Five reasons why Pakistan's claim on Kashmir is impossible

Pakistan fires at the border and steps up its clandestine war against India even as the Indian Government wants peace talks with its enemy.

Why does India always speak with Pakistan in a position of weakness rather than one of strength? 

Pakistan has a one-point Kashmir agenda and there are many reasons why that is an impossible claim.

1. We're entering an era of fixed boundaries !

Pakistan managed to capture PoK in the 1947-48 war only because Kashmir was in limbo land at that time. Once India took charge, it refused to cede any more land. All their attacks have so far gone in vain.

China captured Aksai Chin in 1962 only because of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's soft stance.

However we are now entering an era of fixed boundaries the world over. Till World War II, international borders were all pretty fluid, but after that they have slowly started becoming fixed. We don't have any Hitlers trying to conquer the world any more.

It is impossible for a larger country to capture land from a smaller country nowadays. The US is not a colonial empire like the British were once. 

Even to attack Syria, US President Barack Obama really struggled and now may not do so.

And here we have the case of a smaller country (Pakistan) trying to capture land (Kashmir) from a larger country (India)!

2. Direct attack and militancy have all failed !

Pakistan tried to capture Kashmir by force in 1965 but failed spectacularly. They were buoyed by India's 1962 loss and Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's magnanimity over Rann of Kutch. Things should have ended there.

The 1971 war was even more humiliating for they lost East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh. Siachen was thwarted in the 1980s.

Then they tried militancy in Kashmir in the 1990s, which has claimed thousands of lives. But after more than two decades even that is on the decline. 

After failing with their Kashmir strategy, they sponsored attacks in the rest of India with 26/11 being the most prominent, but that has only turned international opinion against them.

3. The nuclear parity bluff has been exposed !

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said that Pakistan would eat grass, but build the atomic bomb. After the Chagai blasts of 1998, Pakistan mistakenly thought they had nuclear parity. They launched the Kargil War immediately after in 1999 and failed yet again. 

Pakistan was left severely weakened and when the US made many demands of them post-9/11, they were in no position to refuse.

In fact after the Chagai N-blasts, all manner of reports started appearing in the Pakistani press saying that if Pakistan attacked, then India wouldn't retaliate over fears of Pakistan's nukes. 

The irony is that the architect of Kargil, General Pervez Musharraf, is a pariah in his own land.

4. They have played all their cards

• Sending in tribals while Kashmir was contemplating its future.
• Pressurizing the US over Kashmir by accepting all their other demands.
• Direct attacks in 1965 and 1999.
• Nuclear parity delusions.
• Covert operations.
• Militancy in Kashmir.
• Terrorism in the rest of India....

Sitting at the table, Pakistan has thrown all its cards on the table. They still refuse to quit and continue playing with an empty hand. There is no point in continuing with a game you have no chance of winning.

5. Their quest for Kashmir has destroyed them

Till 1991 when India liberalized, Pakistan was at par with India on many indicators. In fact the term “Indo-Pak” had some sort of parity. But after that India has gone way ahead of Pakistan. Now the terms 'Indo-China' and 'Af-Pak' are two parities.

• Pakistan is day by day resembling the failed state of Afghanistan.
• Their democracy is in shambles.
• Their economy is going nowhere.
• Their terror groups have run amok and kill a record number of civilians.
• They are hopelessly dependent on America for everything.
• They have been split into two in the past.
• They are making absolutely no breakthrough vis a vis India.
• And still they focus all their energies on Kashmir !

Parting shot...

Pakistan had a weak case to begin with. Pakistan simply took it for granted that Kashmir would be part of them (by one account, the k in Pakistan stands for Kashmir). However the British simply said that each kingdom would be free to make its own decision.

• In fact Pakistan did not accept the British stand.
• They did not accept the Indian stand.
• They did not accept the stand of the monarch of Kashmir.
• They did not accept popular leader Sheikh Abdullah's stand.
• So on what ground was Pakistan standing ?

If Pakistan was just in a weak position after Kashmir's Instrument of Accession to India, it is in a totally lost cause in 2013.

