India-Bangladesh 1st Test: Bangladesh Humiliated by Ruthless India

Indore: After being whitewashed in the recently-concluded Test series in India, Faf du Plessis, the South African skipper talked about the “mental scars” which he and his boys had to deal with at the end of that tough tour. Going forward, it won’t be surprising if Bangladesh’s Mominul Haque echoes Du Plessis at the end of the Eden Test, especially if India continues to be ruthlessness, as was evident in Indore.

On a pitch where Mayank Agarwal and other batters combined to get 493 for 6 in just 114 overs, their counterparts could last only 127.5 overs and they were 130 runs short of equalling India’s total. And it was India’s pace-trio which took 14 out of the 20 Bangladeshi wickets. Yes, the red-soil pitch offered a little bit of extra bounce but the visiting batsmen were clearly undone by the quality and class of the likes of Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma.

To start with, winning the toss and batting first was a positive move on part of Mominul, who was captaining the Test team for the first time. However, not playing the third seam bowling option was a huge tactical blunder and Bangladesh realised it as the match progressed.

Cricket, Sports

November 2, 2019

Angela Merkel puts Profit over People

In the final week of October, the Narendra Modi-led government trumpeted the news that it was finally relaxing restrictions on international observers entering Kashmir, which has been under a communications blockade since August 5. Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fulfilled the 70-year-old vision of its parent organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), to scrap the region’s special status and end its political autonomy completely by reading down Article 370.

Earlier this week, a delegation of European Union Members of Parliament, announced Modi’s government, would tour Kashmir. The announcement swiftly gathered political storm as more details emerged: It was not an official delegation, but rather a sponsored trip arranged by a private party friendly to Modi. Moreover, the majority of the two dozen visiting MEPs hailed from extreme right-wing political parties, including Germany’s neo-Nazi Alternative für Deutschland—a party which will likely soon be headed by Björn Höcke, who has criticized Germany’s Holocaust commemoration policies and declared as his platform: “We want Germany to remain German.”

The delegation was clearly a handpicked assortment of right wing EU parliamentarians willing to accept an all-expenses paid Potemkin village tour of Kashmir in exchange pumping pro-RSS propaganda on their return to Europe— a ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your back’ initiative which mutually legitimized the far-right in both India and Europe.

International, Opinion, Politics

By Pieter Friedrich

October 13, 2019

Ind vs SA: Kohli’s double ton, Umesh’s return and other Talking points

India needed just five overs post the Tea session on Sunday to break Vernon Philander and Keshav Maharaj’s stand, the only partnership that bothered them in the Pune Test. The duo did well to reduce the deficit in the first innings and repeated the effort in the second, but, in the end, it was too much for the tail-enders. The Indian bowlers eventually had the final say.

That spoke volumes about how miserably the South African batsmen have performed in the last two Tests. Once that particular stand broke on Day 4, Virat Kohli’s bowlers knew they were not far from an emphatic victory. It took India exactly seven balls after that to wrap up the Test as the hosts clinched a massive win by an innings and 137 runs and a historic Test series victory over South Africa.

The Test has been all about world records for the skipper and his team. Kohli got the ball rolling on Day 2 by registering his highest Test score of unbeaten 254. That was his seventh double ton as he broke the record for most double tons by an Indian. He also notched up his 19th century as captain, and with that, he is on level with former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting.

Cricket, Sports

By Sakshi Gupta

October 1, 2019

Ind vs SA: South Africa Banks on its Bowling Attack

Vishakhapatnam: The No 1 and 3 ranked Test teams are in town and they will square off with each other in a high-profile Test series kicking off tomorrow. Yet, there is hardly any buzz around in this coastal city. Barring a few curious faces outside the ACA-VDCA Stadium on the outskirts, it is hard to find fans here, who are genuinely looking forward to come to the ground and watch India and South Africa resume their red-ball rivalry. Even on social media, so far the pre-series chatter is subdued.

It seems the lack of expectations from an inexperienced Proteas side has resulted in this apathy amongst the fans here in India. They expect the mighty hosts to roll over their South African counterparts in one-sided contests at venues like Visakhapatnam, Pune and Ranchi, -where spin is likely dictate terms.

