The Myth of United India

Bangalore, Oct 1 : In South, a state is at stand-still demanding separation; in Northwest, a region is plagued with extremism which always wanted to break free, Northeast, a league of states frustrated at the tyrannical rule of the central government; and above all, another group of extreme leftists fighting to topple the government - A panoramic view of real India, a fact hard to digest but impossible to ignore. I wonder if the myth of united India has any more relevance or rather, it ever had?

The burning issue of Telangana seems to be an endless crisis with normal life being affected badly due to the ongoing protect. The city of Hyderabad is at a standstill ever since the agitations turned violent and rigorous. As many of the government employees are taking part in the strike by all sections of people' for the cause of a separate Telangana state, the public offices are mostly closed down in the state.

The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimates the loss caused by the protest at around 500 crore a day.

The alarming situation is not just the Telangana issue, but the resultant demands from other parts of the country for freedom from their mother states.

After the center conceded to create a separate Telengana state, there have been demands for nine other new states including Gorkhaland in West Bengal, Coorg in Karnataka, Mithilanchal in Bihar and Saurashtra in Gujarat. The demands are mostly from different organizations like Gorkha Janamukti Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Dal and some from individuals.

The other demands are for a Vidarbha state in Maharashtra, a new Greater Cooch Behar state from parts of West Bengal and Assam, a Bhojpur state comprising areas of Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and Bundelkhand state from many districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The realization of a Telangana state can give rise to widespread protests and agitations from different parts of the country demanding separation and creation of many new ones.

May be India can win a war on Kashmir, but can never win the hearts of Kashmiris. The dissident character is here to stay because it's deeply into their blood. The tactics of different governments seemed to have failed there over the time as intrusion and violent protests are on the increase in the state.

According to a recent poll conducted by think tank Chatham House, Nearly half of the people living in the Indian and Pakistani parts of Kashmir want an an independent country for the disputed and divided state.

Between 75 percent and 95 percent people from the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley support freedom both from India and Pakistan.

Twenty one percent of the population said they would vote for the whole of Kashmir to join India, and only 15 percent said they would vote for it to join Pakistan.

The results visibly indicate a quest for freedom beyond the religious lines. Nonetheless, the violent form of agitation is giving sleepless nights to government as the issue has been progressively gaining a global attention.

The severity of protests and agitation seems much less in Northeast as compared to the Kashmir valley, but people are definitely is not happy with the Indian rule.

Irom Sharmila Charu, the 'Iron Lady of Manipur' has been on an indefinite hunger strike since November 5, 2000 demanding the government to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Life has never been safe and peaceful in the northeastern states as human right violation is not a rare incidence there ever since the army took over the security control. The sense of belonging has been forcefully erased from the minds of the people from the seven states of northeast India over the years who are often viewed as different' by many.

The Indian state ignored the villages, left them underdeveloped and unemployed to a point where the people have naturally opted for other methods to retaliate and today it's called Maoism.

The official data reveals that naxalism has reached 165 of the country's 604 districts and as many as 15 of Indian states are living under the threat of this gravest internal security threat.

The sympathizers argue that naxals have been dispossessed, isolated, neglected, raped, murdered, pushed out of their land, and so and so on for many years by the government and the police force. However, they have on many occasions outlined their strategies and aims that is nothing less than toppling the democratic government.

The divide is becoming wider, intellectually and emotionally. The myth of united India has vanished, if at all there was one. It's high time that the government to hunt for practical confidence-building measures for the dissident masses.

In this era of fast dissemination of information, a revolt such as the Jasmine Revolution in the Arab, can bring in anarchy and instability to the state.

‘Manipur To Be Sporting Capital of India’

Imphal, Oct 1 : Revealing lofty contents of its Vision Document 2025, BJP national convener Sunil Deodhar hold out the party’s plan to transform Manipur into a sporting capital of the country.

Deodhar arrived here on Monday on a three-day visit and took first hand account of the prevailing situation which was conveyed to BJP national president Nitin Gadkari.

