father died. She said Netaji's life and not his death was more important

Asked what she felt when right-wing parties exploited Netaji's name, she said her father would not have gone along with the BJP so long as it did not shed communal policies. The Congress was also using Netaji's name. But, this did not detract from the fact that there were thousands of genuine followers of Netaji.

She defended Netaji's decision to seek the help of Germany in his fight against Britain. His choice was limited between a colonial force and one which was openly fascist and racist. 
3------------------------The Introduction-------------
How old were you when your father saw you last?

I was only four weeks old when he saw me last. I was born in 1942 and he left Germany by submarine for Southeast Asia in early 1943. So he saw me when I was very little. When he most likely died in an air-crash in what is now Taiwan -- in August 1945 -- I was about two and three quarters (years old].

How did your parents meet?

It was in 1934 when my father was in Vienna to seek medical treatment (he had been in jail in Mandalay, Burma, because of his struggle for India's independence). He was sick and getting quite weak and was released on condition that he would leave the country to get medical treatment.

Vienna at that time was quite a famous centre for medicine. So he came there during the period when he had his treatment. At the same time he was working on a book. He looked for a secretary to type his manuscripts and approached an Indian student to ask if he knew a lady who might do this for him.

The student was running a discussion course in which my mother was a member. So he recommended her and this is how they met.

After that, was your father in and out of Europe between 1934 and 1943?

You could extend that period that far; in and out during the 1930s. Then he had more extensive stays in India. First of all, he was Congress (party) president in 1938 and got re-elected in 1939 against the wishes of Mahatma Gandhi who had set up another candidate. After that, the Second World War started in Europe and during that period there was not that much traveling back and forth.

In 1941 my father returned to Germany by an adventurous route. He had been interned at home in Kolkata (by the British) but made an escape from there, traveling in disguise as a Pathan from northern India to the North West Frontier Province (now in Pakistan), and up to Kabul. There he had the support of the German and Italian embassies to give him an Italian passport. Accompanied by a German diplomat he traveled across the Soviet Union, which had not entered the war and allowed him to pass through to Berlin.

What do you know of your father's role in forming the Indian National Army that fought the British?

Actually, the INA had existed before his reaching Southeast Asia, but it had not picked up so well. One of the persons actively involved in it -- Ras Behari Bose -- wanted my father to take over. Ras Behari had lived in the region for some time and was married to a Japanese lady.

The INA wasn't just made up of former prisoners of war released by the Japanese. There were also many Indian plantation workers in Malaya who joined up; some of the recruits were prisoners of war and the Japanese handed them over to the INA. Quite a few joined up because they wanted to do something for their country.

What was unusual for those days was that the INA had a women's corps. My father was quite modern in his views and he had always felt that India had under-utilised resources. One was women and the other was the downtrodden, the workers, who were not recognised as a human resource.

So the INA had a women's corps of 1,000 women; its commander was Dr (later Colonel) Lakshmi Sehgal. At that time she was Dr Swaminathan from south India who had gone to Southeast Asia. She is still alive. In fact, she was one of the contenders for the Presidency of India (Colonel Sehgal was the Communist parties' candidate for President against A P J Abdul Kalam in July 2002. She lost the election).

The INA then saw action on the Burma Front.

The INA reached Indian soil in what is now called the Northeast provinces. There was a battle of Kohima and Imphal where they were defeated (by the British) and had to retreat. Quite a few died. Politically they were more successful as subsequently released documents have shown.

In post-Independent India the INA's role was played down. The official evaluation was that its activities had little effect. Militarily speaking that was true because the army was not that well equipped, but the British made a great political mistake by putting three INA officers on trial at the Red Fort (in Delhi), expecting that people would look down on them as traitors. The opposite happened and the trial publicized the efforts of the INA, which had previously been censored.