Well, it might be too early to call the series.

Cricket, Sports

By Sandipan Banerjee

August 30, 2019

ACT EAST: An Indian Odyssey in the South China Sea

East Asia has been a major foreign policy consideration for India in the 21^st century. India has held its ‘Look East policy’ for almost three decades, and still strives to do so—with its updated ‘Act East policy’. These policy derivatives were structured to counter China’s growing regional prowess in the Indo-Pacific region and to restrict Beijing in East Asia.

‘Act East’ was a head-to-head approach to thwart China by adding woes to its strategic concerns in East Asia. Among the many issues, the South China Sea dispute has become a key issue. South China Sea, a region ravaged by ‘invalid’ Chinese occupation, gave space for countries like India to put China on the backfoot in its own backyard.

India’s significance in the South China Sea is twofold; economic and strategic. In economic terms, 55 per cent of India’s total trade passes through the region; Trade outlook has been another major factor dictating India’s strategic interests in the region.

Defense, International, National, National Seurity, Politics

By K A Dhananjay

January 13, 2017

In Conversation with James Wilson on His Findings About Demonetisation

James Wilson, a civil engineer, is a member of the Mullaperiyar Special Cell for the Government of Kerala. His profession demands him to decipher figures and statistics of various happenings in a manner that is easily understood by anyone reading a report he has prepared. This could probably be the reason why Mr. Wilson started researching and digging deep into the current major issue in our country – the demonetisation of currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000. According to him, he did not find any article or news report convincing enough that would provide him complete and transparent details about demonetisation and its impacts on society. And so he decided to find it out for himself.

He is now posting his findings on his blog ‘Decipher the Demonetisation’ and conveying his thoughts through his Twitter handle @jamewils, which is in turn becoming popular.

In a conversation with The Kochi Post, Mr. Wilson shared his views on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision of demonetisation, its impact, and its pros and cons.

Politics

By Vidya Nair

December 22, 2016

How We Can Work Towards Better Healthcare for All

This is the third under a series of articles The Kochi Post is running on access to healthcare and the second part of Dr. Jimmy’s column on universal healthcare.

From the experience across the world, it is clear that providing universal healthcare as per demand is not working. The richest countries find it a big task. This is what I have tried to highlight in my last article.

Why is that? The reason is the enormous incremental advances in the standard of medical care over the past few decades. Technology brings more benefits, professionals are better skilled, and medicines are more effective. Costs rise exponentially. But the relation between cost and benefit is not linear. That means, a hundred per cent increase in cost doesn’t lead to a hundred per cent increase in benefits. This may happen very rarely. But most of the time, what happens is that a particular improvement in treatment may double the cost. But the benefit may rise only by five per cent or so. But in healthcare, the older treatment is outdated.

Health

By Jimmy Mathew

December 18, 2016

OPINION: On Dissent, Patriotism and the Nation State

News shows these days are theaters of the absurd and sensible viewers must constantly remind themselves that what they are watching is not a clever parody but the real thing, the happening world. Consider this for instance – a group of people calling themselves gau-rakshaks (cow protectors) use such modern technologies like smartphones and the internet to trace and find people they suspect of trafficking beef because they believe the cow to be their mother. They are aided in their efforts by the state police. Meanwhile, trafficking of children and women goes on unabated with nary a nari-rakshak anywhere in sight.

The latest to join this burlesque is the national anthem debate. The Supreme Court has decided to cultivate patriotism in the land by singing the anthem in movie theatres before each show. Citizens are advised to stand during the recital. People who choose to sit are spotted by anthem-rakshaks and arrested by police. The court order has divided movie-goers into four groups- the Joyful Standers (JFS), the Joyless Standers (JLS), the Grim Sitters (GS) and the Cool Shitters (CS). The last are the ones who said, “Oh, shit”, and stopped going to movie halls. The JLS is the most common, followed by the JFS, the CS and the GS in that order.

