Buddhism the state religion
He came to power on the twin platforms of making Sinhala the official language and Buddhism the state religion. The Tamil minority groups felt like foreigners in their own country. Large-scale riots ensued. 
Faced with Tamil opposition, Bandaranaike attempted compromise solutions, but the forces of reaction that he unleashed devoured him. On September 25, 1959, he was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in his residence. The assassin represented powerful forces – Buddhist monks, teachers and disgruntled politicians. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the “weeping widow” as she was called, came to power on a racist platform and went further in her acts of discrimination against the Tamils.
The assassination of President Premadasa, on May 1, 1993, while he was controlling the May Day procession, at the hands of the Tigers, was another turning point in Sri Lankan politics. The first non-Goigama leader to occupy the highest political position, Premadasa was opposed to the India-Sri Lanka Accord and the induction of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka. The common opposition to India brought the hitherto two antagonistic forces – Premadasa and Prabhakaran – together. Colombo not only financed LTTE, it also provided the much-needed weapons to the Tigers. The “temporary honeymoon” lasted only for a short interval. As soon as the IPKF withdrew from Sri Lanka, the differences came out into the open and soon the Second Eelam War commenced. What distinguished Premadasa’s reign was the unbridled violence that the Sri Lankan armed forces unleashed against the Sinhala youth, who rallied round the flag of the JVP. Sri Lankan writers refer to this period as Bhishana Samaya or days of terror. More Sinhalese youth were massacred during these two years than the total number of Tamils killed during the first three Eelam Wars. The two rivers of exquisite beauty in southern Sri Lanka – Kelaniya Ganga and Mahaweli Ganga – were clogged with dead bodies and foamed with blood.
During those horrible days of gross violation of human rights, a young SLFP member of Parliament escaped from the island and spent sleepless nights in the office of the UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva. Two human rights activists – one a Sinhalese called Vasudeva Nayanakkara and second a Tamil, Tissainayagam, assisted him with excellent documentation of violation of human rights. The Sinhalese leader pleaded in vain for UN intervention for protection of human rights in Sri Lanka. That Sinhalese leader was none other than the present President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa. Tissanayagam, his close comrade in arms, has been sentenced for two decades of rigorous imprisonment recently for alleged support to the Tigers.
Sri Lanka today is fast degenerating into a fascist state. The opposition has been silenced, those who dare to tell the truth are getting assassinated and the press has been muzzled. Today, the Tamils are at the receiving end but tomorrow it will be the turn of the Sinhalese. The poignant words of Pastor Niemoeller come to my mind:
In Germany, they first came for the Communists, And I did not speak up because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, And I did not speak up because I was not a Jew.
Then they came up for the trade unionists, & I did not speak up because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics And I did not speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came up for me And by that time no one was left to speak up.
Faced with Tamil opposition, Bandaranaike attempted compromise solutions, but the forces of reaction that he unleashed devoured him. On September 25, 1959, he was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in his residence. The assassin represented powerful forces – Buddhist monks, teachers and disgruntled politicians. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the “weeping widow” as she was called, came to power on a racist platform and went further in her acts of discrimination against the Tamils.The assassination of President Premadasa, on May 1, 1993, while he was controlling the May Day procession, at the hands of the Tigers, was another turning point in Sri Lankan politics. The first non-Goigama leader to occupy the highest political position, Premadasa was opposed to the India-Sri Lanka Accord and the induction of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka. The common opposition to India brought the hitherto two antagonistic forces – Premadasa and Prabhakaran – together. Colombo not only financed LTTE, it also provided the much-needed weapons to the Tigers. The “temporary honeymoon” lasted only for a short interval. As soon as the IPKF withdrew from Sri Lanka, the differences came out into the open and soon the Second Eelam War commenced. What distinguished Premadasa’s reign was the unbridled violence that the Sri Lankan armed forces unleashed against the Sinhala youth, who rallied round the flag of the JVP. Sri Lankan writers refer to this period as Bhishana Samaya or days of terror. More Sinhalese youth were massacred during these two years than the total number of Tamils killed during the first three Eelam Wars. The two rivers of exquisite beauty in southern Sri Lanka – Kelaniya Ganga and Mahaweli Ganga – were clogged with dead bodies and foamed with blood.
