Conman takes British Royalty and Bollywood biggies for a ride

A UK-based businessman, claiming to be a hero in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks was found to be a conman who had taken not only British Royalty but also some stars of Bollywood for a ride. Deepak Kuntewala had claimed that he had saved 150 people during the shootout at the Taj Hotel. He gave extensive accounts to the British media about how he had saved the people single handedly. His father was the only one to back his claims. He received many a award for his 'daring' act. He organized gala events to earn money for his foundation which was attended by everyone from Prince Michael of Kent to Bollywood people like Boman Irani and Arshad Warsi. Now reports have started coming in that the man had conned everyone and that he had used the tragic 26/11 attacks to his monetary advantage.

While at first it may sound funny that he had conned everybody, the fun factor boils down when you relate it to the 26/11 attacks. Some people are so heartless that they use others tragedy to their own benefit.While this man is almost completely to blame for his acts, part of the fault lies in the people who rewarded him without verifying the acts. He should be stripped of all his awards and put in jail for 6 months. Deepak Kuntewala you say? I say his name is Deepak CON-tewala

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Rathore gets bail, keeps smiling

A sessions court today granted SPS Rathore, the chief accused in the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case( if it were up to me I would increase the charge to murder instead of abetment to suicide) was granted bail today till February 8 when his appeal against the trial court's order (of 6 months sentence)comes up for hearing. He has been asked to submit his passport so as to not allow him to leave the country.

Additionally, after being granted bail Rathore smiled as he did after the first court order. He said he always smiled in the face of adversity. You filthy piece of scum you were not smiling because of adversity,u were smiling out of relief. That same smile of yours vanished when FIRs were registered against you.Ruchika was the age of your own daughter. For people like you molesting your own daughter too is not impossible.

Why was this man given bail? Why do the criminals walk free in the country while only the innocent people suffer?These people break and bend the law as they wish and use it against the common people.

This is my request to the judiciary:Please do justice.Do not let this criminal walk free.Otherwise this will be yet another slap in the face of the Indian judicial system.

If you want Ruchika's family to get justice please show your support by signing this online petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/7018/petition.html

It's official: India has lost 'substantial' land to China

The area along Line of Actual Control with China has 'shrunk' over a period of time and India has lost "substantial" amount of land in the last two decades, says an official report. Ministry of Home Affairs and Army agreed that there was difference in the maps of various agencies and that there was lack of proper mapping of the area. Over a period of 20-25 years India has gradually lost with the Chinese slowly but surely snatching land from the nomadic people who had been using the Dokbug area for grazing their cattle.

Well this is not surprising considering the fact that China is economically as well as militarily stronger than India. But does that mean we don’t have the potential to be better than the Chinese? When China invaded India in 1962, it was the far more superior side. China withdrew from the battle with one message:” We came, we saw and we conquered.” How much have we learnt since then? The Indian leaders are spineless when it comes to confronting the Chinese.

A couple of years ago an outgoing army chief had said Indian army was militarily weaker than the Chinese. He was criticized by one and all, but no attempts were made to improve the army strength by our so called leaders. The Army is also at fault. The raging corruption in the army and the defense ministry is probably one of the reasons why the Arjun tank has not been inducted in large numbers despite having beaten the T-90 tank in trials. Instead of buying a new Aircraft carrier (which by the way would have been cheaper) the defense ministry has insisted on taking the Admiral Gorshkov which is outdated and is being refurbished at a much higher cost to replace INS Viraat.

This corruption needs to stop or else we may soon see a sizeable chunk of the country as a part of China.

Hockey players revolt over non-payment

Ahead of the World Cup next month in New Delhi, Indian hockey on Friday received a major jolt with the players boycotting a training camp in Pune for non-payment of match fees. The players took the unprecedented step to stay away from the camp after Hockey India, the interim body governing the game in the country, failed to respond to two of their letters asking the authorities to make the payments.

The players were to be paid a mere Rs 25000 per player who had toured Argentina for the Champions Challenge. In the previous tours the players were paid in advance but this time a long time has passed since the tournament got over and the players are yet to get their dues. The players had written to Hockey India first on November 23. They had given a deadline of January 8 to Hockey India to respond to the letter. When no response came they boycotted the practice camp today. Captain Rajpal Singh has led the revolt.

