By RICHARD SPRINGER
India-West Staff Reporter
In the wee hours of the morning as the final session of the 109th Congress concluded Dec. 9, the U.S. Senate took one final action - confirming the first South Asian woman ever named a U.S. Attorney heading a federal district in the United States.
Kerala-born Rachel Kunjummen Paulose is the 40th U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota and the first Asian American ever named to that post.
She becomes the federal government's chief law enforcement officer in Minnesota, with responsibility over all federal agencies, federal indictments and cases, and accountability for the Justice Department's federal prosecutors and support staff in Minnesota.
Nominated to the position by President George W. Bush, Paulose told India-West Jan. 9 that she and her family were up till nearly 3 a.m. Dec. 9 watching C-SPAN waiting to see if she would be confirmed before the sunset of the 109th Congress.
"It was the last item on the agenda and I felt so fortunate that by a unanimous vote it passed," she said.
The U.S. Attorney's position is Paulose's fourth time working with the U.S. Department of Justice.
She previously was senior counsel to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty, special counsel for health care fraud, and special assistant to U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. Paulose also was an assistant attorney in the U.S. Attorney's office in Minnesota from 1999-2002.
In a statement, she thanked Bush for giving her the opportunity and added she appreciated "the confidence placed in me by the United States Senate and my home-state senators: Senator Norm Coleman, a steadfast supporter; and Senator Mark Dayton, both of whom worked hard for my confirmation."
She explained in an interview that it was Coleman, as Minnesota's senior Republican in a GOP-majority Congress, who initially submitted her name as one of a handful of potential candidates for the post, which requires conformation by the U.S. Senate.
After background checks by the FBI ("I think this was my sixth"), the Justice Department selected her and forwarded the nomination to Congress.
She needed the support of Dayton, a Democrat who had decided not to run for reelection. Both U.S. senators gave their support and had "nice things" to say about her in the press.
Asked about her party affiliation, she said she is a registered Republican and has worked for GOP candidates, but said the appointment was a "decision based on politics."
She cited her work background and her lack of involvement in big-donor contributing and fundraising. "The (U.S. Attorney post) is a non-partisan office," she pointed out.
Paulose is the daughter of Lucy Paulose, president and chief executive officer of Home Electronic Specialists, and Joseph Paulose, an administrator with the Hopkins school systems in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan.
Her maternal grandparents, Daniel and Sara Kunjummen, immigrated to the U.S. from Kerala in the 1960s, and raised their family in Minnesota. Her paternal grandparents, both deceased, also lived in Kerala.
Paulose told India-West that her father came to the U.S. from Kerala when she was about 10 days old and she followed him a few months later. While she grew up in Ohio, she frequently visited her grandparents in Minnesota and moved permanently to the state when she was about 17 years old.
In 1994, Paulose received a B.A. (summa cum laude) from the University of Minnesota, where she was a Truman Scholar and chair of the student representatives to the university's Board of Regents. She received a law degree from the Yale Law School, where she was a Coker Fellow.
Paulose began her legal career in 1997 as a law clerk for Chief Judge James B. Loken of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which has jurisdiction over federal appeals from Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas.
While she was a federal prosecutor, she prosecuted cases related to violent crime, illegal drugs, economic crimes and civil rights enforcement. She also worked as a trial attorney in the Attorney General's Honors Program from 1998-1999.
From 2002-2005, Paulose worked in private practice for law firms including Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C., focusing on business and health care litigation. W&C defended such high-profile clients as Oliver North and President Bill Clinton during his impeachment hearings.
She has served on the boards of the Yale Law School Fund, the Federal Bar Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, and the Trust for Public Land.
Paulose told India-West that family issues, primarily illnesses involving some members of her family, led to her move back to the Minneapolis area.
She said the U.S. Attorney's office will focus on six areas: terrorism; economic crime, including fraud and public corruption; Internet crimes against children; gun and gang violence; drug trafficking; and civil rights, including human trafficking, immigration violations, and identity theft fraud.
Paulose jumped at the chance to expound on these priorities - mentioning that the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's office has two terrorism case pending, indicted three Minnesota city council members on corruption charges, and vigorously pursued a case of Internet pharmacy fraud totaling about $20 million in illegal sales. The defrauder faces a possible sentence of 20 years in prison.
Paulose pledges to keep the heat on child pornographers who, she said, are becoming "more graphic, more heinous and frankly appalling." She also emphasized her office's increasingly tough sentencing requests for weapons' offenses, with violent crime on the increase in the urban areas of Minnesota.
