നെയിം ബോര്‍ഡില്‍ എം. ഡി [മെറിറ്റ്]

തിരുവല്ലയിലെ ഒരു ആശുപത്രിയില്‍ തന്റെ ഡിഗ്രികളുടെ പിന്നില്‍ (മെറിറ്റ്) എന്നു പ്രദര്‍ശിപ്പിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന ഡോക്ടറെ പറ്റി കേരളകൌമുദി റിപ്പോര്‍ട് ചെയ്തിരിക്കുന്നു. അധികം താമസിയാതെ, ഇങ്ങനെ ചെയ്യുന്നത് ഐ.എം.എ നിയമവിരുദ്ധമാക്കുമെങ്കിലും, ജനങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് ഗുണമുള്ള കാര്യമാണ്. ഡോക്ടറെ അഭിനന്ദിക്കുന്നു. 
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http://news.keralakaumudi.com/news.php?nid=1fdce0e48a7d2e64ceb097106d6ca157
Posted on: Tuesday, 26 July 2011

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The Padmanabhaswami Treasure

1. King Marthanda Varma usurped the crown from his King Uncle’s son, slaughtering the entire lot including the Nair chieftains who opposed it. The cruelty to the women folk was inhuman. This created extreme public anger against him. To continue would be risky.

2. He suddenly gifted the kingdom to Padmanabha, and told the people that it is the deity's crown and country now; so fight it at your own peril. The brilliant political trick paid off.

3. The treasure consists of plunders from conquered small nearby kingdoms, wealth entrusted for safe keeping by kings and Malabar people fleeing from Tippu, confiscations from enemies of the kings etc. It is not gifts to god by devotees.

4. The Royalty refused to sign the Accession unless they were allowed to keep the Temple as private property [among other real estate, aeroplane etc etc etc]. This was because their private get-away money was stored in the Temple. Duly influenced, VP Menon let them keep it all.

5. The time of the Accession was the time when the Royalty had been shooting people down for about 16 years under Sir. CP's Divanship. Understandably, the people would have shot them all after Independence. They used the sword on Sir. CP, though.

6. The Padmanabha treasure thus has nothing divine about it. It was the Royalty’s slush get-away money. It has blood on it. Only what is left of it after private utilisation through the years, is now being discovered.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE PADMANABHA TREASURES

A ‘rationalist’ of the conservative genre, opined on TV tonight that the wealth is the people’s and not of the Temple or the Royalty. It should therefore, be converted into currency and utilised to uplift the poor, to raise the BPL folks higher, and for their education and health care. Mr. P.J.Cherian of the Pattanam excavation also endorsed his views. I pity their intelligence, if any.

Churches and mosques also have such hidden treasure, if not already stolen by the Committees. If the Supreme Court or any government tries to excavate them, they would feel the real heat.

Left to myself, I find that the antique value of the stuff can never be estimated nor confirmed. It should therefore be converted into a highly secure Museum which might in time, become the greatest in the world. [I agree that valuables from Trivandrum museum are regularly pilfered.]

However, this is not likely to happen. Sonia Gandhi’s family runs an Indian antique shop in Italy. Subramanian Swami has spoken of it. Stolen antiques from Indian temples used to be smuggled out of India to Italy with the help of the LTTE.

As soon as the first UPA government took charge, the Italian PM was one of the first visitors to India. 15 agreements were signed without much publicity. One of the agreements stipulated that Italian companies be ‘consulted’ and allowed to manage all Indian archeological sites and antique stuff. [Another was to contract the entire Chandrayaan to Italian companies]. Sooner or later therefore, the Italians might step in in the matter of the Padmanabha treasures. If Oommen Chandy plays along, he might even overtake AK Anthony and be President of India soon, as reward.

THIS SHOULD BE STOPPED AT ALL COSTS.

Sonia Gandhi: Supreme power with no responsibility – M.D. Nalapat

In times past, a section of society was treated as “untouchable” by the rest. They were not allowed to approach the others, and if by mistake one of them made physical contact with the “touchable” part of society, the unfortunate individual was put to death. In the south, a section of society was not merely “untouchable” but “unseeable”. This lowest of the low was forced to ring bells or shout out their location, so that others may be warned to keep away. They were not allowed to use the same paths as others did, having to content themselves with moving around inside fields and jungles, out of sight of others. The rigid stratification of society –which after a while became based on birth – helped weaken the different kingdoms within the country such that they became easy prey for invaders from Afghanistan, Arabia, Central Asia and the territory that is modern-day Iran.

One of the few benefits of British rule was the springing up of reform movements within the Hindu religion, many led by thinkers from Bengal. Raja Rammohun Roy and others like him understood that there was no way India could expel the British, unless society itself became more just. For millenia, learning had been confined to a small proportion of the total population. The rest were given no opportunity to study. This state of affairs continued till the Mughal era, when several from the lower orders of society discovered that they could vastly improve their status by adopting the faith of their conquerors. Of course, such individuals could not dream of equality with the Mughal princes and their retinue, just as later on Christian converts in India were still treated as inferior to the British,despite both having the same faith. However, the treatment given to them was far better than the discrimination they had endured when they were in their previous faith, a factor that encouraged a steady flow of converts for several centuries.
Ever since the 1857 uprising, the British in India were reluctant to force social change,or to impose their systems and standards on those who did not want them. Hence the country had to wait till independence in 1947 for laws to get passed that criminalized discrimination on the basis of caste. A section of government jobs was set aside for those from the castes that had suffered discrimination. This was meant to be a temporary measure, but now seems to have become permanent. Thanks to such policies, many from the former “untouchable” castes got educated, and these days, include within their midst some of the country’s most talented people. Since the 1990s, they have begun to vote tactically, such that in several parts of the country, chief ministers have come from their midst. An example is Chief Minister Mayawati of India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. She has proved to be an effective administrator, as well as a determined campaigner.
Should she succeed in coalescing the underprivileged across the country, she may even emerge as India’s first-ever “Dalit” ( or “untouchable”) Prime Minister. At present, her only challenger for such an honour is the telegenic Speaker of the Lok Sabha ( or Lower House of Parliament), Meira Kumar, who entered the Indian Foreign Service due to her studious qualities, is the daughter of the late Jagjivan Ram, who for decades was a Union Cabinet Minister under successive PMs. Each portfolio that he handled was administered well. This columnist’s father was in charge of rural credit at the Reserve Bank,and he used to say that he found Minister Ram to be “the most efficient member of the Cabinet”. His daughter has clearly inherited these qualities, for she is handling her duties as Speaker very well, without once losing her temper. As a senior leader of the Congress Party, Meira Kumar has a chance to be the PM, except that she is scrupulously honest, and hence not popular with other party leaders, most of whom view politics as a means to riches. However, the decision on whether or not she gets selected as a replacement for Manmohan Singh is entirely in the hands of Sonia Gandhi. Of course, the choice of a non-family member to be PM is only in the event that her son Rahul decides not to take up the job. So deep-rooted is loyalty to the Nehru family within the Congress Party that Rahul Gandhi would have the support of 100% of Congress MPs,including current PM Manmohan Singh, if his mother decided to appoint him. His father Rajiv Gandhi was about the same age when he took charge of the country in 1984, and like Rahul today, Rajiv too had zero experience in government before taking up the Prime Ministership.
The steady drumbeat of scandal has lowered the chances of Home Minister Chidambaram or others in the Union Cabinet of ever replacing Manmohan Singh. Each day fresh reports of corruption are emerging, the latest being allegations of favouritism shown to two oil companies, one foreign and the other Indian. Should this scandal become too hot to handle,the way the telecom scam has developed, it is possible that some minister or the other may first be thrown out of the Union Cabinet and thereafter be sent to Tihar jail, the way the former Telecom Minister has been. The calculation would be that the sacrifice of a minister would satisfy the people and douse their anger. However, the reality in India is that although others sign on the files,the real decision-making power vests with Sonia Gandhi. Trusted officials and party members convey her commands to the ministers and even the PM.
Indeed, Manmohan Singh has been honest enough to admit before television cameras that he follows the “orders of Soniaji and Rahulji”
That Sonia Gandhi frequently uses the corporate aircraft of one of the oil companies that is the subject of public
attention is known to mediapersons and others in the national capital. That Sonia Gandhi, her two children and her two sisters travel extensively is equally known. Many times,such visits are made on corporate jets, although no photographer is permitted near the runway when such flights take off and land. The media in India is silent as a mouse about such travels of the First Family of the Republic.
And while the same ministers who dance to her commands get excoriated for possible corruption, Sonia Gandhi herself is kept out of controversy. Recently a Canadian diplomat even wrote in a newspaper that she was among the country’s most determined corruption fighters, an image shared by the foreign media, who give her favourable coverage even as they have now begun to expose the failings of Prime Minister Singh. Indeed, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has become the new “untouchable”, only this time, she is at the top of the heap rather than at the bottom. Whether it is key decisions or changes in personnel, hers is the final – often the only – say. So pervasive is her authority that many are now saying that it would be best for the constitutional fabric of the country if she were to take charge as PM, rather than – as now – exercise power without responsibility.
– Pakistan Observer, Islamabad, June 14, 2010

» Prof. M.D. Nalapat is Vice-Chair, Manipal Advanced Research Group, UNESCO Peace Chair & Professor of Geopolitics, Manipal University, Karnataka State, India.

