Dinesh Kamath completes 5 years as Editor of English Daily Newspaper 'Newsband' on 30 September 2016

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Good verdict by Delhi High Court' that was published in Newsband

Good verdict by Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court verdict says that photocopying portions of academic publications to make course packs for students does not amount to copyright infringement. The publishers have argued, in vain, that universities should not allow unrestricted photocopying, but instead apply for licences through the Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation, a registered copyright society. The publishers may pursue this aspect in their appeal, if there is one.

First let us decide whether the education is, a business or concern and is it accessible to desirous; if it is business then it should be as much accessible as now a day’s phones are. In later case obviously the purpose is same as that of education itself. It is not about copying but delivering to the mass without any constraint i.e. cost, laws and availability etc.

Everyone has right to education. If he cannot afford to buy a book then he may take a photocopy. If some books are affordable and cheap then people try to buy a new book rather than its photocopy. In colleges, Professors prefer to read books of foreigner authors and those books are costly mostly published by Oxford and Cambridge Publication. So students have no other alternative. Delhi High Court gave a great judgement. If this is issue of copy right then many books are available on internet that are accessed in the form of pdf. In early future most books will be available online and anybody can access them. If a person has a photocopy of any book then book was brought by someone.

In addition, most academic authors are now being required to offer their work in open access forums. There will come a day in the future when professors will contribute around the world to a repository on the Internet from which other professors can freely pick and choose to tailor their course materials perfectly with cutting edge research at an affordable price for students.

In order to safeguard the interest of the author whose arduous effort has resulted in the publication of a scholarly academic work the University/educational institution concerned should, if it intends to photocopy the entire work or a portion thereof for distribution among students, pay a one-time royalty to the publisher/author. The law should be appropriately amended.

The problem is that in the third world currency being comparatively weak, the student community cannot afford to buy books priced in dollars and pounds. They are happy that there is an easy provision in the law of the land which make them circumvent the copyright hurdle.

Court's directive is welcome step in the direction of access of knowledge and information for students without considering the commercial aspect of the publishers. This positive outlook is important for educational institutions as well as students to receive qualitative education without financial constraints. Foreign publications are normally high and some students may not be able to afford to purchase texts. They resort to gain access to the texts by other means. They stand benefited.

Dinesh Kamath's news 'Environmentalists complain about trees being hacked in city in big number' that was published in Newsband

Environmentalists complain about trees being hacked in city in big number

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Environmentalists’ complaints about rampant and illegal tree cuttings in housing societies under the pretext of pruning are going unheeded by Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Several tall and healthy trees have been hacked in housing societies in different parts of Navi Mumbai. The members of the society come up with excuses that presence of trees block their views or birds come and sit on the branches and cause disturbances. They say that the absence of trees now give them total sight of the road which they need while waiting for their near and dear ones. The students residing in societies are of the opinion that the presence of trees make the birds come and sit on the branches and create noises for hours together which is annoying for the students particularly who are studying for their examinations.

But the activists give reference of the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Tree Preservation Act, 1975, which prohibits pruning of branches of about six inches thickness without permission. The bird activists point out that when these trees are destroyed, even the birds’ nests are thrown away resulting in deaths of little ones of the birds.

There are some activists who are totally against nails and screws being hammered into trees for displaying hoardings and ads. “This is an offense and the culprit should be punished,” they say.

An expert on environment says, “Hacking trees is like butchering the environment. The issue of illegal trimming and cutting of trees constantly comes into public glare. These people who hack trees do not realize that such activities cause the deaths and displacement of hundreds of birds. Tree cutting is rampant all over the city. People should be told that global warming and green house effect are a threat to the very existence of our green planet and that every tree matters, and this is taught even in primary schools. Every single tree helps maintain the ecological balance, and citizens should be concerned about the widespread hacking whether illegal or even legal. The city's green cover has been rapidly vanishing in the last few years, giving concerned citizens sleepless nights. The various authorities that are supposed to maintain our tree cover are not doing enough to stop this practise of hacking trees. In the recent past we have seen a big number of trees being chopped down legally or illegally. As compared to the number of trees hacked, there are very few trees which are planted. This will make the green cover disappear very soon.”

When an official of CIDCO was asked as to why the trees were cut, he replied, “The population influx sees the need for housing as a formidable industry, and hitherto forested spaces are being cleared to house the new population. Greedy builders and developers therefore will think nothing of murdering a healthy tree with or without permission, to build their mega townships. Even NMMC resort to cutting trees to make new offices or to build new facilities, even parking lots.”

While environmentalists are claiming that illegal tree cutting is rampant, the NMMC straightaway denies that there is any illegal tree cutting going on in the city. In fact NMMC has the power to take strict action against those who resort to hacking trees. Environmentalists accuse NMMC of giving permissions to private citizens or contractors and builders to hack trees. There are many environmentalists who try to bring to the notice of NMMC officials the reckless pruning of healthy young branches of trees in the city. One of the environmentalists says, “Illegal tree cutting and trimming is rampant across the city and there are many cases of the same.” He also pointed out that people are not sensitive to other life forms and need to be protective towards the environment, whether it is birds or trees. “Only branches which are dry and posing a threat to humans or vehicles should be cut under the supervision of experts. Illegal tree cutting and trimming is rampant across the city. NMMC has vested interest when it comes to cutting of trees for property or road widening, etc. They don't follow proper guidelines,” he adds. “If a tree in your locality is dead, diseased, windfallen, poses danger to life or property, and/or obstructs traffic, you can seek to get it cut by following the legal procedure,” he concludes.

A bird activist says, “While trees are destroyed, birds nesting in them are affected too. Many eggs and hatchlings of water birds get killed during hacking of trees. Water birds play an essential role in city’s coastal ecosystem, which includes mangroves, mudflats and creeks, etc that act as a barrier between the sea and land, thereby protecting us. The destruction of mangroves has proved to be detrimental, and it is essential that we protect every aspect of the environment whether it's trees or birds as each plays its own role in the overall ecosystem.” 

