THE FREEDOM FIGHT IN MANIPUR CONTINUES

The Indian army says it has killed nine separatist rebels in three separate encounters in the country's troubled north-eastern state of Manipur.

Army officials said the rebels belonged to two different groups.

Six of those belonged to the Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak) and three were members of the Kanglei Yana Kan Lup (KYKL).

Manipur is home to nearly a dozen rebel groups - some fighting for the state's independence from India.


Others are fighting for tribal homeland they want carved out of the state.

Officials said the army raided two Prepak hideouts near the remote villages of Singheu and Laiboldung in Manipur's eastern Chandel district .

"After encircling the Prepak hideouts late at night, the army attacked at first light. The rebels were taken by surprised and many were killed," military spokesman RK Palta said.

He said another military platoon launched a similar attack on a Kykl base at Chirikhunao in the state's central district of Thoubal .

The army says that troops have now fanned out around these bases to hunt down other rebels who fled after the encounters, leaving their dead comrades behind.

Mr Palta said that some weapons and large quantity of ammunitions and explosives were recovered from the sites of the encounters.

TELANGANA'S FREEDOM FIGHTERS WON - TURMOIL STILL CONTINUES

The opening day of a two-day strike by the supporters of a new state has brought violence to parts of India's southern Andhra Pradesh state.
Over 100 buses were burnt, and shops and businesses attacked overnight.
The strike was called after the federal government said the demand for a Telangana state would be considered after consultation with all parties.
Earlier the government had announced that it would allow the creation of Telangana irrespective of opposition.
An estimated 35 million people will live in the new state.

The latest uproar and strike call followed federal Home Minister P. Chidambaram's statement on Wednesday evening that all political parties should be consulted before deciding on a new state.

Mr Chidambaran explained the government's change in stance by saying that the situation in Andhra Pradesh had "altered" since he had made an announcement earlier this month on the formation of a Telangana state.
"However, after the statement, the situation in Andhra Pradesh has altered. A large number of political parties are divided on the issue," Mr Chidambaram added.
"There is need to hold wide-ranging consultations with all political parties and groups in the state," he added.
Politicians from Telangana reacted sharply to Mr Chidambaram's statement, saying that the government had put the demand in "cold storage".
Investors fear the protests will hurt Hyderabad, an IT hub of southern India and home to firms like Microsoft, Google and Dell.
Telangana region is spread over 10 northern districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Campaigners say Telangana's economic development has been neglected in favour of the richer and more powerful Andhra region - and that a new state is the only solution.
The last three new states in India were formed in 2000: Chhattisgarh was created out of eastern Madhya Pradesh; Uttarakhand was created out of the hilly areas of northern Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand was carved from Bihar's southern districts.
India currently has 28 states.

CASTE & MARRIAGE

HC to decide woman’s caste abuse case against hubby



Shibu Thomas | TNN



Mumbai: Can a woman born into, what is called a ‘‘lower caste’’, and who marries an upper caste man file a case against her husband and inlaws under Special Atrocities Act? A full bench of Bombay high court will now decide on the vexed issue.
The matter was placed before a larger bench following conflicting views of two benches of HC. The case concerned a complaint filed by a woman
belonging to Scheduled Caste, who married Rajendra Shrivastava (a Kayastha, an upper caste) in 1991.
She filed a case against her husband and in-laws last year at Nehru Nagar police station under Atrocities Act for treating her cruelly. She alleged her husband and inlaws ‘‘from time to time, abused her in filthy language in the name of her caste’’.
The Shrivastavas moved the high court seeking anticipatory bail. One bench of the court granted anticipatory bail to Shirvastava’s brother and sister ruling that the provisions of the special law could not be applied.
But, another bench of Justice Dilip Bhosale disagreed and the matter was referred to the full bench.

GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION- INDIA HAS THE SOLUTION !

