Not dalit-card - Its Raja-card being a safer bet than Maran or Kanimozhi card!!

 

King with the Midas touch 

 

By Aditya Sinha 

08 May 2010 12:45:00 AM IST

 

 

Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister, Mr Kalaignar, claimed everyone was picking on Union communications minister A Raja because Raja was a Dalit. "That is why dominant forces are levelling malicious charges against him," he mumbled.

 

 

Actually, the controversy arose when Raja fixed the allocation of second generation (2G) services of spectrum for mobile and other wireless services; Raja was alleged to have favoured two unknowns in the telecom field, Swan telecom and Unitech, by fixing the auction in such a way that no one else could hope to properly participate. The two companies — which had backgrounds in real estate, a field without obvious connections to telecom — obtained the 2G licences at throwaway prices, which they subsequently sold at hefty premiums; the government lost an estimated Rs 60,000 crore, say experts. Politically influential persons may have personally earned Rs 5,000 to 10,000 crore.

 

 

When such sums of money are involved, controversy is usually stirred up by business rivals. It could be that one or more of the big boys in telecom — Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications or Tata Tele services — might be interested in seeing the 2G scam roil Parliament so that, at the very least, they don't get hoodwinked when the 3G spectrum auction happens. Incidentally, the 3G auction has been postponed on several occasions; the Union Budget for 2009-'10 had counted on about Rs 40,000 crore accruing from this auction, and if Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee allowed the postponement of an auction that was going to make his job easier by Rs 40,000 crore then you can imagine how seriously Prime Minister Manmohan Singh views the controversy. (By Mr Kalaignar's logic, though, the postponement would have been anti-Dalit).

 

 

If a leading telecom is interested in exposing the 2G scam, it is not because it is interested in seeing Raja resign or go to jail. In fact, business houses prefer corrupt politicians to remain because they are easier to manipulate, and if something lucrative is around the corner, the business houses would rather have the same corrupt minister in the seat, but now at their mercy, rather than an unknown or inimical person take his place. For instance, the UPA-2 desperately needs Mr Kalaignar, having alienated the Yadavs with the Women's Reservation Bill and Sharad Pawar with allegations of food inflation and IPL tomfoolery; so if the question of replacing Raja arises then it would have to be with another DMK MP. At least one company, Tata Teleservices, would not want Raja replaced with textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran, as his brother Kalanithi runs a rival business.

 

 

Recently there was speculation that Nira Radia, the lobbyist figuring in Raja's tapped telephone conversations, is linked to Tata, but the Tatas have denied this. There has also been speculation that some telecom players would rather have Kanimozhi than Maran as communications minister. But in the murky politics of Mr Kalaignar's family, she's aligned with fertiliser minister M K Alagiri. Alagiri does not want younger brother M K Stalin, now the deputy chief minister, to become boss once Mr Kalaignar passes away, and had recently made a series of discordant noises (in between trips to Australia and the Maldives). For the time being, Mr Kalaignar seems to have pacified Alagiri; he was at Alagiri's bungalow during his recent visit to Delhi, and suddenly Alagiri is taking language lessons and attending to files. (Probably Mr Kalaignar & Son realised they could not accuse Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar of being anti-Dalit, even though she has loudly voiced her exasperation with Alagiri's behaviour, seeing that she is the daughter of Babu Jagjivan Ram).

 

 

One wonders, though, that whatever arrangement Mr Kalaignar has proposed to Alagiri, the chief minister perhaps would not want to upset the balance within his family; and the best way to do that is to keep Raja as a minister. (It could also be that Mr Kalaignar doesn't think his daughter has the intellectual wherewithal to handle such a lucrative ministry). The word from Delhi is that during his trip Mr Kalaignar met Congress boss Sonia Gandhi, and knowing that she wanted two of the six Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu that are up for election, he told her she would have the seats if Raja stayed.

 

 

This is admittedly a complex situation; which is why a simplistic explanation like saying that all of this happened because Raja is a Dalit is not only incorrect but also absurd. Telecom companies are pro-profit and not pro-Dalit, so their rivals cannot be anti-Dalit. The telephone-tapping agencies are not anti-Dalit. Nira Radia is not a Dalit.

However, if Mr Kalaignar really wants to call a spade a spade, then he ought to be courageous and question the Congress party's pro-Dalit credentials. The UPA-2 only under great pressure agreed to enumerate castes in the current census, the first time this is being done since 1931. One of the people against caste enumeration was Mr Kalaignar's great chum, Union home minister P Chidambaram, who argued that census-takers are not sociologically-sensitive enough to enumerate caste. (This was actually not a reason but an excuse). Enumerating caste is unlikely to benefit the upper castes; the gainers will be the backward castes and the Dalit populace. If you are a Dalit, the resistance to caste enumeration by Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram can only look anti-Dalit; yet Mr Kalaignar kept his mouth shut. (The Congress is fortunate to have a politically savvy decision-taker in Pranab Mukherjee).

 

 

Mr Kalaignar will get other opportunities in the coming days. Events in the recent weeks indicate Rahul Gandhi has given up on the Dalit vote in UP. Mayawati proved she is a better politician when she pulled out her garland of notes; she outsmarted Rahul on Dr Ambedkar's birthday when he flagged off several rath yatras by subverting his rallies; and she showed her indispensability to the UPA-2's survival during the Opposition's two failed cut motions in Parliament. She has the Dalit vote sewn up. The only way Rahul can hope to put on a good Congress showing in UP in next year's municipal elections and then in the assembly elections due in 2012 is to put together a non-Dalit coalition. He needs to do well in UP if he's going to be credibly projected as the prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 parliamentary elections. But to successfully put together a coalition in UP, he will have to woo backward caste voters and Dalit Muslim voters who are bitterly opposed to Dalits. To successfully woo them, he will have to make some symbolic anti-Dalit gesture at some point.