While briefing the media at the party’s State office here, Deodhar said he has come to take stock of the prevailing situation arising out of the ongoing economic blockade on National Highways of the State and to reveal State-specific contents of Vision document 2025.

Through Vision document 2025, the BJP will transform Manipur into a sporting capital of the country given the talent pool of the State, he said.

He lamented the gross injustice prevailing in the State with the crisis emanating from economic blockade on National Highways for 58 days and counting. The visiting leader expressed shock that an LPG cylinder is being sold at a whopping Rs 2,000.

Deodhar said the party will submit a detailed report of the situation in Manipur to the Prime Minister and President of India upon getting back from his trip and put pressure on the Union Government for prompt intervention to solve the matter.

India Tops Weapons Purchase Table, Outspends China

By Uttara Choudhury

Boeing-C17-Globemaster. Image courtesy Boeing

New York, Sep 30 : India was the biggest buyer of conventional arms among developing nations in 2010 and had global defence giants lining up to capture $5.8 billion in new deals, said a report for the US Congress.

Worldwide arms sales in 2010 totalled $40.4 billion, a drop of 38 percent from the $65.2 billion in arms deals signed in 2009 and the lowest total since 2003, the Congressional study found.

India, which is growing its military muscle, was followed on a shopping spree last year by Taiwan, which sealed $2.7 billion in deals and Saudi Arabia which negotiated $2.2 billion in sales. Pakistan also received $2.2 billion worth of arms shipments, according to the report.

The 75-page report found that developing countries were the heaviest buyers in 2010 and the total value of arms transfer deals with developing nations last year was $30.7 billion, or 76.2 percent of worldwide deals.

The report said defence budgets in most developed countries, especially in Europe are undergoing massive cuts. In the early going of the financial crisis, defence budgets were under little pressure and indeed were often seen as part of a wider economic stimulus effort. But with the focus shifting to austerity and rebalancing books, that dynamic has changed.

As a result, developing nations continued to be the primary focus of foreign arms sales. US, Russian and European suppliers made a beeline for wealthy oil producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and high-octane economies like India, China, and South Korea.

“Worldwide weapons sales declined generally in 2010 in response to the constraints created by the tenuous state of the global economy,” wrote Richard F. Grimmett, a specialist in international security at the Congressional Research Service and author of the study.

“As new arms sales have become more difficult to conclude since the global recession began, competition among sellers has become increasingly intense,” said Grimmett, noting that suppliers were sweetening deals with flashy incentives, flexible financing and co-production agreements.

The report also listed Saudi Arabia, India and China as by far the heaviest buyers over the 2003-2010 period covered in the report. Over this eight-year period, Saudi Arabia was the developing world’s top recipient of arms shipments having received some $29 billion worth of weapons, followed by India at nearly $17 billion; China at $13.2 billion; Egypt at $12.1 billion and Israel at $10.3 billion.

America and Russia have been the dominant arms sellers to developing countries over the past eight years, according to the report. Moscow actually beat out Washington in the value of arms deals it inked between 2003 and 2006, only to be overtaken by Washington over the next four years.

In actual arms deliveries to developing countries, however, Washington has dominated its competitors over the past eight years, with about $60 billion worth of transfers, compared to Russia’s $38 billion. Britain delivered $19 billion, France $12.3 billion, China $11.6 billion, Germany $6.2 billion and Israel $3.5 billion.

The report noted that India has begun to modernise its old, Soviet-era military equipment and technology and diversify its weapons supply base. “In 2008, India purchased six C130J cargo aircraft from the United States. In 2010, the United Kingdom sold India 57 Hawk jet trainers for $1 billion. In 2010, Italy also sold India 12 AW101 helicopters,” it said.

“This pattern of Indian arms purchases indicates that it is likely that Russia will face strong new competition from other major weapons suppliers for the India arms market, and it can no longer be assured that India will consistently purchase its major combat systems.”

