ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends, Beginning with all fools day, April ushers the new financial year. Second full budget was presented by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The national finance document was dissected thread bear by all stake holders both in print media and electronic channels. It has been generally hailed as pro-rural. Beginning with a tall promise of doubling farm income by 2022; increasing irrigation outlays of Rs 17,000 crores, low cost crop insurance scheme as Rs. 5,500 crores, interest subsidy to farm loan of about Rs. 15,000 crores with MGNREGA getting the allocation of Rs 38,500 crores, besides the plan of electrification of all villages by 2018, its been fairly rural heavy. Therefore it is expected to be better for the rural folks, both in terms of improved overall income and better living conditions. The union budget also had proposals like taxing the rich based on principle of ‘what traffic can bear.’ Those getting more than Rs. 10 lakhs as dividend shall have to pay the new divi...

UTTARAKHAND: The northern state was in the news for a very sad reason. A horse, named, Shaktiman, was inhumanely attacked by BJP party workers led by MLA Ganesh Joshi in Dehradun. The attack was so bad that Police horse slumped on the ground, with a broken leg, which led to amputation and subsequent replacement by the local Veterinary College hospital surgeons. Something is getting rotten with a section of Sangh Pariwar, who are not being reined in by their senior leaders for their inhuman and dastardly violent attack to humans and animals. While they profess, and even violently react to cow issue, why the same love and affection is not there for other domestic animals? What was the fault of horse? Only that it can’t hit back. This kind of violence only speak about the mindset of people who are involved in these attacks on dumb animals, who can neither protest nor can hit back. There have been in the past, many leaders, MLAs and MPs who mouthed stupidities and have been party to viol...

"In the Name of Freedom", (I&C March-2016)  You have spoken straight from the shoulder. Called a spade a spade! Adds to the debate. This churning is good.               - Ravishankar Rao, Professor of English and Director,   International Student Centre,  Mangalore University,  via-email "In the Name of Freedom", (I&C March-2016) Once again 'Issues & Concerns' has traversed the path less trodden. In a countr y where the political class  excels in iconoclastic impostures and part of the media panders to the vociferous cliques masquerading as intellectuals,and where even academia seems to  have come under the spell  of uncritically accepting the notion of 'academic immunity',  the bold and contrarian stand taken "In the name of Freedom" comes as a breath of fresh air. And it is not that this stand is prompted by any predilection to be a contrarian, per se. It is appropriately supported by facts and ...

IJTIHAD- IRSHAD MANJI & ISIS Contemporary world is infested with issues of myriad kinds, but unfortunately all emanating from this creature called MAN, supposedly the creator’s ‘best creation’. Long ago we were told as youth, that ‘man has learnt to swim like a fish in the water, and to fly like a bird in the sky, but he couldn’t learn to live like a human being on this solid earth’. Sadly not only he has failed to live like a human, but he created a whole lot of problems for all living beings, whether for his fellow humans, or for animals or for vegetations around the human society. In his terms of trade with nature, first he blamed the nature, then tamed the nature and finally he maimed the nature. Thus the record of humans was certainly not something to be celebrated. Of course, this is not to say that entire humanity is negative. But it is an unassailable truth, that good has not proved itself better. It is only because good man stopped being better that the bad has become...

CUTLERY THAT YOU CAN EAT ‘Change is inevitable. But before this change can overtake and overwhelm you, become the instrument of change’ is a wise quote from the days of yore; Mr. Narayana Peesapathy, a B.Sc (Hons) in Chemistry from Osmania University and an MBA from IIFM, Bhopal has been a researcher, associated with many organizations. While working with AC Neilson & Operation Research Group Baroda, he undertook some 50 consulting assignments related to mainly Agri based industries, forestry and forest based cottage industries. He also worked with International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad as a Senior Scientific Officer. During his long years with different aspects of research in agriculture related areas, he became aware of the multiple utility of agro products. However, it was a chance usage of plastic spoon that set him thinking to create an alternative to plastic spoon. He found it unclean, despite being disposable, it was being r...

