Daily Hindu Editorials

Bitcoin, the popular digital currency whose meteoric rise in price last year surprised many of its critics, has lost almost half its market value in just the last month. The price of bitcoin dropped from its lifetime high of over $19,300 in mid-December to below $9,300 on Wednesday and has since been trading in a volatile manner around the $10,000 mark. Yet some bitcoin enthusiasts still believe that the currency may only be consolidating to begin its next huge rally to the sky. A look at the price chart of bitcoin, however, suggests that there could be some valid reasons to get worried about the strength of bitcoin’s price rally. The digital currency, since it hit its peak price last month, has struggled to maintain its uptrend. Each time it has tried to rally upwards, the price has failed to go past its previous high and subsequent corrections have been severe enough to push the price below its previous low. Such price behaviour, of making lower highs and lower lows, is typical o...

Liberalism is complicit in generating the crisis of contemporary populism It is a measure of the abject inadequacy of liberal thought today that all it can bring to the political arena, and to public discourse generally, is high indignation at the tawdriness of what it dismissively describes as ‘populism’. Even when, on occasion, some of the more serious liberal ideologues try to do better, there is a tendency to produce a pattern of analysis that goes roughly like this. They observe everywhere the dissatisfaction of ordinary people (by ordinary people I just mean working and workless people away from the centres of power and privilege). They observe too — with dismay — that these dissatisfactions result in alarming electoral decisions that succumb to the dubious appeal of ‘populist’ politicians, who will often only increase their dissatisfaction. They allow themselves no good account (certainly no self-critical account) of how and why this has come ...

India must exploit the potential of this technology to help farmers meet irrigation needs In the past few years, solar pumps have consistently piqued the interest of various bureaucrats and politicians. The Prime Minister spoke about solar pumps from the ramparts of the Red Fort in 2016. There is no shortage of ideas which the Centre, States, civil society organisations, and enterprises are adopting to enhance penetration of solar for irrigation. But how should India proceed with this impactful technology? 🔷  Case studies Maharashtra is solarising its agricultural feeders by installing solar power plants at the substation level, through competitive bidding. Karnataka is promoting solar pumps for existing grid-connected farmers under a net-metering regime, allowing them to generate additional income by feeding back surplus energy into the grid. In eastern States, GIZ, a German development agency, has piloted community ownership models providing water-as-a-service using so...

In an unprecedented act, four senior judges of the Supreme Court on Friday held a press conference and publicly accused Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra of selectively assigning cases to judges of his choice without any rational basis. 🔷  YES | B.A. Desai ➡️It is their duty as Supreme Court judges to protect the Constitution and democracy An unprecedented event took place on January 12 when the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, after the Chief Justice of India (CJI), held a press conference, issued a statement, and also answered questions from the media. Justice J. Chelameswar, at whose residence the press conference was held, said that the judges were “left with no choice” other than to communicate to the nation the many “less than desirable things” that have happened “in the last few months”. They said in their statement that “certain judicial orders passed by this court” have “adversely...

Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya go to polls in a changing political landscape The three States going to the polls in February are among the smaller ones in the country, but their political significance should not be underestimated. Tripura is the only State other than Kerala where the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is in power, and the election will test the popularity of Manik Sarkar, one of the longest-serving Chief Ministers. The State has traditionally had a high turnout, with more than 90% of the electorate casting a vote in the 2013 election. Tripura has witnessed an improvement in several social indices — it is almost fully literate, has lowered the infant mortality rate, and has a high overall rank on the human development index despite being a largely agrarian and forestry-dominated economy. The CPI(M)’s long reign in Tripura may have seen the end of tribal insurgency and an improvement in social indices, but the party will also be tested by public opinion on t...