Ban on kid reality shows

The national highest court, Supreme Court of India, is urged by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to order a ban on reality shows on television involving children and babies. This is urgently required in view of the stress and emotional disturbance caused by the competition in the shows. Children are not really matured to go through that type of emotional and cut-throat competition witnessed on television.

The amount of time spent away from the parents, the exploitation by the media, the pressure on the children to do their best and the glamorous environment to which the children are subjected over long periods of time are going to have severe adverse impact on the children. The sudden change in the life style is going to affect the young minds and will leave them confused socially.

The government should formulate appropriate act similar to Goa Children’s Act 2003 so that such exploitation by the media and often by the greedy parents themselves should be stopped. One should not tamper with their innocence.

CAT – Reduce the weightage from this academic year itself

CAT is slowing losing its past glory by sheer mismanagement of the online Common Admission Test (CAT) this year. Added to this, is the news that many IIMs considering lowering the weightage given to the CAT results from 90 points to 50 points or less. This is a good move. Rightly, the IIMs are considering more weightage to class X and XII marks, work experience, the performance of the candidate in personal interview and group discussion.

Now, with regard to the retest conducted for about 2000 students: First of all, the retest should have been taken for all the candidates. Many candidates who had problems during the first test were not called for the retest. The criteria were not clear. Many who were called were not interested in giving the retest, and now it is said that the test papers were identical on some days in the subsequent two slots!

This is totally unfair situation to the candidates who appeared in the first test. The candidates who gave retests are definitely going to be benefited by this decision.

It is only fair to one and all that from this academic year itself, the weightage for the CAT marks should be brought down to 50% or less.

Global Warming: Finally, the Cat is out of the Bag.

I have been writing all along (since Dec. 2007) that there is some thing seriously wrong in IPCC predictions on global warming. The much respected UN-led Intergovernmental Panel (IPCC) has been making tall and frightening claims linking the climate changes we are witnessing today to Global Warming. The IPCC wrongly linked the warming to hurricanes and floods.

Now, it is out that the IPCC predictions were based on unpublished research papers and there is goof-up in the Himalayan glacial melting predictions. In fact, a study shows that the glacier has gained 1.76 sq.km in the past four decades. Just now, world over, we are facing the most severe winter.

It is time that the climate change scientists should be issued global warning so that such false alarms are not raised just to be in the limelight.

Scientists inflated global warming scare!

This is the headline in one of the Indian news papers. It was reported that the hacked email messages received from some of the American and British researchers at a British University sparked a stir around the world. The reason is: the researchers have questioned the scientific consensus on global warming. Some papers have hidden the data on decline in temperatures! Efforts by some scientists were also made to withhold information which were contrary to the “assumption” that the climate change is man-made and is due to enhanced global warming.

Let us all frankly accept that there is very little contribution from man-made warming to the climate change we are witnessing today.

BJP will never win from Navi Mumbai unless

Navi Mumbai is the developing satellite city of Mumbai. Large number of educated Mumbaikars has shifted to Navi Mumbai and they have settled in newly developed sectors of different nodes. Every one agrees that the vote bank of BJP is from the educated and employed class of people.

It is everyone’s guess that in the last two elections in India, the Congress and NCP, somehow have ensured that the newly migrated population groups in are not there in the list of residents eligible to vote. Many have filled up the forms but their names have not appeared in the list.

The BJP volunteers should go from flat to flat in the buildings and make sure that the residents are registered in the voters’ list for the next elections. The party should also try to solve some of the sector-specific issues which are bothering the residents. Only then, the residents will come out and vote for the party. The most awaited change will only come afterwards.

Obama wins peace Nobel for nuclear disarmament

It is going to affect India much more than to any other country. It is well known that Obama is for disarmament of the countries of nuclear weapons. That means he will pressurize all the countries, mainly the new entrants to the Nuclear Club to stop producing nuclear materials and the nuclear weapons. Prime Minister of India also has been a supporter of the disarmament, but without any discrimination.

By awarding Noble Peace Prize to US President Obama, he will be encouraged to take the position of Global Leader to ensure peace. But, it is too early to award of such a prestigious award anticipating peace initiative in this terror and hunger stricken world. Everybody including himself was shocked. There are other more important issues like global warming, providing clean drinking water and food to the poor billions need to be addressed. Nuclear is not the only issue that needs consideration.

Climate Change – watery grave in the near future?

A study by British Met Office indicated that the actual climate change situation is serious than that predicted by IPCC. More extreme changes can happen, says the research scholar at the Climate Change Conference held at Oxford University. The global temperature is likely to rise by 4 degree C by mid 2050s! There are other predictions such as rapid melting of Arctic ice, gradual loss of land to rising sea, decreased rainfalls in many regions of the world, the prospect of water scarcity, etc, etc.

The Indian newspaper, the Times of India reports that the climate changes could result in security implications for India due to influx of refuges from India’s neighboring countries, melting of Himalayan ice resulting in geopolitical changes in the region, and most importantly the security and safety of India’s military in mountainous regions and nuclear and naval installations in the costal areas by the rising sea levels.

Every Indian hopes that the respective organizations responsible for national security are taking into account these newly developing scenarios and their implications in national strategic planning. The decisions should be taken at the highest level with realistic technical inputs from the concerned ministries. Let there be enough transparency so that Indian citizens are aware of the governmental moves and get ready for facing or fighting the potential watery grave in the near future. It is a global challenge.