TIMES OF INDIA. Comments made by P.S.Remesh Chandran, Trivandrum.
Subpages: Times Of India Comments 51 to 100.
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051. CPM central leaders in damage control mode. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The central leadership of the CPM is learnt to have decided to intervene in the Kerala CPM to save it from the crisis that has arisen following the TP murder. It has also sent a clear signal to the state leadership to disown party members involved in the crime.
B Sreejan, TNN | May 20, 2012, 06.34AM IST
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
21 May, 2012 11:38 AM IST
A few years back, when Malappuram DCC president T.K.Hamsa was not given seat to contest in the Assembly Elections in Kerala, he left Congress and became a rebel candidate. CPM supported him and he won. Then he was made a member of the CPM. Within five years, he became a prominent CPM leader and in the next election, he was the party candidate who won. Even though in the normal standards of a cadre party he could become only a candidate member or at the most a group member, he was chosen to represent the party in the State Cabinet. He was made the minister for public works. This and many other such instances are signs of CPM already having become a democratic party. Anyone with any kind of political background can come, become a member and represent party in the cabinet. The backing of long party service, history or loyalty is not at all needed. In democratic parties like Congress, the leaders can oppose publicly and even hold press conferences to carry on dissent. Because of this liberalism, democratic parties attract people and gain membership. In cadre parties this never happens. Only after decades of loyal service would anyone be authorized to represent party in the government. Comrades who air dissenting opinions publicly would be thrown out of the party. After passing candidate, group, branch and full memberships alone would a person be taken into confidence. Due to this cadre quality, CPM and other cadre parties had time-tested leaders and fire-brand members. But since the central leadership of the CPM resolved to make it an election party, it began to need a large body of members. Now, like in the democratic parties, anyone can become a member in CPM. The old Antony Congress, as a lot, merged in CPM and many of them are now considered great leaders of the CPM. Belief in or allegiance to communist principles or theories or its applications are now not at all anything relevant to anyone in the CPM from its great general secretary to the local candidate member. So, to gain membership, without anyone asking them to do it, the CPM made itself into a democratic party. But, if their members air dissenting opinions publicly as in democratic parties, their leadership considers it something warranting disciplinary action. The puny little minded leaders of the CPM are quite unwilling to abandon their last weapon of disciplination. In the matter of membership, the CPM has completely become a democratic party. In the matter of disciplinary actions, it remains a cadre party. This is the real and only reason behind the decades old problems in the CPM. Either revert to cadre party status in the matter of membership or liberalize disciplinary action rules to those of the democratic parties-the CPM will have to do one of this within two years. If party analysts cannot reduce analyzes of the party problems to this simple and plain a deduction, they are never qualified to be members of a communist party anywhere in this world.
052. V S Achuthanandan's ultimatum to politburo: It is either him or Pinarayi Vijayan. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At a juncture when the CPM can ill-afford it - the Neyyattinkara bypoll is round the corner - V S Achuthanandan has queered the pitch for the party.
TNN | May 21, 2012, 04.12AM IST
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
21 May, 2012 10:48 PM IST
It is not the first time that dissenting comrades go out of the party in CPM. Their number will exceed the actual membership of the party. The major split from the CPM, based on dialectical difference of opinions was in 1970s, when a great number of comrades, inspired by the Naxalbari Movement in Bengal formed the CPIML. M.V.Aryan went out and formed the Boleshevik Communist Party. N.C.Sekhar, Chatthunni Master, C.K.Chakrapani, C.P.Moossankutty, M.R.Chandrasekharan and M.V.Raghavan were the next to go, resulting in formation of CMP. Next followed K.R.Gouri, culminating in the formation of JSS. When all these smart leaders went out, there were a few in the leadership of CPM who never even uttered a word in defense of these comrades but who were only eager to fill up the vacant positions in the leadership. They include especially Mr. Achuthanandan. He remained mute to these spectacles then. When scores of respected leaders were cunningly ousted from the party by the clever genius of EMS Nampoothirippadu and they went out heartbroken and sad, this comrade did not utter a word. It seems, now it is his turn. Since he has begun to write things, it is only right to note a few things here. During the last regime of the communists in Kerala, the most resounded question among the ranks of workers in all political parties was, “who is responsible for the loss of most jobs in Kerala during the recent years, Pinarayi or Achuthanandan?” Certainly the answer was Achuthanandan, since his accepting Bulldozer as an official symbol. Government allows thousands and thousands of acres of land to investors from abroad with and without the right to resell, for starting industries, techno parks, electronic hubs and the like, to generate employment here. The people of Kerala have never questioned decisions of political leaders to sell these lands to foreigners. In a similar fashion, native business entrepreneurs started resorts and hotels in many places where people got jobs regularly and revenue reached poor homes without break. Certainly there were revenue puramboke lands attached and annexed to these enterprises. It could have been forced upon these entrepreneurs to consider these lands as government lease and pay accordingly, which would have skyrocketed government revenue and legalized annexation of these lands without causing the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. But the dark straits in this leader forced him to the destructive path, into the great carnival of bulldozing precious job-generating firms. What revenue are his retaken lands yielding now? It seems the other is the lesser evil of the two. He and many other ignorant communist leaders like to reiterate the traditionalism in coir, cashew and tea industries. Remember comrades, cashew and tea are not traditional. Had not Tata come to Moonnar, there would have been no tea industry in Kerala. And it was the business acumen of a few rich men in Quilon that made cashew an industry in Kerala.
