Thai PM Shinawatra exudes Indian Generation Gap

Friday, January 27, 2012 Bureaucrats, diplomats enjoyed President Patil’s high tea party at Mughal Garden

Thai PM Shinawatra with India's Supreme Commander

IT was Thursday afternoon. The 63rd Republic day parade was over by then. Country’s top bureaucrats, diplomats, armed forces officials along with their spouses reached the backyard of Rashtrapati Bhavan to join the high tea party hosted by President Pratibha Patil. The menu of the President’s “At Home” party included samocha, pakora, fish fries and sweets. And of course tea and coffee!
President Patil who is completing her five-year term in July this year seated at the VVIP enclosure along with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia among others.
But the bureaucrats and diplomats enjoyed the moment by roaming around the sprawling and elegantly manicured Mughal Garden at Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was a sunny afternoon, and none of the 1000 guests was in a hurry to go back home. Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar and his wife were greeted by many officials present there. Ex-US ambassador Meera Shankar and her husband Ajay Shankar, a former industry secretary, were also spotted chatting with their friends in the corridors. Montek Singh Ahluwalia's adviser Gajendra Haldea, ex-CBDT chairman PK Mishra and minority affairs secretary Surajit Mitra were among those seen chatting with friends and colleagues. A number of secretaries, former governors and political leaders were also present during the occasion.
None of the officials and armed forces bigwigs probably had any idea that 44-year-old Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was by then one of the top 10 Twitter trends in India. But Shinawatra wearing a cream skirt and jacket was the cynosure of all eyes during the high tea party. Those who were present near the VVIP enclosure said woh! when Thai PM said: Namaste India.
Young Thai PM in contrast with ageing Bureaucracy, Diplomats, President and PM of India

Ageing Ministers and Bureaucrats for Governance?
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the country needs more youth leaders to infuse creativity, energy and dynamism in different fields of national endeavour.
India needs youth leaders for nation building: PM

Incredible India, can we have a Clean India?

Peeing and spitting has become the National Hobby- You cannot miss or mask it
“Are you on the side of those who make India hang her head in shame or those who raise her head in pride,” asks Aamir Khan in an ‘Incredible India' advertisement. I am as big a patriot as is the next person, but sometimes, queries buzz about inside my head querulously. Is there any harm in talking about those aspects of our country that could be wished away!

Do you need that big gob of spit that just misses your big toe on your way to an important appointment? Or that red-flecked liquid spewed out so casually in a traffic snarl? What could be worse than that giant phlegm-filled hawk that begins from deep inside a champion ‘spitter', making you wince and shut your eyes and ears in anticipation of the actual event? And those artistic red squiggles on pristine walls, winding staircases, and ironically, below signs which scream “Please do not spit here!”

What about the male members of the human species with undoubtedly canine habits, when they sight a vacant wall, and proceed to let loose in public? The movie Three Idiots has a funny yet effective way of dealing with this, where the culprit receives a gentle jolt, just enough to bring him to his senses, yet does no permanent harm! Pedestrians are often caught between the devil and the deep blue sea; is it safer to sink into excreta, or step off the pavement and be hit by a bus! Tread on mush or turn into mush, as it were!

The tagline of Lays Chips (no one can eat just one!) rings true as one perceives bright wrappers forming part of the vast garbage dump that our roads have turned into. Plastic bottles, cans, fruit peels and groundnut shells turn the picture murkier! On one memorable suburban train ride from Guindy to Chetpet in Chennai, I walked in confidently to a deserted corner in the ladies' compartment, only to be assailed by a stench that made my insides churn. Someone had let her child squat on the floor and left the evidence behind! ‘Incredible India', anyone?
Forget about Incredible India, can we have a Clean India? by DEEPTI MENON: The Hindu
Related news:
Expanding cities, vanishing space for citizens by T. R. Bhat: The Hindu

Remembering the Mahatma

In today's world filled with acts of violence and intolerance under the guise of faith and community, Gandhi's principles of restraint and understanding stand out as the only voice of reason. Gandhiji had an unwavering belief in peace over war and a tolerance towards all men. Many of his quirks, like using a pencil down to a small stub to prevent wastage, reusing envelopes, and walking whenever possible are perfectly understandable today when we are all trying to be 'Green'.

He believed that we all have a choice. You can choose to help the needy, choose to be tolerant of others' beliefs and a choice of peace. Live a good, healthy life, free from chains of slavery, prejudice and hate.
Visit webpage for Quiz: Remembering the Mahatma

Prime Minister: Governance of the largest Democracy is the greatest challenge

The Management and governance of the world’s largest, most diverse and most vibrant democracy is the greatest challenge any person can be entrusted with, in this world. It has been my good fortune that I was entrusted with this challenge over four years ago. I thank with all sincerity the Chairperson of the UPA, the leaders of the Constituent Parties of the UPA and every member of my Party for the faith and trust they reposed in me. I once again recall with gratitude the guidance and support I have received from Shri Jyoti Basu and Sardar Harkishen Singh Surjeet.

