Column

Of how not to handle urban waste

THE massive fire at Bhandewadi garbage dump-yard was actually waiting to happen for long. In the past, too, the mountains of urban garbage had caught fire on some occasions. But this time, the fire is truly massive and may prove a major challenge for the administration to handle wisely. True, the administration has pressed into operation its fire dousing mechanisms, all right. Yet, the current fire at the Bhandewadi dump-yard appears to be of proportions never seen before, never handled before. The ..

Culture Of Response

UNCERTAINTY and anxiety are the two major emotions that the world is displaying in the present times even as set norms are facing unseen challenges. Military conflicts are taking new shapes threatening to engulf wider regions, terrorism is peaking with new vengeance to disturb peace and prosperity, and Donald Trump is practicing shocking ambivalence to rock the international economy with his now-on-now-off tariff threats. It’s a topsy-turvy world, evoking panic and fear each passing day. Amid these ..

Of the mind loaded with doubt

This is actually the very essence of being -- of being oneself. Though the words are simple, and anybody may feel tempted to call this statement mediocre in import, the depth of its meaning is actually amazing -- if one chose to get to its core. Of course, even when he wrote literally hundreds of science-fiction books, Issac Asimov often loved to express himself in the simplest of words. He also believed that basically science, too, is a simple natural phenomenon that can be understood by anybody. ..

GST NOT APPLICABLE TO VARSITY

I N T HE judgment of the writ petition filed by Goa University Registrar, Vishnu Sakharam Nadkarni, delivered on April 15, 2025, Justices M.S. Karnik and Nivedita P.Mehta, at Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court, have held that the activities of the petitioner-Goa University, not being commercial in nature, are not amenable to GST, as there is a complete absence of jurisdictional facts to issue the impugned show cause notice. In view of this legal position, the High Court allowed the Petitioner-University’s ..

Uncover The Dark Truth - IX

“It is worth keeping in mind that the Chinese on the whole have a profound contempt for the Indians, and also a sense of very considerable superiority towards them ... While an Indian on occasion may be sentimental, the Chinese is essentially a realist ... on the personality side while the Indians are frequently superior, the Chinese Communist leaders are physically and morally of an altogether tougher breed and fibre. - A note filed by British officers in the Foreign Office in May 1950, presenting ..

OF SPEED & SCALE - II

The applicability to ‘speed and scale’ to the education sector is laying the foundation for negative results. Generally, no one fails today despite scrapping the ‘no fail policy’. Everyone moves up the ladder, irrespective of quality considerations. This is creating contradictions too wherein many hardworking candidates also get deprived of deserving a seat in branch of interest, but some get there easily on the strength of money and access. How is this going to create a meritocracy required to make ..

Of the blind leadership of the city

IT MAY be very difficult even for an ardent supporter of Nagpur’s political and civic leadership to appreciate the ubad-khabad manner in which the administration has designed the two intersections on the Central Bazar Road in West Nagpur -- one at Ramdaspeth near Deekshabhoomi and the other at the Bajaj Nagar square. The administration is not using the usual interlocking blocks in these two places, but has chosen to use what may be described as gravel stones (the material they used in urban spaces ..

The Burning State

BENGAL is a burning deck, again, devouring innocent lives while the State leadership is indulging in mollycoddling of the aggressors. A legislative reform, passed by a valid Constitutional process, has been allowed to morph into a communal tinderbox in the State notorious for appeasing radical elements. People are being hacked to death, families are fleeing homes, mass exodus has turned the situation into a mobocracy, and yet the Chief Minister is dealing it all with kid gloves...

Of the dance in the heart

THIS is art’s essence ! The art -- any art -- is in the heart, and it expresses itself through different instruments. The heart -- and the head, too -- is the sanctuary of art, thus, where the art first germinates and sprouts and blossoms and sends out its fragrance. And then come in the connoisseurs who receive the rendition, rejoice its flourish, nourish their souls in its wake, rejuvenate their spirits. For a performing artist with an intense personality -- like Sonal Mansingh -- dance is an inner ..

