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June07, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net] Posts 13-20 (June 8th) >> |
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[1] From Voice of Asia, Chicago Book Review A Matter of Equity -Freedom of Faith In Secular India Freedom of Faith in Secular India Once someone successfully screens through the multifaceted personality of the social-religious-political activist Dr. John Dayal, he/ she would find his latest publication "A Matter of Equity: Freedom of Faith in Secular India" - a 500 page collection of critical essays, to be a masterpiece of an exegetical analysis of freedom, faith, and human rights issues in India. The book by Dr. Dayal is a landmark study which helps the reader tune into one of Universe's most powerful tools of thought and introspection. It is a fascinating reading divided in two sections of forty chapters, revealing the fabric of the Church since the Third Millennium to the present day political atmosphere in India. It is a brilliant and original outlook that challenges century old assumptions of race and religious superiority. The contents present a tour de force of pseudo secularism and false nationalism. The book should help not only to stop the powerful Saffron vigilantes, but also the political obscenity of the Rashtriya Syawamsevak Sangh and its goons. A Matter of Equity presents a provocative and deeply absorbing statement of cultural history and racial bigotry. It is also a gentle reminder of the forgotten role of the Christian minority and the Church in India's progress in the fields of education, social work and upliftment of the downtrodden classes. John Dayal emphasizes on the unity of religion and one's civic/ social duty. One need not detract from the other. People cannot fully develop if they have not taken into account their social, economic, political and spiritual aspects. The book also warns us of the dangers of stereotyping, which in a sinister way tries to give legitimacy to personal agendas or motives. There are plenty of fringe political groups and individuals trying to turn the tide of secularism to fundamentalism in India. A Matter of Equity exposes the Sangh Parivar's vile agenda to spread bigotry and intolerance for different groups of people in India following other religions, with their never changing mantra that India should follow the Hindutva philosophy and that all other religions have no place in it. The book reveals how Hindutva's supporters in the west finance the Parivar's killers in India. Dr. Dayal reminds us of our faith and freedoms, which not only make us who we are, but what India as a country is. With its history, India is indeed a very special place to be in. It is up to us as its citizens to rid ourselves of the taints of prejudice and mindless bigotry. A Matter of Equity has plenty of warnings about the slow destruction of secular India. Nevertheless, Dr. John Dayal offers hope in the strength of the Indian polity and its people, while at the same time being clear of the trials and tribulations of the Christian community. Dr. John Dayal has spoken loud and clear for his faith and for the community. The book will leave an imprint on the mind, heart and soul. The essence of Dr. Dayal's book can be expressed through Tagore's poem: Where the mind is without fear, Where the spirit is free, Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way in the dreary desert sands of dead habits, Into that haven of freedom, Father, Let my country awake. The 500 page book is priced at Rs.800.00 or $75.00, and can be ordered on Catholicunion@gmail.com or aicu@vsnl.com ---- [2] From: "Sukla Sen" <suklasen@yahoo.com> Date: Sun Jun 3, 2007 Subject: Re: Retaliation to Hussain's nude paintings of Hindu Gods I. A sample of Hindu iconography from Outlook India, May 28 2007: Image Courtesy: Indian Erotica: Roli Books A medieval Tantric painting from Rajasthan of the Mother Goddess dancing before the Shivalinga terracotta images of fertility goddesses, 4th-6th century an 18th-century Rajasthani image of nude male devotees surrounding the personification of the female principle in the form of the goddess An amorous couple sculpted in a Khajuraho temple II. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060307D.shtml The Importance of Saving Binayak Sen By J. Sri Raman --------- [3] From: "EMPOWER INDIA" <ttn_empower@sancharnet.in> Date: Mon Jun 4, 2007 Subject: Coca-Cola Continues Environmental Abuses in India Coca-Cola Continues Environmental Abuses in India Community Demands Immediate Shut Down and Investigation For Immediate Release June 4, 2007 New Delhi, India (June 4, 2007): In a shocking finding, another Coca-Cola bottling plant in India has been found to be operating in complete violation of environmental laws and regulations in India. A fact-finding team led by the India Resource Center to a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar in the state of Uttar Pradesh issued a report today