Dinesh Kamath completes Seven Years as Editor of English Daily Newspaper 'Newsband' on 29 September 2018

Dinesh Kamath completes Seven Years as Editor of English Daily Newspaper 'Newsband' on 29 September 2018

I completed 7 years as Editor of English Daily Newspaper 'Newsband' on 29 September 2018. Seven is my Lucky Number. I thank all those people who made it possible for me to achieve this feat. I also completed 28 years of Married Life with Divya on the same day. 

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'India should focus more on Export' that was published in Newsband

India should focus more on Export

The Centre has taken a decision to increase customs duty on imports of 19 “non-essential” items. Will this narrow the current account deficit (CAD)? The impact of this tariff increase in paring the import bill and thus containing the CAD is at best going to be short-term and marginal. Also the decision to double import duties on a clutch of consumer durables to 20% could dampen consumption of these products. Already the rupee’s slide against the dollar is already likely to have made these goods costlier.

A more robust approach in addressing the widening CAD would be to institute wide-ranging measures to boost exports and simultaneously reduce the import-intensity of the economy. Ensure that export growth starts outpacing the expansion in merchandise imports.

Hiking the import duties is surely not a very effective solution. It attracts counter hikes in retaliation by other nations. Efforts must be focused to push up exports to reduce CAD. At the same time production and employment opportunities require to be generated further to boost up the economy.

The hyped 'Make in India' should have been 'Export, Export from India". We now know Make in India is for special big-ticket zone. Secondly, no member of the Team had ever discussed or commented or self-praised to have helped in facilitating exports. Only agenda is on trivial issues: what to eat, what to sing, what to celebrate.  As highlighted, with tariff-war underway, many countries in SE Asia have wooed factories from China to their shores offering incentives etc.

The centre must avoid these knee-jerk reactions, instead focus on proper well-thought-out and then implemented measures to tackle the perennial inflating CAD.

While on one side our nation is engrossed in such unnecessary controversial fights on Ayodhya/Sabarimala/Adultery/Hindi with almost zero scientific and economic sense/values, on the other side, India (with its leaders having very poor understanding of the Strengths) is seen wasting over 99.5% of our superb resources.

India must immediately work on OWN RESOURCES indigenous development, so that imports and dependence on outside technologies are averted. VALUE ADDITION of Resources would be the key to so-called CAD. There is also need to nurture Brain-power utilization to stem the migration of educated youngsters to outside nations.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Adultery is no more a crime' that was published in Newsband

Adultery is no more a crime

The Supreme Court finally struck down a colonial-era law that made adultery punishable with a jail term and a fine. A five-judge Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, delivered the judgment.

India now no longer consider adultery an offence, only a ground for divorce. The adultery law was blatantly gender-discriminatory. “The history of Section 497 reveals that the law on adultery was for the benefit of the husband, for him to secure ownership over the sexuality of his wife,” Justice D.Y. Chandrachud wrote. “It was aimed at preventing the woman from exercising her sexual agency.”

With the decriminalisation of adultery India has taken another step towards rights-based social relations. It is good that refreshing the statute books is being left to the judiciary, without any proactive role of Parliament in amending regressive laws. This is another landmark judgement by the SC quashing the antediluvian law and enhancing the stature of the women on par with their male counterparts in terms of constitutional fundamental rights. But some concerns post this verdict:- 1. The sanctity of the marriage as an institution. 2. Future of children born out of adultery. 3. Increase of extramarital affairs post this verdict. 4. Future of arranged marriages. 5. Moral values of family/marriages system among the youths and married ones. Overall, a much awaited progressive verdict but we should not blink at the above concerns in way of moving forward.

The question is why the Judiciary took seventy years to take cognizance of this colonial era rule and its absurdity? Anyway, discrimination in law has been struck down. After all said and done, when it comes to life it all depends upon the individual and their action. Expressing agency in the form of choice, or exercising equality, the fact remains that human behaviour is a combination of factors and people can rationalize it to suit themselves. Choice can be rooted in utter self centeredness, rights can trample duty and autonomy can be devoid of responsibility. It may have been correct to allow the rights available to men under the impugned article to the wife also, so that equality for the two sexes is brought in like any other sphere.

The verdict may end male hegemony and exploitation of women to a great extent. The institution has the privilege of helping the development of a healthy society with high qualities such as tolerance, mutual trust, Goodwill, apart from imparting the traits of love affection and caring for fellow beings in the children, the future of the country. Children born out of adultery may not get the advantages of good parenting which can guide them towards the good things of human life. Such children can become ruffians / terrorists owing to antisocial elements getting control of them in the name of fulfilling their wants which may grow beyond reasonable proportions. This can pose insurmountable danger to the welfare of the society and the country at large.

On the whole, this judgment is not a blow to individual liberty but a boost/ support to individual liberty. Kudos to Chief Justice Dipak Mishra and his team for delivering an extremely outstanding judgment. A team of jurists should be formed to review all the laws closely and advise the government to delete/amend/streamline and simplify archaic laws. Apart from other things this will reduce the work load burden of the courts.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Aadhaar survives a fierce legal challenge' that was published in Newsband

Aadhaar survives a fierce legal challenge

The Aadhaar project has survived a fierce legal challenge. The government has staved off the challenge by successfully arguing that it is essentially a transformative scheme primarily aimed at reaching benefits and subsidies to the poor and the marginalised. Four of the five judges on a Constitution Bench ruled that the law enabling the implementation of the programme does not violate the right to privacy of citizens; instead, the project empowers marginalised sections and procures dignity for them along with services, benefits and subsidies by leveraging the power of technology.