During those horrible days of gross violation of human rights, a young SLFP member of Parliament escaped from the island and spent sleepless nights in the office of the UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva. Two human rights activists – one a Sinhalese called Vasudeva Nayanakkara and second a Tamil, Tissainayagam, assisted him with excellent documentation of violation of human rights. The Sinhalese leader pleaded in vain for UN intervention for protection of human rights in Sri Lanka. That Sinhalese leader was none other than the present President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa. Tissanayagam, his close comrade in arms, has been sentenced for two decades of rigorous imprisonment recently for alleged support to the Tigers.
Sri Lanka today is fast degenerating into a fascist state. The opposition has been silenced, those who dare to tell the truth are getting assassinated and the press has been muzzled. Today, the Tamils are at the receiving end but tomorrow it will be the turn of the Sinhalese. The poignant words of Pastor Niemoeller come to my mind:
In Germany, they first came for the Communists, And I did not speak up because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, And I did not speak up because I was not a Jew.
Then they came up for the trade unionists, & I did not speak up because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics And I did not speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came up for me And by that time no one was left to speak up.
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Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-
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had used obscene language against her). I shall quote the final paragraph of that memorable letter: “….. Be that as it may, it is my earnest and sincere hope that with all the knowledge and deep understanding of human affairs, you, as President of the United States and reflecting the will, the aspirations and idealism of the great American people, will at least let me know where precisely we have gone wrong before representatives or spokesmen deal with us with such harshness of language.” Richard Nixon did not reply.
for commercial release, unless reversed by the Centre, will go down as the blackest day in Indian history for its impact on India’s food security, health, farming and environment. We, who are well conversant with the details of the appraisal of the Mahyco-Monsanto safety dossier by four world renowned scientists (Seralini, Carman, Heinemann & Gurian-Sherman), shudder to imagine the extent of the disaster that will unfold. Seralini, of Crigen France, did major assessments for the EU of various Monsanto Bt corn products. These were subsequently banned for planting in most EU countries. He says that Mahyco’s own dossier of rat feeding studies shows worrying results both clinically and statistically, on various parameters of health, in the blood, in the cells and organs of animals being tested. Bt brinjal is toxic and its release must be forbidden. No long-term feeding studies for chronic toxicity have been conducted. The inescapable conclusion of these feeding studies of Mahyco is that they have been ‘engineered’ or designed to throw up ‘no significant differences’.
went for trials and the chairman of the selection committee, Dr Thimmappaiaha, a medical doctor, was worried about my safety. I was rejected. Later on, when I was captain for the state team, Thimmappaiaha was the chairman of the selection committee. I once asked him casually whether I had been rejected because of my lack of inches. He told me, "Yeah, that’s true. I was really worried that you would be hit.” I was very lean and short. I can imagine his fatherly feelings towards all of us.
encourage the Lankan government to settle the Sinhalese in Tamil areas. Calling the move a politically motivated one, AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa says: “The CM knows that the Centre would not grant citizenship to Tamil refugees because this would encourage refugees from Bangaladesh, Myanmar and Tibet to demand it too.” Says the state’s BJP vice president H Raja: “The Tamils should be rehabilitated in the island. Efforts to give them citizenship only reinforces Rajapaksa’s plan of ethnic cleansing.” Raja and Nachiapapan are being backed by a large number of refugees who are languishing in 115 camps across TN.
allowed to choose one, just one, soldier to fight for you, who would you choose? The Incredible Hulk? Wolverine? Arjuna? Iron Man? It has been a long cherished dream of every army in the world to build the ‘super soldier’, a warrior whose abilities border on the superhuman. With the latest advances in technology, the concept of the super soldier seems poised to leap out of the pages of science fiction, graphic novels and Hollywood screenplays straight into our midst. A soldier who is virtually indestructible or almost immortal would be undoubtedly the ultimate fighting machine. Major Gen. Sheru Thapliyal tells TSI, “To crack the code of being immortal doesn't seem to be a possibility but there is special training that exists, which does not aim at making soldiers immortal, but to train them and incorporate certain skills in them which cannot be performed by an average human being. There are para-troopers in India who are trained to perform special actions and perform them at great speed with huge destructive ability.” Back in May this year, the US Army’s Soldier Research Design and Engineering Centre released a white paper titled ‘Future Soldier 2030 Initiative,’ which outlined the various areas (performance and training, soldier protection, soldier lethality etc.) that the soldier of the future will be enhanced on. Quite a few of the concepts have been inspired by popular fictional characters like the “Hulk” or “Wolverine”. Talk about life imitating art! More specifically, comic book art.