NOTES ON SABARIMALA AYYAPPASWAMI AND ALANGAD YOGAM

The Notes have been posted as my Comments in BRP Bhaskar's Blog "Kerala Letter' on his blog post captioned 'Does Thazhamon family have a better story than Cheerappanchira and Malayarayans?' of May 28, 2011.

Alangad Yogam is the 'father's yogam'; and Ambalapuzha Yogam is the 'mother's yogam'. What connection does Ayyappan's father have with Alangad, and mother with Ambalapuzha?

Kesari Balakrishna Pillai's 'followers' tell the following story:
In one of his missions, Udayanan first plundered the Avalokiteswara Vihara for the treasures there and then proceeded to the Pandalam palace.

At the Pandalam palace, Kaampillil Panikkar was the Commander of the forces. He was thinking of retirement due to old age, and was training his son at the Palace, to take over.

At the time of Udayanan's attack, the younger Panikkar was away somewhere and the old Commander could not fight off Udayanan.

Udayanan overcame the Pandalam security and took away their Princess, who was the only sister of the King. Their mother had been married in from Ambalapuzha royalty.

After some hours, the younger Kaampillil Panikkar turned up and was grief-stricken to hear about the Princess' abduction. He immediately set off after Udayanan with his available assistants.

They reached Udayanan's camp at nightfall; and consensus was reached to attack at daybreak, for lack of light then.

However, the young Panikkar could not wait, presumed to be due to his emotions for the Princess. And he stole into the Camp alone, and managed to take off with the Princess in the darkness.

On their way back, the Princess who felt that her return would only cause loss of honour to the Royalty, and the consenting Panikkar decided not to return to the Palace, but to go into hiding and be together.

Pandalam was 'padma-dala-puram', with ten 'dalam's or villages; one of which was Ponnambalamedu in the forests. The romantic duo decided to settle at Ponnambalamedu, away from public view.

Eventually, they had a son, who grew up with the animals around, including tigers and leopards.

In one of his hunting expeditions some time later, the Pandalam king happened to pass Ponnambalamedu, and found his lost sister and former Commander-designate. The King requested them to return, and the couple refused. The King then demanded that his nephew, the heir to the throne be given to him. This had to be acceded to, and the King returned after the hunt with a son from the wilderness.

[Another version is that the King, enraged at the Commander-designate after hearing the story from the soldiers who returned to Pandalam, used to raid Ponnambalamedu often and was fought off by the Kampillil Panikkar. In the last expedition, Panikkar could not withstand; and the Royal party killed both parents of Ayyappa and set fire to the village. The King spared the child who was his blood-heir, and took him away with him to the palace.]

Kaampillil is a Nayar family at Muppathadom near Eloor in Ernakulam district. Muppathadom and the surrounding area were parts of the Alangad kingdom.

To get help against Udayanan later on, it was only natural for Ayyappan to go to Alangad and his father’s people. The subsequent story of the defeat of Udayanan in the combined attack by Alangad and Ambalappuzha yogam is known.

Dr.S.K.Nayar mentions Kaampillil Panikkar and Mulleppallil Nayar as being members of Ayyappan’s Alangad battallion. Mulleppalil is reportedly Dr.Nayar’s ancestors as well.

Two groups are now fighting in Court to be the Alangad Yogam, which position gives a lot of privileges at Sabarimala. One is at Manjapra, near Angamaly; and the other is at Alangad village itself. Both places were in Alangad kingdom in olden days. Manjapra group says that they are descendents of the Parvathyakar [pravarthyaar] of the Alangad Raja, entrusted with sending the Petta troupe to Sabarimala every year; and this right makes them the genuine Alangad Yogam. The Alangad set asks how people far away from Alangad village itself could be any Alangad Yogam.

I learned of the Kampillil connection from informal talk with both groups; and happened to learn of Kesari’s version only later on. I went to Muppathadom and met the current members of the family. They have an Ayyappa temple which the locals call the ‘original Alangad Yogam’.

The family has no male heir now. The 70 and above year old ladies that I talked to said that they are not interested in any Yogam recognition. One of them said her son had been the last male heir of the family. After the two other groups started fighting each other in Court over the title, one group sent goons after this heir though he was not involved in the title-battle. They attacked the house and terrorised the young man, who was a non-interfering KSEB worker. The trauma made him ill and he died soon after, while still in his thirties. ‘We don’t want any Yogam or its money, Sir; we want to be left alone’ were their words.

I had been to Cheerappan Chira also; and was only happy to hear their story that Ayyappan was their family member, that 3/4th of his divine powers are in their temple and that Sabarimala has only 1/4th. The 3/4th goes to Sabarimala for Makara Vilakku every year. I think that their selling their version stronger would help Arthunkal Palli also.

At the Arthunkal Palli nearby, I was told that 1. the then priest of the Church [Rev. Fr. Velutha] only recommended and got Ayyappan admitted into Cheerappan Chira Military Academy and 2. Arthunkal Palli was founded by Ayyappan’s first cousin and real son of Pandalam Raja. Sebastian had been the prince’s Christian name on conversion by Zabor Easo at Nilakkal. That is how Arthunkal Palli is ‘St.Sebastian’s Church’.

The Vellalas of Tamilnadu have in their own way, proved that Ayyappan was neither Nayar nor Eazhava; but is ‘Vellaalan Ayyan Ayyappa Swami’.

I write this impromptu and without preparation. By the way, did you ever read the 1920s-written Bhoothanaathopakhyaanam?

Kerala man sells wife for 15000 to buy drinks

Kochi: A man, who allegedly sold his wife for Rs 15,000 in Kerala's Kasaragod district to foot his liquor bills, has been arrested, police said Tuesday.

The arrest, two days ago, was on the basis of a complaint filed by the woman that her husband Prasad (29), a rubber tapper, had allegedly sold her to his close friend Manoj, also a rubber tapper, in January this year, they said.

He was later produced before a court and remanded to 14 days judicial custody. The woman had filed her complaint before the Hosdurg First Class Magistrate court following which the police had been directed to register a case and enquire.

The case was registered last month, Hosdurg Deputy SP Josy Cherian said. The woman, hailing from Choyyankod in northern Kasaragod district, had stated that the two men used to often consume liqour in their thatched house and she was allegedly raped after the money changed hands.

Police said they have no evidence about the money being paid by the second accused. Manoj, who is now absconding.

Manoj had been traced to Kollam by using the tower signals from his mobile, but he managed to give them the slip, police said. Kerala tops the list of states with the highest rate in per capita consumption of alcohol.
http://english.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/contentView.do?contentId=9583697&programId=1073750974&tabId=1&contentType=EDITORIAL&BV_ID=@@@"

WOMAN TECHIE ASSAULTED BY MORAL POLICE IN KOCHI

Woman techie alleges assault by moral police
Story Dated: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 17:58 hrs IST

Kochi: A woman techie returning from work was assaulted at Kakkanad here on Sunday night but police failed to take action on time.

Thasni Banu who works in IT company near Info Park, Kakkanad was returning after her shift when she was approached a group of people who showered abuses on her and assaulted her.

Thasni who was with a friend on a bike was slapped in the face by the men, according to her complaint. According to Thasni her assaulters were playing moral police and warned that the culture in Kochi is not the same as in Bangalore.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has now sought report from the city police regarding the incident.

Why do working women feel unsafe in Kerala?
1. Thank you for highlighting this news item on TV as well. 2. The culprits were drunk. If they had found the lady alone with no male escort, they would have taken her away and raped her somewhere. 3. The Police refused to register her complaint. If she had run into the Police Station alone at that time, it might have been the Police raping her, instead of the drunken goons. 4. The lady has a history of fighting NDF-Police earlier. She deserves an Award for bravery.
R.Sajan, Kochi , 21Jun'11 20:31:02

NOBODY IN KERALA EVEN TO BEG

Beggary on the wane in Kerala: Study
T.K. Devasia
14 June 2011
TRIVANDRUM - Beggary, once regarded as a huge social problem in the southern Indian state of Kerala, is on the wane.

A study by the Kerala Social Security Mission (KSSM) in the three cities of the state found a drastic fall in the number of people seeking alms on the streets. The beggars who were once seen everywhere have become a rare sight now.

A few who were traced by the study team in the cities of Trivandrum, Cochin and Calicut were seen in better pastures with a paradigm shift in their dress, behaviour and modus operandi of begging.

As many as 65 per cent of the beggars were found in religious places, where arms are given as part of the religious ceremony. The beggars have found the religious places a safe haven since there they get not only money but also food and shelter.

“Nobody questions them or disturb them from begging. One cannot demarcate between a beggar and a religious devotee. Being a religious place they are safe and they use this place”, said the study report.

Interestingly, the study team could also spot able bodied and employed people among beggars at the religious places. One such person was a regular employee of the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. He had taken to begging by taking long leave from his office.

Dinesh Bhaskaran, regional director of the KSSM, said many people from the middle class were attracted to begging as they could easily earn Rs300 to Rs500 a day without doing any work. To earn this they need only to sit in one place for a few hours.

Another interesting finding of the study is that 41 per cent of the beggars seen in the cities were non-Keralites from outside the state. About 39 per cent of the beggars resorted to begging under the shade of religion.

Only nine per cent of the beggars had disability and 8 per cent mental and chronic illness that pushed many to begging earlier. Sixteen per cent of the beggars were in the field due to old age. Poverty pushed another 16 per cent to begging.

