INDIA SUMMARIZED

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to consider not replacing German language with Sanskrit in Kendriya Vidyalayas in the middle of the ongoing academic session and implement the decision from the next academic year, saying, “Why are you punishing students for your mistake?” While appreciating Centre’s decision to introduce Sanskrit, the apex court, however, said that changing the language in the middle of the session would put additional burden on students. The bench turned down the plea of the Centre which contended that German language cannot be a third language as the MoU signed three years back by the government with the German authorities is wrong and cannot be followed.

The New York Times, an American daily newspaper, has depicted Hon. Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi as the Hindu Deity, Lord Nataraj, in a cartoon. ( Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/opinion/heng-modis-diplomacy.html?_r=0 ) Alert Hindus notified Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), a noted Hindu organization in India, about this denigration of Lord Nataraj.  Accordingly, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti wrote to The New York Times, but there has been no response from them. (Letter explaining the denigration is published later on this page.) Portraying political figures or any other person as Hindu Deities amounts to trivialization of the Deities. Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi shown as Lord Nataraj in The New York Times. We now appeal to you to protest lawfully and peacefully against this denigration. We also suggest you write to the publication team of The New York Times, requesting them to stop this denigration.

An interesting and long over-due discourse by Maj Gen G. D.  Bakshi (Retd) about the factors that got us independence from the British. It is a happy augury which merges well with emerging realities. You may read and ponder if you like. Ashok Coomar   http://www.sunday-guardian.com/investigation/gandhi-nehru-soft-power-not-sole-reason-behind-freedom   Gandhi-Nehru soft power not sole reason behind freedom    Maj Gen G.D. Bakshi (Retd)   15th Nov 2014 [In strictly historical terms, Subhas Bose emerges as primarily responsible for Indian independence, even more perhaps than Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.]     Nation states are constructed around a core of seminal ideas and values. They need a national narrative to sustain themselves and serve as a basis for their collective identity that defines who they ar...

Rampur, UP : The 75th birthday bash of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who rode an imported Victorian-style ‘buggy’ on Friday, kicked up a controversy over its funding with party leader Azam Khan saying that money has come from terror group Taliban and Dawood Ibrahim. Thousands of Azam’s supporters accompanied the ‘buggy’ (horse-driven carriage) carrying Mulayam, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav besides Khan, a state minister, as it proceeded towards the venue, Jauhar University, where the SP chief will celebrate his birthday by cutting a 75-feet-long cake at midnight. The buggy is stated to have been imported from London. The two-day birthday celebrations starting on Friday was organised by the ruling party in Khan’s constituency in Rampur. Khan is the chancellor of Jauhar university. As the celebrations were set in motion after Mulayam’s arrival here, Azam’s comments over the funding fuelled a controversy. When questioned about the funding for the grand event, an irat...

NEW DELHI – A top Enforcement Directorate official on Thursday told a special court that DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal was involved in “acquisition” of proceeds in the 2G scam while his daughter Kanimozhi “parked” money in Kalaignar TV. Testifying as a prosecution witness in the money laundering case, ED joint director Himanshu Kumar Lal told CBI judge OP Saini that Dayalu and DMK MP Kanimozhi were party to pledging of their respective shares of Kalaignar TV (P) Ltd to Cineyug Films (P) Ltd to “project the tainted money as untainted”. Elaborating on Dayalu’s role, Lal said, “MK Dayalu was knowingly a party and was actually involved in acquisition of proceeds of crime from Cineyug Films (P) Limited to Kalaignar TV (P) Limited and was involved in reverse flow of proceeds of crime from Kalaignar TV back to Cineyug Films … She was also party to purported pledging of shares of Kalaig nar TV to Cineyug Films and purported share subscription agreement with C...

New York, Nov 21 (IANS) A US federal court has asked the State Department to respond by Dec 10 to a human rights group's challenge to immunity for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged complicity in 2002 Gujarat riots. The order by Judge Analisa Torres of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York asked the Department to respond to American Justice Centre's Nov 14 plea asserting that Modi could not be granted immunity for his actions as Chief Minister. An attorney for the American Justice Centre and two survivors of the Gujarat riots argued that Modi was being sued for acts committed as "Chief Minister" of Gujarat and not for any acts that he committed as "Prime Minister" of India. "It is undisputed that foreign sovereign immunity extends only to the 'head of the foreign government' for the actions committed during tenure as 'head of foreign government,'" AJC's Memorandum of Law ar...

NEW-DELHI. Is chief minister of Haryana empowered that he can order closing of a criminal case registered in Chandigarh which is not under jurisdiction of Haryana Govt.Documents received under Right to Information Act by Murari Lal of Bhiwani has come with shocking revelations that not only Home Secretary of Chandigarh, Anil Kumar but then Haryana Chief Secretary S.C.Choudhary and then chief minister , Bhupinder Hooda had abused their authority for hushing up a complaint lodged with Chandigarh Police for registration of criminal case against,K.S.Sangwan, project director of socio, economic and educational survey and members of Haryana Backward Classes Commission who had recommended reservation for Jats and some other castes in Haryana Govt. services on basis of forged data submitted by Sangwan.It is clear case in which pliable officers and Chief minister entered into criminal conspiracy to scuttle the process of justice. In his complaint, Murarilal has alleg...

Seeking to establish itself as a secular party and not one catering only to the Muslim community, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi said their next step would now be to make inroads into the bastions of 'secular parties' to serve as a political  alternative. Refusing to be categorised as a Muslim-only party, Owaisi,   in an interview to the Hindustan Times   said his party would work to provide Muslims with political representation, adding the community had to be 'rescued' from being held hostage by political parties. While it is hopeful of emerging as an alternative to the secular parties in the country, Owaisi made it clear that his party will not allow any out-of-court settlement on the Babri Masjid temple issue that is currently under judicial review. When asked what his response was to reports of the BJP-government exploring ways to build a temple at Ayodhya, Owaisi said: "The Muslim personal law board has already committed itself ...