V.V.S.Manian

Vol I

Keep Kashmir out of US Presidential campaign

US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden expressed concern over the situation in Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK). He said restrictions on the dissent such as preventing peaceful protests or shutting down the internet, weakens democracy. Biden unfortunately does not understand Kashmir issue where thousands of innocent people and Indian soldiers lost their life due to terrorist attack. Kashmir was virtually the breeding ground for trigger free terrorists and Pakistani terror groups who dissuaded and disrupted peace in the valley. The justified move was that India scrapped the special status of J&K under Article 370 of the constitution and international law and bifurcated the area into two Union territories, Ladakh and J&K for operational convenience. This was done to end the terrorist intrusion and save civilian and army onslaughts. Biden hinted that he was pro-Pakistani after an online meeting with the head of the American –Pakistan Political Action Committee (APPAC) Dr. Ijaz Ahmad. APPAC has already donated 320,000 $ including contribution of $120,000 by Dr.Ijaz Ahamad. “Muslim for Biden” announced that they have raised $1.3 million in a virtual fundraiser with the former vice president. In a reciprocal gesture Biden assured that he would give an enhanced role to Muslim Community in his administration. Biden is swimming in dangerous waters forgetting the past. We have been heaping praises on Kamala Harris for no justifiable reason except that her mother hails from Tamil Nadu. Kamala also appears to be pro-Islam and not inclined to appreciate Modi on Kashmir stand. She is a declared black Christian and not very comfortable talking about Hinduism, according to many in the social media. In any case Biden and Kamala should focus more on internal domestic turmoil like unemployment, racial mess and do their might to get rid of the raging pandemic. Why talk of Kashmir issue and create an unpleasant situation when the whole world is facing economic pandemic crisis? ------

Beat the Covid, go back to school.

The Union Ministry HRD has initiated the most useful move to seek feedback from parents when they will be comfortable with the opening of schools. It may be difficult to get the reaction in a jiffy as we are still in the grip of a severe corona phobia. In any case, it will be wiser to plan and open schools by mid- Aug- September. It will also be safe to assume that we have the vaccine for COVID-19. Perhaps the wish of our Prime Minister Modi may come true by mid- August when we can hear some good news on Independence Day. Even if there is a delay in vaccine arrival, the schools should be allowed to open ensuring a certain level of safety for students and teachers. Schools must discipline the children on safe distancing, wearing masks and, use of sanitizers. They must keep hand washing stations and fumigate the premises at least once a week.

We have to remember that we do not have a large technological infrastructure to educate a huge population of school- going children. A lot of them in the poorer strata do not have access to internet –enabled devices and children in semi- urban and rural areas are struggling for high- speed internet connection and fighting computer fatigue. Many parents seem to be in favour of opening the schools as children need to learn in a proper physical environment and not in a small room. It is time for showing innovative plans to avoid large gatherings, stagger lunch breaks for classes, and seating arrangement. Above all, we need to suspend all sports and social activities which attract huge crowds. Hypothetically, this sounds great. The greater responsibility lies with the government and schools to carefully monitor the situation. On line, education is not a permanent replacement for schools. Some courses in school or colleges can be more effective when students are physically present, especially practical laboratory experiments. Therefore, schools have to be opened sooner or later. The year 2020-21 is going to be a tough academic challenge. (Point of view 24720) ------

Why should we torture our soldiers at 70 degree Celsius minus?

It is a pity in the days of drones, we allow the patriotic Jawans to suffer for our failure. A recent CAG report makes us ashamed of what is happening on the defense front. The report highlights that procurement of high-altitude clothing and equipment was delayed up to four years leading to an acute shortage of such items. Soldiers deployed in high altitude such as Ladakh lack sufficient gear, clothing and rations. It is also a disgrace to know that during the audit period from 2015 to 2018, troops had to use old items instead of new and improved ones. They compromised their calorie intake. Few days back there was a YouTube clipping showing how pathetic the condition was in the high mountains. Two soldiers demonstrated how they overcome other necessities such as shortage of multi- purpose boots which can protect their feet in -50 degrees Celsius. The soldiers were not given snow goggles in a region. Without goggles the soldiers would go blind. The joke is that there are no stocks at the Ordinance Factory in Dehradun. We are blind to the reality of what is happening to soldiers who have to fight the terrorists and Pakistan soldiers. The worst news is that about 31,779 sleeping bags were found “sub-standard”. Ask the simple question why? Unfortunately the ground reality is that politicians are interested in posters and brag all the time about how great we are rather than how weak we are. Unfortunately, the most powerful medium - the TV channels and print media focus more on spicy political debates and fake news rather than focusing on the sensitive and serious issues continuously like soldiers plight and defense supplies that suffer either due to procedural lapse or corruption. In any case the CAG report is blurring on the government.

Blatant mistake

The action of the Kerala government on Friday depicted Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination on the cover page of its fifth budget presented by finance minster TM Thomas Issac who made a silly statement. He said that they “won't forget who murdered Bapu”. Kerala state by and large is very literate and politicians are sensible. But this printing of a painful painting does not augur well with communists ideologies. The budget cover page is not a propaganda leaflet to show the anger against the opposition or its policies. Thomas’ act was immature and evidently done to please the boss (Rahul) who was equally idiotic to say that Gandhi was murdered by Hindu communalists who are revered today by the ruling party”. As usual he added a tag to say that Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse and PM Narendra Modi believe in the same ideology. Just to show their anger against Modi, What is the relation between the budget and Gandhi’s assassination?

Years have gone since the assassination and it is irrelevant to talk about it to stir emotion and ignite communal conflict. Let us face the reality? Who cares about who murdered Gandhi? The vibrant youth of India is clearly worried about the future and would support the politicians who deliver rather than the freak ones indulging in digging hackneyed stories for the sake of votes. Thomas and Rahul should know this better. ------

Trail or error

The third presidential impeachment in the US history has come to a close with Trump’s thin victory. He won by a slim margin of four votes on charge of abuse of power and by six on obstruction of Congress. Trump will use this exculpation as a part of his re-election campaign tour. The acquittal was expected as the senate was controlled by the Republicans and they would not dare send their own President down. Now Trump will indulge in a massive propaganda to gain though everyone on both sides know that Trump goes beyond the powers offered to his office. He is happy now as the trial is not a success for the Democrats but has improved his prospects in the next presidential election. Democrats gained nothing out of this trial?

Is prolonged pain/panic necessary?

The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi certainly wanted people to be positive and convert the crisis into an opportunity for innovation, investment and growth. It was a pep talk with a lot of positive approaches and some industries like pharmacy may see definite growth and more opportunity. A common man contributes liberally to the economic growth, by emptying his wallet in hospitals, From Delhi to Chennai, hospitals are charging huge sums of money, being aware of the fact that they can capitalize on the fear psychosis and perhaps use this ‘God sent’ opportunity to quickly repay their term loans and OD’s to banks. The health “industry” will make more money than ever. Let us not live in utopia. Lockout or no lockout, things will first get worse before they get better. India is now in a pandemic and political crisis, where the opposition is slowly adding more problems by creating unwanted panic and spreading rumors. The reality is nobody is serious; they have no clue of how to handle the huge crisis which has no precedence. Everything is ‘trial and error’ mode. The wise will confine at home and plan to have a mini hospital room and increase immunity. I have seen more than a hundred reports about how to treat the COVID-19 patients. Everyone including doctors, researchers, scientists, astrologers, and politicians has wasted their time floating rumors and findings which are not backed by authentic findings and recommendations. The worst and surprising are the astrologers who already have lost their face. Now they keep talking of the eclipse scheduled for 21st, inst, which they say will wipe out the corona episode! Horrendous is the manner in which dead bodies of the victims of corona are disposed. I see no logic in wrapping and disposing off the body in a hurry. The bodies can be put in a wooden casket after due precaution and handed over to the relatives at the cremation ground. Of course, the victim’s kith and kin will pay all the expenses. A little bit of logistics will prevent TV channels stop showing sensational news. It is high time that the health authorities educated the people and help them to seek the assistance of labs which can collect blood samples from home. If found positive, the health authorities should advise them via mobile phone the line of treatment and to report periodically, Nine out of ten may not need hospitalization. It is not impossible to highly decentralize the test/ treatment and hospital facilities in the most affected areas. The problem today is that we are perhaps losing focus out of the underlying fear that there is no proven treatment yet. Unfortunately for the authorities, people want to return to their routine to earn, as even the best of efforts by government cannot satisfy them fully. That is the catch!! ------

Virus economics

WHO failed miserably and created a calamity worldwide. Now the World Bank for its part is giving us a new pain to bear. The new World Bank report warns that the pandemic has plunged the global economy into a deep recession of “historic proportion” and the recovery outlook is bleak especially for developing countries. The report, Global Economic Prospects published on Monday, compares the current economic crisis to 13 other recessions that have hit earlier and triggered solely by a pandemic. The findings are enormous. The overall global economy is expected to shrink 5.2% this year according to the report. It is the deepest recession since the end of WWII, the last time when there was comparable drop. It is affecting more countries than any recession going back to 1870. This is the first time that recession is experienced as a group in the last 60 years. It is a new kind of challenge to most of the countries including the “super powers”. Even the best of brains in economics are baffled for an answer. There is however a silver lining in the dark cloud. Politicians will see where they failed - not taking care of safe home, shelter and poverty. It has exposed all over the world how the poor are living in deplorable conditions under the most health hazardous environment. The crisis has shown us that health is the No 1 priority. It will galvanize us to implement pandemic preparedness system which we have not done so far. Remedial education programs are being rolled out to help students catch from school closures. Most important it will enhance knowledge and family use of digital media will become routine. Lastly, the safety net programs that so many countries have set up may help to address poverty and inequality in a better manner. ( Point of view 13620) ------

Persistent painful political mores

Let us not be ashamed to admit one bitter truth that all political parties are on the same platform when comes to show their anger. All indulge in the might is right and exhibit their chivalry by burning buses and public properties. This has been going on for years as a stern action is not possible in India. The Home Ministry made an earlier attempt to bring some amendments to the PDPP act of 1984 that seek to deter prospective violators from damaging public proper during agitations. The recent spate of CAA protests, which has caused considerable damage to public property especially in UP. The Yogi government has decided to bring in an ordinance to compensate for the losses from people who damaged public and private properties during the protests, agitations, procession and dharna. The Yogi government has also moved the Supreme Court against the High Court’s order to remove their photographs an addressable hoardings and posters placed to compensate people with property damage during anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest in Lucknow. This UP government has made a right move to educate people that they should know who is causing the damage and what for? It is a well-known fact from experience the disgruntled political parties spent huge amounts to instigate the ignorant people and party loyalists to prove their might with violence. That is the dada style that is imbibed in the politics today. Let us face the reality and make an objective assessment of the damages suffered in the last one year. It must be running into billions and many life losses as it were more against the BJP. CAA is only an excuse. Is this worth? Certainly not. It is right time that we recover every penny lost due to political violence from the party/parties/ individuals. Every state should bring in an ordinance to stop the habit of damaging public property at the whims and fancies of political leaders. The Supreme Court very clearly stated that” agitations cannot hold the nation to ransom and be a reason to vandalize public property. Organizers of such agitation will have to pay the cost”. Let us make a beginning by holding the political parties, religious outfits and other unruly mushroom outfits and recover the loss during the last 16 months. It will be a good start to minimize the damage to properties .Act now.

------Zhao Lijian,Chense Foreign Minister

Deadly rumors and reactions to Corona virus

The social media is perhaps is pouring out ideas, imaginations and inferences that are not only confusing but also scary Added to the woe, is the remedies and suggestions given by quack to qualified doctors who want to show their insufficient grasp of the grave situation. The reality that the disease is spreading and nobody knows how many affected across the globe. This is not the first time that the world has faced crisis come out China. Earlier an epidemic Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARSCoV) affected 26 countries and resulted in more than 8,000 cases in 2003. It was similar to the Corona –an animal virus that was transmitted first in the Chinese province of Guangdong. This time, obviously due to delay in diagnosing and communicating the SARS-CoV-2 has spread to over 100 countries. There is no cure for this deadly virus. Antibiotics are ineffective as this is a viral infection and not bacterial. Researchers across the world are struggling to find a solution and huge money needed for the research. Microsoft founder Bill Gates Charity foundation has provided around $100 million for the research. It will take some time before we see some positive results. At this time the world is going agog with fear and frustration, some tried to divert the attention by planting rumors and deadly fake news. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian suggested on his twitter page the COVID-19 could have been “brought” to China city of Wuhan by the US Military. Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khomeini stated that outbreak, which has led to the infection of 9000 people in the Islamic Republic could have been orchestrated intentionally. There is grapevine that states that China has started a bio-war. There is an endless exchange of information that has created more panic than the virus. In the volcanic scenery, it is good to know that India has become the fifth country to isolate COVID -19 strains. ICMR says isolation of the virus is the first step towards expediting the development of drugs, vaccines and rapid diagnostic kits in the country. Hopefully, the government should support the ICMR to go ahead and find a cure, though it is a time consuming endeavor. At best people of the world should take adequate precautions to get infected. China says that the virus has flattened and is waning. Hope it is true. (Point of view 14320) ------

Hope in the paralyzed world The world is bombarded today by a constant stream of news and views about the COVID 19 pandemic. The media is fed with myth and mysteries that has created united world war against the virus and China. China is guilty of keeping silent about this virus from November last year till it become more explosive than an atom bomb. The statistics is that as of now 5800 deaths have occurred with over 1.50 lakh infected world over. It is also called “boomer remover” as it kills most of the elderly people. There are also good things happening simultaneously, despite the world being in a state of inferno. A nice example of how good a person can be seen in the city of Oklahoma. Regina Anaya (called guardian angel of the community) and her friends and colleagues worked to gather as much as they could to meet the needs of many. They prepared the first round of care packages to deliver to the doors steps to hundreds of seniors already. The city is in a dire state with empty supermarkets and empty pockets, severe shortage of food and people are wiping themselves with newspapers. The care packages are prepared in the most hygienic way, and left at the door steps of local seniors. But this is only a speck in the ocean as more and more seniors need to be fed and kept healthy at home. It is good that guardian angels are doing a great service sending a message to the world that if we have a bent of mind to help, even the deadly Corona virus is not a threat. Another institution Manzil from Canada has taken all steps to support those who are affected by Corona.

On the political side the outbreak has done a wonderful thing which the international activists have been unable to do. It has sparked an extraordinary high level of cooperation and coordination between Palestinians and Israelis. One more notable Corona contribution is that it has terrified even the terrorists.

------

Migrating to New Planet

As usual, we have dragged in Nostradamus in the Covid disaster predictions. Some media maniacs have claimed that Nostradamus predicted the pandemic way back in 1551.The soothsayer has predicted the world to end and it is surviving. He is said to have inferred that there will be twin year (2020) from which will arise a queen (corona) who will come from the east (China) and who will plague (virus) in the darkness of night on a country of seven hills (Italy) and will transform the twilight of men into dust , to destroy the ruin of the world. It will be the end of world economy. I am not sure whether the astrologer has any clue of what economy is!!

Without going into the merits of Nostradamus, the more practical vision appears to be that of Stephen Hawking. He predicts that humans will find another new planet in 100 years. He says that with the climate change, overdue asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth, our planet is increasingly precarious. The other concerns are that there is a 2000 –square mile hunk of ice about to break in the Antarctica Peninsula. An asteroid striking our planet is talked about though the stuff is more a science fiction. Many movies like the Armageddon, Deep Impact sold this idea. The reality today is human beings as a race are facing the threat and without spreading rumours, the world must unite to find a solution. We will soon realize that all of us are in one global village needing support of one another- that is the lesson we learnt from the vicious virus.

------

Admirable action in crisis It goes beyond doubt that the Central government and the Tamil Nadu Government have done extremely well to face the COVID_19 crisis. Perhaps India is one of the countries which acted fast enough to avert a calamity like what is happening in Italy or USA. It also goes to the host of bureaucrats who were responsible to implement preventive action at both micro and macro level across the country, though challenging.

Prime Minister Modi enveloped in emotion and concern appealed to everyone to show restraint and resolves to fight the epidemic. The cooperation from the public only can only help the government in fighting the crisis. It was a brilliant idea to announce Janata Curfew. It will generate coordination and infuse the feeling of “One India”. What is important is to avoid any criticism of the government now. We have seen immature action and comment from few in the opposition. By doing so at this time of challenge, it will only doom their image. Only thing we can do now is to pray and resolve to cooperate with government both centre and state in their endeavors. That is our duty. (Point of view 22320)

------

Pandemic political virus

The dictum of today’s politics is every action has an equivalent or more reaction. Rahul Gandhi has been on head- on collision with Modi and BJP. Whenever he tried to pin a disgrace on Modi, it has only boomeranged and placed Congress in a serious setback. At a time, when India is in the grip of the severe Covid-19 crisis, he indulged in uncalled for and unwarranted comment about the integrity of Modi and the ruling party. The net result is that the political war between Congress and BJP has erupted to a dangerous level and Congress is once against exposed to milking China for $300,000 in alleged quid pro quo for “free trade” in 2005-2006 during UPA rule. Now that Rahul unwittingly opened the Pandora’s Box, it is obligatory on the part of BJP to place all facts as to what prompted Congress party to clandestinely take money from China. Perhaps it will bring the same fame for Congress like Bofors.

I don’t understand why Rahul indulged in silly political attacks on the government. In the prevailing explosive atmosphere, all parties in the opposition should demonstrate political solidarity to show the world that India is united against Chinese attempt for any aggression. It is time for exhibiting patriotism; not for political word of war or allegations. (Point of view 27620)

------

Kota 2019 67 children die at Gorakhpur

TOI jan2

Butchering Babies

We in India have an exceptional record of killing babies in hospital, due to ill equipped hospitals, foolhardy doctors and irresponsible politicians. A review of the past record reflects how miserably we failed to save the lives of thousands of children. In 2017, 1317 children died in hospitals. The sad story is that there was no oxygen supply to 63 children and they died. The number of deaths in the previous years was 5850 in 2014, 6917 in 2015 and 6121 in 2016. The exact number of children who died in the hospital in 2018/19 is not yet known, but the infant deaths at hospitals appear reduced.

Infant deaths in India are the highest in the world, according to an estimate by the UNICEF WHO UN population division. This happens despite the government’s various health care programmes. The latest death of 100 infants die in a government hospital in Kota, Rajasthan clearly show that government hospitals are out of control of government and sleaze .It is pathetic that a public hospital allowed children to perish for want of working medical equipments. The doctors, instead of fighting for better equipment and modern surgical wards, offer excuses for the tragedy.

After the Kota human tragedy, as usual, leaders of various political parties engaged themselves in the useless task of name calling one another. It is not a question of which politician visited Kota; the big question is how to prevent such incidents from recurring, which puts India to shame and damages the image of the country as a whole.

Like in the past, the death of these 100 infants will be forgotten soon. We will soon face another such sordid, unbearable tragedy in another hospital in the near future. The politicians will make noise and pretend to be furious. But the condition of hospitals will continue to remain like Nazi’s gas chamber taking toll of babies. We will play politics over the coffins of the cursed babies of India. Why not the politicians of India sit in Dharna in front of ill equipped hospitals and prove their worth which will be an awakening call to the whole country?

------

Input and output appraisal

Prime Minister Modi is reviewing the reports of the Committee of Secretaries set up for different sectors, before the Union Budget. For this tough job, the Ministers are giving inputs to the PM. The report has been prepared on the basis of vision visualized by the government for five years. Ministers are giving a brief of performance versus goal achievements. The review program commenced on Friday and will go on for a few days. Later based on the feedback, dynamic action will be initiated to boost the economy. Fine. Simultaneously, Modi and Shah should engage in brain storming sessions to identify the reasons for the miserable performance of BJP in some states which recently went to the polls. It is high time to chalk out a state to state strategy, to strengthen the party and to boost the morale and make allies win in the state elections. No doubt that Modi’s charisma and Amit Shah’s skill are known across the country. But what BJP has done so far and will do is something that has not reached the common man. It is also time for crucial self appraisal- by both Modi and Shah.

------

Run for Rajya Sabha In 2020, 69 members of the Rajya Sabha are retiring. 18 from BJP, 17 from Congress .Four seats are already vacant. The elections will thus be held for 73 seats of the Upper House this year. BJP’s position will be the same. There could be some improvement in the position of Congress or its allies due to the result of the recent Assembly elections. As on date, BJP has 83 MP’s and Congress 46 MP’s in the Rajya Sabha apart from six prominent members due to retire this year.

Uttar Pradesh will have elections for the maximum number of 10 seats and BJP will win. However in Rajasthan, MP, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, the Congress will gain. Seven seats from Maharashtra, six from Tamil Nadu and five each from Bengal and Bihar are also falling vacant. Four seats will be vacant from AP, Gujarat, Karnataka and Odisha. By the year end the complexion of the Rajaya Sabha will change. For good or bad is the question.

------.

Pain for PC

There have been huge scams involving prime ministers, presidents and heads of financial institutions around the globe. Unfortunately only India has the unique track record of a cabinet minister who held the all important home and finance portfolios facing scam after scam. Former Finance Minister and Congress leader P.Chidambaram is now under the scanner of Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Air India aircraft deal case. It is really perplexing that a highly educated man will blatantly involve himself in crooked means to amass wealth. If his illicit actions are proved, then it is sheer lack of political integrity for which he has to pay. His party is already notorious for undermining democracy and will face disaster. It is still a wonder what prompted PC to take all the pains and for whom? (Point of view 412020)

------

Racism is the curse of humanity

Protests against the police killing of an unarmed black man in the city of Minneapolis has virtually turned into a major riot, with arson attacks, looting, and leaving many people dead. The protest which started as a non-violent dissent sparked a countrywide rage when the video clipping showing 46-year-old Floyd pleading that he could not breathe when the police officer pursued applying pressure on his neck till he died went viral. Television footage shows how this barbaric police officer virtually ended the life of an unarmed man with three policemen watching the brutal act without making any attempt to stop. Floyd was pronounced dead when taken to a local hospital. After the furore of the public and footage became public, the three cops have been fired and the mayor called for their dismissal. President Trump tweeted that he “can't stand back and watch this happen to a great American city, Minneapolis, adding that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but when the looting starts, the shooting starts”. Minneapolis is known for its rich musical and artistic culture. Bob Dylan and Prince belong to this place. It also has a history of racism. Dylan's lyrics written in 1975 apply even today. ”Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed, to live in a land, where justice is game." Let us admit that racism exists even today in the US. Slavery was arguably America’s greatest sin. Today what America is, to a great extent, the result of blood, toil and sweat of African Americans? Even in treatment of patients afflicted with the deadly corona virus, the lethal virus of racial discrimination seems to have played a part. The cities of Chicago, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and states of Maryland and South Carolina have released data on race and show an overrepresentation of victims who are black. The US has a long way to go to be human in its attitude towards African Americans. Minneapolis is the tip of the iceberg a caution against the ill- treatment by whites towards the black. It has to stop now, in the future interest of the United States of America. ------

Dawn of some hope to fight against Covid -19 mortality

There is a global competitive and hurried race to find a vaccine for COVID-19. Daily there are many reports pouring in about the medication found to cure the deadly virus. Many OTC and prescription drugs are suggested by doctors and the list is endless and confusing. As of now, it is a hit and run situation. In addition the patient is virtually paralyzed to see the fancy pricing of hospitals. Hospitals, private or government, give the same treatment. The only exception is the cozy atmosphere of the private hospitals.

