Editorial, "INDIAN FESTIVAL SPORTS AND CRUELTY TO ANIMALS," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 January 2017, Volume 13, Part 1, No. 1 issue

Indian Festival Sports and Cruelty to Animals

Not without profound wisdom did the saying, “Man is the most cruel animal on earth,” emerge and we see the whole history of human civilization full of gruesome bloodsheds in genocidal conflicts leading to extermination of big chunks of its own species and in egregious cruelty toward and extinction of countless bio-species. The very conduct of taming and making pets/draught animals of various animals and birds is doubtless much cruelty to them; one shudders to even think of what would be our ‘fate’ if those species were to grow more intelligent/powerful and retaliate in kind on us.  This much clearly said, it is also to be clarified that the sport of ‘Jallikattu’ which has been considered as involving cruelty to animals and its conduct provisionally banned by the Apex Court does not in fact involve any stark cruelty to animals, save that perpetrated in taming animals and, moreover, has assumed the nature of a cultural tradition cherished and now being assiduously agitated for by Tamil people. It has already been clarified in this journal earlier that “Jallikattu is a traditional sport of running with and catching bulls let loose wildly on the occasion of crops festival (Sankranthi/Pongal) days in some parts of Tamil Nadu and also in some villages of Chittoor district … … more euphorically held in Tamil Nadu with people’s emotions and sentiments attached to it. Bulls are only tamed but not killed unlike in the Spanish and French bullfights. Rather, the bull tamers often get injured and at times some even get killed. When the European Courts themselves allow the sanguine sport of bullfighting in the name of artistic expression and longstanding local tradition, there was no reason for our Apex Court to insist on banning it.” The same argument holds for the cock fights held in many Telugu districts during Sankranti festivals, though those appear bloodier and one of the cocks is almost invariably killed. But then, we cannot also overlook that chicken [meat] is one of the choicest meats cherished by a big majority of the people in India, and crores of those birds are artificially reared in poultry farms and cruelly killed in huge abattoirs. So are lakhs of cattle, especially buffaloes, killed “in revolting manner in big mechanized slaughter houses and their meat exported abroad to make … India the largest exporter of beef in the world – all this done legally without any scruples or any real protest/resistance from the so-called societies for prevention of cruelty to animals or any administrative/ judicial bodies.” So, the best solution lies in Courts not banning those, but directing the framing of strict regulations to eliminate, to the utmost extent possible, the cruelty and other related vices in their conduct. §§§

Editorial, " 'PURATCHI TALAIVI' PASSES AWAY," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 December 2016, Vol. 12, Part 2, No. 24 issue

puratchi talaivi’ passes away

in mysterious circumstances in a corporate super-specialty hospital in Madras, with the true causes and real conditions of her ailments never revealed but the entire matters suppressed in utter secrecy in a sort of ‘deep State’ said to be controlled by a Mannargudi Mafia in connivance with or perhaps even under the commands of the near-fascist central government that is running amok now. This veil of secrecy totally blinding the eyes of the public, who in millions deeply mourn the loss of this ‘revolutionary leader’, is unthinkable in a democracy with a minimum sense of transparency, accountability and respect for the public opinion. It rather reminds us of the banana republics of modern days or the palace intrigues of the olden times. Jayalalithaa Jayaram, the intelligent, erudite and talented cine actress turned politician-become head of government, who launched several welfare schemes for common people in Tamil Nadu and that way become the darling ‘amma’ (mother) of masses in millions, but also earned notoriety in political circles with her wayward conduct and corrupt practices, at times suffering obloquy and imprisonment too on that count, is an admirable, strong-willed and free thinking lady no doubt, who certainly contributed to the ‘pennin perumai’ (‘greatness of woman’ – the title of her debut speech in AIADMK sessions which captivated the audience, and paved the way for her eventual successes) and was one steadfast chief minister who could always stand up to the undue meddling of the power intoxicated central governments and strongly supported the sovereignty and autonomy of the states pleading for a genuine federal democracy. Her Rajya Sabha speech of 1984 declaring, quoting Dr. Ambedkar, that “a Federal Constitution means, that the provinces are as sovereign in their field, as the Centre is in the field which is assigned to it,” and closing with approval of the invaluable warning words of Dr. B.C. Roy that “An attempt to build a strong Centre on the Foundation of weak States, is like an attempt to build a strong building on the foundation of sand,” is indeed a precious piece to be cherished by all votaries of federal democracy. In all the gloom of the sheeple meekly following the powers that be, glad to note that there are some rays of light with some determined, democratic minded persons/groups speaking out for a judicial probe on her medical treatment and eventual demise, and we too demand a comprehensive judicial inquiry into the circumstances and causes relating to her tragic and, to say the least, suspicious death. §§§

Editorial, "MAD TUGLAQIAN MEASURES," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 December 2016, Vol. 12, Part 2, No. 23 issue

