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The floods in the Himalayas- Who is to blame

When mother nature unleashed her fury in the Himalayas, there was absolutely nothing that could stop her. Floods inundated and destroyed everything in it's path sweeping away all that stood it's way. Thousands were affected with many loosing their lives. The historic pilgrim centres that include Kedarnath  was destroyed.  Now the question that we need to ask is who is to blame for this disaster? And the blame falls naturally on us. With rampant commercialization of the pilgrimage to the Himalayas, we started exerting much pressure on mother nature. Buildings were constructed upsetting the fragile nature of the ecosystem of the Himalayas. Forests were cut paving way for construction of big dams giving scant regard on the pressures that such mega projects will have on the ecosystem. When massive constructions were undertaken to support the ever growing pilgrims and tourists in the Himalayas, the core issues of sustainability and safety were not taken care off. No study w

Growth of China- Challenges for Asia and beyond

If there is a story that hit the headlines in the Asian security architecture, it is the rise of China to the centre stage of Asian politics. China has stunned one and all with her dramatic growth and her march and mastering of advanced weapon system coupled with aggressive international policy. It is very difficult to deal with such a complected subject in  small blog. Over the recent years, China has made great strides. Backed by decades of strong economic growth, China aspires to be a world power. But one seriously doubt if China has set their game right. as the old saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. But this wisdom seems to allude the Chinese policy makers. China has just about has problems with all it's neighbors, be it with Japan, or Philippines, Vietnam or India, China has territorial claims and disputes with each and one of these countries. The recent Chinese actions of proactive power projection makes matters worse. China's greatest test w

IPL Gate-Corruption in Indian Cricket

Cricket was called the gentleman's game. Game-what does the word mean? Game means - A sport or an activity which gives entertainment or amusement. A game is something of a recreational activity which gives the people a form of entertainment. But the rules has changed. Games no longer signify just entertainment but big money and even bigger earnings by gambling and betting. Indian Premier League (IPL) is the cash trove of the Board of Control of Cricket in India, drawing big investors who has enough money to burn. The players are well paid and they get extra bonus from franchisees for endorsing products. In all, the players has nothing to complain as they become very rich.  Match fixing, spot fixing and betting is nothing new to cricket. In international cricket, there has been many instances wherein the players are paid to give up the match by the bookies. Many have been caught and their lives wasted. Yet why is it that such allegations keeps on repeating. Come

Karnataka Elections- Lessons the BJP must learn

The elections in Karnataka is finally over. The people has spoken. The Bharatiya Janatha Party has been ousted from power and they faced their worst defeat.  Karnataka was once the pride of the BJP, having captured the state through ballot. The BJP dreamed of  capturing the entire south and making themselves the predominant party. Karnataka was their gateway to south India. But their finest hour turned their worst dream. What had happened that made the BJP so unpopular and ultimately loss  power. When the BJP won the elections in Karnataka, it was the movement in history. In 2013, that success was reversed and BJP had to face their most most humiliating defeat. This is not the victory for the congress but the defeat for the BJP. Congress did not win due to their popularity, but because the BJP did all the mistakes to make themselves unpopular. Too many compromises was made, but the common man is not a fool and is able to see the game through even how much you try to sugar

Law Jokes- Smoking Cigar

A Charlotte, North Carolina man, having purchased a case of rare, very expensive cigars, insured them against .... get this .... fire. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of fabulous cigars, and having yet to make a single premium payment on the policy, the man filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the man stated that he had lost the cigars in "a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason that the man had consumed the cigars in a normal fashion. The man sued ... and won!! In delivering his ruling, the judge stated that since the man held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable, and also guaranteed that it would insure the cigars against fire, without defining what it considered to be "unacceptable fire," it was obligated to compensate the insured for his loss. Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company acc