1. Out of My Mind: The Big One
Opining on the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections in his column in The Indian Express, Meghnad Desai points out how Narendra Modi-led BJP has downplayed the Hindutva card since 2014 and has instead appealed to lower jaatis and Dalits. He suspects this strategy might work in deeply casteist UP, with some help from the Bahujan Samaj Party.
It is this sabka saath promise which is at stake in UP. [...] The SP can have the Muslim votes without the Congress. The Brahmin vote is being wooed by the BSP as well as the BJP and the Congress is a distant third in this game, having been largely an absent party in UP. If anything, by granting the Congress as many as 105 seats, Akhikesh has lessened his chances of coming to power. It will be Mayawati who will hold the final cards as the potential coalition partner for the BJP. Fun begins on March 11. Can the old BJP/ BSP partnership be revived?Meghnad Desai
2. The ‘U’ in UP Stands for Ungovernable
Three decades after the coin was termed, of the four ‘BIMARU’ states, only Uttar Pradesh has made little to no progress, writes Ramachandra Guha in Hindustan Times. He blames it on bad governance due to identity politics and the “ungovernable” size of the state.
But UP remains sick, bimar. Agricultural growth is sluggish; industry is stagnant; the health and education sectors are in a shambles; law-and-order is erratic. So desperate are its citizens that even those with Ph D’s are known to apply for a peon’s job in a Government office.Ramachandra Guha
3. Silence of the Superstars: Why our Sachins & Rajinis are Useless as Rebels
Remember the time Kamal Hassan repeatedly wore green in 2000 just to irk the RSS after they aggressively protested the release of his film Hey Ram? asks a nostalgic Manu Joseph in Times of India. He explains why Indian heroes and celebrities hardly ever stand up for causes. Hassan is an exception.
Celebrities are often too close to power to take the side of ordinary folks. It is as though good life holds them hostages in a paradise, just the way Sasikala holds her MLAs in a seaside resort so that they are not poached by her rival. Many giant celebrities, like Rajinikanth, derive and sustain their immensely profitable fame not through great talent but by playing to their vast and wide constituencies. They are, in reality, themselves politicians. As a result they are terrified of disappointing any sizeable section of society.Manu Joseph
4. Why PM Modi is Wrong When He Says the Timing of Demonetisation Was Right
Commenting on Narendra Modi’s recent remarks likening demonetisation to a successful medical surgery, Rajesh Mahapatra points out one flaw with the analogy: a surgery is only done when the patient has strong vitals. The facts of India’s economic health in November 2016 suggest otherwise, he writes in Hindustan Times.
Given that this was the first time the prime minister spoke on demonetisation in Parliament, one expected he would support his claim with hard data and empirical evidence. Unfortunately, he didn’t. He didn’t because he can’t. Because, the economy was as shaky at the time of the note-ban decision as it was when Modi came to power in May 2014.Rajesh Mahapatra
5. Vendettas Enlarge the Hole in India’s Economic Heart
India’s crippled banks need a haircut, writes S A Aiyar in his column in Times of India. But, he argues, they’re afraid that if they write off unrepayable loans given to big companies, they will be used as “cannon fodder in political battles” by the powers that be.
The Economic Survey says public sector banks avoid tough but essential decisions for fear of the four Cs —courts, Central Vigilance Commission, Central Bureau of Investigation, and Comptroller and Auditor General. Now, banks should be accountable to and not afraid of the four Cs. But they are afraid, because the four Cs do not provide quick justice, often levy unfair accusations, show ignorance of haircut procedures, and sometimes launch witch hunts.S A Aiyar
6. Across the Aisle: Wanted Expansion, Got Contraction
Writing for his column in The Indian Express, P Chidambaram puts forward his two-cents on the budget, recently presented by the government. After breaking down the numbers, he concludes: “Fear haunts the government. It seems to have given up on bold reforms.”
Why did the government, against all advice, adopt a contractionary strategy? The ostensible reason is ‘to meet the fiscal deficit target’, but even after contraction the target has not been met. It has been set at 3.2 per cent in 2017-18 BE when it should have been set at 3.0 per cent. It is obvious that the government fears that it has overestimated the GDP for 2017-18; or the government’s revenue projections are aggressive and may not be achieved; or the government’s estimates of expenditure are under-stated; or all of the above. Will the strategy work? Will it boost economic activity and deliver growth of over 7 per cent? Will it attract private investment? Will it create jobs? I doubt it.P Chidambaram
7. It’s A One-Item Menu in Restless Nagaland Now
What started as opposition to reservations for women in Urban Local Bodies in Nagaland by all-male tribal groups has now escalated to an impending bandh in the state. But, as Monalisa Changkija points out in Asian Age, the issue of women’s rights is no longer the topic of discussion. They’ve moved on to more male-centric issues.
It is adding insult to injury for Naga women that the women’s reservation issue has been once again used, misused and abused in order to centre-stage Naga men’s rights, wishes and wants. Naga men obviously believe their political rights are divinely sanctioned hence their rights, wishes and wants take precedence over women’s rights. Worse still, they believe that Naga women can enjoy only those rights sanctioned by Naga culture, customs and traditions, all of them, needless to say, authored by men.Monalisa Changkija
8. Exorcising Islam From the West
Writing for the Deccan Chronicle, advocate and historian A G Noorani traces the history of Islamophobia, the “spectre haunting Europe” for the last three decades. He writes that while Donald Trump’s ascension to power has legalised the hatred against Islam, the phobia is as old as the religion in Europe.
The reasons are ideological, religious and political. Minou Reeves, a former Iranian diplomat, surveyed a millennium’s worth of European criticism of the Holy Prophet in her book, Muhammad in Europe: A Thousand Years of Western Myth-Making — from the days of the Biblical scholar Bede, who died in 735, to this day. Karen Armstrong explained in her magisterial biography, Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, that “until the rise of the Soviet Union in our own century, no polity or ideology posed such a challenge to the West as Islam.”A G Noorani
9. Luv, Shuv and Bheja Fry on Valentine’s Day
To end this list on a lighter note, here’s Twinkle Khanna breaking down the three stages of falling in love: lust, attraction and attachment. Writing in anticipation of Valentine’s Day for her column in Times of India, Khanna analyses the chemistry behind love.
1. Hook a Fish: First let’s wave out to testosterone and [oestrogen]. These two hormones are like your interfering buas who just want to make sure you reproduce and carry on the family line. Research states that it does not take more than 4 minutes to decide if you fancy each other. It has only 7% to do with what you say and 55% with body language.Twinkle Khanna
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