RAHUL GANDHI NOT INVOLVED IN AGUSTAWESTLAND DEAL: AK ANTHONY

Defence Minister, AK Anthony today expressed sadness as well as anger that Congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi has been dragged into the  controversial AgustaWestland chopper deal.

“It is very sad…there is a limit for these kinds of allegations,” Anthony said, when asked about the BJP’s allegations dragging Rahul Gandhi into the scam. He nonetheless rubbished the allegations as “baseless” and said that the case is being investigated by the CBI.

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya has reportedly written to the CBI accusing that the relative of Kanishka Singh – a close political aide of Rahul Gandhi – owns Emaar MGF Land Limited and made profit from the chopper deal.  

“We have nothing to hide, CBI is inquiring into that, whoever is guilty will be punished and nothing can be said beyond that at this point,” the defence minister said.

A joint CBI team, as well as the Defence Ministry’s Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager (Air) Arun Kumar Bal, is slated to leave for Italy to investigate into the case of kickback given to officials in India to strike the 3,546 crore chopper deal.

Under the contract 12 helicopters were meant to be delivered for VVIPs’ travel by AgustaWestland, which is a UK-based subsidiary of Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica.

The chief of Finmeccanica, Giuseppe Orsi has been arrested after an investigation in Italy found that the company bribed Indian officials to strike the deal.

In the controversy, the former Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi has also been embroiled for allegedly tweaking guidelines to get Finmeccanica into the bidding process. Some of the revelations were unearthed during investigation of Finmeccanica officials during investigation in Italy.

Thereafter, India’s Defence Ministry issued to a show-cause notice setting a week’s time to AgustaWestland, asking why the contract should not be cancelled in view of the corruption charges.

Meanwhile, Anthony said that "making allegations and taking judgment positions" at this juncture is not correct. “Let’s have patience and let the CBI inquiry report come out and after that whoever is involved in the case will be punished,” he said.

Meghalaya youth says India a failed democracy surrenders Voter identity card

A youth from Meghalaya has surrendered his Election Voter Identity Card (EPIC) to the Election Commission of India with a dissent note stating that the bourgeoisie “democracy in India has failed” and doesn’t inspire him any longer to vote.

Likening the present governance of India as one for the bourgeoisie, Sajeki Passah, a law student from Meghalaya’s Jaintia Hills district in northeast India surrendered his EPIC (No.  BKX0651000), to the Election Commission of India, through the state election department here.

Passah lamented to the Commission that the “have nots” have been sidelined and ignored in the present democratic set-up with the government machinery only “favouring ‘the haves’ who in turn reap the benefits from the prevailing system of flawed governance.”

Speaking over the phone from Jaintia Hills district, Passah said he took the decision to surrender his EPIC and not to vote any longer a few days back as he “lost hope” on the present system of governance.

“I have lost hope on the present system of Governance in India. The politicians promise during every elections and forgets. They only work for the high and the mighty and the common men’s plight has not changed,” Passah added.

Citing that the present “failed democracy” is the cause of hardship of the ordinary Indians, Passah said, unless the system was drastically changed than rampant corruption, backwardness, and under-development would continue to further corrode the system and unhappiness would shadow the “have-nots.”

“Scores of ‘have nots’ are left with hopelessness and unfulfilled dreams,” he rued in his note to Commission. “Politicians instead of representing the people are representing for their self-interest and their parties. They have failed the people in addressing to their miseries,” Passah, who lives in Panaliar locality of Jowai in the coal-rich district of the state, said.

Due to the failure of the present Governance, Meghalaya has remained under-developed in terms of infrastructure development, health care, rising unemployment, corruption, law and order problems, and environmental degradation.

“Villages have remained unconnected for years now, some are left unrepaired despite money being sanctioned and work orders and deadlines being issued,” Passah said adding that such delays have resulted in huge losses for tax payers with reformulation of estimates.”

With regards to the youth, he asked, what is the need to pursue education, which only leads to years of struggle?  “The luckiest and not the fittest get jobs as nepotism prevails and the qualified are abandoned,” he said.