Rptn.
A drive to keep diseases at bay. KOCHI: With the monsoon on its way, the district health department is slowly waking up to preventive activities to ensure that monsoonborne diseases do not create havoc here.
TNN | May 17, 2012, 07.21AM IST
Indian authorities claimed last year that Malaria has gone but those who know these authorities warned that it will come back. Considering the instances of a number of diseases sweeping India such as dengue and chikungunya and the resulting death of thousands of victims due to lack of treatment facilities available to poor people after the privatization of the health sector in the country, there is every possibility of Malaria again coming to India. The health authorities in the nation has no future-reaching vision as to the possibility of this killer disease again coming to India, as is evidenced by their act of winding up the National Malaria Eradication Programme[NMEP]. Each time a disease strikes, what we see is the sudden assembling of futile task forces, the hasty distribution of insecticides and the belated deployment of health inspectors to the affected areas who otherwise are pleased to work inside their cool office buildings. The disease takes the toll of a few hundred human lives, the mosquitoes continue to rule as usual and a considerable portion of national revenue is consumed by fools by way of transportation, petrol, hotel rooms, T.A. and D.A. and incentives. It is like a national carnival there, a time for festivity. Ask any disease-affected and incapacitated person, he will tell it is exactly the truth. When Arboviral infections including chikungunya claimed hundred thousands of human lives the world over, these so called experts behaved like they were hearing about Zoonosis diseases for the first time. Everyone knows that all Zoonosis viruses need an animal reservoir host to multiply which were dogs in this case. Nothing in nature suddenly changed to affect the outbreak of these diseases except the number of dogs increasing due to anti human laws. Because it was the dogs, the authorities carefully avoided mentioning the presence of an animal reservoir host. Even W.H.O. carefully remained silent about the role of dogs in originating outbreaks of Arboviral infections. Everyone blamed mosquitoes and no one accused dogs for obvious reasons. The Indian health authorities are playing with the lives of citizens. Experts have excellently laid out measures for preventing yet another outbreak of Malaria but if it happens we can see in advance that nothing as envisaged by the experts is going to happen. A very large empire is eagerly awaiting the outbreak of this disease because it is the private hospitals, doctors and medicine manufacturing companies that are involved on the profiting side. It is we people who are going to suffer and it is they who are going to profit. And do not forget that after passing laws banning the killing of stray dogs in the streets, the government-owned Anti Rabies Vaccine Manufacturing Facility was ordered to stop production. It was a sign of not madness in the health sector in India but of the horrible greed of Indian politic to please and squeeze private manufacturers by creating and spreading diseases.
053. Kerala an asylum, laments Mohanlal. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the eloquent cultural faces of Kerala remain silent about the outrageous murder of RMP leader T P Chandrasekharan, actor Mohanlal has opened up about his feelings for the slain leader and his mother. In a very emotional post in his blog on his 52nd birthday, the actor says that he was devastated by the inhumane nature of the murder.
