Inside Track: Missing The Target
What better way to start your Sunday than with all the latest political gossip courtesy Coomi Kapoor. In her weekly column for The Indian Express, Kapoor talks about how some senior Congress leaders could improve their letter-drafting skills, the ad-hocs who hoisted the national flag at the party's Independence Day ceremony, the reason behind Amit Shah's choice of a private hospital, an unscientific scientific advisor and Rhea Chakroborty's lawyer's new profile photo on social media.
The drafting skills of the top lawyers and spokespersons who signed on to the letter to the Congress president seeking changes in the party were found wanting. The letter was actually meant to target the coterie surrounding Rahul Gandhi, known as the Tughlaq Lane club, and not the Gandhis themselves. All important issues in the party are referred by Sonia Gandhi to her son’s residence. Rahul generally does not handle them personally, but delegates to a few favoured people. This coterie is so empowered that when Sonia Gandhi recently sent the approved names as observers for the Madhya Pradesh bypolls, K C Venugopal did not clear the names for three days.Coomi Kapoor in The Indian Express
G23 Question Won’t Go Away: Is Cong Ready To Introspect?
Weighing in on the much-talked-about letter by 23 Congress leaders to the Gandhis, Rajeev Deshpande, in his column for The Times Of India, says that this 'rebellion' is not something that the Congress can wish away or suppress. There is urgent need for introspection, but is the Congress ready to do what it takes?
Less than a week after the Congress working committee squelched an incipient mutiny by 23 leaders, all dyed-in-the-wool Congressmen, things are taking a familiar turn. The dynasty has struck back with alacrity, giving loyalists new party positions to shore up its defences while cornering dissenters who wrote to Sonia Gandhi demanding a “full-time and active” leadership to lead the Congress out of its current doldrums An unusual turn of events that saw the signatories — many with long careers in the party organisation and government and, by no means, natural rebels — call for change is being reduced to a discussion about their personal agendas and private angst. But while the G23 might have their reasons — no rebellion is motivated by unalloyed altruism — there is no getting away from the central question they pose: Is the Congress ready for an “honest introspection” to analyse reasons for its decline?Rajeev Deshpande in The Times Of India
Dissent Strengthens Democracy
Why are internal problems in the Congress party a topic of national discussion? In her column for The Indian Express, Tavleen Singh talks about how there is a pressing need for a strong opposition in the country, and with the legislature, judiciary and media compromised, the onus of that lies on the Congress. But to built that strength as a credible opposition, the Congress needs to 'listen', says Singh.
Sonia Gandhi’s ways were different but worked well. Instead of a blacklist, she had a guest list, and those senior editors and famous TV anchors who were regularly invited to 10 Janpath for tea and chitchat usually ended up silenced and seduced. In the decade that she was de facto prime minister, and in the two decades she has controlled the Congress party, she has hardly ever been personally criticised. Her chosen prime ministers were attacked often and brutally and her son is mocked often and brutally. But, she has managed to remain above criticism not just from political commentators but even from her comrades. In the letter that 23 Congress leaders wrote this month asking for change and introspection in the party, she was not mentioned by name. She should have been.Tavleen Singh in The Indian Express
Education For Muslims Needs A Little Self-Help
In this week's column for The Times Of India, addressed to AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, Swaminathan Aiyar says that in order to close the educational gap between Muslims and non-Muslims, the community leaders need to pitch in and build their own institutions of excellence.
Instead of depending on the state, Christians have long created their own educational institutions of excellence (eg St Stephen’s College and St Columba’s School in Delhi). So good are top Christian schools and colleges that Hindus and Muslims pull all possible strings to get into them. This is not because Christians have more money. Muslim Wakf Boards have thousands of crores of assets. The Muslim practice of zakat provides vast sums annually from well-off Muslims for charitable purposes, including education. The Muslim community has the means to create world class schools and colleges.Swaminathan Aiyar in The Times Of India
A Time For Supreme Reform
In his column for The Indian Express, P Chidambaram, talks about reforms that are needed in the Supreme Court in order for it to remain independent, a concern that many of a certain dispensation have raised in the country.