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'India at last receives Rafale from France' that was published in Newsband

India at last receives Rafale from France

At last the Inter-Governmental Agreement between India and France for 36 Rafale multirole fighter jets was signed after 17 months of hard bargaining. It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to dump the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender. This is a breather for the Indian Air Force, which has been facing depleting fighter strength. Given its technological superiority the Rafale will augment the Indian Air Forces’s capability. The Rafales are expected to play a lead role as nuclear delivery platforms in India’s second-strike capability, replacing the Mirage 2000 fighters. In the years to come, the indigenously built Light Combat Aircraft Tejas and the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft from Russia will join the force.

It is the good step taken by government. Today, such Rafale are necessary for our country. But, one thing is unfortunate that our country is not able to produce such Rafale. Government should focus on various technical institutes and provides them better facilities to produce such fighter planes rather than import from other countries.

There are some critics who say that instead of providing standard equipage, armour and basic human necessities to the Jawans braving a hostile arraign on the borders, we are indulging in buying fancy aircrafts which will remain only show pieces since we never will have an opportunity to use them in a war not even in battles. “Give frequent relievers to the jawans. Give them OROP and their families better living conditions,” they say.

The requirements of USA, France, UK and Russia are different from India. Those countries manufactures their own weapon systems, while India imports most of their weapon systems. Since, no single country meets the requirements of India, it has to mix and match from different sources to meet its own requirements. In addition, the cost forces India to stretch the available funds as much as they can and diplomacy is part of that formula. It is nice to have integrated long term plans, but when India depends on imports, it is not possible as the threat perception changes. Anyway, India has decades of experience with the logistics of mix and match systems. The goal should be to develop and manufacture your own systems. There is a long way to go, but unfortunately, India has hostile neighbours and need to meet short term requirements. However, they should have long term integrated plans and invest heavily to prosecute the plans successfully.

The Rafale deal is welcome to augment the strength of the Indian Air force which currently wants empowerment with multi role fighters in the wake of depleting fighter strength. Though it requires a huge bonanza the purchase is a must to upgrade the air fighting strength with medium multi role combat aircraft.

We must innovate more sophisticated flights to save huge cost of overseas purchase like Rafale. There is global turmoil on ethnic and ego reasons among countries which constraints them to go for purchases of sophisticated flights. India's inking for Rafale is a normal process.

Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movies released in Navi Mumbai’ (M S Dhoni – The Untold Story and A Dot Com Mom) that was published in Newsband

New movies released in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

M S Dhoni – The Untold Story

M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story is an Indian biographical film directed by Neeraj Pandey, based on the life of Indian cricketer and the current ODI and T20I captain of the Indian national cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Fox Star Studios distributes the film and produced it jointly with Inspired Entertainment and Arun Pandey, in association with Friday Film Works. The film features Sushant Singh Rajput as Dhoni and Disha Patani, Kiara Advani, and Anupam Kher in supporting roles. The film is dubbed and simultaneously released in Tamil, Telugu, and Marathi languages.

The movie follows the journey of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a budding cricketer from Ranchi becoming the most successful captain of Indian Cricket Team .

The movie is interesting. Mahendra Singh Dhoni commonly known as M. S. Dhoni is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats. An attacking right-handed middle-order batsman and wicket-keeper, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest finishers in limited-overs cricket. He made his One Day International (ODI) debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh, and played his first Test a year later against Sri Lanka. Dhoni holds numerous captaincy records such as most wins by an Indian captain in Tests and ODIs, and most back-to-back wins by an Indian captain in ODIs. He took over the ODI captaincy from Rahul Dravid in 2007 and led the team to its first-ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the CB Series of 2007–08, the 2010 Asia Cup, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. In the final of the 2011 World Cup, Dhoni scored 91 not out off 79 balls handing India the victory for which he was awarded the Man of the Match. In June 2013, when India defeated England in the final of the Champions Trophy in England, Dhoni became the first captain to win all three ICC limited-overs trophies (World Cup, Champions Trophy and the World Twenty20). After taking up the Test captaincy in 2008, he led the team to series wins in New Zealand and West Indies, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008, 2010 and 2013. In 2009, Dhoni also led the Indian team to number one position for the first time in the ICC Test rankings. In 2013, under his captaincy, India became the first team in more than 40 years to whitewash Australia in a Test series. In the Indian Premier League, he captained the Chennai Super Kings to victory at the 2010 and 2011 seasons, along with wins in the 2010 and 2014 editions of Champions League Twenty20. He announced his retirement from Tests on 30 December 2014. Dhoni holds the record for the most number of sixes in International Cricket by an Indian and is 5th across the World having hit 304 sixes in 448 innings behind Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and Sanath Jayasuriya subsequently. Dhoni holds the post of Vice-President of India Cements Ltd., after resigning from Air India. India Cements is the owner of the IPL team Chennai Super Kings, and Dhoni has been its captain since the first IPL season. Dhoni is the co-owner of Indian Super League team Chennaiy in FC. Dhoni has been the recipient of many awards, including the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 (the first player to win the award twice), the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2007 and the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 2009. He was named as the captain of ICC World Test XI and ICC World ODI XI teams for 2009. The Indian Territorial Army conferred the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel to Dhoni on 1 November 2011. He is the second Indian cricketer after Kapil Dev to have received this honour. In 2011, Time magazine included Dhoni in its annual Time 100 list as one of the "Most Influential People in the World." In 2012, SportsPro rated Dhoni as the sixteenth most marketable athlete in the world. In June 2015, Forbes ranked Dhoni at 23rd in the list of highest paid athletes in the world, estimating his earnings at US$31 million.

The film has Sushant Singh Rajput as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Herry Tangri as Yuvraj Singh, a rising cricketer and Dhoni's friend, Shreyas Talpade as Rohit Sharma, Kiara Advani as Sakshi Dhoni, Dhoni's wife, Disha Patani as Priyanka Jha, Dhoni's ex-girlfriend, Anupam Kher as Pan Singh, Dhoni's Father, Bhumika Chawla as Jayanti Gupta, Dhoni's sister and Rajesh Sharma as Dhoni's coach.

