Re: [Assam] Oil Industry Institute in Rae Bareilly, UP?

[umesh sharma]

Dilip-da,

Good question --it should be in oil producing region -Assam or Mumbai.

Umesh

Dilip/Dil Deka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I don't know how many of you saw this 
article in the "Hydroprocessing" magazine or whether you subscribe to the 
magazine. Rae Bareilly? - What does it have to do with oil industry? Those in 
this net who lick Nehru/Gandhi boots - time for you to think.
   
  Why didn't Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan or Orissa get the honors of hosting this 
institute? Did Tarun Gogoi pay obeissance, "as you say, Ma'am".
  Dilip Deka
  ==
   
  

























  Engineers will be trained in specialized petroleum courses such as energy 
exploration and refining activities
  Jeetha D’Silva and Gayatri Ramanathan
  

   
   

 

Mumbai: Facing a stubborn labour shortage, the energy sector plans to 
groom its own talent: by launching educational institutes. 
  The industry has taken the first steps to start a handful of  institutes for 
petroleum engineers and to train them in both upstream (oil and gas 
exploration) and downstream (refining) activities. 
  These initiatives, also supported by the government, could sharply increase 
the number of students graduating with skills specific to the oil and gas 
sector, starting in 2009. So far, most Indian petroleum engineers have trained 
either at the Indian Institute of Petroleum at Dehradun in Uttarakhand , or at 
the Indian School of Mines at Dhanbad in Jharkhand. 
  Over the next five years, the need for trained geoscientists for exploration 
operations alone is pegged at 6,181, said a study conducted by consultant firm 
PricewaterhouseCoopers for Petrofed, an association of public  sector oil 
companies. The shortfall will be about 2,844 geoscientists. The current 
surpluses in some categories of geoscientists are also poised to change into an 
acute shortage as early as next year. According to the same study, the overall 
gap between availability and requirement of trained energy industry manpower in 
India is projected to be about 36,000 by 2019 with existing institutes unable 
to meet this increasing demand for technical manpower in the petroleum sector.
  While the number seems small, compared to much larger shortages that other 
industries such as the outsourcing industry dish out, many of these jobs in the 
petroleum sector are highly specialized with shortages having a major impact in 
a sector that is a national priority. 
  The education initiatives mark the first of their kind for energy studies, 
with the largest being the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, 
structured along the lines of the Indian Institutes  of Technology (IIT). The 
institute is being set up in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, with an investment of 
some Rs500 crore, funded by the government and public sector oil companies. 
  Oil marketer Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) is spearheading the initiative 
on behalf of all the PSUs, said D.M. Reddy, executive director for BPCL human 
resources. He said once the institute is fully operational, it will have seven 
programmes offering bachelor’s in technology, six integrated master’s degrees, 
eight master’s in technology, along with MBA and 12 post-graduate diplomas and 
PhD programmes—all related to oil and gas. 
  Reddy, who is also the president of the board of trustees appointed by the 
ministry of petroleum to anchor the institute, predicts the institute—to 
commence in Rae Bareli and New Delhi in 2008—will emerge as the only one to 
comprehensively address the talent needs of the oil and gas ­industries. 
  “There is already a big  gap (between) demand and supply for trained 
engineers in exploration and production (E&P) which will only widen with a 
growth in demand,” he said. “The institute will mitigate this talent crunch.” 
He said the institute expects to enroll 2,400 students, with 900 graduating 
every year. Located on a 125-acre campus, it hopes to collaborate with foreign 
institutes for both student and faculty exchange.
  A new course has also been launched at IIT Bombay, focusing on specialized 
skills for the petroleum industry. “Earlier, we had a post-graduate programme 
in geo-exploration and some of these graduates would join the oil and gas 
industry,” said P.K. Saraswati, head, department of earth sciences. “But, 
because of the growing demand for specialized skills, we decided to launch an 
M.Tech programme in petroleum geosciences from this year onwards.” 
  The IIT course is supported by energy company BG India Ltd, a part of BG 
Group Plc. The company will provide  funds for visiting faculty from global 
institutes in the field as well as fund two students. It will also support the 
institute’s laboratory to develop facilities in petroleum geoscience. 
  IIT Bombay may look at expanding its scope of collaboration with the industry 
for this programme.
  “This course cannot be offered in isolation. We have to work with the 
indu

[Assam] Mt Everest: (-76F) Colder than Norh Pole(-36F)??

[umesh sharma]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/11/1108_041108_north_pole.html
July is the North Pole's warmest month, when the mean temperature rises to a 
freezing 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). In frigid February the 
average plummets to -31 degrees Fahrenheit (-35 degrees Celsius). Wind chills 
make these temperatures even worse and create one of the planet's most 
inhospitable environments.

http://www.italysoft.com/curios/everest/index.php
The climate of Mount  Everest is naturally extreme. In January, the coldest 
month, the summit  temperature averages about -36° C (about -33° F) and can 
drop as low as -60° C  (-76° F). In July, the warmest month, the average summit 
temperature is -19° C  (-2° F). At no time of the year does the temperature on 
the summit rise above  freezing. In winter and spring the prevailing westerly 
wind blows against the  peak and around the summit. Moisture-laden air rises 
from the south slopes of  the Himalayas and condenses into a white, 
pennant-shaped cloud pointing east;  this "flag cloud" sometimes enables 
climbers to predict storms. When the wind  reaches about 80 km/h (about 50 
mph), the flag cloud is at a right angle to the  peak. When the wind is weaker, 
the cloud tilts up; when it is stronger, the flag  tilts down. 
>From June through September the mountain is in the grip of the Indian  
>monsoon, during which wind and precipitation blow in from the Indian Ocean.  
>Masses of clouds and violent snowstorms are common during this time. From  
>November to February, in the dead of winter, the global southwest-flowing jet  
>stream moves in from the north, beating the summit with winds of hurricane 
>force  that may reach more than 285 km/h (177 mph). Even during the pre- and  
>post-monsoon climbing seasons, strong winds may arise suddenly. When such 
>storms  develop, sand and small stones carried aloft, as well as beating snow 
>and ice,  pose problems for climbers.  
Precipitation falls mostly during the monsoon season, while winter storms  
between December and March account for the rest. Unexpected storms, however, 
can  drop up to 3 m (10 ft) of snow on unsuspecting climbers and mountain 
hikers. 

Umesh Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)




www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )




http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
   
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Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[umesh sharma]

I was watching the Sikh Holocaust video again and am struck by the fact that 
Bhindrawale resembles Osama Bin Laden so much -same flowing beard and same 
sharp features with a smilar turban ---ofcourse Osama came on the scene much 
after Bhindrawale was dead. I do not know much about Bhindrawale nor regret 
that he is dead but it was wrong of Indira Gandhi to have attacke Golden 
Temple. They cold have laid a siege outside and let him starve to death else 
come out.

Osama seems to have sen these videos beforehand -having lived in the west for 
long and learned the use of mass media to fool Western audiences. Ofcourse, 
unlike Anti-Sikh riots in Delhi etc in 1984 nothing similar has happened 
against muslims  in the West.

Umesh 

umesh sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Rajen-da,

The dictatorship is too much of a term - it depends where you are in India - 
those in metros definitely are having full democracy and as you go into 
interiors where law and literacy are remote it becomes dictatorhip by the 
elected.

See the video of Indira's India of 1984 - Sikh Holocaust 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MasMHq7oUs&NR=1


Umesh

Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Umesh:
 India is best described as 'an elected  dictatorship'.
 Rajenda
- Original Message - 
   From:umeshsharma 
   To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assamfrom around the world 
   Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52PM
   Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : IndiaAfter Gandhi- Bengal democracy
   

Rajen-da

Good example of India-Shining rhetoric. 
Butjust becos there is peace (despite armed militancy in 25% of India's
districts- NE, Kashmir, Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etc etc) and
not many are dying of starvation and voting not by reading election manifestos  
  but by  recognizing cartoons (election symbols) of political parties .

Even democratically elected communist govt (an anamoly) of West Bengalis 
allegedly  in power for past 25 years non-stop since  a nexus  prevents  
anyone  from voting against the "party" or  else face ex-communication a-la 
erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe inmedieval times -as per a Bengali 
researcher .

But ofcourse noone candeny that despite is shortcomings the India that is 
Bharat is growing  -despite spoofs like Hollywood's "Borat" movie (Bharat 
??) from Kazakhstan(Rajasthan???)

Umesh


Rajen & Ajanta Barua<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:   Following 
may be added from another  review about the  book:
  
 India is the country that was never expected to ever  be a country. In 
the late 19th century, Sir John Strachey, a senior British  official, 
grandly opined that the territory's diverse states simply could  not 
possess any sort of unity, physical, political, social or religious.  
Strachey, clearly, was wrong: India today is a unified entity and a rising  
global power. Even so, it continues to defy explanation. India's existence, 
 says Guha, an internationally known scholar (Environmentalism: A Global  
History), has also been an anomaly for academic political science,  
according to whose axioms cultural heterogeneity and poverty do not make a  
nation, still less a democratic one. Yet India continues to exist. Guha's  
aim in this startlingly ambitious political, cultural and social survey is  
to explain why and how. He cheerfully  concludes that India's continuing  
existence results from its unique diversity and its refusal
 to be  pigeonholed into such conventional political models as 
Anglo-American  liberalism, French republicanism, atheistic communism or 
Islamist theocracy.  India is proudly sui generis, and with August 15, 
2007, being the 60th  anniversary of Indian independence, Guha's 
magisterial history of India  since that day comes not a moment too soon. 
32 pages of b&w illus., 8  maps.  
-Original Message - 
   From:Rajen &Ajanta Barua 
   To:assam@assamnet.org 
   Sent:Tuesday, September 25, 2007 10:42 PM
   Subject:[Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi
   

 Good review of a grand900 page book on India 
recently published:

   IndiaAfter Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy  
  by Ramachandra Guha  
 
>From The Washington Post's BookWorld/washingtonpost.com
Reviewed by GeorgePerkovich
 A toast to India on its 60th birthday: No country has more 
heroicallypursued the promise of democracy. Against the odds of 
staggering poverty,conflicting religious passions, linguistic 
pluralism, regional separatism,caste injustice and natural resource 
scarcity, Indians have liftedthemselves largely by their own sandal 
straps to become a stalwartdemocracy an

[Assam] Threads

[Ram Sarangapani]

Just a general question. Why do some netters (we know who they are:))
automatically start a new thread on the same topic?
A new thread is understandable when there are say 15-20 responses and it
becomes better if a new thread is started, or maybe when there is a change
in the header itself.

