Start this weekend with the story of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh’s assasination in Dubai.

Next, pl dwell on some insightful observations by Prof. Dipankar Gupta on Young Parliamentarians.

Move on to some thought-provoking mantras from the Sama Veda…

then to a remarkable initiative on the environmental front by some traders in a small town in Madhya Pradesh.

Finally, read Coomi Kapoor on Congress’ double-speak.

Excerpts below, as always.

*** Excerpts from The spies strike again, this time in Dubai by Gordon Thomas ***

…(Mossad)’s ruthless assassinations were made famous by the film Munich, which detailed Mossad’s attacks on the terrorists who killed Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics. Long ago, the agency had established that silence is the most effective way to spread terror among its Arab enemies.

In the past year, al-Mabhouh had moved to the top of Mossad’s list of targets, each of which must be legally approved under guidelines laid down over half a century ago by Meir Amit, the most innovative and ruthless director-general of the service. Born in Tiberius, King Herod’s favourite city, Amit had established the rules for assassination.

“There will be no killing of political leaders, however extreme they are. They must be dealt with politically. There will be no killing of a terrorist’s family unless they are also directly implicated in terrorism. Each execution must be sanctioned by the incumbent prime minister. Any execution is therefore state-sponsored, the ultimate judicial sanction of the law. The executioner is no different from the state-appointed hangman or any other lawfully-appointed executioner.”

…The killing in Dubai is a classic example of how Mossad goes about its work. Al-Mabhouh’s 11 assassins had been chosen from the 48 current kidon, six of whom are women.

It has yet to be established how al-Mabhouh was killed, but kidon’s preference is strangling with wire, a well-placed car bomb, an electric shock or one of the poisons created by Mossad scientists at their headquarters in a Tel Aviv suburb.

…The list of kidon assassinations is long and stretches far beyond the Arab world. In their base deep in the Negev Desert — the sand broken only by a distant view of Israel’s nuclear facility at Dimona — the kidon practise with a variety of handguns, learn how to conceal bombs, administer a lethal injection in a crowd and make a killing look accidental.

…Mossad is one of the world’s smallest intelligence services. But it has a back-up system no other outfit can match. The system is known as sayanim, a derivative of the Hebrew word lesayeah, meaning to help.

There are tens of thousands of these ‘helpers’. Each has been carefully recruited, sometimes by katsas, Mossad’s field agents. Others have been asked to become helpers by other members of the secret group.

Read the story in full here.

***

*** Excerpts from An Interview with Prof Dipankar Gupta by Sheela Bhatt ***

In the coming five years do you think India will see many changes under the Congress leadership?

I don’t see many changes coming. I see them as trying here, trying there. But to have many changes there has to be a political will. I don’t think they have it.

Why?

That takes too much work and energy. To be able to change the school system, the health system, the transport system these are most important… It needs too much energy.

I suppose Rahul Gandhi must have that energy.

Even if one man has enormous energy, he won’t be able to do it. It is a big task to clear the entire system. Nandan Nilekani is good, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Of course, there are ways one can do it, but I don’t see any sign so far.

A few months back it was said that Rahul Gandhi is a bachcha (child). But, now, it seems he is no longer looked upon as that. He has arrived.

That is true.

Do you see him becoming prime minister?

Oh, yeah! Of course, I do. I don’t think that will happen within this term. This is Dr Manmohan Singh’s term because he is healthy enough. If for some reason he falls sick, then Rahul Gandhi may come.

But I think Sonia Gandhi will hold him back for four or five years.

How do you see the lot of young parliamentarians?

People say there are lots of young parliamentarians today. This is strictly not true. Look at the statistics. There are more or the less from the same age group that was there earlier. But what is negative about these new parliamentarians about whom we talk so much about is that they are not young at all — they are two-four generations old!

The idea of putting young people in the party or as ministers is a bad thing because those who are the real party workers do not get a chance. The actual party workers are normally not noticed till they are 40, 45 because they are working up their career.

Here, people in their 20s and 30s are getting tickets and posts. I think this gives a bad impression. In the long term it is not a good thing.

If the Congress wants to recharge its batteries it has to now think of going beyond the symbolic young people image because in India there is no such thing as the ‘demand of the youth.’

