Are Hindus not HUMAN ???

Human rights are by definition universal. Hence, in an ideal world there would be no need to write a separate report on the human rights of Hindus, or for that matter any other group.
In the real world, unfortunately, there is a gaping hole when it comes to the awareness of human rights for Hindus, mainly in Bangladesh, Pakistan and even in the Kashmir valley.
A report recently released by the Hindu American Foundation, on the status of human right of Hindus in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Kashmir begins to fill that hole, spelling out in great detail and with much documentation the pathetic condition of millions of Hindus who live as minorities amongst a Muslim population.
The 71-page report compiles media coverage and first-hand accounts of human rights violations perpetrated against Hindus because of their religious identity. The incidents are documented, often quoting from well-known international human rights organizations.
The Hindu American Foundation, a non-partisan American group, presented the report to the co-chairs of the US Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, and Gary Ackerman, a Democrat. Both of these members of Congress endorsed it.
The report documents the long-history of anti-Hindu atrocities in Bangladesh, a topic that many Indians and Indian governments over the years have preferred not to acknowledge. Such atrocities, including targeted attacks against temples, open theft of Hindu property, and rape of young Hindu women and enticements to convert to Islam, have increased sharply in recent years after the Jamat-e-Islami joined the coalition government led by the Bangladesh National Party.
But that is only the latest chapter of a much longer pattern of persecution. Hindus comprised 30 per cent of Bangladesh's population in 1947 but are less than 10 per cent today. The estimated loss of 20 million Bangladeshi Hindus is because of an ongoing genocide and forced exodus.
An interesting and sad aside to that statistic is that much of the purge has occurred well after the liberation of that country thanks to Indian blood and treasure.
Hindus in what is now Pakistan have declined from 23 per cent of the total population in 1947 to less than 2 per cent today. The report rightly condemns Pakistan for systematic state-sponsored religious discrimination against Hindus through bigoted "anti-blasphemy" laws. It documents numerous reports of millions of Hindus being held as "bonded laborers" in slavery-like conditions in rural Pakistan, something repeatedly ignored by the government. Pakistan aggressively portrays its struggle against India as a Hindu-Muslim conflict, making it clear that its own Hindu minority is fair game for persecution.
Even within India, the pattern is the same. The combination of Pakistani-sponsored violence and local anti-Hindu sentiment has led to a similar "religious cleansing" of the Kashmir valley, where almost all the Hindus have fled.
Much like the Bangladeshi Hindu refugees in India, the Kashmiri Hindus are an unpalatable subject for many Indians, an ideological embarrassment for some people who feel uneasy about discussing the persecution of Hindus by Muslims. Some Indians still prefer to blame the Indian government for the flight of Kashmiri Hindus, deliberately ignoring the campaign launched by various Muslim groups to use public threats and violence, including murder, to terrify the local Hindus into leaving.
Some Indians may feel uncomfortable with this report because they do not want to be reminded about the problems of Hindus outside their milieu. And for some in the Indian intelligentsia, it is a badge of honour to distance themselves from these programs as a mark of their supposed enlightenment, oddly trashing their own ethos in the process. Many more Indians are reluctant to speak out against atrocities committed against Hindus for fear of being labeled "communal". Merely speaking about human rights for Hindus is for them a form of communalism. These arguments are false. The people whose persecution is amply documented in this report are being persecuted because they are Hindu, not because they are poor or because of their political views. Brave human rights activists in Bangladesh and Pakistan, many of whom are not Hindus, have painstakingly documented the violations of basic human rights of Hindus in their country. How ironic, and revealing about modern Indian culture, that so many Indians, most of whom are Hindus, are reluctant to acknowledge the problem, let alone do something about it. The sad reality of this world is that if Indians do not care about the persecution of Hindus nobody else will. Several Hindu Organizations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad and others in India are too least bothered about this atrocities committed against Hindu in other countries rather they are busy playing the Power Games.
What is to be done? The thugs and bigots attacking Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan do not care for the liberal sensibilities of human rights people in any country. They understand power and nothing else. In an inter-connected world in which India is emerging as a new power, Indians can make a difference. The matter cannot be left to the Indian government alone. It cannot act without public support.
Moreover, the government, and the scotch-sipping socialists in Delhi, typically lacks the courage to ignore Muslim vote-bank politics in India and publicly address this problem. Indians, meaning all Indians and not just Hindus, have to speak out by themselves. It is in everybody's interest to build an India that provides equal treatment and respect to all its citizens, regardless of religion. The same principle should be demanded of Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is high time for Hindu Organizations to do some serious business for Hindus. It is not just Hindus but also Muslims, Sikhs and others in India who, if they believe in equality, should insist in public that India's neighbors show respect for the human rights of minorities. India's own human rights record is not faultless but is remarkably good for a country of its diversity and poverty. India has a vibrant civil society, plus public institutions like the judiciary and the media, who speak out against persecution and demand that the constitution be respected. That is India's strength, and the reason its people have the right to demand similar behavior of its neighbors when it comes to human rights in their own countries. Indian writers, intellectuals, NGOs, civic groups, media and even political parties often protest against injustice or atrocities in their own country or in other countries. It is time that they started such protests about the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Kashmir.
This report from the Hindu American Foundation has all the data and the facts, but is not tainted by the partisanship and the "secular" versus "communal" debate inside India. Unless there is popular pressure in India, the Government of India will do nothing and Bangladesh and Pakistan will do nothing.
There may soon be no Hindus left in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Neither India nor its directly culpable neighbours in the sub-continent can afford such an outcome

