Dinesh Kamath's Editorials ('Gun-toting terrorists and financial terrorists', 'We are all corrupt' and 'An ideal mind') that appeared in Newsband

Gun-toting terrorists and financial terrorists
Pakistan is widely acknowledged to be the world's biggest and most efficient exporter of terrorism, a fact known only too well by India which constitutes one of the largest captive markets for Islamabad's main product line. Pakistan has turned a dangerous liability into a lucrative asset which helps to keep an otherwise bankrupt economy afloat. By supposedly being America's chief frontline ally in Washington's `war on terror' Islamabad annually extracts billions of dollars from the US. This money, which is meant to be earmarked for anti-terrorist operations is in fact diverted into acquiring more arms for use against India and in setting up more terrorist training camps in Pakistan.
Pakistan's terrorist consignments seem to be boomeranging right back where they came from. Among the notable victims of such `export-reject' terror coming home to roost have been Benazir Bhutto, Punjab governor Salman Taseer and Pakistan's minorities minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, the latter two having been targeted for their vocal opposition to the country's anti-blasphemy laws by which those who renounce Islam can be awarded the death penalty.
If Pakistan is an expert in gun-toting terrorism India specialises in another kind of terrorism: - financial terrorism. Except that we don't call it that. We call it scams.
Is there any country in the world which produces scams - hawala, fodder, stamp paper, CWG, Adarsh, 2G, Isro - at the rate India seems to? As a nation, we should demand inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records as the country with the highest scam count in the world. You name it, we'll scam it, seems to be our motto. There appears to be no end to our ingenuity for scamming. Why, then, haven't we done what Pakistan has done with terror? Why haven't we exported our scams - and our scamsters - to foreign countries?
Further, like Islamabad which extracts protection money from Washington using the threat of terror, New Delhi could extract similar hafta from the international community using the threat of exported scams. How is the idea?

We are all corrupt
The recent Lokpal Bill agitation saw people slamming politicians, some publicly booed away. Some politicians have voiced apprehensions about a 'climate of disdain' growing around politicians. The supporters of Indian politicians are of the opinion that India does have 'upright politicians' generating 'confidence for the future'. They say that it is wrong to generalize. Politicians are elected to ensure good governance and high public standards like transparency, diligence and empathy. Indians usually look upon politicians with amusement. After building a huge empire of bribery and black money, Indian politicians seem to thrive on corruption. Parliament as a whole avoids tackling corruption. The proof lies in the fact that Lokpal Bill itself kept hanging for 42 years.
Politicians repeatedly get away with malpractices. It's become a habit for those who are in government service to take bribes, and demand favours as 'perks' of their post. It is the politicians who are responsible for making criminals out of public servants and victims out of the public. They may now try avoiding blame by spreading it around, stating corruption is a 'social problem'. But it is precisely their job to tackle such problems and improve systems by denying power to the corrupt, besides leading through example. They haven't done that.
It needs two persons to give birth to corruption. Each time you or I pay a bribe we are being corrupt. Money is found to be the quickest way to avoid hassles, ensure services and escape questioning. Each time we pay a bribe, we break our system a little more.
Politicians are simply a reflection of our own tendencies. They too emerge from everyday India. Their ideals are stripped away at early stages of the electoral process. They act the way they do because of us. We don't hesitate to vote back the same tainted representatives. At times, we vote for cash, TVs or freebies. And sometimes, we don't vote at all.
It is our fault that corruption has become the monster it is today. To cleanse the system we should fix our tendencies to slip cash and use 'contacts' for licences, degrees and connections. That's the only way to get rid of corruption.