Now there is a report from a team of researchers of Oxford University which states that the commonly available steroid ‘dexamethasone’ has given some positive hope for critically ill patients. The low portion of steroid dexametasaone is a discovery in the battle against the destructive infection.

The drug has been found to reduce the risk of death by one-third, of patients on ventilator support and by one fifth in those requiring oxygen alone. The steroid can be successfully used in treating thousands of Covid cases and further down the mortality rate to the minimum. As per estimates, it costs less than Rs. 5000 to save a life with low-dose of dexamethasone. The final call rests with the physicians to accept the Oxford findings. Prima facie, the research is good to rely on.

------

Crazy race for buying pulse oximeter

A doctor appeared on a Tamil News channel and advised everyone to buy a pulse oximeter. His demonstration picture shows that he is in perfect health with 100 Spo2 and 72 PR bpm (any reading below 95Spo2 needs medical attention). The doctor on the TV show obviously is a role model of a healthy person. General Practioners like my doctor Kedarnath has been using the pulse oximeter for a longtime. Now this tiny equipment is gaining attention for its potential in early diagnosing and monitoring COVID-19 symptoms. The result is that there is rush to buy the pulse oximeter, especially in Bangalore. Pulse oximeter is used for monitoring patients in hospitals including those who have had some surgeries and at home for patients with respiratory problems.

The market is flooded with pulse oximeters manufactured in China. It sells at a fancy price. Is the pulse oximeter necessary for home use? There is no need to panic buy pulse oximeter at a very high price. If a possible covid -19 patient or any one feels uncomfortable in breathing, he can always approach the nearest hospital or doctors. Most of the doctors have pulse oximeter. Perhaps the pharmacies may soon start using the pulse oximeter for customers and give reading for a minimum charge like they do now for testing random blood sugar reading for Rs.20/=.

------

Demonstrating effective leadership In the midst of painful and trying times, Prime Minister Modi hopping to Leh shows his courage and confidence. It is a big morale booster for the soldiers stationed there. He also sends a very strong message that India will act and react and not tolerate the nefarious intentions of and aggression. China has always fond of making fake claims and usurp the land of other countries. The trick of China’s attempt to disturb the world peace is open secret now. It’s trying to divert the attention of the world form Corona crisis. Some 81 countries had found that China is no more a friend of humanity but dragon trying to destroy the world with its money and muscle power. It is getting weakened and further doom awaits China. Knowing its playing with fire, the China accepted his message expressed that craze of expansionism is always a threat to world peace. The reality is Chinese trying to change the status quo of Ladakh border. Galvan Valley is named after and Indian. It high time China realizes that we will not give an inch of land. Prime Minister Modi is firm on this that we will turn aggressive if need be. China should have got the message meant to mend its attitude and change. China is also playing a barbaric role in Hong Kong. It is trying to suppress Hong Kong’s independence .The first arrests of pro-democracy protests under the new national security law for Hong Kong was made on Tuesday with the consent of President-for –life Xi Jinping. The draconian law provides that peaceful protesters can be pushed in prison for life. The world is seething with anger at the new law. The US has taken some punitive measures to deny special, economic and financial concession to Hong Kong. The UK and the European Union have strongly condemned the Chinese move to snuff out the “the last vestiges of autonomy from Hong Kong. China made a blunder it Hong Kong and will pay a heavy price sooner or later. (Point of view 4720) ------

Pawar in power mode The Maharashtra cabinet expansion indicates that Pawars are in control. Shiv Sena has no alternative but to be like a tamed puppy to continue at the helm of affairs. Brilliant and seasoned Pawar’s played a nice dram of well written script got the maximum advantage of the unethical political show where everything is compromised, including corruption. After a thirty day lapse when Ajit Pawar walked shoulder to shoulder with BJP Devendra Fadnavis to the Governor Bhagat Singh and became a deputy chief minister knowing full well he will drop the BJP comrade the “deepest consequences”. He succeeds in his game plan. BJP fell into his trap. Now Pawar’s have started their power game in Maharashtra politics. Ajit “retained” his position as Deputy Chief Minister in Uddhava Thackeray’s government.

Pawar party has managed to wriggle the key ministries of Home, Finance, Water Resources, irrigation, Housing, Rural development, Health, Food and civil supplies, Excise and Labour ministries. Congress will handle Revenue, energy and education. Shiv Sena will be happy with Urban Development Industries and PWD. Evidently the power corridor is shifted to “Silver Oak”- Sharad Pawar home in Mumbai. There is also growing impatience amidst Shiva Sena cadre as they have not convinced of the move and fragile position of leader Uddhav Bal Thackeray.

In the power and powerlessness scenario, a new political formation is likely. There is some move of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) moving close to the BJP. Raj Thackeray was a very strong critic of BJP will now compromise to become a comrade of BJP as it had to boost its stature in Maharashtra from the “one seat status”. Perhaps the many disgruntled MLA’s of Shiv Sena may be happy to join hands the new offspring in the Maharashtra politics-BJP and MNS. It is wait and watch scenario. Perhaps the MNS will go all out to celebrate Bal Thackeray’s birth anniversary during this month to reinvent itself with BJP. Will it work? Wait and watch!!

------

Fall from the sky

Jets don’t fall down just like that unless there has been a serious engine failure or pilot error. In the case of the Ukraine International Flight 752 crashed on 8th January, it was not due to engine failure. It was evident that the Boeing with 176 people was shot down by the surface-air-missile fired by Iranian forces within minutes after the plane took off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran on Wednesday. Both US and Canada say that they have solid evidence an Iranian missile downed the plane. Tehran is hastily trying to cover up by swiftly cleared the debris and also deny the allegations that it destroyed the plane.

It is obvious that the blast came hours after Iran had fired missiles at bases used by US troops in Iraq in retaliation for the US assassination of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops Maj.Gen.Qasem Soileimani at the Baghdad airport. The over precautious Iran air defense forces were on high alert and made the mistake of shooting down a jet with passengers. Tehran should stop issuing bellicose statement and be bold to admit its grave mistake. Incidentally, this is not the first time a packed commercial jetliner taking off from Iran has been shot.

------

Delhi Dilemma Delhi election is scheduled for early next month. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is floating high with confidence that he would win. He firmly hopes that the prevailing atmosphere in Delhi and his generosity with freebies from water, electricity, provision of basic services in the illegal colonies which account for nearly half of the electorate of over 1.2 crores. He is also continuously bragging and exaggerating about the “good deeds” of his government. He has another advantage of the Muslims and jhuggi jhoprin dwellers favoring him. The scenario is a big challenge for BJP as it has to plan a better campaign than the previous one which proved fatal. First, it has to identify a charismatic local leader preferably a dynamic lady leader. Second, it has to critically examine the local issues which need greater attention and which the common man is in dire need. BJP has to do a lot of home work and cannot take things easy or for granted. The situation is tense and tough now. (Point of view 11120) ------

Revolutionary change in the offing

The best thing to come out of the Corona crisis is that we realize the worth of sanitary workers, doctors, nurses, health workers, the vegetable vendors, police personnel, all politicians, bureaucrats and pharmacists. We salute and bow before them for their yeoman service which we did not value till yesterday.

The corona viurs pandemic has taken a terrible toll throughout the world .The tragedy is also cautioning humanity to be more human. It has reminded every country and its head to focus on health care, sanitation and shelter. It has reminded us that no matter where one has shifted or migrated, there is need to keep track of everyone and provide them the basic necessities at the time of corona like crisis. It has also reminded us that politics or drab debates are no longer the main staple news item. It is a reminder to government to think of improving hospital facilities in villages. It may be one hospital for five or six villages. It is also a reminder that beggars and disabled should be permanently removed from the streets, as most of them made a profession of begging and were creating public nuisance. We also learnt a quick lesson from South Korea. It has shown the world that it is far ahead of Europe particularly the US in dealing with pandemic. There has been no economic shut down in South Korea and life is more or less normal. The country did well by setting up hundreds of testing centers, by contact tracing of confirmed and suspected cases through GPS and mobile tower coordinates. “The powers that South Korean was able to muster could also have been invoked by Donald Trump, the American President.” If only Trump had invoked the provisions of the National Emergency Act, and the Stafford Act in time , the US causality to Corona would have been much less. Trump was willing to declare emergency in a jiffy to build a wall along the Mexican border but was taking a nap when it came to fighting the pandemic. Corona crisis is a grim reminder of the need for dynamic and sensible leadership and the consequences of electing erratic politicians to the highest public office.

Corona has stimulated a global outlook and exchange of information. So far foreign relations primarily focused on was armaments and commerce. Now in the last few days, it has shifted to learning from one another about research, health and education. Today we have all realized that the world is one and ‘health for all’ is the only slogan that we should pursue. All the borders of countries have disappeared in one stroke. Above all countries will now focus on city by city, village by village action plan to ensure clean living. The entire world has realized that poverty must be eliminated completely. In the last few days, we see birds flying happily and dolphins merrily swimming near shores. They are all attracted by the purity of the air and water. We are happy to breathe in a pollution free atmosphere with green trees around us. A lesson we have been taught- to help nature by not polluting it and remain healthy and happy.

I would also take this opportunity to appreciate the great work being done by the Chennai City Police. Their video of aerial view of Chennai is a short sweet masterpiece which tells us how green Chennai could be if we all help to reduce pollution.

Blaise Pascal, the 17th century French Mathematician, physicist, inventor and writer said: All of humanity’s problem stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone”… Let us sit at home and wait to say “Happy days are here again”. (Point of view 18420) ------

Kamba Ramayana in line drawing One thousand years ago, our ancestors drew the entire episode of Kamba Ramayana (11,000 verses) in dried palm leaves (9’’X1.5”).This exercise happened thousands of years ago when comics and illustrations had not appeared in the world. There were paintings but not illustration of epics. This stupendous job requires much more skill than an expert surgeon. The palm leaf illustration of Kamba Ramayana is available at the Dr.U.V.Swaminatha Iyer library at Theosophical society, Adyar. The 11,000 stanzas of Kamba Ramayana have been presented in a creative manner on dried palm leaves. I think Tamil Nadu has been the pioneer to present epics in drawings much before others in the world. Kambar’s Ramayana has some uniqueness. It not only tells the story of ‘Ramayana’ but in its fabric also contains some thought provoking ideals and morals. I have culled out one which aptly suits the present political scenario. It reminds one of how a ruler should be straight forward and devoted:

வ迍மை இ쯍லை ஓ쏍 வ쟁மை இꟍமையா쯍 தி迍மை இ쯍லை ஓ쏍 செ쟁ந쏍 இꟍமையா쯍 உ迍மை இ쯍லை 毆ொ뿍 உரை இலாமையா쯍 வெ迍மை இ쯍லை பல கே쿍வி மேவலா쯍.

Kamban highlights the qualities of a good king. He amplifies how Dasaratha loves his subjects like a mother. His actions were always directed towards the welfare of the people and he led them like a son along the right path. He punished them when they erred. He served as their spiritual head, leading with his behavior and wisdom.

Look at what is happening today in Kamban's land. No water, but some politicians dig bore wells and sells tankers of water at exorbitant price to the people. That’s Cultural Revolution: exploit the people for selfish reasons. Ravana in the battlefield. Palm leaf illustration: photos by VVS.

------

One Nation, One Election

In a country like India, every cost effective measure is inevitable to tackle poverty, provide health care and shelter. This concept has been a slogan of all political parties. True progress in this area is still eluding even the best of administrators. Prime Minister Modi’s “One nation, one election” proposal should be welcomed by all. For the opposition parties who thrive on cash for vote, it is a boon. They have a huge saving as they pay only one time instead of twice. At a time, when money was not a key motivator, the election to Assemblies and parliament went smooth like in 1952, 1957, 1962, and 1967. The practice was in vogue when Congress ruled the roost. Later we went for separate election to Assembly and Parliament. Later it was changed to two elections. The guess estimate for 2019 election expenditure is around 50,000 crores. If simultaneous election is conducted, there will easily be at least 50 percent saving in the visible cost and billions in invisible cost like deployment of personal, troops, energy and transportation. More than that, there will be enormous saving to political parties and less stress to public. If the election of states and parliament is conducted at one go, it will be advantageous to the nation and convenient to the voter. Why attribute politics to the cost saving exercise? “Already around ten countries experimented successfully with one election .So the best course would be the “One Nation, One Election” advocated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is a revival of a past practice which will save the country resources, energy and time. It may require the constitution to be amended and that should be done fast. It is good for the nation.

------

Water crisis

Are we to blame the heat wave or failure of monsoon for the water crisis? What have we done to the 300 odd lakes (small and big) in the city which has a huge storage capacity? We converted most of them into multistoried concrete buildings. We made Chennai gray instead of green.

In my article ‘Future Shock Awaits India’ in Deccan Herald (26/9/1995), I have highlighted the importance of preserving and planning for tackling water crisis. “Signs of water stress abound in the world. Most of the people in this era are consuming water which is contaminated. Everywhere, water tables are falling; lakes are shrinking and wet lands disappearing”. Chennai had faced severe water crunch in the 90’s too. It is also a fact that our country will face water crisis due to depleting ground water level, especially in UP, MP, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Instead of using water crisis for political mileage, the opposition should help in serving water starved Chennai by sensible suggestions like bringing water from neighbors. I was very much surprised by the way the “Times Now” debate proceeded on Friday. It was a terribly hasty reporting and incongruous exchange of views. It had political slant rather than objective reporting. India mainly depends upon rain for water. It is necessary that emphasis is given to rain water harvesting in addition to stopping lakes and ponds being converted into concrete jungles. We should make rain water go into ground, lakes and tanks. By making this system effective, we can be ready for monsoon failure. Everyone should help to overcome the water crisis. There is also an option to convert the hot air above sea into water. The experiment is being funded by IIT at Chennai.

What Parakrama Bahu, the great 12th century King of Sri Lanka set forth as ultimate challenge for water engineers holds water even today. “Let us not allow even the small quantity of water obtained by rain go to the sea, without benefiting man.’’ That should be the long term goal of Tamil Nadu. AIADMK has done its best in the worst scenario and let us pray for rain. (Point of view 22619)

------Re-train your brain When the Lockdown was announced suddenly, there was panic and many could not tune their brain to re-adjust to the standstill crisis. Like all others, I too got worried and stayed indoors for four days. Then at the age of 81, I re-tuned my brain to return to my routine, but with safety at paramount in my mind. I took sufficient intake of vitamin C, Zinc and Omega 3-6-9 tablets twice. I inhale steam twice a day with a pinch of turmeric. I walk 2 kilometers daily, maintaining social distancing from all except my wife. I go shopping everyday and ensure that my temperature is checked and wash my hands with sanitizer at the entrance of the store. I was in the Thiruvanmiyur market on the day it was over crowded, taking photos for over an hour. I came home, had a very hot bath and gulped plenty of hot water and vitamin C tab. I noticed that some of the departmental stores security chaps are not aware of what is normal temperature and at what stage customers should not be let in. This is only a precaution, as reading of temperature is not really a solution to stop corona spread. Imagine, a man who takes a large dose of Paracetamol. He will show normal temperature at the time he enters the store. He may still be a carrier of corona. I ensure that I go nowhere near anyone but keep a distance and wait to shop till the customer moves away from the counter. I check my O2 level, Pulse rate and keep a watch. I do my routine and breathing exercise at the seashore for 30 minutes. Fresh and unpolluted air gives a new lease of life to my lungs. Generally, I notice there is more of mental health crisis with TV channels igniting the scare of treatment and non –availability of beds and how the dead are disposed. Watching TV channels is scarier than even watching movies like ‘The Exorcist, The Fly or Horror of Dracula. The question is how to overcome this fear and live comfortably. MIT Tech Review on June 6, has given some tips which may help us all.  Notice when you are worrying and be kind and compassionate to yourself. This is a difficult time; it makes sense that you might be more anxious.  Focus on what’s in your control. Work out what is hypothetical worry, what is the real problem(needs a solution now)  Refocus on the present moment: Focus on your breath or on using your five senses.  Engage in activities that you find meaningful and enjoyable like music, walking, reading, baths, household talks, or call friends and family. (I still find no reason on permitting walking by elders two hours in the morning and evening on the beach side roads and not on beach. Fresh air and long walk by elders might help fight corona, none of the walkers are going to walk shoulder to shoulder).  Notice and limit your worry triggers. If the news is making you anxious, limit your consumption.  Practice gratitude; List of things you were grateful for that day for example “The sun was shining”  Keep routine and stay mentally and physically active.

I would love to have a glass of Red Wine in the late evening and say hell with you Corona. But pity, I can’t get wine. So I settle with a glass of orange juice. Forget hospital beds scarcity, take all precautions, go with your routine and enjoy life instead of worrying about the ambulance siren.

------

Politics in Agonizing pain Truth is always bitter. The Maharashtra mess is due to Congress which tried to stir up a hornet’s nest in Mumbai and gave a big jolt to its allies. In its over- ambition to target Modi and BJP, it has put unimaginable suffering across India, as migrants were gripped with imaginary fear which pushed them to flee emptying their already slim wallets of the last few coins, to see their families. Shiv Sena was silenced and became a slave to the grave misadventure resulting in the spread of the virus across the city of Mumbai like wildfire. Congress which is in the dying status rushed in to capitalize on the issue of the migrant workers and indulged in all kinds of stunts and theatrics to gain some lost ground. The battleground of this dirty politics shifted to UP, the home turf of Congress leaders, and also maximum MPs. UP and Maharashtra are hotspots of dirty politics. It is the saddest news that a woman died of thirst and hunger on the platform of Muzaffarpur Nagar (UP) station on Wednesday. On the same day, a child of four also died at the railway station. It is a painful fact that migrants from the states of UP/Bihar/Rajasthan/Bengal have given unstinted support to all other states, from the Service sector to the construction industry. The opposition parties could have shown their patriotism from day one in many ways in helping the ruling BJP. Instead, they waited for the crisis to reach the point of no return. The Congress party is indulging in cheap publicity and video of Rahul interacting with migrants is been viewed as a cheap comedy like the past similar stunts he did in UP when he stayed overnight with a Dalit family. Now, the brave elephant and the leader of BSP, Mayawati made a bold statement saying that “the Congress is responsible for the plight of migrant workers in the entire country”. She is right to a great extent. She also did a wise thing to stay away from the meet of 22 opposition parties. If the opposition is serious, they could have held the meeting 8 weeks earlier. The opposition was as ignorant as others and utilized this as a great political opportunity to reestablish, and the take- off point became Mumbai. Mayawati did the right thing in hitting out at Congress. Priyanka’s bid to show off with 800 (?) “Bus circus” and Rahul’s video has not gelled well with people of UP. The complexion of UP politics will now change with more opposition parties becoming allies of BJP. Mayawati made the first bold move to expose the hypocrite Congress. It is also visualized that the Congress will be in a grave fix, once the corona tsunami blows over. Well done! Mayawati.

Tension at the Peak- internal and external

Some people’s immaturity is intensified by their stupidity…Mokokoma Mokhonoana It is a fact that no other leader in the world has to face so many challenges like India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is encountering now. It is perhaps much easier to handle the Chinese than coping with Rahul Gandhi’s abusive utterances at this time of worst challenges. It cannot be forgotten that Rahul Gandhi vented his anger on the surgical strike and asked proof for the airstrike. His traits never change. Now for narrow political gains, he calls PM as “Surrender Modi" as if he has surrendered the Indian soil to China. Rahul’s attitude is unfortunate. Instead of shutting his mouth, he now has to prove that what he said was true with facts and figures; otherwise, people will shun him as “joker”. He should have taken a cue from Sharad Pawar, Mayawati, and Mamata Banerjee who showed maturity in an all- party meeting. This is the time for showing patriotism, unity; not for creating doubts about the ruling party or its leadership. It is a grim reality that a dangerous escalation at Indo-China border has resulted in casualties on both sides. India has lost 20 of its precious soldiers and China too also lost many. This is the first time in 53 years that skirmishes between India and China has led to fatalities. While the talks between flag officers to deescalate tensions was in the process, the fistfight took place. Both have carefully avoided gunshots on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The two sides disagree on the actual location of the border at 13 points from Ladakh to the tip of India’s northeast. India and China disagree on the actual length of the border itself. India and China have managed well to keep the tension under control so far in this frontier. In the past whenever apprehension arose in the border, “Indians and Chinese carried out banner patrols telling each other to push back”. Suddenly, why China chose to divert the attention of the world by indulging in the high peak of the Himalayas is a mystifying mystery. China is aware that the whole world is against it after the “Wuhan virus” that led to the death of millions and has paralyzed the entire world economy. With the world against it, China should be cautious and not indulge in a scuffle with India which has been its longtime friend. On October 11, 2019, in the Modi –Xi jinping summit at Mamallapuram, many issues on Trade, boundary disputes and Kashmir were discussed. The expectation was a smooth flow of relationship and further strengthening of bondage between the two powerful nations. The sudden spurt of the deadly virus, 90 days after the informal summit changed the complexion of relationship between China and India. Now the incident of a mini war- like situation requires positive action by both Delhi and Beijing. China should realize that the entire world is up against it and it has to face serious economic and internal disturbances. China should realize that India has a long history of warm political and business relations. It is in China’s interest to confine itself to its territory instead of antagonizing a good neighbor. ------

Targeted lockdowns

As Tamil Nadu is facing a serious crisis due to the spread of COVID-19, and the recovery rate is also disheartening, the government had to act fast to stop further spread of the deadly virus. On Monday, Chennai recorded a total of 33,244 cases which is increasing. Chief Minister Edappaddi K Palaniswamy took a cautious and rational step adopting a targeted lockdown to keep inconvenience to the public in various parts of the state, minimum. Complete lockdown is announced for four districts- Chennai, Chengalpet, Kanceepuram and Thiruvallur from June 19 to 30 to arrest the increasing trend of covid curve. This limited and targeted lockdown is absolutely necessary. The imposition of a lockdown in these four areas may create some hardship for the residents but it is the only way to flatten the curve. Past experience has shown that the locals were not very cooperative with the government, especially in the last month. Opposition parties are the least helpful. This is not the time for politics but perfect unity to end the misery of all. At least, now people should extend support to the government to prevent the situation from going worse. The CM’s targeted lockdown strategy is the best at present. It is also inevitable to create decentralized testing and hospital facilities in highly infected areas like Royapuram and Tondiarpet to prevent people from going out. It is time for the local physicians to treat mildly affected persons and advise them to stay at home. Perhaps it is already happening. Many OTC drugs may help at the very beginning. It is for the residents of the identified and isolated areas to fully cooperate for 15 days by wearing masks and curtail unwanted walkout from home. My view is that if you wear a mask, and keep the safe distance which is very tough but inevitable, you will not be a carrier or receiver. Follow the rules, and you will be happy after a few weeks. Unfortunately, the virus is smarter than all researchers, doctors, politicians, you and me. We should be smarter to contain it, if not kill it. Stay at home. Stay safe.