 

 

At that juncture, will Mr Kalaignar call him anti-Dalit? Probably not. He perhaps uses this tactic only when there's a threat to the goose that lays the golden egg, principled leader that he is.

 

 

editorchief@expressbuzz.com

About The Author;

Aditya Sinha is the Editor-in-Chief of  'The New Indian Express'  and is based in Chennai.

http://expressbuzz.com/edition/print.aspx?artid=171665 

 

 

 

********

Related posts:-

Karunanidhi's day-out to Delhi to save Raja..oops.. himself.

Kanimozhi and seven dwarfs - by Aditya Sinha

 

The fraudulent caste politics of India.

There is a mixed response to the proposed inclusion of noting down caste of the citizen in the Census of this decade. The opponents think that the politicians would use it to further their casteist agenda which is in a way true.

But what we must also see is that there is an advantage in enumerating the caste in the census. First advantage is that no one can simply produce a caste certificate - which is quite easy now – if his or her name is entered in the name of another caste in the Census.

The census must become a reference for caste and income group. Every caste certificate or every claim to belong to a caste must be cross checked with the Census data.

Today we have a crisis in the form of ration cards in Tamilnadu where the number of ration cards had exceeded the population of Tamilnadu! I for one am not able to get a ration card for nearly 2 years since I shifted back from Karnataka. The reason is that they are yet to weed off bogus ration cards in my locality. Where there are a lakh families, there are now 3 lakh ration cards, they say. I don't know when they will clear all these and issue me one for which I have all proper documents of transfer from Karnataka. This is in stark variance to what I experienced in Karnataka when I shifted to that state in 2003. I could get my ration card within 3 months of applying which I got transferred from TN. This was inspite of my total absence of knowledge of Kannada at that time and not knowing any official of the office issuing ration cards. Everything was straight.

But Tamilnadu is a different place.

This applies to getting caste certificate too.

Any average citizen of Tamilnadu knows that caste certificate can be got for some 'payment'. If you don't get a certificate of your desired caste, it is because you don't know whom to pay and how much to pay.

I have seen people who boast off their superior caste, having no qualms to change a small word in the certificate to make it BC or MBC. There are few castes such as Vellala coming with variations that can make you a forward or backward or most backward. The only people who have not changed the caste in Tamilnadu are Brahmins – Iyers and Iyengars. Most of others who claim themselves as forward have caste certificates. These are the people who don't even employ people of certain castes as domestic servants. And they accuse Brahmins of being casteist. I may sound to be too accusative. But it is true.

We all know that there is absolutely no need for reservation in colleges, PG courses and in jobs. In the absence of income criteria, only the affordable ones are grabbing the seats.

Look at this year's PG dental seat allotment. As has been in the past, this year also there is no OC (read forward) candidate entering PG course in Madras Dental College.

http://tnhealth.org/pgvac2010/MDS%20alloted%20list17042010.படப்

LIST OF CANDIDATES ALLOTTED FOR PG 2010 - 2011 SESSION

1- UMA MAHESWARI S	BC	OPERATIVE CONSERVATIVE DENTISTRY
2- DHAYANITHI D	BC	ORTHODONTICS
3- GOKUL K	BC	OPERATIVE CONSERVATIVE DENTISTRY
4- JEGAN KUMAR C	BC	ORTHODONTICS
5- SAKTHI DEVI A	BC	PROSTHETICS
6- BRINDAA LAKSHMI V	BC	PREVENTIVE AND SOCIAL DENTISTRY
7- SUDHARSHANA RANJANI	BC	OPERATIVE CONSERVATIVE DENTISTRY
8- PRADEEP D	MBC	ORAL AND MAXILLO FACIAL SURGERY
9- PRATHANA B	BC	ORAL PATHOLOGY
10-KIRUPA K	BC	PERIODONTICS
11- NDUMADHI G	BC	ORTHODONTICS
12- PREETHY CHANDRAN	SC	PROSTHETICS
13 - KANNAN C	BC	PERIODONTICS
14- LAAVANYA M	SC	ORAL AND MAXILLO FACIAL SURGERY
15 ROHINI T	BC	ORAL AND MAXILLO FACIAL SURGERY
16- MOHAN KUMAR P	MBC	PROSTHETICS

In the above allotment there is a huge scandal which no one cares to talk about. This allotment was done on the basis of entrance test which was written by 1000 s of candidates by paying Rs 1,200 /- for the application. But the the number of seats filled were only 16. This list includes service candidates too. Upto 10 marks are added just like that for the number of years since passing BDS. So the seniors always get the chance.

This year no other dental college in Tamilnadu offered their seats. The government which clinches a formula for engineering colleges does not care about PG dental seats. The reason is obvious. No minister has yet started a dental college in Tamilnadu. Those who have 'connections' had already converted their colleges into private universities and they don't offer seats to Govt-pool. Everyone is a Ketan Desai in this field.

When the government knows that it can not offer seats from a pool of colleges, why did it conduct entrance exam in the first place? Is it for making money?

Now look at the appointment of Medial officers.

There are only 2 forward class candidates selected as Medical officers among 106 appointments. What for reservation exits in our country? To exclude Forward class people (read Brahmins) from getting employment in government jobs and getting education in prime colleges?

