Inspiring career stories of famous people...!!


Some of us think that one is lucky if one is born in a business family so that after graduating one can straightaway take over the family business. That is not always the case as the following examples show:-:
One of the most interesting vocation stories are with respect to Henri Ford. Ford’s father was a farmer who wanted his son to follow him in his own footsteps. However young Hernri’s heart was with the motor engine and similar things with which he tinkered. After furious arguments with his father, he left to chart his own course to create history by becoming one of the world’s richest entrepreneurs. The lesson to learn here is that one has to see where one’s spontaneous inclination lies and then have the courage and conviction to back is up.
Much later in life, Henri Ford brought into ford a person who could concentrate on all other areas except for manufacturing which was Henri’s forte. Henri ford was regarded as a business genius in his time. This shows that even geniuses have to indulge in complimentary synergies- supplement their own strength and complement their weaknesses.
The other example is that of Akio Morita who became Sony’s Chairman. Though he did not have any arguments with his father, being the eldest in the family, he was expected to take over the family business of brewing sake, a Japensese drink. However, Morita’s interest lay in electronics which is where he went. He created one of the world’s biggest companies in partnership with another person.
In one of Dale Carnegie’s books there is the example of one person whose father has a laundry business. His father was ashamed of his son because he had no interest in work and was lazy and indifferent. However the son wanted to become a mechanic and used to do that work endlessly. He pursued his heart and went on to become chairman of Boeing.
Thomas Edison had no father’s business but he used to work 18 hours a day and yet say that he didn’t work in his life as it was all fun.
The best example in recent times is the richest man in the world, Mr Bill Gates who left his Harvard studies midway to follow his heart and that is what made him the richest man in the world. This would obviously not happen with everyone but what one has to learn is to know exactly what one wants to do. Sometime back, Bill Gates made Steve Ballamer CEO and designated himself chief software Architect to focus on his real love, software design. This is similar to what Henri ford did.
Another example is Michael Dell who had a passion for selling computers and competing with IBM which led to the formation of Dell corporation while he was only 19.
It would not be out of place to mention an Indian story. Alyque Padamsee, the former chairman of Lintas has written a book called “The double life”. In that he describes how he used to do advertisements for money which used to fund his real passion which was theatre. He had to sacrifice a lot of social life for this “double life” but this story clearly shows that one has to follow one’s heart more than one’s head for the choice of one’s career.
It can be concluded that passion alone determines what one should or should not be doing because it enables one to overcome all obstacles.

35 POINTS ON US-India Relationship!!

1. Swami Vivekananda who introduced Yoga and Vedanta to America.
2. he introduced Eastern thought at the World's Parliament of Religions.
3. Despite being one of the pioneers and founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement, India developed a closer relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War
4. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, India began to review its foreign policy in a unipolar world
5. closer ties with the European Union and the United States.
6. Clinton and Bush administration, relations between India and the United States blossomed
7. over common concerns regarding growing Islamic extremism
8. slight downturn in India-U.S. relations following the election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States in 2009.
9. Obama administration's desire to increase relations with China
10. After Indian independence until the end of the cold war, the relationship between the two nations has often been thorny.
11. Barack Obama's protectionist views on dealing with the economic crisis.
12. Dwight Eisenhower was the first U.S. President to visit India in 1959.
13. John F. Kennedy's period as President, he saw India as a strategic partner against the rise of communist China.
14. From 1961 to 1963 there was a promise to help set up a large steel mill in Bokaro that was withdrawn by the U.S.
15. 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani wars did not help their relations.
16. Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Indian Prime Minister, he authorized a nuclear weapons test in Pokhran, which got the immediate attention of the US.
17. In March 2000, President Bill Clinton visited India
18. He had bilateral and economic discussions with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
19. During the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the , President George W. Bush chose India as the country to control and police the Indian Ocean sea-lanes from the Suez to Singapore.
20. The tsunami that occurred in December 2004 saw the U.S. and Indian navies to work together
21. An Open Skies Agreement was made in April 2005
22. Air India purchased 68 U.S. Boeing aircraft, which cost $8 billion.
23. After Hurricane Katrina, India donated $5 million to the American Red Cross and sent 2 plane loads
24. U.S. base in the Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia
25. Major items exported by India to the U.S. include Information Technology Services, textiles, machinery, ITeS, gems and diamonds, chemicals, iron and steel products, coffee, tea, and other edible food products.
26. Major American items imported by India include aircraft, fertilizers, computer hardware, scrap metal and medical equipment.
27. In July 2005, President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh created a new program called the Trade Policy Forum
28. interaction of companies from both countries regarding new policies related to Indian media and broadcasting.
29. The Foreign Policy magazine reported that even though Foreign Policy Staff of the previous administration had recommended India as a "key stop"
30. India's National Security Adviser, M.K. Narayanan, criticized the Obama administration for linking the Kashmir dispute to the instability in Pakistan and Afghanistan
31. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a close aide of India's main opposition party the BJP, said that if the United States continues with its anti-outsourcing policies, then India will "have to take steps to hurt American companies in India.
32. Obama administration cleared the US$2.1 billion sale of eight P-8 Poseidons to India
33. strengthening of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and has pressurized India to sign the agreement.
34. Shyam Saran, "warned" the United States that India would continue to oppose any such treaty as it was "discriminatory".
35. U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen encouraged stronger military ties between India and the United States


Kangaroo Courts!!