Of Speed & Scale - I

Speed is good if it is regulated in a manner that it does not become the cause of an accident. Scale is fine if it does not lead to compromise with quality. When the leaders talk of ‘speed and scale’ in the same breath, then they must ensure that both the concepts together yield positive results only for the Indian society, and the negative aspects are taken care of in a well-rounded manner. Else, the economic bloom may wilt because of lack of quality in, and moral degeneration of, the human resource ..

Of the difference between yesterday and today

THE young newspaper Reporter would move on his bicycle all over the city no matter the sun or the moon or the rain or the season, his camera slung across his shoulder. He took pictures, wrote down notes in his small pad, ate idli-vada for a mere one rupee at any place, and drink water from any public tap without the fear of infection. Thankfully, in those days, political, social and administrative leaders of Nagpur boasted that 98% of the city’s water supply was “protected”. Those were the wonderful ..

Befriending The Lion

 By Rahul Dixit :  India’s diplomatic circles were anticipating a cold relation between Colombo and New Delhi. However, the MoU on defence cooperation, first of its kind, and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake reaffirming the co..

‘THE TRUTH’

FROM “set of lies agreed upon” to “...written by victors,” History often finds itself denounced for inglorious ‘tilt.’ It was meant to connect the presentwith thepastjoiningdotsso that thechainof events, its causes and implications could be understood. Knowledge gained thus could have lit the path of the presentso thatitcouldhaveseen fartherinto the future. Alas, history’s ‘inglorious tilt!’ This near-fatal flaw is the result of it being chiselled by human hands. These hands are often led by minds ..

Of the divine singularity

The import of this state of being is beyond common human comprehension. True, artists in any genre know of such a state of being, such a state of spiritual singularity with their art. The whole experience is just divine -- to say the least. Many persons steeped in their respective arts may use similar words to describe their relationship with art. Yet, it is necessary to admit that such an immersion is achieved only in rare cases. For, connoisseurs can sense two identities operating simultaneously ..

‘Illegal Building Intolerable’

 By Adv. R. S. Agrawal : The HC has found it quite astonishing that even the police authorities who are the eyes of the City Administration did not point out to the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation about construction though a duty is cast upon..

Uncover The Dark Truth - VII

“War-monger and alarmist” people like Lt. General Thorat or Lt. General P.N. Thapar (who pushed Exercise Sheel) were almost ill-treated by the establishment in New Delhi -- of course much to the peril of India. On the other hand, diplomats and members of Indian delegations mandated to deal with the Chinese at the negotiation table felt “hemmed in by political constraints”...

IGNOBLE INTENTIONS

The steps taken by ‘Nobel’ laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus reflect his ignoble intentions as far as longheld ties with India are concerned. Instead of focussing on restoring peace and stability domestically and having progressive thinking to recharge Bangladesh’s economy, he appears to be deliberately working on destroying historic ties with India, encouraging radical forces within his country, reaching out to terror-exporting failed country like Pakistan, and offering crucial pivot to the Communist ..

Of the people’s complaints in hushed voices

THERE may not be any social group in Nagpur -- formal or informal -- whose members do not complain about the way the city is being “developed” by powers that be. Those complaints are generally in hushed voices, as if no one wants anybody else to hear what the complaints are about. The complaints, however, are about cement roads being thrust upon the city when they are not a dire necessity. The complaints are also about the mushrooming of fly-overs all over the city when their need is often suspect. ..

KNOW, YOU DON’T KNOW

What is palpable in the present times is the growing tendency of using half-baked knowledge as a weapon to beget confidence. There is also a tendency to believe in what is served as authentic information without the need to verify the source or content. It is giving rise to false confidence as the ignorant are using the same content to prove one’s worth on a topic in discussion, further raising the danger of a multiplication of misinformation...

Of architecture of personality

 BVDoshi at work  By Vijay Phanshikar :“Architecture should be treated as designing for aspiration that allows people to become what they have the potential to be”. - Famous architect B.V. Doshi,on his idea of architecture.DESIG..

