ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends We are well and truly into 2015. February is the month of customary union budgets. The Parliament shall see hopefully Railway Budget on 26th and the general budget on the 28th of Feb. It will be interesting to see first full budget of the new 'Ab ki baar Modi Sarcaar' shall be. Like the early part of 2014, strangely this time round too, the politics of Delhi is centered round the election to the union territory assembly. AAP, which held the rein for less than 50 days, is again playing a decisive role. This is despite the ‘Ab ki baar Modi Sarcar’. The heat, despite the cold wave in the north is on, in Delhi’s corridors of power. So-called electoral prophesies are still giving BJP, the main political party in the country to-day, a better margin for obvious reasons of its national dominance.  The entry of Kiran Bedi, the former IPS, has certainly helped its image, especially among the middle class, although it appeared opportunistic and desperate. Desperation on th...

NEW DELHI : The ongoing T.V debate by some opposition political parties washing their dirty linen in full public glare on the Coast Guard action on suspected terror boat from Pakistan has its own media angle too. When it comes to national security why our political parties cannot talk in one voice, is beyond the comprehension of an average citizen. Parties even wanted the answer on behalf of citizens! That was little too funny. These disagreements in public space not only demoralize forces, which have acted in national interest, but provide ammunition to likes of Pakistan. That is patently bad. Some political parties even referred to media reports questioning the veracity of the security forces’ actions, as if it was fake. But then even these media houses too are in politics. Media too is agenda driven. The Hindu, had two reports on 6th Jan. on the 1st page top, highlighting “Telltale signs of terror” quoting Defence Minister, had a ‘prick’ too, saying “IB sore at being ignored”, in ...

Western  arrogance&  despicable intolerance that followed Masked gunmen, two of them, heavily armed stormed into the office of ‘CHARLIE HEBDO’, a little heard satirical weekly magazine of cartoons published from Paris, and shot dead 12, reported the media across the world. The dead included ten staff of the magazine and two policemen. There were 10 injured, some critically, informed newspapers.  As expected there was global outrage at the dastardly killing. Francois Hollande, the French President reacted saying it “An act of exceptional barbarism committed against expression of liberty”. The gunmen, reportedly brothers, Cherif (called Sherif) and Said Kouachi were gunned down by the French Police, after a dramatic manhunt spread over 36 hours.  Indeed, terrorists of any brand cannot stand against any organized state for far too long. But this is no reason, why there should be any leniency of any terror act. There has to be zero tolerance of terror in all ...

Sickness Care or Corporate Monstrosity? Prof. B. M. Hegde, hegdebm@gmail.com   Rather fail with honour than succeed by fraud.”                                                                    -Sophocles  In a book that is very well reviewed by the New York Times, an Indian born American doctor, Sandeep Jauhar “puts himself on the couch” pricked by his conscience. In his book “Doctored” Sandeep examines the broken system of medical practice in the USA. Thanks to the Indian Karma theory this young cardiologist who was the Director of a teaching hospital in New Jersey had eventually to leave his job as he refused to interfere where the patient did not need it. After being thrown out, he joined another practising cardiologist where again he found that ethical practice was given a go by. His boss t...

Buddha & Buddhism Dr. M. V. Kamath In the absence of an acknowledged gentleman of letters, to fill the Last Page  we are falling back on MVK’s writings.  His book – Letters to Gauri – includes some of his brush with historical wisdom. We are reproducing them with some sequential order for the benefit of our readers. – Editor  My Dear Gauri Of all the saints and savants, of all the founders of religions, the Buddha stands out, Gauri, for his great compassion. He was no ascetic, though he followed the usual path of asceticism to find the Truth. Like Mahavira, he too, was born the son of a minor prince. His father was the head of a hill tribe of the Shakyas. There are charming stories told about how in his childhood he was baffled by old age, sickness and death and decided to find out what was behind them. These legends are mostly unreliable, though, as it happens in such cases, there could possibly be a grain of historical truth in them. It is hard to i...