Freedom First

Freedom First

Summary

Freedom First No. 559 (January 2014), the 62nd year of this Mumbai-based classical-liberal monthly edited by S. V. Raju, opens its new year with a “Nostalgia” reprint from the magazine’s January 1957 issue, an obituary for long-time contributor Dr. Sheryar Ookerjee, and an editorial that welcomes the Congress (I)‘s rout in the December 2013 state elections while condemning the Supreme Court’s judgment recriminalising gay sex under Section 377. The bulk of the issue is devoted to end-of-2013 current-affairs commentary: judicial accountability and the Justice Ganguly sexual-harassment controversy, the National Counter Terrorism Centre federalism dispute, the Amit Shah/Narendra Modi “Snoopgate” surveillance affair and the Tarun Tejpal/Tehelka assault case (each revisited across several separate columns), India-Brazil relations, the CHOGM summit and China’s inroads in Sri Lanka, and a defence-veterans’ case for organised political participation ahead of the 2014 general election.

A special Republic Day pullout by B. N. Mehrish profiles eighteen lesser-known figures of the independence movement, from Bhikaji Cama and V. D. Savarkar to elderly Quit India-era veterans interviewed in old age. Recurring “Educating Adults” and economics features examine Right to Education Act funding shortfalls and EWS-quota fraud, the Shetkari Sanghatana’s free-market case for rural transformation, an argument for abolishing state honours such as the Bharat Ratna, a review of Michael Sandel’s What Money Can’t Buy, and the intertwined onion, gold and oil price crises of late 2013.

Essays

Freedom First: This Month in January 1957

A reprinted excerpt from Freedom First’s January 1957 issue (No. 56, then edited by V. B. Karnik), reproducing notes on Bombay Education Minister Shantilal Shah’s opposition to state control of the film industry, a tribute to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar on his recent death, and a lengthy excerpt on American puzzlement at India’s non-alignment policy and its selective tilt toward the totalitarian bloc.

• Reproduces excerpts from FF’s own January 1957 issue as a recurring ‘Nostalgia’ feature.
• Bombay Education Minister Shantilal Shah is quoted opposing state control of the film industry as a threat to free expression.
• Mourns Dr. B. R. Ambedkar shortly after his death, quoting Nehru’s description of him as ‘a symbol of revolt.’
• Reprints commentary on American puzzlement at India’s non-alignment policy and its selective alignment with totalitarian regimes over democracies.

Obituary: Dr. Sheryar Ookerjee

By SVR

An obituary for philosophy professor Dr. Sheryar Ookerjee (1925-2013) of Wilson College, Mumbai, a long-time FF contributor and chairman of the Alexandra Girls English Institution, recalling his scholarship on Plato, F. H. Bradley and the Arthashastra, and reproducing excerpts of his writings on Hindu epics and on self-proclaimed godmen who refuse empirical tests of their powers.

• Ookerjee taught philosophy at Wilson College for 36 years and chaired the Alexandra Girls English Institution.
• His doctoral thesis examined F. H. Bradley’s approach to logic; his UGC scholarship focused on Plato and the Arthashastra.
• Excerpts show his view that Hindu epics carry strong emotive and moral force for ordinary believers despite being ‘poetic fictions.’
• A second excerpt expresses skepticism toward gurus who refuse to demonstrate claimed powers under controlled conditions.

From Our Readers

The reader-letters section carries US-based readers’ rebuttal of a December 2013 FF editorial that compared Obama’s Affordable Care Act to India’s Food Security Act, defending Medicare, Medicaid and food-stamp programmes on their own terms, alongside a separate letter criticising Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s remark that ‘this is my state’ during a hoarding dispute.

• Multiple US-based readers dispute FF’s parallel between ‘Nehruvian socialism’ and Obamacare, citing Medicare’s decades-long history and CBO cost estimates.
• One letter argues Food Security Act comparisons to Obamacare are ‘far-fetched’ given the ACA’s funding structure.
• A separate letter criticises Omar Abdullah’s ‘this is my state’ remark as inconsistent with his duty as a public servant bound by law.

