My story Troubled Galaxy Destroyed dreams: Austerity Drive and Tharoor in CATTLE Class out of SOLIDARITY withHOLY COWS!

Austerity Drive and Tharoor in CATTLE Class out of SOLIDARITY with HOLY COWS!

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, Chapter 372

Palash Biswas

Tharoor says 'no comments' on twitter remark
17 Sep 2009, 1835 hrs IST
Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs keeps away from the Twitter trouble. He refused to comment on his 'cattle class' remark that he had made on the social networking site 'Twitter' yesterday (September 17) on the recent austerity drive.

While the minister is abroad on an official visit, sources in his office have said that no clarification has been sought and hence the Minister hasn't made any comment yet.

Shashi Tharoor had yesterday made comments that "he will travel cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows." BJP had sought Tharoor's expulsion from the post of Union Minister calling his remarks "a cruel joke and insult" to crores of people travelling in general class.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan had said that having made such insensitive and insulting comments, he did not deserve to be a Union Minister. However, Congress also disapproved Tharoor's remark on economy class travel.

We totally condemn it (Tharoor's comments). The statement is not in sync with our political culture. His remarks are not acceptable given the sensitivity of all Indians," said AICC Spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan.

"Certainly the party does not endorse it. It is absolutely insensitive. We find it unacceptable and totally insensitive," she said when asked to comment on Tharoor's remarks on Twitter, a social networking website.
http://www.timesnow.tv/Tharoor-says-no-comments-on-twitter-remark/articleshow/4327550.cms

Shh(ashi)! Laugh at your peril
OUR BUREAU

New Delhi, Sept. 16: In this season of the austerity epidemic, the Congress cannot be accused of profligacy on one count: humour.

A tweet by junior minister Shashi Tharoor has got the Congress all twitched up, bringing forth abomination worthy of a dour old party.

Tharoor had tweeted in reply to a question that he would travel by "cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows".

Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to receivers known as followers (in Tharoor's case, the particular follower happened to be a journalist).

The reference to "cattle class" did hurt the Congress that stands for the aam aadmi but what seems to have really got the party's goat is the crack at "holy cows".

The Congress is now trying to figure out the identity of the "holy cows" Tharoor had in mind. Given the number of "holy cows" the oldest party in the land has, it should take some time to arrive at a consensus.

Was Tharoor taking a potshot at Sonia Gandhi, the spearhead of the current austerity mania, for setting the stage for his ouster from a five-star hotel where he was staying paying from his pocket?

Or was he throwing the tweet at Rahul Gandhi, who unfurled his brand of belt-tightening by travelling in a train's chair car — a ride that was unfortunately spoilt by stones hurled by mysterious miscreants? (Not read in Twitter: a joke doing the rounds is that police themselves might have thrown the stones to ensure that the young Gandhi sticks to his security routine and spares them the headache of guarding trains.)

The Congress would not answer such questions. But Tharoor, who tweeted and took a flight to Liberia en route to Ghana, is in trouble back home.

"We totally condemn it (Tharoor's tweet). It is completely unacceptable and can come from somebody who is unaware of our political culture and social realities," Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said. "Certainly, the party does not endorse it. It is absolutely insensitive. We find it unacceptable."

The Congress has rarely condemned a minister in a similar manner at an official media conference. Sources said the issue was discussed by senior leaders and a conscious decision was made to send out a tough message to those who seek to ridicule the austerity measures.

More than what Natarajan said, what she left unsaid should alarm Tharoor more, if the political rookie can figure out the importance of silence in the party.

Asked if Tharoor should be dropped from the cabinet, she said it was for the high command to decide. On another question if making such "an elitist person" a minister was a mistake in the first place, the spokesperson said it was the prerogative of the Prime Minister.

Tharoor is scheduled to return on September 21, unless the tweet-quake brings him scurrying back.

Tharoor's tweet came in response to a question by the follower who himself had referred to "cattle class".

Cattle class is widely used to frown on the way some airlines herd passengers into the low-fare section, not a direct reference to the passengers themselves. Besides, Twitter is not meant for official discourse but chit chat — a tool millions use to celebrate the spontaneity of communication and the urge to get across their

140-character opinion on everything under and above the sun.

But Natarajan had done her own research. "Cattle class is a jargon, a slang. A politician should not use it. In India, where millions of people travel by ordinary class, we don't show such insensitivity."

Those who know Tharoor, an author who has a way with words, said he could also have been referring to the general hysteria over belt-tightening by using a harmless pun ("holy cow") that goes with "cattle".

Not that the Congress does not have leaders whose razor-sharp wit can squeeze a smile out of even the most poker-faced colleagues and rivals. But the usually garrulous withdrew into a shell this evening, refusing comment even off the record — perhaps a reflection of a reluctance to be gored by those protecting the holy cows.

In a nation of such gravitas, Tharoor is unlikely to find many willing to bell the holy cows or enjoy a good laugh.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090917/jsp/frontpage/story_11506963.jsp

Forget petty differences to fight & finish our common Brahminical enemy
SIDDARTH BARVE, C/O ANUPAM BOOK CENTRE, 9,10&11 PARK VIEW, STATION ROAD, NALLASOPARA (W), THANE DT. - 401 203

I wish to pen down this piece with malice towards none.

There was an international exhibition of crabs. There were many containers of crabs but only few with peculiar characteristics are described here.

