Bandh: Politicians being unconcerned of general public woes

Today few political organizations have called for nation wide bandh excluding gujarat for attack on Ayodhya by terrorists. We need to ask ourselves how far this is justifiable to register one's protest?!. Using colonial tactics to protest an incident is quite naive and hinders our economy. There are many daily wage earners and others for whom each day's earning is quite dearer. There should be moral consciousness among political parties towards citizens of this nation and they should not forget (or should learn) that they are in politics to the betterment of people and not to create more problems in their lives. They should realize that there are many other ways to register their protest like sathyagraha or should look for ingenious ways which doesn't causes civil disturbance. It is irony, that even after knowing dis-consent of general public & court in using these age old methods, our politicians still prefer them.

Charity and Evangelism

Union Cabinet has approved a draft bill seeking replacement of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act

Foreign contributions and donations to scores of Indian voluntary organisations, religious groups and charitable institutions every year touch nearly Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion).

Which is the biggest foreign donor?

World Vision International, a United States-based Christian relief and development organisation, is the biggest donor agency for many Indian voluntary groups. World Vision released nearly Rs 95 crore for charitable purposes for Indian agencies last year. Other big donors are Foster Parents Plan International, USA and Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, USA.

In recent sting operation, Tehelka has exposed World Vision International's covert agenda of christian evangelism and Other donor Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society is well known christian evangelical organization.

So is the US the biggest foreign donor for the Indian NGOs?

Yes. As per the latest available data with the Union home ministry, the US heads the list of donor countries to India with Rs 1,492.62 crore (Rs 14.926 billion), followed by the United Kingdom (Rs 677.59 crore), and Germany (Rs 664.51 crore).

Many secularists in India wish to believe that societies in USA & Europe(Western nations) are non religious in nature but these figures prove them wrong and to the contrary reveal their religious zeal.

Which are the Indian states that receive the largest foreign donations?

Among the states and Union Territories, Delhi is the leading recipient following by Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

There should be a clause in FCRA to force religious & charitable organizationsto reveal about the amount of funds they spend on charity and evangelism. It should also be noted that there are many complaints(specially during tsunami relief efforts) against some Christian organizations that they provide monetary assistance through charities to only for those who are willing to convert. Being in a pluralistic society we should not allow any organization of any religious denomination to allure people through charity to convert one's faith.

Dilemma or ignorance of indian media!!??

I was watching TV today and surprised to see indian media channels using words "Militant" and "Terrorist" interchangeably as if their both denotes the same meaning, may be there is ambiguity in their minds!. its quite pathetic to see them mince their words which have wider political significance.

Rediff has a news item on today's terrorist event in Ayodhya and title of the news item says 6 militants storm Ayodhya, killed "and when we click on the news story, it starts with "Six heavily armed terrorists", perhaps this is too much for them to decide!.

Balochi dissidence in pakistan

It is distressing to see Pakistani government using combination of brutal force and political actions to systematically destroy balochi movement, here are the excerpts from pakistan's daily Dawn:

The alliance leader alleged that the government had tried to buy the time under the pretext of compiling the report and during that period the Baloch people had to face excesses, large number of nationalists arrests, hushing up the Dr Shazia rape case, security forces onslaught and illegal land allotments in Gwadar.

He said the government was reluctant to settle the Balochistan issue and was following anti-Baloch agenda.

He said that the committee's recommendations lack the NFC award distribution on backwardness, area and revenue collection. It neither referred to the excesses of coast guards and frontier corps nor empowering the province to control its resources, he said, adding that what to say of abolition the security forces checkpoints in Uthal, Pasni Ormara and other areas.

He alleged that the parliamentary committee had made an attempt to divide the people of the province on linguistic, cultural, historical and ethnic basis.

Irony is that International media or nor Indian media is not giving precedence to balochi people's human rights.