Paying politicians
The pay rise of MPs must not be decided by a Parliamentary panel (“If we want India's brightest to take to politics, we had better pay them well”). Let it be decided by a group of former presidents and prime ministers. – Indra Sharma
***
The premise in Akshat Khandelwal's piece is that smart people have a right to "an upper-middle-class lifestyle" and that this right is axiomatic. They will not take a hit in their lifestyles, it is the pay that has to move to the market rate. The author seems to think that no spirit of public service is warranted on the part of public servants, that we should demand no sacrifice from them, and that the government is just another service-sector industry.
To be sure, public sector pay in many areas is abysmal and should improve. Further, much private pay is disproportionately high in terms of societal benefit, a serious market failure. And low public-sector pay does indeed promote corruption. But a position that that makes no distinction between public and private work, makes no moral demands of our young generation and concedes to the morality of the pay check does perhaps throw the baby out with the bathwater. – Anush Kapadia
***
Maybe the argument against this proposal (and this is solely from the common man's point of view and not the opposition party) is the very fact that many MPs have to yet to obtain a clean chit with respect to black money.
The ruling party has crossed its 365-day mark and yet there's no sign of the stashed away money that does not belong to them. Asking for the salaries of MPs to be doubled at this point would need some delivering on the pending issues. – Aneesh Nadkarni
***
This is disgusting that they themselves want to increase salary by 100% whereas taxpayers have not been given any relief. An appeal has been made to forgo the LPG subsidy, whereas the canteen subsidy has not been forgiven. Why?
The CAG and the President should be the authority to decide the salary and perks of those selfish politicians. - skmax001@gmail.com
***
Getting in, getting out
If the students have joined with lower grades, they must have some difficulty in passing the medical college exams too. Is that also manipulated to suit their ability? ("Vyapam's hidden costs: Broken dreams and a health system staffed by dodgy doctors"). – Purushottam Barve
Let's not go Greek
What does the author mean by disillusioned ex-service men? (“Will Prime Minister Modi keep his word on One Rank One Pension?”) Why make demons of ex-servicemen if they ask for One Rank One Pension? Why are the financial limitations not talked about when it comes to MPs, MLAs and bureaucrats? Their salaries and pensions go spiralling up with no talk of financial burden.
All these people are earning and looting sitting in AC rooms. Their families use government vehicles and perks and their children go to the best of schools/colleges, unlike army men deployed in the worst of climate areas, the families being neglected and children changing school after school and state after state. Then he serves for about 17 years till he retires at about 38 years. His pay doesn't increase because he sees only one or maximum two Pay Commissions as compared to his civilian counterparts who see a minimum of three or four Pay Commissions. Army men don't get even the 50% of the basic pay in pension as he cannot complete the mandatory requirement of 33 years of service.
They die, they get maimed and few become prisoners of war. What more do the government or the country men want from us? Will you still call us disillusioned for demanding OROP? – Rajesh Kumar Gupta
***
If India wants to go the Greece way, then they should implement the OROP, which will have exponential negative effect on the economy. Nobody is speaking of whether this OROP will be applicable to those who had voluntarily quit the service and joined public sector or the corporate sector. Once OROP is implemented, there will be a plethora of court cases and thus equal justice to the BSF, ITBP, CRPF, SSB, etc, (In independent India, these forces have sacrificed more than the army, air force and ITBP put together) and this a question on keeping the validity of the Constitution by giving pension to those who don't work or perform but took pension (here only a disabled soldier or the deceased's family and such largesse irrespective of the organisations deserve it). When the talk of OROP was initiated, it was understood to affect the exchequer to the tune of Rs 3,000 crores, which had shoot up to Rs 8,400 crores. After the 7th Pay Commission, it will have an exponential raise to Rs 16,000 crores. – Binuchandran
Betting too big
Moscow is clearly pushing to reintegrate separatist regions under the Minsk II agreement (“The dangerous gamble that could spark full-scale conflict in Ukraine”). Minsk II gives Russia veto powers over Ukraine and limits its exposure to the devastated region. Moscow has made many announcements to this effect and behind the scenes, Russian GRU has disposed all local rebel commanders that were pushing for a continuing offensive.
Recently, it also forced DNR to demilitarise Shirokino to further dial down confrontation along the front line. On the other hand, following through with Minsk II is politically unfeasible and likely suicidal for the Kiev government. As a result they have not engaged rebels in any discussions (Item 2 of the agreement) and signed the laws that clearly violate the Minsk agreement. The agreement calls for restoration of economic co-operation (Item 8 of the agreement). Instead, the law has enacted economic blockade.
Ukraine is playing a dangerous gamble that can result in escalation of conflict. The gamble is to create conditions for Russian mainline forces to invade eastern Ukraine. Kiev is betting that the West will be forced to get involved if Russia breaks the ceasefire and invades. Kiev is also betting that in such a scenario, the combination of the Ukrainian army, partisan movement and Western military support will bleed Russia to the point where it would have to withdraw all together. – Oleg Rodionov
Proud of Mumbai
I'm proud of Mumbai for thinking about the welfare of the horses over money (“A Mumbai Victoria horse-carriage builder sees the end of the road for him in the High Court ban”). The horse carriage trade is archaic. I wish New York City would wake up and ban their horse carriage trade, but for some odd reason they are digressing for the sake of money. – Dee Simon
Questionable timing
As an Indian who lived through the the days of the Emergency, I have a few question to ask the author of this story, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lewis M Simons (“First person: The story behind how Sanjay Gandhi slapped Indira six times at a dinner party”).
