HOME | ABOUT US | Speaker | Americans Together | Videos | www.CenterforPluralism.com | Please note that the blog posts include my own articles plus selected articles critical to India's cohesive functioning. My articles are exclusively published at www.TheGhouseDiary.com You can send an email to: MikeGhouseforIndia@gmail.com


Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Poet translates Gita into Urdu couplets

The work was done in 1935 and the book has been avaialble

Poet translates Gita into Urdu couplets

Noted Urdu poet Anwar Jalalpuri, who has translated the Shrimad Bhagwad Gita into over 1,700 Urdu couplets, says the sacred scripture is the biggest literature on worldly education in the country.
Urdu Shayari mein Gita was released by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav recently. The book not only translates ‘shlokas’ (verses) in chaste Urdu ‘shers’ (couplets) but also comes across as an effort to recapture the essence of the sacred text. — PTI

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net 

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

10 Indians With The Most Unfortunate Names

OMG, I am still laughing... its unfortunate that parents give odd names - may be it is a good name in one language but it is really bad in other languages. I have always wondered about such names... of course what is in a name!

Enjoy and if you know other names, write in the comments section below.



URL - http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/06/10-indians-with-most-unfortunate-names.html

10 Indians With The Most Unfortunate Names
Courtesy Daily Moss


Some Indian parents always want their kids to be incredibly different from others, so they try to give the kids unique names. But, it turns out that many of them are not too creative. Mind it, choosing a right baby name is always tough!

One of the worst things about having a funny name is that you can’t change it, and you are going to live with the ‘odd name’ for your whole life. Sometimes, your name is too embarrassing that you don’t even want to introduce it to others, and you feel humiliated everytime when your friends call your ‘name’.  And some of your evil friends will literally mock you. You can’t blame your parents too, they had given unique names because they loved you, and there is always a reason.

Lucky people out there, here are some of the most funniest Indian names that will make you say ‘thanks parents’. Tiger Shroff, yours is very unfortunate too.

1. His father knew it but he didn’t care much about history.

This guy said he never had problems getting a visa, but had been interrogated by immigration staff many times. Adolf Lu Hitler Marak once said he is a different guy because of his name.
AdolfLuHitler

2. Imagine that awkward feeling he must be having everytime he remembers his surname.

FunnyIndianname

3. Napoleon + Einstein = genius

NapoleanEinstein

4. Some people landed up in controversy for intentionally mispronouncing her name.

One political disadvantage of having a funny name.
Sheiladikshitmeme

5. No no…not our PM Modi. He is a surgeon.

ModiSarkar

6. Anu is a nice name but it doesn’t go well with ‘apostrophe’.

funnyname

7. Bihari…what? But, does it matter when you have over 32 years of working experience?

unfortunateindianname

8. So you think your life is too hard?funniestIndianname

9. And this

Veryunfortunatename

10. And finally, we come to know that our Bollywood star Jackie Shroff isn’t too creative in ‘naming babies’.

tigershroffname

Bonus

bank
What’s your lucky name? Now, tell us some of the funniest names you have ever heard of. There is a comment section below for you to entertain us.There was this Goan lady by the name of Rosemary who married Mr. Lele. She got so sick of introducing a herself as Rosemary Lele that she divorced and left. A year later she ended up marrying Mr. Marlow.

Huggendra Singh

Fuckruddin Randwalla.  |


Devendra macchar

Dilip Kamchor



Monday, June 16, 2014

Dilip Kumar's Autobiography released - Dallas edition


DILIP KUMAR IN DALLAS
http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/06/dilip-kumars-autobiography-released.html


Dilip Kumar is an Indian Phenomenon and is one of the three original icons of Indian cinema; they set the standards of acting in India. Indeed, he is the only living legend of India Cinema.

In the last 50 years, almost every major actor has taken pride in acting like Dilip Kumar - from Amitabh Bachhan to Rajendra Kumar and several in between.



His autobiography is released now, and in the synopsis, two things caught my eye.



