Sunday View: The Best Weekend Opinion Reads, Curated Just for You

In The Indian Express, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram weighs in on the debate around 'longer' working hours for Indians. He expresses admiration for individuals like Narayana Murthy (NRN) and SN Subrahmanyan (SNS) who challenge conventional thinking and provoke reflection, even if their views are not universally accepted.Chidambaram writes: "Both NRN and SNS did not inherit wealth. Nor are they employees/industrial workers who draw a salary or wage. They are qualified professionals and have grown from engineers to first-generation entrepreneurs. As such, they have a share in the profits of their enterprises. Their world view is different from the views of ‘inheritors’ and ‘employees’. Consequently, their view of work-life balance is also different.""Inheritors do not have to work their way up from the bottom. They know, and everybody else in the business knows, that the inheritors will reach the top one day. I am afraid most inheritors, except about a dozen old families, did not create value or wealth."P ChidambaramAuthor and Diplomat, Pavan K Varma, in the Hindustan Times, writes about RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat's argument that while political freedom came to India on 15 August 1947, true cultural freedom remains elusive."I do not agree with many things that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat says, but I have no hesitation in endorsing what in my view is right. Recently, in a speech in Indore, he said that political freedom may have come to us on August 15, 1947, but even after that we remained prisoners of the legacy left by colonialism and were not truly free in the cultural sense," says Varma.He adds: "I have consistently argued that it is the inevitable fate of all successfully colonised countries to remain culturally enslaved to their colonial rulers, long after political freedom has been attained. This is because colonial rule is not only about the physical subjugation of a people. It is as much—if not more—about the colonisation of the mind. Thus, political freedom is only one part of the project of decolonisation."In her latest column for The Indian Express, senior journalist Tavleen Singh criticises Rahul Gandhi's remark that his battle was against the Indian state. She argues that equating the government with the state is politically immature, suggesting Rahul should reconsider his approach to India’s democracy."If the Leader of the Opposition spent a moment mulling over his words before unleashing them upon the world, he would have noticed that nobody has been as good at demeaning our democratic institutions than his own family. Does he remember that his mother weakened the office of the prime minister by personally appointing men of her choice? Does he remember that Mummy’s National Advisory Council became far more powerful than the Cabinet of Dr Manmohan Singh? Or that he himself, publicly tore up an Ordinance passed by the government and declared that it was nonsense? And there is more."Tavleen Singh"The middle class is stranded in a political muddle between oligarchs extracting rent and parties wrenching rent for votes," writes Shankkar Aiyar in his column for The New Indian Express (TNIE) as he highlights the growing cost of living pressures on the middle class in India.Aiyar writes: "The context of hardship and notion of neglect are aggravated by the parade of populism unleashed by political parties. On Friday, the BJP released its manifesto in the run-up to the Delhi assembly polls. The promises include meals at Rs 5 in a country where 813 crore people receive free rations under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. Other promises include Rs 2,500 to women from poor households and gas cylinders at Rs 500 with two free refills for the poor. The middle class taxpayer is absent in the electoral calculus."He adds that the current situation reflects a shift in governance, where populist politics overshadows the ideal of a middle-class-led political community, as envisaged by Greek philosopher Aristotle. Amid growing inflation and economic slowdown, the middle class hopes for tax relief, but their demands often clash with the political economy, which prioritises short-term electoral gains over long-term growth.As the Congress party on 15 January, shifted its headquarters from the iconic 24 Akbar Road to 9-A Kotla Road, Asad Rehman in The Indian Express, writes about the 125-year-long journey of Congress party offices. "While the Akbar Road office had old-world charm — with its spacious lawns and wraparound rooms — the Kotla Road office bears resemblance to a corporate office. Even as the party says it won’t give up the Akbar Road bungalow and continue using it for 'high-level meetings', the new headquarters have offices for all its leaders, including the party president and the Gandhis," Rehman writes."Despite its corporate look, the walls of the new party office offer a rare glimpse into the Congress’s history since its inception, which includes rare photographs, and quotes from Congress stalwarts, icons and founding fathers."Asad RehmanIn the Hindustan Times, Lalita Panicker writes about the importance of Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB). "Allocation