INDI INDIA: April 2012

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Today in Indian History

10-April-1317	Saint Gora Kumbhar passed away. (Samadhee)
10-April-1760	Gerard George Clifford, head of East-Indian Company, passed away at the age of 75.
10-April-1875	Swami Dayanand Saraswati established the Arya Samaj at Bombay and in 1877 in Lahore.
10-April-1880	C.Y. Chintamani, renowned journalist, was born.
10-April-1901	Amiya Chakravarty, educationist, was born at Serampore in West Bengal.
10-April-1919	Miss Mercia Sherwood, an English teacher, was assaulted by a mob in Amritsar. Brig. General. R.E.H. Dyer had given instructions to beat her.
10-April-1930	Police raid the headquarters of the Indian National Congress, Bombay.
10-April-1931	Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, who worked in the region of Sahkar and Education, was born.
10-April-1935	Vasudevaru Kesavaru (K.V. Manalikkera), famous writer and poet, was born at Madras.
10-April-1937	Shridhar Vyanktesh Ketkar, creator of Maharashtra Gyankosh and Sociologist, passed away.
10-April-1955	India and Vietnam affirm the Panchsheel.
10-April-1982	Mahatma Gandhi Road Bridge at Patna started by Indira Gandhi.
10-April-1982	Indian National Satellite (INSAT-1A) launched. First operational multi-purpose communication and meteorology satellite procured from USA. (Cape Canaveral)
10-April-1993	Student hijackers of IA plane overpowered in Lucknow.
10-April-1995	Morarji Ranchhodji Desai, first non-Congress Prime Minister of India (1977-79) and Chief Minister of Bombay, passed away at the age of 99. He was awarded with Bharat Ratna.
10-April-1996	Delhi High Court bans the import of toxic waste in India.
10-April-1996	The marketing of Salman Rushdie's novel 'The Moor's Last Sigh' in India was cleared by the Central govt.
10-April-1997	Announcement of UP's 70th new district to be re-named after Jyotiba Phule.
10-April-1997	Kerala becomes the first state to have public telephones in all its villages, accessible over STD/ISD from any part of the world.
10-April-1997	Bill Gates, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, announces Rs. 2.5 crore aid to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Gandhi Institute of Computer Education and Information Technology, Mumbai.
10-April-1999	Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (87), patriarch of Malayalam fiction, died at his ancestral village at Sankaramangalam in Thakazhi village.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

**Morarji Desai Died on 10th April,1995 was an freedom fighter**

Morarji Ranchhodji Desai was an Indian freedom fighter and The First non-Congress Party Prime Minister of India. He is the only person to receive the highest civilian awards from both India and Pakistan, namely the Bharat Ratna and Nishaan-e-Pakistan.

CAN'T WE SAVE A RIVER ??????

Dilipa's son Bhagiratha, who after severe austerities, propitiated the Goddess Ganga,

and she agreed to come down to earth. However, the impact of her fall would be so severe,

that it could be borne by none less than Shiva himself. Therefore Bhagiratha went into

meditation again and obtained Shiva's consent after many more austerities. Finally, the

river came down and fell into Shiva's matted hair, and then to earth. This is the presumed

site of the present-day temple at Gangotri. Bhagiratha led the way on horse back and the

river followed. In this manner they reached the spot where lay the ashes of the six thousand

sons. They were thus liberated, and an ocean formed from the waters there. This is the Ganga

Sagar of today, where the Ganges flows into the Bay of Bengal ("Sagara' is also Sanskrit for

ocean).Many other tales are associated with the Ganga and points on it. Hari (Lord Vishnu)

himself bathed in its waters at Haridwar, which is so holy that sins as great as the murder

of Brahmins may be washed away by bathing here. Hindus to this day use the water of the Ganga

to cleanse any place or object for ritual purposes. Bathing in the Ganga is still the life-

long ambition of many of India's believing masses, and they will congregate on its banks for

the tremendously overcrowded Sangam, Sagar Mela or Kumbh Mela which are held on auspicious

dates.

Holy Ganga is Not a River, but it is a way of life, a spiritual force, a complets economy,

it cant be seperated form the hearts of not ony Hindu but whole Indians and many people around

the earth. So many factors are threatning The existing of Holy Ganga, they are mainly Global

warming, Melting of glacier, Shortage of water due to supply in Distributory canals for irrigation,

Pollution by Industrial waste and sewage water.

Govt Of India Started Ganga action plan to clean Holy Ganga but result wise failed to achieve

optimum result.

