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“Okay. One meeting? Or two? One for the papers and one for the TV?”
“One, I think. The TV people like to be in the same discussions with the newspaper guys. Makes them feel like journalists.”
“What about radio?” Daniel asked.
“@*#k radio.”

Why has the vandalism of the Kanwariyas and not the violence of the gau rakshaks made the government aware of the near-anarchic conditions in the country, as a petitioner to the Supreme Court has alleged?

Parliament might have had its best monsoon session in the last 18 years going by the hours of operations of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and the number of bills passed, yet nothing could explain why it failed to move and pass the critical anti-trafficking and consumer protection bills. The Executive should probably explain why it did not show enough interest to see the two extremely socially important bills through to become law after the mandatory President’s consent.

‘Mission Uproot Mamata’ got going Saturday. BJP President Amit Shah arrived in Mamata-land past high noon, well past the hour to make a fight at ‘OK Corral’. But Mayo Road, where Shah addressed BJP’s Paribortan-types, was choc-a-bloc, shoulders rubbing shoulders. Mamata’s TMC decided not to spoil the show for Shah. What’s a rally when all of Bengal’s pally to Mamata!

Got to get worse before it gets better! That’s the short history of the war against Triple-T, the obnoxious divorce handout which Indian Muslim husbands hold over the heads of defenceless Muslim wives. Is it possible that these male hobos will be hoisted with their own combined petard?

Health planning in India started in 1938. The British government had formed a committee, popularly known as Bhore committee under the chairmanship of Sir Joseph Bhore, who was an Indian civil servant and Diwan of the Cochin State. The committee was formed in 1943 to survey the then existing position regarding health conditions and health organizations in the country. The committee submitted its report in 1946 and recommended that “the health programme should be developed on a foundation of preventive health work and that ‘if the nation’s health has to be built, such activities should proceed side by side those concerned with treatment of patients’. It was based on the principles that no individual should be denied the opportunity to secure adequate medical care because of inability to pay; health programme must lay special emphasis on preventive work; health service should be located close to the people; medical services should be free to all without any distinction and doctor should be a social physician. The committee also observed that health and development are inter-dependent and improvement in other sectors like water supply, sanitation, nutrition, employment lead to improvement in health status.

By restoring the provision for summary arrest of people accused of atrocities against dalits and backward classes, the Modi government has solved a major political challenge to its credibility, but left open even a more serious judicial question: can a legal principle be applied selectively? The Supreme Court had struck down the law as ultra virus of the Constitution.

How will the political scenario unfold in Tamil Nadu after Karunanidhi? The Tamil state has already seen how the events shaped after demise of Jayalalithaa. A well entrenched party like AIADMK is on the verge of split and it has been reduced to minority in the state assembly. Tamil Nadu will not be the same after the passing away of both Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi. With the demise of Karunanidhi, the DMK finds itself at a crucial juncture in the state’s politics. In the post Karunanidhi and post Jayalalithaa era, new battle lines are being drawn and new ideologies are taking shape in the state.

Time 12.20 pm. Twitter handle @pendown warned “4.25 lakh liters of water is gushing out per second from Idukki dam. In four hours waters will reach Aluva.” And Aluva is not far from Kochi. From the Kerala Express, sight of the chimneys of brick mills signal the train will soon brake at Ernakulam South Junction. @pendown could have told the world Aluva was already underwater.

The Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, or PT) of Brazil has decided to run the country’s extremely popular former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known by all as “Lula,” as its candidate in the October presidential elections in this nation of 200 million people. The first round of voting will be held on October 7, with a possible runoff on October 28.