Most countries plan to reduce emission intensity; it’s just that no one wants it to be legally binding

CHINA
6.8 bn tonnes annually, 5.5 tonnes per capita
What it’s giving
China says it will cut its carbon intensity by 40-45% by 2020, compared with 2005
What it wants
Developed nations’ targets to reduce GHG emissions not deep enough. It expects average cuts of at least 40% from 1990 levels by 2020 & wants a promise of more aid and technology
US
6.4 bn tonnes annually, 21 tonnes per capita
What it’s giving
The US has promised to cut 2005 emissions by 17%by 2020. It will extend cuts to 30% below 2005 levels by 2025, and 83% by 2050. Will work toward a goal of jointly mobilizing $100bn a year by 2020. Has pledged $1bn towards slowing deforestation
What it wants
An accord that covers all issues and has ‘immediate operational effect’
EU
5.03 bn tonnes annually, 5.5 tonnes per capita
What it’s giving
EU leaders agreed in Dec ’08 to cut emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 & by 30% if other developed nations follow suit. EU leaders have agreed that developing nations will need about $147 bn a year by 2020 to adapt to climate change
What it wants
EU wants developing nations to curb the rise of emissions by 15-30% by 2020

JAPAN
1.4 bn tonnes annually, 11 tonnes per capita
What it’s giving
Japan will cut emissions by 25% below 1990 levels by 2020. PM Hatoyama said Tokyo would also step up aid
AFRICA
Negligible emissions
Where they’re willing to compromise
African group scaled back demands for aid from rich countries, meeting offers made by developed nations
What it’s giving
Want developed nations to cut emissions by 45% below 1990 levels by 2020
INDIA
1.4 bn tonnes annually, 1.2 tonnes per capita
What it’s giving
Aims to cut carbon intensity by between 20-25% by 2020, from ’05 levels
What it wants
Like China, India wants rich nations to cut emissions by at least 40% by 2020 Additionally INDIA wants that each develped country introduces power cuts and loadsharing as usual in India. Having 4 hour of power cut each day the WEST would be able to save a lot more in green hous gases. As an additional step water rations should be introduced as e.g. 4 hours of tap water availability per day as usual in some Delhi districts.

SPITTING & THE INDIAN GENOME

J U G U L A R V E I N
Thoo be it
From Jug Suraiya



Yaark-thoo! Hey, watch it! Bloody hell. You almost got me. Sorry, where was i? Ah, yes. The decoding of the Indian genome. A team of CSIR scientists has, for the first time, unravelled the secrets that lie with the desi genome, using a sample taken from a 52-year-old DNA donor. A genome is like a map that helps us to chart our genetic karma – who and what we are, and what makes us tick and why. By studying the genetic sequences in the genome, scientists will be able to figure out why Indians are predisposed to diabetes, for instance, or coronary disease. Important as these revelations about blood sugar and dicky hearts undoubtedly will be, i’m hoping that the decoded genome will explain something seemingly far more fundamental to our inner being than a propensity to insulin deficiency and cardiac problems, something that identifies us Indians as Indians, whether we are in India or anywhere else on the face of the planet, North and South Poles, the Amazon basin, and the top of Mt Everest not excluded. What’s that something? Spitting.
Indians spit. Caste, creed and sex no bar. The frequent and energetic ejection of saliva – despite the cautionary notices put up in our post offices, ‘Do not affix stamp with sputum’ – spitting is not just a national pastime; it is a national passion. More than kabaddi, or kho-kho, or IPL, spitting is our true desi sport. And we practise it assiduously wherever we happen to be: on the streets, in bazaars, on railway platforms and bus addas and airports, in offices and schools and factories and restaurants and shops and… Yaark-thoo! Godalmighty! That’s the second time someone’s almost got me in the space of a single column.
How do we do it? Where does it all come from? The spit. The saliva. The sputum. The product of the salivary glands. What is it about our biological make-up that enables us to produce so much of the stuff that we seem to be forever having to get rid of it, expel it from our systems, lest through excess of it, surfeiting, our appetite for it would sicken and die.
Gutka helps. So do paans and paan masala. The scarlet and red and crimson splotches and splashes and streaks that our public buildings and streets are decorated with – as though they were a form of folk art, like the ancient cave paintings in Bhimbhetka and other places – bear witness to their efficacy as salivary stimulants, the Viagras of sputum. But though gutka and paans contribute to the phenomenon, they cannot explain it in its enigmatic entirety.
By and large – or rather, by and small – we Indians are not big people. True, the richer among us tend to be overweight. But for every XL Indian there are thousands, hundreds of thousands, of scrawny Indians. So, being small and skinny for the most part, how is it that we generate so much spit, the only natural resource which we seem to be in no danger of running out of? Where do we get it from, and where’s it stored? Do we possess a natural receptacle, like a kangaroo’s pouch, except inside rather than outside, where the stuff is tucked away till we thook! it out?
The decoded genome should tell us all this, and more. Or maybe not. Maybe our desi habit of spitting has got nothing to do with our genes. Maybe our spitting is not so much a genetic consequence as a social and political comment. Read a newspaper. Or watch the news on TV. Or just look around you.
Scams. Swindles. Satyam. Koda. Hawala. Telangana riots. Anti-Telangana riots. Anti-anti-Telangana riots. Political corruption. Bureaucratic corruption. Judicial corruption. Corruption corruption, where you have to bribe someone to accept a bribe.
Leave a bad taste in the mouth? So how do you get rid of it? That’s right, Yaark-thoo!
Can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