Editorial: The Good New and the Bad News

The editorial welcomes the Congress (I)‘s rout in the Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh assembly elections and the Aam Aadmi Party’s strong debut, cautioning AAP that a strong showing is not a governing mandate, then turns to condemn the Supreme Court’s judgment recriminalising gay sex under Section 377, quoting Laksmi Chaudhry’s argument that the ruling subordinates fundamental rights to ‘colonial-era law.’

• Frames the December 2013 state election results as a possible ‘tipping point’ ahead of the 2014 general election.
• Cites Minoo Masani’s 1967 refusal to ‘buy’ defecting legislators in Gujarat as a model of principled restraint AAP should heed.
• Condemns the Supreme Court’s Section 377 ruling as a violation of human rights, previewing fuller coverage in the February issue.
• Criticises both Congress and BJP for ‘muddying the waters’ rather than offering a clear opposition role to AAP.

Perspective: Winds of Change Presage Hope of New Political Order

By H. R. Bapu Satyanarayana

H. R. Bapu Satyanarayana argues that a more assertive judiciary under recent Chief Justices has curbed UPA government impunity, framing Rahul Gandhi’s public denunciation of an ordinance shielding convicted legislators as a ‘turning point,’ and surveys judicial interventions (NOTA, disqualification of convicted legislators, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s fodder-scam conviction) alongside continued government missteps such as directives on Muslim-youth detention.

• Credits the judiciary, ‘from the time of S. H. Kapadia,’ with curbing the UPA government’s ‘dilatory tactics.’
• Analyses Rahul Gandhi’s public denunciation of the ordinance protecting convicted politicians as a ‘turning point’ shaped by generational frustration with the Congress old guard.
• Cites the RJD’s Lalu Prasad Yadav conviction in the fodder scam as evidence of stricter judicial accountability.
• Criticises the Union Home Minister’s directive on avoiding wrongful detention of Muslim youths as vote-bank politics undermining secularism.

Point Counter Point

By Ashok Karnik

Ashok Karnik’s recurring ‘Point Counter Point’ feature presents both sides of four controversies: the fifth anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the state of counter-terrorism reform; the ‘Snoopgate’ surveillance affair involving Amit Shah and the Gujarat government; the Tarun Tejpal/Tehelka sexual-assault case; and the December 2013 state elections as a dress rehearsal for 2014.

• Notes incremental gains in counter-terrorism capacity since 26/11 (NIA, some equipment) alongside persistent turf wars over the NCTC and NTRO.
• Presents both a ‘protective surveillance’ and a ‘misuse of power’ reading of the Amit Shah/Gujarat ‘Snoopgate’ affair.
• Weighs sympathy for the alleged victim against her right to privacy in the Tejpal case, while criticising the media’s handling of it.
• Reads the December 2013 state results as a strong signal against UPA II ahead of 2014, while cautioning that AAP’s refusal to form a Delhi government may not be sustainable.

Cornucopia

By Firoze Hirjikaka

Firoze Hirjikaka’s ‘Cornucopia’ column recounts the ‘Snoopgate’ surveillance affair as a ‘comedy of errors’ involving Amit Shah, Narendra Modi and a young architect, arguing the BJP’s shifting defence made things worse; a companion piece dissects Tarun Tejpal’s fall from Tehelka; a further note reads the December 2013 election results as an opportunity for Rahul Gandhi to reinvent the Congress; and a reprinted Meghnad Desai column cautiously welcomes the Aam Aadmi Party.

• Frames the Amit Shah/Gujarat surveillance scandal as a personal drama of a spurned ‘saheb’ rather than a genuine security operation.
• Criticises the BJP’s shifting defence (security, then a father’s request) as unconvincing and self-defeating.
• Recounts the Tarun Tejpal assault allegation and Tehelka’s implosion, arguing the media’s pursuit of the story outpaced its stated watchdog purpose.
• Reprints Meghnad Desai’s assessment that the Aam Aadmi Party, while promising, must prove it can scale beyond Delhi.