Until the trial little had been known of the INA or the Government of India in exile in 1943 when they tried to send food to Bengal during the Great Famine. All of a sudden this trial made everything known and it revived the struggle for independence in India, which had been lagging because the leadership of the Congress party and other groups mostly had been imprisoned. Their efforts like the Quit India movement had not been successful and so this gave a new dawn to the movement.

As a consequence of the INA's efforts, large numbers within the British Indian Army -- which was not just British but for the most part Indian -- became unreliable. There was a mutiny in Bombay (by the Royal Indian Navy), which showed the armed forces could not be depended on. The administrative system was what had controlled India and with the army unreliable the British realised India could not be held as a colony any more. This led to the transfer of power. It was meant to have taken place a few months later, but it was brought forward to August 1947.

You could therefore say the INA had this effect of destabilising the British hold on the Indian army and reviving the independence movement within India.

The INA certainly has its place in Indian history.

When the first few INA soldiers returned to India they were treated as heroes, but I must say in the later stages India has not treated them very well. The INA veterans were not recognised as army veterans and for a very long time they were not even recognised as freedom fighters, which meant that certain benefits such as a pension and free rail travel were denied to them. Many members of the INA were reduced to poverty and some of them died in hunger. These were simple people and could not find their way that easily in the country to which they returned.

India has not behaved towards this group in an honorable or fair way.

How often have you visited India?

Oh, 12 or 15 times, starting in the 1960s. I first visited (India) in 1960-1961 and during that stay Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru invited me to stay with him for some time, which I did for about a week. We talked about my father, about other things in India. It was a long time ago and I don't remember what it was all about.

What would India have been like if your father had been prime minister?

It is conceivable that at an earlier stage there would have been a bipartisan system or a multi-party system in India. As it was, the Congress party ruled India from 1947 to the late 1970s. For a spell there was a Janata Party movement, but that was an alliance of parties welded in a very short period of time with rather diverse interests. It did not retain power for very long and the Congress returned (to power).

The forces favoured everyone flocking to the Congress party, which had positive and negative consequences. The positive side is it created a period of stability. On the other hand, if you have a political system that is democratic, then if you have one party that is very dominant this is not in favor of strengthening democracy.

The competition for better ideas is a useful thing in a democratic system. A system dominated by one party tends to become sluggish and also corrupt.

If my father had been there, there would have been dissenting opinions, a rallying point for alternative forces. Nehru -- if you look at him as the leading figure of post-Independent India -- used to be part of the Left wing of the Congress. So was my father.

Both would have come with a Left-wing approach. In spite of this India at the national level did not have a very Left-wing party. There is no Social Democratic Party, there is no Socialist Party. There are Communist parties in India who might be regionally strong, as in Bengal and Kerala [Images], but there are no socialist parties that are strong at the center like you have in Europe. My father and Nehru might have posed alternatives, but on the Left wing. Whether this would have strengthened the system, it depends.

Some things my father recognised very early may have been brought to the forefront if he had been there.

Could you give us some examples?

For example, even in the 1930s he recognised that population expansion would pose a problem in India. Education as one of the key necessities of the country was one he recognized. He would have pushed very strongly in the direction of spreading education and improving education. Whether he could have abolished illiteracy totally now, one can only speculate. He would have been a very strong proponent of that.

He would have been one to strongly advocate the active participation of women. Of course, India today is a very heterogeneous country with regard to that.

On the one hand you have a country that was one of the first to have a woman as a prime minister. On the other hand in many areas of social life women are downtrodden. You still have wife burning and abuse of women. My father certainly would have been one to stand up for women's rights.

Why did Mahatma Gandhi not support him?

In some ways they were of (the same) opinion. In other ways they were not. In the 1930s Gandhi clearly worked against him. Very often Gandhi is portrayed as a saint, which he was not at all. In my opinion he was a very shrewd politician. He was a lawyer who really knew how to work the system and manipulate people in a positive sense. He certainly made my father resign as Congress president.

My father respected him very highly in spite of that and was always anxious to hear Gandhi's reaction to what he did and what he said. It was my father who called Gandhi 'Father of the Nation.'