The list can be read in this link.

http://www.tnhealth.org/notifictaion/COUNSELLING%20ON%2006.04.2010%20DA,DGO,DCH.pdf

Reservation politics must die out someday. Only BC and MBC are getting the top ranks. Today the trend is changing. When they are allotted in the order of OC, they want to avail the seats given through caste categories. In the recent allotment of IAS postings, the BC and MBC coming in the OC did not want to take up what is offered as per OC rank list. They wanted specific postings as per caste allotment. This issue will grow big in the coming years. All this makes the reservation a laughing stock.

In this scenario, I think recording one's caste (the entire family will be of a caste by this) and income in the census will become a check point for every caste certificate that is shown to avail reservation. This also makes sure that people can not change their castes in the subsequent census recordings. The recording of one's caste must become irreversible and unchangeable in future census recordings.

We can know the level of economic development of a caste from the census and remove those castes from reservation category. Today the politicians may not do anything in these lines. But someday better sense might prevail when reservation policy will become totally unmanageable. At that time we will be in need of some data to assess the situation.

Therefore we need to record the caste and income level in the Census.

- jayasree

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From

http://indianrealist.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/when-traitors-seize-power/

When traitors seize power

This decision of Congress — taken without any consultation with Indian citisens — will put the very existence of India and Hindu society at stake. Instead of unity, it will create division and weakness, to the benefit of this political party which is nothing but an extension of the British rule.

This "caste policy" was introduced by the British as a way of social engineering after the 1857 revolt. Their objective was to fragment Hindu society into water-tight compartments and ensure that they remain in a state of mutual hostility . But such a policy being adopted by an Indian party after independence is nothing but treason.

Notice that while Hindus will be asked their caste by census commissioners, no provision has been made to ask Muslims and Christians which sect they belong to — Shia or Sunnir or Ahmadias; or Protestants, Catholics or Seventh Day Adventists. This shows the agenda of Congress.

The presiding deity of Congress, Sonia Gandhi, is a shady character with foriegn linkages. Seeing her recent desisions, I am convinced beyond doubt that she is a plant into the Gandhi family and is taking orders from the Americans and the Church to further their interests in India to the detriment of the pagans. Infiltrating christians into pagan ruling families is an old Christian trick that was well played in Europe when it was being Christianised through force and deception.

The Congress courtiers are scared of Hindu consolidation which the BJP is trying to engineer. Hindu unity is anathema to Congress — its entire existence depends on taking support of Muslims and Christians and promote their interests against the Hindus. This "caste in census" move is the Congress' response to that strategy by dividing Hindus into bits and peices which can then be played against each other. All artificial identities of the Hindus created by the British and the missinoaries will now be formalised by the Indian state. The result will be chaos and weakening of the Hindu society, which is exactly what the Congress and outside powers supporting it want.

Since Gandhi's time, Congress has been taking support of Muslims to rule over the Hindus as their proxy. Now, with massive conversions going on by the church in India, this party of rootless Hindu opportunists has included Chrisitans into the mix. So it is essentially Hindus and BJP on one side, and Congress, Muslims and Christians on the other. But Congress will keep winning as some mentally blind Hindus keep supporting it without realising the long-term consequences of what they are doing to their own future security in their own homeland.

This latest step of Congress proves it is a party of race traitors. What is particularly galling is that it is winning not by public support, buy massive EVM fraud through Chawla, another shady character.

********************

From

http://indianrealist.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/caste-as-british-creation/

Caste as British Creation

I have always believed that the so-called "caste system" as it exists today is essentially a creation of the British. I am glad other people think so too. To realise how British created modern caste system through their census, read Arun Shourie's "Falling Over Backwards." It has shocking revelations about British mischief. They were determined to divide Hindu society into various mutually hostile castes, reality be damned! The instructions to census commissioners were directly coming from the Viceroy's office. However, the census agents in the field were sending contrary reports — they were saying most Hindus have no idea what their caste is. To this the Viceroy replied that simply mention their occupation as their caste, but at no cost should the caste column be left blank. I am outraged at the nonsense that has been dished to us about the so-called caste system.

I was always curious as to why the Indian history before the British is silent on the alleged caste system. Mughal records or even ancient Indian literature does not mention castes at all. As late as in 19th century, over 2/3rd of Indian kings were from the low or middle castes. There have hardly been any Brahmin kings in India. Neither have Brahmins ever been known for their wealth. So how come the caste system came to be called as an integral part of the Hindu society with Brahmins as the main oppressors of everyone?

There is major psyops involved in fooling Hindus about this issue. Most such accusatory scholarship about caste has only one origin: Christian evangelists in the guise of historians and sociologists. Indians should research their ancient and medieval literature themselves and bring out the truth about the caste system so that this mischief of Westerners and church finally comes to an end.

Indian caste system created by British: Hindu group

An umbrella group of Hindus says prominent British members of parliament who want legislation in Britain to protect against caste discrimination are being "misled by Christian groups".

The Hindu Council UK (HCUK), which is opposed to religious conversion, said in a new report that caste discrimination does not exist in Britain – and that caste, in any case, was created by the British in India.

"Today, we are putting the record straight. We are also naming and shaming those who spread misinformation about Hinduism and its relationship to caste in an ill-disguised attempt to vilify the Hindu people and cause division within our community," said HCUK general secretary Anil Bhanot.

