Residents of 96 Campa Cola flats have a tough time. The owners had bought them legally. They had paid registration charges and stamp duty at the time of buying and property tax over the years. The builder made his profit. BMC officials did not demolish them when they came up. Thousands of illegal structures are…
Category: India
Dog Meat Festival
In China there is tradition of Dog Meat Festival. Some oppose it. They call themselves animal lovers or animal rights activists. Food habits vary. I do not know how many fruitarians are there. There are vegans. There are vegetarians who do not eat eggs, fish and meat. There are different types of non-vegetarians. Some do…
Football teams 2014
Football World Cup 2014 is going on. The teams are Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon in Group A; Spain, Holland, Chile, Australia in Group B; Colombia, Greece, Japan, Ivory Coast in Group C; Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy in Group D; Switzerland, France, Ecuador, Honduras in Group E; Argentina, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Iran and Nigeria in…
Narendra Modi is Prime Minister
Narendra Modi is India’s 14th prime minister. His predecessors were Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Rajiv Gandhi, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Chandra Shekhar, P. V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Behari Vajpayee, H. D. Deve Gowda, Inder Kumar Gujral, and Manmohan Singh. On 26/5/2014 at 6.10 p.m. Narendra Modi took oath as…
Constitution and ministers
The Constitution of India does not mention ranks of ministers like cabinet minister, minister of state or deputy minister. Article 74 mentions the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head. Third Schedule has forms of oaths or affirmations of office and secrecy for a Minister for the Union. There is no separate…
Triumph of Narendra Modi
In 2004 soon after NDA lost the Lok Sabha elections Smriti Irani said “We lost because of Narendra Modi.” During 2009 Lok Sabha elections Lal Krishna Advani was BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. Once Arun Shourie said After Advani, Modi will be the next prime minister. Not many gave Modi a chance then. BJP lost the…
2 Letters to Indian Express
Long election period This refers to `An election without end’ (IE, 17/4/2014) by Jawid Laiq. I agree with him. Election Commission should have held voting for all 543 constituencies on a single day. At the most it could have been on two days with no more than three days gap between them. CECs and other…
Accidental Prime Minister
Sanjaya Baru’s book The Accidental Prime Minister is in news. Congress members have denounced it. BJP members have welcomed it. Journalists have differing opinions, depending on their equations with Sanjaya Baru. Sanjaya Baru appeared on some TV channels and defended his book. Karan Thapar interviewed him on Headlines Today. Till some days back Karan Thapar…
Sack Ujjwal Uke
Maharashtra government should sack principal secretary of Women and Child Development Department Ujjwal Uke for his comments against judgment in Shakti Mills gang rape case in which three repeat rapists got death sentence under IPC 376E. The post of principal secretary of Women and Child Development Department should have been held by a woman. A…
Bharat Ratna for judges and lawyers
Judges and lawyers have great influence. Some do good work. Some do bad work. A few judges have given judgments that are great. Some lawyers as prosecutors have fought important cases. Such judges and lawyers should get Bharat Ratna. Bombay City Civil Sessions Court Principal Judge Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi should get Bharat Ratna for her landmark…