Newspaper Editorials With English Vocab 24/2/2016

#everydayquiz #read Daily The Hindu, The Financial Times, The Dawn, the Newyork times, The Guardian, Business, Standard, Indian Express.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES: Towards a high-speed railway future

At long last, India is poised to redeem its tryst with high-speed rail (HSR). With Japan committing a $12-billion loan at concessional terms, the 500-km ‘bullet train’ corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is now consecrated,

and its financial and technological contours also charted. An autonomous corporation has been contemplated for executing the project as a joint venture with the concerned state governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Driven by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision and pursued by railway minister Suresh Prabhu’s energy and tenacity, the project will enable India join the world HSR elite club, hopefully before 2025.

The pioneering HSR corridor has the potential to be an inflection point, to revitalise Indian Railways and trigger new dynamics for the economy. It would constitute one of the four pillars on which Indian Railways could build a structure essential for the transformation of the nation’s lifeline. The other three pillars are:
* High-speed high-volume freight corridors, two of which are now being constructed, will enable Indian Railways to operate time-definite heavier and faster freight trains ferrying bulk as well as ‘retail’ goods, including double-stack container trains under electric wires;
* A string of modern-day stations, akin to new airports, and multi-modal logistics nodes, optimally located across the sprawling network;
* A revamped rail passenger travel wherewithal—a business line separate from the freight business.

The clamour for passenger trains providing speedy, safe, reliable and comfortable travel is constantly increasing.

Already, Indians are travelling more, and they are travelling longer. However, with around 13,000 passenger trains, carrying 23 million travellers daily, Indian Railways has only a 10% market-share of the country’s overall passenger business. It has to substantially extend, accelerate and modernise its infrastructure, stations, pre-board and on-board services. It must impart urgency on upgrading wherewithal for semi-high-speed inter-city trains for 10-12-hour journeys (Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata Rajdhani trains) and 3-4 hour commuting on Shatabdi trains, leaving local and regional passenger services to be managed by an autonomous entity under its wings.

Time on Indian Railways has run still, while the world has witnessed an HSR flurry. While the Shatabdi running on the 200-km New Delhi-Agra route is now cleared for a maximum speed of 150kph, the upper limit of Indian Railways’ ‘fast’ trains—Rajdhanis, Shatabdis, Durontos—has remained limited to 130kph, in effect averaging just 80kph. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR is envisaged to be in the new genre; it will cut the current fastest journey time of 7-8 hours to just 2 hours. Today, worldwide HSR networks operating on exclusive high-speed lines aggregate some 22,000 km, of which China’s share alone exceeds half.

Conjuring up an image of an exorbitantly-expensive infrastructure mode, HSR on dedicated lines at 250kph or higher—often up to 350kph—has almost everywhere been dubbed as elitist. Costing R200 crore per km, India’s first HSR project involves an estimated outlay of R98,000 crore, more than that of the 3,300-km Eastern and Western dedicated rail freight corridors currently being executed.

For HSR in India—much like TGV in France and Shinkansen in Japan—a general query is posed: Why do we need such an expensive train for the rich, when many other pressing schemes need resources? One must understand that India’s pioneering HSR in no way crowds out any of Indian Railways’ other projects and schemes. Japan’s offer of the $12-billion assistance is only for the designated HSR; it is not transferable to other railway projects. Any attempt at its postponement will only add to woes of higher costs and missed opportunity, much as long delays caused for the Delhi Metro.

Today, TGV in France—operating on some routes every 5 minutes as a preferred mode—is hailed as the real ‘low-cost carrier’. Shinkansen in Japan has emerged as an invaluable part of the country’s mobility and economy. Less than a decade ago, China had no HSR; now tickets to ride on its network of ultra-fast trains routinely sell out. Its HSR network moves twice as many passengers as its airlines do.

Concerns over depleting fossil-fuel reserves, climate change, overcrowded airports, delayed flights and congested roads have conspired with HSR technology alternative. Energy-efficient and environmentally-benign, a high-speed electric train emits one-eighth and one-fifth of carbon dioxide versus automobiles and aircraft per passenger km, respectively. A double-track rail line has more than thrice the passenger-carrying capacity of a six-lane highway, while requiring less than half the land.

