रामखेलावन भारत देश का सामान्य नागरिक है। जीवन के दैनिक महायुद्ध में उलझा हुआ। इस महायुद्ध के बीच कठिनाई से समय निकाल कर दिन में 15-20 मिनट समाचार पत्र पढ़ लेता है या रेडियो सुन लेता है अथवा टेलीविज़न देख लेता है, आजकल कभी कभी वहाट्स एप भी चलाने लगा है। अनेक व्यक्तिगत और सामाजिक कठिनाइयों से उलझते हुए भी राम खेलावन को देश की चिंता रहती है। रामखेलावन विदेश नीति, अर्थनीति, राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा जैसे विषयों का ज्ञाता नहीं है किन्तु वह अपने जीवन की अनुभवजन्य समझ से प्रायः इन विषयों से जुड़े राष्ट्रीय मुद्दों पर सटीक टिपण्णी कर देता है।
देशभक्ति रामखेलावन के व्यक्तिव का सुन्दरतम पक्ष है। उसकी देशभक्ति की परिभाषा नितांत सरल और सीधी है। जिस देश में, जिस भारत माँ की मिटटी में जन्मा, जिसके पञ्च तत्वों से शरीर मिला उस देश के उत्थान में ही मेरा उत्थान है। देश के प्रति जो भी मेरे करने योग्य है वो करने में कभी संकोच न हो, ढील न हो।
वस्तुतः देश पर किसी भी प्रकार का संकट आए तो ये रामखेलावन ही है जो चट्टान की तरह डट कर खड़ा होता है।
रामखेलावन के लिए देश की सीमाओं की सुरक्षा महत्वपूर्ण है। वह जानता है कि पाकिस्तान और चीन दो पड़ोसी देशों का व्यवहार और कृत्य भारत के लिए समस्या कारक हैं।
पाकिस्तान की समस्या पर रामखेलावन का मन मस्तिष्क एकदम स्पष्ट है। पाकिस्तान का जन्म मजहब के नाम पर भारत माँ के टुकड़े करने से हुआ। पाकिस्तान ने भारत से बैर के साथ ही या यूँ कहें कि हिन्दुओं के बैर के साथ ही जन्म लिया। भारत पर आक्रमण किये और हमेशा मुंह की खायी किन्तु फिर भी भारत भूमि के बड़े भाग पर कब्ज़ा कर के बैठा है।
पाकिस्तान ने छद्दम युद्ध का सहारा लिया। आतंकवाद को पाला पोसा। मजहब के नाम पर अलग देश लेने वालों में से कुछ जो चालाकी से बड़ी संख्या में इधर ही रह गए थे उनकी सहायता से काश्मीर से कन्याकुमारी तक अलग अलग स्थानों पर आतंकी घटनाएँ करायीं। काश्मीर घाटी में हिन्दुओं पर हुए नारकीय अत्याचारों से घाटी हिन्दुओं से रिक्त हो गयी और वो अपने ही देश में शरणार्थी बनकर घूम रहे हैं। पाकिस्तान के नाम से ही रामखेलावन को क्रोध और क्षोभ हो आता है।
रामखेलावन को विश्वास है कि अब पाकिस्तान एक नष्ट होता हुआ कमज़ोर देश है और भारत की समर्थ सेना कभी भी अपने क्षेत्र से पाकिस्तानी आतंक की फैक्ट्री को उखाड़ फेंकेगी और अपने क्षेत्र को मुक्त करा लेगी।
चीन की समस्या पर भी रामखेलावन अपने स्तर पर स्पष्ट है।
चीन विस्तारवादी नीति वाला देश है। उसने तिब्बत पर जबरन कब्ज़ा कर रखा है।प्र त्येक पड़ोसी देश की भूमि पर गिद्ध दृष्टि रखता है।भारत के तैंतालीस हज़ार वर्ग किलोमीटर क्षेत्र पर जबरन बैठा हुआ है।पाकिस्तान का पक्षधर है। अविश्वसनीय व्यवहार वाला स्वकेंद्रित देश है।
रामखेलावन मानता है कि लम्बे समय तक चीन की समस्या के प्रति भारत का भाव आँख बंद कर बैठे कबूतर का भाव रहा है।
रामखेलावन ने अपने जीवन में आज से पहले भारत को चीन के साथ इतनी सख्ती से बात करते नहीं देखा। भारत का ये उन्नत भाल उसे भा रहा है।
पतंग के माझे से होली की पिचकारी तक चाइना की हो गयी किसी ने आह तक नहीं की आज जब सब बदल रहा है सब कुछ भारत में ढूँढा जा रहा है तो रामखेलावन को एक आत्मिक शांति की अनुभूति हो रही है।
रामखेलावन तब चकरा जाता है जब समाचार पत्र या टेलीविज़न पर अपने ही कुछ लोगों को चीन के समर्थन में खड़ा देखता है।
किसी ने 1962 की हार का सबक ऐसे याद कराया जैसे भारत 1962 में अटका हुआ हो और चीन 2020 में आ गया हो। किसी ने भारत और चीन के सैन्य खर्च और संसाधनों की तुलना ऐसे करी जैसे युद्ध जीतने का एक मात्र आधार सैन्य खर्च या सेना के साजो सामान का हिसाब हो।किसी ने कहा कि चीन हमारी तुलना में कहीं विकसित और अंतर्राष्ट्रीय दबदबे वाला देश है मानों कोरोना से लड़ रहा विश्व चीन के सामने हाथ बांधे खड़ा हो।चीनी सामान के बहिष्कार की बात पर तो एक पूरा वर्ग मानों उबल ही पड़ा, ऐसे कैसे कर देंगे बहिष्कार? इतना दर्द जैसे इनका ही पैसा चीन की कंपनियों में लगा है।
ये सब सुन कर रामखेलावन के चीन के प्रति अपने विचारों में तो कोई बदलाव नहीं होता लेकिन एक नयी चिंता उसे घेर लेती है। अपनी ही धरती के विरुद्ध प्रलाप करने वाले इन लोगों को ढोते हुए ही चीन की समस्या का समाधान किया जाना है।
