The Income Tax Department conducted raids last week where it seized Rs. 43.9 crore in cash, Rs.17.5 crore in US currency, 1,271 carats of diamonds and discovered Rs. 500 crore of undisclosed income! All this not from a thieving greedy businessman but from a once LIC Clerk named Vijayakumar, who became Kalki Bhagwan ! I…
What IF ?
October 17, 2019By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC An interesting anecdote as told by Gaur Gopal Das. Very thought-provoking and hence sharing it with SOM readers: It can be fun once in a while to revisit your childhood days and relive them. One day I saw a remote- controlled helicopter someone had and decided to give…
Pet Talk
October 16, 2019In this week’s Pet Talk, Maneka talks about the laws relating to cruelty on a pet by the owner, feeding street animals, etc. Should I report cruelty on a pet by the owner? Yes, it must be reported. As per the law, neglecting an animal by denying sufficient food, water, shelter and exercise or keeping…
Lynching and the ethos of Bharat
October 15, 2019By T.J.S. George Okay, so lynching is phoren. “It never happened in Bharat,” said Mohan Bhagwat, well informed on such matters. “It is not a word from Indian ethos.” He then moved on to a different kind of assertion. “It is a Western plot to defame India,” he said. That’s where some difficulty arises. Why…
Leading by understanding the ‘SELF’
October 14, 2019By Dr. R. Balasubramaniam A few months ago, I saw a tweet from a recently elected Member of the Parliament (MP) expressing his happiness at the address of the Prime Minister to the newly-elected members. In his address, Prime Minister Modi reminded the MPs that being an MP should not be seen as a position…
Fashion Tricks
October 12, 2019Yesterday our Prime Minister was a cynosure of all eyes as he welcomed the Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) in Tamil Nadu. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wore crisp white traditional Tamil Karai veshti (dhoti with border), angavastram (a stole) and a half-sleeve white shirt. What a fantastic sartorial choice — both for its…
Railways poised on the Right Track!
October 11, 2019By Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD I woke up to a refreshing bit of news in my morning paper today. It appears the Government at the Centre is planning to privatise about 150 trains and 50 Railway Stations across the country in a bid to improve the travel experience of train travellers. As someone who…
Now we know Gandhi was a fraud
October 10, 2019By T.J.S. George I have always felt patriotic and proud on Gandhi Jayanti days. Not this time. This time I was aware that Gandhi was a fake. As usual, newspapers were full of Gandhi last week. Schools and Colleges and associations of all kinds held functions to mark the 150th anniversary of the man they…
Days of reckoning for Co-op. Banks
October 9, 2019Trust deficit, venal Bank officials and ease of borrowing leave depositors doomed First an anecdote: My friend Rahul, a Bank Manager, got a rural posting. A tribal came for a loan of Rs. 2 lakh to buy buffaloes and start selling milk. Rahul asked him for a collateral security. The tribal asked what is collateral…
Jayantis are a farce
October 5, 2019We celebrated the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi three days ago on October 2. It is also the day that United Nations has declared as the International Day of Non-Violence. But just two days after Gandhiji’s birthday, a case of violence was reported against 49 “intellectuals” as they were booked for sedition. Now, what did…















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