Elections Coming - Make the Right choice baby ahhaaa!!!

"सुनो दिल्ली की गलियों से भी ये आवाजें आती है, जिन्हें भैंसे चराना था वे सरकारें चलाते है "
Surrounded by failed States and terror dens, India needs a strong leadership that will not hesitate to take punitive action against the erring State or non-State 'player' and organise the strength to withstand a spillover. Wars and inner conflicts are not won with machines. You got to have a heart that's firm and courageous. The war machine's role is secondary.
India was never so vulnerable and foolishly spineless as it stands today. Not because we do not have the power to defend our people and land but because of a leadership that's a delight of the alien invaders and petty boat infiltrators. Our leaders join politics to earn money and sell conscience -- they have no credentials except to boast of a family name or caste and muscle power. We have a galaxy of non-political leadership but that too boot polishes the nincompoop rulers in search of reflected glory. These holy men and women are so detached from the realities of their nation's pains and agonies that they go on a six-month long world tour for establishing peace in Palestine and Iraq and show off their pictures in the galleries of the United Nations as proof of their expanding influence. And surely they get quite a number of gullible people to believe they are great.
And we are increasingly surrounded by a Nepal, once a Hindu nation and now a threat for Hindu survival. We have a Pakistan and Bangladesh that have bled us continuously for the last three decades of intermittent terror wars -- Khalistan, Operation Topac, the jihad in Kashmir and the ignominious forced exodus of Kashmiri Hindus.
We have lost more than 60,000 Indians in terror attacks directly sponsored and encouraged by Pakistan -- whether its army or Inter Services Intelligence or the sheepish conspiratorial silence of their leaders, only the naive would make a difference and absolve the culprits. The simple arithmetic is that Pakistan, a creation of intense hate against Hindus, has always felt a sadistic pleasure at our discomfiture. It's the very basic element of Pakistan that has not let us live in peace since August 14, 1947.
But we refuse to see history and continue to lose geography.
Post-1947, we have lost more than 1.25 lakh square kilometres of land to Pakistan and China and Indian Parliament had passed a unanimous resolution to take the lost land back.
But not a single political party would dare to mention in its election manifesto that if voted to power it would strive its hardest possible to implement Parliament's resolve.
Why?
Cats would remain cats unless they are born as tigers.
The last 100 years has seen India shrinking to half and the Hindu population being overwhelmed by a demographic invasion that hates to see Hindu dominance in any sphere of life. They have vanished from Kabul, Balochistan, Pakhtunistan, Multan and Dhaka, humiliated in Kathmandu, killed, converted and incapacitated in Sri Lanka, turned invisible in Sindh, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Chittagong, driven out of their last bastion in the saffron valley and increasingly reduced in Nagaland, Arunacahal, Mizoram and Jammu. And we fight over sackfuls of currency notes as we saw during trust vote on the nuke deal and are busy winning votes through dramas like a night's stay in a Dalit home.
That's India of today -- reduced to an Orwellian play by murderers and bribe-seekers who are again seeking an entry to Parliament by investing huge chunks of money.
There are those who still believe that Pakistan will, or it can, or it may become brotherly to us. Perhaps Uncle Sam, now Chacha Obama, will help.
Even Gods refuse to help such worms.
Elect those who at least know a little bit of India and love her people. A leader that wouldn't hesitate to serve from South Block even if it means incurring personal monetary loss, but inspiring newcomers to stand and live proudly on their earnings through labour and merit. Living on peoples' money must come to an end. Forget the temples, mosques and churches for a while and just concentrate on two basic factors, removing illiteracy and bringing every fellow Indian above the poverty line with a one-year period as deadline. It has to be on a real war footing to make up for the losses due to a lethargic, vision less and self-serving leadership.
Trust me, we can do it if we have the will. Have courses in science, mathematics, engineering and technology upgraded, spread out and quality marked. We terribly lack in the manufacturing sector because there is not enough engineering talent available. Even the best of engineering colleges are facing a serious dearth of proper faculty and it results in less than appropriately equipped students. It's good to see a number of technology and engineering colleges, institutes and private universities that have sprung up in most of the cities and metros that must be the envy of even a developed nation. But are they really providing what they announce and do they have the right kind of facilities and infrastructure to produce credible graduates confident enough to start a swadeshi enterprise of world class standards?
If a post-World War America, Japan and Europe can rebuild their ravaged countries into models of modern development and human endeavour, why can't we? Why can't we set our own goals and standards that must make the most developed nation too follow us? Swami Vivekananda said all expansion is life and all contraction is death. Barring politics, we have shown the world the extraordinary capabilities and the astounding acumen to achieve the impossible in recent years. It happened, as is said, in spite of bad politicians. Let a new crop of good politicians take over Parliament and change its fossilised and stinking contours to a vibrant new hope commensurate with the professionalism being exhibited by Indians elsewhere.
And this is not at all age related but only needs a mind and heart that works for the nation.
And they must have the sinews to expand militarily unabashedly. India must show a will and the power to control her region. We are bled because of a meaningless large-heartedness that makes jihad factories on both sides of our territory send mercenary self-destructionist lunatics who kill and maim and destroy our people and city life. Bangladesh and Pakistan have got to be brought to their senses through instilling fear in them, a genuine and serious one. They have to be made to think twice before being silent or encouraging an anti-India terror policy. State policy makers must be clear in their mind that sometimes revenge is the only word the enemy understands and why must we not avenge the brutal killings of our patriotic citizens?
Hence choose those who choose India as their life-force and not just a platform for money making and dying like dirt. The choice is yours to practice in the coming elections.

