VERY INTERESTING HISTORY!
At the very beginning of his book, 'The Nehru Dynasty',
Astrologer K.N. Rao mentions the names of Jawaharlal's father and grandfather.
Jawaharlal's father was believed to be Motilal and Motilal's
father was one Gangadhar Nehru.
We all know that Jawaharlal's only daughter was Indira
Priyadarshini Nehru; Kamala Nehru was her mother, who died in Switzerland
of tuberculosis. She was totally against Indira's proposed marriage
with Feroze. Why? No one tells us that!
Now, who is this Feroze? We are told by many that
he was the son of the family grocer. The grocer supplied wines, etc..
to Anand Bhavan (previously known as Ishrat Manzil)
What was the family grocer's name?
One frequently hears that Rajiv Gandhi's grandfather was
Pandit Nehru. But then we all know that everyone has two grandfathers,
the paternal and the maternal grandfathers.
In fact, the paternal grandfather is deemed to be the
more important grandfather in most societies.
Why is it then, nowhere, we find Rajiv Gandhi's paternal
grandfather' s name? It appears that the reason is simply. Rajiv
Gandhi's paternal grandfather was a Muslim gentleman from the Junagadh
area of Gujarat .
This Muslim grocer by the name of Nawab Khan, had married
a Parsi woman after converting her to Islam.
This is the source where from the myth of Rajiv being
a Parsi was derived. Rajiv's father Feroze, was Feroze Khan before he married
Indira, against Kamala Nehru's wishes.
Feroze's mother's family name was Ghandy, often associated
with Parsis and this was changed to Gandhi, sometime before his wedding
with Indira, by an affidavit.
The fact of the matter is that (and this fact can be found
in many writings) Indira was very lonely. Chased out of the Shantiniketan
University by Guru Dev Rabindranath himself for misdemeanour, the lonely
girl was all by herself, while father Jawaharlal was busy with politics,
pretty women and illicit sex, the mother was in hospital.
Feroze Khan, the grocer's son was then in England and
he was quite sympathetic to Indira and soon enough she changed her religion,
became a Muslim woman and married Feroze Khan in a London mosque.
Nehru was not happy, Kamala was dead already or dying.
The news of this marriage eventually reached Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
(better known as Mahatma Gandhi) .
Gandhi urgently called Nehru and practically ordered him
to ask the young man to change his name from Khan to Gandhi. It had nothing
to do with change of religion, from Islam to Hinduism for instance.
It was just a case of a change of name by an affidavit. And so Feroze
Khan became Feroze Gandhi.
The surprising thing is that the apostle of truth, the
old man soon to be declared India 's Mahatma and the 'Father of the Nation'
didn't mention this game of his in the famous book, 'My Experiments with
Truth'. Why?
When they returned to India , a mock 'Vedic marriage' was
instituted for public consumption.
On this subject, writes M.O. Mathai (a long-time Private
Secretary of Nehru) in his renowned (but now suppressed by the GOI! ) 'Reminiscences
of the Nehru Age' on page 94, second paragraph: ' For some inexplicable
reason, Nehru allowed the marriage to be performed according to Vedic rites
in 1942. An inter-religious and inter-caste marriage under Vedic
rites at that time was not valid in law. To be legal, it had to be a civil
marriage .'
It's a known fact that after Rajiv's birth Indira and
Feroze lived separately, but they were not divorced. Feroze used
to harass Nehru frequently for money and also interfere in Nehru's political
activities. Nehru got fed up and left instructions not to allow him into
the Prime Minister's residence Trimurthi Bhavan.
Mathai writes that the death of Feroze came as a relief
to Nehru and Indira. The death of Feroze in 1960 before he could consolidate
his own political forces, is itself a mystery. Feroze had even planned
to remarry.
Those who try to keep tabs on our leaders in spite of
all the suppressions and deliberate misinformation, are aware of the fact
that the second son of Indira (or Mrs .Feroze Khan) known as Sanjay Gandhi
was not the son of Feroze. He was the son of another Muslim gentleman,
Mohammad Yunus.
Here in passing, we might mention that the second son
was originally named Sanjiv. It rhymed with Rajiv, the elder brother's
name. It was changed to Sanjay when he was arrested by the British
police in England and his passport impounded, for having stolen a car.
Krishna Menon was then India 's High Commissioner in London .
He offered to issue another passport to the felon who changed his name
to Sanjay. Incidentally, Sanjay's marriage with the Sikh
girl Menaka (now they call her Maneka for Indira Gandhi found the name
of mythological Lord Indra's Court dancer rather offensive !!) took place
quite surprisingly in Mohammad Yunus's house in New Delhi
The marriage with Menaka who was a model (She had model
for Bombay Dyeing wearing just a towel) was not so ordinary either.