The INA slogan 'Jai Hind' is still the greeting used in the Indian Army today; my father picked the Indian national anthem. It was first played in Hamburg at a gathering. So there are still a few symbolic remains from his activities in India which people tend to forget.

Gandhi and my father were of the same opinion regarding the partitioning of the country. Both of them were dead set against it and in some context my father said, 'The British will try to partition the country.' He and Gandhi were very much against this.

What do you know of how your father died?

It seems quite plausible that he was killed in a plane crash in what is now Taiwan at the end of the Second World War. In Europe the war ended in May 1945; in Southeast Asia it only ended in August. The Americans tried to end the war faster by bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki with a nuclear bomb.

At that time when the Japanese decided to capitulate he was on his way to Tokyo. At that time planes could not cover very long distances, so he flew from Saigon to Taiwan -- where he had a stopover -- and then took off from Taiwan. The plane caught fire. He was injured and died as a consequence. This was August 18, 1945.

Later he was cremated and his remains were taken to Tokyo and placed in a temple there. The idea was that his Japanese associates would keep his remains for a few months until they were transferred to India. This has never happened for the simple reason that there were a number of people who did not believe my father had died in that plane crash.

There were all sorts of stories that he had shown up as a sanyasi in some part of the Himalayas, that he was a prisoner of war in Russia . The only story that is consistent and is backed up by eyewitnesses is the plane crash.

My father was allowed to take along one person with him on this journey, a man called Habibur Rahman, who later went to live in Pakistan. He maintained up to his death that the plane crash took place; that my father was killed and he was a witness to that. Some people said there were inconsistencies in this evidence and that if he asked Habibur Rahman to spread the story of his death, he would do it.

It makes sense until independence, but as nothing was heard from my father after independence, Habibur Rahman would not have been bound by any such commitment.

Could British agents have sabotaged your father's plane?

I doubt it. This was after capitulation. One day after this happened the Americans moved into Taiwan. If anyone sabotaged it would be more (likely the) Americans than the British at the time. I very much doubt it because it would have been a question of trying to infiltrate at the end of the Second World War when it was clear that Japan [Images] was going to capitulate.

It does not make a lot of sense. It would have been a question of spite, maybe, or trying to remove someone who would have been a pain in the neck for the British, but I doubt it.

The Japanese feel rather strange about the whole situation. They feel it is a matter of honor that India should take the remains of one of their greatest independence fighters back to India.

Gandhi and my father were not tainted by corruption. They were not tainted by things people did not like. So some people in India now say, 'If they were alive, things would be different.' This is an emotional reaction.

4-------------LK Advani tries to APPROPRIATE Subhash Chandra Bose legacy-----------
Speech by LK Advani at the FICCI Audiotrium to commemorate the 112th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

23 January 2009
FICCI Audiotrium, New Delhi

“Netaji Bose had said to his countrymen: 'Tum mujhe khoon do; main tumhe aazadi doonga! (Give me blood, and I promise you freedom!) The times have changed, India has been azaad since 1947, and we need to make different kinds of sacrifices and commitments. Hence, if I were to rephrase Netaji’s clarion call, I would say that the call of all nationalistic and forward-looking political leaders to the people of India today should be:  'Tum humein samarthan do; hum tumhe sushaasan denge! (Give us your support, we promise you Good Governance.) This is what my colleagues and I would humbly say when my party, the BJP, and my alliance, the NDA, go out to seek people’s support in the forthcoming elections to the 15th Lok Sabha.”

Today is the jayanti of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Had he lived till today, he would be 112 years old. However, rare are human beings who live that long. But rare also are human beings who perform so many heroic feats in as short a lifespan as Destiny gave to Netaji Bose.

We do not still know conclusively and beyond the shadow of any doubt when, where and how Netaji Bose died. Officially ― and here I am referring to the official version of the British government ―,  he died in a plane crash over Taiwan, while flying to Tokyo on 18 August 1945. Which means that, he was only 48 years old when he died. However, his body was never recovered.