"We must protect all citizens, young and old, from the violence that threatens our way of life," she said in a statement. "We must hold everyone, particularly public officials, accountable for their actions. And we must ensure the civil rights of all people."
While she has already been informally sworn into office, Paulose plans a formal investiture ceremony in March. She is looking for a large enough location to accommodate "all of my relatives who are coming (to Minneapolis) from all over the United States."
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Caste system is the greater barrier to social harmony in India, BBC Poll
71% say they're proud to be Indians
Rashmee Roshan Lall
5 Feb, 2007 TIMES NEWS NETWORK
LONDON: Nearly two-thirds of all Indians are fiercely proud of 'Mera Bharat Mahaan' but more than half of India believes the caste system is a "barrier to social harmony" and is holding the country back, according to a BBC poll to be published on Monday.
India-watchers expressed surprise at the poll's finding, the first for a nationwide 'attitudes' survey conducted by an international agency, that Indians still seem to have caste firmly on their minds in one way or the other, even though leading sociologists have long argued that urbanisation and industrialisation has helped break down caste-barriers.
The survey aims to itemise exactly how Indians view their own country, at a time when much of the world appears to have a view alternately on "emerging India" or "overheating India". The survey was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan.
The survey found that 71% are proud to be an Indian; nearly as many (65%) think it is important that India is an economic superpower; 60% think it's important India should be a political power and the same number believe it should be a military superpower. Just under half of all Indians said India's economic growth over the last 10 years had not benefited them and their families. The survey comes as part of BBC's ongoing 'India Rising' week of special programming that charts changes in different sectors of the Indian economy.
In a special message to the BBC's estimated 163 million listeners in 33 languages, President Kalam called for worldwide engagement with his vision of citizenship, notably a "three-dimensional approach involving education with value system; religion transformed to spirituality and economic development for societal transformation of all the nations." Kalam, who called upon BBC's global audiences to flood his website with suggestions and debate, was speaking on a special edition of the BBC's 'Discovery' programme, to be broadcast on Wednesday.
Monday's BBC survey concentrated on asking more than 1,500 Indians a series of questions focusing on social and political issues. It found that Indians overall, seven in 10 exhibited a positive sense of identity by agreeing to the statement, "I am proud to be an Indian." The survey found the view was uniform across all age, income groups, even though it differed among religious groups with Christians (73%) the proudest; Hindus (71%) close behind and Muslim pride in being Indian languishing at 60%.
The poll found that Indians' positive perceptions about their present also extended to the Indian marketplace. A 55% majority said the justice system "treats poor people as fairly as rich people"; 52% said "being a woman is no barrier to success" and just under half of all Indians (48%) declared they would rather "work for a private company than for the government." Interestingly, six in 10, or 58% said they believed India's security is "more in danger from other Indians than from foreigners" and 55% said the "caste system is a barrier to social harmony." 47% said "corruption is a fact of life which we should accept as the price of doing business." But a cheering 45% of 18- to 24-year-old Indians said they were less tolerant of corruption than the older generation.
On religious belief, 50% said "people don't take their religion seriously"; 40% lamented that "young Indians have lost touch with their heritage."
Rashmee Roshan Lall
5 Feb, 2007 TIMES NEWS NETWORK
LONDON: Nearly two-thirds of all Indians are fiercely proud of 'Mera Bharat Mahaan' but more than half of India believes the caste system is a "barrier to social harmony" and is holding the country back, according to a BBC poll to be published on Monday.
India-watchers expressed surprise at the poll's finding, the first for a nationwide 'attitudes' survey conducted by an international agency, that Indians still seem to have caste firmly on their minds in one way or the other, even though leading sociologists have long argued that urbanisation and industrialisation has helped break down caste-barriers.
The survey aims to itemise exactly how Indians view their own country, at a time when much of the world appears to have a view alternately on "emerging India" or "overheating India". The survey was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan.
The survey found that 71% are proud to be an Indian; nearly as many (65%) think it is important that India is an economic superpower; 60% think it's important India should be a political power and the same number believe it should be a military superpower. Just under half of all Indians said India's economic growth over the last 10 years had not benefited them and their families. The survey comes as part of BBC's ongoing 'India Rising' week of special programming that charts changes in different sectors of the Indian economy.
