Vol. LXI, No. 24, New Delhi, December 20, 2009

Kickback in defence deal UPA develops cold feet on BEL-Thales tie-up By Naresh Minocha RATTLED by kickbacks in the defence deals, the UPA government is now becoming indecisive in taking calls that can backfire, according to defence industry sources. This approach is evident from the government’s move to defer a decision on Bharat Electronics Limited’s (BEL’s) proposal to produce hi-tech defence communication equipment in technical collaboration with France’s Thales Communications SA (TCSA)    more > DIPLOMACY PM in Moscow Russia deal better than 123 By OP Gupta, IFS [Retd] IT may be recalled that in the run-up to signing of the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, it was presented by the Indian sarkari media as the best deal which could have been secured for India by any government,    more > Thinking Aloud Historic significance of 6th December, 1992 By Dr Jay Dubashi DECEMBER 6, 1992 was the most glorious day in our recent history. Those who say it was the saddest or blackest day in their lives—or some such superlatives—have no right to call themselves Hindus and should purchase one-way ticket to Kabul where Babar’s body lies, untended uncared for and unsung.    more > Editorial Love Jihad: Kerala High Court shows the way THE Kerala High Court’s direction on December 9, to the state government, to take action against forced religious conversion of girls, after trapping them in love and marriage has confirmed the existence of Love Jihad.    more > In Focus The farce in the name of climate change Promoting business interest by other means! By MD Nalapat WHEN Prime Minister Man-mohan Singh goes abroad on one of his foreign tours, not only is a Boeing 747 taken out from service in the loss-making Air india and expensively refitted for his comfort, but another such aircraft is usually kept as standby.    more > National seminar on Partition by Baba Saheb Apte Smarak Samiti Hindutva is the binding force. Partition is temporary, it must go—Mohan Bhagwat By Pramod Kumar "UNITY in the country cannot be achieved only through lip service. It requires sincere efforts. Partition of the country is temporary. The people of both sides of the border too treat it temporary. Therefore, it has to go. It will happen only when we sincerely go through its reasons and remove the shortcomings.    more > Arrest of dreaded jehadi Nazeer CPM torpedoing probe to save its jehadi friends By S Chandrasekhar IN a major breakthrough in the war against jehadi terrorism, Thadiyandevide Nazeer and Shafaz, belonging to Kannur in Kerala, were arrested in Bangladesh and handed over to BSF by Bangladesh Rifles on the Indo-Bangla border in Meghalaya in last week of November.    more > Ban conversion. Act on Love Jihad Kerala HC makes a historic intervention By S Chandrasekhar THE Kerala High Court Justice KT Sankaran in a landmark judgment on December 9, directed the Kerala government to enact laws to prevent conversions in the guise of love and romance.    more > Rs 200 crore spent only on Andhra VIP security Courtesy: Times News Service HERE is some number crunching to deduce how much does the security of our leaders cost the exchequer. The safety of political leaders and other VIPs in the State is the responsibility of the State police.    more > British school makes Sanskrit compulsory FOC IN the heart of London, a British school has made Sanskrit compulsory subject for its junior division because it helps students grasp math, science and other languages better.    more > Cost of keeping Kasab alive: Rs 31 crore and counting How our money is wasted By Prafulla Marpakwar MUMBAI: Guess how much India is spending on keeping the sole surviving 26/11 Pakistani terrorist alive and healthy in prison? Over Rs 30 crore and counting.    more > Impact of Vishwa Mangal Gau Gram Yatra Villagers free cows from smugglers, start goushala By Ravindra Saini BEGINNING from September 30 from Kurukshetra the Vishwa Mangal Gou Gram Yatra visited Uttarakhand on October 10. Though it touched only some parts of the state, people from far-flung areas turned to extend their support in the meetings organised in Dehradun, Haridwar and Roorkie.    more > Guntur Vibhag Sankalpa Shivir Sangh is a powerhouse of disciplined patriots—Ram Madhav FOC GUNTUR Vibhag of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh organised a two-day Sankalpa Shivir at SSN College of Narasarapet under Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh from November 28 to 29. About 450 swayamsevaks from various parts of the vibhag participated in the Shivir. A photo exhibition was also organised at the Shivir.    more > Bookmark A touching historic saga of Rani Padmini of Chittor By Dr Vaidehi Nathan - Rani Padmini: The Heroine of Chittor, BK Karkra, Rupa & Co, Pp 252, Rs 95.00 (PB) A damning expose of Pak military-politician nexus By Ashish Joshi - The Military Factor in Pakistan, RSN Singh, Lancer Publishers, Pp 460, Rs 595.00 (HB) A guide to make your company prosper By Manju Gupta - Karmic Inc.: New Ways to become a creative, competitive, meaningful and purpose-driven organisation, Pujan Roka, Jaico Books, Pp 214, Rs 295.00 (PB) An anguished narrative of Mahatma’s last days By MV Kamath - Last Days of Mahatma Gandhi; Sheshrao Chavan; Mahatma Gandhi Mission, Aurangabad; Pp 308(HB), Rs 650.00 Maoists on the rampage By Manju Gupta - Red Terror in Chhattisgarh: Civil Mark that Hides the Uncivil Reality, Kanchan Gupta, India Foundation, Pp 87 (PB), Rs 100.00 A provocative history from a former General By MV Kamath - Little Man From the East: Through Tumultous Decades; Maj Gen (Retd), MK Paul; Harman Publishing House, New Delhi; Pp 402 (HB), Rs 680.00

