Fool-proof EVMs in 2014 elections?

From

http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/53544-wisdom-dawns-at-last-on-the-poll-panel.html

 

Wisdom dawns at last on the poll panel

by

A Surya Prakash

It is satisfying to note that the Election Commission of India has finally agreed to the demand that electronic voting machines must issue paper receipts to voters. This is needed, because EVMs are not tamper-proof

After standing on false prestige and even becoming vindictive against those who suspected the integrity of electronic voting machines, the Election Commission of India has finally acceded to the demand that the machines must issue a paper receipt to voters.

The commission's decision — made known to the Supreme Court in February in response to a petition filed by Mr Subramanian Swamy, president of the Janata Party, that EVMs be scrapped — is a major victory for all those who were campaigning against electronic voting machines because the latter lacked transparency.

Mr Swamy had argued that EVMs must be scrapped because they are not tamper-proof. They could be retained only if there was transparency via a paper trail, so that every voter knew that his vote had been registered correctly. Even Japan, which started the process of electronic voting, has reverted to paper ballots. Many other countries have also fallen back on paper ballots for the same reason.

The commission, which had stubbornly resisted the demand for either scrapping EVMs or introducing a paper trail, began to display some reasonableness in the matter after Mr Swamy moved the Supreme Court and a Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi declared that it would hear the matter on a priority basis, so that the proceedings concluded before the next parliamentary election.

The commission signalled its readiness to consider the plea when it told the court last September that it was contemplating "foolproof methods" to ensure that EVMs were not misused or tampered and that it was consulting technical experts and political parties in this regard.

Finally, some weeks ago, the commission informed the court that it was willing to incorporate the paper trail in order to remove doubts about the integrity of EVMs. The commission told the court that it had done a trial of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail in EVMs in 180 polling stations in various States. This system could be incorporated after it received the opinion of an expert committee that is examining the issue. The commission proposes to use the paper trail first in some by-election and later incorporate the same in the general election. It has already asked EVM manufacturers to fine-tune the paper trail system.

The debate on the integrity of the EVMs was started three years ago when a group of public spirited NRIs headed by Satya Dosapati of New Jersey organised workshops in Delhi and Chennai under the aegis of 'Save Indian Democracy' and invited national and international experts to speak about the vulnerability of these machines to hacking and fraud. Among them was Till Jaeger, a lawyer who got the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany to ban the use of these machines in that country; Rop Gonggrijp, a computer hacker from the Netherlands who demonstrated on live television how the machine could be hacked, and Alex Halderman, professor of Computer Science, University of Michigan, USA, who is an authority on electronic voting security. The most prominent Indian expert at these workshops was Hari Prasad of Hyderabad, who spoke about the ease with which EVMs could be tampered with and on how, irrespective of voters' preferences, the machine could be pre-programmed to produce a result.

The argument against EVMs is that the machines can be tampered with at the manufacturing stage or at places where they are stored in State capitals. The biggest drawback of these machines is that, since the vote count happens inside the machine, there is no way by which the result can be cross-checked. Given the extent of corruption and fraud in various facets of governance in India, it would be foolish to discount the possibility of EVMs being manipulated by political parties in power or by pliant election authorities.

Mr Hari Prasad demonstrated the vulnerability of these machines to the Election Commission some months prior to these workshops. However, such was the commission's fear of the truth that it abruptly stopped Mr Prasad and his colleagues midway through their demonstration. Later, the commission became very vindictive and even launched criminal prosecution against Mr Prasad and had him arrested in August, 2010, for demonstrating the EVMs' vulnerability to fraud on what the police alleged was a stolen machine! In fact, the alleged theft of the machine itself constituted an indictment of the commission. It showed how EVMs could be taken out of the commission's custody and, thereafter, even tampered with. The commission learnt of the so-called theft only after Mr Prasad demonstrated on television how the machine could be hacked.

Thus, the Election Commission resorted to punitive action against a whistleblower, whose only intention was to protect the sanctity of the electoral process in the world's largest democracy.

As a public body which has the responsibility of superintendence, direction and control of elections, the commission must function in a people-friendly and transparent manner. It must first convince us that those who man it are democrats who are willing to see and listen. It must also convince us that it has no political axe to grind, although all the commissioners are appointed by the Government of the day through an obviously partisan process.

As former Chief Justice of India MN Venkatachalaiah often says, democracy is not just about statistics — "there are over 700 million voters in India". The members of the commission must demonstrate their deep and abiding commitment to democratic ideals, and their non-partisanship should be beyond doubt.

Given the fact that the commission was headed at one time by Navin Chawla — a man indicted by the Shah Commission for conduct "unbecoming of a public servant" during the Emergency — the attitude of the Election Commission against Mr Prasad was no surprise. When persons like Mr Chawla, whose commitment to democracy is suspect, are appointed Election Commissioners, it is no surprise to see the commission running away from the truth on an important question which concerned the integrity of the electoral process and, as a consequence, of the Election Commission itself.

In any case, now that Mr Chawla has retired, the commission must redeem itself in the public eye. Since it has, in principle, accepted the argument that a paper trail is a must if EVMs are to be used, it must gracefully withdraw the criminal proceedings against Mr Prasad.

It must also speed up the technical clearances needed to give voters a paper receipt when they vote in the next Lok Sabha election. 2014 is a high stakes parliamentary election and the Election Commission is duty-bound to ensure the sanctity of the results of that poll. The commission must act with efficiency and grace.

