Article on "Pongal".

My article on certain issues around Pongal festival written in Tamil and published in Poojari Murasu (circulated among the temple priests of Tamilnadu) is given below.

For those who can not read Tamil, I am giving here the main features discussed in this article.

• The Tamil name of the month 'Thai' is discussed. 'Thai' means 'getting stitched to'. The celestial relevance of this month is such that it attracts or binds to itself the prayers and aspirations done by the people. The most relevant prayers pertain to marriage- wishes.  
• Pongal is the name of the dish which is cooked on auspicious occasions that mark a fulfillment or satisfaction of aspirations. It is cooked at the end of harvest season.
• Pongal is not the time of New Year as Karunanidhi government has declared.
• There is no basis for the Thiruvalluvar year declared by the Government.
• The naming of sahapthas such as Vikrama sahaptham, salivahana sahaptham etc was done to mark the victory of people of Bharath over Mlecchas (non vedic people). As such counting years as Thiruvalluvar aandu is a misnomer. 
 

My speech on “Scientific secrets of Paavai nonbu” given in Tamil can be viewed here:

http://vhtv.in/index.asp?fl=paavainonbu

பொங்கல் என்னும் அவியல் பண்டிகை

தை பிறந்தாலே, பொங்கல் பண்டிகை நம் நினைவுக்கு வரும். இப்பொழுதெல்லாம், தமிழ்ப் புத்தாண்டு என்று ஒரு இடைச் செருகலையும் கொண்டு வந்துள்ளார்கள். இதற்கு முன் 1971-72 –களிலேயே ஒரு இடைச் செருகலைக் கொண்டுவந்தார்கள். அதற்குப் பெயர் "திருவள்ளுவர் ஆண்டு".  ஒன்று கொடுத்தால் இரண்டு இலவசம் என்பதுபோல பொங்கல் பண்டிகையோடு புத்தாண்டும், திருவள்ளுவர் ஆண்டும் சேர்ந்து கொண்டு, பொங்கல், ஒரு அவியல் பண்டிகையாகி விட்டது! இந்த அவியலைக் கொஞ்சம் ஆராயலாமா? 

தையின் மகத்துவம்.

முதலில் தை மாதத்தின் சிறப்பைக் காண்போம். சூரியன் மகர ராசியில் சஞ்சரிக்கும் காலம் தை மாதம் ஆகும். இந்தியாவின் மற்ற பகுதிகளில் இந்த மாதத்தை மகர மாதம் என்றழைப்பர். இந்த மாதத்தில் பூச நட்சத்திரத்தில் பௌர்ணமி வரவே புஷ்ய மாதம் என்றும் அழைப்பார்கள். தை என்பது தமிழ் நாட்டுக்கே உரிய பெயர். இதற்கு ஒரு காரணம் இருக்கிறது. 

தமிழ் நிலங்களில் கார்த்திகை மாதம் வரை மழை இருக்கும். அதனால் ஆற்றில் வெள்ளம் பெருக்கெடுத்து ஓடும். நிலப்பகுதியிலும் வெள்ளக்காடாக இருக்கும். மார்கழி மாதம் வெள்ளம் வடிந்து ஆங்காங்கே குளம் போல நீர் தேங்கி இருக்கும். அதனால் மார்கழி மாதத்திற்குக் 'குளம்" என்ற பெயர் தமிழ் நாட்டில் இருந்து வந்தது. அந்த மாதத்தில் ஆற்றங்கரையில் பாவை நோன்பு நோற்றால் அக வாழ்க்கை நன்றாக அமையும், வரப்போகும் கார்காலமும் சிறப்பாக இருக்கும்.

மார்கழி முடிந்து வரும் தை மாதத்தில் நீர் தெளிந்து விடும். ஆற்று நீரைப் பார்த்தால் அன்ன நடை நடந்து வருவது போல இருக்கும். அந்த நீரில் நம் முகத்தைப் பார்க்க முடியும். அந்த அளவுக்குத் தெளிவாக இருக்கும். அந்த நீரைப் பார்த்து நாம் நினைக்கும் எண்ணங்களும் அந்த நீரில் பிரதிபலிப்பதுபோலத் தோன்றுமாம். அதாவது நம் எண்ணங்களையும், விருப்பங்களையும் அந்த நீர் தனக்குள் அப்படியே தைத்துக் கொள்ளுமாம்.  இதைத் தை-இ என்றார்கள். தை என்றால், தைத்தல் என்று பொருள்.
தைத்தல், பின்னுதல், பொருத்துதல், சேர்த்தல் என்றும் சொல்லலாம்.

மார்கழி மாதத்தில் ஆரம்பித்தப் பாவை நோன்பைத் தையிலும் தொடர்வார்கள். அந்த நோன்பை ஒரு தவம் போலச் செய்தார்கள். இதைத் "தவத்-தை- நீராடல்" என்றார்கள். தெளிவாக இருக்கும் தை மாத நீர், மக்கள் செய்த தவத்தை, அவர்கள் எண்ணங்களைத் தைத்துக் கொள்ளும் பளிங்கு போல இருக்கிறது. அதனால் தை என்னும் பெயர் இந்த மாதத்திற்கு வந்தது.  

இந்த மாதத்திற்கு நேர் எதிரில் இருக்கும் மாதம், ஆடி மாதம் ஆகும்.
தை மாதத்தில் தைக்கப்பட்ட தவத்தையும், எண்ணத்தையும் பிரதி பலிக்கச் செய்யும் கண்ணாடி போல் இருக்கவே அது "ஆடி" மாதம் என்றாயிற்று. அதாவது ஆடி வருவதற்குள் வேண்டுதல்கள் நிறைவேறி விடும்.


தையில், சில குறிப்பிட்ட வேண்டுதல்கள் செய்யப்படுகின்றன.
நல்ல கணவன் வேண்டும் என்று கன்னிப் பெண் வேண்டுவாள்.
கணவன் நன்கு ஆயுளுடன் இருக்க வேண்டும் என்று மனைவி வேண்டுவாள்.
இந்த வேண்டுதல்களின் அடிபடையில் "தை பிறந்தால் வழி பிறக்கும்" என்ற பழமொழியும் வந்தது. யாருக்கு வழி பிறக்கும்? திருமணத்துக்குக் காத்திருக்கும் பெண்களுக்கு வழி பிறக்கும். 

மார்கழியில் அறுவடை முடிந்து கையில் காசு இருக்கும். திருமண செலவுகளுக்குத் தேவையான அளவு பணம் சேர்ந்திருக்கும். கன்னிகையும் நோன்பிருக்கவே, தெய்வ அருளும் கூடி வரும். மேலும் தை பிறந்தபின் முஹூர்த்த நாட்களும் அடுத்தடுத்து வரும். இதனால், திருமண முயற்சிகள் எளிதில் கூடி வரவே இந்தப் பழமொழி வழக்கில் வந்தது. இதுதான் தை மாதம் குறித்த பண்டைத் தமிழர் வாழ்கை இயல்பு. அப்படியென்றால், தை மாதம் பொங்கல் திருநாளாக ஆனது எப்படி? 


பொங்கல் என்னும் உழவர் பண்டிகை.

பொங்கல் பண்டிகையை ஒரு விழாவாகத் தமிழ் நூல்களில் சொல்லவில்லை. அது தமிழர் திருநாள் என்றும் சொல்லப்படவில்லை. தமிழர் திருநாள் என்று, தமிழருக்கே உள்ள பிரத்யேகமான பண்டிகை என்று ஒன்று இருக்குமானால் அது கார்த்திகை தீபம் மட்டும்தான். அதைத் தமிழர் தவிர வேறு யாரும் கொண்டாடுவதில்லை

ஆனால் பொங்கலிடுவது எல்லாப் பண்டிகையிலும் இருந்திருக்கிறது. பூம்புகார் நகரத்தில் இந்திர விழா நடந்தபோது மக்கள் பொங்கலிட்டுப் பூச் சொரிந்து வழிபாடுகள் செய்திருக்கின்றனர். இன்றைக்கும் எந்த விசேஷ நாளிலும் அம்மனுக்குப் பொங்கலிடுவர். தையில் மட்டும் அல்ல, மார்கழியிலேயே பொங்கல் பொங்குதல் ஆரம்பித்து விடுகிறது.
அறுவடையைக் கொண்டாடிப் பொங்கலிடுவர். பொதுவாக புது அரிசியைச் சமைத்தால் அளிந்து விடும். அதைப் பொங்கலாகச் சமைத்தால்தான் சரியாக இருக்கும். அதனால் புது அரிசியைக் கொண்டு பொங்கலிடுவார்கள். புது அரிசி உண்பதற்கு நேரம் காலம் பார்த்துதான் சமைத்து உண்ண வேண்டும். இதற்கென்றே சோதிட விதிகள் உண்டு. அறுவடையாகி வந்த புது அரிசியை வியாழக் கிழமையிலோ அல்லது சனிக் கிழமையிலோ சமைத்துச் சாப்பிடலாம். அதனால் வியாழன் கிரகத்தை அதிபதியாகக் கொண்ட தனுர் ராசியிலிருந்து, சனியை அதிபதியாகக் கொண்ட மகர ராசிக்குச் சூரியன் செல்லும்போது பொங்கலிட்டு, சூரிய பகவானுக்குப் படைப்பார்கள். 

