Paara

Dear Shri Chidambaram,

This is in response to your repeated taunts on NDTV that the civil society must respond to the wanton killing by the Naxals. It appears that the interview was tailor made for getting the consent of the Cabinet for more firepower and airpower to combat the Maoist. The diabolic support of Arun Jaitly, be it by describing you an injured martyr, was designed to achieve his ambition through the support of the mining barons of the BJP ruled states.

As a member of society I hope I am being civil in disagreeing with you on your hard line approach against the innocent tribal. I also hope you will not find it too shocking for being accused of being largely responsible for the rise and growth of Naxalism, as the following happened on your watch as Finance minister.

Is it not true that Naxalism grew exponentially in the last ten years to become the present menace? In fact you have yourself identified the time frame of the last ten years in your interview with NDTV.

Is it not true that the rise in popularity of Naxalism is also coincidental with the rise in iron ore mining profits which increased from around Rs50 per tonne to over Rs5000 per tonne in the last ten years?

Is it not true that the map of Naxalism is also the map of the Indian Minerals. These minerals belong to the people of India but have been handed over to mining barons and corporate in a relationship of mutual benefit, more appropriately described as crony capitalism. It is for this reason that Arun Jaitly is your staunchest supporter because the fate of four state government ruled by BJP is dependent on the money from the mining mafia.

Is it not true that during your watch as Finance Minister for four and half years, corporate raked in a profit of over two lac crores through legal and illegal mining, mostly in the iron ore sector? How was this profit shared?

Is it not true that during your entire tenure as FM the royalty on iron ore was not revised and remained at a ridiculous Rs 7 to 27/ tonne (depending on the type and grade of iron ore) with the average of around Rs 15 per tonne. This royalty was neither made ad valorem nor was it revised from year 2000 onwards when the international price of iron ore rose to dizzy levels.

Is it not true that the minerals are owned by the people of the State? Is a meager 0.5% royalty on iron ore profits adequate compensation to the owner of the resources? Would you sell your one crore property for Rs 50,000?

Did your fulfill the oath that you took as a Minister to abide by the Constitution, in particular Article 39 (b) and (c) of the constitution which directs the government to use natural resources owned by the people of the country are used to subserve the common good?

Would the Naxal problem have been there if 25% of the mining profit was spent on the poor and the tribal living in the mining area and whose life was uprooted by the greedy corporate/mining mafia with active connivance of the law enforcers and policy makers?

What prevented the government from nationalizing the iron ore mine industry and handing it over to a PSU or NMDC whose shares of Re1/- was lapped at a premium of Rs300(30000% premium) and using the profit for benefit of the people?

Are you aware that even a resource rich and affluent country like Australia with a low population base is imposing an additional 40% windfall tax on the mining profits? Can a poor country like India afford to forgo these windfall profits?

Will you reveal as to how many times you have defended public interest through PIL and how many times you have defended corporate interest during your professional career as a lawyer? The question is relevant because of your empathy for the corporate sector is in apparent conflict with that towards the toiling masses.

Is it wrong for the civil society to conclude that both as Home Minister and Finance Minister you have been protecting the corporate profiteers (by first allowing them to loot the mineral wealth belonging to the people and now securing these mines for them) and not protecting the interest of the poor and tribal people who are victims of corporate greed and crony capitalism of the political parties? You in particular should have known better having been a Director of Vedanta Resources!

In your appearance on NDTV you talked about the two prong approach and one of them having been weakened. It is the prong of development which has been weakened and is non existent. The royalty collected is not sufficient to pay for the various types of direct damages done by the mining industry (health, environment, water, roads, rehabilitation etc) let alone the cost of security forces.

Is it not true that the killing of innocent security forces and tribal is the direct result of the policy of securing the mineral wealth for the corporate profiteers and political parties who share the loot?

It was shocking to know that you were more concerned about your CV falling short by a few months of completing five years as Finance Minister when you met your maker (refer the NDTV interview) than about the blood of the innocent that has been spilled on both sides as a consequence of corporate profiteering.

It is not surprising that all the State government which get reelected on the money of the mining mafia are interested in using air cover to make mining safe and profitable ever after. You should know better the role of money in elections after having managed to squeak past the post while the DMK MPs romped home with handsome margin. Mr Raja retained his portfolio!