यदि ऐसा है तो रामखेलावन को अपनी शक्ति कई गुना बढ़ानी होगी। माँ भारती की कृपा से रामखेलावन सतर्क है।
(रामखेलावन एक प्रतीक नाम है, नारीवादी मित्र इसको रामसखी कहकर भी पुकार सकते हैं)
भारतीय जीवन बीमा निगम, स्टेट बैंक ऑफ़ इंडिया, आई सी आई सी आई बैंक, आई डी बी आई बैंक, यूको बैंक, बैंक ऑफ़ महाराष्ट्र, ओरिएण्टल बैंक ऑफ़ कामर्स , इंडस इंड बैंक, यस बैंक और ए बी एन एमरो बैंक. यह कुछ ऐसी संस्थाएं हैं जहां देश की आम जनता अपने खून पसीने की कमाई को जमा करती है. लोगों को यह विश्वास है कि उनका पैसा इन बैंको या संस्थाओं के पास सुरक्षित रहेगा और जरूरत पड़ने पर यह पैसा जनता को वापस भी मिल सकेगा. पहले से ही बैंकिंग संस्थाओं की आर्थिक हालत काफी नाजुक चल रही है और उस नाजुक हालात के बीच अगर राजनीतिक दबाब में इन बैंकों को जबरन दान देने के लिए मजबूर किया जाए तो जो पैसा दान में जाएगा वह जनता का ही होगा क्योंकि बैंकों के पास अपना कुछ भी नहीं है. कांग्रेस सरकार जिस समय केंद्र की सत्ता में थी तो उस समय इन बैंको और संस्थाओं ने राजीव गाँधी फाउंडेशन को दान दिया था. राजीव गाँधी फाउंडेशन गाँधी परिवार का एक निजी पारिवारिक ट्रस्ट है और किसी भी ऐसी संस्था या बैंक जिसमे जनता का पैसा लगा हुआ हो, उसे इस तरह का दान इस तरह के प्राइवेट ट्रस्ट को नहीं करना चाहिए लेकिन क्योंकि केंद्र में सरकार कांग्रेस की थी और सरकार का नियंत्रण हमेशा से ही गाँधी परिवार के पास था, इस तरह की अवांछित गतिविधियां धड़ल्ले से अंजाम दीं गयीं.
गौरतलब बात यह है कि राजीव गाँधी फाउंडेशन की अध्यक्ष सोनिया गाँधी हैं और राहुल गाँधी, प्रियंका वाड्रा, चिदंबरम और मनमोहन सिंह इसके अन्य ट्रस्टी हैं. इस ट्रस्ट ने सभी नियमों कानूनों को ताक पर रखकर न सिर्फ विदेशी संस्थाओं से दान लिया है, बल्कि प्रधान मंत्री नेशनल रिलीफ फण्ड, केंद्र सरकार के मंत्रालयों और विभिन्न सरकारी कंपनियों से भी काफी मात्रा में दान लिया है.
राजीव गाँधी फाउंडेशन किस तरह से व्यक्तियों और संस्थाओं पर कांग्रेस सरकार का दबाब डालकर दान वसूल रहा था, उसका सबसे बड़ा सबूत इस बात से मिलता है कि जब 2009 से 2014 तक कांग्रेस की सरकार थी, तब इन पांच सालों में राजीव गाँधी फाउंडेशन तो लगभग 29.48 करोड़ रुपये का दान मिला था लेकिन जैसे ही कांग्रेस सत्ता से बाहर हुईं तो 2015 से 2019 के अगले पांच सालों में इस ट्रस्ट को महज 8.89 करोड़ का ही दान मिला. मतलब साफ़ है कि सब कांग्रेस सरकार सत्ता में थी और दबाब बनाने की स्थिति में थी तब दबाब बनाकर ज्यादा से ज्यादा रकम की वसूली की गयी और जब कांग्रेस सत्ता से बाहर निकल कर सिर्फ कुछ राज्यों तक ही सिमट गयी तो वह ज्यादा दबाब बनाने की स्थिति में नहीं रही और इसके चलते दान की रकम की मात्रा में भारी गिरावट आ गयी.
अब जब सब कुछ खुलकर सामने आ गया है और कांग्रेस और गाँधी परिवार देश की जनता के सामने पूरी तरह बेनकाब हो चुका है तो कांग्रेस पार्टी और उसके नेता इस तरह के बेहूदा तर्क देकर अपने काले कारनामों का बचाव कर रहे हैं, जिन्हे सुनकर इन लोगों के मानसिक दिवालियेपन का ही सुबूत मिल रहा है. कांग्रेस पार्टी का कहना है कि राजीव गाँधी फाउंडेशन ने चीन से पैसा लिया तो क्या पी एम केयर फण्ड ने चीनी कंपनियों से पैसा नहीं लिया? पहली बात तो यह है कि राजीव गाँधी फाउंडेशन जैसे एक परिवार के निजी ट्रस्ट से भारत सरकार के फण्ड की तुलना करना ही अपने आप में हास्यास्पद है. पीएम केयर फण्ड एक भारत सरकार का फण्ड है जिसमे कोई भी व्यक्ति का संस्था दान दे सकती है. जो चीनी कंपनियां भारत में अपना धंधा कर रहे हैं, उन्होंने भी पीएम केयर फण्ड में दान दिया है और वह नियमों के अनुसार दिया है. गाँधी परिवार से सवाल यह किया जा रहा है कि उन्होंने अपने फॅमिली ट्रस्ट राजीव गाँधी फाउंडेशन में चीन की सत्तारूढ़ कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी से चंदा क्यों लिया और वह भी उस समय जब उनकी केंद्र में सरकार थी? कांग्रेस पार्टी के नेताओं को जल्द से जल्द इन सवालों का जबाब देश की जनता को देना चाहिए. इधर उधर की बातों में देश की जनता अब उलझने वाली नहीं है.
