The Indian media seems to be zealous in its race towards self-destruction. The Gujarat elections hammered home this fact like no other event in recent memory. Now this.
It is all over for India’s first missile development programme launched in 1983 under APJ Abdul Kalam.
The programme has been plagued by cost and time over runs, but according to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), India has developed most of its missiles under this programme.
Pretty dramatic: it is all over, etc. If only it was true. Here’s the truth straight of the Defence Ministry.
It has been reported in a section of the media today that “Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) as a Strategic Programme stands Scrapped”.
It is hereby clarified that except for Agni demonstrator, which was successfully completed in 1989, all other projects under IGMDP are related to Tactical Missiles such as anti-tank Nag, short range Trishul, medium range Akash and Prithvi for artillery role with conventional warheads. All these missiles have since been developed.All are entering Service in one form or other. With this, objectives of IGMDP originally envisaged stand completed.
And here is another confirmation.
Question: Is the Indian media overreaching itself? What else is at play here?
Tags: Commentary, Media Watch, Weblogs
Many media houses report biasedly on defense projects so as to lower the morale of Indian people and create doubts about Indian capabilities of Indian scientists. For instance, Indian Express carried no report of successful Anti Ballistic Missile test, which was an engineering marvel, while it keeps repoting about cost overruns and delays from time to time. What these people do not realize is that developing high-tech weaponary is not a child’s play. It is is high-risk venture where there will be some delays. Instead of highlighting their successful contributions and their problems like shortage of funds, media keep harping on negative points.
You will never find such repoting in China, Russia or even in Pakistan. It is only possible in a India !!
Can you recall anything that maybe regarded as “bad press” about Congress party reported by the media in the last one year? That should tell you how completely sold out — and how overwhelmingly corrupt — the Indian media is.
A large majority of Indian media is owned by western christian organizations (someone had posted a list of the owners of NDTV, Star, Aaj Tak etc.). This chunk of media has successfully done two things:
1. Made it seem very “Fair and Balanced”/logical/
sophisticated to degrade anything which is Indian at its heart (be it Hindu Dharma or the Agni missile system)
2. Made sure any voices of sanity that want to cry foul over this blatantly false reporting and “analysis” are termed “hindutawadi and/or fascist/fundamentalist/ vitriolic/terrorist”
I hope more news outlets and blogs come out that are unashamed to call themselves pro-Hindutva. Then one day maybe people will get the real picture on events instead of being fed a steady diet of distortions and Marxwaad/Macaulaywaad/Missionarywaad/Teesta Setalwaad..
Indian media is so so so bad, and its readers like me so so so pathetic that we even read a blog like this one and some even comment on it. useless people. useless media.
Off-topic, but relevant to this blog: see soul vultures in action in Andhra.
http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=455&catID=5
Missionaries’ funding and encouragement of Dalit separatism and fomenting hatred among Dalits against Hinduism is a grave danger to the social fabric of India. Those execrable idiots of the Indian ELM are also part of this nefarious cabal. See Kancha Illaiah’s recent comments on IBN that attempt to frame untouchability as a racial issue.
This nexus indeed runs deep. Turns out that Kancha Ilaiah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kancha_Ilaiah) is connected to the Dalit Freedom Network mentioned in the Guardian article. Kancha has become a major celebrity in the evangelical circles and he’s their favorite anti-Hinduism spokesman. The founder of Dalit Freedom Network Joseph D’Souza is a highly influential insider in the evangelical movement. He is connected to the 700 club, part of the most influential evangelical media organization, the Christian Broadcasting Network (http://www.cbn.com/700club/Guests/Bios/Joseph_DSouza042205.aspx).
D’Souza was invited by the US Congress to testify as an expert on the Dalit “issue” according to Wiki. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit_Freedom_Network)
Kancha’s comments on the IBN program on smearing Indians as racists:
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/racist-and-blind-to-it-indians-face-the-mirror/55940-3.html
This is very dangerous, folks. While the middle class India is too busy watching trashy saas-bahu serials, evangelicals are hard at work. They are organizing, going deep into the heart of India, investing in schools and hospitals to allure the poor rural folks to trade their souls for such essential services, have a strategy of divide-and-conquering India (yet another time in history) by fomenting Dalit hatred against India and converting them to Christianity, raising money in the US from mega churches, leveraging media to propagate their anti-Hinduism propaganda and so on.
