It is an eye-opener in more ways than one to compare the days when I started playing the game and the way youngsters go about their job today.

Yep! It is easy to start a business in India these days, but only till one actually sets out to start one.

Hamish McRae

The past three years have seen both the triumph of liberal ideas, as to how economies should be ordered, and also some of the most serious challenges to those ideas. At the risk of over-simplifying, it is fair to say that the triumphs have by and large happened in the emerging economies, while the challenges have come in the more established ones.

By Gita Piramal

The mood was tense. The son, struggling to control his emotions, could not meet his father’s eyes. Stress from fatigue, both emotional and physical, was sapping the father’s energy.

Ashish Rajpal

Do not limit your child to your own education, for he was born in another time.

A Jewish proverb
The Right to Education Bill (affectionately RTE) was perhaps the defining education event of 2010 mandating good quality learning, and not just access to schooling, as a must-have for every child. This was a fitting end to arguably the most eventful decade for school education in India where several landmark policy prescriptions were given the stamp of approval.

By Santosh Desai

Gnashing teeth comes easily to those who call themselves liberals or conservatives.

India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, epitomised liberal values and separated religion from politics. His worldview was shaped by the ideals of democracy, secularism and equality. Today, these values have emerged yet again as the defining features of not just liberal thinking, but also for policymaking and legislation.

Shashi Tharoor

What are the prospects for the expansion of liberal space in India over the next two decades? To me this desirable objective requires both growth and equity. It’s happening, but there’s still a lot that needs to be done before we get there.

The benefits of economic growth must reach all Indians — the majority of whom are young, and the majority of whom are poor. Statisticians tell us that the current proportion of the total Indian population under 25 years of age is 51 per cent and the proportion under 35 is about 66 per cent. This predominance of youth in the population is expected to last until 2050, with the average age of an Indian in 2020 expected to be 29 years.

By KN Bhat

In January 2010, Justice P.D. Dinakaran, then Chief Justice of the Karnataka high court, was made to face the door marked “OUT” in the judicial fortress — a formal enquiry into the allegations against him commenced. Transferring him to another high court was the sole way of escaping public pressure, but there were no takers. Sikkim of late is where the “rejects” are dumped.

Despite protests, on April 10, 2010, Dinakaran in Gangtok swore to uphold the Constitution and the laws of India. Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta high court was already in the impeachment queue. Proceedings against both are pending and they may remain so until they retire. That is how the well-meaning safeguards save the sinners — the saints never test them.

Indira Jaisingh

Has liberal space expanded and conservative space shrunk in India’s legal arena? Perhaps yes, to the extent that there is greater transparency and accountability in governance thanks to the courts. But have things really changed in a substantive way? This only time will tell but India’s active press and judiciary have ensured that our basic and human rights are protected by not allowing the arrogance of power to go unchallenged.

In 2010, we saw a combination of action in courts and in Parliament which impacted human rights, and democratic governance and transparency. Some of it came to conclusion, while much of it is still pending adjudication or is yet in bill form. One of the most significant pieces of legislation introduced was the bill for amending the Constitution to reserve one-third of all seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women.