There is mass hysteria witnessing today over the film Padmavati. It is a fact that none of the protesters had seen the film but people are on the streets in many northern states. With the recent announcement by Gujarat Govt to ban the movie and MP and Rajasthan followed the suit.  Over the past few weeks, the controversy over the film has become our national pastime and constant source of political entertainment. I fail to understand one thing, is it possible for any film or any film maker to appease the sentiment of a billion -plus population?
 It is unfortunate that the release of big budget film like this, is mired in controversy. The protests around the movie have resulted in major law and order problem in few states. Actually, I am really not aware of the history, but gathered here and there that there no historical evidence of Padmavati and also that the film is purely based on fiction and creativity of the Director Bhansali. Courts having been cleared it, the agitation against its release is uncalled for in my personal opinion.  The government’s shouldn’t buckle under pressure to maintain law and order citing there is a real distortion of history but the fact of the matter is, the protests against this film are snowballing. This movie is yet to be seen by anyone, apart from those who made it.
As the release date of the film in the theatres is still shrouded in mystery after Karnisena intensified their protests, and demanded ban on the plea, that history was distorted ,showing Rajputs in poor light. But  SC rightly rejected their plea, saying that none has the right to interfere, in freedom of expression in cinema while disapproving the threat issued by elements to harm Deepika for acting in the film. It is even reported that Rs 10 crores have been fixed for the elimination of actress and Director Bhansali. What does it show? Are we living in democratic country? Though the actual release of the film kept under wraps till the return of normalcy, the ball is in the court of states, as it is their responsibility to maintain law and order.
In my view, I&B Ministry If union government, must ensure that rule of law is enforced firmly without succumbing to vested interests, by making the protesters understand that the artistic expression depicted through films can not be curbed on flimsy grounds.
But in the instant case even CBFC also looks to be biased as in this respect one Marathi film, HALAL was reported, that before giving a certificate, CBFC called the muslim community members from various cities, and after taking their suggestions and they suggested some minor cuts and finally certification was given. In that case why not the same yardstick is not followed? Why only Bhansali's film being subjected to unfair treatment? CBFC should call Rajput community elders, so-called Hindu leaders, and historians to have their suggestions.
It May not be good to make on those issues which hurt religious sentiments of the people of any religion. Films should lay focus on more important issues, like poverty, education, healthcare, economic growth as well as service to the poor and needy. But it is easier said than done as who would see such movies without masala?

I'm pained to note that the Govt of India could have conducted Mrs Gandhi’s birth centenary celebrations in a big way. It is a fact that she belonged to the rival party, but in my view, she deserves high regard from all, across party lines and if that was the case, neither Sardar Patel nor Subhaschandra Bose, belong to the present ruling dispensation. As a PM, she steered the country out of the state of food scarcity and registered many victories for India. In fact the credit of breaking Pakistan, and creation of a new country, Bangladesh, goes only to her. We resort to chest thumping for a very small routine things like Surgical strikes, which most governments do as matter of routine, and they normally go unnoticed, but whereas breaking a rival country into half much against the very powerful international community, especially America which supports Pakistan even to this day, was not a small affair. Her one and only wrong step being Declaration of Emergency, the consequences of it, had been reaped in the subsequent election. But whatever it is worth, she left behind her legacy as an able leader. Above all Congress has been criticised, by the present ruling dispensation, for its selective approach in honouring the national leaders. If BJP also follows in the footsteps of Congress, and its wrong doings, then there is no point, for it to make hue and cry, about such things. I agree, even the Congress has no moral ground to question BJP, as it has also conveniently forgotten, the services, of a very great PM Mr Narasimha Rao. Therefore it shouldn’t be a role model, for the government, led by BJP to take cue and ignore Indira.
All said and done, she was India’s one of the most charismatic leaders, and very courageous women PM and not celebrating has not gone down well, with many people who I have interacted with, because she was not only known as “Iron Lady” who lead from the front, at critical junctures with a common resolve to build a better India. She was also a women with high secular creed and stature that remains unmatched even to this day. It is pity that Mrs Gandhi, was far removed from fierce political controversy after emergency, yet it remains imperative or all political parties, cutting across party lines, to imbibe her dedication, to the national unit. And her priority to eradicate poverty, communalism and regionalism.

I'm happy to note that our humble Indian KichidI  would get the national status. Hopefully it would become a staple diet all over India in general and particularly in schools where mid -meals are being served to children.Though Kichidi being the poor man’s food, soon it entered rich people’s homes and even hotels, where probably it may get a fancy name for a fancy price. Incidentally I also happened to read that our PM is very fond of this item. But I'm sure it can’t be the reason for it to get a national status and I would pray that it shouldn’t turn into another sparring between ruling and opposition. I appeal to all political parties, not give political colour to this.