OIL BURNS

Most of holy texts describe assorted hells and a recurrent image is of sinners (in hells) being boiled in oil. If there is one sector that illustrates the pitfalls of non-reform, or of half-baked reform, that’s oil. Unlike three decades ago, global crude prices are no longer a BoP (balance of payments) issue and not only because we also export refined stuff. Despite an unfavourable external environment now, forex reserves will remain comfortable, unless unreasonable exchange rate policies force them to dwindle. Short of prices shooting up to $300 a barrel, and OPEC no longer being the monopoly it once was, there is no BOP issue. Yet, there is a strategic reasons to diversify our sources of energy, because once global growth recovers, oil prices will climb again.
However, the boiling in oil mess is entirely domestic.
First, we don’t recognise that only the identified poor merit subsidies. If that’s accepted, we will identify the poor and figure out more efficient methods of subsidisation, like direct cash income transfers.
Second, we won’t believe in differential pricing for the same product. At least, we won’t believe in it seriously, even if such principles are built into the PDS (public distribution system), because we recognise problems of leakage. Leakage and diversion aren’t reduced even if petrol meant for the poor is coloured blue.
Third, wishing to subsidise the poor, but not knowing how to do this, we think we have a solution in subsidising specific products rather than specific individuals. So we have a perceived hierarchy of products through kerosene, LPG, CNG, diesel, petrol, aviation fuel. The lower down the hierarchy, the more the product is consumed by poor people. This is a doubtful proposition. To the extent diesel or CNG is used for transportation, it affects the poor too. Products are also substitutes, even if imperfect. Kerosene can be used to adulterate diesel or petrol. CNG vehicles can run on LPG cylinders. For that matter, subsidised kerosene can be smuggled across the border to Bangladesh. Since we haven’t decided to subsidise only the poor, the vocal urban middle class, which masquerades on television channels as the common man/woman, will want subsidies on LPG. There is evidence from the 1990s to show the genuine poor have switched from firewood to LPG. Hence, everyone who uses LPG must be poor. Having decided some kind of product-wise subsidisation is warranted, even if stupid, we need to fix the extent of subsidy on specific products. And this is arbitrary.
Fourth, not content with this messing up of retail pricing of petroleum products, we leave it out of the sales tax harmonisation exercise referred to as VAT (value added tax). What’s special about petroleum (and liquor)? After all, there is going to be a common tax revenue pool from which the states will obtain shares. What’s the big deal about these products? (The constitutional provision on what the states can tax isn’t cast in stone.) The present aviation turbine fuel mess is largely this. The states want compensation if such taxes are eliminated. Lest we forget, compensation was part of the VAT package from which petroleum was excluded. We could have resolved the present problem then, had we not insisted on exclusion.
Thus, the Governnment has complicated and messed up the retail prices of petroleum products, that is, the prices at which oil marketing companies can sell. And some retail prices are subsidised, so a company will incur losses if it sells these. Had all these marketing companies been public, no one would have bothered. As we all know, taxpayers pay for losses of PSUs. That’s the beauty of administered pricing. We never know who we are cross-subsidising and how.
But fifth, given the background of other errors, there was an additional transgression, that of throwing open refining and marketing to the private sector. To make life even more interesting, the government began to determine prices at which refineries sold products to marketing companies. There must be parity with imports, since while most crude is imported, some is sourced domestically. Therefore, any link between crude prices and retail petroleum product prices completely breaks down. The petroleum ministry may have answers, but those aren’t transparent. Consequently, if global crude prices increase (or decrease), we don’t quite know by how much retail prices should rise (or fall). However, there remains the matter of compensating refining and marketing companies for losses, since prices may be lower than warranted. In that case, investments won’t occur. There will be shortages. Thus, even if it presently doesn’t enter into fiscal deficit calculations, think of oil bonds as some compensation. It isn’t complete compensation, so disincentives and deterrents to investments still remain.