1. Did you make enquiries as to why the alleged altercation took place that led to the alleged six slaps?
2. Did you check the veracity with Col Chaudhari, the Black Cat commando who was present directly or through his trusted deputies whenever the then PM met anyone?
3. Did you check the veracity with Mr Medhekar, one time security adviser to the then PM?
4. Did you enquire whether this story was revenge for the strong stand the then PM gave Mr Nixon and his gang member Mr Kissinger?
5. What's your logic and motivation in releasing such rumours after the death of the two persons allegedly involved? – Bhal Patankar
***
Even though those days there were widespread rumours that Indira Gandhi was involved in the accidental death of her son Sanjay Gandhi, I had no reason to believe it was authentic.
The story that you have come out with after about four decades, is for good reasons, very well-timed, and you have taken advantage of. To me it appeared to be, in fact, a one-way-out story. The fact remains that there might be many more people like me in the world interested to learn the history by the facts and figures from trusted and trustworthy sources. The lady you have spoken about in your “story”, was, no doubt, a greatly acknowledged and able statesman of her time, but being a political personality, it is not very unusual that gossip about her might fan out in the matter of time.
However, facts always remain facts, subject to presentation of time-tested authentication in support of the same. – Monojit Mitra Mustafi
Dravidian vs Vedic
The article about the origin of Sanskrit lacks facts and is heavily coloured with political motivation (“Fact check: India wasn't the first place Sanskrit was recorded – it was Syria”). The Indus Valley Civilisation is dated 3,300 BC and this article talks about some event in 1,200 – 2,000 BC. Isn't that a bit weird? Every sensible historian claims Indian Vedic civilisation is older than the Indus Valley part, vis-a-vis, Sankrit was recorded in India/Aryavarta much before. Besides, no one claims India is Sanskrit's birthplace because the Dravidian culture predates Vedic culture in the Indian peninsula and Sanskrit might have been imported by the migrating Aryans.
Please don't take offence, I'm just contesting the sanity of this article. – Chirantan
***
It is extremely heart-wrenching for an Indian to read about repeated invasions and subsequent destruction – a history concocted by foreign pseudo scholars who take pleasure in denigrating India, Indians and Hinduism.
Christians had their Alexander the Great. Muslims had their Chengiz Khan. Chinese had their Chin emperor. We don't have any heroes who conquered foreign countries. The only thing we have are the Vedas, Sanskrit and Yoga. Now you are saying even Sanskrit is foreign. This is deeply hurtful.
You have to agree the Aryans are original Indians. They did not evolve from Africans or come from anywhere else. They were sons of the soil. All of India was Aryavarta. In the ancient times, even South Indians were pure Aryans and spoke Sanskrit. It was the British who brought some Africans to the south, mixed up the population to create black South Indians and called them Dravidas. They also taught these Madrasis to speak some DaGaBaDaBoo language and called it Tamil or whatever.
Even in the North East, only Aryans were there. The British did genetic modification on all of them to look like Chinese. You sure know of their divide and rule policy.
Now we want to tell the truth. Aryans belong to Bharat. They spoke Sanskrit and wrote the Vedas. They discovered Yoga. They invented airplanes, missiles and nuclear bum too. This author is a Muslim. That is why he is anti-India. – Girish C
***
Be ashamed, apologise
You should be ashamed that you are writing baseless derogatory things concerning the Hindu culture and belief (“Rani Padmini and four other Hindutva history myths exploded”). When counter-questioned, you kept quiet. You do not even have the courage to apologise. It is the tolerance of the Hindu culture that you are not harmed. Try that for Islam or another culture and see the results. – Hariom Sharma
intolerant Modi
Unfortunately, India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the tone on social media and in the public arena by using demeaning phrases and clever 'sound bites' calling for elimination of anyone who challenges his views (“Why Modi’s appeal to Twitter trolls is too little, too late”). He is often intolerant, intimidating, even aggressive, and has been one of the main propagators of ambiguity regarding women, to the point of being blatantly sexist. If he continues with superficial practices like selfies instead of implementing real reform or holding authentic debate, it is hardly surprising that his followers exhibit this behaviour. – Sandy Tatham
***
Just open the Times of India and read the comments on most of the articles. You will find these Modi bhakts are at their worst trying to spread hatred between communities and divide our country. I don't know what pleasure they get doing such a thing. Wishing you all the best and hopefully this spreading of hatred will soon stop in our country before it’s too late. – Rick Patel
Literary agents
For writers like myself, who have no literary background, agents are the only hope to get our work published since publishing houses are out of our reach because of a hundred reasons under the sky! (“The plight of the hapless Indian literary agent”) But, for the elite ones, you are obviously an option. Let me cut to the chase before you begin to find me rude.
When I search for literary agents in India on Google, the only believable list is the following one:
* Aitken Alexander Associates – Shruti Debi
* The Boxwallah Literary Agency – Renuka Chatterjee
* CAA KWAN
* HMA Literary Agency – Mike Bryan and Heather Adams
* Jacaranda - Jayapriya Vasudevan, Helen Mangham, and Andrea Pasion-Flores
* Kadalu – Geraldine Rose and Sridhar Gowda
* Labyrinth Literary Agency – Anish Chandy
* Purple Folio – Urmila Dasgupta
* Red Ink – Anuj Bahri, Sharvani Pandit, and Sanya Sagar
* Sherna Khambatta Literary Agency – Sherna Khambatta
* Siyahi – Mita Kapur
* WordFamous – Dipti and Rushabh Patel
* Writer’s Side – Kanishka Gupta and Rahul Soni
These are 13 in number.
