Log on to save Mother Earth!

B D Narayankar

Pune: You wake up in the morning and rush to your school. In this process, have you ever thought what damage you had done to the Mother Earth - because you use the school bus, it emits tons of carbon in the air; you use paper, which comes to you after pulling down millions of bamboo trees. These are the dangers that the classical mode of educational system (schools and colleges) dish out to mankind. So, what's the way out?

One of the most effective ways to reduce carbon footprints is online education. In fact, Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI) and UK's Open University Design Innovation Group (DIG) have suggested online education as a remedy against environmental pollution.

Though little research has been done on the topic, SEI and DIG have released some relevant studies in 2005. Their work quantifies the environmental impact of the higher education sector and lauds the “potential of the Internet and other e-learning methods to radically reduce energy consumption and emissions.”

The key finding of the UK study was that distance learning courses consumed nearly 90% less energy and produced 85% fewer CO2 emissions than conventional campus university courses.

By logging on, instead of traveling to the age-old campuses, you are contributing towards making your surroundings or the world, greener and verdant. Virtual education, unlike the distance education, is more accessible to students, without disturbing the ecological balance - it doesn't bleed the Mother Earth.

Students are no longer limited to college campuses within a 50-mile radius. The online format offers access to countless specialty programs globally by building a global community.

One such platform making accessible best of the courses online and contributing towards the “Go Green” movement is WiZiQ which has made available a number of preparatory courses like CET, CAT, CA and IAS, for students to learn while conserving resources.

According to a spokesperson, WiZiQ.com is an online learning platform focused on empowering teachers and education service providers to reach out to students and make learning more effective over the Internet.

It boasts of a free Virtual Classroom that is equipped with live audio-video communication, chat, content sharing, and session recording capabilities. For more details contact: 9921347562

Modi alerted PM about Delhi blasts: Advani

Bangalore, Sep 13 (IANS) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had 10 days ago alerted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the serial bomb blasts that rocked New Delhi, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said here late Saturday.

"About 10 days ago, Modi told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and National Security Adviser (NSA) M.K. Narayanan in Delhi that interrogation of the accused involved in the July 26 Ahmedabad blasts had revealed similar serial blasts were planned to take place in the national capital," Advani revealed, raising eyebrows.

Addressing a mammoth crowd at the party's first Vijay Sankalp rally at the National College grounds here, Advani said the accused, linked with the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), did not tell where and when the bomb blasts would take place but had claimed it would be in Delhi.

"Modi's alert or warning to the prime minister was not an apprehension but (it was) on the basis of sustained investigation that was done by the Gujarat police and which made him realise it was going to happen even in the capital. Modi also told the PM that it was for the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government to pursue the matter," Advani recalled.

Modi was on the dais along with BJP president Rajnath Singh, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and other party leaders when Advani made the remarks after condemning the blasts and expressed condolence to the victims of the Delhi blasts.

It was mediapersons who first told Leader of Opposition Advani about the six blasts in the national capital when he was about to leave the state guesthouse for the public rally venue.

"They (mediapersons) wanted my reaction to the ghastly incident. I told them I cannot say anything now, as I did not I have details. All the same, I condemn them and express concern that serial blasts have occurred again, this time in Delhi," Advani said.

Sharing his anguish on the series of terror blasts that have taken place over the years in major cities such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmedabad, Advani said the UPA government, which had been "soft on terror elements", could not blame the Delhi blasts as "failure of intelligence".

"The refrain of the UPA government had been to blame the Intelligence Bureau (IB) all along for the various blasts. This time, the government can't even tell that the Delhi blasts took place due to the intelligence failure. If the IB failed, our Gujarat chief minister had already forewarned them," Advani asserted.

In this context, Advani also criticised the central home ministry for failing to provide evidence to a Delhi High Court tribunal on extending the ban on SIMI recently. The tribunal had last month asked the government to lift the ban, though the government approached the Supreme Court within days and the ban was restored.

"It was the NDA (BJP-led National Democratic Alliance) government that first banned SIMI and submitted hard evidence under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, for extending the ban three times.

"But when the UPA government was asked to present evidence before the tribunal for extending the ban, the home ministry failed to do so. As a result, the tribunal was compelled to revoke the ban in the absence of hard evidence from the ministry to justify the continuation of ban.

"It is a matter of relief that the Supreme Court intervened and reimposed the ban on SIMI," Advani noted.

Modi says he alerted PM, Gujarat police clueless

Bangalore/Ahmedabad, Sep 13 (IANS) As six blasts shook the national capital Saturday, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said he had alerted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the terror plot on the basis of the interrogation of suspects but the Gujarat police said they had "no inkling" of any threat to New Delhi.