But these are trivia compared to the bigger tangle. When do you solve a problem? When it is most tractable. Since a fundamental concern is transmission between global crude prices and domestic retail prices, with an eye on inflation, one should try to get out of the tangle when both are low. Instead, the sixth mistake was the worst: wishing the problem would go away and avoiding hard decisions. Consequently, the mind boggles at the numbers involved when crude prices were at their record levels of more than $140 in July. Without subsidies, kerosene prices would have had to increase by more than Rs 20 a litre and LPG cylinder prices by more than Rs 340. Cross-subsidisation across products isn’t the solution. Therefore, since retail prices have to increase, reform is easier at $40 a barrel. Reform is also easier when retail price increases are incremental and in small and gradual doses, instead of suppressed increases leading to gigantic gaps. All this should be obvious and there is no better time than now. So why don’t we reform?
Lobbies on the production or consumption sides aren’t a satisfactory answer. These exist everywhere. Nor is the bleeding-heart mindset in the name of the poor completely convincing as explanation. Perhaps the answer lies in money that can be made from discretion. That’s invariably the explanation in every area of non-reform or tardy reform. The words “oil” and “grease” usually go together. Machinery needs them both and Government machinery is no exception

Time for a Change

There are very few public policy levers for handling the impending slowdown. By and large, India has neither the fiscal space nor the operational capability to undertake large public works programmes so as to prop up demand to reverse any downturn in good measure. Hence, it is quite likely that GDP growth in 2009 will be slower than that seen in 2008. When adverse shocks affect firms, a key factor which influences the outcome is the capability of the financial system. A sophisticated financial sector is required, which will rationally evaluate the prospects of firms, and support the functioning of the better firms with infusions of debt and equity capital. The financial sector will also play a key role in mergers and acquisitions, so that productive assets fall into the best hands, even if this involves setbacks to big-name firms that are visible in India today.
For finance to be able to perform these complex roles in an atmosphere of calm confidence, two things are required. The first is that there needs to be ample rupee liquidity and ample dollar liquidity, so that managers of financial firms are not running from pillar to post dealing with crises. In recent days, many banks in India have raised interest rates on deposits. They are, doubtless, hoarding liquidity, given fears that the money market might choke up. The RBI governor needs to address the insecurities of banks by coming out with a major speech where he makes clear his analytical framework and sketches policy responses to future events. If banks are more confident about the RBI’s operating procedures of monetary policy, deposit rates and hence lending rates will go down and not up.
The second front that needs to be opened is an urgent de-bottlenecking of financial regulation. The R.H. Patil, Percy Mistry and Raghuram Rajan reports have sketched a well-thought-out programme for financial sector reforms. The delays in implementation of these reports have cost us dear. As an example, the problems of the money market, non-banking financial companies and mutual funds were critically about the lack of implementation of bond market reforms detailed in these three reports. There is now no time to lose. A well-functioning financial system must be urgently obtained.

