Social respectability shouldn’t get in the way of legality
Madhu Kishwar takes an eminently sensible comment by the Supreme Court—that the government ought to consider legalising prostitution—and engages in a tangential polemic on the social respectability of the oldest profession. “While there is need to decriminalise this activity and free sex workers from the terror and [...]
And demonstrating resolve
Twenty prominent personalities have written an op-ed arguing that India cannot afford to fall victim to a psywar (linkthanks Yazad Jal).
Some stray voices in the media have been questioning, with surprising nonchalance and lack of depth, the wisdom and expediency of retaining Kashmir as a part of India. This matters not because such [...]
More than self-determination for the disaffected, India as a whole needs a dispensation where individual rights and freedoms are truly respected
A version of the following was published in Mint today.
Public consciousness in India received a rude shock a few weeks ago when public demonstrations erupted first in the Kashmir valley, and then in Jammu. [...]
There are no easy solutions to the problems in Kashmir. Not least self-determination.
Last week, two leading op-ed columnists argued that current crisis in Kashmir calls for India to yield to the demands of the separatists, hold a plebiscite and accept the verdict of the Kashmiri people, even if that means secession.
Swaminathan Aiyar comes from a [...]
Move over Mr Sharansky
If a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views on what he or she would like to eat and drink, without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in an illiberal society, not a liberal society.
Because it is not for them to provide solutions
By Salil Tripathi
[Background: This is Salil's response to the criticism that "human rights folks, at least in India, are terribly context insensitive. In practice, you can't even talk about enjoying human rights (as opposed to possessing them) unless the state is capable of maintaining rule of [...]
A step on the road towards equality, merit and a quest for excellence
Excerpts from Mukul Asher’s DNA op-ed piece on the Supreme Court verdict on OBC reservations*:
The society’s need for competence and employable graduates has been balanced with provision of educational access to the OBCs.
The judgement of the Supreme Court (should) be respected in [...]
India muddled on the protests, but it must rethink its Tibet policy
When China’s prime minister said he “appreciated” the Indian government’s response to public protests by Tibetan refugees, many interpreted that he was sending over a note of thanks. But Wen Jiabao’s statement could actually have been a warning.
“The Tibetan issue is a very [...]
Some opinions just can’t make it to the People’s Daily of Chennai
The Beijing correspondent of The Hindu can hardly be classified as a critic of the People’s Republic. But when Pallavi Aiyar wrote a piece that compared India and China that showed the latter in rather unfavourable light, she had to publish it in Asia [...]
Even well-intentioned people can become pawns in the Naxalites’ insidious propaganda war
Sudeep Chakravarti’s Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite country is a very important book, for it offers an excellent account of the nature of the Naxalite threat. The Naxalite movement thrives on disillusionment and disaffection. It collects unaddressed grievances and unredressed complaints and channelises them [...]
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