MAD TUGLAQIAN MEASURES

The chapter of Mohammed Bin Tuglaq in Indian history, with his horrible measures of madness and cruelty, is a gory interval in our long history, sometimes it seems almost incredible, but watching the mad show going on in our country now in the name of ‘banning’ of big currency notes, trumpeted as an indispensable measure for fighting corruption and ‘black money’, nothing seems impossible/un-replicable in this country. Ever since the Mahaa Moorkh announced with a bang in all pomp and show in the night of 8 November 2016 that all 500 and 1000 Rupee Notes would not be legal tender but for a few exemptions till 30 December,  that this was essential to curb, unearth and eradicate black money, the whole country is in serpentine queues for all these five weeks or more searching for paltry amounts of cash to pull on lives and in the process several persons lost their lives even. In a country where more than 80% of all financial transactions take place in cash, at least 20% have no bank accounts at all, and where 86% of the cash-coins are but these big notes, could any madder measure be conceived and sought to be implemented to destroy the people and the economy altogether, one wonders. Leave all that talk of black money, which could not be, in cash, more than 5-10% of the total cash in the country, what about the loss of lakhs of crores to the economy – of incomes to the people at large who in millions queue up before non-working ATMs and ill-equipped banks for days together? What about the loss of precious lives day in and day out of helpless persons, unable to withstand the rigors of standing? Of shutting down of industries or forcible/invisible retrenchment of lakhs of workers in not only unorganized sectors, of the woes and weal of crores of farmers who cannot sell their produce at any affordable or even low rates due to such cash crunch? Has any country in the world been able to even lessen, let alone eradicate, black money by such an insane measure? To buttress their indefensible measures the fraudsters spread all sorts of lies, including the so-called demonetization of big currency notes in the US in 1969 – which never occurred. Now they are even talking about a cashless society – a sure way to totalitarianism. And we have been seeing new sorts of corruption and black money emerging with the ruling party-wallahs preponderant in that line too, and ministers and leaders of the ruling party – Jaitley, Gadkari and Gali Janardhan Reddy et al - lolling in luxuries and spending hundreds of crores for marriages etc. when people are dying for want of trifles of cash to buy medicines or food even. In any other country, such a despicable government would have surely vanished due to people’s wrath but here it still continues to run like a bull in the China Shop. §§§

Editorial, "Remembering Castro," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15-30 November 2016 October Revolution Special issue, Vol. 12, Part 2, No. 21-22

REMEMBERING CASTRO

is not just a routine lip service homage exercise but ought to be a real rededication to the noble ideals of a humane socialism. It is almost miraculous that Castro and Che et al were able to overthrow the hated military regime of Batista – supported to the hilt by the US imperialists, and not only establish but till now protect, preserve and promote a socialist state virtually in the ‘armpit’ of America, which speaks volumes about their caliber and consistency but also about their enormous popularity, gained by sincere service to the people, of the many serious efforts at socialist construction – and achieving full literacy, quality education, shelter to all and employment to all – in a mafia and poverty ridden economy. Starvation and economic crises overcome and not only free and quality medical facilities are made available to the people but also no stone left unturned to ‘export’ medical education and health care to wherever needed. Cuba under Castro and Che not only aided but sincerely fought in the various liberation movements, defying the nasty US imperialists who were ever ready to topple them at the slightest opportunity, and earned accolades from several sterling leaders – genuine servants of the people – like Mandela, Neto, Lula, Chavez et al. Of late, Castro voluntarily withdrew from active governmental service but still remained the unquestioned, beloved leader. Many reforms were made liberalizing the economy, even allowing the currency of American dollars to an extent - unlike our own modern mad Tuglaq ‘abolishing’ our own big currency notes at the dictates of the corporate crooks – to extricate Cuba from economic crises and improve people’s living standards. His inspiration and guidance promoted the recent Latin American people’s upsurges, and gave rise to many anti-US hegemonical democratic socialist oriented regimes. We have seen the courage and fortitude displayed by Castro and Che in the catastrophic days of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis – how they challenged the mighty America and later even withstood the effects of the U-turn by the then Soviet Union and extricated their tiny state from deadly crises. There is no dearth of detractors, vilifiers and enemies – hundreds of assassination attempts were made against Castro – of Cuba and Castro but one pithy cartoon message by the American dissident counterpunch.org: “Executions in Cuba [in 57 years] under Fidel: 275; Killed by US Police in 2016 YTD: 875” is a fitting rejoinder to the stupid outburst of the US president-elect Trump unceremoniously calling him “brutal dictator”, just when the whole world was mourning and paying glowing tributes to the memory of this majestic grand old fighter for the cause of socialism, peace and human welfare. §§§

Editorial, "Can Brics Provide An Alternative?", in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 31 October 2016 issue, Vol. 12, Part 2, No. 20

CAN BRICS PROVIDE AN ALTERNATIVE?

