Savarkar spoke through you my son!! Sudhakar Deshpande, President, Veer Savarkar Smarak,Mumbai

Tarun Vijay, Savarkar speaks through you-- Sudhakar Deshpande

Shri Tarun Vijay was the chief guest at the Maharashtra Savarkar Sahitya Sammelan's 22nd conferenece held at Nagpur on 22nd February,2010. Having heard his speech on Savarkar, Shri Sudhakar Deshpande, President Veer Savarkar Smarak, Dadar , Mumbai and a veteran Marathi author, virtually wept with joy and hugged Tarun Vijay, with these words-"Savarkar spoke through you my son!!"
Here are some pics of Mr. Tarun Vijay while addressing the distinguished gathering.
In his speech Tarun Vijay said that Hindus can become strong only after shunning hypocracy and eradicating caste based discriminations. " You offer milk and honey to stone images and even to ants and snakes, but when the living human being comes to your house he is not allowed on the basis of his so called lower caste. Even if a so called high caste person marries a so called low caste person their heads may get chopped off, simply because the castes were different and will not be tolerated by their parents or relatives. He said that according to his opinion the real low caste people are those who have the arrogance to call themselves as high caste people because neither the Gods nor the nature tolerates such kind of hypocracy. We worship Durga for strength, Laxmi for wealth and Saraswati for knowledge, but still kill the Devis in the womb for a false love for sons. We worship Rama and celebrate Dussehra burning Ravana effigies, but kow tow before the modern Ravanas, yield to their pressures and invite them for talks humiliating the spirit of Ayodhya. Where is the angst against all these assaults on the nation's pride? Did Ayohya's people celebrated Rama's return because he compromised with Ravana or because he annihilated the unrepentant wicked?He lambasted the fall in the standards of political leaders who say they are Hindus but are in the forefront to hurt Hindu causes. Who kills cows and exports them to slaughterhouses ? Who poaches an kills Lions and Tigers, the vehicle of Shakti? Who polluted Ganga and Yamuna? Turks? Arabs? Or we, the Hindus? Look at Kashmir, five lakhs, all Tricolour people. all ousted for what crime? and we celebrate a sham republic day. None bothers the local MPs and MLAs with questions-Sir, Honourable, sir, what have you done to implement the 1994 resolution of the parliament ? what have you done to eradicate illiteracy and hunger in your area? Have you ever, even once asked a question to the govt. what measures are being taken to ensure safe and honourable return of the Kashmiri patriotic people back to the valley? You attend a late night session of the House to pass hurriedly bills enhancing your perks and salaries, but have you ever convened a special session to discuss how to reduce the numbers of the Indians below poverty line and restore dignity and safety to the millions of the patriotic people? The real threat to the national safety and honour comes from the spineless bigmouths who people nation's highest decision making bodies, which have been turned by them into the most indecisive platforms of procrastination. See the talks with Pakistan that begin on Feb 25th. The situation needs a reawakening hence the need to spread and strengthen RSS work.He said remembering Savarkar should mean courage to defeat the ugly, denationalised politicians and a consolidation of all Indians on the basis of unapologetic nationalism.

divyabhaskar.co.in

20 February 2010

ચીન ભારતને ચારે તરફથી ધેરી વળ્યું છે - તરુણવિજયજી

Dr. Pranav Dave, Ahmedabad

- ચીન વિશેષજ્ઞ, સિચુઆન વિશ્વવિધાલયમાંથી સંશોધન કરી રહેલા તરુણવિજયજીની ‘દિવ્ય ભાસ્કર’ સાથે ખાસ મુલાકાત

ચીનના વિસ્તારવાદી અઘોષિત આક્રમણ સામે ભારત તૈયાર નથી, એમ જાણીતા ચીન વિશેષજ્ઞ તરુણવિજયજીએ ચીનનો પડકાર અને ભારતની સૈન્ય રણનીતિની તૈયારીઓના સંદર્ભમાં ‘દિવ્ય ભાસ્કર’ સાથેની ખાસ વાતચીતમાં અમદાવાદ ખાતે જણાવ્યું છે.