The story he tells about his sister dressing down his barber for sitting in the drawing room, and Dilip apologizing to the Barber for the mistreatment and having words with his sister.

I see a whole lot more about this man here - humility for one, and treating people with dignity and respect and considering others on par. The age old saying, great men are humble beings is so true.

Some 20 years ago he was here in Dallas with AFMI - two things happened during his stay.

First he was booked in Richardson Omni Hotel, probably for proximity to the venue, it was not a five star hotel - Taj Bhai and I were assigned to take care of them, when we checked them in - Saira Banu went around checking the pillows... she was not happy with the room size and its furnishings and made it known, she was looking to be in a five star hotel. Indeed, once Lata Mangeshkar was placed in Lowes Anatole for precisely that reason, and a few others have done it too.  Amitabh Bacchan would have demanded the whole floor.

I was absorbing it all, and before we could do something about it, Dilip said to Saira - this program is for charity, the money saved is going to benefit the education of children, let's stay here.... Need I say more about his humility?

Second item involved Raj Sharma - a budding actor of Dallas. I was in charge of setting up meetings with Dilip including the media. So, Raj walks in as scheduled, touches Dilip's feet and sits down on the floor - a Indian tradition to show respect to the elders... within a few seconds Raj said to Dilip - that he is going to acting school and will be an actor soon... amazing thing happened then.! Dilip got up, gave a hand to Raj, pulled him up and asked him to sit face to face across on the other chair.... and said, "We are now on par".



There were a few more rich conversations in those 2 or three days with Dilip, and will write some other time. In the limo we spent nearly 4 hours on the road, and had some great conversations. Dilip and Saira were in Bangalore before they came here, that was a historic week in India - every where Milk was seen flowing from Ganesh and they had just seen that... then I had a conversation about Pluralism and some of the remarks he made, made me a greater fan of him. I was completely taken back receiving Saira Banu at the airport, she was the kashimir ki kali hoon may, mujh se na rootho babuji... and I saw the auntiji in Saira and wondered for a long time about our images of people years ago... and thought of Rip Van Winkle story.Mike Ghouse is an Indian American Public Speaker, thinker and a writer committed to offer pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. www.MikeGhouse.net

# # #

Why Dilip Kumar refused to work with Nargis in Mother India


Arindam Mukherjee  New Delhi, June 16, 2014 | UPDATED 19:36 IST

Film actor Dilip Kumar's autobiography is a delight for lovers of Hindi cinema. Titled 'Dilip Kumar: The Substance And The Shadow', and narrated by veteran journalist and writer Udaytara Nayar, the book is rich with trivia and anecdotes from the life of the veteran actor. In this book, the thespian opened his heart for the first time to speak about acting, family, co-workers and lovers, the people who influenced and changed his life.

Many Bollywood celebs including, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, attended the autobiography launch.

Here are 10 nuggets, among plenty else, from the book:

1. On his first appearance on the screen in Jwar Bhata: "When I saw myself on the screen, I asked myself: 'Is this how I am going to perform in the films that may follow if the studio wishes to continue my services?!' My response was: 'No.' I realised that this was a difficult job and, if I had to continue, I would have to find my own way of doing it. And the critical question was: HOW?"

2. On his love for Madhubala "Did it happen with me? Was I in love with Madhubala as the newspaper and magazines reported at that time? As an answer to this oft-repeated question straight from the horse's mouth, I must admit that I was attracted to her both as a fine co-star and as a person who had some of the attributes I hoped to find in a woman at that age and time... She, as I said earlier, was very sprightly and vivacious and, as such, she could draw me out of my shyness and reticence effortlessly

3. On his break-up with Madhubala, the actor says the relationship soured during the making of Mughal-e-Azam. Remembering the most sensuous scene from the movie he says: "The outcome was that halfway through the production of 'Mughal-e-Azam' we were not even talking to each other. The classic scene with the feather coming between our lips, which set a million imaginations on fire, was shot when we had completely stopped even greeting each other."