Mediclaim Not Deductible

ON MARCH 28, 2025, a larger Bench of the Bombay High Court at Mumbai, consisting of Justice Atul S Chandurkar, Justice Milind N Jadhav and Justice Gauri Godse, while answering a Reference in negative, has held that question as framed ought to be answered in the negative...

Mystery of the missing millions

  By Aasawari Shenolikar :  “DID you pick up the Rs 100 note on the dining table? This was payment for the newspaper vendor,” I asked in hushed tones. It was addressed to my better half, known for his uncanny ability to clean an..

New normals, new definitions, new thinking

THIS ‘new’ pandemic is threatening to devastate our society today. New normals are in place, new definitions are being written. New thinking is declaring old thought-process as obsolete. Its dimensions can be disturbing, of course, on many counts. One of the new normals is that young people get up late in the morning. They also go to bed after the rest of the world has finished more than half its night. Because they go to bed late in the night, they feel they have earned a right to get up late in ..

Uncover The Dark Truth - VI

SUCH derogatory references can be available in innumerable books and records of the top Indian military commanders about the Chinese invasion of 1962. Each of those high-ranking officers made sincere efforts to approach the political leadership of that time -- Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Defence Minister Mr. Krishna Menon plus others -- to convince them to draw up a considered strategic and security policy and act accordingly. But all those approaches went unheard, and what actually ..

HISTORY OF DEFEATS? NO!

First they manufactured tured distorted history of India as that of defeats and subjugation. Then, they peddled fake narratives. Then, they used a blend of distorted history and fake narratives to sow an inferiority complex among Indians. Then, they glorified the invaders and colonialists by attributing credit of everything good and great in India to them. Then, they started sowing seeds of discord in society by attaching the labels of castes and religion to even the great Indian warriors and saints ..

Of the city’s monumental apathy to history

THERE is no doubt that the city of Nagpur has a great history of its own -- replete with a great story that runs through centuries, through decades, years -- crafted and scripted by people of eminence and substance in diverse fields. The city has had great political leaders, social reformers and thinkers, educational torch-bearers, scientists, scholars of indology, leading lights of armed forces. The city boasts two of the world’s greatest moments and movements -- the foundation of the Rashtriya Swayamseva..

Of the fourth dimension

THE statement is very profound -- though, of course, crisp. It points to the great artist’s spiritual need to add more dimensions to his flat, two-dimensional medium -- canvas! This approach needs deeper scrutiny. The very word ‘sculpt’ points to an effort to lift a subject over and above the surface of the medium, to add certain depth to the subject, to offer it a relief from the confines of the surface’s flat arena. In other -- and simple -- words, Jatin Das tries to add more dimensions to the flat, ..

Of the fourth dimension

THE statement is very profound -- though, of course, crisp. It points to the great artist’s spiritual need to add more dimensions to his flat, two-dimensional medium -- canvas! This approach needs deeper scrutiny. The very word ‘sculpt’ points to an effort to lift a subject over and above the surface of the medium, to add certain depth to the subject, to offer it a relief from the confines of the surface’s flat arena. In other -- and simple -- words, Jatin Das tries to add more dimensions to the flat, ..

Poll Pleas Fail Against Gadkari

JUSTICE Urmila Joshi-Phalke, at the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court, has dismissed two Election Petitions filed by Advocate Santosh Tulshiram Chavhan and Suraj Baliram Mishra against the victory in General Elections last year, of the Union Minister Nitin Gadkari from the Nagpur Constituency to the Lok Sabha, on March 19, 2025. In quite meaningful observation, the HC has stated in its separate judgments that “seeing from any angle, it becomes clear that in absence of pleadings as to the “material ..

UNCOVER THE DARK TRUTH - V

  By VIJAY PHANSHIKAR : .....time appears to have come for the Indian nation to start asking for more detailed information and analysis of those times when India became a laughing stock in the world.The Government must dig out every such re..

ROLE & RESPONSIBILITY

OVER the past few years, a great thing is happening. The Indian film industry has shifted its focus to making historical or what is generally referred to as mythological events or characters. Some movies have done extremely well at the box office, attracting more producers and actors and actresses to this genre. However, with more people getting involved, a new concern has emerged -- Whether the actors and actresses in particular are really portraying the roles of heroes or heroines from history or ..

