Friday 23 January 2015

Narendra Modi: Know Your Leader
In the above picture, which is culled from the Economic Times of 23 January, 2015, it is seen that our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has made an important observation on King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who passed away on 23 January, 2015. 

Now though the death of a person is always painful let us see what the Anti-War Blog wrote about this Kingdom (which was managd by the late king for decades), on February 18, 2014: 
Saudi Arabia, the brutal authoritarian theocracy that the democracy-promoting Washington claims as one of its closest allies, has a bit of a history of pressuring the U.S. into Middle East wars. The 1991 First Gulf War to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait was fought largely in defense of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom also encouraged the Bush administration to invade Iraq in 2003. And the Saudi king has repeatedly urged Washington to attack Iran to secure Saudi interests in the Sunni-Shia regional divide.
Saudi Arabia also has a rather incriminating and duplicitous history of harboring Islamic extremists of the al-Qaeda, jihadist type. They helped the U.S. fund the mujahideen in Afghanistan. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis (and they were directed by a Saudi, named Osama bin Laden). There is even a classified record that members of Congress have claimed indicates the Saudi government’s role in the 9/11 attacks.
Since the start of Syria’s civil war, foreign jihadists have been flooding the country – many of them coming from Saudi Arabia. Al Monitor reports:
Estimates of the number of Saudis fighting in Syria range as high as 2,500. Some are hardened veterans of earlier jihads in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq. A few are compatriots of Osama bin Laden. Others traveled to Syria from the kingdom, despite individual travel bans imposed for dissident activities at home. Some traveled directly through major Saudi airports, leading many observers to conclude they were encouraged by the authorities to leave the kingdom and go fight Assad. For over two years, the Saudi government seemed to turn a blind eye to travel by its citizens — even political dissidents — to Syria.
Kuwait, which has close ties to the Saudi government, “is a major source of private funding for Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s official arm in Syria,” Al Monitor reports.
Interesting enough, but that is not the big piece of news from this Al Monitor report. The big news is this: “King Abdullah will make a major push for a more vigorous American effort to oust Assad when he hosts Obama [late next month]. The Saudis have been openly disappointed that Obama has not used force to get rid of Assad or provided more assistance to training and arming the Syrian opposition.” Now, the report says, the Saudis are trying to persuade Obama to impose regime change in Syria by promising to cut back on its support for jihadists.
To sum up, Saudi Arabia’s policy on Syria amounts to funding groups considered by Washington to be terrorists and to lobbying the President of the United States to destroy the Damascus government. The two initiatives are deeply intertwined given that a collapse of the regime in Syria would mean chaos and huge ungoverned spaces, which foreign funded jihadists could thrive in.
I’ve been hammering away on the issue of entangling alliance for months now, but where is the outrage on Saudi Arabia? The U.S. government continues to help prop up and arm the Saudi government and yet it supports terrorism and is trying to suck the U.S. into another dangerous and endless military quagmire in the Middle East. Where are the belligerent members of Congress, the Peter Kings and Charles Schumers, condemning Saudi Arabia? They condemn other countries for much less.

Sunday 26 October 2014

Shiv Sena offers cash to Hindus with big families
October 26, 2014: The UP unit of Shiv Sena, an alliance partner of NDA government, would offer Rs 21,000 in cash to each Hindu family having 10 or more children. This, the Shiv Sena said, is an effort to counter the “growing influence of other communities”.

Sena’s state pramukh (president) Anil Singh told The Sunday Express that the district units have been told to identify such families.

The party would hold a programme in November-end to reward these families along with an appreciation certificate with a message, “Rashtra hit me Hinduon ki jansankhya badhane ke liye (For increasing population of Hindus in the interest of the nation).”

The party would also launch an agitation from November 1 against family planning by Hindus. Partymen will lock government medical health centres across the state as part of the agitation.

Singh alleged only Hindus were going for vasectomy and tubectomy while other communities were avoiding it to increase their population in the country. “We will appeal to Hindus that increasing our population is the need of the hour. If we will not, Hindus will become negligible in the country.”

He added government medical centres will be locked for a few hours in various districts on different days from November 1 onwards while another date would be decided to hold such protests across the state on a particular day. Sena workers had staged one such protest at a primary health centre in Meerut last week, he claimed.

He said the party had held a similar programme seven years ago in Lucknow when each Hindu couple having 10 or more children was awarded a cash of Rs 11,000. Then, around 120 families were awarded and most of them belonged to western and eastern UP, Singh claimed.

Courtesy: Indian Express

Monday 17 February 2014

Supreme Court commutes death penalty of Rajiv Gandhi's killers to life term
[Editor: This blog has always campaigned to bring an end to the cruel custom of Death Penalty, all over the word. It is good to note that the Honourable Supreme Court of India has come up with a fantastic judgement on the petition filed by the accused. It would not be an exaggeration to mention here, that last year in February, Former Supreme Court judge Justice (retired) K. T. Thomas, who awarded the death penalty to Rajiv Gandhi's assassins in 1999, said it will be unconstitutional to hang them now after they had spent such a long period of time in prison]
Photo, Courtesy: NDTV
Dhananjay Mahapatra, Feb 18, 2014: NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday commuted the death penalty of Rajiv Gandhi's killers to life term, citing the 11-year delay in deciding their mercy pleas.

With this, the three convicts on death row in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case — Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan — have been spared the gallows.

There had been inordinate delay on government and President's part to decide their mercy pleas, the SC judges said.

The apex court rejected the Centre's contention that delay in deciding mercy plea of convicts Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan did not result in agony.

We implore govt to render advice in reasonable time to the President for taking a decision on mercy pleas, the court said.

The top court has asked the government to add a new criteria for considering commuting death penalty to life imprisonment — inordinate delay in deciding mercy petitions.

Their plea was strongly opposed by the Centre which had said that it was not a fit case for the apex court to commute death sentence on the ground of delay in deciding mercy plea.

Admitting that there has been delay in deciding the mercy petitions, the government, however, had contended that the delay was not unreasonable, unexplainable and unconscionable to commute death penalty.

The counsel, appearing for the convicts, had contested the Centre's arguments, saying that they have suffered due to the delay by the government in deciding the mercy petitions and the apex court should intervene and commute their death sentence to life term.

The convicts had submitted that mercy plea of other condemned prisoners, which were filed after them, were decided but their petitions were kept pending by the government.

The apex court had, in May 2012, decided to adjudicate the petitions of Rajiv Gandhi killers against their death penalty and had directed that their plea, pending with the Madras high court, be sent to it.

(With inputs from PTI)

Courtesy: The Times of India

Sunday 26 January 2014

Women agents may be involved in gold smuggling racket in Kerala, say investigators
Kochi, November 11, 2013: Gone are the days when the kingpins of gold smuggling rackets used to employ less educated people as carriers for smuggling gold into Kerala. The arrest of 22-year-old Hiromasa V Sebastin of Wayanad and 32-year-old Raahila Cheerayi of Kannur is a clear sign that highly educated and high profile people who knew very well about the consequences of their actions are working as carriers for smugglers to make easy money. Raahila is an MBA graduate having a certification from SAP software firm and works in a private firm in Dubai where as Hiromasa is trained in diploma drom a reputed air hostess training academy in Kerala and is employed by Air India Express. 