For the sake of NANO

With the Tatas Nano factory in Singur under siege for the past several days, things are looking bad for the West Bengal government. A non-democratic society might well have precipitated a new version of Tiananmen Square. But ours cannot afford that option, though the violent incidents at Nandigram last year didn't fulfil some of the basic requirements of a democracy. The Singur crisis has reached a tipping point with the Tatas threatening to leave and the West Bengal governor being forced to intervene. Is there a credible way to defuse the crisis? Clearly, the return of the 400 acres in Singur — that is at the heart of the current dispute — will not help the farmers since the land is no longer cultivable. There is no reason to believe, therefore, that the opposition is engaged in preserving the bucolic charm of rural West Bengal. What it clearly wants is more money to be shared between the party bosses and cadre. Besides, they are well aware that under the present legal arrangement, the land acquired by the government under the 1894 Act cannot be returned in any case, though a higher price can surely be offered. Land prices in and around Singur have been continuously rising ever since the Nano plant began coming up. There is no way the government can afford to pay the prevailing price. However, if the Tatas leave, the price will fall to negligible levels. The agitators are aware of this. So, there is a price — higher than what the government had paid but lower than what rules in the market — which will be acceptable to the unwilling land losers. The only problem is that one cannot offer this price to the disgruntled farmers alone. The willing ones will need to be paid too, or else there will be other kinds of problems to be tackled simultaneously. All this calls for a large budget, which the state government does not have in its coffers. But can it locate a potential source for the money? A possible solution to the problem might lie in rethinking the price of the Nano itself. Clearly, Ratan Tata is a contender for the “Henry Ford of 21st century” title. Ford had changed the comparison, Tata will offer it for a price of around $2,500. The whole world is waiting for this miracle to happen. Is there a risk that Tata will lose his title by compromising on the price tag if, at the same time, he earns the designation of a person who caused the economic revival of West Bengal? Let us consider an alternative scenario. Suppose that the ex-factory price of Nano were to be raised to Rs 1.1 lakh. Given the expected production of 3.5 lakh cars, this would generate an extra flow of Rs 350 crore into the Tata coffers. The revenue, if distributed evenly over 1,000 acres of land, would bring up the price per acre to Rs 35 lakh plus Rs 9-12 lakh that the government had originally offered. The total sum could be approximately Rs 47 lakh per acre, which is below the market price but incomparably higher than the price of land in Singur were the Tatas to leave. This down payment will work wonders, compared to vague as well as uncertain pension schemes. A rise in the ex-factory price by Rs 10,000 will not affect consumer demand. The market can undoubtedly afford to pay more. The advantage of this proposal is that the Tatas do not need to cough up the money themselves since the consumers are paying it. The disadvantage is that the Tatas cannot offer the money directly to the farmers since the government owns the land. Hence, the funds need to be handed over to the West Bengal government as a loan. This would be a one-time loan and could be offered at a low rate, like the government's soft loan of Rs 200 crore to Tata at 1 per cent interest for 20 years. Another subsidy the Tatas were offered was the low rent of Rs 1 crore for the next five years. This too could be modified. Will the Nano price be brought down to Rs 1 lakh after a year or so i.e. after the farmers have been paid off? The price need not be brought down. In return for the higher price, the Tatas would be less dependent on subsidies which, in any case, would have been borne out of taxes collected from the middle class. Also, with the current annual rate of inflation hovering around 12 per cent, it is almost certain that the Nano's price will rise soon enough. By leaving Singur, the Tatas would have to bear the extra cost and trouble of relocation. By following the suggested policy, they can avoid this as well as ensure steady profits. Indeed, a price revision for the Nano could well have its merits.

