Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Words of Freedom”
This article written by Baladevan Rangaraju, Founder Director of India Institute was published by Swarajya on 23rd September, 2014. Higher education in India is considered among the poorer in the world. Every ranking has critics who find fault with its methodology for under valuing or over estimating some parameters. But our tertiary education fares low in every ranking there is, …
In India, a woman is raped every 15 minutes as per the National Crime Records Bureau. And this ghastly statistic is only based on the total tally of rape cases that get reported at all.There is no need to further highlight the gory details of these crimes that have gripped India for generations now. But the need to find a permanent …
In our last weekly your view, we asked you whether higher education institutions not enjoying autonomy in matters of policy is an important reason for poor quality graduates in our country. Out of 18 poll takers, 94 % of you agreed with the above statement while the remaining 6 % of you disagreed. Today, when India has achieved almost universal …
Today, world military expenditure is estimated to have reached $1.756 trillion. This corresponds to 2.5 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP), or approximately $249 for each person in the world and this total is still higher than in any year between the end of World War II and 2010.But even more devastating has been the widespread loss of …
In our last weekly poll, we asked you whether teacher-training facilities or developing innovative educational technologies should be the priority investment area to improve quality of education quickly. To this tough question, of the 21 poll takers, 62% vouched for teacher training facilities while 38% believed that precedence should be given to innovation in educational technologies. The status of education …
In our last Weekly Your View, we asked whether it was possible to achieve economic equality for all citizens of our country. Of the 21 poll takers 5 % of you thought that it was possible to achieve economic equality while the other 86 % thought that it would be an impossible proposition. One of you felt that economic equality …
Are the ability to govern and the degree one holds independent of each other? This has been a hotly debated topic, both on social and mainstream media, since a key cabinet berth was given to an MP who is not a graduate. In light of this issue, we asked you in the last edition of Weekly Your View* if educational …
In the last Weekly Your View, we asked you whether having a centralized planning agency has helped the country. Out of 22 poll takers, 52% said yes while 48% did not think that the agency has helped the country. Some of you even pointed out that due to inefficiency, issues in implementation or just inability to adapt planning strategies, the …
In the last Weekly Your View, we asked you whether the government’s power to use a person’s private property in the name of a larger public interest has benefited us more or harmed us more. Out of 25 poll takers, 64% believed that it has caused more harm while 28% were of the opinion that it has benefited more. The …
The overburdening of the judiciary in India is not a story that is new. With a backlog of over 31 million pending cases in the High courts and subordinate courts, the Indian judicial system was made to induct 1,734 Fast Track Courts by the Eleventh Finance Commission to speed up the judicial process. Despite this expansion, only 3.2 million of …
Out of 18 people who answered the poll, 89% of you were in favour of punishing the police and complainants for false allegation while none of you felt that such a punishment was unnecessary. 11% opted for the “other” option of which one of you pointed out that the police cannot know whether it is a false case or not …
When you check your work before sending it across to another person, you perform an audit. All of us are faced with different type of audits at our own levels. In school, we are evaluated through exams. At work, after a point, it is a standard practice for us to assess our own work. We all go through different types …
Our Saturday Poll last week was on whether the government should control media. Responses from the 28 people who took the poll suggest that most people would want a freer media than a controlled media as far as restrictions related to geographical reach and content are concerned. However, a considerable majority -57%- would like some government control with respect to …
Almost 1/10th of the world’s products are made in India. This was done using a workforce of 1,430 million people in 2012 according to a survey by Sourcing Line Computer Economics. Their study also shows that on an average, a junior BPO employee in India costs a company 10% of the cost incurred to employ a person at the same …
Last Thursday we asked you if there should be a minimum price fixed by the government below which a supplier should not be allowed to sell a good or a service as airline companies sometimes do. 70 % of you disagreed to minimum price control by the government, while 30 % of you wanted the government to set floor prices …
Discrimination in India on the basis of caste, religion and gender has long been in public focus. Though mentioned now and then, racial discrimination had not received as much attention until two very unfortunate incidents in Delhi in the last couple of weeks. In our last Saturday Poll, we had asked you to tell us if you thought that Indians …
