Daily Hindu Editorials

With the presidential term limit set to go, Xi Jinping’s rise takes China into a new era The Chinese Communist Party’s proposal to abolish term limits on the presidency, and thereby allow Xi Jinping to stay on in power beyond 2023 when his second term ends, is not completely unexpected. When he was re-elected party chief and President for a second term in October, no one was projected as a potential successor. This was a break with tradition and triggered speculation about him remaining President beyond the second term. Mr. Xi is arguably the most powerful leader of China since Mao Zedong. At the 19th Party Congress in October, “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” was written into the party charter, setting him apart from his recent predecessors. He does not just control the main pillars of the Chinese state — the party, the government and the military. In 2016, the party accorded him special stature by making him th...

Similar to the last two Budgets, this year’s pro-agriculture intentions are palpable through increased outlays to the agricultural sector and initiation of various programmes. They seem impressive, but closer scrutiny shows that the measures may be of little help to stem the tide of agrarian distress. There are some real challenges confronting three laudable Budget announcements. 🔹Three challenges The first is to raise the minimum support price (MSP) by at least 50% above the cost of production. The MSP will also be extended to all crops for which estimates on cost of cultivation and a remunerative price are to be ascertained. There are two pertinent issues here. One is to estimate the cost of production of commodities not covered under the scheme and their procurement procedures, if undertaken. Two, the production cost, as calculated by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, is based on three different methods, termed as A2, A2+FL, and C2. A2 covers all paid-...

The recent article “Can sanitation reduce stunting?” (The Hindu, February 15) brought forth an important and interesting debate on sanitation that has been attracting considerable traction among health, nutrition and social researchers and policymakers around the world, more so in the lower and middle income (LAMI) countries. The article touched upon many dimensions and possible reasons to explain why Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) trials in countries like Kenya and Bangladesh ended, disappointingly, with no palpable reduction in stunting among children. 🔹Problem of open defecation While these countries are dramatically different from India, and open defecation remains a persistent problem despite sustained and concerted efforts under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) campaign over the last few years, the very fact that over half (about 52%) of rural India still defecates in the open is still a reason why it may be too early to quash or discount SBA. The campai...

Yet another murder involving India’s political parties has taken place in north Kerala but this time it is different. It does not follow the pattern that we have got used to. The parties involved are not the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). A Youth Congress leader, S.P. Shuhaib, was killed recently, and the police have identified the killers who surrendered as CPI(M) workers. It is reported in the State’s leading newspapers that one of them confessed that the district leadership of their party was not merely in the know of it but had actually instigated the action. While we cannot be sure of the veracity of this statement, it is believable. A minister in the State cabinet is on record that in the 1980s, the leadership of his district in south Kerala had discussed the elimination of political rivals. 🔹Political vendetta In a history of violence in Kannur district, the CPI(M) has lost many of its workers to killings by the RSS. ...

The entire Indian film industry was Sridevi’s playground Sridevi Kapoor Ayyappan, who passed away on Saturday, made her debut in cinema as a child artiste in the Tamil film Thunaivan in 1969. It was the same year that Amitabh Bachchan, more than 20 years her senior, faced the camera for the first time in Saat Hindustani. Even that early start does not take away from her remarkable feat of packing into her short life of 54 years almost 300 films and a career spanning five decades. More than the numbers, her career stands out for the sheer diversity of roles she played. Sridevi could not be restricted by linguistic or territorial boundaries. She could pull off Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films with the same ease with which she ruled over the Tamil and Hindi film scenes. In this respect she outdid almost all her contemporaries, male or female. Sridevi is often credited with rewriting the rules of stardom and wresting the rightful space for the heroine in cinema. From Sivaji Ganesa...

It is a good tool to develop scientific temper and fight superstition The Indian Constitution is unique in listing, among fundamental duties, the duty of each citizen “to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform” (Article 51A). Jawaharlal Nehru was the first to use the expression “scientific temper”, which he described with his usual lucidity in The Discovery of India (while also quoting Blaise Pascal on the limits of reason). And yet, decades later, superstitious practices abound in India, including among the highly educated. 🔹Superstition exists India may be unusual in the degree and variety of superstitious practices, even among the educated, but superstition exists everywhere. In his recent Editorial page article, “Science should have the last word” (The Hindu, February 17), Professor Jayant V. Narlikar, cosmologist and a life-long advocate for rationality, cites Czech astronomer Jiří Grygar...