123 AGREEMENT - New format of NPT

The Indo-US nuclear deal is essentially a diluted version of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which India, under both Congress and BJP governments, has refused to sign since the 1970s. Why? Because the NPT is deeply biased in favour of the five original nuclear "proliferators" -- the US, Russia, Britain, France and China. It unjustly ties the hands of a responsible nuclear power like India which uses nuclear technology to run its civil reactors as well as maintain a minimum credible nuclear deterrent.
The Bush administration, recognising that 30 years of coercing different Indian governments on non-proliferation had failed, adopted a new strategy after 2005. The 123 Agreement is the culmination of that strategy. The basic tenet of the Bush anti-proliferation strategy (fully backed by both John McCain and Barack Obama) remains unchanged. Usable nuclear weapons must remain the exclusive preserve of the five old proliferators led by the US. That leaves five other countries with nuclear weapons capability: Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Iran. The US has structured a nuanced policy to deal with each.
Israel is a US proxy state and its (undeclared) nuclear arsenal is directly under Washington's control. Pakistan is a US client-state. Control over its nuclear weapons too lies in Washington. North Korea has over the past year been successfully "persuaded" with a combination of coercion and cash to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. That leaves Iran and India. Iran has been threatened with invasion. Sanctions against it have been enhanced. The Islamist state remains unmoved. It is Washington's biggest proliferation worry and could yet be the target of a pre-emptive US-Israeli missile attack.
And India? This country is unique. We are a parliamentary democracy, the world's fourth largest economy, a big financial and consumer market, liberal, secular, English-speaking with Anglo-Saxon laws, judiciary and accounting, a professional bureaucracy and a strong, independent media. Recognising belatedly that India was an "honourable exception" among the five new nuclear states (four of them proxy, fundamentalist or rogue), the US in 2005 crafted a customised nuclear agreement to cap India's nuclear weapons capability.
This is the genesis of the 123 Agreement. The 123 does not explicitly bar India from conducting nuclear tests -- which are vital to maintain a minimum credible nuclear deterrent. But if India does test, consequences follow. The principal consequence? The 123 Agreement will be terminated by the US President.
Immediately following this, the US and the NSG (a cartel created specifically by the US to punish India for its Pokharan nuclear test) will ask India to return the uranium fuel supplied by them for the country's nuclear reactors. That will effectively end India's civil nuclear power programme, despite assurances of India-specific fuel safeguards from the IAEA and the NSG. To get back to an indigenous uranium fuel supply chain will be extremely difficult for India. The Americans are counting on this to make it virtually impossible for any future Indian government to conduct a nuclear test since the consequences are so unpalatable.
The result: an effective abandonment of India's independent minimum credible nuclear deterrent -- the cornerstone of every Indian government's policy for nearly four decades. Meanwhile, the original five nuclear proliferators (the US, Russia, Britain, France and China) have between them over 25,000 nuclear bombs (India has less than 12) and are unwilling to dismantle even a fraction of this arsenal.
The choice is stark. By signing the 123 Agreement, India is effectively giving up it 34-year-old nuclear deterrent at a time when China is enhancing its own nuclear capability. (So is Pakistan; both China and Pakistan are, unsurprisingly, delighted with the 123 Agreement). In return, we will be "allowed" to give Western and Russian civil nuclear infrastructure companies business (from Indian taxpayers' money) worth over $120 billion.
But what about India's energy security? Nuclear power currently accounts for 3.10% of our total energy output. If the 123 Agreement is signed, that figure will crawl up to 6% (around 16,000 mw) by 2020. (Remember: over 25% of India's power output is lost in transmission and distribution). In return for the miniscule accretion of 2.9% to India's total energy output over 12 years, the country will surrender its independent nuclear deterrent.
The Indo-US nuclear deal serves America's and the NSG's non-proliferation interest. It certainly does not serve India's national interest or secure its energy needs as (untruthfully) claimed by the government.
Now consider this:
1. The Additional Protocols governing the "guarantee" of uninterrupted supply of uranium fuel to India's civil nuclear reactors in the event of termination of the 123 Agreement have not yet been revealed. These are certain to be far more invasive and intrusive than the draft IAEA Safeguards agreement.
2. In the preamble of the IAEA Safeguards draft agreement, there is a clause that states: 'An essential basis of India's concurrence to accept Agency safeguards under an India-specific safeguards agreement is the conclusion of international cooperation arrangements creating the necessary conditions for India to obtain access to the international fuel market, including reliable, uninterrupted and continuous access to fuel supplies from companies in several nations, as well as support for an Indian effort to develop a strategic reserve of nuclear fuel to guard against any disruption of supply over the lifetime of India's reactors.'
In the absence of these 'international cooperation arrangements', the India-specific IAEA Safeguards agreement is itself legally invalid. For members of Parliament to vote on a nuclear deal without the above two crucial documents (the Additional Protocol and international cooperation agreements with key NSG members) is therefore a charade.
In sum: the 123 finally gives the US-led non-proliferation lobby what it has wanted -- but not got -- for 34 years: an India without usable nuclear weapons. In return India gets a trickle of additional nuclear power and invasive inspections in perpetuity of 70% of its civil nuclear reactors (compared to only 1% of China's nuclear reactors under the US-China 123 Agreement). A good bargain? For the original five nuclear proliferators, led by the US, yes. For India, no.
The prime minister has in the past stated categorically that the Indo-US nuclear deal must have a "broad national consensus" to be seen as legitimate. With Parliament split down the middle on the deal, the definition of a broad national consensus is not met.
The honourable course of action in these circumstances is to wait for the newly elected governments in the US and India next year to seek that consensus and only then proceed with the deal.

