The 1971 Indo-Pak war.

December 16, 1971, a historic and remarkable day in annals of modern Indian history and that of the armed forces. The surrender of Gen.A.A.K.Niazi and his troop of 93,000 men were not only a military victory but also a victory of the democratic forces and failure of Jinnah’s two nation theory.  

Pakistan, an acronym for Punjab, Afghan, Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan was coined by Choudhary Rahmat Ali on 28 January 1933 as a Pamphlet handout titled “Now or never: Are we to live or perish forever”. Rahmat Ali demanded for separate homeland” Pakistan” for the thirty million Muslim Indians of British India. The proposal hardly found any takers, for it enjoyed the support of only three Individuals. Weird is the fact, why it ignored Bengal? The partition of Bengal of 1905 and the religious alliance of East Bengal were well known facts in 1933. A dream for the thirty million Muslims in actuality excluded the remaining thirty million odd Bengali Muslims. Pakistan was by and large a Punjabi dream.

The Bengal partition of 1905 had the support on Muslim east and opposition of the Hindu west; it was peacefully annulled in 1911. The partition was re-invoked on linguistic basis rather than religion. The partition of Bengal in 1947 was more peaceful than the bloody ones in Punjab.

Was it the genuine fear of the Hindu majority votes or the power struggle of Muslim League and congress that lead to the partition of India in 1947 could be a good topic for a national debate, but one can say with certainly, Jinnah failed to understand the psyche of not only Hindus but also of the Muslims. The Imposition of an Indian language Urdu on a nation where barely seven percent of the population spoke Urdu was the first blunder. The Bengali Language movement of 1948 was the first signs of friction between the two units of Pakistan. Religion no longer seemed to be a uniting factor.

The nation that was built on the fear of compatriot colonization turned, East Pakistan to a colony. Economic, political and Administrative disparities grew between the two wings. The East was milked to the last drop and the west was pastured graciously. Capital of the east was exploited; the state expenditure was highly detrimental to the interest of the east. The subsequent failure of various constitutions and the imposition of Punjabi dominated Army rules, disenfranchised the Bengalis. The non acceptance of Sheik Mujib ur Rehman as prime minister of Pakistan by the power authorities, sounded a death Knell to the concept of Muslim Brotherhood.

The Bengali nation declared its independence in 1971 and revolted against the Military Government. To be fair to Pakistan, professional soldiers disapproved the use of force, Judges refused to appoint blood thirsty and tainted Generals. Operation search light of Gen.Khan created Havoc in Bengal, large number of Bengali Intellectuals and Hindus were murdered. The ensuing Indian intervention saw the birth of a new nation and surrender of the entire eastern corps to India, the largest since world war-II.

With the liberation of Bangladesh, Pakistan proved to be Mistake of Jinnah. Military rule and Urdu failed the enormous foundations on which Pakistan was built. Pakistan let Jinnah down on many a count, Islamic constitution as opposed to a Muslim majority secular constitution proposed by Jinnah, Military regimes, and cessation of the Eastern wing etc. Whether Pakistan is still a nation of Jinnah’s dreams?

Pakistan’s loss was a symbolic victory to Indian Secularism and its strong social and political foundations. The 1947 war stood for loss of territories, 1962 for surprise and callousness, 1965 a draw match, but 1971 was a fruit of many labors; of democracy, righteousness and in true Buddhist spirit, a war for Dharma.

   

Security, Sovereignty and Pseudo-Self Respect of Pakistan

Ever since it’s Establishment in 1947, Pakistan, has been coddling itself to be champion of Islam in south Asia. Obsessed with its incessant and ultimate dream of re-establishing Islamic rule in India, it has endeavored on many a low cost low, intensity war against India. The four conventional wars of 1947, 1965, 1971 and Kargil conflict of the late 90s have been well recorded and documented ones, these wars did have birth and full stop dates. The non conventional ones aka terrorism unleashed have no ends, although it started with the Afridi tribe raids of Kashmir in 1947. The cash strapped nascent state of Pakistan never shamed itself at the use Afridi tribes nor their descendants -the Pak-Army dishonored by the modern day terrorists, the Mujahids, Razakars, AlBadr and AlShams of 1971. Even after its 1971 debacle, Pakistan continued with its policy of Bleed India with a thousand cuts, by its persistent patronage to various anti-national movements within India. Terrorism is in the DNA of Pakistan.

The mushrooming madrasas in Pakistan have often functioned as breeding grounds for terrorists.  Rather than propagation the peace, the message of Islam, the madrasas contrarily propagate hatred towards other faiths. The suicidal 26/11 Mumbai attack was a venomous attempt of Pakistan to equate “Arab land grabbing” Jews with “Hindu” India. Given the tarnished Image of Israel in the Islamic world, Pakistan endeavored to portray India as a “Muslim Land grabbing” country. Strangely, Indian Muslims far outnumber the population of Pakistan and happens to be world’s second largest Muslim Inhabited country.

 The ISI’s tight grip over its various “loose” terrorist organizations have Jeopardized the security of many of its neighbors and its allies. ISI is a double ally both to the west and to the Jehadi Mujahids. Across the world Pakistan has roosted from its roof tops, claiming it to be a victim of terrorism. Victim of terrorism? Who financed these terrorists? Its India, no it’s the US, or may be Israel. The average Pakistani probably knows the answer better than us; it’s their taxpayer’s money. Pakistan has been a victim of its making.    

Given the proliferating records of its nukes, asylum it provides to the world terrors who’s who, and the scant respect which Pakistan has for the sovereignty of other nations, there are a few countries in the world which would emphasize with Pakistan, when its own sovereignty is at stake. Counties that lease/rent their military assets for Dollars shouldn’t plead sovereignty in their own constituency. The military posturing of Pakistan and counter aid blocking posture of US is a mere manifestation of the underground bargain business dealing of these allies.  