Bhanot claimed in his foreword to the report that ruling Labour Party MPs Rob Marris and Jeremy Corbyn, "who are lobbying the Department of Communities and Local Government to legislate against caste discrimination, may have been misled by Christian groups who want, quite simply, to 'save' people from the 'falsehood' of Hinduism and convert people to Christianity."

"Caste has been the subject of ill-informed comment for too long," Bhanot said in a statement on Thursday.

The report's author, Raj Pandit Sharma, added that the caste system had been created by the British during their colonial rule in India.

"It was the British who single-handedly formulated the caste schedules that remain in place today," Sharma wrote. "The evils manifest in the current form of the caste system cannot be ascribed to the Hindu faith. The current adulteration of the Hindu 'varnashram' system is a direct result of generations of British colonial bureaucracy."

The group said the report was the result of several months of research by Sharma, a member of the HCUK's executive.

Accusing some anti-caste groups in Britain of "seeking government legislation and government funds to tackle this supposed problem", the HCUK said: "Caste, as described in the Hindu scriptures, is not determined by birth."

"It is no joke to have to ward off concerted misinformation campaigns from UK parliamentarians who really ought to know better," Bhanot said.

While Corbyn is a prominent left-wing campaigner for human rights and race relations, Marris was among several ruling party MPs who attended a Diwali function hosted by Britain's longest-serving Asian MP Keith Vaz in the House of Commons last year.

Caste, the group said, is "assumed by most non-Hindus to be always a gross form of unjust discrimination, an alleged feature of Hinduism so maligned it justifies attempts by Christians to convert Hindus here in the UK, in India, and elsewhere."

It, however, acknowledged and condemned what it called the "abuse of varnashram" in India.

These British MPs should be rebuffed with the contempt that is reserved for White racists and Christian fundamentalists, for that is what these people are. They are working in tandem with the church and always have one eye cocked toward coversion efforts in India. The moment a state government in India passes law to curb conversions through bribes and force, these people start making a noise in the British parliament. These red necks should be shown their place by the Indian government and they be clearly told that meddling in the social system of India is not their birth right and this behaviour of theirs will be tackled with extreme prejudice. These MPs still have their minds frozen in the early 20th century. It is about time they were woken up the reality that Hindus have become independent.

Here is an article about the role of British in creating the caste system of India through their census. It is written by Kevin Hobson, a Canadian historian of the British empire.

It is a great failing of nationalist historians of India that they have been unable to do more research into this and expose the true facts to the world.

The Indian Caste System and The British
Ethnographic Mapping and the Construction of the British Census in India
By Kevin Hobson

http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/h_es/h_es_hobso_caste_frameset.htm

Related posts from this blog:-

From castes to casteism

Caste system - a Colonial conception

Caste – devised by the British!

The 'caste' shadow 'cast' in our country!

Earthquake in Indonesia (09-05-2010)

An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude had struck Indonesia hours ago at a place closer to the earlier devastating earthquake of 2004 that sent off a massive tsunami. This has created panic. Applying astrological parameters that I have discussed in earlier posts in this blog and in the series published in The Astrological Magazine, we can say with certainty that the causality rate will be less in this earthquake.


But this doesn’t mean that the earthquake threat is over. The real earthquake threat starts form today and lasts for a week from now. It can be recalled that in my post on Icelandic volcan ic eruption, I have predicted an earthquake around this time. From

Volcanic eruption in Iceland – an astrological explanation.

“The next probable date comes on May 13th (2 days before and after including) 2010 for yet another disturbance of the earth. But causality would be less.”


Today’s earthquake, though moderately high can not cause wide spread devastation due to its timing. The Thithi angle is the foremost requisite. The Dwadasi was just setting in at that time. Between dwadasi (12th day of lunar phase) and sashti (6th day of Lunar phase), the earthquakes are devastating.


Added to this are the elements noted by Varahamihira which I have explained in the current issue of Astrological Magazine (May -2010 issue which is available in print only).
Accordingly the day is divided into 4 parts of 6 – hour duration each, starting from sunrise at a place. They are known as Vayu, Agni, Indra and Varuna. The star of the day also matters. The stars too are divided into the above 4 categories.


If an earthquake occurs in the first 6 hours of the day (from sunrise) namely in the Vayu part and if the day’s star happens to be one belonging to that part (Vayu), the impact of the earthquake will be felt for 1000 s of miles. If the earthquake parameter (discussed in my earlier posts) are also present then the devastation will be total.


Applying these in today’s earthquake, the type was Agni which is less devastating. Both the time of the day and the star of the day belonged to Agni. In this type of earthquake there will be windiness, meteor showers and the affected people will be those residing in hilly tracts.



In this chart of today’s earthquake, Moon is aspected by Mars but still out of bounds for a devastation. The affliction to both the Martian signs is there. The 2 watery signs (Pisces & Scorpio) are aspected by Saturn and Mars respectively causing a tsunami alert. But there is no concentrated impact of the malefics on these signs. Therefore the threat of tsunami will be minimal.


But the threat is not gone. A fresh wave of earthquakes is possible in the next few days. Moon is shifting to Pisces and comes to be aspected directly by Saturn. The moon will be in the deadly arc of earthquake zone at that time. Again Moon moves in Aswini on 12-05-2010. That is the most vulnerable time.



If the earthquake happens on that day, China is likely to be the place affected. In India also northern and north eastern parts are vulnerable. This is being said on the basis of Kurma Chakra of Varahamihira according to which the above said places are ruled by Aswini.


