2010-06-12
The Indian Weekly Digest I (courtesy The Grauniad) - Bollywood Hitler, Censuswallahs et more
Dear Friend Hitler. That's the name of an upcoming Bollywood movie directed by Rakesh Ranjan Kumar. It's set in the last days of the Third Reich. But taking Herr Kumar to task over his assertion that the Führer had a "love for India", and his producer's statement that "if we should thank anybody for Indian freedom, it should be Hitler", is London-based historian Alex von Tunzelmann. In 2007 she authored her first book, Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire. She's right, most Indians are ignorant about the Holocaust.
Meawhile, India's "censuswallahs" (or census people) have begun their task to determine if the country's population is actually 1.18 billion as estimated. The British introduced the census to the Raj in 1872 and it has been performed every decade since then without fail. This will be its biggest exercise yet. In 2001 the official population was 1,028,610,328. That means in the past decade we've probably added the equivalent of 4 Australias, 1.5 United Kingdoms, a Phillipines or 0.3 US of As. The population count involves 2.3 million "enumerators" travelling to more than 630,000 villages and over 5,000 cities. But it hasn't escaped criticism by some for its inclusion of controversial questions about caste for the first time since 1931. And there are also issues about the way in which India measures levels of poverty.
In case you missed it, the recently re-elected Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa concluded a recent visit to New Delhi by signing agreements on aid, infrastructure and loans. The deals are aimed at countering the growing influence and threat posed by China in the new "Great Game" with India for primacy in the Indian Ocean. A new Indian consulate will open in the southern city of Hambantota, where Chinese contractors are constructing a vast deep water port largely financed by their government's lending arm, the Export-Import bank. The Chinese are also financing and constructing ports in Burma and Pakistan, and have proposed to build one in Bangladesh, forming a chain of the so-called "string of pearls" encircling the Indian subcontinent. Beijing is also building a major road network north of Colombo and lending £140 million to build a second international airport in the south of the island. In March, the Sri Lankan government said China was "supplying more than half of all the construction and development loans it was receiving". And then there's the roads, oil and gas pipeline being built in Burma (to the aforementioned port), the multi-billion dollar infrastructural projects in Pakistan and recent infrastructural offers to Nepal. You can understand why India is worried and rattled, but to complicate matters further, Rajapaksa's visit triggered protests by a section of India's 60 million+ Tamil population. They blame Rajapaksa for the "high levels of civilian casualties" in the final days of the civil war against the Tamil Tiger separatists last year. The Indian government is stuck between a rock and a hard place in a game China will win.
And finally for the health conscious amongst us, a new Indian government body has been "tasked with protecting the country's rich heritage of medicinal and medical philosophy". It's a response to companies, organisations and people in the West claiming to invent "new" yoga practices from ones which the Indian government contend are in fact rehashed versions of centuries old practices. The campaign has already secured major victories that have forced European companies to reverse patents on the "use of extract of melon, ginger, cumin, turmeric and onions" for a range of health products. In each case Indian government officials were "able to comb the new digital library to submit carefully translated excerpts from texts ranging from 19th century medical text books to 5th century manuals of traditional ayurvedic medicine to support their claims". Only a matter of time then before we take matters to their logical conclusion and patent the number 0.
Meawhile, India's "censuswallahs" (or census people) have begun their task to determine if the country's population is actually 1.18 billion as estimated. The British introduced the census to the Raj in 1872 and it has been performed every decade since then without fail. This will be its biggest exercise yet. In 2001 the official population was 1,028,610,328. That means in the past decade we've probably added the equivalent of 4 Australias, 1.5 United Kingdoms, a Phillipines or 0.3 US of As. The population count involves 2.3 million "enumerators" travelling to more than 630,000 villages and over 5,000 cities. But it hasn't escaped criticism by some for its inclusion of controversial questions about caste for the first time since 1931. And there are also issues about the way in which India measures levels of poverty.