Is revamping of the WHO necessary for future safety? Please, don’t decorate me in garlands Don’t give me applause Spare me recognition for work injury, martyrdom, or any other merits I didn’t come to Wuhan to admire the cherry blossoms And I didn’t come for the scenery, the reception of flattery I just want to return home safe when the epidemic ends Even if all that remains are my bones I must bring myself home to my children and parents Wei Shuiyin

Worse than the Corona virus toll, are the actions and reactions of world leaders, government and media, which is a terrible mix of optimism and more pessimism mix. The WHO is the first target of many, and rightly so. WHO was very tardy in its reflexes towards the virus consequences when it first came to its notice.

WHO had opted to play Beijing’s political game by ignoring Taiwan’s early warnings in December of the possible human-human transmission of the virus. WION TV channel ran a good investigative story on Wednesday. WION exposed ”the collusion of the WHO with CCP as the latter allowed 5 million people leave the Hubei Province, which later became the epicenter of the virus”. It is a stark truth that WHO handled the corona virus emergence lighter than it did Ebola. Of course, it could not visualize the virus’ capability to spread at lightning speed and sweep across the globe and send many to their graves. The situation today is beyond human comprehension and researchers are slogging hard to find a cure. WHO announced in February the disease caused by the new virus as COVID 19, to avoid association of the virus with China or Wuhan. But it was too late as the world had already branded it as “made in China”. WHO also gave an impression that it is “China centric”! US President Donald Trump has repeatedly associated the virus with China. Brazilian lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro called it “China fault”. United Kingdom is also saying that China bears the responsibility. The US President has charged WHO with “severely mismanaging and covering up” the outbreak. He declared the corona virus as a public health emergency only on 30th January. Donald Trump failed miserably to the alarm bell sounded in late December and could not visualize the seriousness and declared a national emergency only on 13th March. He sat in an ivory tower for over 40 days when US was burning with the death of around 4800 and fatalities was increasing day by day. President Trump, to distract from his failure to handle the severity of the corona virus crisis and his administration’s failure to act on time, indulged in all kinds of mudslinging. Trump took a typical political tactic of sidetracking his failure assaulting Beijing and WHO. In January, he praised Beijing for hard work and transparency regarding the virus. He is now on a warpath with China and WHO. Trump announced the halting of funds to WHO for mishandling the corona virus pandemic in the world. It is to be remembered that US is the biggest donor to WHO and contributes nearly 15 percent of its total budget. The Director –general of the UN health agency feels that Trump has taken a hasty decision. The DG also reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to keep “working without fear or favour”. Trump has to revise his decision sooner or later as WHO’s existence is inevitable to the world. It is very sad that Trump has hastily withdrawn the support at a time when the agency is seeking additional funding of $675 million to meet the contingency plan during the pandemic. Forgetting for a while the mess the WHO made initially, the need of the hour is for all nations to unite and work to fight the menace and put all effort to invent a vaccine to kill the virus or experiment with the existing drugs whether it can give some immediate relief. And for this coordination, we need an agency like WHO. To be fair, WHO has a good track record of fighting several battles in the last four decades against AIDS, Congo fever, Ebola, malaria, polio, SARS and many other diseases? It has shown remarkable success in these areas. It has to continue perhaps with a restructuring plan. The world definitely needs stronger health cooperation to cope up with sudden springing of viruses. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus promised to shake the institution up. But the consensus is that it should start from the top. Let us not forget the time lapse in bringing the human to human transmission fact was underplayed for over two months. The result is- 2 million people fell ill and 125,000 lives lost. Why? Who is responsible? China or WHO?

Migrant workers It is a bitter truth that both the state and central government, in haste, overlooked the magnitude of the migrant population living in urban and semi- urban areas when a sudden bomb was dropped urging them to stay indoors. It was a shock to the thousands of migrant workers who sent their income to their homes in villages and were living in the most undesirable condition. The TV channels and print media had an early opportunity to bring the magnitude of the problem to public notice but failed. At least the vibrant TV channels blew the issue after Rome was aflame more to catch eyeballs. The TV channels are always debating on mundane political bickering and not concentrating on issues of public concern. It is on record that migrants in the country, both inter and intrastate movement is estimated at 450 million. UP, Bihar are the biggest source states, followed by MP, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, J&k and West Bengal. The major destination states are Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala. In all the states, migrant workers have contributed to the growth of key sectors like construction, hotel, textile, manufacturing, transportation, services, and domestic work. Nine out of ten migrants have been living under poor conditions in cities, sharing too small accommodation for too many. They chose poor conditions of living to take care of their family back home, be it Assam or Bihar. When the lockdown was announced, they were worried about their families back home. They wanted to go away from the virus threatened urban areas to their villages. It is a natural human reaction to go home, be with near and dear ones, at the time of a crisis. Unfortunately, their employers who employed them could not infuse confidence and assure them of a safe return passage home, protection, or food. They could have easily taken up the issues through CII, Chamber of Commerce, and Construction Owners Association and coordinated with the authorities. They did not take any initiative to address the problem. The net result was desperation, which drove the immigrants to walk, cycle, or a victim to truck mafias who inhumanely sucked what little money was left in their pockets. Some immigrants even at this time of crisis were innovative to convert two- wheelers into a mini caravan to go a long way. When the situation got worse, a few trains were run in a hurry to ferry the migrant workers from different destinations. Still, there are thousands who want to reach home, but helpless. Few lost their lives en route to accident and fatigue. Human lives are cheap in India- a fact which no politician will accept. The Government of India Inter- State Migrant Workmen Act of 1979 outlines the responsibilities of employers and contractors or agents who promise a monthly settlement of wages but “do not pay when the time comes.” The act lists the ideal working conditions of interstate migrants, which comprises the right to medical care, housing at the employment site, right to return home periodically and wages equal to those of the local employees. Many have forgotten that such a law exists. Whatever may be the reason, the internal immigrants have been utilized and not given support when desperately needed. The centre, at last stepped in to press few trains into service with the cooperation of the state governments for the stranded to go home. Yet the effort has miles to go. The exodus of migrant workers will teach us all a lesson for the future and show us where we failed as one human being to another. The migrant labor issue is only the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, it will not backlash as it happened at the time of Emergency when word of mouth publicity gave a blow to an overconfident PM, India who boasted that ‘India is Indira’ and vice versa. I have seen the reaction of the public through WMP at that time in UP.

A cartoon at WWII 1942

Great minds

At this time of crisis when 216 countries are suffering from anxiety and depression, we need to be responsible to extend our help to the state and central government in two ways. One, is to give as much money to the government (small or big), state or centre, which can help fighting the corona war. This is the time to ensure that all of us, including the opposition political parties do our best to contribute liberally to COVID funds and stop making vague and malicious statements. A few opposition parties have already added more problems, unimaginable, like in Mumbai. Second is to remain sober and shun reacting to the tons of disturbing news and opinions coming out of wild imagination in the social networks and ensure that we get the due benefits offered by the state/central government.

Making an unbiased view, the Rs. 20 lakh crore economic stimulus announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman is a brilliant move and perhaps the world’s largest holistic package. The move towards “Aatmanibhar Bharat( self reliant India) is a self starter effort as we saw what is happening in the world which suffered from “Made in China“ phobia. The principle of “outsourcing” for price sake will change to long term self reliant strategy. Modi triggered the button of self reliance at this crucial time. This great concept needs to be sold to the public through a well planned communication strategy that will reach from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. Today such a stimulus from government is necessary, as people are surrounded daily by deaths and disease, forced isolation, stalked by poverty and the scary terrible situation at hospitals. The UN report on Thursday, notes the upsurge in the severity of mental illness and an increased domestic unrest and violence. UN Doctors and nurses have said that they have experienced a combination of panic, anxiety, grief, numbness, irritability, insomnia and nightmares. Frequent misinformation and rumours about the pandemic and uncertainty of the future have made migrants walk hundreds of miles just to see and be with their families. To avoid mass psychic problem a booster dose was necessary to keep the nation in a safety net. This is where the “Aatmanibhar Bharat” comes. Of course, there can be modifications after feedback from the people and experts. Let us keep our hope strongly alive, that we will fight corona with our might. It is also time for the multinationals and big industrial units and wealthy politicians to give a boost by contributing to the COVID fund. Ratan Tata, Sakthi Masala group of Tamil Nadu, Telengana Governor Tamilisai Soundarajan, and Justice N.V.Ramana among many others have shown us the way.

Brave warriors: Corona war

It is a grim reality that smacks on our face-the Corona virus toll. More than 187 countries’ Presidents, Prime Ministers and team, plus hundreds of scientists are battling to find a cure groping in the dark. It is only the permutation and combination of existing drugs and toying with plasma therapy, which seems to be giving some hope in this hopeless situation. Miraculously, recovery is also showing an upward trend. Today about 269,000 people have died from COVID-19, 3.7 million infections have been confirmed in 187 countries and more than 1.3 million people have recovered up to Friday. Prime Minister Mode’s address to the nation on Corona virus from time to time is a great morale booster from the selfless, dedicated doctors to the sanitary workers on the street. His tireless efforts have saved us from the worst disaster. With a population of 1.5 crores, there are bound to be some setbacks, here and there. This does not mean that we have lost completely. On the COVID war front, our Chief Minster joined the PM in his 24x7 duty. Edapaadi K Palaniswami and his team consisting of O.Paneerselvam, Health Minster Dr.C.Bhaskar and health secretary, Ms.Beela Rajesh has done a marvelous job of containing the virus spread and good recovery rate. If only people have co- operated some more with the government, and with a little more patience, we may not have so many patients today. This is not a time for comparison, but a fact that Tamil Nadu is a showcase of how to handle the situation at a time of crisis. In this grim scenario, we need good leaders to guide and save the state. Not armchair critics. Inputs and feedbacks are vital, not petty political pickings. Our CM and team have done well and continue to do so.

Brave warriors: Corona war

The doctors, ambulance drivers and nurses have virtually risked their lives to save patients of the deadly virus-COVID 19. They are ready to help the victims with the best of treatment so that they can get out fast from the hospitals. It is no mean task to monitor over around 1000 patients in different localities and ensure that they get everything from nutritious food to medicine. There is no immediate relief for this virus infection. So far there have only been hypothetical inferences from past experiences of treating virus patients. Therefore, the attending physician’s job is nerve wracking. It is highly challenging as there is no cure and the physician has to use his judgment to decide on the line of treatment as it may vary according to the physical condition of the patient. Each patient has to be constantly monitored by qualified nurses. Against these terrible odds, the medial team in Tamil Nadu and particularly in Chennai is doing a commendable job. Tamil Nadu also has two gigantic challenges. One, return of participants from the Tablighi Jamaat convention held in Delhi. Unwittingly these people became carriers of the virus in the state. The health authorities did well to track and treat them and their families. The second toughest challenge was that of tracking, identifying, isolating, testing and hospitalization of people who visited, worked in the wholesale market of Koyambedu. This vegetable market has over a lakh of vendors/ visitors in the early hours. Here again, the government understood the magnitude of the problem and made available an alternate safe venue in a short span of time. The Koyambedu wholesale market has been shifted to Thirumazhisai with all infrastructure facilities. This is perhaps the first time in the history of Tamil Nadu that such a mammoth task was completed efficiently in a jiffy. Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary K.Shanmugam, DGP JK Tripathi and their team acted fast to create the new wholesale vegetable market keeping in mind the safety and mobility. ------

China might push the world from bad to worst

The news from the hotspot of the world is that another plague from China is likely. A headline in a newspaper said, “bubonic plague sends China into high alert.” It should also trigger WHO to be more agile this time than taking a flexible attitude towards China. A new case was first reported on Saturday. The patient is now in quarantine and said to be in a stable condition in the inner Mongolio Autonomous Region of Bayannur. The patient is a herdsman, now in quarantine. It is likely the herdsman contracted the plague from eating raw marmot (large squirrel) meat. The area has announced a level 3 alert which forbids the hunting and eating of animals that could carry plague. Similar to corona virus, it is hard to identify it in the early stages because symptoms which usually develop after three to seven days are like flu. It causes painful, swollen lymph modes as well as fever, chills and coughing. The plague bacteria can be transmitted to humans via flea bites or contact with contaminated fluid or tissue of a plague–infected animal. It can also be transmitted via infectious droplets. When a person has plague pneumonia he/she may cough droplets containing the plague bacteria in the air. A person becomes sick with bubonic plague anywhere between two to six days after being infected. The plague can be fatal in up to 90 percent of people infected if not treated, primarily with several types of antibiotics. The world is in a terrible state with corona virus. There has been no remedy but the tragedy is mounting. At this juncture, the entire focus is on saving the world from corona virus. But the recent disturbing news of the plague which is a potentially dangerous new virus. It cannot be ignored. A sigh of relief is that no one from China can step out of the country to spread the plague, as they did in the case of Corona virus. ------

Corona warriors: Bill Gates Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated around $ 300 million to blunt the spread of COVID-19. Bill Gates also complimented Modi and the Indian government for fully utilizing digital capabilities in COVID -19 responses and the launch of the “Aarogya Setu” digital app for corona virus tracking, contact tracing and connecting people to health services. Like Nostradamus, Bill Gates is the prophet who warned as early as 2015, that a pandemic was a greater risk to humankind than nuclear war. Five years before that, he challenged the world health community to commit a ‘decade of vaccines’ and gave grants up $10 million to take off this venture. Bill Gates is a strong preacher who voices his views on keeping the world happy and healthy. He has urged the drug makers of San Francisco to focus on diseases that affect the poor as well as the rich. In AP, in India, he has preached about the value of small holding farms. In Abu Dhabi, he “enjoined the Crown Prince and others to continue their financial support for global health initiatives’. Today, he is at the forefront, to lead the global war against a disease without borders. His foundation has helped save millions of lives. He is also funding the construction of factories to manufacture seven possible corona virus vaccines. It is a ‘wait and watch’ situation. Gates has also to brook some criticism when he liberally donated to many good causes. He simply ignored and went on his quest to serve humanity. He is now making himself ‘an expert in infectious diseases.’ He has done the greatest service to humanity by creating a market for lifesaving drugs that are ignored by the best of pharma companies. ------Loot of Lakes and Lands in Tamil Nadu

The loot of temple and government property has been going on for years in all regimes of the political parties. Luckily for the public, slowly, corruption in the judiciary is declining, with brave and upright judges spelling out their concerns without fear or favour. Two areas have come under public scrutiny by default. One is grabbing of corporation and government lands in cities and suburbs, which has caused terrific hardship during floods. Chennai alone had over 580 lakes which could prevent flood and provide drinking water for a year. Lands around the lakes and dry lakes made many politicians rich. With the aid of computer and town planning drawings, it will not be difficult to retrieve government and corporation lands which have been illegally used for construction, by legally justified records. Now at least the AIADMK should set up a separate cell to identify the properties of government including the land encroached and benami holdings and retrieve them.

Another department which is in the limelight from divine light is the HR &CE. In the last three years, the department is under fire for thousands of missing idols. Frankly, it is impossible to give the exact number of idols and ancient artifacts that have simply vanished from over thousands of temples. The present set up idol theft wing, is too tiny to deal with this mega problem. While the setting up of a special team by the government is a positive step to retrieve the lands of the temple, the team should also prevent on the sly occupation of the retrieved lands.

Temple properties are grossly misused. For example one temple’s buildings and property in Chennai is held mostly by a single family under different names. There is also another issue where temple properties are kept idle without generating any income. Temple are also losing crores of rupees on income, as the tenant is charging a huge amount for installing and maintaining hoardings and enjoying the benefit of “rental free living” as their rent gets compensated by rental on hoarding. Another area of loss is where the tenant constructs additional buildings without proper sanction and the beneficiary to such loot are the temple officials. There are so many ways that the temple income is lost due to sheer negligence and compromising attitude of the officials of temple and the government. It is high time that AIADMK government revamps the HR&CE from top to bottom. There should be constant reshuffling of officials of the temple, who have virtually become the law makers of the temple ignoring the higher ups and having a strong lobby. It is also extremely disturbing to note that 25,000 hectares of land has been sold illegally or forcibly occupied by mafia. The lands are donated to temples to generate income to maintain the temples and not for disposal as per whims and fancies of politicians in power. Tamil Nadu government should set up another department (not committee) to thoroughly go into the details of illegal possession of government and temple lands and retrieve them. It is a marathon task but it has to be done and now. Pain or Gain for BJP

I am optimistic that BJP will come back to power in 2019 after a marathon effort. The earlier hope was that it will be a sweep like the previous poll. But let us not fool ourselves thinking that it will be a supersonic performance. I have watched the BJP in Tamil Nadu and also in neighboring states and am pained to say that governance, dynamic, seasoned and experienced leadership is missing. At the grass root level there is too much compromise. BJP on top should immediately revamp the whole set up in Tamil Nadu and identify a new go getter and start moving. Only then BJP president Amit Shah’s vision of the victory of 2019 being bigger than 2014 can be achieved. Modi rightly said the party should stop thinking about the forthcoming election; instead focus on serving and reaching out to the people. Prime Minister Modi did the right thing in announcing a series of measures designed to help small businesses by giving them access to quick finance and cut down procedures. The MSME programme support launched by Modi is laudable. Real and honest business man should be happy that his loan will be approved on line in 59 minutes.

It is great if it happens at that speed. Business will improve and so too employment prospects. It is great! Give the credit to Jaitley too, for promising a strong economic growth and enhanced PPP. This is a good curtain raiser before the general election. .

Trump’s arrogance

Donald Trump is a crack pot. He had luck on his side and won the Presidential election. After that he is a daily disaster to America. It was an insult to every Indian when he rejected Modi’s invitation to visit our country as the Republic Day chief guest on 26 January 2019. His lame excuse of being too busy with a ‘state of the union’ is bullshit. Knowing Trump well, we should have waited for confirmation before leaking the news. Many grapevine theories have floated for this attitude. Officials speculate that Trump is upset over India’s $5 billion purchase S -400 air defense missile from Russia. America’s sanction against Iran is also cited as a factor. India and Iran have a healthy commercial relationship. These are flimsy reasons for his declining the invitation to visit India in January. Someone will replace Trump as Republic Day guest, but they will know they weren’t the first choice. Cruel collapse of civilization I don’t think we are living in an information age; rather in Stone Age. Unnecessary wars and fears have taken away the kindness in our hearts and we have become blood thirsty in every walk of life. Thousands of children perish on earth for no fault of theirs. The World is watching, discussing, debating and taking documentaries, yet children continue to die. Since 2015, Yemen has been under bomb explosions causing death of hundreds of children in the so called most civilized world. Is there no way to save these children? The answer seems to be a big “No”. Yemen’s civil war continues with no sign of ending in the near future.

Yemen Hospital destroyed Refugee camp

New York last week brought to the attention of the world how thousands upon thousands of children are suffering and dying on account of the war. Many kids died of malnutrition in camps. NYT ran a story about Amal Hussain, a seven year old girl who died of malnutrition in a refugee camp in northern Yemen. The story broke everyone’s heart except perhaps Trump’s and the UN is satisfied with just calling it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. How does it help? Do something at least to save the hapless children and fast. (Point of view 091118)

The Pious Monk of Colombo On Thursday 31st, we visited the Gangaramaya Temple, dedicated to Lord Buddha, in Colombo. The chief monk of the temple, Podi Hamuduruwo was sitting at the entrance and he beckoned me. He asked me if I hailed from Chennai and he would like to bless me. I fell at his feet and took his blessings. He showed me around the temple and said he was proud of us and showed me the 100 odd sculptures of Buddha made in Mahabalipuram. He is a very simple monk without any paraphernalia. He was accessible to everyone. He is a pageant of virtues, with no thought of caste, race or religion. He tied a sacred thread on my right hand and gave me a book of prayers. One of the best initiatives of this great monk is to prevent drinking on 31st December when fatal accident takes place. He offered coins to those who came to the temple on New Year eve. He placed an advertisement to announce the initiative which drew a lot of attention. People rushed to the temple instead of bars. All Buddhist temples, churches, Hindu temples and mosques conducted ceremonies and parents took their children to religious place to receive blessings. All ministers and President of Sri Lanka take his council on important issues. Podi Hamuduruwo commemorated his birthday on December 14th. I humbly prostrate before him and pray Lord Buddha to grant him a long and healthy life. It is very hard to find a simple saint like Podi these days, especially in India. Point of view 2ND Jan 2016

Arun Jaitley should go to Colombo

In a highly competitive and potential environment for banking,' Indian' banks should project a good image and infuse confidence by creating a congenial atmosphere for doing business especially in foreign countries. This point seems to be sorely missing in a public sector bank of India, housed in the Fort area of Colombo. The bank walls are not even painted and it was an ugly sight reflecting how callous we Indians are. The HSBC bank, which is located in the same building, has done a wonderful job in restoring the old building to its original Dutch aesthetics. It is learnt that the Government of Sri Lanka is restoring all the historical monuments in the Fort Area. Both the Banks were advised to take up the project in their building. Our bank did not want to spend money .It looks terribly bad. We write off crores of rupees in NPA but we can’t find money to paint or project a decent image of ourselves abroad. Modi should make it a point to surprisingly visit some of our banks abroad during his foreign jaunts. Of late, Modi is known for unscheduled surprise visits. He can do one for the banks.

Freedom and Democracy

In this crazy world, social media messages are better in communication, than newspapers and columnists. In fact there are many hidden talents whose command over the language and humour are simply wonderful. Here is an interesting piece I came across in a face book site. In 2016, our phones will be wireless, our cooking will be fireless, our cars keyless, our food fatless, our tires tubeless, our dress sleeveless, our youth jobless, our leaders shameless, relationship meaningless, our attitude careless, babies fatherless, our feeling heartless, our education valueless, our children manner less, and our country Godless. How I wish we could add, ministers corrupt less.