In one glass container there were strong white and black crabs. All these crabs were looking artificially strong but were bullying all the time, wanting to force themselves out of the glass container. But as the container had a lid they could not get out. When inquired the exhibition guide said these were American crabs.

AMAZING INDIAN CRABS
In another container we could see a majority of the crabs quietly lying at the bottom. The few of the cunning lot were trying to bully and force their way out. The guide said they were from Israel. Those that were lying and those bullying and suppressing the others were from the same country but the latter ones forcing themselves to come out are the zionist Israeli crabs.

Another container had crabs pretending to fight among each other. But actually each one was trying to help the other to get out of the container. They all had one objective to get out of the container en mass. The guide said "these were Aryan Eurasian crabs". They are originally from the Arctic Pole which later migrated to Asia. "They are very cunning and always want to establish supremacy over other crabs by any unethical means".

There was a huge gathering to see these peculiar crabs from different parts of the world. The most astonishing thing about the container was that it had no lid. Most of the crabs in each container were fast asleep. Many crabs were actually pretending to sleep which we could make out.

Some crabs were trying to climb up but the other "awakened" crabs pulled them down and never allowed a single crab to get out.

NEED FOR ENEMY
The exhibition guide said:

Ladies and gentlemen, the most astonishing and fascinating crabs on earth are exhibited here in the container without any lid. These are the aboriginal Indian crabs. Majority of them are always sleeping and many of them are pretending to sleep. Even if you try to harm, they will not react but try to run away. Very few of the awakened crabs try to come out of the container but immediately other crabs pull them down so much so even when the container was open not a single crab could get out".

Every one clapped at this amazing piece of information.

I read an article in DV (June 16, 2009 by our Brother Dr. V.D. Chandanshive) titled: "Which BAMCEF should DV support".

I thank Dr. Chandanshive because he is among the very few awakened ones who is not sleeping or pretending to sleep as the aboriginal Indian crabs. But I sincerely fail to understand whether there is any need for us to have an enemy — the Aryan Brahmins — since we seem to be capable enough to fill this gap.

I am at a loss to understand if our intellectuals are working to uproot the cruel Brahmanvadi establishment or trying their level best to save the enemy.

LAST 100 DAYS
To the best of my knowledge Kanshi Ram along with D.K. Khaparde, Dina Bhanaji etc. launched a social mission to uproot the centuries-old Brahmanvadi establishment. None ever claimed that he started it or claimed its ownership.

Together they invented a weapon to unite over 6,000 castes and subcastes of SC/ST/OBC and minorities through social and geographical networking. These missionaries were confident that if they carry on the mission successfully they could throw away the Brahmanvadi establishment which was the one and only cause of all sufferings. All the above great leaders created history after Babasaheb Ambedkar.

My sincere request is keep aside all your differences, unite, equip yourselves and face the deadly enemy.

As soon as the Congress, the original Brahminical party, won on May 16, 2009 a very special deadly programme, "Eventful 100 days of the new Govt." took the highest priority. The most surprising part of this programme was that neither the Congress, which drafted the blue-print of the programme, nor parliament had anything to do with it. The blue-print was prepared by a blood-sucker industrialist, and handed over to Manmohan Singh through Harsh Patti Singhania, president of FICCI and all the major industrialists. Read the very first page of the Economic Times (May 20, 2009): "100 Days reforms blueprint readied". That means govt. policies are made not in parliament.

The Brahminical Congress and Brahmana Jati Party (BJP) and the "Leftists" have converted our parliament into a farce. The PM appointed a committee, "Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Commerce" before privatisation started. This committee consisted of three blood-sucker industrialists: G.P. Goenka, Rajeev Chandrashekar, then FICCI president, and Nusli Wadia. These three jokers submitted a report: "How to get disinvestment going, building India's future".

ARUN SHOURIE ROLE
You will not believe that World Bank agent Manmohan Singh did his best to strictly implement the above private report. BJP on coming to power formed a new ministry called Disinvestment Ministry and the notorious Arun Shourie as the minister in charge.

This Punjabi Brahmin was honoured for writing a book, False God, against our great leader, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar.

The moment he became the minister, he started attacking his prey. He sold off the govt.-owned Centaur Hotel in Bombay worth Rs. 500 crores (on the day of its sale) for just Rs. 83 crores to a fictitious company floated by a BJP supporter, Batra Consultancy. Within 3 months Batra Consultancy sold the same hotel for Rs. 116 crores to another blood-sucker BJP supporter, Sahara India. The rest of the booty was equally shared by all the street chores.

SALE OF AIRPORTS
This is daylight robbery by the Brahmanvadi party supported by the Congress. The saddest thing was after purchasing Centaur Hotel from this Batras, Sahara India handed over a letter to all the employees of Centaur Hotel terminating their services.

No news was published in the Bania papers. A 32-year-old young employee of the hotel, my neighbour, went into depression and died.

Centaur Hotel under the Hotel Corporation of India was sold exactly in the manner as mentioned in the conspiratorial private report, "How to get Disinvestment Going: Building India's Future".

The most sensitive sector, our airports, are also being sold to private capitalists. The latest being the Bombay Airport to GVK and the Delhi Airport to GMR as mentioned in the above report. No media reported it. In the Bombay airport, the fate of 2,010 permanent AAI employees, mostly from the SC/ST and OBCs, is sealed and they will be thrown out on the road any time.

