✌✌✌✌ THE HINDU ✌✌✌✌
✌✌ Provocation at Nagrota ✌✌
The death of seven soldiers in the terrorist attack on an Army base in Nagrota provides graphic evidence of the high cost being borne by the armed forces amidst escalating violence in Jammu and Kashmir. The attack comes just two months after militants stormed an Army camp in Uri, resulting in the death of 19 soldiers. Early on Tuesday morning, three terrorists entered the camp in Nagrota, near Jammu city and not very far from the headquarters of 16 Corps, one of the largest and most important corps of the Indian Army. It is important to investigate how heavily armed terrorists reached the 166 Medium Regiment premises in a securitised area, despite several road blocks on the road to Nagrota. Wearing police uniforms, the terrorists reportedly scaled a wall and stormed the base, where many military families were staying. Seven soldiers, including two Majors, were killed as they fought to prevent a hostage situation. At least four unarmed officers, the wives of two officers and two children were among those who were at risk of being taken hostage. According to Army officers, the two women also showed exemplary presence of mind, and blocked their doors with household items.
With the latest incident, at least 89 security personnel have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir so far in 2016. This is the highest figure in almost a decade, or since the gains of the 2003 ceasefire on the India-Pakistan border began to be consolidated. Since the surgical strikes of September 29 in response to the Uri attack, India has lost 27 security personnel. In fact, the attrition rate among the security forces has been going up steadily vis-à-vis the terrorists. Decades of experience in fighting insurgencies and the diverse tactics adopted to reduce security force casualties have in recent months been challenged by the terrorists’ focus on security installations, aimed at causing maximum casualties among the forces. The violence level within Jammu and Kashmir is a result of several factors: the unrest in the Valley, the state of India’s relations with Pakistan, and the situation along the border, both the International Boundary and the Line of Control. On all three fronts, much needs to be done. India-Pakistan bilateral relations have nosedived in recent months. And while New Delhi does not have the luxury of choosing unilaterally between relative peace and a lingering state of low-intensity conflict, there needs to be an appraisal of the costs that have come with the breakdown of the 2003 ceasefire — for instance, crossfire is routinely a cover for Pakistan in assisting terrorists to cross over to Indian territory. Creating peace is a complex process. Drawing up a plan to minimise loss of life will be a good place to begin.
✌✌ India’s missing girl children ✌✌
It is a cruel irony of a fast-growing India that there are fewer and fewer girls as a ratio of total births, as a result of complex factors that include parental preference. New data from the Civil Registration System of the Registrar General of India point to the hardening of the pattern, with a fall in sex ratio at birth from 898 girls to 1,000 boys in 2013, to 887 a year later. This depressing trend is consistent with evidence from the Census figures of 2001 and 2011. What is shocking is that the overall data mask the horror of particular districts and panchayats falling well below the national ratio, especially in the zero-to-six years assessment category. The scourge has, in some cases, prompted the Supreme Court to take note of the situation, and the National Human Rights Commission to ask for an explanation from State governments. In the understanding of the Centre, which it has conveyed to Parliament, girls stand a poor chance at survival because there is a “socio-cultural mindset” that prefers sons, girls are seen as a burden, and family size has begun to shrink. The BJP-led government responded to the silent crisis with the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign, which focusses on the prevention of sex-selective abortions, creation of opportunities for education and protection of girl children. Now that the scheme is set to enter its third year in January, there should be a speedy assessment of its working, particularly in districts with a poor sex ratio where it has been intensively implemented.
A wider assessment needs to be made on why States such as Tamil Nadu with a strong social development foundation have slipped on sex ratio at birth (834), going by the CRS data for 2014. The cradle baby scheme was started in 1992 in Tamil Nadu to raise the survival chances of girl children by encouraging mothers to give them anonymously for adoption. Yet, the latest numbers, together with the persistence of the programme after 24 years, and 260 babies being abandoned in just one centre over a six-year period, make it clear that national policy has achieved little in real terms. Clearly, there is a need to go beyond slogans and institute tangible schemes. Enforcement of the law that prohibits determination of the sex of the foetus must go hand in hand with massive social investments to protect both immediate and long-term prospects of girls — in the form of cash incentives through registration of births, a continuum of health care, early educational opportunities and social protection. Half-measures cannot produce a dramatic reversal of the shameful national record.
