Time to introspect, not celebrate

"For a nation with an enviable record of eight Olympic gold medals, the very fact that it had to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics points to the gross mismanagement of Hockey."

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Time to introspect, not celebrate: Sadly, there is still no end in sight with the two factions - Indian Hockey Federation and Hockey India, fighting to gain control. The International Hockey Federation's efforts to settle the issue have also failed.

The qualitative improvement effected by the new Australian coach, Michael Nobbs, with the full backing of the Sports Ministry, shows that a recovery path can be charted out provided the faction-ridden administration stays focussed on consolidating what little has been gained out of the Olympic qualifier. Such an opportunity may not arise again.

The battle against forgetting

"If we accept Gujarat 2002 as something ‘in the past,' as some would like us to, we threaten the meaning of our present, and endanger our future."

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : The battle against forgetting: These contestations are not just about many battles in courtrooms that must be waged. The contestation is about the meaning of citizenship. It is about the relationship between citizen and State. It is about challenging State impunity. Gujarat is the battle for collective memory against forgetting because it is ultimately the battle for the idea of India.

In 1950, India made a constitutional promise to protect the rights of its minorities to live with dignity and with full rights of citizenship. Time and again, that sacred promise has been violated. Institutional biases of the State machinery cannot be acceptable in any civilised democracy — that is the lesson of Gujarat.

We cannot legislate against communal prejudice and hatred in the hearts and minds of people. That is a battle that we as a society and a people must wage in a million different ways at a million different moments in our collective and individual lives. But we can and we must legislate to ensure justice to the weak.

We give up on the battle for justice in Gujarat at our own peril. For in giving up on Gujarat, we give up on hope for a better India — an India that is by right home to each one of us.

Why caste persists in politics

"An internal code, culture and values make a caste special to its members."

The reason for the persistence of caste in politics has to do with the internal code of the caste, its positive aspects, its culture. This aspect erodes more slowly, if it erodes at all, because it is felt. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Why caste persists in politics:

The fact is that the Indian votes confessionally. For him or her, merit comes from caste values. This condition may not be forever unalterable. But it is evident that modernity by itself has thus far not dented it as it has the prescriptive aspect of caste.

Home, work and worship are precisely where caste is embedded most powerfully, and the reason why caste consciousness persists in 2012. Voting is only an extension of this consciousness that has, in fact, not changed that much.

A rich and common past, a promising future

"Italy is eager to establish the truth of the Enrica Lexie incident."

Piracy is a common enemy. It is a menace we need to fight in close cooperation and with the strongest determination, if we want sailors to continue to navigate the seas safely. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : A rich and common past, a promising future: As peoples who live by the sea, both Indians and Italians strongly feel the loss of two fishermen who went out to sea that day, just as any other day, to do their job and support their families.

India and Italy have a rich common past. But the future is before us, open to new avenues for cooperation, in a world that is fast becoming more integrated and interconnected. We can work together for a better life for future generations. 

The author, Giulio Terzi is Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy.

The UPA’s Committee Raj

In India, the best way of procrastination today is to form committees. The government, in its second stint in the center has been plagued by various problems and has found an ideal way to come out of this: form committees and let people forget it. In this column, Shankkar Aiyar exposes this brilliant 'problem camouflage tool' the government has developed, by pointing out to the various committees created during the UPA regime and their ineffectiveness to do anything towards the problem. And it is not just the government, but also the President's office, with its own committee exposing how much the country is being swamped by 'Committee Raj'.


http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/columnists/the-upa%E2%80%99s-committee-raj/367052.html

"When the UPA first came to power, I had studied this phenomenon of Committee Raj and discovered that in its first 11 months of existence, it had created 56 committees, roughly one a week."

"It is a spectacle. The government waits for committees to recommend, and committees wait for the government to act. It makes you wonder if the committees are a means to an end or an end in itself."

G-20 linking IMF hike to bigger EU ‘firewall' fund

"The G-20 nations are conditioning additional money for the International Monetary Fund on the European Union first increasing its financial stabilisation funds to ease concerns about the Euro zone debt crisis"

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : G-20 linking IMF hike to bigger EU ‘firewall' fund: There is broad agreement that the IMF cannot substitute for the absence of a stronger European firewall and that the IMF cannot move forward without more clarity on Europe's own plans.

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.