Let me say it up front. I dislike Virat Kohli. I dislike the way he plays his cricket, his attitude on the field, his incessant proclivity towards abuse, his win-at-all-costs mentality. At the same time I am keenly aware of his prodigious talent. Many a U-19 cricketer has shone at the level before fading away into obscure Ranji oblivion- Mithun Manhas, RS Ricky, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Amol Mazumdar- the list is endless. Kohli belongs to the rare breed of those U-19 players who have seamlessly transitioned to the senior squad almost immediately. Not only did he merely make the senior squad, at the age of 23, he is already a World Cup champion having played a crucial role in India’s victory. Most notably in the final, with India tottering at 31-2 and ghastly memories of the semi-final against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in 1996 surreptitiously creeping back, Kohli played a mature innings of 35 steadying the Indian ship, giving us all belief that the target could yet be achieved. Kohli’s natural talent combined with his equally natural vituperations makes him a fascinating character, one, who for me, best captures the contradictions at the heart of new and emerging India, which have played out in our national politics, like never before, in 2011.

A strong sense of self-belief is Kohli’s finest attribute. Whether in a World Cup final or in seaming conditions in England, Kohli’s virat self belief, justifiably or otherwise, never lets up. It is the same self-belief that has seen a more activist, vociferous and determined youth take to the streets in protest against corrupt politicians, eve-teasing murderers, honour killers or atrocities by the Indian army in Kashmir. A sense of injustice and wrong has for long prevailed amongst Indian youth. However in the last year, this sense of injustice has been coupled with the unprecedented gumption, to go out there, act on one’s beliefs and believe that the result is possible. New India has thus reaffirmed Swami Vivekananda’s clarion call to the youth of India to “Arise, awake and stop not, until the goal is reached.” Anna Hazare’s campaign, dismissed inexplicably by armchair intellectuals, as a “middle-class facebook activism”, for all its faults was the beneficiary of such an attitude amongst India’s youth who came out in droves to support it. And though a “strong and effective Lokpal” could not be passed this session, (and just as well) it forced Parliament to discuss the issue openly, thereby making our elected representatives accountable like never before.

Unfortunately, the flip side of this self-belief is an uncritical and almost irrebuttable belief of one’s rightness and the consequent wrongness of others. In a seemingly inconsequential incident on Day 3 of the Boxing Day Test, Kohli fielding in the deep unnecessarily attempted an ambitious and meaningless direct hit. No one was at the stumps and Ravichandran Ashwin backing up was nowhere close to preventing the overthrow. Of course, that made little difference to Kohli, who convinced he was not in the wrong, spewed some choice expletives in Ashwin’s direction. Similarly, when he was adjudged LbW for a golden duck in the second innings, he stood around and glared at the umpire as if he had just announced a call for genocide and Kohli was about to become its first victim. Needless to say, he couldn’t be caught more plumb in front.

Now conviction in one’s view is no bad thing but conviction which becomes dogmatic to not countenance criticism or allow for introspection is deeply problematic. Emerging India suffers largely from a similar malaise. The classic example of this is a foundational plinth on which emerging India is built: The 24*7 news media. In a year in which the role of the media has been scrutinised like never before, their coverage of the recent Lokpal debate in Parliament, was testimony to how uncritical and unquestioning the fourth pillar of our democracy has become. All channels were quick to claim that what transpired in Parliament was the “murder of democracy”; it was “murder at midnight” and a “travesty of representative government.” They also uniformly claimed credit for being “the first” to predict that such an “orchestrated chaos” would ensue. What was so murderous about what happened in Parliament? Is the government not entitled to defer the passage of a bill to the next session if a better debate could be facilitated? And can the discretion of the Vice-President of India so blithely be questioned by a few news anchors, without proof or special knowledge? Now it well may be that the chaos was orchestrated by the government, but surely the entire sequence of events was more complex than a banal headline. To claim, without evidence that can be brought to bear publicly, is journalism of the worst kind; of a kind that revels in the power of shaping public opinion without having to reflect even momentarily about the gossip, hearsay and rumours which shape such opinions.

