Naresh Kumar Vaid, Director , Vaids ICS

PROF. Roy Burman passed away the day before, the doyen of Anthropology, at the ripe age of 92. I have a firm opinion that if someone passes away after living his/her full life, we must not mourn. Yet I feel sad. My students  at Rajender Nagar conveyed to me the inevitable. I contacted many in the department of anthropology but nobody knew of the news--what to talk about his last rites. This is the way we handle our precious resources. PROF. Roy Burman had immensely contributed not only to the development of anthropology but to the cause of tribals. He was the founder President of Network of Practicing Anthropologists and Related Scientists (NETPARS) of which I was the Joint Secretary. Our association was almost three and a half decades old. He would lovingly call me promoter of anthropology after I started my Institute in 1985. PROF Roy Burman was as critical of the government as I am but he was sophisticated in his writings while I believe in hitting straight, to...

THAT was the caption of one of the news on UPA II in The Hindu . I don't know how many of you understand it, even the journalists at The Hindu . The caption first appeared in HT almost two decades ago. I asked many staffers of HT the meaning of the phrase but none could. THE irony is that reading habit is fading or the taste has changed. Many of you write reading as a hobby in the application form. When I ask such aspirants whether they have read Kafka/Khalil Gibran/Gogol/Lu Xun etc., many of them have not even heard the names. This is not a healthy trend. Anyway. AFTER reading this caption in The Hindu , I searched Wikipedia but got no answer. The only thing Wikipedia informed me (which I already knew) that it is the name of an absurd (sic) drama written by Samuel Beckett in 1948-49. The fact is that it is a trend-setter drama that has been translated in more than 50 languages of the world and staged in many more countries. Here I won't talk about the news--Three Year...

THE Finance Minister Pranabda in the Parliament announced recently that the government will shortly bring out a white paper on black money - the obvious reason is prompting by the movement of Baba Ramdev. BLACK money is a curse for the country, all of us know. We also know that black money is present everywhere, from foreign banks to every household that matters, excluding those who are not in a position to pay income tax as their income is less than taxable income. But even they are responsible for the generation of black money as they don't seek a genuine receipt for their purchase and the cunning shopkeeper turns his profits into black money. There are various estimates of the amount of money that, if declared, could bring prosperity to the country. ACCORDING to the government, hardly about 2.5% Indians pay income tax while there are many more who must pay. What is the way out? Here I am talking only about the means that can be adopted to reduce the generation of black mone...

THE FM Pranabda told the parliament yesterday : Please don't press panic button. He was explaining why rupee is falling against USD and why sensex is plummeting_because government is busy solving other 'important' issues like betting in IPL, Rekha V/s Jayaprada, Cartoon business as also presidential election. IT IS really ironical that players caught in sting operation have been suspended by IPL management (read Srinivasan) while no action is being contemplated on franchises. Rather, action can not be taken on real culprits because many of them are running BCCI and some of them are sitting in Parliament too. That's why, while parliament discussed the issue but, considering it a matter of private organisation, kept aloof from this serious crime. BETTING has been going on since at least 1995 when Cronje admitted to it. The question is  why the young players got into the trap. One thing is very clear, that players are being paid under the table. Can anyone believe tha...

I HAVE never been a fan of democracy and what happened yesterday (this has happened again and again in different matters, in different styles, at different times) needs no proof that Indian democracy is nothing but crowd behaviour. A simple, innocuous looking cartoon published almost 63 years ago - on Aug. 28, 1949, depicting Dr. Ambedkar, Nehru and a laughing crowd, held up the whole day of both houses of parliament as a section of parliamentarians felt it derogatory, wanted it's immediate removal and punishment to the guilty. The cartoon had reappeared in XI Class text book of Political Science published by NCERT. in 2006. The New York Times had then commented that :Indian democracy has come of age". THE matter was first raised by Republican Parti of India (Athavale) in first week of April this year, almost six years of its publication by NCERT but raised in the Parliament only yesterday. All political parties, irrespective of ideology, criticised it so much so that eve...

RECENT events have made me think : what is the need for a separate rail budget? All Ministers of Railway, in recent years, have presented a budget without any increase in fares. Mr. Lalu Prasad showed a surplus never seen before, yet no additional facilities  were provided to passengers, nor the quality of services improved; even some steps were taken to put passenger under duress, like putting an additional seat as side middle . What Mr. Lalu did, perhaps, was the most unethical thing. ALL of us get depreciation for the conveyance we have. Similarly, all government departments keep a wear & tear account which is used for replacements/contingencies or for addition/value addition. Laluji, most likely used all that fund to show railway in profit. Obviously, railway was left with no money to renovate or add to the services. Mamta continued on the same line. AS A hind sight, it seems that there was a deliberate attempt to suck the blood out of the railway to have an excuse to...

Diesel Subsidy : Is It Desirable? THE budget is on the envil. The most important issue is the subsidy on diesel. It is more pertinent because petrol has been deregulated; so why not diesel? DIESEL is being subsidised  with the logic of interests of farmers. Is it ? There are about 18 lakh tractors in the country, mostly being used by farmers. Is the figure large enough to bail out other commercial vehicles? The farmers who use tractors can't be small farmers as they can't afford it nor they need. Those who own, even if small ones, must be utilising for commercial purpose and earning in return. The subsidy is being used by the rich who are using SUVs and other similar cars, most of which are politicians or rich, plus about 3.5 lakh phone towers and public transport vehicles. EVERY farmer has a record of his land. Accordingly, use of diesel can be regulated by giving him the quota for his use. Similarly, public transport can be regulated by starting diesel services in t...