Starting a new thread on the same topic (IMHO) just for the heck of it seems
rather rude. And bingo, there 15 or so threads on the same darn topic.

Well! I got that off my chest - feel much better :)

--Ram
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Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy

[SANDIP DUTTA]

I disaggee - Earlier it could have been a problem of compulsion but now it is a 
situational demand. With 14+ official languages, English is naturally the 
language of choice for business and admin. 

Also it depends if you really are insistent on defining "elite" in the manner 
you do. 

Taking the earlier example of Laloo - he is not exceptionally good with English 
but he is still in the elite class by virtue of being minister. His recent 
successes in reforming IR have now made him unofficial management consultant as 
well. 

Hope that makes sense.

Rgds,
Sandip



- Original Message 
From: barua25 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world 

Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 9:37:37 AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


>I myself know an IRS officer now posted in Coorg district of Karnataka. He is 
>from UP and from a very lower middle class background. However >after 15 years 
>in the services, his english is as good as anyone else's and he has good 
>working knowledge of Kannada.
If the guy knows good English, it actually proves my original point that in 
India in ancient when one had to learn Sanskrit to be in the elite class, now 
one has to be good in English to be in the elite class.
Barua
 
 
- Original Message - 
From: SANDIP DUTTA 
To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world 
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 10:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


Rather than coming to conclusions about whether this attributes to dictatorship 
- why not involve someone from that state in this discussion to see if he 
concurs with this view.
 
Ditto for IAS/IPS officers coming from vernacular mediums. Contrary to belief, 
such officers actually have very good (if not excellent) knowledge of English 
and at times local languages wherever they are posted.
 
I myself know an IRS officer now posted in Coorg district of Karnataka. He is 
from UP and from a very lower middle class background. However after 15 years 
in the services, his english is as good as anyone else's and he has good 
working knowledge of Kannada.
 
No wonder we see most of the demands for sovereignity and seperation from 
foreign settled people who have got disconnected with the way this country 
works (and still works).
 
Rgds,
Sandip
 


 
- Original Message 
From: barua25 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from 
around the world 
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 8:00:10 AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


>a  nexus  prevents  anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face 
>ex-communication a-la erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times ->as 
>per a Bengali researcher 
 
This is in fact what is called 'elected dictatorship' going on in West bengal 
in name of democracy.
Rajenda

 
- Original Message - 
From: umesh sharma 
To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world 
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


Rajen-da

Good example of India-Shining rhetoric. 
But just becos there is peace (despite armed militancy in 25% of India's 
districts- NE, Kashmir, Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etc etc) and not 
many are dying of starvation and voting not by reading election manifestos but 
by recognizing cartoons (election symbols) of political parties . 

Even democratically elected communist govt (an anamoly) of West Bengal is 
allegedly  in power for past 25 years non-stop since  a  nexus  prevents  
anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face ex-communication a-la 
erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times -as per a Bengali researcher .

But ofcourse noone can deny that despite is shortcomings the India that is 
Bharat is growing  - despite spoofs like Hollywood's "Borat" movie (Bharat ??) 
from Kazakhstan (Rajasthan???)

Umesh


Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
Following may be added from another review about the book:
 
India is the country that was never expected to ever be a country. In the late 
19th century, Sir John Strachey, a senior British official, grandly opined that 
the territory's diverse states simply could not possess any sort of unity, 
physical, political, social or religious. Strachey, clearly, was wrong: India 
today is a unified entity and a rising global power. Even so, it continues to 
defy explanation. India's existence, says Guha, an internationally known 
scholar (Environmentalism: A Global History), has also been an anomaly for 
academic political science, according to whose axioms cultural heterogeneity 
and poverty do not make a nation, still less a democratic one. Yet India 
continues to exist. Guha's aim in this startlingly ambitious political, 
cultural and social surve

[Assam] Flood-hit Dhemaji people struggling for normal life (The Assam Tribune, 27.09.2007)

[Buljit Buragohain]

http://dhemaji.bihu.in/1743/


   
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Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy

[barua25]

>I myself know an IRS officer now posted in Coorg district of Karnataka. He is 
>from UP and from a very lower middle class background. However >after 15 years 
>in the services, his english is as good as anyone else's and he has good 
>working knowledge of Kannada.

If the guy knows good English, it actually proves my original point that in 
India in ancient when one had to learn Sanskrit to be in the elite class, now 
one has to be good in English to be in the elite class.

Barua





  - Original Message - 
  From: SANDIP DUTTA 
  To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world 
  Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 10:45 PM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


  Rather than coming to conclusions about whether this attributes to 
dictatorship - why not involve someone from that state in this discussion to 
see if he concurs with this view.



  Ditto for IAS/IPS officers coming from vernacular mediums. Contrary to 
belief, such officers actually have very good (if not excellent) knowledge of 
English and at times local languages wherever they are posted.



  I myself know an IRS officer now posted in Coorg district of Karnataka. He is 
from UP and from a very lower middle class background. However after 15 years 
in the services, his english is as good as anyone else's and he has good 
working knowledge of Kannada.



  No wonder we see most of the demands for sovereignity and seperation from 
foreign settled people who have got disconnected with the way this country 
works (and still works).



  Rgds,

  Sandip





   

  - Original Message 
  From: barua25 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
  To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from 
around the world 
  Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 8:00:10 AM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


  >a  nexus  prevents  anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face 
ex-communication a-la erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times ->as 
per a Bengali researcher .

  This is in fact what is called 'elected dictatorship' going on in West bengal 
in name of democracy.
  Rajenda

   
- Original Message - 
From: umesh sharma 
To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world 
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


Rajen-da

Good example of India-Shining rhetoric. 
But just becos there is peace (despite armed militancy in 25% of India's 
districts- NE, Kashmir, Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etc etc) and not 
many are dying of starvation and voting not by reading election manifestos but 
by recognizing cartoons (election symbols) of political parties . 

Even democratically elected communist govt (an anamoly) of West Bengal is 
allegedly  in power for past 25 years non-stop since  a  nexus  prevents  
anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face ex-communication a-la 
erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times -as per a Bengali researcher .

But ofcourse noone can deny that despite is shortcomings the India that is 
Bharat is growing  - despite spoofs like Hollywood's "Borat" movie (Bharat ??) 
from Kazakhstan (Rajasthan???)

Umesh


Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
  Following may be added from another review about the book:

  India is the country that was never expected to ever be a country. In the 
late 19th century, Sir John Strachey, a senior British official, grandly opined 
that the territory's diverse states simply could not possess any sort of unity, 
physical, political, social or religious. Strachey, clearly, was wrong: India 
today is a unified entity and a rising global power. Even so, it continues to 
defy explanation. India's existence, says Guha, an internationally known 
scholar (Environmentalism: A Global History), has also been an anomaly for 
academic political science, according to whose axioms cultural heterogeneity 
and poverty do not make a nation, still less a democratic one. Yet India 
continues to exist. Guha's aim in this startlingly ambitious political, 
cultural and social survey is to explain why and how. He cheerfully concludes 
that India's continuing existence results from its unique diversity and its 
refusal to be pigeonholed into such conventional political models as 
Anglo-American liberalism, French republicanism, atheistic communism or 
Islamist theocracy. India is proudly sui generis, and with August 15, 2007, 
being the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, Guha's magisterial history 
of India since that day comes not a moment too soon. 32 pages of b&w illus., 8 
maps.  
- Original Message - 
From: Rajen & Ajanta Barua 
To: assam@assamnet.org 
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 10:42 PM
Subject: [Assam] Book review : India Aft

[Assam] Guwahati University VC resigns

[Buljit Buragohain]

Note: forwarded message attached.


   
-
 Why delete messages? Unlimited storage is just a click away.--- Begin Message ---
Dr. Amarjyoti Chaudhury resigns due to state's apathy:

http://www.asomiyapratidin.co.in/epaper/Web/Article/2007/09/27/001/27_09_2007_001_008.jpg
http://www.asomiyapratidin.co.in/epaper/Web/Article/2007/09/27/010/27_09_2007_010_002.jpg

--- End Message ---
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Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy

[SANDIP DUTTA]

Rather than coming to conclusions about whether this attributes to dictatorship 
- why not involve someone from that state in this discussion to see if he 
concurs with this view.

Ditto for IAS/IPS officers coming from vernacular mediums. Contrary to belief, 
such officers actually have very good (if not excellent) knowledge of English 
and at times local languages wherever they are posted.

I myself know an IRS officer now posted in Coorg district of Karnataka. He is 
from UP and from a very lower middle class background. However after 15 years 
in the services, his english is as good as anyone else's and he has good 
working knowledge of Kannada.

No wonder we see most of the demands for sovereignity and seperation from 
foreign settled people who have got disconnected with the way this country 
works (and still works).

Rgds,
Sandip




- Original Message 
From: barua25 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from 
around the world 
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 8:00:10 AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


>a  nexus  prevents  anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face 
>ex-communication a-la erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times ->as 
>per a Bengali researcher .
 
