ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends, Can we say, we are euphoric? In a way yes, but in many ways it’s profoundly mixed. We have just completed this October our 16th year in print journalism, but it’s also our 200th edition, as we begin the journey towards the 17th milestone. So, there are reasons to feel satisfied. But it’s a struggle all the same. Looking back, it has been a trying journey but satisfying as well. It has seen its share of ups and downs, of rising cost and of not equally rising circulations. Of course, there are concerned individuals who want to see I&C growing. Hope their wishes turns out better in coming days. ISSUES&CONCERNS is a movement, more the participation, the better for all stake holders. Some of the souls and institutions need to be remembered as we look back in perspective of the distance covered. Late Dr. M.V. Kamath, a Padma Bhushan awardee, has been a pillar of strength for all the 14 years that his spirit was around. We remember his soul with deep reverence. Prof. B.M. H...

JAMMU & KASHMIR: In the latest issue of the S unday Magazine section of THE HINDU, there appeared a stunning piece of writing by Ashish Kaul, a media veteran. The title “The Stone Warriors” says it all. Quoting a 19 year old Shaheen Khan, a high school dropout from a village in West Kashmir, he writes “Every night we pray that there is no dawn. Lord, keep the Sun in your arms so that innocents are given another day of life. It is written in Kashmir’s destiny that peace be found only in darkness”. Indeed, it is a very poignant remark from a 19 year old youth, about the feeling of resignation to their fate in the ongoing restlessness in the valley. However, what debunks the theory propagated by Pakistan, Kashmiri separatists and of course by some Indian media men and women, is the statement of another youth, ‘villages in the valley march on the orders of terrorist leaders to throw stones and chant ‘azadi’; they risk their lives at the hands of security forces when they do and whe...

Focus (I&C- Oct. 2016) "RIO, DHYAN CHAND &TENDULKAR" The article is very good.         Ronald A Fernandes, President, Press Club, Mangalooru, Via Email In the article Rio, Dhyan Chand & Tendulkar in the latest issue of ‘ISSUES&CONCERNS’ the writer has rightly pointed out the politics of favouritism. It is everywhere in politics, sports, literature and other intellectual fields. It is due to this that hockey wizard Dhyan Chand, the unsung hero, died penniless while Tendulkar got all accolades with money and fame, besides the highest civilian award Bharath Ratna. What else he wants?     K. Sharada Bhat, Udupi. My comments on ISSUES & CONCERNS Quote- “I have been keenly reading the Magazine for few years. I find articles focused on the current burning issues affecting the nation. The presentations are frank, factual and forthright. In my opinion, the burning issues affecting the country, in order of priority, are population cont...

KASHMIR A QUESTION WITH NO ANSWER! JAYARAM SHRIYAN Mr. Veerappa Moily, a former Law Minister in the UPA II, wrote in Deccan Herald of 27th Nov 2002, an article “Beyond Democracy’s Moment of Glory - Keeping Promises in Kashmir”. In a moment of ‘introspective enlightenment’ he had this to say, “The Congress leadership right from 1947, has always surrendered its ego and shunned narrow political opportunism  in providing stable governments in J & K. This objective approach and display of sagacity are absolutely in tune with the legacy of the Congress Party right from the days of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi has to be commended for her enlightened and statesmanly approach, inspired by national spirit, in lending her support to heralding a vision of Kashmir”. Indians, in the know of things, recognise that Moily is a diehard Gandhi family loyalist (not to mistake with Mahatma Gandhi). That is how, he remembered to exclude Lal Bahadur Shastr...

Knowledge Advances by Refuting False Dogmas Prof. B. M. Hegde, hegdebm@gmail.com It was Karl Popper, a great thinker and professor of science philosophy at the London School of Economics in the 1950s, who wrote that knowledge advances NOT by repeating known facts but by refuting false dogmas in any field. In my field of medicine there are more dogmas than facts. So I deem it my duty to point out those dogmas which are false. I have been doing that for nearly five decades now almost from the time I started there. Many people are not aware of my quiet work over the decades even when I was in active practice. In fact, whenever I used to lecture in England, they used to label me as a therapeutic nihilist. Many of my patients would testify to that effect. So my recent label of vriddha Nayari pativrita does not fit me well. This is for those friends of mine who have given me that label. I was in Mumbai. One of my very, very dear students, Ratnakar, a consultant here called me ...