 

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Related article

2009 elections EVM rigged??

http://government.wikia.com/wiki/Review_the_2009_Lok_Sabha_Election_Process:_Promises_and_Reality

Elections were held in 5 phases across India. The last phase of polling was completed on the 13th of May 2009. The counting of votes was to begin on the 16th of May 2009.

Prior to the election the Election Commission had ruled that the election will be held in 5 phases with each phase dealing with voting in geographically discrete locations. Furthermore, to avoid any potential effect of the voting pattern in a given phase over that in subsequent phase(s), Exit Polls were formally disallowed and no interim counting of votes would be conducted or permissible prior to the completion of polls in all phases. Thus by virtue of the decisions of the Election Commission the final counting of the votes was to be undertaken and completed on the 16th of May 2009. Consequently Election Commission had specifically given the impression that it had formally disallowed any preemptive counting of votes including sampling either through Exit Polls or by downloading EVM data.

The data on the final votes polled would be expected to be uploaded/made available on the http://eci.nic.in/candidateinfo/frmcandidate.aspx on the 16th of May 2009. The nature of these data would concern names of the candidates, individual party affiliation, name of the constituency, the voting phase, votes polled by each candidate. It is only a matter of serendipity that, in order to obtain the information on the names of candidates their constituencies and party affiliations that on May 6th 2009 Prof Madhav Nalapat and Dr. Anupam Saraph went to the site and must have been amazed to discover the results of the votes compiled for all five phases although the election/voting were yet to take place in phase iv and v. It thus appears that either this was mischief by some hacker or that some data was actually uploaded. The site was visited again on the 7th and 11th with the same result. In conclusion, contrary to the rules set up by the election commission, not only was the voting data for the first three phases available but surprisingly data for the two subsequent phases (before actual polling took place) appeared.

Could this have been a mistake? Some software mixup? Some sort of interference from interested parties? On the 11th they downloaded the data again to find that

1. The same "votes polled" data was still available
2. Barring a few candidates, the data was the same for most others
3. The data on votes was available for 8023 candidates out of 8070 for 543 Lok Sabha Constituencies well before the completion of the election process

It will be interesting to note the actual voting dates for different phases and the names of the constituencies, candidates and parties, the information for which the original exercise was undertaken by Prof Madhav Nalapat and Dr. Anupam Saraph.

The extraordinary feature of this discovery concerns availability of data at a time when the events had yet to take place such as votes for elections and vote counts yet to be held prior to the date of their availability on the http://eci.nic.in/candidateinfo/frmcandidate.aspx website. To verify the validity of this information the concerned website was continuously monitored and enquiry made with the Election Commission about possible irregularity in the vote counting and revealing processes. Surprisingly however the "votes polled" data disappeared on the 15th and did not reappear as one would have expected on the 16th, or immediately thereafter, i.e., the date of formal declarations of the results by the Election Commission. Eventually ECI seems to have uploaded the final data on June 3rd 2009. It is at this point that the June 3rd data were compared to those appeared on May 6th, 7th and 11th May. This comparison clearly shows that the actual trends preempted for all phases were mostly the same. This raises a serious question as to how was it possible to predict/prempt the voting trends for phases i to iii for which the voting had been completed but neither exit polls nor immediate counting were allowed/implied/undertaken/completed. It is even more surprising that the voting trends for the phase iv and v for which the elections had yet not taken place preempted/published/allowed/implied/undertaken/completed were similar to those from the data published on June 3rd.

The sequence of these events preceded by the nature of rules and regulations set forth by the Election Commission as a priori for the conduct of the election process for Lok Sabha 2009, India, were not followed in practice and grossly violated in form of publication of voting data on the ECI website, completely contrary to the premise of sanctity presumably guaranteed by the Election Commission. Indeed it almost makes one feel that the final result of the election was electronically preplanned. Is this possible? With all the promises made on the fool-proofedness of the security of the poll data, its storage as well as retrieval process, would it have been possible to prematurely access, download and manipulate the data contents on the EVM's? It is clear that EVM's need to be manually/electronically accessed to retrieve the data but it does not appear impossible to transmit to modify existing data. Furthermore the actual process of downloading contents from EVM's involves a "control unit" that retrieves the information/data from the "ballot unit" and reads the stored votes for manual compilation. While it is possible to manipulate data during manual compilation, this seems to be fraught with presence of too many individual operators involved in the final counting process. In contrast, however, if the control unit has a program that reads of "votes polled" that were downloaded to it from an excel spreadsheet, not unlike those that were available in coded form between May 6th and 11th the number of votes for each candidate could be manipulated.

In conclusion there is a strong possibility/probability that the election process was/could have been rigged such that specific group of candidates/political parties were favored to garner majority votes irrespective of the actual votes cast by the electorate. This is not only possible in India but it is well known that a similar situation affected the vote counting process during the US Presidential Elections in 2004 in the State of Florida.

According to Brad who quotes this article by Atul A. the EVM's used in India can be readily rigged by a Computer Scientist. With so many ifs and buts, therefore, a time has come to undertake independent inquiries by the Supreme Court and CVC and two stay the results of the last election.