- to the US global hegemony, of course. Even after the end of the Cold War, the US has not moderated but all the more escalated its expansionist and resource-grabbing policies and is strutting like the only superpower gobbling up millions of people as its meat. In this context the coming together of four big countries of the world, Brazil, Russia, China and India into an alliance, joined by South Africa later, to become the BRICS entity, is a welcome development. Certainly the US monopoly of and hegemony on world trade, economics and politics needs to be broken up for the welfare of humanity at large and for the protection and promotion of the sovereignty and independence of the various countries in the world. To quote Abhijit Das, “Since 2001, when Goldman Sachs coined the term “BRIC” (Brazil, Russia, India, China), the acronym has come into widespread use and potentially marks a shift in global economic power away from the developed G7 economies towards the developing world. …BRIC countries … developing rapidly and by 2050 their combined GDP could eclipse the combined economies of the current richest countries of the world. These four countries … account for more than a quarter of the world’s land area, 40% of the world’s population, and have a combined GDP (PPP) of US$ 20.39 trillion in 2011. … The BRIC countries have been engaged with one another to enhance cooperation in various economic and financial areas. The bloc has been enlarged as South Africa joined the group during the BRICS Summit held in Sanya, China in April 2011.” It is also exhilarating to know that a conference of IT ministers and teams of BRICS countries has taken place last October to discuss the ways and means to de-monopolize the Internet too, now in the clutches of the US government and multinationals, and not infrequently misused, and at any time can even be access-blocked for their ‘enemy countries’ etc. at their whim and fancy. As the Russian IT Minister disclosed, “we really require some kind of diversification of the IT solutions – we need joint efforts by all BRICS nations, because we represent just about half of the population of the planet…. we really want it to be balanced, not to depend on one country or several companies. We really want fair competition … But also we’re concerned … with such issues as the management, the governance of the critical internet infrastructure. It’s also … an issue of monopolization. …today it’s still under a particular government contract between the government of the US and a legal entity ... called ICANN … assigning domain names, internet addresses. But, still, it’s a legal entity under the US law.” The recent BRICS summit held under Indian chair in Goa is a refreshing breeze with all the five participating countries unanimously consenting to exert their abilities to counter international terrorism, though there were objections to the naming of any particular country as the ‘mother-ship of terrorism’, and also concluding several mutually beneficial economic and political pacts. §§§

Editorial, "The Ugly Presidential Race," in LAW ANIMATED WORLD, 15 October 2016 issue, Vol. 12, Part 2, No. 19

THE UGLY PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Sometimes there seems to be very little to choose between the two eccentric and aggressive candidates of the current presidential race in the United States, which is derided in general as a two-party oligarchy in the guise of democracy, with whoever comes to power toeing the hard line of the powerful military-industrial cum financial crooks who are in reality running the governments. But sometimes it also seems to be a very crucial one which can decide even the fate of the entire world – as to whether it would be pushed into a nuclear Armageddon by the warmongering Killary clique, being supported by several republican neocons too, or be saved from its brink by the no-war, no-intervention protagonists whom in general Trump represents – as the reputed economists and political analysts like Paul Craig Roberts and Stephen Lendman often assert. The contest has escalated to typical American obscene proportions by the fishing out of a 11 year old locker room chat of Trump’s infatuation with grabbing the ‘pussies’ and the counter propaganda of Bill Clinton’s actual rapes and the ‘oral orifice’ proceedings as also Hillary’s own fascination for the male organs.  But as Paul Craig Roberts rightly rues, “What disturbs me about the importance attributed to Trump’s sexual banter is that we have in front of us the dangerous situation of the neoconservatives pushing for Washington to attack Syrian and Russian forces in Syria and the chief Washington propagandist, neocon Carl Gershman, calling publicly for the US to “summon the will” to bring regime change to Russia. The tensions between the two nuclear powers are currently at all time highs, and this dangerous situation is not a factor in the US presidential election!” It is also said that “Both Trump and Clinton are more strongly disliked than any nominee at this point in the past 10 presidential cycles. Clinton’s “unfavourability rating” is 55% and Trump’s 65%.” That the Americans have to choose between “two flawed candidates” in a “campaign of ‘you may not like me, but you’ll like my opponent less’.” Stephen Lendman is more forthright: “The prospect of Hillary succeeding Obama should terrify everyone, an unapologetic war goddess threatening everyone. Businessman Trump would rather profit from relations with Russia than bomb it. Neocon hawk Hillary risks waging potentially cataclysmic nuclear war. Which agenda do you support? A simple choice. Wall Street, war profiteers, media scoundrels, corporate pollsters, and bipartisan lunatics infesting Washington one-sidedly back a she-devil whose extremism may kill us all.” Though the constraints of ‘choosing the lesser evil’ may not be palatable always, this time your editor prefers to travel with Paul Craig Roberts and Stephen Lendman. §§§