An ideal mind
Why do you need mind? You need it to bring a sense of purpose and better quality into your lives. You must understand the working of your mind if you want to make best use of it. The mind is meant to absorb information, transform it into knowledge and lead it into action. Action and speech determine the quality of your life and these come from the mind itself.
Most people's minds are as hard as a rock. Just as a rock is impervious to water, information that falls on a hard mind bounces off without a trace. A hard mind shows resistance to information that doesn't agree with knowledge that is already stored in it even though that information is the truth and amenable to reason. You should make your mind as soft as a sponge so that you can absorb maximum knowledge. A soft mind easily absorbs information and allows free flow of knowledge into action.
What makes your mind hard or closed? It is because of your ego. If you encounter an idea or a situation that is not in line with your thinking, you immediately close your mind by putting up a block against it. Ego creates mindset. This mindset is self-destructive. For example, a simple discussion develops into an argument and leads to a verbal or physical fight.
It is not enough to use your mind just to gather information. You must transform this into knowledge and next into action.
Keep your mind pure. A pure mind will think about common welfare. A pure, soft mind is gateway to divine living. Don't just think positively. Think divinely. This way of thinking will make your mind soft and pure.
An impure mind creates words and actions that hurt people. Pure mind brings joy to people.
An object that slips out of your hand can be recovered, but an inappropriate word that slips out of your tongue cannot be erased. Hence you must do introspection and see whether your mind harbours harmful thoughts. Clean your mind of those thoughts and purify your mind. Ideas and inspiration flash freely in a pure mind to transform information to knowledge.
Remember that mind is an organ which can covert you from human to Divine.

Dinesh Kamath's column on Movie And TV World that appeared in Newsband

Dinesh Kamath's Editrotials ('Strengthen Indian democracy' and other editorials) that appeared in Newsband

Strengthen Indian democracy
Hazare told the government: "We are the maliks, you are the sevaks."
Minister, of course, is Latin for servant. Sensing that the nation was increasingly outraged over corruption and nepotism, Rahul Gandhi told an election rally: "I am your naukar; you are my malik." It could have been Anna Hazare speaking.
Lokpal Bill is a powerful bill. First it provides power. A tough, independent Lokpal body will be a law unto itself - a super-cop or extra-constitutional prime minister's office. Removal - by the Supreme Court - of any Lokpal member, including the Lokpal himself, on specific charges of wrongdoing, is already part of the draft Jan Lokpal Bill. Second is the size. The proposed Lokpal has 11 members. Third is the mode of selection.. The Jan Lokpal draft Bill suggests "advertisements" to invite recommendations from the public of candidates of "unimpeachable integrity", followed by public feedback, vetting, videotaped interviews and so on. The process of selection must be as transparent and broad-based as possible. Fourth is the provision of police status. The draft Bill gives the Lokpal the power to issue search warrants. A better way forward would be to depute officers of the anti-corruption investigation department of the CBI to work under the Lokpal's direct control.
Lokpal can be the architecture of political reforms to improve governance. We need to make the CBI autonomous of the executive. Also there should be wide-ranging police reforms. The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill will also come up in the monsoon session of Parliament. For citizens, once the Bill is passed, justice will be swifter and fairer. Electoral reforms would then be the next milestone. A candidate facing criminal prosecution in a trial court should be barred from standing for election. This will filter out a majority of rogue candidates. We need to clean up our Parliament, our assemblies and other elected chambers. The modified Jan Lokpal Bill is one instrument to do that. An autonomous CBI is another. A strong, transparent judiciary is a third. A vigilant media and engaged civil society is a fourth. Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Right to Education (RTE) Act and now the Right to Food (RTF) Act and the Right to Recall are the other needs.
The right to recall an elected politician before his term ends should be made a fundamental democratic right.
Thus the Right to Recall along with the RTI, RTE and RTF are what is needed to strengthen Indian democracy. The Lokpal is the beginning of real change.

What's wrong with euthanasia?
What's wrong with passive euthanasia which means terminating the lives of the incurably ill who are no longer conscious or capable of acting on their own?
There was one case. A female was stricken by an irreversible and fatal disease that attacks the auto-immune system and for which there is no known cure. The diagnosis had been made too late to try alternative therapies which might have deferred the inevitable. The patient went into a coma and was taken to a hospital.
The moment she was admitted into the hospital, the patient, in effect, ceased to be a human individual with human attachments of family and loved ones and became instead the property of a team of medical specialists. No longer conscious of where she was or what was happening to her, she was put into an intensive care unit which no one could enter except those who were treating her. She could be seen through a glass pane, attached to mechanical devices which took over from her the business of existence: the breathing of the lungs, the beating of the heart, the circulation of blood, the intake of nutrition. She became a machine, linked to other machines.
Regular as clockwork the attendant team of specialists would look in on the patient. Literally look in. Open the door, look at her from the doorway, make a note on clipboards they were carrying and go away. It was a large team and day by day it seemed to get larger. They were a team of doctors who consisted of dietician, dermatologist etc.
Each time these specialists would look in on her, the visit would be put on the bill which was daily growing bigger.
The family was reasonably well off. But how long could they afford to keep the patient in the hospital? One month? Two? A year? There were other expenses to meet. Doesn't the patient in such a case deserve to undergo mercy killing or euthanasia?
Parliament should legislate on the ethics of euthanasia. A human being should not be allowed to exist like a vegetable. That's not ethical!