Salt restriction myth busted-curse of reductionism in science. Prof. B. M. Hegde, hegdebm@gmail.com “The fact that salt is a powerful emetic as well as a potent laxative should convince the most skeptical that it is not meant to form an important part of the human diet.” -John H. Tobe, Salt and Your Health There is an old adage in this part of the world. “There is no one more loving than the mother and there is no food tastier than salt.” Some of these sayings come from hundreds of years of observational holistic research which looks much more reliable today than the present day cross sectional short term studies of reductionism and surrogate end points. The one study basis of the salt restriction in the world is a longitudinal study of Dahl which showed that higher salt intake seems to keep the blood pressure up. Further scrutiny of this study did show major fallacies in his calculations, but for some unexplained reasons the official stand has been for salt restrict...

CO2 + Water= Hydrocarbon New York: A team of chemists and engineers has discovered that concentrated light, heat and high pressures can drive the one-step conversion of carbon dioxide and water directly into useable liquid hydrocarbon fuels, reports IANS. This simple and inexpensive new sustainable fuels technology can help limit global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make fuel. The process also reverts oxygen back into the system as a byproduct of the reaction, with a clear positive environmental impact, said the researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington. “Our process has an important advantage as many of the hydrocarbon products from our reaction are exactly what we use in cars, trucks and planes, so there would be no need to change the current fuel distribution system,” said Frederick MacDonnell, co-principal investigator of the project. The researchers demonstrate that the one-step conversion of carbon dioxide and water into liquid h...

Diabetes Can be Cured Washington: A new research has come up with material that can be used to encapsulate human islet calls and can cure diabetes for up to six months, reports ANI. Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have designed a material that can be used to encapsulate human islet cells before transplanting them. In tests on mice, they showed that these encapsulated human cells could cure diabetes for up to six months, without provoking an immune response.  Daniel Anderson, Associate Professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and his colleagues have come up with a way to make encapsulated islet cell transplantation a viable therapeutic approach. They began by exploring chemical derivatives of alginate, a material originally isolated from brown algae. Alginate gels can be made to encapsulate cells without harming them, and also allow molecules such as sugar and proteins to move...

INDIAN IN COWBOY COUNTRY THE HUNT Satish was in a state of quiet agitation when Darrel pitched in and said, “Just listen to what Dan just said. You have to network to get to the right people. The key term he used is ‘right people.’ Are you talking to the right people?” “Yes,” Satish said. Darrell continued, “May be not. Let’s test that premise. Who are your targets?” “Engineering directors and some VPs of engineering,” he said. “Why engineering directors?” Darrel asked. “Because I am looking for an engineering manager’s position, and it typically reports to an engineering director or VP of engineering.” Darrell was pensive for a moment or two. Then he said, “Satish, there’s a bigger problem here. I think we may have made a mistake. You may be aiming too low. “I think we all make errors in targeting positions for ourselves, especially early in our careers. We believe that we are not ready for senior positions when we are, and we hold ourselves back. Tell me, Sam, co...

Sakaala without Kaala, 'In time' never in Time Bengalooru: About ten months ago, Sumalatha D had sustained serious injuries in an accident. The money spent on her treatment in a private hospital was to be reimbursed by the Employees State Insurance (ESI). But the reimbursement remains a distant dream till date. She took refuge under the Guarantee of Service to Citizens (GSC) scheme (Sakaala) to know the status of her application. That has not worked, even after eight months. Sumalatha’s case shows how the Sakkala scheme has became another white elephant, courtesy of the corrupt officialdom. In April 2015, she met with a road accident and was rushed to Hosmat Hospital. She underwent many tests and surgery in the hospital and she had to foot a bill of Rs 95,000. Sumalatha says, “Once I was discharged from the hospital, I submitted the bills to the ESI for reimbursement.” Every month she and her husband D Srinivas have been going to the ESI office to check the status, o...