Trudeau’s Contretemps; Household Distress; Horror Harvest
Opinion Watch
Trudeau’s Contretemps
The Asian Age has opined in its Editorial that the diplomatic spat with Canada is just a minor blip on India’s foreign policy. The New Delhi-based daily sought to suggest that Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, not following up with evidences to back up his allegations against “Government of India in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar” could be weakening Ottawa’s diatribe against New Delhi in the league of western allies. The daily has also underlined that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s engagements in the US affirmed deepening bond of India and the US despite Canada’s Nijjar attack on New Delhi.
The episode should be a wakeup call for New Delhi and the urgency to deal with terrorists, secessionists, and fugitives who hide in developed countries should gain policy priority. A possible step could be in setting up trial courts for such criminals such as Nijjar with a fixed timeframe for concluding trials, and follow up with a judicial arm with heft to hound the foreign capitals who shelter them.
Household Distress
India still commands the tag of the fastest growing economy in the world, but there are distressing signs begging for attention. The Indian Express has quoted data of RBI to state that the household borrowings from financial institutions jumped 76 per cent in one year, from 2021-22 to 2022-23. The Noida-based daily also stated that the household savings is at multi-decade low, as per the RBI report, at 5.1 per cent of the GDP. In the last one year, the household liabilities also jumped from 3.8 per cent to 5.8 per cent of the GDP.
Azim Premji University also had come out with an exhaustive report on the state of employment in India with spotlight falling on the young graduates not finding jobs. It may be worth examining if the households after incurring high education costs are stretched with debts for lack of employments for youngsters.
Horror Harvest
The Tribune in an Editorial headlined “No country for girls” has lamented the growing horrific incidents of sexual violence against young girls, almost expressing exasperation at the explosion of the cases. The Chandigarh-based daily rebuked the social apathy, bemoaning that a 12-year-old blood soaked girl went knocking doors after being sexually assaulted and only a priest could show piety on her.
In the aftermath of Nirbhaya case, the collective conscience of India went on hibernation after parliament passed stringent laws against sexual crimes. Now, the horror harvest of rapes and assaults against women shriek to admit that laws remain impotent unless they are enforced on ground by visible and agile agencies, which should not just be reactive but also work on preventing crimes with strictness for standard operating procedures.