Kohli undoubtedly has the spunk to take on the world and beat it. Cricket isn’t just a game, it’s a battle which has to be won. Much like India in 2011, which dared to take on the world on the nuclear liability bill, adopted an increasingly aggressive stance regarding permanent membership of the UN Security Council, became an independent voice in climate change negotiations, Kohli stridently blazes his willow away to glory, irrespective of the nationality of the opposition. No longer do we cower in front of sledge-happy Aussie quicks, super-fast South African ones or Pakistanis keen for restoring their national pride on the cricket ground- we take them on and quite often win.

But yet for some reason, I, despite my obvious delight in seeing India win in cricket and prosper everywhere, don’t feel happy in the same way. I still pine for elements of the older India; an India of Javagal Srinath or Anil Kumble, where despite losing more often than winning, there was an innocence to the way we played our cricket and led our lives. When winning and results didn’t matter very much but doing the right thing did. When hundred hundreds was a wonderful statistic to achieve and not a daily national obsession, when the Beatles sat easily with Bharatanatyam and Treasure Island, one of Calcutta’s first malls with New Market, one of its oldest, when life was altogether more simple and our identity more entrenched.

In no way at all am I advocating a return to an older, less economically prosperous, but more socially secure India. Not only is it not possible, but it also undesirable. What I would like to see is a coming together of Kohli’s India and Srinath’s India; where winning matters, but winning by being playing the game in the spirit of the game matters more, where being important in world politics matters, but having an independent mind matters more, where organising a protest movement matters, but ensuring that the atmosphere is not so vitiated that no debate and fruitful negotiation is possible matters more. And where we continue to remember that while we must make every effort to become a superpower in the 21^st century, our current and most pressing concern must be to ensure that every child in the country from the day she is born, can get three square meals a day. That, I hope, is what we can go some way towards achieving in 2012.

A very happy and prosperous new year to everyone!

Do you care about the grandchildren of the Indian representative at the latest climate change summit? As it turns out, several do. Jayanthi Natarajan, Environment Minister got a standing ovation for her defense of India’s right to grow at Durban’ s summit, in a speech that blended personal with per capita income. Responding to Canada shunning the Kyoto Protocol, Natarajan did not shy away from making India’s position on Canada clear: ‘’I was astonished and disturbed by the comments of my colleague from Canada who was pointing at us as to why we are against the roadmap. I am disturbed to find that a legally binding protocol to the Convention, negotiated just 14 years ago is now being junked in a cavalier manner. Countries which had signed and ratified it are walking away without even a polite goodbye. And yet, pointing at others,’’ she said. The speech was capped with a suitably personal note: ‘’I too raise my voice for urgency. Climate Change is the most pressing and urgent problem for us. I too have a grandson, the son of my son. Climate Change affects us too,’’ she said.

[Image: Chris Maddens]

The Durban Summit, while not a clincher in itself, is important when seen in the sequence of climate summits—and their achievements—since the epically-hyped Copenhagen climate summit in 2009. Interventions championed prominently by India and China have contributed to the Kyoto Protocol being kept alive, despite countries like Canada. Arguably, this life is one in solid deep freeze- so far, the second commitment period for the Kyoto has been agreed upon, to commence from 2013-2017. But what action will really commence? Durban promises a roadmap for all, from 2015 onwards, to be implemented from 2020. Will countries, especially industrialised (annexe 1 countries) commit to serious mitigation action between 2013 and 2020? That’s a real question, which the brackets of international convention draft texts cannot answer.

Predictably though, opinion is divided on who is the villain, the show-stealer, and the antagonist of the piece. In a previous post, I argued that words thrown about in international climate negotiations thrive much on (intentionally) benevolent ambiguity.  Equity is such a word. In a strongly worded analysis of the Durban summit, Sunita Narain postulates how equity for India has become a bad word for rich countries. This a whole universe away from what Chris Huhne, UK Energy and Climate Secretary, suggests be the space for a developing country. Scathingly, he suggests doing away with the concept of a fragile developing country, in perhaps the same way activists like Narain are asking the developed country bloc (including truants like Canada, and as an extension, US and Japan) to discard the developed-country-outraged-at-inaction-from-the developing –world mantle. On the promoted perception of India being a deal-breaker, Natarajan remarked at a Plenary session in Durban: ‘’Many people have come told me to drop ‘legal outcome’ and have blamed India for insisting on ‘legal outcome,’ I was told this would affect the outcome process. India is not intimidated by threats. But what is this legal instrument? How do I give a blank cheque signing away the livelihood rights of 1.2 billion members of our population?’’