A really important plus is HSR’s unblemished safety record—with a 2,500-km network, providing high frequency up to 14 trains per hour, the Shinkansen ever since its inception on the 550-km purpose-built Tokyo-Osaka route in 1964 has maintained a unique record of no fatal accident. As also the TGV, sans any accident in 30 years and more.

“Chinese HSR has so far established a mortality-risk level that equals or exceeds that of the world’s safest airlines,” says Arnold Barnett, an aviation safety expert.

HSR does not only divert passengers from road and air, it also generates a new class of passengers. For distances of 200-800 km, airlines cannot match HSR—while below 200 km, road transport has an edge; beyond 800 km, air option is better placed. With average operating speeds of around 250kph, HSR helps bring settlements 500-km apart within two hours of each other. Designed to be faster than a car, and more frequent, cheaper and more convenient than an aircraft, HSR has been a catalyst for economic growth, a stimulus for the development of satellite towns, helping alleviate migration to metropolises. Providing services from and to city centres, HSR serves important centres en route, providing value for time through express and easy access to tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

HSR fares are normally higher than classic rail services for increased speed, reliability and comfort. The Shinkansen fare includes a surcharge which doubles the fare as compared to conventional trains. HSR fares in China are around thrice the conventional train fares. While most HSR lines recover their operating and maintenance costs, it is difficult to recover much of capital cost. Revenues from fare box collections are appreciably buttressed, in particular by commercial developments in and around HSR stations. Japan’s JR East Group operates over 40 hotels, offers some 177,000 retail locations at stations, and earns advertising revenues from 17 million daily passengers. HSR also wins some of the air freight business; freight represents 10-15% of French HSR revenues, and postal TGV trains use Paris-Lyon HSR line, replacing aircraft.

A nation of India’s size, potential and aspirations has to envision its destiny, dream big and bold, sometimes with irrational exuberance. It is inconceivable that, notwithstanding its size, scope and strength, Indian Railways would continue to deny itself a peep into rapid technological and commercial transformation that railway systems the world over experience. Besides legitimate national prestige being a motivation, technological development promotes the rail supply industry.

A recent McKinsey report suggests that, by 2025, India will be the world’s fifth-largest economy; the number of households earning Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh annually would have risen to 583 million from the current 50 million. More intensive urbanisation and rising incomes would lead to higher travel propensity. Indian Railways must push ahead with the HSR corridor, for a mature mobility mix, to unlock an immense hidden value, and the country not to be left out of essential technology upgrade.

poised

Having a composed and self-assured manner.

re·deem

Compensate for the faults or bad aspects of (something).

tryst

A private, romantic rendezvous between lovers.

con·se·crate

Make or declare (something, typically a church) sacred; dedicate formally to a religious or divine purpose.

con·tour

An outline, especially one representing or bounding the shape or form of something.

con·tem·plate

Look thoughtfully for a long time at.

te·nac·i·ty

The quality or fact of being able to grip something firmly; grip.

re·vamp

Give new and improved form, structure, or appearance to

clam·or

A loud and confused noise, especially that of people shouting vehemently

im·part

Make (information) known; communicate.

flur·ry

A small swirling mass of something, especially snow or leaves, moved by sudden gusts of wind.

en·vis·age

Contemplate or conceive of as a possibility or a desirable future event.

con·jure

Make (something) appear unexpectedly or seemingly from nowhere as if by magic.

exorbitantly

To an exorbitant degree; "prices are exorbitantly high in the capital"

woe

Great sorrow or distress.

de·plete

Use up the supply or resources of.

un·blem·ished

Not damaged or marked in any way; perfect.

Shin·kan·sen

(in Japan) a railroad system carrying high-speed passenger trains.

        en·vi·sion

Imagine as a future possibility; visualize.

in·con·ceiv·a·ble

Not capable of being imagined or grasped mentally; unbelievable.

peep

Look quickly and furtively at something, especially through a narrow opening.

im·mense

Extremely large or great, especially in scale or degree.