Kangaroo court

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A kangaroo court or kangaroo trial is a colloquial term for a sham legal proceeding or court. The outcome of a trial by kangaroo court is essentially determined in advance, usually for the purpose of ensuring conviction, either by going through the motions of manipulated procedure or by allowing no defense at all.
A kangaroo court's proceedings deny due process rights in the name of expediency. Such rights include the right to summon witnesses, the right of cross-examination, the right not to incriminate oneself, the right not to be tried on secret evidence, the right to control one's own defense, the right to exclude evidence that is improperly obtained, irrelevant or inherently inadmissible, e.g., hearsay, the right to exclude judges or jurors on the grounds of partiality or conflict of interest, and the right of appeal.


Indian Government Structure - Government of India

The Structure of Government of India

The union government, as India's central government is known, is divided into three distinct but interrelated branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. As in the British parliamentary model, the leadership of the executive is drawn from and responsible to the legislative body. Although Article 50 stipulates the separation of the judiciary from the executive, the executive controls judicial appointments and many of the conditions of work. In addition, one of the more dramatic institutional battles in the Indian polity has been the struggle between elements wanting to assert legislative power to amend the constitution and those favoring the judiciary's efforts to preserve the constitution's basic structure.

The Indian Legislature

Parliament consists of a bicameral legislature, the Lok Sabha (House of the People--the lower house) and the Rajya Sabha (Council of States--the upper house). Parliament's principal function is to pass laws on those matters that the constitution specifies to be within its jurisdiction. Among its constitutional powers are approval and removal of members of the Council of Ministers, amendment of the constitution, approval of central government finances, and delimitation of state and union territory boundaries .

The president of India has a specific authority with respect to the function of the legislative branch . The president is authorized to convene Parliament and must give his assent to all parliamentary bills before they become law. The president is empowered to summon Parliament to meet, to address either house or both houses together, and to require attendance of all of its members. The president also may send messages to either house with respect to a pending bill or any other matter. The president addresses the first session of Parliament each year and must give assent to all provisions in bills passed.

According to its constitution , India is a "sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic." India has a federal form of government. However, the central government in India has greater power in relation to its states, and its central government is patterned after the British parliamentary system.

The government exercises its broad administrative powers in the name of the president, whose duties are largely ceremonial. The president and vice president are elected indirectly for 5-year terms by a special electoral college. Their terms are staggered, and the vice president does not automatically become president following the death or removal from office of the president.

Real national executive power is centered in the Council of Ministers (cabinet), led by the prime minister. The president appoints the prime minister, who is designated by legislators of the political party or coalition commanding a parliamentary majority. The president then appoints subordinate ministers on the advice of the prime minister.

India's bicameral parliament consists of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha.

The legislatures of the states and union territories elect 233 members to the Rajya Sabha, and the president appoints another 12. The elected members of the Rajya Sabha serve 6-year terms, with one-third up for election every 2 years. The Lok Sabha consists of 545 members; 543 are directly elected to 5-year terms. The other two are appointed.

India's independent judicial system began under the British, and its concepts and procedures resemble those of Anglo-Saxon countries. The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and 25 other justices, all appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.

India has 25 states* and 7 union territories. At the state level, some of the legislatures are bicameral, patterned after the two houses of the national parliament. The states' chief ministers are responsible to the legislatures in the same way the prime minister is responsible to parliament.

Each state also has a presidentially appointed governor who may assume certain broad powers when directed by the central government. The central government exerts greater control over the union territories than over the states, although some territories have gained more power to administer their own affairs. Local governments in India have less autonomy than their counterparts in the United States. Some states are trying to revitalize the traditional village councils, or panchayats, which aim to promote popular democratic participation at the village level, where much of the population still lives.

Data 1995. Courtesy Library of Congress Indian government structure, Indian legislature.

http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/council_state/council_state.asp

http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/two_house_parliament.pdf

http://loksabha.nic.in/



IAS hope brightens for youth with thalassemia

Chandigarh, Jun 21 (PTI) His thalassemia status almost jeopardising his childhood dream, Sukhsohit Singh may finally hope of joining the civil services as help has started pouring in from all quarters.

The 25-year-old, who suffers from thalassemia major (a rare genetic disease), was earlier declared unfit by the medical board at Delhi''s Safdarjung hospital to join the civil services.

Singh had cracked the civil services examination with an all India rank of 42, in UPSC''s Civil Services (Main) Examination-2008 second merit list.

The Panchkula resident, who was earlier contemplating moving the Supreme Court to realise his ambition, now says that developments within the past week have made him hopeful of achieving his dream.

"I have had a personal meeting with Union Minister of State for Health, Dinesh Trivedi in Delhi. He has been sympathetic and offered help after going through my case and this definitely raises a new hope for me," Singh told PTI over phone.

Singh said he would soon meet Information Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni in this regard.

"Ambikaji has earlier said the whole case needs to be dealt with a humanistic touch. She had also written a letter to the PMO with regards to my case. The PMO has forwarded the letter to Union Minister for Personnel and Training, Narayan Swamy and the matter is now pending before him," he said.

"I am very happy that everybody from Union ministers to the media to common people are supporting me and many more like me who may be faced with a similar situation tomorrow." (More) PTI SUN

IAS hope brightens for youth with thalassemia

Chandigarh, Jun 21 (PTI) His thalassemia status almost jeopardising his childhood dream, Sukhsohit Singh may finally hope of joining the civil services as help has started pouring in from all quarters.