Now, your agency alone must receive several submissions on a daily basis. You sieve these to check if you are interested in the extract. If not, you have the power to reject all and move on. You are professionally qualified to do this, I agree but if you are complaining about the authors with the ability to become part of the topmost layer of cream to not think twice before crossing over you, aren`t you doing the same thing with struggling authors with no background? - Bimal W Bedi
Fine writing
Thank you for your fine piece (“Indian writing from Africa: the diasporic literature you didn’t know about”).
At the time Idi Amin announced the expulsion of Asians from Uganda in August, 1972, I was a Senior Finance Officer in Uganda’s Ministry of Finance. In September, my Uganda citizenship was taken away on a technicality but I was exempted from having to leave the country. However, I received the Seymour Lustman Fellowship from Yale University, to begin in February 1973, granted for my novel. So I left with my wife and two daughters on January 19, 1973, over two months after the expulsion deadline. I left on leave but the head of my division in the Ministry, Anthony Ocaya, told me not to come back because he was leaving three weeks after I did as he was tired of dodging assassins. He said we would meet in the US, and we did.
The week after the deadline, while I was still in Uganda, my first book of literary criticism, Literature and Society in Modern Africa, was published by the East African Literature Bureau. From Yale, I was invited by the University of Iowa where I completed writing The General is Up, based on the Asian expulsion. Incidentally, I forwarded the information about your article to Jameela Siddiqi, who lives in London. I taught her novel, The Feast of the Nine Virgins, in my class. She has published a second novel, Bombay Gardens, and is now at work on a third. – Peter Nazareth
They, Robots
I read your article (via Isaac Asimov's Facebook page) with considerable interest, having first read the great man's Robot series whilst in school (“Robot kills man: how Isaac Asimov dealt with this in his Robot series”).
At the age of 16 (when I read the books the first time) I was utterly fascinated by the concept of a machine that looked and sounded human but was both vastly more intelligent and strictly governed by The Three Laws of Robotics. It may be that these books (along with many others) helped to foster a desire to work in the IT industry, something that I've now been doing for 20 years. Sadly my field (programming) doesn't extend to the areas of either robotics or artificial intelligence.
Your article does raise very interesting points. I've read a lot of fiction over the years (not all sci-fi I hasten to add) and do believe that we're approaching an age where robots are becoming more commonplace. Sadly it's my belief that incidents such as the one in Germany to which referred in your article, coupled with any number of movies in which robots either malfunction or develop malevolent tendencies, will probably mean that humaniform robots as described in Asimov's books and sentient machines as seen in many movies and wonderfully described by Iain M Banks in his wonderful Culture series, will not become commonplace in the home, office or factory in my lifetime. I would like it to though. – Ian Henderson
Missing the point
I find it ironic that in an article about coke removing labels about people; you title it "message to Muslims" (“Watch Coca-Cola send a message to Muslims by removing labels from its cans for Ramadan”).
No snark, just observation. You might want to think about the fact that your team completely missed the point of the message you are writing about. – Carrie Corbin
Just right
Excellent write up, Ajaz Ashraf (“How Narendra Modi is remaking India Gate in his own image”). Just the right amount of suppressed humour, evident humour, facts, history, no ill will to any one in particular, but good will to most groups, biting comments with no left over effects except for smiling faces. – Kevin Koshy
Kashmiris, the masters of ‘changa’
Whenever there has been expose of truth, the accused parties have always brushed it aside by saying it is a conspiracy (“Spymaster Dulat's claims generate a sense of vindication among Kashmiris”). It is a subcontinental behavior introduced by the corrupt politicians at top levels since the Partition.
We know how Indian agencies succeeded in making inroads into Pakistan's political and military corridors and how it changed the geopolitical scenario of the subcontinent. As far as Kashmir is concerned, it has been a playground of Indian agencies who had kept their chess pieces well on the chessboard of politics since 1947. Being myself a victim of Indian repressive policies, I know how people succumb to pressures and how ambitious people yield.
There is a word in Kashmiri language, "changa"; Kashmiris are masters of that craft. 'Changa' is the art of cunningness of thugs. After doing 'changa', Kashmiris say we are the most clean at all levels. From human rights activism to street shows and from militant groupings to trans-border campaigns, everything is sponsored. Facts suggest and history shows that treason is in the blood of humanity, especially in this part of the world.
Keeping in view the history of upheavals in Kashmir, I have no reason to doubt the account of Dulat. – Rafi Punjabi
Do ex-FTIIians teach?
Further to Nandini Ramnath's article (“There’s much more to the FTII than Bollywood director Rajkumar Hirani, Mr Gajendra Chauhan”) about the FTII, It would be a useful search to find how many ex-FTII students are also in the field of cinema education, and whether the other film institutions you mentioned have such people.
These, along with film makers of both fiction and non-fiction, are setting the grounds for an audio-visual education in this country. – Jethu Mundul
Better than maulvis
An award for Zakir Naik is not a bad news at all (“Why a Saudi award for televangelist Zakir Naik is bad news for India’s Muslims”). After all, he is much better than the so-called ritual sectarian maulvis and pseudo-secular Muslim intellectuals, who have not given any sense of direction to Muslim masses in India. And that is why the Indian Muslims have been suffering in politics and religion both. – Arshad Farooqi
Classy Audrey
Audrey Hepburn was classy and perhaps the first chic women who looked so natural and so perky. Stirring write-up (“An alternative femininity: behind the enduring fascination of Audrey Hepburn”). – NK Singh
Play it right
A big appreciation to MK Bhadrakumar for his article on Narendra Modi (“Why Modi will be the odd one out at the BRICS summit”). A very balanced article on contemporary foreign policy motives of India. But India should also have to learn how to play its card on various forums.