2. DOW withdraws sponsorship from London Olympic Stadium Wrap

Arguably, concerns over climate change have contributed most to a sense of global environmental citizenship, wherein people from different necks of the wood feel moral outrage over environmental issues that may not directly affect their spatial location. This activism is marked by a strongly felt environmental consciousness- the Lion King’s Circle of Life Analogy- but also indignation bordering on issues of justice. It was a pleasant surprise when India took a strong stand against Dow Chemicals sponsoring the London Chemicals. This wasn’t just a tepid case, like that of MEA responding sheepishly to a racial discrimination case of a Bollywood export cheap jordans from china, Shilpa Shetty—this was India garnering the courage, and a certain constructed integrity, to pull out of the Olympics if its reservations were not taken seriously. This time around, what is warming is the broad support of India’s position by international press. The Telegraph, for instance, made its feelings on Dow being a sponsor clear by going so far as to publish names of celebrities who signed a petition against Dow. Successfully, as the sponsorship has been withdrawn.

3. Greenpeace for the Win

And it certainly has been a fortnight of petition wins. Greenpeace secured a win when their campaign on ‘dirty data’ got Facebook to agree to ‘unfriend coal’. Facebook has now agreed to power its data centres with renewable energy.

4. Targeting Tigers

No such luck for tigers. This is another issue with globally felt citizenship, and as a result, ownership. But even as more donors pledge money for saving wild tigers, tigers are being killed- wined, dined, and shot-with impunity.

This piece on an open auction of illegal tiger wine is a certain kind of journalism, a fairly Western gaze on the exotic spectacle at hand. But each time you read a story like this, let yourself be outraged. Outraged because you feel the sense of familiarity, of having heard vaguely of dead tigers being more coveted than live ones. Outrage that an animal known for its insouciant, iridescent beauty, becomes a glass of timepass despite the existence of domestic and international law. And be outraged again, because India isn’t doing that much better. For instance, what is to be done with a tiger you believe is a trouble-maker? Empty not one, but 15 bullets in it.

5. A Snake for a Bribe

On a less deadly note, this fortnight has seen crime-fighting straight out of the Nagraj comics. A disgruntled snake-conservationist emptied a basket of cobras and other assorted snakes in an Uttar Pradesh office, when an official asked for a bribe. Bribe-taking mortals, beware. Read Khushwant Singh’s take on this.

One for the Road:

[Image: The Telegraph]

And finally, here is the mother of what could possibly be the origin of creepy-crawly. A huge critter, considered the world’s largest sized insect, has been found in New Zealand. This lady insect can eat carrots, so it is obviously the size of a bunny. Insect conservation roadblocks better take note!

***

2. Earlier this month, NASA announced the discovery of Kepler 22-b, a planet outside our solar system that orbits its star within the habitable zone. This zone, also known as the ‘Goldilocks zone’, is a region around a star where planets are neither too close nor too far from their sun, such that liquid water could be present on their surface. This makes Kepler 22-b and its moons excellent candidates for the search of extraterretrial life, or as extrasolar earth-like planets we could flee to if we really lose the plot back home. However, Kepler 22-b is 2.4 times the size of the earth (leading to a much stronger graviational pull), and scientists do not yet know whether it has a predominantly rocky or gaseous surface. However, this is a significant landmark in the search for earth-like planets. Read up on Nasa’s announcement here: http://kepler.nasa.gov/news/nasakeplernews/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=165

***

3. The team at CERN has announced that it is closing in on the Higgs Boson, the particle predicted to exist by the standard model of particle physics.  However, John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at King’s College, London, argues that whether or not the Higgs Boson is found, scientists must formulate new frameworks of particle physics. I won’t reveal the reason why he says this, but urge you to read his article in Nature here http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/481024a.html

The paragraph with the subheading ‘averting collapse’ is quite chilling.

***

4. Rounding off this week’s Critical Digest are a few links on Bad Science. I want to highlight practices that the scientific community has debunked and recognised as pseudoscience, yet are still prevalent in many countries, especially India.

