FEB-21 BOUDHIK YOJANA
Feb-07-2021 Samachar Sameeksha: Cabinet Committee on Security okays LCA-Tejas deal
Ø India is the largest importer of defence equipments in the world and news has been always about large deals granted to foreign countries
Ø However in the biggest indigenous defence deal, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on 13th January approved the manufacture of 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
Ø The deal will be valued at 47,000 crore INR or ~ 7 billion $. It consists of procurement of 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircraft and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 trainer aircraft at the cost of ₹45,696 crore along with design and development of infrastructure sanctions worth ₹1,202 Crore
Ø The indigenous content of the LCA-Tejas was 50% in the MK1A variant and it would be enhanced to 60% by the end of the programme
Ø The MK-1A would have over 40 modifications over the MK1 variant, including some major ones like an Electronic Warfare system, Advanced Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles and a network warfare system comprising Software Defined Radio (SDR)
Ø The Cabinet also approved infrastructure development by the IAF under the project to enable them handle repairs or servicing at their base depot so that the turnaround time would get reduced for mission critical systems and lead to increased availability of aircraft for operational exploitation
Ø The first LCA MK-1A is expected to roll out from 2023-24 onwards, from which HAL plans to ramp up the production rate to 16 aircraft a year. While a second line had been set up, production on both lines has been kept at eight aircraft a year to keep the assembly running due to limited orders.
Ø For the MK-1A, HAL is outsourcing significant work share to the private industry while it will act as a ‘system of systems integrator’. HAL has has over 550 vendors for the LCA, which includes five companies manufacturing the structures.
Ø Till date, 16 Tejas aircraft have been delivered to it in the IOC (Initial Operational Clearance) configuration, which form the first squadron that was operationalized in July 2016.
Ø Delivery of the FOC (Final Operational Clearance)aircraft has also commenced with improved weapons capability, enhanced fight envelope, inflight refuelling capability and advanced features for low-speed handling.
Ø Last May, the IAF formally inducted into service the first FOC standard LCA and operationalised its second LCA squadron N0. 18 'Flying Bullets'.
Feb 14-2021 Boudhik: Chatrapati Shivaji in modern times
Ø Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s jayanti will be celebrated on 19th February. He remains a shining beacon in recent Hindu history of victory of good over evil, hope over despair and in words of Jadunath Sarkar “symbol of immortality of Hindu race”.
Ø What would have been his response in modern times to the multitude of challenges faced by Bharat ?
External Aggression
Ø As a true disciple of Chanakya, Shivaji Maharaj was always alert on his borders and any aggression from Adilshahi or Mughals was not only repelled but counter attacks were launched into enemy territory to inflict damage.
Ø All the losses incurred by Hindavi Swarajya were recovered from enemy territory in form of plunder or ransoms eg: Surat raid financed a large part of his fort building activity.
Ø Enemy must realize that there is a heavy price to pay in terms of man and material for any attacks and will make them think twice before attacking any Indian territory
Flexible diplomacy
Ø India’s foreign policy although not into any Cold War blocs but was constrained by idealism which has little value in state-craft as all nations only look after their own interests
Ø Shivaji Maharaj remained flexible in his relations with other kingdoms, aligning with Mughals initially to keep Adilshahi in check and then getting into a frontal assault on both
Ø It was his skill that even when fighting with multiple enemies he did not have all the enemies attacking the Swarajya at one time for complete annihilation.
Ø In later part of his life i.e after coronation he was working on a joint coalition of Deccan kingdoms i.e Swarajya with Adilshahi and Qutubshahi to dis-allow Mughals to get a foothold in Deccan.
Ø He event went as far as aligning with Sultan of Oman to keep Portuguese naval power in check
Ø Recently India has changed its thoughts on foreign policy and there are results to see in terms of Islamic countries supporting us against Pakistan or developed countries aligning with us against China.
Internal Security
Ø He had a very well developed network of spies which kept a close watch on internal as well as external threats
Ø He was brutal on internal enemies or traitors and crushed them mercilessly to create an example before people. The ideal punishment was ‘chauranga’ when both hands and legs were cut-off or ‘kadelot’ when the traitor was pushed from a fort into deep valley.
Ø He was equally brutal on corrupt government servants or government officers who troubled people. One of the Patil of a village raped a woman and killed her. He had his hands and legs chopped off and was put on a donkey to go around the village.
Ø Bharat has a long history of traitors who have never shied away from siding with our enemies to bring down our own country, be it Kashmir or Khalistan or JNU or terrorist activities. It is our soft response unlike Shivaji Maharaj which has emboldened these elements who have the guts to make these slogans in our national capital.
Pan India vision
Ø It was said that Shivaji Maharaj is ‘Dillindrapadlipsava’, a king who desires the throne of Delhi. When he was asked about his vision he replied “To free the land from Manasarovar to Kaveri from Mlechaas”.
Ø When Chatrasal, came to join him in his struggle against Mughals he did not keep him as a general in his army. But he inspired him to start a freedom struggle in Bundelkhand, his birth-place and motivated him by saying that “You are a lion who will slay the Mughals”.