detailing the violations. Specifically, the team found that: **The plant is indiscriminately dumping its sludge, considered to be industrial hazardous waste, across the plant premises, in complete violation of the laws regarding handling and disposal of industrial hazardous waste in India. **The Effluent Treatment Plant was non-operational, and the bottling plant was discharging its wastewater into surrounding agricultural fields and a canal that feeds into the river Ganges. **The plant did not disclose the amount of hazardous waste being used and generated, as required by the Supreme Court of India for all industrial units in India that deal with hazardous waste. The full report with images can be found at http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2007/cokebaliafact.html , in Hindi at http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2007/baliahindireport.pdf Such careless disposal of the sludge and the wastewater results in the pollution of the agricultural lands, local water supplies as well as the food chain. At stake are the very lives and livelihoods of thousands of people who live around the bottling plant premises, who are primarily farmers. The findings are particularly disturbing because the Coca-Cola company has had ample time to align its operations in India with environmental rules and regulations, and it has been rapped for similar wrongdoings before. In 2003, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India assessed the sludge at eight Coca-Cola bottling plants, and found them all to contain excessive levels of lead, cadmium or chromium. As a result, the CPCB ordered the Coca-Cola company in India to treat its waste as industrial hazardous waste, and deal with it accordingly. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) also tested the sludge around the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada in Kerala in 2003, and found it to be toxic. The Coca-Cola company was distributing the toxic sludge to farmers as 'fertilizer', and was ordered by government authorities to stop the practice after the toxicity of the sludge was confirmed. The BBC report found that the toxins from the sludge had polluted the groundwater. The bottling plant in Sinhachawar is a Coca-Cola franchisee owned unit operated by the Brindavan Bottlers Limited, which is owned by India's largest bottler of Coca-Cola, the Ladhani Group of Companies. "Our lives have been made much more difficult after the Coca-Cola bottling plant began its operations here," said Mr. Baliram of the locally based Coca-Cola Bhagao, Krishi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (Get Rid of Coke, Save Farming Struggle Committee). "We are demanding that the Coca-Cola plant be shut down immediately and be investigated for any wrongdoing." The fact finding team, which included twenty residents from the village of Sinhachawar, also heard complaints of illegal land acquisition by the bottling plant as well as the drying up of water wells and hand water pumps since the bottling plant began operations. "The Coca-Cola company is announcing to the world that it is an environmentally responsible company, and it has partnered with UN agencies and NGO's to paint a pretty green picture of itself. But all that is corporate social responsibility gone wrong because the reality on the ground is different. It is littered with toxic waste and a complete disregard and destruction of the way of life as many people in rural India know it," said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center. "Coca-Cola's track record in India is indicative of an arrogant company that operates with impunity," said Srivastava. The Coca-Cola company's operations in India have been challenged by various communities across India who are experiencing severe water shortages as well as polluted water and land as a result of the company's practices. The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada, one of the company's largest in India, has been shut down since March 2004. The local campaigns to challenge Coca-Cola in India have found tremendous support internationally, and particularly among college and university students in the US, UK and Canada. Just last week, the prestigious Smith College in the US announced that it will no longer do business with the Coca-Cola company because of concerns in India, ending a five decade relationship with the Coca-Cola company. Over twenty colleges and universities have taken similar actions. The Central Pollution Control Board has been asked to investigate the pollution at the Sinhachawar bottling plant immediately, and other agencies dealing with water and land have also been asked to intervene in the matter of the offending Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar. The fact finding team has recommended that the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar be shut down immediately to prevent any further damage to the community and the environment. For more information, visit