The second flag

Source: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indus-calling/entry/the-second-flag

Tarun Vijay, 26 January 2010, 08:04 AM IST

In our republic, which boasts of one nation, one people and one union, we have two flags. One for India and the other for Kashmir.
No one asks why?

If the mere picture of a foreign national irks, embarrasses and makes the government apologetic, should a flag, put on a par, parallel to the flag of our republic for which we swear to live and die, make us happy and proud?
There is one tricolor, which is our soul. We sing for it, love it, feel thrilled when it's fluttered on any part of this planet. That's us and our invincible tricolour.
And here is another flag. We hardly know about it. A piece that has to be displayed on the bonnets of the Ambassador cars the governor, the chief minister, the Union home minister or even the Prime Minister uses to negotiate a Kashmir road. Suddenly there are two flags, two people, two lands. And still one republic? Ask Justice Sagheer Ahmad and hear the "give more autonomy to J&K" call. More, still more, autonomy for what? A seperate flag and wanting to be more seperate?
Whose flag is it, any way? They say it's Kashmir's flag. So why don’t our rulers hoist it too in the Republic Day parade in New Delhi? A bit red-faced, they say it’s just for Kashmir.

(Jammu & Kashmir flag)
So why not Bihar and Uttarakhand and Punjab and, please, Tamilnadu too have their separate flags?
They say Kashmir is special and other states are NOT.
Really?
Why not every state in India is special?
Why not every Indian citizen is equally special?
We, the Indians, the people of India.
Who gave the Constitution to themselves on January 26, 1950, hence the republic and the parade for it.
We can’t buy an inch of land in Kashmir because there is a provision in the Indian Constitution that bars it. That's called Article 370.
It says we are not authorised to be citizens of Kashmir. But we are Indian citizens?
So what?
Article 370 says we are not naturally Kashmiri citizens, even if we are Indians.
If we are Indians, we can be Biharis, Tamilians or Arunachalis. But not Kashmiri.
There was a man whose name was Syama Prasad Mookerjee. He died protesting separate provisions for Kashmir. The news agency IANS reported recently: "Mukherjee was imprisoned for entering the state without a proper permit in violation of Article 370. His entry was in protest against the separate constitution, head of the state and flag of Jammu and Kashmir.
"Mukherjee wanted that Jammu and Kashmir be declared an integral part of India and governed like any other state of the country."
Mookerjee (that's how he spelt his name) died mysteriously in a Srinagar jail.
Who cares for such a "mad" man, giving his life for national integration in its truest sense?
Live peacefully, in your Lutyens' bungalow and offer government constructive cooperation.
That makes life easy, you know.
Let me reproduce some extracts from the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir? It has a separate identity from the Indian Constitution and no law that the Indian parliament passes is applied in J&K unless the J&K assembly passes it too and it has the right to overrule the Indian parliament and change the contents of the laws passed by the parliament situated in New Delhi.
The J&K constitution says —
Preamble:
We, the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, having solemnly resolved, in pursuance of the accession of this State to India which took place on the twenty sixth day of October, 1947, to further define the existing relationship of the State with the Union of India as an integral part thereof, and to secure ourselves-
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and opportunity; and to promote among us all;
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this seventeenth day of November, 1956, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.
Part II of "The State" of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir:
Relationship of the State with the Union of India - The State of Jammu and Kashmir is and shall be an integral part of the Union of India.
On April 7, 1958, the Plebiscite Front of Sheikh Abdullah adopted a resolution specifically citing Article 370, and stated that : "Jammu and Kashmir state has not yet acceded to any of the two dominions, India and Pakistan. Therefore, it will not be right to call Pakistani invasion on Jammu and Kashmir as an attack on India.” Using Article 370 Kashmiri Muslim leaders have opposed any family planning and welfare schemes formulated by the government of India, and the programme was implemented only in the Hindu majority Jammu. The former chief minister, G M Shah, had said that the aim of the government family planning programme was to convert the Muslim majority into a minority. The former external affairs minister M C Chagla had told the United Nations that the Article was a temporary measure. The two former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad and G M Sadiq too wanted this Article to be repealed.
Articles 3 and 5 of the State constitution of Jammu and Kashmir state that it will remain an “inseparable” part of India and Parliament should immediately repeal Article 370.
Friends on the internet suggest, "Those Kashmiri Muslims who have declared themselves to be Pakistanis should be asked to apply for Pakistani citizenship, and if their applications fail, they should be declared stateless persons and no longer citizens of India, and therefore no longer citizens of any part of the dominions of the Republic of India."
Article 370 (though originally Article 306-A) drafted by Gopalaswami Ayyengar in close consultation with Sheikh Mohd Abdullah reads as follows:
"Temporary provisions with respect to the State of Jammu and Kashmir:
1. Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution,

