RAM not MAR - Modi to Congress

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is undoubtedly an unbeatable master of using words. He can create something out of nothing and that too in some minutes. Modi is not only a good orator but more importantly a creative orator.

Recently he said “Whole SRP is after me” referring to Sonia-Rahul-Priyanka. Congress party today answered Modi’s SRP comment with MAR(Modi-Advani-Rajnath). But Modi immediately corrected MAR to RAM(Rajnath-Advani-Modi) and joyfully talked about it at around six public meetings across the state connecting this to Congress’ vote bank politics.

Modi said, “Couple of days back in a public meeting, I said SRP for Sonia, Rahul, Priyanka because this is SMS era and short forms are popular, easier to use and handy to remember, but Congress leaders took this very seriously and day before yesterday, they called a meeting in Delhi, where it’s top leaders were present to think, discuss and decide, how to answer back Modi on his SRP comment. Now, today they have created an announced MAR to answer my SRP. They have made this MAR by combining Modi’s M, Advani’s A and Rajnath’s R. But there is a difference between their MAR and my SRP. I said SRP, respecting seniority of Congress leaders and therefore I chronologically used Sonia’s S first, Rahul’s R then after and Priyanka’s P at third place. Congress should also respect seniority and therefore their MAR should be corrected to RAM where our party president Rajnath’s R comes first, Advani’s A second and Modi’s M third. Congress has come out with MAR and nor RAM because if they say Ram, they feel, their vote bank would be in danger.”

Thousands of People present in series of rallies on Thursday, over joyed Modi’s RAM with cheers and dhols.

Excellent Article on LTTE and Tamil cause

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE [Images]) is in its death rattle. It was decisively defeated by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces weeks ago, but a handful of its leadership headed by Prabhakaran has cynically and cruelly prolonged the agony of the Tamil civilians by using them as a buffer and human-shield in order to delay the re-establishment of the writ of the Sri Lankan Government in a miniscule piece of territory (about 20 sq.kms), which has been declared by the government as a no-fire zone to avoid collateral casualties among the civilians still under the control of the LTTE and to enable them to escape from the clutches of the LTTE.

Prabhakaran is a leader with a split personality. During the 26 years he has dominated the Tamil landscape in Sri Lanka [Images], he had shown a remarkable organizing capacity and an ability to motivate his followers to perform virtual miracles. His motivation of his cadres to acquire a capability for action by air and sea would go down in the history of insurgency and terrorism as indicating an organizing capability of a high order. The LTTE under his leadership managed to bring almost the entire Tamil-inhabited territory in the Northern and Eastern Provinces under its control. The determined manner in which the LTTE fought against the Indian-Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in the late 1980s and frustrated its efforts to defeat it spoke highly of its capabilities for a conventional warfare.

If Prabhakaran had the activities of the LTTE confined to conventional warfare and developed the LTTE as a purely insurgent force, which targeted only the Armed forces and not innocent civilians, he would have acquired greater support from the international community for the Tamil cause. The rational side of his personality as illustrated by his organizing capabilities had to constantly contend with a highly irrational side, which drove him to simultaneously take to terrorism of a  shockingly brutal kind.

The targeted killings by the LTTE of many Sri Lankan Tamil leaders, who were perceived by Prabhakaran as possible impediments to his rise as the unquestioned leader of the Tamil community, and its brutal assassination of Rajiv Gandhi [Images] in May 1991 were the outcome of the irrational side of his personality. No other Indian leader had done more to help the Sri Lankan Tamil cause than Indira Gandhi [Images] and Rajiv Gandhi. Only a sickly and sickening irrational mind could have ordered the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and Laxman Kadirgamar, a highly-respected Tamil leader, who was a senior adviser on foreign policy to former President Chandrika  Kumaratunge. The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi on Prabhakaran's orders shocked Indian public opinion----including public opinion in Tamil Nadu--- and weakened Indian support for the Tamil cause. The assassination of Kadirgamar shocked the Western public opinion and led to the declaration of the LTTE as a terrorist organization by the Western world, thereby denying the last vestiges of Western support for the Tamil cause.

