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

We sifted through the papers to find the best opinion reads, so you won't have to.

Keep the chai, forget the paper. Read the best opinion and editorial articles from across the print media on Sunday View.

(Photo: iStock)

Happy, Yes. Hype, No

Writing for The Indian Express, P Chidambaram of Congress highlights the need to be "more modest" about the upcoming G-20 summit meeting and its outcome amid the escalating "hype" around the same.

Pointing out that G-20 meetings is a routine summit and India was a chair in 2003 and will be the chair in 2043, he states that India has the lowest income per capita (USD 2,085), largest number of poor (230 million) and a rank of 107 (out of 123) in the Global Hunger Index — among the several reasons for why India needs to be modest.

"When the unemployment rate is 8.5 percent and the unemployment rate among 15-24 years-old youth is 24 percent, how could all Indians have become richer? When the bottom 50 percent of the population earns only 13 percent of the nation's income and owns only 3 percent of the nation's wealth, how could all Indians be rich? The leaders of the world's 20 largest economies will be here to take a close look at India and its economy. I wish we would take a closer look at ourselves."

A Week of Breaking News

Last week brought a "whirlwind of political events," as Tavleen Singh in The Indian Express talks about the 'INDIA' alliance meeting held in Mumbai, announcement of special session of Parliament and the news of two major British newspapers writing about the creative business dealings of Gautam Adani.

As for the conclave in Mumbai, she takes a jibe at the Opposition stating that the Opposition, "you would think that they would come up with a new idea, new leaders who were not their children or even just a new political weapon to train on Modi."

As for the news about the alleged financial irregularities by Adani group, she writes:

"Instead of blaming George Soros every time a story appears in the western media about his dramatically rapid climb to the pinnacle of great wealth, he would do better to respond to the charges calmly and convincingly. In the many years that I have written a political column I have not met a single major political leader who did not get to the top with a little help from rich friends."

ISRO Gets Up Close and Personal With a Star

In his piece for the Deccan Herald, Prakash Chandra, former editor of the Indian Defence Review, talks about India's first mission to the Sun, Aditya L1, carried by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C57 rocket. "Aditya L1 underlines ISRO's soaring confidence as a space agency capable of successfully launching interplanetary missions," he adds.

Chandra then proceeds to talk about the details of this mission, how it will take four months for Aditya L1 to get to its designated parking slot Lagrange point (L1) or K1 which is 1.5 million km from Earth.

In the last 20 years, international interest in the Sun has picked up, prompting several solar exploratory missions, Chandra noted.

"Aditya-L1 will soon this select group of Sun-watching robots, whose research will improve our understanding of the Sun. This, in turn, will help study other stars (particularly those with planets) and help scientists forecast space weather, which is so important for space exploration."

Aiming For the Moon

Senior Indian journalist, Sunanda K Datta-Ray, in The Telegraph, writes, Narendra Modi’s attribution of Chandrayaan-3’s spectacular success “to all of humanity” was even more magnanim­ous than Neil Armstrong’s contested “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Ray writes that the somewhat "brash" appearance of the ISRO's current website with the G20 logo, slogans like “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” and “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas," may not fully convey the gravitas of a lineage that goes back to the 1940s.

"The initiatives that stalwarts like C.V. Raman, Vikram Sarabhai, Homi Bhabha and others took even before Independence enjoyed Jawaharlal Nehru’s full blessings even though — or probably because — their serious scientific purpose was untainted by any whiff of political propaganda. Nehru’s farsighted commitment to Alexander Pope’s vision that 'the proper study of mankind is man' ruled out any conflict of priorities."

Umar Khalid's Jail Stint and the Deficit of Truth

Suraj Yengde, author of 'Caste Matters' writes in The Indian Express about the incarceration of JNU scholar Umar Khalid, in jail since Delhi pogrom of 2020 and how many more should rise up to his cause and support.

