Current Affairs

CURRENT AFFAIRS

Men in black vs khaki H eartland of law in Chennai saw a bloody skirmish between cops and the advocates. Both these arms of law didn’t gel well and the trouble was brewing for quite sometime. There have been instances of brawls and scraps between these group in and outside the court campus. But it took a very violent turn on February 19, when a group of advocates went to lodge a counter-complaint seeking the arrest of Janata leader Subramanian Swamy for his anti LTTE stand. It sparked the worst ever clash between these two groups inside the High Court campus. Many vehicles were torched and damaged by stone pelting advocates and lathi wielding cops who even vented their anger on parked vehicles. A High Court judge was also not spared, he sustained head injury in the violence, while advocates, police personnel, media persons and others were injured in the melee which lasted for more than three hours. A group of lawyers set fire to a police station and there were bloodshed on both the sides. Media persons covering this conflict earned the wrath of cops as well as advocates. The violence came to an end after the intervention of Chief Justice Mukhopadhyaya and also has sought a CBI probe in this incident. It is very painful to see this kind of frictions between the government agencies. Just a day before the violence when Subramanian Swamy was inside the court hall, pro LTTE advocates hurled rotten eggs on him in front of two Judges. Then again this happening was recorded and report sent to Chief Justice for further action. When these kind of incidents happen people will lose faith in this machinery and paints a very bad picture of our lawyers and judges. On the other hand police are also to be blamed, when they were onlookers during the law students vio-

The Judiciary and police machinery should work out a mechanism to ease the discomfort as these acts demean the core values of our country. lence episode citing permission, on what ground did they barge into the campus this time. They unleashed violence on whomsoever they saw inside the campus and were seen breaking the window panes of cars. They have a moral responsibility for lives and property and they go on a violent spree hitting everyone and everything. It’s a shame to see our police fraternity in such a poor light. A Journalist covering the court beat points out that the advocates here are politically more sensitive than their peers in other states but at the same time they are also disoriented in their approach and call for strike of work for any incident that hurt their sentiments. When there was war in lanka they condemn Rajapakse Government then later Sonia Gandhi and congress leaders were their targets and after sometime it was Subramanian Swamy and now they want the suspension of DGP and City police commissioner. They can have their views Don bosco march 2009

but they don’t have the right to disrupt daily court proceedings because its affecting many number of people at a time when there is a severe backlog of cases. It has worsened the situation for corporate that are already reeling under downturn. Several merger and acquisition cases, writ petitions and other cases are piling up at the court, aggravating the agony of companies across sectors. Companies are even looking at High courts in neighbouring states to expedite their cases. Several crores are lost because of these unfortunate developments. Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has categorically stated that lawyers have no business to strike work and points out that there are nearly 4.5 lakh cases pending in the Madras HC while over 10 lakh cases crowd the subordinate judiciary. Chennai press club Joint secretary Bharathi Tamilan has strongly condemned the police as well as advocates for attacking the journalists. “ Cameras were seized and damaged by the police, this kind of an act is totally unacceptable. They were also intimidated for their reporting ”. Vijay, employee in a private firm feels that, “ we don’t know who is responsible for this violence, in few media we see advocates are the cause of trouble and in some other we find police high handedness and brutality. We don’t have a clear picture not only in this but in many issues ”. Accountability is the need of the hour, be they lawyers or police. Whatever be their qualms, people’s welfare should be their priority. Both the Judiciary and police machinery should work out a mechanism to ease the discomfort or else these episodes can go on like mega serials demeaning the core values of our country.

S. Rajvee

www.rajvee.com, [email protected] 31

B

uy your dream home, luxury car, relax on a sandy beach in Hawaii, Yes , you will have a million at your disposal in one year time, all you have to do is buy 1 and refer 5. This is one of the hundreds of baits used by Multi Level Marketing crooks to lure people into their net. Gold quest, a MLM involving gold coin selling, was in news for cheating people to the tune of several crores.

