February 2012 - Voice from the rooftop

Consenting adults and law

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

There are people who say what consenting adults do in private should not be covered by law. This is mainly in reference to Section 377 of IPC which is under litigation in Supreme Court.

By that logic prostitution, sale and purchase of narcotics and psychotropic substances and illicit liquor, corruption, polygamy, transmission of pornographic material and many others matters that take place between consulting adults will be out of the scope of law. Drug traffickers can claim they have right to life and liberty to sell heroin, marijuana and such things to consenting adults in private and they have right to equality. The state will have no right to legislate on marriage, divorce, alimony and child custody. Also concubinage, live-in relationship and palimony will be out of the legal purview.

Cricketers and retirement

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

The day Ricky Ponting retired from ODI cricket there was discussion on Indian news TV channels whether Sachin Tendulkar should retire. Before that during the Test series there was talk whether senior cricketers should retire.

It is for cricketers to decide when they want to retire and for selectors to decide who should be in the team. A cricketer does not retire does not mean he continues in the team. Selectors have dropped players who did not perform well. Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh have been in and out of the team. Rahul Dravid was dropped from ODIs. Sourav Ganguly was dropped as captain and player after winning Test series in Zimbabwe. It is wrong to say Kapil Dev by not retiring two years early delayed Srinathâ€™s entry. If Kapil Dev was not good selectors would have dropped him. The argument that senior cricketers by not retiring block chances of young cricketers is not correct.

Let Kingfisher Go Bankrupt

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

It is a crime on the part of State Bank of India to give a loan of 1,650 crore rupees to Kingfisher. Some of it will be in the form of bank guarantees. It is ridiculous for RBI Deputy Governor K. C. Chakrabarty to say this was a professional decision and may help Kingfisher pay back all its loans. This is a very unprofessional decision. What will RBI do if SBI does not get its money? Print notes and give it to SBI?

Ricky Ponting Dropped

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Ricky Ponting was dropped from Australian ODI team on 20/2/2012. He was captain in the previous match which Australia had won by 110 runs against India. He had hoped to continue in ODI team. John Inverarity, chief selector, said Rick Ponting would not be considered for future ODIs. He said â€œRicky Ponting has been dropped from the squad due to lack of form. The team will not seem the same without him. But moving on from the omission of players who have been outstanding over a long period of time is the nature of elite sport.â€

Cancel Kingfisher Licence

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Kingfisher is in trouble again. It has cancelled flights without informing passengers and DGCA and passengers are suffering. DGCA should cancel its licence. Excuse of bird hits should not be accepted. Passengers book their tickets in advance. When they come to the airport and know flights are cancelled there is not much they can do. To get tickets on other airlines they may have to pay more.

India and Iran

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

USA and EU want India to stop dealing with Iran. Sometime back Indiaâ€™s Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai visited USA. It is reported that American officials asked him why cannot India reduce its ties with Iran. He replied India imports oil from Iran, there are six million Indians in the Gulf region and Iran is the only land access to Afghanistan and hence difficult to stop reducing ties with Iran.

The reply should have been â€œWhy should India reduce its ties with Iran? India has its interests. Indiaâ€™s foreign policy will not be subservient to foreign policy of any other country.â€

Protests in Greece

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Greece had protests over the years against austerity measures. Some protests were violent leading to death of people. European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund wanted Greek Parliament to pass a package of new austerity measures to lend 170 billion dollars to Greece. Greek Parliament obliged. Protests in Greece have turned more violent. Buildings are set on fire.

Murderers are not victims

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Last year during riots in London and other cities of England, many young boys committed crimes. Prime Minister David Cameron said the young boys will face full force of the law. If you are old enough to commit a crime you are old enough to face the law.

On 9/2/2012 a student murdered his Science and Hindi teacher Uma Maheshwari, St. Maryâ€™s Ango-Indian Higher Secondary School, Armenian Street, Madras. He was angry with the teacher for informing his parents about his behaviour and lack of study by her remarks on his school diary.

Doubts about DRS

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

BCCI has consistently opposed DRS, or UDRS as it was originally known, since India under Anil Kumbleâ€™s captaincy lost a Test series in Sri Lanka. The decisions went against India. Other countries agreed on DRS. It was part of World Cup 2011.

Some decisions based on Hot Spot during Indiaâ€™s series in England in 2011 raised questions. India lost the Test series 0-4, five match ODI series 0-3 one match being a tie and another abandoned and the one T20 match. After that India did not have DRS in India and Australia.

India and British aid

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

There is anger in UK over aid to India after India chose Rafale over Typhoon. The contract for 126 Rafale fighter jets is said to be worth $10-15 billion. British PM David Cameron said he would do everything to encourage India to reconsider its decision. UK has an economic crisis but gives Â£280 million per year to India. There was opposition before but International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell had justified the aid saying it was necessary to get contract for Typhoon. British newspapers have reported that the money does not reach the poor and is lost in corruption. Now that UK did not get the contract the British government finds it difficult to justify continuation of aid. Indian government says it does not need aid. British aid is â€œpeanutsâ€. UK cannot dictate terms to India and say do business only with us as India is a liberated country.