Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Improve nutrition for children' that was published in Newsband

Improve nutrition for children

The issue related to health, longevity and well-being of Indians should be given top priority. A third of the world’s stunted children under five live in India. The important role played by political commitment, administrative efficiency, literacy and women’s empowerment in ensuring children’s health. Food and freedom go together, and the availability of one strongly influences access to the other; social institutions can work to improve nutrition and children’s welfare.

The national framework to improve nutrition already exists. The Anganwadi Services scheme caters to children up to age six, and to pregnant and lactating women.

Among the factors affecting the quantity and quality of nutrition are maternal education, age at marriage, antenatal care, children’s diet and household size. A second issue is that of the quality of nutrition in packaged foods available to children. Only 21% of these foods in India were rated as being healthy.

India should invest more of its economic prosperity in its welfare system. To tackle malnutrition, food prices must be regulated. Despite being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India has been ranked at 103 out of 119 countries, with hunger levels categorised as “serious”, in the Global Hunger Index 2018.

India’s child malnourishment level is not only the highest in the world but varies considerably across States. Growing prosperity has hardly made any significant dent in chronic malnutrition of children. Millions of children remain undernourished, as it not only impacts early childhood health and imposes disease burden but also affects education, wages and productivity when they grow up, which will impact India’s growth. Where does the solution lie?

Another prominent idea is the need to link agriculture and nutrition, as agriculture provides answers to most nutrition problems. Understand the contradiction between agrarian plenty and malnutrition. An inclusive and holistic approach, including controlling/regulating food price, strengthening the public distribution system (PDS) and income support policies for making food cheaper are important steps. The launch of the National Nutrition Mission as a strategy to fight maternal and child malnutrition is a welcome step

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'RBI comes up with a wise policy' tthat was published in Newsband

RBI comes up with a wise policy

The Reserve Bank of India has come up with the decision to leave interest rates unchanged, given easing inflation and the slowdown in economic momentum. This was possible because of an unexpected softening in food inflation and a collapse in oil prices in a surprisingly short span of time

 The monetary policy committee (MPC) now estimates retail inflation in the second half of the fiscal year to slow and it foresees the softness in prices.  

RBI’s primary remit is to achieve and preserve price stability, the central bank is wary of the uncertainties that cloud the inflation horizon. With the prices of several food items at “unusually low levels”, the RBI reckons there is the clear and present danger of a sudden reversal, especially in prices of volatile perishable items. Also, the medium-term outlook for crude oil is still quite hazy.

The central bank has once again raised a cautionary signal to governments, both at the Centre and in the States. Fiscal slippages risk impacting the inflation outlook, heightening market volatility and crowding out private investment. Instead, this may be an opportune time to bolster macroeconomic fundamentals through fiscal prudence.

While the decision may sound positive, implementation depends upon political will of the center. The moot question remains whether the government would also rise to the occasion by making most of the extant highly favourable national economic scenario? Needless to say, it must prove its credentials by desisting from the usual mixing of "economics with politics" even when the same could never be construed as the good bed companions. Anyway, let us wait and watch.

The welcome fall in oil prices, and the concomitant strengthening of the rupee, have taken the pressure off the RBI. May both favourable factors endure.

Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Viral Acharya assured that the central bank was ready to stand as the lender of last resort. He said the present situation did not warrant any drastic steps given the health of the Indian economy. The Deputy Governor’s comments come in the wake of sector facing a crisis of confidence. There is no such necessity at the present given the sound health of our economy.

Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movies released in Navi Mumbai’ (English Ki Taay Taay Fisss, Rangeela Raja, Tom Dick and Harry Returns and Kedarnath) that was published in Newsband

New movies released in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

English Ki Taay Taay Fisss

English Ki Taay Taay Fisss is a Bollywood quirky-comedy, which has been written and directed by Shailendra Singh Rajput. The movie stars Rajpal Yadav, Manoj Joshi, Govind Namdev and Sunil Pal in lead roles. Ravi Chandan has wielded the camera for English Ki Taay Taay Fisss. English Ki Taay Taay Fisss is produced by Sanjeet Kumar Thakur.

 “English Ki Taay Taay Fisss” is a hilarious but with social message, Film’s story is on background of a village, where Sarpanch wants to make his village an ideal for everyone, but another person who is in illegal alcohol business, try’s to ruin his dream, and wants to become sarpanch himself. Meanwhile Sarpanh’s son returns from his study from foreign, he realized the situation and calls his friend, his friend arrives with his sister, and a love story is also born. How they turn their village into an ideal village and gets rid with the corrupt person, is the entire story.