In upholding Aadhaar, the majority opinion was not oblivious to the impact of disbanding a project that has already completed much ground. The majority favoured the scheme’s continuance for the sake of the 99.76% of people included under it, rather than fret over the 0.24% who were excluded because of authentication failure. “The remedy is to plug the loopholes rather than axe the project,” the Bench said.

In Switzerland, and a few other countries, people have voted for security and safety and adherence to law over the need for privacy. Today in India, we have Benami property owners cornering all resources denying the others equal right to opportunity to lead a normal life. The benami operators are everywhere including, politicians, lawyers, businessmen, professionals and judiciary. If the government guarantees, through the use of Aadhaar, to identify these people and to act against one and all, Indian people will also vote for making aadhaar mandatory.

India has a problem in establishing the identity of its citizens. Unlike other countries there is no unique identify that is offered to every citizen to ensure that the security of the state is not compromised. This has resulted in some of the most bizarre schemes where the citizens in the far eastern region have been forced to prove their identity. You are a criminal unless proven otherwise! The onus of proving that someone is not a citizen of this country rests on the State not on the individual.

It is time we establish a national scheme where anyone who is residing within our geological boundary is offered an identity that will enable him/her to be a citizen of this country. The Aadhar could play this role if properly supervised by an independent agency.

There are no easy choices when it comes to drawing the line between privacy and the right of the State to know. The common problem when this shows up is in matters of national security. However we are looking at this issue in matters related to the welfare of the downtrodden and controlling the fraud that is going on in this area. Here the intention of the State is paramount. The Supreme Court has put its faith on the intent of the State machinery that the scheme will be put to proper use. Considering how things are moving today, it is not clear whether their hopes will be justified.

To plug leakages in subsidy schemes and to have better targeting of welfare benefits was not the intent of the UPA government when the scheme was announced in 2009. That was what the present NDA government innovatively decided to use Aadhar for. Making Aadhar non-mandatory for subscribers to banking and telecom services is a retrograde step. Similarly, for admission of children to schools. We have seen many instances when Aadhar has helped nab terrorists and restore missing children to their parents. Like immunization being mandatory these days, obtaining Aadhar must also be made mandatory for new-born children. With increasing crime rates and identity thefts, Aadhar would go a long way in eliminating crimes. Of course, a comprehensive data privacy law along with its strict implementation must be welcomed because this country is notorious for data leakage.

Aadhaar or any other Id (Passport, Driving license, Voter Id, Ration Card, Pan Card) - All services issues by any government agency should be made online verifiable by various with good back end IT infrastructure and maintenance. Companies and various security points (like airports) need to get identity verified in a fast and easy way in today's world.

Make a provision in the next budget so that all state issued and central issued ID's can be brought online in next 6 months (with good inter connectivity between the backend servers that can communicate seamlessly for this purpose). As long information is kept in silos and not allowed to interact or cross-correlate, there is no worry that this will result in government surveillance.

Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movies released in Navi Mumbai’ (Sui Dhaaga - Made In India, Pihu, Pataakha and Rashtraputra) that was published in Newsband

New movies released in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Sui Dhaaga - Made In India

Sui Dhaaga (transl. Needle and thread;) is an Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Sharat Katariya and produced by Maneesh Sharma under the banner of Yash Raj Films. It stars Varun Dhawan and Anushka Sharma in lead roles.

The movie is a heart-warming story of pride and self-reliance, rooted in the heart of India. Sui Dhaaga - Made in India recounts the journey of an honest man, who rises from his humble beginnings to become a celebrated social entrepreneur. A heartwarming story of pride, perseverance and self-reliance, the film talks about the need of social entrepreneurship as a tool for the social and economic development of our artisans, who are living their life on the margins due to the changing times. It’s a heartwarming countryside drama about jovial simpleton Mauji (Sharma) and his meek-but-enterprising wife Mamta (Sharma) and their obstacle-filled quest to set up their own tailoring business. Sui Dhaaga is your typical utopian Disney or Pixar film for the grown-ups where the underdogs and the triumph of the human spirit will be celebrated at all costs. Sharma and Dhawan play a timid couple who live in a joint family in the small town of Chanderi. They have been married for a while, but have never found the time to discover each other. But there’s no drama around it. Money is tight in their household and daring to dream can cost them heavily. From the outset, we are told that turning into an entrepreneur brings you doom as Mauji’s grandfather had gone bust in his tailoring business. His failure still shapes their cash-starved present and naturally they side with pragmatism than start-up dreams. But the seemingly meek Mamta nudges her jolly husband to leave his conventional menial job where he’s treated like a pushover to earn some dignity in his daily life.

The film has Varun Dhawan as Mauji, a tailor, Anushka Sharma as Mamta, an embroiderer and Raghubir Yadav as Mauji's father.

The songs of the film are composed by Anu Malik while lyrics are written by Varun Grover. The film has songs like "Chaav Laaga"          sung by Papon, Ronkini Gupta, "Khatar Patar" by Papon, "Tu Hi Aham" by Ronkini Gupta, "Sui Dhaaga" by Divya Kumar and "Sab Badhiya Hai" by Sukhwinder Singh, Salman Ali.

Pihu

Pihu is a film directed by Kapri Vinod and its cast consists of Pihu Myra and Prerna Vishwakarma.

The movie is a social thriller starring the two year baby girl. She is living in a home where the adults are going through a complicated phase. Being a toddler, she is occasionally trapped in the accidental situations. Circumstances lead to this 2 year old girl 'Pihu' being left alone in an apartment. What ensues, makes for an edge of the seat social thriller, based on a true story which is sure to blow your mind.