Also, India shouldn't obstruct the Maritime Silk Route of China because there is a possibility of sidelining itself from this mega project and becoming a new Israel between many Arabs. We can't stop China. So India needs to join this mega project and defend its policies via diplomatic routes. – Ankit Gupta
***
Putin’s Russia is the most Right in the world today, more Right than the US and Europe. This being the case, how can you say - “At a time when the BRICS under Russia’s chairmanship, and supported by China, is hoping to turn left, challenging the US agenda to dominate the world order, Modi’s India seems veering sharply to the right”? – Clue Dance
Jai ho
Thank you for such a brilliantly written article about Rabindranath Tagore and the national anthem. God bless you (“What explains the return of the 104-year-old controversy about Tagore and the national anthem?”). – Anirban Saha
***
The story doesn't explain the controversy. It does adequately explain, however, what length Scroll can go to sacrifice principles of journalism for defending ideology.
If you are objective, you must look at the two songs per se and not go by what Tagore says in his defence.
1. Who is Bharat Bhagya Vidhata? In our entire traditional/nationalistic literature, including Tagore's own, there is no concept of a separate hero/captain who is identified with the nation. Why is this an exception? And Tagore expected people would automatically understand it and not interpret it as George V?
2. When the concept of Bharat Mata was such a popular notion, what was the need of inventing a one-song imaginary hero?
3. If we go by Tagore's argument, as quoted by you, how is it that a charioteer does not hurt Muslim sentiments, but a simple, all-pervasive concept of country-as-mother with no conflict with a supreme god does?
4. Where in Bande Mataram is the reference to Goddess Durga? And what is so unsecular about either Bande/Vande or Mataram?
Being a liberal, I find this ideology-over-journalism extremely deplorable. By doing so, you are just catalysing what the Sangh ideologues are trying to achieve. Liberal doesn't mean being Leftist or Rightist. It means that you must be open and logical irrespective of your belief. You are increasingly proving that you are not, by indulging in these kind of deliberate confuse-the-reader exercises. – Shyamanuja Das
***
Who is this universal Lord, sir? Only Muslims and Christians claim of such Lord in the form of Allah or in the form of God. So you are saying it is okay to impose a Christian notion of God, or the Muslim notion of Allah, but not show Bharat Mata, as old a notion as Bharata itself is anti-secular. After all, your secularism is as confused as your universal Lord.
How does the communal become antonym of secular, your wise excellence? If secularism, as some tell me, in India means “Sarva Dharma Sambhava” (another uneducated use of the word Dharma), shouldn’t its antonym be “No Dharma Sambhava”? – Ravindra Koul
Islam, Arabic
Interesting write-up and observation on the subject of Ramadan vs Ramazan (“Why are Indian Muslims using the Arabic word ‘Ramadan’ instead of the traditional 'Ramzan'?”). The broad picture is that a whole lot of Muslims world around are moving from Sufism-filled Islam to a more authentic and realistic vision of the Prophet's practised Islam.
I strongly believe in adopting the correct way of pronunciation for a simple reason: Islam is Arabic and Arabic is Islam. - mak@corevalue.in
***
Well said on the issue of Indian Muslims. They have started mimicking the Arab culture as soon as they landed there, as if retrogressing to when there was no education for their forefathers. The point is, why can’t Indians be original and not start to ape the country that they settle in, even for a short span of time? – Gargi Naidu
Sounds of silence
Your article (as per the subject line), although good, leaves out one very important aspect of the Yemen situation (“More than 2,800 people are dead in Yemen – so why aren’t we outraged?”). You do not say anything about the silence of the Arab and Muslim countries with regards to the carnage and destruction being wreaked on Yemen by Saudi Arabia.
While the same countries cried hoarse about the Israeli action on Gaza (even though justified) and people from those countries and like-minded ones from Western countries committed acts of terrorism as revenge for the Israeli action, they are deafeningly silent about the hapless Yemenis who you rightly say have suffered more than the Gazans. Why this omission? – Mike Lewis
Those Rajputs
Superb article about the failure of Rajputs. Nice read (“What our textbooks don't tell us: Why the Rajputs failed miserably in battle for centuries”). – Arasu V
Katju's fast
It was such a thoughtful gesture by Markandey Katju (“Why I appealed to non-Muslims to observe roza for a day”) .Really, people like him are going to change the mindset of people. We can have a better understanding of each other and defeat the menace of religious bigotry. – Sufia Khalid
Railways paintings
Thanks for that wonderful archive of photos of India's railway history (“The long history of Indian Railways, told through images”). It does give a glimpse of how travelling in India was over the course of the century. The railways have been a mainstay in Indian life, with millions using the system every day. It is of paramount importance to store the heritage in museums and preserve it for future generations to marvel. – Supreet Kini
***
Thanks for the post on Bijaya Biswal's work and paintings. I keep track of what is posted on Scroll on most days. Keep posting. – Abraham Nedumparambil
***
The paintings were really great and true to reality. Bijaya Biswal deserves appreciation and encouragement from the Railways, particularly from our great Railway Minister, in a befitting way and he must be encouraged to paint more such pictures and also of places of tourist importance to promote tourism linking with railways in India. The Ministry of Railways should display the hoarding of these paintings at various railway stations and in premium train coaches. – Upadhyayula Viswanadham
Let it be
Let intellects have freedom in India (“Attacking Amartya: Why doesn't anyone want to have a real argument with the argumentative Indian?”). Whatever ideology they follow, the inclination towards Left or Right, independence to academic institutions, evaluating the highest, etc. are choices every intellect face, loudly or mutely.
