With a recent letter from Cabinet Secretary to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Railway Board in the Ministry of Railways asking him to intimate his office the monthly progress of privatization of Indian Railways, the process of its all round privatization has been fast tracked. This follows recommendations of a Panel on Rationalisation of Government Bodies and Proposal for the Ministry of Railways, headed by Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal in the Ministry of Finance.

Gulf between those who have ready access to computing devices and Internet, and those who do not have, is generally known as digital divide. There is a digital divide between rich and poor in terms of use of computers. Digital divide denies half the world’s citizens access to digital education, work and participation in modern life. Without Internet access, people in vulnerable situations are suffering throughout pandemic driven school and work closures.

International Women’s Day (IWD) is being celebrated all over the globe on March 8 every year. Theme of IWD-2022 is Break the Bias. Bias, whether deliberate or unconscious, makes it difficult for women to move ahead. It is not enough to recognize bias; action is required to level the playing field. Countries need to devise policies to end the bias so that women can prosper in different walks of life. There are statistics that show bias against women is extremely real. Governments are delivering; outcomes for women not so much.

People assumed that after the judgment in ADM Jabalpur case in mid 1970s, the Supreme Court of India (SCI) would be a great bulwark standing in support of liberties and rights of people, but increasingly in recent years especially since 2014 on issues of critical fundamental constitutional importance like the Kashmir issue, electoral bonds, Habeas Corpus, CAA, SCI has been refusing to hear such cases, kicking the can down the road presumably because the apex court senses the outcome could embarrass the government. It is worrying that SCI is ducking its duty on constitutional issues.

चारा घोटाला और ‘साजिश का एंगल’

{ यह आलेख वर्ष 2018 में लिखा था, जब लालू प्रसाद को तीसरी बार चारा घोटाले के एक मामले में सजा सुनायी गयी थी. अब पांचवीं बार सजा मिलने पर भी, तब मैंने जो मुद्दे उठाये थे, अब प्रासंगिक हैं. इसलिए इसमें किंचित संपादन के अलावा किसी बदलाव की जरूरत नहीं लगी.}

कर्नाटक में अभी हिजाब बनाम भगवा गमछा का एक नकली विवाद खड़ा कर दिया गया है। भाजपा शासित इस राज्य के कुछ स्कूलों में पहले तो मुसलिम लड़कियों के हिजाब पहन कर आने से रोक दिया गया। जब इसे धार्मिक भेदभाव बता कर इसका विरोध शुरू हुआ तो कुछ लड़के वहां गले में  ‘भगवा गमछा’ डाल  कर पहुँच गये। तब प्रबंधन ने उनको भी स्कूल में प्रवेश करने से रोक दिया। यानी ‘संतुलन’ बन गया- हिजाब और भगवा गमछा दोनों पर रोक लग गयी। लेकिन क्या स्कूल प्रबंध या सरकार का रवैया सचमुच संतुलित, यानी भेदभाव से परे है?

Railways annual budget bifurcated from the general budget since 1924-25 has ensured dedicated sustained growth and expansion of Indian Railways to provide efficient bulk passenger and freight rail services to the nation. Reasons for a separate annual rail budget included railways’ need for focused attention for its expansion and modernization as it is a heavy capital intensive enterprise subject to high depreciation, corrosion and rusting, which without special attention will be overlooked and lose its sheen bereft of public and media scrutiny.

India on the 72nd Republic Day presents a very grim picture with its secular constitutional pluralistic democracy not working. Country has changed politically, socially and economically. Current regime in the Centre has actively participated and aided communal and divisive forces in vitiating the harmony among religious and social groups for the ruling party to reap the electoral dividends. Media and judiciary have caved-in to government pressure, instead of holding the executive (government) to account.

Successive Union Governments have taken several administrative and legal measures to empower, secure women and minimize crimes against them. But unfortunately, crimes against women have been increasing year on year except in 2020 when such crimes came down by 8.3 per cent due to lockdown and massive job losses, according to the National Crime RecordsBureau (NCRB). This indicates that government is not honest about protection of women and maintaining a façade of propaganda to hoodwink the people despite 39 laws having been enacted to empower women of India during the last two centuries.

Outgoing year 2021 witnessed Prime Minister’s discerning political agenda perceiving selective human rights violation in certain incidents, while overlooking in certain others, CDS General Bipin Rawat’s (since killed in a recent chopper crash) shocking fillip to the growing menace of vigilantism endorsing the killing of persons believed to be terrorists by lynch mobs in Kashmir, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s exhortation to IPS probationers at their passing out parade at the Sardar Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad  that “the new frontier of war is the civil society, which ca