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The year 2009 has arrived and when we will look behind to the year 2008, we will find these as the main events of the year 2009 for India.

First One: Nuclear Deal.

Indo-US Nuclear Deal has for the first time proved that national welfare has more value than the political selfishness. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was so keen to pass this bill that he never considered about his own government. Later he got the support of the Parliament too. Finally India got the strong friendship of United States. India got the inclusion in the N-Club along with the regular energy supply.

Second One: Mumbai Terror.

New form of world wide terror, 26/11 strikes to India in Mumbai. Despite providing lots of proof of the involvement of the Pakistani based terrorists organization’s hand behind this attack, Pakistan is not at all agreeing to the claim of the Indian Government. Year 2008 provided some big hole in the security system of the nation, Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Delhi, Guwahati and then Mumbai taught some lesson to the security forces. People from different states came together and forced to the government to take some serious step against terrorism and to change the attitude.

Third: India on Moon.

Indian scientists got the huge success of the accomplishment of the mission moon. The cheapest and the best mission to the moon were named as Chandayaan I. This established India into the super powers of the world. India is now ready to provide the cheaper space program to other countries too, and ISRO is planning to launch the manned mission to the Moon very soon.

Fourth: Aarushi Murder Case.

One sad incident of the murder of Aarushi in her own house despite the presence of her parents in the house in Noida is still unsolved. This murder case got the biggest attention of the media; still CBI is unable to solve the case.

Fifth: Assembly Elections.

Termed as the Semi-Final of the parliamentary elections which is scheduled in the year 2009, the assembly elections in Manipur, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir proofed that Democracy is the back bone of the country. People came out to vote even despite the “Boycott” of the elections by some unwanted forces in J&K. Performance of the governments became the major criteria during these elections.

Sixth: Flood in Bihar.

The development of the Bihar Government during last four years was washed away in the flood. The problem was not so much tragic as the situation was. Attitude of the people caused more problems to the people who suffered during the flood situation. We need to change our system to tackle the situation.

Seventh: Fall of the Share Market.

The impact of the global market fall was so big that it reached to the Mumbai Stock Exchange too. Sensex falls deeply and this caused affect on the job sector too. Real Estate, Aviation, became the victim of the slow down. Finally India is thinking about how to recover from this impact.

Eight: First Individual Gold Medal in Olympics.

The biggest dream of India came true this year. Abhinav Bindra clinched first ever individual Olympic gold medal for India in the men’s 10m air rifle shooting. Other than him, Vijendra Kumar and Sushil Kumar too came up with medals and India is now taking the other sports (other than cricket) seriously. Jitender Kumar too won the heart of the fans.

Ninth: Lessons on Cricket Ground.

India virtually became the super power in the field of cricket too. India got the new captain in all the format of cricket in the form of M. S. Dhoni. India performed quite well in the three formats of cricket T20, ODI and Tests too. Some of the seniors like Saurav Ganguly and Anil Kumble retired this year.

These are the main incidents of the year 2008 which happened in India.

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More than 72 people died and around 300 persons are injured due to a major stampede in a temple in Chamunda Devi temple in Jodhpur, Rajasthan at 5:30 AM. Today is the first day of the Navratra and around 20,000 to 25,000 people arriveded in the temple to pay homage.

According to the TV channels a rumor of bomb blast is the main culprit behind this stampede. The numbers of the dead peoples are not yet confirmed by any official sources.

Different TV channels are claiming different number, NDTV India is claiming the death of 150 to 200 persons, Zee News is cliaming 72 deaths, Aaj Tak is claiming the death of 80 people, India TV is claiming the death of 65 persons.

More report on this news is awaiting. We will update the news later. The Help Line Number is 0291-2650302, 0291-2650316.

Tags: Chamunda Devi, Jodhpur, Navratra, Rajasthan, Stampede, Stampede in Temple

Nearly-month long Gujjar agitation for Scheduled Tribe status was called off on Thursday with an announcement of five per cent reservation for Gujjars, Banjaras, Gadia Lohar and Raika communities. These groups will now be counted as special backward communities.