"Suspects arrested after the Ahmedabad blasts had told our police clearly that very soon there will be blasts in Delhi. They had said that all preparations for the blasts have been completed and only orders to carry them out were awaited," Modi told reporters in Bangalore.

"Ten days ago, when I met the prime minister, the home minister (Shivraj Patil) and the National Security Adviser (M.K. Narayanan) in New Delhi, I had specifically alerted them that the terrorists being interrogated by the Gujarat police had indicated Delhi was going to be their next target," Modi told reporters.

"The terrorists had said they were going to target Delhi in the near future, though we did not have specific dates or places," he added.

While senior Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani repeated Modi's remarks at a Bangalore rally and said his alert was no heeded, the Gujarat police said there was no specific information on the Delhi blast plot.

"We had no inkling of any plot for the Delhi blasts in the near future from the interrogation of SIMI activists so far. We knew they were desperate and they would be doing it at some other place," said Ashish Bhatia, joint commissioner of police (Crime Branch) of Ahmedabad, told IANS.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) R.V. Ansari said: "No clues. Absolutely no clues came of the Delhi angle during interrogation of the SIMI activists by Ahmedabad crime branch.

"We suspected something was in the offing. These men are pathologically inclined to do what they want do as long as they are not caught," Ansari told IANS.

The Gujarat police have been interrogating 10 Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists along with their leader Saffar Nagori in connection with the July 26 serial bombings in Ahmedabad that claimed 56 lives.

The Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Ahmedabad as well as in New Delhi.

Gujarat Director General of Police P.P. Pande had last month said the Indian Mujahideen was nothing but a new front of the banned SIMI.

Modi, in Bangalore to attend the BJP national executive meeting which began Friday, said innocent people were being killed due to "the soft policy adopted by the central government".

He said the states should be allowed to frame anti-terror laws to combat extemism.

Modi said he had raised the issue of terrorism earlier Saturday during the national executive meet.

"If we want to fight terrorism, the country will have to unite against terrorists," he said.

BJP's prime ministerial candidate Advani also told the party's Vijay Sankalp Yatra in Bangalore later Saturday that Modi had informed the prime minister and the home minister of the threat.

"Modi had alerted the prime minister and the home minister 10 days back that interrogation of SIMI activists in Ahmedabad had revealed that next blasts would be in Delhi," Advani said.

"Modi's alert has not been heeded," Advani said.

Advani dares UPA to hold Lok Sabha polls now

Bangalore, Sep 14 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate L. K. Advani late Saturday challenged the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to dissolve Parliament and hold Lok Sabha elections immediately.

"I throw challenge to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to hold general elections now so that people can give their verdict," Advani said at the party's first 'Vijay Sankalp (victory affirmation) rally here.

"Dissolve Lok Sabha. Announce elections. Why wait till May next year," the opposition leader in Lok Sabha said.

Asserting that the people of India wanted to get rid the "corrupt" and "incompetent" government, Advani told the crowd that now was the time to let people decide who should govern the country, which he said had been brought to the brink by the government's failure on all fronts.

"Let the electorate decide which party or alliance is better to rule the country. Let us test to find out who has the people's mandate to form the next government. Let the people have a chance to compare the performance of our NDA government with that of the UPA government," Advani said raising his voice during his 35-minute address in English and Hindi.

"In my six decades of political life, I have not come across a prime minister who could not take credit for any achievement as in the case of Manmohan Singh. The perception in the establishment is success belongs to Sonia Gandhi and failures to Manmohan Singh," he added.

Holding the UPA government responsible for inflation, price rise, agrarian crisis, terrorism and a flawed Indo-US nuclear deal, the BJP leader called the cash-for-votes incident "a mega scam".

"I am sorry to say that by this single act of misdemeanour, which can be dubbed mega scam, Manmohan Singh has forfeited any moral right to be a man of integrity and purity in public life," Advani said.

Advani also lauded the people of Karnataka for having voted his party to power for the first time in the state and south India.

Major attacks since 2003

Agencies

New Delhi, September 13, 2008

At least five bombs exploded in crowded markets and streets in the heart of New Delhi on Saturday, killing at least 18 people and injuring scores more. The Indian Mujahideen militant group, which has claimed several major attacks in recent months, said it was responsible.

Following is a chronology of some of the major attacks in India in the past five years:

March 13, 2003 - A bomb attack on a commuter train in Mumbai kills 11 people.

August 25, 2003 - Two car bombs kill about 60 in Mumbai.