SHARE MARKET BOOM
All the Brahmin-Bania suckers have joined to eat the fruits of the struggle made by our great leaders and we like the aboriginal inhabitant, Indian crabs, are either sleeping, pretending to sleep or busy pulling each others legs.

The Economic Times (May19, 2009) reports that the share market sensex shot up by 2110.97 points in just 60 seconds. Never did such a thing happen in the Indian stock market history. Why the hungry monsters were so happy? They were happy not because of the Congress victory but their agenda of unlimited privatisation of profit-making public sector undertakings to loot the country is coming up.

AIR INDIA TAMASHA
Only the share of profit-making PSUs have gone up in this 60 seconds. SAIL up by 21%, SBI 20%, BHEL 18%, Powergrid 17%, Indian Oil 17%, ONGC 16%, Bharat Petroleum 15%, GAIL 13%, NTPC 11%.

Many more profit-making PSUs will be sold to the butchers at throw- away prices. These PSUs have contributed Rs. 1,65,993 crore to the govt. exchequer during 2007-08. This information was suppressed. Economic Times (March 4, 2009) published this as a 2x4 inch item on page 4. This contribution is more than 25% of the annual budget for the year but no recognition by the govt.

What a conspiracy. But we are all fast asleep.

A big drama is going on about Air India. The govt. wants to show that it is trying to save it from a big loss. The media will create a horrible picture and make matters more worse for not paying the salaries to its employees for a month or two. They have further taken a decision to save Rs. 500 crore in the wage bill of its employees.

When Air India is "making a huge loss" how can it afford to buy 111 new aircraft to add to its existing 150 aircraft? Can there be bigger tamasha than this? A decision to sell Air India after merging it with Indian Airlines, will be soon taken. The Economic Times came out with the true picture. On May 20, 2009 it published a report headlined: "Let foreign airlines pick up stakes in Indian carriers".

That means Air India is going to be privatized after a partial disinvestment along with a initial public offer (IPO) and sold along with the new aircraft to foreign airlines with an Indian partner within 100 days.

The Aviation Ministry headed by Praful Patel, the main culprit and the villain of this tamasha, has taken pains for the last 3 to 4 years by steering Air India Corporation in such a way that it goes into loss and, therefore, a strong case for sell-out is made. Praful Patel and the Congress in close consultation with the BJP and leftists will share the booty as was done in the case of selling two precious airports of our country.

OVER 35 LAKH JOB LOSS
This big Navtanki of selling PSUs worth millions of crores only for few thousand crores to the Indian corrupt capitalists under the pretext of collecting money for removal of poverty, empowering women and other popular tamashas only for a budget period of less than one year.

Over 7 lakh jobs in organised sector and over 28 lakhs in un-organised sector will perish once for all by the end of the year.

All the job loss will affect our people — aboriginal Indians.

ZIONIST ENTRY
The Economic Times (June 3, 2009) published a dangerous report: "Rothschild is invited by the govt. to draw up disinvestment (privatisation roadmap".

This zionist group had enslaved the British economy in the 18th century, artificially created the depression of 1929, and now enslaving the American economy and funding wars and creating artificial economic crisis throughout the world.

The present world-wide "slow down" is a deliberate creation of these Rothchilds. Such a merciless butcher has been invited by their Brahmanvadi blood brothers.

UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS
You could stop a shark in the ocean from killing you but stopping the Rothchilds from killing you and the many generations to come is unthinkable. The only victims will be the original inhabitants of India.

We have still some time left to save ourselves. So instead of asking uncomfortable questions to Dalit Voice — "Whom shall DV support?" and making a case out of nothing/non-issues by throwing ball to other courts, let the wretched unite.

We request each and every awakened son and daughter of Mahatma Phule, Periyar Ramaswami, Shahu Mahraj, Babasaheb, Birsa Munda and all my minority converted Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Budhists to come together, leave aside all such differences and strengthen the mission of true liberation — true freedom for all of us and put an end to the dreaded disease, a disaster and cancerous appendage — Brahmanvad, and throw it out of our country once for all.

I sincerely thank Brother Dr. V.D. Chandanshive for giving me an opportunity and inspiration to write this small piece.

http://www.dalitvoice.org/Templates/sep_a2009/editorial.htm

Tharoor travelled economy much before austerity drive, Aides claim! Hypocricy has no limit in Indian Brahaminical Politics. Prabhsh Joshi, the Hindutva Zionist Icon of Sangh Gandhian Core Ideology Non Negotiable believes that the Brahmins are born to Rule and others should do all the LABOUR including Sports and entertainment! Manusmriti Rule is Holy thing in India. Joshi says all the competent Leader in different spheres of life in India, are only Brahamins. Being a posed Gandhian himself, he does not mention Gandhi, a gujrati bani as EFFICIENT leader but Pin Points on only Gandhi Nehru Dynasty as well as SANGH Brahmins as the IDEAL Icons of Indian Society.

Japanese two wheeler major Yahama launched its super-bike 'VMAX' in the country priced at Rs 20 lakh (ex-showroom-Delhi).

The company also launched limited edition of its 'FZ' series in three variants.

"I am hopeful that these bikes will get the same kind of enthusiastic response as our recently-launched other products got. The company has registered a year-on-year growth of 80 per cent during the month of January to August and we expect the coming months to be also fruitful," India Yamaha Motor Managing Director and CEO Yuki Mine Tsuji said.

The new VMAX comes with a 1,679 cc engine.