This is Humble request from all signatories(comprising Saints, priests,devotees,lovers,common man)

to Govt/establishment that Librate it from all canals and drains immidiatly because Bhagirathi

Ganga was not came on earth for irrigation/draining sewage. Use sewage/ drain/ industrial water

for irrigation.

Tehelka

Tehelka is an Indian weekly political magazine under the editorship of Tarun Tejpal known for its undercover exposé style of journalism. Its cover price is Rs 20 per issue. The publication began in 2000 as a news website, Tehelka.com. It transitioned through a printed newspaper format until it became a magazine in 2007.

It first received local prominence in 2001 when it exposed match-fixing in Indian professional cricket. The same year, an investigation it carried out on defence procurement, called Operation Westend, received international attention, and led to the resignation of Indian Defence Minister.

History

In 2001, Tehelka.com exposed the alleged culture of bribery at the Ministry of Defence (India) (MoD) by setting up a bogus London-based company, and contacted MoD officials for selling thermal binoculars to the Government of India.^[4]^[6]^[7] Tehelka claimed to have filmed Bangaru Laxman (the then President of the ruling party BJP) taking a bribe for helping the bogus company in procuring government contracts. During the process, Tehelka also met Jaya Jaitly, the head of Samata Party and a close aide of the defence minister George Fernandes. There was an outcry when the scandal broke, and George Fernandes resigned although he was not accused of taking bribe. Laxman also resigned, while Jaya Jaitly accused Tehelka journalists of being Pakistani agents and raised doubts over the authenticity of the tapes. The tapes were sent to UK for forensic examination, and were confirmed as genuine.^[6]

Fernandes returned to power soon afterwards, and the inquiry set up to investigate the charges halted upon the resignation of the sitting judge, while his replacement performed an ineffectual job lacking in focus. The government turned the tables on Tehelka with an investigation into its conduct.^[5] The main financial backers of Tehelka were made targets of investigations from the customs, the police and the tax authorities. By 2003, the number of salaried employees in the company had reduced from 120 to 1, and the company was practically ruined.^[6] The meagre budget of Tehelka, then a startup media firm, was exhausted by legal expenses facing a Commission of Enquiry. According to the Editor Shoma Chaudhury, Tehelka decided to bow out of the new Commission of Enquiry, after Justice Venkatswami was replaced with Justice Phookan.^[8]

In 2003, Tehelka was relaunched as a weekly newspaper, funded by 200 founding subscribers and other well-wishers who each donated Rs 100,000 (more than $2,000).^[4] Rs 3.6 crore (Rs 36 million) was so raised. Its original business plan included television, radio and book publishing ventures.^[2]^[2] According to Rediff.com, the newspaper initial print run of 150,000 copies had shrunk to 30,000 within six months.^[2] An issue of Tehelka is priced at Rs 10; sales are underpinned by a subscription offer of Rs 300 a year (48 issues)^[1] and negotiating deals with credit card companies, hotels and airlines to push Tehelka among their members.^[2]

The investigations against the MoD officials were revived in 2004, when the Congress-led government came to the power and handed over the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In 2007, Tehelka once again underwent a transformation, and shifted to a regular magazine format. In September 2007, it came up with a Hindi news based web portal "Tehelka Hindi". In October 2007, it once again captured widespread attention for an elaborate sting operation that claimed to have captured on hidden camera several perpetrators of the 2002 Gujarat riots admitting to horrendous crimes, and revealing the riots to be part of a well-planned conspiracy that had state sanction. In october 2008 Tehelka launched its first fortnightly Hindi magazine. Right now Tehelka has four highly successful editions of its Hindi magazine - three regional editions and one national.

[edit]Major stories

[edit]Operation Westend

[edit]The Truth: Gujarat 2002

The Truth: Gujarat 2002^[15] was an extensive report on the 2002 Gujarat violence published in its 7 November 2007 issue, was based on a six-month long investigation and involved sting operations. It alleged that the violence was due to the connivance of the state police as well as the Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi. The sting operation once again led to partisan criticism and raised questions on journalistic ethics.^[16]

[edit]Jessica Lall case

Tehelka carried out a sting operation following Manu Sharma's release. This uncovered details of the witness coercion process, and alleged that money was being paid directly from Venod Sharmas offices to some of the witnesses.[4] Venod Sharma was directly mentioned by several people, such as a friend of the (now expired) eye-witness Karan Rajput:

Surendra: I saw him receiving money at Okhla. Question: Where at Okhla? Surendra: From Sharma's place. In front of Okhla depot there is a building. [Venod] Sharma owns entire building. We used to collect money from there itself. Question: How much money? Surendra: Whatever we needed. Question: Whatever you say? Surendra: Whatever we demand. We used to get 20-25 thousand every month just like that. His number is in mamu's ( Karan Rajput) diary.