4. The actor refused a role in Mother India because he had romanced Nargis in his previous two films. "When Mehboob [Khan] sahab discussed Mother India with me in the early 1950s, I thought it was a brilliant and timely concept and it had to be made at any cost. The role he could offer me was one of the sons of heroine Nargis and I pointed out that it would be an incongruous casting after all the romancing she and I had done in earlier films, such as Mela (1948) and Babul (1950).

5.  On his love for outdoor shooting, he reminisced the making of Bimal Roy's Madhumati. "To us - Pran, Johnny Walker, Bimalda, Hrishida (Hrishikesh Mukherjee) and me - the time after 'pack-up' was very interesting. We got over the pressure of the day's work by spending the evenings in cheerful conversation and poetic exchanges while the cooks in the unit readied our dinner. Pran and I got along famously talking in Punjabi while Bimalda and Hrishida tried to outdo us in Bengali... It used to be a little awkward the following day when Pran had to brim with hostility as the negative character in the script. I must say he was amazingly true to the character Ugranarayan."

6. A stickler for rehearsals before his performance, Dilip Kumar says that actress "Devika Rani had advised me and all the actors she employed at Bombay Talkies that it was important to rehearse till a level of competence to perform was achieved. In the early years, it was a necessity for me to rehearse, but, even in the later years, her advice stayed with me when I had to match a benchmark I had mentally set for myself. In fact, I am aware that I am known for the number of rehearsals I do for even what seems to be a simple scene."

7.  On his famous hairstyle, and his barber: "The poor man [his barber] always had a problem with my hair which grew at jet speed, demanding fortnightly trimming. He was constantly crestfallen by my hair's refusal to be combed back and kept in place the way he wanted...The barber came home one afternoon and I had instructed him to wait if I did not reach the house on time. He took the liberty of sitting in the drawing room and my eldest sister took it as impudence on his part and gave him a dressing down, which was in progress when I made my entry. I apologised to him and I found him more bewildered than angry. Later, I took up the matter with Sakina Aapa [elder sister] and we had an unpleasant spat."

8. The evening of 23 August 1966, when Dilip Kumar met Saira Banu and fell in love: "When I alighted from my car and entered the beautiful garden that leads to the house, I can still recall my eyes falling on Saira standing in the foyer of her new house looking breathtakingly beautiful in a brocade sari. I was taken aback, because she was no longer the young girl I had consciously avoided working with because I thought she would look too young to be my heroine. She had indeed grown to full womanhood and was in reality more beautiful than I thought she was."

9. The actor learned how to play a sitar for the movie Kohinoor (1960). The movie "will remain etched in my mind for the efforts I made to learn to play the sitar. It was another chance for me to test my flair for the comedy genre in acting... I enjoyed the making of Kohinoor also for the camaraderie that grew between me and Meena Kumari after Azaad as we, who were known for our forte with  emotional drama and tragedy, came together for another light-hearted film.

10. Amitabh Bachchan was mesmerised by Dilip Kumar's performance in Gunga Jamuna. "Recently, while we were chatting casually, Amitabh Bachchan mentioned to me that he had repeatedly viewed Gunga Jumna as a student in Allahabad to understand how a Pathan was effortlessly playing a rustic character of UP and speaking the dialect with such ease," said the actor in his book.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

End of minority tokenism: Narendra Modi offers modernization, and not sops, to the Muslims

s
 
End of minority tokenism: Narendra Modi offers modernization, and not sops, to the Muslims

By Nistula Hebbar, ET Bureau | 15 Jun, 2014, 10.53AM IST
 
The Muslim community in India, the second largest in the world, has seen its parliamentary representation come down to its lowest ever since independence, at 22 MPs with not a single one from the politically important state of Uttar Pradesh. While the Narendra Modi government has not ended the ministry of minority affairs, often accused by the ruling BJP of being symptomatic of the tokenism that ruled the secularism of the previous regime, the prime minister in his utterances till date has made it very clear that a "new deal" for the most significant minority in India was what he is looking at.
 