I had to 'restructure' the organisation and focus on the 'vision' of the House of Mewar. It was a tough job to make the transition, while building upon the platforms that one had inherited. I understood how important it was to remain 'loyal' to values, especially the core value of custodianship that’s defined the character of our House for centuries.
celebration of Ram’s return to Ayodhya after he had defeated Ravan and wrested back Sita. The people of Ayodhya, it is said, had lit up the entire city and burst crackers. Apart from being a Hindu festival, Diwali is of relevance to some other religions as well. For the Jains, Lord Mahavir had passed away in the month of Kartik on amavasya day, which is why the Jains light lamps and perform pujas and pray on Diwali. As for the tradition of gambling on Diwali, during samudra manthan by devtas and asuras, while the devtas were hoping for Lakshmi to appear, what they got was ‘Alakshmi’, the opposite of Lakshmi. So they gambled away that ‘Alakshmi’ 
tea gardens and monitor its production, which they then buy from auction at a price than Rs 15000 per kg. Tea is indeed the world's most preferred non-alcoholic beverage. The world’s passion, Indian tea, comes in three varieties based on geographical locations — Darjeeling, Assam and Nilgiri. Highly flavoured Darjeeling tea is of Chinese bush, 20,000 of which were smuggled out of China about 150 years back by a British physician, Robert Fortune. Assam tea dominates in the Indian market as far as quantity goes, but Darjeeling leads in terms of price and global presence. Nilgiri tea was first grown on the grave of coffee, affected by ‘leaf rust’. 
Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. In India, as part of the movement, credit societies were formed. They received contributions and gave loans to its members. 1949, milk producers of Gujarat shaped a cooperative union that later came to be known as Amul. Corruption in some cooperative banks has given the concept a bad name but the movement still survives across the country. 
basin. Back then, women used to consider wearing diamonds unlucky. For centuries, it adorned the crowns of the Mughals. When Nadir Shah invaded India and routed the Mughals in 1739, it travelled to Persia. It was later offered to Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab. The British East India Company snatched it from the Sikhs. It was offered to the British ruler, Queen Victoria, in 1849 on the completion of 250 years of the company.
of bowling with broken jaw in Antigua Test? Former West Indian captain Sir Vivian Richards later said, "It was one of the bravest things I've seen on the field of play." On the other hand, his 10-wicket haul in an innings against Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla (1999) was an amazing show of craftsmanship. After equalling the world record of Jim Laker, Kumble once told me, “I never anticipated it. After getting the 7th wicket, I started dreaming about world record.” Today, a retired Jumbo is the highest Indian wicket taker in Test matches. In coming days, someone may break his records but Jumbo is always great, both on and off the field. 
hits, including K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam and Kamal Amrohi's Pakeezah. Mughal-e-Azam ran in the theatre for four years. Pakeezah, on the other hand, had a slow start, but its heroine, Meena Kumari, passed away a week after the release of the film. The footfalls increased steadily thereafter and history was made. Maratha Mandir's claim to fame today rests on 'Dilwale Dulhaniya le Jayenge', a Shahrukh Khan-Kajol starrer that has been running here for 14 years. 
is one of the biggest stars that the subcontinent has ever seen. Every release of his to this day is a major media event, and his fans - they are a legion - hang on to virtually every word that he utters on the screen and off it. The charismatic Rajnikanth is pushing 60, but his appeal only seems to grow brighter with age. He is a supernova in the real sense of the word - his films make or break the Tamil movie industry.