Amaal Mallik has composed the Soundtrack for M.S. Dhoni. Rochak Kohli has also composed one song as a Guest Composer. The film has songs like "Besabriyaan" sung by Armaan Malik, "Kaun Tujhe" by Palak Muchhal    , "Jab Tak"  by Armaan Malik, "Phir Kabhi" by Arijit Singh, "Parwah Nahin" by Siddharth Basrur, "Jab Tak (Redux)" by Armaan Malik, "Padhoge Likhoge" by Ananya Nanda & Adithyan A Prithviraj and "Har Gully Mein Dhoni Hai" by Rochak Kohli.

A Dot Com Mom

A Dot Com Mom is a 2016 Marathi language Family Drama film. It is directed by Dr. Meena-Nerurkar and stars Dr. Meena-Nerurkar, Vikram Gokhale, Vijay Chavan, Apurva Bhalerao, and Sai Gundewar in lead roles. A Dot Com Mom is the first Marathi movie to be shot in the US.

A Dot Com Mom is a story of a simple middle class mother from a small town. Like any other Indian house wife she works hard to raise her son. Her smart son goes to the USA and becomes super rich and successful. He invites his parents to visit him and his wife to share their success. Only mother manages to go to the USA. Her son is excited and wants to show her the whole country. But this simple mother cannot cope with the modern ways of the new country and gets in trouble. The daughter in law cannot bear mother-in-law's presence in her house. Finally, instead of staying for 4 months she decides to come back to India early. Months pass by and a situation rises, when her son wants the mother to go back to the USA. Mother is reluctant but her husband insists that she goes. What does she do? Who helps her? How does she cope with the pressure? What happens NEXT?

The film has Vikram Gokhale, Dr. Meena-Nerurkar as Sulba Chafekar, Vijay Chavan, Apurva Bhalerao, Sai Gundewar, Asha Shelar, Dipti Lele, Shriram Kolhatkar, Dr Deven Gabale, Makarand Bhave, Manasi Karandikar, Seeyali Singh, Dawn Scott, Carrie Sullivan, Raphael Dipieto and Prashant Tapasvi.

Dinesh Kamath's news 'Eat Healthy and Heartily with Holachef' that was published in Newsband

Eat Healthy and Heartily with Holachef

By Dinesh Kamath

On the occasion of World Heart Day, Holachef a Mumbai based food delivery service working with expert chefs has an array of offerings to celebrate Health and Heart.

My Health App Feature:

With the My Health app, users inculcate a healthy lifestyle by eating the right food at the right time. The feature helps the user set a reminder for meals, water and medicines within the Holachef app. The feature is available in Holachef’s Android and iOS app.

Jowari Roti:

Now consumers will be able to order fresh Jowari Roti on Holachef. Jowar is not only great for the heart’s health but is also high on calcium, iron, protein and fibre.

Saffola Fit Foodie:

Holachef offers a wide range of oats based dishes by Saffola Fit Foodie on its platform.

This year the slogan for World Heart Day is Take Action! And the message is to eat healthy food for a healthy heart. Keeping this in mind, Holachef will be helping its consumers to maintain a healthy heart and thus advocates the mantra of eating the right food at the right time.

To order, log on to www.holachef.com or download Holachef App on IOS from Apple Store and Android from Play Store

About Holachef:

Holachef is a Mumbai based online curated food delivery service working with chefs for menu planning, food packing, storage, customer service, quality control, et al. Holachef’s dynamic, crowd managed menu comprises a range of cuisines from Mexican to Middle-Eastern and from Kashmiri to Chettinad. Offering the best in taste and quality, chefs prepare dishes with fresh ingredients in state-of-the-art kitchens. Deliveries are made within pre-selected time slots in one-person meal format.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Test cricket has lost its past charm' that was published in Newsband

Test cricket has lost its past charm

India played its 500th Test. It was against New Zealand. It was a milestone 84 years in the making.

While looking back at India’s performances in Test Cricket, one cannot forget Vijay Hazare’s twin hundreds against Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller at Adelaide in 1948. Some will be shocked to know that it wasn’t until 1952 that India won a Test. It was M.A.K. Pataudi who first pursued the idea of a vibrant, united team in the 1960s. Cricketers like Ajit Wadekar, E.A.S. Prasanna, B.S. Chandrasekhar, Bishan Bedi, and S. Venkataraghavan gave him a strong support. The arrival of Sunil Gavaskar in the Indian test cricket team led to revolution in Indian cricket. At the same time we witnessed the emergence of Kapil Dev — a world-class, all-round match-winner. Later on we had powerful cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, V.V.S. Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan. M.S. Dhoni contributed to making India the world’s best team. While talking of modern Indian cricket one cannot forget Virat Kohli.

Five Hundred tests in 84 years make an average of around 6 tests per year. It has been the same team most of the time. BCCI has to think of more quality and junior players to be introduced in these tests so that talented ones will not miss the chance. It would enable our cricket to become healthier, smarter and interesting. Introducing the same team without change throughout the year will stop someone deserving to come up. It is true that India has achieved great thing during the past years. Hope that India will reach the stage of one time West Indies or the recent Australian team.

Despite many ups and downs, the milestone of 500 tests is undoubtedly a great achievement, especially with the rise of ' instant' cricket like ODI and T20. There have been scandals, match fixings, personality clashes and other unsavoury incidents but the sport withstood all vagaries and came out triumphant. Whether win or loss, what matters is the spirit among players who play up to their potential.

India's Test Cricketing history had been devastated teams, in the early years, with individual brilliances - the facilities for the game and its offerings were often poor and disappointing, reducing the players to unsung and unhonored wretched, and struggling youngsters. Perhaps there was a need for the arrival of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi to change that scenario, and over the years, a Gavaskar showed that class and dedicated aggression could win not only personal rewards and values, but create value for a whole national team. But it is not fair to just pinpoint some individuals as the main centers for excellence and upbringing the game to this level, as ultimately it is the TEAM that operated together to win laurels. This was ultimately proved under the "naturally authoritarian" Dhoni, who took the Indian team to a different level in the last few years.

