The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Back to ‘roots’

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Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Back to ‘roots’

It is the job of a modern doctor to give patients the facts about a particular treatment so that they can make up their own minds, whether to accept it or not, says a medical expert. He also recalls that how medical treatment has gone back to the ‘roots’.

“In 2000 BC, they said: ‘Here, eat this root!’. In 1000 AD, they said ‘Say this prayer’. In 1850 AD, it was ‘Drink this potion’. In 1940, one swallowed antibiotics, pills. In 1950, they said, ‘Pill is ineffective, take antibiotics.’ In 2000, they said ‘Antibiotics are dangerous, take this root,’ he summed up.

‘Fair’ talk

We have ‘celebrated’ yet another International Women’s Day. It’s time to look back and ponder on the status of the fair sex.

Dowry deaths in the City of Destiny have increased by about 30 per cent in 2007 compared to the previous year, molestation cases increased by 33 per cent and rapes have increased marginally. On the positive side, bigamy has declined by half, women murders and kidnapping cases declined marginally.

“Recent trends show that women are no longer afraid of lodging a complaint against their husbands. They are also not willing to take it lying down. Media has played a great role in creating awareness on their rights,” said District Crime Records Bureau CI U. Ravi Prakash.

So, what’s the fallout of women being more assertive? “Many of the marriages are ending on the rocks as the hurt male ego is preventing men from making any patch up with their wives,” he says.

Plainspeak

Annual Union Budget is one of the most discussed and commented upon exercise of the Government and the experts did not mince words and shred it to pieces. During a talk on the Union Budget 2008 organised by the Centre for Policy Studies the three experts made some good observations and enlightened the gathering and some of their comments evoked laughter.

Former energy secretary E.A.S. Sarma, who is an ‘insider’ as he was closely involved in budget preparations with the then Union Finance Minister Yashwanth Sinha during the NDA rule, said: “Most Finance Ministers would like to cover every thing in the world. But when you go deeper you understand how hollow a budget is.” Expenditure and income should be balanced but window dressing leads to inflation.

BJP leader K. Haribabu said it is fashion not to levy taxes and take harsh decisions and to provide a lot of concessions. But later on the Government raises it revenue through other means.

(Prabhakkar Sharma,

B. Madhu Gopal and

G. Narasimha Rao)

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