In an interview to an Urdu daily he had categorically stated that "there is a need to strengthen constitutional and statutory bodies and not to abolish them. The need is to make them [Muslim community] productive and strong so that they could do solid work instead of continuing with the existing system which takes symbolic measures." Therefore, while institutions would persist the idea is to make them redundant to the discourse.

The "Good" Muslim
 
The BJP and the Jana Sangh before it haven't had the smoothest relationship with the Muslim community, and for long the demographic character of most Indian states and Lok Sabha constituencies was considered so peculiarly designed as to preclude the possibility of a Hindu majoritarian party from coming to power. Thus the earlier NDA government, which came to power on the strength of coalition numbers did try to implement the agenda of the Sangh Parivar, but had to keep their core issues of abrogation of Article 370, uniform civil code and the construction of a Ram temple in abeyance.

On the other hand, the Vajpayee government did give good sized Haj subsidies, hosted iftaar parties and gave India its first Muslim president in APJ Abdul Kalam to complete a full term. There are nuances of course to this engagement, which will now appear full blown in a BJP-majority government.

In the literature left behind by Sangh Parivar ideologues there is a very clear demarcation between Indian Muslims who are patriotic and those who cleave to a pan-Islamic identity. The formation of the Hindu Mahasabha from the embers of the 1919 Khilafat movement is perhaps the reason for this distrust of a larger Islamic identity. Whatever it was, the BJP has always maintained, as does Narendra Modi that, Indian Muslims, like India's Hindu citizens would be treated no better or worse than any citizen. Kalam, a veena-playing scientist who gave India its nuclear bomb and made it a nuclear power house, was a perfect example of this kind of Indian Muslim. Minority affairs minister Najma Heptullah's assertion that the fast dwindling community of Parsis were far deserving of a "minority community" title was another.
 
The reference to madrassa modernization in President Pranab Mukherjee's address to parliament was a reference to a more direct enunciation of this idea.

Modernization and Islam
 
According to Tufail Ahmad, director of the South Asia Studies project at the Middle East Media Research Institute in Washington, the advent of the Narendra Modi government should be looked at as an opportunity by the Muslim community. "While previous governments kept Muslims embroiled in emotional issues of quota and secularism, the Modi government came to power by overcoming this type of divisive politics," he says.

"Muslims in India whose population is estimated to be up to 180 million in 2014 cannot be called a minority, they are India's second largest community. They can't persevere under this complex anymore or allow themselves to be manipulated," he adds.

Ahmad goes on to say that the opportunity that the Modi government represents is particularly important in the way that the community can free itself from the orthodoxy of the clerics. "Islamic clerics who are the most organised section among Muslims are responsible for teaching obscurantist ideas.

The Modi government must confront opposition from orthodox institutions like the Darul Uloom Deoband and begin the modernization of governmentrun madrassas," he added. It isn't clear whether or not this very optimistic prognosis is apt or that the Modi government is quite ready for that battle yet, but the electoral mandate has suggested a tectonic shift.
 
The subtext of Modi's mandate is not as important for the BJP or even the Muslim community which each will learn to do business with the other. It is a time for parties which for years enjoyed support among the Muslim population to recalibrate secularism.

The engagement through clerics or pandering to the most orthodox elements of the community is clearly not going to be enough in future political battles. The template of the past 62 years is broken.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Decmocracy alive in Indian Parliament, thanks to Asaduddin Owaisi

INDIAN DEMOCRACY IS ALIVE - ASADUDDIN OWAISI
http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2014/06/decmocracy-alive-in-indian-parliament.html

I have criticized Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi in the past and will continue to do so for his approach. However, given that there is no spineful opposition in our parliament, we need to admire him for being critical of the government and question them.   We need to have men like MallikArjun Kharge and Asaduddin Owaisi to question and criticize, it is a sign of a healthy democracy.  Shehzada and others will probably speak nothing and do nothing.

As Indians we need to mature, and appreciate the men and women who question the government. I would say, the most patriotic Indian would be the one who keeps the government on its toes, like my friend Sean Hannity. If we don't keep the government in the line, they will become what we hated before, and before.