சமீப காலம் வரை தமிழகத்தில் பெரும்பான்மையான மக்கள் உழுதுண்டும், உழுவித்துண்டும், உழவுடன் தொடர்பு கொண்டிருந்தார்கள். அதனால் தமிழகம் தழுவிய அளவில் பொங்கல் ஒரு பண்டிகையாக ஆனது. பொங்கலுக்கு மறுநாள் மாட்டுப் பொங்கல் வரவே, பொங்கல் பண்டிகை, அறுவடைப் பண்டிகையாக இருந்திருக்கிறது என்றே தெரிகிறது. 

பொங்கல் என்ற பெயர் ஏன் வந்தது என்று பார்ப்போம். பொங்கலாடுதல் என்ற ஒரு சொல்லாட்சி தமிழில் உண்டு. சங்கத் தமிழில் இது காணப்படுகிறது.  நன்கு பெய்து ஓய்ந்த மேகமானது, பஞ்சினைப் போல வெண்மையாகப் பரவி, விரிந்து, பொங்கி, வானத்தின் மேலே போய் நிற்கும். அதாவது நல்ல பலனைத் தந்தபின், பஞ்சு போல வெண்மையாக மேலெழுந்து மேகம் நின்றால் அதற்குப் பொங்கலாடுதல் என்று பெயர். அறுவடை செய்துக் கிடைத்த புது அரிசியைக் களைந்து போட்டால் அது வெண்மையாகப் பொங்கும். அது மேகத்தின் பொங்கலாடுதல் போல இருப்பதால், அந்த உணவுக்கும் பொங்கல் என்ற பெயர் வந்தது. பண்டிகைக்கும் பொங்கல் என்ற பெயர் வந்தது. மன நிறைவு ஒரு முக்கிய காரணம் என்பதால், விழாக்களிலும், பண்டிகையிலும், அறுவடை முடிந்த பின்னும், பொங்கலிடுதல் வழக்கமாக இருந்திருக்கின்றது.

கரும்பும் அதே போல் தான். இப்பொழுதெல்லாம், தைப் பொங்கல் சமயத்தில்தான் கரும்பு முக்கியத்துவம் பெறுகிறது. ஆனால் சங்க காலத்தில், கரும்பு வருடம் முழுவதும் விளைந்திருக்கிறது. கரும்பும், பூவும் இல்லாமல் ஒரு பண்டிகையும் கிடையாது. 


பொங்கல் திருநாள் புத்தாண்டு நாளா?

பொங்கல் பண்டிகையும் தை மாதமும் எதற்குப் பெயர் பெற்றவை என்று இதுவரை பார்த்தோம். அதன்படி வருடப் பிறப்புக்கும் அவற்றுக்கும் சம்பந்தம் இல்லை என்று தெரிகிறது. 

வானியல் அடிப்படியில் தான் சொல்கிறோம், சூரியன் வடக்குப் பயணம் துவங்கும் மகர சங்கராந்தி எனப்படும் தை முதல்நாளே வருடப் பிறப்பு என்று ஒரு வாதம் வைக்கப் படுகிறது.
 
சூரியனின் வடக்குப் பயணம், அதற்கு முன்பே தொடங்கி விடுகிறது. 72 வருடங்களுக்கு ஒரு முறை ஒரு பாகை என்று சூரியன் பின்னோக்கி நகர்கிறான். அந்தக் கணக்கின்படி தற்சமயம், சூரியன் தனுர் ராசி 6-ஆம் பாகையில் வடக்கு நோக்கித் திரும்பி விடுகிறான். ஆனால் நாம் கொண்டாடும் பொங்கல் பண்டிகையும், சங்கராந்திப் பண்டிகையும் சூரியன் மகர ராசியில் பூஜ்யம் பாகையில் நுழையும் நேரத்தில் கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது. 

சங்கராந்தி என்பது "சங்க்ரமணம்" என்னும் வடமொழிச் சொல்லிலிருந்து வந்தது. சங்க்ரமணம் என்றால் 'நுழைதல்' என்று பொருள். ஒவ்வொரு ராசியிலும் சூரியன் நுழையும் போது அதை சங்க்ரமணம் என்பார்கள். மேஷ சங்க்ரமணம், ரிஷப சங்க்ரமணம் என்பது போல மகர ராசியில் நுழையும் நேரம் மகர சங்க்ரமணம் எனப்படுகிறது. அதை மகர சங்கராந்தி என்கிறோம். 

சூரியன் வட திசை நோக்கி உத்தராயணம் என்று திரும்புகிற நேரம் ஒவ்வொரு காலக் கட்டத்திலும் மாறுகிறது. ஆனால் ராசிக்குள் நுழையும் நேரம் எளிதில் கணிக்ககூடியது. ஒவ்வொரு ராசி சங்க்ரமணத்திற்கும் ஒவ்வொரு முக்கியத்துவம் உண்டு. இவை எல்லாம் ஜோதிடம் சம்பந்தப்பட்டது. நாம் நினைத்தாற்போல மாற்ற முடியாது.
வருஷ பலன் வேண்டுமென்றால் மேஷ சங்க்ரமணத்தைப் பார்க்க வேண்டும். அது சூரியன் சித்திரை மாதம் மேஷ ராசியில் நுழையும் நேரம் ஆகும். அப்பொழுது இருக்கும் கிரக சூழ்நிலையைக் கொண்டு, நாடு, மக்கள், ஆள்பவர், மழை, விளைச்சல் என்று எல்லாம் கணிக்கப்படுகிறது. ஆனால் மகர சங்கராந்தியில் அந்தப் பலன்களைச் சொல்ல முடியாது. கிரகங்களுக்கு அதிபதி யார் (நீரஸாதிபதி) என்பதை மகர சங்கராந்தியில் சொல்லலாம். அந்த நேரத்தில் இருக்கும் கரணத்தைக் கொண்டு செய்யும் செயல் வெற்றி பெறுமா என்றும் சொல்லலாம். ஆனால் புத்தாண்டு இதுதான் என்று தை மாதத்துக்கு நாம் மாற்றினாலும், சித்திர வருடப்பிறப்பின் அடிப்படையிலேயே கிரகங்கள் பலன் கொடுக்கும்.


திருவள்ளுவர் ஆண்டு.

ஆண்டுகள், காலம் என்று சொல்வதில் சகாப்தங்கள் என்று வருகின்றன. தற்சமயம் சாலிவாஹன சகாப்தம் நடக்கிறது. அதற்கு முன் விக்ரம சகாப்தம் இருந்தது. இவையெல்லம் வட மாநில மன்னர்கள் பெயரைக் கொண்டு எழுந்தவை. அந்த மன்னர்கள் தாங்கள் பெற்ற வெற்றிக்கு அடையாளமாக, தங்கள் பெயரில் சகாப்தங்களை ஆரம்பித்தனர். எனவே தமிழர்களாகிய நாம் அந்த வட இந்திய மன்னர் பெயரில் உள்ள சகாப்தத்தைப் பின்பற்ற வேண்டுமா என்ற விவாதங்கள் வந்து, தற்சமயம், திருவள்ளுவர் பெயரில் ஆண்டுகளை அழைக்க ஆரம்பித்திருக்கின்றனர்.

சகாப்தங்களின் உண்மை நிலவரத்தைப் பார்ப்போம். 'விஞ்ஞான சர்வஸ்வம்' என்னும் நூலில் இதற்கு விளக்கம் தரப்பட்டுள்ளது. பாரத மண்ணைச் சேர்ந்த மக்கள், பாரதீயம் அல்லாத, மற்றும் பாரதீயத்திற்கு எதிர்மாறான கொள்கைகளை உடைய அன்னிய நாட்டவரைப் படை பலத்தால் வென்றால், எந்த மன்னன் அப்படி வென்றானோ அவன் பெயரில் ஆண்டுகள் சொல்லப்படவேண்டும். அதை அந்த மன்னன் பெயரில் சகாப்தம் என்று அழைத்தனர். கலி யுகம் பிறந்தது முதல் இன்று வரை மூன்று மன்னர்கள் அவ்வாறு அன்னியர்களை வென்றிருக்கின்றனர்.

முதலாமவர், பாரதப் போரில் வெற்றி பெற்ற பாண்டவர்களது மூத்தவரான யுதிஷ்டிரர். இந்தக் குறிப்பால், பாரதப் போரில் பாண்டவர்கள் அன்னியர்களை முறியடித்திருக்கின்றனர் என்று தெரிகிறது. கலியுகம் பிறந்தது முதல் யுதிஷ்டிர சகாப்தம் ஆரம்பித்தது.