This is in fact what is called 'elected dictatorship' going on in West bengal 
in name of democracy.
Rajenda

 
- Original Message - 
From: umesh sharma 
To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world 
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


Rajen-da

Good example of India-Shining rhetoric. 
But just becos there is peace (despite armed militancy in 25% of India's 
districts- NE, Kashmir, Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etc etc) and not 
many are dying of starvation and voting not by reading election manifestos but 
by recognizing cartoons (election symbols) of political parties . 

Even democratically elected communist govt (an anamoly) of West Bengal is 
allegedly  in power for past 25 years non-stop since  a  nexus  prevents  
anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face ex-communication a-la 
erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times -as per a Bengali researcher .

But ofcourse noone can deny that despite is shortcomings the India that is 
Bharat is growing  - despite spoofs like Hollywood's "Borat" movie (Bharat ??) 
from Kazakhstan (Rajasthan???)

Umesh


Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
Following may be added from another review about the book:
 
India is the country that was never expected to ever be a country. In the late 
19th century, Sir John Strachey, a senior British official, grandly opined that 
the territory's diverse states simply could not possess any sort of unity, 
physical, political, social or religious. Strachey, clearly, was wrong: India 
today is a unified entity and a rising global power. Even so, it continues to 
defy explanation. India's existence, says Guha, an internationally known 
scholar (Environmentalism: A Global History), has also been an anomaly for 
academic political science, according to whose axioms cultural heterogeneity 
and poverty do not make a nation, still less a democratic one. Yet India 
continues to exist. Guha's aim in this startlingly ambitious political, 
cultural and social survey is to explain why and how. He cheerfully concludes 
that India's continuing existence results from its unique diversity and its 
refusal to be pigeonholed into such conventional
 political models as Anglo-American liberalism, French republicanism, atheistic 
communism or Islamist theocracy. India is proudly sui generis, and with August 
15, 2007, being the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, Guha's magisterial 
history of India since that day comes not a moment too soon. 32 pages of b&w 
illus., 8 maps.  
- Original Message - 
From: Rajen & Ajanta Barua 
To: assam@assamnet.org 
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 10:42 PM
Subject: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi


Good review of a grand 900 page book on India recently published:
 
India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra 
Guha  
 
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Reviewed by George Perkovich
A toast to India on its 60th birthday: No country has more heroically pursued 
the promise of democracy. Against the odds of staggering poverty, conflicting 
religious passions, linguistic pluralism, regional separatism, caste injustice 
and natural resource scarcity, Indians have lifted themselves largely by their 
own sandal straps to become a stalwart democracy and emerging global power. 
India has risen with epic drama -- a nonviolent struggle for independence 
followed by mass mayhem and bloodletting, dynastic succession and 
assassination, military victory and defeat, starvation succeeded by green 
revolution, polit

Re: [Assam] Oil Industry Institute in Rae Bareilly, UP?

[barua25]

>Those in this net who lick Nehru/Gandhi boots - time for you to think.

What about the others who lick India? What is their point?
Barua

  - Original Message - 
  From: Dilip/Dil Deka 
  To: assam online ; ASSAMNET 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 8:30 PM
  Subject: [Assam] Oil Industry Institute in Rae Bareilly, UP?


  I don't know how many of you saw this article in the "Hydroprocessing" 
magazine or whether you subscribe to the magazine. Rae Bareilly? - What does it 
have to do with oil industry? Those in this net who lick Nehru/Gandhi boots - 
time for you to think.

  Why didn't Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan or Orissa get the honors of hosting this 
institute? Did Tarun Gogoi pay obeissance, "as you say, Ma'am".
  Dilip Deka
  ==


  Engineers will be trained in specialized petroleum courses such as energy 
exploration and refining activities
  Jeetha D'Silva and Gayatri Ramanathan



  Mumbai: Facing a stubborn labour shortage, the energy sector plans to groom 
its own talent: by launching educational institutes. 
  The industry has taken the first steps to start a handful of institutes for 
petroleum engineers and to train them in both upstream (oil and gas 
exploration) and downstream (refining) activities. 
  These initiatives, also supported by the government, could sharply increase 
the number of students graduating with skills specific to the oil and gas 
sector, starting in 2009. So far, most Indian petroleum engineers have trained 
either at the Indian Institute of Petroleum at Dehradun in Uttarakhand , or at 
the Indian School of Mines at Dhanbad in Jharkhand. 
  Over the next five years, the need for trained geoscientists for exploration 
operations alone is pegged at 6,181, said a study conducted by consultant firm 
PricewaterhouseCoopers for Petrofed, an association of public sector oil 
companies. The shortfall will be about 2,844 geoscientists. The current 
surpluses in some categories of geoscientists are also poised to change into an 
acute shortage as early as next year. According to the same study, the overall 
gap between availability and requirement of trained energy industry manpower in 
India is projected to be about 36,000 by 2019 with existing institutes unable 
to meet this increasing demand for technical manpower in the petroleum sector.
  While the number seems small, compared to much larger shortages that other 
industries such as the outsourcing industry dish out, many of these jobs in the 
petroleum sector are highly specialized with shortages having a major impact in 
a sector that is a national priority. 
  The education initiatives mark the first of their kind for energy studies, 
with the largest being the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, 
structured along the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). The 
institute is being set up in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, with an investment of 
some Rs500 crore, funded by the government and public sector oil companies. 
  Oil marketer Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) is spearheading the initiative 
on behalf of all the PSUs, said D.M. Reddy, executive director for BPCL human 
resources. He said once the institute is fully operational, it will have seven 
programmes offering bachelor's in technology, six integrated master's degrees, 
eight master's in technology, along with MBA and 12 post-graduate diplomas and 
PhD programmes-all related to oil and gas. 
  Reddy, who is also the president of the board of trustees appointed by the 
ministry of petroleum to anchor the institute, predicts the institute-to 
commence in Rae Bareli and New Delhi in 2008-will emerge as the only one to 
comprehensively address the talent needs of the oil and gas ­industries. 
  "There is already a big gap (between) demand and supply for trained engineers 
in exploration and production (E&P) which will only widen with a growth in 
demand," he said. "The institute will mitigate this talent crunch." He said the 
institute expects to enroll 2,400 students, with 900 graduating every year. 
Located on a 125-acre campus, it hopes to collaborate with foreign institutes 
for both student and faculty exchange.
  A new course has also been launched at IIT Bombay, focusing on specialized 
skills for the petroleum industry. "Earlier, we had a post-graduate programme 
in geo-exploration and some of these graduates would join the oil and gas 
industry," said P.K. Saraswati, head, department of earth sciences. "But, 
because of the growing demand for specialized skills, we decided to launch an 
M.Tech programme in petroleum geosciences from this year onwards." 
  The IIT course is supported by energy company BG India Ltd, a part of BG 
Group Plc. The company will provide funds for visiting faculty from global 
institutes in the field as well as fund two students. It will also support the 
institute's laboratory to develop facilities in petroleum geoscience. 
  IIT Bombay may look at expanding its sco

Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy

[barua25]

>a  nexus  prevents  anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face 
>ex-communication a-la erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times ->as 
>per a Bengali researcher .

This is in fact what is called 'elected dictatorship' going on in West bengal 
in name of democracy.
Rajenda


  - Original Message - 
  From: umesh sharma 
  To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52 PM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


  Rajen-da

  Good example of India-Shining rhetoric. 
  But just becos there is peace (despite armed militancy in 25% of India's 
districts- NE, Kashmir, Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etc etc) and not 
many are dying of starvation and voting not by reading election manifestos but 
by recognizing cartoons (election symbols) of political parties . 

  Even democratically elected communist govt (an anamoly) of West Bengal is 
allegedly  in power for past 25 years non-stop since  a  nexus  prevents  
anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face ex-communication a-la 
erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times -as per a Bengali researcher .

  But ofcourse noone can deny that despite is shortcomings the India that is 
Bharat is growing  - despite spoofs like Hollywood's "Borat" movie (Bharat ??) 
from Kazakhstan (Rajasthan???)

  Umesh


  Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Following may be added from another review about the book:

India is the country that was never expected to ever be a country. In the 
late 19th century, Sir John Strachey, a senior British official, grandly opined 
that the territory's diverse states simply could not possess any sort of unity, 
physical, political, social or religious. Strachey, clearly, was wrong: India 
today is a unified entity and a rising global power. Even so, it continues to 
defy explanation. India's existence, says Guha, an internationally known 
scholar (Environmentalism: A Global History), has also been an anomaly for 
academic political science, according to whose axioms cultural heterogeneity 
and poverty do not make a nation, still less a democratic one. Yet India 
continues to exist. Guha's aim in this startlingly ambitious political, 
cultural and social survey is to explain why and how. He cheerfully concludes 
that India's continuing existence results from its unique diversity and its 
refusal to be pigeonholed into such conventional political models as 
Anglo-American liberalism, French republicanism, atheistic communism or 
Islamist theocracy. India is proudly sui generis, and with August 15, 2007, 
being the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, Guha's magisterial history 
of India since that day comes not a moment too soon. 32 pages of b&w illus., 8 
maps.  
  - Original Message - 
  From: Rajen & Ajanta Barua 
  To: assam@assamnet.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 10:42 PM
  Subject: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi


  Good review of a grand 900 page book on India recently published:

  India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by 
Ramachandra Guha  
   
  From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
  Reviewed by George Perkovich
  A toast to India on its 60th birthday: No country has more heroically 
pursued the promise of democracy. Against the odds of staggering poverty, 
conflicting religious passions, linguistic pluralism, regional separatism, 
caste injustice and natural resource scarcity, Indians have lifted themselves 
largely by their own sandal straps to become a stalwart democracy and emerging 
global power. India has risen with epic drama -- a nonviolent struggle for 
independence followed by mass mayhem and bloodletting, dynastic succession and 
assassination, military victory and defeat, starvation succeeded by green 
revolution, political leaders as saints, sinners and sexual ascetics. And yet, 
the Indian story rarely has been told and is practically unknown to Americans.
  India After Gandhi masterfully fills the void. India needs a wise and 
judicious narrator to convey its scale, diversity and chaos -- to describe the 
whirlwind without getting lost in it. It needs a biographer neither besotted by 
love nor enraged by disappointment. Ramachandra Guha, a historian who has 
taught at Stanford and Yale and now lives in Bangalore, has given democratic 
India the rich, well-paced history it deserves.
  Much will be new to American readers. Large-scale conflicts in India's 
northeast between tribal groups and the center have been as enduring, and in 
some ways as important, as the more familiar violence in Kashmir. The framing 
of India's constitution from 1946 through 1949 should induce awe, especially in 
light of Iraq's post-Saddam experience.
  In the midst of Hindu-Muslim bloodshed, a flood of 8 million refugees, 
starvation, and othe

Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy

[barua25]

That is because they historians and thought leaders.
This is a good topic one can debate long.
I think they have their points.
Barua

- Original Message - 
From: "Rajib Das" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world" 
; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 8:34 AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


I fail to understand why SOME historians (and thought
leaders) continue to insist that India is a country
that was never meant to be.

