Ramanisblog

Tag: Haryana

  • Festival Of God Sisters Karwah Chauth

    It is the unique feature of Hindu Fesivals to have a spiritual meaning,as in Pongal,Baisakhi which celebrates the Compassion of the Sun for providing good yield from the earth.


    Embed from Getty Images

     

    It also serves a social purpose , that of uniting the family members in all the functions.

     

    In one festival celebrated in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, western Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Gujarat States of India meets the psychological needs a  newly married bride.

     

    In the early days distance was an issue, girls married to a far off place would feel lonelyand feel depressed.

     

    She develops a  close friendship with a woman, of nearly the same age, of the bride and both the girls share their joys and sorrows.

     

    There is another legend.

     

    Karva is another word for ‘pot’ (a small earthen pot of water) and chauth means ‘fourth’ in Hindi (a reference to the fact that the festival falls on the fourth day of the dark-fortnight, or krishna paksh, of the month of Kartik).[8] It is uncertain how the festival originated and how it came to be celebrated only in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. One hypothesis is that military campaigns and long-distance travel usually resumed around the time of the festival, as the area dried and numerous rivers of the region (see Sapta Sindhu) subsided from the effects of the monsoon. Women observed the fast to pray for the safety of their husbands at this time as they ventured away from home. The festival coincides with the wheat-sowing time (i.e., the beginning of the Rabi crop cycle). Big earthen pots in which wheat is stored are sometimes called Karvas, so the fast may have begun as a prayer for a good harvest in this predominantly wheat-eating region.

     

    This Festival falls on the Chaturthi, Fourth day of the Waning Moon,Krishna paksha  Nine days before Diwali. It falls on the fourth day of the Kartik month.
    The pooja preparations start a day in advance. Married women buy the shringar or the traditional adornments and the other pooja items like the karwa, matthi, heena etc.

    Early in the morning they prepare food and have it before sunrise. The morning passes by in other festive activities like decorating hand and feet with heena, decorating the pooja thali and meeting friends and relatives.

    In the late afternoon women gather at a common place like temple or a garden or someones’ place who has arranged the pooja. An elderly lady or the pujarin narrates the legend of Karwa Chouth.

    The essentials of this gathering and listening of the Karwa chauth story , a special mud pot, that is considered a symbol of lord Ganesha, a metal urn filled with water, flowers, idols of Ambika Gaur Mata, Goddess Parwati and some fruits, mathi and food grains. A part of this is offered to the deities and the storyteller.

    Earlier an idol of Gaur Mata was made using earth and cowdung. Now just an idol of Goddess Parwati is kept. Every one lights an earthen lamp in their thalis while listening to the Karwa story. Sindoor, incense sticks and rice are also kept in the thali.

    At this time the women wear heavy saris or chunries in red , pink or other bridal colors, and adorn themselves with all other symbols of a married women like, nose pin, tika, bindi, chonp, bangles, earrings etc.

    Once the moon rises, the women see its reflection in a thali of water, or through a dupatta or a sieve. They offer water to the moon and seek blessings. They pray for the safety, prosperity and long life of their husbands. This marks the end of the day long fast.

     

    Other Legends.

     

    A beautiful queen called Veervati was the only sister of seven loving brothers. She spent her first Karva Chauth as a married woman at her parents’ house. She began a strict fast after sunrise but, by evening, was desperately waiting for the moonrise as she suffered severe thirst and hunger. Her seven brothers couldn’t bear to see their sister in such distress and created a mirror in a pipal tree that made it look as though the moon had risen. The sister mistook it for the moon and broke her fast. The moment she ate, word arrived that her husband, the king, was dead. Heartbroken, she wept through the night until her shakti compelled a Goddess to appear and ask why she cried. When the queen explained her distress, the Goddess revealed how she had been tricked by her brothers and instructed her to repeat the Karva Chauth fast with complete devotion. When Veervati repeated the fast, Yama was forced to restore her husband to life.

    In a variant of this story, the brothers build a massive fire behind a mountain instead and trick their sister by convincing her that the glow is the moon. She breaks her fast and word arrives that her beloved husband has died. She immediately begins running to her husband’s house, which is somewhat distant, and is intercepted by Shiv[disambiguation needed]-Parvati. Parvati reveals the trickery to her, cuts her own little finger to give the wife a few drops of her holy blood, and instructs her to be careful in keeping the complete fast in the future. The wife sprinkles Parvati’s blood on her dead husband and, coming back to life, they are reunited.