✌✌✌✌ THE ECONOMIC TIMES ✌✌✌✌
✌✌ Mixed up on movie hall nationalism ✌✌
No part of the nation gains from the Supreme Court order mandating everyone to stand up and hear the national anthem play before they watch a movie. On the other hand, the order takes away from judicial sanctity, individual liberty and, indeed, the efficacy of patriotic symbols to articulate or reinforce patriotism. The US Supreme Court ruled, in 1989, that burning the Stars and the Stripes, while an odious act, gets the protection of the First Amendment that guarantees freedom of speech. In other words, how national symbols are treated is for the citizen to choose. The state’s integrity is dimmed not by offensive words or acts of some wayward citizens but only by its own failure to live up to its constitutional standards. These universal principles of democracy find no reflection in the court’s order on the national anthem.
Why is the cinema seen as the right place for affirming the nation? Why not mandate that all members of any queue that is at least 15 people long sing the national anthem once every five minutes? And what is the basis for the presumption that singing Jana Gana Mana in a mechanical, perfunctory fashion just because that is a legal precondition for watching a movie would enhance the singer’s patriotic fervour? Is a symbol mere reflection of the essence? Or does it induce the essence? Will painting stripes on a dog make it a tiger? The court’s order raises a number of questions, both abstract and concrete.
Experience of citizenship is the basis of patriotism and national feeling. For that experience to be positive and affirming, social relations as mediated by the state must be such as to make citizens stakeholders in a common endeavour and individual achievements enrich the lives of society at large, vicariously, if not materially.
This can happen when policy, governance and the polity at large work to improve the lives of all and induce common stakeholdership. Then does one section’s sorrow furrow every brow and another lot’s success bring joy to all. The way to boost patriotism is to refine this politics, not to make a song and dance out of the nation’s symbols.
✌✌ Provocation at Nagrota ✌✌
The death of seven soldiers in the terrorist attack on an Army base in Nagrota provides graphic evidence of the high cost being borne by the armed forces amidst escalating violence in Jammu and Kashmir. The attack comes just two months after militants stormed an Army camp in Uri, resulting in the death of 19 soldiers. Early on Tuesday morning, three terrorists entered the camp in Nagrota, near Jammu city and not very far from the headquarters of 16 Corps, one of the largest and most important corps of the Indian Army. It is important to investigate how heavily armed terrorists reached the 166 Medium Regiment premises in a securitised area, despite several road blocks on the road to Nagrota. Wearing police uniforms, the terrorists reportedly scaled a wall and stormed the base, where many military families were staying. Seven soldiers, including two Majors, were killed as they fought to prevent a hostage situation. At least four unarmed officers, the wives of two officers and two children were among those who were at risk of being taken hostage. According to Army officers, the two women also showed exemplary presence of mind, and blocked their doors with household items.
With the latest incident, at least 89 security personnel have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir so far in 2016. This is the highest figure in almost a decade, or since the gains of the 2003 ceasefire on the India-Pakistan border began to be consolidated. Since the surgical strikes of September 29 in response to the Uri attack, India has lost 27 security personnel. In fact, the attrition rate among the security forces has been going up steadily vis-à-vis the terrorists. Decades of experience in fighting insurgencies and the diverse tactics adopted to reduce security force casualties have in recent months been challenged by the terrorists’ focus on security installations, aimed at causing maximum casualties among the forces. The violence level within Jammu and Kashmir is a result of several factors: the unrest in the Valley, the state of India’s relations with Pakistan, and the situation along the border, both the International Boundary and the Line of Control. On all three fronts, much needs to be done. India-Pakistan bilateral relations have nosedived in recent months. And while New Delhi does not have the luxury of choosing unilaterally between relative peace and a lingering state of low-intensity conflict, there needs to be an appraisal of the costs that have come with the breakdown of the 2003 ceasefire — for instance, crossfire is routinely a cover for Pakistan in assisting terrorists to cross over to Indian territory. Creating peace is a complex process. Drawing up a plan to minimise loss of life will be a good place to begin.