India should realize this and talk tough instead of appearing soft all the time.

India needs a dream team, not a dirty team in 2014: Modi

Delhi - BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday tore into the Congress-led UPA alliance for rampant corruption and rank misgoverance and asked the people of the country to vote for a ‘dream team’ not a ‘dirty team’ in the upcoming general election.

 — his first in the capital as BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate — Modi said, “This Government is mired in corruption. Instead of finding solutions to problems, it has stopped functioning. This Government is paralysed.”

“The UPA is immersed in Gandhi-bhakti. This Gandhi-bhakti refers to currency notes. This government is so corrupt that you can’t count the money, if you keep writing the zeros, you’ll reach 10 Janpath,” Modi said.

“Governments are the strength of the people. But Delhi is burdened by Governments. Here there are Governments within Governments. One of the mother, one of the son, then there is also a coalition Government. Moreover, all the political allies of UPA are running individual Governments. The nation’s growth and development have been severely affected,” Modi roared as the cheering crowds were repeated shouting slogan ‘Modi lao desh bachao’.

“Coalition Governments are formed on arithmetic but run on chemistry. Till the chemistry matches, such Government cannot do any public good. The only chemistry that brings this coalition together is the chemistry of corruption….. because of which the country is not moving forward,” he said.

Modi blasted Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for insulting the authority of the Prime Minister when he was abroad and asked people to decide in the next general election if the nation will be run based on the Constitution or whims of the “prince”.

“The pride of the Prime Minister has been brought down by his own party. Congress party vice president has committed the sin of disrespecting the Prime Minister by calling him ‘non sense’,” Modi said.

“Today the issue is whether the country will run on the whims of the prince or on the basis of the Constitution,” he said, adding that Congress leaders are reputedly “disrespecting” the Indian Constitution, Parliament, democracy and the Cabinet.

In his over an hour-long address, the BJP leader lamented that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was projecting 1.25 billion-strong India as a “poor nation” before the US President Barack Obama during his meeting with him on Saturday.

“My head hung in shame when the Prime Minister pleaded before Obama that he represents a poor country. That his country’s people are poor. Why did he not project India as a nation where 65 per cent of the people are below 35 years of age?” Modi said, adding that the PM has behaved like some film-makers who project India as a poor nation to make money.

Taking further jibes, Modi wondered if the Prime Minister was prompted to take this line as the “prince” (Rahul Gandhi) had said recently that “poverty is a state of mind”.

Modi also hit out at the Prime Minister on foreign policy issues and said the nation has doubts that he will be able to speak out strongly about India’s interests and cross-border terrorism during his meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in New York.

In his over an hour-long address, Modi lashed out at Pakistani Prime Minister for calling our Prime Minister a ‘dehati aurat’.

“We can fight with our Prime Minister here on policy issues but we will not tolerate this. What status do Sharif has to address my country’s Prime Minister as a dehati aurat (village woman)? There cannot be a bigger insult of India and its Prime Minister. This nation of 1.25 billion will not tolerate its Prime Minister’s insult,” he said.

Modi exhorted people to throw out the dirty and corrupt UPA and bring the ‘dream team’ of BJP to power in the coming general election.

The rally ‘Badlenge Dilli, Badlenge Bharat’ (Change Delhi, Change India) is believed to have made a decisive impact on BJP’s poll prospect in the upcoming Assembly election in the Delhi.

Anti-Hindu' ASI renamed the Shankaracharya Hill to Takht-e-Suleiman

Shankaracharya Temple, Srinagar

According to this Tribune news report, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has summarily renamed the Shankaracharya Hill to Takht-e-Suleiman overlooking the Dal Lake in Srinagar.  If this was not enough, the ASI has also presented a distorted version of the history of the Shankaracharya Hill on the tourist information plaque, a move which has justifiably outraged the Kashmiri Pandits. From that news report:

        “It is a matter of great concern that ASI has given the name Takht-e-Suleiman (Throne of Solomon) to it, replacing the earlier plaque. How have they come to this conclusion warrants an answer,” said Predhuman K Joseph Dhar, an expert on ancient Kashmir history. He said recently a European historian visited the place and expressed surprise over information provided to the people.

