Book Review [105] : Breaking India - Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines

I have never read such a seminal book on the work of evangelical organizations operating in India; i have never read such a detailed book full of references and data on the threats to the Union of India. No where one can find the sophisticated designs of evangelical organizations. Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines is a wonderfully written book by Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindam Neelakandan. When one of my friends recommended this book last year i rejected the book as some right wing humbug. This month i got some time at my disposal and i decided to give it to the book and to my surprise this is not a right wing humbug. The stories, data and references are well stocked and this book is not against any religion but against the designs of some foreign organizations backed by generous donors and supported by in-house supporters in dangerous plan to balkanize India. These organizations first create fissures in our society and then deepen those fissures; the case of Aryan (outsiders) vs Dravidians (indigenous), the myth of St. Thomas and Afro-Dalit concepts are some of those fissures.

The Tamil movement has been appropriated to an extent by these evangelical organizations and the rich Sanskrit literature of ancient Tamil Nadu and Vedic/Hindu references in Sangam poetry have been maligned and St. Thomas has been credited for giving Tamil Nadu the devotional movement, Tamil language and religion. The Hamitic myth of Bible is being used to describe the Dravidian and African "civilizations" while North Indians are being labelled as barbaric invaders who destroyed and enslaved Dravidians.

India has never banned any religion in her 2500 years (at least) of written history. If Indians willingly want to convert to any religion then no force on earth can stop it but this willingness should not be coerced by force, fraud or money.

Its a must read book and every Indian should read it irrespective of faith and caste. 

Highly recommended (10/10)

Third Time Lucky?

Date   :  20th May 2015

Time  :  11:55 AM

Board :  Prof. H. C. Gupta (Chairperson) and 4 other members (M1, M2, M3 and M4)

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[Neeraj] May i come in Sir?

[CP] Yes

[Neeraj] Good morning Sirs

[CP] So you did your 12th from Dr. V S E C Kanpur, who was Dr. Virendra Swarup?

[Neeraj] A famous educationist and former chairman of UP Legislative Council

[CP] What is legislative council?

[Neeraj] Second house of state legislature

[CP] How the members are elected?

[Neeraj] through electoral college, teachers, some graduates, nominated by Governor, co-operative societies etc

[CP] some graduates ? and , so there is no definitive way? Lets say if there are no co-operative societies

[Neeraj] I meant teachers, all graduates, co-operative societies etc. Sorry Sir, i dont recall

[CP] What is the reason behind this second chamber? Some states have it while others dont.

[Neeraj] Sir, according to article 169, if a legislative assembly endorses then Parliament can create or dissolve this house. 

[CP] How many states have this house?

[Neeraj] Sir, 6. UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra, J&K

[CP] which is 6th one?

[Neeraj] Sorry sir, i don't recall

[CP] So why some states have it?

[Neeraj] Sir, i dont know. May be historical reasons

[CP] Do you think making colleges/universities like Roorkee, IT BHU and now ISM make sense? These universities have a definite culture while IITs have a different culture?

[Neeraj] Sir, culture takes time to change. May be in 5 to 10 years it will change in those colleges as well. It means upgradation though they are premier institutes in their own way.

{CP does not look convinced with my answers}

[M1] So do you know what NRHM is?

[Neeraj] Its National Rural Health mission

[M1] what it does?

[Neeraj] Upgradation/provision of rural health infrastructure

[M1] How it is centred around?

[Neeraj] Sir on ASHA and ANM

[M1] Has it really made an impact?

[Neeraj] Yes sir, IMR and MMR numbers have come down drastically in these years. IMR has come down from 55 56 to 40.

[M1] What will be your prime focus areas if you become DM?

[Neeraj] Health and education

[M1] What else comes to your mind?

[Neeraj] Providing leadership to the department, making the government departments more humane. Currently people face a kind of fear while going to the government department eg. Police

[M1] Why leadership? There are many departments. They do it.

[Neeraj] Some times we have to think out of the box. Sir, DM of Gwalior curbed the practice of female foeticide by fixing active device tracker to the ultrasound machine. So leadership becomes very important. 

[M2] What do you think about India's growing relations with Africa? Are they in national interest?

[Neeraj] They are in our national interest.

[M2] How?

[Neeraj] Africa is rich in mineral resources. Hydrocarbons, and India has stakes in South Sudan, Nigeria and Mozambique.