யுதிஷ்டிரருக்குப் பிறகு விக்கிரமாதித்யர் என்னும் அரசர் அரேபியப் பகுதிகளுக்குச் சென்று வெற்றிக் கொடி நாட்டித் திரும்பினார். 'வாலிகர்கள்' என்னும் மக்களை அவர் வெற்றி பெற்றார் என்று சொல்லும் இரும்புத் தூண் ஒன்று டில்லியில் இருக்கிறது. இது என்றுமே துருப்பிடிக்காதது. இந்த மன்னரை முன்னிட்டு விக்கிரம சகாப்தம் ஆரம்பித்து 2067 வருடங்கள் ஆகி விட்டன.

இந்த மன்னனது பேரனான சாலிவாஹனன் மத்திய ஐரோப்பியப் பகுதியில் அன்னியர்களை முறியடித்தார். எனவே இவர் பெயரில் சாலிவாஹன சகாப்தம் இன்று வரை 1932 ஆண்டுகளாக இருந்து வந்திருக்கின்றது.

இவருக்குப் பின் எந்த இந்திய மன்னரும் அன்னியர்களை வெல்லவில்லை. ஆனால் அப்படி ஒரு காலம் வரும் என்றும் கணித்துள்ளார்கள். அதன்படி இன்னும் மூன்று சகாப்தங்கள் பாக்கி இருக்கின்றன.

விஷயம் இப்படி இருக்க, சாத்வீகமான திருவள்ளுவரை முன்னிட்டு வருடக் கணக்கு துவங்கி இருக்கிறார்கள். அவர் பிறந்த ஆண்டும், நாளும் யாருக்கும் தெரியாது. எல்லாம் ஒரு யூகம்தான். வள்ளுவரே இன்று இருந்திருந்தால், இப்படி வழி வழியாக இருந்த வருடக் கணக்கை மனம் போனபடி மாற்றியதோடு மட்டுமல்லாமல், தன் பெயரை உபயோகித்ததற்கும் ஆட்சேபம் தெரிவித்திருப்பார். ஏனென்றால் அவர் சாத்திர சம்பிரதாயம் தெரிந்தவர். அவை எல்லாம் இன்று மறக்கப்பட்டு விட்டன. மறக்கடிக்கப்பட்டும் விட்டன. இனியேனும் அவற்றை நாம் தெரிந்து கொள்வோம். தை பிறக்கும் நேரம் நம் அறியாமை அகலவும் வழி பிறக்கட்டும்.

 

A.Raja = ? (New Unit of counting system)

This is a forward from a friend. 
Kudos to the original writer of this piece.


--------------------


Let's keep this going forward so that the new vocabulary gains ground and we can claim one more "first" in the field of maths!!
Addition to our vocabulary - the silver lining of scams!!!!!!!!
The large amounts mentioned in the scams have given us a new addition to the vocabulary that refers to large numbers like "googol" (10^100) - such as:

Rs. 1,00,000 crores.= Rs. 1 Raja
Rs. 10,000 crores ...= Rs. 1 Radia
Rs. 1,000 crores......= Rs. 1 Kalmadi

It will be easier to converse and comprehend large numbers.

A few examples:

Mukesh Ambani's home on Pedder Road  costs 4.50 Kalmadi
ONGC's annual output is 1.20 Raja
India 's loss in G2/G3 scam is about 1.70 Raja
India 's total annual subsidy on Kerosene is 2.00 Radias
The Bofors kickbacks amounted to 0.064 Kalmadi

Wonder if one can claim a patent on it?

But I guess in the larger interest of mankind, one should publicise it .....for free!!

"Italian athithi is devo bhava" - Pioneer article

http://www.dailypioneer.com/309746/Italian-atithi-is-devo-bhava.html Tuesday, January 11, 2011 Italian atithi is devo bhava A Surya Prakash Digvijay Singh's defence of Ottavio Quattrocchi shows Congress leaders can plumb the depths of sycophancy to please their party boss Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's concern for Ottavio Quattrocchi, the Italian businessman who knocked off $7.3 million as commission from AB Bofors when we bought field guns from the Swedish company for our Army, is truly touching. Obviously he believes that the concept of Atithi Devo Bhava (guest is god) should extend to all guests, be they crooks, wheeler-dealers or commission agents. According to Mr Digvijay Singh, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal order naming Quattrocchi as a recipient of commissions is suspect on three counts. First, the timing of the order is "highly intriguing". The tribunal, he claims, advanced the date of the order from January 4 to December 31. Second, the tribunal made the order public on January 3, a day before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate was to take a view on the CBI's plea to close the criminal case against the Italian middleman. This 'haste' raises doubts about the ITAT's motive. Third, the tribunal was hearing the plea of Mr Hersh Chadha, son of Win Chadha, who was the agent for Bofors. Yet, it paid so much attention to the commission paid by Bofors closure examination. First of all, even if this were to be true, why is an Indian citizen like Mr Singh troubled by the fact that the ITAT advanced the date of the order regarding the tax liability of some commission agents, one of whom is a foreigner? Further, what is this 'haste' that he is talking about? Does he not know that the ITAT order has come a good 22 years after Bofors deposited the kickbacks in Quattrocchi's Swiss bank account? Second, why is this citizen complaining that the order was made public on January 3? An alert citizen ought to ask why the order was not uploaded immediately after it was passed on December 31. Those who care for transparency and accountability in Indian institutions should be troubled on this score rather than crib about the fact that the order was publicised at a time that was very inconvenient to Quattrocchi. Finally, we need to ask why this Congress worthy, who holds an important office in a party which was in the vanguard of India's freedom movement, is so stressed about the fact that the tribunal made a clinical analysis of the illegal payments made by Bofors to this Italian businessman. That Mr Singh's concerns are grossly misplaced becomes obvious when one reads the order of the ITAT. The tribunal notes that despite a ban on agents, Bofors entered into a fresh consultancy agreement with AE Services Limited of the UK on November 15, 1985 "at the behest of one Mr Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian". According to this agreement, if Bofors was awarded the contract before March 31, 1986, it was to pay a fee equivalent to three per cent of the total value of the contract pro rata with the receipt of the payments. By a strange coincidence, the Bofors-India contract was signed on March 24, 1986, just a week before the expiry of the deadline. Bofors deliberately suppressed the fact of this agreement in their letter of March 10, 1986 to the Ministry of Defence. The ITAT noted that Quattrocchi remained in India from February 28, 1965 to July 29, 1993, except for a brief interval from March 4, 1966 to June 12, 1968. He was a certified Chartered Accountant by profession, working with Snamprogetti, an Italian multi-national company. "Neither Snamprogetti nor Mr Quattrocchi had any experience of guns, gun-systems or any related defence equipments." Based on bank documents obtained from Switzerland by Indian authorities, the tribunal concluded that after India paid Bofors SEK 1,682,132,196.80, equivalent to 20 per cent of the contract value, on May 2, 1986, Bofors remitted a sum of SEK 50,463,966.00 on September 3, 1986, to account number 18051-53 of AE Services Limited at Nordfinanz Bank in Zurich. This was exactly three per cent of the amount paid to Bofors in advance. Thereafter, Quattrocchi transferred funds from one account to another, all of which were operated by him and his wife Maria. The tribunal also noted that Quattrocchi gave a fake address in India ('Colony East, New Delhi, India') while opening one account. In fact, the ITAT appears to have anticipated that some pro-Quattrocchi politicians like Mr Singh would raise questions about its order. Therefore, with a view to educate people like him the ITAT has said that "Indian income tax is leviable on all types of income, including legal and illegal income, whether recipients are Indian or foreign residents". "In our view, to enforce the rule of law, these steps were desirable to bring all the relevant income tax violations to a logical end by the Income Tax Department," the ITAT has said, adding. "Inaction in this regard may lead to a non-existent undesirable and detrimental notion that India is a soft state and one can meddle with its tax laws with impunity." It has, therefore, expressed surprise that though Win Chadha was proceeded against, "no action seems to have been taken" against Quattrocchi and other related entities.Will any citizen who cares for India question such an order? Fortunately, despite politicians like Mr Singh, who try to wreck the system from within, there are individuals and institutions in the country who help us keep the faith with the system. Among them are the two members of the ITAT who passed this order and Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav who has rubbished the CBI's plea for closing the case against Quattrocchi and observed that there were mala fide intentions in defreezing the bank account of Quattrocchi. The judge has also questioned the CBI's decision to approach Interpol for removing the 'Red Corner' notice against Quattrocchi. Obviously, the ultimate test of loyalty within the Congress is to genuflect before the Italian friends of the expatriate who is the party boss. To them, every Italian atithi is devo bhava! It is people like Mr Singh who had turned India into a slave nation for over a millennium. Mr Singh has given us a glimpse of the depths to which sycophants will sink if Ms Sonia Gandhi were to become Prime Minister. This was exactly the concern of those who raised the foreigner issue a dozen years ago. The Congress general secretary has now proved that those concerns remain valid to this day.