Of course, there is no question that this move is politically motivated because it has no basis in history.  One wonders what is the connection between Suleiman/Solmon and Adi Shankara.

Even a layman in India knows that Adi Shankara travelled in all four directions in India and established Mutts in prominent places in each direction. That apart, he consecrated several other major and minor temples and other places of worship like in Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, Kollur in Karnataka, and in Sharada in Pak-occupied Kashmir.

Kashmir indeed has a hoary history as one of the finest centres of learning in the world. In its heydays, it attracted scholars and philosophers from all parts of India. In the annals of the Hindu tradition, Kashmir was almost synonymous with “Sharada Desha” or “Sharada Peetha” or the Pedestal of Goddess Sharada (or Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning). A conclusive evidence of this exalted status of Kashmir can best be gleaned from the famous verse in praise of Saraswathi as

Namaste Sharada Devi Kashmirapuravasini ||
I bow to you, Goddess Sharada,
the One who Resides in the Kashmira country ||

This verse is so commonplace recited and heard by millions of Hindus daily across the world that hardly anybody gives a second thought at the rich historical heritage that’s embedded in it. And the credit for establishing Kashmir as the Sharada Peetha, to make it part of the nation’s cultural and spiritual DNA goes to Adi Shankara.

And it is this hoary heritage that the ASI has sought to destroy unceremoniously by renaming the Hill after some Suleiman based on a spurious history. Needless, in the process, real history has been made an unfortunate victim. From the same report,

    “While the plaque informs the people that the roof of the temple was constructed by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1644 AD, there is no mention of King Gopadhari, who constructed the temple, King Lalitaditya, who renovated it several hundred years before the arrival of Islam in the 13th century, and Dogra rulers, who placed the lingam of Lord Shiva, which was destroyed at the orders of Jehangir’s wife Noor Jehan,” said Dhar

As for the spurious history,

     Talking about the name Takht-e-Suleiman, New York-based historian and author of “Jesus in Kashmir- The Lost Tomb’, Suzanne Olsson, said at one time Kashmir was controlled by Jews and Suleiman referred to Solomon, King of Israel and one of the greatest Jewish rulers, known for his wisdom and riches. “In ancient times, there was a considerable influence of Hebrew people in Kashmir. Several places have names similar to Jewish places. But historically, it is referred to as Shankaracharya Hill,” Olsson said.

One wonders whether Suzanne Olsson even understands how she contradicts her own assertion. If Jews had indeed controlled Kashmir, why don’t we have a single piece of evidence to show for it? And second, she doesn’t quite explain why despite the Jewish control, the Hill was revered and renowned as the Shankaracharya Hill? And why doesn’t Rajatarangini, the most definitive account of Kashmir’s history mention the presence–let alone control–of Jews even once? And why haven’t the galaxy of scholars and litterateurs from Kashmir–Kalhana, Abhinavagupta, Anandavardhana, Kshemendra, et al–mention Jewish influence? The truth is the Suzanne Olsson happens to be the latest purveyor of the phony theory that Jesus visited/lived in Kashmir. Two definitive sources are sufficient to puncture Suzanne Olsson’s motivated claim about Jesus in Kashmir. The first is by the redoubtable Koenraad Elst, and the second by a Buddhist monk and scholar named Shravasti Dhammika who takes a close look into various Suzanne Olssonsesque myths about Jesus’ visit and stay in India.

All kinds of scholars making all kinds of fantastic assertions have existed since time immemorial. However, it is regrettable that the ASI, a body of the Government of India, chose to put out one such fantastic claim as the official history of a place based purely on political consideration. This does disservice not just to Hindus but to the nation’s precious heritage as a whole. More importantly, it is a dangerous portent. As we’ve seen in the case of the St. Thomas Church of Mylapore how an existing Hindu place of worship was appropriated by Christian missionaries through deceit and declared as one of the sites of Christian piety.