ઉલ્લેખનીય છે કે તેઓ સિચુઆન વિશ્વવિધાલય-ચીનની વિશેષ ફેલોશીપ સાથે સંશોધન કરી રહ્યું છે અને શ્યામાપ્રસાદ મુખરજી રિસર્ચ ફાઉન્ડેશન-દિલ્હીના ડાયરેકટર છે. તેઓ શનિવારે માધવ સ્મૃતિ ન્યાસ(શ્રી ગુરુજી વ્યાખ્યાનમાળા) અંતર્ગત શહેરના ટાઉનહોલ ખાતે તેમનું વ્યાખ્યાન યોજાયું છે, તે માટે અમદાવાદ આવ્યા છે.

ચીન વિશેષજ્ઞ તરુણવિજયજીએ ચીનનાં વિસ્તારવાદ અંગે જણાવતા કહ્યું કે ચીને આર્થિક, સૈન્ય અને શૈક્ષણિક દ્રષ્ટિએ ભારતની તુલનામાં પાંચથી ૧૦ ગણી પ્રગતિ કરી છે. ભારતના ૧૭ હજાર વર્ગ કિલોમીટર ક્ષેત્ર પર (અક્ષયી ચીન) પર કાશ્મીર ઉપર કબજો કર્યોઅને અરુણાચલ પ્રદેશના ૫૦ હજાર વર્ગ કિલોમીટર પર આજે પણ પોતાનો દાવો કરે છે. ચીન અત્યારે પૂર્ણ કાશ્મીરને પોતાના નકશામાં વિવાદિત ક્ષેત્રના રૂપે ગણાવે છે અને કાશ્મીર પ્રશ્ને પોતાનો ઝુકાવ પાકિસ્તાન તરફ છે.


તેમણે કહ્યું કે ચીન ભારતને ચારે તરફથી ધેરી વળ્યું છે. જેમાં ગ્વાડર-બલુચીસ્તાન નજીક અનેક અરબ ડોલર લગાડી સૈન્ય શકિતથી સંપન્ન બંદર બનાવીને પાકિસ્તાનને આપ્યું છે. તો શ્રીલંકામાં સૌથી મોટા મૂડી રોકાણ કરતા દેશ તરીકે ચીન સ્થાપિત થઇ ચૂકયું છે. માલદિવ અને મ્યાનમારમાં પણ તેનો પ્રભાવ વિસ્તાર થયો છે. ચીને મ્યાનમારના કોકો દ્વીપમાં નૌસેના થાણુ સ્થાપ્યું છે જે ભારતના અંદામાન-નિકોબાર દ્વીપથી માત્ર ૪૦ કિલોમીટર દૂર છે. એટલું જ નહીં નેપાળમાં માઓવાદીઓ દ્વારા ચીનની પક્ષધર હિંસક રાજનીતિનો પ્રભાવ ભારતની ધેરાબંધીનું અંતિમ ચરણ છે.

તેમણે ભારત અને ચીન વરચે આંકડાકીય માહિતી આપતા જણાવ્યું કે ચીનનું સૈન્ય બળ ભારત કરતાં બમણાથી પણ વધુ છે. ચીનનું રક્ષા બજેટ ભારતથી ૧૦ ગણુ વધારે છે. ચીનમાં ૧૫થી ૧૮ વર્ષની વયના યુવાનો માટે સૈનિક સેવા અનિવાર્ય છે. ચીનનો વિકાસદર ૮.૭ છે વિકાસદર ભારત ૬.૭ ટકા છે. ચીનની પ્રતિ વ્યકિત આવક ૬.૫ હજાર ડોલર છે જયારે ભારતની ૧ હજાર છે. ભારતમાં ૩૦થી ૩૫ ટકા જનસંખ્યા ગરીબી રેખાથી નીચે જીવન જીવે છે જયારે ચીનમાં આ દર ૧૦ ટકાથી પણ નીચે છે અને તે પણ સૂદૂર ગ્રામીણ ક્ષેત્રો સુધી સિમિત છે.

ચીનનાં પડકારો સામે વર્તમાન સરકાર સામે આક્ષેપ કરતાં જણાવ્યું કે ચીનનાં આ પડકારો સામે ભારતની વર્તમાન સરકાર ભારતીય હિતો તરફ એ જ આપરાધિક ઉપેક્ષા રાખી રહી છે, જે પં.નહેરુને ૧૯૬૨ની પહેલાથી ઉપેક્ષા કરી હતી. ઇતિહાસ પં.નહેરુથી લઇ સોનિયા અને મનમોહન કે નેતૃત્વવાળી કોંગ્રેસ સરકારને ભારતની સુરક્ષા સાથે ચેડા કરનારા સૌથી મોટા ગુનેગારોમાં ગણના કરશે.