In case you missed it, the recently re-elected Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa concluded a recent visit to New Delhi by signing agreements on aid, infrastructure and loans. The deals are aimed at countering the growing influence and threat posed by China in the new "Great Game" with India for primacy in the Indian Ocean. A new Indian consulate will open in the southern city of Hambantota, where Chinese contractors are constructing a vast deep water port largely financed by their government's lending arm, the Export-Import bank. The Chinese are also financing and constructing ports in Burma and Pakistan, and have proposed to build one in Bangladesh, forming a chain of the so-called "string of pearls" encircling the Indian subcontinent. Beijing is also building a major road network north of Colombo and lending £140 million to build a second international airport in the south of the island. In March, the Sri Lankan government said China was "supplying more than half of all the construction and development loans it was receiving". And then there's the roads, oil and gas pipeline being built in Burma (to the aforementioned port), the multi-billion dollar infrastructural projects in Pakistan and recent infrastructural offers to Nepal. You can understand why India is worried and rattled, but to complicate matters further, Rajapaksa's visit triggered protests by a section of India's 60 million+ Tamil population. They blame Rajapaksa for the "high levels of civilian casualties" in the final days of the civil war against the Tamil Tiger separatists last year. The Indian government is stuck between a rock and a hard place in a game China will win.
And finally for the health conscious amongst us, a new Indian government body has been "tasked with protecting the country's rich heritage of medicinal and medical philosophy". It's a response to companies, organisations and people in the West claiming to invent "new" yoga practices from ones which the Indian government contend are in fact rehashed versions of centuries old practices. The campaign has already secured major victories that have forced European companies to reverse patents on the "use of extract of melon, ginger, cumin, turmeric and onions" for a range of health products. In each case Indian government officials were "able to comb the new digital library to submit carefully translated excerpts from texts ranging from 19th century medical text books to 5th century manuals of traditional ayurvedic medicine to support their claims". Only a matter of time then before we take matters to their logical conclusion and patent the number 0.
2010 FIFA World Cup - Day 1 Summary
South Africa 1 - 1 Mexico, [Tshabalala 55'; Márquez 79'], Group A
Uruguay 0 - 0 France, Group A
The most boring start to a World Cup I've followed since Germany's laboured victory over Bolivia in 1994, salvaged purely by a goal of sheer class by Bafana Bafana, Tshabalala. At this rate I don't mind if it takes a week for the teams to bed in and assume exciting game duties upon the completion of my exams. Though if any England team members are up early and reading this post, STOP NOW AND IGNORE!! :)
Uruguay 0 - 0 France, Group A
The most boring start to a World Cup I've followed since Germany's laboured victory over Bolivia in 1994, salvaged purely by a goal of sheer class by Bafana Bafana, Tshabalala. At this rate I don't mind if it takes a week for the teams to bed in and assume exciting game duties upon the completion of my exams. Though if any England team members are up early and reading this post, STOP NOW AND IGNORE!! :)
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A Letter To The Captain of England
Dear Stevie G,
I'm sure it would not have escaped your attention that it is now nearly 234 years since our illegitimate American brethren revolted against the wise and generous leadership of our beloved monarchy. Since then these children of Empire have embarked on a path to belittle our waning global influence and blame us as a whole for the actions of a few bad apples (ahem, BP), among a plethora of other points of conflict. Do not be fooled by these knaves who suggest a 'special relationship' as a trap for fools. There is nothing special about giving them sixty years of bragging rights since that day in Belo Horizonte. It's time to reclaim the past and what is rightfully ours. It's time to show who's really king in the world's most popular game. It's time to beat the US of A. Don't hold back any punches. We want goals and we want them by the dozen. But I'm sure you already knew all of this. Good luck and best wishes. Do it for England!
Yours Affly,
A Fan (on behalf of many others)
I'm sure it would not have escaped your attention that it is now nearly 234 years since our illegitimate American brethren revolted against the wise and generous leadership of our beloved monarchy. Since then these children of Empire have embarked on a path to belittle our waning global influence and blame us as a whole for the actions of a few bad apples (ahem, BP), among a plethora of other points of conflict. Do not be fooled by these knaves who suggest a 'special relationship' as a trap for fools. There is nothing special about giving them sixty years of bragging rights since that day in Belo Horizonte. It's time to reclaim the past and what is rightfully ours. It's time to show who's really king in the world's most popular game. It's time to beat the US of A. Don't hold back any punches. We want goals and we want them by the dozen. But I'm sure you already knew all of this. Good luck and best wishes. Do it for England!
Yours Affly,
A Fan (on behalf of many others)