Neutral Is The Top Gear

THE world continues to be an intriguing place as surprises and shocks flow unabated in international relations. War looms over some regions even as peace hovers above the dark clouds, awaiting a landing in conflict-zones that are full of negotiators and deal-makers. The geopolitical theatre has too many actors on the stage at this time, jostling for their spot under the limelight. Holding firm on the stage is India, practicing its commitment to strategic autonomy with a multi-vector foreign policy. ..

Of capturing divine spark

  By Vijay Phanshikar :“Photography is, to me, more than a means of expression, more than my particular profession – it is a way of life. And if I were asked to choose one word which holds the key to my work I would select ‘lig..

Pension To Former Judge

IN THE judgement of the case Pushpa Virendra Ganediwala v. High Court of Judicature of Bombay & others, delivered on March 13, 2025, at the Principal Seat of the HC at Mumbai, the Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Bharati Dangre have held that the expression, ‘retirement’ in section 14 and 15(1) of the High Court Judges (salaries and Conditions of Services) Act, 1954 has been used in a broad sense and it includes the case of retirement on resignation as well. The criteria of entitlement to pension ..

Incubators Of Subversion

Cultural Marxism’ is the intellectual elaboration of a ‘will-to-destroy’ as it pertains to traditional cultural and societal bastions. Karl Marx had a will-to-destruction, and ‘The Communist Manifesto’ is a handbook for the destruction of whatever remained in this late epoch of the West of the organic bonds such as family, marriage, faith and the pre-capitalist attachment to village, church, and land. Rather than decrying the destruction of these organic bonds, Marx regarded them as ‘bourgeois’ institution..

Of a massive deception -- popular and official ! - III

THE discussions and actions in Delhi cause a heart-ache in Nagpur -- about the project of cleansing the Yamuna river that runs for 52 kilometers in the capital State. The Delhi administration has pressed into service many modern dredging machines to clean up the garbage dumped into the Yamuna river, and the people in general are cross-checking the credibility of the Delhi Government’s promise of completing the work in three years. Most experts and common people tend to believe that the task of cleansing ..

Colour Of Money

GREY is the overbearing hue of the global economy in the current phase, painted by the unpredictable and rash strokes from the President of the United States Donald Trump. Each day, the POTUS is unleashing quirky executive orders on nations, supposedly inimical to his MAGA plans, while markets around the world are cowering under immense pressure. The sombre mood is unambiguously reflected in Indian markets, too, as since the last three months the colour of money here is red ... DARK RED. All the green ..

As the Nature wearscolours of the spirit

THE Great American writer, philosopher, poet Ralph Waldo Emerson felt that Nature always wears the colours of the spirit. I am not sure if he was awareof thecolourfully spirited festival of Holi celebrated in India. For if he had, he would have elucidated his statement with a fine example. The festival of coloursis upon us. And though the fire of the celebrations will beignited tomorrow,Naturehas already adorned the colours of the spirit. Or to bemoreprecise, thehuman spirit will wear the colour of ..

Of reinventing self

IN THIS 318-page memoir-like look back on his “beginnings”, the legendary Bill Gates presents a truly wonderfully documented account of his childhood blossoming into an early entrepreneurship that ultimately made a story that needs to be told to every child in the world. For record, it certainly is the story of a precocious little one who dreams shockingly big and earns strength to make those come true. But more truthfully, ‘Source Code’ is the story of a boy who has continued to be that eight-year ..

Case of ‘Mental Cruelty’

In the context of matrimonial cruelty, the Supreme Court has stated that the Judges and lawyers should not import their own notions of life. Each case may be different. New type of cruelty may crop up in any case depending upon the human behaviour, capacity or incapability to tolerate the conduct complained of. Such is the wonderful realm of cruelty...

Pollution Politics

Everywhere else in the world, rivers are considered a ‘resource’. In India, rivers are considered sacred, living presences, deities. Many of those peddling narratives of pollution in the holy river Ganga or at the sacred Triveni Sangam at Prayagraj that hosted the world’s biggest congregation of the faithfuls, are actually trying to use river pollution as a ploy to target the Hindu faith. Of course, none of them will admit this. But, none of them will question why developed countries sermonise India ..

