Posts

Illegal Coal Mining : A Ticking Time Bomb

-
  BY R.K.MISRA History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as farce, so goes a famous quote. Tragedy is the coal mine accident in Assam on January 6 where four people are confirmed dead and a national effort is underway to save the missing. The farce is that not one of the 26,000 abandoned rat-hole mines- in just one district of Meghalaya alone- has so far been closed despite an order, a decade ago. There are much more in many other. The nation-wide proliferation of illegal coal mining is a ticking time bomb that erupts like a boil on the body fabric of the country every time accidents take place. For the remainder, it keeps patiently nibbling away at the national economy creating black money barons while the establishment of the day is busy cherry picking piddly political opponents. Some North-eastern states of the country may be pock-marked with ‘abandoned’ yet activated illegal mines but the activity is rampant in other states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattis...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Indian Medicine 'Mixopathy'

-
    BY R.K. MISRA   Blending ideas and inspiration works wonders. Mixing memory and desire stirs imagination but    coupling Allopathy and Ayurveda can be painfully punishing. In plain terms it is like fusing chalk with cheese. If the country’s medical fraternity has been in ferment at the Narendra Modi- led BJP government’s pre-occupation with ‘mixopathy’, Gujarat went through a tense last week after the health department of the state government called a meeting to discuss ‘practice of Allopathy by those who have studied Ayurveda’. ‘Mixopathy’ is a loosely coined term used to describe the integration of alternative medicine systems, such as Ayurveda, with modern medical science which is also called Allopathy. The term is a combination of the words "mix" and "pathy", which means disease. The turmoil began after the Health Department of the Gujarat government issued a latter on December 27 calling for a meeting of senior officials and representa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Of Prime Ministers , Raincoats And Wind - Cheaters !

-
  BY R.K. MISRA Swords cut and kill but words stab and stay. And there will be many who will be accountable for much, to the late Indian Prime Minister on this score. For now Dr. Manmohan Singh who softly tip-toed into history and was gently laid to rest three days short of 2025 is a persona drenched in sterling tributes. Distant lands shrunk in size to bathe India’s first Sikh Prime Minister in homage and compliments. India also pulled out all stops as stalwarts from all walks of life doffed their hats in acknowledgement of the debt of gratitude that liberalization set in motion. But this does not distract from the hurtful darts hurled by his opposition detractors. Feted in death, he was the object of distasteful barbs by political pygmies in his lifetime. These will linger for a long time to come for the sheer uncivility of the assault on a distinguished, globally recognized economist whom fortuitous circumstances had pitchforked in the role of a saviour. The government of the da...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reel Offers Reality , Politics Sells Dreams !

-
BY R.K.MISRA Politics is pragmatic, films create fantasy. One rarely bargains for a role reversal and yet it happened. The reel was offering reality and politics stood petered to   dream selling. After years, with mixed feelings, one walked into a movie hall to watch a film, ’Twelfth Fail’ and emerged from it both shaken and stirred. Shaken, because it was the re-creation of the real life story of a village   youth from the one-time dacoit infested Chambal region and his poverty riddled struggle to become an Indian Police service (IPS)officer. Stirred , for it brought alive to me   in striking detail my bitter battle to become a journalist in the India of the sixties. Nothing new, many   of my generation have done so too. The movie mirrors the struggle of millions of Indian youth who survive in sub-human, sardine tin packed conditions in cities for years on end chasing a dream. A few make it, the rest are crushed in the melting pot of their own desires. This ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Maharashtra-Gujarat Spar Over Gems And Jewellery

-
  BY R.K. MISRA Instant solutions have long term implications for governments may come and governments may go but bruises blight for long. In recent times, three states saw popular   mandate being side-stepped to ensure change of horses mid-stream. The verdict is out in Karnataka with the Congress back in the saddle, this time on its own steam. Madhya Pradesh is full scale in poll mode and the outcome is just around the corner. Maharashtra, the third state has just about a year to go but the government so cobbled seems foot sore and travel weary.   Whatever may be the outcome , It is however the fall-out of   this politics that is impacting popular perceptions between neighbours- Maharashtra and Gujarat-   and calls for a soothing touch. Once a part of   bi-lingual Bombay state, the separation was not rancour-free and while the hurt may have healed, the sore remains, surfacing every time the’ sunny’ summer gives way to the winter ‘chill’. The latest...
Post a Comment
Read more

A 'Fake ' Government Office Siphons Off 93 Projects !

-
  BY R.K. MISRA India presents a kaleidoscope of emotions and   contrasts. It leaves us amused, entertained and   yet sad and sorry.   Five   states across the country are set to   go to polls    with over 161 million casting   their vote for a result that will   set the tone for the general elections due next year. Isn’t it amusing that the best   the political creme de la creme can conjure up is a wrestling bout   between India and Bharat, shadow advantage of the Israel-Hamas conflict and the ‘lolly-popping’ that is now a routine feature.   The Ram temple, off course remains the leitmotif of the Indian poll process for decades now. If the ruling BJP-led   government has its ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’, the Congress which is battling it has it’s ‘Adani’ to drive home the difference in choice   between a government for the rich and one for the poor. To each party its own, to political pundits the impact o...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Warning Judgment For Cops India-wide

-
  BY R.K.MISRA Injustice is easy to inflict , what stings is justice. And when the applause or censure has died down you are left to savour the   pleasure or pain in private. If the abiding sentiment is   redemption for one, it is of rumination for the other. On October 19,2023 the Gujarat High Court sentenced four police officers and men to 14 days simple imprisonment for the public flogging of five muslim men for their alleged involvement in stone pelting during garba last year. They were also fined Rs 2000 or 3 days jail in lieu thereof. The operative part of the verdict has been stayed for three month to appeal against it.   A benchmark judgment delivered by Justice A.S.Supehia and Justice Gita Gopi has been scathing   in upholding the law and yet softly mindful   in giving ample time to appeal. Published excerpts of the judgment sound a warning bell for the cops who play to the gallery with an eye to pleasing those in power.   The verdi...
Post a Comment
Read more