Daily Reads-61 (Level-1)

Reading Suggestion-1

Article Name:Indians grapple with a Dickensian dilemma of growth and secularism

Author Name: Gurcharan Das
Source: Times of India
Category:Politics and Economy

Summary for this article :

The writer starts the article by talking about the contradictions of life captured in “A tale of two cities”, one of Dickens novels,that points out a contradictory mix of success and failure, joy and sorrow, victory and defeat;comparing it to thepresent Indian state of affairs.

He talks about the two recent events. Wherein in one, with the Implementation of the GST, the nation celebrated success by lauding the government’s move towards economic development; therein in the other, the lynching of a 15 year old young Muslim boy by a bloodthirsty mob in the name of beef created an outcry for the violation of secularism.

The writer further says that secularism and growth in today’s India cannot go hand in hand, for unfortunately with the Congress one can see secularism flourishing but development plunging and with the BJP one witnesses the opposite.

When it comes to ethics: duty based ethics would support secularism over development while utilitarian’s would choose the opposite. These ethical dilemmas are not easy to resolve.
But if one day a party emerges that would support secularism and development then these ethical dilemmas would disappear, but until then we must make an informed but unhappy choice

Words to learn from this article :

Sporadic: Something that occurs in an irregular interval of time.
Utilitarian: Utilitarianism is an ethical theory which states that the best action is the one that maximizes utility. (source: Wikipedia)
Platitude: A cliché

Reading Suggestion-1: Click to read full article

Reading Suggestion-2

Article Name:It’s not help, it’s work
Author name: G.Sampath
Source: The Hindu
Category: Politics and Economy

Summary for this article :

The article starts by talking about the various ad headlines that are found in the English newspapers that talk about the necessity of having your domestic helpers verified by the police. While there is no such ask for the verification required for the employers’inspite of many cases being reported of a domestic helper being abused by her employer, is something that does require attention

The author goes on to criticize the lack of recognition given to the domestic workers. They are not even recognized as workers, says the writer.

The national Platform for Domestic Workers submitted a drafting bill, the Domestic Workers Regulation of Work and Social Security Bill, 2016, to the government in January that calls for the mandatory registration of the employer and employee with the District board for regulation of domestic workers.

The author concludes by saying that the policy mindset regarding domestic workers must shift to support the workers’ rights and a good place to start this would be to consider the enactment of the Domestic workers Regulation of Work and Social Security Act.

Words to learn from this article :

Incarceration: To imprison someone or to confine someone
Remuneration: Amount of sum paid to someone for the work or service done
Paradigm: A pattern in which things work
Paradigm shift: A change in the paradigm i.e. a change from the regular or usual way of doing things

Reading Suggestion-2: Click to read full article

Reading Suggestion-3

Article Name: Plane talk: Some feel that selling Air India is like selling their birthright

Author name:Jug Suraiya
Source: Times of India
Category: Politics

Summary for this article :

Jug Suraiya very satirically stating the corruptness of our dishonest netas, in this short piece of writing involves a conversation between two netas who are worried about the privatisation of Air India which had been a means of their corrupt and luxurious life. These netas have always been looting the tax payers’ money and bringing every government owned property to their personal use rather than the public and this article just states the obvious