Labor against itself

"As expected, Australia's Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has easily held off former Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd's leadership challenge with a ballot of ruling Australian Labor Party MPs"

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Labor against itself: The party has been very badly tarnished; Ms Gillard will want to get on with policy, but will need to communicate far better with the voters.

The same old show

"Hollywood's ritual of self-congratulation, otherwise known as the Oscar awards, has become the most boring show on the planet."

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : The same old show: It is due to the utter predictability of the prizes. Was anyone really surprised when The Artist, a slight but charming ode not just to silent cinema but to Hollywood itself, left its competition in the dust with five wins? About the only award that quivered with an iota of suspense was the one for Best Actress.

The problem lies with the interminable stretch of honours announced in what has come to be known as “awards season.” And what the Academy does, essentially, is stamp their seal of approval on these awards.

‘If I am not fit to fly, he is not fit to be a pilot'

"Travelling by air is often not a very pleasant experience for a person with disability. Incidents of harassment are quite common when a passenger with disability travels by air on her own or his own."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : ‘If I am not fit to fly, he is not fit to be a pilot': This is an adapted version of a letter sent by Jeeja Ghosh to the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. She is Head of Advocacy and Disability Studies at the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy in Kolkata.

The author was not allowed to fly because of her cerebral palsy — which is not a disease but a condition caused by damage to the brain. This is yet another incident that shows lack of awareness and a humane touch even among the so-called elite and educated people of society.

A case for judicial lockjaw

"Judgments should speak for themselves; when judges justify them in public, they run the risk of sounding like politicians."

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : A case for judicial lockjaw: Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly, a judge of the Supreme Court, who retired recently, has, since leaving office, actively engaged with the media. As well as raising questions of individual propriety, it contains possible portents of the slowly changing nature of the Indian higher judiciary. His statements, especially to the extent they clarify and defend his judgment, raise deep questions regarding the proper role of judges in post-retirement public life.

The judge, after rendering judgment, becomes 'functus officio' and the judgment speaks for itself, is a long established principle in the Indian judicial system. Any engagement with the media by a judge in a judicial capacity, whether while holding office or post-retirement, fundamentally erodes the extent of the institutional detachment, which allows judges to be immune from the passions of popular sentiment and political machinations, thereby facilitating the independence of the judiciary as an institution.

Justice Ganguly's comments, unwarranted as they may have been, perhaps provide an early sign of the subtle transformation of the Supreme Court into an overtly political institution, owning up and reacting to the immense political ramifications of its actions. Equally, they raise deep questions regarding the interaction between judges and the media, arguably two of the most powerful pillars in Indian democracy today.

Supreme Court should issue official media summaries of important decisions. Not only will this facilitate wide comprehensibility of key judgments, but it will also ensure that judicial decisions are not wantonly misinterpreted. Most importantly, it will mean that judges, whether in office or speaking in their judicial capacity immediately post-retirement, will have an additional reason to remain lockjawed, allowing their judgment together with its officially authorised summary to do the talking.

When an earthmover comes to school

"There is a strange air hanging over parts of the country ever since the vaults in the Padmanabhaswamy Temple were opened to reveal their hidden treasures.

A 14-year-old was murdered in Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh in January in a human sacrifice for treasure in a fort. In many parts of Andhra Pradesh, people are now digging under monuments looking for their own Padmanabha swamy pots of gold, thereby endangering those structures. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : When an earthmover comes to school. Now near a school ground in Hyderabad, in a bizarre series of events, the State Department of Archaeology, basing itself on some bizarre information, has embarked on an incompetent, arbitrary and perhaps illegal pursuit of its own pot of gold."

How does the Department of Archaeology go by the supposed statement of one construction worker? Why did the Department of Archaeology never contact any teacher or parent, or the school management? Was permission sought from central government before entry? If not, is the State department not engaging in an illegal operation? 

Allow Kingfisher to fly into the sunset

The end of the runway appears well nigh for Kingfisher at the moment but there are still those who believe it should not be allowed to fail, and this includes the government.

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Allow Kingfisher to fly into the sunset: "It is becoming increasingly clear that Kingfisher Airlines is well beyond rescue and only a miracle can save it. "

Either Vijay Mallya, the high-flying promoter of the airline agrees to put his money where his mouth is. Unlikely, since he has reportedly refused to give a personal guarantee sought by banks to refinance the company.

Or Kingfisher is able to attract an investor — domestic or foreign, airline or non-airline — with deep pockets and strong guts to take on the balance-sheet of a company splattered in red all over, which is as unlikely.

Kingfisher's exit could restore some sanity in the industry and the ticket prices which are currently low. Of course, the government has to keep a sharp watch to ensure that airline companies do not exploit the situation.

A necessary step to counter terror

"Home Minister P. Chidambaram's note to Chief Ministers on the National Centre for Counter Terrorism (NCTC)"

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : A necessary step to counter terror: 

Check the criminality

"If the cruelly apathetic handling by officers of the Kolkata police of a serious complaint brought before them by a woman of having been raped and assaulted in the heart of the city wasn't bad enough, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's misinformed or hubristic attempt to dismiss her charge as a story that was cooked up to malign her government, was even worse. "

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Check the criminality: Such atrocious remarks might be driven by political expediency but they are typical of how sections of Indian society continue to view crimes against women.