Multi MLM-Level Mess

This is not the first time that MLM has landed in trouble , a few years back it was magnetic bed MLM that cheating people. There was such an uproar about the whole concept of MLM then but, it faded away slowly. MLM comes in many forms like bed, medicines, cosmetics, gold and even money. For Gold quest , the modus operandi is simple , you get 1 person to buy 2gms of gold coin for 32,000 rupees and then if he introduces 2 more people he will get back his money and the more the people who join later he will get extra commission. There are trained people who can literally brain wash any one of us, some people say that it may take some weeks to convince some people to get into their loop.

CURRENT With complaints of malpractice in Goldquest pouring in, the city police swiftly effected the arrest of three key persons of Gold quest based in Chennai. Vijay Eshwar, the main accused and a Malaysian citizen is absconding. They also seized huge amount of gold and cash from the office premises of Gold quest. People who have lost money in this scheme are mainly from the middle class families. There are instances where people have borrowed money to join this schemes. Many have refused to file a complaint just because they did not want others to know that they were fooled. “ When I told them that I can’t afford that much money, they gave me some ideas to convince our well off relatives and friends. MLM, in essence, is a form of direct sales in which independent distributors sell products or concepts usually by visiting the homes of their customers or over the telephone. They make money not only from their own sales but also from the sales effected by their recruits - many MLM schemes promise to pay huge commissions initially and this is a trap to lure people. Becoming an MLM distributor is usually simple and requires no knowledge of the products or concepts sold. MLM companies sell, distributor kits that include product literature, sales aids such as videotapes, audiotapes and so on, price lists, order forms and instructional manuals. All that anybody who is interested in becoming a distributor is to be a part And I did ” says Raj, an employee with a private firm. One investor on condition of anonymity said that, “ When actors like prabhu and people like Nalini Chidambaram come for the launch of this company we think it’s genuine. And now we realize with money anything can be done. I am hopeful that police will help us from this trouble. Chennai police commissioner Nanjil kumaran assured all those who lost money Don bosco june 2008

AFFAIRS

through Gold quest MLM, “ We have received 15,000 petitions with relevant documents from Tamilnadu and Andhra. We have seized 8000kgs of Gold, 860kgs of silver including cash worth Rs 20 crores. Also land documents have been seized. So with the advice from the officials of RBI we will disburse the amount”. Pyramid schemes are illegal in many countries, including the United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, Malaysia, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Iran. Normally, 99.99% of the people lost their money in any MLM of the chain and build it as much as he can. A sales pyramid is the basis of MLM, and therein lies the rub. The problem is that pyramid schemes are inherently fraudulent. Let’s look at the original pyramid scheme - the Ponzi - to understand why this is so. Ponzi schemes get their name from Carl Ponzi who, in 1920 in Boston, collected $9.8 million from 10,550 persons (including many members of the Boston police force) by offering profits of 50 per cent every 45 days - and then paid out $7.8 million in just eight months. Since then , any simple fraud in which initial investors are paid massive dividends from the deposits of new investors is known as a Ponzi. or pyramid scheme. Though were affected by MLM , the Indian government is yet to act to ban these companies. There are conmen everywhere. The people should be on guard. The simplest advice on this issue would be: stay away from MLM companies or their concepts. “ Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me ” – Think about it

S. Rajvee www.rajvee.com, [email protected] 11

CURRENT

AFFAIRS

Tight Slap & an Excuse O n June 4, the central government announced a price hike of Rs.5 per litre of petrol, Rs.3 on diesel and Rs.50 per LPG cylinder, together with customs and excise duty cuts in an attempt to save the oil marketing companies from bankruptcy. But the common man on the streets fume over the sudden move of the government who are already reeling under inflation.

