Euthanasia in various forms is legal in some countries with safeguards, but has been criticised.

There are instances when patients are mistaken to be in a vegetative state though they are conscious of their surroundings but unable to draw attention to their condition. This is described as the Locked-in Syndrome.

But a misdiagnosis cannot be reversed once life support is withdrawn and the patient is no more.

In India, there are also concerns that legalised euthanasia can be misused.

In its judgement, the Supreme Court rejected a plea to stop force-feeding Aruna Shanbaug. But it also said that doctors and nurses could petition to withdraw life support under special circumstances, in a sense allowing “passive euthanasia“.

Do you think the Supreme Court should have allowed Aruna the right to die? Share your views.

Discontent over food inflation has been a major headache for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is struggling with a slew of corruption charges against his government, eroding its political capital from an impressive election victory in 2009.

Pakistan banned overland exports of onions to India on January 4 with traders saying they feared shortages at home. Exports by sea is still allowed, but much of the trade used to be by road and rail — cheaper modes that reached the vegetable to Indian markets quickly.

“We have initiated talks and before not too long we are hopeful we will find a solution to this, easing pressure within our country for onions.” Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna said in New Delhi.

Onion prices, a key food staple for Indian families used for almost all Indian dishes, rose over 23 percent over the week to December 25.

Soaring onion prices have helped dislodge state governments in the past, and rising food costs often spark street protests. India wanted Pakistani onions to offset costs and help relieve political worries.

India’s food inflation rose for the fifth straight week to the highest in more than a year this week, reinforcing fears it has spilt over to broader prices and cementing expectations of a January interest rate hike.

Unseasonal rains are officially blamed for pushing up prices of vegetables such as onions and tomatoes, but some commentators point instead to poor agricultural productivity and transport after years of few reforms and weak government investment.

The United Nations’ food agency (FAO) said on Wednesday that global food prices hit a record high last month, above 2008 levels when riots broke out in countries as far afield as Egypt, Cameroon and Haiti.

In a sign of possible voter anger over high prices and corruption, a poll published on Friday showed India’s ruling Congress party would lose its majority if an election were held tomorrow.

Congress would drop around 40 of its current 206 seats, the AC Neilsen poll showed, as 44 percent of respondents said Singh’s previously unimpeachable image had been affected by the scandals.

The Mood of the Nation poll, conducted by AC Neilsen and India Today magazine, surveyed 12,349 voters across 19 states in face-to-face interviews between Dec 4-19.

The government has ordered raids on onion traders to stop hoarding.

(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony; Writing by Krittivas Mukherjee; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Sanjeev Miglani)

Almost a year after violent protests over demands for a Telangana state carved out of Andhra Pradesh, the Indian government has to grapple with the issue once again.

A report by a panel set up to examine the issue and suggest options to deal with the decades-old demand was made public on Thursday.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, while releasing the B. N. Srikrishna report, urged an impartial consideration of its contents.

But the ball remains in the Congress party’s court — being in power both at the centre and Andhra Pradesh.

The report has suggested a number of options, none of which may please all.

Chidambaram has also proposed another meeting of political parties this month.

That the meeting may throw up a solution acceptable to all may be the triumph of hope over experience.

Even if a solution is proposed, it is the central government that will have to summon the will to exercise it — a course of action which politically the govt may best like to be deferred.

Especially since the party which swept Andhra Pradesh in the 2009 general election seems to have gone downhill since the death of its charismatic state leader Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and a subsequent rebellion by his son.

The state sends 42 MPs to parliament and given the hammering the Congress received in the Bihar elections, hopes of forming the next government at the centre depend on retaining its popularity in existing bases.

It has been reported the Congress in Andhra Pradesh is divided on the question of Telangana along regional lines.

If a state is carved out, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti which has headed the movement for a separate Telangana may benefit. If the government stalls, it is likely to lose support in the region.

The Indian Express reported how ‘weeping MPs’ held Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s feet begging him to create Telangana else they would “either quit the party or commit suicide”.