Today at the parliament he spoke up loud and clear.   Vajpayee had done it, Sushma had done it,  and so they do at the US Congress and Senate or any democratic system. Even the shouting responses are democratic, as they do in the UK Parliament. At least chappals were not flying.

As people, we need to appreciate the men and women who criticize our governments. I am sure Modi will speak up about it, and I hope and pray that he values dissent - the foundation of democracy.   



Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kmbn_Xu4Go

Asaduddin Owaisi and Shanavas baffle BJP in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI : Asaduddin Owaisi, President All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen and M.P. from Hyderabad created uproar in Lok Sabha during his address. He hit at BJP with his precise points. Even he sarcastically congratulated Narendra Modi for destroying myth of Muslim vote bank, and added that "in doing so you have proved there is a Hindu vote bank which can be consolidated". Further he said:
 
"I stand here as the son of Ehsan Jafri...
"I stand here as the brother of Ishrat Jahan...
"I stand here as the Uncle of Mohsin Sadiq Sheikh...
"I stand before you as the voice of those poor voiceless people affected by Gujarat genocide  and I want justice to be done with them.

Owaisi's remarks regards Babri Masjid and Gujarat riots evoked sharp reaction from BJP members who were heard shouting "shame on you". Unperturbed by the protest, Owaisi noted there are very few Muslim representatives from BJP in the Lok Sabha. “Where is the inclusiveness?” he asked and demanded that the Prime Minister make it clear what he proposed to do for the minorities. He didn't spare Najma Heptullah for claiming Muslims are not minorities.

Owaisi added that soon, this Parliament would nominate Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse for Bharat Ratna.

Congress MP from Wayanad M I Shanavas  in his address said despite the defeat, Congress would rise again. "Congress will never die. Congress can die only with the nation... Whatever may be your victory, victory is not all that matters. Hitler had won, Mussolini had won, Stalin had won, victory will not make all the differences. I tell you in this august House that the Indian National Congress will come back like a storm in this House itself," he said.

http://www.milligazette.com/news/10567-asaduddin-owaisi-and-shanavas-baffle-bjp-in-lok-sabha

Friday, June 13, 2014

Narendra Modi will defend free speech.

Freedom of speech is the God given right of every human, and no one should have the power to tell what others can think, speak or believe.   Freedom should be absolute and free, when it becomes discretionary, it leads to mismanagement and abuse.
 
 It is not what the evil people say or do that matters, it is how we react that matters. We can aggravate the situation or mitigate it. Of the billion and a quarter Indians, not even a 1000 will be abusive - that is 0.000001% - insignificant in numbers to give any value to it. However, if it results in deaths and mayhem,  then the instigator should be held responsible.

Modi did not mince his words in the parliament this week, if the court decides the criminality of an individual including the member of the Parliament, they go to jail.
 
I am studying Narendra Modi fairly closely, and knowing him and predicting him fairly well in the last few weeks, I feel certain that he will say the following about the students who were arrested in Kerala for insulting him;
 
“If the only crime of the students is insulting me, then please release them. People should have the freedom to speak their mind, even if it means insulting me.”  Then he will add, “I will not vanish or diminish with insults”. Imagine the hearts he will win, and restraint he will cause in people's language.
 
I see a statesman emerging in Modi, and I will repeat my doha
 
"Khuda jab bhi insaan ko hidayat deta hai
Hum Modi ko Gandhi hotay huway dekheinge."
 
"Whenever God gives guidance to a man,
we will witness Modi becoming Gandhi-like."
 
Indeed there ought to be a park in every City, where individuals can go and speak all they want from a raised platform.
 
 
 
 
On Modi, the word puzzle asks, “If Namo is Nayinte Mon (‘Dog’s son’ in Malayalam), who is Namo? The answer keys included the letters “Mo” and a picture of Modi.
 
On Amritanandamayi, the puzzle asks “the mother who sells the largest number of kisses in Kerala”. The key included a picture of Amritanandamayi, who is known as the hugging saint.
 