Professional beggars, who once dominated the field, constituted only six per cent now. The study attributes the decline in the number of beggars to enforcement of anti-begging laws, frequent raids by municipal corporation authorities, and intervention by agencies such as ‘Childline’.

The strong steps taken by the Railway Protection Force and the State police to check the activities of the begging mafia in the wake of many incidents of trapping children as well as the free rice made available to the poor in Tamil Nadu also brought down the number beggars coming form other states. If the declining trend continues, Kerala may soon become a state free of beggar menace.
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what of the begging mafia? it is big business in kerala.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/June/international_June519.xml§ion=international

This fasting Baba died away from the spotlight

Sandeep Rawat: Tribune News Service: Haridwar, June 13

While yoga guru Ramdev hogged the media limelight as religious leaders and political dignitaries made a beeline for the Himalayan Hospital at Jollygrant near Rishikesh to offer him juice to end his fast on Sunday, in another room in the same hospital lay another saint, Swami Nigmanand.

The latter had been fasting for the past two months to save the Ganga. Nigmanand died unsung early this morning. During the action-packed past three days, when the political and religious leaders converged at the hospital to meet Ramdev, no one cared to visit the unconscious young saint.

Swami Nigmanand of Matra Sadan passed away at the hospital at 2.30 am, leaving his followers and even his guru shocked. He had been on fast-unto-death since February 19, 2011, for the 68th consecutive day, when he was forcibly hospitalised by the district administration.

Nigmanand, who died at 34, was agitating against illegal quarrying being carried out in the Ganga river-bed with the alleged connivance of officials and quarrying mafia. After several rounds of litigation in the court, Matra Sadan (to which Swami Nigmanand belonged) won the case against illegal quarrying which still continued, forcing the young saint to observe a fast-unto-death to save the Ganga. The founder of the Matra Sadan Ashram, Shivanand Maharaj, the guru of the deceased, has announced that he too would lay down his life on the burning pyre of his disciple, if the state government failed to carry out a high-level probe into the death.

He also demanded the postmortem of Nigmanand to be carried out by doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, (AIIMS), New Delhi, as they no longer have faith in the district administration. He accused the district administration of playing a role in the death of Nigmanand. There was a raging controversy about how the saint was forcibly taken away by the district administration from his ashram and admitted to the district hospital following deterioration of his health on April 27, 2011. He went into coma. According to his associates, he was allegedly administered poison by the doctors, in connivance with the quarrying mafia. Brahamchari Dayanand, an associate of Matra Sadan, alleged that it was during his treatment at Haridwar hospital that a ‘suspicious’ nurse had injected poison into Nigmanand, after which his condition drastically deteriorated. A FIR was also lodged by the ashram functionaries against the medical superintendent of the government hospital at Haridwar

As his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to the Doon hospital but later referred to the Himalayan Hospital at Jollygrant. He did not regain consciousness and died.

Local people too were upset as the news of Swami Nigmanand’s death reached Haridwar. Many termed him equivalent to a true martyr since he was fighting for a social cause, while the administration and the BJP government did not pay any heed to this movement, probably under the influence of the quarrying mafia.

Motives of the state government have been questioned. Especially under the scanner has been the role of the local minister Madan Kaushik who accompanied Ramdev to Jolly Grant hospital but never visited Swami Nigmanand who had been fasting for more than two months.

For the next two days, Nigmanand’s body will be kept at the premises of the Matra Sadan to enable the devotees as well as the common public to pay their last tributes to the departed saint.

ENDOSULFAN CAMPAIGN - A HOAX ON KERALITES

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/south/vs-seeks-cms%E2%80%99-support-endosulfan-ban-836

This is only a paid and sponsored campaign by some rival company that manufactures costlier pesticides. Shame on all that are taken in by it!
The people of Kerala are being taken for a media ride again, as with the Manchium, goat farms swindles, and the false rosy publicity about the Smart City and other cities.

Disaster happened in Kasargode only because the Plantation Corporation owned by the government, kept on spraying the pesticide indiscriminately from the sky from helicopters, for decades together. Why they did so is clear; they acted at the behest of the helicopter leasers. This is/was an act of biological warfare by the State against its own citizens. PEOPLE WILL SUFFER IF IT IS MERE TALCUM POWDER THAT YOU SPRAY DOWN DAY IN DAY OUT FROM THE SKIES; NOT TO SPEAK OF PESTICIDES.
The pesticide is produced mostly by the public sector HIL and not by any private company alone. Some private interests are trying to dislodge this PSU from the field. For once, Pawar is being fair!

The media, politicians and the paid intellectuals are all acting under vicious influence. That the power to ban a pesticide is within the State government's jurisdiction from 2006, is very pertinent; and calls the lie on the LDF.
The unpleasant truth has to be told! NEVERTHELESS, ALL CHEMICAL FERTILISERS AND PESTICIDES ARE TO BE SHUNNED.

RARE BBOOK ON AYYAPPASWAMI

Sree Bhoothanaathopakhyaanam was the first ever work to be printed about Ayyappa Swami, in any language.

Published in 1929, this Malayalam Kilippaattu brought the story of Ayyappa to popular attention for the first time in literature. It is from this work that the traditions and procedures of the pilgrimage came to be followed.

The author Kallaraykkal Krishnan Kartha died in the late 1930s and the book was not available in print after 1947.

The Ayyappa Documentation Project of the Sabari Sharanasramam Trust followed the book up and managed to obtain a copy of the 1947 edition. The book is now reprinted by them and copies are again available for the first time after 1947.

The status of Sree Bhoothanaathopakhyaanam Kilippaattu as far as religion and spirituality are concerned, is the same as that of the Ramayanam and Bhaagavatham Kilippaatu by Ezhuthacchan. Those works brought Sriram and Srikrishna to the popular mind in Kerala. Sree Bhoothanaathopakhyaanam did so about our own indigenous deity, the Ayyappaswami.

In his Foreword to the new print edition, Sri. Kummanam Rajasekharan has exhorted devotees to use the book for daily reading in temples and at home. He has also asked that the holy Vrischikam month be observed henceforth as Sree Bhoothanaatha Maasam.

The book is priced at Rs.100/-.

For copies:

Phone: 04842355575, 9447105579, 9567904159

Email: sabarisharanasramam@gmail.com

swamiayyappa@hotmail.com

Postal address:
Sabari Sharanasramam,
“Rashtrachetana”,
Pulleppady Road,
Kochi 682018

ABOUT HDFC

Subject: ABOUT YOUR RANKING H.D.F.C AS ETHICAL
From: "R.Sajan"
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:20:37 +0530
To: support@ethisphere.org
It creates doubt in the minds of HDFC borrowers about your integrity, after you find HDFC to be an ethical company. They are the masters of thieving recovery in India.
I recently came across HDFC, advertising that their Cochin office had taken over some properties for non-repayment. The majority of the cases had total outstanding balances of less than Rs. 1.75 lakhs, to read from the advertisements. Considering that even a Cent of housing property in Ernakulam district is worth more than Rs. 2 lakhs, this seemed to be over enthusiasm for some reason on the part of the lenders.
It was seen that these loans had all been taken around 2002-2003 when the interest rates were around 7 or 8%. Within a few months however, rates began to climb. Currently, this particular lender charges 12.5%. The extra interest on each defaulted EMI is 18% additionally. The pathetic situation of the non-wilfully defaulting borrower can be imagined. The initial rosy interest rates offered are called Teasers; to tease the innocent public with!
In the current scenario, the borrower would have to again pay at least Rs. 5000/- extra per lakh for each year of the loan, to get his title deeds back in the end even if agreed instalments are regularly remitted. This is because interest has been raised to 1 ½ times arbitrarily after getting
the borrower to sign for the loan at 7 to 8% interest. If it be a twenty year loan, he ends up paying Rs. 1 lakh additionally for each Rs. 1 lakh borrowed, over and above the originally agreed repayment. If three instalments are defaulted, the loan becomes an NPA and within 6
months of continued default, this lender moves in under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 [SARFAESI], no questions asked. This draconian law was put in place to hide and shift from bank officials, accountability of deliberate bad loans. The take-over of property draws attention away from official misdemeanours in processing, sanction and conduct of the bad loans. The fixing of NPA at the end of three months is even anti-Indian when we admit our slow pace of national life.
The RBI has laid down that a defaulting borrower should be advised in advance of the lenders’ intention of deeming him a wilful defaulter; his objections to it should be called for and heard.
This is not done by the Company or for that matter, by most banks. It might be that the default is due to temporary issues like illness or loss of job. What the non-wilful defaulter receives out of the blue at the end of six months of default is a Notice telling him that his property would be
taken over if he does not remit the entire dues and costs within 60 days. Till recently, the borrower had to first remit 75% of the dues if his petition against re-possessing was to be even admitted by Courts. Even now, the waiving or fixing of such remittance is left to the discretion of
the Judge. While the Act requires the Notice to be issued only by an authorised officer of the financier, HDFC gets a top lawyer to issue it. The charges of Rs. 5000/- for that small notice is immediately loaded into the loan dues.
At the end of the 60 day period, the Company would make a request to the Collector. The lower officials would then be properly met by the Recovery agents of the Company and assistance of the Revenue and Police officials are immediately made available for possession of the house by the lender.
And no Keralite would ever default on a housing or gold ornament loan unless it is his suicidal only option. No middle class borrower can fight the financier in Court because of the financial might of latter to get the costliest lawyers.
I enquired about why the final dues in the aforementioned cases were less than Rs. 1.75 lakhs and yet such drastic measures were employed. I was astounded to hear that the actual dues are even less! And this is how it happens.
RBI has instructed that if the dues are Rs. 1 lakh or less, coercive measures of recovery should not be used. Such dues are to be only settled on arbitration. To overcome this difficulty, the Company has ways of bringing the balance to above one lakh. The intended possession of the property is advertised in all the editions of the biggest newspaper of the Company’s choice. Advertising costs come to around Rs. 50000/-. Each demand call by the Recovery officials is charged to the borrower at a minimum of Rs. 750/- per visit. Expenses of recovery procedure at the government official levels are at least Rs. 25000/- and may go up to any amount. Thus even if the loan dues is only Rs. 20000/-, the amount claimed for recovery is easily boosted to above Rs.1 lakh. There is no mechanism anywhere to check costs of such recovery procedure. Neither government nor the law comes to the poor innocent defaulter’s aid. In the cases we talked about earlier, the actual dues were only around Rs. 75000/- to Rs. 90000/-.
The Company’s Recovery officers who engage the Recovery agents etc have vested interests. It is known that the Officers receive Commission/kickback for all services acquired as part of Recovery. I was told that the same group of buyers purchases all the property put to auction by the Company, in different names. One might suspect some collusion here. HDFC officials are NOT bothered about any social commitment. They advise the borrower to sell the property and offer to find buyers. Imagine a borrower in temporary difficulties being thus coerced into selling his 10 cents with house so that a Rs. 10000/- or Rs. 20000/- of overdues can be normalised in the Company’s books.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
R.Sajan,