Let such people who possess such an intellect be. People also have opinions, and everyone should. But are opinions expressed after fully understanding what a person says? Just let it be. – Sheetal Lakhia
The pay rise of MPs must not be decided by a Parliamentary panel (“If we want India's brightest to take to politics, we had better pay them well”). Let it be decided by a group of former presidents and prime ministers. – Indra Sharma
***
The premise in Akshat Khandelwal's piece is that smart people have a right to "an upper-middle-class lifestyle" and that this right is axiomatic. They will not take a hit in their lifestyles, it is the pay that has to move to the market rate. The author seems to think that no spirit of public service is warranted on the part of public servants, that we should demand no sacrifice from them, and that the government is just another service-sector industry.
To be sure, public sector pay in many areas is abysmal and should improve. Further, much private pay is disproportionately high in terms of societal benefit, a serious market failure. And low public-sector pay does indeed promote corruption. But a position that that makes no distinction between public and private work, makes no moral demands of our young generation and concedes to the morality of the pay check does perhaps throw the baby out with the bathwater. – Anush Kapadia
***
Maybe the argument against this proposal (and this is solely from the common man's point of view and not the opposition party) is the very fact that many MPs have to yet to obtain a clean chit with respect to black money.
The ruling party has crossed its 365-day mark and yet there's no sign of the stashed away money that does not belong to them. Asking for the salaries of MPs to be doubled at this point would need some delivering on the pending issues. – Aneesh Nadkarni
***
This is disgusting that they themselves want to increase salary by 100% whereas taxpayers have not been given any relief. An appeal has been made to forgo the LPG subsidy, whereas the canteen subsidy has not been forgiven. Why?
The CAG and the President should be the authority to decide the salary and perks of those selfish politicians. - skmax001@gmail.com
***
Getting in, getting out
If the students have joined with lower grades, they must have some difficulty in passing the medical college exams too. Is that also manipulated to suit their ability? ("Vyapam's hidden costs: Broken dreams and a health system staffed by dodgy doctors"). – Purushottam Barve
Let's not go Greek
What does the author mean by disillusioned ex-service men? (“Will Prime Minister Modi keep his word on One Rank One Pension?”) Why make demons of ex-servicemen if they ask for One Rank One Pension? Why are the financial limitations not talked about when it comes to MPs, MLAs and bureaucrats? Their salaries and pensions go spiralling up with no talk of financial burden.
All these people are earning and looting sitting in AC rooms. Their families use government vehicles and perks and their children go to the best of schools/colleges, unlike army men deployed in the worst of climate areas, the families being neglected and children changing school after school and state after state. Then he serves for about 17 years till he retires at about 38 years. His pay doesn't increase because he sees only one or maximum two Pay Commissions as compared to his civilian counterparts who see a minimum of three or four Pay Commissions. Army men don't get even the 50% of the basic pay in pension as he cannot complete the mandatory requirement of 33 years of service.
They die, they get maimed and few become prisoners of war. What more do the government or the country men want from us? Will you still call us disillusioned for demanding OROP? – Rajesh Kumar Gupta
***
If India wants to go the Greece way, then they should implement the OROP, which will have exponential negative effect on the economy. Nobody is speaking of whether this OROP will be applicable to those who had voluntarily quit the service and joined public sector or the corporate sector. Once OROP is implemented, there will be a plethora of court cases and thus equal justice to the BSF, ITBP, CRPF, SSB, etc, (In independent India, these forces have sacrificed more than the army, air force and ITBP put together) and this a question on keeping the validity of the Constitution by giving pension to those who don't work or perform but took pension (here only a disabled soldier or the deceased's family and such largesse irrespective of the organisations deserve it). When the talk of OROP was initiated, it was understood to affect the exchequer to the tune of Rs 3,000 crores, which had shoot up to Rs 8,400 crores. After the 7th Pay Commission, it will have an exponential raise to Rs 16,000 crores. – Binuchandran
Betting too big
Moscow is clearly pushing to reintegrate separatist regions under the Minsk II agreement (“The dangerous gamble that could spark full-scale conflict in Ukraine”). Minsk II gives Russia veto powers over Ukraine and limits its exposure to the devastated region. Moscow has made many announcements to this effect and behind the scenes, Russian GRU has disposed all local rebel commanders that were pushing for a continuing offensive.
Recently, it also forced DNR to demilitarise Shirokino to further dial down confrontation along the front line. On the other hand, following through with Minsk II is politically unfeasible and likely suicidal for the Kiev government. As a result they have not engaged rebels in any discussions (Item 2 of the agreement) and signed the laws that clearly violate the Minsk agreement. The agreement calls for restoration of economic co-operation (Item 8 of the agreement). Instead, the law has enacted economic blockade.
Ukraine is playing a dangerous gamble that can result in escalation of conflict. The gamble is to create conditions for Russian mainline forces to invade eastern Ukraine. Kiev is betting that the West will be forced to get involved if Russia breaks the ceasefire and invades. Kiev is also betting that in such a scenario, the combination of the Ukrainian army, partisan movement and Western military support will bleed Russia to the point where it would have to withdraw all together. – Oleg Rodionov
Proud of Mumbai
I'm proud of Mumbai for thinking about the welfare of the horses over money (“A Mumbai Victoria horse-carriage builder sees the end of the road for him in the High Court ban”). The horse carriage trade is archaic. I wish New York City would wake up and ban their horse carriage trade, but for some odd reason they are digressing for the sake of money. – Dee Simon
Questionable timing
As an Indian who lived through the the days of the Emergency, I have a few question to ask the author of this story, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lewis M Simons (“First person: The story behind how Sanjay Gandhi slapped Indira six times at a dinner party”).
