Budget (2): Misleading The Middle Class
In his weekly column for The Indian Express, veteran Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram explains how the government’s argument that “the middle class taxpayer will pay less tax under the new tax regime is demonstrably wrong.”
To do this, he first arrives at a definition of the ‘middle class,’ justifies his argument with tax liability calculations and analyses the Union government’s philosophy of ‘spending without saving.’
“The government’s intention — no longer concealed — is to move to a no-exemption regime. I believe in a ‘low-tax, few exemptions’ regime that will encourage savings and leave enough disposable income to spend.”P Chidambaram for The Indian Express
Cowed Down
Although the Animal Welfare Board of India has now withdrawn its initiative to celebrate 14 February as ‘Cow Hug Day’, this editorial in The Telegraph, reminds us how the Hindutva project thrives on its “ingenious ability to weaponise markers — religious or cultural.”
As social media goes berserk over matters of ‘cow consent,’ the piece details out how the harmless cow, over the years, has been “transformed into an instrument of political aggrandisement” and has helped the government deflect attention from these “serious lapses”:
“India has witnessed vigilantism in the name of the harmless cow. The fulcrum of the cattle economy has been disturbed with laws preventing farmers from trading their unproductive cattle. The menace of stray cattle has become a matter of concern in several states. For all its talk of cow care, the government has been caught napping with deaths and ill treatment of bovines in cow shelters being common. An estimated one-and-a-halflakh animals perished in an outbreak of lumpy skin disease last year.”
What a Tangled Web
In his piece for The Indian Express, Pratap Bhanu Mehta reflects on the series of events that transpired at the Supreme Court regarding Justice Gowri’s appointment to the Madras High court.
Instead of focussing on whether Gowri is worthy of appointment, Mehta implores his readers to “focus on the institutional dynamics at play”:
“The first is an odd structural situation where the Court becomes a judge in its own cause. It is true that the petition challenging the Justice’s appointment was heard by judges who were not part of the Collegium. But this is, as Gautam Bhatia has forcefully pointed out, a case of the Court sitting in judgment of its own decision, where the bench is constituted by the Chief Justice who is party to the decision. This is a total legal anomaly, to put it mildly.”
The top court’s conduct in the case has added to already diminishing trust in the Collegium system, “undermined its own legitimacy,” and made even those opposed to the executive, wonder what the judiciary is up to.
What Did the Balloon Tell China About US?
The Chinese Balloon drifting through the US airspace may or may not have been able to collect “extraordinary intelligence” but it did succeed in positioning itself as a “very obvious dare” by blatantly violating the country’s sovereignty ,” writes Manish Tewari for Deccan Chronicle.
But what could have been the reasons for China’s willingness to push the envelope vis-a-vis the United States?
Tewari speculates:
“A partial explanation could be that, for the past one decade, since President Xi Jinping’s ascent to power, China’s belligerence has had a virtual free run without being proscribed in any effective manner whatsoever"
“Perhaps emboldened by the US preoccupation once again with Europe and Nato, the Chinese may have decided to map the limits of US’s tolerance almost as a war game would do”
” While Russia keeps the battle of attrition in Ukraine on a slow burn, thereby absorbing the strategic and tactical attention of the US and its Nato allies, China probably feels it has the space to test its own strategic doctrines “
“A purely defensive reaction by the United States in only neutralising the balloon may actually validate the Chinese thesis that the US is risk-averse"
Competing Narratives
Before critiquing the Modi government’s response during the Budget session in the parliament, Tavleen Singh, in her piece for The Indian Express, applauds the Prime Minister for something he said:
“Amid speeches filled with noise, fury and chest-thumping, the Prime Minister said something in Parliament last week that had real resonance for me. While attacking the Congress Party for its ‘abysmal’ governance in decades of single-party rule, he said that when he came to office he had found ‘holes’ in the foundation that Congress claims to have laid for the modern governance of India.”
And then she goes on to add that if “only the Prime Minister had concentrated on making this very important point and engaged his hecklers and critics on the opposition benches to debate this with him, we may have seen a meaningful discussion in Parliament instead of chest-thumping, slogans, and mediocre poetry”
But what came in the way? ‘The Adani problem.’
And why is that?