(a) the provisions of Article 238 shall not apply in relation to the State of Jammu and Kashmir;
(b) the power of Parliament to make laws for the said State shall be limited to,

(i) those matters in the Union List and the Concurrent List which, in consultation with the Government of the State are declared by the President to correspond to matters specified in the Instrument of Accession governing the accession of the State to the Dominion of India as the matters with respect to which the Dominion Legislature may make laws far that State; and
(ii) such other matters in the said Lists as, with the concurrence of the Government of the State, the President may by order specify.
Explanation:

For the purposes of this article, the Government of the State means the person for the time being recognised by the President as the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers for the time being in office under the Maharaja's Proclamation dated the fifth day of March, 1948;
(c) the provisions of Article 1 and of this article shall apply in relation to that State;
(d) such of the other provisions of this Constitution shall apply in relation to that State subject to such exceptions and modifications as the President may by order specify:
Provided that no such order which relates to the matters specified in the Instrument of Accession of the State referred to in paragraph (i) of sub-clause (b) shall be issued except in consultation with the Government of the State:
Provided further that no such order which relates to matters other than those referred in the last preceding proviso shall be issued except with the concurrence of that Government.
2. If the concurrence of the Government of the State referred to in paragraph (ii) of sub-clause (b) of clause (1) or in the second proviso to sub-clause (d) of that clause be given before the Constituent Assembly for the purpose of framing the Constitution of the State is convened, it shall be placed before such Assembly for such decision as it may take thereon.
3. Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this article, the President may, by public notification, declare that this article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative only with such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may specify:

Provided that the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State referred to in clause (2) shall be necessary before the President issues such a notification.
In exercise of the powers conferred by Article 370 the President, on the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, declared that as from the 17th Day of November, 1952, the said Article 370 shall be operative with the modification that for the Explanation in Cl. (1) thereof, the following explanation is substituted namely.
Explanation - For the purpose of this article, the Government of the State means the person for the time being recognized by the President on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly of the State as the Sadr-i-Riyasat (now Governor) of Jammu and Kashmir, acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers of the State for the time being in office."
That's our republic. And the second flag. And the two peoples in one land. Viva the flag hoisters.
Where is the pain and where is the shoulder?

EEMA lambasts PPL 'propaganda'; says 'music licensing bodies exploiting loopholes'

On January 25, 2010

The Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) has issued an official statement detailing its point of view on the subject of music licences for live events. An EEMA official explained the context in which the strong statement has been issued. He said, "Recently the issue of music licencing has been gaining quite a lot of attention in the media and legal circles. Also, our friends from the music industry have been releasing large advertisements aimed at creating a fear psychosis among event managers, clients and venues, and thereby trying to extract unfair amounts of money in the process. We would like to bring out our point of view on the subject and try to make this issue easy to understand by event managers, clients and the public at large."



The official further clarified, "As an industry association of event management companies all over India, EEMA is not opposed to the payment of music licences. However, we are opposed to the exploitation by some of the self-proclaimed authorities in collection of music licences. The bodies, which have been authorised to collect music licencing under the Indian Copyright Act, have been exploiting the loopholes in the Act and the lack of guidelines or framework set-out by the government."

The full document detailing EEMA's point of view is as follows:

"1. Tariff structures
The biggest loophole is that even today, after so many years of being responsible for ‘collecting legitimate licencing fees’, the Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) does not have a tariff plan advertised on its website. If one clicks on the tariff page of the website, it asks for details of one's event and then a quotation is 'conjured' accordingly. If the process had been transparent and unbiased, then PPL should not have had a problem in advertising its own tariff list on its website. Fact is, the 'charges' of playing music at an event are not decided by objective standards such as songs, duration in minutes or hours, etc., but by how much money could be extracted from particular events or how high profile that event is. What matters to PPL is not the content of the event which is being broadcast or played, but what is the paying capacity of the audience or the organisers.

