MUMBAI TERROR ATTACK IS NOT A SURPRISE !!!

Arun Shourie:  Govt knew about the threat, did nothing......
Our coastal areas are coming under increased threat from terrorist groups, which have decided to use the sea route to infiltrate into India. They also plan to induct arms and ammunition through the sea routes” — that is Shivraj Patil addressing the directors general and inspectors general of police in November 2006. “We understand they (the terrorists) have been collecting information regarding location of various refineries on or near the Indian coastline... Some Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives are also being trained specifically for sabotage of Oil installations. There are plans to occupy some uninhabited islands off the country’s coastline to use them as bases for launching operations on the Indian coast...”


That was the ever-alert home minister in November 2006. The minister of defence has been no less alert. On March 9 2007, he was asked in the Lok Sabha, whether “the intelligence agencies have warned about the possibility of terrorists trying to infiltrate through the sea route or trying to target our offshore installations?” He answered, “Yes, sir. There are reports about terrorists of various tanzeems being imparted training and likelihood of their infiltration through sea routes...” He was asked whether “maritime terrorism, gun-running, drug-trafficking and piracy are major threats that India is facing from the sea borders of the country?” His answer? “Yes, sir.”


On May 9 2007, the home minister was asked in the Rajya Sabha, whether “it is a fact that there are strong apprehensions of terrorist threats to the country through the sea route?” “As per available reports,” he answered, “Pak based terrorist groups, particularly LeT, have been exploring possibilities of induction of manpower and terrorist hardware through the sea route...” On December 8, 2007, the National Security Adviser, M.K. Narayanan, was educating the world at the 4th Regional Security Summit organised by the International Institute of Strategic Studies, the Manama Dialogue. “According to our intelligence reports,” he confided to the assembled sheikhs and experts, “there are now certain new schools that are now being established on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, which now specialise in the training of an international brigade of terrorists to fight in many climes. According to our information, recruits from 14 to 15 countries have been identified as amongst the trainees there... Training has become extremely rigorous — it is almost frightening in nature... Studies are being carried out about important targets, with regard to vulnerability, accessibility, poor security, absence of proper counter-terrorism measures, etc. The sea route, in particular, is becoming the chosen route for carrying out many attacks, even on land. References to this are to be found replete in current terrorist literature.” “Given India’s experience in dealing with terrorism,” he added, “I would like to therefore sound a note of warning, that there is no scope for complacency...”


On March 11, 2008, A.K. Antony addressed the “International Maritime Search and Rescue Conference,” in Delhi. He warned the delegates of “dangers of Terror attacks from the sea in the region.” In the course of his address, Antony admitted that the Coast Guard faces shortage of manpower as well as hardware. But “necessary steps are being taken to strengthen the search and rescue infrastructure of the Indian Coast Guard...” On November 13, 2008, just a fortnight before the assaults at Mumbai, Manmohan Singh warned the BIMSTEC summit, “Terrorism and threats from the sea continue to challenge the authority of the state...”
By now it was time for Shivraj Patil to address yet another meeting of the DGs and IGs of Police. Thus on November 22, 2008, that is literally on the eve of the attacks in Mumbai, he told the police chiefs, “To control terrorism in the hinterland, we have to see that infiltration of terrorists from other countries does not take place through the sea routes and through the borders between India and friendly countries. The coastlines also have to be guarded through Navy, Coast Guard and coastal police. The states’ special branches and the CID should identify the persons forming part of the sleeper cells and lodging in cities and towns and studying in educational institutions and working in industries and professions...”And four days later, the terrorists, using the exact same sea route, do the exact same thing that these worthies have been warning others about. Are they consultants to Government or ones running the government? Is their job to issue warnings to others or to see that the warnings are acted upon? Warning given, the job is done. But that is the fate of warnings in this system. After all, that very sea route was used to smuggle explosives for the blasts across Bombay in 1993. Were those blasts not warning enough?


Seven years later —in 2000 — the warning and lesson were made explicit yet again. Four task forces were set up in the wake of the Kargil war. The one on border management warned, “The long coastline with its inadequate policing makes it easy to land arms and explosives at isolated spots on the coast.” It recalled that this is exactly how explosives were smuggled into Maharashtra in 1993. “The situation, if anything, has worsened over the years with the activities of the ISI becoming more widespread along the coast particularly by extension into the coast of Kerala... Such coastal areas must be particularly kept under surveillance.”