The state of our Parliament today
Following a Supreme Court ruling, the Election Commission has required since 2002 that all candidates contesting election to either House of Parliament or state legislature file an affidavit open for examination by the voters. The affidavit must furnish full information on the candidate's educational qualifications, assets, liabilities, past convictions or acquittals in criminal cases and any pending charges stemming from offences punishable with imprisonment for two or more years. The information so generated offers an unusual peek into the qualifications of those governing us.
Here are some fascinating facts about our leaders. Lok Sabha members enjoy a remarkably high level of intellectual accomplishment. Out of 543 members, 260 have post-graduate, higher or technical degrees. An additional 157 have undergraduate degrees. Thus, four in five members now have an undergraduate or higher degree.
To the credit of Indian democracy, education is not a barrier to entering politics. There were as many as 134 candidates with no formal education whatsoever who contested the 2009 Lok Sabha election. Though none won the election, five managed to score enough votes to be among the top four candidates in their respective constituencies. Furthermore, the current Lok Sabha does include 15 members with formal education not exceeding 5th grade.
Members of the current Lok Sabha are a wealthy lot. They are either multi millionaires or crorepatis. Those with minimal wealth do participate in elections in large numbers even though their success rate is low. Two out of every five candidates in the 2009 election had wealth below Rs 5 lakh. Of these, 14 won the election.
The shocking news is the presence of a large number of members with criminal cases pending against them in the parliament. The proportion of those with one or more criminal cases registered against them is 14% among candidates but 30% among the elected members. Thus, the victory rate is higher among the accused than among "clean" candidates. Detailed data show a steadily rising trend of victory rate as we move from groups of candidates with no accusations to those with a larger and larger number of cases registered against them.
The question is should uneducated, undereducated and criminal ones be allowed to be the members of such a sacred institution called Parliament?


We don't want criminals in our parliament
In our parliament, we have a large number of members with criminal cases pending against them. The proportion of those with one or more criminal cases registered against them is 14% among candidates but 30% among the elected members. Thus, the victory rate is higher among the accused than among "clean" candidates. Detailed data show a steadily rising trend of victory rate as we move from groups of candidates with no accusations to those with a larger and larger number of cases registered against them.
Why did so many candidates with serious criminal cases pending against them win the election? Probably in the constituencies they contested, all major candidates had such cases pending against them, thus, leaving the voters little choice. But there were cases where candidates with serious charges faced candidates with no charges whatsoever against them and yet they won.
The candidates facing serious criminal cases also happen to be wealthy. They can buy both social status and a ticket from a major party. In addition, these candidates have connections right till top.
If such candidates are given entry in the parliament they are bound to adopt policies that will prove to be detrimental to the national interest.
There is clear need for the media and NGOs to keep a close watch on such members of parliament lest they might do something that is against national interest. Candidates and members with serious criminal charges create a serious dilemma. Since they have committed crimes they must be barred from contesting elections. Even those who have charges of serious crimes made against them and whose cases are pending in the court should be barred from contesting elections.
As India moves towards global power status, it must undertake judicial, legal and electoral reforms that would resolve this key dilemma and pave the way for the emergence of a parliament with integrity that would command the respect of people at home and make us proud abroad.

Dinesh Kamath completes seven years as journalist in weekly 'In New Bombay' and daily Newsband

Dinesh Kamath, Sr Sub-editor and currently Acting Editor of Newsband, completed seven years as journalist for the daily newspaper Newsband which was a weekly 'In New Bombay' before 1 May 2007.

I completed seven years as journalist in Newsband. Seven is a lucky number for me. I just love this number seven. I was just waiting to achieve this target and now i feel relieved that i achieved it. I had joined Newsband when it was a weekly called 'In New Bombay'. I had joined on 12 April 2004. I completed seven years on 11 April 2011. I feel quite satisfied with my achievement as a journalist during this seven years. The thing that I care for most is the readers' appreciation and this I've received in great quantity. Many readers have appreciated my contributions as a journalist and this fact gives me the most satisfaction.

