THE HINDU | Article | The language of violence | APRIL 07

The recent prevalence of debates on non-issues such as whether citizens must chant the slogan ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ is troubling in itself. When influential public figures inject the language of violence and intimidation into this discourse, they are but attempting to ignite a spark in an already overheated atmosphere. Yoga guru and businessman Baba Ramdev’s remark that but for his respect for the law of the land and the Constitution, lakhs of people would be beheaded for their refusal to chant the slogan can be construed as sheer incitement to violence. That this was a response to All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi, who had said he would not utter the words in question “even if a knife were held to my throat”, is hardly a defence. 

THE HINDU | Article | The Panama paper trail | APRIL 07

As the ramifications of the leak of about 11 million secret documents from the Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, play themselves out, a clear articulation of what the “Panama Papers” hold for the state of global finance today came from U.S. President Barack Obama. Following the joint investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung into the leaked papers, Mr. Obama described global tax avoidance as a huge problem. Today, it is perfectly legal in many countries to park money in various kinds of shadowy companies in tax havens. This holds true in India as well, where a lack of clarity persists about the legality of buying offshore companies, a service that is expressly provided by Mossack Fonseca. The lack of clarity exists despite the Reserve Bank of India’s evolving guidelines on offshore remittances and investments since 2004. 

THE HINDU | Article | Lessons from a massacre | APRIL 06

It is difficult to equate delayed justice with ‘justice denied’ in all cases. There may be occasions when even a delayed conviction can send out a message that there is no such thing as permanent impunity. The verdict of a Special CBI Court in Lucknow sentencing 47 police personnel to life imprisonment for participating in one of the most heinous massacres perpetrated in the name of an ‘encounter’ with armed terrorists, is one such instance in which some sort of accountability has been established, and the law has caught up with the perpetrators. On July 12, 1991, a bus carrying Sikh pilgrims was intercepted by the police about 125 km from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, and all the men among them were taken away in a van. The police later claimed that the men were terrorists and that 10 of them were killed in three different ‘encounters’ in the forests that night. A Central Bureau of Investigation probe ordered by the Supreme Court later revealed that the victims were killed in fake encounters. The agency charge-sheeted 57 personnel, but 10 of them died during the course of the trial. It is worth recalling that militancy was at its peak in Punjab at the time. There were fears that it had spilled over from Punjab to the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh. The police in both States suspected that some Punjab militants were active in the Terai too, and Pilibhit, a district with a significant Sikh population, was under watch. It was also a phase in which the state was seen to be using questionable tactics to eliminate suspected terrorists.

THE HINDU | Article | Staying accommodative | APRIL 06

The Reserve Bank of India’s reiteration of an accommodative stance after it cut the repo rate by 25 basis points on Tuesday is a clear and unequivocal message that the monetary authorities stand ready to spur economic growth. Indeed, Governor Raghuram Rajan has gone a step further by explicitly stating that going forward, policymakers will be looking for greater elbow room, including in additional readings of low headline inflation, indications of softening core inflation, and evidence of transmission of its previous interest rate reductions. Explaining the rationale for his policy action, Dr. Rajan said the RBI’s aim is to help give a monetary fillip to private investment, which is currently becalmed by low capacity utilisation. 

THE HINDU | Article | Restore propriety in Arunachal Pradesh | FEB 19

The revocation of President’s Rule in any State ought to be welcomed, as it paves the way for the installation of a popular government. The latest Supreme Court order allowing the Union government to withdraw the proclamation bringing Arunachal Pradesh under Central rule may end the prevailing uncertainty and help avoid a constitutional vacuum, but it may not prevent more legal tangles. There will certainly be a political tussle over the course of action that Governor J.P. Rajkhowa ought to adopt as soon as the suspended Assembly is revived. The Congress argues that its regime headed by former Chief Minister Nabam Tuki will stand automatically restored. However, there is enough indication that the Governor’s favoured option will be to invite the Congress rebel Kalikho Pul, who has the backing of the Bharatiya Janata Party, to form the government. Mr. Pul may have little difficulty in passing a floor test as he claims the support of 32 MLAs in the Assembly, which now is 58-strong. While lifting its earlier directive to maintain the status quo, the Constitution Bench has not interfered with the Gauhati High Court order staying the disqualification of 14 legislators by Speaker Nabam Rebia. This may mean that the 14 Congress dissidents will be allowed to vote on the confidence motion. At the same time, the Bench has asked the High Court to expedite the final hearing on their petitions challenging the legality of their disqualification.