ચીનનાં પડકારો સામે ભારતે પરમાણુ વિસ્ફોટનો વિકલ્પ ખુલ્લો રાખવો જોઇએ:
ચીનનાં પડકારો સામે ભારતે શું કરવું જોઇએ તેનો જવાબ આપતા તરુણવિજયજીએ જણાવ્યું કે ભારતે પોતાના સૈન્યને અત્યાધુનિક હથિયારોસે સજજ કરવું જોઇએ. પરમાણુ વિસ્ફોટનો વિકલ્પ ખુલ્લો રાખવો જોઇએ. ચીન સાથે આર્થિક વેપારના વધતા સ્તરને ઓછું કરવું પડશે. અત્યારે ચીનમાં ૭૦ ટકા કાચો માલ જાય છે તેને બદલે તૈયાર પ્રોડકટ જાય તો આપણા ઉધોગોને પણ લાભ થાય છે. ભારતના વધુમાં વધુ યુવાનોએ ચાઇનીઝ ભાષા શીખવી જોઇએ કેમકે તો જ આપણે ચીનનાં નવીનતમ સ્થિતિની જાણકારી મેળવી શકીએ.

The Times Of India

17 February 2010

The peace makers

Tarun Vijay

I wish I could have the interview of a soldier's mother published in a major newspaper. Who would offer the space in times like these when the bleeding Pune and Jharkhand get no more a space than a movie made for profits and entertainment?

Soldier's mother, because her son fights for us, for India. By any standards, by the example of any country in the world known for civility and great traditions of democracy, a soldier must get precedence over entertainers whose life remains enveloped in glamour, sex and riches.

Hence, when the talks with Pakistan are scheduled for February 25, under the shadow of mocking comments, quite demeaning for those who have a spine, by the foreign minister of the invited country -- "ghutne tek kar hamein baat karne bulaya", or "bending on their knees, they invited us for talks" -- we must ask a question, who are those who invited Pune blasters for dinner and who are those who are asked to defend the country at the cost of their lives?

Here are some gems of brave words uttered by those who are now setting the dialogue table, even after having made to eat humble pie by the country which they very recently called "sponsor of all terror".

A news agency reported this from Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt) on July 16, 2009. '"We were quite clear that if acts of terrorism continue to be perpetrated, there is no question of any dialogue, let alone composite dialogue," Manmohan Singh told reporters here after three hours of talks with Gilani on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit.'The darling of all tweeters, minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor said on December 22, 2009: "No talks till Pak acts against 26/11 attackers."

"Our position has been very clear and consistent. We have asked Pakistan to take two steps. One, to bring the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks to justice and two, to ensure that terror structures in Pakistan used against our country should be dismantled," Tharoor told reporters. "But we have not seen progress in either of these two steps. We would like them to take steps on these two fronts."

Another news agency reported on June 6, 2009, India's position thus: "No move for early talks resumption: India." It said home minister P Chidambaram linked an arrested terror suspect to Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and foreign minister S M Krishna drowned hopes of an early resumption of talks with Pakistan, saying Islamabad must first show tangible measures to stop attacks from its soil on Indian targets.

Chidambaram was earlier quoted by agencies (Feb 23, 2009): "Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism. Our policy has forced Pakistan to admit that its soil is being used for terrorist attacks on India. They have taken some action. They have promised to take more action. We will watch and see if they take more action to take this case to its logical conclusion." The minister was in Jalandhar to lay the foundation stone of a memorial for the martyr Bhagat Singh.

Krishna was more forthcoming. He told a TV channel on August 24, 2009: "Meaningful dialogue with Pakistan is impossible unless Pakistan stops the cross-border terrorism. All the sources of terrorism, radicalism and nuclear proliferation lead only to Pakistan and it is not even prosecuting terrorists against whom all the evidence has been given."

