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Tragedy in
the air Dilemma
over assisted death |
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A
growth-oriented budget
Learning
idioms to enrich one’s lexicon
CINEMA:
NEW Releases Comic
relief Musical
note, stretched long
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Dilemma over assisted death The
right to choose death over suffering, when all medical options fail, has been debated by modern societies grappling with a new reality. The moral issue confronting the world today is: while techno-medical interventions are acceptable for prolonging life, the same is not accepted in matters of death. Active or passive euthanasia — death caused by injecting a lethal chemical or unplugging the life support system — has received legal acceptance in many countries for the terminally ill patients. The Supreme Court is right in advising Parliament to discuss the issue and formulate relevant laws. It’s time legislation is also sought on “living will”, a document that contains a patient's wish about how he would want to be treated if he is incapacitated at some stage to communicate his choice due to illness. In a mature democracy people should deal with uncomfortable questions too. The objections raised by the Attorney General are thus baffling, especially when a large number of people do not have a family support system. The suffering from incapacitating and incurable ailments need not be prolonged, if patients so desire. The concerns of those in suffering should concern us all so that the end of suffering of the terminally ill should not herald a guilt trap for the caretakers. In 2011 the Supreme Court issued broad guidelines allowing passive euthanasia, which allows disconnecting the life-support system when doctors along with family members decide that an end to life is the only option left. This can be done only after seeking permission of the high court concerned. In countries where euthanasia is
legalised, utmost caution is used, which is evident from the total number of 1,701 assisted deaths in the last 15 years. At this juncture the question of euthanasia is not a philosophical one; it involves social, legal and moral approval for a medical answer to a hopeless medical situation. The compassionate coach of the “Million Dollar Baby” helped her die with dignity, after helping her live a life of dignity. He was ethically right.
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Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. — Robert A. Heinlein, an American science fiction writer
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Indian students in England IN a Note prepared for a committee with which Mrs. Besant appears to have been connected and published in this week's Commonweal Mr. T.W. Arnold, Educational Adviser, deals exhaustively with the complaints of Indian students against the students department. Undoubtedly Mr. Arnold's Note ought to help a clearer understanding of the situation, and it certainly gives the other side of the picture which has been drawn by the students. He proceeds to answer their complaints categorically and his description leaves the impression that the Indian students are themselves to blame partly for their troubles. Mr. Arnold begins by asserting that admission of Indian students to educational institutions must of necessity be limited by considerations of accommodation either in the college buildings or in licensed lodgings, but does not seem disposed to consider whether the influx of Indian students has been so large as to justify the restrictive measures. He is, however, candid enough to admit the existence of a certain amount of new born prejudice against Indian students. The Punjab Courts Act THE Punjab Government has notified that the new Punjab Courts Act comes into operation on the 1st of August. Notifications have been issued bringing into force the changes contemplated in the new Act. The first notification brings into existence 21 sessions divisions in the divisions of Hissar, Karnal, Ferozepur, Ambala, Ludhiana, Jullundur, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Lahore, Montgomery, Sialkot, Jhelum, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Attock, Mianwali, Shahpur, Lyallpur, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan. Another notification appoints the Sessions Judges for certain other divisions.