Given this, what is the guarantee that the “Takht-e-Suleiman” will not become a dargah or mosque some time in the near or distant future and thereby erase another living place of Hindu heritage permanently?

Fodder scam verdict: RJD chief Lalu Prasad held guilty, sent to jail

Seventeen years after illegal withdrawals worth Rs.37.70 crore was detected from Chaibasa treasury in Jharkhand, the law finally caught up with the then Chief Minister of Bihar; Lalu Prasad and 45 other accused with a Special CBI court in Ranchi on Monday convicting them for facilitating the fraudulent transfer of public money. The quantum on sentence against him will be pronounced on October 3.

The amount was withdrawn from Chaibasa treasury by Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) officials on the basis of fake bills and vouchers procured and processed in connivance with suppliers, senior bureaucrats and politicians from 1992 to 1996.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav

The high profile trial this morning ended with Lalu's conviction as judge Pravash Kumar Singh held the 65-year-old Member of Parliament from Saran "guilty" behind the scam that grabbed nation-wide notice for its scope and brazenness.

In addition to his conviction, Lalu also stands to lose his Lok Sabha membership in the light of an earlier Supreme Court's order that barred convicted members of Parliament and state legislatures from completing their terms. Lalu Prasad is now left with limited options. Legally, he is sure to challenge the verdict in the higher court. However, it is extremely unlikely for him to get any reprieve before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which is barely eight months away. Lalu Prasad is likely to field his eldest daughter Misa from Saran Lok Sabha constituency.

Lalu Prasad arrives in court.

On political front, Lalu Prasad is already speaking about passing the baton to his son Tejaswi Yadav, which can cause some heartburn in his party. Tejaswi, 24, just cannot lead a party where veterans like Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Jagadanand Singh, Prabhunath Singh and Ramkirpal Yadav are Members of Parliament. The biggest challenge for RJD is to keep the party intact in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, which is also known as the opportune time for shifting allegiance.

The convicts have been held guilty of conspiracy, misconduct by public servant, abuse of official position, forgery, and cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may ensue to public exchequer which the offenders were bound to protect.

The RC-20A/1996 has altogether 54 accused in the case. There are 45 accused left in the case now. The list of accused includes IAS officers, Phulchand Singh, Mahesh Prasad, Beck Julius, and K. Arumugham.

Lalu Prasad has been held guilty for overlooking the fraudulent withdrawals over the years as Chief Minister of Bihar, who also held the finance portfolio. Lalu's links with Shyam Bihari Sinha, the kingpin of the fodder scam, was also established as AHD official's name was mentioned as the "guardian on record" for one of Lalu Prasad's daughters studying in a school in Ranchi in the 1990s. Lalu Prasad was charged with conspiring with Sinha and other scam accused in siphoning off the public money.

The fodder scam was first exposed by Comptroller and Auditor General. In its in successive reports for the fiscals 1992-93, 93-94, 94-95 and 95-96, the CAG brought out the anomalies, exposing the excess withdrawal by the AHD from the treasuries of Bihar. The then Lalu Prasad government did not immediately act upon these reports. The issue surfaced only in 1995 when his government tabled the CAG reports in the legislature in December 1995.

The first FIR in the Chaibasa fraudulent withdrawal case was lodged on January 24, 1996 by the then deputy commissioner, West Singhbhum, Amit Khare.  Later, the CBI numbered it as RC-20A/1996 when it took over the fodder scam investigation on March 19, 1996, on the Supreme Court's order.

The CBI lodged 54 cases in connection with the fodder scam. With today's verdict, the courts have disposed of 45 of 54 cases so far. Lalu and others, including former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, Lok Sabha MP Jagdish Sharma, ex-Minister Vidhya Sagar Nishad, ex Public Account Committee Chairman Dhruv Bhagat, four retired IAS officers and a former Income Tax Commissioner, will be sent to Ranchi's Birsa Munda jail

Human rights activists say approved bill, making girls vulnerable to the ruling from age 13, 'legalises paedophilia' !