Investigations by DRI officials revealed that Hiromasa was on leave from the airlines services from the last six months and was working with a smuggling racket based in Malappuram. She was suspended from the job by Air India Express after she was arrested last Friday.

The duo arrested at Karipur international airport by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials on last Friday were hiding the gold bars beneath their jeans wrapped up in a towel. They arrived in Air India Express flight IX 344 from Dubai concealed six kilogram of gold bars (each gold bar weighing one kilogram) worth Rs.1.84 crores. DRI investigation had revealed that the duo had smuggled nearly 39 kg of gold worth Rs. 12 crores in last three months. The DRI officials were vigilant following a tip off from an unknown source that two ladies are arriving with concealed gold bars on their body. DRI officials intercepted the ladies and they were inspected by women officers who found that each of them were carrying 3 kg bars of gold in cloth around their waist and wore jeans over it.

The DRI officials says that the gold smuggling racket is employing educated women as carriers as they won't be suspected by the officials. "There seems to be an elaborate network of female carriers in Malabar. The carriers had revealed the names of the kingpins based in Dubai. We need to investigate the further to arrest the other women carriers involved in smuggling," says an official to India Today. The incident has opened the eyes of the officials as this is first time that an air hostess is arrested in Kerala for acting as a carrier. "Normally pilots and air hostess were not examined by customs in airports. We need to have a rethink about it now," says a top customs official.

It is also learnt that Raahila had travelled to Dubai to Kerala through various international airports twenty five times since July 2013. DRI officials are now investigating to know whether she was acting as a carrier during all these trips. Though the arrested air hostess claims that she was doing smuggling only for the third time, DRI officials are now verifying claims by examining the travel details of the air hostess  Officials say that the carriers were given Rs. 1 lac for carrying one kg gold from Dubai to Kerala. Raahila is learnt have been involved in smuggling for the last three years. Investigators says that it was Raahila who introduced Hiromosa to smuggling exploiting her financial crisis situation. Hiromosa is the sole breadwinner of the family comprising of two younger sisters and mother as her father had died some years ago.

After the arrest of lady carriers on Friday, the customs wing in Karipur seized two kg of gold worth Rs. 60 lakh on Saturday from a passenger from Jiddah, Mohammed Nawas of Puthukkod in Malappuram. Navas turned the gold in the form of three glasses and spoons and gave steel coating to hide the yellow metal.

Meanwhile two women carriers -Arifa and Asifa-accused of gold smuggling in Nedumbassery gold smuggling case  have been charged under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities (COFEPOSA) Act on last Saturday alone with key accused T.K. Faiz and  Haris. The Act would lead to the detention of the four accused without bail for one year.

CBI is also investigating the case along with DRI as they suspect the involvement of customs officials too in smuggling. The investigation agency is planing to examine some customs officials in Karipur international airport.

Courtesy: India Today

Wednesday 8 January 2014

Ganguly says he was “badly treated”, slams SC panel
January 8, 2014: Former Supreme Court judge Justice A.K. Ganguly, who quit as Chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, on Wednesday attacked the Supreme Court over the inquiry by its three-judge panel into the sexual assault allegations against him, saying he was “very badly and unfairly” treated.

Claiming that he quit in “disgust”, the 66-year-old former Supreme Court judge also said he would prefer jail to filing a defamation case against the law intern who levelled the sexual harassment allegation, as she was his student.

“I will never do anything against someone who was my student. I would rather go to jail,” Justice Ganguly told reporters when asked whether he would file a defamation case against the intern.

Justice Ganguly, who quit in the wake of mounting pressure after he was indicted by a three-member panel of judges of the Supreme Court, denied any wrong doing and alleged he was not given a fair chance by the apex court.

“I have been very badly and unfairly treated by the Supreme Court. I was not given a fair chance by the Supreme Court panel,” he told a television channel.

Stating that Supreme Court jurisdiction doesn’t apply on a retired judge, he also questioned the appointment of the panel.

“The intern never complained to the SC, then why was a panel formed? I appeared before the court in good faith. The Supreme Court panel acted without jurisdiction and basis against me. I am questioning the role of my fellow judges in the Supreme Court,” he added.

On the panel’s observation which had found ‘unwelcome behaviour’ on his part, Justice Ganguly shot back, “Unwelcome to whom?

“I did not force her to stay with me. Neither had I forced her to drink wine. Can I force if one is not willing to take it? If she did not like, she could have left before dinner also.”

The panel had held that the statement of the intern, both written and oral, had prima facie disclosed “an act of unwelcome behaviour (unwelcome verbal/non-verbal conduct of sexual nature)” by the judge with her in the Le Meridien hotel room in Delhi on December 24, 2012.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Saturday 4 January 2014

THE SHAKTI BEHIND TAGORE
~~Aruna Chakravarti
Sunday, 05 January 2014: If Kadambari tapped Rabindranath Tagore’s poetic potential and Jananda helped him acquire a world vision, it was Mrinalini who created the educator — the founder of Visva Bharati. Without her active help and support his dream of reviving the ancient ashramik system of education would not have been realized

The Tagore family is one of the few in Bengal that can trace its roots from the genesis of Kolkata itself. The first contractors and stevedores of the new port city that was being built 350 years ago, by aligning the villages of Sutanuti, Gobindopur and Kolikata, they attained wealth and power by working closely with the British. Constructing a grand mansion in the fashionable Pathurighata locality of Calcutta, they set up the family that commands honour and respect to this day.

A few generations later, there was a family rift and the house of Jorasanko was born. Over the years both lines flourished but the Jorasanko branch towered above the other and, under Dwarkanath Tagore, rose to dizzying heights. Dwarkanath was not only a wealthy zamindar but also an astute businessman with interests in shipping, banking, insurance, silk, jute, indigo and coal. His wealth and the opulence of his living style were such that he inspired awe and adulation even in British royalty who dignified him with the title of a Prince.

Dwarkanath’s son Debendranath was unlike his princely father. Austere and high-principled, he founded the Adi Brahmo Samaj proving that the Tagores were not only interested in self-enhancement but were deeply sensitised to the need of the hour. The Brahmo dharma was in essence a cleaner, renovated form of Hinduism which had become ridden, over the centuries, with dogmas, superstitions, biases and corrupt practices. The Samaj was set up with the ideal of restoring Hinduism to its original pristine form. Later the Tagores of Jorasanko became the face of an enlightened, cultured, modern Bengal. It was at the forefront of the Bengal Renaissance, that its members took an active part in the movement and even the women came forward to play a pivotal role.

Who were these women and where did they come from? Unequal marriages seemed to be the norm in the house of Jorasanko. The girls who came to it as daughters-in-law were almost invariably from families that lacked the wealth, education and cultural superiority of the Tagores. Illiterate and unexposed to the outside world, they were intimidated by the glories of their new-found family and had to struggle hard to find their feet. Eventually, guided and supported by their husbands, they acquired education and poise and gained confidence and growth.

