Gearing Up for the Battle
Congress leader P Chidambaram, in his piece for The Indian Express, highlights how the newly formed I.N.D.I.A is in for a battle with the BJP by targeting crucial issues like unemployment, inflation, hate speech, freedom of speech, states' rights, undermining the Court of Justice, misuse of intelligence and investigative agencies, etc.
Referring to his last week's piece, he also points out that he had not used the acronym NDA because, "at present, no political party of significance has declared that it an ally of the BJP."
"No one anticipated there will be a cat among the pigeons. Mr Nitish Kumar, chief minister, sprung a surprise on the nation by revealing the results of the caste headcount (survey) conducted in Bihar. Not surprisingly, the OBCs accounted for 63 per cent of the state’s population. Issues such as One Nation One Election and Uniform Civil Code were swept away by the tide of caste. Karnataka announced that the results of its caste survey would be published 'when the time was right.' Odisha revealed that a caste survey was underway. Allies of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh demanded a caste headcount in the most caste-conscious state of the country."P Chidambaram, for The Indian Express
In Divided Manipur, Disturbing Questions
Senior journalist and author Karan Thapar, in his piece for the Hindustan Times, draws attention towards the various questions raised on the way in which the Manipur government and the Centre is dealing with the ethnic violence in the state.
Thapar highlights that a special team of CBI was flown to Imphal to investigate the killings of two Meitei students, while no similar measure has been taken to investigate the rape and killing of two Kuki women at a car wash, the beheading of David Theik or the killing of a young boy and his mother when their ambulance was burnt to cinders.
"In this instance, how things appear in Imphal is very different to how they look when seen from Churachandpur. Surely, after five months, both ministers and mandarins in Delhi should have known this. Yet that hasn’t restrained them. That leads to another question: I wonder why?"Karan Thapar, for Hindustan Times
Making Rupee a Global Currency Is a Long Haul
TCA Ranganathan, in his piece for Deccan Herald, zeroes in on the long path that India needs to follow in its bid to make the rupee a global currency.
"If foreigners are to be persuaded to transact in rupees, they need to have the currency with them in the first place; otherwise, conversion cost factors come into play, making the transaction no different from any other multi-currency transaction. The reason why the volume of transactions in dollars and euros is higher is that more people hold them. A person may consider holding rupees if it is legal to hold them. Currently, India has capital controls, so holding rupees abroad is not legal. However, almost anyone can hold rupees in India."TCA Ranganathan, for Deccan Herald
Back to the Drawing Board
In her piece for The Indian Express, Coomi Kapoor talks about how the recently released Bihar caste survey looks like a "winning combination" for Lalu Prasad Yadav.
The survey, she argues, has also left the BJP "shell-shocked", as it had planned its 2024 poll strategy hoping to ride a wave of Hindutva sentiment in the wake of the inauguration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
"While Modi attacked the Congress for trying to divide Hindu society along caste lines, there is a possibility that the BJP may counter Mandal-2 with a demand for the implementation of the Rohini Commission report, which was submitted in August. Justice Gorla Rohini took six years to sub categorise OBCs so that the economically backward classes (EBCs) among OBCs get a fair representation. Focusing on EBCs has for long been part of the BJP’s poll strategy."Coomi Kapoor, for The Indian Express
A Hollow Claim
Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswam, in his piece for The Telegraph, opines that the BJP is a male chauvinistic organisation controlled by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which is not serious about the implementation of the women’s reservation bill.
He further claims that the party's intention is to cheat the women of our country in the name of the forthcoming census and the delimitation of constituencies.
"In this context of deceit and contentless celebrations, the event managers of the BJP are trying to project Modi as the champion of women’s empowerment. Their propaganda measures are tuned accordingly and they propagate that Modi is a crusader for women’s rights. Contrary to the hype being built, the fact is that Modi and his party are not concerned about the fruition of the women’s reservation bill. They are not in favour, ideologically and politically, of women’s representation and empowerment."Binoy Viswam, for The Telegraph
Women Farm Workers Need Workplace Safety
In her piece for the Hindustan Times, Lalita Panicker, highlights the violence faced by women farmers and discusses the measures that should be taken to empower them.
Talking about deceased agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan, also known as the father of India's Green Revolution, Panicker said, "he believed that empowering women with knowledge of agriculture would ensure that they would care for crops without any damage to the environment."
"Agriculture sites need to be recognised as workplaces, and women need to feel safe reporting everyday harassment against them. The first and most important step is to collect data on VAW in agriculture. This includes details about their caste, migration, widowhood, age, and male to female ratio of supervisors and workers. The ministry of rural development must create awareness among women in agriculture of their rights."Lalita Panicker, for Hindustan Times
US Curbs on Visas: India Should Stand by Sheikh Hasina
Ahead of the upcoming general elections in Bangladesh, Swapan Dasgupta, in his piece for Times of India, writes about the Washington's new policy of denying US visas to any Bangladeshi individual believed to be "responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic election process", and how it gives an upper hand to the opponents of current PM Sheikh Hasina.
He also argues that India should stand by Hasina.
"Judged by normal standards, the US action targeting supporters of the present regime in Bangladesh constitutes a direct interference in the internal affairs of a country. In a tangential sort of way, it is an unfriendly act against a friend of India and, it is also tacitly an encouragement of those forces whose existential basis is anti-Indianism."Swapan Dasgupta, for Times of India
Sikkim Tsunami in a River: A Man-Made Tragedy Long in the Making
For Deccan Chronicle, journalist Monideepa Banerjie, writes about the devasting flash floods in Sikkim, and how the tragedy can be described as a "tsunami in a river".
She also addresses that political blame game that has kicked in following the disaster.
"Part of the Teesta III Hydropower Project that was commissioned in 2017 to produce 1200 MW of power, the Chungthang dam, like most, was built to last a hundred years. But it is gone in six. The project was dogged by controversy with environment activists protesting dam construction in a fragile ecosystem in a seismic zone. But they failed to stop it. Today they believe had there been no dams on the Teesta, the impact of the GLOF event would have been much less damaging."Monideepa Banerjie, for Deccan Chronicle
It’s an Election, Not War
Columnist Tavleen Singh, in her piece for The Indian Express, provides a commentary on aggressive election campaigns of the Congress and the BJP. She further elaborates by citing various examples like Rahul Gandhi's recent visit to the Golden Temple, PM Modi's "they speak the language of our enemies" accusation against the Congress in Bhopal, and an "ugly" poster war on social media between the two parties.
In view of the same, Singh poses a question, "Are we facing a general election next year or a civil war?"
"I ask the question seriously, silly though it may sound. It is because I find myself alarmed by the tenor of campaigning by our two main national parties. They seem to believe they are in this fight to destroy their opponents, not just defeat them electorally. This is true of the campaign on social media and in real life."Tavleen , for The Indian Express