The film has Rohit Kumar, Leysan Karimova, Manoj Joshi, Govind Namdev, Rajpal Yadav, Sunil Pal, Mushtaq Khan and Viju Khote.

Music is by Raju Kokate, Lyricists are Jamil Ahmed and Raja Singh, background score is by Avinash Singh.

Rangeela Raja

Rangeela Raja is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language comedy movie, written and produced by Pahlaj Nihalani, and directed by Sikander Bharti. The movie stars Govinda, Shakti Kapoor, Digangana Suryavanshi, Prem Chopra, Govind Namdeo and Shyamlal Yadav.[5] The film introduces Mishika Chourasia and Anupama Agnihotri. The movie is set in Rajesthan and Govinda will be seen in a double role, portraying four distinct characters.

Govinda plays a double role of two brothers. But the two of them are expected to have completely different personalities from each other. While one is a flamboyant businessman, the other is a spiritual leader. They are just characters inspired by Vijay Mallya and Baba Ramdev. In fact, Govinda is playing four characters in ‘Rangeela Raja’. Both the brothers will be seen leading a dual life. While the flamboyant businessman is initially seen as a dutiful husband, as the movie progresses his colourful life is presented to the audience.

The movie has Govinda as Vijendra Pratap Singh, a philandering businessman and as Ajay Pratap Singh, a pious yogi, Shakti Kapoor as Padampat, a driver, Prem Chopra as Guruji, Mishika Chourasia as Natasha, a strong headed woman working with Vijendra Pratap Singh, Anupama Agnihotri as Aalekha, the love interest of Ajay Pratap Singh, Digangana Suryavanshi as Shivranjani, the wife of Vijendra Pratap Singh, Karishma Kaul as Pallavi, Karan Anand as Yuvraj and Aarti Gupta as Shikh.

Tom Dick and Harry Returns

Tom Dick & Harry 2 is a Bollywood comedy film directed by Deepak Tijori, starring Jimmy Sheirgill, Aftab Shivdasani, Sharman Joshi, Sana Khan, Pooja Chopra and Nazia Hussain in the lead roles. The film is a sequel to the 2006 film Tom Dick and Harry, a story about three deaf, dumb and blind men.

Tom Dick and Harry Returns movie’s story revolves around three disabled friends – deaf, dumb and blind.

The film has Aftab Shivdasani as Tom, Sharman Joshi as Dick, Jimmy Sheirgill as Harry, Pooja Chopra, Nazia Hussain, Shivanya Mastaniit Kaur, Sana Khan, Chirag Jani and Johnny Lever

Kedarnath

Kedarnath (transl. The lord of the field;) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film written, directed and co-produced by Abhishek Kapoor. Featuring Sushant Singh Rajput and debutante Sara Ali Khan in the lead roles, it tells the inter-faith romance between a wealthy Hindu girl who takes a pilgrimage to the historic Kedarnath Temple in the Uttarakhand and a humble Muslim boy who becomes her guide. As they grow closer, obstacles including familial disapproval and contrasting backgrounds coupled with the sudden rains of the 2013 Uttarakhand floods devastate the region, and test their love. The film is produced by Ronnie Screwvala of RSVP Movies and Abhishek Kapoor of Guy in the Sky Pictures, along with Pragya Kapoor and Abhishek Nayyar; it was co-written with Kapoor by Kanika Dhillon.

In 2013, a wealthy Hindu girl, Mukku, takes a pilgrimage to the historic Kedarnath Temple in the Uttarakhand mountains; she soon meets and falls in love with Mansoor, a humble Muslim boy, who becomes her guide. As their relationship grows closer along the journey, the pair face many obstacles, including familial disapproval and contrasting backgrounds; when the sudden rains of the 2013 Uttarakhand floods devastate the region, the couple are forced to survive against the elements and face the ultimate test of their love.

The film has Sushant Singh Rajput as Mansoor, a Muslim porter/pithoo at Kedarnath, Sara Ali Khan as Mukku, a wealthy Hindu girl on a pilgrimage, Nitish Bharadwaj, Alka Amin, Sonali Sachdev, Pooja Gor and Nishant Dahiya.