In majority parts of the country, the young and old have the same problems. They all want jobs, they all want to leave their village. The idea of putting ‘young’ as an image is very squeaky thing.

You and I get very impressed with this, we think, Buddhe buddhe chale gaye (the old have gone), the young have arrived.’ But they are not young at all.

They are not people with ideas and imagination. They have inherited the mantle from their father or grandfather. If you admire only your father or grandfather, you are no good. You are not going to bring about change.

When you keep saying — my father was so and so and my grandfather did this and that — it means that you are not challenging or inquiring old ideas. When you are young your parent should be your first victim!

…

Talking about India’s growth and future, how do you look at India’s advantages and disadvantages?

India would like to consolidate its advantages, but India doesn’t know where its advantages lie objectively. Subjectively, they think it lies in the IT sector, finance and such fields.

In the developing world, India’s main advantage since the last 30 years was its intellectual advantage. It is losing there.

Look, at the listing for the universities. We don’t even figure in the first 100. Can you imagine that?

China’s Fudan University is at number 70. Have you heard of it? I had never heard of it. Look at the citation index. Our people are never quoted. Gradually, other people are taking over.

R&D funding is going down in real terms. If you talk about enhancing human capital India is not working in a planned manner.

We are making money only because we sell cheap white collar or cheap blue collar labour. (Former Nasscom president) Kiran Karnik said that Indian IT companies charge around 40 per cent less, so people come to us.

India should think how to raise its brain power and how to increase skilled labour. The skill of the working class has not gone up since years. The organised industries’s workers are still around 22 million only. The private sector is around another 8 million.

Ninety-three per cent of India’s work force is in the unorganised sector. The real point is this: you have to make the poor of India as net consumers.

That will only happen when you make them full citizens and they are able to access public goods at quality levels in the health and education sector.

I am telling you India will change then.

Read the rest of the interview here

***

*** Excerpts from the Sama Veda, courtesy an email from Sh Ashok-ji ***

Understanding is, verily, greater than meditation.

Understanding makes one understand the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the Atharva-Veda as the fourth, the epics and the ancient lore as the fifth, the Veda of the Vedas, the rules of sacrifices by which the Manes are gratified, the science of numbers, the science of portents, the science of time, logic, ethics, etymology, Brahma-vidya, the science of elemental spirits, the science of weapons, astronomy, the science of serpents and the fine arts; heaven, earth, air, water, fire, gods, men, cattle, birds, herbs, trees; animals, together with worms, flies and ants; and also righteousness and unrighteousness, the true and the false, the good and the bad, the pleasant and the unpleasant, food and taste, this world and yonder world.

Meditate on understanding.

Sama Veda, Chandogya Upanishad VII, VII – Understanding as Brahman, 1

Strength is, verily, greater than understanding.

One strong man causes a hundred men of understanding to tremble. When a man is strong he can rise. If he rises he can attend on the teachers. If he attends on them he can become their intimate companion as a pupil. If he is their intimate companion he can watch their conduct, listen to their instruction, reflect on what he hears, become convinced of what he reflects on, act and enjoy the result of action. By strength the earth stands firm, by strength the mid-region, by strength heaven, by strength the mountains, by strength the gods and men, by strength cattle and birds, herbs and trees and animals, together with worms, flies and ants, by strength the world stands firm.

Meditate upon strength.

Sama Veda, Chandogya Upanishad VII, VIII – Strength as Brahman, 1

***

*** Excerpts from Change Makers by Ambreesh Mishra…

Even as world leaders gathered at Copenhagen last year to find ways to cut carbon emissions, Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh was already doing its bit to save the planet. The traders’ guild, Vidisha Vyapaar Mahasangh (VVM), held a camp recently to sell power-saving CFL lamps at a 35 per cent discount, instead of the usual power-guzzling filament incandescent lamps. Almost 4,500 CFL lamps worth Rs 4 lakh were sold during the two-day camp. Buoyed by the response, the VVM then held another camp in collaboration with the Vyapaar Mahasangh of the adjacent Ganj Basoda town. “This means fewer old filament bulbs and lower electricity use,” says local MLA Vir Singh Raghuvanshi.

