The usually quiet Bollywood actor Aamir Khan is stirring up many new controversies these days. He ahs started blogging recently. in one of his recent blogs Aamir talks about his dog which is named Shah Rukh Khan. Aamir defends himself saying the dog came with the house he brought. The house owner named the dog Shah Rukh since apparently the the actors shot for an ad in the same house.

What i don’t understand is how can Aamir be so downright rude and insulting? Shah Rukh has never commented ever on Aamir’s films or life. What does Aamir want to prove? Just because Shah Rukh doesn’t make serious/hard hitting movies like Aamir that doesn’t mean he is not a good actor.

And Aamir hasn’t just stopped making comments on Shah Rukh. Recently he has composed a song targeting Salman Khan. The song talks about Salman’s love for fast bikes, watches and women. SO what’s the big deal? They are Salman’s personal interests and Aamir has not right to comment on them.

What scruples does Aamir have? He divorced his wife and married his long-time girlfriend, who he started seeing when he was already married. Aamir should bow a step down and reduce his arrogance.

I find it really ridiculous that US President George Bush and also Condolezza Rice say that India is responsible for the global food shortage. How can our country be blamed for it? There is a shortage of food rains in our country itself!

Thanks to the collapse of the Public Distribution System in our country many food grains are unable to reach people who fall under the Below Poverty Line (BPL). thanks to the rising inflation people cannot even afford the basic fruits and vegetables! and here bush talks about our country being a major culprit! Our country is used to having famines and starvation deaths especially in rural areas who do not have access to even one meal a day.

Earlier also he had made a silly statement saying that India and China are responsible for the rising oil prices. uf…When will Mr. Bush use his brains and speak some sense!

If he is so concerned about food shortage, why doesn’t he prevent countries like Thailand who plan to form a rice cartel? he rice cartel would be a group of exclusive countries who would be involved in the trading of rice between each other only or people whom they like.

Before you make any judgments and pounce upon let me just tell you people that this is not a blanket statement made by me. In fact it is the conclusion of a survey conducted by an American organisation.

the survey looked at hardships faced by mothers across 71 lesser-developed countries and India is ranked at 66th in the list. its a sad fact that 1 in every 70 women in india faces the risk of dying during child birth.

it is relayy sad that while economically the rupee is today stronger than the dollar, our country cannot get its basics right. many women do not have access to medical facilities especially in rural areas. mothers till today are ill-treated sometimes even thrown out of the house for not bearing a male child.

i don’t get the concept of people in our country hating the girl child. why don’t people get the point that the way things are women might become an extinct species soon and the whole chain of births will come to an end and so will the world.

the report also says that girls in India are given a minimum 10 years of schoolgirls compared to 17 years in the UK and US. in many cases young girls are forced to work as labourers at home or in hotels, streets depriving them of education.

unless India takes concrete steps to improve women’s conditions we can never be a global giant

it is unfortunate that some ministers in maharashtra are saying bar dancers are better than the IPL cheerleaders. i fail to get what’s their problem. at the rate we are going they will have problem with us even eating and breathing!

their dresses are not vulgar but yes they are american style. these girls are just doing their duty of entertaining people in the stadium. as long as people are happy with them then what is the problem?

i am just sick of this moral policing. for each and every thing the ministers have a standard excuse ‘it is against our indian culture’. they show such double standards. many of these ministers openly patronize bars and brothels. but no one cares a hoot about it and yet they come and meddle their noses in unwarranted affairs.

if not anything it is just going to turn off foreigners from visiting our country thanks to the numerous restrictions and rules.

arghghghg…will someone just give me e break from these news channels who have been constantly harping upon the slap given by harbhajan to sreesanth yesterday. the incident took place after the ipl cricket match between punjab and mumbai yesterday.

well they say in hindi ‘taali ek haath sey nahin bajti.’ which means a clap doesn’t happen with one hand! so sreesanth has apparently provoked harbhajan and other mumbai team members. hence he has got furious and slapped sreesanth.

i don’t want to see visuals of sreesanth crying again and again like a baby! and or god’s sake sreesanth is such a baby! which man cries after being slapped even though it happened publicly in front of the media!

either ways both the players are not innocent and have been involved in controversies before. irrespective of the outcome of the inquiry committee even sreesanth should be reprimanded. he had no right to insult his opposition members.

i got the point! but why does every news channel have to keep playing the same broken tape recorder again! are channels so short on news that they ‘fill’ their on air time with such repetitions.

give me a break guys!

