Video: Dinesh Kamath about his 3 favourite Bollywood films

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'All are equal before the Law?' that was published in Newsband

All are equal before the Law?

What happens when a celebrity with power and wealth is tried in the court? The judges have to be careful and not seen as favouring him or her. The slow criminal justice system is always skewed in favour of celebrities like it happened with Salman Khan. Only an occasional verdict brings down a famous personality like in the case of Sanjay Dutt.

Mumbai sessions judge D.W. Deshpande had handed down a five-year prison sentence to Bollywood star Salman Khan in a hit-and-run case. But the actor was given bail. Next, a clean acquittal was recorded in the Bombay High Court. The judge ruled that it was not proved either that Khan was driving the car or that he was drunk.

A judicial verdict is not necessarily reliable. The judicial system involves a number of agencies. First there are one or more judges. Next there are one or more investigating agencies. Then there are forensic experts. After that there are advocates. It is hard to believe that every one of these agencies work efficiently, sincerely, and that it cannot be influenced by agencies external to the judicial system. The most vulnerable of these are the witnesses who can be enticed or intimidated. Judges also often differ from each other in interpreting the findings as happened in Salman case.

In a society suffering from rampant corruption the reliability of all those playing roles in the system is likely to be much below 100%. The message to the pavement dwellers sent out by Mumbai High court verdict in Salman khan's hit and run case: Please go to the highest court of God and pray.

One case and two entirely opposite decisions. In this era where every professional is liable for his mistakes, what about the judges. Because it is clear that one of the judges is wrong. Who will be responsible?

The status of the criminal should not be a deciding factor in delivering the judgement. Verdicts should be purely on merits of records.

Whenever celebrities are involved even the judges who are more upright has to cave in and the witness turning hostile after accepting money is a common phenomenon. These things are known to common man and he is least bothered about these judgements and most of the common people obey the law out of fear.

Another recent instance even for serving a summon from the court to Gandhis one can see the hue and cry made by them and the party. Do you think the judge is going to punish them? I Even if sentenced by going to higher courts may prolong the final judgement for 2 or 3 decades, or if they become a ruling party it will move with snail speed then its importance is of no use.

Whatever may be the law and whoever may be the victim, it’s said that all are equal before the law. But it seems to be only in books, nothing seems that effective in real life scenario that common man and celebrities are equal.

Dinesh Kamath's news 'Cyber Safety Week finale draws thousands' that was published in Newsband

Cyber Safety Week finale draws thousands

Make Cyber Safety an essential Subject in Schools and Colleges, says Bollywood actor R Mahadevan

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: The Cyber Safety Week launched by the Navi Mumbai Police department in association with State Bank of India with support by Heart Foundation & Pyramid Cyber Security & Forensics culminated on 19th December 2015 at the D Y Patil Auditorium where R Mahadevan, Bollywood Actor, was the Chief Guest alongwith Mr. Nandakumar Saravade.

A variety of seminars on data security, IPR, social media, cyber terrorism, digital evidence search & seizure, Banking and Financial Crime and digital privacy, drawing competitions with CYBER SAFE – BE AWARE BE SECURE as theme of this year, was organized in different nodes of Navi Mumbai throughout the week.

The program started with performance of schools and college children on the lines of Cyber Safety which included dances and skits choreographed Elevate India Academy.

Addressing the gathering, Chief Guest, R Mahadevan said “Rural villages have also got access to social media as I regularly get messages about my films.” He added “Social Media is being used rampantly to dupe people especially the youth and I appeal to the Education department to make Cyber Safety an essential subject in schools and colleges.”

The other dignitaries were Shri. Prabhat Ranjan Commissioner Of Police Navi Mumbai, Addl. CP Vijay Chauhan, Shri. Kajal Ghose CGM (Executive Support System) SBI and Speakers were Adv. Vaishali Bhagwat & Nandakumar Saravade. The other speakers throughout the week were Roshan Bangera, Suresh Menon and MallikeArjun.

“I would want to work out a strategy wherein we could conduct awareness programs in schools and colleges so that the youth would be forewarned and make themselves aware and secure” said Prabhat Ranjan.

“The week enabled us to interact with children, youth, ladies, societies, corporates and senior citizens and encouraged them to be cautious with regard to Cyber crimes and how it can be avoided” said Dilip Sawant, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime).

Police Inspector Mrs. Pratibha Shendge, Cyber Crime Cell In Charge said, “It was heartening to see the overwhelming response that our programmes and seminars received throughout the week.”

