Use of force a cardinal mistake

The govt has walked into the Maoist trap, writes dr. Sharit K. Bhowmik

The incidents in Lalgarh bring to light the chaotic situation created by the government in trying to control a handful of Maoists. The modern State is the most powerful institution because it controls all aspects of its citizens' lives. Moreover, it has the monopoly over the use of coercion. The State is therefore expected to provide a peaceful atmosphere where its citizens can live and work with freedom. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different.

The bloody outcome in Lalgarh confirms what I had feared in an article in the Bengali edition of this magazine just when Operation Lalgarh began. The State’s violence, I had written, would push common people into the Maoist fold. The State beats up, arrests and punishes people who may not be Maoists or even support them. Following their experience, they invariably start hating the State. The State walks into the Maoist trap.

Unfortunately, Left-ruled West Bengal looks after affluent people alone while its benevolent role towards the working poor becomes increasingly invisible. The State is oppressor to the toilers. In urban areas, slum dwellers and vendors know of the State and its officials as entities that extort money from them or frequently deprive them of their dwellings or their livelihood.

Over the years, especially post-liberalisation, the state has withdrawn from areas where it should have intervened. West Bengal is no exception. The public health system is in shambles as district hospitals do not have basic facilities. Poorer patients from the districts flock to state-run hospitals in Kolkata. The parallel private hospitals remain inaccessible to the working poor.

The education system has witnessed similar degradation. Government-run schools are in a mess. Most schools in rural areas do not have infrastructure, including school buildings, classrooms, furniture or even books and blackboards. Teachers are mostly appointed on the basis of their political affiliation. Imperatives like provision of drinking water, agricultural inputs to small farmers, irrigation facilities and land redistribution to the rural poor are shelved.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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State-less in west bengal

The Marxists have dissolved their own governance, says T. Bhattacharya

How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died? The answer, for once, is not blowing in the wind. This bout of pessimism stems from a figure close to 300 – the number of political killings in West Bengal since parliamentary elections were held this year. The last cases reported were from Khanakul in Hoogly district and Sashan in North 24 Parganas.

In fresh clashes in Nanoor in Birbhum district on November 3, where armed cadres of CPI(M) clashed with villagers in their bid to seize lost political control, scores of houses have been torched and at least 22 persons grievously injured. On November 4, while this magazine was going to the press, there were reports of fresh violence from Arambagh area of Hoogly. This culture of violence that has engulfed the state is unfortunately the contribution of the largest constituent of the Left Front state government, the CPI(M). Used to overarching hegemony for close to 32 years, during which the CPI(M) penetrated nearly every professional class and every sphere of people’s lives, the party simply can’t come to terms with the electoral reverses in this year’s polls. And like in the case of Singur and Nandigram, armed cadres are busy doling out retributive ‘justice’ to people who did not vote for the party. If the bullets of Nandigram had their effect on the Lok Sabha ballot boxes, the forecast for the 2011 Assembly elections is abundantly clear. The party, for the first time, is afraid of political disappearance from the state. The irony is that by sticking to desperate use of brute force, it is making a reappearance bid all the more difficult. The party satraps at AK Gopalan Bhavan may dabble in dialectics to substantiate the Marxist-Leninist character of the party but the cadres have taken to Mao. In the villages of West Bengal, CPI(M)’s ‘power comes from the barrel of the gun’.

For 32 years, the party had reaped benefits from politicising the state administrative apparatus down to the village level. But now, things have turned turtle. The administration is slipping wherever the party is losing ground. This has made the Maoists’ task easier. The CPI(M) party workers in Junglemahal (Bengal-Jharkhand-Orissa border) are today scared to carry out political activity. Resultantly, the administration has ceased to exist except in certain pockets.

Effectively, the region north of Siliguri town, i.e the Darjeeling Hills is not governed by the state government. The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha controls nearly all aspects of political governance there.

The most dangerous moment of an arbitrary system arrives when it tries to reform itself. And when it even fails to acknowledge the need for reforms and, instead, forces itself upon people, it withers away. West Bengal is a classic example in point - the State-less state of the State of India. Karl Marx had laid down the philosophical principles for withering away of the state. Marxists in Bengal have realised it in practice.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Omar’s losing battle

The multiple challenges facing Omar Abdullah – external as well as internal – threaten to cut short the tenure of J&K’s youngest chief minister, reports Zubair A Dar

The Jammu and Kashmir cabinet expansion this week – six months after Omar Abdullah took over as the state's chief minister – exposed all the cracks in the Congress-National Conference coalition. The first embarrassment for Omar came when pradesh Congress committee chief Saif-u-Din Soz addressed a news conference to announce the portfolios allotted to his party men. The move may have prevented further erosion, but it also strengthened the general impression of Omar being a weak chief minister. Soz’s insistence that Omar had been “taken into confidence” did nothing to repair the damage that had been done.

It is already known that Soz has reported Omar’s interference in the J & K government affairs to the Congress high command. Insiders say that Soz, who left the National Conference after voting against his party whip in Parliament – thereby leading to the fall of the Vajpayee government – preferred the People’s Democratic Party to the National Conference. Former J&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, on the other hand, prefers the NC. All this has been hurting the Omar Abdullah-led coalition .

