THROUGH the Judgement of the case – Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (UPPTCL) and Another v. CG Power and Industrial Solutions, delivered on May 12, 2021, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Indira Banerjee, at the Supreme Court, have pointed out that it is now well settled by a plethora of SC decisions that relief under Article 226 of the Constitution of India may be granted in a case arising out of contract. However, the SC has stated that the writ jurisdiction under Article ..

The word Silence has its own beauty. For, utterance of the word itself unconsciously creates an imagery of calmness in one’s mind. Cacophony, shout-outs, noise wrongly labelled as music, loud expression of one’s thoughts, shrillness of arguments, honking of idiocy, blowing of own trumpet, attention-seeking cries, loudmouthing, rumbling of ideologies... all these and something more of sound that is filling today’s world day in and day out, highlight the need for that much-needed bliss called Silence. ..

AT LEAST 96 unidentified bodies – many of them decomposed and bloated – were found floating in the Ganga over the past few days, triggering fears among local residents in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh that bodies of COVID victims were being dumped in the river. While 71 of the bodies were fished out in Bihar’s Buxar district, at least 25 bodies were found in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district. While authorities in both districts are yet to confirm if the bodies were of COVID victims, saying ..

Do you want to make the situation better for everyone involved? Add kindness to it. Do you want to make beneficial use of your strength rather than merely showing it off? Invest your strength in kindness. ..

Parashurama Jayanti is celebrated as birthday of sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu named Bhagwan Parshuram. Drik Panchang says, “Parshuram Jayanti falls during Shukla Paksha Tritiya in the month of Vaishakha. It is believed that Parashurama was born during Pradosh Kala (one and half hour before sunset) and hence, the day when Tritiya prevails during Pradosh Kala is considered for Parashurama Jayanti celebrations.” The purpose of the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu is to relieve the Earth’s burden ..

MORE than 100 days after the military coup in Myanmar that toppled the elected government of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, the nation continues to resist the Junta with little success. The military, or Tatmadaw, have seized control after the shocking takeover but has trampled the ideals of democracy with its muscle might. Over 800 people have died in the anti-coup protests while more than 1,000 have been detained by the military. Lethal force is being unleashed by the Junta to crush resistance even as a report ..

IN POLITICS, every communication has to be countered with a repartee or even reprimand. That is what Congress party’s Interim President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi seems to have done in response to a letter from Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) President Mr. Jagat Prasad Nadda. Instead of paying attention to the issues raised by Mr. Nadda, the Congress leader appears to have accused the BJP of playing letter-politics and muddling issues. In a way, Mr. Nadda’s letter does not seem to have served much purpose -- ..

THIS definition takes us into an entirely different imagery, far more pregnant with possibilities and potential. It comes very close to the mental state of a poet in the process of creation. It is absolutely easy to imagine a child restive in sleeplessness, waiting for the dawn to emerge in the distance -- so that she can get going with the next day. Of course, life must go on, and nobody understands this better than a little child. Yes, life must go on despite the sleepless night, despite the ..

INDIA is in a state of biological war against an invisible enemy (coronavirus), which has imposed unprecedented health emergency of this century. While the magnitude of cases and sudden spike, in second wave, has pushed many countries into unsurmountable shortages, but it does put a question mark on handling of the pandemic this time, in comparison to much better handling of pandemic last year during first wave by India. While specialists may cite many reasons for such hike, from double mutation ..

THIS has become a major social and educational issue in the past quarter of a century. More and more families have children studying in English medium schools -- in which there is a planned neglect of mother-tongue as a great source of joy, if not as a medium of instruction. In home after home, we come across children who cannot read or write in their respective mother-tongues properly. And by all standards, this is an unfortunate situation. The effort here is not to cast an aspersion on English as ..

  ALREADY struggling to keep things in order before the country hosts the prestigious Olympics Games in July this year, Japan is now facing a stiff opposition from the local populace over hosting of the event. The Olympics 2020, postponed to 2021, due to the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic are still scheduled to be held with new safety protocols including no travel permission to overseas fans. However, now with even the local people taking to on-line petitions against the Games it ..

AFTER the hiccups in personal meetings to chalk out a long-term plan for mutual benefits, Britain’s Prime Minister Mr. Boris Johnson and PM Mr. Narendra Modi finally could hold a virtual summit to kickstart a long-lasting Indo-UK partnership in crucial sectors...

THE violence unleashed by goon-gangs on workers and supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal is proving to be a more serious and weightier issue than the third-time oath of Ms. Mamata Banerjee as Chief Minister of the State. No matter the allegations and counter-allegations about who is indulging in violence, the State is now confronted with a massive question-mark on the integrity of Madam Banerjee’s leadership. And beyond all doubts, it is obvious that this is happening because ..