In a special message to the BBC's estimated 163 million listeners in 33 languages, President Kalam called for worldwide engagement with his vision of citizenship, notably a "three-dimensional approach involving education with value system; religion transformed to spirituality and economic development for societal transformation of all the nations." Kalam, who called upon BBC's global audiences to flood his website with suggestions and debate, was speaking on a special edition of the BBC's 'Discovery' programme, to be broadcast on Wednesday.
Monday's BBC survey concentrated on asking more than 1,500 Indians a series of questions focusing on social and political issues. It found that Indians overall, seven in 10 exhibited a positive sense of identity by agreeing to the statement, "I am proud to be an Indian." The survey found the view was uniform across all age, income groups, even though it differed among religious groups with Christians (73%) the proudest; Hindus (71%) close behind and Muslim pride in being Indian languishing at 60%.
The poll found that Indians' positive perceptions about their present also extended to the Indian marketplace. A 55% majority said the justice system "treats poor people as fairly as rich people"; 52% said "being a woman is no barrier to success" and just under half of all Indians (48%) declared they would rather "work for a private company than for the government." Interestingly, six in 10, or 58% said they believed India's security is "more in danger from other Indians than from foreigners" and 55% said the "caste system is a barrier to social harmony." 47% said "corruption is a fact of life which we should accept as the price of doing business." But a cheering 45% of 18- to 24-year-old Indians said they were less tolerant of corruption than the older generation.
On religious belief, 50% said "people don't take their religion seriously"; 40% lamented that "young Indians have lost touch with their heritage."
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Visa papers in US bin, India culprit
Indo-Asian News Service, New York, February 2, 2007
Visa applications and other sensitive documents of top executives and political figures were found lying in an open yard at a San Francisco recycling centre after they were dumped there by the city's Indian consulate, according to media reports.
Security experts said that the documents were a potential treasure trove for identity thieves or terrorists.
Among the papers found lying were visa applications submitted by Byron Pollitt, chief financial officer of San Francisco's Gap Inc, and Anne Gust, wife of California Attorney General Jerry Brown, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Also visa applications of top executives of AT&T Wireless Inc, Oracle Corp, Intel Corp, Microsoft Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Williams-Sonoma Inc were found lying.
Information on the documents includes applicants' names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, professions, employers, passport numbers photos and also accompanying letters detail people's travel plans and reasons for visiting India.
"This is absolutely sensitive information," said Charles Cresson Wood, an information-security consultant. "It needs to be safeguarded," he added.
When contacted, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Navtej Sarna said "the San Fransisco consulate is taking all necessary steps to ensure that all papers are shredded before they leave the consulate in future."
BS Prakash, the Indian consul general, said: "As we see it, the documents are not confidential. We would see something as confidential if it has a social security number or a credit card number, not a passport number."
Security experts said it wouldn't be hard to obtain someone's social security number using the information available in the consular documents.
"We have a shortage of space. We keep this material for a year, and then we have to destroy it," Pratik Sircar, deputy consul-general for the Indian consulate, said.
However, the consulate didn't destroy the documents. Instead, it hired a hauling company in December to cart the boxes to the recycling centre.
Visa applications and other sensitive documents of top executives and political figures were found lying in an open yard at a San Francisco recycling centre after they were dumped there by the city's Indian consulate, according to media reports.
Security experts said that the documents were a potential treasure trove for identity thieves or terrorists.
Among the papers found lying were visa applications submitted by Byron Pollitt, chief financial officer of San Francisco's Gap Inc, and Anne Gust, wife of California Attorney General Jerry Brown, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Also visa applications of top executives of AT&T Wireless Inc, Oracle Corp, Intel Corp, Microsoft Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Williams-Sonoma Inc were found lying.
Information on the documents includes applicants' names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, professions, employers, passport numbers photos and also accompanying letters detail people's travel plans and reasons for visiting India.
"This is absolutely sensitive information," said Charles Cresson Wood, an information-security consultant. "It needs to be safeguarded," he added.
When contacted, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Navtej Sarna said "the San Fransisco consulate is taking all necessary steps to ensure that all papers are shredded before they leave the consulate in future."
BS Prakash, the Indian consul general, said: "As we see it, the documents are not confidential. We would see something as confidential if it has a social security number or a credit card number, not a passport number."
Security experts said it wouldn't be hard to obtain someone's social security number using the information available in the consular documents.
"We have a shortage of space. We keep this material for a year, and then we have to destroy it," Pratik Sircar, deputy consul-general for the Indian consulate, said.