THE TELANGANA STORY

What is Telangana?
Today, Telangana is a region comprising 10 of Andhra Pradesh’s 23 districts. Originally, it was a part of the erstwhile Nizam’s princely state of Hyderabad. The region accounts for 119 seats of 294 in the assembly.
When did Telangana merge with Andhra?


In 1948, India put an end to the rule of the Nizams and a Hyderabad state was formed. In 1956, the Telangana part of Hyderabad was merged with then Andhra state (carved out of Madras Presidency in October, 1953). The remaining parts of the Nizam’s empire merged with Karnataka and Maharashtra. Andhra Pradesh became the first linguistically carved state in the country after Gandhian revolutionary Potti Sreeramulu, on a hunger strike over the issue, died on December 16, 1952.



When did the movement for a separate Telangana kick off ?
The first Telangana movement intensified in 1969. There was a distinct difference between Andhra and Telangana regions. Since Andhra was part of a colonial Madras Presidency, education levels and development of this region were better than in feudal Telangana. People from Telangana were against merger with Andhra state as they feared they would lose jobs to them.
Cultural differences, too, remain. Under Nizam’s, and before that, under the Qutb Shahi rule, the culture and langauge in Telangana bore influences of north India. Emphasis on festivals are also different.
What happened in the 1969 agitation?
Primarily a student-driven protest, it turned historical for the number of people who took part in it. Over 350 students were killed in police firing and lathi charge. Osmania University was the movement’s hotbed. Congress leader Marri Channa Reddy, who raised the ‘Jai Telangana’ slogan, diluted the movement by merging his Telangana Praja Samithi Party with Congress — Indira Gandhi made him the chief minister after this. That’s how the movement collapsed: a result of Indira Gandhi’s masterstroke. P V Narasimha Rao, too, was made CM in 1971 because he was from Telangana region.
What’s K Chandrasekhar Rao’s role?
In the 90s, KCR, then a member of the Telugu Desam Party, was hopeful of a ministerial post in the state government but was made deputy speaker after the 1999 elections. He quit TDP in 2001 to champion the cause of a separate Telangana state and founded Telangana Rashtra Samithi. All this while, with faster development in the rest of Andhra, a strong feeling was gaining ground in Telangana that it was being exploited and that the region’s surplus was being transferred to finance development in the rest of the state. In 2004 election, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy joined hands with KCR, promising a separate Telangana. But YSR got cold feet and backtracked, triggering resignations of TRS MLAs. KCR quit his Union ministry post.
What’s the stand of other political parties on Telangana?
Congress continues to flip-flop, while TDP, which was against separate Telangana until 2009 election, is now supporting it. BJP, CPI and PRP support Telangana. CPM’s stand still unclear, but by and large, it is opposed to Telangana.
What’s the Hyderabad angle?
Hyderabad, which is within the Telangana region, is a bone of contention between votaries of Telangana and those against it. The issue of AP capital remains a stumbling block in the creation of Telangana.

