Congrats To The Times of India For The Dramatic World Environment Day Gesture

I really enjoyed the pleasant surprise that I got from The Times of India (TOI) of yesterday’s (5th June 2010) edition, i.e. the edition of World Environment Day. I had barely opened the paper and was quickly browsing through the news items (as I was in a hurry to leave for my office), when my attention was caught by the news (basically an announcement by the TOI authority) that the edition was completely made of recycled newsprint. In a nutshell, the paper was an excellent example of recycling and renewable energy, a highly talked about issue in today’s world.

I simply felt great. Such an innovative gesture, that too by my favourite newspaper, was something that I really loved to experience. It was undoubtedly a great way to send a strong and effective message highlighting the cruciality of renewable energy. And it was also an example of “walking the talk”, wherein my favourite newspaper itself did something that it has urged its readers to do.

And yes, I have decided to permanently keep the paper in my collection as a souvenir.

Good job, TOI. I love you.

Six Months Old Girl Married Off In Pakistan

A 6 months old (yes, 6 months, not even 6 years) girl has been married off to a 25 years old man in Pakistan. Terribly shocking, right? But it is true.

Well, the background of the story is this –

A married man named Alamzeb (a resident of the from the Reri Goth area in Karachi) abducted the daughter of his neighbour Naseer, and fled away. Reportedly, the abduction took place with the girl’s consent, as the two were in love with each other.

However, the girl’s family took the matter as a prestige issue, and started threatening the family of Alamzeb. Ultimately the matter reached such a level that the local community elders held a “Jirga” (sort of a council) to resolve the issue.

And then the “Jirga” came up with a “great” solution. What was the solution? Well, they said that the 6 months old daughter of Alamzeb should be married off to 25 years old Haq Nawaz, the brother of the girl whom Alamzeb abducted. The “Jirga” gave this ruling on the basis of “Swara”.

And what the hell is “Swara”? Well, it is a child marriage custom practiced in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This custom is used to resolve blood feuds among families, tribes and clans, wherein young girls are forcibly married off to the members of various other clans.

It is incidents like these which remind us that in some parts of this world the time is still stuck in the 18th century.

Source: http://news.oneindia.in/2010/05/31/6month-baby-girl-married-to-25-yr-old-man-in-pakistan-tose.html

The Indian Civil Aviation Authority – A Reincarnation Of The “Bourbon Monarchy”?

Whether you are a History buff or not, you must have read about the Bourbon dynasty of France, right? Well, in case you cannot recall, then it was the dynasty that was dethroned after the French Revolution, managed to regain its lost throne after the fall of Napoleon, and again lost it later after another emergence of popular dissatisfaction.

It was once famously said about the Bourbon dynasty that “they have learned nothing, and have forgotten nothing”. The remark was made in reference to the Bourbon dynasty’s unresponsiveness to public mood, even after once paying the price for the same by losing their throne. When they came back to throne after Napoleon’s fall, it was expected that they had learnt from their past mistakes of showing defiance to popular feelings, and would now be more cautions in dealing with the common citizenry. But the Bourbon kings soon proved this expectation to be wrong. Their administration was found to be carrying the same characteristics of their pre-Revolution rule, reflecting the same lack of responsiveness to and respect for the public emotions and feelings. They proved that they had learned nothing from their past experience. No wonder, they did not take much time to lose their throne again, this time for ever.


While the analogy may sound to be a bit too far fetched, I nevertheless find a close resemblance between the Bourbon Dynasty and the Indian civil aviation authority.

After the tragic Mangalore air crash people had expected that the Indian civil aviation mandarins would try to identify and address the operational and technical gaps, and would display a better performance at least for few days. Oh God, how wrong we were! Barely few days have passed after the tragedy, and the Indian civil aviation authority has already started showing its callousness towards public safety.

Just yesterday three Indian planes (1 Kingfisher, 1 Jetlite and 1 Jet Airways) had a close shave, as they had been diverted from the Delhi airport (to Jaipur) thanks to the shutdown of the Delhi airport. And why was the Delhi airport shut down in the first place? Because the airport was to cater to two VIP movements - President Pratibha Patil’s flight to China and Turkmenistan president Gurbanguly Berdimunhamedov’s flight to Agra.

So what happened after the three above mentioned planes were diverted to Jaipur? The Jetlite flight landed on the Jaipur airport when it barely had the fuel to remain airborne for 3 minutes. The Kingfisher flight landed when it was left with the fuel to fly just for 10 minutes, while the Jet Airways flight was left with around 13 minutes of flying capacity at the time of landing. Just imagine what a disaster any of these flights would have faced if there were just a few minutes of delay in landing on the Jaipur airport.

