Dheeraj Kalgutkar

It is six months since the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 was published by Chinese scientists and was available to the world. What has India done since that January should find no excuse in the otherwise legitimate accusation that China did not inform about the novel virus to the world in time or it kept WHO in dark. It is true that China erred and it is also true that there are reasons to scrutinize WHO. But what have we done since it indeed released the information about the virus? For instance, while some countries like Taiwan, South Korea, Japan had cases of probable infection long before China released the vital information, India registered its first case only in late January, long after China had published genome sequence of the virus and WHO had informed the world about such an outbreak. So unlike those countries, and they have it under control now and cases are breaking new records in India, we cannot blame the outbreak on Chinese malfeasance. Whatever situation we are in to...

An Indian court has sentenced Bollywood star Salman Khan to five years in jail for killing a homeless man in a 2002 hit-and-run driving incident in Mumbai. The actor is one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, appearing in more than 80 Hindi-language films. Several of his films, including Dabangg, Ready, Bodyguard, Ek Tha Tiger, Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aap Ke Hain Kaun, have been huge commercial hits. That’s short of his bio to make one grasp the magnanimity of a hit-and-run case which took life of one poor homeless and injured the others who were sleeping on pavements. The case could have got over in few months or a year had it been the poor responsible for killing of the elite but because it is the other way around it took 13 years to call it an end! But that’s not all — the elite are now in open revealing their dark inside, the shameless callousness of shaming the victim and playing innocent of a criminal. You know what is shamelessness? We understand when...

Follow @meetdheeraj There was time during colonial era when people around the globe used to refer India as 'Land of snack-charmers'. From then till now, the democratic India has grown considerably and has got a new title - The Land of Miracles! Yes, miracles; the one thing which no science of world will ever succumb in anyway to reveal or will anybody dare to sit at leisure and talk or make fun of. The whole of India is a miracle place with every corner of it occupied by some weird miracle baba or still more simplistic yet weird to believe miracle occupant. But few days back what happened in the busy catholic church of Mumbai took everyone's heart by sudden storm and attracted an unusual array of crowds into its premises to watch what is quintessentially impossible to happen not just in India but anywhere on the globe. The god who resides in million hearts, Jesus Christ was weeping! Yes, Christ -the redeemer was crying; crying scary tears. As 'tears' tric...

BEWARE NETIZEN'S!   IT'S TIME YOU THINK THRICE OR AT LEAST TWICE before hitting 'like' on social networks leave alone the status update or tweet!!   Yes! Fresh case of misusing IT act of 2008 is from the state of Maharashtra where two young girls from Palghar have been arrested over a comment and subsequent 'like' on Facebook over 'Mumbai Shutdown.' Leave alone the free speech or freedom of expression of which 'constitution of India' boasts every now and then! Here's an example where even a comment or 'liking' of it could leave you tugged behind bars in the economical capital of this nation.   Forget free speech. A simple comment on Facebook and what they got was a slap in the face -Read Hindustan Times.   Meanwhile, it's the same India which world refers to as beholder of 'largest democracy.' Then, has the largest democracy lost its cool over not-so-common criticism in setups like this that it takes it no ...