Christians have come under unrelenting vilification and assault in India in recent years, and the trend has only worsened since the start of the pandemic. Father Stan Swamy's inexcusable death was part of that pattern. But Christians too have themselves to blame for failing to unite across denominations.
Freedom Gazette
While medical equipment may be obtained, skilled personnel are required to operate them. However, there is no credible resource that provides segmented data on personnel and infrastructure. In the absence of such data, tackling emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic becomes impossible.
In the inaugural episode of Beyond the Headlines, Editor-in-Chief Mohamed Zeeshan spoke to Ramachandra Guha, eminent historian and author. Guha spoke about Indian democracy, compared India to other democracies, and dwelt on the roles and responsibilities of historians in public discourse.
'Beyond the Headlines' is Freedom Gazette's new podcast series, which seeks to connect macro-level policy debates to the everyday challenges faced by us all. In this introduction episode, Editor-in-Chief Mohamed Zeeshan sits down with his co-host for this series to set the context for these conversations.
Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore enjoyed lively debates about nationalism, cultural identity and much more. Their debates have lessons for India on policy and governance, but they also show that if leaders can disagree with mutual respect, they can broaden and enlighten public discourse.
In mainland India, the tribal and ethnic communities of the Northeast are widely associated with secessionist movements. But during India's freedom struggle, countless freedom fighters from the Northeast laid down their lives for India's freedom. Mainland Indians should learn about them.
"You acknowledged the fragility of a unifying pan-Indian emotion, and knew what caveats to heed and precautions to take. You recognised the divisive tendencies which lay at the heart of India’s communal Partition. You knew, too, that we, your progeny, must protect ourselves against these. Yet, we faltered."
For a country that has dealt with several waves of refugees, it seems counter-intuitive that India does not have an established domestic law on refugees or a concrete refugee policy. This big gap will become a huge problem, as climate change displaces thousands into India in the years and decades ahead.
Vaccination should have been easy, given our large production capacities, successful past mass vaccination, and the advanced logistical infrastructure of our election machinery, which could have been used. Instead, even affluent urban Indians are struggling to access an indigenously produced vaccine.
According to the IT Rules 2021, the government can order social media platforms to take down any content which they determine to be unlawful. This paves the way for unaccountable censorship. The government should be drafting objective principles and guidelines instead of such ad hoc censorship.