THE HINDU: Clean air agenda for the cities

Air quality has a strong bearing on India’s ability to sustain high economic growth, but national policy has treated the issue with scant importance. This is evident even from the meagre data on pollution for a handful of cities generated by the ambient air quality measurement programme. A new report from Greenpeace, based on NASA’s satellite data, indicates that people living in some parts of India are at greater risk for health problems linked to deteriorating air quality than those living in China. The measurements for Aerosol Optical Depth, which have been used to assess the level of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) that gets lodged deep in the lungs, point to a worsening of air quality in Indiain the 10-year period from 2005, particularly for States along the Punjab to West Bengal corridor, compared to China’s eastern industrial belt. This finding matches the Air Quality Index data for cities monitored by the Central Pollution Control Board. Quite simply, pursuing business as usual is not tenable, and the Centre has to act to enforce control mechanisms that will make the air safe to breathe. This has to begin with a more comprehensive system of real-time data collection, expanding the coverage from the present 23 cities (not all of which provide full or regular information) to all agglomerations with a significant population and economic activity, and within a given time frame. Putting the data in the public domain in an open format will enable multiple channels of dissemination, including apps created by the community for mobile devices, and build pressure on both policymakers and polluters.

High levels of particulate matter in cities arise from construction and demolition activity, burning of coal in thermal plants, as also biomass, and from the widespread use of diesel vehicles, among other sources. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has six-year-old data that attribute about 23 per cent of particulates to construction activity in six cities studied, and another 20 per cent to diesel vehicles. The onus of curbing pollution from these sources is on the States, and evidently they are not taking their responsibility seriously. Greater transparency in data dissemination and public awareness hold the key to change. Technological solutions to contain construction dust are equally critical, as is the low-cost solution of covering all urban surfaces with either greenery or paving. Widespread burning of biomass for cooking can be avoided if the government encourages innovation in solar cookers. Cheap, clean-burning stoves can have a dramatic effect as well. The transformation of cities through good public transport and incentives for the use of cycles and electric vehicles — which India is committed to achieve under the Paris Agreement on climate change — will reduce not merely particulate matter but also nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. There is little doubt that the worsening air quality in Indian cities is already affecting the lives of the very young and the elderly, and reducing labour productivity. India needs a time-bound action plan.

scant

Barely sufficient or adequate.

mea·ger

(of something provided or available) lacking in quantity or quality.

am·bi·ent

Of or relating to the immediate surroundings of something.

ten·a·ble

Able to be maintained or defended against attack or objection.

ag·glom·er·a·tion

A mass or collection of things; an assemblage.

dis·sem·i·na·tion

The act of spreading something, especially information, widely; circulation.

o·nus

Used to refer to something that is one's duty or responsibility.

curb

Restrain or keep in check.

dis·sem·i·na·tion

The act of spreading something, especially information, widely; circulation.

green·er·y

Green foliage, growing plants, or vegetation.

pave·ment

Any paved area or surface.

THE HINDU: Keeping it parliamentary

Parliament’s Budget session opened on Tuesday against a turbulent backdrop of unrest on university campuses, the Jat agitation in Haryana, an agrarian crisis, terrorist strikes and attacks on freedoms. In a bid, therefore, to blunt an anticipated attack by the Opposition, the Modi government has adopted a strategy to confront its critics directly by making the JNU “sedition” controversy the centrepiece of this session. MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party, rather than those from the Opposition, have already given notice for a discussion on the subject ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget. By presenting itself as the flag-bearer of nationalism, the BJP believes it will be able to seize the advantage from the Opposition while detracting attention from economic and governance issues. Already, the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are building public opinion for the “nationalist” cause through various programmes, including vigilante activity by RSS sympathisers. In presenting the majority community as being under siege, the BJP and the Parivar have shifted the discourse to anxiety about the country being threatened by “anti-national” elements.

President Pranab Mukherjee’s customary address to Parliament has, in fact, set the tone. It ended with a reference to Subhas Chandra Bose, one of the many heroes of the freedom struggle whom the BJP has appropriated as an icon, and quoted him as saying, “Nationalism is inspired by the highest ideals of the human race.” The President also impressed on MPs that the “democratic temper calls for debate and discussion, and not disruption or obstruction”. For his part, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed the hope that Parliament would be utilised for “constructive debates”. The opening days of the Budget session traditionally leave little space for the Opposition. The sittings in the session’s first half, in any case, will be dominated by the President’s Address and the debate on it, the introduction of and discussion on the Union and Railway budgets and private members’ business. The government has also prioritised the passage of the Enemy Property (Amendment & Validation) Bill to replace an ordinance, and the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill that provides for delimitation of constituencies in West Bengal following the exchange of territories with Bangladesh. By proposing a discussion on Rohith Vemula and the JNU crisis, the BJP has further eroded space for the Opposition to seize the initiative. With elections to five Assemblies expected to be notified soon, the debate will obviously be framed in a surcharged context and political parties will be especially keen to play to the gallery. Indeed, given that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is not bound by lack of numbers in the Rajya Sabha in getting money bills passed, the government may be tempted to resist the parliamentary etiquette of letting the Opposition shape the session. This would be a mistake. The government has not yet completed its second year in office, but Parliament is already stuck in deadlock. Unyielding postures during this session on either side could stall all forward movement