“The Congress is not being reasonable,” believes Professor Gul Mohammad Wani of the Political Science Department at Kashmir University. “The rift between the Soz and Azad factions is spoiling Omar’s chances.” It greatly adds to the challenges that Omar has faced in the past six months as chief minister of this “difficult” state, which lately has seen further deterioration of the human rights situation. “There is a very strong impression that things are not going according to plan. In the beginning the perception was that the clean Omar carried no baggage and had a vision for his state,” says Wani. “But at this point Omar is mired in all kinds of confusion.”

The violence that has rocked Kashmir valley over the last two months, following the rape and murder of two women in the south Kashmir town of Shopian, and the death of four youngsters in police firing in Baramulla, have been giving the Omar Abdullah administration sleepless nights. By the time Omar responded by withdrawing the CRPF from the town, the situation had gone completely out of control – a fact of which the opposition PDP took full advantage.

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An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Corrupt politicians on the run

Vigilance heat mounts on former Jharkhand ministers

Jharkhand’s corrupt politicians who have been merrily lining their pockets over the past nine years are about to receive their comeuppance.

Vigilance cases have been filed or are about to be filed against one former chief minister, half a dozen ex-ministers, a sitting MLA and a Union Cabinet minister. Although the action against these corrupt politicians may mean little to the people of Jharkhand, it might serve to restore their faith in the process of justice.

Even as Jharkhand languishes at the bottom of the development ladder, its corrupt politicians have been on the take ever since the state was formed. But the past has begun to catch up with them. Two former Jharkhand ministers, Enos Ekka and Harinarayan Rai, are already in the dock. Vigilance cases have been initiated against former chief minister Madhu Koda and four members of his Cabinet, Kamlesh Singh, Bandhu Tirkey, Bhanu Pratap Shahi and Nalin Soren.

MP from Ranchi and Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay is also in the vigilance net. With the exception of Nalin Soren, all the others have been accused of amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income. Enos Ekka and Hari Narayan Rai, both of whom are absconding after issuance of arrest warrants against them, misused their office to buy properties from Assam to Jaipur, and from Mumbai to Thiruvananthapuram.

A member of the vigilance team that went to inspect an under-construction building owned in Ranchi by Ekka reported that he would not be able to assess the exact value of the property because he hadn’t ever seen some of the gadgets installed there.

Similarly, Madhu Koda and his erstwhile Cabinet colleagues face charges of criminal malfeasance. Vigilance proceedings are expected to be initiated against them soon. Nalin Soren, who was agriculture minister in Koda’s Cabinet, is involved in a departmental scam. A criminal complaint has been filed against him.

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An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Destabilisation 2.0

Media monitoring groups reveal how global – particularly western-media outlets have deliberately twisted facts, misled and lied about recent events in Iran. Saurabh Kumar Shahi investigates.

Witness this. An election is held in a nation that refuses to toe Washington’s line of approach. Western media projects a “wave” blowing in favour of a certain candidate who is seen as pro-Washington. On the day of counting, social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube releases “results” hours before the actual announcement and declare their candidate victorious. The more time it takes to declare the actual result the more is it projected as “efforts to sabotage” results. The western news agencies report it and the same report is re-published in millions of newspapers around the world. Welcome to Destabilisation 2.0.

It is no secret that the western powers have been operating destabilisation programs for decades in order to oust far-off, democratically chosen regimes that don't capitulate to their whims. Iran too had its share of such onslaughts. However, with the advent of new media, things have changed for worse. “Although there is a perception that western media is independent, it is not so. The difference is, in the East there is government censorship and in the West there is corporate censorship,” says Mark Mazzetti, a senior analyst with The Times, while talking to TSI. For example, in the entire stretch of 20th century, BBC and CNN have not opposed actions by their respective governments that are considered illegitimate by International community – Nuking Japan, Vietnam War, Falklands war, Coup in Iran and South America to name a few. In the same light, it is ironical how state run media in other countries are called “non-independent” and BBC as independent when BBC is funded by the British government.

It was no different in Iran. Startling revelations about conduct of media and its dependence on social networking sites have appeared as dust has settled. Let’s discuss it one by one. The first one is about BBC. During the entire unrest BBC failed to show pro-Ahmadinejad and pro-Khamenai rallies prominently. The pro-Mousavi rallies got all the coverage. But on 17th June, it did the unspeakable. It published a Getty Image of pro-Ahmadinejad rally with the caption saying “Pro-Mousavi rally”. It conveniently cropped the part that showed Ahmadinejad addressing the supporters. The actual image was published in LA Times. When caught, BBC tendered apology and changed the caption to “Both sides held rally”. Ahmadinejad’s name was conspicuously still missing.


Similarly, relying on the Twitter feed, in a separate story, it also claimed that “Nearly three million Mousavi supporters participated in the rally.” Independent sources put the number at few hundred thousand.

It is interesting how Twitter mislead mainstream media that otherwise feel proud of their professionalism. CNN, for example, broadcast an interview with a so-called anonymous “bystander” of June 24th protests in Tehran’s Baharestan Square, with the aim of portraying Iranian security forces as rogues. CNN claimed that its “regular Twitter informer” said there has been a “massacre” at Baharestan Square. CNN tried to confirm it by the subsequent interview. It was broadcasted promptly. As it happened, other media organisations released video of that day’s protest including Press TV. The video showed no baton attack leave alone firing and “massacre”. It was later revealed that the woman “bystander” actually called from Paris with the call routed via Tehran! CNN tendered apology shortly. On the other hand, a Saudi owned satellite TV actually showed how to make a Molotov Cocktail.

