Madani threatens to unravel Kerala politics

The hard reality of Kerala's communal politics is that the BJP's rise to stardom invariably lies through the graveyard of the UDF -- and the Congress in particular.

Kerala politics is at a crossroads. An era is possibly ending where two broad united fronts contested for ascendancy in the state's limited political space and more or less regularly alternated as the ruling alliance through the past three decades.
But change never comes easy. More often, it is accompanied by commotion. Especially, when a whole slice of the past threatens to break away.
Thus, on focus is the support extended by the People's Democratic Party led by Abdul Nasser Madani to the candidates of the Left Democratic Front in the forthcoming parliamentary election in Kerala.
Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have launched a vitriolic attack on the Communist Party of India-Marxist, which leads the LDF, on this score. The noise is deafening.
They are levelling the criticism that the PDP is a fundamentalist outfit with links to terrorism, and drawing support from it is inconsistent with the CPI-M's stance on communalism and terrorism. The media in Kerala, which is virulently anti-Communist by tradition, is multiplying the cacophony.
A sense of unreality is developing -- which obfuscates the real templates of the political earthquake. As often happens, beneath the veneer of high-sounding principles, a grim political battle has been joined. The outcome of this battle holds the potential to redraw the map of Kerala's electoral politics.
There is no question that at the moment, for the Congress, PDP is indeed anathema, but that is for an entirely different reason than what the party proclaims. Let it be noted at the outset that this is not a Kurukshetra involving secularists and fundamentalists. Nor is it about "Islamic terrorism".
Indeed, the current Congress leadership in Kerala had cogitated with Madani as far back as 2001 and was prepared to consort with him in terms of striking a political deal when he was incarcerated in a Coimbatore prison. Conceivably, at that point eight years ago, Madani was much closer in time to his controversial past than he is today. But that didn't deter the Congress leadership.
Congress' doublespeak is quite apparent.
But the Congress leadership in Kerala chose to be pragmatic, fully conscious of Madani's influence in swaying the opinion of the Muslim electorate.
It was also not as if the party's pragmatism was entirely devoid principles. Actually, Congress governments at the Centre over the past six decades have consistently espoused the cause that in India's democratic polity, there would be space available for any militant groups or elements which were prepared to take to the path of peaceful resolution of differences.
Successive Congress-led governments pursued dialogue with the militants in the north-eastern region who used to hold Kalshnikovs.
Without doubt, if there is to be enduring peace in Jammu & Kashmir, there is no alternative but to encourage the militant elements to enter the democratic way of life. That was why Kashmiri leaders like Shabir Shah and Yasin Malik who had a violent past since became interlocutors for Congress-led governments in Delhi.
So, what is Congress party's problem with Madani today?
Of course, no one is making out a case that allegations against Madani should be overlooked or brushed under the carpet. If there is actionable evidence, it must be investigated. Arguably, that is an imperative of national security. Madani himself demands an inquiry into allegations against him so that he gets an opportunity to vindicate himself. He has said that he is perfectly willing to undergo any punishment if he is found guilty.
So, why can't the law take its due course? After all, we always take pride in the rule of law as a distinguishing feature of our country.
The heart of the matter is that the Madani poses a political challenge to the Congress. The plain truth is that Congress fears that any erosion of the Muslim support for the Congress-led United Democratic Front could prove decisive in tilting the delicate political balance in favour of the LDF in the election on April 16.
This is the spectre that is haunting the Congress.
The Congress in Kerala is at its wit's end that the social contract on which it blithely made political capital all these decades is threatening to unravel and that may start a historical slide similar to what the party underwent in Uttar Pradesh [Images] and the so-called Hindi belt with the advent of Mandal politics.
The best bet for the Congress is that its alliance partner, the Muslim League, ably counters the challenge thrown by Madani. But then, the Muslim League is an increasingly discredited party. More and more, sections of the Muslim community are militating against the Muslim league leadership's corrupt politics. A growing number of Muslims -- especially the youth, women, intellectuals and professionals -- are able to see through the Muslim League leadership's exploitation of communal politics for perpetuating their vested interests.
In effect, therefore, the kind of social contract which paid rich dividends to the Congress electorally all these past three decades is eroding. As Madani put it, even if CPI-M leaders do not seek his support, he is bent on supporting the LDF candidates in the upcoming election and as he is opposed to the Muslim League tooth and nail.
Equally, BJP commentators have entered the melee and have joined forces with the Congress in the polemical attack on the CPI-M. This creates a larger-than-life impression about what the BJP represents in Kerala. In actuality, the BJP is a miniscule entity that fails to inspire leave alone possess the teeth to bite.
Moreover, even in its infancy, BJP already suffers from chronic symptoms of old age like vicious groupism. A respected, honourable figure like former minister O Rajagopal pleaded ill health and backed out of the electoral contest in Thiruvananthapuram where he polled over 2 lakh votes in the 2004 election, rather than allow himself to be made a laughing stock by being undercut by his own party's leadership on April 16.
The BJP's role in the Madani controversy is essentially in the nature of a bird of prey that ultimately looks forward to feasting on carcasses. It has a lot to gain if the UDF disintegrates and the Congress enters the dark tunnel of inexorable decline. The hard reality of Kerala's communal politics is that the BJP's rise to stardom invariably lies through the graveyard of the UDF -- and the Congress in particular.
The street smart BJP commentators, therefore, shrewdly expect that any Hindu backlash that may result from Congress' anti-Madani tirade will ultimately work in their favour. They estimate that such gravitation may take time, but BJP will be the beneficiary.
What the BJP crow is doing is to sit on the tree braches and keep crowing, pinning hopes that in the titanic struggle for political space taking place on the turf below, fatigue develops and one side falls. That will be the time for the scavenger to descend on the grand, delightful feast. After all, a crow is not an eagle and it must wait till a carcass presents itself.