THE HINDU | Article | Right step on savings schemes | FEB 18

The 25-basis points reduction in interest rates on short-tenure small savings schemes from April 1 may have come as a huge disappointment for countless savers. For the middle class, especially for millions of retired persons, these schemes are risk-free, and provide safe parking slots for their hard-earned money. The returns these schemes offer also help them balance their budget. Read in this light, the decision to pare the interest rates on these schemes, even if only by a small measure, is bound to put the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre in an uncomfortable position vis-à-vis a crucial component of society, the middle class, which is considered the core constituency of the Bharatiya Janata Party. 

THE HINDU | Article | Harbinger of change in global trade | FEB 8

The formal signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by the 12 member-countries of the mega-regional free trade agreement is a milestone for international trade and, by extension, the global economy. With worldwide trade having slowed sharply since the 2008 financial crisis and now faced with headwinds from China’s slowdown, the deal, yet to be ratified, could provide a much-needed fillip to growth. As the World Bank noted in a study in January on the macro-economic implications of the TPP, the pact could, by 2030, help boost the overall GDP of member-countries by 1.1 per cent. And given that the grouping includes two of the world’s three largest economies — the U.S. and Japan — and overall accounts for more than one-third of the world’s economic output, the spillover benefits would be significant. 

THE HINDU | Article | A jobs scheme that steadied India | FEB 6

It is now a decade since the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was launched, and it can be said with reasonable assurance that the programme has been largely successful in living up to what it set out to do: provide employment to India’s rural poor and improve their livelihoods. Sceptics of the spending programme, launched in 2006, had raised concerns that it would be yet another opportunity for middlemen to pocket funds. They had dismissed the argument that the design of MGNREGS as a demand-driven scheme would make it more targeted and less prone to leakage. Ten years on, the sceptics have been largely proved wrong. Yes, the efficiency of implementation of the scheme varies across States, there is a degree of wastage of resources, there is an issue with delayed payments, works undertaken have not held up in some States, and there remains some information asymmetry leading to uneven implementation. Yet, by and large, study after study has found that MGNREGS has served as a source of employment for the poor in distress situations such as drought, crop failures and lean rural employment days. It has helped raise rural wages steadily over time, and in places where it has been implemented well, built rural assets such as irrigation canals and roads have augmented local infrastructure.

THE HINDU | Article | A racist turn in Bengaluru | FEB 5

Less than four months after an Australian man was violently harassed for sporting a tattoo of an Indian goddess, Bengaluru is in the news again, for sinking to new lows of bigotry and vigilantism. This time it was a Tanzanian woman at the receiving end of mob fury. It all reportedly began with an accident in which a Sudanese national drove his car over a 35-year-old woman, killing her. A mob quickly gathered, determined to mete out instant justice. When he managed to flee, his car was burnt down. Half an hour later, a Tanzanian student who happened to be passing by with her friends stopped by to inquire what was going on. 

THE HINDU | Article | Time to debate Governors’ powers | FEB 4

By imposing President’s rule in Arunachal Pradesh even before a mandatory floor test could establish conclusively that the Congress government of Nabam Tuki had lost its majority, the Central government acted prematurely. Indeed, the Supreme Court in seeking reasons for the decision, and observing that “the matter is too serious”, underscored what President Pranab Mukherjee had said in his new year’s message to Governors: they must play, he said, their assigned role while respecting the distinct authority and responsibility vested in the executive, the judiciary and the legislature, and help “create a harmonious relationship between the Centre and the States”. 

THE HINDU | Article | Gearing up for the Zika threat | FEB 3

The World Health Organization has declared that the outbreak of Zika and congenital malformations and neurological disorders in newborns believed to be connected to the virus is a global public health emergency. Since the current outbreak began in Brazil in May 2015, nearly 1.5 million people are reported to have been affected. As of January 23, 4,180 suspected cases of microcephaly — a foetal deformation where newborns have abnormally small heads — had been reported in Brazil. There have also been cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a condition in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, sometimes resulting in paralysis. 

THE HINDU | Article | Djokovic’s dominance | FEB 2

For a sport reeling from allegations of fixing, tennis needed the restoration of a semblance of normalcy. And few things have been as normal these last few years as Novak Djokovic holding a trophy aloft. So the Australian Open received the finish it so desperately wanted after its start was hit by the BBC and BuzzFeed exposé. Djokovic never let his focus waver in sweeping to his sixth title in Melbourne, tying Roy Emerson’s record for the most Australian Open crowns. The win was further evidence of the 28-year-old Serb’s dominance. 

THE HINDU | Article | Push for IMF reform | FEB 1

Finally, the International Monetary Fund has made country quota reforms agreed by the G20 in 2010 a reality. One could imagine a collective, global sigh of relief as the chief objector to the changes, the U.S. Congress, dropped its intransigence in December and allowed the multilateral lender to adopt a country quota distribution that better reflects the power balance of emerging markets in the global economy. With this structural shift, more than 6 percentage points of the quota, including both the Fund’s capital and its proportionate voting rights, have been transferred from developed to emerging economies. The greatest gains from the reforms accrue to the IMF itself, as the combined capital that its 188 member-countries contribute will increase to approximately $659 billion from nearly $329 billion. 