In fact, a cursory view on the Twitter accounts that were spreading “news” about Iran protests signals possible involvement of Israeli and CIA operatives. Thousands of Tweets and retweets claiming that the vote was a fraud, calling for dissent in Iran, and even urging supporters to hack different Iranian news websites, filled the cyberspace. Most of them were retweets that carried the Tweets by three major participants – StopAhmadi@twitter.com, IranRiggedElect@twitter.com, Change_for_Iran@twitter.com. The search for the address gave a link to, surprise surprise, The Jerusalem Post, an Israeli pro-Zionist newspaper. In fact, Jerusalem Post actually ran the story about 3 people "who joined the social network mere hours ago have already amassed thousands of followers." Why would a mainstream newspaper post a story about 3 people who “Just Joined Twitter” hours earlier? Is that newsworthy? In fact, Post was the first and the only news source that talked about these 3 spammers. And mind you, it was three days before Iran stopped foreigners to report from streets. Why would you need Twitter before that?

Now take a cursory look on these spammers. All of them have very few “friends” but lots of “followers”. They all created their Twitter accounts on Saturday, June 13th, on the eve of results. With extremely few exceptions, each was posting in English and approximately half of them had the same profile photographs. “It is not hard to see that these were fakes and originated from Israel rather than Iran. It is hilarious how all these posts are in English when extremely few people know the language in Iran,” says Alexander McNabb, an analyst with Media Monitoring Group while talking to TSI.

When exposed, The Jerusalem Post quickly edited the story and removed the names. However, screenshot of the previous story was saved.

There is ample proof that most of these so called Iran feeds on Twitter were generated outside Iran. During the outrage, as many as 3000 Twitter members changed their location and time-zone to Tehran and GMT +3:30 respectively. Twitter admitted the sabotage. Twitter CEO Evan Williams says, “People did change their locations.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Some bumps ahead but not a dead end

plagued by labour unrest, auto majors in INDIA May have cause for worry, yet doubts about the country's capability to be a global hub are unfounded, reports Pawan Chabra

For the global automotive industry majors, India has for a long time been a favoured driveway. With companies like Hyundai, Toyota and even Ford choosing this country as their manufacturing hub, the sector is enjoying one of its best growth phases ever. However, one cannot deny that this is a labour intensive industry and it has hence been buffeted by recurring incidents of labour unrest in the country. Industry watchers claim that India (which is currently the second largest two-wheeler market in the world after China) is well on course to becoming the seventh largest passenger car market worldwide (currently the eleventh largest) by 2016. However, the current labour problems that are looming large over companies like Rico, Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India Limited (HMSI) and Sunbeam in the Gurgaon-Manesar belt have once again ignited the debate on whether India can indeed grow into a major hub for automotives in such a scenario. The billion-dollar quation to be asked is: will such incidents slow down the growth of the Indian automotive industry in the long run?

The problems started with the strike at HMSI’s plant when the majority of the 5,500 workforce decided to launch a 'go- slow' in August. As a result of the action, production at the HMSI plant dropped by over 50%. HMSI filed a petition in the court threatening to take its operations out of India. In fact, the company has stopped taking orders for some of its models with the back-order touching 1.4 lakh units leading to a production loss of over Rs 300 crore for about 75,000 units of two-wheelers. Similarly, Rico, which supplies to giants like Maruti Suzuki and Hero Honda (market leaders in their respective segments) has been facing severe labour problems for the past one month. At present almost 95% of its 3,500 workers are on strike.

The protest became dangerous after a worker, Ajit Kumar Yadav, 26, died when police fired on agitating employees of the auto component manufacturer. In fact, the auto belt in the region of Gurgaon-Manesar was rocked by the industrial unrest that had been simmering for the past few months. About 8,000 workers walked off their jobs as the Communist Party of India-affiliated trade union, All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) mobilised a protest against the death of the worker. The picture gets clearer when one looks at the issues from the workers’ point of view. “We are fighting here for our rights and the management has no right to exploit workers,” asserts Chander Jeet Singh, a member of the Rico’s employees union. “After all, it is also in our interest to keep our jobs. We didn’t do this to threaten the management,” said another worker protesting against the company.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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On a downward spiral

It is extremely difficult for a sensitive Tamil to be “objective” and “dispassionate” about recent happenings in Sri Lanka. At the end of the Fourth Eelam War, when the war against the Tigers degenerated into a war against Tamil civilians, many of us were demanding that the government of Tamil Nadu should impress upon the government of India to immediately mobilise international opinion and work out a mechanism, acceptable to both Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), to rescue Tamil civilians from the war zones and escort them to “safe havens” manned by UN organisations. During this worst period in Tamil history, India did not come to the rescue of the Tamils trapped and subjected to savage bombing by the Sri Lankan Air Force. On the question of the rehabilitation of the Internally Displaced People, herded like cattle in the Manik Farm, without proper food, medicine and water and denied the basic right of freedom of movement in their own country, our plea for speedy rehabilitation has fallen on deaf ears. Tamils in Tamil Nadu are helpless and we feel let down that the self-proclaimed champions of overseas Tamils have developed feet of clay.

The degeneration of Sri Lanka from one of the torchbearers of social and human development into one of the most notorious killing fields of the world is a direct offshoot of the failure of nation building. The Mahatma once said the greatness of a nation depends upon how well it treats its minorities. The attempt to build the nation on the basis of the language and religion of the majority Sinhalese community, excluding all just claims of the minority groups, led to gradual parting of ways. The violence of the militants was met by the savage counter-violence of the state. Fanned by intolerance and self-righteousness, political assassinations became common.

