Rishi Aggarwal feels perturbed about the fact that only a few people in India go to extraordinary lengths to impact issues which affect all, while millions are completely missing in action. Activism and the environment share a very close relationship. Most environmental issues we face depend very closely on activism for results. But for activism a number of environmental issues would see steady deterioration. For the past decade, in the matter of saving the mangrove forests along the coast of Mumbai, it was my constant retort that left to environmental laws, environment department, IAS officers and other bureaucrats or even…
Author: oiop
Ostriches, which are the largest land birds, live in groups of 100 or more. Since they can’t fly, this helps them fend off predators and warn each other of danger. Usually, each group has a dominant male and female. The leading male scrapes out a shallow nest in the mud and persuades the female to lay eggs in it. She incubates the eggs with help from the male. Other females use the same nest to lay their eggs, so a single nest may have dozens of eggs fathered by ostriches from all over the neighbourhood! After the chicks are born,…
Anuradha Sawhney narrates instances of animal and bird abuse in India, and how despite the fact that there are laws to protect them, these are hardly enforced by authorities due to low awareness and lack of empathy. In India animal and bird abuse is quite common. There are many laws for the protection of animals. Unfortunately, citizens or for that matter even law enforcers, are not aware of these laws; as a result these poor neglected creatures continue to suffer and die due to inhuman treatment. Some major laws for protecting the animals are: The Constitution of India (Its not…
The architects of the Nayak committee set up to review governance of boards of PSBs seem to have had a Rip Van Winkle moment. Policy paralysis will be overcome. Once again, there is an excited talk of growth, deregulation and privatisation. A few days before the May election results were declared, a committee appointed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to review governance problems of all banks including public sector banks (PSBs), submitted its report in less than the stipulated three months. It suggested that the way out for PSBs was disassociation from the public i.e. government control. It…
V Gangadhar tells us how activism in India is alive and kicking. Enough has been said and written about India being the largest democracy in the world. The world has also recognised that being the foremost in activism means we are the most ‘active’ on all sorts of ‘rights’. India overflows with all kinds of rights and foreign nations are so alarmed that they have warned their tourists from coming to India. Women’s Rights: This peaked after the Delhi Nirbhaya case of 2012 and gave an entirely new fillip to women’s rights. The great state of Uttar Pradesh which has…
The affable admiral (1923 – 1993) Admiral Ronald Lynsdale Pereira, Ronnie to his friends, was born at Kannur in Kerala on 25 May 1923. Instead of following into the steps of his father who was a doctor, he decided to join the navy and was commissioned into the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) when he turned 20 in 1943. His first assignment was a command of a wooden fishing trawler, fitted out like a gunboat. The crew comprised of a dozen equally raw sailors. He saw service in Burma (Myanmar) and Malaysia during 1943 – 45 and later with an amphibious…
Panini’s treatise on grammar ‘Asthadhayi’ is acclaimed by linguists all over the world as the most perfect model of grammar. In the 20th century when computer technology was well advanced to device its own computer language, scientists and technocrats made a thorough study of all the major languages in the world to find out their suitability to be used as an ideal computer language. Sanskrit-the most suited computer language They came to the conclusion that Sanskrit, in particular, the Sanskrit grammarian Panini’s treatise on grammar, ‘Asthadhayi’, would be the most suited computer language. In fact, the popular American magazine, ‘Forbes’,…
Pamela Philipose throws light on the changing role and contribution of women parliamentarians and how AAP stands on this yardstick. India’s 16th general election has been the most expensive exercise of its kind in the country’s history. One estimate puts the figure at ` 30,000 crore, a tad shy of the bill notched up in the 2012 US presidential polls. What does this tsunami of money power that brought Narendra Damodardas Modi to power mean for the faceless, voiceless Indian? The answer will unfold over the next five years, but what is clear is that for India’s women, the more…
A thorough role model (1927-2014) Dr. Manorama Savur was an exemplary teacher who mentored hundreds of students who opted for Master’s and Doctoral programmes for Sociology from Mumbai University. She taught for three decades in the sociology department and was influenced by Prof. A. R. Desai, a stalwart committed to Marxism. She had the courage of conviction and freely and fearlessly expressed her views. In 1975 when Emergency was imposed in India, she vehemently and openly opposed it. She always had a gracious smile that added charm to her beautiful persona. She was very helpful to her students and all…
Manipuri is characterised by fluid movements, where each movement appears to flow into another. The dance has extremely graceful movements of the wrists and palms, and the footwork is predominantly on toes lending the dance its renowned ethereal quality, writes Dr. Kanak Rele. Manipuri is from the northeastern state of Manipur. Manipur literally means “the city of jewels”. It is indeed a jewel. Surrounded by beautiful hills and verdant fields, this lovely state has given us one of the jewels of Indian culture, and that is Manipuri dancing. Dancing is a way of life with the people of Manipur. The…