What is at stake is the credibility of the State: that it is using force to benefit the mining mafia and that it has a vested interest in the profiteering of the mining mafia which is prospering because of crony capitalism.

To restore its credibility the Government should resume all the mines which in any case belong to the people and give a solemn pledge that a minimum of 25% of the mining profits will be used for the benefit of the local people. The solution is not only just but one mandated by the Constitution. It is only after restoring its credibility that the State will have the right to act. That one hopes, will not be necessary because honest development based on the resources belonging to the people is the best contraceptive against the Maoist ideology. (One is happy to note that according to newspaper report the Mining Minister has made a similar proposal and not surprisingly facing resistence.)

What happened Mr Chidambaram, you used to be a nice guy? You resigned over the Fairgrowth affair when you were not even guilty.

Life is not about arguing a brief in Court for money. It is about arguing for what is right. You have wrongly accused us being ‘clever nor being devious’ (refer interview with NDTV), because we are not capable of it. We cannot argue the way you do. Your arguments in Parliament over the oil for food programme while shielding Reliance from being referred to the Pathak Committee were indeed ‘brilliant’. Were you being clever or devious in your arguments? (Refer the book Reliance the Real Natwar written by the undersigned for deciding the issue.) Please do not use the civil society as an excuse for your omissions and commissions. We have no vested interest except that what belongs to the people should go to the people and that innocents, whether the security forces or the people forced to join the Maoist, should not die for corporate profits. We are not powerful to tie the State governments with legal cases on police excesses. Those trying to uphold human right violations do so at considerable risk to their life and liberty and deserve our respect and not condemnation as misguided romantics.

On a personal note Sir, Will you resign and argue my PIL before the High Court involving three lac crores of iron ore being gifted by the State to Posco and Arcelormittal (as Palkhivala did to argue the Minerva Mill case). It will be difficult to lose the case because law, facts and most important you will be on the same side.

If you agree to do so, Sir, I am sure He will give you far more credit than He would for the extra six months that you missed out as Finance Minister!

In case you are interested I will send you a copy of the petition.

Looking forward to hearing from you. For far too long you have been shifting the blame on the civil society. We too need answers.

With warm regards

A K Agrawal

E13/2 Vijaykiran Apartments

32 Victoria Road

Bangalore 47

സറന്‍ഡര്‍ രാജിനെതിരെ ശബ്‌ദമുയര്‍ത്തുക

പെര്‍മിറ്റ്‌ രാജും ലൈസന്‍സ്‌ രാജും വഴി ഇന്ത്യയെ തകര്‍ത്ത ഉദ്യോഗസഥ ദുഷ്‌പ്രഭുത്വവും അവര്‍ക്ക്‌ എറാന്‍ മൂളി നില്‍ക്കുന്ന ചില രാഷ്ട്രീയക്കാരും വിദേശ ഇന്ത്യാക്കരുടെ മെക്കിട്ടു കേറുന്നതിന്റെ തെളിവാണു പുതിയ `സറന്‍ഡര്‍ രാജ്‌.’

മറ്റു രാജ്യത്ത്‌ പൗരത്വം എടുക്കുമ്പോള്‍ ഇന്ത്യന്‍ പൗരത്വം ഇല്ലതാകുമെന്നു ഇന്ത്യന്‍ നിയമങ്ങള്‍ വ്യക്തമായി പറയുന്നു. പിന്നെ എന്തിനാണു ഒരു പ്രത്യേക `റിനണ്‍സിയേഷന്‍’? 175 ഡോളര്‍ വേണമെങ്കില്‍ അതങ്ങു പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ പോരെ?

പൗരത്വം എടുത്തു മുന്നു മാസത്തിനകം ഇന്ത്യന്‍ പാസ്‌പോട്‌ കാന്‍ സല്‍ ചെയ്യണമെന്നാണു പുതിയ ചട്ടം.
വളരെ വര്‍ഷം മുന്‍പു പൗരത്വം എടുത്തവര്‍ക്കു ഇന്ത്യന്‍ പാസ്‌പോര്‍ട്ട്‌ എവിടെ എന്നു പോലും ഓര്‍മ്മ ഉണ്‍ ടാവണെമെന്നില്ല. അതു പോലെ വളരെ പഴയ പാസ്‌പോര്‍ടും എങ്ങനെ കണ്‍ടെത്തും? പഴയത്‌ കാന്‍സല്‍ ആയതൂ കൊണ്‍ടാണല്ലോ പുതിയത്‌ എടുത്തത്‌?