New Year’s message

Nice quote for the New Year

Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don’t look back at it too long. Mistakes are life’s way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.” Og Mandino

Christina Rossetti Curb stalking. Police must act I watch everyday how women and girls are abused in front of Kapali temple, Mylapore. Few brokers and roadside Romeos always stare at women and a permanent drunkard sitting on a bike passes lewd comments that are beyond imagination. Yet, he has not been booked as he remains silent or runs away. Police are also not very strict with stalkers. Swathi’s death which became world news is now talking about punishment to stalkers. But many women are scared to approach the police for stalking. Most stalkers are men and most victims are women. I have not seen a single warning from the police chief assuring the public that stalking will be seriously dealt. Such a warning or advertisement in newspapers would definitely motivate the girls to approach police and the rowdy elements standing in front of temples, public parks and theatres will be afraid to indulge in teasing young girls. Stalking has been there from early days. It first attracted wide spread public concern when a young actress named Rebecca Shaeffer who was living in California was shot to death by an obsessed fan who had stalked her for two years. The case drew wide media coverage and revealed how both celebrities and non celebrities faced this ordeal. Here is an interesting poem on stalking written by Christiana Georgina Rossetti in 1860. No, Thank You John I never said I loved you, John: Why will you tease me day by day? And wax a weariness to think upon With always "do" and "pray"? You Know I never loved you, John; No fault of mine made me your toast: Why will you haunt me with a face as wan? As shows an hour-old ghost? I dare say Meg or Moll would take Pity upon you, if you'd ask: And pray don't remain single for my sake Who can't perform the task? I have no heart?-Perhaps I have not; But then you're mad to take offence That don't give you what I have not got: Use your common sense. Let bygones be bygones: Don't call me false, who owed not to be true: I'd rather answer "No" to fifty Johns Than answer "Yes" to you. Point of view 7th July

------

Great UP race

After discovering that Rahul will only add pain in the UP state elections, Congressmen, loyal to the Gandhi family, are now keen on giving the reins to Priyanka Gandhi to do something drastic with her charm to lure the UP voters. The hard core Congressmen believes that Priaynka has the qualities of her indomitable grandmother which can bring good luck to the dying party.

Priyanka will venture beyond the turf of Amethi and Rae Bareli. Congressmen are excited about the impending baptism and plan a big bang welcome to rattle UP. The problem is that Vadra cases and his property misadventure will be a road block for her hustle and bustle full time political adventure. Sonia says more the cases of corruption, merrier in UP. The reason is that crime, cash and clash are the first qualification required to compete for elections in UP.

Lack of discipline

Modi made the first mistake of falling for the smile of Smriti Irani and giving her the top post of HRD minister which was ridiculed by scholars, academicians and pubic. Modi managed to rectify this bad move with the reshuffle of ministers. Smriti Irani who was upset with the change of portfolio behaved like a school student. She earlier scoffed at the speculation over her ouster with a” kuch toh log Kahengey’. But she was missing from the ceremony to formally hand over charge of the ministry to Prakash Javadekar. The minister tried to pacify this lady with two phone calls. Finally, the minister took charge of the ministry minus his predecessor. Let us wait for the comment of Modiji who has been constantly talking about his team’s good conduct and discipline. Coutesy:thehansindia.com

Buried bank loans We have been talking of recovery of bad loans over three decades now. Despite all talks, bad loans have only systematically increased, not decreased. Now the recovery of bad loans has been taken in right earnest by CPI-M. Its general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, a nice person, has taken upon himself to challenge Modi to prove his metal by recovering the huge loans advanced by the state run banks to corporates, naming the top 100 defaulters (the others he left as charity). He wants the names with amount due to be made public. The Marxist leader said that no further public money should be given to the PSB’s. Ironically, he added the poor Indians are paying for the profligacy of the crony capitalists (the latest buzz word of politicians). Well! Yechury, you and I know that it is a near impossible task. Even by a 40 to 50 percent recovery, we are setting a great record. India as of today has lost 2.5 lakh crore of public money by PSU’s. The loss to exchequer is more than the 2G and Coalgate scams. It is also expected that over Rs.75, 000 crores will vanish under bad debts entry in the balance sheet. Balance sheets of the banks are in shambles. Bad debt issue has been badly ignored by the previous Finance Ministers Pranab and Chidambaram. Both shied away from this topic and never gave a straight answer. They spoke about bad loans only in inconsonant terms and nothing concrete. No wonder the CPI-M leader wants a definite action knowing full well, that is an impossible task.

Waning wisdom of the wise It may sound bizarre and ridiculous when I say that even the wisest of men gets trapped in publicity mania and bloated egos. This applies to all sages and saints who live in luxury and preach. They never live under a banyan tree or in a hut in the forest like the true saints and siddars of yore. But some time they do things to impress the public, which lands them in trouble. All their good acts vanish due to one bad act. Yesterday, in an interview to India Today channel, Digvijay Singh was asked as to why he shared a dais with the Muslim hate speaker Zakir Naik. He replied that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had also shared the dais with Zakir and questioned the wisdom of the channel to have spared Ravi Shankar. Both Ravi Shankar and Digvijay wanted publicity, knowing full well that Zakir’s sly net work has a large reach. Both did this to gain publicity. Zakir gained. Ravi and Singh lost their image. In another incident, an Archbishop wanted to grab the limelight. He is the Archbishop of Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who said that divorced couples who remarry should abstain from sex and live as brother and sister. What an absurd sermon?

Mylai festival made happier by Police personnel

Today is the final day of the Panguni Peruvizha of the Kapaleeswarar temple which began on 21st March 2018. The vizha passed off peacefully and happily with least inconvenience to millions of devotees. The police personnel of Mylapore and others deputed for duty from different police stations and Commissioner’s office were very vigilant and took extra care to prove that they are “people friendly”. An unusual sight is the cleanliness of all the four Mada streets from day one, especially after the Aruppathi moover. For the first time in the last 10 years, Mada streets were looking clean without huge heaps of wasted food, plastic covers and cups. Devotees were able to walk without stamping on banana skins or filthy waters. The tribute must go to the police who continuously called on people to keep the surroundings clean, especially before the procession. The credit goes to Mylapore DC P.Saravanan and his team of other DC’s and AC’s. I was very thrilled to see the sub inspector from Mylapore police station appearing on the scene with a T shirt early in the morning like a film hero and supervising the arrangements! Another inspector who had an accident and a tube inserted in his left leg tirelessly stood for over 2 hours. The teams of lady officers who distributed safety pins and advised the ladies to pin their chains were appreciated by all the women devotees. The temple staff, from top to the last ensured that all arrangements and processions were planned meticulously and conducted punctually. The arrangement inside the temple was also excellent and ensured that all the devotees had Darshan of the main deity Kapaleeswarar without any hitch. There was no untoward incident. It is a credible track record for Mylai police. When Jayalalithaa was alive, I sent her a note that the police stations which perform best during big festivals and ensures that there is no crime should be given cash award that can be shared by all. Another suggestion I gave was to give free mopeds to all police personnel. Somehow this was not implemented. On our part, we gave free water bottles/ bottled soft drinks/biscuits to over 1700 devotees on behalf of Sri Vidhya Book Centre and BJP. This was distributed by Dolphin Sridhar, South Chennai District President. Point of view 31/3/18

------

Question paper leaks Question paper leak is something that has to be dealt with severely. Whoever is responsible must face penal action. On the surface it looks like an organized racket as it fetches hefty income. Unimaginable damage is done and students across the nation are angry and frustrated. Sometimes the students themselves are responsible for the leak scam. The recent scam of the CBSE paper leak is baffling the crime branch. As many as 25 lakh students are affected and the affected parents are raising questions on TV channels across the country. The government must act fast and book the persons responsible for this mess in academic arena. It will not be difficult to find out. Of course, the leak of examination papers of Economics for class 12, and Mathematics for class 10 of CBSE has put thousands of students and their parents in severe hypertension mode. There is no use wasting time on publicity and channel debates over what has happened. It is a fact that the CBSE officers were lethargic and acted belatedly on the paper leak .They lodged an FIR with Delhi police only on Thursday alleging criminal breach of trust against some unknown persons. The police will have a tough time to trace the source as the whatsapp platform is encrypted from end to end and how it managed to reach thousands of hands before the examination commenced on Monday morning is baffling. This was followed by another paper leak on Wednesday. Clear 72 hours lapsed before the officials sprung to action. This issue involves the 10th and 12 classes. The students in this class are serious and take their exams in an earnest way as they want to get higher grades for admission in professional courses. Their future depends on the outcome of these tests. The CBSE should take all these serious issues into consideration before a final decision is taken on reexamination of all papers or only leaked papers. The decision will have long term repercussions on the studies and merits of students across the country. It will also have a boomerang effect on politics. That is the tough part of it.

Dirty digital war Rahul in his inimitable quixotic style abused the Modi government of tampering with EVM’s to social media data. Now Congress is in a fix and mess. A video has emerged showing Congress party’s campaign poster at the office of Cambridge Analytica Chief’s office. The poster of Congress with the hand symbol also carries the party slogan “Development for all”. The video clip comes a day after whistleblower Christopher Wylie in a testimony to a British Parliamentary Committee confirmed that Congress party was a client to Cambridge Analytica. The British firm is accused of illegally gaining access to data of over 50 million FB users to influence elections. The recent revelations of Cambridge Analytica files have created frustration and troubling relationship between politics and social media. It is now a global scandal. Many countries have started experiencing this as all over the internet two whistleblowers revealed how FB had mined and sold data of 50 million Americans to a political consultancy firm. UK also experienced how FB data had been used by Pro-Brexit campaigners to tilt the narrow vote. In both cases direct links can be drawn, such as a key Trump adviser was a director in the board of Cambridge Analytica. The development is not pleasant for FB as Mark Zuckerberg admitted that his company had made certain mistakes that violated the trust and privacy of FB users. On the surface, it is not a simple mistake. Personal data, conversations and private information of millions of ordinary citizens have become a new weapon in the hands of many political parties. The whistleblowers like Snowden and Assange and two employees of Cambridge Analytica are veterans in this digital game. The solution to arrest this threat to democracy depends on the government and the public. They should come together and decide what information can be shared and what cannot be.

Antibiotic consumption India is one country where pharmacists are the best doctors and give antibiotics across the counter. I have seen both educated and uneducated seek the advice of the pharmacist for treatment. Invariably, it is a bad decision by the patients. Health experts agree that using antibiotics without prescription is one of the major problems causing antibiotic resistance in the world. India has a track record of huge consumption of antibiotics. The consumption has increased by 103 percent in just 15 years, from 2000 to 2015. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the study tracked antibiotic consumption in 76 countries. It has also projected total global antibiotic consumption by 2030. How to minimize the prescription of antibiotics? The reality is that antibiotics prescribed for viral infections are ineffective and unnecessary. It is a big challenge to restrain doctors from prescribing antibiotics on symptoms alone. Only after diagnostic tests are done, the antibiotics should be recommended and tighter control should be exercised on prescriptions. What is happening now is that unethical doctors have a favourite pharmacy or own a pharmacy and are happy to suggest a course of antibiotics. This is the curse in India, and the patient has to live with it. Luckily a few elite patients have started realizing the implication of antibiotics through net reference. What is important in a country which is predominantly rural and semi urban is the government’s role. It has to muster all its tools to reverse the tide of antibiotic misuse that threatens to unleash drug resistant infections. ------

BRICS Challenges Lot is expected from the BRICS summit in Goa. Russian President Vladimir Putin will be the high profile leader at the 8th Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) summit which will open on Saturday. This is an opportunity for India to further reinforce its long standing relationship with Russia. Russia has been a friendly partner for over six decades with India. The strengthening needs to be done in view of the recent notion that India is getting closer to Washington. It is expected that both the Russian and Indian leaders will issue a joint statement to reflect the common approaches towards solving various global and regional issues. It is expected that Russia and India will sign about 18 agreements and a few deals for Defense sector. Importantly, India needs to seek the cooperation of the BRICS nations to isolate Pakistan and discuss the modalities to end terrorism in the member countries.

Since the first summit in 2009, BRICS has expanded its scope to include everything from national security dialogue to infrastructure financing through BRICS Development Bank. The situation now is significant as most of the countries are dealing with political and economic headwinds. WSJ observes: “China economy slowed. Russia, buffeted by low commodity prices and western sanctions struggling to climb out of recession as is Brazil. African President Jacob Zuma escaped impeachment but corruption scandals and infighting in his party have hurt the government credibility”. India is confronted by a tricky political chess game. It needs to extra cautiously move the pawns to get the full support of all BRICS nation to end terrorism and boost our economy. India needs to keep Washington also happy! Point of view 1510

------Facebook.com

Retired Chief Justice

Somehow former Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju has acquired the knack of speaking non sense since the time he came out of the Supreme Court of India. As a judge, he should be maintaining a decent retired life instead of making illogical and idiotic comments that stirs up controversy and disrupts peace. Take his recent comments on social media- he posted anti-Odisha remarks which received strong criticism from the people of Orissa. He wrote, “Now all they have with them are a lot of pots, big pots and supposedly intelligent kings. And of course, they have Lord Jaganath to whom they pray every day for revenge of the abominable Biharis. Hari Om”. Katju earlier said that 90 % Indians are idiots meaning that he belongs to the 10 percent category. He wanted to elevate actress Katrina Kaif to the post of president of India. He also has the unique honour of branding Mahatma Gandhi as a British agent. It is obvious from the free flow of reckless comments, that the retired justice has clearly disregarded what is expected of a good and honest retired justice. He is becoming more a politician than a retired dignified justice.

Let me remind him what Chief Justice Y.K.Sabharwal said about the basic code of conduct for citizens and especially for judges.”Almost every public servant is governed by certain basic Code of Conduct which includes expectation that he shall maintain absolute integrity; devotion to duty; do nothing which is unbecoming of a public office held by him; render his best judgment in the performance of his official duties; be prompt and courteous; not involve himself in acts of moral turpitude; not take part in party politics; not be associated with activities that are pre-judicial to the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India or public order; not to engage himself in interviews with media, except with the lawful authority of his superiors; not divulge official information which has been entrusted to him in confidence; not accept pecuniary advantage, in particular, from those with whom he is involved in official duties; not to engage himself in private trade or business while holding public office; not to indulge in alcoholism or gambling; to manage his financial affairs in such a manner that he is always free from indebtedness and not to involve himself in transactions relating to property with persons having official dealings with him. But then, these are general principles governing the Code of Conduct for all public servants. The office of a Judge requires much more. The Code of Ethics expected of those in the judiciary goes beyond the call of duty of an ordinary public servant.

Think about this Markandey Katju.

------

https://drawception.com/g

Ugly face of USA

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have one thing in common . They both have downgraded the Super power nation to a ridiculously low level. By choosing two candidates with a cloudy back drop and history, the image of USA has gone down miserably. Even the media is on a confession path for backing the candidates. Too late in any case- Donald Trump is a reflection of America’s culture of vulgarity and hypocrisy. Trump is more a casino play boy, a reality star whose wealth has got him into the White House race. He behaves and acts like an ‘old Casanova’ as vouched by many women. He will only gamble with America’s wealth and prosperity. He is extremely immature and inexperienced. Hillary Clinton has been spared for “e mail” scandal by the generosity of FBI. However Clinton foundation, it is alleged has accepted contributions from foreign governments for reciprocal favours which is still under cloud. Both of them do not deserve the superpower job. But people seem to have reconciled to the inevitable.

Muddled TV reports

It was very disgusting to watch the TV channel debates day in day out for 3 days, on how Sridevi died. The channels were trying to figure out how someone could die in a bathtub. What an important task in the country today! The actress’ drowning was dissected and exploited by experts, editors and anchors on several channels. Everyone wasted their precious time and irritated the viewer by shouting at each other in a competitive spirit to prove their presence. It went on for 72 plus hours with false inferences and theories just for the sake of TRPs. Few TV channels sunk to disgusting levels in ethics and professional competence. Worst came from Subramanian Swamy who sitting in Delhi proclaimed that it was a murder and further provided fodder for the grist mill. He is adding more problems to the image of BJP. He spoke nonsense by saying “she died in another country. It should have been a murder”. He also sprinkled some spice on the dead body. It was reported that a politician who claimed to be her friend said that “good friend Sridevi drank only white wine with the meals. Stories were spun by editors and anchors went on and on uninterruptedly, till the medical report firmly confirmed that it was not a murder. The most loved charming actress Sridevi, even in death helped the TV channels earn good money! The entire reporting was very ugly and presumptuous theories sparked unnecessary inferences in the viral media. The whole episode reporting “was an unethical spectacle shorn of dignity for a fellow human being who left a family behind.” This is one more bitter show of lack of honesty and ethics in reporting a celebrity’s death. Journalism is not about an incident. It is about fact finding and honest reporting of truth. ------

Fierce fighting in politics

Let me wish Mr Stalin, the very best, a wealthy, and happy and a long life even though his close associate has used his name and put me to a great loss in business. That is DMK’s inherent quality. I was helping DMK in my student days much before Stalin entered politics. I funded DMK in the days of Hindi agitation at Erode. Periyar used to admire my role in politics. It was in the late fifties. Now DMK is in for a shock. DMK’s future is certainly bleak and Stalin becoming a CM is very doubtful. One thing is clear. The cadre is very upset that only a few, close to Gopalapuram are flourishing and the true DMK men are languishing. Seeing the opportunity, two cine heroes, well past their youth, decided to take a heroic step and enter the political arena. One, to eliminate corruption and the other, to cleanse the system by spiritual healing. Both Kamal and Rajini have cast their dice and entered politics. A good change is certainly needed to attract the youth and give a new start and change the existing culture and cult of the dreaded Dravidians (who are they?). AIADMK is yet to figure out how this fierce competition is going to hit them. Obviously, they are busy keeping all eggs in one basket and holding the basket tight without crushing the eggs inside. Kamal started with a spectacular show to take off his party. Having Kejriwal as the chief guest, I feel is a bad beginning. Rajini’s curtain raiser is the ‘Kala’ movie teaser that is now everywhere. The clipping features Rajinikanth who dons the role of a gangster in the film, beating up the bad man and saying, “I am alone. If you have guts all of you come together”. It is a very strong platform to lure the youth and firmly establishing a political party. After Kala release, the Tamil New Year will see the dawn of Rajini’s party in a big way. The post scenario will be a huge split of large chunks of DMK, AIADMK, PMK votes which will go to Rajini. Kamal may not make a great dent even if he aligns with a Dravidian party. It will be Rajini plus ‘x party’ which will form the next government. It all depends on strategic alliances and no single party will emerge as a winner with a clean majority. ------

Fugitives, financial crisis and free economy

I am really proud to be in BJP as the party is doing well in the midst of a global clumpy economic scenario. It is trying its best to cleanse India by sparing none. Its policy firmly caught the Sonia family and PC family unawares. BJP has to go at lightning speed to get all the money launderers and bank fraudsters. It has done the right thing in introducing the bill that is aimed at punishing those who are accused of committing financial crimes in India and fleeing the country as in the case of Nirav and Vijay Mallya. Hopefully the staggering figure of Rs. 1, 60,00,00,00,000 lost, should be recovered partially if not in full. Unfortunately, in this country even the ex Finance Minister and prime ministers have misread the mixed free economy as an economy of convenient loot. Otherwise why should there be so many scams which drained the banks here and enriched the banks abroad. The friend and foe of BJP in 1974 accused P Chidambaram of fraud. Today it is proving correct. My sincere sympathies for Karti Chidambaram who was once with me as VP in the Tamil Nadu Manila Congress Science and Technology cell with another colleague American Narayanan. In those days, he was a nice and dynamic chap and I wonder how he landed in this mess. He has a tough time ahead as the CBI seems to have a watertight case. The case is about taking bribe and facilitating INX Media access to foreign investment in blatant violation of norms. PC himself is alleged to have a role in the FIPB clearance to Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006. The trial and episode involving the Former Finance Minister of this country is a slur on the image of India. The CBI certainly has to do an honest and efficient job and properly present the documents and prove its stand. It has already been rebuked for incompetency that led to the acquittal of the 2 G scam accused in a trial court.

BJP must act swiftly to book all other criminals and fraudsters of banks to restore the faith of people. It also has to streamline banking operation and stop further erosion of liquidity.

------

Breast feeding ad controversy What is wrong if a feminine magazine carries a photograph of a woman breast feeding an infant? Malayalam women’s magazine Grahalakshmi features a photograph of a woman breast feeding, with a headline, “Mothers- don’t stare. We need to breast feed.” This is a powerful hard-hitting message with an attention drawing visual which has done well to comply with AIDA theory. The ad is creative and not bordering on porn as compared to some of the condoms and perfume ads; it is a nice ad to remind modern young women who feels shy to breast feed. I think it is a foolish venture to go to court to seek remedy. Already the magazine has been published by Mathrubhumi group and millions have got the message. It is sheer stupidity to discuss this on TV or in other platforms for the sake of publicity.

------

God save Tamil Nadu

We remembered the great Mahakavi Bharathiyar as his birthday was on 11th December. He was the first poet to proclaim the values and culture of Tamil Nadu. He said that “Tamil Nadu thanai pera thai yenru kumbudadi papa” (bow to Tamil Nadu as a mother gave birth to you).

The rich cultural heritage was slowly eroded by neither political parties which neither had culture nor value. They only indulged in taking care of their family and friends. This disease of wealth, like cancer spread to bureaucrats also. The removal of Tamil Nadu’s chief secretary P Rammohan Rao has become global news.