Ø It was the same vision which inspired Peshwas later who expanded the Hindu Padpadshahi from Attock to Cuttack
Ø If Hindu society wakes up to the ideal that this country from Himalayas to Ocean is one, we will be un-stoppable in the world
Keen observer of events
Ø His spy network was dreaded throughout India and it was said that in every important court he had his informers whom he bribed lavishly
Ø During any raid he exactly knew the weak links and amount of treasury in the city so he decided on ransom accordingly. Eg: during raid on Surat he knew the big traders of the city and how much gold and precious stones they were holding
Ø Post his escape from Agra, there was high possibility of war with Mughals, however he needed peace to get things in order. He noticed the rebel of Orkazai tribes in Afghanistan against Mughals, pressed for peace treaty, and got his own terms.
Ø It was lack of this keen observation which has led to enemy springing a surprise on India every time be it 1962 or Kargil in 1999.
Amazing architect
Ø Shivaji Maharaj constructed lot of forts notably Pratapgad, Rajgad, Raigad and even naval forts like Sindhudurg, Vijaydurg etc
Ø He could see a hill or even dilapidated fort and visualize an impregnable fort to be constructed out of it
Ø Rairi was just a hill, but when Shivaji Maharaj captured it, he started planning Raigad on the hill and eventually made it his capital
Ø Same was the case when he saw Jinjee in Tamil Nadu, he made it an impregnable fort with his skills and it became the second capital of Marathas and played a crucial role after his death.
Commitment to Dharma
Ø Chanakya describes the king as someone who was least interested in luxury. Shivaji Maharaj was an ideal king in this matter, he had food once in a day and was not fond of liquor or entertainment like dances
Ø Whenever Maratha army camped at a site, it was on the side of river with only 2 basic tents with smaller one for Shivaji Maharaj and bigger one for his generals
Ø This also led to a normal soldier also keeping his want to minimum during expedition and severely reduced the material movement required
Ø This reduced material requirement led to speeding up of his military movements and hence he could spring a surprise on his enemies
Ø Bharat has been slowly waking up to rulers who are least interested in material comforts and keep nation above anything else
Feb-21-2021 Charcha: Social Media and Current context
Social media & their hypocrisy
Social media outbursts, fake news and controversies are spread in the blink of an eye nowadays. The contradiction of the chest-thumping “modern” society is that on one hand, it is highlighting selective issues of gender, caste and religious discriminations on various social media platforms, while on the other, the same platforms are used to add fuel to the fire in sensitive issues of discrimination.
All social media knows how hypocritical they are...
Unlike in the past when sections of India media could be identified with their ideological affiliations, the current Indian media suffers from a political affiliation that is undermining the freedom of the press and fair reporting.
Web users tend to spread information that conforms to their own values and amplify the negative narratives on the opposite side. How many will take "balance" into consideration when posting? Offensive voices against India have dominated Twitter. A majority of Twitter accounts to varying degrees tweet extreme views about India. As a platform, Twitter needs voices that are against the anti-India content to secure a "balance."
Social media platforms like twitter prompt Jihadis and Left "liberals" but censor those who tweets which are against them. There are several instances where Twitter's hypocrisy being exposed but recently for the first time, Twitter added a fact checking tag against Donald Trump's tweet where he tweeted about "Fraud in mail-in voting". Twitter also hid Trump's tweet where he posted a warning message to rioters and stated: "Looter at protests in Minneapolis would be shot." In the run-up to the US elections, Twitter played a significant role in censoring content that was inconvenient to now President elect Joe Biden. According to a report by Twitter itself, the social media giant labelled 3,00,000 tweets related to the US elections in just 15 days, between October 27th and November 11th. In fact, in a heinous act of censorship, Twitter had the gumption to censor the then President Donald Trump on election night itself.
Twitter promoted a terrorist outfit Khalistan, which is banned in India. Twitter accepting blood money from terrorist organizations, claims former BJP IT cell head Vinit Goenka.
There have been many police complaints filed in India against Twitter for promoting Jihadis. A few days ago, the Twitter account of the White house also exposed Twitter's hypocrisy by posting the screenshot of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, in which he defends right of Palestinians to resist Israel's occupation. Whitehouse reported "This tweet violated the twitter rules about glorifying violence" but twitter did nothing.
There are lot of prominent nationalist twitter accounts that are put under shadow ban and these accounts are yet to get a reply from Twitter about their rules of shadow-banning.
Another right wing account "TrueIndology" which got suspended for exposing fake Historians and Liberals. Now he is running a new account "TIinExile" and he didn't lose his followers.
Twitter India has restricted official accounts of Amul early morning because they have criticized China in one of its Cartoons. It is consistent observation that social media platforms have different rules for different accounts and these are the hypocrisy of Social media giants like Twitter and facebook.
The inherent control that Twitter wishes to wield over elections, as clear from their own election guidelines:
1) Twitter in its blogpost says that they have ensured that in the ‘trends for you’ page, they will only show trends with ‘added context’ where Twitter itself will add a description and a “representative tweet or article”.