As the LTTE faced one defeat after another during the last three years from the Sri Lankan Armed Forces---initially in the Eastern Province and finally in the Northern Province ---- the irrational side of Prabhakaran's personality erased his rational side. His shocking use of the Tamil civilians in order to delay the final end of the counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism campaign undertaken by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces is driven by this irrational streak in him, which now  dominates his personality.

The prolonged agony of the Sri Lankan Tamils caused by the final bout of Prabhakaran's irrationality and loss of lucidity in thinking has to be ended.  The Sri Lankan Armed Forces, which have shown patience till now and deliberately slowed down their operations, cannot be faulted if they have come to the conclusion that the time has come to liberate the no-fire zone too from the clutches of the LTTE by undertaking limited operations with small arms and ammunition even at the risk of some collateral casualties to the civilians.

The desperate attempt of Prabhakaran to use civilians to protect himself from the advancing Sri Lankan Army can be attributed  to the total loss of lucidity in his thinking and his consequent inability to face the bitter truth that he and his organization have been defeated decisively by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and that there is no chance of their staging a come-back.

The requiem for the LTTE could be written without fears of going wrong, should the LTTE stage a comeback as it had done on occasions in the past. It has been defeated beyond recovery. His conventional as well as terrorist capabilities are in  shatters. Earlier conventional wisdom that small groups of the LTTE might still be able to keep indulging in sporadic acts of terrorism in different parts of Sri Lanks needs re-consideration.

His desperate delaying action at the cost of immense suffering to the Tamils, whose cause he claims to espouse, is meant to give him an opportunity to seek safe sanctuary either in Tamil Nadu or elsewhere from where he could try to re-start his fight against the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. It is in the common interest of India and Sri Lanka that Prabhakaran is finally able to make peace with his maker by either being killed by the Armed Forces or by taking his own life. A defeated Prabhakaran, if left alive in India or elsewhere, would not be a threat, but could be a nuisance for both the countries.

After the death of the LTTE, which is expected any day, what is the future of the Sri Lankan Tamil cause? Would a requiem for the LTTE also mean a requiem for the Sri Lankan Tamil cause? Hopefully not. It is in India's interest that the LTTE as a terrorist organization is destroyed once and for all, but it is not in India's interest that the Sri Lankan Government and Armed Forces proceed from the destruction of the LTTE to the destruction of the Tamil aspirations for greater political and economic rights in their traditional homeland and for greater human dignity.

Let us not forget that ever since our independence in 1947, the Bengalis of the then East Pakistan, the Balochs and Sindhis of Pakistan and the Tamils of Sri Lanka have been India's natural allies. It was this reality which persuaded Indira Gandhi to assist the Bengalis of the then East Pakistan to achieve their independence. Even though successive governments in New Delhi [Images] refrained from supporting the causes of the Sindhis and the Balochs, Indian public opinion sympathized and continues to sympathise with their cause. It was sympathy for the Sri Lankan Tamil cause at New Delhi when Indira Gandhi  was the Prime Minister and in Tamil Nadu, which induced India to take up their cause in the 1980s.

There is no reason why India should not pride itself and seek to be the paramount power of the region. To emerge and remain as the paramount power, we need natural allies in the region around us. We should not let the legitimate aspirations of our natural allies---whether they be  the Sindhis and Balochs of Pakistan or the Sri Lankan Tamils--- be crushed by  a brutal regime--- whether in Islamabad [Images] or in  Colombo.

Since 1947, the Balochs rose twice in revolt in favour of independence for their homeland. On both occasions, they were defeated by the Pakistani Armed Forces as decisively as the LTTE by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. The Pakistani leadership brutally used the Air Force against the Balochs to crush their freedom struggle. Undaunted by this, the Baloch people, under a new leadership, rose in revolt for a third time two years ago and their third war of independence is still going on.