But why were such mismatched unions formed in the first place? The Tagore family was ostracised by the elite Brahmins of Bengal for two reasons. One was the Pirali stigma which they carried from the 16th century onwards when two of their ancestors converted to Islam. The second was the fact of Debendranath being a Brahmo. Debendranath’s insistence on seeking matches for his children only from Brahmin families reduced his options, and his choices were restricted to those branches of the stigmatised clan who didn’t mind forming alliances with Brahmos. The daughters of the house enjoyed a more privileged position. The same Pirali stigma that forced the Tagores to wed their sons to girls from a less privileged section of the Brahmin society led to a tradition of luring Kulin (the highest strata) youths with lucrative offers, marrying them to sisters and daughters and keeping them as live-in sons-in-law or ghar jamais. This was a distinguishing feature of the Pirali clan and it persisted for centuries. Even two of Rabindranath’s own sons-in-law were ghar jamais.

Of the Tagore girls the best known are Swarna Kumari Debi, universally acknowledged as the pioneer of women’s writing in India, her daughter Sarala Debi who led a youth movement against British rule, and writer and musicologist Indira Debi Choudhurani. But the daughters-in-law, Jnanadanandini Debi, Kadambari Debi and Mrinalini Debi left a more significant mark on the times they lived in. Even more importantly, it was these three women who impacted the life and work of the jewel in the crown of the Tagore clan, Rabindranath, in an astonishing way.

In 1859 Debendranath married his second son Satyendranath to seven-year-old Jnanadanandini — a thin, sickly girl from an obscure village of Jessore. To use her own words, in her memoirs, she spent her first few months in her husband’s house sitting on the floor of the room allotted to her weeping behind her ghumta (veil). Gradually, through the efforts of her husband and her own agency, she educated and groomed herself into a fitting wife of the first ICS of India.

The first to step out of the women’s wing of Jorasanko and join her husband in Ahmedabad, where he was posted as an Assistant Collector and a Magistrate, Jnanadanandini was a dynamic woman with many other firsts to her credit. She was the first Bengali lady to attend the Governor’s reception, that too without her husband, who was confined to bed with a severe backache. At 27, a pregnant Jnanadanandini travelled alone to England with three small children and set up a home for Satyendranath, who followed her three months later with his youngest brother Rabindranath. Jnanada loved Rabindranath with an almost maternal instinct. She had helped rear him in infancy when his own mother was incapacitated by ill health and numerous childbirths. She had great plans for him. He would study in a British school, she decided, and then take a degree at the Bar. That he returned without even completing his schooling seems, in hindsight, a blessing. Had he fulfilled Jnanada’s ambitions, India may have had a brilliant barrister but the world would have lost a poet.

When Jnanada’s own children were old enough to go to school, she and her husband took a momentous decision. Jnanada would return to Kolkata since educational facilities were far superior in the capital than in the districts where Satyendranath had his postings and thus between the two they initiated the concept of ‘long distance marriage’. They came together only occasionally, during his furloughs and the children’s vacations, but they shared such a great understanding and mutual respect that their marriage was perhaps stronger and happier than any other in the Tagore family.

Once in Kolkata Jnanada did not return to her room in the ancestral mansion. Moving out of the extended household, she set up a nuclear establishment of her own at the Lower Circular Road — another first in the social history of Bengal — and started living in great style and luxury. But she didn’t cut off ties with her husband’s family. She had come to it as a child and it was the only one she knew. And having an extremely responsible, if somewhat possessive and dominating nature, she involved herself generously in each one’s life. She started a journal called Balak, in which all the children of the extended family were encouraged to contribute. It was she who first discovered the 10-year-old Abanindranath’s talent and persuaded his father to arrange for special painting lessons for him.

The generous and bountiful Jnanada loved being surrounded by people and, to use her daughter Indira Debi’s words in her Smriti Samput, she was always the focal point in the company she kept. Celebrated as one of the most brilliant hostesses of Kolkata, she threw lavish parties in which art, music, literature, politics and the new craze, photography, were discussed with her playing a leading role. Rabindranath, who was a frequent visitor, got his first exposure to Western art, science, literature and cultural nuances from his sister-in-law. It had started prior to his visit to England. Before leaving, Jnanada had instructed her young brother-in-law to improve his English and pick up the niceties of European etiquettes before his voyage. Satyendranath had a large collection of books and Rabindranath, whose knowledge of English was pitifully inadequate at the time, read them slowly, painstakingly, with the help of dictionaries and lexicons. He read everything he could lay his hands on being specially drawn to the poetry of Dante and Petrarch. This interest increased over the years, growing in depth and volume, till he came to be considered one of the most erudite scholars of European literature.

 Jnanada could easily be dignified with the title of ‘the first modern woman of Bengal’. By her encouragement and example she changed women’s lives in a dynamic way. But perhaps her greatest practical contribution was her reinvention of the wearing of the sari — a sartorial style followed to this day by all Indian women. In doing so she gave the women of Bengal not only a civilised dress but a new posture. Used to wrapping a single length of cloth around their heads and bodies they had been constrained to keep their backs bowed from fear of the veils slipping off their heads or their backs being exposed.  Now they could stand straight and look people in the eye.

Jnanada’s contribution to Rabindranath’s growth is undoubted. But if she provided the cultural window through which he got his first glimpse of the outer world, which deepened over the years into an expansive vision that was his hallmark as a myriad-minded genius, it was his sister-in-law Kadambari who discovered his potential as a poet. Jnanada helped him become the nationalist and internationalist he eventually became, but it was Kadambari who released the poetry trapped within him. She was his muse and Rabindranath has acknowledged the fact himself.

Kadambari came to Jorasanko as bride to Jyotindranath, the handsome, brilliantly versatile fifth son of Debendranath Tagore. The slight, dark, nine-year-old Kadambari was the daughter of Shamlal Ganguly, a penurious distant relative dependent on the Tagores for support. Thus she began her married life on a note of self-unworthiness which dogged her all her life. A decade or more of age difference between the bride and bridegroom was the norm in Tagore alliances. In consequence, the daughters-in-law of the house sought and found companionship in their young brothers-in-law. As Jnanada had found a friend in Jyotirindra, so Kadambari did in Rabindranath.

Rabindranath was seven-and-a-half at the time and, being highly imaginative, he saw the young bride as a fairy tale princess imprisoned in a tower and himself as the prince who had to rescue her. In practical terms, the only way he could do so was by being with her, telling her stories and wiping away her tears. But, as Kadambari grew older, the roles reversed. Maturing early, she turned herself into a little mother to him, looking after his needs as his own mother had never done. The old image of the weeping princess was now subsumed in the new one of sympathetic nurturer but never completely lost. It was from this time onwards that the two discovered a common love for poetry and Kadambari started recognising his genius. Possessing an extraordinary poetic sensibility, of which everyone around her was unaware, she made him show her everything he wrote and was encouraging but also sternly critical of his failings, thus continually urging him to a greater, more stringent effort. Kadambari had a streak of melancholia and suffered from depressions brought on by her husband’s neglect of her and her inability to bear children. She blamed herself for everything and in her extremely vulnerable state clung tenaciously to Rabindranath for companionship and comfort.