I don’t understand why sex education in Indian schools is still a subject of ‘taboo’? Recently, the Maharashtra government planned to introduce sex education as a full-fledged subject in the next academic year. But the proposal is pending thanks to resistance from the opposition party members.

Some of the weird reasons given for the same were it could result in more crimes against women. now that’s really ridiculous and funny! in fact it would do the opposite, it would tell people to practice safe sex and avoid HIV-AIDS.

Parents often find it difficult to explain such things to their children. at such times sex education in schools can come handy. How long can we remain conservative and traditional? All claims about it being ‘against our culture is rubbish’. It is not about aping European or other countries. Sex education should be equated to increasing population as felt by certain ministers in the state.

Its high time we say yes for sex education so that men also learn to respect their female counterparts. it’s anytime better than watching pornographic content illegally on our screens!

A few days back it was revealed that Priyanka Gandhi met with her father’s assassin Nalini in Vellore Jail. Priyanka’s father was the late Rajiv Gandhi, former Indian Prime Minister.

i feel that the media went overboard in it’s coverage of the issue. it is nice to see that Priyanka is ready to forgive Nalini for her father’s death. but trying to find out what questions priyanka asked nalini i thought wasn’t fair. it is something deeply personal and emotional. i don’t think we have a right to know the exact nature of the conversation.

obviously several killer languish in our jails, and there may be cases wherein the deceased person’s family might come and meet the killer/accused. but the media is not bothered about such cases.

just because it is the gandhi family which is involved the media just couldn’t control their curiosity. news channels kept flashing all day long about the meeting. i am sure there other important stories on that particular day which might have got sidelined because of the unnecessary attention given to this meeting.

IPL or the Indian Premier League kicked off yesterday in a grand fashion at Bangalore yesterday. the new Twenty-Twenty format is aimed at attracting more viewers and more money. lets look at some of the pros and cons of such a format

pros:

1. several cities of india will compete with each other for the ultimate crown. inclusion of international players like ricky pointing, shane warne is a major plus point.

2. many young domestic players will get a chance to impress the selectors who may make them a part of the regular international squad

3. its short and sweet. in flat 90 minutes (each side) one will definitely have a result in hand!

4. cheerleaders, filmstars dancing is good in wooing crowds. so its entertainment plus good cricketing skills on display

now lets look at some of the con’s

1. Money is an important factors. many players have signed up for this format to earn quick bucks. as england bowler kevin pietersen was quoted somewhere in the media as saying the money from such formats was enough to ensure funding for his children’s education in the latter part of life

2. india is a cricket crazy nation. we have several sponsors who have come forward and supported this initiative. but apart from a few like kingfisher who already supports tennis, will the others sponsor other sports like tennis, hockey, squash in this country?

3. wouldn’t it be nice to have such a knock out format even in football in our country? similar events already exist like the santosh trophy, but they could be done on a larger scale.

4. player burnout is a major concern. already the international cricket calendar is filled with numerous events. add to it if ipl becomes a yearly event, then players will not get adequate rest and in case of injuries will not get enough time to recover

5. and finally its great to see so much money being spent for the opening ceremony like laser show, acrobats, cheerleaders, etc. but the same money can be used to upgrade existing infrastructure in the country like football stadiums, badminton courts, coaches, etc.

6. ‘doctored or tailor-made pitches’: Just yesterday in the match between Kolkotta Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers of Hyderbad the pitch was really horrible. it had so much bounce that very third player got hurt. and then the drama of a ‘power failure’. play was disrupted for half an hour thus disrupting the concentration of the players.

Deccan Chargers at that moment had a very good chance to win the game. I don’t understand why did the home team create a pitch suitable to their requirements. Can’t you play a game on a fair pitch? Is it asking for too much? By cheating and using such unfair means they can’t continue to win for long

What say guys?