tur·bu·lent

Characterized by conflict, disorder, or confusion; not controlled or calm.

Backdrop

the ​general ​situation in which ​particular ​events ​happen

un·rest

A state of dissatisfaction, disturbance, and agitation in a group of people, typically involving public demonstrations or disorder.

blunt

(of a knife, pencil, etc.) having a worn-down edge or point; not sharp.

con·front

Meet (someone) face to face with hostile or argumentative intent.

cen·ter·piece

A decorative piece or display placed in the middle of a dining or serving table.

detracting 

to make something ​seem less ​valuable or less ​deserving of ​admiration

vigilante 

 a ​person who ​tries in an ​unofficial way to ​prevent ​crime, or to ​catch and ​punish someone who has ​committed a ​crime, ​especially because they do not ​think that ​official​organizations, such as the ​police, are ​controlling ​crime​effectively. Vigilantes usually ​join together to ​form ​groups.

dis·course

Written or spoken communication or debate.

dis·rup·tion

Disturbance or problems that interrupt an event, activity, or process.

delimitation

Boundary line: a line that indicates a boundary

e·rode

(of wind, water, or other natural agents) gradually wear away (soil, rock, or land).

Stall

to ​delay taking ​action or ​avoid giving an ​answer in ​order to have more ​time to make a ​decision or get an ​advantage:

BUSINESS STANDARD: An incomplete agenda

When the President addresses Parliament at the beginning of the Budget session, his speech is generally supposed to serve as a rough draft of the government's agenda for the coming year. It is true that this year, Pranab Mukherjee's speech dwelt more on what the government claims to have achieved. However, the listing also reveals the Centre's policy focus and priorities. Certainly, these appear to have moved in a different direction from what was signalled by the government in its initial months. As is expected from the Budget, the larger agenda's focus is mainly rural and agricultural. In the President's speech, fertiliser sector initiatives, various agricultural schemes, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and infrastructure building were given pride of place. The non-farm agenda - jobs creation, a revival of growth, fiscal consolidation, bringing inflation under control and so on - were all part of the speech, but they were not its central focus.

While a rural focus following two successive poor monsoons is understandable, the various major concerns about the larger economy, even if mentioned, unfortunately did not seem to receive adequate emphasis. The problem of reviving investment remains unsolved; but no major new initiative or push seems on the horizon. Yes, the fiscal deficit may be declining; but the stress on fiscal consolidation is underestimated, thanks to the demands from the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission. Retail inflation has certainly stayed below six per cent; but food prices continue to put upward pressure on the consumer price index. And the recent series of agitations for reservations in government employment are an unmissable sign that too few jobs are being created. The benefits from the oil sector in the wake of the declining global price of crude oil - as also the challenges that flow from it - have been ignored.

Several other pressing issues and how the government would respond to them in the current session did not find a mention. Leading these are the crucial proposed laws that would be potentially transformative for the economy - the goods and services tax and the bankruptcy code. Given the impact on investment of an adversarial tax regime as seen in some high-profile cases of tax disputes, there did not seem to be an adequate appreciation of the need for reform of tax administration, though the President did state that the government had put in place a simplified, progressive and non-adversarial tax regime. In addition, while the government has hitherto focused on the urgent need to scale up public investment in infrastructure, this past focus was not fully reflected in the President's agenda for the government this year. And finally, the deepening crisis in the banking sector - the rising levels of non-performing assets - did not find a mention as the priority it should be.