70 year old Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla was very happy with the announcement and declared an end to the agitation that began on May 23. He reached in Karwadi-Pilupura area, the agitation epicentre, from Jaipur last night and said that they got more than their demands.

“The agreement signed between the Gujjar community and the Rajasthan government is a historic step. We are thankful to the Chief Minister and welcome the government’s decision,” Bainsla told his community members camping in Karwadi while referring to the accord for Gujjar quota under a “special, separate backward class” category.

“The agitation has finally come to an end and I have always maintained that these kind of problems can be sorted through talks. Now I feel the state will move towards progress,” Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje told reporters at a press conference here.

About 35 Gujjar leaders, four state ministers K L Gujjar, Nathu Singh Gujjar, L N Dave, S M Jat, state Bharatiya Janata Party president Om Prakash Mathur and senior party leader Ram Das Agarwal were signatories to the agreement between the two sides.

Soon after his declaration of an end to the protest by Binsala, the agitators vacated the railway track they had been blocking.

The chief minister also announced a 14 percent reservation to economically backward classes of communities like brahmins, rajputs, vaish and kayasthas, but did not explain the details.

Raje said, “We will organize a cabinet meeting tomorrow to define the parameters on whom are to be included (in the 14 percent reservation).”

The 27 day long agitation left as many as 39 people dead and badly affected the tourism in Rajasthan and nearby areas. The Rajasthan government has announced a relief package for the Gujjar community including Rs 5 lakh cash ex gratia each to the next of the kin of those killed in police firing and violence.

Tags: Bainsala, Gujjar, Gujjar Agitation, Rajasthan

Tired of the ongoing fortnight-long Gujjar agitation over its demand to grant Scheduled Tribe status to Gujjars, the Centre has asked the Rajasthan government to solve the issue on its own.

The peace talk was dashed on Saturday when the two sides deadlocked over the choice of venue for crucial talks.

Vasundhra Raje government rejected the Gujjar Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti`s proposal of Bayana as the venue for the meeting. But, the Samiti insisted that Bayana be the venue for the talks.

The government conveyed its decision that talks will be held only in Jaipur in a letter to Samiti patron Kirori Singh at Piloopura village in Bharatpur district through the government’s chief negotiator S N Thanvi.

Centre said the state government to take its own initiative for granting the community de-notified or nomadic tribe status as Constitution enables the states to make such a provision.

The Centre also gave the example of Maharashtra government, which has implemented four per cent quota for de-notified or nomadic tribe long ago.

Tribal Affairs Minister P R Kyndiah send a letter to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje saying that as per the legal advice available with the government, the Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, enables the states to make provisions for reservations to nomadic and de-notified tribes other than the SC, ST and OBCs, if the situation demands.

“Since Constitutional provision already exist which empower the states to make special provisions for categories other than SCs, STs and OBCs, no amendment to the Constitution for this purpose is necessary or feasible, as any such move will be settled by a catena of Supreme Court decision on the subject of reservation,” the letter said.

Earlier Rajasthan Chief Minister Raje has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommending four to six per cent reservation for Gujjars in the category of de-notified or nomadic tribe.

Tags: Agitation, Centre, Gujjar, Gujjar Agitation, Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje

A photo-identity card is set mandatory for all the citizens in Rajasthan as the upcoming Assembly elections are coming this year. State Deputy Chief Election Officer PC Gupta said citizens must produce the photo-identity card to be allowed to cast their vote. The Rajasthan State Election Commission has issued this rule today.

The voters list in this district was published on January 25 this year. In the last election, however, voters had to show any one of 15 authorized documents in order to exercise their franchise.

Tags: Photo I Card, Rajasthan

Gujjar agitation not only affected the routine life of Rajasthan and nearby places but it charged crores of rupees to the Indian corporate sector. It is reported that companies had placed a loss of nearly 1.25 billion dollars by now due to the agitation started from May 23.

Train tracks were severely damaged while Gujjar protest which affected the train schedules badly.

Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (Assocham) President V.N. Dhoot said that their estimate of losses does not include the inconvenience caused to the passengers standing on stations and disruption to goods transfer. He said that tourism industry in Rajasthan and a few areas in Uttar Pradesh are suffered by the protest. According to Assocham, a loss of around Rs 50 billion is estimated by the gujjar agitation which pulled out the gujjars on the road.