Several committees were set up by the Government of India to probe into this matter. Indeed, when I was the Union Home Minister in the NDA Government (1998-2004), we set up an Inquiry Commission in 1999 under Justice Mukherjee. Its report, which was tabled in Parliament in May 2006, said that Netaji Bose did not die in the plane crash and the ashes at the Renkoji Temple in Tokyo are not his. However, the UPA Government rejected the findings of the Commission.

Netaji Bose: a unique patriotic warrior

There is no need to go into that debate now. What is beyond doubt is that Netaji lived life heroically, and he died heroically, fighting for the cause of India’s liberation from foreign rule. In many ways, he was unique among India’s freedom fighters. Bose advocated complete freedom for India at the earliest, whereas the Congress wanted it in phases, through a Dominion status. Once World War II broke out, which convinced him that the path of non-violent resistance chosen by the party under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi was not the right one, he followed Rabindranath Tagore’s poetic line ‘Ekla Chalo Re’. 

He escaped from British captivity, travelled to Afghanistan, the Soviet Union, Germany and Japan, seeking alliances tha could defeat the British in India. With an audacity that only brave hearts are capable of, he formed the Azad Hind Government in exile. The Indian National Army (INA), which he led, forms an incredible chapter in the history of the revolutionary branch of India’s freedom struggle. 

Netaji was a devout Hindu. He was greatly influenced by the philosophy of Swami Vivekananda and Maharshi Aurobindo. Indeed, it is his rootedness in India’s spiritual heritage and his belief in the teachings of the Bhagwad Gita that imparted to him the values of discipline, valour and the spirit of sacrifice. Not many know that he published a special edition of Veer Savarkar’s monumental book 1857 : India’s War of Independence as reading material for the soldiers of INA.  

Friends, it is important for us to remember that men and women following several ideologies and several strategies participated in India’s liberation movement. And they often coexisted in the Congress itself, at a time when the Congress was a broad national platform and not a political party as such. Even Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, founder of the Rashriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), was earlier a functionary of the Congress in Vidarbha. Although Mahatma Gandhi dominated the national movement, there were many, like Netaji Bose, who followed divergent paths. 

And then there were men like Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Veer Savarkar who fought for India’s independence while remaining outside the Congress platform.


What does Himani Godse Savarkar (daughter of Gopal Godse, married to Veer Savarkar's nephew, President of Abhinav Bharat=accused party in Malegaon blasts) think about BJP?
Why did Netaji Bose become a ‘Fogotten Hero’?

As I have often stated in the past, we should honour all these great men and women, irrespective of their divergent and sometimes conflicting ideological and operational stands. For in spite of differences, one thing was common to them all: their boundless patriotism and their total dedication to the cause of India’s freedom.

And this was my message when I undertook the longest yatra of my life, the Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra in 1997 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of India’s Independence. I travelled all over the country by road and paid homage to hundreds of well-known and lesser-known martyrs and heroes of the Freedom Movement. For me, it was a Patriotic Pilgrimage.

What pains me ― and it also pains and angers millions of fellow Indians ― is that after Independence, an impression has been created that those who belong to a particular family have made the greatest contribution to India’s liberation and post-1947 nation-building. For example, a feature film on Netaji Bose was released in 2005. It was directed by the renowned director Shyam Benegal. What was its title? 

Bose: The Forgotten Hero. We must ask ourselves: “Why did someone like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose become a forgotten hero in our country?”

* * *
Netaji fought for Swaraj. We should strive for Su-raj

When we remember heroic personalities from the past, it should never be for ritualistic purposes. Great men and women are those who outlive their own lives. Long after they depart from our land, their ideas and deeds continue to live, inspiring and guiding others. 

How does Netaji Bose guide us today? How do others from his generation guide us today?