Pataakha

Pataakha (transl. Firecracker;) is an Indian Hindi comedy-drama film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj about two sisters who share a difficult relationship with each other. Based on Charan Singh Pathik's short story titled Do Behnein, the film features Sanya Malhotra, debutant Radhika Madan, Sunil Grover, Saanand Verma and Vijay Raaz in lead roles.

Based on Charan Singh Pathik's short story, Do Behnein, it revolves around two sisters, Badki and Chhutki who grow up in a small village in Rajasthan and are constantly at war but when marriage separates them, they realise they can't seem to live with or without each other. This is the story of a raucous rivalry, of duelling sticks of dynamite who steal each other’s stolen beedis and spark each other’s fuses. Fuelled by fury, they are either on the warpath or standing by, demanding to be offended. These are perpetually flammable girls with tongues sharp and savage. One wants to go to school so she can open one of her own, the other wants to stay out of school and start her own dairy. They’re willing to battle hard for their ambitions. They are the two most wanted women in the village, made eligible because of their headstrong pluck. They meet their suitors by first physically overpowering them, and then relent. They choose to enjoy the first flush of rural romance, courted against the backdrop of motorcycling daredevils and lassi stores. The heart bleeds for the girls’ hapless father, stranded in no man’s land. The great Vijay Raaz plays this father of the nation with a defeated dignity.

The film has Sanya Malhotra as Genda 'Chhutki' Kumari, Radhika Madan as Champa 'Badki' Kumari, Sunil Grover as Dipper Naradmuni, Vijay Raaz as Bechara Bapu, Saanand Verma as Tharki Patel, Namit Das, Abhishek Duhan and Malaika Arora (special appearance in song "Hello Hello")

The music of the film has been composed by Vishal Bhardwaj, while the lyrics have been written by Gulzar. The film has songs like "Balma" sung by Rekha Bhardwaj, Sunidhi Chauhan, "Pataakha" by Vishal Bhardwaj, "Hello Hello" by Rekha Bhardwaj, "Naina Banjare" by Arijit Singh and "Gali Gali" by Sukhwinder Singh.

Rashtraputra

Rashtraputra is a film written and directed by Aazaad and produced by Rajnarayan Dube.

The film has Aazaad playing Aazaad, Rakesh Bedi as Dr. Daruwala, Abhay Bhargav as Commissioner, Manish Chaudhary as Nepali, Alpesh Dhakan as Bunty, Zakir Hussain as          Satbir, Achint Kaur as Vinita Singhania, Jamie Lever as Jenny, Raza Murad as Sultan Bhai, Deep Raj Rana as Police Inspector Tyaagi, Ruhi Singh          as Riya Singhaniya, Atul Srivastava     as Mamaji, Aryan Vaid  as Bhagat Singh and Vivek Vaswani as Dilip Singhania.

The singers in the film are Aazaad, Ash King, Bappi Lahiri, Palak Muchhal and Mika Singh.

Based on the life of the first commander of the surgical strikes Chandrashekhar Azad, Rashtraputra showcases the reality, lesser known facts, and thoughts of India's greatest revolutionary. This is the first film in history of Indian cinema which will give insights about life and times of Chandrashekhar Azad. His thoughts were like the flames of fire and acts were deadly blasts. The forgotten hero will return back from the darkness, created by selfish politics to the silver screen as the daring and dynamic protagonist of all time created by Aazaad.The nationalistic flavor - colour - nature combination of the movie is a continuation of what he has been portraying in his earlier movies. While his earlier movies had element of nationalism, our film "Rashtraputra" will showcase the reality, the lesser known facts of the greatest revolutionary, Chandrashekhar Azad. Azad was not only the commander - in - chief of Hindustan Socialist Republican Army (HSRA) but an unmatched mentor, friend - philosopher - guide of over two thousand and five hundred revolutionaries of HSRA like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Bhagwaticharan Vohra, Durga Bhabhi, etc. In the true sense of meaning Chandrashekhar Azad was the supreme force of the bloodstained revolutionary freedom movement of India. In this film Azad is shown as a timeless cinematic creation. He was, He is and he will be the relevant hero of all time. Time changes but the problems remain the same in different looks. What would Azad do, how he would react if he was alive today? He would be the same motivational force for today's youth as he was in his lifetime. Rashtraputra can be described as a great motivational movie with high voltage drama and entertainment values for the youth as well as the enlightened audience of twenty first century. Rashtraputra  will be released globally in 26 National and Foreign Languages. The sole reason behind this ideology is to create truthful awareness of the greatest revolutionary Chandrashekar Azad in the world.

Dinesh Kamath liked Kritika Kamra as Ananya Kashyap and was impressed by performance of Rajeev Khandelwal as Kabir Sharma in the TV Serial 'Reporters'

Dinesh Kamath liked Kritika Kamra as Reporter Ananya Kashyap and was impressed by performance of Rajeev Khandelwal as Edtior In Chief Kabir Sharma in TV Serial 'Reporters'

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Mind your language, Mr Shah!' that was published in Newsband

Mind your language, Mr Shah!

The state, especially Assam, should assist people grappling with paperwork and bureaucracy to assert their claim to being legitimate citizens of India. India needs to officially give the assurance that it will not condemn undocumented immigrants. This empathy is in keeping with India’s tradition of giving refuge to those who have nowhere to go.