Young girls in Chah Bahar, Iran. Iran's body of clerics and jurists has not yet vetted the new legis

Iran - Parliamentarians in Iran have passed a bill to protect the rights of children which includes a clause that allows a man to marry his adopted daughter and while she is as young as 13 years.

Activists have expressed alarm that the bill, approved by parliament on Sunday, opens the door for the caretaker of a family to marry his or her adopted child if a court rules it is in the interests of the individual child.

Iran's Guardian Council, a body of clerics and jurists which vets all parliamentary bills before the constitution and the Islamic law, has yet to issue its verdict on the controversial legislation.

To the dismay of rights campaigners, girls in the Islamic republic can marry as young as 13 provided they have the permission of their father. Boys can marry after the age of 15.

In Iran, a girl under the age of 13 can still marry, but needs the permission of a judge. At present, however, marrying stepchildren is forbidden under any circumstances.

As many as 42,000 children aged between 10 and 14 were married in 2010, according to the Iranian news website Tabnak. At least 75 children under the age of 10 were wed in Tehran alone.

Shadi Sadr, a human rights lawyer with the London-based group Justice for Iran, told the Guardian she feared the council would feel safe to put its stamp of approval on the bill while Iran's moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, draws the attention of the press during his UN visit to New York.

"This bill is legalising paedophilia," she warned. "It's not part of the Iranian culture to marry your adopted child. Obviously incest exists in Iran more or less as it happens in other countries across the world, but this bill is legalising paedophilia and is endangering our children and normalising this crime in our culture."

She added: "You should not be able to marry your adopted children, full stop. If a father marries his adopted daughter who is a minor and has sex, that's rape."

According to Sadr, officials in Iran have tried to play down the sexual part of such marriages, saying it is in the bill to solve the issue of hijab [head scarf] complications when a child is adopted.

An adopted daughter is expected to wear the hijab in front of her father, and a mother should wear it in front of her adopted son if he is old enough, Sadr said.

"With this bill, you can be a paedophile and get your bait in the pretext of adopting children," Sadr said. Some experts believe the new bill is contradictory to Islamic beliefs and would not pass the Guardian Council.

An initial draft of the bill, which had completely banned marriage with adopted children, was not approved by the council and it is feared that MPs introduced the condition for marriage to satisfy the jurists and clergymen. This is why Sadr fears it can pass the council this time.

The bill has prompted backlash in Iran with the reformist newspaper, Shargh, publishing an article warning about its consequences. "How can someone be looking after you and at the same time be your husband?" the article asked.

Shiva Dolatabadi, head of Iran's society for protecting children's rights, has also warned that the bill implies that the parliament is legalising incest. "You cannot open a way in which the role of a father or a mother can be mixed with that of an spouse," she said, according to Shargh. "Children can't be safe in such a family."

Execution of juvenile offenders in Iran has also been in spotlight in recent years amid confusion between the age of majority – when minors cease to be legally considered children – and the minimum age of criminal responsibility, which is 15 for boys and nine for girls under Iranian law

RIL cries foul, says being penalised twice over

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has said it was being punished twice over — first with a $1.78-billion penalty and then by being denied a gas price revision — for a single crime of not producing in line with projections that were not even contractual commitments.

RIL and its partner BP plc on September 18 made a detailed presentation to oil minister M Veerappa Moily on issues around its main D1and D3 fields in its eastern offshore KG-D6 block where output has fallen to less than a one-fifth of 10 million metric standard cubic metres per day instead of rising to 80 mmscmd.

The oil ministry, which sees production not meeting stated targets as breach of contract, has levied $1.786 billion in penalty by way of disallowing cost incurred in last three fiscal year. It also plans to deny RIL the benefit of the new price after the current $4.2 expires in April next year.

“A double penalty to the contractor: On one hand cost recovery being disallowed, on the other market price being denied,” RIL said in the presentation.

It also said that under the production sharing contract, output figures in a development plan are only estimates and not commitments.

Happy International Women's Day

Whether marked by demonstrations or celebrated at luncheons and concert halls, it always remained focused on the advancement of women and the stamping out of the last   vestige of female dehumanization.