People who love to read about films and filmstars have praised my column 'Movie and TV World' which I have been writing almost regularly since last seven years. Many of the readers told me that they just enjoy solving Brain Teasers that I've been making since last many years. The readers have also expressed their love for my cartoons based on 'Alooramji' and 'Puno'. Even my editorials were appreciated in big way. For your information, I have fans belonging to all the ages and both the sexes. That's what makes me feel great.

Don't get the impression that I received only bouquets during last seven years. I received a lot of brickbats too. If there were huge number of people who appreciated my works, there were also lot of readers who criticized my works. Some, in fact, criticized me so severely that I almost felt depressed and felt like giving up my career as journalist. But later I realized that all the public figures have to face such severe critics some time or the other during their career. So I began to ignore such critics especially if they were unjust and destructive critics. For your information, I did take very seriously just and constructive critics and these are the people who helped me to improve myself at every stage of my career. My fans gave me more joy and pleasure than the money that I earned during these seven years. My fans loved me so much that I didn't pay attention to my bank balance. Love of my fans means more to me than the bank balance. There were times when dirty politics that prevailed around me was discouraging me but it was the love of my fans that kept me going even in worst circumstances. If it was not for my fans I would have broken down and given up this career long time back.

But today, after completing seven years as journalist, I feel very strong. Experience instills a kind of strength - mental, physical and emotional - into a person. That's what I'm feeling. I'm feeling very strong and I feel confident that I will be able to continue contributing as a journalist for many more years to come. Bye!

Dinesh Kamath's Editorials (What do you prefer - goondaism or democracy?' and other editorials) that appeared in Newsband

What do you prefer - goondaism or democracy?Joseph Lelyveld is become popular thanks to Narendra Modi for proposing to ban his controversial book on M K Gandhi. Lelyveld's work is become as tempting as forbidden fruit. A media hype has been created and this is bound to covert this scholarly work into a sensational bestseller.
The book is a complex study of an extremely complex personality. The Mahatma remains a profoundly challenging moral being for all those who try to make a serious scrutiny of his principles and actions.
It is a British tabloid which gave the information that Lelyveld's book claimed that Gandhi was 'bisexual' and had a lover's relationship with a German weightlifter, Hermann Kallenbach. But the fact is there is no hint in Lelyveld's book that the relationship between the two men was anything other than platonic, though the expressions of affection used were often couched in passionate language.
Most Indians like to think of themselves as belonging to an ancient tradition of tolerance. They possess the ability to see and accept the other person's point of view, even though it might be totally opposed to one's own.
But how true is this of India in the second decade of the 21st century? From M F Husain's self-imposed exile following attacks for his allegedly sacrilegious paintings of Hindu deities to goons beating up couples for celebrating Valentine's Day, intolerance rather than tolerance seems increasingly to have become the order of the day in India.
Freedom of expression, within the boundaries of the law, is allowed The growing intolerance is proving to be the most serious threat to our democracy. The Indian liberal is becoming an increasingly endangered species.
Each new challenge to tolerance, to the spirit of liberalism, presents an opportunity for a public debate on debate itself and our freedom to engage in it. How free are we as a society? Where does one person's freedom of expression become another person's trespass of religious or social sensibility?
This is the paradox of all bans and censorship. The more you oppose someone the more attention you draw to him and the more public discourse you create around him. Silence is the victory of the ban; argument and discourse are the victories of democracy.
Now it is left to you to decide whether you prefer to remain silent or whether you would like to debate. In other words what would you prefer goondaism or democracy?

How to handle success and failures
You must always play to win. You must try hardest to win till the last. Never give up. Try to achieve excellence even if it means losing here and there. When you try to attain excellence your inherent talents come to the surface. Never mind if you lose. A person who has never lost has never found the joy of winning.
You do feel pleased when you win and you do feel disappointed when you lose. But when you enter a competition you should be prepared to both win and lose. Only then can you give your best.
A winner has four qualities: Self-confidence, mental toughness, winning-oriented thinking and the ability to innovate. Self-confidence stands on three important pillars: feeling good, taking responsibility and developing skills. One has to learn the art of feeling good even in moments of pressure.
You must have tremendous control over your emotion both when you have won and also when you have lost.
In cricket, when wickets are falling, new players are under great pressure. In such situations, the cricketer should avoid looking back at their past failures and they should look forward to achieve more and more success. This is how they can ease the pressure they are in. That is the responsibility and discipline one should have.
Learn from your past failures. This will help you to score more and more victories in the future. Remember your idol who had achieved success even after being under tremendous pressure. This will encourage you to emulate him.
One has to train one's body, emotions and spirit to be in a peak state. In such a peak state, a different quality of energy emerges and will influence one's action.
Mind has to be tough for doing so. See that your mind is not in a disturbed state.
At last one also has to understand that failures are fertilizers to success. In fact, failures are always followed by success provided you learn from the failures. Failures should not make you worry and fear. Instead, you should remain unaffected by failure. You should not get discouraged by failures nor should you get elated by success. This attitude will boost your self-esteem and you will be in a position to score victory after victory in the future. Cultivate you talent, believe in innovation, practice a lot, derive inspiration from the greats and be sure you are on your way to success. Remember that every successful man has tasted failures and every failed person stands a chance to succeed in the future.