August 15, 2004 - A bomb explodes in the northeastern state of Assam, killing 16 people, mostly schoolchildren, and wounding dozens.

October 29, 2005 - Sixty-six people are killed when three blasts rip through markets in New Delhi.

March 7, 2006 - At least 15 people are killed and 60 wounded in three blasts in the northerly Hindu pilgrimage city of Varanasi.

July 11, 2006 - More than 180 people are killed in seven bomb explosions at railway stations and on trains in Mumbai that are blamed on Islamist militants.

September 8, 2006 - At least 32 people are killed in a series of explosions, including one near a mosque, in Malegaon town, 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Mumbai.

February 19, 2007 - Two bombs explode aboard a train heading from India to Pakistan; at least 66 passengers, most of them Pakistanis, burn to death.

May 18, 2007 - A bomb explodes during Friday prayers at a historic mosque in the southern city of Hyderabad, killing 11 worshippers. Police later shoot dead five people in clashes with hundreds of enraged Muslims who protest against the attack.

August 25, 2007 - Three coordinated explosions at an amusement park and a street stall in Hyderabad kill at least 40 people.

May 13, 2008 - Seven bombs rip through the crowded streets of the western city of Jaipur, killing at least 63 people in markets and outside Hindu temples.

July 25 - Eight small bombs hit the IT city of Bangalore, killing at least one woman and wounding at least 15.

July 26 - At least 16 small bombs explode in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, killing 45 people and wounding 161. A little-known group called the "Indian Mujahideen" claims responsibility for the attack and the May 13 attack in Jaipur.

September 13 - At least five bombs explode in crowded markets and streets in the heart of New Delhi, killing at least 18 people and injuring scores more. The Indian Mujahideen again claim responsibility.

Govt soft on terror: Advani

Swagata Sen The Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, Lal Krishna Advani, began his Vijay Sankalp Yatra at Bangalore’s National College Grounds with a strong message against terrorism, where he blamed the ruling government’s soft approach to terrorism which was responsible for the recent spate of serial blasts in the country, culminating with those in Delhi on Saturday evening. Addressing the first rally of the nationwide journey that he has taken up to campaign in the light of the forthcoming general elections, Advani said that “intelligence failure” cannot be cited as a reason for the government’s not being able to prevent the blasts Ten days ago, the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had met the national security advisor and informed the prime minister and the home minister that his state police’s investigations had shown that Delhi was the next target for blasts. A tough approach to terrorism is one of the BJP’s most important issues in the forthcoming elections, as Advani, along with party president Rajnath Singh, reiterated their stand on implementing stringent anti-terrorist laws to check the web of terror that has gripped the country. The first meeting of the Vijay Sankalp Yatra saw Advani being accompanied by leaders such as Venkaiah Naidu and Jaswant Singh and the chief ministers of six states barring Rajasthan’s Vasundhara Raje Scindia, who had to rush to Jaipur on the second day of the BJP National Executive Meeting that is to be concluded on Sunday. Speaking to the thousands that had gathered, Advani challenged the government to hold elections right away, as the prime minister, he said, does not have a single achievement to boast of. He touched upon the Amarnath controversy and inflation as examples of government failures, as upon the cash-for-vote scandal at the recent trust vote. Earlier, Modi, in his resolution speech at the meet, came dowm heavily on terror as well, saying that “Those concerned about terror obviously support GOJCOC (Gujarat’s proposed anti-terror law), those concerned about terrorists understandably oppose it,” making a reference to the Home Ministry’s opposition to the proposed law.

Modi ‘had alerted PM’

BANGALORE: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said he had alerted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 10 days ago that Delhi would be the next target of terrorists after Ahmedabad and Bangalore. “Suspects arrested after the Ahmedabad blasts had clearly told our police that very soon there will be blasts in Delhi. They had said that all preparations for the blasts had been completed and only orders to carry them out were awaited,” Modi told reporters here. “Ten days ago, when I met the prime minister, the home minister (Shivraj Patil) and the national security adviser (M K Narayanan) in New Delhi, I had specifically informed them that the terrorists being interrogated by the Gujarat police had indicated Delhi was going to be their next target,” Modi said.- IANS

Delhi Blasts: A Secularist Questions

Sanjukta

My family, my whole family, mom dad sis, had a narrow escape in today’s Delhi serial blasts. By ‘narrow’ I mean really really narrow. They were a few meters away from the blast site, and were AT the site from where live bombs were found minutes later.

