Of Misquoted History and Surplus Children
When sons become fathers...
History and logic suffered a body blow when Madan Lal Saini, Rajasthan BJP president, claimed Mughal emperor Humayun advised Babur on his deathbed to respect cows, Brahmins and women if he wanted to rule India. There's a slight problem with Saini's statement: Babur died 26 years before his son Humayun did. In the midst of fake news putting human lives in peril, politicians must be responsible with their comments. But who will bell the cat?
Source: The Indian Express
Are you the fifth born in a Hindu family? An Indian legislator probably thinks you’re a "surplus" child born to parents who engineered your birth. Surendra Singh, a BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh, said that every Hindu should have at least five children, "two for the man, two for the woman and one surplus". Singh's pleas are perhaps motivated by the paranoia that unless Hindus increase their numbers, they will become minorities. He also stated that children are like "prasad". Go figure!
Source: The Asian Age
People in Bengaluru woke up to an astonishing advertisement on the front page of The Hindu on 25 July. The 'Grand National Young Achievers Matrimony Meet' managed to offend practically everyone with its classist, elitist and sexist display of ignorance of what comprises a young ach iever. Among the people invited to the meet were IAS, IPS, IRS, IIT and IIM graduates and … "beautiful girls". Sreeram N., the brain behind the ad, told The News Minute that he "did not want to be discriminatory". The ad signifies everything that is wrong with a country that still holds fair skin as a benchmark for beauty.
Source: The News Minute
Passengers on the morning Titwala–CSMT local in Mumbai witnessed a version of the 2006 thriller Snakes on a Plane, with a desi twist, after a lime-green reptile was found coile...
History and logic suffered a body blow when Madan Lal Saini, Rajasthan BJP president, claimed Mughal emperor Humayun advised Babur on his deathbed to respect cows, Brahmins and women if he wanted to rule India. There's a slight problem with Saini's statement: Babur died 26 years before his son Humayun did. In the midst of fake news putting human lives in peril, politicians must be responsible with their comments. But who will bell the cat?
Source: The Indian Express
Are you the fifth born in a Hindu family? An Indian legislator probably thinks you’re a "surplus" child born to parents who engineered your birth. Surendra Singh, a BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh, said that every Hindu should have at least five children, "two for the man, two for the woman and one surplus". Singh's pleas are perhaps motivated by the paranoia that unless Hindus increase their numbers, they will become minorities. He also stated that children are like "prasad". Go figure!
Source: The Asian Age
People in Bengaluru woke up to an astonishing advertisement on the front page of The Hindu on 25 July. The 'Grand National Young Achievers Matrimony Meet' managed to offend practically everyone with its classist, elitist and sexist display of ignorance of what comprises a young ach iever. Among the people invited to the meet were IAS, IPS, IRS, IIT and IIM graduates and … "beautiful girls". Sreeram N., the brain behind the ad, told The News Minute that he "did not want to be discriminatory". The ad signifies everything that is wrong with a country that still holds fair skin as a benchmark for beauty.
Source: The News Minute
Passengers on the morning Titwala–CSMT local in Mumbai witnessed a version of the 2006 thriller Snakes on a Plane, with a desi twist, after a lime-green reptile was found coiled up inside a compartment. Panicked commuters pulled the emergency chain near Thane and shooed away the mildly poisonous vine snake. It's not clear how or when the reptilian traveller boarded the train, but rail authorities suspect "mischief" on the part of a human accomplice.
Spotted by Sanjib Kumar Das, Cuttack
The Guwahati Tea Auction Centre in Assam made news when a kilo of tea from the Manohari Tea Estate in Dibrugarh sold at a record-breaking Rs 39,001, the highest price any tea has fetched at any auction in the world. C. K. Parashar, producer, said the "tea was handmade and hardly 50 grams of it could be produced in a single day". So, a kilo of the tea is more expensive than 10 grams of gold--brew that!
Spotted by M. V. Apparao, Hyderabad
A woman who was injured, along with 90 others, when part of a tent collapsed on her during a rally by Narendra Modi in West Bengal’s Midnapore district, on 16 July, is now a celebrity after the Prime Minister sent a signed message to her, wishing her well. Rita Mudi and her sister have also reportedly received marriage proposals and strangers flock to her home to take selfies with her.
Source: ANI