ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends The summer is already here. Mercury slowly inching up, with some signs of passing showers showing up here and there only to push the mercury further up rather than down. Month of March ended with a high note for the Indian cricket defeating its traditional rival Pakistan fairly in the world cup Semi Final at Mohali. Of course it had all the drama as was usually seen with India-Pakistan cricket match. The VIP from Pakistan, who, although didn’t appear very unhappy with the outcome of the duel, made it a point to tell his counter-part that cricket diplomacy will have its positive developments. Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani was the invited guest of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Mohali, and had made some appropriate noises and expressed happiness at the invite. Although a concession to India was made to allow Indian investigators to visit Pakistan, tentatively, one singular development has been the agreeing by the Pakistani authorities, to release Gopal Das, who has been lang...

WIKILEAKS & INDIA J.SHRIYAN "It means, he has a habit of reactively covering up allegations of corruption”. This was The Hindu front page head line on 12th April 2011. It was a statement attributed to Julian Assange, the Editor-in- chief of Wikileaks. As I was reading the headline, I had absolutely no doubt whom was he referring to. On 8th April, Mr.N. Ram, the Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, had called on him with prior appointment for a tête-à-tête on the purported leaks of the cables from the U.S. embassy from India in particular, and its offices worldwide in general. It is to the credit of The Hindu, for having published these India cables in its daily issues consecutively for some three weeks. These publications have been highly educative, on the way how things happen away from the public glare and audibility. Some may be the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Some may be half truth and some may be figments of imagination, but information and educative all the...

GANG LEADER FOR A DAY The Hustler and the Hustled While the oficial statistics said that 96 percent of Robert Taylor’s adult population was unemployed, many tenants did have part-time legitimate jobs-as restaurant workers, cabdrivers, cleaning ladies in downtown corporate offices, and nannies to middleclass families. But nearly all of them tried to hide any legitimate income from the CHA, lest they lose their lease or other welfare benefits. There were also working men living in Robert Taylor, perhaps a few dozen in each building. But they stayed largely out of sight, again because of the CHA limits on how much money a tenant family could earn. Sometimes a man would leave home for a few weeks just to keep the CHA inspectors off guard. So when I or someone else they didn’t recognize came into an apartment, the men might head for the back room. They didn’t attend many tenant meetings, and for the most part they let the women handle the battle for better living conditions. The absence of ...

Is Tahrir square spirit catching up with Indian civil society? P M Kamath Two months back, in February, when I addressed several groups of people interested in international political issues like the developments then in Egypt, one question that was raised by many was: Will the Tahrir square spirit catch up with the Indian civil society? Then I was little hesitant to say a firm ‘yes’ as I reasoned that because of Indian society being highly pluralistic—divided on caste, sub-castes, regional, religious, language considerations, it is unlikely that we can present such an united front against the government in India! I added further: That it does not mean Indians are not fed up with corruption and highhandedness at every level. You go to get a death certificate, you have to pay a bribe, you go to get your medical practitioner’s registration certificate you cannot get it without a bribe. You try to register a property you bought; you have to pay speed money. But if an encroacher pays a h...

Banana peel excellent water purifier Washington: The humble banana has uses beyond the realm of beauty remedies. Its peels can be used as an excellent water purifier, decontaminating drinking water of toxic metals. Researchers say minced banana peel performs better than an array of other Engineering Chemistry Research reports. Gustavo Castro and colleagues from instituto de Biociencias de Botucatu in Brazil noted that mining process, runoff from farms, and industrial wastes can put heavy metals, like lead and copper, into waterways. Heavy metals can have adverse health and environmental effects. Cherimoya could be the next banana? Washington: The cherimoya, or the custard apple, could be the next banana, as scientists have identified a gene defect in some plants which makes the fruits seedless. According to the American and Spanish scientists, who detailed their work in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the gene discovery may pave the way for producing seedle...

Govt relaxes norms for hiring of relatives by directors New Delhi: The government raised the monthly remuneration limit for hiring of relatives by directors without seeking prior approval of the centre, and increased the pay threshold for incorporating details of senior staff in the annual report of companies. According to a Corporate Affairs Ministry notification, a company will not have to seek central government approval for hiring relatives of directors if monthly payment is below Rs 2,50,000. The earlier limit was Rs 50,000. Similarly, the government has increased the threshold annual remuneration for senior staff members from Rs 24 lakh to 60 lakh for incorporation in the annual report. Under the revised norms, companies will have to mention the details of only those senior employees who get Rs 60 lakh and above a year, or over Rs 5 lakh per month, in the Board’s report. Further, with regard to selection of such relatives of directors or managers of a listed company, the Ministr...

Chinese vote in Assam polls Tinsukia: Like in the previous elections the small Chinese community of about 250 in Tinsukia district of Upper Assam exercised their franchise hoping to see better times for themselves. Wang Shing Tung, who owns a popular chowmein and momo joint in Tinsukia town, said he and members of his community ensure that they do not miss even one election and always vote even though their dismal economic condition remains unchanged. Tung said his community votes regularly during each election in the hope that the new government will have plans and schemes for their welfare and uplift. SC raps Mah Satyam’s arrogant stance v/s govt New Delhi: The Supreme Court censured Mahindra Satyam, formerly Satyam computer, for writing to the Government adopting the tone of “arrogance” in the case relating to Rs 617 crore income tax demand, which is being re-assessed by the tax authorities. Asking the company to withdraw the letter, the apex court expressed displeasure at its tone ...

Sex-education via bathrooms-The Chinese way Beijing: Allowing boys and girls to peep into each other’s bathroom to understand gender roles seems to be the new Chinese way to teach sex education in school. Third graders at the Chaoyang district school in Beijing received their first lesson in sex education in the form of a toilet tour. Giving children an opportunity to peek into the other gender’s bathroom is a way to help boys and girls understand gender roles under the new initiative, educators said. “Children tend to be curious about the bathrooms of the opposite sex,” sex lecturer Hou Wenjun at Anhuili Central Primary School told Beijing News. Hou believes that education starts with curiosity.“A tour to the bathroom lets children see what behavioural differences there are between the two sexes.” Now an official part of the school’s curriculum for grades one to 6 (ages 6 to 11), sex education begins with the fundamental subject of fertillisation, a report in the state run Global Time...