Daily Hindu Editorials

While other geopolitical issues are important, New Delhi must give South Asia its fullest attention As India’s salience in global matters grows — amply demonstrated recently by the presence of 10 leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at India’s Republic Day celebrations, the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to India, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s latest forays to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Palestine — its leaders also need to contemplate and reflect deeply on what is happening in India’s immediate neighbourhood. 🔹In the vicinity Far more than East, South-east Asia, or West Asia, it is India’s immediate neighbourhood that directly impacts it geopolitically, geo-strategically and geoeconomically. Whatever be the ambit of India’s reach elsewhere, India’s principal focus, hence, will need to be on this neighbourhood. India can afford to live with demands such as the one made at the recently concluded ASEAN-India Commemorat

It is only logical that the sources of income of candidates be disclosed Adding to the growing body of judicially inspired electoral reforms, the Supreme Court has imposed an additional disclosure norm for candidates contesting elections. It has asked the Centre to amend the rules as well as the disclosure form filed by candidates along with their nomination papers, to include the sources of their income, and those of their spouses and dependants. The court has also asked for the establishment of a permanent mechanism to investigate any unexplained or disproportionate increase in the assets of legislators during their tenure. The verdict of the two-judge Bench on a petition from the NGO, Lok Prahari, is one more in a long line of significant verdicts aimed at preserving the purity of the electoral process. These include the direction to provide the ‘NOTA’ option in voting machines, and another striking down a clause that saved sitting legislators from immediate disqualification upon c

Attending class in a research university should not be made compulsory There is an ongoing debate among students in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, about compulsory attendance. This is not a demand for the right to not attend classes. Rather, the protests against compulsory attendance aim to protect the university’s academic culture, which emphasises that learning is more than just classroom presence. What are the roots of this protest? First, absenteeism has never been a problem in JNU. Students attend classes across disciplines, not just in their own departments. Undergraduate students complement their core disciplines by attending lectures in allied disciplines at the Masters level. Their motive is the pursuit of learning. Second, there are questions regarding whether the statutes of this university have been followed rigorously in terms of reservations and seat allocations. The circular announcing the introduction of compulsory attendance is considered by some to be an ex

Nearly 600 million people in India, mostly in the rural areas, have little or no access to health care. A widespread disregard for norms, a perpetual failure to reach targets, and an air of utter helplessness are what mark the state of rural health care today. One can add to this another fact: the country is short of nearly five lakh doctors. Among the range of measures that have been suggested in the past decade is a rather promising proposal which has been sidelined. If properly implemented, it may provide rural India with a lasting pool of primary care physicians. 🔹The contours A few years ago, the Union Health Ministry drew flak when it put forth a proposal to train a new cadre of health professionals. Under this plan, these professionals, after undergoing a short term, 3-3.5 year course in modern medicine, were to serve the health needs of the rural population, with a focus on primary care. Such short-term courses aren’t new in the Indian health-care scenario. In the 1940s, p

In Sri Lanka’s interest, President Sirisena and PM Wickremesinghe should work together Sri Lanka is in the throes of a political crisis after the two main parties in the ruling coalition suffered a dramatic defeat in the recent local government elections. Fissures between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, led by President Maithripala Sirisena, and the United National Party, led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, have deepened. The fragile ‘national unity’ government they run together is beset by instability and uncertainty. The local council polls, won resoundingly by the Sri Lanka People’s Front, which has the backing of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, have brought to the fore popular disenchantment with the ruling parties, particularly over unemployment and rural distress caused by drought. Even prior to the elections, Mr. Sirisena disagreed often with his Prime Minister over policy measures. In his campaign, he highlighted an inquiry report that indicted some associates of Mr.

Asma Jahangir will be remembered as a fearless advocate for the rule of law and human rights. She challenged the notion that religion or national security were sufficient grounds to ignore the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At the time of her death on February 11, Asma served as the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, documenting the injustices and atrocities of Tehran’s clerical regime. 🔹Taking on her father’s mantle Asma said it was her father, Malik Ghulam Jilani, who inculcated in her the belief in civil liberties. Jilani resigned from his position as civil servant in Pakistan to protest against the country’s first military coup in 1958. One of Asma’s memories as a teenager related to an assassination attempt on her father at their Lahore home, instigated by Pakistan’s security services in 1965. Her father was not hurt, but an opposition parliamentarian was injured and a journalist visiting the Jilani h