Whether an individual or an organization or a group or a society, those who squander away what they have, have never grown wealthier. This is true for governments too but they are the ones who most forget this basic principle. Ideally, they should be working within our means but they have worked beyond means, leading to a very large fiscal …
The need for electoral reforms is evidenced by the many PILs filed every year demanding transparency and accountability of politicians and the process through which they are elected. Last Saturday, we asked you what according to you is the one major electoral reform that India most urgently needs. The top two in the list of 7 reforms we got from …
Democracy-rule by the people, of the people, for the people- is a superior form of government because it is based on fairness, natural justice and equality. It offers the most conducive political climate for peace and prosperity for all. Violence is anathema to the concept of democracy, in which rule of law protects people’s life, property and rights, preempting most …
Is the unavoidable politicisation of the execution of death sentence a good enough reason to abolish death sentence? In the last Saturday Poll, we had posed the question whether politicization of the execution of death sentence is a good enough reason to ban death penalty. 85% of the 41 poll takers said “no”. Clearly, most people that this sample represents …
In last week’s Saturday Poll, we had asked you whether the right to freedom of speech should include the right to express contrarian views on religion. A mere 8% of the poll takers said it should, against a whopping 92% who feel that the right to express contrarian views should not be considered part of the right to freedom of …
In a world which glorifies vigilantism, how many people would come forward to expose a crime putting their lives and safety at stake? In last week’s Saturday Poll, we asked you whether you would expose a corrupt authority if you had evidence against them and what factor would influence your decision most. A meagre 8% of the 26 poll takers …
Do minimum wage laws help or harm the poor? This article is the analysis of the results of the Saturday Poll posted on India Institute’s Facebook page on 11 January, 2014 which asked the above question. There has been a consistent debate on whether the idea of having a minimum wage law is helpful or harmful. In our opinion poll on …
Is Subsidizing Basic Amenities a good Long Term Policy? The AAP government in Delhi has already made good their promise of 700 litres of free water per day per household and halving the electricity tariffs. This policy choice has come for appreciation as well as criticism. The supporters of the policy argue that the provision of these services now allows …
Should India’s defence production industry be fully opened to private Indian players? India is the world’s largest arms importer, spending nearly 70% of our defence expenditure on purchases from foreign players and accounting for 12% of total global arms imports. The hold of the public sector over the domestic defence manufacturing industry is total, monopolistic and highly lacking in excellence. …
How would you categorize the recent Supreme Court verdict on Section 377? The recent Supreme Court upholding of Article 377 has sparked widespread reaction across the nation. So we dedicated last week’s Saturday Poll to understanding our level of acceptance for sexual minorities and to what extent the petitioners in the case were representative of public opinion. We asked you …
Should male rapes be brought within the definition of rape? The pressure of public opinion brought about several welcome changes to the Indian criminal law in the 2013 amendment. It widened the scope of the definition of rape of a woman, expanded the list of sexual offences and increased the punishment for the offences. However, an equally repugnant violation of …
Should the police have the power to investigate an offence without any complaint being filed for it? This article is the analysis of the results of the Saturday Poll posted on India Institute’s Facebook page on 23 November, 2013 which asked the above question. As the general interpretation of the law stands today, even when the police come to know of …
Is there a need for a supreme regulatory body for higher education in India? This article is the analysis of the results of the Saturday Poll posted on India Institute’s Facebook page on 9 November, 2013 which asked the above question. The results for this week’s poll on higher education regulating bodies showed that 25% of you think that India needs …
Assuming a robust IT infrastructure can be put in place, will a facility to file FIRs online be a viable solution to this problem? This article is the analysis of the results of the Saturday Poll posted on India Institute’s Facebook page on 2 November, 2013 which asked the above question. In Nirbhaya’s case the police was apparently fighting over jurisdiction. …
Should the Government Snoop on Us? To the extent we are able to communicate across the world in a jiffy and use that ability to pull off spectacular changes in the social, economic and political spheres, we have lost control over our personal information and the right to privacy of our interactions. Not just on the Internet but also over …
