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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

China poses bigger threat than Pakistan: Arun Shourie

Arun Shourie is all praises for NaMo

BJP leader and noted journalist Arun Shourie on Friday warned that China was a bigger threat to India than Pakistan.
In a talk on his newly-launched book, ‘Self Deception: India China Policies’ during the Nani Palkhivala Memorial Lecture event, Shourie said 2014 was crucial year for India not only because it would be distracted with polls but also because the US would be withdrawing from Afghanistan.
In a bid to ensure that their defeat was not a rout, Americans would need support of Pakistan. This meant that it will give Pakistan more freedom to increase its anti-India activities.
Except deflecting it back to India, Shourie said, Pakistan had no option to escape the monster of terrorism it had created in its own soil.
But he said India had to take advantage of the fact that the Taliban of Afghanistan too had its issues with Pakistan. In that sense Pakistan was more manageable than China, which was certainly the biggest threat. He said China had a clear view of its own and had benchmarked itself with the US.
In China, there was a perception that India did not mind losing territory. If a claim is made long enough, India would get used to it.
“Claim and grab is their policy. If we are not careful, Aksai Chin would be repeated,” he said. He said there was already a reaction against China in Asia owing to its aggressive posture on territorial claims. It was necessary for India that it took advantage of the situation and formed alliances.
Tughlak Editor Cho Ramaswamy said that the Gujarat CM Narendra Modi was “Godsend” to the nation now and was essential for the nation to come out of the overall tragedy in governance it was facing. He said facts brought out in Shourie’s book showed how naive our leaders could be.
Source: http://newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/China-poses-bigger-threat-than-Pakistan-Arun-Shourie/2013/10/19/article1843428.ece

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Arun Shourie at Manthan Samvaad 2013



Arun Shourie, India's most respected public intellectual, speaks on 'What will it take to face up to China?' at Manthan Samvaad 2013, at Hyderabad, India. Oct 2, 2013.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Political Capital - Minority Share Sale Is Worst Divestment

Published on Sep 30, 2013
The FM realises that he is 'pumping air into corpses', says Arun Shourie, Senior BJP Leader. NDA just built on what previous governments did on divestment, he says, adding that selling minority shares is the worst form of disinvestment as it is done out of desperation on deficit. "The FM had also committed to divesting ownership of ill companies but UPA has been unable to do that," he adds.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Political Capital - RBI Not Responsible For Fiscal Problems

Published on Sep 30, 2013
The rupee fall is a consequence of fiscal deficit problems and not the cause, Senior BJP Leader Arun Shourie says. Subsidy growth and populist schemes have bloated the deficit, he says, pointing out that monetary policy is not the instrument to curb food inflation. He says that the government has constantly passed the buck and blamed the RBI. The criticism of D. Subbarao was unjustified and orchestrated, he says, adding that the investment climate was not vitiated due to RBI's policy stance.


Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Political Capital - No Implicit Faith Between PM & Ministers:

Published on Sep 30, 2013


All key infra ministers enjoyed PM's full backing in the NDA regime, Senior BJP Leader Arun Shourie says, adding that civil servants do not have faith in ministers today. NDA's ministers had competence in their sectors, but now roads projects are treated like ATMs, he says. "One simply cannot burden exchequer with power subsidies; the user must pay the cost incurred for supplying power," he says, adding that the government must be truthful about what it can't afford.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Political Capital - Judiciary Has Become Another Govt In Itself: Arun Shourie

Published on Sep 30, 2013

BJP Senior Leader Arun Shourie sees a breakdown of discipline, with judges not even respecting each other's judgements. "Judges are intruding in because the executive isn't doing its job," he says, applauding the judiciary for bringing accountability to the system. But there are two sides to everything, he says, highlighting that the Constitution has been amended 5 times to overturn SC judgements. It's a mixed bag, he says, stressing the need for dialogue between the two arms.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Arun Shourie on 'Your Call' at NDTV





Arun Shourie talks about his latest book "Does He Know a Mother's Heart?",about his spastic son and about his wife,a Parkinson's disease patient.He also talks about his journey from his days as Indian Express editor to a politician and an author