“The Adani problem got in the way mostly because the Modi government’s response has been childish and plain silly. Senior ministers have wailed and whined about the Hindenburg Report being part of a plot against India. This is the default response of the Modi government. The BBC documentary was part of the plot and every article that criticizes Modi in the western media is part of this imaginary plot. There is no plot. Grow up.”
Mr India
Pathaan being spoken of in the same breath as recent mega-blockbusters like RRR, Baahubali and Dangal, is a rare feat in Modi’s India.
Why and how?
Mukul Kesavan answers in his piece for The Telegraph:
“For the duration of the film, a twice-born Pathan (Shah Rukh in real life and Shah Rukh in the movie) becomes an Indian Everyman. To carry this off in Modi’s India and within the unforgiving genre of the mainstream blockbuster is a rare triumph.”
The reasons for the movie taking cinema halls by the storm are many, but it is predominantly SRK’s mass appeal “that allows him this room for manoeuvre.”
“It’s Shah Rukh’s durability as a star, the fact that his fans have grown up and grown old in the light of his stardom, that allows him this room for manoeuvre. His mass appeal predates India’s Hindu turn.Towards the end, the film lets us know that it might be the start of a franchise. He’ll be back. We file out of the hall, content that Shah Rukh Khan will be playing Mr India on his own terms for a while yet.”
The Curious Case of Governors Across India
“In the initial decades after Independence, Governors acted indiscreetly as an agent of the Union government. But it all changed with the Supreme Court’s famous Bommai verdict of 1994. Thereafter, the Indian system became more open, democratic,and federal. However, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coming to power at the Centre with absolute majority in 2014, the governors started playing an overactive role yet again.”- Diptendra Raychaudhuri for Deccan Herald
But who are these governors Raychaudhuri is hinting at in his piece?
Jagdeep Dhankhar of West Bengal (now Vice-President of India), Arif Mohammad Khan of Kerala, and RN Ravi of Tamil Nadu.
Shedding light on recent examples, he illustrates how these constitutional heads have constantly been fighting pitch battles with the state governments on behalf of the Centre.
And what is a possible alternative?
“If a Governor feels the State is going against the basic spirit of the Constitution, they can recommend imposition of the President's Rule which will then be under the lens of the judiciary. Going beyond this is abusive of the people’s will.”
Chhattisgarh’s Area of Darkness
Nearly 500 Adivasi families of the Christian community in the districts of Kanker, Kondagaon and Narayanpur in North Bastar in Chhattisgarh have faced determined attacks on them starting from October last year.
In December 2022 alone, 1,500 people had to flee their homes, taking shelter in government-arranged camps, churches, houses of relatives and friends.
Churches across the districts, including the main church in Narayanpur and “prayer rooms” have been vandalised and in some cases burnt.
While RSS-affiliated organisations term this as their “ghar wapsi campaign” against Adivasis from the Christian community in Chattisgarh, Brinda Karat, in her piece for The Indian Express, explains how this reflects “the project of the Hindutva-isation of Adivasi cultures” and violates the constitutional right to freedom of conscience.
“Temples are being built in Adivasi areas, kirtan and bhajan mandalis are organised, rituals connected to idol worship, so distant from Adivasi beliefs and cultures, are openly propagated — these too, looked at from the prism of Adivasi traditions, can be considered an imposition and constitute conversion.”
The Aesthetics of Education
In an articulate, poignant appeal, Vandana Vedantam writing for Deccan Herald, tells us what today’s children, the victims of a pandemic-ridden world, desperately need:
“...an education that teaches them courage and the determination to make the most of whatever life offers them.”
And what principles should one look towards for an education like this?
Those propounded by renowned educationist J Krishnamurti whose idea of the ideal education pushed students to live with questions and pursue their “perennial quest to end all illusion and live a life free of conflict.”
Vedantam’s piece doesn’t end with this. She highlights all that is wrong with our schools today and says:
“Forcing young children to face the ordeals of four public examinations even before they reach the age of 17 years, will hardly help in their total development. Besides, all pupils in a school do not come with the same social and economic advantages. Many may be first generation learners. When such pupils are made to compete with others coming from an educated household, schooling becomes an uneven playing ground.”
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