Passionate About India

Kudos to TO I, Advocate Ravindra Bana and the sensitiveness of a bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and N. V. Rama n, this Supreme court ruling can change India One of the most embarrassing aspects of Bengali culture has been the act of taking one’s aging mother or aunt for “teerth” or trip to holy places. Not that it’s a bad idea. But often it has been observed that while on visit to a place like Vrindavan, the son would make his mother sit somewhere saying he is just coming and would then disappear forever. The mothers, mostly being uneducated and with no means to go back, would end up spending their lives on the streets in these places. And the son would go back home and announce that he lost his mother in the crowd or that she passed away and he did her last rites there itself and came back. Thus, streets of places like Gaya, Varanasi, Vrindavan have many homeless widows – a large proportion from Bengal (not that this tradition is completely absent in people from other states)....

The Supreme Court’s recent landmark judgment, which ensures that convicted politicians will now get immediately disqualified from contesting in elections or holding office, marks an end to almost a two decade long tug-of-war between political parties and the Election Commission over the right of electoral candidacy to tainted candidates. While it is surely a landmark judgment and it’s not fair to be critical about everything, yet, the board is split into equal halves in their opinion towards the SC ruling, as pros and cons of the judgment seem to weigh equally. On the one hand, just because a case is hanging against a candidate, it is grossly unfair for the person to be assumed disqualified (due to the hyped up fear of future conviction) – as the allegation could well be fabricated. As it often happens in the political domain, a candidate could be debarred based on false allegation brought about by vested interests to stonewall him from standing in an election. It’s quite easy and...

It is inhuman! It is outrageous! And it is disgusting! The manner is which Pinki Pramanik, a national athlete who brought laurels for the nation at various international sporting events, is being sullied by all and sundry. Thanks to media, today she has become a household name, more infamous due to the controversy on her gender, than due to the gold medals she won at the Asian and Commonwealth Games. Pinki’s sporting achievements include a team relay gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games, another gold at the 2005 Asian Indoor Games, silver medal in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, beside many other medals at national and international levels. It is no secret that Pinki was recently charged of raping a woman – who was also her live-in partner – as it has been alleged that Pinki has both male and female reproductive organs. However, that is yet to be proved, as she is being forced into medical tests one after the other with inconclusive results. The moot point here is not with resp...