I got a mail in one of my yahoogroups (North-East Professionals) that IIPM has been declared as a fake university. I googled it and found that University Grants Commission has a list of fake universities and IIPM figures in that list.
This is the link to the UGC's list of fake universities: http://www.ugc.ac.in/inside/fakealerts.html.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The enemy within
I was trying to read the history of CPI(M) and why did they break away from CPI in early sixties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_India_(Marxist)
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article816.html
Most of the founders of CPI(M), except Jyoti Basu and EMS, took a pro-China stand when China attacked India in 1962. They considered the war as a conflict between a socialist and a capitalist state. I believe that our allegiance to nationalism is supreme and more important than our allegiance towards our ideology, religion, language, or any other thing. Unfortunately, for most of the CPI(M) politicians, their ideology was more important than the country. It's so shocking! I've only one word for them: TRAITORS.
I'm originally from Assam. I speak Assamese at home. I'm Hindu. But my nationality is Indian. I'm proudly and passionately Indian. Yes, we do have diversity in India. But that's the characterstic of our nation. Unlike many European nations, we're a multi-religious, multi-linguistic, multi-ethnic country. But we're all Indians.
It's so shocking to see that we've some people in India who supported some country when it invaded India!
Now this same bunch of people are opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://www.mainstreamweekly.
Most of the founders of CPI(M), except Jyoti Basu and EMS, took a pro-China stand when China attacked India in 1962. They considered the war as a conflict between a socialist and a capitalist state. I believe that our allegiance to nationalism is supreme and more important than our allegiance towards our ideology, religion, language, or any other thing. Unfortunately, for most of the CPI(M) politicians, their ideology was more important than the country. It's so shocking! I've only one word for them: TRAITORS.
I'm originally from Assam. I speak Assamese at home. I'm Hindu. But my nationality is Indian. I'm proudly and passionately Indian. Yes, we do have diversity in India. But that's the characterstic of our nation. Unlike many European nations, we're a multi-religious, multi-linguistic, multi-ethnic country. But we're all Indians.
It's so shocking to see that we've some people in India who supported some country when it invaded India!
Now this same bunch of people are opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
We have no branches
There are many shops by the name Aggarwal Sweets that sell sweets in NCR region. They use the same font for their name on a red-background in their signboards. Sometime you might find multiple Aggarwal Sweets in the same locality. The ambience inside these shops is very similiar to each other. They have different varieties of sweets. Besides that, they have a big tawa (frying pan) to make different types of chaats and another big pan to make jalebi. Similarly, there are a few Evergreen Sweets in Noida (one in Brahmaputra market, Sector-27 and another in Sector-41).
Initially I thought that these Aggarwal Sweets and Evergreen Sweets are some chains. But if you read there signboards carefully, you'll see one more sentence somewhere below there names: We have no branches!
(This was a topic of discussion in my earlier lunch table group in Cadence Noida. I'll write about my lunch-table group sometime later.)
Initially I thought that these Aggarwal Sweets and Evergreen Sweets are some chains. But if you read there signboards carefully, you'll see one more sentence somewhere below there names: We have no branches!
(This was a topic of discussion in my earlier lunch table group in Cadence Noida. I'll write about my lunch-table group sometime later.)
History of Pakistan
I've always wondered how history is taught in Pakistan. Do they teach pre-Islamic history? Do they teach the glorious past about Indus valley civilization? After Partition, both Moenjodaro and Harappa became part of Pakistan. Do they feel proud of that?
Pakistan was formed on the basis of religion. But if they study the history of the pre-Islamic era of south-Asia, then it will be clear to them that once upon a time, they were not Muslims.
I had this discussion about history of Pakistan with a friend of mine at his apartment in San Fransisco. My friend knows some Pakistani people in SFO. According to those Pakistani people, Aurangzeb was the best Mughal king. We in India treat Akbar as the best Mughal king.
Then I read an article somewhere (I don't remember the source) about the political unstability, military coup etc in Pakistan. The writer was attributing this to the Aurangzebi culture in Pakistan. Accordng to the writer, Pakistan's history text-books eulogize Aurangzeb as the greatest emperor. Aurangzeb was a ruthless person. He killed his three brothers (Dara, Shuja, Murad) and jailed his father Shah Jahan in order to become the Mughal emperor.
There was some discussion in Pakistan's National Assembly where the religious parties opposed teaching of pre-Islamic history in Pakistan. According to members from MMA, Pakistan's history start from Makkah and Medina. The education minister answered that students should read the pre-Islamic history for the sake of knowledge. The news article about this discussion in National Assembly was published by the Dawn newspaper on 22nd February, 2007.
There are some debates going on about writing correct history in Pakistan. There was an article in the Dawn on July 9 titled History is different from farce. Some excerpts from the article:
Eminent historian and thinker Dr Mubarak Ali says the history written in Pakistan had been “dictated” by the ruling Establishment and represents its wilful perversion of facts “to accord with a fabricated ideology”.