The remarkable victory of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces against the LTTE was partly due to their improved counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism capabilities made possible by Indian assistance in the form of training and sharing of intelligence and partly due to their emulating the Pakistani Armed forces in the brutal use of the Air Force against people whom they portray as their own. Just as the Balochs were defenceless against the brutal Pakistani air strikes, the Sri Lankan Tamils were defenceless against the Sri Lankan air strikes.

The US has used air strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan----but in foreign territory and against foreign nationals. Only three countries in the world have used air strikes in their own territory against their own people---- the Pakistanis against the Balochs, the Russians against the Chechens and the Sri Lankans against the Tamils.

President Mahinda Rajapakse has repeatedly promised that once the LTTE is defeated, he would be generous in meeting the political aspirations of Tamils. He gives the impression of being a sincere man, but will the Sinhalese Army with its head bloated by its success against the LTTE allow him to do so? The indications till now are not encouraging. Many Sri Lankan officers might have been trained in India, but their mindset and their attitude towards the minorities have more in common with those of their Pakistani counterparts than with those of their Indian counterparts. Therein lies the danger that after winning the war against the LTTE, the Government, strongly influenced by a victorious army, might trey to impose a  dictated peace on the Tamils.

If the angry Tamils once again look up to India, there is no reason why we should not reciprocate provided a new leadership emerges in the Tamil community and it has drawn the right lessons from the brutalities of the LTTE.

The LTTE is deservedly dying, but long live the Tamil cause.

B. Raman

http://news.rediff.com/column/2009/apr/23/guest-b-raman-on-situation-in-sri-lanka.htm

Words of wisdom from former CEC, N Gopalaswami

Words of wisdom from our former CEC, N.Gopalaswami based on his interview published in the Rediff

"You see, you do your job and leave the others to do their job. I don't think there should be any conflict in that. If you want to keep your sanity, then you follow one rule. Do your duty and never think that other's duty is your right. You do your job. Attitude lies in work,"

"If you do something, you say you are overdoing it and if you do not do anything you say you are not doing anything."

"We send thousand of files during our tenure (for recommendations) to several people. Some get accepted and some don't get accepted. If you want the officials to simply resign just because their recommendations have not been accepted you will have not one secretary left in the office. They all will have to go,"

India’s SLV’s

Geopolitical and economic considerations during the 1960s and 1970s compelled India to initiate its ownlaunch vehicle program.[11] During the first phase (1960s-1970s) the country successfully developed a sounding rockets program, and by the 1980s, research had yielded the Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 and the more advanced Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), complete with operational supporting infrastructure.[11] ISRO further applied its energies to the advancement of launch vehicle technology resulting in the creation of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) technologies

SLV project was started in early seventies and was designed to put 40 Kg payload into a 400Km circular orbit. SLV3 rocket had four solid-propellant rocket motors, inter-stages connecting the forward skirt of one stage with the rear skirt of the next stage, inertial guidance and control systems to steer the vehicle along a predetermined trajectory and a heat shield to protect the fourth stage and the satellite payload[11].

The SLV project was lead by APJ Abdul Kalam[12] who also had the additional responsibility for designing the fourth stage of the SLV. He had Dr VR Gowariker who was the expert in the field of composite propellant.

The milestones consisted of :

• Development & qualification of all subsystems through sounding rockets by 1975
• Sub-orbital flight by 1976
• Final orbital flight in 1978

Wernher von Braun [13] during his visit to ISRO mentioned the American physiological complex of NIH (Not Invented Here) and said, "If you have to do anything in rocketry do it yourself", he commented, "SLV-3 is a genuine Indian design and you may be having your own troubles. But you should always remember that we do not just build on success, we also build on failure"[14].

 

ASLV - Augumented Satellite Launch Vehicle

ASLV was configured as a five-stage solid propellant vehicle, weighing about 40 tonne and having a length of about 23.8 m. The strap-on stage consisted of two identical 1 m diameter solid propellant motors similar to SLV-3 first stage, other stages being the same as in SLV-3.

 

The payload capability was thus raised to 150 Kg as compared to SLV-3's 42 Kg capability. Closed loop guidance, active from the ignition of the second stage motor to the separation of the third stage, was employed in ASLV while SLV-3 had used an open loop system.