"An Ambedkarite atheist, Umar can serve as an inspiration to the Bahujan youth. It is the responsibility of the Bahujan political and social sphere to own up to the cause of Umar Khalid. They must make this struggle their own and rally for Umar's freedom. Though time and again the Bahujan community has been wrongly judged by the liberal force, they have yet stood by the Constitution and their faith in their Republic."

Yengde further elaborates how his incarceration is now a concern for international governments and how there's something sinister about his arrest, adding that Umar's position on the "viciousness of caste has set him apart from the obviating positions of the Brahmanical left of India."

Altering Status-Quo: On Jammu and Kashmir and Statehood

This editorial in The Hindu details how the Centre's stand to unable to commit itself to a timeline for restoration of Statehood for Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is quite disappointing, especially four years after the State's status was downgraded to that of a Union Territory.

"Given the government’s claim that the situation is quite normal and that terrorism, infiltration and incidents of stone-throwing have all substantially come down, it is difficult to account for any further delay in the holding of elections. However, the picture of normality portrayed by the government should not, and is unlikely to, influence the adjudication of the constitutional issues arising from the manner in which the abrogation of special status was achieved. "

The Supreme Court is currently hearing petitions challenging the abrogation of J&K's special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and the editorial states there has been a focus on the constitutional and historical issues which will ultimately determine the validity of the manner in which the State’s status was altered and its territory reorganised.

A Farce of an Assembly Session

"If what has been happening in Manipur in the last three months is tragic, the response of the state Assembly to the events is nothing less than farcical," reads this editorial in the Deccan Herald.

The editorial elaborates that the Manipur Assembly held a session within six months of the conclusion as the six-month deadline ended on September 2. Ten Kuki-Zomi MLAs, including seven from the ruling BJP, did not attend the session as they had communicated to the Governor for their inability to travel to the Meitei-dominated Imphal for security reasons.

"That shows not only the poor security situation in the state but also the deep distrust between the Kuki and Meitei communities even within the ruling party."

"The farcical session and the scanty proceedings in the House demonstrate everything that has gone wrong in the state: the breakdown of the constitutional machinery, the loss of legitimacy and effectiveness of the government, the growing gap among communities and above all, the failure and inability of the state's highest democratic forum to address the situation."

What the 'Kota Factory' Suicides Say About Our Education System

In this piece by former Director of IIT-Delhi, professor V Ramgopal Rao digs deep into the various reasons as to the pressing issue of mental health within coaching institutions and campuses. Over the past two years alone, 38 students have taken their lives, underscoring a larger problem.

The first two aspects which contribute to it are the imbalance in demand-supply ratio and the disparity between top and other institutions, he writes. The other reasons being the media's emphasis on high salaries, lack of resources for expansion and the rising lower middle-class aspirations.

Addressing these issues also requires a multi-faceted approach. Expansions of top-tier institutions, implementing more 'study now-pay later schemes and transparency in reporting pay packages. Even state universities, he states.

"Implementing these measures gradually, with a focus on excellence and equity, can guide higher education toward a positive trajectory. Although reversing issues neglected for decades takes time, strategic efforts can ensure a bright future for higher education sector."

Should Right-Wing Populists Despair?

Writing for The New York Times, Ross Douthat speaks about Sohrab Ahmari, a noted American columnist and author, an "exponent of a combative Trumpian conservatism" who has been making the rounds explaining why he's giving up on right-wing populism.

Douthat speaks about his new book 'Tyranny, Inc" that Ahmari laments that the Trump administration often defaulted to warmed-over Reaganite policymaking.

"Biden administration has embraced similar ideas on trade and infrastructure, to the point where it’s fair to say that both parties have been reshaped by Trump’s ’16 campaign," he further adds.

However, he wonders Ahmari's "anti-pot, anti-porn, anti-crime aspects of his politics," is actually more relevant to US' situation than the New-Deal-liberal side that’s earning him new interest from the left.

"Cultural conservatism absolutely needs an economic policy, and corporate power absolutely shapes the culture. But our own social crisis feels a little less economically determined, a little more essentially cultural, in 2023 than at any previous moment in my adult life."