New Language Discovered In India
Cultures about to be lost, are still being found. The new language discovered in India, Koro, leaves more questions than answers. From Discovery News:
A team of linguists announced Tuesday that they have discovered a new and unique language, called Koro, in northeastern India, but immediately warned that it was highly endangered.
Only around 800 people are believed to speak the Tibeto-Burman language, and few of them are under the age of 20, according to the researchers who discovered Koro during an expedition as part of National Geographic’s “Enduring Voices” project.
The language, they said, has never been written down.
Continues at Discovery News …
From National Geographic:
Recipe For Disaster? India Divides Sacred Site Between Muslims and Hindus
I almost hate to say it, but is this the next Jerusalem? From the Wall Street Journal:
NEW DELHI—An Indian court ruled Thursday that a sacred site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims should be divided, in a complex decision that will test whether India has moved beyond the violent religious passions that bedeviled the nation in the 1990s.
In the ruling, two of the three judges in the case found that the site be divided into three parts—two for the Hindu side and one for Muslims. Two of the judges also found that the site was the birthplace of Lord Ram, a significant ruling for the Hindu side. The court said no action would be taken for three months and the Muslim side said it would appeal to the Supreme Court of India.
The case, before the Allahabad High Court in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, has been running since 1950…
Drug Resistant Indian Superbug Spreading
From Reuters:
A new superbug could spread around the world after reaching Britain from India — in part because of medical tourism — and scientists say there are almost no drugs to treat it.
Researchers said on Wednesday they had found a new gene called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, in patients in South Asia and in Britain.
NDM-1 makes bacteria highly resistant to almost all antibiotics, including the most powerful class called carbapenems, and experts say there are no new drugs on the horizon to tackle it.
With international travel in search of cheaper healthcare increasing, particularly for procedures such as cosmetic surgery, Timothy Walsh, who led the study, said he feared the new superbug could soon spread across the globe…
[continues at Reuters]
Coming Soon: The Bollywood Hitler Movie
Dear Friend Hitler is a lighthearted Bollywood romp, presumably filled with dancing, based on “Hitler’s love for India and how he indirectly contributed to Indian independence.” Anupam Kher and Neha Dhupia star as Hitler and Eva Braun (although Kher just quit, following the public controversy). The Guardian reports:
Western productions have occasionally attempted to make fun of Hitler, ranging from successes like The Producers to fiascos like Heil Honey, I’m Home. But Dear Friend Hitler is not a traditional Bollywood musical, and makes no claim to comedy. “It aims to capture the personality of Adolf Hitler and his insecurities, his charisma and his paranoia during the last few days of his life,” Kumar says. In other words, this is Downfall – but with a positive spin.
India’s Castes: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Count?
Jason Overdorf reports that for the first time in 80 years India may get a true tally of an ancient system, in Globalpost:
NEW DELHI, India — The 2,000-year-old Hindu caste system remains the most powerful force in Indian society.
Friendships, business ties and marriages live and die according to its dictates. Political parties carefully script their election tickets according to its mathematics. And an increasing number of government policies — including spiraling quotas for government jobs and university education — follow its logic.
But it’s not polite to talk about it, and might even be dangerous to quantify it…
Gandhi’s Sex Life Laid Bare in New Book
From Yahoo News:
A new book on Mahatma Gandhi has delved into the intimate life of the Indian icon whose famous vow of chastity did not prevent him sleeping with naked women and conducting bizarre sex “experiments”.
“Gandhi: Naked Ambition” by British historian Jad Adams sheds new light on the spiritual leader and independence hero whose spartan existence and resistance to earthly pleasures are an integral part of his popular image.
The book has been released in Britain and will be available soon in India where it is bound to make waves in a country where Gandhi’s image is fiercely protected and a source of national pride.
That his attitudes to sex were censorious and unusual is well known. He wrote of his disgust at himself for having intercourse with his wife Kasturba, aged 15, when his father died in 1885.
In later life, having fathered four children, he forbade even married couples in his…
Yoga As A Political Movement
The return of yogis to political life? From the New York Times:
HARIDWAR, India — The sun slumbered well beneath the horizon, but Swami Ramdev had been up for hours. Swathed in a saffron loincloth, he led his charges, a few hundred devotees in this holy city on the Ganges River and tens of millions more watching on television, through a rapid-fire series of yoga poses.