New Delhi is aware that many of its purchases are big-ticket items so under current Indian rules, foreign companies that win orders in excess of about $62 million, must draw at least 30 percent of that order from domestic suppliers or make a similarly sized investment within India, in what is known as an offset.

Salgaocar Lift Federation Cup

Salgaocar broke a 14-year jinx with 3-1 win over Bengal - PTI

 

Kolkata, Sep 30  : Goa's Salgaocar Sports Club broke a 14-year jinx to lift the Federation Cup with a 3-1 victory over city soccer giants East Bengal in the final at the Salt Lake Stadium here Thursday.

The in-form visitors, who conceded their first goal of the tournament Thursday, put the locals on the mat by establishing a quick 2-0 lead through Edeh Chidi and Francis Fernandes, even though East Bengal managed to reduce the margin when Allan Gow converted what seemed a controversial penalty decision.

However, the I-League champions put the issue beyond East Bengal with Ryuji Sueoka pushing home after a horrible goalkeeping blunder from Sandip Nandy.

Salgaocar, who won their fourth Fed Cup title - and the first since 1997 - looked the better team on view, displaying good cohesion, as East Bengal paid the price for missed chances, and some strategic faux pas of their coach Trevor James Morgan.

The Englishman fielded a visibly unfit Mehtab Hossain who had to be replaced within four minutes and then inexplicably substituted the bright Penn Orji in the second session. Besides, the defence faltered in challenging situations and forward Robin Singh missed a couple of rosy chances. And in the end, the red and gold brigade's hopes of making a hat-trick of Fed Cup titles went up in smoke, disappointing the massive crowd.

On the other hand, Salgaocar coach Karim Bencharifa, being tipped for the national coach's slot, tasted his second success in the tournament, having earlier guided Mohun Bagan to the summit.

Salgaocar drew first blood - a soft goal - as early as the fifth minute.

Junior Elija's centre from the right, saw Edeh Chidi getting away almost unchallenged as he unleashed a low header, with Harmanjot Khabra making only a feeble attempt to dissuade him. The ball went in to the right of Nandi.

The lead was doubled 15 minutes later when Nandi managed to block Fernandes' attempt, but the winger finished off the rebound.

East Bengal managed to narrow the margin in the 25th minute. Salagaocar's Biswajit Saha tried to dispossess Orji inside the Goan team's penalty box, and as the Nigerian fell, referee Santosh Singh pointed to the dreaded spot. Television action replays revealed the punishment was too harsh as there was little body contact between the two players.

Gow, however, made no mistake in scoring from the spot kick with a left foot grounder.

The goal enthused East Bengal as they attacked with more purpose earning a series of flag kicks.

At the other end, Nandi denied Fernandes while Chidi wasted a chance after good footwork.

Robin Singh missed a golden opportunity in the dying minutes of the opening session as he failed to reach a Naoba Singh cross.

Crossing over, Robin was once again guilty of muffing up a sitter. Sanju Pradhan set up the unmarked youngster, but he missed the easiest of headers from close.

The Japanese Sueoka finally made the scoreline 3-1 by tapping the ball in after Nandi failed to grip a Chidi cross.

Realising the ground slipping under their feet, the East Bengal forwards looked desperate, but the Salgaocar defence held firm, and as the final whistle was blown, the Goans became only the second team after Mohun Bagan to win the I-League and the Fed Cup in the same year.

Meet The Huawei-Discovery Expedition

Discovery Communications has partnered with Huawei Technologies to come up with the ‘Huawei-Discovery Expedition’ phone. The partnership and the launch of the handset is a part of the expanding Discovery Expedition line, the official lifestyle brand of Discovery Channel.

The Discovery Expedition handset is quite a rugged phone (water-resistant, dustproof and anti-shock, includes a GPS, torch, compass, G-sensor) suitable for the outdoorsy kinds. Yes, it will come with native SNS apps like Facebook and Twitter to allow you to share your adventures online with your buddies.

