Society
TEN YEARS AFTER POKHRAN-II
Ten years after India's Operation Shakti, or power, the codename for the Pokhran II blasts, there is little sign of Khetolai's historic association. "Earlier, we had written on the signboard - Khetolai alias Shakti Sthal (power place). Most people in Khetolai had also painted the words Shakti Sthal on their motorbikes. Not any more," said Bishnoi.What rankles more is that the land for the test site, inside a military firing range, had been acquired from Khetolai residents in 1965. "It was all our property. But we had to give it up for a pittance when the government wanted it," said 75-year-old Hiya Ram, counting beads on his rosary. -by Devirupa Mitra
Entertainment
WHERE HAVE THE GOOD OLD FILMI MOTHERS GONE?Nirupa Roy by far remains Bollywod's mummy no. 1, thanks to her all-giving, all-sacrificing maternal image in almost all her films.But moms needn't be angelic. In B.R. Ishaara's "Kagaz Ki Nao" 30 years ago Helen's daughter Sareeka fainted with fright when she saw her widowed mother with a man.
"Why do we presume our mothers to be deities?" Helen had pleaded in this poignant look at the way moms used to be.-by Subhash K. Jha
Parliament
CYNICISM, CASTEISM HAUNT WOMEN'S RESERVATION BILLIf the parties have been reluctant to push through the legislation, the reason is not only the demand for caste-based quotas but also the unexpressed disquiet in the male-dominated political class of losing its pre-eminence to women. There are practical fears, too, like a male MP or MLA losing his constituency if it is allotted to women. To remove this apprehension, a suggestion of rotating the allocations was made. But the difficulty with such a step is that it will dissuade a legislator from nursing his or her seat if he or she is not sure of contesting from there in the future.-by Amulya Ganguli
Society
KARGIL WOUNDSI am afraid every parent would think twice to send their wards in the armed forces if we all fall short of our duty of safeguarding the prisoners of war and let them meet the fate of Lt Saurabh Kali.It may also send a demoralising signal to the Army personnel fighting for the Nation that our POWs in Pak cannot be taken care of. It is a matter of shame and disgust that most of Indian Human Rights Organisations by and large, showed apathy in this matter. Through this humble submission, may I appeal to all the civilised people irrespective of colour, caste, region, religion and political lineage to stir their conscience and rise to take this as a national issue? International Human Rights Organisations must be approached to expose and pressurise Pakistan to identify, book and punish all those who perpetrated this heinous crime to our men in uniform.-by Colonel Anil Bhat
Forest & Environment
DEGRADATION OF COASTLINEPlanning, investigation and execution of schemes to cheek sea erosion are the responsibility of the State/UT Governments. These are funded by the State Governments from the Annual Plan funds provided to the States by Planning Commission under Flood Control. However, in order to tide over the immediate fund constraints faced by the States in implementing anti-sea erosion works on the critical reaches, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (now shifted to Sate Sector) “Critical Anti Erosion Works in Coastal and other than Ganga Basin States” is implemented by Central water Commission for protection of critical coastal areas of Maritime States/UTs. Further, Ministry has formulated a National Coastal Protection Project to arrange external funding for protection of coastal areas of Maritime States/UTs.
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Eminent Personalities
GLOBALISATION HASN'T BROUGHT CHANGES FOR WOMEN: KANIMOZHI
The woman whom her father and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi once called his literary heir is angry about society erecting barriers for women writers, although she says people like her do enjoy some freedom in expressing themselves. "That is a small section; I think the majority of women do not have the freedom. Can you imagine a middle class woman or a lower middle class one who comes from a traditional background - which is a large population - expressing herself openly? I do not believe it is possible and that is the population that decides the morality of a woman.
Art & Culture
AT POKHRAN, A MAKESHIFT MUSEUM AWAITS VISITORS, FUNDSThe museum, housed in a long, rectangular tin shed that was earlier used by weavers of the khadi society, was built when local residents felt something should be done to celebrate the place's link to the momentous feat. "When tourists ask us about the nuclear tests, we could not show them anything. The site was inside the military firing range and not accessible, so we thought that we needed to have some physical bond with the event," convenor of Pokhran Khadi Gram Udyog Sansthan, Ashok Kumar Vyas, told IANS. Two years ago, they decided to finally create a shrine-like stone structure and the museum. -by Devirupa Mitra
General
AUSPICIOUS SIGNS OF IPL STIRRING COMMUNITY FEELING If not the Roman scenario, will the IPL produce fierce localism verging on hooliganism? The European experience with football suggests that fans would use any means, including hooliganism, to push their teams to victory. Hooliganism for sociologist John Clarke is a reaction on the part of alienated youths from disintegrated working class communities against the commercialisation and spectacularisation of football. The advertisements for IPL certainly suggest that the ideal viewer ought to possess almost tribe-like loyalties to a team. For fierce tribe-like city loyalty, IPL has to have a core fan base, which is not yet present and may never materialise.-by Shylashri Shankar
Literature
RABINDRANATH TAGORE: A POETIC GENIUS Tagore is the only poet who composed and tuned national anthems of two free countries – India and Bangladesh. The Indian National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ (in Bengali Jono Gono Mono) was written by the Nobel Laureate. It was first sung on December 27, 1911 at the Calcutta Session of Indian National Congress and later officially adopted by the Constituent Assembly as the National Anthem on January 24, 1950.- by Nikhil Bhattacharya
Education
20 YEARS ON, MISSION TO LITERACY STILL SHORT OF TARGET Renowned educationist Professor Yashpal also questioned the credibility of the Unesco report. "Who are they (Unesco) to tell us? They aren't aware of the ground situation and realities of our country," he said. He hoped that the Mission would complete its new target of complete literacy by 2015. "The government is committed to eradicating illiteracy. It is its top agenda. All the agencies are being put to work to ensure that the literacy target is met on time," said Yashpal. But the government's very own National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) - India's official census agency - has pointed to the sluggish rate of literacy. Nearly 70 percent of the country's illiterate population belong to the eight states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.-by Sanjay Singh
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