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Mark Tully
Articles by Mark Tully

The moot question: Who will guard the guardians?

Its clear that India’s guardians, its institutions, are failing to hold power to account. They are failing because the government is trespassing on the autonomy of the unelected institutions

The CBI crisis has been caused by allegations that some officers within the organisation have misused their autonomy, sadly not an uncommon happening(Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)
Updated on Nov 03, 2018 06:06 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Sabarimala row: It takes courage to sit on the fence of religious reform

The battle that ensued this week over the Supreme Court’s verdict allowing women of all ages to worship in Kerala’s Sabarimala temple demonstrated the power that religious tradition still has to resist change.

The Supreme Court ruling to allow women of all ages to enter Sabarimala temple has resulted in an intense standoff between devotees and the Kerala government.(Vivek Nair / HT Photo)
Updated on Oct 21, 2018 09:25 AM IST
ByMark Tully

To mount an effective challenge to the BJP, the Opposition could use a bit of stardust

Coming to India the leadership attributes Rawnsley suggests are the attributes which enabled Narendra Modi to create the new BJP. A comparison with the Advani-Vajpayee BJP demonstrates that it is new. I would argue that to mount an effective challenge to the BJP the opposition needs to find a leader with Rawnsley’s attributes including star dust. History has shown that Indians vote for leaders rather than parties

Rahul is now planning to set sail in a leaky ship, a hotchpotch coalition which hasn’t even come together yet.(Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)
Updated on Sep 22, 2018 06:40 PM IST
ByMark Tully

The Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code could set ‘naamdars’ straight

Although the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code will hopefully draw a line under the loan mela that created the banking crisis it is important that its excesses are remembered so that the government and bankers are aware of all the tricks corporate borrowers can get up to. James Cabtree’s book will serve as a reminder.

At the corporate level, billion dollar debts were being greened by breaking banking rules while at the grassroots bank officials were enforcing rules on customers with the customary zeal of Indian minor bureaucrats.(REUTERS)
Updated on Sep 08, 2018 05:29 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Conservation can help reverse urban decay in the country

The historical cores of most Indian cities can be restored through conservation efforts

Tourists at Humayun's Tomb. Between 75% and 80% of the money spent on the conservation of the tomb was paid to craftsmen.(REUTERS)
Updated on Aug 25, 2018 06:19 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Renaming Mughalsarai station: A futile exercise

Unless the railway management does improve, renaming the station may turn out to be a doubtful memorial to the BJP ideologue. Mughalsarai is a railway junction and not much else. Passengers either pass through or change to different trains. Those who pass through wait impatiently for the moment when their train is eventually allowed to leave.

It also seems odd to commemorate a man as important to the BJP as Upadhyaya by reminding Indians of his very unfortunate death. It’s still not known whether he fell out of a train just outside Mughalsarai or was pushed.(Sonu Mehta/HT)
Updated on Aug 11, 2018 05:26 PM IST
ByMark Tully

India should focus more on its railway network

With increased investment the railways could become more cost effective, but unlike roads, they do not have a powerful, independent lobby free to use any methods to push for investment.

Last year, 17,000 km of road projects were awarded in India. But in many countries, the policy is to get as much traffic as possible off the roads and onto railways.(AFP)
Updated on Jul 28, 2018 05:31 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Democracies such as India need more anarchy

Indian parties have turned into election fighting machines. Talking to an anarchist, former British diplomat Cairn Ross, has left me wondering whether not just India but many other democracies might need more anarchy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan during a book release on the occasion of the National Panchayati Raj Day 2018, Mandla, Madhya Pradesh. In Panchayati Raj, decisions are taken at the grassroots and they are scaled up to the district level.(PTI)
Updated on Jul 07, 2018 04:39 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Implementing legislations is the best way to counter India-bashing

The government is considering its reply to the Thomson-Reuters survey maintaining that India is the most dangerous place for women. Rather than reacting to international criticism in a manner which convinces no one, India doesn’t avoid criticism by enforcing its legislation protecting vulnerable citizens.

(FILES) According to the Thomson-Reuters survey, India is the most dangerous place for women . / AFP PHOTO / SAJJAD HUSSAIN(AFP)
Updated on Jun 30, 2018 06:28 PM IST
ByMark Tully

E-mandis can work but many pitfalls remain

The e-mandis proposed by the Centre are likely to be opposed by the state governments that guard their agricultural policy zealously

Vegetables lie scattered on a road as farmers protest, Hisar, Haryana, June 03, 2018(PTI)
Published on Jun 16, 2018 04:21 PM IST
ByMark Tully

India’s higher education has no connection with reality

Some believe that students privileged by a university education should be compelled to repay the rest of India by doing national service. I don’t think compulsion is the answer but I do think BA graduates should be encouraged to go into real India for two years and serve those who have not enjoyed their privilege.