Aswin J Kumar, TNN | May 23, 2012, 04.14AM IST
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
23 May, 2012 05:09 PM IST.
When one reads about the grievance of the film star Mr. Mohanlal over the killing of T.P.Chandrasekharan, he will wonder why the famous littérateurs, poets, film stars and cultural leaders of Kerala did not respond to this brutal political killing in Kerala. Some fear their films would be boycotted and the theatres showing them burnt if they respond. Some fear their poems won’t again be printed and praised and considered for awards. Many orators fear, they would not be invited to speak in public meetings, and if they do, would be stoned and attacked. Many so called ‘cultural leaders’ fear that they would not again be invited to sign the press releases which appear a dozen a day, conveniently condemning puny little offences if they concern the coziness and pleasure of the intelligentsia of the small state of Kerala. When, the brutal murder of the respected comrade T. P. Chandrasekharan was committed, it is strange that none except Mr. Mohanlal responded. It is not strange he filled with his timely eloquence the vacuum made felt by the calculated silence of the noted people of Kerala. In brutality, this murder surpassed the murder of Jayakrishnan Master which was mercilessly done in a class room in front of the eyes of tiny little primary school children. These little minds will be haunted by the murder scene till the end of their lives, and many of them surely will become psychiatrically disturbed, resulting in long-time treatments, divorces or even suicides. The womanhood of Kerala are noted for their compassion for the lost sons and raped and mutilated daughters of others. We remember, when Billa and Ranga raped and deflowered the daughter of the Chopras in New Delhi, the whole womanhood of Kerala wept and cried as if it was their daughter who was violated and killed. As long as this precious asset of emotional support is not totally lost, we can revert things and restore the social stability and tranquility in Kerala. It is only apt that the first right response came from the talented actor of Mohanlal. Cinema is a very powerful and influential medium, and if this whole episode of crime is made into a meaningful film to deliver the right message, the first persons who come out from the first show will go to the first hardware store, purchase the right implement, kill these brutes on the first opportunity and end this gory game once and for all. In fact, Kerala, since this brutal murder has been waiting for the condemning responses of its stalwarts in the field of cinema, poetry, literature and other fine arts which never came. It seems this special obituary by Mohanlal, depicting deliquescent feelings is a start.
054. Right to education a shot in the arm for UPA govt. NEW DELHI: Education has been high priority for the UPA government and the Supreme Court verdict recognizing that all schools were mandated to give admission to economically weaker students under the Right to Education Act has been a shot in the arm for the government.
TNN | May 23, 2012, 02.41AM IST
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
23 May, 2012 10:36 PM IST.
What is the relevance and usefulness of passing a right to education bill if there is no right to living for the common man? When an administration fails in protecting the right to live, it is easier to pass bills of lesser importance to escape from the accusation of administrative impotence than initiating express measures to ensure that the price of essential food articles and petrol are affordable for the common and poor citizens in the nation. Here we see that when immensely rich corporations and companies are soon to crush people with another unbelievable price hike, the political leaders in the ruling parties and the elected representatives in the administration hasten and crowd together to pass yet another bill, the benefits of which will never be enjoyable to the common man. There will always be conditions. They once boasted that all girl students will get free education and at another time declared that the only child in the family, if a girl, will not have to pay any kind of tuition fees. The condition was that it would be applicable only to the government schools. After permitting the opening of 1000 private schools for 10 government schools, where did in India the economically backward one child girl students get the benefit of this boasted about bill? For a nursery admission, one has to pay 25000 rupees, plus 2 admissions will cost 75000 capitations and the present rate for MBBS admission is 50 lakhs. Where is this free education, our mighty kings? Government boasts about the opening of a million new class rooms and posting a hundred thousand teachers and making possible immense infrastructures. Where it not in the private owned posh educational institutions, inaugurated with great pomp by top most cabinet members, inaccessible to 90 per cent of the people of India? It only means that 20000 or 50000 more crores of rupees from the government coffers earmarked under Education Heads are soon to be lavished on the privileged class of India, to speak in plain language. When these new private institutions come into being and begin to run in full force, every Indian citizen knows that, more government schools will be closed the future of economically backward Indian children will become darker than now. Rather than passing such meaningless bills, if the authorities simply declare that they wish to donate such and such amounts from government to such and such heavy contributors in the educational industry as a token of gratitude for favours received, the poor man of India who has now no rice, wheat, sugar, oil and petrol will not protest. He is such weak.