चलते-चलते: कांग्रेस सरकार में जब मनमोहन सिंह प्रधान मंत्री और सोनिया गाँधी सुपर पीएम के रोल में थीं, उन दस सालों में राजीव गाँधी फाउंडेशन ने प्राइवेट सेक्टर की भी सैंकड़ों कंपनियों से चंदा लिया है. उन सभी कम्पनियों के नाम यहां देना संभव नहीं है लेकिन अगर सोनिया गाँधी जी का ट्रस्ट राजीव गाँधी फाउंडेशन, चीन से दान ले सकता है, सरकारी कंपनियों और बैंकों से दान ले सकता है और पी एम नेशनल रिलीफ फण्ड से भी दान ले सकता है तो प्राइवेट सेक्टर की कंपनियों से दान लेना तो इनके लिए एक बेहद मामूली बात ही कही जाएगी. देश की जनता खुद यह फैसला करे कि प्राइवेट सेक्टर की कंपनियां जिनमे से बहुत सारी कंपनियों में जनता का पैसा लगा हुआ है और वे स्टॉक एक्सचेंज पर लिस्टेड भी हैं, वे इस ट्रस्ट को दान देने पर मजबूर क्यों थीं.
(इस लेख में दी गयी सभी जानकारियां और आंकड़े राजीव गाँधी फाउंडेशन की वेबसाइट पर उपलब्ध पिछले दस सालों की Balance Sheets और Annual Reports से लिए गए हैं)
In late 2002, there was a national debate on the anti-conversion law after the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo, the late Jayalalitha passed this law in Tamil Nadu Assembly on 31 October 2002. After this, the then BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu said that the BJP fully supported this law, and that it would pass this in BJP-ruled states. Later Gujarat passed this law on 26 March 2003. Few other BJP-ruled states passed it later, though there are still BJP Governments which have not passed this law, eg Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Assam etc where it needs to be passed as soon as possible.
At that time, NDTV had a collaboration with Star News, and The Big Fight was a popular program broadcast on it, then anchored by Rajdeep Sardesai (later by Vikram Chandra from 2005 onwards after Rajdeep left NDTV). In late 2002, this anti-conversion law was the topic of debate with the late B P Singhal (1932-2012) of the BJP, Father Dominic Emmanuel, spokesman, Delhi Archdiocese and Jayanti Natarajan of the Congress. It is not clear to this writer unfortunately if she was the Congress spokesperson then, though she definitely became 2003 onwards. An article of The Times of India says that she was made Congress spokesperson after the Tamil Manila Congress merged with the Congress in 2002. This merger happened on 14 August 2002, so it is quite possible that by the time of November 2002 she would have been the official spokesperson, but it is not clear.
In that debate Jayanti Natarajan said the following: 1- “Who says Vedas are the source book of Hindus, the Vedas are not”; 2- “Scheduled Castes are not Hindus”; 3- “the Dalits are not Hindus”; 4- “if Hinduism is not a proselytising religion then how did South East Asia become Hindu – how do you explain Shaivite kingdoms in southern India”; 5- “Sage Agastya proselytised southern India into Hinduism”; 6- “the right to propagate religion under Article 25 of the Constitution includes the right to convert”; 7- “the Supreme Court 1977 decision on conversion ban will hopefully be heard by another bench in future and altered”.
Tahir Mahmoud’s article “Are All Tribals Hindus” in The Hindustan Times, dated 28 January 1999 said:
“The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 said in so many words that a non-Hindu could never be a Scheduled Caste (even if belonging to a particular caste included in the official list of Scheduled Castes). By an amendment introduced in 1956, it was provided that only a Hindu or Sikh could be a Scheduled Caste. The Scheduled Caste law is, thus, clearly religion-based and its religious basis has generated abundant caste laws. The Supreme Court has held that a Scheduled Caste Hindu on ceasing to be a Hindu also ceases to be a Scheduled Caste and, should he ever reconvert to Hinduism, he will also regain forthwith the Scheduled Caste status.”
But in her most stunning feat Mrs Natarajan held that the right to propagate one’s religion under Article 25 includes the right to convert. She outdid even Father Dominic Emmanuel in her zeal to advocate conversions. While Father Dominic appeared apologetic on the issue of conversions, she appeared proactive. She was also of the view that conversion ban existing in certain states like Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa (which continued under Congress Governments later, and the Congress Government of Himachal Pradesh itself passed such a law in 2007 under Virbhadra Singh) should be rethought and rescinded by future governments.
Jayanti Natarajan doesn’t count Scheduled Castes and Dalits amongst Hindus. The reason being that they are not admitted into temples at many places. Is it not a paradox that she simultaneously attacks Hinduism as a caste-ridden religion in a pejorative sense? Why should Hindus suffer being maligned as caste-ridden if she has already discounted “Scheduled Castes” and “Dalits” as non- Hindus? You can’t have the cake and eat it too. Let us state here that there are many Mosques and Churches too which do not admit all Muslims and Christians. Catholic and Protestant Churches are very often totally separate, there are more than 80 castes in Islam in India at least, including the untouchable caste of Arzal, mentioned by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, and there are 33,820 denominations in Christianity as per Vatican Year 2000 book’s own admission, and ‘Dalit’ Christians are discriminated in India, too. Just see 3 reports-this, this and this. Sitting in glass houses, let no one throw stones at Hindu community.
These statements of Jayanti Natarajan result in fragmentization of the Hindu society- separating Dalits from Hindus. Her open advocacy of conversions (which are almost always one-sided, mostly from Hinduism to other religions) results in quicker destruction of Hindus.
At that time, the then BJP spokesman and MP and intellectual, Balbir Punj wrote all the above things in “An open letter to Sonia Gandhi” published in The Asian Age on 10 December 2002. He asked Sonia Gandhi for the Congress’ exact position on the views of Jayanti Natarajan. She was definitely a Congress leader in that debate, having joined the Congress in August 2002. That full article of Balbir Punj can be read here.
In February 2003, as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Ajit Jogi openly said that “Tribals are not Hindus” and that any religion they embrace is their first, and thus implied that it is not ‘conversion’ if they embrace Christianity.
As expected, there was no clarification from Sonia Gandhi on any of these issues. Till date, the Congress has not clarified its position on these statements of Jayanti Natarajan and Ajit Jogi. All these facts need to be remembered, and reminded to the Congress, when the Congress tries to show its Hindu credentials, e.g. when Rahul Gandhi visits temples before elections.
In this post, we shall talk about the real reminiscences of love, which have been to a large extent, forgotten by us, and at times, some were on the verge of getting destroyed.