Moreover, on corruption he said in his note: “The democracy speaks of ending corruption and malpractices by only instituting malleable committees and commissions to inquire into matters and concludes with none being held liable.”

Similar dejections were noted in terms of health care, environment protection and other issues that are rocking the state and the country. “I am unaware in what way my decision not to vote would help the system, but I have made up my mind not to be part of the present failed democratic set-up,” Passah asserted. 

FREEDOM OF SPEECH "DONT HIT BELOW THE BELT" CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA

Coming right after the recent controversy over posting of comments on Facebook by two Mumbai girls, Chief Justice of India, Altamas Kabir said here today that Freedom of Speech and Expression cannot be used as an instrument to “hit someone below the belt.”

Emphasizing that Freedom of Speech and Expression is one of the most important fundamental rights of a citizen; he however, added that the right must be used in a “proper and disciplined manner” so that it doesn’t offend others.

“Freedom of expression is one of the most important fundamental rights in a democracy and must be used properly in a disciplined manner without hitting someone under the belt. It must be used reasonably,” the Chief Justice suggested.

On section 66 A of Information Technology Act, 2000, the Chief Justice on the other hand refused to say much as the matter is pending before the Court.

A PIL was filed by Delhi Student recently, to amend the section as the "the phraseology of Section 66A of the IT Act, 2000 is so wide and vague and incapable of being judged on objective standards, that it is susceptible to wanton abuse and hence falls foul of Article 14, 19 (1)(a) and Article 21 of the Constitution."

Under the present section of the IT Act, anyone can be punished for sending offensive messages information etc through computer resource or a communication device. The PIL argues that the section violates Freedom of Speech and Expression.

Kabir said that the section needs more clarity adding that it can be misused in its present form as the language has a wide interpretation. He said that points have been brought before people involved in framing of the rules so that “ways and means can be channelized.”

The Chief Justice, who was here to launch a programme of legal aid awareness classes and clubs in schools and colleges, also said that in exercising ones right to speech and expression an individual must “self-regulate.”

He said that freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 (1 and 2) can be balanced to some extent, but he said, the best option before the people is to adopt an approach of self-regulation.

“We have to self-regulate and if we say, for example, that we mustn’t then we create a difficult situation. We have to know where to draw the line,” Kabir added.

MEGHALAYA PWDs: "WANT ACTION, NOT SONGS AND DANCES"

Meghalaya Government must “take action” to alleviate problems of people with Disabilities (PWD) instead of organizing just “dancing and singing programmes” every year on World Disability Day.

“We don’t want just singing and dancing programmes to mark World Disability Day, but want action for an inclusive and barrier-free association with everyone,” Celene Lawai, a young girl with locomotive disability, demanded. The Social welfare department organizes such programmes, which Celene says is okay, but such programmes “doesn’t create change” in PWDs’ lives.

“We instead want to have conferences with the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary and other officers so that we can discuss some of our problems. We want an inclusive and barrier-free association with the Government and the society,” the young girl said.

Celene, together with Melip D Sangma, president of Association of Challenged People of Meghalaya and others had a candid interaction with the media here today on occasion of World Disability Day sharing some of the problems faced by people with disability in Meghalaya.

Steps, Celene continued, aren’t exactly the stepping stones to success, but are in fact “barriers” and makes life more difficult for some of the PWDs with movement problems.

 “I don’t like someone helping me up the stairs. I would rather like to move my wheelchair around, but in most offices and even the secretariat do not have arrangement for ramps and this makes it difficult to call upon officers in these buildings,” she said.

Sangma on the other hand said that the government must ensure that the Government buildings in the newly created districts must be made assessable for all. “Please consider the accessibility factor for PWDs when you make these new buildings,” Sangma urged the Government.

Reiterating that “barriers must be removed to remove pain,” Celene said: “nothing should be decided about us without us.” She lamented that most of the Government decision are being made without taking into confidence the PWDs of the state. There are over 32000 PWDS in Meghalaya, according to the census data.