Comment: Indictment of Justice Ganguly: To What Avail?

By Keshav Rau

Keshav Rau examines the aftermath of sexual-harassment allegations by a law intern against retired Supreme Court Justice A. K. Ganguly, criticising Chief Justice P. Sathasivam for closing the matter after a three-judge inquiry panel found the allegations credible, and arguing the CJI should have ensured a transparent FIR and criminal investigation given the Court’s own Vishakha-era guidelines.

• A three-judge panel found the intern’s allegations against Justice (retd.) A. K. Ganguly credible: an act of ‘unwelcome behaviour… of sexual nature.’
• The CJI closed the matter, citing the Court’s lack of administrative control over a retired judge.
• Argues the Supreme Court, having laid down its own sexual-harassment guidelines, owed a more rigorous response to allegations within its own fraternity.
• Notes the intern’s later claim, in a media interview, of knowing of ‘three other cases’ involving the same judge and other judges.

Foreign Relations in the 21st Century: India and Latin America (Part Two)

By B. Ramesh Babu

B. Ramesh Babu’s second part on India-Brazil relations credits President Lula da Silva’s political-first diplomacy and his ‘Bolsa Familia’ welfare programme with transforming bilateral ties, and details the growth of trade (from $400 million in 1999 toward a projected $15 billion by 2015), investment, and cooperation within BRICS, IBSA and a joint stance against US surveillance following the Snowden revelations.

• Credits President Lula da Silva’s 2003-2010 tenure with transforming India-Brazil relations through political alliance preceding trade.
• Bolsa Familia lifted 50 million Brazilians out of poverty and influenced welfare-policy design in other countries, including India.
• India-Brazil trade grew from $400 million (1999) to $10.62 billion (2012), projected to exceed $15 billion by 2015.
• Both countries cooperate within BRICS/IBSA and backed a joint stance on internet governance and privacy after Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations.

Perspective: Can We Legislate for A Better Society?

By Rca Godbole

Rca Godbole argues that India’s reflexive turn to committees and stricter laws after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape (the Justice Verma Committee) cannot substitute for a societal shift in mindset, contending that legal frameworks are structurally preventive and punitive rather than capable of cultivating positive civic virtue, and criticising proposals like arming railway police as security theatre.

• The Justice J. S. Verma Committee report (January 2013) recommended procedural reforms rather than new or stricter laws.
• Argues legal and governmental systems are structurally designed to prevent bad outcomes, not to elicit positive civic behaviour.
• Criticises arming Railway Police guards on Mumbai locals as a token response, arguing the real safety factor is the sheer number of ordinary commuters present.
• Calls for mindset change, not further legislation, as the real remedy for India’s social ills.

A Special Republic Day Pullout: On the Occasion of our country’s 64th Republic Day

By B. N. Mehrish

B. N. Mehrish’s Republic Day pullout profiles eighteen ‘unsung heroes’ of the independence movement: armed revolutionaries (Bhikaji Cama, V. D. Savarkar, Ram Prasad Bismil, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Aurobindo Ghosh, Ashfaqulla Khan), Congress-era figures (K. M. Munshi, Sarojini Naidu), INA veterans (Capt. Lakshmi Sehgal, Lalti Ram), and lesser-known Quit India-era freedom fighters interviewed in old age (Gouranga Sundar Mitra, Rani Saroj Gaurihar, Ke Mammen, Mewa Lal Gupt, Ammembala Balappa, Krishna Kanta Sarma, Keyur Bhushan). It concludes that this ‘revolutionary stream’ of the freedom struggle is largely forgotten by the current generation.