The 25-year-old, who suffers from thalassemia major (a rare genetic disease), was earlier declared unfit by the medical board at Delhi''s Safdarjung hospital to join the civil services.

Singh had cracked the civil services examination with an all India rank of 42, in UPSC''s Civil Services (Main) Examination-2008 second merit list.

The Panchkula resident, who was earlier contemplating moving the Supreme Court to realise his ambition, now says that developments within the past week have made him hopeful of achieving his dream.

"I have had a personal meeting with Union Minister of State for Health, Dinesh Trivedi in Delhi. He has been sympathetic and offered help after going through my case and this definitely raises a new hope for me," Singh told PTI over phone.

Singh said he would soon meet Information Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni in this regard.

"Ambikaji has earlier said the whole case needs to be dealt with a humanistic touch. She had also written a letter to the PMO with regards to my case. The PMO has forwarded the letter to Union Minister for Personnel and Training, Narayan Swamy and the matter is now pending before him," he said.

"I am very happy that everybody from Union ministers to the media to common people are supporting me and many more like me who may be faced with a similar situation tomorrow." (More) PTI SUN

Sarasvati River





Significance of this river is, When Maharishi Vedvyas narrate Mahabharta and Puranas from Vyas Gufa(Mana) to Shri Ganesha, who is writing what Maharishi Vedvyas narrated in Ganesh Gufa(Mana), the river saraswati making tremendous noise resulting disturbing Maharishi Vedvyas to narrate. Ultimately Maharishi Vedvyas cursed the river to disappear from mana village itself. The people of mana says that Saraswati river appears from under ground in Allahabad and confluence with Ganga and Yamuna, make the place Triveni (Prayagraj)....