The Supreme Court must be elevated to a Constitutional Court. It must hear and decide only cases involving questions regarding the interpretation of the Constitution of India and, on rare occasions, cases that involve legal issues of great public importance and consequences. Under my proposal, there will be seven judges of the Supreme Court sitting as one Court and not in Benches. A question will arise immediately: who will hear appeals from judgments of High Courts? Appellate jurisdiction is indeed an important function, especially in a federal system, and High Courts could give conflicting judgments. The answer is to create Courts of Appeal: five Courts of Appeal, six judges in each Court sitting in two Benches of three judges each, altogether 30 judges. Not a large number for a country whose population is expected to peak at 161 crore.P Chidambaram in The Indian Express
When Ideas Are Judged Not On Merit But On Who Thinks Them Up
Prime Minister Modi's recent video, the highlight of which was him feeding a peacock, has attracted a LOT of comments- both good and bad. In this piece for The Times Of India, Indrajit Hazra says that the nature of these comments don't have much to do with the quality of the video, but everything to do with who appears in the video.
Take the case of prime ministerial publicity photos showing the beloved leader with animals. Depending on the beloved leader of your choice, you’re likely to find these photos to be cheesy, self-indulgent agitprop, or signs of a caring, animal-friendly public figure sharing his or her ‘human’ side. The fact that Jawaharlal Nehru seems more playful in his publicity photos with tiger cubs and Indira Gandhi is smiling while she strokes a big cat, while Narendra Modi is more studious while feeding peacocks could well determine your opinion on displays of intimate interspecies exchanges. But it is far more likely that one’s taste in PMO aesthetics will vary wildly whether you’re a Nehru-Gandhi or a Modi fanboy or fangirl.Indrajit Hazra in The Times Of India
Why The GST Framework Is In Trouble
In his/her article for The Hindustan Times Chanakya says that the existing GST framework may not be living up to expectations as the expected revenue was a lot greater than that being collected now- a big concern, especially for the state governments.
Three years after the implementation of GST, many state governments (run by non-Bharatiya Janata Party forces) are alleging that the Centre has reneged on this promise. Their objections seem valid. The Union has not paid the constitutionally mandated ₹1.5 lakh crore of GST compensation to states for the months of April-July in the current fiscal year. The reason is that cess collections have not been enough to make payments. It also expects that the total shortfall in GST compensation to the states will be ₹2.35 lakh crore in the current fiscal year. Of this, the Centre claims, ₹97,000 crore is on account of GST implementation and the rest is due to the external shock of the pandemic.Chanakya in The Hindustan Times
COVID-19: The Daredevils Who Defy Scientific Advice
In this article for The Hindustan Times, Payal S Kapoor calls out the "daredevils" who are not taking enough and necessary precautions against the COVID-19 virus. But where do these daredevils get their courage and confidence from? Kapoor analyses.
What is the link between a daredevil’s cognition of the ongoing pandemic and his motivation to be such a daredevil? In other words, what makes a daredevil expect a favourable outcome, of not getting infected, despite reckless behaviour? Prior research finds people can have favourable expectancies because of, and not limited to, any of these reasons — their self-belief and personal efficacy; because they think they are lucky; because they think they are favoured by God. According to Scheier and Carver (1987), the reason for favourable expectancies can be any of these but all of them will lead to an optimistic orientation—that is, a general expectation that only good things will happen to me.Payal S Kapoor in The Hindustan Times
'Mee Raqsam' Is A Modern Masterpiece
And finally, if you were wondering which movie to stream this weekend then Karan Thapar suggests Mee Raqsam. In his column for The Hindustan Times, Thapar says that the movie has a "simple gentle story that overwhelms you as the film plays out". Do let us know if you watched it and what you thought of it in the comments below.
Mee Raqsam is the story of a young Muslim girl, born and brought up in an Uttar Pradesh village called Mijwan, who has a fascination for Bharatanatyam and wants to learn the dance. In the eyes of the village’s Muslim elders, this is heresy. In fact, for them it’s tantamount to a betrayal of Islam and the honour of the Muslim community. On the other hand, the Hindu patron of the Bharatanatyam academy she joins is no less hard and cruel. For him little Mariam’s passion is proof that Hindu culture will triumph over Islam. That’s what matters to him. Not her talent nor her story.Karan Thapar in The Hindustan Times
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