Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Curse Named KOSI

Om

KOSI KA KOS (curse)….

The river Kosi which changed its route and embarked upon a new course has devastated majority of Bihar with flooding and submerging millions of homes and people and cattle…

22 Lakh people

have lost their homes and few thousands their lives…

They do not know their future… as they await relief holding onto railways tracks


Tragedy has struck bihar

Everyone is looking up to the Almighty…

&

The Relief Carrying Helicopters


Come together wherever you are,

do YOUR bit,

give them some relief

contribute blankets, clothes, food grains, medicines or volunteer to the relief camps more people are needed to help them…

it’s cold out there…

soon winters shall create a more severe situation for all those millions of homeless people…

YOU

ARE

RESPONSIBLE

TOO

ACT

NOW

Lend that helping hand

Contact your nearest NGO who are sending relief to Bihar

Remember

Every Contribution

Matters & Counts

You can also send cheques directly to the

Chief Minister’s Relief Fund

Or the

Prime Minister’s Relief Fund

Friday, August 15, 2008



Jai Hind!
Jai Bharat!
"Swatantra Diwas"
India's 62nd Independence Day - 15th August 2008

Celebrating our Nation's Independence Day we are high on patriotism and nationalist fervour. We enjoy hoisting of the tri-color flag and pay respect to it. Salute it. Reaffirm our faith in the nation's army and also remember with respect our fore-fathers who fought for India's Independence.

Yesterday the Government of India announced that the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission were approved and it came as a big relief for all the Army personnels (as it seems on the surface) amongst the others who will be affected by the rise in their pay scales from 2006 onwards. A good sign for lakhs of Indians with the toughest and most prestigious career in the armed forces.

But has the common Indian across the country really forgotten about how the rot has set in, in managing the country every one is so proud of?

How the people who are supposed to be serving the Nation have instead started filling their coffers; instead of the millions of Indians still living under poverty. A few lakhs (am sure) do not get the two square meals a day in today's India where the godowns are filled with millions of tonnes of food surplus. Its a shame that on the superficial level - i.e. on International platforms India says its the "Next Big n Best Thing" as a huge market for business. But in the same country people still die of hunger? Isn't that a sad state of affairs? Millions of tonnes of food grains are rotting either in the trains which shuttle across the country transporting food items, or in the now defunct Food Corporation of India's thousands of godowns.

Has anyone ever taken action against the outrageous mismanagement of food? In my knowledge barring a few at local office levels in districts never has any top level secretary of chairperson has been taken to task for this utter misgivings of inefficiencies of this particular wing of the Government administration.

Corruption has severely damaged the government agencies who are responsible for reaching out and delivering the hundreds of welfare schemes for the man in the urban and rural India. The arteries of the government's heart which pumps in billions of rupees for the welfare schemes is choked by corruption, mismanagement, passive people, lack of knowledge of governance by the officials at lower levels, humungus work less workforce, political influence, less respect for law or it's obedience and centralization of decision making which takes ages amongst others.

Isn't 61 years of "freedom" enough for now to change the way we are governed?

Time to ponder.

Think.

And above all ACT for all of us Indians.

We need a New India - A corruption free country with a healthy population which respectably lives well, earns well, eats well, thinks well for just one big cause that of making a better world!

Educational, Healthcare, Infrastructural and Agricultural development amongst other important aspects of the country should be given top priority for the coming decades.

Long Live INDIA!

Jai Hind!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Film Fraternity Sham In Mumbai



Calling Shri Manoj Kumar's well wishers

As we all are familiar with MSN.com and a majority of us started with its email service Hotmail. Today during my regular email checks I came to this story which attracted my attention and I find it worthy to be circulated so here is the link:

Part I
http://entertainment.in.msn.com/bollywood/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1627000&imageindex=1


Part II

http://entertainment.in.msn.com/bollywood/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1627000&imageindex=2



I have been left astounded as the author of this article Rajiv Nair echoed my sentiments exactly when he said those words about Indian cinema and how its so called "fraternity" functions.

I admit that after a long long time I did read something which got me thinking more about how shallow this film fraternity is.