Their use of Indian ELM is just one part of this complex web. Connect the dots, people. Do you think that the attack on a Hindu swami in Orissa, subsequent articles condemning “Hindu extremsim in Orissa” in US media, Kancha Ilaih’s appearance on IBN….these are not mere coincidences. They have launched an all out war against us - and we are doing nothing.
Agree
I disagree, VKA and many other Hindu organizations are doing excellent work. One should never underestimate one’s enemies strength, one should not underestimate one’s own strength either.
Christians are facing serious resistance which is leading them to concoct tales of oppression.
Gujarat is showing the way, other states will follow.
Kancha Illiah damages himself everytime he opens his mouth. C’mon this is a guy who claims that Hindus revere the cow because it is white and hates the buffalo because it is black.
The idiot thinks no one has seen a black cow.
He is a puppet on a string, our battle is with the puppet master.
> our battle is with the puppet master.
your battle? thats a joke. guys on this site wont ever leave the safty of posting vicious comments here. not even anywhere else. forget about going out into the real world. and you talk about a battle.
Comrade Shuvro Talking about battles.Hit and run tactics as usual eh ? Is that why ur great friend DD has disabled comments totally on his blog ? I mean if you cant see Kancha Illaiyahs bigotry something is surely wrong with you.From your comments it seems you target the commenters more than the issue relevant to the post.Grow up man.Get a life.
> Is that why ur great friend DD has disabled
> comments totally on his blog?
do you mean dcubed, hes not my friend, as my blog barbarindians.blogspot.com will tell you.
but no matter. re: comments, you like to tell lies? here is sample comment i left there just now - http://dcubed.blogspot.com/2008/01/mother.html#c3811504473513508725
Free 2 talk,
Don’t feed the troll, bro(or sis). Let the comrade spout off while we continue to write comments on blogs, discuss and learn religious politics, influence our friends and families with our opinions and, most importantly, get off our butts in every election to VOTE for those who will protect the interests of Bharat.
Shuvro,
Your blog is pretty awesome.Good job there.
Reading your comment above was strange though.
Gujjubhai couldnt agree with you more.If half of us urban dwellers shift our butt to vote that would mean the end of comrades and the appeasers party.
> Reading your comment above was strange though.
why? you dont like to have your lie picked up?
gujjubhai, the best thing you can do is vote. glad to see you plan to do it.
Note to self : must not feed the troll. Must not feed the troll. Must not dignify trollery with a comment. No. Trolls are not worthy.
Comrade As Is Known Aikath To Himself,
That was an interesting comment. Though full of bile as always, it’s not without an element of truth. I think there’s a lot to learn from commies in the department of “battles”, “wars” and “fights”. Their language is full of these words. Take one of their favorite gaalis: “communal forces”. “Forces”!? That evokes WW-II images of battle-scarred G.I’s atop armored tanks rolling into a deserted town. I’m sure that because I loathe genocidal cults like communism, commies count me in among those “communal” “forces”, though the biggest weapon in my possession is the kitchen knife, which most often victimizes none other than myself.
Anyways, to cut to the point: can you explain how do commie bloggers go out into the “real world” and fight “battles”? There maybe something there for others to learn.
> how completely sold out — and how overwhelmingly corrupt —
> the Indian media is…
> blatantly false reporting … Marxwaad/Macaulaywaad/
> Missionarywaad/Teesta Setalwaad
> soul vultures … execrable idiots … nefarious cabal
> idiot … puppet on a string … bigotry
after all that, my straitforward comment is “full of bile.”
>> how completely sold out — and how overwhelmingly corrupt —
>> the Indian media is…
>> blatantly false reporting … Marxwaad/Macaulaywaad/
>> Missionarywaad/Teesta Setalwaad
>> soul vultures … execrable idiots … nefarious cabal
>> idiot … puppet on a string … bigotry
> after all that, my straitforward comment is “full of bile.”
And not without an element of truth, either.
But you’re not answering to the point, comrade.
>>thats a joke. guys on this site wont ever leave the safty of posting vicious comments here. not even anywhere else. forget about going out into the real world. and you talk about a battle.