Today, India can look back at the slow and steady progress of its Cricketing abilities and history, at the test level. Test match cricket in India has come a long way. The galaxy of high quality cricketers have adorned Indian cricketing scenario. One unfortunate development is the lack of interest to watch the 5 day tests. Diminishing crowds at the stadium is matter for concern. The attraction for shorter versions of cricket viz. one dayers and T20 format pushed back the absolute need for test cricket. Aggressive players like Sachin, Dhoni, Ganguly, Sehwag and Koli made the shorter versions interesting with quick result orientation. Thus the taste for tests decreases gradually and another five hundred target if any will be a herculean task in Indian cricket. Inclusive formats of cricket makes test cricket to lose its shine since the cricket fans with passion for five days listening is on the dwindling trend. But India could shine in any form of cricket with fluctuating fortunes and will try to achieve the next 500 as a gradual work.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Indian government should take firm steps against Pakistan' that was published in Newsband

Indian government should take firm steps against Pakistan

India replied to Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s speech at the UN General Assembly with some rather rough words, calling Pakistan a “terrorist state” that is now training “militant proxies” with a “toxic curriculum” at its “Ivy League of terrorism”, delivering a “hypocritical” sermon to the Assembly, having nuclear proliferation record, which is marked by “deception and deceit”, championing the Hizbul Mujahideen ‘commander’ Burhan Wani Sharif. He refused to speak of the 18 Indian soldiers killed in the Army camp in Uri in an attack allegedly carried out by terrorists from Pakistan.

The powerful language of India’s retort is followed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj expression — the world has little time for a ‘low-intensity’ conflict that has stretched on for almost 70 years.

While there might be a case against terrorism, Pakistan etc, the fact of the matter is that our political, defense and intelligence establishment are definitely not up to the mark - we have not learnt anything from either Mumbai, Kandahar, Kargil, Pathankot and now at Uri - when you have repeated weak intelligence and are unprepared, you cannot blame if somebody else takes advantage of the situation. And it is poor management, all along. And, big arms exporters would not like this problem to be solved. We are at a loss to know as to what actually "government" intends or means or plans to do. India is stronger because of its fourth estate, its democracy, its people and not because of such breast beating non governance that we have now. Let us investigate out lapses in issue and make our territory strong and impregnable instead of wasting our resources in empty rhetoric.

Repeated terror attacks on India by the Pakistani patronized terrorist groups shall not be tolerated. India should launch a multi pronged attack by isolating Pakistan on international arena, scraping the MFN status and re-look into the Indus river treaty. Thus India can irk Pakistan from all possible directions.

The endless perpetuation of the Kashmir conundrum would only belittle India's standing in the world, particularly in view of the fact that India is now spreading its wings beyond south Asia. The recent history of Kashmir has shown that the more India delays its resolution, the more people are seen as becoming increasingly anti-Indian. The masses that gathered in Burhan Wani's funeral cannot give any other message to the world. We should get US and UN to our side and enable the people of Kashmir to live normal lives too.

One side Russia along with USA, is putting its good efforts for maintenance of peace in Syria. On the other side landing of 200 Russian Military troops in our neighboring country i.e. Pakistan for joint military exercises, that too in the back drop of recent killing of our 18 soldiers on the border at Uri, is not a welcoming step taken by Russia which is to be condemned by all nations. It is time for India to show its strength. It has to raise her voice and tell the world clearly about the source of terrorism. What our soldiers battling on the frontlines expect from the Centre are prompt steps to beef up our intelligence networks & plug loopholes in the fencing of LoC so as to thwart future attacks. As for the "strategic option", PM Modi should engage with the mass political movement in the Kashmir Valley.

Online Hero Dinesh Kamath plans to make movies himself and play the role of Hero in his own films - the way Feroz Khan, Sunil Dutt and Dev Anand would do in the past

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Rahul Gandhi's antics are juvenile in nature' that was published in Newsband

Rahul Gandhi's antics are juvenile in nature

Rahul Gandhi’s “kisan yatra” In advance of the Assembly elections due early in 2017, was just to keep the spotlight on his presence in various ways. His “khaat sabhas” was clear indication of acute rural distress that the party is seeking to amplify. He resorted to indiscriminate attacks on all foes. It is very clear that the Congress party is desperate to be counted as a political force in U.P. and at the national level, the Congress’s chief ministerial candidate being Sheila Dikshit.

It is wrong to say that the Congress is 'down but not out'. It will remain out if it does not change its ways. For reaching this status the party has to go a long way. The party has to be stopped from being ruled by just one family. Instead the party should adopt a democratic method of choosing their leader.

Another thing is let the electorate of UP decide about the future of all Political Parties. The electorate is fast maturing than the parties. The political parties are still using age old strategies to lure the enlightened voters. Be it in the name of reservations, caste-based or anything else. The young voters now demand jobs, economic stability, development and all good things for their overall development.

An election campaign may take on seemingly different forms: "khaat sabha","baithak", elephant or cycle ride. But the electoral candidates all belong to one and the same category. It is wrong to say that elections should be contested just by the rich and powerful. We have big industrialists, MNCs trying to manipulate elections. According to Justice M Katju’s blog, each ‘serious' candidate in a Lok Sabha constituency has to spend about Rs 8 crore during an election. Why? Why can’t a common man like Arvind Kejriwal contest election? Anyway, whether it is the rich or poor who comes to power, both will use the public money, not their own  pocket money, to govern the country. Then why so much emphasis on the idea that the candidate should be very rich?  The rich candidates who form government also becomes corrupt. If they are rich why there is a need for them to be corrupt? Where does their money come from? And whose interests these candidates represent -- moneybags or the common people? So how can we, the common voters, exercise our power?

