chakravarthy

The fallout of the trans-border raids in an active 'hot peace' environment between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir is always unpredictable, because there are just too many imponderables. The 'surgical strike' by hunter killer teams of the special forces of the Indian Army on fidayeen bases across the Line of Control in the Naugham-Hot Springs-Nangi Tekri area in Kashmir on the night of September 28/29 2016 was one such raid. It must have been ordered only after cool-headed, cold-blooded calculation of all possible results - political, diplomatic and, of course, military. In this partlicular instance, fortune did favour the brave. The operation was an almost flawless success - an astonishing rarity where 'no plan survives contact with the enemy' - and delivered summary retribution on those responsible for the attack on the Indian Army outpost ar Uri on September 18, 2016 where 19 Indian soldiers had lost their lives. In so doing, India served notice t...

Laxmi Pujan was over sixty-five years old. Mrs. Deshpande was levering herself up from the seated position using her left hand. "Crack". It sounded like twig breaking. Actually, she had just fractured the bone of her left forearm! The culprit - Osteoporosis. What is Osteoporosis ? - It literally means 'bones that are porous'. Bone is a growing tissue that changes throughout life. Healthy bone has a honeycomb appearance when viewed under the microscope. It is being constantly absorbed and replaced by the body. As people age, bones naturally get thinner, new bone formation does not keep pace with bone removal. The bones thus lose minerals, mass, and structure becoming weaker and more brittle. Under the microscope, the honeycomb appearance becomes more rarefied, the holes and spaces increasing as the bone becomes weaker and is more likely to break. Even simple acts like bending over or lifting things can cause a fracture. Symptoms - Osteoporosis is silent with the...

Feigning outrage at the killing of Pakistan-backed Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, Pakistan's civilian-led government decried his killing by Indian security forces as 'deplorable and condemnable'. This group is considered to be a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and India alike. This conniption once again exposed Pakistan's unstinting support for the zoo of Islamist terrorists that it uses to achieve its foreign policy objectives in India, Afgahnistan and elsewhere. The timing of this charade is not coincidental: it is contemporaneous with mounting criticisms over Pakistani Human Rights abuses in Baluchistan as it tries to crush any and all opposition to the infamous 'China Pakistan Economic Corridor'. Pakistan explicitly counters criticism over its activities in Baluchistan with reference to Indian security force's killings in Kashmir. This is yet another Pakistani false equivalence. It must be said bluntly that i...

In the mind games being played out on an increasingly splattered chessboard between intelligence agencies and terror groups, a portly, 67-year-old Professor from Bangalore could turn out to be the crucial bishop. Profeesor Mukundam Champadi Raman is the man behind a brain signature profiling technique, whose official name is Brain Electrical Oscillations (BEOS). It is now a favourite forensic tool of investigators desperate for a lead. Professor Mukundam says the psychological logic behind BEOS is that while an individual may lie about an experience to others, he cannot lie to himself. How does it work? A specially designed auditory probe extracts a signature from the scalp of the suspect. Continuous video footage of changes in the brain is captured and integrated with the data. The examiner presents the suspect with several scenarios and probes, not merely to test his knowledge but to provoke remembrance of a past event. The suspect's mind produces results which form a pattern...

Rapid technology advances have us already struggling with how to handle our electronic media legacy - email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram accounts, and even comment trails on Web articles - after death that the idea of protecting our biological information hasn't quiet caught up with us. A fashion student from London's prestigious Central Saint Martins has developed a collection of "human leather wear", created from the DNA of designer Alexander McQueen, who died in 2010. His DNA was extracted from hair he had used in the labels of his first fashion collection. With no laws in place, the use of McQueen's DNA did not involve any permissions from his heirs or estate. The Saint Martin's Student was able to extract the DNA, use that to create 'leather' in the same skin tone as McQueen and apply for a patent. This process can also be used to create products of any dead person, be it family, friend or enemy, as long as you can access to their DNA. The ...

If the dastardly terror attack in Nice wasn't enough to unsettle Europe, already straining under the twin crises of terrorism and an exodus of refugees, there was more explosive news in July 2016: an aborted military coup in Turkey, the continent's most crucial frontline state in the war against ISIS. To us in South Asia, a coup is no uncommon occurrence. That comfort factor must be so deeply embedded in our national consciousness that the MEA's mercurial response in cut-and-paste wording was unsurprising: "India calls upon all sides to support democracy and the mandate of the ballot and avoid bloodshed", it read. It was in synch with those of others India has begun to break bread with a global high tables: back an elected government, frown upon military rule, warn against violence. But already, by July 2016, disturbing statistics and gory pictures were splashed across many European dailies. A total of 265 people had been killed in a single, bloody night in Tu...

