VIDEO: Difference between Rahul Gandhi and PM Narendra Modi

Watch Video that establishes the difference between Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Two incidents in Parliament - one during the speech of Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and another during the speech of Union minister and BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu - established why Narendra Modi is admired by countrymen.

Rahul Gandhi comes during the speech of Jyotiraditya Scindia in Lok Sabha and intermittently interrupts Scindia's speech to sit beside him. In fact, a Member of Parliament is seen rising to vacate place for Rahul Gandhi. The Gandhi scion then sits beside Jyotiraditya Scindia.

In a similar incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stands and patiently waits for his cabinet colleague Venkaiah Naidu to complete his speech. Narendra Modi even gestures to a fellow MP not to get up when he rises to vacate seat for the Prime Minister.

Punjab attack: Terrorists holed in Gurdaspur police station, 8 killed | Raw video

Terrorists attacked a police station in Gurdaspur, Punjab Monday morning. Eight people have been killed including a terrorist and policemen in the gun battle that ensued.

WATCH: Sikh kid confronts bully in United Kingdom

A video that has gone viral of social networks shows a Sikh boy confront and thrash a white teenager outside a school in United Kingdom.

Monkey saves life of dying friend at Indian rail station

A monkey has saved the life of another monkey that had fallen unconscious after being electrocuted in northern Indian town of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The incident took place at the Kanpur railway station. The monkey was electrocuted and fell on the railway tracks unconscious while walking on the high tension wires at the station. A fellow monkey spotted the poor primate and toiled hard for almost 20 minutes to revive it.

The monkey tried to revive its injured friend by repeatedly biting, hitting and tipping it in the water. Its efforts finally paid dividends and the injured animal was able to walk away from the railway tracks.

Man pulls lion by tail in Gir Forest in India

Watch this stunning video of a man teasing a lioness. The video has been shot at the Gir Forest in Gujarat, India. The mobile clip has gone viral on social media and has earned a lot of criticism from the video. Forest officials at Gir however argue that it is no mischief and the video has been shot by two herdsmen who helped them track the sick lioness.

The herdsmen found the animal paralysed. One of them tried to access its weakness by touching its tail while the other herdsman shot the video on his mobile phone, forest officials said. They claimed that the media had misunderstood the clipping. But the video seems shot more in zest than to help the lioness.

Watch and comment your views

Tiger kills man in Delhi zoo-Raw video [NEW UNSEEN VIDEO]

Will India produce the next globally innovative product

When Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria asks if the Indian IT industry is aiming to give the world the next Google, Facebook or Twitter, we don't have an answer. This, in spite of the fact that IT is one industry that we pride ourselves in. In fact, most other industries too have failed to provide a globally innovative product. One reason for this is Indian companies aim to cater to a demand led market to get faster return on their investment.

For this reason and for many others the average engineer or IT professional in India fails to think beyond a hefty paying job. The mentality of the society is also such that it forces Indians even with efficient skills and ability to play safe. The government and corporates should have the foresight to encourage young minds by investing in R & D to drive innovation. Otherwise India will continue to be looked at as a centre for very basic IT work and for routine customer requirement.

Restore peace process: Indian peace delegation to Pakistan

Fresh from their visit to Pakistan, members of the Indian Peace Delegation addressed a press conference at the Indian Women’s Press Corps on Friday. A 13-member team led by veteran journalist and former diplomat Kuldip Nair had left for the neighbouring country on 22^nd February.

The four-day visit was organized by South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) and included other eminent personalities like film maker Mahesh Bhatt, president of World Council of Arya Samaj Swami Agnivesh, prominent historian K.N. Panikkar, social activists Sandeep Pandey, Hanif Lakdawala and Sabnam Hashmi, former diplomat Salman Haider, Human Right Activist and Educationist Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Peace Activist Ramesh Yadav, Social Scientist Kamla Bhasin and well-known journalist Seema Mustafa.

After the Mumbai attacks, the peace process between India and Pakistan has come almost to a standstill, remarked Kuldip Nair. “We had gone in response to the visit of the Pakistani delegation to India so that the peace process between the two countries is restored at the earliest,” he said.