The exact political boundaries are new (as in 60 years
old) - but there is enough political thought through
the course of history - before the Brits came in or
even before the Islamic invasion of India - to warrant
the idea of India.



--- Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Umesh:
> India is best described as 'an elected
> dictatorship'.
> Rajenda
>   - Original Message - 
>   From: umesh sharma
>   To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam
> from around the world
>   Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52 PM
>   Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After
> Gandhi- Bengal democracy
>
>
>   Rajen-da
>
>   Good example of India-Shining rhetoric.
>   But just becos there is peace (despite armed
> militancy in 25% of India's districts- NE, Kashmir,
> Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etc etc) and
> not many are dying of starvation and voting not by
> reading election manifestos but by recognizing
> cartoons (election symbols) of political parties .
>
>   Even democratically elected communist govt (an
> anamoly) of West Bengal is allegedly  in power for
> past 25 years non-stop since  a  nexus  prevents
> anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else
> face ex-communication a-la erstwhile Pope's rule in
> Europe in medieval times -as per a Bengali
> researcher .
>
>   But ofcourse noone can deny that despite is
> shortcomings the India that is Bharat is growing  -
> despite spoofs like Hollywood's "Borat" movie
> (Bharat ??) from Kazakhstan (Rajasthan???)
>
>   Umesh
>
>
>   Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Following may be added from another review about
> the book:
>
> India is the country that was never expected to
> ever be a country. In the late 19th century, Sir
> John Strachey, a senior British official, grandly
> opined that the territory's diverse states simply
> could not possess any sort of unity, physical,
> political, social or religious. Strachey, clearly,
> was wrong: India today is a unified entity and a
> rising global power. Even so, it continues to defy
> explanation. India's existence, says Guha, an
> internationally known scholar (Environmentalism: A
> Global History), has also been an anomaly for
> academic political science, according to whose
> axioms cultural heterogeneity and poverty do not
> make a nation, still less a democratic one. Yet
> India continues to exist. Guha's aim in this
> startlingly ambitious political, cultural and social
> survey is to explain why and how. He cheerfully
> concludes that India's continuing existence results
> from its unique diversity and its refusal to be
> pigeonholed into such conventional political models
> as Anglo-American liberalism, French republicanism,
> atheistic communism or Islamist theocracy. India is
> proudly sui generis, and with August 15, 2007, being
> the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, Guha's
> magisterial history of India since that day comes
> not a moment too soon. 32 pages of b&w illus., 8
> maps.
>   - Original Message - 
>   From: Rajen & Ajanta Barua
>   To: assam@assamnet.org
>   Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 10:42 PM
>   Subject: [Assam] Book review : India After
> Gandhi
>
>
>   Good review of a grand 900 page book on India
> recently published:
>
>   India After Gandhi: The History of the World's
> Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha
>
>   From The Washington Post's Book
> World/washingtonpost.com
>   Reviewed by George Perkovich
>   A toast to India on its 60th birthday: No
> country has more heroically pursued the promise of
> democracy. Against the odds of staggering poverty,
> conflicting religious passions, linguistic
> pluralism, regional separatism, caste injustice and
> natural resource scarcity, Indians have lifted
> themselves largely by their own sandal straps to
> become a stalwart democracy and emerging global
> power. India has risen with epic drama -- a
> nonviolent struggle for independence followed by
> mass mayhem and bloodletting, dynastic succession
> and assassination, military victory and defeat,
> starvation succeeded by green revolution, political
> leaders as saints, sinners and sexual ascetics. And
> yet, the Indian story rarely has been told and is
> practically unknown to Americans.
>   India After Gandhi masterfully fills the void.
> India needs a wise and judicious narrator to convey
> its scale, diversity and ch

Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[barua25]

That is good and bad.
Good for the local guy to get IAS thorough just Tamil or Marathy or Assamese 
and not English.
Bad news is that he becomes inefficient to run the country in places other 
than his own state. A Marathy who does nor know English or Assamese is 
useless in Assam.
Worse is that such useless guys are running the country.
This actually makes a strong case why India should dis unite. (I am speaking 
here just for arguments sake).
And the point remains that such local guys (dadas) may be even very fewer in 
percentage.
Do we know any Naga or Assamese (say) who got IAS just by knowing Nagamese 
or Assamese?
Prabably not.
Barua

- Original Message - 
From: "Krishnendu Chakraborty" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 10:48 AM
Subject: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust


> Today it is the 5% IAS officers and 1% MLAs and
> MPs whom you elect to govern. You have to learn to
> speak and write English to get into that circle.
>
> ***  You can  get through (and people DO get through)
> IAS using any Major Indian Language.
>
> As for MP/MLA, forget about English,  (good or bad)
> you do not  even need a basic education to become a
> MP/MLA/Minister.  Good example is Laloo.
>
>
>
>
>
> 
> Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo! 
> FareChase.
> http://farechase.yahoo.com/
>
> ___
> assam mailing list
> assam@assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
> 


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Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[barua25]

The difference is, in democratic countries, it should be the rules not the 
persons who should rule. In India the general perception is that it is the 
person, whether the MLA, orr MP or the IAS officer, who runs the country 
basically on personal whims in the name of the rules which are merely on paper. 
That is the difference. Otherwise your point is correct. But the difference 
remains. Rest we can argue our points to death.
Barua

  - Original Message - 
  From: Ram Sarangapani 
  To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world 
  Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
  Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 11:11 AM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust


  Barua,

  >India has always been ruled by the 5% elite

  This is true of almost every country - including the US and is also true of 
states within countries. In fact, I would want to know of any country that is 
NOT governed by the 5-10% elite. It will be interesting. 

  >The rest 95% were always the ignorant people being >ruled, in ancient time, 
during the British Raj and now.
  >I donot see any difference.

  What about those countless engineers, doctors, scientists (other than 
politicians and IAS babus) can we consider them all ignorant?  Just because 
large sections avoid the IAS and politics like the plague, doesn't 
automatically make them ignorant. 


  --Ram


   
  On 9/26/07, Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
Umesh:
India has always been ruled by the 5% elite. In the old days it was the 
Aryan high cast Brahmins and Khsatriyas. To get into that circle one had to 
study a lot, learn how to speak and write Sanskrit. 
Today it is the 5% IAS officers and 1% MLAs and MPs whom you elect to 
govern. You have to learn to speak and write English to get into that circle.
The rest 95% were always the ignorant people being ruled, in ancient time, 
during the British Raj and now.
I donot see any difference.
Rajenda

  - Original Message - 
  From: umesh sharma 
  To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world ; 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
  Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 12:41 AM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

   
  Rajen-da,

  The dictatorship is too much of a term - it depends where you are in 
India - those in metros definitely are having full democracy and as you go into 
interiors where law and literacy are remote it becomes dictatorhip by the 
elected. 

  See the video of Indira's India of 1984 - Sikh Holocaust 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MasMHq7oUs&NR=1 


  Umesh

  Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
Umesh:
India is best described as 'an elected dictatorship'.
Rajenda
  - Original Message - 
  From: umesh sharma 
  To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the 
world 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52 PM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal 
democracy

   
  Rajen-da

  Good example of India-Shining rhetoric. 
  But just becos there is peace (despite armed militancy in 25% of 
India's districts- NE, Kashmir, Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etc etc) 
and not many are dying of starvation and voting not by reading election 
manifestos but by recognizing cartoons (election symbols) of political parties 
. 

  Even democratically elected communist govt (an anamoly) of West 
Bengal is allegedly  in power for past 25 years non-stop since  a  nexus  
prevents  anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face 
ex-communication a-la erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times -as per 
a Bengali researcher . 

  But ofcourse noone can deny that despite is shortcomings the India 
that is Bharat is growing  - despite spoofs like Hollywood's "Borat" movie 
(Bharat ??) from Kazakhstan (Rajasthan???)