“No authentic history has yet been written about Pakistan and its independence. There is a lot of confusion among the so-called pro-Establishment historians and educationists. Whatever has been written so far is distortion of history and entirely unbalanced,” Dr Ali told Dawn in an interview.
.....
“Some historians negated our ancient Indian and South Asian roots and tried to establish our links with Central Asia or with the Middle East which was historical and intellectual dishonesty,” said Dr Ali.
This article was followed by an Editorial in the Dawn on next day, July 10th. It's titled: A distorted history. Some excerpts:
Our ‘official’ history is riddled with prejudice, inconsistencies and huge knowledge gaps, so much so that there was a time when school textbooks made no mention of the break-up of Pakistan. Even today they offer no detailed account of the causes that led to the creation of Bangladesh — the cultural, political and economic marginalisation of the Bengali people or the atrocities committed in the eastern wing by the Pakistan Army.
....
For many the history of what is now Pakistan seems to begin not with the Indus Valley civilisation but the subjugation of Sindh by an Arab invader, Mohammad bin Qasim. An attempt has also been made to place our cultural roots in Central Asia or the Middle East instead of South Asia and this link, sadly and erroneously, is now widely accepted as fact. Independent research free of official bias is needed to correct these and other more recent distortions of history. Otherwise we may never know where we once stood or where we are now heading.
There is a letter to the editor published in the Dawn today (July 17th, 2008). It's titled: A distorted history.
Pakistan was formed on the basis of religion. But if they study the history of the pre-Islamic era of south-Asia, then it will be clear to them that once upon a time, they were not Muslims.
I had this discussion about history of Pakistan with a friend of mine at his apartment in San Fransisco. My friend knows some Pakistani people in SFO. According to those Pakistani people, Aurangzeb was the best Mughal king. We in India treat Akbar as the best Mughal king.
Then I read an article somewhere (I don't remember the source) about the political unstability, military coup etc in Pakistan. The writer was attributing this to the Aurangzebi culture in Pakistan. Accordng to the writer, Pakistan's history text-books eulogize Aurangzeb as the greatest emperor. Aurangzeb was a ruthless person. He killed his three brothers (Dara, Shuja, Murad) and jailed his father Shah Jahan in order to become the Mughal emperor.
There was some discussion in Pakistan's National Assembly where the religious parties opposed teaching of pre-Islamic history in Pakistan. According to members from MMA, Pakistan's history start from Makkah and Medina. The education minister answered that students should read the pre-Islamic history for the sake of knowledge. The news article about this discussion in National Assembly was published by the Dawn newspaper on 22nd February, 2007.
There are some debates going on about writing correct history in Pakistan. There was an article in the Dawn on July 9 titled History is different from farce. Some excerpts from the article:
Eminent historian and thinker Dr Mubarak Ali says the history written in Pakistan had been “dictated” by the ruling Establishment and represents its wilful perversion of facts “to accord with a fabricated ideology”.
“No authentic history has yet been written about Pakistan and its independence. There is a lot of confusion among the so-called pro-Establishment historians and educationists. Whatever has been written so far is distortion of history and entirely unbalanced,” Dr Ali told Dawn in an interview.
.....
“Some historians negated our ancient Indian and South Asian roots and tried to establish our links with Central Asia or with the Middle East which was historical and intellectual dishonesty,” said Dr Ali.
This article was followed by an Editorial in the Dawn on next day, July 10th. It's titled: A distorted history. Some excerpts:
Our ‘official’ history is riddled with prejudice, inconsistencies and huge knowledge gaps, so much so that there was a time when school textbooks made no mention of the break-up of Pakistan. Even today they offer no detailed account of the causes that led to the creation of Bangladesh — the cultural, political and economic marginalisation of the Bengali people or the atrocities committed in the eastern wing by the Pakistan Army.
....
For many the history of what is now Pakistan seems to begin not with the Indus Valley civilisation but the subjugation of Sindh by an Arab invader, Mohammad bin Qasim. An attempt has also been made to place our cultural roots in Central Asia or the Middle East instead of South Asia and this link, sadly and erroneously, is now widely accepted as fact. Independent research free of official bias is needed to correct these and other more recent distortions of history. Otherwise we may never know where we once stood or where we are now heading.
There is a letter to the editor published in the Dawn today (July 17th, 2008). It's titled: A distorted history.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Manoj Deka and my childhood days in Morigaon: Part-I
I was born and brought up in Morigaon, a small town in central Assam. The entire town was like a big family where every one knew each other. There was only one petrol station, one movie hall (it was actually a godown which was later converted into a movie hall). I liked the Bhramyaman Theatres (Mobile Theatres) that came to Morigaon during October to February time. I could recognize almost every one when we went to watch a show there - Sharma uncle, Baruah uncle, Kalita uncle etc.
Deuta (my father) came to Morigaon when it became a sub-division (circa 1971). Prior to that, he was working with the Deputy Commissioner's office in Nagaon. There was a Basic Training School (a training school for primary and middle school teachers) in Morigaon. (It host the Police Reserve now). It was a big campus. When Morigaon became a sub-division, the school was shifted to somewhere else outside Morigaon. The campus of the school was given to new administrative setup of the new sub-division. It had the offices of Sub Divisional Officer (SDO), Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) within it and the firebrigade. There were around six official residences there. (We used to call those as quarters). The first one was allotted to the SDO, the last one to deuta and middle ones were given to the EACs (Extra Asst Commissioners), EMs (Executive Magistrate), and judicial magistrates.
