Editorial
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| | RBI's move against borrowers | | The Central Bank has to adopt a tough stance to make its initiative for insolvency proceedings against borrowers to succeed | | | The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision to crack a whip to get lenders and defaulting borrowers to sit down and address the messy task of cleaning up toxic bad debts is a welcome initiative. The step has not come too soon keeping in view the grant of powers to the central bank for such an initiative more than a month back. The RBI's step to act on the advice of its Internal Advisory Committee and direct lenders to initiate insolvency proceedings against top 12 corporate borrowers each of them owing more than Rs 5000 crore will go a long way in securing the public money that belongs to each section of the society. With Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) amounting to more than Rs 7 lakh crore, a regulatory intervention was imperative not only to safeguard the health of the banking system but a... |  | |
| | | Abuse of power | | Karnataka assembly use of breach of privilege is unjustified; LS Speakers view of media's role appalling | | | At a time when free media in India is under severe threat and a vast section of the media has willingly and voluntarily allowed itself to become the lapdog of the powerful and influential, the curious case of two reputed journalists arrested on basis of privilege motion passed by Karnataka state legislature further adds to the anxieties and worries of media persons struggling against the multiple pressures, intimidations, threats and machinations of the government of the day in gagging their voices. In a shocking and unprecedented move, the Karnataka Assembly has announced jail sentences for editors of two tabloids in the state by using, rather misusing, the breach of privilege law. Even a lay person can tell that the provisions of the law have been twisted and misinterpreted for convenie... | | |
| | | Gruesome tragedy in Gulmarg | | J&K government needs to go for safety audit of all such facilities to prevent accidents in future and save precious lives | | | Death of seven persons including a family of four and injuries to several others in Gulmarg cable car accident on Sunday is both tragic and unfortunate. Apart from the four tourists, three guides also lost their lives in the unfortunate accident, when a pine tree reportedly fell on the cable of the Gondola when high velocity winds blew in the area. The saving grace was the rescue of more than 150 tourists and locals, who were held up in the Gondolas for many hours after the breakdown of the cables. It goes to the credit of the law enforcing agencies including the police and many tourist guides and locals, who put in their best for the rescue of the passengers in the cable cars on the towers and cables. It is creditworthy that the locals helped the police and officials of the cable car cor... | | |
| | | Beyond condemnation | | Concern over Kashmir lynching not enough, pertinent questions need an answer | | | The lynching of police office, DySP, Mohammad Ayoub Pandith is horrifying and outrightly a barbarous act. It needs to be condemned for its brutal nature. But beyond that, it also invokes pertinent questions that need to be grappled with. One is the selective nature of concern that has been expressed by people who have maintained criminal silence over the lynchings and killings of Muslims and Dalits by Hindutva hooligans almost on a daily basis in various parts of the country as well as over the brutal killings, torture and using pellet-guns on hapless victims in Kashmir. Secondly, the incident itself requires deeper scrutiny. Many questions pertaining to the security lapse remained unanswered. How did it all start? Was he really standing there suspiciously, taking photographs? If the offi... | | |
| | MARGINALIA | | Lynching mobs, repressive regime and glamourisation of war! | | | By Anuradha Bhasin Jamwal | |
| | A society made habitual of violence, intimidations, suspicions where killings, torture, sexual abuse and pellet-gun related blindings are the norm is so brutalized that it will try to respond with its own idiom of brutality. Humanity today, sadly so, stands throttled in Kashmir and there is need to reflect and introspect, if this trend is to be reversed or even arrested.
The stupidest thing to do, when powers that be are hell-bent on provoking the Kashmiris for their petty political gains, would be to play into their hands and get provoked, which is what is essentially happening right now. The Kashmir situation today is extra-ordinarily complex and difficult and necessitates an extra-ordinary response of the Kashmiri society across the board.
No ifs and buts; and no denials. The lynchi... | | |
| | | Peanut benefits for farmers | | NDA-government, which promises to raise farmers' income by double in five years does not appear to be moving in right direction | | | The central government does not appear to be serious in tackling the problems faced by the farming community, who are holding country-wide protests seeking concessions on loans availed by them during the past few years. The recent announcement of hiking procurement prices for about a dozen agriculture items, mainly foodgrains is nothing more than peanuts compared to the previous raise in rates given to farmers. Though about a dozen agriculture products are covered by the procurement prices, but only two major items, rice paddy and wheat are purchased by the government agencies, particularly Food Corporation of India (FCI) to save the farmers from distress sale of their produce. Despite India being the biggest exporter of rice in the world, the paddy procurement priced has been raised by a... | | |
| | | For the love of game | | Hyper-nationalism associated with cricket is misplaced and reduces the value of the sport | | | The response to the fantastic victory of Pakistan in the finals of International Cricket Championship (ICC) trophy on Sunday within the sub-continent was as usual something that eluded sportsman spirit. While Pakistanis went euphoric with celebration, some firing shot in air in maddening frenzy, injuring children; in India even the media went into deep mourning with the news of the match reduced to a corner of the page and Indian victory in hockey, which is not as popular a game, dominating the pages. In Kashmir, young boys burst crackers to rejoice the defeat of the Indian cricket team and raised slogans to irritate the security and para-military forces. While cricket is raised to the highest pedestal of patriotism, the game itself is reduced to war which defies the spirit of sports. One... | | |
| | | End violence in Darjeeling | | Along with the dialogue process to resolve the crisis, steps should also be taken to empower Gorkhaland Territorial Administration | | | Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s call to initiate a broad-based dialogue process for bringing to an end the violence and agitation in Darjeeling Hills of West Bengal is a welcome announcement. But this announcement is an anti-thesis of the NDA-government, which does not believe in resolving the vexed issues in Kashmir and almost all the North Eastern states of the country. This is despite the fact that all contentious issues around the world have been resolved through a dialogue process. Even the countries which have been at war with each other in various parts of the world have ultimately realized the futility of the conflict and negotiated all issues by sitting the table. Unfortunately, the members of the Sangh Parivar, who are ruling the roost in the corridors of power at the centre... | | |
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