On the other hand, if the Congress concedes the demand, other parts of the state may be alienated. Political formations like Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s new party are waiting to grab the opportunity.

The government seems stuck between a rock and a hard place. Will the Srikrishna report help rescue it? Share your views.

Many would have disagreed with the cynicism the comments displayed, especially regarding the judiciary.

An activist judiciary in the 90s was seen as the moving force behind a range of public-service initiatives.

The legal system, seen by many as the last line of defence against a corrupt system, has recently attracted adverse attention for its perceived failures.

In the Aarushi murder case, the country’s premier investigating agency, under the tenure of three successive CBI directors couldn’t nail anyone for lack of evidence.

In the case of Binayak Sen, however, what is perceived as the lack of concrete evidence by many, did not hold back the justice system from jailing him for life.

That the legal system delivers, under public pressure, like in the Jessica Lall case, leads to frequent outpouring of faith in the judiciary, especially in TV studios and even inspired a Bollywood film.

But all the scrutiny and activism made little difference to the outcome in Sen’s case.

The fate of the huge numbers at the receiving end of the creaking justice system, who are not famous/infamous as some others, is moot.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, a lawyer himself, was reported as advising an appeal in Binayak Sen’s case.

There is a broad understanding that the higher courts have preserved some of the dignity and faith vested by the people in the judiciary.

This has been questioned from within the legal ranks

And the names of at least two former Chief Justices have figured in connection with their kith and kin having amassed ‘disproportionate’ wealth.

The case of former Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan’s son-in-law has led to calls for him to resign from the NHRC he currently heads.

To be fair, the executive is caught up in various scams, the legislature is stalled, and the media hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory in the wake of the Radia tapes.

Which wing do you think has been the biggest disappointment? Share your views.

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And on that depends whether the map will change again (trifurcating Uttar Pradesh?) and again (bifurcating Maharashtra?) and again (a new state in the north-east?).

The Srikrishna committee report is to be made public on Jan 6. Media reports suggest it will not take a definite for/against position. Moreover, the panel’s terms of reference were focused on Andhra Pradesh.

In the long run, more important than what the govt does with the report is how it goes about creating, rejecting or conceding a new state.

A piecemeal response, depending on how violently a movement garners attention, may only encourage similar politically motivated demands.

There is an argument for a more thought-out, streamlined, reasoned process through a new states reorganisation panel. There are various arguments for and against creating smaller states.

But none of them seem to be clinching in practice, so varied has been the experience of going from 500 plus princely states to the 29 at present.

The creation of Andhra Pradesh in the 1950s set off country-wide state reorganisation based on ‘one state, one language’.

But the only thing proven so far is that states created on the basis of language are not inimical to the country’s unity as was initially feared.

If a Telangana state is created, it will be a first again.

For the first time, a non-Hindi speaking group — speakers of Telugu — will be broken down into two sub-national political entities.

This, on the face of it, privileges the question of development over identity, like the results of the Bihar elections in 2010.

Can the change in India’s internal map mark another beginning? Or will short-term considerations rule?

With parliament still deadlocked, does it make sense for the Congress to bow to opposition demands and set up a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the alleged telecoms scam?

If the government does agree to such a probe — and a few allies already think it should — it may well be in for a prolonged period of uncertainty.

A JPC in which the ruling party is in a minority and has to depend on mercurial parties for support will be a loaded gun.

Pulling the trigger may mean putting the Prime Minister in the dock.

Granting the JPC, however, may convince the people of the government’s intentions of coming clean.

The JPC makes sense if it manages to clear up the murky dealings between the politicians, the bureaucrats, the industrialists and the media.

But is there a guarantee it will serve the larger good without becoming hostage to political interests?

And if the government does hold out till the end of the winter session, the opposition may take the fight to the streets or battle it out in the TV studios.

But sustaining the interest of the people and even the scam-sniffing media till the budget session in February may be a tall order — the first whiff of a larger food scam is already in the air.

