2023: The Year of the Surajmukhi Court
A long look at 2023 and how the courts let India down.
China | India | Online Blog
Is ‘Let’s Seek Peace on the Border’ Narrative About Modi Government’s Intent to Appease China?
The optics are being built for creating an environment in which India accepts an unfavourable negotiated solution that reinforces and rewards China’s aggression on the Ladakh border.
Economy | India | Online Blog | Unemployment
Employment Record of Modi Govt vs Claims; 25,000 Applicants for 15 Govt Posts in Karnataka – 2 Articles
GOI efforts to spin a jobs growth narrative has meant the following: it is not willing to recognise a glaring problem, and hence no concrete efforts are needed to change economic policy to make the growth pattern more labour-intensive.
Economy | India | Online Blog
Why the Railways’ Figures Spell Doom for Economy Passengers
With the railways reducing General and Sleeper coaches in favour of AC ones, passengers will have to continue travelling in jam-packed compartments, or shell out higher fares if they wish to travel by train. Also: ‘Smile, You’re With the PM and Your Train Isn’t on Time’.
Ram Temple Not Yet Complete So Pran Pratishtha Against Shastras, Says Jyotir Mutt Shankaracharya
In a video, Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Jyotir Mutt says 4 shankaracharyas will skip Ayodhya event. Consecration when temple still incomplete is ‘an act of ignorance’, he adds.
Some Notes on the Confluence of Cultures in India
‘“That Infernal Infidel Wajid Ali Shah”: Sour Notes on the Confluence of Cultures’: Indians have celebrated the spirit and practice related to the confluence of cultures. And yet, a recent experience tells me we have managed to stray far enough. Also: ‘The Strength of India’s Religious Traditions are Spaces Where People from Different Religions Intermix’.
Jawaharlal Nehru: A Guiding Force in Our Past, Present, and Future – Part I
Nehru’s fantastic effort to raise India from what Tagore called the ‘mud and filth’ left behind by the British has now been replaced with the Indian people being pushed back into that same ‘mud and filth’ of ignorance, obscurantism, dis-empowerment, unfreedom and above all communal hatred.
India Gets a Rude Awakening in West Asia
Prescience is often lacking in India’s West Asia strategy. This is not a region for one-dimensional men. It has been a strategic mistake to be aligned to the US and its allies in the Indian Ocean under the rubric of ‘maritime security’.
Constitution | Fascism | India | Online Blog
Emerging Challenge to the Constitution
In 2023 the Constitution was challenged as being colonial and outdated. Bibek Debroy’s opinion piece was product placement, a warning of things to come. The aim behind these suggestions is to facilitate Central “executive efficiency”, governance involving “law and order, and swift dispute resolution”.
Bharat Nyaya Yatra and Challenge of Restoring Faith in Justice
The Bharat Nyaya Yatra from Manipur to Mumbai, led by Rahul Gandhi, is set to begin on 14 January 2024. It promises to mobilise people by reaffirming their faith in the lofty goals of the Constitution: its ideas of social, economic and political justice.