The violence of conversion

 

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/aseem_shukla/2010/03/proselytism_is_violence.html

The violence of conversion

by

Aseem Shukla

Q: Is there a problem with proselytism overseas by U.S. religious groups? Isn't sharing one's faith part of religious freedom? When does it cross the line into manipulation and coercion?

It is impossible for me to reconcile myself to the idea of conversion after the style that goes on in India and elsewhere today. It is an error which is perhaps the greatest impediment to the world's progress toward peace. Why should a Christian want to convert a Hindu to Christianity? Why should he not be satisfied if the Hindu is a good or godly man? -- Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan: January 30, 1937)

If I had some good news--really good news that would help others--I would eagerly want to share that news. Spread the word, pass it on, share the joy. As Thomas Farr of the Berkely Center at Georgetown wrote, "For those who believe they have access to such a Truth, the desire to offer it to others is both natural and rational."

The problem, of course, is that we are dealing with matters of faith and the experiential, rather than the empirical and rational. And we are wrestling with not only the benign connotations of evangelism and charity, but also with the incendiary vocabulary of hegemony, religious imperialism, asymmetry and conversion.

The Georgetown meeting will only include Christians and Muslims--sadly, none of the millions of Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and indigenous traditions that are the targets of proselytism globally are included--but it is also apropos. For only Christians and Muslims have a history of displaying an often violent urge to share good news. Whether you want to hear it or not never much mattered!

The Crusades or the Conquests, the Inquisition or the sword, the results were the same: millions were forced to turn their backs on their own faith and embrace another. Only the name of the God changed. 

Today, that same urge to persuade, convince and even coerce the good news upon others remains; the methodology insidiously different, but the result is the same. 

Groups ranging from the overtly evangelical World Vision to quasi-government entities such as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), and many others even within our government, firmly subscribe to the view that religious freedom protects--rather mandates--unhindered access globally to carry out the work of proselytism. Religious freedom is tantamount to freedom to proselytize and convert.

Article 18 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), is often held up as the rationale--the green light for proselytization. That every individual "has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

But adherents of the pluralist religions--Dharma religions, paganism and native religious traditions--have long argued that there is a very basic asymmetry at play rendering the Declaration deeply flawed. Abrahamic religions--the non-pluralist traditions--claim exclusivity in their belief system's legitimacy as the only religious and spiritual path and demand absolute adherence. In contrast, pluralist religious traditions subscribe to a more expansive ethos--that one's religion may not be the exclusive source of Truth and which acknowledge the potential of multiple legitimate religious and spiritual paths. Most pluralist religious traditions allow for the assimilation of beliefs and traditions of another religion without demanding repudiation of one's own religion or conversion to the other. 

This fundamental difference--that a pluralist accepts the injunction of the ancient Rig Veda that, "Truth is One, but sages call it by various names" while the non-pluralist demands that there is only One Truth and all others are false and dangerous--renders the pluralist vulnerable to the asymmetric force of the proselytizer. The pluralist would find seeking converts or evangelizing others anathema--the concept of conversion does not even exist--while the non-pluralist seeks converts as a God given mandate. 

Compound this asymmetry with the reality that the most prolific proselytizers today comprise a multi-billion dollar megachurch industry, and the previously colonized developing world is open ground for this latest avatar of colonization. Witnesses from the hot spots for global proselytism abound with testimony of access to education, medical care, employment and other necessities being traded--often subtle, and often not--on the marketplace of religious affiliation. Most sinister, of course, is the overt bargaining of disaster supplies or better hospital beds after tsunamis and earthquakes for those willing to convert.

The pluralists protest, also, against the tactics of the proselytizers. Christian missionaries in India appropriate Hindu modes of worship, reconfigure traditional prayer rituals into Holy Sacraments and sing hymns that are Hindu bhajans (prayer songs) with words replaced sung to identical tunes. 

The violence of conversion is very real. The religious conversion is too often a conversion to intolerance. A convert is asked to repudiate his sangha (community), reject the customs and traditions of his family passed down for generations, and refuse to attend religious ceremonies that are the very basis of daily life in much of the world. A person's conversion begins a cascade of upheaval that tears apart families, communities and societies creating a political and demographic tinderbox that too often explodes.

Spreading hate against native religions is perhaps the most vile tactic too often employed. And even the Catholic Church, with its centuries old presence in India, has blasted the tactics of the new proselytizers plying their trade today. In our own country, consumer protection laws ensure that advertisers and retailers abide by truth-in-marketing laws. There is no parallel protection in the rabid sales in religious identity that the proselytizer markets overseas, and the consumers are the victims.

And finally, there is the fact that the evangelical community can only "pick on" the pluralist societies. India, Nepal, Cambodia, Taiwan and much of Africa where indigenous traditions still hold sway, are among the targets today for the next "harvest." The "Muslim world" rewards conversion away from Islam with death, and in China, Russia Burma and others, autocracy, the Orthodox Church or military junta proscribe missionary work. 

And so, the very democracy and openness of pluralistic societies becomes their vulnerability--a poison pill as they face the onslaught of the proselytizers. Today, the Native Americans of the U.S. and Canada, the indigenous progeny of Latin America and Mexico, the Aborigines in Australia are silent witness to lost religions and decimated traditions that fell historically to earlier iterations of these onslaughts. 

It is in this spirit that many human rights activists and academics today argue for an overdue amending of the UNDHR. The Hindu American Foundation proposed in a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that Article 18 be amended as follows (emphasis added):

§1 Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have, retain or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

§2 No one shall be subject to force, fraud and/or coercion, including but not limited to harassment, intimidation or exploitation, including but not limited to the conditioning of humanitarian aid or economic, educational, medical or social assistance upon conversion and/or overt denigration of other religions to intentionally promote religious hatred and bigotry (hate speech) and violence, which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.

The right to have and retain one's path to salvation is and must be as important as the right to find or adopt a new way. It is time to change the vocabulary in our engagement with religious freedom. Religious freedom must mean a commitment to the true spirit of pluralism, and not a license to those "bearing witness" and forcing judgment.

Dr. Elst on “Ayodhya verdict: Before and After”

From

http://arisebharat.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/dr-elst-on-ayodhya-verdict-before-and-after%E2%80%9D/

 

 

 

"The entire ayodhya issue was unnecessarily complicated by some JNU Historians and some vested political interests and the matter could have been well settled by long standing Hindu belief, which was not harming anyone" said noted indologist Dr.Koenraad Elst.

 

 

Delivering his speech on the topic "Ayodhya verdict: Before and After" in a seminar organized by Pragna Bharathi here in Hyderabad, he made the above comments.

 

 

Tracing out Ayodhya's history and its significance to Hindus, he said that as per Hindu beliefs, Ayodhya was built by Manu and as opined by Megasthanese the approximate age of the same would be around 6776 B.C as it coincides with the end of ice age. Rama was born in the same city and revered till date by all Hindus. He cited some Budhist texts too to espouse the same in which it is stated that Rama was an earlier incarnation of Budha himself. In the process he vehemently rebutted the utterly false and baseless Marxists theory, propogated by Praful Bidwai and his bandwagon, that Budha was a revolutionary against the brahmanical dominance.

 

 

Commenting on the importance of protecting Ayodhya, he said the most recent history of Ayodhya as agreed by the Marxist historians dates back to Vikramaditya period, which is more than 2000 years old and good enough to confirm a place as sacred and respectable.

 

 

Comparing the sanctity of Ayodhya with those of Jerusalem and Mecca, he said Holy sepulcher Church in Jerusalem was built by demolishing a local Aphrodite temple just because the mother of Constantine dreamed that Jesus was buried at that very place.

 

 

The case for Mecca is even worse as it is believed that Adam made it his abode after being expelled from paradise. "When these beliefs were never questioned and the Govt sponsors the pilgrimage to these places, why do Hindus need to prove their beliefs that are older than those of other faiths'?", he questioned. Moreover, Ayodhya has no meaning for Muslims whereas it has a lot for hindus and this should solve the issue.

 

 

Jumping from 1886, in which year the then British magistrate conceded that it was in fact Ramjnmasthan, to 1986, Elst said that much against the popular belief in the media that the movement was reinitiated by BJP, the case was in fact reopened by Rajiv Gandhi led Congress government. At one time, Elst opined, that Congress was keen to build ram temple there as a measure to balance appeasement after being haunted by Shahbano case ramifications.

 

 

Dr.Elst felt that the entire Ayodhya movement threw an opportunity to explore into the Islamic iconoclasm but unfortunately there were no takers for this angle.

 

 

He found serious errors of facts and judgment in the recent Ayodhya verdict when judges said that building a mosque by demolishing a temple is against the basic tenets of Islam. Dr.Elst said that Islam indeed has doctrine to demolish temples and build mosques over them. To buttress his point, he cited 15th century sufi saint Shamshuddin Araki's vandalism Kashmir amongst many others. He concluded his speech by offering a solution and that is to free the Muslim community from Islam.