THIS appears to be rather too simplistic a definition offered by none other than a poet of the eminence of William Wordsworth. Each of these eight words is true. Yet, the process of poetry is not as simple as it may make some to gather an impression from this definition. Read any Wordsworth poem -- or for that matter by any one in any language anywhere in the world -- and you would know that creating poetry has several layers to it, and is very complex far beyond words to capture it successfully...

WITH COVID-19 spreading globally and the pandemic is seen far from ebbing, vaccine diplomacy has become a new dimension in India-China spat to win diplomatic and economic influences in South Asia. So far, China was using trade and investment mantle, including loaning through Belt and Road Initiative, to exert its political and economic influences in developing and poor nations in South Asia and South East Asia. The COVID-19 shifted the power game to soft power influences. There are three biggest manufactur..

The stern, no-nonsense observation by the Madras High Court’s first Bench of Chief Justice Mr. Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Mr. Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy stating that the Election Commission is singularly responsible for the second wave of COVID-19 in the country, has to be understood in totality. The honourable judges have verbalised the sentiment of the entire nation on a major concern. Earlier, too, a Bench of the honourable Delhi High Court consisting of Justice Bipin Sanghi and Justice ..

WHAT being decried and debunked derisively as ‘vaccine diplomacy’ until now is now paying back for India. Help is pouring into India from all over the world for its fight against the second surge of the scourge of coronavirus. The countries by which India stood in their hour of crisis are now beginning to return favours to India by filling in medical supplies whose shortage is troubling the country in a big way. In this hour of crisis, thus, the world appears to be a better place with all countries ..

IN THE judgement of the case – Sandeep Khaitan, Resolution Professional for National Plywood Industries Ltd. v. JSVM Plywood Industries Ltd. & Another delivered on April 22, 2021, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice K. M. Joseph, at the Supreme Court have prefaced their findings in the judgement with the observation that the contours of the jurisdiction under section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code are far too well settled to require articulation or reiteration, while at the same time pointed ..

The Jain community of the entire world is gearing to celebrate Mahaveer Janmakalyanak or Mahaveer Jayanti or birth anniversary of Bhagwan Mahaveer, the 24th Teerthankar of Jain community, on April 25. In the present situation, Mahaveer Jayanti will be celebrated in low key manner. Vardhaman Mahaveer preached the path of righteousness. According to him, “Samyak Darshan (right faith), Samyak Jnana (right knowledge) and Samyak Charitra (right conduct) are the four basic principles to be followed together ..

   THOUGH he was personally very philosophical about life-and-death cycle, the death of great Islamic scholar and author Maulana Wahiduddin Khan has caused deep anguish to all those who worked for social unity beyond religious barriers. Though he lived up to the ripe old age of 96 years, everybody wished him to live forever. His passing away is certainly a great loss to the larger Indian society. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan spent every moment of his fulfilling life in offering a correct ..

WHILE American investors were upbeat in India, despite COVID 19 ravaged the economy, Japanese investors slipped into coma. Both are among five top foreign investors in India. US investment in India surged by 297.2 per cent in 2020 over the preceding year and Japanese investment fell by 59.4 per cent during the same period. In 2019, investment from both USA and Japan were neck to neck, with marginal increase of USA investment over the Japanese investment. The truth behind this paradox lies with USA ..

FOR AS IF it is its policy, the Congress party has been pressing for imposition of strict lockdowns in most States around the country, even though it may in power in some of those. On the face of the demand, it appears fairly logical that the country’s oldest party is seeking initiatives to break the ugly virus chain through lockdowns. This stance of the Congress party, however, is quite confusing in the sense its leaders have spared nothing to blast the very idea of lockdown earlier. It appears that ..

THE current turmoil raging in Pakistan seeking expulsion of Ambassador of France from the country, is nothing but an Islamist excess that does not stand to reason. Islamist groups are protesting publication of what they call blasphemous caricatures in a French journal last September. These groups have unleashed violence in several cities in Pakistan and are attacking security forces. The atmosphere is so politically-vitiated that many in the security forces, too, are joining the bandwagon in what ..

INDIA Inc. is proving to be very alert to the needs of the current moment and is gearing up to lend a helping hand to the Government’s efforts. Many a corporate company has stepped forward to start manufacturing medical-grade oxygen in existing facilities. Some corporates are also known to have stopped the production of their mandated items only to accommodate the..

THE decision of people in authority first to curtail the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar and then to cancel the Ram Navami celebrations in Ayodhya in view of the growing coronavirus pandemic should be considered one of the best in the recent times. What was utterly essential at this point in time has been done, for which the authorities deserve appreciation. Now, it is expected that devotees and religious and social organisations cancel the upcoming Ram Navami celebrations and get engaged in worship individually ..