For generations, Hyderabadis and others the world over were regaled by the romantic folklore and legend of Bhagmati, said to be the beloved of Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah, the fifth ruler of the Qutub Shahi dynasty and founder of Hyderabad. Bhagmati is back in focus as Hyderabad city celebrates its 425th birthday on 09th October, 2016. But did she really exist? The Deccan Heritage Trust which has researched the story finds Bhagmati to be a piece of fiction, much like the celluloid story of Saleem-Anarkali or Jodha- Akbar. "She simply doesn't exist. There is no stone inscription, no grave, no coins, no mention in Quli Qutub Shah's poems Kulliyat . There is no evidence to prove her existence. It's just hearsay. There is conclusive evidence that Bhagmati is fictionand not fact", said Dr. Mohd. Saifullah, Honorary Managing Trustee of the Deccan Heritage Trust. He added, "We are coming out with a book, Hyderabad Forever, on how the story was born. Bhagmati is mere...

Violence against women is as high as forty-five percent in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, experts at the National Conference on Fertility Regulation and Women's Health organised in the city on 27th August, 2015 said. The recent National Family and Health Survey of 2015 showed that forty-three women out of one hundred in both the Telugu states experienced spousal violence. Of these 5.9 percent women experienced violence during pregnancy. Dr. Shanta Kumari, Secretary of the Indian College of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society, a core member of the Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of India, said, " We see cases of women who have suffered from sexual violence relating to unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortions and neglected pregnancies. These women come to us with these issues and are mostly in the age-group of 18 to 45 years. Our objective is to help them open up about their problems so that we can help them both in the physical sense as well as with regard to...

Now that both the Olympic Games and the Paralympics are well behind us, and we have finished voicing disappointment (or elation), we as a nation need to give serious thought to the status of sports in education. Abhinav Bindra has quiet rightly commented in a national news magazine that we are confused about what kind of sporting nation we are, and what kind of sporting nation we would like to become. But if we feel there are other pressing priorities, we shouldn't grumble about our 'poor performance'. Sports must be seen as an intrinsic part of the school curriculum and not just as an 'extra' activity that a reputed school is expected to offer. Parents today do realise the importance of 'extra-curricular' activities, but these, as the name suggests, are not at par with academics. This is not a desirable state of affairs. Physical fitness courses, sports and other activities must be embedded in every school educational programme to ensure every child's...

Athletes and countries have used the Olympics as a platform to fight against racism because there is no bigger stage in sport to grab the world's attention. USA's Tommie Smith and John Carlos, winners of gold and bronze respectively in the 200 m at the 1968 Olympics, made a resonant statement with their Black Power salute on the podium. Twenty-two African nations boycotted the Olympics in 1976 after the International Olympic Committee refused to ban New Zealand for their rugby tour to racially-segregated South Africa. A list of anti-racism campaigners at the Olympics will always  feature two individuals who weren't even black: Luz Long of Germany and Peter Norman of Australia. The two humanitarian champions embodied the true Olympic spirit as they rose above entrenched racial prejudices of that time. Here is a look at what Long and Norman did at the Olympics and why they will never be forgotten. The 1936 Berlin Olympics came to be known as the Nazi Games after Adolf H...

A six-year old in Hyderabad was recently beaten to death by a boy two years elder to him, who later seemed to be in a state of disbelief when he asked, "What do you mean he died?" This incident demonstrates how quickly the act of bullying can get out of hand and that it is a tumultuous journey for a victim as well as the bully himself. Teachers and Parents have to recognise a child who is either getting bullied or being a bully, in order to save them.  Sucharita N., a psychologist, says that there are two behavioural changes that one must watch out for. "Children who are getting bullied either externalise their frustration by throwing tantrums and hitting their siblings or become unusually withdrawn and quiet. Those children who become bullies usually come from families where there is serious discord. For example, if a child sees his mother get beaten up, he sees that the one who is beating has more power, and he may do the same at school to someone younger", he...

India's surgical strikes in PoK against terror bases, hotly denied by the Pakistani establishment, were bound to evoke a response. Such a response, in fact, can be treated as confirmation of the strikes and their success. Pakistan's deep state chose Baramulla as the response target and launched a sneak action against the co-located camps of the BSF and the HQ of 46 Rashtriya Rifles (RR). There is tremendous misinformation in the public perception about the security of all security forces. This must be corrected with an informed analysis of what we should now expect to unfold in the Valley theatre. The sneak action is just a subset of the overall response that should be expected from the deep state. At the outset, to term these actions by terror groups as attacks is to give military legitimacy to them. these actions are mere sneak attempts by suicide attackers who are willing to die in the course of their action. Predictability is low and the aim is to create a splash with w...