I have often said that I am a politician by accident. I have held many diverse responsibilities. I have been a teacher, I have been an official of the Government of India, I have been a member of this greatest of Parliaments, but I have never forgotten my life as a young boy in a distant village.

Every day that I have been Prime Minister of India I have tried to remember that the first ten years of my life were spent in a village with no drinking water supply, no electricity, no hospital, no roads and nothing that we today associate with modern living. I had to walk miles to school, I had to study in the dim light of a kerosene oil lamp. This nation gave me the opportunity to ensure that such would not be the life of our children in the foreseeable future.

Sir, my conscience is clear that on every day that I have occupied this high office, I have tried to fulfill the dream of that young boy from that distant village.

The greatness of democracy is that we are all birds of passage! We are here today, gone tomorrow! But in the brief time that the people of India entrust us with this responsibility, it is our duty to be honest and sincere in the discharge of these responsibilities. As it is said in our sacred texts, we are responsible for our actions and we must act without coveting the rewards of such action. Whatever I have done in this high office I have done so with a clear conscience and the best interests of my country and our people at heart. I have no other claims to make.

Prime Minister’s Reply to the Debate on the Motion of Confidence in Lok Sabha on 22nd July, 2008

Comment: The world's greatest economist Dr Manmohan Singh pleads for Nuclear Power for the Nation to fulfil the dreams of millions of rural Indians who still do not have adequate uninterrupted Electric Power in their homes and farms. The Nation is with him and we applaud his vision for India.

Ancient India 1908

We thank Brigadier PT Gangadharan (Retd)for the wonderful photographs

War in Ancient India

The Mahabharata War
Dharmayuddha is war carried on the principles of Dharma, meaning here the Ksatradharma or the law of Kings and Warriors. The Hindu laws of war are very chivalrous and humane, and prohibit the slaying of the unarmed, of women, of the old, and of the conquered. Megasthenes noticed a peculiar trait of Indian warfare they never ravage an enemy's land with fire, nor cut down its trees. (Artwork courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. http://www.krishna.com/).

The Bhagavad Gita has influenced great Americans from Thoreau to Oppenheimer. Its message of letting go of the fruits of one’s actions is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written more than two millennia ago. The history of ancient India is largely a history of Hindu culture and progress. Hindu culture has a distinct claim to a higher antiquity than Assyrian schools would claim for Sargon I and as much or even higher antiquity than Egyptian scholars would claim for the commencement of the first dynasty of Kings. One aspect of this culture consists in India's political institutions which were almost modern.

Modern warfare has developed on mechanical lines, giving less scope for the qualities of courage and individual leadership. The value and importance of the army were realized very early in the history of India, and this led to the maintenance of a permanent militia to put down dissent within and arrest aggression from without. This gave rise to the Ksatriya warrior caste, and the ksatram dharmam came to mean the primary duty of war. To serve the country by participating in war became the svadharma of this warrior community.

Indian Military Science recognizes two kinds of warfare - the dharmayuddha and the kutayuddha. Dharmayuddha is war carried on the principles of dharma, meaning here the Ksatradharma or the law of Kings and Warriors. In other words, it was a just and righteous war which had the approval of society. On the other hand, kuttayuddha was unrighteous war. It was a crafty fight carried on in secret. The Hindu science of warfare values both niti and saurya i.e. ethical principles and valor. It was therefore realized that the waging of war without regard to moral standards degraded the institution into mere animal ferocity. A monarch desirous of dharma vijaya should conform to the code of ethics enjoined upon warriors.

The principles regulating the two kinds of warfare are elaborately described in the Dharmasutras and Dharmasastras, the epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata), the Arthasastra treatises of Kautalya, Kamandaka, and Sukra. Hindu India possessed the classical fourfold force of chariots, elephants, horsemen, and infantry, collectively known as the Caturangabala. Students also know that the old game of chess also goes by the name of Caturanga. From the references to this game in the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda and in the Buddhists and Jaina books, it must have been very popular in ancient India. The Persian term Chatrang and the Arabic Shatrang are forms of the Sanskrit Caturanga.

When a conqueror felt that he was in a position to invade the foreigner's country, he sent an ambassador with the message: 'Fight or submit.' More than 5000 years ago India recognized that the person of the ambassador was inviolable. This was a great service that ancient Hinduism rendered to the cause of international law.

Credit: http://www.hinduwisdom.info/War_in_Ancient_India.htm