ഈ നിയമം കൊണ്‍ടു ഇന്ത്യക്കു വല്ല പ്രയോജനവും ഉണ്‍ടെങ്കില്‍ തരക്കേടില്ലായിരുന്നു. ഇതു മൂലം ഭീകരര്‍ ഇന്ത്യയില്‍ വരുന്നത്‌ ഇല്ലാതാവുമോ? വിദേശ ഇന്ത്യാക്കാരനെ കൂടുതല്‍ ചൂഷണം ചെയ്യാന്‍ ഉദ്യോഗസ്ഥര്‍ക്ക്‌ അവസരം ലഭിക്കുമെന്നു മാത്രം.

വിദേശ ഇന്ത്യാക്കാരുടെ പണമാണു ഇന്ത്യയുടെ വളര്‍ചക്ക്‌ ഏറെ പ്രയോജനപ്പെട്ടത്‌. അവരെ ദ്രോഹിച്ചേ അടങ്ങൂ എന്നു വന്നാലോ?

ഇന്ത്യാക്കാര്‍ക്ക്‌ ഇനി ടൂറിസ്റ്റ്‌ വിസ ഇല്ല; പകരം എന്‍ട്രി വിസ

തലത്രിരിഞ്ഞ മറ്റൊരു പരിഷ്‌കാരവും വന്നിരിക്കുന്നു. ഇനി മുതല്‍ യു.എസ്‌ പൗരത്വമുള്ള ഇന്ത്യാക്കാര്‍ക്ക്‌ ടൂറിസ്റ്റ്‌ വിസ കിട്ടില്ല. പകരം എന്‍ട്രി വിസ ഏര്‍പ്പെടുത്തി.

പക്ഷേ ഇന്ത്യന്‍ പൗരത്വം റദ്ദാക്കിയെന്ന്‌ സര്‍ട്ടിഫിക്കറ്റ്‌ നല്‍കിയാലെ എന്‍ട്രി വിസ കിട്ടൂ. പൗരത്വം റദ്ദാക്കാന്‍ പഴയ പാസ്‌പോര്‍ടുകള്‍ തിരിച്ച്‌ ഏല്‍പിച്ച്‌ 175 ഡോളറും നല്‍കണം. എന്നു മാത്രമല്ല, പൗരത്വം റദ്ദാക്കി അന്നു തന്നെ വിസ കിട്ടുമെന്നും കരുതണ്‍ട. ചുരുക്കത്തില്‍ പറ്റാവുന്ന പാര എല്ലാം സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ എടൂത്ത്‌ ഉപയോഗിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു. ഡേവിഡ്‌ കോള്‍മാന്‍ ഹെഡ്‌ലി എന്നൊരു പഹയന്‍ പാക്കിസ്ഥാനി പല വട്ടം ഇന്ത്യയില്‍ വന്നു എന്നതിനു സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ മെക്കിട്ടു കേറുന്നത്‌ ഇന്ത്യാക്കാര്‍ക്കു നേരെ!

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Entry Visa - India Visa Requirements

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Goddess English of Uttar Pradesh
By MANU JOSEPH
New York Times, Published: May 14, 2010
A FORTNIGHT ago, in a poor village in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, work began on a temple dedicated to Goddess English. Standing on a wooden desk was the idol of English — a bronze figure in robes, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and holding aloft a pen. About 1,000 villagers had gathered for the groundbreaking, most of them Dalits, the untouchables at the bottom of India’s caste system. A social activist promoting the study of English, dressed in a Western suit despite the hot sun and speaking as if he were imparting religious wisdom, said, “Learn A, B, C, D.” The temple is a gesture of defiance from the Dalits to the nation’s elite as well as a message to the Dalit young — English can save you.

A few days later, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a body that oversees domain names on the Web, announced a different kind of liberation: it has taken the first steps to free the online world from the Latin script, which English and most Web addresses are written in. In some parts of the world, Web addresses can already be written in non-Latin scripts, though until this change, all needed the Latin alphabet for country codes, like “.sa” for Saudi Arabia. But now that nation, along with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, has been granted a country code in the Arabic alphabet, and Russia has gotten a Cyrillic one. Soon, others will follow.

