How is the monsoon affecting the country ? Here is a sample:
bq. “Monsoon magic drives up auto counters”:http://www.business-standard.com/today/story.asp?Menu=1&story=18122 Automobile stocks are on a roll. Expectations of gains from the agricultural sector because of a satisfactory monsoon have raised demand for these stocks. It also has boosted the “outlook for cotton”:http://www.bharattextile.com/newsitems/1984184
Reliance is using the Monsoon to make a dashing entry into the mobile telephone market. It is called “Monsoon Hungama”:http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/jul/02reliance.htm. Can two companies use the same marketing name ? Ebony too had a “Monsoon Hungama”:http://www.agencyfaqs.com/www1/news/company_news/Marketing/1011.html. It is not just the people who are watching the monsoons, the Reserve Bank is too.
bq. “No urgency to cut repo: Jalan:”:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=60175 “We are waiting for the inflation and monsoon situation to become clear,” Jalan told reporters on the sidelines of the NCAER annual meeting here.
While the monsoons are good news for some, it is bad for others. For example the “BSF in Jammu and Kashmir”:http://www.ndtv.com/environment/Monsoon.asp?id=40040&callid=1. It has also hampered the “iron ore production”:http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/06072206.htm But the worst has been the news that “1.1 million people have been left homeless”:http://www.terradaily.com/2003/030706120138.qd3sl0ud.html.
Since this blog has been obsessed with monsoons, it was only fair that I write an “article”:http://www.sulekha.com/column.asp?cid=305840 about it.
Author: जयकृष्णः | ജയകൃഷ്ണൻ
Indian Activism
“USINPAC”:http://www.usinpac.com/250503_nr.asp is an Indian Political Action Commitee representing India in Capitol Hill and the White House. Recently they met with the Democratic candidates for the 2004 Presidential elections and here are is what happened.
Senator Lieberman (D-CT) said that he is committed to having Indian Americans in his Administration.
Governor Dean stated that although General Musharraf’s regime was not democratically elected, the alternative of a fundamentalist regime was much worse, which may be true. But praising Musharraf in an Indian crowd does not really go well among Indians.
bq. The USINPAC also met Senator Orin Hatch and Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Hatch said that he would like to charter a plane and take a group of Senators to India to get a better understanding of the country and how US and India can work better together.
Recalling the Governor
California, the world’s fifth largest economy is having a $38 billion deficit and the blame is on Governor Gray Davis. He was re-elected to office only last year, but there is a serious campaign to recall him. But finally it is all about money.
bq. “California voters back governor recall:”:http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B9E96FFBC-A917-46CC-9FE6-509EFF50FF63%7D&siteid=google&dist=google Still, being presented with considerations related to a recall effort appears to give voters pause. For instance, when informed that a recall effort could cost $25 million, the pro-recall majority evaporated.
Some Numbers
Recently we found out that "Asia is an attractive investment":https://varnam.org/archives/000129.html now. We have some numbers now.
bq. "Feature: Indian stock market in wonderland:":http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=312758 FIIs have pumped more than $2 billion into Indian stocks and bonds so far in 2003 compared to about $555 million in the whole of 2002, out of which over $700 million surged in the three weeks ending June 30. This is the fourth time in almost 10 years since India opened up to foreign investors that net FII inflows have crossed the $2 billion mark. Many FIIs have even started predicting that considering the current macro-economic situation and strong liquidity, this year may witness record inflows.
Joke of the day
The Communists of Kerala have implemented a development programme which was “sponsored by the CIA”:http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/jul/07iype.htm. The funniest line is this: “In the latest issue of Malayalam bimonthly Padam, leading Marxist thinker Professor M N Vijayan has alleged that the campaign was implemented to ‘derail the Kerala economy'”.
India, an Islamic Country
Since most of us grew up in India we may have missed this small piece of information. “India is an Islamic Country”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=312732 . This comes up from the fact that India has 85% Hindu population, 12-14% Muslim population. Hence.. I don’t know how I missed this.
That piece of enlightenment came to you from C Raja Mohan, strategic affairs editor of The Hindu.