What has changed now that we are inviting the Pakistanis, for dialogue, dinners and evenings of ghazals capped with prime-time TV interviews?

Have they prosecuted the perpetrators of 26/11? Have they sincerely begun operations against the jihadis targeting Indians? Have they stopped allowing their soil to be used by the jihadis against India? Have they stopped supporting cross-border terrorism and radicalism?

Even Gandhi had said: "I believe that where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence." (Gray and Parekh, p.109)

What has happened since the brave words were uttered by the rulers of this country that has made them invite perpetrators of all criminal-war-like actions against us? Against our citizens? Against our soldiers? Why are we so contemptuous of our soldiers?

Soldiers are not actors. Hence, an entire state government machinery can be put on guard to protect a commercial venture of an individual. At no cost to him. But soldiers must not get prime-time interviews, neither any films be made on how they defend the country amid a hostile environment, or feel ashamed when those who attack them and murder their brothers in arms are invited to dinner by the rulers who are otherwise supposed to safeguard the honour and lives of men in olive green.

Who are the soldiers and who are the filmmakers and actors? The actors are peace-loving people from Mars and the soldiers are mercenaries from Bharat? The actors love social harmony, and the soldiers are hard-boiled violent hate group who hail from Dehradun and Aizawl?

So, even if a graduate from the Indian Military Academy is killed by the neighbour, the cricket and dialogue and movie making with the neighbour must just go on in the name of a third-party God of the seculars? We love peace, at any cost, even if our fellow citizens are maimed and killed?

The soldiers join the forces for the sake of money. The perks and perhaps "izzat" too. We join Bollywood and cricket for the sake of world peace, and no commercial interests. Hence, soldiers must be off-listed and we be decorated with medals.

The one who may ask why no Bharat Ratna has been ever given to a soldier and even an entertainer with suspicious stories and a faith convertor were declared gems of the nation, must be declared a communal, a frustrated soul and a warmonger. Soldiers live and die for money. Politicians live and die for the welfare of the people. Hence, Bharat Ratna must always go to the politician.

Look at Pune and see the coverage 20 policemen killed by Naxalites in Jharkhand got. Foreigners still get more focus and sympathy than Indians.

Nobody likes a war, least of those who dare to send their children to the forces. (Please send me a list of those politicians whose children are serving in the forces). To die unsung? See these lines of a report: "Two foreigners - an Italian woman and an Iranian man - were among the nine people killed. Twelve of the 57 people injured were foreign nationals." Where is the Indian in it? Just waste?

The salt in the eyes of the mothers of Indian or Pakistani soldiers tastes the same. Yet, the armed forces have been a necessity to defend the peace and honour and the lives of the nationals. But at what cost? Give honour and buy peace? A low profile, unmentionable suicide would be better than that.

Frozen Indus. Its heavily snowing in Ladakh

reuters.com

10 February 2010

Petraeus says strike on Iran could spark nationalism

Bill Trott
Journalist

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - A military strike on Iran could have the unintended consequence of stirring nationalist sentiment to the benefit of Tehran's hard-line government, U.S. General David Petraeus told Reuters.

Iran's June election gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term but sparked the worst internal crisis in the Islamic Republic's history, putting internal pressure on a government already facing the threat of more sanctions over its nuclear program.

"It's possible (a strike) could be used to play to nationalist tendencies," Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command region, which includes Iran, said in an interview this week.

"There is certainly a history, in other countries, of fairly autocratic regimes almost creating incidents that inflame nationalist sentiment. So that could be among the many different, second, third, or even fourth order effects (of a strike)."

Tensions over Iran's nuclear program have set off speculation that Israel could make good on veiled threats to hit its arch-foe pre-emptively. But Israel's envoy to Washington said in December the U.S.-Israeli dialogue on Iran has not reached the point of discussing the military option.

U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have warned that any strike on Iran would not stop the Islamic Republic from pursuing nuclear weapons. Instead, it would only delay Tehran, an opinion Petraeus said he shared.

Dennis Blair, the U.S. director of national intelligence, told Congress on Tuesday that Iran was keeping open the option of developing nuclear weapons but that it remained unclear whether Tehran had the political will to do so.

Petraeus, commenting on advances of Iran's nuclear program, said: "On the one hand, there is no question that there has been a continuation of various aspects of the nuclear program but I'm not sure it has always proceeded as rapidly as has been projected at various times."