Icann calls it a “historic” development, and that is true, but only because a great cliché has finally been defeated. The Internet as a unifier of humanity was always literary nonsense, on par with “truth will triumph.”

The universality of the Latin script online was an accident of its American invention, not a global intention. The world does not want to be unified. What is the value of belonging if you belong to all? It is a fragmented world by choice, and so it was always a fragmented Web. Now we can stop pretending — but that doesn’t mean this is a change worth celebrating.

Many have argued that the introduction of domain names and country codes in non-Latin scripts will help the Web finally reach the world’s poor. But it is really hard to believe that what separates an Egyptian or a Tamil peasant from the Internet is the requirement to type in a few foreign characters. There are far greater obstacles. It is even harder to believe that all the people who are demanding their freedom from the Latin script are doing it for humanitarian reasons. A big part of the issue here is nationalism, and the East’s imagination of the West as an adversary. This is just the latest episode in an ancient campaign.

A decade ago I met Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, a jolly, endearing, meat-eating man. He was distraught that the Indians who were creating Web sites were choosing the dot-com domain over the more patriotic dot-in. He was trying to convince Indians to flaunt their nationality. He told me: “As long as we live in this world, there will be boundaries. And we need to be proud of what we call home.”

It is the same sentiment that is now inspiring small groups of Indians to demand top-level domain names (the suffix that follows the dot in a Web address) in their own native scripts, like Tamil. The Tamil language is spoken in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where I spent the first 20 years of my life, and where I have seen fierce protests against the colonizing power of Hindi. The International Forum for Information Technology in Tamil, a tech advocacy and networking group, has petitioned Icann for top-level domain names in the Tamil script. But if it cares about increasing the opportunities available to poor Tamils, it should be promoting English, not Tamil.

There’s no denying that at the heart of India’s new prosperity is a foreign language, and that the opportunistic acceptance of English has improved the lives of millions of Indians. There are huge benefits in exploiting a stronger cultural force instead of defying it. Imagine what would have happened if the 12th-century Europeans who first encountered Hindu-Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3) had rejected them as a foreign oddity and persisted with the cumbersome Roman numerals (IV, V). The extraordinary advances in mathematics made by Europeans would probably have been impossible.

But then the world is what it is. There is an expression popularized by the spread of the Internet: the global village. Though intended as a celebration of the modern world’s inclusiveness, it is really an accurate condemnation of that world. After all, a village is a petty place — filled with old grudges, comical self-importance and imagined fears.

Manu Joseph, the deputy editor of the Indian newsweekly OPEN, is the author of the forthcoming novel “Serious Men.”

Homeopathy is witchcraft: British Medical Association

London, May 16 (IANS) Homeopathy is “witchcraft”, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said, adding: “If people wish to pay for homoeopathy that’s their choice but it shouldn’t be paid for on the NHS until there is evidence that it works.”

Hundreds of BMA members have passed a motion criticising alternative medicine use and they demanded that taxpayers should not pay for bills for remedies with no scientific basis to support them, The Telegraph reported Saturday.

“Homeopathy is witchcraft. It is a disgrace that nestling between the National Hospital for Neurology and Great Ormond Street (in London) there is a National Hospital for Homeopathy which is paid for by the NHS (National Health Service),” Tom Dolphin, deputy chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee in England, was quoted as saying at an annual conference.

Homeopathy was devised in the 18th century by German physician Samuel Hahnemann.

Gordon Lehany, chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee in Scotland, told the conference in London last weekend: “At a time when the NHS is struggling for cash we should be focusing on treatments that have proven benefit. If people wish to pay for homoeopathy that’s their choice but it shouldn’t be paid for on the NHS until there is evidence that it works.”

BMA chairman Hamish Meldrum supported the motion.

A report by parliamentarians in February said the alternative medicine should not receive state funding.

About 54,000 patients are treated each year at four NHS homeopathic hospitals in London, Glasgow, Bristol and Liverpool.

Seventy percent of patients said they felt some improvement, according to a survey at NHS homeopathic hospitals.