Of irresponsible stunts on roads

THAT the people in the city of lakes are happy with the general improvement in the quality of roads in the past some time, must be noted. But when that sense of happiness spills out in the form of rash driving of motor cars and two-wheelers and also in the form of dangerous stunts that jeopardise lives of the drivers or riders or others on the road, then it is time to apply a stern brake on such activities. That is what Bhopal cops have done in the past couple of days -- by taking strict action against ..

Of a massive deception -- popular and official ! - II

THEY -- a ‘Hitavada’ Reporter and Photographer -- travelled for over 35 kilometers along the Naag River from its eastern end near Bharatwada right up to the Ambazari Lake taking a close look at the overall condition of the city’s signature waterbody. Near Bharatwada, the Naag River meets the Pili River, forming a truly picturesque confluence. But as The Hitavada team travelled along the stream towards the west, it realised the horrible condition into which the city of Nagpur -- that is its people ..

‘Overstepping Jurisdiction’

The SC has held that the jurisdiction ends when the bail application is finally decided. The SC’s finding in the case is that the Madras HC Single Judge has collated data from the State and made that part of the order after the decision of the bail application, as if the Court had the inherent jurisdiction to pass any order under the guise of improving the criminal justice system in the State. The jurisdiction of the Court is limited to grant or not to grant bail, pending trial. Even though the object ..

Buzz(zzz) kill

INSOMNIA - that’s what afflicts me.Very rarely, my eyes droop heavily, and I instantly enter into the world of dreamland. It’s a consistent battle every night where just as my eyes begin to close, some hormone, otherwise non-existent, suddenly kicks in, and the next moment I am wide awake. Adding to my woes are the tiny terrors of the night - the mosquitoes. If anyone asks me to list nature’s most persistent and annoying creatures - these winged vampires would occupy the top slot.I can take head on ..

BUST THE TROJAN HORSE

Whether or not the USAID provided funds for ‘voter turnout’ in India, it certainly funded several projects in India since 1951. Despite this, if the recent data coming out about USAID’s presence in India is shrouded only in trading of political charges, a comprehensive look at the impact of the foreign institutions like the USAID on the Indian collective thinking and governance may not be assessed, thereby drowning the likelihood of shaping of the Indian response to foreign funding in petty politics...

Of a massive deception -- popular and official !

NAGPURIANS have evolved their own garbage-disposal system over the years. This system is working wonderfully well. Those who use this system are happy. Those who don’t also are happy because that system does not interfere with their lives. So successful is this system of garbage-disposal that even the civic authorities are happy to allow it to persist...

Insured, Yet Unsure

A LITANY of grievances keeps flooding the social media handles of insurance companies. Each complaint demonstrates a sense of frustration, extreme anger and helplessness of a policyholder seeking end to the ordeal of claim approval. Despite the rapid strides in technology, despite initiation of new schemes in healthcare programmes, many frustrating difficulties still persist in getting insurance claims processed in the country. The insured are always on the toes in case of an emergency, dealing with ..

Where the sea meets the sky

THIS elemental dance is eternal ! Of the two blues -- the sky and the sea ! The line in the distance -- between the two -- is blur. It does not act as separation of the two elements. In fact, it acts as a cementer of the two, so to say. The line at the horizon that one sees at the far end of the sea, thus, acts more as a marker of the unity of the sea with the sky. Standing on the shore, or on a ship or even watching the play of the sky and sea at Earth’s edge from an aircraft high in the sky, one ..

Medical Admission & Disabled

The HC had rejected the claim of the appellant, a ‘person with disabilities’ and upheld the denial of admission to him, to the MBBS course. The report by Dr. Singh has an interesting reference about how in an age when robotic surgeries are relied upon, the NMC norms still insist on the “both hands intact with intact sensations” norm. Dr. Singh quotes the father of neurosurgery Harvey Cushing, who as early as in 1911, emphasised the motor skills are often “the least part of the work.”..