It also tarnished the image of Tamil Nadu. J.Jayalalithaa placed him on a pedestal overlooking seniors. He is in for major trouble due to his link with the mining baron Shekar Reddy and his associate Srinivasulu. The recovery of 30 lakhs in cash and 5 kg of gold cannot be brushed off easily. It is obligatory on the part of the central government to make public all the details as the people are keen to know who is behind such massive corruption. BJP government which is noted for tardiness in action in many fool proof scams and confessions, should prove its worth now, that too before a political tsunami sweeps Tamil Nadu. (Point of view 2412) ------

Triggering nuclear strength

Donald Trump’s win has both plus and minus. Plus side is that he agreed to pay $25 million to settle fraud allegations surrounding Trump University. The deal stops a trial being held. Otherwise, he would have filed bankruptcy in his usual style. Now he has shot a nuclear missile. He tweets “the US must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes”. This is against what Obama aimed for. With more than 7000 warheads, the US has the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons followed by Russia, UK, France and China. Trump’s attempt will send two clear messages to the world. Non-proliferation is no longer a key goal of the US. There is every likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear accident or exchange. The aftermath of such occurrence is beyond human imagination. Trump should think better on deadly issues. ------Following India

Prime Minister Modi should be happy. He has a follower in President Maduro of Venezuela. Venezuela withdrew 100 Bolivar bill out of circulation. He also ordered the boards of Brazil and Columbia to remain closed until Sunday. His bid to phase out the 100 unit bank notes continues to frustrate citizens. With replacement yet to arrive, the locals lined up outside banks on Thursday to deposit the demonetized 100 Bolivar notes. According to official figures the 100 Bolivar bill accounts for 77 percent of the cash circulation. The move has caused cash chaos and long queues at banks. President Maduro promised new higher denomination bills would be distributed in January. ------

Fake address, fake political parties

In Tamil Nadu, the Chief Secretary is caught in corruption. At the centre, residence of Home Minister Rajnath is the official address of a fake political party named ‘All India Progressive Janata’ according to media reports. Now the question arises whether the political party received donation. Any case, Rahul Gandhi has one more point to brag about. The Election Commission has delisted 255 political parties that existed only on paper. Though EC does not have direct power to cancel registration of a political party, it can take back the symbol. Most of the addresses given by the fake parties are lawyer’s chambers, or minister’s house. Hopefully, the EC has not registered any party with parliament address. Another party by name ‘Pavitra Hindustan Kaazhagam’ gave its address as 11, Harish Chandra Mathur Lane, which is the office of Jammu and Kashmir CID. Similarly, the Akhil Bharatiya Dastkar Morcha and Rashtiya Yuva Loktantrik Party provided chamber number 187 and chamber 461 respectively at Patiala House courts as their addresses. At least in future, EC can ask state police clearance of address before registering them. ------

Welcome Promise

In the swift communication era, one politician is faster than sound and light. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi promised at a rally on Friday, to take action against corrupt party leaders within two minutes. He seems to have read the famous 2 minute noodles ads. Gandhi gave this solemn promise to act against the corrupt in his party at a public rally in South Goa. Let us see how many are sacked . Already 24 hours has elapsed. Perhaps the effort should start from his home. ------

Love, lust and morale I get rattled when I read stories about stalkers killing young girls. I see this happening very frequently these days because of low standard movies which of late has been romanticizing stalking, face book and easy access net which has too many luring and “motivating” hints on sex and love. The net result is one sided love. Genuine friend ship is mistaken for love and lust and ends in tragedy. The death of Aswini, a college student in Chennai, by stabbing, is a tale of blind one sided infatuation. It could have been prevented if timely counseling was given to the young boy who stabbed her. The police who warned the boy’s parents should have sent him for counseling. Many cases of imaginary love and infatuation take place because the boy or girl friendship is misconstrued as love. This is the case of young adults. As many as 16 cases of murder of young girls were reported in the last two years due to infatuation and one sided love.

What about matured people who commit the same crime? It is not a scene from Midsummer’s Night dream or Romeo and Juliet. I saw an equally surprising tale of romance of ecstasy happening in a shop. A married woman in her mid thirties with children and a married man in mid forties were hugging and kissing in a corner of the shop which I accidently saw! The man is from a good background and his wife is well educated and mother of two. The married woman is uneducated but physically attractive. I am trying to find out whether it is pure physical attraction or love for sex or infatuation between the two who are diametrically opposite in all respects. The woman is ready to do anything to be with her lover and spends the whole day dreaming and not attending to her job. This affair has been going on for a few months. Obviously both have made their lives miserable, feel guilty as their marriage based on loyalty is broken. Both betrayed their spouses due to infatuation. Both cannot walk away from their marriage nor can they unite and spend the rest of their lives in peace as the children will suffer. Both have hurt their families for selfish reasons.

Falling in love with a married woman or man ruins a life. Keeping a mistress is not a solution to illicit relationships. In today’s style, living without marriage or ‘live in relationship’ is another unimaginable thing happening. What society needs is moral education about sex, love and infatuation at high school level to prevent imaginary love and crime. In our school/college days, there used to be a “moral lesson” class which was very useful to be disciplined in life. Now the question is about married women and men falling in love. No lesson can make them to be good. It is a deliberate entanglement self inflicted and propelled by lust. Point of view 10318 ------

Damaging of statues

My party BJP has given enough bait to the opposition to shout from roof tops. The series of statue vandalism across the country has eroded the image of BJP. The damaging of Lenin statue in Tripura, the attack on statues of Ambedkar and Periyar in UP and Tamil Nadu have caused enough damage to BJP’s image. In Tamil Nadu, BJP Raja’s inadvertent tweet that Periyar’s Statue should be razed landed in the attack of BJP office in Coimbatore. Adding fuel to the fire was the heinous act of some cruel antisocial elements that took advantage of the situation and abused old Brahmins by cutting their sacred thread and pulling their tuft. There is no excuse for this kind of racial prejudice violence. Modi and Rajnath Singh condemned the incidence and asked the state to act fast and stop such violence. It is time that BJP heads spend some time to restructure the party in every state, identify good leaders and improve the membership number to be ready for 2019. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, BJP will win good numbers in general election. There is a fine opportunity for BJP to make a big dent in Tamil Nadu in the Assembly election and be a part of the next state government. The political situation in Tamil Nadu is brewing into a volcano of erupting confusion and uncertainty. The scenario as of now is that none will get a majority, including DMK. If BJP is able to find a team of good leaders and dynamic CEO, it will hit the jackpot in both elections. The problem is finding a good head, which is a million dollar question. ------graphicnews,com

Sonia’s confession UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s interview at the 17th edition of India today Conclave on Thursday was a bit of a disappointment. No significant input in terms of vision of Congress or its leader came out clearly in the interview. It was a lackluster interview with an attractive backdrop. I was not very impressed with Aroon Purie’s Q and A interview format. Questions like asking the opposition leader what is your advice to the present PM is a little juvenile. Sonia diplomatically answered the question. Sonia made a confession that Congress was outsmarted in 2014 and said that the party will not allow the NDA to come to power in 2019. Sonia forgot for a moment that she was the architect of the disaster in 2014, allowing her allies to loot the country. Congress was out witted, not outsmarted. Congress has no potential market to sell, then and now. PC and Maran brothers’ episode will sound the death knell for Congress ambition in Tamil Nadu. Sonia had a dig at Vajpayee’s “shining India” and Modi’s ‘Aache din’. She condemned the slogans for a moment forgetting Congress slogans like “Garibi hatao” and “Indira is India, India is Indira”, “jab tak suraj charnd rahega, Indira tera naam rahega”, “Congress hath aam aadmi ke saath”. Definitely, the 2019 elections will be one of the toughest to be fought. Ultimately truth will win and BJP will come back. Rahul will also play a crucial role in the win of BJP. A recent tweet going around is saying how he is going to do value addition to the Health Care program of India. First thing he will do is to connect all the MRI machines in India. Good. Do we need this joker as the next PM? ------Rollingstone.com

Trump triggers war on the whole world

US President buried the WTO and declared commercial war on the whole world according to Pravda News. Trump announced the introduction of import duties on steel and aluminum. Of course, this will be a gift for OPEC and Russia because the US will not be able to build gas and oil pipeline at the expense of American producers. This decision in retaliatory effect will raise the price of products like cars, aircrafts and construction of offices and houses. The hike in steel prices will end up in a decline of demand of cars and will have a decline in global demand of US cars. To sum up, Trump is pushing US economy to distress mode. It is not wise to raise the tariff at this juncture. In any case the once casino owner President will watch anger brewing on his tariff hike. The brunt will be experienced by all from beer drinkers to boat buyers. ------Symbolic battle

Nowadays politics is gaining a new trend of symbolically fighting for the party symbol by disgruntled politicians. A few of them stray out of the party for power and money, yet claim to be the majority and approach the election commission for allotment of the symbol to their tiny group. This is sheer waste of valuable time of the EC. This symbol fever which first started in Tamil Nadu is now spreading all over India. The recent dispute between Nitish Kumar and his former party president Sharad Yadav is becoming ugly by any political standards. As expected Sharad Yadav joined ‘the mite is right’ show of Lalu. Naturally, Nitish has decided to seek his expulsion from the Rajya Sabha for “anti-party activities”. If his request is granted, Yadav stands to lose not only the member ship of the Upper House but also his posh Lutyen’s Delhi bungalow. Yadav is now on a tit for tat run to EC demanding that he is the founder of JD (U) and the symbol of arrow rightfully belongs to him. The interesting point in the adventure is that Congress leader Kapil Sibal is representing Yadav in this case. Yadav is hopeful that Kapil will win the case, as he did in the symbol fight case of Akhilesh just before the assembly election. It is a good entertainment for other politicians to watch the two stalwarts who fought against Emergency now fighting for no sane reason except on personal grounds. Definitely Shared Yadav is making a wrong move and is not becoming of a matured politician. Point of view 10817 ------

Patient pays for the welfare of the physician

Sometimes back, I wrote in this newspaper about how pharma companies bribe doctors with perks and trips abroad in the pretext of conference to patronize their brands. The poor patient pays for the overdose of medicines and hefty fees for the doctor. That is why the middle class and BPL believe the over the counter medicines or bogus doctors. Two days back, a press release from Cobra post exposed a thriving racket in which all major private hospitals offer handsome commissions to individual doctors, nursing homes and smaller hospitals, which cannot handle serious ailments, on all referrals. Commissions are paid to doctors as consultation fee. In addition, the doctors are also given expensive gifts. Operation White Coat spanning three mega-cities of Delhi –NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore covered 20 major private multi –specialty hospitals, in this racket including a famous hospital in Bangalore which is known for its ethical practices.

Now that the hospital racket is exposed, they should voluntarily stop this “pay off business” and expensive business gifts to doctors which hikes the patient’s bill by 30 to 40 percent. The pity is none of the hospitals seem to bother about the MCI guidelines which prohibit the disbursement of commission by hospital for patients referred to them. It is high time; the health ministry sends a strict stricture to all the hospitals to stop this unhealthy practice which will in turn earn a good will of the ballots from the poor and the middle class. ------

Jolly holy men of India and Pakistan

I read an interesting article in the Dawn by a physics professor, Pervez Hoodbhoy in the latest issue. He says that India and Pakistan have more influential holy men per square mile than anyone has ever counted. He observes that the followers of these holy men not only the illiterate poor but also elite of the society including politicians ,film stars, sport persons and the filthy rich. He also says that religion and politics is a highly toxic and expensive mix that has hit both the countries. He says Pakistan has two kinds of holy men- one the Pir who hands out amulets, prescriptions and blessings for a hefty price. Pir is also said to have healing powers. Benazir Bhutto was a mureed of the psychic Pir Pinajar, who claimed to cure terminally ill patients by spraying water on them with a garden hose. Her husband, the ex-president of Pakistan was also a victim to this stupid belief.

Asif Ali Zardari had a black goat sacrificed daily on the advice of the Pir.

The second type in Pakistan is the mullah, an ordinary guy who exploits the poor and downtrodden by spiritual gimmicks and fear of curse in the name of Islam.

India and Pakistan have one common enemy to kill in their territory- the spurious saints or god man who does harm to society.

Pervez Hoodbhoy has an interesting conclusion in his article. “It gets far worse when religion is infused into politics. This produces a highly toxic, explosive situation. A large mass of people blindly and unquestioningly follow holy men.

The author further ascertains that instead of dividing people still further whether inside or outside national boundaries, South Asian states should aspire towards becoming a part of cosmopolitan world society removed from prejudice of religion, caste and race”.

Well said. India should act to remove the entire “licensed to rape and kill” god men under political protection to prevent private armies of God men like Ram Rahim Singh challenging the army and police. Like the FBI, the IB should have a check on all saints and god men of India. It will save the country and state treasury.

------

Sentiments and sensitive politics

Buray rastay kadi na jawey Paway manzil kinni VI duur howe Don’t astray from the right path No matter how far the destiny Bulled Shah

Navajo Singh Siddhu quoted this poetry in his speech on Monday at Kartarpur in Pakistan. Kartarpur was established by Guru Nanak, the Sikh saint in 1522. It was the first gurudwara to be built. It is also believed to be his final resting place. Hence this place is very dear to Sikhs. .Sidhu tried to gain political points by conveniently saying that his captain Rahul had ordered him to go there. Leave apart the personality clashes and politics; the credit for initiating the move to respect the sentiments of Sikh goes to Imran who has some good friends in the press and cricket field in India. It is a fact that it took 70 years for Pakistan and India to bridge the 7 kilometers on either side of the border. Let us not forget that former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first to propose this idea in 1999. He took the first bus to Lahore. The bus broke down because of politics and fear between the two countries.

Pakistan’s initiative is a friendly gesture meant to facilitate the Indian Sikh Community to visit Kartarpur without the need for visa. Pakistan plans to open the visa free corridor on Baba Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary. Baba died here in 1539. Leaving all criticism behind, it is a good sentimental beginning for bridging a better rapport with Pakistan. Imran won the toss of Sikh good will in Pakistan as he is aware that in the good old days, Pakistanis would clandestinely come to India to see the late night show of Amitabh Bachan’s movies and move out at dawn ( no visas). BJP on its part did a timely job to approve the decision to build the passage from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to the international border. The road is open and clear for Pakistanis and Indians to move with ease. Hopefully prayers will bring the bloodshed down. Let us plant a tree of love that spreads some shade in the courtyard of the neighbour. Couplet from an Urdu poem. Point of view 11218 ------

Crazy race, too tough to predict

Suddenly Rahul has changed to sanyasin attire in saffron and long garland to impress the vast majority in Rajasthan. His idea is to convince the poor voter that he is the sentimental, devotional son of his Hindu father. He is doing ‘all possible quixotic actions to lure the voter to his side. Will it work in2019? The assembly elections in Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh is the Hindu dominated area. The drama of Rahul is essentially a bid to survive. Meanwhile all kinds of speculation are in the air about the state elections. Sensing the anti-incumbency in Rajasthan against the Raja Mata led government, the Congress patched its internal strife and is trying to capitalize projecting young Sachin. Amit Shah and Modi have given a strong back up for Raja Mata forgetting the past. It will perhaps be a touch and go for both BJP and Congress. The pre-poll survey has taken a safe path by saying either party will win with a small difference. Let us wait and watch. As a BJP party person, I certainly want BJP to sweep the polls.

------

www.khaleejtimes.com/editorials-

Government must help and listen to the press

I seriously think whether media will be able to survive speaking the ‘naked truth’. Corruption has eroded the ethics of journalism. You can comfortably watch the watchdogs wagging their tails out of fear or favour for the power. The semi conscious journalists may revolt at this comment. But truth is sacred. The result of this trend can be seen with less inflow of youngsters opting for media career. Another reason is the government attitude towards the press. In the good old days, an editor’s view point would be taken seriously, analyzed and action initiated. Today the best of suggestions go to the wastepaper basket of the minister as he is not well educated or ignorant. The boomerang effect is journalists are not protected and many times ignored. I read an interesting article this morning in Khaleejtimes by Alexandra Borchardt. He observes that ‘journalists are increasingly becoming targets for organized crime with more than 30 of them being killed in 2017. He says job opportunities for journalists are dwindling and pay is also not attractive and scope of advancement is limited. The “Big tech” is the second attraction for youngsters. They see FB and Google sites for their future than media outlets. Above all Journalism has become less glamorous. It is true that the status to improve and attract the talented to media, government must listen and help the press transparently. As it is the government and the media are confronted by fake news and doctored videos on the net. Some over enthusiasts have also become self styled journalists and post nonsense which trigger trouble. The fact is that in today’s world, the most dangerous and challenging job is that of journalists. We need to motivate and get talented youngsters to do this job. ------

Sick world

The World is getting sicker according to the latest (2017) Global Burden of Disease study funded by Bill Gates Foundation. The report shows that half of all global deaths arise from four key risk factors: some interrelated –High BP, smoking, high blood glucose and high body mass index (BMI). Obesity rates have risen in every nation, leading to more than a million deaths due to type 2 diabetes and half a million from diabetes related kidney failures. India has become the diabetes capital of the world. Time to concentrate more on health. We lose billions in bad debts. We should invest more on heath care in every nook and corner of India.

Courtesy: Punch magazine

------Questionable integrity of judges

Four judges in one stroke destroyed the faith in the judiciary, with their impulsive attempt to wash their dirty linen in public. Four senior most Supreme Court judges have warned that democracy is under threat because of the way the court is being run. These top notch judges of the Supreme Court aired their differences with the Chief Justice, Dipak Misra’s style of assigning cases according to his own preferences. This is purely an internal matter which could have been sorted out in many ways instead of ruining the image of the Judiciary.

The learned Justices Madan B Lokur, Kurien Joseph , Ranjan Gogoi and Jasti Chelameswar yesterday addressed a press conference when they said that they are convinced that unless steps are taken to preserve and maintain its equanimity, democracy will not survive in this country. This sounded bizarre. This is a preposterous statement to make in public, to say the least.

Judiciary has survived in the past with maximum corruption and political slants due to sanity in some honest judges. Certainly the four judges erred in haste and it will take a long time before public confidence is restored in the judicial system and moral is recouped. Worst outcome of this facetious parodying has anointed the vexed political parties to indulge in all kinds of inferences in public which demeans the judiciary. CPI leader Raja had no business to visit Justice J Chelameswar, who has no moral right to entertain him, when the judiciary was in flames.

The issue which is an internal matter of the Apex Court has been painted with political colour which was collectively condemned by legal luminaries in all TV debates aired yesterday. Somewhere I read, “One of the great bulwarks of a democracy is an independent judiciary, which acts as the ultimate defender of liberty because the judges are free from political control”. The grim reality is after the press show of the judges, the whole function of justice is petrified and encrusted with too many question about judges and the functioning of court. The damage is done and playing politics on this issue has also exposed the “opportunist politics” played by Congress and company.

Justice Ranjan Gogai ignited the political flame by expressing concern about the death of lower court judge B H Loyal in 2014. It is now up to CJI Dipak Misra and the government to sort out the internal tiff of the Apex Court.

------

More Muslims in India Islam is growing more rapidly than any other religion in the world, according to the Pew Research Center. The report says that the religion will nearly equal Christianity by 2050. The report also foresees that India will be the home of the world’s largest Muslim population even as the country retains its Hindu majority.

US President Donald Trump will be concerned with the report’s findings that Islam will be the second largest religion in US by 2040. The reason for this is the high rate of immigration and high fertility rate. It is evident that there will be more circulation of Quran than Bible or Bhagavad Gita. Of course, this also means more militants to cope up with, worldwide. Peril after Freedom Julian Assange has been granted Ecuadorian citizenship as the South American country decided to end his “unsustainable” residence in its London embassy. Assange has been living in an office at the embassy for more than five years to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sex related investigation. However, the new status appears uncomfortable for the journalist. Britain’s foreign office rejected Ecuador’s request to grant him diplomatic status in UK. He also has to face music in US for publishing a trove of emails from the then US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign. In this backdrop of uncertainties, Ecuador is trying to make Assange a member of a diplomatic team which would grant him additional rights including special legal immunity and safe passage. The biggest challenge for Ecuador is to get him out of London. Once he gets out, there is one more hurdle. He is a point of contention in Ecuador’s presidential election. Will the whistleblower get out of Britain? ------

Black money for ballots The vanquished opposition of RK Nagar of Chennai made a big noise saying that extraordinary influx of dark money pressure cooked the win for TTV Dinakaran. The real winners are the family members residing in this constituency. They took money from everyone and cast votes according to the quantum of money received. The vote share was divided within the family accordingly. In a family of nine, six voted to the big payer, two to the next and so on. The result confirms the outcome.

Interestingly, the earlier US Presidential election also witnessed an enormous flow of “Dark money” in the final days of 2016 campaign. A study on this topic says that it was the huge flood of dark money in support of Trump which made him win. Dark money is a term used to describe political spending by the anonymous donor, though nonprofit organizations, which don’t have to disclose the names of the people giving them contributions. Taking advantage of this, large amounts were mobilized on behalf of Trump in the final weeks of campaign on an unprecedented scale. No wonder Trump won. Ultimately it is cash which is required to win an election, whether in India or US. Source:DW

Humanity at its best, no politics in pain

We saw how goodness of mankind prevailed in the massive rescue operation in Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai region of Thailand. The whole world watched with bated breath, the search and rescue operation which was conducted successfully against all odds. With a deluge and precipitation expected, the odds were dwindling for the 12 boys and their coach. All of them were safely rescued and the credit of keeping the boys’ moral high for over two weeks in pitch darkness on a mound of mud goes to the guide Ekapol Chanthawan. At this juncture of crisis, 100 plus divers from dozen countries rushed to the rescue operation. The government exhibited a high sense of responsibility and value for the lives of the children and did its best to save them. No unwanted talk emanated from any quarters, only action. The incident has sent strong messages round the world, especially to politicians in India who are fond of gaining political mileage on every issue. The Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan –ocha deliberately stayed away from the site as he did not want to impede the effort, nor sought publicity and had the grace not to capitalize on this issue. Only Governor Narongsk Osottankorn was the spokesperson. No unwanted comments, rubber necking. Even the coach had the grace to apologize to the parents of the children from utter darkness and rain. There was no blame, no debates, screaming or shouting TV anchors creating chaos, no VIP syndrome, no talk about the cost which had run into millions. The world came together without caste or creed and prayed for the safe return of the trapped children and coach on terra firma. The world has come together as one single entity to help the children. The Thai government did a wonderful job. It is a lesson to be learnt. Remember the Thoothukudi incident where we “killed” innocent lives for the sake of political gains and selfish interests. (Point of view 14718 )

------

Poison is honey for politicians

‘Power is poison,’ is a fashionable term for politicians. They love to taste it like honey. Using the word poison has a psychological effect on people. Following is the famous axiom of Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Henry Adam in 1905 gave an additional pep to Power saying “Power is poison”. From that day “power and poison “turned out to be joyful jargons of politicians who want to prove that they are drinking the poison for the sake of others. Poison in Indian politics came to be recognized when Rahul Gandhi in an emotional speech when he took over as VP of Congress in 2013 said, “power is poison and he was accepting this to empower the poor”. Now his new found friend HDK, the CM of Bangalore comes out with a banging statement that he drank the deadly coalition poison and is not sure how long he will live in the seat of power. HDK knew pretty well that he will only be a puppet and will not be able to take any decision. The social media is flooded with statements like “Kumarasswami is no CM”. Well the moral of the story is HDK thought he was sipping honey without knowing that Congress had given him a glass of poison. He will be the victim of toxic politics in Karnataka. Perhaps the same fate will befall the nation also, if we choose any other party except BJP. It will be chaotic and continuity will be lost. ------Discipline of police station

Police stations and temple officers should keep away from politicians. Some officials who befriend small time politicians land up in prison, spoiling the reputation of the offices and their personal image. Yesterday I saw in face book a small time politician who had posted a few photographs with the officials of the and bragged about his closeness to them. Obviously he will capitalize on this. The politician happened to be invited for the inauguration of a gym and a library in the station. I think police officials/ police stations must keep away from all politicians, whether belonging to ruling party, opposition or small time “katta panchayat politicians”. It undermines the dignity of the well qualified good officers.