THE HINDU | Article | Oommen Chandy must resign | JAN 29

ore than two years after it first broke, Kerala’s ‘solar scam’ appears to have come to a head with a vigilance court in Thrissur ordering an investigation and the registration of a first information report against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. The immediate reaction of the Chief Minister was to dismiss demands for his resignation, but this development has obviously rocked the United Democratic Front government and further chipped away at its legitimacy. Till this week, Mr. Chandy had remained in the scandal’s penumbra, shrugging off allegations about his personal involvement after packing off three official aides soon after they were named as alleged go-betweens in the scam. 

THE HINDU | Article | Denmark’s absurd law on refugees | JAN 28

The passage of a law by the Danish Parliament that allows the authorities to confiscate valuables from refugees is the latest blow to those seeking asylum in Europe. Denmark’s centre-right government says the legislation is intended to cover the cost of each asylum-seeker’s treatment by the state, and bring refugees in line with unemployed Danes who also have to give up their savings before they receive welfare benefits. But the reality is starker than what the government claims. The Danish move is in line with the hawkish stand several European governments are taking towards asylum-seekers. Earlier in the month, Switzerland started seizing valuables from refugees to help pay for their “upkeep”. 

THE HINDU | Article | Sobering reflection from Davos | JAN 25

China’s stock market turbulence and the impact its growth slowdown is having on the global economy were dominant themes last week at the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos. And as the four-day gathering of international finance and corporate captains, government policymakers and central bankers wound down on Saturday, the jury was still out on whether China is headed for a hard landing or is in control of its transition. That China and its fortunes have come to dominate discussions is testimony to the extent to which its companies and manufacturing industry have integrated with the rest of the world, as well as to the increased international concern over the perceived opacity of the country’s banking and financial sector’s real levels of indebtedness.

THE HINDU | Article | Uncertainty in Jammu & Kashmir | JAN 23

Speculation continues to get free play about the next steps in government formation in Jammu and Kashmir. Since Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s death on January 7 and the subsequent imposition of Governor’s Rule in the State, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti has studiedly refused to reveal her hand. Unsurprisingly, the air is thick with talk of various scenarios. The numbers in the effectively 87-member Assembly are such that the Peoples Democratic Party’s options are seen to be many. With 27 MLAs, it could ditch the BJP’s 25 and form a government with the Congress’s 12 and a handful of Independents. The PDP could assert its centrality to the BJP’s ambition to revive its first stint in government in the State by renegotiating terms. Or it could force elections and thereby hope to reverse the perceived loss of popular support over its embrace of the BJP. 

THE HINDU | Article | Grim reminder in Charsadda | JAN 22

The attack by terrorists on Bacha Khan University in northwestern Pakistan, which left at least 21 people dead, raises serious questions about Islamabad’s anti-terror strategy. The assault demonstrates that despite a year-long enhanced counterterror offensive by the Army, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) retains the capacity to inflict lethal harm. The attack in Charsadda in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (the old NWFP) comes over a year after the TTP stormed an Army school in nearby Peshawar, killing 134 children. That massacre had prompted widespread anger, forcing the Army to launch a massive crackdown on Pakistani Taliban. Pakistan lifted a moratorium on executions, detained thousands of suspected Islamist militants, and stepped up attacks on the TTP. This had fractured the Taliban organisationally, and there were fewer attacks in big cities last year. But, as the latest attack shows, the crackdown failed to neutralise the security challenges the TTP poses to the Pakistani state.

THE HINDU | Article | Dealing with the slowdown | JAN 21

The International Monetary Fund has added to the prevailing economic gloom by cutting the global growth forecast. It now expects the world economy to expand by 3.4 per cent in 2016. This is 0.2 percentage points below its forecast of October last year. The revision has come just as Beijing released numbers that showed China posting the slowest growth yet in 25 years. Though it reported a growth of 6.9 per cent in 2015, the year saw turbulence in the Chinese economy, with heavy capital outflows and stock market volatility. 

THE HINDU | Article | Lessons from a floating armoury | JAN 20

The conviction of 35 crew members of a foreign vessel for illegal possession of arms and ammunition marks the end of a trial that threw little light on what exactly the ship was doing when it was seen anchored of Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu in October 2013. Those convicted, many of them nationals of Britain, Ukraine and Estonia, besides some Indians, were sentenced by a sessions court recently to five years’ rigorous imprisonment despite a vigorous defence that their vessel, m.v. Seaman Guard Ohio, was engaged in anti-piracy operations at sea and was looking for fuel and