ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends We are truly into the 11th year of our continuing fruitful and meaningful existence. Having completed our 10th year in Oct. 2010, we had sent out an Invitation to Participate to all our readers, patrons and well wishers. There has been whole hearted response from a section of our well wishers who are also our regular readers. We thank them profusely for their generous response. While it is true that there exist a reservoir of goodwill for our efforts at I & C from a wider section of our readers, their efforts in transferring the goodwill more concretely for the spread and sustenance of I & C as a journal was not forthcoming as expected. It is true I & C is an individual initiative, but no initiative can sustain for too long and indefinitely unless stake holders participate in its useful longevity. At this point it has to be noted that those who became life subscribers by paying Rs. 1000/-, have received the periodical uninterrupted for all the 10 years that has gone...

Congratulation!! on the 10th Anniversary of the magazine. I have been a regular reader of your magzine and also life member. The 10th anniversary copy of “ Issues and concern” is very colourful. The effort by the editor in bringing the magzine regularly is praise worthy. The editorial is good and is a mirror on the current issues of the society. The magazine has health tips as well. The article ““Let’s integrate “ by Dr. Chitralekha in this issues is really good and gives us food for thought. Wishing the I & C all the best for the future Dr. D. N. Gaonkar, Asst. Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, NITK I & C 10th Anniversary Having been associated with I&C, from its inception, I was glad I managed to reach Bengaluru for the 10th Anniversary. It was indeed an occasion to remember, as we all feel concerned about the current affairs and what our country is going through at this moment of time. Its not easy to publish a magazine, month after mon...

FREE SPEECH & MEDIA DISHONESTY Many years ago, during the 2nd year of UPA government’s first term in New Delhi’s seat of power, before noon, two men walked into my office, in a Mangalore suburb, and asked “Sir you should read ‘The Hindu’”. I retorted “Sorry! I stopped reading ‘The Hindu’. “Why Sir?” was the instant response. “Because you are subjective”, was my take. “No, no, things have changed at the helm at ‘The Hindu’, so you’ll have no reason to complain” was the riposte. “Alright, there was this government, the NDA outfit at the centre, a year or so ago. Every government does both positive and negative contribution to the growth trajectory. But you did not have anything positive to say on NDA performance”. One of the two men, was rather in a great hurry to answer my query. “We are anti BJP” was his intervention. Mind you, I didn’t ever take the name of BJP! I just smiled “Didn’t I tell you that your paper is subjective and you have just proved & confirmed it? Hence your c...

Uncritical Critical Care: More Things Not To Do Prof. B. M. Hegde, hegdebm@gmail.com “And is not the love of learning the love of wisdom, which is philosophy?” Book One of Plato’s Republic. More than ninety per cent of the American health care budget goes to keep patients alive in critical care units during the last ten days of their lives. This takes a heavy toll of the budget for health care elsewhere. To give a telling example, the money needed to keep a child alive in the terminal stage of leukaemia with bone marrow transplants would be equal to the amount needed to keep one thousand pregnant women healthy during their pregnancy as well as their infants’ care for one year after delivery. This audit brought forth the Oregon Law that states that “no child would get a bone marrow transplant for leukaemia at the tax payer’s cost.” Although this started a lot of debate initially, right now seven other States in the US follow the same law. Modern hi-tech medicine is a must for emerge...

INCLUSIVE GROWTH IN INDIA: WHY STILL A MIRAGE? - Dr. K. Shanker Shetty Cont. from last month WHAT AILS INCLUSIVE PROCESS? It must be made abundantly clear that on the gigantic task of building our nation inclusion of the poor and the neglected in the economic growth process is important, because unless we include and improve their lot through inclusion, their children may grow as dangerous segment of india’s population easily lured towards extremism as religious fanatism. However, the focus must be to develop a cost effective method through which effective payments and providing loans to the needy in real terms is assured. They must also be provided with an integrated service that ought to be deviced to meet their personalized needs. This obviously warrants an exclusive business model targeted toward the poor and low – income groups. It must, however, be preceded by focusing on spreading financial literacy and awareness about multifarious financial products like insurance and pension;...

Bad behaviour of children ‘due to genes’ London: It’s not junk food or bad parents, children’s bad behaviour is down to their genes, says a new study, led by an Indian-origin researcher. Prof. Anita Thapar and colleagues at Cardiff University have carried out the study and found that the condition called Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is due to the complex genetic faults. ‘The Lancet’ journal reported. The study shows that around 16 per cent of children with ADHD have a glitch in their DNA, which means they have the wrong number of genes. The researchers believe that tests will eventually show that DNA glitches may account for up to 80 per cent of all cases. But, they warn that bad diet and poor upbringing might still make the condition worse. It suggests genetic problems linked to ADHD are also linked to other brain disorders, including schizophrenia. Consuming junk food ‘harms brain health’ Apart from being responsible for the flab on body, processed food also harms...