“Homeopathy helps thousands of people who are not helped by conventional care. We don’t want it to be a substitute for mainstream care, but when people are thinking about making cuts to funding, I think they need to consider public satisfaction, and see that homoeopathy has a place in medicine,” Crystal Sumner, chief executive of the British Homeopathic Association (BHA), was quoted as saying.

The rape of Yoga

Aseem Shukla /Sheetal Shah

Apart from distorting it beyond recognition, the proponents of America’s $ 6 billion Yoga industry deny Yoga’s inseparability with the Hindu way of life. The philosophy behind Yoga must be extolled

The burgeoning the Yoga industry, built off of $108 Yoga pants contoured to bind and sculpt the body, $185 Yoga studio membership fees and $100 yoga mats custom designed to decrease slippage from sweaty palms, continues to skyrocket in popularity. The latest fad at a spinning studio round the corner: “combination spin and Yoga”, where the goal is to burn fat and loosen thigh muscles - ostensibly to decrease that pesky sore hamstring. But that shouldn’t be surprising when there already exists Yoga in the nude, yoga and food, and even “Doga” - i.e. yoga with one’s pet dog.

Welcome to Yoga 2010 sweeping the United States @ $ 6 billion per year, where it is legit to pair Yoga with just about anything, including faith. Apart from the aforementioned distortions of a 5,000-year-old science, we now see the rise of “Christian Yoga”, “Muslim Yoga”, “Kabbalah Yoga” and what have you.

Each of these “nuanced faith-yogas” have appropriated the knowledge of countless yogis without so much as a nod of gratitude towards Hinduism, the faith that gifted them this treasure. Hinduism today is identified overseas more with holy cows than Gomukhasana, the arduous twisting posture and exotic and erotic gods rather than the unity of divinity of Hindu tradition - that God may manifest and be worshiped in infinite ways; as a religion of incomprehensible ritual rather than the spiritual inspiration of Patanjali, the second century BC commentator and composer of the Yoga Sutras, that has formed the philosophical basis of practical Yoga for millennium.

As Yoga becomes more “mainstream”, its Hindu roots continue to be buried further and further by studios, practitioners and the media. While magazines such as Yoga Journal are replete with references to ancient India, new age blather and even Buddhism, it is only logical to ask why is there so much resistance to openly acknowledging Yoga’s inextricable links with Hinduism.

Firstly, perhaps because not all of the great Hindu Yogis who introduced the West to this ancient philosophy took the uncompromising path of a Swami Vivekananda in his open assertion and embrace of his Hindu faith. A generous perspective would be that these more modern yogis and swamis couch their teachings in secular syntax to benefit millions of followers. But a more realistic view would reach far harsher conclusions. The followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, under whose tutelage the Beatles steadied their mind, packaged and even trademarked the benefits of meditation as Transcendental Meditation (TM). Yet, a search of the words “Hindu” or “Hinduism” on TM’s website reveals not a single instance of either word.

Contemporary gurus unwisely continue this trend that severs yoga from its very wellsprings of inspiration. From Ayurveda to meditation and Yoga to pranayama and riya, the path of least resistance for acceptance in the West is seen to simply indulge the consumer with homilies to wellness, holistic healing and rewiring the mental hard drive without eliciting the baggage of that pariah term: “Hinduism.”

As these gurus highlight only the universal nature of Yoga while discarding overt references to Hinduism. They end up grabbing the transcendent philosophical fruits of the ancients, leaving Hinduism with stereotyped detritus of incomprehensible ritual and the cliched “caste, cows and curry.” As the popularity of Yoga has skyrocketed and spiritual practice has morphed into a $6 billion industry, this delinking has become so prevalent and commonplace that many in the western yoga community are outraged that any faith, particularly one that is now largely associated with colorful rituals and multi-headed gods, could dare claim to be the mother of Yoga.

Critics, such as the American Yoga Association and Deepak Chopra have argued that Yoga predates Hinduism - a term coined just a few hundred years ago. Based on this flawed logic, would these critics also venture to say that neither the Vedas nor the Upanishads nor the Bhagavad Gita are fundamental “Hindu” texts because they all pre-date colonial India? Would these same critics then take issue with the legendary BKS Iyengar’s statement in Light of Yoga that “some asanas are also called after the Gods of the Hindu pantheon and some recall the Avataras, or incarnations of Divine Power”? Or would they perhaps venture to state that Shiva is not a Hindu god because He is mentioned in the opening line of Swami Svatmarama’s Hatha Yoga Pradipika.

