Can anyone rename the child of another person and claim it as one's own? But the BJP's habit of trying to claim  the child of  others  as its own without having to undergo the pangs of labour pain, is reaching new heights.  This is a trade without any investment. It is a fact that framing new  schemes, implementing them and  naming them after  some leader, takes a lot of time, effort as well as investment. Instead of having to undergo all these hassles, what happens when the names of schemes are simply changed? The Union Government which has failed to chalk out a strategy to steer the nation out of the severe financial distress, has now chosen the path of "Name Change" just to throw dust at people's eyes.

Such an initiative was first formally launched in Uttar Pradesh by the state's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. There is a history behind the name of any city, town or monument. A government which tries to  change such names  is in a way  trying to  erase the history of those places. There is no link between these name changes as well as the challenges faced by the nation at present. Neither is this name changing exercise essential for the nation.  The exercise of changing names also have their social, political and economic contours.

In the past, the  government  uplifted those  behind poverty line or the BPL card holders by this very name change exercise.  Changing the yardstick for identifying the poor is also in a way equal to name change. If the government decides to  term those earning even a meagre Rs 35 a day as rich, then the nation will be full of rich people.  The government uplifted the BPL card holders of the nation in phases through such a change. Later, there began a name changing spree of towns and cities and thereby taking the nation towards the  glory of the past. May be in the next few years, the Taj Mahal  monument may even become Tejomahal. The government probably is trying to take India towards the Golden Era of Vedic times.  People on their part are forgetting the reality  by swaying in the name change euphoria.

Recently, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award was renamed as Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The government has said it was honouring Dhyanchand by doing so. But in reality more than honouring Dhyanchand, the government  had the malicious intention of offending the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Sports has the power to unite people by transcending all barriers. It is regretful that the  government is trying to  break this unity through such sort of politics. Rajeev Gandhi is a leader who led the nation towards computer rage. He ensured the right to vote to  those who completed 18 years. He was the leader who made India gear up to face the 21st Century, a leader who had great concern for the youth and who sacrificed his life for the cause of the nation.

If the then government had named the Award after him, then there might be a reason behind it. If the present government had announced a new award and named it after Dhyanchand, then it would have been really great.  Or else the  recently inaugurated world's largest stadium at Ahmedabad could have very well been named after Dhyanchand instead of Prime Minister Modi. But by sacrificing the name of an award merely owing to political rivalry, the government has insulted both the sport as  well as Dhyanchand. Some of the names given for awards in the field of sports is really a mockery  of the awards. eg. the Dronacharya award given for sports coaches and the Arjuna award for sports persons. Everyone is aware how Dronacharya who taught  archery to  the Kshatriya children asked  Ekalavya his thumb as Gurudakshina for learning the skill secretly. Dronacharaya who taught only to the upper castes can never be an ideal name for the award for a sports coach. Similarly Arjuna who killed Karna by deceit can never be a role model for sports persons. It is not coincidental that today there are many people with the mindset of Dronacharya in the sports field.

Therefore the Ekalavya Award given by Karnataka government must be given at the national level. The Dronacharya Award must be renamed as Ekalavya Award with the hope that the corruption and casteism in the sports field will reduced. Our sports field is filled with  more Dronacharyas than  Ekalavyas. Such Dronacharayas themselves are a hindrance to excellence.

In Karnataka the Indira canteens are in news. Though the late prime minister faced several allegations. She made politics in the ‘name of the poor’ and not in the name of God. She spoke about feeding the poor and  also ensured Geni rights holders got the land. She also contributed much towards the emancipation of Dalits. A big contribution by then CM Siddaramaiah were the Indira Canteens which fed thousands of people during Covid times.

The need of the hour is to further improve the amenities in these canteens rather than change of name.It would be better for the present government to frame a new scheme and then give a name of its choice instead of renaming the brainchild of former CM Siddaramaiah.

If such name changing trend continues, then the day may not be far off when the government may change the name of Corona and  claim that the state is free from the  virus.

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Dubai, May 19: A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, Iranian state television reported, without immediately elaborating.

Raisi was travelling in Iran's East Azerbaijan province. State TV described the area of the incident happening as being near Jolfa, a city on the border with with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometres (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Raisi had been in Azerbaijan early Sunday to inaugurate a dam with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev. The dam is the third one that the two nations built on the Aras River.

Iran flies a variety of helicopters in the country, but international sanctions make it difficult to obtain parts for them. Its military air fleet also largely dates back to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Raisi, 63, is a hard-liner who formerly led the country's judiciary. He is viewed as a protégé of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and some analysts have suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after his death or resignation from the role.