Some months back Praveen Mahajan, serving life sentence for murder of Pramod Mahajan, was out on parole. On the last day of parole he was supposed to have suffered brain haemorrhage and was admitted to an ICU in a hospital. After that his family said they do not have money to pay for his medical expenses and wanted the state to pay for his medical expenses. The state was looking into the issue on humanitarian grounds.
Film and the city
On 12/2/2010 the film My name is Khan opened for show in a few theatres at noon in Bombay. After two hours more theatres had opened and by night it was business as usual.
The film’s release was hanging in balance for the past two weeks. Shiv Sena had demanded apology from Shah Rukh Khan for his statement that Pakistani players should have been selected for IPL 3. If no apology they will not allow the film to be shown in Bombay. They had also said Bombay belongs to Marathi people and had criticised anyone who said Bombay belongs to all Indians. They had dared Rahul Gandhi to visit Bombay. If he came he will be shown black flags. Rahul Gandhi visited Bombay and travelled by local trains. Black flag demonstrators were arrested. Next day Shah Rukh Khan returned from abroad. He was given security from airport to home. Shiv Sena was dejected and would have given up the boycott. Sharad Pawar visited Bal Thackeray and that gave a boost to Shiv Sena which renewed the threat to boycott the film. They sent letters to theatre owners not to show the film.
India Loses Nagpur Test
India lost Nagpur Test by an Innings and 6 runs on 9/2/2010, fourth day of the Test. India’s Test ranking is No. 1 and South Africa’s No. 2.
As per original tour programme South Africa was to play seven ODIs. India defeated Sri Lanka in Tests at the end of 2009 and attained No. 1 ranking in Tests. India wanted a change in the series to retain its No. 1 status and the series was changed to two Tests and five ODIs.
BJP and Shiv Sena
BJP is a national party. Shiv Sena is a regional party. They are in alliance and part of NDA. At one time both parties had Hindutva as main agenda and that brought them close. BJP had alliances with regional parties which lasted a few years. It had alliance with TDP in Andhra Pradesh. It had alliance with AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. That broke down in 1999 and BJP had alliance with DMK and its associates which broke down in 2004. BJP and Shiv Sena had differences over certain matters over the years and they had ended in compromise.
Crime and media
Media has a responsibility in what it shows and how it shows. If anything that TV channels do gives a boost to crime, TV channels refrain from doing it.
If some people call TV reporters and tell them at a particular they will go to a particular place and damage public or private property there or beat people, TV reporters should not go to cover that event but report to the police. The people want publicity for their crime and if there is no publicity there will not be crime.
Bt Brinjal
There is more passion than reason in debates about Bt brinjal. Some oppose anything that is new and foreign so they oppose Bt brinjal. Some are opposed to anything that is genetically modified so they oppose Bt brinjal.
Climate Change
We are witnessing unusual weather patterns. The winter was very severe in large parts of Europe and that affected travel. Moscow was warm. Some countries had unexpected snowfall.
Indian Awards
Dushshasana Award to those who molest women and girls.
Drishtadyumna Award to those who kill in fake encounters.
Yudhishtira Award to those who give misleading statements.
Bheeshma Award to those who abduct women.
Menaka Award to women who trap politicians having sex with prostitutes in a sting operation.
Political Parties in India
Most of the political parties in India are family or personal properties. Congress is the property of Nehru-Gandhi family, National Conference of Abdullah family, AIADMK of Jayalalitha, BSP of Mayawati, TMC of Mamata Banerjee, DMK of Karunanidhi, JD (S) of Deve Gowda and so on. BJP and Left Front parties are exceptions.
Constituencies have also handed over to family members. When an MP or MLA dies a member of his /her family is the inheritor.
IPL and Pakistan
Lalit Modi, IPL Commissioner, said teams did not select any Pakistan player and only one player from Australia was selected. Team owners said they were not convinced of the availability of Pakistani players for the entire season or they had some other players in mind and such things. It was clear it was decided beforehand not to bid for Pakistani players. Pakistani players had faced visa problems in December 2009. That was the foretaste of things to come. If Pakistani players were not to be selected they should not have been included in the list.