1) Let the festival bring social transformation
Believing in God or not, is a personal choice. How we perceive God depends on our own mental construct. But here is a God who has attracted the attention of so many people, irrespective of their belief towards God or even religion.
His structure itself is different from others! He is a culmination of different things and scholars have given different meanings for his structure. Big head refers to think big, small eyes stand for concentration, one tusk stands for retain good and throw away bad, trunk refers to high efficiency and adaptability, modak refers to rewards for sadhana, large ears convey us to listen more, axe to cut off all bonds of attachment, small mouth says talk less, large stomach refers to peacefully digest all good and bad in life and his vehicle mouse at his feet conveys keep the desires under your control.
Vighna nivaaraka has given so many learnings for our daily life through his external appearance only. His stories give many more understandings which we can inculcate to make our lives better.
Apart from these, the idea of Sarvajanika Ganeshotsava has given a social dimension by bringing people from different castes and classes together. It also played the main role in mobilising people for freedom struggle. In a way, we may say, Lord Ganesha played a role in breaking the barriers towards freedom.
Let us all join together to celebrate the festival and transform the social structure so that as a country, we will have more unity, diversity and prosperity.
– Akshara Damle
2) Osaka on a high
Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese woman to win a Grand Slam title after she registered an emphatic 6-2, 6-4 win over Serena Williams in the finals of the US Open. Osaka got off to an aggressive start in the first set, breaking the six-time US Open champion twice. She used her tremendous movement and brutal baseline hitting to close the set in just 33 minutes. An extraordinary series of events then began to unfold during the second set when Williams was awarded a code violation because her coach was allegedly coaching her from the stands. An enraged Williams smashed her racquet on the court, which resulted in a subsequent violation, during with Osaka was handed a point. Williams then got into an intense argument with the chair umpire following which she was given a game penalty. Williams held back tears but still managed to hold serve. The penalty gave Osaka, who stayed calm, cool and collected in the face of all the drama — a crucial lead in the second set and she served out the match a game later. A cascade of boos rained down on the trophy presentation ceremony that followed. Anyway, Osaka was a clean winner in the match against a giant.
– Nikhil Krishnan
3) Bharat Bandh is not a right solution
Our country is passing through the roughest time in its history. The entire nation is suffering from poverty, mob-violence, rape cases, the rupee is crashing down against the US dollar and so on. But what is the most shocking thing is that our leaders and political parties are blaming each other to be responsible for such critical situation. I request both the ruling and opposition parties to find out the proper solutions to the problems. It is the most pressing need of the time to bring the nation out of the whirlpool of such critical situations. Bharat Bandh or protesting before Jantar Mantar is not the solution rather it creates more problems for a common man particularly who depends on ephemeral wage.
– Mohd Usmani
4) BJP looks over-confident
BJP looked over-confident during its recent National Executive meeting to retain power at the centre in 2019 and remain for the next 50 years. Of course, BJP has gained much popularity in the last few years but only for its false propaganda and promotions. How can BJP make the country free of poverty as it claimed while the price hike is beating the entire nation severely? And how can it make the country free of terrorism while the mob-violence is trembling the country miserably? I think BJP must realise now that to what extent they took the country in regards to poverty, terrorism and mob-violence. How long will people believe in only rhetoric of BJP leaders? Now, the action is the need of the hour.
– MF Qasmi
5) Congress is not concerned
Bharat Bandh against fuel prices was a political drama which led to impact common people’s lives severely. It is a fact that the increase in the fuel prices mostly benefits the states. So, instead of crying and screaming, the state governments should decrease the local taxes on these products, passing the same benefits to common people. Congress and left parties are standing only for their political advantages, not to be concerned about common man problems. If the Congress party is really so concerned about the people, why did it agree for two per cent additional tax on the same product by its alliance party JD(S) in Karnataka? It shows that Congress still is not serious for the nation rather it’s playing by a biracial trick to cheat the people.
– Mohd Faheem
6) Is India heading towards a debt trap?
It seems like India is heading into a debt trap as our short-term debt repayments itself would rise by over 68,500 crores on the account of weakening rupee that is a staggering amount which would only rise in the days to come as oil prices increase and the dollar becomes stronger in the coming days. We are heading towards a banana republic where citizens are left in the lurch out of wasteful expenditures by the government and no clear-cut policies for taking debts from the foreign institutions which are not charity but needs to be repaid with interest.
The government needs to put brakes on bullet trains which are a gimmick in a country where even normal trains need a makeover. Elections cost billions of rupees and that expenditure too needs to be curbed. Emergency measures are required to come out of the debt trap and all our efforts need to be undertaken to come out of this mess. Time for the top economists of the country to sit together and advise the Prime Minister on this serious matter. Charity begins at home and the Prime Minister too should curtail his foreign visits so that it is not a drag on our economy!
– S.N.Kabra
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
