Women soldiers of Assam Rifles have been deployed at Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara to keep a check and balance on the drug smuggling racket. It is reported that they had got an intelligence report about women and children being used for smuggling, and hence had been stationed there. This area is close to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), and it is suspected that illegal activities might be carried out, as Pakistan-backed terrorists make attempts to infiltrate into the Indian side.
They have also been entrusted with the task of guarding the national border close to the LoC. Deployed at an altitude of ten thousand feet, at the top of the Sadhana Top of the LoC, nearly half a dozen ‘rifle women’, led by a woman officer of the Indian Army, have been tasked to guard the road going towards the LoC.
This deployment is an important move since it marks one of the first equal provisions that have been granted to women in the defence sector following the recent grant of the permanent commission for women in the Indian Army.
Assam Rifles, which is India’s oldest paramilitary force, has a unit called ‘Rifle Women’ of which these women soldiers are a part.
A Muslim mob in Bengaluru went on a rampage on Tuesday night in which it vandalized the KJ Halli police station and the house of Dalit Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy allegedly over a Facebook post on Prophet Mohammad by a relative of the MLA.
The mob gathered near Congress MLA’s residence on the night of Tuesday. They had torched the vehicles parked in the area and also pelted stones at the MLA’s house. They had even attacked the fire engine that came there to douse the fire.
Later at the police station, the Muslim mob resorted to vandalism and arson. The jeeps and cars inside the police station were damaged beyond repair.
In light of this, Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya has requested Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to go the Yogi way in dealing with rioters by confiscating their properties to compensate for the damage caused to public property.
In his letter, Tejasvi Surya highlighted that hundreds of rioters belonging to the Muslim community had attacked the Dalit MLA of the Congress Party allegedly over a social media post. He mentioned that around 60 police personnel were attacked and the police stations at KJ Halli and DJ Halli bogged down by the Muslim mob.
“I am of the opinion that this must be dealt with sternly and an example must be made out of the perpetrators of violence, which will ensure that such incidents will not be repeated in the future.”, Tejasvi Surya said.
He cited the example of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government in Uttar Pradesh where properties of the rioters were attached to recover the damages caused to public property along with the names of the rioters being put up on hoardings.
He requested the Karnataka CM to take cue from Uttar Pradesh government and follow suit.
The BJP MP also urged CM Yediyurappa to probe into the involvement of organizations like Popular Front of India (PFI) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).
“Bengaluru has a history of harmony and peaceful coexistence. We must maintain the strength of our city at all costs.”, Tejasvi Surya concluded in his letter.
I request Sri @BSYBJP to confiscate and attach properties of the rioters and compensate losses to public property in same way as Sri @myogiadityanath govt did in UP.
Bengaluru is known for its peace and harmonious society.
On August 9, DMK MP Kanimozhi alleged that she was asked by a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officer at the airport if she was an Indian when she asked the officer to speak in either Tamil or English as the legislator supposedly did not know Hindi.
Today at the airport a CISF officer asked me if “I am an Indian” when I asked her to speak to me in tamil or English as I did not know Hindi. I would like to know from when being indian is equal to knowing Hindi.#hindiimposition
The CISF official twitter account replied to the DMK MP’s tweet asking for the journey details to look into the matter and take appropriate action.
Warm greetings from @CISFHQrs. We sincerely acknowledge your unpleasant experience. Kindly DM journey details; name of airport, location, date, and time of the incident for appropriate action in the matter.
The DMK MP did not disclose the details in public domain. However, the CISF later said that it has ordered an enquiry and that it is not the policy of CISF to insist on a particular language.
The CISF has ordered an Enquiry into the matter. It is not the policy of CISF to insist upon any particular language.
Following this, Rajya Sabha MP P. Chidambaram jumped the bandwagon claiming that he too had encountered similar experiences from government officials and ordinary citizens.
The unpleasant experience of DMK MP Ms Kanimozhi at Chennai airport is not unusual.