Re-discovery of River Sarasvati
Everyone agrees that Rigveda was perceived on the banks of River Sarasvati. In one rica, the
Rigveda notes: sarasvati_ saptathi_ sindhu maataa (sarasvati as the mother of seven rivers;
sindhu means 'natural ocean frontier, river'.) As Sarasvati connotes the roots of Hindu
civilization, Coedes' (French epigraphist's) work on Hinduised states of southeast Asia, show
that hindu migrated eastwards along the Indian Ocean Rim to set up the largest Vishnu
Mandiram of the world in Nagara Vatika (Angkor Wat). Hindumahaasagar is the only ocean
so named after the Hindu Rashtra. This is an evocation of an extraordinary span of time from
Vedic times to the early centuries of the Common Era when Hindu culture reached many
shores along the Indian Ocean rim which extends over 63,000 miles.
The story of the discovery of Vedic River Sarasvati and a riverine, maritime civilization of
ancestors of the present-day Hindus everywhere has been made possible by a remarkable
coalition of scientists of a number of disciplines ranging from archaeology to glaciology.
Rishi Gritsamada among Rigveda rishi-s, calls Sarasvati as mother, river and devi (ambitame,
naditame, devitame sarasvati). This shows that Sarasvati had attained the stature of a devi,
divinity even in Rigvedic times. Why was she, a river, called a mother? Because, she
nurtured a civilization on her banks. A civilization evidenced by over 2,000 archaeological
sites out of a total of 2,600 sites of the so-called Indus Valley Civilization, making it
appropriate to call it Sarasvati Civilization.
Archaeological excavations and a series of scientific discoveries have established beyond
doubt that the evolution of Indian civilization was indigenous and that the Sarasvati was once
an over-ground reality, flowing from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean.
Importance of the river
The river figures in the Mahabharata, and flows north of the Kurukshetra battlefield. The epic
writers however, also noted its drying up and the resultant desertification of the land,
recording for posterity that the river was “disappearing into the desert” and was later “lost.” It
is truly noteworthy that when in modern times British archaeologists mapped the Indus
Valley sites, they found most were located round the dried-up Ghaggar-Hakra (Sarasvati),
which is why modern Indian archaeologists feel it should be re-named the Sarasvati
civilization.
The Indus Valley civilization was so named because the first site discovered by Sir John
Marshall in the 1920s, Mohenjo Daro or “mound of the dead,” happened to be situated in the
Indus Valley. Thereafter, more discoveries were made and eventually as many as 2600 sites
were unearthed between Iran in the west, Turkmenia, Bactria and the Pamirs in the north,
beyond Delhi into western UP in the east, up to the Godavari in Maharashtra in the south,
encompassing over one million square kilometers. The culture goes back to around 7000 BC
in Mehrgarh (Pakistan), which shows evidence of a strong agricultural economy and the
presence of granaries for storing surplus grain. In its mature phase, this culture spawned the
great cities of Mohenjo Daro, Harappa and Lothal, around 2600 BC.
To this day, Mohenjo Daro startles us with the quality of its urban planning, water supply and 2
drainage systems. The more recently discovered Dholavira created elaborate stone gateways
and water harvesting structures, and is deservedly renowned for creating the world’s first
sign-board in the Harappan script. Lothal had a port with a dockyard and granaries. Yet by
1900 BC, the Indus-Sarasvati cities were being abandoned and an eastward shift in
population took place. This is reflected in the Sanskrit literature, with increasing importance
bestowed upon the Ganga and Yamuna. Saraswat Brahmins preserve a tradition of their
southward migration, while Gaud Saraswat Brahmins say they came South via Gaud (Bengal)
after the Sarasvati disappeared.
There is no evidence of invasion, or even substantial inward migration, but a population shift
following the loss of a major water source.
It seems reasonable to conclude that the Rig Veda was composed by people who called
themselves ‘Arya’ (noble) long before 2000 BC, when the Sarasvati was a mighty river, and
that Harappa was one of their cities. One clinching evidence is the finding of the Vedic fire
altar in several Harappan buildings (homes) and seals showing yogic meditation postures.
The discovery of Vedic River Sarasvati sounds the death-knell of an indological myth called
Aryan Invasion/Migration Theory.
How was River Sarasvati re-discovered?
The modern quest for the Sarasvati began in the 1970s when American satellite images
showed traces of water channels in northern and western India that had disappeared long ago.
Thereafter, Dr. Vakankar together with Moropant Pingle established the invisible river’s
route through satellite imagery and archaeological sites along its route. The Sarasvati project
was vetted and cleared by eminent archaeologists and geologists, and an earnest search for
the lost river launched in 1982.
For instance, in 1995, scientists of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) found that
water was available in the Rajasthan desert at depths of merely 50 to 60 metres, as a result of
which agriculture was possible even in the extreme summer months. The Central Arid Zone
Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur, mapped the defunct course of a river through satellite
and aerial photographs and field studies. In fact, satellite imagery has given the river
scientific teeth. It seems to have originated in Kailash Mansarovar and emerged on the plains
from the Siwalik Hills at the foothills of the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh, flowed through
the Ghaggar valley in Haryana and the Rajasthan desert, on to Hakra in the Cholistan desert
(Sindh, Pakistan), before reaching the Rann of Kutch through the Nara Valley and falling off
into the Arabian Sea.
Since the Ghaggar Valley is eight to twelve kilometers wide at many places, it is obvious the
Sarasvati was truly a great river. Earthquakes and floods changed the course of the Ghaggar
and its tributaries frequently, and satellite imagery together with ground morphological
studies confirm that it too originated in the Siwalik Himalayas before flowing into the
Arabian Sea. This was the ‘lost’ Sarasvati. Scientific studies suggest it dried up around 2000
BC, which makes it a contemporary of the Indus Valley civilization, and gives the Rig Veda a
greater antiquity than previously suspected, as the Sarasvati was a powerful river when the
seers composed the Vedic mantra-s. 3
After Dr. Wakankar’s demise in 1996, the Vedic Sarasvati Nadi Shodh Pratishthaan, Jodhpur
(regd.) continued the project, by roping in the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO),
whose chairman Dr. Kasturi Rangan and Regional Remote Sensing Services Centre (RRSSC)
director Dr. J.R. Sharma displayed a gratifying interest in the project. The Jodhpur RRSSC
conducted three major scientific seminars on the subject and analyzed satellite images of IRS
1-century, thus mapping the entire course from Kailash Mansarovar to Gujarat.
Meanwhile, after the Pokharan blasts on 11 May 1998, the Isotope Division of the Bhabha
Atomic Research Centre (BARC) led by Dr. S.L. Rao took water samples from 800 deep
wells within a radius of 250 kms. of Pokharan. Their findings, published in Current Science,