Kadambari took her own life at the age of 23, four months after Rabindranath’s marriage to Mrinalini. The timing was unfortunate. It led to speculations about her relationship with the poet and made the incident out to be an expression of despair at his supposed betrayal. The fact is that she had suicidal tendencies; she had tried taking her life earlier too. But the triggering point, according to Indira Debi Choudhurani in her Smriti Samput, was her disappointment at her husband’s breach of promise. He had bought a ship and was hosting a grand party on the deck the night before the vessel’s maiden voyage. He had promised to come and fetch her from Jorasanko himself but couldn’t keep his word owing to the turning of the tide. In her highly overwrought, vulnerable condition, Kadambari couldn’t take this breach  of promise and killed herself. Rabindranath may have contributed to her unhappiness, but in another way. As he became busier and famous he had less time for her and she may have felt that she had lost her last friend and support.

There is no reason to doubt Indira’s Debi’s version. Rabindranath’s so-called betrayal could not have sparked off the suicide for a few simple reasons. First, given the context of the times in which they lived, a woman, however much she cared for her brother-in-law, couldn’t expect him to remain a bachelor all his life for her sake. Second, Kadambari had chosen the bride herself, together with Jnanada. This fact, too, is documented in Indira Debi’s book. Third and more importantly, the bride was only 10 years old, thin, plain and illiterate. Why would Kadambari see her as a threat?

Rabindranath showed no interest in Mrinalini to begin with. Treating her as a sweet, silly child, he felt that he owed her his protection and a bit of affection — nothing more. There was no question of seeking her companionship or looking on her as an equal. Later, in the natural course of things (and this was well after Kadambari’s death), they came together physically and had five children. He also started recognising her sterling qualities of service and self-sacrifice. Her nurturing nature, her housewifely skills and the comforts she brought to his day-to-day life cushioned him from the buffets of the practical world. Mrinalini, though considered by many to be an unworthy wife of one of the greatest sons of India, was in fact the best wife for him.

Mrinalini Debi, though less known than her two other sisters-in-law, influenced the times in which she lived in her own way. The grudging respect that Rabindranath had started giving her in his latter years became truly overwhelming after the role she played in helping him set up Santiniketan. She sold her jewels to finance Rabindranath’s dream project and also took on a lot of the practical work of running it. If Kadambari tapped his poetic potential and mined it and Jananda helped him acquire a world vision, it was Mrinalini who created the educator — the founder of Visva Bharati. Without her active help and support Rabindranath’s dream of reviving the ancient ashramik system of education would not have been realised.

The writer is the author of Jorasanko, The Inheritors and Secret Spaces.

Courtesy: The Pioneer

Thursday 19 December 2013

Devyani Khobragade case: Full statement issued by US attorney Preet Bharara
[Editor: A spoof video which takes a dig at Indian Deputy Consul General, Devyani Khobragde in the US has been placed below. This video is not in very good taste, as far as Hindus and Hinduism are concerned]
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara
December 19, 2013: In a highly unusual move for a federal prosecutor, US Attorney Preet Bharara issued a lengthy statement on Wednesday explaining the arrest of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade and saying she was accorded courtesies most other defendants wouldn't get.

Here's the full statement:

There has been much misinformation and factual inaccuracy in the reporting on the charges against Devyani Khobragade. It is important to correct these inaccuracies because they are misleading people and creating an inflammatory atmosphere on an unfounded basis. Although I am quite limited in my role as a prosecutor in what I can say, which in many ways constrains my ability here to explain the case to the extent I would like, I can nevertheless make sure the public record is clearer than it has been thus far.

First, Ms. Khobragade was charged based on conduct, as is alleged in the Complaint, that shows she clearly tried to evade U.S. law designed to protect from exploitation the domestic employees of diplomats and consular officers. Not only did she try to evade the law, but as further alleged, she caused the victim and her spouse to attest to false documents and be a part of her scheme to lie to U.S. government officials. So it is alleged not merely that she sought to evade the law, but that she affirmatively created false documents and went ahead with lying to the U.S. government about what she was doing. One wonders whether any government would not take action regarding false documents being submitted to it in order to bring immigrants into the country. One wonders even more pointedly whether any government would not take action regarding that alleged conduct where the purpose of the scheme was to unfairly treat a domestic worker in ways that violate the law. And one wonders why there is so much outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian national accused of perpetrating these acts, but precious little outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian victim and her spouse?

Second, as the alleged conduct of Ms. Khobragade makes clear, there can be no plausible claim that this case was somehow unexpected or an injustice. Indeed, the law is clearly set forth on the State Department website. Further, there have been other public cases in the United States involving other countries, and some involving India, where the mistreatment of domestic workers by diplomats or consular officers was charged criminally, and there have been civil suits as well. In fact, the Indian government itself has been aware of this legal issue, and that its diplomats and consular officers were at risk of violating the law. The question then may be asked: Is it for U.S. prosecutors to look the other way, ignore the law and the civil rights of victims (again, here an Indian national), or is it the responsibility of the diplomats and consular officers and their government to make sure the law is observed?

Third, Ms. Khobragade, the Deputy General Consul for Political, Economic, Commercial and Women's Affairs, is alleged to have treated this victim illegally in numerous ways by paying her far below minimum wage, despite her child care responsibilities and many household duties, such that it was not a legal wage. The victim is also alleged to have worked far more than the 40 hours per week she was contracted to work, and which exceeded the maximum hour limit set forth in the visa application. Ms. Khobragade, as the Complaint charges, created a second contract that was not to be revealed to the U.S. government, that changed the amount to be paid to far below minimum wage, deleted the required language protecting the victim from other forms of exploitation and abuse, and also deleted language that stated that Ms. Khobragade agreed to "abide by all Federal, state, and local laws in the U.S." As the Complaint states, these are only "in part" the facts, and there are other facts regarding the treatment of the victim - that were not consistent with the law or the representations made by Ms. Khobragade -- that caused this Office and the State Department, to take legal action.

Fourth, as to Ms. Khobragade's arrest by State Department agents, this is a prosecutor's office in charge of prosecution, not the arrest or custody, of the defendant, and therefore those questions may be better referred to other agencies. I will address these issues based on the facts as I understand them. Ms. Khobragade was accorded courtesies well beyond what other defendants, most of whom are American citizens, are accorded. She was not, as has been incorrectly reported, arrested in front of her children. The agents arrested her in the most discreet way possible, and unlike most defendants, she was not then handcuffed or restrained. In fact, the arresting officers did not even seize her phone as they normally would have. Instead, they offered her the opportunity to make numerous calls to arrange personal matters and contact whomever she needed, including allowing her to arrange for child care. This lasted approximately two hours. Because it was cold outside, the agents let her make those calls from their car and even brought her coffee and offered to get her food. It is true that she was fully searched by a female Deputy Marshal -- in a private setting -- when she was brought into the U.S. Marshals' custody, but this is standard practice for every defendant, rich or poor, American or not, in order to make sure that no prisoner keeps anything on his person that could harm anyone, including himself. This is in the interests of everyone's safety.

