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A PLANMAN MEDIA- IIPM THINK TANK PUBLICATION

Do second innings work in Bollywood?

B O L LY W O O D C O M E B A C K S 50

Indians on Haj fi nd the arrangements appalling

G R A F T L A D E N H A J 38

An open letter to Sonia, Rahul and Manmohan

A R I N D A M C H A U D H U R I 103 J U N 2 0 1 2

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NO. 1REGIONAL

IN

In English, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Assamese, Oriya & Punjabi

The story of Jadav Payeng and how he single-handedly developed a dense forest populated by fl ora, fauna and endangered species

ory of ory of JaadddddddddavJJJadddddddddav PPPPayengPPPPPayeng anddddddddd hhhhhhhow hhhhhhe siiing e-hhhanddddddded y dddddddevelloped anddddddddd hhhhhhhhhow hhhhhhhe siiiiinglllle-hhhhandddddddedddlllllly dddddddevelllllllopedse forest populated by fl ora, fauna and endangered speciesse forest populated by fl ora, fauna and endangered species

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In English, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Assamese, Oriya & Punjabi

Volume 6 Issue 3228 May – 3 June 2012

54the classicist

Dear Editor 7History Mail Asa Don Dickinson to Mark Twain 9Editorial

An open letter to Sonia, Rahul and

Manmohan 10Happenings

Kiwis leave Afghanistan early 12Maoists threaten Odisha 13A Tale Retold

Who killed Lakshmananada? 14Album

Small Talk: Drashti Dhami 15

UNDERCOVERTh e poison in the virtual world 16Breach of sovereignty! 16MuSIngs

Th e Africa in India 17

COLUMNIan Bremmer

America’s G-Zero moment 18

FAR PAVILLIONWhite skin legacy!

Having failed to handle its own

aff airs, economic or political, it might

be high time to leave Greece out 20

INDIAN ECHOESPromises to be kept

Akhilesh to unveil growth plan for

state 22Women power

A majority of NREGA benefi ciaries

in Kerala are women 22Dubbing blues

Th e unseemly fi ght in Sandalwood

continues 23

SPECIAL STORY 1 Intolerance as virtue

Chandran Iyer wonders why India’s

higher education hub is so low on

liberalism 24

COVER STORY Th e new jungle book

Jadav Payeng, a lone warrior single-

handedly grew a forest over the last

three decades. 28

SPECIAL STORY 2Horses for courses

Th e IPL has brought ball-by-ball bet-

ting in cricket out into the open 36

SPECIAL REPORTGraft laden Haj

Pilgrims to Mecca say arrangements

for Indians are the worst managed

and prone to a corruption 39

BUSINESSCan the sector emerge

as winner? 41

LIFESpecial Feature

Can comebacks work in

Bollywood? 50Typos

Rules of the game -I 53Drop Anchor

Th e classicist 54

ARTBook Review 56Movie review 58Wind from the Woods 59

REAR WINDOWOf woods and water

Shree Padre 60

Printed and Published by Ashok Bose on behalf of Planman Media Pvt. LtdPublished from: Planman Media Pvt.Ltd.48, Community Centre,Naraina Vihar Industrial Area,Phase-1, New Delhi-110028Printed at: M. P. Printers, B-220, Phase-II, NOIDA-201 305Editor: A. SandeepFor advertisement, feedback and other queries write to publisher@thesundayindian.comFor subscription contact at 0120-4170111, 4170192 email : subscriptions.planmanmedia@gmail.com, subscriptions@planmanmedia.comFor editorial queries: editor@thesundayindian.comEditorial Offi ce: Planman Media Pvt.Ltd.48, Community Centre,Naraina Vihar Industrial Area,Phase-1, New Delhi-110028Visit us at: www.thesundayindian.comEditor,A.Sandeep responsible for the selection of news under PRB act. Entire content copyright © 2008 by Planman Media Pvt ltd. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction or translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohib-ited. Th e Publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of the unsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit. All disputes are subject to exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi or New Delhi.

