Matilda

NEWS: Recently, around 200 women came for the Khap Panchayat to protest against female foeticide. BACKGROUND: Khap is the community of people from haryana, Western uttar Pradesh and some parts of Rajasthan. This group of people are orthodox and stringent in their own rules and regulations.Generally there are 10-15 people in khap panchayats who impose their will on their fellow villagers. They have their set of commandments as follows. a) All girls and boys of one gotra are siblings. No marriages can be arranged for people of same gotra else they would be banished from the village or killed in extreme circumstances. Love marriages are a taboo. b) No girl can roam about on the streets alone, can't talk on mobile phones and can't wear jeans. c) Honour killing is allowed if the ward misbehaves or acts against the khap traditions. MY OPINION: My mother used to tell me that all humans are children of God then why this disparity between the two sexes?Why are girls made to feel inferi...

NEWS: The government has finally agreed to telecast the movie “The Dirty Picture” after editing and omitting it umpteen number of times. The new version is made after 59 cuts. BACKGROUND: The national award winning film was banned for TV telecast. The raison d’être was the sensuous and sizzling scenes casted. MY OPINION: Our “sarkar” is so very concerned about what is shown on television. The point they miss out is that the majority of the population has watched the original movie in cinemas. So, what exactly is the purpose of using their scissors only for the television telecast? For a moment I'll assume that they don’t want the obscenity to reach the households. Why did they not then curb the bollywood directors and producers from making such films?Well, in my opinion, I don’t mind if they do so. It would help in discouraging such explicit display of sexuality. But the problem is that it won’t abstain exposure of the youth from the “frighteningly liberating or distr...

TOO BIG TO FAIL! These multinational banks had created an unnecessary hype about their name and fame. Little did we know that behind all this eminence, there was a black hidden face. Each of these business turks tried to establish their monopoly using unfair means. Recently, in an investigation carried out by the Financial Services Authority, the big bank Barclays has been caught in a scandal for manipulation of LIBOR. LIBOR ( London Inter- Bank Offered Interest Rate) is an indicator of the confidence level amongst the British banks. Apart from just the banks in UK, many variable rate investments are pegged to the LIBOR. During the low growth period in 2007-09, it was found that Barclays had faked the interest rate so as to show that their financial health was not shaky despite the dwindling economic affairs. The process goes on like this. The British Bankers Association gets a feedback from the bank about the estimates of inter- bank lending rates regularly. This organization t...

  NEWS:  A hostel warden named Uma Poddar in the Patha Bhavan, Shantiniketan had made a 10-year old girl , Punita, drink her own urine as a punishment for bedwetting. BACKGROUND: When this incident had happened, the police officials in the area ignored it claiming it to be " Natural Instinct." They never considered it unfair and acted leniently with the ruthless warden. They arrested the child's parents for the child's mistake. The Supreme Court responded vehemently about the careless treatment by the police.  MY OPINION: There are two ways of looking at this mishap. One, from Punita's side. She was living in a residential school miles away from her parents. For this girl, the warden was supposed to be a motherly figure and obey her orders with full sincerity. After bedwetting which is natural at such an early age, she was made to feel "GUILTY". Scared of her caretaker, she got oppressed and when her parents complained they were taken...

John Dewey had rightly said that " Every great advancement in science is issued from a new audacity of imagination." Yes, Peter Higgs dared to imagine what no one else did. He looked beyond the real, that was the SURREAL! But sadly, no one paid heed to his thoughts and imaginations. He suggested the presence of the Higgs boson which confers mass to all the constituents of the universe. But no, he never got recognition for his discovery. Even the journal, Physics Letters which was edited by CERN , rejected Mr. Peter's belief. However, Mr. Peter stood by his stand. The two teams i.e. ATLAS and CMS took the herculean task of investigating about the mysterious particle which Higgs talked about. The study was started by CERN in Large Hadron Collider. The world's largest particle accelerator is as heavy as the Eiffel Tower and half the size of Notre Dame.This gigantic machine multiplies the speed of a particle through a unique process. The particles are firstly injecte...

  Robert Frost penned the above line which I feel connects very well to the current Indian relations with her neighbours.India , has always lived upto its image of “Bharat Mata “. Her children have always lend a helping hand to all those in need but unfortunately has got less in return. Her philanthropic nature isn’t reaping the reciprocative results.We share our borders with nine major countries namely China, Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.There is no doubt about the fact that our progress and growth is indirectly or directly dependent on our neighbours but the mutual understanding is missing. First and foremost our “loggerheads friends”- Pakistan.In 1965, India generously gave away Haji Pir pass of the Pir Panjal range to Pakistan. Despite that, they attacked us with all their might. Then again India tried to extend an olive branch by releasing 93,000 prisoners and surrendering some territorial rights. But as we all are seei...