Tell me who would use the car? Minister of Foreign affairs spends Rs twenty Five lacs per day for a SUIT in a five Star Hotel then Flies in ECONOMY Class out of SOIDARITY with the Holy cows! The Cattle Flight is in No Means has to do anything with Indian Economy as all natioanl revenues and Resources are DIVERTED to the Killer Money Machine and for the CAPTURE the Mass Destruction agenda is being acomplished with merciless Surgical Precision under US Israel survellience! Newspapers and Media dare not to write anything against ECONMIC Reforms and genocide culture rather they JUSTIFY the Hegemony cuture of Ethnic Cleansing! Internal Censorship is so strong and MIND control Infinite, NO RESISTANCE is Possible. Even the Resistance like nandigram, singur, lalagrh and Gorkhaland are HIJACKED by the Manusmriti hegemony! Austerity Game is not OFFLINE, Not DERAILED! Mind You!

As far as Austerity is concerned, it is always related to Holy cows. In Holy Scripts, all Brahamins are HONEST and POOR and a living a life of AUSTERITY which justifies their role as Supreme Leader in Indian Society of caste system based on Discrimination, Injustice and Inequality. The Manusmriti makes the Eighty percent Indigenous aboriginal Minority communities the Bonded Labour of the Brahamins. Brahmins had all the MAJOR Four Rights in Indian society: one: Right to EDUCATION, Right to TEACH and Preach, Right to ARMS and Right to Property. Enslaved Majority Black Untouchables had no RIGHTS at all. They had to SURRENDER Property, Life and Land to the Brahamins. The Phenomenon repeats in So Called Free India, a Colonial Peripherry of zionist corporate US Imperialism , ruled by the Zionist Foreigner Brahamins who are Genetically Proved Original JEWS! Corporate Democracy may be PERSONIFIED as the Holy COW , the Ancient Poor and Honest Brahamins, to whom we have to SURRENDER Everything to get MOKSHA as all RITUALS have to be performed by only the Brahamins!

Monopolistic Aggression against BLACK Untouchable rural BHARAT varsh by the NRI shining India is ICONISED with Diffrent Brands in Diffrent Spheres. parliamentary representation and constitutional Job Reservation and quota make no DIFFERNCE as the Brahmins empowered with PONA Pact ENSURED to chose themselves who would represent the Untouchables, Minritis, Scheduled tribes and OBC. Economy and Policy making , Public utilities, Civil society, Intelligentsia and MEDIA are the FIELDS prohibited for the majority SC, ST, OBC communities! Hence the MIND Control is COMPLETE and the Brahaminical Hegemony continue to Perform the ASHWAMEDHA Yagay, now defined as Industrialisation, development, Infrastructure, Modernisation, IT, National Integrity and Security, war against Terrorism, Indo US Nuclear Deal, LPG, Open Market, Retail chain, URBANISATION, ECONOMIC Reforms and Miltary OPTION of Repression with Zero Intolerability! All these things ROOT into manusmriti Core ideology , MOTHER of all Indian and foreign Idelogies! So the BRAHMIN Returns with all the VENOM and VENGEANCE! And it is AUSTERITY!

Thus, the BRAHMIN marxist gestapo Led, the West Bengal government Thursday invited IT major Wipro and infosys to start new centres at Rajarhat in the northeastern fringes of the city and promised to give 45 acres of land to each of the companies.

"I'm proposing today (Thursday) through the media that we are ready to give 45 acres of land each to Wipro and Infosys. They can come and immediately take possession of the land and start new centres," Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said at a press conference here Thursday.

"These companies can create 16,000 jobs in two years. I had a talk with my colleagues. We will start talking to the companies. The price of the land will be negotiated with theses companies," Bhattacharjee said.

Wipro, Infosys rejected Buddha's offer

Days after scrapping the proposed IT township project at Rajarhat, the West Bengal government said it had suggested alternative land to Infosys and Wipro, a proposal rejected by the IT majors.

At a meeting of the ruling Left Front in Kolkata, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee informed that Housing Minister Gautam Deb had offered alternative 10 acre each to the two IT firms at New Town, Rajarhat, but they spurned the proposal, an LF leader said.

The two companies said they needed more land to set up their shop and the government was trying to accommodate them, Bhattacharjee told the meeting.

"The government wants to see that the two companies did business in the state," the chief minister was quoted as having told the meeting.

Earlier in the day, LF chairman Biman Bose told reporters that the state government had not rejected the proposals of Wipro and Infosys for setting up units near the metropolis.

Bhattacharjee told the meeting that the government had only scrapped the IT park which was to come up near the controversial Vedic Village resort, Bose said.

In April 2008, the state government had inked two MoUs -- one each with Infosys and Wipro -- for setting up IT facilities, for which they had sought 90 acre each. While for Infosys it would had been the first project, Wipro was planning a second one. A company had been floated for setting up an IT park near Vedic Village which now stood scrapped.

Hypocricy Unbound. Almost Three lac Corore for Nuclear ARMAMENT, Another Three lacs for BAILOUT for False Recession, Two lac corore for sixth pay commission. NGOs to Implemet Flagship Progrrames! Utilities Privatised. Disinvestment, Deportation, displacement and EXODUS Infinite! And the bastardised Politics perform the VEDIC Ritula of AUSTERITY as DEATH silently takes away LIFE !

So, Determined to imbibe austerity in its policies, the government has asked various departments to scrap or downsize expenses on insignificant activities by up to 10 per cent when they submit proposals for Budget 2010-11.