EDITORIALeditor-in-chief: Arindam Chaudhurieditor: A. Sandeepmanaging editor: Sutanu Guruchief executive officer: Deepak Kaisthaexecutive editors: Ranjit Bhushan, Saibal Chatterjeeconsulting editor: Seema Mustafaeditor economic affairs: Prasoon Majumdarfeatures editor: Prashanto Banerjipolitical editor: Pramod Kumaronline editor: Vijay Soniassociate editor: Anuradha Preetam deputy editor: Mridu Singh Jhalasenior editor: Anil Pandeymanaging editor projects : Abhimanyu Ghosh

CHIEF CONSULTING EDITOR: Malay Chaudhuri

CHIEFS OF BUREAUPriyanka Rai, Asokan Nagamuthu (Chennai), M.N.V.V.K. Chaitanya (Economic Aff airs)

CHIEFS OF BUREAU (INTERNATIONAL)Shahid Husain (Pakistan), Pranav Shukla (UK),Vivek Malhotra (Singapore)

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Indira Parthasarthy (Features), Deepak Ranjan Patra, Saurabh Kumar Shahi

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTSSteven Philip Warner, Puja Awasthi (Lucknow), Anil Dwivedi (Raipur),Mahendra Kumar

SENIOR WRITER: Tareque Laskar

PRINCIPAL CORRESPONDENTSSpriha Srivastava, Akram Hoque, Sray Agarwal

CORRESPONDENTSMayank Singh, Sayan Ghosh, Nishita Mahajan, Ishan Ray-chaudhuri, Aakanksha Malhotra, Sneha Th eeng, Anshak Kalia, Aakriti Singh, Raju Kumar (Bhopal), Haroon Reshi (Srinagar)

ONLINE TEAM: Bharat Malhotra

EDITORIAL COORDINATOR: Prakriti Raj, Niharika PatraCOPY DESK: Asad

SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE TEAM: correspondents : Umesh Patil, Abhishek Kumar

DESIGN group design director: Satyajit Dattaassociate art director: Manish Raghavdeputy art director: Siddharth Kapilsenior designer: Priyankar Bhargavadesigners: Shantanu Chatterjee, Ashvin Chitrodasenior illustrator: Shantanu Mitraillustrator: S.K. Pandurangaimage editing : Vinay Kamboj

PHOTOGRAPHYgroup photo editor: Ranjan Basuchief photographer: Sujan Singh photographers: Sanjay Solanki, Mukunda De, Vikram kumar, Rangnath Tiwari, Subhash Chopra, Naveen Sharmachief photo coordinator: Varun Pal Singhsenior photo researcher: Sanjay Kumar, Ashutosh Vig

PRODUCTIONproduction manager: Gurudas Mallik Th akurproduction supervisor: Digember Singh, Satbir Chauhan, Soumyajeet Gupta, Dipak Basak, Mukesh Jha, N Ekantha Lingam, Deep Narayan

MARKETING vice president: Amim Ahmed vice president (west): Guljar Singh associates vice president (ad sales) : Sumit Raina, Rajat Sogani general manager (south): Sunil Kumar general manager (east): Bhaskar Mojumdar regional head: Atul Kapoor

CIRCULATIONregional heads: Swaroop Saha, Bhupinder Bisht, Kunj Bihari Joshi, Joydeep Gangulysales manager: Manoj, Rizvi, Mukund, Parameshwara, Gopal Singh

THE SUNDAY INDIAN ONLINEChief Web Designer : Neel VermaSr. Web Developer : Ankur DattaWeb Developer : Raj Saikia

TSI brings out two monthly supplements viz Media Watch and F and four Bi monthly supplements viz Governance Watch, Smash, Get Physical and Gypsies and Billionaires. Th us every issue of TSI has an additional supplement.

