A selection of the best news reports, analysis and opinions published by ThePrint this week.
India gets a National Security Adviczar. It is Ajit Doval
In his weekly column, ‘National Interest’, Shekhar Gupta writes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, overnight, brought about a tectonic shift in India’s security structure. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is now India’s all-powerful security boss, and this concentration of power disrupts our layered security system.
Bangladesh is better off than India, not a poor, backward neighbour anymore
Having already stolen a march over India on key social indices, Bangladesh is now on the verge of establishing a lead on the economic front too, reports Priyamvada Grover. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Bangladesh is expected to post a growth rate of 7.5 per cent in 2018-19 against the 7.3 per cent projected for India, while in the last financial year, the corresponding figures were 7.28 per cent and 7.1 per cent.
CBSE makes it easier for class 10 students to pass board exams
The CBSE has made it easier for its class 10 students to pass their board exams. As first reported by Neelam Pandey on 8 October, students appearing for the class 10 exams will be exempt from securing 33 per cent marks in theory (board exam) and the internal assessment separately. The decision is expected to bring relief to lakhs of students.
Central govt is bearing the brunt of severe shortage of IAS officers
Central ministries are operating with 34 per cent of the IAS officers they should ideally have, report Amrita Nayak Dutta and Sanya Dhingra. According to data from the Department of Personnel and Training, the country is short of around 1,449 IAS officers, with many states unable to fill up positions. This has had a domino effect at the Centre, which does not have its own IAS cadre.
Regret garlanding lynching case convicts, will not do it again: Jayant Sinha
Union minister Jayant Sinha said he regretted garlanding lynching convicts out on bail in his home state of Jharkhand. Sinha told ThePrint Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta and associate editor Ruhi Tewari at Off The Cuff that “the rule of law is supreme”, and that he “regretted the garlanding and I would not do it again”.
Joining the Indian Army won’t make you a bad Muslim
Lt Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd), former general officer commanding of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, encourages Muslims to join the Indian Army, calling it one of the most secular institutions in the country. He refutes the perception that the Army’s culture does not permit a good, religious Muslim to practise his/her faith.
#MeToo in India should not forgive women who enable patriarchy and rape culture
Union minister M.J. Akbar is facing several accusations of sexual assault and exploitation in his years as an editor, but his former deputy, Seema Mustafa, wrote an article seemingly defending him and delegitimising the #MeToo movement through familiar tropes. Shivam Vij writes that women in positions of power are expected to not defend men who harass and assault women.
Henry Kissinger – along with Richard Nixon no friend or well wishes – had once dismissively called Bangladesh an “ international basket case “. We should all be very happy that, overcoming so many constraints and challenges, it is sounding like a very heartwarming success story. India, of course, should have been at thrice our present per capita income, with a better set of economic policies, but that is a lament for another occasion.