How far can Pakistan’s terror infested economy sustain without American aid? Well they are prepared for the worst; to make a better bargain with the US! The MFN status to India may be a stop gap arrangement for Pakistan’s ailing economy, or a new future move reserved for another Military dictator in making. The kind of feelers one gets from Pakistan, joint production of films, cross investments in Mutual funds, cross listing of companies in stock exchanges and the incessant fem-fatal bombs from Pakistan looks very artificial. Complete and total surrender to economic realities, that too from a enemy state? One must take these moves with a pinch of salt, for these moves may lead to a possible Reunification. Or whether these are the right steps which Pakistan must take, to stop its transformation to an Afghanistan? Gen.Kayani holds the key to this answer, may god show him the right path.

NudeVeena Malik and Pakistani Cinema.

The Kolaveri gimmick is settled and another publicity stunt viral hit the Hindi cinema world, the nude pictures of Pakistani actress Veena Malik on Cover page FHM magazine. The cover page was overnight hit, and unlike Kolaveri, the success of the Intro of both the actor and the erstwhile unknown magazine seems convincing.  Indian Men even the Ram’s of the day, do have a vacillating mind, after all a peep into a depiction of a voluptuous blond is not a sin. The picture sent shock waves across Pakistan, for the nude lady sported the initials ISI on her arm. Perturbed with the feminist and religious criticisms, the actor claimed her photos were morphed and sued the magazine for a hefty amount.

The history of Pakistan’s cinema begins with the migration of stalwarts of Indian cinema; legends like Noor Jehan and Bade Gulam ali choose Pakistan over India. Indian films were banned in Pakistan since 1952, but liberal enforcement of the ban allowed Indian films to be screened. The Pakistani versions were released with content amendments. Even patriotic films like Jagrithi were released in Pakistan, with a song-“anhoo bachoon thumeh dikahe jhaki pakistan ki”, the same song had Hindustan in India. The identical cultural, political and economic status of the two countries permitted the exchange of films. The 1965 war terminated all cinematic relationship with India. The rest of the history is chronologically structured under various Martial Law administrators.

Every General who ruled Pakistan left his mark of the film Industry. Martial law required the support of religion and religion opposed films, various policies like-Taxation, Qualification, Registration and censorship almost chocked the Industry. Lollywood, the analogous term for Bollywood emerged; it’s not clear whether it represents Urdu cinema or Punjabi Cinema or Pakistani cinema. Pakistanis themselves accuse their films to be adapted versions of Bollywood. On that count neither we are the saints, contents were either purchased or stolen from Pakistan and sold to Indian audiences. Foreign TV channels and Piracy virtually flooded Pakistani drawing rooms with Indian Movies and soaps. A ban seemed irrational, the Ban on Indian cinemas was lifted by Gen.Pervez Musharaff, and good revenue followed the Pakistani Exchequer.

Pakistan as a nation suffers from an Identity crisis; it neither has an exclusive culture, Language, religion or a civilization of its own. The country if forced to share everything either with us or the Afghans or the Iranians or the arabs. Their missiles are known as Gaouri, after Mohd Gaur who plundered vast territories of the lands situated in Pakistan. One of their warships is known as PNS Tipu, one wonders whether Tipu Sultan ever crossed the Vindyas? Being a country ruled by either by Generals or their favorites, it’s highly probable that the aam admi of Pakistan considers us as a responsible neighbor and not a foe. With the failure of two nation theory in 1971 and perseverance of Indian democracy and secularism has almost threatened the ruling elite of a possible reunification.

It is said the best regimen for a human being per day is eight hours of sleep, rest and entertainment respectively. Eight hours of entertainment, what can we do in those eight hours? Read books, write diaries, cook a delicious meal, shopping, listen to music or watch a soap-movie. Movies have became an integral part of our life, the colloquial Hindi stuffed with a bundle Urdu words, the khans of Bollywood have crossed Indian frontiers in all the directions.  

A rocketing industry like Bollywood is bound to attract international talent, in the past artist from countries like US, UK, Czech Republic, Canada, Nepal and Bhutan have been a part of Bollywood. Philosophically, talent is universal and there is no dearth of talent in Pakistan; but, talent needs opportunity. The theaters of Pakistan are more biased towards the block buster’s of the Indian khans than their own brothers. The artist of Pakistan is left with only two options: first, demand for ban on Indian films, which in any case would be counterproductive. Second, collaborate with the Indian industry.

 In a recent news report in The Hindu Business Line Mr Anwaar Ahmed Sheikh made the following statement “We would want a co-production between India and Pakistan film industry and want to promote India-Pakistan friendship through the medium of movies. We would like it if the hero is from here and the heroine from there. The young gene ration wants originality, not enemy culture,” .co-production? Bollywood needs new talent not money. Collaboration could be the right word, but is that possible without the blessings of Lt.Gen. Pasha and Gen.Kayani.  

The Pathan Khans are a rage in Pakistan, they are very famous in Pakistan as the Pakistani Generals in India. Every Indian Knows a Gen.Musraff, Gen.Kayani and Lt.Gen. Pasha, how many of us know their Indian equivalents?  Pakistan requires a replacement only for the female actors. A congregation of Pakistani artists like- Gulam Ali, Salma Agha, Nursat Fatheh Ali Khan, Rahat Fatheh Ali Khan, Adnan sami, Atif Aslam, Meera, Sajid Hassa, Adeel Ch and Veena Malik have already pierced into Bollywood.