On Rahul Gandhi, it said “the Amul leader of India who stopped feeding on breast milk at the age of 40?.
 
The magazine titled “Name” was brought out by an editorial board chaired by activists of the Students Federation of India, which is the student wing of CPI (M). It was published by Sree Krishna College near the temple town Guruvayur. The college is under the Guruvayur Temple Board, which is a government body

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Narendra Modi, India’s new leader, wants to take out the trash

Another feather in Modi's cap.

Modi is doing well in articulating a range of developments. As cleaning up the Cities goes forward, most of us Indians living in the west, would be the happiest people on the earth to visit the motherland.  We have gotten used to a cleaner hygienic way of life here, and this is a welcome call by Modi.

Don't you think other guys could not have done this? Don't you think any Chief Minister in India can do this? They can, they don't have the vision or the leadership that Modi is showing. Modi is getting to be an all rounder.

Look at Dallas - Plano is attracting businesses, don't you think other cities could not do it? The difference is leadership and nothing but leadership.

It is good to see Rama Lakshmi at Washington post wrote this on June 11th, ""  Modi is the first prime minister to speak about Indians' chronic habits of littering and spitting. And he hasn't done it just once, but again and again and again."

 I wrote it June 10th, a day earlier, actually I wrote on 7th, but it took three days for them to publish, I wrote, " Indeed, Modi is the first Indian leader to have articulated a plan on hygiene and sanitation. Nearly half a billion people in India relieve themselves in open fields, and recent rapes have been partially attributed to a lack of toilets, private and public.

I am going to start predicting what Modi will do, as it is working out.

Mike Ghouse

www.MikeGhouse.net

Narendra Modi, India’s new leader, wants to take out the trash
Courtesy - Washington Post

June 11 at 3:55 PM
A rag picker sorts through garbage, picking out recyclable materials to sell, at the Ghazipur landfill site in the east of New Delhi, India, on Friday, May 30, 2014. Photographer: Udit Kulshrestha/Bloomberg

India's new Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to wipe out chronic corruption and give India a squeaky-clean government during the two months of election campaign this year. But what surprised many Indians is that Modi wants to clean up India in more ways than one.

He wants to literally make Indian cities trash-free.

"Let us create a clean India and place it at the feet of Mahatma Gandhi as a gift for him in 2019," Modi said in parliament on Wednesday, referring to the proposed celebrations for the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the independence movement and the father of the nation.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives for the first session of India's newly elected parliament in New Delhi on June 4, 2014. The first session of India's newly elected parliament lasted only minutes as lawmakers immediately adjourned in a mark of respect for a government minister who died in a car crash with the process of swearing-in the 543 members of the Lok Sabha pushed back to June 5. AFP PHOTO/RAVEENDRANRAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Imagesa Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives for the first session of India's newly elected parliament in New Delhi on June 4, 2014. AFP PHOTO/RAVEENDRAN

Modi is the first prime minister to speak about Indians' chronic habits of littering and spitting. And he hasn't done it just once, but again and again and again.

In his very first speech after the spectacular election victory last month, Modi said his vision for a clean India must begin in the ancient Hindu holy city of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges River.
"Cleaning our surroundings is also a way of serving Mother India," Modi said.
One of the proposed plans of Modi government is to make throwing trash and spitting into the Ganges river a punishable offense, media reports said this week.

That is easier said than done in a country where garbage is both a behavioral and municipal problem. Indians live uncomplainingly alongside heaps of uncollected smelly, fly-infested garbage strewn on the streets, neighborhoods, playgrounds, hospitals, railway stations, temples and river banks. Many Indians routinely toss out plastic wrappers, empty cigarette packs or cans from their car windows without a care for how their cities look. Storm water drains in the cities are choked with trash.

But Modi will have none of it.

And his message appears to be trickling down to his colleagues too. The ministers in his government are ordering the clean-up of the filthy corridors of government departments.

"The broom is out: Government offices on clean-up drive" was the title of an article in the Business Standard this week.

