ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends 1st May, of any year in the past, probably even in the future would never be as eventful as was this 2011. When probably the good part of the world was sleeping, President of the United States of America, Mr Barack Obama announced to the world at large that the ‘most wanted enemy’ of the United States of America has been killed. What a May Day it was! World received the news with utter disbelief of the epochal event, snuffing life out of one of the most hated men, the world over, for the kind of suffering he brought about on innocents. Yes, the dreaded Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi fugitive was indeed killed by the U.S. Navy Seals, inside Pakistan’s Abbottabad town in close proximity to its capital Islamabad, in a 40 minute precise operation. Relatives of those who died on 9/11 in the U.S. smiled at the ‘justice finally delivered’. Of course the mere killing of Osama would not be the end of terrorism. But by hindsight, it may even increase as revenge attacks. For the...

CIVIL SOCIETY Who are They & Where are They? A Head of the Department (HOD) of Community Medicine at the prestigious Post Graduate Instt. of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, failed a student by name Jaspreet. He was in his fifth and final year. He was reportedly an excellent student throughout and had never failed, apparently. But his HOD was the problem. Jaspreet Singh was Dalit by birth, and HOD, probably an upper cast, had told him that ‘he might have entered medical college using his scheduled caste certificate but would not go out with a degree’. Unable to bear the insult young, Doctor-to-be, Jaspreet Singh, killed himself in the college library. The suicide note recovered from his coat pocket accused his HOD with deliberately failing him and threatening to fail him again and again. Sources close to the family of Jaspreet Singh informed that all that he wanted was to become a doctor. The threat by this inhuman HOD cut short that dream. It was in Jan 2008. A year l...

GANG LEADER FOR A DAY The Hustler and the Hustled One day, after I‘d spent hours interviewing Porter and some of the other male hustlers, I was summoned to Ms. Bailey’s office. I’d been so busy that I hadn’t seen her in a while. Its was probably a good idea, I thought, to have a catch-up session. I said hello to Catrina on my way in, and she gave me a smile. She was assuming more and more duties and seemed to be acting nearly as a junior officer to Ms. Bailey. Inside, J.T. and Ms. Bailey were laughing together and greeted me heartily. “Mr. Professor!” J.T. said. “My mother says you haven’t been by in a month! What, you don’t like us anymore? You found somebody who cooks better?” “You better not piss off Ms. Mae,” Ms. Bailey said. “You’II never be able to come back in the building again”. “Sorry, all this interviewing has kept me really busy,” I said exasperated. “I just haven’t had time to do much of anything else”. “Well, then, sit down, baby,” Ms. Bailey said. “We won’t keep you long...

TENDULKAR'S LOVE & PASSION Indian batting wizard, Sachin Tendulkar had made it clear, the other day, that he has ‘no immediate plans of quitting the game’ saying he was ‘enjoying the game even more now and still has the “desire and the passion” to play for India. Retirement is not in my thought yet, and as and when I decide I would let every body know, to call it a day’ he is reported to have stated interacting with the media, post India’s World Cup win. “The passion for cricket has not died, the love of the game is very much alive and I have played for such a long time because of that, I don’t see any reason why that would change now. It is time to enjoy the game even more. I am looking forward to it and continue” he had added while indicating that he may not be part of the next world cup team. In a cricket career spanning 21 years, Tendulkar has played 177 tests and 453 ODI, scoring a record 14692 in test, which is the highest for any cricketer as well as 1811 runs in ODIs. I...

6 Tihar inmates’ bid for IAS ther side of the law but these Tihar inmates are burning midnight oil to make it to the bureaucracy and assist lawmakers. These six inmates, lodged inside Jail No.3 of the prison for crimes like murder, kidnapping and cheating, are toiling hard to qualify for the Indian Administrative Services exams even though they are not certain about their release. With no coaching centres at their disposal, all are following the self-study method and in need they turn to one of their co-in-mates, who once trained IAS aspirants. “Manipur has the potential to add to the Indian economy if explored well. Till date it remains neglected. The youth there should be motivated. If I qualify the IAS exams, development of my state will be my prime agenda,” Gaijoao Mei George said. Charged with murder, George made headlines after getting several job offer letters from companies that carried out the first ever campus placement drive in Tihar Prisons. “I study whenever I get time. T...

Man killed while stealing fuel Mexico City: A man was burnt to death in northwestern Mexico when a tanker truck exploded while he was filling it with fuel siphoned from a pipeline, police said. Moises Rodriguez got burnt in an explosion and subsequent fire in Sinaloa state when he was pilfering fuel from a Petroleos Mexicanos pipeline, they said. The tanker truck exploded, killing him and sending flames shooting into the air, police said, adding that the pipeline blast knocked out the power grid in a nearby town. The fire was brought under control and the pipeline was temporarily shut down to avoid further damage. About 50 illegal taps have been found on pipelines in the state this year. Theft of fuel from pipelines-known in Mexico as “milking” - is common. State mulls lessening jail term of petty convicts In a relief to prisoners convicted for petty crimes, Home Minister R R Patil announced reduction in their punishment as a goodwill gesture in wake of the state’s golden jubilee year ...

Dog meat - 430 animals saved Beijing: More than 400 dogs, including golden retrievers, on their way to be served as meat in restaurants in northeast China were saved after animal rights activists staged a 15-hour blockade. The 430 golden retrievers and huskies, many of them stolen from families, were rescued by more than 200 activists who staged a 15-hour blockade at a toll station in Tongzhou. The people swamped the checkpoint demanding the release of the animals that were being transported from Henan province to restaurants in Changchun in Jilin province, China Daily reported. The dogs had been trapped in a truck for two days with no food or water, said Wang Qi of the China Small Animal Protection Association. After 80 years Einstein gets visa London: Albert Einstein’s immigration papers have turned up 80 years after he dramatically fled to Britain from Nazi Germany, a media report said, reports PTI. UK border chiefs at Heathrow airport were left stunned by the discovery of the landi...

WHEN WILL PAKISTAN COME TO ITS SENSES? Dr. M. V. Kamath The cat is finally out of the bag. For Pakistan which has for over six long decades been a ‘puppet’ (that’s how Imran Khan has described his country) of the United States, America now is only a “fair-weather friend” while China is “an all-weather friend”. Imran Khan in a TV interview also described Pakistan as America’s ‘boot-polisher’. He should know. The truth is now slowly coming out. The United States has charged five Pakistan Army officers as being involved in the 9/11 attacks. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has charged the U.S with enabling the rise of Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda. So mutual recrimination has begun; where and how it will end remains to be seen. But after being a supplicant to the U.S for sixty odd years, after willingly serving America’s strategic interests without protest to get what it wanted in terms of tanks, planes, arms and equipment, not to mention dollars in billions, Pa...