We do wish that we had some more specifications to talk about but judging just by the looks of it, we can say its a fairly sturdy and strong. No don’t expect any ridiculously frail touchscreen display as this one is meant for the adventurous kind.

The handset is expected to hit various markets anytime in the next three months.

Sara Underwood Modeling the Playboy Store's Lingerie and Bikini (NSFW)

Sara Underwood has never been shy of her amazing figure, and considering that she has already done a spread for Playboy proper, a substantially less risque photoshoot of herself in Lingerie and various Bikinis is nothing shocking.

Sara Underwood's photoshoot for Playboy's Lingerie line and Bikini line are nothing short of mouth watering. I have always been a huge fan of Sarah's, so seeing this just brings that extra bit of joy to my life. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do ...

Disasters Claim 71 Lives in Mizoram in 8 Years

Aizawl, Sep 29 : Natural disasters have claimed the lives of altogether 71 persons and injured 82 others during the last eight years, Disaster Management and Rehabilitation officials said here today.

Landslides and land sinking claimed the highest number of lives, killing 31 persons, followed by house fire (15 persons), forest fire (11 lives), flash flood/flood (10 lives) and cyclone (4 lives).

Altogether 82 persons were injured by disasters during this period.

As many as 42,523 houses were damaged by disasters, with cyclone, which damaged 20279 houses, topping the list.

It was followed by landslides which damaged 6621 houses. Hailstorm damaged 10895 houses, household fire and forest fire gutted 1498 houses and 749 houses respectively while floods destroyed 2481 houses.

Disasters, mainly forest fire, destroyed 249947 bighas of land.

Landslides caused damage to 82187 bighas of land, cyclone 10826 bighas, flood 48856 bighas and hailstorm 6746 bighas of land.

The most disastrous incident was recorded in 1992 when a rock slide at South Hlimen near Aizawl killed 67 people and destroyed 16 houses.

Fortunately, no major earthquake has occurred in Mizoram despite the fact that the state, with the rest of the northeastern India, falls within seismic zone five, which seismologists said is the highest vulnerable zone.

In 2006, Mizoram adopted the Disaster Management Act, 2005, passed by the Parliament and set up state disaster management authority under the chairmanship of the chief minister. Under this, there is district disaster management authority in each district, chaired by the deputy commissioner concerned.

''As Mizoram lies within the seismic zone V, the Central government has taken initiatives under UNDP-DRM programme with the state government to aware the public for prevention/mitigation of earthquake disaster in a form of training and preparedness to face possible earthquake disaster,'' said head faculty, ATI (DMC) Dr Lalrokima Chenkual.

Hazard safety cell has been set up under the state PWD. The cell has chalked out programmes on assessment of buildings and other structures on their vulnerability to strong earthquake and has started operations with life-line buildings.

School teachers are taught formulation of school safety plan and safety tips while disaster management is being introduced in the school syllabus for Class V, VIII, IX and X in the state.

Extensive awareness campaign was being conducted at all levels, the officials said.

Football Fans in India Deprived Of Watching The Game by ESPN

By Ashim Sunam

Football fans across the nation were very disappointed as they were not able to watch some important EPL clashes, as ESPN had decided to broadcast the cash rich Champions League. At the end, it was the football fans, who lost out on the EPL action.

DAVID HAOKIP, a Liverpool fan never misses out watching his favourite team, Liverpool, play during the English Premier league. He makes sure that there is no disturbance during the game. But it was a frustrating and gloomy day for Haokip last Saturday, as he could not watch Liverpool play against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Feeling helpless, Haokip thought he was one of those few thousands of football fans who grew in the wrong part of the world, where every second person is an ardent cricket fan, in the cricket-obssessed nation of India.