1. Did you make enquiries as to why the alleged altercation took place that led to the alleged six slaps?
2. Did you check the veracity with Col Chaudhari, the Black Cat commando who was present directly or through his trusted deputies whenever the then PM met anyone?
3. Did you check the veracity with Mr Medhekar, one time security adviser to the then PM?
4. Did you enquire whether this story was revenge for the strong stand the then PM gave Mr Nixon and his gang member Mr Kissinger?
5. What's your logic and motivation in releasing such rumours after the death of the two persons allegedly involved? – Bhal Patankar
***
Even though those days there were widespread rumours that Indira Gandhi was involved in the accidental death of her son Sanjay Gandhi, I had no reason to believe it was authentic.
The story that you have come out with after about four decades, is for good reasons, very well-timed, and you have taken advantage of. To me it appeared to be, in fact, a one-way-out story. The fact remains that there might be many more people like me in the world interested to learn the history by the facts and figures from trusted and trustworthy sources. The lady you have spoken about in your “story”, was, no doubt, a greatly acknowledged and able statesman of her time, but being a political personality, it is not very unusual that gossip about her might fan out in the matter of time.
However, facts always remain facts, subject to presentation of time-tested authentication in support of the same. – Monojit Mitra Mustafi
Dravidian vs Vedic
The article about the origin of Sanskrit lacks facts and is heavily coloured with political motivation (“Fact check: India wasn't the first place Sanskrit was recorded – it was Syria”). The Indus Valley Civilisation is dated 3,300 BC and this article talks about some event in 1,200 – 2,000 BC. Isn't that a bit weird? Every sensible historian claims Indian Vedic civilisation is older than the Indus Valley part, vis-a-vis, Sankrit was recorded in India/Aryavarta much before. Besides, no one claims India is Sanskrit's birthplace because the Dravidian culture predates Vedic culture in the Indian peninsula and Sanskrit might have been imported by the migrating Aryans.
Please don't take offence, I'm just contesting the sanity of this article. – Chirantan
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It is extremely heart-wrenching for an Indian to read about repeated invasions and subsequent destruction – a history concocted by foreign pseudo scholars who take pleasure in denigrating India, Indians and Hinduism.
Christians had their Alexander the Great. Muslims had their Chengiz Khan. Chinese had their Chin emperor. We don't have any heroes who conquered foreign countries. The only thing we have are the Vedas, Sanskrit and Yoga. Now you are saying even Sanskrit is foreign. This is deeply hurtful.
You have to agree the Aryans are original Indians. They did not evolve from Africans or come from anywhere else. They were sons of the soil. All of India was Aryavarta. In the ancient times, even South Indians were pure Aryans and spoke Sanskrit. It was the British who brought some Africans to the south, mixed up the population to create black South Indians and called them Dravidas. They also taught these Madrasis to speak some DaGaBaDaBoo language and called it Tamil or whatever.
Even in the North East, only Aryans were there. The British did genetic modification on all of them to look like Chinese. You sure know of their divide and rule policy.
Now we want to tell the truth. Aryans belong to Bharat. They spoke Sanskrit and wrote the Vedas. They discovered Yoga. They invented airplanes, missiles and nuclear bum too. This author is a Muslim. That is why he is anti-India. – Girish C
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Be ashamed, apologise
You should be ashamed that you are writing baseless derogatory things concerning the Hindu culture and belief (“Rani Padmini and four other Hindutva history myths exploded”). When counter-questioned, you kept quiet. You do not even have the courage to apologise. It is the tolerance of the Hindu culture that you are not harmed. Try that for Islam or another culture and see the results. – Hariom Sharma
intolerant Modi
Unfortunately, India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the tone on social media and in the public arena by using demeaning phrases and clever 'sound bites' calling for elimination of anyone who challenges his views (“Why Modi’s appeal to Twitter trolls is too little, too late”). He is often intolerant, intimidating, even aggressive, and has been one of the main propagators of ambiguity regarding women, to the point of being blatantly sexist. If he continues with superficial practices like selfies instead of implementing real reform or holding authentic debate, it is hardly surprising that his followers exhibit this behaviour. – Sandy Tatham
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Just open the Times of India and read the comments on most of the articles. You will find these Modi bhakts are at their worst trying to spread hatred between communities and divide our country. I don't know what pleasure they get doing such a thing. Wishing you all the best and hopefully this spreading of hatred will soon stop in our country before it’s too late. – Rick Patel
Literary agents
For writers like myself, who have no literary background, agents are the only hope to get our work published since publishing houses are out of our reach because of a hundred reasons under the sky! (“The plight of the hapless Indian literary agent”) But, for the elite ones, you are obviously an option. Let me cut to the chase before you begin to find me rude.
When I search for literary agents in India on Google, the only believable list is the following one:
* Aitken Alexander Associates – Shruti Debi
* The Boxwallah Literary Agency – Renuka Chatterjee
* CAA KWAN
* HMA Literary Agency – Mike Bryan and Heather Adams
* Jacaranda - Jayapriya Vasudevan, Helen Mangham, and Andrea Pasion-Flores
* Kadalu – Geraldine Rose and Sridhar Gowda
* Labyrinth Literary Agency – Anish Chandy
* Purple Folio – Urmila Dasgupta
* Red Ink – Anuj Bahri, Sharvani Pandit, and Sanya Sagar
* Sherna Khambatta Literary Agency – Sherna Khambatta
* Siyahi – Mita Kapur
* WordFamous – Dipti and Rushabh Patel
* Writer’s Side – Kanishka Gupta and Rahul Soni
These are 13 in number.