Reaching out to those in trouble Sarada Lahangir Clad in a plain sari and ordinary rubber slippers with a cloth bag slung over her shoulder, Anna Kujur, 47, from Sunajor village has spent nearly a decade spreading awareness among the forest-dwelling communities in the region about their legitimate claims on forest resources. It’s routine for Anna-di, as she is known in these parts, to traverse around 25 kilometres on her cycle everyday talking to people about land rights and facilitating them in securing their own ‘patta’ (title deed) for cultivation. In Sundergarh, the scheduled tribes make up 50 per cent of the total population of the district. For sustenance and survival, these poor, largely illiterate folks either turn to the forest or resort to some minor agricultural activity. Since the verdant greens have always provided them with forest produce, water, grazing grounds and habitat for shifting cultivation for generations, they have not only been staying in and around fo...

Woman dies with dead foetus Korba (Chhattisgarh): In an appalling incident, a 22-year-old pregnant woman, carrying a dead foetus, died of infection in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district allegedly after doctors at various private hospitals denied to attend to her as she was unable to pay their fees. As the issue came into light, Korba district Collector P Dayanand constituted three-member team to probe the incident. The woman identified as Saraswati Mahant died at a private hospital here at Rajgamar road, the Collector said. A native of Podibahar village under Rampur police station, Gulabdas Mahant had taken his wife Saraswati to Jamunadevi Memorial Maternity private hospital after she complained of severe pain in her stomach. The woman was told at the hospital during a scan that her eight-month old foetus had died. “Doctors at Jamunadevi hospital advised to get the foetus removed and asked for a fees of Rs 10,000. Besides they also asked to arrange blood for my wife,” Gulabdas said...

Wooden Prefab Building: World’s tallest Toronto: The world’s tallest wood building with 18 storeys and measuring about 174 feet in height has been constructed at the University of British Columbia in Canada, four months ahead of schedule, the varsity said. The mass wood structure and facade has been completed for University of British Columbia (UBC)’s Brock Commons student residence. The structure, showcasing the advantages of building with wood, was completed less than 70 days after the prefabricated components were first delivered to the site. Construction will now focus on interior elements, with completion expected in early May 2017, 18% (or four months) faster than a typical project. The building is expected to welcome more than 400 students in September next year. Brock Commons is the first mass wood, steel and concrete hybrid project taller than 14 storeys in the world. The building has a concrete podium and two concrete cores, with 17 storeys of cross-laminated-tim...

She starved & battered her step-daughter New York: An Indian-origin woman, found guilty of brutally abusing and starving her 12-year-old step-daughter for more than a year and half, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison in the US. Sheetal Ranot, 35, of Queens, was convicted by a jury in July this year of first-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter sentenced Ranot to 15 years in prison. Sheetal’s stepdaughter Maya was repeatedly denied food and so severely battered on one occasion with a broken metal broom handle that her wrist was sliced to the bone and required a lengthy hospitalization and surgery. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Sheetal was the “epitome of an evil step-mother”. Not only did she refuse to provide basic nourishment for the child but also “wantonly beat and abused the girl inflicting pain still evident by the scars that mark her body today. The youngster, at 12, weighed just 58 ...

Smile a rarity among Russians Panaji: Why do Russians rarely smile or why lighting agarbattis (incense sticks) is not welcome in hotel rooms in Moscow or St. Petersburg? Keen on upping tourists footfalls to Russia, a specially published do’s and dont’s handbook has attempted to decode such socio-cultural mysteries for Indians travelling to Russia. “Smiling to strangers is not a part of Russian culture. Russians are polite and professional, and they do smile wholeheartedly after they come to know you — which often takes time,” says the booklet which was released last week by the Mumbai-based Russian Information Centre, based on the inputs of the Consulate General of Russian Federation. “Please do not light up your favourite agarbatti in the hotel room. This is an absolute no-no because of the other International tourists who complain about the fragrances or have allergies to strong fragrances. Do pray, but hold the agarbatti for a few days,” the handbook says. Speaking to IAN...