WikiLeaks on 26/7/2010 made public many secret documents dealing with Afghan War. Some of them have relevance to India.
ISI played a role in terrorist activities against Indians. ISI paid the Taliban and Haqqani network to target Indians, Indian Embassy, Indian Consulate in Kandahar and other places. Indians have died. India has suffered loss of property.
It is futile to expect Pakistan to act against ISI or USA to do anything significant. India has to act on its own…
India should have quit Commonwealth when it became a republic. It continued in Commonwealth.
Commonwealth Games are to be held in Delhi in October 2010. Mani Shankar Aiyar wants the games to flop so that India does not bid for Asian Games and Olympics and waste its money. He has said that India paid one lakh dollars in bribes to each delegate to get votes for staging Commonwealth Games. He was Sports Minister and foresaw that the games will be a disaster due to the functioning of Indian Olympic Association (IOA). His predecessor Sunil Dutt had a tough time and he died. IOA officials did not want to interact with Mani Shankar Aiyar and they told him to send Sports Secretary and he also died. Mani Shankar Aiyar wanted a special committee be set up to oversee the preparations for Commonwealth Games as India did for Asian Games 1982 but that did not happen. In 2006 Commonwealth Games Federation chief had expressed concern in private that IOA was lagging behind in preparation. In March 2009 it was public. After that various deadlines were set to be extended further. Now just around 60 days are left for games. Stadia are not ready and rains have exposed the shoddy construction…
India has a plan to send man to moon. It is better to scrap that plan.
USA had seven missions to Moon. It did not proceed with missions as there was nothing to gain.
Sending man to moon is an expensive proposition. It will cost at least 10,000 crore rupees. At the end you have two men who will spend some time on the Moon and return with something that is not of much use and can be brought by unmanned vehicle as Chandrayaan did.
Science has to be for benefit of people. Individuals may spend their personal wealth on projects that do not benefit humanity but it is not right for governments to spend money on such projects.
“Burkha is not welcome in France.â€
Nicolas Sarkozy’s statement in his speech to French Legislature in 2009 was a game changer in Europe. Till then criticising burkha was considered politically incorrect. Jack Straw had faced criticism for saying he was uncomfortable with talking to women whose faces he could not see.
After Sarkozy’s statement Switzerland banned construction of new minarets. Belgium banned burkha. Barcelona banned burkha.
Fools say population is a problem.
Greater fools agree with them.
Wise people say India’s population growth is a demographic dividend.
India’s population was 55 crores in 1971. Many predicted dire consequences if the population growth is not stopped.
Now in 2010 India’s population is around 110 crores. The country is thriving. The prophets of doom have been proved wrong.
Who first came up with the idea that the octopus can predict the results of football matches?
Who were the bookies involved in betting on matches played by Germany?
How much money was involved in betting on matches played by Germany?
I come across repetitions in The Indian Express.
The article “The hormone of laddishness†that appeared under Science and Technology section on 3/5/2010 was a repetition of the article “The CSI effect†that had appeared on 30/4/2010.
The article “The long march – The yuan and global imbalances†with a picture of Chinese currency that appeared on 1/7/2010 was a repetition of the article “Mecca vs Las Vegas†about a Saudi tower with a graph of heights of towers that had appeared on 30/6/2010.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath has called Planning Commission an “armchair advisorâ€. On 5/7/2010 he publicly criticised the Planning Commission. He was not happy with its approach. He gave the example of Delhi Airport Terminal 3. He asked one official “How did you do it?†He got the reply “Planning Commission and their people had nothing to do with it.â€
USSR was a superpower. It split into 15 countries in 1991.
What was once Yugoslavia is now seven countries.
India can end up like USSR and Yugoslavia.
Large parts of India are not under government control. There is trouble in Kashmir. Different groups extort money in North-East. They call it taxes. Muivah who wants sovereignty for Nagalim is given z plus security. Many districts are under Naxal control. Separatists are active in Punjab.
On 5/7/2010 there was Bharat Bandh. Parties belonging to Left Front, NDA and some others had called for bandh. The bandh was in protest against rise in prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG. Many leaders courted arrest. Buses were damaged.
The bandh was supposed to be for the common man of India. Bandhs disrupt life and do not benefit common man. There is loss of day’s work. People who had to travel long distance by bus, car, train or plane suffer. Some book tickets months in advance. Many people do not get medical attention and sometimes people die.