First Launch Date: 24 March 1987. Last Launch Date: 04 May 1994. LEO Payload: 150 kg. to: 400 km Orbit. Liftoff Thrust: 92,780 kgf. Total Mass: 41,000 kg. Core Diameter: 1.0 m. Total Length: 23.5 m. Flyaway Unit Cost $: 9.00 million. in 1985 unit dollars.

 

 

 

 

 

PSLV - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

The Polar Space Launch Vehicle is a versatile heavy launcher developed to permit India to launch its own IRS-class 1600Kg satellites in sun-synchronous orbits, though it could also be used for GTO mission. It also served as the stepping-stone for GSLV heavy lift configuration for mainstream GTO orbit.

The basic PSLV configuration is 44.4 meter tall weighing 295 tonne and four stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately.

Of the six strap-on motors (PSOM), depending on mission requirement first two or four of PSOM are ignited on the ground, to augment the first stage thrust. Each of these solid propellant strap-on motors carries nine tonne of HTPB based propellant, burn for 45 seconds and produces 662 kN thrust. The remaining strap-on motors are ignited 25 seconds (at ~3 Km altitude) after lift off.

GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle)

The GSLV (Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle) Mk-I is a heavy communication satellite launcher developed to enable India to launch its own INSAT-class 2,000 to 2,500Kg satellites into Geo-Transfer-Orbit (GTO) for Indian and foreign communication satellite market.

The GSLV has four liquid propellant strap-on indigenous Vikas motors (L40) based on Ariane Viking-2 engine of SEP, which are ignited on the ground, to augment the first stage thrust.

GSLV will be declared operational after one more successful developmental flights (D3). GSLV-D1 successfully launched 1540Kg GSAT-1 satellite into GTO on 18-April-2001 and GSLV-D2 launched 1825Kg GSAT-2 to GTO on 8-May-2003 . Commercial flights C1, C2 & C3 is already budgeted, including long lead-time items for C4, C5 & C6 [43] .

Efforts are already on to improve the payload in GTO in progressive steps of 2,200Kg, 2,300 Kg and 2450Kg by 2006 [44]. Other than GTO missions, GSLV can also perform mission to LEO and polar missions.

The Real King Khan

The real Badshah Khan or King Khan is not the one who you think is, but a Gandhian Muslim who did not want to be separated from India.

He is Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, was a Pashtun political and spiritual leader known for his non-violent opposition to British Rule in India.  A lifelong pacifist, a devout Muslim,[1]and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, he was also known as Badshah Khan (also Bacha Khan, Urdu, Pashto:lit., "King Khan"), and Sarhaddi Gandhi (Urdu, Hindi lit., "Frontier Gandhi"). In 1985 he was nominated for the Nobel peace prize. In 1987 he became the first non-citizen to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award

Ghaffar Khan's goal came to be the formulation of a united, independent, secular India. To achieve this end, he founded the Khudai Khidmatgar ("Servants of God"), commonly known as the "Red Shirts" (Surkh Posh), during the 1920s.

Between 1915 and 1918 he visited every one of the 500 settled districts of the Frontier. It was in this frenzied activity that he had come to be known as Badshah (Bacha) Khan (King of Chiefs)

Ghaffar Khan strongly opposed the partition of India.[5][6] While some Pashtuns(particularly the Red Shirts) were willing to work with Indian politicians, many Pashtuns were sympathetic to the idea of a separate homeland for India's Muslims following the departure of the British. Targeted with being Anti-Muslim,[6] Ghaffar was attacked by fellow Muslims in 1946, leading to his hospitalisation in Peshawar.

In September 1964, the Pakistani authorities allowed him to go to Britain for treatment. During winter his doctor advised him to go to America. The U S Embassy was reluctant to give him visa because of its ties with Pakistan. The Pakistan Embassy in London opposed his going to Afghanistan or India for treatment.

