Many of India’s State Human Rights Commissions are today dysfunctional. Hence, the latest Supreme Court pronouncement for better accountability and functioning of these Commissions, is a welcome step in the right direction, says Niyati Vakil. Almost 18 years after the landmark judgment in 1997 of D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal through which guidelines and directions were issued to ensure prevention of custodial deaths, comes another landmark pronouncement. The former dealt with and recognised custodial deaths as a naked violation of human rights and human dignity. The Supreme Court also went on to observe that while the freedom of…
Author: oiop
I feel that 13 years of living in Singapore has ironically made me as Indian as possible. I visit India twice a year, go to an Indian school, have mostly Indian friends, learn Carnatic vocal and Bharathnatyam, have rotis every day, learn Hindi as my second language and watch Asianet, Star and Sun TV, can make the tastiest palak paneer, read the news via the NDTV app, and above all, relish scrumptious curd rice, palgoa and jangeri. These aspects have been constants. The world may perceive us, Indians living abroad to have been somewhat mutated by the melange of bustle…
While September 29 is celebrated as World Heart Day, each day of our life needs to be heart friendly, says Kanchan Naikawadi. She lists the measures we should take to lead a healthy life. World Health Organisation (WHO) reports indicate that cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) will be the largest cause of death and disability in India by 2020. Blame it on the western style, fast food and packaged food that are high in saturated fats and salt or easy access to tobacco or the lack of open spaces for outdoor sports, every aspect of urban lifestyle facilitates the onset of cardiovascular…
We should have heeded the warning signs of the adverse impact of chemical pesticides used in farming. Is it now too late? “As crude a weapon as the cave man’s club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life – a fabric on the one hand delicate and destructible, on the other miraculously tough and resilient and capable of striking back in unexpected ways.” – Rachel Carson 100 YEARS FROM TODAY: The use of pesticides has vanished. Agriculture is conducted strictly on the basis of agro-climatic zones and has shifted from monoculture to polyculture. Taking the lead…
There was some disbelief earlier this year when President Rajapaksha lost the Sri Lanka Presidential elections and more recently, the Parliamentary elections too. He was after all, the ‘hero’ who had routed the LTTE and brought ‘peace’ upon the island nation. But India can’t stop smiling, as President Rajapaksha’s pro-China leaning was a thorn in the Indian side, says P.M. Kamath. The recent Parliamentary elections of 17 August 2015 held in Sri Lanka, was closely watched not only by India, but other major powers like the US, China, European Union (EU), Norway and many others as well. This Parliamentary election…
It’s time India accepted that Pakistan’s military will always be hostile to India, says B. Ramesh Babu. We have to learn to live with the reality of a hostile neighbour, instead of indulging in constant sabre rattling with Pakistan, he cautions. As far as India and Pakistan are concerned, talking, calling off talks, resuming talks, is a recurring cycle. The two countries will be inextricably engaged with one another forever. Exchange of mortars and rockets across the LoC (Line of Control) can be seen as a not so silent form of dialogue! In the bargain, soldiers on the two sides…
India’s freedom was not wrought in a single day or from a single place. The movement was spread across many venues in the Indian subcontinent, each serving as an epicenter from which waves of revolutionary ideas and campaigns radiated out to millions of Indians. Some of these places, we still revere. Some we have forgotten with the passage of time. It’s necessary for us to once again revisit these places in order that we never forget how our freedom, which we take so much for granted today, was won. And reverentially thank those who won it for us with their…
Where was she born? Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbalakshmi or Kunjamma, as she was known to her family, was born on September 16, 1916 in the temple town of Madurai. How did her interest in music develop? Her grandmother was a violinist and her mother a noted veena player. She grew up in an atmosphere filled with music. When did she make her debut? In 1934, at the age of 17, Subbalakshmi made her debut at the Madras Music Academy. In how many languages did she sing? M.S. Subbalakshmi sang Carnatic songs and devotional songs in ten Indian languages including Hindi, Marathi,…
The Indian youth may not be too familiar or enamoured with Gandhi. But we should be, says Shivani Ekkanath, as she traces Gandhi’s and India’s journey towards freedom. She also gives credit to the lesser acknowledged names of our freedom movement. My generation has been surrounded by his ideals and words, his journeys and experiences, even before we could really comprehend it. Over the last half century, books like Freedom at Midnight especially, have ignited that spark of appreciation, opinion and sheer wonder. The way Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi went to study law, how he spearheaded the passive resistance in South…
The Mahatma’s charkha spun a big role for itself in India’s freedom struggle, but went off radar since. But today, there is an effort to popularise the charkha. V.R. Devika, who regularly spins the charkha, talks about its history, and continuing relevance. Selva Vinayagar School, Kothamangalam, Chettinnad, Tamilnadu. Karuppaiah of class VIII is the son of a casual grass cutter. He was hovering around me. I asked him if he had something to share. He said “Madam, when you came to our school last, you showed us a box Raattai (Tamil for charkha, the spinning wheel) I have created my…