1000 Rupees notes garland for Mayawati

Look at how money is being used in public in UP. Earlier they started using crores of money to build the statues of Mayawati and other leaders of SP, now 1000 rupees notes garland made for Mayawati. Where does this much money come from. Is it the tax money of people or is it the corruption money being used. Isnt there any account of such things in uttar pradesh.

Read On..

It was a one woman show at the BSP rally marking the 76th birth anniversary of its founder Kanshi Ram today with chief minister Mayawati being presented a garland made of hundreds of Rs.1000 notes while other leaders were literally relegated to the background.

The garland also attracted the attention of the crowd at Ramabai Ambedkar maidan as they could not make out from a distance that it was made of currency notes. Some were heard discussing about the "shining garland" and concluded that it could be made of some "imported flowers".

Mayawati, who arrived at the venue on a helicopter amidst sloganeering by supporters led by senior ministers Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Lalji Verma, took the lone chair in the middle of the dais, while all senior party leaders including the Assembly speaker Sukhdev Rajbhar sat much behind her or were standing.

Members of Bahujan Volunteer Force, assigned the task of controlling the cadres during such rallies, could not stop themselves from breaking into a jig during a cultural show at the event. Men and women donning blue danced enthusiastically to songs in praise of the BSP chief and she looked on.

Source: www.dnaindia.com, 15th March 2009

TED India Talks: Shashi Tharoor - Why India is becoming the "soft" power

India is fast becoming a superpower, says Shashi Tharoor -- not just through trade and politics, but through "soft" power, its ability to share its culture with the world through food, music, technology, Bollywood. He argues that in the long run it's not the size of the army that matters as much as a country's ability to influence the world's hearts and minds.

About Shashi Tharoor

Author and activist Shashi Tharoor is a member of Parliament and the Indian minister of state for external affairs.

In May 2009, Shashi Tharoor was elected to Parliament, representing the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala. As a minister for external affairs, he's charged with helping India engage with the world -- taking meetings around the globe, and ensuring that Indian citizens know how their country is connecting with the rapidly internationalizing world. (His mission also includes improving the operation of local passport offices.)

Before entering politics, Tharoor spent almost three decades with the UN as a refugee worker and peace-keeper, working as a senior adviser to the Secretary-General. Meanwhile, he maintained a parallel career as a writer, producing three novels, a biography of Nehru and several collections of essays on literature and global affairs (plus hundreds of articles for magazines and journals). He was the UN Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information under Kofi Annan, and was India's candidate in 2006 for the post of Secretary-General. He left the UN in 2007.

"Mr. Tharoor has brought a breath of fresh air into the Indian political scene."
goodnewz.in

Here is the Video:

India Can win Nobel prize for dirt and filth - Jairam Ramesh

Even the ministers are as frustrated as common man when it comes to pollution and dirt control in India. Its easy to say that Indian cities are not clean, they are very polluted, etc., but what are we doing for that. Certain strict measures should be taken immediately so that our environment is saved which results in good health for the people in the future. Even every citizen should do his part in saving their cities from dirt and pollution.

Read On..

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh, known for courting controversy and making candid remarks, on Friday said if there was a Nobel Prize for dirt and filth, India would get it.

Our cities are the dirtiest cities of the world. If there is a Nobel Prize for dirt and filth, India will win it, no doubt,he said at a function to release a report "Green India 2047" by The Energy Research Institute (TERI).

The minister was talking in reference to poor facilities for disposing municipal waste in a majority of Indian cities.

I think our cities have the dubious distinction of being the dirtiest cities in the world. There is no doubt about it. But if there is a Nobel Prize for dirt and filth, India will win it hands down. There is no competition for that and we have to do something dramatic on municipal solid waste, Ramesh said.

The report he released states that unclean air and water could be responsible for the death of eight lakh people every year in the country.

Our limited analysis suggests that unclean air and water may be taking a toll in terms of over eight lakh deaths in the country each year and morbidity costs amounting to 3.6% of GDP, the report said.

R K Pachauri, head of TERI and chairman of the Nobel-winning UN IPCC said, It is important for every sector and every section of society to understand that protecting the environment is not a luxury. Its an intimate part of promoting the economic welfare of people.

He added that about 45% of the population did not have access to safe drinking water and the air quality was poor in most Indian cities.

Source: Times Of India, 21 November 2009

Shiv Sena Activists attack on IBN Lokmat channel's Office: Video

India is facing more problems in regionalism and national integrity these days especially after recent attacks on North Indians by MNS in Maharashtra. If this goes on like this, the day is not too far that India itself will be splitted into different parts based on this meaningless regionalism. Indians should first stop this and stop fighting against each other.

