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Around a million bank employees and officers went on a two-day strike on March 15 and 16 all over the country against the privatisation of public sector banks. The following day, March 17, General Insurance employees struck work and the next day, on March 18, employees of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will go on strike.

Trespass is a word of disapproval. It is even illegal when one tries to enter into the areas over which other’s have legal rights. Usurpation of the legal rights, or even fundamental rights of the citizens, are generally executed by autocratic rulers acquiring those rights by getting new legislations passed in the legislature. Such an act is worst form of moral trespass, since it blocks all remedies for the victim.

On January 18 this year, the head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed that 25—yes, just 25 doses—had been administered across all the poorest countries, compared with 39 million doses in wealthier ones. He said the world was on the edge of a “catastrophic moral failure.”

Okay. Here's how it is. Ambani and Adani are mighty accomplished hombres not only in our neck of woods, but also in other necks we don't have an inkling of. And, they have dazzled Prime Minister Narendra Modi with their wealth or, shall we say, with their tremendous wealth-creating means and abilities. In fact, the threat to Ambani, apart from planted gelatin sticks, is Adani, who was the fastest growing billionaire worldwide in 2020. He's still trailing Ambani but that's neither here nor there.

Among this year’s Padma Vibhushan award winners, there is only one personality who got the honour posthumously. Narender Singh Kapany died only last year after reaching 94 which few people reach. Many achievements stand to his credit; very few have reached that height of glory. He was an Indian-American physicist best known for his work on fibre optics. He is credited with coining the term fibreoptics and is also considered ‘father of fibre optics’. Magazine Fortune named him one of seven ‘Unsung Heroes’ in their ‘Businessmen of the century’ issue in 1999. He was awarded India’s second highest civilian award the Padma Vibhushan posthumously this year.

LUCKNOW: Feeling threat from Congress under the leadership of hyperactive Priyanka Gandhi, Samajwadi Party national President Akhilesh Yadav has ruled out alliance with any national Party. Launching direct attack on Congress, Akhilesh Yadav recently said that it was following BJP. Samajwadi Party national President Akhilesh Yadav is very critical of Congress and leave no opportunity to criticise it.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It may sound a bit hyperbolic. But it is an undeniable reality. The Congress, which heads the United Democratic Front (UDF), is at war with itself. The list of candidates for the Assembly elections, announced on Sunday, has triggered an avalanche of protest, the like of which the Congress in the State has not witnessed hitherto. The ferocity and the scale of protests have shaken the party to its core.

On the second day of the nationwide strike in banks against the proposed privatisation of Public Sector Banks (PSBs), our Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a statement that the interests of workers of such banks will be completely protected. What would be a better example of narrowness of the mindset with which our government is functioning? Privatisation of PSBs is not all about its employees; it is about equitable access to finance for all, keeping financial services affordable, security for the depositors money, and finally the interest of the nation and its people.

Whenever petrol and diesel prices go up, the government claims it is open market forces at work. But like all pre-election times, fuel prices have suddenly stopped rising and there has been no increase for the past two weeks or so. While it is true that international crude prices have taken a breather in recent days, the reason for a stall in the century run of fuel prices in India is anything but that. It is a deal between the government and the oil companies.

Finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has announced that not all public sector banks will be privatised, but only a select few. If privatisation is good, then all must be privatised; if it is not so, then none should be.