“I am satisfied with the way the program went but we have still miles to go before we can really educate one and all so that they would be safe and secure from Cyber crime” said Sangeeta Alphonso, Senior Police Inspector, Nerul Police Station and Cyber Law Expert.

‘It is better to make the kids understand why they need to draw a line somewhere,” said Dr. Jayakar Ellis, President, Heart Foundation, which along with city police, is planning to conduct training programmes for the school children from class VIII onwards teaching them about the ‘Dos’ and ‘Don’ts’ of cyber safety alongwith the Navi Mumbai Police in the future.

Dinesh Kamath's news 'Stop farmers from growing and cleaning vegetables in unclean water' that was published in Newsband

Stop farmers from growing and cleaning vegetables in unclean water

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: There were complaints received by civic health and sanitation department that dirty drain water was being used to water the vegetables. Just recently the authorities had taken action at Nerul where the motor pump and pipe were used for supplying dirty storm water drain to a farm growing leafy vegetables. The residents who had witnessed the farmers using unhygienic means to water the farm were disgusted and reported the matter to civic body. 

There are farmers growing and cleaning vegetables in Gutter Water before selling them in the market. This practise is dangerous for those city residents who consume the vegetables. Children especially can be worst affected.

There could exist bacteria and parasites in the leafy vegetables which are grown in drain water by the farmers. The drain water could contain algae and faecal matter. Scientist had a look at these vegetables through the microscope, and they were shocked to find the presence of bacteria and parasites in them. They had used the samples of radish and spinach that are sold in the market.

A city resident who had been researching into the vegetables available in the market said, “At the farming spots I found that the plots are irrigated with water from pumps which draw it from mucky gutters that often contain sewage from nearby toilets. After the harvest, the vegetables are washed in the same mucky ponds and gutters to clean them. The water bodies being used for farming and washing are breeding grounds for a large number of parasites and bacteria. The analysis confirmed that the water samples showed the presence of coliform and E coli bacteria. Many of these farms are along train tracks with an evidently questionable source of water - the drain nearby - which is downright poisonous for humans. The lab report suggest the presence of the fatal E coli and yeast in the vegetables, among other contaminants. Radish, Spinach, Fenugreek (methi), Amaranth (chauli) Coriander (cilantro or dhania) etc are grown over a long stretch of railway land. Men and a woman are seen scrubbing radish, spinach and fenugreek in a squalid artificial pond. A huge stack of farm produce lay beside each of them, as they cleaned the vegetables in the muddy water. Waste water from the toilet is discharged into the gutter which spews it into the pond. After being scrubbed and cleaned, the vegetables are placed on a gunny rag of jute. This is then wrapped and transported, without being cleaned any more. At one place the impure water carried all sorts of waste including the carcass of a stray dog. Just imagine that the farmers found that as the only source of water for cultivation.”

The plots are irrigated with water from a diesel-run pump which draws it from a mucky gutter. The final produce is cleaned in the same pond near the station where local slum dwellers bathe and wash.

One farmer was spotted connecting a hosepipe to the gutter from where the water is drawn in. Even coconut and mango trees grow near dirty lakes. It is not just vegetables that grow in gutter water. The farmers defend themselves by saying that they do not have any other source of water. According to them they have been using this water for other chores as well.

Some farmers are educated enough to take precautions. There are farmers who get subsidies and training from the government while others have picked the tricks of the trade from their fathers.

The railways, under the 'grow more food programme', has allotted plots from its surplus land resources for cultivation against a nominal fee. One of the railway official said that if people had any problem with the produce, they had a choice to go to the supermarket or other vendors.

Kharghar-based NGO Maza Bharat Samajik Sanstham, showed concern about dirty water being used for growing and washing vegetables. They filed a case in the court and even complained to the railway authorities but in vain.

One can’t blame the farmers since they are not provided clean water or any irrigation facility owing to which they are forced to use water flowing through sewer lines and pumped out by chemical factories. They are more concerned about their daily living and ignore the health hazard posed by their method of growing and washing vegetables which are consumed by the city residents.

The vegetables grown on railway track areas in Panvel and Juinagar were found to have contained heavy metals like zinc, lead and even arsenic.

Vegetables are common food of most of the city residents and hence such unclean way of dealing with vegetables adopted by the farmers can pose serious health problems. Something drastic should be done by both local and state government to stop the use of unclean water for growing and cleaning vegetables.