Fifth, as has been reported, the victim's family has been brought to the United States. As also has been reported, legal process was started in India against the victim, attempting to silence her, and attempts were made to compel her to return to India. Further, the Victim's family reportedly was confronted in numerous ways regarding this case. Speculation about why the family was brought here has been rampant and incorrect. Some focus should perhaps be put on why it was necessary to evacuate the family and what actions were taken in India vis-a-vis them. This Office and the Justice Department are compelled to make sure that victims, witnesses and their families are safe and secure while cases are pending.

Finally, this Office's sole motivation in this case, as in all cases, is to uphold the rule of law, protect victims, and hold accountable anyone who breaks the law - no matter what their societal status and no matter how powerful, rich or connected they are.

Courtesy: NDTV Ltd
Was Devyani’s maid an American Spy
~RSN Singh
When the senior officer in R&AW MrRavinder Singh was spirited away with his family by the Americans, the then National Security Advisor of India had commented that the issue was not that there was a mole but why was he so important to the US establishment.

In the instant case the same question becomes relevant, i.e. why Sangeeta Richard, a domestic help of the Deputy Consul General (DCG) DevyaniKhobragade, was so important to the Americans that her family was whisked away to the US two days before the criminal treatment meted out to the DCG by the authorities in that country.

Was Sangeeta recruited by the US Intelligence Agencies to gain information of Indian diplomatic mission in the US?

The desperation to protect Sangeeta Richard and her family by the US authorities says it all. Such desperation betrays that possibly Sangeeta had been recruited and had been converted into what is called in Intelligence parlance ‘asset’.

Plausibly this asset was discovered and uncovered by the Consul General. It could be this fact that compelled Devyani to seek intervention of Delhi High Court, which issued an interim injunction against Sangeeta, preventing her from taking legal action in the US.

Further the Metropolitan Magistrate of the South District Court issued an arrest warrant against her and requested the US government to locate her. The sudden grant of Visa and escape of Sangeeta’s family members to the US implies that the authorities in that country were closely monitoring the situation with regards to its ‘asset’ and its family.

This abrupt development may have been engendered by the imminent possibility of the Indian judiciary tightening its noose on the family members of Sangeeta.

It is therefore evident that Sangeetawas not absconding but in the safe-custody of the American authorities. The exposure of such assets, it must be remembered compromises the entire espionage framework of the hostile country. Any price therefore to protect the framework is less.

Devyani, it seems has paid the price.

The entire family could not have been spirited out of India, the manner in which it was done, without engineering some extremely sensational diplomatic incident, which carried both the stamp of morality and the object of provocation.

In any country in the world such incidents involving diplomats is rare of the rarest. Say in India, if a diplomat, at any level, of any country were to be involved in an accident, for instance running over a pedestrian by an automobile the matter would be reported right up the chain, i.e. from constable to SHO to Assistant Commission to Deputy Commission to Commissioner of Police to Home Secretary to Home Minister and finally to the Prime Minister.
It is because the factor of ‘diplomatic immunity’ is of overwhelming consideration.

In Devyani’s case, therefore, it was not a matter of ‘law taking its natural course’, but a clear case of deliberate provocation which entailed hand cuffing and stripping her. India has been provoked and outraged, the Americans have tried to gain a moral high-ground and the US intelligence ‘asset’ or ‘assets’ (Sangeeta and her other family members) have gained sympathy and credibility. A perfect script!

The attempt by the US to acquire a high-moral ground is nauseating. The morality part in favour of the Devyani has been more than upheld by the stance of the Court's in India.

They would not have taken the position, they did, if it was a matter only confined to wages.

The espionage angle seems to be very strong in the instant case.

Morality and the US diplomacy have always been contradiction in terms, rather antagonistic. If the US was so concerned about the sensitivities and laws of other countries, it would have extradited David Headley to India.

If it was so sensitive about disparity in wages, it would not have outsourced the job of call centers to other countries.

Indian youth working in these call centers spend sleepless nights to make America move during the day, for pittance.

Moreover the discerning people of India have abundantly understood the consummate skill with which American spin-doctors create agendas for destabilizing a country so that the economic and other strategic agendas could be pursued.

It began with a concept called 'march of democracies'. It then graduated to 'human rights'.

Then many countries like India were told that they were sitting on the mountain of 'AIDS bomb'. Now the latest in the inventory is a concept called 'modern slaves'.

This theme is being flogged on Western television channels. It seeks to say that 50 percent of India constitutes 'modern slaves', who are hostage to the remaining.

This is clever device to drive a wedge right through the middle of the Indian population. It is also a propaganda to convey the impression in the world that most countries including India are despotic, cruel and uncivilized.

With regards to slaves, it is another matter that the Father of America, George Washington, bequeathed his property to his wife, which included 'slaves'.

The purpose of this article is not to delve into the details of the wages angle being justified to outrage the diplomatic and personal sanctity of Devyani.

Nevertheless, it would be pertinent to mention that the arrangement and contract between the DCG and the Sangeeta Richard is laudable by any standards, and anybody who questions it is doing so due to motivated considerations.

The US has used this device of Sangeeta Richard to propagate this concept of 'modern slaves' and thus cause disaffection in the Indian society. In this bid they are being served by many Indian-Americans, who love to decry their motherland at the slightest behest of their adopted fatherland.

Echoing the same 'modern slaves' concept but in different tenor, is a newly created political party, known to be receiving huge funding from American entities. Apart from the Maoists, the Church and the jihadis this is a new political US leverage.

This author has taken the opportunity to stick his neck out and proclaim with all the emphasis that Devyani issue is only a veneer to protect a espionage network.

(All views expressed in this article are the author's personal opinion.)

Courtesy: www.sify.com
Father aspired for berth in RS, daughter has Adarsh flat & more
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade’s
father Uttam Khobragade
PhotoThe Hindu
Mumbai, Thu Dec 19 2013: Uttam Khobragade, a 1984-batch IAS officer and father of India's deputy consul-general in New York, Devyani Khobragade, aspired to become a Rajya Sabha MP following his retirement. Khobragade, who was BEST General Manager, FDA Commissioner, MHADA CEO and suburban Mumbai collector, had approached political parties soon after his retirement early last year.
He is not affiliated to any party but confirmed that he is "in talks with some parties". Khobragade, 62, has been vocal about the alleged ill-treatment meted out to his daughter by US authorities.

He comes from a scheduled caste family in Chandrapur district. He approached the Republican Party of India (Athawale) in the hope of a Rajya Sabha nomination from the party.

While RPI(A) president Ramdas Athawale said Khobragade approached him first, Khobragade claimed it was the party that got in touch with him offering to make him its executive president.

