To save these people, you need to keep them out of our sight
The most recurring, quoted number in India today is 1,411 – the mean count of tigers ostensibly remaining in the wild in the country. Everyone knows and everyone seems pretty upset. The number, of course, can be disputed and refuted too if needed; but that can be the topic for another discussion. What is evident is that given the rate of decline, it might be just another 20, or maybe 50, years by when tigers would vanish from our landscape. This number, till the other day, remained in the knowledge domain of wildlifers – conservationists, activists, enthusiasts. Thanks to the biggest ad campaign of the year, most people now know that 1,411 is too small a number in itself. Alarming, is how most ordinary people have been describing the number as.
Of militants, and tackling militancy
It's the kind of news item that tends to get buried under others of heavier national importance; for it hardly has any news value that any journalist worth one's salt would ascribe to it. This particular news item one read was about 36 former militants being appointed on Saturday as constables in the Jammu and Kashmir police. No big deal, that. In any case, nothing new about such a measure either.
It is not the news item in itself that is a cause for worry – reading between its lines is, and also by going beyond the straightjacket, desultory headline.
No dancing at Hyderabad bars and clubs from now on
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You can't beat this — the Andhra Pradesh government has banned dancing in clubs, bars and pubs to prevent law and order problems.
Orchestra and singing accompanied by eating and drinking, however, has been permitted at these places if the managements obtained amusement licences.
How amusing.
We have been told as much by none other than the home minister of the state, K Jana Reddy. No, he did not convey this to us personally. He chose to announce this in the state Assembly during question hour on Friday.
Reddy said the government had banned dancing though only obscenity in it was objectionable. The step was taken in view of law and order concerns arising from obscene dancing. Otherwise, the government had no objection to singing and dancing because it was all there on TV and cinema screen.
