Northlines
Vivek Gumaste
‘What this incident must do is provide a renewed impetus to urgently bring in police reforms; changes that will ensure that political patronage and extraneous pressure are reduced to a minimum and allow the police to function independently and honestly,’ argues Vivek Gumaste.
Former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh’s shocking and sensational allegations against then Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh has set the cat among the pigeons and brings to the fore the complex, precarious and sometimes Faustian nature of the interplay between the political class and the police; a relationship that can swing either way depending on the personalities involved.
PatnaDaily
The decision to demonetize the high denomination currency notes has sharply divided the national opinion which is not quite unexpected. Such is the political climate today that if someone takes a stand against cannibalism, there are bound to be people in support of human beings eating other human beings. Obviously, no one has quite lamented, Oh! My precious hoard of treasured currency notes, the result of years of dishonest toil.
They foist some public purpose on to their opposition to the move. The poor, as always, come in handy. It has been alleged that it is they who are bearing the brunt. They are indeed but bearing with fortitude. I have been wondering whether to enter the debate after many economists and public figures have proclaimed it s still birth. But such is the overarching nature of the decision that to remain silent would be a failure of civic responsibility.