www. IndiaResource. org Contacts: Baliram, Coca-Cola Bhagao, Krishi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti +91 94507 79325 (India) (Hindi only) Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center +91 98103 46161 (India) +1 415 336 7584 (US) E: info@IndiaResource.org Cross posted: WaterWatch Yours in Global Concern A.SANKAR -------- [4] From: Abhiyya 2006 <abhiyya@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Jun 4, 2007 Subject: Dalit Voice: 'Balakrishnan must visit Coimbatore jail to see the dying Madani' 0° Edit Membership "Justice Balakrishnan can see the documentary on the slow death of Madani in the Coimbatore jail to verify our statement." Balakrishnan must visit Coimbatore jail to see the dying Madani http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/june2007/reports.htm OUR CORRESPONDENT Bangalore: Brother Abdul Nasser Madani (41) Kerala? s most famous Muslim leader now languishing in the Coimbatore jail for the past nine years, is reduced to skin and skeleton. He weighed 115 kilos at the time of his midnight arrest on March 31, 1998. Now after nearly a decade, he is seriously ill with spine problems and reduced to mere 46 kilos. But not a single Hindu heart ?so famous for its milk of human kindness, tolerance and ahimsa (nonviolence) ? is melting. What type of a heart is this? Made out of what? He married Soofiya 13 years ago of which he spent 10 years in jail. Madani is not the only prisoner in our Hindu jails. The country itself has become a vast jail for Muslims, Dalits, tribals and all those fighting Brahminical terrorism. Thousands and thousands of Muslims, particularly of SIMI, are rotting in jails. In DV, we get post-cards daily from Muslim prisoners all over India asking for our literature and we post them free. The Supreme Court judges have plenty of tears for their jatwalas but even when they all know that Madani is locked up without a single charge they have no time. India? s first Dalit Chief Justice Balakrishnan, a Dalit, is also from Kerala and himself a victim of ?Hindu kindness? killing Muslim Madani. He must visit Coimbatore jail, meet Madani, call for all the files and then expedite his release. There cannot be a more serious blood-curdling case in the whole of India than that of Madani. Justice Balakrishnan can see the documentary on the slow death of Madani in the Coimbatore jail to verify our statement. With Regards Abi -------- [5] From: John Ishvaradas Abdallah <sufisays@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Jun 4, 2007 Subject: In the new, capitalist India, consumers are eager to flaunt their wealth (CSM 06/04/07) http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0604/p01s02-wosc.html?s=hns June 4, 2007 In nouveau riche India, even the poor show off In the new, capitalist India, consumers are eager to flaunt their wealth. By Mark Sappenfield Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor NEW DELHI - Raman Kathuria's job is to make sure that his local Mercedes-Benz dealership never underestimates the Indian consumer again. When the car brand first came to India 11 years ago, it sent only its oldest and most pared-down models to the country ? thinking that Indian buyers were not ready for true luxury. ---------- [6] The US Media ?Discovers? Pakistan? s Musharraf Is A Dictator? Why Now? By Keith Jones http://www.countercurrents.org/jones030607.htm If sections of the press have now ?discovered? that Musharraf is a despot, it is because they fear that the general is losing his grip and are anxious about the consequences for US interests and influence in Pakistan, as well as for the US? s larger strategic ambitions in South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East Nilgiri Rail Road: Trouble In Jumbo Heartland By K. A. Shaji http://www.countercurrents.org/shaji030607.htm Guess who is going to inherit the dubious legacy of forest brigand Veerappan in the Sathyamangalam range of forests, which form part of the highly sensitive Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve? The Indian Railway, it seems. Sounds strange?.? India's Lower Castes By Nishikant Waghmare http://www.countercurrents.org/waghmare030607.htm An empowered India bereft of the respect for women, values of civilised existence and morality will collapse in the face of the disaffection and discontent of those who have suffered for centuries. Day in and day out we take pride in claiming that India has a 5000-year-old civilization. But the way the Dalits and those suppressed are being treated by the people who wield power and authority speaks volumes for the degradation of our moral structure and civilized standards The Disappearing Act Of A Character Called Sukhi Lala By Jawed Naqvi http://www.countercurrents.org/naqvi040607.htm It is Sukhi Lala who supports Narendra Modi in Gujarat as the model chief minister, then strikes a deal for various industrial projects with the communists in West Bengal. He controls the politics