Last week November 8th (exactly a year since demonetization) saw re-ignition  of debate on demonetization and its effects on the society positive and negative.  Both BJP and Congress marked the occasion for different reasons.  In this regard I read a report in one all India level English News paper which I personally feel, it is pro-Government, had conducted a survey among five southern states, and the result, it seems not encouraging.when asked about whether Demonetisation was a good decision, 44 percent said “yes” while 47.6 said “no” ,with an error margin of 3 percent, .However when it came to the two stated objectives of Demonetisation, — curbs on black money and tackling corruption,-respondents,it seems, emphatically said both of these goals have been belied. It is also reported that some 59 percent, said that Demonetisation didn’t succeed in bringing down, the circulation of black money while 28.5 percent said it has.

After watching and reading different media outlets I found the arguments of ruling party is found to be empty and has only slogans than convincing statistical points for people to agree upon.T he status of Economy is not encouraging but deteriorating compelling PM and FM to discuss the measures to be taken on war footing. The fact as it stands today is that due to demonetisation the affluent stand unaffected, while the common man who had to bear with all its ill effects like loss of employment, reduced wage, closure of small industries, and businesses firms, money crunch and so on.
In this connection it is also pertinent to mention that we have all forgotten those who died amid the chaos,of Notebandi. It was officially stated that more than 100h ad died.Wire listed names, and locations of 90 including a bank peon in Pune, who succumbed to stress, handling large number of crowds, 12 hours a day and many elderly people who simply collapsed, waiting in the queues.When Manmohan Singh said in Parliament that it is  a ”legalised blunder “ he didn’t cut much ice, because he was a congress Ex PM and his record as PM had been pathetic. But whatever it is worth, with in an year he was proved right.
FM Jaitley dismissed all this as ”initial inconveniences” and said that the absence of social unrest and any significant economic disruption showed that DeMo was a great achievement.
On disruption I had read an example that Surat and Tirupur, very famous textile export centres, were devastated over night. It was 400 crores a day business in Surat, while Tirupur it was 50,000 crore a year, backbone employing about 10 lakh workers. Tirupur dependent wholly on textiles unlike Surat which had diamonds too, was reduced to a graveyard. My question is, are theses initial inconveniences.?
To my mind it is not clear whether move DeMo, met its intended purpose. Leaving the black Kuberas aside, for the time being the hardships and sufferings caused by this move, to the poor and middle class it is indeed, a backbreaking. I agree ,The this is a well intentioned move ,but it is executed very shabbily.
Therefore it would be honourable on the part of the government to accept the fact as fact, and take corrective steps to restore confidence.

It is very heartening to note that RBI has taken some steps and some special schemes for the benefit of the senior citizens. Issue of digital life certificates for the aged people and easy methods of transactions will benefit them a lot. RBI has made a special appeal to banks to make their services available to challenged and senior citizens at their door steps. I hope banking people would heed RBI’s suggestion as soon as possible.
The whole exercise of going to bank each time is not only cumbersome but also very risky now a days, if they carry cash. Even ATMs are not safe as many attacks on women and senior citizens are reported from time to time. Even submission of Life certificate every November is made easy by thumb impression through biometric machine. In this connection I would like pour out the woes of public sector retired employees. As is well known PSU retiree’s staff won’t have pension facilities.The pension on EPF is very meagre, that is to say, an employee retired in the position of a senior manager, is getting Rs 10806/. The lump sum amount on retirement after meeting of expenditure for children’s marriage, education, and clearing old debts, is deposited in TDRs and the interest thereon is only the source of livelihood. However to our misfortune every year the interest rates are dwindling and retired PSU employees, are unable to make both ends meet. It is a very serious matter . The RBI should look into this suo-motto, and enhance the interest rates for senior citizens of PSUs employees.

