CURRENT AFFAIRS
Men in black vs khaki
H
eartland of law in Chennai saw
a bloody skirmish between
cops and the advocates. Both
these arms of law didn’t gel well and the
trouble was brewing for quite sometime.
There have been instances of brawls
and scraps between these group in and
outside the court campus. But it took a
very violent turn on February 19, when
a group of advocates went to lodge a
counter-complaint seeking the arrest of
Janata leader Subramanian Swamy for
his anti LTTE stand. It sparked the worst
ever clash between these two groups
inside the High Court campus. Many
vehicles were torched and damaged by
stone pelting advocates and lathi wield-
ing cops who even vented their anger
on parked vehicles. A High Court judge
was also not spared, he sustained head
injury in the violence, while advocates,
police personnel, media persons and
others were injured in the melee which
lasted for more than three hours. A
group of lawyers set fire to a police sta-
tion and there were bloodshed on both
the sides. Media persons covering this
conflict earned the wrath of cops as well
as advocates.
The violence came to an end after the
intervention of Chief Justice Mukhopad-
hyaya and also has sought a CBI probe
in this incident. It is very painful to see
this kind of frictions between the gov-
ernment agencies. Just a day before the
violence when Subramanian Swamy was
inside the court hall, pro LTTE advo-
cates hurled rotten eggs on him in front
of two Judges. Then again this happen-
ing was recorded and report sent to
Chief Justice for further action. When
these kind of incidents happen peo-
ple will lose faith in this machinery and
paints a very bad picture of our lawyers
and judges. On the other hand police
are also to be blamed, when they were
onlookers during the law students vio-
The Judiciary and police
machinery should work out
a mechanism to ease the
discomfort as these acts
demean the core values of
our country.
lence episode citing permission, on what
ground did they barge into the campus
this time. They unleashed violence on
whomsoever they saw inside the cam-
pus and were seen breaking the window
panes of cars. They have a moral respon-
sibility for lives and property and they go
on a violent spree hitting everyone and
everything. It’s a shame to see our police
fraternity in such a poor light.
A Journalist covering the court beat
points out that the advocates here are
politically more sensitive than their peers
in other states but at the same time they
are also disoriented in their approach
and call for strike of work for any inci-
dent that hurt their sentiments. When
there was war in lanka they condemn
Rajapakse Government then later So-
nia Gandhi and congress leaders were
their targets and after sometime it was
Subramanian Swamy and now they want
the suspension of DGP and City police
commissioner. They can have their views
Don bosco march 2009
but they don’t have
the right to disrupt
daily court proceed-
ings because its af-
fecting many number
of people at a time
when there is a severe
backlog of cases.
It has worsened the situation for cor-
porate that are already reeling under
downturn. Several merger and acquisi-
tion cases, writ petitions and other cases
are piling up at the court, aggravating
the agony of companies across sec-
tors. Companies are even looking at
High courts in neighbouring states to
expedite their cases. Several crores are
lost because of these unfortunate de-
velopments. Chief Justice of India K G
Balakrishnan has categorically stated
that lawyers have no business to strike
work and points out that there are nearly
4.5 lakh cases pending in the Madras
HC while over 10 lakh cases crowd the
subordinate judiciary.
Chennai press club Joint secretary Bhar-
athi Tamilan has strongly condemned the
police as well as advocates for attacking
the journalists. “ Cameras were seized
and damaged by the police, this kind of
an act is totally unacceptable. They were
also intimidated for their reporting ”.
Vijay, employee in a private firm feels that,
“ we don’t know who is responsible for this
violence, in few media we see advocates
are the cause of trouble and in some other
we find police high handedness and brutal-
ity. We don’t have a clear picture not only
in this but in many issues ”.
Accountability is the need of the hour,
be they lawyers or police. Whatever be
their qualms, people’s welfare should
be their priority. Both the Judiciary
and police machinery should work out
a mechanism to ease the discomfort or
else these episodes can go on like mega
serials demeaning the core values of
our country.
S. Rajvee
www.rajvee.com, rajvee@rajvee.com
31

B
uy your dream home, luxury car,
relax on a sandy beach in Hawaii,
Yes , you will have a million at your
disposal in one year time, all you have to
do is buy 1 and refer 5. This is one of
the hundreds of baits used by Multi Level
Marketing crooks to lure people into their
net. Gold quest, a MLM involving gold coin
selling, was in news for cheating people to
the tune of several crores.