The songs of the film are composed by Amit Trivedi while lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The film has songs like "Namo Namo" sung by Amit Trivedi, "Sweetheart" by Dev Negi, "Qaafirana" by Arijit Singh, Nikhita Gandhi, "Jaan 'Nisaar" (Version 1) by Arijit Singh and "Jaan 'Nisaar" (Version 2) by Asees Kaur.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Address farmers’ distress' that was published in Newsband

Address farmers’ distress

Last week, tens of thousands of farmers reached Delhi for a two-day Kisan Mukti Morcha to discuss the crisis in India’s agrarian economy. Their key demands included an unqualified loan waiver to mitigate indebtedness levels in farm households and better remuneration for their produce instead of promises on paper of high minimum support prices.

With rural distress palpable, elections for five State Assemblies under way, and the Lok Sabha election just about six months later, farmers’ issues are bound to further dominate politics. The government has done an about-turn on its responses and sought to reassure farmers by reiterating its own initiatives for the sector. The Opposition is using the farmers’ platform to take jibes at the BJP-led government at the Centre and in many States. Neither has focussed on the big picture strategy needed to reboot India’s hugely state-controlled farm sector.

Farmers are not just vote banks, but also critical economic actors who aspire to live without handouts. Farming is seasonal activity, each season has different crop pattern, and farming is not profitable activity any more. Why- thanks to NREGA of UPA, it has dried the labour from farms by disturbing the ecosystem, now labour has become costly, farming small holding farm can't employ machinery, again for want of fund and suboptimal utilisation owing to small holding, so they have to employ labour. Big farmers are not in distress, it is small and marginal farm - blame squarely lies on UPA. All the leadership of this moment is interested in politics and not concerned about farmers well being. They have no plans.Today Kishan & Jawan are most stressed all thanks to Congress misrule.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal shared the stage for the first time at Friday’s Kisan Mukti March, leading a show of Opposition unity in support of the farmers’ demands for fair prices and debt relief. The agrarian crisis is now on top of the poll agenda in the run-up to the 2019 general election. The importance of farmers at the ballot box clearly loomed over the show of united political support, with representatives from the Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Trinamool Congress Party, Telegu Desam Party, National Conference as well as the Communist Parties sharing the stage and promising to support the proposed legislations.

While the central government did not directly respond to the farmers march or their demands, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh issued a series of tweets soon after Mr Gandhi’s speech, “Today, the Congress has remembered that we are an agrarian country…Why was their government indifferent to farmers for so many years?”

Just like the people with plenty of illegitimate riches cry against demo in the name of the commons, the rich farmers who had enjoyed free power supply and loan waivers grantned across the board by many govts are primarily aligning with self serving party men to demonstrate against govt. Though the plight of small farmers are very real and suffer despondency due to poor govt attention to maintenance of water sources, ensure power supply for lift irrigation, low farm gate prices offered by the middle men etc for decades, the present show of strength is just political to dislodge the Modi govt that poses a threat to the opponents.

Nothing but blackmail, where were these opposition leaders all these years? They suddenly wake up from a slumber of four years and start shouting at the government as the elections approach.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Which religion does Rahul Gandhi belong to?' that was published in Newsband

Which religion does Rahul Gandhi belong to?

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not understand the foundation of Hinduism. He said at an interactive session in Udaipur in Rajasthan.

Hitting back, BJP president Amit Shah said, “The Congress is now preaching us about Hinduism. They are giving us lessons of Gita.” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also reacted sharply saying she wishes the day won’t come when people have to learn the meaning of Hinduism from Gandhi. She said the Congress president himself and the party are confused about his religion and caste.

Everything Rahul Gandhi utters is ‘pseudo’ and proves his level of opportunism - manifestation of unlimited desperation. Obviously, Rahul Gandhi would love to reinvent himself as the perfect Hindu for the imperatives of the 2019 poll. By his recent uncojent utterances Rahul has become the concrete proof for how election makes a power-mongering politician lose his balance.

Hindhuism, or for thst matter any religion or caste are merely man made.They have no sanctity. Even God is man made. No reality. One need to prove the existance of God rationally, logically and scientifically by experiments, before arguing. When there is no God there can not be any religion and people spending their money, time and energies on God are wasting their resourses. Even if the God existed, who created the universe, he cannot be multiple. But men believe in and worship hundreds of Gods. Atleast, the governments should not waste a single rupee of public money for religious works. That should be made a law.

Conversion to Hinduism from other religions belongs to a different group: Brahmo Samajwadi, Arya Samajwadi. Buddhists and Jains were originally Hindus, so also Sikhs. Hinduism is a big ocean many saints have tried to understand.

