Author: Vincent Augustine D'Souza

India has agreed to attend Moscow Format talks about Afghanistan on 20/10/2021.  China, Iran and Pakistan are expected to attend.  Taliban has agreed to send a delegation.  After that India wants to hold a conference on Afghanistan on 10 or 11 November.  There is no plan to invite Taliban.  Pakistan may be invited. Taliban has…

When there is a crime there is a victim.  Survivor means an attempted crime.  The criminal did not succeed in his crime.  When there is an assassination attempt on a person and he or she dies we do not call him or her survivor.  Similarly, it should be rape victims.  They should not be referred…

The rise of Bhupendra Patel from first time MLA to Chief Minister of Gujarat came as a surprise.  He was not a minister.  It is similar to rise of Pushkar Singh Dhami as CM of Uttarakhand.   He too was an MLA and not a minister.  In Dhami’s case there was revolt of ministers of outgoing…

India won 19 medals in Tokyo Paralympics 2020.  This was beyond expectations.  Out of 54 Indian athletes 17 won 19 medals.  Two athletes won two medals each.  India finished 24 in ranking. India’s previous best was 4 medals at Rio Paralympics 2016.  India won 2 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal.  India…

On 15/8/2021 Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani left Kabul and Taliban entered the city and Presidential Palace.  Taliban was back in Kabul after nearly 20 years. The war in Afghanistan had gone on too long for USA.  It started after 9/11 in 2001.  Taliban lost power.  USA engaged in nation-building and democracy in Afghanistan.  However, the…

India won seven medals in Tokyo Olympics 2020; one gold, two silver and four bronze.  It finished 48th in medal table.  It surpassed previous record of six medals in London Olympics 2012. India had won three medals in Beijing Olympics 2008.  When Rio Olympics 2016 began the expectation or hype was that India had doubled…

Tokyo Olympics 2020 Opening Ceremony was held on 23/7/2021, 364 days after original date 24/7/2020.  Corona had spread to many countries in March 2020 and there was fear.  Vociferous minority of athletes demanded postponement of Olympics and so it was.  After the decline of Corona cases there was rise again.  In Japan the situation in…

Speculation preceded cabinet reshuffle on 7/7/2021.  There were reports who will be made ministers.  Many names were mentioned.  Some of them were not made ministers. It seems reporters put the names of persons who hoped to become ministers.  They should have known that Modi will not make Varun Gandhi or Pritam Munde a minister.  Modi…

Some years back Australia announced for every child born in the country, the mother will get 3,000 dollars.  Later it increased the amount to 4,000 dollars. From 1979 onwards China followed one-child policy.  There were many forcible abortions.  In 2016 China switched to two-children policy.  Now it wants every couple to have three children. In…

New Zealand won World Test Championship by defeating India by 8 wickets in Southampton Test.  The Test was for five days beginning 18/6/2021 with 23/6/2021 kept as reserve day in case of no play on a day.  There was no play on 18/6/2021 and reserve day came to play.  On 19/6/2021 New Zealand Captain Kane…