He visited India and participated in the centenary celebrations of the Indian National Congress in 1985; he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1987

Ghaafar Khan spent 52 years of his life imprisoned or in exile.  The notion Khan took the oath of allegiance to the new nation of Pakistan is false.

• Under the new Pakistani government, Ghaffar Khan was under house arrest without charge from 1948 till 1954. 
• Arrested again in 1956 for his opposition to the One Unit scheme he remained in prison till 1957. Re-arrested in 1958 until an illness in 1964 allowed for his release
• From 1972-80 Ghaffar Khan was arrested several times during the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the proceeding military government

Ghaffar Khan died in Peshawar under house arrest in 1988 and was buried in Jalalabad, Afghanistan according to his wishes. The Indian government declared a five-day period of mourning in his honour.  Famous Quotes of King Khan

“I am going to give you such a weapon that the police and the army will not be able to stand against it. It is the weapon of the Prophet, but you are not aware of it. That weapon is patience and righteousness. No power on earth can stand against it.”

"O Pathans! Your house has fallen into ruin. Arise and rebuild it, and remember to what race you belong."

Bacha Khan's last words to Gandhi and his erstwhile allies in the Congress party were: "You have thrown us to the wolves."

"I had to go to prison many a time in the days of the Britishers. Although we were at loggerheads with them, yet their treatment was to some extent tolerant and polite. But the treatment which was meted out to me in this Islamic state of ours was such that I would not even like to mention it to you."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Gandhi

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/232353/Khan-Abdul-Ghaffar-Khan

http://www.iloveindia.com/indian-heroes/abdul-ghaffar-khan.html

http://www.khyber.org/people/sarfaroshan/KhanAbdulGhafarKhan.shtml

http://www.liveindia.com/freedomfighters/KhanAbdul.html

Incredible India

US House passes resolution on Mahatma's influence on King

The United States House of Representative on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution recognising the influence Mahatma Gandhi [Images]had on Martin Luther King Jr, the great civil rights leader of America, who has been a source of inspiration to President Barack Obama [Images].

Passed by a roll call vote of 406 to 0, with 26 abstaining, the resolution commemorates the 50th anniversary of King's visit to India in 1959. It was introduced by Congressman John Lewis and co-sponsored by five other lawmakers -- John Conyers, Jim McDermott, Robert C Scott, Henry Johnson and Adam B Schiff.

The resolution urged all Americans to commemorate King's trip to India in 1959 to know more about Mahatma Gandhi and the influence his study of Gandhian philosophy had in shaping the US Civil Rights Movement, in creating political climate necessary to pass legislation to expand civil rights and voting rights for all Americans.

Observing that the great American leader was tremendously influenced by the non-violence philosophy of Gandhi, the resolution says King encountered this during his study of Gandhi, and was further inspired by him during his first trip to India. King successfully used this in the struggle for civil rights and voting rights, it says.

A US delegation, including several lawmakers, are scheduled to visit India later this month to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the visit of Martin Luther King to India from February 10, 1959 to March 10, 1959. During his month-long stay, King was accompanied by his wife Coretta Scott King, and Lawrence Reddick, then chairman of the History Department at Alabama State College.

King visited various places associated with Gandhi. He met then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, land reform leader Vinoba Bhave and other influential leaders to discuss issues of poverty, economic policy and race relations. All this deepened King's commitment to nonviolence, and revealed to him the power that nonviolent resistance holds in political and social battles, the resolution says.

"The trip to India impacted Dr King in a profound way, and inspired him to use nonviolence as an instrument of social change to end segregation and racial discrimination in America throughout the rest of his work during the Civil Rights Movement," the Congressional resolution says.

Congressman John Lewis is part of the US delegation to visit India this month to commemorate the visit. Others are Martin Luther King III and legendary jazz musician Herbie Hancock. The delegation will meet in New Delhi [Images] with government leaders, social activists, and youth, and will travel around India to some of the principal sites associated with Gandhi.

Two special musical performances featuring Herbie Hancock and others will be organised by the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. In Chennai, Indian musicians will conduct a special tribute, including performances of music on the theme of non-violence created by leading composer A R Rahman.