Hindu Pakistan India

Ever since Rahul became the chief of Congress, he did one yeomen service to his friends. He made them as insane as he is. Look at Tharoor, a distinguished scholar, erudite speaker, an impressive writer and a career diplomat. Today he is in a mess due to a personal case and needs the backing of his party for survival. In his pursuit to please the boss, he seems to have lost his sense. His recent remark, “India becoming Hindu-Pakistan” has put Congress in a quandary. By saying this, he repositioned himself from a scholar to a loudmouthed Congressmen like Dig Vijay Singh and PC. Tharoor’s comment states that if BJP comes to power in 2019, the party will convert India into Hindu Pakistan. If Congress comes to power, common man will wonder whether India will become Christianity India. Religion has no place in politics. Racism will ruin the country. Tharoor knows this well. Why then this ridiculous comment? ------

Happy birthday Wikipedia

On Tuesday, Wikipedia celebrated its 18th birthday. Wikipedia was launched on 15th January 2001. The domain was registered by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. From that day onwards it has become the greatest on line source of reference for billions of people. It is the world’s fifth most –popular website in terms of overall visitor traffic. Wikipedia’s worldwide monthly readership is around 495 million. Wiki has 15.5 billion page views per month and has over 117 million monthly unique visitors from the US. Washington Post says that it had 5.7 million articles and 92 billion page views in 2018.

Jim Wales Larry Sanger

The plus point of Wiki is its effort to present real facts and avoiding fake news. Its authentic contents have helped millions of students, journalists and those who seek information on various topics. Writing for an encyclopedia is a herculean task, demanding enormous reading, analytical and writing skill. We have seen in the past how contents of year books and encyclopedias came under attack on facts. Remember how in the 18th century, Denis Diderot and other authors of the Encyclopedia were denounced as heretics. (Point of view 19119)

Denis Diderot The biggest challenge for Wiki is competing in presenting the right content. Lot of fake content is created to attract sponsors. To filter fake and unverified facts and give the correct content will be a mind taxing job. Yet it has to be done as people rely on Wiki more than any other sites. It has a social obligation of recording true facts and at the same time ensure that it does not cause world’s biases or trigger disputes. So far, Wiki has stood on solid ground without serious criticism. Hope it will continue the same way. ------

Bihar Politics

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is wise. On Tuesday he announced that he will bid adieu to Congress, as its President Rahul Gandhi has failed to take a stand on corruption charges against former deputy and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. Nitish should by now understand that after UP’s political whirlwind alliance, Rahul is on a mission to compromise even on corruption to secure his position and that of his party. Congress will soon witness the collapse of this so called unholy alliance or there will be a demand for the position of PM/ Deputy PM which will make Rahul a “dummy”. None of the sane and elite leaders in the regional parties will accept Rahul as the PM. There are too many aspirants for this post especially from Bengal to Bangalore. ------

.

Powerful Manifesto

There are enough guidelines available to write a manifesto. Many consulting firms are ready with a template for preparing a manifesto. But to prepare a powerful manifesto after getting feedback from the public is a tough experiment for any political party. It is a statement to clearly reveal your intentions to make it real. Now that the LS elections are coming, all political parties are gearing up to prepare practical feasible promises that can be fulfilled in the next five years. The BJP on its part has decided to set up 15 subcommittees to work on the 2019 “Sankalp Patra”, which will include stakeholders from various fields to establish direct communication with the public. It is a good sign that BJP has put in efforts (though late) to get inputs from the public for this exercise. Getting feedback from public has definite advantages. It will highlight where the party bungled and what should be done to offset and infuse confidence in public. BJP has to chalk out its deficiencies and give fresh, impressive and convincing commitments in the new manifesto. Manifesto is not a promotional pamphlet. Promotion and image building can be done in the pre election ads. For the BJP, the manifesto is crucial and a motivator for the voter to vote. Every single vote is important in the next general election. BJP should carefully scrutinize the inputs from people especially the youth (the major voters) and conceive a manifesto that will appeal to all classes of people. One great advantage for BJP is that Modi charisma is still intact. Times Now channel attempted a quick programme on Friday to assess the reaction of leadership of Modi. On an all India level Modi had polled 82 percent plus in his favour. Now it is for BJP to project him as the next PM and release a “people oriented manifesto” Thian Hock Keng Temple, Singapore

Last week, I visited the beautiful Chinese Thian Hock Keng Temple (Temple of heavenly happiness) in Singapore. This temple is dedicated to Mazu, Goddess of the Sea. It is the oldest Chinese temple in Singapore. In the early days, Chinese immigrants came here to thank for their safe passage across the rough seas of China. The temple has detailed carvings and sculptures, phoenixes and deities. The temple was built between 1839 and 1842 and was a favourite landing point of Chinese soldiers. In a small space of the temple, spiritual books are kept for free distribution. I happened to notice a very old brittle book, discarded and thrown in one corner. I could not resist my temptation to pick up that old book that is almost not touched by visitors. I took that discarded book and glanced. To my amazement the contents of the book was well written. The book is titled “Transforming Problems” by Thubten Gyatso, published in 1999. It is a beautiful dog-eared brittle book of wisdom explaining how to transform problems into the path of dharma and happiness. I finished reading the book in a two hour flight. Gyatso’s reference to the quote from Holy Dharma is something, I would like to share with you. May all sentient beings have happiness and its causes May all sentient beings be free of suffering and its causes May all sentient beings be not separated from sorrowless bliss May all sentient beings abide by equanimity, be free from bias, attachment and anger.

Golden Buddha in Wat Traimit temple

Bangkok is a beautiful city with fun and merriment. It is also a land of Buddhist temples. There are more than 33,902 temples in current use. I chose two temples to visit in Bangkok. The Golden Buddha known as Maha Suwarna Patimakon is a golden statue weighing 5.5 tons. The statue is 9.8 feet tall.

The temple is located in the heart of Bangkok. The origin of this statue is uncertain. It was made in the Sukhothai Dynasty of the 13th and 14th centuries. The interesting part is that the statue is egg-shaped and Sukothai art had Indian influences. Early days metal figures of Buddha made in India used to be taken to various countries for installation. The Golden Buddha statue may have been cast in parts, in India.

The Buddha here represents the Bhumisparsha Mudra as with many of the Buddha statues. The Shakyamuni Buddha is seen seated with his right hand as a pendant over the right knee reaching towards the ground with the palm inward while touching the lotus throne. The left hand can be seen with the palm upright on his lap. This gesture represents Buddha’s awakening (enlightenment). It is said that demon Mara tried to frighten Buddha with his armies, including his daughter, who tried to entice Buddha while he was meditating under the Bodi tree. Mara wanted the throne of enlightenment and challenged Siddharta. Siddharta reached out his right hand to touch the earth. It is believed that the earth roared, “ I bear you the witness”. Hearing this roar from the earth, Mara disappeared. The following morning Buddha got enlightened. Hence it is believed that this Mudra represents victory over temptation and evil traps.

Another temple I saw was the Wat Benchamabophit Dustivanaram in Bangkok. It was constructed in 1899. The temple was designed by Prince Naris. The temple is built with Italian marble. It has display of Carrara marble pillars and two large designed lions guarding the entrance. The courtyard behind has 53 Buddha images representing every mudhra and style in Thai history. The temple is featured in The Amazing Race 9 as the 10th and final elimination pit-stop.

In Thailand, most of the statues of Buddha is in the posture known as calling ‘The Earth to Witness’ and it is the definition of the moment of enlightenment for Buddha.

------

Lord Muruga at Batu Caves (ப鏍鏁 மலை),

While I was in Malaysia, I was amazed by the kind of commitment and devotion shown not only by Hindus, but by foreigners, and local Muslim population. All of them have respect and pray to Lord Muruga in Batu caves. I saw many foreigners, young children and very old women carrying buckets of sand to a site 100 steps up in the hills for construction. They deemed it as their duty to do something for the Lord. This most popular shrine, golden hued, attracts millions of devotees from all over the world especially for the Hindu Festival Thaipusam. The good vibration can be felt there very clearly. The limestone Batu caves is around 400 million year old. The cave was promoted as a place of worship by K.Thamboosamy Pillai, an Indian trader. He was inspired by the Vel shaped entrance of the main cave and later dedicated a temple here to Lord Murugan. Devotees have to climb 272 steps to have darshan of Lord Muruga. Foreigners come and contribute liberally to the growth of the temple. I was wondering whether it would be a good idea in Tamil Nadu to keep a separate Hundi for foreigners to drop their currencies. This will ensure a good collection in all old temples. Normally, foreigners are not comfortable to drop into the temple office and take a receipt for their donation. HR &CE chief may give thought to this suggestion as it would enhance the income of historic temples.

------

Sri Veeramma Kaliamman Temple I happened to visit this beautiful Veerama Kaliamman koil in Singapore. I met an officer bearer Bala Gopi and a few other devotees. They were all keenly interested in the political developments in India. In fact Narendra Modi has a great following here. Many wanted to join the BJP! (May be around 300). It was a very clean temple and truly divine in atmosphere. It was a pleasure to see the orderly manner in which devotees conducted themselves. Prasadam is kept in a big clean vessel and devotees can opt to take a packet of prasadam well packed in a paper bag. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu Goddess Kali, the fierce embodiment of Shakti. The temple situated in little India was built in 1835. The best part of the temple it is best in all aspects. The bad part is like in Tamil Nadu, it has a bad reputation of massive swindling of temple collection. Very sad to see the hangover of tradition of dishonesty continues across seas. Point of view 19518

Learn from the stars

Two diplomatic cine stars who are venturing into politics to remove corruption and racism shared a stage at a film launch in Chennai on Wednesday. Rajini and Kamal Hassan who are on a ‘mission possible’ political action thriller will soon give a jolt to the existing clumsy political scenario. Both of them show diplomacy and maturity in not following the existing Dravidian policy of abusive politics or criticizing each other. The film is a sequel to MGR’s “Ulagam Sutrum Valiban”. Hopefully the movie will create some ripples if released before the genral election. Rajinikanth and Kamal shared the same dais in Malaysia earlier for a fund raising programme. Both were very cautious and did not talk too much or create political speculations. Kamal is expected to launch his new party in February 2018. There are around 50 active political parties in Tamil Nadu. The two new parties headed by shining stars will definitely change the look of dark Tamil Nadu associated strongly with ‘cash for vote’ and outdated Dravidian sentiments. It is too early to indulge in speculative survey as to who is better to rule Tamil Nadu as done by a national television channel. Meanwhile, I congratulate both Rajini and Kamal and hope they continue their diplomacy instead of falling into the rut of personal criticism or senseless abuses. It is well that they remember Rahul Gandhi’s tact of immature attacks on the opposition and Modi, which only resulted in branding him as quixotic. Yet, he is also aspiring to be our PM. What a pity? ------Flagrant flag flying The problem in India is that the politicians of the opposition keep abusing and resisting any change that is initiated by the ruling party. This is purely a selfish act, to keep them in the lime light without seriously analyzing the pros and cons of their actions. They also indulge in flagrant activities that are dangerous to democracy. Look at Karnataka politicians. The want a ‘Karntaka flag’. They want to waste public money in setting up a panel to look into the legality of having an official state flag. Experience has clearly shown that we made a mess in dividing the country on a linguistic basis. We are also aware of the serious problem that will come out of this suggestion. Tomorrow, Tamilians will demand a separate flag along with the state flag. The Sikhs, Maharashtrians, Biharis, Bengalies, and others will quickly follow. Each one wants individual identity. Imagine a cosmopolitan city like Chennai or Delhi infected with racial preferences. It will be deadly to democracy. It is time to think as ‘one India and one flag’ instead of fuelling feud among the people tapping sentiments of region, religion or castes. Thinking of a separate state flag is a brainless, idiotic move. It has to be nipped in the bud in the interest of the nation.

Cutting down huge election expenses The proposal to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha, Assembly and local body elections, voiced by PM Modi on Friday must be given some serious thought. From 2009, the idea was on the anvil as it will be a massive saving for the government, individuals and parties. This has twin advantages- one is saving of enormous money and the second, it may give some stability to state governments. Of course, for the Indian voter, especially in Tamil Nadu, this may be less attractive as more the elections the merrier. He will enjoy more cash or in kind depending on the candidate. Modi said that the relentless electoral cycle harms the federal structure besides costing a lot of money and affecting government’s work. In the interest of the nation, all political parties must come together and chalk out a plan for simultaneous election . ------

Why people vote?

Voters turnout is essential for the survival of democracy. Psychologists and political scientists tried to study the factors that motivate people to vote. Going by the RK Nagar experience, it is clear that the political parties pep up to the voters with an attractive carrot to walk to the polling station. Remember that voting takes time, energy and decision making. The 2019 election preparation and campaign have already started in guerilla warfare style. It commenced with the Congress ruled states doing unintelligent things to draw public attention. Social media is full of deliberate abuses of the ruling party. Rahul’s new position has given him the freedom to speak on politics of the nation and international issues of which he has no clue. The next election will be a complicated job for both the voter and political parties. If the EC effectively tightens the flow of free cash in the election, then there is a likelihood of BJP winning both in many states and Parliament. BJP has proved that they are better than Congress in ruling the country despite the tens and millions different requirements and demands. The incredibly complicated job has been performed well by Modi and company despite the unreasonable opposition that has been continuously destructive instead of making constructive value additions. BJP has limited time frame to rework and complete its commitments and rectify errors to take a easy walk to Parliament.

Political tsunami in UP

UP General election campaign is poised to be the most entertaining event in the political history of India. It will be the venue where the polluted water of the Ganges, and all the political parties will wash their dirty linen. Being aware of the fact that Rahul is useless to make any dent in the vote bank, the Congress decided to baptize Priyanka into active politics especially in UP where the situation is do or die for them. This move is aimed to wipe out the SP_BSP unholy alliance with the aim to split in votes. Priyanka is now the general secretary of UP Congress. This move may prove detrimental to Congress as Robert Vadra's corruption scandal will take centre stage and Rahul’s Rafale noise will no longer be ear splitting. The state holds the key to winning Lok sabha elections with 80 out of total 545 parliamentary seats in India. BJP won 71 seats in the last election. Priyanka’s entry into politics has become global news. India’s TV channels have started to plunge into surveys and attitude assessment of the UP voters. By and large, it appears that the initiation of Priyanka will give a momentum to the election campaign.BJP will focus on corruption charges of Congress, SP, BSP leaders. The voters of UP gave a massive back up in the last election to BJP only to eliminate corruption and boost Hinduism as they had suffered enough due to caste politics. This time BJP’s promise to clean Ganga and re-thrust on clean governance, plus other welfare measures will end in BJP gaining around 60 to 65 seats in UP. Point of view 26119

Hacking of the EVM’s India has set up a benchmark among all democracies by introducing the portable Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The vanquished political parties said that the massive BJP victory is only because of hacking the EVM’s. This topic also became a hot debate in TV channels. Now with the 2019 election approaching, the topic of EVM has heated up once again. A US based cyber expert Syed Shuja went public saying that India’s EVM could be hacked using graphite –base military grade transmitter. This bizarre comment has triggered a political maelstrom. The Election Commission directed the Delhi Police to investigate the claim made by the Cyber expert. Let us admit the fact that EVMs have proved very useful and successful and ballot papers proved unimaginably detrimental to the electoral process and an enormous waste of time at a highly prohibitive cost. The most important thing is that the voting machines also reduces the chances of ballot stuffing which remain high in many states. In the 2019 general election, it is expected that 11 million officials will work in 935,000 polling stations spread over 543 electoral constituencies. It is inevitable that voting machines are used for quicker polling and faster results. It is also foolish to say that machines can be hacked en masse. In order to remove the misapprehension and restore people’s faith and to silence the opposition, the government should run an information/education campaign for the masses. It will pave way for a healthy fight rather than useless squabbling about EVM’s. ------

Tough Election On Friday, two national channels unfolded their feedback of pre-poll survey. Prime Minister Modi‘s ruling coalition will emerge as the largest group in the parliamentary election in the next few months. This is no surprise as Rahul has the worst image to be the PM of this biggest democracy in the world. Voters are not fools and will rightly assess the worth of a candidate for the PM’s post. No wonder Congress has pushed Priyanka to the forefront as there is no one else in the family. This won’t help the nation or the party in the present scenario as the entire Sonia’s family is neck deep in corruption. The projections are that BJP led alliance will win 233 of the 543 seats in parliament. Another survey puts the BJP and its allies to win 237 seats. It is now for BJP to carefully chalk out a programme to win at least 290 seats. More efforts are needed to convince the voter and BJP has to put in lot more hard work at the grassroots level. BJP has one advantage; Congress is desperate and its allies are also getting jittery as there is no leader worthy of the nation’s trust in the army of anti-Modi.

Bug changes life style

I read an interesting letter to the Editor by Robert McKinney in the Japan Times on 25th January. Here is the letter. “We live in a Big Brother society today. There are surveillance cameras and spies everywhere. It’s our version of “1984,” “The Truman Show,” and “Brave New World” all rolled into one. The Amish were smart to opt out of the modern technologically advanced world and stick with no electricity along with no gasoline powered machines, no electronics, etc. Living the 18th-century lifestyle in the 21st century makes more sense all the time these days. Still, satellites and drones can even keep an eye on the Amish and track their movements, perhaps listen in on farm conversations. Welcome to George Orwell’s nightmare. What will society be like in 2100 when all humans are walking around with a data gathering computer chip implanted in their bodies?

The 70th Republic year Today is the most important day. This day will be celebrated with the beginning of political parties commencing their campaign for the Lok Sabha Election 2019. This year also will witness unimaginable political abuses and immature utterances from the so called seasoned and experienced leaders. This year is also a witness to many leaders wishing to become the PM of this country and end the dynastic aspirations of Sonia’s family. Delhi’s political fog will thicken with the march past at Raj path as political parties will sit and plot to defeat BJP. Congress is in an aggressive mood and strongly believe that their brilliant move to usher in Priyanka“will pale BJP’s efforts into insignificance.” It is their wild dream that people will drop Modi and flock around her. They think that Priyanka is the spitting image of Indira. What Congress fails to understand is that the millions of new young voters do not know Indira Gandhi. Let us forget politics and celebrate Republic day and thank all those who fought to give us the air of freedom to breathe.

pri.org grain wastage Death by starvation We are the biggest democracy in the world. We have brilliant leaders who have been champions to serve the poorest of poor. We swore “ghareeb hatao”. We promised a clean and shining India. We aimed to beat China in the trade war. We have both ruling and opposition political parties who were at the doors of the poor to uplift him from poverty to prosperity. We boasted of being the fastest growing economy. Yet we allowed little children to die of starvation in the capital, where political pollution and poverty has reached menacing proportion. It is the saddest day in our history that three little children died of starvation in Delhi. I am ashamed that I live in a country that allows its children to die of hunger especially at the national capital. Food and health are our fundamental rights. It is the duty of the government to ensure that basic necessities like food, water and shelter are provided to all. That is what a government is for. The little girls did not have even a morsel of food and suffered for eight days. Every politician in Delhi should feel ashamed. It is not only in Delhi that such starvation deaths have occurred. In UP, a teenage girl hanged herself unable to bear the hunger pangs. In Kerala, a tribesman was beaten to death for stealing a kilogram of rice. Why is this happening? Because we feed rats and pests with food grains rather than supplying it to the half starved human beings. It is the failure of the system and administration. Mere meetings and politicizing the issue will not solve the problem. There should be an honest and committed approach to the problem. Instead of wasting time on giving interviews and conducting meetings, the officials and the food minister should go around the dwellings of the poorest of poor and hear their grievance. Then they will know firsthand what is happening. India has still a huge hungry population. FAO says that around 194 million Indians go to bed on an empty stomach everyday despite India wasting food worth 50,000 crores every year. Food security is something we can talk loudly. But where is food security? We have enough food but in a famine state. Perhaps we will wait for wise Rahul’s tweet on this. (Point of view 28718 )

------

Batting for BRICS BRICS refers to the global economy weight of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. During the last two years, BRICS countries have taken ever an increasing share of global economic growth. The contribution of these countries during the last one year accounts for about 70 percent of economic growth. In order to keep the momentum of this upward growth, it is necessary for the BRICS nation to coordinate and usher in a new era of revolution for long term sustained survival. So much is happening at lightning speed in new technologies that are fusing in physical, digital and biological worlds. Importantly the revolution impact is on human resources.

India has innovative capacities, intellectual capital and infrastructure to work with BRICS on the fourth Industrial Revolution. No wonder Prime Minister Modi on Thursday said that India wants to work with BRICS on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. PM’s focus was laudable when he emphasized that BRICS should evolve an education system that will prepare the youth for the future. It is a great idea to motivate the youth of five major emerging economies to work together for mutual cooperation and progress. Only point is the fourth industrial revolution at its peak, should not make human resources redundant. The concern of idol thefts in Kapali temple

Let us admit facts. It is near impossible to assess the number of idols stolen in the last twenty years from Tamil Nadu. HR&CE has admitted the theft of over 1100 idols before the High Court. It is difficult to assess the exact number of stone sculptures missing, as there is no old record to show the number of bronze idols and small sculptures that existed for centuries. For example only one sculpture statue is said to be missing in Kapaleeswarar temple. But there is strong rumour floating around, that three more precious sculptures are missing since the last four years. It is the duty of HR&CE to appoint a separate committee to make a fresh inventory of all the idols and sculptures of all the temples. The hot topic being Kapali temple, the exercise can start from here.

The major problem in Tamil Nadu is the existence of thousands of century old temples. Many tiny villages have hindu temples with valuable idols of deities and sub deities that lie scattered and neglected. Some of the temples are not under the HR&CE. Most of the temples are not secured and there is no record to show the exact number of idols in stock. In some cases it is the local chief or devotee who notices the missing idols or sculptures. In case of temples manned by HR&CE, idols cannot miss or be stolen without the connivance of the persons working in the temple. Naturally, there will no report of stolen idols or sculptures for years. The net result is innumerable cases of idol theft remain unsolved due to loss of solid evidence or poor leads. It is also necessary to revamp the working of HR&CE and replace the Executive Commissioner/Joint Commissioners of temples who are inefficient and do not know what is missing in the temples. In fact all the temples of Tamil Nadu should be brought under HR&CE and with some serious restructuring, efficiency can be improved and sufficient additional security system will prevent sculpture and idol stealing. Imran Khan’s tough innings

The people of Pakistan are happy that there is some hope of seeing Jinnah Pakistan or Naya Pakistan. Imran Khan’s first address to the nation bodes well for the future. He is serious and committed. He discussed all the core issues and vowed to end corruption, eliminate poverty and promote good governance to improve living standards. He also pledged to do away with lavish lifestyle of political elites and announced to resort to austerity measures. He went ahead promising his opponents help to probe charges of election rigging. This is an excellent speech but it is also a canned format of all politicians through the world. These are taught tasks in Pakistan.

Imran Khan is not a terrorist. But he has been elected along with several terrorists. One of them is Hafiz Saeed. He has already proclaimed “Inshallah, we will get Kashmir”. Imran has to manage him. Saeed may not go with Imran. It is also difficult for Imran to eliminate him, even if he gets more power from numbers. Saeed will have his way by increasing terrorist activity in Kashmir. It means that though Imran Khan would like to find a peaceful way to sort the Kashmir issue, the stumbling block will be Saeed. Imran Khan assuming power is no consolation to India as it needs to adopt a new strategically feasible plan to meet the calamities in Kashmir.