The downside to not conceding a JPC — the opposition may still be confronting the government in the budget session. Again, that is predicated on the opposition’s fragile tactical unity.

Should the government choose the lesser evil?

He has drawn flak from the opposition and his personal integrity was questioned in what may be India’s largest corruption scandal.

But with few alternatives for his role as a fill-in for the Congress heir apparent, it is no surprise Singh is being stoutly backed by his boss, powerful party chief Sonia Gandhi.

Not having a constituency or political ambitions of his family to nurture, Singh perhaps has little use for the prime minister’s chair and may be tempted to leave it all.

But if not Manmohan Singh, then who?

After all, Singh was such an inspired choice for the prime minister’s post that another nominee may not be able to fill his shoes.

The Congress cupboard seems quite bare if one looks for a face that is nationally known, has political heft and is unquestionably loyal.

Widely perceived as keeping the seat warm for Rahul Gandhi, Singh has an important role in the political scheme of things.

His clean image legitimises Congress rule in the eyes of the middle-class, the group most vocal about corruption, even if less likely to vote.

His sin, if any, may be of omission, not commission.

But because Sonia Gandhi is seen as taking all the major decisions, especially on political management, it seems the PM was left with little room to manoeuvre.

Deciding on allies and their ministries were perhaps not his calls to make.

But his party chief’s rousing defence and the ‘there is no alternative’ factor — all this may mean the PM’s uneasy head may wear the crown longer.

The scams laid at the government’s door do not end with the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and the war homes scandal in Mumbai.

The opposition and the media, having tasted blood with Shashi Tharoor, Chavan and Kalmadi, now have Telecoms Minister Andimuthu Raja in the crosshairs over the sale of 2G spectrum.

Pranab Mukherjee, the omnipresent firefighter, has defended the government, saying the enquiry on the Delhi Games was instituted even before the opposition demanded it.

On the war homes scandal, his stand is the matter involves individual transgressions, not the government and hence does not concern parliament.

But a party that has been in power since 2004 in the centre and for more than a decade in Maharashtra may find it difficult to shake off responsibility for things that happened on its watch. Particularly when it comes to the telecom ministry. And that may not be good news for Raja.

Whether Raja stays, belonging as he does to a crucial coalition partner, or goes — the bigger question is whether the high-decibel drama will lead to anything substantial apart from a change at the helm?

The telecom sector has been a showpiece for the liberalisation and dismantling of the licence-quota-permit regime which promised to help growth and cut down corruption and sweetheart deals.

Yet the telecommunications ministry has always managed to leave tough questions for the government to answer under Congress’s Sukhram over bribery allegations, BJP’s Arun Shourie over favouritism or the present DMK nominee.

This despite the presence of an independent telecoms regulator in TRAI since 1997.

Time to tighten the nuts and bolts of the liberalisation process?

Use a ruler to draw a straight line. Then try to draw another straight line freehand. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it all wrong.

“Aakrosh” which has been ‘filmed’ by Priyadarshan gets it absolutely right, Bollywood style.

The straight line is the Hollywood movie “Mississippi Burning” which has been around for two decades.

The characters and some of the plot devices are the same.

If you have seen the Gene Hackman (Ajay Devgan) and Willem Dafoe (Akshaye Khanna) starrer you would know what happens next and who’s who.

My only issue is that the movie begins with some references to the spate of honour killings reported in the media.

But it is less about honour killings (the girl is unscathed) and more about out-and-out caste wars.

Two enforcers are sent to the badlands of the country, to bring justice and the law to the denizens gone wild.

The place of the killed civil rights activists is taken by three medical students killed at “Doodh Kuan” because one of them, a dalit, tries to elope with the daughter of the local feudal chieftain.

The Ku Klux Klan is transplanted in Bihar as the “Shool Sena” and the burning crosses are replaced by burning tridents.

“Aakrosh” follows how the course of justice is served by the slightly clueless yet committed and by-the-book CBI officer played by Akshaye Khanna and the decorated army officer and dalit Ajay Devgan on deputation to Khanna’s team.