Ms Banerjee and her team need to do some serious introspection with regard to the State government's will, and ability, to put the lid firmly on criminality of all kinds that pervade the State.

Engage, don't vilify

"PM Manmohan Singh's remarks about foreign-funded NGOs stalling the introduction of genetically modified food and the commissioning of the Kudankulam nuclear power project are bound to be taken seriously by his supporters and detractors alike. "

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Engage, don't vilify: When Dr. Singh, who has a reputation for reticence on sensitive subjects, drops dark hints about a foreign hand, it is surely something that needs to be substantiated and, if necessary, followed up with action. However, the idea that NGOs with ‘foreign' links are fuelling the protests seems more expedient than convincing.

The government needs to engage with people in a transparent and constructive manner and allay their fears with facts and arguments rather than innuendo and slander.

Sunday Column - Select Articles of the Week

Here are the select few articles from the past week:

• Going green, with a large side order of mercury - Despite the growing popularity of energy-saving fluorescent lamps, little has been done to address the issue of the safe disposal of the dangerous waste they generate
• The model code ain't broke - UPA government's move to fix the EC's model code of conduct smacks of   devious if ingenious way to curtail the powers 
• False nuclear fears cloud judgment on Iran - A non-hysterical approach to the Iran nuclear issue is entirely possible. A rational approach to preventing proliferation could avoid thousands of unnecessary deaths.
• Seeding a policy without the dirt on climate change - "ICAR says knowledge of climate change impact in India is 'fragmentary'. Then, how can the government be tailoring its policies to mitigate the impact of climate change on agriculture."
• For oil and peace, India must stand up in the two Sudans - "South Sudan's oil shutdown dealt a major blow to the overseas oil ambitions of India's leading national oil company ONGC Videsh. India must lend a hand in ending Africa's longstanding conflicts in Sudan.
• Still sprouting after 32,000 years - The natural cryopreservation of plant tissues over thousands of years demonstrates a role for permafrost as a depository for an ancient gene pool. It could be a laboratory for the study of rates of microevolution.
• The Dow side of corporate sponsorship - "In the light of Dow chemicals sponsoring Olympics, U.N. guidelines can be effective yardstick to assess the human rights record of corporations."

The sound of jackboots, Hungary style

"Prime Minister Viktor Orban is using his powers to impose a regressive agenda"

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : The sound of jackboots, Hungary style: Only eight years after ending communist rule and joining EU, Hungary, from its first avatar as the European Coal and Steel Community, is marching back to quasi-Fascism or worse, in a development of the very kind the EU was intended to prevent.

The new Hungarian constitution almost certainly breach the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the separate European Convention on Human Rights. Yet the EU looks helpless over flagrant transgressions by a member state. Its only elected body, the European Parliament, remains deafeningly silent.

If the EU cannot deal robustly with its own errant members, then its citizens could soon hear the jackboots echoing a long way west of the Danube.

Calcutta's ambivalent inheritance

"Transforming its urban spaces requires an acknowledgement of the city's unique character and its history."

There has been very little funding from the West Bengal government — because of ideological and political reasons — for the ‘culture' for which Calcutta is still incongruously famous. And there is little from the Centre: as if Calcutta's contribution to national culture has no proven basis. To this, local intellectuals have added their earnest, often predictably academic, testimony to that culture's irrelevance. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Calcutta's ambivalent inheritance

Why Norway should back down

"There is something deeply disturbing about the superiority and moral authority in the attitude of the country's Child Protection Services to child rearing practices of immigrants; it harks back to darker, less civil and, one would have hoped, long bygone times."

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Why Norway should back down: The ongoing case in which the Child Protection Services (CPS) in Stavanger, Norway, have placed two Indian children in a foster home raises important questions about not only the judgment of the representatives of a so-called model state, but also their lack of respect for the possibility that many questions around child care and upbringing may not have definitive answers and therefore a moral basis for passing verdicts about the right and wrong of a wide range of parenting practices.

Close encounters of the troubling kind

"Fake encounters are nothing but cold-blooded, brutal murders by persons who are supposed to uphold the law" death penalty was prescribed by Supreme Court — for involving in an act of extra-judicial killing.

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Close encounters of the troubling kind: "As a way of dealing with the perceived pressure of public opinion following terror strikes or violent crimes, police forces across India sometimes resort to the custodial murder of prime suspects, often with a nudge and a wink from the top."


If the law does not deter criminal acts by those in authority, we are in deep trouble as a society.

Time to come out

"The Centre's embarrassing gaffe in the Supreme Court signals one thing clearly — that it will not take a clear and unambiguous position on the issue of decriminalising homosexuality. "
The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Time to come out: The Home Ministry's clarification, which distanced itself from the retrograde and irrational positions staked out by the Additional Solicitor General who “unauthorisedly” represented it, is a classic piece of equivocation.

This fence sitting must end. The state has no right to regulate or ban love or physical intimacy between consenting adults. Why should it be so hard to say that?