Mahatma Gandhi is the Father of nation
Donald Trump, the President of the United States of America was totally wrong in declaring India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi a few months back, as the Father of nation. Donald Trump does not even know Indian history and the role Mahatma Gandhi has played in the Indian freedom struggle. India cannot have two fathers – Mahatma Gandhi and Narendra Modi. Gandhi is the actual Father of nation, not Narendra Modi.
Jubel D’Cruz
Recall Dhoni in Indian cricket team
India’s shock defeat to Bangladesh in the first T-20 game in Delhi speaks about our poor preparation for the T-20 World Cup next year. Our batting minus Virat Kohli failed to click and bowlers too did not exploit hazy conditions which gave an easy win for our eastern neighbours. T-20 is all about big hitting as wickets hardly matter in a 20 over game. The likes of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni are needed in such format but sadly they are not in contention and no suitable replacement available. Captain Kohli and selectors along with BCCI President will have to exploit all other options to strengthen the team.
MS Dhoni can also be recalled as he has not announced his retirement. Experience counts and his selection could be valuable as he is also good behind the wickets. India has a strong Test side but you need round pegs for round holes and team selection would be key for our team winning the T-20 tourney. Specialized IPL players should be tried as the format needs big hitters and not big names to make an impact on our teams fortune in this format!
S.N. Kabra
Power player concept in IPL
With dwindling response for test match cricket, IPL governing council is planning to have new IPL recipe and bring power player concept. Power player may be new mantra for keeping intact the razzmatazz of the IPL circus. After ODI cricket losing colour even IPL showed less response last season with match fixing charges escalating in the shortest form of the game. Both no balls and wide are widely used as a weapon to fix matches. The power player concept thus goes by allowing a player, who is not a part of playing XI, to come in at the fall of a wicket or replace a bowler at any given point of time. This may also give scope for fixing game just like the strategic time out break. There is a lot of scepticism among puritans about the concept, which could change the grammar of cricket.
Gundu K. Maniam
Central government should promote Indian soft drinks
Mega-star Amitabh Bachchan once disclosed at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad about his not advertising for cola-drinks after a school-student at Jaipur drew his attention about harmful ingredients in cola-drinks. It is significant that cola-companies voluntarily stopped selling cola-drinks in schools worldwide in view of increasing obesity in school-going children. Indian government should also not only ban advertisements but even sale of cola drinks in the country. Earlier also, soft-drink manufacturers were asked to remove an oil from their products which was found to be harmful for health.
It is time that Union government, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and soft-drink manufacturers should revive drinks like old and famous rose-flavoured ones, which can not only replace cola-drinks in India but even dominate global-market by breaking monopoly of harmful cola-drinks in tune with ambitious –Make in India– concept of Prime Minister. It will earn foreign-revenue for the country rather than Indian money being drained out to multinational cola-manufacturers.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