[M2] What else?

[Neeraj] India provides generic medicines to Africa. Most of those countries suffer from AIDS etc. They care a lot about these medicines.

[M2] What else?

[Neeraj] We are developing associations in case of Climate talks etc

[M2] What in WTO?

[Neeraj] To provide generic medicines without succumbing under pressure of MNCs like Beyer, Nexavar etc.

[M2] Has any country supported India?

[Neeraj] Many countries supported India during liberation of Goa.

[M2] That was long time back.

[Neeraj] Many countries are there in G-77 and they support India in Climate talks etc.

[M2] You like visiting historic places {mentioned as hobby}

[Neeraj] Yes sir

[M2] What places you visited recently?

[Neeraj] Elephanta caves, Ajanta and Ellora caves, Hampi, Qutub Complex, Udaygiri Hills, Sanchi Stupa, Mammalapuram....

[M2] Ok, is this true that large boulders in Hampi were brought down by Hanuman ji

[Neeraj, I slightly smiled] No sir, those can be carried by Elephants as well as those are no so huge.

[M2] No, they are immense

[Neeraj] Sir, not in Hampi but may be in Kishkindha, it is on the other side of Tungabhadra river.

[M2] How come you like Archaeology? {another hobby}

[Neeraj] studied in IT BHU, Sarnath is close by, Archaeological site and my manager gifted me a CD "In search of Troy" the excavation of Troy in Turkey. These caused my interest in Archaeology

[M2] Have you ever visited J&K?

[Neeraj] No Sir

[M2] There is a site, shown in film Haider. Have you seen Haider?

[Neeraj] No sir, i have not seen it

[Neeraj] But sir, its in Anantnag

[M2] No its not it

[Neeraj] May be then Burzhom/Gufkral

[M2] This is a temple

[Neeraj]Sir its a Sun temple

[M2] Yes, Martand Sun Temple

[M2] You also like reading books. last book read

[Neeraj] Yes i do. i also run a blog. The story of integration of Indias princely states by V P Menon

[M2] Do you have an interest in war history?

[Neeraj] No sir, but i do like intelligence/spy history. I recently read Kaoboys of R&AW by B Raman.

[M2] So what are two main points?

[Neeraj] East Pakistan operations in 1971 and during Khalistan movement.

[M3] So you are in IP&TAFS service?

[Neeraj] Yes sir

[M3] What is your job profile?

[Neeraj] Collection of license fee, spectrum usage charges, disbursement of USOF subsidy and its inspection etc

[M3] So who does finance work for BSNL?

[Neeraj] Their own officers. We work only for DOT. 

[M3] But some officers are in BSNL

[Neeraj] Yes sir, They joined before the formation of BSNL and they took absorption there.

[M3] You were working in British Telecom and took a heavy cut to join Indian civil Service why?

[Neeraj] Mutiple reasons - Most important i always wanted to join Indian civil service, while working for BT during London Olympics i decided to work for my own country instead of working for some other country. So i decided to write Civil services.

[M3] So your optional is History? Describe Tamil problem of Sri Lanka and its progress.

[Neeraj] I described from the Independence of Sri Lanka in 1940s to the Sinhalese language act, Sinhalese thought Tamilians as British Collaborators etc. and then LTTE and now Maithri Pala Sirisena. Recently Sirisena has replaced military governor of Northern Sri Lanka by a Civilian Governor. Its trying to mend the bridge.

[M3] Who are the Tamilians of Sri Lanka?

[Neeraj] They can be divided in two classes. Ancient migrants and people brought by Britishers as labourers. 

[M3] Recently there was some controversy between India and Sri Lanka

[Neeraj] Yes Sir, on fishing.

[M3] Describe

[Neeraj] Sir, its about fishing. During LTTE war the Sri Lankan tamils could not fish in those waters and Indian tamils exploited this. Now the war is over and Sri Lankan tamils are back so this tension.

[M3] Indian fishermen faced capital punishment in Sri Lanka

[Neeraj] But they were pardoned by Rajapaksa

[M3] You are 32, you wont become Additional secretary and yet you want to join IAS

[Neeraj] Yes Sir

[M4] You like reading biographies {another hobby of mine}

[Neeraj] Yes ir

[M4] Give me the biography of Dr. Ambedkar in brief

[Neeraj] Born in Mhow tehsil to a soldier working in British Army, he faced caste based discriminations one was vividly described by him at railway station. He got scholarship from Baroda King to study in Colombia university then he joined London school of Economics. He practised Law in India and signed Poona Pact.