Point of view 271018

Sliced Journalist

Over the last two weeks Saudi Arabia has come under terrific pressure over the cruelest murder of Journalist Khashoggi inside the kingdom’s Istanbul Consulate. It is a well known fact that this is a well planned and premeditated killing. As the global concern started to take shape in a big way, the Saudi Foreign minister has said that rogue agents were responsible for this heinous act. The world is questioning whether such a high profile operation could have happened without the concurrence of the crown prince. There is also a report that some intelligence operatives close to the prince security flew into Istanbul to murder Jamal. They must put all efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice. They must immediately locate the journalist’s mortal remains and hand it over to the family for performing final rites. If Saudi Arabia is serious about reform and its image, it should clearly exhibit that it has no tolerance for such barbaric, brutal and cold-blooded act. World is waiting!.

BJP’s foe or friend? Every member of a political party has the right to point out the setbacks of his party. But the party key persons should raise their concern within the party and not go public with their views. With election round the corner BJP is under a volcanic attack on many issues, some serious and some insignificant. At this juncture while India is burning, Union cabinet minister Nitin’s comment in a Marathi television show has given a Ak47 for Rahul and company to shoot at Modi and BJP. Nitin said, “we were very confident that we would never come to power, so we were advised to make all promises. Now we are in power, the public reminds us of those promises made by us. We just laugh and move on”. What a diabolic statement. Nitin wasted four years to realize this. Nobody prevented him from taking the initiative to muster courage to salvage the issue from the end of the first year instead of laughing it out. Rahul latched on to this comment and Manmohan Singh took the opportunity to say that Modi failed the electorate. At least in continuity, there is hope of fulfilling the few committed issues and promises. A sporadic comment like this from the party’s key minister endangers their image and prospects.

Performing act of Rahul Congress president is doing everything to prove that he surpasses even the superstars in entertainment and script writing. He is singing Sholay’s Dosti and chodenke nahi… for mass appeal. He calls Modi the biggest chor and trumpeted that he will not allow the chowkidar to do chori”. All this will boomerang on his family, as more and more scams are tumbling out every day. Gross financial irregularities in many deals in which Congress was involved are coming out with unfailing regularity. Anyhow he earned a brownie point by spending a day in Lodi Colony police station which is required to be a sucessful politician in India. Forget for a while the Congress. CBI was always under severe criticism for its internal strife and corruption for the last few decades. The reality is that CBI was never independent and mere puppets in the hands of politicians. Now the Supreme Court’s intervention will certainly change the complexion of CBI for the better. The apex court has placed the CVC’s corruption allegation probe into a CBI director Alok Verma under the supervision of retired Supreme Court Judge A K Patnaik and told the commission to wind up the inquiry in two weeks. It is good that a time limit has been set up strictly before things flare up before general election. ------

Modi’s visit to Japan

Modi’s visit to Japan will do a lot of good to India in the present scenario in Asia. Modi arrives in Tokyo on Sunday for a summit meeting with Shinzo Abe. This is Modi’s third visit to Japan. The visible outcome will be cementing strongly the cooperation between the two countries. The take off will be the Indian Army and the Ground Self-Defence Force joint exercise in sensitive Northeast India. Modi has to discuss the issue of land acquisition that has held up the $ 17 billion bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmadabad. Eventually the project has to come up. Second important issue will be “burgeoning trade war between the US and China”. There is a threat to Chinese economy and an opportunity for Japan and India to ramp up the trade relationship with the country. Abe’s much publicized visit to China is a sure sign of changing relationships. Ultimately India and Japan would become strong partners in progress.

Point of view 30618 ‘Hit Modi’ mission of Rahul

Rahul’s tweets and talks are very painful and at times, terribly disgusting. He is a novice in politics like many of his Congress cronies and allies companions. His only job or his ghost writers, is to hit out at Modi daily, to gain some cheap publicity. Look at what he says in this tweet ”While our PM tiptoes around his garden making yoga videos, India leads Afghanistan, Syria and Saudi Arabia in rape and violence. What a shame for our country”. Rahul seems to have forgotten that during UPA reign, Delhi (2013) became the ‘Rape Capital’. While Thomas Reuters Foundation findings does cause concern, it is certainly not ethical to humour about Modi’s yogic exercise or the video footage or TV coverage. Rahul’s hasty remark on 2016 surgical strike has already been proved wrong with the eight minute footage accessed by Times Now and which is in public view today. Arun Shourie had to retract his comments on this issue.

Rahul is also in a fix regarding the formation of state governments. Alliance job is not easy as will be proved in the near future in Karnataka. Every MLA thinks he is better suited to be a minister than the present ones. Some of them are on a warpath chanting, “Make us ministers or we will go” . Rahul should remember that his actions and words are critically evaluated by the educated youth of India who will form a majority and influence the ballot of the families. More than that, as a future aspirant for the PM’s post, what image he is building. He is seen as immature, impulsive, and lacking understanding of world affairs. Congress should look for a more dynamic and mature leader than Rahul if it wants to survive.

------

Is Modi,a Moghul emperor!

Narendra Modi is right. Emergency then, was very bad, killing many people in the pretext of family planning. It was Sanjay Gandhi who then ruled like Aurangazeb who enslaved democracy of the country. It was at that period that all sections of the population including Muslims, Christians and Hindus experienced the cruelty of emergency. It was truly seen and I witnessed happenings in Lucknow (UP) at that time. It is totally insensible to draw such an analogy today, which is out of sheer prejudice.

Congress Chief spokes person Randeep Surjewala in his grumpy voice called Modi as the Delhi Sultanate dictator and that he imposed “undeclared” emergency. He also branded him as crueler than Aurangazeb. Do these statements appeal to the elite of India? Even the man on the street will despise such stupid remarks. India certainly needs constructive and sensible politicians, not the senile ones, especially in Congress. Unwittingly the co-relation has a golden line. Modi may be compared to Aurangzeb in one respect- he was an ascetic who avoided all forms of luxury and ostentation.

------Playboy and poster boy? Vijay Mallya made hundreds of family suffer, while he was sipping the choicest wine surrounded by a bevy of glamour girls, paid for by the poor tax payer. He has the audacity to say that he has become a poster boy from play boy stature as he “robbed” banks, attributing the change to politicians and extraneous factor! It is his making that Kingfisher Airlines is a Rs.9000 loan default case today. Mallya’s letter to PM or FM makes no sense. His two settlement offers were also rejected as they are not acceptable. Mallya claims that ED has attached his property worth Rs. 13,900 crores. Mallya should be happy that he can clear the full amount due to banks out of sale of the property and still continue his lavish “life style”. This time with a “good boy“ poster. Few suffering families will also be happy. This will make both Congress and BJP rejoice. ------

Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev I was in London a few months back when I visited Madame Tussad’s Museum. It was a thrilling experience. I stood next to Modi’s life like figure and took a snap shot, while my wife sat with Queen Elizabeth. In an hour I was there, I found every Indian including children taking photos with Modi and then with Mahatma Gandhi. Most of the world’s famous faces can be seen in the museum. It was Madame Tussad who stunned the world with incredible life like figures. The next to join is Yoga guru Baba Ramdev who will have a wax replica at the Museum soon. Perhaps India has more representation in the Museum than any other country. The addition of Baba Ramdev perhaps in Yogic posture will give an additional pep to Yoga and the image of India.

Idiosyncrasies of a leader

North Korean supremo Kim had a sudden flash to induct discipline among young girls of NK. He banned the wearing of mini-skirts, fishnet stockings and floral patterned tights. He also banned women dying their hair and watching South Korean movies. He branded this as anti socialist behavior. He imposed a fine of 3 pounds if too much leg was visible, by stepping out in skirts above the knee. Kim also instructed the officials to declare war on capitalist influences like copying provocative dance moves of South Korean K –pop groups. Owning foreign mobile phones are also prohibited. In any case this is a good lesson to the world. If you elect leaders like Trump and Kim, suffer a painful era where liberties, freedom and individual rights are down the drain. Courtesy: NJ.com

Russians, not Americans voted for Trump

In these days of fake news ( a favorite topic) , we are unable to decipher the real news from the fake or reel ones. In fact many universities are offering on line courses on fake news and real news especially from the US. Now Russian TV is boasting of having elected Trump . The television timed it well before the Russian President Putin and US President meet in Helsinki on July 16. It will be more a PR meet where Trump will complement the brilliance of Russian hackers and confess Americans failure in the cyber security front. Trump can now expect to explore business prospects in Russia.

Point of view 610018 India and Russia

When I was young, I used to hear the name of Russia often in the news than USA. Only Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death on 11th January 1966 in Tashkent, sparked speculation as to whether it was an assassination by CIA or cardiac failure. This in turn ended Indians perceiving Russia in a bad light. However, the Indian and Russian cordial tie, tied in early 20th century remained intact. Nehru and leaders of the USSR (then) ensured that the two countries maintained this relationship. From the days of Mahatma Gandhi and Tolstoy, the capitalists and democrats co-existed. Nehru established firm diplomatic relations with Russia. Though Raj Kapoor may dispute this!

Now both India and Russia ignored the warnings from Trump and went ahead what the signing of the $ 5 billon S-400 air defense system deal on Friday. S-400 is the key to Indian defense needs.

The long range missile systems are needed to tighten the air defense mechanism especially along the 4000 Km –long Sino –Indian border. Moscow also delivered S- 400 missile system to Beijing. So both the countries are equipped to target each other if necessary. Russia can watch its missile in action. Russia always stood with India in times of crisis. Certainly the deal will do well for the defense. Modi has added one more feather to his cap. Yet Rahul will fire another missile on this to keep up his “target Modi everyday”.

------

Elephant on rampage- BSP BSP’s Mayawati suddenly woke up from her slumber to realize that Congress has done nothing for the fellow downtrodden in UP. She also understood the Yogi has been clean and doing his best. Coming out of ‘maya’ spell of Congress, Mayawati announced that she will not form an alliance with Congress in the upcoming Rajasthan and MP elections. Obviously, she will shun Congress in UP too. She now believes that people have not forgotten the mistakes of Congress and Corruption. She also hastily rubbed off the kiss, Sonia gave her sometime back. BJP will stand to gain out of this move, if all goes well.

------Aimless Aim

The profile of the voters has changed, which politicians fail to observe today. The mass influx of new young voters is realizing that noise and empty promises, recalling yesterday’s heroes are useless. There is a new trend emerging and youngsters and film personalities are jumping into the battle for ballots, with new strategies. Frankly who is really bothered about Gandhi, Nehru, MGR, Jayalailathaa and even Kalaignar?

They are all past history creators. We can recall their deeds with gratitude, but they will not be useful for luring the young voters. Rahul Gandhi and Congress, for that matter many regional parties also are shortsighted and imagining that recalling Gandhi or MGR will help them to garner votes. Congress suddenly woke up to recall Gandhi’s sacrifice and remind us of ‘Quit India’ movement which was launched under the leadership of Gandhi who gave a call ‘Karo ya Maro’ (do or die) for mass mobilization. CWC passed a resolution saying “Election will come and go. But the ideological battle has to be relentless and unswerving”. Good resolution especially for Rahul who is fighting an idiotic battle and belittling the name Gandhi and the nation.

Dream or reality

The BJP will come back with 300 plus seats and the NDA will secure a two third majority in 2019 election says Piyush Goyal. Congress is saying that UPA is going to sweep the polls.The indications are that there will be a change in the thinking of the UPA comrades at the regional level as Rahul is causing minute to minute damage to Congress and allies. Let us face facts. There is no real leader as of now except Modi. He is the only one who has an all India image and globally accepted as a clean man with a good mind. Raffle is an empty threat. Modi will not dare do anything that will smear mud on him. He wants to lead the country and he will do it. Some flaws here and there in managing the biggest democracy can be overlooked as a complement for good governance. It is high time that Congress stops its nonsense and tells the youth of the country what it is capable of, except corruption. Mere abuses will not motivate sensible voters to vote for Congress.

As for Tamil Nadu is concerned, it is time that the BJP structure is fully revamped and corruption is eliminated at the grass root level. BJP has a chance to maneuver through the myriad of confusion in the state with too many jumping into the fray. My view is that if Ms. Nirmala Sitaram is projected as CM candidate, BJP can form the government in Tamil Nadu, with some friendly allies.

Sex and Noble Prize

The hot news today is about hot sexual predators in the media industry. It all emerged soon after twitter users on you tube accused Utsav Chakraborty of online sexual misconduct. Women journalists across the country joined the conversation. It is all too much one sided story. Even Barkha Dutt joined the conversation saying “the toxic culture in the industry”. She says that women are quiet and this happened to me. It is hard to believe that anyone will ever dare to make advance with Barkha, both owing to her intellect and size. Certainly it is nice of women to exposé the men. How many women can honestly say that they also like to lure men on duty to get rid of their depression and relax? There are two sides to every coin. Why show the head alone? While the hot topic of sexual violence is going around globally, the Nobel Committee has spotted two meritorious persons for Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. Both unquestionably deserve the recognition. Both Congolese Doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi Nadia Murad won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. Both fought to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. The prize was announced as “Me too“ marks its first anniversary after a year in which allegations of sexual abuse, rape and harassment have toppled dozens of powerful men. Hopefully suffering of women will come down after the awakening call and “Me too” becoming more aggressive.

Victor and the vanquished

Will BJP win the state elections?

For BJP to emerge as a big winner in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, all depends upon the result of the assembly polls in five states- MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram. These polls in November and December are a fight to finish. The five states have 83 of the 543 LS seats. Modi should win a majority in the five states and Congress has to win at least one state to prove its existence. As of now, it is evident that Rahul is harping on darkening the image of Modi from clean to corrupt with Rafael bramhastra which may rebound. BJP will prove that it is “clean” and that Anil Ambani has not given any pocket money to Modi. Besides, the mahagatbandhan of all opposition parties is suddenly losing its stature and credibility as Rahul’s leadership will drive away elite voters and the youth. The grand alliance has lost its grandeur. Now it is for Modi to plunge into action to ensure that BJP wins with a big margin in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. In Rajasthan, BJP’s Vasundhara Raja is fighting both an internal and external battle. Rivalry within the party and anti-incumbency feeling are rearing up in many places in the state. This time BJP has to work very hard to win 163 of the 200 seats. Congress is dreaming of gaining an absolute majority and throwing BJP out. All depends upon Sachin Pilot for the victory. Raje will comeback despite serious hurdles. Chhattisgarh will be an easy walk over for BJP. In MP, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is the voter’s favorite. It will be a walk through for BJP. The Telengana election is a challenge for both BJP and Congress. Rao hates Congress and Rahul. He will ensure that Congress is wiped out in the state. At the same time his love for BJP is unpredictable. He will not allow the national party to run his state. Yet if he runs short of majority, he has to lean on BJP. He is aware of this option. In North –East, BJP is ruling in six of the eight states. It has 25 Lok Sabha seats. Congress depends upon Lal Thanhawla to emerge victorious. This state will be crucial both for BJP led NDA and Congress. The outcome is tough to foresee; voter may opt for a change and from the present government. The overall picture is that BJP can be optimistic but it has to put in lots of hard work especially in Rajasthan and Mizoram. Modi’s star is still shining brightly despite vague dark clouds of allegations. ------New headache for BJP: Swami vs. Jaitley

Disappointed in not getting the plum post of Finance Minster, Swami has started a strategic mission of hitting out at Jaitley. He says that we have economically failed but Modi will win 2019 election on Hindutva platform. He accused the finance minister of lack of knowledge of basic economics. He is an economics professor and given a certificate to his colleague Jaitley!

When did Swami become a defense expert to say that “Rafale is a plane nobody wants”. In other words he is providing ammunition to the opposition. He is a brilliant Harvard economist who believes that had he become the FM, he would have abolished income tax. Ah! Such statements, sitting in BJP chair does not augur well both for himself and his party. Swami cannot sit on the laurel of his triumph of 2G and Jaya and speak without sense. His untiring effort to go after Chidambaram and family definitely needs a pat. His allegations that the Finance Ministry is blocking the prosecution of many Congress leaders are dangerous. It will only give TV channels a spark for a noisy channel debate. Swami has to justify why Rafale is not required, both technically and costwise. Otherwise, party should suitably instruct him to be cautious as flippant comments on personal animosity will cause damage to BJP’s image at this crucial stage.

Amidst thunder and lightning of economic swings Tough!

The World Economic Outlook released by IMF this week in Bali has India shining. The report has forecast a growth rate of 7. 4 percent for the financial year ending 2019. The report observes that the Asian region ably packed by India and China remains the centre of global economic growth in the first quarter of the present century. The report records that the “Indian growth story has been impressive since the 1990’s after a period of chaos”. (Evidently the IMF report indicates the corruption chaos and the resultant adverse impact on the economy). IMF report also reminds the government that it has to improve its growth rate and do its best to remove poverty and unemployment.

IMP also praised India and GST but at the same time cautioned about the inflationary trend. BJP can use this report to its advantage. But the fuel price vagaries will certainly cause damage and the common man is not in a position to take a shock at the petrol bunk day in and day out.

------

Trump sticking to toilet paper

No wonder Trump hates the Press. President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One with a toilet paper bit stuck on his shoes. It got detached from his foot at the top of the stairs. It was news for the press and the social media. Just imagine if this had happened to a CM or PM or even a minister in India. Our fellow countrymen – the politicians would have rushed to remove the toilet paper and prostrate before the VVIP. Remember how the aspiring brilliant party men and officers used to wipe the chappals and shoes of ministers in public glare. Cleaning of the shoes in public

Example the Dalit heroine Mayawati who once allowed her shoes to be cleaned by a poor man.

Unhealthy world: politically and physically

The world is getting sicker, politically and physically. Worst is the fate of human beings who have to suffer serious health issues on one side and political developments which are very painful on the other. The latest Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study says, “Continual improvements in human health that we have taken for granted at least since the end of the Second World War have, in global terms halted.” The 2017 study indicates that half the global deaths arise from four key risk factors: high blood pressure, smoking, high blood glucose, and high BMI. Obesity is a worldwide phenomenon. Dengue fever has increased over time. Another major cause is the opioid dependency rate becoming a cause of premature deaths around the world. Terrorism and war have also emerged as a major cause, since the 9/11 attack on US and the series of upheavals in the Middle East which have contributed to the death of thousands of people. We are in the dark as to how many died in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. On the political side, we are witnessing unprecedented crackdown. Politicians are turning dictators and opposition political parties are turning into terrorists, rebels or support violence against the government in power. There is no fair war in the political arena. There is suppression of freedom. We were the silent spectators to hundreds of journalists and bloggers detained and attacked. This trend was on the rise in 2018. More governments, even the so-called democratic ones have implemented controls over thousands of organizations throughout the world. Speaking truth against power is dangerous in places like Cuba, Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Israel, Russia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Africa. The real story today is that the world is facing a crisis with uncertainties all over. What will happen? Even Michel de Notre Dame will fail the test in the world where politicians like Trump triumph. Point of view 171118

Terror plot poster New Delhi has witnessed terror posters like a new movie buster struck all over North and South Block entrances showing gun trotting terrorists of the Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) along with the letter written by IG (Counter Intelligence) of Punjab police warningthat terrorists are planning to target Delhi from Punjab. The secret memo has been placed in the public domain. The reply to this destructive mishap shows the poster of Moosa as a silly mistake of a “lower rung official” following which the picture went viral on social media. This is the style of functioning of the intelligence wing which is supposed to protect us. Lack of intelligence is the core competency of our IB wing. ------

Tea versus tainted family

The bragging by the Gandhi family is irritating aam aadmi across the Nation. Rahul Gandhi has proved beyond doubt that he is thoroughly useless in politics. I personally feel that Modi should ignore the jokers in the opposition and tell people of what the future will be if they reelect the BJP vs. the Congress. Chaiwallah will certainly stand out for his performance as compared to the Congress. The rule is clean though Modi has pocketed billions out of Raffel is a fairy tale. ------

https://www.cartoonistsatish.com/

Congress strategy to thrive on chaos.

I repeat a quote from Patrick Lumumba which reflects what is happening today in India.”Our country must morally re-arm. We cannot run a country where virtue is vice and vice is virtue. We cannot live in a country where the looters of yester- years assume they have undergone a Pauline conversion because they are in opposition and oppose the government of the day”. It is sad that the disgruntled political parties have joined hands to topple the government and impeach Chief Justice Dipak Misra. Both are useless exercises, except to make people believe that Congress had a dip in the holy Ganges and reemerged clean to serve the people of India. People of this country have seen through this game plan of Congress and its allies, for trying to create political chaos and thrive. The attempt to impeach the Chief Justice is a slur on Indian democracy and the party will face the wrath of the voter.

The youth of today are slowing waking up and can judge the insincere words and deeds of politicians and their intentions. Unfortunately four Supreme Court judges joined hands to malign the CJ but the whole exercise proved futile. However they have caused unimaginable damage to the already poor image of judges and judiciary.

Following this, as a pre election stunt, Congress and six other opposition parties levelled five charges against Dipak Misra which are frivolous, irrational and flimsy. It is likely to be a washout. Knowing this as an imprudent move of clown Rahul, few wise men in Congress including Manmohan and PC kept away from this muddle exercise. Harikesh Bahadhur, former Congress MP, rightly said that “this motion is morally incorrect and not in the right spirit”. Close on the heels comes an explosive news from Republic TV. It has been proved that Lt Colonel Srikant Prasad Purohit was unfairly punished by the Congress for doing his job to protect the nation. He landed in Jail where he remained for 10 years. Congress pushed him to jail for “election sake”. It is trying the same trick with the CJ impeachment stunt. CJI may retire comfortably. Congress will have a tough time ahead. People, especially the youth are not hoodwinked. As a strong BJP member, I feel the party should highlight this intelligently in the election campaign and brand Congress as traitors of the nation. Congress is the only party in the world to have 37 scams, which has eaten away a substantial portion of the country’s wealth from 1957-2013. Point of view 2142018:

------

BJP’s best initiative

I initially had some doubts about the use of Aadhar. Later I realized that this could be the best move to narrow the gap between the rich and poor. It will help the government to reach the beneficiary directly without middle men swindling it. The World Bank on Thursday has praised India’s strong ‘unique identification number system”. Aadhaar is a good example for the rest of the world to follow says the report. It is a mind boggling effort to provide biometric identity to 1.3 billion Indians. BJP and Modi should be happy to know that many countries like Russia, Algeria Tunisia are planning to adopt the Aadhaar model. It is good that the 12 digit UIN is required to get mid day meals. From temple rituals to defense personnel’s pension, possessing an aadhaar card is mandatory. The Tirupati temple has made aadhaar compulsory for booking the heavily booked ritual “Angapradhakshinam”. People have started seeing the advantage of using aadhaar and it will be a futile exercise to opt out of aadhaar. In the long run, it is the best way to end corruption and enjoy the benefits of welfare schemes of the government. Good show BJP.