Change is the new mantra for the RSS:

Cadres should exercise their franchise in 2009 polls in favour of the candidates, who hold the country's national interests supreme

Jaideep Hardikar

Nagpur: The change at the helm in the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) on Saturday is an indication of an imminent change that is to follow eventually in all its Parivar affiliates, particularly the BJP.
General election 2009The second rung leadership soaked in Sangh ideology is set to slowly regain the organisational command of affiliates under Dr Mohan Bhagwat, who shares cordial relations with the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani.
For the BJP, the development coincides with the imminent end of the Vajpayee-Advani era. The Sangh believes that neither the BJP nor the Congress-led alliances are in a position to get majority in the coming elections, and that the country would face mid-term polls anytime in 2011 or 2012 following untenable alliance at the centre. The RSS, having set its eyes on the next polls, would set an agenda for the other affiliates, including the BJP, to steer, through a national movement.
Sources said the RSS would build up a national movement around the contemporary issues. Deviating from its strategy of steering one issue at a time, the countrywide movement would raise several issues at a time - from Hindutva to the economic recession. On Friday, the RSS made it clear that it is not going out of its way to support any political party, but wants its cadres to exercise their franchise in 2009 polls in favour of the candidates, who hold the country's national interests supreme.

'Radical Sunni-Deobandi groups main source of terror in Pakistan'

A prominent global think tank has termed the radical Sunni-Deobandi groups as the "primary source" of terror in Pakistan and said their continued patronage by the army has influenced Islamabad's relations with India and Afghanistan.
The "expanding influence" of the Pakistani Taliban was "due to support from long-established Sunni extremist networks, based primarily in Punjab, which have served as the (Pakistan) army's jihadi proxies in Afghanistan and India since the 1980s," the International Crisis Group (ICG) said inits latest report.
"Their continued patronage by the military, and their ability to hijack major policy areas, including Pakistan's relations with India, Afghanistan and the international community, impedes the civilian government's ongoing efforts to consolidate control over governance and pursue peace with its neighbours," the Brussels-based body said in the report titled 'Pakistan -The Militant Jihadi Challenge'.
It warned that "the expanding influence of radical Sunni groups remained the primary source of terrorism in Pakistan" and maintained that their links with terror outfits like Al Qaeda made them "even more dangerous". The ICG said the fresh attacks in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab, the Northwest Frontier Province, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan's provincial capital Quetta "demonstrate the threat posed (by them) to the Pakistani citizen and state".
Asserting that dismantling of the Sunni extremist groups "must become the core of the government's counter-terrorismpolicy", it said these extremist outfits were "simultaneously fighting internal sectarian jihads, regional jihads in Afghanistan and India, and a global jihad against the West. Their links to international networks like al-Qaeda make them even more dangerous than before."

The ICG said the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack presented Pakistan with an opportunity to reshape its responseto terrorism, "which should rely not on the application of indiscriminate force, including military action and arbitrarydetentions, but on police investigations, arrests, fair trials and convictions. This must be civilian-led to be effective."

The current political crisis in Punjab "will provide a decisive test for the Pakistan Peoples Party and Nawaz Sharif's

Pakistan Muslim League to resolve their differences through the political process", said ICG's Asia Program Director Robert Templer.

"If the democratic transition falters, the military and the militants will be the sole winners. Genuine democratic governance, in FATA as well as the rest of the country is the best defence against the spread of extremism in Pakistan," he added.

Pak bid to criminalise 'defamation of Islam' and encourage the forced imposition of Sharia law.

[My addition: What is going on in the name of Islam??!! Last year a leader of Malaysia's Islamist party, which made surprising gains in March elections, wanted its secular allies to apply strict sharia law, which include amputations and stonings for Muslims in Malaysia. The hardline Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) has enacted such laws in its Kelantan stronghold to punish rapists and adulterers with stoning to death, while thieves would lose their limbs.

However, the country's Federal government has barred PAS from enforcing the laws. PAS and other opposition parties wrested control of five of Malaysia's 13 states in the March election as voters punished the ruling coalition for concerns ranging from rising crime to racial tensions.

But analysts have said it would be tough for PAS to broaden its appeal due to its advocacy of the punishments called for by strict Muslim religious law, known as sharia or hudud, which scare off non-Muslims who see the party as a fundamentalist clique.

