Daily Hindu Editorials

👉The recent deaths of schoolchildren at an unmanned rail crossing highlight why the Railways Act must be amended👈 In late April, a bus with schoolchildren collided with a train at an unmanned railway level crossing, near Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. Thirteen of them died. This is not the first time that an incident of this nature has occurred, so some questions need to be asked. Is there any mandate for manning all level crossings? In an incident such as this, where the bus driver was reportedly negligent, is the railway administration liable even if the train engine driver cannot be faulted? 👉Legal issues We can look for some answers in a 1997 Supreme Court judgment (Union of India v. United India Insurance). In May 1979, at Akaparampa in Kerala, 40 passengers and the driver of a passenger bus that had been hired were killed when the vehicle was hit by a train at an unmanned level crossing. Cases were filed before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Ernakulam, claimi...

👉The Shopian fury shows a need for a political outreach to various sections in the Valley👈 Shopian in south Kashmir is on edge. On Sunday five militants, including slain Hizbul Mujahideen ‘commander’ Burhan Wani’s aide and a Kashmir University assistant professor, were killed in Badigam village of Shopian district in an encounter. In protests that followed, at least five civilians died and over 130 were injured in clashes with the security forces. Sunday’s violence capped a week of violence in Jammu and Kashmir, with a death toll of at least 24. Early on Sunday morning, a gunfight broke out after a Rashtriya Rifles unit launched a cordon-and-search operation on a specific input. As the firefight between the two sides began and when security forces rushed in more reinforcements, including para-commandos and the Jammu and Kashmir police’s Special Operations Group, civilians began to gather in protest. Dozens took to the streets, throwing stones at the security forces, who retaliate...

👉Abandoning the daily price revision of petrol and diesel sets back an important reform👈 The price of oil has been shooting up for weeks now, with Brent crude oil futures hitting their highest level in more than three years on Monday, at more than $75. But for two weeks now, the state-owned oil companies have kept petrol and diesel prices unchanged. Since April 24, the oil companies have abandoned the daily price revision. Since then, the prices of petrol and diesel in the national capital, for instance, are stuck at ₹74.63 and ₹65.93, respectively. This is a glaring freeze, given that since the Centre introduced the dynamic pricing mechanism in June last year allowing oil marketing companies (OMCs) to revise fuel prices daily, the retail prices of various domestic fuels had been on a steady uptrend owing to the steep rise in international crude oil prices. The price of Brent crude oil, it is worth noting, has rallied by more than 50% since June last year. Against this background...

👉India must debate solutions to the employment problem, as a true democracy should and would👈 In January this year, the Prime Minister made this statement: “7 million new jobs created in 2017”. The statement draws on false conclusions of a study by two economists. Here is another: “10-12 million young people join the workforce every year and 7 million new and formal jobs were created in 2017,” said the Minister of State of Civil Aviation, in April. The Minister not only parrots the Prime Minister but also expounds how 10 to 12 million youth enter the labour market every year looking for a job and that the government has created 7 million new formal jobs for them — implying that almost everyone who is looking for a job found one, formal and informal jobs combined. And another: “6.22 million new jobs created in 2017-18,” said the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, in April. He goes a step above by giving us a seemingly precise estimate of 6.22 million new jobs being created by the...

👉Building such a database is not easy, does not always offer justice, and is an ethical landmine👈 Despite the spate of violent attacks against women, including rapes, in India, very few of the men implicated have been convicted. While identifying the rapist is the first step to serving justice, his identity does not guarantee due punishment or a stiff sentence for the crime. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, only about a quarter of rape cases ended in conviction in 2016. These rates are low in other countries too. The outrage over these attacks has reinforced the belief that India needs a sex offenders’ database or a DNA database of those accused and charged with rape. India has developed a draft Bill for such a DNA database and the Andhra Pradesh government even announced that it has signed up with a private agency for collecting DNA from all its citizens. 👉Concerns Based on experience in other countries, building such a database is not easy, does not ...

👉It has to be recognised for bridging the gaps between various sections of society👈 With a few days left before Karnataka goes to the polls, there is feverish campaigning in the State, with the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party racing to what seems like a close finish, with the Janata Dal (Secular) hoping to play kingmaker in the event of a fractured mandate. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah says he is confident that the Congress will win. The BJP has left its star campaigner, the Prime Minister himself, to take care of the final leg of campaigning, and hopes to make inroads into the south through this election. The JD(S) is very strong in some districts, and is hoping the vote there will revive its relevance. The name of this game is ‘horizontal mobilisation’, as the sociologists Lloyd and Susanne Rudolf called it. Since voting in India largely takes place on the basis of collective loyalties such as caste, the trick is to get the endorsement of a numerically larg...

👉Why are there not more Nobels from India and what does that say about the state of science education?👈 The modest glass doors of the Nobel Museum in Gamla Stan in Stockholm, Sweden, give little hint of the wondrous troves of human knowledge within the building. Yet, as they swing open, you see a world of scientific endeavours, taken to the pinnacle of analytical and abstract thought. In one corner hangs Amartya Sen’s bicycle, and the plaque besides his photo reads, “Amartya went to a school in India that encouraged curiosity and didn’t focus too much on grades.” This, according to Nobel Media CEO Mattias Fyrenius, captures the very spirit of the Nobel Prize. “What we are trying to do is really reach out with Nobel and what Nobel stands for... to get people around the world to be more interested in science, research, education, literature and peace-related topics,” he said. In that sense the Nobel “mission” began when the Prizes themselves did, in 1901. Yet, over the past fiv...