I can summarise this by saying what I said during my Swarna Jayanti Rath Yatra. Our Freedom Fighters gave us Swaraj. But we have not been able to convert it into Su-raj. Self-Governance has not been transformed into Good Governance.

The people who lived in the era of the freedom struggle had hoped and dreamed that India, once it became independent, would be a land of prosperity, free of poverty, illiteracy, backwardness and want. This dream has not come true even after six decades of Independence. 

India ranks 128 out of 177 countries in the world in terms of the United Nations’ Human Development Index. Why?
India has the highest number of malnutrition-related deaths. Why?
Only 45% of our children complete eight years of schooling? Why?
Why are thousands of farmers committing suicide in this day and age?
Why are we witnessing the largest ever migration from rural to urban areas?
Why is India suffering from such severe infrastructure bottlenecks that something as basic as electricity and drinking water are in short supply in many parts of the country?

The short answer to all these and more such questions is that there is lack of Good Governance India. 
Congress party’s legacy of knotty problems

Lack of Good Governance has a direct bearing on threats to our national security. For example, people like Netaji Bose would be horrified at the manner in which the Congress rule has bequeathed knotty problems to future generations ― problems like the border disputes with Pakistan and China that have become knottier with the passage of time. He would be equally horrified at how the Congress has colluded, purely for votebank considerations, in the demographic invasion from Bangladesh into Assam and other parts of the country. 

??The same votebank considerations have guided the Congress party’s approach to cross-border terrorism, sponsored from Pakistan??. Its opposition to POTA in 2002, its scrapping of POTA in 2004 and its refusal to implement the Supreme Court’s judgement on Afzal Guru, who has been convicted for his role in the terrorist attack on Indian Parliament – all these are such that they show the warped thinking of the Congress leadership on the issue of terrorism.

In the aftermath of the recent horrendous terror attacks in Mumbai, the UPA Government was forced to take some partial corrective measures, such as enactment of two anti-terror bills. But I must make two points here. Firstly, the it government acted out of compulsion and not conviction. Secondly, facts about the 26/11 incidents have revealed that there was not only an intelligence failure but also a monumental failure of governance by the Congress-led governments in New Delhi and Mumbai. The Congress has a lot to answer for this failure.

What I am saying is simply this: As a party that has ruled India for the longest period since Independence, the Congress must bear the greatest responsibility for the problems that are plaguing our country today. I have seen all the Congress governments from 1947 onwards. I can say on the basis of this knowledge that this is the worst of all the Congress regimes ― the most corrupt, the most inept and most unfaithful to the dreams of the great heroes of our Freedom Struggle.
Satyam mega-scam: Judicial probe needed (??what about 14 years after Babri Masjid??)
Let me take the latest example of the humungous corporate scandal in Satyam. Small investors have been badly hurt by this fraud, which involves a figure of Rs. 7,000 crore. It has also hurt the image of India’s corporate sector globally. Reports now reveal that the company’s balance sheet was fudged. Revenues were inflated. Even the number of employees was inflated. What were the relevant agencies in the governments in New Delhi and Hyderabad doing? 

There are also reports that the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh showered a largesse on the promoters of Satyam in the form of giving away lucrative contracts and large tracts of precious land for throwaway prices. There is a stench of political corrupton here, and I demand a high-level judicial probe into this mega-scam.

BJP/NDA’s promise: Good Governance

I shall conclude with one thought. Netaji Bose had said to his countrymen: 'Tum mujhe khoon do; main tumhe aazadi doonga! (Give me blood, and I promise you freedom!) The times have changed, India has been azaad since 1947, and we need to make different kinds of sacrifices and commitments. Hence, if I were to rephrase Netaji’s clarion call, I would say that the call of all nationalistic and forward-looking political leaders to the people of India today should be:  'Tum humein samarthan do; hum tumhe sushaasan denge! (Give us your support, we promise you Good Governance.)

This is what my colleagues and I would humbly say when my party, the BJP, and my alliance, the NDA, go out to seek people’s support in the forthcoming elections to the 15th Lok Sabha.