For all you blogger friends and the visitors who don't blog I want to tell you that I subscribe all the leading six newspapers at Mumbai and nowhere did I see anyone ,meaning anyone from the film industry coming forward in support of Shri Manoj "BHARAT" Kumar - the Iconic Star who made millions of Indians proud through his actions on and off screen.

Why?

I tried to probe and I called up a few of my friends who are in the film industry and asked them why no one from Manoj Kumar's friends, co-actors, industry leaders or film associations heads never spoke about the way the Thespian's "image" was battered on-screen in Red Chillies Entertainment's Om Shanti Om since last year(2007).

The reasons which I found out were not at all shocking but a reflection of the times we are living in - in a cocoon of our own makings. Everything around us is dispensable, expendable and not to be bothered about. Be it our surroundings, nature, ecology, hygiene, health, relationships, family, friends and colleagues.

To begin with the "Bharat" (our nation with heavy patriotic fervor) we romanced about is nothing but in shambles. So why would anyone bother about one of the actor who portrayed the patriotic and commanded awe even from his contemporaries?

I want to quote from a book "The Hundred Luminaries of Hindi Cinema" - co-authored by two film journalists Dinesh Raheja & Jitendra Kothari.

"Manoj Kumar practically held the franchise for the cinematic exploitation of patriotic themes for 25 years. The flag-waving jingoism of this actor-director's films, showed that patriotism can be infused into the national stream of consciousness, not by dry docudramas but by exciting cinema, complete with songs ('Mere desh ki dharti' and 'Hain preet jahan ki reet sada' could move a heart of stone), melodrama and glamorous heroines. Manoj brought an entire populace in touch with its nationalist feelings."

"In 1965, the patriotic Shaheed (he was the de facto director), changed the course of Manoj's career. After Shaheed's success, Lal Bahadur Shastri exhorted Manoj to make a film on the slogan 'Jai jawan jai kisan' and the idea for Upkar took shape. Manoj's image as a patriot grew in dimension with each subsequent film. Manoj too pandered the image. Whether as a Sanyasi (1975), or a Dus Numbri (1976), he became famous for refusing to even touch his heroines.

Born in 1937, Manoj Kumar has been a celebrated writer, director and actor with numerous super hits in his career.

But as today he has grown old and many of his colleagues have either passed away or have retired they have lost touch with him. That's why we do not see anyone coming ahead and speaking for him. There seems to be a void. A space where he alone as Manoj Kumar has to fight back for his honour which has been tarnished by Shah Rukh Khan, Farha Khan and above all the writers (again there is a case filed by a writer who says that OSO was his idea but he was cheated) of OSO.

However our mainstream media was never into serious journalism else we could have read / seen / heard a lot more about this issue where a senior artist is ridiculed by the so called reigning star in his own home production. And we all have read and heard so much about SRK favouring Delhi-wallahs! Shri Manoj Kumar is also originally from Delhi.

The Industry's associations are usually headed by people who have their own agendas as their film-making careers are not working so they do not have a spine to take a stand or comment in a matter which has SRK at the receiving end.

Current crop of actors from Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and others only talk to the media selectively especially when their movies are about to release else they are reclusive.

But I wonder where people like Jeetendra, Randhir Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Rishi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Shammi Kapoor, Yash Chopra (who allegedly had brokered peace between SRK Farha and Manoj Kumar last year) Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman, Rekha and the industry's self appointed spokesperson Mahesh Bhatt been.

All of the above mentioned names are very much in Mumbai and are a part of the film fraternity since Manoj Kumar's days. But no one came forward to support or patch up the misunderstandings within the two actors.

It is mentioned in the book (The Hundred Luminaries of Hindi Cinema) that Manoj Kumar (whose original name is Hari Kishen Goswami and he changed his name after his matinee idol Dilip Kumar's name in a film Shabnam) started out as a writer for films when he landed in Mumbai in 1956 and he used to charge Rs.11 for each scene he helped re-write.

Well no wonder he has filed a defamation suit against Farha Khan and SRK asking for Rs.1 !!