Cover Page The Moving Finger Writes The fight for Ramjanmabhoomi By MV Kamath WHAT is this brouhaha over the Liberhan Report on the demolition of the disputed structure? Is it the intention to damn Atal Behari Vajpayee and LK Advani and a few other BJP leaders and give a clean chit to PV Narasimha Rao, India’s Prime Minister at the time of the structure demolition?    more > Thinking It Over Freedom and fate in Hindu thought By MSN Menon THE Hindus chose the way of freedom. Others chose the way of security (you may call it fate, necessity). These are the two great streams of human civilisations—one based on freedom, the other based on the fear of the future. Fear calls for security.    more > Economy Watch Will the global crisis deepen? By Dr Bharat Jhunjhunwala THE gobal economy is passing through a period of uncertainty. Agencies such as the World Bank and the IMF believe that the American economy will soon revive and pull forward the global economy with it.    more > Kids’ Org The death of Ahi the demon By Manju Gupta AS everyone knows, gods and demons have been constantly at war with each other. Demons hated the gods but even after every defeat in the battles that they fought, they would gather their army again and launch another attack on the gods.    more > A Page From History Archaeological evidence of Sri Ram and His birthplace By Dr BB Lal WHEN the Britishers left India in 1947, there was an yawning gap in our knowledge of ancient Indian history.    more > Opinion Three imperatives of primary education By Himanshu Shekhar Jha ONE of the greatest mistakes which the new Government formed after independence committed was that it retained the British educational system which had been introduced in India not to help her people but producing clerks and officials to run the alien governmental machinery.    more > Sangh Samachar Bajrang Dal celebrates Shourya Diwas on December 6 Hindus will build Sri Ram temple—Ashok Singhal - By Sangita Sachdeva Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti serves notice on NCERT on album of Husain’s paintings - FOC Annual meeting of Poorva Sainik Sewa Parishad - FOC Liberhan report hides more than it reveals —Mohan Bhagwat - FOC Subas Bose inspired a generation—Bhaiyaji Joshi - FOC It's the influence of alien culture that protects cow slaughter—K Suryanarayana Rao - FOC Debate Enough is Enough. They want to Islamise all—II In Islam there is no room for anything but Islam THIS interesting speech by Dutch MP Geert Wilders gives an insight into the European fight back against an Islamic onslaught to demographically dominate the White Continent.    more > Media Watch Of relishing vegetarian cuisine in White House WHY did Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh go to Washington? To have a taste of vegetarian cuisine prepared for a White House state dinner?    more >

Report Be tough on ULFA terrorists. Peace talks can wait From Jyoti Lal Chowdhury WITH the arrest of Arabinda Rajkhowa, chairman of the ULFA and Raju Barua deputy commander-in-chief, questions are now being asked in civil and political circles: Is peace imminent in north-east ? There are still certain areas of the region which continue to be haunted by the shadow of gun.    more >

News Analysis Liberhan Commission Report A fruitless effort ends up in generating a new controversy By Prabhat Jha WHAT has the country gained from the marathon proceedings of the Liberhan Commission which went on for 17 years? In the concluding part the Report has touched certain aspects of principles and given a long discourse on secularism.    more >

Readers’ Forum Defining Hindutva (Organiser, 29-11-2009); —AMAR JIT SINGH GORAYA, 15 Dunvegan Place, East Kilbride, Scotland, UK have gone through the letter of Shri Shahabuddin and the reply of Shri OP Gupta about Hindutva with a keen interest. Every Indian who thinks India to be his janmabhoomi and punyabhoomi is a Hindu.    more >

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