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Showing posts from 2014
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Forts Tourism: A Win-Win Solution? Maharashtra is blessed with lush green mountains with a series of impenetrable forts holding strong for centuries. Unfortunately, the present conditions leave a lot to be desired, with Governments not paying adequate attention to the upkeep and maintenance of forts. Rohit Harip tries to find out ways to deal with this alarming situation Maharashtra is embellished with a series of forts in the ranges of Sahyadri which have been flaunting the flag of bravery of our ancestors and are the sample of classic architectural edifices since centuries. In the history of India, it was only the Maratha Empire which fought with the British till the end. The Role of these forts was magnificent in  those battles. It was very easy for any Commander to control a territory around any fort with only a fistful of soldiers. (Umaji Naik’s insurrection at Prabalgad near Panvel was an instance of such a mutiny in 18th century). The British were cleve...

RED SUN : THE STORY OF FAILED DEMOCRACY

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Red Sun: Sudeep Chakaravarti Naxalbari has not died and it will never die – Charu Mujumdar Naxalism is one of the most debated, controversial and aggravated threat to India’s national integrity. It was also romanticize unnecessarily as a fight against injustice and inequality. Typical stereotypical assessment of Maoism , that it is a socio-economical issue which can resolve not with guns but with inclusive policy making and uplifting of the  tribal by means of good governance is partially correct but not ultimate solution of the problem. So many hidden threads are attached to the issue and author had unfolded the same threads in the book i.e. Red Sun. Sudeep Chakaravarti , has travelled through the red corridor ,especially through Dandkaranya and Saranda (second largest area under the command of maoist after dandkaranya). He had interacted with the kanu sanyal and abhijeet mujumdar( son of charu mujumdar) along with many underground comrades of Communist Party of In...

"Sisily of Asia" Bykulla to Bangkok

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Bykulla to Bangkok S.Hussain zaidi After the stunning success of Dongari To Dubai this is sequel of Mumbai Underworld 'Saga'(?) i.e. Bykulla to Bankok. As mentioned earlier in the book, dongari (Musafirkhana,Pakmodia Street) was the den of Dawood Inbrahim Kaskar started his journey from Bykulla and finally settled in Dubai (now he is in karachi). Similarly bykulla was thr den for Arun Gawali (daddy), Anil Parab,Amar Naik,Sunil Sawant ( sautya) chota rajan was exception because he hails from Chembur area which is away of Bykulla. Interestingly all them are marathi by origin(specially from Kokan region) and all are the son of mill worker. Mumbai is land of opportunities and economic capital of India. Notoriously it is "Sisily Of Asia". From the decade of 70's, mumbai was ruled parally by these Gangs of Mafia. In this book writer has precisely mentined the rise and fall of Mumbai's Maharashtrian Mobsters Like Arun Gawali , Chota Rajan, Amar & Ashwin Na...

Stories hidden 'Between The Lines'

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BETWEEN THE LINES : KULDIP NAYAR kukdip Nayar ,veteran journalist From India, who have witnessed the every subtle event since independance. 'Between the Lines' , name itself suggests the incidents, anecdots which were coverted in the folds of time are revealed by the author. There are specially two chapters from the book which are congizable in my opinion. First is about the Bilingualism (a famous debate about the Hindi whether it should be a 'National'? Language or Not). In this chapter ,author specially reports about the happenings took place in the meetings of parliamentary committee, their conclusions ,Language Bill, pressure from north indians for imposer of Hindi as principal language all over the Nation. If we are able to relate this events with current situation we will understand that the Hindi Was never our National language. Second chapter is about the Notorious and humiliating defeat of our nation in Indo- Sino war of 1962. In this Chapter author has u...