Now, your agency alone must receive several submissions on a daily basis. You sieve these to check if you are interested in the extract. If not, you have the power to reject all and move on. You are professionally qualified to do this, I agree but if you are complaining about the authors with the ability to become part of the topmost layer of cream to not think twice before crossing over you, aren`t you doing the same thing with struggling authors with no background? - Bimal W Bedi
Fine writing
Thank you for your fine piece (“Indian writing from Africa: the diasporic literature you didn’t know about”).
At the time Idi Amin announced the expulsion of Asians from Uganda in August, 1972, I was a Senior Finance Officer in Uganda’s Ministry of Finance. In September, my Uganda citizenship was taken away on a technicality but I was exempted from having to leave the country. However, I received the Seymour Lustman Fellowship from Yale University, to begin in February 1973, granted for my novel. So I left with my wife and two daughters on January 19, 1973, over two months after the expulsion deadline. I left on leave but the head of my division in the Ministry, Anthony Ocaya, told me not to come back because he was leaving three weeks after I did as he was tired of dodging assassins. He said we would meet in the US, and we did.
The week after the deadline, while I was still in Uganda, my first book of literary criticism, Literature and Society in Modern Africa, was published by the East African Literature Bureau. From Yale, I was invited by the University of Iowa where I completed writing The General is Up, based on the Asian expulsion. Incidentally, I forwarded the information about your article to Jameela Siddiqi, who lives in London. I taught her novel, The Feast of the Nine Virgins, in my class. She has published a second novel, Bombay Gardens, and is now at work on a third. – Peter Nazareth
They, Robots
I read your article (via Isaac Asimov's Facebook page) with considerable interest, having first read the great man's Robot series whilst in school (“Robot kills man: how Isaac Asimov dealt with this in his Robot series”).
At the age of 16 (when I read the books the first time) I was utterly fascinated by the concept of a machine that looked and sounded human but was both vastly more intelligent and strictly governed by The Three Laws of Robotics. It may be that these books (along with many others) helped to foster a desire to work in the IT industry, something that I've now been doing for 20 years. Sadly my field (programming) doesn't extend to the areas of either robotics or artificial intelligence.
Your article does raise very interesting points. I've read a lot of fiction over the years (not all sci-fi I hasten to add) and do believe that we're approaching an age where robots are becoming more commonplace. Sadly it's my belief that incidents such as the one in Germany to which referred in your article, coupled with any number of movies in which robots either malfunction or develop malevolent tendencies, will probably mean that humaniform robots as described in Asimov's books and sentient machines as seen in many movies and wonderfully described by Iain M Banks in his wonderful Culture series, will not become commonplace in the home, office or factory in my lifetime. I would like it to though. – Ian Henderson
Missing the point
I find it ironic that in an article about coke removing labels about people; you title it "message to Muslims" (“Watch Coca-Cola send a message to Muslims by removing labels from its cans for Ramadan”).
No snark, just observation. You might want to think about the fact that your team completely missed the point of the message you are writing about. – Carrie Corbin
Just right
Excellent write up, Ajaz Ashraf (“How Narendra Modi is remaking India Gate in his own image”). Just the right amount of suppressed humour, evident humour, facts, history, no ill will to any one in particular, but good will to most groups, biting comments with no left over effects except for smiling faces. – Kevin Koshy
Kashmiris, the masters of ‘changa’
Whenever there has been expose of truth, the accused parties have always brushed it aside by saying it is a conspiracy (“Spymaster Dulat's claims generate a sense of vindication among Kashmiris”). It is a subcontinental behavior introduced by the corrupt politicians at top levels since the Partition.
We know how Indian agencies succeeded in making inroads into Pakistan's political and military corridors and how it changed the geopolitical scenario of the subcontinent. As far as Kashmir is concerned, it has been a playground of Indian agencies who had kept their chess pieces well on the chessboard of politics since 1947. Being myself a victim of Indian repressive policies, I know how people succumb to pressures and how ambitious people yield.
There is a word in Kashmiri language, "changa"; Kashmiris are masters of that craft. 'Changa' is the art of cunningness of thugs. After doing 'changa', Kashmiris say we are the most clean at all levels. From human rights activism to street shows and from militant groupings to trans-border campaigns, everything is sponsored. Facts suggest and history shows that treason is in the blood of humanity, especially in this part of the world.
Keeping in view the history of upheavals in Kashmir, I have no reason to doubt the account of Dulat. – Rafi Punjabi
Do ex-FTIIians teach?
Further to Nandini Ramnath's article (“There’s much more to the FTII than Bollywood director Rajkumar Hirani, Mr Gajendra Chauhan”) about the FTII, It would be a useful search to find how many ex-FTII students are also in the field of cinema education, and whether the other film institutions you mentioned have such people.
These, along with film makers of both fiction and non-fiction, are setting the grounds for an audio-visual education in this country. – Jethu Mundul
Better than maulvis
An award for Zakir Naik is not a bad news at all (“Why a Saudi award for televangelist Zakir Naik is bad news for India’s Muslims”). After all, he is much better than the so-called ritual sectarian maulvis and pseudo-secular Muslim intellectuals, who have not given any sense of direction to Muslim masses in India. And that is why the Indian Muslims have been suffering in politics and religion both. – Arshad Farooqi
Classy Audrey
Audrey Hepburn was classy and perhaps the first chic women who looked so natural and so perky. Stirring write-up (“An alternative femininity: behind the enduring fascination of Audrey Hepburn”). – NK Singh
Play it right
A big appreciation to MK Bhadrakumar for his article on Narendra Modi (“Why Modi will be the odd one out at the BRICS summit”). A very balanced article on contemporary foreign policy motives of India. But India should also have to learn how to play its card on various forums.