And yes, apart from these three, eight other flights were diverted from the Delhi airport, while 20 other flights were forced to circle the Delhi airport for one hour. All for VIP safety.

Yes, I understand that there is an issue of protocol and basic security when it involves a VIP movement. There may have been some strong reason for temporarily shutting down the Delhi airport for “non VIP” planes. But what was the problem in informing the concerned flights beforehand, so that they could modify their route accordingly? Is there no element of co-ordination and management in the Indian civil aviation mechanism?

It is still understandable when a mishap takes place due to technical snag. But there is absolutely no mercy for operational snag, which is the result of nothing else but pure callousness.

Pseudo Intellectuals, Please Stop Sympathizing With The Maoists If You Have Any Shame

Dear pseudo intellectuals of India, it is high time you stopped sympathizing with the Maoist devils, provided you have at least an iota of shame. For long we have been listening to your “intellectual” interpretations of the “root causes” of Maoism – abject poverty, lack of development, discrimination, oppression, blah blah blah! In fact your so-called “conscientious” opposition to Government’s plans and programmes to counter Maoist menace (“revolution” in your language) is one of those factors that are preventing Mr. Chidambaram from going ahead with a genuinely strong step against the scoundrels who are unabashedly creating mayhem on a regular basis.

You pseudo intellectuals are so shameless that you people did not bother to utter any word of criticism even after your beloved Maoist bastards massacred 76 CRPF personnel in Dantewada. Your sympathy for the so-called oppressed people turned Maoists is endless. But your hypocrisy held you back from shedding a single drop of tears for the bereaved families of those hapless security personnel, who had joined CRPF to serve the common people of India, including you people.

However, you still had the excuse that the Maoists had after all killed security personnel, i.e. the agents of “state atrocities”.

You people again tried to defend those savages when they blew up a bus full of civilians (again in Dantewada), by saying that their actual target were the Special Police Officers (SPOs) who were traveling in that bus. (Causing the death of so many innocent people for killing just a few SPOs. Wow, what an idea!)

But what is your excuse now, after the brutal and devastating attack on the innocent civilians who were traveling in the ill-fated Jnaneswari Express? Is there any excuse, even an ultra-idiotic or ultra-illogical one, which you can come up with to justify this bastardly act? What cause are these Maoist scoundrels fighting for, which entails the tears and pain of so many common people? Is it at all a fight that worths any sympathy? NO!

The Maoists have proved themselves to be a cancer for India, a despicable burden for the civilized society of this country. And you, the pseudo intellectuals of India have proved yourselves to be as contemptible as your beloved Maoist devils are, by shamelessly supporting their so called cause even after so many acts of devastation and bedlam on their part.

Have you people ever wondered what a great crime you are committing by extending moral support to those scoundrels?

Madan Tamang's Assassination In Darjeeling – GJM’s Ugly Character Out In The Open

The real character of Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) – i.e. an ugly and nasty one – came out in the open with the dreadful murder of All India Gorkha League president Madan Tamang on 21st May 2010, in the picturesque hill town of Darjeeling in north Bengal.

GJM had already proved its ruffian character through the various acts of hooliganism that it was conducting in the name of Gorkhaland movement. It had already turned the “Queen of Hills” Darjeeling into a hell, turning this once darling of tourists into a nightmare for visitors.

But the terribly shocking assassination of Madan Tamang (who was hacked to death by suspected GJM supporters) is different from the other uncivilized activities of GJM. No, not in terms of the seriousness of the offence. The significance of Tamang’s assassination lies in the fact that Tamang’s All India Gorkha League actually belongs to the same “ilk” to which GJM belongs, i.e. both the parties are fighting for a separate Gorkhaland state. In that sense, Tamang’s party and GJM are actually supplementary to each other.

But still GJM supremo Bimal Gurung ordered his followers to kill Tamang. Why? Because he wants to keep only his GJM in the forefront of the so-called Gorkhaland movement, without letting any other party to come in the limelight. For Bimal Gurung what is more important is to establish himself as the one and only leader of the Gorkhaland movement, even if that results in the isolation of other similar groups, eventually resulting in the weakness of the Gorkhaland movement as a whole. This is because Bimal Gurung’s ultimate objective is not merely the establishment of a separate Gorkhaland state, but becoming the first Chief Minister of that state.

In fact, this is true about all the leaders of the so-called Gorkhaland movement. Whether it is Subhash Ghising (who actually started the movement in the mid 1980s) or Bimal Gurung, none of the Gorkhaland movement leaders has any headache for their Gorkha brothers and sisters. And they are certainly not trying to set up a separate state for addressing the so-called “discrimination” that the Gorkha community is facing in West Bengal. Actually all these leaders are fighting only for their own interests. Officially they are claiming that they want a separate state for the Gorkhas as only a state of their own can ensure the optimum growth and development of the Gorkha community of West Bengal. But in reality these leaders want a separate Gorkhaland so that they can have a fiefdom of their own, where they can lead the lives of demi-gods.