The Finance Ministry in the Budget Circular for 2010-11 said, "The estimates (RE 2009-10) must confirm to... instructions, which stipulate a 10 per cent and five per cent cut in non-plan, non-salary expenditure and other economy measures."

For the next fiscal, the circular added, "It is necessary to review the existing expenditure budget... to priorities the activities and schemes, both on the plan and non-plan side and identify those activities and schemes, which can be eliminated or reduced in size or merged with any other scheme."

As part of its economic drive, the Finance Ministry, earlier in the month, advised ministries and departments to cut by 10 per cent expenditure on travel, seminars, exhibitions and other office expenses. In case of other non- plan expenditure, the they were asked to reduce expenses by five per cent.

Following the government instructions on austerity, several ministers, including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, have started flying economy class.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday indicated that her ministry may refer allegations of irregularities in recruitment during the tenure of her predecessor Lalu Prasad to CBI.

"If necessary, allegations of irregularities in Railway Recruitment Boards (RRB) and Railway Recruitment Committees would be referred to an outside agency," she told reporters in reply to media reports that she has ordered a CBI inquiry into the allegations of irregularities in recruitment during Lalu's tenure.

MPs belonging to Lalu's rival JD-U had alleged that people sold their land to the former Railway minister's relatives in exchange for railway jobs and contracts.

The Union Minister said irregularities in recruitment have also come in from North Eastern and South Eastern Railways and from states like Orissa.

"There are also reports from the vigilance commission and the High Court has also given a verdict," she said, adding "several MPs have also complained about such irregularities."

However, she clarified that the inquiry was "not against Lalu. I have respect for him. This is against corruption in a particular department".

On the other hand, Business confidence in India is on the rise, defying the global downturn, says the country's apex business chamber as India pitches here strongly to attract more foreign investment in the core sectors of industry.

"Certainly there is a movement in foreign institutional investment and foreign direct investment has also begun to pick up," said Amit Mitra, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).

"While rest of the world is shrinking, core sectors of steel, cement and auto industry in India are beginning to grow," Mitra told IANS on phone ahead of an institutional investors conference in New York starting Thursday.

Noting that the FICCI business confidence survey index for India which had plunged to 44 in the third quarter of 2008-09 had risen to 64 in the first quarter and 67 in the second quarter, Mitra said: "We are here to further kindle these forces."

Besides supporting the institutional investors conference, FICCI has also organised a round table for US businessmen Thursday with TKA Nair, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Ajay Shankar, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy Promotion, and Meera Shankar, India's ambassador to US.

It's also hosting a dinner Thursday with India's Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for major power companies including General Electric and Price Whitney.

These meetings are being organised ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's state visit here in November.

Meanwhile, Kamal Nath, India's Minister for Road Transport and Highways held a roundtable in America's financial capital focusing US investment attention on India's roads and highways. India's road network of 3.32 million km is second only to the United States and is in need of major upgrades.

Speaking to premier US engineering, construction and investment firms, Nath said: "This is one of the most important projects the Government of India has ever undertaken. Roads and Highways cross the country and touch every facet of life, as well as provide vital connectivity for trade and commerce."

India is set to launch the world's biggest Public Private Partnership programme that will result in the development of 15,000 km of roads and highways over the next three years at a cost of $70 billion. The current five year plan calls for $500 billion in upgrades to India's infrastructure sector-with about one-third of the investment coming from the private sector.

The roundtable was hosted by the US-India Business Council, in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, who has come under fire for his stay in a luxury hotel, had been travelling economy class much before the austerity measures were announced by the government.Sources close to Tharoor said the minister had taken almost 5 flights from Aug 9, travelling to Bangalore, Chennai and Kochi, and on all occasions he had booked himself in economy class. Tharoor ran in a spot of trouble for a message he posted on the social networking site Twitter, in which he said he would travel "cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!"

The Congress on Wednesday said minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor's remarks that he would travel in "cattle class out Shashi Tharoor of solidarity with all our holy cows" were not acceptable and the party high command may also decide if any disciplinary action is to be taken against him.

"The party strongly disapproves the statement of the minister. It is unacceptable, not respecting political or any other sensibilities," said Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan.

On his page on the micro-blogging site Twitter, Tharoor was asked, "Tell us minister, next time you travel to Kerala, will it be cattle class?" His reply: "Absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows."

Asked whether any disciplinary action would be taken against the former UN diplomat, the spokesperson said: "This is something that the high command will decide."

The Congress and the government it leads have launched an austerity drive against the backdrop of drought in some parts of the country and rising prices of essential commodities.

Tharoor as well as external affairs minister S M Krishna were asked earlier this month to move out of five-star hotels where they had been staying for over three months - though at their own expense.

Tharoor, who was staying at the Hotel Taj Mahal on Man Singh Road, is now staying at an Indian Navy guesthouse.

"The austerity measures were announced mid-August during the party's working committee meeting but it came into effect later. However, Tharoor has been on these economy flights earlier. He began taking a Kingfisher flight from Mumbai to Kochi on Aug 9," said a close aide. The sources also pointed out that Tharoor was unlikely to respond to Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan who disapproved of the expression "cattle class" the minister used in his latest tweet.

Natarajan took strong exception to the term and, while refusing to be drawn into commenting whether any kind of disciplinary action was being initiated, said Tharoor was perhaps not conscious of the sensitivities since he was new to Indian politics.

