Across the Aisle: From University to Mediocrity
Outlining why Indian universities lag behind relative to their counterparts in the West and even in China, P Chidambaram, in The Indian Express, writes that there is too much interference by the government and professional bodies in the decision-making of these institutions. He adds that aside from funding, there have been many dubious appointments to positions of power and even the IITs and IIMs have become "zones of conflict".
Today, no Indian university can escape the charge of mediocrity. It is a miracle that hundreds of students are still able to acquire the rudimentary knowledge that, combined with their native intelligence and penchant for hard work, will earn them a place in a reputed foreign university that will lead to a promising career. It is unfortunate but true that the best Indian student discovers his/her best not because of the current university system but despite the broken system.
'Drive in India' Can Generate More Jobs than 'Make in India'
Sectors such as agriculture, construction and trucking face a shortage of workers because the jobs are seen as having low societal status and a lack of dignity. Swaminathan Aiyar, in The Times of India, poses a new model of trucking in India that, according to him, could generate more jobs than the Modi government's 'Make in India' initiative has till now. The system is based on a simple relay model that cuts down the distances that each driver must cover and also ensures that he returns home at the end of the day like any other worker.
The driver shortage means the idling of many trucks, delays and cancellations, and poor truck availability in remoter areas. Small truck companies give drivers 80 litres of diesel to thwart any stealing of fuel while moving cargo from Delhi to Mumbai. Drivers respond by driving at just 45km/hour to minimise fuel consumption, and sell any surplus diesel. Those that don’t get a fast-delivery bonus take long breaks. All this greatly increases delivery times and export competitiveness.
Local Polls Show that the BJP is the Number 1 National Party
In the wake of the BJP's success in Maharashtra's municipal polls as well as the surge it had in the Odisha panchayat elections, Swapan Dasgupta, in The Times of India, examines the party's appeal. While pointing out that every election has its own logic, he also says that the BJP has emerged as the leading national party and is benefiting from a discernible positive vote.
There are two obvious conclusions from Maharashtra and Odisha. The first centres on the all-round decline of the Congress. This is particularly marked in Maharashtra, a traditional stronghold where it was in power till 2014. It has proved unable to either retain power or make gains as an opposition party. If this trend is repeated in the Punjab assembly election, which Congress hopes to win, it will trigger a monumental existential crisis for the party and could even unsettle its proprietorial control. The second conclusion is that the BJP has emerged as the premier national party. Despite some setbacks, most notably in Delhi and Bihar, it appears to have acquired greater organisational depth since its Lok Sabha victory in 2014.
Why Classic Liberals Don't Win Elections, And Populists Do
Despite having advocated for the setting up of a classical liberal political party in India, Gurcharan Das, in The Times of India, admits that such a party would have no hope of any electoral wins. He points out that it's easier for the masses to see the appeal of a populist or a left liberal leader who promises sops and greater state intervention as the market's 'invisible hand' isn't equally visible to the voters.
In India too, many liberals support Modi’s vikas agenda but do not subscribe to BJP’s cultural baggage of Hindutva. Modi’s miraculous success at the polls in 2014 was the result of a liberal appeal of ‘maximum governance, minimum government’ to the aspiring young. As a result, he created space in the BJP for market liberals, and the BJP has matured into a full-fledged right-of-centre party with a clear division between an ‘economic’ and a ‘cultural’ right. Modi, however, is not a classical liberal like Thatcher, with ideological commitment to economic and institutional reforms. He is closer to an East Asian ‘moderniser’ and he reforms on a pragmatic basis. It is still early to say if Modi will deliver, but if he wants to retain his liberal supporters, he will have to keep the cultural wing of his party under tight control. As it is, the latter is unhappy with him for not pursuing Hindutva vigorously.
Dabang Kaun? Winning in UP is All About Being Macho
Personality and machismo matter in the UP elections, writes Nalin Mehta in The Times of India. It is exactly for this reason that Akhilesh Yadav, Narendra Modi and Mayawati are keeping up their 'tough' appearances. While Narendra Modi is seen as BJP's original macho-man, the parivaar battle in the SP helped Akhilesh build up the image of an aggressive man of the world.