• Profiles Madame Bhikaji Cama, who unfurled India’s first national flag abroad at the 1907 Stuttgart Socialist Conference.
• Recounts Savarkar’s escape attempt at Marseilles, his Andaman imprisonment, and his epic Kamala composed in jail.
• Covers the executions of Ram Prasad Bismil, Bhagat Singh and Ashfaqulla Khan, and Chandrashekhar Azad’s death by his own hand rather than surrender.
• Interviews several elderly freedom fighters (Ke Mammen, Mewa Lal Gupt, Krishna Kanta Sarma and others) on the gap between their expectations of independence and India’s present governance.
• Concludes that the ‘revolutionary stream’ of freedom fighters has been eclipsed by contemporary scandal-driven politics.

The Rural Perspective: Social Transformation in Rural India

By Sharad Joshi

Shetkari Sanghatana founder Sharad Joshi argues that the farmers’ movement achieved a ‘revolutionary change’ in rural mindsets by dismantling the Gandhian-era glorification of poverty and persuading farmers to pursue remunerative prices and commercial value rather than fatalistic self-sacrifice, and critiques government lift-irrigation schemes and the belief that water access alone guarantees prosperity, favouring decontrolled markets and new technology such as GM seeds instead.

• Argues Gandhian-era ethics glorified farmer poverty and discouraged the pursuit of wealth or comfort.
• Credits the Shetkari Sanghatana with teaching farmers to demand remunerative prices through agitation rather than accept fatalism.
• Criticises politically motivated government lift-irrigation schemes as economically unsound and prone to leaving farmers indebted.
• Argues drought-resistant GM seeds can make water-poor land arable without illegal water diversion.
• Concludes that eliminating government market interventions, not irrigation subsidies, is the real cure for agricultural poverty.

Perspective: High Time to Abolish Governmental Awards

By Kashinath A. Divecha

Kashinath A. Divecha, prompted by controversy over Sachin Tendulkar’s Bharat Ratna, argues that the government should abolish the Bharat Ratna and Padma awards altogether, citing Indira Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna as an ‘ignominious precedent’ given her Emergency-era record, and arguing that genuine honour, as with Sardar Patel, arises from public esteem rather than official patronage.

• A PIL questioned whether Sachin Tendulkar’s Bharat Ratna met the award’s ‘public service’ criterion.
• Cites Indira Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna as devaluing the award given her imposition of the Emergency.
• Argues the government’s award system amounts to a ‘Lucky Draw’ of patronage that should be abolished as inconsistent with a republic.
• Holds up Sardar Patel’s popular title as proof that genuine honour needs no state sanction.

Comment: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2013 (CHOGM)

By Suresh C. Sharma

Suresh C. Sharma reviews the November 2013 Colombo CHOGM summit held amid allegations of Sri Lankan war crimes, arguing India’s foreign policy is muddled by vote-bank considerations (the Tamil Nadu boycott resolution) and warning that China’s growing strategic and commercial footprint in Sri Lanka threatens India’s regional interests.

• Only 27 of 53 Commonwealth heads of government attended CHOGM 2013 amid Sri Lankan war-crimes allegations.
• India sent its Foreign Minister rather than the Prime Minister after Tamil Nadu’s Legislative Assembly called for a boycott.
• China’s construction of Hambantota port and naval-training ties with Sri Lanka are framed as part of a ‘string of pearls’ strategy against India.

National Security: Need to Move from ‘Dvaita’ to ‘Advaita’

By G. R. S. Rao

G. R. S. Rao argues that partisan ‘Dvaita’ (dualistic) politics between the Centre and states, and between ruling and opposition parties, has crippled the National Counter Terrorism Centre proposal and broader counter-terrorism coordination, calling for a unified national ‘Advaita’ security policy above party lines; an appended piece laments corruption in armed-forces recruitment.

• Several state governments (Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and others) opposed the NCTC as an infringement on federalism.
• Argues national security should transcend ‘ruling versus opposition’ politics, likening current dynamics to a childhood game of ‘cops and robbers.’
• Criticises the ad hoc creation of Special Police Officers in Chhattisgarh’s anti-Naxal effort, noting a Supreme Court warning against dividing society into ‘pro and anti naxalite’ camps.
• An appended item describes a young aspirant unable to join the Army despite passing physical tests because he cannot pay a bribe.