showed there was no nuclear contamination of the ground-waters. Normally, when a neutron
or hydrogen bomb implodes (3 bombs were imploded), huge amounts of tritium (an isotope
of hydrogen H3) are released. Yet the tests showed very small traces of tritium, which are
normally found in any body of water together with H2O, a tribute to the meticulous care with
which Indian scientists conducted the tests.
BARC also made some amazing discoveries. First, the waters tested were potable; second,
they derived from Himalayan glaciers; third, they were between 8000 to 14000 years old; and
finally, the waters were being slowly recharged through aquifers from somewhere in the
north despite the fact that records showed only very scanty rainfall in the semi-arid region of
Marusthali. BARC thus confirmed ISRO findings about the river, and this was an unintended
fallout of Pokharan!
Archaeologists from the Shimla Circle did excellent work in 2003-2004, reporting three sites
and a Buddha vihara in Adi Badri alone. Dr. Vijay Mohan Kumar Puri, an expert on
Himalayan glaciers, reported finds of metamorphic rocks on the terraces created by
Himalayan glacial River Sarasvati and proved that Adi Badri was the site where the river
entered the plains from its Himalayan home. Adi Badri is just 20 kms. from Jagadhri
(Yamuna Nagar) and 70 kms. from Dehradun (Paonta Saheb) or Kurukshetra. Further, Dr.
Puri proved the origins of Sarasvati from Rupin-Supin glaciers north of Paonta Saheb, where
a Yamuna tear occurred on account of plate tectonics and caused a lateral shift of the
Shiwalik ranges and consequent eastward migration of the Yamuna, a tributary of Sarasvati,
taking the Sarasvati waters to join the Ganga at Prayag and create the Triveni Sangam.
These excavations proved that Adi Badri was the spot where a Himalayan glacial river
entered the plains. The Sarasvati originated from the Svargarohini glacier mountain. Already
the revived river has reached upto Danan in Barmer, Rajasthan, and will reach the Rann of
Kutch in a few years. Plans are already afoot to take it upto the Sabarmati with S'arada
(Mahakali-Karnali) river glacial runoffs.
Given the magnitude of the findings, scholars like Dr. Karan Singh and Dr. Kasturi Rangan
suggested the Ministry for Culture examine the Vedic texts and the work done by ISRO to
prove the course of the River Sarasvati. There is a case for expediting the project, through
excavations to reveal the evolution of civilization on the banks of the river. 4
Re-birth of River Sarasvati and National Water Grid
Projects related to the re-discovery of Vedic River Sarasvati have been transformed as
projects to revive the great river to fulfil the water supply needs of 20 crore people in
Northwest India and to make the Thar desert fertile again. These projects have also led to the
demand for a National Water Grid to make every river of India a perennial river and provide
water for everyone, for generations to come.
Dr. D.K. Chaddha, Chairman, Central Groundwater Authority, Union Ministry of Water
Resources, validated BARC findings of potable water 30 to 60 m. below the ground, through
ground morphological studies. A Rs. five crore Sarasvati Project was sanctioned to drill test
tubewells along the identified course. ISRO located the test sites on the basis of a palaeochannel (old course) shown in satellite images; the existence of a tectonic fault line; and the
proximity to an archaeological site.
Dr. S. Kalyanaraman, director, Sarasvati Nadi Shodh Prakalp, author of a seven-volume
encyclopaedic study of the river, pointed out that there are over 2,000 archaeological sites
along the banks of the Sarasvati as compared to only 600 on the banks of Sindhu. The sites
identified by ISRO were drilled in 25 places, with special drilling equipment from Japan, in
order to precisely position the drills based on latitude and longitude data provided on
toposheets. Barring one drilling due to faulty positioning of the drill, all explorations were
successful and yielded sustainable tube wells at a depth of merely 30 to 60 meters, with
potable water. Dr. K.R. Srinivasan, Director, Central Groundwater Board, explained in a
detailed monograph that it was possible to create one million sustainable tube wells in central
Rajasthan alone of the Sarasvati River basin, a project taken up by the state Government.
Sustainability of these tube wells necessitates a recharge through the surface waters of the
Rajasthan Canal, which is being extended into Gujarat. In turn, Gujarat will share some
Narmada waters with Rajasthan. It is an irony that while Punjab and Haryana dispute over the
Sutlej-Yamuna link canal (SYL), Punjab has been forced to release waters into the Sarasvati
Mahaanadi Roopaa Nahar in order to save the dams which are located on fault-lines crisscrossing the entire Sutlej-Beas river basin, on account of ongoing plate tectonic activity.
Thus, waters are flowing in the 40 feet wide, 12 feet deep Sarasvati nahar, causing the sand
dunes to disappear as the banks of the reborn Sarasvati are greened by forests! Nearly 10 lakh
acres of land has already been brought under cultivation.
At present, State Governments are showing more interest in the Sarasvati than the Centre. In
October 2004, a Sarasvati Sarovar in Haryana was dedicated to the nation, and on Karthik
Purnima the following month itself, more than two lakh pilgrims took a sacred dip in the
waters of the 83 m. long, 83 m. wide and 11 ft. deep Sarovar. The waters were harvested
through eleven check dams, an example of water-shed management and also ecological
conservation of forests, apart from the development of a Vedic herbal garden.
As of now, it will take about two years for the waters of the Sarasvati to reach Gujarat. The
interlinking of rivers as part of the National Water Grid is also presently left mainly to the
initiative of State Governments, as witnessed in the moves to start Kali-Parbati SindhChambal and Ken-Betwa link projects. A revivified Sarasvati has the power to magically
transform the face of north-western India. The river will flow up to Sabarmati (Ahmedabad) 5
river once the Mahakali-Karnali-Sharada waters are transported across an aqueduct over the
Yamuna and linked with the Sarasvati.
President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has expressed interest in the potential this heritage river
has to revive the regions through which it will flow. After visiting the Sarasvati Darshan
Exhibition at Jagadhri, Yamuna Nagar, on 20 April 2003, Dr. Abdul Kalam invited experts
associated with the project to make a presentation regarding the archaeological artifacts
recovered from various digs as well as the findings through satellite images. A delegation led
by Dr. S. Kalyanaraman explained how scientific investigations proved the historical
existence of the river.
The Sarasvati springs from Himalayan glaciers in Har-ki-dun in Uttaranchal and emerges at
Adi Badri, a sacred spot 30 km. north of Jagadhri, through the foothills of the Shiwalik
ranges. About 5000 years ago, the river traversed a distance of over 1600 km., through
Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, to reach Sindhu Sagara at
Prabhas Patan (Somnath), as asserted in the Mahabharata and other ancient texts. Then,
around 3500 years ago, tectonic changes caused river-migration and the desiccation of the