--Devlem 14:57, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

 

 

If the Pope Can Quit, Catholics Can, Too (NYTimes.com)

From

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/opinion/if-the-pope-can-quit-catholics-can-too.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

 

Give Up Your Pew for Lent

By

PAUL ELIE

(Paul Elie, a senior fellow in the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown, is the author, most recently, of "Reinventing Bach.")

 

Published: February 28, 2013

AT 8 p.m. last night in Vatican City, Benedict XVI resigned the papacy. Now American Catholics should consider resigning too.

Related

• Discord Remains at Vatican as Pope Benedict Departs (March 1, 2013)
• News Analysis: Healing Schism, Pope Risks Another (January 26, 2009)
• Muslim Leaders Assail Pope's Speech on Islam (September 14, 2006)

The conventional wisdom has it that Benedict's resignation sharply reduced the aura of the papal office, showed a tender realism about old age, and made clear that even ancient Catholic practices could be changed. That is all true, but the event's significance is more visceral than that. It has caught the mood of the church, especially in North America.

Resignation: that's what American Catholics are feeling about our faith. We are resigned to the fact that so much in the Roman Catholic Church is broken and won't be fixed anytime soon.

So if the pope can resign, we can, too. We should give up Catholicism en masse, if only for a time.

We are in the third week of Lent, a six-week season of reflection and personal sacrifice when Christians prepare for Easter by taking stock of their religious lives. In recent centuries Roman Catholics have observed Lent by giving up a habit or pleasure, whether red meat, chocolate, soap operas or Facebook, to simplify their lives and regain their independence from worldly attractions — their religious freedom, if you like.

Two years ago, Stephen Colbert gave up Catholicism itself. As the comedian told it, he swore off Catholicism on Ash Wednesday and made it as far as Good Friday, when he went on a "Catholic bender." His riff inverted the old saying that history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. Mr. Colbert beat the pope to the punch.

In traditional parlance, Benedict's resignation leaves the Chair of St. Peter "vacant." So I propose that American Catholics vacate the pews this weekend.

We should seize this opportunity to ask what is true in our faith, what it costs us in obfuscation and moral compromise, and what its telos, or end purpose, really is. And we should explore other religious traditions, which we understand poorly.

For the Catholic Church, it has been "all bad news, all the time" since Benedict took office in 2005: a papal insult to Muslims; a papal embrace of a Holocaust denier; molesting by priests and cover-ups by their superiors. When the Scottish cardinal Keith O'Brien resigned on Monday amid reports of "inappropriate" conduct toward priests in the 1980s, the routine was wearingly familiar. It's enough to make any Catholic yearn to leave the whole mess for someone else to clean up.

Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is a theologian. He would not have stepped down if he did not think he was setting a sound precedent: a resignation prompted by physical, not institutional, weakness. That he felt free to resign suggests that he thinks the church is doing fine. But countless ordinary Catholics know otherwise.

That is why this Sunday, I won't be at the Oratory Church of St. Boniface in Downtown Brooklyn, even though I love it there — a welcoming, open-minded, authentically religious place.

Instead, I'll be at the Brooklyn Meeting of the Quakers, who have long invited volunteers from our church to serve food to the poor.

Or I'll be at the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew, an Episcopal congregation that hosted the Occupy movement's relief efforts after Hurricane Sandy.

Or I'll go to the Zen Mountain Monastery at Mount Tremper, in the Catskills.

Or I'll be in Washington, with colleagues who attend Shabbat services at Georgetown, the first American Catholic university and the first (four decades ago) to engage a full-time rabbi.

Or I'll knock on the door of the Masjid Ibadul-Rahman, a mosque on my block, or the Zion Shiloh Baptist Church, across the street, or L'Église Baptiste d'Expression Française, on the corner.

I hope and expect to return to the Oratory church the following Sunday. But I can't be sure. To some degree, it's out of my hands, a response to a calling.

A temporary resignation would be a fitting Lenten observance. It would help believers to purify and deepen our faith in the light of our neighbors' — "to examine our own religious notions, to sound them for genuineness," as the American writer Flannery O'Connor put it. It would let us begin to figure out what in Catholicism we can take and what we can and ought to leave. It might even get the attention of the cardinals who will meet behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel and elect a pope in circumstances that one hopes would augur a time of change.

And it might dispel the resignation we feel. Most ordinary believers have given up hope that the church will change its ways. But Benedict's resignation reminds us of a truth we have known all along: change in the church can happen, even dramatically. If so hidebound an institution as the papacy can be changed, what can't be?

 

What must India do in the face of economic decline of Europe? – article by Prof R Vaidyanathan.

 

"Sri Aurobindo said that India will rise on the ashes of western civilization and it seems to be coming true. It is important to recognize that the dominance of the West has been there only for last 200 odd years. According to Angus Maddison's pioneering OECD study, India and China had nearly 50 per cent of global GDP as late as the 1820s. Hence India and China are not emerging or rising powers. They are retrieving their original position. In 1990, the share of the G-7 in world GDP (on a purchasing power parity basis) was 51 per cent and that of emerging markets, 36 per cent. But in 2012, it is the reverse. So the dominant west is a myth."

"The root cause of the issue is the attempt in Europe to nationalise families and privatise business. Old age issue/ health issues/ child care issues are all normal family activities that have been taken over by the state and the state is broke. Funded security schemes are facing crisis since not enough numbers are getting in to labour force due to low reproductive rates and unfundedsecurity system is in difficulty since taxes are not adequate due to low population growth."