GRADUAL BOOST IN DEFENSES

Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday Iran was ready to send its enriched uranium abroad in exchange for nuclear fuel under a plan the West hopes will stop the material from being used for atomic bombs.

The same day, Iran also said it would soon hang nine more rioters over unrest that erupted after the June presidential vote, which protesters said was rigged.

Petraeus cautioned that the "big winner" of the election had been Iran's security apparatus, expanding the influence the Revolutionary Guards Corps, including its elite Qods force.

"It's gone from I think a theocracy that had democratic elements in a narrow spectrum ... to a government that is the result of a hijacked election and a regime that is kept in power by security services to a vastly greater extent than has ever been the case before," he said.

Asked how this changed prospects diplomatically, Petraeus said: "I don't think it simplifies the situation for those who are trying to pursue diplomacy if the role of the Foreign Ministry is diminished further and the role of the Qods force has been augmented."

To counter the Iranian threat and reassure anxious Gulf allies, the United States has expanded land- and sea-based missile defense systems in and around the Gulf.

Petraeus stressed it had been a gradual build-up -- an approach shared by both the Obama and Bush administrations -- and not something sparked by events in Iran in recent months.

"This has been built up over years of inflammatory Iranian rhetoric, alarming Iranian activities and Iranian provision of arms, money, training, explosives and direction in some cases to a variety of different extremist elements," Petraeus said.

Iran has accused the United States of seeking to stoke "Iran phobia" in the Middle East by deploying the missile defense systems in the Gulf.

The United States and major European allies are pursuing broader U.N. sanctions against Iran due to its disputed nuclear activity. The United States, Britain, Germany and France have called for a fourth round of U.N. measures against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment activities as demanded by five Security Council resolutions.

(Editing by Bill Trott)

compost and dried cow dung ash gifted to the Obamas

PRESS RELEASE

Patna, Feb.9: As Indian Environment Minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh gets set to announce the government’s decision on sale of Bt brinjal in the country, a Bihar-based group has despatched ‘vermicompost’ and ‘dried cow dung ash’ to the U.S. President Mr. Barack Obama urging him to make use of the traditional Indian farming methods in the White House.

Vermicompost, an excellent nutrient-rich organic fertilizer and soil conditioner, along with ash of dried cow dung, known for its insect repellent properties, have also been sent to the pro-Bt brinjal Agriculture Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar to draw his attention to the indigenous farming techniques.

The group – GM Free Bihar Movement – today said here that its decision to send vermicompost and ash were prompted by the visit of U.S. official Ms Nina Federoff to India to coincide with the Indian Government’s much-awaited announcement on Bt brinjal. Ms Federoff, a molecular biologist and Science and Technology Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State Ms Hillary Clinton, is known to have lobbied hard in New Zealand for GM crops.

“This way American agri-companies are intensifying lobbying with the Indian government,” the Movement’s Convenor Mr. Pankaj Bhushan said, referring that “Ms Clinton had also made it a point to visit the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in July last year where she reiterated her country's commitment to bringing about policy changes in the Indian farm sector that U.S. agri-business would like to see.”

“We are surprised that Ms Clinton’s technology advisor is visiting India at this crucial juncture. We understand that Ms Federoff is a strong votary of genetically modified crops to the extent of being regarded as a spokesperson for the U.S. seed multinational Monsanto,” Mr. Bhushan said. “In fact, Ms Federoff had triumphantly pointed out to a group of U.S. agri-scientists last year that although Europe and Japan were cautious about GM foods, Africa and India were clamouring for them,” he said.

Mr. Bhushan urged Indian Environment Minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh to thus seize the opportunity to tackle the problem of unsustainable and hazardous agri-technologies head-on and chart out a sustainable development path in Indian food and farming systems by rejecting Bt Brinjal’s entry into India.

Biotech expert Shree Ram Padmadeo said GM Free Bihar Movement wanted to communicate to the U.S. President and the Indian Agriculture Minister the power of: “Our Agriculture, Our Manure; Our Seed, Our Taste.” ‘GM Free Bihar Movement’ is a part of the National Coalition for GM Free India. It has been raising serious concerns about the ‘poisonous Bt brinjal’ from time to time. Its activists say it is their duty to constantly raise awareness on the issue both in and outside Bihar. As recently as on Jan.30, the group observed a fast at the historic Gandhi Maidan here to protest the ‘conspiracy by multinationals to enslave Indian farmers.’

