Indian Opinion

Mukesh Devrari I came across four Indian students living together in a student accommodation provided by the University of Canterbury (UC). All four were living in one flat. It was extraordinary as thousands of students came to Christchurch to study at the University of Canterbury. And hundreds of them lived in the UC provided accommodation. How come four Indian students were put together in one flat. It is intriguing, not a big puzzle. Everyone who has lived in New Zealand and tried their hands in few odd jobs to make a living perfectly understands it. Still, I posed this question to one of the students living in the university accommodation with fellow Indian students. Why do you think you all ended together? “One can end up with anyone in the allotments. But then Caucasian students approach the student accommodation office and make a request for changing their flats. They use various excuses. Something as simple as the sunlight is not proper in the room or comes from the direction

  Mukesh Devrari Democracy means the opposition will be allowed to express dissent against the ruling regime. Unfortunately, during the tenure of the ruling BJP government, the space is constantly shrinking for opposition parties to launch a concerted movement to highlight the failures of the ruling regime, including police atrocities on farmer groups. First, BJP leaders need to understand now that the debate is not always about right and wrong. Having a majority in parliament does not mean the laws can be pushed down the throats of the masses. Secondly, the debate is also not about the merit of farm laws now. It is quite possible that the corporate world would welcome all economic reforms. Still, however appropriate they might appear, their argument cannot be the sole basis of creating the farm laws.   Prime Minister Modi’s tendency to push the laws despite widespread opposition by farmer groups shows his authoritarian tendencies. After killing eight farmers, it would be sensible

https://twitter.com/calxandr/status/1432612313547354112 Mukesh Devrari It is not good news for India that the Taliban has captured power in Afghanistan, and it might become a vassal state of Pakistan. Lot has been written about how India has been screwed in Afghanistan. How Pakistan once again defeated India in Afghanistan by ensuring that the Taliban captures the power and will eventually provide Islamic militants to attack Indian security forces in Kashmir and beyond. There is nothing wrong with this assessment. The Islamic terrorists will now have sanctuary in lawless Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban by showing utmost barbarity to anyone opposing its rule. It is also important to remember the United States did not invade Afghanistan to secure and protect India’s interest. It invaded Afghanistan to target militants attacking Americans. The strategic benefits accrued to India were byproducts of US policy to contain Islamic terrorism flowing from Afghanistan. The biggest loser

Ever since the formation of Uttarakhand in 2000, the situation of the state has been marked by disputes between the two prominent political parties. At that time, Nityananda Swami Ji left Congress for the power-struggling BJP and had the good fortune of being made the interim chief minister. However, this did not reduce the inter-party conflicts and Bhagat Singh Koshyari was made the Chief Minister. The situation was such that the BJP badly lost the elections in 2002 - the first interim Chief Minister Swami also lost the election. In 2007, after defeating the Congress, BJP formed a paralyzed government – it side-lined Bhagat Singh Koshyari under whose leadership the party had won and made Bhuvan Chand Khanduri the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. However, given the continued conflicts, the controversy-ridden Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was crowned Chief Minister by the BJP. But because of allegations of corruption, Khanduri was again made the Chief Minister; and he lost the Assembly elect

Mukesh Devrari Twitter’s outright refusal to accept India’s domestic laws is remarkable. It refused to accept the Information Technology Act 2000 and ignored the govt. order regarding the removal of certain accounts and hashtags. It has also refused to appoint the officials to coordinate with the government and instead provided an address of a private law firm to file any grievances against the company. Rather Twitter is trying to pressurize the BJP govt. by launching an international campaign with the help of western media outlets. It would not be unjustified to argue that BJP is over-cautious despite the contempt Twitter has shown for India's parliament and its domestic laws.     The legal position regarding the freedom of speech and expression is settled in India. The constitution allows reasonable restrictions on all fundamental rights enshrined in part III of our constitution. In fact, the Parliament can make any law in India, if it encroaches on fundamental rights, the appeal

Mukesh Devrari Are we living in the most unethical era of human history? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is in the affirmative. The Covid has again reminded us how ‘selfish’ human beings are. Perhaps the states in the modern world have jettisoned their cruelty in dealing with their own citizens, but much has not changed beyond that. In the late 20th century the western society argued that the emergence of globalization and liberalization will bring freedom, liberty and prosperity across the globe.   The west swore by the virtues of globalization and its imminent advantages. Paeans have been written about the benefits and inherent efficiency of the interconnected and globalized world. As li fe on this planet is controlled by western nations. The ideas pushed by the west followed in other continents as well. They decide the ethics, contours of conscience, morality and preach that we are living in a rule-based order. It looks appropriate that there should be a rules-based wor

  Mukesh Devrari If the children have some inherent, inalienable natural rights then right to access to playground should be among the top. Although Uttarakhand has a decent proportion of green cover, still most of our children in large cities like Dehradun do not have access to any greenery. What makes the situation more ironic is, most of the small private schools also do not have any playground. Most parents also do not look for the playground in schools. The aspirational lower-middle-class families send their children to private English medium schools, their focus is on English medium, they are least bothered about outdoor sports amenities. Only the renowned private schools have proper indoor and outdoor sports facilities but only the children of highly rich, powerful, influential and people having connections with high and mighty can find a place there.   The result is millions of kids are growing up in our cities and they have no access to parks and playgrounds. They all ar

Mukesh Chandra Devrari Book Review: Title - Vajpayee: The Years that changed India, Author - Shakti Sinha, Publisher - Penguin Random House India Private Limited, Kindle price – 387 Rupees Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee enjoys a mythical status in the history of non-Congress politicians who could reach the zenith of political power in India despite his humble origins. His mesmerizing poetry, powerful speeches, commitment to constitutional morality and devotion to the centre to right ideology was remarkably down to earth. He was a diamond in a coal mine. Due to his humility and demeanour, he was described a s  the right man in the wrong party by liberals in India.     Former private secretary of Prime Minister Vajpayee Shakti Sinha recently published a book titled, ‘Vajpayee: The Years that Changed India’. It is difficult to say what was his purpose of writing the book. If the purpose of the author was to establish his illustrious former boss as larger than life figure than