However, the consulate didn't destroy the documents. Instead, it hired a hauling company in December to cart the boxes to the recycling centre.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Aishwara Rai faces lawsuit after 'marrying' a tree
Thursday, 01 February 2007
By Peter Foster in New Delhi, The Telegraph UK ,
The Indian film star Aishwarya Rai has been accused of promoting a tradition associated with the caste system and "untouchability" following reports that she had "married a tree" in an ancient Hindu ceremony.
Miss Rai, a former Miss World who is engaged to the Bollywood heart-throb Abhishek Bachchan, is said to have undergone the ritual to overcome astrological differences with her fiancé.
Lawyers representing human rights groups have now filed a civil lawsuit demanding that Miss Rai, 33, and her family offer a public apology for entering into "false marriages".
Over the last six months Miss Rai and Mr Bachchan, 30, have been spotted entering temples in the holy cities of Varanasi and Ayodhya to perform "puja" or prayer ceremonies. Astrologers have said that Miss Rai's astrological chart is "manglik", or Mars-bearing, which, according to Hindu tradition, can have negative consequences for their impending marriage.
Traditionally, "manglik" women are required to go through a ceremony marrying them to a peepal tree, a banana tree or a silver or golden idol of the Hindu god Vishnu in a ceremony known as "kumbh vivah".
According to the litigation, filed in Patna, eastern India, such practices are "derogatory" to women and in violation of Article 17 of the Indian constitution which prohibits untouchability.
Caste discrimination has been illegal in India for many decades. However, the power of caste still persists in ordering society in many parts of rural India.
Untouchables, the lowest caste, are still forbidden to share wells in some villages.
Miss Rai, who was once described as the world's most beautiful woman by the actress Julia Roberts, also featured on the cover of Time magazine in 2003 as one of the most powerful women in Asia.
The Bachchan family has refused to comment on the couple's alleged astrological incompatibility or what, precisely, they might be doing to solve the problem.
By Peter Foster in New Delhi, The Telegraph UK ,
The Indian film star Aishwarya Rai has been accused of promoting a tradition associated with the caste system and "untouchability" following reports that she had "married a tree" in an ancient Hindu ceremony.
Miss Rai, a former Miss World who is engaged to the Bollywood heart-throb Abhishek Bachchan, is said to have undergone the ritual to overcome astrological differences with her fiancé.
Lawyers representing human rights groups have now filed a civil lawsuit demanding that Miss Rai, 33, and her family offer a public apology for entering into "false marriages".
Over the last six months Miss Rai and Mr Bachchan, 30, have been spotted entering temples in the holy cities of Varanasi and Ayodhya to perform "puja" or prayer ceremonies. Astrologers have said that Miss Rai's astrological chart is "manglik", or Mars-bearing, which, according to Hindu tradition, can have negative consequences for their impending marriage.
Traditionally, "manglik" women are required to go through a ceremony marrying them to a peepal tree, a banana tree or a silver or golden idol of the Hindu god Vishnu in a ceremony known as "kumbh vivah".
According to the litigation, filed in Patna, eastern India, such practices are "derogatory" to women and in violation of Article 17 of the Indian constitution which prohibits untouchability.
Caste discrimination has been illegal in India for many decades. However, the power of caste still persists in ordering society in many parts of rural India.
Untouchables, the lowest caste, are still forbidden to share wells in some villages.
Miss Rai, who was once described as the world's most beautiful woman by the actress Julia Roberts, also featured on the cover of Time magazine in 2003 as one of the most powerful women in Asia.
The Bachchan family has refused to comment on the couple's alleged astrological incompatibility or what, precisely, they might be doing to solve the problem.
"Incestuous" lovers beaten to death in Uttar Pradesh
Thu Feb 1, 2007
LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - Two young lovers were bludgeoned to death and their bodies sliced into pieces and burnt in a village in Uttar Pradesh because the community believed their relationship was incestuous, police said on Thursday.
Mahesh, 20, and Guriya, his 19-year-old girlfriend and distant cousin, had fled their village near Agra in Uttar Pradesh after realising their secret relationship had been exposed.
But their relatives managed to trace them, and dragged them before the village council early on Tuesday. The couple refused to end their relationship, and were killed and mutilated on the spot, police said.
Arranged marriages between cousins are common in India and are not usually considered incestuous.