At a public meeting in Delhi, the BJP president, Amit Shah, referred to infiltrators allegedly in the country, claiming they were eating away at India’s future. He compared them with “deemak” (Hindi for termites). Shah has, of late, dwelt many times on the need to identify illegal immigrants in the country, whose numbers he says are in crores. Someone from Bangladesh has objected to Shah’s use of language.

There are some elements in BJP who are of the opinion that all those who are not of a particular religion are deemak to this country and until and unless they make this country only for a particular religion people they would say and do these types of things regardless if they are defeated.

But there are some who say that it is reality that Assam and it's neighbouring states have been suffering from illegal migration from Bangladesh. Border is of porous nature and there have been no effort to seal it even today whichever government is in power, state or central. The affected people complain that these immigrants are grabbing their lands, jobs, spreading fundamentalism, and committing crimes. If this is true then It is a burning problem specially in Assam. Our demography is changing. It is not about particular community or religion. Assam always embrace every religion, community, creed, culture and peaceful coexistence. But Bangladeshis are illegally entering whether they are Hindu/Muslim doesn't matter. The people of Assam are suffering the most. The petty liberal war, ideological war, political inclinations, and human rights clamour do not solve their problems. Reality is different from narrow myopic prism of impractical hullabaloo. The people of Assam are ultimate sufferers owing to illegal immigrants. They have always been used by the political parties for vote bank.

Assam is suffering most among all the states of India in having to give refuge to innumerable refugees from the nations along its borders. Many of them have been allowed to vote by crooked means. They have to be found out and removed from the Assam election Register. Refuge is alright but allowing them to vote as Indian citizens seems the height of wrong doing to India's true proletariat.

However, whatever may be the case, Amit Shah's phraseology of termites is harsh especially when migration is the bitter option for those denuded of even a humble livelihood by the policies of the state. Shah must mind his language. His remark on the people who are left out in the NCR in Assam as termites is not in good taste. Rajnath has given hopes to the left out by appealing and at this juncture Shah's remarks can spoil the good relationship we have with Bangladesh.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'How to make Ayushman Bharat a success' that was published in Newsband

How to make Ayushman Bharat a success

Ayushman Bharat is supposed to provide guaranteed access to treatment that is free to about 40% of the population selected on the basis of censused socio-economic indicators. To make it a success, first and foremost the budgetary support must be strengthened. Guaranteeing health-care access using private or public facilities presumes tight cost control. In the case of the PMJAY, this is to be achieved using defined treatment packages for which rates are prescribed. Costs are a contested area between the care-providers and the Centre, and many for-profit hospitals see the government’s proposals as unviable.

The law broadly provides for standardisation of facilities and reasonable rates for procedures. The 150,000 health and wellness centres of the National Health Protection Mission can play a valuable role. This is a great initiative by the government, making health care affordable to weaker sections, and bolstering the government medicare institution, and will reduce the dependency of poor people on the public sector for seeking good quality healthcare which is draining major part of people income.

The unearthed advantage of the scheme will be the development of a cost effective model for medical facility and the socio economic well being of citizen. This will not only improve the quality of treatment of the public sector health care units but also push private sector to play below their wish to be a part of this medical reform juggernaut.

This scheme has many advantage regarding heath and will be a much help to poor who cannot afford expensive treatment in hospital. Patients especially who are very poor and do not have money for treatment sell land which is a main resource for earning money and derive expensive treatment. For such people this scheme will prove to be very useful.

Needless to say that for poor people who cannot afford even the minimum of Medical Care this "Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (the insurance component of the scheme)"scheme is a gift. Looking in a negative lens or belittling the efforts made by the present Prime Minister Modi for the betterment of general public is uncalled for. Media should encourage such steps made by the present Govt. It is obvious that every Government in power always extract some benefits in implementing such schemes keeping an eye on elections.

Though PMJAY has many challenges ahead, yet it is one of the biggest health care scheme after Obamacare. At least present dispensation is initiating it. Inclusivity of the poor who has long been deprived of healthcare is now accessible to health care services. Implementation and execution of PMJAY should be such that no leakage will be there and real beneficiary will get the real benefits.

Ayushman scheme is indeed a boon to middle class and the marginalised people while they are stranded for getting huge cash on medical expenses for disease related to heart, kidney, liver, lungs and other vital organs of the human body. Cashless treatments must be assured by the scheme to the eligible families. Government must make proper budgetory allocation to the scheme and make it viable to the public without hassles.

Between five and ten million Indian families can use an insurance policy to access good quality private healthcare, of the sort that would cost upto five lakhs a year. Stretching this overnight to one hundred million families, many living in rural areas, is a leap of faith. The initial provision of 2,000 crores suggests this is still a programme in its infancy. Creating the physical infrastructure to deal with such a large volume of patients is a mammoth task. Like the Smart Cities project, this looks very nebulous to begin with. The more practical course of action would be to improve the working and quality of Primary / Central Health Centres, which meet the needs of 30,000/ 1,00,000 citizens.

Dinesh Kamath's news 'The Rafale deal has become a big issue' that was published in Newsband

The Rafale deal has become a big issue

The allegation is that the contract to purchase 36 French multi-role fighter aircraft was grossly overvalued and that it was tainted by crony capitalism. Former French President François Hollande stating in an interview that it was India that suggested the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Defence Ltd. as the offset partner for the deal. This squarely contradicts what the Modi government has been saying. The Centre has insisted that the choice of offset partners is entirely that of the manufacturer, or of Dassault Aviation.

The question: did the Centre suggest a partnership with Reliance Defence as Mr. Hollande said? No questions have been raised about the capabilities of the Rafale jet, unlike in the case of some other defence deals such as Bofors.