Multi
MLM-Level
Mess
This is not the first time that MLM has
landed in trouble , a few years back it was
magnetic bed MLM that cheating people.
There was such an uproar about the whole
concept of MLM then but, it faded away
slowly. MLM comes in many forms like
bed, medicines, cosmetics, gold and
even money.
For Gold quest , the modus operandi is
simple , you get 1 person to buy 2gms of
gold coin for 32,000 rupees and then if he
introduces 2 more people he will get back
his money and the more the people who
join later he will get extra commission.
There are trained people who can literally
brain wash any one of us, some people say
that it may take some weeks to convince
some people to get into their loop.
With complaints of malpractice in Goldquest
pouring in, the city police swiftly effected
the arrest of three key persons of Gold
quest based in Chennai. Vijay Eshwar, the
main accused and a Malaysian citizen is
absconding. They also seized huge amount
of gold and cash from the office premises of
Gold quest.
People who have lost money in this scheme
are mainly from the middle class families.
There are instances where people have
borrowed money to join this schemes.
Many have refused to file a complaint just
because they did not want others to know
that they were fooled.
“ When I told them that I can’t afford that
much money, they gave me some ideas to
convince our well off relatives and friends.
MLM, in essence, is a form of direct
sales in which independent distributors
sell products or concepts usually by
visiting the homes of their customers or
over the telephone. They make money
not only from their own sales but also
from the sales effected by their recruits
- many MLM schemes promise to pay
huge commissions initially and this is a
trap to lure people.
Becoming an MLM distributor is usually
simple and requires no knowledge
of the products or concepts sold.
MLM companies sell, distributor kits
that include product literature, sales
aids such as videotapes, audiotapes
and so on, price lists, order forms
and instructional manuals. All
that anybody who is interested in
becoming a distributor is to be a part
And I did ” says Raj, an employee with a
private firm.
One investor on condition of anonymity
said that, “ When actors like prabhu and
people like Nalini Chidambaram come for
the launch of this company we think it’s
genuine. And now we realize with money
anything can be done. I am hopeful that
police will help us from this trouble.
Chennai police commissioner Nanjil ku-
maran assured all those who lost money
Don bosco june 2008
CURRENT AFFAIRS
through Gold quest
MLM, “ We have re-
ceived 15,000 peti-
tions with relevant
documents from Tam-
ilnadu and Andhra. We
have seized 8000kgs
of Gold, 860kgs of
silver including cash
worth Rs 20 crores. Also land documents
have been seized. So with the advice
from the officials of RBI we will disburse
the amount”.
Pyramid schemes are illegal in many
countries, including the United States,
Great Britain, France, Canada, Malaysia,
Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Nepal,
Sri Lanka and Iran. Normally, 99.99% of
the people lost their money in any MLM
of the chain and build it as much as
he can.
A sales pyramid is the basis of MLM,
and therein lies the rub. The problem is
that pyramid schemes are inherently
fraudulent. Let’s look at the original
pyramid scheme - the Ponzi - to
understand why this is so.
Ponzi schemes get their name from Carl
Ponzi who, in 1920 in Boston, collected
$9.8 million from 10,550 persons
(including many members of the Boston
police force) by offering profits of 50 per
cent every 45 days - and then paid out
$7.8 million in just eight months.
Since then , any simple fraud in which
initial investors are paid massive
dividends from the deposits of new
investors is known as a Ponzi.
or pyramid scheme. Though were affected
by MLM , the Indian government is yet to
act to ban these companies. There are
conmen everywhere. The people should
be on guard. The simplest advice on
this issue would be: stay away from MLM
companies or their concepts.
“ Fool me once shame on you, fool me
twice shame on me ” – Think about it
S. Rajvee
www.rajvee.com, rajvee@rajvee.com
11

Tight Slap & an Excuse
O
n June 4, the central government
announced a price hike of Rs.5
per litre of petrol, Rs.3 on diesel
and Rs.50 per LPG cylinder, together
with customs and excise duty cuts in
an attempt to save the oil marketing
companies from bankruptcy. But the
common man on the streets fume over
the sudden move of the government
who are already reeling under inflation.
