Its Oscar time! With the 2nd of March nearing, Oscar fever has reached dizzy heights. When we think of the Academy awards, the expectations are usually sky-high. In its 86th year now, the Academy awards ceremony is one of the most anticipated TV events of the year. A star-studded red carpet, a witty host who should be funny throughout while trying not to over-do her act, the media frenzy, the glitz and glamour, the countdown to the ceremony, the speculations about winners in each category, the special tribute given to worthy artists – are all part of the whole Oscar viewing experience.

It’s that time of the year when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes and rewards members of the film fraternity who have made their mark in the year that has gone by. Millions of viewers eagerly wait for The Oscars to be televised to see if their favorites are going to win it this time (last year, The Oscars was broadcast live in more than a 100 countries). “Who would win the Best Actor?”, “Which film will walk away with the maximum honors?”, “Will the Academy follow the Golden Globes or the BAFTA when giving out the awards?” – and many more of these questions run through our minds as we wait …

The author takes an unconventional route in presenting the content in each of the chapters – hilarious illustrations, FAQs (of a different kind) and application of management models on mundane everyday situations. This style of delivery is what clicks and retains the interest of the reader till the very end. Had it been in the conventional prose format, it would have been hard to retain the reader’s attention past the first few pages.

According to the Indian Constitution, no freedom is absolute. The Constitution itself makes fundamental rights enshrined therein, including right to life, subject to reasonable restrictions. Therefore, when we talk about the “absolute freedom of expression”, it has no sanction under the Indian Constitution. However, the Constitution does not solve our problem. What amounts to reasonable restriction is something subjective. At the most, it will help if a matter reaches the court and the court has to decide upon it.

It is a story of how a foreign power, then occupying the country, using their power, forced a native Kingdom to agree to give up its rights over a river and its water for 999 years, in exchange for a small amount to be paid as rent to the Kingdom. This agreement was inked in 1886. Even after the occupying powers had left the country, the succeeding popular Government of Kerala agreed to honour the agreement that was obviously one sided – in favour of Tamil Nadu – and executed a fresh agreement in 1970, with substantially same provisions.

The round one of the confrontation between Anna Hazare led India Against Corruption and Dr Manmohan Singh led Government of India, has been won by the former. The manner in which the latter and the Delhi Police dealt with the agitation, by taking Anna into preventive custody and subsequently housing him at Tihar jail, has given further impetus to the anger of the constituency that is behind Anna’s movement, the Indian middle class, making them come out on to the streets.

These days, the Lokpal Bill has become one of the most important national issues. This issue is grabbing the attention of anyone who is concerned with the betterment of the country. This is one of those few milestones in Indian democracy that, if achieved, will help in achieving the much required transparency in the whole democratic setup of this country. There is a lot of hue and cry about the Lokpal Bill in various spheres like Govt., media, civil society etc.

Swami Ram Dev has become a household name today. Even before his Satygaraha campaign, he was easy to find on one channel or another, either teaching yoga or preaching about how yoga was the cure to every problem in the world. You could love, or you could hate him, but you could not ignore him. That, however, was not enough for Baba Ram Dev. He had bigger dreams, and so he started a campaign for making India Corruption free.

Broadly speaking, people have given a strong message to the political parties of this country. The message from the voters of four states and a union territory is clear and bold that corruption, political cynicism, arrogance in any form will not be tolerated and good governments will be rewarded wholeheartedly.

The World cup, 2011 has entered the third week, and this time there have been no major surprises, except for Ireland who have managed to cause quite a stir by causing the only upset of the tournament till now by beating England in a game that saw more than 650 runs being scored. Before the World Cup had actually started, India, England, and Australia were the likeliest to lift the world cup, and most likely in that order too. In the past three weeks, nothing has changed. Most teams are playing as was expected from them.