Another important factor relating to the PWDs is education. Celene said that most of the schools don’t have trained teachers to teach both the non-disable and disable students. “The schools must be inclusive under the PWD Act and teachers must be trained accordingly, especially for the hearing and visually impaired,” she pointed out.

MORE ATHLETES THAN FOUR OLYMPICS IN MEGHALAYA POLICE RECRUITMENT RALLY

There are more athletes here than in the London, Beijing, Athen and Sydney Olympics put together  and the competition is fierce where contestants are fighting it out in the grueling 10 km and 5.5 km race, day and night.

Welcome to the recruitment rally for the post of unarmed and armed police constables in Meghalaya police department. More than 45,000 candidates have submitted their form for about 1500 openings.

And with the recruitment process beginning from November 26, candidates from far-flung regions of the state are putting all their effort to run 10 kms in under one hour in the case of male candidates and 5.5 km in forty minutes for women candidates.

The test is being held every day and also in some instances in the night under flood lights, where about 1500 candidates are taking the grueling test daily in two centres, one at 1st Battalion, MLP Mawiong, East Khasi Hills district and the other at 2nd Battalion, MLP Goeragre, East Garo Hills district.

“The test begins at 10 am. We are able to take the test of about 1500 applicants in a day. The process would continue till the 45000 odd candidate takes their test. We are also conducting the test in the evening under lights or else we would not be able to complete the recruitment process on time,” BL Buam additional director general of police, said.

The Meghalaya police, Buam said, first printed 20,000 forms, but due to the overwhelming response, it printed another 20,000, but when that too was insufficient it decided to print 1.2 lakh forms and distributed across the state.

In the 10 km run for male candidates, the field at Mawiong represents a fierce battlefield where ambulances and medics are present with other policemen neatly queuing up rows of water bottles for the contestants who run 25 laps to complete 10 kms and 14 laps in the case of female candidates. In case of Goeragre the male candidates run 33 laps to complete 10 kms and 20 laps to complete 5.5 km for female candidates.

The candidates, moreover, have signed a bond that the board would not be held responsible in case of any eventuality and only those medically fit are encouraged to undergo the test.

The race again is being held with the help of advanced technology. Radio Frequency Identification tags are fitted on the contestants legs, which gives the exact timing of the runners from the start to the finish.

These are studied by experts and the contestants are given their result there and then. Those who qualify would be eligible to sit for the written test to be held later and those who don’t have to bid adieu.

 “We have done away with measurement of chest, and other eligibility requirement done previously such as high and long jump etc as it is felt that a contestant who can run 10 km (and 5.5 km for women) under one hour is medically fit enough to take up the rigours of a policemen,” Buam said.

Buam believes that the run would take another 15-20 days to be complete going by the number of applicants. The multiple choice written test would be on English grammar, science, arithmetic and general knowledge. The answer sheet would be optical mark recognition for quick and transparent evaluation.

Finally, the personal interviews would be held and the entire proceedings would be held on camera. “We want to do away with this fear of nepotism and biasness in the entire recruitment process,” Buam added. 

IMPLACABLE NOVEMBER DISPLAY INDIA'S WARM HUES AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Every cold damp week of November opened up a window to display India in all its warm hues and diverse culture.

Here in Meghalaya and elsewhere, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains and indigenous communities all showcased their happier and solemn sides during this “implacable November” as Charles Dickens would say.

November started on a somber note with Christians observing the All Soul’s Day on November 2. Christians remembered their departed soul and visited the graveyards with freash flowers and candles on the occasion.

The next week on November 9, the Garo Community celebrated the Wangala Dance festival marking the end of harvest and the beginning of winter season. During thecultural fiesta, dancing troupes from ten villages from all over Garo Hills, including Bangladesh, exhibited their dancing prowess attired in colourful and exotic tribal costumes to the beats of hundred ‘damas’ or drums at Asanang, West Garo Hills .

Although it is “hard to hold a candle, on a cold November rain” as Guns and Roses complains, but, exactly seven days later on November 13, Hindus celebrated Diwali or Deepawali with lights, candles, earthen lamps and fireworks.  Kali and Lakshmi Pujas were also held on this day.