From Indian angle the sign where the Moon- sun combination occurs is the 4th from Capricorn which is India’s Jag lagna. 4th stands for domestic areas, land etc. The sign is movable (chara) adding to the vulnerability. The planetary lord of Aswini is Ketu which is being aspected by Saturn and Rahu. The afflictions are many indeed on that day. But the tsunami potential will be less. The earthquake threat continues in the region for more than a week from now until moon enters 6th phase (18-05-2010)



The threat of a fresh eruption is also possible in Iceland as the sign (Aries) also signifies Northern regions. However the Icelandic eruptions will die down by May 26th when Mars moves out of Cancer.

Scrap EVMs & introduce paper ballots: Save Democracy Org. writes to ECI.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Electronic Voting Machines

Satya Dosapati
Save Indian Democracy Organization
New Jersey, USA

Date: May 5, 2010
Email: saveindiandemocracy.org@gmail.com
Ph: +1 732 939 2060 (US)
Websites: http://saveindiandemocracy.org , http://indianevm.com ,

Mr. Navin Chawla, Chief Election Commissioner
Mr. S.Q Quraishi, Election Commissioner
Mr. V.S. Sampath, Election Commissioner
Election Commission of India
Nirvachan Sadan
Ashoka Road, New Delhi 110001

Dear Mr. Navin Chawla, Mr. S.Q. Quraishi, Mr. V.S. Sampath,

Our Organization Save Indian Democracy, consisting of active volunteers from India and the Indian Diaspora all over the world , was in earlier communication with you regarding our concerns on the usage of stand alone EVMs and their rejection across several countries in the world. We had presented you the statement regarding Indian EVMs by Stanford Dr. David Dill who is considered a pioneer in election reform in United States along with a personal letter of invitation to Mr. Chawla to visit Stanford to learn more about the EVM issues. We have brought in the best world wide known international experts to India to attend various conferences and Press Meet and had extended invitation to you and the Expert Committee to meet with the experts. Our organization have even extended invitation to you to come to US at our expense. This is in addition to various Indian Organizations and activists who have been working hard to bring your attention to the issue for several months.

However, none of this elicited any response from you. You have not engaged in any meaningful and honest debate other than bland assertions that Indian EVMs are not proven tamperable without subjecting them to any honest scrutiny in India or internationally. You have kept from public that the patent submitted on the Indian EVMs to World Intellectual property Organization was withdrawn because they found all the 21 claims for patent are worthless (ref 1). The recent exposure of the real Indian EVMs with the help of international and national experts (ref 2) show that what we had feared all along is true and the many reports of issues both by individuals and the political parties during last few elections are on strong foot hold.

We know that ECI is serious about protecting Indian democracy and are hopeful that ECI will engage into an honest debate on the issues of electronic voting. Unfortunately all the efforts made so far to bring to your attention the serious threat to democracy of India was met not only with disregard but continuation of campaign of misleading the country.

As Dr. Dill and several others have asserted tamperability and insider tampering of stand alone EVMs are biggest threat to any country's democracy. With Corruption Perception index of India by Transparency International same as that of war torn African country Rwanda, the recent expose' of ease of tamperability of real Indian EVMs in combination with high risk of insider tampering puts a great urgency in addressing the issue.

Save Indian Democracy will continue to take further actions through various international and national Organizations to protect our democracy. Note that a paper on real Indian EVMs is already scheduled to be presented at one international conference by well known expert Rop Gongrijjp from Netherlands (ref 3).

1) Expose the tamperability of real Indian EVMs in several international conferences..

2) Expose the ease of tamperability of real Indian EVMs to countries India is selling the EVMs, particularly Nigeria, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangla Desh. We are already in touch with Nigeria where the Election Commissioner was recently sacked for corruption.

3) Explore and pursue bringing awareness to the Indian EVM issues to various international human rights and election watch bodies.

4) Work closely with other Indian counterparts to bring awareness to Indians about the rejection of stand along EVMs around the world, the vulnerability of Indian EVMs etc


We sincerely hope the ECI would take further immediate actions. We look forward to cooperate and assist in any sincere efforts. Some of the actions ECI may pursue are:

1) Engaging in an honest debate with an open mind on tamperability of Indian EVMs and the risk of insider tampering and explore ways to make Indian elections accountable and verifiable.

2) Learn and understand the status of stand alone EVMs across the world and why even the most advanced countries rejected them due to reasons of transparency, tamperability and insider tampering. (Note that, notwithstanding IT boom in India, the research on EVMs in India is minimal).

3) Recognize that even the countries with far less corruption than India and have reputable Electoral bodies are extremely concerned of insider tampering and have effectively done away with stand alone EVMs.

4) Bold enough to reintroduce the paper ballots unless a well proven method could be found to make elections more secure.

With best regards,

Satya Dosapati
Save Indian Democracy

####

References:

1) Technical paper on how to tamper a real Indian EVM at http://indiaevm.org/paper.html (being submitted at Chicago and other international conferences)

2) Video on how to tamper a real Indian EVM by Rop Gongrijjp, Hari Prasad, Alex Halderman. Visit: http://indiaevm.org/media.html (scroll down)

3) Withdrawal of patent application of EVM made at World Intellectual Property Organization, www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=2002093503 , look under claims for 21 claims for patent and under National Phase showing withdrawn.

Mirror: http://sites.google.com/site/hindunew/evm-technology

**************************

Related articles:-

Dr Subramanian Swamy on how EVMs are not tamper-proof:-

EVMs are not tamper-proof -- Dr. Subramanian Swamy

A fine analysis by Mr P.Senthil Raja on how the recent Indian elections could have been tampered using the EVMs:-

Indian elections – a mega rigging with EVMs??