Ram – Setu – We all know about the love of our Lord Rama for Sita Ji. Ram-Setu is a living legend of that. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ram-Setu is 48 kms long. Reports from HT, Deccan Chronicle, Business Standard confirm that the bridge is man-made and as old as 18,400 years. The timelines sync with what has already been mentioned in our epics. But just a few years ago, in 2007, it was on the verge of getting destroyed. A project named Setusamudram. The DMK under the leadership of Karunanidhi (a hard core Hindu hater) got the Central’s approval to built a huge ship yard in the Ram Setu region saying it will shorten the distance for ships. And at the last moment, it was saved by Mr. Subramanian Swamy.
The day when at Last Minute Dr @Swamy39 Saved RAM SETHU from Demolition.
This 1000s year old heritage of ours would have been blasted, except for this order obtained by Dr Swamy. pic.twitter.com/AoO2i7ASGj
2. Rani-ki-Vav, Patan, Gujarat – It is an exemplary beautiful step-well located on the banks of Saraswati river in Patan, Gujarat, and is listed as a UNESCO’s world heritage sites since 2014. It was built in the memory of King Bhima I (r. c. 1022 – 1064) by his queen Rani Udayamati, daughter of Khengara of Saurashtra and queen of the 11th-century Chalukya dynasty.
Image courtesy: Wikipedia
The beautiful Rani Ki Vav (Queen's stepwell) at Patan, Gujarat.
Built by Gujarati Queen Udayamati of Chalukya Dynasty (11th century).
It was constructed as an inverted temple housing the waters of Sarasvati.
3. Virupaksha Temple, Pattadakal, Karnataka – As per Indian govt archives, this temple was built by Queen Lokamahadevi during 7th-8th Centuries. The temple was built by the queen to commemorate the victory of her husband King Vikramaditya II over the Pallava rulers.
The basis of river or basin interlinking projects was initially conceptualized by Mahakavi Subramania Bharathiyar, 100 years earlier but the government has started in this 21st century. The per capita annual water availability has declined from 5,177 cubic meter in 1951 to 1,508 cubic metre in 2014 and is expected to decrease further to 1,465 cubic meter by 2025 and 1,235 cubic meter by 2050. India would be declared water stressed country if per capita water availability decreases to 1000-1,100 cubic meter as per the report submitted by Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR). With growing population, decreasing underground resources and deforestation there is a need for water conservation and water diversion from areas of excess to areas of needy.
Andhra pradesh stood as “Rice bowl of India” because of great irrigation projects constructed 120 years back by Sir. Arthur cotton Prakasam Barrage, the Dowleswaram Barrage (Dhavaleshvaram Dam) and the Kurnool Cuddappah Canal (K. C. Canal) which irrigated lakhs of acres of land. Polavaram project is supposed to solve most of the water problems of not only to Godavari districts but by interlinking even Rayalaseema districts and Visakhapatnam.
As part of need of river interlinking projects, the plan is to divert excess water from Godavari basin to Krishna basin which is a water deficit zone. Yearly 3000 TMC of water from Godavari river is let into Bay of Bengal as per estimates of 2017. As per Inter state agreement between Maharashtra, Madhya pradesh (Chhattisgarh), Orissa and Bachawat tribunal agreement 80 TMC of Godavari water can be diverted to Krishna river. Andhra Pradesh government by Pattiseema Lift irrigation system 24 pumps were installed to pump 8,500 cusecs of water and pipelines laid for 54 kms connecting to the right main canal of polavaram with an estimated cost of 1300 crore and was completed in 1 year.
Pothireddy padu head regulator, Handri Neeva lift from Srisailam reservoir will deliver water to rayalaseema districts. Pattiseema Lift would not become redundant even after the Polavaram Project is completed as it would be used during the dry season (December to June months) when the Polavaram right canal is unable to receive water by gravity due to fall in the Polavaram reservoir level below its full canal supply level of 41.15 metres (135 ft) (mean sea level)MSL. The dead storage (nearly 119 {thousand million cubic feet} tmcft below the 41.15 MSL) out of the 194 tmcft gross storage of the Polavaram reservoir would be released to the down stream Godavari river and transferred to the Prakasam barrage by the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation. It would further enable to supply additional Krishna water to the Rayalaseema region by eliminating water support to the Krishna barrage throughout the monsoon year.
Godavari has the highest flood water 36 lakh cusecs/year higher than Ganga river 25 lakh cusecs /year. Though world bank is against major and medium irrigation projects in 1997, the advantages of this huge project are: 1.Barrages will be useful only for limited storage capacity when flow is good 2.A barrage may not be full in non-monsoon periods for irrigation during Rabi season 3. Small barrages may not help for supply water for drinking purposes, supply to distant cities, interlink rivers, hydroelectric power generation .
History of Polavaram: Polovaram a multipurpose project was first proposed by Diwan bahadur L. Venkatakrishna Iyer who was a chief engineer of irrigation department. He proposed full reservoir level (FRL)of 150 feet with hydroelectric project of 40 MW and with an estimated cost of 6.4 crores. He further modified it and proposed FRL of +170 feet and storage capacity of 300TMC in 1942 with a hydroelectric capacity of 75 MW. The project was named as ramapada sagar project as the waters are supposed to touch feet of lord seetharamaswamy at Badrachalam. The plan was to build the Ramaprasad sagar in last hills of eastern ghats before it drains into plains. The total cost of the project was Rs. 129 crore. With the objection from the neighbouring states on the height of the dam, it was decided that the dam height be restricted to FLR of + 150 feet. Andhra pradesh , Madhya Pradesh (Present Chhattisgarh) and Orissa signed an agreement on this in April, 1980 and its been filed with centre water commission (CWC). The salient features of the agreement as a part of recommendations of Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) are:
a. to maintain the dam height of 150 feet b. to pay compensation for the submerged areas c. to protect areas above 150 feet in other stated by building embankments or by paying compensation d. Spillway discharging capacity of 36 lakh cusecs at pond level height of 140 feet and not less than 20 lakh cusecs at pond level of 130 feet.
A Detailed project report (DPR) was submitted in 1987 and was later updated in 2000. Due to lack of funds the project didn’t come to start till 2004 until Dr. Y.S Rakasekhar reddy decided to pickup this mammoth project under “Jala Yagnam” and was named as “Indira Sagar” Polavaram project with a budget proposal of Rs. 8,261 crores. Without taking proper clearances from centre, foundation stone was laid for right main canal which was later stopped.