river, which has been convincingly established through satellite image analyses, geomorphological studies, BARC findings based on tritium analysis of ground-water resources in
the Sarasvati River Basin in the Rajasthan Marusthali desert, which will support construction
of over one million tube-wells for potable water after recharging the groundwater aquifers
using surface channels of the reborn river. This is a $120 billion project that is part of the
proposed National Water Grid.
Thus, what began as a historical quest for a supposedly mythical river has materialized as a
reality with the potential to transform the lives of peoples along its route, once again, as in the
past. The Sarasvati can make the water-starved north-west fertile and transform the desert
into verdant pastures, as the Rajasthan Canal draws waters of the Sutlej and Beas from the
Harike Reservoir and takes them up to Danan in Barmer district. The foundation tower at
Mohangarh (55 km. west of Jaisalmer) calls the 40 feet wide channel Sarasvati Mahanadi
Roopa Nahar, because the Sutlej was originally its tributary.
The National Water Development Agency plans to extend this canal up to the Rann of Kutch
and the Sabarmati by adding Sharada waters through an aqueduct across the Yamuna, thereby
creating a National Water Grid. Thus, waters from Mansarovar can reach Sabarmati by
constructing a 200 km. channel.
Sarasvati old and new: work to be done
Having inspired and facilitated the rich cultural and material civilization of the Vedic ‘Arya’
people, the Sarasvati was immortalized by her grateful offspring as Goddess of knowledge
and wisdom.
Given the tangible reality of the river, it is worth looking at the archaeological finds made in
the Sarasvati Basin and contiguous areas, and see the connection between the ancient
settlements and the river’s course. During 2002-2003, the Archaeological Survey of India
(ASI) decided to excavate major sites from over 2,000 sites identified after establishing the
entire 1600 km. course of the river from the Himalayas to Gujarat. Some major sites thus 6
identified included Adi Badri, Bilaspur, Sadhaoura, Mustafabad, Bhagawanpura, Thanesar,
Raja-Karn-ka Qila, Mirzapur, Pehowa, Kalayat, Kaithal, besides ongoing excavations at
Banawali, Rakhigarhi and Dholavira. These excavations are now establishing the cultural
chronology of India’s ancient past.
Investigations by the Geological Society of India show that nearly 4000 years ago plate
tectonics caused migration of Sarasvati’s tributary rivers, the Sutlej and Yamuna. As a result,
the Yamuna captured the waters of Sarasvati at Paonta Saheb in Himachal Pradesh (this is the
origin of the story of Balarama changing the course of the Yamuna by pulling the river
towards him with his plough!). Then, taking a tear in the Shiwalik ranges, the Yamuna
migrated eastwards to join Ganga at Prayag, forming the eternal Sangam of three rivers, one
of which is ‘invisible.’ As for the Sutlej (Sutudri of the Rig Veda), it took a 90-degree turn at
Ropar, 50 km. north of Chandigarh, and migrated westwards to join the Sindhu.
In our contemporary era, there is a real chance that the primordial river may be reborn and
flow 1600 km. from Kailash Mansarovar to Somnath (Prabhas Patan). In May 2004, the ASI
excavated an ancient terrace of the Sarasvati and found high-grade metamorphic rocks
belonging to the palaeo-glaciated regions of the Central Himalayas. A terrace is a level shelf
of land interrupting a declivity, i.e., steep slopes above and below.
At Nausharo (Pakistan) two terracotta figurines of female figures were unearthed. The neck
ornaments were painted golden-yellow, the hair black, while the parting of their hair was
pigmented red (to simulate the sindoor of married women), and these powerfully indicate the
sheer continuity of Indic culture from its origins 7000 years ago. At a conference of the
World Association of Vedic Studies (WAVES), 2003, Prof. B.B. Lal revealed that a
journalist was tutored to ask him if the figurines could have been forged by interested parties
seeking to prove the convergence of the Vedic and Sarasvati civilizations! Prof. Lal replied
that the images were found by French archaeologist Jarrige, in Pakistan, so the question
should be directed to them!
S'ivalinga were also found at Harappa and terracotta models in Kalibangan. So was s'ankha
wide bangle found at Nausharo dated to 6500 BCE. The s'ankha industry is a continuing
industry for the last 8500 years. At Tiruchendur (Gulf of Mannar), the total turnover of West
Bengal Handicraftd Dev. Corpn. is Rs. 50 crores acquiring s'ankha to make s'ankha bangles
which are a must in every bengali marriage. No wonder s'ankha adorns the hand of Narayana
and is used as Panchajanya by Srikrishna.
Today, Adi Badri in Haryana, where Sarasvati emerges on the plains, has been converted into
a pilgrimage-heritage site with a 83 m x 83 m sarovar with bathing ghats, set in a scenic
valley, under the benevolent gaze of the Adi Narayan, Kedarnath and Sakti Mantra Devi
temples. Yet it is also a heritage site from the point of view of water-harvesting and
watershed management. The Sarasvati waters, like those of the Ganga, are clear and pure and
without any contaminants. President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam visited an exhibition near
Jagadhri in April 2004, where satellite images, revenue records and other evidence was
showcased to establish the reality of the river. Recording his impressions in the Visitors’
Book, he wrote: “Delighted to see the hard work in realizing the reality of epic information.”
Dr. R.S. Bisht, former director, ASI, who excavated Dholavira and supervised the search for
the Sarasvati in 2001, emphasized that the Sarasvati was a reality: “The overwhelming 7
archeological evidence of ancient settlements along the course of what was once the Sarasvati
River proves that our earliest civilizations were not confined to the Indus river alone. Those
who wrote the Vedas on the banks of the Sarasvati were the same as the Indus Valley
people.”
Work has begun to decipher the so-called Indus Script. Kalyanaraman has noted that the
epigraphs are hieroglyphs in mleccha language (the same language used by Yudhishthira and
Vidura in Mahabharata discussing about the shellac palace – laakshaa griha – to trap the
pandavas). The hieroglyphs refer to the repertoire of metalsmiths and smithy – furnaces,
minerals, metals and alloys and continue to be used on Sohgaura copper plate and on punchmarked coins all over Bharatam. This points to the need for study the Bharatiya languages as
an indigenous continuum from proto-vedic. http://protovedic.blogspot.com
http://spaces.msn.com/members/sarasvati97 (with albums of Sarasvati hieroglyphs).
References:
Kenoyer, J., 2002, Ancient cities of the IndusValley, Karachi, Oxford University Press
Lal, B.B., 2003, Sarasvati Flows on…, Delhi, Aryan International.
Radhakrishna, B.P. ed., 2002, Vedic Sarasvati, Bangalore, Geological Society of India.
K.S. Valdiya, 2002, Sarasvati, the river that disappeared,
Hyderabad, Universities Press, Popular Science Series
Coedes, George, 1968, Hinduised (Indianized) States of Southeast Asia, Hawaii, EastwestCenterPress.
Dr. S. Kalyanaraman, 2003, an encyclopaedic set of 7 books on Sarasvatiwith titles: 1.
Sarasvati: Civilization; 2. Sarasvati : Rigveda ;
3. Sarasvati : River ; 4. Sarasvati : Bharati ; 5. Sarasvati : Technology ; 6. Sarasvati :
Language ; 7. Sarasvati : Epigraphs; Bangalore, Babasah Apte Smarak Samiti

Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939 in Chennai, sometimes spelt Subramaniam Swamy) is presently the President of Janata Party. He is a politician and also a trained economist.

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[edit]Childhood and education

Dr.Subramanian Swamy was born in Mylapore, Chennai, India into a Hindu Brahmin family. His father originally is fromMadurai, Tamil Nadu and mother is from Tamil speaking family from Trichur, Kerala.

He attended Hindu College, University of Delhi from where he earned his Bachelor's degree. He studied his masters degree in statistics at the Indian Statistical Institute. He then went to study at Harvard University on a full Rockefeller scholarship. He did his doctoral research with two Nobel Laureates namely Simon Kuznets and Paul A Samuelson. Dr. Swamy has also jointly authored with Professor Samuelson a path breaking study on Index Number Theory. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Economics by Harvard University (Class of 1965).

For sometime, while completing his dissertation in 1963, he worked at the United Nations Secretariat in New York as an Assistant Economics Affairs Officer. He subsequently worked as a resident tutor at Lowell House at Harvard.

[edit]Academic career

In 1964, Swamy joined the faculty of economics at Harvard and from then on he has till date taught at the Department of Economics. He was an assistant professor at the Harvard Economics department where he later became an Associate professor in 1969. Though he now does not teach full time at Harvard; he however has been regularly teaching for a long time and also currently teaches economics courses in summer session at Harvard in the position of a full rank Professor.[1]

From 1969 to 1991, he was a Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He was removed from the position by its board of Governors in the early 1970s but was legally reinstated in the late 1980s by the Supreme Court of India. He continued in the position till 1991 when he resigned to become a cabinet minister. He served on the Board of Governors of the IIT, Delhi (1977–80), and on the Council of IITs (1980–82).

He is the chairman of School of Communication & Management Studies in Kerala, a premier business institute in India.

[edit]Comparative study

He is accounted by some to be an authority on the comparative study of India and China[2] and is also well-versed in the Mandarin Chinese (Hanyu) language.[3]

[edit]Political career

[edit]Role played during Indian Emergency

He first came into the spotlight for protesting against the emergency imposed in 1975. He went underground for a period of 6 months to avoid being arrested by police. Under the instruction of Jayaprakash Narayan, Swami escaped to US, so that he could mobilise overseas Indians and world media against the emergency.

[edit]Elections contested

He was one of the founding members of the Janata Party and was its president since 1990. He was elected Member of Parliament 5 times between 1974 and 1999. He has twice represented the city of Mumbai North East during 1977 and 1980, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the Parliament.

He was also a member of the Planning Commission between 1990 and 1991. Between 1994 and 1996, he held the position of Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade (equivalent to the rank of a cabinet minister) under the P. V. Narasimha Rao government. Dr. Swamy has been subject to severaldefamation cases. He is known to argue these cases himself without the agency of lawyers. In October 2004, he along with other members of the erstwhile Janata Partyestablished the Rashtriya Swabhiman Manch to oppose the policies of the ruling UPA.

[edit]Issues Held

[edit]China and India

He is known for his efforts in normalizing relations with China and India. In 1981, he persuaded Deng Xiaoping[4] to open the Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet to the Hindu pilgrimsfrom India.[5] He became the first Indian on the reopening to visit Kailash and Mansarovar in 1981. In 1990-1991, he was a minister in the Chandra Shekhar cabinet and was in charge of the ministries of Commerce and Law and Justice.

[edit]2G spectrum scam

On November, 2008, Subramanian Swamy wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and followed it up with four more letters seeking sanction to prosecute A. Raja in regards to 2G telecom spectrum political corruption scam.[6]

When the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh didn't take any decision,[7] Swamy went to Supreme Court. On 27 November 2010 Subramanian Swamy announced that he will file a criminal case against former union minister A. Raja[8] in the 2G Spectrum Scam before the Special Court for Corruption Cases in connection with the charges of irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation. He later said that under Section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code, he would name the other “beneficiaries” in the scam. Until today, this scam has resulted to be the most historic and the biggest in the history of India.