“If you sweat this much in the morning, you will never get old,” he shouted, the Chiclet-white dazzle of his smile undimmed by the wild bush of his beard. His own 50-ish body, lithe and supple as it whipped through the poses, underscored the point.
Without skipping a beat, Swami Ramdev, who as one of India’s most popular and influential gurus has reintroduced yoga to India’s masses, segued seamlessly into his latest passion: politics.
“We clean up our bodies,” he cried. “Then we will clean up our democracy!”
Swami…
Headless Human Sacrifice Victim Found In Indian Temple
Cutting off people’s heads as a gesture to the gods may have fallen out of favor, but it still happens sometimes, BBC News reports:
The severed head and torso of a man has been found in a temple in the Indian state of West Bengal in what the police say is a case of “human sacrifice.” The head and the body were found at the local temple to the goddess Kali near Chotomakdampur village in the western district of Birbhum.
“This man has been sacrificed to propitiate the gods,” said local official Kalyan Mukherjee. “This is a shame for Bengal where the ruling Left coalition claim they have eradicated social evils and combated superstition,” an opposition leader Samir Kumar Ray said.
Indian Military to Weaponize World’s Hottest Chili
WASBIR HUSSAIN writes on the Associated Press:
GAUHATI, India — The Indian military has a new weapon against terrorism: the world’s hottest chili.
After conducting tests, the military has decided to use the thumb-sized “bhut jolokia,” or “ghost chili,” to make tear gas-like hand grenades to immobilize suspects, defense officials said Tuesday.
The bhut jolokia was accepted by Guinness World Records in 2007 as the world’s spiciest chili. It is grown and eaten in India’s northeast for its taste, as a cure for stomach troubles and a way to fight the crippling summer heat.
It has more than 1,000,000 Scoville units, the scientific measurement of a chili’s spiciness. Classic Tabasco sauce ranges from 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units, while jalapeno peppers measure anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000.
Coca-Cola and Water Use in India: “Good Till the Last Drop”
From ScienceBlogs.com:
The marketing executive who came up with Coca-Cola’s popular slogan in 1908 most likely never expected it would be taken so literally. However, a hundred years ago there probably weren’t many who imagined a term like “water wars” could exist in a region that experiences annual monsoons.
On February 25 a complaint was filed in the New York Supreme Court against the The Coca-Cola Company alleging that they knew about and sought to cover up human rights abuses in Guatemala. While that trial gets started, the company’s controversial practices in India continue involving the over-exploitation of limited water resources and the contamination of groundwater supplies. In response to public outcry the soft drink company is now championing itself as a longtime environmental leader and the business community is eager to advertise their claim. Yesterday CNN Money reported that:
Coke has been a leader when it comes to environmental issues: It is aiming to be…
Forbes Billionaires List Shifts To China, India & Mexico
Carlos Slim Helú. Photo: José Cruz/ABr (CC)
A sure sign that the balance of power is shifting away from the United States and Europe towards developing nations is shown in the new Forbes list, with the Mexican Carlos Slim Helu beating out Bill Gates for the top spot and China claiming more billionaires than any country outside the US.
India’s billionaires, however, are richer, as reported in the Christian Science Monitor:
With the release of the latest Forbes rich list of billionaires, India is finding much to brag about – even as other fast-growing economies like China make their mark.
Eight Indians made Forbes magazine’s latest list of the top 100 billionaires, and two – energy tycoon Mukesh Ambani and steel mogul Lakshmi Mittal – sit in the top 5. Mr. Ambani is now the fourth richest person in the world, and the richest person in the Asia-Pacific region.
The highest-ranking Chinese person on the…
Criticising GM Crops May Land You In Jail
Imran Khan for express buzz:
BANGALORE [India]: Criticising Genetically Modified (GM) products could land you in jail — if the draconian draft Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill (BRAB) of 2009, which will be tabled in the current session of the parliament by the UPA government, is passed.