39graft laden haj

28the new jungle book

cover

47Bollywood’s fear

factorWhenever they would talk of

re-establishing the avant-garde in

Indian cinema, Anurag Kashyap

would certainly be mentioned

Cover Design by: Manish RaghavCover Photo by: Manas Paran

the sunday indian 5 3 june 2012

W E B I N T E R F A C E

the sunday indian 6 3 june 2012

Our ColumnistsHollande meets

the world: Noelle

Lenoir,

Th e fi rst women

justice on the

French constitu-

tional court

Opportunities

ignored: Firoz

Bakht Ahmed,

Commentator on

social, education-

al and religious

issues

Eff ective action can

be taken to tilt the

balance: Itamar

Rabinovich, former

ambassador of

Israel to the United

States of America

For your weekly dose of intellectual stimulation on politics, business and life, read Planman Media blogs

http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.com

Arindam Chaudhuri

http://rajitachaudhuri.blogspot.com

http://a--sandeep.blogspot.com

http://prasoonsmajumdar.blogspot.com

http://sutanu-guru.blogspot.com

http://prashantobanerji.blogspot.com

Rajita Chaudhuri

A. Sandeep

Prasoon Majumdar

Sutanu Guru

Prashanto Banerji

India 46th in trade logisticsIndia now ranks 46th in

global trade logistics perfor-

mance, whose top fi ve slot

are occupied by Singapore ,

Hong Kong, Finland, Ger-

many and Netherlands in

the list of 155 countries, the

World Bank has said. Th e US

is ranked ninth.

Petrol price hikeTh e state controlled refi n-ers on May 23 hiked the fuel prices by Rs.6.28 a litre exclusive of taxes. Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 73.18, in Mumbai Rs 78.57, in Kol-kata Rs 77.88 and Chennai Rs 77.53 per litre.

Court exempts SheilaA 98-year-old former Union

Minister Sheila Kaul was

exempted by a Delhi court

from personal appearance on

medical grounds in a corrup-

tion case on May 23. Th e two

other accused are undergo-

ing trials.

Shazahn Padamsee,Actor

The daughter of ad guru Alyque Padamsee says that even being a part of movie industry she has never been under pressure to look glamorous

The classicist: Sucheta Bhattacharjee stands out as sweet hope in a generation that thrives on noise in the name of music

Will army chief General VK Singh join Anna's stir after his retirement?The new jungle book: I had to fi ght with the local

people and even against Jorhat district administra-tion to protect the forest

POLLopinion

The population is divided over the issue that whether VK Singh will join Anna Hazare's agitation after his retirement as the army chief.

T H E N A T I O N ’ S G R E A T E S T N E W S M A G A Z I N E

heSUNDAY

IndianI

TSI

conscientianovus

investigo

Graft laden Haj: Pilgrims to Mecca say arrange-ments for Indians are the worst managed and prone to a corrupt nexus

Poll: To gauge the mood of the people on this issue visit www.thesundayindian.com

Yes No Can't Say

81.82% 13.18% 5%

Except the last few criti-cal days that lead to the semis and fi nals, other days are cool to release

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Organ donation comes

really close to playing GodTHE GIFT OF LIFE 47

Rekha and Jaya’s Silsila and

the decay of Indian mediaARINDAM CHAUDHURI 10

Is India’s aviation boom coming to a standstill?