UNION HOME SECRETARY GOPAL KRISHNA PILLAI

http://sify.com/finance/our-police-will-be-effective-in-7-8-years-news--people-kcoausecgae.html

Excerpts from Interview with Home Secretary GK Pillai, published in Business Standard on 14.2.2010:

1. What is the situation today? If a policeman is recruited on merit, he is good at his job. But if he pays money to get recruited, he spends the rest of his professional life looking for ways to get back his ‘investment’. So, recruitment has to be fair, and it has to be transparent.

2. Every political party thinks it owns the police and can use it to get people to vote for it. There are four police training schools in Jammu and Kashmir, but training there is virtually nil. Bihar has no training school at all. As a result, a policeman gets into the force and is thrown into the deep end. He learns on the job how things are done. He learns how not to file first information reports (FIRs) and how to write FIRs so that he doesn’t have to exert himself too much. Take a simple thing like cyber crime: Even a deputy superintendent of police might not know how to use a computer, let alone how to solve cyber crime – in his 35-year career, there is only one spell of training. How can he track new developments in this area?

3. Let me give you an example of shortages. In an area as sensitive to left wing insurgency as Dantewada (Chhattisgarh), there is only one police station, in Antagarh. Until a year ago, its sanctioned strength was 11. At a given time, six-seven policemen used to be present there. They were given no arms because there was a danger that the Naxalites would snatch their arms. The Naxalites were, of course, happy about this as overpowering the policemen would have taken them 40-60 minutes. Now, the strength has been increased to 30. We’ve deployed the Border Security Force there as well.

4. Transfers are governed by the Police Establishment Board. In UP, for instance, the average tenure of a superintendent of police (SP) is two months. They land in the district not knowing what it is all about. Before they can find their feet, they are moved out. Subversion is the easiest thing.

5. I can say without hesitation that in this matter, AK Antony, to whom I was a special assistant when he was the chief minister, was exemplary in his conduct. He refused to interfere in appointment of policemen. But if anything went wrong, the SP was held responsible. On the other hand, if the SP is beholden to a particular MLA for his appointment, he has to become a servant to that MLA. This happens all along the line.

6. West Bengal is a classic case. When the Lalgarh operation (against Naxalites) was on, we posted the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) there, but the force was not familiar with local operations and language. So, we got the police station reinforced by policemen from Kolkata. One weekend, we found the police station was deserted. So, we made some enquiries. We were told that the policemen had left for Kolkata — they belonged to the CPI(M) union and observed a five-day week.

7. In West Bengal, if you have to file an FIR, the police will direct you to the CPI(M) area committee office. The first thing you will be asked is: Are you a member of the party. If you’re not, the chap there will say: ‘I’m sorry, I can’t help you’. If you are, you will be given a chit and asked to go back to the police station, where your FIR will be registered.
So, West Bengal has no law and order problem because the party has solved them all.
======================================================================

KERALA MUST BEGIN RADIATION TOURISM

Right from the 1950s, scientists have identified the seashores of Kerala as one of the greatest hot spots of background radiation on Earth. Subsequent surveys have established that Karunagapalli taluk of Kollam district has the highest background radiation in the world. Around 750 new cancer cases are registered every year from the 12 panchayaths around Karunagapalli. The most concentrated deposits of radioactive Monazites are found along the 55 km stretch of coast from Neendakara in Kollam district to Purakkad in Alappuzha district.

It is a pity that popular administrations have not bothered to raise the issue in international forums or seek help from agencies like the WHO to tackle this risk. The 55 kilometre stretch should be declared as a radioactive risky area forthwith. Government employees working there should demand and be given special risk allowances.

Pending such initiatives, Kerala government can immediately publish the area as the world’s only radiation tourism spot and try to sell it to foreigners.

Termites eat up Rs 1 crore at SBI branch in Uttar Pradesh

Barabanki (UP), 2011 April 21: Currency notes worth over Rs 1 crore were reduced to dust in the chest of State Bank of India (SBI) in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district, officials said on Thursday. The mutilated notes were found in the chest on Wednesday. Apparently, termites ate the stacks of notes. The officials at the bank remained non-committal about the amount of cash destroyed. However they estimated that the loss of currencies could be worth over Rs 1 crore.



The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been informed about the incident and anti-termite treatment was underway at the branch. Branch Manager Sunil Dwivedi said, "I am not sure where the termites came from, but as you can see this building is quite old. Anti-termite treatment is now underway."

Lucknow, April 22: Though the exact amount of loss arising out of termites eating up currency notes inside a steel chest at a State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh is yet to be quantified, it will be borne solely by the SBI itself and there would be no loss to the public at large. This was stated by Amarendra Sahoo, regional director of Reserve Bank of India, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal.



Talking to FE, Sahoo said that the joint team of senior RBI and SBI officials, which had visited the bank in Barabanki, has found that though mutilated, most of the notes eaten up by the termites had their numbers intact. “Those notes in which the numbers are intact, will be replicated by the RBI while the fate of those which have been mutilated beyond repair will be adjudicated once the investigation is complete,” said Sahoo, adding “there would be no loss to the public. The bank will bear the loss, if any.”



It may be mentioned that in an almost outlandish case, aghast bank officials on Wednesday found termites to have made a hearty meal out of currency notes worth approximately Rs 1 crore kept inside the strong room at a SBI branch in Fatehpur block of Barabank district near Lucknow. A team of senior officials of the SBI and RBI visited the branch on Thursday to investigate the matter. SBI AGM Geeta Tripathi, who headed the inquiry team said after the visit prima facie it appeared that the notes in the currency chest had been damaged by termites as the branch was housed in a very old building which was ridden by termites. Cases of files and furniture being damaged due to this malice had already been brought to the notice of the management and efforts were on to relocate the bank at some other place.



The SBI, had in a press release late on Thursday night clarified that “no discrepancy has been detected in the currency chest except that some notes have been found to be slightly damaged. We don't expect any loss arising out of this and all corrective measures have been taken”.

HACKING FOR DIVORCE - INDIAN I.T STYLE

Pune techies turn hackers for divorce, alimony
Mid-Day.com, Updated: August 26, 2010 12:56 IST

Pune: IT professionals in troubled marriages are hacking into their spouse's email account for proof of extramarital affair or salary, say lawyers and cyber
experts.
Cyber experts say a growing number of cases have come to light where couples are hacking into each other's email accounts to collect evidence for
divorce. And some are going a step further by fabricating electronic evidence for early separation.
In one case, an IT professional sent a fabricated email to an unknown person from his wife's account to prove that she was in an extramarital relationship.
The forgery came to light during cross-examination.
In another case, a woman got irritated by her husband's attitude of ignoring her emails demanding alimony and found a way of monitoring his account. The
smart techie wife registered with a website which provided her the exact time when her husband opened her email. This made it impossible for him to deny
that he had not read her mails.
In yet another case, a man managed to get a fake salary slip to show a lower income so that he would not have to pay high alimony, but the wife hacked
into his account to get the printout of his original salary slip.
Niranjan Reddy, founder and CTO of NetConclave Systems, has handled a couple of such cases.
"In most cases spouses just forget to change the password when the process of separation starts, and in many cases even if they change it, the other partner
manages to hack the password," said Reddy.
Lawyers also claim that couples on the verge of separation are increasingly resorting to hacking techniques to score on each other.
"No good lawyer would advise the litigants to hack into each other's accounts, but we are coming across many litigants who come to us already in
possession of sheets of conversation wherein it becomes clear that the other person is having a relationship outside of marriage that goes beyond mere
friendship," said Advocate Ajit Kulkarni.
According to lawyers in the city, 30 per cent of all divorces that happen in the city every year are among couples working in the IT sector.

