Macron’s Calculated Risk: Political Lessons from Europe
Macron may or may not pull off his gamble, but his willingness to act to overcome the blow his party was dealt in the European polls deserves to be commended.
TK Arun
TK Arun is a Senior Journalist and Columnist based in Delhi.
The Crisis of Safety: Vacancies and Negligence in Indian Railway
Railways has an estimated 2.74 lakh vacancies, of which 1.7 lakh are related to ensuring safety. Running an organisation with such a huge number of vacancies, especially in roles that underpin safety, is gross managerial failure.
Arundhati Roy’s Prosecution: Signaling Strength in Modi’s Third Term
Using a draconian law like UAPA to prosecute a speech made by Arundhati Roy 14 years ago is to profess a fragility that does injustice to the solidity of the nation, however incomplete the task of building Indian democracy might still be.
Relying on Nitish and Naidu for Indian Democracy’s Rescue: A Misguided Hope
Neither has said anything about the lynching of cattle transporters, or the arrest of chief ministers, or the misuse of central agencies
Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu are seasoned politicians with well-honed survival instincts. Trust them to look after their own fortunes, political or otherwise, not to do the heavy lifting to uphold democratic norms. Those who value liberal democracy have to work to achieve it on their own, work among the people, instead of hoping that Naidu and Nitish would do the job for them as key members of the supporting cast in Narendra Modi 3.0.
Neither Naidu nor Nitish Kumar has said anything about the lynching of two cattle transporters who were moving buffaloes in a truck in Chhattisgarh. Nor have they said anything in public against the arrest of chief ministers or the misuse of central agencies. They are not going out of their way to meet the liberal aspirations that stand thwarted by Modi getting the chance to run the country for another term.
Transparency in Political Funding: A Path to Cleaner Democracy
TK Arun All political funding should be routed transparently through electronic means, via UPI, IMPS, Neft or RTGS. Let parties crowdfund themselves. In a democracy, money should move from the people to their parties, not from politicians to voters. Here…
Preventing Democratic Backsliding Isn’t the Same as Securing Democracy
The INDIA bloc’s ability to rein in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vaulting ambition to godhood does not extend to addressing a vast democracy deficit
In an interim assessment of the election results, I made six points:
One, India’s next government would be a coalition government.
Two, Indian democracy has become stronger with the emergence of a strong Opposition, and a clear verdict that the people do not appreciate the politics of hatred and division, peddled aggressively by Prime Minister Modi.
Three, the Congress has halted its steady decline, which had persuaded several of its aspiring leaders and spokespersons to defect to the BJP.