THROUGH her judgment in the case –Treasa Josfine v. State of Kerala, delivered on April 9, 2021, Justice Anu Sivaraman at the Kerala High Court, Eranakulam, has done her bit to provide much needed substance to the much talked about, a little hollow concept of empowerment of women, which receives lot of lip-service without required visible progress, as it is suffering lot of sabotage from within due to our obsolete mindset. Referring to the basic contention of the State Government that the provisions ..

THERE is no relevance of the theme of this edition of ‘Loud Thinking’ to the current coronavirus pandemic. There is a larger and deeper meaning to it, which we must understand. It suggests something very critical in the crucial zone of parenting or child-upbringing. It suggests that parents or elders in the family need to think far more deeply about how to handle the issue of wonderful young minds and bodies growing within the confines of the home. This headline -- “Don’t quarantine the children; ..

PAKISTAN finds itself embroiled in a fresh turmoil as Islamist politics has taken a violent turn in the past few days. Thousands of people are pouring out into major cities to lodge protest against the Imran Khan Government whose Police opened fire on angry mobs killing several people. The Police also have arrested reportedly countless hundreds of people for rioting and attacking Government servants. The events suggest that all the mishandling of the situation by Prime Minister Mr. Imran Khan is ..

“IF THEY go, we’ll all have to go. That’s the reality of it,” said a British source about President Joe Biden’s announcement that the last American troops will be out of Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. (What can possibly have possessed him to choose that date?) Not only the remaining 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan will go, but also the 7,000 British and other NATO troops in the country. Actually, they were ready to go long ..

THE action of the Election Commission against some unacceptable campaign practices by the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal should answer directly the barbed criticism by Trinamool Congress leader Ms. Mamata Banerjee. ..

THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has continued its policy of low interest rates in the recently announced monetary policy. Commercial banks can continue to borrow monies from RBI at a low rate of 4 per cent per annum. The average cost incurred by the banks in acquiring deposits, however, remains more than this because they have already taken fixed deposits from the public at higher interest rates. Thus the average cost of acquiring deposits at present is about 7 per cent. This average cost would have ..

SIXTY long years ago, Soviet union’s cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin took that pioneering flight into outer space. Before that, a couple of animals had been sent on such journeys around Planet Earth, as essential steps in Man’s quest to reach to the farthest possible frontiers of the universe. Space research had begun much earlier, locking two of world superpowers in a race in which even a loser was a winner, in a sense. For, the effort was to master space, to go beyond the horizon and deep into something ..

THE events during the campaign for Legislative Assembly elections in West Bengal demonstrate beyond doubt that Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee has chosen to invite confrontation with the Centre as part of her overall political strategy. Each of her statements during the first four phases of polling process demonstrates quite candidly that somehow, Madam Banerjee is instigating not just her cadres to resort to unlawful methods but also daring the Central agencies ..

THIS is one pang faced universally by countless people who often see the world beyond themselves, or who omit self from their own consideration. Mir Muhammad Taqi Mir often brings to fore such stabs of human emotion in masterful words. It is this ability of Mir’s that even led the unofficial poet laureate of Urdu to say: Rekhta Ke Tum Hi Ustad Nahi Ho, Ghalib, (You Are Not The Only Master of Rekhta -- treasure of Urdu expressions --, Ghalib,) Kehte Hain Agle Zamane Mein Koi Mir Bhi Thaa! (They say, ..

  Kolkata (WB), April 7 (Agencies): The Election Commission is said to have sent a notice to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for trying to fan religious sentiments by asking people of Muslim community not to allow its vote to split during the legislative elections in the State. Even as the electoral arena was agog with Mamata Banerjee’s speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thundered in one of his election rallies that the whole Opposition and some sections of the media ..

  EVEN as the country fights against the second surge of coronavirus, its systems are getting strained at multiple points, including its medical systems comprising not just the treatment but also the supply of appropriate medicines at fair prices. It has been noticed that a lot of agencies and persons engaged in coronavirus treatment are taking a disadvantage of the shortage-conditions and are fleecing the helpless public. Thus, this is not just an issue of stricter regulations, but also ..

THE Government had announced a cut in the small savings rate on March 31st but withdrew it in a few hours. For example, the interest rate on 5-year National Savings Certificate (NSC) was cut from 7.9 per cent to 6.8 per cent. The interest rates on Kisan Vikas Patra, Senior Citizens Savings Scheme and Provident Fund were reduced and restored in tandem. There is no serious reason for the depositors to cry foul, however. The interest rates need to change in parallel with the rate of inflation. For ..