✌✌ India’s missing girl children ✌✌
It is a cruel irony of a fast-growing India that there are fewer and fewer girls as a ratio of total births, as a result of complex factors that include parental preference. New data from the Civil Registration System of the Registrar General of India point to the hardening of the pattern, with a fall in sex ratio at birth from 898 girls to 1,000 boys in 2013, to 887 a year later. This depressing trend is consistent with evidence from the Census figures of 2001 and 2011. What is shocking is that the overall data mask the horror of particular districts and panchayats falling well below the national ratio, especially in the zero-to-six years assessment category. The scourge has, in some cases, prompted the Supreme Court to take note of the situation, and the National Human Rights Commission to ask for an explanation from State governments. In the understanding of the Centre, which it has conveyed to Parliament, girls stand a poor chance at survival because there is a “socio-cultural mindset” that prefers sons, girls are seen as a burden, and family size has begun to shrink. The BJP-led government responded to the silent crisis with the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign, which focusses on the prevention of sex-selective abortions, creation of opportunities for education and protection of girl children. Now that the scheme is set to enter its third year in January, there should be a speedy assessment of its working, particularly in districts with a poor sex ratio where it has been intensively implemented.
A wider assessment needs to be made on why States such as Tamil Nadu with a strong social development foundation have slipped on sex ratio at birth (834), going by the CRS data for 2014. The cradle baby scheme was started in 1992 in Tamil Nadu to raise the survival chances of girl children by encouraging mothers to give them anonymously for adoption. Yet, the latest numbers, together with the persistence of the programme after 24 years, and 260 babies being abandoned in just one centre over a six-year period, make it clear that national policy has achieved little in real terms. Clearly, there is a need to go beyond slogans and institute tangible schemes. Enforcement of the law that prohibits determination of the sex of the foetus must go hand in hand with massive social investments to protect both immediate and long-term prospects of girls — in the form of cash incentives through registration of births, a continuum of health care, early educational opportunities and social protection. Half-measures cannot produce a dramatic reversal of the shameful national record.
✌✌✌✌ THE ECONOMIC TIMES ✌✌✌✌
✌✌ Mixed up on movie hall nationalism ✌✌
No part of the nation gains from the Supreme Court order mandating everyone to stand up and hear the national anthem play before they watch a movie. On the other hand, the order takes away from judicial sanctity, individual liberty and, indeed, the efficacy of patriotic symbols to articulate or reinforce patriotism. The US Supreme Court ruled, in 1989, that burning the Stars and the Stripes, while an odious act, gets the protection of the First Amendment that guarantees freedom of speech. In other words, how national symbols are treated is for the citizen to choose. The state’s integrity is dimmed not by offensive words or acts of some wayward citizens but only by its own failure to live up to its constitutional standards. These universal principles of democracy find no reflection in the court’s order on the national anthem.
Why is the cinema seen as the right place for affirming the nation? Why not mandate that all members of any queue that is at least 15 people long sing the national anthem once every five minutes? And what is the basis for the presumption that singing Jana Gana Mana in a mechanical, perfunctory fashion just because that is a legal precondition for watching a movie would enhance the singer’s patriotic fervour? Is a symbol mere reflection of the essence? Or does it induce the essence? Will painting stripes on a dog make it a tiger? The court’s order raises a number of questions, both abstract and concrete.
Experience of citizenship is the basis of patriotism and national feeling. For that experience to be positive and affirming, social relations as mediated by the state must be such as to make citizens stakeholders in a common endeavour and individual achievements enrich the lives of society at large, vicariously, if not materially.
This can happen when policy, governance and the polity at large work to improve the lives of all and induce common stakeholdership. Then does one section’s sorrow furrow every brow and another lot’s success bring joy to all. The way to boost patriotism is to refine this politics, not to make a song and dance out of the nation’s symbols.
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