The festival of light brightened up the otherwise cold damp November as Hindus celebrate the day to mark the sweet homecoming of Ram, Laxman and Sita to Ayodhya after fourteen years in exile, not before defeating the demonic Ravan.

The day is also celebrated by the Jains  as Deva Devali. On this day, Lord Mahavir founder of Jainism attained Nirvana or Moksha in 527 BC.

The next day was Children’s Day, the birthday of India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. During the day various programmes were held in schools and colleges and kids got free sweets!

Again next week on November 23, the Khasi community professing the indigenous way of life, Niam Trai Niam Tre, celebrated the Seng Kut Snem, again a post harvest celebration. Colourful processions were taken out with elaborate tableaux to celebrate the day.  The occasion is also observed to pay obeisance to the deities for protection of the local indigenous faith and providing a bountiful harvest.

Just two days and beginning of the week, Muslims observed Muharram. During the occasion members from the Shia community took out procession to commemorate the martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein and three days later Guru Nanak’s 544^th Birthday – the founder of the Sikh religion - was celebrated by the Sikh community as Guru Nanak Gurupurab.

Grand processions were taken out with skilful performance of martial art, songs and dances. Later prayer services were held at the local Gurdwaras followed by offering of a sweet dish or Karah Prasadmade from Semolina. And now with December round the corner, the festive season is headed for a grand finale. 

A CURIOUS CASE OF CURIOSITY

Living in an isolated neighbourhood can be a bit eerie, even if it’s a posh real estate area in the Milky Way, with life-supporting Supermarkets, clearing goodies every season, for free.

Despite all these freebies, the curious child continues to wipe the fogged windowpane and peer closely into our remote backyards for the fantastic and extraordinary. Hoping, someday fine-pedigreed impish men, with antennae on their heads, would beam us to uncorrupted time wrapped worlds.

Science fictionists, on the other hand, have left no meteorite unturned to fuel, ignite and propel the mind into the mysterious navel of the Universe.

One of the answers to this collective fantasy is Curiosity, a rover or rather a SUV, at this moment happily clicking pictures, digging holes and “eating dirt and rock” far away on an alien planet.

It is not just National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA’s$2.5 billion rover, Curiosity, landing this year on Mars, August 6; it is the curiosity of several billion earthlings, searching for the unknown.

Curiosity was conceived way back in 2004. Her metamorphism from a “reasoned engineering” to the present shape took another four years andNASA’s social media team announced the good news to the world through Twitter on November 19, 2008 - handle @MarsCuriosity.

"I'm WAY cool, nearly built, and I need a name," the baby rover first tweeted and an essay contest was launched for kids.  12-year-old Clara Ma’ suggestion - Curiosity - was chosen from more than 9,000 entries in the US.

After the official baptism, Curiosity cradled on Atlas V launch vehicle and bid goodbye from Cape Canaveral on November 26, 2011. Curiosity’s lonely, yet extraordinary voyage across billion of stars and planetary objects took no less than eight months, covering a whooping 350 million-mile to reach its new home.

The final seven minutes of her descent, which included entry, descent and landing on the Red planet’s atmosphere was dubbed by NASA as “seven minutes of terror” for the sheer risk involved.

The seven minutes of terror included lowering Curiosity gently through three stages by reducing speed from a staggering 21,000kph (13,000mph) to zero, in what is being billed as “Hollywood style.”

First, a heat shield slowed down the launch vehicle, while protecting it from the extraordinary heat of 1600 degrees generated by the speed. It was further slowed by opening one of the largest and strongest supersonic parachutes built by NASA.

Finally, a sky crane or a robot fell off the descent vehicle and lowered the rover dangling on cables. After the touchdown, the cables were cut off with explosives and the descent vehicle flew off and crash landed at a site elsewhere.

So far is Mars away from Earth that it took 14 minutes for a beep from Curiosity to reach earth. She tweeted:“I arrived at the Red Planet, Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (Aug.6 UTC).” Curiosity currently has over 12,09,048 followers on Twitter and still counting.

