The August 16 idharudhar cartoon ‘hand in pocket’ and not ‘hand in glove’, which shows a policeman putting his hand in the pocket of the drug trader says it all.
Everyone knows that drugs are easily available in Goa especially in the coastal areas and have caused numerous deaths even of foreign tourist. However now the cat is out of the bag as our learned CM has just now realized that drugs are used extensively in late night parties. This has been going on for a long time and with the increase in demand, the suppliers have also kept pace. So what is new now? How long will this crackdown last? Until the end of the by-election? How many more young lives will be lost?
It is understood that twenty-odd dogs were put into service by the Delhi police at the Red Fort to ensure security at the iconic monument from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation. It must be said that besides the use of police dogs to detect crime by following the scent trail of the accused person, police dogs can also be trained and put into service to ensure security at important and strategic locations like bus-stands, railway stations and airports.
Dogs specially trained in security aspects can also be used when there is a gathering of a large number of people as is seen at the feasts and Zatras that are held in Goa. Trained Labradors have an uncanny ability to trace any terror suspect if present in a large crowd gathering.
In foreign countries police dogs are given special training in security aspects like detecting bombs and arms being carried by terrorists and deployed at the airports and other important locations. These specially trained police dogs can become an important part of the security ring of the police department by sniffing around for any danger.
It is now common-knowledge that the Western countries, Japan, etc., are swiftly moving towards junking fossil fuel run vehicles and replacing these with electrically driven ones. Also much of this fossil fuel based technology is now generously being dumped into India! It is, hence, overdue that India does not miss the train and also start gradually getting rid of fossil fuel based vehicles.
Additionally, India must also further expand her nuclear and solar power production facilities. Fortunately for India we have had some exceptional scientists, such as Dr. Homi Jahangir Bhabha who was responsible for setting-up our world class nuclear program, the benefits of which are reaping today.
It was also Dr. Bhabha’s vision to move towards Fast Freeder Reactors (FBR). Today India is close to commissioning a 500 MW FBR which has commercial applications. India would be the second country globally to have a commercial FBR. Russia is the only other country which has a commercial FBR namely, the Beloyarsk Nuclear Plant. We must now hasten the production of commercial FBRs.
See the irony of the situation. First, the government more than the RBI is trying to hide the number of demonetised notes that came back, which are essentially of no value! Second, the government was with bated breath waiting to find out the quantum of notes that did not come back so that they could seek a dividend from RBI for equivalent value since RBI had no longer a commitment to honour this currency. Third, does it not remind you of the days of yore when we would sell old newspapers as raddi to make some pocket money. So also now the government waiting to get money out of worthless paper!
And like last week's papers tell us the RBI has halved its dividend payable to government for the last financial year to some Rs 30,000 crores compared to the normal Rs 60,000 crores on account of funding interest to the banking system and the cost of printing new currency notes post-demonetisation. So what a turnaround, where the government was expecting more dividend after demonetisation, it is getting less than half of what it got in the last two years.
It is like the Hindi proverb - Lene ke dene pad gaye! Instead of getting, you had to shell out instead! These have been the 'benefits' of demonetisation following Narendra Modi's 'basic instinct' like he advised Hamid Ansari while demitting the VP's office recently. Not only that RBI for the first time in some 15 years was not able to close the last financial year's books in end-June the normal scheduled period because of not being able to arrive at the value of the returned demonetised notes. This has now been pushed out to August and they are still counting the days!