Good move to dig out black money Prime Minister Modi did not lose sight of his promise. On Friday ,the Swiss President Doris Leuhard, assured Modi that once the law is cleared by the Swiss parliament by December, the automatic exchange of information on black money will begin in 2019. It will definitely speed up the recovery of black money held in Switzerland. The 2014 promise is likely to fructify before the 2019 election. If the recovery of black money is fast and NPA of Banks is reduced substantially, BJP can expect to better its performance of 2014. BJP has a golden opportunity to prove its commitments. It all depends upon fast follow up actions.

Wake up, Young men and women of India It is time that the Indian youth woke up and show the door to those politicians who are irresponsible, frivolous, make quixotic statements and who are criminals. They should be prevented from contesting elections. Today the war between the opposition and the ruling has reached an unprecedented level, proving that dynastic politics is not dynamic but an explosive blowing the nation to pieces. The latest rape cases and the attempt to oust BJP and throw out CJI show the trend of destroying democracy and demoralizing the people. There is sign of protest on atrocities, by the youth of today. Questions are raised by the youth about the nexus between the rich and the powerful and the police. Media, especially upright TV channels, in a competitive spirit, do expose crimes and the role played by politicians to protect the criminal minded ministers and legislators. Government or opposition is not spared for silence on rape cases or money laundering. No longer can politicians sleep happily. No longer is it possible to hop out of the country after swindling banks. Time has come when no higher up will come to rescue a criminal.

We have watched the trend of judges who have become bold to send even the most influential to jail. It is also a fact that to a great extent, it is the higher up police officials who send messages to side track an investigation. This changing trend is disturbing the Congress, whose Chief and assistant are on the verge of going to jail in the National Herald case. Things will change to a clean India with opportunities for advancement. It is the politicians who are caste based, not the youth. They have their future and no time for burning buses or pelting stones or destroying statues. Their mission is future. For this they should go on a peaceful nationwide campaign to end inequality and elect a better breed of politicians. They should identify and fight for their success. It is time to stop voting for a party but to select individuals who excel. It is time our youth started to fight to eliminate caste, religion and gender bias which the politicians used successfully so far. It is time to see a casteless India for progress. Salute the brave doctor News agencies have reported the brave deed of doctors who smuggled desperately ill patients across the state border under cover of darkness to receive a liver transplant after the police informed them that a journey by ambulance would be suicidal. The situation forced the doctors at a Karnataka hospital to come with an alternative plan after a liver for transplant became available for their patient in Tamil Nadu. Dr. Arikichenin Olithselvan of the Manipal Hospital in Karnataka took the risky trip to save a 55 year old man. The 12 hour transplant operation went well in a hospital in Tamil Nadu. The patient is said to be recovering. The driver took off the number plates while driving through Tamil Nadu. Salute to the brave doctor who deserves recognition and award for his commitment to do his duty at the risk of his life.

Modi’s Birthday Happy Birthday to our leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to have planned his 66th birthday in a grand fashion. Atul Bakery, Surat has prepared a tall birth day cake that would set a new Guinness World Record as the tallest pyramid cake. The bakery has collaborated with an NGO called Shati Foundation for this feat which works for the empowerment of women. The cake for the PM’s birthday honours his efforts for women empowerment with campaigns like” Beti Bacho, Beti Padhao. Well let us hope he will send a few pieces of the cake to the mothers of girls’ child suffering from chicken guinea in Delhi. Perhaps Modi’s birthday will be better remembered and blessed if he goes around Delhi hospital consoling mothers of suffering children. ------

Guinness good for you

Guinness beer advertising campaigns are known for their creativity. Guinness was founded in 1759. Their first ad appeared in 1794. Their Beer advertising with witty, engaging slogans established Guinness as the best known beer worldwide. People still keep repeating the tag line ‘Guinness is good for you” even though it is 83 years old. Their recent ‘Made of More’ campaign has created a stir. Millions of viewers watch the Guinness ad in You Tube. What is stunning is the way they have conceived the latest ads. From funny to poignant to witty, they have brewed creative ads that have added a new flavour to the traditional approach. You should spend some time viewing these ads in You Tube. As an individual who spent a decade in advertising, I am able to appreciate them a lot more.

------

Shoes are better than egos and tomatoes Next time when you attend a political party election campaign or press meet, take shoes and chappals. Not tomatoes and eggs. They have no publicity or resale value when thrown on a minister or party spokesperson. Congress MLA Banga Tarlochan Singh Soondh had an offer of Rs.50, 000 for worn out shoes which he hurled towards the Akali Dal Legislators in Vidhan on September 14th. A Canada based news channel has offered Rs.50, 000 if he could bring on their show the shoe and do a mock demonstration. Soondh is walking barefoot to find his old shoes which has vanished from the scene of action. Let us hope, he gets the lost one to give the Canadian TV a big boost in viewing.

Depressed country This week a study was released by the World Health Organization showing USA as the third most depressing country in the world after India and China. When Americans heard the news they were like: Oh, We only got third?” Why feel sad? Americans will be number one in pain when the Presidential election results come out.

Nature teaches a lesson in a hard way Where is Kerala? The state is almost gone, underwater. The rain and floods have taken the life of 164 people, in God’s own country. Kerala is facing the worst flood since 1924. From the mammoth Kochi airport to the tiniest shops, all have been closed. Entire state is shut down. There is no drinking water, electricity or mobility. Water is contaminated and people are starving. Rescue operations are in full swing; yet marathon assistance from other parts of India and central support is needed. The situation is worse than the tsunami of 2004 and cloudburst of Uttarakhand in 2013. Let us hope, PM Modi’s visit to the deluged area on Saturday will be a morale booster and more central assistance will be forth coming. It is a fact that every household in Kerala is suffering due to the unprecedented natural calamity. The question looming before us is whether the intensity of the crisis could have been minimized. The answer is “yes”. Due to unchecked corruption and compromises, all sorts of resorts have sprung up in the hilly areas and commercial plantations. Over nine lakh hectares of forest land has been lost in the last four decades! The greatest problem is the vast encroachment that has taken place. Kerala government is also mildly peddling with illegal quarries, unsupervised sand mining and check dams which have caused an alarming increase in landslides. Certainly this calamity could have been minimized, not eliminated with round the clock downpour for days together. The point is that politicians lack vision to prevent such calamity. They are interested only in illegal gratification and short term gains. Let Kerala and other calamity in the recent past be a lesson to politicians not to be flexible with environmental issues as one fine day it will wash them out too. The latest news going around is that Tamil Nadu is threatened with tsunami in September 2018. Are we ready to cope up with a calamity like Kerala? Certainly not. Tamil Nadu’s greedy politicians managed to build multistoried buildings in gross violation of all rules and amassed money. The same story is repeated in case of temple and corporation lands near rivers. The recent Kavery river spate is also a warning signal. Both Kerala and Tamil Nadu should take a cue from nature’s havoc and stop encroachments, deforestation, which will go a long way to prevent flash flood catastrophe. Time to have a quick look at all encroachments and illegal multistoried skyscrapers and demolish them as most of them got approved by muscle powered politicians’ invasion. ------

Crisis of consolidation in Tamil Nadu

Like it or not, a political tsunami is brewing in Tamil Nadu. After Jayalalithaa’s demise, the war for the throne was fought vehemently. Luckily it resulted in a compromise formula and saved a premature election. But M Karunanidhi’s death has a direct volcanic effect on the DMK party which is family oriented. Now the question of succession has come up seriously. M K Alagiri was ignominiously ousted from the party and now even the primary members, has come forward to declare that Stalin’s leadership will ruin the party. He is branded as ‘non working president, It is evident that the sudden development will lead to split the loyalists and disgruntled party men in two groups. Alagiri is known for his bold initiative. He will certainly demand the leadership post or split the party into two. Kanimozhi is trying to play safe as we saw in the funeral venue when she escorted Alagiri to sit next to Stalin. She could also be a compromise candidate between the brothers. In any case DMK’s future hinges on the party’s family. There appears no consensus as of now, and down south, Alagiri’s men want him at the helm of affairs. It is also a fact that Kalaignar has not groomed anyone outside his home. Congress has tied up with the DMK for the forthcoming general election more to keep BJP from making a dent in the state. As a BJP member, I know that my party has to put in a lot of effort to fight the election. There is more selfishness than total dedication among the local leaders. If dynamism is instilled, BJP can definitely gain a few Lok Sabha seats and also make a dent in the assembly. It is a feeble hope that either Kamal or Rajinikanth independently will make substantial progress. The pulse of the people will be known in the local elections for town municipalities and city corporations which will go for polls before the 2019 national election. But the crux of the political scenario is that the state is in a confused state now with all kinds of allegations about the ruling party and its twin leadership. DMK is also sailing in the same boat. The problem confronting the public is to find a brilliant, balanced and level headed personality to maneuver the state politics from the toughest passé. Finding one will be a challenge. ------

Donald Trump and Imran Khan Whenever I visit US, I watch Comedian Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show. It is a highly creative, sarcastic, dynamite show with lot of sarcasm. In his latest episode he added a little segment called “Meet the Pakistani Donald Trump”, in which he highlights the striking ways that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan mirrors President Trump from his self aggrandizing display of wealth to his hard line nationalism. Trevor draws lot of parallels (including showing Imran’s luxurious bedroom) that provokes laughter. Khan’s living style and behavioral pattern may be similar to Trump’s. While the subtle humour may sound an alarm bell, hopefully Imran Khan should not follow Trump’s clownish overtures and rash decisions, apart from love for beautiful blondes.

------Press vs US President

All US newspapers hit back on Thursday, Donald Trump’s continuous attack on the news media with a coordinated campaign of editorials, triggering a fresh tirade from the President on Twitter. The Boston Globe took the initiative and called for the drive, highlighting the importance of the press. 300 newspapers joined the effort. A free press, empowered by the First Amendment (US) serves as a watchdog over every level of American government from City Hall to the White House. By harping daily that the news appearing is Fake news, the president is trying to undermine and decry the dignity of the profession. The President dare call them the “enemy of the American people” and “dangerous and sick”. By such frivolous comments, the President is placing the lives of journalists in peril. The president’s rhetoric also increases the danger to journalists and journalism worldwide. Some eccentric leaders will take a cue from Trump and condemn the press and journalists. His anti –press statements has been strongly objected to by the UN High Commission for human rights. It is high time that Trump understands that press is not America’s enemy. It is America’s watchdog doing a better job than the president.

Healthcare for a healthy nation India has always been in the forefront taking good care of its citizens, before the dawn of Independence. After independence, this picture changed drastically. Poverty progressed and prosperity staggered, thanks to corruption and power hungry politicians, who swallowed the country’s natural wealth or abetted those who took our wealth, clandestinely, outside. Now, the BJP government is seriously thinking of the millions of poor unhealthy mass. It is stepping in on a war footing to provide healthcare to 500 million economically deprived. This is the best and greatest task and a significant move that has stunned the world. The Ayushman Bharat National Health Mission will cost RS. 12,000 crore annually. India has the historical record of health care since 400 CE. The inhabitants were rich and vied with one another in the practice of benevolence and righteousness. All kingdoms of North India established in the cities, houses for dispensing charity and medicine. The poor, destitute, orphans, widowers, childless, maimed , crippled and diseased went to these houses and were provided with every kind of help. They were given nutritious food and when they felt at ease, they left the place. What a wonderful way of taking care of people. Imagine if such houses are established today. We will have more corruption and more deaths. Hopefully, Modi’s vision of healthy India will be our inherent value tradition. Sena’s inept scam remark Rahul Gandhi has set up the trend of abusing PM Narendra Modi for anything and everything. All disgruntled elements unwittingly follow this war path of Rahul to condemn the PM. On Sunday, Shiv Sena’s Chief Raj Thackeray attacked the Maharashtra government for according state honour to the late actress Sridevi. Nothing wrong in asking such a question. But his claim that it was done to divert people’s attention from Nirav Modi-PNB scam is sheer nonsense and highly immature coming from a giant politician. Sena Chief should know that all TV channels are exposing the PNB –Nirav Modi scam and it is green in the minds of people. Grow up Raj and find something better to expose Modi than such mundane incidents. ------Shouting match in Parliament

People elect Parliamentarians who are responsible and prove their worth in threadbare discussion on key issues concerning the nation. When these representatives of the people fail in their duties and cause a huge loss to the exchequer, they get thrown out in the next general election.

This unethical behavior of these elected representatives was happening since commencement of the present session of Parliament. These people who enjoy a hefty salary and allowance abstained from parliament more due to bias rather than on any concrete issue. Today is the 15th day that this logjam continues in both houses of parliament and paralysed the functioning. The Finance Bill was passed without any discussion and merely by voice vote. Important issues like PNB fraud, border situation with China in NE and Pakistan in J&K are burning issues that warrants active participation of the opposition. This winter session of Parliament has caused a loss of Rs.73,50,00,000 without any fruitful action. Each minute of the Parliament costs the exchequer Rs.2.5 lakhs and loss of precious man hours. Like NPA recovery, we should cut the pay of Non Performing Parliamentarians who abstain from Parliament more due to incompetence, to take on ( TV channel favorite rubbish) ruling party. Whoever tops the list of NPP in parliament, the public should vote against them. In such case, Rahul will the first victim. BJP: Time for rational action plan.

Narendra Modi rightly accused the opposition of spreading lies against the government due to its increasing frustration over electoral losses. Modi also asked BJP MP’s to effectively use technology to take the truth to the masses. It is time that MP’s do some serious homework to talk to their parliamentary constituencies as to what is actually happening as aam aadmi of today is exposed more to fake and slanted news. With the party gearing up for Lok Sabha next year, it is necessary that BJP focuses on strengthening the workforce at the booth level, projecting BJP ideology and significance of Modi’s leadership. It is also a good sign that the party plans to celebrate the Dalit icon birth anniversary on April 14, and May 5, as ”gram swaraj abhiyan’. In Tamil Nadu, BJP has to streamline and choose effective leaders in every city and improve its membership drastically. The pell- mell condition that is prevailing in TN can be well utilized to BJP’s advantage. What I find as a member of BJP is that posts are distributed indiscriminately without any rational analysis of the capacity of the individual. This results in tarnishing the image of the party. The obligations which are expected in return are not condusive to the party’s growth.

Manmohan speaks Former Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh says that the NDA is experiencing “crisis of confidence”. Singh said that the economy is not in as good shape as it could be, given the steep drop in oil prices which has benefitted India, a net commodities importer. We may concur with the economist PM that NDA is not able to get its act together to persuade the business community to take advantage of the fortitudinous circumstances to step up the rate of investment at home. But when the former PM spoke about the beef issue, it has become political. However, the wise and old former PM Manmohan Singh said that “Modi is prime minister of all people of India and he must give every Indian the confidence that in him we have a prime minister who cares for our well being”. Singh should have remembered this when he sacrificed all his education and honesty to inflame India with an unprecended loot. Now he makes a funny statement that the present government should establish rapport with Rahul. The former PM said that he was hurt when BJP members called him “Pradhan mantri, chor hai”. Does he not remember how the nation felt hurt when the trusted and educated PM remained a silent spectator, when the nation was robbed? POV 13/2:

Subsidy for traitors

College or university cultural events are an effort to promote unity, cultural understanding and debates on healthy issues that will help student’s future. It is not the business of the students to debate the judgment of Supreme Court, especially cases pertaining to terrorists or other political issues. Unfortunately, the creation of “political student union” funded by interested parties both national and regional have killed the decorum and decency of the educational institutions as it is used not for students future but political aspirations. What happened in JNU has shocked every Indian- organizing a cultural event to protest the execution of Afzal Guru. Another debate took place in the Press Club when a group emerged, hailing Afzal. Delhi University lecturer led the event.

BJP did the right thing by arresting the students who were involving themselves in anti national activities. Freedom of speech and expression does not mean hailing terrorists attacking our country. What the government should do is to withdraw subsidies and all other perks to all those engaged in anti national activities. Taking advantage of the situation for political gains and terming it ‘national emergency like situation ‘is nonsense. As far BJP, it should learn a lesson as it was primarily responsible for creating internal problems in university/college campus by motivating its student wing as we saw in Hyderabad. It is the duty of the heads of educational institutions to discourage association of students with any political parties and permit debates only on healthy topics in cultural events.

Ripples in space

Ripples in space time have finally been detected, 100 years after they were first predicted by Albert Einstein. The discovery is today hailed as "the biggest scientific breakthrough" of the century by scientists who said that it was even more significant than finding the Higgs Boson and marked the "birth of gravitational astronomy".

In 1915, Einstein announced his General Theory of Relativity which suggested that huge bodies in space, like planets and black holes, have so much mass that they actually bend space and time. It can be visualized as a giant sheet with a bowling ball in the centre. Just like the ball warps the sheet, so too the planet bends the fabric of space time, creating a force that is gravity. Any object that comes near the body falls towards it because of the effect.

Einstein predicted that if two massive bodies come together, it would create such a huge ripple in space and time, that it would be detectable on earth. What was considered weird is coming true as scientists have deducted such a ripple, caused by two black holes colliding. Science has made many discoveries today, proving that scientists were able to calculate and visualize what will happen, before the advent of computers and other sophisticated equipments, using only their brains. By far, human brain is better than all the sophisticated gadgets available today.

Nuts and Eggs

A high-cholesterol diet and eating eggs will not increase the risk of heart attack, not even in persons inclined genetically, reveals a new study. Eating an egg every day, is not associated with an elevated risk of incident coronary heart disease or thickening of the common cartioid artery walls, the study said. Frequent consumption of eggs does not increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases even in persons who are genetically predisposed to a greater effect of dietary cholesterol on serum cholesterol levels, the research showed. The findings are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Specialists from the University of California at Davis conducted a series of experiments on a group of male mice diagnosed with prostate cancer. The experiment showed that the development of the tumor and malignant cells significantly slowed among the rodents in the second and the third groups. According to Natural News, the scientists explained the success of the experiment with the content of powerful phytonutrients in raw walnuts. This natural product contains that chemical which inhibits cancer cells and prevents them from developing. Just two handfuls of walnuts every day reduces the risk of cancer by almost 50 percent. If you have diabetes and want to lower blood sugar, get septum from 40 nuts, cover them with a glass of boiling water, keep in a steam bath for an hour, let cool and filter. Take 1 teaspoon three times a day. Use simple solution to lower the blood sugar rather than spending huge amounts on hospital and doctors.

AIADMK, galloping towards winning post

The public mood, especially among the women folk and the youth of Tamil Nadu indicates that AIADMK will form the next government. It may be too premature to conclude the number of seats the ruling party will win. My view is that AIADMK might get around 200 seats. With the right choice of candidates, AIADMK can sweep the polls with more numbers. This view is substantiated by a recent India TV C voter poll carried out in four states. As per their findings, AIADMK will come back to power in Tamil Nadu, Mamata will retain power in WB, a hung assembly in Assam with an edge to BJP and Left may return to power in Kerala. The combined political opponent groups may not pose a great threat to AIADMK. BJP at best may win two seats. Few seats may go to DMK – Congress alliance out of sympathy for old Chanakya Kalaignar Karunanidhi. POV 2/4 Sparkling rays and positive vibrations

Kapaleeswarar Karpagambal temple has got maximum exposure in the media for the extraordinary arrangements made by the temple team, right from Chairman Vijayakumar Reddy and Joint Commissioner D Kaveri. It is nice to see that all of them have put in 24 x7 work so that devotees get the blessings without any hitch.

Late last evening, I happened to see a team of Joint commissioners/ Deputy Commissioners trying to accommodate the millions of requests from public and VIP’s for donor passes to witness the kumbhabhishekam. I saw them having a tiny “bonda” late in the evening while sorting out arrangements for the great day. They seem to be truly doing “patnee virahtam” (fasting) for God and Goddess. The Chairman of the temple was in attendance at the entrance of the temple office till late in the evening, tired yet cheerful trying to please many requests.

As a daily visitor to the temple, I could sense the high positive energy due to rendering of thevaram coupled with chanting of Rig, Krishna Yajur, Sukla Yajur and Sama Vedam by scholars. The place also reverberated to the recital of Nadaswaram. Devotees who visited the temple also could feel the divine energy flowing. The effect of all energies is having a cascading effect. The brightly lit multiple lamps around the golden yaga sala produces heat and light energy. The ringing of the bells and chanting of prayers gives sound energy. The wide variety of flowers and the burning of pure camphor and other herbs spread fragrant energy. With all these energies synchronized, the divine touch will transform entire Mylapore into heaven. “Mailai is Kailai” and “Kailai is Mailai” will ring true on the Kumbhabhishekam day, falling on Sunday the 4th inst.

Purifying Ganga for politics Both BJP and Congress have one thing in common. Both have spent crores and crores of public money to clean up the Ganga. It is still a myth since nothing has changed. The river continues to remain polluted from source to the end Now PM Narendra Modi is visiting Jharkhand (which is in a nightmare of politics) to launch a model stretch of Ganga for cleaning up operations. Uma Bharathi, the firebrand BJP leader, who has been living in UP and taking dips every day in the Ganges, has discovered that the most polluted stretch is the Saheganj district of Jharkhand covering 80 kms. PM Modi will visit Jharkhand to purify the river stretch and the political fog. Both are tough tasks.

Monks marketing strategy

Baba Ramdev has set a world record of appearing in TV commercials with his brand Patanjali Ayurveda. His aim is to make Patanajali a consumer goods giant. Patanjali makes and markets everything-shampoos, toothpastes, biscuits, noodles, juices, sweets, rice, wheat, honey and ghee to name a few. In the past three months, Ramdev appeared 234,934 times during commercial breaks across TV channels to endorse Patanjali products, according to BARC India. That works out to an ad aired every 30 seconds on one channel or another.

Ramdev has made no secret of his ambition to build Patanjali into a consumer goods giant that would be bigger than HL. Ramdev will certainly achieve his goal as BJP backs him, good or bad.

Obesity time bomb

Almost a fifth of the world’s population will be obese by 2025, experts have warned. This is in startling contrast to figures from the UN World Food Programme showing that one in nine people do not have enough food to lead a healthy, active life. Over the 40-year period between 1975 and 2014, the number of men and women classified as obese soared from 105 million to 641 million, a research by Imperial College London showed.

A recent research has also given a solution to fat people. Carol S. Johnston, associate director of nutrition program at Arizona State University said that taking vinegar will help you lose weight, "if you're a very, very patient person". One or two tablespoons of vinegar taken every day, helped people lose two to four pounds [0.9 to 1.8 kilograms] after 12 weeks; while a comparison group given a plain beverage did not lose any weight.

======