Kill the brand

Congressmen have a great knack of destroying prosperity. This time the Congress henchman Arjun Singh has set his eyes on IIMs and IITs. Possibly the only two institutes in India recognized the world over for the quality of their alumni.

But if something good resides in India, will UPA like it?

http://www.samachar.com/showurl.htm?rurl=http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front%5Fpage&file_name=story3%2Etxt&counter_img=3?headline=Quota~may~unseat~half~of~IIM,~IIT~merit-listers

[Link from Pioneer - copy pasted ]

Quota may unseat half of IIM, IIT merit-listers

Rajeev Ranjan Roy/ New Delhi After introducing a bill for reservation of seats for SC, ST and other backward classes in educational institutions, the Human Resource Development Ministry has initiated a move to increase the quota in the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

The move has evoked sharp reaction in academic circles, and is bound to generate a major controversy as the Ministry is planning to raise reservations from the current 22.5 per cent to as high as 49.5 per cent.

Currently, IIMs and IITs have 15 per cent seats reserved for SC students and 7.5 per cent for ST students. Ministry sources said the Government aspires to extend reservation facility to OBCs including Muslims as identified by the Mandal Commission.

"By increasing the percentage of reservation in IITs and IIMs, Human Resource Development Ministry is out to do a great disservice to meritorious students. We have seen during our days at IIT-K how the students from SC/ST having got entry through reservation used to suffer from inferiority complex. There used to be extra crash courses for them to ensure they cope with the syllabus," YPS Suri, secretary, IIT-K Alumni Foundation, said.

"Instead of compromising on merit to accommodate others at the centres of academic excellence like IIMs and IITs, the Government needs to provide effective primary education to students from deprived sections of the society. This will enable them to compete with others and carve a niche for themselves in the competitive world," Mr Suri added. non-SC/ST students in IIMs and IITs by taking the ceiling to 49.5 per cent. Reacting to the ministry's move to increase reservation levels in IIMs and IITs, a director of IIM told the Pioneer that while they are aware that such a decision is on the anvil, the Government has not yet communicated anything to this effect to them. "The move would certainly kick off a fresh bout of debate across the country. Every affirmative action should ensure merit is not being compromised. It has serious repercussions," he added.

"IITs and IIMs are brands symbolising quality education that India offers. This has been possible not because these institutes have quality faculty members, but also because of the fact that they get meritorious students at the entry level. You cannot make the sub-standard stuff excel. You pick up meritorious students from the weaker sections of the society, and prepare them for competitions," a senior researcher at IIT, Delhi, said.

Commenting on the reservation in IIMs and IITs, former Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) president Dr SS Rathi said: "The Government should ensure the merit is not compromised while admitting students in top class professional and technical institutions."

HRD Minister Arjun Singh has already written to States to frame laws in the light of the 104th Constitution Amendment, passed in the winter session of Parliament, which gives States the right to take steps that would ensure advancement of socially and educationally backward classes, SCs and STs in private educational institutions as well.

Ministry sources said increased reservation for backward categories in these premier central institutions is possible only with increased intakes.

Yes. Let's talk peace with them

http://www.samachar.com/newsasia/fullstory.html

74 Indian PoWs lodged in Pak jails
Reuters

New Delhi: At least 74 prisoners of war (PoWs), besides 386 Indian fishermen and 162 civilians, were lodged in Pakistani jails, the government told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

The Pakistan government had not acknowledged the presence of any PoW in its jails, Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed said in a written reply.

Pakistan had acknowledged the presence of only 377 fishermen and 156 civilian prisoners, he said.

The Minister said the government was persistently pursuing the matter with Pakistan through diplomatic channels and high-level talks from time to time for the release of all the Indian prisoners.

There were 59 Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails, he said adding no Pakistani PoWs were in Indian jails.

Media insensitivity

A day after the blast in Varanasi, Media has [as usual] started playing a cruel game on Hindus. It did the same thing after the Godhra roasting.