To assume Rahul Gandhi is a Hindu is totally fictitious. One branch of his ancestors hailed from Italy and are staunch Roman Catholic-Christians and another scion is also a mixture of Parsee and Hindu. How an Indian gets his religion? If it is by birth, then Rahul Gandhi should be a Parsi, because his grand father, Feroze Gandhi was a Parsi and Rajiv Gandhi was a Parsi too. If Rahul Gandhi has converted to Hinduism, and that too as a Brahmin, when did he convert? He cannot fool the people by saying that he hails from a Kaul family and so a Hindu Brahmin. Which religion Rahul Gandhi belongs to? He should check his history and then talk about Hindus. Rahul Gandhi should first prove that he is Hindu before talking about Hinduism and accusing someone of not being a Hindu. His sister is a Christian and married to a Christian. His mother is a Christian obedient to the Pope.

Politicians try to politicise religion and create hatred for political gain. If Modi is a Hindu, or he does not know Hinduism is totally irrelevant. One should look at what he contributes for the welfare and progress is crucial. In that regard Modi stands the tallest Indian as of today. To criticise an individual is unethical — face the election and show what you are.

Rahul Gandhi just want to be in news as such he reels out lies after lies and the "secular" press is eager to lap it up without even quentioning. If it were BJP government/ persons making this statement, a lot of questions would have been asked. That is our freedom of press.

The person and his party who have tried to keep Hindu away for the sake of some other religion and their votes and now for the last one year or so, realising the mistakes are visiting temples, making prayers wearing screed thread and now going to the extent of telling Gotr are preaching about Hinduism that too to born Hindus is nothing but a cruel joke.

To get Hindu votes he visits temples and goes on Yatras. During the Congress rule of the last of 65 years Hindu majority states have become non Hindu majority states. The Congress poll strategy has always been to use caste, religion, language as an election tool.

If Congress now preaches about Hinduism, BJP is also now preaching about Nationalism, Today it is a nation with all sorts religious people,all sorts of nationalities working on various projects.The world has become one nation after globalization.

Now the main question all the Congress netas need to ask and think: what is Rahul Gandhi's IQ level, and why these smart local netas are still treating him like a prophet. Rahul Gandhi does not know anything about Hinduism. He should stick to the issues he does know.

Where is the "secular" press when Congress is clearly using "Hindu" and "religion" to get as much mileage for political success? Some have even started calling this smart politics. Do they think it is ok for Congress to use religion for political gains but not for BJP? Congress is indeed in a desperate situation, Comparatively, the BJP is in a far better position. BJP has shown some seriousness in Governance, unlike earlier Governments which were more interested in preserving and increasing their ancestral properties.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'EU to strengthen ties with India' that was published in Newsband

EU to strengthen ties with India

The European Uniom has come up with a road map for strengthening ties with India. EU is releasing its strategy on India after 14 years. The European Union (EU) Ambassador to India, Tomasz Kozlowski, underlined that “India is on the top of the agenda of the EU in the field of external relations… this strategy paper reflects that EU has taken India’s priorities very seriously. We are ready for a joint leap.”

EU-India partnership had been adrift for a while in the absence of a clearly articulated strategy. The new strategy underscores a transformative shift. The talks of key focus areas are the need to conclude a broader Strategic Partnership Agreement, intensifying dialogue on Afghanistan and Central Asia, strengthening technical cooperation on fighting terrorism, and countering radicalisation, violent extremism and terrorist financing. More significant is a recognition of the need to develop defence and security cooperation with India.

India and the EU partnership can be instrumental in shaping the geopolitics and geoeconomics of the 21st century. India’s relations with individual EU nations have progressed dramatically over the last few years. U.S. President Donald Trump is upending the global liberal order so dear to the Europeans, and China’s rise is challenging the very values and hence a substantive engagement with India is a natural corollary.

The Narendra Modi government too has shed India’s diffidence of the past in engaging with the West. The EU emerged as India’s largest trading partner and biggest foreign investor. India seeks to manage the turbulent geopolitics in Eurasia and the Indo-Pacific. Both EU and India recognise the importance of engaging each other. India is a natural partner in many respects.

China’s evolution and the Trump administration’s disdain for its Western allies has led EU to come closer to India. India’s horizons are widening beyond South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. The EU and

India have been coordinating closely on regional issues. India and the EU are “natural partners”.