Dinesh Kamath's news 'Bharatnatyam Arangetram to be performed by Disciples of Guru Smt. Mary Mac Mohan Paul at Panvel on 19 Dec' that was published in Newsband

Bharatnatyam Arangetram to be performed by Disciples of Guru Smt. Mary Mac Mohan Paul at Panvel on 19 Dec

By Dinesh Kamath

Indian Cultural Academy, Centre for Cultural & Social Service, Navi Mumbai has organized Bharatnatyam Arangetram which will be performed by Disciples of Guru Smt. Mary Mac Mohan Paul on Saturday, 19 December, 2015, from 6 pm onwards at Krantiveer Vasudev Balwant Phadke Hall, Near Saraswati Vidya Mandir Municipal School and Police Station, Panvel. The performers will be Manimala Nagachander Kadamanda, Sakshi Maruti Chikhalekar, Shivani Kiran Tawadare, Nayan Chandrakant Mahadkar, Shalaka Santosh Sonawane, Parineeta Pankaj Patil, P. Priyadarshini and Neha Pandit Fangal. The chief guests will be Mr Ramseth Thakur, Ex-MP, Mr Balaram Patil, Ex- President Raigad Zilla Parishad and Mr Adesh Bandekar, Secretary – Shiv Sena, Maharashtra State Actor. Guests of Honour are Mr Mahendra Bhopi, Social Workers, Mr Rahul Patil, Social Worker and Mr. Laughy Mac Mohan Paul, Nattuvanganar & Choreographer (International Dancer).

Guru Smt. Mary Mac Mohan Paul is a well known exponent of Bharatnatyam, the real Guru of the Shishyas and a renowned choreographer & Nattuvanganar. She is the respected Principal of Indian Cultural Academy, since 1994. She has dedicated herself for spreading the popularity of this famous dance form of the South.

She hails from a Christian family in Coimbatore Dist. Of Tamilnadu. She is a born dancer and started learning Bharatnatyam at an early age of six years, under the able guidance of Guru late Shri Gopalakrishnan. She completed her graduation in 1981 in Natya Visharatha from Tamil Nadu, Govt. Music College, Madurai. After her Graduation, she worked as a Bharatnatyam teacher in Kalai Kaveri Music School, Trichy & Ooty.

She has presented her dance on many occasions in stages, temples and churches. In 1983 she took part in 5^th Ulaga Tamil Maanadu (5^th World Tamil Conference) at Madhurai, organised by Late Dr. M. G. Ramachandran, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. This has been one of her most memorable performance. Her Arangetram performance was held in the Church in 1978 at the age of 12. She has given 56 performance throughout India.

In 1987 Guru Mary Paul migrated to Mumbai and worked as a teacher in Classical Dance Academy. In Mumbai she completed her advanced course under the guidance of eminent gurus like late Kalaimamani Kathirvelu Pillai and Late Ramaswamy Bhagawathar.

With the help and support of her husband Shri Mac Mohan Paul she established Indian Classical Arts & Cultural Trust (ICACT) which got registered in 1997.

In 30 years of her teaching she has taught this dance form to more than 2800 students. Guru Mary Paul has conducted 33 Arangetrams during last 13 years in Navi Mumbai. She trains many students. She has conducted Arangetram for more than 500 students till date.

Mary Paul’s contribution as a dedicated Guru, Organiser is a vital link in protecting a better perspective of Indian Cultural, traditional and divine art Bharatnatyam in North India.

Indian Classical Arts and Cultural Trust has 23 centres at places like Nerul, Sanpada, CBD, Kharghar, Khanda Colony, Panvel and New Panvel, CBD Kairali, JNPT Township, Kamothe, Ghansoli, Airoli, Seawoods & Uran. ICACT teaches the physically challenged and under privileged children free of cost.

ICACT has given programme abroad and also participated in competitions at international level. Academy was invited by Arya Samaj to participate in a International Dance event in Bangkok & Thailand. 40 students from the Academy performed in Marathi Day Celebration at Mauritius in May 2015 and were awarded by Shri Santaram Baboo (Art & Culture Minister of Mauritius). On July 2015, ICACT was selected from whole of India to perform at WCF (World Children Festival) in Washington DC, USA, where 78 countries had participated & ICACT had represented India. This Academy has made India feel proud in all these countries. 

Dinesh Kamath's news 'Honda and Reliance GI educates Navi Mumbai school kids on Road Safety' that was published in Newsband

Honda and Reliance GI educates Navi Mumbai school kids on Road Safety

 ·       Activity outreach planned for Western India

 ·       Distribution of uniquely designed kids’ helmets

 ·       Safe riding and helmet usage promoted among kids in fun manner

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI), the Only Honda in the Indian two-wheeler industry, continues to spread road safety awareness, activates its outreach to the young minds in Western India. The activity was conducted in St. Lawrence School, Vashi, Mumbai to spread the road safety message among school kids. The initiative is currently ongoing, activities conducted in Pune, and soon to cover Ahmedabad.

