22.08.2008

• Delhi High Court bars top lawyers for criminal contempt
• The HC barred two high-profile lawyers—former Congress MP R K Anand and ace criminal lawyer I U Khan—from appearing before it and its subordinate courts for four months for committing “criminal contempt’’ in the BMW hit-and-run case. It has also ordered that they be stripped of their position as ‘senior advocate.’
• Both Anand and Khan were shown in the sting conducted by NDTV on May 30 last year, as colluding to influence Kulkarni in the BMW hit-and-run case. A day later, the court took suo motu cognisance of the sting operation showing Anand, in collusion with Khan, allegedly offering money to Kulkarni to depose in favour of Sanjeev Nanda, the accused in the case.
• Public memory as they say is short. Refresh your memory about the BMW case and also a bit about the controversial background of the Nanda family here.
• We are all mute spectators to what is going on in J&K.
• Even the political parties appear to have nothing to offer in terms of solutions. It is at times like these we wonder whether or not we should hold on to Kashmir. A sentence in today’s TOI op-ed by K. Subramanyam sums up any nation state’s challenge in times like these:
• When Parliament is adjourned without transacting any business for the day or the use of excessive force becomes necessary to disperse unruly crowds in the streets resorting to violence, destruction of public property and casualties, those who engineer the disruptions know full well what the results will be. In fact, they desire those results. The silent majority and the governing authorities in both these cases do not have the moral fibre to assert their will and enforce the rule of law. This is the challenge before the Indian republic whether in Parliament or in Kashmir.
• Language lessons: magpie
• Long-tailed black-and-white crow that utters a raucous chattering call
• Someone who collects things that have been discarded by others
• An obnoxious and foolish and loquacious talker
• Air India awaits yet another bail out package
• Air India has incurred a Rs 2,144-crore loss during 2007-08, mostly on account of rising aviation turbine fuel prices and other operational costs. The government is said to be working out a Rs 2,300-crore bailout package for the airline, which includes Rs 1,300 crore as equity and Rs 1,000 crore as a soft loan.
• Industry forecasts point to a combined loss of Rs 9,900 crore for Indian carriers this year.
• Incidentally do you know that Air India was established in 1932?
• Some noteworthy commentary on the need for state sponsorship of sport
• Made in the context of India’s accidental win of Olympic medals.
• What has happened is that a couple of members of the backbone of this country, the hardworking lower and middle classes, have by dint of sheer physical grit broken through. The photograph of a delighted, yet incredulous Sushil Kumar, who won the bronze in the 66 kg Men’s Freestyle wrestling event, says it all. This individual determination and skill hardly means a national effort has paid off.
• Inflation at a 20 year high
• Costlier food items, such as fruit, vegetables and milk, pushed the wholesale price-based inflation to 12.63% for the week ended August 9, from 12.44% in the previous week. The inflation stood at 4.24% in the corresponding week of the previous year.
• Economists feel inflation could go up to 13.5% before it starts to come down.