ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Dea friends We are into the last month of the financial year 2010/11. Its time to look at the two budgets presented by the Mamata Didi, the Railway Minister and Pranab Da, the Finance Minister. So, its all Bengali affairs when it comes to budget 2010/11. Wish the hopes raised therein are translated into pragmatic promises. Month began with the VOX-POPULI gaining upper hand in Egypt. When Tunisian strong man Zine el Abidine Ben Ali fled the country and left Tunis to its agitating masses, there was a palpable ripple all over the Arab world. Right enough, the uprising, taking que from Tunisia, across Egypt, both at Alexandria and Cairo forced the hands of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak who had ruled the Arab nation for over 30 years. He tried all his tricks to stay in power, even jettisoning the heir apparent, his son, in the process. Eventually, the inevitable caught up with him. Yes if people come to-gether, eddies of a street corner protest can become a tidal wave of a Tsunami. And o...

WHITHER PAKISTAN! There is this madman of Pakistani rhetorics called Hafiz Syed, who had said that he ‘will not rest until India is merged with Pakistan’. That was some years ago. Being a bit loony he may still be thinking on those lines. After all insanity is indefensible. Not that Pakistan was ever a state that gave confidence, even to itself, that it would emerge as a model Islamic Republic, let alone be a secular democratic republic. But the events of past two years have sent unmistakable signals of its infirmity and continued deterioration-socially, politically and economically. Harold Gould, a visiting scholar at the centre for South Asian Studies of University of Virginia has already concluded “Pakistan is disintegrating”. Writing on “End of U.S. Afghan Policy?”, some time in Jan. 2011, he states rather dramatically, “In the face of a Pakistani collapse, as it sinks steadily into the pit of political oblivion, Pakistan will inevitably drag U.S. Afghan policy down the drain”. Acc...

GANG LEADER FOR A DAY The Hustler and the Hustled Four years deep into my research, it came to my attention that I might get into a lot of trouble if I kept doing what I’d been doing. During a casual conversation with a couple of my professors, in which I apprised them of how J.T.’s gang went about planning a drive-by shooting – they often sent a young woman to surreptitiously cozy up to the rival gang and learn enough information to prepare a surprise attack-my professors duly apprised me that I needed to consult a lawyer. Apparently the research I was doing lay a bit of bounds of the typical academic research. Bill Wilson told me to stop visiting the projects until I got some legal advice. I tried to convince Wilson to let me at least hang out around the Boys & Girls Club, but he shot me a look indicating that his position was not negotiable. I did see a lawyer, and I learned a few important things. First, if I became aware of a plan to physically harm somebody, I was obliged to ...

Advaita in Science “Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science”. Edwin Powell Hubble, The Nature of Science, 1954. Science had changed fully as far back as 1925 with Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. However, we never try and teach the real science in schools and colleges even to this day. There are reasons why we do that but, that is outside the purview of this write up. Heisenberg’s colleague, Hans Peter Durr, Emeritus Director of the Max Planck Institute in Munich, a very dear friend of mine, has gone a step further to show that matter and energy are but the two faces of the same coin. (E=M) We were lecturing together in San Diego recently where he was talking on matter and I on new science of man. I have drawn heavily for this piece from his talk there. I am indebted to him for these thoughts, although he feels (and I agree) that we have no right to own our thoughts as all thoughts are but energy. They could be rece...

Forensic Medicine Medical Council of India (MCI) has developed a document, vision 2015, which proposes a radical change in the medical education in the country. The main components are the proposed UG medical education and proposed PG medical education. There are several flaws in this document.I would suggest you to read the following article: http://forensicmedicine123.blogspot.com/2011/01/simlas-feedbackmemorandum-to-mci_14.html My main objective of writing this letter is to express my concern about the future of forensic medicine in India. There is a need for an explanation by MCI as to how will it produce forensic-medicine postgraduates in the country, when their vision is not going to attract anybody to take up this subject as a specialization following MBBS. In fact, the existing postgraduate students are seriously considering to move out, in the middle of their PG course, to search for other avenues. Forensic Medicine has been predicted to have the highest shortfall of teachers ...