In UP, it is SP's family rule devoid of security and safety of its people including journalists or it was BSP Maya's failed social engineering lauded so high by 4media in those days and now we have Rahul Gandhi trying all the stunts to win seats in UP. Here is a case of leadership role thrusted down the throat of an unwilling and part time leader like Rahul Gandhi and not-so-healthy mother. This is not going to benefit Congress in future not only in UP but also in 2019.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Right National Health Policy is the need of the hour' that was published in Newsband

Right National Health Policy is the need of the hour

The Supreme Court has passed the order to end the oppressive practice of sterilising women in large camps. The country must urgently adopt a rights-based health policy.

Last year, the Population Division of the UN took note of the extraordinary levels of sterilisations resorted to in India. Women’s empowerment through education and employment can make them choose the right thing for themselves.

The Centre should give rule-based authority to the Supreme Court’s directions. A significant number of women have died due to the procedure during the past three years. The right to health is inseparable from the right to life. Empowerment of women through full opportunity in education and employment, and access to all contraception options, should be central to national policies.

The old-fashioned family of a backward woman tend to send her to any unauthorized camp for operation. But, now, it is good step taken by government to make restriction on such camps. Camp approach has its own limitation. There is a lot of problem due to lack of sensitivity among service providers.

Court’s ruling on healthcare is a positive intervention because the centre and states are involved in trading charges on each other rather than taking responsibility of crucial areas where public well-being is directly affected. The sterilisation program has not been monitored by state agencies and it is the responsibility of Centre to look after people's welfare when state machinery becomes dysfunctional. Centre should remember that it is answerable to whole nation and should direct the state to follow strict guidelines on healthcare.

The apex court order preventing mass sterilisation is a timely one since the quality in such sterilisation is low to core and claims lives. As it is mentioned in the verdict blocking the reproduction capacity must be done at the option of the woman or man and not by coercion or by luring with money on such vulnerable people. Also there is a need to increase the compensation for death while sterilising. The State Central policies on health must be conducive and congenial for carrying out the sterilisation with all medical quality and with the consent of the woman. Of course, mass sterilisation indifferently done shows the Government's fiasco in taking such vital population control measures in light spirit and a money making process. Illiteracy and poverty are the major causes for accepting sterilisation at any condition. The State Central agreed national health policies beyond political colour is the need of the hour.

Those who think that a national health policy can be created by Supreme Court diktats are seriously mistaken. Without the balancing of budgetary allocations that only the parliament can do, but all we end up doing is robbing "Peter to pay Paul". Furthermore, we undermine democracy and governance.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'India deals with Nepal and Afghanistan correctly' that was published in Newsband

India deals with Nepal and Afghanistan correctly

Recently India played host to Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ visits. Prachanda’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was cordial.

The joint statement referred to Modi welcoming “the ongoing efforts of the Government of Nepal to take all sections of the society on board for effective implementation of the Constitution.” India focussed on delivering on its own promises to Nepal, including hydropower and highways infrastructure projects.

With Ghani, the outreach began a year ago, after it became clear that Afghanistan had lost confidence in Pakistan’s ability to bring the Taliban to book or to the table for talks. The U.S. is Afghanistan’s biggest security provider, and this superpower had cut India out of the security equation, and actively encouraged New Delhi to help provide military assistance to Kabul. Ghani’s ‘wish list’ consisted of helicopters, tanks and ammunition assistance. India and Afghans signed agreements merely mentioning their “resolve to counter terrorism and strengthen security and defence cooperation”. Mention of Pakistan’s support to terrorist groups was muted as well.

The Afghan and Nepali are in need of road and railway trade routes. With Afghanistan, even Russia, America, and NATO countries could not control and bring peace to that region. India must also be very careful

As for Nepal, India has no complicated relation. India needs Nepal because it is a buffer state between India and China, and Nepal needs India because it is landlocked and 75 percent of its needs are met by India.

The PM is announcing help in the form of billions of funds to these neighboring countries. Will such monetary help fetch their loyalties towards India? Money can buy merchandise but not friendships.

India's stand to building trust in neighboring countries, and efforts to forge partnership are commendable. In regard to Nepal and Afghan, India plays the good Samaritan role. Prachanda's visit to India was aimed at removing the past bitterness with Nepal caused by Oli government on Constitutional amendments. Oli moved towards China and signed agreements for the supply of essentials. After the departure of Oli, Prachanda took power and wanted to renew the cordiality that Nepal kept in Koirala's regime. India learnt a lesson, yet taking into account the open border vulnerability and Madhesi interest it has to play cards with Nepal and assure cooperation to Prachanda. Taking into account the vulnerabilities, India is right.

Relations with Afghanistan should be maintained as a matter of keeping fraternity and also on the Principle of foe's foe is friend, taking into account the Pakistan stand. Both for Nepal and Afghan India has to move with caution but cannot shun with the relation over all.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Right legislation required to prevent defections' that was published in Newsband

Right legislation required to prevent defections

In the past we had the ‘aaya ram, gaya ram’ days of Indian politics. Since then attempts are being made to prevent mass defection and frequent change of party loyalties. But politicians, for usually self-serving reasons, decide to switch parties. The reason adduced for the switchover is laughable.

Several legislative efforts have been made to curb defections. The 52nd Constitution Amendment provided for disqualification of defectors other than in the case of a split in the party, involving a group of not less than one-third of its members. A later amendment disallowed splits, and provided only for merger in cases where at least two-thirds of the members of one party merged with another party. This too did not prove to be a deterrent,

Defections engineered through unscrupulous means undermine democratic institutions and subvert the people’s mandate. The large scale defection, more likely the manufactured one as sources indicate, obviously to byepass anti-defection law has rocked the boat again.

There should be a Constitutional remedy to the dirty politics of getting elected by one party influence and support mechanism and after successfully getting elected they betray the very party who made them what they are today. They are not fit to represent another party when they were promoted personally, politically and financially by another party.

No legislative measure will work in India. Even courts verdicts are being circumvented by the opportunists. There should be a rule that even if one person or the whole house changes loyalty or switches party or forms new party, elections to the whole state must be held and election expenses recovered from politicians.

