ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends Monsoon seems to be making its irregular foray into the calendared seasons. On Indian landscape, it was always June/Sept as the monsoon months, October/Jan being winter and Feb/May as Summer. In recent times, with the global climate steadily changing for worse, rain has been playing hide and seek during most of April. This rain has unfortunately affected the standing crop at most parts of India leading to equally unfortunate suicide among farmers. Farmers have been at the receiving end of seasonal ups and downs besides the powers that be in reaching out to them in troubled times. Are we doing enough to the farming community, who provide our food security, in times of need? Its a question lost in the corridors of power in the wrangling between Federal and State responsibilities. This is unfortunate but true that enough is not being done either by way of price support or when cash crisis hits farmers the visible lack of seriousness in addressing the cries of helplessnes...

GUJARATH: We always knew that Coca Cola or Pepsi like beverages had harmful effect on consumers of these drinks. But somehow, the power that be, and of course, the business lobby managed it to remain outside the prism of health authorities all over India. The recent news report about the declaration by mega cine star Amitabh Bachchan that he shall no more appear in the advertisement for cola’s while speaking at IIM Ahmadabad, is a positive development. While it is a welcome decision, the government both in the centre and states, must necessarily insist on its laboratory testing to know what are the harmful contents it has. And, as alleged, if harmful ingredients are found, the government must necessarily insist on its removal. In food and beverages, the transparency, should be the by-word. Should these cola companies, refuse to fall in line because of so-called trade-secrets, these products should be banned. Instead, govts must encourage local drinks. Surely, Indians were drinkin...

AAP INFARCTION Is Kejriwal the villain ! Clean politics, which is being referred to as alternative politics has always been the yearning of a significant section of Indians, who had grown cynical with the established political parties. Aam Aadmi Party founded by Shanti Bhushan, a former Law Minister, his son, Prashant Bhushan, a senior Supreme Court Lawyer, Yogendra Yadav, a Professor and well known socio-political scientist, Arvind Kejriwal, the blue eyed boy of Anna Hazare movement and few other likeminded thinkers and doers, came as a breath of fresh air. At a time, when most people had lost faith in mainstream political parties, this AAP, formed by educated, committed and principled gentlemen did hold out a promise of  value based principled politics. From November 2012, when the party was formed, the politics of this country did not remain same. Election that came in 2013, has shown the potential of AAP. But committed a blunder by resigning after 49 days in office....

History my dear Arvind, Beckons You knocked on the citadels of power. And rattled not just the Congress, not just the principal opposition but also stirred the conscience of a billion Indians. And today history is knocking at your doorstep. The Time has come to showcase your resilient-magnanimity. Not  for your brethren and comrades-in-arm-Prof Yadav or his companion Prashant Bhushan, the gentlemen with his quixotic smile and cerebral legal prowess. Your magnanimity is for AAP. It can infuse life-giving oxygen to this asphyxiated infant. You wept when political churnings curdled & threatened to split this enfant-terrible. You said “I can’t fight Yogendra bhai. He is like my elder brother." We deeply cling onto hope here. That you will see reason to embrace back the founding members with dignity. And I am sure Professor Saab will match your magnanimity eye to eye. And so will Prashantji’s pragmatism rise to the occasion. It is surely not for your sake or Professors or...

It still resonants in our ears, how approbative he was of our commitment and quality at ISSUES & CONCERNS, be it the foray into print journalism or be it our reach out initiative. It was as if our tummy was full and no food was needed for weeks. Yes, like all else, every beginning has an end. So it was on 7th April, the compassionate voice of Justice Kalamanje Jagannatha Shetty was stilled forever, to remain only in memory. Born on 15th Dec 1927, in  Ambalpady, in the coastal Karnataka district of earst-while Dakshina Kannada, retired Supreme Court Justice K.Jagannatha Shetty left this mortal world for his heavenly  abode at the end of his journey on this sorry earth. While he was alive, he was a professional to the core, in his elected field of law and justice. In his tall frame, he looked very stern, but that frame had a kind, reasonable and a fair heart, which reflected in all his public posturings including his judicial pronouncements. He was a judicial luminary wi...

Statins and cholesterol- the fig leaf has come off. Prof. B. M. Hegde, hegdebm@gmail.com “It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.”  Noël Coward, Blithe Spirit Statins are the most sold, most dangerous, most talked about reductionist chemicals used in the western medical therapeutics to get a “better report” of fat profile of the hapless unsuspecting humans whom we call as patients because they have lots of patience to bear with all the insults that we inflict on them. Teachers taught that statins are the best bet to get the patients fat profile back to “normal”! Some of those teachers at the Harvard University were later shown to be on the pay roll of the statin manufacturers! Students had to regurgitate that in the exams to get their coveted degrees. The drug barons took bets about their sales and spent a billion dollars in one year for advertisement and doctor hospitality to net just about $ 13 billion in one year!...

The story of Socrates Dr. M. V. Kamath My dear Gauri The Buddha lived about 500 years before Christ. Socrates came a little later (469-399 B.C.) and lived in the great age of Greece after two Persian invasions had been repulsed. At that time Athens, presently the capital of Greece, was a small country town but still the centre of the Greek world. The Athenians had achieved a high degree of civilization with popular representation in local government. They were great talkers and when they wanted to exchange ideas they would gather at the market place and there, in the halls, or under the colonnades, or in the open air parliament (of which every grown man of Greek origin was automatically a member), they talked and argued, tried law suits and generally enlightened themselves. Now Socrates was a stone mason and carver who believed that he had a divine right to test all statements. So he found delight in questioning public and private citizens, arguing with them at length t...