In a later statement, the DMK MP tweeted that “stealth imposition of Hindi” was widespread. She also said that it was not a tirade against an individual but to point out the lack of appropriate training.
I thank all leaders and people who shared their individual experiences, and highlighted the issues faced by non-Hindi speakers in airports and government institutions.
While imposition of any language on anyone is wrong, let us see if Kanimozhi’s allegations hold water.
Anyone who has travelled by air will be able to recall that, CISF officers are usually placed at two points – the different entry gates of the airport terminal, and at the security check.
When a passenger enters the airport first, the CISF officer at the terminal gate checks the ticket and the identity proof. They look whether the details of the passenger in the ticket matches with the ID proof. The scope for a verbal interaction at this point is highly improbable as there is no need to. Usually, it is the male officers who are posted at this point. So, the probability of DMK MP Kanimozhi encountering the female officer here is dim. Once entering the airport, normal passengers proceed to get their baggage screened and checked-in at the respective airline’s check-in counter where they are issued the boarding pass. VIPs like Member of Parliament, Ministers, etc are escorted directly to the security clearance area.
Here, male and female passengers have separate queues. At this point, passengers are frisked thoroughly and their hand baggages are scanned. So, given the fact that the DMK MP encountered a female officer, it should have been at the security clearance area that the incident must have happened. Here too, the interaction that happens is very minimal. The boarding pass is checked and sealed by the officer after frisking. Beyond this point, there are no CISF officers posted.
Now, CISF personnel come from different regions of the country. They guard critical installations and infrastructure of our country leaving their family back home. An officer hailing from Jharkhand could be posted in Tamil Nadu while a person from Tamil Nadu could be posted in Guwahati’s airport. It is possible that the said officer might have used her mother tongue Hindi involuntarily to address passengers during the security check. They might not even have used complicated sentence as only the passengers’ boarding pass is asked for. At the most, they might have asked the passengers to maintain social distancing, keep their boarding passes ready or remove metallic elements if they have any in their baggage or on their body. It is possible that CISF personnel could have addressed the crowd in her comfortable tongue – Hindi.
Even if there had been an altercation between the MP and the CISF personnel, she could have directly complained to the Commandant Officer of the airport for the alleged behaviour of the officer.
Instead, she took to Twitter to claim that India was facing “Hindi Imposition”.
But, the DMK MP claiming that she did not know Hindi is at best ludicrous.
Kanimozhi is a person who is well versed in Hindi. Here are some facts:
1. When the Nira Radia tapes were made public, Radia can be heard speaking to Kanimozhi in Hindi. She even says in her conversation with Radia that she was at a mall to purchase music album of Fateh Ali Khan, the Pakistani singer.
2. In which language did she speak to north Indians like Shahid Balwa, Karim Morani and Vinod Goenka during her 2G negotiations? Probably only English as none of them know Tamil.
3. In which language did she speak to her lawyers Kapil Sibal, Abishek Singhvi, Ram Jethmalani for the 2G case –? Probably only English.
4. If imposition of Hindi is a problem, why does Sunshine school run by Stalin’s daughter offer Hindi?
It would be better if the DMK MP answers these questions, before she casts aspersions on a CISF personnel imposing Hindi.
This happened on the day as millions of Tamils cutting across sections conducted “Vel Pooja” in response to Karuppar Koottam’s slander against Hindu God Murugan and Kandha Sashti Kavasam. The Karuppar Koottam episode has led to a churn among the Tamil populace with the DMK facing backlash as evidences emerge of its link with the rabid Youtube channel. This whole episode has been seen as an attempt by the DMK to rake up the language issue by igniting ‘anti-Hindi sentiments’ as Tamil Nadu goes to polls in a few months.
The long-pending project to make six new-generation stealth submarines domestically with foreign collaboration has finally been cleared by the Indian government.
This ₹42,000 crore project will enable India to acquire next-generation stealth submarines.
The Ministry of Defence will issue a tender or RFP (request for proposal) by next month to defence shipyard Mazagon Docks (MDL) and private ship-builder L&T for the submarine programme, called Project-75 India (P-75I).