Right now I’m undergoing campus placements in my college. and its just been 4 days since the process has started and i already have 2 very good offers in my hand. right now everything might seem good, but believe me 2 days back i was so depressed and dejected! what a contrast life can be at times!

the first day a reputed media organisation came for the placements. the interview went of well and next day the list was announced. i was surprised that my name didnt feature in the list, since i was quite confident of making the cut. but i took it in my stride. next day another well-known media group came to recuit for their portal. and this time again i didnt make the cut!

again it came as a shock to me since again i thought il make it to the list. around me i saw many people receiving job offers and felt really depressed. my confidence dipped and i started wondering how come some of my friends got the job and i didnt make it.

after speaking to my parents and friends i felt better. it took me a long time to convince myself that everything was not lost. anyway it was only 2 days of the campus placement. there is always more companies to come and the process is going to continue for another 2 weeks.

the next day i get a cal from our campus placement co-ordinator saying i have bagged a job with the company that came on the first day! it seems by mistake or rather ‘inadvertently’ my name was chopped off from the final list. for a moment i was just too stunned to say anything, then gradually the feeling that i have atleast one job offer in my hand! but i was feeling bad for my roomies and flatmates since they hadn’t received even a single offer. seeing them sad made me also feel little bad. 

and then yesterday! what a day it was! everything happened so fast that i couldnt believe it! i got a job offer as a reporter with the country’s leading financial paper, something which i would liek to call my ‘dream job.’ and yesterday also happened to be the day when all my flatmates including my roomies.

now i’m in the process of choosing the ‘right’ job. keeping my fingers crossed.

An editorial on the Indian Union Budget 2008 written by me.

New Delhi: Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced a Rs. 60,000 crore package for farmers in the Union Budget presented on Feb. 29. Marginal farmers with land holdings upto 1 hectare and small farmers with holdings of 1-2 hectares will have a complete waiver of their loans. Loans overdue upto December 31st, 2007 which have remained unpaid till Feb 29, 2007 will be covered under the package. Chidambaram has ignored the needs of the farmers with three or more hectares of land. Already by distinguishing between the marginal and small farmers the Finance Minister has stirred up a controversy, with farmers feeling the creamy layer (farmers with lesser land) among them is reaping all the benefits.

But waiving loans is not the solution to end the farmers’ crisis for good and it cannot continue for long. Besides this waiver does not apply to large number of farmers who have taken loans from private money lenders. The decision might end up attracting more farmers into the vicious cycle of ‘credit.’ According to government statistics the agricultural credit industry is worth Rs 2, 40, 000 crores in 2007-08. Hence the decision might just increase the profits of the bank at the loss of the farmers. On the other hand the budget does not provide any benefit to farmers who have paid off their loans on time.

A report by the Radhakrishnan panel on Debt in 1991 had stated several reasons opposing the waiver of loans. One of the reasons was around 51% of the country’s farmers do not have access to institutional credit. With the general elections scheduled for next year the Finance Minister has tried to appease the agrarian community. In reaction to the news PSU (Public Sector Undertaking) banks stocks dipped but recovered later. The banks will mostly be reimbursed by the government for their losses in the form of bonds and greater liquidity. However, Mr. Chidambaram did not specify the source of funding for this debt-waiver.

The Finance Minister hopes to finish implementing the relief package by June 30th of this year. But given the numerous paperwork involved, it’s unlikely that the farmers will be able to keep up with the deadlines. The agriculture sector saw a growth of 2.6% this year against last year’s 3.8%. Hence the Finance Minister’s prediction that the sector would row at 4% for the year 2008-2009 looks unlikely given the increasing rate of farmer suicides especially in Vidarbha.

Former Finance Minister and BJP Leader Yashwant Sinha termed the budget as a ‘disaster’ and criticised the relief package. Ironically On Jan. 10 at Wardha, Maharashtra a Kisan Sankalp Rath Yatra was organised by his party colleague Rajnath Singh. At the rally his party workers chanted slogans like “BJP in favour of farmer loans waiver.”

The budget does not talk much about the Public Distribution System except for the use of Smart Cards to distribute food on a trial basis in Haryana and Chandigarh. The Finance Minister also announced the allocation of Rs 31,549 crores for food subsidy under the scheme which will be used next year. The point is whether these funds will reach the needy people and not be pocketed by government officials.

Over the years, many schemes have been introduced by the government. It remains to be seen how much of these new schemes will see the light of the day.

(Vidarbha inputs by Swati Roy/Digantik)