Natwar Singh slips on Oil

It was last year in October that the Paul Volker, the former Federal Reserve Chairman released his report on the Iraqi Oil for Food programme. The report mentioned Natwar Singh, the Congress Party, and Bhim Singh as “non-contractual beneficiaries”. The Iraqis had bribed political parties and people in position to influence their opinion.

When the report came out Natwar Singh immediately called it baseless. After that, just to prove that he genuinely had lost his marbles, he suggested that Paul Volker had political designs and was targeting opponents of the war. He also wanted to know why an American was appointed to investigate and not a person from a developing country. The Communists who are always in the race to show they are the benchmark when it comes to stupid statements contributed the gem that all this was due to the liberalization of the economy. Natwar Singh, then went so far, like George Galloway to suggest that he has no idea how a barrel of oil looks like.

It did not matter to these people that Table III in the report listed Americans, British, Italian and Spanish nationals (all from countries who made up the Coalition forces)  accused of similar crime. Since we don’t trust Americans, a Committe was appointed to investigate the matter. Now the Justice Pathak Committee has found Natwar Singh and his son Jagat Singh guilty.

Andaleeb Sehgal, a friend of Jagat Singh, and Aditya Khanna, a relative of Natwar Singh, are understood to have received financial payoffs in the deal by getting oil coupons based on the letters of recommendation given by Natwar Singh.

The authority has found that Natwar and his son had misused their position in helping Sehgal and Khanna bag three oil contracts from the UN sanctioned Saddam regime.

Sehgal and Khanna, in turn, passed the contracts on to Swiss oil company Masefield AG which drew the oil and paid them a commission, the report says, adding that on a cut of five cents a barrel, Sehgal and Khanna received a total commission of $1,46,000, which they divided between themselves in a ratio of 4:1. [Natwar Singh, son indicted in oil-for-food scam

Now we know that Natwar Singh was not targeted due to his anti-war stance, but because he was involved in bribery. His anti-war stance came not from any ideology, but due to good payoffs and he was just acting like a good sepoy for Saddam Hussein.

The report has exonerated the Congress Party which was listed as one of the beneficiaries, but since Natwar Singh was a loyal foot soldier of the party, doesn’t the party bear responsibility for this man’s actions? Both Sehgal and Khanna had used the  party name and Natwar Singh misusing his position had written several letters to the Iraqi Oil Minister to swing contracts in favor of his son. Now the focus will be on Natwar, since he has been chosen to drink hemlock for the party and in this cacophony the party will escape the scam.

Why are we scared of Wal-Mart?

The Government policies for opening retail stores in India are restrictive and only single-brand retail stores are currently allowed. Due to this, companies like Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco have been trying to get into partnerships with Indian companies to tap into the market. Most of India’s retail sector is family run and politicians fear that a Wal-Mart could shut down these Mom & Pop stores.

These politicians under estimate the trading skills of Indians and believe that we are not capable of dealing with home grown competition. Two months back Wal-Mart got out of South Korea and this week out of Germany. The company, it seems was not able to generate profits after operating 85 stores for eight years in Germany

German shoppers are accustomed to buying merchandise strictly based on price, German retail consultants say. They are willing to buy laundry detergent at one store and then go to another to get a better price on paper towels. That behavior is called “basket splitting.” It is the antithesis of what American shoppers like: one-stop shopping. A big plank of Wal-Mart’s strategy in the U.S. and elsewhere is getting shoppers to turn to it for an increasingly wide array of goods.[With Profits Elusive, Wal-Mart to Exit Germany (subscription reqd.)]

When President Bush visited India, Charlie Rose had a series of interviews with business leaders and one point Ratan Tata made was that Indians are similarly price and value conscious. They could give Wal-Mart a run for their money.

Megalithic Burrial Urns in Kerala

While the Harappans were known to burry the dead, in South India, there was this custom of burrying the dead in urns. In the past few years there were discoveries of burrial urns in various places in Tamil Nadu. Burrial urns, 2800 years old were found in Adichanallur with the urns having inscriptions in Tamil-Brahmi. Later urns dating from 3rd century BCE to 3rd century AD were found in Palani.  This practice of burrying people in urns was common in ancient Greece as well as in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

Now three types of burrial urns, believed to date back to between 6th century BCE and 2nd century AD have been found in Kaladi (Adi Shankara’s birth place) in Kerala.

The urns were excavated by a team of researchers led by B. Ramesh, Director of the Research Centre at Sree Sankara College in Kalady. “Three types of earthen urn burials and some pots were found in a single day’s excavation. Due to heavy downpour, the contents were severely affected. The biggest urn is 4.5 feet high and 2.75 ft in diameter,” Dr. Ramesh said.