The President's speech usually serves as an assessment of the state of the nation. The government's decision to recognise the importance of the collapse in rural demand, the growth of rural distress, the unreformed state of the farm and irrigation sectors, and the stagnation in rural wages is praiseworthy. It demonstrates how democratic government must respond swiftly to the events that impact citizens. But reviving growth and investment, and undertaking structural reform, are crucial for a sustainable increase in living standards in both rural and urban areas. Hopefully, the impression that less attention will be given to these issues will turn out to be mistaken.

dwelt 

to ​live in a ​place or in a ​particular way

pride of place.

to have the most ​important ​position in a ​group of things

adversarial 

involving ​people ​opposing or ​disagreeing with each other:

hitherto 

until now or until a ​particular ​time:

distress

a ​feeling of ​extreme ​worry, ​sadness, or ​pain

stagnation 

to ​stay the same and not ​grow or ​develop:

INDIAN EXPRESS: Flying against logic

Ratan Tata’s comments favouring scrapping of the so-called 5/20 norm for airline operators merits serious consideration by the country’s policymakers. The chairman emeritus of Tata Sons has rightly criticised the rule that requires an Indian carrier to have a minimum of five years of domestic running experience and at least 20 planes in its fleet to operate international flights. Tata may have business interests in seeing that this rule goes. His group, after all, is a co-promoter of two relatively new airline ventures — AirAsia India and Vistara — whose operations are impacted by the 5/20 rule. But that does not diminish the strength of the basic argument that he is making of how the entrenched carriers are using “monopolistic pressures” and “lobbying” to retain the rule. Business interests apart, it is consumer interest that is the real issue here. In a liberalised economy, the government cannot dictate the fares that airlines charge from consumers. All it can do is ensure a regulatory environment that allows competition. The 5/20 norm clearly undermines this by circumscribing new entrants and foreclosing the benefits that would accrue to consumers by way of cheaper tickets, better services, newer routes and seamless travel. The supposed rationale behind the rule is to ensure that only credible airlines — with recognised records of safety, experience and financial strength — are allowed to operate. This argument would effectively shut out even ventures that have established international carriers as co-promoters. This is the case with the two Tata joint ventures, and also others that may be wanting to set up similar JVs. Related to this is the fact that in today’s world, making distinctions between domestic and international operations of airlines makes no sense. There are many overseas Indian workers living in hinterland Indian towns, using domestic flights to connect to metro airports for international travel. These consumers, mostly from less well-off backgrounds, stand to gain from airlines offering seamless connectivity at competitive rates, including through leveraging their international network and plying specific, hitherto underserved routes. At the end of the day, it is all about lowering the barriers of entry in aviation or, for that matter, any business. The NDA government should lay to rest the controversial rule as part of its much-awaited civil aviation policy.

Emeritus

no ​longer having a ​position, ​especially in a ​college or ​university, but ​keeping the ​title of the ​position

entrenched

Entrenched ​ideas are so ​fixed or have ​existed for so ​longthat they cannot be ​changed:

Lobbying

the ​activity of ​trying to persuade someone in ​authority, usually an ​elected ​member of a ​government, to ​support ​lawsor ​rules that give your ​organization or ​industry an ​advantage

undermines

to make someone less ​confident, less ​powerful, or less ​likelyto ​succeed, or to make something ​weaker, often ​gradually:

circumscribing

to ​limit something:

accrue

to ​increase in ​number or ​amount over a ​period of ​time

seamless

without any ​seams (= ​lines of ​sewing ​joining different ​piecesof ​cloth):

plying

to ​sell or to ​work ​regularly at something, ​especially at a ​job that ​involves ​selling things

The Guardian view on Libya: yet another messy frontier in the war on Isis

Five years after the start of the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is fast becoming the new frontier of the western war against Islamic State. This turn of events has now become clear, after the US recently carried out airstrikes against the jihadi group which has taken control of large swaths of Libya’s coastline and targeted the country’s oil facilities. US warplanes struck an Isis training camp in Sabratha, north-western Libya, last Friday, killing dozens of militants, according to the Pentagon. US officials said the operation targeted a Tunisian operative responsible for terrorist attacks against tourists in Tunisia in 2015, including the assault on a beach resort in Sousse in which 38 people died, among them 30 Britons. What is much less clear is how this strategy will play out, and how it can be sustained in the absence of a national unity government in Libya able to establish its legitimacy over a war-ravaged country.

