Loan Waiver: Why Shift to Populism, Congress Style?
Prime Minister Modi won the general elections in 2014 on the promise of rapid economic development and good governance, not farm loan waivers, reminds Swaminathan Aiyar in The Times of India. In the wake of the loan waiver given to UP farmers, he writes that it will burden the state with huge debts, whose servicing will squeeze future funds for development. The problem doesn’t stop with UP, he says, warning of the impending assembly elections in 10 states.
RBI governor Urjit Patel says farm loan waivers erode loan discipline and encourage wilful default by farmers. Those who repay loans look like fools, and those that renege on loans are rewarded handsomely . This political encouragement of “don’t pay, and nothing will happen to you” is also affecting loans of non-bank financiers of autos, homes, durables and microfinance: many have suffered significant defaults in payments. The huge bad loans of the banking system already threaten macroeconomic stability and future economic growth. Encouraging a climate of default at this stage is highly irresponsible.
Fifth Column: Is This Hindutva?
Making her anger at the Alwar lynching loud and clear, Tavleen Singh opines that the motive of this wave of cow vigilantism is anything but protection of the animal. If that was in fact their motive, she says, why are they not rescuing cows abandoned in the streets of our cities? In her column for The Indian Express, she voices her dismay that the “grand idea of a Hindu renaissance” has been reduced to horrible violence.
This is not about cows and cow slaughter. It is not even about Hindus and Muslims even if the killers were Hindu and the victims Muslim. This is about whether India is a country in which there is the rule of law or not. If there is, then anyone who takes the law into his own hands becomes a criminal. Should this not be obvious? But not only is it not obvious to the government of Rajasthan, it seems not to be obvious to the Prime Minister.
Is the Supreme Court Order on Alcohol Sale a Case of Judicial Overreach?
Following the Supreme Court’s liquor ban, Karan Thapar in Hindustan Times, wonders whether the court is aware of the adverse economic consequences of its order or just doesn’t care. Quoting senior lawyers who have called the order authoritarian, he writes that if the judges don’t revoke it, many will end up agreeing with them.
Their argument is that safety is supreme. In which case why have they made an exception for mountainous north-eastern states? Does safety not apply there? Surely it’s inconsistent and contradictory to be concerned about safety in the plains but not in the hills? The truth is the Supreme Court was approached to tackle the problem of drinking and driving. But is a ban on the sale or consumption of alcohol 500 metres from a highway the answer? After all, people can still drink 10 feet further away and drive dangerously. What’s needed is better prosecution and, perhaps, more stringent punishment. Not a knee-jerk and contradictory prohibition.
Across the Aisle: Have We Got Our Priorities Right?
As the NDA government is about to complete three years, former finance minister P Chidambaram in The Indian Express, breaks down official data to analyse its performance. Voicing his dismay, he writes that it doesn’t seem to have its priorities right. His advice is less talk and more action on investments, credit and jobs. He says the purpose of his column is not to lay blame but to ask a question.
...what are the priorities of the government of the day? The answer stares at us. Open any newspaper or watch any TV news channel. The headlines that scream at our faces are about illegal slaughterhouses, gau raksha vigilantism, closure of liquor vends, anti-Romeo squads, racial attacks on black Africans, clashes on university campuses, Aadhaar made mandatory, triple talaq, building a Ram temple at Ayodhya, counterfeit Rs 2,000 notes etc. Rarely does one find a mention of investment, credit growth or jobs.
The Man Who Brought Gandhi to Champaran
Marking the hundredth anniversary of Gandhi’s first major political intervention on Indian soil, Ramachandra Guha in Hindustan Times, recounts the story of an indigo cultivator who brought the leader to Champaran, where he fought for the rights of the farmers. Rajkumar Shukla was the thread that connected Gandhi to his first successful struggle.
In around 1907, along with another local activist named Sheikh Ghulam, Shukla started organising peasants on the question of the forcible cultivation of indigo. Discontent among the indigo peasants continued to simmer, especially during World War I, when the demand for the crop rose and the pressure on the peasants to grow it intensified. Shukla had written the occasional article for Pratap, a Hindi newspaper from Kanpur run by the crusading editor Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi. It was Vidyarthi who first told him of Gandhi’s work in South Africa with indentured labourers.
Out of My Mind: Not His Dress
Don’t let Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s outift fool you, writes Meghnad Desai in The Indian Express. In his column, he says that Yogi’s performance as the incumbent is what will matter, not his dress. The fact that the media is watching his every move takes the heat off Modi, Desai explains.
Modi can now be honoured as the new secular frontier beyond which lurks the saffron-clad Yogi. Let Adityanath not be fooled by praise or scrutiny. He has to deliver sabka vikas. Modi figured out a while ago that the Hindutva platform is not sufficient to deliver a majority. Hindus are not a united or uniting sort of people. With seven thousand jatis and 33 crore deities, there is no hope. Some eat meat, others don’t. But bijli, sadak, paani and roti-kapda-makaan are in everyone’s daily prayer. So deliver.
It's About US, Not Syria
Giving perspective to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria, Pratap Bhanu Mehta in The Indian Express, dissects the current situation. He writes that America’s strikes targeting Syrian President Assad’s atrocities aim at maintaining its ideological self-image, not solving a major humanitarian crisis.
It is a sign of the deeply disjointed character of our times that American missile strikes on Syrian airfields are being welcomed, not because they provide any reassurance that Syria is about to emerge from its catastrophic nightmare, but because they restore a sense of psychological normalcy to the American system about the world. The sense of normalcy that these missile strikes restore is this: American policy in Syria will signal more continuity than change. [...] The American interventions in Iraq and Libya, and their continued catastrophic consequences, depleted whatever little appetite the world might have had for intervention under the moral cloak of humanitarianism.
Romeo Squads? Let's Rename Them After Kichaka or Dandaka
Writing for The Times of India, Devdutt Pattanaik recalls Hindu mythology to make a case for leaving West’s Romeo out of India’s regional political discourse. The worldview that dominates the Hindu right places hermit over the householder and men over women, writes the author.
But why defame poor Romeo? Why assume that Eve has no agency? Why not use Indian names? Some one suggested Majnu, instead of Romeo. But Majnu evokes Persian-Arabic-Urdu culture, which in the current political mood is code for Pakistan. [...] A more suitable example could have been Kichaka from the Mahabharata, a member of the royal family who abused his sister’s maid (Draupadi in disguise), despite knowing she was married. Or the squad could be named the anti-Dandaka squad, after the king who raped Shukra’s daughter, and whose kingdom was destroyed by Shukra’s curse.
I Love IPL Because I Don't Follow Cricket
In times of racial attacks and rise of Hindutva politics, Rajesh Mahapatra in Hindustan Times, writes how he likes IPL because it provides hope that the cricket-loving India will strive to be inclusive and not intolerant. Apart from the massive business and encouraging talent from across the country, the tournament displays a sense of camaraderie, he writes.
The thing that I admire the most about the IPL format is that it celebrates unity in diversity. From Keiron Pollard of West Indies to Afghan rookie leg spinner Rashid Khan and Aussie captain Steve Smith, dozens of foreign players are part of this extravaganza. Delhi boy Gautam Gambhir leads Kolkata Knight Riders, while Delhi Daredevils is led by Mumbai-based Zaheer Khan. The IPL has players like Mohd. Siraj from Hyderabad, a rickshaw puller’s son, as also former U-19 captain Ishan Kishan who comes from a rich business family. I cherish the camaraderie I get to see among players who come from different cultures, classes, races, religions and regions. Such camaraderie help me stay with the hope that cricket-loving India will strive to be inclusive, and not intolerant.
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