Seeking revenge in death

9

Call it whatever you may but the only way the farmers of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh can take their revenge from the system is by dying. And dying they are. Some by committing suicide and some due to starvation. Also, many have sought help from an ever obliging tuberculosis. For in death these farmers see redemption of their pride. Not to take away any credit from the socialist Uttar Pradesh government headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav though. He calls himself a farmer's son and also aspires to make Uttar Pradesh the 'uttam pradesh' (best state) of our country. What better way to make Uttar Pradesh the best state of the country than dancing with Bollywood starlets even as farmers in some remote corner fight a loosing battle with the system. The fight is with the system because no one can fight with nature. The entire Bundelkhand....

'Ye sabr ka baandh kab tootega'

6

It's not just about Mohammad Afzal. Perhaps it has more to do with the "Sabr ka baandh" that Atal Behari Vajpayee so eloquently talked about, post December 13, 2001. Vajpayee's rhetoric may not have matched that of President Bush for whom nations were either with him or against him, in the war against terror but it brought two nations to the point of war that never happened. And today, almost five years after the Indian Parliament was attacked, the nation is rattled with the question: Why Mohammad Afzal should not be hanged? Mainstream political opinion in the Kashmir valley is overwhelmingly calling for clemency to Afzal. Particularly shocking is the stand taken by chief minister Gulam Nabi Azad and the opinion polls that are being conducted. One that caught my eye was, "Farooq Abdullah says that Afzal Guru's hanging would help anti India forces. Do you agree?" Whatever the....

Road lesser taken

4

A police officer arresting someone trying to bribe him is a rarity. But it did happen in MP when a man accused of abetting the suicide of his daughter-in-law tried to bribe Vijay Raman, the additional director general of the Crime Investigation Department (CID). Man Singh offered Rs 50,000 to the state CID chief in return for taking over the investigations of the case. Thankfully he did not succeed. A vigilant Raman not just booked him under the Prevention of Corruption Act but also he himself became the complainant. Perhaps Man Singh did not know he was dealing with the man who killed the dreaded Gazi Baba in Kashmir. How big a deal is this in times when deals themselves are made in crores? Whatever the arguments but for the Madhya Pradesh police could it have happened at a better time. Imagine the following incidents occurring within a month's....

Of death devastation and compensation

2

Financial assistance of Rs one lakh to the relatives of the dead and strict action against those responsible for the tragedy is what chief minister Babu Lal Gaur announced when over 100 people were washed away in Dharaji in district Dewas of Madhya Pradesh. It was 'Bhootri Amavasya' April 7 2005, when tragedy struck after water was released from the Indira Sagar Dam. On 'Bhootri Amavasya' thousands reach the banks of the holy Narmada River with the hope that a dip would act as a guard against evil spirits for the rest of the year. Such is the significance of the day in the Malwa region that heavy police 'bandobast' has to be made to manage the crowds. Despite this fact someone decided to release water from the Indira Sagar dam on that fateful day resulting in the tragedy in which more than 100 people lost their lives.....