As far as veena Photo is concerned, it was a full screen nude one with an iota of sagacity, But even if her accusation is to be believed, there exists a second photo. In the second one she is shot with grenade, a small military style undergarment and ISI on her left forearms. In either case, whether morphed or not, it is a sensual one. Given the stature of ISI in India, if it really commands respect and fear in Pakistan, no Individual of a conservative society would have dared to spot ISI in a Hostile country. It is publicity stunt, the next two or three weeks would be her day. One simple act ensured free publicity for her across the globe.

Given the confessions of Syed Gulam Nabi Fai and the nature of ISI’s funding and covert operations, I would not be surprised if veena is an ISI agent and these Pakistani artists have come here not to make a living but to conquer out drawing rooms.

The Whims and Fancies of Col.Kapil Sibal.

The introduction of computers in Governance was not a easy task, it was not the sheer volumes of the data that was processed that bothered the Implementation, but the reluctance and criticisms of the Employees and trade unions over the fear loss of Jobs. Computers did invade our country and jobs continued even in the Government sector.

 Decades later, conferences were conducted and editorials were written about the pros and cons about the new technology of those days, the Internet. The internet even then was considered as a boon, except for the pornography it encouraged. 

Internet however has changed the ways of life; the way we booked our money, Banked our money, and our modes of written communication. The emails have almost bridged the continental distances, gone are the delays and losses associated with letters. Then we had the picture /video sharing, blogs and social networking sites. It would be very naïve to say that internet has initiated a great revolution in our society; it actually fathered many a revolutions in the world.

The wikileaks, Arab spring, occupy world street movement and India against corruption movement all had their roots and branches in the Web. The popularity and the potential of these sites have always been a thorn in the flesh for our politicians. Social networking sites, has given a vast majority of mute citizens, a forum to express their opinion and angst.

Of all the evils and inefficiencies inborn with us, and our politicians, the only asset that any ordinary Chinese would envy is our democracy. A constitutional democracy; which gives us a right to howl against the PM, screams at the Gandhi’s. The right to express our opinions freely is a fundamental right, a luxury, which only a few are fortunate enough to have in this world.  

The recent actions of the Telecom Minster Mr.Kapil Sibal to screen the content before publishing, is highly condemnable. His suggestion to implement a monitoring mechanism to screen "disparaging, inflammatory or defamatory" opinions found no takers with any of the web houses. His bone of contention was a Facebook web page maligning Sonia Gandhi. Can Mr.Sibal block a BJP, or Pakistani website if it maligned Sonia Gandhi? Can he stop a Uma Bharathi, Mayawathi or a Jayalalitha’s Anti-sonia bashing?

One is reminded of some of the craziest quotes of colonel.Gadhafi here, especially for Mr.Sibal.

Gadhafi: Democracy means permanent rule.

Sibal:      True, we ruled India for almost half a century.

Gadhafi: Protest however you want, but don’t go to the streets and squares.

Sibal:      we don’t mind streets and squares, but a Jantar Mantar, Raj Ghat and Ramlila maidan      

               would be “unacceptable” to us.

Gadhafi: I am not such a dictator that would shut facebook. I will imprison anyone who logs into it.

 Sibal:    I would rather implement monitering mechanisms.

Blocking of websites, screening of content is a dirty work of the Pakistanis and Chinese. We don’t live in chaotic or an undemocratic country; we comprehend your Gimmicks Mr.Sibal. Don’t try to fool us. We are Indians Mr.Sibal, Indians.

Can Anna checkmate the Government again?

Dishearten by the assortment of accusations on his Team and the style of functioning of its individual members, Anna decided to expand the numerals of his core committee to fifty. He asserted the inclusion of intellectuals from the depressed classes and Muslims; a small transformation from a gang to a small political faction. In the mean time he fired all the individuals who had used him, including his Blogger.

The Government on its part continued its vendetta course. Team Anna was hounded from all the direction. Anna’s talibanic opinion of public whipping of alcoholics and his naïve comment on Harvinder Singh’s slap invalidated his Gandhian credentials. The loose talk of Anna on various issues backfired.  

The unsoiled IPS officer Kiran Bedi, has court ordered FIR registered against her. The case relates to fraud and misappropriation of funds by her NGO. The second such accusation leveled against her; there won’t be any smoke without any fire.

The Emotional Arivnd Keriwal, who just cleared his service records/dues and taxes of IAC, is up against the Judiciary in support of Kiran Bedi, his flip flop accusation and support of the latter’s action made him a smart politician.

In Summary, the whole apolitical movement of activists and people transformed itself to a political party of accused politicians. The opaqueness of the fund utilization, the individual agendas of the members and some non practical demands of Anna removed the shine out of the movement. The allegation and the reaction to the accusation, raises lots of doubts and questions in one’s mind. The integrity and sincerity of the team is in quandary.

Anna has started his howls; “the Government has cheated us”. He has reserved his venue and the dates-December-11, well before the Bill is tabled in the parliament. How on earth, these people still have a face to show us? Are they dreaming of a Box office hit and record collections? Can they still cheat us? Can they still checkmate the Government by media and peoples support?

I hope the Government is ready with a move to surprise all of us. The political class is challenged, when its privilege and right is at stake, time and again they have proved their intellect to us. The bill would be passed; credit for the passage of the Bill would go to the political class, not to the unelected ones. One should be surprised if the same lokepal bill is used to prosecute Team Anna. Anna! Check and mate.      

Why this kolaveri marketing of 3?

“A good advertisement is one which sells the product, without drawing attention to itself.”

That was an advertisement quotation by an English Business man, David Ogilvy. Even the best of the products needs some bit of marketing or Advertisement. One of the best forms of advertisement is the word of mouth advertisement, opinions which are passed from one person to other through oral conventional means. This conventional source has the potential of a wild fire; spreads incessantly without any fuel. Often, wild fires are caused a small spark.