Few days back Sachin Tendulkar said "Mumbai belongs to all Indians. I am a Maharashtrian and am extremely proud of that. But I am an Indian first" . What was wrong in that statement. Shiv Sena started attacking sachin through media saying that what he said was against maharashtrians and marathi manoos. This was not enough to them, they later attacked the IBN news channel in mumbai.

CCTV captures the moment right wing Shiv Sena activists launch an attack on the offices of television channel IBN Lokmat in India's western Mumbai.

At least 25 people were hurt when an angry mob of 20-25 activists barged into the office of the channel at around 1600 (1130GMT).

Armed with rods and cricket bats, the mob damaged computers, furniture, glass partitions and other electronic equipment. The attack on the IBN offices was allegedly sparked by negative reports about the Shiv Sena and its chief Balasaheb Thackeray.
Media networks across the country have condemned the incident, saying it amounts to a clear attack on press freedom. Police have arrested seven people in connection with the incident.

Look at the way the activists are attacking the journalists inside their office. Disgusting.

Here is the Video:



According to a channel staffer, the Sena activists barged into the channel office around 4 p.m., shouting slogans in favour of the Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray.

Besides editor Nikhil Wagle, who was slapped, pushed around and had a chair flung at him, three other staffers sustained injuries in the Shiv Sena activists' attack.

A shaken Wagle said that some of the activists launched a brutal attack on the journalists and other staffers in the office, they caused extensive damage to the office, furniture and fittings there.

"The attack was preplanned, they had come armed with sticks and iron rods for creating the mayhem in our offices. They hurled a chair at me," Wagle told media persons.

The Shiv Sena owned up responsibility for the attack later Friday evening, while the vandalism drew condemnation from other political parties.

"The government shall not go soft on the Shiv Sena and the media should boycott the Shiv Sena," a grim Ashok Chavan told media persons Friday evening. The city police nabbed seven and Pune police arrested eight Shiv Sainiks for the attacks.

Home Minister R.R. Patil also condemned the attacks and assured newsmen that stern action would be taken against those involved.

Shiv Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut accused the channel of misquoting Thackeray's observations on cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar in a signed article in the Sena mouthpiece "Saamana" last week.

"This is not an attack on the entire media. The (IBN-Lokmat) channel has been constantly misreporting about Bal Thackeray and targeting the Shiv Sena. We shall not tolerate any criticism of our party chief," Raut, a Sena Rajya Sabha MP, said.

"They also manhandled a few staffers, including women, and editor Nikhil Wagle and others," said Vijay Darda, chairman of the Lokmat group of newspapers that part-owns the channel.

Terming it as "an attack on the freedom of speech and media", Darda said he did not expect this from Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray.

"I have always considered him as a refined, cultured and family person and what has happened has pained us," Darda told IANS.

He said the channel had been running several reports on the debacle of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance in last month's elections to the Mahastrata state assembly.

"They have vented their frustration at the defeat on the journalists and the TV channel, which is highly condemnable," said Darda, a Congress member in the Rajya Sabha.

Darda, whose younger brother Rajendra is a Congress cabinet minister in Maharasthra, said it is "disturbing that the Sainiks have become so bold as to launch attacks on the media without any fear".

CNN-IBN chief Rajdeep Sardesai termed the attacks as "a shame" and condemned the Sena for the attaks.

"Be it the Shiv Sena or the Maharashtra Navnirmaan Sena (MNS), all are anti-social elements. They are spreading a feeling of regional difference amongst the states of the country. We appeal to the Election Commission to cancel the registration of such parties which do not follow the Indian constitution," Rajendra Chaudhary, spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, told IANS.

Source: in.reuters.com,www.tvnext.in, 20 Nov 2009

An Indian who holds 20 Post Graduate University Degrees

Ever wondered of doing a double degree..or may be three...its highly impossible now a days because of various reasons. Here is one guy who holds TWENTY PG University Degrees to his name. I wonder what he would call himself. Nevertheless, a great achievement.

Shrikant Jichkar has had 20 post-graduate University Degrees. Beginning as a Medical Doctor (MBBS and MD ) he did his Law (LL.B.) with Post-graduation in International Law (LL.M.) and his Masters in Business Administration (DBM and MBA) and in Journalism (B.Journ).