055. Villagers pelt stones at Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's convoy. CHAUSA, BIHAR: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar faced protests from angry locals, who pelted stones at a couple of vehicles in his convoy during his 'Seva Yatra' at Chausa in Buxar district today, official sources said.
PTI | May 23, 2012, 01.42PM IST
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
23 May, 2012 11:03 PM IST.
Robert Browning in his poem ‘The Patriot’ describes the different treatments the same man receives from the same people within a course of one year. First he was received by the people royally like a patriot. After one year he was dragged through the streets by the same people and given a scornful send-off to his death as a condemned man. The poet does not tell exactly what crime was committed by such a famous and worshipped man to be sent to the gallows within one year. Perhaps he might have turned a traitor to his country or people, or might have done much favouritism and corruption for his friends while he was in power, or else people might have made a serious mistake in judging him. We have examples of a Caesar returning victoriously after an Egyptian Tour, received jubilantly by people in Rome and declared by Senate as the Dictator for the entire Roman lands and after that, within days, assassinated by a senator in front of all senators fearing for the likely chance of him in the future declaring himself as an Emperor of Rome. We also have before us the example of the Oracle of Delphi proclaiming none was wiser than Socrates and then Socrates being assassinated by the City Council of Athens for a puny charge of corrupting their youth. The execution of Sir. Thomas Moore, the modern day Socrates, also is vivid in our memories. We have seen this exact scene in history a few centuries before, in the mountains of Gagultha. A human representative of the creator and molder of mankind, an innocent carpenter, was executed on the cross for the crime of loving mankind. History is so full of such admonition messages from the past that now we all know that people’s applause is but momentary and that their admiration nor condemnation shall not be taken into account in assessing a man’s real worth. In Browning’s poem, the patriot did everything for his people that a man could do while in authority. All of a sudden people turned against him and decided to hang him publicly as a punishment for his crimes committed during one year. Everything he did during one year had become crimes when viewed from another angle. Now we see him hands fettered, suffering in rain, stoned all the way, being dragged to the death post. And now there is nobody on the roof-tops to watch the spectacle. All have gone to the death-post at Shambles’ Gate to get the best direct sight of hanging him. What an unpredictable twist of human attitude! People’s applause and esteem is but a momentary bubble soon to explode. But they certainly have the right to stone a man elected by them to authority because his authority, if he has any, exclusively belongs to the people. Protection from the anger of his people is not an elected authority’s birth right or a privilege. If he has to escape and flee from his people, why should he pose and be considered as a leader? Or, is it a private gang that he is leading?
056. Housewives' pay: Court throws ball in government's court. KOCHI: Discretionary power to grant monthly allowance to housewives is part of the state government's freedom in framing policies, the Kerala high court has ruled.
TNN | May 23, 2012, 05.33AM IST.
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
24 May, 2012 02:27 AM IST
Payment to housewives from the husband for the jobs she is doing in the house to run the family is unethical. If it had been actually needed and could have been made possible without affecting the integrity of the society, mankind would have instigated it in the far distant past itself. Do not anyone think that 20000 generations in the past did not ever think about this and that those who think about this now are the first in this planet to tell this. Human society developed, based on the division of labour. Hunting was the job of the males and agriculture, animal husbandry and house administration were the responsibility of the women. The first was the kind of work in which people most often died and that was why it was the job of the males, because if the woman could be saved, mankind would continue. That was their logic. History tells us that the works assigned to the women were comparatively light and less risky. The males did protect their women. Many ignorant people, including our new generation law makers and a few parliamentarians, think that women were never allowed to rule society. They never have read any history, not even the history of the evolution of law. For thousands and thousands of years, it was the rule of the mother in the world which we call matriarchy. Patriarchy was just brief and intermittent and only during the times of major crises. It is because of this kind of tender caring that the world’s women did not grow up mostly as Amazons. The man-woman bond is sacred and divine and it is perhaps the only thing human, which cannot be measured in terms of coins. They do not serve each other but supplement each other. By monetizing women’s works in the house, family and society, our illiterate law makers are laying axe to the very roots of human society. The advocates just would think about it as a great new source of lucrative litigation. Just like simple domestic disagreements are now made into psychiatric hospitalizations, greedy lawyers, lazy woman liberators and wicked politicians are going to turn sacred household relations into fierce courtroom battles. If there is at least one sane person in government, this shall not be allowed. Uttar Pradesh and Goa are bad examples. We have before us the condemned example of women bus travellers after a half-baked litigation without proper medical support of decades. When bus accidents occur, men decided to die and save their women and children by seating them on the back seats so that the family may survive. In direct collisions, the impact of glass and steel would be fatal most on the men who sit in the front seats. This arrangement also prevented drivers from getting their attention diverted. Then one day some pig brained woman litigator discovered that the womb of the women bus travellers is getting shaken with the jolting of the buses. With lightning speed judiciary interfered and we all know what happened next. Proven stamina of women to travel standing was not even considered.