Has ICC made the right decision?The International Cricket Council's (ICC) has decided that the 2015 and 2019 editions of the World Cup will have 10 teams which means non-Test playing associate nations such as Ireland and the Netherlands cannot compete in this tournament. This regressive step punishes even those countries that have made significant strides in improving their cricketing infrastructure in recent years.
Currently, Ireland's performance in the recent World Cup was highly encouraging. Yet they find themselves short-changed. Similarly, exciting talents such as Ryan ten Doeschate of the Netherlands and Hiral Patel of Canada will have to wait for at least eight years before they can again represent their country at the World Cup. Without the coveted tournament to aim for, government support and corporate sponsorship for the game in the associate nations are bound to dry up. Compensating the latter with T20 cricket is not enough. Talented cricketers will migrate to greener pastures in Test-playing nations and deprive youth back home of role models.
The argument that including minnow teams lengthens the World Cup format and leads to fatigue cuts no ice. There was no loss of intensity in the 2011 World Cup despite it being played over 43 days. There's no denying that the minnows bring colour to the World Cup. The ICC would do well to stop thinking about financial gains alone and focus on expanding the sport around the globe.
But there are many who welcome the ICC's decision to trim the 2015 and 2019 World Cups to just 10 countries since it will ensure that the 2015 event will revert to the ideal system of showcasing 10 Test-playing nations. They say that the move should be seen in the correct perspective. While cricket is a game of uncertainties, there is little doubt about the results of matches involving minnows. Also, matches involving the associate nations hardly generate public interest. These critics say that big-ticket events like the World Cup should be more about upholding the competitive spirit of the game. According to them the passport to participating in such events must be earned with consistent performance. So they feel that the ICC has adopted the right approach by introducing a qualification process for the last two berths in the 2019 edition. They believe that compensation in the form of Twenty20 World Cup given to the left out teams should be adequate.

Dinesh Kamath's colunm on 'Movie And TV World' that appeared in Newsband

Dinesh Kamath's Editorials (Victory in cricket and emergence of Anna Hazare) that appeared in Newsband

Victory in cricket and emergence of Anna Hazare
For many Indians today, winning is becoming something of a habit: rising GDP, falling poverty, international recognition - and Dhoni's 11 men in blue.
As the match progressed last Saturday one initially felt that India would offer some flashes of brilliance and genuine class, and would then fade into the dark background. The old psychological ghosts would revive. With Sehwag out, Tendulkar gone, one felt that the entire team would collapse. They did so many times. But this time all were wrong. It's true that Sri Lankan bowling was lousy, but it was the Indian assurance that felt dramatically new. This Indian team genuinely felt that there was a job to be done - and that's what they did rather than flinging themselves into a run chase, going out in cameo blazes of glory as they once might have.
The true lesson of our World Cup victory is not that we won, but that we won through playing by the rules. Last Saturday, we had the swashbuckling cool of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Three days later, we had the cantankerous determination of Anna Hazare, who began his hunger strike. Anna Hazare's fast against high corruption was a welcome sight after India's victory! In fact, his protest against corruption helps illuminate a schizophrenic dissonance in how we think about success. The fact is that most of those who are considered victors in our society are those who ignore or subvert rules - in fact, who think rules are for idiots and losers. Whether it is leaders pushing through their favoured policies, developers racing to put up buildings, corporate leaders cornering natural resources, media stars cultivating celebrity access, or judges convening fast-track courts - we're all in a hurry. And so restraints in the form of laws, rules, procedures - all are irritating impedances, something to swerve around like a sluggish tempo on the road. Within this culture of success, victory depends on defying the rules. And it's a defiance we can justify to ourselves because we tell ourselves we're smarter, more discerning and deserving - better, plain superior - to the stupidities of rules and the rule enforcers.
There are, then, two quite dissonant conceptions of winning that we are living with. The cricket-pitch victory we all celebrated last weekend was a victory of and by the rules. It was a victory of talent, and it is an index of talent to be able to play and win by the rules. But in other domains of our life, the sense that rules matter is absent. When it comes to making money, pursuing power, advancing one's professional career, rules are viewed as an intrusive obstruction to aspiration. Corruption is more efficient. The emergence of Anna Hazare in such a situation should give all of us tremendous relief.