Bridging the Social Divide - Edmond Fernandes “I saw a stone on the road & wondered why someone did not shift it, till I realized that I was also someone.” Friends, we play a role towards everything in life, peace also. Maintenance of communal harmony has become a major challenge to reckon with, textbooks have chapters on it, seminars & conferences are organized, talk’s shows held in the media. These debates & discussions have only aggravated the problem & worsened matters. Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the science of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty. – Archbishop Oscar Romero. The atmosphere today is poisoned with social bitterness. We have gone wrong somewhere. We know more about killing than we know about loving. More about war than we know about peace. We guide miss...

Sweeper, hairdresser elected as Gram Pradhans Muzaffarnagar: A woman sweeper and a hairdresser are among those who have been elected as Gram Pradhans of villages in the district in the recently-held panchayat elections. Thirty-five-year-old Munni Devi was declared as the village chief of Nagla Rai under Charthawal block, the same village where she works as a sweeper to support her family. Also successful was hairdresser Ram Saran, 50 who lives and works in Budda Kheri village in the district. Upon being elected, the victorious duo told reporters that they would work for the development of their villages and would try to get more funds from the government. Principal sacked for assaulting nun Tiruchirapalli: The Principal of the St. Joseph College here, accused of raping a nun, has been relieved from the post, officials said. “The College management has relieved Father R Rajarathinam from the post with immediate effect,” officials said. A new person would take over as Principal-in-charge...

I& C CROSSES MILE STONE Wadia Hall of Indian Instt. Of World culture, Bangalore witnessed a rare event. ISSUES & CONCERNS, had organised a function to mark the completion of its journey of 10 years. The Special Issue to mark the 10the anniversary was released by the Chief Guest of the function Dr. Mahesh Joshi, the Deputy Director General (DDG) of Door Darshan Kendra, Bangalore. A Souvenir containing the 120 front cover of the magazine with selected feed back and few Focus articles was released by Prof B M Hegde, former vice-chancellor of Manipal University. Speaking on the occasion DDG exhorted the audience that “in a murky and self serving media scene I & C stands out as a beacon of hope. While tabloids, weeklies, fortnightlies and monthlies came and go after the 1st or 2nd anniversary, for I & C to keep publishing for all 10 years non-stop, by one individual, is a miracle in to-days journalism. This deserves applause and ovation”. Prof Hegde, while asking the audie...

Bio-diesel buses to ply in Thane Mumbai: After Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, it is the turn of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) to introduce the use of the eco-friendly bio-diesel at one of its depots in Thane division in an effort to reduce pollution levels. A preliminary trial at the Daund Depot in Pune Division has revealed that after mixing 20 per cent bio diesel in regular diesel, the pollution levels were reduced by 50-60 per cent and the expenditure on diesel was reduced by 15-20 paise per km. It was also noticed that there was no adverse effect on the engines of the buses after the use of bio diesel. Encouraged by these positive results, the VC & MD of MSRTC Deepak Kapoor has ordered the use of bio diesel in all the buses of the Wada Depot of the Thane division for next five months. After this, bio diesel will be used in other depots. Once all the 247 depots of MSRTC start using bio diesel in their buses, MSRTC is expected to save about Rs 15 crore ...

Musharraf on Pakistani currency notes! Islamabad: Former president and military dictator Pervez Musharraf was keen to have his photograph on Pakistan’s currency notes, a former prime minister has disclosed. Former premier Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said that Musharaff wanted to replace Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s photograph on currency notes with his own photograph. Jamali told Hamid Mir in ‘Capital Talk’ of ‘Geo News’ that the change in the currency note didn’t happen as he refused it. He said he wasn’t aware as to who advised Musharaff that currency notes should carry his photography. Musharraf seized power in 1999. He stepped down in 2008 and left Pakistan. He now lives in London. Responding to a question, Jamali said Musharraf was ready to hand over disgraced nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan to the US in 2004. An American plane had even arrived in Islamabad for taking Khan to the US, but Jamali said he blocked the move. “I informed my cabinet that we cannot hand him (A.Q. Khan) over to the Am...

NEEDED: A CHANGE-OVER IN POLITICAL THINKING It has been a painful one month. Watching spokespersons of political parties slugging each other on matters of corruption has often made one feel like throwing up. What has this country come to? The tragedy is that every party is projected as guilty of corruption. And while the media has been doing its job there has been a feeling of being tremendously let down by practically every segment of society. A former Law Minister charged six Justices of the Supreme Court of corruption. Presently, one judge of the Calcutta High Court, Soumitra Sen is on his way to be impeached. The Adarsh Housing Society scam revealed the involvement of top Army officials, not to mention bureaucrats. Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s resignation has already been accepted. Karnataka’s Chief Minister B.Y. Yediyurappa is under the scan. The belated resignation of IT & Communication Minister A. Raja merely shows how deep corruption has eroded our society. T...