JUNE 20, 2020 Vol LV No 25 ` 110
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
JUNE 20, 2020 Vol LV No 25 ` 110 A SAMEEKSHA TRUST PUBLICATION www.epw.in EDITORIALS The Policymaker and Uncertainty NEET Undermines Constitutional Provisions An examination of why the response to COVID-19 Sensitivity, Not Sensationalism has been dramatically different across different countries when they all face the same level of FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK virologic uncertainty page 13 Critique Caught in a Deadlock LAW & SOCIETY Gandhi and the ‘Flu Pandemic’ Lawless Lawmaking in a COVID-19 World Why did Gandhi show such indifference to the pandemic when, given what is known about him, the opposite would COMMENTARY be expected? An analysis of his letters and statements Procedural Rationality in the Time of COVID-19 from that time tries to find the answer. page 34 Towards More Inclusive Water Management The Overseer of the Plague: Reading Oedipus Rex during COVID-19 Democratic Water Systems Neo-liberal Restoration at the Barrel of a Gun: Dissecting the Racist Coup in Bolivia A look at how the ideas of some critical sociological thinkers can contribute to a more inclusive management of Remembering A Vaidyanathan (1931–2020) our water resources and truly ensure water for all page 16 BOOK REVIEWS Experience, Caste and the Everyday Social A True Social Scientist War over Words: Censorship in India, 1930–1960 A Vaidyanathan’s research work in top institutions and PERSPECTIVES the Planning Commission was marked by attempts to seek answers to the question of development beyond Gandhi and the Pandemic ECONOMIC & POLITICAL WEEKLY disciplinary boundaries. page 25 SPECIAL ARTICLES Decoding Ayushman Bharat: A Political Economy Perspective Neo-liberalism Plays Out in Bolivia Farmer Suicides in Maharashtra, 2001–2018: The 2019 coup in the country confirms the common Trends across Marathwada and Vidarbha patterns of the instrumental use of religion in politics, racism and the aggressive implementation of neo-liberal CURRENT STATISTICS policies in the route to the right. page 21 ECONOMIC & POLITICAL WEEKLY june 20, 2020 | vol LV No 25 NEET Undermines Constitutional Provisions EDITORIALS 7 OBC reservations for NEET are a constitutional necessity for ensuring NEET Undermines Constitutional Provisions ......7 social justice. Sensitivity, Not Sensationalism ..............................8 Sensitivity, Not Sensationalism 8 The media regurgitates learned biases when reporting on people with mental FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK health disorders. Critique Caught in a Deadlock ........................... 9 Lawless Lawmaking in a COVID-19 World From 50 years ago ..............................................9 10 India’s management of the COVID-19 global pandemic has been marked by excessive centralisation, lawless lawmaking and non-consultative LAW & SOCIETY decision-making processes at the union-government level. Lawless Lawmaking in a COVID-19 World — Alok Prasanna Kumar —Alok Prasanna Kumar .....................................10 Procedural Rationality in the Time of COVID-19 COMMENTARY 13 In complex situations like the current global pandemic, where Knightian uncertainty plays a big role, the behaviour of countries, sectors of the Procedural Rationality in the Time of COVID-19 economy, and individuals may be characterised by procedural rationality. —Utteeyo Dasgupta, Chandan Kumar Jha, Sudipta Sarangi ................................................. 13 — Utteeyo Dasgupta, Chandan Kumar Jha & Sudipta Sarangi Towards More Inclusive Water Management Towards More Inclusive Water Management —Neha Khandekar, Tanvi Agrawal, 16 Policy and practice related to water management have failed to create inclusive Rashmi Kulranjan, Siddhartha Krishnan............16 solutions due to blinkered disciplinary thinking about a resource that plays multiple sociocultural, environmental, economic and ecological roles. The Overseer of the Plague: — Neha Khandekar, Tanvi Agrawal, Rashmi Kulranjan & Siddhartha Krishnan Reading Oedipus Rex during COVID-19 —Maaz Bin Bilal ................................................19 The Overseer of the Plague: Reading Oedipus Rex during COVID-19 Neo-liberal Restoration at the Barrel of a Gun: 19 A critical reading of the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex with a focus on the Dissecting the Racist Coup in Bolivia protagonist as a ruler overseeing a city under a plague is illuminating for —Tathagatan Ravindran .................................... 