    The Legend of Mahabharata

    The belief in this fast and its associated rituals goes back to the pre-Mahabharata times. Draupadi, too, is said to have observed this fast. Once Arjun went to the Nilgiris for penance and the rest of the Pandavas faced many problems in his absence. Draupadi, out of desperation, remembered Lord Krishna and asked for help. Lord Krishna reminded her that on an earlier occasion, when Goddess Parvati had sought Lord Shiva’s guidance under similar circumstances, she had been advised to observe the fast of Karva Chauth. In some tellings of this legend, Shiva tells Parvati the story of Veervati to describe the Karva Chauth fast. Draupadi followed the instructions and observed the fast with all its rituals. Consequently, the Pandavas were able to overcome their problems.[37]

    The Legend of Karva

    A woman named Karva was deeply devoted to her husband. Her intense love and dedication towards him gave her shakti (spiritual power). While bathing at a river, her husband was caught by a crocodile. Karva bound the crocodile with a cotton yarn and asked Yama (the god of death) to send the crocodile to hell. Yama refused. Karva threatened to curse Yama and destroy him. Yama, afraid of being cursed by Pati-vrat (devoted) wife, sent the crocodile to hell and blessed Karva’s husband with long life. Karva and her husband enjoyed many years of wedded bliss. To this day, Karva Chauth is celebrated with great faith and belief.

    The Story of Satyavan and Savitri

    When Lord Yama came to procure Satyavan’s soul, Savitri begged him to grant him life. When he refused, she stopped eating and drinking and followed Yama who carried away her dead husband. Yama said that she could ask for any other boon except for the life of her husband. Savitri asked that she be blessed with children. Yama agreed. Being a “‘Pati-Vrat (devoted) wife, Savitri would never let any other man be the father of her children. Yama was left with no other choice but to restore Savitri’s husband to life

     

     

  • High Court Condones Corrupt Judge

    Often the Courts get on a High moral ground and starts preaching to lesser mortals on Morality,Accountability, Integrity and Model Behavior.

    But when it comes to a question of issues concerning Judiciary and its Judges, it becomes coy and many a times out right disgusting.

    Remember Veeraswamy of the Supreme Court ,the first Judge to have been found corrupt, the time it took to sentence him, I still do not know whether he served the term in the slammer,the political hurdles and the Judicial apathy.

    Every one knows , in India, Judges can be bought, right from the Magistrate to the Highest court in the Land.

    Instituting ‘Contempt of Court‘ proceedings against the complainants is a favorite pastime.

    Now read the story where a CBI Judge confirmed felon is being protected by the High Court.

    Story:

    A Punjab and Haryana High Court decision to halt the framing of charges in the graft case against its former judge Justice Nirmal Yadav raises disturbing questions about judicial accountability

    When Anupam Gupta, special public prosecutor for the CBI in the “cash at the doorstep” corruption case against former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Nirmal Yadav, burst out in anger against the High Court’s recent decision to halt the framing of charges against her, it cast a shadow of disquiet on possibly the most watched prosecution of a judge in the higher judiciary in recent times.

    In a written statement he said, “I am deeply distressed by the High Court’s order passed today. It betrays an insensitivity to judicial corruption that cannot be viewed with equanimity. The High Court cannot have a dual approach or standard — one for judges and another for all other accused. Would the High Court have passed this order if the principal accused had not been a former High Court Judge?”

    His statement, duly reported by newspapers, was greeted by pin drop silence in the legal universe. That Mr. Gupta is a well known activist on judicial accountability is one reason why his outburst was not immediately dismissed as a mere reaction to a legal setback in court. The other is, because each time in the last couple of years it appeared that the case against Justice Yadav would be dropped, the lawyers of the Punjab and Haryana High Court rose as one to ensure its continuation.

    Revision petition

    Justice Nirmal Yadav is being tried for allegedly receiving illegal gratification of Rs.15 lakh in August 2008. The money was wrongly delivered at the residence of another lady judge of the High Court, who reported the matter to the Chandigarh police. In March 2011, the President granted sanction to prosecute her under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and she became the first serving high court judge in the country to be charge sheeted in a corruption case.