[edit]Tehelka in media

The Tehelka exposé has been documented time and again through various media sources. Veteran Indian journalist, Madhu Trehan, has penned an entire book on the expose and its aftermath. The book, Tehelka as Metaphor, is a forensic study of the sting operation and alleges it was retaliation by the Indian government. In 2004, Art Silverblatt and Nikolai Zlobin described Tehelka as a "muckraking site" in their book "International Communications: A Media Literacy Approach"^[17]

[edit]Tehelka exposing black money

The amount of black money possesed by Indians in various foreign banks is enough to solve all Indian foreign debts and internal financial shortages. The magazine claims to have possession of 16 of the 18 names on the list, which the Manmohan Singh government chose not to make public. Not releasing the names of the individuals involved is a clause in a treaty signed with the German government so as to not damage the credibility of its banks. Now the amount of money and the people involved in this list are some third generation businessmen and can have some role in modifying the current government attitude towards taking any strong action.

1. Manoj Dhupelia

2. Rupal Dhupelia

3. Mohan Dhupelia

4. Hasmukh Gandhi

5. Chintan Gandhi

6. Dilip Mehta

7. Arun Mehta

8. Arun Kochar

9. Gunwanti Mehta

10. Rajnikant Mehta

11. Prabodh Mehta

12. Ashok Jaipuria

13. Raj Foundation

14. Urvashi Foundation

15. Ambrunova Trust

Driver Licensing

A study conducted between 2004 and 2005 found that India’s driver licensing procedure was a hugely distorted bureaucratic process and allows drivers to get licenses despite their low driving ability through promoting the usage of agents. Individuals with high willingness to pay make a significant payment above the official fee and most of these extra payments are made to agents, who act as an intermediary between bureaucrats and applicants^[22]. The average license getter paid Rs 1080, approximately 2.5 times the official fee of Rs 450, in order to obtain a license. On average, those who hired agents had a lower driving ability, with agents helping unqualified drivers obtain licenses and bypass the legally required driving examination. Among the surveyed individuals, approximately 60% of the license holders did not take the licensing exam and 54% of those license holders failed an independent driving test^[23].

Agents are the channels of inefficient corruption in this bureaucratic driver licensing system, facilitating access to licenses among those who are unqualified to drive. Some of the failures of this licensing system are caused by corrupt bureaucrats who collaborate with agents by creating additional barriers within the system against those who did not hire agents^[24].

Indian black money

Black money

Black money refers to money removed from the official economy (via corruption, bribery, tax evasion, etc.) and stored outside of the country. A November 2010 report from the Washington-based Global Financial Integrity estimates that India lost at least US$462 billion in illicit financial flows, another word for black money, from 1948 through 2008. The report also estimated the size of India's underground economy at approximately US$640 billion at the end of 2008 or roughly 50% of the nation's GDP.

Black Money in Switzerland

According to a 2010 The Hindu article, unofficial estimates indicate that Indians had over US$1456 billion in black money stored in Swiss banks (approximately USD 1.4 trillion).^[26] While some news reports claimed that data provided by the Swiss Banking Association Report (2006) showed India has more black money than the rest of the world combined,^[27]^[28] a more recent report quoted the SBA's Head of International Communications as saying that no such official statistics exist.^[29] Another report said that Indian-owned Swiss bank account assets are worth 13 times the country’s national debt.The current investigation is undertaken by the Income Tax Department.^[30]

Anti-Corruption Laws in India

Public servants in India can be penalized for corruption under the

Indian Penal Code, 1860
The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988
The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 to prohibit benami transactions.
Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002

India is also a signatory (not ratified) to the UN Convention against Corruption since 2005. The Convention covers a wide range of acts of corruption and also proposes certain preventive policies.^[40]

[edit]Anti-corruption police and courts

The income tax department of India, Central Vigilance Commission and Central Bureau of Investigation all deal with anti-corruption initiatives. Certain states such as Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Pradesh Anti-corruption Bureau) and Karnataka (Lokayukta) also have their own anti-corruption agencies and courts.^[41]^[36]

[edit]Anti-corruption organizations

A variety of organizations have been created in India to actively fight against corrupt government and business practices. Notable organizations include:

Bharat Swabhiman Trust established by well known Yog Guru Swami Ramdev running a large campaign against black money and corruption since last 10 years.
5th Pillar is most known for the creation of the zero rupee note, a valueless note designed to be given to corrupt officials when they request bribes.
India Against Corruption is a movement created by a citizens from a variety of professions and statuses to work against corruption in India. It is currently headed by Anna Hazare.^[42]
Jaago Re! One Billion Votes is an organization originally founded by Tata Tea and Janaagraha to increase youth voter registration.^[43] They have since expanded their work to include other social issues, including corruption.^[44]
Association for Social Transparency, Rights and Action (ASTRA) is an NGO focused on grass-roots work to fight corruption in Karnataka.