However, young people in large parts of rural India often face dire consequences, such as losing family inheritances, if they insist on choosing their own lover instead of deferring to their family's wishes.
Police began investigating after the Mahesh's grandfather reported the crime. No arrests have been made.
LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - Two young lovers were bludgeoned to death and their bodies sliced into pieces and burnt in a village in Uttar Pradesh because the community believed their relationship was incestuous, police said on Thursday.
Mahesh, 20, and Guriya, his 19-year-old girlfriend and distant cousin, had fled their village near Agra in Uttar Pradesh after realising their secret relationship had been exposed.
But their relatives managed to trace them, and dragged them before the village council early on Tuesday. The couple refused to end their relationship, and were killed and mutilated on the spot, police said.
Arranged marriages between cousins are common in India and are not usually considered incestuous.
However, young people in large parts of rural India often face dire consequences, such as losing family inheritances, if they insist on choosing their own lover instead of deferring to their family's wishes.
Police began investigating after the Mahesh's grandfather reported the crime. No arrests have been made.
300 Hindu chanters would 'reorganize the chaos' in Israel
By SHELLY PAZ, Jerusalem Post, Feb. 1, 2007
Three hundred Hindu scholars from India are waiting for visas to come to Israel to "reorganize the Israeli chaos" by chanting and practicing transcendental meditation.
Yoga and chanting are the new technologies for defeating terror, solving national problems and promoting prosperity, peace and invincibility, according to Dr. Alex Kutai of the Institute for the Science of Creative Intelligence, the Hosen Center in Israel. Hosen means strength in Hebrew.
The center wants to bring the 300 Vedic Pandits, who live according to Vedas - the main scriptural texts of Hinduism, also known as the Sanatana Dharma - to chant choruses and practice meditation in order to improve the "collective consciousness."
Kutai, 61, is a 31-year-practitioner of the Veda, a doctor of the Maharishi Research European University in Britain and an expert in the science and technology of natural law.
He said he planned to achieve "national invincibility" for Israel within a few weeks, if given the opportunity, by bringing the 300 Vedic Indians who specialize in a unique way of chanting that "has the power to rearrange the local mayhem."
"The chanting has to be performed with a certain mass of people who are the root square of one percent of the number of the country's population," he said. "In Israel this number is 300," said Kutai, asserting that the resultant positivism and harmony would "help prevent future dangers and intensify the good fortune of the nation."
Kutai said he turned to the Prime Minister's Office and the Interior Ministry to get the necessary approvals for the visitors, "but they are troubled with too many things and corruption scandals so they didn't understand what we wanted."
Three hundred Hindu scholars from India are waiting for visas to come to Israel to "reorganize the Israeli chaos" by chanting and practicing transcendental meditation.
Yoga and chanting are the new technologies for defeating terror, solving national problems and promoting prosperity, peace and invincibility, according to Dr. Alex Kutai of the Institute for the Science of Creative Intelligence, the Hosen Center in Israel. Hosen means strength in Hebrew.
The center wants to bring the 300 Vedic Pandits, who live according to Vedas - the main scriptural texts of Hinduism, also known as the Sanatana Dharma - to chant choruses and practice meditation in order to improve the "collective consciousness."
Kutai, 61, is a 31-year-practitioner of the Veda, a doctor of the Maharishi Research European University in Britain and an expert in the science and technology of natural law.
He said he planned to achieve "national invincibility" for Israel within a few weeks, if given the opportunity, by bringing the 300 Vedic Indians who specialize in a unique way of chanting that "has the power to rearrange the local mayhem."
"The chanting has to be performed with a certain mass of people who are the root square of one percent of the number of the country's population," he said. "In Israel this number is 300," said Kutai, asserting that the resultant positivism and harmony would "help prevent future dangers and intensify the good fortune of the nation."
Kutai said he turned to the Prime Minister's Office and the Interior Ministry to get the necessary approvals for the visitors, "but they are troubled with too many things and corruption scandals so they didn't understand what we wanted."
Thursday, February 1, 2007
He Ram! Sethu canal in trouble
Arun Ram, DNAINDIA.COM , January 31, 2007
CHENNAI: Hindu religious groups have jumped onto the anti-Sethusamudram project bandwagon, and they have raised the mightiest of shields around their argument. Lord Ram himself.
The believers are saying that the bridge was built by Lord Ram’s Vanara Sena (army of monkeys) in his quest to reach Lanka to rescue Sita from the clutches of King Ravana and say dredging in the region will destroy the legendary bridge.