Half of Malaysia's 26 million people are ethnic Malays, who by definition are Muslims. Ethnic Chinese and Indians, the largest two minority groups, are either Hindus, Buddhists or Christians]

Geneva: UN Watch, a human rights monitoring organization based in Geneva, denounced a new UN resolution circulated on Wednesday by Islamic states that would define any questioning of Islamic dogma as a human rights violation, intimidate dissenting voices, and encourage the forced imposition of Sharia law.
UN Watch obtained a copy of the Pakistani-authored proposal after it was distributed among Geneva diplomats attending the current session of the UN Human Rights Council. Entitled “Combating defamation of religions,” it mentions only Islam.
“While non-binding,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, “the resolution constitutes a dangerous threat to free speech everywhere. It would ban any perceived offense to Islamic sensitivities as a 'serious affront to human dignity' and a violation of religious freedom, and would pressure UN member states -- at the 'local, national, regional and international levels' -- to erode the free speech guarantees in their 'legal and constitutional systems’.”
Death fatwa against Rushdie still valid: Iran
“This is an Orwellian text that distorts the meaning of human rights, free speech, and religious freedom, and marks a giant step backwards for liberty and democracy worldwide,” said Neuer.
“The first to suffer will be moderate Muslims in the countries that are behind this resolution, like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan, where state-sanctioned blasphemy laws stifle religious freedom and outlaw conversions from Islam to other faiths,” said Neuer.
“Next to suffer from this UN-sanctioned McCarthyism will be writers and journalists in the democratic West, with the resolution targeting the media for the 'deliberate stereotyping of religions, their adherents and sacred persons'.”
“Ultimately, the very notion of individual human rights is at stake, because the sponsors of this resolution seek not to protect individuals from harm, but rather to shield a specific set of beliefs from any question, debate, or critical inquiry,” said Neuer.
“The very term 'defamation of religion' is a distortion. The legal concept of defamation protects the reputations of individuals, not beliefs. It also requires an examination of the truth or falsity of the challenged remarks -- a determination that no one, especially not the UN, is capable of undertaking concerning any religion.”
“Tragically, given that Islamic states completely dominate the Human Rights Council with the support of non-democratic members like Russia, China, and Cuba, adoption of the Orwellian resolution is a forgone conclusion, and all that US and EU diplomats can do is try to win over a handful of Latin American states into the opposition camp.”

Indonesia bans yoga for Muslims :

Muslims in Indonesia have been banned from doing yoga if they engage in Hindu religious rituals during the exercise, the chairman of the country's top Islamic body said on Sunday.
About 700 clerics from the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) agreed to ban the practice of yoga over fears that the use of Hindu prayers could "erode" Muslims' faith.
"The yoga practice that contains religious rituals of Hinduism including the recitation of mantras is "haram" (forbidden in Islam)," Ma'ruf Amin, a spokesman for the group, said.
Related ArticlesIndonesian clerics ban yoga mantras for MuslimsMalaysia bans Muslims from practicing yogaBirmingham council faces challenge on atheist websites banSupport for 'no-go' bishop after death threatsIndonesia backs sharia law, poll shows"Muslims should not practise other religious rituals as it will erode and weaken their Islamic faith," he added.
The council said Muslims could do yoga as long as it is was only for physical exercise and did not include chanting, mantras or meditation.
The MUI has carved a key role for itself in Indonesia and its pronouncements on everything from Islamic banking to halal food can have a powerful influence. The fatwas are not legally binding but can influence government policy and it is considered sinful to ignore them.
Yoga, an ancient Indian aid to meditation dating back thousands of years, is a popular stress-buster in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
Indonesia, which is officially secular, has the world's largest Muslim population. Nearly 90 per cent of the country's 234 million people are followers of Islam.

More Americans say they have NO Religion

By RACHEL ZOLL

The study found that the percentage of Americans who identified themselves as Muslim grew to 0.6 percent of the population, while growth in Eastern religions such as Buddhism slightly slowed.

[My addition: The Muslim population multiplied 10 (ten) times faster than the rest of society, in UK (Great Britain or England) in 4 (four) years; the research by the Office for National Statistics done during the period of 2004-2008 reveals. In the same period the number of Christians in the country fell by more than 2 (two) million.

In India Islam is India's largest minority religion, with Muslims officially constituting 13.4% of the country's population, or 138 million people as of the 2001 census. However, unofficial estimates claim a far higher figure supposedly discounted in censuses. For instance, in an interview with a well circulated newspaper of India The Hindu Justice K.M. Yusuf, a retired Judge from Calcutta High Court and Chairman of West Bengal Minority Commission, has said that the real percentage of Muslims in India is at least 20%.

Muslims constitute nearly one-third of the state population (30.9%), in Assam the second highest after Jammu & Kashmir. Goalpara, Dhubri, Barpeta, Nagaon, Karimganj and Hailakandi are some of the Muslim concentration districts of Assam.
The indigenous Muslim community of the Brahmaputra Valley, in Assam locally known as Garias, numbers 35 lakh. The term Gariya is believed to have been derived from the word gaur, the then Muslim capital of Bengal, from where the Muslims trace their origin. They have a history of 800 years in Assam. A series of campaigns by Muslim rulers from Bengal and Delhi took place from the 13th to the 17th centuries. The indigenous Muslims or the Garias are mainly the descendants of the Muslims who stayed back after these campaigns. They settled down by marrying local girls.The earliest record of Muslim settlement in the Brahmputra valley region dates back to the campaign of Nawab of Bengal Alauddin Hussain Shah (1493-1519), who after overpowering the ruler of Kamrup in 1498 annexed it.