Honda in collaboration with Reliance General Insurance in Mumbai successfully conducted the engagement-cum-awareness initiative on safe riding and benefits of helmet usage. The objective of the initiative was to educate young minds on how the Freedom of using roads comes with Responsibility – not just of self but also for other road users as they will be road users of tomorrow.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Yadvinder S. Guleria, Senior Vice President-Sales & Marketing, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said, “Children play crucial role in effective implementation of campaigns that aim to drive attitudinal shift in society. With their significant impact on their family and society at large, we have been engaging young minds through various initiatives to spread road safety awareness across India. We are continuing our association with RGI, in this course for outreach to 2 states in Western India. As road safety awareness takes the centre stage globally for Honda, we will continue to nurture young learners to help them become road safety influencers in their families today and responsible adult road users of tomorrow.”

According to Mr. Rakesh Jain, CEO, Reliance General Insurance, “We are happy to partner with Honda in this helmet safety initiative across schools, an initiative that sensitizes and educates children on the need for protection while driving. As a responsible corporate, and a major insurance company, we are committed to spreading awareness about safety and protection amongst citizens, including kids, through various initiatives and partnerships”

The students from class V were encouraged to participate. The activity began with a simple quiz to assess basic road etiquettes awareness among kids. The top 25 students with best know-how of the subject were identified and were given an exclusive opportunity to ride the especially imported Honda CRF 50-kids training bike from Japan. Honda CRF-50 built the real excitement among all the participants who learnt safe riding in ‘fun way’. The activity further entailed distribution of 25 uniquely designed kids’ helmets that will aid awareness with greater impact, inspire parents and society at large to follow ethical road safety practices. Noteworthy was the active involvement of parents of participating students. The session also had interesting activities including photo sessions in commuting mode, experiences shared by the families on the subject and certificate distribution.

Prior to this, Honda successfully concluded ‘Road Safety Summer Camps’ in 7 cities in Northern, Southern, Eastern and Central India with more than 1000 school students. Apart from this, Honda continuously provides free of cost training at its existing eight traffic training parks in Jaipur, Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Chandigarh, Yeola (Nashik) and Hyderabad. Brand Honda has received encouraging response for its various initiatives that also include special initiatives for females and kids. So far, more than 2.3 lac individuals have been successfully trained at these parks.

For further information, please contact: Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. public.relations@honda2wheelersindia.com

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Law is above Gandhis' that was published in Newsband

Law is above Gandhis

Whatever be the charges against the Gandhis, it is an issue that has to be settled in a court of law, and not in the wider political arena, much less in Parliament. If the Congress believes there has been no wrongdoing in the transactions related to the acquisition of Associated Journals Private Ltd. by Young Indian, a non-profit company in which the party's president, Sonia Gandhi, and vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, are the main shareholders, it must simply choose the judicial route to establish their innocence. Even if there is a political motive, the party’s president and vice-president have to provide answers to the questions that have arisen from the allegations

National Herald case is a serious case involving Rs. 2000 crores of shareholders and nation's properties. Whosoever is involved in frauds and financial irregularities needs to be scrutinized by law and courts. Leaders of political parties and public personalities should set best examples of compliance of law. Unfortunately, in this case those who enjoyed political power for so long prima facie seems to have committed fraud with the sole intention of misappropriating NH assets. Someone has to take lead in protecting the interests of NH shareholders in particular and India in general and hence all Indians should be thankful to Dr. Subramanian Swamy for exposing the greed of the political dynasty.

The media should take responsibility and should enlighten the poor about the huge amount involved and the modus operandi. All media are busy in criticising Modi and highlighting the intolerance rather than the real problem of politicians making huge money by hook or crook.

Parliament is for debate and discussion. The Gandhis must respect The Delhi High Court summons and follow the judiciary rather than come to the parliament and start logjam. Every Indian must go through judicial system. Indian law is not different for the Gandhis. Many were surprised by the statement of Mrs. Gandhi "I am Indira Gandhi's daughter-in-law". Does that mean that daughter-in-law is above law?

Whatever the merits and demerits of the case, the visible frauds and manipulations are clear, and it appears that Swamy has a strong case, and so all said and done, it now appears that this is beginning of the end of the Gandhi family.