[M4] What was Poona Pact?

[Neeraj] Ramsay Mcdonald announced separate electorates for Dalits. Gandhiji was against it. While Ambedkar was for it. Actually he was the one who demanded it. But under pressure he signed the Poona Pact. 

[M4] But later he regretted it

[Neeraj] Yes Sir, He gave few years to Caste Hindus to fix the caste based discrimination but this was not possible and he decided to renounce Hinduism.

[M4] Which religion he eventually adopted?

[Neeraj] Buddhism, in 1956

[M4] Which year he died

[Neeraj] 6th Dec, 1956

[CP] Thank you Neeraj

[Neeraj] Thank you Sir

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Time 12:15/12:20

The interview was not flawless and many a times i fumbled. I could not convince the Chairperson and came under heavy pressure. I tried to fix the course but could not succeed. I will be lucky if i get above 150. I got 195 when my interview was like this 

P.S. Results were declared on 4th July and i got AIR 140. Marks were published by UPSC on 13th July and i got just 150 marks in Interview, so indeed i was not lucky :(; 160 marks would have given me AIR 90 and 170 marks an AIR in 60s. Fate is a cruel monster.

Book Review [104] : The Story Of The Integration Of Indian States

There were about 562 Princely states in India before British started packing their bags. Some of these states were as big as France while others were as small as a small city. Out of these 562 states, 554 states merged with India while remaining states merged with Pakistan. 

'The Story Of The Integration Of Indian States' is the account of this mammoth task of nation building taken by the newly formed States Department headed by Sardar Patel with V. P. Menon as his secretary. Written in a lucid style, this book is a mine of information surrounding this very important process of integration. Patel was a modern incarnation of Chanakya and with his perseverance and ingenuity he made sure that all states acceded to India before his death. The festering problem of Kashmir is not his legacy as this accession was made conditional by Mountbatten and Pt. Nehru. 

Though stories of the merger of all states are equally interesting but the cases of Baroda, Junagadh, Jodhpur, Hyderabad and Jammu & Kashmir are very intriguing. 

Though Baroda was one of the first states to accede to India but later its ruler HH Pratap Singh started showing tantrums and he was eventually de-recognized as the ruler of Baroda state by the President of India in 1951. Junagadh was the only state within the boundary of India that acceded to Pakistan. India had to play a patient game of statesmanship integrate this state with India. Hyderabad was the largest Princely state of India and Nizam Mohsin Khan Asaf Jah tried all out to exploit its humongous size. He even went to UN to internationalize the issue but the Police action in Sept 1948 (code name - Operation Polo) commanded by Major General J. N. Chaudhury liberated the people of Hyderabad from the tyranny of Razakars of Qasim Rizwi. 

India could not make the integration of Jammu and Kashmir smooth though we played a fair game. There were five major reasons behind this - its border with Pakistan, its demography, its ruler, the tribal invasion of Jammu and Kashmir sponsored by Pakistan and Indian diplomacy. Due to delay caused by the reluctance of Mountbatten to aid Jammu and Kashmir against Pakistan before Maharaja signing Instrument of Accession, we lost about 40% of Jammu and Kashmir territory. The story of Kashmir is a saga of betrayal (Muslim soldiers of J&K regiment stationed at Muzaffarabad betrayed and killed their officers and fellow soldiers), unprecedented bravery (Brigadier Rajinder Singh with his 150 odd soldiers halted the advance of marauders for full three days) and botched diplomacy (with Nehru taking this case to UN). When the promise of plebiscite was not given to any other state why it was given to this state; even now this remains a weak point in our defence of Kashmir.

A must read book and thank you V. P. Menon for writing this; Sardar and you are the true architects of India.

Highly Recommended (10/10)

Book Review [103] : Troubled Periphery - The Crisis Of India's North East

Things fall apart, the centre can not hold - This has been the story of India's North East since Independence. A region with about 8% of India's landmass and 4% of India's population, connected with "main-land" by just 22 km wide chicken's neck (silliguri corridor) is a micro cosmos of India. It is perhaps more diverse than the rest of India. It has more than 400 dialects and about 200 major tribes sharing the hills and the plains. Since time immemorial India's middle east has been the melting pot of various tribes, culture, religion and languages. Almost all major world religions are represented here including the lost tribe of Jews - Bnei Menashe. 