Farmer leader Mr. Rajendra Rai and senior activist Bablu Prakash said that ever since Indian Government’s Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) cleared Bt Brinjal for commercial release in Oct.2009, the farmer community is getting restless as it feels that the Indian government is succumbing to international pressure. “As such, when Mr. Jairam Ramesh ignored Bihar while holding national consultations on Bt brinjal, we rushed to the cities where he held consultations to protest.” He said Bihar contributes over 11% of the total production of Brinjal in India and hence the state had important stake in making the final decision.

“Our movement also held a funeral procession of Bt brinjal on the National Consumer Day,” said agriculture expert Mr. Hemant Kumar Shrivastava. “We are demanding from Bihar government that not only Bt brinjal but the entire GM crops should be banned in the state and a state-level regularity system should be started so that any person or company cannot come at once either for selling their seeds or field trials,” he added.

Further former chairman of Bihar State farmers commission, Dr. Ramadhar who served the food and agriculture organisation of the United Nation for fifteen years added that “I am totally against Bt Brinjal. It will ruin the farmers of the country and leave them totally at the mercy of Multinationals. No country has accepted this. Do the multinationals want to use India as a guinea-pig? What about our national sovereignty and self respect?

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Pankaj Bhushan
GM Free Bihar Movement
9470230999

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KAVITHA KURUGANTI
Kheti Virasat Mission
Jaitu, Faridkot dist., Punjab

Phone: +91-9393001550

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Organiser

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=331&page=13
09 February 2010

The soldier and the celebrity

Tarun Vijay

THE only line that makes or breaks the lifeline of your journey is the line that you would like to tell your son or daughter—‘go this way, and not the other way’.

What that line indicating the path you choose for yourself and for your children could be?

The line of compromises and the second track spineless dialogues on the body bags of our soldiers?

Or the line of uncompromising dedication to the motherland that guides to differentiate between a friend and a foe?

When the butchers were killing our sons guarding the frontiers at minus twenty degree centigrade, we were clamoring to play cricket with the killers and announcing as the third rate liars that the ancestors we feel proud about came from Pakistan.

The reader punctured the lie and told, hey the hero, your father came to India when India was just India the united one and Pakistan was not even created.

The article was taken off the blog immediately.

That’s the transparent objectivity of the seculars celebrating a festival of apartheid in the city of Ghulam rulers the Man Singhs. First they kowtowed before Akbar, against Rana Pratap, then they paid sovereigns to the British and now exclude the tribe of the un-yielding Marathas, unlike the sugar factory barons who became the Janpath courtiers.

Who are the soldiers and who are the cricketers? The cricketers are peace loving people from Mars and the soldiers are mercenaries from Bharat? The players love social harmony and their ancestors come from Pakistan, and soldiers are hard boiled violent hate group who hail from Dehradun and Aizawl? The Gaana-Bazaana tribe of Jaipur fest belongs to the harmony raga and the Siachin sentinels belong to Shylocks?

So if a graduate from Indian Military Academy is killed by the neighbour, the cricket with the neighbour must just go on in the name of a third party God of the seculars? We love peace, at any cost, even if our fellow citizens are raped and maimed and killed and forced to ‘marry’ their daughters at five thousand rupees a girl (Prerna Kaul tells it all).

The soldiers join the forces for the sake of money. The perks and perhaps izzat too. We join Bollywood and Cricket for the sake of world peace, and no commercial interests. Hence soldiers must be off listed and we be decorated with medals.

The one who may ask why no Bharat Ratna has been ever given to a soldier and even an entertainer with suspicious stories and a faith convertor were declared gems of the nation, must be declared a communal, a frustrated soul and a war mongeror. Soldiers live and die for money. Politicians live and die for the welfare of the people. ‘Hence Bharat Ratna must always go to the politician.

Good joke?