What’s unreal about Chakravarty’s comments? You mean, in real world, real people will not have, nor will express the simple opinion that he has here. How much more real can you get than that?
Excuse me, but the only joke here seems to be your repetitive refrain in taking frivolous objection to some phrase come every post. At this rate even the author of ‘Culture Warrior’ will be hauled for waging a satellite battle. But we know better.
PS- I would like to know what you have to say about this:
[quote]““That rotten, traiterous [sic] piece of filth should be hung by the ankles from a lamp post and beaten by the mob rather than gaining a pulpit at ANY self-respecting news organization,” said one message. “You should be ashamed. Apparently you are only out for money and therefore an equally traiterous [sic] whore deserving the same treatment.”[/endquote]
Before you throw a fit, let me tell you that thy are the words of an editor of a leading newspaper.
Don’t trust me, check yourself-
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/opinion/13pubed.html?pagewanted=all
Sorry, the link again.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/opinion/
13pubed.html?pagewanted=all
> let me tell you that thy are the words of an editor of a leading newspaper.
seems like you cannot read and understand what you yourself point us to.
As long as you pass on those counts the purpose is served. Unfortunately, no such consolation is in sight.
friend socal, please read that nytimes article again. the words you quoted were not the words of an editor of a leading newspaper.
From the article: Andrew Rosenthal, Editorial page Editor, NY Times.
Those are Rosenthal’s words, which NYT deemed “fit to print.”
they are not rosenthal’s words. article says r’thal was involved in hiring kistol. that decision brought lots of angry mail. article writer hoyt got 700 bits of mail. then he says “Rosenthal’s mail has been particularly rough” and gives quote you also give. ie the mail r’thal got was especially bad, for exmple the quote.
rosenthal did not write those words.
Thanks for pointing the obvious. Do you at least agree that Rosenthal is responsible for the editorial page? That is his. Anything unattributed there is his. The person who wrote the mail certainly had nothing to fear from Rosenthal- apparently both liberals. The question is, does that make the comment unreal? Does that make the commenter unreal? His(apparently a male) concern unreal? His outrage phoney? Now that person didn’t do anything as much as utilize the comforts of email to voice his concern.
Battling for a cause would be quite a normal way to describe such ubiquitous behavior. Would that deserves invoking the condescending appellate of a ‘joke’? I mean c’mon, give me a break!
you are a man (apparently male) afraid of saying, “i made mistake”.
an article in paper quotes hostile email the paper’s editor received, thereofre that quote is to be described as “those are the editor’s words”. what else to say.
I made a mistake.
Now that we’ve taken care of that, do you have anything to say about the original issue- or are you afraid of saying anything about it? Hopefully you too are a man(apparently male).
Kancha Ilaiah’s latest salvo in his war against Hinduism fought through the media:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/19/AR2008011902412.html?nav=rss_email/components
Note that KI himself describes the book as a “weapon”. Expect the Hindu-hating Indian ELM to go gaga over this book. Expect your the Christian teachers’ at your kids’ convent schools recommending this book as a “scholarly critique” of Hinduism. Expect American TV, editorials, and their lapdogs working in evangelical ministries all over India to keep hammering in this book. Evangelical presses will be busy translating this book in all Indian languages and freely distributing them among tribals and other rural Indians in their targeted areas for conversion war such as Orissa, Andhra, Kerala, MP and so on.
> do you have anything to say about the original issue-
> or are you afraid of saying anything about it?
vicious comment quoted in a article. what to say about it? about same as vicious comments on this site. people say ugly things in emailor comments.
Shuvro,
What do you know about me? How would you know if I haven’t volunteered for Ekal? How would you if I haven’t helped organize exhibition showing the atrocities on Kashmiri and Bangladeshi Hindus?
So why make stupid assumptions about people you nothing about? Mid life crisis?
Shuvro,
All this while all you have been doing is snapping at the heels of others.
Most of your comments have been one liner flame baits, once you manage to provoke someone, you clearly enjoy the pointless tit for tat exchanges which follows.
Is your highness capable of writing something which is not a flame bait and which will let us mere mortals know why guv’nor is not pleased with us. Of course it will not fit on a bumper sticker. C’mon Shuvro, you can do that.