Areas outlined in the document range from security sector cooperation to countering terrorism and regional security. These issues obviously  need to be focussed on. India needs resources and expertise from the EU for its various priority areas such as cybersecurity, urbanisation, environmental regeneration and skill development.

In the past, the EU-China relations carried greater traction. Now all that might change. We can be sure that the cooperation of our country with EU strengthens in the coming years. This gains significance in the Brexit scenario.

It is true that the EU, in the past, were trying to come close to the Chinese but this is bound to change. In the past, EU rules were vigorously rigged to favour the Chinese which was one of the reasons for the US-EU tiffs.

Europe, though as much Capitalist in outlook as the US is, is totally different in culture/ethos and human outlook/outreach, India cannot use the same style and yardstick that we use with the US in dealing with EU. We do have a special "affinity" and (probably) umbilical relationship with the UK. There is a stronger possibility for India to correlate and cooperate with EU nations, through redefining and restructuring our International relationship agendas, diligently. That the EU nations are both Technologically and Culturally developed should come in handy for us to push forward on such a Mission. The gains would be very high for India, as we would have depth and maneuverability with "additional" options in International relationship

European community has 27 sovereign Independent nations as members in it. There is unity and cohesion among nations. People move from one nation to another for education, employment, business etc. and if they settle down and if they like some one locally, propose, marry and become local citizens. it is common and not exceptional one. 27 nations have as many or just few less, national language. Several of them have two or three as official language. There is no compulsion or coercion or concerted effort to declare any single language as official language or lingua franca for the community. It practices different forms of Christianity from Roman Catholic, orthodox to Protestant to several hues hues of them. no favor for any single denomination or strict direction for observation of religious traditions.

United we stand to ensure open markets, divided we allow strategic control for self domination in the name of growth and welfare.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Capital punishment should be abolished???' that was published in Newsband

Capital punishment should be abolished???

Justice Kurian Joseph has presented his views on abolishing capital punishment. He has re-ignited a debate. The law laid down in Bachan Singh (1980), upholding the validity of the death penalty and laying down guidelines for awarding death in ‘the rarest of rare’ cases’, still holds the field. The world is increasingly questioning the wisdom of capital punishment. Justice Joseph has underscored the arbitrary manner in which it is awarded by different judges and the way public discourse influences such decisions.

The constitutional regulation of capital punishment has failed to prevent death sentences from being “arbitrarily and freakishly imposed”. The maximum sentence that may be imposed usually revolves around the nature of the crime, its gravity and cruelty, and the number of fatalities. Theories of punishment are based on whether it ought to be punitive, retributive, reformative or restorative. If there still prevails a perception of arbitrariness in the way death sentences are awarded, the only lasting solution is their abolition.

But a smaller fraction of human rights activists, since long time have been demanding repeal of death sentence. Absolutely no doubt, death sentence could be used as a last resort and with extreme sense of responsibility, in order to control heinous crimes. But, to repeal it totally would mean encouraging criminals to do any degree of heinous crimes against helpless citizen and get away with so easily because Death penalty has been abolished?

Our legal elites may have a perception about the arbitrariness of the death penalty. Ordinary people don’t share in this perception. The judiciary and the law commission have historically shown very little sympathy for the victims. The Nirbhaya case continues to drag on because of the delays in the Supreme Court and now it’s stuck waiting for them to hear the case yet again. We should also remember that there is no such thing as a life imprisonment. Furthermore, even if a criminal is convicted, they are frequently paroled for a wide variety of reasons. To abolish the death penalty will be yet another confirmation that the judiciary has very little interest in providing justice to the victims or their families.

Gandhi dreamt of a Ram Raj where a woman bedecked with jewelry could walk safely in the dead of night peacefully, unmolested by anybody for that matter. Is it there? Is it likely to be there? In that case the state withers away and there is no need for capital punishment. With social sanction relegated to oblivion, fear of punishment appears to be the only deterrent available to keep in check from the marauders, robber barons to petty thieves. As is known when the disease becomes severe the treatment has to be severe including surgical removal. More the society sinks deep into the mire more severe should be the punishment. Either the society must aspire and reach Gandhian heights or must seek practical measures to build an orderly society. Capital punishment may be the last resort. Many other contributory factors must be brought into play their expected roles in every branch of the governance paraphernalia and even social life and the capital punishment may become redundant.

A question has been directed to those who oppose capital punishment. Should we have kept Ajmal Kasab alive and fed him biryani at the taxpayers' expense? In fact, our only regret with our execution of Ajmal Kasab is that we could only execute him once.