"Ramdas Athawale approached me to become the executive president of the party. I asked for a Rajya Sabha nomination which he was not willing to promise. So the talks ended there," said Khobragade.

Athawale, who is himself known to be seeking a Rajya Sabha nomination, said Khobragade was offered a Lok Sabha seat from Ramtek in Latur which he rejected. Sources said Khobragade is believed to have approached several factions of Dalit parties.

Asked if he has joined Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Jan Shakti Party, he said: "I did have talks with them but the party has no presence in Maharashtra so I opted out. I am in talks with some parties at present whose names I am not willing to disclose right now."

Khobragade's name had also figured in the Adarsh Housing Society scam and he was accused by the CBI of helping Adarsh use higher FSI than permitted by allegedly transferring an adjoining plot reserved for a BEST bus depot to Adarsh. He and Devyani, it was alleged, had got a flat each in the society as quid pro quo.

Khobragade, who had denied any wrongdoing in the case, Wednesday said he and Devyani would not return the apartments.

"We purchased the flat under the reserved quota after paying the correct price. Why should we return the flat?" he asked.

Devyani, who already owned a house in Mumbai — which too was allotted under the state government's 10 per cent quota — got the Adarsh flat after she applied for it.

The Adarsh apartment is one of 11 immovable properties listed by Devyani in her returns for the year ending December 31, 2012, on the external affairs ministry website.

The other 10 comprise 25 acres of farmland (inherited) in Chandrapur district, 8 acres of farmland (inherited) in Ratnagiri district, 2 acres of farmland (inherited) in Raigad district, a 5,000 sq ft plot (purchased) in Alibaug, an 800 sq ft flat (purchased by father, inherited) in Pune district, a 500 sq ft flat (purchased) in Aurangabad district, a 10,000 sq ft plot (purchased by father, inherited) in Raigad district, a 200 sq m plot (purchased) in Greater Noida, a 3.97-are plot (transferred by father) in Kerala's Ernakulam district, 2-02 and 2-70 ares of land (gifted by father) in Ernakulam district.

— with inputs from ENS, New Delhi.



CourtesyThe Indian Express

Wednesday 18 December 2013

India judge ordered to release daughter held over lover
Chittorgarh Fort, Rajasthan, India
NEW DELHI, December 17, 2013: India´s top court Monday ordered a judge release his 30-year-old daughter who was being detained because he disapproved of her marrying her boyfriend from a different caste.

The Supreme Court ordered Supriya Rathore be reunited with her boyfriend who was forced to take legal action to have her released from her father, a high court judge in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. “She is a major and has the liberty to make her choice in marriage,” judges H.L. Dattu and C. Nagappan told the couple, who were in the court in New Delhi for the ruling.

The boyfriend, Siddharath Mukherjee, had petitioned the court, saying the father, who belongs to the Hindu Rajput warrior caste, opposed his daughter marrying a man from the Bengali-speaking Brahmin caste. Rathore herself had also emailed police and the courts during her month-long detention at the family home in Jaipur city, seeking their help to get her released and reunited.

Acting on the boyfriend´s petition, the court ordered police on December 12 to transport Supriya to New Delhi for Monday´s hearing.

“I have no complaints against anyone including my parents,” Supriya told the court during the hearing. “I love them all but I want to go with Siddharath Mukherjee as I want to marry him,” she said, as the court offered her protection if she felt threatened in any way.

India has officially banned its hereditary caste hierarchy but the rigid system still exists. Young couples are targeted by their families, clans or communities who disapprove of relationships outside of their own castes.

Tuesday 17 December 2013

You know I am attracted to you' Justice AK Ganguly told intern & kissed her arm
[Editor: It seems that the best way to remove a person from an important positions is to bring in a sexual harassment case and then BUY the GREAT INDIAN MEDIA; half the job is done. If any case has to be initiated against any former judge of the honourable Supreme Court of India, then it has to be done by the application of standard procedures and not by publishing the affidavit of the "alleged victim". The office of the Additional Solicitor General of India has gone BONKERS or what?]
New Delhi, Dec 16, 2013: The law intern who has accused Justice AK Ganguly of sexual harassment told a court panel that the ex-SC judge kissed her and said that he loved me.

Following the allegations, the Chief Justice announced that he had set up a committee in his administrative capacity, of three judges, two being incumbent chief justices and a woman judge, to investigate and give a report to the Chief Justice.

Justice Ganguly, who now heads the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, had expressed “shock” over the allegation and said he was “shattered“.

“I am denying everything. I have told the committee that all the allegations levelled by the intern are wrong. I don’t know how such allegations have been levelled against me,” he told

According to Indian Express, in his statement before the court, apart from denying the allegations, Ganguly said the new law of 2013 making sexual harassment an offence did not apply to him as the alleged incident was of 2012, forgetting that outraging the modesty of a woman was always an offence, a law under which K P S Gill was prosecuted successfully by Rupan Deol Bajaj.

Courtesy: The Daily Bhaskar

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Need to Rethink Article 370: Sunanada Pushkar Backs Modi
Photo: www.filmitadka.in
New Delhi | Dec 03, 2013: BJP prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who in his recent rally in Jammu said that there was a need for debate on Article 370 has received unexpected support from Congress MP and Union Minister Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar.

In an interview to CNN-IBN, she said that Article 370, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, needs to be reconsidered because it discriminates against women.

She said that there is definitely a need to rethink beacuse there is a lot of discrimination against women. "My friends from Kashmir called me and said that we girls do not get government jobs once we marry someone who is a non-Kashmiri. The girls who get married into Kashmiri families, who are not Kashmiri girls, they get government jobs and their children have all of the rights," she added.

However, she said that Article 370 has not impeded development in the in J&K, adding that she agrees that the Kashmiri Pandits need to be rehabilitated.

Courtesy: Outlook
Rare thalassaemia gene detected in Bengal family
Kolkata, Nov 29, 2013, 03 A rare thalassaemia gene mutation that could be specific to Bengali Brahmins has been detected by researchers in Kolkata.

The 'Fannin Lubbock' mutation is a silent one, which cannot be detected in regular thalassaemia screening and has so far only been traced in a group of thalassaemia carriers in the Mediterranean region of Europe.

 What the discovery means is that unwitting carriers of the gene can now get a confirmatory test so that they don't end up marrying another carrier and putting their child at risk of this deadly disease. A team of experts under the guidance of senior scientist Jayasree Basak is researching the mutation and its origin.

Fannin Lubbock mutation had not been reported from anywhere else in the world till scientists at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) chanced upon four thalassaemia carriers of a single family in Bandel last month.

The three women and a child had the rare mutation. Since no member of the family - a conservative Brahmin one belonging to the Barendra sect - has ever married outside the caste, scientists are intrigued about the source of the mutation and a study has been launched.

Fannin Lubbock mutation alters the beta globin gene structure in haemoglobin and is impossible to detect in blood count tests. It's only revealed on molecular analysis. The defect doesn't lead to thalassaemia. It merely makes the person a carrier but a child of two thalassaemia carriers has a 25% chance of being born with the ailment.