He said that its lower half had a height of 2.75 ft. The height of the upper half cannot be ascertained due to the damage that has occurred to it over the years. This was found 2.5 feet beneath the surface. It is a handmade red-and-black ware having a shape similar to that of an egg, with an ovoid lid. A prominent rim is seen on the middle part that joins the two halves.

The second urn (a medium-sized) was 3 ft high and has an inner diameter of 1.5 ft. It was situated on the northeast side of the main urn and three feet beneath the ground level. It also has a lid similar to the big one. But the bottom portion is a flattened one.

The third urn, smaller in size, also was 2.75 ft away from the main urn. Small earthen plates in broken conditions are also seen near the urns. Dr. Ramesh said the research team had conducted similar excavations near the present site on the banks of the Periyar. The team had found tools of varying sizes and shapes belonging to the Neolithic period. Various black and red pots and pot shreds were also retrieved.

The research team is now trying to identify more sites in the area that bear the relics of ancient culture and civilisations. They have also started a project to collect evidence that mark the presence of such age-old remains dating back to the Neolithic and Megalithic periods.

Archaeologists say the burial urns found in Kalady indicate that a civilised society lived there more than 2,500 years ago and the excavation also reflects the typical south Indian megalithic culture. [Burial urns of Megalithic period excavated]

And the answer is..

Normally when terrorists want to trigger communal violence they attack places of worship, usually Hindu temples or holy cities. On September 2002, terrorists attacked the Akshardham temple in Gujarat, killing 31. On July 2005 there was a two-hour gun fight between LeT terrorists and Indian police on the site of the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya in which six terrorists were killed. On March 7, 2006, a series of blasts occurred in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi. On April 14, 2006 two blasts occured in the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi killing five people and injuring thirteen.

When terrorists attack Mumbai trains in which people of all religions travel how do you find a communal angle to it? You can if you want to and if you are the editor of a major newspaper. This is exactly what Shekhar Gupta did in his opinion piece in Newsweek. Shekhar Gupta wants to believe that the Mumbai terrorist attacks were an attack on secularism and is connected to the 2001 Gujarat riots in which both Hindus and Muslims were killed. His reasoning is that people who travel in first class compartments are rich upper-caste Gujarati Hindus.

This explains why one of my friends survived the bombing. He was traveling in one of the trains in which the bomb exploded. Fortunately he was in a different first class compartment. Probably the terrorists after realizing that he was a upper-caste Malayali Hindu moved the bomb to another compartment. And if the aim of terrorists was to murder upper-caste Gujarati Hindus why did they come to Mumbai when Gujarat is right next door, as Sandeep asks.
But finally we have an answer to The Acorn’s question: who is the bigger fool?

Let Us Repeat It: Learning History from Indian Blogosphere

During· school days, history was not my favorite topic due to the simple reason that history books were boring. For example, the chapter on Mughal Emperors would read like this:

Akbar ruled India from 1560 to 1605. His full name was Jalaluddin Mohammed Akbar Padshah Ghazi. He built many roads (from 1561-1563), planted trees (1564 -1567) and dug wells for travelers (1570 -1571). Akbar was succeeded by his son Jahangir. He planted trees (1606), dug wells (1609 -1610) and built roads (1611 -1623). Test question: What was Akbar doing in 1567?

When you find history books outside the school book realm, you find that they are mostly written by

Review: The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization (Documentary)

The Last CatoHow could a small state, Athens, with no great military might in the 6th century BCE transform itself into a powerful nation which could defeat even the mighty Persian empire? How could Athens, which was not as powerful as Argos, Corinthia or Sparta, survive and hold out invasions? Why did democracy first set its roots here?

The PBS Documentary, The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization starts with the history of Athens beginning with the rule of Peisistratos (607 – 528 BCE) under whom this small town prospered. While great civilizations like Egypt and Persia prospered around rivers, Athens was a mountainous region. Peisistratos encouraged farming and provided loans and soon Athens was exporting the hot commodity of the times – olive oil to nations around the Mediterranian to Egypt, Persia, and Phoenicia. The booming trade made Athens wealthy and prosperous.

After the death of Peisistratos, his son Hippias took over. He ruled fairly initially, but after his brother’s death, he turned to be a tyrant. Self-Preservation was his only motive and since his only threat was from aristocrats, he turned against them. The aristocrats under the leadership of a nobleman called Cleisthenes captured Hippias and banished him from Athens in 510 BCE. As Cleisthenes became famous, he faced a rebellion under Isagoras. Isagoras with the help of  Spartans, the enemies of Athens,  assumed power and banished Cleisthenes.