The history of the Muslims of South Assam or Barak Valley goes back to 13th century.There the first evidence of the large scale Muslim settlement is found in modern Karimganj District. It was in 1303 A.D. when Hazrat Shahjalal the famous Sufi Saint of Bengal and Assam conquered Sylhet and he asked at least six of his followers to spread Islam in the Karimganj region.The works of those Sufis brought a large numbers of local into the fold of Islam since the early 13th century. These Muslims along with their fellows of undivided Sylhet gradually came to known as the Sylheti Muslims dring the time British rule. Presntly the population of the Sylheti Muslims of Assam is around 15 Lakhs..

The release of religion-based census data of 2001, generated considerable controversy. While some political parties with pro-Islamic leanings have voiced their anger at such data being released in the first place, others have expressed concern at the possibility of such data being misused by Hindutva organizations. Moreover, the date showed that there are seven states where the literacy rate of Muslims was actually higher than the literacy rate for Hindus.

In Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh - the difference is quite significant. It is also notable in Gujarat and Karnataka. Muslim literacy is marginally higher in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, and the difference between Hindu and Muslim literacy in Kerala is statistically insignificant. .
Notwithstanding the statistical anomalies that arose from a lack of Census Data for 1991 in Assam and Jammu & Kashmir, one of the most significant findings of the data has been the substantially higher growth rate of the Indian Muslim population as opposed to other communities - such as Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists and Hindus.
Excluding Jammu and Kashmir and Assam, the decadal growth (10 year growth) rate for Muslims was 29.3%. This was substantially higher than the growth rate for Sikhs (which was 16.9%) or Hindus (20%). On the surface, this data substantiates the common wisdom that Muslims are reproducing at a much faster rate than Hindus, and that religious conservatism and/or retrograde clerical pressures are at the heart of the matter. The literacy data also appears to reinforce common stereotypes regarding Muslims - that they are less educated than Hindus, and are 'less interested in improving their lot'.

Moreover, the population of Muslims has increased at almost DOUBLE THE RATE OF THE HINDUS in states like Assam which also reinforces the common suspicion that there has been a steady migration of economic refugees from Bangladesh into India. In this respect, the propaganda of the Hindutvadis may well have an element of truth to it.

There are also many unreliable claims and rumours, especially for conversion rates, that often spread as urban legends. Data on conversion rates are hard to verify. For example, it has been claimed by the New York Times that 25% of American Muslims are converts to Islam. In Britain, there are also claims that around 10,000 - 20,000 people convert to Islam per year.

However, there are sources that claim that conversions to buddhism outnumber those to Islam]

A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out o of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.

Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.

"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.

In the Northeast, self-identified Catholics made up 36 percent of adults last year, down from 43 percent in 1990. At the same time, however, Catholics grew to about one-third of the adult population in California and Texas, and one-quarter of Floridians, largely due to Latino immigration, according to the research.

Nationally, Catholics remain the largest religious group, with 57 million people saying they belong to the church. The tradition gained 11 million followers since 1990, but its share of the population fell by about a percentage point to 25 percent.

Christians who aren't Catholic also are a declining segment of the country.

In 2008, Christians comprised 76 percent of U.S. adults, compared to about 77 percent in 2001 and about 86 percent in 1990. Researchers said the dwindling ranks of mainline Protestants, including Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians, largely explains the shift. Over the last seven years, mainline Protestants dropped from just over 17 percent to 12.9 percent of the population.

The report from The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., surveyed 54,461 adults in English or Spanish from February through November of last year. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.5 percentage points. The findings are part of a series of studies on American religion by the program that will later look more closely at reasons behind the trends.

The current survey, being released Monday, found traditional organized religion playing less of a role in many lives. Thirty percent of married couples did not have a religious wedding ceremony and 27 percent of respondents said they did not want a religious funeral.

About 12 percent of Americans believe in a higher power but not the personal God at the core of monotheistic faiths. And, since 1990, a slightly greater share of respondents — 1.2 percent — said they were part of new religious movements, including Scientology, Wicca and Santeria.

The study also found signs of a growing influence of churches that either don't belong to a denomination or play down their membership in a religious group.

Respondents who called themselves "non-denominational Christian" grew from 0.1 percent in 1990 to 3.5 percent last year. Congregations that most often use the term are megachurches considered "seeker sensitive." They use rock style music and less structured prayer to attract people who don't usually attend church. Researchers also found a small increase in those who prefer being called evangelical or born-again, rather than claim membership in a denomination.

Evangelical or born-again Americans make up 34 percent of all American adults and 45 percent of all Christians and Catholics, the study found. Researchers found that 18 percent of Catholics consider themselves born-again or evangelical, and nearly 39 percent of mainline Protestants prefer those labels. Many mainline Protestant groups are riven by conflict over how they should interpret what the Bible says about gay relationships, salvation and other issues.