Site clearance was taken on September 19,2005. Environment clearance by public hearing taken at 5 places by Andhra Pradesh pollution control board and approval obtained on October 25, 2005. As DPR was already provided , CWC approval was obtained on September 28, 2005. Forest clearance, clearance from ministry of tribal affairs, clearance from central wildlife board and technical advisory committee clearance were taken. The projected cost at the time 2005-2006 was 10151.04 crores. Investment clearance was accorded by Planning Commission vide their letter No. 2(168)/2004-WR dated 25 Feb. 2009. The revised Cost Estimate of Polavaram Project was examined and finalized by CWC for revised cost Rs. 16010.45 crore in 2010-11.
The work on the project began in April 2006 and was expected to be completed by February 2007. After completion of 30% work on excavation of the canals ,15% of the spillway works and 1.78% of Earth cum fill dam (ECRF) , the work was halted in May 2006 to seek clearance from the Ministry of Forests and Environment. There was a case filed by government of Orissa in 2007 and government of Chhattisgarh in 2011 against clearance given by various central agencies. There was a committee appointed by supreme court under Mr. M.Gopalakrishnan who along with members of CWC visitied the polavaram and gave the report suggesting the project is within the tune of approved project and GWDT provisions.
The work stopped again in February, 2011 when the Ministry of environment and Forest has asked to stopped the work as government has not conducted the prerequisite of carrying public hearings in Orissa and Chhattisgarh. The MOEF further cleared giving 6 months period to complete this in April 2013. In 2014, after AP bifurcation under AP reorganisation act it was considered as national project. On May, 2014, the cabinet cleared the proposal to set up Polavaram Project Authority and May, 2014 an ordinance passed to merge the submerged 7 Mandals of Khammam district into Andhra pradesh state). Polavaram, which is estimated to cost Rs 58,000 crore, was declared a national project in 2016 (Fig. 1 and 2).
The Final Project: The final project details are the project that needs to be constructed near Ramayyapet village of Polavaram mandal. It will provide irrigation of additional 2.91 lakh hectares and a hydropower capacity of 960 MW. The right canal will carry 23.44 TMC water for drinking and industrial supply of Visakhapatnam including the steel plant and the left canal carries 80 TMC waters to river krishna. In additional a total of 540 villages will be provided with drinking facilities. Indirasagar polavaram project was renamed as polavaram irrigation project by a government ordinance in July, 2015. (Fig. 3 ) It has following components:
1. Dam: Earth cum rock fill dam 2.Spillway: 54 gates 3. Hydroelectric power house 4. Left main canal of length 181.50 Kms and right main canal of length 174 kms 5. Availability of water in TMC: 301.38 TMC 5. Storage capacity :194.6 TMC
Controversies:
Displacement of People: Researchers Tony Stewart and V Rukmini Rao, expected with this project around 4 lakh people can be displaced. The environment impact assessment of the project proposed 276 villages and 1,77,275 will be displaced. But if the increased population is taken into account and the people displaced along the canals take into account it comes to around 4,00,000. Tribals constitute around 50 % of the population and they come under 6th schedule of constitution requiring a presidential clearance which was not taken initially before the start of the project .
Other submerged sites: It also deposits many archaeological sites, coal deposits, Papikonda national park and farm lands. Environmental clearance was obtained after a promise of Rs. 4,500 crore forest management plan and rehabilitation and resettlement covering 59,756 hectares lost under the project . 3.Can It increase irrigation proposed areas :.Of the proposed 7.2 lakh acres which are supposed to be additionally be cultivated but 4 lakh acres of land under the left canal is already supplied by Tadipudi and Pushkaram lift irrigation systems. Also government of India proposed that 71% of right canal command areas are already under irrigation since 1999. Hence the overall , polavaram project may irrigate an additional land of 80,937 Hectares only. 4.Flood threat: The initial approval of the design of Andhra Pradesh stood as “Rice bowl of India” because of great irrigation projects constructed 120 years back by Sir. Arthur cotton Prakasam Barrage, the Dowleswaram Barrage (Dhavaleshvaram Dam) and the Kurnool Cuddappah Canal (K. C. Canal) which irrigated lakh of acres of land. Polavaram project is supposed to solve most of the water problems not only to Godavari districts but by interlinking even Rayalaseema districts and Vizakhapatnam. Polavaram project is based on the details of 1980 and updated on 2005. As per this the probable maximum flood(PMF) was estimated at 1,02,000cumecs and spillway was designed to withhold this flow only. But a recent flood in 2006, which submerged 371 villages showed a PMF of 1,42,000 cumecs. The CWC has changed the dam design for an estimate of 1,42,000 cumecs but not assessed properly for the backwater damage affecting predominantly Malkangiri in Orissa. 5.Divisive politics: Change in name of the project and cancellation of tenders allotted by previous government when the government changes has become quite often. 6.Rehabitilation and resettlement: Of 371 inhabitants to be disturbed( West Godavari 137, East Godavari 234), 1,05,601 families (West Godavari-34,672; East Godavari 70,929) need help. But only 3,922 families were rehabilitated till now. Of the required 1,66,423.27 acres to be collected 1,10,823.92 acres have been done. For land pooling , and R and R Rs. 6,371.74 crore have been spent and a budget of 26,796.66 crore was estimated initially.
Cancellation of tenders: Initially the tender for construction of earth cum rock fill dam was given to Transtroy company in 2013. Transtroy gave subcontracts to Bauer- L and T geo company for the diaphragm wall and Keller company for coffer dam foundation. Later in 2014 Telugu desam party came to power and the Transtroy continued to work . Being unhappy with the works of Transtroy the TDP government by LC- open method handed over the contract of Spill way, spill channel and ECRF dam to Navayuga company on nomination basis on Feb 17, 2018. Later the YSRCP government came to power and it cancelled the contract with Navayuga company in July 2019 and they filed a case leading to the delay in works . The state government also cancelled Rs.3,217 crore tender awarded to Navayuga engineering for hydel power project on September 4, 2019. This led to stoppage of works for a period of 3 months till November, 2019 where the work has started.
Utilization certificates of the money spent was not yet submitted by the government to the centre. Of the Rs. 5,130 crore spent after declaring it as national project , the state had submitted audit reports for only Rs.3000 crore. (Fig.4). Its time for the government to leave all indifferences between various political parties, focus on the fast completion of polavaram, settle the R and R of the people affected and dedicate it to the people of Andhra pradesh which serves in drinking, agriculture, industrial and power generation.
