My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

My 6 min short film on an autistic child and his family...all characters are true...if you like it then please share it for a cause..its a pity that autistic children are still considered mentally retarded because of ignorance.. https://vimeo.com/37030973 deepak parvatiyar

Create awareness on disability EDITORIAL NEWS Share on facebook Share on blogger Share on linkedin Share on twitter More Sharing Services 9 Create awareness on disability August 14, 2012 01:40 PM By Deepak Parvatiyar What is the most enduring image of the London Olympics that ended after many heroics last week? Chances are that many would recall Osain Bolt’s gestures after winning his races,or Michael Phelps’s golden swansong! For Indian fans images of a heartbroken Mary Com, Sushil Kumar or Saina Nehwal (they all won medals and earned laurels but fell short of their own expectations of winning gold for the country) may last for long. As for me, I can never forget a proud Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius running the men’s 400 m final and the anchor leg of the 4x400 m relay final for the South Africans and thereafter carrying the flag of South Africa at the closing ceremony.The valiant runner has undoubtedly emerged as a legend of the London Olympics. Sprin...

Anna 2014! EDITORIAL NEWS Share on facebook Share on blogger Share on linkedin Share on twitter More Sharing Services 12 Anna 2014! August 06, 2012 02:48 PM By Deepak Parvatiyar What is wrong in joining politics? Ask Anna Hazare. His political movement against corruption has now taken a political turn with his decision to float a political outfit. Indeed it is an interesting turn of event. From the political fraternity, there is a loud welcome cry predictably laced with acridity. “Ab way isi hammam me kapde utaar kar khade hain na, aa kar dekhiye unko (now he too is standing naked in this hammam [of politics], so come and watch him),” law minister Salman Khurshid’s reaction says it all. Curiosity made me glance through the reactions to his decision on the social media sites. Not surprisingly, while many of his fans welcomed this move, there were many with a common refrain: “Et tu Brute!” Anna’s fans don’t doubt their leader’s personal and moral integrit...

The call of the wild EDITORIAL NEWS Share on facebook Share on blogger Share on linkedin Share on twitter More Sharing Services 11 The call of the wild July 16, 2012 01:23 PM By Deepak Parvatiyar Remember the ‘My heart bleeds for India’ campaign by the Congress during the 1989 general elections? Despite this catchy slogan the Congress lost the election. (Bofors was the reason). Over two decades later, this slogan has stuck to me simply because I struggle to find an answer to the question – why does my heart bleed for India? I wish to clarify that Bofors is not in my mind at this juncture. After years of exposure, I find myself immune to corruption, nepotism, terrorism, road rage, and food inflation. Occasionally I do take pride in our country being seen as an emerging economy and a super power. But that satisfaction is short-lived. What comes as a final blow is the fact that we care the least even for the martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the Independen...

An expressway for elephants! EDITORIAL NEWS Share on facebook Share on blogger Share on linkedin Share on twitter More Sharing Services 11 An expressway for elephants! July 02, 2012 12:00 PM By Deepak Parvatiyar Accidents on Indian roads cease to surprise. It has become a habit of our vehicle drivers to jump red light signals. We are used to cattle squatting on the roads or darting across in the form of traffic hazards, their excreta plastering the city paths. To drive on the wrong side is an excuse to avoid traffic jams and save time and fuel. While potholes are a regular feature, footpaths are not part of town planning in many of our cities and even if pavements are there, they are meant for the encroachers, roadside vendors and garbage dump. (In the locality where I stay, they are built so high that they look more like a parapet than a footpath. With no steps to climb them, the entire purpose of having a footpath is defeated). Even worse! More often than not...

Whose welfare? EDITORIAL NEWS Share on facebook Share on blogger Share on linkedin Share on twitter More Sharing Services 10 Whose welfare? June 25, 2012 09:48 AM By Deepak Parvatiyar Look at the three major developments last week: • The economy on the verge of stagflation, i.e. simultaneous high inflation and low growth at a time when major international rating agencies have downgraded our economy. Similarly, “Secular” is another term that is not explained in the Constitution and can be “used as an instrument of unrestrained communalism or bigotry or even anti-religionism, as distinguished from ‘equal respect for all religions’” • Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar’s assertion that his Gujarat counterpart and prominent BJP leader Narendra Modi is not “secular”. (Though, this is not the first time the Nitish has raised hackles with Modi in spite of the fact that Janata Dal (United) and the BJP are coalition partners in the Nati...

Under the garb of Presidential election EDITORIAL NEWS Share on facebook Share on blogger Share on linkedin Share on twitter More Sharing Services 11 Under the garb of Presidential election June 18, 2012 10:38 AM By Deepak Parvatiyar It goes without saying that the post of the President is highly political. The provision in our Constitution ensures that it is the political class that elects the President. However, it also goes without saying that the President is supposed to be above partisan politics and a highly distinguished statesman. This is by convention. However, it also goes without saying that the President is supposed to be above partisan politics and a highly distinguished statesman. This is by convention. While delivering the Draft Constitution, late BR Ambedkar, in his speech on November 4, 1948, had stated that President “is the symbol of the nation”. This is the reason why although the President is elected through an electoral college c...

WANTED: A Leader EDITORIAL NEWS Share on facebook Share on blogger Share on linkedin Share on twitter More Sharing Services 31 WANTED: A Leader June 13, 2012 12:15 PM By Deepak Parvatiyar Do we really have any leader in our country who is above religion, caste, and sectarian politics and yet popular with the masses? Can you name any one name that is acceptable to the majority as a mass leader? My question assumes significance in the wake of what we witnessed last week. First, at the Congress Working Committee meeting the delegates raked up the issue of inaccessible ministers (how can they be leaders if they are inaccessible?) Yet, the most important issue was the lack of unanimity even within the ruling coalition itself over the choice of the next Presidential candidate. Thereafter, the BJP’s Gujarat satrap Narendra Modi delivered a power packed punch to claim the scalp of his little-known-much-discussed and elusive bête noire Sanjay Joshi. (Can Modi ...