This project under the Make in India initiative and the submarine or other SP projects will not be impacted by the negative arms import list issues just recently by the government.
The five Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) are Rubin Design Bureau (Russia), Naval Group-DCNS (France), ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (Germany), Navantia (Spain) and Daewoo (South Korea).
Submarines are perhaps the best second-strike platform for any country and the Indian navy is operating old and fast-depleting underwater submarines.
The Indian Navy has only two new Scorpene and 13 old (all commissioned well over 20 years ago) diesel-electric conventional submarines.
India has only two nuclear-powered submarines, of which one of them is leased from Russia. By 2022, four more of the French-origin Scorpenes are expected to join the service under the ongoing over ₹23,000 crore Project-75 at MDL.
India has a long way to go as at present the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has 50 diesel-electric and 10 nuclear submarines and is slowly expanding its presence in the Indian Ocean region.
Pakistan has also understood of the usefulness of submarines and is the process of inducting eight new Chinese Yuan-class submarines, with air-independent propulsion (AIP) for great underwater endurance, from next year onwards.
Though the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for six new submarines, with both land-attack cruise missiles and AIP, was first granted in November 2007, it is yet to be finalised.
Under this plan, the Indian navy will receive 18 conventional submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines (called SSNs) and four nuclear-powered submarines with long-range nuclear-tipped missiles (SSBNs) for effective deterrence against China and Pakistan, as earlier reported by TOI.
In a move foreseen by some political pundits, Democratic Nominee for the President of the United States, Joe Biden has selected California Senator Kamala Harris as the candidate for the Vice-President.
“I have the great honour to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris – a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants – as my running mate,” Biden tweeted Tuesday (11 August) afternoon, ending weeks of speculation.
Kamala Harris is of Indian and African ancestry and is now the first Indo-American on a major ticket to the White House.
.@JoeBiden can unify the American people because he's spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he'll build an America that lives up to our ideals.
I'm honored to join him as our party's nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.
Harris, who identifies herself first as an African American is the third woman yet to run for that office of vice president, after Democrat Geraldine Ferraro and Republican Sarah Palin.
Reacting to the development, President Donald Trump had earlier said that some men might feel “insulted” by his Democratic rival’s move to choose a woman as his vice-presidential candidate.
President Trump said that he was “surprised” when Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential candidate. He called Kamala Harris, the “most horrible” member of the US Senate.
“I was more surprised than anything else because she did so poorly,” President Trump said.
He also tweeted a video that called Kamala Harris a radical left and a phony.
On August 5th , Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the bhoomi poojan in Ayodhya thereby laying the foundation for constructing a mandir for Ram Lalla. This event not only has religious and cultural connotations but also is a change in the civilizational narrative of Bharat. It is in fact a green-shoot indicating the revival of the Indian Grand Narrative.
The story of Rama can be traced to the genealogy of the Ikshvaku Kula of the Soorya Vamsha in the Valmiki Ramayana. However , this katha of Rama is told in many different ways by many different stalwarts from many different parts of Bharat.
The many Ramayanas
Within the realm of Samskritam itself , we have many other versions of the Ramayana like the Adbhuta Ramayana (which gives us insight to Sita and her childhood) , Vasista Ramayana (which primarily deals with the story of Shri Ram from an Advaitic prespective).
It also played an important inspiring source in the domain of drama or nataka . Some famous works include the Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa , the Pratima Nataka of Bhasa and the Prasana Raghava by Jayadeva. Many literary works which have been identified with Rama can be dated back to the time of the Bhakti movement.
The great exponents of the various sub-schools of Vedanta darshana too have venerated Lord Rama through various granthas. The Sri Ramachandra Bhujangam of Shankara Bhagavatpada and the Raghuveera Gadyam by Vedanta Desikar are stellar works from an Advaita and Vishistadviata prespective.