Sanjay was notorious in getting unwed young women pregnant. Menaka
too was rendered pregnant by Sanjay.
It was then that her father, Colonel Anand, threatened
Sanjay with dire consequences if he did not marry her daughter and that
did the trick.
Sanjay married Menaka. It was widely reported in Delhi
at the time that Mohammad Yunus was unhappy at the marriage of Sanjay with
Menaka. Apparently he had wanted to get him married with a Muslim
girl of his choice. It was Mohammad Yunus who cried the most
when Sanjay died in the plane accident.
In Yunus's book, 'Persons, Passions & Politics' one
discovers that baby Sanjay had been circumcised following Islamic custom,
although the reason stated was phimosis. It was always believed
that Sanjay used to blackmail Indira Gandhi and due to this she used to
turn a blind eye when Sanjay Gandhi started to run the country as though
it were his personal freedom.. Was he black mailing her with
the secret of who his real father was? When the news of Sanjay's
death reached Indira Gandhi, the first thing she wanted to know was about
the bunch of keys which Sanjay had with him.
Nehru was no less a player in producing bastards.
At least one case is very graphically described by M.O. Mathai in his 'Reminiscences
of the Nehru Age', page 206.
Mathai writes:
'In the autumn of 1948 a young woman from Benares arrived
in New Delhi as a sanyasini named Shraddha Mata (an assumed and not a real
name). She was a Sanskrit scholar well versed in the ancient Indian scriptures
and mythology. People, including MPs, thronged to her to hear her
discourses. One day S.D. Upadhyaya, Nehru's old employee, brought a letter
in Hindi from Shraddha Mata. Nehru gave her an interview in the PM's house.
As she departed, I noticed (Mathai is speaking here) that she was young,
shapely and beautiful. Meetings of Nehru with her became rather frequent,
mostly after he finished his work at night. During one of Nehru's
visits to Lucknow , Shraddha Mata turned up there and Upadhyaya brought
a letter from her as usual. Nehru sent her the reply and she visited Nehru
at midnight...' Suddenly Shraddha Mata disappeared.
In November 1949 a convent in Bangalore sent a decent
looking person to Delhi with a bundle of letters. He said that a young
woman from northern India arrived at the convent a few months ago and gave
birth to a baby boy. She refused to divulge her name or give any particulars
about herself. She left the convent as soon as she was well
enough to move out but left the child behind.
She however forgot to take with her a small cloth bundle
in which, among other things, several letters in Hindi were found. The
Mother Superior, who was a foreigner, had the letters examined and was
told they were from the Prime Minister.
The person who brought the letters surrendered them...'I
(Mathai) made discreet inquiries repeatedly about the boy but failed to
get a clue about his whereabouts. Convents in such matters are extremely
tight-lipped and secretive.
Had I succeeded in locating the boy, I would have adopted
him. He must have grown up as a Catholic Christian blissfully ignorant
of who his father was.'
Coming back to Rajiv Gandhi, we all know now that he changed
his so called Parsi religion to become a Catholic to marry Sania Maino
of Turin , Italy . Rajiv became Roberto. His daughter's
name is Bianca and son's name is Raul. Quite cleverly the same
names are presented to the people of India as Priyanka and Rahul.
What is amazing is the extent of our people's ignorance
in such matters. The press conference that Rajiv Gandhi gave in London
after taking over as Prime minister of India was very informative. In this
press conference, Rajiv boasted that he was NOT a Hindu but a Parsi.
Mind you, speaking of the Parsi religion, he had no Parsi ancestor at all.
His grandmother (father's mother) had turned Muslim after having abandoned
the Parsi religion to marry Nawab Khan.
It is the western press that waged a blitz of misinformation
on behalf of Rajiv. From the New York Times to the Los Angeles Times and
the Washington Post, the big guns raised Rajiv to heaven. The children's
encyclopaedias recorded that Rajiv was a qualified Mechanical Engineer
from the revered University of Cambridge . No doubt US kids are among the
most misinformed in the world today! The reality is that in
all three years of his tenure at that University Rajiv had not passed
a single exam. He had therefore to leave Cambridge without a certificate.
Sonia too had the same benevolent treatment. She was stated
to be a student in Cambridge . Such a description is calculated to mislead
Indians. She was a student in Cambridge all right, but not of the University
of Cambridge , but of one of those fly by night language schools where foreign
students come to learn English. Sonia was working as an 'au pair' girl
in Cambridge and trying to learn English at the same time. And surprise
of surprises, Rajiv was even cremated as per Vedic rites in full view of
India's public.