Organiser article:-

EVM hackers can steal ballots

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April 12, 2010

EVMs can be manipulated in elections: Election Commission

The Election Commission of India has made an amazing confession: that the security and integrity of the entire election system will be compromised if the EVM software and the hardware design becomes known.

This is what technologists, activists and political leaders have been saying for many months now and the Commission had steadfastly refuted such claims with a bizarre “our EVMs are fully tamper proof” claim.

The above revelation was made by the Election Commission in a letter dated March 30, 2010 to V.V. Rao, petitioner in the Supreme Court on the EVMs. I quote below:

”…The Commission is concerned that commercial interests could use the route of reverse engineering (a process by which the original software and hardware configuration can be accessed) which may compromise the security and sanctity of the entire election system.”

“…It is once again made clear that any demonstration of alleged tamperability cannot include reverse-engineering as it compromises security and sanctity of the entire election system.”

Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device through analysis of its structure, function and operation. It often involves taking a device and analyzing its workings in detail to make a new device or program that does the same thing without utilizing any physical part of the original.

In a nutshell, the concept behind reverse-engineering is to break something down in order to understand it and build a copy or improve it. This process was originally applied only to hardware. Reverse-engineering is now applied to software.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_engineering

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/65532/Reverse_Engineering

There are many instances of reverse engineering by academicians and ethical hackers to unravel the EVM software and understand its hardware configuration. Scientists across the world resort to reverse engineering to expose the vulnerabilities of the electronic voting systems. This is indeed necessary to plug the security holes in voting systems which can be exploited by miscreants. Many such successful attempts have attracted international attention and led to reform in electronic voting systems. One such experiment happened a few months ago.

Computer Scientists Take Over Electronic Voting Machine with New Programming Technique

San Diego, CA, August 10, 2009 — Computer scientists demonstrated that criminals could hack an electronic voting machine and steal votes using a malicious programming approach that had not been invented when the voting machine was designed. The team of scientists from University of California, San Diego, the University of Michigan, and Princeton University employed “return-oriented programming” to force a Sequoia AVC Advantage electronic voting machine to turn against itself and steal votes.

http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=873

The Election Commission of India now openly admits that the security and integrity of the entire election system may be compromised if anybody reverse engineers the ECI-EVMs.

This statement of the Election Commission raises several questions that impinge on India’s electoral democracy.

1. Why has the Election Commission repeatedly misled the nation so far repeatedly claiming that its EVMs are tamper proof and unriggable?

2. Given that for a reverse engineering operation, one requires access to only a single machine of each make/ model (there are only four models in use), what is the guarantee that people have not gained unauthorized access to EVMs? Over 13 Lakh EVMs are lying all over the country in the districts and it is easy and simple to get a few of them.

3. Manufacturers, software programme developers, other employees, private foreign companies involved in software fusing etc. have access to the machine software and hardware specifications. What is the guarantee that they have not used such knowledge to “fix” elections in the country? In the light of the ground level reports that such insidious operatives are at work, isn’t it silly to make such assumptions? (Refer my book “Democracy at Risk: Can we trust our EVMs?” for vivid accounts of such murky operations.)

4. Ironically, even the Election Commission and its experts committee have not examined the software in the EVMs. The Experts Committee has only done functional testing of the EVMs, referred to as the Black box testing, which is highly unreliable for security testing. What is then basis for the Election Commission’s confidence in the reliability of the EVMs?

5. Why has the Election Commission chosen to blindly trust the EVM manufacturers when it has a splendid record in taking officials involved in elections to task for even minor aberrations? Is it its helplessness or lack of technical familiarity that made it blindly trust the manufacturing PSUs?

6. Why did the Election Commission allow the EVM manufacturers to share the software programme with foreign manufacturers of micro chips who in turn mask the chips which makes it impossible for even the manufacturers to read back the software contents?

After this latest admission, one would have hoped that the Election Commission would reform the voting system to make it absolutely secure. Perhaps, that is too much to expect from the Election Commission. This becomes evident from the Election Commission’s affidavits in the Delhi High Court rebuffing suggestions of transparency and auditability by introducing voter verified paper print out of all votes cast on EVMs.

This is my first blog on the subject.

Will update you regularly with the latest news and analyses.

NARASIMHA RAO

If you have any questions or comments, write to me at nrao@indianevm.com

Karunanidhi's day-out to Delhi to save Raja..oops.. himself.

'Karunanidhi's day-out' to Delhi concluded on expected lines, with the same old expletives.
His hurried visit achieved its purpose that the Congress High command did not derail his interests in the Central cabinet.


We can guess how he could have managed to get Sonia do this - the clue lies in what he said after the meeting with Sonia - that he insisted that the women's reservation bill must be brought out. This has an element of deja vu in that exactly the same thing was told by Sonia when she attended the inauguration of New Assembly hall of Tamilnadu recently. The DMK numbers in Rajya sabha helped her getting it passed. Karunanidhi reminded her the same thing at the end of his visit to bail out Raja. Can UPA minus DMK survive? - this seems to be what Karunanidhi has reminded her. With this ends the 'tough' stance of the government on corruption. But with this remains unchecked Karunanidhi's major source of money to corrupt the voters in the next elections. This forms a funny cycle of  "I need your support but you need my support to enable you become someone so that I have to depend on you for your support".


