6 DailyO articles from the week to read
How the disastrous Ken-Betwa link project endangers India's tigers, rivers and mountains
Ken and Betwa, originating in Madhya Pradesh’s Vindhya range, flow north to merge with the Yamuna. The two names have been doing the rounds in news off and on for many years as the Ken-Betwa link project is among the first of the government’s big-ticket Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) projects.
However, When the actual work for the project begins, it will inundate a large area of dense forest, a wonderful tiger habitat. Trees on 6,017Ha of forest land will need to be cut. Environmentalists point out that as many as 5,578Ha fall in the core and the buffer zone of the Panna National Park and the Tiger Reserve. The Ken river also has the famous Ken Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary.
Read the full story here.
Let not cricket come between India-Pakistan
It is indeed ironical and highly hypocritical that, on one hand, we proclaim that sports should be kept free of politics.
On the other hand, we allow cricket bonhomie with Pakistan to become hostage to what is essentially a political agenda: our failure to secure an assurance from Pakistan on cross-border terror!
What is even more surprising is that the BJP, which has, in the past, objected to Shiv Sena's demented brand of cricket nationalism, should use the game to leverage its position in a diplomatic standoff.
Read the full story here.
For the sake of Indian democracy, Modi should keep Army out of politics
Modi has not only appointed a highly controversial retired Army Chief in his Council of Ministers, he has also humiliated two outstanding Army officers by superseding them to appoint the present Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat. His One Rank, One Pension policy has also divided the country’s military community.
Regular cross-border operations have been branded by the Modi government as "surgical strikes" to use for electoral gains.
Read the full story here.
A book collector on how many books the bookshelves must give up
Only some relationships need space, but all bookshelves do. Thus, overcome by a fit of misguided enthusiasm last weekend, you decide to roll up your sleeves and get rid of however many books you can.
The reason for this assault on the north face of the shelves isn't a KonMari-esque desire to magically change your life, but a more prosaic realisation that teetering stacks pose a threat not just to life and limb, but also to the acquisition of new books.
Read the full story here.
GST will have a detrimental impact on watching films in cinemas, writes PVR's Ajay Bijli
The GST was a great opportunity to take the film industry - the staple and most innocuous form of entrainment of the Indian masses - to another level. In the very near term itself, we would have come at par if not better than the best in the world, both in quality and quantity.
It was an opportunity to scale up our domestic box office, which is at present a dismal size compared to those in the US, Chinese and even smaller markets. Through GST, we could have screens in every nook and corner of the country. And, why can't our movies do global box office collections like the international movies?
Read the full story here.
Why Mount Everest today would have made my father Tenzing Norgay sad
Sixty-four years ago, on May 29, 1953, my father Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Edmund Hillary stood atop Mount Everest. The day would go on to be called Everest Day. The two ordinary men accomplished a feat that no human thought was until then attainable, testing the limits of human endurance by conquering the last frontier of human terrestrial exploration – Mount Everest.
Read the full story here.