Many students opt for an MA because they are told a BA alone is not a sufficient qualification for most jobs and even when it is MAs get higher salaries(Saumya Khandelwal/HT PHOTO)
Updated on Jun 02, 2018 06:34 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Fake news is undermining poll processes in Britain, India

Personal experience suggests Ravi Shankar Prasad is having difficulty in controlling what is happening in his own backyard. Social media are most frequently misused by posting fake news

A polling staff tallies the candidates’ names on the Electronic Voting Machines, Bengaluru, May 11, 2018(Arijit Sen/HT Photo)
Updated on May 20, 2018 05:28 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Why the State must promote crafts as vigorously as it promotes industries

India’s crafts people are unique in the world for their variety, and their skills, for the beauty of their products too. The craft practices are the second-largest employer after agriculture, some estimate that they employ as many as two hundred million people. But for far too many of those people their crafts do not provide an income, which sustains them adequately or guarantees security.

Artistes from Jharkhand perform at the Surajkund Mela at Faridabad(Zuhaib Mohammad/HT Photo))
Updated on Apr 21, 2018 03:56 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Why there is no reason for religion and science to clash

But in the end there is a bigger inner threat to religion than scientism. It’s posed by those who discredit religion by the fundamentalism.

The death of probably the world’s most famous cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, has re-opened the debate about the validity of religion.(REUTERS)
Updated on Mar 31, 2018 03:52 PM IST
ByMark Tully

India’s ugly rural sprawl is the outcome of lethargic planning

Easy to construct, ugly, standard small shops are a feature of the ribbon development, the rural sprawl, in the outstandingly beautiful Kangra Valley, as they are a feature of rural development throughout India

India’s lethargic bureaucracy is content to build standard PWD housing, live with bare mountains, and take the easiest route to construct highways. The ugly rural sprawl so evident throughout India is the inevitable outcome of lethargic planning(Bloomberg)
Updated on Mar 17, 2018 06:03 PM IST
ByMark Tully

For a new India, we need radical alternatives

Beating communalism, caste, corruption, poverty, dirt and terrorism by 2022 will require some radical thinking

Schoolchildren participate in a 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' campaign in Hyderabad(AFP)
Updated on Feb 24, 2018 05:13 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Is Modi of the Right-wing or Left-wing? Is that even a relevant question to ask?

Modi tenure began by seemingly reducing government interference; and letting the market control distribution; but after Rahul Gandhi’s “suited and booted” jibe, the government has set about trying to acquirie a pro-poor image.

The headline-grabbing budget announcement of the world’s largest health insurance scheme, 500 million poor and vulnerable people to receive what the Prime Minister has described as “robust health-care”, has enabled the opposition to revive the ideological right versus left argument(Mohd Zakir/HT PHOTO)
Updated on Feb 10, 2018 07:55 PM IST
ByMark Tully

India can be the Vishwa Guru on climate change, writes Mark Tully

Climate change is a crisis which requires much more fundamental changes than technology can provide. The fundamental changes we need are changes in the way we live our lives.

Workers clean photovoltaic panels inside a solar power plant, Gujarat.(Reuters File)
Updated on Jan 14, 2018 04:50 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Opinion: Is the press underestimating Rahul as it once did Sonia?

Like Sonia, Rahul also has made little or no effort to make friends with the Press and we have shown no sign of respecting his courage in persevering in spite of the setbacks he has suffered and the scorn we have heaped on his head. In the Gujarat election, he has shown the stamina we thought he lacked. The improvement in the delivery as well as the content of his speeches has been widely recognised.

(PTI)
Updated on Apr 11, 2019 04:49 PM IST
ByMark Tully

The problem with Aadhaar cards is the way they are being pushed by the State

I have my own evidence of biometric aadhaar recognition’s fragility. When I went to obtain my card my fingerprints failed to register.

Responding to recent starvation deaths in Jharkhand the central government has now asked the states to see that people get their rations even if their aadhaar cards don’t work(Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)
Updated on Dec 09, 2017 06:48 PM IST
ByMark Tully

India and Britain must have clear definitions of harassment, rape

The problem here in India, as is in Westminster, is that there does not seem to be any agreement on what amounts to harassment, or indeed rape. The need for some due process and seriousness is particularly urgent bearing in mind the discussion about changing the law on marital rape

Following allegations British secretary of state for defence, Sir Michael Fallon, resigned saying he has fallen below the high standards expected of the armed forces(REUTERS)
Updated on Nov 12, 2017 04:25 PM IST
ByMark Tully

From the police to the railways: The many flailings of the Indian state, writes Mark Tully

Throwing money at a flailing, corrupt, colonial force, incapable of disciplining its own officers is going to mean most of the money will go down the drain unless the police are reformed.