  Umesh


  Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
Following may be added from another review about the book:

India is the country that was never expected to ever be a country. 
In the late 19th century, Sir John Strachey, a senior British official, grandly 
opined that the territory's diverse states simply could not possess any sort of 
unity, physical, political, social or religious. Strachey, clearly, was wrong: 
India today is a unified entity and a rising global power. Even so, it 
continues to defy explanation. India's existence, says Guha, an internationally 
known scholar ( Environmentalism: A Global History), has also been an anomaly 
for academic political science, according to whose axioms cultural 
heterogeneity and poverty do not make a nation, still less a democratic one. 
Yet India continues to exist. Guha's aim in this startlingly ambitious 
political, cultural and social survey is

Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[barua25]

If your statement is correct, it may mean that there is actually no democracy, 
no govt rule of law, in the cities which actually proves my point. Some 
dictators are runjning the cities.
Rajenda

  - Original Message - 
  From: umesh sharma 
  To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world ; 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
  Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 11:44 AM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust


  Rajen-da,

  Your view shows that you have never stayed in Indian metros -where govt 
officials do not rule.

  Umesh

  Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Umesh:
India has always been ruled by the 5% elite. In the old days it was the 
Aryan high cast Brahmins and Khsatriyas. To get into that circle one had to 
study a lot, learn how to speak and write Sanskrit. 
Today it is the 5% IAS officers and 1% MLAs and MPs whom you elect to 
govern. You have to learn to speak and write English to get into that circle.
The rest 95% were always the ignorant people being ruled, in ancient time, 
during the British Raj and now.
I donot see any difference.
Rajenda

  - Original Message - 
  From: umesh sharma 
  To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world ; 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
  Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 12:41 AM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust


  Rajen-da,

  The dictatorship is too much of a term - it depends where you are in 
India - those in metros definitely are having full democracy and as you go into 
interiors where law and literacy are remote it becomes dictatorhip by the 
elected.

  See the video of Indira's India of 1984 - Sikh Holocaust 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MasMHq7oUs&NR=1


  Umesh

  Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
Umesh:
India is best described as 'an elected dictatorship'.
Rajenda
  - Original Message - 
  From: umesh sharma 
  To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the 
world 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52 PM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal 
democracy


  Rajen-da

  Good example of India-Shining rhetoric. 
  But just becos there is peace (despite armed militancy in 25% of 
India's districts- NE, Kashmir, Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etc etc) 
and not many are dying of starvation and voting not by reading election 
manifestos but by recognizing cartoons (election symbols) of political parties 
. 

  Even democratically elected communist govt (an anamoly) of West 
Bengal is allegedly  in power for past 25 years non-stop since  a  nexus  
prevents  anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face 
ex-communication a-la erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times -as per 
a Bengali researcher .

  But ofcourse noone can deny that despite is shortcomings the India 
that is Bharat is growing  - despite spoofs like Hollywood's "Borat" movie 
(Bharat ??) from Kazakhstan (Rajasthan???)

  Umesh


  Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
Following may be added from another review about the book:

India is the country that was never expected to ever be a country. 
In the late 19th century, Sir John Strachey, a senior British official, grandly 
opined that the territory's diverse states simply could not possess any sort of 
unity, physical, political, social or religious. Strachey, clearly, was wrong: 
India today is a unified entity and a rising global power. Even so, it 
continues to defy explanation. India's existence, says Guha, an internationally 
known scholar (Environmentalism: A Global History), has also been an anomaly 
for academic political science, according to whose axioms cultural 
heterogeneity and poverty do not make a nation, still less a democratic one. 
Yet India continues to exist. Guha's aim in this startlingly ambitious 
political, cultural and social survey is to explain why and how. He cheerfully 
concludes that India's continuing existence results from its unique diversity 
and its refusal to be pigeonholed into such conventional political models as 
Anglo-American liberalism, French republicanism, atheistic communism or 
Islamist theocracy. India is proudly sui generis, and with August 15, 2007, 
being the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, Guha's magisterial history 
of India since that day comes not a moment too soon. 32 pages of b&w illus., 8 
maps.  
  - Original Message - 
  From: Rajen & Ajanta Barua 
  To: assam@assamnet.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 10:42 PM
  Subject: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi


  Good review of a grand 900 page book on India recently published:

 

Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[mc mahant]

 He might have completed his entire education in 
Hindi.>
99% Indians do not speak it even in 2007
Lenin, Hitler, Mao,Fidel,Pol Pot,Putin never spoke it.
 
I love Laloo. 
He is a man with compassion,kindness,  and unwavering will to excel.
Change the book and tell him to take charge. 
Laloo will work and transform India.mm>> > > > > > 
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[Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[Krishnendu Chakraborty]

Ramda,  add to your note,   Indian Railways actually
had  profit under Laloo  after a long time.


Umesh,  did you ever see Laloo speaking in English ?
He might have completed his entire education in Hindi.
  
However,  the bottomline here is,  even without
primary education one can be an MLA/MP/Minister.  So
"knowing English" is NOT a pre-requisite to move to
that Elite class.


>>>And Laloo is not only a minister, he even lectured
Harvards MBAs on
management issues.

To be fair though, the Indian Railway system it seems
is not the old system
we had before and is comparable to other systems
worldwide. I travelled by
Shatabdi Express, Chennai-Bangalore, the ticketing
(online purchase), the
travel (fast & smooth), the catering was excellent-and
no dalals or touts
bothering you.

Maybe Laloo don't need no edumacation, he is just
Chaloo :)

--Ram

On 9/26/07, Krishnendu Chakraborty  wrote:
>
>  Today it is the 5% IAS officers and 1% MLAs and
> MPs whom you elect to govern. You have to learn to
> speak and write English to get into that circle.
>
> ***  You can  get through (and people DO get
through)
> IAS using any Major Indian Language.
>
> As for MP/MLA, forget about English,  (good or bad)
> you do not  even need a basic education to become a
> MP/MLA/Minister.  Good example is Laloo.
>
>
>



   

Got a little couch potato? 
Check out fun summer activities for kids.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=summer+activities+for+kids&cs=bz
 

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Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[Ram Sarangapani]

And Laloo is not only a minister, he even lectured Harvards MBAs on
management issues.

To be fair though, the Indian Railway system it seems is not the old system
we had before and is comparable to other systems worldwide. I travelled by
Shatabdi Express, Chennai-Bangalore, the ticketing (online purchase), the
travel (fast & smooth), the catering was excellent-and no dalals or touts
bothering you.

Maybe Laloo don't need no edumacation, he is just Chaloo :)

--Ram

On 9/26/07, Krishnendu Chakraborty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>  Today it is the 5% IAS officers and 1% MLAs and
> MPs whom you elect to govern. You have to learn to
> speak and write English to get into that circle.
>
> ***  You can  get through (and people DO get through)
> IAS using any Major Indian Language.
>
> As for MP/MLA, forget about English,  (good or bad)
> you do not  even need a basic education to become a
> MP/MLA/Minister.  Good example is Laloo.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 
> Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo!
> FareChase.
> http://farechase.yahoo.com/
>
> ___
> assam mailing list
> assam@assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>
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Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[umesh sharma]

Laloo was student union leader of Patna univ -must have had some level of 
college education
His daughter studied in elite Mayo College (school) and became a medical doctor 
married to software engineer from Infosys.

Umesh

Krishnendu Chakraborty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:  Today it is the 5% IAS 
officers and 1% MLAs and
MPs whom you elect to govern. You have to learn to
speak and write English to get into that circle.

***  You can  get through (and people DO get through) 
IAS using any Major Indian Language.  

As for MP/MLA, forget about English,  (good or bad)
you do not  even need a basic education to become a
MP/MLA/Minister.  Good example is Laloo.




   

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FareChase.
http://farechase.yahoo.com/

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Umesh Sharma

Washington D.C. 

1-202-215-4328 [Cell]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005

http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)




www.gse.harvard.edu/iep  (where the above 2 are used )




http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
   
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Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[umesh sharma]

Rajen-da,

Your view shows that you have never stayed in Indian metros -where govt 
officials do not rule.

Umesh

Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Umesh:
 India has always been ruled by the  5% elite. In the old days it was the Aryan 
high cast Brahmins and Khsatriyas. To  get into that circle one had to study a 
lot, learn how to speak and write  Sanskrit. 
 Today it is the 5% IAS officers  and 1% MLAs and MPs whom you elect to govern. 
You have to learn to speak and  write English to get into that circle.
 The rest 95% were always the  ignorant people being ruled, in ancient time, 
during the British Raj and  now.
 I donot see any  difference.
 Rajenda
  
- Original Message - 
   From:umeshsharma 
   To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assamfrom around the world ; 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
   Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 12:41AM
   Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : IndiaAfter Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust
   

Rajen-da,

The dictatorship is too much of a term - itdepends where you are in India - 
those in metros definitely are having fulldemocracy and as you go into 
interiors where law and literacy are remote itbecomes dictatorhip by the 
elected.

See the video of Indira's India of1984 - Sikh Holocaust 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MasMHq7oUs&NR=1


Umesh

Rajen& Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Umesh:
 India is best described as 'an elected  dictatorship'.
 Rajenda
-Original Message - 
   From:umeshsharma 
   To:A Mailinglist for people interested in Assam from 
around the world 
   Sent:Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52 PM
   Subject:Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal 
democracy
   

Rajen-da

Good example of India-Shining rhetoric.
But just becos there is peace (despite armed militancy in 25% ofIndia's 
districts- NE, Kashmir, Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etcetc) 
and not many are dying of starvation and voting not by readingelection 
manifestos but by recognizing cartoons (election symbols) ofpolitical 
parties . 

Even democratically elected communist govt (ananamoly) of West Bengal 
is allegedly  in power for past 25 yearsnon-stop since  a  nexus  
prevents  anyone  fromvoting against the "party"  or  else face 
ex-communication a-laerstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times 
-as per a Bengaliresearcher .

But ofcourse noone can deny that despite isshortcomings the India that 
is Bharat is growing  - despite spoofslike Hollywood's "Borat" movie 
(Bharat ??) from Kazakhstan(Rajasthan???)