21 our times. — Maaz Bin Bilal Remembering A Vaidyanathan (1931–2020) Neo-liberal Restoration at the Barrel of a Gun —V K Natraj .......................................................25 21 Some characteristics of the contemporary phase of global neo-liberalism in light of the recent coup organised by the extreme right-wing forces in BOOK REVIEWS Bolivia against the leftist President Evo Morales in 2019 are examined. Experience, Caste and the Everyday Social— — Tathagatan Ravindran A New Framework for Social Science —Bruce Kapferer ................................................29 Remembering A Vaidyanathan (1931–2020) 25 A Vaidyanathan was a stalwart among social scientists and has made War over Words: Censorship in India, 1930–1960— distinguished contributions to several branches of economics: agriculture Proscribing the ‘Inconvenient’ and irrigation, water management, data analysis and development policy. —Dhaval Kulkarni .............................................32 — V K Natraj PERSPECTIVES Gandhi andECONOMIC & POLITICAL WEEKLY the Pandemic Gandhi and the Pandemic 34 During the 1918–19 Spanish fl u in India, the letters and utterances of —Thomas Weber, Dennis Dalton .........................34 Mohandas Gandhi give some clues as to why he may have been numb to what was transpiring around him. — Thomas Weber, Dennis Dalton SPECIAL ARTICLES Decoding Ayushman Bharat: A Political Economy Perspective Decoding Ayushman Bharat: A Political Economy Perspective 107 Ayushman Bharat is a step towards creating a system that would facilitate in —Shailender Kumar Hooda .............................. 107 relinquishing public funds and public institutions to already dominant private players, which will have serious implications for the healthcare Farmer Suicides in Maharashtra, 2001–2018: delivery system in India. — Shailender Kumar Hooda Trends across Marathwada and Vidarbha —Dnyandev Talule .......................................... 116 Farmer Suicides in Maharashtra, 2001–2018 116 An analysis of data reveals the relationship between farmer suicides and CURRENT STATISTICS......................................... 127 issues such as monsoon failure, water shortage, drought, absence of social security, robust crop procurement mechanisms and increasing debt burdens. — Dnyandev Talule Letters .................................................................. 4 LETTERS Issn 0012-9976 Ever since the fi rst issue in 1966, EPW has been India’s premier journal for Review of the protection and improvement of environ- comment on current affairs ment and nothing else whatsoever. and research in the social sciences. EIA Notifi cation 2020 It succeeded Economic Weekly (1949–1965), (6) The EIA notifi cation must be based on which was launched and shepherded by Sachin Chaudhuri, he Steering Committee of the Forum and uphold the demands of good science, who was also the founder-editor of EPW. Tfor Policy Dialogues on Water Con- specifi cally ecological science, and no As editor for 35 years (1969–2004) Krishna Raj fl icts in India (Water Confl ict Forum in other consideration, whatsoever, can be gave EPW the reputation it now enjoys. short) has carried out a detailed and given ascendency over it. Editor critical review of the extant Environ- (7) The EIA notifi cation must also organi- GOPAL GURU mental Impact Assessment (EIA) govern- cally build in social impact assessment Executive Editor ance system since 1994 in the country, (SIA) into it to uphold citizen’s funda- Lina Mathias with specifi c reference to the draft mental rights guaranteed under the SENIOR Assistant editorS lubna duggal EIA 2020 notifi cation, which is up for Constitution. INDU K public comments. (8) The EIA notifi cation must uphold the Sunipa Dasgupta Consequently, the Water Confl ict Forum well-established principles of environ- copy editorS jyoti shetty fi nds that: mental jurisprudence, including doctrine Tejas Harad (1) There have been systemic and insti- of non-regression; polluter pays principle; Assistant editors tutional shortcomings in the EIA govern- principle of intergenerational equity, etc. Nachiket kulkarni SHRUTI JAIN ance in the country dating to 1994 and Here, the judgment dated 8 December which have continued since then. 2017 of the principal bench of the National editorIAL Assistant Malvika Sharad (2) All subsequent amendments (fi rst in Green Tribunal in OA No 677 of 2016 is CHIEF FINANCE OFFICER 2006 and now proposed in 2020) to the relevant, which has held that: J DENNIS RAJAKUMAR EIA notifi cation have not been based on Under the International law, the doctrine of production any publicly available credible data or Nonregression is an accepted norm. It is suneethi nair rigorous analysis of the pluses and mi- founded on the idea that environmental law Circulation EIA should not be modifi ed to the detriment of KULDEEP NAWATHE nuses of the extant notifi cation and hence have carried forward the existing environmental protection. This principle needs Advertisement Manager to be brought into play because today envi- Kamal G Fanibanda infi rmities within the system. ronmental law is facing a number of threats General Manager & Publisher (3) The Constitution