The traders’ guilds are encouraging CFL makers and dealers to set up shop at these camps and offer discounts. The traders set up the camps, arrange publicity for CFLs and complement the discount offered by CFL makers and dealers from their own funds. The movement is the brainchild of VVM president Rajesh Jain, who hit upon the idea of promoting VVM lamps after the monthly power dues of his own grocery store more than halved from Rs 1,200 to Rs 500 per month when he replaced his old

tube-lights and filament bulbs. “Earlier, traders used to donate to temples and build dharamshalas but we think tackling contemporary problems is a better way to contribute to society,” he says.

…this is not all. The VVM now plans to promote the use of solar water heaters and cheaper air-cooling. Small town India, it seems, is fast becoming a vital part of the battle against global warming.

Read in full here

***

*** Excerpts from The Congress’s doublespeak by Coomi Kapoor ***

The Congress party has a history of doublespeak.

…the ruling party’s recent mixed messages on sensitive and emotive issues like the Batla House encounter, welcoming back Kashmiri militants, resuming the dialogue with Pakistan and the formation of Telangana is simply duplicitous, divisive, damaging to the national fabric and irresponsible.

A government flip flop, which has left most of us bewildered, is the sudden decision to hold secretary-level talks with Pakistan this month. Just a week before the announcement of talks, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had given an extremely hawkish interview, which is still on the MEA website.

In London a fortnight back, our Foreign Minister S M Krishna expressed pessimism over the prospects of talks since the Pakistan government has taken no meaningful action against the Pakistan-based perpetrators of the 26/11 attack. In fact, the Pakistan government recently permitted leaders of jihadi groups to stage massive rallies in Muzaffarabad and Lahore where participants vowed that the jihad against India would continue until it hands over Kashmir. To top it all, there was a fresh terror attack in Pune on Saturday.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh’s recent trip to Azamgarh also exemplifies the opportunistic tactic of playing both sides. Singh went to Azamgarh merely to give a sympathetic hearing to those questioning the veracity of the Batla House encounter and demanding a fresh probe, even after the National Human Rights Commission gave a clean chit to the police.

By encouraging suspicions about a genuine crackdown on terrorists, Singh has succeeded in demoralizing the police just days after they had made a fresh arrest in Azamgarh which provided more corroborative evidence in the case. Singh clearly believes that the key to the Muslim vote in the forthcoming UP assembly polls is to pander to false suspicions.

In the process he has succeeded in strengthening misgivings and the sense of alienation within the minority community.

The Home Ministry backing the Jammu and Kashmir government’s proposal to welcome back terrorists settled in PoK, provided they give up militancy, is another example of the ruling party speaking from both sides of its mouth.

…The truth is that the party finds it convenient at times to speak in different voices while addressing different constituencies. It plays the game of good cop and bad cop, with the Gandhis keeping an enigmatic silence and their options open.

Read the article in full.

***

Have a safe, restful weekend.

I was alerted to this wonderful story by my brother-in-law, Prashant. An excerpt from Burnt tyres and salt leads to rain? (emphasis mine):

…Dr Raja Marathe, IIT Bombay alumni and a former Naxal leader who returned to India from the United States a few years ago, may as well be known as Nanded’s rainman. Armed with burning tyres packed with salt, Marathe has single-handedly floated his own rain seeding project in the villages of Nanded (constituency of CM Ashok Chavan) called Lavan Vajra that has now been sanctioned by the collector of the district.

Marathe, an engineer by profession, a doctorate in ‘Lasers’ from RICE university, Houston and one of the architects of the ‘Param Super computer’, heads the project that has managed to get an additional 100 mm rainfall and in some cases also hit 200 mm, in three weeks.

…Refuting the claims of the rain being a coincidence, Marathe says, “If we only had rain after the first or second attempt, it might have been a coincidence. But we’ve done this 14 times now with good results.”

The process is quite simple. “We burn discarded tyres and sprinkle common salt on the flames. The salt vaporises and goes up in the sky riding on the fumes and provides cloud condensation nuclei, as a result of which rainfall usually occurs within four to 96 hours of the warm cloud seeding,” says Marathe. The project could be the many-fold solution to several problems including the drastically low water levels of the Lower Manar Dam that is an irrigation source.

Will this project pollute the environment? “Had the sulphur and the nitrogen levels been high in the tyres, it would have caused the damage but the levels here are negligible. The amount of smoke released by the tyres will not affect the people as it is done in open space. The smoke directly moves upwards in the sky, thus there is nothing to worry,” says Marathe.