You may get off listed from Padma awards like Anant Pai has been off listed for the last seven years, that I know. The man who revolutionised the comic story scene in India, married the great revolutionary Congressman’s daughter from Sind, spent his life to spread all the goodness that India represents going from one Convent school to another Gandhi College, from Ladakh to Kanyakumari and Nagaland to Okha, never had a lobbyist in Delhi, hence the creator of the legendary Amar Chitra Katha never got a Padma award.

That’s Delhi, treacherous, backstabber and de-Indianised.

Hence the clamour to play cricket with Pakistan. Play cricket with those who have never condemned the gun totters who killed our brother soldiers and citizen fellows.

They never lamented or felt sorry having gobbled our two third Kashmir and creating an RDX ridden atmosphere forcing five lakhs of our blood brothers and sisters to leave their homes.

Play cricket, I love Pakistani. Give me another Padma award? They play cricket, appear in commercials, talk peace and embrace the killers of our soldiers, and become highest earning sportsmen. Have affairs with the most sensuous sirens of the Bollywood. They get fees even to visit Jawans on the border posts. It’s Bizniss my dear. Jawans, who fight for India, go to the spine chilling posts, die for the tricolour and get eight hundred rupees per annum pension.

Seventy rupees per month pension for a soldier who or whose widow gets a gallantry award from the supreme commander of the nation i.e. the President. That’s India. The land of the civilised and the patriot.

Go; see the Handbook of the Pay and Allowances-Gallantry Awards of the Indian Armed Forces. And a Param Vir Chakra winner would get a mere three thousand rupees per month ‘monetary allowance.’ A brave heart who gets mentioned in the dispatches would earn fifty rupees per annum from a state, as was in vogue till recently.

Pray what’s the difference between the mother of a SRK, a PC or a Vikram Batra? Or a Hari Ram, nayak subedar or a Abdul Rahman, the signal man?

Those standing with Batra’s mother won’t say IPL should be condemned for not buying Pakistanis, but others have no problem shedding tears watching Pakistanis were out.

समाज बदलने का बीड़ा

दैनिक जागरण
08,February,2010

तरुण विजय

खत्म होता पानी

जनसत्ता
08,February,2010

तरुण विजय

Daffodils in face of bullets

The Times Of India
04 February 2010

Tarun Vijay

In times of a petty political strife hogging headlines and the very concept of Indian under strain, a great number of dedicated souls are trying to help daffodils - symbolizing friendship - flower in their own way. Naturally, the media's award-winner sirens won't be interested in it. There are people who think they can bring about a change in society through bullets and take up guns killing innocent Indians. But there are many others who choose the placid path of silent devotion and service, helping daffodils of joy flower. They are there in every area of our land, comprising varied religious or spiritual, or even atheist, groups who consider people alone are their God. Here is one unknown chapter from that grand book of sharing the joy which genuinely makes the fibres that weave the Indian fabric beyond boundaries.

Ashok Kukde, a highly qualified medical practitioner, thought of providing the best medical facilities to the poor and disadvantaged in the remote rural area of Latur and with four of his doctor friends started Vivekananda Hospital way back in 1966. It grew wonderfully with local support and developed into a 120-bed superspecialty medical centre providing the best medical help to 50,000 patients every year half the cost other hospitals charge. It was recognized as a postgraduate training centre by the government's National Board of Examination in Medicine. Dr Kukde, an MS in general surgery, is the chief of the RSS organizational network of that region comprising five states and a member of RSS national executive. Surely, he will never get a Padma award.

Shyam Parande told me this story from Tamil Nadu. A woman full-timer, Seva Vrati as they are known, narrated the action in one of the Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Kanyakumari district in which more than 3000 SHGs are being managed by women under Seva Bharati. In a village called Thirparappu, the SHG comprised 18 women members belonging to one particular caste and two members from another caste. Caste divisions in rural areas are distinct and divide society many a time. The caste association wanted the less-represented-caste women to be removed from the SHG. The activists who were running the SHG refused bluntly to budge.

In Kanpur, the grandson of a great RSS leader and a legendary barrister who originally hailed from Kashmir, spent all his profits from business to establish a centre of child empowerment, Vatsalya Mandir, bringing little girls and boys from slums and remote poverty struck villages who would, in many instances have ended up as beggars. He is efficiently but silently running it with facilities for improving English communications skills and training in IT. Having been associated with it, I can guarantee this centre would produce meritorious sportspersons and promising administrative officers.