057. Prominent rival of Sri Lanka president walks free. COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's former army chiefwalked free from jail on Monday with a pardon from President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who appears to have bowed to growing international demands that he release his highest-profile rival,Ex-General Sarath Fonseka.
Reuters | May 21, 2012, 06.18PM IST
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
24 May, 2012 11:15 PM IST
This island nation was called Rathna Dweepam, i.e. The Island of Precious Stones, in the very ancient past. Then this island, along with India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Burma, Siam and Thailand comprised a vast empire called Bharatha Varsha, ruled by emperor Bharatha. Ceylon was then the jewel of this empire. In the time of Bharatha’s brother the Aryan leader Sri Rama, Dravidians of Southern India found their leader in Ravana, a great patron of fine arts, music and martial arts, a grand version of Sir. Lorenzo in Florence. As he was headquartered in the midst of the sea, it was difficult to beat him but Rama won anyway. Indian states Tamil Nadu and Kerala are very near to Lanka, just across a strait. When Rama returned, many descendants of Ravana and his brother Vibhishana followed him, crossed the strait, reached Thalaimannar and Rameshwaram and later became the two major communities of Kerala, the Ezhavas and the Nairs respectively. It is remarkable that ezhavas originated from Ezhuvathu Nadu. Do not anyone forget the relevance of Ezhams. These two communities still are proficient in the portfolios handled by Ravana and Vibhishana in the old royal Lankan ministry, with textiles, distilleries and martial arts handled by Ravana and treasury, finance, revenue and administration going to Vibhishana. When Buddhism spread through the above lands in the old empire, Ceylon became a great seat of Buddhist knowledge and learning, characterized by peacefulness, resulting from the depth and fullness of knowledge. Therefore it was strange this island later became torn apart by separatist tendencies and internal conflicts. We now know what communal and religious currents culminated in the unrest in this nation. Since the time of Sirimavo Bandaranayake, trouble had been brewing up there, perhaps far earlier. Some say it was since the ancient name Ceylon was unnecessarily changed to Sri Lanka, a bad omen, that trouble began to haunt this beautiful island and disturb the serenity and peacefulness of its people. Whatever be the truth and however disturbing the aftermaths, the nearest nation India was to suffer the most from the Sri Lankan problems. The Indian Peace Keeping Force, though then praised for its balanced judgment, had to withdraw shamefully. India lost one young Prime Minister as a result of her attempts to restore peace in this island. The Tamizhiyan problem in the island is neither small nor irrelevant. The iron hand of the army general and his team could slaughter opponents and scatter them the world over. Political history of the world shows that unless political and economic solutions, not military, are found to the problem by the Sri Lankan authorities, the problem will re-emerge, endangering the peace of India also. Instead of taking and following drastic action on these lines, the president and his general are duelling to achieve and retain political positions. We all know what would happen in the future in the island.
058. Why some owners look, act like their dogs. Usually, it is said that dog owners bear a striking resemblance to their pets but now researchers have asserted that they even act like them. The study of British dog owners has revealed that people are inclined towards choosing animals that mirror their own personality.
