India Archives - Page 43 of 79 - Voice from the rooftop

India and Iran

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

USA and EU want India to stop dealing with Iran. Sometime back Indiaâ€™s Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai visited USA. It is reported that American officials asked him why cannot India reduce its ties with Iran. He replied India imports oil from Iran, there are six million Indians in the Gulf region and Iran is the only land access to Afghanistan and hence difficult to stop reducing ties with Iran.

The reply should have been â€œWhy should India reduce its ties with Iran? India has its interests. Indiaâ€™s foreign policy will not be subservient to foreign policy of any other country.â€

Murderers are not victims

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Last year during riots in London and other cities of England, many young boys committed crimes. Prime Minister David Cameron said the young boys will face full force of the law. If you are old enough to commit a crime you are old enough to face the law.

On 9/2/2012 a student murdered his Science and Hindi teacher Uma Maheshwari, St. Maryâ€™s Ango-Indian Higher Secondary School, Armenian Street, Madras. He was angry with the teacher for informing his parents about his behaviour and lack of study by her remarks on his school diary.

India and British aid

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

There is anger in UK over aid to India after India chose Rafale over Typhoon. The contract for 126 Rafale fighter jets is said to be worth $10-15 billion. British PM David Cameron said he would do everything to encourage India to reconsider its decision. UK has an economic crisis but gives Â£280 million per year to India. There was opposition before but International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell had justified the aid saying it was necessary to get contract for Typhoon. British newspapers have reported that the money does not reach the poor and is lost in corruption. Now that UK did not get the contract the British government finds it difficult to justify continuation of aid. Indian government says it does not need aid. British aid is â€œpeanutsâ€. UK cannot dictate terms to India and say do business only with us as India is a liberated country.

Election Commission and IIDEM

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Article 324 of the constitution of India vests superintendence, direction and control of elections in Election Commission. The constitution does not give to Election Commission power to set up institutes.

Election Commission wants to set up India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIDEM) as an advance resource centre of research and training in election management. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) would be the ex-officio chairperson of IIDEM. Election Commission wants to tell the whole world about its success.

Salman Rushdie controversy

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 made news for controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie. The festival started on 20/1/2012 and ended on 24/1/2012. Over the years Salman Rushdie had come and gone. He had attended one Jaipur Literature Festival. He had attended one seminar in Delhi. The events had passed off peacefully.

This time TV channels gave wide publicity to statements of some Muslim leaders, some clerics and some politicians. The statements began in UP where elections are going on and spread to other parts. No party wanted to offend Muslims and lose their votes. If the TV channels had ignored the statements there would have been no controversy. Once those leaders demanded Salman Rushdie should not be given a visa and it was widely telecast the controversy began. Salman Rushdie tweeted he did not need a visa to come to India. Being a Person of Indian Origin he had Indian Overseas Citizen card and could come to India anytime. If he had kept quiet the Muslim leaders would have thought he would not get a visa and stopped the protests. The Muslim leaders continued the protests and demanded he should be stopped from attending the festival. The organizers said the invitation stands. Ashok Gehlot, Rajasthanâ€™s chief minister went to Delhi. Law Minister Salman Khurshid told him Salman Rushdie cannot be stopped from coming to India. Ashok Gehlot met P. Chidambaram and returned to Rajasthan.

Decline in education

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Programme for International Standard Assessment (PISA) ratings and Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2011 have shown fall in educational standards in many Indian schools. Standard V students are unable to read Standard II books. Similar is the fall in standard in arithmetics. Mostly it is the case of government schools in rural areas. Much has been made of mid-day meal scheme in schools and it is said that the scheme has ensured almost 100% attendance. It is no use if students have mid-day meals but do not gain knowledge.

Censorship of web sites

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

One man went to court against 21 web sites. He claims to be a journalist. When he appeared on English TV channels for discussions he spoke in Hindi. If he does not know English does he understand what is in web sites? If he knows English he should speak in English on English channels and anchors must make sure of that. Many people have no doubt that he is a government agent. The petitioner gave the example of cartoons of Islamâ€™s founder. The petitionerâ€™s name suggests he is not a Muslim. If Muslims get offended due to something it is for them to approach the court. Muslims are either unaware of the cartoons or do not care. Who appointed him to argue on behalf of Muslims? How much the petitioner is paying to his lawyer?

India lose Test and series

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

On 15/1/2012 India lost Perth Test by an Innings and 37 runs and consequently the series 0-3. The Test was over within three days. India scored 161 in the first Innings. In the second Innings India fell from 171/6 to 171 all out. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was banned for one Test for slow over-rate. He lost 40% of his match fee. Other players lost 20% of their match fees.

Krishnamachari Srikant said it was collective failure. It was more a failure of batting, fielding and captaincy. The bowlers did well in Melbourne and Perth. They should have bowled many bouncers. In that way Australian batsmen would have scored less runs. With bouncers, if India had not won Sydney and Perth Tests they would not have lost by Innings either. Australian bowlers got many wickets by bowing bouncers.

Downfall Down Under

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

India lost Melbourne Test by 122 runs and Sydney Test by an Innings and 68 runs after Australia had declared 659/4. Both Tests ended in four days. In Melbourne Indian batsmen had to score 292 runs to win and they were all out for 169. Indian bowlers took 20 wickets.
Someone said this is the greatest bowling attack India ever had. That attack could take only four wickets in Sydney. Umesh Yadav and R. Ashwin conceded 123 and 157 runs respectively and went wicketless. India were 191 and 400.

Congress versus TMC

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Congress and TMC are partners in UPA at centre and have coalition government in West Bengal. The relationship between the two has worsened in recent days. There is talk of Congress aligning with SP after UP elections.

There are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in politics. Congress needs TMC at centre. TMC does not need Congress in West Bengal. Both call each other CPI-Mâ€™s B team and compare to watermelon, green outside, red inside.

Mamata Banerjee, leader of TMC, opposed Congress on Teesta River Water Treaty, petrol price hike, FDI in retail. TMC voted for Lokpal Bill in Lok Sabha and opposed it in Rajya Sabha and moved amendments. Dinesh Trivedi said he had opposed Lokpal Bill in cabinet. He was overruled.