21)A Republic of Inhospitality
India Republic Day -- While India celebrates Republic Day and the chests of millions of Indians swell with pride at the thought of our astounding diversity and imagined military prowess it is well in order to reflect on what kind of Republic the country has become. A republican sort of government is not merely one out of which the head of point out is not a hereditary monarch; rather the modern republic rests on the idea that sovereignty resides from the people and that the will of the people as expressed through all their representatives is supreme. Just what has however been vital to the idea of the republic everywhere is the notion regarding inclusiveness. In this respect the stories that have been coming out of India lately tell a tale that is relaxing to the bones a tale that leaves behind a stench that will no amount of sloganeering about Swachh Bharat or even something more than a symbolic wielding from the broom can eradicate. If inclusiveness is the touchstone of any Repu...