Noose on freebies; Mohan Bhagwat’s population fixation; Know ancestors
Opinion Watch
Noose on freebies
Prime Minister Narendra Modi sparked the debate on Revdi politics or freebies, and the chorus drew the Supreme Court afterwards among the participants. The Election Commission first said that it’s not a job of a poll body to discipline political parties on the extent of making promises, but there is now a course correction, and it too wants a Revdi ride.
But two dailies in their Editorials have asked the Election Commission to mind its own business, with only one seeing hope from the missive to the political parties to explain how they would fund their promises.
The Economic Times has welcomed the letter of the Election Commission to the political parties, saying it’s an extension of the 2015 direction of the Supreme Court which had formed basis for the guidelines for manifestoes as part of the model code of conduct.
The Indian Express has asked the Election Commission to step back, reminding that Article 324 of the Constitution gives a specific role to the poll body. The Noida-based daily advised that the matter be left to the people’s judgment and statutory fiscal norms. The daily essentially favoured the status quo.
The Times of India dwelt on freebies being malaise in electoral politics, as it argued that such promises make people addictive, while opining that the matter is not for the Election Commission or the courts to decide.
However, the government is stated to be working on a wide-ranging reforms in the way elections are conducted, and it may be possible that Revdi debate is just a starter to prepare the people for the actual menu.
Mohan Bhagwat’s population fixation
Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat shares his world views in Dussehra speech, and he again struck predictable themes yesterday
The Pioneer in its Editorial has asked Bhagwat to look beyond the population fixation, arguing that the matter has already been taken care of in its natural course, and suggested that new areas for his considerations could be ways to tackle inflation.
The Noida-based daily quoted the outcomes of the National Family Survey to assert that the population growth now at two per cent has struck the desirable level for stability, while there has also been a dip in the rise of Muslim population, which should calm down those who seek demographic debate.
The Pioneer told the RSS chief that its political avatar is in power at the Centre and several states who can deal with law and order issues such as forced conversion under the existing laws. The daily also argued that the RSS being a big organization should turn its attention to larger issues such as freedom, inflation and unemployment, and Bhagwat can take a few cues from his number two Dattatreya Hosbole.
Several of the core agenda of the RSS has already been fulfilled, and the organization surely needs out of the box ideas now to resonate with the people.
Know ancestors
Scientists are living gods, for they clear the darkness for the humanity, and the Nobel Prize this year for Swante Pääbo is a resounding affirmation of the central role of science in the advancement of the people.
The Hindu has shared the journey of Pääbo, who will be awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
“Pääbo, 67, has quietly instigated a Copernican revolution,” the Chennai-based daily commented.
The daily noted that Pääbo in 2008 stumbled upon a 40,000-year-old fragment from a finger bone that yielded DNA which was found to have been from an entirely new species of hominin called Denisova. “This was the first time that a new species had been discovered based on DNA analysis. Further analysis showed that it too had interbred with humans and six per cent of human genomes in parts of South East Asia are of Denisovan ancestry,” the Hindu stated.
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