 

 

Talking earlier in the meet, Justice Subhashan Reddy said that it is quite unfortunate that a matter of this kind has appeared before the court and opined courts are performing appropriately. He said, The Supreme Court, which sent back the appeal before it in 1994 to Allahabad high Court will now take up the issue and will surely take all the observations made by Allahabad High court into consideration before delivering its final verdict.

 

 

The seminar was organized by Pragnabharathi, Hyderabad as part of its regular intellectual meets and was presided by Dr.Hanuman Chaudhary, former IT Adviser to AP government and attended by more than 150 people from the city.

 

 

This entry was posted on January 10, 2011

 

Dr Subramanian Swamy on Bofors and Sonia

From

http://www.dailypioneer.com/309011/Call-Sonia-to-the-dock.html Saturday, January 8, 2011 Call Sonia to the dock by Subramanian Swamy [ Bofors remains the world's biggest unresolved mystery because we Indians shy away from calling a spade a spade. The person who holds the key is Sonia Gandhi, who is protected by layers of silent conspirators ] Why does the Bofors corruption scandal keep resurfacing in our national attention? Because it is an unresolved issue involving India's defence preparedness and the corrupt subversion of national interest by foreigners in favoring the purchase of 400 long-range 155 mm guns produced by a Swedish company because of bribes. Indians are still patriotic by and large, and are loathe to tolerating any compromise with national security. That is why in every war since 1947 from Kashmir to Kargil in 1999, Indians have risen as one, much to the surprise of our enemies. Therefore, the Bofors scam will never fade away till the guilty are brought to book. The people instinctively know that it represents corruption in very high places. The key figure in this scam is the Italian family friend, and fixer, of the then young Prime Minister who was introduced to the nation as "Mr Clean". But the hapless inexperienced PM was manipulated by his Italian wife to commit this unforgivable crime against the nation. By the time he woke up to it he was assassinated under mysterious circumstances in 1991 by the terrorist and now defunct LTTE. So too was the then Swedish Prime Minister, and his close associate. But the key figure behind the scenes in effecting the deal in 1986 is in power today, and was influential with those in power for most of the period since 1991. The Italian fixer and small arms supplier to the LTTE, Ottavio Quattrocchi, who was nailed as the catalyst in the deal by the CBI, in return for a hefty commission, had escaped from India in 1993, then from Malaysia in 2002 via a rigged court judgment obtained by collusion, and from Argentina by the same CBI fudging the records — all achieved under three different and consenting Prime Ministers. But like the law of Karma, the scam keeps re-surfacing from one window or another. The latest is the ITAT quasi-judicial order, which under the law cannot be appealed against in the High Court unless it can be proved that a "substantial" law has been violated by the order. There is no such violation. As I see it, the ITAT order therefore holding the Italian fixer guilty and the government of the day as of liars, is final and has to be executed by the government. That means also re-opening the CBI case against the Bofors scam. This scam is stuck in Sonia Gandhi's political throat — it was "Q" who got a big slice, and so too the Jamshed Dadachandji-managed "Gandhi Trust" of the family referred to by Martin Ardbo in his diaries (in which Sonia is residual legatee], and the then brother-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, Walter Vinci, who was married to Anushka. He was grafted by Sonia on Rajiv Gandhi's delegation to Sweden on March 26, 1986. This was to ensure that as PM, Rajiv signed the deal — to ensure the March 31, 1986 deadline set by Bofors Co., was met by "Q" to earn his dirty commission via AE Services. Since the deal was consummated, Vinci has bolted with his loot, abandoning Anushka. As Union Law & Justice Minister 1990-91, the files sent to me by Prime Minister Chandrashekhar made it obvious that Rajiv was just a facilitator, but nevertheless an unforgivable accessory in the Bofors scam. The real operator however was Sonia, alias Antonia Edvige. The principal investigator of the felony in Sweden, the Police Commissioner, in fact later wrote to Defence Minister George Fernandes in the NDA government that it is Sonia, who must be interrogated to get at the truth, but that he was constantly denied access to her by successive Indian governments. George too soon after he called for the files from his Ministry was told: "Is par haath math lagao" (don't touch the Bofor files). So he dropped the matter. In a chance(?) meeting in Brussels in late 1990 as Union Commerce Minister, Dr Igor Linderoth, the new Bofors chairman and successor to Martin Ardbo introduced himself to me as a student of the Harvard Business School, and said he remembered me from then. I was told by him that if the Indian government which had already invested `550 crore in joint production of the Bofors gun, went ahead with it, he would give us the list of payments made with bank transfer details, which list was safely kept in a locker in Sweden. When I brought this to the attention of Chandrashekhar, he arranged to bring Linderoth to Delhi incognito and a deal was discussed. It required the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) to revoke the blacklisting of Bofors Company. But before we could get the papers ready for that, Rajiv and Chandrashekhar got into a scrap over the Haryana Police surveillance issue. The second Janata government fell on March 12, 1991. I also learnt while in Brussels that a fight in early 1986 had erupted between Sonia and the Bofors Company, which was delaying finalisation of the deal and making "Q" nervous. It was over her insistence on getting the 20 per cent commission as a lump sum and up front. The Bofors company said they would give the commissions in installments as the government purchased the installments (of 20 guns per month). The matter was resolved by the Hindujas, whose powerful antenna had picked up the details of the fight. They paid her the lump sum and agreed to collect the installments from the Bofors Company, and thus the deal was clinched. Hindujas are technically right when they said in court later that the Bofors payments to them did not constitute a bribe. It was in effect a repayment of a "loan" in installments. Thus began a close friendship of the Hindujas with Rajiv, who earlier in 1985 had cancelled a dinner with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the UK because the invitees list included the Hindujas. That friendship continues today with the residual legatee Sonia as well, and naturally it better! What is to be done now? ITAT bench of Tolani and Sharma have done for India on corruption what earlier Justices Jagmohan Lal Sinha and HR Khanna did for the nation's democracy. I am of the view that in the present circumstances we must work with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has a chance to redeem himself to get to the bottom of the scandal. We must give him a chance. In any case, if he does not come through, we can later always prosecute him as an accessory after the fact. I suggest therefore the following steps be taken: Step. No 1:  An Informal Action Committee (IAC) of persons having no past taint on corruption or sleaze or having links to Sonia be constituted to prepare a criminal complaint under the Prevention of Corruption Act, with Sonia Gandhi as the first accused and Quattrocchi as second accused. Other accused can be added later. Step No. 2:  Before it is filed in a Special CBI Court for taking cognizance under the Act we need to send the complaint to the PM for grant of sanction. Step No. 3:   If the Lok Pal Bill is enacted in the coming session of Parliament then this complaint can be filed in that institution as well. Step No. 4:  The IAC can take up the money trail question with the Governments of India, Switzerland, and other safe haven nations. -- The writer is president, Janata Party

Conversion destroys bio-diversity.

In a significant study, a team of scientists have arrived at a conclusion that religious conversion is responsible for the destruction of bio-diversity in India. In her speech delivered at the Indian Science Congress yesterday in Chennai, the noted scientist, Dr Nandita Krishna highlighted how Nature has been destroyed by the proselytizers in the name of removing the symbols of traditional religious practices of this country.

India was predominantly a rural economy until the time of Independence. Numerous villages and towns dotted the landscape of India. One should know how a village was developed.  When a group of people wanted to settle down at a place owing to the viability for their profession and habitability, the first thing they did was to develop a place of worship (temple) dotted with a pond, a grove and a flower garden. Human settlements were made around this temple.

One of the important rules for identifying a location for building a temple is availability of plenty of water and the presence of a pleasant atmosphere of flora and fauna. In this way each temple served as a biosphere. Each temple has a tree (sthala vruksha) of its own. The important information about the sthala vruksha is that they not only had medicinal properties, making them precious for preservation, but they also served as Nature's detectors for the availability of  underground- water.

Most of these sthala vrukshas grow where there is storage of underground water. Since most of South India depended on seasonal rains, these trees became protected ones at least for the sake of identifying the underground water current where these trees are naturally grown. When they get identified as the sthala vrukshas of a deity, no one dares to destroy them.

Almost all the olden temples in Tamilnadu were built near waterways. Where there are no naturally occurring water-spots, ponds were dug based on the assessment of the presence of certain trees found in an area. The Mariamman Theppakkulam in Madurai is one of the few living examples of such a formation.

Similarly the ant-hills also are nature's way of indication of availability of underground water. Sage Saraswad and Manu had given tips on how to identify the availability of underground water by means of the trees and the ant-hills. The distance between the trees and the ant-hills and their direction are helpful in finding out the availability of water and also the depth at which water is available. The widely prevalent practice of Naaga pooja and pouring of milk into the ant hills where snakes dwell are wise practices formulated by our seers so that Nature's detectors and preservers are not destroyed for all times to come.

When people move away from this traditional practice of the Hindu religion, Nature stands neglected. The brain washing done by evangelists on Hindus calling their customs as superstitious is taking a toll on the Natural environment of the country.