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A growth-oriented budget The Union Budget of the new NDA government may seem to be a continuity of the UPA government but has much to offer when analytically examined. If implemented, it would usher in a change in the very fabric of Indian policy-making and business thinking in a very short time because it proposes widespread changes in different segments of the economy. To analyse the impact, consider the key economic issues that plague the economy and were widely debated during the electioneering period — economic growth, employment and inflation. The budget addresses these three issues rather seriously. The growth in the country would get an impetus because of encouragement to the housing and construction sector through various schemes like real estate and infrastructure investment trusts, tax incentives for housing, a higher allocation for affordable housing through the National Housing Bank, allocation for 100 smart cities, and new airports in tier 1 and tier 2 cities. As housing has inter-linkages with 269 industries, industrial production would contribute to increasing growth. These growth-enhancing measures would positively impact the employment situation in the country. In addition, measures to encourage tourism would directly add to employment in the hotel, entertainment, transport and aviation industries, besides other commercial activities. The Financial Inclusion Mission to be launched on August 15, 2014, for empowering weaker sections of society, especially in the rural sector, would help in expanding financial services to the poor. The use of technology at the back-end of the operations implies a trigger in employment generation in the banking sector in terms of opening of accounts, spreading financial literacy and increasingly providing financial services across the countryside. However, in the absence of a unique identity number of every Indian, special care would have to be exercised so that there are no leakages in the credit proposed to be extended to unbanked households. In addition there are two more measures which are welfare-oriented proposals and will contribute to increasing employment like the increase in foreign direct investment in insurance. Insurance penetration, measured in terms of insurance premium to the GDP, is less than 4 per cent in India despite numerous efforts by the government in the last decade, including permitting private insurance companies to operate in India. In contrast, in advanced countries like the UK, the USA and Japan, insurance penetration ranges between 8 and 12 per cent. The potential to extend insurance from less than 25 per cent of the population currently covered under life insurance implies more employment opportunities in a young demographic country like India. The expenditure incurred on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities could be tapped effectively for purposes of growth and employment, though it is a philanthropic activity for community development. According to the Companies Act 2013, specified companies are required to utilize 2 per cent of their profits for CSR activities. CSR norms are applicable to companies having a minimum net worth of Rs 500 crore or turnover of Rs.1,000 crore or a net profit of Rs.5 crore in a financial year. The activities eligible for CSR are wide ranging and CSR activities by companies can be implemented through various methods on their own or by outsourcing to non-profit organisations. According to industry sources, about 6,000 companies in India will be required to undertake CSR activities as well as many small and medium enterprises earning a net profit of more than Rs 5 crore. The estimated amount under CSR ranges from a conservative Rs.20,000 crore to nearly Rs 1 lakh crore. Therefore, for the effective utilization of CSR in nation building, the government may like to consider an accounting or regulatory authority to regulate resources in specified areas. The country with a very young and dynamic population has found simple decisions like having a war memorial or statue of unity very nationalistic. These could be developed as national monuments and places of tourism to encourage commerce and employment. The immediate setting up of a few IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, agriculture and horticulture universities with a laudable long-term objective of having a premier educational institute in every state will give boost to youth employability in India and abroad. The next logical step for the benefit of youth should be to permit foreign universities to operate in India. In the last few months, it has increasingly become apparent that inflation in India, especially food inflation, is a supply-side phenomenon and not caused by a loose monetary policy. To address the supply-side concerns, agriculture and rural sector activities like warehousing have been encouraged. The announcement to reform the Food Corporation of India and the working of the public distribution system, to plug leakages, will help in containing agricultural prices, responsible repeatedly for inflation in India. The Finance Minister has correctly adopted an approach to demystify the Union Budget, much in keeping with the international practice followed by other countries where the budget day is a non-event and fiscal policy-making is a regular feature, not identified with a statement of government accounts. The announcement that monetary policy measures and other welfare-oriented issues like malnutrition would be addressed separately as well as gradual rationalizing of the government expenditure like subsidies through a commission indicates a focused approach towards fiscal issues, given the limited time-frame within which the budget was prepared. The resistance to additional borrowings and incurring a higher debt obligation, despite the available fiscal space, demonstrates the commitment to fiscal consolidation. A sober and mature approach has been used in formulating the budgetary policy despite a mandate which would have helped rationalise, if not justify, fiscal profligacy. The budget, in that sense, is truly laudable and path breaking and sets a way for more reforms through consensus building. — The writer is the RBI Chair Professor of Economics, IIM, Bangalore. The views are personal.