There is space here to cite just one example. The task force pointed out that the ISI had started using the Lakshadweep archipelago as a major staging point for smuggling arms and personnel into India. The agency used smugglers and their networks — like Dawood Ibrahim and his tentacles — and their routes for doing so. These dons and their networks were given shelter and support in return for helping the agency with its operations against India.Now, Lakhsdweep has 36 islands. Ten of these are inhabited. Talking of one of these islands — Suheli — the task force pointed out that, sea vessels of smugglers apart, “there have been instances of twin rotor helicopters (of the kind used by militaries) landing at Suheli Island and spotting of unidentified helicopters flying over the waters around the islands...” And what were we doing? “Intelligence gathering in the islands,” the task force recorded, “is carried out by one inspector, one sub inspector, one head constable and three constables working in the special branch at Kavaratti” — just one of the 36 islands. “Intelligence gathering in all other islands is carried out by one head constable/constable who reports to the OIC (the officer in charge) of the police station who in turn passes it on to the inspector (special branch) at Kavaratti.” Please read that again: 36 islands; one inspector, one sub inspector, one head constable and three constables on the main island; and one head constable/constable for all the remaining 35 islands...


What has happened since, what is the position today, I ask the person who has held the highest posts in intelligence. Exactly what it was then, he says, with one difference. With the upgradation of all posts, the inspector (special branch) at Kavaratti is now designated not as officer in charge, but as joint assistant director or deputy central intelligence officer depending on his cadre. As for the other recommendations — patrolling, setting up sensors, and a host of others things are as they were.And we are surprised!


I can multiply such examples by the score at no notice at all. Recalling just one thing will be sufficient. When, during a debate on national security in the Rajya Sabha, I began citing such passages from the report of this task force, shouts went up from the Congress, “But this is a secret report... How has he got it?... How is he citing it?...” Shivraj Patil remained his composed self, eventually chiding me with the sagacity which even terrorists have by now come to associate with him.Things to do. First, act on recommendations that are made by committees you set up. Second, that will not happen unless we send a better type into legislatures and, thence, to governments. When we select leaders who treat the police as their private army; when we select leaders for whom investigating agencies are instruments to fix rivals or let off allies, don’t expect the police and agencies to suddenly turn around and forestall terrorists.Third, remember that little can be achieved unless every aspect of governance, is brought up to par. You can’t have a first-rate commando force and a third rate magistracy. You can’t have defence and intelligence personnel who will nab terrorists and courts that will let them off, or, better still, enable them to live off the treasury as state guests for years. And that excellence must reach down to that “head constable/constable” level. When K.P.S. Gill reconquered Punjab for the country, he did so by strengthening and invigorating the local thana.


Fourth, that is only one part of the explanation. A weakened and confused society explains as much — and the responsibility lies as much with those who have dissipated national resolve, who have made nationalism a dirty word. That set includes the media as much as politicians. Sixty-seventy thousand killed by terrorism and we are still debating whether we should have a federal investigating agency. Sixty-seventy thousand killed by terrorists and we are still debating whether we should have a special law to bring them to book.


Of course, we must have the agency. Of course, we must have the sternest law in the world. But having the law is not enough. We must enforce it. One side of the picture is that, to pander to its vote bank among Muslims, the government has been withholding sanction to the law passed by the Gujarat assembly — even though that law is the exact replica of the law that its own party’s government has passed in adjacent Maharashtra. The other side is that, as the Maharashtra government does not use the law it has, those who will give shelter and support to terrorists give them with abandon — you just have to think of the quantum of weapons that the terrorists brought in; the detailed local knowledge they had — of the spot at which to land their boats, of the location of the building in which Jews and Israelis were staying, of the insides of the hotels, to see that they could not have executed their plans without the most extensive local help, help given over months.And enforcing the law means carrying out sentences that the law provides. The parliament of India is attacked, guards are killed; one of the killers is tried and convicted, the sentence is confirmed by the Supreme Court, and, eight years after the assault, his “papers are still being processed,” indeed there are signature campaigns against executing the sentence. Given these circumstances, the best thing for a terrorist to succeed in his mission, and then get caught. He will get the best lawyers to defend him. He will get judges who are ever so solicitous about his rights, ever so finicky about procedures. And, of course, he will get activists to shoot off press statements on his behalf. Lawyers better, judges more solicitous, activists more articulate and better networked than any in his own country.