Is internet a boon or bane?The internet is become the most necessary part of most of our lives. Besides an important research tool, it is a vital medium for interfacing with the world, connecting with friends and expressing opinion. Accessing the World Wide Web is seen as a fundamental requirement. According to a survey, Net surfing at work enhances productivity.
Allowing employees non-work related browsing freedom contributes to creating a congenial work atmosphere. A happy workplace motivates employees to maintain higher standards of quality. Enforcing a strict code of conduct can dampen morale and retard productivity. It's good to focus on motivation rather than a disciplinary approach.
New ideas can profoundly enhance company's fortunes. Hence, effort is made to foster creativity at the workplace, including through workshops and team-building exercises. There should be recreation rooms for employees since what may appear a waste of time can actually provide inspiration for path-breaking ideas. The internet being a rich source of information, idle browsing can provide the spark for innovative thinking and problem-solving. A YouTube video can be the muse for an excellent boardroom presentation.
Allowing internet browsing freedom enhances worker satisfaction and hence performance and inventiveness. The more we invest in employee happiness and creativity, the higher the returns.
But there are critics who feel that internet is a costly distraction. According to them, in today's workplace, online games, social networking and entertainment sites make for insidious distractions, diverting attention from work. They say that precious office time and professional energy are expended on social networking or net surfing. Various studies say the average employee spends close to two hours per day using office computers for non-business related activity. According to the critics such non-professionalism is a cause for concern because it means loss of performance as well as revenue. They ask that if given today's grim economic environment and stiff competition, can offices afford these additional risks? According to them, there should be a department which will monitor how employees use the internet. That's a better way to improve the latter's effectiveness on the job.

Protect the next generation of women
There is an increase in the population of girls in Indian classrooms. Today's young women have better opportunities, greater academic accomplishment and, at least in our big cities and urban milieu, greater social autonomy than ever before.
In the past decade, as India's economy has grown and as the media and marketing revolutions have transformed our society, urban women are living a different lifestyle. You can get to see this in schools and colleges every day. It is evident in the way young people eat, meet, interact, entertain and relax.
Some tend to be judgemental about these changes and see them as necessarily bad; but it is not so.
Evolution is inevitable. We should welcome it and adapt to it, rather than rail against it.
As far as health of women is concerned, lifestyle changes, the growth of a snack food culture, tobacco use, greater sexual freedoms and career women postponing pregnancy decisions: all of these have profound health implications. Are we preparing our young women for these?
There are some diseases like two cancers, that of the breast and that of the cervix - that are exclusive to women. As a society we spend much less on the care and treatment of ill women than of men. This distinction is made in the mansions of Malabar Hill as much as in the slums of Dharavi.
A lot is known about this disease today than even a decade ago. It's time to focus on cervical cancer prevention and treatment too. This is one of the rare cancers that is preventable and curable. Yet it afflicts 1,34,000 additional women in India each year (2008 figures). Some 2,75,000 women die of cervical cancer in the world every year. One of every four does so in India. One-third of women who register for cancer diagnosis in Indian hospitals suffer from cervical cancer.
The remarkable aspect of modern medical science is that we can arrest and combat the cancer (or more accurately, pre-cancer) at several points. Cervical cancer can also be prevented by using vaccines.
The next generation of women needs to know about and be protected from this disease.