“Milk products, vegetables, fruits have
all gone up so much, and the autofare
is so costly that I have no choice other
than walking nowadays I see 25 paise
coins have become defunct“ says Rani,
housewife.“ They say international
crude oil prices have gone up and we
have to hike the price, I think we will
live to see the cost of 1 litre of petrol
at Rs 150.00 soon atleast in India” says
another grumbling petrol customer. But
the Government was quick to clarify its
stand on price hike. The prime minister
addressed the nation through television
and argued his inevitable move of fuel
price hike. He said he knew the rise
won’t be popular but the govt. couldn’t
take the burden of rising prices alone.
“There are limits to which we can keep
consumer prices unaffected by rising
import costs. Our oil companies cannot
go on incurring losses. This way they will
have no money to import crude oil from
abroad,” the Prime Minister said. “I know
that the price increases we have had to
announce today, will not be popular,
even though they are only modest,”
Singh said his address explaining the
circumstances which forced the UPA
coalition government for a hefty fuel
price revision.
With the Centre having taken a revenue
hit of Rs 22,660 crore by cutting
duties, the Prime Minister asked the
state governments to reduce their taxes
and levies as well. He said the oil prices
in the country had not been raised so
that cost of living did not hurt the poor
sections of the society but that at some
point in time the national prices have
to reflect international realities. He said
the high growth in the country has been
accompanied by high inflation.
“We cannot remain captive to uncertain
markets and unsure sources of supply.
We have to develop renewable sources of
energy, including nuclear energy,” he said.
“Each one of us should conserve energy.
I urge every citizen to spend less petrol,
diesel and LPG,” he added. “We cannot
think only for ourselves, for the present
and for the here and now. We must think
about what is good for future generations
-and for the welfare and security of our
children, grand children and their children.
It is our duty to ensure their food security
and energy security,” Singh said.
In this context, how many people in our
population would have taken the word of
the prime minister seriously to spend less
Don bosco july 2008
CURRENT AFFAIRS
We cannot think only for
ourselves, for the present
and for the here and now.
We must think about
what is good for future
generations.
petrol and diesel? Even if a few take it
seriously it might be of a little relief.
With inflation like never before the
government employees can at least
manage their household but the majority
of our workforce in the unorganized
sector are the worried lot. Soaring prices
and a static salary has burdened majority
of our people.
If our Government is so keen to alleviate
the present crisis, let them take a drastic
step to recover all the dues to bank
by defaulters which include powerful
politicians and business tycoons which
runs to several thousand crores. Ours
may be a democracy but it is only the
man on the streets who bears the brunt
of price hike.
S. Rajvee
www.rajvee.com, rajvee@rajvee.com
11

A giant leap
I
t was a golden moment for our
country when our shooter Abhinav
Bindra hit the bulls eye. For the first
time in the history of Indian Sports a
gold medal was bagged in the individual
category and in the process shattered
the famed lines that not a single gold
for a country with a population of more
than a billion. The medal tally swelled
up by two more bronze medals. Thanks
to the brilliant performance of Delhi
wrestler Sushil Kumar and boxing
glamboy Vijender Kumar. Unfortunately
the media’s favourite and medal
hopefuls Leander Mahesh duo, Anju
George, Rajyavardhan singh Rathore
did not rise up to the expectations. .
A one day cricket matched played in
Barbados will attract enough eye balls
to the television set that a world class
sports played in the heart of our capital
city will have very few takers. With 3
At a time when our
country is facing
so many problems
on the terror
front and corrupt
criminal politicians
deciding the fate
of our nation these
performances
has given a fresh
lease of life for our
people.
medals in individual sporting disciplines
at the Beijing Olympics it has given
the much needed momentum for the
upliftment of the not so popular sports
in our country. It’s a giant leap for the
sporting fraternity other than cricket.
At a time when our country is facing so
many problems on the terror front and
corrupt criminal politicians deciding the
fate of our nation these performances
has given a fresh lease of life for our
people. Also in Badminton, tennis and
archery we almost had near podium fin-
ishes. When the small contingent of 56
sports person who walked in the Beijing
stadium there were many who thought
that it was just going to be another pres-
ence at the Olympics. With hockey not
even getting qualified for the Olympics
the medal chances were all the more
slimmer. Even the Indian Olympics Asso-
ciation president made a statement say-
Don bosco SEPTEMBER 2008
CURRENT AFFAIRS
ing, “ Not to expect
miracles ” but mira-
cles still happened.
