IndiaWorld on the Net

IndiaWorld on the Net proudly and gratefully remembers
the unsung and forgotten heroes of the 1946 "Navy Mutiny" in Bombay
against the British Raj,
on the 21st day of February in 1946.

शहीदों की चिताओं पर लगेंगे हर बरस मेले ।

वतन पर मरने वालों का यही आखिरी निशान होगा ॥

IndiaWorld on the Net shall very soon provide a comprehensive story on the mutiny in the then "Royal Indian Navy" also known as the "Bombay Mutiny" or simply as the "Navy Mutiny".

Indian red-tape: It takes too long to start a business in India, says WB

"We all knew that starting, establishing — and even exiting — a business in India is not for the faint-hearted. But the latest World Bank survey on India’s investment climate shows just how badly India fares on this front at a time it is desperately trying to ramp up foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows", according to a report appearing in The Indian Express.

Compared to most other countries, including those in South Asia (Nepal 21 days, Pakistan 24 days), the time for entry, exit and for contract enforcement are much higher in India (89 days), says the report (‘‘Doing Business in 2005: Removing Obstacles To Growth’). [more]

Govt. expected to permit higher FDI in retail sector

"Media reports indicate that the government might permit 49 per cent foreign investment in retail. This is an improvement over the cap of 26 per cent that was expected to be the limit on FDI in retail until now. At the same time, there is no fundamental difference as it will still not give controlling share to FDI. The Left should therefore not have any objection", reports Indian Express. [more]

India's pseudo secularism: A bitter joke?

The recent death of Pope John Paul II once more exposed the hypocrisy that mars India's self-styled (pseudo) secularism. The more-loyal-than-the-king government of a secular (!) state declared a three days state mourning for a religious head. It sent Vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat with a large delegation to attend the funeral of the deceased Pope and issued highly exaggerated statements praising the pontiff's alleged love for India and her culture.

All this drama took place despite the fact that no Indian govt. ever bothered to show such an honour to any head of an Indian religion. Worse, never did the Vatican care to declare any state mourning for an Indian religious head or for that matter for an Indian head of the state or head of the government that died in office, for instance Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

This is the sad story of Indian pseudo "secularism". The article is also available in Hindi, as a PDF file. [more]

Holi celebrated in India with joy

Celebrating Holi Holi was celebrated in India with a lot of joy and fun in the last week of March. The celebration of Holi is spread over several days. This is a festival of colours that welcomes the spring. Prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi did not celebrate Holi this year as a mark of respect for the Tsunami victims.

Holi is a religious festival in the memory of Prahalad, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, whom his father - jealous of Vishnu - wanted to burn in fire. Holi is also very closely associated with Lord Krishna who used to play Holi with a great enthusiasm. Even today Holi in Brij (the region around Mathura, where Krishna grew up) is thought to be the best [More about Holi]

"India celebrates life through Holi - its festival of colour": Here a Yahoo! News item about this year's Holi: "Indians woke up to a colourful morning on Saturday and spent most of the day celebrating life and the onset of the spring season by smearing a variety of colour on each other on the occasion of the Hindu festival of Holi. People were seen sprinkling 'gulal' or powdered colour on each other while many ran for cover to save themselves from the bucketful of coloured water being thrown at them." [more]

IndiaWorld launched in a new "Avataar"

Hamburg (23.03.2005): Welcome to the new version of IndiaWorld on the net. In its new form the site has moved to a professional web-hosting and is no more hosted on a free-of-charge server that caused inconvenience for visitors by its pop-ups and advertisements.

Buddha Further the site is being extensively updated in its offer on information. Some pages are still under construction and are expected to go online soon. The site will be available in English and German languages. A limited edition in Hindi is also in planning.

It is hoped that the site will thus increase its' utility even more and would contribute to a better understanding of India and Germany in particluar and South Asia in general. If you wish to contribute in this effort by ways of writing articles, providing news or in any other way, you are most welcome.

With best wishes, Rajnish Tiwari, Hamburg, 23.03.2005

South Asia Day at the University of Hamburg

Hamburg (20.11.2004, RT): The University of Hamburg today celebrated 2nd South Asia day. Organised by the Asia-Africa Institute of the university, the programme was attended by curious citizens and people of South Asian origin. Many people had travelled from different cities in Germany.

The event was covered by local and national media including NDR and Deutsche Welle. The day saw several podium discussions about the political and economic situation in the region. An interesting theme was the discussion about the viability of a South Asian union on the lines of the European Union (EU). In the evening mesmerising Nepalese, Sri Lankan and Indian cultural dances were presented. [..more]

Here two reports in German:

i) Rückblick: Südasientag der Universität Hamburg (Samina Akbar)

ii) Südasientag 2004 - Zu wenig Zeit zum Diskutieren (Bijon Chatterji)

Indian student addresses select gathering at "Hamburger Rathaus"

The Hamburg State Ministry of Education and Health organised a reception to honour international students of the local universities. Mr. Rajnish Tiwari addressed the select gathering of about 200 people that included education authorities, representatives of the labour and foreign offices and members of the diplomatic corps from Hamburg. [..more].

The event was reported by local media, including Hamburger Abendblatt and Tide TV.

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