Rachel Maddow: Beau Biden on Delawares new gun plan:
(Gun Control as it progresses)
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Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Communalism Watch: There was then no Mohan Bhagwat of the RSS or no leader of the Jamaat, no Asaram Bapu
Communalism Watch: There was then no Mohan Bhagwat of the RSS or no leader of the Jamaat, no Asaram Bapu:
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January 11, 2013
There was then no Mohan Bhagwat of the RSS or no leader of the Jamaat, no Asaram Bapu
The Times of India
Two women forging the idea of India
by Dileep Padgaonkar
11 January 2013
Had we been aware of our history, we would have been able to place the two events that have shaken us down to the roots in the last few weeks - the brutal rape of the 23-year-old woman in Delhi and the anti-Hindu tirades of a leader of a Hyderabad-based Muslim political party - in a more lucid perspective. As a new work of historical fiction (In the City of Gold and Silver) by Kenizé Mourad, a French writer of Indo-Turkish lineage, vividly demonstrates, the events, and the outrageous responses to them, are not what India was a little more than a century and a half ago. It was another country.
Mourad's book is set in Awadh on the eve of its annexation by the East India Company. She evokes the atmosphere prevalent at that time in telling detail. It was the heyday of both high culture and popular culture. Architecture and music, poetry and drama, painting and food reached unsurpassed heights of refinement. In his parikhana - the house of fairies - Wajid Ali Shah held music concerts and poetry readings and staged plays. He was an accomplished poet himself and a good kathak dancer too. One of his favourite pastimes was to play the role of Lord Krishna in a dance-drama.
There was no Owaisi then to rant against the beliefs and practices of Hindus. And there was no Sadhavi Rithambara to deride the beliefs and practices of Muslims. Both communities partook of this composite culture with unabashed zeal. They celebrated each other's festivals, shared their moments of joy and sorrow and, most importantly, were united in their animus against British colonial rule.
The book's focus is on Begum Hazrat Mahal. The author, drawing on exhaustive research, traces her life from her humble beginnings as a child of a family of artisans to her ascent as the Regent of the kingdom after her husband, Wajid Ali Shah, was ousted from his throne and sent into exile to Calcutta on the pretext that in his pursuit of pleasure he had failed to provide good governance to his subjects. The pretext, as it turned out, was spurious, for the Company had long eyed the prosperous kingdom and had resorted to every sordid trick to grab Awadh.
What the British authorities did not reckon with is the Begum's grit and determination to counter their designs. Her hatred of the colonisers knew no bounds. Once the sepoys, Hindu and Muslim alike, turned mutinous over the use of cow and pig fat in the cartridges supplied to them, she reached out to landed elites of both communities to mount a fierce offensive against the Company's troops. That included Nana Sahib, Tantia Tope and Raja Jai Pal who would be her confidante and chief of her army.
The Begum eventually faced defeat. The Company's troops were better equipped and better trained. Sensing which way the wind was blowing, many of her allies struck deals with the colonial power to protect their vested interests. But to the end the Begum refused to compromise. Both she and her son were offered handsome privy purses if they gave up their claim to the throne. She rejected the offer with contempt and died virtually penniless in Nepal. Her grave, unkempt and in disrepair, is somewhere in the concrete jungle of Kathmandu. The Rani of Jhansi has been widely, and justly, hailed for her role in the First War of Independence. But Begum Hazrat Mahal, a great beauty, a poet, a stateswoman, has been all but forgotten. A park in Lucknow named after her is in a shambles. She does not figure in history textbooks. This is odd for these two valiant women were pioneers for Indian independence in their own right.
There was then no Mohan Bhagwat of the RSS or no leader of the Jamaat, no Asaram Bapu and no khap leader to remind women that their divinely-ordained duty is to be only dutiful wives and doting mothers. Mourad's book should encourage a resurgent India to tell the worthies of all communities claiming to uphold 'spiritual', 'religious', 'cultural' and 'secular' values - synonyms for reactionaries and opportunists - that their time is up. We won't allow them to bamboozle us any more.
Two women forging the idea of India
by Dileep Padgaonkar
11 January 2013
Had we been aware of our history, we would have been able to place the two events that have shaken us down to the roots in the last few weeks - the brutal rape of the 23-year-old woman in Delhi and the anti-Hindu tirades of a leader of a Hyderabad-based Muslim political party - in a more lucid perspective. As a new work of historical fiction (In the City of Gold and Silver) by Kenizé Mourad, a French writer of Indo-Turkish lineage, vividly demonstrates, the events, and the outrageous responses to them, are not what India was a little more than a century and a half ago. It was another country.
Mourad's book is set in Awadh on the eve of its annexation by the East India Company. She evokes the atmosphere prevalent at that time in telling detail. It was the heyday of both high culture and popular culture. Architecture and music, poetry and drama, painting and food reached unsurpassed heights of refinement. In his parikhana - the house of fairies - Wajid Ali Shah held music concerts and poetry readings and staged plays. He was an accomplished poet himself and a good kathak dancer too. One of his favourite pastimes was to play the role of Lord Krishna in a dance-drama.
There was no Owaisi then to rant against the beliefs and practices of Hindus. And there was no Sadhavi Rithambara to deride the beliefs and practices of Muslims. Both communities partook of this composite culture with unabashed zeal. They celebrated each other's festivals, shared their moments of joy and sorrow and, most importantly, were united in their animus against British colonial rule.