of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana that surround Delhi. He has his liaison officers masquerading as party apparatchiks in the Congress, BJP and most regional parties. Therefore, even though Sukhi Lala of Mother India is still going about his business, plundering economically vulnerable village folk, in his new avatar he is no longer regarded as a villain but the harbinger of a world order of which India would be an integral part New Wave Of Political Arrests In Bangladesh By Wimal Perera & Sarath Kumara http://www.countercurrents.org/kumara040607.htm The military-backed interim government in Bangladesh instigated a new wave of arrests of top political and business figures last week in a bid to consolidate its grip over the country. In the name of ?fighting corruption? and maintaining stability, the so-called caretaker regime headed by former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed has assumed the character of a military dictatorship The Green Man Of Kerala By K A Shaji http://www.countercurrents.org/shaji040607.htm A 60-year-old Economics professor, who planted more than one lakh trees in Kozhikode district of Kerala, wins the prestigious Indira Priyadarshini National Vriksha Mitra Award this year ------- [7] From: Sukla Sen <suklasen@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Jun 4, 2007 Subject: On Global Warming: More Disturbing News http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2609305.ece Global warming 'is three times faster than worst predictions' By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor Published: 03 June 2007 -------- [8] From: syed rahman <surahman2000@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Jun 4, 2007 Subject: Malegaon Corporation to have a union of Muftis and Shiv Sena Malegaon Corporation to have a union of Muftis and Shiv Sena By Khabrein correspondent in Malegaon http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1165&Itemid=88 -------- [9] From: Abhiyya 2006 <abhiyya@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Jun 4, 2007 Subject: Tahir Mahmood takes over as member Law Commission Tahir Mahmood takes over as member Law Commission http://www.twocircles.net/2007jun03/tahir-mahmood-takes-over-member-law-commissi\ on.html Subject: Sai Baba gets highest foreign funds abhiyya The Puttaparti (AP)-based Sathya Sai Central Trust of Satya Sai Baba is the largest recipient of foreign contributions Sai Baba gets highest foreign funds http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/june2007/articles.htm New Delhi: Figures with the Ministry of Home Affairs during the year 2003-04 say that as many as 14,700 groups in India have received foreign funds worth Rs 4,856 crore. The Puttaparti (AP)-based Sathya Sai Central Trust of Satya Sai Baba is the largest recipient of foreign contributions. It received Rs. 95 crore during 2003-04. -------- [10] From: humanrights <human.rights.india101@gmail.com> Date: Mon Jun 4, 2007 Subject: Quota fury crosses state borders http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Quota_fury_crosses_state_borders/RssArticleShow/articleshow/2096257.cms *Quota fury crosses state borders * --------- [11] From: kashif-ul-huda <kaaashif@gmail.com> Date: Tue Jun 5, 2007 Subject: Rising Star women Rising Star women <http://www.twocircles.net/rising-star-women.html>; Third and final part of the series on Risin Star Outreach 's work to get a better life for leprosy patients in India. Series writer is Chennai based journalist Syed Ali Mujtaba and edited by Zainab Lakhani. Practitioners of the micro-credit system for human development are growing thick and fast across South Asia. Padma Venkatraman, daughter of R. Venkatraman the former president of India, is one such person who is trying to help leprosy-affected people by using the micro-credit system while based in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Padma Venkatraman's first brush with people who have the chronic disease leprosy was some time in mid 90s. She had at the time, started working to rehabilitate them at the Shahdhara leprosy colony located in the outskirts of Delhi. The colony consisted of 4000 people, resembling a mini India. Its inhabitants were people from all over the country belonging to different castes creeds and religions. --------- [12] From: "EMPOWER INDIA" <ttn_empower@sancharnet.in> Date: Tue Jun 5, 2007 Subject: An important win for domestic pharma industry - Indian Government Committee: no need to change lawson drug registration THE HINDU http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/04/stories/2007060401361300.htm Online edition of India's National Newspaper Monday, Jun 04, 2007 ---- |
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| << June03, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net]Dollar longevity ,Mullah-Sena alliance ,Dalit Muslims |
June07, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net] Posts 13-20 (June 8th) >> |
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