Vol. LXI, No. 2, New Delhi, July 19, 2009

A review of budget 2009-10 No stimulus, only sleight all the way By S Gurumurthy PRANAB “gamb-les with big stimulus”, “borrows to fund handouts”; “Rs 1,86,000 crore is the fiscal stimulus in 2008-09”; “A House for Commons”. This is how the media, both print and visual, had headlined the budget for the year 2009-10 as a growth-spend model.    more > Evasive budget, vague on promises, skirts reforms By Naresh Minocha UNSAID and buried facts speak louder than words. This is sum and substance of the Central budget for 2009-10 that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government unveiled on July 6.    more > Thinking Aloud Globalisation means foreign things and foreign tongue By Dr Jay Dubashi I hear you have turned a great native and a great nautcher. It is also important to get acquainted with the natives and to know their manners and character.    more > Editorial Budget: Congress finds globalisation too hot for comfort SOME called it pedestrian. The pink media characterised it as negative stimulus and CMP (Common Minimum Programme)-II. For others, it was lackluster.    more > RAILWAY BUDGET Mamata’s Kolkata obsession: A mix of spark and trick By Shivaji Sarkar THE earthly Ma Mati Manush Mamata Banerjee was expected to bring in the people’s vision into her budget. She has unfortunately got into the bureaucratic trap and the innovation she might have in her mind has been lost.    more > The EVM debate More petitions in Madras HC ANI THE Election Commission has declared them winners in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. But the opponents are not ready to take things that easy.    more > Sangh Samachar Vidya Bharati school students score high all over India - FOC Annual function of Vanbandhu Parishad - By Basudeb Pal BVP Diagnostic Centre inaugurated in Chandigarh - FOC Anti-labour, pro-rich budget: BMS - FOC HN Dixit and Arun Panda honoured with Bhanu Pratap Shukla Samman - FOC National Council Meeting of SJM - FOC Plunder of biodiversity Bio-smugglers target MP forests By Sangeet Verma MADHYA Pradesh has been a haven for nature, wildlife, biodiversity and hence many Vanvasi and cultural civilisations. With more than 29 per cent of its land covered by forests and the revered river Narmada running through its length, this heartland of India even today is home to some of the rarest and most beautiful species of butterflies, insects, moths, spiders and insects.    more > LF crumbles in W. Bengal’s civic polls, Trinamool sweeps again By Ranjit Roy CONTINUING with electoral success, West Bengal’s Opposition parties Trinamool Congress and Congress combine crushed the ruling Left Front in the urban civic body polls by winning 13 of the State’s 16 municipalities.    more > Gehlot stops pension for Emergency victims By Lokpal Sethi in Jaipur WHEN detainees under Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during Emergency in 1975, in the last week of June were marking the anniversary of their arrest during that black period in democracy of the country, Rajasthan government formally shelved the pension scheme for them, initiated by the previous BJP government.    more > Training camp of Muslim Rashtriya Manch Politics divide, culture unite—KS Sudarsha FOC BRITISH had divided the Muslims and the Hindus for their political endgame. We must understand that politics divides while the culture unites,” said Shri KS Sudarshan, former Sarsanghachalak of RSS.    more > Maya has a Varun-phobia: Now a charge sheet By Subhash Singh from Lucknow UTTAR Pradesh government is again ready to put Varun Gandhi behind the bars. It has already sanctioned Varun’s prosecution. Shri Gandhi recently won the Lok Sabha election from Pilibhit on BJP ticket.    more > Orissa HSC Results Vidya Bharati schools perform excellently By Debasis Tripathy in Bhubaneswar THIS is the time for victory of nationalistic education imparted by the Saraswati Vidya Mandirs(SVM) run by Vidya Bharati in Orissa. These schools based on Indian culture and heritage have performed exceptionally well with 44 students in the merit list, out of 102 .    more > BJP government in Himachal makes fair price shops popular By AC Vashishth INDIA is witnessing a strange spectacle of the falling rate of inflation and rocketing prices of essential commodities of daily use by the common.    more > Budha Amarnath Yatra-2009 VHP makes all preparations From Khajuria S Kant in Jammu THIS year, the Budha Amarnath Yatra will commence from Poonch from July 27. The first batch of pilgrims will reach Jammu on July 25 and after a formal inaugural function, the batch will leave for Poonch on July 27.    more > News Analysis Liberhan: What matters is credibility of findings and quality of contents By Shyam Khosla ALTHOUGH broad contours of Liberhan Commission report on destruction of the disputed structure at Ramjanma-bhoomi, not to talk of details about the circumstances that led to that historic event, haven’t so far been made public, it is safe to predict that Commission’s findings will have no intrinsic value for more than one reason.    more >