The story of how it all began is itself quite fascinating and I would urge those of you on a good broadband connection to watch Dr Marathe’s presentation at Innovations 2010 here.

Image courtesy: Varun Singh, Mid-Day

Somewhat Related Posts:

PlayPumps – An unusual innovation in “Water”

“The City that Ended Hunger” – A friday feel-good story

As many of you would know, “Immigration” is currently a hot issue in Europe – including of course the UK. The issue was recently covred in Stratfor, the widely read commentary on strategic affairs and TIME Magazine had a cover story on this a few days back.

But that is not the point of this post. About 3 weeks ago, I came across an article in The Daily Mail, that suggested an extraordinary attempt at social re-engineering by Labour party in UK. In other words, a cynical effort at exploiting immigration to strengthen its hold on power. In plain English, a classic politics of the “vote-bank”. Shocked? So was I. Read on.

From Using immigration to turn Britain into a nation of Labour voters is so shameful I can hardly believe it by Stephen Glover (emphasis mine):

What will future historians consider to be New Labour’s greatest legacy?…

…My guess, bordering on conviction, is that the achievement for which the Government of 1997 to 2010 will be remembered above all is the unprecedentedly fast rate of immigration into this country.

During this period, some three million immigrants were added to the British population.

…There were doubtless several reasons, most of which we are familiar with. One major cause was a booming economy which created hundreds of thousands of low-paid jobs that indigenous workers were unable or reluctant to fill.

…But some of us have long suspected that there was a deeper cause which had more to do with New Labour’s unspoken philosophy than economic forces. And yet, the suggestion that it had deliberately tried to re-engineer Britain for its own political advantage was almost too outrageous to entertain.

Could a political party in a democracy really do that?

A previously unseen official document from 2000 suggests it could.

…The phrase ‘social objectives’ appears eight times in the document’s executive summary of a few hundred words…Anyone who reads the uncensored document…can hardly be in any doubt as to the importance of these ‘social objectives’. It is a reasonable inference that these included transforming the social make-up of Britain in a way that would be favourable to New Labour.

Migrants, and to a slightly lesser extent their descendants, are much more likely to vote Labour than for any other party. It seems that one shameful motivation behind New Labour’s open-door immigration policy was to alter the social composition of this country so as to improve the chances of the party being reelected.

This confirms what Chris Mullin, the former Labour minister, wrote in his diaries. In January 2004, he lamented the failure of the Government to tackle immigration abuses such as ‘the rackets that surround arranged marriages’ before noting that ‘at least 20 Labour seats depend on Asian votes’.

Even as I write these words I can scarcely believe them. That a political party should have put its narrow, selfish interests above those of the country on so enormously important a matter is deeply shocking. To me it is a thousand times more shocking than all the MPs’ expenses fiddles about which we have learned recently.

…Britain does not belong to Labour, and it is to the party’s eternal shame that it has behaved as though it did.

Box Image: Courtesy, The Daily Mail

***

If reading this reminded you of certain parts of India where a similar transformation (and possible re-engineering) is taking place, you are not wide off the mark.

Sanjeev Sabhlok (Fellow FTI member and IAS officer from the Assam & Meghalaya cadre) who was recently in Assam told me last month in Mumbai that the subject of influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh hardly raises an eyebrow in Assam today. It is almost as if it was an accepted fact – a given.

Of course it suits the powers that be to keep it that way.

Who cares about long-term implications? As Keynes famously wrote, “In the long run we are all dead“.

To realise how these dynamics are affecting the long-term stability of India (and dramatically altering the ground realities in Assam and West Bengal) pl. have a look at this post: “India Breaking” – Read this and Weep

And if you are not feeling too pessimistic already, more numbers and data re. illegal immigration from Bangladesh is here: Some startling stats from the eastern front. And finally, a graphic courtesy The Telegraph from Kolkata – which proves why a picture is worth a thousand words (pl. click to enlarge):

Comments and thoughts welcome (for those who may be new here, my comments policy).

A brief & hurried dissection of Exposing Indian democracy – the Op-Ed in today’s The New Indian Express. Comments and thoughts welcome, as always…

It has now become abundantly clear that Qatar has offered M F Husain citizenship, though it is not entirely clear yet whether one of India’s greatest artists has accepted the offer yet.

