View Articles

Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned his eagerly awaited address on the 75th Independenceanniversary, more an electoral plank for 2024 while throwing up a 25-year agenda for the nation to be rid of all ills plaguing it at present. He put Corruption and Nepotism as major challenges while arguing for support to causes like safety of women and freer opportunities for the widening talent pool in India. His approach seems designed to cover up failures on these fronts. The Prime Minister Modi, however, claimed his Government had entered an "effective phase" in the fight against corruption.

India takes over presidency of G-20 at a critical juncture when geo politics is at cross roads and global economy difficult and sagging. This is significant as it takes over leadership at a time when there is need to strengthen multilateralism and that India is ideally suited because of it being among the few countries that are fit to play the balancing act to this increasingly multi-polar world. India is deeply committed to multilateralism and democracy and G-20 presidency would be very significant for India’s history.

The acrimony between political parties, particularly Modi’s BJP and Kejriwal’s AAP, over freebies notwithstanding, it may be an appropriate occasion for a full-fledged debate on the issue as the nation celebrates 75 years of Independence. But the cold fact is that every interested party is running away from such a constructive debate.

Since independence our country has progressed in many fields. The British colonial rulers squeezed our economy and left the nation with poor education and health status. According to Sanjay P Zodpey and Preeti H Negandhi as per the 1951 Census, India’s population was 36.1 crores. Only 18.33% of the total population was literate then, of which female literacy was 8.86%; only one out of every 11 women were able to read and write. The overall life expectancy was 32 years. The infant mortality rate (IMR) was 145.6/1000 live births. Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in the 1940s was 2000/100,000 live births, which apparently came down to 1000 in the 1950s. There were only 50,000 doctors across the country. The number of primary health-care centers in the country was only 725.

Friday August 5 was the third anniversary of the nullification of Article 370. It was also the date on which Hamin Ast? a Biography of the Article 370 published by Vidhi Centre for legal policy. was released. The book could create an enormous stir because it argues that “nullification of Article 370 is legally unsound”. It has four authors--- Jinaly Dani, Pranay Modi, Kilvin James and Arghya Sengupta, the founder and research scholar director of the Centre.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hailed the Indian athletes for their superb performances in the just concluded Commonwealth Games, saying that “ It is a matter of pride that due to the splendid hard work of the sportspersons; the country is entering into the Azadi Ka Amrit Kaal with an inspiring achievement.”

THIRUVANTHAPURAM: For once, the central investigating agency Enforcement Directorate(ED) finds itself at the receiving end. The ED suffered a legal setback when the Kerala High Court adjourned to August 17 the hearing on a writ petition filed by former Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac challenging the summons asking him to appear before the Enforcement Directorate to explain his role in the issue of masala bonds by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).

India today stands at a dangerous place with the founding values of our secular, democratic and republican Constitution coming under flagrant assault from prejudiced ideas, acts of prejudice, discrimination and violent incidents, all planned and orchestrated as part of anti-constitutional political project of RSS Pariwar governments at the Centre and States. Today seeking justice is a sin, facts are crimes, and democracy is best served by judicial arbitrariness, judicial inconsistency and judicial anarchy. Higher judiciary, High Courts and the Supreme Court, largely function as Executive Courts. Some recent judgments of the Supreme Court have overturned the oft held time tested criminal jurisprudence to uphold and protect civil liberty and fundamental right to life of citizens that an accused continues to be innocent till proven guilty on its face, putting the burden of proof on the accused that he/she is innocent. This could happen only in autocracy and not in the rule of law based system of constitutional democracy.According to a retired apex court judge, Justice Madan B. Lokur, “the Supreme Court seems to be accepting what the executive wants it to accept”.

As the country is celebrating the 75th anniversary of independence, it’s an irony of history that the RSS, which remained loyal to the British, is now trying to appropriate the legacy of our secular and inclusive struggle for independence. Seventy-five years ago, our country reached an important milestone, when people of the country got liberated from the clutches of British colonialism. Our independence was the result of a century-long sustained mass struggle, with many streams of political thoughts and ideologies merging in opposition to British rule and liberated the masses from British oppression.

Some may disagree but India has failed to cash in on its spirited struggle for freedom from over-a-100-year-old British Raj to convert the country into an abode of peace and prosperity for its citizens in the last 75 years. Official claims apart, India continues to be a poor country with almost 280 million people or 20 percent of its population living in poverty. The country’s demographic failure far overtakes its economic success in select areas.