Daily Hindu Editorials

💥If we base our view of the world on quantitative trends over history rather than on news, we will get a different picture of the state of humanity, says the cognitive psychologist💥 Professor Steven Pinker is a cognitive psychologist at Harvard University. His popular science books have dwelt on how we learn language and how our mind makes sense of the world. In his latest book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress, he argues that the ideals of the European Enlightenment have played a key role in making the 20th century the most prosperous one in human history. In this interview conducted over the telephone, he says that pessimism from threats including terrorism and right-wing populism is largely unwarranted. Excerpts: 👉You’ve been a professional observer and analyst of language, psychology and cognitive science, and your early popular science works have focussed on these. However, since The Better Angels of Our Nature, you seem increas...

👉Citing the Karnataka poll to delay the Cauvery scheme is a poor excuse👈 The Centre’s excuse for being unable to submit a draft scheme on the Cauvery issue is so poor that it will convince nobody. That it was extremely reluctant to take a decision which could have electoral repercussions in Karnataka, which goes to the polls on May 12, is well known. But the Attorney General’s explanation that the draft scheme could not be readied because the Prime Minister and other ministers were busy “travelling” in Karnataka is laughable. While the world of politics is sometimes ruled more by expediency than law, the Centre has cut a sorry figure by admitting in court that its leaders are too preoccupied with an election campaign to fulfil a court directive — one over which it could be punished for contempt. That the Attorney General asked for the contempt petition to be taken up a day after the Karnataka election gives the game away. There are several reasons why the Centre’s stand is legal...

👉The Windrush scandal marks another episode in Europe’s hardening politics on immigration👈 The scandal over the targeting of Britons of Caribbean origin is the latest twist in Europe’s recent politics over immigration, denting the continent’s image as being open, liberal and tolerant. The development comes at an awkward moment for London, which hopes to negotiate trade agreements with the countries of the British Commonwealth as it withdraws from the European Union. The Windrush generation, named after one of the many vessels that ferried some half a million people from the Caribbean islands to the U.K. in the late 1940s, has fallen victim to a ruthless policy that stipulates annual net immigration objectives. In its wake, people with cultural links to the region but who have lived all their lives in the U.K. are having to provide proof of residence for every year of their stay of up to 60-70 years. Inability to furnish such evidence has been met with job losses, threat of deport...

👉Britain’s approach to immigration from the Caribbean and South Asia is in the political spotlight👈 On Wednesday, the anger and emotion felt by some MPs during an intense debate in the House of Commons on the Windrush scandal enveloping the British government was palpable. “What we are not talking about so much is race,” said Shabana Mahmood, an opposition Labour MP for Birmingham, who sought to drive home the impact Britain’s tough immigration regime had on its diverse population. “Try making an application, as a British national, to the Home Office with a name that is demonstrably South Asian in origin. I promise that the protection of a British passport will not help one little bit. People will have visited upon them casual humiliation upon humiliation. The system will treat them as if they were dirt on the bottom of its shoe, and that is not good enough.” David Lammy, a black Labour MP pointed to the painful legacy of empire and slavery: “I remind the House that I am h...

💥SC QUALIFIES ITS RULING ON ATROCITIES ACT💥   (POLITY) The Supreme Court modified its earlier ruling on SC/ST atrocities act by qualifying that police need to conduct a preliminary enquiry before arrest only in cases where they feel a complaint filed about an atrocity committed on Dalits is outright “absurd” or “absolutely” frivolous. The Judgment clarified that the Supreme Court had never intended to make the enquiry before arrest a mandatory condition in each and every complaint filed by Dalits under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989. But the top court once again refused to stay the verdict, rejecting the Centre’s claim that it caused widespread violence and even deaths in the country, saying that the order was only aimed at putting filter on immediate arrest. 👉Context A judgment of Supreme Court in March had banned immediate arrest of a person accused of atrocities against SC/ST community members. To avoid prosecution...

💥 Daily Word Bytes - 2  from editorial  - Targeting Tehran 💥 revelation (noun) – disclosure, report, announcement. Hindu Editorial usage :   Israel’s so-called revelations make no case to junk the Iran nuclear deal junk (verb) – throw away, discard, abandon. Hindu Editorial usage :   Israel’s so-called revelations make no case to junk the Iran nuclear deal be lost on (phrase) – fail to be noticed. Hindu Editorial usage :   The timing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Iran had a robust nuclear weapons programme is not lost on anyone rip something up (phrasal verb) – tear (into small pieces). Hindu Editorial usage :   On Monday, Mr. Netanyahu shared thousands of documents related to Iran’s nuclear programme at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump is considering ripping up the Iran nuclear deal. deceit (noun) – deception, double-dealing/duplicity, fraud. Hindu Editorial usage :   Mr. Netanyahu argued...

💥 Daily Word Bytes - 1  from editorial  - Secret Agent 💥 bank on (phrasal verb) – rely (on), depend (on), count (on). Hindu Editorial usage :   The Janata Dal (Secular) is probably headed for a third-place finish in Karnataka, but is banking on making its seats count in a hung Assembly, which many opinion polls suggest is likely secular (adjective) – non-religious . Hindu Editorial usage :   The party’s ‘secular’ outlook did not prevent it from partnering in a coalition government with the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2006;   outlook (adjective) – point of view, attitude, standpoint/position. Hindu Editorial usage :   The party’s ‘secular’ outlook did not prevent it from partnering in a coalition government with the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2006;   notwithstanding (preposition) – in spite of, despite, regardless of. Hindu Editorial usage :   notwithstanding the protestations of patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda,   patriarch (no...