Fishermen and environmentalists are already protesting against the Rs2400-crore Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP), which will allow ships to pass through the narrow strip between the peninsular tip of India and Sri Lanka between the east and west coasts of India.
Now, the Hindu groups have also voiced their opposition to the project, substantiating their protest with “scientific ammunition” — satellite pictures provided by NASA that show an almost continuous bridge from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu to Mannar in Sri Lanka. The epic-angle gained significance recently with a civil suit coming up in a Ramanathapuram court and former chief minister J Jayalalithaa joining the Ram-chorus.
“When efforts are on to protect historical monuments the world over, demolition of Ramar Sethu cannot be accepted,” Jayalalithaa said, threatening to move the Supreme Court. Swami Omkarananda of an ashram in Theni and a local RSS leader Kuppu Ramu have moved a sub-court in Ramanthapuram saying that destruction of the bridge hurts religious sentiments of Hindus. That shipping minister TR Baalu belongs to the “atheist” DMK has added to the controversy. While the shipping ministry has not reacted to the concern, Ocean scientists caution against “indiscriminate dredging.”
Says S Badrinarayanan, retired director of Geological Survey of India: “Whether the reasons are religious or scientific, you cannot destroy the bridge. The project should ideally look at the gaps (there are many) in the bridge to route the canal through, thereby causing minimum damage.”
Badrinarayanan, who was also an advisor to the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), adds: “Ramayana is believed to have happened about 7,000 years ago. Scientific studies in the region show that there was a civilization around the region then and the structure of the ‘bridge’ suggests it could be man-made, when the ocean level was much lower than it is today.”
Another scientist, who has done microfossil studies along Adam’s bridge advocates more thorough investigations. “We have found that some parts of the bridge are made of solid rocks dating back to the last ice age, 18,000 years ago. And there is an apparent continuity of the bridge, as the satellite images confirm.”
When contacted, SSCP chairman NK Raghupathi promised to “get back,” while the shipping minister was not available for comment.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1077282
CHENNAI: Hindu religious groups have jumped onto the anti-Sethusamudram project bandwagon, and they have raised the mightiest of shields around their argument. Lord Ram himself.
The believers are saying that the bridge was built by Lord Ram’s Vanara Sena (army of monkeys) in his quest to reach Lanka to rescue Sita from the clutches of King Ravana and say dredging in the region will destroy the legendary bridge.
Fishermen and environmentalists are already protesting against the Rs2400-crore Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project (SSCP), which will allow ships to pass through the narrow strip between the peninsular tip of India and Sri Lanka between the east and west coasts of India.
Now, the Hindu groups have also voiced their opposition to the project, substantiating their protest with “scientific ammunition” — satellite pictures provided by NASA that show an almost continuous bridge from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu to Mannar in Sri Lanka. The epic-angle gained significance recently with a civil suit coming up in a Ramanathapuram court and former chief minister J Jayalalithaa joining the Ram-chorus.
“When efforts are on to protect historical monuments the world over, demolition of Ramar Sethu cannot be accepted,” Jayalalithaa said, threatening to move the Supreme Court. Swami Omkarananda of an ashram in Theni and a local RSS leader Kuppu Ramu have moved a sub-court in Ramanthapuram saying that destruction of the bridge hurts religious sentiments of Hindus. That shipping minister TR Baalu belongs to the “atheist” DMK has added to the controversy. While the shipping ministry has not reacted to the concern, Ocean scientists caution against “indiscriminate dredging.”
Says S Badrinarayanan, retired director of Geological Survey of India: “Whether the reasons are religious or scientific, you cannot destroy the bridge. The project should ideally look at the gaps (there are many) in the bridge to route the canal through, thereby causing minimum damage.”
Badrinarayanan, who was also an advisor to the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), adds: “Ramayana is believed to have happened about 7,000 years ago. Scientific studies in the region show that there was a civilization around the region then and the structure of the ‘bridge’ suggests it could be man-made, when the ocean level was much lower than it is today.”
Another scientist, who has done microfossil studies along Adam’s bridge advocates more thorough investigations. “We have found that some parts of the bridge are made of solid rocks dating back to the last ice age, 18,000 years ago. And there is an apparent continuity of the bridge, as the satellite images confirm.”
When contacted, SSCP chairman NK Raghupathi promised to “get back,” while the shipping minister was not available for comment.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1077282
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