Opinion
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| | Rafale deal takes a new twist creating doubts about Government's claims | | | | "The government's defence of the deal falls flat if one even takes a cursory look at the sequence of events. Very fact that the deal negotiated by the UPA for the 126 jetfighters was renegotiated by the Modi government without the approval of the Committee on Defence and Security is a flagrant violation of the rules."
Ongoing slugfest between the Modi government and the opposition over alleged corruption in a major defence deal took a definitive turn when former French President Francois Hollande claimed last week that the Indian government had suggested Industrialist Anil Ambani Company as the offset partner for the Euro 7.87 billion deal to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets.
When the deal was agreed upon in 2015 Hollande was the French head of the state. He had visited India in Januar... |  | |
| | | Learner Driver..! | | | | The problem with the new airport in Mumbai is that every time you visit, there’s been a change, and this time I drove up a ramp that was meant for VIP parking, which I certainly didn’t belong to!
“Sir, please go forward then reverse out!” said the attendant politely. I moved forward then looked back to reverse the big car and realized that because it was a slope, I couldn’t see the road behind, and because today’s modern cars have tiny back windows, couldn’t see the sides or anything.
After having driven cars for well nigh forty years, I felt like a learner driver!
I was scared to reverse as I could hit the side walls, or barricades they’d set up.
Now there are going to many of you who are going to say, “Why didn’t you look at the rear camera Bob?”
I did. I’d installed the camera ... | | |
| | | Attack in Iran raises spectre of a potentially far larger conflagration | | | |
An attack on a military parade in the southern Iranian city of Ahwaz is likely to prompt Iranian retaliation against opposition groups at home and abroad. It also deepens Iranian fears that the United States. Saudi Arabia and others may seek to destabilize the country by instigating unrest among its ethnic minorities.
With competing claims of responsibility by the Islamic State and the Ahvaz National Resistance for the attack that killed 29 people and wounded 70 others in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, which borders on Iraq and is home to Iran's ethnic Arab community, it is hard to determine with certainty the affiliation of the four perpetrators, all of whom were killed in the incident.
Statements by Iranian officials, however, accusing the United States and its allies, Saudi Ar... | | |
| | | The dead sea and giving..! | | | | The Dead Sea is really a Lake, not a sea. It's so high in salt content that the human body can float easily. You can almost lie down and read a book! The salt in the Dead Sea is as high as 35% - almost 10 times the normal ocean water. And all that saltiness has meant that there is no life at all in the Dead Sea. No fish. No vegetation. No sea animals. Nothing lives in the Dead Sea.
Just north of the Dead Sea is the Sea of Galilee. Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea receive their water from river Jordan. And yet, they are very different.
Unlike the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee is full of rich, colorful marine life. There are lots of plants and lots of fish too. In fact, the Sea of Galilee is home to over twenty different types of fishes.
Same region, same source of water, and ye... | | |
| | | India on the brink | | | | One explanation for the enduring India-Pakistan rivalry has been that it is an identity conflict: India as a multitudinous democracy and Pakistan as a military-run state. A cynical view of Pakistan has it that its envy of India results in its constant provocations, including terror attacks and periodic dusting of the threadbare territorial issue, Kashmir.
It has deployed its intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to this end. From the headlines these days it can be inferred that the ISI has succeeded beyond its wildest imagination.
The more significant affect has been at the political level. Using the terrorism the ISI indulged in as leverage, black operations by India's majoritarian extremists have in some measure led up to the capture of power in India by cultur... | | |
| | | Miss Bailey's Cycle..! | | | | Her name was Miss Bailey, she was English and she taught me in junior school. She cycled to school, on a beautiful bike crafted in England, and on entering school gate would hand over graceful machine to anyone of us eager boys who would rush forward to park it for her.
It was a privilege when Miss Bailey handed her bicycle to you.
One day Shankar stood at the gate: Shankar was a hunchback.
We laughed, "Move out of the way Shankar, Miss Bailey is going to enter!" Miss Bailey drove in and we all rushed offering our little hands to her. But Miss Bailey looked past us all. "Will you park it for me?" she called out to Shankar.
"I don't think so Miss Bailey!" stammered Shankar, "I might drop your cycle!"
"If you drop it you pick it up!" said the teacher with a sweet smile. Saying this ... | | |
| | HUMAN RIGHTS | | The Pathology of Mass Surveillance | | The UK, Bulk Interception and the European Court of HRs | | | The judges noted that the second and third applications involved "investigative journalists who have reported on issues such a CIA torture, counterterrorism, drone warfare, and the Iraq war logs [accepting] that they were potentially at risk of having their communications obtained by the United Kingdom authorities".
