The uninformed informer

The fantastic ability of our Mainstream Media to elevate incongruent events into the public narrative is almost hypnotic to those who bow to the hashtag as the harbinger of righteousness. There is an event, there is news and then there is the hashtag opinion which you can subscribe to and finally there is your own opinion - which could arise from a number of factors like education, learning, emotion, understanding or even stupidity. The Event It is actually what happened. It usually has two persons or groups and if there was a stray animal nearby it's incidental species determines it's role in the event. To actually know what happened in the event either you have to be a part of the event as one of the parties, or an eyewitness at the site or make the effort to travel to the location and meet everyone concerned. Now usually this is nowhere near your neighbourhood, nor your city nor a state you have probably ever visited before. And you are not likely to take the trouble to g

Congratulations Major Leetul Gogoi. I wish i knew you and could shake your hands or maybe have a drink together. You hit them where it hurt the most without firing a single bullet or blow. You upheld democracy, saving the lives of polling officials, the J&K police and the ITBP who sent an SOS call to survive imminent manslaughter from a mob of 900 stone pelters. Their own forces could have come in numbers and helped with a violent dispersal of the mob using rubber bullets, or pellets or tear-gas or anything else at their disposal to ensure the safety of their fellow policemen. But then again, why would their employers even care about 9 policemen and do anything to jeopardise their benefits from the riches of the 7th pay commission. And so the Army was called in and you and your team had the enviable honour of responding to the situation. Of course the OG had every right to tell the Khakis to sort it out themselves and could have stood back and watched like the Khakis usuall

To me this appears like an appreciable scheme.A worthwhile subsidy, since the people are benefiting instantaneously from it. Any corruption here will be behind the doors and will not impact the benefactors. People would still realise that there is a cost to everything and will not look for freebies. If the government can maintain the quality and nutrition, this merits replication across all states.All the best to the TN government to maintain this well. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/amma-unavagam-rs5-lakh-a-day-feeds-15-lakh/article5128261.ece?homepage=true

Amidst the development of the new NCERT primary English text book, where A for apple is being replaced by recent phrases provided by politics, the Congress on Friday reacted happily to the announcement of Narendra Modi's elevation as the BJP's Prime Ministerial Candidate. Congress party strategists have their task cut out for them as BJP has primed Narendra Modi to become the single point of failure for their party. "With great power comes great responsibility" - made popular in Spiderman, comes to Modi as he now needs to cast his net of acceptability far and wide.The reason's for Advani's annoyance is known only to him. Whether the denial of that role to him, has led him to feel annoyed is a speculative guess for anyone but Advani himself. But let us give credit to the octagenarian statesman who has made an impact to the BJP's growth and set aside the personal aspiration angle for a while. One of the value propositions that the BJP has been subtly try

More than the elation, it is the relief. Relief not just for Sachin but for all Indians collectively. Sachin's stature as the greatest ever is a discussion for cricketing pundits and commentators the world over - but not for us common Indians. We already uphold him as the greatest ever and it is this fact that propelled our desire to see him get a century of centuries, probably more than Sachin's own desire itself. For Sachin it is yet another day at the office for doing what he does best and in getting the hundred - he has given us Indians Bragging rights. So thank you Sachin.He may retire with a final tally of centuries to his name and that tally will be the bar for future cricketers to raise to. Someone may end up breaking the record in the course of a few decades from now - but we can still brag that you were the first and that without you others wouldn't have imagined this possibility. Even if someone were to go one past your tally - it would still have been Sachin'

Darkha Butt :Good evening and welcome to another episode of We the Feeble. Today a raging debate across the nation over Health Minister Nhulam Gabi Azad’s remarks that men having sex with men is unnatural and a disease. The health minister’s remarks have created a furore across and is seen as insensitive towards minorities. To get the bigger picture on this we have today in our panel four eminent personalities. Spokesperson for the Congress Party – Tanish Mewari, Mr.Savi Rhankar Prasad of the BJP, Bahesh Mhatt –filmmaker and social thinker and Krinda Barat of the CPI. Darkha Butt : I’ll start with you Tanish, what do you have to say about the health minister’s comments today Tanish Mewari : I have only heard media reports of the so called comments made by the health minister. Until such time I can peruse a draft of his speech, it is difficult for me to comment on the same or say what the party stand is on the issue. The health minister’s comments are not necessarily the views of the