One organization, the Lok Satta Movement, has transformed itself from a civil organization to a full-fledged political party, the Lok Satta Party. The party has fielded candidates in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Bangalore. In 2009, it obtained its first elected post, when Jayaprakash Narayan won the election for the Kukatpally Assembly Constituency in Andrha Pradesh.

[edit]Effects of corruption

According to a report by KPMG, "high-level corruption and scams are now threatening to derail the country's credibility and [its] economic boom".^[45]

[edit]Economic Concerns

Corruption may lead to further bureaucratic delay and inefficiency as corrupted bureaucrats may introduce red tape to extract more bribes^[46]. Such inadequacies in institutional efficiency could affect growth indirectly by lowering the private marginal product of capital and investment rate^[47]. Levine and Renelt showed that investment rate is a robust determinant of economic growth^[48]. According to the neoclassical growth model, institutional variables contribute to determining steady-state per capital income levels and speed of convergence to its steady state, hence affecting its growth rate^[49].

Bureaucratic inefficiency could also affect growth directly, such as through misallocation of investments in the economy^[50]. When a country’s economy is below its steady-state income level, higher corruption could result in lower growth, for a given level of income^[51].

Satyameva Jayate

Satyameva Jayate - motto of India

It is an aphorism, a great saying, seen in the National Emblem of India. And the emblem depicts a four-faced lion that rests on a lotus in full blossom. Just below this, is inscribed in Devanagari script, the Sanskrit saying ‘Satyameva Jayate’ as the National Motto, and it means ‘Truth alone Triumphs’. This emblem of the lion is copied from the famous Lion of Sarnath, near the holy city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, erected by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BC, at the spot where theBuddha first announced his great doctrine of peace and liberation to all the four directions of the World.

The motto is the opening line of a four-line mantra, (Mantra 3.1.6 of Mundaka Upanishad), and in full it means:

   Truth alone succeeds, not untruth.
   Through truth the divine path is opened by which
   the sages whose hopes have been completely accomplished,
   reach where that greatest possession of Truth is.

The Government of India adopted the first line in its original form as its unifying theme and official slogan on 26th of January, 1950, the day on which the country was declared a Republic.

Sport in India

A street-corner game of pachisi inPushkar, Rajasthan

In India, several traditional indigenous sports remain fairly popular, among them kabaddi, kho kho, pehlwani, and gilli-danda. Some of the earliest forms of Asian martial arts, such as kalarippayattu, musti yuddha, silambam, and marma adi, originated in India. The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Awardare the highest forms of government recognition for athletic achievement; the Dronacharya Award is awarded for excellence in coaching. Chess, commonly held to have originated in India as chaturaṅga, is regaining widespread popularity with the rise in the number of Indian grandmasters.^[286]^[287] Pachisi, from which parcheesi derives, was played on a giant marble court by Akbar.^[288] The improved results garnered by the Indian Davis Cup team and other Indian tennis players in the early 2010s have made tennis increasingly popular in the country.^[289] India has a comparatively strong presence in shooting sports, and has won several medals at the Olympics, the World Shooting Championships, and the Commonwealth Games.^[290]^[291] Other sports in which Indians have succeeded internationally include badminton,^[292] boxing,^[293] and wrestling.^[294] Football is popular in West Bengal, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the north-eastern states.^[295]

India's official national sport is field hockey; it is administered by Hockey India. The Indian national hockey team won the 1975 Hockey World Cup and have, as of 2012, taken eight gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, making it the sport's most successful team. Cricket is by far the most popular sport; the Indian national cricket team won the 1983 and 2011 Cricket World Cup events, the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, and shared the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka. Cricket in India is administered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, or BCCI; the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy, the Irani Trophy, and the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy are domestic competitions. The BCCI conducts a Twenty20 competition known as the Indian Premier League. India has hosted or co-hosted several international sporting events: the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games; the 1987, 1996, and 2011 Cricket World Cup tournaments; the 2003 Afro-Asian Games; the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy; the 2010 Hockey World Cup; and the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Major international sporting events held annually in India include the Chennai Open, the Mumbai Marathon, the Delhi Half Marathon, and the Indian Masters. The firstIndian Grand Prix featured in late 2011.^[296]