Around 1980, the SDO office shifted to a new campus in Pachatia. Deuta also bought a plot of land in Pachatia. Pachatia was an area consisting of several villages. All the villages were named after a caste of people who lived there: Kalita gaon, Koch gaon, Heera gaon etc (This is something that I don't like). My father bought the plot of land in Koch gaon. Koch is a very major caste in Assam. (The great Koch king Naranarayan ruled Assam in 16th century AD). All our neighbours used the surname Deka.
Deuta bought two adjacent plots of land from two brothers. One of them was the father of late Manoj Deka. Deuta was about to start building our own house; but he suffered from a major desease in 1981. He was cured; but I think he was left penniless as a result of the costs involved in his treatment. At the same time, we had to vacate our official residence as the SDO's administrative setup was vacating the old campus. We left our official residence in 1982 and moved into a temporary accommodation in our plot that was originally constructed as a shelter for the labourers who would construct our house!
Our eastern-side neighbour was Dilip Deka (Dilip da as I called him). He was a high-school teacher in a venture school (a school which is not owned by the Government and it expects to be owned by the Government sometime in future. The teachers don't get any salary). Dilip da lived there with two his parents, grand-mother, two brothers (Laba and Dhon) and a sister (Rupa).
One day Dilip da showed me some books and coloured postcards of Soviet Russia. I remember the postcard on Lenin and the red USSR (CCCP) flags. Dilip da told me that his cousin brother is a Communist party member in India. His cousin went to Russia and he brough those postcards and books. His cousin's name was Manoj Deka. That was my first indirect link with late Manoj Deka. I was around six years old at that time.
(To be continued.)
Deuta (my father) came to Morigaon when it became a sub-division (circa 1971). Prior to that, he was working with the Deputy Commissioner's office in Nagaon. There was a Basic Training School (a training school for primary and middle school teachers) in Morigaon. (It host the Police Reserve now). It was a big campus. When Morigaon became a sub-division, the school was shifted to somewhere else outside Morigaon. The campus of the school was given to new administrative setup of the new sub-division. It had the offices of Sub Divisional Officer (SDO), Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) within it and the firebrigade. There were around six official residences there. (We used to call those as quarters). The first one was allotted to the SDO, the last one to deuta and middle ones were given to the EACs (Extra Asst Commissioners), EMs (Executive Magistrate), and judicial magistrates.
Around 1980, the SDO office shifted to a new campus in Pachatia. Deuta also bought a plot of land in Pachatia. Pachatia was an area consisting of several villages. All the villages were named after a caste of people who lived there: Kalita gaon, Koch gaon, Heera gaon etc (This is something that I don't like). My father bought the plot of land in Koch gaon. Koch is a very major caste in Assam. (The great Koch king Naranarayan ruled Assam in 16th century AD). All our neighbours used the surname Deka.
Deuta bought two adjacent plots of land from two brothers. One of them was the father of late Manoj Deka. Deuta was about to start building our own house; but he suffered from a major desease in 1981. He was cured; but I think he was left penniless as a result of the costs involved in his treatment. At the same time, we had to vacate our official residence as the SDO's administrative setup was vacating the old campus. We left our official residence in 1982 and moved into a temporary accommodation in our plot that was originally constructed as a shelter for the labourers who would construct our house!
Our eastern-side neighbour was Dilip Deka (Dilip da as I called him). He was a high-school teacher in a venture school (a school which is not owned by the Government and it expects to be owned by the Government sometime in future. The teachers don't get any salary). Dilip da lived there with two his parents, grand-mother, two brothers (Laba and Dhon) and a sister (Rupa).
One day Dilip da showed me some books and coloured postcards of Soviet Russia. I remember the postcard on Lenin and the red USSR (CCCP) flags. Dilip da told me that his cousin brother is a Communist party member in India. His cousin went to Russia and he brough those postcards and books. His cousin's name was Manoj Deka. That was my first indirect link with late Manoj Deka. I was around six years old at that time.
(To be continued.)
Friday, July 4, 2008
News articles about Manoj Deka's death
- Assaulted CPI leader battling for life, The Hindu,
- Injured CPI leader dies, The Hindu,
- CPI leader dies after police thrashing, Rediff.com ,
- CPI leader dies after police assault, the Assam Tribune
- Police brutality, Editorial in the Assam Tribune,
- Assaulted CPI leader dies, The Telegraph,
- Assam CPI leader dies after police assault, The Indian Express,
- Rights probe on Deka death, The Telegraph,
- AHRC move on Deka's death, The Assam Tribune,
- The Tribune,
- Judicial probe ordered, The Assam Tribune,
- From webindia123.
- CPI leaders' death rocks Assam House on day 1, The Indian Express.
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