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Margadarshi : Telugu : Arun Shourie

Apr 25, 2013
Margadarshi - Arun Shourie
This show features celebrities who have done pioneering work in their chosen fields and are a source of inspiration to millions with their commitment to a cause.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Panel Discussion on "Indian Economy Road Map To Recovery": Arun Shourie

Panel Discussion on "Indian Economy Road Map To Recovery"- Part I



Panel Discussion on "Indian Economy Road Map To Recovery"- Part II

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Devil's Advocate: Arun Shourie : Radia Tapes

Devil's Advocate: Arun Shourie : Radia Tapes









Judicial Activism and the Alternatives: Arun Shourie

Published on Dec 24, 2012
Mr. Arun Shourie at Palkhivala Foundation Lecture
Interaction with Public by Mr.Arun Shourie on "Judicial Activism and the Alternatives"

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Punctuations: Dr. Arun Shourie




podcast series, Punctuations, in which Jaideep Prabhu and Sandeep Balakrishna are joined by Prashanth Perumal in a conversation with Dr. Arun Shourie. The conversation ranges from nuclear energy, Indian foreign policy, the "idea of India," the 1980s British TV show, Yes, Prime Minister, Shourie's time in the Indian Express, and much more.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Doing good work is difficult in India: Arun Shourie

In , "it's very difficult to do good work". 

The remark came from former Union Minister Arun Shourie today as he urged people to extend a helping hand to everyone without expecting anything in return. 

"If you are truly selfish, then help someone because that will help you in turn. To discipline your mind and to get therapeutic happiness, one should always be eager to serve people who have nothing to give you in return. 

"Our aim should be to serve people who are in need. But I think, in India, it's very difficult to do good work," the Ramon Magsaysay Awardee said while speaking on "Serving Others as a Cure for Oneself" at an event organised to mark the first anniversary of Ganga Ram Institute of Postgraduate medical Education and research (GRIPMER). 

Chairman of Ganga Ram Hospital Dr D S Rana said that GRIPMER was constituted to further coordinate and stimulate academics and research activities of the hospital. 

He said the institute had published 283 research projects in last one year. "Presently 45 research projects funded by WHO, Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Environment and many others were undergoing." 

Dean of GRIPMER Dr Samirun Nundy said that the institute figures in India's top 10 medical colleges.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/doing-good-work-is-difficult-in-india-arun-shourie-113071000540_1.html

Sunday, July 28, 2013

ARUN SHOURIE* on "ARE WE INTEGRATING OR DISINTEGRATING THE NATION ?

ARUN SHOURIE* on "ARE WE INTEGRATING OR DISINTEGRATING THE NATION ?
The Third Prof. E. G. Parameswaran** Endowment Lecture

by

SRI ARUN SHOURIE*
Eminent Journalist and Former Minister, Government of India

on


Arun Shourie speaks on - Public discourse in India today, and what we can do about it

Arun Shourie speaks on - Public discourse in India today, and what we can do about it

Year 2004 speech of Shri Arun Shourie on The Next Steps in Economic Reforms

Year 2004 speech of Shri Arun Shourie on The Next Steps in Economic Reforms


Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Publicity is oxygen for terrorists, and so for politicians, Arun Shourie quotes Margaret Thatcher


Arun Shourie, Former Union Minister of Disinvestment


Arun Shourie, Former Union Minister of Disinvestment

Best Ideas
We have to have a lean state. The role of the state in our lives must continue to be diminished.
Instead of tougher new laws, we need to implement the existing laws.
The onus of proof in disproportionate assets cases must be shifted to the accused. If found guilty, all assets must be confiscated.
The offender should be barred from public office for life.
Rules are important but in our country, the influence of a person is usually gauged by the number of rules he can violate.
People are completely fed up with the continual disruption of Parliament.
Parliament sessions should be curtailed to moving average of the effective days of the last session.
Our filtering mechanism is not placing power in the hands of men and women.
Key Quotes
"Do not be seduced by a new law. Enforce the existing law."
Arun Shourie

"The real tribute to the Delhi gangrape victim would be to finish rape case trials within 3 months."
"Commitment does not mean shouting slogans and standing with candles."
"Gandhiji said: Be the change you want to see in society. This is a cliche but most cliches are fundamental truths."
"As a silversmith removes impurities, we should take up one issue at a time."
"This govt is not able to argue its own case because it lacks conviction about its own legitimacy."
Fun Facts
The great altruism in India is that every party works for the other.UPA itself is making the biggest case for Modi as PM.We will shout on reforms but you carry on, Cong to Shourie.

