Is sending your Child to a Hostel really such a good idea?

Am quite sure almost all parents have at some stage in their parenting lives given this some thought. Should we put our little one in a Hostel? Will it make him / her better? (From this point on, for the sake of brevity, I’ll use the word ‘him’ to denote children of either sex). Of course, the word ‘better’ is rarely defined in an exacting manner. There is no obvious set definition but ask a prospective parent and it’ll probably go something like this; ‘my child will become more confident, independent, better able to take on the ups and downs of life’ and so on. Sounds appealing, doesn’t it. However, the crucial point to note here is whether any of these assertions are based on actual facts or data or research or is it just our gut feeling, perhaps the result of some clever marketing by the Education industry. Now, having spent many hours digging for information, I find that there is a shocking lack of research done on the benefits or otherwise of Hostel stays. To quote A. Mishra, Lecturer and PhD supervisor at Kurukshetra University, “The survey of related literature gives a clear inkling that no research at the PhD level has been conducted, so far, in India on Hostel or Hostel-life” [1].

The Taxi Wars

Kali Peeli or Khali Peeli

Taxi Unions recently (21-June) went on a strike in Mumbai protesting competition from private operators like Uber and Ola accusing them, essentially, of offering lower fares and trying to drive them out of business [1] [2] [3] [4]. Now, of course, the right to strike exists to protest any perceived injustice, though, at the outset, I wonder if this strike can be justified or should garner any public sympathy, the chief complaint of which is increased competition. Isn’t that the now accepted business model the world over, that of free markets and competition, which invariably results in the best possible service offered to the consumer? The allegation made by these Taxi Unions (could also mean to include the Auto-rickshaw Unions, the meaning whereof should be clear from the context) seems to be that Uber (could also mean to include Ola and other private operators, though, from now on I will use the one word Uber to denote all such private Taxi operators) is committing some sort of a crime by offering these low fares. It reminds me of those dark days of State control and License Raj wherein an all-pervasive antipathy existed for private enterprise. Any challenge to a Govt. monopoly by private players offering better service at competitive rates, was almost seen as being anti-national.

Marital Rape & Men’s Rights...

There is a heated debate currently going on about the whole notion of marital rape. A topic of much interest, with many newspapers publishing articles [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] as well as it being discussed on various TV networks [10] [11] etc… The overwhelming consensus seems to be that marital rape should be considered as, well, rape of a woman i.e. of the wife by her husband and should be punished according to extant rape laws.

Needless to say that punishment for committing rape is severe with extended jail terms and the like… For e.g., in our country, rape is punishable for a period of not less than seven years but which may be extended to a life term [12]. Further many are of the view, especially after the Nirbhaya incident [13] that rape should carry the maximum possible punishment, namely the death penalty… Now, rape is a serious offense and should be punished severely though for the record, I am against the death penalty. As an aside, I state that entailing the death penalty for rape amounts to a violation of one of the basic tenets of English Common Law which state that punishment should be commensurate with the crime so committed [14]. A life for a life i.e. the death penalty be instituted only for murder and not for any other crime… Rape, though of course being a serious offense, still does not kill you and ergo cannot command the death penalty.

Rajya Sabha: A Case study where the ‘Indirectly’ elected subvert the ‘Directly’ elected…

The author is aggrieved by what he sees as subversion by the Rajya Sabha in stalling the legislative agenda of the Government. Although this topic will be discussed in general, what specifically got the author to pen this article is the introduction of a Bill called ‘The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015’ (hereinafter referred to as the said Amendment Bill). This Bill has passed the Lower House i.e. the Lok Sabha on 10-March-2015. This Bill amends the similarly named Act of 2013. As of date the Government has shied away from introducing this Bill in the Rajya Sabha because of strident resistance from the opposition and as it does not have the requisite numbers for a majority there.

To start from the basics, the people of India have voted in the last general election in 2014 in which they have voted the BJP along with its allies, the NDA alliance, to power. The BJP itself commands a simple majority while the NDA commands an almost two thirds majority, just twenty-six seats short, in the Lok Sabha [Wikipedia contributors, 2015a]. Let us come to the election of the Rajya Sabha. The author asks who has voted for the Rajya Sabha. No common Indian citizen for a fact. The two hundred and fifty members of the Rajya Sabha are indirectly elected by the State Legislative Assemblies and Union Territories by means of proportional voting. A further twelve are just nominated directly by the President for their contributions to art, literature, science, and social services [Wikipedia contributors, 2015b].

Do low oil prices really paint a picture of gloom?

The price of crude oil has been steadily falling. From being above $100 a barrel around July-2014, it has come down from this peak to around $28 a barrel today (18-Jan-2016) [1]… Many analysts have construed this as a bearish sign, proof of a general slowdown in the global economy. Stock markets around the world have also taken this as one of their cues to head south. Our own Sensex has crashed almost 15% in the last 6 months [2]…

Now, is this bearish outlook justified?