The US and its allies have grown increasingly worried about the expansion of Isis in Libya, where the insurgency has an estimated force of 6,500 fighters. Despite the messy aftermath of the west’s move against Gaddafi in 2011, there are signs that several European states are contemplating a fresh military intervention in Libya, alongside the Americans, with the aim of preventing Isis from establishing a launchpad for more attacks in Europe and in North Africa. But although such plans seem to be under consideration in Rome, Paris and London, no decision has been taken – nor is there any clarity as to whether this would be limited to an air campaign, or involve ground forces. On Tuesday, Italy announced it had authorised the US air force to use a base in Sicily to carry out drone strikes.

One problem is that any international military operation would require a clear legal basis. With a UN mandate highly unlikely at this point – because that would require Russia’s approval – there would need to be an official request from Libyan authorities themselves. But there is no agreement in Libya on who the government is. UN mediation efforts have failed, so far, to produce an agreement between factions. Libya’s territory has been carved up by two competing sets of local governments and parliaments – one based in the capital, Tripoli, and the other, which the international community recognises, in the eastern city of Tobruk. The resulting chaos has created a vacuum which Isis has stepped into.

American officials say last Friday’s airstrikes were not the beginning of a new international air campaign. But that may perhaps be only a question of time. There is no doubt that Libya must be prevented from becoming a springboard for Isis. The consequences of that for the whole region, and for Europe, would be devastating – not least because Libya has been a major route for refugees and migrants. But the prospect of a new “war on terror” in that part of Africa surely deserves more public debate than is currently happening.

The intervention of 2011 was purportedly aimed at Gaddafi’s open threats to carry out what sounded like a massacre in Benghazi. But there was a wider idea too: to protect whatever hopes existed for the Arab spring – including in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt. Since then, Egypt has fallen back into military dictatorship, and Tunisia’s democracy struggles on. Some will now see Libya’s slide into warlordism as the result of nothing but Gaddafi’s overthrow and the misguided intervention of 2011. But that narrative overlooks something important. Libya had no meaningful, functioning state institutions even under Gaddafi – only a tyrant’s rule.

Libya’s disintegration has been largely due to a lack of international focus and of diplomatic follow-up after 2011. UN-sponsored stabilisation efforts were dismally insufficient. Libya is today a mess that the west cannot, and should not, turn its eyes away from. But getting the policy right will require honest and open debate.

up·ris·ing

An act of resistance or rebellion; a revolt.

swaths 

 a ​strip or ​belt, or a ​long ​area of something

play out

When a ​situation ​plays out, it ​happens and ​develops:

as·sault

Make a physical attack on.

legitimacy

Lawfulness by virtue of being authorized or in accordance with law

rav·aged

Severely damaged; devastated.

af·ter·math

The consequences or aftereffects of a significant unpleasant event.

launch pad

The area on which a rocket stands for launching, typically consisting of a platform with a supporting structure.

man·date

An official order or commission to do something.

purportedly

Believed or reputed to be the case

mas·sa·cre

An indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people.

warlordism

A warlord is a person with power who has both military and civil control over a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority. The term can also mean one who espouses the ideal that war is necessary, and has the means and authority to engage in war

tyrant’s

(tyrant) a cruel and oppressive dictator

THE NEWYORK TIMES: Don’t Turn Away From the Art of Life

In a letter written in 1871, the Symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud uttered a phrase that announces the modern age: “‘Je’ est un autre” (“‘I’ is someone else”). Some 69 years later I entered the world as an identical twin, and Rimbaud’s claim has an uncanny truth for me, since I grew up being one of a pair. Even though our friends and family could easily tell us apart, most people could not, and I began life with a blurrier, more fluid sense of my contours than most other folks.

My brother and I live in different cities, but I have never lost my conviction that one’s outward form — the shape of people, but also of surfaces and things — may not be what it seems.

That personal intuition is of a piece with my career as a professor of literature, since I am convinced that great works of art tell us about shape-shifting, about both the world and ourselves as more mobile, more misperceived, more dimensional beings, than science or our senses would have us believe.

Enthusiasm for the Humanities, though, is much diminished in today’s educational institutions. Our data-driven culture bears much of the blame: The arts can no longer compete with the prestige and financial payoffs promised by studying the STEM fields — a curriculum integrating science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These are all worthy disciplines that offer precise information on practically everything. But, often and inadvertently, they distort our perceptions; they even shortchange us.