Given below is another event that happened yesterday in Tamilnadu. It was the conference of atheists! In the inaugural speech, the delegate has said that atheism does not pose any danger to the society. He is wrong, for, what atheism is doing to Hinduism is similar to what conversion is doing, as reported by the scientists. Our Tamilnadu brand of atheists is doing everything possible to ridicule and undermine the Hindu practices. For them Christianity and Islam are acceptable but not Hinduism. There is no objectivity in their approach to what atheism is. They can not be put on par with the Western atheists.

In general an atheist is a person who can not accept the truth of a higher energy that is present in Nature. Such a person is a threat to nature.

-jayasree

Related post from this blog:-

Science of detecting underground water veins.

Tholkaapiyar tree (World Tamil Conference series 15)

 

*******

From

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/nanditha-says-religion-blame-088

Nanditha says religion to blame

 

Chennai, Jan. 7: Religious conversions are one of the main reasons for the degradation of the country's fragile biodiversity, according to noted environmental scientist, Dr Nanditha Krishna.

"The team of scientists from C.P. Ramaswami Iyer Environmental Research Centre (CPR ERC) has found from a five-year-old research that religious conversions are harmful to the ecology than any other factor. The proselytisers, in their anxiety to wipe out the last remains of the traditions and rituals of the new converts, make them destroy the sacred groves, the main landmark of the countryside," she said here on Friday.

Dr Krishna, the honorary director of CPR ERC, was addressing the delegates of the 98th edition of the Indian Science Congress. She said the samathuvapurams of Tamil Nadu have also led to the deterioration of the sacred groves because most of the sites selected as government vacant lands were nothing but groves.

Though there were more than 150,000 sacred groves at the time of Independence, their numbers have come down to 13,670.

"They are mini-biosphere reserves" and they are destroyed as "mere superstition", she said. These patches of forests play a major role in sustaining the local climate and livelihood.

The team found that almost all traditions and rituals practised by tribals and villagers were indirectly helpful in preserving the groves.

The study conducted by Amrithalingam of CPR ERC found that vast stretches of sacred groves have been destroyed in the North-East, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. They are now documenting the last remains of sacred groves in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

 

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

 

 

http://www.dc-epaper.com/DC/DCC/2011/01/08/ArticleHtmls/08_01_2011_005_034.shtml?Mode=0

 

Atheists pose no danger, says expert

 

 

Though atheism offers philosophical and ethical alternative to religion, barring secular Europe, atheists in other parts of the world are suppressed and in some Islamic countries, atheism is looked upon as blasphemy, said Mr Levi Fragell, former president of International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) and Norwegian Humanist Association.

Delivering the inaugural address at the three-day World Atheist Conference here, he said atheists posed no danger to society but were a source of enlightenment and social development. While noting that it has always been a challenge to change the mindset of religious fundamentalists, he said positive atheism is nothing but humanism.

Dravidar Kazhakam president K. Veeramani, in his presidential address, said youth would benefit by acquainting themselves with Periyar's ideologies.

Chief minister M. Karunanidhi sent a message which said, "Periyar and mass movement founded by him are responsible for the social changes and educational progress made in Tamil Nadu."

 

Swamy to file case on A.Raja.

We need a Warroir Lord of the kind that Lord Subramanya stands for,  to take on the enemies of the people. It is an interesting coincidence that Dr Subramanian Swamy is going to be the Warrior Lord smashing the citadels of the people who loot the country and undermine the dearly won democracy.

In a momentous judgment the Tis Hazari court has permitted Dr Subramanian swamy to prosecute A. Raja. Dr Swamy in his interview soon after the judgment said that he would file the case on 5^th February. On that day he is going to plead himself to be declared as the Public Prosecutor and be assisted by the CBI. So at last, Raja is going to be hooked for sure. Dr Swamy said that this case will trace the people to whom the bribed money (35 % = Rs 60,000 crores) has gone. It remains to be seen how far he will be successful, because the main name involved is Sonia.

From my astrological interest, I say that Feb 5^th marks a good beginning for justice to take an upper hand. Within a week starting from that date, we can expect the arrest of A.Raja. Following A.Raja, Karunanidhi also is going to face the toughest times in his life. Raja will be nailed but Karunanidhi would escape the clutches of law.

 

-jayasree

 

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/2g-scam-a-step-closer-to-rajas-prosecution-77705

 

2G Scam: A step closer to Raja's prosecution

New Delhi:  A Delhi court today held as "maintainable" a private complaint filed by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy seeking prosecution of former Telecom Minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum case.

"I am of the opinion that complaint as such is maintainable," Special CBI Judge Pradeep Chaddah said.

The court said that first of all Swamy will have to depose as a complainant in the case and then only his plea, seeking appointment as a deemed public prosecutor, could be decided.

"You cannot assume the roles of a complainant and a public prosecutor simultaneously," the judge said.

"I am not seeking the dual role," Swamy replied and added, "I will first testify as a complainant and then would like to assist this court in prosecuting the accused in the massive scam."

The judge said, "I have also gone through the complaint and the bunch of annexures and supporting documents and I am of the view that this complaint is maintainable and the proceeding will continue."

So far as the summoning of the accused and other witnesses are concerned, for that, applications could be filed at the later stage, the judge said.

The court asked Swamy to record his statement during the day.

Swamy had filed a private complaint before the designated CBI court on December 15 last year seeking prosecution of Raja in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

He had made a three-fold prayer which included that his complaint be taken cognisance of and Raja be summoned to take the case involving a fraud of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore to its logical conclusion.

 

As per the second prayer, Swamy wanted the court to appoint him "as a deemed public prosecutor under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act."

As per his third prayer, Swamy wanted the court's directions to investigating agencies like Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to assist him in conducting prosecution and in the further investigation into the scam.

Explaining his rational to the court for filing his private complaint before it, Swamy had said that though the CBI has registered an FIR in the matter, it has named no body as an accused.

Quoting from the CAG report, he had alleged that Raja committed fraud by adopting the first-come-first-served basis in allocating the spectrum to ineligible companies.

85 out of 122 licenses which were awarded to various companies were illegal, Swamy had said, adding that the figure of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore has been arrived at by the CAG after computing the losses in allocation of the spectrum.

 

 

Swamy appointed as deemed public prosecutor PC Act, Court asks Swamy to file summons to Raja

7 Jan. 2011

A Delhi court on Friday held as 'maintainable' a private complaint filed by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy seeking prosecution of former Telecom Minister A. Raja in the 2G spectrum case.

"I am of the opinion that complaint as such is maintainable," Special CBI Judge Pradeep Chaddah said.

The court said that first of all Mr. Swamy will have to depose as a complainant in the case and then only his plea, seeking appointment as a deemed public prosecutor, could be decided.

"You cannot assume the roles of a complainant and a public prosecutor simultaneously," the judge said.

"I am not seeking the dual role," Mr. Swamy replied and added, "I will first testify as a complainant and then would like to assist this court in prosecuting the accused in the massive scam."

The judge said, "I have also gone through the complaint and the bunch of annexures and supporting documents and I am of the view that this complaint is maintainable and the proceeding will continue."

"So far as the summoning of the accused and other witnesses are concerned, for that, applications could be filed at the later stage", the judge said.

The court asked Mr. Swamy to record his statement during the day.

Mr. Swamy had filed a private complaint before the designated CBI court on December 15 last year seeking prosecution of Mr. Raja in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Explaining his rational to the court for filing his private complaint before it, Mr. Swamy had said that though the CBI has registered an FIR in the matter, it has named no body as an accused.

Quoting from the CAG report, he had alleged that Mr. Raja committed fraud by adopting the first—come—first—served basis in allocating the spectrum to ineligible companies.

85 out of 122 licenses which were awarded to various companies were illegal, Mr. Swamy had said, adding that the figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore has been arrived at by the CAG after computing the losses in allocation of the spectrum.

In his complaint for prosecution of Mr. Raja filed under section 190 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), Mr. Swamy also sought directions to the investigative agencies to find out the co—conspirators and other accused in the scam. 

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1048134.ece?homepage=true

Sonia’s secret billions!

From
http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/columnists/zero-tolerance-secret-billions/236261.html

Zero tolerance, secret billions

By

S Gurumurthy

What was Rajiv Gandhi's fatal error in politics? It does not need a seer to say that it was his claim to honesty — branding himself as 'Mr Clean' — that proved fatal to him. Indira Gandhi was his contrast. Asked about corruption in her government, she said nonchalantly, 'it was a global phenomenon'. This was in 1983. An honest Delhi High Court judge even lamented how could corruption be controlled when someone holding such a high position had almost rationalised it. The result, no one could ever charge Indira Gandhi with corruption, because she never claimed to be clean. But, ambitious to look ideal, Rajiv proclaimed honesty and so provoked scrutiny; in contrast, Indira, opting to be practical, immunised herself against scrutiny. Eventually, Rajiv's claim to honesty became the very cross on which he was crucified in the 1989 elections when the Bofors gun shot the Congress out of power. The lesson to the political class was: don't claim to be honest, if you really are not so. The hard lesson seems forgotten now by the Gandhi family itself. Sonia Gandhi, instead of following Indira's safe path, is wrongly caught on Rajiv's risky steps. The consequences seem to be ominous. Will the politics of 1987 to 1989 repeat?