Perspective: Elections to Parliament: Participation of Veterans

By Ravindra Waman Pathak

Retired Navy officer Ravindra Waman Pathak argues that ex-servicemen and the youth vote could jointly swing up to 80 Lok Sabha seats and 400 assembly seats, and proposes that the ‘defence fraternity’ unite behind clean-image ex-servicemen candidates as a national political alternative, citing Winston Churchill’s cynical verse on politicians as prophetic of India’s current leadership.

• Estimates the defence-services vote bank (ESM plus serving personnel) at roughly 10 crore, with potential for a 7-9% vote swing.
• Proposes a unified ex-servicemen political platform, capping candidates at two terms and barring relatives of incumbents.
• Quotes Winston Churchill’s poem on politicians as prescient of contemporary Indian politics.
• Calls on the defence fraternity and youth to register and vote for clean ESM candidates in the 2014 general election.

Reflection: Poverty and Humble Beginnings - No Impediments to Success

By B. M. N. Murthy

B. M. N. Murthy illustrates the theme that ‘a great person’s success depends on inherent character, not external circumstance’ through the impoverished childhoods of V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Abraham Lincoln, Charlie Chaplin, Yehudi Menuhin, and former Chief Justice S. H. Kapadia, closing with Lincoln’s dignified reply to a senator who mocked his cobbler father.

• Opens with an 11th-century Sanskrit verse holding that a great person’s success stems from inherent character, not external circumstance.
• V. S. Srinivasa Sastri’s mother could not afford salt; his college principal paid his indecent-dressing fine and bought him a shirt.
• Ramanujan’s family could not afford mathematics textbooks; boarders taken in by his mother supplied them.
• Recounts Abraham Lincoln’s dignified reply to a senator who mocked his father’s trade as a cobbler at his inaugural address.
• Notes former Chief Justice S. H. Kapadia’s early poverty, including subsisting on roasted chana near Bombay’s Flora Fountain.

Book Review: What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J. Sandel

By Ritvik M. Kulkarni

Ritvik M. Kulkarni reviews Michael J. Sandel’s What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, summarising Sandel’s argument that market reasoning has corrosively expanded into non-market domains such as viatical life-insurance trading and paid health incentives, presenting his ‘unfairness/coercion’ and ‘corruption of norms’ objections, and praising the book’s readability while noting its Western-centric focus and reliance on baseball analogies.

• Summarises Sandel’s central worry that a ‘market economy’ has become a ‘market society.’
• Uses the viatical life-insurance case of AIDS patient Kendall Morrison to illustrate morally troubling market transactions.
• Explains Sandel’s two objections to market expansion: unfairness/coercion toward the disadvantaged, and ‘corruption’ of a good’s proper norm.
• Notes the book’s near-exclusive focus on Western markets and its baseball-heavy illustrations as minor limitations.

Educating Adults: The Right to Education Act (19) - Implementation - Finance

By Suresh C. Sharma

The nineteenth instalment of Suresh C. Sharma’s ongoing Right to Education Act series examines funding shortfalls (a Rs. 2,31,233-crore five-year HRD Ministry projection against a Rs. 15,000-crore annual allotment), documents malpractice in EWS-quota reimbursement and mid-day-meal claims, tabulates inconsistent state-level EWS income-eligibility criteria, and reports an NCPCR finding that 95% of private schools have not complied with EWS admission requirements.

• The Central HRD Ministry’s five-year RTE funding projection (Rs. 2,31,233 crore) far exceeds actual annual allotments (Rs. 15,000 crore).
• An NCPCR pilot study found 95% of private schools non-compliant with EWS admission quotas.
• Documents fraudulent reimbursement claims, with some schools inflating EWS student counts by up to 50%.
• Tabulates sharply differing state EWS income-eligibility ceilings, from Rs. 60,000 (Andhra Pradesh, Delhi) to Rs. 3.5 lakh (Karnataka).
• Notes only 11% of teachers qualified in the Common Eligibility Test, with 631 teacher vacancies in Mumbai alone.