The discovery of the gene in the Barendra sect was almost by accident. A female member of the family visited NCRI for treatment after she had post-natal complications and a low haemoglobin count. While regular tests didn't show anything abnormal, molecular analysis revealed an alteration in the haemoglobin structure.

"It was strikingly similar to Fannin Lubbock that has so far been detected only in Europe. We compared her mutation to the past cases and found that the origin was not the same," said Deboshree M Bhattacharyya, a senior research fellow at NCRI.

Intrigued, the researchers launched into an intensive study. They screened all 16 members of the family and studied their clinical history. "We were surprised to find that the woman's mother was a carrier and had the mutation, too. Her aunt had Fannin Lubbock as well and she passed on the gene to her young son. We are trying to trace the source of the gene since it has never been reported anywhere in the sub-continent, let alone Bengal," said Jayasree Basak.

It's all the more intriguing since a very small percentage of Bengali Brahmins are thalassaemia carriers, compared to the rest of the Bengali population, she added.

Around 2-3% of Bengali Brahmins are carriers, compared to 10-11% of the non-Brahmins. "This particular family hasn't had an inter-caste marriage in at least four generations. So, the source remains a mystery. Non-Brahmins in Bengal have a higher percentage of thalassaemia carriers because they marry outside the caste more often," said Deboshree Bhattacharyya.

Bengal now has more than 1 lakh thalassaemia patients and 10% of the population in Kolkata is believed to be carriers. Secretary of the Thalassaemia and Aids Prevention Society Sailen Bose, however, refused to accept that thalassaemia could be caste-specific. "It would be wrong to conclude that fewer Brahmins have the disease since there has been no authentic study. Irrespective of caste, the number of thalassaemia patients has been spiralling. If this latent gene is detected it would be a boon. Or else carriers would go undetected," said Bose.

Courtesy: The Times of India

Monday 2 December 2013

Men under a state of siege
~Palash Krishna Mehrotra
Photo: The Guardian
New Delhi, December 1, 2013: First, this is not a piece about the incident(s) in the elevator. This is not about the morality of what happened between Tarun Tejpal and the 'victim' at Think festival. The matter is sub-judice. Let the courts decide.

Instead, this is a piece about the new enlarged definition of rape (and what it means for men); what Tejpal stands for as a person; the witch-hunt against him; and the larger link between writers and criminality.

The new legal regime, put in place after the December 16 gangrape, though well-intentioned, certainly seems draconian, and full of grey areas. The police are duty-bound to register a case as soon as they receive information, even if the complainant hasn't come forward. The definition of sexual harassment has been widened to include 'sexual overtures' (like sending an email or a text message), demanding 'sexual favours' and 'forcible disrobing.'

New laws

Frighteningly, the new law makes it clear that consent given under intoxication does not translate into informed consent. This means that a drunken consensual tumble with a woman can come back to haunt the man the next day, or even ten years later. This seems grossly unfair. And what about demanding sexual favours? Clinton, for example, was clearly demanding a sexual favour of Monica Lewinsky. But if a man offers to 'go down' on a woman - is he offering a submissive sexual favour or demanding one? Many Indian men admit privately that they feel they are under a state of siege. The bedroom has been criminalised. Is it going to be impossible to form relationships from now on? Have we as a society, yet again, swung from one extreme to another?

Let's not forget that iconic feminists themselves have criticised hysterical feminism in the West. Doris Lessing once said, and I quote, "I find myself increasingly shocked at the unthinking and automatic rubbishing of men which is now so part of our culture that it is hardly even noticed… The most ill-educated and nasty woman can rubbish the nicest, kindest and most intelligent man and no one protests. What is happening to men?... Why did this have to be at the cost of men?"

Point two. About the witch-hunt. It's something that Tejpal suffered when Tehelka broke the Operation Westend story about the Indian Army. The company's finances were squeezed, other media organisations shunned Tehelka and regular raids were the norm at their Soami Nagar office. I experienced this firsthand since I worked there. This time it's been worse. As I said at the outset, let the law take its course. But what about the other stuff? How were news channel cameras allowed into the plane that was to bring Tejpal and family to Goa? How can an incident in an elevator be blown so out of proportion that an entire organisation is brought to its knees? It doesn't seem right that several people are now going to lose their jobs because of what one man might have done. It wasn't their fault. Why punish them?

Also, why wait till now to dig up dirt on Tejpal - all this stuff about shares being sold at inflated prices, PF and health benefits not being paid to employees, properties bought at different locations. It smacks of going after a fallen man. It seems to me that by doing so, the media is trying to cleanse itself of its own sins committed in the past. It's the most convenient way of absolving itself of all wrongs.

Maverick

Point three. Something about Tarun as a person. He represents south Delhi culture at its best (and, maybe, its worst - depending which side of the fence you are on.). He was brash, flamboyant, in-your-face. He knew how to get money out of moneybags. He rose from the ashes of the dotcom days with two print magazines, a festival and a clutch of best-selling novels. We don't take kindly to mavericks. There was bound to be tremendous jealousy. People were waiting for him to sink. That explains the glee. If anything one should feel sad, but glee? I'm not so sure.

Future

Christopher Hitchens's mother said of him that 'Chris always wanted to get to know everybody.' The fast-talking Tejpal was similar. He was ambitious, charming and confident, and he could get along with a swathe of people, as varied as Sir Vidia, Robert de Niro, even Ponty Chadha, whom he convinced to make a heavy investment in his M Block club called Prufrock. Here was a maverick who could not only wheel-n-deal with dodgy Ponty, but also someone who wrote fine literary reviews in his thirties, and displayed sound literary judgment as a publisher, publishing the likes of Irwin Allan Sealy and Arundhati Roy.

Finally, if convicted, Tejpal will go to jail. This might mark the end of his career in journalism but certainly not as a writer. The morality of art and society's morality have little in common. In fact, writers and jail seem to enjoy a productive relationship. The list is long and illustrious: John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress in prison; Ezra Pound worked on his Cantos here; Gramsci, Wittgenstein, O Henry and Oscar Wilde - the roll call goes on. Jean Genet's The Thief's Journal, his account of his days in prison, is regarded as a classic. Let's not write Tejpal off yet. He might just write himself in.

(The writer is the author of The Butterfly Generation)

Courtesy: India Today

Sunday 1 December 2013

Lok Adalat tells man to spend equal time with wife and live-in partner
Khandwa, December 01, 2013: A lok adalat held in Khandwa has brokered a unique agreement among a man, his wife and his live-in partner, granting the latter an exclusive 15-day access per month to the man in question.

The court also asked the man to spend another half of the month exclusively with his wife.

As per the order issued by judge Ganga Charan Dube on Saturday, the wife and the live-in partner will live under the same roof and share space with the man they love for a fortnight each, following a mutual agreement between them.

The house of the man, who retired recently as a state electricity department employee in Omkareshwar, has three rooms and as per the agreement, he will stay in the middle while remaining two rooms will be occupied by his wife and his woman friend, separately.