Umesh


Rajen & Ajanta Barua<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:  
  Following may be added from another review about the  book:
  
 India is the country that was never expected to  ever be a 
country. In the late 19th century, Sir John Strachey, a senior  British 
official, grandly opined that the territory's diverse states  simply 
could not possess any sort of unity, physical, political, social  or 
religious. Strachey, clearly, was wrong: India today is a unified  
entity and a rising global power. Even so, it continues to defy  
explanation. India's existence, says Guha, an internationally known  
scholar (Environmentalism: A Global History), has also been an  anomaly 
for academic political science, according to whose axioms  cultural 
heterogeneity and poverty do not make a nation, still less a  
democratic one. Yet India continues to exist. Guha's aim in this  
startlingly ambitious political, cultural and social survey is to  
explain why and how. He cheerfully concludes that India's continuing 
 existence results from its unique diversity and its refusal to be  
pigeonholed into such conventional political models as Anglo-American  
liberalism, French republicanism, atheistic communism or Islamist  
theocracy. India is proudly sui generis, and with August 15, 2007, being
  the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, Guha's magisterial history   
   of India since that day comes not a moment too soon. 32 pages of b&w 
 illus., 8 maps.  
-Original Message - 
   From:Rajen& Ajanta Barua 
   To:assam@assamnet.org 
   Sent:Tuesday, September 25, 2007 10:42 PM
   Subject:[Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi
   

 Good review of agrand 900 page 
book on India recently published:

   India After Gandhi: The History of the World'sLargest 
Democracy by Ramac

Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[Ram Sarangapani]

Barua,

>India has always been ruled by the 5% elite

This is true of almost every country - including the US and is also true of
states within countries. In fact, I would want to know of any country that
is NOT governed by the 5-10% elite. It will be interesting.

>The rest 95% were always the ignorant people being >ruled, in ancient time,
during the British Raj and now.
>I donot see any difference.

What about those countless engineers, doctors, scientists (other than
politicians and IAS babus) can we consider them all ignorant?  Just
because large sections avoid the IAS and politics like the plague, doesn't
automatically make them ignorant.


--Ram



On 9/26/07, Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>  Umesh:
> India has always been ruled by the 5% elite. In the old days it was the
> Aryan high cast Brahmins and Khsatriyas. To get into that circle one had to
> study a lot, learn how to speak and write Sanskrit.
> Today it is the 5% IAS officers and 1% MLAs and MPs whom you elect to
> govern. You have to learn to speak and write English to get into that
> circle.
> The rest 95% were always the ignorant people being ruled, in ancient time,
> during the British Raj and now.
> I donot see any difference.
> Rajenda
>
>
> - Original Message -
> *From:* umesh sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>  *To:* A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the 
> world;
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 26, 2007 12:41 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust
>
>
> Rajen-da,
>
> The dictatorship is too much of a term - it depends where you are in India
> - those in metros definitely are having full democracy and as you go into
> interiors where law and literacy are remote it becomes dictatorhip by the
> elected.
>
> See the video of Indira's India of 1984 - Sikh Holocaust
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MasMHq7oUs&NR=1
>
>
> Umesh
>
> *Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>* wrote:
>
> Umesh:
> India is best described as 'an elected dictatorship'.
> Rajenda
>
> - Original Message -
> *From:* umesh sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> *To:* A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the 
> world
> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy
>
>
> Rajen-da
>
> Good example of India-Shining rhetoric.
> But just becos there is peace (despite armed militancy in 25% of India's
> districts- NE, Kashmir, Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etc etc) and
> not many are dying of starvation and voting not by reading election
> manifestos but by recognizing cartoons (election symbols) of political
> parties .
>
> Even democratically elected communist govt (an anamoly) of West Bengal is
> allegedly  in power for past 25 years non-stop since  a  nexus  prevents
> anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face ex-communication a-la
> erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times -as per a Bengali
> researcher .
>
> But ofcourse noone can deny that despite is shortcomings the India that is
> Bharat is growing  - despite spoofs like Hollywood's "Borat" movie (Bharat
> ??) from Kazakhstan (Rajasthan???)
>
> Umesh
>
>
> *Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>* wrote:
>
> *Following may be added from another review about the book:*
>
> India is the country that was never expected to ever be a country. In the
> late 19th century, Sir John Strachey, a senior British official, grandly
> opined that the territory's diverse states simply could not possess any sort
> of unity, physical, political, social or religious. Strachey, clearly, was
> wrong: India today is a unified entity and a rising global power. Even so,
> it continues to defy explanation. India's existence, says Guha, an
> internationally known scholar (*Environmentalism: A Global History*), has
> also been an anomaly for academic political science, according to whose
> axioms cultural heterogeneity and poverty do not make a nation, still less a
> democratic one. Yet India continues to exist. Guha's aim in this startlingly
> ambitious political, cultural and social survey is to explain why and how.
> He cheerfully concludes that India's continuing existence results from its
> unique diversity and its refusal to be pigeonholed into such conventional
> political models as Anglo-American liberalism, French republicanism,
> atheistic communism or Islamist theocracy. India is proudly sui generis, and
> with August 15, 2007, being the 60th anniversary of Indian independence,
> Guha's magisterial history of India since that day comes not a moment too
> soon. 32 pages of b&w illus., 8 maps.
>
> - Original Message -
> *From:* Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> *To:* assam@assamnet.org
> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 25, 2007 10:42 PM
> *Subject:* [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi
>
>
>  Good review of a grand 900 page book on India recently published:
> **
> *India After Gandhi: The Hi

[Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[Krishnendu Chakraborty]

 Today it is the 5% IAS officers and 1% MLAs and
MPs whom you elect to govern. You have to learn to
speak and write English to get into that circle.

***  You can  get through (and people DO get through) 
IAS using any Major Indian Language.  

As for MP/MLA, forget about English,  (good or bad)
you do not  even need a basic education to become a
MP/MLA/Minister.  Good example is Laloo.




   

Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo! 
FareChase.
http://farechase.yahoo.com/

___
assam mailing list
assam@assamnet.org
http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org

Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust

[Rajen & Ajanta Barua]

Umesh:
India has always been ruled by the 5% elite. In the old days it was the Aryan 
high cast Brahmins and Khsatriyas. To get into that circle one had to study a 
lot, learn how to speak and write Sanskrit. 
Today it is the 5% IAS officers and 1% MLAs and MPs whom you elect to govern. 
You have to learn to speak and write English to get into that circle.
The rest 95% were always the ignorant people being ruled, in ancient time, 
during the British Raj and now.
I donot see any difference.
Rajenda

  - Original Message - 
  From: umesh sharma 
  To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world ; 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
  Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 12:41 AM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Sikh Holocaust


  Rajen-da,

  The dictatorship is too much of a term - it depends where you are in India - 
those in metros definitely are having full democracy and as you go into 
interiors where law and literacy are remote it becomes dictatorhip by the 
elected.

  See the video of Indira's India of 1984 - Sikh Holocaust 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MasMHq7oUs&NR=1


  Umesh

  Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Umesh:
India is best described as 'an elected dictatorship'.
Rajenda
  - Original Message - 
  From: umesh sharma 
  To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52 PM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy


  Rajen-da

  Good example of India-Shining rhetoric. 
  But just becos there is peace (despite armed militancy in 25% of India's 
districts- NE, Kashmir, Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etc etc) and not 
many are dying of starvation and voting not by reading election manifestos but 
by recognizing cartoons (election symbols) of political parties . 

  Even democratically elected communist govt (an anamoly) of West Bengal is 
allegedly  in power for past 25 years non-stop since  a  nexus  prevents  
anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else face ex-communication a-la 
erstwhile Pope's rule in Europe in medieval times -as per a Bengali researcher .

  But ofcourse noone can deny that despite is shortcomings the India that 
is Bharat is growing  - despite spoofs like Hollywood's "Borat" movie (Bharat 
??) from Kazakhstan (Rajasthan???)

  Umesh


  Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
Following may be added from another review about the book:

India is the country that was never expected to ever be a country. In 
the late 19th century, Sir John Strachey, a senior British official, grandly 
opined that the territory's diverse states simply could not possess any sort of 
unity, physical, political, social or religious. Strachey, clearly, was wrong: 
India today is a unified entity and a rising global power. Even so, it 
continues to defy explanation. India's existence, says Guha, an internationally 
known scholar (Environmentalism: A Global History), has also been an anomaly 
for academic political science, according to whose axioms cultural 
heterogeneity and poverty do not make a nation, still less a democratic one. 
Yet India continues to exist. Guha's aim in this startlingly ambitious 
political, cultural and social survey is to explain why and how. He cheerfully 
concludes that India's continuing existence results from its unique diversity 
and its refusal to be pigeonholed into such conventional political models as 
Anglo-American liberalism, French republicanism, atheistic communism or 
Islamist theocracy. India is proudly sui generis, and with August 15, 2007, 
being the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, Guha's magisterial history 
of India since that day comes not a moment too soon. 32 pages of b&w illus., 8 
maps.  
  - Original Message - 
  From: Rajen & Ajanta Barua 
  To: assam@assamnet.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 10:42 PM
  Subject: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi


  Good review of a grand 900 page book on India recently published:

  India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by 
Ramachandra Guha  
   
  From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
  Reviewed by George Perkovich
  A toast to India on its 60th birthday: No country has more heroically 
pursued the promise of democracy. Against the odds of staggering poverty, 
conflicting religious passions, linguistic pluralism, regional separatism, 
caste injustice and natural resource scarcity, Indians have lifted themselves 
largely by their own sandal straps to become a stalwart democracy and emerging 
global power. India has risen with epic drama -- a nonviolent struggle for 
independence followed by mass mayhem and bloodletting, dynastic succession and 
assassination, military victory and defeat, st

Re: [Assam] Oil Industry Institute in Rae Bareilly, UP?

[mc mahant]

Dilip-You said it!
 