"Gen Next relies on the Internet for almost everything it does, right from online banking to shopping, so when it is time to gather electronic evidence there
are growing cases where in couples are also relying on Internet," said Advocate Abhay Apte.
Advocate Pratibha Ghorpade said, "In many cases people meet on social networking sites and choose to marry without checking each other's background,
and when it is time for separation they once again resort to the Internet and submit sheets of conversations between their spouse and the man or the
woman who has allegedly jeopardised the marriage."

EAT MORE FOR HEALTH

Health ministry spent Rs 94 lakh on snacks in 2 years

PTI, Jul 25, 2010, 01.31pm IST

NEW DELHI: The Union health ministry has spent over Rs 94 lakh on snacks and bottled water during last two years, nearly eight times more than the expenses of Prime Minister's Office under the same heads.

The PMO has spent about Rs 11.77 lakh on refreshment during the 2008-09 and 2009-10, reveals an RTI reply.

Exercising his Right to Information, Hissar-based RTI activist Ramesh Verma had sought to know from different ministries the expenditure incurred on snacks and bottled water during 2008-09 and 2009-10.

The health ministry, in its reply, said it had spent Rs 49.45 lakh and Rs 44.62 lakh respectively in the "last two years on refreshment/mineral water", which adds to Rs 94.07 lakh.

The rural development ministry spent nearly Rs 41.42 lakh during the period on snacks served during meetings, the reply from the ministry said.

The water resources ministry has said that nearly Rs 20.73 lakh were spent on these heads during the period, while ministry of petroleum incurred expenses of Rs 19.5 lakh.

Ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution spent nearly Rs 35,000 on packaged drinking water during the period, while nearly Rs 14 lakh were spent on refreshments during the last two years.

Read more: Health ministry spent Rs 94 lakh on snacks in 2 years - India - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6214062.cms?prtpage=1#ixzz0wzEmP9ID

Kids born out of live-in ARE legitimate in India

Kids born out of live-in tie not illegitimate: Supreme Court


DNA / Rakesh Bhatnagar / Tuesday, August 17, 2010 9:53 IST

Adding a new dimension to the vibrant debate on legality of a ‘live in’ relationship and legitimacy of children born out of such tie, the Supreme Court has ruled that such kids are not illegitimate. The Apex Court has also held that these children have a right to inherit the properties left behind by any of the partners in such relationship.

“If a man and a woman are living under the same roof and cohabiting for a number of years, there will be a presumption under Section 114 of the Evidence Act that they live as husband and wife and the children born to them will not be illegitimate,” said a bench of Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan on Friday. The bench said the law presumes in favour of marriage and against concubine.

Earlier, Delhi high court had said that the alliance is like “walk- in and walk-out without strings attached to it.’’ But the Supreme Court has held that the relationship is presumed to be marriage in the eye of law if the partners keep the bonding alive for a long time.

The judgment that may have a strong bearing on several petitions raising the dispute on legitimacy of children born out of the live-in association among others was delivered in an appeal filed by one Madan Mohan Singh, challenging the judgments of Allahabad High Court and the two land consolidation tribunals which had allowed the right on the estate left behind by one Chandra Deo Singh, to the two sons and four daughters of Chandra Deo.

Madan Mohan said he solely inherits the property left behind by Chandra Deo, but Rajni Kant, his brother Anjani Kumar and four sisters contested the claim by saying since they were born out of the decade-long live-in relationship between Chandra Deo and their mother Shakuntala, they were the inheritors of the landed property.
URL of the article: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_kids-born-out-of-live-in-tie-not-illegitimate-supreme-court_1424495-all
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Long live-in relationships as good as marriage, says Supreme Court


DNA / Rakesh Bhatnagar / Tuesday, August 17, 2010 0:26 IST


A live-in relationship that has existed for a long time will be considered a marriage, the Supreme Court has said.

If a man and a woman have been living under the same roof for a number of years, there will be a presumption under section 114 of the Evidence Act that they have lived as husband and wife and the children born to them would not be illegitimate, a bench of justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan have said. The judgment might have a strong bearing on petitions that dispute the legitimacy of children born to live-in partners.

“The law presumes in favour of marriage and against concubine,’’ judges said. However, the presumption can be disproved by “unimpeachable evidence”.

The bench passed the judgment on an appeal by one Madan Mohan Singh. He had challenged verdicts by Allahabad high court and two land consolidation tribunals favouring the two sons and four daughters of one Chandra Deo Singh. The court and tribunals said they have a right to his estate.

Madan Mohan Singh said he is the sole inheritor of Deo’s property, however, brothers Rajni Kant and Anjani Kumar and their four sisters contested Singh’s claim, saying they too should inherit the property because they were born during Deo’s long-standing live-in with their mother Shakuntala.

Deo’s wife Sonbara died in 1945 when he was in prison for taking part in the freedom struggle. Some time before that, he started an affair with Shakuntala, but kept it a secret.

Appellant Singh’s lawyer Mahabir Singh said there was nothing on record to show that Deo married Shakuntala “in accordance with law” and that at most the woman could be considered his concubine. Therefore, her children were “illegitimate’’ and had no right to his property.

Refuting the allegations, the respondents’ lawyer Abhay Kumar said three courts had held that Deo and Shakuntala have been living together for a long time, therefore, their relationship as husband and wife had been accepted by society and their families. In many official documents too, Deo is named as the father of Shakuntala’s children.

Initially Deo did not disclose his relationship with Shakuntala “because society may not accept their relationship even after the death of his wife’’, lawyer Abhay Kumar said.

The court dismissed Madan Mohan Singh’s appeal and scoffed at the evidence submitted by him. Singh had said that the respondents were born before 1960, much before Deo Singh started living with Shakuntala, who was born around 1941.

The court said that if this evidence is taken to be true, it would appear that Shakuntala gave birth to her daughters when she was just 5-6 years old. On the other hand, if Rajni Kant’s school certificate is taken to be true, it would be clear that his mother Shakuntala had given birth to him in 1940; prior to her ‘supposed’ birth in 1941.

“If all documents are accepted, they would simply lead to improbabilities, impossibilities and absurdities,” the court said.

URL of the article: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_long-live-in-relationships-as-good-as-marriage-says-supreme-court_1424434-all

TALIBAN COURTS IN KERALA

Taliban-style courts in God's Own Country

Ananthakrishnan G, TNN, Jul 18, 2010, 07.26am IST
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 'Hotbed of terrorism' is not the usual label for Kerala. But intelligence gathered by disparate agencies over the last few years suggests the description may not be far off the mark. Confirmation of this came with the horrifying incident of July 4, when a college lecturer's right hand was chopped off in Moovattupuzha, a town in Eranakulam district.

The attack on T J Joseph was apparently in retaliation for setting a question paper that allegedly hurt Muslim sentiments. Police raids on offices of the Popular Front of India (PFI), whose activists are believed to be behind the attack, have exposed a well-oiled, pan-Islamist network fed by a heady mix of Wahhabism and hawala. Kerala's deep-rooted Gulf links also come in handy for the PFI.

The revelations of the last two weeks are startling. It includes al-Qaida training tapes, Taliban-style courts that dispense justice according to Shariat law, literature on conversion, explosives enough to kill dozens, and documents indicating unusual interest in the Indian Navy.

Sources say it was one of the PFI's Taliban-style 'courts' in Erattupettah in Kottayam district that decided Joseph's fate. There are 13 more across Kerala, discreetly exhorting members of the community to stay away from regular courts which are deemed "un-Islamic". The state police is now taking a fresh look at three murders in Kannur, including that of a police constable. There is some suspicion the killings were ordered by Taliban-style courts.

The policemen who seized the CDs from PFI offices later reported disgust and disbelief at videos showing brutal punishment – such as the severing of limbs – inflicted on "enemies of faith". Some shots had activists slaughtering animals, apparently to harden them. Kerala's descent to terror is not recent nor is it without political backing. For decades, both Congress and the Left have been soft on the more radical sections of the Muslim community leaving the moderates at the mercy of the extremists.

Radicalisation of the northern districts began in the 1990s. Fingerprints of the banned al-Umma, which was behind the Coimbatore bombings, were found to be all over the murder of three Hindu youth – in Malappuram, Palakkad and Thrissur – reportedly for having relations with Muslim women.

In July 1993, reformist Islamic scholar Moulavi Abdul Hassan Chekannur was abducted from his home and slaughtered allegedly by hardliners. That conspiracy is yet to be unravelled.

But perhaps the jihadi network first became really visible in Marad, a sleepy fishing hamlet in Kozhikode district. On May 2, 2003, eight Hindu fishermen were executed on the beach by a crack team, which appeared out of nowhere. It was said to be a revenge attack and the execution betrayed a chillingly high level of training. Fingers were pointed at the National Development Front (NDF), headed among others by P Koya, who was a founding member of SIMI, the banned Students Islamic Movement of India. But the trail went cold when it inexorably led to politicians.

Kerala's then A K Antony-led government as well as the Left turned down calls for a CBI investigation. A later inquiry by a judicial commission made reference to the alleged role of some leaders of the Indian Union Muslim League, a Congress ally.

The Left, which was in power when the report was tabled in the state assembly, saw political opportunity and swiftly agreed to a CBI probe. But the "independent" central probe agency expressed its unwillingness to take up the case, claiming that the passage of time – three years – meant the destruction of crucial evidence.