for GRB has over the years remained at 4-5.5 percent of the Union Budget. While even this is welcome, there can be several improvements that could benefit women. Budget 2023-24, coming as it did in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, was not very supportive for women and gender minorities to rebuild their lives. Many women had to give up their jobs to become caregivers to those affected by Covid and a sizeable section was not able to reintegrate into the workforce once the pandemic got over," she says. Panicker also highlights the concerns that GRB often treats women as a homogenous group, overlooking marginalised communities like Muslim women, who face specific socio-economic and religious disadvantages. Studies show their exclusion from GRB despite their pressing needs."One study shows that Muslim women are not adequately represented in GRB despite their facing disadvantages and exclusions in several aspects due to poverty, patriarchy and religious restrictions. They continue to be largely invisible in policy frameworks meant for the development of socio-religious communities. The study highlighted the need for greater policy attention on Muslim women."Lalita Panicker"Over the last couple of days — in white-collar offices and the WhatsApp groups of gated colonies from Gurgaon to Whitefield, Bandra to Ballygunge — the speculation about the crime is accompanied by barely-disguised prejudice," Akash Joshi writes in The Indian Express in the light of the attack on Hindi film actor Saif Ali Khan.Joshi argues that as the attack made headlines, discussions in elite circles centered on how such violence could happen in Bandra, reflecting fears about their own security. The real heroes, however, may be the domestic workers who care for the family, often working in difficult conditions for little recognition.He writes: "The concern over safety — 'if this can happen to an A-list celeb in Bandra, what about us?' — is of the same order as CCTV cameras to monitor the people who work in our homes, the separate 'service lifts', the registers at the gate that record the details of the delivery “boy” but not the visitor in a luxury car. That the assailant was allegedly — in fact, the details of the case are, at this point, practically rumours — let in by domestic help at the Khan-Kapoor home seems to be the major cause of these paroxysms."In The New Indian Express (TNIE), senior journalist Prabhu Chawla draws parallels between two political campaigns/ideologies — Donald Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) and Narendra Modi's Viksit Bharat call. Chawla writes: "During Trump 1.0, events like ‘Howdy Modi’ in Houston and ‘Namaste Trump’ in Ahmedabad signalled a global bromance, with India becoming one of the strongest US allies. Trump lost in 2020, and with it Modi lost a ‘friend in the White House’. However, Modi didn’t let the opportunity pass to rebuild the relationship.""Since 2016, Trump has been crowing about protecting the material and cultural rights of Americans. From motorcycles to dollars, he is unwavering about what makes America great. From 2016 onwards, MAGA is Trump’s primary project, similar to Modi’s Viksit Bharat. Taking a cue from Barack Obama’s slogan of 'Yes, we can', the Don vowed 'Trump will fix it'.Prabhu Chawla"Contrary to popular wisdom, the Indian state is remarkably understaffed but in line with popular beliefs it is, at the lower end of the hierarchy, paid remarkably well," writes Yamini Aiyar, the former CEO of the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), in her column for the Deccan Herald.She says, "In the popular imagination, the Indian state is widely regarded as a large, overstaffed, inefficient leviathan. Government jobs with guaranteed job security and power – where apathy, inefficiency and corruption are rarely frowned upon – are deeply desired. Politicians thus have incentive to prey on this desire to dispense patronage, which in turn, generates pressure both to expand jobs and distort the market by offering above-market wages."The reality, she argues, couldn't be more different. "In State Capability in India, two of India’s finest civil servants T V Somanathan and Gulzar Natarajan collate staggering statistics to highlight personnel gaps. Here’s one: at an aggregate level, in 2011, the government employment as a share of total employment was 4.6 per cent. Contrast this with the United States where government employment accounts for 15.9 per cent of employment. Put differently, India has 1,622.8 government servants for every 100,000 residents; the US has 7,681. The problem, Somanathan and Natarajan point out, begins at the top."Yamini AiyarTrump Impact? Why Leaders Like Modi & Kejriwal Are Embracing Podcasters90 is the New 70: Defending SN Subrahmanyan and Narayana Murthy!Teen Convicted as Adult: 26 Years of Injustice in Indian Legal SystemThe Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Is Indeed Good News But Only if It HoldsDelhi Elections: BJP's Main Problem is Disconnect With Key Demographic GroupsWhat is Driving India's New Diplomatic Strategy with the Taliban?

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Sunday View: The Best Weekend Opinion Reads, Curated Just for You

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