    In July this year the CBI court in Chandigarh finally ordered charges to be framed against her, but Justice Yadav filed a revision petition before the High Court against the order, saying that it was “illegal, erroneous and untenable in the eyes of the law.” Hearing the petition, Justice N.K. Sanghi summoned the entire record of the CBI court and directed that her petition be heard within three months. This in effect means that until the High Court decides on her petition, the trial will remain frozen before the trial court.

    Source:

    http://indialawyers.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/getting-its-own-off-the-hook/

    Related Articles

  • Robert Vadra DLF Deal- Official Transferred 43 Times!

    Senior IAS Officer, Ashok Khemka was transferred for blocking the land deal between DLF and Robert Vadra.

     

    “The Haryana government was on the backfoot Tuesday after a senior IAS officer accused the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government of transferring him for probing alleged irregularities in the land deals of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

     

    Ashok Khemka, a 1991-batch officer, said he was moved out of his job as Inspector General of Registration and Director General (Consolidation) last week for wanting to examine all land deals of Vadra in Haryana.

     

    The officer, despite being transferred, ordered an inquiry to look into the “alleged undervaluation of some properties registered by Robert Vadra or his companies as vendor or vendee”. Before being relieved, he also ordered the cancellation of the sale of a 3.5 acre plot of land in Manesar-Shikohpur that Vadra had sold to DLF for Rs 58 crore.

     

    The Hooda government denied Khemka’s allegations and sought to justify his transfer. It also ordered an inquiry into the allegations by a panel of three senior officers headed by the additional chief secretary. “The preliminary facts brought to the notice of the government by the district revenue authority at Gurgaon point out that prima-facie the factual position is different from the stand taken by Khemka,” the government said in a statement.

    '_Ashok_Khemka.'jpg
    Ashok Khemka, transferred for enquiring into Robert Vadra DLF .

     

    But Khemka accused the government of victimising him. “My fault is that am upright and exposed scams,” he told The Indian Express. “The commissioner or financial commissioner of the revenue department had the right to cancel the mutation in appeal and if the revenue officer has conducted the mutation process wrongly,” Khemka said.”

     

    http://www.indianexpress.com/news/officer-probing-vadra-land-deals-shifted-haryana-cites-hc-order/1017574/0

     

     

    Note the timing.

     

    It tells you what this is all about.

     

    The habit of victimizing Officers for taking action in questionable deals is not something new.

     

    It began during the reign of Indira Gandhi when an IAS Officer, Ramanathan a CBI officer enquiring into the details of Nagarvala scam where a Bank cashier was accused to have handed over  Rs. 68 Lacs in cash to Nagarvala, on the purported telephone call from Indira Gandhi.

     

    An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer in Tamil Nadu has apparently run afoul of the state’s ruling DMK for implementing the Election Commission’s model code of conduct ahead of the April 13 elections.

     

    Irai Anbu another IAS officer was transferred by both the DMK and the AIADMK on enquiring into their corrupt deals.

     

    The list is endless in Tamil Nadu, so it is in the other States.

     

    The Haryana Government is quoting a High Court Order.

     

    “The state government, however, said that Khemka’s transfer complied with the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court passed on October 1. It said Khemka had himself wanted to be relieved of the charge of special collector which is traditionally held by the DG (Consolidation). The High Court ordered the state government to take a decision as early as possible and either give charge to another officer who can competently exercise the powers of a special collector or appoint someone to the post but not in any officiating or temporary capacity.

     

    The government said that Khemka’s order regarding the alleged undervaluation of property was issued on October 12 and cancellation of mutation was ordered on October 15, both after his transfer on October 11. The transfer of Khemka was neither out of any malice nor done abruptly but arose out of the above mentioned administrative exigency, it said.”

     

    Why take 11 days to issue the Order?

     

    Did not a compromise work out?

     

    I am reminded of  ‘Don’t Trust him, he protests too much”

     

    Related;

    “Official records show that Khemka, a computer engineer who got his first posting as IAS officer in 1993, was transferred 43 times in 19 years with most of his postings lasting merely months.

    During this period, he held eight posts in various departments for a month or less. Twelve of his 43 postings, incidentally, were in departments which dealt with ‘land’ in one way or the other – ranging from acquisition, consolidation, records and revenue management to development.

    Executive Record Sheet (ERS) of the ministry of personnel shows that Khemka – an IAS officer of the 1991 batch — held only two postings that lasted for over a year. He got the first such tenure (one-and-a-half years) during 2005-06 as chief administrator of the urban development department.”The Times of India)

     

     

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  • Robert Vadra’s Skylight Balance Sheet, Explanation?