When the ethnic conflict started in 1983, many of us justified the violence of the Tigers as a natural response of a victim against an oppressor. But gradually the civilian population became victims of savage acts of terrorism; the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991 created a big divide between Velupillai Prabhakaran and what should have been his support base in India. Other dastardly assassinations followed – Amirtalingam, Neelan Truchelvam, Lakshman Kadiragamar, Ketheeswaran – which created a sense of revulsion among one-time supporters of the Tigers.

If one takes an overview of Sri Lankan history, the victims of assassination were not merely Tamils, but also Sinhalese leaders. And among the heads of government who were assassinated in Sri Lanka, two are extremely important – Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike and President Premadasa – because both represent two distinct turning points in modern Sri Lankan history.

Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike was the first Sinhala leader to transform elite politics into mass politics. This Oxford-educated scholar gave up his western dress and Christian religion and championed the cause of the vernacular elite, traditional Buddhism, Sinhala language and literature.

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An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Remembering Indira

A quarter century after her assassination, the legacy of Mrs Gandhi lives on in the nation's political arena

“She put Nixon in his place”

The man who served in the Prime Minister’s secretariat during Indira Gandhi’s early years at India's helm assesses her achievements and enduring legacy

I am committing the ultimate act of immodesty by quoting from one of my books: “So often Indira Gandhi is depicted as solemn and serious. Seldom is it mentioned that this graceful, sparkling, engaging human being was a caring humanist, a voracious reader, with wide-ranging non-political interest, that she was endowed with charm, elegance, good taste, that she enjoyed the company of artists, authors, poets, painters and the talented, that she had a sense of humour…” When she was assassinated on October 31, 1984, the spring went out of my life.

I had the great opportunity to work in her secretariat (not PMO at the time) from 1966 to 1971. I was the first member of the IFS to be personally chosen by her to be a member of her staff. At the time Prime Minister’s secretariat was a small, well-knit unit. Esprit de corps was much in evidence. One interacted with the Prime Minister almost on a daily basis. She was in many ways a liberating force. She approved of candour, humour, loyalty, discretion. She had no time for the pompous, the cautious, the calculating and the pretentious. The pompous were deflated by one severe look that reduced the man/woman to (metaphorically) asking for blood transfusion. The collapse was instant.

How do we assess her achievement after a quarter century? Her great father laid the foundations of a democratic, secular, pluralistic India. His daughter strengthened the foundations and carried his idea of India further. During the seventeen years of Nehru’s term in office only once the green lights turned red – 1962. For her, the angels stopped fluttering in 1975 – Emergency – and 1984 – Operation Bluestar.

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An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Going, going. Gone?

The only party in Assam, that not only gave the Congress a run for its money but also defeated it in two Assembly elections, the Asom Gana Parishad, seems to be on its deathbed, Monalisa Gogoi writes

For the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the issue is no longer about winning elections. The party, that defeated the mighty Congress in two Assembly elections, is suffering from bitter internecine conflict. The results of the vicious infighting are beginning to manifest. The AGP seems on its deathbed, having lost 10 straight elections at various levels, a party with which no one wants to stay anymore. The crutch of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that, it had hoped will help it to stay on its feet lies broken, with the national party having reaped more benefits from the desperate marriage.

The latest to quit the party include former AGO general secretary and former general secretary of the powerful All Assam Students’ Union (Aasu) Prabin Boro and Phani Pathak, an AGP candidate in the last Assembly polls. The reasons for departure can be traced to the fact that the AGP has failed to deliver on just about every front, economic, political and regional. While it was in power, it did nothing to address the foreign nationals’ problem in the state, an issue that had got them elected in the first place.

“I was made the spokesperson of the party and yet not allowed to speak to anyone. Senior leaders questioned my abilities,” says Boro, who, unlike many of his Bodo community, chose to join the AGP, even when Bodo factions set up their own militant and political fronts thereby wiping out the AGP’s presence from such areas. The Bodo People’s Front (BPF) eventually became a part of the current ruling Congress coalition. “The AGP,” says Boro, who has now joined the BPF, “is now a club. They have no place for young leaders and that is the main cause of the decay. The AGP’s losing spree is the result of the decisions of its leaders.” The problem is endemic. “I now keep myself confined to Tezpur,“ says Brindaban Goswami, a former president of the party, and MLA from Tezpur, who at one stage had unseated Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, the former Aasu president who later headed two AGP governments. “No one looks for me anymore,” Goswami now says, having handed over the reins of the party to current president Chandramohan Patowary, who, too, has had a disastrous run, leading the party from one defeat to another. Scores of grassroot cadres in districts such as Sonitpur and North Lakhimpur have abandoned the AGP in search of greener pastures. Having lost the last Lok Sabha elections, Arun Sarma, a two-time parliamentarian, is now back as professor at the Veterinary College in Guwahati.

Attempts to improve the situation now verge on the desperate, if not ridiculous. The only change that has been visible in the AGP during its downslide is the direction of the main gate at its headquarters. When Mahanta was around, it faced the east. During Brindaban Goswami’s time, it was changed to the north. Now, with Patowary, it is back to the north after having been changed to the east once in between. In the absence of political acumen, it is now Vaastu that now rules the precincts of the AGP headquarters. Phani Bhushan Choudhury, a senior leader who, in October, 2008, fought tooth and nail to unite the various factions of the AGP — Mahanta’s AGP (Progressive) and senior rebel leader Atul Bora’s Trinamool Gana Parishad (TGP) — before the Lok Sabha elections responds by disconnecting the phone when asked about the AGP’s current Vaastu manifesto.