Cover Page Comment Shy society. Shameless debate By S Gurumurthy HOMOSEXUALS displaced the Economic Survey for the year 2008-09 from the headlines of most media on July 3, 2009.    more > The Moving Finger Writes Maoism and government failure By MV Kamath SIX decades after Independence, the situation of the poor has worsened to such an extent that district after district is being taken over by the Marxists.    more > Think It Over The wonder that is India’s heritage By MSN Menon TWO streams of the Hindu civilisation—that of the senses and that of the mind, that of form and that of thought.    more > INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK BJP is proud of its ideology—Rajnath Singh The president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shri Rajnath Singh affirms that the BJP is proud of its Hindutva ideology. Hindutva is all-inclusive, tolerant, liberal and eternal.    more > Kids’ Org Fulfilment of Brahma’s boon By Manju Gupta LORD Shiva and Goddess Parvati lived happily with their two sons, Ganesha and Subramanya on Mount Kailash. But things were not quiet for long.    more > Play & Learn Which box has greater area? Health Watch Living with Diabetes It can be controlled…. lifespan increased by many years By Dr Sharda Jain ACCEPTING this reality is the first step in coping with diabetes. If you do not control your diabetes, it will control your life. It is a fact that Indians cannot escape diabetes.    more > Bookmark Marriages of friction By Vaidehi Nathan The Apple of Discord: Ten Tortured Marriages; Stewart Justman; Viva Books; Pp 198; Rs. 695.00 They live happier in Tihar Jail By Manju Gupta In Custody: Women in Tihar; Renuka Puriband & Amba Batra Bakshi; Roli Books; Pp 96; Rs. 395.00 The Indo-China détente By Ashish Joshi India and China: The Next Decade; SD Muni and Suranjan Das (Eds.); Rupa & Co.; Pp 135; Rs. 395.00 The global web of terrorism By Ratnadeep Banerji Terrorism: Patterns Of Internationalization, Edited by Jaideep Saikia & Ekaterina Stepanova, Sage Publications, Pp 266, Rs 695.00 A journey through India A Place Within: Rediscovering India, M.G. Vassanji, Penguin Viking, Pp 371, Rs 599.00 A paediatrician’s tales for children By Manju Gupta The Mysterious Tsunami, Nirmala Sridhar, Imprint, Pp189, Rs 195.00 TogadiaSpeak Ignorance and apathy are not the proofs of non-existence—II The good work Sangh is doing By Dr Pravin Togadia VHP’s one-teacher schools (Ekal Vidyalayas) number up to 26, 880 and they cover 7,72,065 students of which around six lakh students are from tribal areas.    more >

Agenda Vegetarianism: A Vedic way of life By Stephen Knapp MANY times there seems to be some confusion or lack of clarity on whether the Vedic path condones or condemns the eating of meat. Often, I hear Indians and followers of the Vedic path...    more >

Debate Modern science and Hinduism By Dr ABL Gupta TODAY the whole world is at war. Behind this war, the main causes are unscientific and non wholesome views of religions. It is a matter of serious concern that if the nature is one, the humanity is one,    more >

Readers’ Forum The new shape of the UPA (Organiser, 7-6-2009); —TUSAR KANTI KAR, 14/3/1, Sribash Dutta Lane, Howrah The council of ministers of such magnitude is absolutely necessary to accommodate the lackeys of the Nehru-Gandhi family.    more >

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