In this scenario, does India has an advantage and the wherewithal to overtake Europe and become a world leader?

Read Prof R Vaidyanathan's insightful analysis at

http://prof-vaidyanathan.com/2013/03/04/as-europe-goes-down-we-need-to-be-prepared-for-consequences/

 

 

We are ‘family oriented’ – Italian or Indian?

From
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/politically-incorrect/entry/the-family-matters

The Family' matters….

by

Shobhaa De

We Indians are very family minded. The whole world knows that. We love our families. Karan Johar told us to. And made a fortune based on that sweet and simple emotion. Others have also realized the value of family ties in the lives of desis. They too want to make a fortune out of them. What's wrong with that? The Great Indian Family represents many things to many people. Understanding how it works is the key to prospering in this great and good land of ours. Whether we are selling movies to the masses or helicopters to the armed forces, it is important to keep 'The Family' happy.

In Asian societies, it's a little tricky, though. Where does 'The Family' begin and end? Does it include the in-laws ? Does the damaadji count as family? Foreigners dealing with our complex family maze don't always get it. That makes it easier for us. We can fool them aaram se, by talking about our complicated joint family system and the power of mighty 'parivaar' that dominates our society. Where does the joint family stop? Don't ask. For those who cannot figure it out, we must be considerate and show them a few family soaps on television. Those are an education in themselves. With a cast of hundreds , everybody is related to everybody else. And everybody is out to get everybody else. If we need to access the head of the clan, we have to negotiate our way past dozens of middle men. Each step requires secrecy and skill. And lots of spare cash. There are tacticians for hire, who can point in the right direction, provided they are given a baksheesh for their efforts. The head of the family can be the tauji or badi maaji. These days, it's generally the all-powerful daadisa who rules with an iron hand. She is also referred to simply as 'Madam' by underlings. Going straight to 'Madam' is next to impossible. But there are ways. Madam prefers to leave complicated decisions to her trusted few. These include smart, sharp in-laws , who can be in residence within the sprawling family bungalow or staying overseas. And that's when the plot gets interesting.

'The Family' in India holds a position of enormous privilege and power. In fact, so potent is its position, that rivals refuse to name family members when a scandal breaks out. Actually, this suits everyone splendidly. Indians are used to covering up for the many sins of family members. Elders point out it is this marvelous trait that has kept us together for centuries. They scoff at the way the West deals with the issue. Family has little meaning there, except in Italy, where, like in India, 'The Family' rules. In fact, the similarities between India and Italy on the domestic front are incredible indeed. Which is precisely what makes it easy for us to interact with Italians and understand family dynamics there. Mere pass Mamma Mia hai, is the way it works.
Like us, they also support worthless family members, emotionally, financially, legally. They cover up for the naughty ones who break rules and get caught. They reward those who also break rules but succeed. There is an unwritten code of honour in both countries. Outsiders are expected to respect that and keep mum.

Anybody who challenges 'The Family' has to pay the price for the betrayal. This is what protects 'The Family' . And seals mouths. Enemies who threaten to break up families are dealt with firmly and permanently. A deal is a deal. Whether it involves ten bucks or 3000 crores. We are so lucky, here in India, and there in Italy. We know in our hearts and minds that so long as we protect 'The Family' we are protected. The minute 'The Family' goes, so many heads start to roll. This can lead to anarchy, chaos, instability, insecurity, confusion . People can feel let down and demoralized, particularly those who have stuck to 'The Family' through thick and thin and supported rogue relatives during turbulent times.

Funny, how crises can lead to long term change. We are at that crossroad right now. The biggest dilemma facing us is what to do with 'The Family' ? Will we be reckless enough to go after the greedy ones who have received hefty kickbacks over the years and are sitting on piles of slush funds? Will it be seen as a witch hunt? Will the designated heir suffer for the sins of others? Can we afford to abandon those we love and worship? If that happens, as Gabbar Singh would ask, 'Phir hamara kya hoga, Kaalia?

Myth created by Vatican: Mother Teresa's altruism - Full Text of study by Serge Larivee et al

From

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2013/03/myth-created-by-vatican-mother-teresas.html

Myth created by Vatican: Mother Teresa's altruism - Full Text of study by Serge Larivee et al 

Mother Teresa's altruism and generosity claimed to be a 'myth'
By ANI | ANI – 23 hours ago

Washington, Mar 2 (ANI): The myth of altruism and generosity surrounding Mother Teresa has been dispelled by a group of researchers, who claim that her hallowed image-which does not stand up to analysis of the facts-was constructed, and that her beatification was orchestrated by an effective media relations campaign.

Serge Larivee and Genevieve Chenard of University of Montreal's Department of Psychoeducation and Carole Senechal of the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Education have made the claims.

"While looking for documentation on the phenomenon of altruism for a seminar on ethics, one of us stumbled upon the life and work of one of Catholic Church's most celebrated woman and now part of our collective imagination-Mother Teresa-whose real name was Agnes Gonxha," Professor Larivee, who led the research said.

"The description was so ecstatic that it piqued our curiosity and pushed us to research further," Larivee said.

As a result, the three researchers collected 502 documents on the life and work of Mother Teresa.

After eliminating 195 duplicates, they consulted 287 documents to conduct their analysis, representing 96 percent of the literature on the founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity (OMC). Facts debunk the myth of Mother Teresa.