Prime Minister Modi unexpectedly announced the decision to purchase 36 Rafale aircraft, during his France visit in April 2015. The deal was signed only in September 2016, after clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security, The negotiations for the purchase of 126 Rafale aircraft was initiated by the UPA government. That the UPA’s BOFORS purchase was a corrupt deal is no justification for the NDA being corrupt in the Rafael purchase. It only confirms what the common man knew all along: All politicians are corrupt.

This way Defence purchases will suffer. Only solution is developing our own capability. If ISRO can manufacture our own rockets and communication for space technology, why not the defence

The deal, particularly the offset agreement of Dassault with Anil Ambani, definitely smacks of crony capitalism. That there is a quid-pro-quo between Hollande's partner and Reliance Defence is obvious. Now it needs to be established if there were behind-the-curtain players.

Common people are puzzled why Narendra Modi took Anil Ambani with him to Paris in April, 2015, for Rafale Deal when HAL & Dassault Aviation had already signed the Work Share Agreement one year earlier, in March, 2013, to produce 108 nos Rafale Fighters in India.

Invariably every defence deal comes under the head of corruption for any opposition party. It was Bofors then, now it is Rafael. Thus the one aspect is very clear. Every politician fights for the defence Minister's post, because in some way or the other it appears to be lucrative.

The Indian defence must not suffer in such political disputes. The politicians are the first ones, who should ensure this. But in their attitude of power mongering, they seem to become almost unpatriotic. A mechanism should be put in place to avoid such controversial issues.

The succeeding days are bound to be eventful in the shady defence deal. The Center government's defence of the deal would be ripped open. The government throws some crumps to the commoners to gain popularity on one hand, on the other they collude with crony capitalism to grab big money. And that too at the cost of country's defense security. This is despicable. All said and done, coming days augur ill for wrong doers.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Why Swaraj-Qureshi meeting was cancelled?' that was published in Newsband

Why Swaraj-Qureshi meeting was cancelled?

A meeting between Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in New York next week, was called off by India. The reasons are recent attacks in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan-based groups, and stamps issued by the Pakistani postal service that glorified Kashmiri terrorists.

Since the beginning of the year, 13 Border Security Force jawans have been killed along the Line of Control and the International Border. In the same period, more than 20 policemen belonging to J&K police have been killed by terror groups backed by Pakistan. Equally bewildering is the subject of the stamps of Kashmiri terrorists.

Is the cancellation of the meeting, not just for the domestic audience but also for the international community which is watching the India-Pakistan relationship very closely? Until the general election in India in 2019, Delhi and Islamabad should have used this period to bring down tensions. The situation on the LoC warrants immediate attention.

Is there is a lack of consistency on our part in dealing with Pakistan? In fact, this has been our problem since Nehru's days. The current government has comparatively shown more consistency than all the other previous governments, including that of Vajpayee. Even then, the proposed meeting of Ms. Sushma Swaraj with her Pakistani counterpart at UNGA was most unwarranted.

There is a general feeling in our country that a fresh start must be made whenever the political head changes in Pakistan. This has been proved utterly wrong on every single occasion from the days of Jinnah & Liaqat Ali Khan. And, yet, we have not learnt any lesson.

Political will is one of the most important factors for the overall development of both the neighbouring countries. Peaceful coexistence between the neighbours is most important for growth and prosperity. Hence both the nations should go ahead with negotiating process and thus towards the economic prosperity.

Some countries like Ethiopia- Eritrea; & North Korea- South Korea could resolve long pending issues recently through peaceful negotiations. Such processes would lead to uninterrupted progress. But India and Pakistan have not been resolving long pending issues. Both of them should be humble and solve all the problems for a better future. Solutions are within our attitudes. There is a saying: it’s not your aptitude but your attitude that determines your altitude.

Probably, our government has taken right decision not attending Now York meeting. As we have been observing for so many years Pakistan based groups always play double role. India should continue with No Nonsense attitude. Congress is just not In a position to take pro India decision. For them India is Gandhi family.

The question is whether India will boycott the SAARC summit due in Islamabad later this year? Probably there will be no dialogue with Pakistan till the general election. So, for half a decade, the peace process has been on ice. The senior military and intelligence officials, should be tasked to maintain a very rudimentary channel of communication with their counterparts, to forestall any major disruption in the next six months.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Talking about Planets' that was published in Newsband

Talking about Planets

In 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to remove Pluto’s planetary status. Now some researchers are challenging this decision. The IAU, in 2006, designated Pluto a ‘dwarf planet’

Three conditions for a celestial object to be called a planet are: one, it must orbit the Sun; two, it should be massive enough to acquire an approximately spherical shape; three, it has to ‘clear its orbit’. Dwarf planets, on the other hand, need only satisfy the first two conditions.

This rationale has been questioned by Philip Metzger, a planetary physicist who has worked with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and others. Pluto will continue to be a puzzle planet.  Striping poor Pluto of its planetary saddened many, for they have a sentimental connect with it. In their school days, their teacher taught them about the nine planets. Though they are amenable to scientific reasoning, their sentiments compel them to ask for maintenance of dwarf planet status of it.

That Science is not a dogmatic thought-process nor a mere collection of observations and data - is again and again proved by the manner in which every phenomenon that is observed and studied, before interpreting and finalizing the systematic definition that becomes a Theory. The subject of Pluto is still in the "observational study" stage, and it may be a few more years before the world comes to a definite conclusion - even (possibly) redefining the Concept of PLANET in Solar System

Now let us talk about Mars. A global dust storm that enshrouded Mars — halting operations for NASA’s Opportunity rover — continues to abate, raising scientists’ hopes to hear back from the 15-year-old, solar-powered probe. Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the US believe that the rover will soon receive enough sunlight to automatically initiate recovery procedures, if it is not damaged. A two-step plan has been developed to provide the highest probability of successfully communicating with the rover and bringing it back online.