However, by using various arm-twisting tactics and unfair means, these bodies try to intimidate event companies, clients and venues into paying exorbitant and unjustified amounts for specific events. An example is that of a certain music week which was being organised by an event manager for four days with a total music duration of six hours (altogether for four days). PPL asked the event manager to pay an amount of Rs 12 lakhs, quoting reasons like, "for fashion weeks, we have a separate unpublished rate". This is a classic case of high-handling and charging exorbitant rates just because the event is high-profile.

In addition to this, PPL sends legal notices to event managers, venues and clients. More often than not, clients and venues are forced to pay heed to these exorbitant demands just because they do not want to get into any legal controversy. This is what the music licencing companies take advantage of and thus continue their exploitation. Each of the industries which have a 'representation' or a body, such as the radio or the hotel industry, have legal cases which are filed in several courts against the music licencing companies due to their unfair and highhanded attitude on the subject.

2. Usage of funds
The usage of funds is not known to anybody. As per the Copyright Act, 85 per cent of the funds collected by music licencing authorities must be given back to the artistes who have performed or composed the music. However, that is not the case and music licencing bodies have only been collecting this money for their own personal gains and have been investing it at various places, such as the stock market, which is contrary to the law. Despite being asked several times, they have not revealed the usage of the money collected at any public forum. If they have been utilising the money collected as per the laws laid out, then they should not have a problem publishing the same on their website, as it would be public information. The creation of these bodies (PPL, IPRS) was done through the Copyright Act in order to protect the artistes. But today, these bodies have become capitalists in their own right and have begun to exploit the society at large.


3. Legal framework
They engage the topmost and most expensive and senior lawyers available in the country and are able to influence the legal system to get some complicated judgments, which are then interpreted by their lawyers in their favour. Then, a PR propaganda is created around them. There have been cases wherein they have influenced police officers and venues by foul means and have stopped shows, which were about to be organised. Such is their might of lawyers that average event companies and clients prefer to pay heed to their exorbitant demands, fearing legal hassles. There is no other 'licence' in the country which is negotiable - be it liquor licence, arms licence or any other statutory licence. However, the music licence is always negotiable in the hands of the music company and two events having the same number of audience with same duration of music being played would invariably be charged different amounts, based on the whims and fancies of these music licence companies.

4. Universe of music
Another issue is that music licence companies claim ownership of the entire 'universe' of music. When licences are being granted, a list of the music which is owned or administered by these bodies is not provided. They grant licence for playing any music ever composed, whether published or unpublished, recorded or unrecorded, etc., and provide a blanket licence granting permission to play music. This is similar to an association of tea manufacturers getting together and saying that each time someone sips a cup of tea anywhere in the country, they need to pay them something.

5. Double, triple licencing
The extent of the exploitation by music companies is so much that there are times when during the same event, double or even triple licences are levied. For example, when a hotel takes the licence from PPL to play music in its premises, using a DJ who has paid a fee and taken a yearly license for playing music, a separate licence is asked to be taken - even if it is the same DJ and the same hotel. The extent of exploitation is so much that for a DJ who costs events managers Rs 5,000-10,000, including sound and lights system, Rs 25,000 has to be shelled out for one evening.

6. Use of force – threats
This has become a business and PPL has started threatening event managers, venues and clients using all means possible to intimidate them and get them to pay unreasonable sums of money demanded by them. They try to scare off all parties involved by sending 1,000-page notices to them. Even the police departments are forced to cooperate with them out of sheer ignorance of the subject. When there is a case pending before the High Court and the matter is being argued, they claim that injunctions have been obtained, and thus they mislead all parties involved in the matter. Most of the time, they are successful in extorting money from event organisers and clients by issuing these false and baseless threats which are backed by a high profile battery of lawyers on their payrolls."

Haunted

Bombay Supreme Court - for over 30 years whenever a murder trial is conducted here a vengeful bilingual ghost makes itself known by cursing and terrorizing anyone brave (or foolish) enough to enter.

 

Delhi - Delhi cant. - Most of the times, people see a lady standing in white dress asking for lift. if you go thru she will run as fast as the car runs & people reported her sitting there.

