Smart Diplomacy: Obama Invites Indian PM to Dinner During Hindu Religious Fast

The sign of the "true" Democrat religion

Because Dems are really the only people who understand other cultures.

From The Washington Free Beacon:

The Obama administration was grilled on Monday for inviting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a state dinner while he is fasting as part of a Hindu religious observance, a move that has been criticized by some as insensitive. 

Obama will host Modi Monday evening at the White House “for a private dinner” that will also be attended by Vice President Joe Biden, the White House announced Monday morning. The event is closed to the press. 

However, the administration appears to have forgotten that Modi is in the middle of carrying out a religious fast in observance of the Hindu navratri, in which the faithful abstain from food, according to reports. 

The administration’s seeming insensitivity to Modi’s religious observance caused a tense back-and-forth during the State Department’s daily briefing with reporters. 

State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki was forced to defend the decision to hold the dinner on the holy day.

Yeah, just eat in front of the guy. Give him a big red "overcharge" button while you're at it.

I have found many people on the Left have very little care about religion beyond getting upset about it. Upset at Americans who don't care for Islam, for instance, or upset at American who cling to their religion (and guns) in the face of Marx-inspired progress. As for the religion itself, the Left holds a pretty open disdain-- in this case enough not to even bother to look over a religious calendar for a visiting dignitary.

India Increasing Troops Along Its Chinese Border

Not a surprise considering (a) China's recent belligerence, (b) India's rocky history with China-- the two countries briefly went to war in 1962, and (c) India's recently elected BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party government.

From India Today (h/t Leslie Eastman at Legal Insurrection):

The new BJP government is keen to send out a strong signal to Beijing regarding border disputes by nearly doubling the deployment of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel on the India-China frontier. Top government sources said the ITBP will very soon have more boots on the ground to effectively guard the border that has witnessed several Chinese incursions in the past few years. The previous UPA government was often criticised for being "soft" on the issue of Chinese incursions. 

The Home Ministry has approved the construction of 54 new border outposts along the disputed frontier with China. A proposal in this regard was made by the ITBP before the polls but the previous government did not go ahead on it. 

With the new outposts, the number of troops on the ground too will increase. Currently, there are close to 40 outposts and nearly 15,000 troops guard the sensitive zones. Sources said the number could now go up to 30,000. "There were critical gaps regarding security on the China border that need to be filled up," said a senior Home Ministry official.
"The increase in deployment should not be construed as an aggressive approach on our part. We are only securing out territory," a top government official said.

I would characterize India's security build-up as more of a domestic political position, rather than any response or in preparation for a direct Chinese threat. China's bellicose stances against the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan are another matter entirely...

India Removes Coconuts to Keep Obama Safe

India has embarked upon a campaign to save Obama from the embarrassment of coconut induced head injury. Well, I know I feel better.

From the New York Daily News article by Philip Caulfield (h/t Doug Powers):

"While President Obama may have taken one on the jaw in Tuesday’s elections, officials in India are seeing to it he doesn’t take one on the head during his upcoming visit.

"City officials in Mumbai have ordered the removal of all the coconuts from the trees around a museum dedicated to Gandhi for fear one could come loose and fall on the President’s head.

"'We told the authorities to remove the dry coconuts from trees near the building,' Meghshyam Ajgaonkar, executive secretary of the museum, told the BBC. 'Why take a chance?'

"'They were ripe and they were falling on the road, so we requested our local office to remove them - it was part of a regular clean-up,' he said.

"Ajgaonkar acknowledged that the timing of the coconut round up was affected by Obama's visit, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"Every year, people are injured and even killed in India by falling coconuts."

Alright, now no one should take the following comment as wishing harm on Obama or something, but would it not be one the weirdest things in the world for a president (any president) to be killed by a falling coconut in India? Can you even imagine the conspiracy theories?

India Bans Corporal Punishment and Mental Harassment in Schools-- Along with Detentions and Expulsions

I admit that I am absolutely clueless as to what schools are like in India. Still, I'm not so sure banning detention is the best idea...

From an article in The Times of India:

"With some incidents of harsh punishments meted out to children apparently weighing heavy on his mind, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the school environment should be 'free from fear, trauma and anxiety' to make the Right to Education (RTE) a grand national movement.

"'The RTE Act bans corporal punishment and mental harassment. It also bans detention and expulsion. These provisions have led many teachers to question how discipline will be maintained in the classroom,' he said."

[...]

"He said that the answer to the issue of maintaining discipline was given by philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti who said, 'Discipline is an easy way to control a child, but it does not help him to understand the problems involved in living...If the teacher can give full attention to each child, observing and helping him, then compulsion or domination or discipline in any form may be unnecessary'."

Well, good luck with that, I guess. But, I'm really not so sure that a teacher giving their undivided attention to every student all the time is really possible... let alone all that practical... let alone that such attention would actually work in place of any form of punishment.