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Beating down critical journalism, creative freedom

Sukumar Muralidharan

The curious deference of the judiciary is part of the precariousness of the rights to freedom in India today

5hrs

A farmer stands next to police barricades at Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in Ghaziabad on February 2, 2021.

Missing the Gandhian imprint

A year on, mind the gaps in the pandemic response

J.V.R. Prasada Rao Amartya Chowdhury India needs to revisit its disease control strategy to ensure a more robust and humane response in similar crises

Weighing in on the Biden presidency

M.K. Narayanan While it could be a curate’s egg for New Delhi, for the world, a return to Obama-era policies may prove inadequate

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Lead

Beating down critical journalism, creative freedom

Lead

Missing the Gandhian imprint

Lead

A year on, mind the gaps in the pandemic response

Lead

Weighing in on the Biden presidency

Lead

No to vaccine nationalism, yes to global cooperation

It’s goodbye to fiscal orthodoxy

Carrying over fiscal conservatism: on Union Budget 2021

A lenient tax regime that favours private capital and restrained debt-financed spending are quite evident

The Mahatma and the empowerment of the other

Gandhiji’s idea is feasible only in a political community where people have the art of listening

The farm laws need political resolution

It is the supreme authority of Parliament which has the power to solve the issue despite the negotiations outside

A Budget blueprint for difficult times

Alarming inequality, failing health care and border tensions loom large and the economic situation needs full attention

A political player who is rising, but is still no Lenin

Notwithstanding the euphoria, Alexei Navalny is unlikely to be the catalyst that will lead to ‘regime change’ in Russia

Global antitrust and the challenge of Big Tech

The issue is about checking their monopoly power while encouraging their positive externalities and consumer surplus

Revise the text of the Budget speech

The Finance Minister must move to an expansionary fiscal stance that prioritises job creation, public service provision

Keep the wheels of economic recovery turning

The fiscal stimulus needs to continue in FY 2021-22 to speed up India’s economic healing

Roots to government-private thought partnerships

If capacity within government is lacking, it is necessary to leverage external expertise for better policy design and action

Pursuing national interests, at the UN high table

India’s quest of its goals at the UNSC must have a clear agenda and also reflect its material and geopolitical limitations

The script of another ‘parade’ on Republic Day

The protesting farmers have revitalised the democratic polity and the Republic now stands morally recharged

On Iran, it is decision time for Biden

Unless the new administration reaches an agreement with Tehran soon, bilateral ties could be mired in hostility

In agri-credit, small farmers are still outside the fence

The agriculture sector’s performance has not been commensurate with the increasing subsidised credit it receives

A new framework around caste and the census

There needs to be closer engagement between all stakeholders of the Census and the Socio-Economic and Caste Census

Getting it wrong on India’s level of agricultural support

The methodology behind the OECD’s numbers, that suggests negative support, has pitfalls and limitations

Defending liberty against political prosecution

Courts need to recognise selective prosecution as a threshold constitutional defence against the abuse of state power

Removing the creases in housework valuation

The work women perform for the family should be valued equally with men’s work during the continuance of marriage

True empowerment of the electricity consumer

Without strong accountability provisions, the consumer protection rules will not guarantee better power supply quality

A plaintive lament on liberty that rings hollow

As examples show, the judiciary’s callous attitude at every level towards human liberty is destructive of the rule of law

Being tethered to bars during a pandemic

In India, COVID-19 must lead to an immediate review of the vulnerability of those in jail and the issue of decongestion

The unravelling of liberal globalism

Donald Trump has been defeated, but not Trumpism and the anti-globalist politics it has unleashed

Financial boom at a time of economic stagnation

The paradox becomes clearer by recognising the circuit of financial flows beyond the real economy

A fast fading promise, of growth with trust

The present government must shed its many distractions that now grossly impinge on the values and rights of Indians

Farm laws, their constitutional validity, and hope

In the event of further judicial intervention, there are grounds and an opportunity for the government to revisit the laws

Mediating the farmers’ protests is difficult terrain

If the top court does find itself mandated by a higher public duty to intervene, then it must observe some essentials

Reclaiming SAARC from the ashes of 2020

Despite the despondency, the rationale for its existence is intact, and India can use it as a stage for its global ambitions

The debilitating side-effect of a flawed vaccine trial

A failure to investigate the conduct of the recent Covaxin phase-3 trial can affect the course of other studies under way

Reframing India’s foreign policy priorities

Apart from an ideational restructuring, prudent plans, achievable objectives and a line of continuity are a must

Planning an exit out of the easy money regime

The RBI’s main challenge would be in managing the tension between restraining inflation and supporting recovery

Central Vista, executive’s caprice, and rule of law

Constitutional tradition requires the state’s decisions to be just, fair and reasonable and adhere to procedure

Beyond the Central Vista verdict, key questions

Public commitment in civic projects and procurement of professional services are areas that need definite improvement

Reading Hannah Arendt in Joe Biden’s America

With a grasp of her writings on totalitarianism and the human condition in crises, Biden could have a vision for change

A hegemony upended by a Frankenstein

The loss of the Republican party in the Georgia run-offs has exposed the limits of Trumpism

Boosting India with maritime domain awareness

Beyond monitoring Chinese activity in the Indian Ocean, India’s initiatives could help generate intraregional synergy

The challenge of distributing opportunities better

The line between ‘reserved’ and ‘general’ is blurring, impacting reservation as an idea and as practice

The dark step of writing hate into law

The new marriage laws put state power and the law behind majoritarian communal biases, boosting regressive mores

A nod to recognising the value of housework

This is an agenda all political parties, and not just the Makkal Needhi Maiam, could incorporate in their manifestos

Time to resurrect a popular front

Allies and political alliances need to be rearranged and the country requires a new political instrument for governability

An anti-disclosure amendment that hits public health

The dilution of patent working disclosure rules hampers the effectiveness of India’s compulsory licensing regime

An ill-conceived, overbroad and vague ordinance

The U.P. religious conversion ordinance is unconstitutional, vilifies inter-faith marriages and violates key rights

A leopard count with a missing benchmark number

Assessing numbers of cats in select sites and monitoring areas they occupy over swathes will ensure a better overview

Unmasked, reflections on the pandemic and life

People need to draw the right lessons from the experiences of the last several months, as individuals and a collective

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