RMF Summary: Week of May 16 - 22, 2011

May 16

Premendra - Comparing caste in India and Europe
Rajiv Malhotra provides a link: CASTE SYSTEM IN EUROPE (by Priyadarshi)

May 16
Numerous criticisms posted against Outlook review - at their web site
Rajiv Malhotra responds to skewed Outlook review of BI:
I went through the comments posted at the review site and the majority are direct in criticizing the review and reviewer. Below are a few samples of this:
...
My Comment on the Outlook book review
I am sharing a long response I just posted to Gita Ramaswamy's review on Outlook India. If the moderators don't delete it, you will see it as Comment # 47...

May 17
Shame on you Gita Ramaswamy and Shame on Outlook!
Dear Editor, As an Indian settled in the USA for a few decades I used to look up to the articles from Outlook as a way of keeping up with India. I had also...

May 17
Fw: [RISA-L LIST] Fw: Dalit
Koenraad Elst posts:  
Dear listfolk, Since the Religion In South Asia list is secret, I have deleted the names of the people whom I quote and reply to in the post reproduced below: ..
...
From (a famous religious studies profesor):
> Not to take sides in this discussion about the acceptability of the term "Dalit," but it should be noted that scholars in India have begun to use "Dalit" as a shorthand for Untouchables/Scheduled Castes of all sorts.<
From (another famous religious studies profesor):

>The reason I generally opt for "Dalit" rather than "Harijan," is precisely because I feel it has shed a lot of the political connotations it once had.  This is because the "Dalit" has come to be widely used by those who have no affiliation with Ambedkarite politics---for example, it seems to be the preferred term in India's English language media, as well as among scholars.  Like a lot of terms that were originally coined with some political intent (e.g. "gender," "African American") it has gradually shed these connotations as its usage has been mainstreamed.<
... Do read Rajiv Malhotra & Aravindan Neelakandan’s book *Breaking India*, about the machinations behind the Dalitist and Dravidianist discourse. Many of you have applauded Edward’s Said’s thesis on “Orientalism”, promoting distrust of the ulterior motives of Orientalist scholarship. This new book does the same job, only better and more pertinent to our own work. Whereas Said’s work focused on Islamic Studies, dealt with the past and was riddled with factual errors, Malhotra and Neelakandan’s work is thoroughly documented, fully up-to-date and focuses on Indian Studies. It traces the political entanglements of the trend-setting scholarship on India’s ethnic, religious and caste divisions....

May 17
Breaking India started with Gandhi
Koenraad Elst, a member of this group, reviewed this book - it says here that Gandhi could have very well been the root cause of Christian incursion into modern day India. That he was partial to its theology is well known,...

May 18
Gautam Sen's letter to Outlook
Dear Editor, Book reviewers are free to express their opinions and prejudices though a modicum of acknowledgement when they are doing so would be appropriate....

May 18

'Breaking India' - Continuity
N. S. Rajaram posts: The notorious USCIRF is being systematically and strategically encouraged by the 'Indian' American Christians...

May 19
"Breaking India" book review by Rina Mukerji in d-sector.org
The unholy mission is on
By Rina Mukherji



India has been under attack for more than a millennium. The wicked attempts to destroy its civilization and denigrate the beliefs of the natives continue unabated despite the nation achieving political independence from the Europeans after the painful partition.


0
More and more researchers have begun to expose the evil intentions of the west
For decades, texts and tomes published in the West have been bombarding us with theories that India is primarily made up of distinct `Aryan' and `Dravidian' racial strains, with the `tribals' and `dalits' comprising the other distinct groups.
A lie, oft repeated, often comes to be accepted as the truth.
strategy. And there is no dearth of educated Indians who are willing to advance this anti-India agenda in return for little material comforts and recognition....

May 19
Why India is a Nation
The author of this article [Sankrant Sanu] also points out lot of points which Rajiv has pointed out in his book. ...

May 19
Breaking India has a whole chapter on USCIRF
Many folks have been recently circulating emails complaining about USCIRF. These are sporadic, short-lived flareups once in a while on this. Like all emotional...

May 19
This thread elicited a lot of responses and has been covered in the previous week's summary. To make a long story short, Outlooks appears to have published a poor quality polemic by Gita Ramaswamy as a "book review", while also rejecting the submission by Vijaya Rajiva, upsetting a lot of BI readers.
Outlook rejects Dr. Vijay Rajiva's book review and publishes a nasty
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?271815 This is not surprising but unprofessional - what else is new?

May 19
In which the question: Who is Gita Ramaswamy appears to be answered, thereby perhaps revealing why her book "review" turned out the way it did.
Gita Ramaswamy-Ashoka Fellow - What is ASHOKA-Take a look
Ram Sidhaye investigates: 
Gita Ramaswamy is Fellow at Ashoka. What is ASHOKA organization? The name Ashoka is deceptive. It is not an Indian organization. Take a look at Leadership Team, Senior Leadership, Board of Directors and Partners.
Leadership Team
Bill Drayton, C.E.O. and Founder ...

May 20

Shri Ram Sidaye
Ram Sidaye's research into Gita Ramaswamy's background and association with Ashoka is important. It reinforces chapter 15 in the book Breaking India. ...
 

May 20
Dr. Shrinivas Tilak's rejoinder to Outlook
This has been posted by Shrinivas Tilak on Sulekha. Review of Breaking India by Gita Ramaswamy: a response by Dr Shrinivas Tilak* When I first heard of...

May 21
Yankee Hindus
Dear friends, I am yet to read ‘Breaking India.”. But I have read ‘Castes of the Mind’ by Prof.Nicholas Dirks of Columbia University, and know about...

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