आणखी एक “जब्या”

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fandry चित्रपटात शेवटच्या प्रसंगात जब्या एक दगड भिरकावतो आणि चित्रपट संपतो. माझ्या मनात एक प्रश्न रेंगाळत राहतो तो म्हणजे आता या भिरकावलेल्या दगडानंतर , हा जब्या लई मार खाणार. त्याचीच पुढची भीषण आवृत्ती म्हणजे नगरमधील खर्डा येथील घटना. नितीन आगे नावाच्या अवघ्या १७ वर्षीय दलित मुलाला लाकडी हातोड्यानी आणि गरम सळयांनी चटके देऊन निर्घृण प्रकारे मारण्यात आले आहे त्यामुळे आपल्याच पुरोगामी महारष्ट्रात खद्खद्णारे भीषण वास्तव पुन्हा एकदा उफाळून आले आहे. याचा गुन्हा तो काय तर या नितीनने तथाकथित उच्चवर्णीय (जातीच उल्लेख मुद्दाम टाळत आहे) मुलीशी बोलण्याचा प्रयत्न केला. आणि हे सहन ना होऊन त्या मुलाला त्या मुलीच्या नातेवाईकांनी सर्व गावादेखात मारझोड करत जवळच्या डोंगरावर नेऊन हाल हाल करून मारले आणि नंतर झाडाला टांगले. आता अनेक चर्चा घडतील , आरोप प्रत्यारोपांच्या फैरी झडतील. मूळ प्रश्न बाजुला ठेवून राग संतापाच्या नावाखाली एकमेकांना शाल जोडीतले हाणले जातील. नितीन तर काय परत येणार नाही आणि  ऐन जवानीतील पोर गमावल्याचा दुखः त्यांच्या आई बापाशिवाय कोणाला कळणार नाही (तथाकथित जय भीम , जय शिवाज...

Have a Voice , Make a Choice

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          16 th loksabha elections are on the threshold. Voting of first phase is already took place in some parts of the Nation. Still voting campaigns are running everywhere to aware the citizens of India. One question is annoying my mind that why such campaigns are necessary?        O n one side we are flaunting as world's largest democracy and on the other side we are still busy in convincing the people for voting. Major part of our society still thinks that Voting is just a formality or national holiday for picnic. Unfortunately, Surprisingly percentage of literate citizen is more in such cases who constantly criticises of country and blame our government for everything.       T he success of democracy and formation of responsible government is directly dependent on the voting power of the citizens. Adult Franchise of India amended and reduced the age of voting from 21 to 18. It made provision for more youths ...

The Neighbour Side -- Visit to Pakistan High Commission

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Following the trails of blood-stained partition and series of contentious wars with Pakistan, our relations are always punctured with suspect and prejudiced ideas. We are constantly obsessed with the insecurity from our neighbour. Keeping the bunch of same ideas in mind i entered into the spacious campus of Pakistan High Commission. From the beginning it was experiencing some sort of distension on my mind, perhaps because i was on the land of our neighbour which was notorious because of its terrorist deeds and projected as India's number one (China?) Enemy. We were warmly welcomed by the retinue of junior level officers and some junior diplomats of High Commission. They took us to the conference room where all other members are waiting for us. This positive gesture helps me to reduce my anxiety level. A chief coordinator addressed a small introductory speech and gave us brief introduction about Pakistan High Commission and its working methodologies. After this a small docume...

First blog – one step towards Adaptation

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Finally after so many convincing attempts of whether should I start my  Blog  or not, I am here to explore one more hidden facet of me. I am very lethargic person and always avoid narrating my perceptions through written medium.  So let’s see how I can deal with it in upcoming days. I am not at all claiming that I have started this  blog   to express myself (I don’t need it). There are lots of social media sites to express ourselves (what are doing to what are you not doing everything you can post there). I also don’t think that I am intellectual and diligent person who can take a stand on each and every  socio -political-economical issue happening around me and will give expertise opinion. This  blog  is also not the part of my freedom of expression because I think in our country everyone has freedom of expression more than enough. (Perhaps “intellectual” people call me fascist after reading this) Basically I am a traditional perso...