Vol. LVII, No. 35, New Delhi, March 12, 2006

Stress on social harmony, spread of shakhas and national awakening Annual report presented by Sarkaryavah Shri Mohan Bhagwat at the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha in Nagpur. WE all have assembled here on the first day of the birth-centenary year of P.P. Shri Guruji to undertake the annual review of our activity and the situation in the country. This is the first Pratinidhi Sabha of my entire life in which Shri Seshadriji is not present. In the last few years many of our elders like Shri Rajju Bhaiya, Shri Moropant Pingle, Shri Dattopant Thengadi, Shri H.V. Seshadri, Shri Bhideji, etc who used to provide us necessary strength in all respects, have left us for the other world. more > Grand opening of Shri Guruji birth-centenary celebrations in Nagpur The inspiring inauguration of Shri Guruji birth-centenary celebrations at Reshambagh ground in Nagpur on February 24 proved to be a memorable function. The packed ground with more than one and a half lakh people presented a highly inspired atmosphere. The attractive 200-ft-long dais with the message-Mam deeksha Hindu raksha, mantra Samanata—conveyed the message of social harmony across the country. more > Kids´ Org Observation power By Manju Gupta As one finds in every sphere of life, there are people who are always jealous of someone or the other. The same was the case with Tenaliraman and he had not one or two, but many jealous courtiers in King Krishnadeva Raja´s court. Once they hatched a plot and complained to the king that Tenaliraman may have been bright and knowledgeable but his observation power was very weak. Though the king knew how sharp and observant Tenaliraman was, but to satisfy and calm his courtiers, he told them, “You can test his observation power since you have doubts about his capability.” more > Editorial Fight Maoists to finish THE dastardly killing of 55 tribals by Naxalites on February 28, at Darmagura village in Dantewara district, Chhattisgarh, once again exposes the callous attitude of the UPA government towards managing the internal security of the nation. While Kashmir and the Northeast have been witnessing the free run of the anti-nationals, in the name of political dialogue, the other state governments, with their sparse police force, are being left to defend themselves against Maoist terrorists who are growing to be a dangerous menace. more > A project to explore British Hindu identity By Prasun Sonwalkar in London FOR the first time, Britain´s Home Office is sponsoring a research project aimed at exploring and understanding the issues and aspirations of the country´s Hindu population. The research, part of the Connecting British Hindus Research Programme, is to be jointly conducted by the Hindu Forum of Britain and the respected social research organization, the Runnymede Trust. The question of British Hindu identity will also be explored. more > A sweetheart deal? Indo-US nuke engagement By M.D. Nalapat George W. Bush did not hide his contempt for India at the Asia Society last week, when he implicitly equated us with Botswana and Burundi as “recipient” states that would have to accept nuclear fuel and technology from the “advanced” world. This week, he made it clear once again that India was unfit to get US support for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. more > Controversy Cannibalism behind avian flu By Sandhya Jain Though India was fortunate to escape the catastrophic consequences of mad cow disease two years ago, it is undeniably in the grip of an avian flu epidemic in Maharashtra and possibly Gujarat. We shall be lucky if the crisis does not spread to other parts of the country. more > Difficulties in probing big people By Joginder Singh Investigation is the first step in finding out the truth of any complaint made to the Police. Some times consciously or unconsciously, some angularities slip in or are slipped in especially when the high profile cases involving powerful people become subject matter of police investigation. more > Current Affairs Protest, but peacefully By Shyam Khosla IF incitement to murder is a crime, as it certainly is, Haji Yaqoob Quereshi, UP Minister for Minority Development and Haj, committed a criminal act by announcing booty of RS 51 crore and gold equal to the weight of the assassin for the head of the author of the cartoons lampooning Prophet Mohammad. more > US has to change its attitude By Jagmohan In the present-day world, where the circle of interdependence is fast increasing, changes in the civilisational fabric of the developing countries is being influenced by a group of powerful developed countries headed by the United States which, unquestionably, is the world´s greatest power today. more > Not justiciable! By R. Balashankar The eleven expelled Members of Parliament have approached the judiciary with a plea to get their cases heard again. Their point: the legality of the Parliament decision on the ground that privileges of Parliament have to flow from Constitution and the Constitution does not provide for expulsion. more > Baluchistan Pakistan´s Achilles heel By Daya Krishna Baluchistan is one of the four states of Pakistan. It is the largest state because it accounts for 43 per cent of the area of Pakistan, but only 4 per cent of the population of Pakistan reside in Baluchistan. more > Railway Budget 2006-07 Railways Laluised By Geeta If the Indian Railways was incorporated as a public limited company and listed on the stock exchange, its share price would have certainly shot up after presentation of the Railway Budget by Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav. Laloo has come out with performance parameters which the stock markets love-improved bottomline riding on rising volumes; reducing cost by all means, even by cutting the employee strength and pursuing the market-friendly schemes. more > Life of Shri Guruji is his message—Mata Amritanandamayi FOC The Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha began at 10.30 am in Nagpur on February 24. Over 1,400 members attended the three-day Sabha. Besides the national, zonal and provincial functionaries, over 500 elected Pratinidhis were also there. more >

