SUNDAY FEATURE

As the Shaivites and other devotees of Lord Shiva keep their fingers crossed regarding the Government’s nod to the Amarnath Yatra this year, scheduled to begin on June 28, the signals emerging from the administration are not too encouraging. It appears that the pilgrimage, organised annually by the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, will not fructify this year after having been cancelled last year, too, on the shoulders of the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic.

Though the authorities are still busy weighing the pros and cons before making any announcement, no harm would be done if it is cancelled another year. Under the prevailing circumstances, and especially having had the unsavoury experience of the second wave unleashing due to the carelessness and negligence of the common populace, it would actually be a good decision to err on the side of caution.

The hypocritical debate initiated by Ramdev Yadav about Ayurveda and Modern System of Medicine(allopathy) is lamentable. 

He seems to be levitating in midair without a leg to stand on, so to say, as he is himself not qualified in either of the two. He is a Yoga teacher and not an Ayurvedic Doctor and it is surprising that no one from that council or a government body responsible for Ayurveda has pointed this out.

Clearly, he is damaging the age-old system of Medicine as also the widely accepted and respected Modern system of Medicine that is practised all over the globe.

The biggest driver of India's road to economic recovery after the first wave of coronavirus was consumption; consumption by the middle class. Revenge spending in purchasing for festivities and an unexpected rebound in consumers' appetite for fashion-related products, followed by discretionary spending, pulled the country out of recession.

With the onslaught of the second wave, the middle class has been hit the hardest and may fail to bail out the economy this time. Consumer confidence has plummeted owing to the anticipation of the third wave of covid. Also black fungus epidemic has further aggravated this dip in confidence.

Social media on Sunday debated which variety of mango-Alphonso, Dushehri, Langda, Maldah or Totapari is the best. The hashtag #Alphonso has gone viral on Twitter and it was trending at 13 numbers with many tweeting which variety of the king of fruit is the best in the country.

It all started when a Twitter user claimed that ‘Alphonso mangoes are the best’, while responding to this tweet, a twitter user wrote no mango can aspire to come even within sniffing distance of the Langda/Maldah, no competition, Langda is King. One twitter user wrote “Alphonso is the most overrated stuff” ever and that only “brand conscious babalog” have a taste for it. Several people tweeted for Alphonso mangoes. Twitterati from Bihar, Eastern UP and West Bengal tweeted Maldah is the best.

Recently, The New Education Policy 2020, has been approved by the government of India and is a commendable step taken to achieve the goal of providing quality education and having a skillful, talented, and professional youth population. It will certainly be a landmark in the history of education in India, step taken after wide ranging consultations. Here, I must commend the TSR Subramanian Committee in 2016 and the K Kasturirangan Committee for having done a stellar work.

The policy is a welcome emphasis on a holistic and flexible system that seeks to transform India into a lively knowledge society. There are many welcoming steps like online learning and digital courses. I note with great satisfaction that one of its loftier goals is to establish Multidisciplinary Educational and Research Universities (also called MERUs) having the same status as IITs, IIMs, as prototypes of the multidisciplinary education of global standards in the country. Moreover, the National Research Foundation will be created as an apex body for fostering a strong research culture capacity across higher education. However, the policy did not break any silence on the gender disparities in the field of education, especially science.