"The problem of garbage in India is so big that it requires nothing less than the political will at the top level, otherwise it is impossible to create civic awareness because Indians are just too numbed by it," said Robinder Sachdev, who leads a people's campaign called Come, Clean India. "It is music to my ears every time I hear our new Prime Minister speak about cleaning India. If a popular leader like him makes it his priority, it is very likely that hundreds of millions of his followers will take it up across India."
In 2009, former environment minister Jairam Ramesh said Indian cities are the dirtiest in the world: "If there is a Nobel prize for dirt and filth, India will win it, no doubt," he said.

Indians reacted to his statement with shock. But then, they went back to littering-as-usual.
Rama Lakshmi has been with The Washington Post’s India bureau since April 1990. A museum studies graduate, she has worked with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Missouri History Museum.

PM Narendra Modi's maiden speech in Lok Sabha

I could not ask more, this is the best speech any leader has ever given and once again, I hope he means it.  Mike Ghouse
# # #

Highlights of PM Narendra Modi's maiden speech in Lok Sabha
TNN | Jun 11, 2014, 04.45 PM IST
Courtesy - Times of India



NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday responded to President Pranab Mukherjee's address in Parliament on June 9, saying that his government will fulfill the promises made by the President in his speech.

Making his maiden speech in Lok Sabha as Prime Minister, Modi said that his government will be devoted to the poorest of the poor and stressed on converting the country's image from "scam India" to "skill India".

READ ALSO: PM Narendra Modi's first speech in Parliament

Following are the highlights of Narendra Modi's address:

* Will leave no stone unturned in implementing roadmap outlined by the President in his address.

* We will empower the poor to enable them to fight poverty and come out of it.

* No one will leave villages if they are developed, provided 24 hour-power, good education and industries.

* We should concentrate on agro-based industries.

* Our aim must be to serve the poorest of the poor and to think of their welfare.

* We are sincerely committed to bring down prices. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that nobody sleeps hungry.

* The country needs real-time data on agri-products to deal with price rise.

* We have to stop politicizing rape. We are playing with the dignity of women. Protecting women should be the priority of the people of this country.

* We should plan from today how we will celebrate Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary after 5 years.

* We have to do focused activity to change the lives of Muslims; they cannot be left behind in development.

* Our image has become 'scam India', we have to convert it to 'skill India'.

* We welcome criticism, in a democracy, criticism gives strength and it will guide us.

* We need to focus on skill development, decisions have to be taken with great courage.

* I don't want to move forward without you (opposition), I don't want to move ahead on basis of numbers but on the basis of collectivity.

* We don't believe in big brother attitude towards states, we believe in cooperative federalism. There should be competition among states for development, I want to hear states saying they have left Gujarat behind.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Inclusion is key theme of Narendra Modi’s first Lok Sabha speech

He sounds like Obama Republican, a healthy combination of inclusiveness and capitalism. This speech could have been written by me. I hope Modi is the man he makes it out to be, and I pray for his success in delivering the results.

This morning I wrote the following note at DallasIndians@yahoogroups.com posted at 1:32 PM, then comes Modi's speech. I post both of them here for similarities:


At the DallasIndiansYahoogroups, and my other forums, (Used the word “My” because I run it and have organized it) people have criticized me, and I have published it, my commitment is for openness and democracy. If I cannot handle criticism with respect, then how can I teach others to do the same? It is my forum and I can delete it and no one would know it.  On Modi, we have shared both criticism and praise by our members - thanks to most of them now dealing it in the most civil manner. How we deal with conflicts defines our civility and I must say, our group Dallas Indians did exceptionally well - those few who were intolerant, chose to remain civil as well. Good energy breeds goodness.

