War against Terror

It may surprise many to know that the problem of terrorism has persisted for nearly half the period of the life of independent India.
Since the closing years of the 1970s, India has been in the vortex of foreign-sponsored terrorism, which has claimed nearly 80,000 lives, both civilian, and of security forces — in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, north-eastern states, and in the rest of India. There is no country in the world which has been a victim of terrorist onslaught for so long, and which has suffered such enormous loss.
If a menace has continued for so long, it means that its perpetrators have a definite purpose, a definite goal. If we correctly assessed right in the beginning that the goal of terrorists and their patrons abroad was not only to threaten the common man and the civil society, not just to create ordinary law and order disturbances, but to endanger the very unity and security of the nation. What is happening in India today?
History will not pardon us if we fail
In the history of nations, it is important to know what challenges they face. But it is far more important to know how they respond to these challenges. Nations oblivious to the threats that eat into their vitals run an imminent danger of losing their ability to protect themselves. The warning bells are loud and clear that, even though the nation’s internal security today stands seriously threatened, our response lacks political will. India does not have a seamlessly integrated counter-terrorism strategy backed by resolute operational capabilities.
There is one more thing to be said about internal security challenges. These do not manifest suddenly, nor do they mature overnight. The ominous signals they send over a prolonged period of time can be noticed unmistakably. However, if we choose not to notice them, or are incapable of taking self-protective action, history will not absolve us.
In the last millennium, India suffered many a blow. In the last century, India suffered blood-soaked Partition on account of a pernicious ideology. Therefore, all political parties and all sections of our society should so conduct themselves that no evil power, external or internal, can set its eyes on destabilizing, debilitating and dividing India.
Terrorism: Invisible enemy’s low-cost, asymmetrical war
For such strong protective force to emerge, it is necessary to know that in today’s world, failure to protect internal security has emerged as the most potent threat to the unity and integrity of nations, to the stability of their polity and to the protection their constitutional values. In the post-World War period, failure to deal with internal security challenges, as opposed to foreign aggressions, has been responsible for the degradation of a large number of nation-states. Most States when confronted with serious internal threats thought it to be a passing phase and allowed the drift to reach a point where retrieval was no longer possible.
Quite often, the adversarial forces won not because of their own strength but because of the weaknesses and mistakes of the regimes that were hit. Thus, history has a big lesson for us and it would be tragic if we failed to learn from past mistakes, both of our own and of others.
An important lesson that we in India should learn — this lesson is indeed globally relevant — is that conventional wars are becoming increasingly cost-ineffective. As instruments of achieving political and strategic objectives, their outcome is unpredictable and, often, counter-productive. Hence, foreign aggressions today come disguised as proxy wars in the form of terrorism and other forms of violence. The enemy targets internal fault-lines for furthering his strategic and political objectives. Even less powerful nations are able to exercise this low-cost sustainable option, giving rise to the new doctrine of asymmetric warfare.
We can see this clearly from what both Pakistan and Bangladesh have been doing to us. Neither can match India’s military strength. Yet, both have been threatening India with cross-border terrorism.
This warfare is waged by an invisible enemy, for whom the civil society is both a source of sustenance and the target. The enemy exploits the liberties, freedom, technological facilities and infrastructure to his advantage, making even the more powerful, better equipped security agencies feel helpless.
Maligning of security forces: A dangerous new trend
Maligning the security forces is often a deliberate ploy employed by the civil society supporters of terrorist outfits. Unfortunately, it sometimes influences the thinking of even well-meaning human rights activists. However, it should not be forgotten that our security forces work under extremely difficult circumstances. The rest of society can sleep peacefully only because of the diligent service rendered by our police, paramilitary and armed forces. I fully agree that innocent persons should not be harassed and penalized. But let us spare a thought for this question: What will happen to our society, to our nation, if the morale of our security forces is allowed to be weakened?
Stigmatising any faith in the fight against terror is wrong