“Every leader has his choice,” explains Apurba Bhattacharjee, a party general secretary. An unnaturally thin gathering of party cadres at the head office on the AGP’s foundation day this month is just an indication of where the party stands with the people in the state. Having ruled the state through two terms, the party now has 24 seats in a Legislative Assembly of 126. Its regional base among indigenous communities such as the Karbis, Bodos, Misings, and the tea garden workers’ community is all but gone, with most communities having successfully formed their own political fronts. Repeated attempts to contact Patowary for an estimate of affairs in the party failed, the staple answer being, “I’m in a meeting.”

It’s tragic for a party that 856 students had died to set up. They laid down their lives in the six-year-long Assam Agitation under Aasu leadership in the 1970s and ‘80s. Just about nothing seems to be able to stem the decay that now eats into the very core of the AGP. First came the vertical split in the party and forming of the Natun Asom Gana Parishad (NAGP) in 1990-91 by Bhrigu Kumar Phukan, a close associate of Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. After the two factions came together in 1994, came the expulsion of Prafulla Mahanta who, then, formed the AGP (P) about five years ago while Atul Bora formed the TGP. It was only a year ago that the factions came together to fight under the AGP banner. The Purbanchaliya Lok Parishad (PLP), a respected political group too joined the AGP, thanks to the efforts of a few who wanted a united Opposition in the state. Yet the Lok Sabha elections proved disastrous, one that is widely blamed on the AGP’s lack of courage to go it alone. The right-wing BJP walked away with four seats while the AGP was left with one.

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Blindsight: Yoga and Islam

Rajaque Rahman, a devout Muslim, is a former journalist now engaged in teaching yoga-based spiritual programmes, as part of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation. To him, both – Yoga and Islam – have common goals…

Recent fatwas forbidding Muslims from doing yoga have left many confused about what Islam really says about it. Malaysia’s National Fatwa Council and Indonesian Ulema Council’s edicts on the ground that yoga will erode their faith in the religion reflect a complete ignorance about the discipline of yoga.

As the Quran and Hadith have nothing specific that deign the practice of yoga haram, the ulemas based the ruling on their own concocted fear of supposedly ‘Hindu’ elements of yoga destroying the faith of a Muslim. The best way to allay their fear is to look at the Hindu philosophy on yoga and see how and where it contradicts the tenets of Islam.

Yoga simply means uniting with the self. Maharishi Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras starts by calling itself an enunciation in union. The asanas, the practice of which is the focal point of these fatwas, are just one way of attaining that union. Is striving for such a union with the self against Islam? It cannot be. For, Prophet Muhammad has said, “He who knows his own self knows his Lord.” So anything done in pursuit of knowing the Lord will count as a meritorious act of following the Prophet. So yoga as a spiritual pursuit is very much permissible in Islam.

The best explanation of why yoga is not just permissible, but also desirable for Muslims is to be found in the second sutra of the Yoga Sutras. Yogas Chitta Vritti Nirodhah. It means yoga is stopping all the modulations of the mind. Ceasing all the outward activities of the mind and reposing in Allah is the ultimate goal of Islam. Prophet Muhammad said, “I have a time with God to which even Gabriel, who is pure spirit, is not admitted.” Hence, the soul of prayer is a complete absorption, a state without room for any outward thoughts which is also the ultimate purpose of yoga. So doing yoga asanas as a means of attaining a thoughtless state will qualify as the highest form of ibadat (prayer).

This leaves only one ground for orthodox mullahs to frown at yoga: that yoga stems from polytheist beliefs of Hinduism. But when yoga means union, how can it be linked to polytheist beliefs? In fact, yoga takes one away from polytheism and leads to Advaita, which is in perfect agreement with the Islamic doctrine of tauhid (oneness of God).

It’s universally proven that yoga brings peace of mind, and on that count yoga is almost obligatory for Muslims. For the Quran says, “The only religion with Allah is Islam.” As Islam means peace, peace of mind is a prerequisite for one to be truly following Allah’s only religion.

Outweighing all these synergies of yoga is the discomfort among Muslims in chanting certain sounds, particularly Om which generally forms a part of yoga. This uneasiness is caused again by lack of knowledge about what Om signifies and why it’s chanted. Contrary to the general misconception, Om isn’t a name of a God or a prayer to a particular God. Om is a universal sound that is chanted for its effect in harmonising one’s being and creating peace within and without. The vibration the sound creates has the power to take one to that state of complete absorption which Prophet Muhammad mentioned as his time with God. That’s why Om and other similar sacred sounds such as Aameen and Amen are normally chanted at the time of supplicating before God. Hindus chant Om before praying for peace, Muslims and Christians chant Aameen and Amen respectively after seeking blessings from God. This proves that the accent is on the resulting state of harmony which helps one connect with God easily.

So doing yoga with the sole intention of attaining a thoughtless state so that one can connect with Allah wouldn’t make one a bad Muslim.

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Frontline waziristan

After smoking out terrorists from Malakand, the army launches operations in Tehreek-i-Taliban stronghold

The audacious attack on the well-protected General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi in broad daylight on October 10 was symbolic in the sense that it sent a clear message that terrorists can strike anywhere in Pakistan with impunity. But it also prompted the Pakistan army to initiate the long-awaited operation against well-entrenched al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in South Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan.

