Author: Anil Malik

Friends, Women’s tennis has been graced by some extraordinary players, right from 24 time Grand Slam champion  Margaret Court to Steffi Graff, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, and modern-day legend  Sareena Williams. But the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour has its full share of players who never reached their full potential for one reason or the other. In the following list of women tennis players, the players who have never won any Grand Slam tournament have been considered. It would be unfair to refer to anyone who even won one Grand Slam, as a player who failed to fulfill their potential. Here are five women’s players who did not achieve as much as success as they initially promised. #5 Eugenie Bouchard She burst onto the tennis scene in 2012, winning the Wimbledon girl’s single title. She won the WTA Newcomer of the tear award the very next year,…

In today’s blog, I am writing about one food item which is highly misunderstood. One of the most famous sweets in India happens to be Kaju Katli, and Cashews or Kaju is a favourite nut too. The Kaju words come from Caju, the Portuguese name for cashew. Indeed it is the Portuguese who got cashew to India. It is a native of Brazil, but today Vietnam is the largest producer of cashews, with India just behind. It is produced in Maharashtra, Andhra, Orissa, Karnataka, Kerela, Tamilnadu, Goa, Kashmir and a few more states. While many have eaten the cashew nut, very few may have eaten the cashew fruit or even know it is edible. Cashew nuts are highly expensive and are mostly used in Indian sweets. It is also used as a snack in many households. Many people consider it a calorie-rich food to be consumed minimally. But cashews have…

Recently there have been many issues that are cropping up relating to marriage, some of them are inter- religion marriages, inter caste marriages, marriages between same sex etc.  In the law, there are acts related to every religion like Hindu Marriage Act, Muslim Marriage Act, and Special Marriage Act. In certain Hindu communities marriage between different castes is still  taboo, and there have been many honour killings of the young married couple relating to inter caste marriages,  or in certain cases inter religion marriages. Most of the time the inter caste/religion couples get blessings of their parents, but sometimes matters even go to court. In the Hindu community either the marriage takes in front of family and friends with a priest performing the marriage rituals or marriage takes place in a temple in a private ceremony with a priest performing the rituals. In Hindus also there are many communities that…

In today’s blog, I am writing about a food item which is having following benefits: It is loaded with antioxidants that help prevent and fight cancer. It has zero calories. It reduces the risk of heart diseases. Improves metabolism. Helps in blood sugar management. You might be thinking, I am listing the health benefits of some common fruit, vegetables, or spice. But these are just a few health benefits of CHILLIES. Studies have proven that people who consumed chillies have lower risks of death from Cardio Vascular Disease (CVD) by 26%, cancer by 23%, and other diseases by 25%. Simply put eating chillies regularly can help you live longer. Chillies are hot, they are unhealthy, and we should avoid them. That’s the narrative we are used to, right? So, here is different Chilli tale. It takes you back to 7000 BC, when they were cultivated in Mexico, and it belongs…

Last week, I had written about Freebies promised by Political parties before elections, so on that basis, they can attract voters, to cast the votes in their favour. These political parties without realizing that the freebies are going to cost the exchequer, and will have a financial impact on the state budget, if these freebies are to be provided to citizens. Two days back, several top bureaucrats flagged their concerns over populist schemes and freebies announced by political parties during assembly elections, going to the extent of warning that some of the states could be heading the way cash–starved Sri Lanka or Greece if the trend remain unchecked. This happened during their meeting with Prime Minister, some of the secretaries said that the announcements and schemes in several states are economically unsustainable, and there was a need to persuade them to take a balanced call, weighing the political existence with…

In today’s weekend blog, I am back with Bollywood. Every year hundreds of movies are released in India, some of them run very successfully and earn huge profits, some of them are able to recover their cost of production/marketing, and the rest of them flop. But when a film of a very big banner with a huge budget and a famous actor/star acting in it, fails at the box office then the market value of everybody associated with the film is affected. There are also times when a Bollywood film with no star power does wonders, and -there are times when the best directors, producers, actors, the sky-high budget can not save a film from tanking. Here are some expensive Bollywood flop films of recent times: 1 Shaandaar- Budget Rs 69 Cr      2015 Contrary to its name, there was nothing grand about this film’s box office earnings. It was the…

Friends, do not get confused with the title of this blog. I am not going to write about painting , sculpture etc, for today’s article ART means “ Assisted Reproductive Technology”. As per definition, ART includes all fertility treatments in which either eggs or embryos are handled. In general, ART procedures involve surgically removing eggs from a woman’s ovaries, combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the woman’s body or donating them to another woman. They do not include treatments in which only sperm are handled (artificial insemination) or procedures in which a woman takes medicine only to stimulate egg production without the intention of retrieving the eggs. The origin of the bill can be traced back to the “ National Guidelines for Accreditation, Supervision and Regulation of ART clinics in India”, drafted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 2005. After many twists…

Friends, you must have read in the print media about the new ‘The Criminal Procedure (identification) Bill, 2022.’ This bill has been introduced in Parliament two days back. As usual, the discussion has started in the media about the pros and cons of this bill. This bill replaces the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920. The salient features of this bill are as follows: The Act authorizes the collection of certain identifiable information about specified persons such as convicts for the investigation of crime. The bill expands the ambit of such details, persons whose details can be taken. It authorizes the National Crime Records Bureau to collect, store, and preserve these details. Details about convicts and other persons- The Act permits the collection of photographs and specified details of convicts and other persons including finger impressions and footprint impressions. The Bill expands the list of details that can be collected. It…

The political parties have a habit of announcing freebies before elections, and sometimes to save their power they announce mid-term freebies to voters and even the MLAs. They announce these freebies as if they have the funds in the state kitty to full fill the promises made, but they forget whatever funds are available in the state’s kitty, are collected by way of taxes, and as per the constitution, these funds are supposed to be spent on development, like building infrastructures, school/colleges, medical facilities etc for the citizens, and not to spend the same on poll promises made by a political party who is ruling the state.  Most of the time the promises made are only at the time of elections, and they are never full filled. Sometimes even when some good promises are made, they can not be full filled because of a lack of funds in the state’s…

After partition when the first census took place in1951,  that time the division of population-based on religion was Hinduism- 84.1%, Islam-9.8%, Christianity-2.30%,  Sikhism-1.79%, Budhism-0.74%,  Jainism-0.46%, Zoroastrianism-0.13 %. The corresponding figures after 2011 census were Hinduism-79.8%, Islam-14.23%, Christianity- 2.3%, Sikhism-1.72%, Budhism-0.70%,  Jainism- o.37%. You will observe from these figures that there was no appreciable change in percentages of most of the minority religious communities except for Islam. The majority population has come down in six decades. The religious communities as mentioned above except Hindus have been given the status of minority in the country. It has so happened that in certain states and Union territories Hindus have become the minority, but as Hindus have not been declared the status of a minority, they can not enjoy the benefits available for minority religious communities in these states and UTs. The Hindus are minorities in Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadeep, Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya,…