“Milk products, vegetables, fruits have all gone up so much, and the autofare is so costly that I have no choice other than walking nowadays I see 25 paise coins have become defunct“ says Rani, housewife.“ They say international crude oil prices have gone up and we have to hike the price, I think we will live to see the cost of 1 litre of petrol at Rs 150.00 soon atleast in India” says another grumbling petrol customer. But the Government was quick to clarify its stand on price hike. The prime minister addressed the nation through television and argued his inevitable move of fuel price hike. He said he knew the rise won’t be popular but the govt. couldn’t take the burden of rising prices alone. “There are limits to which we can keep consumer prices unaffected by rising import costs. Our oil companies cannot go on incurring losses. This way they will have no money to import crude oil from abroad,” the Prime Minister said. “I know that the price increases we have had to announce today, will not be popular, even though they are only modest,” Singh said his address explaining the circumstances which forced the UPA coalition government for a hefty fuel price revision. With the Centre having taken a revenue hit of Rs 22,660 crore by cutting duties, the Prime Minister asked the

state governments to reduce their taxes and levies as well. He said the oil prices in the country had not been raised so that cost of living did not hurt the poor sections of the society but that at some point in time the national prices have to reflect international realities. He said the high growth in the country has been accompanied by high inflation. “We cannot remain captive to uncertain markets and unsure sources of supply. We have to develop renewable sources of energy, including nuclear energy,” he said. “Each one of us should conserve energy. I urge every citizen to spend less petrol, diesel and LPG,” he added. “We cannot think only for ourselves, for the present and for the here and now. We must think about what is good for future generations -and for the welfare and security of our children, grand children and their children. It is our duty to ensure their food security and energy security,” Singh said. In this context, how many people in our population would have taken the word of the prime minister seriously to spend less Don bosco july 2008

We cannot think only for ourselves, for the present and for the here and now. We must think about what is good for future generations. petrol and diesel? Even if a few take it seriously it might be of a little relief. With inflation like never before the government employees can at least manage their household but the majority of our workforce in the unorganized sector are the worried lot. Soaring prices and a static salary has burdened majority of our people. If our Government is so keen to alleviate the present crisis, let them take a drastic step to recover all the dues to bank by defaulters which include powerful politicians and business tycoons which runs to several thousand crores. Ours may be a democracy but it is only the man on the streets who bears the brunt of price hike.

S. Rajvee

www.rajvee.com, [email protected] 11

CURRENT

A giant leap At a time when our country is facing so many problems on the terror front and corrupt criminal politicians deciding the fate of our nation these performances has given a fresh lease of life for our people.

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t was a golden moment for our country when our shooter Abhinav Bindra hit the bulls eye. For the first time in the history of Indian Sports a gold medal was bagged in the individual category and in the process shattered the famed lines that not a single gold for a country with a population of more than a billion. The medal tally swelled up by two more bronze medals. Thanks to the brilliant performance of Delhi wrestler Sushil Kumar and boxing glamboy Vijender Kumar. Unfortunately the media’s favourite and medal hopefuls Leander Mahesh duo, Anju George, Rajyavardhan singh Rathore did not rise up to the expectations. . A one day cricket matched played in Barbados will attract enough eye balls to the television set that a world class sports played in the heart of our capital city will have very few takers. With 3

medals in individual sporting disciplines at the Beijing Olympics it has given the much needed momentum for the upliftment of the not so popular sports in our country. It’s a giant leap for the sporting fraternity other than cricket. At a time when our country is facing so many problems on the terror front and corrupt criminal politicians deciding the fate of our nation these performances has given a fresh lease of life for our people. Also in Badminton, tennis and archery we almost had near podium finishes. When the small contingent of 56 sports person who walked in the Beijing stadium there were many who thought that it was just going to be another presence at the Olympics. With hockey not even getting qualified for the Olympics the medal chances were all the more slimmer. Even the Indian Olympics Association president made a statement sayDon bosco SEPTEMBER 2008