Weekend Movies
Like “Indian Ink”:http://indianink.bloghosts.com/archives/000157.html, I too went to see “The Rise of the Machines”:http://us.imdb.com/Title?0181852 this weekend. Compared to T1 and T2, this one is souless. The movie is lot of explosions and no story. (Ok, there is a story, which is the same as T2). Arnold is not even convincing as a robot.
But then I saw “The Guru”:http://us.imdb.com/Title?0280720 which is an insult to everything, Indians, intelligence etc and it is not even funny. And this is a film whose executive producer is Shekhar Kapur.
So if you want to like T3, then see Guru first.
Ashuddo
Ashuddo: “The early Sultans were eager to expand the sway of Islam by forcibly converting Hindus to Islam”
Shuddo: Delete
Ashuddho: “As dictated by Islam, there were three options for non-muslims, get yourself converted to Islam, pay jaziya or face death. In an Islamic state, non-Muslims had to accept one of these choices”
Shuddho: Delete
Ashuddho: “Muslims used to take recourse to torture and inhuman means to force their religious beliefs and practices on Indians”
Shuddo: Delete
These are some of the examples of what text has been deleted from history text books in West Bengal based on a state circular (Syl/89/1). The circular mentioned what is Ashuddo (impurities, error) and how it had to be replaced. All these are on the chapter on “Aurangzeb’s policy on religion”.
According to the secular version of history taught in West Bengal, there were no forced conversions, no massacres, no destruction of temples. All this from the chapter “A circular” in “Eminent Historians”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/8172233558/jksobservat-20 by Arun Shourie
Minorities in Muslim countries
bq. “Idols missing from Pak temples:”:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030702/main8.htm The government of Pakistan is not allowing even local Hindus to look after their desolate temples on the pattern of Sikh gurdwaras, which reveals its hidden agenda to divide the minorities in the country, says Mr Mathura Dass Arora (72), deputy leader of the last jatha of Hindus that visited the Pakistan temples in 1999. ?After this pilgrimage, the Hindus were not allowed to visit Pakistan on the pretext that they were not safe there. If jathas of Sikhs can be provided with security, the Hindus can be protected as well,? he told The Tribune.
This is how minority places of worship are treated in the land of the pure
Bharateeya Blog Mela No 19
!https://varnam.org/images/greenmela.gif!
Here are some of the best Indian blog entries for this week.
smorgasbord in his post “My Hinduism, Your Hinduism”:http://smorgasbord.rediffblogs.com/2003_22_06_smorgasbord_archive.html#1056505692 says “My Hinduism has nothing in common with the narrow views defined by Ashok Singhal or Bal Thackeray, who are undemocratic, ignorant and self-serving demagogues”. He also has another nomination “The Star Spangled Indian connection”:http://smorgasbord.rediffblogs.com/2003_29_06_smorgasbord_archive.html#1056947968 which brings out the connection between the American national anthem and India.
Indian Ink has two nominations as well. “Fruit Labels”:http://indianink.bloghosts.com/archives/000118.html solves the mystery of identifying conventional, organic and genetically modified food. There is also a recipe to prepare “Badam Laddu”:http://indianink.bloghosts.com/archives/000132.html.
Sandeep takes off from where I left and dissects Pritish Nandy’s racist article against the NRIs in this entry titled “Pritish Nandy’s Jokes”:http://sandeep.blog-city.com/readblog.cfm?BID=124532
Niraj explains why “Israel should not snub the BBC”:http://www.nirajweb.net/mt/niraj/archives/001615.html “I personally believe Israel should maintain relations with the BBC because it is better to get your views across, no matter how the BBC may spin it, then not saying anything at all. Why cede the argument to the other side?”
Shanti writes about “Multiculti hypocrisy”:http://www.madhoo.com/archives/002533.php#002533 and says “It is extremely irritating for me to hear how proud someone else is of my culture and heritage, to the point that they won?t condemn or worse, let me condemn even the bad things about my own culture or about other cultures I see around me.”
Lazy Geek has a “review of film music and movies”:http://lazygeek.blogspot.com/2003_06_01_lazygeek_archive.html#105668972167281768
That’s it for this week. If you wish to host the next Blog Mela, please drop a comment. We need volunteers. If no one volunteers, I threaten to host again.