THE LIGHTER SIDE: NITISH EATS BISCUITS AND HUSBANDS WANT FREEDOM

I used the word ‘ponga’ (for idiotic) for those astrologers who used the eclipse of 22 July in my three programmes telecast on Star News to allay fears of many, particularly pregnant women who were frightened by these ponga astrologers. It gave so many pregnant women lot of hope and they delivered their babies safely. Some of them and their husbands thanked me.

Today, the Star News had a half a minute byte taken from my class room in the Bharatiya Vidya for their main news, for a very funny reason.

Lalu Prasad Yadav (ex-Chief Minister of Bihar state in India) in his ebullient and puckish mood said that on the day of eclipse 22 July Nitish Kumar (present Chief Minister of Bihar state in India), the present chief minister, was eating a biscuit during the eclipse which is the cause of drought in Bihar. I explained to the Star News that the batch in my research class were the students who answered in their Acharya examination that the monsoon in India would be bad this year and east and north would have deficient to scanty rainfall. They had answered it in the month of June when the monsoon was beginning. Two months later if Nitish Kumar ate a biscuit during the eclipse that could not be the cause of the drought.

The Star News called Lalu ‘ponga’ and said that he was giving an irrational reason for drought in Bihar and Nitish Kumar called Lalu a primitive person.

I explained that at the time of the eclipsehalf of the monsoon season was over. The students had said in their answer in a question on astro meteorology that it was a year of drought and particularly in the east and northern India. The Indian Meteorological Department had predicted a near normal monsoon both in April and again in June!!

Twenty four out of thirty six meteorological sub-division were scanty or deficient already by the time the eclipse occured. And I added that when these students were answering the questions both Lalu Prasad Yadav, the former chief minister of Bihar and Nitish Kumar, the present chief minister both must have been eating biscuits!!! Eating biscuits causing a drought is a Lalu special in Indian politics.

Harassed Husbands
As it happened during this period came to me some young women who had filed cases against their husbands under the anti dowry act and wanted how much money they could realize from their husbands, substantial or not. I was amused again and I showed them the news item about how some husbands celebrated the 15 August, our day of freedom. See this news item: http://www.idiva.com/bin/idiva/Lol-news-husbands-want-freedom-on-15-aug

Husbands want freedom on 15th Aug
By IANS 04 Aug 09

On India's Independence Day Aug 15, a group of men will meet in Shimla and chalk out a plan for "equal rights" and "freedom" -– from "harassment" by their wives. "On Independence Day we will raise the issue of freedom and dignity of harassed husbands. More than 100 men, representatives of 30,000 other harassed husbands from across the country, will converge at a day-long meeting to come up with strategies to take on their wives," Anil Kumar, president of the Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF), said. Bangalore-based NGO SIFF, along with another Bangalore based NGO, CRISP (Children's Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting) in partnership with Maharashtra's Purush Suraksha Sanstha and Uttar Pradesh's Pathi Paramesh Kendra have organised the event.

Law biased against men?

"All the four groups are working for equal rights for men and women in India. We feel that in any instances, the Indian law is biased when it comes to husbands, as it often favors the wives. Be it in the case of custody of children for divorced couples or false allegations of domestic violence and dowry harassment, the law generally takes the side of women, without listening to the side of men," said Kumar. "However, we would like to clarify one thing. We're no women haters. This is about equal rights of both men and women," said Kumar Jahgirdar, founder of CRISP. In order to prove that harassment of husbands was prevalent, Kumar cited the latest report of SIFF on suicide rate of men across India.

"Around 1.2 lakh (120,000) harassed husbands in India have committed suicide in last four years," SIFF's president claimed. The suicide figures were collected by SIFF from the National Crime Records Bureau. "This is an alarming number. Our fight is against such wives and for justice to the harassed husbands. In fact, husbands committing suicide because of harassment is double the number of wives committing suicide in the country," the founder of CRISP said.

Some of the demands to be raised at the Shimla convention by the husbands' group include a separate men's welfare ministry on the lines of the women and child welfare ministry, equal taxation for men and women, change in inheritance laws, amendment to the domestic violence prevention law, and mandatory joint custody of children for divorced couples. Not drawing a line

"We're meeting at Shimla, not to draw a gender dividing line. We want to discuss a social issue and find solutions as the country is seeing a large number of divorcees," said Virag Dhulia, a senior member of SIFF. "We'll also demand pre-litigation counseling before grant of divorce, an end to police brutalities and judicial reforms to help address the social issues." According to data available with SIFF and CRISP, on an average 20-25 cases of divorce are filed every day in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. A total of 9,000 divorce cases were filed in Delhi, 7,500 in Mumbai and 5,000 cases in Bangalore in 2008.

WHAT HAPPENED
What happened after 15 August is reported thus:
Women are misusing Dowry Act: Harassed husbands PTI 2009-08-16 18:16:51 Shimla: A number of 'harassed' husbands from across the country on Sunday vowed to fight for their rights in conjugal disputes as they alleged that the law is favorable towards women in cases of divorce and custody of children. About 150 such husbands, including former spouse of Chetana, wife of cricketer Anil Kumble, were present at the two-day meet that concluded here on Sunday.

The meet, where wives were strictly prohibited, was organised by Bangalore based NGOs -- Save Indian Family and Children Rights Initiative for Shared Parenting (CRISP) and attended by men from metropolis and other cities. Strategies to take forward the movement for protection of men's rights were discussed here, CRISP president and Chetana's ex-husband Kumar V Jahgirdar said. Jahgirdar, a stock broker, is fighting for the custody of his 14-year-old daughter in a Bangalore court. The participants were of the view that the legal provisions for marriage and family related matters favoured women. Women are misusing Dowry Act and preferred in getting custody of children in cases of divorce, Jahgirdar along with other participants Umesh Talwar (Lucknow), Arvind Aggarwal (Lucknow) and S K Goel (Jaipur) alleged.

"The provisions under Dowry Act favours woman and give them a stick to beat their husband," Jahgirdar said. The meet was second of its kind after the one at Goa last year.
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As an astrologer there are rare occasions when we get a chance to get into lighter mood unlike other times when people come and moan about their misfortunes.