Following Rajiv and forgetting Indira, Sonia Gandhi proclaimed 'zero tolerance' to corruption at a party rally in Allahabad in November 2010. She repeated it at the Congress plenary in Delhi weeks later. Asking the cadre to take the corrupt head on, she said that her party was 'prompt' in acting against the corrupt; 'never spared the corrupt' because corruption impedes development'. This was almost how Rajiv Gandhi spoke in the Congress centenary in Mumbai 25 years ago. Two crucial differences marked Rajiv away from Sonia. First, when Rajiv claimed to be 'Mr Clean', he had no scams to defend against. But, Sonia claims to be honest amidst huge and continuing scams — CWG, Adarsh, 2G Spectrum allocation scam…. Next, Rajiv had a clean slate to begin with, with no known skeletons in his cupboard till the Bofors scam smashed his 'Mr Clean' image. In contrast, Sonia's slate is full of credible exposures of bribes and pay-offs in billions of dollars secreted in Swiss bank accounts, not counting Quattrocchi's millions from Bofors. To make it worse, for almost two decades now, she has not dared to deny the exposures or sue the famous Swiss magazine or the Russian investigative journalist who had put out evidence of bribe against the Sonia family. Seen against this background, Sonia's vow to act against the corrupt seems like a suspect hooting 'catch the thief' and scooting away. This is the main story that unfolds here.

 

 

$2.2 billions to 11 billions!

 

A stunning exposure on Sonia Gandhi's secret billions in Swiss banks came, surprisingly, from Switzerland itself, where the world's corrupt stash away their booty. In its issue of November 19, 1991, Schweizer Illustrierte, the most popular magazine of Switzerland, did an exposé of over a dozen politicians of the third world, including Rajiv Gandhi, who had stashed away their bribe monies in Swiss banks. Schweizer Illustrierte, not a rag, sells some 2,15,000 copies and has a readership of 9,17,000 — almost a sixth of Swiss adult population. Citing the newly opened KGB records, the magazine reported 'that Sonia Gandhi the widow of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was controlling secret account with 2.5 billion Swiss Francs (equal to $2.2 billion) in her minor son's name'. The $2.2 billion account must have existed from before June 1988 when Rahul Gandhi attained majority. The loot in today's rupee value equals almost Rs 10,000 crore. Swiss banks invest and multiply the clients' monies, not keep them buried. Had it been invested in safe long-term securities, the $.2.2 billion bribe would have multiplied to $9.41 billion (Rs 42,345 crore) by 2009. If it had been put in US stocks, it would have swelled to $12.97 billion (Rs 58,365 crore). If, as most likely, it were invested in long-term bonds and stocks as 50:50, it would have grown to $11.19 billion (Rs 50,355 crore). Before the global financial meltdown in 2008, the $2.2 billion bribes in stocks would have peaked at $18.66 billion (Rs 83,900 crore).

 By any calculation the present size of the $2.2 billion secret funds of the family in Swiss banks seems huge — anywhere between Rs 43,000 plus to some Rs 84,000 crore!

 

KGB papers

 

The second exposé, emanating from the archives of the Russian spy outfit KGB, is far more serious. It says that the Gandhi family has accepted political pay-offs from the KGB — a clear case of treason besides bribe. In her book The State Within a State: The KGB and its Hold on Russia-Past, Present, and Future, Yevgenia Albats, an acclaimed investigative journalist, says: "A letter signed by Victor Chebrikov, who replaced Andropov as the KGB head in 1982 noted: 'the USSR KGB maintains contact with the son of the Premier Minister Rajiv Gandhi (of India). R Gandhi expresses deep gratitude for the benefits accruing to the Prime Minister's family from the commercial dealings of the firm he controls in co-operation with the Soviet foreign trade organisations. R Gandhi reports confidentially that a substantial portion of the funds obtained through this channel are used to support the party of R Gandhi'." (p.223). Albats has also disclosed that, in December 2005, KGB chief Victor Chebrikov had asked for authorisation from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, "to make payments in US dollars to the family members of Rajiv Gandhi, namely Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Ms Paola Maino, mother of Sonia Gandhi." And even before Albats' book came out the Russian media had leaked out the details of the pay-offs. Based on the leaks, on July 4, 1992, The Hindu had reported: "the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service admits the possibility that the KGB could have been involved in arranging profitable Soviet contract for the company controlled by Rajiv Gandhi family".

 

 

Indian media

 

Rajiv Gandhi's sad demise delayed the Swiss and Russian exposé on Sonia being picked up here. But Indian media's interest in it actually coincided with Sonia Gandhi assuming leadership of the Congress. A G Noorani, a well-known columnist, had reported on both Schweizer Illustrierte and Albats' exposés in Statesman (December 31, 1988).

 

Subramanian Swamy had put out the photocopies of the pages of Schweizer Illustrierte and Albats' book in his website along with the mail of the Swiss magazine dated February 23, 2002 confirming that in its article of November 1991 it had named Rajiv Gandhi with a total of Swiss Franc 2.5 billion ($2.2 billion) in secret account; it had also offered to supply a original copy of the magazine to Swamy.

(See: http://www.janataparty.org/annexures/ann10p43.html )

 

These facts were again recalled in my article in The New Indian Express (April 29, 2009) written in response to Sonia Gandhi speech at Mangalore (April 27, 2009) declaring that, "the Congress was taking steps to address the issue of untaxed Indian money in Swiss banks". The article had questioned her about her family's corrupt wealth in Swiss banks in the context of her vow to bring back the monies stashed away abroad.

 

Rajinder Puri, a reputed journalist, has also earlier written on the KGB disclosures in his column on August 15, 2006.

 

Recently, in India Today (December 27, 2010) the redoubtable Ram Jethmalani has referred to the Swiss exposé, asking where is that money now?

So the Indian media too has repeatedly published the details of the secret billions of the Gandhi family investigated by the Swiss and Russian journalists.

Amal Datta (CPI(M)) had raised the $2.2 billion issue in Parliament on December 7, 1991, but Speaker Shivraj Patil expunged the Gandhi name from the proceedings!

 

 

Self-incriminating

 

But, what has been the response of Sonia or Rahul, major after June 1988, to the investigation by Schweizer Illustrierte and Albats and to the Indian media's repeated references to their investigation? It can be summed up in one word: Silence. Thus, apart from the exposés, the deafening silence of the Gandhis itself constitutes the most damaging and self-incriminating evidence of the family's guilt.

 

When Schweizer Illustrierte alleged that Sonia had held Rajiv Gandhi's bribes in Rahul's name in Swiss when he put it on his website in 2002; neither did they sue me,

or the Express when the article was carried in April 2009.

When major papers, The Hindu and The Times of India included, had carried the expose on KGB payments in the year 1992 itself adding that the Russian government was embarrassed by the disclosures, neither of the Gandhis challenged or sued them;

nor did they sue Yevgenia Albats when she wrote about KGB payments to Rajiv Gandhi in 1994. banks, neither she nor the son, protested, or sued the magazine, then or later;

nor did they sue A G Noorani or Statesman when they repeated it in 1998, or later; nor would they sue Subramanian Swamy

Neither did they act against  Swamy when he put Albats' book pages on his website or when Rajinder Puri, a well-known journalist, wrote about it in his column on August 15, 2006.

However, a feeble but proxy suit was filed by Sonia loyalists to defend her reputation when Albats' exposé was made part of the full-page advertisement in The New York Times in 2007 issued by some NRIs to 'unmask' Sonia to the US audience, as they claimed. The suit was promptly dismissed by a US court because Sonia herself did not dare file the suit. Shockingly even that suit did not challenge the $2.2 billion Swiss account at all!

 

 

 

Imagine that the report in Schweizer Illustrierte or in Albats book was false and Sonia Gandhi did not have those billions in secret accounts in Rahul Gandhi's name or the family was not paid for its service to the KGB as alleged.

How would they, as honest and outraged people, have reacted?

Like how Morarji Desai, then retired and old at 87, responded in anger when, Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, had mentioned in his book that Morarji Desai was a 'paid' CIA mole in the Indian Cabinet. Morarji Desai forthwith filed a libel suit. Commenting in The American Spectator, Rael Jean Isaac wrote in 2004, five years after Morarji Desai had passed away, that Hersh habitually indulged in character assassination; and in his attempt to do down Henry Kissinger, Morarji Desai became the victim. Isaac added that Desai, 87, calling it a "sheer mad story", reacted in outrage with a libel suit seeking $50 million in damages. When the suit came up, as Desai, 93, was too ill to travel to US, Kissinger testified on Desai's behalf, flatly contradicted Hersh's charge and stated that Desai had no connection to the CIA. That is how even retired and old persons, honest and so offended and outraged, would act. But see the self-incriminating contrast, the complete absence of such outrage, in Sonia, who is reigning as the chairperson of the UPA now, neither retired or tired like the nonagenarian Morarji Desai, being just 41 when the story broke out in Schweizer Illustrierte.

