Critique of the Times

Languages have their own laws of evolution, ones that are not too different from those about species. Some languages survive, grow. Others become extinct. Some merge themselves into other languages. Others combine with another, and a third is born. The history of linguistic evolution is the history of dead languages. Humanity is a melting pot of cultures and languages are in a flux. Changes take place all the time, but most of these are not always discernible since the mutations are usually...

On December 24, 2008, Adama Kamara was six months pregnant and went into premature labour. By the next day it became clear she was suffering prolonged labour. The family observed her for one day before transporting her to a government hospital in Kambia, Sierra Leone. Transporting her to the hospital cost Le40,000 (US$13), which her husband borrowed from his neighbours. When they arrived at the hospital, Abu Kamara had to pay Le2,000 (US$0.67) for registration and Le10,000 (US$3.30) for a...

The Omar Abdullah government knows how to instill faith among the people of Kashmir. By heaping insult upon injury, of course. It has shamelessly been doing so for the past so many months, and it has done so again by reinstating four police officials who had been suspended after the sensational killing and rapes of two women in Shopian last year. The suspension period of the four police officials has been treated as on-duty and they have been absolved of all charges. They have been reinstated on...

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA, for short) is very much in the news. And so are a host of officers of the Armed Forces, both retired and serving, who have voiced their desire for the Act to continue. It needs to be seen why they are being strident about an Act that has been repeatedly called “draconian” by many who are knowledgeable about it. What also needs to be exposed are the deceptive arguments they have been dinning into our ears. The Chief of Army Staff, Gen VK Singh...

For a country which has a full-fledged ministry dedicated to its expatriates around the world, and also conducts an ostentatious Pravasi Bharatiya Divas with considerable sound and fury, it is rather astounding and lamentable that the government is yet to speak out against the persecution of the oldest Indian diaspora population – the Roma – in Europe. France has deported around 1,000 Roma to Bulgaria and Romania since August and has been accused by Amnesty International of "stigmatising" the...

A week from now world leaders would be meeting in New York to review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to chart out a course for accelerated action between now and 2015. There are apprehensions that the goals may not be achieved after all. According to a round-up released by a UN agency in March this year, the failure to achieve the MDGs so far is not because they are unreachable, or because time is too short, but because of unmet commitments, inadequate resources, and...

The two recent strikes by doctors have set extremely dangerous precedents. In both cases, in Rajasthan and in Delhi, the authorities went down on their knees and yielded to the demands of the doctors. Stalemates were avoided, but what went out to the entire country were dangerous signals — blackmailing tactics work. Around 1,200 doctors of Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital called off their strike on Wednesday after they were assured of more security. The doctors, including medical students, had gone...

In a society and during times, when money is said to be a determinant for almost everything, it is not surprising to see researchers striving hard to link it with happiness. The most recent one points out that money does buy happiness, or something close to it, but the effect diminishes above incomes of $75,000 a year. Now that’s a lot of money needed to purchase happiness, you will concur. That would be more than Rs 32 lakh a year in India. The research by Princeton University’s Daniel Kahneman...

The ongoing India-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations have been non-transparent. They are a threat to the livelihoods of millions of people, and any hasty conclusion of the talks will only fuel poverty, inequality, and environmental destruction. The terms of a new deal between the EU and India, negotiations of which have been “hijacked” by big business and vested interests on both sides, will jeopardise the livelihood of millions of small farmers and patients, a joint study by...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s assertion that the Supreme Court should stay out of the realm of policymaking is valid. But his contention that his government cannot give to the poor the grains that are rotting in State godowns is not. If anything, it is an anti-people emotion. The Prime Minister was interacting with senior editors at his residence, when he made these points. He went on to insist, “How can foodgrains be distributed free to an estimated 37 per cent of the population which lives...