The book's focus is on Begum Hazrat Mahal. The author, drawing on exhaustive research, traces her life from her humble beginnings as a child of a family of artisans to her ascent as the Regent of the kingdom after her husband, Wajid Ali Shah, was ousted from his throne and sent into exile to Calcutta on the pretext that in his pursuit of pleasure he had failed to provide good governance to his subjects. The pretext, as it turned out, was spurious, for the Company had long eyed the prosperous kingdom and had resorted to every sordid trick to grab Awadh.
What the British authorities did not reckon with is the Begum's grit and determination to counter their designs. Her hatred of the colonisers knew no bounds. Once the sepoys, Hindu and Muslim alike, turned mutinous over the use of cow and pig fat in the cartridges supplied to them, she reached out to landed elites of both communities to mount a fierce offensive against the Company's troops. That included Nana Sahib, Tantia Tope and Raja Jai Pal who would be her confidante and chief of her army.
The Begum eventually faced defeat. The Company's troops were better equipped and better trained. Sensing which way the wind was blowing, many of her allies struck deals with the colonial power to protect their vested interests. But to the end the Begum refused to compromise. Both she and her son were offered handsome privy purses if they gave up their claim to the throne. She rejected the offer with contempt and died virtually penniless in Nepal. Her grave, unkempt and in disrepair, is somewhere in the concrete jungle of Kathmandu. The Rani of Jhansi has been widely, and justly, hailed for her role in the First War of Independence. But Begum Hazrat Mahal, a great beauty, a poet, a stateswoman, has been all but forgotten. A park in Lucknow named after her is in a shambles. She does not figure in history textbooks. This is odd for these two valiant women were pioneers for Indian independence in their own right.
There was then no Mohan Bhagwat of the RSS or no leader of the Jamaat, no Asaram Bapu and no khap leader to remind women that their divinely-ordained duty is to be only dutiful wives and doting mothers. Mourad's book should encourage a resurgent India to tell the worthies of all communities claiming to uphold 'spiritual', 'religious', 'cultural' and 'secular' values - synonyms for reactionaries and opportunists - that their time is up. We won't allow them to bamboozle us any more.
'via Blog this'
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Rachel Maddow: NRA moves to protect right flank, loses relevance
Rachel Maddow: NRA moves to protect right flank, loses relevance:
(How Heidi Haicamp back tracks 12:15 min to 13:30 m.)
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(How Heidi Haicamp back tracks 12:15 min to 13:30 m.)
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Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
'Famines perpetrated by policies that privilege the rich' - Rediff.com News
'Famines perpetrated by policies that privilege the rich' - Rediff.com News:
(Dr. Binayak Sen at Kovalam Literary Festival)
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(Dr. Binayak Sen at Kovalam Literary Festival)
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Friday, January 4, 2013
10 Reasons Why Dr Verghese Kurien Deserves A Bharat Ratna | INDIA CSR
10 Reasons Why Dr Verghese Kurien Deserves A Bharat Ratna | INDIA CSR:
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10 Reasons Why Dr Verghese Kurien Deserves A Bharat Ratna
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NEW DELHI: There is a spontaneous demand from ordinary Indians for a Bharat Ratna for India’s milkman Dr Verghese Kurien (November 26, 1921- September 9, 2012), who passed away recently at the age of 90. India talks socialism and pays lip service to poverty alleviation. But when it comes to the highest civilian award for exemplary service—we do not adequately recognise the work of this giant individual who transformed lives in rural India.
Verghese Kurian, gave up his home state of Kerala to build a unique milk co-operative movement, which transformed the lives of millions of poor rural Indians. He make them self-sufficient. He empowered women. He eradicated poverty in a pocket of India. But thats not all. In Amul, he built one of the biggest brands in India. One that we are all proud of.
By 1955, the co-operative owned Asia’s largest dairy and was producing more than 20,000 litres of milk a day. It was time to give themselves a name. “We all knew that to sell, we must have a brand and one of our chemists suggested Anand Milk Union Ltd or Amul, which meant ‘amulya’ or ‘priceless’ in Sanskrit.
Here are 10 reasons why India must recognize this Bharat Ratna officially.
1. His breadth of vision was stunning; no matter how familiar we may be with it: transforming India from a milk-deficit country to the world’s largest milk producer and doing it through the co-operative route so that women and small farmers were empowered and found an additional source of revenue to augment their farm income.
2. In doing so he brightened the future of a millions of children by ensuring they had access to milk when they needed it the most, in their childhood.
3. Operation Flood or the White Revolution worked, not because it was a social experiment, but because of Dr Kurien’s shrewdness and strategic vision in creating a national marketing machine that matched the best multinationals in wits.
4. It also worked because he built Amul into one of India’s biggest brands since independence. Its mascot, the Amul girl has charmed the nation for half a century.
5. Dr Kurien had the ability to recognize and nurture the finest talent and give them room to deliver—he did this with its advertising agency, to create the iconic outdoor campaign which the “utterly butterly delicious Amul” tagline that comments on everyday events.
6. In building Amul, Dr Kurien demonstrated that efficiency isn’t dependent on profit motive alone as is the modern belief. Because he remained unaffected by the mountain of money that he controlled in the 1970s and 1980s—over Rs 2,000 crore in liquid cash at one stage.
7. Importantly, Dr Kurien’s genius at Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) and the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the creation of an iconic brand in Amul happened in a closed and highly restrictive economy.
8. India has no other brand of a similar stature even from the private sector in the 30 years since Amul or even in the 20 years after economic liberalization.
9. History will remember Dr Kurien as India’s real Bharat Ratna because no individual has impacted Indian lives the way he did in the last 50 years.
10. By giving Dr Kurien the recognition that he richly deserves, the government will demonstrate that our highest civilian award goes to a person who has truly lived up to the socialist ideals that India embraced at independence.
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