Backed by jet fighters, as many as 28,000 Pakistani troops made a three-pronged attack on the stronghold of slain Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Baitullah Mahsud in South Waziristan on October 17 and reportedly killed 78 militants within three days. The army claims to have captured important strategic heights in the mountains. But the Taliban, who claim not to have lost a single fighter, say they have killed more Pakistani soldiers than the nine reported by the army. Verification is not possible because neither foreign nor local media have been allowed to enter the war zone so far.

Strangely enough, the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) forces vacated more than half a dozen key security check posts on the Afghan side of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border just ahead of the Pakistan army’s operation code named Rahe Nijat against the militants, reported The News, Pakistan’s national English daily.

The move has led to speculation that it will facilitate Afghan Taliban in crossing over to Pakistan, strengthening the local Taliban and al-Qaeda. The army has set up five bases in the region near the Afghan border to try to seal off the Taliban’s main stronghold.

While on one hand, the US leadership is all praise for the operation launched by the Pakistan army; it is trying its best to save the skin of Nato forces even at the cost of creating trouble for Pakistan.

It also implies that since the US has provided more than $5.6 billion in military assistance to Pakistan since 9/11, it perceives that essentially it’s Pakistan that has to bear the brunt of “war on terror” in this part of the world.

“The success of Waziristan operation directly depends on the nature of security arrangements in Afghanistan. If the reports about removal of Nato forces from Afghan borders are true, the entire Waziristan operation will be affected and it will put a very big question mark against American interests towards its professed campaign against terrorism in the region,” Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed, chairman, Pakistan Study Centre, University of Karachi, told TSI.

But Tauseef Ahmed Khan, professor of Mass Communications at the Federal Urdu University of Karachi and a leading political analyst, argued that the report regarding removal of Nato check posts from Pakistan-Afghanistan border might be planted by the establishment.

“The way hawks such as former ISI chief Gen. (retired) Hameed Gul are talking of removal of Nato check posts from Pakistan-Afghanistan borders points out that there is something fishy,” he said.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on October 19 made it clear to Commander, US Central Command, Gen.David Petraeus that as Pakistan was engaged in South Waziristan, infiltration from Afghanistan into Pakistan should be checked by the US and Nato forces.

The Pak PM said his country was fighting on two fronts — Malakand and now in South Waziristan. “While it has won in Malakand, Pakistan is poised to strike a decisive blow to terrorists in South Waziristan. But it has to do more for the socio-economic development in the affected areas to address the root causes of terrorism and economic deprivation of the people,” he has been reported to have told the US general, who called on him at the Prime Minister's House.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Is overkill killing cricket?

It is a game we swear by. but with a frenetic tournament or series unfolding every month, spectator interest is beginning to flag. the writing’s on the wall: excess doesn’t always spell success

The golden goose is bleeding

The often back-breaking and soul-destroying pyrotechnics of Twenty20, could turn out to be a game-changer that world cricket can do without, writes satish chapparike

As Team India takes on the world’s number one-ranked ODI outfit led by Ricky Ponting in a seven-match series at home, will all eyes be on Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s boys? Well, we can’t be sure. The appeal of an Australia-India clash in the one-day cricket arena is immense no doubt, but too much of a good thing can prove counter-productive. Cricket overkill is beginning to take a toll on spectator interest.

Both sides are somewhat depleted owing to injuries picked up by key players in the course of proliferating tournaments. The Indian team in particular has the looks of a recovery ward of a general hospital. Aggressive openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag and dashing all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, a crucial trio, are coming off injuries.

And what’s happening in Sachin Tendulkar’s body and mind? Only he himself has the answer. He is not getting any younger. Although he still pulls more than his weight in the side, he is far more injury-prone now than he has been ever before in his long, illustrious career.

Consider Dhoni's case. He is the busiest player in world cricket today. Since November last year, he has played five Test matches, 25 ODIs and eight T20 internationals, all of them as captain. In between, Dhoni played in the domestic Challengers and Corporate Trophy tournaments. That apart, his calendar is overflowing with non-cricketing commitments. He is at present the most sought after brand ambassador in India and the market loves him. Money is flowing into his bank account all right, but it is pushing him to the verge of snapping point..


Then we have younger players like Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma in the middle order. Though both are talented, neither has lived up to his billing yet.

Among the bowlers, pace spearhead Zaheer Khan is out of action. Munaf Patel is returning from a long lay-off. Irfan Pathan has gone into a limbo. And the temperamental Sreesanth has all but vanished from the scene. This has left the selectors with rather limited options: Ishant Sharma, R.P. Singh, Ashis Nehra and Praveen Kumar. The quartet looked all at sea during the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa.

“Too much of cricket is having a negative impact on players as there is no respite for international cricketers. Indian players are especially busy. Everybody is in a hurry to grab as much as possible as quickly as possible. They are paying a price for it,” says former India wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani.

It is not as if Australia is free from injury worries. Michael Clarke and Callum Ferguson, the backbone of the Aussie middle order during their ICC Champions Trophy triumph, are injured. Australian speedster Brett Lee has only recently recovered from injury.

An overdose of cricket is pushing the players over the edge and wrecking their technique. Young cricketers are picking up bad habits in the T20 arena – these are becoming increasingly difficult to shrug off. Players have little time to go back to the nets to iron out the chinks. Former selection committee chairman Dilip Vengsarkar, speaking exclusively with TSI, said: “Injuries are a part and parcel of a game. But players must know how to manage themselves.”