What is abundantly clear is that Sh Husain does not have to accept it. It has been offered not forced on him.

If he does, he will have to renounce Indian citizenship. And that, as members of the art fraternity and the public at large say, will be a matter of great shame.

“Public at large”? Can you please share some more insight into the thinking of this public at large?

..India’s reputation as a democracy will be blackened throughout the world.

…because an artist took another country’s citizenship? You cannot be serious!

More importantly, however, Indians themselves will have to ponder important questions relating to democracy, rule of law and public culture in general.

Yes, of course…how about starting from here: Chhatrapati Shivaji, Afzal Khan and a mini riot

the people primarily to blame are of course the thugs of the Sangh Parivar and their leaders.

Specific names of the people with their affiliations please.

The kind of fascist intolerance they display to any viewpoint or perspective that does not square with theirs makes a mockery of democracy.

Wait a minute! Are we talking of Akbaruddin Owaisi who made this chilling statement on the floor of the AP Assembly?

It is legitimate to kill Taslima Nasreen under Islamic law, but unfortunately we could not do it*.

The next sentence lets the real intentions slip:

But that is just a part of the problem. After all, we all know what the Sangh Parivar is all about.

Ahh, so this is about the “Sangh Parivar”!

The other important problem is the unwillingness of the agencies of the state and other parties to take robust steps to counter the illegal activities of the many lumpen arms of the parivar.

Dear Editor: In that case should your diatribe not be directed at the Congress Party which has been at the helm of affairs of the state for 50+ years since 1947?

People get away with whatever they want to do…

Indeed they do…an example here and another one here.

what it (government) should do in short order is put behind bars the Thackerays, Singhals and Togadias.

The Thackerays live in the jurisdiction of a state ruled by Congress…and all of them, including the Singhals and the Togadias, live in India…which is ruled by the UPA propped by the Congress.

I would be very interested to hear a] whether you have taken your recommendations to the Congress party and b] if you did, what was their reaction.

It is supremely ironical that those who routinely instigate violence in which lives are lost and property vandalised should enjoy the protection of the state at the highest level.

Indeed..does the name of Sh Sajjan Kumar ring a bell? or how about people like these?

…the Congress (calculates)… that defending the rule of law is not worth it if it means offending the lunatic fringe…”

I’m glad you said this…It would have been helpful if you could have given some examples…such as:

Of Haj Pilgrims and Unruly Fliers

Will Arundhati Roy pl. stand up for Francois Gautier?

UPDATED: Is Taslima being treated differently from MF Husain?

Related Post:

M F Husain, “Artistic Freedom” and a sense of deja-vu

On Husain, Khajuraho and moral policing

Image courtesy: MFHusain.com

Two things stand out from my visit to Bharat last week: lots of (sometimes too sweet) tea and a palpable sense of hope.

I managed to squeeze in four semi-public meetings during my 4-city trip, and several private conversations centred on political reforms and prospects for change in India..

The first of these meetings – in Bengaluru – was organised by Janaagraha on the topic of “New Age Political Movements” in India. I shared a panel with Dr Shankar Prasad who is contesting as a Loksatta candidate in the upcoming BBMP elections. I spoke about Freedom Team of India (FTI) and how we hope to become the platform for change in Indian politics (will be uploading slides soon)

Two days later, I spent several hours with the latest batch of participants at the MIT School of Government in Pune. We discussed the difficulties of a career in politics and explored some of the factors behind terrorism

This was followed by a late evening (really late – 9pm!) talk in Pune to a large (about 200+!) group of enthusiastic youngsters (thanks to Dinesh and Amit for giving me the opportunity to speak). My presentation was short but the enthusiasm in the room was palpable…

And I spent the last day of my visit at FTI’s first conference in Mumbai.

Two points came up repeatedly in all these discussions:

1. A failure of leadership and lack of leaders with vision, courage and integrity to lead India today
2. The need to be directly involved in politics to make any significant impact on the present situation in India

Although I was often accused of being too pessimistic during these discussions, I remain hopeful…not least because I see people asking questions about their leaders and about why politics in India does not attract the kind of people that other fields do. That itself is a big change…and I believe it is very positive.

The first step to change has to be the awareness (at a mass level) that things are not how they should be…and I think we in India are getting to that point.