The Royal Family must be seen to be doing  great things in their only sure 
family Constituency.
 
But what about IIT at Guahati, Dibrugarh Univ. Tezpur(Central Univ)-- all have 
courses on  Petro/Exploration /Geology/Geophysics/Chem Tech/Unit 
Operations/Catalysts---
Combined the products of these could/would/should have converted (in 50 years) 
every litre of Crude Oil to 2Kg of Polyester Thread--even humble 
detergents/plastics.
And just imagine--in 50 years we lost:
360,000,000,000 litres of liquid Crude oil each litre today could produce 2 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] of Fibres---
We are not talking of the gas part lost--all  could have reached the same 
target  products via the Methanol-to Olefines route.
 What did go wrong?? And now no money even for "Gas Cracker -wonder what to 
crack to get what-   and not for  SethuSamudram too".
 That is why Tarun is at NYC  sipping Cocktail ?
 
M'da


Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:30:06 -0700From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [Assam] Oil Industry Institute in Rae Bareilly, 
UP?
I don't know how many of you saw this article in the "Hydroprocessing" magazine 
or whether you subscribe to the magazine. Rae Bareilly? - What does it have to 
do with oil industry? Those in this net who lick Nehru/Gandhi boots - time for 
you to think.
 
Why didn't Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan or Orissa get the honors of hosting this 
institute? Did Tarun Gogoi pay obeissance, "as you say, Ma'am".
Dilip Deka
==
 


Engineers will be trained in specialized petroleum courses such as energy 
exploration and refining activities


Jeetha D’Silva and Gayatri Ramanathan

 
 

 



Mumbai: Facing a stubborn labour shortage, the energy sector plans to groom its 
own talent: by launching educational institutes. 
The industry has taken the first steps to start a handful of institutes for 
petroleum engineers and to train them in both upstream (oil and gas 
exploration) and downstream (refining) activities. 
These initiatives, also supported by the government, could sharply increase the 
number of students graduating with skills specific to the oil and gas sector, 
starting in 2009. So far, most Indian petroleum engineers have trained either 
at the Indian Institute of Petroleum at Dehradun in Uttarakhand , or at the 
Indian School of Mines at Dhanbad in Jharkhand. 
Over the next five years, the need for trained geoscientists for exploration 
operations alone is pegged at 6,181, said a study conducted by consultant firm 
PricewaterhouseCoopers for Petrofed, an association of public sector oil 
companies. The shortfall will be about 2,844 geoscientists. The current 
surpluses in some categories of geoscientists are also poised to change into an 
acute shortage as early as next year. According to the same study, the overall 
gap between availability and requirement of trained energy industry manpower in 
India is projected to be about 36,000 by 2019 with existing institutes unable 
to meet this increasing demand for technical manpower in the petroleum sector.
While the number seems small, compared to much larger shortages that other 
industries such as the outsourcing industry dish out, many of these jobs in the 
petroleum sector are highly specialized with shortages having a major impact in 
a sector that is a national priority. 
The education initiatives mark the first of their kind for energy studies, with 
the largest being the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, 
structured along the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). The 
institute is being set up in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, with an investment of 
some Rs500 crore, funded by the government and public sector oil companies. 
Oil marketer Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) is spearheading the initiative 
on behalf of all the PSUs, said D.M. Reddy, executive director for BPCL human 
resources. He said once the institute is fully operational, it will have seven 
programmes offering bachelor’s in technology, six integrated master’s degrees, 
eight master’s in technology, along with MBA and 12 post-graduate diplomas and 
PhD programmes—all related to oil and gas. 
Reddy, who is also the president of the board of trustees appointed by the 
ministry of petroleum to anchor the institute, predicts the institute—to 
commence in Rae Bareli and New Delhi in 2008—will emerge as the only one to 
comprehensively address the talent needs of the oil and gas ­industries. 
“There is already a big gap (between) demand and supply for trained engineers 
in exploration and production (E&P) which will only widen with a growth in 
demand,” he said. “The institute will mitigate this talent crunch.” He said the 
institute expects to enroll 2,400 students, with 900 graduating every year. 
Located on a 125-acre campus, it hopes to collaborate with foreign institutes 
for both student and faculty exchange.
A new course has also been launched at IIT Bombay, focusing on spec

[Assam] FW: [WaterWatch] MonetaryBlock -- IIT Director-Sethu-RAM-Hindu Faith

[mc mahant]

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]: 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:46:50 +0100Subject: [WaterWatch] 
Sethusamudram-MonetaryBlock





Money runs dry for Sethusamudram by Priyanka P. Narain ( 25 Sep 07 
(http://www.livemint.com/2007/09/25005959/Money-runs-dry-for-Sethusamudr.html)
 
Loan arranger Axis Bank predicts soaring costs will stop Adam s Bridge s 
demolition ahead of Hindu groups.
Mumbai: Religious questions and political battles aside, a key banker says 
there is just not enough money to demolish the bridge that Ram may or may not 
have built.
The bank in charge of securing the loans for the proposed Rs2,400 crore channel 
says that the Sethusamudram project may never happen—in the absence of required 
money.
“I don’t think this project will ever see the light of day because there is no 
money,” said Ashish Kumar Singh, vice-president of capital markets at Axis Bank 
Ltd. Axis, formerly known as UTI Bank, was appointed “loan arranger” for the 
project in 2005.
Since the project’s inception in 2004, costs have skyrocketed to at least 
Rs4,000 crore, interest rates have crawled higher and old loan terms have 
lapsed. Singh says the project is languishing because no company will dredge 
the channel for cheap and Indian dredging companies don’t have the required 
equipment.
Even before the first dredger began its work in 2005, costs had already 
spiralled to more than Rs3,500 crore, Singh said. The loan sanctions, valid 
only up to Rs2,400 crore, lapsed. To secure more money, Singh said 
Sethusamudram Corp. Ltd would have to return to the drawing board, draw up new 
reports, sit with parliamentary committees and receive fresh approval.
So far, it has not gone back to the government, as the delays in the project 
have moved from insufficient funds into other, more complicated political 
arenas.
For the last few months, Hindu groups have staged protests, forcing the Supreme 
Court to halt the project until a January hearing. The floating bridge has 
figured in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s plans for coming back to power.
Shipping minister T.R. Baalu has said he plans to carry on, regardless of 
public opinion. Baalu did not return a call for comment. He was at a meeting in 
Chennai of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, part of the ruling coalition at the 
Centre.
Singh, whose bank continues to be the loan arranger for the project, says the 
government has not approached him to raise any new loans. Even if it did, a 
government guarantee is now unlikely. “As a stand-alone project, no lender will 
touch this project. First, the interest rates have gone up. It is not possible 
to lock in the rates. The expected returns on the project were as low as 7.7% 
to begin with,” he said. “With higher debt cost and higher debt requirements, 
how can it hope to even break even?”
Not so long ago, before protest defined the future of the Adam’s Bridge, or Ram 
Sethu, the project promised to shorten shipping routes and help revive Tamil 
Nadu’s economy. In late 2005, Axis had little problem selling the idea to 
lenders. When the bank hit the road to drum up interest, “it was the most 
attractive thing out there,” said Singh, who managed the loan-raising process 
for Sethusamudram. “It had great visibility, people were excited... and there 
was a buzz around it.”
While the Union government and other government organizations, such as the 
Tuticorin, Chennai and Ennore port trusts, and the Dredging Corp. of India 
(DCI), were supposed to raise Rs971 crore in equity, the remaining Rs1,456.40 
crore was to be a debt component, according to the project’s website.
After six weeks of lobbying, 10 banks, including Deutsche Bank and the 
Dublin-based Depfa Bank, agreed to extend credit. Singh said that because the 
Union government guaranteed the loans, banks did not have to perform a risk 
analysis, nor worry about capital adequacy. 
On Monday, neither bank returned phone calls for comment.
While Axis was raising debt, Sethusamudram simultaneously floated tenders for 
the dredging work.
While DCI was nominated to do a quarter of the work, the rest of the dredging 
was to be done by third-party contractors, according to the project’s economic 
feasibility study.
With 80% of the project total estimated to be dredging, these tenders were the 
most important part of the process, Singh said. Yet very few companies have the 
ships needed for such a project, said Capt. H. Balakrishnan, a naval expert who 
conducted an analysis of the project.
Bidders included South Korea-based Hyundai Dredging International, 
Netherlands-based Van Oord International and Belgium-based JanBe Nul. On 
Monday, none returned calls for comment.
“But the lowest quote was about 80 or 90% higher than what was estimated,” said 
Singh. This represented the first setback for the project. From then on, “it 
just unravelled”, Singh said.
In 2006, as project costs escalated, DCI was nominated to do all the work. But 

[Assam] Articles on the Flood of Assam: Sovereign Assam panacea for all ills

[uttam borthakur]

Let us consider mainland India, and assume for the sake of argument that Assam 
is its colony only.
   
  Has this sovereign India been able to solve its problems? Does the label of 
'sovereignty' ipso facto lead to solution of the problems?
   
  It seems to be a sanguine hope without any legs to stand on. 
   
  Having said that, I add that it is for the people of Assam to decide for 
themselves without any threat from any quarter whether they want sovereign 
Assam or not. Someone may say let a referendum be held. But at present there 
appears to be no popular movement involving predominantly major cross section 
of the people in Assam warranting such a plebiscite. At best, a microscopic 
minority is trying to browbeat others into reticence till now. If that is 
considered sufficient, then we'll have to hold numerous plebiscites later on in 
"sovereign" Assam at the drop of a hat using this precedence:-). But I doubt if 
the present advocates of 'sovereign' Assam would be so democratic: their Khmer 
rouge like activities speak to the contrary.

mc mahant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
  .hmmessage P  {  margin:0px;  padding:0px  }  body.hmmessage  {  
FONT-SIZE: 10pt;  FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma  }Not chest-thumping "Journalists" 
with parroted half truths,not " Peoples Elected/Selected LEADERS",not 
uncommitted "Experts" - 'who come to find out  and who leave before they are 
found out'.
 