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Police needs protection

The move has created deep & widespread resentment

A vulnerable Gujarat Police has sought and been granted permission to post guards outside all state police stations. A Police Bhavan notice says armed guards will protect all security personnel and police establishments round the clock.

There were moves to station them sixth months back, but for some reason the proposal was then shelved.

The recently implemented order has raised question whether law enforcers should be given protection. The common refrain is what kind of cop is he who can’t protect himself?

Local newspapers are full of reports of murder, rape, kidnapping and robbery. And how bad the state of affairs is has been acknowledged by state home minister Amit Shah himself. Shah startled all in the Lower House when he read out the gruesome details: 191 cases of murder, rape, robbery and loot in Ahmedabad alone in the past two years.

It is shameful that Ahmedabad police have failed to nab a single culprit in 41 cases of murder, 11 of robbery and 735 of loot. Between June 2006 and May 2009 the city witnessed 267 cases of murder, 59 of robbery and 1,254 of loot.

Rape cases too have shot up steeply. The 2009 crime statistics show that at least one woman in the state is raped every day. This has made the case for guarding policemen all the more untenable.

While there is indeed a comic element in it, women activists do not find the police department’s move in the least funny. An activist who did not wish to be identified said the state’s cops were a lethargic and corrupt lot, and thus had no business to squander taxpayers’ money to pay for their own protection.

What the police should be doing, say crime watchers, is to institute the long needed reforms that have so far remained in office files. Like some other states, Gujarat too faces severe shortage of security personnel. These same guards could be used to bolster police manpower in the crime-hit areas.

But the police will have none of this. Argues RJ Sawani, commandant of the SRP group at the ONGC camp, Mehsana: “It is nothing new for the police department to have guards protecting their establishments. As a matter of fact it has all along been a tradition, and there is a provision for granting such a facility in the Police Manual. All security norms have a place for it. In Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkhand police stations are easy targets for Maoists, and hence the need for security.” According to him people are as safe as their protectors are.

But this is what the officer says; among the people the move has created deep and widespread resentment. And this anger mounts as steadily as the crime graph climbs. This is one more problem that the cops in this violence-ridden state are having to cope with.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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“Nanotechnology will not compete with nature”

As chairman of the scientific advisory council to the prime minister and the national nano mission council, and honorary president & linus pauling research professor at the jawaharlal nehru centre for advanced scientific research, professor cnr rao’s credentials as the father of indian nanotechnology are far from ‘nano’. the pragmatist’s views on the futurists’ fancies…

Do you agree with Ray Kurzweil when he suggests that in the future, nanobots will substitute for RBCs, and bionic hearts will perform critical functions, and that “we can look forward to a world where humans become cyborgs, with artificial limbs and organs"?

I do not believe nanoworld is a fantasy world. It will be based on high science and technology. One should not therefore create a picture of a world where the functions of the heart or blood will all be replaced by something nano. I think that we will have technologies similar to what we have today except that they will be miniaturised. We would have transistors which are extremely small and computers which are very tiny. The main thing is that we will be using very tiny materials and tiny devices to accomplish the same objective. We will probably use nanotechnology in nanomedicine, medical imaging and such applications.

Nanotechnology sounds like competition to nature; is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Nanotechnology will not compete with nature. This is a completely wrong idea. I have been doing research in this area for more than twenty years; I have not seen any occasion where I have to think of something that would compete with nature. In fact, we will borrow ideas from nature to do things in the laboratory. For example, nature has always used the concept of self-assembly and we use the same concept in nanotechnology.

In brief, what is the role of nanoscience in medicine? In what ways does nanoscience bear upon longevity/immortality?

In medicine, nanoscience and technology have many benefits. For example, in delivery of drugs we can use nano delivery systems, which will give slow release in small quantities as required medicine. In addition, gene delivery would be possible. More importantly, tissue engineering which will help in building new types of organs (which are lost or damaged) would have great applications. For example, if we can grow a new spinal cord or artificial skin, it would be wonderful. There are already applications of nanoparticles of silver and other materials in purification of water and also in creating bandages for burn victims.

The bandages have tiny nanoparticles of silver. Many semiconductor nanoparticles are used widely for biological tagging and in diagnostics.

I do not see nanoscience giving you immortality or longevity. Other things that we are doing in health sciences, medicine and other areas would improve our health. If human beings can live with discipline and use their mind and body properly, the lifespan would be extended. Nanotechnology may contribute to some extent, but will not be a main reason why humans will live longer.

Would nanotechnology be affordable by the masses?

Nanotechnology is affordable by all people. Already, there are many results of nanotechnology which are in common use.

For example, in textiles and cosmetics. Nanotechnology is routinely used in catalysis (in chemical industry) which produces millions of tons of materials used by everybody. When eventually transistors made up of nanotechnology will come about, everybody will use them. It is not as if only rich countries will have the benefit.

Would nanotechnology have to contend with moral and ethical concerns, much like abortion and stem cell research issues?