ANI | May 25, 2012, 12.00AM IST
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
25 May, 2012 11:54 AM
A dog’s mind is an extension of its master’s. Some unexpectedly come from the back and bite; some continuously bark till we leave that house, some continue barking even after we are miles and miles away from that inhospitable house. Most dog owners do not like social criticism, especially if it is their relationship with their dogs that is being questioned. A peaceful and quiet life is everyone's right. Like loudspeakers and automobile horns, dogs’ incessant barking from a house also is a public nuisance. Our dog barking from our house may be sweet music to our ears, but to our neighbours, it is utter public nuisance. We all depend on good inter-relations in our society to make our life possible and peaceful. That dogs afford us security is a wrong conviction. It is because there are other houses nearby and around our houses that our houses are not being broken into and our daughters and valuables are not being taken away by thieves, marauders and rogues, as were happening in the barbarian times. We shamelessly enjoy the unique security offered to us by society but when the question of the importance of our dog comes, we value the wayward freedom of our dog more important than the peace and tranquillity of our society. Dogs’ barking from houses is a disturbance and nuisance to new born babies, students learning their lessons, people trying to write, sing and draw things and to old sick people who try to rest and recuperate after going through the agonies of diseases. To pursue this problem unemotionally, it has to be agreed primarily that a dog's bark is one of the ugliest sounds in this world. Certainly no one will compare it to the sweet bird songs emanating from bushes and tree foliages around our homes. When a newborn baby is sleeping, we have seen in our houses, everybody whispering in hushed up tones instead of speaking loud, lest the baby would be disturbed and woken up. Such is the tenderness and affection human society extends to its children. But what can we do when an insolent dog from our immediate neighbourhood chooses that particular time to bark and wail without stop and they in the house won't do a thing? The new born babe for the first time feels insecurity in our hands, looses confidence and trust in family and human society, and grows up so for eighteen years against the unavoidable and inescapable background noise of dogs barking everywhere. Thus, after years we see the unruly youth standing there, irreverent, disobedient and angry to everyone! Whom to blame? We ask psychologists and psychiatrists for the reasons and they endlessly lecture on everything except the effect of incessant dog barking on infant minds, in their undecipherable jargon. Once we had something called silent nights which produced poets, playwrights, authors, artists and a disciplined generation. That time is now past, due to the insatiable lust of a few in our society for the pleasures from dogs.
059.
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
25 May, 2012 12:31 PM IST
Of all the animals associated with man, dogs are the most deprived of regality and personality. If we feed a cat, it will think ‘I might be a God; otherwise this man would not have fed me.’ If we feed a dog, it will think ‘This man might be a God; otherwise he would not have fed me’. Dogs endlessly try to please man. But a cat, when it thinks it has had enough caressing and kissing, jumps out of our hands and escapes. Cats still retain the cat in them whereas dogs have lost the dogs in them. Theoretically speaking, it is never possible for a logical relationship to develop between a man and a dog out of self respect and mutual respect. The loyalty which appears to be there on the surface is entirely due to free boarding and lodging available to dogs. If some one has doubt, feed not his dog for a few days and see what happens. Though man considers dog as a friend, the status of dogs in the animal community is that of a traitor. Suppose the Martians have actually landed and we are fleeing for our lives. We are escaping into a dark forest to save our life but another man who smells us, barks and signals our presence to the Martians. What would we call him, a traitor or a human being? That is how all the animals in this world have been viewing dogs for ages. They accompanied man in his hunting expeditions, smelled out animals hiding in safety and betrayed them to man by continuously barking to show him their presence. What would a creature that betrayed the whole animal community for a piece of safe meat, and passes its days by posing as a friend to man be called other than a traitor? The dogs have burned their bridges and they know this. They have no further chance of going back to the animal community, but remain with man for boarding and lodging till the end of their days. In so many houses the dog starts barking when the master of the house returns home after work in the evening. It will stop barking when he goes again the next day. That wretched human being pines in his heart but can do nothing for fear of divorce. Do not think this is just imagination. It actually happened in Trivandrum, settled in Family Court. It was from Ulloor that this case was reported. Here it was the man who could not live without his female dog. Even if his wife of long years had to go, let her go; he won’t let his dog go. The tired wife finally sought divorce. Why live in a house-bed saturated with dog hair and excretions? In many houses the dog wants nobody else in the house except his missus. There was a famous doctor in Trivandrum who yelled at newspaper reporters: “I am the most famous gynecologist in this town and have brought to daylight more children than all other doctors in this district combined. The Madames of Trivandrum need me to deliver their babies safe, but when I repeatedly say stray dogs in the streets should essentially be killed, there is no one to listen to me. What I wonder is how this many dog scratch marks appear on their lower abdomens.”