This is the Nehru dynasty that India worships and now
a foreigner leads a prestigious national party because of just one qualification
being married into the Nehru family. Maneka Gandhi, though Indian,
herself is being accepted by the non-Congress parties not because she was
a former model or an animal lover, but for her links to the Nehru family.
Saying that an Italian (or any foreigner) should not lead
India will amount to narrow mindedness, but if Sania Maino (now Sonia) had
served India like, say, Mother Teresa or Annie Besant, i.e. in any way
on her own rights, then all Indians should be proud of her just as how
proud we are of Mother Teresa. OR
Saying that any other party which comes to rule
India is better is again equally worse.
The point is Indians who nominate the people to stand
in these elections; and the people who vote their rulers (i.e. the authorities)
must know that truth eventually come out some day. Don't
allow the famous land of India (our motherland) to be looked down
by others.
The Tourism Ministry has launched a Bed and Breakfast Scheme. Delhiites and those living in the National Capital Region can now rent out rooms in their house to tourists during the Commonwealth Games.
It can be called a a genius strategy when the city is still unprepared for hosting the Games. More than 1,000 rooms have already registered under the Bed and Breakfast Scheme and the govt hopes to give tourists a homemade taste of India.
With great interiors, top of the line facilities, well maintained bathrooms and smoke detectors. Many homes in Delhi are being readied for visiting tourists at next year's Commonwealth Games.
"India has a rich heritage and is known for treating guests as God. Atithi Devo Bhava (Guest is like God) is our slogan. This will cater to the budget tourists who will get to see Indian culture and in addition they can save on pockets also," explained Additional Secretary, Ministry Of Tourism, Sanjay Kothari.
Locals interested in signing up for the scheme and opening their homes to international tourists can enroll by paying a registration fees that ranges between Rs 3,000 and Rs, 5000.
The scheme solves to purposes. Not only does it help the govt to meet the room shortage in Delhi, it's also helps residents earn an extra buck.
"We will not have to pay any luxury tax, exemption from water and electricity, we can use on domestic rates and not on commercial rates," said a Delhi resident Jatander Sarup.
Homeowners will also have to provide their tenant tourist with breakfast every day.
The Tourism Department has now been advertising and promoting the Bed and Breakfast Scheme to a great extent. Of the 3,000 rooms it aims to achieve by 2010, around 1000 have already registered for the games.
Though smoking is expected to kill six million people worldwide and drain $500 billion from the global economy this year, the meltdown will barely dent this pernicious habit, according to a new report.
The third edition of The Tobacco Atlas, co-authored by Michael Eriksen, director of Georgia State University Institute of Public Health was launched in Mumbai at the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health this week. The atlas lays out a comprehensive picture of global tobacco use, regulations, financial costs and health tolls.
In an economic downturn, products seen as giving comfort in the midst of stress tend to sell very well. Tobacco is no exception.
"It's not well understood, but as people lose jobs, the unemployed and others affected by tough economic times may rely on 'affordable pleasures'," Eriksen said. "The irony is that the more deprived someone is, people will rely on simple pleasures that are unfortunately deadly pleasures."
Since the last edition of the atlas was released in 2006, changes in issues around global tobacco use have been a mixed bag, Eriksen said.
Positive changes include the relatively rapid ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world's first public health treaty developed by the World Health Organisation.
The treaty obliges signatories to commit to actions such as advertising bans and indoor clean air laws to stymie tobacco use, illness and death. Excluding the United States, 163 nations have ratified the treaty.
Another positive outcome has been the $500 million investment by Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg's philanthropic activities in tobacco control.
On the other hand, tobacco companies since 2006 have been able to adapt to changes, and continue to profit from a preventable cause of illness and death, to the tune of $30 billion in profits.
"At one level, they have figured out how to work in a new regulatory environment," Eriksen said, "and on another level, there are active attempts to undermine nations' attempts to fulfill their obligations around the treaty."
Following the death of medical student Aman Kachroo as a result of ragging, the Supreme Court has upped its ante against the menace.
A spate of ragging cases in the last few weeks has made the court issue notices to the colleges in question.
On March 8, 2009, a promising life was snuffed out. 19-year-old Aman Kachroo, a student at the Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh was allegedly beaten to death by three seniors and an intern. The boy was ‘punished’ because he complained about being ragged.
Barely three days later, another case of ragging was reported from an engineering college in Bapatla in Andhra Pradesh.