What came out again and again from the people of Pakistan is that they wanted peace with India. They said that they were non-state actors and should not be denied visas by the Indian Government, said the members who had gathered at 5, Windsor Place.

Swami Agnivesh pointed out that in his visits to the neighbouring country before 26/11, there could be no talks beyond Kashmir. People always said, first resolve the Kashmir issue and then talk about anything else. “After the Mumbai attacks, there is hardly any mention of Kashmir. They want to get back to composite dialogue between the two countries,” he said. “They told us that their country is a greater victim of terrorism. You support us and help.”

Asked if the response of the Pakistani government was the same as that of members of the civil society, the delegation said that they had gone as part of the civil society and met similar people there. “The ministers in the Government that we informally met also wanted restoration of dialogue and peace with India. We stressed that action by the Pakistan government on the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack should be taken to its logical conclusion.”

Security in Pakistan has deteriorated to a large extent, in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in the country. This was felt by the peace delegation too. “For the first time when we went to Lahore, we were accompanied by armed guards,” remarked Prof. Chinoy who was also part of the delegation.

The five members of the Peace Delegation who had gathered for the Press Conference recommended that people to people contact and cultural and sports exchanges between the two countries were necessary in these “difficult times”. The Indian Government had cancelled India’s cricket tour of Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks and the series between the two countries was called off. The cancellation of the tour has put a question mark on the sporting ties between the two countries.

Dipu Shaw

conciousdipu@gmail.com

A healthy soft drink - cow's urine

Are you fed up of carbonated soft drinks that have bad impact on your health? Here's a solution. You can go for "Gau jal" or cow water.

Here's a drink for the true connoisseur - a new soft drink made from cow urine.

Indian inventors have spent months concocting the brew which (they claim) doesn't smell and will have a pleasant taste.

It's also meant to be very healthy.

How makers at the Hindu nationalist movement have accomplished this using waste products remains something of a mystery.

The drink has been devised by the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who are based in Hardwar, one of four holy cities on the River Ganges.

Rather coyly, they've called it 'gau jal,' the Sanskrit for 'cow water' and say it is in the final stages of devlopment.

It is currently undergoing tests and should be launched by the end of this year. Om Prakash, the head of the department, said: 'Don't worry, it won't smell like urine and will be tasty too.'

'Its unique selling point will be that it's going to be very healthy. It won't be like carbonated drinks and will be devoid of any toxins.'

He added that it would be cheap and good competition for the American cola brands, which are popular in India.

'We're going to give them good competition as our drink is good for mankind,' he said.

'We may also think of exporting it.'

Gau jal is made from a blend of cow urine and medicinal and ayurvedic herbs.

The RSS, founded in 1925, claims to be the biggest Indian nationalist society with eight million members.

The cow is sacred to Hindus and the RSS has already promoted its urine as a cure for many things, from liver disease to cancer.

So! what next? Export it and let the foreigners too give it a try. They already consume most of its products and grow vegetables in its manure.

India's 9/11

Sixty hours of hostage. 183 innocent lives lost including 20 coveted security personnel, 141 other Indians and 22 foreign nationals. So. What next!

The sadness that I feel for our valiant commandoes and police personnel who laid down their lives while taking on the hiding terrorists in Mumbai overwhelms me. Also for the 183 innocents who paid by giving up their lives while going about their daily chores.

There is disgust over the spineless leadership of our country and their sheer failure to protect the people time and again. The state apparatus bears the primary responsibility for protecting the citizens. It has laid bare its incapability to provide this basic and first necessity. And then they shamelessly come with sickening statements: “We will not tolerate…We are planning to modernize our equipments..”

I feel ashamed that such dastardly acts of terror are getting the support of locals in our own country. Such large scale and well planned carnage surely cannot be carried out without the help of locals, also confirmed from the testimony of Ajmal Amin Kamal, the Pakistani terrorist nabbed alive. The fidayeen has reportedly revealed names and addresses of at least five people from the city who helped the terror operation. There are reports that they not only provided shelter but also took the terrorists around showing them places – the places where the barbarians would carry out their operation to kill at will.