INDIAN PARLIAMENT BLOTTED

A incident shocked Lok Sabha witnessed unprecedented drama when a BJP member (Ashok Argal) walked in the middle of the House flashing wads of currency notes which he claimed was given by a Samajwadi Party leader (Amar Singh) as bribe for absenting himself from the trust vote.
Opening a black leather bag in the midst of the debate on the confidence motion, Ashok Argal, BJP MP from Morena (madhya pradesh), surrounded by his party colleagues, displayed bundles of currency notes saying Rs one crore was given to him by an SP leader as "advance" for abstaining from today's trust vote.
As the members raised the issue, the House was surcharged with members from both sides trading charges and crowding in the well. The opposition members shouted "shame, shame" and "chor hai, chor hai" (thieves, thieves) against the government accusing it of indulging in horse trading.
In the midst of the flutter, Deputy Speaker Charanjit Atwal adjourned proceedings hurriedly. The Speaker entered he chamber later to adjourn again while the Deputy Speaker deferred proceedings for a third time for an hour till 6 PM.
Even after the adjournment, there was palpable tension in the House with members from rival sides shouting at each others.
Besides Argal, two more BJP members -- Mahavir Bhagora and Fagan Singh Kulste-- alleged that money was offered to them.
The BJP members alleged that an SP leader promised three of them Rs three crore each, of which Rs one crore was paid in advance.
Meanwhile, Congress charged that the BJP came up with the allegation that a Samajwadi Party leader tried to bribe three of their MPs because it wanted to disrupt the proceedings of Lok Sabha.
This incident took place today and i wasn't able to resist myself on writing this. This is the saddest day in Indian Political History. Now the bigger question is not that whether goverment will survive or not, whether BJP or SP is speaking the truth or whether who is right or who is wrong? Now , the question is whether these kind of people who do politics at such a low level should be allowed to rule our country? Whether this is moment for which our elders had sacrificed there lives for making our country Independent? Whether power and money has became so important for our parliamentarians that they can even go to this extent? Whether our polticians ethics had so degraded that they made a blot on the face on indian people and had made ashamed us infront of whole world? People who were in yesterday's paliament discussion were talking about nation's pride and integrity had did this shameful act of murdering indian democracy which was considered to be the biggest democratic country of world and we were (its very pathetic using "were" in place of "are") proud of, What punishment can be given to these people who today liked this proud of more than one billion indians? and many more.....
Today's incident may be whomsoever will be guilty but it had hurted the temple of indian democaracy very badly and this will always remain as an ugly wound on every indian and indian democracy's face.
We people are somewhere as much responsible for this as much our so called representatives are. Why we are not ready for taking our burdens of country on our shoulders? Why we had let our country bleeding like this? Why we young indians are not able to think beyond our placements, packages, money, fun and lifestyle? Why we now don't care for our motherland? Whether we don't love our motherland as our ancestors did? Whether we don't even have 552 true indians in between us with a population of more than a billion, who are reasy to serve this country? Why we are not ready for holding reins of country and drive it to pinnacle?
I know very few will be going through this blog and in between those very few a handful people will be letting it to reach there heart, mind and soul to them its my sincere request to wake up and lets together save our nation. We can't let our motherland in so much pain.
lets bring back the proud of our nation and make it the "Vishva Guru".
roar like a lion - "JAI HIND"