Northern Railways spokesperson S Negi said that a loss of 7 lakh dollars was incurred by the cancellation and delay of trains on 29th May alone. Negi told that they have to delay 75 trains including 6 Rajdhani express and 23 were canceled.

Negi said,” We are planning to change the route of trains for the comfort of public.”

Rajasthan government also appealed the protesters not to trouble people. According to the estimates, around 40,000 passengers were clutched at railway stations in Jaipur, Delhi and Agra. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje said that people faced a lot of problems by blockage of the rails and roads. Protesters had also disrupted the bus services between Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Rajasthan State Road Transport told that around 50 buses of its transport were damaged due to the agitation. Durga Joshi, Executive Director of a government company told that services at around 60 stations were halted. This created a loss of nearly Rs 20 crores. To calculate the estimate of the loss of buses is still pending. Agra tourism, famous for Taj Mahal, was highly affected by the agitation as the protest continued here for 10 long days.

The railway spokesman said the cumulative losses incurred by the West-Central Railway and North-Central Railway will be in thousands of crores of rupees as these zones were badly hit.

Tags: Corporate Sector, Gujjar, Gujjar Agitation, India, Indian Rail, Rajasthan, Train, Uttar Pradesh

Amid the ongoing Gujjar agitation, the Rajasthan government has removed the Director General of Police (DGP) A S Gill asking him to go on a long leave. K S Bains, who was given charge of intelligence recently, has replaced Gill as the new Director General.

Eight-day-long Gujjar row has killed more than 40 people and the replacement of DGP can be an effort by the Raje government to end the deadly violence which could not be controlled by the police force.

Gujjar agitation demanding for ST status affected the NCR region, UP along with Rajasthan.

The government has also agreed to let doctors from AIIMS, Delhi conduct postmortems of those killed in police firings in Bayana and Sikandra. A team of AIIMS doctors has left for Bayana, where protesters have kept bodies on ice slabs, refusing to cremate them.

Tags: DGP, Gujjar, Gujjar Agigation, Rajasthan

Before reading this article, answer my simple questions please. From which category you belong? General, SC, ST or OBC? I think I should put different rules and content for different categories. You must get confused by the lines. But if politics of reservation is spreading in all fields of life then this blog should also follow the same. Isn’t it?

Politics of castes is casting its shadow over Indians since long ago. The ongoing Gujjar agitation is the fresh example of the evil of castisms. Over 40 people have already lost their lives demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to get job reservation for their community. NCR and Rajasthan region are highly affected by this show of reservation and quotas. Innocent people are killed for no reason. Violence is spreading behind this politics. Why the Government and opposition are not doing anything? A year ago the Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan resulted in police firing and over 20 deaths.

We humans live on the same Earth, every human have same red blood, and every one has a heart to feel and a mind to think then why to be divided on the basis of this ugly castism. We people travel together in trains and buses. Do you ask the nearby people about their caste before sitting in a train? Our children read together in schools. Do you enquire about the other children’s caste before admitting your child in the school? Then what is the benefit of this system if it is spreading only violence and gives rise to hatred among people?

Political leaders are just making their benefits behind the reservation system. They divide the nation and confirm their profits between others fight. Caste-based reservation is a quick-fix for getting strictly limited political support and it has no real value. The most ironical aspect of this issue is that reservation on the basis of caste is something which even our Constitution does not support. The main motto behind giving the reservation was the development of the poor people, and the original resolution in the Constitution of India was made for 10 year only, but no one revised the status again. Unless there is radical reappraisal of India’s political system and culture, the nation will continue to blunder from crisis to crisis.

There seems no justification for caste based reservations in the educational system. Reservations for the students are making them lazy towards their efforts as they know well that their seat is reserved and will get it easily. Other students who work hard and deserve the seat lose. Is it right justice with them?

Reserved category students get good concessions from the institute. Whatever be their financial status they have to pay only a small amount of money as the fees. But in the same college, a poor student has to pay more just because he or she belongs to General category. Isn’t it unfair?

