US in recession mode Khushwant Toor
US and its ailing economy is in the news all over the world these days.
US is in recession, odds of recession are high, US not yet in recession,
recession eminent are such views economists around the world have been
predicting from sometime now for the U.S. More
Canada: face of poverty Gobind Thukral
Canada is a rich developed country with an enviable quality of life. It
is much sought destination for the people from Asia and Africa, besides
some from Europe. More
Canadian jails: Conducive
catering Canada’s prison system
goes great lengths to ensure religious faith matches food behind bars.
Housing a diverse population of inmates, penitentiaries must cater to
special religious diets ranging from lacto-vegetarian Rastafarians to
Hare Krishnas and Buddhist vegans. More
Indian man in Vancouver kills baby daughter
AN Indo-Canadian man has been charged with killing his
two-and-half-year-old daughter in the Vancouver suburb of Delta because
he did not want a third girl child. More
Mona Lisa: Mystery Revealed Khushwant Toor writes from
Toronto
FOR centuries the true identity of the world famous painting, painted by
the famous Leonardo da Vinci in the sixteenth century of as some call it
a “smiling woman” and still as others call it as “sad women” had been a
mystery around the world. More
ANALYSIS
For whom this prosperous India? Vinod Anand and Ch. Paramaiah
Economists and various studies conducted across the globe envisage India
and China to rule the world in the 21st century. More
Bhutan: pangs of new-fangled democracy Micky Sharma
AS the rest of the world ushered in 2008 with all sorts of antics, in
India’s unassuming north-east corner the small Himalayan kingdom of
Bhutan took a big step towards democracy. More
Testing times ahead for Sri Lanka Micky Sharma
THE end to the ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE
has unruffled more than a few feathers in not just Asia, but throughout
the world. More
E D I T O R I A L
How wealthy are Indians?
Capitalism has arrived. And, we can see this happening in a
variety of ways. Mainstream newspapers and television networks daily
tell us that there are ten Indians among the world’s richest people.
They are naturally men from the world of industry and business. We are
told that the number of rich people is also expanding in India. Let us
look at just one instance. How much money Rs 7, 45,676 crore or 190
billion dollars is? Is this not mind
boggling for a country where at least 40 crore families live on less
than Rs 100 per day? More
Important
Message
My e-mail I D -
gobindthukral@hotmail.com has been hacked. Some mischievous person
has been soliciting money in my name. I am sorry for any inconvenience.
Please do not respond to that and do not send any mail to this address.
My other e-mail IDs are:
gobindthukral65@yahoo.com and
gobind.thukral@gmail.com Please use these.
FOCUS
Punjab’s downslide Gobind Thukral
IN March last year when Parkash Singh Badal became chief minister fourth
time, he rightly raised great hopes. This was further strengthened by the choice
of some key officers. His new chief secretary, Ramesh Inder Singh, his principal
secretary Darbara Singh Guru and his police Chief N.P.S Aulakh, all are
intelligent and committed officers. Only criticism against Mr Badal at
that time was putting too many relatives in the cabinet. Now in just one
year the optimism he created has given way to despair. Somewhere the
government is fumbling. More
An Asian Century? Ishtiaq Ahmed THE great historian Eric Hobsbawm
described the 20th century as the century of extremes. Burgeoning
industrialisation, scientific breakthroughs in the fight against disease and the
concomitant rising rates of human survival and economic growth, the end of
colonial domination, and the spread of democracy were some of the outstanding
achievements of that period. More
Whither Governance? Gobind Thukral Governance in India at
the national or state levels was not known for efficiency or honesty.
Yet there was always a modicum of functioning and after independence
India moved forward. It seems liberalisation has meant less and
less of governance and more and more of flourishing private enterprise.
Government is in aid pr the private sector alone. There could be some
theoretical support for having less government in many spheres of public
activity, but liberalisation did not mean lean or efficient governance,
it only meant entry of private players in the governance of the country. More
Jitters in stock market Gagandeep Singh writes from
Waterloo, Canada
IN the mid for January 2008 there was magnanimous seismic activity in
stock markets around the world and the markets worldwide felt strong
tremors. On Monday, January 21 the markets around the globe tumbled as a
house of cards on the renewed fears of recession in US economy. It was
the biggest fall in the stock markets since September 11, 2001. Around
$350 billon in investor wealth was wiped out in European markets and
Asian markets dropped as much as 15%.