Imagine, not Sonia or Rahul, but Advani or Modi had figured in the exposés of Schweizer Illustrierte or Albats. What would the media not have done to nail them? What would the government of Sonia not have done to fix them?

 

 

Rs 20.80 lakh-crore loot

 

 

The billions of the Gandhi family being both bribes and monies stashed away in Swiss banks, they are inextricably linked to the larger issue of bringing back the huge national wealth stashed abroad. All world nations, except India, are mad after their black wealth secreted in Swiss and like banks. But India has shown little enthusiasm to track the illicit funds of Indians in Swiss and other banks. Why such reticence?

 

 

When during the run-up to the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP leader L K Advani promised to bringing back, if voted to power, Indian monies estimated between $500 billion and $1.4 trillion stashed abroad, the Congress first denied that there was such Indian money outside. But when the issue began gathering momentum, Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi had to do damage control and promise that the Congress too would bring back the national wealth secreted abroad. Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a non-profit institution working against global black funds, has recently estimated that the Indian wealth secreted away is about $462 billion, approximately equal to Rs 20.80 lakh-crore. The GFI says that more than two-thirds of it was looted away under the liberalisation regime. This is what the GFI says about the character of the loot: "From 1948 through 2008, India lost a total of $213 billion in illicit financial flows (or illegal capital flight)" through "tax evasion, corruption, bribery and kickbacks, and criminal activities". Does one need a seer to say under what head would the $2.2 billion in Sonia family's secret account (which would have grown to $9 to $13 billion by now) fall? But accretions, if any, from the loot in 2G and CWG where the numbers are even bigger are not still accounted. Now comes the more critical, yet practical issue. When the Sonia Gandhi family is among the suspects who have secreted away monies abroad, how will it affect the efforts to bring back the wealth stashed away by others?

 

 

Looters safe

 

Just a couple of examples will demonstrate how the government is unwilling to go after Indian money secreted abroad. As early as February 2008 the German authorities had collected information about illegal money kept by citizens of different countries in Lichtenstein bank. The German finance minister offered to provide the names of the account holders to any government interested in the names of its citizens. There were media reports that some 250 Indian names were found in the Lichtenstein Bank list. Yet, despite the open offer from Germany to provide the details, the UPA-II government has never showed interest in the Indian accounts in Lichtenstein Bank. The Times of India reported that "the ministry of finance and PMO have, however, not shown much interest in finding out about those who have their lockers on the secret banks of Liechtenstein which prides itself in its banking system". But under mounting pressure the Indian government asked for details not under the open offer but strategically under India's tax treaty with Germany. What is the difference? Under the tax treaty the information received would have to be kept confidential; but, if it were received openly, it can be disclosed to the public. Is any further evidence needed to prove that the government is keen to see that the names of Indians who had secreted monies abroad are not disclosed?

The second is the sensational case of Hasan Ali, the alleged horse-breeder of Pune, who was found to have operated Swiss accounts involving over Rs 1.5 lakh-crore. The income tax department has levied a tax of Rs 71,848 crore on him for concealing Indian income secreted in Swiss accounts. This case is being buried now. The request sent to the Swiss government was deliberately made faulty to ensure that the Swiss would not provide details. Some big names in the ruling circles are reportedly linked to Hasan Ali. That explains why the government would not deepen the probe. It is Hasan Alis and the like who transport through hawala the bribes of the corrupt from India. If Hasan Ali is exposed, the corrupt will stand naked. This is how the hawala trader and the corrupt in India are mixed-up.

 

 

Is it too much to conclude that thanks to Sonia family's suspected billions in Swiss accounts the system cannot freely probe the $462 billion looted from India at all? Tail-pieces: The total wealth of both Gandhis, as per their election returns, is just Rs 363 lakh, Sonia owning no car. Sonia lamented on November 19, 2010, that graft and greed are on the rise in India!! Rahul said on December 19, 2010, that severe punishment should be given to the corrupt!!! Amen.

 

comment@gurumurthy.net

 

 

About The Author:

S Gurumurthy is a well-known commentator on political and economic issues

 

 

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Soniaji! Please tell us who you are – really! – T.S.V. Hari

 

              

CONSPIRACY behind UNIQUE ID NUMBER for Indian citizens

 

http://www.sanghparivar.org/forum/conspiracy-behind-unique-id-number-for-indian-citizens

 

Sonia, the new Queen Victoria - by Vinod Sharma.

The link to an article on how India is being robbed from Hindus under Sonia's designs, written by Mr Vinod Sharma is given below. Please don't miss the highlighted links given at many places in the article. Of particular interest is the link on Roman Brahmin, the first evangelist on Indian soil, De Nobili of Italian origin who preached Christianity at Madurai. He targeted the Brahmins because the entire society until then (17th century) was looking up at the Brahmins for any counsel. Brahmins were not wielding power by force or authority but by their knowledge of Vedas and discipline. Such a situation was systematically vitiated through propaganda and the caste-complex planted in the minds of the people.Tamilnadu was the worst-hit of that propaganda. Now the Sonia - Rahul duo are attempting to complete the mission of Nobili and also Macaulay in a modern version on a national scale by mesmerising Hindus to think, talk and eat like non -Hindus and denounce whatever is of Hinduism.

- jayasree

http://vinodksharma.blogspot.com/2010/12/sonia-new-queen-victoria.html

Remember God at all times.

From

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/kochi/%E2%80%98remember-god-at-all-times%E2%80%99/232654.html

‘Remember God at all times’

By
Shevlin Sebastian

First Published : 19 Dec 2010 11:50:00 PM IST

Once a month, Prema Pandurang, the renowned preacher of Hinduism, goes to the Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirupati. One day, while she was standing in the queue, she noticed that the chairman of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam was sitting in the VIP enclosure which is placed very near the Lord.

“I told myself, ‘You have to be a chairman to sit in that place,’” says Premaji.

“I am just a preacher.”

Ten minutes after the chairman left, suddenly a priest held Premaji’s hand, pulled her from the queue and made her sit exactly where the chairman had sat!

“It was a miracle,” she says.

“Lord Venkateswara had heard my thoughts.

I tell my devotees, ‘Send a SMS to the Lord and if you don’t get a reply, I will give up preaching.’

The Lord is not like a telephone operator busy with other lines.

He is always there for you.”

Pic courtesy:-http://picasaweb.google.com/krishna.akilesh/SriMalayappaSwami#5419915348688256066

At the temple, she says, one can experience powerful positive vibrations which grip you. “You forget your wife, husband, children, friends and relatives,” says Premaji.

“You are moving towards the Lord and you feel that He is pulling you towards Him.

This is the experience of everybody.”

When asked for a proof of God’s existence, Premaji says that once Mahatma Gandhi was questioned by a reporter about whether he believed in God.

When he replied in the affirmative, the reporter asked, “Can you prove His existence?” The Mahatma replied, “No, I cannot prove it.

But to me, He is more present in this room than you.”

Premaji smiles and continues. “Just ask God to give you evidence and he will do so.

But the thirst to know God should be there.

Soon you will see miracles taking place in your life.” 

                                               Prema Pandurang

She recounts one such occurrence. On May 23, 1991, at Sriperumbadur, two days after Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had been assassinated, a Guruvayurappa temple was going to be inaugurated.

The Namboodiri priest had come all the way from Guruvayur to conduct the puja.

To begin the prayers he needed flowers.

“I said, ‘Swamiji, where can I get flowers now?’

There is a curfew in the city.

All the shops are closed.

The army is patrolling the streets.”

The priest said that he could not begin without flowers.

Suddenly, Premaji’s close friend, Krishnakumar Warrier of Ayurveda Pharmacy, said, “Why don’t you pray to the Lord?”

Premaji followed Krishnakumar’s advice and sat in front of an idol of Lord Krishna.

She told the Lord, “I am a very small person.

This is the first temple I have built.

Is there not a single flower that I can offer to you?”

A few minutes later, when Premaji stepped out of the puja room, a villager came up and said, “Amma, do you want flowers?”

Two staff members went with him in a jeep and returned with 500 lotuses.

The Namboodiri priest said, “I have not seen so many flowers in Guruvayur itself.”

Premaji pauses and says, “How can you not believe in God? In my speeches, I want people to realise that this mighty power is within us and yet we are not making use of it. You are not able to access God because you don’t desire it. You are running after worldly pleasures. There is nothing wrong with that but always remember that these are the gifts from God. People tend to focus on the gifts and not the giver.”

Premaji gives an example. “A mother buys a doll for her child,” she says.

“The daughter is so busy hugging the doll that she has forgotten to thank the mother for the gift.

So please remember God at all times.”