The percentage of Pentecostals remained mostly steady since 1990 at 3.5 percent, a surprising finding considering the dramatic spread of the tradition worldwide. Pentecostals are known for a spirited form of Christianity that includes speaking in tongues and a belief in modern-day miracles.

Mormon numbers also held steady over the period at 1.4 percent of the population, while the number of Jews who described themselves as religiously observant continued to drop, from 1.8 percent in 1990 to 1.2 percent, or 2.7 million people, last year. Researchers plan a broader survey on people who consider themselves culturally Jewish but aren't religious.

The study found that the percentage of Americans who identified themselves as Muslim grew to 0.6 percent of the population, while growth in Eastern religions such as Buddhism slightly slowed.

Is Congress for pub bharo?

BY M.V. KAMATH

The survey found that nearly 44.4 per cent of Class 12 students had consumed alcohol in the survey period. Instead of looking at these facts, Sonia Gandhi and Renuka Chowdhury are planning to use the so-called Mangalore pub incident as a political weapon. They don’t seem to realise what damage they are doing to India by their irresponsible behaviour.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is reported to have said that she will fight the upcoming national elections on two issues: One concerning the attack on a pub in Mangalore and the other concerning the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The best advice that one can give to her is: Don’t. On both issues, she will pay for her folly. The Muslim community in India will do the greatest good to itself and to its relations with the majority community if it graciously concedes the Ram Janmabhoomi to its Hindu claimants and not stand on prestige. All these years the Muslims have allowed themselves to be exploited by so-called ‘secularists’ and have needlessly alienated themselves from mainstream India, reaping no benefit whichever way. It has done neither the Muslims nor the Hindus any good. The time has come for the Muslims to change their mindset and concede graciously to the Hindus’ claim and thereby win the hearts and souls of their fellow citizens. The Muslims will lose nothing thereby.
On the other hand, they will gain the eternal gratitude of Hindus to whom the Ram Janmabhoomi has tremendous emotional significance. One positive step and that will strengthen Hindu-Muslim unity as never before. To both Muslims and Hindus it will be a win-win situation. By attempting to widen the gulf between the two communities Sonia Gandhi will render immense harm to the country which she professes to serve. A word to the wise should suffice. As for the Mangalore pub controversy, it has been plainly overplayed for political reasons and statements have been made by Congress leaders that call for strong condemnation.
According to Renuka Chowdhury, Women and Child Development Minister there has been “a complete breakdown of law and order in Karnataka”. Nothing of that sort has happened and by making such highly provocative remarks, the Minister has only hurt her own party’s chances at the forthcoming polls. Complete breakdown of law and order? Really? What happened in Mumbai during the jehadi siege? Was it an example of high maintenance of law and order with the blood of a couple of hundred innocent people staining the earth? Mangaloreans can do without the patronage of the likes of Renuka Chowdhury and her boss. Besides, in the matter of young people visiting pubs, is the Minister aware of what is happening right under her nose in the capital?
According to a survey conducted by an NGO, called Campaign Against Drunken Driving (CADD) “nearly 80 per cent of those visiting pubs and bars in the Indian capital are below the age of 25 and that of the under-age population at Delhi’s pubs 67 per cent are below 21 years of age”. It would seem that Delhi’s excise laws ban the sale of liquor to or by anyone below 25 years and if an underage person is caught consuming alcohol, or if the vendor is caught, it could mean a fine of Rs 10,000. The CADD study found the laws ineffective, as nearly 33.9 per cent of those below the age of 16 easily procure alcohol from government–authorised liquor shops, bars and pubs.
According to a press report, the law also prohibits any person below the age of 25 years to be employed at any bar or pub and the offence is punishable with a fine of Rs 50,000 or imprisonment of three months to be levied on the outlet. Says a report in the Free Press Journal: (February 2) “Still nearly 55 per cent of those working as service attendants in bars and restaurants are young boys and girls below the age of 25. The research was conducted from December 2008 to January 2009 among 1,000 youth who go to the pubs and bars. Nearly 85 per cent of the youth surveyed were in the age group of 14-21, even though the legal drinking age is 25 years”.
Can one believe that youngsters between the ages of 14 and 21 visit pubs and that too, in Delhi, where the government is run by the Congress party under the leadership of Sheila Dixit? How many of the youthful pub-patrons have ever been arrested and how many of the pubs have had to pay a fine? And what have Renuka Chowdhury and Sonia Gandhi to say about these revelations? According to the survey, in Delhi, annually about 2,000 youths under age 21 die from motor vehicle crashes, other unintentional injuries, homicides and suicides that involve underage drinking. Prince Singhal founder of CADD is quoted as saying: “Underage drinking is a prelude to drunk driving and thus it is important to curb it in the initial stages, so that it does not end up as a habit among young individuals”.
Another startling fact revealed was that the drinking age in Delhi has gone down from 28 to 19 years since 1990. CADD estimates that in another five to seven years, this figure may come down to 15 years. The survey found that it is not binding for liquor serving outlets or vends to verify the age of the consumer. But the survey found that nearly 44.4 per cent of Class 12 students had consumed alcohol in the survey period. Instead of looking at these facts, Sonia Gandhi and Renuka Chowdhury are planning to use the so-called Mangalore pub incident as a political weapon. They don’t seem to realise what damage they are doing to India by their irresponsible behaviour.
Should we say that there is no law and order in Delhi? Obviously there isn’t and the police look the other way when teenagers visit pubs. We do not have any information on how long these visitors stay at the bar or how much liquor they drink. Parents obviously are either unaware of what is going on or couldn’t care less. One might damn the Shri Ram Sena to one’s heart’s content for using violence, but at least they seem to care enough. At this point in time we have no statistics as to how old the girls serving drinks are and how many teenagers have been attending the Mangalore pub.
According to the CADD survey it is not binding for liquor serving outlets or vends to verify the age of the consumer; that can only encourage the youngsters to take advantage of such a situation. That all this is happening in Delhi and under a Congress administration suggests not only a weak government that does not care for people but a leadership that is engaged more in talk than in action. Before taking up the Mangalore pub issue as a stone to hit at the BJP, Sonia Gandhi would do well to set right matters within her own political jurisdiction. Both Sonia Gandhi and Renuka Chowdhury surely know what the Bible says: Judge not, least ye be judged.