You can find more photographs from some of these interactions on the blog’s page on Facebook and below are two excerpts from write-ups on the event in Bengaluru: one by Karthika on iJanaagraha and another by Pramod on his blog.

Some excerpts from Karthika’s post:

Mr Shantanu started his presentation with a dark prediction. According to him, in forty years, India can either be a successful economy or on the brink of complete turmoil. He casually asked a rhetorical question: Where are the leaders who will take us there? It is to fill this gap that he’s launching Freedom Team of India, a platform for individuals from any background who can join and believe in their philosophy which encourages classical liberalism, equal opportunity, maximum freedom and a minimum but strong and enabling government.

…As pointed by Dr.Prasad the mainstream parties are trapped in a vicious circle and neither capable nor willing to transform the nature of politics. This is where both leaders think the new age political parties make sense. But the biggest challenge the new parties face is in attracting 300M middle class Indians to participate.

and an extract from Pramod’s post (titled, “A pleasant political evening”!):

…Shantanu believes that in a couple of decades, India will have a big enough middle class that classical liberalism can be a viable political plank. Until then, when most people are living hand-to-mouth, they won’t be interested in individual freedoms or restricting government. He also believes that by then the Internet and mobile will cut down publicity costs for any political party, and it’s possible to build a grassroots network that circumvents mainstream media….For now, Shantanu is only interested in getting people “to think, and to read” as he put it and engage in serious debate on political issues. He hopes that in a few years he’ll have MP’s running as liberals in some Lok Sabha seats. And Freedom Team will remain a non-electoral but political association of like-minded people.

…However Shantanu made an admittedly outrageous remark that he thinks increasing voter turnout is an over-rated concept and he wished people would be more aware of the issues instead. Well, I do wish that Jaagte Raho doesn’t get consumed in electoral politics and these young minds expose themselves to a wide range of ideologies also. As the moderator himself confessed, sometimes after a lot of campaigning they only see a marginal change in turnout and it’s not like better candidates are getting elected anyway.

…another person called Anand Bala (early 30’s?) who’s quit a decent private sector job and travelled all over India last year just in order to “politically sensitise” himself in a deeper way…mentioned that he’s changed many of his viewpoints after these journeys. He raised some opposition to Shantanu’s free market approach by arguing a role for government intervention too.And there was this other chap who had a foreign twang and asked very pertinent questions. Most memorably why does Shantanu’s plank not talk about healthcare and schooling? He introduced himself as a bachelors student in History, Econ and Political Science. I was stupefied to see a flesh and blood sample of this endangered species in Bangalore.

Later on, I spent some time in a group who were chatting with Shantanu mainly. In fact what piqued me to go for this talk was a reference to Hayek’s Fatal Conceit in the very first page of the FTI’s principles. He runs a blog called Satyameva Jayate and is currently shuttling b/w UK and India as he prepares to move back to India. I haven’t checked him out in any detail yet.

While it is clear that a lot of people desperately want change, few are keen (or able) to work towards bringing about that change. There is also increasing fragmentation amongst the “New Age Political Movements” which cannot be good for anyone who is concerned about reform in the political system (Indeed, the Hope Summit is part of an effort to change this situation)

I can go on and on about this and the other meetings…but instead of boring you with the details of what happened, I would like to close this post with a bunch of (hopefully) thought-provoking questions (emphasis added)…

• Can you really have a “New Age Political Movement” in India without relying on instruments of the system?
• Can one have more impact and/or influence by joining a mainstream/estalished political party and getting them to implement the ideas and policies of “New Age Political Movements”?
• Can any such effort succeed without years of ground-level (or mass-based) activity and without having an organised cadre/organisation of committed members?
• How critical is the “content” of the message (as compared to the “communication”)?
• How can the “New Age Political Movements” get some quick wins?
• How important is to be perceived as “winnable”?
• Should parties target followers or leaders – or both?

…and finally (I’m being deliberately provocative):

Are we (as in all of us involved in some way or the other with “New Age Political Movements”) too “educated” for our own good?

Dwell on these…and do share your views & experiences. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!

P.S. You can read some snippets from the Q&A at the Janaagraha event on their twitter page (look at the tweets from 15th Feb)

Related Posts: Changing India – Step III and Quick Notes from Indore – Part II