In their article, Larivee and his colleagues also cite a number of problems not take into account by the Vatican in Mother Teresa's beatification process, such as "her rather dubious way of caring for the sick, her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce."

At the time of her death, Mother Teresa had opened 517 missions welcoming the poor and sick in more than 100 countries.

The missions have been described as "homes for the dying" by doctors visiting several of these establishments in Calcutta.

Two-thirds of the people coming to these missions hoped to a find a doctor to treat them, while the other third lay dying without receiving appropriate care.

The doctors observed a significant lack of hygiene, even unfit conditions, as well as a shortage of actual care, inadequate food, and no painkillers.

The problem is not a lack of money-the Foundation created by Mother Teresa has raised hundreds of millions of dollars-but rather a particular conception of suffering and death.

"There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ's Passion. The world gains much from their suffering," was her reply to criticism, cites the journalist Christopher Hitchens.

Nevertheless, when Mother Teresa required palliative care, she received it in a modern American hospital.

Mother Teresa was generous with her prayers but rather miserly with her foundation's millions when it came to humanity's suffering.

During numerous floods in India or following the explosion of a pesticide plant in Bhopal, she offered numerous prayers and medallions of the Virgin Mary but no direct or monetary aid, the researchers said.

On the other hand, she had no qualms about accepting the Legion of Honour and a grant from the Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti.

Millions of dollars were transferred to the MCO's various bank accounts, but most of the accounts were kept secret, Larivee said.

"Given the parsimonious management of Mother Theresa's works, one may ask where the millions of dollars for the poorest of the poor have gone?" Larivee said.

Despite these disturbing facts, how did Mother Teresa succeed in building an image of holiness and infinite goodness? According to the three researchers, her meeting in London in 1968 with the BBC's Malcom Muggeridge, an anti-abortion journalist who shared her right-wing Catholic values, was crucial.

Muggeridge decided to promote Teresa, who consequently discovered the power of mass media.

In 1969, he made a eulogistic film of the missionary, promoting her by attributing to her the "first photographic miracle," when it should have been attributed to the new film stock being marketed by Kodak.

Afterwards, Mother Teresa travelled throughout the world and received numerous awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize.

In her acceptance speech, on the subject of Bosnian women who were raped by Serbs and now sought abortion, she said: "I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing-direct murder by the mother herself."

Following her death, the Vatican decided to waive the usual five-year waiting period to open the beatification process.

The miracle attributed to Mother Theresa was the healing of a woman, Monica Besra, who had been suffering from intense abdominal pain.

The woman testified that she was cured after a medallion blessed by Mother Theresa was placed on her abdomen.

Her doctors thought otherwise: the ovarian cyst and the tuberculosis from which she suffered were healed by the drugs they had given her.

The Vatican, nevertheless, concluded that it was a miracle. Mother Teresa's popularity was such that she had become untouchable for the population, which had already declared her a saint.

"What could be better than beatification followed by canonization of this model to revitalize the Church and inspire the faithful especially at a time when churches are empty and the Roman authority is in decline?" Larivee and his colleagues said.

Despite Mother Teresa's dubious way of caring for the sick by glorifying their suffering instead of relieving it, Serge Larivee and his colleagues point out the positive effect of the Mother Teresa myth.

"If the extraordinary image of Mother Teresa conveyed in the collective imagination has encouraged humanitarian initiatives that are genuinely engaged with those crushed by poverty, we can only rejoice. It is likely that she has inspired many humanitarian workers whose actions have truly relieved the suffering of the destitute and addressed the causes of poverty and isolation without being extolled by the media. Nevertheless, the media coverage of Mother Theresa could have been a little more rigorous," they said.

The research is set to be published in the journal Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses. (ANI)

http://in.news.yahoo.com/mother-teresas-altruism-generosity-claimed-myth-052026363.html

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2013/03/mother-teresa-no-saint-but-saint-of.html

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Mother Teresa, NO saint, but 'saint of the media'. How Vatican creates myths --Full text of study (Serge Larivee et al, Jan. 2013) 

Mother Teresa 'saint of the media', controversial study says
Mar 2, 2013, 07.20AM IST TNN[ Kounteya Sinha ]

The controversial study called Religieuses says that Teresa — known across the world as the apostle of the dying and the downtrodden — actually felt it was beautiful to see the poor suffer.

LONDON: A study conducted by Canadian researchers has called Mother Teresa "anything but a saint", a creation of an orchestrated and effective media campaign who was generous with her prayers but miserly with her foundation's millions when it came to humanity's suffering. 

The controversial study, to be published this month in the journal of studies in religion/sciences called Religieuses, says that Teresa — known across the world as the apostle of the dying and the downtrodden — actually felt it was beautiful to see the poor suffer. 

According to the study, the Vatican overlooked the crucial human side of Teresa — her dubious way of caring for the sick by glorifying their suffering instead of relieving it. 

Instead, the Vatican went ahead with her beatification followed by canonization "to revitalize the Church and inspire the faithful especially at a time when churches are empty and the Roman authority is in decline". 

Researchers Serge Larivee and Genevieve Chenard from the University of Montreal's department of psychoeducation, and Carole Senechal of the University of Ottawa's faculty of education, analysed published writings about Mother Teresa and concluded that her hallowed image, "which does not stand up to analysis of the facts, was constructed, and that her beatification was orchestrated by an effective media campaign". 