New Mississippi K-12 Chief Carey Wright Has D.C., Md. Background

Mississippi has selected Carey Wright to be its new state superintendent of education, the state announced Sept. 25. Wright will take over for interim superintendent Lynn House. The state has lacked a permanent superintendent since last summer, when Tom Burnham departed. Wright will officially take over in the state Nov. 1, the department said.

Wright was previously the chief academic officer in the District of Columbia's school system and the assistant superintendent for special education and student services in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. Gulf Coast Live reported that she presently serves as CEO of a consulting firm, Wright Approach Consulting, and according to her LinkedIn profile she's also a consultant at the Public Education Leadership Project at Harvard University, which seeks to determine how management techniques can help public schools succeed. 

"The Board felt that Dr. Wright possessed all of the qualities we were seeking in the next state superintendent of education. She has a track record of strong leadership, instructional expertise and a commitment to ensuring all students achieve at high levels," said Hal Gage, the vice chairman of Mississippi's state board and the chair of the search process, in a statement. "Mississippi has made great strides in improving education over the last few years, and we believe we have selected the right person to build on this achievement."

Wright said she feels Mississippi has a great deal of "untapped potential" and that she is determined to build the "finest educational system in our nation."

Over the past 15 months or so, the state has seen significant change and turnover in its educational system, beginning with Burnham's departure. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a K-12 advocacy group that lobbies for greater school choice and accountability measures, was actively promoting major K-12 policy changes in Mississippi before the start of the 2013 legislative session. Subsequently, the state broke new policy ground this year when it passed a new charter-school law that will allow the state to approve up to 15 charters annually. It will be interesting to see how Wright responds to a policy and political environment in Mississippi that differs significantly from the ones in Washington and suburban Maryland. 

Photo (Bryon Houlgrave/Associated Press): Carey Wright, a former public-schools administrator in the District of Columbia and Maryland who now runs a consulting firm, was selected by the Mississippi State Board of Education to be the state's next superintendent of education. Wright will formally assume the job on Nov. 1. 

What Does the Possible Government Shutdown Mean For Schools?

Brokedown Congress appears likely to spend the weekend attempting to keep the government from shutting down and the U.S. from defaulting on its debt. The sticking point this time isn't schools. Instead, education is getting caught in the crosshairs. Republicans want to defund, or at least delay implementation of, the president's landmark health care overhaul law (the Affordable Care Act to its fans and "ObamaCare" to its critics).

What does the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad budget situation mean for schools?

The U.S. Department of Education released its shutdown contingency plan online Friday afternoon. Check it out here. Cliff Notes version: More than 90 percent of department employees would be furloughed during the first week of a shutdown. The department has roughly $22 billion in key K-12 formula funding through state Title I, special education and career and technical education grants to give out during the first week of October. Those dollars would still go out, even if there's a shutdown. If the shutdown goes on for more than a week, some additional employees could be called back to work. But it would be a very small number, no more than 6 percent of total staff, at any given time. 

Some programs could still make payments, including Pell Grants and Federal Direct Student loans. And other grants would still be allocated, on a limited basis (only if not getting the money would "significantly damage" the programs). It's unclear what that would mean for Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation, and Promise Neighborhoods. Those programs all have fiscal year 2013 funds that are only available through Dec. 31. 

A long shutdown would be very bad news, indeed, the department writes. "A protracted delay in Department obligations and payments beyond one week would severly curtail the cash flow to school districts, colleges and universities, and vocational rehabilitation agencies that depend on the Department to support their services."  

The upshot? Any shutdown is going to mean headaches for districts, which may have trouble getting their questions about issues like waiver implementation, for example. And a shutdown would also effect the department's regional offices, another point of contact and assistance for state education agencies. But a short shutdown is less of a big deal for K-12 districts than a long, drawn-out shutdown. 

So what's it like at 400 Maryland Ave. when (most of) the lights are off? The last time it happened was in 1996, during the Clinton years, when Richard Riley was secretary and Mike Smith was a force at the department.