But for any of this to happen, the society has to be clear in its mind. This is, it has for 20 years been, war. It can be won only by overwhelming the adversary — not by running after the terrorist, as K.P.S. Gill says, but by out-running him, indeed by over-running him. Not an eye for an eye. For an eye, both eyes. Not a tooth for a tooth. For a tooth, the whole jaw. Human rights? Yes, we will respect the human rights of the terrorists and their sponsors and their local supporters to the extent that they respect the human rights of our people.


Finally, have a clear realisation of the condition of the society and state of Pakistan. Unless you come across evidence that the nature of the state and society of Pakistan has changed, it is idiotic to put faith in the profession of this ruler or that. Remember Musharraf’s “Main naya dil leyke aayaa hun”? Taliban and Al Qaeda are not the cause of the state of Pakistan. They are the result of the Talibanisation of Pakistani society and state.


Where do you think, and by whom do you think are the teachers instructed to ensure that students from class 1 onwards “recognise the importance of jihad”; to ensure that they “must be aware of the blessings of jihad”; to ensure that they “create yearning for jihad in his heart”; to ensure that they develop “love and aspiration for jihad, tabligh, shahadat, sacrifice, ghazi, shaheed”? Where do you think, and by whom are teachers instructed to ensure that students from kindergarten onwards learn to “make speeches on jihad and shahadat”, and are “judged on their spirit while making speeches on jihad”? Do you think these are instructions issued by the Islamic fundamentalists to maulvis in madrasas? They are instructions given by the government of Pakistan through official circulars to principals and teachers in government schools of Pakistan.You didn’t know that? Exactly. That is a large part of the problem. You will find reams of these and other facts in the 2002 report edited by Pakistani academics, A.H. Nayyar and Ahmed Salim, and published by the Sustainable Development Institute, Islamabad, ‘The Subtle Subversion: The state of curricula and textbooks in Pakistan, Urdu, English, Social Studies and Civics’. Get on to the Internet, download and read the report from www.sdpi.org. Here is a part of the problem that you can solve by yourself.


As for the rest of the problem,as we can no longer rely on Shivraj Patil, we are compelled to continue to rely on the one who has been for the government as a whole, what Shivraj Patil has been for the home ministry — that is, the prime minister, Manmohan Singh.

MAKE A MARK IN YOUR OWN WAY!!

My frequent reviews on how my career should be., making me to think in a much complexer way.The ideas are absolutely a harmonic function…I mean they are more or less like a sinusoidal wave. Yes, they go so high to the peak that turn my goals to achieve an unsuitable or unachievable one and sometimes so down too. Believe me, I have to hinder my natural strengths and capabilities if I have to clamber to such heights as explained above.
Thank God! I have escaped out of that phantasmagoria. Yes, for it is like a phantasmagoria. Didn't get it still? OK! Let me explain more clearly……What if you wish all of a sudden to become the topper of Harvard/Stanford and the like University!? Sounds like a weird thought. Isn't it? There you are!

One should aim high provided if you can be that higher. As I'm learning from my experiences and others , that life always is not about working hard. One day or the other some force is whispering to me "Work hard but within your limits. Don't go too high, it may break your nerves." Accept life as it comes to you is although not an acceptable gist. How much you can do is always fixed. Your energy is very reserved (rather than conserved). You can use it only to a little extent (I don't know if you know the Telugu saying, "enta chettuki antey gaali").And that’s what I want to say exactly.


Consider,
If you find more pleasure in writing diaries than in writing notes--- then fill your shelves with diaries. After all, our goal in life is to be HAPPY. Though you are not a Harvardian / Stanfordian….an IITian/IIMian or for that matter an uneducated also, you can move on your lines. This is what making me more and more practical day by day. Yes, thisgonna be an altruism……true for the future generations also.


Remember,
"Persons who work on their own lines, in their natural ways, tastes, habits, hobbies are the REAL and IDEAL ICONS for the generations !!" Be practical. What others think great may not be for you. So, work on your own way….AND MAKE A MARK IN YOUR OWN WAY!!

INDIA NEEDS FOCUS ON AGRICULTURE !!

Gone were the days of saying "Agriculture is the backbone of India" and "Farmer is the backbone of the Economy". Its the need of the hour to introspect in to the situation. The Government has announced that over 1,12,000 farmers have committed suicide since 1993. Shame on our part to bear this. Farming is the less equally treated one despite it’s the only source for our fooding. Its not that the inequality is unknown or new to us. What makes the last 15 years different is the ruthlessness with which it has been engineered and the cynicism with which it has been constructed.