According to Larivee, facts debunk Teresa's myth. He says that the Vatican, before deciding on Teresa's beatification, did not take into account "her rather dubious way of caring for the sick, her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding ... abortion, contraception, and divorce." 

At the time of her death, Teresa had 517 missions or "homes for the dying" as described by doctors visiting several of these establishments in Kolkata. They welcomed the poor and sick in more than 100 countries. Two-thirds of the people coming to these missions hoped to a find a doctor to treat them, while the other third lay dying without receiving apt care. 

'Miracle of medicine' 

According to the study, the doctors observed a significant lack of hygiene, even unfit conditions and a shortage of actual care, food and painkillers. They say that the problem was not a paucity of funds as the Order of the Missionaries of Charity successfully raised hundreds of millions of dollars. Researchers said that when it came to her own treatment, "she received it in a modern American hospital". 

The three researchers also dug into records of her meeting in London in 1968 with the BBC's Malcom Muggeridge who had strong views against abortion and shared Mother Teresa's right-wing Catholic values. 

The researchers say Muggeridge had decided to promote Teresa. In 1969, he made a eulogistic film on the missionary, promoting her by attributing to her the "first photographic miracle", when it should have been attributed to the new film stock being marketed by Kodak. 

Following her death, the Vatican decided to waive the usual five-year waiting period to open the beatification process. According to the researchers, one of the miracles attributed to Mother Theresa is the healing of Monica Besra, who suffered from intense abdominal pain, after a medallion blessed by her was placed on Besra's abdomen. 

Larivee said, "Her doctors thought otherwise: the ovarian cyst and the tuberculosis from which she suffered were healed by the drugs they had given her. The Vatican, nevertheless, concluded that it was a miracle. Mother Teresa's popularity was such that she had become untouchable for the population, which had already declared her a saint." 

Larivee however signs off on a surprisingly positive note and says there could also be a positive effect of the Mother Teresa myth. "If the extraordinary image of Mother Teresa conveyed in the collective imagination has encouraged humanitarian initiatives that are genuinely engaged with those crushed by poverty, we can only rejoice," they signed off. 

******

http://m.timesofindia.com/world/uk/Mother-Teresa-saint-of-the-media-controversial-study-says/articleshow/18760028.cms

MOTHER TERESA: ANYTHING BUT A SAINT…

The myth of altruism and generosity surrounding Mother Teresa is dispelled in a paper by Serge Larivée and Genevieve Chenard of University of Montreal's Department of Psychoeducation and Carole Sénéchal of the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Education.

The paper will be published in the March issue of the journal Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses and is an analysis of the published writings about Mother Teresa. Like the journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who is amply quoted in their analysis, the researchers conclude that her hallowed image—which does not stand up to analysis of the facts—was constructed, and that her beatification was orchestrated by an effective media relations campaign.

"While looking for documentation on the phenomenon of altruism for a seminar on ethics, one of us stumbled upon the life and work of one of Catholic Church's most celebrated woman and now part of our collective imagination—Mother Teresa—whose real name was Agnes Gonxha," says Professor Larivée, who led the research. "The description was so ecstatic that it piqued our curiosity and pushed us to research further."

As a result, the three researchers collected 502 documents on the life and work of Mother Teresa. After eliminating 195 duplicates, they consulted 287 documents to conduct their analysis, representing 96% of the literature on the founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity (OMC). Facts debunk the myth of Mother Teresa

In their article, Serge Larivée and his colleagues also cite a number of problems not take into account by the Vatican in Mother Teresa's beatification process, such as "her rather dubious way of caring for the sick, her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce."

'The sick must suffer like Christ on the cross'

At the time of her death, Mother Teresa had opened 517 missions welcoming the poor and sick in more than 100 countries. The missions have been described as "homes for the dying" by doctors visiting several of these establishments in Calcutta. Two-thirds of the people coming to these missions hoped to a find a doctor to treat them, while the other third lay dying without receiving appropriate care. The doctors observed a significant lack of hygiene, even unfit conditions, as well as a shortage of actual care, inadequate food, and no painkillers. The problem is not a lack of money—the Foundation created by Mother Teresa has raised hundreds of millions of dollars—but rather a particular conception of suffering and death: "There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ's Passion. The world gains much from their suffering," was her reply to criticism, cites the journalist Christopher Hitchens. Nevertheless, when Mother Teresa required palliative care, she received it in a modern American hospital.

Mother Teresa's questionable politics and shadowy accounting

Mother Teresa was generous with her prayers but rather miserly with her foundation's millions when it came to humanity's suffering. During numerous floods in India or following the explosion of a pesticide plant in Bhopal, she offered numerous prayers and medallions of the Virgin Mary but no direct or monetary aid. On the other hand, she had no qualms about accepting the Legion of Honour and a grant from the Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti. Millions of dollars were transferred to the MCO's various bank accounts, but most of the accounts were kept secret, Larivée says. "Given the parsimonious management of Mother Theresa's works, one may ask where the millions of dollars for the poorest of the poor have gone?"

The grand media plan for Mother Teresa's holiness

Despite these disturbing facts, how did Mother Teresa succeed in building an image of holiness and infinite goodness? According to the three researchers, her meeting in London in 1968 with the BBC's Malcom Muggeridge, an anti-abortion journalist who shared her right-wing Catholic values, was crucial. Muggeridge decided to promote Teresa, who consequently discovered the power of mass media. In 1969, he made a eulogistic film of the missionary, promoting her by attributing to her the "first photographic miracle," when it should have been attributed to the new film stock being marketed by Kodak. Afterwards, Mother Teresa travelled throughout the world and received numerous awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize. In her acceptance speech, on the subject of Bosnian women who were raped by Serbs and now sought abortion, she said: "I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing—direct murder by the mother herself."