"At first, it [felt] like a Sunday or something. Only a few people in the office; maybe you'd have a meeting or two," he said. "For the first couple days, you took it moderately lightly," Smith, a former deputy education secretary, told me for a story I wrote back in March of 2011, during a similar fiscal showdown. But, he added, "as it drags on, you begin to get more serious about it. All sorts of things pop up that you just haven't thought of originally."

For instance, Smith told me, the department is usually ready to provide back-up and advice in the event of a sudden emergency or disaster, like a mass school shooting. If there's a shutdown, all bets are off on that type of assistance.

But a temporary shutdown is arguably no biggie compared to what could happen if Congress is unable to deal with the debt ceiling. The feds are slated to hit the debt ceiling in mid-October and a default—even a brief one—is likely to have major ramifications.

"That's a much more serious, broader economic concern," said Clare McCann, a policy analyst for the New America Foundation. A downgrading of the U.S. credit score, which happened the last time the country nearly defaulted, could have implications for districts' credit ratings, for instance.

And if a default shakes the overall economy, schools could feel a serious squeeze, she added. Districts were largely able to blunt the impacts of sequestration (those across-the-board cuts to domestic and military programs) in part because the brightening state and local fiscal forecast meant policymakers were able to boost K-12 spending to make up for the federal cuts.

But another economic downturn means all bets are off, McCann said, "This would be another hit on of all the other [blows] we're current dealing to schools."  

Want more on the fiscal showdown, sequestration, how we got here and where we're going? Like playing around with interactive graphics? We've got you covered.

There is no real teacher who in practice does not believe in the existence of the soul, or in a magic that acts on it through speech.

Current Issues in Education Today

In this day of public-school indoctrination and even political correctness infecting the American church, what can lovers of truth and liberty do to counteract the cultural rot impacting our kids?The uncompromising pastor and musician Bradlee Dean took up that question and built a controversial but resolute ministry sharing the truth of God, freedom and personal responsibility by taking it directly to young people – and the results have been jaw-dropping. Through his ministry, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, Dean has performed in over 335 high schools and colleges in 22 states, equipping the next generation with the Judeo-Christian values that made America great through a unique combination of music and challenging lecture. Dean, who is also the drummer for the bank Junkyard Prophet, has put together the content of his presentations into a compelling DVD set so parents and pastors can offer the same cutting-edge, myth-blowing teaching to their own students. Entitled “My War,” this unique documentary encompasses the huge spectrum of issues we face in our society today and takes you back to the foundation of our country, to give understanding and clarity about who our Founders were and their true intentions when they established this Judeo-Christian nation. Homeschooling families and church youth groups will find Dean’s five-part documentary a perfect way to embolden young Americans to stand up and fight for the future of their nation. To get an idea of the style and content of “My War,” watch the short clip below addressing some of the values being fed our children in government schools, which use an approach Dean calls “No Child Left Un-indoctrinated”: Throughout our nation, public education today is failing our children at every level, from kindergarten to college. Test scores are lower than that of many other industrialized countries. Violence erupts at a moments notice. Drugs are pervasive. Children can't read or write when they graduate. Students are not motivated to learn. They are not accountable for their actions. What went wrong? Our education system used to be the best in the world! The problem stems from 30+ years of liberal, iron-fisted rule over our education system. During that time, many tried and true foundational principles and teaching techniques used for over 200 years that made this country great have been erased. Our educational system has been led down an unproven and harmful path of liberal indoctrination from which it will take at least a generation to recover. There are many problems this politically-correct agenda has caused, including feel-good classes where children learn little or nothing; lowered standards of excellence; social promotions of students from grade to grade even when they don't pass and can't read or write; lack of student discipline; little or no respect for teachers; situational morality; no standard of right and wrong; condoms given to children in schools; unmotivated students; etc. The list of failed practices and resulting consequences goes on and on. This has been one big experiment for the last 30 years, and the education establishment and the National Education Association (NEA) has reaped what it has sown. Children are the prize to the winners of the cultural war. Those who control what young people are taught and what they experience will determine the future course for this nation. The last few decades have clearly shown how the predominant value system of an entire culture can be overhauled by those with unlimited access to children. Abraham Lincoln said, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next." We see that today, and it will only get worse until our education system is wrested from the liberal establishment so that we can get it back on the right track for our children. The purpose of education is to prepare our children to succeed in life, and we are failing miserably. Their future, and ultimately our country's future, depends on how well and how quickly we remove our failing school system from the incompetence of liberals who have taken a generation captive.

