Editorials by Ujjwal

Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury

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In recent times, the world media has almost written off the Indian growth story. Yes, there are several setbacks with growth igures coming below six percent in a quarter and the rupee’s devaluation heavily over the last one year, apart from the industrial slowdown. However, there are more than 50 reasons to celebrate the Indian economy as we view the possibilities in 2013. The story cannot be inished for a nation with the world’s youngest population (66 percent below 35 years of age), with one in every six people owning some business, farm sector experiencing growth unlike the developed world, ...

The horrific gang-rape of the 23-year-old young paramedic girl in Delhi on December 16, and her subsequent death, has stirred the soul of India on the issues of safety and dignity of women, perhaps like never before. Tens and thousands of men and women, teenagers and even children have come out in more than 30 cities of India and may be many other places unreported in the national media to express solidarity with the braveheart. They have demanded death penalty for the six rapists (all arrested), and changes in the antiquated laws on assaults on women to make life imprisonment ...

Interesting crossroads in India today Trust deficit is the highest in its almost four-year-long tenure for the rulers led by Congress. The principal Opposion, BJP, is searching for its leader to take on the rulers, with the only obvious choice being equally loved and hated within and outside his party (well, December state elecons in Gujarat will answer this queson to a large extent either way). The other Opposion pares, led by six regional satraps (Nish Kumar and JDU in Bihar, Mamata Banerjee and TMC in West Bengal, Mulayam Yadav and SP in UP, Naveen Patnaik and BJD in Odisha, Jagan Reddy and YSR Congress in AP, Jayalalitha and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu), ...

Ahead of August 15, 2010, the 63rd independence day of India, what intrigues me is that while the or nation, personified by Goddess Bharti, was freed in 1947, and the economy, personified by say Goddess Lakshmi, has had the taste of liberalisation in 1991, when the shackles will be broken of education in this country, personified by Goddess Saraswati. Whither New Education Policy & Knowledge Commission? While the terms of the game in the world of education were planned to be changed when the new Education (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal took charge, there is little progress on ground. There were ...

Bengal is up for change. And that has been in the offing and due for long. No multi-party pluralist liberal democratic largely capitalist system can and should have the same ruling dispensation for such a long time. It has been more than three decades in the case inWest Bengal! It is a case-study by itself, indeed. But what we now need to debate is not whether the change is happening. That is written on the wall. The debate should be on what type of change, change to what new ruling dispensation, and to what short-term, mid-term and long-term impact. On ...

The Indian Premier League has been at the receiving end even as the glamorous version of 20:20 cricket in India, which has brought in Indian city-based but multinational cricketing teams play a much marketed series of matches, just turned three. Let us first look at the arguments that have been going around against it. Online critics have come out with a veritable list of arguments against IPL. First, cricket and Bollywood do not go well together. Shahrukh’s Knight Riders, Preity’s Punjab Kings XI, Shilpa Shetty’s later entry to Rajasthan Royals have all been doing very badly. Second, the purists of ...

“The walls around my home are only 20 centimeters thick, but they keep out an entire world.” These are the words of a leprosy-affected individual, languishing in one of the 700+ so-called ‘leprosy colonies’ of India, which are inhabited largely by the cured but still stigmatized people. For centuries, leprosy was a feared disease. A malady with no remedy. An ailment that disfigured hands, feet and face, and scarred the mind. The affected were ousted from their homes, banished from their communities and estranged from society. In the 1980s, largely due to the generous contributions and concerted efforts of Yohei ...