"The middle room will have an access to both the rooms and the court directed the man to spend a fortnight each with both of them," said government advocate Ashwini Bhate.

As per the agreement, the live-in partner will also have equal share in movable and immovable properties of the man they love.

His wife had filed a complaint with Lok Adalat alleging that her husband spends most of the time with his woman friend and for the last two years she has been staying with them at their house.

Courtesy: The Hindustan Times
Ladies' gang uses molest trap for cash
Dec 1, 2013, Kolkata: If you are a pedestrian or use the public transport system, beware of a gang of women that traps innocent people as molesters and extorts them.

At a time when sexual harassment cases are shaking the nation, this bunch of women has seized upon the fear psychosis to make some quick money, regardless of what effect it might have on women who are actually victims of molestation and rape.

Such incidents have been reported over the past few weeks but no one had dared go to police until the all-lady gang targeted a lawyer on Wednesday, without realizing his wife was with him or that there were legal clerks around as witnesses.

Lawyer Asim Kumar Maity was returning home when the incident occurred in the busy Dalhousie area.

"It was around 5.30 pm, after the day's work. I, my wife and some law-clerks were looking for a taxi in front of Mughal Garden Restaurant. My wife was a little away chatting with the law clerks. I had just had an altercation with a cabby over refusal. All of sudden, a woman, who looked to be in her late 40s, swung towards me and held me by my collar. I was stunned. I had never even dreamt of being in such a situation," recounted Maity.

The woman charged Maity aggressively and accused him of molesting her. "Why did you touch me," she demanded to know and threatened to "drag him to Hare Street police station".

The commotion quickly attracted a crowd. And as it happens in such cases, people instinctively trust the woman.

"She was hurling filthy abuses to unnerve my husband. In no time, three other women emerged from a nearby alley and joined the first one. By the time I had overcome my initial bafflement and rushed to rescue my husband," said Kaberi Sengupta Maity.

Maity, too, had shaken off his initial shock and shouted back. That his wife was with him gave him added support.

"They were not only abusive but were threatening to put me behind bars. When my wife came to my rescue, they grew more desperate and tried to draw public sympathy by 'showing' how I molested her. From their words, my legal brain could pick up that they knew of Section 354-IPC (molestation) and that it had been made a non-bailable offence," Maity said.

The gang backed off only when they realized Maity was a lawyer and he not only had the support of his wife but a bunch of legal clerks as witnesses.

"Other lawyers also came to our rescue, so did law-clerks. I told them that I was ready to go to any police station and demanded to see their identity. They were still hurling abusive words. By then, a law-clerk brought a cab and we boarded it. The women banged on the taxi as we were about to leave," Maity said.

Since they were all women, Maity and his group decided not to confront them any further. "But later, I felt I must record a complaint as they can harass an unsuspecting citizen and extort him in the name of an out-of-police-station settlement. Police must be proactive to nab the gang before they trap others," he said. Hare Street police are investigating the complaint.

The women are aged between 38 and 50. There have been rumours of women suddenly accusing men of molestation and dragging them to police but stopping short of it and agreeing to "settle" it for cash. Maity is the only one to file a complaint so far.

Courtesy: The Times of India

Saturday 30 November 2013

Humans emerged from male pig and female chimp, world's top geneticist says 
London, Nov 30, 2013: Humans are actually hybrids, who emerged as an offspring of a male pig and a female chimpanzee, according to one of the world's leading geneticist. 

Turning the theory of human ancestry on its head, Dr Eugene McCarthy — one of the world's leading authorities on hybridization in animals from the University of Georgia has suggested that humans didn't evolve from just apes but was a backcross hybrid of a chimpanzee and pigs. 

His hypothesis is based on the fact that though humans have many features in common with chimps, there are a lot more that don't correspond to any other primates. He then suggests that there is only one animal in the animal kingdom that has all of the traits which distinguish humans from our primate cousins. 

"What is this other animal that has all these traits? The answer is Sus scrofa - the ordinary pig" he says. 

He explains: "Genetically, we're close to chimpanzees, and yet we have many physical traits that distinguish us from chimpanzees. One fact, however, suggests the need for an open mind: as it turns out, many features that distinguish humans from chimpanzees also distinguish them from all other primates. Features found in human beings, but not in other primates, cannot be accounted for by hybridization of a primate with some other primate. If hybridization is to explain such features, the cross will have to be between a chimpanzee and a non-primate - an unusual, distant cross to create an unusual creature." 

Dr McCarthy suggests that Charles Darwin told only half the story of human evolution. 

"We believe that humans are related to chimpanzees because humans share so many traits with chimpanzees. Is it not rational then also, if pigs have all the traits that distinguish humans from other primates, to suppose that humans are also related to pigs? Let us take it as our hypothesis, then, that humans are the product of ancient hybridization between pig and chimpanzee," he said. 

According to Dr McCarthy, if we compare humans with non-mammals or invertebrates like the crocodile, bullfrog, octopus, dragonfly and starfish, pigs and chimpanzees suddenly seem quite similar to humans. 

Pigs and chimpanzees differ in chromosome counts. The opinion is often expressed that when two animals differ in this way, they cannot produce fertile hybrids. This rule is, however, only a generalization. While such differences do tend to have an adverse effect on the fertility of hybrid offspring, it is also true that many different types of crosses in which the parents differ in chromosome counts produce hybrids that capable themselves of producing offspring. 

There is substantial evidence supporting the idea that very distantly related mammals can mate and produce a hybrid. 

Another suggestive fact, Dr McCarthy says is the frequent use of pigs in the surgical treatment of human beings. Pig heart valves are used to replace those of human coronary patients. Pig skin is used in the treatment of human burn victims. "Serious efforts are now underway to transplant kidneys and other organs from pigs into human beings. Why are pigs suited for such purposes? Why not goats, dogs, or bears - animals that, in terms of taxonomic classification, are no more distantly related to human beings than pigs?," he said. 

"It might seem unlikely that a pig and a chimpanzee would choose to mate, but their behaviour patterns and reproductive anatomy does, in fact, make them compatible. It is, of course, a well-established fact that animals sometimes attempt to mate with individuals that are unlike themselves, even in a natural setting, and that many of these crosses successfully produce hybrid offspring," he adds. 

Dr Eugene McCarthy says that the fact that even modern-day humans are relatively infertile may be significant in this connection. 

"If a hybrid population does not die out altogether, it will tend to improve in fertility with each passing generation under the pressure of natural selection. Fossils indicate that we have had at least 200,000 years to recover our fertility since the time that the first modern humans (Homo sapiens) appeared. The earliest creatures generally recognized as human ancestors (Ardipithecus, Orrorin) date to about six million years ago. So our fertility has had a very long time to improve. If we have been recovering for thousands of generations and still show obvious symptoms of sterility, then our earliest human ancestors, if they were hybrids, must have suffered from an infertility that was quite severe. This line of reasoning, too, suggests that the chimpanzee might have produced Homo sapiens by crossing with a genetically incompatible mate, possibly even one outside the primate order," he said.

Courtesy: The Times of India