Yes it is wrong, we all know and abolishing this reservation system only can help the deserving students to get the admissions and needy ones to get the proper concession. Everybody agrees that the caste system is wrong and those who support it do not belong in twenty first century.

Now it is the time to wake up and find the solution of the politics behind the so called reservation system. The problem can be resolved by abolishing the caste system. Why don’t we all unite to be Indians? Is there any need to divide the united nation on the basis of caste?

The young generation of India can only solve this crucial matter. The sooner these shortcomings are abolished the better. Young India is smart and educated. They have power to change. They know their rights and they know the right way of development of their country. They reached up to Moon and Mars by their intelligence. They have made a car which can swim and another which can run at a speed of 250 Km/litre fuel to combat fuel crisis. Then why they do not understand that the reservation system is depleting their nation like a termite.

It is a humble appeal to Young India, government and the Indian politicians to stop usage of politics to divide India on the basis of caste, creed and community and region.

Tags: Caste, Delhi, General, India, OBC, Politics, politics of castes, Rajasthan, reservation system, SC, ST

After the Gujjar’s ongoing agitation demanding reservation for ST status has disturbed the normal life of the capital city today, the leader Kirori Singh Bhainsla said he could consider talking to the Rajasthan government provided it made a “proper proposal”.

But the talk will not mean that they will compromise with the government as he repeated, “However, we will not settle for anything less than ST status and we will not move from here till we have the recommendation letter from the state government.”

It was reported that the Gujjar protesters blocked road and rail traffic in the National Capital Region on Thursday as part of their `NCR rasta roko` agitation, since morning.

The life in the NCR region came to a stand still before the MG road connecting Delhi and Gurgaon, NH-8 and NH-24 highways were cleared by the police in the afternoon.

The six day long Gujjar protesting is not seems to come at an early end. For the first time, the Rajasthan government on Thursday, airdropped pamphlets asking the agitators to refrain from violence as the Gujjars began their “martyrs’ day” protests.

Chief minister Vasundara Raje appealed for peace by the pamphlets which were airdropped by an IAF helicopter at Bayana and Karwadi, the epicentre of Gujjar agitation. Through pamphlets, Raje asked the Gujjars to take up their initiatives with the Centre and “use their wisdom” as her government had made recommendations for their quota to the Central government.

Gujjars, however, collected the pink-colored pamphlets and made a bonfire of them. The Gujjars also raised slogans against the chief minister and the state government.

Tags: Bhainsla, Gujjar, Gujjars, Kirori Singh Bhainsla, Rajasthan, ST

After the Gujjar community threatened a “complete NCR roko” on May 29, a high alert is declared in the National Capital Region (NCR) by the Union Home Ministry on Tuesday.

Gujjar’s agitation is engulfing the nearby areas and states along with NCR. The Gujjars demanding for Scheduled Tribe status has threatened to block traffic in different parts of the national capital on May 29.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil reviewed the situation in a meeting with Special Secretary (Internal Security) M L Kumawat, where Delhi Police Chief Y S Dadwal was also present.

Gujjar’s five day old agitation has already upset the rail traffic passing through Rajasthan, tourism in Rajasthan and the routine life in the affected areas. Presence of a number of Gujjar pockets in the outskirt areas has become a matter of concern in the Home Ministry. The security establishment did not want to leave anything to chance in NCR on Thursday.

Due to the unrest, ten trains, mostly originating from Delhi, were cancelled on Tuesday. Police tear-gassed Gujjar protestors on Delhi-Jaipur highway and in Tonk district as the stir spread to new areas in Rajasthan with agitation leader Kirori Singh Bainsla asking Centre to intervene to resolve the issue of ST status for the community.

Bainsla has clearly said that he would settle for nothing less than ST status for Gujjars. He out rightly rejected a proposal of letter the Chief Minister to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommending four to six per cent reservation for the community.

Meanwhile the leader is asked to appear in the Rajasthan High court on May 30 after the government charged the case of murder and violence on him.

Tags: Agitation, Delhi, Gujjar Agitation, Gujjars, NCR, Rajasthan