Interview of the Week BJP - JD(S) alliance is cool, and it's here to stay -B.S. Yediyurappa Deputy Chief Minister, Karnataka A confident and jubilant senior BJP leader B.S. Yediyurappa is the Deputy Chief Minister in the newly-formed BJP-JD(S) alliance government in Karnataka. The dynamic leader foresees developing more Bangalores in the north and south of the state with quality infrastructure. As Finance Minister of the state, he has promised to solve the farmers' problems keeping in mind the development of the SCs, STs and weaker sections of the society. During his recent visit to Delhi, Shri Yediyurappa in an exclusive interview to Organiser Correspondent Deepak Kumar Rath said there would be a heavy flow of funds in the state in the next Financial Year and the government has plans to check corruption in the system. more > Debate Was he given a fair chance? In this letter reproduced here, Raja Ram Pal speaks of the letter he wrote to the Prime Minister´s Office about the corrupt practices of Power Ministry officials. Produced below is the English translation of the letter written by him to Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, the then chairman of the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee, set up to investigate into the MPs´ ‘cash for question´ episode, which the Bansal Committee mysteriously did not even mention in its report. Later, Shri Bansal was found accused in a scam and he himself had to resign from the Committee. Now he is a Minister in Dr Manmohan Singh government. more > Bookmark US silence over Kashmir terrorism My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir; Jagmohan; Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1/13-14, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-2; Rs. 475 (This is excerpted from the updated 7th edition of the highly acclaimed book titled My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir by Shri Jagmohan) THE need of the hour, is that the entire international community should brace itself and mobilise all its resources—financial, military and diplomatic—to target terrorism in all its hues and colours. Lapses of the type that occurred in the past, when the phenomenon was viewed from a selfish and narrow angle, should not be repeated. more > The Moving Finger Writes Will Congress replace Manmohan Singh? By M.V. Kamath Now that the Congress Party´s plenary session in Hyderabad is over, many people ask: Who will be the next Congress leader? The right question to ask really is: “Who will be the next Congress Prime Minister?” This arises from two presumptions one, that in the likely 2009 general elections, Dr Manmohan Singh will step down to make way for a younger leader, considering that by then he would be 77 years old. more > Budget Postscript Middle class hooked, Sharks Let Off By Geeta Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, in his Budget speech, that he would be raising through additional taxes Rs 6000 crore for 2006-07. If we take a look at the total tax collection, it is shown at Rs 4,42,153 crore—Rs 72012 crore more than the revised estimates for 2005-06. more > A boring, sterile Budget By Subramanian Swamy The 2006-07 Budget presented to Parliament vindicates what I had predicted last week in my columns, viz., that the proposals will be pure make-believe. One newspaper even wrote that there is no ‘masala´ in Chidambaram´s ‘dosa´. more >

Open Forum Don't tinker with armed forces' morale By Sandeep Mahapatra The storm created by the Congress-led Andhra Pradesh government to give five per cent reservation to Muslims in government jobs had not even settled that the UPA created another storm. The Centre has formed a committee headed by a retired HC Chief Justice to conduct a survey on the number of Muslims in the Indian armed forces. more >

Realpolitik Quota of evangelical vituperation By Balbir K. Punj AT a time the Muslim ummah was up in arms for cartoons on Prophet Mohammed published Jyellands-Posten in Denmark, Hindus seem to have swallowed a large quota of evangelical vituperation with minimal protests. Parliament condemned the cartoons, the editor of Senior India who had published them was arrested, and Muslim... more >

Readers´ Forum An account of a Pakistani woman: I grew up in Pakistan and we were always taught to hate India, Israel and America. Our school books described Christians, Jews and Hindus as evil people, and unfortunately most Pakistanis exhibit a lot of hatred because of this. I was ashamed when Pakistanis celebrated on the streets after innocent people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. more >

Next Page (2/24)