Even more baffling are the practitioners who learn to master asanas such as Hanumanasana or Natarajasana while simultaneously denying the Hindu roots of Yoga. Lord Nataraja’s eternal dance precedes creation of this universe itself, but when will the Deepak Chopras of the world concede that the spiritual tradition moving to His divine rhythms is what we all accept as Hinduism?

For these self-indulgent appropriators of Yoga in the US, the end-all-and-be-all of Yoga is asana-based classes. They have not delved into Yoga’s foundational scriptures, such as Patajanli’s Yoga Sutras. For these “lay” yogis, the focus is on sculpting muscles or simply balancing in Sirshasana for 10 minutes, ignoring that the ultimate goal of Yoga is also that of Hinduism: moksha, the attainment of liberation from worldly suffering and from the cycle of birth and rebirth. Yoga 2010 is only a stress-buster, 90 minutes out of the American’s day, a few times each week.

And unfortunately, much of what is practiced in the West is exactly this - asanas in the name of Yoga, making it that much easier to decouple the practice from its Hindu roots. It’s rather simple to brush off the idea that Hinduism, or any faith for that matter, can lay claim to a headstand or spinal twist or any physical pose. But for Hindus working toward the ultimate goal of moksha, Yoga is not just an asana practice that can be forgotten after “arising” from savasana. Instead, yoga is lived every minute of everyday and both asana and pranayama are small, but integral components. As Prashant Iyengar, the son of BKS Iyengar, so aptly states, “There is no physical Yoga and spiritual Yoga. If it is exclusively physical, it won’t be Yoga. Yoga is dealing with the entirety; it is a union.”

Yoga is not only for Hindus; Hindus do not own yoga. Yoga is Hinduism’s gift to humanity to follow, practice and experience. No one will ever be asked to leave their own religion or reject their own theologies or convert to a pluralistic tradition such as Hinduism. Yoga, in its path of regaining mastery over the body, mind and intellect, does not offer ways to believe in God; it offer ways to know God.

Dr Aseem Shukla, a Minneapolis-based Pediatrician is co-founder of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) and may be reached at shuk1011@umn.edu; Sheetal Shah is Director,Development,HAF

If President Obama fails to intervene to allow controversial evangelist Franklin Graham to lead a National Day of Prayer event Thursday inside the Pentagon, “it will be a slap in the face of all Christians,” Graham said Tuesday.
And invited or not, he’ll stand in front of the Pentagon and pray, Graham said in an interview.

The Pentagon had invited a private national evangelical group, the National Day of Prayer Task Force, of which Graham is 2010 honorary chairman, to lead an official prayer service there. The prayers are for the U.S. military; Graham’s son is on his fourth tour in Afghanistan.

But the invitation was rescinded after mainline Protestants, Muslims and Jews complained that Graham offends and excludes many believers because of his strict views on Christianity and his comments that Islam is “evil.”

The Task Force requires organizers and prayer leaders to sign a statement of beliefs agreeing that salvation is only through Christ and that the Bible is inerrant — views not shared by all Christians, including Catholics and many mainline Protestants.

In an interview Tuesday with USA TODAY, Graham reiterated his belief that “Muslims do not worship the same ‘God the Father’ I worship.” He laughed at Hinduism’s many manifestations of God: “No elephant with 100 arms can do anything for me. None of their 9,000 gods is going to lead me to salvation.

“We are fooling ourselves if we think we can have some big kumbaya service and all hold hands and it’s all going to get better in this world. It’s not going to get better,” Graham said.

He also said Obama pays attention only to black charismatic and Pentecostal pastors, such as his spiritual adviser, Joshua Dubois. Dubois heads the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which has dozens of advisers from a wide spectrum of denominations.

Obama invited scores of pastors to an Easter breakfast, attended the National Prayer Breakfast, and signed the annual proclamation for the National Day of Prayer. The administration is appealing a federal court ruling that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional.

“The president is a committed Christian who is proud of his engagement with people of faith,” White House spokesman Shin Inouye said Tuesday.

Still, Graham said, he “warned” Dubois that Obama is losing millions of “mainstream evangelicals” because he appears to be “soft on Islam” and he doesn’t stand up for the “rights of the historic Christian majority.” (Dubois declined to respond about a private conversation.)

