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Tag: Amartya Sen

  • Uniform civil code a difficult issue: Amartya Sen 

    By PTI

    SANTINIKETAN: Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen on Wednesday claimed that the Uniform Civil Code is a “difficult” issue and efforts are on to make it easy.

    The 90-year-old economist also said the UCC surely has a link with the concept of Hindu Rashtra.

    “The Uniform Civil Code” is a difficult issue. Now attempts are on to make it easy. There are differences among us. There are differences of religions, there are differences in rules and customs. We need to remove those differences and be united.

    “I read in the newspaper that there should not be any more delay in implementing the Uniform Civil Code. No idea from where such a nonsense concept has come,” Sen told reporters at his home here.

    To a question if the UCC has links with the idea of Hindu Rashtra, he said it “surely” has.

    “But Hindu Rashtra is not the only way for progress– Hinduism is being misused,” said the Bharat Ratna awardee.

    The UCC refers to a common set of laws on marriage, divorce and inheritance that would be applicable to all Indian citizens irrespective of religion, tribe or other local customs.

    The Law Commission had on June 14 initiated a fresh consultation process on UCC by seeking views from stakeholders, including public and recognised religious organisations, on the politically sensitive issue.

    SANTINIKETAN: Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen on Wednesday claimed that the Uniform Civil Code is a “difficult” issue and efforts are on to make it easy.

    The 90-year-old economist also said the UCC surely has a link with the concept of Hindu Rashtra.

    “The Uniform Civil Code” is a difficult issue. Now attempts are on to make it easy. There are differences among us. There are differences of religions, there are differences in rules and customs. We need to remove those differences and be united.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “I read in the newspaper that there should not be any more delay in implementing the Uniform Civil Code. No idea from where such a nonsense concept has come,” Sen told reporters at his home here.

    To a question if the UCC has links with the idea of Hindu Rashtra, he said it “surely” has.

    “But Hindu Rashtra is not the only way for progress– Hinduism is being misused,” said the Bharat Ratna awardee.

    The UCC refers to a common set of laws on marriage, divorce and inheritance that would be applicable to all Indian citizens irrespective of religion, tribe or other local customs.

    The Law Commission had on June 14 initiated a fresh consultation process on UCC by seeking views from stakeholders, including public and recognised religious organisations, on the politically sensitive issue.

  • Rift being created between communities due to political opportunism: Amartya Sen

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Saturday said a rift is being created between communities on account of “political opportunism”.

    Sen also lamented that the colonial practice of imprisoning people due to political reasons is still being continued, decades after India gained independence.

    “There is an effort to divide Indians. Create a rift in the co-existence of Hindus and Muslims on account of political opportunism,” he said during a virtual address at the centenary celebration of ‘Anandabazar Patrika’.

    The first edition of the Bengali language daily, one of the largest newspapers in the country, was published on March 13, 1922 with Prafullakumar Sarkar as its founding-editor.

    The newspaper which had a decidedly nationalistic stance, was described at birth by the Englishman newspaper as “a new Bengali daily coloured (Red) like a danger signal.”

    Speaking of the early days, Sen said, “At that time (pre-independence period), several people in the country including relatives working for the Anandabazar Patrika were imprisoned for political reasons. I was very young then and while visiting them at jail, I often used to question whether this practice of incarcerating people without their committing any crime will ever stop.”

    “Subsequently, India became independent, but this exercise is still very much in existence,” the 88-year-old celebrated economist said.

    He said that while independent India had made progress on many counts, issues such as poverty, health concerns remained and the newspaper had been highlighting these in an objective manner. There is no doubt that efforts must be made to pursue the path of justice, he added.

    Earlier this month, Sen had expressed concern over the current state of affairs in India, and said people should work towards maintaining unity.

    “I think if someone asks me if I’m scared of something, I would say ‘yes’. There is a reason to be afraid now. The current situation in the country has become a cause for fear,” the Nobel laureate had said at the inauguration of Amartya Research Centre in Salt Lake in Kolkata.

    The octogenarian had also stressed the need to stay united in line with the country’s traditions. “I want the country to be united. I don’t want division in a country that was historically liberal. We have to work together,” he said.

  • No instant solution on whether to reopen schools amid Covid pandemic: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: There is no instant answer to the debate over the opening of school campuses amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said.

    Speaking in an online discussion organised by Pratichi on Sunday, Sen said that children are suffering a lot as schools are closed but also concerns over their health cannot be ignored if campuses reopen.

    “In America, there is an ongoing debate between two groups on the same issue. In India, there are different opinions. But, what may be applicable in the east of Birbhum may not work in the west of Bankura. There cannot be a readymade reply, an instant reply at hand, the situation is not so,” Sen said.

    ​ALSO READ | 75 per cent of parents against sending kids to school in Karnataka

    On the evaluation model in the present scenario, the economist said acquiring and sharing knowledge is more important.

    “Even if we put emphasis on the evaluation we must remember it is the last thing. Acquiring and sharing knowledge comes first. There are reasons to believe that the issue should be seen from different sides and perspectives,” he said.

    “When we learn something for the first time, when we first comprehend the matter…..is that linked with evaluation? We have to see. Evaluation will be certainly of use, but how much and in what way? We have to see if there is a link between evaluation and real education,” Sen pointed out.

