Fifth Column: A Bad Idea
Tavleen Singh believes that the Modi government is not doing enough to create jobs for millions of unemployed individuals in the country and is instead getting fixated with relatively less important goals (like the Black Money Bill), and is also not doing enough to curb the discretionary powers of petty bureaucrats. This, she says will hurt Modi and his government’s already waning popularity with the public.
The Prime Minister should not hesitate to say openly that a new economic direction is needed because the old one kept too many Indians mired in poverty for too long. He should go back to talking about bringing prosperity to India instead of merely ‘alleviating’ poverty.
Out of My Mind: The Jekyll and Hyde Parliament
During the Sixties, it was popular in Britain to use the phrase ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ politics to describe how the same party said one thing in opposition and its contrary in office. The idea was that parties behaved like reasonable angels in power and villainous devils in opposition.
That is very much the logjam in which the BJP/NDA government is caught.
Read the complete Indian Express Op-Ed by Meghnad Desai here.
Reverse Swing: The Reforms Hogwash
Tunku Vardarajan, writing in the Indian Express suggests that it is incorrect to believe that any real economic reforms have taken place in the country. He believes it to be incorrect to even call Manmohan Singh an architect of the economic reforms of 1991.
Other than in sectors that didn’t exist before 1991 (such as mobile telephony and IT), the heavy hand of the State still grips most of the economy. Narendra Modi has shown few signs of letting go.
Lesson from Mongolia
KP Nayar, in The Telegraph discusses the various lessons in border security that India can learn from Mongolia.
The land-locked country which has border issues with China as well, lets Indian Border Security Force (BSF) jawans stay within its own borders to learn how the Chinese military operates at international borders, and therefore can be trained in border management. It also shares sensitive intelligence about the Chinese with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in India.
The Tale of Two Leaders: Why Modi and Xi are Similar yet Different
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, in the Hindustan Times describes Modi and Xi to be similar in their “personal styles”, public aloofness, and belief in the strong projection of nationalism. He however warns about how their personal chemistry can only go some distance if their respective national interests compliment each other.
They also both reflect the rising nationalism, fed by expanding middle classes, of their respective countries. Xi respects Modi’s nationalism, he clearly likes guys who are a bit on the tough side, and understands India is not going to be a US stooge.
A ‘Super’ Visit in the Season of Hope
Writing in The Hindu, Le Yucheng, the Chinese Ambassador to India, lists three reasons why the Modi visit to China could be deemed a success: because of a “super” high-level reception, “super” fruitful results, and the “super-friendly” atmosphere of the entire visit.
As our cooperation in high-speed railway, the train of China-India relations has entered a fast track of high-speed growth. As Chinese Ambassador to India, I am truly encouraged by this milestone visit.
Cloud Covered Stars- Bengalis Remember their Artists Only Selectively
The thing is, we in Bengal need both Ray and Ghatak to survive, and Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen, and one-film phenomena like Barin Saha.
Every time I look at Subrata Mitra’s crumbling house on Lansdowne Road I’m reminded that this city, with all its peacocking intellectual self-regard, has managed just to name the SRFTI and the small road where he lived after Satyajit Ray and nothing more.
Modi’s Greatest Feat: Booting out Big Corruption
Commending Modi in being able to weed out “big” corruption, that is, corruption between high-level politicians and industrialists, Swaminathan Aiyar, writing in the Times of India also complains, however, that the reluctance to be seen fraternizing with India inc. has made Modi very inaccessible, and led to a policy paralysis of a different kind:
Modi worries that Opposition jeers that he favours rich industrialists may sully his image with voters. So he addresses only policy matters, not projects affecting indi vidual industrialists. “But there are issues with individu al projects,“ says an industrialist “which no one wants to iron out“.
Marital rape: Why Both Sides Have Got it Wrong
Despite all the reforms, rape outside marriage continues to revolve around the notion of purity and stigma, rendering the victim unfit for marriage. Hence, the notion that the abuser must marry the victim prevails, not just in our society, but also in our courts.
On the other hand, violent sex within marriage becomes part of the abuse which an emotionally and economically dependent wife is subjected to by the very man with whom she entered into a sexual contract. It has very different implications. The very nature of the relationship demands that it be addressed as a separate category.
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