Monthly Archives: July 2012

Name Change Politics in India

July 31, 2012
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Cannaught Place in New Delhi now renamed Rajiv Chowk

By Atul Cowshish & M Rama Rao New Delhi (Syndicate Features): As chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati had gone on an unprecedented spree to rename towns, cities, public places and institutions and justified it in the name of honouring the ‘forgotten’ Dalit icons of India. She changed names of many districts and built imposing monuments and extravagant parks and named them after her mentor, Kanshi Ram. Life-size stone statutes of elephants surrounded these parks which had giant-size statues of not only Kanshi Ram’s but hers also—quite an unusual thing. The Samajwadi Party government that has taken over the administration of the state from BSP has now decided to restore the original names of the districts. This has been criticised in some quarters because it allegedly amounts to ‘insulting’ the Dalit icons Mayawati had chosen to commemorate and honour. It also suggests that names...

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India Continued Activity in the South China Sea

July 21, 2012
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A STRATFOR ANALYSIS Indian state-owned energy company ONGC Videsh Ltd. announced July 19 that it would continue participating in a joint oil and natural gas exploration project with Vietnam in Block 128, one of several potentially exploitable oil blocks in the South China Sea. The company withdrew from the project in May — purportedly over unfavourable exploration conditions — but it reconsidered its position after Hanoi reportedly pledged to give ONGC Videsh additional data and other incentives. Complicating the project was China, which claims sole domain over the South China Sea and has long opposed joint exploration in its waters unless it includes China. Many observers considered ONGC Videsh’s initial withdrawal to be a bow to China’s demands, despite New Delhi’s claims to the contrary. But with the decision to renew the contract, India has shown its willingness to align with Vietnam amid tensions in the South China Sea,...

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Clutching At The Straws

July 21, 2012
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Clutching At The Straws

By Atul Cowshish New Delhi (Syndicate Features):  Clutching at the straws is a phrase used when someone makes a desperate attempt to save his or her life or avoid a situation from becoming hopeless. Following the publication of an article with a picture of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the cover in the US magazine Time, dubbing him an ‘underachiever’, there was much uproar in both the ruling party circles and the opposition parties. All that noise appeared to be unnecessary, almost like making a mountain out of molehill. No sooner had the Time issue with the story on the prime minister been released the principal opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party, lapped it up as a proven certificate to denounce Manmohan Singh while the Congress spokesmen trashed it. Some of the BJP leaders thought the ‘bad certificate’ from the US magazine was a matter serious enough to demand...

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Violence Returns to Pakistan’s Major Cities

July 19, 2012
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distrit of pakistan

BEN WEST & KAMRAN BOKHARI STRATFOR At dawn July 12, militants raided a prison guard residence in Lahore, Pakistan, leaving nine staff members dead and three more wounded. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the guards had mistreated prisoners who were members of the Pakistani militant group. The raid came just three days after militants ambushed an army camp in the district of Gujrat, killing seven soldiers and one police officer who were searching for a missing helicopter pilot. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan also claimed that attack. Over the last two years, Pakistan has had something of a respite from dramatic attacks such as those that plagued the country from 2007 to 2010. During those years, a series of high-profile and highly disruptive attacks against police, army and intelligence targets challenged the government’s ability to control the country. The attacks occurred in Pakistan’s most populous province,...

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SRI LANKA: More people boarding boats to Australia

July 12, 2012
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Hundreds of Sri Lankans took to boats to reach Australia in the first half of 2012

COLOMBO, 12 July 2012 (IRIN) – When Arunalan*, 20, decided to go on the dangerous 8,000km journey by boat to Australia, his family wasn’t surprised. “There are no jobs in Sri Lanka,” his mother told IRIN. But instead he has joined a growing number of young men – mostly from the conflict-affected north and east – in jail. Like many others, Arunalan made the attempt and was arrested by the Sri Lankan authorities at the end of June. But sometimes they succeed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a record year for Sri Lankans,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesman for the Australian Refugee Action Coalition in Sydney. According to the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 1,413 Sri Lankans were apprehended on arrival in the first half of 2012, a 150 percent increase over 2011, when 211 people reached Australia. In 2010 that figure stood at 579, and in...

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