Ramayana also penetrated the vernacular languages. In Bengal , Krittivasi Ramayana of the 15th century ruled the roost in the east. In Tamil Nadu , it is the Kambaramayanam , a 12th century work which is celebrated and one should also mention the Perumal Thirumozhi of Kulashekara Alzhwar which sings odes about the Lord. In Kerala, there is an interesting text called the Mappila Ramayana which is said to be popular among the Islamic community.
In fact ,the Urdu Poet Allama Iqbal referred to Rama as “Imam-e-Hind”,the spiritual role-model of Hindusthan. Even Nastika schools of darshana like Jainism and Buddhism have their own telling of this great itihasa. The Dasarata Jataka talks about Iksvaku kula and Rama.
In early buddhist texts, we also find a reference that Buddha was part of the Soorya Vimsha lineage of Lord Rama. The Pauchariyam , a Jain text mentions Rama as the eight balabhadra of the 63 sakalapurushas. The most famous vernacular retelling is of course Tulsidas’s Ramachirtamanas in Awadhi. The performance of Ram Leela in various parts of North and West India during Dusshera and the practice of Ramayana saptaham in the South during Navaratri shows the festive aspect of this cultural narrative.
Major temples in Tamil Nadu have stone carvings on the walls depicting various scenes of the legend. All musical sampradayas venerate Lord Rama through the medium of sangeetha and namasankeerthana. One of the most prominent vaggeyakara of Karnataka Sastriya Sangeetha was Tygaraja who was also one of the foremost Rama bhakthas. He has composed more than 600 kritis depicting various aspects of Rama. For example, the Panchatantra Kritis describe Rama as the Paramatma from an Upanishadic lens while the Utasava Sampradaya kritis are to do more with description of the beauty of Lord Rama through the prespective of Shringara Rasa.
All these literary, musical and artistic references to Ramayana acting as a centripetal force helps in building a cultural narrative. Thus, this cultural narrative not only lives through static literary works but also dynamic fine art forms and music.
Geographical Significance
The amount of geography covered in the both Ithihasas and the Puranas is immense. Specifically coming to the Ramayana, the geography covered is more as stated above along the north-south axis. The Ramayana describes Ayodhya as being to the north of the Ganga, south of the Sarayu, west of Magadha and east of Hastinapura (near Meerut in U.P.) which exactly matches the city’s location even today. In the Bala Khanda, Valmiki also describes rivers like Ganga and janapadas like Mithila (in present Bihar) during Rama’s journey with Vishwamitra. In Ayodhya and Aryana Khanda, Rama during his 14 year vanavasa visits the ashramas of many rishis. Some examples include Bharadwaj’s hermit at Prayaga (present day Prayagraj), Atri’s hermit in Dandakavana( present day Chattisgarh), Sharbhanga’s hermit at Chitrakoot and Sutheekshina’s hermit at Sarangpur (present day Panna district, Madhya Pradesh). In fact, in the Ayodhya Khanda, we find a mention that Kaikeyi was from “Kekeya janapada” which can be mapped to present day Pakisthan-Afghanisthan thereby indicating the civilizational ambit of Bharat.
A map showing the journey of Rama during the 14 year vanavasa
The Ramayana also describes Dakshina Saagara as being a body of salt-water, a refuge of graahas (sharks; literally “grabbers”) and an abode of makaras (mythical sea-creatures with parts of an elephant, crocodile, stag and fish). Places like Lepakshi (where it is believed the Jatayu Moksha is to have happened) and Rameshwaram (from where the Ram Setu was started to being constructed) find mention in various versions of the Ramayana. Sri Lankan locations like Talaimanner (the other end of the Ram Setu), Ashoka Vitaka (in present day Sita Eliya) and Divurumpola (where the Agni Pariksham of Sitha was performed) are still of religious importance to many pilgrims even today. Thus the Ramayana emboldens the geographical dimension of this grand narrative.
Ramayana and the Southeast Asia Connect
In 2018 , when PM Modi inaugurated a 5-day festival in Delhi commemorating various Ramayana performances , it was done in the context of the ASEAN Summit.