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Learning idioms to enrich one’s lexicon "She was fascinated with words. To her, words were things of beauty, each like a magical powder or potion that could be combined with other words to create powerful spells." — Dean Koontz
1. Finally a documentary on drugs! So the issue is no longer the elephant in the room. The idiom "the elephant in the room", appropriate in the context, stands for a problem that people are aware of but choose to ignore since it is considered to be difficult to tackle. The elephant is used as a metaphor for the problem, its size symbolizing the magnitude of the problem. 2. We got back from Manali this afternoon. I thought I’d touch base with you. An expression reserved for informal use, we "touch base" with a person or thing briefly to renew or make contact. Like "touch base", "off base" meaning "mistaken" and "get to first base" meaning "achieve the first step towards one's goal" have all derived from the register of sports: baseball. Minor differences in their composition can make major differences in their meaning value. 3. Dilbagh Singh joined the bank six months back; he’s still a little wet behind the ears. A young and inexperienced person is looked at as one still "wet behind the ears". Used in informal situations with a disapproving note, the expression originates from the animal kingdom. Newly born animals are wet at birth and dry up slowly, the last to dry up being the area behind the ears. Another idiom with the same adjective is "wet blanket", used for one who spoils other people's fun. But it has become a cliché now and needs to be avoided like all clichés. 4. Sushmita Sen is dressed to a T/tee through the movie. "To a T/tee" means to do something exactly the right way. In the context of grooming, it is also written as "dressed to a tea". It is believed to have its genesis in the Victorian culture, where people attended high tea dressed in style. Yet another idiom with a similar sense is "dressed (up) to the nines". Since it has ancient roots, its grammatical form has found variations, generally not permitted in idioms. Idioms enrich our lexicon, giving a natural flow to our expression. Like all lexical items, they are best learnt through practice in different contexts and not as a list of phrases to be memorized.
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CINEMA: NEW Releases
Sure the vile politician Mandar (Sushant Singh), around whom the film revolves, is despicable but not so virulent that you can’t wait to see him dead. That he will eventually fall to a bullet and make you bite one in the process is not surprising, and you can't fault us for spilling the beans. Actually, this is the film's real Achilles Heel… its predictability that almost borders on ennui. Sure the film begins on a dramatic note as a woman (alive and kicking) is discovered in a coffin. She is transported to a hospital where there is yet another attempt to murder her. Exciting? For a while certainly you do want to know who wants her dead. But for the initial rush of events that introduces us to Sonika (Surveen Chawla), her tormentor, Mandar, and her newfound love, Akshay (Jay Bhanushali), the film moves on to 'been there seen it all' path all too soon.
Couched as a revenge drama propelled by a woman's hatred for the man who has wronged her in more ways than one, it does not throw up anything fresh or invigorating. Worse still, the lead pair has limited screen presence. Jay Bhanushali is further undone by the miniscule length of his role as well as the script, which has him not even batting an eyelid when he learns the love of his life is another man's mistress. Surveen has a larger-than-life part and a challenging one at that. However, she makes an impact only when she plays the 'hell hath no fury like the woman scorned' part. As a woman screaming for her lover to be pardoned, she jars. Frankly, the love angle is neither convincing nor heartwarming. Besides, despite the buzz over their intimate scenes the pair does not quite scorch the screen. Now, here is the good news for the prudes and bad news for those who have been hitting the YouTube with gusto for a sneak peek at its erotic trailer. The much-promised and anticipated sleaze quotient, except for a few dare-bare bedroom scenes, is nothing to really write home about. Sexy siren Sunny Leone's item number Pink Lips too does not offer anything you haven't seen before. Nor does it lift the film out of its drab tenor to which the narrative succumbs in the second half. But for stray moments, in the beginning this revenge thriller is too flat to hold your attention. Check it out only if you have the habit of seeing the glass half full! This one by the way only has a quarter of ingredients going for it. Which ones? Now that would be another (hate) story for which we do not have the stomach right now.