India achieved independence on august 15,1947 or the date when real India was partitioned into three parts -one became that angry insecure grumpy child who always just want to harm the elder, if someone will inquire why? they probably wouldn’t have any answer other than the religion and the other part well it was demanded for the strategic cause but it became the Achilles heel for the grumpy child.
Nonetheless, the thing which remained the same in both the newly acquired territories was the onslaught on Hindu traditions as a culture, Hinduism as a religion and Hindus as an ethnic race. The whole partition happened because some people located at Lucknow thought that Muslims won’t be able to live a life peacefully along with Hindus yet after 70 years it’s the opposite race that is being persecuted just for being themselves. Ironic isn’t it?
Though this article is not about the history lesson, we will cover that sometime later, today let’s come on hard facts- Name a country across the whole world where a terrorist attack happens and by co-incidence one of the terrorist is nabbed alive but after days of him getting arrested the oldest political party and the ruling party of the nation along with a film maker whose own son by twist of fate was involved in the attack do a press conference for a book launch and openly states that the terrorist attack was pre-planned by an organization [which depicts itself as the custodian of Hinduism],CIA and the Moss-ad together. Thereby came the title of “Hindu Terrorism”, though the traces of it in the past and the present are next to zero.
The country was India, attack was 26/11, organization was RSS and film maker was Mahesh Bhatt. Yes the same man who became a prophet by knowing that Sushant sir may commit suicide but didn’t knew that his son was getting in touch with David Headley aka Daood Sayed Gilani
Mahesh Bhatt, keeping a deliberate Hindu name abusing Hinduism
Imagine there exists a country, from it’s length to breadth, it’s immediate neighbors to it’s far flung neighbors all are following some sort of the same culture, they knew the folklore, they have the relevance’s and the historical proof but your nation from where it all sprang up, your nation’s ruling party states in the supreme court that there is actually no historical proof of all of this even though the archaeology, tradition ,literature endorses the exact opposite view.
The country was India which is known as “Bharat” as per article 1 of the Indian constitution, party was INC, year was 2007 and the statement was “there is no historical relevance of Rama”.
Now imagine the stigma when Rahul Gandhi had to wear the janeu and you thought only Modi ji is a Hindu, no wonder you are a Bhakt.
Remember in 2016 when a horse died at a BJP rally and whole media got berserk, even the commie-dian cried though it’s another fact that cow does not come under the banner of “being an Animal”, curious how I know this intricate detail? read below.
An animal which is revered by a community is openly butchered, dishes being made and served, even jibes are taken on how a whole community is bad just because it drinks the urine of an animal. Popular reporters, directors, influencers and some actors had taken the same jibes, though it’s an entirely different twist that all these jibes are similarly taken by most of the terrorists that had the pure hatred against a race.
The animal is Cow, festival happened in the Kerala and the Pulwama terrorist that had blew himself had taken the same jibes which today most intellectuals make “filthy cow worshiping race“.
In every religion there are certain identities, some practices that are practiced. A thread which is used by a community is wrapped around pigs and festival is made out of it. The thread was Janaeu [A sacred thread wore by Brahmans] and the state was Tamil Nadu.
Isn’t it downright comical that a whole ethnic race was artificially made extincted from a place where they reside just because they were Hindus, a cop was lynched because he just had a name tag of “PANDITH”, sadhus were lynched well because they were sadhus, a guru/mystic is mocked by a commie-dian on a case which was settled by the court of law, a lieutenant colonel was put behind bars without trial but a filmmaker wants the Hindus to kneel down because of the atrocities. Slow claps. Now, I leave the conclusion to you, is the danger real enough or just a fiction made by people who are popularly trolled as Bhakt
On 28th June 2020, we are nearly half way through year 2020. Within 6 months of the first reported case of WUHAN Virus which eventually got renamed to COVID-19, we have crossed two unfortunate milestones of 10 million cases and 0.5 million deaths worldwide today. As entire world struggles to control the pandemic and recover economic losses from it. Let us look at where China, the country of origin of virus, stands today and how true the numbers are.
As per worldometers.info data, till 28th June 2020, China has reported total of 83,500 cases. It ranks 22nd in number of cases. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the only non-democratic countries above China. Does it mean that, democracy is the reason that governments couldn’t control the spread of virus? OR Democracy is the reason every country having more cases than China and others reported real numbers? Well, given the poor record of press freedom in China, the later argument for other countries appears true. The numbers coming from China have been questioned globally. In fact, if it was not for the 2 monarchies in the middle east, the Communist Party of China (CPC) propaganda news agencies across the world would be running propaganda articles explaining why Democracy is a threat to the world.
The numbers appear even more dodgy when we compare the data per million. At 58 per million, China ranks 151st in the world for cases/million, and at 3 per million, China is 143rd in the world for death/million. Remember, we are talking about worlds most populated country and a country where the virus has originated. In normal circumstances, the country that takes first blow to any unfortunate event is likely to suffer the most. With of 1.4 billion plus people the numbers for China appear very unrealistic. There are 2 possible scenarios from these highly questionable numbers coming from China. These scenarios are not mutually exclusive. There is a possibility of both scenarios to be true at the same time.
Scenario 1: China has not reported correct numbers for cases and deaths for virus
One cannot deny this observation, given the recent lousy attempts made by CPC mouthpiece global times, to cover up the deaths of their soldiers near China India border. Transparency in information sharing is virtually a one traffic for China regime. You are required to share much more information than required to use Chinese APPs and software, but when we try to access any information from China, The Great Cyber Wall of China stands in the middle. Remember how China successfully hid the thousands of deaths from 1975 Banqiao Dam Failure for 15 years only to be revealed partially in a book written by the then minister of waters of China in 1990 and declassifying it completely in 2005. We shouldn’t be surprised if 10 years from now one day, China suddenly reports millions of death in 2020 because of COVID19
Scenario 2: China is prepared well in advance with a vaccine to combat the spread of virus and waiting for right opportunity to go public with it
This is least possible and riskier scenario, because one can argue that even China has lost around 4000 people because of virus. And if this scenario turns out to be true in near future, China might face even stronger backlash from across the globe stating that it could have saved thousands of lives if it had released the vaccine in time. But we cannot deny it. The deaths in China looked huge until March and April. But as the virus started spreading across the world, today it has fallen from number 1 spot in January to number 143 for deaths/million. So, their countrymen would be satisfied with the regime in doing relatively lesser overall damage to the population. And with their propaganda websites in other countries, China has the ability to change the narrative from “China the virus spreader” to “China the savior”. The right opportunity that we are talking about is now. Only time will tell if China has that vaccine or not.