The Cool Shitters are quiet dissenters. The Grim Sitters are more vocal and wish the world to take note of their dissent. These may also include the occasional alcoholic who cannot be bothered to stand up. The Joyless Standers are those who have no particular opinion one way or the other about the whole rigmarole but feel that they might as well do what is required so that they can watch their movie in peace. The recently concluded IFFK saw such people stand in large numbers before the movies which, ironically, highlighted State intrusion into civilian life. Joyless Standers may disagree with the exercise but do not feel it necessary to press the question. The Joyful Standers are a small group who feel that the court order is right and proper. Within their number is a sub-group, the anthem-rakshaks, who are not content to merely stand. They must make sure that everyone else also stands, and will spare no pain to punish sitters with whatever means at hand – vigilante justice or the more conventional form. The anthem-rakshak interprets dissent as disrespect to the national anthem and seeks to criminalize it.

Opinion

By Dr. Viswanathan K

December 6, 2016

The Cost of Healthcare in Kerala

This is the first under a series of articles The Kochi Post is running on access to healthcare.

The tertiary care health sector in Kerala comprises private and government hospitals. At the top tier of government hospitals are medical colleges, premier institutions which function as referral centres. Government hospitals are by themselves ill-equipped to meet public health demands.There are exceptions to this sweeping statement. Emergency care in government hospitals is usually good and there is an efficient system of referral to the tiers above, from the primary health centre to the teaching hospital, which is able to take care of most demands. Emergency care is free of cost in government hospitals, although this depends on the availability of medicines, implants and other consumables.

However, when it comes to elective cases, like an open heart surgery or a kidney transplant or a knee replacement surgery, this system often involves prolonged waiting periods. Some specialised procedures need highly skilled personnel or costly equipment. These may be available only at a few centres. Highly skilled professionals are scarce. It is difficult for government hospitals to retain their services over time as the salary paid by the government is meagre as compared to that in a private hospital. An exception to this is the highly skilled academician who likes to teach or do research, but this is a rare animal indeed.

Opinion

By Dr. Viswanathan K

September 26, 2016

War with Pakistan: Lessons from Past Conflicts

Forty-five years have passed since India and Pakistan fought a regular war, not counting the bitter and bloody conflict on the icy heights of Kargil which stands on a separate footing by virtue of its geographical setting. Most of those who are crying for war in the wake of the attack on the Uri army base are people who are too young to know about the situation at that time. They will presumably be happy to hear that similar slogans were heard then too. Mercifully, the war cries of those days were not too shrill or too loud as news channels and Goswamis and social media and cyber sepoys were not around.

The chain of developments that culminated in the war of December 1971 began at the beginning of that year with the elections held by Pakistan President Gen. Yahya Khan to transfer power to a civilian government yielding an unexpected verdict. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League secured a clear majority in the National Assembly by making a near-total sweep of the East wing seats. Pakistan People’s Party’s Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was unwilling to concede the Prime Ministership to him and Yahya Khan lacked the courage to put national interests above the West wing’s.

Kashmiri dissidents dragged India into the developing imbroglio by hijacking an Indian Airlines plane on a Srinagar-Jammu flight to Lahore. The hijackers freed all aboard the plane unharmed. Later they blew it up. In retaliation, India denied Pakistani aircraft permission to overfly. As a result, Pakistani planes flying from one wing to the other had to go via Colombo. This severely limited Pakistan’s ability to send reinforcements to the East wing when the army crackdown of March 25 provoked a guerrilla campaign.

Opinion, Politics

By BRP Bhaskar

September 19, 2016

How Rahul Sasi Dropped out of College and Went on to Become One of the Top Ethical Hackers in India

When Rahul Sasi re-enters the portals of Anna University to give a talk organised by the government this week, it will be a proud moment for him. It was from this very university that he dropped out years ago. Today, Rahul is considered to be one of the best ethical hackers in the country. For Rahul, who has his roots in Kerala, this has been a dream run.

Rahul believes he learned more things from outside college. He started with working as a security consultant for a small company. Later, he got a job as a researcher in an international company. He then worked with Citrix before starting his own firm CloudSek, which focuses on Artificial Intelligence and Security. Rahul has given talks on hacking in almost 20 countries.

It all started in college for Rahul. The first hack done by him was into the bio-metric system.

Technology

By Unnikrishnan R