To put this in easy language, Congress needs numbers for survival. That number is given by DMK. But DMK can not muster this number through fair election practices. It needs money - a main source of it being Raja - and a government at the centre that turns a Nelson's eye at everything - starting from  election booth onwards. Without these two, DMK can not get the numbers. Without the tacit support of Congress at these two levels, DMK can not win the elections and become  a force to reckon with. Then why should the Congress allow DMK to become like this and then become helpless in checking the monumental corruption practices (twin corruption - bribing voters and getting bribed) that no democratic society has ever seen in this world?


At some point of time, the congress must call a spade a spade. Perhaps it is contemplating to do so, I believe. Or else the until now speculated early elections to TN Assembly (which would be advantageous for DMK) would not have been given up by Karunanidhi who confirmed after this trip that there is going to be no early elections. Does that mean that Congress is not yet soft towards him? That it is in no hurry to affirm a continuing alliance with him as of now? It will be for the good of the polity and for the Congress to curtail this man, choke his money inlets and save democracy in Tamilnadu. Let me hope this in my own way - because the current Sun Maha dasa for India must give a clean governance and the next five years starting from kara varusham must bring cheers to the people of Tamilnadu.


The next issue in Karunanidhi's trip to Delhi is the use of Dalit card which is for the consumption of others.
I visualize a scene where Karunanidhi would have spoken to the Congress leadership that he would take care of any adverse fall-out of the Spectrum scam.
The one and only way he can handle this is by using the dalit-card!

If it is about himself, the sacred- thread would come to his rescue. We could have heard him blame the 'no-sacred thread' to him as the cause of all allegations. But Raja seems to be a level lesser than him - after all he is his servant. So the dalit- card is enough.

Usually I wont quote Manu smrithi in my write-ups except on vegetarianism and non-violence.
Since karunanidhi is a lover of Manu smrithi, I think I can quote from Manu.

Dalit or brahmin - whoever commits an offence - particularly against the State  - must not be spared. If the offender is a dalit, the punishment however stays - with lesser intensity. That is Raj-neeti of Manu.

"335. Neither a father, nor a teacher, nor a friend, nor a mother, nor a wife, nor a son, nor a domestic priest must be left unpunished by a king, if they do not keep within their duty."

337-338. In a case of theft, the guilt of a Shudra shall be eightfold, that of a Vaisya sixteenfold, that of a Kshatriya two-and-thirtyfold, that of a Brahmin sixty-fourfold, or quite a hundredfold, or even twice four-and-sixtyfold; each of them knowing the nature of the offence.
343. A king who punishes thieves according to these rules will gain fame in this world and after death unsurpassable bliss."

In today's world, Manu smrithi no longer holds water. We have Parashra smrithi for Kali yuga. But no smrithi lets go the offender.

The irony of 'Karunanidhi smrithi' is that it is not in tune with any known law of  Dharma.
Even in astrology dalit-hood is not considered as a mean identity.
Planet Saturn which stands for low birth, meanness and servant-hood  is in fact an up holder of Righteousness and Dharma.
It is always opposed to Sun, the signifactor of King.
Where Saturn attains exaltation as an up holder of Dharma (in Libra), the king (Sun)  has to bite the dust. Sun debilitates at Libra!


This also means Kings are not always right in their discharge of duties in tandem with dharma.
But Saturn never wavers a bit in discharging Dharma.


This is the age of kali - the dark Saturn.
It may seem to encourage lawlessness and adharma.
But ultimately Dharma will and must triumph.
Karunanidhis will be thrown out by destiny's own designs.
We have to wait and watch.


Given below is a statement by Dr Subramanian Swamy, followed by some thought provoking articles on what happened on Spectrum allocation. The Chinese angle to it is truly a cause of concern. The government can not afford to sit quite on this scam.

- jayasree

***********

STATEMENT OF DR. SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY,

JANATA PARTY PRESIDENT,
May 4, 2010

 

 

                 The absurd and ridiculous claim of the DMK leader Mr. Karunanidhi that action against Telecom Minister Mr. A. Raja on corruption charges is being sought by those of upper castes on the ground that Raja is a Dalit, deserves to be condemned as typically hypocritical of him. When I was pursuing corruption cases against Ramakrishna Hegde and J. Jayalalitha, Mr. Karunanidhi had praised me. He did not raise the caste issue then. In fact he invited me to dinner once to congratulate me for pursuing Jayalalitha by filing cases. Mr. Karunanidhi's real fear now is that his family members are also on the take in this scam.

 

                 Mr. Raja has committed the most monumental corruption in the history of the world in the allotment of 2G Spectrum. It has cost the nation Rs. 100,000 crores which is now confirmed by the recent auction going on in 3G Spectrum. Once convicted for the corruption in 2G Spectrum allocation  Raja's name will find a place in the Guiness Book of World Records.

 

                 I demand that the Prime Minister as Designated Authority under the Prevention of Corruption Act grant me the necessary Sanction to prosecute Raja under Sections 11 and 13 of the Act, and before the Delhi High Court hears my Writ Petition on the matter on May 18th. If the PM does not do so, he could become culpable as an accessory after the fact, which is also a crime under the IPC. I also demand that the corrupt 2G Spectrum allocation be cancelled, and an auction be held as in the case of 3G presently.   