The regime of information may well sport its specific truths, but it is locked out of the associations — subjective but also moral and philosophical — that bathe all literature. A new technology like GPS provides us with the most efficient and direct route to a destination, but it presupposes we know where we are going. Finding an address is one thing; finding one’s way in life is another. Even our smartest computers or most brilliant statisticians are at a loss when it comes to mapping our psychic landscapes.

When and how do you take your own measure? And what are you measuring? Both Oedipus and Lear could initially subscribe to Shakespeare’s notation, “every inch a king,” but by play’s end, something different, varied and terrifying has come to light: for one, an unknown history of parricide and incest, for the other, an opening into a moral vision of such force that it wrecks all prior frames, leading to madness, as Lear suffers his kinship with all “bare, fork’d animal[s].” Life’s actual hurdy-gurdy often explodes our labels and preconceptions.

“How much do you know about Shakespeare,” I once asked a friend who has committed much of her life to studying the Bard. She replied, “Not as much as he knows about me.” Remember this the next time someone tells you literature is useless.

Why does this matter? The humanities interrogate us. They challenge our sense of who we are, even of who our brothers and sisters might be. When President Obama said of Trayvon Martin, “this could have been my son,” he was uttering a truth that goes beyond compassion and reaches toward recognition. “It could have been me” is the threshold for the vistas that literature and art make available to us.

Art not only brings us news from the “interior,” but it points to future knowledge. A humanistic education is not about memorizing poems or knowing when X wrote Y, and what Z had to say about it. It is, instead, about the human record that is available to us in libraries and museums and theaters and, yes, online. But that record lives and breathes; it is not calculable or teachable via numbers or bullet points. Instead, it requires something that we never fail to do before buying clothes: Trying the garment on.

Art and literature are tried on. Reading a book, seeing a painting or a play or a film: Such encounters are fueled by affect as well as intelligence. Much “fleshing out” happens here: We invest the art with our own feelings, but the art comes to live inside us, adding to our own repertoire. Art obliges us to “first-personalize” the world. Our commerce with art makes us fellow travelers: to other cultures, other values, other selves. Some may think this both narcissistic and naïve, but ask yourself: What other means of propulsion can yield such encounters?

This humanistic model is sloppy. It has no bottom line. It is not geared for maximum productivity. It will not increase your arsenal of facts or data. But it rivals with rockets when it comes to flight and the visions it enables. And it will help create denser and more generous lives, lives aware that others are not only other, but are real. In this regard, it adds depth and resonance to what I regard as the shadowy, impalpable world of numbers and data: empirical notations that have no interest nor purchase in interiority, in values; notations that offer the heart no foothold.

The world of information is more Gothic than its believers believe, because it is ghostly, silhouette-like, deprived of human sentience. If we actually believe that the project of education is to enrich our students’ lives, then I submit that the Humanities are on the right side of the aisle, whatever paychecks they do or do not deliver.

At a time when the price of a degree from elite institutions is well over six figures, fields such as literature and the arts may seem like a luxury item. But we may have it backwards. They are, to cite Hemingway’s title for his Paris memoir, “a moveable feast,” and they offer us a kind of reach into time and space that we can find nowhere else.

We enter the bookstore, see the many volumes arrayed there, and think: so much to read, so little time. But books do not take time; they give time, they expand our resources of both heart and mind. It may sound paradoxical, but they are, in the last analysis, scientific, for they trace the far-flung route by which we come to understand our world and ourselves. They take our measure. And we are never through discovering who we are.

ut·ter

Make (a sound) with one's voice.

un·can·ny

Strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way.

blurrier

(blurriness) indistinctness: the quality of being indistinct and without sharp outlines

Contours

the ​shape of a ​mass of ​land or other ​object, ​especially ​its​surface or the ​shape ​formed by ​its ​outer ​edge

out·ward

Of, on, or from the outside.

in·ad·vert·ent·ly

Without intention; accidentally.

par·ri·cide

The killing of a parent or other near relative

in·cest

Sexual relations between people classed as being too closely related to marry each other.

wreck

The destruction of a ship at sea; a shipwreck.

en·coun·ter

Unexpectedly experience or be faced with (something difficult or hostile).

nar·cis·sis·tic

Having an excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one's physical appearance.

na·ive

(of a person or action) showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment.

pro·pul·sion

The action of driving or pushing forward

im·pal·pa·ble

Unable to be felt by touch.

em·pir·i·cal

Based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.

no·ta·tion

A series or system of written symbols used to represent numbers, amounts, or elements in something such as music or mathematics.