060. Israeli ditches Everest quest to rescue Turkish climber. ISTANBUL: An Israeli who rescued a distressed climber on Mount Everest instead of pushing onward to the summit said on Friday that the man he helped, an American of Turkish origin, is like a brother to him.
AP | May 26, 2012, 06.29AM IST
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
26 May, 2012 11:22 AM IST
This incidence of postponing the achievement of one’s lifetime dream of climbing the Everest for saving the life of another man on the way to the adventure zone is not uncommon among adventurers, especially among mountain climbers. The Himalayas, particularly the Everest, have witnessed many such incidents. Because the minds of people who regularly ascend to lofty mountain tops are themselves lofty, they never tell the world about these minor incidents. Moreover, facing adversities of major kind everyday and passing the bridge of life over the chasm of death each day, after seeing the majesties of nature’s awesome creations most often, and after coming over the punity and helplessness of human beings too frequently, these adventurers loose unnecessary interest in fame and gain instead an uncanny interest for finding out where other human beings are in danger of death. What this Israeli climber did to save the life of the Turk-born American Muslim climber is nothing but ascending to the peak of human kindness and appropriateness. The Everest is situated far below than abode of gods. Mr. Nadav Ben-Yehuda has actually climbed the supreme mount of human excellence and perfection. It is particularly to be noted here that nations, peoples and political parties in the world are unstable and wavering in their opinions of and approach towards the Jews. The only nation that remained unwavering, stable and steady whatever may come and still remains so, devoted to their cause as earlier, is the United States of America which deserves praise, and which act of theirs reflects the lofty principles upon which their nation was founded. It has now become a fashion to denounce and condemn the Jewish nation, so that a few drops of precious oil could be secured from the Arabs. It is time the Jews turn to discovering petrol from plant leaves so that they can retain their friends. I like to think that the Arabs, Palestinians and the Jews will someday embrace each other and drink tea from the same samovar. Anyway Ibrahim and Abraham are but one and the same.
061. CPM's language is similar to terrorists', Narendra Modi says. AHMEDABAD: Narendra Modi today took onCPM saying that the language used by them is similar to that of terrorists.
PTI | May 27, 2012, 05.38PM IST
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
27 May, 2012 09:57 PM IST
061. We have 'killed' political enemies, Kerala CPM leader admits. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a deep embarrassment to CPM in Kerala, a senior functionary said there had been instances of the party eliminating its foes.
PTI | May 27, 2012, 04.39PM IST
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
27 May, 2012 09:59 PM IST
The CPM is undergoing a change. Slowly but steadily it is becoming a democratic party which won’t be visible for the naked eyes. Like all cadre parties, the CPM since its formation had been suffocating from dearth of members. They suffered this for a very long time, and in the end became unable to suffer it anymore. In a cadre party one would be admitted as a candidate member on probation. He would become a group, branch and full member taking years. If there are dissenting opinions among members, it should be expressed inside the party and no public airing of dissenting opinions would be allowed. So this is the structure of cadre parties. But such parties won’t attract members which was what happened to the CPM. When they decided to taste the sweetness of parliamentarianism, they had to have more members to work and help it win elections. So they watered and thinned membership rules. Anyone can now become a member. Former DCC president T.K.Hamsa, when denied seat, contested in assembly election with CPM support and won. He was admitted to party and given status equivalent for a former DCC president. No sooner he won the seat than he was empowered to represent party in the Cabinet as PWD minister. The Antony Congress members and the Congress S members joined the party en mass who are all top leaders now in the party. Any rich man desirous of power can now become a member overnight and so have many such traitors become MLAs and MPs from Kerala under the CPM banner. Without asking anyone, CPM made itself into a democratic party in the matter of membership. But in the matter of disciplination, the rules still remain those of a cadre party. The arrogant leaders of the party do not wish to drop the strong weapon of disciplination. In democratic parties, members can express dissenting opinions publicly and leaders can even hold press conferences, contradicting one another. CPM has not allowed this democratic freedom in the party. It has already become a democratic party in the matter of membership but adamantly insists on cadre party disciplination. This dialectical contradiction is the only material reason for all the problems in that party. Certainly they cannot revert to cadre status in memberships. Therefore it is only logical to predict that the CPM is slowly but steadily becoming a democratic party, whether the impostors and pseudo-communists in their top leadership like it or not. There is soon to come a time when the members everywhere would express their dissenting opinions publicly and leaders will hold press conferences contradicting each other. It has already begun. Whoever blocks this would be throwing themselves in the track of a moving train. The rich capitalists who were once party enemies are now party members. The capitalist’s once-enemies in the party are now thrown out, through clever capitalist tricks. Innocent members do not promote murders. That is why professional teams and rogue members are engaged, the typical capitalist way.