***************************************

From

http://www.dailypioneer.com/253296/More-murky-twists-to-Raja-tale.html FRONT PAGE | Monday, May 3, 2010  More murky twists to Raja tale J Gopikrishnan | New Delhi http://dailypioneer.com/ImageGenerator.aspx?ID=3082  In February this year, the CBI probe unit handling the spectrum scam laid its hands on highly incriminating evidence that indicated transfer of scam money to secret accounts in Switzerland and other countries, but under political pressure the 'lead' has been conveniently buried. The CBI stumbled upon damning evidence of money transfer in the spectrum case while probing the arrest of Maharashtra and Goa Chief Postmaster General (CPMG) MS Bali for accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore from a builder for issuing a No-Objection Certificate (NoC) for granting construction permission on postal land at a prime spot in Mumbai.  Bali was caught red-handed in a Mumbai hotel late on February 24 along with Arun Dalmia, a frequent visitor to Telecom Minister A Raja's office and residence for five years. Dalmia's son Harsh was also arrested from the spot.  During interrogation, Dalmia told the sleuths about his two Swiss accounts and property details and high-volume cash transactions flowing into bank accounts in Delhi, Chennai, Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia and other tax havens abroad. Dalmia was for years on the radar of the Intelligence Bureau and RAW, who had informed the CBI that this middle-aged man was a broker for a Chinese telecom equipment vendor. Raja's plan to grant an over Rs 20,000-crore deal to a Chinese telecom vendor for supplying GSM lines to BSNL was thwarted by the security concerns raised by these agencies. Sources said the CBI suspected a link between the spectrum scam and the arrest of the duo when it learnt that Raja's private secretary RK Chandolia had asked Bali to visit the hotel and collect the bribe from the builder. "When Dalmia told us about their Swiss bank accounts and hawala transactions, we knew we had laid our hands on a high-value catch," said a Central Bureau of Investigation officer. Chandolia was elevated to the post of economic adviser in the Department of Telecom by Raja and his role in the spectrum scam and money transfer was already being probed by the CBI. According to sources close to Bali, the CPMG spilled the beans on the very first night of interrogation. Confirming this, a CBI officer told The Pioneer: "Bali told us that he got a call from Chandolia around 6 pm to go to the hotel along with Dalmia and collect the money." But, shockingly, the role of Chandolia in fixing the deal never came up in the statements recorded by the CBI. "Bali became a scapegoat," sources said, adding that senior Dalmia also confirmed the role of Raja's office in fixing this deal.  After the CBI's Mumbai unit alerted its Delhi counterparts the following day about the confession made by Bali and Dalmia and the possible link between the spectrum scam and Bali, a CBI team airdashed to Mumbai to interrogate the duo. "But when we reached Delhi, our bosses got instructions from 'highest authorities' to delink the Mumbai case from our ongoing investigation. The Mumbai unit also got instruction to limit the case to Bali and Dalmias," said a CBI official, adding that they were denied permission to verify the transaction details of the two Swiss accounts of the Dalmias.  According to Ministry insiders, Dalmia could be a key player in the spectrum scam. He arrived in early 2005 in Raja's office in Paryavaran Bhavan, when the latter was Environment Minister. Dalmia was accompanied by two young women and his visiting card showed him to be the Honorary Consular General of a little-known African country, Ministry sources said. "We checked with the External Affairs Ministry and found that he was a fraud. But, in the meantime, he established direct contact with the Minister," insiders said.  Sources recalled that Dalmia was always escorted by young women whom he introduced as his secretaries. His fortunes shone when Raja became the Communications and IT Minister. Dalmia became the liaison man for a Chinese telecom giant in India, which had a significant presence in the southern and western regions of the country. He operated a slew of financial consultancy services across India and tax havens abroad.  The CBI team found concrete evidence, including photographs, to establish the Minister's close link with Dalmia in the two-day-long searches at his house. Finding evidence of several high-volume foreign transactions, the Central Bureau of Investigation brought the matter to the notice of the Enforcement Directorate, but to date no progress has been made in the case.  "We were told to stay away from Raja and his men," a senior agency official maintained.  The swiss connection CBI probe unit laid its hands on evidence that indicated transfer of scam money to secret accounts in Switzerland  Probe into the arrest of Maharashtra and Goa Chief Postmaster General MS Bali after he accepted a bribe of Rs 2 cr led CBI to evidence  Bali was caught in a Mumbai hotel along with Arun Dalmia, a frequent visitor to Telecom Minister A Raja's office and residence Dalmia told CBI about his two Swiss accounts and high-volume cash transactions flowing into bank accounts in Delhi, Chennai, Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia and other tax havens abroad Dalmia was on the radar of the Intelligence Bureau and RAW The intelligence agencies informed the CBI that Dalmia was a broker for a Chinese telecom equipment vendor Raja's plan to grant an over Rs 20,000-crore deal to a Chinese telecom vendor for supplying GSM lines to BSNL was thwarted by the security concerns raised by these agencies -- In the Picture: Arun Dalmia (extreme right), arrested by CBI along with Chief Postmaster General MS Bali for accepting a Rs 2-crore bribe from a builder, is seen with Telecom Minister A Raja on his birthday on October 26, 2008, at his official residence in New Delhi  **************** RELATED LINK PLEASE: India Tells Mobile Firms to Delay Deals for Chinese Telecom Equipment By HEATHER TIMMONS Published: April 30, 2010 URL : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/01/business/global/01delhi.html?th&emc=th -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A TRIBUNE SPECIAL Chinese telecom traps A threat to India's national security, as The Tribune Roving Editor Man Mohan finds out " INDIAN intelligence and security agencies are quite jittery about huge telecommunication contracts given to Chinese vendors by state corporations with blessings of the top political and bureaucratic leadership in the Telecommunications Ministry. They are wondering "what price we are going to pay for getting our national security compromised. " URL:  http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20091227/edit.htm#1