ICYMI #TheTribuneOpinion: Symbolic, practical consequences of Orsini’s sudden deportation

The death of renowned adman Piyush Pandey revived memories of his ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ song for the Indian masses. The punchline of his famous Fevicol ad, “stick together”, also resonates with The Tribune Editor-in-Chief Jyoti Malhotra, who has drawn the perfect analogy in her weekly column The Great Game ‘Mile sur mera tumhara? Not really’. India is 78 years old and it has more or less stuck together — sometimes more, sometimes less, she writes. One example of the former is the BJP’s determination to streamline the passage of trains carrying Bihari migrant labour from Punjab back home to celebrate the Chhath Puja festival. An example of the latter is the expulsion of Hindi-Urdu scholar Francesca Orsini after living for 40 years in India on a weak alibi of violating visa conditions, she writes.

Orsini’s case is far from isolated, writes former PU professor Shelley Walia in his Op-Ed Orsini’s deportation lays bare fragility of academic freedom. Over the past decade, foreign scholars investigating caste, nationalism or religious identities have faced visa denials, bureaucratic delays and censorship. It exemplifies inconsistency of a government eager to acquire international standing yet wary of collaborative inquiry, he avers.

Post-Diwali, Delhi AQI crossed 350, and the farmers primarily bore the insults. The fixation on farmers hides the larger truth — industries, power plants and transport remain the biggest polluters, writes PU Professor Navreet Kaur in her Op-Ed article Blame game over Delhi’s air must stop. What is urgently needed is not selective outrage, but a data-driven assessment of pollution sources and the systemic neglect by governments that have repeatedly failed to act on their own policy commitments.

Continuing with the other part of the problem, Punjab’s economic crisis has worsened in recent decades. A dysfunctional fiscal policy is weighing Punjab down, writes Economics Professor Lakhwinder Singh in his Edit Sink or swim, the onus is on Punjab. A geopolitically strategic state that provides food security to the nation has a legitimate claim to expect handholding by the Centre, he writes, as Punjab is suffering both in terms of institutions as well as innovation.

In Bihar, the NDA, including Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the BJP, and the Opposition’s Mahagathbandhan (MGB), led by Lalu’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), are putting their all into the election. But, the MGB led by the father–son Lalu-Tejashwi Yadav duo, is not paying heed to the smaller parties, writes senior journalist Radhika Ramaseshan in her Edit piece Bihar alliances on shaky ground. For now, the Congress has mollified both Tejashwi by naming him CM candidate and MGB ally Vikassheel Insaan Party’s leader Mukesh Sahani as deputy CM. And the biggest beneficiary of the NDA’s seat-sharing arrangement is undoubtedly Chirag Paswan.

As the first batch of Agniveers recruited through the Agnipath scheme in November 2022 approaches the end of its term in 2026, much will depend on the government’s ability to ensure a smooth reintegration for the outgoing personnel.  The intake in regimental centres for training happens twice a year so the exits will also happen on a bi-annual basis. The problem here is that induction into the central armed police forces and government services does not follow a set annual cyclic process. This is likely to complicate the absorption of Agniveers into these services after the four-year contract, warns Maj Gen Ranjit Singh (retd) in his Op-Ed piece Reintegration of ex-Agniveers will be the real challenge. But the good news is that going by the feedback on the performance of the Agniveers, the government is reviewing a proposal to raise the retention ratio from 25 per cent to around 50 per cent to retain experienced soldiers.

The recommendations of the still-to-be-set-up Eighth Central Pay Commission are due for implementation from January 1, 2026. So, why has the government still not constituted the commission, asks former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg in his Op-Ed article Is Modi bypassing the 8^th Central Pay Commission. The government has crafted and mastered a new way of granting bonanzas to the people and government servants, directly from PM Modi — a Rs 1-lakh-crore income tax bonanza in Budget 2025-26, a Rs 2-lakh-crore double Diwali gift GST cut bonanza. It appears quite likely that Modi will announce a handsome pay and pension hike to please over two crore government employees and pensioners, but at a time of his choice — a direct gift from him.

On October 24, the United Nations reached the milestone of 80 years even as it faces an uphill task in this increasingly difficult world. The core UN Charter blueprint has been eroded, as seen in conflicts raging around the world, writes Bharat H Desai, Professor of international law at the University of Bonn, Germany, in his Op-Ed piece 80 years on, UN remains humanity’s best hope. But without the historic battles fought in the UNGA, the elimination of apartheid and the liberation of colonies would not have been possible, that is why the UN matters, he writes. The founding members of the UN like India, which is aspiring for a rightful seat on the UNSC’s horse-shoe table, must stand by the UN in its hour of existential crisis.

As India prepares to assume the BRICS presidency, Trump described BRICS as “an attack on the dollar” and spoke of his threat to impose tariffs on its members. He has also claimed that the American opposition is prompting members to drop out of BRICS. However, there is little evidence to back Trump’s claim that countries are deserting BRICS, writes senior financial journalist Sushma Ramachandran in her Edit Why BRICS makes Trump see red. The bloc now has 10 members, with another 10 as partner countries and more countries like Belarus, Cuba, Malaysia, Vietnam and Nigeria are lining up to join the bloc. Why is Trump so worried and angered by the bloc? The answer lies partly in the need to assure his domestic constituency that the US is still the dominant force in the world, she writes. More importantly, the BRICS nations account for 30 per cent of the global GDP and the population of the BRICS bloc is also an overwhelming 45 per cent of the world compared to only 10 per cent for the G7 nations.

The Tribune provides the platform and the freedom where you can argue your case with conviction. In a rebuttal to Vice-Admiral Harinder Singh (retd)’s Op-Ed article published last week The lessons not learnt from Op Sindoor, which had raised questions on the performance of the IAF in Op Sindoor, ex-C-in-C, Western & Eastern Air Commands Air Marshal R Nambiar (Retd) has fought his case well in his article Why we shouldn’t look at Op Sindoor through a flawed lens.  If investing in Rafales is vanity, not capability, by that logic, the Navy should avoid new ships, and the Army should still wield the .303 rifle, he argues. Calling Op Sindoor a success is not chest-thumping. It reflects calibrated objectives achieved within days, he writes. The IAF does not need to “come clean.” It must continue doing what it did in Operation Sindoor: adapt, integrate, and dominate — from 300 km away if necessary.