Supporting or abiding by the government decision, does not mean one should stop critical thinking process. Such a thought lockdown would lead to groupthink and thus sub-optimal or even foolish decisions. So, indulge me as I pose some questions as to whether a 21 day lock-down is the best possible course of action for India?

First is that we do not know the parameters used to take such a decision. Like why this decision now? Is it the number of cases, the rate of increase in spread, us moving towards community spread stage… what? …

Countrymen & women, as you all know we are going through a tough time. But through our collective resolve we can, and we shall overcome this. And your govt is going to stand with you, morally, physically and financially at every step during this crisis.

Till today we have tested close to 20,000 cases in India, out of which ~500 cases have turned positive. Even though ICMR has assured that community spread has not begun in India yet, the government is aware of the gaps and has given strict instructions to scale up the testing.

From tomorrow we hope to…

After I resigned from the IAS, I had decided I would speak about the Kashmir clampdown. I felt it was important for me to talk to people why as Indians we should be concerned about what is happening in Kashmir, why we should stand with our fellow citizens there, why as Indians we must raise our voice and why we must voice our dissent.

For me expression of dissent is key to democracy and I’ve felt that many people who vehemently criticize the Government action in private were keeping quiet in the public on this.

It was at such a…

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Should the poor have human rights? Do the Poor have human rights?

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I know.. But before we address these questions we need to develop a conceptual understanding of what poverty means, whom we characterize as poor and what are human rights.

WHO IS POOR?

According to the most common use, poverty is defined as the situation of an individual who does not have sufficient resources to live a life of dignity within her societal context. In a wider connotation it not only denotes the inadequacy of material resources affecting access to food, access to clean water, access to…

Without getting into sociological jargons, I think we can define patriotism as love for one’s homeland, its people and its ideals. Not just love for the homeland but importantly for its ideals too as homeland without the defining ideals is just a geographic feature. Patriotism is thus our love for the Idea that is India. Of course, we all have our own versions of Idea that is India which are often diverging too, nonetheless, we have agreed to a common set of defining ideals as mentioned in our Constitution. So patriotism is the love for a set of ideals as…

Once again… Once again we are attacked. Once again we are shattered and once again we point our fingers. But, hold on, before we drop that finger, we should seek answers, answers to these continuing hostility and violence. No not from our governments, but from ourselves where the other three fingers are pointing towards.

Well, we all know, there are a few fanatics in our society, in every community, and these miscreants are responsible for creating communal tension in India. In their twisted minds, killing innocent people is the way to take revenge. But the rest of us, the majority…