Only I know what I felt during the time I heard about the blasts till the time my family got a three wheeler and reached home safely. At last I had a sigh of relief but today they escaped, what about tomorrow? And if not my family what about the families of those 20 that did lose their life and those 100s battling for in the hospital?

The first thought that my sister had after having a narrow escape from the blast was that “we have all been turned into insects, just waiting to be crushed anytime. There is no value of our lives, you never know when, where and how.”

A million thoughts came to mind. What exactly do these people want? I really wonder if there is anything that we could offer them so that they would stop this blood shed. Earlier we thought, okay the terror attacks on India by Islamic groups are because they want Kashmir. Some people even went to the extent of respectfully calling them freedom fighters for Kashmir and terrorists for federal India. But this Indian Mujahideen, they simply are just mindless blood thirsty psychos.

Looking at the things they said in their emails you wonder how can any group utter such non-sense.

What promise? What sins? What on earth are they trying to do? Are they really so naive to think they’d ever achieve anything in this manner. No matter how flawed our governance is or how weak our intelligence is do they really think they can successfully wage and win a war against an entire nation’s force? Are they that stupid?

In all the news channels this email was shown today. The opening line says, “in the name of Allah.” So do they mean their Allah told them to kill people? Kill which people? Hindu or Muslim or other religion people? Or did Allah specifically ask them to kill Indians of whatever religion? Are they going to kill Indians living in India only or NRIs too?

These Muslim religious leaders keep issuing Fatwas for all sort of reasons. Last they said, Salman Khan is not a Muslim any more and imposed a social boycott on him and his family because Salman did a Ganesh puja. They said idol worship is against Islam. Then they said Muslim women can’t use mobiles, can’t travel alone, can’t buy products from sales men etc.

Now why can’t these Imams issue a Fatwa against these terrorist declaring them as non Muslim on the ground that killing innocent people is against Islam. Or at least condemn the killings. Since nothing of that sort ever happens, should we then assume that killing innocent people is NOT against Islam?

Am sure the Hindutva brigade would jump at this now and say, “that’s the whole point we been trying to make for so long”. But let’s not get into that now.

This Hindutva v. Jihad is pure politics, a game of power, which has got nothing to do with the people dying. Those who are dying, whether Hindu or Muslim are neither interested in Hindutva nor in Jihad, they are just regular law abiding peaceful citizen of this country going about their life rather unaware of the dangerous religious politics their leaders are playing all over the world in the name of their religion. They just want to live their life at peace.

The only way to fight terrorism is by not being terrorised. ‘Not be terrorized’ would mean to not jump the gun and brand the next Muslim you see on the street as terrorist. Neither should we assume that every Muslim subscribe to these killings or would eventually become a jihadi.

Irrespective of what their holy book say or what their leaders may insist, no human being of sane mind would to become a killer. People really just want to live their lives. It’s always those few rotten apples that spoil the whole bunch.

That said, I really wonder what impact do groups like ‘Indian Mujahideen’ have on the average Muslim youth in India and across the world. Why don’t we ever read or hear enough from them? Not just this issue, why don’t the average Muslim speak against arbitrary diktats their religious leaders often impose.

Though Salim Khan is a welcome exception in this context. He not only openly questioned the locus standi of the Imam to issue any kind of Fatwa but also went on to say his wife being a Hindu, celebrating Ganeshotsav is in his blood. Those are some brave words from a truly secular and brave Indian Muslim. Mr Khan said,

But besides that, why ain’t their enough voices against such high degree of gender discrimination I juts mentioned above? Don’t the educated Muslim men see the craziness behind such mindset? Can’t they be vocal about it? I would really need some answers to these questions without which it really gets difficult for a secularist to defend them when another counter-terrorism group attacks another bunch of innocent people as a natural reaction to terrorism.

Even keeping the religion completely aside, if we could look at these attacks purely as law and order problem; lack of intelligence; lack of ground level security measures issue, we would achieve a lot. I mean the funniest things that I notice in such times are 1) The High Alerts in each city 2) Politician’s condemnation pouring in from all sides 3) and the speculation over the intensity of the bombs. That’s all we do and all we achieve after those long hours of “breaking news” telecast. But what happens after that? Nothing.

Every time a Modi would say we need more stringent laws to tackle terrorism. But what can law do when our ground level policing is not effective. We don’t have enough smart and active police keeping a daily vigil at various nook and corner of the city. Instead we have pan chewing pot bellied yawning police men who are busy collecting bribes from petty criminals.

You have a terrorist group carrying on its illegal activity in a certain city for months together before the actual blast but not one local police constable would suspect a thing. They must be visiting the spots couple of times to design their attack, they must be buying raw materials from some place to make these bombs, they must be using cell phones to communicate. Can’t we have intelligence which could nab these culprits at such sources?

