AAP’s uncertain future, irony of being Advani, and an author seeks freedom of speech -Governance Now

AAP’s uncertain future, irony of being Advani, and an author seeks freedom of speech

Here is a list of stories from our magazine and website that you must read over the weekend

GN Bureau | April 22, 2017

#farmers #Odisha #BJP #LK Advani #author #Githa Hariharan #Aam Aadmi Party #AAP #weekend stories #Tamil Nadu #drought

The Narendra Modi- Arvind Kejriwal antagonism has always been about two different kinds of populism. While it may not play out in a municipal election, the fact remains that a Kejriwal chastened by Goa and Punjab faces a mid-term test in the municipal elections. For a politician harbouring intentions of becoming a prime minister, it’s ironical that municipal elections in Delhi may prove a test of his political viability.

Read: Arvind Kejriwal: A tornado loses force

The ideology of Hindutva has been around since the early decades of the 20th century, but it was former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani who gave it political currency. Today, it has become the default ideology for the nation, but, as the Supreme Court puts him in the dock for conspiracy in the Babri demolition case, the man himself has nothing left but the loneliness of a futile long-distance runner in his last lap.

Read: The irony of being Advani

In 2015-16, over 200 farmers committed suicide in Orissa. This year, five have taken their lives in quick succession. About 83 percent of farmers in Odisha are small and marginal farmers. Then there are landless labourers who till others’ land as share-croppers. But these share-croppers hardly get any benefits from the government. The agro-policies of the state should centre on small and marginal farmers, and tenancy laws should be amended to allow landowners to lease their land for farming to others without the fear of losing their land.

Read: A recurrent script plays out again in Orissa

Our cultural spaces are in a bad state – and this affects the writing, publishing and reading of literature. Over the last few years, we have seen far too many cases of the self-appointed thought police intimidating writers. From the Tamil writer Perumal Murugan to the young Kannada poet Huchangi Prasad, right-wing groups have hounded, or physically attacked, our writers for doing what they should: picking up a pen and writing imaginatively about the India they know. And in the case of the scholar and translator MM Kalburgi, the attack was fatal.

Read: Freedom of speech is an index of maturity of a society: Author Githa Hariharan

Tamil Nadu is facing its worst drought in over 140 years and desperate farmers are killing themselves. There are 3,600 tanks in the state and all of them are bone dry. The tanks went dry within a month of the 2015 floods. In February this year, the Chembarambakkam lake, which is one of the sources of drinking water for Chennai, recorded water that is barely 10 percent of its capacity.

Read: Tamil Nadu: Cracked earth, parched throat

Comments

Other News

The health sector research we are not doing

Some neglect is loud. This kind is quiet. It sits in research never commissioned, data never collected, questions never asked. In South Asia, that quiet has let the region’s worst health problems stay understudied, underfunded, and out of sight of those who could act.

Study flags accessibility and last-mile challenges on Mumbai Metro Aqua Line

Mumbai Metro Line 3 (Aqua Line), the city`s first fully underground metro corridor and one of its largest public transport investments, represents a major engineering achievement and has been widely welcomed by commuters. However, the overall commuter experience continues to be constrained by accessibili

Centre intensifies preparedness as El Niño threat looms

Amid uncertainty in the southwest monsoon due to the potential impact of El Niño, the government is addressing the situation with comprehensive preparedness, a clear strategy, and strong ground-level action. While challenges remain, the entire system has been activated in advance and is working proa

India is crossing a climate threshold

On June 28, Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 41.3°C, four degrees above the seasonal normal. But the “feels like” temperature, which factors in humidity, showed more than 51°C. What the body experienced was very different from what the thermometer recorded. India`

The Geography of India’s inflation

India today finds itself in an unusual position. At a time when geopolitical conflicts, trade fragmentation, and supply-chain disruptions are reshaping the global economy, the country`s macroeconomic fundamentals remain relatively upwards. Growth remains among the highest in the world, inflation has larg

How to listen to the great storytellers that the trees are

The Trees of My Country: A Natural History of India in 50 Trees By T. R. Shankar Raman, with illustrations by Manali Patil Aleph Book Company, 284 pages, Rs 1,499