"He is out for a week travelling to Ghana and Liberia where he has important engagements. I don't think he has time to respond to this (charge)," added the aide.

Ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi led the push to trim official spending in the backdrop of the country struggling with the worst drought in two decades and food prices on the rise.

Sonia Gandhi asked all Congress MPs to accept a 20 percent pay cut for a year and also set a personal example by forgoing her normal chartered plane and flew economy class to Mumbai early this week.

Her son and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi went one step ahead and travelled by train to Ludhiana in Punjab instead of chartering a helicopter.

Times of India reports:

The comic figure of "Tweety bird" lived dangerously, avoiding the machinations of the neighbourhood cat. As minister of twitter, UN
diplomat-turned-Congressman Shashi Tharoor might well be tempting fate with his unplugged comments on his party's austerity drive.

Having shown little taste for the rules of politics that often require a discreet silence, Tharoor has been an unrepentant twitterer. He has tweeted boldly about how boring he finds meetings as MoS for foreign affairs and having been peremptorily asked to move out of his five-star digs recently, he has shown no inclination for more "austere" ways.

In keeping with his view that he was hardly in the wrong as he was paying his bills, he tweeted that he would definitely travel "in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!" The suggestion that the austerity drive was a put on and the dig at economy travellers did not go down well with the party. Spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters that the party "strongly disapproves of the statement and finds it unacceptable". She said Tharoor's comments hurt sensitivty of people as thousands of Indians travelled economy class every day.

Natarajan deplored the minister's remarks and said, "This is not respecting the political sensitivity; we don't approve of such statement."

What seemed to have incensed the leadership was the minister's flippant remarks poking fun of the current austerity drive as a gesture to the drought-affected people.

While party chief Sonia Gandhi flew economy, general secretary Rahul Gandhi travelled in the chair car of Shatabdi Express to Ludhiana. With elections in Maharashtra and Haryana only weeks away, Tharoor's comments should be music to the Opposition camp.

Asked if any disciplinary action was being contemplated against the minister, Natarajan said it was for the party high command to take a decision about it. She termed Tharoor's views "insensitive" and not in tune with the party's culture.

Natarajan also averted a direct response when asked if "our holy cows" in Tharoor's twit had an allusion to Rahul.

However, unmindful of the storm his posting had raised, Tharoor went on twittering or "twitting" as some chose to describe it, about the traffic jam at Dhaula Kuan he faced on his way to the airport. He wondered if he was going to miss his flight.

Another posting was about the sartorial change his first foreign trip had brought about. "Am wearing a tie for the first time in six months and hating it," he wrote. Tharoor discovered the benefit of being in `mundu' as an MP from Kerala. "Politicians' garb at least freed my neck from this noose!"
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Cong-slams-Tharoors-twits-on-cattle-class/articleshow/5020004.cms

Doctors to get extra money to work in rural areas: Azad
Doctors who opt to work in rural areas will be duly compensated with extra money and weightage points that will help them while going for
higher studies, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced on Thursday.

"The only way to attract the attention of doctors to work in difficult, most difficult and inaccessible areas is through incentives. We have requested the states to give us the list under the above categories. We can provide extra money as extra incentive," Azad told reporters.

"Assam has already done it. To encourage rural postings, additional weightage will be given in the post graduate examination at the rate of 10 percent for each year of rural service. It will be subject to a maximum of 30 percent extra weightage for three years of rural service," he said while giving details of his ministry's achievements in the last 100 days.

Azad said this service will have to be rendered after the internship period only. This service will not only help the National Rural Health Mission, but also help the MBBS doctors in accumulating extra weightage points for further studies," he added.

The Assam government had Wednesday appointed nearly 800 doctors in a recruitment drive that is expected to revolutionise the region's rural healthcare sector.

The recruitment campaign has a catch though, as the appointments were made for a one-year period as part of the government legislation that makes it mandatory for all MBBS graduates to serve for a minimum of one year in rural health centres.

"Assam has become the first state in the country to have carried out such a historic recruitment drive by appointing 768 doctors for rural postings in one single day," state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said after handing over appointment letters to the doctors in Guwahati.

The young doctors would be getting a monthly fixed salary of Rs.25,000, besides free accommodation in their area of posting.

Ishrat's family moves SC against stay on Tamang report
Family members of Ishrat Jahan, who was killed allegedly in an encounter by Gujarat police on Thursday moved the Supreme Court
challenging High Court's order staying a magistrate inquiry report which had described the incident as fake encounter.

The Gujarat High Court on September 9 had stayed metropolitan magistrate S P Tamang's report on the plea of state government which had contended that the observations made in the report were beyond the jurisdiction of the judicial magistrate.

A single judge bench of Justice Kalpesh Javheri, while staying the report, had also ordered the appropriate authority of the high court to look into the actions of magistrate Tamang and take necessary action.

Magistrate Tamang's report had said the encounter in which 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan and three others were gunned down in 2004 while allegedly plotting to kill the Gujarat chief minister was fake and executed in cold blood by police officers for selfish motives.

The report of the investigation conducted by the magistrate had held senior police officers responsible for "staging" the encounter.

The four persons, claimed to have been killed by the police in an encounter on the outskirts of the city on June 15, 2004 were Ishrat, Javed Ghulam Sheikh alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai, Amjad Ali alias Rajkumar Akbar Ali Rana and Jisan Johar Abdul Gani.