The only one missing out from the macho game in UP are the Gandhis. Sure, Rahul Gandhi has been giving out occasional hard soundbytes and spoke much more than Akhilesh at their maiden joint press conference but unlike the others, he hasn’t been on the ground 24×7. The alliance may end up benefiting Congress more than SP but yet another election has gone by with Rahul flitting in and out and Priyanka sticking to her family pocketboroughs.
India Could Soon Follow Pakistan if Politicians Avoid the Press and Turn Instead to Twitter
In Hindustan Times, Karan Thapar, who admits to not using Twitter himself, argues that the Twitterisation of India's politicians may end up being a serious disadvantage to transparency and media freedom. He points out that while leaders like Donald Trump, Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi can be prolific on Twitter, such communication shuts down the space for cross-questioning by journalists that is afforded in a press conference situation.
For all that Modi claims to believe in it, Twitterisation leads to a lack of transparency. Each time a politician opts to tweet, rather than answer questions from journalists, he’s limiting his accountability to the media and, therefore, the wider public. Even if at a press conference questions are deliberately not answered they are at least asked and the evasion noted. But you can’t really ask questions on a Twitter feed. That means you can’t cross-question. Hence politicians can get away with whatever they assert no matter how silly or downright wrong.
Politicians Avoid Addressing Gender Issues as Women Lack Collective Might
Amid the ongoing election rhetoric, the elephant in the room has been comprehensively ignored, writes Lalita Panicker in Hindustan Times. She writes that regardless of whether a man or a woman is campaigning, women's issues are never raised nor are solutions offered to the hardships faced by women voters. As happy as the politicians are to skirt these issues, the voters are just as pleased to hear the exchange of insults with no reference to actual issues.
The problem is that women are fragmented, they are marginalised in every caste, class and religious grouping and they are not likely to vote en masse to secure their rights. They also don’t have the capacity to mobilise and demand that their concerns be taken note of. Which is precisely why political parties don’t think that they need to talk about women’s issues. They don’t have the collective might to harm any political formation, their vote is scattershot. Given their vast disparities, women in different areas and rubrics identify with different issues so political parties just take the easy way out — they don’t bother with an agenda for women.
Fifth Column: The Cost of Casteism
Uttar Pradesh is in a state of decay and Prime Minister Modi's statement that India cannot move forward if its largest state fails to keep pace with the rest of the country rings depressingly true, writes Tavleen Singh in The Indian Express. She writes that it is disheartening to see that the main protagonists in the election saga talk of basic public services like electricity and drinking water only in passing while resorting to the age-old faultlines of caste to campaign.
Uttar Pradesh is a chilling reality check. Instead of improving, as much of India has, it seems to have deteriorated into a vast, fetid slum. This is a state I know well. I spent most of my school days here and it was beautiful then. There were unspoiled forests, pristine rivers and picturesque villages that huddled around white-washed mosques or temples. They were often set in groves of mango and litchi trees. Lucknow, Agra, Allahabad and Benaras were towns dominated by ancient monuments of great beauty. And then there were the old Mughal trade towns that had their special, specific identity. Firozabad for its glass bangles, Khurja for its pottery, Moradabad for brass and Aligarh for locks. All they needed was some serious Swachh Bharat activity for them to have become major tourist attractions. Today they are filthy shanties. Rural Uttar Pradesh has fared no better.
Scholars and Artists Should Not be Afraid of Offending Political Patrons
Referencing three separate attacks on the freedom of speech and expression in the state of Rajasthan alone, Ramachandra Guha, in Hindustan Times, attempts to highlight the hypocrisy at every point in the political spectrum that refuses to listen to the voice of dissent. He points out that while the right-wing Hindutva brigade may have made the anti-dissent movement more violent, both the Congress and the Left have banned their fair share of books and ideas as well.
But surely writers, scholars, and artists should not be nervous about offending political patrons, nor ask that only their ideological kinsmen enjoy full intellectual or artistic freedom. They should stand together in solidarity, not pick and choose whom to defend and whom to ignore. Exemplary in this regard is the conduct of Rajshree Ranawat, the scholar who organised the seminar in Jodhpur where Nivedita Menon spoke. Menon is a Left-wing feminist; notably, among the other people invited to the conference was the Hindutva historian Y Sudershan Rao. Further, Ranawat also invited scholars who are neither Left nor Right, but liberal centrists. Her brave, admirable, endeavour was to expose her students to a wide diversity of scholarly opinion.
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