Arun Shourie India Today snippets


  • Arun Shourie: As silversmith removes impurities from silver, so does the concerned citizen from institutions.
  • Arun Shourie: Since the Emergency, any government which has clamped down on freedom of expression has been singed.
  • Arun Shourie: Do not be intimidated by state violence.
  • Arun Shourie: Judges are appearing more assertive as the government is practically absent.
  • Arun Shourie: Nobody is making the case for Narendra Modi as much as the present government.
  • Arun Shourie: How is it that the biggest criminals get the biggest lawyers?
  • Arun Shourie: When Gandhiji says, "Be the change you want to see", it is not a cliche. Actually most cliches are fundamentally true.
  • Arun Shourie: No bribe has been received before it has been given.
  • Arun Shourie: Ambit of Parliament should be reduced to legislative processes. Headlines Today should not be discussed.
  • Arun Shourie: Qualification for legislature is one of the biggest reforms we need.
  • Arun Shourie: Enforcement, implementation, accountability, scrutiny and partnerships are the mantra's for effective governance.
  • Arun Shourie: We need to work with the Defence forces and address their problems, not just in acquisitions but in every sphere.
  • Arun Shourie: I have never seen so much suppressed anger in the Defence forces in my 30 years of work with them.
  • Arun Shourie: There should be a partnership of the government and judiciary instead being at each others throats.
  • Arun Shourie: Every CM is now trying to portray good governance because of India Today's state ranking.
  • Arun Shourie: India Today has done stellar work on the ranking of states.
  • Arun Shourie: Thatcher once said,"Publicity is the oxygen for terrorists". It is also the oxygen for politicians.
  • Arun Shourie: The media is also complicit. When people violate rules, black them out instead of making it a breaking news.
  • Arun Shourie: In India the status of a person is based on how many rules you flout.
  • Arun Shourie: No matter how frugal Sukhram was he could not have savedRs.4 crores on an MP's salary.
  • Arun Shourie: If you want to check corruption, force simple changes: No adjournments, tainted politicians should not be allowed.
  • Arun Shourie: Am not in favour of the Lokpal, because it will be just another institution.
  • Arun Shourie: If Rajat Gupta, Rajaratnam, Maddoff can be convicted in 3 months why can we not dispose off our rape cases in three months.
  • Arun Shourie: The advantage of India is that our society is far more progressive than our state.
  • Arun Shourie, Former Union Minister of Disinvestment, speaks on 'An Insider's Account: How can We Make the Government Work?


  • Source http://conclave.intoday.in/article/india-today-conclave-2013-arun-shourie/3608/39.html

    Arun Shourie in conversation with India Today before his session at #Conclave13


    Arun Shourie in conversation with India Today before his session at  http://vine.co/v/bdpDhPrOrgb 