Mr. Narendra Modi Beats all in Web Popularity
Mayank Tewari

[Even the poll conducted by me in my blog: http://www.sumanspeaks.blogspot.com/, favoured Mr. Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India. The results are still there in my blog, for you to verify...]
Mumbai: If Facebook is an indicator of one's popularity, BJP veteran LK Advani has miles to go before he catches up with junior party leaders such as Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley

With only 16 supporter-friends, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate doesn't come across as a convincing mascot for the party.

Contrast this with Modi's Facebook profile, which has five fan clubs with one titled 'Narendra Modi as PM' and the largest membership base of 5,674. Even Jaitley, more an ideologue than a grassroots politician, has more Facebook 'fans' than Advani, 99 in a group dedicated to him.

Advani's profile, createdwith his blog and web site in November 2008, is under the politician category and is managed by the same team that manages his blog and web site.

Advani's Facebook account hasn't been updated for more than a month. It shows on the 'wall' -- a Facebook utility where friends and supporters can post messages -- which hasn't had a single posting.

When it comes to the Congress, again, its most popular representative, Rahul Gandhi, doesn't have a Facebook account. Compare this with other party young turks such as Sachin Pilot and Deependra Singh Hooda who have 795 and 116 listed Facebook supporters. Both MPs have separate personal Facebook profiles too, which are not accessible to all.

Politicians around the world started taking their online presence seriously after the stupendous success of Barack Obama's web poll campaign (the US president's Facebook page has over 5 million members). But it seemsBJP and Congress hotshots have still not taken a leaf out of the Obama story.

Face the truth:

Name: Facebook supporters

LK Advani16

Modi5: 674

Arun Jaitley: 99

Rahul Gandhi: No profile

Sonia Gandhi: None of her profiles is real

Sachin Pilot: 795

DS Hooda: 116

Raj Thackeray: Over 20 fan and hate clubs

Mayawati: Profile hacked?

Interesting Hindu-Muslim Marriages in India:

Hinduism does not require that that the bride and groom be both Hindu, and many Hindu priests perform Hindu-Non-Hindu marriages. Marriages between a Hindu man and a Muslim woman are becoming quite common in the Indian Sub-Continent.

During the Muslim rule, Hindu men were prohibited from marrying Muslim women.

However, there is a twist in the tale in some Islamic Republics. In Islamic countries, like Pakistan, Bangaldesh, Maldives of Malaysia, a Muslim woman can only marry a Muslim man, since conversion from Islam to any other religion is prohibited. A Muslim man can marry a non-Muslim woman provided she converts to Islam.

The Allahabad High Court once said that marriage of a Hindu boy with a Muslim girl was not "unusual" in the prevailing social scenario. But do Islam approve such marriages?? Please go through this link to see how some dogmatic Muslims thinks on this topic: http://www.blurtit.com/q920678.html...

But wait there is also another case when Umar, 22 (a Muslim) reportedly ran away with Priyanka Wadhwani, 21, and the two got married on April 2 after the boy converted to Hinduism. This happened in April, 2007 in Bhopal. However, the funny part is that Bajrang Dal accused Umar of religious conversion although Umar embraced Hinduism and changed his name to Umesh. Bajrang Dal even formed an organisation to protect Hindu girls, 'Hindu Kanya Raksha Samiti', after that incident.

Some of the examples of Hindu Man-Muslim Woman Marriage are given below:

* Urdu author Krishan Chander married Salma Siddiqui

* Actor Mohammad Iqbal Khan married Sneha Chhabra

* Actor Shahrukh Khan married Gauri Chibber

* Actor Hritik Roshan married Suzanne Khan

* Actor Atul Agnihotri married Alvira Khan, actor Salman Khan's Sister

* Actor Feroz Khan's daughter Laila Khan Rajpal married Rohit Rajpal
* Actor Sanjay Khan's daughter Simone Khan Arora married Ajay Arora

* Criminal Lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani married Haseena Jethmalani

* Crickter Ajit Agarkar married Fathima Agarkar

* Actor Sunil Dutt married Actress Nargis Dutt

* MP Sachin Pilot,Son of the Late Rajesh Pilot married Sara Abdullah, daughter of Former Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and Sister of Omar Abdullah

* Arun Ahuja married the former Nazeem, now known as Nirmala Devi, parents of Govinda

*Bollywood Movie Director Mahesh Bhatt had a Hindu father and Muslim Shite mother , but they were never married and never lived together.