A Triangle of Deceit: Onions, Gold and Black Gold

By Jyoti Marwah

Jyoti Marwah surveys the confluence of 2013’s onion-price crisis, a surge in gold demand fuelled partly by counterfeit tungsten ‘gold’ bars, and rising oil prices, framing all three as products of political manipulation and speculative deceit ahead of the 2014 elections, and wryly imagines onion futures becoming the next speculative commodity.

• Notes a multi-billion-dollar Chinese counterfeit-goods trade, including tungsten bars passed off as gold.
• China’s gold demand, near India’s 612-tonne 2009 level, could rise a further 75%, according to Standard Bank of London.
• Frames the onion price crisis, alongside ‘sugar gate’ and ‘egg gate,’ as recurring instances of manufactured food-price scarcity ahead of the 2014 elections.

Onion Crisis Hits India

By Dr. Rita P. Bhambi

Dr. Rita P. Bhambi attributes 2013’s onion price crisis to poor rains in onion-growing regions, recalling how Indira Gandhi rode a wave of onion-price anger back to power in 1980 and warning that the Congress fears a similar backlash ahead of the 2014 elections.

• Attributes the crisis to errant rainfall reducing onion production in key growing regions.
• Recalls Indira Gandhi’s 1980 election campaign, which exploited rising onion prices against the sitting government.
• Notes the crisis coincides with India’s festival season, heightening its political sensitivity ahead of 2014 elections.

Onion Crisis

By Sarah Ratnani

Sarah Ratnani reports that India considered importing and even airlifting onions to ease record retail prices ahead of the December 2013 state elections, and that Pakistani exporters moved to profit from the Indian shortfall despite APMC efforts to boost domestic supply.

• India, normally an onion exporter, considered importing and even airlifting onions to ease domestic shortages.
• Retail onion prices reportedly quadrupled to around Rs. 100/kg within three months.
• Pakistani exporters sought to capitalise on the Indian shortage with a new Sindh-province crop.

Gold Hits a New High

By Hanspal Amardeep Kaur

Hanspal Amardeep Kaur attributes record Indian gold prices to the rupee’s depreciation against the dollar and investors fleeing weak securities markets, describing gold’s rise from roughly Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 30,000 per 10 grams over a few years amid constant intraday volatility.

• Attributes gold’s price surge primarily to the Indian rupee’s collapse against the US dollar.
• Notes gold rose from about Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 30,000 per 10 grams over a few years.
• Describes gold rates as highly volatile within a single day depending on domestic and international demand.

Sachin - An Example to Emulate

By Rahul S. Kumar

Rahul S. Kumar’s student tribute marks Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement and his becoming the first sportsperson awarded the Bharat Ratna, praising his sportsmanship and describing him as a source of national inspiration across 24 years of cricket.

• Marks Tendulkar’s retirement after a 24-year career and his becoming the first sportsperson awarded the Bharat Ratna.
• Praises his record-breaking career and sportsmanship as a model of application and commitment for the nation.

C. N. R. Rao Conferred Bharat Ratna

An unsigned item, courtesy the National Book Trust, profiles chemist C. N. R. Rao on his 2013 Bharat Ratna, the third awarded to a scientist after C. V. Raman and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, noting his work on transition-metal oxides and nano-materials and his role heading the Prime Minister’s Scientific Advisory Council.

• C. N. R. Rao is the third scientist to receive the Bharat Ratna, after C. V. Raman and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.
• Heads the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and directs the International Centre for Materials Science, Bangalore.
• Holds honorary doctorates from 60 universities and has authored roughly 1,500 research papers and 45 books.

---

Generated by the v1.5 extraction pipeline. Awaiting editorial review.