In an unprecedented muzzle on the right to freedom of speech of the citizen, Chapter 13 section 63 of the draft bill says, “Whoever, without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about the safety of the organisms and products…shall be punished with imprisonment for a term that shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year and with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees or with both.” The BRAI Bill drafted by the department of bio-technology under the Ministry of Science and Technology comes on the heels of a moratorium on Bt Brinjal announced by the Environment…
Zero-Rupee Bribes for Bent Indian Officials
From ABC News:
Indians are being urged to hand over a note worth zero rupees when asked for a bribe, in a bid to stamp out corruption among officials.
Last year, international corruption watchdog Transparency International said almost 4 million Indian families had to bribe officials for access to basic services.
Vijay Anand, from the lobby group 5th Pillar, says they began distributing the worthless note because of a lack of practical solutions for tackling corruption.
“The topic of corruption have never been on the surface,” he said.
“Everybody was practising it, paying bribes, getting their jobs done. We thought that the fundamental reason was there was lack of alternatives – there was no practical solutions, no alternatives.
“So we thought we should come up with something. One of our volunteers came up with the idea of the zero-rupee note and we then launched it on a wide scale.”
The note, similar to a real 50-rupee note,…
Let’s Not Deny The Evidence That Australia Has A Problem With Racism
[disinformation® editor's note: The author is not a native English speaker; we have chosen to leave the article largely "as is" so please bear with his grammatical errors. Please also note that the views expressed are those of the author alone and The Disinformation Company does not necessarily agree with or endorse those views.]
Australia will not win the respect of the world by being defensive on the issue of racism as and when it arise. The issue of racism is not going to go away simply because our politicians (Cream, Gillard, Rudd), police chief (Simon Overland) denied its existence.
Indian government and media have every right to feel angry with what had happened to their fee paying students in Australia. The frequency of attacks and verbal abuses against Indian citizens in Australia is at an intolerable high level. We can only find out the actual figure through the police department. In fact,…
Indian Numerologist Transforms Lives With Name Changes
By Vikas Bajaj for the New York Times:
MUMBAI, India — Sanjay B. Jumaani has your number — and for a fee he can offer you an upgrade.
Mr. Jumaani is one of this bustling city’s most famous numerologists. He studies dates of birth and other numbers associated with his clients — who include Bollywood stars, famed cricket players and corporations — and then suggests changes to names, wardrobe or jewelry that can improve their fortunes.
After seeking help from him and other numerologists, actors have added or dropped letters from their names — the actor Ajay Devgan recently became Ajay Devgn. Filmmakers have deliberately misspelled the titles of their movies — “Singh is Kinng” was a recent hit. And companies have redesigned brands and logos.
Recently, a travel company started a luxury train service, The Indian Maharaja – Deccan Odyssey. Mr. Jumaani had recommended adding the word “The” and hyphenating the name. Sajivv…
25-year-old massacre Haunts India’s Sikhs
From CNN:
Gurdeep Kaur’s wrinkled face was wet with tears, as she recounted what she saw a quarter century ago: the killings of 21 of family members.She recalled how maddened mobs barged into her home and burned alive her husband, two of her sons and a son-in-law because they were Sikhs, easily identified by their beards and turbans wrapped around their uncut hair as their faith required them.
In her neighborhood in the Indian capital of New Delhi, many of her other relatives were among hundreds killed the same way and for the same reason on a single day, November 1, 1984.
Thousands of Sikhs were lynched or burned alive in parts of India in the wake of the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The attacks started in the evening of October 31 that year, when Gandhi was murdered, and went on until November 3. Amnesty International put…
Indian Origins of Christianity
Excerpts from “19000 Years of World History: The Story of Religion” by Prithviraj R – a reconstruction of 19,000 year world history, based on the historical content of the scriptures and theologies of ancient religions. The book, for the first time, explains the precise way in which the major religions of the world were born, in a new framework of human history.
Christian theology keeps tying up scholars in knots. There are a lot unexplained elements in it, which almost look mysterious.
What does the phrase “Son of Man” mean? We can understand what “Son of God” means, but what does “Son of Man” mean? Why are the two phrases “Son of Man” and “Son of God” used interchangeably in the scriptures? The explanation generally given is that Jesus wanted to show himself as both human and divine, so both these phrases were used by him. However, the term “Son of Man”…
