TOP STORIES

It refers to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on 28.11.2019 informing Lok Sabha that Union Government will be encouraging use of honey-cubes to replace sugar-cubes with dual purpose of increasing job-opportunities for farmers and tribal, while giving a healthy alternative to replace traditional sugar-cubes. Central government should also consider replacing admittedly harmful cola-drinks with traditional Indian-styled soft-drinks with flavour of rose, kewra etc It may be recalled that almost half-century back, a famous rose-drink manufactured by a famous private confectionary company registered at Gwalior was a popular drink for persons of all ages. Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) should take a lead in preparing concentrates for soft-drinks based on flavours of rose and kewra w...

It refers to opposition still not satisfied even after ruling BJP pulling out Sadhvi Pragya from Parliamentary Committee on Defence on her calling Nathuram Godse a true patriot. Even Rajyashree Choudhary, grand-niece of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose recently on 19.11.2019 paid rich tributes to Nathuram Godse in Gwalior. It has become a political ritual to worship MK Gandhi by politicians in general despite the fact that independence of the country was achieved because of great martyrs who sacrificed their lives for achieving freedom of country, and not because of any non-violence movement by a projected political god. British were forced to leave India because of terror created by Azad Hind Fauz established by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Post-independence problems in India including o...

It refers to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) launching campaign in interest of public-health whereby stress is given on greeting each other with folded hands (Namaste) rather than hand-shake as a preventive measure to avoid infections. Otherwise also hand-shake unhygienic because any one or both shaking hands may not have clean hands. Even American Journal of Infection Control had several years back published a report warning hand-shake to be even more infectious than kissing. Earlier also American health authorities had recommended greeting by folded hands instead of western style by shaking hands or kissing endorsing Indian style of sayingnamaste with folded hands for normal greetings. It is one of many such glorious aspects of Hinduism which are purely based on highly...

Department of Personnel and Training DoPT fixed a fees of rupees 4000 for lectures in conducting workshops for government-staff on various aspects including on handling applications filed under Right-To-Information Act. Surprisingly there is no provision of adding Goods and service Tax GST which is presently 18-percent on this amount fixed long back thus practically further reducing the fees to just rupees 3390 for those coming under GST network. DoPT should not only upgrade the fees reasonably, but also direct all departments, ministries and others to compulsorily add GST to newly fixed amount for those coming under GST network. Many departments and ministries spend exorbitantly to hire taxis for pick-up and dropping the persons delivering lectures, where these taxis are paid for ru...

It refers to Rajya Sabha on Constitution Day 26.11.2019 gifting transgenders by passing The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 which was earlier cleared by Lok Sabha on 05.08.2019. But more is required bring transgenders in main streamline and to ensure that transgenders may leave begging and singing-dancing as their profession for livelihood. An era should be there whereby transgenders may not separately in a society of their own, but may lead normal life in families of their birth. It is indeed an irony of the system that just 22 transgenders applied for under-graduate courses combinedly in thee universities in Delhi namely Delhi University, Jamia University and Ambedkar University. Union government should constitute National Transgender Commission. Unrestricted adm...

It refers to question raised in Lok Sabha on 20.11.2019 where some members said that they felt ashamed when they could not ensure railway-reservation on their recommendations. Big question is why priority in railway-reservation is given on recommendations of MPs thereby depriving ordinary people from extra reserved seats in rail-coaches. Also MPs should be reimbursed for rail-travel only on submitting proof of actual rail-travel verified by the TTEs to avoid multiple reservations in different trains for a single journey. Cost of un-availed reserved rail-berths or seats should be deducted from their salaries or pensions. Free entitlement of rail-travel including for Parliamentarians and those travelling at government-expense including for those in public-sector-undertakings should only b...

We can’t breathe in Delhi. It is a public health emergency as pollutants in the air have spiked to extremely toxic levels. Officially, the air quality is in the severe+ zone, which means that it is bad for even the healthy, forget about what it will do to our children, aged and the already vulnerable. But what I want to discuss is why and what can we do — without the clamour and the politics that in its own way is contaminating the airs today. So, what has happened in end October and early November? Until the afternoon of Diwali (October 27, 2019), the air in Delhi was bad, but still somewhat breathable. But with the weather turning adverse — colder nights, less wind and so no dispersion — pollution was steadily rising. Also, the stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab a...