*Director/Choreographer Farah Khan married Director Shirish Kunder

*Actress Nagma's (Nandita Morarji) father Sri Arvind Pratapsinh Morarji married muslim woman Seema.

*Gangster turned Politician Arun Gawli from Mumbai married a muslim lady named Ayesha who later took up name as Asha.

*Actor Manoj Bajpai married muslim woman Shabana Raza (actress Neha) who is also called as Neha.

*Actor Pankaj Kapoor (Father of actor Shahid Kapoor) married a muslim woman Neelima Azeem.

*Actress Jyothika's (Nagma's Sister) father Chander Sadhana married a muslim lady Seema.

Pakistan's Women Struggle for Recognition

At an age when most women in Pakistan are settling down to married life, Qanita Jalil is preparing for what could be her last shot at making her name as a cricketer in her conservative homeland.
"I am 27 and my mother is now pressurising me to get married. It might be my last tournament," said Jalil as she looked forward to taking part in the women's World Cup in Australia, which starts on Saturday.
Proudly sporting her green Pakistani track suit after a spell of fast bowling at the team's training camp before setting off for Australia on Sunday, Jalil said her five brothers had encouraged her to play cricket.
"They all supported me. I started playing with my brothers and learnt from them. Without their encouragement my parents would not have tolerated my playing cricket," said Jalil, who has a masters degree in economics.
While their male counterparts are idolised and earn millions, women's cricket in Pakistan is still an amateur sport. Playing opportunities and training facilities are scarce for girls.
Jalil belongs to a moderate Pashtun family from Abbotabad in the North West Frontier Province, a region which, despite being rocked by violence and fighting between Islamic militants and security forces, has provided a steady flow of quality cricketers to the national men's team.
In a country where people struggle to balance a lifestyle based on Islamic values and moderate liberalism, cricket remains a binding force for many but religious parties and conservatives have frowned upon women competing with men in sports.
FAMILY SUPPORT:
Girls and women have had to follow a strict code and play before female-only crowds.
"In Pakistan it does not matter which background you come from but it is a long struggle to gain recognition as an athlete. No one takes women's sports seriously," said team captain Urooj Mumtaz.
The Pakistan team which qualified for the 2009 World Cup last year in South Africa is an interesting blend of women from privileged backgrounds and big cities and those from smaller towns and conservative families.
They all faced the same problem of having to win the support of their parents and male relatives to allow them to play sport.
Mumtaz, a dentist, said her players saw cricket and the World Cup as a means of becoming more independent and being taken seriously as sportswomen.
There has been women's cricket in Pakistan since the 1980s but this will be the team's first official World Cup appearance. A team not recognised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) competed in 1997 and finished bottom of their group.
Pakistan defeated Ireland, Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Scotland in last year's qualifying tournament before losing to South Africa in the final.
Their success generated a wave of media interest at home.
"Cricket is equally popular among girls and boys in Pakistan and the number of girls now playing cricket has increased by hundreds in the last two years," said Shireen Javed, the head of the PCB women's wing.
HEAVY ODDS
Almas Akram, who is from a small hamlet in Punjab, got permission from her family to play for Pakistan only after the intervention of the board.
"For us playing in the World Cup is a dream come true," she said.
Almas, whose father is a retired teacher, got her love of cricket by watching it on television and tagging along with her male cousins to matches.
Naila Nazir, a leg-spinner who belongs to the earthquake-ravaged town of Manshera in the North West Frontier Province is excited about going to Australia, home of her cricket hero, former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne.
"I started bowling watching Warne bowl on TV. He is my idol like our own Abdul Qadir," said Nazir.
Pakistan coach Umar Rasheed admits his team are up against heavy odds as they face India, England and Sri Lanka in the first round.
"Women's cricket is more organised in these countries so they have strong sides," he said. "But I am optimistic. At times enthusiasm and team effort can overcome all odds."