Dinesh Kamath's Caricatures of Gandhis

Dinesh Kamath draws more caricatures

Dinesh Kamath's Editorials ('Aruna Shanbaug case' and other editorials) that appeared in Newsband

Aruna Shanbaug case
Arun Shanbaug was a nurse who was molested and raped by a ward boy many years back. Since then she has been lying in a state of coma. Someone filed a case saying that she should undergo mercy killing. The learned judges of the Supreme Court said “No' and in their judgment in the Aruna Shanbaug case added: "Considering the low ethical levels prevailing in our society today and the rampant commercialization and corruption, we cannot rule out the possibility that unscrupulous persons with the help of some unscrupulous doctors may fabricate material to show that it is a terminal case with no chance of recovery."
The question is whether India is ready for a meaningful debate on euthanasia? But let us first acquaint ourselves with a few basic facts pertaining to Aruna Shanbaug and the demand that she be put to death, which set all of this in motion.
Fact number one: Aruna is, by all accounts, a happy, responsive person, though she is seriously physically incapacitated. Fact number two: Aruna has a loving group of friends and care-givers who feel strongly attached to her and would do everything to keep her alive, pain-free and happy. Fact number three: Aruna is not being kept alive through heroic measures. She is not on life support but rather on "love support" This has ensured that during all these years, and even today, she does not have a single bed sore. This in itself is close to a medical miracle. With this kind of specialized care, the urge to end life prematurely is negated. We need to ponder these facts before we ask for her death.
In which cases is euthanasia advisable? Research studies have shown that unresolved personal conflicts, the attitude of the family, the feeling of having become a burden, and an inability to find meaning in suffering together cause greater anguish to patients than just physical discomfort . This is certainly true for many in India where a majority of patients with debilitating illnesses are so dependent on family members that they begin to see themselves better dead than alive.
In many cases, the cost of keeping someone alive over a long period can be prohibitive. In this case also mercy killing is justified. It relieves pain and suffering and thereby preserves the dignity of a person right till the last.
Aruna Shanbaug case is an exceptional one and the court has given the right verdict in this case.

Everyone should be a winner
Winning and losing are a part of life. They are two sides of the same coin. Winning and losing come in cycles; neither is permanent. Today's victor is tomorrow's or yesterday's loser. And today's loser might well be the champion next year or the next. While we are fully aware of this, we continue to crave for victory and live in dread of losing, although we know in our heart of hearts that one is invariably followed, with the passage of time, by the other.
The human mind exults when it can do something better than the other person or other team. And sometimes it becomes difficult to conclude whether our win or their loss causes greater satisfaction. Just as victory brings extreme emotions, so does defeat. How often we have seen that today's heroes become tomorrow's non-heroes or villains? Today's idols are smashed tomorrow, when they fail to perform. Such is the price of celebrity status; such is the price of victory.
What about the loser? We owe a great deal to the loser, for without a loser, there cannot be a winner. Let the winner have respect for the loser, for without the loser, the winner too disappears.
When someone loses, there are enough people to ridicule, criticize and berate the losing team members. But these critics don't realize that the losers are already getting together and planning their next move, their comeback, so that they can regain their lost glory. It is only a matter of time before the tables are turned, before the tide is reversed, and the winner is on the losing side. .
Is it possible to play without having losers and winners? Because if we are going to win at someone else's cost, it is only a partial victory. For a total or absolute victory, everyone should be a winner. This is something that we should ponder about.

India's Libya decision is wrong
Did India do the right thing in abstaining from the vote on UN Resolution 1973 on Libya? No! India should have voted for the no-fly zone and for the authorization to use all means, short of occupation, to protect the Libyan people for three main reasons.
The first is that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is busy killing defenseless people, and India should have supported what is a morally proper move to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
The second reason is that since the Arab League and Muslim opinion in many places were behind 1973, India, as a member of the UN Security Council for the next two years, would have earned the understanding, if not gratitude, of these countries by voting for the resolution.
The third reason is that India would have done well strategically. New Delhi would have been regarded as a power player, as a 'constructive' member of the global community, and would have built bridges to the US and other western powers. This would have strengthened India's case for permanent membership of the Security Council.
Voting in favour of the resolution would have been right on moral, political and strategic grounds. Clearly, Gaddafi's men are killing ordinary unarmed citizens as well as those who might be lightly armed. After putting an end to Gaddafi the opposition in Libya is bound to be democratic and respectful of human rights. The groups fighting Gaddafi are drawn from diverse clans and tribes but the common aspect about them is they all believe in democracy. Once Gaddafi is gone they will live in peace with each other. Bad as Gaddafi is, intervention would leave Libyans happier.
Intervention by largely Western forces will mean modernization of Libya after Gaddafi is gone. The Libyans who are rebelling against Gaddafi are liberal modernizers and they are pro-western simply because of their liberalism.
India should have supported intervention on humanitarian grounds and this move would prove extremely beneficial for India in the future. That India has made a wrong move will become clear in the months and years ahead.