    Congress dismissed that the accusation of Kejriwal as frivolous and Robert Vadra is a Private Individual and his privacy is to be respected.

    When SG’s Family treats  India as their property ,like Karunaidhi says’ Kazhagam(Party,DMK, is a family,it is fine.

    But Vadra’s company Skylight is a legal entity and has to answer as it is a Registered Company (is it?)

    Kejriwal on Robert Vadra..jpg.
    Kejriwal on Robert Vadra.
    • ‘In Balance sheet of 2008-9 ending 31st March 2009, there is an entry for a 3.5 acre plot of land in Manesar, Haryana.  It was ostensibly bought in this financial year.
    • The Value of this plot is shown as Rs 15.38 crores (cost price)
    • DLF made the following statement on Oct 6 (Rediff):

    DLF gave an advance of Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) to Skylight Hospitality against a piece of land at Sikohpur village, Gurgaon, in 2008-09, the company said. DLF bought the land for Rs 58 crore (Rs 580 million), according to its statement. Subsequently, Skylight Group of companies offered DLF an opportunity to purchase a large land parcel in Faridabad in 2008-09, and DLF  agreed to advance Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) in instalments.

    “After concluding that, the said land had certain legal infirmities, we decided against its purchase. Accordingly on DLF’s request, the Skylight group refunded the advance of  Rs 15 crore in totality,” said DLF in its statement.

    • Therefore, Sale Price = Rs 58 crores against a Cost Price of Rs 15.38 crores.  So profit from the said plot of land to Robert Vadra comes to a cool Rs. 42.62 crores
    • As per the Indian Income Tax, if a land is kept for less than 3 years before sale, it is liable forShort Term Capital Gains Tax (33 percent – 30 percent tax + 10 percent surcharge on tax, plus cess) and if it is kept for over 3 years then the Long Capital Gains Tax is incurred (which is 20%).
    • Since this land was bought in 2008-09 (as per Skylight’s Balance Sheet) and sold (as per DLF statement) in 2008-09; it clearly should have attracted Short Term Capital Gains Tax.  Which works out to Rs 14.1 crores (33% on Rs 42.62 crores).
    • All good, but there is no discussion of the land having been conveyanced anywhere.  Unless the Title Deed is transferred, can the land be deemed having been sold?  Income Tax Act’s Section 2(47) says this:

    “(v) any transaction involving the allowing of the possession of any immovable property to be taken or retained in part performance of a contract of the nature referred to in section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (4 of 1882) ; or
    “(vi) any transaction (whether by way of becoming a member of, or acquiring shares in, a cooperative society, company or other association of persons or by way of any agreement or any arrangement or in any other manner whatsoever) which has the effect of transferring, or enabling the enjoyment of, any immovable property (the italics are mine).”

    Which means if the other party is “enjoying the benefits” of the land, it is deemed as sale.

    Firspost article cites another interesting point and a case law:

    Also DLF gave Sky Light Hospitality a total sum of Rs 50 crore given as advance in installments against the purchase consideration. The judicial interpretations made by the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court in the Chatrabhuj Kapadiavs CIT (2003)case  and the Authority of Advance Ruling, New Delhi, in 2007 (AAR No 724 of 2006), have held that the receipt of a substantial considerationand handing over possession amounts to transfer liable to capital gains tax…..

    Firstpost article suggests that there is no such evidence from the financial statements of Skylight Hospitality:

    If the tax of Rs 14.08 crore was paid it would be visible as advance tax on the asset side of the balance-sheet. The advance tax in the balance-sheet is at Rs 6.93 lakh. If the tax had not been paid it should have been visible on the liability side under the head ‘provision for tax’. The provision for income tax is Rs 11.41 lakh. So the tax probably wasn’t paid in the financial year 2009-2010.

    What about the balance-sheet as on 31 March 2011? The provision for income tax is Rs 24.57 lakh. I couldn’t find the exact number for the advance tax paid. But the total amount of loans and advances under the head current assets stood at around Rs 32.1 lakh, which is a lot lesser than Rs 14.08 crore. So there is no question of the tax having been paid in the financial year 2010-2011 either.

