“Burkha is not welcome in France.â€
Nicolas Sarkozy’s statement in his speech to French Legislature in 2009 was a game changer in Europe. Till then criticising burkha was considered politically incorrect. Jack Straw had faced criticism for saying he was uncomfortable with talking to women whose faces he could not see.
After Sarkozy’s statement Switzerland banned construction of new minarets. Belgium banned burkha. Barcelona banned burkha.
Fools say population is a problem.
Greater fools agree with them.
Wise people say India’s population growth is a demographic dividend.
India’s population was 55 crores in 1971. Many predicted dire consequences if the population growth is not stopped.
Now in 2010 India’s population is around 110 crores. The country is thriving. The prophets of doom have been proved wrong.
Who first came up with the idea that the octopus can predict the results of football matches?
Who were the bookies involved in betting on matches played by Germany?
How much money was involved in betting on matches played by Germany?
I come across repetitions in The Indian Express.
The article “The hormone of laddishness†that appeared under Science and Technology section on 3/5/2010 was a repetition of the article “The CSI effect†that had appeared on 30/4/2010.
The article “The long march – The yuan and global imbalances†with a picture of Chinese currency that appeared on 1/7/2010 was a repetition of the article “Mecca vs Las Vegas†about a Saudi tower with a graph of heights of towers that had appeared on 30/6/2010.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath has called Planning Commission an “armchair advisorâ€. On 5/7/2010 he publicly criticised the Planning Commission. He was not happy with its approach. He gave the example of Delhi Airport Terminal 3. He asked one official “How did you do it?†He got the reply “Planning Commission and their people had nothing to do with it.â€
USSR was a superpower. It split into 15 countries in 1991.
What was once Yugoslavia is now seven countries.
India can end up like USSR and Yugoslavia.
Large parts of India are not under government control. There is trouble in Kashmir. Different groups extort money in North-East. They call it taxes. Muivah who wants sovereignty for Nagalim is given z plus security. Many districts are under Naxal control. Separatists are active in Punjab.
On 5/7/2010 there was Bharat Bandh. Parties belonging to Left Front, NDA and some others had called for bandh. The bandh was in protest against rise in prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG. Many leaders courted arrest. Buses were damaged.
The bandh was supposed to be for the common man of India. Bandhs disrupt life and do not benefit common man. There is loss of day’s work. People who had to travel long distance by bus, car, train or plane suffer. Some book tickets months in advance. Many people do not get medical attention and sometimes people die.
There is a demand in Tamil Nadu to make Tamil the language of Madras High Court. According to the constitution of India English is the language of High Courts and Supreme Court. Making Tamil the language of Madras High Court requires constitutional amendment.
If UPA decides to go for constitutional amendment to make Tamil the language of Madras High Court other states will demand their languages be made languages of their High Courts. The amendment will have to apply all High Courts.
Football World Cup 2010 has seen many wrong decisions. Previous Football World Cups also had wrong decisions. FIFA had refused to use technology to correct referee’s mistakes and that has caused injustice to many players and teams. Goals are allowed or disallowed wrongly, red cards are shown when no foul is committed, penalty kick is awarded when a player falls without anyone touching him.
On 25/6/2010 the government of India increased prices of petrol by Rs.3.50, diesel by Rs.2/- kerosene by Rs.3/- per litre and LPG by Rs.35/-per cylinder. Petrol and diesel prices were decontrolled.
The increase has come at a time when food price inflation is about 18%.
The increase was avoidable. For the week ended 18/6/2010 foreign exchange reserves increased by $3 billion. If the government had not increased foreign exchange reserves the dollar value would have gone down making oil import cost less and there would have been no need for price increase.