Gothic 

used to ​describe writing or ​films in which ​strange things ​happen in ​frightening ​places

de·prived

Suffering a severe and damaging lack of basic material and cultural benefits.

en·rich

Improve or enhance the quality or value of.

ar·ray

Display or arrange (things) in a particular way.

par·a·dox·i·cal

Seemingly absurd or self-contradictory.

THE DAWN: Uncertain times for NGOs

:

THE state’s misplaced war on NGOs appears to be continuing. Eight months after the interior ministry tried to shut down a foreign NGO, Save the Children, and then mooted onerous new registration requirements for INGOs, the interior minister has had to direct his own ministry to expedite the pace of registration of foreign NGOs seeking to work in Pakistan.

As before, neither has the interior minister explained why registration has not been completed so far nor did he state by when it will be completed. It almost appears as if the government — and possibly the military establishment behind the scenes — wants foreign NGOs to operate in a state of prolonged uncertainty.

The suspicion of the development sector is not confined to foreigners alone.

A report in this newspaper yesterday suggested that $22m in European funding to help IDPs return from Khyber Pakthunkhwa to Fata may lapse because the National Disaster Management Authority and its provincial affiliate, the PDMA, have not issued no-objection certificates for nearly 30 local NGOs to operate in affected areas.

At the root of the government’s campaign against NGOs is a misplaced understanding of security. The interior ministry and the intelligence apparatus appear to regard NGOs, particularly of the foreign variety, as a threat to the safety and security of Pakistan.

Presumably this is because, in the reckoning of the security and intelligence apparatus, foreign-funded development organisations and particularly foreign citizens are involved in spying on Pakistan, perhaps on the state itself and possibly on the networks of militant groups that operate across the country.

But the approach is a particularly perverse one. INGOs and NGOs are doing vital work in Pakistan, helping fill in the gaps where the state is derelict in its duties to its people. Security is not simply about protecting the secrets and dark corners of state and society, but also about human security — providing basic services to the disadvantaged sections of the public that the state has been unable to protect.

While it is obvious and indisputable that foreign spies should not allowed to undermine national security, it is even more apparent that not all foreigners should be regarded as potential spies or destabilising agents of outside powers.

Many of the INGOs and NGOs operating inside Pakistan have been doing so for decades and have established a worthy reputation.

What does appear to have changed is the paranoia of the security establishment and its civilian façade. Counter-insurgencies in Fata and Balochistan and counterterrorism operations in KP appear to have hardened suspicions of foreigners and foreign donor organisations in some parts of the state apparatus.

But can security ever truly be established and the country stabilised if the population — the people of Pakistan and particularly its disadvantaged sections — are not put at the centre of state policy? The misguided and dangerous war on NGOs must stop.

moot

Raise (a question or topic) for discussion; suggest (an idea or possibility).

on·er·ous

(of a task, duty, or responsibility) involving an amount of effort and difficulty that is oppressively burdensome.

ex·pe·dite

Make (an action or process) happen sooner or be accomplished more quickly.

pro·longed

Continuing for a long time or longer than usual; lengthy.

sus·pi·cion

A feeling or thought that something is possible, likely, or true.

lapse

A temporary failure of concentration, memory, or judgment.

reck·on

Establish by counting or calculation; calculate.

ap·pa·rat·us

The technical equipment or machinery needed for a particular activity or purpose.

spy

Work for a government or other organization by secretly collecting information about enemies or competitors.

per·verse

(of a person or their actions) showing a deliberate and obstinate desire to behave in a way that is unreasonable or unacceptable, often in spite of the consequences.

der·e·lict

In a very poor condition as a result of disuse and neglect.

in·dis·put·a·ble

Unable to be challenged or denied.

ap·par·ent

Clearly visible or understood; obvious

par·a·noi·a

A mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically elaborated into an organized system. It may be an aspect of chronic personality disorder, of drug abuse, or of a serious condition such as schizophrenia in which the person loses touch with reality.

fa·cade

The face of a building, especially the principal front that looks onto a street or open space.

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