Also, India shouldn't obstruct the Maritime Silk Route of China because there is a possibility of sidelining itself from this mega project and becoming a new Israel between many Arabs. We can't stop China. So India needs to join this mega project and defend its policies via diplomatic routes. – Ankit Gupta
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Putin’s Russia is the most Right in the world today, more Right than the US and Europe. This being the case, how can you say - “At a time when the BRICS under Russia’s chairmanship, and supported by China, is hoping to turn left, challenging the US agenda to dominate the world order, Modi’s India seems veering sharply to the right”? – Clue Dance
Jai ho
Thank you for such a brilliantly written article about Rabindranath Tagore and the national anthem. God bless you (“What explains the return of the 104-year-old controversy about Tagore and the national anthem?”). – Anirban Saha
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The story doesn't explain the controversy. It does adequately explain, however, what length Scroll can go to sacrifice principles of journalism for defending ideology.
If you are objective, you must look at the two songs per se and not go by what Tagore says in his defence.
1. Who is Bharat Bhagya Vidhata? In our entire traditional/nationalistic literature, including Tagore's own, there is no concept of a separate hero/captain who is identified with the nation. Why is this an exception? And Tagore expected people would automatically understand it and not interpret it as George V?
2. When the concept of Bharat Mata was such a popular notion, what was the need of inventing a one-song imaginary hero?
3. If we go by Tagore's argument, as quoted by you, how is it that a charioteer does not hurt Muslim sentiments, but a simple, all-pervasive concept of country-as-mother with no conflict with a supreme god does?
4. Where in Bande Mataram is the reference to Goddess Durga? And what is so unsecular about either Bande/Vande or Mataram?
Being a liberal, I find this ideology-over-journalism extremely deplorable. By doing so, you are just catalysing what the Sangh ideologues are trying to achieve. Liberal doesn't mean being Leftist or Rightist. It means that you must be open and logical irrespective of your belief. You are increasingly proving that you are not, by indulging in these kind of deliberate confuse-the-reader exercises. – Shyamanuja Das
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Who is this universal Lord, sir? Only Muslims and Christians claim of such Lord in the form of Allah or in the form of God. So you are saying it is okay to impose a Christian notion of God, or the Muslim notion of Allah, but not show Bharat Mata, as old a notion as Bharata itself is anti-secular. After all, your secularism is as confused as your universal Lord.
How does the communal become antonym of secular, your wise excellence? If secularism, as some tell me, in India means “Sarva Dharma Sambhava” (another uneducated use of the word Dharma), shouldn’t its antonym be “No Dharma Sambhava”? – Ravindra Koul
Islam, Arabic
Interesting write-up and observation on the subject of Ramadan vs Ramazan (“Why are Indian Muslims using the Arabic word ‘Ramadan’ instead of the traditional 'Ramzan'?”). The broad picture is that a whole lot of Muslims world around are moving from Sufism-filled Islam to a more authentic and realistic vision of the Prophet's practised Islam.
I strongly believe in adopting the correct way of pronunciation for a simple reason: Islam is Arabic and Arabic is Islam. - mak@corevalue.in
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Well said on the issue of Indian Muslims. They have started mimicking the Arab culture as soon as they landed there, as if retrogressing to when there was no education for their forefathers. The point is, why can’t Indians be original and not start to ape the country that they settle in, even for a short span of time? – Gargi Naidu
Sounds of silence
Your article (as per the subject line), although good, leaves out one very important aspect of the Yemen situation (“More than 2,800 people are dead in Yemen – so why aren’t we outraged?”). You do not say anything about the silence of the Arab and Muslim countries with regards to the carnage and destruction being wreaked on Yemen by Saudi Arabia.
While the same countries cried hoarse about the Israeli action on Gaza (even though justified) and people from those countries and like-minded ones from Western countries committed acts of terrorism as revenge for the Israeli action, they are deafeningly silent about the hapless Yemenis who you rightly say have suffered more than the Gazans. Why this omission? – Mike Lewis
Those Rajputs
Superb article about the failure of Rajputs. Nice read (“What our textbooks don't tell us: Why the Rajputs failed miserably in battle for centuries”). – Arasu V
Katju's fast
It was such a thoughtful gesture by Markandey Katju (“Why I appealed to non-Muslims to observe roza for a day”) .Really, people like him are going to change the mindset of people. We can have a better understanding of each other and defeat the menace of religious bigotry. – Sufia Khalid
Railways paintings
Thanks for that wonderful archive of photos of India's railway history (“The long history of Indian Railways, told through images”). It does give a glimpse of how travelling in India was over the course of the century. The railways have been a mainstay in Indian life, with millions using the system every day. It is of paramount importance to store the heritage in museums and preserve it for future generations to marvel. – Supreet Kini
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Thanks for the post on Bijaya Biswal's work and paintings. I keep track of what is posted on Scroll on most days. Keep posting. – Abraham Nedumparambil
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The paintings were really great and true to reality. Bijaya Biswal deserves appreciation and encouragement from the Railways, particularly from our great Railway Minister, in a befitting way and he must be encouraged to paint more such pictures and also of places of tourist importance to promote tourism linking with railways in India. The Ministry of Railways should display the hoarding of these paintings at various railway stations and in premium train coaches. – Upadhyayula Viswanadham
Let it be
Let intellects have freedom in India (“Attacking Amartya: Why doesn't anyone want to have a real argument with the argumentative Indian?”). Whatever ideology they follow, the inclination towards Left or Right, independence to academic institutions, evaluating the highest, etc. are choices every intellect face, loudly or mutely.
Let such people who possess such an intellect be. People also have opinions, and everyone should. But are opinions expressed after fully understanding what a person says? Just let it be. – Sheetal Lakhia
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