Mainstream Weekly

NPR-NRC-CAA—The Troubling Triad

Sudhir Vombatkere — 2020-03-15T09:04:46Z

The Union Government's inflexible and resolute NPR-NRC initiative is causing country-wide unrest, testing the credibility of statements made by top politicians. With the date for starting the NPR registration being April 1, 2020, some issues need to be addressed and understood.
NPR and NRC are Connected
The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA-2019), passed on 10.12.2019, caused a public uproar because of fears that it could be used for religious discrimination, and that the NPR was the (…)

- 2020

Let's Make India a Law & Justice Wonderland

S G Vombatkere, Sudhir Vombatkere — 2020-03-01T10:07:39Z

Amulya Leona raised the slogan “Pakistan Zindabad!” at a Bengaluru anti-CAA rally on February 21, 2020. She was arrested and taken into judicial custody, and charged with sedition among other charges.
Howsoever she may choose to explain its context or defend it, including following it with “Hindustan Zindabad!”, or whatever she is reported to have earlier posted on Facebook, Amulya's “Pakistan Zindabad!” slogan is offensive as it supports Pakistan, which espouses violence against India. (…)

- 2020

“Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Bhim!”

Sudhir Vombatkere — 2018-08-12T22:01:13Z

It was Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, when he was India's Prime Minister, who coined the slogan “Jai Jawan! Jai Kisan!”, in the realistic under-standing that the Jawan provides national external security (since then he has also been providing internal security due to failure of governance) and the Kisan provides the nation with food security. Were Shastri alive today, it seems likely that he would have added “Jai Bhim!” to his original slogan, since it is the so-called Shudra, the “untouchable”, (…)

- 2018

J &K — At the End of the Tether

Sudhir Vombatkere — 2018-06-18T16:04:01Z

The Kannada saying “murthi chikkadaadaru keerthi doddadu” (meaning that even if the physical form is diminutive, the virtue is great), applies to Lal Bahadur Shastri who, as the Prime Minister, led India with remarkable initiative and verve in the 1965 war against Pakistan. It was he who coined the slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”, in the full understanding that the Jawan provides border security (since then he has also been providing internal security due to the failure of governance) and the (…)

- 2018

Data Protection with Concrete Walls and Uncrackable Encryption

Sudhir Vombatkere — 2018-04-07T12:54:31Z

Data is being acquired without much thought as to its security or end-use. Take for instance, the National Cadet Corps (NCC) collecting the names, mobile numbers and e-mail IDs of 1.3 million young boys and girls so that the PM can interact with them via the Narendra Modi App. [“For chat with PM Modi, NCC collects mobile, email IDs of 13 lakh cadets”; ; The Indian Express; March 23, 2018]
This will create a database which will enable the PM to interact with “all (NCC) cadets across the (…)

- 2018

Is there a Threat to the Constitution?

Sudhir Vombatkere — 2018-02-13T10:12:24Z

On January 13, 2018, four Supreme Court of India justices ranked in seniority immediately after the CJI, addressed the media concerning problems within the Supreme Court. Among other things, they asserted that democracy was in danger. Quite naturally, this created a public furore, with articles and statements for and against what the judges had said and also about the propriety or otherwise of their airing matters internal to the apex judiciary.
One may note two important allegations from (…)

- 2018

The Nero Syndrome

Sudhir Vombatkere — 2017-09-23T20:13:57Z

Prime Minister Modi chose to celebrate his birthday, September 17th, by inaugurating the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). There were several letters written to him, informing him in case he did not know, or reminding him in case he did know and had forgotten, that 40,000 project-affected families (PAFs)—farmers, artisans, fisherfolk, both Adivasis and Dalits of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra—remained to be rehabilitated for their homes, lands and livelihoods lost due to submergence of hundreds (…)

- 2017

Darkness Falls On Our Democracy

Sudhir Vombatkere — 2017-09-18T22:11:36Z

As darkness fell on September 5, noted activist-journalist Gauri Lankesh was entering her home in Bengaluru, and unknown gunmen extinguished the life of a courageous and outspoken upholder of democracy and opponent of communalism. Gauri is the fourth well-known person after Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi, to be murdered for speaking out her mind. What is common to these four martyrs for the cause of democracy and freedom is that they were unequivocal in their (…)

- 2017

How Aadhaar Neglects Personal Privacy and National Security

Sudhir Vombatkere — 2016-03-20T22:50:00Z

The Aadhaar Bill, 2016
The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016 (“Aadhaar Bill”, for short) was passed in the Lok Sabha on March 11, 2016, as a money bill, a strategem clearly meant to prevent delay in the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP does not command a majority.
Leaving aside the questionable strategem, the Aadhaar Bill leaves much to be desired, especially considering its troubled “history” ever since the beginning of the Aadhaar (…)

- 2016

Examinations and Professional Competence

Sudhir Vombatkere — 2015-04-12T09:22:36Z

Cheating in Examinations
The recent news reports of wholesale cheating in matriculation examinations in Bihar, with pictures of accomplices dangerously climbing the walls of buildings in which examinations were being held, to hand over cheating-aids to candidates, are horrifying. The physical risk taken by the accomplices shows that the cash paid to them—by parents who are okay with cheating, and making arrangements to “help” their wards—is adequate.
The learning capacity and academic (…)

- 2015