One of the celebrities to respond to the tweet was Britney Spears. The singer tweeted: “So @MarsCuriosity …does Mars look the same as it did in 2000?"  This was in reference to her 2000 album, Oops! …I did it again, where the sings and dances on Mars.

But, Oops! There is lot more than just dancing and singing about the baby rover. So what exactly is Curiosity looking for? The Mars rover is expected to spend two years and would try unfolding Mars’ interesting origami and learn about its atmosphere, geology and others, like: Is the atmosphere conducive enough for breaking down the barriers of earth and having that extra backyard for living in future. Is there any biosignatures?

Are there minerals that could be of help back at home – this point is not explicitly mandated in the mission document, but surely its there in the multi-wired robotic mind. And overall, evaluate if a manned flight could be sent to the planet in the near future.

These objectives would be carried out by scooping sand and rocks from the Red planet by Curiosity with its 7 feet robotic arms onto its brains (onboard lab fitted with computers). The laboratory would then send the data to the scientists cozying millions of miles away on Earth at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) inPasadena, California.

Ever since Curiosity landed on mars, JPL has been keeping millions of curious Earthlings updated with new findings, pictures and news of the rover’s adventure, through its excellent star trekking websitehttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. The site has a host of learning tools through interactive games, quizzes etc. about our immediate neighbourhood, apart from day-today information about the mission. A visit to the site is a must, especially for students and those interested in knowing the unknown.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

“Any scientific quest is good for the people, provide we put the end results in good use,” Dr. S Sudhakar, director of the North East Space Application Centre (NESAC), based at Umiam (Barapani), India, said.

But there has always been this question whether sending expensive robots to space is worth enough when there is a lot to be known about Earth.

To this, there are some divergent views, some interesting ones, however, are floating on the virtual world like: “If Americans are dumb enough to spend $4.5 trillion on a fake war (Iraq) and take on a second war (Afghanistan) that will never end, (then) yes -- It's worth spending a couple $ billion to find at least one intelligent life form in our universe.” 

So far, over 40 missions have been sent by different countries to Mars from the early 60s. The US leads in this race by successfully launching 14 missions. Some of these were flyby missions to get data about the planet’s atmosphere and other physical characteristic; others were more complex, landing on the planet and sending soil sample data, traces of the chemical and geological makeup and snapshots.

Curiosity genealogy dates back to 1964, when Mariner 4, a flyby orbiter, was first launched successful. It sent 21 pictures of the planet. Viking I was the first space vessel to launch on Mars’ surface on July 20, 1976 followed by Viking 2.

In July 4, 1997, Mars Pathfinder landed a base station. It was named Carl Sagan memorial Station in honour of the scientists. The mission successfully landed the first rover – a 10.6 kilograms rover named Sojourner – on the Red planet. There were other very successful mission sent to Mars like the Spirit and Opportunity.

In 2008, the Phoenix Mars Lander sent back photos of ice chunks it found after scooping up handfuls of soil, a huge discovery in the search for water on the planet. Another key ingredient for life, methane, was discovered in the Martian atmosphere.

All this missions does come with a huge price tag. The Viking missions alone cost about a $1 billion back in the 70s. The Spirit and Opportunity missions cost another billion, for building and operation.

Dr. Sudhakar says that the present mission is not likely to yield result in the near future, but has no doubt in saying that the mission would certainly benefit mankind in the long run. India too has jumped into this “Mars mission scientific quest.” After its moon mission – Chandrayaan – India has decided to blast a 450-crore Mars orbiter next year.

Not to be left behind, there are also bounty hunters banking on this scientific quest and general curiosity of people. “Lunar real estate agencies” are selling chunks of the Moon’s surface to buyers. In fact, Shah Rukh Khan reportedly owns a substantial chunk of the satellite, gifted each year by one of his fans. The lunar chunk comes in the way of a certificate sold by a “lunar moon estate agency!” 

Curiosity is now crawling on all sixwheels and inching every second to unknown places, just as JPL’s motto, which quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail."