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HomeThoughtShotYashwant Sinha: RCEP decision 'cowardice', take land in Ayodhya: Salman Khurshid to...

Yashwant Sinha: RCEP decision ‘cowardice’, take land in Ayodhya: Salman Khurshid to Muslims

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Muslims should accept the five acres

Salman Khurshid | Former Union Cabinet minister and a senior Congress leader

Hindustan Times

Khurshid writes that the “sobriety and restraint” shown by the nation after the Ayodhya judgment is noteworthy, but there are still groups who are disappointed. Some want the Sunni Waqf Board to not accept the five acres of land directed granted by the Supreme Court, as they believe it would “create a precedent of exchanging mosques with other sites” such as Mathura and Varanasi. A more fundamental theological reason is about the “character of a mosque being permanent and not susceptible to alteration by an act of man”, he writes.

However, Khurshid argues that the matter should be considered in its entirety and states that accepting the land is not a “surrender”. He writes that the new mosque will be a “permanent symbol” of a “collaborative endeavour to build our secular fabric” and a testament of Muslim sacrifice and cooperation. He adds that it will be a reminder to future generations of our nation’s plurality and compromise through dialogue.

Accepting the SC’s verdict could be a historic example of Indian Muslims choosing to participate in the “nation-building project as equal and respected citizens of the country,” concludes Khurshid.

Nehru, Rational Spiritualist

Purushottam Agrawal | Writer, theologian, secularist and poet.

The Indian Express 

Agarwal writes that Jawaharlal Nehru was a “rationalist but did not dismiss the human mind’s spiritual quest”. He argues that in Hinduism, “ethics and conduct” are more crucial than any one doctrine and this is why Nehru won the love of ordinary people and religious scholars alike, even though he had a “scientific temperament”.

Agarwal states that there are widespread misconceptions about Nehru’s ignorance and contempt of Indian culture and Hinduism. According to him, those who grew up in his time would find this “bizarre”, as Nehru created a state that neither privileged nor suppressed any religion, and also provided a space to atheists.

However, he was intolerant of communalism and using religion for political gains, clarifies Agarwal. There is a need to reflect on Nehru’s insistence on running our polity “in accordance with political principles, [and] not religious sentiments”, concludes Agrawal.

Narrowing options in Jammu and Kashmir 

K. Narayanan | Former National Security Adviser and former Governor of West Bengal

The Hindu

After more than 100 days, the continued clampdown and the lack of interaction between Kashmir and the outside world has prevented a “realistic assessment” of the situation, writes Narayanan. India’s “proud heritage” and image of being a leading democracy has [also] taken a beating,” he adds. The results of the revocation on Article 370 in Kashmir are clearly not what the government hoped for, writes Narayanan but states that there have been some highs, like the “voiding” of direct criticism by many democracies in the West.

However, there have been lows as well — like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the UN Human Rights Commission publicly expressing their concern over the human rights violations in Kashmir. Narayan writes that India first needs to “win the battle of minds within the country before trying to justify itself in the eyes of the world”. He refers to the ‘unofficial’ MEP visit and states that the “government’s efforts only seem to confound… than provide suitable answers”.

Narayan argues that there is a “need for reassurance of democratic traditions” in Kashmir and as a “very first step” normalcy needs to be restored by removing all restrictions and releasing political leaders.

The factors that could possibly precipitate an economic winter

Raghuram G. Rajan | Professor of finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Mint

Rajan explains the factors that could lead to a recession in the United States. He writes that one may think high interest rates would be the cause but since inflation “is now persistently muted, it is no longer a reliable trigger for interest-rate hikes and the slowdowns that followed”. Since, President Trump has “made it clear that he will blame the Fed[eral Reserve] in the event of a recession”, it is unlikely for the Fed to raise rates at the moment. Also, financial excesses will most probably worsen an economic “downturn and slow the recovery, rather than being the cause of the economic winter”, argues Rajan.

He identifies “uncertainty over trade”, courtesy the US-China trade war, as a likely trigger that could weaken investment and thereby, growth. Geopolitical risks could also be a very likely trigger, considering the recent Saudi oil attacks. “A spike in the price of oil could tip the global economy into recession,” writes Rajan.

Justice delayed: Are fast-track courts fast enough?

Bibek Debroy | Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the PM

Financial Express

Debroy reviews the efficiency and speed of India’s fast-track courts (FTCs). He explains that when the Eleventh Finance Commission detected a “pendency of about two crore cases in the district and subordinate courts of the States”, it provided grants-in-aid to set up FTCs. In 2017, FTCs were set up in six states that “managed to dispose 50% of their cases within a year”.

However, FTC performance varies among states. Only states like J&K, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu managed to dispose of at least half their cases within a year, writes Debroy. “As part of the dismal scenario”, 2,507 cases for Bihar FTCs took more than ten years and 1,655 cases took between five and ten years, he writes, and “there is nothing ‘fast’ about this.”

He also talks about fast track special courts (FTSCs), set up in 2019, for rape and POCSO cases that will dispose off 1,66,882 cases pending trial in various courts. However, Debroys warns that “the incentive structure for the judges presiding over FTCs has a lesson also for FTSCs.”

A throbbing temple pain 

Madhav Godbole | Former union home secretary

Economic Times

Godbole criticises the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict and also quotes former SC judge, Justice A.K. Ganguly, who questioned “the basis on which the claim of Hindus to the whole land” was upheld.

Godbole is “intrigued” by the court finding no evidence to indicate Muslims possessed the inner structure “prior before 1857, after the construction of the mosque in the 16th century”. He also questions the fact that the court “merely” gave the Muslims five acres of land elsewhere in Ayodhya. This shows that courts are more “courts of law” than “of justice” and in a way, encourages acts of destruction of a place of worship, writes Godbole.

The proposed mosque should be reconstructed by the central government and the UP government, as recommended by then-Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, he writes. Godbole also calls for a law to hold the State responsible in rebuilding “places of worship damaged in communal violence” in order to restore “confidence … among the minorities.”

India opting out of RCEP is not an act of courage but cowardice

Yashwant Sinha | Former finance minister of India

Business Standard

Sinha expresses disappointment with India’s decision to opt out of RCEP and begins his piece with an extract from his autobiography to show how he and then prime minister Atal Vajpayee were “keen to expand India’s trade and economic relations” in the early 2000s. He also narrates how Indian industry “survived” the 2001 WTO agreement in which India had to remove all quantitative restrictions (QRs).

Today, however, “India has shot itself in the foot” and missed the opportunity to be a regional and global player by not signing the RCEP argues Sinha. It is also “tragic” how opposition parties are competing with the BJP to “claim credit for India staying out of the RCEP” when in fact it is a prime example of “negotiating failure”, he adds.

Sinha writes that it is a misconception that RCEP would allow Chinese goods to flood Indian markets and that a trade agreement with the US could compensate for abandoning the “ASEAN aircraft”. According to him, India’s large trade deficit with China is a “result of our own deficiencies” and if there were apprehensions regarding trade curbs it was the duty of negotiators to get them removed from the agreement.

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