The leading dailies of Chennai carried a front page news on 21st Nov, the new rage of the city- a new song called “Why this kolaveri di”. The song was uploaded to the free videos site, youtube presumably on 16th November and with a short span of five days it received almost 3 lakh hits. Kolaveri is hot topic of most of the twits and blogs for this week. The craze of 3 lakh people would force anyone to peep into youtube and listen to the song at least once. Yes, I have downloaded one on 24th November. By the time I was down loading it, the number of hits was 3,385,025, almost four lakh hits.

What’s the USP of the song? It’s the lyrics, voice and personality of the singer, Dhanush. The lyric is not bounded by a single language or grammar. If fact, the revolutionary idea of this kind, just took six minutes. The lines of these lines are so down to earth and humble. The Tamil language has been elevated to an unprecedented level; even the likes of Amitabh Bachan have started listening to Tamil songs. The voice had almost obliterated my myth; the need of carnatic training to be a singer. Dhanush has proved one core point; it’s the talent and experience. Any body can become a singer; Dhanush has become a Dronacharya to many Ekalavyas. The personality of Dhanush lacks the typical chocolate boy image, his wheatish, slim and not so educated looks pleases the masses. Men folk of TN, find it easy to correlate their own personality with a Dhanush than an Arvindswamy.

On his part Dhanush capitalized on his innocent looks, immature slang and physical characteristics. Most of his successful roles have been the typical, tapoli ones; the Uneducated, poor, not so handsome guy going in for the dream girls. The formula has worked well in all of his first three movies. He had his share of glooms and dooms from his movies of 2004-05, but he manage to managed to make a come back and eventually grabbed a National Award for best actor.

The timing of the release of the song coincided with the release of his new film “mayakam enna” and exit of the shruthi hassan’s “ 7 an arivvu”. A very good attempt to capitalize on the current popularity of the lead actors.A small survey of the youtube videos was made on 24th Nov; the Indian national anthem uploaded on Aug -18 -2006, had 1,958,116 hits. Another version of the anthem sung by a congregation of legends of Indian music, uploaded on July-20-2009, had 43,746 hits. And “The most beautiful speech in all of the American History” the “I have a dream “speech of Dr. King, uploaded on Apr-18-2007, had 119,300 hits. One finds it very difficult to digest the fact, how come a mediocre song like this would have caught the overnight attention of nearly four lakh viewers. Common sense dictates, those hits are artificial and fake ones. The headline news probably could be paid advertisements.

In the end, the episode sold the product 3, its lead actors, Music Director and Producer to us in a single shot in very economical way. No posters, TV or print ads still, the product reached the desired audience. The song was called as soup song, flop song or in short a song for the loser’s. It would have created a greater impact, if it was sung by a real loser-Silambarasan.

Petrol: the salt of Liberalised, Independent India.

The Yatra of L.K.Advani, has at last come to an end this week. The dreary 38 days all India tour, in spite of all the media’s consideration failed to inspire the Public at large. The saffron party may publicly, boast of huge crowds to all their events across India, but, it failed to create a Movement as it was expected. Yes, the citizens of this country are dismayed over many issues; Governance, Corruption, Nepotism and the queen of all evils-Inflation. The people of this country are literate enough to understand that, these issues cannot be solved by speeches and a tour in an air conditioned Hi-Tech Coach. On his part, Mr. Advani still proved his mettle on many issues personally bothering him. First, the invincible Raj Dharma Yogi-Atal Bihari Vajpayee was secluded from the PM race. Second, the towering personality cult of Narendra Modi was gloomed, at least momentarily. Third, the disputed PM candidate has consolidated his position of Influence as a National leader within his party circles. The fourth issue, which he actually missed out, was, to carry forward India against corruption movement.

In the days of the ancient, the disenchanted subjects of Kings and Queens congregated and fought against their royals. Success of Violence was a game of numbers. But, with the advent of Guns, Grenades and artillery, revolution and revolts became risky propositions. However, terrorism, Naxalism and Gorilla warfare, did challenge the authority of States; but, these kind revolts hardly gets any public sympathy or legal funds. Modern laws of the executive and Judiciary softened the approach of the state towards its citizens, the people got many avenues to voice their dissent or challenge the authority of the state. Universal jurisprudence, required the states to welfare oriented towards its subjects, the concept of colonialism was ostracized even in the occupiers country. Non-Violent Resentment against the Government became more acceptable and thus Freedom of speech developed into a Universal Law.

Indian History is replete with battalions of revolutionaries and warriors, but all the institutional and individual endeavors are eclipsed by one man-M.K.Gandhi.  The Non Violent part of our freedom movement is Unique, most of the modern day events (Twentieth century) that lead to our impedance were either legal and in most of the cases violators of law willfully surrendered to authorities to face the consequences. M.K.Gandhi being a lawyer himself knew the power of civil laws and was highly knowledgeable about the influence of the English media in the civilized world. His resentment techniques were simple, nonviolent, and often attracted thousands of not so literate Indians and English Media’s attention towards him. Public protest like vrats, anushans and Yatras have become the very common these days, but the mother of all yatras was; the Dandi march.

M.K.Gandhi, walked for miles across many villages for days, many of the men folk (women were forbidden by MKG) merely walked along with him. With the English media on his side, Gandhi just took a hand full of salt and broke the slat act. The message, he wanted to convey was, the cost Indians pay for their salt. 