The fatal error attached to our anti-defection law was that it was too idealistic in its assumption that 'splits' and 'mergers' in our Assemblies take place on the basis of ideologies or principles. It sought to remedy the malaise caused by 'ayarams' and 'gayarams' who switch loyalties and engage in political barter trade. While individual defections could be treated with the threat of disqualification, it overlooked the fact that group defections can well take place and, as long as they conform to the thresholds set in the law, they can have a field day. This is happening mostly in smaller states, especially in the North East, which are noted for too many groupings or parties based on tribal or other loyalties. They fall an easy prey to political manipulators who are powerful and operate from power centres in Delhi. Courts are hapless witness to these shenanigans in such a situation.

The MLA or MP who was elected from one constituency on behalf of a particular party member, should resign and seek fresh election after defecting the parent party from the same constituency. This shows, the credibility of voters vested with the party or with elected member. This will also give us clean government. This type of legislation should come in to force at the earliest.

Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movies released in Navi Mumbai’ (Day of Tafree, Banjo, The Magnificent Seven, Bridget Jones’s Baby, Wah Taj!, Parched, Storks and Yeh Hai Judgement Hanged Till Death) that was published in Newsband

New movies released in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Days of Tafree

Days of Tafree is a comedy Bollywood film written and directed by Krishnadev Yagnik. Produced by Anand Pandit and Rashmi Sharma, it revolves around the lives of seven friends. It is an official remake of the 2015 Gujarati film, Chhello Divas.

Days of Tafree movie promises to capture the typical college life in India. As if Hallmark celebrations were not enough, you will see the seven friends drumming up new celebrations to get away from classes. Among hopes for a new life, the last year of the college is also full of ambivalent feelings as the days of ‘Tafree’ come to an end. The group is made of stereotyped characters: some fat, some rich, some poor and so on. There are the usual pranks in the classroom and flirting with a young teacher to add some spice to the movie. There are various real and some college legends enacted on the big screen as this group makes the most of their time in college.

The film has Yash Soni as Nikhil, Ansh Bagri as Vicky, Sanchay Goswami as Suresh, Nimisha Mehta as Pooja, Kinjal Rajpriya as Nisha, Sarabjeet Bindra as Daljeet aka Dhulla and Anuradha Mukherjee as Isha.

Banjo

Banjo is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language musical action drama film, directed by Ravi Jadhav and produced by Krishika Lulla under the banner of Eros International. Riteish Deshmukh and Nargis Fakhri star in the film.

The film Banjo is based on the lives of young banjo players in Maharashtra and how this art has been neglected despite numerous youngsters getting involved in it. This musical drama has Nargis Fakhri as a DJ and Riteish Deshmukh as the Banjo player. The movie traces two Banjo musicians in Maharashtra and how the relevance of the art is deteriorating these days.

The film has Riteish Deshmukh as Taraat, Nargis Fakhri and Dharmesh Yelande.

The Magnificent Seven

The Magnificent Seven is a 2016 American western action film directed by Antoine Fuqua, and written by Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk. A remake of the 1960 western film of the same name, which in turn was a remake of the 1954 Japanese film Seven Samurai, the film stars Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Byung-hun, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett and Peter Sarsgaard.

Set in the 1870s shortly after the Civil War, as the town of Rose Creek is put under the siege of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue, the residents enlist the help of seven outlaws, a bounty hunter Sam Chisolm, a gambler Josh Faraday, a sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux, a tracker Jack Horne, an assassin Billy Rocks, a Mexican outlaw Vasquez, and a Comanche warrior Red Harvest, to protect them while they prepare for the anticipated violent confrontation. However, upon meeting the town's residents, the Seven find themselves fighting for much more than money.

Bridget Jones’s Baby

Bridget Jones's Baby is a 2016 romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire and written by Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson, based on the fictional columns by Fielding. It is the third film in the franchise and a sequel to 2004 film Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. The film stars Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones, who after becoming pregnant is unsure if Mark Darcy (Colin Firth, also reprising his role) or Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey) is the father.

After breaking up with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), Bridget Jones’s (Renée Zellwege) “happily ever after” hasn’t quite gone according to plan. Fortysomething and single again, she decides to focus on her job as top news producer and surround herself with old friends and new. For once, Bridget has everything completely under control. What could possibly go wrong? Then her love life takes a turn and Bridget meets a dashing American named Jack (Patrick Dempsey), the suitor who is everything Mr. Darcy is not. In an unlikely twist she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch…she can only be fifty percent sure of the identity of her baby’s father.

Wah Taj

Wah Taj is a Bollywood drama film directed by Ajit Sinha, presented by Jayantilal Gada (Pen India Pvt Ltd) and co produced by Pawan Sharma and Abhinav Verma under the banners of Pun Films Pvt. Ltd. and SpyderWave Films. It features actors Shreyas Talpade and Manjari Fadnis in the lead roles.

The movie has Amitabh Bachchan's voice over, introducing us to the city of Agra, which takes pride in the squeals of Ghalib and houses the souvenir of the epitome of love in the guise of the Taj Mahal, which is also one of the wonders of the world. The plot of the movie revolves around what happens when a farmer from Maharashtra (Tukaram, played by Shreyas) claims that he is the owner of the land on which the Taj is built. Wah Taj attempts to bring to light the plight of farmers and their struggles against the corrupt system and the government. The trailer also gives us a glimpse of OMG - Oh My God! kind of courtroom drama wherein a common man is shown fighting against the system. The Maharashtra- UP divide has also been touched upon pretty well in the film.

It is Tukaram Vs Taj Mahal.

The film has Shreyas Talpade, Manjari Fadnis, Hemant Pandey, Rajesh Sharma, Rajeev Verma, Rakesh Shrivastav, Prachee Pathak and Yusuf Hussain

Parched

Parched is a 2015 Indian drama film written and directed by Leena Yadav and produced by Ajay Devgan under his banner Ajay Devgn FFilms.

