ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Friends, Looking back over the road travelled, when you cross the 16th milestone, will certainly have its own sense of satisfaction tinged with the haunting memories of the trials and tribulations faced along the way. Luckily for us, completion of the year 16th and the beginning of the year 17 also marked our 200th edition of, if we are permitted to say, our monumental efforts. So, we were blessed with two joys. No doubt, the apprehensions, misgivings and uncertainties that accompanied us all the while has certainly had its positive impacts in making us stronger to face the coming days with fortitude. The completion of 16th year has also seen a new development of the possibility of I&C being owned by a co-operative of paid readers. A modest beginning has been already made. 25 subscribers have already sent their permanent membership of Rs. 10,000/- each. By 31st March 2017, we hope to reach 100 such members. As and when co-operative happens, the effort is to refund in due course...

NEW DELHI: In some of the houses and establishments and even office of political parties there was a completely unex pected earthquake on 10 Richter scale. Some were devastated. Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the unprecedented historic step in demonetizing Rs. 1000 & Rs. 500/- currency notes. It is likely to impact all aspect of black money circulation in the parallel economy prevalent in some of the economic activities of the country. Even political parties barring may be CPM/CPI would have serious problems on hand. Opposition parties, like the earlier Surgical Strike of 29th Sept., is groping for words to react in a coherent language. This is going to hit some sectors of the economy very hard. Modi has once again proved that he is a very decisive prime minister. Surely, this single act alone can propel him and his government to unprecedented popularity, which is making the opposition politicians sleepless. Nobody should die prematurely. More so, no...

Focus (I&C- Nov. 2016) “KASHMIR: A QUESTION WITHOUT ANSWER” Very interesting read. I couldn't but respond. Never before have I got such factual and complete account of the Kashmir issue in such a crisp and brief write-up. You like it or hate it, but you cannot ignore it. That is the reality of Kashmir for Indians like me. An ignoramus like me who, for the most part has seen Kashmir in the milieu provided by truncated and often motivated news, your “focus” has proved to be educative, enlightening and objective. Despite the dismal title, your analysis and the eventual prognosis hold out enough hope if only our political class adopts a unified and lasting vision in the interest of our compatriots in Kashmir and as you boldly assert, it is very much in the realm of the possible. May there be peace and happiness in Kashmir.                                               ...

Universal (Uniform) Civil Code vis-a-vis Human Dignity & Where does the religion come in!? Some months ago there was this brain wave, that was creating eddies inside me and suddenly chanced on a sentence and it crystallized. Spoke to lot of common friends to promote a CENTRE FOR CONVERSATION WITHOUT CONFRONTATION (CCC) with limited participants to have debate on issues concerning just about anybody and everybody. The whole concept was positively welcomed with “it’s a very unique idea”, said a professor of NITK. The qualification for participation was “ONLY AN OPEN MIND”. Obviously it meant no mental baggage to be carried to the debate. Spoke to many and even uploaded on FaceBook. Except some pleasant responses and some skepticism from negative minds, nothing happened. Back to square one. All dressed up, but nowhere to go. Thus, the UCC among many other issues, remained outside the CCC, the proposed forum, to be debated. Human beings all over the world are born free, but as w...

Do we really want cancer to be defeated? (Does it make sense in this medical business?) Prof. B. M. Hegde, hegdebm@gmail.com “Cancer affects all of us, whether you’re a daughter, mother, sister, friend, co-worker, doctor, or patient.” Jennifer Aniston What is cancer? I really do not know! Is it a disease? I don’t know! Albert Szent Gyorgii, a Nobel Laureate biologist, says that he does not know what cancer is as he knows that a cancer cell works like a normal cell. He also feels that no one can kill cancer cells without killing normal cells at the same time. Cancer might be an effort by the body cells to survive a hostile environment by mutating. How can you then kill those normal body cells? Linus Pauling, a double Nobel Laureate, feels with strong reasons, that cancer research and cancer charities are both fraud! Nobel Laureate President of the American Cancer Association, Harold Varmus, comes almost to the same conclusion but stops calling it fraud. He has set...

Panchakarma helps in heart disease One week of Panchakarma programme - an Ayurvedicbased well being programme that features a vegetarian diet, meditation, yoga and massages -- can lead to measurable decreases in a set of blood-based metabolites associated with inflammation, cholesterol regulation and cardiovascular disease risk, the results of a clinical trial have shown. "It appears that a one-week Panchakarma programme can significantly alter the metabolic profile of the person undergoing it," said senior author Deepak Chopra, Professor at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and a noted proponent of integrative medicine. The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, represent an attempt to use metabolic biomarkers to assess the reported health benefits of integrative medicine and holistic practices. "As part of our strategy to create a framework for whole systems biology research, our next step will be to correlate these ch...

THE PERSISTENCE OF CASTE A HISTORICAL OUTLINE Anand Teltumbde Parallel to movements branching off from Hinduism were the arrivals of the foreign traders and invasions that India’s natural abundance attracted throughout its history. The earliest known invaders were the Aryans from Central Asia, who settled and intermixed with the local population of present-day Punjab and influenced the social organization of the entire subcontinent. It is they who are said to have conceived the varnashrama dharma, the doctrine of varna-dictated righteous living, paving the way, in course of time, for the caste system. Later foreign aggressors, the Greek, the Parthians and tribes such as the Sakas and the Kushans, also merged into the local population. Most of them embraced Buddhism, which became an ascendant ideology after the reign of Ashoka, the third-century BCE emperor and Buddhist convert. By the medieval period, however, Buddhism had begun losing ground- with its increasingly abstract ph...

Indiscipline among Indian pilots New Delhi: Pilots coming late for duty as well as falsely reporting sick are likely to face strict enforcement action, with the government proposing stringent regulations in this regard. The proposal comes against the backdrop of instances where pilots did not adhere to their assigned flight duties. To deal with such incidents, the civil aviation ministry has proposed new norms under the Aircraft Rules, 1937. As per the proposal, likely to be finalised by the second week of December, pilots who are found to falsely report illness to escape flight duty and those unwilling to follow the dynamic roster, among others, will be considered as acts against public interests liable for enforcement action. In a release, the ministry said cases often have come to the notice of DGCA where pilots employed with air transport undertakings do not adhere to their assigned flight duties, at times reporting sick. “This has a bearing on flight safety and publ...

1,736 NGOs: No foreign funds New Delhi: As many as 1,736 NGOs, including Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Mata Amritnandmayi Math and Church of South India Diocese of Madras, will no longer be able to receive foreign funds as they have failed to renew their FCRA registration. The registration of the 1,736 NGOs under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act expired after these organisations failed to submit required documents for renewal of their license by November 8. The NGOs will no longer be able to receive any foreign funds henceforth, a Home Ministry official said. However, if anyone of them approaches the government with the necessary documents, such application will be considered case-to-case basis, the official said.  Earlier, the Home Ministry had closed the application for FCRA license renewal in 1,736 cases due to “non-submission of documents or deficient documents or other statutory shortcoming within the stipulated time” of June 30. The NGOs were given time till Nove...