    Saturday, January 5, 2013

    Banish her eyes, they distract men! – Arun Shourie

    The Muslim clergy issues fatwas for two primary reasons: First, to impose their interpretation of shariah; and, second, to maintain their stranglehold over the community of believers lest they break free and move with the times. This is most evident in Saudi Arabia, the powerhouse of Wahabi Islam, which inspires the ulema worldwide to militate against modernism.
    In this excerpt from an all-new edition of his path-breaking book The World of Fatwas or the Shariah in Action (HarperCollins) scholar, author, celebrated journalist, former editor and minister and one of the foremost voices in India’s public life and discourse, Arun Shourie looks at how fatwas work in Saudi Arabia. – Editor
    As part of his efforts to introduce reforms, in 2009 Saudi King Abdullah had inaugurated a university in which young men and women were studying together. In February 2010, Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Barrak, reputed to be “the leading independent authority of Wahabism”, issued a fatwa decreeing death for those who were promoting ikhtilat — the impermissible mixing of sexes. This makes it possible for the parties to see what is forbidden and to engage in exchanges that are forbidden, the fatwa declared, and “All this leads to whatever ensues.” “Whoever allows this mixing allows what is forbidden,” the Sheikh decreed, ”and whoever allows them is an infidel and this means defection from Islam.”
    The World of Fatwas “Either he retracts,” the fatwa read, “or he must be killed because he disavows and does not observe the shariah.” Furthermore, “Anyone who accepts that his daughter, sister or wife works with men or attends mixed-gender schooling cares little about his honour and this is a type of pimping,” it held.
    The fatwa had brought discomfiture to the royals themselves. Soon after 9/11, in September 2001, Sheikh Hamoud bin Oqla Al-Shuabi, an 80-year-old blind religious authority had issued a fatwa expelling King Fahd and his entire — 30,000 strong — family from Islam. He had charged them with what is in Islam one of the gravest of crimes, that of helping infidels — in this case, the US — in their war against Islam… When the royal family sought retraction of his fatwa, other religious scholars added their voice, including some mainstream preachers. The Sheikh scorned the overtures, and stuck to his fatwa, telling the authorities that came to question him, “Whoever backs the infidel against Muslims is considered an infidel.”
    The fatwa was of the gravest import as the Saudi rulers derive a very large proportion of their legitimacy from the Wahabi clerics.
    Come mid-August 2010, and King Abdullah decreed that henceforth only the –  officially appointed and recognised — Committee on Scholarly Work and Ifta shall issue fatwas. It would function under the twenty-one-member Council of Senior Ulema.
    Soon after being constituted, the council denounced the practice of bringing or sending flowers to patients in hospitals. This is a foreign custom, it decreed, and “imitates Allah’s adversaries”.
    Lady in a niqabIn 2009, the Grand Mufti declared that it was permissible for girls of ten or above to be married by their fathers. The Saudi Government tried to limit the age at which girls so young could be married.
    Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan (a member of the Committee on Scholarly Work and Ifta and Council of Senior Ulema) issued a fatwa. The fatwa declared that fathers could marry off their daughters even if they were in a cradle. There is only one caution, it said. The husbands are not permitted to have sex with the little girls “unless they (the little girls) are capable of being placed beneath and bearing the weight of the man”.
    MuttawaThe Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is a much feared body in Saudi Arabia. And justly so. In 2002, a school in Mecca caught fire. Young girls trapped in the burning buildings were trying to rush out. The personnel of the committee prevented them from coming out — they were not wearing the mandatory head cover. Fifteen girls perished as a consequence. Outrages of this kind have taught everyone to steer clear of members of this organisation.
    Afghan BurkaIt so happened that one of the members of this powerful organisation was walking down a street in November 2011. He chanced to see a woman who was walking with her husband. Her eyes aroused the committee worthy. An altercation ensued. The husband suffered two stab wounds. And on whom did the blame fall? On the poor woman’s eyes.
    So, steps were taken to pass a law to make it mandatory for women with attractive eyes to cover, not just one of the eyes but both of them. – Niti Central, 22 August 2012

    Legitimacy of political class eroded, says Shourie: Shourie

    Oct 28 2012
     LUCKNOW: Taking a dig at the current political situation in the country, senior BJP leader and former minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet Arun Shourie said the "legitimacy of the political class has been eroded." His comment on Sunday came even as he reiterated indirectly his support to the Congress-led UPA II government's decision to hike diesel prices. Shourie said opposition for the sake of being in the opposition was not the right approach.
    Shourie asked: "If I say the need of the hour is to check subsidies and reduce fiscal deficit there is a sudden uproar. Why? Each party simply wants to criticise the other," he added. Shourie was in Lucknow to attend a function organised by Mahamana Malviya Mission on 'Malviya's vision on industrial development and challenges ahead' in Gomtinagar locality.
    He, however, refused to talk to journalists present, blaming media for playing up his comments unnecessarily. But during his lecture, he criticised repeatedly the political classes too for behaving in a stereotyped fashion.
    Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-08/lucknow/34322140_1_arun-shourie-hike-diesel-prices-political-class

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