The 2G spectrum scam involved officials in the government of India illegally undercharging mobile telephony companies for frequency allocation licenses, which they would use to create 2G subscriptions for cell phones. According to a report submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General based on money collected from 2G licenses, the loss to the exchequer was Indian Rupee symbol.svg176,379 crore (US$39.33 billion). The Supreme Court of India took Subramaniam Swamy's complaints on record [With Case type:Writ Petition (Civil),Case No:10, Year:2011].[9] The Comptroller and Auditor-General's report had put the presumptive loss to the government at Rs.1.75 lakh crore, but according to Dr. Swamy, the gratification shared would be only about Rs.60,000 crore. Kapil Sibal has however disputed that the Comptroller and Auditor General's presumptive loss estimate in the allocation of 2G spectrum. He said that the methodology used was "utterly erroneous" in pegging Rs 1.76 lakh crore (US$40 billion) as the notional loss while awarding airwaves for 2G phone services in 2008.

Subramanian Swamy adviced the Government of India that it should re-auction 2G spectrum after the Supreme Court issued notice to the union government and 11 firms in the alleged scam in the allocation of airwaves.[10]

[edit]Allegations against Sonia Gandhi

Swamy alleges that Sonia Gandhi's two sisters, Anushka and Nadia has received sixty percent of the kickbacks in 2G spectrum scam i.e. Rs.18,000 crores each.[11][12][13]

On 15 April 2011, he sought permission of the Prime Minister of India to prosecute National Advisory Council Chairperson Sonia Gandhi in a number of graft cases under Sections 11 & 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. . Listing a number of instances in connection with which Sonia Gandhi could be prosecuted, in a 206-page long petition, Dr Swamy sought Manmohan Singh’s permission on the basis of what he calls prima facie cases built against the NAC chief based on documentary evidence.[14]At a lecture on corruption given in 29 May 2011, he again repeated his allegation against Sonia Gandhi, saying, she has 1 lakh crore Rs. stashed abroad.[15]

[edit]Many Letters to PM

Swamy sends many letter to Prime Minister and one of those brought the 2G scam to surface as well. But most of his letters are not supported by proof. But he is not defensive about his allegations that are not supported by anything but his circumstantial judgements. He says: “I am writing to the prime minister, I am not holding a press conference. The PM has agencies available to him, they can investigate. My job is to bring things to his notice.” Also, “They say I have no proof. Rubbish! As if on other things, they always have proof.”[16]

[edit]Critical views on Tamil Nadu

He is well known for his critical views against the Government of TamilNadu and against the rationalist views of E.V.R Ramaswamy. He is a constant fighter for the revival of hindutva in Tamil Nadu.

[edit]All Caste Becomes Priest Act. Tamil Nadu, 2006

The bill in the Assembly of Tamil Nadu in 2006 laid the foundation for bringing the social reform of enabling every Hindu,and Dalits without any discrimination by caste, to become archakas in Hindu Temples.[17] The Governments plan was to demolish caste barriers in the State by training non-Brahmins to become archaka (priests) and offering them jobs in temples that come under the purview of the State Government.[18] The Government order has been challenged by the Adi Saiva Sivacharyargal Nala Sangam, Thennindia Thirukkoil Archagargal Paripalana Sabhai and other such hereditary priests’ organisations in the Supreme Court and secured a stay against the order. The case is pending in the court.Subramanya Swamy advocating against this act and instrumental in getting a stay from the court for implementation of Tamil Nadu all caste becomes Priest Act.[19][20]

[edit]LTTE issue

He is staunch detractor of LTTE.[21][22]

[edit]Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project

He obtained Supreme Court Stay against the implementation of Sethu Samuthiram Shipping Channel project(SSSCP). He believes that this shallow land connecting between Tamil Nadu and Srilanka was build by Rama approximately 1,26,000 years ago. He strongly oppose the implementation of SSSCP citing that implementating this scheme may affect the sentiments of Hinduism. He wrote letters to Prime Minister of India in June 2009 asking to stop this project.[23]

[edit]Personal Life

Dr. Swamy is married to Dr. Roxna Swamy, an advocate at the Supreme Court of India. He has two daughters, Gitanjali Swamy and Suhasini Haider who's a journalist atCNN-IBN.[24]

[edit]Books

Subramanian Swamy is the author of numerous books and writes regularly in various journals and newspapers. Some of his books are :-

  • Hindutva And National Renaissance
  • Rama Setu: Symbol Of National Unity
  • Electronic Voting Machines : Unconstitutional And Tamperable
  • Economic Growth in China and India (1989)
  • The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: unanswered questions and unasked queries (2000)
  • Hindus Under Siege (2006)
  • Corruption and Corporate Governance in India: Satyam, Spectrum, and Sundaram (2009)
  • Economic Development and Reforms in India and China (2010)
  • Sri Lanka In Crisis: India's Options
  • Terrorism In India
  • India'S Labour Standards And The Wto Framework
  • Economic Reforms And Performance ; China And India In Comparative Perspective
  • Building A New India: An Agenda For National Renaissance
  • Trade And Industry In Japan: A Guide To Indian Entrepreneurs And Businessmen
  • India's Economic Performance And Reforms: A Perspective For The New Millennium
  • India's China Perspective