The film revolves around four women living an unwanted life in a village of north-western region of India, which still suffers from old, age-ridiculed traditions like forced child marriages and other social issues like financial difficulties, spousal and familial rape, and physically and emotionally abusive alcoholic husbands. Rani (Tannishtha Chatterjee), who has been a widow for half of her life, is trying with all her might to get her son, Gulab (Riddhi Sen), married to a beautiful girl, Janki (Lehar Khan), from the neighboring village. Then there is Lajjo (Radhika Apte), a friend of Rani. They both are skilled and work for a local entrepreneur named Kishan (Sumeet Vyas). Lajjo is childless and wants to conceive desperately but fails. On top of this, her alcoholic husband, Manoj, batters her every night. The fourth woman is Bijli (Surveen Chawla), a local erotic dancer, who is a feast for the eyes of village men. She not just dances but fulfils inner desires of many men during dry, sensuous nights of the village. The men of village fear the development and skill of the women and want to live the lifestyle left by their forefathers. The entwined story of these four women shows how they live in a tightly controlled world, hemmed in by tradition, but in their private spaces, they talk about love, sex, and their dreams for the future. The twist to the story comes when Rani discovers Janki is dishonored in her village, Lajjo is tired of the brutality of her husband, and Bijli is jealous of a new girl who might replace her. This leads to a journey of freedom and finding solace in each other together.

The film has Tannishtha Chatterjee, Radhika Apte, Surveen Chawla, Adil Hussain, Lehar Khan, Riddhi Sen, Sayani Gupta and Sumeet Vyas

Storks

Storks is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated adventure buddy comedy film produced by Warner Animation Group, RatPac-Dune Entertainment and Stoller Global Solutions. It is directed by Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland (in his feature debut), written by Stoller and stars the voices of Andy Samberg, Katie Crown, Kelsey Grammer, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Jennifer Aniston, Ty Burrell, Danny Trejo and Stephen Kramer Glickman.

Cornerstone is a place known for delivering babies and ironically, its employees are storks, along with other birds. However, the current CEO of cornerstone, a stork named Hunter, discontinues the baby delivering business; seeing more profit by converting the company to a postal service. However, the last baby that was made before the baby production shut down is taken in by the company and they name her Tulip. Eighteen years later, Junior, Cornerstone's top delivery stork, is about to be given his much coveted position as boss of Cornerstone while Hunter is about to be promoted as Chairman. Tulip, now a teenager, is working to promote new ideas for Cornerstone, like jet packs for flightless birds, but they always backfire. So Junior is ordered by Hunter to discharge Tulip from the company to be given his boss position. Despite wanting his promotion very badly, Junior cannot find the heart to fire Tulip due to her kindness and hard work; so he instead misleads her into believing that she is being transferred to mail business and sends her to the mail room, ordering her to never leave it.

Yeh Hai Judgement Hanged Till Death

The film ‘Yeh Hai Judgement Hanged Till Death’ has actors like Nishant Kumar, Neetu Wadhwa, Gulshan Tushir. Lyricists are Mahesh-Rakesh. The film appears to be inspired by the story of Yakub Memon. 

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Who are fit to be Kejriwal’s successors?' that was published in Newsband

Who are fit to be Kejriwal’s successors?

The Aam Aadmi Party was founded on a belief in the possibility of changing the system, by working outside of it. It is high time for the leader of AAP Arvind Kejriwal and his men to deliver on their promise or rise to their potential. This is an opportunity for Kejriwal. If he manages to impress the people of India now only then he will be able to project himself as an alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Delhi is no more than a launch pad for his political career. There is nothing wrong if he aims at becoming national level leader. Punjab is the only State where the AAP performed well in the Lok Sabha election, while in Delhi, AAP managed to perform wonderfully and win Legislative Assembly election.  

In recent months, some of its ministers and MLAs have been caught on the wrong side of the law. The party did defend some of them, alleging, and perhaps not entirely falsely. So Arvind Kejriwal and his loyal men should be careful while making anybody a part of their party. The candidate should be thoroughly checked and admitted in the party only if they are non-corrupt.   

In the latest controversy involving its Women and Child Welfare Minister Sandeep Kumar, the AAP took the high moral ground, and sacked him soon after a video recording of him with a woman in a sexual act was released by a media house. Kumar was removed from the party as well, as it became clear he had known of the presence of the camera. This is a good example that Kejriwal and AAP are setting.

Kejriwal and AAP should prove their point that they can provide a better alternative system by their performance in Delhi and not by just attacking PM Modi and LG. Kejriwal should not only be more cautious of retaining his hold in the leadership of the party but also consolidate party base. He should introspect what he has done for Delhiites in spite of the roadblocks from LG and Union Home Ministry and do justice to the Delhi populace who have reposed confidence on him and prove that his party will be different from others. Kejriwal should start tackling common man's issues in Delhi. After all, the name of his party is Aam Aadmi Party.

Kejriwal and AAP should display sincerity, honesty and sheer hard work like they did before they were elected to power in Delhi. People still believe that AAP is the panacea for all their problem and so Kejriwal and AAP should live up to their belief.

Lastly Kejriwal should realize that AAP is still a one-man party. He should come up with a list of at least some members of his party who are fit to be his successors. Only then his ambitious movement ‘India Against Corruption’ that he had launched a few months back will show signs of becoming a success. 

Many people ask whether the story of movie Page 3 is inspired by Dinesh Kamath's personal experiences as Journalist. Dinesh Kamath's reply: 'No Comment'.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'India should learn from Sri Lanka' that was published in Newsband

India should learn from Sri Lanka

How did Sri Lanka become malaria-free? India should find out this and adopt the same method of eradicating malaria in our country. Even the World Health Organisation recognised this huge public health achievement. With no local transmission reported, Sri Lanka’s priority since October 2012 has been to prevent its return from outside

 Sri Lanka adopted a two-pronged strategy of targeting both vector and parasite. They did early detection and treatment of asymptomatic parasite carriers. There were major challenges the country had to face before it interrupted local transmission.