Such is the man, Our's Forever Manoj "Bharat" Kumar!

I hope that the present generation reads what Rajiv Nair has written so well and understand that tomorrow some one else shall stand up and make fun of you just as you did. So self dignity is a virtue one cannot do away with just for some fun.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

J&K Burning Still - No Solution Yet




Its been 50 days now and J&K has been on fire. Mistrust and enmity rule the air. But what happened is surely one of the most dangerous form of "misinformation" propaganda which was spread by Mehbooba Mufti and her allies, the Congress(I).

The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board with the Governor of J&K as its Chairman had been allotted the land for two months ONLY as the Amaranth pilgrimage is done only during the two months in a year. But as it was never told to media, the people, the politicians thought it would be wise to play game on this issue as the elections were nearing. The Govt. had given the land to the SASB. Then why was the decision taken back? Because it suited the cause - the divisive forces wanted it that way. It has always been the tradition to make pre-fabricated huts for the visiting pilgrims to the Amarnath cave for two months and those who made it and maintained it were Kashmiris. Poor people who take the old pilgrims over their shoulders and backs to the Amarnath shrine. Then why did the J&K govt. decide to terminate it? There was never a full transfer of land a registered transfer?

Why did the Government didn't come out to clear the air? It is just politics which is being played in the valley. The BJP, Congress(I), J&K National Conference, All Party Hurriyat Conference and J&K People's Democratic Party have been using this episode to give it a political color which was not the case when this whole situation snowballed out of the Congress(I)-PDP led Government in J&K.

The AHPC and PDP had called for a March to Muzaffarabad yesterday and around one lakh Kashmiris joined the march which was stopped by the J&K administration alongwith the security forces.

But why the Indian Government has not been able to come up with ONE solution?

What is the solution?

We already have lost a lot of Kashmir to Pakistan and China during our wars in the 60's and 70's.

After the Kargil War we still haven't got back a few key posts read the article by an Indian Army officer here:

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040713/edit.htm#4

Whatever we have got should be to at once and cordoned off by the barbed wires or probably a wall even so that the daily mischiefs of infiltrations and cross border firing ends.

And Article 370 of the Indian constitution should be abolished at once (it was a temporary arrangement- see my earlier posts).

End the Mistrust - End the war - Go for Peace.

The Tapes - Edited & Shown on CNN IBN



The TAPES for MP's with a Crore yesterday on CNN IBN edited?

The 22nd July 2008 - Note for Vote scam tapes were shown on CNN IBN news channel with its Managing Editor Rajdeep Sardesai stating that "as the news channel and its correspondents had deposed before the Parliamentary Committee formed by the Hon'ble Speaker of Indian Parliament regarding the Note for Vote scam in the morning so they could now show what occurred on that fateful day."

But why were the TAPES edited?

Why couldn't Rajdeep decide to show the un-edited raw version to the viewers? Did the news channel edit the tapes during those 24 hours from 22nd july 2008 to 23rd july 2008 when the channel submit the tapes to the Parliament Secretariat?

These are pertinent questions that came to my mind as I watched the TAPE SHOW. It was as Rajdeep was doing some form of charity towards his viewers as he frowned while delivering his comments and lines. He swore many a times that his channel was not taking any stand of who was guilty or anything but this did shadow the entire episode as I kept thinking why did his channel take so long to show the tapes?

Well lets await the Indian Parliamentary committee which shall come out with its decision by the end of August 2008. Who was guilty and who was not shall be out then.

But CNN IBN has lost its face, its credibility as a news giver thats certain.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

The Wonder-Fool Politicians of India

Guess I don't have to name them for you to know who all are in this list (endless actually).