If the education of our kids comes from radio, television, newspapers - if that's where they get most of their knowledge from, and not from the schools, then the powers that be are definitely in charge, because they own all those outlets.

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.

Are Schools Safe?

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• Very poor
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Updated on Jan 14, 2008

School should be a safe haven, free of crime and violence. But that's not always the case according to a new report out from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

The study, Indicators of School Crime and Safety, is the ninth in a series of annual publications produced by the NCES and a handful of government agencies. It aims to show what students face when they enter the schoolyard. And it covers a wide range of education topics most parents don't like to think about – victimization, fights, bullying, weapons, drugs, and alcohol.

Parents who think of school as a place where a child's biggest problem might be someone stealing his lunch have some catching up to do. Today's students have bigger fish to fry. In 2004, students aged 12-18 were victims of about 1.4 million nonfatal crimes at school, including about 863,000 thefts, 476,000 violent crimes (like simple assault), and 107,000 serious violent crimes (rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault). Fifty-five out of every 1,000 students in America, aged 12-18, were victimized in 2004. This is compared to 73 in 2003. So the numbers have gone down a bit – a small consolation, but a consolation nonetheless.

As for school being a haven? The study found that students aged 12-18 were more likely to be robbed in school, than away from school. One in 10 male high school students reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the past year. Almost one in four students reported the presence of gangs in their schools. And one-quarter of all high school students had been offered drugs on school property.

The biggest problem on students' minds though is bullying. Almost 30 percent of middle and high school students reported having been bullied at school during the last six months. And for many, it was reason enough to avoid school altogether.

We all want school to be a safe harbor for our children. But that is sadly not always the case. If you've been functioning under the assumption that not much has changed since you roamed the halls, it may be time to reevaluate that assumption. Talk to your kids about their school. Let them know you're listening and that you take their fears or concerns seriously. Because no child should have to be afraid in the schoolyard – whether they're 8, or 18.

Foreign universities in India: Dollar education in rupees

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Dream of thousands, may be millions, of Indian students aspiring for world-class foreign education at rupee cost may soon become reality if the government has its way

Rahul, a Delhiite, has performed exceedingly well in his senior secondary examination and is excited to join a prestigious undergraduate programme at an Ivy league university. He and his parents are least bothered about the weakening of the rupee against the dollar and its negative impact on the cost of overseas education. This is not due to his affluent background but because he will be pursuing the programme at the Gurgaon campus of the foreign university. This dream of thousands, may be millions, of Indian students aspiring for world-class foreign education at rupee cost may soon become reality if the government has its way.
It is common knowledge that the MHRD had formulated the Foreign Education Providers Bill in 2010 to permit foreign universities to set up campuses in India. The Bill, however, has been awaiting Parliamentary nod for a long time. Given the existing situation, we now understand that the government is in the process of finalising regulations that seek to achieve the objectives defined under the aforesaid Bill. This development has been confirmed by the education minister while replying to a question in Parliament. The Bill, in its current form, had placed certain conditions, such as a minimum corpus of R500 million and restriction on ploughing back of profits on foreign universities desirous of setting up a campus in India.
In the past few years, some of these onerous conditions have been a subject of intense debate in the industry. As per some industry experts, such conditions will put off some of the most prestigious global universities to invest in the Indian market. We will have to wait and watch as to how many of these conditions are prescribed under the proposed regulations.
These regulations have become all the more important for an Indian student eyeing overseas degrees given the recent fall in the value of the rupee. To quote statistics, the rupee has depreciated by about 9% in the last month itself with analysts predicting new lows in the near future.