Salt is an essential ingredient of the Indian cuisine, in spite of having kilometers of coastlines, salt production was regulated. The Indian salt Tax of 1882 (www.mkgandhi.org) regulated the production, transportation, distribution and retailing of salts. Licenses were required were native production of salt, the salt industry was almost in the British hands. One third of the salt was manufactured by the British Government, one third by Native licensees and the remaining was imported from Britain. Salt in those days was a heavily taxed commodity; even in the days of G.K.Gokhale a basket of salt costing 3 pies was made to cost 5 annas, a tax of 2000 percent. The salt Revenue has enormous powers to powers to search properties, forfeit assets. Violation of salt law had heavy penalties and prison terms. Abstractly, it was a draconian law. The salt law was withdrawn by the Indian Prime Minister J.N.Nehru, in 1949.

The Indian fiancé minister Manmohan Sing liberalized the Indian Economy in 1991, the same Economist as a Prime Minister of India deregulated the Petrol from Government regulation in 2011. As was the case of salt, petroleum companies are in the Public sector, private sector and import sector. Unlike salt, refining of petrol is not a simple task, it requires heavy investments. It’s true, that, the Indian Society benefited by Telecom deregulation, but the same society is not able to accept deregulation of petrol. why? Nobody is complaining about the price of gold, and then complain about a international commodity like petrol? The reason is price of Gold is uniform across geographies, but according to Times of India, a liter of petrol should cost us only Rs 41. A consumer of Tamil Nadu pays a premium of 76% on the original cost due to various forms of Taxes and charges in India. Tamil Nadu imposes a Value added Tax of 27% on petrol and earns a revenue of Rs 260 Cr per month. A match could be made to the revenue made by the British, Salt and Opium formed a major part of it; For Tamil Nadu its petrol and Tasmac Liquors. 

 Deregulation should have been a boon to us; it is not price of petrol that makes it costly, it’s the bloody taxes. How should we raise our voice against the taxes non-violently? Whether our Politicians and Babus deserve free supply of fuels, for their motorcades and Travel? As there is no substitute for salt in our foods, there is no substitute for fossil fuels for various modes of Transport. Had Mr. Adavani, roamed across India in a Bullock cart, he would have a rewritten Indian History. Bad Luck, he missed a golden opportunity. How do we come out of this mess? Simple, we should learn from others mistakes, Team Anna’s Mistake. They campaigned for a Lokpal supporter; we should campaign for a petrol Tax detractor.     

             

    

Team Anna: a disillusioned Gang of four.

Anna Hazare started his faction with the support of few a members; a cop kiran Bedi, a revenue collector Arvind Kejriwal and Lawyer & Lawyer son duo the Bhushans. Anna deserves all credit for taking up the issue of Lokpal Bill, the public anger against the rampant corruption in the various Government echelons and the media focus involved forced the power confederation to take a premature Handshake. A half hearted initiative though; a label of civil society was affixed to them and the Congress Crisis Management team obliged to an audience with them. The wild and civil society members sat together, to write the ombudsman Law for India and finally ended up writing the two complementary Jokepal tragedies. An extraordinary gesture, members of Government directly taking the public on board while preparing a policy draft, god’s grace .The parliament had to take the burden of scrutinizing two other versions, in progression the House preceded towards a quandary. Irked over the pandemonium in parliament; Anna voiced his revolutionary intentions; the strong arm of law placed the who’s who of Indian corruption as Anna’s cellmates. A country rose up against the police atrocity, a government of the people had to give up. Anna’s campaign started with his fast, a horde of volunteers joined his team. The fast caught the limelight of the media, support poured in from all echelon’s of the Indian society. The alternative media too played an active role in the campaign; people’s power terrorized the ruling class. Worried over loss of its privilege, the political class rose up to occasion and concurred with each other.
The fast as such ended with a very positive note, victory for everyone and loss for none. The movement brought together a country; many India’s develop into one nation. People recognized the power of Unity, technology and media proved their roles in a democracy. The fortnight of the movement, would ever remain etched in the annals of Indian History in Golden words.
The individualistic ego was the first killer, Baba Ramdev, a popular Yoga guru wanted to start a similar movement against Black money. The campaign was crushed with by the iron first of the state, all known sources of Income was ascertained. The black money crusader failed to prove the shade of his money as white. The second saffron clad swami Agnivesh was isolated as a mole of the Government. The teams decision to oppose the congress in the Hissar By-election saw some more volunteers withdrawing from the team. Bhushan Jr was publicly manhandled, for his anti-National views on Kashmir. Kiran Bedi was accused of overcharging her travel bills and Kejriwal of siphoning of donations made by public to his trust. The movement collected a Hoard of rupees and its account was revealed only after public accusations. Anna on the other hand was/is accused as an RSS mole. Anna cleverly went on Maun Vrath during this period and kept his integrity intact, but in the eyes of the public the team lost its credibility. To make up for the lost image, creation of a private ombudsman was proposed; people who wrote the ombudsman law for the country are in need of a private one for their own actions.
In the mean while, the gang of four, refuse to fade away from the media glare, one wonder why on earth they don’t trust the parliament? Why face all the unnecessary attacks and controversies? Why the disillusioned temperament is still kept alive? Is it for the continuous stream of cash flow? In conclusion, the team has become greedy, parochial and corrupt. Alas, the political class has successfully integrated Team Anna in to their order.

A senseless and farcical script called, Aezham Arivu.