Following her death, the Vatican decided to waive the usual five-year waiting period to open the beatification process. The miracle attributed to Mother Theresa was the healing of a woman, Monica Besra, who had been suffering from intense abdominal pain. The woman testified that she was cured after a medallion blessed by Mother Theresa was placed on her abdomen. Her doctors thought otherwise: the ovarian cyst and the tuberculosis from which she suffered were healed by the drugs they had given her. The Vatican, nevertheless, concluded that it was a miracle. Mother Teresa's popularity was such that she had become untouchable for the population, which had already declared her a saint. "What could be better than beatification followed by canonization of this model to revitalize the Church and inspire the faithful especially at a time when churches are empty and the Roman authority is in decline?" Larivée and his colleagues ask.

Positive effect of the Mother Teresa myth

Despite Mother Teresa's dubious way of caring for the sick by glorifying their suffering instead of relieving it, Serge Larivée and his colleagues point out the positive effect of the Mother Teresa myth: "If the extraordinary image of Mother Teresa conveyed in the collective imagination has encouraged humanitarian initiatives that are genuinely engaged with those crushed by poverty, we can only rejoice. It is likely that she has inspired many humanitarian workers whose actions have truly relieved the suffering of the destitute and addressed the causes of poverty and isolation without being extolled by the media. Nevertheless, the media coverage of Mother Theresa could have been a little more rigorous."

About the study

The study was conducted by Serge Larivée, Department of psychoeducation, University of Montreal, Carole Sénéchal, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, and Geneviève Chénard, Department of psychoeducation, University of Montreal.

The printed version, available only in French, will be published in March 2013 in issue 42 of Studies in Religion / Sciences religieuses.

http://scienceblog.com/60730/mother-teresa-anything-but-a-saint/


Official biography of Mother Teresa published by the Vatican: http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20031019_madre-teresa_en.html

Les côtés ténébreux de Mère Teresa
Serge Larivée serge.larivee@umontreal.ca
Université de Montréal
Carole Sénéchal
Université d'Ottawa
Geneviève Chénard
Université de Montréal

Abstract

L'impact de l'œuvre de Mère Teresa n'a pas de frontières géographiques ni religieuses. Dans les quatre parties de ce texte, nous tentons de comprendre ce phénomène. Nous présentons d'abord la méthode utilisée pour colliger les informations disponibles, puis nous évoquons quelques repères biographiques qui permettent de comprendre sa mission et la contribution des médias à sa popularité. La troisième partie identifie quatre pierres d'achoppement sur le chemin de sa canonisation : son opinion religieuse plutôt dogmatique, sa manière de soigner les malades, ses choix politiques et sa gestion douteuse des montants d'argent qu'elle a reçus. Quatrièmement, nous abordons quelques éléments de sa vie relatifs à sa béatification, dont sa « nuit de la foi », l'exorcisme dont elle a été l'objet ainsi que la validité du miracle qui lui a été attribué. En conclusion, nous nous interrogeons sur les raisons pour lesquelles les critiques dont elle fait l'objet ont été ignorées par le Vatican.

The impact of Mother Teresa's work has no religious or geographical boundaries. In the four parts of this text, we try to understand this phenomenon. We first present the method used to collect the available information and then discuss a few biographical considerations to clarify her mission and the media's contribution to her popularity. The third part identifies four stumbling blocks on her way to canonization: her rather dogmatic religious views, her way of caring for the sick, her political choices, and her suspicious management of funds that she received. Fourth, we discuss some elements of her life related to beatification, including her "night of faith," the exorcism to which she was subjected as well as the validity of the miracle attributed to her. In conclusion, we question why the criticism of which she has been the target has been ignored by the Vatican.

http://sir.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/01/15/0008429812469894
The online version of this article can be found at:
DOI: 10.1177/0008429812469894
Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses published online 15 January 2013
Serge Larivée, Carole Sénéchal and Geneviève Chénard
Les côtés ténébreux de Mère Teresa

Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses
http://sir.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/01/15/0008429812469894.full.pdf+html


http://www.docstoc.com/docs/147462173/Les-cotes-tenebreux-de-Mere-Teresa-(Serge-Larivee-et-al-Jan-2013)

Studies in Religion_Sciences Religieuses-2013-Larivée-00084298124698941

Les cotes tenebreux de Mere Teresa (Serge Larivee et al, Jan. 2013)

Oldest Project on Sanskrit manuscripts withering away!

From

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2013/03/new-catalogus-catalogorum-project-short.html

New Catalogus Catalogorum Project: short of funds, idle 

Short of funds, Sanskrit project stays idle
CHENNAI, February 12, 2013

VASUDHA VENUGOPAL


The Hindu The project, started in 1933 by the British government, is a 40-volume encyclopaedic work. Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

At University of Madras, one of country's oldest projects still awaits part of sanctioned amount

One of the oldest projects in the country, assigned to the Sanskrit department of the University of Madras, is in danger of being stalled, mainly due to lack of funds.