And this is what Modi has said in the following piece

“In a democracy, criticisms are for betterment, and they should happen. Allegations are bad but criticism is never bad. We are ready for all criticism as criticism is the essence of democracy,” Modi said. “Matdan se pehle hum ummeedwar the, matdan ke baad hum ummeedon ke rakhwale hain. Hum ummeedon ke doot hain. Sawa sau crore deshwasiyon ke ummeedon ko pura karne ka hum prayas karein ,” Modi said. (During the campaign, we were candidates, now we are the protectors of aspirations).Mike Ghouse

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net


Inclusion is key theme of Narendra Modi’s first Lok Sabha speech
Written by Ravish Tiwari | New Delhi | June 12, 2014 7:57 am
Courtesy - The Indian Express



The allegations are part of the IB’s report, dated June 3, submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office.

The allegations are part of the IB’s report, dated June 3, submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Signalling that the rancour of his high-voltage election campaign was in the past, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, in his first speech in the newly constituted Lok Sabha underlined the need to reach out to all groups in and outside the House to move forward.

In one illustration of this, he said that he did not consider “focused activity” for the welfare of Muslims as “appeasement” and advocated the need for the welfare of “all sections.” Today, he identified Muslim backwardness. “Even the third generation of Muslim brothers, whom I have seen since my young days, are continuing with their cycle repairing job. Why does such misfortune continue? We will have to undertake focus activity to bring about change in their lives. We will have to bring such programmes. I do not view such programmes within the prism of appeasement. I see them to bring about a change in their lives. No body can be called healthy if one of its organs is disabled. All organs of the human body needed to be fit in order for a person to be healthy. Similarly, all sections (organs) of the society need to empowered,” Modi said.
 
This is a significant change in his earlier remarks on the subject where he has said that poverty was the common enemy of both Hindu and Muslim and that he never saw religion in his “India First” view of secularism. Replying to the motion of thanks on President’s speech, Modi assured the country that he would govern with a spirit of collectivity with political rivals and state governments and said that aspiration for development should be tapped into a “mass movement.”

To critics of his “Gujarat model,” he said that this was, effectively, a model that provides for regional variations and “cooperative federalism” rather than a top-down imposition.

“We are not going to adopt a ‘big brother’ attitude that looks down upon you (states) and behaves as if we (Centre) are offering crumbs…We collectively want to take the country forward. That is why we talk about cooperative federalism,” Modi said assuring the regional parties ruling different states across the country to allay their apprehensions. He, however, said that he welcomed competition for development among states.

The Prime Minister sought to set the record straight over the impression that he brooks no dissent saying that he would welcome criticism, if not allegations, as it was the essence of democracy. In fact, he started his speech acknowledging the criticism made by opposition members during the course of discussion on the motion of thanks on the President’s speech.

“I heard (Congress leader) Mallikarjun Kharge, (SP leader) Mulayam Singh Yadav, (AIADMK leader) Thambidurai, (BJD leader) Bhartruhari. Their was one common theme that several promises have been made and they wanted to  know how and by what time will they be done. It was natural for them and other MPs to ask how and when we will be able to fulfil it. There was a tinge of expectation in them. This is a good sign for the future of the country,” Modi said.

“In a democracy, criticisms are for betterment, and they should happen. Allegations are bad but criticism is never bad. We are ready for all criticism as criticism is the essence of democracy,” Modi said. “Matdan se pehle hum ummeedwar the, matdan ke baad hum ummeedon ke rakhwale hain. Hum ummeedon ke doot hain. Sawa sau crore deshwasiyon ke ummeedon ko pura karne ka hum prayas karein ,” Modi said. (During the campaign, we were candidates, now we are the protectors of aspirations).

He praised the development claims made by AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa ruled Tamil Nadu, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee’s efforts in West Bengal and government experience of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party rules UP.
 
Calling for skill upgradation in the country to reap the demographic dividend, he resolved to provide universal sanitation coverage by 2019 while asking political leaders and state governments to chip in with their effort to provide pucca houses for all Indians by 2022. Referring to the “rurban” idea mentioned in President’s speech, Prime Minister expressed the commitment to provide “urban amenities in rural areas to ensure a situation where ‘suvidhaa shahar ki, aatma gaon ki’” can be achieved.

Referring to the elections as a reflection of the country’s awesome democratic strength — given the numbers involved — Modi said that there was a need to project this “democratic power on the world stage”.

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