INDIAN SCHOOLS ANY PARALLELS TO PORTUGAL or NW-EUROPE ? III

ALARMING TREND !- DEC 2 Three students and two teachers beaten up when two groups of students clashed inside a school at Timarpur. The attackers also burnt a teacher motorcycle.
- OCT 22 A girl from Arunchal Pradesh molested by nearly 200 boys at Bharat Nagar in the New Friends Colony. The girl was just passing to attend classes at Jamia University when boys stopped her
- SEP 10 Five girls killed in a stampede in a Khajuri Khas school. Boys had allegedly misbehaved with girls at a staircase, causing the stampede ,!

Of course these are not the real Indian problems I brought this just to show that India also has normal comparable to Europe problems and not only a problem that if some drunken driver in a MB missed the road and killed 3 people on the side walk.

INDIAN SCHOOLS- ANY PARALLELS TO PORTUGAL or NW-EUROPE II

New Delhi: Molestation of a girl from Arunachal Pradesh in a New Friends Colony school, manhandling of teachers at a school in Timarpur, and now violence against a group of schoolgirls at Shalimar Bagh — the incidents of rowdyism in government schools are increasing. This despite the fact that these schools are posting better results in Board exams and have implemented life-skill programmes like YUVA.
Teachers attribute the alarming trend to disproportionate student-teacher ratio. There are not enough teachers to control the high number of students who study in government schools. They also say students are now blatant in their approach. They have nothing to lose with a ban on corporal punishment in place. In such a scenario, will the defaulters go unchecked?
Explained D K Tiwari, secretary, Government Schools Teachers’ Association, ‘‘It has become difficult for teachers to maintain discipline among students as they no longer fear any action.’’ Tiwari added that there has been an increase of nearly five lakh students in 930 government schools in the city in the last six years. However, the government hasn’t recruited enough teachers all these years.
‘‘We worked hard to improve the results due to which the number of students opting for government schools has increased. But there are nearly 7,000 posts of teachers still vacant,’’ said Tiwari. He added: ‘‘We need 14,000 more teachers for over 13 lakh children studying in government schools today. We have conveyed this to the chief minister but nothing has changed.’’
According to teachers, many classrooms have 80 to 100 students whereas the prescribed teacher-student ratio is 1:40. ‘‘How do we give personal attention to every student? It’s almost a crowd out there,’’ Tiwari said.
‘‘We can’t strike a name off the rolls in case of misconduct. The students in a class are from different age groups as many admissions are done due to political pressure. So it becomes difficult to work on the attitudes of such a heterogeneous group,’’ said a senior government official. ‘‘The posts are sanctioned by the finance department. They take nearly two to three years to sanction posts. In the meantime, the number of students shoot up. Besides recruiting more teachers will need a huge financial outlay that the government can’t afford,’’ the official

INDIAN SCHOOLS -ANY PARALLEL TO PORTUGAL or NW-EUROPE ?