Congress-man Rajiv Shukla made a joke on BJP - 'saying leave Hanuman alone now'. Only a Congressman could have stooped so low at such a tragic moment. But our media men were not too far behind.

Indian Express played the Congress joke in the Headlines - Advani to undertake yet another yatra, Cong tells him to leave Hanuman alone

In another related article the Express "journalist" and a known BJP-baiter Manini "Sources" Chatterjee played her own little spin analysis. Even before the blood of the tragedy has dried, the Express team is in an overdrive to defend it's masters in Dehli.

Here's the quote from Manini's article - " Sangh Parivar insiders view the latest development as an opportunity. Their calculation is that the BJP, which has declined considerably in UP over the last few years, would benefit from a communal polarisation in the state.

Manini usually uses the "insider" term a lot, to quote unknown faces in the BJP.

How could NDTV be far behind. After all they manufactured this concept [of spin journalism] in India. "An aggressive BJP sensed the opportunity for resurrecting the Hindutva agenda, and accused the UPA government of going too soft on terror and minority appeasement." says the article.

I never for my life understand what the much maligned "Hindutva agenda" really is? NDTV has manufactured such terms in last 10 years of it's existence and the guillible Hindu middle class which is so impressed by NDTV , cannot even read through this politics that NDTV plays.

Leaving aside the real issue of terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism, the English languauge media has been busy, nay , have been in an over drive to cover "secular" Congress's butts.

How long are they going to dodge the real issue? Will they not be affected by the same terrorism at some point, if not today? Do they think that by not calling spade a spade they can buy peace with jihadis? Ok they may win handsome praise for their "secular credentials" from a handful of readers, but will that be good enough for long run?

The media's short sightedness and it's allergy to Hinduism both have contributed to this rot. The candle-lighting-liberal-fashionable-brigade led by Arundati Roy will as usual respond with a defeaning silence on this tragedy. They feel sorry only for the Taliban. But what about the "neutral" commentators of the media? Don't they have the minimum sense of outrage at such a horrifying tragedy?


How long are they going to keep giving dozes of "maintaining peace and harmony" without even acknowledging the fact that the real culprits belong to one particular community, whose actions all these years have been detrimental to India and Indian nationalism, to put it mildly.

Outlook applies its own little spin

Varanasi, one of the holiest places for Hindus was attacked by terrorists today. The "Sankat Mochan" temple was part of the attack.

I am sure Hindus do not care for all this. They will go on with their lives as they have done so far. Infact most Hindus will be blaming BJP/VHP/RSS for these blasts. The philosophy being - 'the Muslims attacked because Hindus might have done something wrong.'

Whether Hindus are shameless or cowards or both, does not matter. The fact is the community really does not need enemies.

Look for instance this article in Outlook. Not even 24 hrs have passed after the blast and Outlook [a jehadi lover] has already started applying it's own spin to this tragedy.

Check this unneccessary comment in the article - The BJP was quick to make political capital by upping the communal tension --

As if more "upping" is required. So what is BJP expected to do now? Not even condemn the blasts?

In another heading Outlook says that "Muslim organisations have condemned the blasts". Don't worry, they are not condemning muslims who carried this out. On closer look - Here's what they are saying - "the political designs" behind these blasts and other recent incidents of violence in Uttar Pradesh "must be defeated."

Got the dirft? Yes, they are suggesting the blasts was carried out by a political party [read BJP].

You know what? I do not even feel sad for the Hindus anymore. With Hindus like Vinod Mehta and Prannoy Roy we anyways are a people, doomed to miseries. I am not too sure what Jaichand did during the Akbar era. But am sure he was not too far from what these guys are doing today.

I am not even sure why ISI/Jehadi/Muslims need to kill so many people to get power. They already are in power. Hindus anyways are second class citizens, right Sonia? Why do they bother to carry out so much of logistics to kill people? UPA is doing a good job. But then aren't these people fools by birth?


Oh and by the way, if you have lost count of number of Hindus killed in blasts after the UPA came to power, don't worry. One day a consolidated report will be prepared by an "educated middle class" Hindu like me for your preview.