We shall remind the people that India has ample resources, both natural and human, for making great strides forward. Indeed, wherever and whenever governments have governed well, they have produced good results. For example, the states in which the BJP has governments are far better governed than the Congress-ruled states. Similarly, now that the term of the UPA Government has almost come to an end, I can also claim that the track record of the NDA Government under Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was far superior to that of the incumbent government under Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh.

We shall attend to India’s developmental challenges with a sense of urgency, bringing many innovative ideas to bear on our efforts. We shall be uncompromising in our fight against terrorism. We shall not tolerate corruption in governance, especially at the top echolons. I am saying this because if there is probility in public life at the top, it will have a positive influence down the line. With Good Governance, Development and Security as our mantras, we shall serve India in a manner that would befittingly honour the ideals of great patriot-warriors like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Thank you.
L K Advani

One arrested, pistol seized

One arrested, pistol seized

Dimapur, Feb 1 (MExN): One person was arrested by IRB personnel during routine frisking and checking at Purana Bazar area on January 30 at around 8:00 pm. The IRB personnel recovered one .32 pistol along with one magazine and six rounds of 7.65 calibre.

Police identified the arrested person as one Meyinungsang s/o Lipoknuken presently residing at DC Court Area, Dimapur. 

The arrested person is reportedly an activist of the NSCN (IM), police said.

One Maruti van bearing registration number, NL 06 E2545 in which the person was traveling was also seized.

The arrested person has been booked under the Arms act and has been remanded to police custody.

Anti Leprosy Day held at Tamenglong District Hospital

Daniel Kamei

TAMENGLONG, Feb 1 : A significant Anti- Leprosy day was held today at Tamenglong District Hospital in remembrance of Mahatma Gandhi, father of the nation, with Dr. Chambo Gonmei, chief medical officer of Tamenglong and Dr. David, district AIDS officer as chief guest and guest of honour respectively.

After being long defunct the district leprosy had revived today. This department had no office and the officials and staff could not remember their colleagues with their names and posts.

At present there are five staff including one district leprosy officer, two non medical assistants, one health educator and one supervisor who recently retired. All the staff got their salary regularly even though people were not aware of their existence at Tamenglong. "As directed by the directorate we suddenly organized this programme," said Dr. Dharmo Singh, district leprosy officer.

In the meantime, speaking as chief guest Dr. Chambo said that it was a significant day and it may also be appropriate to celebrate the Anti-Leprosy Day on the death anniversary of the father of the nation, as Mahatma Gandhi was humble, patient and had no feeling of discrimination against any race or person.

Further, he also said that long ago people thought that leprosy was a curse from God and it spread from one person to another. If a person was infected with this disease people discriminated against the person and they even chased him out of their village. He also pointed out that in Nepal at Kathmandu if a person is infected with leprosy people will put a bell on him and turn away if he came near him.

However, this chronic disease was nothing, it is curable with the development of scientific medicine and with multi drug therapy, Dr Chambo said. This disease is not much in our state of Manipur and Tamenglong in particular, but we should educate the people about the disease and the symptoms and fight and eradicate the dreadful disease from the district of Tamenglong and from Manipur, he said.

He went on to say that leprosy was almost eradicated from Manipur. Many projects are in operation to fight leprosy like SIMLE, he said.

Dr. Chambo also urged the department to organize bigger programmes by inviting schools and public to give full knowledge about the disease.

Speaking as the guest of honour, Dr. David said that this was the first time the Anti-Leprosy Day was being observed in the district. People were not aware of this disease as it was not much in our state and Tamenglong in particular, he said.

The chronic disease does not spread from one person to another like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, he said.

The disease is curable now with the establishment of multi-drug therapy, he also said.

He regretted that very few people participated in today`s programme and urged the department to organize such functions to give full awareness about the disease and symptoms and reports to concerned authority for help in eradicating the disease from Manipur.