The dust storm on Mars was first detected on May 30 and the rover’s last communication with Earth was received on June 10. Opportunity engineers are relying on the expertise of Mars scientists analysing data from the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to estimate the tau near the rover’s position.

With skies clearing, mission managers are hopeful the rover will attempt to call home, but they are also prepared for an extended period of silence. The impact of this latest storm is unknown but could have resulted in reduced energy production, diminished battery performance, or other unforeseen damage that could make it difficult for the rover to fully return online.

Lastly, the Hubble Space Telescope has started a new mission to study six massive galaxy clusters that may help shed light on how the earliest galaxies evolved in the universe, NASA said. This is crucial for our understanding of the cosmos.

Using the cosmological trick — known as strong gravitational lensing — Hubble is able to explore some of the earliest and most distant galaxies in the universe. So that’s all about the planets.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Do Justice To All, Mr. Trump!' that was published in Newsband

Do Justice To All, Mr. Trump!

India has asked for a trade deal with the U.S. due to his tough policies, President Donald Trump told his supporters. He said countries have learned to respect the U.S. now.

India and the U.S. are negotiating several trade issues, and the talks are in a stalemate as U.S Trade Representative (USTR) has demanded a commitment from India to make additional purchases worth $10 billion annually for the next three years. U.S Secretaries of State and Defense, Mike Pompeo and James Mattis who were in New Delhi for the first 2+2 dialogue sought to reiterate the strategic convergence between the two countries after in the face of assertive China, the President put China and India in the same bracket, yet again.

Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia told that the U.S was working with India, Japan and Australia to keep Asia safe and secure. “Both sides agreed that fair and reciprocal trade crucial to the prosperity of our peoples,” Ms. Wells said.

Combining the whole world should be our main task; our second task should be to remove poverty from all over the world, our third task: to destroy the entire terrorism in the world; our fourth task: The money earned must be spent in the same country.

Mr. Trump says they are paying subsidies to us. May one ask what subsidies is he paying India?

We should be busy with constructive work, not with the destructive. In a challenging world, challenging other nations will not do either good or serve the purpose. It is a both way traffic, in other words, give and take. There is no permanent friend or foe. Even from our enemies, we have much to learn, that is the smart way to get ahead. India need everybody, we should not let down anybody who stood with us in our times of crisis, keeping in mind that by 2020, we should not label ourselves as a developing nation, but a proud Developed India.

Only way for India to succeed is by continuing to clean the corruption mess, cut taxes and bureaucracy to make businesses and employment flourish and be globally competitive.

President Trump projects a misconception. The volume of trade increases over a period of time and sometimes a large deficit will occur when too many expensive items are purchased from one party. The return cannot be achieved if America is choosy on where it buys from therefore an array of items are suggested and a variety of products are offered and a trade deal spreads the purchase over a large variety giving an opportunity for America to sample and try out a larger number of specialised country specific products which balances the deficits also. In the process the products of India become better known and technical products to the correct specifications are produced and the country improves its standards and world exposure takes place.

Trump talks like a man who has conquered the whole World. Even if it is true, he should choose to do ‘Justice To All’ which is the true American Spirit.

Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movies released in Navi Mumbai’ (Jack & Dil, Manto, Ishqeria, Batti Gul Meter Chalu, Pakhi, Falsafa and Game Paisa Ladki) that was published in Newsband

New movies released in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Jack & Dil

Jack & Dil is the film directed by Sachin P. Karande and written by Sanjeev Dutta and produced by Yogesh Singh. Music is by Arko Pravo Mukherjee.

JACK and DIL is a modern day story of new age man Jack, carefree with little materialistic ambitions, earning as much to meet his daily needs. Jack's only passion is to read detective novels so he could write one of his own too. Problem starts when the penniless Jack falls in love with the idea of buying a dog. Rich businessman Mr.Walia (Arbaaz Khan) is keen to sell his dog but their meeting takes an altogether different turn. Jack turns a detective and his quest to own the dog lands him into chasing the Businessman's wife Shilpa (Sonal Chauhan). The chase brings the two closer. But Jack's deal is on the deadline to find out the mystery man in Shilpa's life. Meanwhile Shilpa gets to know of Jack's On-Off relationship with his model girlfriend Lara (Evelyn Sharma). Shilpa narrates her love story with Walia who is now totally focused on his business. Jack admits to his affair with Shilpa and the furious Walia refuses to believe it. Finally he realizes he has lost his totally neglected wife forever. Jack Challenges Walia to woo her back. A challenge that is really tough for Walia. Does Walia take up the challenge or goes back to his business. Does Shilpa take a divorce or wins Walia back? Does Jack get his dog and his girlfriend back?

The cast of the film consists of Rajdeep Choudhury as Mystery Man, Amit Sadh – Detective, Sonal Chauhan, Arbaaz Khan, Evelyn Sharma and Sudip Sarangi                  

Manto

Manto is a 2018 Indian biographical drama film about the famous Urdu author Saadat Hasan Manto, written and directed by Nandita Das. The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the title character of Indo-Pakistani, author and writer Saadat Hasan Manto. Tahir Raj Bhasin plays the 40’s Bollywood superstar Shyam Chadda. Shyam was Manto’s friend, confidant, and inspiration for a number of stories. Rasika Dugal plays the role of Manto's wife, Safia. Manto is based on the 1940's post-Independence period of India.