THE early morning scooter ride through the Seminary Hills last week was certainly a pleasurable experience, but certainly not as rewarding as it used to be say until about 15 years ago. It is true that the current summer scorch has deprived the Seminary Hills area of a lot of its greenery. The visitor finds himself staring at the dried, yellowed tree-tops in what can be considered one of the best forest patches any city can have. Despite this summer-bereftness, one cannot escape feeling very sad that ..

TIBET, famously called the roof of the world; a State in the Himalayas neighboured by India and China has for long been in a State of tussle with Beijing. China lays the claim over the entire Tibet and calls it its own territory; however, Tibet has always strived for an independent existence. This is among the many conflicts currently brewing in south Asia, probably the worse as far as the power imbalance is concerned. The water tower of Asia has for long witnessed the cold and dark nights under ..

HEALTH experts’ suggestions to the Centre to open the vaccination process for all, irrespective of their age group, holds solid ground especially after the new finding that young people infected by the coronavirus were spreading it to more people. Prof Mr Zhengmin Chen of the University of Oxford has stated that the second wave of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom was started by..

THE latest Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh claiming lives of as many as 22 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) offers a fresh reason for the Government -- and the nation -- to wage an all-out internal war on Left Wing Extremism (LWE) and crush the Maoist uprising that is so openly aimed at overthrowing the lawfully elected Government with full constitutional sanction to carry out its work as per the moral, ethical and historical tenets that have guided the Indian thought and action through ..

FOR the sixth month in a row the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections have remained above the Rs 1 lakh crore mark even as March saw a record mop-up of Rs 1.23 lakh crore. ..

FOR long years, India has been deliberating on changes to be introduced in the agriculture sector with thrust on modern technology and augmentation in farmers’ income. Not that nothing has been done in this regard so far, yet, the fact remains that India’s agriculture sector is still to wake up to modernisation. Technology has managed to penetrate into the sector with moderate gains. It is, indeed, time to change gears and give full impetus to adoption of modern practices in the agriculture sector...

EARTH Hour may have the status of a symbol in Man’s global fight to save Nature from total degradation. But its importance is far beyond just a symbol; it suggests that the human community has to unite to reverse the damage Man’s greed has caused to Nature, as very rightly stressed by Mr. Marco Lambertini, Director General of Worldwide Fund International (WWF) as world celebrated Earth Hour at 8.30 p.m. on the last Saturday of March. Switching off lights at that moment all over the world at local ..

THE message from Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi from his various speeches in Dhaka and also from the opinion piece in the Bangladesh newspaper ‘The Star’ is clear and clean. Expounding India’s vision and position on multi-lateral relations in the subcontinental neighbourhood, Mr. Modi stated that India and Bangladesh favoured a terror-free atmosphere where peace was the dominant condition. He also indicated how expansionism was an anathema that every democratic country should shun. The Prime Minister’s ..

    “Happy my first foreign visit after COVID-19 pandemic onset will be to our friendly neighbour Bangladesh with which India shares deep cultural, linguistic and people-to-people ties,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his departure statement. The Prime Minister noted that he was visiting Bangladesh on the invitation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He will also call on Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid. ...THE historicity of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s ..

  LEGENDARY playback singer Asha Bhosle is no stranger to top recognition and awards. Already owner of a generous kitty of national honours, Asha Bhosle has received another feather to add to her cap with the Maharashtra Government’s decision to confer ‘Maharashtra Bhushan’ award on her. The top award of Maharashtra has gone to a deserving legend whose musical journey is for generations. Despite being in her 80s, Asha Bhosle still resembles a bubbling fountain of youth. ..

WALKINg around in Ram Nagar, Ram Nagar Hill Top area on a Sunday afternoon brought up forgotten memory files in the mental space. That is the area where I spent my wonderful, fun-filled, happy childhood through school and then youth through college. That was a different scene -- sixty years ago -- so firmly wedged in the mind that I refuse to accept the change that has come over the area in the past few decades. Mind gets weighed down with certain sadness at the loss of the serenity that enveloped ..

THE Government is to soon notify the rules for implementing the new Labour Code. Some provisions of the Code are pro-labour. For example, the proceedings in a case of misconduct by a worker have to be completed in 90 days. Gratuity will now be payable to workers who have worked more than one year. Fixed-term employees have been given entitlement to all benefits that are payable to permanent employees. Other provisions are anti-labour. Closure or retrenchment for establishments employing less than ..

HEEDING to the call of expert groups monitoring the efficacy of Covishield vaccine, the Centre has taken a timely and wise decision to revise the interval between two doses of the vaccine to four to eight weeks. Present protocol mandated the second dose to be administered between four to six weeks. Extending the time window to eight weeks is a prudent move as scientific data in many parts of the world suggested that protection against COVID-19 is enhanced if the second dose..