The imperative to offer refuge
Commenting on the present situation of refugees in India, Pallavi Saxena & Nayantara Raja, in a column for The Hindu, said that although India has hosted refugees of varying nationalities for decades, the country has done little beyond providing asylum.
There have been some attempts to introduce a refugee law in the country, the latest being the Asylum Bill 2015, introduced as a private member’s bill by Shashi Tharoor. However, none has gone the distance and the government continues to adopt an ad hoc approach towards this group. Given that most refugees have been unable to return to their countries, leading to protracted refugee situations, there is an urgent need for the government to develop a uniform framework for their management during their stay in India.
This is an opportune time for India to reassess the need for a national asylum policy which is compliant with the principles laid down in the GCR. This will not only re-establish India’s place as a democratic regional power committed to core humanitarian principles but will also provide refugees a chance to give back to the country that has adopted her.
With Saviours Like These
Huma Hasan wrote a detailing article, for The Indian Express, on the rescuers of Muslim women, who are also the ones undermining their agency. She said that in recent years, it has been noted that the direction of political discourse — which includes judicial pronouncements, civil society activism, government policy and the media debate — has veered towards selectively focusing on issues of Muslim women and the need to “rescue” them.
Is feminism being co-opted by the right-wing forces? Do Muslim women need saving? Through behen beti bacho and anti-Romeo squads, do Hindu women need protection from Muslim men? These are some of the questions that need to be answered in the wake of the Law Commission’s renewed debate on Muslim Personal Law reform, started by the latest round of consultations for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) late last month.
Communal polarisation under the garb of gender justice is a time-tested formula used by the ruling dispensation — the latest efforts by the Law Commission to reform Muslim Personal Law needs to be viewed as a part of this agenda, rather than a step towards achieving genuine gender justice.
Special Status to Delhi under Article 239AA of the Constitution of India: A Progression or Regression
In an article for The Times of India, Vivek Narayan Sharma says dharna by one, drama by other; that’s the way Delhi political system is oozing venom on each other. It won’t be hard to fathom Collateral Damage here, Delhiites being the greatest sufferer due to policy paralysis and repeated logjams in the executive machinery under the Chief Minister and his cabinet as also due to complete non-cooperation among various agencies coming under different political parties followed by constant mudslinging.
There is no doubt that common men of Delhi are the sufferer on various counts; but we need to examine whether there is a role of Article 239AA of the Constitution in such suffering. What we see today, is it an outcome of Article 239AA? With no political axe to grind, relevant provisions of Article 239AA must be understood in true sense.
Where the gun rules: From Shujaat Bukhari to Gauri Lankesh, the middle ground is under attack
Social media has opened up a new universe to disseminate violence and prejudice and moderates are under furious attack for being either “anti-national” or “sellouts”. Sagarika Ghose, writes for The Times of India, that today, the middle ground, that crucial body of people who keep society sane, who attempt to build bridges between dissenting groups and the establishment, who want to talk to both sides because they are searching for solutions and not seeking to impose certainties by armed diktat, are in danger of being forever silenced.
Bukhari and Lankesh were labelled by both ends of the political spectrum. Bukhari was actively involved in the Track II India-Pak process, urging the Indian establishment to reach out to Kashmiris, also arguing with militant sympathisers to renounce violence. He was called both a “soft separatist” and “backed by ISI script” by establishmentarian voices as well as a “RAW agent” and “Indian tout” by radical Kashmiri opinion.
Sometimes governments simply outsource violence to non-state actors. A Congress government created a terror-spreading Bhindranwale, today’s BJP-led government rarely condemns terror-spreading cattle-protectors. For the middle ground to flourish, big government or mega state has to be rolled back from enforcing its writ through various forms of violence.
The Daily Fix: As BJP pulls out of the J&K government, the People’s Democratic Party stares at ruin
Ipsita Chakravarty, in her column for Scroll.in says that as the Bharatiya Janata Party pulls out of the ruling alliance in Jammu and Kashmir and government falls, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her People’s Democratic Party are left to survey the ruin.
In spite of the alliance being in trouble for a while, it is widely believed that the People’s Democratic Party was taken by surprise by the BJP’s manoeuvre. Now Mufti will be remembered as the chief minister whose tenure led the Valley into a downward spiral of violence and militancy. Her party’s old bases in South Kashmir are destroyed as those very districts have become the epicentre of militancy. While voters turned away from the party, workers at the ground level have been killed or resigned before they were targeted.
Can the People’s Democratic Party piece itself together after this collapse? Over the last two decades, the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party, the two Kashmir-based parties, have alternated in power. But even by the Valley’s standards, Mufti and her colleagues face a daunting task. Rebuilding the People’s Democratic Party may need a miracle.