The main ethical concerns one has in nanotechnology relate to toxicological uses. We have to be careful and make sure that we do not work with free nanoparticles and nanotubes and such materials in open laboratories and elsewhere in such a way as to cause damage to health. Lot of research is being pursued on toxicological effects of nanomaterials. On the positive side, nature itself has large quantities of nanoparticles floating around, yet they do not seem to have caused much harm. I would certainly advise people not to eat nanotubes for breakfast and be careful in general. We should not use nanomaterials inside biological systems without knowing their toxicological effects. Use in other devices may not cause any harm.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Jagan Jolted

YSR’s son is rising no more. Naresh Nunna finds out why the high command won’t have him

The Congress has been quietly ignoring the shenanigans of the YS Jaganmohan Reddy camp. Jagan acolytes, scared that their power centres might crumble if the dynastic principle were not upheld, had first threatened to resign en masse. Some even went so far as to tear off Sonia Gandhi’s posters amidst rallies and hunger-strikes – but the Congress called their bluff. On the other hand many others in Andhra Pradesh kept wondering why none from YSR’s own family figured in the 600 “shock deaths” after his helicopter crashed on September 2. Though of course right now what everybody wants to know is not whether these figures were manipulated, but what might lie in store for Jagan. He and his followers minted crores, while the common man was bought off with poorly funded welfare schemes.

“The orchestrated demand for installing Jagan as successor was because YSR loyalists feared losing their power base if anyone else was placed at the helm,” a senior Congress politician told TSI on condition of anonymity. Significantly, Congress spokespersons and senior leaders, including Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Shakeel Ahmed, Jayanti Natarajan and Manish Tewari, have been insisting that the present CM Rosaiah is not a temporary fixture. This is as unambiguous a signal to the Jagan camp as can be – that the man should consider himself out of the race. Incidentally, the income-tax department is believed to have sent notices to companies owned by Jagan and their investor companies.

Jagan’s companies have been making news for all the wrong reasons. For instance a rival of the late YSR has alleged that Jagan leveraged his father’s position to raise money from industrialists in a favours-for-equity quid pro quo. Jagati Publications, owned by Jagan, raised money from business houses such as India Cements (Rs 34.02 crore), Lanco, Eres Projects Pvt. Ltd, part of the Ramky group(Rs 7.77crore), Trident Life Sciences Ltd (Rs.6.8 crore), sister concern of Aurobindo Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Gilchrist Investments Pvt. Ltd (Rs 52.66 crore), Matrix Laboratories Ltd and Hetero Drugs Ltd (Rs 13.12 crore), Karvy group, Pioneer Infrastructure (Rs 19.44 crore) and Sandesh Labs Private Limited (Rs 23.44 crore) of Tanla Solutions Ltd.


When Telugu Desam Party leader and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged that there was a nexus between the government and the companies, most of the firms claimed that the investments were made by the owners’ family members in their personal capacities.

“Jagan bought over a sleeping company Sandur Power Generation Ltd in Karnataka and hydel power generation began after his father YSR became CM. The same year Rs 124.60 crore were raised by allotting 1.75 crore shares of Rs 10 face value at a premium of Rs 61 to Mauritius-based Shell companies 2 i-Capital and Flurry Company. In 2005 nearly a dozen companies were floated as subsidiaries of Sandur Power. Carmel Asia Holdings is one of those subsidiaries,” says Telugu Desam leader Nagam Janarthan, who filed a PIL in the high court challenging the allotment of thousands of acres of government land to the Jagan-owned Brahmani Steels. According to him, Sandur Power invested Rs 15 crore in the Carmel Asia Holdings and purchased shares at a face value of Rs 10. “The CM’s son generated Rs 82 crore by divesting 31 lakh shares of Carmel Asia Holdings with a premium of Rs 253 crore (Rs 263 running rate),” he adds.

Jagan launched two other subsidiaries for Carmel – Jagati Publications and Indira Television – and taking advantage of the political clout and interest shown by “opportunistic” industrialists the Jagan clique raised hundreds of crores by hiking the share premium up to Rs 350 per share of Rs 10, he says.

The high command is said to be closely monitoring these, as also Athena Energy, which is planning to generate 14000MW within seven years, and the Rs 6,500-crore Bharathi Cements (earlier Raghuram cements) of Jagan. “The high command understands that the desperation in the Jagan camp is simply due to fears that their fortunes might melt down if Jagan is not made CM. Madam (Sonia) has also noticed this,” say well placed sources in the AICC who monitor Andhra affairs. That puts the biggest question mark yet on Jagan’s succession prospects. According to the same sources, 10 Janpath also sniffed the interests of YSR-loyalists, who are moving heaven and earth to ensure Jagan’s accession.

Senior Congress leaders from Karnataka, including Veerappa Moiley, Mallikarjuna Karge, SM Krishna, Muniyappa and Oscar Fernadez, are also known to be against Jagan, who is a business-partner and close associate of Gali Janardhana Reddy, a cabinet minister in the BJP government in Karnataka. During the general elections Gali Janardhana Reddy was slinging mud at Sonia when she contested from Ballari against Sushma Swaraj. The man had allegedly been funding the BJP campaign from the earnings he made, thanks to the corrupt assistance received in Andhra Pradesh during the YSR regime. It was also alleged that YSR stayed out of the Congress campaign in Karnataka’s Telugu-speaking areas to avoid embarrassing Janardhana Reddy.

Meanwhile present Chief Minister K Rosaiah is being supported by several senior Congress leaders, including V Hanumantha Rao, K Kesava Rao and Uppunutala Purushotham Reddy. Besides, pressure along caste lines is mounting on the high command that Rosaiah should continue as CM. Rosaiah hails from the Vysya community – one that rarely had the privilege of heading a state.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Delhi/ NCR B- Schools get better
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