The head of the lot being the inimitable Laloo Prasad Yadav who takes the whole bakery away with his ways. He created a political outfit to be away from the Janta Dal and acted as the "Messiah" for the downtrodden and poor of Bihar. What did he achieve? He brought more poverty, goonda-raj, misleading management, corruption, naxalism into the open, fodder scam (numerous other scams which are have not been unearthed fearing a backlash of the people) and a sense of delusion and erosion of basic humanity in the state of Bihar. Fifteen long years, a decade and a half, the Yadav's ruled the dynamic state of Bihar which has to its current credits - a humungus contribution to India with its record rice production, litchi production, pulses, mangoes, sugarcane and even tea. But did anyone ever bother about these produces? No! Never! Because everyone, including the aam public treats Bihar as a goner state. A state which has no law and order and yeah they do not know how to behave, etc etc. But has anyone ever scratched the surface? Why is one of the leading man-power state so backward in terms of everything modern - technology, development, infrastructure, health and basic conditions of living?

Well because Laloo deliberately did this to the state. He let the backwards remain there and more so even pushed a few into oblivion 'coz he knew that if he let them actually grow they would never let him be in power. It was all the power game, the Kissa Kursi Ka!

The team which led this state was governed by Ministers who were uneducated, uncouth and uncivilised. Leading the team were people who were either criminals or big landlords and rich powerful mafias. All of them never ever thought of developing infrastructure, educational institutions, healthcare or any other progressive work. All Laloo and his coterie did was "scams" and more such loot of the public money.

Laloo even today stands up and courageously announces in the Parliament that he has never asked for any favour from Sonia Gandhi led Congress-I. But he is naive. People see how being in power at the Centre as a Cabinet Minister of India he is clearly away from the clutches of the CBI. But as and when this UPA led Govt. expires its term in the Parliament next year he would be vulnerable and open for attack.

It's a shame that our policing and justice administration systems have been so paralysed by the political bosses that never can a politician face a jail sentence.

After Laloo the other ones who have contributed to the downfall of ethics and values and morals in the political system are Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Balasaheb Thackeray, Jayalalitha, HD Devegowda, M Karunanidhi, Jagganath Mishra, Devi Lal, Bhajan Lal, Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh, Ajit Singh and not to forget Amar Singh.

All the above mentioned names have one thing in common - their desire, their drive to fool the people of India, misguide them and take no chances in pulling off a fast one for any political purposes and that too only for making more money as politics is a business for them and not a social work.

Give us dynamic politicians like Madhav Rao Scindia, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, NTRama Rao, Rajiv Pilot, Atal Bihari Bajpayee, LK Advani, Narendra Modi, Naveen Patnaik, Chandrababu Naidu, Nitish Kumar and Babulal Marandi. All these politicians have one thing in common - they knew the causes of poverty and tried their level best to bring relief through the Government acts to the needy, the last man. They are true visionaries and shall always remain.

Friday, August 1, 2008

August 2 2008 Mumbai 1.54am

July 22 to August 2
NO CLUE WHERE THE TAPES ARE
CNN-IBN TV18
Why are you SHIELDING them?

Its been ten days now and still we have no clue what is in those tapes which the CNN-IBN TV News channel produced before the Speaker of the Parliament. Why there has been such a silent, hush-hush, broomed under the carpet act by the said News channel when it promised the BJP top brass that it would telecast the tapes at a given time the same day when the trust vote was underway in the Parliament.

What stopped Rajdeep Sardesai and Raghav Behl & Co. to be the "journalist" they are? The courage was lost? The silence of a media person goes on to state that yes they do not have the guts needed to face the public. Isn't NEWS MEDIA for service to the nation and it's people? Or is it something of a private jamboree?

The BJP day before yesterday issued a press release here:


PRESS RELEASES
July 31, 2008


Press Statement issued by Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu

The Bharatiya Janata Party is deeply dismayed by the decision of CNN-IBN not to telecast the "notes-for-votes" sting operation, which the channel conducted with the cooperation of three BJP MPs. The whole country watched with shock and disbelief when the three MPs produced wads of currency notes on the floor of the Lok Sabha on July 22 shortly before the Trust Vote was taken. The money was paid to Shri Ashok Argal, BJP MP, at his residence by a person representing a senior Samajwadi Party leader as "advance" for the MPs to abstain from voting that afternoon. The entire episode and the background that led to that transaction, was filmed through hidden cameras by a CNN-IBN team. Subsequently, the channel interviewed all the three MPs as a prelude to the promised telecast of the tapes.