In what appears to be a simple argument turning into a major catfight, two groups of students of a government girls’ school in Shalimar Bagh clashed on Monday afternoon just outside the school premises. What’s worse the students of Class XI and XII of Rajkiya Ucchatar Madhyamik Balika Vidyalaya roped in their male friends and brothers to teach the junior girls of class X a ‘lesson’, said sources. Injured in the fight, four class X students were admitted to Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital.
According to the police, the incident was a fallout of an argument between girl students of classes XI and XII on one side and those of class X on the other. ‘‘An argument had broken out between these two groups on December 4, the day the school had organized its sports day. An intervention by teachers diffused the situation and the matter was reported to the principal,’’ said the officer investigating the case.
However, on Monday, seniors again threatened the juniors. ‘‘As soon as classes resumed, they told us that they would teach us a lesson outside the school. Since we were intimidated, we were returning in a group. Around 1.30pm, when we reached a sweet shop, 200 metres away from the school, we saw the seniors waiting for us. They surrounded us and used abusive language. As we tried to force our way out, we were surrounded by several boys — some of them students of the day school. Many of them were brothers and friends of the senior girls,’’ said one of the victims, who refused to be named. The victims told the police that the seniors along with these boys assaulted them. Said one of the victims at the hospital: ‘‘I was pushed to the ground by a girl. Before I could get up, one of the boys ran a bike over my legs.’’
Despite the battering, sources said, Class X students went back to the school asking the principal to step in. ‘‘However, she asked us to put our complaint in writing. Meanwhile, the locals called the police and we were sent to the Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital. Four of us were admitted,’’ said one of the girls of class X. The principal of the school could not be contacted.
‘‘A case of molestation, wrongful confinement and hurt has been lodged at the Shalimar Bagh police station. At present, we are recording the statements of the students,’’ said a senior district official. Sources in the police said they have already detained a few boys in this respect. ‘‘We are treating the case delicately as it involves minors,’’ added the official.

THE TELANGANA FREEDOM FIGHTERS- 17 CASAUALITIES UP TO NOW

Hyderabad: Telangana remained on the boil and the 48-hour bandh called by TRS demanding statehood saw five more suicides, forcing the Centre to review its options.
The suicides on Monday took the death toll to 17. Seven others tried to end their lives while activists resorted to arson, destruction of public and private properties and demolition of cell phone towers. Train passengers were the worst hit as TRS activists stopped trains for over six hours at some stations.
The Telangana activists appeared to be in no mood to relent, with the spate of suicides only adding to the pressure on TRS and others to fight till the bitter end. After taking part in a TRS rally, G , 45, hung himself to death at his home in Ande village in Mirdoddi mandal of Medak in the afternoon. He left a suicide note demanding separate Telangana. Another activist Narsing Nayak, 35, hung himself from a tree at Mamidipalli in Sangareddy mandal.
In Nalgonda district alone, three ‘T’ sympathisers committed suicide. TRS activist Satish haung himself at Veeravelli village in Bhongir mandal. “Prior to taking the extreme step, Satish took part in a rally and shouted Jai Telangana slogans,” the grieving parents said. Lingaiah of Nemmikallu in S Atmakuru mandal consumed pesticide at his home. He died later in a hospital. Mallesh of Palaram village in Nadigudem mandal consumed pesticide to end his life. “He died shouting Jai Telangana slogans. We have shifted the body for an autopsy,” a police official said.
A tribal girl, Janabai, 18, poured kerosene and torched herself during a TRS rally at Gauraram village in Gandhari mandal in Nizamabad in the afternoon. She suffered 80 per cent burns as doctors at the Banswada hospital said her survival chances were remote. A TRS activist Raju is battling for his life after he held a high tension electricity wire at Turkapadgam village in Kandi mandal of Medak. “Even as he experienced a powerful shock, Raju kept shouting Jai Telangana,” a relative said. In Karimnagar district four ‘T’ sympathisers attempted suicide.
In Adilabad district TRS activists vandalised the office of Sirpur paper mills at Kagaznagar by smashing the windowpanes and damaging furniture. At Thogutta in Medak, the activists went berserk and damaged the house of Dubbaka MLA Muthyam Reddy. Furniture was burnt, glass windows were broken and other household articles were strewn all over. The activists were lathicharged by the police.