Vikas Pathak

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New Education Policy’s language prescription fraught with future risks

The policy suggests that the mother tongue/local language should be the medium of instruction till Class 5 or even Class 8. The nativistic pitch – which may have some pedagogic benefits, too, at an early age – is a can of worms for a country like India, which sees many people migrating across its length and breadth for better jobs and a better life.

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From politics to cinema, a vague anti-nepotistic sentiment rules

The world of politics and cinema may seem to be far apart, but both are connected with the zeitgeist and are two different indicators of a national, perhaps global, mood where people are seeing family-based privilege as an impediment to individual mobility.

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Vikas Dubey killing: Brahmin anger against Thakur CM Yogi on the rise?

All signs point to the killing of Vikas Dubey gradually acquiring a caste dimension in UP, bringing forth old Brahmin-Thakur rivalries.

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Vikas Dubey killing: When an encounter defeated the rule of law

Institutional decay and possible collapse are there for all who value the constitution and the rule of law in India to see. Those who still see this as an adventure trip that the nation is undertaking should wake up before the fire singes them.

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Lockdown set to practically end, spawning more questions than answers

Perhaps reopening the economy is important because India faces the serious prospect of sickness and penury attacking citizens at one and the same time. People suffering from disease need money more than ever before, and a continued lockdown may find them facing the worst financial crisis and a pandemic at one and the same time.

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Irrfan, the uncrowned king of meaningful Hindi cinema, dies

There is little doubt that alongside Pankaj Kapoor, Kay Kay Menon and Ashutosh Rana, Irrfan Khan was a central figure of the turn of the Hindi film industry to stories that captured the hinterland.

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Palghar lynchings: a grim reminder that mob justice is a new normal

Philosophically, the malaise Palghar lynchings point to runs deep now. It comes from a perverse belief that the system needs to be bypassed for the ends of justice to be served.

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Sonia Gandhi, in times of fake news, why kill the fourth estate?

What is the alternative to the conventional media, one may want to ask Ms Gandhi, who wants ads to the media blocked? Is it only Mann Ki Baat? Is it her letter to the Prime Minister? Or is it the welter of fake news on social media platforms that swamps minds of millions, pushing them towards seeking cures for the pandemic in warm water, steam, Gau Mootr, astrology and the like?

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Markaz to ill-timed Diwali rapture, irrationality rules in times of corona

The cult following of Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not prevent people from congregating and rapturously bursting crackers on the streets on Sunday night, days after the delusional belief that angels protected the faithful in the congregation made Tablighi Jamat markaz a hot spot of the spread of coronavirus in India.

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PM Cares set up for coronavirus relief, but PMNRF exists since 1948

There has been a Prime Minister’s fund for emergencies since 1948, and its purpose has been the same as that of the just-announced PM Cares. In other words, we now have two funds for the same purpose.