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Comic relief
In Amit Sahni.. the humour is the light-hearted sitcom variety made-up mostly from Facebook and whatsapp forwards. The list is a matter-of-fact pointer to what Amit Sahni (Vir Das), a well-to-do bachelor belonging to the social networking generation, who is once bitten (betrayed by his ex who he scaled mountains to win back) yet never shy. After some seriously engaging serial dating (which includes a dog loving, bungee jumping Mala played by Vega Tamotia), he finally meets up with his true love (Anindita Nayar) who fits the bill-that's the predictable part. But how he gets there is the interesting bit. The film is not overly ambitious trying to provide a subtext for romantic disillusionment. It's a matter-of-fact telling, in fact, a fairly humorous take on a well-heeled guy's romantic dalliances which inevitably leads to happily ever after--albeit after some trying efforts on his part. The script plies on the romantic allusions with crisp dialogues and up-market irreverence. The characters, all flawed, are of today, imminently relatable with a studied indifference to traditional romantic tropes. The all pervading Gen Next appeal appears pre-meditated. Amit Sahni is heady on confusion though. For a guy who knows what he wants (the list), he seems a little too eager to move on to the next capture. The ebbs and flows in pace does get a little tedium inducing. The inconsistencies, in the titular character build-up, are also quite off-putting. But the refreshing low-key performances keep the engagement light and entertaining. Vir, Anindita and Vega are likeable. The supporting cast in fact does a bang on job to keep you engaged and interested. Kavi Shastri, as Sahni's best friend Push-kar, Natasha Rastogi as Sahni's talkative, acronym spewing, pole-dancing mother, Anu Menon as the relationship breaking-up expert and Noni Singh, the canine with witty thought bubbles, help keep the perkiness evenly spread-out. The songs do tend to put punctuations marks on the entertainment though.
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Musical note, stretched long
To begin with, the establishing shots are weak and it is only the link between Gretta and Dan that keeps it going. The screenplay is littered with some good lines like "turning banality into effervescent pearls" delivered with panache by Ruffalo. The music is apt but apart from As Time Goes By, lacks popular old favourites and hence the film's 104-minute duration seems much too long. Keira Knightley is her usual confident self and Mark Ruffalo matches her calmness with his exuberance. Hailee Steinfeld shows promise; Adam Levine is academic. Begin Again has its moments, few and far between, but music lovers would like to catch them nonetheless.
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TV movies Club 60 is a film produced by Kavee Kumar and directed by Sanjay Tripathy. The film features Farooq Sheikh, Sarika, Raghubir Yadav and Satish Shah in key roles. The film was Farooq Sheikh's last release before his untimely demise.
ZEE CINEMA ZEE STUDIO STAR MOVIES HD INDIA TALKIES STAR GOLD FILMY SAHARA ONE ZEE CLASSIC Phata Poster Nikhla Hero is an
action comedy film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. The film features Shahid Kapoor and Ileana D'Cruz in the lead roles.
ZEE CINEMA ZEE STUDIO STAR GOLD STAR MOVIES HD INDIA TALKIES FILMY ZEE CLASSIC
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The focal point is
Gretta (Keira Knightley), a beautiful young woman who writes songs for
her own pleasure. She visits a nightclub and is asked to sing. Present
at the venue is Dan Mulligan (Mark Ruffalo), a famous musician, now
down on his luck for personal reasons and trying to drown his sorrows.
It is Gretta's song that wakes him from his stupor and he immediately
approaches her for an offer to make records. Initially reticent,
Gretta takes his cue and in due time a relationship develops. Dan, on
the other hand, has separated from his wife Miriam (Catherene Keener)
for a similar reason, but it is his cute but lonely daughter Violet (Hailee
Steinfeld) who imbues in him a sense of guilt. How the story unfolds
is the moot point but in the meanwhile music takes over. Dan raises a
singing group and brings in his daughter Violet to play the guitar.
Music is the catalyst for her and the group is successful. He then has
talks with his former business partner Saul (Meo Def) and the story
chugs along, but somewhat predictably.
Saturday July 19
Sunday July 20