Recently, Doordarshan, Sahyadri, telecast an inspiring story on the "Samvedna Cerebral Palsy Vikasan Kendra", an organization working for Cerebral Palsy in Maharashtra recognized for its efficacy by the central government. In Assam, more than 5000 healthcare centers are being run efficiently with a thousand bare-foot doctors, called Arogya Rakshaks, comprising a large number of women medical-help providers. In more than one instance, they have saved the lives of patients in dire need of immediate primary medical care. At the all-India level there are more than 5,000 bare-foot doctors providing basic and primary medical help to rural folks in times of emergency. They are all trained in primary healthcare and work voluntarily, not getting any salary. "To serve humanity is to serve God" is their slogan, as was said by Dr Hedgewar, the RSS founder.

A Pune centre Seva Vardhini is efficiently running several service projects in education, child rights and gender equality under a young IAS officer Ravindra Wanjarvadkar, who resigned as district collector to devote more time to social empowerment. When I was in Pune this Republic Day, I met a young activist, Kshipra Vaidya, who was working among the dyslexic children educating parents and training teachers. She was a student leader in ABVP, and chose this field as her career after marriage. Similarly Mohan Rao Ghaisas, an RSS chief of the area, working among tribal farmers under an organization Suyash, formed 168 self-help groups to encourage water harvesting and bio-farming, making them get many times more yield per acre and improving their economic status.

Rashtriya Seva Bharati affiliate groups number many thousands.In a global record making effort, RSS-inspired workers have spread centres of literacy and social values to more than 27,041 centres called 'One Teacher, One Schools' (Ekal Vidyalayas) catering to 7,53,123 students (as on January 2010) in remote rural areas who would otherwise have no access to schooling. In the formal education sector, Vidya Bharati is running 25,000 schools in virtually every corner of the land with student enrolment crossing an astounding figure 2.5 million - all under one federal structure enabling a pan-Indian vision strengthened in times when fragmentation pays political dividends.

In Aurangabad, a 150-bedded hospital, Dr Hedgewar Rugnalaya, was established to commemorate the birth centenary of the RSS founder in 1989. It provides medical help, almost at negligible cost to more than 600 patients daily and has 35 highly qualified doctors and surgeons like Dr Tupkari and Dr Diwakar Kulkarni on its rolls. But its specialization stretches to another facet too: treating the caste-ridden social malaises and hence it runs several mobile medical help and literacy centres in slum areas of the city where doctors' groups go and teach little kids , giving a message of social harmony and powering voices against caste -based discrimination. Only slum area medical help is received by 1.5 lakh patients every year. Lahuji Vastad Salve, a great social reformer from the so-called untouchable class, is their ideal and the trust running the hospital is named after Dr Ambedkar.

From Jodhpur to Leh and Chitrakoot to Indore and Vizag to Mangalore and Dimapur and the border posts touching Moreh and Dibang valley, such inspiring stories are scattered exuding fragrance of one India, one people and one spirit to serve without any discrimination on religious or caste or parochial lines.

Nanaji Deshmukh, an RSS worker, established a new paradigm in rural self-help, education and empowerment in Chitrakoot, inspiring many a President and top entrepreneurs like Ratan Tata and Ramnath Goenka.

An MTech from IIT (Powai), Anil Vartak, is helping coordinate all service projects numbering more than 1.5 lakh all over India while a postgraduate in science, Kripa Prasad Singh, works with a thousand youth force in Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, that includes women workers in a large numbers, among the tribal segments from Arunachal to Western Ghats and Andamans to Spiti, monitoring and helping 14,000 projects in areas of education, entrepreneurial development and medical help.

One of the brief info sheets of Rashtriya Seva Bharati, the umbrella organization of 400 various service trusts and societies, has listed a bit modestly, several of its works in simple tables. The following one, for example, lists its works in the health sector:




More than 1.5 lakh service projects can’t go waste, and if we also add the efforts of many other organizations working in their own way, through their different methods and policy inputs, the number of such efforts may run into millions. And remember, most of them are not funded by the government. Collectively, aren’t we all working to make India a better place to live? But then, to see it, we must turn our attention from Delhi’s murky headline making tribe.


That’s India, my dear. And not the hate-spreader extremist missionaries.