062. Kerala stalling Mullaperiyar repairs: Jayalalitha. CHENNAI: Accusing Kerala of preventing Tamil Nadu from closing the holes drilled in the Mullaperiyar dam, chief minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday sought the immediate intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to facilitate the work and demanded deployment of CISF at the site.
PTI | May 27, 2012, 12.33PM IST
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
28 May, 2012 01:37 AM IST
Poets of the past have written poems describing Madras as a big sister and Kerala as a little sister which was true historically. Kerala’s language and culture developed closely following the Madras language and culture. When the question of assigning classical status to Tamil arose, there was no objection raised from a single Keralite about the ancientness, importance and genuineness of Tamil language. Many Keralites even pointed out that compared to Tamil, Malayalam does not deserve classic status. Tamils easily go to Kerala and find jobs unmolested. When Mullapperiyar water issue arose, Tamil Nadu Government’s response was but different and indecent. If a dam is old and leaking heavily, it is safer to decommission it rather than take the risk of it collapsing and taking away five districts in a state along with thousands of human lives, houses, cattle, vehicles, bridges, roads, crops and other developments. Tamil Nadu not only takes away water from the dam but makes electricity also out of this water, both totaling to the tune of above 10000 crores. They pay Kerala a meager amount of just below 30 lakh rupees each year as lease. Tamil Nadu knows that even if the present Mulla-Periyar dam is decommissioned and a new one built in its place, they will be given water as before but the amount to be paid to Kerala each year will raise to a realistic 500 crores, conforming to world rates. That is the reason behind Tamil Nadu’s reluctance to acquiesce to the decommissioning of this century-old dam and constructing a new one in its place. It is the one and only reason behind their adamant stand. If someone, be it anyone in India, emphatically says that the dam will never burst and that it is totally safe, they are invited to go with family and reside in any of the villages or towns beneath the dam for two years. Take this as a challenge. In the national scene, Mullapperiyar has significance. Mullapperiyar issue is a political creation, designed and created to divert attention from a more catastrophic disaster which may one day possibly wipe out the entire people of the sister states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Once this issue is settled or the strife and struggle stops, the Anti-Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant struggle will resume and gain force. If it collapses, the Mullapperiyar Dam will certainly cause the wiping away of three or four districts, but if it one day blows away, the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant will burn out two entire states. To please the collapsing Russia, our political leaders want to open and make function the plant without protest. As they wished, the people of the two states are fighting against each other, instead of jointly fighting against opening this deadly power plant. It is no wonder the Koodankulam struggle went behind curtain when Mullapperiyar struggle came into fore. What extremely pleases the orthodox national leaders is that the lower class blacks have again begun to fight each other.
063.
P.S.Remesh Chandran. (Trivandrum)
28 May, 2012 02:13 AM IST
It is true this Mulla-Periyar agreement was executed between Madras Presidency and the Travancore State. But the question is how Tamil Nadu comes into the picture as a party to this agreement which was signed by the King of Travancore and the Secretary of State for the British India Administration. The British Resident of Travancore-Cochin, Mr. John Childe Haninglen signed the document as authorized by the Governor of Fort Saint George at Madras and even this governor was issuing this authorization on behalf of the Secretary of State of British India. Travancore State and British India were the parties to the agreement. The governor of Saint George was only the intermediary in between. And Tamil Nadu is not at all the entire remaining part or continuity of Madras Presidency. It was just that this state and its capital were then known as Madras. Malabar became a part of Kerala and the other regions including Oddisha became parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. If the arguments of Tamil Nadu are to be followed, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are the next to claim water from this Presidency River. Only 126 years have passed since the signing of this agreement in 1886 for 999 years. Anything can happen in the next 873 years. Even the river can and may dry up.
[Updated as on 28 May 2012]