    ALSO READ | More than 300 schools in Mizoram’s coronavirus-free areas to reopen

    Asked about the threats to the environment, he said that either the world is aware of the problems and knows the solution but not proceeding in the right path or there need to be threadbare discussions to find the directions to solve the crisis.

    “Environment is an integral part of every work, every step taken by us,” he reasoned.

    Sen, who is currently a Thomas W Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, also stressed on tapping alternative energy resources such as solar and nuclear to protect the environment.

  • Indian government’s schizophrenia led to COVID-19 crisis: Economist Amartya Sen

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: India’s “confused” government focused on taking credit for its actions, rather than working to restrict the spread of COVID-19, resulting in schizophrenia that led to massive troubles, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has said.

    India was better placed to fight the pandemic because of its pharma manufacturing prowess and also higher immunity levels, the noted economist said while speaking at an event organised by the Rashtra Seva Dal late Friday evening.

    Sen’s remarks came in the backdrop of the second wave of the pandemic seeing the number of officially reported cases topping over 4 lakh a day and over 4,500 deaths daily, and also concerns over under-reporting.

    Some eminent personalities have said a sense of early “triumphalism” led to the crisis. Sen said that India could not play on its strengths because of a poor response to the crisis due to confusion in the government. “The government seemed much keener on ensuring credit for what it was doing rather than ensuring that pandemics do not spread in India. The result was a certain amount of schizophrenia,” Sen said.

    Sen, who is a professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University, cited writing by Adam Smith in 1769 wherein the father of modern economics argues that if one does good things, he does get credit for it.

    And the credit could be sometimes an indicator of how well one is doing. “But to seek the credit, and not the good work that generates the credit shows a level of intellectual naivete which has to be avoided. India tried to do that,” Sen added.

    “It (government) was trying to generate the credit boasting across the world that India will save the world perhaps. And at the same time, allowing the problem to develop and have a grip over the lives of Indians across the country,” he added.

    Sen said India was already afflicted with social inequities, slowing growth and unemployment at record highs, which came to haunt it during the pandemic. “A failure of economy and failure of social cohesion was the basis of the failure of the pandemic attack as well,” he said, adding that limitations on education led to difficulties in assessing early symptoms and treatment protocols.

    Sen also argued for a “big constructive change” in healthcare and education above all, but also in economic and social policies in general.

    ALSO WATCH | Kerala’s Covid-19 fight: A tale of two waves | TNIE Documentary

  • Amartya Sen asks Visva-Bharati to withdraw allegation that he is illegally holding land

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen on Monday wrote to Visva-Bharati university demanding that it withdraw the allegation that his family is in “illegal” possession of land in its Santiniketan campus and alleged that the accusations are a crude attempt at harassment.

    Sen wrote the letter to Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor Prof Bidyut Chakraborty two days after the authorities of the central university asked the West Bengal government to measure the plot owned by him at Santiniketan as soon as possible to permanently resolve the dispute.

    The noted economist said in the letter that his father had purchased free-hold land from the market and not from Visva-Bharati – to add to their homestead and he has been paying taxes for them.

    He had also sent a legal notice earlier this year to the VC asking him to withdraw immediately your false allegation made to the news agencies that a plot of land owned by Visva-Bharati is unlawfully occupied by me.

    While the university was not able to provide any justification for the allegation, it has requested the West Bengal government “to measure the area of our homestead, Pratichi, to compare with the long term lease of land taken by my father in 1940 from Visva-Bharati,” Sen said in the letter.

    “This sudden abuse of an 80-year-old document is clearly a crude attempt at harassment or worse,” he said.

    “Among other errors it ignores the big fact, which I have stated many times (even in the context of this dispute), that a substantial amount of free-hold land was purchased by my father (in the market — not from Visva-Bharati) to add to our homestead on which khajna and Panchayat taxes are paid by me yearly,” the letter said.

    Hence the officiating registrar’s threat of legal action against him if the official discovers any additional land beyond the leased land seems hugely mischievous, Sen said.

    Stating that he is tired of the VC’s repeated claims despite emphatic denials on his part about his phone call to Chakraborty in 2019, Sen said that the VC insisted that the call was made either on June 2 or June 14.

    “On being informed that I was abroad for the entire month of June 2019 and came back to India only in July, the story was promptly altered by the V.C.’s office to assert that I had called in June or July but said the same things,” the letter said.

    “Rather than inventing new falsities and adding to their culpability, Visva-Bharati should withdraw the false allegations made by them, as my lawyer has asked,” Sen said.

    A controversy had erupted on December 24 last year, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the centenary celebrations of Visva-Bharati, when media reported that the university has written to the West Bengal government alleging dozens of land parcels owned by it were wrongfully recorded in the names of private parties including Sen.

    Sen, who now lives in the USA, has said that the land, on which his house stands is on a long-term lease, which is nowhere near its expiry.

    Stating that the Visva-Bharati authorities had never complained to him or his family about any irregularity in holding the land, Sen has accused the VC of acting at the behest of the Centre “with its growing control over Bengal”.

    Visva-Bharati officials were not available for comment on the letter.

    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and several prominent intellectuals of the state have expressed support to the economist on the row.