View Articles

The coronavirus is now everywhere. Maybe not yet in the Tahiti islands or ones in the Minicoy in the Lakshadweep archipelago. Definitely not in the island which has been declared a country by the runaway godman from India. Meanwhile, the number of confirmed coronavirus positive cases worldwide has crossed 200,000, the death toll going up to 8,243 as of March 18.

Humanity has faced outbreaks of many, many pandemics over historic times. Bubonic plague several centuries back to Spanish influenza just a hundred years back had wiped out large sections of human population.

Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has been well within his fundamental rights to do whatever he likes, though like any other Indian he must refrain from indulging in any illegal, anti-constitutional and unethical act. A conscientious legal luminary, Gogoi has come under severe criticism from his own legal fraternity for accepting the offer of a Rajya Sabha seat from the Modi government. Technically he has been appointed by the President, but at the recommendation of cabinet of Modi government.

In the United States trains are running on a reduced schedule. Ferries have stopped. The subway and bus lines are operating only on Saturdays. Commuter rail has cut service. And in some media, Trump has found redemption. Mainly because he spoke of the US facing a tough time. Even admitted that things could go way wrong and the economy could tank! This is a new Trump, they wrote and spoke. Tamed, his braggadocio gone?

Some of former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi’s judgments, particularly towards the latter part of his tenure, had raised eyebrows as they were seen by many as suffering faults in terms of jurisprudence. The nomination of the former CJI to Rajya Sabha by Modi government now puts the missing pieces in the jigsaw puzzle.

The medical fraternity around the globe is up in arms to mitigate the impact of Novel Corona virus. The WHO has declared it a Pandemic and issued guidelines for its prevention. Governments in each country are following those details. These include personal human behaviour, travel restrictions, early medical advice, avoid crowded places etc. On the personal level the people are being advised to care for the personal hygiene, wash hands more frequently, not to touch the objects unnecessarily, avoid touching the face, keep distance from the infected persons, cover the face while coughing or sneezing, wear the mask if running flu, throw the used tissues in a covered bin. People have been advised to avoid large gatherings. Schools, colleges even temples are being closed. There are severe restrictions on international travel. The people from abroad are being screened. Early medical advice is important for the purpose of detection and isolation of suspicious cases.

Danish authorities have won praise after striking a deal with unions and employers to avoid coronavirus causing job losses and financial detriment to workers forced into quarantine.

WASHINGTON—In their first one-on-one debate of the long presidential primary campaign, former Vice President Joseph Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, Indiana-Vermont, went in different directions on what the federal government – aiding the U.S. people – should do to battle the coronavirus pandemic. And that wasn’t the only issue where they parted ways on the evening of March 15, but it was the big one.

India is witnessing increasing oppression of peaceful protests by people including groups and individuals in its system of rule of law based democratic governance where people elect the government of transient majority. People, therefore, are the sovereign masters of the government they elect. People individually or in groups, who dissent against the government of the day including individual ministers, are dubbed anti-national, seditious and subjected to oppressive frame-up by the states’ machinery with the police as handy repressing tools in the forefront, making a mockery of India’s democratic governance both at home and in the comity of nations. According to the latest official data available in the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), there has been manifold increase in anti-national crime cases between 2014 and 2018. Most of such cases appear to be seemingly arbitrarily framed up with the negligible conviction rates.

BHOPAL: Will Kamal Nath government survive till March 26 when the state assembly meets again after the adjournment on Monday. The Chief Minister was told by the Governor to hold the floor test by Tuesday. Meanwhile, the issue has been raised in the Supreme Court. Now the Speaker is in a fix whether to follow Governor’s direction, or wait for the Supreme Court’s verdict.