• Reiki: Uses ‘spiritual energy’ for healing. Has been shown to be ineffective as a treatment for any condition, alone or in conjunction with other therapies in randomised clinical trials. Tell your parents!! Read the studies here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1742-1241.2008.01729.x/abstract;jsessionid=D1A896D44FC2280792CEE880654EC5FA.d02t03 and here http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2009.0036

• Astrology: Debunked decades ago, yet is still offered as a taught degree in Indian universities. I’m not even kidding. Read this rather unfortunate article here: http://www.hindu.com/2004/05/06/stories/2004050602931400.htm as well as a takedown of this pseudoscientific discipline here: http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/skepticism/blfaq_astro_sci_pseudo.htm

• Homeopathy: As widespread as this practice is in India, it would chill your blood if you read the kind of utter quackery that it is based upon. A read of the following Wikipedia articles is highly recommended: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy#Evidence as well as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilutions I highly recommend the second article, as one single thorough read will change your mind if you believe in this practice. Darryl Cunningham has also done a spectacular takedown here: http://darryl-cunningham.blogspot.com/2010/06/homeopathy.html

I’ll leave you now with a little something from the great Tim Minchin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGuXCuDb1U

Whew, that was long. Until next time!

1. FDI in Retail

Though the political drama over FDI in retail has subsided, the debates have not. P. Sainath and Gurcharan Das differ on whether the FDI in retail episode was a victory for democracy or whether this is just the beginning of a much longer battle between left and right, the modernisers and the traditionalists, the old India and the new.

Sainath: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2706988.ece;

Das:

http://gurcharandas.blogspot.com/2011/12/when-democracy-won-but-people-lost.html

*******

2. Indo-Pak War of 1971

This week marked 40 years of India’s victory over Pakistan in the Bangladesh War of 1971. Ruchir Joshi recounts 1971 in Calcutta as a young boy and whether the triumphalism which with this event is greeted, was borne out on the streets 40 years ago.

http://telegraphindia.com/1111218/jsp/opinion/story_14895017.jsp;

Raza Rumi looks at how differently the stories of the war are narrated in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, modified to suit one’s perspective, in this wonderfully evocative piece:

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2721164.ece

* I couldn’t help adding this one. One of the finest interviews given by an Indian to a foreign channel, Indira Gandhi, preparing the pitch for military intervention to create Bangladesh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRAfs_LPFI4

*******

3. Putin Learns how to Play Hockey

Vladimir Putin was roundly criticised by most sections of the Russian blogosphere and the world media for what seemed like a rigged and patently unfair election that unfolded in Russia last week. The Economist has panned his style of functioning as “out of fashion” and advocated a deep introspection into what Russia needs to compete in a changing world:

http://www.economist.com/node/21538800

Mr. Putin however remains defiant and in an answer to an emailed question in a marathon four-and-a-half hour phone-in session brushed aside talk of emergency meetings in the Kremlin saying he was actually busy learning how to play hockey instead!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/15/vladimir-putin-mocks-moscow-protesters?newsfeed=true

He didn’t do too badly, though am not sure whether the goal-tender was in best form (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O-Gh4yvWyw)

*******

4. A Head of State is Punished

Head of states, even respected ones, do get punished for their wrongs. As incredible as this may sound to an Indian, a French court this week, handed out a 2-year suspended sentence to former French President Jacques Chirac for corruption at the time he was Mayor of Paris. The rule of law wins out in France:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/15/jacques-chirac-convicted-at-last?intcmp=239

*******

5. The Outsider

As the Iowa Caucus in the Republican Primaries approaches, it’s anybody’s game. Still hanging on, in my opinion, is the most eligible candidate, and one of a very few sane right-of-centre Republicans to remain in America. Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah and Obama’s Ambassador to China is still in the running. But he’s Mormon, believes in climate change and has adopted an India girl. Can he really secure the ticket?

http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/jon-huntsman-the-outsider/

]]> http://www.criticaltwenties.in/nationalpolitics/politics-critical-digest-19-12-11/feed 0 http://www.criticaltwenties.in/philosophyreligionculture/philosophy-religion-and-culture-critical-digest-6-12-11 http://www.criticaltwenties.in/philosophyreligionculture/philosophy-religion-and-culture-critical-digest-6-12-11#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:42:50 +0000 Subramanian http://www.criticaltwenties.in/?p=4016 Mira Kamdar, When Paris met the Mahatma

http://www.caravanmagazine.in/Story/1187/When-Paris-Met-the-Mahatma.html

Did you know that when Mahatma Gandhi visited Paris, he met the public in a circus? It looks like he was paraded around like some sort of oriental exoticism for the citizens of the city of light to ogle at. This and more in this article by Mira Kamdar in Caravan.

*******

Ustad Sultan Khan dies

The Indian media kept up its tradition for coverage of  classical music by sticking to what seems to have become an unwritten rule: Maintain deafening silence about any form of classical music unless somebody very decorated dies. Ustad Sultan Khan, the sarangi maestro joined Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Jagjit Singh, the ghazal exponent in the list of luminaries who have passed away in 2011. It says a great deal when any google search on any famous classical musician only yields obituary pieces in the first page. Try the following as an exercise: Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan… point proved. I think the most sensible move by Indian periodicals would be to have a new section entitled :”Obituaries/Classical Music”.

Here are some samples:

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_sarangi-maestro-ustad-sultan-khan-of-soulful-baritone-dead_1618277

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=hub101211Appraisal.asp

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2665605.ece

*******

Saul Bellow speaks

An article that caught the eye was the transcript published in the New York Review of Books of a talk given by Saul Bellow in the late eighties. It is a riveting and free wheeling talk and Saul Bellow is in his elements while trying to map his “jewish identity”.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/oct/27/jewish-writer-america/

*******

Ferguson v. Mishra [See what Anisha has to say on this here]

An excellent demolition of the “white-man’s burden” ideology implicit in the history being peddled by the likes of Niall Ferguson by Pankaj Mishra in the London Review of Books. Far from being a very objective review of Ferguson’s new book The West and the Rest, it does read like a prejudiced rant against  Ferguson  – as Ferguson himself alleges in the extremely entertaining letters section on the piece. But who cares – I agree with Mishra  – any “historian” who describes the consequences of 300 years of imperial slaughter as “misdeeds” deserves every bit of the ranting he gets up his street.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n21/pankaj-mishra/watch-this-man

]]> http://www.criticaltwenties.in/philosophyreligionculture/philosophy-religion-and-culture-critical-digest-6-12-11/feed 1 http://www.criticaltwenties.in/economicsocialpolicy/ecosop-critical-digest-6-12-11 http://www.criticaltwenties.in/economicsocialpolicy/ecosop-critical-digest-6-12-11#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:23:13 +0000 Anisha http://www.criticaltwenties.in/?p=3966 The week of reckoning for the European Union: The countdown begins

Today marks the start of a very important week for the Eurozone. The world is looking to western Europe as it attempts to comprehensively solve all of its existential problems rather than simply kick the Euro can just a little further down a dark road. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti announced a €30 billion package of austerity and growth measures yesterday. Today, France and Germany hold talks at the very highest level over how to keep the Eurozone going. As a measure of US concern, Secretary of State, Tim Geithner, will also be floating around on the periphery of these and other talks in Europe all week. On Thursday, the European Central Bank has a monetary policy meeting, which will reveal whether there is broad agreement over the way forward between Euro leaders – Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Mario Draghi, the president of the ECB. On Friday, the European summit begins at Brussels to thrash out permanent solutions to the sovereign debt crisis, even as its constituent countries seem headed for economic recession. Talk is even floating around of a fundamental amendment of the EU treaty to establish a fiscal union in addition to the existing monetary union.

Can the Euro be saved in a week? In this article in the Financial Times, Wolfgang Munchau is typically downbeat over the prospects of significant change over the next week. We can only hope that European leaders are a little more sensible than he suggests.

Is financial sector efficiency a myth?

The Occupy movement has motivated a debate on the importance of a financial sector as protesters refuse to buy the line that the world would be a horrible place if banks weren’t allowed to earn enormous profits. In an interesting debate over just how badly the world needs a financial sector that is taking place on Vox, Thomas Philippon writes a fascinating little article arguing that the financial system today is barely as efficient as that of 1910. The cost of intermediating funds from savers to borrowers is no less than the equivalent cost one hundred years ago, suggesting that a decade of financial innovation has not reduced inefficiency. Trading, however, is significantly cheaper today and volumes traded have soared to very high levels since 1910. Philippon leaves us with absorbing questions: why is financial trading so important, and does it really improve social welfare?

A hysterical catfight between the history boys

A fiery battle is taking place in the pages of the London Review of Books between roving intellectual, Pankaj Mishra, and the polemical pop-historian, self-proclaimed financial expert, and television pundit, Niall Ferguson. In this strongly worded, yet coherently argued book review, Mishra criticizes Ferguson’s book, Civilisation: The West and the Rest, for being patronizing, packed with outdated ideas and just plain deceitful in many regards. Ferguson is no stranger to controversy, having scrapped viciously with Paul Krugman and Jeffrey Sachs, both of whom have unsubtly reminded the Scotsman that he is less Renaissance Man and more dilettante in the fields of economics and financial regulation.

Frankly, I don’t know quite what sort of response Ferguson expected from reviewers (particularly the LRB) to a book with a name that includes “the West and the Rest”. He certainly pretends to be outraged by the tone of Mishra’s review and the allegation of racism, which he claims Mishra has leveled at him. The battle has raged for a month with the latest salvos being fired last week. Elsewhere, Ferguson has threatened to sue Mishra and the LRB and has assured at least some writers that he will “hound [Mishra] in print” in a way he has never been hounded before. Much excitement awaits us all.

Jay Panda, Restoring the House, The Indian Express, 6.12.11

Arghya Sengupta, Liability Rules Leave Very Little Recourse, The Hindu, 1.12.11

Huma Yusuf, In the Realm of Fear, The Dawn, 5.12.11

Bruce Riedel, A New Pakistan Policy, The New York Times, 14.10.11

In a country where most things, from the wearing of helmets by pillion riders on a motor-bike to the fare charged by the auto rickshaw-wallah are intensely political and politicised in nature, it is shocking that the supposed fount of India’s democratic politics, the Parliament, seems to be in permanent paralysis. Given this state of our nation, this political round-up focuses in equal measure on the politics of everyday life in India, the non-politics that characterises the nation state and on Pakistan, which, one hopes, can rediscover some hidden reserve of democratic politics and extricate itself from the morass it finds itself in currently.

No one captures the politics of everyday life in the new, shining India as well as Mihir Sharma in his fascinating expose of adman-cum-fixer-cum-bouncer-at-the-gates-of-the-who’s-who, Suhel Seth. The awesome power of networks, the cultivation of friends in high places, the veneer of providing celebrity branding and even the brash and impudent Agony Aunt columns every week make Seth who he is today. And unfortunately, as Sharma says, India what it is today.

*******

Today, India is in a political rut. As the parliamentary logjam continues into its second week, the inane spectacle of MPs trooping into Parliament only to scream at the top of their voices and troop out immediately thereafter, their day’s work having been done, continues to play like a broken record, day after day. One of the MPs, Jay Panda, argues in his piece, that what needs to be done, is to change the archaic rules based on which the Parliament functions. Persuasively argued Mr. Panda, but perhaps looking inwards into the hearts and minds of parliamentarians themselves, may be more useful.

*******

One of the crucial things Parliament should have done instead of log-jamming was to scrutinise the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Rules, 2011, brought out by the government last month. In an alarming sequel to the long drama of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Liability Act, which took place last year, the government has passed a set of rules that fly in the face of Parliament, India’s public policy and good sense. In this piece in the Hindu, I argue why these Rules are dangerous and deserves Parliament’s immediate attention.

*******

Finally, no round-up of India’s national politics is complete without a brief look at Pakistan, our troubled neighbour, when they have had such a momentous week. With the NATO strike killing 24 Pakistani soldiers, and President Obama’s long delay in offering condolences, though not an apology, NY Times columnist Bruce Riedel’s bold argument for a new and revised policy of containment to be followed by the USA in Pakistan seems to be in effect. Riedel argues, in a piece, that is certain to increase in relevance, that the USA must place its need to take out hostile terrorists over its desire to have friendly relations with what he considers to be a duplicitous Pakistani Army. But what about the effects on Pakistani society? Huma Yusuf in Dawn alerts us to the chilling nature of extremism in Pakistan, and how the NATO airstrikes are the latest excuse to rein in individual freedom in Pakistan.

Indians wait and watch.

]]> http://www.criticaltwenties.in/nationalpolitics/politics-critical-digest-6th-december-2011/feed 0 http://www.criticaltwenties.in/sciencetechnology/science-critical-digest-6-12-11 http://www.criticaltwenties.in/sciencetechnology/science-critical-digest-6-12-11#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:46:25 +0000 Bhaskar http://www.criticaltwenties.in/?p=3994

]]> http://www.criticaltwenties.in/sciencetechnology/science-critical-digest-6-12-11/feed 0 http://www.criticaltwenties.in/sport/sport-critical-digest-6-12-11 http://www.criticaltwenties.in/sport/sport-critical-digest-6-12-11#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:43:02 +0000 Suhrith http://www.criticaltwenties.in/?p=3952 The end of a collective bargaining agreement between the owners of the 30 NBA teams and the league’s players on July 1, 2011 brought about a lockout with issues of revenue sharing and structuring of a salary cap dividing the parties. Although, everyone knew an agreement would be eventually reached, with the standstill extending well into November, the season was put in serious jeopardy. But finally on November 26, the parties reached a tentative deal, which once ratified will signal the start of the season that will be shortened from the normal 82 games to 66. The end of the lockout brought forth a slew of superb articles in Grantland, including a piece by Jay Caspian Kang on why we will forget about the lockout, and the impact of social media on consumption of sports – and for that matter, all – news. The coverage also contained a terrific profile by Brian Phillips of the NBA’s commissioner, David Stern. “The old twinkle,” Phillips argues, “has been replaced by a bleary impatience.”

Also with the NBA season finally set to get underway, Longform.org aggregated a set of six wonderful stories “about the lives of great basketball players, on the court and off,” including David Halberstam’s immortal piece in the New Yorker in 1998 on Michael Jordan, which is a must-read, if you’re a fan of basketball or any sport for that matter.

***

Gary Speed, 42, shockingly and suddenly, died earlier this week, apparently by taking his own life. As someone who grew up watching football in the 1990s, Speed, to me, represented a colossal figure, the archetypical professional that could never be discounted. Regardless of which club you supported, Speed was a player you respected – always fair, and always a threat to the opposition, with his pace down the wings in his early days, and his sense of positional awareness and tactical acuity in the latter part of his career. Speed scored in every season of the Premier League, right from its inception in 1992-1993 to 2007-08, his last season in the league with Bolton Wanderers. Tributes poured across all football grounds in England, including one at Elland Road, “As Leeds United staged what amounted to a communal public elegy for one of British football’s favourite sons of the past 20 years,” in the words of Barney Ronay. Speed began his career at Leeds, where he won his only league championship, the year before the Premier League’s foundation. Sky Sports produced a touching 4-minute video with many of Speed’s peers, including fellow Welshmen, Ryan Giggs and Mark Hughes, paying tribute to their one-time teammate. At a midtown bar in New York, Legends 33, hordes of Newcastle fans who had gathered to watch their game against Chelsea in the early Saturday morning hours, joined in the 1-minute applause prior to kick-off and continued with chants of “Speedo Speedo” throughout the course of the game. David Lacey, wrote in the Guardian, that “football matters precisely because it does not matter that much.” Nick Szczepanik’s touching obituary, again in the Guardian, and The Telegraph’s collection of images showcasing Speed’s careers are also worth looking at.

***

In what has been a particularly depressing week for football fans, the flamboyant Brazilian, Socrates, 57, died, in Sao Paulo after suffering a septic shock. Socrates was the captain of a ridiculously talented Brazil team in the 1982 World Cup Finals when the country to the horror of its fans that extend to date failed to go past the second round. Socrates was also one of the few qualified doctors to play football at the highest level. Read the mandatory Brian Glanville obituary here; an interview that Socrates gave Alex Bellos last year, in which he discusses a new book that he was writing that was to release in time for the 2014 World Cup Finals, and Gabrielle Marcotti’s tribute in the Wall Street Journal.

***

Staying with football, Sam Fayyaz has written a fine piece in The Run of Play comparing Fernando Redondo and Javi Martinez, titled Generalissimo. “There is something uncannily similar about the manner in which they impose themselves on a match: almost managerial or authoritarian without being brutal or grotesque in the way of a Nigel De Jong or Roy Keane. There is a kind of death-and-taxes inevitability about their centrality in the proceedings of any given match,” Fayyaz wrote. He also makes reference to Redondo’s sumptuous skill – a most ridiculous nutmeg of Henning Berg that I can see 100 times a day and not get bored – en route to assisting Raul in Real Madrid’s 3-2 defeat of Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Champions League quarterfinal in April 2000. The nutmeg, Jonathan Wilson later wrote, in the Guardian, had a substantial impact on the development of football tactics in the noughties.