There is no answer why our security is so flawed that we never ever get a clue before the attacks take place. So many blasts in the last couple of years but how many arrests? How many cases solved? How many proven guilty beyond doubt?

Another fashionable thing to do after such blast is to blame media for their coverage style. Today, they frowned upon CNN IBN’s showing the life less body of a woman lying on the pavement over and over again. They said, “media only wants to show gory pictures exaggerating things. The city is calm, media is making it look like a war situation.”

Not showing the gory picture wouldn’t help anything you know. It’s not media’s problem that we feel uncomfortable to see the gory picture. Moreover even if one person is dead that is a serious matter, why blame the media? That’s a real body lying there, not a fake body that media has thrown in to create sensation.

Media also got blamed for giving extreme coverage to the email from Indian Mujahideen. Logic? That ‘coverage’ is exactly what the terrorist want so the media is in a serving their purpose. Yes, that may be true but that doesn’t mean Media would keep quiet about the emails. The people of this nation ought to know everything that is there to be known. Controlled information is not going to help.

Yet another rhetoric is “the people of blah blah city has shown that they cannot be cowed down by terror activities. Life gets back in track with full spirit.” My sister called me from the blast site. She said, “People ain’t panicking here. Those who were at bus stops are still waiting for their buses, not everybody can afford an auto even on a crisis day. Dad still tried to bargain with the auto guy.”

So the question is-this ‘not panicking’ is a sign of what? Is it ’strength’ or ’surrender’? or is it Apathy? Or are we getting immune to terror attacks?

Whatever it is, it is not a good sign that every time we fall, we get up, get going only to fall again. We must strike back and show these criminals their place. They have dared us enough. This is no less than an attack on our sovereignty. When will we ever say enough is enough?

Terror in the name of Islam: what purpose does it serve?

Perpetrators behind the recent terror attacks in major Indian cities - including Saturday’s Delhi bombings that left at least 20 dead and scores injured - are still shrouded in mystery. But the needles of suspicion are pointing towards groups with Muslim names. And if they are indeed to blame, we need to ask what purpose do such acts serve other than damaging the standing of the community in whose name it’s all being done.

Irrespective of whether or not Muslims have a link to these dastardly attacks, as a society we are again confronted with shame that a small bunch of radicalised people acting in the name of faith carry out crimes against innocents. Men and women hysterically screaming for their dear ones who died in these terrible blasts should be an indictment enough from a religious, moral and humanist point of view.

On Saturday, when Muslims observed Ramadan and Hindus were engrossed in Ganesh Chaturthi, five bombs ripped through three market places crowded with weekend shoppers in the national capital. The intent was evident. Target innocents and scare the others.

Why are you doing this? This is the question that requires answer from those who do it purportedly in the name of Islam. With whatever conviction they do it, all reasons fall flat in the face of the death of an innocent. If it’s really done to avenge the Gujarat 2002 mayhem and the demolition of Babri Masjid, why do they forget that Islam prohibits acts of vengeance and shedding of innocent blood.

In fact, the holy Quran teaches us to repel evil with good: ‘Those who patiently persevere, seeking the countenance of their Lord; establish regular prayers; spend out of (the gifts) We (Allah) have bestowed for their sustenance, secretly and openly; and turn off evil with good: for such there is the final attainment of the (Eternal) Home.’ (verse 13:22)

If it is true that the Indian Mujahideen - which claimed responsibility for Saturday’s mayhem - is indeed a Muslim outfit, they must understand that nothing more can harm Islam and Muslims than this act, which from all angles is anti-Islamic. The ultimate debasement of human values inflicting agony on innocent people cannot be justified on any count.

To believe that such shameful acts will help rebuild the demolished Babri Masjid, reverse what happened to innocent Muslims in Gujarat or make India pack up from Jammu and Kashmir is nothing but delusion harboured by corrupted and insane minds. Terror does no good to anybody and states rarely cave in to terror.

Such acts only shrink the space for Muslims in the entire world and of course in India, where anybody with a Muslim name already faces difficulties to find a house in cities. If the mindless violence continues, time is not far when our expulsion becomes inevitable, only because of a handful of extremist Muslims’ provocation.

And the outfits which benefit from such situations will try to cash in on it. Our country has no dearth of fanatics using such violence for vote bank politics. It is time to wake up before it gets too dark to see the light of truth.

(Sarwar Kashani is with IANS and can be contacted at s.kashani@ians.in. The views expressed are personal.)