Police believe the NDF was never more than a front to accommodate members of the Islamic Sevak Sangh (ISS) – founded by radical cleric-turned-politician Abdul Nasser Madani – after it was proscribed. Even so, it managed to groom a dedicated cadre with jihadi leanings. In November 2006, the NDF merged with like-minded organizations – Manitha Neethi Pasarai of Tamil Nadu and the Karnataka Forum for Dignity – to form the PFI.

Barely two years later, Kerala's links with the global jihad became clear when four young Malayali men were killed in an encounter with security forces in Kashmir. They were en route to PoK for training. The incident brought some disquieting facts to light, not least the extensive recruitment of Kerala's young men for jihadi operations. Official estimates say as many as 300 young Malayalis were recruited from different parts of the state.

The state government sought to play it down, but then constituted a special inquiry by an anti-terrorism unit. Once again, the trail led to politicians of various hues and the investigation languished. It was finally handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Bomb attacks across the country in the last decade have had a Malayali imprint. That includes the May 2008 Jaipur blasts, the serial bombings in Bangalore in July 2008 and then in Delhi in September. Yet, there has been little action on the ground.

Police officers accused of links with the organization remain free. Just recently, the Centre ordered an NIA probe into allegations that a senior IPS officer, Tomin J Thachankary, met suspected terrorists during a visit to Qatar in January this year.

The state home department has not initiated action against a former SP accused of sabotaging the arrest of SIMI activists from a camp in Alwaye near Kochi in August 2006. Though 18 hardcore activists took part in the camp, the police – allegedly under instructions from the SP – only arrested five and let off the rest. They would later mastermind the Jaipur and Bangalore blasts.

Read more: Taliban-style courts in God's Own Country - Special Report - Sunday TOI - Home - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6182633.cms?prtpage=1#ixzz0wz5LtCV1

ABOLISH THE IAS

Abolish IAS, says Infosys’ Murthy
Daily News & Analysis http://www.dnaindia.com/
Sreejiraj Eluvangal / Wednesday, August 11, 2010 2:17 IST

For a country accustomed to gloating about GDP growth figures and taking these as a measure of achievement, here is sobering advice from NR Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys Technologies, India’s second-largest infotech firm. Stop focussing exclusively on 8 or 8.5% growth, look at the sorry state of affairs on the governance front, he said at a function here.

Drawing a contrast between the success of the private sector and the decay and corruption in the government sector, he said: “In areas where public governance is involved, we have hardly made any progress.”

Murthy said the politicians and bureaucrats are trapped in a colonial mindset. “They feel they are the masters and there is no need to show fairness and transparency,” he said.

Murthy, seen as an idealist by many, owns less than 5% of the total shares of Infosys. He will step down as chairman of the company in 10 days.

While admitting to some exceptions, he noted many of the leaders and bureaucrats were completely out of touch with the dynamics of the current world. “Once I was with a senior bureaucrat discussing how badly our high school students had performed in an international competition and he said, ‘we must stop participating in such competitions’,” he said.

The outdated mentality of the political class, he said, is accentuated by an equally apathetic population, which has almost accepted corruption and inefficiency. “For over 1,000 years, the government belonged to someone sitting either 2,000 miles or 4,000 miles away. There is no sense of societal ownership,” he said. “The penalty (for corruption) is minimal. As a result, there is no fear of repercussions and there is no accountability.”

Murthy’s cure, besides tougher punishment, is to abolish the system of generalised administrators under the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and replace it with specialists under a new ‘Indian Management Service’.

The new breed of government servants would have specialised knowledge to manage projects. Their salaries must also be increased to ‘near private sector’ levels, while making 60% of their remuneration variable according to how well they are able to implement projects. “If we had kept track of the activities using a project management software, we would not be where we are,” he said, about the delays in setting up the Commonwealth Games infrastructure.

He, however, refused to encourage speculation that he would join public life. “I am too old. Besides there is already someone from Infosys,” he said, referring to former CEO Nandan Nilekani, currently heading the UID project.

URL of the article: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_abolish-ias-says-infosys-murthy_1421753-all

INDIAN ILLITERATES AGAINST SHASHI THAROOR AGAIN

Following controversy over his remarks that Saudi Arabia can be a "valuable interlocutor" between India and Pakistan, MoS for external affairs Shashi Tharoor quickly clarified he did not mean Riyadh should be a mediator.

PMO sources told Times Now that Tharoor’s remarks have “embarrassed” the government.

Meanwhile, the minister also issued a clarification on the Ministry of External Affairs website. The statement said: "A section of the media has misread the remarks made by me in Riyadh last evening. What I basically said was that Saudi Arabia is a valuable interlocutor for India. Any other interpretation was neither meant nor warranted."

In comments that raised eyebrows in Indian political circles, Tharoor had said, "We feel that Saudi Arabia of course has a long and close relationship with Pakistan but that makes Saudi Arabia even a more valuable interlocutor for us." Tharoor is currently accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a three-day visit to the oil-rich kingdom.
===============================================
An interlocutor is someone who informally explains the views of a government and also can relay messages back to a government. Unlike a spokesperson, an interlocutor often has no formal position within a government or any formal authority to speak on its behalf, and even when they do, everything an interlocutor says is his own personal opinion and not the official view of anyone. Because an interlocutor does not express an official view, communications between interlocutors are often useful at conveying information and ideas. Often interlocutors will talk with each other before formal negotiations. Interlocutors play an extremely important role in Sino-American relations.
================================================
Tharoor has had enough experience about the ignorance and illiteracy of the half-human species known as the Indian Neta. It is shameful that this kind of controversy is created repeatedly by our Netas, plainly out of an ignorance of the English language.

A shocker-16,000 student suicides in three years

May 02, 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Delhi: Over 16,000 school and college students in India committed suicide in the last three years, says the Health Ministry, shedding light once again on the sorry state of mental healthcare in the country.

As per the ministry, 5,857 students committed suicide in 2006 and the figure for 2005 was 5,138. Similarly, in 2004, 5,610 students committed suicide.

"We know about the gravity of the situation and are going to re-strategise the national mental health programme," Anbumani Ramadoss told IANS.

Experts, doctors and even the World Health Organisation (WHO) believe that a multi-pronged strategy needs to be put in place to tackle problems ranging from anxiety, depression, stress and finally suicidal tendencies.

Cherian Verghese, a specialist with WHO India, said: "The mental health system needs an overhaul. Our schools might be giving good education but we need education in life skills. From counselling to increasing the number of mental health workers, the strategy should be holistic."

"Students are a vulnerable group. Age, competition and relations in the family are all contributing to the growing cases of suicide among schoolgoers," Verghese said.

He said some private schools in India had started appointing counsellors but "government schools across the country need to make a move now".

"There is a gamut of problems; India lacks the required number of psychiatrists as well. The social taboo around mental health also fuels the problem. A country which houses a huge number of youngsters must not take mental health lightly," Verghese added.

He said since India faces a lot of natural disasters and deaths thereof, the country needs a brigade of social counsellors. Their job is to counsel people during post-disaster trauma disorder.

Nimesh Desai, a leading psychiatrist in the national capital, said: "India needs a 10-fold increase in the number of psychiatrists. Across the country, there are not more than 3,500 such processionals".

"The doctor-patient ratio, social stigma, growing competition and the desire to succeed in every field are leading to a higher level of anxiety, stress and acute depression," Desai said.

Health ministry officials said the mental health programme in India would be revamped. Under the new plan, regional mental health institutes would be established.

All mental health hospitals would be modernised and the district authorities would be asked to go for community mental health services, life skill education and counselling would be introduced in schools. IANS

http://www.indiaedunews.net/In-focus/May_2008/A_shocker-16,000_student_suicides_in_three_years_4149/print.asp

KERALA JUDGE FINDS NO POLICE HELP AGAINST PARTY GOONDA

Argument on Aluva's place-name origins

Somalatha escorted to yagasala
By K.J.Francis Joy:: First Published : 28 Apr 2009 01:53:00 AM IST
ALUVA: The Agnishtoma Somayagam Yagasala witnessed a rare ritual on Monday when the Somalatha, which was brought from Mujjuhva mountains of the Himalayas, was installed on a cart pulled by two calves and escorted to Agnihotrisala amid chanting of Vedic hymns.
Poojas were conducted for the Somayagam participants, considering them as Gods (Devas). An elderly devotee who was honoured as Somarajan was offered a seat on Ahanthi.
Yajamanan Kurusaroor Narayanan Adithiripad performed pooja by giving ‘Argyapadyadhikal.’ A ritual ‘Adhithyeshti’ was offered to Lord Maha Vishnu.
In another ritual, the Vedic scholars agreed to conduct Somayagam touching the ‘Thanunathram,’ the specially prepared holy ghee.
Performing ‘Pravargya Sambaram’ ritual, the scholars made clay pots named Manthrapoorvam, Mahaveeram and Upasayam.
Thousands of devotees visited the Yagasala and attended the ‘annadanam’ on Monday. The Somayagam will conclude on May 1.