The recently released movie Aezham Arivu, a wonderful commercial entertainer, garnished with all the ingredients of a typical Kollywood movie is a ‘must view ‘these days. Even two weeks after its release, all the screens are Jam packed. A magnificent movie eulogises the achievement of the ancient Tamil knowledge and civilization, any Tamilian would come out of the theater with a sense of pride and achievement. Well, that’s what films are supposed to do, take you to a illusionary world. If any conclusion has to be drawn from the movie, it’s just, as clear as a diamond crystal, Tamil civilization and society is a deteriorating one. One wonders, whether its a vulnerable society still weakening or already its extinct.
A sixth century Buddhist Pallava prince goes to china and lays the foundation for Kung-Fu, Chinese medicine and becomes the presiding deity of shaolin. A modern day shaolin student is sent by China to wage a bio-war against Tamils, with an intention of mass-selling a forgotten Indian Antidote at inflated prices. The core objective of film, according to the producer, is to show case the contribution of the Tamils.
The lead actor, Shruthi Hassan, tries a lot to evoke the Tamil Spirit and sense of pride, commercial, political gimmick of the producer. Except of the eyes, Hassan, a Xerox copy of Bollywood’s sarika shah, fails to cut any ice as a Tamilian. In spite of her paramakudi genes, the Tanglish accent is too awful. One wonders, how on earth, can somebody trespass into an IIT lab for twelve days, why a bio war only on Tamils not on Indians, the scripts lacks common sense at various instances. A professor of Bio-Technology aids for bio war, without any self protection; descendants of a prince have a picture of their sixth century ancestor; the DNA theory goes against the sprit of Dravidian Movement.
The Chinese have always been ahead of us, it was never invaded by foreign powers. They built huge walls to protect them. India was invaded by many countries; it was under foreign rule for five centuries. Khyber Pass never had any walls, still its open for invasion. The Chinese had religion of equals and a common language /script; we were always a divided nation. The Chinese preserved their culture, knowledge and heritage; we lost them incessantly. There is no point in basking on the achievements of aryabhatta, Bhaskara or a Kautilya; modern achievements substances more than BC achievements.

The film has a very parochial view; Tamil society. The Tamil Dravidian society was distinct from the Aryan one many ways; the race, religion, language, non rigid classification of its people based on Geographical settlements. The Aryan invasion erased all of these, except for the Tamil language, everything was aryanised. Our gods became relatives of their gods, their rigid caste system was imposed on us, and our language praised their gods. As citizens, we are Indians, but as a race we still remain, Aryanised Dravidians. The pure Dravidian is an extinct order. The DNA theory is farce one, no Kshastriya safe guarded the Khyber Pass. The instigation of martial skills through DNA; is similar to the martial race theory proposed by Gen.Lord Roberts, long abandoned by the Indian Army. Talent is distributed equally across races; through practice and perseverance can create anything out of anybody.

Anna Hazare: The Indian Tele-Media’s Mojo Jojo.

The Indian visual media is bona fide middle class one, its main customers are the educated, white collared, secular and urban youths. A large society which could be considered as product the socialists, a generation with Govt employed parents, secure urban upbringing and oblivious of real India. As most of the filmi chaps may say, there are two Indias : India and Bharath , this is that and that is this…blah blah..Sociology they say can be divided in to two types, urban and rural. The multicultural, multilingual and market dominated urban regions is the real Indian Republic envisioned by the constitution. The Govt dominated,laggard and castist rural regions; India, nothing changed here since independence. The disaster is the Republic is a rich minority, which never votes and India a poor Majority, which decides the govt. The Indian Tele media can be categorized into two types, vernacular and English/National. The vernacular ones are directly controlled by the politicians and the national ones are remote cotrolled. The recent Radia Tapes disclosure clearly illustrates the nexus between Business, Broadcasting and the Babus. No one whispered about the media involvement or media ethics, but the 2G accused A. Raja was almost convicted on TV. The entire opposition has got all its ammunition against the big fish P.Chidambarm, legally valid govt correspondence as proof and still none of the media wants him arrested. They don’t even say how he won the election, all that is said its in the courts. By the time the court decide who actually won the election in sivakasi, the next election would come and PC would have complted his five year term as a cabinet minister. The point i want to make is, the Indian media is biased.

It gives only those stories which its customers would like and avoid what its customers would not like. Apart from the regular politics,if it’s the cities, it would be all about its development and pollution and if it’s the villages it would be about innovation, corruption and poverty. The educated youths understanding would never go beyond these and so would be the media coverage. Topics like child labour, Rural dislocation, shrinking agri lands, human trafficking,land grabbing, unmarried partners, minority isolation, rural discriminations, tribal issues and North East India, we hardly see or hear about any of these in so called National media. Naxalism, separatism and indigenous independence struggle not only marks a failed state but marks the failure of autonomous democratic institutions like media. I feel very compelled to quote the great African American Malcom X here.

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power because they control the minds of the masses.”

To prove my point, the way media handled the case of Ruchika Girhotra’s molestation case , the accused was a DGP SPS Rathore who misused his power to escape from justice for 19 years. It was only after 19 year, he was convicted and only after his conviction the movement justice for Ruchika started .The campaign against the DGP went for almost a month. The grief , agony and pain endured by the Girhotra family was empathized by the media . The DGP was by no means was an innocent man and deserved a harsher punishment. A comparison has to made with an another judgment in Vachathi case delivered by a trail court on 29 september 2011 in TamilNadu, 269 odd govt employees of revenue , forest and police department were convicted for repeated rape of 18 tribals girls . The girls were repeatedly raped for one full day, until 9.00 pm. No news about the sentences, meager punishment though; it didn’t make a headline, the urbanite doesn’t care about the forest and tribal and M.Karunanidhi didn’t distribute any free TVs to the tribals. Even before i complete this parah, the second tragedy struck the tribals; Jail term of the first and fourth was suspended by the Madras high court, based on the contention that the two were officers and the investigation officer does not have the governments permission to prosecute them. No permission from the Government, even after 19 Years and no condemnations from the Judge. As the G14 members said, number of judges per Million should be increased; for Justice delayed is Justice denied.

