ISSUES AND CONCERNS ಸಮಸ್ಯೆಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಕ್ಷಕಿರಣ

Forced to cremate dead body in front of house Morena (Madhya Pradesh): A Dalit man in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district cremated the body of his wife in front of his house, claiming he was not allowed to use the cremation ground by upper caste people. The man, identified as Bablu, claimed the cremation ground has been encroached upon by “upper caste” people. However, the local administration says the land was illegally occupied by the Dalits. The incident happened in Garhi village of Morena’s Ambah town. When Bablu arrived at the cremation ground with his wife Pooja’s body, he was told he cannot cremate the body as the land belongs to the so-called upper caste people. Dalit villagers said they all face the same problem as the “upper castes” have started farming on the land meant for cremation. Sub-Divisional Magistrate (revenue) D.C. Sandhi  told that there was a cremation ground for Dalits in the village, but it was being illegally occupied by a few people of the same co...

Freedom gone wonky: JNU Saga New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University authorities have taken disciplinary action on an average against seven students every month in the last six-and-a-half years for violation of rules, according to an RTI query. Action was taken and fines slapped for a range of violations such as consumption of intoxicants, not vacating hostel rooms after stipulated time, creating ruckus, getting into brawls with fellow students, blackmailing, using abusive language etc. Replying to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by Delhi-based activist Gopal Prasad, The Central Public Relations Officer's office of the university informed that from 2010 to June 2016, disciplinary action was initiated on 537 complaints received by the university authorities. Of these, more than 300 were related to allegations of consumption of alcohol, marijuana and other intoxicants. Hence, on an average, action was taken against around seven students every month during the s...

No space to park: so damage others vehicles Mumbai: Angry over finding no space to park their car and bike, five men went on a rampage in the JJ Marg area and damaged over 30 parked vehicles with iron rods. According to police, the men abused and molested some women at Null Bazar area and then went to Dunkan Road where they damaged vehicles. The police arrested all the five including the prime suspect, Imran Kashmiri (35) and Mehdi Ali (32) and booked them for rioting, molestation and destruction of private property."They had gone to Sion to celebrate the birthday of one of them. When they returned to Null Bazar where most of them reside, Imran couldn't find parking space. He got angry and started abusing the women sitting on the footpath there," said a police officer. His bike battery was stolen twice and he suspected the homeless women were behind the theft. "He abused and molested the women. When someone called the police control room, they left for Duncan ...

Father kills 4 month old for making baby noises Chicago: In a shocking incident in the US, a father allegedly murdered his four-month-old daughter by punching her 22 times as she was making baby noises while he was watching television. Cory Morris, 21, from Minneapolis, has been charged with second-degree murder for allegedly punching the baby girl named Emersyn in her face and chest to quiet her “baby talk”. According to the charges, Morris called police on August 13 and admitted he had just killed his daughter. When police arrived, they found the 4-month-old unconscious on a changing table. Morris, who was alone watching the child at the time of the incident, told police that he punched the child approximately 15 times in the face and 7 times in the chest with a closed fist, then squeezed her chest with his hands in an attempt to quiet her. The Hennepin County medical examiner confirmed the baby died from blunt force trauma. After he did this he called both his mother and his ...

Basava: The Pure Rebel from Karnataka Dr. M. V. Kamath My dear Gauri, Of all the saints and singers, and poets of Karnataka, the one who was the most daring and paid the most was Basava. Basava was the pure rebel, the Martin Luther King of Karnataka who had not merely the courage of his convictions but came to his convictions through spiritual grace. Basava was born a Brahmin. That was both his strength and weakness. Strength because only a Brahmin could dare condemn rituals. Weakness because it made him a target of hatred of the conservatives. From his boyhood he seems to have been in open clash with his elders on the relevance of rituals. Basava went to Kudala Sagama (the confluence of the Krishna and the Malaprabha rivers) to study the Vedas, the Agamas and the Shastras only to realize the futility of metaphysics. Having come to the conclusion that empty rituals were a waste, he strove for reform. The people among whom he lived were caste-ridden, but Basava sa...

Friends, We are well and truly into the monsoon season. It’s wet all over. It just didn’t rain, it poured in many places. Whole of Maharashtra including Mumbai was inundated with some making a fun on the submerged Suburban railway tracks as “India is the only country in the world to have trains running on water.” Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh Deccan Plateau including parched land of Latur had more and plenty. But it’s been erratic. Hopefully farmers should have no complaint of water shortage. The Met men’s prediction of more than normal rain may after all come true. According to them some 90% of the country has received normal and excess rainfall, 26% being excess and 63% area of the country having received normal rainfall, rest of 11% being deficit. We are in August. If nothing else, at least the 15th Aug is the reminder of the event that happened 69 years ago. As a politically free country we are 69 years old. Looking back, how has been the journey o...

NEW DELHI: Every government, whether state or centre has its own programme of expansion of ministries or changing of portfolios or elevating, demoting or even outright dumping is the done thing. Hence, there need be no surprise or unwanted reactions when the present NDA outfit decided to have this exercise. Biggest change has been that of shifting of HRD minister Smriti Irani to an innocuous Textile Ministry. The new face at HRD, which will also oversee the higher education scene of the country, is Prakash Javadekar (PJ). At least PJ is a B.Com, unlike his predecessor a mere XII pass. Of course, more than her educational qualification, it is the ministership that went into her head that cost her ministry. There are lots of people, who become arrogant on acquiring some power, of course, given by someone else. But if there is a background of achievement, either by way of educational qualification or any other accomplishment, arrogance may escape scrutiny. But, Smriti didn’t have any...