Friends, no campaign of terrorism that has continued for so long can be without an ideological motive. Recognizing the anti-India ideological driving force behind terrorism, and evolving a proper nationalist ideological response to it, is critical to achieving long-term success. Here I would like to state two things emphatically. Firstly, no religion and no religious community can and should be blamed for the criminal acts of some individuals belonging to that community. Stigmatizing any community in the fight against terrorism is wrong, counter-productive, and must be condemned.
At the same time, it is equally important to recognize that religious extremism of a certain kind provides the ideological fervor and outward justification for terrorism and separatism. After all, religion was indeed misinterpreted and misused to construct the two-nation theory, which had disastrous consequences for India, for both Hindus and Muslims. The ideology behind the ongoing war of terrorism against India is a continuation of the separatist ideology that created Pakistan. Which is why, the anti-India forces in Pakistan have sponsored cross-border terrorism as a deliberate policy to achieve Kashmir’s secession from India, and also to weaken India in many different ways.
In recent years, an important new experiment has been introduced into this policy of cross-border terrorism. A section of Indian youth, misguided and exploited by their mentors abroad and radicalized by an interpretation of Islam that is propagated by Al Qaeda, have been inveigled into the vortex of terrorism. SIMI and Indian Mujahideen have emerged as the face of indigenised terror. Their literature speaks volumes about their aversion for the very idea of a secular, plural and democratic India, and also about their resolve to destroy India, as we know it.
TADA, POTA or Nothing
Without TADA, some of the culprits in Rajiv Gandhi’s murder case could not have been chargesheeted. TADA had already ceased to exist.
One of the first acts of the UPA government in 2004 was to repeal POTA. As a matter of fact, the war against. The government’s weak-kneed approach, as was inevitable, proved fatal in course of time. It not only emboldened the extremists groups, but also brought down the efficacy of country’s security apparatus.
POTA remained in existence from September 2001 till December 2004. During this period, only eight incidents of terrorist violence, including the attack on Parliament and on Akshardham temple in Gandhingar, took place in India’s hinterland, leading to 119 deaths. Contrast it with what happened after POTA was repealed: The footprint of terrorism has grown alarmingly larger in the past four years. Jammu, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Samjhauta Express in Haryana, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Malegaon, Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Guwahati and, in the latest attack, serial terrorist attack rocked Agartala in Mumbai just some days ago. During this period, more thank 800 persons have been killed and 2,411 injured, depicting a five-fold increase in those killed and injured. It is the same country, same people, same police and same intelligence agencies; what then explains this unprecedented increase? The answer is very simple: Weak laws have emboldened the terrorists and appeasement has failed to change their intentions.
Party or Nation
The Hindu reported on September 13: “In what is seen as the UPA government speaking with different voices over the need for states enacting tough anti-terror laws, the Union home ministry has not taken kindly to the suggestion of the National Security Adviser M K Narayanan favouring the Gujarat government’s proposal to have its own law to deal with terrorist activities and organised crime. The NSA’s suggestion was contained in a letter which he recently wrote to the home ministry. He reportedly saw no reason to turn down the request of the Gujarat government to have an anti-terror law. He also reportedly cited demands by a number of senior police officers both at the central and state levels for enacting a comprehensive, tough anti-terror law. Mr Narayanan did not see anything wrong in supporting such a demand.”
The Administrative Reforms Commission, appointed by the government under the chairmanship of senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily, strongly supported the need for stringent anti-terrorist law. Speaking to the media on September 17, he said “a strong anti-terror law with equally strong safeguards to prevent its misuse is needed.”
On September 24, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said, “There should be a strong law to deal with terror. A powerful law, not a failed law. POTA is a failed law.”
In spite of these pronouncements, what is the net result? “No, no, we do not need a new law. Existing laws, if strengthened, are enough to fight terror.”
How can India be safe under a government that has no mind of its own, that speaks in so many voices, and that is led by a prime minister who has an office but no authority? It is difficult to find out who runs this government and who takes the decisions.