Fine, who is this Mojo Jojo?. He is the villain in the famous American cartoon series power puff girls. Is Anna a villain then; no, Mojo is not human, he is an ape. Anna is an ape, the visual media’s ape, a very shrewd ape who apes a mimic called M.K.Gandhi-a creation of the British print media. Except for the mahars, he is the undisputed mahatma for all indians, no one will loathes him. To start with, he was a simple, secular, non-violent, celibate and a mahatma who fought for the emancipation of the untouchables; this is what the print media of the British India said and Independent India thought us. The truth, he was a racist; he called the native South Africans as kaffirs and half castes, pseudo-secular; Muslims of India feared his religious affinity, castist; he refused to support the Mahar agitation for the right to pray in temples and held a 21 days fast opposing separate Mahar electorates, affluent; even by today’s standard only the elites can afford London education,Pseudo Non-Violent; he appealed Indians to enlist as combatants for WW-I, and probably a Homo..; google Joseph Lelyveld. Was he a real Mahatma? .His Ahimsa and sathyagraha philosophies were alien to South Africa not to India, implementation of these non-violence had the sympathy of the South African press and forced Gen.Smuts to reconcile with Gandhi. The trick worked with British Indian media as well. Anna Hazare too, followed the same route.
Attempts are being made to project Anna Hazzare as the, next undisputable leader of India. Fast and walks have become the order of the day; its being used as a blackmailing tool for petty political purpose. One small team cannot represent a billion individuals and two Bhushans cannot write Laws for India. Their Joke book called Jan Lok Pal bill attempts to supersede the Indian Constitution. Mr Kejriwal may be a chamcha of Anna Hazzare, but it’s highly deplorable to misuse the media and place him above the parliament. The fact that, the parliament above its citizens does not mean any Individual is above it. Politicians can’t claim any superlative status either;for what’s supreme is the constitution not the parliament. The constitution is the fine thread that binds us as equal citizens of one country. If Jan Lok Pal bill aims of a single authority for all the tribulations of this country; then it amounts to tampering of the constitution, the balance of power between Legislature, Executive and Judiciary will be lost. A fight for supremacy between these institutions would result in chaos. It was a foolish decision to Jail Anna Hazzare, it caught the media’s attention and media caught the cosmopolitan’s attention and the foreign media made it a Revolution. Humble request to the media, enough, too much, the acts of your Mojo Jojo is too predictable, show us a different cartoon.

References- Wikipedia, Times of India.

The UNEP Treaty Ban on Mercury: Pros and Cons.

[The paper introduces a concise version of, the treaty of UN that proposes to ban the use Mercury. The paper also highlights the properties, applications, advantages and environmental Hazards of Mercury.]

I.INTRODUCTION

The hot environmental news across the world in the mid- October of 2011, was a UN treaty proposal to ban the use of Mercury. Many researchers and Scientists across the world expressed their reservations and opinions against this treaty. Even a Highly Educated person would wonder of all the hazardous nuclear elements still present on the face of the earth, why choose the harmless element mercury? Mercury to most of us, is still a laboratory stuff; mostly seen in various meters. When there are so many hazardous chemicals of mass destruction still with, many a developed and developing nations, mercury should be least one on any anti-war activists mind. A survey by USGS says, China is the world’s largest producer of mercury; no other country produces even a quarter of it, one wonders whether the treaty is Anti-Chinese? If that was true; the Chinese would have vetoed it long before, they didn’t, it appears even the Chinese are serious about the treaty.

II.MERCURY [1]

Mercury is known to us as the only metal, which exists in liquid form even in room temperature and pressure. Mercury rarely exists in its original pure liquid state, it mostly subsists as compounds and Inorganic salts. It can be bound as a Mono-valent or Di-valent compound; Di-valent compounds can be organic or Inorganic. When mercury combines with carbon; it becomes organic like –Di-methyl-mercury, phenyl-mercury, ethyl-mercury and methyl-mercury. Most of the Inorganic mercury are called salts and include compounds - mercuric sulphide, mercuric oxide and mercuric chloride. Mercury can also exist in natural form; the most common natural forms of mercury found in the environment are metallic mercury, mercuric sulphide, mercuric chloride, and methyl-mercury. Being an element, mercury cannot be broken down or degraded into harmless substances.
Mercury is a natural component of earth and is an abundantly available one. The production of Mercury is through primary mining, byproduct of refined metals, and recovery from crude refining, reprocessing of mines, and recycling from reservoirs of stored mercury wastes.
Mercury is a good conductor of electricity; electrical applications include switches and fluorescent lamps. It has very high density, surface tension and reacts to change in temperature and pressure; medical applications include; thermometers, sphygmomanometers and dental fillings. Mercury compounds are used in batteries, pesticides, biocides in paper/paints, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
The mercuric compounds gets accumulated in the atmosphere or environment through various natural and manmade ways; volcanic eruptions, weathering of rocks, exhaust from coals and fossil fuels, industrial leaks and wastes, releases from other soil waste disposals. The manmade disposals are classified into three types- i. Releases from mercuric impurities containing materials; burning of coal and fossil fuels, Cement production and Mining of certain non-ferrous materials. ii. Releases from mercuric containing materials; Mining, Gold and silver extraction process, fluorescent lamps, Dental fillings and various medical equipments/equipments like thermometers, barometers, manometers, sphygmomanometers. iii. Releases from waste materials; Municipal wastes, landfills and cemeteries.

III. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS and HAZARDS [1].