He did his Masters in ten subjects:
M.A. (Public Administration) ; M.A. (Sociology) ; M.A. (Economics); M.A. (Sanskrit); M.A. (History); M.A.(English Literature); M.A. (Philosophy); M.A. (Political Science) ; M.A. (Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology); M.A (Psychology).

He got his D. Litt (Doctor of Letters) in Sanskrit. Most of his Degrees are with First Merit and he has obtained 28 Gold Medals. Between 1972 and 1990 he has written 42 university examinations.

Limca Book of Records lists him as the "most qualified" person in India. In 1978 he wrote the UPSC exam, and got into the Indian Police Service; resigned, took the exam again in 1980, got into the Indian Administrative Service only to resign in four months to contest his first general election.

Out of his 42 University exams,he got gold medals in 26 degree exams.He completed most of his degrees from the Shivaji University,Kolhapur.

In 1977, he was elected President of the Nagpur University Student's Council. In 1980 he was elected to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly becoming the youngest MLA in the country at 25 and subsequently became a very powerful government minister holding 14 portfolios at a time. After 12 years in the Maharashtra Legislature he was elected to the Indian Parliament in 1992 where he was MP till 1998. In 1999 he lost the election to the Lok Sabha by a slender margin of 3000 votes in an electorate of 1.4 million voters.

PM Manmohan Singh's security blanket caused the death of a kidney patient

We often face the problem due to security cover of VVIP's. Most common problem is traffic congestion. We need to wait for hours on a signal just to allow the VVIP move smoothly. Why always common man has to suffer?
While important people like the PM need to be given total security cover, there must be better ways of providing it. It’s bad enough when VIP security disrupts traffic on the roads for much longer than needed.
But when a city’s most important hospital becomes off bounds for patients urgently needing life-saving attention, it is totally unacceptable. If providing security to the PM on campus means disrupting the functioning of the hospital’s essential and emergency services, even for a few minutes, the function must be held elsewhere. Ceremonies are not and cannot be more important than saving lives — least of all for a hospital.
Read On ..

Prime minister Manmohan Singh's security blanket caused the death of a kidney patient at the gates of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGI) while the PM addressed a convocation inside.

Sumit Verma, 35, a kidney patient, was rushed from Ambala, 45 km away, after he developed a cardiac problem and needed urgent attention at the PGI emergency. But because of special security arrangements in view of the PM's visit, his van was made to shuttle between PGI's two main gates for over an hour and a half. The patient died before he could reach the emergency ward.

"We reached PGI when the prime minister had just arrived. The cops had sealed the road to the PGI emergency and we were told to use another gate. At the second gate, we were told to go to yet another place and from their directed back to the original gate. This delayed our reaching the hospital and Sumit died," said a family member accompanying the patient.

A large number of other patients, too, faced problems as they were barred from entering PGI till the prime minister left. Inside the hospital, the prime minister lamented that health services in the country were far from satisfactory. He exhorted the research scholars to uphold the motto of "service to the poorest and research for the good of all".

Source: DNA and TOI, 04/11/2009

Minister Ho To Aisa

We elect ministers hoping for a better governance, hoping for a better tomorrow. When we have such ministers existing, what else we can expect from our government.
Read On..

The official car of minister of state in the Uttar Pradesh government, Nand Gopal Nandi, knocked down a school boy and left two others injured before it rammed into a shop on the roadside in Rae Bareli district on Wednesday morning. Surprisingly, instead of arranging for immediate medical attention for the injured, the minister who was in the car when the accident took place, preferred to flee from the site in the police escort vehicle accompanying him. The erring driver of the minister’s car too fled the scene.

Infuriated with the insensitive behaviour exhibited by the minister and his entourage, locals staged a massive protest and blocked the Allahabad highway for a couple of hours demanding immediate arrest of the erring driver and apology from the minister for his inhuman response. It was only after senior police officials reached there and informed the crowd that the erring driver has been arrested that the blockade was lifted.

Reports reaching the director general of police (DGP) headquarters here on Wednesday evening said that the incident took place about 9.30am when the minister of state Gopal Nandi was passing through the Allahabad highway in his motorcade comprising his official red beacon fitted Ambassador car (UP 32 BG 3446), a police escort jeep and a couple of other private vehicles occupied by the supporters of the minister.

The motorcade had barely reached Jigna village under Jagatapur police station on Allahabad highway when the driver of the minister’s car apparently lost control over the wheels and knocked off Saurabh, 15, a local who was cycling his way to school. The car reportedly came to a stop after it rammed into a shop on the roadside but not before hitting two others identified as Anuj and Prem Shanker — both local residents.

Source : Times Of India,22 October 2009