Only Free and Sovereign Assam can handle Assam's Disasters and myriad problems.
 
mm


 

-
  Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:02:03 +0100
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: assam@assamnet.org
Subject: [Assam] Articles on the Flood of Assam

  Articles on the  Flood of Assam:
   
  From Asomiya Pratidin: http://dhemaji.bihu.in/1736
   
  From Dainik Agradoot : http://dhemaji.bihu.in/1738


  
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Uttam Kumar Borthakur

   
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Re: [Assam] Book review : India After Gandhi- Bengal democracy

[Rajib Das]

I fail to understand why SOME historians (and thought
leaders) continue to insist that India is a country
that was never meant to be.

The exact political boundaries are new (as in 60 years
old) - but there is enough political thought through
the course of history - before the Brits came in or
even before the Islamic invasion of India - to warrant
the idea of India.



--- Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Umesh:
> India is best described as 'an elected
> dictatorship'.
> Rajenda
>   - Original Message - 
>   From: umesh sharma 
>   To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam
> from around the world 
>   Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:52 PM
>   Subject: Re: [Assam] Book review : India After
> Gandhi- Bengal democracy
> 
> 
>   Rajen-da
> 
>   Good example of India-Shining rhetoric. 
>   But just becos there is peace (despite armed
> militancy in 25% of India's districts- NE, Kashmir,
> Bihar, Central India, LTTE South India etc etc) and
> not many are dying of starvation and voting not by
> reading election manifestos but by recognizing
> cartoons (election symbols) of political parties . 
> 
>   Even democratically elected communist govt (an
> anamoly) of West Bengal is allegedly  in power for
> past 25 years non-stop since  a  nexus  prevents 
> anyone  from voting against the "party"  or  else
> face ex-communication a-la erstwhile Pope's rule in
> Europe in medieval times -as per a Bengali
> researcher .
> 
>   But ofcourse noone can deny that despite is
> shortcomings the India that is Bharat is growing  -
> despite spoofs like Hollywood's "Borat" movie
> (Bharat ??) from Kazakhstan (Rajasthan???)
> 
>   Umesh
> 
> 
>   Rajen & Ajanta Barua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Following may be added from another review about
> the book:
> 
> India is the country that was never expected to
> ever be a country. In the late 19th century, Sir
> John Strachey, a senior British official, grandly
> opined that the territory's diverse states simply
> could not possess any sort of unity, physical,
> political, social or religious. Strachey, clearly,
> was wrong: India today is a unified entity and a
> rising global power. Even so, it continues to defy
> explanation. India's existence, says Guha, an
> internationally known scholar (Environmentalism: A
> Global History), has also been an anomaly for
> academic political science, according to whose
> axioms cultural heterogeneity and poverty do not
> make a nation, still less a democratic one. Yet
> India continues to exist. Guha's aim in this
> startlingly ambitious political, cultural and social
> survey is to explain why and how. He cheerfully
> concludes that India's continuing existence results
> from its unique diversity and its refusal to be
> pigeonholed into such conventional political models
> as Anglo-American liberalism, French republicanism,
> atheistic communism or Islamist theocracy. India is
> proudly sui generis, and with August 15, 2007, being
> the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, Guha's
> magisterial history of India since that day comes
> not a moment too soon. 32 pages of b&w illus., 8
> maps.  
>   - Original Message - 
>   From: Rajen & Ajanta Barua 
>   To: assam@assamnet.org 
>   Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 10:42 PM
>   Subject: [Assam] Book review : India After
> Gandhi
> 
> 
>   Good review of a grand 900 page book on India
> recently published:
> 
>   India After Gandhi: The History of the World's
> Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha  
>
>   From The Washington Post's Book
> World/washingtonpost.com
>   Reviewed by George Perkovich
>   A toast to India on its 60th birthday: No
> country has more heroically pursued the promise of
> democracy. Against the odds of staggering poverty,
> conflicting religious passions, linguistic
> pluralism, regional separatism, caste injustice and
> natural resource scarcity, Indians have lifted
> themselves largely by their own sandal straps to
> become a stalwart democracy and emerging global
> power. India has risen with epic drama -- a
> nonviolent struggle for independence followed by
> mass mayhem and bloodletting, dynastic succession
> and assassination, military victory and defeat,
> starvation succeeded by green revolution, political
> leaders as saints, sinners and sexual ascetics. And
> yet, the Indian story rarely has been told and is
> practically unknown to Americans.
>   India After Gandhi masterfully fills the void.
> India needs a wise and judicious narrator to convey
> its scale, diversity and chaos -- to describe the
> whirlwind without getting lost in it. It needs a
> biographer neither besotted by love nor enraged by
> disappointment. Ramachandra Guha, a historian who
> has taught at Stanford and Yale and now lives in
> Bangalore, has given democratic India the rich,
> well-paced history it deserves.
>   Much will be new to American readers.
> Large-scale conflicts in

Re: [Assam] Articles on the Flood of Assam

[mc mahant]

Not chest-thumping "Journalists" with parroted half truths,not " Peoples 
Elected/Selected LEADERS",not uncommitted "Experts" - 'who come to find out  
and who leave before they are found out'.
 
Only Free and Sovereign Assam can handle Assam's Disasters and myriad problems.
 
mm
 


Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:02:03 +0100From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]: [Assam] Articles on the Flood of Assam
Articles on the  Flood of Assam:
 
>From Asomiya Pratidin: http://dhemaji.bihu.in/1736
 
>From Dainik Agradoot : http://dhemaji.bihu.in/1738


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[Assam] “WE WILL REMOVE THIS SITE IF PROVEN WR ONG”: Series of logical articles from THE sit e posted here to prepare for the challenge, as some people in Assam even using loud speakers to spread th

[Bartta Bistar]

http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/sina/creation.htm


  The Purpose of Creation
--



What is the Purpose of Creation? According to Islam and other monotheistic
religions, is to know God and to worship Him.

 *"I did not create Jinn and Men except that they may worship me"*
(*Q.51:56
)*

Inspired by this Islamic concept, even Baha'u'llah, the founder of the
Baha'i  Faith has incorporated in his daily prayer this verse: "I witness oh
my God that thou hast created me to know thee and to worship thee..."
stating clearly that the purpose of creation is to know god and to worship
him. As the consequence if one fails to know him and worship him he is
screwing the whole purpose of creation.

As a mater of fact knowing God is so crucial that if you fail he is not
going to forgive you ever. Anything else can be forgiven, but attributing
partnership to him will not.

*"Allah forgiveth not that partners should be set up with Him; but He
forgiveth anything else, to whom He pleaseth; to set up partners with Allah
is to devise a sin Most heinous indeedl" (Q.4:
48
)*

In other words God would eventually forgive Hitler, Ayatollah Khomeini and
Saddam Hussein  or any other mass murderer but would not forgive, e.g.
Gandhi because the latter was a Hindu which according to Muslims is a
polytheistic religion.

One of the stumbling blocks for the religious people to give up the notion
of a personal God is the concept of creation. They ask how this world could
come into existence without a creator and for what reason?

Let us take a close look at this subject and see if it is reasonable to
believe that the creation of this universe is teleological and if God by
creating it intended to ultimately create people to know him and to worship
him.

We know that humans separated from the chimps about four to six million
years ago. But it is about one hundred thousand years that we became homo
sapience (thinking people). Since then we started to use tools and adapt our
environment to suite our needs. Until 10,000 years ago the evolution of our
consciousness was probably very limited. During the last 10,000 years we
gained a sense of self. We became aware that we are different. If you
compare the evolution of humans to the growth of a single person, this
period represents the stage when a child learns to speak and become curious
of his environment. That is the time when he asks questions. He wants to
know why and how. Then it comes the age of adolescence. That is the time
when he is proud, he seeks power. He wants to assert his independence. He
becomes rebellious and bullies others. Only at the age of maturity he
acknowledges that he is part of the society and must act responsibly.

At present and in this phase of our evolution, we humans are just growing
out of our adolescence and entering the age of adulthood. Relatively
speaking we have started to use our brain very recently. There are many
questions we still don't know. We haven't found what are the right answers.
We mostly know what are NOT. For example, we know for certainty that the
Earth is not flat but still there are many mysteries about our planet that
we don't know. We are absolutely sure that the universe did not start 6000
years ago. We know certainly that all these animals including humans were
not created in one day as the stories of Bible and Quran narrate. We know
that everything has evolved. But we don't know the mechanism of this
evolution quite well. It is only during these last 200/300 years that we
have started to ask proper questions and find the right answers. During this
short period of time, we have learned a lot, but there is more to learn.

There are many theories about how we were created. These are scientific
theories. They are based on paleontology, genealogy, archaeology, and many
other related sciences. As we discover new things our theories about our
evolution also evolve. But we will never go back to the primitive idea of
creation, just as no matter how many new things we discover about the Earth,
we shall never find out that it is flat. Our ignorance of the things that we
don't know dose not invalidate our knowledge of the things that we know.

The next question we ask ourselves is why were we created. Religions have
their own answers. But the real answer is that we don't know! One thing we
know is that the purpose of our creation is not to know any deity or worship
any god, as Muhammad said and his followers believe. The reason is simply
because it does not make sense for a perfect God to create such vast
universe in order to put in a tiniest of its planets a semi intelligent
primate just to know him and to worship him. This idea becomes even less
plausible especially when we see that he never presented himself to his
creatures and plays hide and seek. If knowing him and worshipping him  was
so important to him