The ASEAN is a group of 10 south-east Asian which in fact reminds Bharat of her civilizational footprint on the global stage. The Ramayan has been popular in South-East Asia for centuries; its spread and popularity highlight the enduring appeal of India’s soft power. PM Modi pointed out how the festival reveals India’s “deep civilizational and historic relations” with ASEAN, and said that it is “a fitting prelude” to the ASEAN-India commemorative summit.
Having said that the impact the Ramayana had on these countries is enormous. The Ramayana is believed to have arrived at Cambodia sometime during the 7th century in the form of a poem. This is according to the Veal Kantel inscriptions. titled Reamker, means “Glory to Rama” in the Cambodian language. Famous scenes of the epic can be seen on the walls of the Royal Palace and Angkor Wat. Even Indonesisa which is heavily influenced by India, the characters from the Ramayana can be seen in the 9th century Prambanan temple in Yogyakarta. Interestingly, the Laos version of the story, Phra Lak Phra Lam, focuses more on the heroism of Rama’s brother, Lakshamana. The Malaysian retelling, Hikayat Seri Rama (Chronicle of the Great Rama), is a little more special because it incorporates shadow puppetry. Yama Zatdaw or Yamayana of Burma is read even today which was heavily influenced by the Thai version of the Ramayana due to the invasion of Burma by the Siamese kings of the Konbaung Dynasty during the 15th century. The Ramakein of Thailand is considered as a text of national importance in the country even today and the Philippines too has its own version called the Maharadia Lawana. This shows that the Ramayana had facilitated the peaceful Sanskritization of south east Asian making it one of the most exceptional global and civilizational narratives.
Rama: A civilizational hero
The idea of Rama was one of the founding principles of our Freedom movement. MK Gandhi’s entire idea of freedom was built on the virtues that Rama enshrined. In fact, his thoughts on governance and economic ideas were largely influenced by “Ram Rajya” which was reiterated by the Prime Minister in his speech. But it was the same Rama who was used by the Maratas as a symbol of valour. This brings us to a larger question regarding the reason why Rama is considered to “Maryada Purushotham”.
A portrait of Lord Rama , Sita and Lakshmana in the original copy of the Indian Constitution.
The Ramakrunatham of Bodendhrlal in fact calls Rama as “Navarasadipathi” indicating that Rama was the personification of the 9 rasas. But the larger question is addressed in the first verse of the Ramayana wherein Valmiki asks Narada : Who is that one person living on this earth currently as an embodiment of all the sixteen good qualities? The reply Narada gives is as follows:
This is the crux of the very purpose of Lord Rama’s incarnation. A person is said to possess the quality of “Sousheelyam” when he/she comes down to the lowest level of his people and accepts everyone unconditionally. In the modern day leadership perspective, this characteristic assumes extreme significance for a leader to remain relevant amongst his/her followers. Especially for people in politics and allied areas, wherein huge masses of people should accept a person as their leaders, it’s very important for this person to gain the trust and win the confidence of them. Hence Valmiki Maharishi has placed “Gunavaan” or “Sousheelyam” as the most significant characteristic of an ideal leader. Hence we can also infer from this that, “Sousheelyam” is the primary and the foremost important characteristic of a good leader and this is the exact reason why probably Gandhi extrapolated Rama as the central figure of his political discourse understanding this guna of Rama.
Narada also stresses on the quality of “Kritjnam” or gratitude as one of the great kalyana guna Rama possessed. This guna of Rama has been coded by Valmiki in the Sundara Khanda in Sita’s words when she encountered Hanuman in Lanka. Hence these two gunas form the sacrosanct nature of Lord Rama making him the Mardyada Purshottham of Bharat.
Thus, the Ramayana also helps us in adding value to the Grand Indian Narrative politically and morally too. It is in this context that the construction of the Ram Mandir is an important change in the landscape of Bharat.
A Muslim mob in Bengaluru went on a rampage on Tuesday night in which it vandalized the KJ Halli police station and the house of Dalit Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy allegedly over a Facebook post on Prophet Mohammad by a relative of the MLA.