'Troubled Periphery - The Crisis of India's North East' is a brilliantly researched book by Subir Bhaumik. The author has gone into the history of north east with great precision and has written with a fair detail about various insurgent groups. 

Out of 7 North Eastern states, four states are completely dominated by tribal people - Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya (Christianized by Baptist missionaries in late 19th century) while Arunachal Pradesh has so far been able to maintain its indigenous religion. Tripura and Assam have been demographically transformed in last 50 years or so, Manipur has been observing insurgency since the Naga days and it is the only state that perceives itself to be surrounded by hostile tribes and people from all sides.

Tripura was dominated by the tribal people before its accession to India but since its accession the Bengali flood has changed its demography and the tribal people lost their power and stakes. They retreated in the hills. The terrorist groups like NLFT, ATTF etc have been carrying on insurgency in this state for about 30 years. NLFT (National Liberation Front of Tripura proclaimed objective is to "Expel all Bengalis from Tripura and to establish a Christian state in Tripura". It has killed many Hindu priests and banned worship of Hindu deities in the forests. 

Mizoram has largely been peaceful since the 1986 accord signed by rebel leader Lal Denga and government of India but even in its peace the lesser tribes like Hmars and Bru have suffered. 

Manipur has suffered a lot at the hand of rebels of all kinds - Meities, Nagas, Kukis, Muslims etc. The demand of greater Nagalim is like an eternal thorn to its existence.

The illegal migration from Burma and Bangladesh (East Pakistan) and migration from India is one of the most important reasons behind all this turmoil in North East. The genesis of almost all the insurgent groups lie in this monumental problem. The case of Assam is poignant. I was really aghast to read about about the number of insurgent groups active in North East. To underscore the problem the non-exhaustive list is given:

NSCN (IM), NSCN (K), NDFB(S), ULFA, PLA, NLF, NLFT, ATTF, Achik Group, Kuki group, MULTA, Dimasa group  and many more. 

The book also sheds some light on the dark history of 1960s and 1970s when competitive patronage to insurgent groups were given by all countries. India gave to Chakma tribals in 1970s,  to Kachin Independence Army in 1980s. Pakistan gave to NNC, MNF etc in 1950s, 1960s and Bangladesh in 1970s. China gave to NNC, MNF, NSCN, PLA in 1960s, 1970s. 

Highly Recommended(9/10)

Book Review [102] : The Kaoboys Of R&AW

'Aankhen' is one of the first and one of the finest Indian movies made on espionage as a theme; who ever has seen this movie, must have pondered about existence of such spy agency in India. The very year Aankhen was released (1968), 'Research and Analysis Wing' came into existence as a result of the bifurcation of Intelligence Bureau (IB) into IB( for counter intelligence) and R&AW (for external intelligence). 

'The Kaoboys of R&AW' is a beautifully written memoirs cum history of this premier agency by former spy master B. Raman. He had worked in R&AW for about 26 years and played a key role in almost all the success and failure stories of Indian intelligence. He continued his contribution by writing consistently on India's security and defence till his death in 2013. 

R. N. Kao was the founder and first chief of R&AW and he literally created this institution from scratch. The R&AW never looked back and played a key role in 1971 liberation of Bangladesh. It has had its successes and it has had its failures. While successes are supposed to be hidden in the files but the failures are destined to be magnified a million times. The dismantling of Mizo separatists groups and Naga (to a large extent) could not have been done without R&AW, similarly it played a key role in suppressing the Khalistan movement and Kashmir insurgency. He does not throw much light on inchoate Israel-India build up against Pakistan nuclear program. The failures of R&AW are also momentous - Operation Blue Star, assassination of Indira Gandhi,  assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Bombay blast of 1993, IC 814 hijacking, 26/11 etc. 
The mutual bickering and jealousies of IB, R&AW and MEA are legendary; some officers compromised their integrity by becoming slaves of their political masters while some were bought over by inter departmental rivalries and scramble for limelight. The current infrastructure has more than 7 or 8 intelligence agencies and co-ordination and pooling of resources are major challenges. 

It is a must read book if you want to know about this secret institution and the challenges it faces from circumstances, politics, jealousies and lack of coherent strategy.  

Highly Recommended (9/10)