FLYING AWAY 24

REACH

NO. 1REGIONALIN

L.K. Advani

Narendra

Modi

Shivraj

Singh

Chauhan

STATE LEADERS

Nitin

Gadkari

Sushma

Swaraj

Venkaiah

Naidu

STATE LEADERS

CENTRAL LEADERSCENTRAL LEADERS

Nitin

Gadkari

Sushma

Swaraj

VenkaiaNaidu

ah

Raman

Singh

Vasundhara

Raje

Yeddyurappa

BC Khanduri

Rajnath

SinghArun Jaitley

ENEMYTHE

WITHIN

INTENSE DOGFIGHTS AND

FACTIONALISM

ARE SLOWLY

BUT STEADILY

DESTROYING

THE BJP

A PLANMAN MEDIA - IIPM THINK TANK PUBLICATION

27 MAY 2 0 1 2

� uneducated mediaTh e editorial “Rekha and Jaya... decay of Indian media” (TSI, May 27) by Arindam Chaudhuri brings forward the bitter truth of our so called fourth pillar of democ-racy “the media”. Today's media has over-hauled itself just as a commercialised entity to serve just some handful of po-litical honchos and corporate biggies ir-respective of public welfare. Having a look at the news content, which is being aired by the news channels, it can be eas-ily comprehended that the public is ulti-mately being fooled at the name of news. In a developing country like ours, the role of media becomes more important to tackle the brewing problems and to keep the people well informed. But, the media, instead of focusing on the vital issues like corruption, bribery, dowry, poverty, mal-nutrition, illiteracy, female foeticide and as the list goes on, it is engaged in broad-casting the fi ghting of Sahrukh Khan with security guards during an IPL match, air-ing the Bollywood gossip or the rivalry between two MPs, which has nothing to contribute in elevating the society. Th e media is busy in creating a buzz high-lighting the developments in the Tinsel Town. Th e insensitivity of our news chan-nels has gone up to such an extent that they air any kind of content at any time without taking into consideration the consequences. Implementing of strict law to the broadcasting content along with self improvisation could curb the menace which is infi ltrating in the fourth pillar of our democracy.

Gopal SinghBallia, UP

� authentic reportIt refers to Death Trap (TSI, May 20). Th e article has indeed given authentic informa-tion about the lives of Gulf Malayalis and is very much valuable to the readers.

Rajagopal Menon,Dubai

� amidst insecurityIt is with grave shock, anguish and anger, I went through the report by Mushahid M Khan,“Out of the broom closet”(TSI, May 27). As a mother of two, I am really worried about their security aft er hearing the painful stories of paedophilia and this article has surely shook the spine of other parents. What I was unable to com-prehend is the malady that was consid-ered prevalent only in the western coun-tries is now widely prevalent India. Shocking that the pimps are available next door and target children even aged below 10.It is high time that concerted eff orts should be made to make the new-ly proposed Sexual Off ences Against Children bill be passed and the off enders be punished without any mercy. Th e so-cial workers and NGOs will have to de-vote more time to eradicate this inhuman and condemnable off ence. Th e govern-ment should come forward to contain the malaise with an iron hand.

Shalini FernandoChennai

� slow but steadyReferring to “Mamata’s Acid Test” (TSI, May 20), I would like to state that no-body had thought of such a radical change so suddenly. In addition, imme-diately aft er the change, the new CM sought results with lightening speed but

It refers to “Flying Away” (TSI May 27) by K.S Narayanan. In the midst of ac-cumulating losses, it is a sad commentary that quality of services by Air India con-tinue to deteriorate despite the generos-ity of the government off ering a bail-out from time to time by plumping tax-pay-ers' money. In return, pilots of Air India and Indian Airlines have only been re-sorting to fl ash strike to pressurise the civil aviation authorities to accept trivial demands, which is not only unwarranted but unacceptable because their actions have only resulted in cancellation of

services leading to great inconvenience to the stranded passengers at various airports. It is time the government puts a stop to bail-out package to the nation-al carrier Maharaja, once enjoying a mo-nopoly, when there are enough low cost private airlines available to fi ll up the vacuum. Since the National Carrier is a sinking ship, the government in the most trying circumstances should not think of ways and means to bail-out the white elephant.

R.Srinivasan,Secunderabad

SINKING SHIP

the concerned people were not ready. In fact in certain areas, there has been neg-ative reaction like the utter failure in hospital treatment or even poor police response to law and order problems, in-cluding rape. Possibly there have been some people who wanted to malign the CM and her policies. Th erefore, the CM has to move very cautiously. Simultane-ously, she also has to control her own party cadres. At the same time, the peo-ple of Bengal should understand that the CM does not have a magic wand for im-mediate change. Th ey have to give her some time to show results.

Lt Col Ranjit Sinha (Retd)Kolkata

� nightmarishTh is is regarding “Death trap”, (TSI May 20) on the suicide of the Malyalis living in the Gulf countries is nightmarish. Half of expatriates in UAE are Indians and half of them are Malayalis. Th e number is huge and most of them are blue collar workers. I wish these are just a few cases and not a trend. If it is a trend, then it is

the sunday indian 3 june 20128

D E A R E D I T O R

skeleton of his aff air with Rekha (if it really existed at all), it was cheap and in extremely bad taste for the media to try to dig it out, restructure, and make it stand before the spouse of the man to humiliate her. If our media is so gutsy, brave, and adventurous, why doesn’t it start a crusade for sending Afzal and Kasab to gallows?