More than a week has passed since one of the most sordid events in India's Parliamentary history was captured on camera. Now the channel says that it has not aired the tapes since the investigation is "incomplete" and has some "loose ends". This contention flies in the face of all accepted ethics of professional journalism. The job of the media is to bring information gathered by it into the public domain. It is not for a TV channel or newspaper to complete investigations and pronounce a verdict. That job must be left to investigating agencies and the judicial process.

Only one conclusion can be drawn from the channel's volte-face : It has come under severe pressure from the Government and/or certain corporate houses. Consequently, it has not only broken its promise to the MPs to telecast the scandalous episode immediately, but also denied the people of India their sacrosanct right to information in a matter of the highest public importance. It is now up to CNN-IBN to disprove this lingering suspicion.

The mere handling over of the tapes to the Lok Sabha Speaker, that too after a mysterious lapse of 24 hours, is not adequate. Since the entire country saw wads of notes being waved inside the House, the people have the right to know about the origin and circumstances leading to this unprecedented display. The BJP MPs acted in the highest national interest as whistle-blowers on a scandal that dwarfs all previous incidents of parliamentarians being lured with cash to vote in a particular way.

The channel's statement dated July 29, 2008 makes it virtually clear that it has no intention of allowing the people of India to witness the shameful actions of top leaders of the ruling alliance who discarded every norm of public morality to the wind in a desperate bid to save the already tainted Manmohan Singh Government.

In the background of the sting operation's obduracy, the BJP has been compelled to decide that it will boycott CNN-IBN and channels related to it till such time as the unedited tapes of the "notes-for-votes" scandal are telecast. Till then no BJP functionary in Delhi or in the states will appear on CNN-IBN programmes, whether in their studios or outside. The BJP believes that the channel's decision to withhold the tapes from the public seriously compromises the freedom of the Press. The party regrets that instead of upholding the right to information, CNN-IBN has resorted to the suppression of truth.

Even at this stage, the BJP calls upon the channel to revise its decision and telecast the tapes without any further delay. The party will happily review its decision to boycott CNN-IBN as soon as the tapes are aired. The BJP, needless to add, remains deeply committed to preserve and protect the freedom of the press and is prepared to assist, in whatever way possible, media organisations to withstand Government and corporate interference in their working.

____________________________________________________________________

And when I made a comment on IBNLIVE.com on Rajdeep Sardesai's official blog he chose to ignore it but then am NOT the lone person asking him to show the country those tapes!

Here is the link to the blog :

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/author/1/rajdeepsardesai.html

But then he doesn't have the time or patience to respond to the pertinent question

WHY THE TAPES WERE NOT SHOWN TO THE WORLD?

I guess the next step would be to approach the authorities under the Right To Information Act and ask for details of the CNN-IBN deal and also the kind of monies they make and how much taxes do they pay, etc.

Because I feel as the BJP has said that there were some pressures from the "powers that be" to not to air the same. The CNN IBN has said that there were loose ends in the story and before they could complete investigations the BJP went ahead and blew the cover. WOW!

What was CNN IBN waiting for? For the "culprits" to come clean and give them "exclusive" stories? How inane can they get?

Today we have had another "SENSATIONAL" story of an Advocate Patel who says that he has audio evidence that the "Cash for Vote" scandal was stage-managed by BJP leaders namely Arun Jaitley and MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

The media was shown a video tape which showed a person getting in and coming out of various houses across New Delhi allegedly from Arun Jaitley's and Ashok Argal's houses with a bag! When the Advocate was questioned he was clueless and said he only had audio recorded the conversation between another MP and the video had been given to him by some unknown persons. Now what does this prove?

Ex BJP MP Uma Bharti is in a soup with a half baked story which doesn't hold ground and there are numerous holes. Guess she is being used as a pawn by the SP & Congress to establish that BJP had stage managed the whole episode. But prima facie its clear that the said audio and video tapes hold no ground till now.

Let's wait and see what unfolds in the coming days when the Speaker and the Parliamentary Committee decides.

Till then we live in a world which is blinded by cowardice and rarely we see a brave face!