Graham told USA TODAY that when Obama visited his father, 91-year-old evangelist Billy Graham, last month, the younger Graham asked the president to intercede with the Pentagon to restore his invitation. He said Obama replied that he would “look into it.”

Kerala Congress merger: Is it good?

Rapid Rise of Syrian Bishops & Dioceses Causes Concern
Kerala witnessed a spurt in the number of bishops and dioceses recently, which may have political and economic reasons than theological motives, says a report. Take, for instance, the 1 million-strong Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church. It has today 33 bishops and 15 dioceses. Seventeen of the bishops are quite recent appointments. Outside Kerala, the church has dioceses in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi and in Chennai, near Mylapore, where St Thomas is believed to have attained martyrdom in AD 72. It also has one diocese each in Australia and Kuwait and two in the US.

“It’s a policy decision,” explains Fr Varghese Kallappara, spokesperson of the Church. “We are planning two more bishops,” Express Buzz quoted the priest in its April 25 report. Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church boasts 26 dioceses and same number of bishops. By May 12, it will have seven more bishops. Its Bishop Gabriel Mar Gregorios in Thiruvananthapuram said the migrant Christian Malayali population has increased. New dioceses are opened to meet the spiritual demands of the diaspora.

The half-a-million strong Syro-Malankara Catholic Church ordained four new bishops last month, making its number of bishops to 13. “It is not just a political or economic development, the Church is also growing from within,” says Bishop Thomas Mar Anthonios, a newly ordained bishop. The socially prominent Syro-Malabar Church, clamors for more dioceses outside Kerala and the country. Today, it has one diocese in Chicago, which has to cater to the spiritual needs of the faithful in both the US and Canada.

The clergy argue that pastoral care of the faithful and ease of administration are the causes of increasing number of bishops. But not all agree. It is strategy of “colonial expansion,” according to Joseph Pulickunnel, a critic of the Church establishment. He says million of unaccounted money - are flowing to the Churches from outside. The bishops “are not interested in spreading Christian values, but in expanding their institutional network and material wealth,” he says. Pulickunnel compares the growing material influence of the church to the erstwhile British Colo¬nialism. “Christianity for them is a front to further their corporate interests. Where is Christ in it?” he asks.

“Buddhism was born in India. And even though the religion is no longer flourishing here, we still have the concept of Ahimsa ingrained in our hearts. Can the Church claim a similar contribution?”

Will Tharoor survive Kerala’s charged politics?
Kochi/New Delhi, April 25 (IANS) Will Shashi Tharoor be able to survive in Kerala\’s highly-charged political atmosphere being the self-confessed novice that he is? While the common people in Kerala are very enthusiastic about the suave former UN diplomat\’s return to state politics and see him as a sign of welcome change, politicians are not too happy.

The rousing welcome given to Tharoor, who quit the government last week over the IPL Kochi row, in Thiruvananthapuram Saturday is perhaps an indication of the popularity the author-politician enjoys in his state and elsewhere too - thanks to his tweeting ways and his international appeal.

In a twitter post on Friday, Tharoor had said that after quitting as junior minister of external affairs he was now looking forward to going back to his Thiruvananthapuram constituency and working there. “It’s been a rough week but am looking forward to returning to Thiruvananthapuram. Lots of work needs to be done in the constituency.”

His aide, Jacob Joseph Puthenparambil, said Tharoor would now involve himself in active politics.

“He will be there in the active politics. We have launched a lot of developmental initiative in the constituency. A lot of work has to be done, like pushing the Vizhinjam port project. Yesterday (Saturday), he was invited to attend the UDF (United Democratic Front) meeting. It was wonderful,” Puthenparambil told IANS.

Tharoor’s supporters find him as a breath of fresh air in Kerala’s musty political scene, ruled by the Communists with an old-fashioned V.S. Achuthanandan at the helm.

“Tharoor is sincerely trying to bring some positive changes in our society. His efforts to ‘twinning’ of Thiruvananthapuram and Spain’s Barcelona city has been widely noticed. No wonder, he is projected as the future chief minister of the state,” said Stany Thomas, a political science professor.

Tharoor was welcomed at Thiruvananthapuram airport by hundreds of his supporters holding placards and raising slogans. However, no senior state Congress leader was present at the airport to welcome him.