Bombay 1946: Amidst the freedom struggle against the British Empire and the forewarning of India being partitioned, Saadat Hasan Manto, a well-established short story writer works in the glittering world of the Bombay film industry as a scriptwriter. Although Manto has a tenuous relationship with the Progressive Writers’ Association, many of its members are his close friends, including the feminist writer, Ismat Chughtai. They are both acquitted from the charge of obscenity for their respective works. Manto has many admirers and friends in the film industry. The closest is Shyam Chadda, a charming budding actor and Ashok Kumar, a famous actor, director and producer. But, his biggest supporter and the unwavering pillar of strength is his wife, Safia. Soon after, India gains independence on 15th August 1947 and the new nation of Pakistan is born. Safia leaves for Lahore to attend her sister’s wedding. Despite flaring Hindu-Muslim tensions, Manto decides to stay back in his beloved city of Bombay. One day, Shyam, on hearing that his family was forced to flee Pakistan because of a Muslim mob attack, tells Manto in anger: “I could have even killed you.” Shocked and anguished, a non-practicing Muslim, Manto suddenly becomes conscious of his religious identity and the vulnerabilities that come with it. He impulsively makes the unimaginable decision of moving to Pakistan. Lahore, 1948: A melancholic city full of refugees, forsaken property, and burnt buildings becomes Manto’s new home. He is left grappling with a growing sense of isolation and a deep sense of betrayal. As he struggles to come to terms with his new reality, he spirals into a state of perpetual drunkenness. Though Safia continues to stand by him, their marriage begins to feel the strain. Relentless and long-drawn court trials alleging obscenity in his story Thanda Gosht. Literal meaning: Cold Meat) take a severe toll on his health and finances. His statement in defense of literature and free speech is met with a conviction. Despite this, he continues to pen some of his sharpest and most courageous works. His compulsions to write and drink are in direct conflict with his desire to see his family - wife and two daughters, happy and secure. His failing health makes him hallucinate. Unable to see his family suffer any longer, he finally admits himself into the alcohol rehabilitation center in Lahore Mental Hospital. The main narrative is seamlessly interspersed with five of his poignant stories. The last one being his most famous story - Toba Tek Singh. Manto begins the story with, “two or three years after Partition, it occurred to the governments of India and Pakistan to exchange their lunatics like they had exchanged their criminals. The Muslim lunatics in India were to be sent to Pakistan and the Hindu and Sikh lunatics in Pakistani asylums were to be handed over to India.” The Sikh protagonist, who has vowed to remain standing until he finds his village, lies in death in no-man’s land, between the two nations. Manto’s predicament is not too different.

The film has Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Saadat Hasan Manto, Rasika Dugal as Safia, Tahir Raj Bhasin as Shyam, Feryna Wazheir as Nargis, Javed Akhtar as Abid Ali Abid, Chandan Roy Sanyal as Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Vinod Nagpal as Bishan Singh, Rishi Kapoor as Film Producer, Inaamulhaq as Hamid, Ranvir Shorey as Ishar Singh, Rajshri Deshpande as Ismat Chugtai, Ila Arun as Jaddanbai, Divya Dutta as Kulwant Kaur, Paresh Rawal as Pimp, Tillotama Shome as Prostitute, Shashank Arora as Shaad Amritsari, Gurdas Maan as Sirajuddin and Danish Husain as Asad Zaidi.

The music of the film is composed by Sneha Khanwalkar and Raftaar while the lyrics have been penned by Meeraji, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Raftaar, Saadat Hasan Manto and Simaab Akbarabadi. The film has songs like "Nagri Nagri", "Bol Ke Lab Azaad Hain", "Mantoiyat" and "Ab Kya Bataun".

Ishqeria

Ishqeria is the film directed and produced by Prerna Wadhawan and written by Radhika Anand and Prerna Wadhawan.     

Ishqeria is a story of a small town girl who falls madly in love with the most sought after guy in college. It is a journey of first love, growing up and second chances.

The film has Richa Chadha as Kuhu, Neil Nitin Mukesh – Rhagav, Gurbani - Bani Judge, Manish Anand, Juby Devasia and Mrudula Sathe as Mrudula Seth)

Batti Gul Meter Chalu

Batti Gul Meter Chalu (transl. Lights off, metre on) is an Indian drama film. It has been directed by Shree Narayan Singh and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Nishant Pitti and Krishan Kumar. The film tells the story of Inflated Bills due to Faulty Meters in rural India and stars Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyendu Sharma, and Yami Gautam in lead roles.

S.K (Shahid Kapoor), Nauti (Shraddha Kapoor), and Tripathi (Divyendu Sharma) are childhood friends. S.K is a hypocrite, mean lawyer making money from out of court settlements. Nauti is an over the top fashion designer who thinks highly of herself. Things were breezy until Tripathi opens a small town Printing Press. Within months, he is charged with an Inflated elctricity bill of 1.5 Lakhs, which escalates to 54 Lakhs in the following months. With no where to go and complain, Tripathi commits suicide. S.K is set aback by the events and has a change of heart. He decides to fight out against SPTL , a Privatised Electricity Company responsible for the Inflated Bills. Whether or not he is able to sue the company forms the rest of the story.

The film has Shahid Kapoor as Sushil Kumar Pant / S.K, Shraddha Kapoor as Lalita Nautiyal / Nauti, Divyendu Sharma as Sundar Mohan Tripathi, Yami Gautam as Advocate Gulnaar, Samir Soni, Sudhir Pandey, Farida Jalal, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Atul Srivastava, Ashutosh Jha, Anna Ador, Saksham as young S.K and Swarnim Shetty as young Nauti.

