ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends We are in the budget month. Mr Bansal, the Railway Minister has come up with his maiden railway budget. As usual, across the spectrum, there have been responses and reactions. Prime Minister said, ‘its path breaking’, and some others said “it has broken the path”. Treasury bench members and their party functionaries hailed the budget, which all opposition members blasted it in different degrees of ferocity. But then, this is how politics work. He did present a surplus budget, that by itself is a credit. Although freight prices have been increased by a little below 6%, inflationary pressure can be there. Aam aadmi has not been disturbed. Some increase in reservation charges in higher passenger classes are alright, but Tatkaal and cancellation charges raise has no justification. Of course, it would bring revenue, but looked a little exploitative of the helplessness of the traveller, instead a straight raise in higher classes would have been in order. It would have even gi...

HARYANA: Haryana is going to dogs with law and order machinery looking the other way to the increasing attacks on vulnerable women at different places. And comes the news of a minister, one Shiv Charan Sharma, calling Geetika Sharma a ‘Servant’ of his former jailed colleague Gopal Kanda, and this is not a ‘big case’. All media informed public are privy to the fact that Geetika Sharma, who worked for the MLDR airline owned by Handa, committed suicide some months ago due to the physical assault and torture by Handa. Handa is the prime accused in the case. Celebrating the jailed bird Kanda’s birthday in Sirsa, this Shiv Charan Sharma, the Haryana minister, had reportedly stated that “This isn’t  such a big case. Handa appointed Geetika as a servant by mistake”. If the report in the print media is true then, either this minister Sharma is semi literate, not knowing what is an abatement to suicide, commenting even when it is ‘sub judice’, and what the term servant means, or he i...

Changelessness - An Indian dimension Urdu is a very rich language, with richer vocabulary. There is a couple of couplets  in Urdu, which are fairly prevalent in India, although Urdu, per se , is not one of the dominant languages of this country. It is true those who know Hindi can largely understand Urdu, thus, it has near universal appeal across India except parts of South India. “Kaarvaan Nikhal Gayee Aur Gubhar Dekhte Rehgayaa”, and other “Oopar Sherwaani Aur Andhar Pareyshaani”. Both these couplets convey a certain social dimension with complete relevance, when it comes to be applied to a developing economy like our Mera Bharat Mahan is. Caravaan has passed, but the dust left behind kept looking at it, probably forlorn wondering at the emptiness of the ethereal stillness. It represents a situation, where lot of people have moved on to greater heights of acquisition, education, wealth and power, leaving behind a huge section of population caught in the time warp ...

Half of drugs prescribed in France useless or dangerous, say two specialists Prof. B. M. Hegde, hegdebm@gmail.com Half of all medicines being prescribed by doctors in France are either useless or potentially dangerous for patients, according to two eminent medical specialists. They blame the powerful pharmaceutical companies for keeping these drugs on sale at huge expense to the health system and the taxpayer. Professor Philippe Even, director of the prestigious Necker Institute, and Bernard Debré, a doctor and member of parliament, say removing what they describe as superfluous and hazardous drugs from the list of those paid for by the French health service would save up to €10bn (£8bn) a year. It would also prevent up to 20,000 deaths linked to the medication and reduce hospital admissions by up to 100,000, they claim. In their 900-page book The Guide to the 4,000 Useful, Useless or Dangerous Medicines, Even and Debré examined the effectiveness, risks and cost...

Stranded for 30 years, gets exit pass on death Dubai : A 56-year-old Indian, who had been stuck in Oman for 30 years while awaiting an exit pass from the Gulf nation, died hours before he got signed documents proving his Indian nationality. Madhusudhan, who first came to Muscat in 1977 from Kerala, had been living on the roof of a building in Muscat after his bag containing his passport and other documents were stolen. Earlier, he had tried in vain to prove his nationality to Indian embassy officials in Muscat and government officials in Kerala, media reports said. Finally a nativity certificate was issued to him but, unfortunately, it came just hours before his death, the reports said. According to a Times of Oman report, even though he had a few documents to prove his Indian nationality, it was insufficient to obtain an out-pass. Madhusudan had been working in a construction company for a few years and last visited his home in 1983. “After 30 years of struggle, Madhu pass...

Remains Police SI for 39 years, yet is worth ` 50 crore  Mohd  Yunus Siddiqui, presently posted as enforcement sub-inspector in Transport Department at Kaimur in western Bihar is worth Rs: 50 crore. Most of his assets have been reportedly acquired through illegal means in his 39-year-long career.    This startling fact came to light when the sleuths of Economic Offences Unit (EOU) swooped down on his residence and recovered Rs 61.98 lakh in cash. The raiding team also found that Yunus owns a cinema hall, besides a training college, a public school, 34 vehicles and a hotel in Mohania. He also owns four four-storied houses – two each in Patna and Muzaffarpur, apart from 25 acres of land in different parts of Bihar. Born in an extremely impoverished family, Yunus’s parents eked a hand-to-mouth existence till he joined the government as sub-inspector in 1974. Yunus’s father Md Siddiqui used to sell turmeric and green chillies, while his mother Latiphan was a ve...

Madarsa Chief Assaults Boy A head of a Madarsa in Karnatka  allegedly assaulted a teenage boy for "refusing" to learn Arabic at Belur in Chikamagalur district, police said. Dadapeer, head of Jamia Habibiya Madarsa, allegedly assaulted the 11-year old boy for "refusing" to learn Arabic. He received injuries on his legs and genitals and is being treated in a hospital, police said. Dadapeer met the boy's parents and admitted of assaulting theie son, police said. US immigration reform to benefit Indians Washington : Even as President Barack Obama is set to announce an immigration reform plan, a bipartisan group of US senators have unveiled their own scheme offering millions of undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.  The compromise plan proposed by a bipartisan group of eight senators would give 11 million undocumented immigrants, including an estimated 200,000 Indians, a provisional status to live and work in America. Currently the sixth la...

‘Rent-a-Boyfriend’ service  Beijing : An online Chinese sales firm has started a bizarre ‘Rent a Boyfriend’ service for single women wanting to stave off embarrassing queries about marriage and male companion from their families. The firm, Taobao.com, China’s largest online marketplace, is hoping to cash in on plight of millions of single women during the next month’s Chinese New Year, which is traditionally a family reunion period. The online service is offering single women a ‘Rent a Boyfriend service to accompany them during their visit friends and families, go shopping, having meals and even getting a kiss out of courtesy. All this for a charge, calculated on hourly basis. According to media reports China has about 180 million singles in the country. Almost all Chinese travel to their native places during the New Year to celebrate with their parents, near and dear. But many single working women regard as the most dreadful time as they have to face the same old questi...

Enough of minoritism  Dr. M. V. Kamath As time passes, one thing is becoming increasingly clear, after 65 years of independence it is time we stopped talking about “minorities” and “reservations”. Both the concepts, once considered epitome of the nation’s sense of social justice and fair play, have had their day. In today’s context, to talk about “minorities” is to divide the people of India. Muslims who constitute almost eighteen per cent of India’s population of 1.2 billion with a strength of over 280 million are hardly, any longer, a “minority”. To call them a minority is to misuse the word. By the end of the 21st century Indian Muslim population will reach 320 to 340 million, in numbers higher than the population of the United States! And certainly higher than the population of Pakistan. To treat them as a separate entity is to be party to the break up the social unity of India. Apart from that, presently Muslims are getting more and more aggressive in their behaviour,...