Comments
Thank you, Mr.Ravi. Yours is the exact style in which Sankara used to argue. Sankara's pre-conditions were that the opponent should, if he is defeated, jump into fire, consume poison, jump to death from the hill-top, become Sankara's slave etc etc. I request Mr.Ravi to read Swami Vivekananda's comments on Sankara's personality. Sankara's style was typically bully-istic and not straight. That is how he 'defeated' the peaceful and innocent Buddhist monks that used to easily fall into his trap. Even here, Mr.Ravi tells me, "Thats why ur missionary find it difficult to convert indians(hindus) in large scale which u did anywhere in world"; arguing from a gross basic misconception. Anyway, what I said is Aluva's hidden history, hidden in ways similar to Western historical ideas about Indian heritage. By R.Sajan 4/29/2009 12:06:00 AM

Sajan,u r wrong.sankara philosophy is based on Knowledge rather rituals.The Buddists philosphy itself copied from Upanishads which they succesfully demonstrated among common people who kept away from sanskrit.But Sankara defeated all interpretation of Buddists regarding "atman" and developed "advita" which is the turning point in the fate of Buddism in india.Unlike in western or middle east caountries,where "philosophies" faught with swords and "iron rods", in india(Bharath) the philosophical battle done by great literary works and thesis in an academic point of view.Thats why ur missionary find it difficult to convert indians(hindus) in large scale which u did anywhere in world. By Ravi 4/28/2009 8:24:00 PM

‘Aluva’ was earlier ‘Aalawai”. The Rail station is even now Alwaye. The place got the name when Adi Shankara got his chieftain follower Jayaram to impale 700 Buddhist monks on Aalawai or Alavaanks [ iron rods sharpened at one end]and leave them on the Periyar shore to slowly die in pain. The Buddhists were in those days the only saviours of the oppressed subjects of local chieftains who saw their saviour in Adi Shankara. It is ideal that the Yaga is being held there. Yet it is Aceldama kind of blood-ridden land. Swami Vivekananda described Shankara as a mad fanatic because of such incidents. By R.Sajan4/28/2009 1:51:00 PM

Blaring PA system at the site is most ridiculous. Are these Yagas not to be conducted in peace and solemn silence? In the evenings, cacaphonic cultural programmes hamper the chanting. By R.Sajan4/28/2009 1:32:00 PM

Taliban executes 14-year-old girl for planning to elope

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Taliban+executes+14-year-old+girl+for+planning+to+elope&artid=te6pcPIPo8g%3d&SectionID=oHSKVfNWYm0%3d&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A%3d&SectionName=VfE7I/Vl8os%3d&SEO=kabul,+shariah

Daily Telegraph
First Published : 15 Apr 2009 01:35:11 AM IST

KABUL: The pair were shot dead in front of their village mosque as their villagers looked on in south western Afghanistan, a district official said.
Hashim Noorzai, head of Khash Rud district of Nimroz province, said the girl, called Gulsima, had been unhappily engaged to marry when she fell in love with Aziz, aged 17.
The pair attempted to escape the village of Lokhi and planned to head to Iran and marry, but were captured by villagers and dragged back.
After two days of deliberation, a council of elders had been unable to decide how to resolve the dispute, Mr Noorzai said.
Half the elders favoured some way of allowing them to marry, while the other half favoured execution.
As the council was deadlocked, local Taliban militants stepped in, overruled village religious leaders and declared the lovers must be executed, he said.
Ghulam Dastageer Azad, governor of the province, said the execution was an "insult to Islam".
Nimroz, a sparsely-populated, desert province on the borders of Iran and Pakistan has little or no Afghan government or foreign presence.
Taliban militants rule large swathes of the province with impunity and dispense justice based on their own interpretations of Sharia law and tribal code.
Abdul Jabar, police chief of the province, admitted he had no police stations in the district and said and many of the fighters who summarily judged cases were themselves often no more than 18 or 19.
Across the border in Pakistan, a deal to allow Sharia law in the Swat valley has seen Taliban militants hold public executions.
Mobile phone footage appearing to show a 17-year-old woman being publicly flogged for adultery in the valley sparked international outrage earlier this month.
Under Pashtunwali, the tribal morality code in southern Afghanistan, relations between unmarried or unrelated members of opposite sexes are strictly regulated.
Extrajudicial "honour killings" are also practised by families who believe a relative has brought them shame, including by refusing to marry a chosen partner.
The Taliban swept to power in the mid 1990s by offering strict justice and Islamic order after years of chaotic rule by predatory and rapacious warlords.
Their travelling justice commissions continue to settle disputes in much of the lawless south where the government has no power and traditional tribal power has been eroded by decades of war.
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I think this is a mischief by Sree Ram Sene activists who have infiltrated into Taliban ranks to malign it with this kind of cruelty. The Taliban is a secular force as every Indian secularist knows. They would not stoop to such atrocity.
Indian feminists should call the lie and expose the Sene role. They should lose no time in collecting more pink chaddies for the Sene.

In Kerala, they don't throw shoes!

In Kerala, they do not throw Chappals!


Throwing Chappals is the in-thing in India now. We are a great people for imitating others.
In Kerala however, this ['throwing'] has been a usual procedure during strikes and Bandhs which they have daily.

As usual, the CPM showed the way. For the past 40 years, striking or agitating CPM guys have thrown things at non-participants.

They do not throw shoes [few wear shoes] or chappals though, because both are costly. Instead, they throw human excreta on the enemies. Striking government employees and teachers use nothing else, because they are educated, perhaps.

A few years ago, a member of the State Human Rights Commission took some action against some CPM civil servants and woke up one morning to find his entire house painted with human excreta. The Police refused to collect the material evidence and the investigations were a non-starter.

During Election time now, CPM cadres rough up journalists that they do not like, everywhere. So far, the journos have been protesting it by holding protest marches. Since 'throwing' is more effective, they might soon turn to it to protest. One hopes Kerala media men would not use the favourite Kerala material to throw at politicians.

Perhaps, they should. They are the 'model state' that the rest of India looks up to.

Paying bank loan doesn’t absolve one of fraud: Apex court

http://www.sindhtoday.net/south-asia/85575.htm

New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) The Supreme Court has ruled that a person accused of having availed a bank loan through cheating, forgery or criminal conspiracy with bank officials would be liable to be prosecuted even after paying the loan.


A bench of Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice Mukundakam Sharma gave this verdict Wednesday, rejecting a West Bengal woman’s plea to exonerate her of the charges of taking the bank loan in collusion with its officials as she had paid back the loan.

“When a settlement is arrived at by and between the creditor and the debtor, various criminal offences (like forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy) committed to take the loan do not come to an end,” said the bench, dismissing the woman’s plea.

“It is now a well settled principle of law that in a given case, a civil proceeding and a criminal proceeding can proceed simultaneously. The bank is entitled to recover the amount of loan given to the debtor,” the bench said.

“If in connection with obtaining the loan, criminal offences have been committed by the persons accused thereof including the officers of the bank, criminal proceedings would also indisputably be maintainable,” the bench added.

The apex court bench upheld the trial court ruling, which was further endorsed by the Calcutta High Court. All the courts below had consistently held that an accused cannot be absolved of his of her criminal liability by settling the civil dispute.

The case pertained to Calcutta woman Rumi Dhar, who had taken a loan from the Oriental Bank of Commerce in 1993.

As she failed to pay the bank loan in time, the bank initiated criminal proceedings against the woman, her husband and some other people, including some of its own officials saying they had defrauded and cheated the bank as per a criminal plot hatched amongst themselves.

The matter was referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which filed its probe report to the designated CBI court in Kolkata indicting all the accused for hatching a criminal conspiracy to cheat the bank and sought their trial.

Meanwhile, the bank also moved the debt recovery tribunal and it reached settlement with the woman that she would pay a sum of around Rs.2.5 million to settle her debt to the bank.

As per the settlement, the woman paid the requisite amount to the bank, which also returned her property documents, confiscated by the CBI, which she had pledged to the bank earlier.

After reaching settlement with the bank she approached the trial court in February 2006 pleading that she be exonerated from the criminal charges. But the trial court dismissed her plea. So did the high court in 2007 and the apex court now.

Indian Elections are Rigged

The voting begins on April 16; but the results come out only on May 16! This is because it takes a few days for the Rigging program in the EVMs to work. The Illuminati have already decided the results and rigged them into rhe machines. The EVMs have no Audit Trails.
Look at the casual way in which the Congress deals with the breaking up of the UPA. They already know how the results would be.

The Plunder of Iraq’s Heritage

By Aisha El-Awady

The US-led war on Iraq has resulted in the looting and destruction of thousands of priceless historical and archeological relics from civilizations that date as far back as 6000 years ago. Paul Zimansky, an archaeologist of the University of Boston, described the loss of such irreplaceable exhibits as “a wide-scale catastrophe.”

The extent of damage caused by the bombings and looting is not yet known, but in a country that contains from 10,000 to 100,000 ancient sites, any bombing must have resulted in damage especially since a large number of the country’s relics are found in Mosul, Tikrit, and Nasiriya, which were all sites of heavy bombing during the war.

What’s at stake?

Mesopotamia, the ancient land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, is considered the cradle of Western civilization. This region was the center of the first civilizations, those of the Sumerians, Akkadians and Babylonians. These cultures built cities and developed irrigation systems, a legal system, a postal service, a system of writing and also explored sciences such as astronomy and mathematics. In later times, Baghdad also played a role as a center of Islamic learning and civilization.

According to archaeologist McGuire Gibson of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, “The whole country is an archaeological site….People don't understand that Iraq is more important than Egypt in world heritage.”

The bombings and the looting that occurred after the war have caused substantial harm to unique cultural heritage in the form of damage or loss of irreplaceable artifacts, ancient structures and archeological sites.