***

Captaincy has provided an impetus to Michael Clarke’s batting and in the first innings of Australia’s commanding triumph over New Zealand at the Gabba, he produced his third century in four tests; yet another splendid innings littered with the most sparkling drives. Read, Chris Barrett in the Sydney Morning Herald.

***

Mukul Kesavan’s piece on why Tendulkar’s 100^th ton sholdn’t matter, meanwhile has garnered much attention, so much so that the article, which first appeared in the Telegraph, has since been republished by Yahoo and Cricinfo. Kesavan says, amongst his other arguments, “The real cricketing illiterates are the people who believe that adding ODI centuries to Test centuries and arriving at a hundred gives you a heroic landmark. It doesn’t. This isn’t just a meaningless statistic, it’s a pernicious one, because it equalizes two different orders of achievement.” But aren’t all statistical appreciations inherently whimsical? Who is to say that a hundred should be feted while a well-made 88 shouldn’t? But for whatever reason, be it the decimal system or something else, the order of history has shown that hundreds have always been considered a significant achievement. Now, nobody – at least nobody in their right minds – is arguing that statistical feats are the only claim to greatness, but cricket is a game of numbers, and statistical attainments have always been treasured. Kesavan’s argument that to celebrate Tendulkar’s impending feat would result in equalizing two different orders of achievement also doesn’t cut it. That Tendulkar has been so successful in both formats of the game should, in fact, augment his claims to absolute greatness. Jacques Kallis, the second on the list of Test centurions – with 40 hundreds – has a total of 57 international tons; Ricky Ponting has a total of 69; Rahul Dravid and Brian Lara, fourth and sixth on the Test list, have 101 between them. All of this only shows how staggering Tendulkar’s achievement would be. And in any case, 100 100s has an amazing ring to it, and in the ultimate analysis, statistical appreciation is purely arbitrary, as Tim de Lisle pointed out in a piece in this year’s Wisden Almanack.

***

Addendum: On Socrates, also read this piece by the always superb Alan Jacobs in The Run of Play. He writes: “He was the anti-Bartleby: Melville’s scrivener went through life saying, “I would prefer not to.” Sócrates went through life saying, “I prefer to.” I prefer to drink; I prefer to smoke; I prefer to back-heel the ball; I prefer to take penalties without a silly run-up. I even prefer to get a degree in medicine, to be Doctor Sócrates.”

2. Dahlia Lithwick takes aim at two controversial provisions of the National Defence Authorization Act as approved by the United States Senate that effectively allows indefinite detention of anyone in the US in military custody. A Presidential veto is likely but the “War on Terror” is once again taking the US down a dark and dangerous road. Read: “Military Police State“. Also, Shiv’s piece echoing some of Lithwick’s concerns on “us” and “them” and the language of terror is here.

3. The very conception of a lawyer in India is impossible without him or her wearing a gown and bands. Yet, the UK Supreme Court is doing away with the mandatory requirement of gowns and the wigs for lawyers appearing before it. In contrast, the Bombay High Court, after a recent incident, now requires litigants also to dress “soberly” and “modestly”. Dhananjaya Mahaptra explores this in “Dress code for litigants? Bombay high court believes so” Personally, I can’t see why the Supreme Court or the High Courts cannot do away with the Black Gown and Black coat requirement during summer months though some High Courts don’t require gowns during the summer months.

4. The Internet is ablaze with outrage over the entertainment industry promoted “Stop Online Piracy Act” or SOPA that threatens to cut off large chunks of the internet in the interests of stopping “piracy”. Naturally, the best take-down of the legislation has been done by supreme satirist Stephen Colbert (that’s pronounced Coal-bear for the uninitiated) in this video.

5….and finally, Parliament does not have the sole prerogative on law making or heated debate descending into name calling and wild personal allegations – apparently senior counsel of the Supreme Court are just as capable of the latter. For a vivid eyewitness account of Ram Jethmalani, Indira Jaising and Gopal Subramanium engaging in verbal duel (or is it a truel?) during a hearing, read “SC Brickbats“