Opposition Unity Platform: Stoop to Conquer
As we move closer to the 2024 general elections, P Chidambaram lucidly writes about possible alternatives to the BJP in his weekly column for The Indian Express. He throws light on how the opposition parties’ aim is to replace BJP at the centre. Even though there appears to be no common leader that opposition parties can rally behind, there is scope for change, he writes.
The alternative is an Opposition Unity Platform (OUP). An OUP will need each party to make concessions to others and gain from the concessions made by the others. The outline of the scheme is roughly as follows: create four columns of states and union territories and put each state/UT in the appropriate column (the number denotes the number of LS seats).P Chidambaram for The Indian Express
Fear to Freedom: Why we Fight for Marriage Equality
Aditi Anand and Susan Dias, one of four LGBTQ couples petitioning India's Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage, address why they put themselves and their families out in the public eye, despite society’s ‘cruel gaze’ in their piece for Hindustan Times. They candidly write about their relationship, their everyday hurdles, and why they chose to petition.
We are parents to a baby boy who is too young to understand the machinations of the world. In his limited vocabulary and infinite wisdom, he has happily accepted us: His amma and his mama. He doesn’t yet know that, legally, only one of us is his parent.Aditi Anand and Susan Dias for Hindustan Times
Bad Men and Bad Choices
In a piece for The Indian Express, Tavleen Singh critically evaluates Congress’ campaign in Karnataka. She opines that every time Rahul or Priyanka Gandhi make a speech, Modi gets a few more votes. She believes that this is because corruption charges against Modi do not stick with the masses.
Every state election this year is going to be seen as a rehearsal for the general election that will happen at about this time next year. And as a reckless optimist, I keep hoping that it is real issues like schools and hospitals that will come up. But from the campaign in Karnataka, we can be sure we will be forced to choose in 2024 between those who offer us temples and belligerent religiosity and those who offer us the glory of dead leaders and the stench of dead ideas.Tavleen Singh for The Indian Express
An Idol Crumbles: How PT Usha Missed the Podium Again
In his piece for The Indian Express, Sandeep Dwivedi breaks down PT Usha’s comment on the Jantar Mantar agitation, adding that it exposes her ‘insensitivity’ and ‘lack of empathy’. He points out that the recent police complaint by seven women wrestlers, is not the WFI President’s first brush with the law.
Sounding like a matriarch angered by a family secret getting leaked, she pulled up the wrestlers for taking to the streets and not approaching the IOA. Had she kept herself abreast with the intriguing Wrestlers vs Singh saga, she would have understood the reason for the players’ mistrust in the system and past champions.Sandeep Dwivedi for The Indian Express
Population Growth on a Volatile Planet
In his piece for The New Indian Express, CKG Nair argues that while there are many commentaries on India recently becoming the most populous nation by overtaking China, this demographic advantage of having a young population is only a ‘partial picture’. He points to the need for reaping the demographic dividend through quality education and continuous skilling.
The Supreme Court holds that the right to life means the right to a dignified life, which includes the right to a dignified death. The question, therefore, is whether we can provide dignified life and death to our teeming millions, now at 1.43 billion and growing with all the pressures on land, forest, water and air already being felt. Our 10 % of the population above 60 years in 2019 is estimated to be 19.6% by 2050, not much below the projected ratio of even the USA [which is estimated to be 22%]. The ‘25-year-long runway’ of the ‘young’ will meet 30 crore old people. Dignified life to all will be a fiscal and logistics challenge.CKG Nair for The New Indian Express
There’s No Poverty Data, Therefore There’s No Poverty!
In her piece for Deccan Herald, Yamini Aiyar sheds light on the implications of India’s ‘indefinitely’ postponed decadal census. She writes that a ‘new politics of poverty’ is unfolding.
Economic growth has simply failed to create genuine economic opportunity for all. In the present moment, the combination of successive economic shocks that has increased economic precarity and an underemployed but aspirational young voter has created new pressures. But the political response has been half-baked and reflective of the poverty of our economic imagination.Yamini Aiyar for Deccan Herald
In Kashmir, A Story of Women Empowerment
In her piece for Hindustan Times, Lalita Panicker pays homage to Nighat Shafi Pandit, who has been working tirelessly to serve women who have suffered in the conflict. She throws light on how Pandit was the first woman to start an orphanage for children left homeless by the armed conflict in the Kashmir Valley in 1997.
The decades of unrest in Kashmir have been particularly harsh on women, even though things are looking up now. They have had to live through years of trauma due to the violence, terrorism, and operations by security forces. Many of them speak of living in fear each time their husbands or sons went out of their homes, not knowing if they would return. They were, and in many areas still are, unable to access mental health services, reproductive health services and livelihood avenues.Lalita Panicker for Hindustan Times
Educating Problem-solvers
Writing for Deccan Herald, Ashwin Mahesh emphasises the need for teaching problem-solving as a separate skill, alongside the policy education. He writes, “Development is a balance between State, market and society. And for problem-solvers to be effective, they need to be able to retain the ability to act on all three fronts.”
One of the things I’ve held close for years is a belief that rather than trying to solve problems, we should be trying to increase the number of problem-solving people in society. It’s heartening to see more and more young people seeing themselves as problem-solvers, and making learning and career choices in line with that. We need a groundswell of such thinking to tackle the very large and persistent problems around us.Ashwin Mahesh for Deccan Herald
On The Mat
In her piece for The Telegraph, Upala Sen traces the roots of wrestling in India, while placing it against the backdrop of the two recent FIRs filed by the Delhi Police against the Wrestling Federation of India President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. She writes that while men’s wrestling has been about 'celebrating the body’, women's wrestling has been about ‘using the body to channelise a spirit and to defy traditional perceptions’.
Last week, after much grappling with lawkeepers, seven women wrestlers have finally managed to file two FIRs against WFI boss and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who they have accused of sexual harassment. Don't cheer yet, Singh is a wrestler before anything else. There would be wisdom in anticipating and preparing for a sprawl out.Upala Sen for The Telegraph
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