The project, New Catalogus Catalogorum, a huge 40-volume project started back in 1933 by the British government, is an encyclopaedic work on unpublished manuscripts, an alphabetical register of Sanskrit manuscripts and allied works and authors found anywhere in the world.

The manuscripts cover a variety of subjects ranging from religion, philosophy and literature to sciences like astronomy, mathematics, medicine, architecture, metallurgy, yoga, management, governance, polity and town planning.

"Millions of manuscripts are available all over the country, preserved in libraries, mutts, museums, and many other public and private collections, and many have travelled to different parts of world. The purpose of the project is to take stock of manuscripts, available anywhere in the world, cataloguing and documenting them to assist researchers and student enthusiasts of Indology," said Siniruddha Dash, head, Sanskrit department, University of Madras.

Department teachers say only fourteen volumes were completed by 2000 but the momentum of the work picked up since 2000. Eleven volumes were completed and published in four years (2003-2007) with a grant of Rs. 75 lakh from the National Mission for Manuscripts, IGNCA, department of Culture Government of India. 

"We had 25 volumes of the catalogue ready by then, after which we submitted our budget for funds in 2007. But the proposal was accepted only in 2010. We received only Rs. 50 lakh of the sanctioned Rs. 2 crore. We managed to bring out seven more volumes but there is not much we can do with the limited amount," says a senior official of the department.

With assistance from the State government being minimal, the project has always been dependent on Central government funds. The department is still waiting for the remaining Rs. 1.5 crore to complete the project.

"It is one of the few exhaustive, ambitious projects in the country and we have been very dedicated to its cause," said Prof. Dash. "Scholars traced the availability of vast number of manuscripts available in South India, rich not only in quantity but also in quality. At the suggestion of Dr. A. C. Woolner, the then Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University and head of Sanskrit Studies, it was decided to undertake this project," said Prof. Dash.

"Now, when it is nearing completion, it is stalled. All the delay has affected the project a lot," said Prof. Dash. 

European scholars too, he said, have written to various committees urging immediate release of funds for the project. "We get calls almost everyday for published volumes. They get sold in three months. When the whole world is showing an immense interest in Sanskrit, stalling of the project due to lack of funds is unfortunate," said Prof. Dash.

The project needs at least 30 trained professionals trained in manuscript reading and documenting of their details but they have been managing with just seven, say project members. "Due to shortage of faculty members, we appointed some retired scholars on contract basis. They have been waiting for their arrears too, and one of them has died doing so," says a senior professor.

Researchers claim the project has not got much help from the State government. "Citing history and politics of the State, many have tried to stall the projectmany times. However, with the new V-C, there is a sense of hope. Salaries for last two months have come. We hope the Central government takes note of our plight too," said a professor.

Ramasetu Project will result in disputes under international law.

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.com/2013/03/ramasetu-goi-should-withdraw-affidavit.html

Ramasetu: GOI should withdraw affidavit in SC. Project will result in disputes under international law.

March 1, 2013

Rejection of Pachauri Committeee report by GOI is a serious issue which has ramifications under international law. Any Setu channel cutting midway through the Rama Setu, even if close to India's territorial waters has an impact on the Sri Lankan coastline and fishing activities.

INDIA is bound under international law to take Sri Lankan Government into confidence before undertaking any project in these waters. 

A precedent exists in Panama Canal: President Jimmy Carter Signed the Panama Canal Treaty September 7, 1977 
How many times have you taken a shortcut through a neighbor's backyard? The U.S. created a 51-mile shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through a distant neighbor's "backyard" and called it the Panama Canal. Of course, the U.S. got permission from Panama first, back in 1904. On September 7, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed the Panama Canal Treaty and Neutrality Treaty promising to give control of the canal to the Panamanians by the year 2000.

In particular, the choice of an alignment cutting through Rama Setu will result in the destruction of a monument which stood as a TSUNAMI wall during the last Dec. 26, 2004 Tsunami. Tampering with the structure may have serious impact on Indian and Sri Lankan coastlines in case another Tsunami strikes (which is very, very likely given the movements in plate tectonics along the India-Burma-Sunda plates).

Sri Lankan govt. can take the case to Intl. Court of Justice under international law. 

There is the additional factor of Kachativu agreement signed by Indira Gandhi which clearly recognized the rights of Sri Lanka under international law and based on these a strong case exists for Sri Lanka to claim that any channel cutting through the shared INTERNATIONAL WATERS (though technically within the Indian side of the territorial waters) which have a serious effect due to the future devastations which will be caused to Sri Lanka coastline in case another tsunami strikes and the so-called Setu Channel is operational which will draw the energy of the tsunami close to the Indian and Sri Lankan coastal boundaries. 

The tampering with Rama Setu to create a navigation channel cannot be a unilateral decision by Govt. of India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachchatheevu The channel runs too close to Kachativu for Sri Lanka's comfort. The agreements themselves are subject do political disputes. The proposed Setu Channel will impair the fishing activities by both Indian and Sri Lanka fishermen, thus rendering the Kachativu agreements virtually DEFUNCT, null and void.

If Sri Lankan Govt. issues a formal diplomatic complaint, Hon'ble SC will HAVE TO take note of it. IN any case, the case pending in SC already underscores the fact that Sri Lankan govt. agreement should have been taken and that Sri Lankan has raised serious ecological objections to the proposed sethusamudram project itself. GOI will land up in an international maritime dispute.