The process of Mercury assimilation in the Environment is a vicious cycle, it continuously transferred from the Environment to atmosphere, from atmosphere to ocean and from ocean back to the Environment; Food chain to Environment and Environment to Food chain. Methyl-Mercury is compound, which enters the human food chain through fish. Methyl-Mercury tends to Bio-Accumulates and Bio-Multiples, within the food chain. Bio-Accumulation of Methyl-Mercury in a species increases over period of time, due to biotic or abiotic sources. Bio-Multiplication refers to the increase of concentration of Methyl-Mercury in a tissue of a species. Hence a older and bigger fish may be more contaminated by Mercury than a younger and a smaller one. Dental filling, skin whitening creams and soaps are some of the sources of, to which the Human Population is exposed. The wild life and other higher species in food chain hierarchy, which depends on fish like Human beings, the birds, mammals and penguins, are affected by contaminated fishes. Mercury restricts micro-biological activity and thus disturbs the food chain and eco-system.
Methyl-Mercury is a neurotoxin which may cause adverse effects on the developing brain. The compound readily passes both the placental barrier and the blood-brain barrier; therefore, exposures during pregnancy may possibly lead to a genetic disorder. Also increases in methyl-mercury exposures may cause adverse effects on the cardiovascular system, thereby leading to increased mortality. Methy-Mercury compounds are considered possibly carcinogenic to humans. Elemental mercury vapours are easily absorbed by the lungs and the body tissues oxidise them to an inorganic di-valent form. Neurological and behavioural disorders in humans have been observed following inhalation of elemental mercury vapour. Symptoms include tremors, emotional liability, insomnia, memory loss, neuromuscular changes, and headaches. In addition, there are effects on the kidney and thyroid. High exposures have also resulted in death.

IV. UNEP INITIATES.

The UNEP initiated various programs to address the issue of mercury [2] [3]; it followed a two strategy approach-GMP and INC, GMP-Global Mercury Partnership and INC-Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee.

A. UNEP-GMP- The UNEP Global Mercury Partnership [4] is a voluntary and collaborative relationship amongst various parties, governmental, non-governmental, public and private organizations. The program has the its unique [5] objectives and priorities; the UNEP-GMP has the following seven priorities-
(a) To reduce atmospheric mercury emissions from human sources;
(b) To find environmentally sound solutions for the management of containing mercury and
Mercury compounds;
(c) To reduce global mercury demand related to use in products and production processes;
(d) To reduce the global mercury supply, including considering curbing primary mining and
taking into account a hierarchy of sour
(e) To find environmentally sound storage solutions for mercury;
(f) To address the remediation of existing contaminated sites affecting public and environmental
health;
(g) To increase knowledge on areas such as inventories, human, environmental exposure,
environmental monitoring and socio-economic impacts.

The aforesaid seven priorities forms the basis for the following four objectives-

(a) Minimization, elimination and retirement of mercury from marker for strong environment

management
(b) Minimization and, where feasible, elimination of unintentional release of mercury into air,

water and Land from different sources
(c) Continued elimination and minimization of Global use and demand for Mercury.
(d) Promoting to the development of economically feasible Non-Mercury technology.

B. UNEP-INC [6] - is a committee consisting different governments of United Nations, the committee is entrusted with the responsibility of preparing a [6] draft of rules and regulations, for a legally binding instrument on mercury. The INC formulated the following comprehensive provisions to address the menace of mercury-
(a) To specify the objectives of the instrument;
(b) To reduce the supply and enhance the capacity for its environmentally sound storage;
(c) To reduce the demand for mercury in products and processes;
(d) To reduce international trade in mercury;
(e) To reduce atmospheric emissions of mercury;
(f) To address mercury-containing waste and remediation of contaminated sites;
(g) To increase knowledge through awareness raising and scientific information exchange;
(h) To specify arrangements for capacity-building and technical assistance.

To achieve the aforesaid provisions three [6] options were formulated.

i. Options for specifying the objectives of the instrument.
ii. Options for control measures.
iii. Options for provisions related to implementation.
Options for specifying the objectives of the instrument- An objective is the end goal/Aim of a mission. The first option of INC was to formulate an objective on the lines of World Health Organization (WHO) convention and other UN treaty of similar nature. The objective devised was;
“To protect human health and the global environment from the release of mercury and its compounds throughout their life-cycles by minimizing and, where feasible, ultimately eliminating global, anthropogenic mercury releases to air, water and land.”

Options for control measures, addresses the next five provisions of INC. It proposes to reduce the supply of mercury by eliminating all primary mining activities; capture, recovery and sound storage of by-product mercury and recycled mercury. The options also includes provisions to enhance the capacity for environmentally sound storage by encouraging best practices and techniques, international cooperation and trade linkages exclusively for sound storages. Prevention of new uses, subsidies and threshold limits, ban on international trade, may reduce the demand for Mercury. National policies, adoption of best techniques and practices, substitute material and products for mercury are suggested as some options to reduce the hazards of Mercury. Options for provisions related to implementation, includes Provisions to increase knowledge through awareness-raising, scientific information exchange and Provisions for capacity-building and technical assistance

V.CONCLUSION.

The Ethical stand of UN is to highly applauded, but the enforcement could be extended to other chemicals of similar nature. Rather than focusing on one single chemical, mercury, a multitude of hazardous chemicals could be banned by a single treaty. A ban would have temporary hurdles like, artificial price hike of mercury based products, Black Marketing, Smuggling and dumping of Mercury containing waste in poor countries; prevention of these illicit activities needs to be addressed. Off all its applications, the Hazardous nature of Mercury supersedes its utility; a ban on it and its compounds needs to be speedy and mandatory.

REFERNCES

[1] UNEP, Global Mercury Assessment report.2003.
[2] UNEP, Reducing Risk from mercury.
[3] UNEP, Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee.
[4] UNEP-GMP-Information on becoming a partner.2009.
[5] Overarching framework UNEP Global Mercury Partnership.June-2009.
[6] UNEP-INC, Options for substantive provisions that might be included in the mercury
instrument.June2010.