What's wrong with the book?Joseph Lelyveld's book, Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India, has become controversial. Indian politicians are not happy about the book's purported description of Gandhi's years in South Africa during the early 20th century, particularly that part of the volume carrying letters between Gandhi and his German friend, Hermann Kallenbach. The Centre is outraged enough to consider a ban. Modi has actually banned the book in Gujarat. Maharashtra is close to following suit.
Is the outrage based on misunderstandings? The author talks about Gandhi's letter to Kallenbach which is intimate in a typically Victorian manner, mentioning bodies, lust and slavery and this can tend to give a wrong idea to an average reader. In the book, it appears as if Lelyveld is referring to Gandhi as 'bisexual'. Even the remarks about indigenous Africans attributed to Gandhi shows as if Lelyveld's is referring to Gandhi as 'racist'. The author says that he didn't mean that. But our politicians are not listening. So it is clear that Gandhi's followers are provoked by 'racism' charge and sexuality angle. The book is accused of consisting of perverse writing which has hurt the sentiments of those with capacity for sane and logical thinking.
But defenders of the book say that an average Indian readers are intelligent and mature enough to make up their own minds about what offends or doesn't. They say that there is no need to burn, bury or ban books to convince them. Such politics will fail to project our country as one with a mature democracy that upholds freedom of expression.
Gandhi himself has chronicled his trials with "truth" in detail, leaving diaries and letters for future generations to read and interpret for themselves. These writings themselves prove as to how complex a personality was Gandhi.
We have seen intolerance of views with regard to other icons as well. Evidently, the more India marches ahead, the more illiberal its politicians seem to get.

Today belongs to the corruptForget your BAs, MAs and PhDs - Bribery is the criterion of qualification. Today if you're not corrupt then you're totally uneducated and useless fellow. Today a worth of a person is decided by how much bribe he or she gets. More bribe you get, more qualified you are for the topmost job. That's how the things stand today.
In the past people used to proudly put BA or B Sc or B Com after their names to indicate that they are graduates in Arts, Sciences or Commerce. Today, the only degree that matters is the one issued not by a university of education but by the university of corruption. What counts is not whether you're a BA, or an MA, or a PhD. All that counts is whether you know the art of corruption and if you know it then how well do you know it.
In days gone by, if you sported a BA, or an MSc or a PhD, people knew that you were qualified in a particular academic discipline and evaluated your worth to society accordingly. A BA would look down on a mere Matric-pass, an MA look down on both, and a PhD look down on the whole lot. Today, it's the turn of the Masters in corruption to look down on those who are BA or M Sc or PhD. The acid test today is: are you qualified enough ever to have received a bribe? If not, you're a total failure in the school of corruption, which is another word for the school of life in 21st century India.
Receipt of a bribe - no matter how small - indicates that someone, somewhere, has deemed you to be important enough to be given a ghoos in return for a favour or service which is in your power to render to the briber. Once you've passed the bribe test you're qualified and termed as a success.
The honest people, even though they are highly educated, are considered as uneducated and useless since they just don't know how to be corrupt. They can't stoop down to the level where they can accept bribe whether big or small.
Today the qualified people are the corrupt politicians, babus, defence personnel, judges, even the cop on the beat receiving his regular hafta from truck drivers and roadside chaiwallas.
Desperate situations call for desperate remedies. Corruption is become the most serious ailment the Indian society is suffering from today and if something drastic is not done in this direction at the earliest, then God alone knows as to where our country will find itself in a few years

Dinesh Kamath's columns on Movie And TV World that appeared in Newsband

Dinesh Kamath's caricature of PM of India Manmohan Singh

Dinesh Kamath's caricature of Sharad Pawar

Caricature of Indira Gandhi drawn by Dinesh Kamath

Dinesh Kamath and his colleagues celebrating India's victory

To the extreme right is Sr. Sub-Editor of Newsband Dinesh Kamath. To the extreme left is Sub-Editor of Newsband Prakash Koshy. In the middle is DTP Operator of Newsband and Aaple Nave Shahar Manoj Gole. The three are celebrating India's victory against Pakistan in the semi-finals of the World Cup held at Mohali, Chandigarh. The photo was clicked by Photo Journalist of Newsband Ashok Dhamija.