If at all the Gorkhaland movement becomes successful and a separate Gorkhaland state is set up, even then there will be no drastic development in the lives of the ordinary Gorkha people of Darjeeling. Did a separate Jharkhand bring any drastic change in the lives of the ordinary tribals, for whose development that state had originally been claimed?

And finally, a humble question for the educated and cultured members of the Nepali community of Darjeeling.

My dear brothers and sisters, will you people still continue to support a ruffian like Bimal Gurung? Do you people understand that voicing support for such a devilish person is actually disgraceful for yourselves? Can a hooligan like Bimal Gurung be really your leader? Just ask your own mind, and you will get the answer.

Obama Administration’s Strategic Mistake In The North Korea Issue

I feel that the Obama administration has committed a serious strategic blunder by openly siding with South Korea in the latter’s latest tussle with North Korea. By doing this the USA has not only diluted the opportunity to strengthen its own diplomatic interests, but has also created problem for South Korea, as well.

It must be understood that South Korea’s tussle with North Korea is very much likely to turn into a full scale war. And if that happens, then North Korea might get military and diplomatic support from other communist countries, which will certainly make matters worse for South Korea. However, if somehow South Korea can convince the world that its fight is just against some actions of the North Korean government and not against the latter’s communist ideology, then the possibility of other communist countries extending help to North Korea will be lesser.

But now with the US government candidly showing its support for South Korea, the latter might be perceived by the Communist world as a stooge of the USA. And in that case they will certainly join the fight in one way or the other, as they will now perceive the fight against South Korea as a fight against the latter’s mentor the USA (i.e. the bête noire of the communist world).

The USA should have kept itself behind the curtain. It could have maintained the image of a “non interested party”, while secretly extending military, logistics and other necessary support to South Korea. The USA has personal interest in launching a strong diplomatic and military offensive against North Korea, and it is quite understandable that the former does not want to lose any relevant opportunity. However, in this case the USA had the opportunity to serve its interests through South Korea, without getting personally involved in the issue. It was precisely this opportunity that the USA did not have during its fight against Vietnam, as it did not have any ally in that region which could have acted on her behalf. But this time the USA had one such suitable ally, whom the US government could have effectively used against the common foe in that region, without getting personally involved. Obama and his mandarins could have at least waited for the first attack from the North Korean government against South Korea (like a missile attack, or bombing, or something like that). And then the US government could have come into the picture, with the world’s sympathy with South Korea. (Let us remember the Gulf War in 1990, when the US government launched an attack against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the name of liberating Kuwait from Iraqi invading army, while actually the USA was fighting for its own interest).

Unfortunately, the US government misread the situation this time, and jumped into the fight between the North and South Korea without thinking much.

Or is it so that actually it is me who is wrong? May be. After all I am not a seasoned diplomat. I am just an ordinary person who avidly follows the national and international developments.

Burqa Banning In Europe – Possibility Of A Negative Impact On Local Muslim Women

Like any forward thinking and progressive person I was also elated to know about the decision of the governments of France, Belgium and Italy to ban Burqa in their respective countries. The reason why I dislike Burqa is not only because I feel it to be an unjustified baggage forcibly imposed on my mothers and sisters from the Muslim community. I also dislike it because I sincerely doubt whether the great Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) had at all issued any diktat, in the first place, by commanding the Muslim women to wear Burqa. From whatever I have read and learned about the great Prophet’s life and philosophy, he was a pragmatic person with a huge respect for women. And honestly I find it very difficult to accept that he issued any such command.

However, while I eagerly welcome the firm steps taken by the governments of the above mentioned European countries, I have also started feeling a bit uncomfortable about the possibility of certain negative developments. Few days back I read in news that a Muslim gentleman from Italy has said that since his wife can no more wear Burqa in public, therefore now he will not allow her to go out at all. And from now onwards she will remain confined within her home.

It was this news that left me quite nervous. We the progressive people (including the progressive members of the Islamic sect) might feel very jubilant that Burqa is getting banned in certain countries. But have we thought about the possible negative impacts that the Muslim women of those countries might have to face?

I am 100 per cent sure that are some Muslims in all these countries who will never be able to accept these ban on Burqa for their wives, daughters, sisters, etc. But at the same time they will be unable to defy the ban, as it is a government decision. So what will they do? They will put a complete “ban” on the “public life” of the women in their families, forcing the latter to sever all ties with the external world and lead the life of a detainee within the four walls of their respective homes.

I feel the governments banning Burqa in their countries must think about this possible outcome, and take suitable steps beforehand to prevent any such outcome.