Why can’t the Government which is spending millions of rupees preparing for the Commonwealth Games spend some more money on the national game? Why can’t Hockey be corporatised like cricket. Cricketers earn so much just by ads, promotions etc apart from cricket. We stay up to watch cricket matches but we hardly know the names of our hockey players. Cricket has lots of money and BCCI can take care of itself if it gets a little less money from the govt. The hockey players demand that they should be given incentives. Why should they be denied? They won the bronze medal in the Champions Challenge in Argentina. If the Indian Cricket Team had won the bronze medal, there would have been felicitations, rewards running into crores of rupees etc.

I am no cricket basher. On the contrary I love cricket. But it is high time that hockey gets some importance. As the national game it should be given importance by the government. You cannot just ignore the players thinking they will adjust to the situation. This is a game in which India has won 8 Gold Medals, 1 Silver medal and 2 bronze medals at the Olympic level. This is a game which led to the rise and rise of the legendary centre forward Dhyan Chand. This is a game that deserves as much, if not more, importance as cricket.

Indian 'Ku Klux Klan' cartoon angers Australia

A cartoonist in a delhi newspaper has depicted a Victoria policeman as a member of hate group Ku Klux Klan in the wake of attacks on Indians.The Klan is an infamous white supremacist hate group that had much influence in America during late 19th and early 20th century.

The cartoon has sparked outrage in Australia with Acting PM Julia Gillard (who has not yet seen the cartoon) saying it to be deeply offensive.The cartoon, published in response to the continuing assaults on Indians in Australia, particularly the murder of 21-year-old student Nitin Garg in Melbourne last weekend, has been described as "wrong" and "terrible" by the Victoria Police Association and Police Minister Bob Cameron.

The picture allegedly showed a person in a Ku Klux Klan hood wearing a Victoria Police badge, with a caption that "We Are Yet To Ascertain The Nature Of The Crime".

Well I say different.The cartoonist has done a very good job of offending the Aussies because they have not even tried to stop the attacks on the Indian community so far. If offending them can spur the Australian(or in this case Victorian ) police into action then its great.But the Australian government is more interested in describing how offended it is than carry on an investigation or try to protect the Indian community. Indians are not the only race of people in Australia. Then why are they being singled out for attack?Well the fact of the matter is that the Australians are racist and there is nothing more to that.

Pratibha Murthy Case:4 years gone,no justice yet

On December 13, 2005 Hewlett Packard BPO employee Pratibha Murthy was raped and murdered by her cab driver on her way back from work during night shift.However even 4 years after the heinous crime(the case has been languishing in a fast track court for the last 3 years) the driver has still not been punished.Why?Why is the Indian judicial system so lousy?Why do people who rape,molest and/or murder women go scot free?Who should the people of India turn to for justice?These criminals should , at the minimum level, be given a life sentence and not just for 14 years but for the rest of their lives.Everybody(myself included) had forgotten about the case but because of a news channel,the memory of this rape and murder came back.It seems only the power of the media can spur the judiciary into action like in the Jessica Lall murder case or the Ruchika Girhotra case.Punish these offenders severely so that people would think twice before murdering anybody or abetting to their suicide.NOBODY is above the law.

Racial Attacks in Australia:When will they stop?

The recent spurt in attacks on Indians based in Australia has resulted in the death of 2 Indian students Nitin Garg and Ranjodh Singh.The deaths follow a spate of attacks last year on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney that culminated in street protests and riots. Despite assurances by the Australian PM the number of attacks does not seemed to have slowed down at all.The Australian government is trying to downplay the incidents with the deputy PM Julia Gillard going so far as to say that such attacks happen in big cities around the world. Really Miss Gillard, are attacks around the world concentrated on a single race of people alone? The Australians are a racially motivated lot, be it on the cricket field or otherwise. The Australian Police is not doing much to defend the Indian Students nor will they let them take matters into their own hand. If that be the case what choice do the Indians residing there have?The Indian government must now take up this issue seriously with the Australian government and if necessary ask the United Nations to look into the matter. Racism cannot be tolerated.