oppn parties The Republic Needs A Healing Touch

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
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The Republic Needs A Healing Touch

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-01-26 06:24:39

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

This year's Republic Day, a part of the year-long Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav in India's 75th year of Independence, is being celebrated against the backdrop of rising politics of hate that seeks to divide the nation along communal lines, including a call for genocide of minorities. But it also comes at a time when the country is successfully carrying out a massive vaccination drive in its fight against the pandemic and is successfully overcoming the hurdles placed in the path of economic growth.

The nation has achieved much in the last year in terms of reinforcing its medical infrastructure, vaccinating its people, easing restrictions to improve the flow of people and goods across the nation to help the economy grow. But it has not been able to vaccinate a section of its population against the communal virus and it is their mischief that is making another section think that either they are second class citizens in the republic or are not citizens at all.

President Ram Nath Kovind, in his address to the nation on the eve of Republic Day, rightly said that rights and duties are two sides of the same coin. "The observance of the fundamental duties mentioned in the Constitution by the citizens creates the proper environment for enjoyment of fundamental rights" he said. But if the citizens are not sure whether their fundamental rights will be upheld, their inclination to observe fundamental duties declines. Is it not the fundamental duty of a citizen to protest against what he or she thinks is not right? But if he or she does so and if the government arrests him or her and slaps sedition charges, his or her fundamental right to protest is violated.

The nation will progress only when the government understands that though rights and duties are two sides of the same coin, it is upon the government to ensure that rule of law is followed in an impartial manner to let citizens enjoy fundamental rights so that they can perform their fundamental duties. Fighting over what comes first will always lead to anarchy. The nation call ill afford the attitude of the government in treating all criticism as sedition. It is improper to label all those who raise their voices as enemies of the nation. 

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