It's fitting that the same society that produced George Orwell with his warnings of a totalitarian dystopia stacked with all-prying monitors, surveillance and paranoia should yield up some of the most invasive surveillance regimes imaginable. While some states have found the revelations from Edward Snowden the sort that should initiate, at the very least, modest changes, the United Kingdom preferred opposite approach. It had, after all, been an indispensable ally to the US ... | | |
| | HUMAN RIGHTS | | Just A Google Search - 56 Hunger Deaths in 2015-18 | | | | "Reports of hunger deaths are particularly frequent in two states: Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh (16 cases each). In Jharkhand, ABBA is effectively compulsory in most ration shops. Uttar Pradesh has implemented the National Food Security Act in a belated and haphazard manner."
News reports of "starvation deaths" have been coming in a steady trickle over the past few years. One particularly tragic episode was that of eleven-year old Santoshi Kumari in Jharkhand. She died one year ago, on 28 September, begging her mother for rice as she slipped into unconsciousness. It was later learnt that her family had lost their ration card because it had not been linked with Aadhaar (in mid-2017, the Jharkhand government mass-cancelled Aadhaar-less rations cards).
On the occasion of Santoshi's death an... | | |
| | | Modi in Trouble | | | | Indians are generally shy of statistics. No election is won or lost on the basis of figures. But, figures are crowding into the otherwise personalities-based discourse as the country prepares for general elections.
Many of these figures are unflattering, and should worry the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he has just won the mandate to lead his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) into these polls.
For, long after he stormed to power in 2014, only one figure was grandly flaunted: his 56-inch chest size. It encompassed his popularity, oratory, promises of "good days", unceasing denunciation of previous governments and a biting contempt for his critics.
Modi looked invincible until last month's surveys showed his popularity falli... | | |
| | | The Wonder of Silence..! | | | | The world today hates silence: In fact I'm beginning to think, people are scared of silence. There was a time I travelled by the local train, and quite often the compartment would be quiet with maybe an occasional word uttered between two friends.
Today there is a cacophony of noise as everybody chatters away on the mobile.
It's like, "Oh my God, I'm going to be alone on this train, I can't handle those silent moments. Let me dial a friend!"
And the conversation, quite often unnecessary spoils the wonder of silence, which that person could have experienced and enjoyed.
Here's an experience of silence I went through in Chicago, at the beginning of this year:
I decided against the wishes of my wife and relatives to go outside. It was about 20 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), there wasn... | | |
| | | Violence yours and mine | | If Maoist violence is illegitimate how is Hindutva violence and State violence justified? | | By Swami Agnivesh and Sandeep Pandey | |
| | There was major police action against Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varvara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira on 28 August, 2018. Before this police arrested Professor Shoma Sen, Adocate Sudhir Gadling, Sudhir Dhawle, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson on 6 June. Even before this Dr. Binayak Sen, Soni Sori, Ajay T.G., Professor G.N. Saibaba and Prashant Rahi have been arrested and all these activists have been accused of having links with Maoists. Maoists are considered dangerous because they are thought to be plotting to destabilize the government and the five who have been most recently targeted are also accused of having planned to assassinate the Prime Minister. This charge is ridiculous because they are dedicated activists fighting for the rights of marginalized sections of our soc... | | |
| | | Rahul must have spine and vision | | Next three months are crucial for Congress | | | Rahul Gandhi completed nine months in office as the Congress President on September 16.This was a period of big challenges for the Congress and despite some small mistakes and a few wrong assessments, Rahul has come out as a stronger leader who can lead the opposition against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi by uniting all the anti-BJP forces who are ready to unseat the NDA government from power at the centre in the Lok Sabha elections in April/May 2019.
As of now, the political scenario in the country is conducive for the Congress President in vigorously pursuing the unity of opposition parties for the coming assembly elections in five states- Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana by November/December this year. That means that Rahul Gandhi who will be completi... | | |
| | | Everybody is Somebody..! | | | | At the school my children studied in the support staff were never called by the post they occupied, like the gardener was not called, 'Mali' or 'gardener' he was called, 'Uncle' so and so. I liked that very much and it used to be nice seeing the pleasure on their faces when the children addressed them in this way.
Juan worked at a meat distribution factory.
One day, when he finished with his work schedule, he went into the meat cold room to inspect something, but all of a sudden the door closed and he was locked inside with no help in sight. Although he screamed and knocked with all his might, his cries went unheard as no one could hear him.
Most of the workers had already gone, and outside the cold room it's impossible to hear what was going on inside.
Five hours later, whilst Juan ... | | |
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