Daily Hindu Editorials

💥 Daily Word Bytes - 1  from editorial  - Under Scrutiny - On BCCI Status  💥 scrutiny (noun) – observation, inspection, examination. Hindu Editorial usage :  Under Scrutiny - On BCCI Status purview (noun) – range, scope, ambit. Hindu Editorial usage :  Board of Control for Cricket in India be brought under the purview of the Right to Information Act. apex (noun) – top, pinnacle, highest/successful (body). Hindu Editorial usage :  Over the years, the popular expectation that India’s cash-rich and commercially successful apex cricket body will have to make itself more transparent and accountable has been rising.   instrumentality (noun) – agency, channel, forum. Hindu Editorial usage :  the BCCI could not be termed an instrumentality of the ‘State’ under Article 12 of the Constitution subsequent (adjective) – following, ensuing, successive. Hindu Editorial usage :  subsequent developments have ensu...

💥The case showed us how courts too can be propelled by impulses entirely opposed to the Constitution One of the sorriest episodes in India’s judicial history was finally brought to an end in March with the Supreme Court judgment in Shafin Jahan v. Asokan K.M., or the Hadiya case as we’ve come to know it. Through two separate but concurring opinions, one written by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, for himself and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, and the other by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, the court has reversed a most reprehensible ruling by the Kerala High Court. Yet, a collective reading of these opinions, released in a detailed order last week, tells us only a part of the story. The judgment aims to speak in stirring language. It focuses attention on the centrality of individual freedom and autonomy under India’s constitutional scheme. “It is obligatory to state here that expression of choice in accord with law is acceptance of individual identity,” the CJI writes, in hi...

👉The Centre must review the lack of implementation of the Right to Education Act across the country Although the recent Budget session of Parliament was appallingly disrupted by the ruling party’s surrogates and Question Hour did not function most of the time, some things did work, almost on autopilot. Written questions submitted by MPs were indeed answered in writing – I got 26 of my questions admitted and answered — and while the more prestigious “starred questions” could not get asked, these “unstarred” ones have given us an instructive insight into some crucial aspects of government policy. 👉On education My questions to the Minister of Human Resource Development in the Lok Sabha on the implementation of the Right to Education Act (RTE), almost a decade after its enactment, are a case in point. The answers I received are alarming, and definitely warrant an emergency review of the implementation of the Act. It emerges from the Minister’s replies to me that five ...

👉The proposal to bring the BCCI under the RTI reflects rising public expectation There is little surprise in the Law Commission of India recommendation that the Board of Control for Cricket in India be brought under the purview of the Right to Information Act. Over the years, the popular expectation that India’s cash-rich and commercially successful apex cricket body will have to make itself more transparent and accountable has been rising. While the BCCI is a private body that needs no financial help from the government, it is being increasingly recognised that it performs significant public functions. Even though a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in 2005 held by a 3-2 majority that the BCCI could not be termed an instrumentality of the ‘State’ under Article 12 of the Constitution, subsequent developments have ensured that the public character of its functioning is widely recognised. In recent years, especially against the backdrop of the betting scandal that hit the Indian...

👉On Kathua, the BJP is presenting one narrative to Jammu, another to the rest of India In its reaction to the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, the BJP seems motivated by a need to strike a balance between protecting its political constituency in Jammu and addressing the public outrage countrywide. Two of its Ministers in the Mehbooba Mufti government — Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga — had participated in a rally organised by the Hindu Ekta Manch in support of the accused in the case, but the BJP was slow to act against them. Under pressure from Ms. Mufti, they were asked to submit their resignations, but the BJP made it seem to be part of a larger exercise of a shuffle in the Cabinet. Even when their continuance in the Cabinet became untenable, the BJP was intent on protecting the two from any shadow of guilt. Soon after the two Ministers handed in their resignations, the party asked all its nine Ministers to step down, apparently to bring in new faces. Cl...

👍YES | SYED ATA HASNAIN 👉India risks its national security with low allocations to defence spending For a developing country that is committed to enhancing the quality of life of its citizens, defence is usually the last thing on the nation’s mind. Yet, no government that is committed to such a cause can ignore the existing physical and psychological security threats. These threats are more than just ordinary in India, a country located in a dangerous neighbourhood and facing both internal and external threats. Comprehensive national security helps a nation attain its aspirations, and robust security is a subset of that. India has a robust military machine. However, the lack of a national security strategy, a national strategic culture and a transformational approach towards its military capability prevent it from obtaining optimum benefit from its defence expenditure. 👉Resource allotment The defence budget is increasingly looked at as a means to provide increme...

💫Indian classical music can be a spiritual experience but there is also a tradition of thought and artistic pursuit. Recently, a revered practitioner and guru of Indian classical music said that all such music is spiritual or enmeshed in spirituality. His comment left me baffled and mildly irritated. But of course, he is not the first to make such a proclamation. While the need for musicians to embrace spirituality is unknown to me, it seems an easy escape route lest they be required to discuss performance, composition and musical philosophy. The myth of spirituality impedes conversations about form, origin and the presentation of performance. This creates a pliant audience that is expected to feel devotion and merely receive and exit rather than question their experience. The performance becomes a blindfold, not an enabling experience for the audience. The listening to and reception of this music could be a spiritual experience for some but Indian classical music is an evol...