cultural background of the people. If you observe keenly you will see that normally people who commit suicide on learning about their icon’s death are mostly from the lower or lower middle class (except a very few exceptional cases from the upper class of society). First of all these people from the lower or lower middle class are deprived of basic needs like food, shelter and clothing. So when their idol, who happens to be their only source of hope and solace, expires, they take the extreme step of committing suicide.
the Richter scale and 5.9. The one in 1950 had measured 8.7, one of the highest ever. Newspapers here have been running horror stories, recounting the experiences of the survivors. The earlier quake had left over 500 people dead, not counting the 700 lives that were lost in eastern Tibet. Surya Kanta Sharma, who had researched the subject while at Gauhati University warns of an impending disaster. “The 1950 earthquake too had been preceded by smaller tremors such as the ones felt here over the past few weeks,” says Sharma, retired professor of geography, Gauhati University. “I had, based on my study, predicted about five years ago that a big quake would strike the region before 2010.”
each block’. These ‘officers’ will have two primary tasks. The first will be to try their best to ensure that money spent on social welfare and poverty eradication schemes actually reach the poor. Second, these officers will provide critical inputs on the character and prospects of potential Congress candidates for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. In Amethi, for instance, there are about 9,000 workers or ‘officers’ who are performing the dual tasks. Multiply that with 543 Lok Sabha constituencies and you are talking about half a million such officers spread across the length and breadth of India.
media was whether India had bitten off more than it could chew by alluding that its ‘role’ in fomenting trouble in Balochistan was on the discussion table with Pakistan as part of the composite dialogue process. Some analysts say the joint statement delinking action on terror from the composite dialogue process has come as a bolt from the blue.
a country can learn a lot from its neighbours. Many of the Latin American countries have gone democratic because, the big neighbour the US, inherited it successfully. Many preferred capitalism because it turned out to be a successful economic system in the US. Similarly, if European countries are somewhat equally prosperous and united, it is because each strived to learn lessons from neighbours. Even in Asia, China is perhaps a classic example. It's incorporation of positives of capitalism - initiating liberalisation and privatisation led by Deng Xiaoping after he found that neither the socialist command economy favoured by Communist Part of China (CPC) nor Maoist ideology of shifting from socialism to communism as exercised in agriculture but failed had actually worked in favour of an economy unique in itself. Initiating reforms in a communist country like China was not easy!
standard school education from the next year onwards has been welcomed. Initially the new education policy to have a single-board system will be implemented in the academic year (2010-11) for I and VI classes and in 2011-12 it will be expanded to other standards.
batting for? In those days, Pawar appeared to be busy with more important issues like the Board of Control for Cricket in of India (BCCI) and the Indian Premier League (IPL) Today, he is too busy with the looming state assembly elections in Maharashtra, which happens to be the second largest producer of sugarcane and sugar after Uttar Pradesh. Sure, he conducts meetings and issues lame sounding statements that a sugar shortage is imminent and that the government will do everything it can to rein in prices. But the fact is, even industry insiders and government officials openly admit that sugar prices will almost certainly cross Rs 70 per kilo. And really, don’t be shocked out of your wits if prices touch or cross even Rs 100 a kilo in the not too distant future.
Mahindra Holidays & Resorts came out with its initial public offering (IPO) in June this year, while the much awaited Adani Power IPO, which closed last week, received a whopping 5,79,000 applications (the Rs.30 billion IPO attracted total bids to the tune of Rs.650 billion). So the entire IPO ecosystem is buzzing with energy and enthusiasm yet again. Investors are seeing this as a chance to party again after a prolonged sobering period.
know the exact amount provided by the government to the Integrated Tribal Development Authority. In its response, ITDA asked the applicant to deposit Rs 2,090 as stationery fee. Interestingly, this amount included the wages of a typist. The rules clearly stipulate that wages of a government typist cannot be taken into account while estimating the cost of responding to an RTI application.
has shot down a proposal for setting up a National War Memorial at India Gate. If you look at the martyrs’ names etched on the existing memorial, they are all from the pre-Independence era. Especially aft er the Kargil war the Defence Ministry had suggested that there be an allocated place at India Gate where we could salute our martyrs and fallen soldiers. It would have been a place where we could have run our fi ngers over their etched names. I feel very sad that August 15 is round the corner and we have categorically denied our martyrs that honour.
