When domestic politics hurts national security

The civilian killings in Kashmir targeting minorities such as Kashmiri Pandits comes at a time India is already facing several crises. These include the ever-expanding military stand-off with China, poor relations with Pakistan, losing out in Afghanistan, a crashing economy, the migrant crisis in the North East since the coup in Myanmar and the farmer protests that recently saw violent attacks against protestors.

The killings have a specific aim, argues Avinash Paliwal in the Hindustan Times: to bait India into escalating conflict in Kashmir and then trapping it there, setting the country back decades. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s domestic politics of Hindu nationalism, which disregards democratic solutions in Kashmir, makes this risk even higher.

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Forcing skilled farmers to become labourers

On September 24, 28-year old Moinul Haque was shot by the Assam police during a drive to evict his family from their home. India watched in horror as he was first shot and then his body was kicked and stamped on.

What explains the bitter xenophobia against Bengali Muslim farmers in Assam?

In driving out “illegal encroachers” from farms in an area smaller than Assam’s capital for an agriculture project that does not interest native Assamese, the Bharatiya Janata Party government is dispossessing productive Bengali Muslim farmers, many of whom say they bought land from locals and have been paying land taxes, some for up to 70 years, reports Makepeace Sitlhou in Article 14.

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India’s economic slump is a planned disaster

India’s economic policy planners are currently planning for a profit-led recovery, says economist Rathin Roy in an interview to Adrija Chatterjee of Informist Media. What has effectively happened is the government has used monetary policy to help rich people make profits by producing less. This means that the post-pandemic recovery we are seeing in the economy is being driven by an increase in profits. It is not being driven by increase in wages or increase in returns to capital, thus harming the vast majority of Indians.

India has exhausted its gains from the 1991 reforms. It will have to make major changes if it wants growth to come back.

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The God Einstein believed in

Albert Einstein once said that he believed in “Spinoza’s God” referring to philosopher Baruch Spinoza, the pioneer of the rationalist school that emerged in the 17th century. Spinoza’s conceptions of God are seen so at odds with Abrahamic belief that his writing is often seen in the modern age as a gateway drug to atheism.

But in a new book, Clare Carlise, a professor of philosophy at King’s College London, contends that by arguing that whatever exists is in God, Spinoza’s thoughts actually provide a way for the religious to protect their belief against attacks by modern-day atheists.

In the Prospect, Alex Dean reviews the book.

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Shoaib Daniyal covers politics for Scroll.in