A first year student of the college attempted suicide after she was forced to strip and dance by five seniors.
The Supreme Court has now taken cognisance of the two cases.
It has issued contempt notices to the principal and registrar of both the colleges, asking why action should not be taken against them
The court also asked the Medical Council of India to determine if there was any negligence on the part of doctors in providing treatment to Aman Kachroo.
The DGPs of Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have been asked to file affidavits on whether criminal cases have been registered
The families of the victims have welcomed the court's move.
Aman’s father, Rajendra Kachru said, “The message has gone out very clear that this will not be tolerated. Ragging, crime in the form of ragging will not be tolerated.”
The University Grants Commission meanwhile wants to implement new regulations by the first week of April, to check ragging.
UGC Chairman Sukhdeo Thorat said, “We have guidelines which have been put up on the website for the enforcement by the colleges and the educational institutions. But we also realise that it is necessary that we convert those guidelines into regulations so that they are legally enforceable.”
An earlier Supreme Court recommendation to make ragging a punishable offence under the IPC is still pending with the government.
Therefore, in the absence of a comprehensive law, it is now up to the universities to ensure that anti-ragging regulations are in place.
Research firm Gartner has identified eight mobile technologies that will evolve significantly through 2009 and 2010, impacting short-term mobile strategies and policies.
“All mobile strategies embed assumptions about technology evolution so it’s important to identify the technologies that will evolve quickly in the life span of each strategy,” said Nick Jones, vice president and analyst at Gartner. “The eight mobile technologies that we have pinpointed as ones to watch in 2009 and 2010 will have broad effects and, as such, are likely to pose issues to be addressed by short-term strategies and policies.”
Here are the eight mobile technologies to watch for in future.
Bluetooth 3.0
Bluetooth 3.0 specification will be released in 2009 (at which point its feature set will be frozen), with devices starting to arrive around 2010. Bluetooth 3.0 will likely include features such as ultra-low-power mode that will enable new devices, such as peripherals and sensors, and new applications, such as health monitoring.
Bluetooth originated as a set of protocols operating over a single wireless bearer technology. Bluetooth 3.0 is intended to support three bearers: ‘classic’ Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ultrawideband (UWB). It's possible that more bearers will be supported in the future. Wi-Fi is likely to be a more important supplementary bearer than UWB in the short term, because of its broad availability. Wi-Fi will allow high-end phones to rapidly transfer large volumes of data.
Mobile User Interfaces (UIs)
UIs have a major effect on device usability and supportability. They will also be an area of intense competition in 2009 and 2010, with manufacturers using UIs to differentiate their handsets and platforms. New and more-diverse UIs will complicate the development and support of business-to-employee (B2E) and business-to-consumer (B2C) applications.
Organisations should expect more user demands for support of specific device models driven by interface preferences. Companies should also expect consumer interfaces to drive new expectations of application behavior and performance. Better interfaces will make the mobile Web more accessible on small devices, and will be a better channel to customers and employees.
Location sensing
Location awareness makes mobile applications more powerful and useful; in the future, location will be a key component of contextual applications. Location sensing will also enhance systems, such as mobile presence and mobile social networking.
The growing maturity of on-campus location sensing using Wi-Fi opens up a range of new applications exploiting the location of equipment or people. Organisations delivering business or consumer applications should explore the potential of location sensing; however, exploiting it may create new privacy and security challenges.
802.11n
802.11n boosts Wi-Fi data rates to between 100 Mbps and 300 Mbps, and the multiple-input, multiple-output technology used by 802.11n offers the potential for better coverage in some situations. 802.11n is likely to be a long-lived standard that will define Wi-Fi performance for several years.
High-speed Wi-Fi is desirable to stream media around the home and office. From an organisational perspective, 802.11n is disruptive; it's complex to configure, and is a "rip and replace" technology that requires new access points, new client wireless interfaces, new backbone networks and a new power over Ethernet standard.
However, 802.11n is the first Wi-Fi technology to offer performance on a par with the 100 Mbps Ethernet commonly used for wired connections to office PCs. It is, therefore, an enabler for the all-wireless office, and should be considered by companies equipping new offices or replacing older 802.11a/b/g systems in 2009 and 2010.
Display technologies
Displays constrain many characteristics of both mobile devices and applications. During 2009 and 2010, several new display technologies will impact the marketplace, including active pixel displays, passive displays and pico projectors.
Pico projectors enable new mobile use cases (for example, instant presentations projected on a desktop to display information in a brief, face-to-face sales meeting). Battery life improvements are welcome for any user. Good off-axis viewing enables images and information to be shared more easily. Passive displays in devices, such as e-book readers, offer new ways to distribute and consume documents. Display technology will also become an important differentiator and a user selection criterion.