During the first Gulf War, US bombing of Iraq damaged a number of ancient and historic structures, such as the damage caused by shellfire to the brickwork of the ziggurat at Ur, which was built in 2100 B.C. Ziggurats were temple towers and were the first major building structures of the Sumerians. They were constructed of sun-baked mud bricks and were usually colorfully decorated with glazed fired brick. The ziggurat housed the city-state's patron god.

Other structures destroyed include thousand-year-old bridges in Baghdad, and a 10th century church in Mosul that was partially destroyed. The 13th century Mustansiriya and the Kaplannya Mosque in Baghdad and a 4,500-year-old royal cemetery were also seriously damaged. The extent of damage resulting from the bombings in this recent war on Iraq has yet to be discovered.

Following the war, looters ransacked and set fire to Iraq's National Library, turning to ash priceless books, including Ottoman historical documents. They also raided and burned Iraq's main Islamic Library, which contained Qur’ans from the very early Islamic period.
The looters also destroyed or stole priceless artifacts from the National Museum. Among the works missing are tablets containing the Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest known codes of law. King Hammurabi, who became ruler of Mesopotamia in 1792 B.C., had the code carved upon an eight-foot-high black stone monument. It provided uniformity among the various city-states.

Other missing artifacts include a 4,000-year-old copper head of an Akkadian king, golden bowls, bejeweled lyres, colossal statues, and ancient cuneiform tablets containing some of the first examples of written words.

The Anglo-American forces have drawn criticism and worldwide condemnation for their failure to stop and prevent the looting and destruction of Iraq’s cultural heritage.

What’s next?

At a recent news conference, Gibson revealed that he had received unconfirmed information that some looted items were already on sale in Paris and Iran. "It looks like part of the theft was a very planned action, probably by the same gangs that have exploited and destroyed sites in Iraq over the past 12 years," said Gibson, "I have a suspicion it is organized from outside the country by people who pay those in the country to loot the sites. People have no money and will do anything to feed their family. But once it was organized, there were 300 or 400 people working on a site."

Now that the war is over, an international group of archeologists and museum directors has decided to send a fact-finding mission to Iraq in order to assess the damage inflicted upon the museums and archeological sites of the country.

UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has set up a special fund for the purpose of buying back stolen artifacts in Iraq. Italy has already donated $1 million, and France, Qatar, Egypt and Britain have made other offers of financial aid. UNESCO has also appealed for the tightening of controls on stolen artifacts by the World Customs Organization, Interpol, and neighboring countries.

The United Nation's cultural agency and the British Museum declared that teams will be sent to help in the restoration of the ransacked museums and artifacts, but no matter what measures are taken, the loss and damage to Iraq’s rich heritage is irreparable. Professor John Russell of the Massachusetts College of Art expressed it this way: “In a sense, it is a total war against the past. History is being erased, with no possibility of being recovered."

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1158658360311&pagename=Zone-English-ArtCulture/ACELayout

Have Abhaya-accused helped terror-accused?

Malini removed from FSL
She had forged documents to get job
Deccan Herald, Bangalore. Feb 25, 2009:

Yielding to pressure from the Opposition parties, the State government on Wednesday, took the decision to discharge Dr S Malini from the post of assistant director of Forensic Psychology division of Forensic Science Laboratories in Bangalore. She was on probation.

Home Minister V S Acharya, announced this decision in the Legislature Council, after members of the Congress and the JD(S) staged a dharna demanding her dismissal.

JD(S) leader M C Nanaiah, raising the issue, said that Malini had furnished forged documents to get the appointment. She had been working in the institute on a contract basis since 1999. She was appointed to the post on a regular basis in 2007.

She gave false date of birth to claim eligibility to the post and furnished fake documents as proof of her expertise in the field. While her date of birth is 12-05-1960. She lowered her age by four years to become eligible for the post. The documents, she furnished, had been attested by her husband Dr B K Muralidhar, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UVCE, Nanaiah said.

He, further, said the DG&IGP had sent a report recommending the Principal Secretary (Home Department) to discharge her from the service as she furnished wrong information to get recruited to the post. The DG&IGP recommended action against Dr Mohan, Director of FSL, Mudduveeraiah, Chief Administrative Officer (Office of DG&IGP), who were in the recruitment committee. Other two in the committee were the then DG&IGP K R Srinivasan, who is no more and Subhash Bharani, who was ADG (Crime & Tech Services). He took VRS in April 2008.

Nanaiah said the CBI, investigating into the Sister Abhaya case of Kerala, had also alleged that Malini manipulated the CDs related to tests conducted on the accused. A deputy director of CBI had subjected Malini for an interrogation in this connection on February 6 this year. In addition, Nanaiah said, Malini leaked the contents of the brain mapping and lie detector tests, to media well before submitting the same to the investigating agency. “A huge amount of money is involved in such affairs,” he said.

Acharya said the department had served a notice asking her to reply to the allegations levelled against her.

Action would be taken in accordance with the reply, he added. Dissatisfied with the reply, the Opposition members staged a dharna, compelling chairman Veeranna Mathikatti to adjourn the House for sometime.

When the House reassembled Acharya said the officer would be sent on leave. However, the Opposition did not budge from its stand. Eventually, Acharya declared that she would be relieved from the service. Later the Congress and the JD(S) withdrew the protest. Leader of the Opposition V S Ugrappa and Nanaiah demanded that those responsible for her getting the post should be suspended.
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Feb262009/state20090225120732.asp
=====================================================================
With Dr. Malini's discharge, the Congress Opposition has possibly rendered all the cases that she handled, especially the terrorism-related ones, liable to be thrown out from courts all over India. As the Opposition MLC admitted, “a huge amount of money is involved". Powers to influence even the PMO and the CBI were attributed to the Abhaya-accused in the Kerala High Court.
Karnataka politics is known for criminality and corruption. The Opposition enthusiasm in the Malini issue is therefore, suspect. The truth must be brought out through a lie-detector test! Is it the Abhaya -accused or the terror-accused that caused the enthusiasm?

Khushwant Singh on the Left and the Nuclear Deal

With Malice Towards One And All | Khushwant Singh
Hindustan Times
July 25, 2008

Objection overruled

I have done my very best to understand the Communists’ objections to government’s proposed nuclear deal with the United States. I have failed to do so. They say it will compromise our sovereignty and will make us subservient to America in our foreign policy. That makes even less sense to me. America has never tried to dictate our relations with other nations and has often regretted our growing friendship with countries hostile to it.

We have ignored those protests and made our own decisions. If any country has questioned our sovereignty over our territories, it is Communist China. It never accepted the sanctity of our northern borders with it: it waged a war against us, inflicted a humiliation on us, and to this day lays claims to territories that are ours. Our Communist comrades had never a word to say against the Chinese. Ask them why.

Do we need nuclear power? The answer is yes, we do desperately, and the sooner the better. We cannot afford to pay the exorbitant prices of oil, petrol or gas which we have to import to run our cars, buses, trains and aircraft. We cannot produce enough hydel or fossil-produced energy to cope with our ever-increasing demand for more power to run our factories and keep up the pace of development.

Comrade Prakash Karat is of the opinion that the government must first go to the people before signing the nuclear deal. I am not sure what he means by people: does he mean people who know what nuclear energy is and why it is needed, or just everybody who has a vote? If it is the former, then those who know about it have already spoken in its favour. They include the scientist — ex-President Abdul Kalam (Bharat Ratna), most nuclear scientists, many leading industrialists and Brajesh Misra, the most trusted political adviser of ex-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the BJP.

However, if he means the common man who understands nothing about it, he clearly means an earlier election, which he says he does not want. Whatever it be, he is in for a nasty surprise. Whenever the next general elections take place, it will be a significant diminution of votes for the Communists and gains for his sworn enemy, the Hindu-Sikh communal parties. And hopefully comrade Prakash Karat will fade into the background of the Indian political scene.

IN THE MINISTER'S CONSTITUENCY!

Mom sells newborn to pay bills

Hyderabad, PTI:
She delivered the baby by Caesarean section last week and Ishwar, an auto-driver, bought the baby for Rs 6,500 on Monday at the hospital, police said.

A young poverty-stricken single mother allegedly sold her newborn son for Rs 6,500 to a childless couple so that she could pay the medical bill in a government hospital in Andhra Pradesh but the two were reunited within 24 hours and two persons arrested.

“My financial position is really bad,” a distraught-looking Rajitha, 20, who could not afford the Rs 2,000 hospital fee, said from her bed at the government area hospital at Kothagudem in Khammam district.

She delivered the baby by Caesarean section last week and Ishwar, an auto-driver, bought the baby for Rs 6,500 on Monday at the hospital, police said.

Both Ishwar and Sunitha, who played a mediator in the ‘sale’ of the baby have been arrested, police said.
They also said they would take action against the hospital which also faces an inquiry whether its doctors took any money as bribe from the woman. The incident occurred in the parliamentary constituency of Union minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury.

“At least, she is safe and the child is neither dead and nor killed. I think they are the most important things that we need to look at,” the minister said.http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Feb252009/scroll20090225120592.asp?section=updatenews
======================================================================The Minster who was in the forefront of the Chaddy Campaign is showing extreme flippancy in her comment on the matter. One can only be happy that such a shallow person did not call for a Chaddy Campaign against the Auto driver that bought the baby.