    The same stands true for the balance-sheet as on 31 March 2009. The advance tax is at Rs 69,257. And the provision for income tax is at Rs 75,000. So the income tax wasn’t paid in the financial year 2008-2009.

    Has Vadra’s company Skylight then, Evaded the Taxes worth Rs 14.1 crores? ”

    Source. Drishtikone and Firstpost.

    http://www.drishtikone.com/robert-vadra-evaded-taxes-worth-rs-14-crores-on-gurgaon-land-sale-to-dlf/?utm_source=Drishtikone&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8b635689af-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&gooal=eyJjaWQiOiI4YjYzNTY4OWFmIiwidGFnIjoiUlNTX0VNQUlMX0NBTVBBSUdOIiwidWlkIjoiYTU5MmQ5NGVkZWVhMTFiOGE3MjUwNjhmNCJ9%7CcmFtYW5hbjUwQGdtYWlsLmNvbQ%3D%3D&ct=t%28RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN%29

    Related;

    Robert Vadra's Real Estate Deals..jpg.
    Robert Vadra’s Real Estate Deals.
    Based on data from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) and an analysis of balance sheets and audit reports, the activists said these companies together had no income from any legitimate business activity (except by way of interest derived from interest-free loans obtained from DLF). Yet, between 2007 and 2010, they acquired properties worth more than ~300 crore even at the time of their acquisition. These properties are worth more than ~500 crore today.Enhanced by Zemanta

  • NDM 1-Indian Social Scientist(!?) questions Indian Objection.

    Klebsiella pneumoniae, the bacterium in which ...
    Image via Wikipedia

    The social scientist(?) finds the objection by Indian scientists jingoistic not based on facts.

    Read the lancet report.

    1.Why only some countries  have been selected for the study?

    2.Even then, why choose Delhi’s Name for the bug?

    3.When the bug is transferable in the strains from UK as well ,why not name it London Bug?

    4.What is the Scientific reason for selecting only Pakistan ,India and UK( obviously as a smoking gun)?

    5.Those with the Bug traveled only to India and Pakistan?

    No answers.

    We do not need outsiders to malign us.

    Self righteous pseudo Anglophiles and Social Scientists will do.

    Is Sociology a Science a Science or an Art?

    Text books say it is both.

    Science when you want to and Art when you want to pass unsubstantiated charges against Scientists ans Society.

    Instead of a rational resolution by a peer group based on evidence, what we often get is a soap opera, where scientists slug it out, utterly indifferent to their professional roles. Consider the superbug controversy. It begins as an article in The Lancet, a prestigious and professional British medical journal, in August 2010. The journal publishes an article by Cardiff university scientists which observes that the water supply in Delhi has doses of the NDM-1 gene, which creates superbugs that trigger cholera and dysentery.

    One must admit that the naming is a standard practice. But the naming here becomes lethal because of its mnemonic and labelling power. It is all right if basmati or champagne is seen geographically. It adds to its power as intellectual property but a bug named after its region of location lowers the market value of the region as tourist potential. Worse, such an act of scientific christening evokes a sense of pollution about the area conveying a negative sense of well-being, sanitation and hygiene.

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/special-report/Challenge-science-with-fact-not-jingoism/articleshow/8001995.cms

    Methods

    Enterobacteriaceae isolates were studied from two major centres in India—Chennai (south India), Haryana (north India)—and those referred to the UK’s national reference laboratory. Antibiotic susceptibilities were assessed, and the presence of the carbapenem resistance gene blaNDM-1 was established by PCR. Isolates were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of XbaI-restricted genomic DNA. Plasmids were analysed by S1 nuclease digestion and PCR typing. Case data for UK patients were reviewed for evidence of travel and recent admission to hospitals in India or Pakistan.

    Findings

    We identified 44 isolates with NDM-1 in Chennai, 26 in Haryana, 37 in the UK, and 73 in other sites in India and Pakistan. NDM-1 was mostly found among Escherichia coli (36) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (111), which were highly resistant to all antibiotics except to tigecycline and colistin. K pneumoniae isolates from Haryana were clonal but NDM-1 producers from the UK and Chennai were clonally diverse. Most isolates carried the NDM-1 gene on plasmids: those from UK and Chennai were readily transferable whereas those from Haryana were not conjugative. Many of the UK NDM-1 positive patients had travelled to India or Pakistan within the past year, or had links with these countries.

    http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099%2810%2970143-2/fulltext