Brinkmanship vs Statesmanship: Avoiding the slippery slope to war, violence

War and violence in any form, are bad for several reasons, but most reprehensible of them is the absolute degeneration of qualities that differentiate humans from animals. Empathy, compassion, kindness and such traits which facilitated human collaboration to create the world we know, is replaced with behaviour associated with feral animals. Ordinary, law-abiding, God-fearing family men go on a merciless rampage, plundering, raping and killing. We read about mobs lynching a mentally challenged victim, or a police officer brutally raping and slaughtering a child and wonder – who are these people? Are they even human?

The shocking answer is – they are as human as we are and therefore by corollary, our virtuous conduct is just a thin line away from the evil that lies latent in most of us. What makes a regular ‘next door neighbour’ transform into a rapacious demon and kill without mercy or remorse?

Hindu nationalists, Nuziveedu Seeds feud may make Monsanto abandon India

BREAKING NEWS - Tens of millions of dollars were within reach for M Prabhakara Rao as he prepared in April 2015 to take his Indian cotton seed company public.

The Indian businessman already had $54 million in initial funding from an American private equity investor. Rao had also locked in a long-term licensing agreement with Monsanto Co, the world's largest seed company, for the technology used in genetically modified cotton seeds that made up the majority of his annual sales.

Two months after publishing his initial public offering (IPO) plan, Rao gambled. He sent one of his executives to negotiate a 10 per cent cut in royalties with Monsanto. The multinational said no.

The outcome of that meeting ignited a corporate battle that has left Rao's IPO plans in tatters and drawn in the Indian and US governments. More ominously, the fight has disrupted India's $1.8 billion-a-year seed industry, with Monsanto saying it may abandon the market.

Monsanto's Indian joint venture last July withdrew its application to introduce a new generation of cotton seed technology to India. The existing version, in India for a decade, is losing effectiveness against bollworms, which can wipe out crops. If another company doesn't step into the breach, agricultural economists warn the dispute could damage India's cotton-growing sector - which recently surpassed China's as the world's biggest and last year accounted for more than a quarter of global output, with a value of over $8.5 billion. (READ MORE)

Your assets not hidden from our gaze: I-T dept tells black money holders

Latest News - Warning black money holders that their undisclosed assets are "not hidden" from its gaze, the Income Tax department Sunday advised them to avail the ongoing one-time disclosure window--PMGKY-- to come clean on their stashed funds.

In advertisements released in leading national dailies, the department also published the salient features of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY), 2016 which was announced by the government post demonetisation in November last year.

"Your undisclosed accounts or cash deposits are not hidden from us.

"Helping the less fortunate can help you. Invest your undisclosed income in the (Read More)