Daily Hindu Editorials

More and more farmers in Kashmir are switching from paddy to high-yielding apple varieties from Europe. This is boosting the rural economy and creating jobs, but there are also environmental concerns, reports Peerzada Ashiq As the mellow winter sun prepares to set, the lengthening shadows turn hazy from the smoke in Nazeer Ahmad Dar’s paddy fields, some 59 km away from Srinagar. The 52-year-old resident of Anantnag’s Sir Hama village in south Kashmir will soon burn the last of his paddy shoot stocks, spread over the 20 kanals (1.1 hectares) of his farm. Having spent six decades cultivating paddy, the Dars, a family of six, have taken the tough decision to switch crops and await the change in their fortunes. “My neighbour’s son uprooted expensive and well-nursed traditional apple trees and replaced them with high-density, high-yielding, foreign variety apple trees. I can see how things have improved for them in the last four years. I want to replicate their suc...

It can deliver a fatal blow to a relationship, but therapists say couples stand a good chance of overcoming the trauma Marriages fall apart for many different reasons, but one of the most common and most challenging to overcome is the discovery that one partner has “cheated” on the other. I put the word cheated in quotes because the definition of infidelity can vary widely. Though most often it involves explicit sexual acts with someone other than one’s spouse or committed partner, there are also couples torn asunder by a partner’s surreptitious use of pornography, a purely emotional relationship with no sexual contact, virtual affairs, even just ogling or flirting with a non-partner. Infidelity is hardly a new phenomenon. And marriage counsellors report that affairs sometimes occur even in happy relationships. According to the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, national surveys indicate that 15% of married women and 25% of married men have...

The anti- Padmaavat massgoondagiri stems from a disease that has been eating away at our society for a long time So, imagine this: you are a young man getting on with your daily life when someone from your religious community, caste or ethnic group comes and taps you on your shoulder. “Hey,” he says. “Have you heard? Such and such a film (or book) has insulted our great _______ (fill in god, deity, prophet, historic leader, icon), and we are gathering to protest! Come!” You growl: “What? They insulted him or her, how dare they?” In a heartbeat you drop everything and go off to join the protest. Such is your seismic fury, your sense of being personally attacked, that you suddenly find yourself a part of a mob that’s pelting stones at a school bus full of children, that’s bashing the hell out of anyone you can find who is not identifiably part of your group. You haven’t read the offending book (you don’t even read books, maybe),...

Rama was born normal. By the time she was six, her life underwent catastrophic events — blindness, breathing problems, asthma, growth problems. These resulted in consultations with multiple doctors and repeated hospitalisation. After six years, her condition was given the name Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome, a genetic disorder that no one had ever heard of and with no cure. But Rama is not alone; 90 million Indians suffer from one rare disorder or the other. There is no standard definition, but those that affect fewer than 5-7 people per 10,000 population are deemed “rare diseases”. More than 7,000 such diseases have been classified, affecting 300 million people in the world; 80% are genetic disorders. Unlike tropical diseases, they affect all nationalities and are a global issue. Despite many being affected by such rare, life-threatening and disabling conditions, public health statistics are unavailable. A lack of data translates into the absence of attention and vice-versa...

As February approaches, the Finance Minister suddenly starts looming large everywhere. From social media chatter to cocktail party conversations, the focus turns to what he will or will not do. This trend started during the early years of economic reforms, when the government began to slip in significant policy changes into the Budget, which, being a Money Bill, ensured that legislative assent for key reforms was not held prisoner to the shifting numbers game in Parliament. This trend was reinforced by saturation media coverage before, during, and immediately after the Budget, ensuring that India’s annual presentation of accounts and spending plans became something else altogether — an annual statement of policy intent and direction which is watched and analysed by millions at home and abroad. 🔹The last full Budget Amongst the most avid Budget-trackers will be the great Indian middle class — largely salaried taxpayers in whose hearts, despite a long history ...