Tharoor had to step down after the opposition alleged he had misused office to help his close friend Sunanda Pushkar get Rs.70 crore sweat equity in the IPL Kochi franchise. He had said in parliament that he had done nothing wrong and whatever role he played in the Kochi franchise bidding was for Kerala.

“Who is Tharoor to argue for Kerala? Is he a politician, or only a celebrity? This is not Europe or America. This is Kerala,” a Congress MP told IANS, on condition of anonimity, after his resignation.

After quitting, Tharoor plunged into state politics. He joined a delegation of Kerala Congress MPs to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking changes in the Right to Education Act. They want that the new bill should ensure that schools run by Hindu community groups like Nairs and the Eazhavas should also be included in it.

According to Stany Thomas, a political science professor at St. Thomas College, Pala, “Tharoor has started learning the basic lessons of local politics.”

“He actively joined the Congress MPs to create a positive impression among his own community and its leaders. These people had mocked at him last year calling him a ‘Delhi Nair’,” said Thomas.

Tony. P. Emmanuel, a post graduate, said the people of Kerala don’t believe that Tharoor was involved in any corruption in the IPL deal.

“We all know that his only intention was to get the state its own IPL team. He is a wealthy man and is not involved in any kind of corruption,” Tony said.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) MP M.B. Rajesh, airing the views of his party: told IANS: “Events like the IPL are not a tool to measure the real development that Kerala needs. The state needs educational and infrastructural development. Tharoor as a minister did nothing in this direction. His efforts to bring IPL to Kerala shows that he represents corporate politics.”

Rajesh added that Tharoor had boasted before the general elections last year that he would transform Thiruvananthapuram into London, but had done nothing so far.

“After he became minister, he did not pay much attention to Thiruvananthapuram. Now, after losing his job, he wants the support of the people,” Rajesh said.

However, Tharoor has refuted allegations that he neglected his constituency.

To a query from a fan on twitter Saturday that he had never heard Tharoor discuss his constituency before in his tweets, Tharoor said: “Go back and read my tweets! Have reported frequently from Thiruvananthapuram on every visit.”

Extraditing a Roman Catholic priest from his native India to face charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Minnesota could take several years, the prosecutor in the case said Thursday.

Roseau County Attorney Lisa Hanson said federal officials told her the extradition of Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul could last four or five years if he’s uncooperative. A formal extradition request was filed with the Department of Justice last fall, she said.

”I’m told the process is very slow and convoluted,” Hanson said. ”If he decides to fight it, we could be looking at a very long process.”

A Justice Department spokeswoman said the agency does not comment on extradition proceedings.

Jeyapaul was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct in January 2007. Authorities believe he assaulted a 14-year-old female parishioner in the rectory of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Greenbush, a small town near the Canadian border where he was assigned.

Jeyapaul, 55, has denied the charges and said he was willing to return and face them. The charges were filed more than a year after he returned to India.

Hanson said she is committed to seeing Jeyapaul face the U.S. courts even if it takes years. But she said if Jeyapaul truly wants to face the charges, he and his superiors have the power to expedite it.

”We would appreciate any cooperation from the Catholic church in getting him to come back,” Hanson said.

Jeyapaul came to Minnesota in 2004, and was assigned to the church in Greenbush, about 340 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

He returned to India to visit his ailing mother in late 2005. While there, allegations surfaced in Minnesota of an inappropriate relationship he allegedly had with a 16-year-old girl. Jeyapaul was accused of gaining her trust by encouraging her interest in becoming a nun.

Bishop Victor Balke of the Diocese of Crookston told Jeyapaul not to come back or he would go to the police, according to an e-mail sent by Balke and provided by a victim’s attorney. Jeyapaul was later charged with sexually assaulting the 14-year-old girl.

Balke raised concerns with several top Vatican officials about Jeyapaul’s continued service to the church. The Vatican said officials thought Jeyapaul should be removed from the priesthood but church law left the decision to his local bishop in India. The Most Rev. A. Almaraj, the bishop of the Diocese of Ootacamund, held a canonical trial and sentenced Jeyapaul to a year in a monastery.

Almaraj said he could not take strong action unless Jeyapaul’s guilt was proved. Jeyapaul now works in the diocese’s office handling paperwork for schools