Now let us assume that China’s combat against COVID19 is really a success story as the number suggests. That China has actually emerged successful in containing the virus. The only way this can happen is through draconian military lockdown, which even China is not denying. But how can we believe that the side effects of such lockdown are 0. How come there is no chaos from mass migration like India? How come the deaths from police brutality are 0? Can the population of 1.4 billion be so disciplined that all guidelines are followed nearly 100%? Again, sounds very unreal to be true. And if it is true, then China is literally living under dictatorship.
To prove more that the success story of China is not as good as it looks, let us look at what happened after the unfortunate Galwan Valley incident where both the countries lost their armed forces. Immediately after the incident, the twitter handle of Global Times, one of the many platforms used to spread CPCs propaganda everywhere except China (ironically twitter is banned in China) was at its peak uploading videos with the People Liberation Army’s (PLA) capability to perform some standard military maneuvers. These maneuvers are not at all impressive and far from being called as extraordinary. Only childish regime would run these kinds of videos on their websites. But the real question is, why the same propaganda handles are not publishing videos that showcases its success in combating virus. Is CPC mouth piece so foolish to think that assembling a gun in blindfolded, moving tanks in mountains is more difficult then controlling a virus spread in your country? China claims to have performed 90 million tests. If we believe it to be true, this is 3 times more than United States, the country with second largest number of tests. Why is taking so long for China to share its ability(if any) to perform so many tests with rest of the world? How can a country dream of becoming superpower when it cannot share its success story to rest of the world that would save lives? Sounds shoddy. Isn’t it? To conclude, we must not forget that, the COVID19 virus is here to stay for longer time. It doesn’t distinguish in colour, race, religion, nationality, orientation, gender. The world has suffered huge loss because of the virus. The common Chinese population in China and overseas has also suffered a lot from this virus. However recent handling of COVID19 spread by the CPC proves that the biological war threat from the closed doors regimes like China are more lethal than conventional warfare. We should continue to ask tough questions to the China’s CCP regime. The countries of world should come together to draft a strong framework that is independent of the governments and that will help to identify on the root cause of such catastrophes much faster in future.
Covid 19 is a challenge which no one had envisaged except one man- BILL GATES.I remember watching his five year old TED talk a year ago where he highlighted the upcoming challenges which were not about economy or employment but were about the “invisible enemies”- diseases and environmental problems. He realised the need to upgrade our health infrastructure five years ago.
India too realised it, when other countries were underestimating COVID, WHO had a vague idea about the Chinese virus and others were busy campaigning thoughts like “hug a Chinese”. India was vigilant, we recognised the Chinese virus as a global threat. Since December our swashbuckling teams of pilots were busy evacuating Indians from global epicentres. We imported 1000s of testing kits from other countries and when the invisible enemy reached our doorsteps, we decided not to step out. Our health infrastructure was initially inefficient but thanks to our medical staff they ensured that India stands tall in defeating COVID-19.
Our health workers in true spirit made an “Avsar” from an “Aapda”. We still strong stand in combating the Chinese virus as our recovery rate stands at 50%.But this story had a dark side too: Industries were shutting down, imports were difficult, migrant workers were on roads and testing rates was low.
But we Indians are best when it comes to grabbing opportunities. Our textile industry showed up in these difficult times, they all geared up to produce masks and PPEs.This generated jobs and supported poor families to a great extent.
Let me give one more example of “AatmaNirbharBharat”which will surprise you all. In the month of April, we were running out of sanitizers due to several restrictions on imports. Our tribal sisters from Chhattisgarh became our shield! They are daily producing Sanitizers from mahua flowers. This is an open testimony to the fact that women of this country are already empowered! Not just that their conviction inspires the whole family and in this case the whole nation!
Our cultural values and family structures were our other pillars. We witnessed the west slipping into psychological problems due to loneliness but as most of us live in joined families, passing our time was no big deal for us. Also our penchant for helping people made sure that no one goes to sleep with an empty stomach.
These people- our COVID heroes made supreme sacrifice as some of them even lost their lives and we should be forever grateful to them. Our brothers and sisters in textile field, medical field and others working in this pandemic supported our economy.In post covid world our economy will flourish even more as there will be a shift of capital from China to India .We are all to set to rise like a phoenix and lead the world with all the sanguineness inside us.The only thing we as consumers, as responsible citizens can do is to support our locals,our MSMEs (micro,small and medium enterprises) by going vocal for the local and make a BALWAN BHARAT.