The people of Athens then took destiny into their own hands. Isagoras and his partners locked themselves in the Acropolis, but they were forced to surrender  and he was forced into exile in 508 BCE. Cleisthenes was recalled from exile and asked to form a Government. He came up with the idea of people, both rich and poor, discussing the issues facing them and casting votes to make a decision. This was quite revolutionary at that time. On issues like raising of taxes, building of roads and going to war, votes were cast, with a white stone for yes and a black one for no and the seeds of democracy were sown.
Continue reading “Review: The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization (Documentary)” →

Climate and Ancient Civilizations

Climate was an important factor in the rise and decline of ancient civilizations. The decline of the Indus Valley Civilization in 1700 BCE has been attributed to tectonic activity along the Indo-Asian plate boundary, the drying up of the Ghaggar-Hakra river system, and the failure of monsoons. While the decline of the Indus Valley Civilization lead to the rise of the city states in the Gangetic plain, it seems a pre-historic climate change in Eastern Sahara resulted in the rise of the Egyptian civilization.

Starting at about 8500 B.C., researchers say, broad swaths of what are now Egypt, Chad, Libya, and Sudan experienced a “sudden onset of humid conditions.”  For centuries the region supported savannahs full of wildlife, lush acacia forests, and areas so swampy they were uninhabitable. During this time the prehistoric peoples of the eastern Sahara followed the rains to keep pace with the most hospitable ecosystems.

But around 5300 B.C. this climate-driven environmental abundance started to decline, and most humans began leaving the increasingly arid region. “Around 5,500 to 6,000 years ago the Egyptian Sahara became so dry that nobody could survive there,” said Stefan Kröpelin, a geoarchaeologist at the University of Cologne in Germany and study co-author. Without rain, rivers, or the ephemeral desert streams known as waddis, vegetation became sparse, and people had to leave the desert or die, Kröpelin says. [Exodus From Drying Sahara Gave Rise to Pharaohs, Study Says ]

Along Huen Tsang's path, again

Last year some researchers from Oman tried to sail along an ocean route used by traders about four millennia back. They didn’t reach the other end as the boat sank. One of the best captured travels along an ancient route is the one done by the Japanese and Chinese along the silk route which resulted in a wonderful documentary, The Silk Road DVD Collection.

Another well known path is that traveled by Xuanzang (Huen Tsang) who spent a good part of his life in India visiting places like Nalanda, Punjab and Gaya. A recent travelogue on this route was Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud by Sun Shuyun. Now two Chinese Buddhist monks have decided to retrace those steps again. While Xuanzang did his trip entirely on foot, these monks will use all modes of travel. Their trip will  be televised and they will also blog.

They will travel through Pakistan and Nepal and are expected to arrive at Nalanda in Bihar of India, the ancient center of Buddhist learning, in mid-November.

In addition to religious studies in Nalanda during their stay, the two monks will present a handwritten sutra by famous Chinese calligraphers to the Indian temple.

“The trip is of great significance in religious and cultural exchanges between the two nations,” Monk Mingxian said. Xuanzang’s pilgrimage to India, which was full of trials and tribulations, has become known to more people of coming generations in China largely through the classical fiction “Journey to the west”, commonly known to western readers as “Monkey King”.

Written by Wu Cheng’en ( 1510-1582), “Journey to the west” is one of the four Chinese literary classics. The other three are “The Water Margins”, “Dream of the Red Mansion” and “Romance of Three Kingdoms”. [Chinese monks begin pilgrimage to India]

See Also: Along Huen Tsang’s path, Following Huen Tsang’s Steps

If you don't learn from history..

In 1999, yet another peace process was started by India. This time Prime Minister Vajyapee decided to take a bus to Lahore and sing a few poems for peace. The idea it seems was to attack the Jihadi heart, not with bullets, but with words. The Indian Prime Minister or the genius who came up with the idea hoped that under the impact of the bus trip, Pakistan would give up claims on Kashmir and maybe even donate Karachi to India.

While Indians were planning the bus trip, the Pakistanis were also into  planning the Kargil War, under the leadership of the current dictator Musharraff. The Indian Prime Minister was received by Nawaz Sharif, who was the alleged Prime Minister of Pakistan at that time. They sang songs, lighted candles and danced around the trees, while Pakistani soldiers and terrorists crossed the border into India.

We called Nawaz Sharif, the alleged Prime Minister because he came to know of this whole incident of incursion from Prime Minister Vajpayee. You cannot blame him also since no one bothered to tell him about the the planned Army operation since he was just, you know, the Prime Minister. Now in a new book, Ghaddar Kaun? Nawaz Sharif ki Kahani unki Zubani, which sounds like the title of a Sunny Deol-Anil Sharma movie, Nawaz Sharif has revealed all.

Giving his account of the 1999 conflict in the book Ghaddar Kaun? Nawaz Sharif ki Kahani unki Zubani, Sharif has reiterated his contention that Musharraf, the then Army chief, did not take him into confidence on the situation in Kargil and that he learnt the details from his Indian counterpart, Atal Behari Vajpayee.