 

Gujarat - Surat - Dumas - If you walk towards the ocean at night in Dumas then you will hear noises that will tell you go home don't go forward and all scary things happen. Dogs will even start chasing you sometimes but they say that the dogs run because they are trying to get away from that place as well. This all happens because Hindus burn their bodies after they die over there and the ghosts in there body stay in the air.

Hyderabad - Ramoji Film City - It is a big film city in Hyderabad,(like universal studios) the hotels in Ramoji film city are haunted. They say that the film city is built on war grounds of the Nizam sultans. Witnesses report the lights kept on top keep falling off, the light men- who sit with the lights on top have been pushed so many times and many have had grievous injuries. The food left in rooms also gets scattered around the room and strange marks are left on the mirror, some script.... resembling Urdu...the language spoken by the sultans. Girls are the ghosts' favorite to haunt. They trouble the girls so much, they tear their clothes, knock on the bathroom doors while the outside doors are locked. They create havoc. Many preventive measures have been taken to prevent hauntings......but of no use...they keep coming back after sometime.

Lonawala - Maharashtra - Raj Kiran hotel - Reports of bedsheets being pulled off and continue to be pulled even after the guest is woken up. This room is in the corner and at the backside of the reception on the ground floor itself.

Mumbai - Mahim - Near Canossa primary there is a chawl named d'souza chawl, there is a local well from where people used to fill water and even wash clothes.This well did not have any boundary walls around it and once when a lady was filling water the whole thing collapsed.The lady too fell in that well and died.After this incident she is said to appear everyday near that well and many of the locals have even seen her. She does not harm anyone just strolls around the place and before morning hours she disappears.

Pune - Shaniwarwada Fort - When Peshwas ruled the western Indian province, Narayan the heir of the kingdom was assassinated on his uncle Madhavrao's wife's orders. Narayan was chased by his assassins across the entire fort. It was said that while running for his life he called "Uncle save me", and even today locals say that they hear his cries for help at midnights on new moon day.

Rajasthan - Alwar / Bhangarh-Ajabgarh - Bhangarh ruins - Bhangarh is a place on way from Jaipur to Alwar city in Rajasthan state of India. Today Bhangarh is known for it's ruins where nobody dares to stay after sunset. Going to history we find that this town was established by Madho Singh, younger brother of King Akbar’s General Man Singh, in 1631. But the city seems to have been abandoned in a hurry some centuries later. As per local folks, due to some curse the whole town was vacated overnight. According to this curse It was also said that if the town was ever rediscovered, the township would not be found, but only temples would show up. True to the story, only temples dot the landscape and even far up on the mountains only shrines can be seen. People say that nobody returned from there who stayed there after dark. The biggest thing is that as per Govt. of India rules there has to be an office of Archaeology Survey of India (ASI) beside every historical structure in India. But even Government authorities couldn't dare to open an office there and they opened their office about one kilometer away from the ruins of Bhangarh. Also ASI has put a signboard at Bhangarh saying, "Staying after sunset is strictly prohibited in this area." People who visit this place out of tourist interest say that there is a strange feeling in the atmosphere of Bhangarh, which causes sort of anxiety and restlessness.

Thane - Vrindavan Society - Its said a Man had committed suicide in one of the Buildings in Vrindavan Society(Bldg. No.66 B).The security guard's patrolling the area around have come across weird happenings. Once a guard was slapped so hardly that he got up from his chair and hit the other guard who was near by him thinking he was the one who hit him.

 

West Bengal - Kurseong - Dow-Hill - The forests have an uncanny feeling. Its damp, cold and sometimes dark. People up here tend to be depressed and countless murders have taken place. On the stretch between Dow-Hill road and the Forest Office, wood cutters returning in the evenings have sited a young boy walking head-less for several yards and then walk away from the road into the woods. Other than this, footsteps are heard in the corridors of the Victoria Boys School when the school is closed for long holidays from December to March.

Oxymoron

An oxymoron is usually defined as a phrase in which two words of contradictory meaning are brought together:-

1) Clearly misunderstood
2) Exact Estimate
3) Small Crowd
4) Act Naturally
5) Found Missing
6) Fully Empty
7) Pretty ugly
8) Seriously funny
9) Only choice
10) Original copies

And the Mother of all......

11) Happily Married

Ananya Samman 09

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL_jfsN67Vk