Hard Truths About the Economy
Once the deadly pandemic is over, Prime Minister Modi’s biggest problem is likely to be the future of the Indian economy. Talveen Singh in her column for The Indian Express writes that the country needs another monumental moment like the liberalisation of the Indian economy in 1991. India needs another budget that will change the country’s economic and political future.
The Prime Minister has chosen to work in a cocoon since he first took the job six years ago. So, those people have been kept at a distance who could tell him how often and how recklessly his officials make regulations that make it harder and not easier to do business. Those who would be able to tell him how many fine Indian companies face bankruptcy, only because his government refuses to honour its contracts, are kept even further away.Tavleen Singh in The Indian Express
Finally, Some Good News From Delhi, Writes Karan Thapar
On July 1, Delhi had 27,007 active cases. On Friday, that was down to 13,681. On July 1, 5,892 beds in Covid-19 hospitals were occupied. On Friday, that figure stood at 3,210. There is finally some good news from Delhi, writes Karan Thapar in his column for The Hindustan Times. Even though there is an improvement, people of Delhi can’t allow confidence to make them complacent, he adds.
The results of a serological survey conducted in late June-early July corroborate this good news. Over 23% of the city’s population has been affected by the coronavirus. They’re asymptomatic and, hopefully, the antibodies they carry will retard the spread of the virus. We don’t know how long their immunity will last and they’re way short of the 50/60% levels needed for herd immunity, but it’s still good news that almost a quarter of the city has been exposed to the virus.Karan Thapar in Hindustan Times
It’s Time India Paid Reparations to its Dalits
To correct the centuries-old injustices and the debts India owes its Dalits, there is a need to talk about reparations, writes Suraj Yengde in his latest column for The Indian Express. As reservations and land reforms, which were meant to address these issues, remain contested, reparation is one of the most viable ways to secure justice for all, he argues.
As a nation, we need to be able to grieve collectively to overcome. This country can mourn for the victims of the Nazi genocide, even the victims of the India-Pakistan Partition, but it becomes hard as stone at the mere mention of atrocities against Dalits.Suraj Yengde in The Indian Express
Statues Have Become Less About History, and More About Politics
As anti-racism protests continue, statues of Confederate leaders and other controversial figures are being brought down in the United States of America. Gautham Bhatia in his column for The Times of India writes that India too has statues with the historical burden of enslavement under colonial rule and a new political culture involving statues.
The easy recklessness with which statues are commissioned, made, removed, replaced and magnified in India, gives them the air of a changeable Bollywood set. Especially so when the position the subject occupies in political history is debatable. To offset any fear of impermanence, sculpture is now accorded the monumentalism of architecture. With its sheer physical weight, scale and size, any future disagreement with Sardar Patel’s political stance is unlikely to trouble people enough to try and topple a statue that weighs 35,000 tonnes and is grouted into the earth with the foundation strength of a 60-storey skyscraper.Gautham Bhatia in for The Times of India
India Must get Ready for a Tougher World
India had a conducive international environment that propelled the country’s growth and ambition, between 2000 and 2015. Embracing the idea of South Asian regionalism, India maintained good relations with Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and even China, during this time. But the world order is changing and India needs to prepare for tougher times, writes Chankaya in his latest column in The Hindustan Times. the
The post-1991 order — where the US was the clear hegemon, or the post-2008 order, where the US began to coexist, somewhat uneasily, with a rising China, has now given way to a post-Covid world order — which marks a fairly public, intensified degree of competition and conflict between the US and China. The US itself is no longer as dominant in the international system, with Trump aiding its decline. The world is turning inwards, with the rise of protectionism and ultra-nationalism in a range of countries. There is greater uncertainty.Chanakya in The Hindustan Times
Jaipur Crisis: Need for Citizen Campaign
In his column in The Indian Expresss Meghnad Desai writes about the need for a non- party political citizens’ movement to question ‘the spoilage of the original 1949 Constitution’. In the context of the series of amendments made to the Constitution, he writes that political parties are more than happy with amendments like the 10th schedule since it aids their interests.
The current dispute in Rajasthan is a legacy partly of Schedule 10, which wanted to discourage defections. Obviously just because you are an elected legislator, you cannot be free to choose which party you should join or quit. So we have the charade of Speakers sending notices to legislators imprisoned in five-star hotels, far away from their base etc. As it is, these legislators do not enjoy freedom of speech unless they parrot the party line. Why bother to speak?Meghnad Desai in The Indian Express
The new Normal? Living it is Easier said Than Done
As the country moves on from the Lockdown phase, living with the virus is becoming the new reality. Businesses desperate to recoup are advertising the steps taken to ensure safety, but these precautions often remain on paper, writes Sandip Roy for The Times of India. People need a cultural change if they want to wade through this crisis, he adds.
To make #SafetyFirst a mantra to live by rather than the hashtag of the day, we cannot rely on just businesses or the government. We too need to step up to the challenge. Too many of us still believe that no matter who is standing in line we need to be served first, that rules are for others. A friend posted a picture from the airport as he awaited a flight to the US. A snaking line of people was waiting to board. Everyone was masked but they were all jostling, social distancing be damned, to be the first on board. No matter how many people stand in line there is always the person who will march up to the counter as if the others were invisible. The need to get ahead of the person next to us, if only by an inch, is ingrained deep in our cultural DNA. It will take more than a coronavirus to get it out of our system.Sandip Roy in Times of India
The Spider’s web
A spider's web is the best way to describe the multiple crises gripping the country -- situation on the India-China border, the battle waging against the coronavirus, a rapidly sinking economy and joblessness and the power tussle in Rajasthan -- writes P Chidambaram in his column in The Indian Express.
We have now learned that there is no weapon against the virus until a vaccine is discovered, proved and distributed. The people have given up on the governments, Central and state. Those who can afford to do so, have isolated themselves; those who cannot, have shed fear. Life will return to a new ‘normal’ that will include a certain case fatality ratioP Chidambaram in The Indian Express
Palpable Anger: Generation war in the Congress?
The Telegraph’s editorial talks about the recent political crisis Rajasthan and argues that the claims of it being a generation war within the Congress party is bogus. It argues that more of the young leaders in the Congress ‘are anguished and fiercely condemn his betrayal’. However, there is a group of a senior leaders who believes in the need for introspection on some political mismanagement in the party.
Close aides of Rahul Gandhi, however, rubbish the perception that Pilot was pushed out by the veterans, pointing out that the crisis was being handled by younger leaders like Randeep Surjewala, Ajay Maken and KC Venugopal, who are part of the same circle of friends that Pilot and Scindia belong to. Most leaders contest the opinion that the Rajasthan chief minister, Ashok Gehlot, was aggravating the crisis to block Pilot’s return, saying he has shown exceptional patience over the last two years.The Telegraph Editorial
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