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Home > News > Commentary > Ashwin Mahesh
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August 16, 2004 |
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The majority of the truth
'We are so deluded by our privileged sphere that we are unable to comprehend what great numbers of Indians experience.'
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July 27, 2004 |
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An affordable future
'Modern capitalist democracy is the sum of many affordable sub-cultures,' says Ashwin Mahesh.
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July 12, 2004 |
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Caste out of class
'Either we accept a caste-demarcated society in which aspirations of different groups clash and undermine the progress of all, or we recognise the need for honest class-integrated solutions to the cries of the weak.'
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June 23, 2004 |
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Floundering on founding myths
'What passes for economic planning begins by conceding that the rich must benefit first, and only thereafter can the rest hope to piggyback on their gains,' says Ashwin Mahesh.
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June 07, 2004 |
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Continue? Reforms haven't even begun yet
'If 7% economic growth isn't enough to produce trickle-down effects fast enough to satisfy voters, how much faster do you think the economy can grow?'
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May 17, 2004 |
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Power to the forgotten people
'We are still a nation of farmers and agricultural workers. Lasting national economic progress requires that we defend the interests of this majority of the population strongly.'
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April 19, 2004 |
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Full circle
'Are you for the gods, or are you for the motherland? It is still exceedingly unfair that anyone should be asked to make this choice.'
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March 25, 2004 |
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Bad economics, poor decisions
'The majority of decision-makers in banks would not be seen dead with a truly needy person. This cultural bias, founded on bad economics and outright ignorance of the evidence, is the most important reason for continuing poverty in India.'
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February 13, 2004 |
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The clean chit factor
'You remember the clean chit, don't you? There have been so many issued in the last few years that it can be difficult to keep track of them.'
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January 19, 2004 |
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Corruption as consequence
'We must demand and develop a transparent discourse on the major decisions, so that they do not become engines of the very depravity we're attempting to strike down.'
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December 12, 2003 |
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High command, low expectations
'Alliances -- mutually advantageous or not -- will have to wait until the day the Congress rediscovers the vote in its internal workings and eschews dynasties.'
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November 25, 2003 |
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Rescheduling Judgement Day
'Naidu'll have to take his chances with the voters, who'll rate him on his actual performance, not just their temporarily favorable disposition toward a man dodging bombs.'
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October 30, 2003 |
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The company of death
'Incarceration without parole -- and not death -- is the severest penalty we can inflict for any crime. By the practice of the death penalty, what company do we keep in the world's family of nations? '
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October 06, 2003 |
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The madness within us
'Nationalism is an often popular assault on outside forces that limit us; patriotism is a citizen's duty to challenge our own madnesses.'
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September 22, 2003 |
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A method to the madness
'India and other developing nations must invest in scientific, legal and economic infrastructure that can represent their interests in international negotiations.'
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September 1, 2003 |
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The people's cacophony
'The people's right to accountable government includes the right to decide what processes are best suited to providing
such accountability.'
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August 15, 2003 |
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A freedom of our own
'The Indian politician has substituted his weaknesses for the strength and spirit of the Indian people, all the while proclaiming the glory of a freedom he has denied to millions.'
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July 29, 2003 |
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Democracy without dissent?
'Rewriting the rules of electoral politics to ensure subservience to a few key figures is disgraceful.'
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July 28, 2003 |
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Democracy at the whipping post
'Political big-wigs are out to ensure that your local representative in Parliament and in the state legislatures is disallowed from overriding their leaders' instructions even if you, the voter, would like him to.'
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July 11, 2003 |
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The secret to democracy
'The secret to democracy is less secrecy. Who? What? How? When? It is in asking questions that we establish public dominion over lives and livelihoods.'
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June 27, 2003 |
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The Deathwish Division
'To commit Indian lives to the machinations of empire in the hope that we may become allied with its privileges is silly, and a disgrace to the memory of our own colonial experience.'
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June 14, 2003 |
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Of dreams and pipe-dreams - II
'We must see the nation through the eyes of those who have made small promises and delivered on them, those who seek progress with the people, not merely in their name,' says Ashwin Mahesh.
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June 13, 2003 |
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Of dreams and pipe-dreams
'For the Adivasis who would be displaced by the river interlinking project, Dr Kalyanaraman believed 'some would have to pay a price so that many might gain'. Even those inclined to support the scheme were a little aghast at this assertion.'
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May 30, 2003 |
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For the people, by the men?
'The resilience of democracy lies in the everyday aspirations of people. One day a third of the seats in Parliament will be occupied by women. And from there, we will dare to imagine some more.'
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May 2, 2003 |
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One of us, one of them
'The eminence of a few individuals must not blind us to the reality that defines the disadvantaged states and groups to which they purportedly belong.'
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April 18, 2003 |
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Lose the Ladyship
'Sonia Gandhi is not someone of such overarching stature and accomplishment that her pre-eminence at the top of the Congress hierarchy is necessary.'
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April 4, 2003 |
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Interlinking the unwitting
'The interlinked rivers may well bring water security that is otherwise unimaginable. Still, that judgement cannot be made in secrecy and haste,' says Ashwin Mahesh.
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