Low-cost ‘artificial petrol’ soon! London: British scientists have developed a low-cost and environment friendly “artificial petrol” which may cost around Rs 14 a litre and could be available a pumps in as early as three years. The scientists who are refining the recipe for the new hydrogen-based fuel said, it will run in existing cars and engines at the fraction of the cost of conventional petrol. The “artificial petrol” is expected to cost around $1.50 a gallon or 19 pence (about Rs 14) a litre. With hydrogen at its heart rather than carbon, it will not produce any harmful emissions when burnt, making it better for the environment, as well as easier on the wallet, the Daily Mail reported. Professor Stephen Bennington, who led the team involved in the project, said: “In some sense, hydrogen is the perfect fuel. It has three times more energy than petrol per unit of weight, and when it burns, it produces nothing materials offer real potential for running cars, planes and other vehicles...

10 Easy steps for a longer life Many of us strive for great health improvements such as joining the gym and giving up alcohol. But some of the most dramatic changes we can make are incredibly simple. Dailymail, UK, suggests ten easy steps that really will make a difference to your life: 1. Floss at least twice daily to prevent tooth decay, and to reduce the risk of life-threatening diseases such as mouth cancer and heart disease. Choose proper dental floss; never use objects like pin, scissors and earrings to remove food from between your teeth. 2. Get your eyes tested thoroughly at least every two years. It can detect underlying conditions that leave you predisposed to sight loss. 3. Eat ‘good’ bacteria or probiotics: They are essential for our digestive health and help the immune system to work. One of the best sources of probiotics is natural yoghurt. 4. Take a cholesterol test: Everyone over 40 should know his cholesterol level and then aim to reduce it. Ask your GP for...

8-year-old tribal girl branded with iron rods in hostel Bhopal: An eight-year-old tribal girl was allegedly branded with iron rods several times by a hostel superintendent in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district, officials said. Shushila, a Class 3 student, was studying at Adivasi Kanya Ashram in Shahdol and living in the school hostel. The latest incident reportedly took place on Jan. 4 when hostel superintendent Anita Sant took Shushila from her hostel room to her office and subjected her to torture. “At 8 pm she came and took me to her office room and hit me with iron rods,” a frightened Shushila said. The incident came to light when the victim’s mother saw the burn marks on Sushila’s body on Jan.7 on her returning home. “While bathing her, I saw several burn marks on her body,” said Shushila’s mother Sita Singh Gaud. The hostel superintendent was suspended after a complaint was lodged by Shushila’s parents with the collector’s office. Woman tortured for failing to conceive Mumbai: The...

Ben Ali clan flee Tunisia with tonnes of gold Paris: Relatives of the ousted Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali are thought to have fled the country with 1.5 tonne in gold, Le Monde reported citing French intelligence sources. At latest prices 1.5 tonnes in gold would fetch USD 65 million on the open market. According to Le Monde, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office has been briefed by French intelligence that Leila Trabelsi, Ben Ali’s second wife, withdrew gold ingots from the Tunisian central bank. The governor initially resisted her request, but backed down under pressure from Ben Ali himself, the report said. Ben Ali and Leila have now fled Tunisia, under pressure from an unprecedented wave of street protests and amid anger that their family is accused of looting the country’s resources.

High-end software aided raids on celebrities Mumbai: The Income Tax sleuths who carried out searches at the premises of Bollywood actors Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif, were aided by ‘hero’, a small yellow suitcase which copied voluminous data from the actor’s computers. The recently procured mobile portable forensic lab of the department, fondly called hero, looks like a yellow suitcase and helps I-T officials copy and replicate huge data quickly. The portable lab has now been sent to the I-T forensic laboratory here, which is downloading the documents, copied from the actors and will then print them. “The hero has really lived to its expectations. The department is increasingly using it in high-value searches,” I-T sources said. Documents and data related to endorsements and investments were copied on to the portable forensic lab during the searches. The I-T team that carried out the searches was also equipped with pre-wiped disks for imaging and cloning hard drives, portable labs ...

No swoop on oil mafia without minister’s nod Mumbai: In a strange decision, the state Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection has instructed the vigilance squad that it should not raid oil adulteration hubs without prior permission from the minister. The state government had set up the vigilance squad in 2005 but it had little to show over the years, except for sporadic raids. The squad comprises a divisional commissioner, a district collector and oil company officials. However, the department went into an overdrive after the attack on additional d istrict collector Yashwant Sonavane. In the last few days, there has been a flurry of raids and lakhs of adulterated oil has been confiscated. Instead of reviewing the performance of the squad or galvanising it into further action to shatter the mafia network, the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection has issued strange orders asking the squad to be a handmaiden of the minister. Now, the vigilance pers...