AFFAIRS

ing, “ Not to expect miracles ” but miracles still happened. Also if one noticed that all the three performers were overnight stars. They got into limelight because of sheer hard work and determination. Abhinav Bindra, 25, son of a wealthy businessman from the northwestern city of Chandigarh, won a gold in the 10-meter air rifle competition. Vijender Kumar, 23, a bus driver’s son from a village about 80 miles from Delhi, won a bronze in boxing. And Sushil Kumar, 24, who learned to wrestle in the dirt on the outskirts of Delhi, also won a bronze. Within days after their feats many state governments and sporting bodies and corporate unleashed cash prizes and gift vouchers running into crores of rupees. It’s celebration time for all the winners and also for the upcoming players in the field of not so popular sport. With state governments promising to set up academies to promote boxing and wrestling, India looks poised to have an Olympic sporting culture of its own. But Governments, sporting associations and corporates should come forward to support Olympic sports. For instance the phenomenal performance of China with an impressive 51 gold medals followed by USA with just 36 was mainly due to the policy of the government of China. It understands and values the importance of sports and sports people. We should take a cue from China be it on the economic aspect or sports. A distant dream of gold at the Olympics has been realized and now it’s the time to look forward to boost the much neglected and sidelined sports in our country. A day will come when we will lose the count of Olympic medals predicts an enthusiastic sports buff. Miracles will happen.

S. Rajvee

www.rajvee.com, [email protected] 11

CURRENT AFFAIRS

Smoking now burns your pocket A ll is not well for smokers in our country. First it was ban on smoking in public places and now fines will be levied for smoking. If someone is caught smoking, then a fine of Rs 200 would be imposed on that person in accordance with the National Tobacco Act. Even smoking in private buildings anywhere in the country will become a punishable offence. “The rate of smoking in foreign countries have come down drastically but it’s on the rise here in our country. Our country has 60 million people who is below the age group of 30 and our youngsters are vulnerable. Unless drastic measures are not

taken it will have disastrous consequences later even affecting our economy “ says health minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss. In an exclusive interview for our magazine he said that he has implemented it despite heavy opposition from many quarters inside the ministry and from outside.

From October 2nd it will be fine for smoking in public places and from December 1st, there will be pictorial warnings on all tobacco products highlighting the ill effects of tobacco. For first time offenders it will be Rs 200 and for the subsequent offence it will be Rs 1000. If an employee is found smoking the employer must shell Rs 5000 from his pocket. Every private building should make it a point to highlight that smoking is prohibited inside the premises so as to avoid paying fines. “Pubs, discos, bars, hotels, restaurants, railway stations, schools, colleges and all offices are under the purview of these new rules,” Ramadoss said that with the new rules coming into force, all hotels with at least 30 rooms and restaurants with a sitting capacity of 30 will be barred from allowing their guests to smoke.

Dr Anbumani Ramadoss Union Health Minister

The government is empowering school principals, post masters, railway station masters and NGOs to book people if they are caught smoking and anybody who is a gazetted officer can take action against the offenders. Concerned state government will appoint and designate people to carry out this work if needed. Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, a general physician by profession points out that when smoking in a closed environment it not only affects the smoker but also non smokers who are present in that place. When an research was carried out, they found out that a non smoker spending just one hour in a pub had a considerable amount of tar and nicotine deposits in his lungs. We can never allow this kind of menace to destroy our society, that’s why we have to come up with such stringent measures. “If you want to smoke, go out to a street never inside a building be it government or private“ says Ramadoss. Jaya, who starts the day with a cigarette said that he is for this law but accepts that he is unable to get out of this habit which started young. Gobinath, says it is all about self discipline. You don’t need a law or an order to tell you what’s right. You are a social animal and it’s your duty to carry out what’s expected from you. Dr. Gurumurthy, says a single cigarette has 4,000 toxic chemicals and when exposed it to for a long time it can shorten life span in addition to other health complications. Smoking thrills initially but it kills finally both you and me.

S. Rajvee

www.rajvee.com, [email protected] 10

Don bosco october 2008