The mob gathered near Congress MLA’s residence on the night of Tuesday. They had torched the vehicles parked in the area and also pelted stones at the MLA’s house. They had even attacked the fire engine that came there to douse the fire.
The incident looked like a pre-planned one as several of them had carried stones, knives, sticks, petrol, kerosene, etc. A man identified as Mudassir Ahmed in a facebook post called Muslims to assemble DJ Halli Police station.
The India Today reported quoting Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kama Pant that around 60 police personnel and Additional Commissioner of Police were injured in the clashes. Around 10-15 cars were overturned and set on fire.
The Karnataka government gave orders to open fire around midnight as the mob went violent. The police then fired in the air. Two people have reportedly been killed.
The situation was brought under control by 2 AM. Section 144 has been imposed in Bengaluru and around 110 people have been arrested for vandalism and attacking the police.
Pakistan has now started targeting its political minorities despite a promise of a ‘Naya Pakistan’ by their Prime Minister Imran Khan. The country celebrated National Minorities Day on Tuesday, while the stark reality is that most minorities in their country face discrimination and persecution.
The newest victim has been Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was pelted with stones in Lahore. Following clashes between her supporters and the police, she had been attacked by stone pelters. Maryam had gone to the country’s National Accountability Bureau for a corruption case hearing, which had been postponed. Following this, she had left the office, only to be attacked.
This case is in connection with the corruption allegations upon the father-daughter duo, wherein the former had left the country to go to London after having been granted bail. The accusations against them are of land grabbing 200 acres that belonged to the government. It is also to be noted that, she is now the heir to father’s Pakistan Muslim League, the party that was in power before the current Prime Minister took charge. This is not the first time that she has been attacked, since she faced a media ban last year.
While Imran Khan leaves no opportunity to accuse India of human rights violations, his ‘Naya Pakistan’ has become a hell hole for not just religious minorities but even political minorities.
Business tycoon Jimmy Lai was granted bail on Monday evening after he had been arrested under the Hong Kong Security Law. The 71-year-old was accused of going against the government and joining hands with the ‘enemy’. He is a prominent democracy activist and regularly questions Beijing and its actions in his tabloid The Apple Daily.
He has been sent animal carcasses by post in the past, as a threat against him and his tabloid. He was arrested under the new Security Law on August 10. Following these, he received a lot of support from all over the world. High profile leaders like US Secretary Mike Pompeo and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson voiced their concerns about this arrest.
What had started as a measure by China to scare its citizens against democracy ended up in a backfire. The Chinese government had tried to make an example out of Jimmy and failed miserably. After this, his tabloid became Hong Kong’s biggest media house overnight with a 1400% stock shoot up.
Jimmy was released on bail on Monday evening. He was swarmed by hundreds of enthusiastic supporters who had cheered him as he left the station. Lai’s arrest has become a rallying point for a bigger protest. China just proved its critics right by abusing the security law. Lai has become the global face of Hong Kong’s resistance to China.
The entire cabinet of Lebanon resigned after continuous protests by the citizens of the country accusing them of their negligence towards responding to the explosion. Their Health Minister Hamad Hasan had reported that this was a decision that was taken after extreme pressure was put on the government to respond to the explosion. This announcement was made by Prime Minister Hassan Diab on the country’s national television on Monday.
The prime minister presented himself in the speech as a reforming leader blocked by endemic corruption dating back years. The Lebanese Parliament will now have to decide on a new prime minister – a process involving the same sectarian politics at the root of protesters’ discontent.
Meanwhile, President Michel Aoun has asked the government to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet is formed.
This comes in the wake of the recent explosion of several thousand tons of ammonium nitrate in Beirut which caused widespread damage throughout the city. Following this, protests broke out throughout the city of Beirut, by angry citizens who question the country’s bad response to the disaster. Notably, the country was already undergoing a bad recession, and post this blast, hundreds were pushed into poverty and unemployment.