For loving father

Some word for loving father

If you honour your father and mother, “you will live a long life, full of blessing.” And now a word to you fathers. Fathers are the biggest source of strength for a child for me as well even today.The innocent eyes of a child perceive father as the all-powerful, most knowledge, truly affectionate and the most important person in the family. For daughters, fathers are the first men they adore and fall in love with.While for sons their fathers are the strongest person they know and someone they aspire to emulate.Even for the grownups fathers are someone whom they look up to for the most experienced and honest advice that is always in the best of their son.For this great figure in our life that we know as father.

Say Thanks to Dad
Children blessed with a loving father should consider themselves fortunate. For, they have someone to take care of their needs and interests. Someone to stop them when they are diverting to a wrong path and guide them on a road to success and virtue. For many of us fathers have always been there to solve our innumerous mathematics and science problems and explain the same formula hundredth time or better still until it is understood by us. Fathers would never ever give a smallest of hint to let us know how hard they work to take care of our needs and fulfill our demands… For all their adorable scolding and affectionate punishments we all owe a big thanks to our Dads.

Apologize to Dad
Father’s Day also brings with it the wonderful opportunity to apologize for all our rude and insensitive behavior. We as children often take the love and affection of our parents for granted and treat them with outright contempt. We need to apologize. We must feel great to have the presence of loving father in our lives and do not disrespect the blessing of God on us. On Father’s Day we must says “Sorry” to our Dad and seek their forgiveness for our wrong behavior.”Spcially I want to say my dad for my rude behavior at childhood time.“

Celebrate the big Day with Dad
We must make all efforts to celebrate Father’s Day with our Dad. Children staying away from father must especially strive to spend the day with father and show gratitude for all their support and love.We must pamper father by spending the day in a manner he likes most. We can also express love with thoughtful gifts accompanied by a bouquet of his favorite flowers. The idea is to show our affection and tell Daddy how much he is loved and appreciated not just on Father’s Day but every single day of our lives.

Emotional distress due to social networking websites

There is a boom of social networking websites on Internet .The newer social networking sites like orkut , wayn, myspace not only helps in building social contacts but also gives other privileges like earning through blogging & uploading pictures .Majority of people who surf Internet frequently are members of at least one social networking websites either for fun , or to build contacts or for promotion of their own on line business or for earning through blogging . When it comes to earning through blogging , people spend several hours in a day to update their blogs & than on reading & commenting other blogger work. As a result of which blogger get very much acquainted with each others style of writing , thoughts ,likes , dislikes ,profession & other personal aspects & at times blogger get attracted to opposite sex blogger. Once this happens the blogger mind gets completely diverted from blogging . He or she starts giving very sensitive comments on the articles of the blogger with whom he or she has got attracted .The comments are very frequent & personalized a result both the blogger get attracted to one another. Recently I came across few cases where in male blogger first approached female blogger by giving frequent & touching comments on their articles & than they exchanged their contact numbers & email IDs.Later the male blogger shared their past with the female blogger & expressed how lonely they are without true love in their lives & eventually proposed the females saying that they can only bring the lost love back into their lives . Women feel very sorry for the past of males & they started loving the them thinking that the males are very honest & will be carrying husbands if they tie knot with them. For few months these couples continued their interaction through blogging & chatting & meanwhile they committed for marriage , without any face to face meetings. Since it was not a true love & was near attraction the male blogger got attracted to another female blogger & thereby they lost interest in the previous female blogger & the commitments which they made to them became meaningless. As usual the females got very upset , they lost hope , trust & health & now these woman do not believe in the Institution of marriage they do not want to get married for ever & are not ready to forget them although their dream homes are scattered totally According to me it is not wrong to love somebody & to express love for someone nor I say it is the folly of men alone .Also there might be people who got true life partners through social networking sites but I feel one should not commit for marriage without family consent & face to face interaction with the person whom you met through social networking websites.

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The choice for a life Partner

Marriage is a social custom which is given importance in most of the human societies all over the world & hence mate selection is a crucial part in marriage . Psychologists & Sociologists have developed several theories which deal with mate selection .These theories mainly suggest the factors that govern consciously or unconsciously an individuals choice for a mate. There are various theories however I am mentioning the common & popular theories of mate selection.

1 ) HOMO GAMY THEORY : According to this theory individuals choose life partner who also has the same religion , race , social status & economical status as he or she has.According to Psychologists the more the couple is homogeneous the better is their married life.

2 ) PROPINQUITY THEORY : According to this theory individuals often choose to marry a person with whom they are working in office for a long time or studying in same college or staying in same area or locality.The theory is based on the fact the individuals who work together or in same area or company or study in same class or college or stay in same area meet daily or occasionally & therefore develop some kind of attraction which influences their decision of mate selection.

3) COMPLEMENTARY NEED THEORY : The theory has been propounded by Winch .According to this theory the individual seeks out a mate to complement his or her own personality. Winch suggests that in mate selection the need pattern of each spouse will be complementary rather than similar to the need pattern of the other spouse .In other words the person choose a mate who will fill out the weaknesses in his or her personality.

4) PARENTAL IMAGE THEORY : Psychologist Sigmund Freud proposed this theory. According to this theory a child develops a deep attachment for the parent of opposite sex. Therefore in a partner the youth tends to seek the quality of his opposite sex parent .Thus a girl wishes to marry a man who has similar traits of her father & man wants to marry a woman who has similar traits of his mother. These theories govern our choice of mate consciously or unconsciously.

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Vivekananda Unpublished Letter 1

Two letters written by Swami Vivekananda to Maharaja Ajit Singh of Khetri were recently found among old papers in the record room of the Khetri Sub-divisional Officer’s office (Jhunjhunu District, Rajasthan, India). We are publishing the text of the letters virtually unedited.

Madras
the 15th February [1893]

Your Highness,

Two things I am telling your Highness. One—a very wonderful phenomenon I have seen in a village called Kumbakonam, and another about myself.