2) They admit that they reinforced the claims that the election process is safe even though the Republicans were alleging something completely different, and, more importantly, there was a legal process underway.
3) Twitter admits that they slowed down the process of information dissemination. Twitter in its update has admitted that the reach of tweets reduced by 20% after they introduced their new feature. Mind you, this feature does not work with every account. It only works with accounts and tweets that Twitter deems necessary.
4) Twitter has no plan to stop this madness. Twitter has made it exceptionally clear that they will continue to interfere in elections. It is pertinent to note that they have claimed that they will “protect integrity of election conversation” and they have done this for “many elections around the world”.
5) Last but not the least Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admits ‘left-leaning’ bias…
Feb-28-2021 Katha: Goswami Tulsidas
BirthTulsidas was born in Rajpur, in the district of Banda in Uttar Pradesh, in Samvat 1589 or 1532 A.D. He was a Sarayuparina Brahmin by birth and is regarded as an incarnation of Valmiki, the author of Ramayana written in Sanskrit. His father’s name was Atmaram Shukla Dube and his mother’s name Hulsi. Tulsidas did not cry at the time of his birth. He was born with all the thirty-two teeth intact. In childhood his name was Tulsiram or Ram Bola.
Householder lifeTulsidas’s wife’s name was Buddhimati (Ratnavali). Tulsidas’s son’s name was Tarak. Tulsidas was passionately attached to his wife. He could not bear even a day’s separation from her. One day his wife went to her father’s house without informing her husband. Tulsidas stealthily went to see her at night at his father-in-law’s house. This produced a sense of shame in Buddhimati. She said to Tulsidas, "My body is but a network of flesh and bones. If you would develop for Lord Rama even half the love that you have for my filthy body, you would certainly cross the ocean of Samsara and attain immortality and eternal bliss". These words pierced the heart of Tulsidas like an arrow. He did not stay there even for a moment. He abandoned home and became an ascetic. He spent fourteen years in visiting the various sacred places of pilgrimage.
Hanuman DarshanWhile returning from answering the calls of nature, Tulsidas used to throw the water that was left in his water-pot at the roots of a tree which a spirit was occupying. The spirit was very much pleased with Tulsidas. The spirit said, "O man! Get a boon from me". Tulsidas replied, "Let me have Darshan of Lord Rama". The spirit said, "Go to the Hanuman temple. There Hanuman comes in the guise of a leper to hear the Ramayan as the first hearer and leaves the place last of all. Get hold of him. He will help you". Accordingly, Tulsidas met Hanuman, and through His grace, had Darshan or vision of Lord Rama.
Prolific authorTulsidas wrote twelve books. The most famous book is his Ramayan—Ram-charit manas—in Hindi. He wrote this book under the directions of Hanuman. This Ramayan is read and worshipped with great reverence in every Hindu home in Northern India. It is an inspiring book. It contains sweet couplets in beautiful rhyme. Vinaya Patrika is another important book written by Tulsidas.
Devotion to Bhagwan RamSome thieves came to Tulsidas’s Ashram to take away his goods. They saw a blue complexioned guard, with bow and arrow in his hands, keeping watch at the gate. Wherever they moved, the guard followed them. They were frightened. In the morning they asked Tulsidas, "O venerable saint! We saw a young guard with bow and arrow in his hands at the gate of your residence. Who is this man?" Tulsidas remained silent and wept. He came to know that Lord Rama Himself had been taking the trouble to protect his goods. He at once distributed all his wealth among the poor.
Tulsidas lived in Ayodhya for some time. Then he shifted to Varanasi. One day a murderer came and cried, "For the love of Rama give me alms. I am a murderer". Tulsidas called him to his house, gave him sacred food which had been offered to the Lord and declared that the murderer was purified. The Brahmins of Varanasi reproached Tulsidas and said, "How can the sin of a murderer be absolved? How could you eat with him? If the sacred bull of Siva—Nandi—would eat from the hands of the murderer, then only we would accept that he had been purified". Then the murderer was taken to the temple and the bull ate from his hands. The Brahmins were put to shame.
Tulsidas once went to Brindavan. He visited a temple. He saw the image of Lord Krishna. He said, "How shall I describe Thy beauty, O Lord! But Tulsi will bow his head only when You take up bow and arrow in Your hands". The Lord revealed Himself before Tulsidas in the form of Lord Rama with bow and arrows.
Tulsidas’s blessings brought the dead husband of a poor woman back to life. The Moghul emperor at Delhi came to know of the great miracle done by Tulsidas. He sent for Tulsidas. Tulsidas came to the emperor’s court. The emperor asked the saint to perform some miracle. Tulsidas replied, "I have no superhuman power. I know only the name of Rama". The emperor put Tulsidas in prison and said, "I will release you only if you show me a miracle". Tulsidas then prayed to Hanuman. Countless bands of powerful monkeys entered the royal court. The emperor got frightened and said, "O saint, forgive me. I know your greatness now". He at once released Tulsidas from prison.
Tulsidas left his mortal coil and entered the Abode of Immortality and Eternal Bliss in 1623 A.D. at the age of ninety-one at Asighat in Varanasi.
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