Mobile Web and widgets
The mobile Web is emerging as a low-cost way to deliver simple mobile applications to a range of devices. It has some limitations that will not be addressed by 2010 (for example, there will be no universal standards for browser access to handset services, such as the camera or GPS).
However, the mobile Web offers a compelling total cost of ownership (TCO) advantage over thick-client applications. Widgets (small mobile Web applets) are supported by many mobile browsers, and provide a way to stream simple feeds to handsets and small screens. Mobile Web applications will be a part of most B2C mobile strategies. Thin-client applications are also emerging as a practical solution to on-campus enterprise applications using Wi-Fi or cellular connections.
Cellular broadband
Wireless broadband exploded in 2008, driven by the availability of technologies such as high-speed downlink packet access and high-speed uplink packet access, combined with attractive pricing from cellular operators.
The performance of high-speed packet access (HSPA) provides a megabit or two of bandwidth in uplink and downlink directions, and often more. In many regions, HSPA provides adequate connectivity to replace Wi-Fi "hot spots," and the availability of mature chipsets enables organisations to purchase laptops with built-in cellular modules that provide superior performance to add-on cards or dongles.
Near Field Communication (NFC)
NFC provides a simple and secure way for handsets to communicate over distances of a centimeter or two. NFC is emerging as a leading standard for applications such as mobile payment, with successful trials conducted in several countries. It also has wider applications, such as "touch to exchange information" (for example, to transfer an image from a handset to a digital photo frame, or for a handset to pick up a virtual discount voucher).
Gartner does not expect much of the NFC payment or other activities to become common, even by 2010, in mature markets, such as Western Europe and the US. NFC is likely to become important sooner in emerging markets, with some deployments starting by 2010.
NEW DELHI: Closing ranks with leaders opposing pub culture in the aftermath of the Mangalore incident, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss
on Friday said it was against Indian ethos and asserted that the proposed National Alcohol Policy would help curb it.
"We definitely condemn the incident where women were attacked, but the pub culture must stop. It is because of this that youth in the country have taken to drinking in a big way," Ramadoss said at a press conference here.
Linking youngsters visiting pubs to increased rates of accidents due to drunken driving, he said, "In India, 40 per cent of road accidents are alcohol-related."
These young people not only jeopardise their lives but are also a danger to others on the roads.
"It is not our culture. If it goes this way I don't think India will progress," Ramadoss said adding, most of the people losing their lives due to such road accidents and alcoholism were in their early twenties, which are the most productive years.
Unfortunately over the recent years, there has been a huge percentage of people taking to alcohol.
There is also a study which says that in the last five to six years there is an increase of 60 per cent among the youth who have taken to drinking, he said.
The minister, who was briefing the media after a meeting of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare, said the alcohol policy would be brought in within the next 3-6 months.
"Though we have not envisaged the details of the policy, it would entail a time limit for the opening of alcohol shops, fixing the number of days on which they would be open and being more strict with the age of drinking," he said.
Asked whether the National Alcohol Policy would help curb pub culture, he said "we are directed it at youngsters who visit pubs".
A lot of awareness campaigns have to be launched and people have to be educated about the perils of alcoholism.
MUMBAI: A 20-year-old woman, deserted by her husband, delivered a baby girl on the platform at Bhayander after she was refused admission by local
maternity
hospitals on Thursday night. The mother and the newborn were later taken to Bhagwati Hospital in Borivli (W) where they are doing fine.
Aariya Khan, who sells hair clips on trains and lives near the tracks in Mira Road, said the maternity centres must have looked at her appearance and refused her admission. Khan, who earns about Rs 100 a day, had saved Rs 200 for the delivery but said she never imagined that the hospitals would turn her away because of her appearance and would not bother about her condition.
Khan started having labour pains on Thursday morning and by evening, when it worsened, she went out looking for a maternity home in Bhayander. However, most of the nursing homes
near the station reportedly turned her away.
So she returned to Bhayander station and was waiting for a train on platform 4 to get back to Mira Road around 7.30 pm when Khan went into labour. The other women on the platform swung into action and asked the men to move away. They then circled around Khan and helped her deliver the baby.
Zonal Railway Users' Consultative Committee member Shailendra Goyal happened to be on the platform at that time. "I called for the GRP and the station-master but, by the time they arrived, the woman had already delivered,'' Goyal said.
Later, a woman police constable took her to Bhagwati Hospital in Borivli.
Her husband, Khan said, deserted her after her two previous pregnancies failed.