Go boy, give it your best shot!
Gujjubhai,
The situation is not that hopeless. People like Kancha Illiah are mere pawns. People much more capable than Kancha have launched more vicious attacks on Hinduism and they have been countered. Hindus can handle Iliah, Rajshekhar and their ilk, his BS stinks from a mile.
Consider this:
Who has more impact :
Kancha “buffalo nationalist” Illiah for Swami Ramdev?
Kancha “buffalo nationalist” Illiah or Asaram Bapu?
There are a few things every Hindu can do which will take the wind out of the sails of the evangelical lobby:
1. Donate 5% of your salary to Hindu charities of your choice.
2. Fund Ekal Vidyalayas and VOLUNTEER for them.
Shuvro: I need to seek your sought-after blessings. I am trying my best to promote the truth about Islam and Xtianity by telling people about sites like
jesusneverexisted.com
caesarsmessiah.com
christianaggression.org
faithfreedom.org
I hope you will grant success to my non-real world, useless work…
“vicious comment quoted in a article. what to say about it? about same as vicious comments on this site. people say ugly things in emailor comments.”
Fine. That’s a matter of individual choice. I am more interested in knowing as to why you call it unreal, since by all evidence those are real people with real world opinions. The language used is not unreal either.
The other one is with your dismissive sneer- ‘joke.’ I hear people calling for contributing, volunteering, speaking up for various causes in their own capacity, to whatever extent possible. Could you tell me when such contribution ceases to be serious and becomes a ‘joke’?
Again, same thing about the ‘battle’ cry. It’s a contribution as an individual, hence “our battle.” In war of ideas every little contribution matters. Extent, style, substance may vary. Why then such snickering over it? What in your opinion are the acceptable ways to fight such battle, if you accept that there is such a battle?
Chakravarty,
Most of the Hindu action is defensive in nature. Of course, defensive action is absolutely necessary and I do respect the contributions of people such as Swami Ramdev very much.
Unfortunately, the net result is still in favour of the evangelicals. Their numbers are increasing. They are devising more and more clever ways of converting people. They are very smart at using the media. Their institutions are growing stronger. A lot of laws such as the Orissa anti-conversion bill or regulation of foreign missionary activities are not effective in checking their growth.
As Swami Vivekananda said, every convert out of Hinduism becomes an enemy of Hinduism. Notice how many of these anti-Hindu types are foremer Hindus themselves who have been brainwashed by missionary propaganda or education. What we must do is retaliate in kind, take over the media and education, and start converting Muslims and Christians into Hinduism. Re-conversion programs of the VHP are still defensive in nature, they are just trying to bring back recent converts. That’s not enough, we need to do more.
So, to sum up, while people like Asaram Bapu are helping Hindus stay within the fold of Hinduism, what we don’t have is any way of countering their attack and converting Christians or Muslims into Hinduism or a strategy to turn the media to our side. That is very dangerous.
1.most of the converts to other religions from Hinduism are from so called sudras(present day back ward castes) and panchams (present day dalits.Besides other reasons, ill treatment and sub-human treatment led to conversions.
2.Even now no efforts are made by Hindus to increase their co-religionists by preventing conversions and convert non-Hindus to Hinduism.3.Hinduism as presently understood is only a way of life not an organised religion.4.Little charity work is done even by rich Hindus. 5.No religion can grow unless the poor among the followers are assured of protection and financial improvement.6.A lot of reforms are needed in temple administration in Hinduism. The post of Purohits or pundits should be open to all castes. The darshan should be free and equal treatment shall be given to all devotees irrespective of social standing. The temple administration shall be in the hands of majority -backward castes and scheduled castes. Hinduism has survived because of backward castes and schedule castes.
7. Contrary to popular belief, Mr. Lalu prasad and Mr.Mulayam Singh are better practing Hindus than upper caste Hindu leaders of BJP or RSS. Bjp or Rss if really interested in Hinduism shall handover leadership to backwards and SCs.Sooner the better.In future, BJP shall not hesitate to support an Yadav or some backward caste person for PM’s post if occasion arises.8. Hinduism will survive inspite of its ills due to its nature. It is a way of life.There are no hard and fast rules. But caste remains its main hurdle from becoming the most egalitarian religion of all times.