The music of the film is composed by Anu Malik, Rochak Kohli, Sachet-Parampara while the lyrics are penned by Siddharth-Garima and Manoj Muntashir. The songs featured in the film are sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Arijit Singh, Atif Aslam, Mika Singh, Nakash Aziz, Prakriti Kakar and Sachet Tandon. The film has songs like "Gold Tamba", "Dekhte Dekhte", "Dekhte Dekhte" (Version 2), "Hard Hard", "Har Har Gange" and "Batti Gul Meter Chalu".

Pakhi

Pakhi is a film directed, produced and written by Sachin Gupta.

Based on true events of the life of a 10-year old, the story unfolds the miseries of the webs of child trafficking where the world wants to trade her for marriage, Pakhi finds herself in the den of prostitution. The movie narrates the story of a girl who unfolds the realities of the world of flesh trade and decodes the enigma of existence. It is a story of struggle and survival of a girl who is strangled in the webs of dark. with the twist of fates, will this be a story of survival or a battle of defeat?

The film has Anamika Shukla  as Pakhi, Sumeet Kant Kaul as Bali, Anmol Goswami and Sikander Khan. Music is by Vishal Shelke.

Falsafa

Falsafa is the film written and directed by Himanshu Yadav. The film is produced by Mehmood Ali.

Aman's parents have been murdered and he is on a quest to seek revenge. On the other hand, Isha's father is dead and she's convinced that it's a murder, and is searching for the murderer. Their quest intertwines their lives with each other. Revenge, as dramatic the word is so are its consequences. It is one situation that plays so hard with human brain that he/she goes as far as killing another human. Now the incident that triggers it makes revenge seem as the only logical and rational option. However the irony is that when someone seeks revenge he/she is so much consumed by the rage that one could hardly be rational in his/her thinking. Aman has lost his parents, they are murdered and he is orphaned at the age of 23. It is later discovered that the chairman of the company for which Aman's father worked is prime suspect. Aman will not wait for the law to take its course; he seeks revenge and will take his own justice. In this quest of his, he meets Isha who had lost her father. In Isha's case there is one popular point of view that her father committed suicide but she is certain that it's a murder and knows who has killed her father. Both Aman and Isha have vacant lives and one common purpose...to take revenge. Kill the person who killed their parents. Taking another person's life doesn't come easy to a common man, he/she has to be totally driven by a negative force that compels them to perform this fiendish act. Otherwise Aman is just another boy, an MBA graduate and has just started working. He has a fetish for leather jackets, loved and drooled over his mother's hand made kheer. His was a small family which had profound love amongst them. All was lost in one night. With eyes filled in anger he now seeks revenge. However what he might be overlooking is the fact that just the way he is after a person's life; may be his parents might have wrongly affected someone's lives which ultimately lead to their murder. Now he is doing exactly what his parent's killer did. Similarly with Isha, who is so convinced about the killer of her Father that she is reluctant to see the other side of the case and consider the counter opinion. This particular situation of revenge blindfolds the person involved and doesn't let him/her see the other side of it. Therefore it gradually becomes an infinite loop and which consequences in dead bodies and huge amount of hatred for each other. In the story both Aman and Isha experience this and make their respective choices. From having wrong clues and leads of the killer he goes through the troubled times that exhausts him emotionally but sticking to his guts, circumstances and destiny finally lead him to the actual killer. In the very end he has killer in front of him, gun in his hand pointed at him...and there is a gunshot too. Someone dies and still no one is murdered. What Aman does, exemplifies the right way of taking revenge. Revenge is a situation that will create more graveyards and less paradise. Spilled blood and corpses can never be an answer to a human loss.

The film has Sushil Dahiya as Harish Bhatia, Tarun Dhingara – Mahadev, Ridhima Grover, Sumit Gulati, Hareesh as Anirudh, Manit Joura, Padam Mishra, Geeta Agrawal Sharma as Aman's Mother, Geetangali Singh, Amitabh Srivasta as Aman's Father and Venkatesh Vohra as Kid Satish Malhotra.

Music is by Sagar Bhatia

Game Paisa Ladki

Game Paisa Ladki is the film produced, written, and directed by Sachin Agarwal.

Game Paisa Ladki is the story of a young innocent girl (Nazuk - Played by Sezal Sharma). She has seen lots of struggle in her life and lost her love and her family. Her struggle brought her in a situation where she becomes a keep of an underworld don Pathan (played by Zakir Hussain). Pathan works for his mentor WAGHELA (Ranjeet). Waghela's son Sandy (Naveen Prabhakar) has some interest towards Nazuk. By then her previous love interest (Raaj - Played by newcomer Dipansh Garg) again comes in her life. Both of them planned to snatch the entire money from Pathan and Waghela and they succeed. But Nazuk has some other plans in her mind - and she fulfils her dreams according to her plans alone. - At the end suspense thrills.

The film has Zakir Hussain, Sezal Sharma  as Nazook, Sitaram Panchal - Prakash Patel, Navin Prabhakar – Sandy, Deepans Garge – RAJ, Bhavini Janii – Nazook’s Mom, Ashraful Haque – Asraf, Ranjit Waghela, Sanjay Sonu as Sanjay and Ishteyak Arif.              

Dev Sikdar is the music director and singers are Kunal Ganjawala, Amit Gupta, Neha Kakkar, Sonu Kakkar, Sabar Koti, Varun Likhate, Maadhavi Srivastav and Aman Trikha.