Buddha govt offers 45 acres each to Wipro and Infosys

West Bengal government on Thursday offered 45 acres each to Wipro and Infosys for setting up units at Rajarhat, said Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

"I'm proposing today (Thursday), through the media, that we are ready to give 45 acres of land each to Wipro and Infosys. If they agree to the proposal, they can come and immediately take possession of the land and start new centres," Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told a press conference at the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) state headquarters. ( Watch Video )

"These companies can create 16,000 jobs in two years. I already had a talk with my cabinet colleagues, IT Minister Debesh Das, Housing Development Minister Gautam Deb and others about the proposal. We will start talking to the companies. The price of the land will be negotiated with them," Bhattacharjee said, adding that the land will be given on lease to both the IT giants.

On the infrastructure, he said that Rajarhat area already had housing, market complexes and road facilities.

"Now the state government will talk to these companies with the proposal. We can immediately hand over the proposed land to them (Wipro and Infosys).

"A few months back we'd identified land near Vedic Village area to set up an IT township there. But we didn't have any idea that they were acquiring land with muscle power and also with the help of some anti-social elements. Some unfortunate things also happened there... I was little upset with that," the chief minister said.

He said that the state government immediately dropped the project and decided not to go ahead with it as it was not morally correct, following the trouble that erupted over Vedic Reality - a joint venture between the private party and state's key IT agency Webel.

The proposed IT township at Rajarhat near Salt Lake had become controversial following allegations that land sharks - allegedly backed by promoters of Vedic Realty - had been involved in land acquisitions.

The state government depended on Vedic Realty to get land for the 1,600-acre IT project.

Both Infosys and Wipro had sought 90 acres from the state government for their ventures. ITC Infotech was also eyeing space in the IT hub.

Bhattacharjee said the land was already with the state government and they would just have to change the land map at Rajarhat slightly to accommodate the IT players.

300 terrorists waiting to sneak into J&K
Around 300 terrorists are waiting across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for an opportunity to infiltrate into
India, prompting the Army to strengthen its anti-insurgency security grid.

The terrorists have been spotted moving in batches from place to place along the LoC, apparently in search of vulnerable spots from where they could infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Ministry sources said on Thursday.

The attempt was to push in as many terrorists as possible before the onset of winter when snowfall will make the mountainous terrains impregnable, the sources said.

"The next two months are crucial," they said, expecting a jump in the infiltration attempts.

In the recent times, there have been a number of attempts at infiltration, many times accompanied by firing from across the LoC to provide cover to such bids.

Security forces have killed at least 25 terrorists while foiling these infiltration attempts last month and these encounters took place at points along the LoC.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in an address to a conference of state police chiefs on Tuesday, had termed as worrisome secessionists and militant groups in Kashmir making common cause with "outside elements" and noted that infiltration across the LoC was going up.
46% Indian kids suffer from malnutrition: Study

Despite India's recent economic boom, at least 46% of its children up to the age of 3 still suffer from malnutrition making the country home
to a third of the world's malnourished children, a study said today.

Noting that the country is an "economic powerhouse but a nutritional weakling", the report by the British-based Institute of Development Studies (IDS), which incorporated papers by more than 20 India analysts, said "at least 46% of children upto the age of 3 in India still suffer from malnutrition."

"It's the contrast between India's fantastic economic growth and its persistent malnutrition which is so shocking," Lawrence Haddad, director of the IDS told The Times.

The UN defines malnutrition as a state in which an individual can no longer maintain natural bodily capacities such as growth, pregnancy, lactation, learning abilities, physical work and resisting and recovering from disease.

The report said India will not meet the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving its number of hungry till 2043 though it had committed in 2001 to reach it by 2015.

The report also highlighted the Government's failure to improve basic living standards for most Indians despite its unprecedented economic growth since 2004.

Sonia, ICICI's Kochhar among top 20 powerful women

Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, Chanda Kochhar, CEO of ICICI Bank India and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Chairman, Biocon India are the only Indians in Forbes annual list of the 100 most powerful women. (See full List)

The list, which was released last night, includes fiery chief executives, brilliant politicians and beloved queens, but the model for all women who seek influence, is the cautious and uncharismatic German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Nooyi is listed as the third most powerful woman in the world, while Sonia Gandhi Kochhar and Shaw are ranked 13, 20 and 91 respectively. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed is the only other South Asian in the list and is ranked 78.

Americans make up 63 of the 100, while only four women from Britain make the grade

In assembling the list, Forbes looked for women who run countries, big companies or influential nonprofits. Their rankings are a combination of two scores: visibility - by press mentions - and the size of the organization or country these women lead.

Besides Gandhi and Kochhar, Biocon's chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw also featured in the list at number 91.

Gandhi improved her ranking from 21 last year to 13 this year, while Mazumdar-Shaw moved to 91 from last year's 99th place.

Nooyi retained her third position in the list.

Bahujan Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, who was ranked 59th in last year's list, did not figure in the latest list put up on Forbes.com.

Regarding Gandhi, Forbes said, she is "still the country's dominant force since she reluctantly entered politics in the 1990s." The landslide victory in the recent general election further strengthened her position as the leader of "India's most powerful political party" – Indian National Congress.

Kochhar was named as the first woman boss of India's second largest lender ICICI Bank and took charge in May this year. "She now oversees a bank with assets of USD 100 billion," Forbes said. She was instrumental in transforming the retail business of ICICI Bank and turning it into a retail banking powerhouse.