More
MEDIA
A Peep into U.S. Media Publishers and owners in
America who make tonnes of money from their publishing establishments
care too hoots for their editors and other journalists. A report from
Los Angles on January 22, 2008 said that The top editor at the Los
Angeles Times told his staff Monday he was forced out for opposing
newsroom cutbacks and blasted the paper's parent firm, Tribune Co., for
what he called "voodoo economics" and an "asinine" budgetary system. More
Media in shackles in Afghanistan Release the innocent journalist Afghanistan’s Senate has
endorsed a death sentence handed down by a court to a reporter and
journalism student accused of blasphemy on January 30. The Senate,
called the Meshrano Jirga (House of Elders), issued a statement backing
last week’s decision by the Balkh province primary court and criticising
international pressure over the case, an official said. More
LITERATURE
Bhai Santokh Singh: Re-asserting
the Tradition-3 Gurtej Singh Understandably,
Hindu rituals and ceremonies have no place in Sikhism. 'The Khalsa repeats the
name of One Who is Deathless and recognizes no other.' To highlight the futility
of wearing the sacred thread he relates a story. The Guru once needed a thread
to tie his sword to the scabbard. Bhai Daya Singh broke off his sacred thread
and gave it to the Guru. On being urged by his companions to retain the
thread, he replied that it was futile to wear it according to gurmat and
quoted the injunction of Guru Nanak in Var Asa. More
With Compliments
from
Gogi Sidhu
President
Satish K. Jain
Executive Vice President
1301, Mahalo Place, Rancho Dominguez, CA 90220 U.S.A. www.magnespec.com
Phone:- 0013106032262
Jas Chahal,
B.S.E.E., P.E. Principal
3251 Old Lee Highway
Suite 201, Fairfax, VA, U.S.A. 22030
Ph. 703-385-2558
Fax. 703-385-2559
203-12830- 80 Avenue, Surrey.
British Columbia
V3W 3AB
Joginder Singh Ahluwalia
is the President and CEO of Walia Insurance Agencies Ltd.
Pradeep Dheendsa
Sales
Representative
Cell. (647)
225-7653
For all business setup and real
estate needs in Canada contact me
SPECIALISTS IN FLATBED HAULING SERVING WESTERN CANADA
AND U.S.A.
FEATURES
The Indic Civilisation Ishtiaq Ahmed Today's article coincides with
India's declaration as a republic in 1950. The civilisational roots of modern
India are always worth discussing, because despite all the odds against it --
the caste system, poverty and hunger, illiteracy and other such debilitating
factors -- it became a democracy and has remained so. More
Opposition to Indo-US Deal can be fatal for BJP Harjap Singh Aujla writes from
New Jersey Recently
I attended a meeting of the Asian Indian Chamber of Commerce in New
Jersey. Among the attendees were some senior functionaries of Smith
Barney. They seemed worried about the fate of INDO-US nuclear deal. But
they were guardedly optimistic about the implementation of this deal by
the BJP led NDA government. I already believe in their optimism. More
COMMENT
Farm suicides continue unabated Between 1997 and 2001
as many as 78,737 hapless debt ridden farmers in India committed
suicides. The next five years, from 2002 to 2006 have proved worse,
seeing 87,567 farmers take their own lives. This means that on
average, there has been one farmer’s suicide every 30 minutes since
2002. Records show 1, 66,304 farmers’ suicides in a decade since 1997.
More
LAW
& JUSTICE
Indian judicial system on a rocky path Joginder Singh Toor A
report by Transparency International, the “Global Corruption Report 2007” has
sounded a “wake-up call not just for India’s legal system, but for society and
the State itself”. Upendra Baxi, an Indian jurist, a former vice-chancellor of
Delhi University and professor at the University of Warwick in Britain. More
Providing
unparalleled complete turnkey solutions from concept to
production.
Amandeep Phul
M.S. Computers
Broker
416-877-8490
Contact for free house evaluations, buying and
selling residential properties throughout GTA
1729 ALBION ROAD, ETOBICOKE ON M9V
4JN
Bush war on truth in Iraq Lies and more lies TOP
US officials ran roughshod over the truth in the run-up to the Iraq
war, lying 935 times in a two-year period leading up to the Iraq war,
a study released on January 23 found. How consistently and over a two
year long period American president George W. Bush and his team lied
prior to attack on Iraq is documented. Also, how like faithful voice
of the master, a vast majority American media propagated their lies
ass its own before March 2003 attack. More
War against global terror is borderless Ajmer Alam Wani
IF one goes by the report of William M. Arkin on National and Homeland
Security, the surge is about to hit Pakistan. The top US Commander for
the Middle-East says the deteriorating situation in the country and
the increased violence in the frontier area have prompted Islamabad to
accept plans for US forces in the country for the first time since
early 2002. Meanwhile, a top counter-terrorism diplomat says the
situation has become so dire that the United States cannot afford to
wait. More
Obituary: Dr. S.S. Joshi a Dedicated Scholar Sawraj Singh THE
untimely demise of Dr. S.S. Joshi is one of the most unfortunate and
shocking jolts. Punjab and the whole country has lost one of the most
dedicated and great scholars. It is a great loss for me because I had
the honor of knowing him for more than thirty years. Dr. Joshi was
humble, very balanced, and the most well read and informed scholar I
ever came across. I had the opportunity to meet and work with several
Punjabi scholars. Two scholars impressed me the most, one was Dr. Prem
Parkash Singh and the other was Dr. S.S. Joshi. More
THE great historian Eric Hobsbawm
described the 20th century as the century of extremes. Burgeoning
industrialisation, scientific breakthroughs in the fight against disease and the
concomitant rising rates of human survival and economic growth, the end of
colonial domination, and the spread of democracy were some of the outstanding
achievements of that period. 
Afghanistan’s
Understandably
Recently
TOP
US officials ran roughshod over the truth in the run-up to the Iraq
war, lying 935 times in a two-year period leading up to the Iraq war,
a study released on January 23 found. How consistently and over a two
year long period American president George W. Bush and his team lied
prior to attack on Iraq is documented. Also, how like faithful voice
of the master, a vast majority American media propagated their lies
ass its own before March 2003 attack. 