Sri Lanka now joins the ranks of 34 countries that have been certified malaria-free since the 1960s. The Maldives was certified so in 2015; Argentina and Kyrgyzstan may soon be. Eradication of the disease in India remains a challenge, but it could learn some lessons from Sri Lanka

We have to commend Sri Lanka for eradicating malaria. Keeping the whole country clean at all times must have been the key to stamping out the highly infectious disease. India should emulate the Island nation by keeping the country always hygienic as a portent to wiping out malaria.

Sri Lanka has achieved this feet by making inclusive Malaria control. Taking house visits to attend cases and to create awareness is a wonderful achievement in Malaria eradication. Though they are accused of being inhuman to Lankan Tamils, at least for the health of the people they did a lot and it is an achievement.

Efficient healthcare measures must be learned from Sri Lanka. Though a small country with meagre resources, Sri Lanka developed good system of monitoring malaria causing parasites and people affected by the disease. India also should shift its priority from mosquitoes to the parasite which causes malaria and other diseases. While sanitation and clean environment may reduce mosquitoes, the root of the problem should be addressed along with clean surroundings. Only multi-pronged strategies can free India of malaria.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Triple talaq practise is not fair for women' that was published in Newsband

Triple talaq practise is not fair for women

Earlier Muslim men could just utter the word talaq thrice and divorce their wives. This method of divorcing was rendered legally invalid by the Shamim Ara vs State of UP judgment of 2002 and subsequent orders from various High Courts. But this has not stopped the practice; many Muslim women are unaware of the judgments.

In the absence of triple talaq, many Muslim couples have to undergo the time-consuming legal proceedings The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), a body with no legal status, has long argued that divorce under Islamic law is undesirable and that triple talaq is a sin.

In truth, there is no sanction for the triple talaq in the Koran, triple talaq practice has been either explicitly derecognised in Muslim-majority countries such as Indonesia, Iran and Tunisia or implicitly in countries such as Pakistan, which provides for a mandatory arbitration procedure after the pronouncement of talaq.

The AIMPLB, says that “personal laws cannot be challenged”.  But the Supreme Court should not hesitate to rule this practice as illegal.

As per Islamic law Men can have instant divorce by triple talaq, but women can only apply for divorce to the sharia courts and only they in consultation with husband give divorce. Child custody is always with male, women have custody only until suckling.

Those Muslim men who continue to practise triple talaq give the impression that there is no respect for women in their community and so all the women should come forward for their own right.

It is strange that AIMPLB, a non-statutory body, secures the priority and locus standi to file its versions as if they are the only body of intellectuals well-versed in Islamic texts and entitled to express the personal views of the entire Muslim community in the country. Opposite views also deserve to be recorded. The AIMPLB’s mind-set is warped in antiquity without provable evidences to stand by its statements. This organisation is only perpetuating perennial slavery for women.

Online Superstar Dinesh Kamath is the only Superstar without a MANAGER

Online Superstar Dinesh Kamath is the only Superstar without a MANAGER

Normally, all the Superstars have MANAGERS who help them to maintain their images and advise them in the matter of whom to meet and whom not to meet, which press conferences to attend and which not to attend, where to go and where not to go, how to give a boost to their images, what they should wear and what they should not, how to manage their finance, which employer to work with and which one to avoid etc. etc. These MANAGERS even go to the extent of negotiating with the Film Producers and Film Directors to provide Roles in Films for the Superstars they are working for. MANAGERS make and maintain the Superstars. MANAGERS even advise the Superstar in the matter of how he or she should live his or her personal life. The Superstars pass on to the MANAGERS mutually agreeable percentage of the profits that they manage to make for the Superstars. But Online Hero Dinesh Kamath is the only Superstar who has become a Superstar without the help of any MANAGER. If he had an ideal MANAGER he would have been a still greater Superstar.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'G20 should control China before solving global issues' that was published in Newsband

G20 should control China before solving global issues

A group of nations, representing 85 per cent of the world’s GDP and two-thirds of its population, under the banner of the G20, came together to discuss about how to prevent a looming economic crisis. One should not forget that the U.S. President Barack Obama had done a great job by tackling cleverly the 2008 crisis.

Among the major issues that found mention in the summit was the question of excess steel capacity in China resulting in a flood of cheap imports into India, the U.K. and other economies. Climate change was the other major agenda point. Numerous low-key objectives shared by multiple G20 members, such as strengthening enforcement against international tax avoidance and advancing cooperation on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, certainly got a shot in the arm from this G20 gathering.

If the World wants to eradicate poverty by eliminating malnutrition the rich nations will have to reduce over consumption. Same goes with rich and poor in every country. World is facing two conditions - over consumption and under consumption in the field of food, health and energy. We have different talk shops ending without compromise and without solution. G 20 should come up with some practical steps.

Bush administration should be praised for reviving and revamping G-20, when the economic crisis erupted in 2008. But G-20 should form a secretariat of its own and even its own enforcing machinery instead of relegating the works to outside groups /agencies and the communiques. G-20 should not appear like Christmas Trees promising goodies but no action.

One should feel relieved about the fact that the fear that the global financial crisis of 2008 would lead to a worldwide depression has passed. As far as India is concerned, we should think, plan, act ahead with individuality, independence, and better Economics management. But that would need a more Imaginative and Visionary leadership - taking advantage of the potentials. Trying to align with anyone would not help. NAM did not get us anywhere. It was discarded since 1992. Even in 1970s by the addition of word 'socialist' we were never 'non-aligned'. Being a big economy and big country with a big population there is no way we can stand 'non-aligned'. Particularly at this time of our story. 70% youth cannot be wasted in the name of NAM which gets us no credible relations.

Lastly, G 20 hosted by China was not more fruitful except the agreement between China and US on Paris climate issue. India made a mention of Economic corridor via POK, China's obstruction through NPT membership to block India's NSG entry, and this made China accuse the West for playing the role of protectionist in global trade and claiming its supremacy. West and India rightly blame China and China tries to down-play the West. G20 should first bring China under control and then solve global issues across tables.