There is a sense of hopelessness. That in spite of being a nation of a hundred billion, who believe in peace, we could do nothing against these fanatics. We only sat at home and watched the perpetrators of violence wreak havoc in the lives of our countrymen.

There is fear in me. The fear that like before our leaders would make the same statements and we will again move on with our lives. This is no time to move on. It is time to confront the issues head-on. To make sure that the political leadership acts.

If the unprecedented terror attacks in Mumbai is India’s 9/11, let us sincerely follow the U.S. make the political leaders realize the seriousness of the peril. The U.S. made sure that 9/11 is not repeated. It is our time to ensure it.

India's 9/11

Sixty hours of hostage. 183 innocent lives lost including 20 coveted security personnel, 141 other Indians and 22 foreign nationals. So. What next!

The sadness that I feel for our valiant commandoes and police personnel who laid down their lives while taking on the hiding terrorists in Mumbai overwhelms me. Also for the 183 innocents who paid by giving up their lives while going about their daily chores.

There is disgust over the spineless leadership of our country and their sheer failure to protect the people time and again. The state apparatus bears the primary responsibility for protecting the citizens. It has laid bare its incapability to provide this basic and first necessity. And then they shamelessly come with sickening statements: “We will not tolerate…We are planning to modernize our equipments..”

I feel ashamed that such dastardly acts of terror are getting the support of locals in our own country. Such large scale and well planned carnage surely cannot be carried out without the help of locals, also confirmed from the testimony of Ajmal Amin Kamal, the Pakistani terrorist nabbed alive. The fidayeen has reportedly revealed names and addresses of at least five people from the city who helped the terror operation. There are reports that they not only provided shelter but also took the terrorists around showing them places – the places where the barbarians would carry out their operation to kill at will.

There is a sense of hopelessness. That in spite of being a nation of a hundred billion, who believe in peace, we could do nothing against these fanatics. We only sat at home and watched the perpetrators of violence wreak havoc in the lives of our countrymen.

There is fear in me. The fear that like before our leaders would make the same statements and we will again move on with our lives. This is no time to move on. It is time to confront the issues head-on. To make sure that the political leadership acts.

If the unprecedented terror attacks in Mumbai is India’s 9/11, let us sincerely follow the U.S. make the political leaders realize the seriousness of the peril. The U.S. made sure that 9/11 is not repeated. It is our time to ensure it.

The Kashmir History

Recent happenings in Jammu and Kashmir have ignited a fierce debate on the plight of the Indian state. Before going into the debate of the demands of a certain section of the people in the valley, we should look into the matter a little more in detail.

It is often argued that the people of the valley are very passionate about their Kashmiri identity, perhaps even more than their national identity as an Indian. This was also one reason why the people of Kashmir never wanted to align with Pakistan during partition or even later. Islamic identity is something that they always loathed. They wanted their Kashmiri identity intact. And it could never be possible if they aligned with the neighbouring Islamic state.

When India got her independence on 15th August, 1947, Jammu and Kashmir was still an independent state ruled by the Hindu king Raja Hari Singh. On October 20 in the same year, Pakistani raiders entered Jammu and Kashmir territories. Indian troops were still not stationed in the state. The King asked the Indian Government to deploy her army and Indian troops were sent to the state. By then, Kashmir had already lost a large chunk of its territories– almost 55 percent.

The issue was taken to the United Nations. The UN called for a referendum. Kashmir had to either align with India or Pakistan. The plebiscite could never take place. The reason? Pakistani troops never withdrew. One of the conditions for referendum that the UN put was that the army should withdraw before the plebiscite takes place. Pakistani troops never withdrew and the referendum never took place.
For Kashmir, India was the only viable option which not only gave them a lot of autonomy but also protected them.

Those who are arguing for the state’s “independence” reason that the Kashmiris always felt very strong about their identity.
But, is it not true for other regions too? In fact, this is what Nehru called “Unity in Diversity”. Sub nationality is often stronger than nationality. Any community or region has several identities that they live with – religious, cultural, ethnic and so on. Look at South India. Don’t they feel very strong about their culture and identity? At times too detached from the center. Do we separate them from India’s map? The same applies to our brothers in north east India...Secession is not the appropriate answer.