The movie gets most things right, except the music which is passable and non-intrusive.

Sameera Reddy’s ‘item song’ is a tad anaemic after the ‘Munni badnaam’ act by Malaika Arora in “Dabangg”.

The landscape answers the demands of the plot creating the right atmosphere for the actors who deliver.

Ajay Devgan gets the best lines in the movie and by the time “Aakrosh” ends, Akshaye Khanna’s bespectacled character has totally bought into his style of law enforcement, charisma and Ray-Ban shades.

Devgan, like Gene Hackman, gets to hold the henchman’s privates and gets to give a close shave to the police chief.

But then Hackman doesn’t get to ride a Bolero’s roof like Devgan does here in a repeat of his “Phool aur Kaante” stunt, when he entered our lives standing astride two bikes.

Nor does Hackman get to romance and sing with Bipasha Basu who is Devgan’s ex-flame or to chase a murderer with very edge-of-the-seat Parkour stunts.

Paresh Rawal too is convincing as the violent husband (to Bipasha Basu) and scheming, casually brutal police chief, mouthing dirty words sotto voce.

The movie is a bit too long and fails Hitchcock’s bladder test but it is fast-paced, the violence escalates and then there is the familiarity of it all.

The ending may be too dramatic but reality is stranger than fiction.

The Haryana police runs safe houses for eloping couples and was reported as debating whether to charge them for their stay while on the run from violent relatives. Would it be simpler just to enforce the law?

If you haven’t seen “Mississippi Burning“, this movie is a must watch. If it’s been a while since you caught the Hollywood film, “Aakrosh” is still watchable.

Try to prolong the mood by getting your hands on a DVD of “Mississippi Burning“. And then read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Chronicle of a Death Foretold“.

It is slim, easy to read and it is about an honour killing.

Here is a problem — Maoist violence — on which something is to be said on both sides.

Ananth Mahadevan makes a bold attempt to say it and almost sails through on the back of competent performances by every actor except Suniel Shetty.

The movie follows his travails — a labourer who is forced to cook, then drive and soon enough kill for the Maoists before he has had enough and escapes with the help of a fellow rebel played by Sameera Reddy.

“Red Alert” is linear and taut — no songs, less melodrama and cameos remaining cameos.

But it is the Bollywood penchant for finding solutions in the course of a two-hour movie that chokes this one.

Even after I went into the theatre armed with the mantra ‘it is a film, not a documentary’.

Can a Maoist revolutionary have a change of heart to become a corporate honcho and then serve the people?

If you can stretch your imagination that far, please go ahead and watch it.

Shetty is the weakest link in this film that otherwise offers you a chance to re-acquaint yourself with actors like Seema Biswas, Ashish Vidyarthi, Bhagyashree and Vinod Khanna.

After trying action and comedy Shetty is trying, well, “acting”.

He delivers his lines with the same cadence with which he mouthed “Babu Bhaiyya…” in “Hera Pheri”. What consistency, indeed.

His muscular self is as unconvincing as Sameera Reddy is convincing in her emaciated avatar. Relatively speaking.

The character-artists are all fine but their characters fail them — policemen rape, rebels are Robin Hoods, politicians are manipulative, journalists want breaking news, singles die — phew!

My editor watched “Red Alert” at a film festival screening last year where some critics wanted the director to tone down the “Bollywoodish” elements. I wish Mahadevan had taken note.

A warning for those whose appetite for this movie may be whetted by seeing Naseeruddin Shah on the posters. Blink and you will miss him.

For the patient among you, please watch it on television. It will be more rewarding — easier on the mind as well as the purse.

“Red Alert” is only for those who need a primer on the woes of people caught in the pincers and who care for the simplistic message that whoever wields power becomes a bully.

Tip: Try to leave the theatre at least fifteen minutes before the credits roll so you avoid the puerile ending and come away with some sense of how complicated the situation on the ground is.