Pregnancies among Teens on the Rise
By Jane Kirby,

Source: The Independent

Attempts to halve teenage pregnancy rates by next year look on course to fail after figures yesterday showed a rise for the first time in five years. The number of pregnancies in girls under 16 increased from 7,826 in 2006 to 8,196 in 2007. Nearly three-quarters of these pregnancies were in 15-year-old girls.
The overall pregnancy rate among under-18s in England and Wales increased from 40.9 per 1,000 women to 41.9 the data from the Office for National Statistics showed.
The Government had pledged to halve pregnancy rates among girls under 18 by next year but is widely expected to miss that target. A 2004 aim to cut the rates by 15 per cent from the base year of 1988 was missed. Among all ages, there are now more pregnancies outside marriage than in marriage, with 56 per cent of pregnancies in 2007 outside marriage compared with 49 per cent in 1996.
The Government responded to the figures by announcing funding worth £20.5m, of which £19m is new cash. The Public Health minister, Dawn Primarolo, said the cash was focused on encouraging young people to delay early sex and to practise safe sex when they do become sexually active. A total of £10m will be given to local health services to ensure contraception is available "in the right places at the right time" and £1m will be used in further education colleges to develop and expand on-site contraception and sexual health services.
The Government said the long-term trend on teen pregnancy was still downward and overall there had been a 10.7 per cent reduction in under-18 conceptions and a 23.3 per cent decline in teenage births since the start of the Government's strategy in 1998. But Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, said: "The real problem is the growing numbers of young people engaging in casual recreational sex.
"This is not only leading to rising rates of conceptions and sexually transmitted infections, but it is also causing emotional damage that may make it more difficult to form a truly intimate and satisfying marriage later on. The Government's teenage pregnancy strategy has been a disaster for young people."
Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: "We can all agree that the high proportion of teenagers experiencing an unintended pregnancy is a significant health problem. But, that half of the teenagers in this position felt able to end their pregnancy in abortion is actually a positive sign. This means that more young women now know how to get the care they need and that if they have other plans for their teenage years aside from motherhood, they felt more able to make that choice."
* Truancy in England's schools rose slightly last year, with more than 63,000 pupils away from class on any given day. More than 233,000 children were classed as "persistent absentees" – missing at least one day of school every week.
Increasing numbers of primary school children skipped school, with more than 18,600 missing a school session each day through truancy, illness and other reasons. The total authorised absence rate fell to its lowest level, with children in all schools missing 5.28 per cent of sessions in 2007-08, down from 5.59 per cent in 2006-07.
But the unauthorised absence rate rose to the highest level on record, with 1.01 per cent of half-days missed last year – up from 1 per cent in 2006-07, the Department for Children, Schools and Families figures showed.
Number of pregnancies in girls aged under 16 in 2007, 370 more than in 2006.

No Woman Fights To Become A Prostitute

by Shobha S.V.

Catharine MacKinnon, a well-known American feminist, scholar, lawyer, teacher and activist, specializes in sex equality issues under international and constitutional law. She pioneered the legal claim for sexual harassment and created ordinances recognizing pornography as a civil rights violation, along with the late Andrea Dworkin, a leading figure in the feminist anti-pornography movement. The Supreme Court of Canada has largely accepted MacKinnon's approaches to equality, pornography, and hate speech. On a recent trip to New Delhi, MacKinnon spoke on the issues of prostitution and sex inequality, saying that sex inequality in all its forms should be abolished step by step, not tolerated by law. An interview.
Q: Why do you regard prostitution as sexual slavery?

A: Prostitution one cannot get out of was defined by Kathleen Barry as sexual slavery two decades ago, a concept largely accepted by the concerned international community. It is well documented that most people who are prostituted worldwide want to leave it and cannot.
Q: Why do you think that prostitution should be stopped as opposed to many arguments, which favor legalization of prostitution?

A: Sale of a person for sex is an industry of abuse that is a cornerstone of the inequality of the sexes. Women are sold for sex by force of arms, rape, or circumstance, usually desperate poverty, caste, or race, because they are women under social conditions of sex inequality. Sex inequality in all its forms should be abolished, step by step, in a practical way suitable to conditions in each place, not collaborated with or tolerated by law. No woman fights to become a prostitute; she is in prostitution because her fights for any other life have been lost. Women everywhere need real alternatives so they can live independent lives, and they know it.
Q: What has been the experience in places like Australia, which has legalized prostitution? Also Sweden has been one of the first countries to penalize the buyers. What has been the experience there?

A: Where prostitution is legalized, trafficking for prostitution explodes for the simple reason that once the women and children are delivered, there is no barrier to the profits from their sale. Illegal prostitution explodes for more complicated reasons - including because the buyers want conditions (like no condoms) and practices (like overt torture) that legal prostitution tries to prevent, and because women do not want to consign their lives to prostitution, as they have to do to become a prostitute legally. Sweden decriminalized the prostituted people and criminalized the buyers as well as the sellers, and enforced its law. In the studies we have so far, prostitution has decreased to a tiny fraction and trafficking is at the lowest rate in Europe.
Q: Why do you think criminalizing the buyer is the best solution?

A: Because the reason prostituted people are sold is because there is someone to buy them. Prostitution is demand-driven. Pimps are in the business to make bank deposits, and the engine of that process is the buyer. Criminalizing the buyer is the best approach because it is the only approach that works.
Q: Criminalizing the buyer means loss of livelihood to the commercial sex workers. Rehabilitation is an area of problem in India. How do you think the government can be pressurized into ensuring proper implementation of adequate rehabilitation for such women?

A: The vast bulk of the money for commercial sex does not go to those who are sexually used, but to those who run the industry, including the landlords and other pimps.

Most people who are sold for sex continue to be kept poor, indeed in debt bondage to landlords or beholden criminal gangs who terrorize them and forcibly prevent them from doing anything but prostitution. Guarantees of capacity-building programmes need to be built into the same laws that criminalize perpetrators, so that prostituted people can build the lives of their dreams, and lives for their children, which do not include prostituting. And those groups and lawyers who are so good at criticizing proposals to end this exploitive industry for reasons of government corruption need to turn their attention to making certain that these programmes work for those for whom they are intended.