यदि अब तक के सबसे घातक हथियारों और उसके अमानवीय प्रभावों को याद करें तो एक भयानक चित्र सदैव आँखों के समने आता है, हिरोशिमा पर गिरा परमाणु हथियार। और उससे भी घातक परमाणु हथियार बनने की होड़। आज हमारी पृथ्वी पर इतने परमाणु हथियार अलग-अलग देशों के पास है जो कि एक पृथ्वी क्या अनेक ग्रहों को नष्ट करने की क्षमता रखते है और इसी कारण आतंकवादी संगठन उसे पाने के सभी प्रयास करते है। परमाणु हथियारो का खतरा इतना अधिक है कि कुछ संदिग्ध देशों और संगठनों पर कड़ी निगरानी रखी जाती है जैसे, पाकिस्तान, ईरान, उत्तर कोरिया, आदि।
जैविक-रासायनिक हथियार है परमाणु से भी खतरनाक
कई महीने कोरोना वायरस से जूझते हुए बीते है और विश्व का कोइ भी देश इससे नहीं बच सका। आश्चर्य की बात है कि कोइ नहीं जानता कि ये वायरस आया कहाँ से और इसका इलाज क्या है, जब तक ये पता चलेगा तब तक कई जानें जा चुकी होगीं। इस वायरस ने दुनिया के सभी देशों के नागरिकों की हत्या की और उनके आर्थिक ढांचे की कमर तोड़ कर रख दी।
कुछ लेखों के अनुमान मानें तो विश्व का कुल नुकसान 8 हज़ार खरब तक है, प्रमाणित रूप से 5 लाख लोग मारे जा चुके है और व्यापार के सामान्य होने के कोइ आसार नहीं, ऊपर से चिकित्सा का भार भी कन्धों पर है। जिन देशों की अर्थव्यवस्था पर्यटन से है, उसका हाल सबसे बुरा है। साधन की कमी में देश पहले अपने देश वासियों का ध्यान रख रहे है जिससे चिकित्सा आयात पर निर्भर देशों को बहुत नुकसान हुआ। चीन द्वारा बनाये खराब किट भी बिके, आनन्-फ़ानन में निर्माण इकाईयों को PPE किट, वेंटिलेटर और सेनीटाइज़र बनाने मे लगाना पड़ा।
यह नुकसान किसी परमाणु हथियार के नुकसान से कम नहीं है, हिरोशिमा में भी इतने लोगों की मृत्यु नहीं हुइ थी। कोरोना के इस प्रभाव को देख कर यह सामान्य सा अन्दाज़ा लगाया जा सकता है कि अब देशों को जैविक हथियारों से बचने की तैयारी कर लेनी चाहिये।
तनिक सोचिये, बिना किसी को पता चले, बिना किसी मिसाइल तकनीक के, बिना किसी शारीरिक कठिनाई के, इस वायरस ने पूरी दुनिया को घुटने के बल ला दिया। जहाँ आतंकवादी संगठन करोड़ों-अरबों का निवेश करके परमाणु हथियार बनाने की कोशिश में रहते है वहीं इस वायरस ने व्यक्ति के शरीर को ही मिसाइल की तरह प्रयोग किया और दुनिया को शोक सभा बना दिया। दानवीय मानसिकता वाला व्यक्ति, संगठन या देश ऐसे हथियरों की खोज में रहता है।
PM मोदी: “आपदा में अवसर”
मित्रों, हमारे समक्ष आयी इस चुनौती ने आपदा प्रबन्धन के बारे में हमें बहुत कुछ सिखा दिया है। किन संसाधनों की कमी होगी, आम जनता किस तरह प्रतिक्रिया करेगी, सरकार और जनता मिल कर कैसे देश को चला सकते है, कौन से संगठन सहयोग करेगें और कौन से संगठन रायता फ़ैला सकते है, किन व्यापरों को बचाना है, आयात कहाँ कम करना है, आदि।
इस आपदा में अर्जित किये गये ज्ञान को हम भविष्य के आने वाले संकटों से लड़ने के लिये इस्तेमाल कर सकते है, चाहे वो आतन्कियों का हो या किसी संदिग्ध देशों का कुप्रयास। यह ज्ञान सिर्फ़ सरकार को ही नहीं, उससे कहीं अधिक जनता को भी आने वाले किसी भी संकट से निपटने में समर्थ बना देगा। उसके लिये हमें अपने इस अनुभव को आलेख करना होगा, एक ठोस रणनीति बनानी होगी क्युंकि अब जैविक-रासायनिक हथियारों का खतरा बड़ गया है हमें हर आशन्का को ध्यान में रखकर, तीव्र कारवाई करने के लिये कार्य योजना विकसित करनी होगी जो हमें जैविक-रासायनिक ही नहीं, आने वाली हर आपदा में न्यूनतम क्षति और त्वरित सामान्यता को पुनरजीवित करने में सहयोग करे।
विषम परिस्थिति में भी साहस देने वाली, श्री अटल बिहारी वाचपयी जी की यह कविता हम सभी की मन में होनी चाहिये,
हार नहीं मानूँगा, रार नहीं ठानूँगा, काल के कपाल पर लिखता मिटाता हूँ। गीत नया गाता हूँ।
Whenever we talk of the epitome of love, Taj Mahal comes to one’s mind immediately. In fact the monument has become the face of Indian tourism on world map. Any foreign tourist coming to visit India has Taj Mahal in his/her visit list without exception. Before we go to much grander souvenirs of love India has in the next blog post, let’s see whether it is justified to call the Taj Mahal, a monument of love.
Taj Mahal was about everything but love. Let’s start with basic wikipedia search. Wikipedia page on Mumtaz Mahal mentions that even though it was a love affair between Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, during the intervening period of engagement (when she was 14) and marriage (at 19) Shah Jahan had married his first wife, Princess Kandahari Begum in 1609 and in 1617, after marrying Mumtaz, took a third wife, Izz-un-Nissa Begum. Shah Jahan used to follow the insecure Mughal tradition of not leaving their wives alone even during war campaigns. They had fourteen children together (eight sons and six daughters), seven of whom died at birth or at a very young age. Mumtaz Mahal died from while giving birth to her fourteenth child after a 30 hour prolonged labor. Much has been told and heard about the above facts.
Now, coming to the monument, let’s see some of the facts our friend True Indology @TIinExile has for us:
This letter from East India Company(VOC) says 74 Lakh people died in famine caused by Mughal invasion and destruction of crops in Gujarat, Malwa, Deccan(1630-32).
When India was facing one of its biggest famines, Shah Jahan began making Taj Mahal in the same year at 4.18 crores pic.twitter.com/lHvYTAASfp
1632. The year Shahjahan built Taj Mahal. The same year he ordered for destruction of all Hindu Temples.
One Rajput decided to fight back.Hid himself in bushes, pounced on Mughal army and killed a few. He was hunted down and his body hanged upside down from a tree #ThanksMughalspic.twitter.com/1DTIQnJAvA
The major take aways from the very detailed above post:
“What was the cost of building Taj Mahal?”- “7.4 million deaths”.
The monetary cost of building Taj Mahal, was 41.8 million (4.18 crore) rupees in 1631. Those days, the average income of a single family of peasants was approximately equal to One Dam per day. A Dam was a copper coin and 40 Dams was equal to a single rupee(1). A single rupee fetched 280 kilograms of rice.
Shah Jahan brought one of the deadliest famine in the world history in 1631 upon the country by invading and completely ravaging Malwa and Deccan to reassert his authority. The soul shuddering details of the famine can be found in the embedded FB post.
So let’s think about it once more.
Is this the kind of love we want to promise to our near and dear ones?