A policeman attempts to clear a traffic jam in Batala, Punjab. The government has cleared a Rs 25,060-crore umbrella scheme aimed at modernising the central and state police forces over the next three years, a strategy that includes ‘perception management’.(Sameer Sehgal.HT File Photo)
Updated on Oct 15, 2017 08:52 AM IST
ByMark Tully

India can never be corruption-mukt because politicians don’t want it so

Insulating civil servants from political interference is one of the key principles underlying the proposals of the Commission is and this is the main reason why all parties have shied away from reform. Politicians do not want to lose their compliant institutions

The government is relying on digitalisation and computerisation to overcome the chronic inability of the administration at the local level to make payments honestly and deliver services effectively.(Reuters File Photo)
Updated on Sep 24, 2017 12:38 AM IST
ByMark Tully

Why listening to the radio is special even in the age of TV

There is always the opportunity in India to make excellent radio programmes that are not news or current affairs, but unfortunately the private sector broadcasters have not taken up that opportunity

There is always the opportunity in India to make excellent radio programmes that are not news or current affairs, but unfortunately the private sector broadcasters have not taken up that opportunity. All India Radio does make some excellent documentaries but they are difficult to find because so little effort is made to publicise them(Reuters)
Updated on Aug 27, 2017 07:36 AM IST
ByMark Tully

Why SPICMACAY is in tune with Modi’s thoughts; he must listen to its beats

SPICMACAY doesn’t have an annual grant. Its volunteers have to do go down on their knees to extract a comparatively meagre sum each year. They depend mainly on donations including a sizeable contribution from the Norwegian government and the generosity of the artists who perform for a pittance.

Pt. Bhajan Sopori playing the santoor during a SPICMACAY event(Praveen Bajpai/ HT File Photo)
Published on Jun 10, 2017 05:58 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Demonetisation, Vyapam: Politicians, media, judiciary must not let up so easily

It’s not just the politicians who will have to accept greater accountability to create a shiny white India. Journalists need to raise our game as does the judiciary too. Following up on issues such as demonetisation and scams such as Vyapam could help clean up the system.

To fulfil the promises made to the worst sufferers from demonetisation politicians of all parties will have to clean up their act, the media need to be watchdogs which bite, and the judges must see that justice is not denied by delay.(Praveen Bajpai/ Hindustan Times)
Updated on May 13, 2017 11:18 PM IST
ByMark Tully

The State must not try and win votes by waiving farmers’ loans

The loans cure a symptom not the causes of farmers’ distress. They enable politicians to continue ducking the issues, which have created the indebtedness.

(Hindustan Times)
Updated on Apr 11, 2019 02:38 PM IST
ByMark Tully

Hard nationalism divides, rather than unites

Recent events in Britain and elsewhere show how hard nationalism drive away people who can contribute to the nation. Surely there are some lessons for Indian nationalists here too, specially as their nationalism has to demonstrate that it includes the whole of a very diverse nation.

We live in hard times. In India the appointment of the controversial Mahant of the Ghorakpur Temple Yogi Adityanath as chief minister of the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh is an indication that Prime Minister Narendra Modi intends go for Hard Hindutva(HT)
Updated on Mar 25, 2017 09:09 PM IST
ByMark Tully

To change India, we need a State-NGO collaboration

The governments’ failure to deliver more effectively on human development indicates they need to look for new models and replicate them, taking advantage of NGO initiatives and their ability to provide services as effectively as the Brahmaputra boats do

The governments’ failure to deliver more effectively on human development indicates they need to look for new models and replicate them, taking advantage of NGO initiatives and their ability to provide services(AFP)
Updated on Mar 05, 2017 01:53 AM IST
ByMark Tully

India needs positive nationalism, that unites rather than divides

There is a potential for a positive Indian nationalism. It’s a nationalism which perceives India as a pluralist nation and takes pride in that pluralism. Thus, it’s a nationalism which unites rather than divides the nation providing space for the diversity which is characteristic of India. It’s the nationalism of Gandhi and Nehru, not the secularism of today’s Congress, which is negative, merely in opposition to the BJP.

We need nationalism. As long as we accept that the world is divided into nation states, should we not have some word that expresses affection for one’s nation, even perhaps national pride?(Reuters File Photo)
Updated on Feb 05, 2017 08:05 AM IST
ByMark Tully
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