Also if one noticed
that all the three
performers were
overnight stars. They
got into limelight
because of sheer hard work and deter-
mination. Abhinav Bindra, 25, son of a
wealthy businessman from the northwest-
ern city of Chandigarh, won a gold in the
10-meter air rifle competition. Vijender
Kumar, 23, a bus driver’s son from a vil-
lage about 80 miles from Delhi, won a
bronze in boxing. And Sushil Kumar, 24,
who learned to wrestle in the dirt on the
outskirts of Delhi, also won a bronze.
Within days after their feats many state
governments and sporting bodies and
corporate unleashed cash prizes and gift
vouchers running into crores of rupees.
It’s celebration time for all the winners
and also for the upcoming players in
the field of not so popular sport. With
state governments promising to set
up academies to promote boxing and
wrestling, India looks poised to have
an Olympic sporting culture of its own.
But Governments, sporting associations
and corporates should come forward to
support Olympic sports. For instance
the phenomenal performance of China
with an impressive 51 gold medals
followed by USA with just 36 was mainly
due to the policy of the government of
China. It understands and values the
importance of sports and sports people.
We should take a cue from China be
it on the economic aspect or sports.
A distant dream of gold at the Olympics
has been realized and now it’s the time to
look forward to boost the much neglected
and sidelined sports in our country. A day
will come when we will lose the count of
Olympic medals predicts an enthusiastic
sports buff. Miracles will happen.
S. Rajvee
www.rajvee.com, rajvee@rajvee.com
11
 CURRENT AFFAIRS
Smoking now burns your pocket
A
ll is not well for smokers in our
country. First it was ban on
smoking in public places and
now fines will be levied for smoking.
If someone is caught smoking, then a
fine of Rs 200 would be imposed on
that person in accordance with the Na-
tional Tobacco Act. Even smoking in
private buildings anywhere in the coun-
try will become a punishable offence.
“The rate of smoking in foreign countries
have come down drastically but it’s on
the rise here in our country. Our coun-
try has 60 million people who is below
the age group of 30 and our
youngsters are vul-
nerable. Un-
less drastic
measures
are not
10
taken it will have disastrous consequenc-
es later even affecting our economy “ says
health minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss.
In an exclusive interview for our magazine
he said that he has implemented it de-
spite heavy opposition from many quar-
ters inside the ministry and from outside.
From October 2nd it will be fine for
smoking in public places and from De-
cember 1st, there will be pictorial warn-
ings on all tobacco products highlighting
the ill effects of tobacco. For first time
offenders it will be Rs 200 and for the
subsequent offence it will be Rs 1000.
If an employee is found smoking the
employer must shell Rs 5000 from his
pocket. Every private building should
make it a point to highlight that
smoking is prohibited inside the
premises so as to avoid paying
fines. “Pubs, discos, bars, ho-
tels, restaurants, railway stations,
schools, colleges and all offices
are under the purview of these
new rules,” Ramadoss said that
with the new rules coming into
force, all hotels with at least 30
rooms and restaurants with a sit-
ting capacity of 30 will be barred
from allowing their guests to smoke.
Dr Anbumani Ramadoss
Union Health Minister
Don bosco october 2008
The government is
empowering school
principals, post mas-
ters, railway station masters and NGOs
to book people if they are caught smok-
ing and anybody who is a gazetted of-
ficer can take action against the offend-
ers. Concerned state government will
appoint and designate people to carry
out this work if needed. Dr Anbumani
Ramadoss, a general physician by pro-
fession points out that when smoking in
a closed environment it not only affects
the smoker but also non smokers who are
present in that place. When an research
was carried out, they found out that a
non smoker spending just one hour in
a pub had a considerable amount of tar
and nicotine deposits in his lungs. We
can never allow this kind of menace to
destroy our society, that’s why we have
to come up with such stringent meas-
ures. “If you want to smoke, go out to
a street never inside a building be it
government or private“ says Ramadoss.
Jaya, who starts the day with a ciga-
rette said that he is for this law but
accepts that he is unable to get out
of this habit which started young.
Gobinath, says it is all about self dis-
cipline. You don’t need a law or an
order to tell you what’s right. You are
a social animal and it’s your duty to
carry out what’s expected from you.
Dr. Gurumurthy, says a single ciga-
rette has 4,000 toxic chemicals
and when exposed it to for a long
time it can shorten life span in addi-
tion to other health complications.
Smoking thrills initially but it
kills finally both you and me.
S. Rajvee
www.rajvee.com, rajvee@rajvee.com