Rajneesh BatraNew Delhi

� remarry to avert lonelinessTh is is in reference to the cover story “Second chance - Love in the time of separations” (TSI, May 6). I believe, there is no problem if someone is getting re-married aft er the death of their spouse at an young age. Even the elderly whose children have grown up and are living separately can chose to remarry to avert loneliness. Yet, this should not be equat-

BEST LETTERS OF THE WEEK� internal demonsIt refers to “Fighting your De-mons” (TSI May 27). Th e way things are being unfolded in Karnataka and Rajasthan for the BJP, it does not have to worry too much from the Congress, which is dying a slow death. Th ey will have to conquer demons within, as rightly pointed out by Mr. Anil Pandey. And in such backdrop it is essential that during his second term Nitin Gadkari does not necessary toe the RSS line and act as a RSS puppet, because if that is the case then

I am afraid BJP is not on a right track. It is time to have a strong and independent na-tional resident for the party rather than a weak Gadkari. BJP has to decide on two things, fi rst who would be its PM candidate and second what line it will follow in 2014 elections, whether it would be hard line Hindutva or a more modern and inclusive ap-proach. Nitin Gadkari who is not known to be close to Modi, will have to break the ice with latter to remove the diff er-ences between the two as BJP

cannot aff ord to have Gadkari and Modi on two opposite sides always.

Bal GovindNoida

� crab cultureAnil Pandey deserves acco-lades for his thought-provok-ing report that has rightly sum-marised what is exactly hap-pening today in the BJP, “Fight-ing your dreams” (TSI, May 27). His incisive and to the point interview with Mr. Nitin Gadkari adds credence to his perfect analysis of the present state of the saff ron party. At a time when the nation is totally disappointed with the func-tioning of the UPA led by the Congress, the people are look-ing to the BJP as the viable al-ternative and a saviour. It is sad that the BJP is not in a position to meet with their expectations because of the internal bicker-ing and fi ghts blatantly exhib-ited not only by their cadres, but also the fi rst line leaders of the party. Th ough the BJP is hopeful of coming to power as the single largest party having in its kitty more than 200 seats in 2014 and dreams of forming

the government without much diffi culty, this looks a distant possibility considering the crab-culture that has pervaded almost all the leaders of the party. If they don’t realise their folly and work in unison bury-ing their diff erences, the BJP would miss the opportunity not only in 2014 but forever.

Th arcius S.FernandoChennai

� collective helpIn the Special story “Death Trap” (TSI, May 20) Satisan T has rightly outlined the sui-cide problem in the UAE by migrants from Kerala. Th ough the recession hit people have adjusted to the new circum-stances, it is a tough call for the Keralites. Th ey try to evade situations of social em-barrassment by disclosing about their fi nancial status and takes the ultimate step by committing suicide. I strongly believe that such adverse situ-ations can be avoided if there is regular social gathering with the people who can col-lectively help the needy. Ramachandra Menon,

Kerala

truly a cause for worry.Kutti Krishnan,

Kollam.� Need for a policy changeTh is refers to the Special report “Flying away” (TSI, May 27). Air India needs a professional management to run itself profi tably. It is no longer a luxury even for the middle class to travel by air. Th e real reason for Air India’s fi nancial losses must be scrutinised experts: is it low fares or high operational costs; high taxes or freebies for ministers; or wasteful and avoidable expenses? Since the govern-ment has made all possible eff orts to im-prove Air India and failed, it would do better to sell off the airline to the private sector. Further, policy changes also have to be brought about.

Mahesh KapasiNew Delhi

� cultural degradationApropos “Rekha and Jaya's silsila...” (TSI, May 27) I won’t be surprised if in days to come, Katarina, Malaika, and Mallika too are nominated to Rajya Sabha and while their taking oath, background score sounds Munni, Sheela, and Chameli. When Amitabh had already buried the

((Th e opinions presented here are entirely those of the readers. Th ey do not refl ect TSI’s viewsTh e opinions presented here are entirely those of the readers. Th ey do not refl ect TSI’s views))