Albeit, the social pressure arising from widening inequality has increased in the past few years(driven by globalization and rise of capitalism), the direction of policy on farming-----central to rural India is SIMPLE in its main idea---- to take agriculture out of the farmers' hands and to put in the hands of corporation. Every move and every policy, only pushes this idea further forward. We are witnessing the largest displacement in our history. Its not happening in dam or mining project. Its happening in agriculture. And we haven't a clue yet what we will do with the millions we're busy shoving off the land. This is not done with lands and bulldozers. We are just making the farming impossible for small holders. And we create no options for those whose livelihoods we so cheerfully destroy.In other words,many move to a status that is neither a farmer nor a worker(a pathetic situation to be keenly observed).


India, the peoples' country was supposed to run on two wheels…one is the FARMER and the other is the SOLDIER. After all, this is not the voice of one, not mine. It’s the slogan of the thousands or for that matter the millions of Indians…"JAI JAWAN, JAI KISAN". If the thousands of the educated( the so called skilled) are unable to answer the problems of a day or two days rain or the Government does not give scope to such discussions what about the fate of the person(who thinks that all his survival/future is in our hands) standing before us begging for the recovery….come on he is doing not just for his sake but for the whole country(you can feel it only if you dig in deep). Above all, I want to put a question...."HOW MANY OF YOU EVER THOUGHT OF A FARMER WHILE/AFTER TAKING YOUR FOOD? HOW MANY OF YOU SHOW YOUR CONCERN ATLEAST BY SAYING "ANNADATA SUKHIBHAVA"?" This seems to be foolish/ridiculous as you read .But, if you can think …I'm telling, if you can polish your thoughts, you'll come to know that from those mere words one could bring "the has to DOs" for a farmer on someday(possibly in the near future*).


Hours in the assembly sessions are being consumed for estimating each others' wealth…. Many of the sessions were passed by, some without questioning the issues regarding water, agriculture, irrigation projects , financial sector, inflation at full-length and in-depth(here I mean whatever they asked, the way was not so pestering that the ruling party has just ruled it off) and some of-course were gently ignored without giving a minimal solution/ answer. Though I couldn't ask for debate in such assembly meetings, but no doubt I can question for atleast a discussion that is to be held in the so called "SESSIONS".
Though we all know that we have to learn from mistakes, failures inorder to succeed….. there are umpteen instances wherein our state failed to do that, due to which the dream of turning it into GOLDEN LAND has now become a nightmare. When 1000s of acres of ground nut plantation(that are to be reaped the next day) was lost due to heavy rains, when all the fish lakes in and around Vijayawada(as I remember) were bombed for the sake of other projects(that are incomplete till now), when killings are observed in similar manner in the vicinity of same place for the same reasons, when prices are hiking day by day and so forth….where is the place for a comman man for his survival??Or more particularly "the life of a farmer??" You may get the doubt why I'm more stressing on the farmer…Yes!?


Yeah…..FARMER he is the one soul on earth who does not look for his profits !!
The whole day he sweats for the sake of the Nation….though he thinks he gets some bucks....mind you in our terms, "he is just hoping for that"(as we know his salary is completely based on the probability)…and at the end of the day he simply sleeps keeping his legs into stomach….I mean with an empty stomach. [These are not simple words…but are statements after doing a survey in my Grandmother's Village].
Then, our immediate thought is …why doesn't he leave such a job in which his salary is always a probable one??Isn't it?…yes….even I questioned it…the answer was…."Dear, see its our conventional job….had done by my ancestors….have been doing by us….will be done by our sons & daughters, though we have dark side of it(no enough money out of it)…..we always look at the other side …"the satisfaction we get" …this is not a mere job but the responsibility handed over by my forefathers to us and moreover it is the other way of serving the Nation(the motherland) with food" !!! Amazing answer, a very generous reply. But, what about those who are weak-heartened and are attempting for suicides? Lets not let this happen further. If we keep a hard and fast rule that the persons who work hard should enjoy the fruits of it, then its not impossible to keep them happy. Thence, India needs focus on Agriculture in general and on FARMER in particular!!


* If there are persons who can spare a few minutes to hear and solve their problems.

Why MATHEMATICS....the QUEEN of all sciences??

MATHEMATICS according to me is an amazing subject. Yes, its the QUEEN of all SCIENCES I believe....!! If you want to know the why so of it...keep moving your eyes down.....