In the said village lives a man of the Chetty caste, generally passing for an astrologer. I, with two other young men, went to see him. He was said to tell about anything a man thinks of. So, I wanted to put him to the test. Two months ago, I dreamt that my mother was dead and I was very anxious to know about her. My second was whether what my Guru had told me was right. The third was a test-question—a part of the Buddhistic mantra, in Tibetan tongue. These questions I determined upon, two days before going to this Govinda Chetty. Another young man had one of his sisters-in-law given poison to, by some unknown hand, from which she recovered. But he wanted to know the author of that delivery.

When we first saw him, the fellow was almost ferocious. He said that some Europeans came to see [him] with the Dewan of Mysore and that since then through their ‘Dristee Dosham’ he had got fever and that he could not give us a seance then and only if we paid him 10 Rs., he would consent to tell us our ‘prasnas’. The young men with me of course were ready to pay down his fees. But he goes to his private room and immediately comes back and says to me that if I gave him some ashes to cure him of his fever he would consent to give us a seance. Of course I told him that I do not boast of any power of curing diseases but he said, ‘That does not matter, only I want [the ash]’. So, I consented and he took us to the private room and, taking a sheet of paper, wrote something upon it and gave it over to one of us and made me sign it and keep it into the pocket of one of my companions. Then he told me point blank, ‘Why you, a Sannyasi, are thinking upon your mother?’ I answered that even the great Shankaracharya would take care of his mother; and he said ‘She is all right and I have written her name in that paper in the possession of your friend’ and then went on saying, ‘Your Guru is dead. Whatever he has told you, you must believe, for he was a very very great man,’ and went on giving me a description of my Guru which was most wonderful and then he said ‘What more you want to know about your Guru?’ I told him ‘If you can give me his name I would be satisfied’, and he said, ‘Which name? A Sannyasi gets different sorts of names’. I answered, ‘The name by which he was known to the public’, and says, ‘The wonderful name, I have already written that. And you wanted to know about a mantra in Tibetan, that is also written in that paper.’ And, he then told me to think of anything in any language and tell him, I told him ‘Om Namo BhagavateVasudevaya’, and he said, ‘That is also written in the paper in possession of your friend. Now take it out and see’. And Lo! Wonder! They were all there as he said and even my mother’s name was there!! It began thus—your mother of such and such name is all right. She is very holy and good, but she is feeling your separation like death and within two years she shall die; so if you want to see her, it must be within two years.

Next it was written—your Guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is dead but he lives in Sukshma, i.e., ethereal body, and is watching over you, etc. and then it was written ‘Lamala capsechua’, in Tibetan, and then at last was written ‘In conformation to what I have written, I give you also this mantra which you would give me after one hour after my writing; ‘Om Namo Bhagavate etc.’; and so he was equally successful with my friends. Then I saw people coming from distant villages and as soon as he sees them he says—‘Your name is such and such and you come from such and such village for this purpose’. By the time he was reading me, he toned down very much and said—‘I won’t take money from you. On the other hand, you must take some “seva” from me’. And I took some milk at his house and he brought over his whole family to bow down to me and I touched some ‘vibhutee’ brought by him and then I asked him the source of his wonderful powers. First he would not say, but after a while he came to me [and] said—‘Maharaj, it is “siddhi of mantras” through the “sahaya” of “Devi”.’ Verily, there are more things on heaven and earth Horatio than your philosophy ever dreamt of—Shakespeare.

The second is regarding me. Here is a zamindar of Ramnath, now staying in Madras. He is going to send me over to Europe and, as you are already aware of, I have a great mind to see those places. So I have determined to take this opportunity of making a tour in Europe and America. But I can’t do anything without asking your Highness, the only friend on Earth I have.

So kindly give your opinion about it. I only want to make a short tour in those places. One thing I am certain of, that I am [an] instrument in the hands [of] a holy and superior power. Myself, I have no peace, am burning literally day and night, but somehow or other, wherever I go hundreds and, in some [places] as in Madras, thousands would come to me day and night and would be cured of their skepticism and unbelief but I—! I am always unhappy!! Thy will be done!! Therefore, I don’t know what this power requires of me, to be done in Europe. I cannot but obey. ‘Thy will be done’!! There is no escape.

I congratulate your Highness on the birth of a son and heir. May the infant prince be quiet like his most noble father and may the Lord shower his blessings always on him and his parents.

So I am going over in two or three weeks to Europe. I can’t say anything as to the future of the body. Only I pray to your Highness if it be proper to take some care of my mother that she does not starve.

I would be highly obliged to get a reply soon, and pray your Highness to keep the latter part of this letter, i.e., my going over to England etc., confidential.

May you be blessed all your life, you and yours, is the prayer that is day and night offered up by,

Vivekananda
C/o. M.Bhattacharya Esq.
Assistant Accountant General
Mt. St. Thome, Madras

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