The official broadcasters, ESPN and Star, were busy covering the cash rich Champions League T20, 2011. As a result, Star Sports showed only Manchester City’s game Vs Everton, and United’s game later on - and due to some reason missed showing the Liverpool vs Wolverhampton Wanderers game - leading to Haokip losing his cool. Football fans across the country were not able to see what they love - a solid game of fast-paced European league precission football. Considering that during the weekend, EPL witnesses around 10 matches - it was a huge let down for football lovers.

For football fans across the country, it is on Saturdays and Sundays that they get together and enjoy watching the beautiful game on their plasma screens. But, last week was different for these groups of football fans, as they could not watch the beautiful game. They will have to cope with absence of live football footage for the coming two weeks or so as the Champions League 2011 is scheduled to conclude only on October 9, 2011. So football fans across the country must have some arrangements ready for the future matches. The best bet would be watching it online, provided the internet speed is good.

Kipgen Mangboi from Manipur, who has been following football from a very small age, was angry when he switched on to ESPN to watch football, only to realize that the channel was broadcasting cricket. In an angry voice, Kipgen says, “why are two channels showing the same T20 game?” The T20 game was shown in both ESPN and Star cricket. He was so frustrated, as he could not watch EPL, so he even thought of writing to ESPN, but he gave up the idea. He added, “For a cricket match score, you can go and ask any paan wala, but what about the football score, it is not so easy”. The only option that is left for the football fans of the country is to log on to the internet and Google for live scores. It has to be remembered that not everyone has internet service at their disposal.

As a result of a "semi-football blackout', football fans posted numerous comments on social networking sites asking questions such as, ‘why is ESPN showing cricket, when they are the official broadcasters of the EPL?’ Another football fan Philip, who has been born and brought up in Delhi went to the extent of commenting on the Facebook page of espnstar.com, “In India why did you guys not show the live telecast of the other matches except for Stoke Vs Manchester United and Man City vs Everton? Is the copycat cricket glitter more important for you, who can’t you even come up with a name for their own tournament and copy it from the prestigious UEFA Champions league”. Fans like Philip always make sure that their voices are heard far and wide. He openly states that he hates cricket. No wonder, with unwarranted situation like these, football fans will always look down upon cricket. But, how much will this turn of events matter to cricket fans, which outnumber football fans in India?

Almost 90-95 per cent of the Indian population are cricket fans and the rest of the country may follow other sports such as Football, Hockey, and Lawn tennis. But, Football is said to be growing in many parts of the country, which is sure to increase the number of fans present in India. North eastern states of India, along with Kolkata, and Kerala have a large number of football fans. The numbers are increasing gradually. But, it would never be able to surpass the number of cricket fans - that's for sure - at least, not in the near future.

Cricket brings in so much of revenue to broadcasters, so it is understandable that ESPN shows cricket, and not football, which in India, can't generate the kind of revenue that cricket does. Parag Ekka, who is both an ardent cricket and a football fan, comes up with a balanced view and says, “It is no surprise, that cricket is being aired in ESPN. After all it is India, where cricket is religion. We are not in Brazil.” If we bring into the TRP factor here, cricket would win all hands down, as there is a very small section of Indian populace who follow football regularly.

Some football fans across the nation cannot even think of going a weekend going by without watching EPL matches. One such fan from Darjeeling, Nalanda Moktan, realizing he did not have any alternative, decided to log on to the internet and read the text commentary on various websites. The feeling of watching the game live is always better than scrolling over the internet for text commentary or watching it online, which is very irritating as it buffers, and following live-action depends on the speed of the internet. “In spite of reading live text commentary, I will make sure that I watch the highlights of the game, which is a visual treat.”

One hopes that sports channels in India realize that football fans of India have to feel satisfied with whatever little air time that is given to football, which is not exactly the most smartest situation if sponsors and broadcasters are trying to build momentum for the growth of football in a country that has lakhs of people who want to kick a footbal than hit a cricket ball given half a chance.

About The Author

Ashim is a citizen journalist and a sports enthusiast. He loves to delve deep inside the background of every sporting event and analyse the happenings around the arena