After three years, of the present government, the economy is back to where it was, in the last days of Manmohan Singh government and for the same reason it was rejected by the people of India in 2014. Our present PM rode to power on the twin planks -- growth in jobs and eradication of corruption. If you see the today's report there is no sign of 10 million jobs promised over five years, and now even the growth also crippled. The latest RBI figures, suggesting that 99 percent of the banned notes 1000 & 500 denominations have come back to banks, have raised the questions over the rationale and efficacy of demonetisation. Critics argue that the economic objectives of Demonetization have not been achieved. If the quantum of banned currency notes, returning to the banks is taken as measure, of black money in the system, the the figures reflected by RBI show it is a total failure. The Oxfam international's global inequality report, last year stated that the richest one percent in India owns 58% of country 's wealth. The disruptive move should have hit this one percent hard. But we have noticed, is that the other 99% went through torturous time lining up in serpentine queues before banks to take out their own money. Instead of taking up demonetization they should have gone for healthcare improvement and revamping of Education systems which is the need of the hour.
Through series of tweets former Finance Minister Chidambaram has criticised demonetization in strong words. His sarcastic comments have drawn the attention of the nation,.people have supported the government of its bold move with the hope that black money will be unearthed and economic offenders will be brought to book. But lack of followup measures and negligence in implementation of this move made even neutral analysts to suspect the motive and its catastrophic effects on every sector significantly outweigh any obscure benefits it may have in the long run. The objective of reducing the counterfeit currency seems unachieved and neither has the government tackled terror funding nor corruption. Ofcourse government takes credit for promoting cashless economy, but was that the main objective? If it was , then lives of more than 100 people and loss of thousands of jobs must be huge price to pay. Infact, this move was clever strategy before the Assembly Elections in five states, in which it succeeded.
Here I must say that Mr Krishna Sagar BJP spokesman wrote an article defending the action of the government, which I too read it fully .He was only struggling to justify the shock of demonetisation administered on the common man. While defending the action he showed three objectives::weeding out fake currency. Unearthing black money, and closing the funding channels to terrorist outfits. These motives were not achieved and what Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram said had come true. The fact is that the circulation of fake currency has not stopped, while fake currency of 2000 rupee notes still in circulation, .the second objective of unearthing of black money and bringing back the 80 lakh crores of black money stashed away abroad, and depositing 15 lakh rupees in every account, must be only a dream as poor people are eagerly waiting for that day. The third objective of destroying terror funding channels .If this is achieved, then why do we see so many terror attacks,and why hundreds of innocent people are loosing their lives? 
The fact of the matter reported by RBI is that it had gained 16000 crores, but lost 200000 crores, in printing new notes. Itis also reported that there is slowdown in Industrialisation and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing, while the Construction sector had slumped. Of course, both Krisnasagar and FM Arun Jaitley are supporting it still, as the government is coming out with new reasons for Demonetisation and making the honest common man to live in fools paradise.

In the month of August Governments of Telangana and AP celebrated 154th Anniversary of Harikath Pithamaha "Adibhatla Narayana Das". Harikatha is reminiscent of 1950-60's era for me. I was in my teens and thermal power project was just coming up in my native place Ramagundam. And the place was bustling with all kinds of people as establishment activities were in full swing around that time. My father who was sarpanch of that area facilitated the construction of a 'Veeranjaneya Temple". In this temple festivals like Ganesh Chathurthi, Dasara, and Rama Navami were organized by the locals with full fervour. During these festivals they used to call 'Haridasus' from Vijayawada, Guntur and Vemulawada. Couple of popular names popping up in my mind are Bezwada Nagarajakumari and Kesinagri Rajanna. The most popular art form at that time has almost vanished these days and current generation is totally unaware of this art form. 
Harikatha is an excellent blend of storytelling, music and dance, spiced up with jocular comments on the contemporary political and social scenario of the by-gone era. Infact it is an unique art form that reflects the culture and heritage of India in general and Telugus in particular. The Haridasus with their marvellous performance not only entertained but also educated and enlightened the people with with stories from our epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavatam and also lives of great Indian saints. It was delightful to watch Haridasus sing Padyams so mellifluously, dance so rhythmically narrating the stories so skill fully laced with relevant humorous anecdotes. And also commenting incisively on the contemporary social and political affairs of the state and nation, enthralling the audience. I still cherish those pleasant memories and now feel quite sad, about the disappearance of this great art form from our modern lives. It is time for both state and Central Govts to revive this art form through the Department of Culture and save it from extinction.

I had high expectations regarding the quality of food served in trains. My hopes were also high as Suresh Prabhu took over the as union minister for railways.
But my hopes dashed when I saw inferior quality food being served on my trip to shiridi.
Later I also read reports of adverse observations by CAG. Railway teams and CAG inspected 74 railway stations and 80 trains. Their joint report states that the food being served is unfit for human consumption. We all are very well aware that the railways as such is India'slife line for more than 8.6 billion passengers every year. We all are aware that corruption in awarding the contracts to private players for food supply and callousness of officials are responsible for the poor quality of services. Successive Railway Ministers, have traditionally focussed on populist measures while basic issues of passenger amenities cleanliness,and quality food, have been neglected over the years.
.IRCTC manages catering services but it doesn't cook or supply food that is served to passengers. This is done by private firms which run on contacts after having got in an open tender.

Railways have improved its efficiency in certain areas in the last few years. It has attracted massive investments ,undertaken projects with private participation and made efforts to reduce the cost of transportation affordable. However safety, hygiene, Quality food, and punctuality are of primary importance.

One of my cousins who was very senior officer retired from Railways told me that the same set of contractors would manage to get the contracts every year. But Suresh Prabhu known for his dynamism and no-nonsense approach tried to break this contractor nexus, by encouraging E-catering business but it is yet to take the shape fully. But I feel travelers safety, hygiene, quality food, and punctuality of trains, are the issues the Minister is expected to keep a watch.