The World cannot move an inch without MATHEMATICS. Every businessmen, accountant, engineer, mechanic, farmer, scientist, shopkeeper and even street hawker requires the knowledge of mathematics.Besides man animals and insects also use it in their day to day existence.


"Snails make shells with curious mathematical precision. Spiders produce intricacies of engineering, honey bees construct combs of greatest strength consistent with the least possible amount of wax. There are countless mathematical patterns in the nature's fabric.Fruits of teasle and sunflower and the scales ofcones are not made haphazardly. A close examination would convince us that in corn and elm each leaf is halfway around the stem from the leaves immediately above and below it. If one could trace the point of attachment upwards with the aid thread freshly coated with mucilage, it would be found that they lie on a spiral. In plants like beech and sedge, each is attached one third of the way around the stem from leaves immediately above or below it. Another kind of spiral is found in twigs of the oak, the apple and many other plants.The leaves are two-fifths of the circumference apart and the curve , make two revolutions and goes through five attachments in passing from any leaf to the one directly over it. This would be the fraction 2/5."
Great observation by the Human Computer ....Hats off to her!!
Now, start your chase for the King !! :-))

Amazing PASCAL's TRIANGLE

What we all know is....
Pascal's Triangle, developed by the French Mathematician Blaise Pascal, is formed by starting with an apex of 1.Every number below in the triangle is the sum of the two numbers diagonally above it to the left and the right, with positions outside the triangle counting as zero.

Now, check out if you know this......

The Fibonacci Series in Pascal's Triangle !!! (look into figure below if you want to know how).

Well, not only that, it has many unusual properties and a variety of uses like:
• Horizontal rows add to powers of 2 (i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.)
• The horizontal rows represent powers of 11 (1, 11, 121, 1331, etc.)

• Adding any two successive numbers in the diagonal 1-3-6-10-15-21-28...

   results in a perfect square (1, 4, 9, 16, etc.)
• It can be used to find combinations in probability problems (if, for instance, you pick any  

  two of five items,  the number of possible combinations is 10, found by looking in the

  second place of the fifth row. Do not count the 1's.)

• When the first number to the right of the 1 in any row is a prime number, all numbers in

   that row are  divisible by that prime number.

Amazing right!?? That's why I say," MATHEMATICS is the QUEEN OF ALL SCIENCES" !!! :-)

Who is the Player?...Who is the Umpire?

Have you ever got a question of this sort?
Why it pinged me.....want to know?Then go through this.........

Why do you buy a particular pen?Because you think it writes well!
Why do you put on switch when you want air or light?
Because you know only then it works!!
Why don't you take more and more sweets/food at a time?
Because you know that you will become fatter (it would cause a problem later)!!
In all the above cases (of-course very simple stances) you anticipated the result knowingly or unknowingly...right!?

Then, why people say that what Lord Krishna in his revelation told "keep your effort,don't think about the result" as the sole SUCCESS mantra?
Will it be really possible.....!? For one or the other reason, we anticipate the result before enacting.In other words, we can't make effort without thinking about the result....for that matter, the concept of "DREAMS" is the euphemism for this...is it not?? Now, with enough reasoning I think I have got a right to think about the result.
At this point of time,with many experiences, I would like to question....."why the result is not always proportional to effort?"...(atleast in my perspective....as according to my observations and/or experiences.)
Basically, I'm ineterested to know if there are any metrics for this.Can't we measure effort?How come,an immeasurable quantity(effort) is giving a 100% measurable quantity(result)...
Ok! If there is no metric, is there any boundary atleast?
To find an answer for this is difficult though not impossible ...!!
Because,we know that effort is nothing but trying to learn/acquire/do something.
Learning is the movement from moment to moment.And, it goes on and on till the last breath.But, till then if the umpire(say The Almighty) waits to evaluate the effort(in his own metrics) who will enjoy its results(/consequences).
Seems to be wierd!!?? But, think on this....it will not be so..(atleast to me)
Why because, I am a person who doesn't care on the short term inputs/outputs.
I count my efforts on a long-term basis.
According to me,if you are a farmer, you should eat the fruit, or tell whether the field yields good crop or not,or perhaps you are the person who monitor the lands yield......Then why not the same case over here.Why should our effort be evaluated by some others when we are intelligent enough to count our bucks.
So, if I make an effort, I am the person who can award/reward it or can collapse it.....But, not my fate!
And hence what is that I want to put before you is.....
" If you are an intelligent Player,then it is you and no other will be the Umpire " !!