Besides, Anglo American Chief Cynthia Carroll, Temasek CEO Ho Ching, Kraft Foods Chief Irene Rosenfeld, DuPont head Ellen Kullman, WellPoint CEO Angela Braly, Areva Chief Anne Lauvergeon and Sunoco head Lynn Elsenhans are among the top 10 powerful women.

Interestingly, speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (35) was ranked ahead of Hillary Clinton (36), the US Secretary of State, Michelle Obama (40), the first lady of the US, and Queen Elizabeth II (42).

Other dignitaries in list are Melinda Gates (34), the Co-chairman Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Oprah Winfrey (41), Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed (78) and Chile President Michelle Bachelet (22) among others.

Forbes' Powerful Women list is based largely in terms of influence rather than celebrity status or popularity.

In assembling the list, Forbes looked for women who run countries, big companies or influential nonprofits.

"Their rankings are a combination of two scores: visibility -- by press mentions -- and the size of the organisation or country these women lead," the US-based magazine said.

Yamaha launches 'VMAX' priced at Rs 20 lakh

Govt takes no stand on gay sex, leaves it to Supreme Court

Shying away from taking any stand on gay sex, the government on Thursday virtually left it for the Supreme Court to decide on the "correctness" of the Delhi High Court order decriminalising homosexuality.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, considered the report of the three-member Group of Ministers formed on the issue and decided that Attorney General G Vahanvati will "assist" the Supreme Court on it.

"The Cabinet decided to ask the Attorney General to assist the Supreme Court in every way desired by it in arriving at an opinion on the correctness of the judgement of the High Court," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters.

To a volley of questions, she repeated the same formulation of her statement and said the Supreme Court can decide if the High Court was "right or not" in decriminalizing gay sex.

She refused to say anything more on the issue, maintaining that she was not authorised to "explain" further as the matter related to Cabinet proceedings. The Cabinet decided against taking any stand on the issue to avoid getting caught in any controversy, a minister said, explaining why it was left for the Apex court to take a view.

The Delhi High Court had passed an order about two months back legalising sex between consenting gay partners, earlier considered a criminal act under Section 377 of the IPC. Some religious bodies opposed it. A Christian organisation, a disciple of Yoga guru Ramdev and Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) have approached the Supreme Court which sought the government's response by October one.

The Supreme Court had earlier refused to stay the High Court order, saying it would await the response of the government. In view of the sensitive nature of the issue, the government set up a Group of Ministers comprising Home Minister P Chidambaram, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Law Minister Veerappa Moily to formulate a view on it.

The GoM was understood to have suggested that the government should not take a stand but leave it to the Supreme Court to decide. Indicating the GoM's view earlier this week, Moily had said the Cabinet should not be expected to take any stand as the government would only assist the Supreme Court in arriving at the "right" decision.

"The decision has been already given by the Delhi High Court (decriminalising gay sex). The only question is certain appeals have been filed before the Supreme Court in which we (government) are not the party...the parties are petitioners and respondents. Our law officers will deal with the question," he had said.

Meeting on Chinese incursions postponed

The China Study Group meeting to discuss the fallout of Chinese incursions into Indian territory, which was to be held on Thursday, has been postponed. No reason was given for the postponement of the meeting.

National Security Advisor M K Narayanan was to hold the meeting with top officials including Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar and Secretaries of Defence, Home and Foreign Ministries. The meeting was expected to take stock of the situation along the Sino-India border and to chart the future course of action, official sources said.

Besides Chandrasekhar, the meeting was to be attended by Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar, Home Secretary G K Pillai and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao. Top officials of the three armed forces and the Intelligence Bureau will also attend the meeting.

The meeting was to be called to take stock of recent reports of incursions by the Chinese army in Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, involving the air dropping of expired food canes, painting of rocks red among others.

Another media report said that two Chinese Sukhoi fighters had transgressed into Indian air space last month. The Indian Air Force, however, says no unscheduled flight inside Indian air space had taken place last month.

DALAI LAMA'S VISIT | INDIA-CHINA TUG OF WAR

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India snubs China, clears Dalai Lama's Arunachal trip

Surya Gangadharan / CNN-

New Delhi: Snubbing Beijing's diktat, New Delhi has cleared the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh. The Tibetan leader is also expected to visit Tawang which China covets.

China's dismissal of Indian concerns on border intrusions have left South Block troubled and dissatisfied. But now it's China's turn to face a clear snub from a neighbouring nation.

External Affairs Minister, SM Krishna said, "Arunachal Pradesh is a part of India and Dalai Lama is free to go anywhere in India. The only point is that he is not expected to comment on political developments."

Adding insult to the Dragon's injury, the Tibetans said Arunachal is a part of India, warning that China's border violations were provocative.

"The encroachment and insertion in the border area and not only in the northeast but also in the western borders is seen. It is seen particularly in Ladakh as lot of Ladakhi nomads have been disturbed (and it has been noticed) quite at length inside India, they have entered and they have painted even the rocks," said Tibetan leader Samdong Rinpoche.

Although reports of China firing at Indian border guards in Sikkim have been denied, tensions on the border have left some people in Sikkim uneasy about the future.

A local journalist, Arjun Rai said, "In 1962 there was some friction between India and China. So from then onwards we are feeling insecure. Anytime China can attack India."

Of late, China appears to have woken up to the damage to its image. Indian journalists In Beijing, Indian journalists were given a rare briefing where peaceful intentions were reiterated. But the gap between Beijing's words and ground reality remains unresolved.

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